Episode 8: Bad Day to be Aiden

Massaging the aching muscles in his neck, Aiden surveyed the work they still had to do on the back pasture. The past winter’s rage had done more than its fair share on the fence and Aiden was determined to get it all repaired before Spring took too tight a grip and invited all the reptiles out of hiding.

“Water?”

Reaching for the bottle, Aiden nodded his thanks at his younger brother, Conner.

“I’m heading into town in a bit. Need anything?”

Aiden absently shook his head as the cold water sluiced down his throat. Capping the bottle, he handed it back to his brother before reaching for the post-hole digger. “What’s in town?”

Conner followed him with the cement mix and a sturdy metal post. Instead of repairing the old wooden posts, they’d decided to replace as many as possible with sturdier steal. A much more labor intensive endeavor and much harder on his back, but he’d be grateful for it next winter.

“Part for the sprayer came in. Thought I might pick up some other supplies while I’m out.”

Aiden glanced sideways at his brother and grunted. “And maybe stop in at Steely J’s to see if Amrys is working?”

Conner grinned and shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt.”

“Girl’s got trouble stamped all over her. Or have you missed the blood red fingernails?”

Sighing dreamily, Conner gave a chuckle while he filled around the new post with quick dry cement and mixed water. “Oh, I’ve noticed ‘em alright. And so has other parts of my body. Girl’s sexy as all hell.”

Aiden shook his head, picturing ‘the girl’s’ sister instead. He’d tormented himself all night with the regret of having messed with her. He had no excuse for that attempted kiss other than pure loss of his senses. Jenna could do that to him like no one else.

“Oh good grief,” Conner snorted. “Just patch things up with her already.”

Slamming the digger down at the next marker, he scowled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m so damn sick of that gloomy hang dog face of yours. Just pull up your big boy britches  and say you’re sorry. Jenna’s sweet. She’ll accept it and take you back.”

Aiden snorted, recalling how she’d flipped him off after he’d tried to kiss her. Yeah, she’d take him back no sooner than she’d snuggle a porcupine. “Hell, you think I haven’t already thought of that? It ain’t as simple as an apology.”

“Of course not. But have you thought about groveling? Begging on your hands and knees? Hell, anyone might think you liked not getting laid.”

Grimacing, Aiden slugged his little brother in the shoulder. “Nice, Conner.”

His younger brother grinned and finished mixing the cement on the last post Aiden had placed. He glanced at his watch before wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his sleeve. “Why don’t you knock off too and come into town with me?”

“I was just in town last night. And I’ve got fence I’d like to finish before I’m forty. Do me a favor, though, will  ya?”Aiden removed his cowboy hat long enough to wipe at the sweat gathering at his temple. “Send Bryan down to help me with this. He should be done mucking by now.”

Conner removed his work gloves and saluted Aiden with them before sauntering back to his truck. “Want me to bring you anything back from town?”

Jenna’s face flashed in his mind and Aiden shook it away. “Can’t think of anything.”

Snorting, Conner swung up into his truck. “Be back later.”

Aiden watched the truck as it kicked up a plume of dust and shook his head at his foolish brother. Conner was younger than him by a year and a handful of months but more often than not, Aiden felt centuries older. Conner was still so much of a kid in his happy-go-lucky world-by-string philosophy. He rushed blindly into courting a woman he knew he had no chance with, saw no reason why Jenna shouldn’t take Aiden back and apparently thought fence posts set themselves.

Turning back to the work at hand, Aiden pushed away thoughts of Jenna Steely and focused instead on ruminating Conner’s chances of ever getting a shot at the youngest Steely. Amrys was a manicured, coifed and meticulously groomed princess with a world of sass lurking just on the tip of her tongue. She’d chew Conner up and spit him out in about two seconds flat. One point five if there wasn’t anything shiny around to distract her.

Besides, the whole county knew the youngest Steely heiress had designs on one particularly beefy Texas Ranger. A particularly stupid one, if the man continued to play the just friends card. Half of Kessler county’s male population—Aiden excepted—would offer up their best stud bull for a go at little Amrys Steely.

