Free Southern Charms by S. E. Kloos Page A

annoyance was in his voice as he called back “Oh yeah. Couldn’t be better, Little Darlin’” only for him to whip back to the corral at the sound of a pained whine from the horse. This time, his voice was darker when he spoke. “Scratch that. I’ma kill ya if that horse cries out like that one more fuckin’ time, Mark. You wanna mistreat a horse like that, do it on ya own land. I’ll switch hit ya for it here.”
    Reaching his side, Elizabeth watched Mark for a minute before looking up at Xander when he growled. “I’m about to cut the loss of the entry fee for the sake of my horse and sanity… just say to fuck with it.”
    Looking back at Mark, Elizabeth tilted her head to the side a bit. “What is he doing wrong?”
    Xander crossed his arms across the top of the fence to the corral while glaring at his cousin. “Just about every damn thing he can, that’s what.” Then he looked down at her, “He hadn’t rode in one of these since the rules changed few years back. We can’t wear spurs on a horse no more, only on a bull. So to make up for the lack of sticks,” he looked back at Mark, speaking louder than necessary, “Seems he tryin’ his damnedest to break the horse’s back, instead of just taking the fall.”
    Mark looked over at him as he called out. “Shit hurts.”
    Xander just gave him a flat look. “Naw, you just a pansy ass. Now, quit actin’ like you a fuckin’ glass daisy ‘fore I break ya, ‘cause you hurt my horse, and I’ll fuckin’ kill ya. Rocky ain’t ever done nothin’ to you to deserve the way you treatin’ ‘im. I suggest you use the brains God gave ya, and not test me right now, Boy.”
    Elizabeth watched Mark for about an hour, Xander talking her through everything he was doing, trying to help her to understand the basics of what was going on. She understood most of it, but there were a few things that she couldn’t, just like Xander figured there would be. There were a lot of things that just couldn’t be explained during something like this, and only fully understood in the actual setting. Mark had taken a few nasty looking falls during that hour, too.
    Also over that time, it was becoming increasingly apparent to Xander that he was going to just have to eat the entry fee this time around. From what he was seeing, Mark was going to end up being disqualified out the gate. He would rather swallow the loss than have his reputation tarnished by picking a replacement rider who didn’t know his head from his ass.
    While he would admit that he wasn’t the biggest fan of the change in the regulations, he still followed them. Mark seemed incapable of getting it through his skull that not only were you disqualified for spurring a horse, you were fined and banned from entry for six months. Since Mark was riding under his entry, both punishments fell on him. This was how he made his living, so a six month ban would royally screw him, not to mention the thousand dollar fine for breaking the rules.
    There was another whine from Rocky, making Elizabeth grimace before looking up at Xander. She swallowed hard at the dark look that entered his eyes as he glared at his cousin, though she honestly couldn’t blame him. He had given repeated warnings to Mark about not doing that, because it would hurt the horse. From what she had gathered over the last hour, Rocky was Xander’s baby.
    The tone that colored Xander’s voice when he spoke to Mark sent a chill down her spine. “Get ya ass off my horse ‘fore I crack ya fuckin’skull. We done for the day, and I suggest ya bring ya own horse tomorrow, ‘cause you ain’t ever getting nowhere near mine again.”
    Mark dismounted and turned to look at Xander. “That fall could’ve broken my neck.”
    The darkness on Xander’s face didn’t ebb in the slightest. If anything, it got darker. “Your neck don’t mean shit to me compared to the back of my horse, Dick. A broken neck for you means a cushy place in bed for a time. A broken