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'Yellowstone': Paramount Network revela la Fecha de Estreno de la Segunda Mitad de la Temporada 5.

La segunda mitad de la quinta y última temporada de la serie de Taylor Sheridan se estrenará el domingo 10 de noviembre a las 8 p.m. ET/PT en Paramount Network. A nivel internacional, Yellowstone se estrenará en Paramount+ en Canadá el 10 de noviembre, en el Reino Unido el 11 de noviembre y en América Latina, Brasil y Francia a finales de noviembre. Como se anunció previamente el mes pasado, la…

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A Teller Meets A Dutton

Overview

John sends his youngest daughter "Elsa" to California to meet with Elliott Oswald about some horses, that he is interested in; but she has car trouble and has to go to Teller-Morrow.

Disclaimer

I don't own any of the characters, this will be a one shot; if anyone wants to turn it into a story they may. But please give me some credibility for the idea.

"Well dad he had at least two horses that would be worth the money," El spoke to John on the phone. "If it's only a couple I'll just wait to see what Tavis has." "They are still worth the money, especially with their bloodlines." There was a moment of silence "if you think they are worth it, I will trust your judgment."

All at once the engine started to make a knocking noise, "dad I'll call you back before I leave on the plane; this car is making a strange sound." I pulled the car over in front of the barbershop, I got out and went inside.

"Excuse me could you tell me if there is a garage close by, my car is making a knocking noise and I want to get it looked at." The barber turned to me and said, "Teller-Morrow down the street is the only garage in town." Smiling I offered a thank you, and left the building.

I found the garage with no problem, and pulled up infront of the office. When I walked in I saw a older lady with dark hair and highlights sitting at the desk. "Hi I am Gemma, can I help you?" She asked "hopefully, my rental is making a knocking sound; and I don't want to get halfway to the airport and it die."

She smirked a small smile, "fill this paperwork out; and I'll have one of the guys take a look." I handed her the keys, and filled out all the information the car rental gave me. She came back inside and sat back down, "so where are you from?" "Montana" she made a humming sound.

"So what brought you to our tiny small town?" I lifted a blond brow "you ask all your customers their life stories?" She chuckled "only the interesting looking ones," I laughed at that "I was here to look at some horses."

The next thing I know to door swings open to reveal a tall, well built, blond, clear blue eyed, and probably one of the best looking men I have ever seen. "I am going to assume you drove that fire hazard in here" he said. "Is it that bad?" "Darlin your lucky it didn't catch on fire with you driving it."

"Is there a car rental place in town?" "There is, Jax would you mind taking her, and I'll call your rental place to come and take this hunk of junk back." "OK, I'll take you in the tow truck" said Jax.

I gatherd my stuff, and followed Jax to the truck. I turned around to say buy to Gemma to see several of the men trying to look at me without looking obvious. I smiled at Jax "can they be anymore obvious?" He laughed "they can't help themselves around a beautiful woman."

He drove me to the rent a car place, and we made idle chat. But when we got there he stopped me, "so do you have to leave so soon?" I gave him a half smile, "unfortunately I do have to go home." "You think you might come back around sometime?"

I tilted my head, "Well I do have to pick up a couple of horses in a week if you can wait that long?" His eyes gave a mischievous glow "I think I can wait."

Helpless

Description: She worked as a lawyer in New York until she received a phone call from the man she owes her career to. She knew she would be back and what she was in for but what she didn’t know is that her life would change even more than she imagined.

Part 2

Chapter 1

“You hide your emotions for a living but at this moment you are not doing a great job” I directed an eyeroll to him. We were currently sitting at the dinner table, waiting for his children to join us.

“Not really helping John '' I let out a sigh taking in his words. I know he was right. This family has been in my life since I was 17. I had met Beth, who at first wasn’t the kindest but somehow we both got along great. In my job you had to be assertive, judgemental,firm, confident and when things got rough, you had to be rude and tough. Not an easy thing to do on a normal basis and I thought to myself I was crazy for not only entering law but to becoming a General Practice Attorney. Somehow when I enter the courtroom or when I am making a deal my eyes dial in to my target and I blackout. I do what is needed to do and my streak of losing none of my cases shows that. But when I am outside the law and I am just me, I lose myself. With Beth, she was that for me. She was the assertive side in me and I was the calming side to her. We got each other and I was thankful for that.

“You didn’t tell me she was joining '' Jamie, sweet Jamie. I get up and give him a hug which he gladly takes. Right out of law school I was taken under his wing. John decided not to tell him how he helped me through law school and how he became a mentor to me since the night we met. Jamie took such pride in seeing me become what I wish he knew I could be. Soon I had to move on since I wasn't a specialist in only one thing. I now only see him if he or John needs help and needs me to work with him on something. We distance ourselves over the past years but nothing feels any different now. “Finally” He sighs, moving around the table to take a seat across from me, of course one seat down from John who was at the end of the table.

“Decided we couldn’t keep her a secret anymore and now would be a great time to have her here” After Lee’s death I was asked to come back to the ranch. I moved to New York as I was working on expanding my knowledge in more than just Law, but when I received John's call I dropped everything. Lee’s death was unfortunate and John mentioned in that phone call that things were just going to get tougher from then, and hell did it. I have been working in the background with Lee’s death and filing it under the table with the help of Jamie. Also helping him with Kayce and Monica. When the drug explosion accident happened and Monica’s accident at school. With the kidnapping of the girl Kayce found and the trips he took to jail. Not to mention Dan and Beth, and I have a feeling that won’t be it.

“He didn’t want to continue hearing my rants on driving from home all the way to town. Loved the peaceful rides but you know I am not a morning person” I was staying just outside of Darby. Of course I could stay in town but it wasn’t a risk John nor I wanted to take. He has enemies and everybody knows each other, we didn’t want to give them anything that could come back and damage the farm.

“That you are not” I looked up hearing a familiar voice. “You remember your finals week?” I shake my head in embarrassment. I had just turned 20 but in Beth’s head I was 21. So she made a trip from Salt Lake City to Connecticut. Of course I told her right but she didn’t care. She told me Yale could wait for a couple hours so I could have fun. I was unaware that her couple hours meant a whole night a day. John sent me to study in Yale a couple months after we met. I promised him I wouldn’t disappoint and for me, I never make promises so It was like writing it in stone. I took multiple classes and spent nights, days,summer,spring break, holidays studying and advancing as much as possible in my degree. Work paid off when in only four years I graduated when it usually took 7. Anyways I was in my finals and she took me out that morning.

“In my defense it was 3 in the morning when you showed up” yeah 3 in the morning, I was walking into my apartment hoping to take a 3 hour nap so I could continue at 6 the next day.

“That when New york wakes up” So she shook me off the bed and drove us down an hour and 30 minutes to Manhattan.

“I thankfully took a that ride a power nap”

“If that is what you want to call it.” She laughs while pouring herself a drink. “ I could swear her body felt more energized than ever because she looked like a zombie who hadn’t slept in years'' I hadn’t slept well in 5 weeks. I knew finals were coming and with everything going on I needed every hour I could get to prepare for it. “We got to the club and she was going on a mission. I am not going to tell you what she did to get in because it would ruin your image of her '' She meant I seduced and promised the security an amazing morning if he let me in knowing I wasn’t 21 yet. That might not seem bad but when your promises are very verglaur and detailed and also loud, well now that I think about it, it was more embarrassing but still. “But don’t worry I didn’t let her slip that night. Well maybe just a little.” I cover my eyes and my ears. Dancing on every surface I could find and wired with more alcohol than they had in the club I was having the best time of my life that night. But when we got out and I saw the sun I began cursing at it like it killed and took away everything I loved. I bet there is a video of me out there becoming New York’s crazy woman who hates the sun. After that I went back into the club and refused to come out until the sun was gone. And to be fair that was not what I meant by not being a morning person. I love sunrises and sunsets, I just hate waking up.

“Sorry I am late. Leaving Tate wasn’t easy today” I have only seen Kayce from afar. When I arrived at the farm, Kayce had already had the altercation with John. I soon left and didn’t hear about him until I came back. I have been only helping Jamie with his cases but never had the opportunity to speak to him once. I knew he had moved back and became the Ranch Foreman but I avoided the farm as much as possible knowing that was what John and I agreed on. Kayce walked in with his head down seating next to John and Jamie. He only focused on me when John spoke up.

“Don’t worry son. We were just catching up” he stood up at the end of the table looking over at us. “This is Y/N. She will be living here starting today” That is not what we spoke about. I gave him a worried look but he only shook his head. That meant I had to trust him. “Beth and Jamie have known of her for the past years but because of the circumstances of you not being present in the ranch” A little sadness in both their eyes could be seen. “You hadn’t gotten a chance to meet her” I sent him a nod with a gentle smile and his response was a cold stare that he quickly moved towards his father.

“What do you mean she will be living in the main house?” Not that I mattered more than him but somehow his words caused annoyance in me. You don’t even know me and speak like I was not important. John takes the chance to sit down as Gator comes out with the food.

“I want to take this dinner as a chance to not only tell you about her” he look over to Kayce and then followed his gaze to Jamie and Beth as he continued speaking “and to tell you two along with Kayce how she came to the ranch and why I asked her to come back and stay in the ranch” That last part he looked over at me and I knew he was asking me to listen and consider his question on staying and living in the ranch for awhile. We began eating but John didn’t touch his food as he began speaking. “One night almost 7 years ago she came to the farm. I know under what circumstance she came to run into our lands but that is up to her if she wants to share it with you” He looks over at me and I give him a nod thanking him for that. He looks back to his kids and continues. “That night 3 of our cowboys were out and found her. Thankfully Rip found her before anything bad happened to her.” I look down focusing on my food not really wanting to relive that moment. I guess it showed on my face since I felt Beth take my hand that was settled in my lap. “Rip brought her to me and that night I decided to bring her in. She made a good impression on Rip and I so I decided to help her from that day on.” I smile hearing that from John. Rip was a big softy but had a hard time showing that to people. Mainly because this kind of life didn’t bring out the best in him. He liked it and as much as I would like him to see the better side of things, I know he is better off that way he is.

“So what does that mean? Is she?-” Beth chuckles at Kayces words.

“She is younger than you Kayce! Just 22” Almost 23 I thought. Jamie's words cause a groan from his brother who looks over to John for answers.

“It means I saw something and helped her become what she wanted in life. She spoke to me about going into law school and to show her gratitude she promised to do everything in her power to make me proud and devote herself to this family and she hasn’t failed since”

“She has helped me keep this family running and keeps you from jail.” Jamie says, taking a bit of his potato.

“She had been working behind the scenes since I asked her to come back months ago.” John adds finally starting to eat his dinner.

“So you paid for her school and are now moving her into the house in exchange for her service?” It was a question but to him it was a statement that he made his own answer from. “It will become a great headline” I see the annoyance now in John's face.

“I can assure you that being here will cause no harm in the farm's image. I will assure myself of that personally.” Beth chuckles again but Kayce takes it the wrong way. Getting up and excusing himself from the table.

“You don’t have too, it's not something he has a say about” John grabbed my arm before I could walk past him.

“If I am going to devote myself to this family like I promised I need him to trust me.” John nods letting go of me as I try to catch up to Kayce. I see a dark shadow walking down the path towards the foreman’s cabin. “Kayce!” I don’t see him turn around but he does turn right and leans over the fence. Goddamn dramatic Duttons. I shake my head with a mission, yet I don’t know what I am going to say when I reach him.

“I’ll ask the questions and I’ll tell you if you deserve to be here” I only gently smile and give him a nod. It took everything in me not to roll my eyes at him. He spoke those words and it brought annoyance to his character. “What was the real reason behind him paying and allowing you to be here?” I shrugged in all honesty John and I never spoke about why he decided to help me out. I want to say it was for the kindness in his heart. We all know he takes prisoners and gives them work, it doesn’t sound like much but I can assure you it's a lot. Then there is Rip, a small boy who needed something and John gave him a start, a chance.

“I have no idea” I leaned against the fence, directing my gaze to the land before us. It was past 6 and the sun was way down. The crickets are already playing their tunes and the wind, singing along. “I am not one to usually put my take in things but I think it was because of you” I didn’t turn but I felt his gaze turn sharply to me. To be honest I was feeling a little nervous. Beth, Jamie and Lee had asked me the same question but I never told them what I actually thought the reason behind it was, one because I wasn’t sure and two because I was no one to put such an idea out there. “I came in around the time you left” Under his stare it felt like I was starting to run a fever. Chills went down my spine and I felt like I was burning, thankfully he turned back to the view in front of him. “I always was one to read people’s sadness and when I looked into his eyes, that was all I could see. At that moment I didn’t know why he was sad until later on when I met Beth. She told me all about it. The couple of weeks I spent in the ranch John was kind to me. Taking me in and treating me not like a worker but-” I cut myself off. It caused a bit of pain even thinking of such feelings. How for John I may be like his own child but I know that wasn’t true. Sure he cared for me but if it was between his own blood and me well, there was no question about it. I was pulling on my own heart strings and I needed to cut myself off. “I feel like I was just a right time, right place situation that helped him feel better about letting you go”

“How did you end up here?” He was avoiding my statement. The answer to that was something I haven’t told anyone except John. John had the right to know, but that wasn’t the case with Kayce or his siblings. I needed time. “By the looks of it I see you fighting yourself on whether you should tell me or not” I quickly shake my head.

“It's not a difficult choice. I have the right to not talk about it. Just like I told Beth, John had the right to know but it doesn’t mean it was easy. Am still dealing with my past and soon when everything is over, there will be no need to keep it hidden. Until then I ask them to trust me just like I trust the Dutton blindly”

“You ask for trust but we have more to lose with how much trust we put with you” He was right

“It might not be a lot but I could lose everything with putting my trust in you all. The Duttons are a full package and I choose to take that on no matter what. What you know of this family and its past since I have been here I have helped, if anything happens that could come back and bite me too. You know better than me that people here come and go just as fast as bullet trains”

A/N: I have found my new obsession.♥️. I don’t know where am going with this but I hope you guys like it. This app doesn’t have much of him so I hope that changes.

Thank you❤️.

Helpless

Description: She worked as a lawyer in New York until she received a phone call from the man she owes her career to. She knew she would be back and what she was in for but what she didn’t know is that her life would change even more than she imagined.

Part 3

Chapter 2

“I need you to get this whole reporter thing situated. Jamie will still be working but only when I say so. He will stay in the bunkhouse until then working on himself” After Jamie’s suicide attempt John told him to rebuild himself, he didn’t feel like losing another child of his. “Also check up on Cassidy and Beth” I nod getting up. I walk out his office and out the front door. It was only 8 in the morning and I could just fall down and take a long nap. The whole ranch was alive. I look to my left and see the cowboys doing whatever they do with the cattle. I have met some of the cowboys here, such as Ryan, Lloyd, Jimmy, and Colby. Not really a fan of the whole ranch life but seeing them passionate and happy here is a bit liberating. Back home it was a small town and I call it the inbetween. We didn’t have large lands with farm animals or cowboys but we also didn’t have what cities do. You could go from a quiet neighborhood with a decent amount of land to a 10 minute drive down to city hall where bars and tourists danced around until curfew. The inbetween.

“Ready for that horse riding lesson?” My gaze left the cowboys and moved over to rip putting on his gloves.

“Give me another 6 years and i’ll let you know” He chuckles walking up beside me to give me a side hug but leaving him around my shoulders.

“Have to get rid of the fear if you are going to stay around here, you know horses can feel whatever you are feeling” I shake my head with a smile

“You’re horse must have a lot of anger and entitlement” I hear Lloyd laugh from close by. “Has he been acting better?” Lloyd gives me a hurt look

“I could never talk about the boss like that” The laugh that leaves me is only cut short when I catch Kayce in the corner of my eye. He pulls the horse in the secluded section. A little boy stands by watching him as the horse starts bucking but soon enough the horse settles and runs along the ring.

“That his son, Tate” I only nod. “And that's his soon to be ex wife” I look over at the tan, thin, black haired woman walking up to the fence. “Have you been helping with his divorce?” I look up seeing a grin on his face.

“Rip Rip Rip.” I shake my head again removing his arm and walking closer to him and whispering since I don’t want anyone else to hear.

“I think you should be focused on your love life which needs the most help than anyone else's plus, you know I don’t talk about my cases unless John says so '' I wave him goodbye and turn to do the same with the cowboys. I had a long morning ahead of me and I can tell you it will be an even longer afternoon.

I went over to the office and got familiar with everything going with Sarah Nguyen. The report states the cause of death was drowning which was nothing new here. The problem will be if anything shows in her body as signs it wasn’t drowning that killed her. There has been a test of what I would do for this family and this was truly the worst. Everybody is shown right from wrong from a young age. I know it's wrong to help cover this up, for god sake I devote myself to tell the truth under oath and if this goes to court rooms I will bend myself over backwards to stand loyal. Now to stop that from happening I need to make sure Jamie’s name is nowhere connected to hers. She hadn’t published anything but I can count on her talking to people close to her about what she was writing about. I have to check up on that and the notes she surely has on the interview. The next thing wasn’t something I could do alone. Beth was attacked and the men were taken care of. It has been a hassle to shut down anything being said but so far we have done a good job. Not only does the Beck brothers have hands on this but they also found out they had to do with the whole cattle situation. I recently found out about the plane they kept. Now it was up to Kayce and the association to use that and if they need help I will step in. I look at my clock after finally getting something to eat and see it hit 2.

“Miss Reid is waiting to hear from you” My assistant said, walking through the door holding my phone.

“Make a call down to Dutton’s phone company and get Jamie's phone transfer started. Make a damage/lost claim and tell them I will be by there in an hour” She nods handing me the phone “Miss Reid”

“Y/L/N” I met Cassidy once. When she was trusted as attorney general. “John gave me a call this morning to let me know you would be stopping by” I fake chuckle. Not that I didn’t like her but something was off and I had a hard time trusting some people.

“Of course. I wasn’t going to go around him but I thought there was really no real reason to bother you since you must be busy with the new job.”

“Oh and what hectic can it be” She laughs

“Am sure, listen we could plan to get drinks because I am sure we will spend some time together soon enough, unless you have something to discuss with me?”

“Drinks sounds great right now but you’re right we have to schedule it for some other time. At this moment everything is handled although I do have something to pick with you” Ok. “It has nothing to do with the job or John but it's something personal that we can discuss this Wednesday?”

“Is it a morning drink situation or afternoon?” I pull out a sticky note.

“A late evening” I was surprised to hear that from her.

“How’s 7?

“I’ll text you the location”

“See you then” We exchange goodbyes and I hang

up the phone. I get up grabbing my things and heading out my office door. “Set this up for wednesday. Do you have the paperwork on Kayce and Monica’s divorce?”

