#Sure as the River|Kayce Dutton

[brooklynislandgirl]

romantic candidate : Kayce Dutton

Adventures in Matchmaking || Accepting

"Close your mouth, you're gonna catch flies or drown on your own drool." It's Beth on Beth violence, with Dutton drawing first and last blood and getting a scoffing shake of his head by Rip Wheeler. He's a smart man and he can tell the redhead is really only stirring the pot, maybe the only one who recognises what's going on here, and so he lets it go and lets them figure it out. Beth Riley, the younger of the two women, can only manage to turn away from the Prodigal Son in question. His sister isn't wrong though, is she? Beth has followed after him since they were kids. Their ranches shared borders. Their fathers did business together, trading working and show horses for cattle, playing to each one's strengths. And maybe it was telling that Kayce is as good with horses as Beth is in completely different but complementary ways. In all the years he's been gone, Kayce hasn't changed. He's still tall and handsome but not unlike Andy he looks like there's holes in places no one can patch up. She's still trying to find just the right words to say, the right way to greet him ~this is his homecoming party after all~ when it happens. From the porch comes Monica. Kayce's wife. The mother of his child. She throws her arms around him and he tightens his grip, swings her around and buries his face in her neck. Her stomach sinks like a stone into the bottom of a creek. Beth Dutton laughs. "Better luck next time." And she? She smiles brightly because who can stand in the way of something that beautiful, no matter how long you've yearned to have it for yourself? It's neither right nor to be done, not as his family starts crowding in around him. For a moment, they're eyes lock across the forever distance between them. Beth nods and offers him a smile then slowly drifts off toward the barn with the other hired hands.

[keep-the-wolves-close]

Steady Heart

Chapter 24: when the party’s over

* Pairing: Slow-burn Kayce Dutton x OFC Stella Daniels

* Rating: M

* Warnings: language, angst

* Word count: 2,043ish

I would love to give credits to @dameronscopilot and @deanscroissant for being sounding boards for me during this whole process, giving outsider insight, being cheerleaders, and allowing me to screech at them about things that have happened during the writing process. I seriously couldn't have gotten this far without y'all!

Author's note: Ugh this fall out is killing me! I hope you’re all enjoying still! This chapter is kind of filler, and shorter than usual, but some important things do occur.

I’m posting this early because one, I’m impatient, and two it was a present to myself for finishing up a couple chapters today lol.

Stella sat on Abigail waiting to help move the herd. She was annoyed she was there and in the presence of her latest case of idiocy, but helping out with the cattle came with the territory. She couldn’t avoid doing her job, especially when there wasn’t much training to be done at the current moment. She spotted Kayce up on the hill talking to his dad. It looked like he was having an existential crisis. An unsympathetic laugh blew out her nose. ‘Not my problem.’

Kayce descended the hill and centered himself in front of everyone. He locked onto Stella, who disregarded his gaze. She stared at the back of Abigail’s head in between her ears. Kayce felt eyes burning into him and found Ryan glaring daggers at him. He looked down and cleared his throat before looking back up. “Take the cows up to pasture nine. Go through the east canyon and up the fire road. Any questions?”

“There’s no gate along the fire road. We’d have to cut the fence.” Ryan pushed back, not so subtly letting Kayce know he was pissed.

Kayce nodded. “Yeah, exactly. Then we’ll fix it.”

“We push ‘em across the river and we could follow the creek —,” Colby tried to form a plan, but Ryan interrupted.

“— then we’d have to swim 100 cattle across the river.”

“Cows can swim.” Stella reminded her brother tentatively. “So can our horses. So can we.” She and Colby made a face at him.

“Hey I can’t. I don’t know how to swim, man.” Jimmy admitted.

Stella slouched back in her saddle and watched the guys argue amongst themselves. She wasn’t offering anything up to anyone. They obviously didn’t want to listen, and that wasn’t her problem. There was also the fact that she didn’t want to go hard defending Kayce’s plan. She had found her lane the hard way. That’s where she would stay. She tried once and that was enough. Reaching her hand forward she patted Abigail. She was going to keep her head down to the task at hand.

Rip shouted. “Do you know how to shut the fuck up? He didn’t ask you your opinion. He asked if there was any questions, and they’re ain’t! Now get your asses out in that field and start movin’ them cows up the canyon like he told you. Go on.”

Stella and the guys turned their horses and moved to the gate to the main pasture. Ryan pushed past her on BJ causing Abigail to squeal. “Knock it off Ryan!”

“Seniority, Stella.” He retorted back at her. She huffed at her brother’s antics and looked behind him.

