#You can't afford your horse right now BECAUSE of HIS tax plan

[isthehorsevideocute]

THERE WONT BE A POOL YOU IGNORANT SLUTS THERE WON'T EVEN BE A HOUSE

[annaphoenix1994]

Ch.126 - The Old Simon Riley

Previous Chapter - Masterlist 1; Masterlist 2 - Next Chapter

Johnny informs Simon of a conversation in town he had overheard; Simon and Kiera butt heads again, this time leaving Kiera to make a brief decision for Simon's own good; Simon takes matters into his own hands.

"Why would you have to own the land?" Phil scoffed, refusing his next sip of bourbon after Tokala had proceeded with his proposal, beyond eager to make a deal.

"Because tribal casinos can only be built on reservation trust land."

"But that would mean I would have to sell you my leverage."

"You will own the hotel and we will lease it from you and be able to manage. I can assure you that your leverage will be safe. Just understand that if the tribe owns the land, there will be no discussion of zoning issues nor permits. We can build whatever we want, Phil. If you agree and we announce this project, the property values in this valley will skyrocket and nearly double the same day."

"Go on..."

Tokala smirked, "And that means the land tax on Kiera's ranch will double, too."

"By how much?"

"My assistant figured it to be around 8 million a year."

Phil scoffed, "She can't afford that, not even with her and her husband's salary combined."

"No, but we can after everything is finished. Sell me the land and I'll give you the Jackson Valley Ranch."

"Let's get our attorneys together to work it out—"

"No attorneys, Phil." Tokala shook his head.

"Well, that requires a lot of trust on my part," Phil sighed. "How can I be sure to trust you? I mean, this deal seems too good to be true."

"That's your choice whether or not you trust me. Have I given you a reason to not trust me?"

"No."

"With my experience, you can't trust anyone these days," Tokala arched his brow, taking another sip from his glass of bourbon. "But you can trust me on this. I want you to build an amazing foundation for me."

"I'll build a mansion for everyone partnered in this deal with enough room to build the casino and hotel," Phil chuckled. "Right where that big lodge of hers is. I'll tear it to the ground."

"I will say it's quite a nice lodge," Tokala shrugged. "By what I've seen of it, anyway. We might as well turn it into the ski lodge."

"I like your way of thinking, sir."

"Let's arrange a lunch for Monday. I'd like to discuss build plans once I receive the blueprints by this weekend."

"Great. I look forward to it."

*

"Holy hell, Kiera! How come you can't rope like that when we're roping for money?" Dirk poked from the cattle chutes, chuckling at how smooth Kiera's team roping was after months off, teaming up with Frankie on the heading side while she attempted to rope the steer's heels.

"Because I'm thinking about the money and not the fun!" Kiera shouted back, winning a laugh from the old man as well as a smirk from the rest of the men who were attending the friendly competition of team roping, giving themselves a break from the constant work they had been putting themselves through for the past few weeks.

"Sounds about right." Dirk snorted, preparing his loop on his own rope as he was ready to take a shot at roping next.

"Alright, Baler and Johnny, you're up!" Simon directed, resting his forearm on the saddle horn while his gaze never faltered from Kiera, sincerely happy to see her doing what she loved.

Which was anything to do with that damn palomino gelding she loved so much.

"Alright, Soap Scum, you think you can actually rope the steer this time?" Baler teased.

"Tell me something, kid, how bad of luck is it to put your cowboy hat on the bed?" Johnny asked at a whisper, although his thick accent never let him do so.

Baler shrugged, "About as bad as changing a horse's barn name."

Johnny looked around confused, turning his horse into the heeling box before looking at Teeter who was now sitting on the chute, ready to pull the latch to release the next steer. "What's this horse's name?"

"Baby, ye been ridin' that horse for a year and you still don't know his fuckin' name?!" Teeter scoffed. "It's Jack!"

"But I-I thought you rode Jack?"

"No! I ride Ray." Teeter shrugged. "Now ye get in there and rope that bastard and get a better time than K."

"Yes, ma'am. I wish you were riding with me today..."

"Doctor said I shouldn't be ridin' right now. Close to showin' now," She snickered, leaning back to expose the slight bump of her growing belly. "Maybe when I ain't feelin' so sick."

