Page 54 of Burned & Bound

“My world don’t revolve around you, boy,” Mickey retorted. “I—”

“Yeah, yeah,” I dismissed him. I didn’t have time for any back and forth with him. “I need you to run everything tomorrow.”

“Any particular reason?” he asked.

I stopped in West’s room, staring at the room. The rolled-up bedding in the corner suddenly made a lot of sense. And I would’ve bet everything I had that West hadn’t slept in here. The amount of yellow was glaring.

It needed to go.

“None that you need to worry about,” I said. “I just need you to take care of everything.”

“Okay.”

“And do me a favor? Call Peter and tell him I need him to meet me at my house instead of the stables. He’s working with me tomorrow.” I couldn’t do everything on my own. I needed help, but I also needed someone who would understand. Peter was all I had.

“You got it, boss,” Mickey replied.

“Thanks, Mick.” The words were barely out of my mouth before I hung up. I had too much shit to do.

I took down the sunflower paintings and stashed them in the basement. I’d donate them later. Mom sure as hell wasn’t missing them. I threw the sheets in the laundry and put on the spare white ones—no yellow flowers. The pillows were tossed in the trash outside because I had no need for them anyway.

There wasn’t a damn thing I could do about the bathroom besides close it up.Out of sight, out of mind.At least for now. It was the best I could do on short notice.

But by the time I got back upstairs to check on West, the shower was off and he was passed out in my bed with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. He had to be fucking exhausted. I moved quietly, covering him with a blanket and turning off the light. The last thing I did before I left the room was set the alarm for him. Working with the horses was a good thing for West, and I’d be damned if I took that from him right now. He needed them as much as they needed him.

CHAPTER 38

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The key is underthe mat,” I repeated grumpily into the phone. It was eight in the morning, I’d driven an hour and a half out of town for one of those has-everything stores, and I was fucking annoyed to shit. I had so much crap to do and dealing with stupid questions wasn’t what I wanted to do.

“That’s a terrible place to put a key, boss,” Peter replied. “Don’t you think anyone trying to break into a house is going to look under the mat first?”

“I’d like to see someone try to break into my fucking house. They might do it, but they aren’t living to fucking talk about,” I snapped just as an older woman walked by. She gaped at me—probably at the audacity of my mouth. I tipped my hat in her direction and smiled. “Ma’am.”

“Are you scaring old ladies again?”

“What the fuck do you mean again?”

“You have this reputation—”

“I don’t have a fucking reputation!” I cut him off.Jesus fuck, Peter was brazen when he wanted to be.“We’re getting off-topic here. I havea job for you.”

“I have successfully broken into your house,” he told me. “You have a nice house.”

“Fuck with my house, Peter, and you’ll never see the light of day again,” I growled.

“You should get coffee while you’re out,” he said instead. “You’re grumpy without your coffee.”

“I’m not…” I stopped in front of the cart corral to draw in a deep breath. He was right. I hadn’t had time to make my fucking coffee. “Fine, yes. I’m fucking grumpy without my coffee, but I have a lot of fucking shit to do today.Wehave a lot of shit to do. I don’t need the goddamn peanut gallery making this shit harder.”

“Just tell me what you need me to do, boss, and I’ll do it.” Oh, thank fuck. Granted, Peter wasn’t really pushing his luck. I just hadn’t slept well. After West fell asleep in my bed, I tried to spend the night on the couch without much luck. I couldn’t turn my brain off. The night’s events kept playing in my head on repeat. I never wanted to see West go through that again—though, deep down, I knew that wasn’t possible. It just didn’t work like that.

“There are tarps on the kitchen table,” I said while taking a cart out. “Down the hall on the first floor is the guest room. I need you to pull all the furniture out from the walls and tarp it.”

“You got it.”

“And then I need you to go into the bathroom. Take all the little shit off the counters and floor and just toss them in a fucking garbage bag. You’ll find them under the kitchen sink. Take the shower curtain down too. Just toss everything.”