“Thank you,” Billy says. He reaches out and shakes Dr. Miles’s hand. “Thank you.”
“We’ll get the supplies,” Dr. Miles says. “I’ll have Maggie bring the first round of injections to the house in an hour.”
The doctors turn and walk back toward the tents.
We stand there. The three of us. The night is settling in around us, the crickets starting to sing.
“So,” Tex says. He drops his hands. He looks at Billy, then at me. “We’re gonna live.”
“Looks like it,” I say.
Billy runs a hand through his hair. He lets out a rough laugh. It’s a sound of pure exhaustion.
“I need a drink,” he says.
“Maggie said no alcohol,” Tex reminds him.
“Maggie isn’t here,” Billy says. “And I just found out my ranch isn’t going to die. I’m having a beer.”
He turns and starts walking toward the house. He pauses after a few steps.
He looks back at me.
“Seth.”
I tense. “Yeah?”
Billy looks at the ground. He kicks a clod of dirt.
“I know,” he says simply.
My throat tightens. “Billy…”
“I know,” he repeats. “About you. About Tex.”
He looks up. His eyes meet mine. They are sad, but they aren’t angry.
“I’ve known for a long time,” he says.
I stare at him. “You did?”
“You think I’m blind?” He scoffs softly. “I’m an Alpha. I smell it on you. I see the way you look at her. I always have.”
He looks away.
“It’s why I never asked you to be my best man,” he says. “When I was planning to propose. I couldn’t ask you to stand there and watch me marry the woman you loved.”
I don’t know what to say. I feel exposed. Stripped bare.
“Billy, I never would have?—”
“I know,” Billy cuts me off. “I know you wouldn’t. You’re too good of a brother. That’s the problem.”
He looks at Tex.
“You too. You’re loyal to a fault. You would have buried it. But I couldn’t do that to you.”
He turns back toward the house.