"Johnny, I haven't been around for long, but I've been around some stupid asses in my day and you're probably the dumbest one I've ever met," Baler teased. "And that's saying something."

"I don't know if I should be flattered or offended..."

"A smart man would've known the difference."

Johnny scoffed playfully before looking towards Simon and Kiera, watching them both smirking at him, "He's been around you two for too long!"

"That's what you could expect when the kid lives with us," Kiera shrugged. "Just wait until he gets older!"

Johnny sighed before slumping his shoulders, "Do your best to stay young, kid, because I definitely will be teaching you a lesson when you're officially a man." He poked.

"Shit, I've been a man longer than you and my balls have barely dropped—"

"Baler Riley!" Kiera warned with an arch of her brow. "Watch it. You're still in the presence of children!"

"Listen to your mum, kid." Johnny teased, chuckling at how Baler's shoulders slumped in defeat after Kiera had gotten onto him.

“Are we going to rope or not?” Baler huffed.

“Ready when you are.” Johnny said to Teeter, nodding his chin once his horse was completely backed up against the box, Johnny nearly leaning too far back as the horse took off with unexpected speed. Getting his bearings, he swung the loop four times before it tangled with the steer’s horns, dallying the slack of the rope around the saddle horn before turning his horse to the left, keeping an eye on Baler as he was waiting for him to deliver his loop in hopes of him catching its heels. Unaware at how bad the rope was digging into his thigh, Johnny winced as he continued to turn his horse to the left to keep the window open for Baler to make his shot, the kid’s nervousness at roping took too long as the rope had dug so far into Johnny’s thigh that it made him off-balance, causing him to fall off of his horse after it suddenly stopped once he got too close to the fence, the dally immediately coming loose from the saddle horn and the steer running towards the end of the arena with the slack in tow. “What the fuck, Johnny?” Baler sighed, trotting his horse towards his roping partner, who was sighing in the arena dirt as if he had the old cowboy’s tale to blame instead of his awareness. “I called Jack, Ray and put my hat on the bed!” He groaned. “The bad luck is true!”

“There ain’t no such thing as luck, Johnny-boy,” Dirk teased.

“But I sure believe in stupid, because you prove it every damn day.” Baler added with a playful laugh.

“You two shut up,” Kiera scoffed, walking her horse towards Johnny who was still laying on the arena floor. “You alright?”

“W-Where’s my hat?”

“My God,” She scoffed, shaking her head. “Go get your horse and try heeling.”

“That was the plan,” He panted. “My ego won’t let me take the jokes.”

“That I’m aware.”

Johnny sighed as he dusted his jeans free of arena dirt, vaguely limping back towards his horse that was waiting patiently for him. Please don’t let them mention this to Price, he’d never let me live it down.

“Walk it off, mate.” Simon poked, chuckling when Johnny shot him a glare before riding towards him.

“You just wait until I see you fall off from your horse.”

Simon shrugged, “I at least know my horse’s name.”

“Fair point,” Johnny sighed, the men watching as Kiera and Baler teamed up to rope the next steer, Simon watching as Kiera was seeming to show the kid how to hold the rope for a better chance at catching the steer’s heels. As well as watching her mannerisms and waiting for her to show any signs of potential pain, always being one to keep an eye on her for discomfort as she was always too stubborn to admit it. “Oh, I meant to tell you what I heard today.”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“I don’t know if you’re familiar with this or not, but Teeter and I went into town to grab lunch after her doctor’s appointment, and she overheard some men talking about the ranch—”

“How do you know it was about this ranch?”

“Because one of them deliberately said Kiera’s name…”

Simon huffed in aggravation, “Ride with me. Away from anyone else who could hear.”

Johnny nodded, turning his horse around to follow Simon’s as they made their way towards the corner of the arena where nobody else was. “What did you hear?”

“They’re partners, I’m assuming,” He sighed. “Talked about one owning the land so that the other can own the hotel while the man who owned the land could own the casino. Something about taxes. I-I couldn’t really hear it all because Teeter was talking to me and didn’t know I was trying to eavesdrop and if she would’ve noticed, she would’ve told me to stop spying and listen to her.” He breathed a chuckle.

