Drama. Zina's nickname. She pranced around in the open field with Heather as her witness. She was showing off her best skills, nodding her head to some horse beat in her head.
Her audience increased by two. Fiona and Shelby joined Heather by the fence, Zina seemed to get excited by the small crowd, neighing her content.
"What a bitch!"
Heather and Fiona laughed at Shelby's sudden outburst.
"It's really not funny." Glaring at the giants flanking her, "She gave me one hell of a time."
"She looks like a sweetheart to me." Heather cooed. "Aren't you sweetheart?"
Zina bobbed her head, Shelby gasped. "She did not just do that."
"You might be the problem little woman" Heather shifted away as she said. "Your height might be the big problem."
The little distance she had managed to put between them didn't stop Shelby from swatting her arm.
"Ow!" Heather cradled her hand to her chest. "You could have killed me."
"Dramatic much." Fiona piped in.
"At least I have a witness." Heather huffed. "When I decide to sue, I need an eye witness."
"I wouldn't testify against Shelby." Fiona closed her eyes. "because I didn't see anything."
"Bitch." Heather's lips tilted in a small smile.
A comfortable silence enveloped them, the calm before the storm. Shelby relished in the peace and quiet well aware how fickle it was.
"I still thought what you did was reckless and stupid." fickle.
"Uh-huh. Miss everyone's life is in my hands." Heather snorted. "You sure sounded like a glorified Jehovah, let God do his work."
"I'm not trying to pull any godly tricks."
"So why does your life mean less?" Heather's sharp gaze cut through Shelby's head, meeting Fiona's fiery gaze head on. "Isn't there anyone in this world who would miss you if Zina had painted the floor boards with your blood?"
"It's my job." Fiona said through clenched teeth. "I don't expect you to understand how much other people's lives matter, in some certain jobs, other people's lives come first."
"You're right." Heather's shoulders lifted. "I don't understand why someone else's life should take precedence over mine."
"So let me do my job, and if I ask you or tell you to stay back. You need to Stay. Back."
"Yes daddy." Heather rolled her eyes so hard. "Should I get on my hands and knees and crawl through horse shit."
"Surprisingly, that image fills me with so much joy." Fiona lips stretched in a wolfish smile. "Can I put a collar around you and call you my bitch?"
"You wish, those are fantasies you keep under lock and key. Fantasies that will never be more than fantasies. I kneel for no one."
"More fun when I bring you to your knees."
"Even if I dropped dead right now, I'd rather disintegrate into nothingness than kneel at your undeserving feet."
"Would you kneel for me?"
Fiona and Heather looked down to find Shelby looking between them, a sly smirk on her face.
"Yes baby girl." Heather said the same time Fiona said. "You know I would love to."
They glared at each other, each one daring the other to back down. The alpha role play was getting Shelby hot and bothered. If she squeezed her legs together, Heather would know what she needed immediately and the last thing she needed was her hands mapping out a hot trail on her skin.
"Down girls." Shelby planted herself in the middle of the intense staring match, pushing at their chests.
Due to her slight height disadvantage, their glares sparked above her head, "Down girls!" Shelby said louder.
"I don't need a burnt patch in the middle of my head just because you guys discovered how to start a fire with your eyes."
Fiona backed down first, her muscles unclenching under Shelby's soft touch. Heather mouthed the word 'bitch' with a tiny smile over Shelby's head earning a light punch in the stomach.
"What'd you do that for?" Fiona snickered as Heather tried to catch her breath.
"Who's the bitch now?" Another punch. "Ow!"
Heather wheezed with laughter, her hunched over form shaking slightly. "Ha! All those muscles couldn't protect you from those tiny hands."
Shelby raised her fist in Heather's direction.
"Truce! I call truce." Heather flapped her arms around.
"My next punch depends on how fast you can get on your knees for me." Shelby imitated a boxer stance. "Who'll do it fast enough?"
Heather and Fiona eyed each other, both rushing to their knees.
"I knelt first." Fiona declared.
"Cheat! There's no fucking way" Heather pointed an accusing finger at her. "My knees touched the ground first."
"Not before mine, they kissed the floor before your slow brain could comprehend it."
"That's rich coming from you." Heather hid the disgust on her face when she noticed how dirty the ground was.
"What's wrong pillow princess?" Fiona said in a babyish voice. "Are you going to cwy because the floor's dirty?"
"No Fiona, I'm not going to 'cwy'." Heather brushed off the dust on her thighs.
"You guys bicker like children but you're really comfortable on your knees." Shelby mentioned Heather's words earlier. "Considering you kneel for on one."
Heather's mouth went dry when Shelby leaned over in front of her, giving a front row seat vision of her luscious breasts. So creamy they looked, nestled in their bra cups. Shelby seemed like an illusion when Heather tried reaching for her.
