Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain | Ryan || Yellowstone

Chapter 9

It had been a brutal afternoon of breaking horses. That was one of the better things I did as a cowboy, getting horses to give in to me. It wasn't that I was able to stay on well, although I could do that, but it was that I wasn't scared of the thing. Horses can feel a tiny fly land on their ass, and they can sure as hell sense fear as soon as you come up to them.

I walked into the bunkhouse, starving for dinner and ready to sit down.

The wranglers were all already at the table, food set before them. Lloyd and Rip weren't there, but that wasn't unusual. Rip was probably off somewhere with Beth, and Lloyd was probably on a walk. He's started to enjoy going on night walks, and so I've started to enjoy making fun of him ruthlessly for beginning to turn into a grandpa.

"We heard you killed a mountain lion today," Colby said as I sat next to him.

"You heard right," I said as I filled my plate and began to eat.

"Was it big?" Ethan asked me from across the table.

I shoved food into my mouth and nodded again. "Biggest fucking one I've ever seen."

They all nodded and continued eating.

"We need to play a game tonight," Colby said as he pushed away his empty plate. Colby was always the one to get the wranglers playing games. I nodded in agreement.

"I was thinking..." Colby placed his elbows on the table and put his chin in his hands in thought. "Poker."

"We play poker every night, Colby.

"Yeah... we do." Colby took the plates off the table and put them in the sink. "What about..." He turned around with a mischievous smile. "A race."

"Like running?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, we have a barn full of some of the nicest fucking horses in the country and we're gonna race with our feet."

Ryan scoffed. "Okay, well you didn't explain, Colby."

Colby opened his mouth but I cut him off. "I'm in."

Colby looked at me with a hopeful smile. "Really?"

I stood from the table and put my hat on. "No, I said I was in, but I'm not."

He rolled his eyes. "You know what Cass?"

I smiled. "What?"

"Fuck you-"

But I bolted out of the bunkhouse and started sprinting up to the stables. "I'm gonna beat your sorry ass!" I yelled and looked over my shoulder, and saw the wranglers following after me.

Colby caught up to me as I opened the stable doors, Ryan, right behind him.

"You know I'm totally gonna kick your ass, right?" Ryan said to me as he got his horse from the stall next to Zeus.

"Did you forget I have this lovely horse, Ryan?" I raised a brow at him as he shrugged. "And besides, it's not the horse, it's the rider." I got close to him and looked up at him with a smile. "I could beat you ridin' a mule."

He looked down at me, a smile still on his lips. "Oh really?"

I nodded. "Mmmhm."

He got real close to me, so close that I could feel the air he exhaled on my face. My stomach flipped and my eyes fluttered down to his lips for a split second.

"I guess we'll have to see?" He said in a low voice that made my heart beat quicken.

And before I had any time to say something in return, he flicked my hat with his fingers so that it fell off my head, mounted his horse, and bolted out of the stables.