River's End (River's End Series, #1)(61)

Joey didn’t like having her there, and was barely civil to her the few times he was forced into her proximity. She made a huge effort to stay away from the house, and out of their ways. He’d give her that. He didn’t see her like he formerly did, except after he volunteered and asked her to learn to ride. But that was part of who he was. He loved to teach people to ride. Erin wasn’t special just because he did so for her.

His brothers were often in the same position as he was. There weren’t a lot of women to have discreet sex with. Shane and Joey weren’t very discreet. But Jack had a teenage son to worry about, and Ian was as private as Jack. In fact, Jack rarely knew the girls his brothers were sleeping with. Other than, of course, Joey. He knew Joey had a girl from up the river coming over. Unlike Erin, this girl was very vocal, loud, and not the least bit shy of the other three men and two boys who lived there. He often wondered how Erin felt about it. She never said.

Joey expressed on many occasions that he wanted Erin to leave. Jack finally told Joey to get over it, since there was nowhere for her to go. She was staying.

Jack was okay with his decision. He didn’t mind her staying there, or living there, and soon grew used to her presence in the barn, the corrals, or watching him train. She often sat up on one of the fences and just observed him. She only spoke to him if he came over to her. She never disturbed or interrupted him, so it was easy to let her stay.

Joey had many comments about Erin’s presence on the ranch. So did Ian and Shane. Most everyone thought she must’ve been sleeping with one of them. Jack ignored most of the comments from men his age and older, who made remarks like how great it must be to have a hot piece of ass like her living off him. He heard other similarly rude statements and found it surprising. Was it simply because she was an outsider that people felt they could so easily talk about her? And in such derogatory ways?

Whatever, Jack usually shut them down before they hurled any more barbs. He’d already heard enough about Erin’s story, and witnessed her lack of self-esteem to realize she didn’t deserve that. He tried to ignore thinking that he once so easily wrote her off too.

****

Erin’s feet hurt. Finishing the car’s order, she stretched her arm far out the window of her booth to take the five-dollar bill the man held purposely out of reach so she’d have to lean for it and grab it. Of course, that was part of earning his tip, giving him a closer look at her tits. She grabbed the money, and smiled, as if she enjoyed it, then slid back into the booth and shut the window. Turning towards the other window, where another truck waited, she put a smile on her face as she opened the sliding glass.

“Hi, what can I…”

She quit talking mid-sentence when she realized it was Jack, in his idling truck. He looked into her eyes as his gaze wandered down over her. She’d been getting ogled for months and barely registered it anymore. Now, suddenly, with Jack looking at her, she felt the twinge of a blush flooding her face. His gaze met hers and his jaw clenched. He suddenly reached over, putting his truck into gear, and squealed out of the drive-through without a word to her. She stared after his truck in shock.

Holy shit! She never expected Jack to come to her stand. He seemed to pretend she was asexual and didn’t even notice she was a woman or want to look at her. Shane had come through often enough, and Ian once or twice. She had even served some of Ben’s friends. Ben had the good grace to not look at her, and stared at her face with a smile that seemed to apologize for coming there.

She never expected Jack to come through. She sighed as she shut the window and finished her shift. Finally, she was done. She redressed in shorts, a t-shirt and sandals. The weather had been above seventy all week.

Once back at the ranch, she pulled in towards her trailer. It was two-thirty. Charlie and Ben weren’t home from school yet, and everyone else’s truck was gone, except Jack’s.

She quickly ran inside to change her clothes. Putting her jeans and boots on, she hastily started towards the barn.

Jack hadn’t opened up the main doors. Usually he did whenever he worked in there. When they were shut, the barn was dark and gloomy. She walked inside, finding Jack in the back. He had saddles spread out before him and was rubbing one of them with a rag. Whatever he was putting on them had a strong odor that singed her nose as she got closer.

He didn’t look up as she approached from where he sat on a stool before one of workbenches. He had to know she was there. The place was silent, but for the horses’ occasional hoof “clomps” and the soft nickering amongst them.

“Jack?” she finally said to his back. He stiffened, but rubbed harder at the leather. He didn’t look at her. She waited, but he refused to acknowledge her.

“Look if this is about earlier…”

He slammed the saddle down. “You don’t even think it’s a big deal, do you?”

She frowned. “What? Working the coffee stand? It’s not my first choice, but it’s something I can do.”

“Quit. You’re not working there anymore, not like that.”

Her mouth opened. Was he out of his mind? The fumes from the oil must have been affecting his judgment. “What are you talking about? I can’t quit. It’s my job. And damn it, you have no say as to where I work. Besides, why now? Why is this such a big deal now?”

He stood up and whipped around on his heel. “Because I didn’t know you were working there half-naked. I thought you were merely serving coffee.”