Countryside | Ruralburgh 2

Chapter 36: Something is Sus, and It's Not My Horniness for Sawyer

Chapter 36: Something is Sus, and It's Not My Horniness for Sawyer

       While waiting for any of the jobs I applied for to call me back, I decided to take up some chores around the farm. My physiotherapist gave me the okay to do the farm chores as long as I monitored my body and listened to any stress it might have.

       Beth and Trey always said they could use the extra help, and they were more than willing to pay me for it. I could definitely use the extra cash right now. Well, it wasn't really extra cash since it was going straight into my savings for both the house and the wedding but still, I definitely needed to help Sawyer pay for it all.

       I had a few savings already, but Sawyer convinced me to save those ones for if I truly did decide to head to school to become a vet.

       Unloading the new hay bales from Sawyer's truck definitely helped me appreciate the muscles he had. This was such a work out for me, but I didn't mind. To be honest, I was kind of enjoying all these chores. It was an excuse to be outside.

       And to watch Sawyer work, but I wasn't going to tell him that. Though, he probably already figured it out. I wasn't exactly subtle whenever I checked him out.

       "Hey, babe?" Sawyer suddenly said as he walked over me, probably finishing his chore of mucking the stables. "Did you go in Paint's stables at all last night?"

       "No," I said. "Well, at least not after we put him away. Why?"

       "I found this in his stable when I went to muck it." Sawyer showed me a yellow tag. "It was pinned to the inside of his stall. So you didn't put it in there?"

       "Why would I put that in there?"

       Sawyer sighed. "I don't know. I was hoping you did because I definitely do not have a good feeling about this."

       "You don't think it was any of your family members?" I asked.

       "No, you know they don't go anywhere near Paint's stall since you got back," Sawyer said. "Except for Monica, but I don't see why she would put a tag in his stall."

       I lifted up one of the hay bales, trying to think of a reason why someone, anyone, would go into Paint's stall and put a tag in there. I couldn't think of a reason, so I then tried thinking about who would go in the stall and put a tag in there.

       And like the reason, I couldn't come up with a conclusion.

       I placed the bale on top of the stack before leaning on it to take a break. "Maybe it was there all alone and we never noticed it."

       "I don't think that's the case," Sawyer said. "That stall gets cleaned often. We would have noticed a bright, yellow tag on there a long time ago if that was the case."

       "So... Who do you think left the tag there? And why?"

       Sawyer didn't reply. He either didn't have an answer or he didn't want to tell me what his answer was.

       The case seemed to be the latter when he said, "I need to go talk to my parents about something."

       He walked off and for a moment, I was just going to go back to work and let the conversation fall. However, since I knew he was ending the conversation because he didn't want to tell me his theory, I was way too curious about this whole thing. I followed him, grabbing his arm to stop him from walking. "You have a theory."

       "I... don't," he said, though the hesitation between the two words clearly showed otherwise.

       "Sawyer..."

       "Look, let me just talk to my parents first. See what they think of it. If they're thinking the same, then I'll tell you. I just... don't want to worry you."

       "Telling me you don't want to worry me is only going to worry me more."

       "You should get back to work." Sawyer kissed my cheek before heading towards the main house to talk to his parents. I wanted to go follow him, but there must have been a reason why he didn't want to tell me yet, as oppose to not wanting to worry me.

       By the time Sawyer came back out, I had finished stacking the hay bales and was lying on top of it to relax. Thankfully, I wasn't too sore from all the work, so I would be able to continue with the farm chores. I was just glad my therapy was going well.

       Sawyer climbed on top of the hay bales and sat down beside me. "We think Paint was marked last night."

       "Marked?" I asked as I sat up. "What do you mean by that?"

       "He's marked as in someone's planning to steal him. And they marked his stall so they know which horse to take."

       At first, I thought Sawyer was joking. But then I realized that he would never lie about something like this.

       He was wrong, though. About this worrying me. It definitely didn't worry me at all.

       I snored. "Okay."

       "I'm being serious, Jamie," Sawyer said.

       "I know," I said. "There's no way you would lie about this."

       "So what was that snort about?"

       "I really don't think they'll be able to successfully steal Paint. Sure, they were able to sneak here last night but that's easy to do. What isn't easy is trying to get a horse with trust issues into a trailer or whatever they're going to use to steal him. Paint will definitely throw a fit. If you're right about this, they're going to be in for a surprise when they try taking him."

       "Sedatives and tranquillizers exist."

       That did make me a bit worried, but not enough to still stress over this. "Okay, but I think we'll all hear a trailer being pulled onto the farm in the middle of the night."

       "Jamie, you need to listen to me," Sawyer said. "People stealing valuable horses, unfortunately, is common and when it's this common, it's thought out. They're not going to be stupid enough to do something that will wake us up. My parents are always looking into getting a security system set up in the stables but if we're right about this, we have to be extremely cautious and prepared for anything. Paint could be in trouble."

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if they're right about this, it's actually the thieves that are gonna be in trouble ngl. you don't want to get on jamie's bad side.