Page 3 of Tack’s Bounty

“How’s the balls?” Willis asked.

“Fuck off,” Tack snapped, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. Coldness on his hand had him cracking one eye open and taking the cold pack from Jonesy, the medic. He laid it on his aching dick.

“Cap, I thought I was your favorite, but I feel like I was being punished having to go see the old, mean lady with you,” Phillips joked.

“No, you’re laid back enough to keep me from losing my temper,” Cap called.

“Maybe next time, I can go check out the hot lady in overalls,” Phillips offered.

Tack opened his eyes, glaring at Phillips.

“Then again, maybe not,” Phillips agreed, chuckling.

Tack was glad his point was made. No one was going near Sophia in her cute overalls besides him. He wondered if his nephew needed an animal. Getting an animal for him would be the perfect opportunity to see the sassy Sophia again. Yep, he could get best uncle and ask her on a date all in one fell swoop.

Chapter Two

Sophia walked in the house, immediately spotting the two women standing at the window.

“How long have you been standing there?” she asked.

“Long enough to see tall, dark, and sexy give you his number,” Freedom noted.

“Oh! And then we watched Pudding headbutt him in his crotch. It looked painful. I had the urge to offer to kiss it and make it better, but I abstained because you had dibs,” Lake reassured her.

Sophia wrote his number and name on the whiteboard on the wall with her description of ‘hot SWAT officer,’ circled it, and wrote ‘MINE’ on it. She turned and stared at Lake.

“I got it. I will keep my hot, sweaty paws off of him. Do you think he has some hot friends?” Lake asked, her eyes lighting up.

“Oh, maybe he should come for a sleepover with Sophia and bring two friends so we can each entertain one. I want someone big enough to pick me up and take me against the wall. Why does no one do that in real life?” Freedom whined.

Sophia rolled her eyes when they both pouted and gave her pleading eyes.

“You two are incorrigible, but I love you. I need to go have some coffee with some type of sweet to get the nasty taste out of my mouth from dealing with Jolene,” Sophia announced, walking into the kitchen.

“Here. I tried a new recipe for muffins. It’s supposed to be similar to a sugar-cinnamon cake donut but not quite as heavy,” Freedom offered, moving the tray of treats closer to Sophia.

Sophia walked over and washed her hands because she loved animals, but she was not allowing the squirrel feed to change how her muffin tasted. By the time she turned around, Freedom and Lake had a cup of coffee fixed exactly as she liked and were waiting at the table. Sophia sipped the creamy, caramel-flavored coffee. If only sipping the coffee would make Jolene disappear from her life.

“Did you know that if we rescued pigs and housed them here that they would eat anything tossed over the fence?” Freedom mused.

“Oh my gosh. So they clean up after themselves. I’ve always wanted a pig or two. It doesn’t, like, matter if what’s tossed over is sour, does it?” Lake joked, her eyes wide.

“Ladies, we are not getting pigs to get rid of Jolene. If I’ve dealt with her and didn’t kill her when she was my mother-in-law, I’m certainly not going to do it now. I’d be the first one they’d suspect,” Sophia stated, shaking her head.

Freedom and Lake were her best friends, though they called themselves her “strays.” They teased she’d adopted them just like she had so many animals. Both women had been in bad situations a couple months after Sophia was divorced. She’d offered both women room and board in exchange for helping around the farm, vet office, and rescue. She’d never regretted it.

“I know, but we can dream, can’t we?” Lake countered, taking a muffin and biting in. “Freaking hell, Freedom, I’m going to need to start working out because I want to eat twelve of these—so good,” she moaned.

“Well, eat up. It’s a busy day. Appointments all this afternoon, and the farrier is also coming this afternoon to work on Pudding and the others,” Freedom informed them.

“What the hell, Freedom? You know that donkey has super ears. He’s probably already hiding somewhere since you said the F word,” Lake pouted, glaring at Freedom.

“You give him too much credit,” Freedom insisted.

“Yeah, you say that because you’re on office work this week and I’m on outdoor stuff. Wait a minute,” Lake faltered, getting up to look at the calendar. “That’s what I thought. The farrier isn’t supposed to come until next week, which is your week with the outdoor animals.”

“Hey, he said he couldn’t come next week due a family thing and needed to come this week,” Freedom challenged.