Page 25 of His Country
Heat colored Ethan’s cheeks and Aiden suspected it had nothing to do with the coffee in his hands. His own cheeks pinked up, too.
Frank caught Aiden’s attention just as he was getting into the truck.
“Don’t forget to get the good screws. None of those pansy ass Phillips head.” He narrowed his eyes and glared at Isaac, who was slinking back around the barn with a guilty look on his face. “And none of that aluminum shit!”
Isaac winced. “That was one time!”
Aiden chuckled as he lifted a hand in acknowledgment, slamming the door. The truck rumbled to a start, and he cast one more look backwards at the bunkhouse. He’d left Sugar sleeping on his bunk. Even though it was considerably warmer, and more comfortable, she was always grumpy when he went into town without her. She loved riding in the truck, and he hated denying her the opportunity, but he also had to make a trip to the grocery store. While the hardware store didn’t mind if she came in, the grocery certainly did.
He generally wasn’t one to volunteer for a run to town, but he needed some stuff at the store. That and Isaac had been banned for the foreseeable future for having the audacity to buy subpar screws.
As Aiden backed out of the spot, Ethan’s truck pealed in beside him. The engine hadn’t even turned off before he was falling out of the cab, banging on Aiden’s window. He reached for the window handle, beginning to roll it down without even considering driving off first.
He didn’t let himself dwell on that.
Ethan leaned into the truck; arms folded like some kind of Lot Lizard trying to earn dinner. “Where are you going?”
“The fucking zoo. Where do you think?”
“Can I come with?” He didn’t wait for an answer, just jogged around the truck.
“You just came from town!” Aiden yelled, watching as his long legs carried him to the other side quickly. He didn’t wait for Aiden’s permission, just hopped into the truck and buckled his seatbelt.
Aiden didn’t know what to do with that. He had grown used to Ethan at the farm, their easy companionship had been unexpected. Not necessarily easy, there were definite times that Aiden shied away from Ethan’s overt nature and assured confidence, but Ethan was getting good at recognizing that. He just seemed to know when he needed to back off, lapsing into a comfortable silence that brought Aiden some much needed reprieve.
But Ethan in the truck, Ethan in town…that was something new. Uncharted waters that Aiden hadn’t yet found a map for. He found being in town difficult enough as it was. Aiden was never the friendliest person, but after leaving Texas, his self-imposed isolation hadn’t helped any.
It wasn’t like Aiden didn’t want to be friendly. He didn’t dislike other people, he disliked himself. He didn’t know how to interact with them without letting all the things he tried to keep locked away spill out. It felt a lot like trying to make one trip with groceries, hands full of bags, while trying to open the door. Something was going to end up spilling all over the front porch.
Except instead of milk or a jar of salsa, it was the giant, festering wound where his heart should be. One wrong move and it would rip open, shame and guilt spilling out over his boots.
Ethan had poked at it, and begrudgingly, Aiden had beentryingto relax around him. Maybe even consider him a friend, if Aiden could ever say that word without all the implication that clung to every syllable.
But now Ethan was trying to change the parameters of their relationship. Move it into a space Aiden wasn’t sure he knew how to navigate. He took a deep breath and squeezed the steering wheel. It had been worn smooth from years of use, and he found his fingers sliding into the grooves with the ease of muscle memory. It was grounding.
The truth was that beneath all of Aiden’s uncertainty, he was enjoying Ethan’s company. Hell, even Frank asked if he was ok when he caught his face screwed up in a not-quite smile but not a scowl either.
So Aiden eased his foot off the brake and let the truck begin rolling down the driveway. The tires rolled over gravel, and he forced himself to lean back into the worn seat. Ethan rested on an elbow, looking out the window as the trees thickened on either side of the narrow drive. When Aiden had first pulled up to the Rolling J, he had been impressed. The narrow driveway had no markings, just a sharp right turn off a narrow two lane road. No signage, just a rusted mailbox tucked into overgrown shrubbery. Once you were passed the mailbox the trees closedin. It was almost like the road was cut into a sentient forest where even after all this time, the denizens still wanted to reclaim what was lost. It grew so shaded that it was like driving into a tunnel with no foreseeable exit.
Ethan wasn’t chatting, and Aiden focused on driving. Before, he had been leery of Ethan because he knew so much. But now he wondered if that wasn’t a good thing. Ethanknew.All those things he was afraid would spill out; Ethan had already discovered. He knew about his past, knew what he was running from, and most importantly, he knew the desires that lurked in Aiden’s mind.
Aiden didn’t know if Ethan was gay, or straight, or what. He’d never asked. Maybe he should have, but he was afraid of the answer. Clearly, he had no issue with it. And that should be the end of it—but Aiden wondered if maybe Ethan was trying so hard because he knew Aiden was gay and he needed some kind of project. Or he felt sorry for him.
He didn’t want to care, he never had before. But hedid.Aiden cared and that was scarier than everything else combined.
As if sensing Aiden’s discomfort, Ethan turned to him. “What do you need at the hardware store?”
For the remainder of the drive Aiden explained what they needed—how Isaac was trying to expand the goat pen, and Aiden wanted to fix some rotting boards in the hay loft. He even told him about when Isaac came home with the wrong screws and Frank had complained about it for weeks. Still did, really.
That led to Ethan trying to change Aiden’s mind about goats. Aiden was unmoved.
“The only thing I need to know about goats is what they look like when they’re chasing you up a round bale,” He groused as they pulled into the lot of the hardware store.
Ethan laughed. “Were you chased by a goat?”
“My mom had this real anxious mare. She had to have a goat for company. Thing was evil. Chased me everywhere. Used to hook its horns around my leg and yank me off my feet.”
“That sounds pretty traumatizing for a kid.”