“The paperwork hasn’t been sent from court.” I I almost faceplant myself on her desk.

“I’ll take care of it. What did they say about the phone?”

“They will have it there waiting in an hour” I thankher telling her I would be leaving for the day.

“You can go home early” I say leaving the doors. Now I have to spend the rest of my afternoon in court waiting on papers. It should be fast but what Jennifer didn’t listen to when I told her to file the papers was that she was supposed to file them with the reservation. I know I should have checked up on the paperwork sooner but I know they usually take a while so I didn’t bother. I waited the process and rushed over to the store to get Jamie’s phone before going back to the office.

“Your assistant wasn’t answering her phone” I looked over my shoulder to see Beth walking up.

“And you couldn’t press another two buttons to call me?” She gave me an annoyed look while I unlocked the door for her.

“You don’t seem to pick up your phone either” I look down at it with the time stamp saying 6 and a miss call from Beth.

“Was in a reservation filing paperwork and staying to make the process faster” I motion to the file in my hand and throw it to the table.

“Have you eaten?” She asked softly, taking a seat.

“Yes mom”

“Don’t tempt me with grounding you, I could pass as your mother” I chuckle, leaning back and closing my eyes. Looking at her wasn’t easy, knowing what she went through and I know Beth wasn’t weak but what she went through wasn’t either. I can’t see the bruises she carries and not imagine those men beating her up. Or the way Rip limped this morning because of the bullets he received that night.

“That would make you 13 when you had me” I look over at her just staring at me.

“I would have made a hot teen mother” We laughed but soon enough it died down.

“What's in your head?” She gets up making herself a drink offering me one but I deny it. I was working late and I didn’t need it to make this night longer.

“My role in this family is to keep it together for the sake of my dad” I shake my head agreeing with her. She was doing all of this for him, I knew that. “Kayce is majorly helping with this but if anything goes wrong with this divorce” She was mainly talking about his son. “Than it could not only affect him, the farm but also my dad”

“I will make it happen”

“I know” She leans back into the chair taking thelast sip of her drink. “What I am saying is that if it makes it easier and cuts the time short then I will take care of the dirty work if you need it.” That was not necessary. I know I could do it.

“Of course Beth” I smile. She sets the cup down and I get up as she heads out the door.

“You don’t need to walk me out. I can take care of myself” She leaves with one last smile closing my office door. Of course I wasn’t listening to her. I walk out after hearing the main door close. I watch her get in her car and drive away safely. I let out a yawn preparing myself for more research and making sure I had everything set on Kayce’s divorce case. Monica had made it clear she wanted full custody and would only allow Tate to visit under her rules. Kayce wanted to pull the same fight but John suggested otherwise. They agreed to go with shared custody. Once I was done with enough for the day I packed everything up again and drove to the ranch. Getting in a late dinner, warm shower, and straight to my bed seemed like a perfect end to the night.

“Get into the car” I was walking up the stairs before releasing Kayce was behind me as he grabbed my things and placed them in the back of a truck. I look over to the driver's seat and see John. I didn’t ask any question as I got in or while we were heading to our destination.

“I just want you to observe and listen” I nod, getting out of the truck together. Officers surrounded the victim on the road. The sheriff approaches John as he is examining the body. It was an officer for Rainwater.

“Am not saying it was you but that it looks like you” It doesn’t sit well with John but knowing Donnie, he knows they are on the same page.

“You can turn around if you want” Kayce says next to me

“Shh” I shush him walking closer to the men speaking but not enough to catch their attention.

“Now we know who did it” Rainwater states looking over to the sheriff

“No evidence other than the bullet in his head”

“That halts construction” Rainwater says lastly, leaving Donnie and John talking. I hear their last words and how John says he's not fazed about an attempt from the Beck brothers. He walks over to Kayce and begins talking to him.

“Native?” I shake my head. “Mexican?” I look over confused at his words. “Am just curious on the kind of person you are”

“Why?” I turn my whole body towards his direction. “Because I am involved with the Dutton family and I should maybe be involved with other people?” I know who I was and what I stood for. Rainwater chuckles a bit, looks behind me and then at me again.

“I’d like to pick your brain someday, if that's okay with you?” I nod. He extends his hand and I shake it before departing towards the Duttons. Kayce looking at Rainwater walks away and I ignore his stare getting into the car. We arrive and I walk directly to the kitchen.

“Do you want a drink now?” I look up from leaning against the island.

“No” I said a little too coldly before taking a cup.

“What are you, 8?” I laugh while finishing pouring milk into my cup.

“I wish” I whisper while walking over to her and we take a seat in the living room.

“What do you have in your agenda tomorrow?”

“Sitting down with Monica and Kayce and following up on a couple other things but I should be free until 10 and finish around lunch time”

“Want to go out tonight?” I haven’t gone out in a while. What could happen?

Helpless

Description: She worked as a lawyer in New York until she received a phone call from the man she owes her career to. She knew she would be back and what she was in for but what she didn’t know is that her life would change even more than she imagined.

Part 4

Chapter 3

I walked out to the porch taking my morning coffee and enjoying the morning dew. John wasn’t kidding when he said this place would keep me busy the first few days but yet again he didn’t remember that I was an overachiever. “When is it going to be my turn?” I turn at the sound of a little boy. I look over and see Rip training the same horse Kayce was that morning.

“You have to be patient Tate, this can’t be done in one day” Rip laughs continuing whatever he was doing. I walk up leaning against the fence and watching Rip.

“Hello?” I look over at the brown wide-eyed boy. He looked nothing like his father, everything from his mother.

“Goodmorning Tate”

“How do you know my name?” He asked, confused, backing up a little.

“My name is Y/N, I am a family friend” I extend my hand and the next second he shakes it confidently.

“Grandpa told me about you” I furrowed my eyebrows, surprised about that. “I was asking him for a horse and he was speaking about responsibility and such and that's when you came up”

“I hope it was all good things” I smile

“I guess, don’t tell him but I kind of stopped hearing him after he agreed on getting me a horse” I shake my head but before I said anything else screams were being heard from the barn.

“Stay here” Rip sternly said, referring to keeping an eye on the small boy.

“What's going on?”

“I don’t know Tate but I think we should go inside for a while” The boy looks back but nods following my motion to get him inside the house. “Did you have breakfast yet?”

“Yes! Grandpa let me have pancakes, bacon, chocolate milk” He stopped walking closer to me and whispering “Don’t tell my mom but he also let me have one of the big cookies”

“I won’t tell a soul”

“Do you want one? I know where they keep them” I couldn’t put a word in as he ran off to the pantry. I take a seat at the stool waiting on Tate to be back but it's not long after that that I hear the door open.

“Tate?” I watch Kayce look around the kitchen and land his eyes on me. “Have you-”

“Dad?” He stops mid run. His hands around his back.

“You are going to be late for school” I hold in a smile as Kayce stalks over to his son. “What's behind you?” Tate slowly pulls out one hand revealing a big cookie

“Its for Y/N” he looks over at me with pleas in his eyes

“And what about the other one?” Tate pulls out his hand holding another cookie. Tate looks at me again and then defeat covers them.

“I asked him for two.” I stood him walking behind Tate and taking both cookies. “I haven’t had breakfast” I smile innocently towards both boys.

“Yeah..” Tate continues.

“Go on” Kayce smiles at Tate. “Your mother is outside waiting to take you to school” With a last smile Tate grabs his bag, kisses Kayce’s cheek before running out the door. I look over at Kayce but Rip walks through the door first.

“Its Jimmy” I nod understanding what he means. Since Jimmy has gotten here it was peaceful and I was aware of the situation he was pulled from. Recently before arriving I was asked by Jamie to take on a case for him and it involved Jimmy. He had an altercation with his old pals and needed it to go away. Having camera footage and witnesses become not valid evidence was hard but I made it happen. I am sure this won’t be any different. I looked over to Kayce knowing this was my last chance to talk to him before I got wrapped up into something.

“Remember I set up a meeting for you and Monica at 11.” I walk over to Rip pushing the two cookies in his hands

“What are these for?” I quickly shrugged

“I don’t like cookies” I shut the door behind me walking over to the barn

“He's dead” That is the first thing I hear. Jimmy is seated in the kitchen. I go up kneeling down in front of him. In a million ways he reminds me of my own brother. Sweet, caring, when they tell him he is too weak and will never do it, he goes out there no matter if his face ends up in the dirt.

“Did they have anything to do with any of it?”He looks up from his hands.

“Of course they did! I know it was them. The officer came by and told me he took a beating which caused his death. I paid them and still went and did this!” I nod, grabbing onto his hands.

“Okay. What do you want me to do?” There won’t be much to go from this. No witness. No evidence other than it was an assault but nothing can be proven unless someone comes forward.

“Rip said we would take care of it but he also told me you could” I could. There was always a way and now I knew why Rip sent me in here.

“There is. Send him for life. You just let me know” He shakes his

head violently.

“I don’t think that would be enough. He needs to pay and not live-” I stand up cutting him off. “I don’t want to make you do something I know you don’t want too” He looks up. Red eyes.

“I work for the Duttons Jimmy, you just have to say the word” I stayed a bit after that making sure he was okay and then went to find Rip. Of course he said he was going to take care of it. I knew what it meant but never asked for details, I knew better than that.

“What did Jimmy decide?” I look up from the awkward air that surrounded my office. Kayce and I were currently waiting on Monica to show up and it has been a long 5 minutes.

“Seems like he is going with Rip” I let out a sigh looking down at the paperwork. Everything was written and printed. Unless they decide to change something then it is all done. All they had to do was sign. “Can I ask you a question?” I look up, seeing blanks in his eyes. Before I could open my mouth again my phone started ringing. “Hello?”

“Meet me down at the bar in main street across from Veronica's Boutique” I hear a dry chuckle “What left of it”

“I thought we agreed on drinks tonight?”

“Y/N” Even if she was laughing a second ago doesn’t take away the pain and even more tiredness from her voice. “Monica is here, tell Kayce to sign it and well, your smart make something up” another conversation that I don’t get to say anything in. I place the phone in my pocket and start packing.

“Sign the papers. I have to leave and I will catch up with Monica later to make sure she agrees with everything or if she wants to change anything” Kayce looks confused.

“This is serious Y/N. I know you are busy but we can wait another 5 minutes.” His voice starts to rise. “This is about my kid, my son”

“Kayce I understand but I had things come up. I will text Monica-”

“I heard you say drinks! You can take care of those things

another time, Do I have to remind you that you work for us? I apologize if my attitude towards you made this not so important but-” I slam my hand on the desk ready to scream but I took a deep breath and looked up at Kayce who was already standing.

“This has nothing to do with your attitude towards me. When I decide to take on a divorce case I want nothing else than what is best for the child if involved.” Conveniently a text came through from what I could tell was a drunk Beth. “Monica agreed to meet later on this afternoon since she had something come up” I grabbed my things and walked to my office door. “And for the record I work for John, not you” I shut the door leaving him in my office. “Once Mr. Dutton leaves, you can take the rest of the day off” Jennifer nods. I take the drive down to the bar as a cool down moment. I haven’t known Kayce for a long time and I bet he was alright but goddamn did he know how to set me off with just a look.

“Look who's here” I didn’t even have to look around to find them. Monica gave me a sympathetic look. They were at a booth. “I’ll go get us some drinks”

“Beth” I warned taking a seat across from Monica

“You two worry so much” And there she goes, off to the bar. I look over to Monica who’s already staring at me. “What happened?”

“Had an altercation with Vernoica at her store. She falsely accused me of stealing and got the cops called on me. Before Beth arrived they looked through my belongings and then made me strip down in the dressing room because she insisted I had stolen something” I could see the residue tears still haunting her cheeks. “She took a look at my skin and decided to judge me”

“Seems like you need the drink” She lightly smiles. “What did she do?” I looked over to Beth who was talking to the bartender while having our drinks right infront of her.

“Broke and knocked over somethings” Monica wiped off a couple more tears that slid down her face again.

“What else?” I know Beth so I knew there was more than just a couple broken items.

“Made her strip down to try out a dress but I stopped it before it got worse” You could see she regretted and felt bad for Beth’s actions.

“She did it to protect you, you are part of her family” She looks up and then down at the folder I was holding

“Soon I won’t be” She sighs.

“We can talk about this some other day” She stopped me from moving the papers into my bag.

“No. I need to do this now.” She pulls the papers towards her.

“Half and half. Weekends are alternated. Monthly support is accessful for anything Tate may need. Holidays are between the two of you to agree on” She checks over the paperwork carefully.“Partially custody, but the most important thing is that Tate has both their parents present and involved” She signs the papers and slides it to me. I slide it in my bag and look over to Beth again. “Let’s drink” I didn’t have to take care of anything else important right now so drinks it is. I get up grabbing the cups from Beth.

“Hey this idiot-”I didn’t let her finish as I pulled her towards the table. I pulled out a twenty and placed it infront of the bartender.

“Keep the drinks coming, this is just an apology” He nods apologetic. This is going to be a long night. The drinks kept coming and soon enough the afternoon people left the bar and the night people showed up. It was Tuesday and the bar seemed like the weekend. Maybe the fact that Beth shouted that drinks were on her was the reason it brought people in. See I want to say I have better consiocious than this but in my soul I needed this. I hadn’t stopped to think about what I had agreed to. Surely my parents or whoever cared for me deeply wouldn’t want me to help with any of this, but am still here.

“What did they do to you?” My chin is lifted up and I come face to face with Rip. “I thought you knew better than this” A drunken smile stretched across my face as I took his hand in mine.

“Dance with me?” I got up from the stool and tried to drag him to the dance floor but not even sober could I move him an inch.

“Not tonight, I have something to do in an hour so let's get you girls home” I look over to see Ryan,Jimmy,Lloyd and a couple of other cowboys in the bar handling Beth and Monica out the door. “Ready?” He asked it more of a suggestion since he was already dragging me out the door.

“What time is it?” He opens the back door and helps me get inside.

“7” We have been in the bar for 6 hours. The sun was already setting by 5 so it was no surprise it was dark already. “Wrap that blanket around you” He ordered pointing to the seat. The door shuts and I look forward and Beth is passed out in the passenger seat. “Ryan is taking care of Monica, she will make sure she gets home safe” I nod resting my head back. Silence took over as he started the car and drove off towards the ranch. “John will not like this” I didn’t feel drunk, I felt tired. Like when you haven’t slept for days and your body aches because it hasn’t stopped to rest. I don’t feel nauseous or disoriented right now. I couldn’t walk in a straight line if you asked me but I could count backgrounds from any number and file a lawsuit if need be. “He had been calling you and Beth like crazy until he finally decided to seen us out to look for both of you”

“I'm sorry” I felt bad now. I don’t think I did anything wrong but imagining how scared John felt when he didn’t hear from Beth for those six hours must have felt horrible. The Beck Brothers won’t stop coming after John until he is ruined and I know for a fact that if he has too he will attack twice in the same place.

“Don’t be sorry, I am the one who offered you drinks and it was because of me that you stayed and drank so much” Beth was now awake looking straight at Rip but Rip knew better than to look her way right now.

“Beth..” Rip warned taking off his seat belt as we crossed the ranch gates.

“Don’t Beth me. She can’t get drunk on her own even if her life depended on it” I felt offended and it pained to hear that for some reason.

“What?! Yes I can!” I push myself forward to lean against the armrest.

“Y/N Lean back in the seat” Rip now warned looking at me using the rearview mirror

“Don’t scream at her” Beth hits his arm unbuckling herself as the truck comes to a stop.

“Yeah!” I hit him this time. “I can do what I want and what I want is to continue drinking” I turned towards the door but I was unable to open it. “Rip open the door!”

“Did you put the child safety lock on the door?!” Beth starts arguing again. “She’s not a baby!” she hits him again

“Yeah! Am not a baby!” I go to hit him but he opens the door and escapes. A few seconds later Beth doors open and Rip is on the other side trying to get her out.

“I don’t have time for both of them right now” Rip, annoyed, tells whoever is outside with him. “I’ll grab this one and you take the other one” He pulls her out and I hear Beth mutter some words. “I will meet you outside in 30 minutes so we can leave. '' I could hear Beth fight, not wanting anyhelp before the door shuts and mine opens.

“I guess you are mine” Maybe I am drunk because hearing those words come out of his mouth made me feel something.

“I don’t need help” I groaned, almost falling face first onto the ground. “I slipped” Truth is I was feeling a little nervous under his gaze. Nothing to say about that other than that I felt a little embarrassed that he had to do this and knowing I am not his favorite person. I don’t even make it to the list of people he can tolerate on a daily basis.

“Let's just get you to bed” There it is, that irritated voice again. Seems like he saves it just for me. I know he doesn’t like me but why? I mean I don’t care but like why can’t he just be nice enough not to sound so disgusted or annoyed by not only my presence but anything that has to do with me.

“No” I huffed, stomping my foot and stopping mid stairs. “Well yeah but not to bed!” I thought about it. I wanted a drink but I had to enter the house to get to it. I pushed open the door and looked around first.I wasn’t about to make a fool of myself and give him a hard time in front of anyone else.

“Don’t be difficult, I have things to do” I rolled my eyes, going straight for the liquor. I didn’t know much about what was best or what I could pour in a cup and just drink so I stuck with beer. “Hey, don’t!” He walks over to me but I go around the island avoiding him. “Look I don’t have to do this but I choose to because for some reason my dad wants you here and needs your help” see that right there makes my blood boil. Yes I know I am here for John and nobody else. I don’t accept thank you’s, any form of gratitude or apologise but the fact that he doesn’t acknowledge it makes me a little ticked off. “Now can you be-” I walk over to the next room in search of my bag. I drag out the divorce papers and slide it across the island when I walk back to him.

“You don’t have to do anything for me. I choose to get drunk and choose to continue drinking. And you’re right, just because John likes me and needs me here doesn’t mean you have to be nice to me but atleast you can show how you really feel about me instead of trying to act nice because someone asked or because that's what you think they want from you! I have to be nice to you but I also have the right to stand up for myself and not be treated like some kind of pest you don’t want around!” He shakes his head, taking the drink from my hand and finishing the rest.

“Fine!” I take a step back to walk away from I feel the room shake as I am lifted from the ground

“Kayce!” I start pounding my fist on his back “Put me down! I can walk on my own” The room continues to shake as he walks up the stairs.

“You’re acting like a child and so I will put you to bed and we will talk about the things you said tomorrow!” He walks down the hall opening the door.

“”You’re acting like a child! I can take care of myself! I don’t need to talk about anything with you if it doesn’t have anything to do with work”He throws me on the bed and I don’t have enough strength to get up

“My divorce will not be the only thing we will be working together on, so best get the formalities over with and figure out how to tolerate eachother without killing ourselves for the sake of the ranch”

“Kayce?” I whisper not wanting to scream or talk loud anymore. I hear a hum. “Be careful out there and whatever you do don’t do more than you have too because I don’t want too much work when it gets to my desk” I hear a faint chuckle as I wrap myself in my blanket.

