Me and My Wild Boy -A Yellowstone Story

I'd Rather Burn My Whole Life Down

A few hours later, Athena took a break from her digging and decided to head to the barn. She had told her father about the Becks owning the planes needed for dropping clover on their pasture, he thanked her for the information but ordered her to stop looking into the Becks and to let him handle them. She didn't protest to his face, simply nodded but had no plans of stopping her hunt for damning information against the Becks. She was itching to jump on Jasper and lose herself in the flow of riding but knew the aches and pains on her body would protest that vehemently. She decided instead to see if the ranch hands were doing something in the corral that she could watch. Once she was close enough to see the corral, she could see Kayce in the corral with Tate's new horse with Tate and Monica leaning against the fence watching. Her father and Rip were leaning against the fence a few feet away from Monica and Tate.

As she moved closer, she noticed her father pulling Kayce away from the corral to talk to him while Rip took Tate into the corral with the horse. She finally reached the fence of the corral, leaning against it herself as she heard Tate ask Rip, "Is it scared? That why he runs?"

"No. It's instinct more than anything, you know. With these wild horses, you know they...they're trying to figure out who the boss is, who they can trust. I mean a tourist will look at, you know, a mustang that's running around let's just say and think that they're playing. But they're not playing, Tate. They're seeing where they stand in the world and who's their friend. Here, let me zip you up. It's getting cold out here. Better?" Rip taught Tate; his voice gentle as he explained horse instincts to the boy. Athena stared admiringly at him, her thoughts whirling as she imagined him teaching their child about horses.

A couple of feet away from her, her father's ever watching eyes were on her, seeing the expressions that came across her face as she watched Rip and Tate. "Turns out he's just a big teddy bear. Who knew?" John remarked wryly.

Athena looked over to him, his eyes darkening as they roamed over her battered face. "I did," She answered him, giving Rip and Tate one last wistful look before she turned to head into the barn to see Jasper. John watched her go, feeling the rage that had been simmering since he caught sight of his battered daughter's a couple of nights previously heightened once again as he saw her slowly and stiffly walk away. He took a deep breath, turning to look back at Rip and Tate as he thought of the revenge that was soon coming to the Beck brothers.

Athena walked into the barn, moving toward Jasper's stall and heading in with the horse who whinnied at her, clearly knowing that something was wrong with her. She shushed her horse, patting him on the snout before taking the brush and running it along his body. She felt some peace come to her as she brushed Jasper, it being broken when she heard footsteps coming into the barn. She looked over to see Beth who walked past without noticing her. Instead, her older sister headed further in where Athena had idly heard movement from someone else in the barn. A couple of moments later, Athena figured out who the other person was when she heard Beth's familiar sneering words, "Look how well shoveling shit suits you." Only one person ever received or could invoke that level of hate from Beth. "Shocker. You know one day, Jamie, as much as it fuckin' astonishes me...someone will love you. And you'll love somebody. And I can't wait to take that from you. Even if I have to kill it with my bare hands, I will take it from you." She heard Beth sob slightly before she heard the older woman leave the barn.

Athena knew that Jamie and Beth had a tense relationship ever since they were teenagers, but she had never known the sheer loathing Beth felt for Jamie until that very moment. She patted Jasper one last time before exiting the stall, turning to see Jamie had exited the stall he was cleaning, the two catching each other's eyes. Jamie's widened, knowing that she must have heard what Beth had said and also at the sight of her face. He knew that Beth and Athena had been attacked, and he honestly expected for Beth's face to look as it did as he knew Beth's best ability was berating people with her words. But seeing Athena's face, the baby of the family with cuts and bruises on her face along with the still vivid hand shaped bruises around her neck, caused him to feel something protective stir within him for the first time since he had gone off to college. He took a step closer to her, raising a hand to grasp her shoulder, prepared to ask how she was but paused when she flinched slightly and shied away from him.