“Do you remember what they looked like?”

“Older man with grey hair and the other looked about my age but Native-looking. The last I heard before we left was that they were planning on taking a tour of the land across the river by an air survey.”

“Jenkins is working with someone…” Simon mumbled to himself.

“I’m sorry?”

“When we get done here, get Dirk and Frankie to meet me by the barn in two hours. I’m going to tell Kiera that we’re going into town to get feed for the horses—”

“But… Doesn’t she deserve to know? Wouldn’t she need to know?”

He sighed heavily, “If I tell her now, she’s going to get excited and want to come along. I don’t need her to worry.”

“Forgive me for being nosy, but I think I recall you calling me when you and her were having your little disagreement about you lying to her about not telling her that you and I reinstated.”

“Have you gotten around to telling your better half your plan?” Simon glared.

“Well, no… Not yet. I don’t want her to worry—”

“Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?”

“But this seems to be a bigger issue than what I haven’t told Teeter yet—”

“Not really, Soap. I did promise to not lie to Kiera again and I definitely don’t want to risk her giving me the cold shoulder for another two months, so I’ll think of something. Just give me two hours after we wrap things up here.”

“Okay.”

*

“Love, I’ll be right back,” Simon announced while he leant against the doorframe of their shared bathroom, his eyes watching steadily as she was rubbing her routine moisturizer against her skin. “I’m going to run to town with Johnny to pick up grain.”

“You know we have feed deliveries every two weeks or wranglers to do that if delivery can’t be made,” She retorted, glaring at him through the mirror. “But nice try. Where are you really going?”

He breathed heavily through his nose, breaking eye contact with her, “I don’t want you to get riled up—”

“Fucking try me, Simon.”

“Jenkins is apparently working with some Indian guy—”

“Okay?”

“And I was going to find out answers for myself.”

“That’s my job, Simon.”

“Not for what I had planned, love.”

“What? Were you planning on kidnapping him and torturing intel out of him?” She scoffed.

“…No.”

“Then what was your idea, huh? I thought I was very clear when I deliberately stated that no secrets need to lie with us. It’ll tear us apart. Clearly you haven’t learned your lesson from the last time you lied to me because you seemed like you were willing to do it again—”

“I’m not going to argue with you,” He heaved a sigh, slumping his shoulders in defeat as he knew she was right. “I wasn’t going to lie to you, Kiera—”

Again.

“I call bullshit because you stood right there and said you were going into town to get feed knowing that we get deliveries or send the wranglers to pick it up. Sounds like the setup for another lie to me.”

“You didn’t let me finish.”

“Fine. Go on.” She nodded, turning around to look at him directly instead of through the mirror.

“I don’t need you going to do the dirty work is all I’m saying.”

“Yeah? And I don’t need you, who works for the government – just in case you needed a reminder – to risk losing your job over someone who has no chance in whatever idea they have cooking. I ruin careers for a living, Simon. Dirty work is how I make my living.”

“Yeah, I forgot you were good at that,” He retorted sarcastically. “You worked for the government too and did the dirty work just fine.”

“You’re damn right I did. Now let me do my job,” She scoffed. “How about staying in your lane to keep yourself out of trouble.”

“Maybe you should take your own advice, sweetheart.”

Oh, she knew by the tone of his voice that the pet name was not sincere.

It was sarcasm.  

“I don’t fucking plan on it,” She rolled her eyes, turning back around to direct her attention back to her evening routine, desperately trying to ignore the smirk on Simon’s face. “What’s so funny? Pissing me off?”

He arched his brow, “Yeah, I think it is pretty bloody funny to have you pissed off at me with that shite all over your face. It’s quite amusing.”

“Fuck you.”

“You do that quite often,” He breathed a laugh, bravely stepping closer to her to rest his arms on either side of her, his palms resting on the countertop while his chin barely rested on her shoulder. Even though Kiera could be a pain in his ass and the thorn to his side, he couldn’t walk away without showing how much he loved her. “But if that’s your way of saying I love you in this type of situation, then fuck you too,” He breathed against her ear, pleased at how he heard her breath hitch and the subtle lean of her head to give him more access to her neck. You may hate me right now, but your body says otherwise, love. “With that said, I love you, I’ll see you later, but fuck you.” He chuckled against her neck, placing a delicate kiss there before stepping away from her, watching how flustered she was and waiting for her to retaliate by chasing after him. He punished himself mentally for portraying narcissistic or even toxic behavior, but he hoped that she caught on to his mindset being just playful.