“We will talk about that tomorrow too”

Helpless

Description: She worked as a lawyer in New York until she received a phone call from the man she owes her career to. She knew she would be back and what she was in for but what she didn’t know is that her life would change even more than she imagined.

A/N: This chapter is going to be short. I want to focus more of the main character than the plot. In the next chapters that’s what it will be but here and there it will include the plot because it affects them as well. Thank you❤️.

Part 5

Chapter 4

The next day, or so I hoped it was, feeling how tired and sleep deprived I felt I woke up to my phone ringing. “Hello?”

“Y/N, This is Donnie. Tell John Jenkins is dead” I got dressed in a hurry finishing the call with the sheriff and rushing downstairs.

“Where’s John?” I ask Beth as I see her walking down the hallway

“Office” Beth's eyes seemed to want to tell me something but I ignored it as I walked towards John’s office. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I rush in until I notice Jamie and Kayce there too.

“I heard you had a long night” He sits in his chair. “We have matters to discuss so if you can give us a minute” He motions to the doors.

“Jenkins is dead” I flat out said. “Donnie doesn't know how long he can keep it a secret but he can get you a day” I could feel Kayce’s stare as I walked mid center infront of John’s desk. I want to look at him and tell him I was sorry. For what? That won’t help. I didn’t have anything to be sorry for but I felt bad, no one should be going through this.

“We can’t worry about it now. We will take care of it. I need to get a warrant” I nod.

“Donnie agreed to keep his cousins down since when off duty they get extra work as Becks security”

“Get me that warrant” I nod again walking out of the office and to get changed into real clothes this time. I rush over to the office and get everything situated and set over to John.

“Hello?” I answer my phone wanting nothing else than to get back to the ranch and help evey way possible.

“Hey Y/N. Just wanted to check in to see if we were still on for drinks?” Shit.I forgot it was today.

“Cassidy” I tried not to sound so surprised and chipper. “I am actually in a rush right now. Didn’t see it coming, we will have to reschedule. I hope that's not a problem?”

“That's okay. I know we will have a chance soon enough to have dinner or atleast coffee together”

“Thank you for being so understanding. I will call you to reschedule” I didn’t wait to hear her respond before saying goodbye and ending the phone call. I got to the ranch and felt useless just walking around the living room. Getting news little by little. Like how Kayce was sent out with a warrant to the Becks and got information on a milita that knew where Tate was. It was evening now and John and the rest of the cowboys were out. This was the worst part. Knowing in any second or maybe it was happening now but that Rip was getting sent out as practically bait.

“What is going on?” I hear the door open to see a red eyed Monica still with fresh tears in her face. I offer her seat and tell her everything I knew up to this point. We watch the sun start rising as we, including Beth, sit on the couch watching the glass doors.

“Do you want coffee?” I looked over to Monica who was laying her head on Beth’s lap. We havent closed our eyes since the last morning. She tried to speak but her rough voice didn’t allow her to. I only nod, getting up to go towards the kitchen. I wait for the coffee to finish and look up towards the window and see John getting out of his truck. I place the coffee in a cup and walk out to see Monica huggin John.

“He's okay?” she sobbed in his arms. She asked it as a question, doubting until she could finally hold him in his arms again.

“The sheriff is driving them over at this moment” Monica whips some tears pulling away from John. I hear the front door open to see Beth walking out and a few seconds later John follows.

“Here. You are going to need some energy” I handed her the cup and gently made sure she sat back on the couch. I watch as she finishes the coffee and sets it down. How she closes her eyes slowly fighting to keep awake but sleep wins. Finally allowing herself to let most of her worry go away. I don’t know how long it was until I saw John walking in with Tate in his arms. He looks over at Monica and then at me.

“Give me a minute” I nod, getting up and picking the cup to set it in the sink. I take a deep breath and go back into the living room. Seeing Tate gives me some relief from the past day, but I can’t imagine how much Monica is going to feel. I look up seeing Kayce walking down the stairs. “How long?” I look over to Monica and back at Kayce.

“10 minutes?” I am unsure on how long Monica had closed her eyes. Kayce nods, walking closer to the couch. “I’ll be outside” I walk out and wrap myself with my arms embracing the cold air of the morning. I walk over and take a seat on the rocking chair and close my eyes. I don’t know how long it passed but I didn't open my eyes until I heard the door open again. “How is he?” I spoke first seeing Kayce looking at the distance.

“He will be okay,” He whispered, shaking his head. It seemed like he was trying to convince himself of that too. “Look..” I wave my hand stopping him.

“Let's talk tomorrow. You have a lot of things to do and catch up on some sleep” I smile, giving him a pat on the shoulder before entering the house and going straight to bed. I slept until 1. Got a quick shower done and off to find John I went. I saw him walking past me to his office. Jamie in his suit again.

“Goodmorning” He smiles walking past me. I guess his cowboying days are over.

“We need to talk” John motions for me to sit down. He wears a black suit and tired eyes.

“I am no longer livestock commissioner” All I have to say is wow. “People are going to figure out the person kidnapped is my blood and it will not look good for me”

“Am guessing Jamie wasn’t your first option” He shakes his head directing his view outside.

“Kayce didn’t want any part of it” He sits up in his chair looking over at me now. “Me and the the rest of the wranglers are going to set camp to make sure the cattle can go back for summer”

“What?Do you need me to keep watch?” I chuckle

“You have never even touched a horse from the day you’ve been here, if you can ride a horse you can be a foreman” We laugh feeling some relief but of course that always ends quickly. “But I do need you to keep watch on loose strands here and especially on Jamie”

“How long are you going to be out there for?” John shrugs

“Until it all makes sense again” I nod. I know he knows what he is doing all of this for. What his purpose of fighting and breathing is for. This is his land and he wants to keep it that way so he can pass it on.

The next day I watched them depart for camp. Monica decided it was best for Tate to go with them since he loved being a cowboy. It included fishing, horse riding, spending time with his grandfather and father but especially not going to school. For the next few days things are going to take a turn. With Jamie in office now and Beck's death. The new company taking over Jenkins land and wanting to stop Rainwater’s construction. The Duttons are strong but when it comes to getting help with something they think they can take care of, God, they are stubborn.

Helpless

Description: She worked as a lawyer in New York until she received a phone call from the man she owes her career to. She knew she would be back and what she was in for but what she didn’t know is that her life would change even more than she imagined.

PART 6

Chapter 5:

I walk down to the kitchen smelling breakfast, but there is no one home except Beth and I but I knew for a fact she was spending her time with Rip. “Good Morning” My heart stopped worrying thinking someone had broken in. “Monica made breakfast before leaving. Kayce motions at the eggs, bacon, biscuits and coffee in the island table.

“Thought you put on an apron and became a housewife” I wasn’t annoyed by him but it surely came out that way. “Aren’t you supposed to be out at camp?” I fill a cup of coffee and turn to lean against the island to look at him.

“You said we needed to talk,” He said calmly, taking a bite of his bacon.

“Kayce, it's nothing important to ride all the way up here. This conversation could have waited until you came back” He nods, going back to eating. “But since you are here and it seems Monica made food for a whole village I guess we can finish what we can and talk” I pull out a stool beside him. “So where do we start?” His whole body turns my direction

“I need to know the truth.” I look over. “If you are going to stay here and be part of this family like my dad wants, I want to know that I can trust you. I want to know that you are here and on our side, because I don’t want anyone else that I love to be put at risk” I could hear his voice crack a bit and he is no longer staring at me but at a distance.

“Okay” I whisper, putting my coffee down and turning towards him again. “If that's what it takes I understand. But all I ask is to hear my side of everything before you judge anything” He only nods. “When I was 16 I had an argument with my parents, mainly my mother. Maybe it was my fault and maybe there was a fix to things but at that time I was only 16. It sounds stupid to say that it was only because of a rumor that I ended up away from home but for me it was a ball of snow and that day was the push” I moved my eyes away knowing I would not be able to say anything by looking into his eyes. “ My family thrived on being perfect and better than anyone else. They didn’t believe in mistakes and I was the example of everything they stood for. I got good grades, I never missed school, I listened with respect and gave respect even when the person didn’t deserve it. I hated it but I did it because I knew it was important to them and for me they were the only thing that mattered. That day I came home and they were waiting for me. Before I could even open my mouth to speak I was met with a slap. My mother screamed at me saying how I was a horrible daughter. How I was a disappointment. They heard from a lady that I had allowed myself to sleep around with a guy. The guy telling everyone around town that I offered myself like some kind of prostitute to him and his friends. I tried to defend myself knowing the fact of the matter was that the rumor was true but I wasn’t the girl they were talking about. While she stood there not allowing me to speak she took her time to scream and physically abuse me. I told myself maybe this is it. This is my chance to get away from it all. To not only escape from the image but to break theirs. My father got in the way once I was on the floor limp. I grabbed what I could and rushed out the door. I walked and walked until I could no longer move. Getting here was days of hunger and days of asking for a ride.” I look over to him getting out of my stool to place the coffee cup in the sink. “Since then I haven’t been back home. I could have gone back and remedied everything but I won’t”

“Why?” I turn to see him stand next to me. “Why not go back and prove that it wasn’t you? Why go all those years without giving them a chance to change what happened” I turn off the water and look over to him again.

“There is nothing I can change about that now. They made their decision. They could have looked for me all those years but have I heard from them once? No.”

“Then you should be the one to go and talk to them” I shake my head starting to get frustrated.

“No. I could but I won’t. I won’t face those people who don’t care about me anymore”

“You don’t know that” He followed close behind as I walked towards the door.

“I don’t, and I also don’t want to find out.” I got to open the door but I stop once I hear his words

“Is this what you are going to do? You are just going to quit and not fight? You speak about having loyalty to us but the people you loved the most you won’t fight for?” I turn around pushing my finger in his chest.

“You don’t know me. All I asked of you was to listen and not judge. You don’t know the full story of everything I went through, that was just the top of the icing. You wanted to know how I got here, I told you! And like I said before, you can either be nice because you truly feel like it or show me who you really are but don’t try to be someone you are not with me.”After the discussion with Kayce I walked out the door only to realize what I was wearing wasn’t appropriate for the cold weather. But being the stupid person I was I just continued to walk down the road.

“You’re going to get sick!” I turn my head to see Rip leaning against the railing of his porch. “It's too early for you too, what's wrong?” I walk up sitting on the front steps.

“I told Kayce how I ended up here” I looked up waiting for him to say something but he only looked at the distance. “I told him to trust me but the only thing I got from him was judgement.” I feel him sit beside me and offer his cup. “I already had my coffee”

“It's not coffee” I smile while taking the cup. “I needed it this morning” I chuckle while finishing the rest of whatever alcohol was left.

“You and Beth seem to be geting along better” I look over and see a grin not wanting to smile.

“You can say that” I was about to intervene to get more details until I heard a horse come closer. “Why don’t you go inside to warm up? Beth is in there” I nod moving my eyes away from Kayce. I walked in grabbing a coat nearby because I was still cold.

“Do you have something to tell me?” I turn around to see Beth in the kitchen with only Rip's shirt on. I furrowed my brows not knowing what she meant. “Showing up to Rip's new home in little clothes?” mI shake my head with a laugh

“Shut up” I walk over setting the cup in the sink. “Had a little argument with your brother, walked out the house without thinking”

“And too stubborn to go back” All the Duttons make me roll my eyes, and I notice maybe it's just them? “I heard you and Rip talking. Why did you decide to tell him?” I shrug and take a seat.

“You know I hate hostility and that was all that he was giving me. People around here don’t trust easily and I wanted to get that out the way, instead I feel like I got more hatred” Beth sits down beside me

“It’s hard for him.Trust me that he has a good heart. A better heart than us Dutton” She sighs, taking in a deep breath. “He is too good for this place. I thought when Monica came into his life and he left he would be gone for good”

“I thought he liked this place?” She shakes her head.

“This is like a trap for him. He is only here because for him this is all he can give Tate.” I nod understanding just a little more about Kayce.

“Doesn’t mean he has to be an asshole and annoying” I whisper until I hear Beth start laughing.

“All you need to do is spend more time with him. Let him know you and you him” I look over seeing a grin on her face.

“Oh for fuck sake Beth, he just got divorce!” I whisper yell not knowing if he was still outside the door with Rip.

“What?! I didn’t say anything but what I will mention is that he has not gotten some in a while and I know you haven-”

“Okay” I stop her. I take out Rip’s coat. “I will leave before anything else is said” Beth follows me towards the door as I walk out.

“He can keep you warm at night!” I walked past Rip and Kayce toward the main house. I only shake my head at Beth’s comment. I would be lying if I said It didn’t cause a smile to appear on my face.

Truth is I do find him attractive. He needs to cut his hair but the rugged look he can surely pull off. I grew up in a town where cowboys or farmers weren’t a thing, mainly country clothes but they didnt get down and dirty with cattle or horses. Then moving to the city was a drastic change. I switched my converse to heels. I didn’t wear jeans anymore but pencil skirts and dresses. I didn’t tie my hair up or put on a cap anymore. Around me were suit wearing men all the time. A little wrinkle in your shirt made you unwealthy. Since the day I arrived I have been wearing my same wardrobe but included some leggings. On accusations that I wore pants they were business pants with blouses that weren’t considered country attire. So when I saw him in a plain brown jacket and jeans that seemed to be dragged through the dirt I found myself wanting to be closer to him. It was the rough hands and the rough not comb through hair. He looked presentable enough but always showed he was a worker. Can’t explain it but just know I didn’t mind him, that was until he opened his mouth. That made me wonder what I was thinking. Cowboys are rude and distateful. They can be sweet at times but they are mostly cussing out people or fighting. They have a short temper and have a look of hatred all the time. But when they smile it is like every red flag gets thrown out the window.

PART 6

HELPLESS

Description: She worked as a lawyer in New York until she received a phone call from the man she owes her career to. She knew she would be back and what she was in for but what she didn’t know is that her life would change even more than she imagined.

Part 7

Chapter 6:

I avoided doing anything else than what was already on my plate. I didn’t stop by to check on Jamie on his first day. I didn’t try to instigate anything to do with what happened with Tate. The only things I tried focusing on was the trail back home. “How are you doing?”

“Okay. My lawyer pulled a restraining order on him and all of his immediate family” I have been keeping in contact with my cousin. It took her two years to admit she was the one in those rumors. I knew of it back then but it was up to her to tell everyone not me. I didn’t get angry or upset that she didn’t defend me when she heard I left or say something when people were bashing my family for the kind of daughter they raised. I was waiting for more but she didn’t continue.

“What happened?” I heard a slight cry on the other side of the phone. “Sofie what happened?” She had filed a restraining order against the guy two years ago and I didn’t find out until a couple months ago that she dismissed it 4 months later and were still talking. The case continued and when he found out she wouldn’t stop he got aggressive. Didn’t know about that either.

“My lawyer advised me to take the deal. They said if he is put on the list of offenders his lawyer could place me with child endangerment” At the time of the accident she was with a younger family memeber. No evidence was proved to have affected the young child but anything can randomly appear and touch the jurys heart. “The deal agree on the restraining order being removed, the payment of his lawyer fees along with emotional damage” That mother-fucker. “I don’t want to let this go” She whispered. “Please” I knew what she was asking but I only shaked my head, closing my eyes. I can’t. “I know you don’t want to get involved but I need you here, like old times” I can’t, I can’t go back. “Y/N?” I put my attention back on the phone call. “I know I don’t owe you anything after all I did but I need you here, just like I know you need it in your soul to come back and put everything behind you”

“When is the next court date?” I don’t know what I was pulling

myself in. I didn’t only have to face the people who talked and looked my way in a form of disgust but I will also have to face my family. The one I worked so hard to forget and heal from, I could almost see it. I got out of the office early and rushed towards the ranch. “I need a ride” I scream when I see Rip climbing down from his horse.

“Beth is not going to like that” I hit his arm earning a fake groan.

“Not that kind of ride, I need to go see John” Rip laughs

“Well I thought since you never in your life would ask to be on a horse” He shruggs pulling his horse into the stable. “But no can do, you will have to wait til tomorrow” I look over at the direction he was looking and see Beth making her way down the path towards his cabin. “Ask Kaycee” I looked over to where he was pointing. He was getting out of his truck and going into the house. I turn towards him again. “Those eyes always worked but not against the fire in Beth’s” I roll my eyes.

“I hope she burns you” I scream walking out the barn and into the house.

“I didn’t expect you to be here for lunch?” I look over to see Monica in the kitchen. “I can cook something real fast for you, without Tate here I am going crazy not doing anything after school” I smile climbing on to the stool.

“No thank you. I have a long walk ahead of me” She questions me with her look. “I have to talk with John. I am leaving planning to leave for a couple of days”

“Where?”

“Home” I sigh, getting up. “If I leave soon enough I won’t have time to question why” I smile knowing she doesn’t need to know anything about what's going on. I grab some water and head towards the door.

“You can’t go dressed like that” This time I was wearing sneakers but she was right, the clothes were appropriate. Then again I didn’t have anything else. “Am packing since there is no reason for me to stay here so you can borrow some of my clothes”

“It's okay, I can just dirty some old clothes” I watch Monica shake her head, grabbing my arm and pulling towards Tates room where she has been staying.

“I have seen your wardrobe and they are not going to keep you warm enough and comfortable enough to get there and back” I whisper a thank you as I watch her pull out some clothes for me.

“Do I look funny?” I say walking out the bathroom already changed and with her boots on.

“Other than the hair, you no longer look like a city girl” My hair was still down and with curls in place.

“Thank you” I look over to the window and see the sun going down. “I need to go”

“You won’t take a horse?”

“No. Am not afraid of them but I am afraid of falling” I say walking out the door with her following close behind.

“That's why you hold on tight” she smiles as I open the door.

“That would help if I also knew even the first thing in riding one” I wave goodbye before starting my walk down the path. I run miles and walk even more than them so how could this be any different?

Let me tell you. Huge!! Difference. First of all, I am not in a warm facility running in the same spot. I am out in the fields freezing in every inch of my body. Second I am not surrounded by four walls to protect me and in company of people that show to not be harmful. Right now I am currently walking in the middle for everyone to see me. There are creatures here that can tear me to shreds in a second. Why in the hell did I decide to do this while the sun was coming down, down came the temperatures and so did my energy. But I needed to do this today. I was planning to leave in the late morning. I knew this trip was going to take a long time regardless of how I got there.

“Are you crazy!?” I scream, kneeling down to the ground and looking around my surroundings “Y/N?” Of course the not long enough grass wasn’t covering me.

“Kaycee?” The yellow/orange hue of the sun was disappearing so it was hard to see from a distance who it was.

