Monday Afternoon
"Whatcha need Darlin'?" Rip asked as he walked out of the barn, feeling Spencer's presence before he saw her.
"Take me on a date."
Rip stopped in his tracks. "What?"
"You heard me," Spencer smirked as she sauntered closer to the man.
"I don't have the energy for your mood swings, Spence," Rip groaned. "You want to hop in the truck, drive down the road and fuck? Fine by me. Better yet, I'm sure you'd love to go beat some poor bastard up first, right? I'm not dealing with this until you hear me out."
Spencer nodded, pretending to contemplate the options, before hopping into the passenger seat of Rip's truck. "You coming or what?"
Rip stared at the girl for a moment, eyes wide, before walking to the truck and getting in the driver's side. He drove for a while, neither speaking, until they reached a spot somewhere between the ranch and the state park. Once he turned the car off, looking warily over to the redhead in his passenger seat.
Spencer smiled, taking his hat off his head, putting it on her own as she fixed her hair.
"God you have an itch today don't ya?" Rip laughed in a whisper, trying to focus on anything but Spencer's smile and failing.
Spencer leaned against the window, looking through her lashes at the man. "You wanted to talk baby so let's talk."
Rip's words got stuck in his throat as she tipped his hat down over her eyes, leaving only the slightest view of her face. "You're gonna be the death of me woman."
"Maybe so, but we both know you're the only thing I live for." Spencer stated, the flirt in her words drying up. "Tell me."
Rip nodded, launching into the details. How he had been looking for John, got stuck in a conversation with Beth instead. And how Beth made up some bull shit excuse to get him into her room, needing help with the dresser if he remembered correctly. And then, before he knew it, Beth had her robe undone and her hands on his belt buckle. He had been surprised, but pushed her off right away to walk out.
"If I had reacted slower or faster we probably would've avoided this whole mess," Rip laughed as he finished telling the story.
Spencer nodded, letting the story sink in. It seemed like something Beth would do, that much she did know. But the what if's were starting to roll through her mind.
Rip reached across the console, gently pulling Spencer's hand into his. "Hey, you don't have to believe me today or tomorrow. But Darlin', I meant it when I said I'd wait everyday for you."
Spencer nodded, staring out the front window of the truck. "I believe you, really. I'm sorry I didn't want to listen."
"I'm just glad you gave me a chance. I swore I was gonna wake up with a knife to my throat."
"The thought had crossed my mind." Spencer joked, sending them both into a round of laughter.
A thought crossed Spencer's mind, making her smile at the idea. Moving quickly, she pulled the divider up, back into its middle seat. As she did that she pulled on Rip, slightly, and he got the idea as he moved over. Spencer swung her leg over him, landing in Rip's lap with just a few inches of space between them. Rip reacted immediately, a hand on each of Spencer's thighs, moving slowly up and down. He wouldn't move first, giving her the space to let go and come to him.
Slowly Spencer leaned forward, a smile growing on her face, mirroring the one on Rip's. She looked into Rip's eyes, finding the warmth there she had come to know, and closed the distance. Neither of them rushed the kiss, happy to stay connected like that for the rest of the evening. But Spencer was the first to break away, leaning her forehead against Rip's.
"What's that saying about taking a cowboy's hat?" She smirked as she left out a chuckle. Rip laughed as well, happy to just have his girl back.
"Why don't you let me take you home and I'll show you what they say," he whispered, pulling Spencer close once more, committing her laugh to memory. Spencer nodded, shifting to the side, but leaning into him as he drove away.
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Tuesday
Spencer snuck back into the main house early that morning, some more pep to her step despite the lack of sleep. She had seen her father as she ran back in, who only shook his head at the girl and bid her good morning.
Seeing as she didn't have to be at Paradise Valley, and there were no lessons for the day; Spencer took it upon herself to ruin Ryan's day. She had followed him into the barn, and he knew he was going to be in for it then.
"So you and Sawyer?" Spencer smirked at her best friend as she stood in the way of his stall.
Ryan looked to the ceiling, asking what god above he had pissed off to deserve this. "She's pretty, and she's nice, and I've talked to her twice, Spence."
"Shit twice on this ranch sounds like wedding bells to me."
Spencer poked her tongue out at Ryan as he flipped her off. She stepped to the side, letting him pull his horse out while she pulled out Rebel.