“What’re you going to do?” She asked, her tone defeated.

“Just trust me, Kiera,” He assured her. “Please don’t assume I’m being too bold with you – I’m just doing the same thing you would’ve done.” He watched her furrow her brows, “You don’t like when I give you a taste of your own medicine?”

“Yeah? And what’s that?” She scoffed.

He couldn’t resist the temptation of keeping distance between them, “You’ve been a pain in my ass since we met. And your boldness has really been the icing on the cake – doing anything that pretty little head thought of and stuck with. It unfortunately rubbed off on me so now I’m picking up your slack since you’ve willingly given up your title of C.I.A Badass to My Wife.”

“If you don’t like it, then maybe you shouldn’t have married me.” She retorted, not letting what he had just explained sink in.

“Who said I didn’t like it?” He scoffed. “Why do you think I married you?”

“Probably because you think I baby trapped you.”

“If that’s what you think, then maybe you’ve got me wrong all this time, love,” He frowned, breaking his eye contact for a split moment, not letting her know that her accusation nearly broke his heart in two. “Just trust me on this. I’ll be back.”

He watched her frown and look down at the sink, letting his words linger in the air for a few moments before finally exiting the room, grabbing his coat from the hanger as well as the keys to Kiera’s truck. “I’ll be back, lad.” He said to Baler, who was surprisingly sitting at the kitchen table doing his homework.

“I noticed you and mom are fighting again.” He sighed, keeping his head angled towards his textbook.

“We’re not.”

“Considering I heard mom say fuck you, I wouldn’t assume it was meant with care.”

“Didn’t you hear? It’s how we say I love you now,” He scoffed. “I’ll be back. Take care of your mum and siblings while I’m gone.”

“Might as well keep getting practice with the way things are going now.”

“As in?...”

“As in mom kicks you out for you two always fighting,” Baler corrected with the same tone Simon would’ve imagined Kiera doing. “Did you try lying to her again?”

Goddammit, another jab to my fucking heart, Simon accused himself. Am I really that bad?

“How about trying to keep your focus on your homework instead of what me and your mum talk about?”

“Kinda hard to when I can hear you two spitting venom at each other and then railing each other’s guts out the next day,” Baler retorted. “But I’ll do my best.”

As much as Simon wanted to retort back, the only thing he was able to say was “Great.” Before making his way out of the house, mentally noting to stop by for a drink of whiskey on the way home, sincerely wondering if he took things too far, knowing he let his former self show in front of not only Baler, but the one person who barely understood what all he had been through. Will this really tear us apart? I’m not lying to her about what some men lie to their spouses about – I’m just trying to not let her worry with all the shite she has on her plate already. I know it’s the principle, but can’t she see that I’m apparently ‘lying’ with good intentions? I’d be dead and gone and still won’t understand fucking women.

“Uh oh, looks like L.T. is getting to sleep in the bunkhouse with the wranglers tonight judging by the look on his face!” Johnny snickered once Simon had parked the truck at the barn, glaring at him from inside the truck as he watched Johnny’s sly smile fade into embarrassment.

“You two take another truck,” He directed to Dirk and Frankie. “Soap, get in.”

The men nodded before grabbing adjusting their coats as they made their way to the parked truck that was mainly used for hauling, thanking the good Lord above that Teeter had disconnected the gooseneck trailer prior.

“Steamin’ Jesus, L.T., could this truck not smell any more feminine?” Johnny commented, the smell of Kiera’s air fresheners blasting through his nostrils once he settled into the passenger seat.

“Well, when a woman tends to drive something every day, she’ll eventually make it her own since, you know, she fucking owns it,” Simon scoffed. “And when they tend to occupy another vehicle, even if they’re mainly the passenger, they’ll still make it their own. I found three bloody hair ties in my car this past month and go to work every day with at least two strands of blonde hair sticking to my shirt.”