“Monica told me you decide to walk instead of riding” I rolled my eyes about to say something “I know you don’t know how to ride but you could have asked Rip or another cowboy here” I cross my arm as he comes down his horse. “Rip or me” he corrected himself. All the other cowboys were with John. It was nice of him to follow me but when he starts off telling me things I knew I did wrong it reminds me of how mad I am with him. “Where are you going?”

“To see John” I had already turned around and walked away.

“Let me give you a ride, that's why I came here” so nice of you, but no. Stupid. “Stop” I hear him scream from behind. I get startled by the sound of the horse coming closer to cut me off “I said stop!” I look up annoyed

“Just leave, I will get there eventually” I look down, focusing on the horse itself. How scary. In my life I have never been so close to an animal bigger than me. I don’t know what came over me but my hands started reaching out to touch its main. That was until my hands were grabbed and I could no longer feel the ground. “Let me down!” My body was placed over the horse, stomach down.

“You don’t get to pet the horse until you stop being so stubborn” The horse wasn’t going quick but the anxiety in me did.

“Kaycee” I reach over to grab anything not trusting myself to touch the horse in any way that could affect it. The hand he used to hold on to me quickly moved to position me up.

“It’s okay” I was currently facing forwards with his arms wrapped around me for support.

“You’re so stupid” I whisper. I didn’t know if I was shiving because I was cold or how afraid I was right now. The horse continued walking now. My eyes stayed shut as I leaned further back.

“You’re the stupid one. Coming down here alone not even with a horse. You know we have wolves here right?” I nod my head slowly. “These clothes would keep you warm for a while not for a long walk” I nod my head again, taking hold of his hand that he was removing from mine. “ I need to take hold of the reigns”

“Okay” I nod but not noticing I was still holding on to him until he chuckles and stops the horse to get down.

“Slide down” I look down with panic in my eyes. This time I shake my head no and he rolls his eyes. He quickly grabs hold of my waist and pulls me back trying not to alarm the horse. Before I can argue he gets on and my arms instantly wrap around his waist. “Hold on. We need to get there before we freeze out here” I wasn’t listening to him. I was only holding on tight with my eyes closed and pressed up against him. I was afraid. I was afraid of something I could control. The horse I was on I couldn’t control. It could take off and drop us somewhere causing pain. Other things I was afraid of was anything involving me on it or in it that moved on its own. Elevators, cars other people were driving, ferris wheels, hell I was afraid of bridges no matter the length. “I'm sorry” The wind was a distraction but I still heard him. “I told you I would listen and all I didn’t was question you. I had no right”

“Am going back home” Silence fell. “Not because of what you said”

“Of course” I could hear the sense of humor in his voice. “When do you leave?”

“In the morning hopefully” My voice was no longer shaking. “They are having trials. They think they can just settle a deal and be done but I won’t let them. Settling falls more on his favor and that I won’t stand”

“Do you know the person who he did it too?” I nod my head.

“Back then I knew too. I didn’t have the right to say anything”

“But that could’ve changed everything”

“Maybe that's what I wanted. I had a chance to tell them and I was going too until they would let me talk. I thought to myself maybe it's for the best. I wanted to get away for so long. Why not let it run its course?”

“And now you are helping them?”

“She’s family. We might not be a perfect family but we promised that we would be different” We promised we wouldn’t make the same mistakes as our parents. They are all fighting to keep their appearance and be the best. They talk behind eachothers back and the next second hug and talk about how great each of them are. We told eachother we would never be like that. We protect eachother but most importantly listen and understand. Because we know we are not perfect, it's us against everyone else.

Helpless

Description: She worked as a lawyer in New York until she received a phone call from the man she owes her career to. She knew she would be back and what she was in for but what she didn’t know is that her life would change even more than she imagined.

Part 8

Chapter 7:

“Dad?!” I open my eyes seeing the fire of the cowboy camp.

“Hey bud. What are you doing awake?” Kaycee climbs down giving Tate a hug.

“We are having fish” He pointed towards the fire and the rest of the cowboys talking around and laughing.

“Where’s grandpa?” Tate looks over and points at a tent. Kayce tells him to go back to the fire and wait for him. “Come on” I move my legs to the same side and jump off.

“Don’t do that again '' I told him, walking off. “John?” I hear him answer and I walk in. “This is cute and warm” Two sleeping bags on the ground and a portable light hanging from above.

“Never would have thought of seeing you in those clothes or out in the woods” I roll my eyes hearing his chuckle as he sits on the ground.

“Don’t get used to it, I almost died coming here” We both laugh this time. “I am leaving tomorrow for a couple of days. Sofie asked me to come back. She doesn’t like the settlement they are pushing on her and her stupid lawyer won’t do anything about it”

“I thought they were settling on only being in the list?” I thought so too until he thought he was smart enough

“When I get finished with him he would beg to only be placed on that list. Not only would he be fighting Sofie but I will go on trial on my part. They told me to go back and fight for what was done to me and that's what I am going to do. He started everything and he will pay for the anger I have stored in me.”

“How's Jamie?”

“I bet he is having fun dealing with what happened, haven’t received a call all day” I shrug.

“And you won’t be receiving one all night” I furrowed my brow looking down at my phone. No service.

“I see I will be back at the ranch before you”

“I like it here” I smile. I finish up talking with John before heading outside. I turn my direction towards the fire camp.

“Would you like some or are you too good for fish over the fire?” Ryan laughs, placing a piece of fish on a cold tinfoil.

“This place change you city girl?” Lloyd said, passing over the fish. I take a seat beside him on the fire as the rest laugh. The laughs die down as I cut open the fish and carefully start eating it with no hesitation

“My family on my mother's side loved to fish. Most of what was in our freezer were fish and I also spent a good amount of my childhood until I moved in the lakes with them” I look over to Ryan. “I have no trouble with a little dirt in my hands but I also won’t say no to the finer things” I shrug hearing a small laugh.

“Do you know how to fish?” I looked over to Tate who for a fact was exhausted. I bet he was enjoying himself.

“No” I shake my head.

“I do. My grandfather taught me and I have caught plenty of them today” He had a big smile on his face as he looked over to Kayce wanting to see his reaction.

“Well thank you for the amazing dinner” All our heads turn as we

hear footsteps coming up towards us.

“We are glad you liked it. Now it's time to clean up and get to bed” John says but mainly directing it towards Tate. “Kayce?” I look over seeing him nod his head towards his father.

“Help them clean this up and straight to bed you go. I will be there to say goodnight in a bit, okay?” Tate nods as Kayce gives him a kiss in the forehead and heads towards John. I finish disposing of what's left of my fish. I walk over covering the remaining cooked fish.

“This is a bad look for you” Lloyd says coming over to me.

“I can make anything work” I laugh as I continue helping clean up.

“Can you help me get water?” I look down at Tate who is handing me an empty bucket.

“Yeah” I dust off my hands and grab the bucket from him. I head behind him not really wanting to touch freezing waters right now.

“Don’t worry, it's totally safe” he turns to take a quick glance at me with a smile.

“Totally” I smiled but behind it I was scared. I know I said I have been around lakes or bodies of water like this one but this one is a rapid moving body of water. Not to mention it was dark and the light of the camp was just a glime when we arrived at the edge.

“Just throw it in but don’t let go of the rope” Tate tells me as I see him following his directions. I move down a bit and do the same. “There you go!” He smiled excitedly. “Oh look” I looked over at him pointing towards something I couldn’t see and I really didn’t care as his sudden movement caused him to slip.

“Shit” I grabbed onto his arm and pulled him towards the ground but causing me to fall into the water.

“Y/N?!”

“Am okay” I tell him in a hurry seeing him get up and walk towards me. “It's okay” I struggled to get up on the edge with it freezing me to the bone and the speed of the water wasn’t helping. “Lets go before we choose to take a dip in the water again”

“Am sorry” Tate looks down as we continue our walk up.

“It's not your fault. People take cold plunges everytime, it's apparently good for you” I smile not wanting him to feel bad about it.

“Why?” he finally says with a hint of a smile on his face.

“Who knows, they are crazy people in my books” A small laugh falls from his mouth as we finally arrive. Most of the cowboys were in their tents I guess.

“Not the time to take a dive in the water” I motioned for him not to go on further knowing Tate was still feeling a little guilty about what happened.

“Lloyd and I will make sure to fire it off, why don’t you get to bed?” he nods setting the bucket down

“Goodnight” I wave him goodbye and watch him go into his tent. I seat down taking in the warmth of the fire.

“He almost fell into the water” Lloyd lets out an oh and takes a seat across from me.

“Heard anything about Jimmy’s problem?” I didn’t take my eyes from the fire as I shook my head no.

“I better not hear anything that has to do with Jimmy good or bad in the next couple of days because I won’t be here to take care of it” We laugh

“That boy needs more work than I have seen anybody needing but sure does know how to take a beating”

“Those are the beating that you can’t avoid, they help bring out the better person in him”

“I thought the older one was supposed to be the wiser one” I laugh looking over.

“You might beat me in age but not in soul.” He throws me something as I avoid it laughing together at the remark. Before he could say anything his eyes looked up and he cleared his thoat.

“Take care of the fire, I am going to get some sleep. Goodnight” I smile

“Goodnight” I wave. I turn over hearing footsteps.

“Tate told me what happened” I look over and nod my head. I see him take a seat down beside me.

“His only 7, things happen” I get up not wanting to hear anything else from him. I grab the bucket and throw the water at the fire.

“I set up a tent”

“Thanks” I grab the other bucket and make a circle around the

already turned off fire.

“They only had one tent to spare” I set down the bucket realising what he was saying.

“Great” I just wanted to get these wet clothes off and go to sleep.

“Also” Fucking great. I sigh walking in so he could follow. “Cowboys aren’t the best prepared.”

“I can see that” I don’t know why I laughed. If it was because of how tired I was and the cold running down my whole body was making it worse or because the circumstance has placed me with a guy who I carred not even a tiny bit to be close to right now. Okay. I say to myself taking off my shoes and socks laying them to dry for tomorrow. I look over and see Kayce taking out his big coat. I turn around and do the same but also take my pants off. The shirt thankfully is long enough to reach my mid thighs.

“Okay” I hear Kayce clear his throat before moving to the only sleeping bag we had. I was freezing so I didn’t take another second to turn off the lights and slip into the bag with him. “You’re shivering” I heard him whisper behind me as I had my back turned towards him.

“Maybe because I was wet and it doesn’t help that I get cold easily and that it's almost below zero right now” I wrap my arms around myself hoping it would help but it doesn’t. Minutes went by but sleep was not coming.

“Turn around” Before I could ask I felt one arm going under my head and unknowingly my body on its own turn to face him. His other arm slips over me and pulls me tighter. I let out a deep breath, getting comfortable. I don’t know if I was getting warmer because of his body heat or because being this close to him was too much for me. “Thank you” I smile. I think I was supposed to say that to him but I know why he was saying it. Definitely getting warmer because I was wrapped up in his arms right now. I was right, he didn’t smell like what I thought a cowboy would. He smelled nice. He is gentle, soft, not what in daylight I would describe him. Yet that somehow was comfortable for sleep to take over. In my head I tried counting the second but after 1219, I gave up. Frustrated and not only because I couldn’t sleep. “It's been almost 30 minutes and you can’t sleep?”

“It's been 21” I said annoyingly. I wanted to move to be more comfortable but I was currently in a stick position. My legs were straight and so were my arms.

“No wonder you’re not a morning person” Moving was the wrong choice. I only wanted to get out of the sleeping bag.

“Sorry” I whimper, pulling my hand up all the way not wanting to rub it against him any longer. I didn’t know where to go from there. The awkward tension was overtaking my anxiety and I needed to move.

“Wait” He whispers, taking hold of my hip with one hand. Second mistake was not moving after that. I closed my eyes trying to not let his touch affect me but that diffenetly didn’t help. I could feel even the warmth of his fingertips as they traveled along my back.

“Kayce” It was my last plea. The last piece of strength I had in me to leave. He pulled me even closer and the fire in my stomach ignited even more. I wanted to touch him. How close his face was to my hand.

“Tell me to stop” Those words left me breathless. My hands moved up his chest, cursing at the jacket he still had on. His other hand still under my head moved to push me closer just barely touching his lips. I touch up to his neck until I get to his face. The only thing being heard was the noise of our silent breaths. The shivers in my bones wanting and pulling towards him. When he finally comes closer brushing against my lips with his it wasn’t enough. I took hold of his jacket and pulled him to meet. At first it was only one kiss. Then another, and another. Until my fingers were wrapped in his hair gripping, wanting him to catch on to my wants. We explored our mouth what seemed like forever, not that I mind but I wanted more. I start grinning my body and I feel him put some distance with his other hand on my hip. “Do you-” I rolled my eyes. Of couse he tries to be a gentleman right now. I cut him mid sentence as I unzipped the bag but not to leave. No, he did this and now he is going to fix it. I climb on top of him to capture his lips again. Moving my hip trying to control a little of my urges.

“Don’t try to be nice right now” I say trailing kisses on his jaw and down his neck. “I need this jacket off” I mumbled frustrated.

“Yes ma’am” He grabs my face, kissing me as he pulls us up to a sitting position. What am I doing? The cold wasn’t bothering me anymore. As he takes his time taking his jacket off I can’t help but stop to think. What the hell am I doing right now? He just got out of a marriage. He has a child he must focus on. Was this just something to pass time? Why did I care? Surely it wouldn't be anything more. I didn’ let him take a look after pulling my shirt off. My lips attach to his as my hand works his belt.

“Can you help a little?” I look up hearing a slight chuckle from him. I lift my hip a little as he slides his pants off. I couldn’t focus any longer. Once I lowered myself knowing the only thing that separated us was the bare fabrice of my panties. “God” I moaned as he started kissing and sucking on my neck. His hands cared for my back before fiddling with the band. I huffed a little before moving them to the side and gently placing him where I wanted.

“Fuck” I tried. I wrap my arms around his shoulder trying to restrain myself. “Honey,” He whimpers grabbing fistful of my hair. I tried. My breathing was getting heavy as the bottom half of me couldn’t relax from squeezing him.

“I can't,” I whisper. He was big. Jesus was he. Where was all the confidence I had before?

“I won’t last long” He moves over to kiss my cheek. The sweat already forming was making my hair sticky. He moved it out the way to attach his lips to mine gently. “I want to cum” This was a plea and a whine together and damn did it take me to the peak. He continud to kiss me as his hands moved down to my hips to help me move.

“Shit.” I could feel tears swelling my eyes. “Jesus fuck” I didn’t know what to hold on to as his pace fasten. Slowly I feel his strength weaken. I follow my own rhythm up and down as fast as I need to.

“Honey..” My eyes roll back along with my head feeling my arousal almost reach its peak.

“Kayce” I moaned. To my surprise he attaches his mouth on one breast. “Fuck!”Jesus. I know it's wrong. I have spoken his name in tears, he must think I was praying to him hard.

“Mm. y/n?” I got out my thoughts looking down at him. My pace slowed down, putting more pressure on reaching my spot. God did he look beautiful. The slight shadow the moon casted I could see his messy hair. His pleaing eyes and swollen lips. Glimming. I grabbed his face to kiss him but he latched himself to my other breast giving it attention. Correcting myself, he looked the most beautiful right now. I kept on looking at him as his eyes never left mine. As the pace never slowed. The pressure is building up. Cumming on only fucusing on his eyes on mine. How the warmth of him and the kindness in his eyes has made me feel. His lips detach himself but not before leaving one last kiss. I hiss as they are sensitive.

“Tired?” I roll my eyes tracing my fingers down his shoulders onto my thighs. “I can make those eyes roll back for other reason now”

Helpless

Description: She worked as a lawyer in New York until she received a phone call from the man she owes her career to. She knew she would be back and what she was in for but what she didn’t know is that her life would change even more than she imagined.

Chapter 9

Chapter 8:

I can tell you one thing, I have never gotten up so early. When I got out the tent almost falling on my face trying to put my boots on I was met with Lloyd. “Goodmorning” He smiled suprised.

“Morning” I smile standing up trying to act as normal as possible. I rush along him trying to get as far from the tent as possible. “Got any coffee?”

“Rough night?”

“What?” I bet my look was horrifying because that's how I felt.

“Sleeping on the ground? I bet you are not used to that”

“Oh” I nod my head. “Yeah rough, and cold” I zip up my jacket. “Thank you” I grab the cup.

“Milk?” I shake my head. I only put sugar on my coffee. “Well, a long day ahead of us.” I nod knowing what he meant. He needed to be the alarm clock to the other cowboys. One after another got out their tents and rushed over to get their coffee.

“Y/n?” I look over seeing John with coffee already in his hand. “I need you to take Beth with you” I look over to the cowboys around us.

“Sure” I placed my cup down and walked over to where he was on a small upper hill. “What needs to happen?” He looks over to the distance. Cattle in the outfield.

“I want her to focus on herself for atleast a couple days. She has been having hard days lately” Truly hard days. I hold back the grin. “But don’t take too long,” I nod. “I hope after the trip you leave it all behind you” A dry chuckle leaves my lips.

“You know I don’t hold grudges for long” He laughs at my comment.

“Grandpa!” Our heads turn to Tate running up to John and Kayce following close behind. I didn’t dare look at his eyes. I couldn’t. Fucking hell. My mind was fighting with itself right now. Like how the hell did I think it was a good idea to let feelings control me last night? “Can we go fishing? I want to show my mom how many times I can catch” Monica is here?” I looked up and surely enough she was there and trailing behind her was Rip and Beth.

“Buddy it's cold out there, I don’t think mom will want that” and there it was. My heart was melting more and at the same time it was taking a step back. He was sweet and I only saw it when it came to Tate. Then Tate fills my mind as a little kid whose feelings are going to be more of a mess as his parents separate.

“Then can we come back here when it gets warmer?” He looks over to Kayce and then at Monica as she comes close enough to hear. Rip stops beside me and Beth to stand on his other side.

“Of course kid” she wraps her arm around his shoulder giving him a side hug.

“Yay!” he screams happly running away. We all chuckle seeing him run to act like a real cowboy.

“It's going to be hard getting him back into school mode,”Rip says. Of course when my eyes move away from watching Tate they find his eyes. There is not a hint of emotion. I can’t tell if his eyes are wanting to talk or listen. They aren’t saying that something happened or that he was disappointed or that he even hated me. “Y/n you need a ride to the ranch?” I didn’t notice they continued the conversation and now it was only Beth, Rip, Kayce, Monica, and me.

“Sure” Before anyone could say anything I grab Beth's wrist and pull her away from their ears to hear. I figit with my fingers as I stand before her now.

“What happened?”

“Nothing happened. John wants you to come with me back home. It will be a short trip, atmost 2 days.”

