"Baby," Gray said softly back, "I'm glad but that shit's gonna go and, trust me, you won't miss it."

There you go, emotional manipulation didn't work with a cowboy.

"Do you need money that badly?" I asked cautiously.

"We're good for awhile but there's nothin' more comin' in until the crop comes in and those mares drop their foals and they can be sold, which is near to a year away. So, yeah. I sell seventeen thousand dollars worth of crap, no. I do that, we breathe easy."

This was where the conversation veered to his uncles and yes, it was me who veered it that way.

And I did this by deciding, "Then you need to talk to your uncles."

Gray sat back in his chair. "Say again?"

"You need money; they need to give it to you."

"Ivey, that's not gonna happen."

"Why, because they're assholes?"

"That and I wouldn't take a dime from any of them."

"Gray "

"Seriously, Ivey, don't go there."

It seemed I was not treading as cautiously as I thought and it hit me then, this was really none of my business.

"You're right. It's none of my business. It's your house, your land, your money. I shouldn't have mentioned it."

I said it in a conciliatory manner, clearly backing down but, again, it was the wrong thing to say and I knew it instantly when Gray's eyes narrowed and the room filled with his pissed off vibe.

"My house, my land, my money?" he asked quietly but not his soft, sweet quietly. A different quietly. I ticked off quietly.

I didn't get it.

"Well, yeah."

"You sleep in this house?" he asked.

"Well, yeah," I repeated.

"Go to the grocery store and come back home, a home that's on this land?"

I saw where he was going.

"Yes, Gray, but "

"Turn on the burner to the stove that's gas, gas paid for by my money?"

I leaned toward him. "Gray "

"You're here, Ivey, you're my girl, this is where you're gonna stay. This is your home, your land, what's mine is yours, all of it, including my money, what there is of it. You're sittin' at this table after eatin' dinner here for the third night in a row but your ass should have been sittin' right there every night for seven years. Unfortunately, that shit starts now and didn't start then. You'll find your way in Mustang whatever that way's gonna be. You don't wanna muck out stalls, you don't have to. Like I said, you'll find what suits you in Mustang but also here, in this house, on this land...with me."

"Okay," I said softly.

"Okay," he replied, still ticked off and I partially got it because I should have been sitting at that table with him for seven years and I felt that loss as acutely as he did.

But I didn't get all of it.

So, tentatively, I started to ask, "So, uh...what you're saying is I have a place here "

Gray, still pissed, cut me off, "Yeah. That's what I'm sayin'."

"I wasn't done, honey."

He stared at me.

Something new, Gray could get grouchy after a day of working hard as a rancher cowboy.

I tried again. "What I was saying is that you obviously want me to feel comfortable here...with you, so why can't I go there with your uncles?"

It was then I could tell that I had a point this time and Gray, too, found it annoying.

"They should help protect their legacy," I told him.

"It's no longer their legacy. They carry the Cody name but they are not part of this land. They made that point sittin' on their hands watching me drown. They drew that line. I'm not drownin' anymore; they still stay to their side."

"Right, I get that but what about Mrs. Cody?"

His brows drew together. "What?"

"Your Gran, Gray. How long has she been in that home?"

"Four and a half years."

"Then, say you take responsibility for your share, which obviously you'd want to do, at three quarters of her home fees for as long as she's been in there, they owe you two hundred and seventy K which means each one of them owes you ninety."

"No they don't."

"Gray, yes they do."

"They don't have anything to do with that either," Gray stated.

"How's that?"

"They made that choice too."

"Gray, they don't get a choice with that. She's their mother."

"Yeah, a mother when I asked him to kick in that Frank reminded me about half a dozen times in the last four and a half years was a mother who held a grudge and didn't speak to him since that shit went down after Dad died. His Mom ignored him for years, he didn't feel like ponying up to keep her in a clean place she likes that has good food and staff who like to work there and the residents get the benefit of that. The other two agreed."

"My point is still valid, he doesn't get that choice."

"Funny since he took it."

Now I was getting mad.

"Sorry but them trying to horn in on your inheritance, land they hadn't worked since they were eighteen, and Mrs. Cody being justifiably pissed about that is not grounds for them to turn their back on their mother in her final years," I snapped.

"Ivey, honey, they don't see it that way."

"Well then someone has to make them see it that way and if you aren't going to do it, that someone is going to be me."

"Ivey "

"No," I shook my head, leaning in, now definitely mad, "no, Gray no. All my life I wanted two things, just two, a home and a family. They were fortunate to be born in a good one of both and they've shit on both and that is not right. That shit does not play. And I'm going to The Alibi and explaining these things."

His ticked off vibe disintegrated and his face was near to tender when he said softly, "I get you, dollface, but you aren't gonna get anywhere and I don't want you to get anywhere. We're solid. Fuck them."

"No, they aren't going to get away with that shit."

"You're not going there, Ivey."

"I am, Gray."

"You aren't, Ivey."

"I am, Gray!" I snapped. "They sat back and watched you drown. That is not cool in and of itself, family legacy or not, you're just plain family and they should look out for you. But the fact is, you were drowning because you were taking care of their mother and that is absolutely, one hundred percent not right. They owe you ninety grand each and I'm gonna get it."

"You won't go to The Alibi because it's a waste of time. I won't take their money," he returned.

"That's okay because I will."

His ticked off vibe came back before he said, "You won't, Ivey. Shit's fine now. I'm taken care of and so is Gran, you've seen to that. You've done enough. I don't need them."

"It'll be a lot more fine when you have two hundred and seventy K in the bank. So fine, I bet you can use that money to pay off the note in full and get out from under that weight. And, by the way," I added, "if, God willing, Mrs. Cody lives past her tenure that I paid for at that home, they're doing their part then too."

"They're out of it."

"It's impossible to be out of it!" I cried. "They're family."

"Ivey, you are not goin' to The Alibi."

"I most certainly am."

"You definitely are not."

"Gray "

"Ivey."

"Gray!"

"Ivey."

And there we were.

It must be said, I was Lash's fake girlfriend for years and I never fought with him.

And I thought at that juncture Gray should know that.

"You know, I was Lash's fake girlfriend for years and I never fought with him. Three days into living with you, we're at it."

Gray snapped his mouth shut, his jaw flexed, his eyes flashed then a muscle jumped in his cheek. Watching it I realized what I just said and that, even though Lash was gay, he'd had me for nearly the entire seven years Gray did not including four years of that in his bed.

And I knew Gray felt that, deeply.

Therefore, I was a total idiot.

Shit.

My mind was working through ways to make things right and/or apologize when Gray surged out of his seat, rounded the corner of the table and pulled me out of mine into his arms.

I was bracing, considering I thought this odd and had no clue where it was going when I felt his body shaking and I was tipping my head back to look up at him when he burst out laughing.

I blinked.

Still laughing, he dipped his chin and looked at me.

"Glad to hear you got on so well with your fake boyfriend."

He wasn't mad.

Still.

"That was a shit thing to say, Gray, and I shouldn't have said it," I said quietly.

"It true?" he asked.

"Well, yeah," I answered.

"Were you pissed?"

"Well, uh...yeah."

"Ivey, honey, I could let myself go down the path of envy about the time that guy had with you and let that shit fester in my gut until it becomes bitter and leaks out to you. Instead, I've decided to be pleased as fuck you found a decent man to look out for you when I wasn't around to do it. You guys got along, way I see it, it's like gettin' along with your best girlfriend. I know he's a guy and, lookin' at him, first instinct is to stake my claim. But he's not about that and I gotta learn that because with you comes him."

Now I remembered why I loved Gray.