Dante

By the time I finally got to bed, it was well into the morning. It was almost light outside when we finally decided that we had had enough. My body was sore, something that didn’t happen very often, but what surprised me more was the fact that I was alone when I woke up and the sun was shining. It was too late for it to be seven and where was Cece?

I got up and started to get dressed when I saw a note on the nightstand. She was on her way to Houston and she told me to have a safe trip. It was just signed with her familiar cursive scrawl and I didn’t know how I felt. She didn’t even say good bye. Cece was really bad about taking off, though again I never knew what was on her mind.

Going downstairs, there were a couple of people kind of hanging around and it didn’t take long for me to realize that they were waiting for me. Cece had told them to wait around so that I could pick who I wanted. There were two new guys that I had no intentions on taking, Carl and then Casey.

“So Carl, you want to go for a little road trip for a week or so?”

He looked at me like I was crazy and I could tell that Cece had said nothing about it. I sighed to myself and tried not to let it get to me. She had left me without a goodbye and with some dirty work.

“What?”

“We need to do a cattle drive for Mr. Murphy to get his animals out to the grazing land. You haven’t done it before?”

He shook his head and I could tell that he didn’t want to go. It wasn’t hard to see as his face was all scrunched up. I think if he could have melted into the floor right then he would have.

“Well you know Marcy isn’t going to be too happy about me being gone that long.”

He was leaving it open, not outright refusing, but making it clear that he didn’t want to go. Which meant that I could force him, but it would be miserable for us both and I don’t think I was ready to give us such a death sentence. It was bad enough I was going to have to sleep in a tent the next week on the ground. I wasn’t looking forward to it either.

It also made me realize that there was only one viable option left. I turned to Casey and she smiled at me. She knew what I was going to ask and offered before I even got a chance to ask her about it.

“I will go with you Dante. I am sure that it will be better than staying around here.”

I groaned inwardly, but I wasn’t going to take two green guys. I would have to spend most of my time making sure they weren’t trampled. Cattle-driving wasn’t for the faint of heart, so I had no other choice. I had to wonder why Casey was an option given. Did Cece want me to pick her?

I pushed the thoughts from my head and told Casey that I was glad she was coming. “I appreciate the help, really I do. I know that this is important to the boss, so I am glad that you are willing to help.”

“Anything for you Dante.”

I looked away from the raw lust in her eyes and tried to pretend like I didn’t see it. Carl was happy that he didn’t have to go, but I could see the way he was looking from one to the other.

“Well thanks for not making me go. I would never hear the end of it from the old lady. The more pregnant she gets, the more she wants me around.”

“How far is she now?”

“Six months.”

“Well you should be home with her. She is going to need help and you trapesing around the countryside isn’t going to help her wellbeing.”

“I never thought I would be so excited about a family, but damned if I ain’t.”

I liked that someone at the ranch was finding true love. I never thought about kids either, but I was thinking about how I wanted things to change and how much I wanted Cece as my own. How would I feel if she turned out pregnant? Then she wouldn’t be able to just take off whenever she wanted and to me that sounded like a damn good thing.

I went back to upstairs and got a few things out of Cece’s room before I went to the hand house and packed a duffel bag. It was going to be a week and it wasn’t something I was looking forward to, but this was not the first time I had done this sort of thing. It used to be my job a long time ago when I first got into working on ranches. The worst part of it all was that I wasn’t going to be able to see Cece for all of that time.

“I am ready when you are boss.”

Casey was smiling again and I didn’t trust the expression on her face or the look in her eyes. I knew that she had something up her sleeve and I thought about picking the two greens instead. Maybe it would be easier than trying to keep a rope on Casey. She was nothing but trouble.

“Yeah I guess I am.”

Her smile faltered a little bit. “Oh, well you don’t sound too excited about it.”

“It is a week sleeping on the ground. There isn’t much to get excited about.”

“I hear there is a pay bump that would be handy.”