“Y/n” She warned looking directly into my eyes.

“Nothing happened. Either you are in the house packed in 2 hours or I am leaving you” I hated how it came out but I wasn’t in the mood to talk. What happened wasn’t something to giggle about like middle school girls. I walked over to Rip who was hopefully finishing his coffee. “Can we go?” I cross my arms not looking directly at him until he grabs my chin and makes me look up at him

“Why the pout? Sad to be leaving?” I roll my eyes, snatching my face away.

“I don’t pout, let's go” I demand and make my way over to his horse. I hadn’t releazied I was pouting. From my walk from Beth to Rip I was already a little annoyed at her and it wasn’t her fault. Then as I reach Rip I notice Kayce talking and laughing with Monica. Why should I care though? Because before the divorce they acted like they hated eachother and the next second they were tolerable but now they are best of friends? Stupid asshole.

“He doesn’t bite,” Rip says, patting me on the shoulder before getting on and helping me up. I instantly wrap my arms around him. “Kayce said you were a tight hugger” I didn’t have time to answer as the horse started moving. Fucking hell, I am never mounting a horse again even if its my only way of surviving. He had to forcefully remove my arms like some kind of seatbelt. I tell him thank you and run inside the house. I took a shower and threw Monica’s clothes in the washer. It was close to 10 and the plane leaves in an hour. I finish up packing and load the dryer. I let my hair air dry only having my towel wrapped around as I knew after taking out the clothes I would spend the rest of the time I had left in my bedroom getting ready. I spent a goodtime washing the boots as I didn’t want to leave it messy for Monica. I grabb the boots and rush over to the dryer to get her clothes out and go to her room or where she was staying when Tate was here to fold it. I hurry hearing the door open. I rush out, closing the door and running down the stairs.

“We have 45 minutes before we have to be at the airport! I sugges-” God dammit. Now I know I wouldn’t deal well in a horror movie because apparently I would close my eyes and hide behind my hands. “Couldn’t you say something? Or atleast not try to scare me to death?!” I sign, turning the other direction towards the kitchen.

“This is my house, when did I have to announce when I entered?” I roll my eyes walking around the island.

“Since no one is supposed to be here other than Beth and I”

“Does’t change anything” I shake my head even more annoyed. I stomp my feet turning to look in his direction.

“Whatever” Cowboy hat still on. Rusted face with traces of dirt and mud on him. “Got dragged by something or just enjoyed rolling in filth?” I didn’t know what I was saying but I did know it was getting on his nerves.

“I could ask the same thing?” His boots made a noise on the wooden floor as he took a step closer until he was 2 inches away from my face. My jaw tightens and my eyes want to close as his smell radiates around me. It was a smell I still didn’t mind because it wasn’t bad at all. “Or because you are back to reality everything is too much?” It's like my lips were glued shut. I didn’t even care what he was saying as long as he came even closer than what he was doing. His breath is now ghosting over my neck. “Last night your outfit surprised me but I prefer your cute tight skirts and heels.” He takes another step forward, not removing his distance from me as my back twists and backs up to the island. A low grunt leaves my lips wanting nothing more than to regain my body back. “I couldn’t imagine a nice girl like you going for a dirty, ungentlemanlike, rude cowboy like me” He kisses one spot and am lost. Where was that nice guy from yesterday? I didn’t seem to care as he continued to kiss my neck knowingly leaving marks behind. I grab on to his jacket for support. “Smell so sweet and I bet taste much sweeter”

“God Kayce!” I squeal as he lifts me up the island and I wrap my legs around him. He continued to kiss and suck and I needed more. And I know he knew that.

“Can I take charge now? Honey” He pulls my head back only to slam his lips to mine.

“Mhm” I nod wrapping and pulling on his shoulder grinning to feel more of him. I hear a groan as I unbucle his belt.

“It's my way” He pulls back just enough to unfold my towel and lets it drop on the counter. I heard his pants fall and no one had to tell me because I knew I was dripping for him already. “Come on” Kayce grabs ahold of my upper arm and pulls me off the island turning me around to lean over it the next second. “I liked how you feel against me” He pushes inside me with no warning.

“Fuck, Baby” I whine. One hand goes to my lower pulling me even closer as he continues pounding into me. “Kayce” his other hand moves to cover my mouth as he starts kissing down my neck to my shoulder.

“I love the sounds you make” Stupid fucker. I didn’t care. His pace was fast and I didn’t know how long I could wait. “Honey?” I shake my head and close my eyes. I could see that stupid grin on his face to know what I wanted. “Squeeze me harder” he whispers, pulling me closer. “Like you did last night” Fuck that was it. “Cuming together like last night?” I nod my head as the pace quickens. “Fuck” he moans finally covering my mouth with his. I wanted nothing more than to touch him but the pain and pleasure I felt right now was enough. It wasn’t the first time I felt him release everything inside me and it wasn’t like it has happened 100 times but I knew I would never not be turned on by it. I collapse to the island, whining a little as he pulls out. I couldn’t help but smile a little as I felt gentle kisses on my shoulder. His hand caressing my sides. “We still have another 20 minutes?” he whispers and this time I chuckle, shaking my head.

“Kayce,” I warned, standing up straight. Over an hour ago I didn’t even want to look at this man. I didn’t want him near me much less any of his touch on me. But right now at this moment I wanted everything that had to do with him. I wanted him on me again.

“Y/N! Don’t be such a brat!” I kneel down as soon as I hear the door open and Beth's voice. I wrap the towel around my body and rush to meet her by the door.

“Why aren’t you dressed? We have 25 minutes” I give her a quick smile.

“Yeah and you better hurry” I rush up the stairs and slam the door. I could not promise you I wasn’t giggling and grinning as I took another quick shower and got dressed. By the time I was out the door it only took me 20 minutes. How I could have spent those minutes doing something else.

“Get in the car!”

Helpless

Description: She worked as a lawyer in New York until she received a phone call from the man she owes her career to. She knew she would be back and what she was in for but what she didn’t know is that her life would change even more than she imagined.

Chapter 10

Chapter 9:

The trial took longer than expected. That asshole thought he could get away with threats and lost. Got on the list of sex offenders and after serving 3 years in jail he will have probation. Community service for a year. I avoided my parents and everybody else I didn’t have to see for the 2 weeks I was there. Beth went home for the holidays after the 3rd night. I was currently at the entrance of the ranch. “You can drop me off here” The driver nods as I get out of the car and take out my luggage.

“Have a good day miss'' I wave back waiting for him to drive off. I start my walk down the long road. There is no noise even this far away from the house, and that's not a good thing. The cold is freezing my fingertips as they are the only part except my face that is not covered by multiple layers. New years have gone by and it's the 5th day of the month and a new beginning for me. I haven’t left it all behind yet but it's a good start. The people in town know what happened now. The idiot got what he deserved but most importanly my parents got to know how wrong they were and even if I didn’t get to see their reaction it felt good.

“Want a ride home!?” I look at the distance and see Rip riding up.

“I am never getting on a horse again” Thankfully I had sneakers on because there was no way I was walking down the long dirt/gravel road with heels. I continued walking as Rip got off his horse and took him by the reign to walk beside me.

“Why the long face?” I looked over confused but quickly shook it off.

“I had a long couple of days” Something about walking in the cold air clears your mind.

“Tell me about it” He huffs. “You are going to have a list of chores to do when you get back home” Oh fuck. “Jaime, John, Beth, all the Duttons, even Kayce” He turns to look at me for a split second. “They all need family therapy” I chuckle a bit.

“You ain’t telling me something I ain’t already know.” Rip sighs as we get infront of the house. “Can I ask you something?” I turn to him, letting go of my suitcase. He nods so I continue with my question. “Are you and Beth okay?” Before the trip I knew they were spending more time together but knowing Beth this has been an ongoing thing. She tries to make it work but along the way she makes herself take a step back and shield herself again.

“We are working on it. I waited this long and I will keep on waiting as long as she needs” I knew Rip was a good guy even with the character everybody thinks of him as.

“Well. Let me go inside before I freeze to death out here” I tell him goodbye before heading inside.

“Well look who's back” It wasn’t so early in the morning when I arrived so I was suprised to see John. “Had some family fun time during the holidays” I held my dead stare on him.

“Being funny isn’t good for you” He chuckles a bit, offering me a cup of coffee. “Sorry I didn’t answer these past few day”

“Don’t worry about it but now that you are back I have a list for you” oh I heard. I nod my head taking a sip of the coffee. “I need you to go see the livestock commissioner” Before the word why could slip out he got a phone call. “Beth left the paperwork on your bed” He leaves out the door. It feels good to be back. Somehow this kind of work, although it can be stressful, is what I strive for most. I took a long needed shower and got dressed to head out. I grab the paperwork and head down to see the livestock agents. I always laugh when I hear about them. Like I know their jobs are serious and all but come on, livestock AGENT?. It's like Bond being recruited to take care of sheeps.

“What did I do to behold such a sight?” I shake my head walking through the doors as Ryan holds the door open.

“Nice to see you too Ryan” I say hello to the rest of the guys in the room before turning to the secretary.

“Mr Dutton called and said you were coming.” She gets up and leads me down the hall. “He just came from the meeting so I didn’t get a chance to notify him” I gave her a sympathetic look.

“Don’t worry, Jaime is used to not planning things” quick hot head he is. I smile before opening the door. I stop dead in my tracks. I should have knocked. Knocking so I would have heard who was inside and it would have given me a chance to figure things out before coming in or just bolt out of this place.

“Mr Duton, Miss l/N” I think her name was Jenny. Thank you Jenny.

“Thank you” Kayce stands up as my legs feel like jello walking over to the chair infront of his desk. The room wasn’t warm. It stayed on the cool side but my body felt like it was burning. “Hey”

“Hey” I sighed. The air felt thick and my lungs couldn’t grasp enough of it. “I need you to sign a couple of things” I pull out the file and slide it towards him.

“Do you want something to drink?” Something to eat sounds better. Coming here with on coffee in the stomach wasn’t the best choice.

“No.” That sounded a little too harsh damn it. “Thank you” I stand up walking closer to the desk to open the file. “Everything you need to sign is marked but on one page you need to place your imprint” I flip it to make sure he knows which page it is. I remove myself from leaning in as nerves run down my body seeing him from my side view that he got up.

“Y/n?” It was a whisper but enough for me to hear. I look up and see him walk around to the desk towards me. Am not nervous because anything that happened between us came to mind but because he somehow makes me feel little. Not in a bad way eitheir, like I don’t need to be something am not with him beside me. I take a step back.

“Kayce we need to talk but I don’t think this is the time or place” I put my hand up defincisbly. I don’t know what was going on. My body wanted to tremble and for some reason my eyes were feeling up with tears. My cheeks were burning and all I wanted to do was crawl into a corner until I could think again.

“Y/n?”

“What?” I finally find his eyes again and he is just a couple steps away from me giving me the space I needed.

“Are you okay?” That's when I lost it. All the emotion I was holding in slipped out and rolled down my cheek. First one tear and then a couple more. I bit my lip trying to hold in the sorrows that wanted to leave. “y/n?” I shake my head back away again.

“Just give me a minute. I just need a minute” I close my eyes, wrapping myself in my arms trying to hold it together. This happened once when I was 15. I was at a party and all the emotion evaded me. For the remaining of it I locked myself in the bathroom and cried to the tunes of the songs. No one came to check on me and when I finally got out nobody knew why I was crying and I felt like a baggage to them. I locked myself in my room and screamed my lungs out until I didn’t have any energy left in me. I promised myself if it ever happened again I wouldn’t let it overtake me again. I felt him wrap his arms around me and pull me closer.

“You need to let it go. You have been holding on to so much and I promise you it gets better when you let go” He whispers. And I don’t know what happened. Everything that was slipping out my mouth

“It's not fair” I let out a cry. Gripping on to his jacket. “It's not fair how they can just continue their lives without me! I saw them before I left, I was going to go up to them and let them see me but I didn’t want to give them even that. I always had a little feeling inside that they would come find me one day and apologise and maybe something would go back to normal. Why do they get to pretend to be a happy family when it's not complete? Was I the problem the whole time? When I was with them they couldn’t stand eachother, maybe I needed to leave so they could be happy. But why do they get to be happy and I got the worse part out of it? Why don’t I have a happy family? Maybe it didn’t affect me before because I had someone on the line if they found out the truth and having the feeling of them owing me an apology in the future made it better. Was that too selfish? Am I too selfish to want that? Should I have just told the truth? Maybe I didn’t do it because I cared for my cousin so much but because I wanted to embarrass them in the end. Because if I did everything right then why am I the one hurting at the end?” Then everything stopped. The tears, the cries, the tight hold I had on Kayce as he was still holding me. I took a deep breath and pulled away from him.

“y/n?” I look at him wiping away my tears. “I think you deserve a loving family and I know one day you will build that. I don’t know the whole thing but I know that she was grateful she didn’t have to do it alone”

“Ok” I smile, rubbing my hands on my thighs trying to get the nerves out. “That was enough for today” I hear him chuckle. “What?”

“Nothing” He shakes his head. He walks closer to me enough to feel his body heat. “I know right now is not the time and place after all of that” I roll my eyes at his comment. “How about dinner?” Is he crazy?

“Kayce” I warned, shaking my head. I wanted nothing more than to leave right now.

“Listen. We need to talk about everything that happened, I don’t know about you but it wasn’t just to let steem out” He says defensibly.

“Ok” Before walking toward his desk he grabs my upper arm pulling me towards him. His other hand slides up to my cheek making me look at him. “What?” The grin I had was there although I was trying to hide it.

“Nothing,” He whispers, moving closer.

“Make sure those papers get signed so you can give them to me later” He smiles and nods. “Am serious” I was getting aggravated due to the fact he had a stupid smile on his face and his stare was making me blush. I hit his chest puting some distance but I was only pushed back in again and into a kiss. I couldn’t hold back and I wrapped my arms around his neck. His kiss was slowly and every promise of air was long gone. I didn’t mine. I just wanted him. Both hands slide down to my hip holding me steady and close.

“7?” He says as he pulls away. My eyes still closed, I nod my head. He pecks my lips. “Anything specific?” I shake my head still with a stupid smile on my face. “Have a curfew?” That made my eyes roll again.

“No sir I do not” I slide my hands down his chest pushing away from him. “Don’t be late”

“Yes ma’am” he smiles as I open the door to leave. I turn around once more.

“Don’t forget the paperwork”

“Yes ma’am” I stayed there for a minute watching him take a seat behind his desk. He may not have wanted this job as commissioner but he sure does look doing it.

Helpless

Description: She worked as a lawyer in New York until she received a phone call from the man she owes her career to. She knew she would be back and what she was in for but what she didn’t know is that her life would change even more than she imagined.

Chapter 11

Chapter 10:

I was pacing back and forth. Kayce hadn’t returned from the office yet and it was almost 7. “Can you sit down? I can give you some pills to calm down” a death stare was sent Beth's way as I fell back in my bed. “Tell me how it happened again?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t like him. I just thought he was a littel cute.”

“Not at all your type I must say”

“Dirty boots. Dirty jacket. Dirty hands” God those hands.

“Dirty mouth” That too. I smile but hide it from her. “No manners, style, or communication level you are used too”

“I don’t know Beth. I can’t explain it. Every arrow is pointing towards the exit. The only reason I noticed my interest was after sleeping together. He makes me angry and annoyed most of the time we are together!” I scream. “But when he smiled at me this morning and just held me I remember the way I felt with him even if I couldn’t stand him at the time. I felt calm. I felt seen. I felt protected”

“You need to explore it, what could go wrong?” Maybe she was right. Maybe it was something worth giving it a try. “Wait, you already slept together?”

“Twice” I smile. Before she could say anything there was a knock on the door. “Don’t you dare move” She gets up running towards the door. “Give us a minute” She says to whoever is on the other side of the door and runs back to the bed. “Go on”

“No” I shake my head and laugh.

“What? I tell you about my sex life”

“That's because you have no filter, you would tell it to a priest if you had the chance” I got curious on who was at the door so I get up to open it “Plus he is not my brother”

“Who's not your brother?” Fuck you Beth.

“Rip” I say trying to hold onto my nerves.

“She’s acting like a saint not wanting to tell my how good or how bad of a fuck you are” Beth came around pushing around us and down the hall.

“Sorry” I whisper. He was standing there with a smile holding flowers. Flowers! My inner teen was screaming and jumping. Black jacket that seems nicer and newer than the ones he regularly wears. Of course blue jeans and he couldn’t be complete with his cowboy boots and his hat.

“I got you flowers” I long forgot about Beth now.

“Thank you” I smile while taking hold of the flowers.

“I got stuck with John-”

“It's okay” I cut him off. I placed the flowers in a vase I had in my room. “We still have time” I don’t usually carry a purse so I grabbed my jacket and phone and walked out the door. Something about walking out the door with Kayce made me feel nervous. I hadn’t thought about what John might say. I know it had nothing to do with him but anything could happen, what if he wasn’t okay with it? It didn’t matter right? He holds the front door open and rushes to open the passenger side of the truck for me. “Thank you” I felt a rush waiting for him to get on the other side. I smiled, noticing the truck was still on and warm.

“Let's go,” He whispered, switching gears. It was a couple of seconds before he spoke again but to be honest it didn’t feel uncomfortable. Switching my view of outside to him looking straight at the road. “Did you have a lot of overdue work?” I chuckle, shaking my head.

“Nothing I can’t handle. I still have to meet with my secretary to see what things I have to catch up on” I leaned my arm on the arm rest fidgeting with my hands.

“What did you do for christmas?” Just the sound of the holidays made me stiff. I havent celebrated christmas or the new years in about 5 years. There wasn’t really a reason to do so. I didn’t have my family to do so. I didn’t want to intrude with the Duttons or friends, so I stayed home.

“Nothing” I could feel his stare but soon it went back to the road. “It didn’t feel special for so long that I just treated it like easter. Never celebrated that ever'' I took a deep breath in. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything, he probably feels sorry for me. His arm meets mine, settling against me as his hand sneaks into both of mine. My shoulders relax and my head leans against his shoulder. “So where are we going?” We have been on the road for atleast 10 minutes and that almost took us past everything in town.

“Beth told me about a place just outside of town” I nod just taking in his presence right now. Honestly if we went home right now I would take this as a good night.

“Beth?” He looked over with a confused face.

“Yeah?” I chuckle a little and shake my head. “What? Is there something wrong?” With Beth? Yeah, but she won’t see a therapist.

“We will find out” We spoke for the rest of the car ride to whatever place Beth had told him about. “It doesn’t look bad” I look around feeling nostalgic. On our trip back home we stumbled into a bar one night and reunited with an old friend.

“Look who took my advice” The same old friend welcomed me into a hug. “That night you left in a hurry I thought I ran you off” I smile trying to not let the uneasyment show.

