Chapter 5
“As far as I could see, life demanded skills I didn’t have. - Susanna Kaysen, Girl, Interrupted
The sunlight was filtering through the blinds of my bedroom window, but that wasn’t what awoke me with a start the following morning.
As near as I could tell, it was the swift kick of a booted heel to my ass, and the loud vocal directive of one Avery, Queen of the Midgets, that accomplished that. “Get your ass up, Slater! You’re late and I’m not here to make sure your lazy ass is up and ready to work each morning. Babysitting is definitely not my gig, understand?”
I rolled over onto my back, my eyes squinting up in the sunlight streaming in to see exactly what the deal was with this chick. “What time is it?” I asked groggily, trying to shield my eyes with a hand.
“It’s late-thirty,” she snapped. “You’re forty-five minutes late reporting to the barn as instructed. What’s your deal anyway? Don’t know how to set an alarm?”
I perched myself up on my elbows and glared up at her. “Are you bipolar or what?” I asked, running a hand through my disheveled hair. Shit, I had definitely gotten stoned last night. Primo pot. My dudes had hooked me up before I left Decatur for sure.
Now Avery was scowling at me, tapping her foot impatiently on the hardwood floor of my bedroom. The bedroom she’d invaded which gave me pause. “Hey, how the hell did you get in here anyway,” I asked, “I know damn well I locked the door last night.”
She raised a hand, dangling a set of keys on a huge round wire holder in front of me, “I’m management. I have a set of keys to everything here, Ace. And I meant what I said. My job is not to make sure you’re up and reporting in on time every morning. I’ll cut you a little slack this time, because obviously, you’re worn out from the long bus ride,” she said sarcastically, “But strike two and you’re out. Set your alarm.”
I reached over to the small table next to the bed, and grabbed my cell phone. “Shit,” I said, “My phone died. I did have it set, Princess. I just forgot to put it on the charger, no biggie.”
She gave a sardonic laugh, and shook her head. “Only to you is it no biggie, Slater. The rest of the team has to pick up the slack when another member doesn’t pull their weight. Like you. Do you really want to be known as “Slater the Slacker” around here?”
I launched myself up and out of the bed, not about to give her the opportunity to continue to stand over me and unleash a fucking lecture. The fact that I was only wearing my boxers, and my morning wood was most definitely making a bold appearance, served to cut her off immediately. I noticed her eyes widened a bit and her face took on a rosy blush as she turned to leave the room, tossing out one last command as she did. “Be down at the barn in ten minutes, ready to work, Slater.”
I chuckled as I heard the front screen door slam behind her as she made her getaway. Chalk one up for my raging morning hard-on I thought. It worked all kinds of magic.
Less than ten minutes later, I was standing in the horse barn, listening to the string of instructions Avery was ticking off. She was trying her hardest to sound all professional about it, and frowned when I showed no reaction at all. She stopped rambling and gave me a look.
“What?” I asked, giving her a grin. “Should I be taking notes here?” Her amber eyes did not look amused.
“It’s hard for me to know if you’re grasping your instructions for the day, Slater. You seem to wear that clueless look incessantly.”
I chuckled and perched my fist underneath my chin, gazing down at her. She sure was feisty, I’d give her that, especially for as tiny as she was. “I think I’ve got the gist of it, Avery,” I replied. “You see, I start in here, and I shovel shit. And after that, I take the path through the woods that leads to the plantation on the other side, and I follow the signs to the racetrack. Once there, I report to the horse barn located next to the track, and commence to shoveling more shit, is that about it?”
“You’ve got it,” she said with a grin, tossing me a pair of work gloves. “You’ll want to wear these. Wouldn’t want you getting your hands all blistered up the first day. Grab any of those shovels hanging on the far wall that suits your fancy. I’ve got to get going over to the Belle. And don’t worry, Slater. There will be plenty of other people coming in and out of here today. If you start slacking, I’ll hear about it soon enough.”
And with that, she walked out of the barn. I shook my head at her parting words. Where in the hell had they found that little bitch I wondered. Damn, she looked to be my age, maybe younger. She sure as hell had an attitude going on. She was way too young to be taking her little summer job all that seriously in my humble opinion.
I got to work, and sure enough, throughout the rest of the morning, there were different workers in and out of the barn. Most of them just college kids working over the summer. A couple were older guys, been with the Sinclairs for quite a few years. They stopped to introduce themselves, check on my progress, and then they’d depart no doubt to report to Midget Central on my productivity.
