A Rancher's Touch
Chapter 1
"Hey, Chris, would you mind goin' back and grabbin' me another bridal from the barn?" Slim asked.
"Yeah, sure," I said, setting my pitch fork down and out of the way.
To be honest, I was wondering when he was going to ask me that. The one that we had on our mule was about to snap and he didn't want to take any chances on the way back. I didn't mind so much though, since I needed to grab my canteen out of the bunk house anyway.
"You want one of the horses?" he asked, gesturing over to one of them.
"Nah, I'll just walk, but I am ridin' up front with ya when we head back for dinner," I said, a small smile on my face.
"Fine by me," he chuckled, turning his back to me as he served one of the guys some water.
"I'll be back in a few minutes," I told him, before walking off back toward the ranch.
Our team would be heading back toward the ranch soon, so I knew that I'd have to hurry up a bit. We needed a better bridal so that we could get our group back for supper.
I sighed though as I kept walking, pulling my hat down just a bit more to keep the sun out of my eyes. Today we were supposed to have a couple more guys come in, but they never showed. It left me a bit curious though, especially when the boss came in this morning madder than I'll get out. He'd hoped that they'd be there to go out with us this morning. That was neither here nor there though.
"Hey, Chris, where do you think you're going?" Curly called.
I groaned at this, simply ignoring him as I kept walking, the barn now in sight.
"Hey, I'm talkin' to you!" he yelled riding up behind me.
"Leave me alone Curly," I growled, marching forward as I kept my back to him.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" he yelled, getting annoyed with me.
At that, I whirled around, a glare set on my face as I stared at him.
"I said leave me alone!"
This kid always got on my nerves from the very first day I got here. He always thought that he was just so much better than me just because I was a woman. He didn't think I was any good and it got on my nerves. That and the fact that he thought he could boss me around all the time. He had another thing coming to him though if he thought I'd just let him push me over like that.
"Now, stay outta my face," I told him.
He didn't seemed to like this much and grabbed my arm, turning me around as he sat there on his horse.
"Let go of me," I said slowly, keeping my voice as even as possible.
If there was one thing that I didn't put up with, then it was having people like him touching me.
"Not until you listen to me," he barked, tightening his grip on me.
It hurt like hell, but I didn't let on, standing there quietly as he gripped it harder. I could only imagine what the guys would say if they saw this. Slim would probably get on him for it, same with Carlson. For the last three months that I'd been here, Slim had treated me like a daughter, trying his best to keep me out of harms way. Unfortunately this time, I'd have to deal with it myself.
"I said to let go of me," I repeated, trying to pull my arm away.
He just tugged me back though, so I hauled off and socked him one, knocking him off of his horse.
"Damn it!" he yelled, pushing himself up off of the ground.
I just ran forward toward the barn, quickly hiding away inside of it. I knew that he'd end up coming after me, so I grabbed one of the bridals off of the hooks and went out back.
T
"Here's the bridal," I muttered, handing it over to Slim as I walked up to him, gently rubbing my arm.
I swear, if it bruised, I'd be furious.
"You alright?" he asked, eyeing me for a moment as he took the bridal from my hand.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just had a run in with Curly," I told him, picking up my pitch fork and flinging some barley into the back of the wagon. "Ask me again in a few hours and I'll let you know," I said, my face scrunching up slightly as I swung another pile into the back.
"He bothers you again, you let me know, you hear?" he said, standing in front of me.
"Yeah, I'll be sure to let you know," I nodded, going back to work.
I'd be damned if I let myself get caught by Mr. Tyler not doing my job.
T
Pretty soon, everyone was back on the wagon and ready to head back for dinner. We were having beef stew for supper this time and I was starving after a few hours working in that hot sun.
"You ready to go Chris?" Slim asked, getting up in the drivers seat.
"Hell, yes," I breathed, climbing up beside him.
"Alright then, let's get going boys," he called, before giving the reigns a good click on the mules' backs.
A moment later, they were pulling us toward the ranch at a steady pace, the wagon wheeling along over the dusty ground.
