“Bronson!” I snapped.
“On it!”
With a rev of his trail bike, he went sailing forward. The sweep of his bike, the sound of the engine, had the cows reconsidering their life decisions and deciding that yes, the open gate was where they needed to head.
“Bloody heatwave…” I muttered, jumping off my bike and slamming the gate shut the moment everyone and everything was through, cutting off any ideas of retreat. “Bloody cows…”
“I thought regular sex was supposed to put you in a better mood, mate.”
Billy grinned as he came to a stop just in front of me.
“He is in a better mood,” Bronson replied drily. “He hasn’t called any of us a fucking idiot yet.”
“Damn fool,” Scotty added, because apparently every single member of my team needed to get in on this.
“Stupid fucking moron that should never have been born.” Billy ticked off every word on his fingers. “Dad should’ve pulled out rather than getting Mum pregnant with us.”
Dad… It was the mention of our father that had my frown deepening, but Billy didn’t know that. He didn’t know anything. Mum had made me promise not to reveal what kind of dickhead sired the lot of us.
“They’re just kids.” She’d gripped my arm hard, despite the fact she was fighting to take the next breath. “Don’t let them know what happened. They’re about to lose their mother. Don’t take their father from them as well.”
Didn’t need to. When I checked, it became clear that my father did little to keep in contact with any of my siblings.
“Enough bullshit,” I snapped. Sparky came and flopped down on the ground before us, panting fast. I picked up his water bowl and filled it up for him, then regarded the lot of them. “We’re not moving fast enough. This herd should be in the stock containment paddock right now.” I gestured wildly. “Instead we’ve got several more fields to cross before we get them anywhere near it.”
“Ahh, Troy…” Billy said.
“No, Billy.” For just a moment, I stood there, hands on my hips, feeling the sweat rolling down my spine. I was hot, tired and we had so much more to do and that had me fraying at the edges. “Everyone needs to get their shit together now or…”
My mind wanted to go there. Over and over I dreamed of the farm going up in flames, the sounds of screams, human andanimal alike, still ringing in my head when I woke up with a start. I changed tact abruptly.
“You need to stop fucking around.” I stared each man down. “We all need to stop fucking around. Unless you want to be out here when the fire hits…” I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. “Then we need to get our shit together.”
“I thought—” Bronson started to say.
“Popping wheelies and all the bullshit is for after the heat wave is over, not now.” Billy’s jaw tightened, and I knew that mulish expression. It was a mirror of my own, I’m sure of it. “Focus on the job at hand or…”
I wanted to say fuck off, but we didn’t have that luxury.
“We’ve gotta keep the herd in a tighter formation,” I continued. “Don’t be scared of the cows. They’re just animals. Animals that need directing or they’ll take it in their heads to throw themselves into a gully or whatever. For fuck’s sake, everyone needs to get in close and keep ‘em moving.”
“Yes, boss,” Scotty said with a sharp nod.
“Bronson.” My brother crossed his arms and smiled as he propped himself against his trail bike. Bloody hell, sometimes I couldn’t tell him from Billy and now was one of those times. “Read the herd better.”
“Not asking me to do that…” Billy muttered.
“If you’re watching, really watching, you’ll see subtle signs that one or two beasts are thinking about veering off. Your eyes need to be on them the entire fucking time. Work out what they’re thinking about doing and be there before they make a move. There’s a helluva lot more of them than there is us,” I said. “The only way we can keep them under control is if we anticipate their decisions and make clear that they need to get moving through these damn gates. So, now we need?—”
“To take a break?”
I turned around slowly, feeling like I’d been caught with my pants down, but that would be preferable. Charlie and Mackenzie came closer, toting coolers that no doubt contained our lunches. Of course, they would deliver food. My sister had been doing it for years when we had to bring the stock in, so why did I stand here now, my mouth open?
Because seconds before I was bollocking out my workers and my girl must’ve heard every second of it. The need to recover, revert back to the version of myself that Mackenzie seemed to like rose, but failed to eventuate. I was tired, hot, and filled with a kind of hopelessness, because this was only the start of things. No rest was coming for days, if not weeks, and I just needed to hold it all together.
But I was failing.
Move forward, I screamed at myself.Take the cooler from her. Say hello, thank you, something. My facial muscles felt stiff, my body clumsy and outsized as I lurched over to do just that.
