sunrise to sunset (ryan yellowstone).

great, so she's bat shit?

The radio below the window was quickly switched off, cutting the sound in the once rambunctious bunkhouse to a dead silence. You could almost hear the horses starting to wake up in the barn as the collective breathes of the room were held.

Rip was beyond words as he surveyed the cowboys. The back of his neck was hot with anger and he wasn't sure if translated to the rest of his face but he was damn sure hoped the room could see the fire burning in his eyes.

"What do you mean, who the fuck is Laurel?!" He roared. "She fuck'n lives with you!"

"Hate to break it to you," Lloyd said calmly, "but I think we would notice if someone new was bunking with us..."

Rip's nostrils flared like one of the bulls out in the field. He was about to kick up a storm if he wasn't given a straight answer and fast.

"Wait," Jimmy said. He wasn't the brightest kid out there but he could see the wheels turning in Rip's head. "Laurel is supposed to stay here? We haven't seen her Rip. Honest-"

"Who the fuck is Laurel?" Ryan asked again as he stumbled over his words. Colby had already taken the whiskey bottle away from him and stored it back on a shelf in the makeshift kitchen they hadn't used in weeks. It wouldn't take much to walk over and take it back but that meant actually getting off his chair to do so. Colby knew him well enough that he would much prefer crawling into his bunk which happened to be much closer.

"Ain't a brain cell between the bunch of you," Rip spat while ignoring Ryan's question. He'd deal with finding Laurel with out the help of these idiots. Though he did take into account how Jimmy at least looked concerned she was missing. The rest of them were too drunk to even put their hats on straight.

"I don't care what any of yeah do, but you've got an hour. We're pushing pairs in the morning. And that means I want wall tents set up and I want that chuck wagon up fucking wind or you'll be sleeping with the goddam grizzlies."

"That's more action then you've seen all year," Colby whispered to Ryan who retaliated to smack his friend in the chest. He missed and landed on his arm which lessened the effect of his gesture.

"Shut up," Ryan mumbled with a drunken pout and the weird run away thought of a grizzly bear trying to climb into his bunk. Ryan wasn't sure how he felt about sharing, not when he was a blanket hog himself.

"And you," Rip cut in through the drunken chatter that started to pick up in room. He looked directly to Lloyd with an annoyance he only shared when Rip was almost at his wits end when it came to dealing with this three ring circus. "You're supposed to keep a cap on these morons. Act your fucking age, would you, Lloyd?"

Lloyd smiled and saluted the ranch's foreman with two fingers. Of course he was watching the guys. What else did he expect him to do, sleep the night away?

With that, Rip retreated out the door with a slam. He felt like a glorified camp councillor wrangling a bunch of children as the room behind him erupted into a pitch of rumbling laughter behind him.

He honestly didn't care what the bunkhouse did with their last hour before they were stuck in camp under the watchful eye of both Mr. Dutton and Kayce for the next few days. They would be packed with non-stop work until they rotated with each other between the main duties on the property and what was required during the spike camp.

Truth be told, Rip was excited for everyone to be gone and for him to return to the big house alone, after the set up, as it meant he might be able to have a few moments of uninterrupted time with Beth.

The ranch was still dark with sunset not scheduled for at least another half an hour.

However, outside of ensuring everything was set for the rise, his top priority right now was tracking down the Yellowstone's newest and absent member.