"What's for supper this time?" I heard Carlson ask from behind me.
"Beef stew," I answered, turning in my seat a bit and letting my arm hang off the back of it.
"Sounds good," he grinned, rubbing his hands together for a moment.
I laughed at this, a smile pulling at the corners of my mouth. I always have liked this bunch for the most part, that is, unless they're playing tricks on me. Slim only let them take it so far though, so normally there weren't many problems. I'd always manage to get them back though, occasionally taking one of their hats and hiding them or something, nothing real big though.
"Hey, what's he want?" I heard Jack ask, causing me to look around.
I found Curly walking toward us in irritation.
"Oh great," I groaned, rolling my eyes as he stopped beside us.
"What you want?" Slim asked, pulling at the reigns a few times to keep the mules in place.
"I don't want nothing from you," Curly spat, glaring my way. "I'm going to get you one of these times Kingston," he growled.
"Yeah, well, you better learn to keep your hands to yourself otherwise I'm gonna sock you one again like I did earlier."
At this, everyone starting laughing, realizing that I'd been the one to leave the red mark on Curly's face. I'd made sure to hit him pretty good and apparently I did my job.
"Just leave the girl alone," Slim told him, earning a glare of his own this time.
"I'll get you later," Curly called, before marching off toward the house.
Everyone howled with laughter as they watched him walk off, a grown man. He was a grown man and he'd got socked by a girl. Not to mention, he fought in the ring, so it made it all the more funny in everyone's eyes.
"Damn, I knew I liked this girl," Carlson chuckled, patting me on the back.
"Come on lay off," I smiled, shaking my head as I jumped down, heading toward the bunk house. "I'll see you guys in a minute, I gotta go change my shirt."
As I got closer though, I saw Curly's wife walking out of it, a smile on her face.
"What have I told you about coming into our bunk house?" I asked, placing my hands on hips.
"I was just looking for Curly," she said sweetly. "The boys in there were real nice though," she grinned, quickly walking off past me.
"Boys?" I spoke out loud, my brows knitting together in confusion.
No one should be in there except for maybe Candy, but I saw him walking off somewhere anyway.
"I don't like this place," I heard someone say as I walked in, finding myself face to face with two newcomers.
The moment I walked in though, their eyes flew toward me, just staring at me.
"Can I help you?" I heard one ask.
"Um, yeah, who are you?" I asked, giving him a questionable look.
"George Milton," he answered simply, fixing a blanket on his bed.
My eyes then traveled over to the other guy. His friend seemed to notice and answered before I could even ask.
"That's Lennie Small," he answered.
"I see," I nodded, walking over to my bunk and kneeling down.
He had taken up one of the two that had been empty next to mine.
"And who are you then?" George asked, eyeing me for a moment as I pulled a button up shirt from under my bed.
"The names Chris, Chris Kingston," I said, introducing myself to him as I held my hand out.
He took hold of it, shaking it easily in his.
"Nice to meet you Miss, but would you mind telling me what you're doin' in here?" he asked gently, curiosity getting the better of him.
"Well, I sleep in here," I laughed.
This seemed to catch him off guard, but I expected as much. There weren't many women that worked on ranches and he'd obviously never had to bunk with one before either.
"Don't worry, I don't bite. All I ask is that you keep your hands to yourself," I joked, though serious about the last part.
That's all that I asked of anyone around here, just to keep their hands to themselves. He seemed slightly taken back when I said this though, so I knew that I had to explain myself.
"Sorry, it's nothing personal, I ask the same of everyone," I told him, carefully pealing my button up shirt from my torso, leaving me in a white wifebeater like all the others.
I winced when I moved my left arm though, looking down at it. It was already starting to bruise a bit, leaving behind a hand print that was Curly.
"Damn bastard," I grumbled.
Again, both eyes were on me, leaving me a bit uncomfortable.
"Somethin happen?" George asked, keeping his eyes on my upper arm.
I just pulled on another shirt, buttoning it up and leaving the first few unbuttoned.