“I was in town for work and something came up, I apologise” I pulled away fully standing beside Kayce. “But it's nice to see you again” I look over to Kayce. “This is Gideon,” I turned to him. “An old friend” Gideon extends his hand for Kayce to shake.

“Kayce Dutton” I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a grin on my face. Kayce introduced himself with a smile. When I took hold of his hand I could feel tension.

“Nice to meet you Kayce” Gideon returns the smile. “Let's get you a table” We walked past the sitting area towards the outdoor doors. “You get our special table” The double doors opened and it was beautiful. It was a balcony area with a single table for four. It was cold being January but we were surrounded by fire heaters. The top was opened with fairy lights hanging from ontop and flowers decorating the post they were on. The overlook was all country, maybe it was an orchard? It was dark, I couldn’t see anything past the railings. “I will be back to take your orders personally” We say our thank yous and sit down.

“This is beautiful” I look around some more and each time I find something that makes it more beautiful. Like the hacienda accent it had along the place. The way it pulled up to a second story somehow so there were stairs on both ends of the balcony.

“Yeah very pretty” I almost burst out laughing seeing his serious face as he looked around only to scruff and focus on the menu. “I’ve been to fancy places but you can’t even understand what these words mean” I let a chuckle escape then.

“Kayce we can leave if you want” I reach over the table to take hold of his hand. He finally looks up and shakes his head.

“No. You like it, we should stay.”I pull my seat out and walk to the one beside him.

“Kayce I don’t care how pretty it is, if you don’t want to be here we can leave” He shakes his head taking my hand in his.

“No it okay”

“Okay” I say with a smile, grabbing the menu.

“Plus we don’t want your friend to feel bad” There goes another eye roll. I slam the menu on the table and turn my body towards him.

“You want to know who he is?” Kayce looked a little taken back due to the volume of my voice. “I’ve known him since middle school. He dated one of my friends” Well multiple of them but that's a whole different story, and a pretty long one too. “And that's how we met and kept in contact even after they broke up until a year before moving here” I stopped and sat up hearing the doors open.

“I know you don’t like drinking but having you here is something we need to celebrate” He had glasses and a bottle of wine. He opens the bottle and starts pouring. “I spoke about this dream for so long with you that having you finally see it well, everything feels complete”

“It's amazing what you have built here. I am so proud you made it happen” I raise my cup and cheer with him.

“You remember what I promised that night?” I nod. He points afar over the balcony. A couple of field lights turn on illuminating the land but not enough to blind everything else. “Whenever you want, it's yours” I stood up taking the moment in. I have only dreamed of this. Back home with my grandmother the smell of oranges and apples never left my memories. I have always dreamt of having an orchard full of them. I walked over the edge blocking the two behind me. Maybe there are some rewards in life still left for me.

“Are you okay?” I look up nodding to Kayce. “Gideon said he would bring out something we both would like” I nod again and look far off to the trees.

“I always had problems with relationships” I looked over to him again. “Any kind of relationship. Family, friends, lovers” I took in a deep breath thinking back to the year before leaving. “I always gave too much of myself to people and even though it might not seem much to them it killed me each time they took it for granted. I thought separating myself from everyone would show me who really cares, now I understand it works both ways. I was a horrible friend to him, not contacting him and even after years he wants to give me all of this?” I didn’t relized I was crying until Kayce came forward to wipe a tear. “I should have taken care of those who showed me love instead of protecting myself from them because I thought they would treat me just like the others”

“Y/N, nobody is perfect. You did it for yourself and that's what you needed and they people who truly love you understand”

“But that's selfish”

“Maybe” He smiles, grabbing my face in both of his hands. “Like you said, any relationship needs work from both people. And they will love you no matter the flaw, nobody needs to settle for being something they are not” He continues to wipe the remaining tears as I look at him with a smile

“Who knew you were such a talker?” He shakes his head as his hands slide down my neck, my arm, until they are wrapped around me pulling me close.

“You bring it out of me” I roll my eyes. Never was a person for mushy lovey words but I can live with his words.

“Whatever” I smile. “You think it will fit in the truck?” Getting lost in his eyes and just feeling his warmth, I didn’t want to leave.

“What?”

“My orchard” I smile, chuckling a bit.

“I can find a spot in the ranch to plant a new one”

“We are on a first date and you already want to build me an orchard?”

“Your friend Gideon who you has no emotional relationship with just gave you one”

“I’ve known Gideon for over 10 years, there’s some emotional feeling there”

“Of course” He rolls his eyes looking away. I grab a hold of his face and pull him closer.

“But I will let him know that it can stay here.” I place a kiss on his cheek. “Because my cowboy will become a farmer just so I can have my orchard” I place another on his jaw. “I will just have to wait a little longer for it but I am okay with that” His arms tighten as I finally reach his lips. A groan leaves his lips as I bite his bottom lip. It was supposed to be quick and a romantic kiss but with Kayce it never seems to be.

Not a chapter

This will be insert of storylines that happens in the future if Yn and Kayce

Chapter 12

Chapter 11:

I was at my desk working on a case I had just taken when there was a lady and a kid’s voice outside being a little too loud.

“I understand but you just-”

“Jennifer?” I say walking out my office only to come across a red face Tate and Jennifer trying to block his way.

“Y/N!”

“It's okay,” I told Jennifer as Tate came running towards me. I send a thank you to Jennifer before walking Tate into my office. “Are you okay?” I give him a bottle of water and sit beside him on the couch I had.

“I was with my mom shopping for winter clothes when she told me I would be going back to live with her and I don’t want to!” Tears started to leave his eyes agains. “I ran and I saw your name on the outside of the building”

“Tate it wasn’t right to run away like that, your mom is probably freaking out right now”

“She is not! She doesn’t love me, she wants to take me away from my dad and grandpa” He wraps his arms around my neck continuing to cry.

“Tate she loves you very much” I rub his back trying to make him calm down a bit. “Did you ask your mom why she decided to move back?” I feel him shake his head. “Tate?” I asked, wanting him to look at me but it didn’t seem that the six year old was going to budge. “You know what I do for work”

“No” I chuckle a bit finally hearing his voice calmer

“I am a type of lawyer. As a lawyer who fights for a client in any case but sometimes it comes to the point where you need to listen to both sides and figure out what the best solution is” I grab a hold of him and sit him in my lap. “Point is you need to listen and read every little things because without all the facts making a decision so fast is not right”

“So you argue your way to what they want at the end?” I laugh, wiping away his tears.

“You can say that. I do what's best with all the facts on the table that favors my client” He hears that and gets off my lap to stand right infront of me.

“I would like for you to fight for me to stay at the ranch with my dad” Oh buddy. “Or talk to my mom and have her say yes” I stand up and walk over to get my phone knowing Monica is probably way over freaking out and I don’t want her to do anything bad.

“Buddy let me call someone first and we can all talk about it okay?” Tate nods, taking a seat again. “Hello?” I say as her phone is answered

“Y/N?” That wasn’t Monica’s voice

“Kayce?” I ignore the fact that he had Monicas phone. She probably called him freaking out. The last time Tate went missing it wasn’t pretty. “I have something of yours in my office. He came walking in upset”

“Oh thank god” He lets out a sigh. I hear him tell who I am guessing was the other cowboys and Monica. “We will be right over” I hung up the phone and soon enough after a couple minutes there was more chaos outside my door. “He is in my office” I tell Monica and Kayce but block them from going in. “Before you go in and talk to him I want you to know what we spoke about”

“But is he okay?”

“Yes” I tell Monica. “He came in upset about the talk you might have had while shopping.” Monica nods understanding what that meant. “I calmed him down but while doing that he got an idea that I could help him get his way and that was certainly not my intention.”

“Maybe you can help us” I nod, opening the door for them to walk in.

“Dad” Tate runs towards him hugging him.

“Buddy you can’t be running off like that, your mom really got scared for you.” He was soft with his words, maybe being careful preventing memories from arising again.

“You don’t understand she wants to keep me away from you!” He cried looking over to Monica. “I want to stay with dad!”

“Can we sit down to talk about it?” Monica says pointing towards the two chairs infront of me. Tate nods allowing Kayce to carry him over. “Baby my intention is not to take you from your dad or your grandpa. I love that you have a home at the ranch but you also have a home with me.”

“But you are moving all my stuff out of my room. I don’t want to leave” Monica looks over to me as I could see tears filling her eyes.

“Tate” I say, making him look over to me. “Can we make an agreement?”

“You are going to be my lawyer?”

“Something like it, but you have to promise to listen and take in account everything” He nods. I take a piece of paper and start a list. I didn’t want to mention anything about the divorce and what it meant in custody because I didn’t know if they had talked with him yet. Yes he was aware they weren’t living together but up to this point Monica spent some nights at the ranch and they spent time as a family too. “Tate I know you want to live at the ranch full time but your mom would like to have you at home too since she loves your company”

“I can come and visit” He turns to her.

“Buddy, how about we split the week?” Kayce says “Half of the days you stay at the ranch and the other with your mom?”

“If we have time and when if is a good time I can bring you over to spend time at the ranch” Monica says grabbing hold of his hands

“What about my stuff?” Tate says looking over at Kayce

“You will have your clothes at the ranch and other at your moms same things go with your other belongings”

“What about my horse?”

“That would certainly stay at the ranch” Monica dry laughs and a smile appears on Tate’s face.

“Okay” He turns over to me with a smile.

“Alright. So have the days with mom and the other with dad. Clothes are to be separate and the horse must stay at the ranch” I wrote everything on the paper and made three lines. “If we have an agreement parents can sign here and Mr Tate you can sign here” I hand him a pen and they all sign. I placed it in a laminated folder and handed it over to Tate.

“How about school?”

“What about school Bud?” Kayce stopped as we all stood from our chairs.

“Can we agree on me only going half the day?”

“No,” Monica laughs, taking hold of his hand. “Let's go get you some jackets. '' They said their goodbyes and left the room.

“That kid,” Kayce laughs, shaking his head. I go over and place both hands on his chest.

“Are you okay?” I search for his eyes but he keeps looking away. “Kayce?”

“When she called it felt too real again” his voice broke and I took a second before wrapping my arms around him.

“I'm so sorry” I whispered as soft cries came from him. “Everything is okay” I tell him, caressing his back. “He is okay”

“I know” He pulls away but does not let go of my waist. “Am just hoping it doesn’t haunt him anymore”

“You and Monica and everybody who loves him will be by his side if anything happens” I try to reassure him.

“I know” I smile as a smile appears on his face.

“So who should I bill my time to?” I say hoping to get him in a happier mood.

“I thought it was on the house?” I feel his hands enterwine and pull me closer to him.

“On what grounds?” I move his hair from his face.

“On the fact that you live on our grounds and we pay you”

“Correction, it's John’s grounds and John pays me” I say, pressing my finger with each word on his chest. “But I guess I can do an exception for you since you’re kind of cute”

“Stop you’re making me blush” He pulls forward giving me a quick kiss. “Does your door lock?” he says looking over

“Yes” I whisper, pulling him into a quick kiss again.

“Really?” He grins, making me walk backwards towards said door.

“No” I shake my head with another kiss I pull away from him. “I got work to do and I bet so do you commissioner” I open the door.

“Yes ma’am” He grabs his hat which he layed down on my desk. “What time will you be done?” He walked backwards towards the door.

“Not sure, I can text you?” He nods, stealing another kiss.

“I will pick you up” before I could deny the offer because one I had my own car here and two because I probably would be getting off sooner than him anyway but I didn’t decline.

NOT A CHAPTER

This will be insert of storylines that happens in the future if Yn and Kayce

Chapter 13

Chapter 12:

I was walking up the stairs from a long night at the office. “Yes Jennifer, don’t worry about it just enjoy your weekend” I was in another divorcee case but the soon to be ex wife I was representing wanted more and more. Everytime we finished an agreement she wanted another meeting set up the next day. “Yes, don’t worry about it, I will be the one calling her tomorrow” She was currently blowing up Jennifer’s phone because we told her we wouldn’t be able to set up a meeting until next thursday and that is an inconvice for her. I soon finish my phone call and walk into the house.

“Seems like you need a drink” I place my things on the island as I shake my head.

“The only thing I need is a vacation or maybe a radar that would tell me when I am accepting a crazy person as a client” I knock off my heels and fall onto the couch. My eyes opened as soon as I felt someone overlooking me. “Liquor isn’t good for me” I say, taking the drink from Beth’s hand.

“Don’t I know it?” She laughed, moving my feet so she could sit. She normally drinks at any hour but this time her expression told me it had a deeper meaning

“What's going on with you?” I sat up a bit, turning over to her.

“What?” I raise my eyebrow, turning my whole body in her direction. “Okay” She set her drink down, turning towards me now. “John found out about you and Kayce and the words he used weren’t exactly accepting” Great. I let a sigh slip, as I fell onto the couch again. We have been seeing each other for almost 2 months now. We didn’t keep it a secret exactly but we weren’t screaming to the world. We barely see eachother with getting up before the sun and spending late hours at work. We have had a total of 3 dates and one of them was interrupted by his work. He hasn’t even asked me to be his girlfriend! “Don’t freak” She says, pushing the drink towards my face finishing it in one go.

“What did he say?” I sit up, placing the glass down. She stands up grabbing the said glass and pouring more liquor in. “Beth,” I stood up, taking the drink from her and finishing it. I sure will need it.

“He said something along the lines of, He doesn’t need any distraction” Distraction?

“What else?” I pour more than a shot in the glass walking back to the couch.

“y/n” She warned as I took a sip.

“You know what!” I turn towards her. “It doesn’t even matter” I finish the drink and set it on the side table. “He doesn’t have to worry about me, I never want to be somewhere where I am a bother to someone” I start walking up the stairs and hear Beth’s footsteps behind me.

“What are you doing? I will talk to him! He didn’t-He is just stressed” I turned over to her.

“You don’t need to talk to him about anything, I will.” I go right into my room and pull out my suitcase. “I never took anything for free. Never. I am grateful for the help he gave me but am not going to be a chess piece he can move when he likes” I never carried a lot of belongings so it didn’t take long for me to finish.

“Y/N. You can’t just leave”

“My parents thought the same” I look at her plainly in her eyes. “You will see the checks he paid me weren't cashed. Money will be wired for tuition with interest.” I put on a coat and grab hold of my suitcase. “I will call you tomorrow” I leave her standing in the middle of the room to walk downstairs. My nerves were a wreck right now. My mind was telling me there was a better way to go about this but my heart was taking over me. I got out the door and onto my car. I turn on the car and place it on reverse before I hear my phone ring. “Hello?” I glimpse at the caller ID. I didn’t want him to worry so I calmed my voice hoping to get him off the phone as soon as possible.

“Y/N. Beth told me what happened” Fuck you Beth. “I am almost home. Just wait 5 more minutes”

“I can’t Kayce.” I want to do nothing more than not to see him. I back up then change gear to drive off the ranch.

“We can talk about it. Baby don’t leave” I pressed the end button before reliezing it. My eyes were getting blurry and my hands were shaking. I didn’t know if it was because of the coldness or because I was holding back freaking out. Minutes went by and I had to stop the car to the side, it wasn’t smart driving like this. I saw my breath in the air. I move to the passenger side and lean against my car. I look up to the night sky feeling no tears coming out.

“Am so stupid” I hit my forehead sliding down to the ground. I had my own money and could go anywhere. I have a good background and could be accepted anywhere. I’ve dreamt of living beside a body of water and I could do that. I had no attachment here, so why is it hard to get back in my car? Was I even going to go through with it?. The Duttons were the only family I really felt needed and loved by. I hated to hear John wasn’t happy with me. Was it a stretch to think I meant something to him more than what it was? I was only a girl he helped years ago go through college so I could be of use to him later on. Or was I thinking too hard?

“Y/N?” I turned to my left and I didn’t even notice the headlight shining towards me.

“I have to go” I stood up walking to the driver side door. I felt a tug on my arm pulling me back.

“If you wanted to go you would have '' He took hold of my face forcing me to look up at him. “Look at me. Am here” Even if my face was right infront of him my eyes were elsewhere. “Look at me damnit'' He tugged my jaw to get my attention. My eyes filled to the brim with tears but I dared not to blink. “Am here” He nods and my head unconsciously follows along

“I know,” I whisper, moving my hands up to grab onto his jacket. “I don’t know what happened” His hands move to hold my cheeks. The cold wind was non existent by then. “I hate feeling like a bother. He has done so much and-” I couldn’t hold it. I burst out crying and cling onto him harder. His arms wrap around me pulling me in closer.

“Doesn’t make what he said right. He loves you like a family, don't ever forget that. He just gets hot tempered with things and can’t think straight” He pulls away allowing me to look up to him. “You have done nothing wrong. You have done everything he has asked for, you do not belong to him” He lays a gentle kiss on my lips. “Don’t feel like you owe him something, okay?” I nod. A smile appeared on my face. Some weight has lifted off my shoulders. I still need to talk to John. If he wants me out of the house and fires me as an attorney I will find somewhere to live and get another job. I feel deep down that is what I really need right now. Maybe a break from all the Duttons is best. “Can I take you home?” Maybe not all the Duttons.

“Not tonight. Can we go somewhere else?” he lays another kiss, nodding his head. I grab his hand before he starts walking away. “It's best if you drive, I had a couple of drinks tonight”

“Let me call Rip” I nod, getting into the passenger seat and looking at the rearview mirror. Watching as he gets his things from his truck and walks over to get into the car. “Yeah. Tell her she’s okay” My eyes widen a bit feeling bad about worrying Beth. “Can’t do nothing with her. She’s a stubborn one” He chuckles a bit earning a hit on the arm. “And abusive” He grabs my arm before it makes contact with him again. “She has to put up with so much more, I can handle this” I shake my head leaning back waiting for the phone call to finish. “Where to?” He turns on the car and turns over to me.

“Keep going straight, I’ll give you directions from here. '' He switches gears but does not let go of the break yet. I look over and see him offering his hand. Without a word I enterwine our fingers as they lay gently on the console. “Am okay” I whisper while looking over. “I just want you, okay?” I lean closer.

“Yes ma’am” He smiles, letting go of the break.

NOT A CHAPTER

This will be insert of storylines that happens in the future if Yn and Kayce

Chapter 14: Part 1

Chapter 13:

“When am I going to be a big brother?” My eyes almost popped out of their sockets. I turned over to Tate seeing how he looked at me before both our eyes looked over to Kayce. He was sitting on the other rocking chair as we enjoyed the morning light. “My friend just got a little brother and my other friend already has two” he turned back to me with a wide smile and hope in his eyes. “I want three so I can beat them but I will settle with one” I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

“Buddy, Y/N and I need to talk about it first. It's a decision we can only make but am glad you are all for it” Tate stands up from my lap facing us both.

