A Gambling Man // Ryan x OC

15

Mae knew this had to be sabotage, someone was coming after her family and she didn't fucking like it. She knew it couldn't have been Dan Jenkins, the big city boy trying to turn her father's ranch into a housing development, from what Beth said the man had no idea about the cowboy life. He wouldn't know how to poison cattle, except if he hired someone. Maybe it could have been Chief Rainwater but he would rather steel the cattle and take them for his own people, this didn't scream him. If Mae's gut was right, there was another player on the chess board, one they haven't even met yet. 

"Jamie!," Mae turned to see her father had arrived, "Get the rest of my livestock agents up here! Everyone take the remaining cattle and get away! Take them four pastures down."

Mae walked up to her dad as the cowboy moved the cattle. They were slow, they needed water and nutrition but this pasture was contaminated. The next ones could be to, they needed to move them as far as possible from the field. Ryan was walking with her, he was an agent after all. 

"Ryan, you're not a reserve agent anymore. You find a way to cover this area, I don't want a fucking bird landing in it," John called out as they neared him. Mae squeezed Ryan's hand as he walked away. 

"You two," John pointed at Mae and Kayce, "Walk with me." 

The three walked up the hill away from the dead cattle. 

"Now is not the right time to talk about all the fights I'm in. Right now, the only fight that matters is this one."

"Do you have any idea who did this?," Kayce asked. 

"Oh, I know exactly who did this. Now we just got to prove it" John muttered. 

"Daddy, maybe there's something we're not seeing," Mae muttered as she chewed her bottom lip. 

"Like what, Sweetheart?"

"I just - Wasn't it in the newspaper that Jenkins and Rainwater started working together? They don't need to do this if they're announcing that they're opening a hotel and casino. Why would they do this? Why would they even think of this? Rainwater and Jenkins are both city boys, playing Montana big leagues, they wouldn't even know of alfalfa. Granted, they can google it or hire someone but the timing is just off, it doesn't make sense."

"We have to be sure, Sweetheart," John would have seen the logic in Mae's statement if he wasn't already completely pissed off. 

"Thank you for saving the ones you could have," John kissed the side of her head before walking off to talk to Rip.  Mae sighed as she stood next to Kayce, they were just waiting for the cops now. 

It didn't take long for them to arrive and Mae rolled her eyes in irritation as she saw the sheriff, Don, she still wasn't over how quickly he was willing to throw her family under the bus for that bear accident. He almost sent Rip to jail and that pissed Mae off immensely, especially since he only had his job because her dad helped him. She hated people who were so quick to turn their backs on others, especially since he was only doing it for Jenkins' money. 

Mae and Kayce stood slightly back as John and Jamie approached Don. 

"So you think this was intentional? There's no tire tracks anywhere, John, the fence is way over there and nobody threw it over. It didn't fall out of the fucking sky," Mae glared at the man as she balled her fists, Kayce grabbed her hand in his own. He knew that look in her eye, hell it had been directed to him a few times. 

"That's exactly what it fucking did," John replied, the anger clear in his voice. 

"So you're thinking that someone flew a plane over here, to drop clover on your cattle in the middle of the night, John? Think about that," Mae met her dad's eyes as he turned from the Sheriff, needing to take a moment to calm his anger. Kayce did a double take at how similar the father and daughter looked in that moment, their eyes blazing with rage.