She moved away swaying her hips as she walked to an eagerly 'kneeling' Fiona, whispered something in her ears that made her flush red that Heather tried to catch. Shelby kissed her cheek and left them both kneeling in the dirt.
"Remember girls. I am the queen in this story."
Fiona and Heather didn't need to be told twice, the Queen would decide who her lowly servant would be, all they had to do was hope they were picked.
°°°
The trio avoided bumping into each other for the rest of the day, all three having had enough of drama to last the day.
Bran filled Heather in on the months she had missed, not leaving anything out. He was oblivious of the attraction Fiona had for Shelby which was sweet. Heather commended his loyalty to her even when he didn't know what she had done.
He neither asked nor did he judge her, his smile was warm as always. Heather wondered how quick that smile could turn into a frown.
Better to know now than later.
"I knew you would come back, it was just a matter of when." Bran shrugged. "You were too invested here to just leave us behind."
Heather heard the sad tilt in his voice, "I'm sorry I didn't reach out, I should have sent a mail or just called."
"Yeah you could have but it's okay. I guessed you were busy with work stuff."
"I should have sent a mail to check in on you and Tracy." Heather squeezed his arm. "I'm sorry that I left and went cold on everyone."
"Yeah. My baby girl took some time to heal." Bran looked away from her. "Whatever happened between you too is your business, Shelby was hurt real bad when she got back. Tracy nursed her back to health."
Heather's brow raised in surprise. Tracy and Shelby's icy relationship was not a secret to anyone.
"How bad was it?"
Bran scrubbed his face with his hands."It was real bad, she wasn't answering the phone or checking in at work. I left a basket of food for her on the porch, she would peep through the window and only come out when I was driving away."
Bran shook his head, "I begged Tracy go help me with her, I thought she would lock Tracy out like she did me. It was a matter of hope really, so when Tracy called me that evening to come as fast as I could, I stepped on the gas so hard, I'm surprised I made it there in one piece."
His eyes clouded over as he told the next part. "Tracy was sitting outside, her hands holding her head up. Once I got closer I realized my wife was crying. She was crying so hard my heart skipped a beat. I thought Shelby had done something stupid."
Heather's chest tightened as she listened. "But that wasn't the case, Tracy told me how thin she had gotten, the way she slept by the door while Tracy aired the house and cooked some soup for her. She tried to keep the soup down, most of it came back up till she got tired."
Tears filled her eyes imagining the kind of pain Shelby must have gone through. "I-"
Bran shook his head at her. "No lassie. Let me finish."
He continued when she nodded. "Shelby refused to see me, then days later Tracy called me that they needed a ride to the hospital. I got dressed up and even wore my finest boots." Bran smiled with his eyes recalling the memory. "I got there, Shelby was standing behind Tracy, staring unfocused into the distance. All I wanted to do was hug her, tell her everything was going to be alright but instead I stretched out my hand."
"My hand hung in the air for several minutes, Shelby made no visible effort to take it." A heavy silence enveloped Bran's two second pause clipping the air in Heather's lungs. "She didn't take it because she couldn't see me."
"I'm confused."
"Shelby almost went blind, she's partially blind actually. She's just good at hiding it."
"That's not true." Heather gasped in horror. "You're lying to me. Bran tell me it's not true."
"I thought you knew." Bran's brow knitted together.
"I didn't, how could I?" How could she? Her bed had been her partner for months, lost in her own needs as usual. Coming back with the aim of taking a woman she had hurt without knowing how deep she had hurt her.
Her mother was right, she wasn't ready.
"We're closing, I think you can call it a day now."
Heather noticed she had tuned out. Nodding her head still lost in a daze, Heather dusted her pants when she stood up. Took a few steps and stopped.
"Bran i-"
Bran held his hand up. "I don't want to know Heather. I just want to know that you'll fight for her. I'm all she's got and I might-" wiping a few stray tears at the corner of his eyes. "I'm getting old, I need someone to be there for her."
"I promise."
Biting back another apology or a sped up disclosure of how she'd hurt Shelby, Heather swore not to break his trust again.
The first thing she saw when she turned the corner to Shelby's office was Fiona leaning in for a kiss and Shelby letting her kiss her.
Their eyes locked when she broke the kiss, at least Heather was staring at her, she knew Shelby felt her presence but couldn't see her.
Fiona pumped her fist in the air over something Shelby said, turning at the correct time to find Heather watching them.
Her victorious smirk lessened at the sight of Heather's wide smile.
Shelby MacLean could kiss whoever the hell she wanted but she was hers.
Heart
Body
And soul.
°°°
Q
LONG OR SHORT CHAPTERS?