Rip sidled his gelding up next to Kayce. “You ask them questions, Kayce, questions will never stop. You tell me what you need and I’ll take care of it, they won’t question me.”

“Well you said they need to respect me.”

“You let me handle the wranglers and you’ll have both. That’s my job.”

“All right, well, when we get ‘em up to pasture nine, you choose the way.”

“I don’t choose the way. Make sure no one questions yours.”

Kayce brought up the rear to the gate as Lloyd was closing it. The older wrangler stared him down. “You were a hand long enough. You know who to talk to.”

“Just tryin’ to do it different.”

“Different never works.”

The trek up to pasture nine was uneventful. She was running drag with Lloyd. The task allowed her brain to concentrate on something else and not think about every stupid thing that had occurred in the last week. She had gotten in way over her head and blinded by her laughable feelings. ‘How could you be such an idiot? He’s fucking married. You literally signed up for that spot like a mare in flaming heat.’ Her grip tightened around her reins.

Lloyd gave her a sidelong glance. “Roll that choke back in them reins, lil’ bit. She needs to have range of motion. You know better.”

Stella sat up straight and relaxed her hands. “Sorry Lloyd. Got caught in my head.”

“You’ve been quieter than normal. Somethin’ wrong?”

She pulled her lips together. “I mean, yeah, but I’ll be fine. Just gotta get through the rough part first.”

“What happened? Are you okay?”

Hearing those words from the man she considered a father almost made her tear up. She forced herself not to because of the dust flying around. She didn’t need mud to form on her face. They locked eyes for a brief second and that was all Lloyd needed to see. The look of dejection and embarrassment flashed in her eyes. He knew the look of heartbreak and disappointment on her, probably better than she did.

“We’ll get through it, you and I. Just focus on gettin’ these cattle run.”

“I don’t know if you’d be saying that if you knew what happened.” He tilted his head as if he was asking her to go on. She shifted in her saddle and took the plunge. “I became the other woman.”

His mind quickly went to Kayce. “Stella, you didn’t?”

She shrunk down. “Unfortunately I was an idiot.” She looked ahead to the cattle. She couldn’t bear to see the disappointment and disgust on Lloyd’s face.

Lloyd blinked slowly, coming to terms with what she had told him. Everyone knew she held a torch for John’s boy, but when he got married they thought that would be the end of it. Clearly they had all been wrong. He had so many questions, but he didn’t even know where to begin.

“Don’t worry. It’s over. Just trying to do my job and go home, Lloyd.” Stella cut Abigail out to the left to push the cattle over some. They had started to spread out further than she had liked. Back to business.

They made it back with only a little hiccup of the fence needing repaired first.

Stella ran into Ryan coming out of the bunkhouse. “Hey, where are you headed?”

“To give your affair a job.” Ryan sent a dig at her.

“I put an end to it.”

“Yeah. Whatever Stella.” He finished, leaving her standing there with her mouth hanging open.

Kayce walked into the downtown office where his dad’s office for livestock commissioner was situated. He said hello to a few people, took a deep breath, and pushed his way into the room.

“Ready to fingerprint scan?” Handon asked.

“I got it.” Ryan made a face at his fellow agent. “Place your fingers flat on that device.”

“Can I see your driver’s license please?” Handon interrupted.

John launched into an explanation. “To be an agent, you gotta go to the police academy first. We can drag that out for a bit, but you can’t hold my office without the badge.”

“I don’t want your office.” Kayce declined.

John laughed. “Well you can’t have it for about 15 years. It’ll take ya that long to earn everyone’s trust. Understand, Kayce, this office is how you protect the ranch. And every ranch like it.” John pointed to Handon. “Put it on speaker.”

“Sure.”

“We're about to find out how big a role you play in this family, son.” John said.

The phone clicked when the other side picked up. “NCIC.”

“Yeah this is agent Handon, Montana Livestock Association.”

“Authorization number?”

“Mike Tango Lima Alpha 139259.”

“Name?”

“Dutton, Kayce John, date of birth 4/24/90, drivers license number MT 83745820382.”

“Dutton, Kayce John. No priors, no outstanding.”

“Thank you.” Handon hung up.

“Miracles never cease.” John stood up and removed his hat.

“Well, he’s cleared for a ride-along, sir.” Handon offered John.

“Let’s get him started next week.”

Kayce put his hands on his hips. “Can I talk to you alone for a second?”

“Give us a minute.” John shooed Handon and Ryan. They get up and leave quickly. John rested back on his desk.