I nodded my head, but didn’t answer one way or another. I wasn’t too worried about pay. I made enough as it was. I was only doing this because Cece asked me to and I would do anything to make her happy. Even if it meant that I had to deal with Casey for the next week. At least there would be more of us on the drive then just me and her. The Murphy’s had two sons that were going as well. Steve I had worked with before, but Kevin was a stranger. At least there would be one person sane enough to talk to.

We piled up in the truck and I tried to ignore her altogether on the short trip over there. The horses were already in the trailer, so when we got there, it was just unloading them and loading them up with our packs. Casey was pouting from being ignored, but I figured that it was better than getting into a conversation with her. Ever since that night at the bar and her comments when I got home, I decided that it was best just to keep my distance. That girl was just drama. When Kevin, the older brother started to flirt with her, I took that as a good sign. At least now she would be off of my back.

“Should I warn your brother about her?”

Steve grinned and shook his head no. “Nah, he wouldn’t listen anyways. He loves blondes.”

I held my tongue about her true nature. Steve knew a bit about her and I know that he at least had the sense to stay away. If he wanted his brother to know, he could warn him. I was just going to be Switzerland for the week, staying as far out of it as I possibly could.

***

The first night was pretty uneventful. We hadn’t been out on the range that long and we hadn’t all realized that we were going to be doing this night after night. At the moment it was new and even a little fun to cook a can of beans on an open fire and to just enjoy the cool breeze from the evening. I went to bed content with how everything was going, but my peace was quickly broken when I heard something in my tent.

My eyes were blurry, but she said something and I knew instantly that it was Casey.

“What the hell are you doing in here?!”

She shushed me as I sat up and looked at the woman crouching by the zippered door. Most were worried about snakes and scorpions, but Casey was the biggest danger out here as far as I was concerned.

“Keep it down. Do you want to wake everyone up?”

“No, just leave Casey. I don’t know what you are doing here, but I am not biting. Go see if Kevin is interested.”

I was being harsh again and I could see the change in her eyes. She really didn’t like to hear that from me, but I really didn’t care. I was tired and I felt like boundaries had to be set before it got out of hand.

“You don’t have to be rude Dante. I just wanted to come and say hi.”

“I am sleeping Casey and I am not in the mood to talk. Why don’t you just go get some sleep and leave me be?”

Her pout was back, but she wasn’t budging. Her eyes were on my chest and I had to cover up a bit so that I didn’t feel the penetration of her gaze.

“Come on Dante. We used to have fun. I don’t know why you are acting like this.”

“Just not interested Casey. I am going back to bed.”

I turned over and lay on my side. I refused to answer her when she called my name. I waited until she left to zip up the tent. I wasn’t going to sleep any better and I hoped that she would find something interesting about one of the brothers to leave me alone.

***

Kevin was her next target and I sat back and watched her work her charm. It was much the same way she used to be with me. Casey would look at me sometimes like I was going to be jealous, but I never felt a slight inkling about it. I could have cared less. I hoped that it would be enough that she would be able to focus on someone else, but that was it.

After several days, I still hadn’t talked to Cece because there was no service where we were or where we were going. All I wanted to do was go home to her and with Casey bothering me, I tried to make the best of it. Steve and I took a side trip one night to get some fish for something fresh and it tasted better than I would have imagined. There was something about the outdoors that made me feel more grounded.

On the fourth night after the fish cook out, Steve and Casey finally consummated what had been buzzing between them since they met. Her cries of pleasure only made me miss Cece more. When I got home this time, there was no way that I was ever going to let her go. I wasn’t going to be leaving again for a very long time. Carl had known what was best. Being without Cece wasn’t right at all. I missed her far more than I thought I would ever miss a woman.

The two played out their love fantasies till early in the morning and I think it contributed to some wild dreams that I had. Cece was always the main character and we replayed many of our moments together. It was hot and when I woke up, I was craving her even more.

I took out my phone and dialed her number, but quickly realized that there was no service here. I threw the damn phone and heard it break. I didn’t even care. I just wanted this week to end so I could get her back in my arms once more. This was like a slow torture and I didn’t want to be without her anymore. I wanted her back in my life and back with me.