My phone rang. My heart immediately leapt as I prayed it was Iris. Brook’s name appeared on my console and I rolled my eyes.
“What do you want?” I snapped.
“Did you make it there?” he asked.
“I’m about an hour away,” I grunted.
“I can’t believe you haven’t seen your wife since you got married,” he said, disappointment lacing his tone. “It’s been almost a year.”
“I saw her when I was up here in November,” I said defensively, remembering how big of a disaster that was.
Finding out she was at the rodeo was one thing, but when she came back with the riders, I lost my shit. I thought she had used her wife status to slip into the back, but when I found out she knew a few riders and some of the workers, she had already left. Safe to say that was the last time she spoke to me or called me. I was relieved at first; it bothered me around the holidays when I hadn’t heard from her. I tried to decide if I should go see her, but nationals took up all my time. After that it felt like too much time had passed.
“One time, Nash,” he sighed. “No wonder she’s pissed.”
“I know, but what the hell do you expect, Brooks? I did this for dad because he forced me to,” I huffed. “You should have married her if you wanted to keep her happy.”
“No one forced you, dad thought I would be better for a corporate CEO’s daughter,” he growled. “You’re not the only one who is stuck in this shitty life. At least you get to do what you love.”
“Brooks, what the fuck are we doing?” I wanted to yell.
“You know we have no choice,” he sighed. “I mean we do, but he’s made himself such a big part of our financesthat we’d be starting all over again. I’ve invested too much in this fucking company to just walk away from this.”
“I’m so close to being free, Brooks,” I said, running my hands through my hair.
“Iris is a nice woman. She’s got a good head on her shoulders and she’s a hard worker if you took the time to get to know her.” Brooks sounded smitten, it surprised me.
Did my brother like her?
“Sounds like you might have gotten to know her too well,” I said, jealousy hitting me out of nowhere.
“We could have been happy here at her farm. I would run it, she would help me, we would keep her family legacy alive and maybe even continue it,” he said softly as anger rose in me. “But father has different plans for the farm. We aren’t keeping it.”
“What?” I sat up straighter my anger completely disappearing. “I thought the whole point of selling it to us was so she could keep the farm in her family, that's why we got married.”
“Dad fucked up on a deal and now he needs the farm to pull him out of the mess,” he sighed. “He needs to sell it before…I get married.”
“Jesus Christ, Brooks, when the hell were you going to tell me you were goingto get married?” I took a deep breath attempting to quell this anger my father always brought out of me.
“You would have gotten an invitation,” he said. “I’m surprised I even know and I wasn’t just given a date and a fucking time.”
“Brooks, he’s going too fucking far,” I growled. “When is it ever gonna end or be enough?”
“Just worry about Iris,” he said. “Get her to do what he wants and maybe while you’re there get to know your wife. She would be a great rodeo wife, and I think she might surprise you.”
“Yeah, by killing me after she finds out we are selling her family farm.” I rolled my eyes even though I knew he couldn’t see me.
“If there is a way to keep her farm, then I will try,” he said, sounding exhausted. “Get what we need, and I’ll see what I can do.”
“That doesn’t sound good, Brooks.”
“I know, but what else can I do? Father has fucked up royally,” he growled. “That’s all he does with these deals he thinks are going to make us rich.”
“Do I even want to know?” I asked, seeing a sign for the Boozy Bandit.
“No, but I’ll fix it,” he said with faux confidence that almost sounded like the real thing.
“I’m about to get to Sterling Ridge.” My nerves kicked up a notch.