“I don’t know about this, dad. There’s just so many things that could go wrong.”

John held out his hand to pause his son. “Kayce, woah woah. You just let me worry about that.”

Kayce propped his arms in the back of the chair in front of him. “I can’t pass a polygraph test.”

“Well, you won’t have to.”

“Well what about a psych eval?” Kayce tried to find every outlet he could.

“Well you won’t have to take one of those either.”

When all of his escape plans didn’t follow through, he heaved a sigh. “I gotta go.”

“Kayce? What makes you think you wouldn’t pass a psych evaluation?”

He held onto the door and said, “my whole life.”

Kayce exited his father’s office. He proceeded through the front door of the building and went out onto the sidewalk. He pulled a small slip of paper out of his back pocket. It had Monica’s new apartment address on it. He had to go find her and figure some things out.

He walked along the pavement of downtown and came up to building 73 Chateau Normandie. Glancing down at the paper to double check himself, he took the stairs two at a time. The hallway was quiet as he wandered through looking for Monica’s apartment number.

He reached the end of the hallway and the door he was searching for was on his right. He lifted his hand and knocked a few times. It opened and there his wife stood, looking beautiful as ever and surprised.

“Hey,” she said softly.

“How you doin’?” Kayce felt like a teenager again. Stella flashed through his mind and he sobered.

“You know. You wanna come in?” Monica pulled the door open wider.

“Yeah, sure.”

They stepped into the apartment and the air was thick. The elephant in the room needed to be addressed, but neither of them knew how to approach it.

“You recovered?” Kayce asked.

“Getting there.” Monica crossed her arms.

“It looks like a home in here.”

“Yeah, I try.” Monica chuckled.

“Seems kinda permanent.” Kayce pointed out, testing the waters to see where his wife’s judgment stood.

“It’s an apartment, Kayce, it’s a place to,” Monica stopped. “You want any water or anything?”

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Kayce trailed behind her to the kitchen area.

“Heard you were workin’ for your father now, huh?”

“Yeah, I just —,” Tate interrupted him.

“Daddy!”

“Hey, bud.” Kayce hugged him tight. He missed him something fierce.

Tate asked him excitedly. “Wanna see my new room?”

“Yeah, sure buddy.”

“It’s over here.”

Tate led his father down the hallway and Monica listened from a distance. She leaned against the wall and dropped her head back. Tears blurred her vision. She hated this. She hated being apart from Kayce, but he’d proven time and time again his father’s pull on him was stronger than he’d like to admit. She had to keep their son safe from that. She walked to the mirror to wipe her eyes before Kayce came back.

Kayce walked back down the hallway and around the corner. “How you affordin’ all of this?”

“Uh, university gives us a spending allowance. So I spent it on all of this instead of moving. All our furniture was old and someone else’s.”

“I know it’s not much, but—,” Monica interrupted curtly.

“We’re fine.”

“Please.” Kayce huffed. “I don’t know how to do this Monica. I don’t know how to not be with you. Or not talk to you. You’re my wife. You’re my best friend. You’re my only friend.”

“You’re mine too Kayce, but you also have Stella.”

“This isn’t about her.”

“But something had to change. And instead of changing, you’re just, you’re working for your father. And it probably should be about her as well. I’m sure you ran straight into her arms the second you got home.”

“Well you told me to leave!”

“Yeah everyone keeps telling you to leave and you keep doing it! What you’re supposed to do is fight for the life you want.”

“That’s not what you asked me to do!”

“Stop it!” Tate screamed over top of his parents.

Kayce and Monica glared at each other. “You asked me to leave, Monica. You wanted somethin’ different, you should have asked for something different.” He said resolutely. He walked past Tate and patted his head as he stormed out the door.

[brooklynislandgirl]

Advent Calendar: Day 24 @onlydevilsleft​

It wasn’t like she didn’t know the blizzard was coming. Of course she did. So did everyone who’s ever been bucked off a horse, been kicked by one, got a bit of age on them, or been shot or otherwise injured. Which is pretty much every single soul over the age of ten between the Yellowstone and the Five Oaks. The storm has been heralded for a week by plunging temperatures, that bitter cold that bites deep and doesn’t let go. That’s why she’d done her best to prepare. In the backseat of the cab she’s got thick, insulating blankets, heat packs, gallons of water, a dry change of cold, a first aid kit, and high protein snacks. A lighter, matches, couple of high end flashlights, road flares. Everything she could possibly need. Except for chains, and jumper cables. A fully charged phone. Beth’s ignorance of auto mechanics rivals her knowledge about horses. She stands there, face reddening by the minute, fingers stiffening in her gloves as she lets out a strangled, scarf muffled scream as she kicks the tire once, twice. This does not convince her engine to turn over, and if anything, the truck sinks sullenly into the first five inches of snow. She has two choices then. Be stuck on the road out while the temperatures dip down her age or more below zero…or she swallows her pride and makes the two mile hike back up to the Duttons’ door.

