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"I was a kid!" Aiden shot back. "I've offered to buy him off you so many times, but you won't let him go. "
"How could I?" Barbara said, waving a hand dismissively. "You want to take him from his home just to—what? Board him? Stake him out like a dog behind that ridiculous trailer of yours? You're in no place to take on the responsibility."
Every word from her was like a carefully crafted bullet, and Aiden's body hunched to absorb the impact. The color drained from his face, leaving him like a strangely ashen doppelganger of the cocky, brightly grinning cowboy Seth loved. The woman made him feel small, and Seth hated it.
"Why are you like this?" Aiden asked in an anguished whisper. "Why can't you just let me have this one thing that's important to me?"
For a moment, Barbara's stony expression seemed to flicker. She hesitated, looking torn, but then her mouth tightened with resolve. "You don't know what you want," she said coldly. "You're like a child, always searching for the most expedient way to make yourself feel better about your failures. Bandit is a security blanket for you. Nothing more. I refuse to enable that kind of behavior."
Aiden's nostrils flared. "This isn't going to work anymore, Mom. You can't use him as a tool to control me. I've got nothing left. I'm finished trying to earn approval. I know now that I never will, not really, not for who I really am. I'm tired of putting on an act for you."
Barbara reeled back as if struck. For a long moment, the only sound was Bandit’s nervous stomping.
"After everything I've done for you, this is the thanks I get?" she whispered, pressing her thin fingers to her lips. "I know that I haven't always been the warmest mother, but I'm the only one who cares about your well-being, Aiden."
Barbara reached out tentatively to rest one hand on his arm, but Aiden flinched away. She blinked rapidly, and for the first time, Seth thought he caught a hint of real tears glistening in her eyes. They were there, and then they were gone. Her face stiffened, and she drew her frail body upright as if gathering reserves for battle.
"I refuse to continue this discussion in front of strangers," she said, shooting Seth a glare that should have dropped him on the spot. "You can come back when you're sober—and alone."
"I'm not leaving without Bandit," Aiden said firmly.
"Then you'll be leaving in handcuffs!" she snapped. She produced her cell phone from the sagging pocket of her robe and waved it. "Is that what you want? To humiliate us both?"
"Do it!" Aiden shouted.
Seth couldn't bear Aiden’s pain any longer. All he wanted was to hold him, tuck him against his body, and soothe away years of emotional neglect. His protective instincts roared to life, clawing their way out of his tight chest.
With a growl, he stepped forward and plucked the cell phone from Barbara's fingers. "Enough."
Aiden stared at him with glassy, bloodshot eyes. He looked surprised, as if he'd forgotten Seth was even standing there. He didn't look grateful. His expression was twisted into something Seth recognized, grief and despair so deep that the only choice was to bury it as quickly as possible before it consumed him.
"You've made your point," Seth said, training his unyielding gaze on Aiden's mother. "But this isn't the way to handle it. You're not calling anyone."
"This is none of your business," Barbara spoke with a disdainful sniff, but her voice lacked the venomous conviction of a moment earlier.
"Aiden is my business," Seth replied firmly. He stepped closer to Aiden and set a steadying hand on his shoulder. The muscle beneath his fingers was rock hard. "He's the only man I count on, the one I would trust with my home, my animals, or my sister. I'll always be in his corner, even when he doesn't want me there. I want to see him happy. I want to see him win. We'll leave for now, but we'll come back for Bandit once things have cooled down."
Aiden looked up at him, blue eyes swimming with drunken despair. "I'm not leaving without him, Seth."
Seth squeezed his shoulder gently. "We'll come back. I promise you. But this isn't the right time. You can't be impulsive about this, Aiden."
Barbara's lips parted, but Seth didn't give her a chance to reply. "You've said enough, Ms. Doyle. You're right; Aiden should never have come here this time of night. I'm sorry I brought him, but we're done now."
Aiden's breathing was ragged. He dug in his heels and resisted Seth's gentle direction. Seth waited, trusting him to make the right decision. Eventually, Aiden squared his shoulders and nodded. The hopelessness in his eyes was almost too much for Seth to bear. He kept a firm hand on Aiden's back as he guided him toward the door, mostly to keep him from turning around.
Barbara stood in the entrance, hugging the swaths of terrycloth and nylon to herself as she watched them leave. Seth held the door for Aiden and circled around the hood of the trunk, but he paused with a hand on his door and turned to meet her eyes. "You care about him? Then start showing it in a way that doesn't tear him apart."
Barbara's face remained stony. With a sigh, Seth climbed behind the wheel and started the engine. It took every bit of restraint he had to shift into reverse and back up calmly without spitting gravel in his wake. Aiden's mother was still standing, motionless, in the reflection of the rearview mirror as he pulled onto the highway.
"You shouldn't have done that," Aiden said, his voice hoarse with unshed tears. "She's right."
"No, she's not," Seth said harshly. He took Aiden’s hand, tightly threading their fingers so he couldn’t pull away. "Listen to me. I meant what I said. It doesn't matter if you never take me back or not—there's still no one on this earth I trust more than you."
Aiden threw back his head and belted out a broken, croaking laugh. He laughed so hard and for so long that he was panting for breath once it subsided. He wiped tears from the corners of his eyes, choking on his laughter, and said, "Then you’re a goddamn fool. Once word starts to spread that I'm the one who fucked up your herd, no one's going to hire me. Whit's a soft touch, so he might keep me around, but it ain't like he ever gave me much responsibility anyway. If I want to pick up work now, it'll be in some strange bunkhouse across county lines."
"Bullshit," Seth said angrily. "Did it make me less trustworthy when you thought I'd done it? Did it make me worse at what I do?"
Aiden slouched in his seat and stared out the window. All Seth could see was the bulging cord of his neck and the bunched muscle of his clenched jaw. "That's different," he said through his teeth.