But then again, Aiden wasn’t feeling so brilliant himself. He’d had, hands down, the best girl in the world and he’d managed to screw it up so badly she’d rather bathe in a pit of vipers than ever speak to him again.

He’d regret it for the rest of his life. He’d known from the get-go that lying to her had been stupid. Lying was bad news in any case but lying to the woman you hoped to spend the rest of your life with? Completely heinous. No excuses, not even the guise of protecting her, could justify it. She deserved better than that.

Thankfully, the sound of a vehicle approaching rescued him from that depressing train of thought. Bryan to the rescue, he mused and gave the post he’d just set a quick jiggle to test the level. Perfect.

When he looked back up, he felt his stomach drop like a stone as he realized that the truck now parking next to his wasn’t Bryan’s after all.

“I figured you’d be out to see me at some point,” he called to Jack Steely.

Jack slammed his truck door shut and scratched at the back of his neck, looking rather sheepish.  “Well, I promised her I wouldn’t but given some time I decided it was worth it to break that particular promise.”

Aiden tugged off his gloves and set aside his tools, figuring he had it coming—whatever “it” turned out to be. “I’d have thought less of you if you hadn’t.”

“Yeah, and I’ve got my surly big brother reputation to live up to.” Without further warning Jack’s fist connected with Aiden’s jaw, snapping his head back.

Rubbing at his throbbing jaw, Aiden smiled ruefully at his old friend. “I guess I had that coming.”

“I’d rather kick your ass but I figured I’d settle for punching you in the face.”

“Don’t think you could take me?”

Jack snorted a chuckle and rubbed at his reddening knuckles. “Been a long time since I kicked anybody’s ass but I haven’t forgotten how. I just figure she’d be ticked as hell if I messed up your pretty face.”

His chest constricting at the notion that she still gave a shit about anything to do with him, Aiden dropped his hand from his jaw and snatched up the post-hole digger to get back to work.

Thwack!

He slammed the blades into the clay-like dirt and gave the tool a twist. “I doubt she’d even notice, much less give a damn.”

“You really are a stupid ass, then, aren’t you?” Jack strode purposefully to his side and when Aiden braced for a second blow, he was surprised by the violent jerk of the post-hole digger from his hands instead. The other man tossed the tool into the ditch and stood glaring at Aiden.

He didn’t want to fight Jenna’s brother though he knew that Jack was spoiling for a fight. Hell, he deserved whatever Jack could throw at him.  But he and Jack had been friends longer than he could remember so Aiden decided to try placating instead. “Look. It’s over. She’s made that plain. And I don’t blame her for ending it. She shouldn’t give a rat’s ass about me.”

“Hell yeah, it’s over dumbass but that hardly means she’s over you. She loved you, Aiden. Hell, for all I know she still does. What I want to know is why the hell you’re still messin’ with her if it’s truly over? It didn’t look over last night.”

“Dammit, Jack,” he slammed his work gloves to the ground. “Nobody else seemed all that interested in helping her out. What the hell was I supposed to do, let her melt down in front of all those people?”

“Yes. That’s exactly what you were supposed to do. If you still love her enough to want to save her, it ain’t over. So fix it. But if it is truly over let her learn to live without you.”

Aiden’s breath hitched in his throat as he watched his friend turn to walk away and never saw the fist to his jaw coming. Stumbling backward a pace or two, he spit out the blood filling his mouth from a busted lip.

Jack swore as he flexed his hand but gave Aiden a satisfied smile. “And if I hear anymore rumors about you mauling her in the parking lot of my bar, your fences won’t be the only things that need replacing. See ya later.”

Thumbing the blood from his lip, Aiden swore under his breath and half-assedly returned Jack’s jaunty wave as the other man climbed inside his truck and drove away.

Excellent, he thought, snatching up his tools and returning to work. He viciously jammed the digger into the earth with a loud rarely used four letter word. Just damn f***ing excellent.