Dale.”
I glanced to Ox who was grinning at that. “You finally came out to everyone?” I asked, smiling with approval. “I’m so glad to hear that.”
Cowboy’s head snapped to me. “Wait a minute. You couldn’t have known Ox was gay when you met him at camp. None of us knew. He was still hanging out in the closet back then.”
I shrugged. “I had my suspicions. I’m usually pretty observant when it comes to people.”
“Speaking of suspicions,” Ox said, changing the subject. “Jake, I heard the FBI seized a couple of moonshine stills they found in the woods.”
Jake finished chewing his food and swallowed. “Yep, three of them. We stumbled across them after someone reported seeing some weird lights in the forest at night. Next thing I know, we’re getting calls about wild hogs acting strangely.”
“Strange as in how?” Ox asked.
“They were stumbling all over the place and falling over. Apparently, they had eaten the discarded mash that the owner of the stills left behind. The damn pigs were drunk.”
That got a chuckle out of everyone.
“I’m heading up the case, but beyond the three stills we uncovered, the inebriated swine, and the weird lights, we don’t have a lot to go on.” Jake shook his head. “We still don’t know who the head bootlegger in the area is. I’m working on finding that out.”
“I don’t know if he ever sold any, but Momma Belle said that her husband, Earl, used to make moonshine before the cancer got him.”
“Cancer?” Cowboy asked, surprise registering on his face. “Earl didn’t die from cancer.”
“Oh. When she said that the big C hooked its claws into him, I just assumed—”
“Cirrhosis of the liver,” Cowboy corrected. “The old man drank himself to death. Probably to get away from Momma Belle, right, Jakey?”
Jake shook his head. “Christ, I hate when she calls me that.”
Bobbie Jo laughed and then turned her attention onto me. “Hey, Anna, we’re all heading out to The Backwoods bar tomorrow night. Do you want to come?”
“Good idea,” Judd said. “My buddy will be at the bar. You can meet him while you’re there.”
Cowboy lifted his head, and his heated gaze met mine.
I shook my head. “Oh, I don’t know. I really don’t think—”
“Come on, Anna,” Emily said. “It’s the first time I’m leaving Lily with Floss for the whole evening. I could use the moral support. Besides, it’ll be fun.”
With everyone staring at me, waiting for my answer, I couldn’t bear to tell them no. “Okay, sure. I’d love to.”
“Great,” Bobbie Jo said with a smile. “The girls can get ready at your house together and meet up with the boys at the bar. How does that sound?”
Emily and Bobbie Jo smiled at each other and were obviously up to no good, but I didn’t want to be the party-pooper. “That’s fine.”
“Good,” Bobbie Jo said, winking at Emily. “It’s settled, then.”
The girls started cleaning up, but I just sat there, still trying to figure out what the hell I had just gotten myself into. I wasn’t entirely certain, but I had a feeling I had been coerced into…well, something.
Jake rose from the picnic table. “Let’s go help Hank clean the grill and then we can get to breaking that horse.”
“We?” Cowboy asked, cocking one eyebrow.
Jake grinned. “You think you’re the only one who’s ever broken a horse, asshole?”
Cowboy laughed. “Shit. Jake, the only horse you ever broke was the one outside the grocery store that takes quarters.”
“We’ll find out in a few minutes, won’t we?”
“Guess so,” Cowboy said with a challenging nod and a glint in his eyes.
My gaze flickered to Ox and Judd, who both sat there grinning at Cowboy, as if they were subconsciously agreeing with Jake. As Jake started away, the others stood up, threw their trash away, and followed him, leaving me alone with Cowboy.
Feeling awkward, I rose and gathered my plate in my hands, but just as I started to leave, Cowboy said, “Anna…?”
I turned back to him. “Yes?”
“When I come by later, which kiss do you want to talk about, the first or the second?” The intensity in his eyes held my gaze, only making me more uncomfortable than I already was. Which apparently was something he enjoyed, since his tight-lipped mouth turned up into a full-on smirk.
But I’d had enough. “You really think you’re something, don’t you?”
“I’m more concerned about what you think.”
“Trust me, you don’t want to know what I think.”
“Try me.”
I cocked my head, realizing he was serious. “Okay. I think you’re an egotistical ass,