His message comes in only a few seconds later.
Rancher
Jesus Christ.
Austin
I prefer Austin, but I’m not one to kink shame.
Rancher
Get both of them.
Austin
I’m not getting both. They’re $60 each.
Rancher
Get both of them or so help me god, I’ll have to call my sister and have a conversation neither one of us want me having, just to make sure you leave there with both.
I jump when someone bangs on the dressing room door,hands against my chest to calm my now-racing heart. “Aus, you okay in there?” Kenny asks.
“Yep, almost done.”
“Hurry up, I wanna get pretzel bites!” Tate whines.
I roll my eyes, undressing. “Hold your horses. I’ll be out in a sec. Here,” I drape the lingerie over the top of the door. “I’m getting both of those if you want to go ahead and check out while I get dressed.”
Kenny laughs. “A hundred twenty bucks? Maddie’s either gonna love you or hate you.”
“Doesn’t he always?” jokes Tate.
Their voices fade as they walk away. I finish getting dressed and head towards the registers to meet them. Kenny and Tate are walking back with the bag when my phone chimes with a text.
Rancher
Good girl.
SEVENTEEN
MADDOX
Kenny’s truckpulls up just as I’m putting Cash back in his stall for the day. I don’t let myself look through the windshield at the passenger seat to see if Austin came back with her.
My sister makes her way into the barn, card in one hand and a brown paper bag from the pretzel place in the other. I tug the wallet out of my jeans and set it on the edge of Cash’s stall, letting her slide the card back into place as I slip the bit from his mouth. Kenny’s being suspiciously quiet.
“Out with it,” I tell her, tossing the bridle over the stall wall and moving on to loosening the cinch on his saddle.
Kenny hums, and it sounds so much like Austin’s hum it irritates me. It has no business being in my sister’s mouth, but her mannerisms always mirror Austin’s after they’ve spent a good bit of time together. “You’d rip my head off if you saw me taking off Chesney’s saddle without haltering him.”
“I’ve got nine years on you. Do as I say, not as I do,” I tell her, and then immediately pause because I know what’s coming next, and I walked right into it.
“You do, don’t you? Nine years on me. Ten years on Austin,” she replies. I don’t meet her eyes, so I don’t have to see the look I knowshe’s giving me.
“Your point?” I ask, knowing damn well what her point is.
“Just an observation.”
