Free Circle Eight: Vaughn by Emma Lang Page A

honest with himself, Nick barely knew him.
    “Liv wants you here and so does Stuart. He’ll wail like a banshee if you leave before his party.” Nick didn’t want the boy riding with him. It was bad enough he had to go, he didn’t want to be responsible for Benjy too.
    “I already talked to her. She told me it would be okay. Matt knows too.” Benjy resembled their mother, Meredith, strongly. Those blue-green eyes could have been Mama’s. He was a good-looking young man and would have girls buzzing around him like a hive of bees soon. It was too bad he kept himself to himself. Except for today. Lucky Nick.
    “You didn’t talk to me and it’s not okay. I ain’t letting you tag along.” Nick tightened the cinch strap and patted the horse’s belly. “I’m ready to go after I get some vittles from the house.”
    “My horse is saddled and I got the food from Liv.” Benjy gestured to the right. “Kickers is already outside waiting.”
    “Shit.” Nick had no reason to say no to the boy. It would be a good idea for him to spend time with him but he didn’t want to. That didn’t sound very Graham-like but it was the truth. Benjy made him uncomfortable and he didn’t know what to do about it.
    “I won’t slow you down. I’ve been pulling my weight on the ranch.” It was true. Although he was skinny as a fence post, Benjy worked the Circle Eight whenever he was there. He was wiry and strong even if he was odd.
    “Fine. Keep up or I’ll send you back.”
    Benjy darted out of the barn, leaving Nick to wonder if he’d done the right thing. He had to stop treating him as if his younger brother was different from their other siblings. All eight of them had their own ways and he was no different. But he was and Nick knew it.
    Nick led his horse out of the stall and out into the gray light of dawn. The sun had started to paint the sky pink and orange but it would be another hour before it was truly up. He wanted to get started early enough to avoid the hottest part of the day, which meant he would ride hard.
    Benjy sat on his horse, hat in place and a surprisingly eager look on his face. Nick’s lips twitched at the sight. Underneath the strange behavior, Benjy was a Graham and he loved to ride. He put his foot in the stirrup and mounted Rusty. The horse whickered at the smaller cow pony, Kickers. Nick wondered if the old bay was telling the younger horse that he was in charge. It wouldn’t surprise him.
    “Remember what I said.” Nick turned the bay around and kneed him into motion, toward the Circle Eight, to reassure their brother that all was well at the ranch. A boring waste of time, in Nick’s opinion, and a chore he would have gladly passed on.
     
     
    Elizabeth bounced in the saddle hard enough to wake her up. She tried to straighten but pain ripped through her back and neck. She blinked against the bright sunlight, confused and sore. The reins were held by someone else and she rode, tied to the saddle horn, unable to move, unwilling to give up. She had fallen asleep, which was ridiculous, but perhaps Gibson’s fist had done more damage than she thought. Her jaw was sore and the residual taste of blood stayed in her mouth.
    “Wake up, woman.” Gibson’s voice blew away the fuzziness of her thoughts.
    She turned to glare at him, her hands, arms and behind numb from being tied to a horse all day. “Fuck you,” popped out of her mouth. She knew what it meant, considering she had four brothers, but it had never crossed her lips until now. Vaughn had thrown it out earlier and it damn well felt good to say it herself.
    Gibson’s grizzly face reflected surprise for a brief moment before he scowled. “Ought to wash your mouth out with soap.”
    “Go ahead and try it.” She threw a sharp glance his way before she looked away. Vaughn sat, bloody and unconscious, on the horse beside her. His cheek was swollen and purple, pushing his eye closed. Blood had dried in streams on his forehead and mouth. His