Page 19 of Brett and Rowdy (Gomillion High Reunion #5)

Chapter Twelve

B rett liked making biscuits.

He loved the process of cutting butter into flour, and then adding milk and stirring it up in his great granny’s dough trough.

So he got out the cold butter and the flour and started making biscuits for Rowdy. He’d stir up some gravy, too. In fact, he would crumble up the sausage first. He put the butter back into the fridge to stay cold while he grabbed the Jimmy Dean.

Mr. Mann padded out from the bedroom, sniffing the air hopefully.

“I know, bud. Barney should be out soon too. I guess I woke up before the cowboy, huh? Not bad.” He chuckled, opening up the dog door for the basset. He didn’t leave it open all night anymore since an opossum had been on his stove one morning when he woke up.

The sausage was browning when he got back to the biscuits, and Barney came tap tapping in, dancing a little.

“Door’s open, buddy. Have at it.”

Barney flew out the doggy door, Mr. Mann on his heels. “You know it’s bromance when he takes precedence over food.”

“You talkin’ to yourself, darlin’?”

“Yep. The dogs left me.” He chuckled, loving how Rowdy looked in his robe. “Biscuits and sausage in a bit.”

“Holy shit, man, are you cooking for me?”

“Yep.” They still had to talk about the visit, as he was thinking of it. They’d just made out and watched movies and talked about shit that had happened to them last night.

Taking it slow and easy.

“Well, I do like that. It smells amazing.”

“It’s nothing fancy. Just biscuits and gravy.”

“Hey! I can’t make either one,” Rowdy settled, chuckling deep in his chest.

“Well, buddy, you are blind.” He felt brave as fuck, teasing Rowdy this way. “That does make a difference.”

“Yeah. Really, I couldn’t have made them anyway.

I mean, I wasn’t much of a cook before. I was riding a lot back then.

” Rowdy stopped and stretched, the morning stubble making his lover look even hotter than he had been last night.

“Actually, I ate a lot of sub sandwiches. A lot of them. You could get a great big one, eat part, save part. I like that. I like that you could pick your own stuff.”

He had to grin as he served up the biscuits, pouring the sausage gravy over the top. “Are you a picky eater?”

“No, I’m not picky. At least I don’t think I am. I just sort of like what I like.”

Brett did not point out that was the definition of picky. “So you’re ready to head out tomorrow?”

“I really am. We’ve got the trailer all packed up. Maddie is all good to go. She’s excited.”

“So…” He didn’t know quite what to say without sounding needy or weird. “If I came out to visit, what would be the easiest way to do it?”

Rowdy shrugged. “Well, if you wanted to come out with us now, you’d be welcome.

So long as you’re comfortable being in the back seat of the truck with the dogs, we would just take you with us, and then I can fly you home.

If you want to fly out, I could have one of the hands or Maddie pick you up at the airport in Santa Fe or in Albuquerque, although that’s a drive.

But we could just pack you up a suitcase, grab Mr. Mann’s stuff.

If you could handle being in the back of the truck with three beasts, we could just go.

Maddie might like having someone to spell her on the drive. ”

He shrugged, trying to figure out why he shouldn’t go. He didn’t have any projects that were waiting for him. No commissions, no appointments he couldn’t hand off to his buddy Preston, who was also a farrier. He didn’t have a good reason not to go. “Do you think she’d mind?”

“I’ll ask her.” Simple as that. I’ll ask her.

“Okay. Cool. Mr. Mann is a super go baby.” He was as easy in the car as any dog Brett had ever seen. Better than Barney even. “Okay, why the hell not?” A cross-country road trip might be just what he needed.

His heart was just pounding.

One side of Rowdy’s lips quirked up into a smile. “Yeah? Rock on. Let me give Miss Maddie a call.”

He grabbed his phone, saying “text Maddie,” then “You up, baby girl?”

His phone immediately binged.

“Daddy, wherever you are, stay there. Don’t call,” Rowdy’s phone said.

Rowdy’s eyes went wide, and he licked his lips. “Huh. Well, I wonder what the hell that’s supposed to mean. Don’t call? My girl doesn’t send stupid texts…”

Brett shook his head, but a light bulb came on. “Dude, you, you knocked out a teacher at the high school parking lot. He’s a local, you’re not. You know there’s going to be repercussions.”

“Oh, fuck that. I’ll never come back to this motherfucking place again, not once I get my girl home.”

He winced but shrugged. “Well, one way or the other, we got to figure this out.” Brett thought about it for half a second, then he texted Dan.

Wanna go fishing?

The return text was quick.

Not today, man. I hear the fishing’s bad around here right now. Maybe later.

Sure, no problem.

