Ty came into the room as I shoved Conner onto the couch. I stood up preventing him from moving while Ty dusted the paraphernalia off the table. I watched him walk toward the bathroom and then heard the toilet flushing. He washed his hands and came back out to stand next to me, shaking his head at Conner the entire time. “Do you have any idea how much of my money you wasted?” Conner said rudely.
“You have got to be kidding me right now. We just caught you doing drugs and you are worried about how much money we wasted? Dude, you need help.” Ty was so frustrated.
Conner wouldn’t look at either of us. He just sat there laughing for no reason. I leaned over and smacked him straight in the jaw, his face turning as my hand made impact. “How long has this been goin’ on?” I asked.
“There ain’t nothin’ goin’ on. Me and that girl were just havin’ a good time. Not everyone is as uptight as you two pussy’s.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and looked from Ty to myself. “You were using illegal drugs. How long has this been goin’ on?”
“What? Me havin’ a good time? Livin’ my life to the fullest? Givin’ the ladies a good time?”
Ty looked at Conner and shook his head. “You need fucking help!”
“Fuck off, Tyler. I’m so sick of hearin’ your mouth. Why don’t you take your perfect little family and go the hell home. This ain’t any of your business.” Conner’s eyes were halfway open when he was speaking to us. The drugs were obviously kicking in.
“It is my business when your sister is crying herself to sleep over you. Do you have any idea how much she wants you to come stay with us? It’s killing her seeing you like this.” He shook his head again. “Shit, man, you didn’t even come to say hello yesterday. Izzy talked about seeing her Uncle Conner and you didn’t give her the time of day. You’re pathetic, man. How could you pick some strung out chick over your flesh and blood? How could you hurt Miranda?”
Conner put his hand over his face and leaned his elbows on his knees. “Whatever man. Please just leave. I don’t feel like hearing any of this right now.” He never moved his hands.
I sat down on one side of my cousin, while Tyler sat in the chair across from us. “We ain’t leavin’. It’s ten thirty in the morning and you are drinkin’ a beer and snortin’ coke.”
He started to laugh. “That shit ain’t even mine. My girl likes doin’ that. It makes her all freaky and shit. Not that either of you two fuckers would know what a good party with a girl looked like. You walk around with your fingers up your asses all the time. You wouldn’t know a good time if it hit you in the face.”
I was losing my cool, clenching my fists to try and hold in the anger. Conner was shit faced. It wasn’t even noon. How could I not have seen how bad off he was? This was a disaster. A fucking nightmare.
“You can either get your act together, or get the hell off the ranch. Those are your options Conner.”
“Screw you Colt. You ain’t gonna do shit to me. Just get out of here.”
In one leap, Ty was on top of Conner with his hands around his throat. Conner was punching the hell out of Ty, but he kept holding him by the throat. Somehow, Ty had managed to flip him around in a head lock, while Conner pounded on Ty’s face. I pried the two of them apart and sat between them. Ty said nothing as he got up and walked out of the house. I don’t really think it was about him, it was the fact that he was hurting Miranda.
I stood up, ignoring the look on Conner’s face. “You have twenty four hours to get your ass clean, or you need to find somewhere else to live and work. I will not have drugs on my property and be an enabler to you and your habits.”
Conner said nothing as I walked out into the kitchen, but I did hear the loud sound of a beer bottle smashing against a wall.
Ty was outside sitting on the golf cart. I hopped on and he immediately started driving away from the house. “It’s much worse than I thought. I’m real glad you brought it to my attention.”
“He ain’t coming to my farm like that Colt. This could ruin everything you know.” Ty had wanted to branch out the cattle business for over a year, so this problem with Conner was a major issue for him and his family.
“It won’t ruin everything, but it will definitely set us back. I can’t believe his mother knew nothing about this.”
“She is so serious about John now and besides, Conner is a grown man. He should be able to be responsible for his own actions. I think she has a right to finally enjoy her life. It had to be hard to not date for all of those years. She had to do it for the kids.”