Owned (7 page)

“What are all you people doing in my fucking house?” Kyle roared. “The man is dead and you’re throwing a party, Kate?” he yelled, turning towards me.

“It’s not a party, Kyle. We had a problem with one of the fences and a third of the cattle got loose. A bunch of Gramp’s friends came over to help round them up and drop off some food for our condolences,” I replied, keeping my voice even, but letting the tone show that he was acting like a dick.

“Wow, one day here and already you’ve managed to fuck up the place,” he snarled at me, ignoring all the people standing there. “And as usual you’re making yourself right at home, well that’s going to stop right fucking now.”

“Thank you,
brother
,” I said, sneering. “Your outpour of love overwhelms me.”

“I’m not your fucking brother.” The disgust in his tone was so apparent I’m sure people in the next state could hear him. “You’re just someone my parents took pity on and adopted.”

“Jesus Christ, Kyle,” I yelled. “I wasn’t some stranger from an orphanage. I was
always
your niece and their granddaughter before they officially adopted me! Even if they hadn’t adopted me, I was still always family.”

“Yeah, think of it however you want, either way, get your shit and get out of my house,” he replied, pointing at the door.

“Mr. Boyle,” Mr. Rose said, realizing he needed to interrupt. “We need to discuss your father’s will.”

“Who are you?” Kyle asked, turning his attention to the attorney.

“I’m your father’s lawyer, I’ll be handling his estate,” he answered calmly.

“Wonderful, then you can tell this leech that I’m right, this is now my house and she has to leave if I tell her to.” Kyle smirked at me as he crossed his arms over his chest. Seriously? Was he fifteen?

“Actually, that’s not accurate,” Mr. Rose snapped, getting angry. I figured it was part anger and part disappointment at the way Kyle was acting.

“
What
?” Kyle exclaimed. “Why can’t I throw her out of my house?” There was a pause where everyone tried to get their hearing back he was so loud. I heard one of the women on the other side of the large kitchen talking into the radio. She was telling the Sheriff he might want to hightail it back to the house.

“Mr. Rose, maybe we should have the first part of this discussion outside,” I said, hoping he caught my meaning. He could talk to Kyle in private later about the trust, but when Kyle heard I got the ranch he was going to blow. I didn’t want that to happen in a confined space with lots of people who could be collateral damage involved.

“I agree, Ms. Boyle.” He headed for the door as well. If Kyle wanted to talk, then he’d just have to follow us. It took him a minute to realize we just walked away from him without asking him. He stormed outside right after us, looking even more pissed.

“Explain to me what the fuck is going on?” he yelled at the attorney.

“Your father’s will granted Kate the ranch, and everything that entails,” Mr. Rose said calmly.

“
What
?!” Kyle screamed. “This has to be a fucking joke.”

“I assure you it’s no joke,” Mr. Rose responded, his anger starting to show. “You were given a very generous monetary sum, which we can discuss when you calm down. But the ranch was given to Kate, including the house, all the land, cattle, and horses.”

“I want to see the will,” Kyle demanded, still yelling. Mr. Rose handed it over, and even though it was dusk out there was still enough light for him to read it. It took a few minutes for him to read the entire thing, and just as he started shaking with anger I saw the Sheriff riding full speed towards us. “What did you do, Kate?”

“Excuse me?” I asked, not hiding my shock.

“How did you get Dad to agree to this?”

“I didn’t do anything to him,” I yelled at him, fully insulted. “He made his will years ago, and I’ve known for at least eight years that I would get the ranch.”

“I’ll fight this in court,” Kyle snarled, turning back to the lawyer.

“Go right ahead, Mr. Boyle,” Mr. Rose said, raising his voice. “The will was written in front of the local judge, he’s one of the witnesses. Kate didn’t coerce your father in any way.”

“You fucking whore. What did you do for Dad to get the ranch?”

“Are you out of your mind? He was my grandpa!” I yelled. “This isn’t my fault. Of the two of us, it’s obvious I wouldn’t ruin the ranch. You’d probably sell it and blow all the money from it, and Gramp would never have wanted that. Besides, I love this ranch and he knew it, he trusted me to take care of it when he was gone!”