It was about twelve-thirty when I finished up in the barn. I had just washed the last stall out when the red haired guy, Marvin, who I’d met earlier, came by carrying a brown bag which I presumed was his lunch, and a couple cans of cold soda. “Lunch time, Bryce,” he called out. “Got enough for two here if you want to join me,” he invited. “The tack room has some AC if you’re ready to cool off a bit.”
“That’d be nice,” I replied, hanging the shovel back up on the wall and following him up to the front of the barn where the tack room was located.
There was a small table with a few chairs scattered about. He took a chair. I removed my gloves and went over to where a sink was hanging on the wall and washed my hands.
“Take a load off,” he said, pushing a wrapped sandwich across the table to where I was taking a seat. “Hope you like ham and cheese. You’ll probably want to start packing a lunch and bringing it with you each day. There’s a refrigerator over there you can store it in. We only get a twenty minute lunch.” He popped the tab on one of the sodas, and took a long draw of it, before nodding to me that the other one was mine.
“Thanks, dude,” I said, pulling the tab back, “Yeah, I was running a little late this morning. I’ll definitely pack something tomorrow.”
He chuckled, taking a bite of his sandwich. Of course he knew that I’d been late this morning. Probably everyone on the bloody ranch knew. “What is it with that Avery chick anyway?” I asked, taking a bite of my sandwich. “She acts like she fucking owns this place and everybody on it,” I commented. “Talk about somebody on a power trip. Do you know she barged into my cottage this morning to get my ass up?”
This brought a loud guffaw from Marvin. “Are you serious, dude?” he asked, wiping his mouth with a napkin, “You don’t know who she is?”
I shrugged. “Our team leader, yeah I know that, but Christ, don’t you think she takes her authority a little too far? I hope to hell her cottage is way far away from mine, because I don’t appreciate feeling like someone constantly has me under some fucking microscope. Watching every damn move I make. She’s worse than my parents in that regard.”
I was cut off by another loud bellow from Marvin. “Dude, she doesn’t stay in one of the cottages here.”
“No? Thank fuck for that then.”
“Remember that huge house you passed on the long driveway in here?
I nodded.
“She lives there,” Marvin continued, “Dude, she’s the owners’ granddaughter. This ain’t no summer gig for her. She lives here full time. She starts college in the fall at Virginia Intermont. She’s kinda the heiress apparent if you know what I mean.”
I must’ve still had a dazed and confused look on my face, trying to digest the info Marvin had just given me. “She’s Avery–”
“Sinclair,” he supplied. “Her father is some big time judge. Her grandparents go to Europe every summer and part of the fall. She runs the show pretty much.”
And to be honest, I was a bit taken aback by this news. “She doesn’t come off as an heiress,” I commented, because she certainly hadn’t displayed any signs of wealth or privilege. In fact, there was nothing about her that seemed different from any of the other workers here other than her obvious position of authority. “She comes off more like, well shit, like some line boss of a chain gang,” I finished with a smirk.
Marvin nodded, “Yeah, I guess it might seem that way to you, but trust me, she’s got a heart of gold. You just got off to a bad start, Bryce. Avery is fair, and hard working. And the thing I admire most about her is that she doesn’t expect the hired help around here to do anything she’s not willing to do herself. From shoveling shit to breaking a wild mustang, she does it all.”
“Are you president of her fan club, Marvin?” I asked, finishing up my sandwich.
He chuckled, “I guess it came off like that, huh? Naw, I just wanted you to know she is a good person. And from what I saw so far today, you have it in you to be a good, hard worker. I just thought I’d shed some light on Avery so things don’t look so grim for you, that’s all.”
I tossed him a genuine smile. Marvin was a standup dude. I liked him I decided. “I appreciate that, Marvin. And thanks for lunch. My treat tomorrow, how’s that?”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Now, I better take off and head to–what’s the plantation called?”
“It’s La Vie Belle, officially. But everyone here just calls it ‘the Belle.’ It’s just on the other side of the woods there.”
“Yeah, got it. Don’t want to stay on Avery’s bad side, so I’m headed out. I’ll catch you later.”
And so for the rest of the day, I pretty much did the same thing I’d done all morning, but in a different place. I had to admit, the Belle and the racetrack were pretty damn impressive. The horse barn at the track was three times the size of the one at the Sinclair ranch, but there were three other guys working it with me, so by three o’clock, we were done for the day.
My ass was dragging by the time I reached my cottage, and enjoyed the bath more than I had ever enjoyed one before.
After I cleaned up, I walked over to the general store and stocked up on some more food until payday. Once back home, I packed a big lunch to share with Marvin the following day.
By nine o’clock I was in a dead sleep, having made sure my phone was charging and the alarm was set for six-thirty the following morning.