"Don't think I didn't see whose bed you were sneaking out of this morning," Ryan threw out at Spencer, now his turn to make fun of her. "Why didn't you tell anyone, anyway?"
"Because I didn't want to hear any of your bull shit about it. Plus I didn't want to break your heart, Ry." Spencer yelled back to Ryan as she raced ahead of him.
The pair took the morning to scout out the next rotation for the livestock to go into, making sure everything was in order. Mostly it was just spent with the two of them messing around until Lloyd showed up with Jimmy to keep them all in a line.
Spencer departed from the group of men in the afternoon, knowing she would have to meet Rip to deal with the medical examiner. When she got back, Rip was already waiting at his truck for her. She nodded toward the barn, letting him know she would be ready to leave soon.
Once Rebel was away, Spencer joined Rip in his truck and they were on the way into town.
"You can come in, but I don't want you touching anything or doing anything, you understand?" Rip questioned from the driver seat.
Spencer rolled her eyes, he was always like this. "I know, I just get to have some fun with the guy and then you do your bad guy stuff."
"Bad guy stuff?"
"Yeah, you go in, knock him around a little and then fix the problem." Spencer stated in a matter-of-fact tone that caused Rip to laugh.
"You are something else Darlin'."
They waited down the road from the medical examiner's office for a little, waiting until his was the only car left in the driveway before Rip pulled in. He sent Spencer a look, to remind her what he had told her before. She rolled her eyes but nodded, pulling on gloves as she stepped out of the truck.
"Why do you do that?" Rip asked from the doorway, causing the examiner to jump. Spencer had already walked in, taking a survey of the room. "Make it so you don't feel as much?"
Spencer let out a laugh, "I don't think he feels anything."
"Makes me forget." the examiner responded, prompting Rip to walk in as Spencer moved closer to the man.
"Whatcha trying to forget?" Rip asked, looking around as he did.
The examiner scoffed, "Everything."
"That's where you're wrong honey. We wouldn't be here if you were willing to forget everything." Spencer smiled as looked at him. From a very young age she had perfected this mocking look that made the person it was directed at know she was being rude. But to everyone else, she looked polite.
That set the man off.
"You wanna go?" He asked as he turned to Spencer after he flicked his joint at Rip. He pushed the trigger on his drill, the sound filling the space. Spencer looked to Rip, who held a blank stare, then back to the man and laughed as he asked again. "You wanna go, bitch?"
Spencer frowned, "See you shouldn't have said that, honey. Rip, all yours."
Rip stepped in front of Spencer, eyeing the man as he turned the drill on once again. Spencer took a step back, giving Rip space as he spoke to the man. "Come on then."
The examiner lunged forward, but Rip had other plans as he picked up a nearby metal tray, slamming it hard into the man's arm. He fell to the ground, only to be roughly picked back up by Rip, who turned to Spencer.
"Go on, Darlin', I got the rest of this," he nodded to the door behind her.
"May you rest in peace," she smiled at the examiner as she turned to leave. But she stopped as she heard him whisper under his breath. "What did you say?"
"You know what people call you two?" The man gasped at the lack of air Rip was allowing, but he tossed his head toward Spencer. "They call you the angel of death. Because wherever you go, Death follows."
The man tilted his eyesight toward Rip at that, causing Spencer to snicker a little.
"Maybe," she started, "I think the men we get sent after are simply too scared to die. Are you scared honey?"
The examiner shook his head, but the tears in his eyes gave him away.
"No, I think you are. And that's alright. But somethin' tells me you don't wanna live either. It's okay, honey, Rip will take good care of you. You're just afraid of something new, it'll be alright in the end."
The man whimpered, which made Spencer frown for a moment. But she nodded to Rip, and walked out the door. She hopped back into the truck, waiting. Within a few minutes, Rip rejoined Spencer in the truck, both silent as Rip turned the engine over and drove off. A resounding boom came not soon after, the site of the medical examiner's office in flames growing smaller as the truck zoomed away.
"The angel of death," Rip chuckled as he looked briefly at Spencer, "I guess that's fitting."
Spencer gave him a look, "Whatever you say, Death."
They both laughed, shaking their heads at the idea. In a way it made sense, Spencer really didn't go too far without Rip. But it was more than just doing the dirty work. He was more like her shadow, she supposed, something so close yet always out of reach. One day, she had hoped for a while now, Rip would be able to step out of the shadow and just be hers.