“I mean… It sounds like something I wouldn’t complain about.”

“I’m not complaining.”

“Sure sounds like it,” Johnny trailed off, looking out the window as Simon began to drive. “Assuming she didn’t take it well?”

“How’d you guess?” He scoffed sarcastically.

“Because your mood changed… Big time.”

“Let’s just get this done, yeah?”

“But what are we doing?” Johnny questioned. “All you’ve told us to do is follow you to wherever it is you have in your head. That’s not like you, L.T.”

“Kiera is in my head, Soap. I’d love to get her out right now because if this would’ve been the case on a mission, I would’ve been dead by now.”

“One thing that Teeter has taught me is that you can’t bottle things up and expect them to get better,” Johnny advised. “What happened?”

“She really is a pain in my ass – always onto me like she doesn’t trust me when I tell her I’m going somewhere. It’s just aggravating.”

“Well… She has a reason to after you lied to her on your own honeymoon,” He breathed a chuckle. “I guess the one and only Lieutenant Ghost has for once forgotten that his own wife is a human lie detector.”

“Fucking hell it’s not like I’ve been lying to her about having a mistress or anything! I only lied to not ruin our honeymoon. There’s things to talk about after something like a wedding. Might as well talk about business at the dinner table.”

“Yeah, you’re right, but I guess the principle is a big deal to her. She probably had some major trust issues far before you came along.”

“I know she has,” He breathed, gripping the steering wheel tighter at the thought of another man talking down to her. I’m no better… “How she is doesn’t change how I feel, but she was the exact same way with just going out and getting her hands dirty. She can’t do that anymore.”

“And why not?”

“Because she had kids? And is a mum now?” He answered sarcastically. “I’d die knowing she has to fight for herself when I should be there to prevent it. She just doesn’t understand that she’s not who she used to be anymore – she needs to accept it.”

Johnny scoffed, “Good luck telling her that.”

“Like I said: pain in my arse.”

“Then leave her.”

“Over my dead body.”

“Then stop complaining.”

“Fucking hell,” Simon groaned. “I can’t escape this.”

“Sounds like to me that you’ve let your old self come out a bit, L.T.”

“I know. That’s what scares me. Maybe I should stay away for a while until I can get my head right.”

“You know that’ll make it worse. She won’t know that.”

“I’d rather her be mad at me for the rest of my life than ruin her with how I used to be by trying to explain it to her.”

“Only one way to find out, L.T.” Johnny shrugged.

“I’m not talking about this anymore. We have a job to do.”

“Yeah, a job you still haven’t told me about.”

“We’re going into Cody. Sit around until we see that bastard Jenkins come out of his office, then we’re going to get him and exfil for interrogation.”

“Now that’s the Simon I know. Just tell me what I need to do.”

*

They waited nearly an hour in town before any movement was taken into notice, parking the trucks diagonally on Main Street, they set up the perfect opportunity to execute the discussed plan. Dirk was standing in front of one of the trucks while Frankie leant against the tailgate of the other truck while Simon and Johnny stayed at the corner of the block where Jenkins’ office was, patiently waiting for their victim to walk into their planned trap.

Simon’s thoughts froze when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, looking down to see that Kiera had texted him:

Today, 7:44 PM

‘Dinner is in the fridge. What’s left of it. I’ll be gone by the time you get back.’

His heart froze, immediately thinking about cancelling his plan and rushing home, his thumbs barely able to keep up with his frantic thoughts.

‘Where are you going’

‘Doesn’t matter.’

‘It does when you’re my wife and have our children’

‘What wife wants her kids around a man who seems to think it’s okay to try and lie again? You promised you wouldn’t and yet here you were ready to do it again.’

‘Don’t leave me. Please’

‘I’m not leaving you’

‘Then why won’t you tell me where youre going’

‘Maybe it’s best you don’t know where we’ll be when you don’t even know where your thoughts are.’

What are you doing to me? He thought, his hands nearly trembling with adrenaline at what he was seeing. How could our last text messages go from I love you to We won’t be here when you get back?

