AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 10 - Gavin: Sperm Donor
I finished brushing up all the horses. I walked over and hung the last saddle on the hook. I had been up since five, and I was starting to feel the effects of waking up early. It was only noon, and I was ready to tap out for the day.
I walked out of the barn and made my way to the ATVs that I often used to get around the ranch. I had just hopped onto the machine when I heard my name being called from behind me. When I looked up, I saw Marcus making his way over to me.
Ever since our little boys’ time with Axel, we had gotten closer. We weren’t best friends or anything like that, but we were cool with each other.
“What’s up, man?” He came up to me and connected his hand to mine, making that clapping sound.
“I’m good, my guy. How are you doing?”
“Me? I’m good. To what do I owe the pleasure? Are you off shift now?’
He nodded. “Maddy is having one of her days, and the girls are in the kitchen prepping for the wedding on Saturday. I don’t feel like fawning over the stark comparisons between ivory white and ice white. I need some manly talk.”
I chuckled. “By all means, join me. I was going to check on the fence on the north side of the ranch if you want to come. Need to make sure it’s secure, don’t want nothing coming through for the cattle.”
“Okay,” he said as he moved to the second bike. We revved the machinery to life and made our way to the north side of the ranch.
When we got there, everything seemed to check out okay. I reinforced one of the weaker points of the fence and made sure that the electric fence was secure.
“So,” Marcus began when I hopped back onto the bike, “you and my sister.”
I stilled looking back at him slowly. “What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean, Gav. Now, I like you. You are a cool guy, but Danny is my baby sister. She has had a shitty run in the man department, and I don’t want to see her getting hurt again. So if you want her for a quick lay, then I’m going to need you to move on elsewhere. My sister isn’t a plaything.”
“I know, and I don’t want to hurt her, Marcus. I care about her. I have cared about her from the moment I met her, you know this. I’ve loved that girl since we were nine years old, and she pushed Johnny Bingham off the swing set for calling me scrawny.”
Marcus chuckled. “Funny enough, I remember that day. Danny was never someone who could sit back and watch someone else being bullied or taken advantage of.
“The last thing I would ever want to do is hurt her. She is too important to me to ruin. If anything, she will ruin me with the way she has me at arm’s length.”
“That’s not her fault,” he said somberly. “Her ex really messed her up, and it left a lot of scars. I think, even now, she’s healing from what that ass did to her.”
I nodded in understanding. “I get that. But I just want you to know that I will not break your sister’s heart. If anything, I think she will break mine.”
“What do you mean?”
“She had every part of me growing up without even trying. She consumed me wholly and fully. She was every good thing and every wondrous thing in my life. I don’t know what I would ever do without her. She ruined any woman that ever came after her. No one matched up, and no one even compared. She became the gold standard for me. Anyone else that I have dated only got parts of me because Dan still held me hostage.”
“You love her, don’t you?” Marcus asked wistfully.
“I have always loved her. I think I loved her from the very first day I met her.”
“Well, shit.” He slapped his hand on the back of my hand. “Ain’t love grand?” I heard the teasing tone in his voice, and I relaxed a little.
“Damn straight, but the issue is that Dan doesn’t see me like that. She has her walls so high that I want to take a sledgehammer to them, but I know that it will do me no good. She needs to be the one to tear down those walls brick-by-brick.”
“Arthur was a prick,” he said. “He played with her mind and broke her spirit. I had never seen my sister so confused and in despair. I remember her nights crying at my parents’ house. She wouldn’t eat or sleep but, when she found out she was having Axel, something flipped in her. It’s like she found the will to live again. This issue isn’t you, Gavin. The issue is that waste of a man Arthur. Danny gave her heart to a prick who cared more about his guitars than he did her.”
The more I heard about her ex, the more I despised him. Not only because he had gotten with Danny in the past, but also because he had caused the light in her eyes to fade.
“If you don’t mind me asking, where is Arthur now?”
“From what I read a week ago, he is in some scandal apparently. He is a singer. He’s not A-list but he is popular enough. His music is trash, and his stage name is even worse. Who calls themselves Lord Arthur of all things? Zero originality, if you ask me.
“What?” I said shocked, “Danny’s ex is Lord Arthur?”