"Yeah, somethin happened," I nodded, rolling my shoulder for a moment before straightening my shirt out. "Curly happened," I told him, walking toward the door. "Anyway, you boys better hurry up, foods on the tables," I told them, putting on a friendly smile.
With that, I walked out of the bunk house and toward the other guys, quickly grabbing a bowl and some stew. The bread had already been laid out on the table, so I sat down at the end, grabbing a nice sized piece for myself. I could even smell the aroma of the stew as I sat there, the smell filling my senses with bliss.
"This smells so good," I smiled, shoveling a spoonful into my mouth.
"She's pretty," I heard Lennie say quietly as he sat down in front of me with George.
I swear, my whole face went red when I heard him say it, finding myself nearly choking on my food as well. George quickly scolded him for it though, seeing how embarrassed it made me.
To be honest, I'd never done well with complements. I mean, after getting my heart broken the way that I did, I didn't much care for how I looked anymore. That was also the reason why I took to ranching a few years ago, never staying in one place for too long because something stupid would always happen there between me and one of the guys. At the moment though, the only that bugged me was Curly.
"Don't worry, he's fine," I assured him, scratching at my cheek.
I then looked down at my plate, soaking up the soup into a piece of my bread.
Before I knew it, Slim was sitting down with us and making conversation with the two newcomers.
"You the new guys?" Slim asked, taking a place beside George.
"Yeah," George answered, looking up from his food.
"I'm Slim," he said, introducing himself. "You're gonna be on my team," he told him.
"I'm George Milton. This here's Lennie Small," George replied, introducing himself and his friend like he had done with me not too long ago in the bunk house.
"You travel around together?" Slim asked, looking between George and Lennie.
"Yeah," George nodded.
"There ain't many guys that travel around together," Slim voiced, bringing his cup to his lips. "I don't know why. Everybody in the whole world's just scared of each other."
"Maybe," George agreed.
I couldn't help, but to laugh at this in agreement as well, thinking the same thing myself.
"So, you ever bucked barley before?" he asked, turning his eyes onto George for a moment, his spoon coming up for a bite.
"Hell, yes," George said, before taking a bite of his own. "I ain't nothing to scream about…but Lennie's strong as a bull," he told him, gesturing toward Lennie.
This made me curious, but only just. I'd heard many people say the same thing at times and they were false. It just made me wonder what I'd see this time.
"Good," Slim breathed. "I got a pair of punks on my team. They don't know a barley bag from a blue ball," he chuckled.
I had to cover my mouth in order to stifle a laugh this time at Slim's statement. Unfortunately, what he said was true though, we really did have a couple of idiots on our team. Hell, I didn't even know how they managed to stay on here at times.
As soon as he finished saying that though, Carlson came over and sat down, making Jack scoot down a bit so that he could sit next to me.
"These guys just came," Slim announced, watching as Carlson looked at the two in front of him for a short moment.
After that though, I sort of tuned everything out, concentrating on eating my food instead. I couldn't help, but to look up at George every now and then. There was just something about his eyes that caught my attention. It was the one thing about people that I always noticed, their eyes. Carlson's were a medium pale looking blue. Slim's were gentle, a dark blue ring around the outside, while the rest molded into a beautiful crystal blue. When I looked at George though, I found his to be a pair of striking midnight blue. I'd never seen eyes like his before, something that seemed so raw, yet beautiful at the same time. Then, there was Lennie. From what I could tell, he too had blue eyes, but they were mixed with green and brown. Hell, even though Curly was a pain, I still took notice to his too. The only thing was, Curly's eyes always looked glassy to me, like a doll's. That in itself was a bit unnerving, something that was always watching you. It was also why I'd never liked dolls.
Okay, this is my first Of Mice And Men story. I hope everyone likes it, I really do. Anyway, please remember to REVIEW and MESSAGE me. Ideas are always welcomed. Thanks everyone. Also, don't forget to check my PROFILE for other stories that you might like. I've plenty more.