‘Im coming home. Just wait on me. Please’

‘We. Wont. Be. Here. When. You. Get. Back.’

‘How are you going to take the kids when I have your truck then’

His leg shook up and down impatiently, waiting to see her typing once it showed she had read the message, his heart physically aching when he didn’t realize he had waited several minutes without getting a reply from her.

Read: 8:01 PM.

“L.T., there he is!” Johnny whispered, nudging his elbow quickly, breaking him of his thoughts.

With anger arising through his veins, he forced himself to focus on the task at hand as he and Johnny proceeded to follow Jenkins along the quiet sidewalk, clearly making the man nervous as he began to walk faster after hearing a faint whistle leave Johnny’s lips, seeing another man who was once leaning against the front end of a truck step forward towards him.

Panicked, Jenkins’ pace grew faster as he darted between the two trucks, oblivious as to who they belonged to, running into Frankie before he was pushed towards Dirk, who was now behind him while being pinned between the two vehicles. The rear door opened to the ranch truck while Frankie forced him in, threatening him with the gun if he were to yell while Johnny and Simon rushed into the separate vehicle while Dirk got into the driver’s seat, the trucks immediately parting ways before meeting up at the desired location:

A cliffside overlooking Bitterroot Canyon – a canyon right on the border of Montana and Wyoming – as well as an isolated road between two larger ranches spanning over forty miles across.

*

Fighting the zip ties around his wrists, Phil tugged against them anyway as a nylon rope was pulled snug around his neck while the other end was tied to the brush guard on the front of the ranch truck, his toes merely on the edge of the rock side as Dirk and Johnny held Phil’s arms, keeping him still. “You men are fucking idiots!”

“Tell us something we don’t know.” Dirk snickered.

“You all will rot in prison for the rest of your miserable lives!”

“You say that, but we all know you won’t do anything,” Simon shrugged, standing to where he could look Phil in the eye. “Unfortunately for you, this road doesn’t house another town for sixty miles either way. Nobody would find you if you just happened to slip.”

“Fuck you!”

“Won’t you tell him what you and that Native are planning?” Johnny suggested, his grip tightening on Phil’s arm. “I’d tell him if I were you. He needs to know what he’s up against when it comes to his ranch.”

Phil sighed when he felt Dirk’s hand pull back against the makeshift noose, instantly making his head ache.

“That lawsuit you filed against my wife – was that because you couldn’t get what you intended? Using our land for your own free benefit?” Simon questioned.

“It was… A convenient opportunity.”

He scoffed, “Not so convenient now, is it? What else do you need to tell me?”

“We’re going to inflate the land prices and run up the property tax to 8 million a year knowing you can’t afford it… Price you out. You must be ignorant to not know how much that land is worth! Your wife will only have two choices: either sell it or lose it.”

“Is that right?”

“You really think I’m going to be the last man who wants to take it? You going to do this to every threat that comes across that land?” Phil scoffed. “You’re out of your fucking mind.”

“I made a promise, Phil,” Simon sighed. “I swore to protect that land for as long as I live. And if getting rid of you keeps it protected for another ten years, then I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.”

Phil breathed a laugh, mocking him, “You think your wife is worth that fight, then?”

Without warning, Simon stepped forward to kick Phil’s feet out from under him, sending him over the edge and hating that his neck didn’t snap like predicted. Instead, he was able to raise his hands up towards his throat to pry his fingers between his neck and the rope. “Every bit worth it.”

Johnny and Frankie stood in shock as they watched the event unfold before them. “Uh… What should we do?”

“Let him hang,” He huffed, walking back towards Kiera’s truck to get into the driver’s seat. “Johnny, let’s move.”

“I think he’ll learn his lesson after he dangles there for a few seconds…” Johnny whispered to Dirk, pleased to see him nod in agreement.

“I’ll wait until you two leave.” The old man whispered.

“Think he’ll say anything?” Johnny dared to ask Simon once the truck was in route back towards the ranch.

“Expecting him to live?”

“No, I—”

“Are you lying to me?”

Johnny had finally had enough with Simon’s “gaslighting” attitude, “Maybe it’ll be good for you to have a taste of your own medicine, L.T.”

“Where have I heard that before?”