“Yeah, something’s up. We need intel.” He called Crystal, pushing a fork into Rowdy’s hand. “Hey, girl, I need a favor.”

“Anything. What do you need?”

He did adore that girl. “Go drive by Ashley and Dan’s place and tell me who’s outside?”

“Oh, this is exciting. No problem.”

He forced himself to take a bite of his food. Cold congealed gravy was foul. “Eat your breakfast, Rowdy.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Eat it. I made it.”

“Right.” Rowdy nodded once, like he was waiting for a gate to open at the rodeo, but he dug in.

“What do you think’s going on?” Crystal asked, and he shrugged, though that was silly when he was on the phone.

“There was a fight at the reunion last night.” That was fair. Simple.

She snorted. “That’s not what I heard. I heard there was an attack on a teacher before the reunion started.”

“Oh yeah? Well, that’s a shame. Poor teacher.”

“Fuck that.” She snorted and lit a cigarette, the snap of the lighter familiar.

“Coach Avery, he was always a fucker. He had a hell of a reputation for seducing kids back when he was you know, attractive, before he became a paunchy old fuck. Rumor is he had some kind of come-to-Jesus meeting with the universe and stopped being hot and started being… whatever he is now.”

“Cool, are you in your car yet?”

“Yep, I’m driving. I figured I’d just stay on the phone with you while I’m looking for you. Be honest, did you and Rowdy kick somebody’s ass?”

“I had nothing to do with it.” Which was one hundred percent true.

“Oh, cool.” There was a little bit of chatting while she drove and they ate. It took about fifteen minutes to get from Crystal’s lower-middle-class neighborhood to Ash and Danny’s hoity-toity place, but when she got in, he heard her whistle. “You got cops here, my friend.”

“All right, all right, cool. How many?”

“Just the one.”

“Just the one.” Rowdy blew out a hard breath. “You see Madison’s truck and trailer all packed up there?”

“No. There’s an Escalade and a little sports car. No truck. No trailer.” Crystal sounded just about as confused as he felt.

Right about then, Rowdy’s phone rang. “Maddie, what is going on?”

“Daddy, Daddy, the police came!” She sounded like she was in a panic. “They say you hurt a guy. Daddy Dan got a call from one of his friends at the sheriff’s office, and so he had me pack up your stuff and my stuff and the critters’ stuff and get the hell out of Dodge. I don’t know where to go!”

“Okay. Don’t panic, baby girl. Sunshine’s loaded in the trailer, right?” Rowdy made a throat-slicing motion, and he nodded.

“Yes, sir.”

Brett nodded and told Crystal, “Honey, I have to go. I think that Madison needs us. Look, I might be leaving town with Rowdy for a little while. I’ll be taking Mr. Mann with me, but do you think you could look after my place?

Just check on it. I’m gonna have Preston take over my farrier jobs, and I’ll get him to come look and lock everything up.

So if you can just drive by every so often… ”

“Oh, cool! Absolutely no problem. Call me if you need any more help. I love this subterfuge stuff.”

“I know you do, lady. Don’t worry about it. I’ll let you know no matter what.” She was his best friend, and he wasn’t gonna just drop her like a hot rock. “And thanks. I really appreciate it.”

“You got it. Love you.”

“Love you. Bye.”

They hung up, and he glanced at Rowdy, then remembered that Rowdy couldn’t see his gyrating eyebrows, so he put his hand on the back of Rowdy’s wrist.

“Okay, baby girl. I need you to drive to Brett’s place. Do you know where that is?” Rowdy asked.

“Um… I think it’s out on Morris Teeter Road, isn’t it?”

Brett nodded. “It is, and it’s at the end, almost, and then turn right on the driveway that has the newspaper box and the mailbox shaped like a basset hound.”

“Hi, Brett. I’m freaking out a little bit.”

He had to laugh, because Madison was a hoot. “I can tell, honey, but you’re doing great. Just meet us here at my house, okay?”

“I’m on my way.” She hung up, and he shoveled the last bite of food into his mouth. “Let me go pack a bag, okay? Do you want me to take your plate?” Rowdy had made pretty good inroads, but if he didn’t want to finish it, then Brett would just feed it to the dogs.

“Thanks. It was real good, babe, seriously. I just?—”

“Hey, I get it. This is really weird.” He took the plates and washed them in the sink. “Are you sure you want me to come with you guys? This is a little fast, and we haven’t even had a chance to ask Madison if she’s okay with it.”

“I think she’ll definitely just be glad to get the hell out of town, and she loves dogs, including your dog, if you didn’t notice while we were at the house.” Rowdy was getting back to his normal equilibrium and damn fast, Brett thought.