A Gambling Man // Ryan x OC

16



Mae smiled as she watched Rip and Beth talk out of the kitchen window. Was it a little stalkerish? Yes. Did she really care? Not at all. 

She just loved to watch them smiling with each other. Mae believed in soulmates, she always had and she always will, but after their mother died the idea made the five year old extremely sad until she saw Beth and Rip. Back then the little girl only knew that something bad had happened to Rip's family, just like something bad happened to their mom. She knew that Rip and Beth were soulmates because they were brought together to help each other. Beth helped Rip process the reality that he killed his abusive father who killed his mother and little brother. Rip helped Beth live with their mother's passing, but everyone knows that she's never processed it and she never will. It left an open wound in Beth's heart but every time she's with Rip, that wound scabs over piece by piece. 

"What are you looking at?," Mae jumped and turned to see her dad standing behind her. 

"Jeez, Old man. Make some noise while walking, please," John laughed as he walked towards her, exaggerating his steps to make extra noise, Mae chuckled at him. 

"They're cute together," Mae grinned as the father and daughter watched the two talk. 

"Yeah, just both as stubborn as mules." 

"Has she talked to you yet? About him living in the bunkhouse," Mae asked as she turned to look at him.

"Not yet," John replied, a grimace already forming on his face. 

"Good luck with that," Mae laughed and John just shook his head as he poured himself another cup of coffee.

"Lets go get breakfast," he kissed her head and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. The two walked into the dining room to see Kayce and Jamie already waiting. Charlie was still sleeping and Ryan had morning perimeter check otherwise he would have joined them, but from the sounds of Beth's angry stomps into the house, he was better off out there. 

"Morning, Brothers," Mae greeted. Kayce and Jamie both smiled as they greeted her back. 

"Even your walk's angry, Sweetheart," John stated as Beth took her seat next to Mae. 

"With good reason," Beth replied as she poured herself some tea. Mae didn't miss the stink eye her big sister was giving her father. 

 "I've checked the airfield, deer lodge. I'm starting to think that plane is from another state," Kayce tried to change the subject. Mae was relieved and surprised, he never really bothered to try and intervene in any fights before, maybe he was growing up. 

"Yeah if I could get a warrant, I can check the flight logs out of the air traffic control out of Bozeman. It's a lot of data to sit through but I think I can-," Jamie couldn't finish his suggestion because Beth interrupted. 

"I thought we were not supposed to talk about work at the dinner table," Mae and her brothers shared knowing looks. Ticking time bomb Beth was about to go off and Mae didn't want to be near when that happens. 

"In the morning it's the breakfast table, Beth. We can talk business at the breakfast table," John explained while taking a bite of bacon. 

Mae knew Beth's attitude was because of Rip being demoted and moved to the bunkhouse. Hell, she was still pissed about it and if Rip didn't talk to her that day in the stable, she still would have been pissed. She couldn't blame Beth for her feelings, she understood, she knew it was even worse for her because Beth was in love with Rip. 

"This is not a breakfast table, this is a dining room table. How do I know it's a dining room table? Because it's in the fucking dining room. Breakfast tables are in the kitchen. We don't even have one there, we have a bar in the kitchen. So I guess the point is, Dad, that you can discuss whatever you want at the dining room table and it's just us that have to navigate the algorithm of ways in which you control what is discussed," Mae was highly amused by the look on her dad's face after Beth said that.