“Blow!” I order.
“Jesus,” He huffs, “You’re worse than Knox.”
He puts his mouth back to the air piece on the yoga ball I found in one of the barns. There was an entire stack of gym equipment left torust and gather cobwebs, and the bright purple yoga ball was thrown in there with it. I didn’t actually have hope it would be good, but it’s inflating, and that’s a win.
Chase had said that before everything went downhill here on the ranch, it was a tourist hot spot, and cabins were built on the west side of the ranch, close to the mountains. With it came a gym, a pool and other places for the lodgers to use, but after the Rossi enterprise sucked all the money from the place, Knox made the decision to close it all down. The gym equipment had been left to rot ever since.
Chase finally gets the ball inflated and caps the air piece before he passes it over to me.
“Just what do you want this for, exactly?” He asks skeptically.
“Just…” I glance toward the paddock where Ralph is still being held, his injuries healing but not enough for him to be released back to the herd yet.
“Elena,” Chase warns, “Do not.”
“I’m not going to do anything,” I smile at him.
“Elena,” He warns.
“Don’t tell Knox.” I say before I spin and make my way toward the fence, “Ralphhhhh,” I call his name, “Oh, Ralph!”
“Elena!”
Chase runs after me. “If you get hurt,Knox will have my balls.”
“Ralph would never hurt me,” I tut.
“He’s a fucking bull!” His voice rises.
I stop. “Did you just shout at me?” I ask incredulously.
A heavy breath rushes from him, “Elena,please.”
“Calm down,” I shake my head. “You’re gonna send yourself to an early grave with all this worrying. I saw it online, it’ll be fine.”
“You saw it…” He pinches the bridge of his nose, reminding me so much of how Knox does it when I piss him off. I almost feel bad.Almost.
“Keep up,” I call back to him, closing the final gap to the paddock. When I get there, I turn to Chase and hand him the ball before I hop the fence and whistle, drawing Ralph’s attention.
“Elena,” Chase hisses. “The fuck am I meant to tell the boss when he comes home to find his woman broken!?”
“I’m not going to be broken,” I shake my head, “I mean ifyouwere in here, you might be.”
“Well, I’m not stupid enough to be in there!”
“I’m going to let that slide, Chase, because I actually like you, but don’t push it.”
Behind me, I can hear Ralph making his way over, his snorts loud, and then I feel hot breath on the back of my neck.
“There’s my boy,” I coo to the over two-thousand-pound bull and kiss his nose.
“Did you just–”
“Give me the ball.” I cut him off.
Looking somewhat scared, he passes the yoga ball over the fence, and I hold it ahead of myself. Slapping my hands against it, it makes a sound that draws Ralph’s attention.
“Wanna play?” I throw it down, watching it bounce across the dirt, and Ralph jumps back, snorting heavily.