I never saw the punch coming. My only excuse was the Sheriff had reached us and I started to turn towards him. At the same time, I noticed another car pulling in the drive. It was a good solid punch, and it knocked me on my ass.

“You fucking bitch!” Kyle yelled, reaching for me again before I could get on my feet. But the Sheriff got to Kyle before he could grab me. He must have surprised him, because in seconds he had Kyle in handcuffs.

“What is with everyone hitting me today?” I asked, growling. If this kept up I’d have to sleep with ice all over my face. Fuckers.

“People are jealous of the pretty face,” someone said from behind me, picking me up under my arms and setting me on my feet.

“Yeah, yeah, thanks, Nate,” I replied, knowing who it was without even turning around. “I can’t even hit him back because he’s in handcuffs now.”

“Go right ahead,” Sheriff Swick said with a chuckle. “I can talk to Mr. Rose over there for a few minutes.” That made me start to laugh until the pain in my jaw stopped me.

“Fuck, that hurt,” I groaned. “No, I’m not going to hit a cuffed man, but this time I am pressing charges.”

“With the Sheriff as witness, you’re damn right you’re pressing charges,” Sheriff Swick informed me.

“Nate, you’ve met Kyle, this is Sheriff Swick and Mr. Rose, my gramp’s lawyer,” I said, introducing everyone. “This is Nate Boyle, a military friend of mine, no relation.” Everyone shook hands and said their hellos as Jamie walked up. I gave her my usual half-ass one-armed hug. “And this is Jamie Kane, my friend and business partner.”

“Let me see your face,” Nate said when everyone finished up.

“I’m fine,” I grumbled, waving him away.

“Why did Kyle hit you?” Jamie started to ask before figuring it out. “Your gramp’s attorney told Kyle you get the ranch, didn’t he?”

“Your fucking dyke girlfriend knew you were getting the ranch and I didn’t?” Kyle yelled and started to move towards me, but Sheriff Swick held him back and Nate stepped in front of me.

“She’s not a lesbian,” Jamie yelled before I could open my mouth. “Just because I wouldn’t touch your pathetic ass doesn’t make me gay, Kyle.”

“You ever lay a hand on Kate again,” Nate snarled, getting in Kyle’s face, “I’ll bust you up so bad you’ll never be able to walk to hit anyone, you got me?”

“Thank god you’re here to protect me,” I muttered under my breath.

“Yeah, I got you, Navy boy,” Kyle sneered, “This ain’t over, Kate.” That’s all he got out before Sheriff Swick pushed him into the back of the squad car.

“Kate, I’m going to call one of my deputies to come get this piece of shit,” Sheriff said. “They’ll take care of everything, but I’m heading back out to the west fence. I’ll run in and see if they have any more sandwiches to take out. The men are getting pretty hungry.”

“Thanks, Sheriff.” My radio beeped then and I seriously was ready to just scream in frustration. Couldn’t I get just a minute of peace to try and keep my head from spinning off my neck?

“Kate, it’s Nick, everything okay? The boys were telling me something happened that made the Sheriff speed over to you, over.”

“Everything’s fine, Nick,” I said into the radio. “He’s heading back out in a few with some more sandwiches. What’s the count at?”

“We’ve got 150 back in, they’ve been staying in groups,” he replied. “And it seems Bill stumbled on it only a little while after it happened.”

“Okay, thanks, everyone,” I said, speaking to everyone who had a radio then. “I appreciate all the help, and there’ll be tons of food and drinks at the house for everyone.”

“Roger that, over and out,” Nick said before I turned back to the group before me.

“Mr. Rose, I appreciate you coming out, and I’m sorry the headache this has caused you. I know it’s a hassle, but you might want to tell the rest to Kyle while he’s behind bars. As you can see he has quite a temper and can be violent.”

“Good piece of advice,” Mr. Rose replied, nodding his head. “I’ll let you know when I need you to come in and sign all the ownership paperwork. You should get the other things we discussed directly, but we need to transfer the accounts into your sole name.”

