4 The Boss

Billie Bob Jones

I checked the time as Cody held the last calf down for John, the vet, to vaccinate. Lettie was getting restless under me probably from the amount of riding we had done today. The hot sun had been beating against our skin for hours but I was grateful Delilah forced us all to invest in a good sun screen.

With just one hour left before Delilah left for work I realized we had taken longer than I expected, yet I blamed Willie today he was just full of jokes making the other three men just as useless.

"Can you wrap this up by yourselves? I'm running late," I asked the five men.

"Of course, Rob will show me the way," John smiled as he looked over to Rob who was struggling with his tight jeans.

"Very well try not to burn the ranch down whilst I'm gone," I smiled over to them as they all chuckled making me less confident in my decision in leaving them alone. I steered Lettie back to the staples where I had left my truck.

I had no time in going back to the house to change into something cleaner but if anyone knew what it was like dealing with calves, there was no way you could stay clean. Within minutes I was in my truck on my way to Houston.

When I arrived at the café I immediately sighed when I saw the collection of fancy cars waiting outside. All of them I could not even name. I was no car expert but I could tell they were expensive enough to buy a house.

Then I looked down to my dusty denim jeans, boots and light blue button up shirt and frowned. Normally I would have never cared if anyone saw me this way but those three men looked like the type to judge you if you even had one small stain on your shirt.

I dusted myself off a bit to look more presentable and cleaned my glasses one last time before climbing out my truck. I decided to leave my hat and with a confident stride walked into the café.

From my peripheral vision I could see the collection of black suits. With a turn of my head and I slight nod I greeted the three men. The blonde one, Ronaldo, from what Delilah had mentioned gave me a curt smile, the one with shorter dark hair nodded in greeting but this time who seemed to be their leader looked up.

His hazel eyes met mine and I felt my skin grow cold. We kept eye contact for a few seconds before Delilah's voice snapped me out of whatever the hell that was.

"You could have at least changed," she laughed as she came from the back of the counter and kissed my cheek as I kissed hers.

"I was late," I chuckled as I followed her to the counter and leaned against it. I could feel someone's eyes on me but I paid no attention to it already guessing who it was from. "I'm starving I haven't had anything to eat since breakfast. Can I order something?"

"Of course, kitchen is closed up at the back but I'm sure they can whip up a good sandwich for you," she smiled as she ran the till up.

"Thank you and maybe a cola as well," I took out a few dollars from my wallet and handed it to her.

"Sure thing," she nodded as she handed me back my change.

Before we could end our conversation Ronaldo stood next to me as he gave Delilah a charming, dazzling smile, "Can I order another round for us before we get going?"

"Of course I'll have it out soon," Delilah nodded with a slight blush that went unnoticed by me. She quickly hurried to the back leaving Ronaldo and I standing there.

"Ronaldo," he smiled as he outstretched his hand.

"Bobby," I shook his hand.

"It's the first time I see you around. You from around here?"

"No, I'm originally from a town close to Stephenville, but I live in a small town around here."

"Ah," he nodded, "Which one?"

I was not sure why he was so interested in where I lived but I guessed he was simply making conversation, "Bloom, I work at a ranch with my step dad."

"That's excellent, I've always found ranching to be such an honourable career," he grinned making me chuckle.

"Well thank you, but I'm sure your career is much better than mine," I shook my head.

"The corporate world isn't as great as it seems. Besides the fancy cars and women it can be very tiring," he dramatically sighed, "but none the less I'm not brave enough to attempt what you do on a day to day basis."

"Well thank you," I smiled, "I'd probably look terrible in a suit."

"I doubt it," he winked. We continued with our small talk for a minute or two laughing most of the time as we waited for our drinks. Eventually Delilah came out with their drinks and my cola. "It was nice talking to you Bobby."

"Same to you Ronaldo," I curtly nodded as he grabbed the drinks and headed back to the table. I took my cola and took a seat as I waited for my sandwich.

Eventually my delicious sandwich was served as I dived in. The three men stood up ready to leave. Men came out of the two black SUV's almost creating a border for them. All of them were dressed in black suits, black aviator glasses and it was obvious they had weapons under their jackets.

My eyes travelled back to the three men and unfortunately once again met with the raven haired hazel eyed man. He looked at me with a blank expression then raised his eyebrow whilst having a slight snarl.

I frowned wondering why he would look at me like that. If he thought I was just going to brush it off he was painfully wrong. I met his gaze with one equally as dirty making him scoff before he turned and walked out the door.

"Bobby are you crazy?" Delilah hissed as I stared at the man as he climbed into a luxurious sports car before driving away.

"Did you see how he looked at me?" I held my hands up in defence, "if there's anyone who started it, it's definitely him."

"Doesn't mean you should look at him like that," she stressed, "he still owns this place after all."

"And? I should keep quiet that the owner is a complete jackass," I folded my arms over my chest with a pout.

"Go wait in your car I can't deal with you now."

"I'm only leaving because I want to. Not because you told me too," I held my head up high as I finished my sandwich, grabbed my cola than stomped my way out of the café.

How was I to blame for mister I have great hair terrible personality? He barely knew me to look at me like I was a complete annoyance to him. In fact he was the rude one, not me. If there was anyone who deserved to be yelled at by Delilah it was him, I was her best friend after all.

After a few minutes she climbed into the truck, "don't do what you did again."

"As if I would ever look at him again," I rolled my eyes as I started the car and peeled out of the parking.

"Yeah right," she laughed, "the man has an extremely handsome face. Even a blind person can see that."

"His attitude makes him a negative ten. It's like a squirrel crawled up his ass and died."

"That part is true, but at least he has a nice face or that would have been a disaster."

"And money, can't forget the money."

"How could I?" she gasped making me burst out laughing.

We spent most of the drive home gossiping about the three men in the café. In all of the chaos of the day I had completely forgotten that Ma and Clyde were on their way back from Florida. By the time we had arrived back at the ranch they had arrived.

I quickly dropped off Delilah at the house before making my way to the cream white main house further in the ranch. As soon as my truck stopped in front of the house the front door burst open and my debutante mother dressed in her yellow sundress, red cowgirl boots and curled blonde hair ran out the house already screeching my name.

She hugged me like her life depended on it almost killing me in the process.

"I missed you too Ma," I kissed her cheek.

"I know it's only been a few days but you already look taller," she tidied my shirt for me and pushed my wavy hair out of my face. "You need to get a haircut Bobby."

"I know Ma," I sighed preparing myself for her response.

"Well if you know, why don't you do it?" she pursed her lips and gave me a sassy glare.

"Jordan please refrain from harassing the poor boy. We just arrived," my step dad, Clyde, chuckled as he climbed down the porch stairs. His dark brown hair was neatly cut and green eyes contrasted his dark features.

Most would expect that Clyde being my step father, he and I would not get along but we did. He was like a father to me and I was like a son to him.

"Hi Clyde, you look good," I smiled as I gave him a hug. Both he and Ma had a healthy tan from their anniversary holiday.

"Thank you, I figured after your Ma made me bake out in the sun for hours I would complain if I looked anything but handsome," he joked.

"Stop complaining," Ma rolled her eyes and she steered us both into the house, "I started dinner."

Leave it to Ma to be home for only thirty minutes and already start cooking.