“Listen I understand so let me tell you what's on the table” I looked over to Kayce who had a slight grin on his face. “You know I don’t mind sharing and being nice but with a sibling I will learn so much more. I will be more responsible. Protective. I will have a love for teaching because I will be teaching them everything about the world they don’t know. As an only child I will be such a mess!” I subdue the laugh I wanted so badly to let out.

“You know some studies have linked only children with having superior verbal skills. Others have concluded only children are more motivated and better adjusted. And not to mention they get better grades.” I say sipping on my coffee.

“I promise to get better grades! To study day and night and do all my chores on time!” He comes closer to me.

“Bud. We expect that of you either way, not the all day and night thing but we will keep that in account when your father and I have the discussion of your sibling”

“Yay. I need to go tell grandpa” He ran off before I could hold him back.

“Your sibling? As in present tense?” I look over with a smile. I kicked off the blacket and set down my coffee.

“Don’t get too excited cowboy” I move over to sit on his lap. “You haven’t even made me your wife” I lift my hand to show him an empty finger.

“I thought you didn’t care much about marriage” he wraps his arms around me pulling me back. I lay my head on his shoulder as he pulls the blanket he had on us.

“I can make an exception” I smile, digging my head into his neck.

“With the sibling before marriage or marriage?” I pull back looking dead in his eyes.

“Both” My smile drifted away wanting to see his reaction before getting my hopes up. I know he was smiling and grinning talking to Tate and teasing me but now it was a serious conversation.

“I would love to give Tate a sibling. I just want us to be on the same page” His hand moved to my cheek and down my neck pulling me closer so my forehead rested on his. “I don’t want this to rush us into something you are not ready for or don’t want” I know what he meant. Before we started dating we got into an argument like we always did when we talked. I told him I didn’t want to be held back by people. People usually disappointed me and I found a way to either disappoint them or kick them out of my life. So as far as that goes I told him I wouldn’t think twice about having a kid. It wasn’t something I wanted to ruin.

“I know what I said before and that doesn’t change the fact that I am still scared.” I move my hands up his chest to rest on the side of his face. “I don’t need a ring to know that I want this” I give him a quick kiss. “I want you, Tate, and your crazy family” I hear him chuckle. “I also want your future kids but maybe not right now” I cuddle closer to him resting my head on his shoulder as we both look out the distance. “I want to enjoy you and Tate before we add to the world” He lays a kiss on my head wrapping his arms tightly around me.

“If that is what you want” He whispers in my ear.

“You don’t want that?” With a slight humor in my voice but I was worried what he was going to say next.

“I want what you want” I pull a little back, turning over to look at him. “We are a team but when it comes to your body it's your choice. I will do and give anything you are okay with” I laugh laying back down

“Where’s my orchard?” I say with sass in my voice. “I want my orchard and you have yet to give me one” I smile hearing a huff behind me. “You know I can always go back to Gideon” This time it was a groan I heard. I was lifted off the chair and placed to stand on the porch.

“Damn woman, What I got to do to keep you happy” He shakes his head grabbing onto his hat but I stopped him from putting it on.

“You still love me right?” I whisper, putting my hand behind my back. He had gone down one step on the stairs so it even out our height a bit.

“That should never be questioned ma’am” I smile walking closer. “That is why to show you I will plant you an even bigger orchard than that Gideon guy” He rolled his eyes looking in another direction. I laugh at his response. I take the hat from behind me and place it on his head. He turns towards me, lifting his head. I plant a kiss on his lips pulling away with a smile.

“Oranges and apples” I whisper still close to him

“Yes ma’am” he smiles, pulling me closer by wrapping his arms around me.

“Should’ve gotten a cowboy a long time ago”

“But you were too busy messing with those city boys” I laughed hitting his shoulder. “If you had just given me a chance years ago” I laugh a little louder pulling him away

“What are you talking about?!” Years ago he was still with Monica. I heard them arguing once but it wasn’t like couples don’t argue. The only interaction we had together was dinners and maybe the occasional hello, how are you?, and goodbye. We didn’t get a chance to continue as Tate was running up to us screaming.

“Dad!” With a giant smile he runs up to the porch to stand beside me looking over to Kayce. “Grandpa thought it was a good idea. He said once the baby is born he is going to buy another horse so I could train him!” I hold in my laugh this time not wanting to give hime hope. I watch as Kayce kneels down infront of him. He took a quick glance at me and with a smile and a nod he knew what to say.

“Buddy I know you are excited but y/n and I decided to wait. That doesn’t mean you won’t be a big brother, it's just not going to happen right now” I can already tell he has a sad look in his face as his shoulders slump down and as he looks up at me my statement is made true.

“That's okay, I understand. '' I smile gently, getting down aswell.

“I promise you” I look over at Kayce before moving closer to Tate’s ear. “It won’t be long. So you better start practicing before then”

“You’re right!” He smiles, pulling away. “I need to learn how to change diapers, oh! And how to wash their bottles.” He continues to mumble to himself as he walks through the house door. I turn over to Kayce looking him dead in the eye.

“What?” He smiles

“Don’t you have work to do?” I say sternly with my arms crossed

“Yes ma’am” He bows his head, turning around.

“I love you”

“I love you too,” He shouts. I know I don’t want a baby right now but he is really making it hard as I see him walk away. I can imagine him with Tate by his side. Both holding one hand of a baby who is learning how to walk. Maybe another baby in Kayces arms as they walk throught the ranch. Laughing and smiling.

“I need to get on birth control soon” I whisper to myself.

“You should have gotten on it a long time ago” I jumped back, turning to see Beth standing behind me. “I mean I know you were never much out there but I know Kayce and you do it like rabbits”

“So you will understand why I need it more than ever. Even more now that Tate has brought an idea that won’t be going away anytime soon”

“I thinks it's a great idea”

“Of course you do Beth” I smile wrapping my arms around her. “But you are just going to have a to wait like the others”

“Not long right?” She laughs.

“If I don’t get on birth control, no” We both laugh knowing my words scared me but the humor it cost her eased my nerves.

NOT A CHAPTER

This will be insert of storylines that happens in the future if Yn and Kayce

Chapter 15:- Part 2

Chapter 14:-Part 1

For the past week it has been the same routine. I get home and lay my things on the couch. Find Kayce if he is home so we could continue to finish up the house. I don’t know how I got dragged into this idea. I wanted to find a house close to the ranch, check. I didn’t care if it was a fixer upper, check. I wanted to wait until atleast a bathroom and the kitchen was done, not check. Kayce got me to agree to move in right away. I should have known better. The kitchen needed painting. The bathroom didn’t have the shower set up yet. And that's only a few things on the list. “Kayce!” I screamed as I got into the house. Eachday we tried to knock something out the list. The first few days we got the bedroom ready. Only a bed was occupying the space. I walked to the kitchen noticing the paint had dried. Another thing that was a hassle is agreeing with things. I wanted a simple white color around the house with a mix of black and greys. Kayce called that the city side of me but that nut jobs wanted browns,greens and reds. What is this supposed to be? That would remind me of my grandmother's house, if I knew her. We decided on a sage green and beige and light blue eggshell color. The wooden floor was all his idea but my bathroom had to be tile and that is as far as we’ve gone.

“In the backyard!” I looked out the far window and saw his back but what I could also see was a figure standing infront of him. Who had come over? I come around cautiosioussly. I stood frozen on the doorway. “Hey-”

“Honey” Last time I heard those words he was using it in a hurtfult way. In the conversation he would call me many other things that weren’t appropriate to call your own daughter. “I wanted to see you” He comes closer but Kayce blocks him from my view.

“Who are you? I thought you were the contractor” His voice was rising and his posture was stiffer.

“Kayce” I stepped forward gently placing my hand on his arm. He got my message and moved aside “I don’t want no lies anymore. I know you are not here to see me” I hadn’t seen him in awhile.His grey hairs were more prominent. Wrinkles probably caused by his companion have worsened. Of course all of this was due because of time other than that he has stayed the same.

“Y/n” He softly spoke. “I am here to see you”

“And?” I raised my eyebrows seeing through his lie.

“And to give you something but that can wait” His shoulders slump down. It might be wrong of me to not even try to hear him out but mistakes back then showed me that people don’t deserve a second chance and it will be okay because I can live without them in my life.

“I said, no lies. Tell me what you need to say or give me, I have no heart to hear anything else”

“My-”

“Mom!” Our heads turn over to the doorway seeing Tate there with two paint swatches in his hand. “I finally choose the color I want”

“Mom?” I look over to see the shock expression in his face. “You had a kid?” His voice was still soft but all I heard was judgment in his tone.

“Who are you?” Thankfully before I could turn to Tate with tears on the brim of my eyes he took him into the house.

“What do you want? I am not going to give you another 5 minutes” I wiped the tears that had not fallen yet.

“I truly wanted to see you but now that I know you have a kid-”

“No” I shake my head furiously. “That will never happen. When you decided to stand there that night and also do nothing when mother screamed at me you also made the decision to have nothing to do with me from that day on”

“I am his grandfather!” I was not going to correct him. The timeline correlates with Tates age so he should have no doubts he was truly mine and I wasn’t about to deny anything. He was the man to forget about wanting to know his grandchild if he knew he didn’t share his blood. Call me evil and stupid but I wanted him to leave here knowing he wasn’t ever going to cross paths with him again and it was for the best.

“Like I said. You are not his grandfather because if I remember correctly you nodded when she said something along the lines of, you can forget your parents, you are no daughter of mine!”

“You knew the reason why! But now it's all cleared up” He took a step forward but I deny him getting closer.

“Yet it took you years later after the truth was announced to come see me and not even an apology was offered”

“You have to understand we felt hurt that day and even after, it was still hard on us” That made me chuckle.

“Hard? You know what was hard? Hearing from the people that gave you life that they didn’t love you! Kicking you out of their house with nothing in hand! Not checking up on you when they knew they were wrong when all they spoke about how bad pride was and how forgiving you should be! I guess it only works for distant relatives and not your own daughter!” Anger was fueling me to let out things I couldn’t control. I didn’t know I felt this way until all the words had been said out loud. “But it's okay. I learned from my mistakes. Like you taught me daddy, you should not trust the one who broke their end of the deal first”

“Y/N/N”

“Don’t” I shake my head. Hearing that nickname only added fuel to the fire I was trying to control. “You have another minute to tell me what you are truly doing here before you get kicked out” I look up to his eyes and see sadness. For the first time I wasn’t the one crying. Then I see a big legal orange envelope pulled from behind him.

“You have been served” And just like that he won the game of chess again. Yes he was crying but I was left broken. “And there will be a rewrite to the list of demands”

“No,” I say coldly. I know what he mean’t. I was the one who walked closer this time. I grabbed the envelope and stared at him in his eyes. “No matter what is in here and what you want, I will not let you take something of mine, I don’t let go of things that easily”

“I saw you in your cousin’s case, you are a good lawyer but good is not going to be enough” He grabs his coat from the chair and walks to the doorway.

“I am not good” He stops his steps turning over and I swear I saw a faint grin. “I am great and if you want a recond you can ask your associate but you can also wait until we are in court ourselves”

“I can’t wait honey” He walks through the doorway allowing me to finally get some air. Closing my eyes I let the faint air caress me and allow it to take away the tension.

“Was it all true?” I turn around frozen at the expression on Kayce’s face. Before I could respond he walked forward wrapping me in his arms. At that time I let out all the frustration in tears. “I'm so sorry. I didn’t know who he was, he told me he was a contractor” I shook my head wanting to tell him not to worry about it but nothing was leaving my mouth. “I thought you called someone about the pool I wanted” I laughed, hitting his chest.

“You’re an idiot, you should have known better. I don’t want a pool in the backyard.”

“How stubborn you are, I should have” He laughs. His hands moved upwards pulling my face into a kiss. “Am sorry” He whispers with sad eyes.

“It's okay. I don’t even know why I am crying, I have bigger things to handle” I left my hand showing the envelope but he pushed my hand down gently.

“Don’t shut down your feelings with me” He kissed me again, pulling closer.

“Trust me when I say I am okay. I guess it was all the emotion of seeing him again. It made me relive that day again.” I look up, wrapping my arms around his neck. “But I am okay. He and my mother will not cause me any more pain” He nods, moving down to place another kiss on my lips. “Now can we talk about the envelope? He nods again. “I haven’t read it but I can tell you he got some ideas by seeing Tate?” His eyebrows furrow. “If I am correct the content of this envelope is to rip me out of the shares in their company and to a new addition to pay some kind of settlement”

“Okay. Where does Tate come in?”

“My mother is vindictive but so am I” I smile pulling away. “I don’t know exactly what card they will pull for Tate but they are going to use him to get me. I will fight for those shares and the money but trade it under a deal for Tate”

“Would you have done it either way?”

“Yes” I smiled up at him. “I don’t want or need anything that ties me to them” I move my hand to his chest messing around with his coat. “I promise Tate will not be involved in this more than just his name”

“I know” He grabs onto my hands and kisses them. “I have a fiance whos the best lawyer here to New york, I bet I can put a good word in to help you”

“I bet I am better than her” I grin, feeling his heartbeat. “In a lot of ways” I hear a low chuckle.

“I will have to verify that” I placed my hand between our lips before he could kiss me.

“Your son has been staring at us for 4 minutes and if I remember correctly that's the same stare you have when you are getting impatient” I look over to Kayce again and laugh. “Yeah just like that” He didn’t get a chance to speak before there was a bang on the glass. We both looked over, almost bursting out laughing at his expression. The stare. The hand pressed against the glass with the paint swatch he chose and the other pointing at it.

“You know what he needs?”Kayce says as we take our time walking towards the house.

“Hmm?” I didn’t look back, mouthing to Tate we were going.

“A sibling” I almost lost my balance. A bit of a blush was surely appearing in my face.

“You should let your fiance know” I turned around letting go of his hand. “Maybe she will agree to start trying tonight” I smile rushing into the house.

“Come on!” I laugh. Tate doesn’t have a bed yet so he is sleeping with us tonight until he goes back with Monica and that is in 3 days. I ran into Tate on the floor spread out.

“Am here buddy” I smile seeing his annoyed look turn into a smile.

“Buddy you are staying with your grandpa tonight” Kayce says rushing in behind me.

“Nope. We are finishing my room even if it takes all night!” He says standing up rushing to the supplies.

“All night” I tell Kayce with a smile.

“3 Days and then you will need many nights to recover” That made two things fall. My smile and my jaw. Now I wanted Tate to go with John

NOT A CHAPTER

This will be insert of storylines that happens in the future if Yn and Kayce

Chapter 16:- Part 3

Chapter 15:-Part 2

The following morning after spending all night painting Tate’s room, we went straight to bed after getting somthing in our stomachs. I was up before the sun was up and around here it's pretty early. “Where are you going?” Kayce sits up trying to bother Tate. I was already dressed just getting my phone from beside him. I kneel down to see him eye to eye.

“I need to get to the office and deal with this” I nudge at the envelope. “I can’t count this over until Jennifer files this away” I faintly smile giving him a kiss before standing up.

“Wait” He quietly shouted. I turn around seeing him rush up towards me. He stalked closer and I walked backward out the room seeing him follow me and close the door. “Are you going to be okay? I mean-”He walks much closer placing his hands on my hip. “I know you will be okay but Jaime can be there to help if needed” I smile looking down. I understand where his worry is coming from, but I didn’t need anyones help on this. I look up, placing my things down on the island and wrapping my arms around his neck.

“I will take him in account” I enterwine my fingers together pushing him head forward.

“Promise?” He whispered leaning into the side still enough to look perfectly into his eyes.

“Kayce” I warned. He knows I hate making promises. If I were to make one it meant there would be a way to disappoint someone. And I didn’t want to do that to people I care about.

“This is the first time you have dealt with your parents so closely after many years. I just want you to know that this family you have now will be beside you when you need them. You have us on the sideline to pick.” I chuckle a little.

“You have been getting into sports too much” His smile gets bigger before nudging at me.

“Am serious”

“I know cowboy” I move in to kiss him but he pulls back. I groan, rolling my eyes. “Okay” I move in again but he pulls back again!. “Kayce!” I groan. I see a faint smile but other than that he continues to stand there not saying another word. “Fine” I stomp my foot slightly. “I promise if it becomes too much I will put someone in the play to help” It sounded like a question more than a statement. But I look back at him and I guess he accepted what I was giving him since there was a smile on his face. I pull my hand looking at the time. “I have to go” I push away grabbing my things

“What? What about my kiss?” I smile walking towards the door.

“I gave you a second chance and you know I don’t do that” Before I could reach the door he was on me. I dropped my things, grabbing onto what I could. My body pressed against the door, his hands entangled in my hair. “Kayce!” I groaned wanting to push him back but my hands were pulling on the fabric of his shirt. He groaned, moving his kisses down to my neck.

“We should christien the guest room” He whispers and I only shake my head quickly.

“What are you doing to mom!?” We pull apart, frantic to the expression on Tate’s face. He must have heard groans and mistaked it for pain. I was horrified seeing him come rushing inbetween us pushin Kayce away.

“Bud I was only kissing her goodbye” Kayce whispers kneeling infront of him with a smile.

“No you weren’t!” He turns around wrapping his arms around me into a hug. Thankfully he didn’t ask or said anything else. I smile a bit, rubbing his back. “You can’t hurt her! She might have my little sibling in here” I smile lifting him up.

“Bud, he wasn’t hurting me” I whispered in his ear as he wrapped his arm tightly around my neck. “And he definitely would never hurt your little sibling” I wasn’t pregnat. Tate knew that and Kayce knew that. Tate and I had been talking in the present tense of a baby since he asked for one. He understands it won’t be soon but it became a habit, I am just thankful he won’t have anything against one when it decides to show up.

“Can we go back to sleep?” Tate looks over to Kayce and then turns to me.

“Can’t” I put him down grabbing onto his hand. “I have work but I will be back early today so we can be lazy all afternoon” I lead him back to the room and tuck him in again.

“Can you bring pizza?” I look over to Kayce and he nods.

“I think that would be a yes” I turned over to Tate who had a big smile on his face as he turned to the side and cuddled into the mattress. I get up walking out the bedroom door and closing it. I look over to Kayce before walking towards him and wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him. “I will text you when I am on my way home!” I quietly scream before grabbing my things and walking out the door. When I got to the office it was 10 minutes till 6. I took a moment to sit down peacefully before work began. I open the file and read it word per word. She was asking for my share that was given to me once I turned 18. Legally you cannot take hold of it after and since she waited years to do so she needs my permission. It also states that I should agree to never sue them and that my last name should never be connected to them or I could choose to change it. I can’t do anything until I have the right and full legal suit here. My father said there would be some changes and I bet it will be here soon.