“I appreciate it. We’ll talk after the funeral. There’s no rush,” I told him. “I’m able to sign for any of the accounts anyways. I have a feeling I’m going to have my hands very full for a while.” After Mr. Rose was out of earshot and close to his car, I turned back to my friends. “Hey, guys, thanks for coming. Welcome to hell!”

“What the fuck is going on around here?” Nate asked. “Why couldn’t you get us from the airport?”

I took a deep breath to get my emotions in check. I wasn’t angry with them. I was just angry about everything going on, and Nate sounded worried. I gave them the full story of everything that happened since I got to the ranch. I kept my voice low and we stayed outside because I didn’t want anyone hearing this.

The only thing I left out was the sum of money from Gramp’s life insurance. I don’t think that part had really sunk in yet. Besides, I would give every penny up to have Gramp back so it wasn’t like I was excited to have it.

“Fuck,” Jamie said when I was done. “That asshole really thought you were just going to marry him? What a prick!”

“Yup.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Well at least the Sheriff and this Nick guy seem to be on your side,” Nate said, running his fingers through his hair.

There was that awkward silence while they let the news digest. I couldn’t take any more so I moved the show on the road. “Come on, Jamie, let’s get you some grub and me a drink.”

“Hell, just from hearing what’s been going on I need a drink. I’m surprised you’re not drunk already,” she said, snorting when she saw the dirty look I was giving her. “Okay, I not surprised you’re not, but fuck, I would be if I was in your shoes.”

“I love you too,” I replied, laughing. Jamie always knew what to say to lighten the mood. “We’ll let Nate bring in all the bags. He acted all manly and protective with Kyle, he can reap the rewards on the other end.”

“He knows you can take care of yourself,” Jamie reminded me patiently. “That’s not why he did it. Hell, if my threat carried any weight I would have said the same thing to Kyle.”

“I know, I know,” I muttered. “I’m just really raw and I keep waiting to wake up and this was all a nightmare.” I started to feel overwhelming grief and like I always did when I felt any emotion besides anger, I turned my attention to something else. “Let me introduce you around.”

“Yeah right, twenty bucks you can’t remember half their names,” Jamie chuckled. Turned out, she was right. I’d never been good with names, and given the circumstances, everyone was really nice about me forgetting. No one gave me a hard time as they reminded me of their name. Jamie was chatting them up, playing hostess so I didn’t have to, one of the reasons I loved my best friend. I was glad when my phone rang, needing the distraction.

“Boyle.”

“Kate, it’s Swick,” he said quietly. I figured he didn’t want anyone to hear him. “Just got a call from the doc, he finished the autopsy. Your gramp died of natural causes. He’s going to release the body tomorrow, so you can call the funeral home and set up the rest of the arrangements.”

“Well that’s a relief at least,” I said, pausing. “There’s something else I wanted to tell you too.” I explained what I had said to Nate, about getting some backup and why.

“I think it’s smart,” he replied when I was done. “I appreciate you letting me know.”

“I told you I trust you and I’ve got nothing to hide.”

“Still, I appreciate it. Better get back to it, looks like we’re almost done,” he said, hanging up. I liked the Sheriff, but that man needed to learn some phone manners. I waved Jamie over so I could ask her something in private.

“Hey, can I ask you to do something for me?” I said. “Can you get everyone’s name and address—”

“Of who brought food, who’s here, and who’s outside helping,” she finished for me. “Yep, I’m already on it. Sue’s helping me. I like her, she’s pretty much an older version of me.”

“Thanks, Jamie,” I said, faking a smile. “What would I do without you?”

“Let’s never find out, okay?” she said softly, rubbing my shoulder.

“I have no inclination to, but why you put up with me, I’ll never know,” I snickered, rubbing my temples.

“You’re not so bad,” she teased, trying to make light of it. “I’ll get your migraine medicine.”

“How did you know?”

“You’re rubbing your temples, sweetie.”

“Right. Fuck, I’m out of it.” I shook my head, disgusted with myself. Before she could say anything, my phone beeped with a text message.