~*~ She doesn’t feel her hands as she rings the doorbell. When Kayce opens the door, there are snowflakes pale like reverse-freckles against the strands of her peeking out from her knit cap with its bright colours and soggy bobble. Her lashes are just about iced, and her panting breaths create fog in front of her near-blue lips. All of her aches, and she’s almost too tired to shiver. Still, she tries to smile. “S-s-sorry t’ int-intru-intrude on Christmas Eve and all…but t-t-truck broke dow-” She doesn’t get any further than that before he’s ushering her in. It all happens so quickly she barely has time to register that the whole house looks like the North Pole. Jamie’s slumped by the fire that John’s just adding another log to. She doesn’t see the other Beth, but a hint of cigarette smoke says she’s been here recently. Arm wrapped around her waist and muttering things she can’t quite hear because she’s not really able to watch his mouth, Kayce doesn’t exactly smuggle her to his room so much as he guides her. And once there, with the door closed? “Take off your clothes.” “...’scuse me?” She’s absolutely certain he could incinerate her with the gaze he shoots at her and she laughs even if it hurts her chest to do so. She manages to get her gloves off, then her coat and regrets doing it. “You’re hypothermic,” he tells her, though there’s a huskier edge to his tone. “Need to get into some dry clothes, and come sit by the fire, getcha warmed up. He’s grabbed one of his flannels and she’s sure she’s plenty warmed up when he lays it on the bed and starts unbuttoning her shirt.

[brooklynislandgirl]

💋 - from Kayce

Berries for a Kiss || -

Beth draws the blanket up over Tate’s shoulder and brushes his hair out of his face. Even though the boy isn’t her own and despite how anyone else might see him as a constant reminder that his father had loved another woman enough to marry her and father a child, Beth doesn’t treat him any differently than if he were her own. It isn’t just his father that lost a wife when Monica died, Tate had lost his mother and with her some of his peace and innocence, things he would never get back. She knows what that feels like. Her own had taken some of that from Beth when she’d walked off the Five Oaks and disappeared into the land. The Admiral had never let her forget that she’d been that much of a disappointment that even her dirt-worshipper of a mother couldn’t be bothered to care about her, that it was a good thing she’d had him and her siblings elsewise she’d be nothing but another unwanted rez rat. Every day, she renewed her silent promise not to let the boy feel that way. When she turns and sees Kayce leaning in the doorway, she gives a start, hand coming up to her chest to rest where her heart was pounding. His face is soft even when he lifts his finger to his lips when he hears her gasp. She nods and follows him out of the room, stopping outside the door only long enough to pick up her boots and pad in sock-feet behind him. And maybe she ought to know better than to follow him right into his room. When his family is nestled in through the house. With her heart on her sleeves and shining in her eyes where he can see it, reach out and touch it. Despite closing the door behind her, she keeps her voice low. “Only came by t’ drop off some presents,” she murmurs. “I didn’t mean to intru-” “Beth.” “I should go.” “Beth….wait.” She looks up at him, head tilting to one side. They both know she shouldn’t be here, how it would look. And somehow, he doesn’t seem to care, at least it sure looks and feels like he doesn’t. Kayce runs his hand through his hair. “C’mon. Look outside. Snow’s coming down pretty good, road’s gonna be a mess. No one’d blame you if you stuck it out here at least until the plows come out in the morning. If it’d make you feel better, you can take the guest room.” He closes the space between them, and reaches out. Takes hold of her chin, and stares into her face too long to be really comfortable for either one of them. “Okay,” she says. That earns her one of his smiles, and it’s the moment that she knows he’s gotten the better of her, like he rarely ever had when they were kids. “Oh hey, what’s this?” He rummages in his pocket, and pulls out the saddest, most raggedy bunch of mistletoe she’s ever seen. The leaves are crumpled and threatening to bleed. The berries are squished and she knows better than anyone he’s going to have to thoroughly wash his hands and those jeans before letting anyone or anything near them. The berries are poisonous, but the tradition? The meaning? Not lost on her. He dangles it over her head. She gives a breathless little laugh and leans up to kiss him.