NOT A CHAPTER

This will be insert of storylines that happens in the future if Yn and Kayce

Chapter 17:

Chapter 16: Part 3

I tried to be present for the last weeks but I stood no chance against work. The court date moved on pretty quickly and soon I was standing infront of the judge on the last date. I had Kayce sitting behind me and Tate thankfully wasn’t allowed in court because my mother had made it a strong belief that he should be here. “Your honor” I say approaching her. “It is clearly stated in the paper that is infront of you and plaintiff they are reasoning behind my son not being present” I had not adopted Tate Legal. He still had both parents and I never wanted to over step. We did write a couple papers indicating I am a legal guardian/parent of him and under that paperwork it was written he would not be used or even attend family matters in court. I wanted to protect him and anyone that was born into this family. Kayce has a hard past and so do I, I didn’t want anything affecting kids.

“That cannot be suitable in this case, your honor!” My mother stands and with a rush her lawyer urges her to sit back down.

“If you are not going to let your lawyer talk and with permission I am going to dismiss this case for a further date until you learn how my courtroom handled it” She backs up and takes a seat. “Now continue Miss. Y/N” The judge looks over to me and nods.

“Thank you” I shifted back to my desk. “The paper clearly states he will not be allowed at court for any case unless it's life or death.” I picked up his birth certificate. “This gives it more credibility and the reason the plaintiff does not have any copy or knowledge of it, is because it is not suitable” I look over to my mother and her lawyer before handing it to the judge. She scans over it and quickly straightens up.

“I will need to see you in my office” She says sternly and I nod. “Give us a 5 minute recess and we will be back” She announces as she starts to walk back to her office.

“Everything okay?” I hear Kayce call out to me but not loud enough for everyone to hear. I nod my head.

“I wanted to have something against her but since the agreement is not enough I needed to tell the whole truth even if it won’t knock the smile out of her face” I groaned walking off.

“Couldn’t you have started with the birth certificate?” She shakes her head behind her desk. “Saved you and I much time”

“I know there is a way around everything so not matter how officially the paper may be she would find a way to get what she wants”

“You know what?” She stands up and walks to her fridge. “I have never seen you this stressed” I thank her as I grab the water she handed me.

“It has never involved my kid” I say sitting up straighter. “I guess I prolonged this so I can see her lose something she really wanted, even if it was to get back at me” I shrug and get up. “But I am not going to lose a kid just so I can win this game”

“Couldn’t agree more” She sets her cup down. “I'm glad even after everything you don’t change” I hate change. I was going to say but I only smiled. “Recess is over let's go” I nod, getting out of the room and waiting back in the courtroom for her to appear. We all stand as we hear the doors open. “After hearing and seeing all the evidence I have come up with a decision” The viewers were the only ones to sit down. “When it comes down to the shares and every last of the demands such as last name affiliation or change I grant in favor of the Plantiff” I could see the smile in her face. “When it comes to visitation of Tate I grant favor to the defendant. Case is close”. I know I won. Bickering days back and forth about the company and the name. We stood facing eachother knowing this might be the last time I get to see my mothers face.

“Y/N?” Kayces voice reaped my eyes from following her walking figure. “Everything is done?” I look over before handing the file to Jennifer.

“Yes. Everything is done” I smile. I pull my hand forward to enterwine with mine. “Let's go home, I need a vacation after this” He chuckles walking out of the courtroom. The image I saw was something that made me unable to swallow.

“Think about this” I heard Kayce warn me but my feet had already started walking towards them.

“Y/N” I pull my hands up stopping John from talking.

“Whatever you are saying or trying to do here is not worth it. As stated, I am no longer part of the family so that means you don’t belong in mine”

“No matter what they said he is my blood and the problem was never with him!” She stepps forwards but I don't move an inch. Tate was currently hiding behind John.

“I don’t care!” I took a deep breath not wanting to scare Tate more. “You will never get a chance to hurt me again. And trust me when I say that if you even try, remember I know everything about you and your name”

“You have always been so sensitive” She smiles while fixing her purse.

“You can think anything you want. If you decided to show up again I will make sure I am not the only thing stripped from your last name” I turned around grabbing Tates hand.

“Who was that lady?”I look down, finding a sort of calmness in his eyes.

“She’s my mother,” I say as I get to the truck. I hear the car unlock and help Tate into the back seat.

“Why were you screaming at eachother?” His innocent eyes didn’t compel what was happening.

“Sometimes mothers and daughters fight. Sometimes you need to walk away to give people time to breath”

“Do mothers and sons fight?” I look over with a grin. He smiles knowing the answer. “I guess I have a good mother. She fights for me” I ruffle his hair checking that his belt is secure enough. “But I got really lucky I have two”

“Yes you are bud” I look over and see Kayce and John finally begin to walk towards us. “How about some ice cream? I could definitely use one”

“Yes!” He screams.

“What's happening here?” John says come to my side.

“We decided we need ice cream, will you come with us grandpa?” I turn around leaving them to talk.

“Are you okay?” I look up nodding my head. I move forward wrapping my arms around Kayce. He immediately wraps his arms around me.

“Yes. I just need some ice cream” I smile.

“Yes ma’am” He whispers, pulling my face up and leaving a gentle kiss on my lips. “Guess what?”

“Hmm?” I tried to catch his lips again but was denied.

“I got the stove set up”

“Oh thank god!” I groan, pulling away. “I think I hate every take out in this town” He laughs as I move around the truck to get in.

“Don’t act like you are a great cook either” If I had something to throw at him I wouldn’t think twice.

“Shut up. Now I can practice and you will see” He laughs again pulling his door open. We both get in and turn around to Tate. “Tate, you like the food I make, right?” Tate looked lost. He looked between me and Kayce not knowing what to say.

“Bud, you can tell the truth” I smile nodding my head at Kayces words.

“Well” He stretches his arms trying to come up with his words. “You have only made breakfast and dad has done most of the cooking so I can’t judge” I hear a snicker from Kayce earning him a hit in the arm.

“Thank you buddy.” I smile turning to face forward. “Let's go get ice cream and then we are going to the grocery store. There is a recipe I know you will like”

“You know what that means Tate '' Kayce starts up the truck and looks throught the rear view mirror. I didn’t have to look back knowing he had a smile on his face just like his father.

“Pizza!” At his words I hit Kayce again

“Damn women! I am trying to drive here” He laughs

“You haven’t even put it in drive” I roll my eyes. I feel a presence leaning into me and I turn and see Kayce close. “What?” I groan annoyed

“I love you” I couldn’t help but roll my eyes again but soon enough I smile going in for a kiss.

“I love you too!” Kayce’s face is pushed back to replace the kiss I wanted with a kiss on a cheek.

“I love you too” I say as he takes his seat back.

“Put your seatbelt back on” I turn to see Kayce. “How does staying with grandpa sound?” I laugh moving over to grab Kayce’s hand

“No. I want to stay with you two” Tate say innocently

“Right” Kayce’s groans. He leans in again and starts whispering. “You were right not having a baby just yet. If my only child is cockblocking me right now, imagine a littel one? I wouldn’t even be able to spend the 10 minutes we get alone in a day” I chuckled looking over making sure Tate wasn’t paying attention.

“Really?” I say. I move my hand up to rest on his cheek. “I was thinking we were ready for baby #2”

“Oh now he is really staying in the ranch” He groans, straightening himself in the seat before starting to drive. I know my intention was to tease him but there was some truth behind my words. After all of these I know I have Kayce beside me. Always. There wasn’t anything that could stop me now. Giving him another baby was my promise to him. I wasn’t planning to go anywhere either. I was ready to stay, to stay with him and our family.

NOT A CHAPTER

This will be insert of storylines that happens in the future if Yn and Kayce

Chapter 18:

Chapter 17:

Trying to have a baby was difficult if the man you wanted to be the father seemed to be avoiding you at all cost. When Tate was gone with Monica I would come home ready to spend the night with him but he was never home. He would come late and by that time I was already in bed sleeping peacefully. When Tate was here he always wanted him present, which was unusual because when he was over he would send him with John atleast one night. One time I tried going over to his office. A coat robe ready to slip off and available to him but nothing. He had a “Meeting” to get too. I was becoming frustrated but not because I needed all of the pent up feelings to go away but because he is making it seem like he doesn’t want me anymore. “You are being paranoid” I shake my head at the liquor being offered by Beth.

“Stop. That is what they say to women who’s husband are cheating on them” I roll my eyes and start pacing the floor.

“Well it's a good thing he is not your husband then” I look over annoyed at her words. “Kidding. Well not” She smiles getting up to take my arm. “Kayce loves you and you know how busy this world can get you” I hated talking about the ranch. Call me crazy but after leaving the ranch and only taking care of it legally, I didn’t want to be involved with anything else. I hated Kayce was involved but I understood where he was coming from when he told me he couldn’t just leave. We had a huge argument one night when he came beat up so badly it kept him in bed for days. I cried non stop but showed how angry he was with what he was involved with. It took days before I came to terms with it. It took weeks to look at him and finally come up with a solution. He wanted to give up everything so we could be together but I told him it was okay. I knew what I got myself into even before we were together. She pulls me to take a seat.

“It's hard to believe when he doesn’t even kiss me atleast a goodbye!” I stomp my feet seeting back into the couch like a littel girl who is being denied candy.

“How about we go out tonight?” I close my eyes thinking about it. Tate was with Monica until Tuesday and it was currently Saturday. It was enough time to get blasted, like I am sure Beth will try to get me.

“Sure” I threw my hands up in defeat. I will just have to talk with Kayce before I get to the point where I get my frustration out some other way. “I’ll see you at 7?” I get up grabbing my things

“5” I turned over looking at her. We never go out that early. “You need to relax your mind and I know this wonderful place but it's far. '' I shake my head not caring aslong as my mind is not thinking of Kayce for as long as possible. “I will pick you up”

“At the office” I say walking out the door. I was going to spend the rest of the day in the office. Being at home with it being still 11 in the morning wasn’t wise. I would be pacing around the whole house probably eventually crying until I am balled up on the floor. Trying to unlock my door I hear my phone ring. “Hello?” I answer without looking at the caller ID.

“Hey are you busy?” I hear Monica’s voice on the other side of the phone.

“No. I was going into the office to have somthing to do but it can wait. Do you need something?” I pull out my key setting in my purse and put my attention to the phone call.

“Tate has been talking about this restuarant all day when you took him to once. And since it's almost lunch time he was thinking maybe you wanted to join us?” I look over to my office. Being here with only my thoughts might be the same as being stuck at home. Maybe going to lunch with Monica and Tate would be better.

“Of course. I will see you there in 5” We hang up and I go back into my car. I drive up and park waiting for them to show up. “Hey buddy” I smile seeing Tate run up to me and give me a hug.

“He has not stopped talking about this place” She looked up, not really sure about the place.

“It's great!” He pulls away running inside.

“They are good. One of my favorites” I smile waiting for her to walk in behind Tate.

“Welcome” The host smiles as we walk inside. “Table for 3? The gentleman is waiting for you” We turn as we see Tate talking to the waitress already.

“Thank you.” We say walking to the table.

“I will have that in a second” The waitress made sure what Tate had ordered was correct before she left.

“Grandpa said I can come over today for a fishing day!” He said excitily. “Do you want to come too?” How can I tell him no? I don’t mess with horses more than I did the last time I was near one.

“Kid she doesn’t know how to ride a horse” I thank Monica with an uneasy smile.

“But last time you rode with dad. You can ride with me or grandpa this time”

“Thanks buddy but I am not dressed up for the occasion” Yeah a pencil skirt and heels isn’t proper for riding a horse or even fishing.

“Aunt Beth can let you borrow something”

“Okay but if the horse tries anything I will have to skip the fishing trip”

“Deal” He smiles. The food came soon after that.

“So how is the house going?” Monica spoke as we were digging into our food.

“Good. Hard to compermise but it's getting there.”

“Dad doesn’t like the couch” I laugh nodding my head. I didn’t want a leather couch. My parents always had dark brown leather couches in the house but I always liked the large cloth couches.

“And it's a cream color so his fear of keeping it clean is worse” Monica laughs along. “It's not like we have 20 people living at home”

“And what did you have to agree on?” I smile knowing she has been in the same place as me so she knows how annoying it can be to deal with Kayce.

“Having a bathtub” I didn’t like bathtubs. I preferred showers. I wanted a vanity or something more useful in that corner but I agreed to have my couch.

“I love the bathtub!” Tate says with a mouth full.

“That's why I don’t regret the decision. He doesn’t fight taking a bath anymore” Monica turns over with a smile.

“So all it takes is a bathtub to keep you clean?” Tate nods with a big smile. “Have to get one at home because I can’t keep him clean” We were exaggerating but Tate had a difficult time wanting to take a shower but now we have a difficult time getting him out the tub.

“Can you get one with the jets?” He saw the cataloug where we were picking them out and was angry at the fact we didn’t choose one with jets

“I will see” We smiled at Tate who had finished his first plate and went on to the next. Once our food was done we met again in the ranch. Thankfully Rip called Tate over to work on his horse and that took most of the day until I looked down and checked the time.

“It's okay if you have plans, Tate will understand” I looked over to Monica who was standing next to me with a smile.

“No” I shake my head. It was almost 5 and I had texted Beth that I was going to the ranch so she would find me and honestly if she didn’t I don’t really feel like going anywhere right now. “Beth invited me for drinks tonight but I think it's best if I don’t go”

“What?” I look over to her, confused. “I wasn’t going to say anything but you have not been in a good mood for a couple of days.” Gee thanks. “I think you need this,” I was about to say something like no I don’t and going out with Beth will only get me in a worse mood but she wraps her arms around mine and leads me inside the house. “To prove it I will be going too” I smiled a little allowing her to lead me upstairs and into Beth's room. I was forced, which says nothing since I didn’t fight Monica on changing into different clothes. Beth soon came in trying to get ready for the night before she spent getting me ready.

“Alright I think we are ready to go, '' Beth says, looking infront of the mirror before turning to us. “Lets go” We go downstairs and wait in the car so Monica can say goodbye to Tate as she leaves him with Rip until John comes home.

“Come on. We were going to have fun” Monica says from the back seat.

“She is having troubles with my little brother”

“Oh so that's why you have been pissy all day” I look over annoyed.

“I have not!” I argue. I have not, I didn’t even believe myself

“He has been busy and to make it worse she hasn’t gotten some for,? How long has it been” She looks over quickly at me with a grin.

“Shut up” I groan slidding down more into the seat. I fold my arms together looking over to the window. “Almost 2 months” I whisper. I hear them chuckle at my responds.

“I can’t go a week without it,I can’t imagine 2 months” Beth says laughing.

“I am going to throw myself out the car”

“Don’t be pissy. We are going to make you feel better, you will see” Monica said as she laid a gentle hand on my shoulder. I take a deep breath, I don’t know what is going to happen but I need to get this tension out before it drives me crazy. We have been driving for about 10 minutes and I am beginning to think they are going to ditch me in some ditch since I have not stopped frowning since we got in the car. There is nothing 10 minutes away from town that is interesting enough to take this ride.

“Alright we are going off road a little” Beth says turning into a dirt road. Now I truly believe they are going to kill me off somewhere.

“If this is your idea of fun and distracting, I don’t like it” I hear a low chuckle from both of them. I sit up leaning forward when I notice a faint light ahead. The sun was going down on the other side of us so it was dark enough to see light coming from torches? “Are we going there?” I pointed and turned to look at Beth who only nodded. “You know I hate the outside right? If this is supposed to make me feel better than you don’t know me at all” I didn’t have time to take a full glance at what was infront of us since it was still feet away but also because I almost went throught the windshield. Always wear your seatbelts kids!. “What the hell Beth?” I look over as she puts the car in reverse.

“Get out,” She says dryly. “Y/N” She unlocks the car and points outside. “Get out” I roll my eyes a bit. “I need to back up and I don’t want to hear anymore of your whining” It should have pissed me off but it didn’t. Beth was like that. I opened the door and as soon as the door slammed shut she was backing up at a fast pace.

“What the fuck Beth?!” They did ditch me. Not in a ditch dead but ditched me non the less. I will probably be dead before the sun hides away. I gave up looking at the direction they went hoping they would show up. I turn around and walk toward the lights. As I came up you could see torches around the set of multiple pillows and blankets. A middle platter with drinks and what I am guessing is covered up food. “I have totally pissed them off when Beth took her time to do all of this” I lift my hands up in frustration. I have let Kayce’s absence get to me. Usually I didn’t need his attention but lately it was all I was craving. Not sexually but emotionally. I haven’t been attached to someone as I have gotten with him. It's not like I needed him every second of the day but lately since I feel like we have spent less and less time together, I have missed him so much.

“She only did part of this” I looked up frightened at the voice until I saw it was Kayce popping up out of nowhere. It was an open field. It was a field of some sort of grain but it was short so it didn’t even reach my knees.

“What are you doing here?” in the distance you could see a faint building but nothing after that. When did he get here?

“I heard you have been pissy all day?” I see a slight grin on his face as he walks around the pillow and blankets.

“I have not” I roll my eyes not wanting to look at him right now. How dare he show up right now? If he did all of this, what was it for? For the amount of time he has been neglecting me?

“Hey, come back to me” He uses one hand to grab my chin so I have no choice but to look at him, which I didn’t mind. The other wraps around my waist to pull me closer. I guess I was so engulfed in my mind that I didn’t notice the faint music playing until he started swaying. “I need you to stay with me until I finish the speech I have prepared” I furrowed my brow, curious about what he was doing.

“I can do that” I smile, moving my hand up to grab a hold of each side of his face to pull him closer.

“I need to get throught the speech before any of this goes on” I close my eyes, feeling his nose rub against mine before he pulls apart. He puts some space between us holding onto both my hands. “I am not for speeches so don’t give me hell for it” I smile faintly nervous about what is to come. He takes a deep breath before continuing, “Years ago I was so stupid to let you go. I was scared and when I heard about your dreams and goal I knew I couldn’t get inbetween that. Well also back then I didn’t think I deserve someone like you so I held myself back from trying. But the past is the past and now that I have you I will never be that stupid again. I still think I don’t deserve someone like you. So smart and witty. Beautiful and kind to even the ones who don’t deserve it. You accepted me with my whole crazy family but most importantly Tate. He loves you and he was actually the one who pushed me to do this, not that I didn’t want to do it but was procrastinating at the right time.” I wanted to laugh and hug him but his movement stopped me. I always see these in movies. How the guy gets on one knee then he has a hard time finding the ring but finally he extends his hands and opens the little black box and says, “Will you marry me?” I usualy would roll my eyes and smile because even if it was annoying it was their moment. Their piece of heaven and this one was mine.

“Yes” I nod my head wrapping my arms around him once I fall onto my knees. He was my piece of heaven.