Page 13

13

T he first day of fifth grade had gone… okay. Amelia had come home with lots of stories and a little anxiety, which hadn’t surprised Fox, but it hadn’t been the “wow” first day he’d been hoping it could have been for her either.

Amelia had definitely felt the newbie vibes at first, but she never seemed unhappy. She kept going back, and it got easier day by day as she met kids and found a favorite teacher and joined the Girl Scouts.

A little more than six weeks in, she was up and ready for the carpool every day, she was chatty and eating well and giving him just about the same amount of sass she always had, so he didn’t worry anymore.

Not about Amelia anyway.

The only truly stressful thing now was trying to figure out how to get their things packed and moved. He hung up with the third mover he’d called today and tossed his phone on the kitchen counter with heavy sigh.

“Crap.”

He needed to do something else for a while. Maybe Trent had a hole he could dig or something.

He found Trent out in the pasture, fixing part of the fence and talking hard on the phone.

“—mess with me, man. I made you an offer on them, you accepted. I put down the deposit. You get them here, or me and Rope will come out there. I guaran-fucking-tee you don’t want that.”

Fox believed it.

He wondered what it was going to be this time. Zebras? Maybe hippos?

He reached out and ran a hand over Trent’s back, then took the section of fence from Trent and held it in place for him.

Trent blew him a kiss and gave him a grin. “Shit, I might be little, but I will lay your ass out. You have those beasts at Rope’s place today before five o’clock, or you’ll have trouble at your front door at five oh one.”

Trent hung up, then grinned, the expression wicked as fuck. “You hear all that, buddy? You ready to get western with me?” Fox wasn’t sure what Rope said in response, but it had Trent chuckling. “Yeah. He’ll deliver them. We need a couple guys to unload. Cool. Call me.”

Fox shook his head. “What am I unloading? Wildebeest? Wild boar? Can I help get western? I used to box in college.”

“Beefalo, and fuck yeah, but it won’t come to that. I know this guy. He’s more lazy than mean.” Trent gave him a once-over. “I can see you boxing. It makes sense.”

“Yeah?” He lifted one arm and showed off a bicep, then laughed at himself. “I had a decent hook.”

“My superpower is that no one man can hit like a bull does.” Trent winked at him. “How’s it going?”

The man had a point.

“Ugh. I have moving shit to work out. I needed a distraction so I figured you’d have something I could put muscle into instead of brain.”

“Always. I want to fix this fence and start work on Ames’s horses’ barn, if the weather’s holds.” Trent mopped his brow. “If it doesn’t, then we’ll figure something else.”

He was so ready to get his hands dirty. “Show me what to do. How’s the shoulder?” He’d figure out something for the move. He just needed to sit with it a little longer.

“Stiff and sore, but that’s par for the course. Hold that so I can string it. Watch yourself if it snaps.”

“Oh. Right, got it.” He held on, leaning back a bit in case something snapped and watched Trent work. This had to be easier with two people. “I like my teeth.”

“I like them too.” Trent tightened the wire, stepping back with a nod. “Better. No one will get out now.”

“Awesome.” He stepped closer and looked at it, then squinted at the sky. “What’s next? You think rain is coming?”

“It’s pondering it, or so my bones say. If it does, I’ll work in the barns cleaning. Or maybe I’ll go through some storage shit.”

“Well, just tell me what I can do. We don’t have to pick Amelia up for hours.”

“And then we’ve got beefalo coming this evening—four females, a male, and four calves.” Trent grinned at him. “I’m hoping that they’re successful.”

“What do you consider successful?” And where were they going to put them? He didn’t really understand just buying up random animals, but it was fun.

“Well, they are big sellers, for meat, but they are not friendly, so Rope and I are going to run them all the way in the back, away from the houses and the horses.”

“Do you guys hire someone to butcher or do you do that yourselves or…” He had no idea how that worked.

“We send them to a small processor here in town, and we’ll only do that with the males. The cows will stay here, and one or two bulls.”

“To make more beefalo.” He nodded. That made sense. “We had lots of beefalo where I grew up in New Jersey. Weird-looking things.”

“Yeah, but folks pay for them. They’re Rope’s babies. I love the yaks.”

He liked them too. “They’re cool. I definitely didn’t expect to see anything like that when I decided to get away from the city.” He crossed his arms and looked out over Trent’s land. It seemed like it went on forever. “I think I have to go back to wrap things up.”

“Okay. Do you need me to stay here with Ames? Did you need me to come with you? What?” Trent was always so damn present for him.

He turned his head to look at Trent. “You’d actually come with me?” Could he ask that though? Was that reasonable? It seemed kind of above and beyond the call. Trent had already been so generous.

Trent gave him a confused look. “Sure. I have tons of airline miles. You going to have Ames stay at Jude’s?”

“Uh.” He rubbed his forehead. “I hadn’t thought that far. It didn’t occur to me that you’d—that wasn’t—yeah. I guess that’s what I should do.” That would work, they went to the same school, and Jude would get it. “Wow.”

“You okay?” Trent always asked him that, like he believed Fox would answer honestly.

“Um. I’m a little—” He took a breath and moved into Trent’s space, close enough to make it intimate. “You’re very good to me. I don’t really know why, so I’m having some trouble processing it. But yes, I’m okay. I think I’m good now, because you—because you’re just you.”

“Y’all are my people, Fox. I want to be good to you.” Simple as that. And that was exactly what Fox meant. What seemed so simple to Trent was a whole world of complicated to him.

He looked down into those green-brown eyes. “I called a few different movers; I just don’t trust them to do it without me. But I was dreading doing it on my own, so if you’re really—I will take you up on it. It won’t be more than a few days. I’ll hire people to do most of the packing; it’s just everything else.”

If Trent asked him right this second what “everything else” was, he wouldn’t be able to answer. He didn’t even know. But there was more, he just felt it.

“No problem. You can feed me pizza and stuff. I’ve never been outside of touristy things, you know. Just tell me when you want to go.”

“Well, maybe Monday after Amelia goes to school? I’d like to spend the weekend with her and then get this done while she has other things to do. Maybe be home in time to pick her up at school on Thursday. Is that too long for you? I know you have animals to look after and all.”

Trent must have some folks to do that though since he used to be gone for the rodeo so much.

“I got a guy I hire to help. He’ll come and feed, no worries. Jeremy needs the cash.”

He slipped an arm around Trent’s side, not caring about the sticky heat and Trent’s damp T-shirt. “I don’t know what to say. I would never have asked if you hadn’t—it feels like a very big favor.”

“I have your back.” Trent held him, thumb rubbing his hip, nice and slow.

“I guess I’m just re-learning what that feels like.” He bent and gave Trent a kiss, just a sweet one to say thank you. “I’m used to me and Amelia against the world.”

“Well, now it’s you, me, and Ames, fighting the good fight.” Trent chuckled softly, jiggling him a little bit. “Hell, it’s you, me, Ames, Rope, Jude, Silas, and Faith. You got yourself a village.”

“A village.” He’d had one once, but after Xan had died, people kind of fell away and he’d realized that their friends had really been Xan ’s friends. He worked a thousand hours a week and didn’t have friends. He smiled at Trent. “It’s a really good village too.”

“Yessir. You need me to take any of your stuff to the cleaners? If I’m traveling, they’ll need to do my good shirts and jeans.”

“Cleaners? Uh… no. All I have is jeans and stuff. You don’t have to get dressed up in good shirts for moving shit.” He loved how his jeans and T-shirts smelled when he hung them out to dry here.

“Okay. Still, one decent shirt for a supper won’t go amiss, I reckon.”

“No, we can have a nice dinner. That would be cool actually.” He had a feeling Trent dressed up pretty well. He knew Rope did, and he figured cowboys all had about the same look. Crisp. Starched. Nice hat.

Add Trent’s little sideways smile to that, and he’d have himself a snack.

“It would, and if I happen to see a fan in the airport, I’ll be presenting myself right.”

“Oh.” Oh wow . He pulled back a little and looked at Trent a little differently. “You have fans! You know, I didn’t think when you told me about the coffee—seeing people in person didn’t even occur to me. How cool.”

“Well, I’m not Rope, but sometimes, it happens. I been around a few years.” Trent’s cheeks were bright pink.

He smiled at Trent, teasing a little, but mostly just wanting to see more of that blush. “I’ve never traveled with a celebrity.”

“Ha! No one will blink at me in New York, though.”

“You never know. New Yorkers are eclectic. The hat might be a clue.”

“Mmm… I’ll bring a gimme cap for moving stuff.”

He hadn’t heard that one before. “Gimme cap? Is that sexier than a hat?”

Trent snorted and swatted him with his ball cap. “This is a gimme cap, darlin’.”

“Ow,” he complained, grinning. “So, a hat and a weapon. Up where I’m from, they just keep the sun out of your eyes.”

“Mmhmm… off my poor head, right? You think I need to go to the barber shop before we go?”

He slipped his fingers through Trent’s slightly damp hair and tugged the ends gently. “Yeah, maybe. Me too, probably.”

Trent’s lips twisted. “Yeah? I sort of like you shaggy. It’s nice to hold onto.”

Oh God, that made him warm all over. “I’ll uh—I’ll just get a trim.” If Trent liked it longer, he’d wear it longer.

“You’re sweet to me. You want me to take you to my guy? I can.” Trent’s lips brushed his temple.

“Sure.” He shivered. It was more than the light rain that had started to fall around them; it was Trent’s warm lips on his skin.

“You want to go sit on the back porch and make out like teenagers?”

He chuckled and took Trent’s hand. “I can’t think of anything I’d rather do right now.”

“Me either. The work will wait, and the critters are safe.” Trent squeezed his fingers. “Let’s go play hooky.”