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Chapter Twenty-Two

Holding him on that couch, after being so worried. Well, Cherokee was exhausted from the stress alone. Jovian kept yawning, and fuck, Cherokee didn’t think he’d ever seen a cuter sight in his life.

“Are you tired, little baby boy?”

“I am. I’ve been working hard. Alan’s tutoring me.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“I want to do good for you.”

“You do. Let’s go to bed and, for once, just sleep.”

He wriggled a little as he yawned again. Then he whispered, “If you can keep those big hands off my tiny, perfect ass.”

“You’re so conceited.” He got up without making Jovian get off his lap, and once he was standing, he kissed Jovian’s forehead. He was already falling asleep.

After tucking him under the quilt, Cherokee took off his shoes, pants and shirt, and crawled in beside him, pulling him close. “Yeah, I’m in love with you,” he said to a sleeping man. “Can’t even help myself, you little fuck-wad.”

He held his boy while he fell asleep, and when he woke, he was glad to see Jovian still resting. He looked exhausted, but when he arrived, he had no idea he’d be learning so much about being a real human. That had to be tiring.

After getting on his robe, Cherokee started the stove and got the water on to boil in the electric kettle. He didn’t like to use it much, but it was already a warm morning, and having the fire going in the stove wasn’t his idea of a nice morning.

He made his coffee in his French press, then sipped it while sitting outside in the backyard. As much as he wanted to make breakfast and have it ready for Jovian, he had too much on his mind to think about food.

Jovian. From the first he’d seen the man, he thought he was possibly the most beautiful man he’d ever seen. Tiny, sweet ass and pretty little face. God, and those eyes, how they flashed when he was annoyed.

Of course, he was much less cute when it came to his attitude, but past that, Cherokee saw it. It was a defense technique to keep people from getting too close. If anyone got too close, they’d see that Jovian was his worst critic.

Hard on his looks, his height, his station in life. Sure, he wasn’t from a poor family, but he was less than wealthy. So, he’d set his sights on a rich man, so he could rise and look down at people instead of constantly looking up at them.

That was possibly why Cherokee fell so hard, so damn fast. Jovian should never feel that way. It didn’t matter how much money was in his pocket. He should always be able to look at everyone right square in the eye, not up and not down.

“Damn,” he whispered before he laughed at himself. Cherokee Dixon never thought he’d be the type to fall in love so quickly. But Jovian was special, even if he didn’t see it about himself.

“Hey,” Jovian said from behind the screen door.

“Hey, baby. Good morning. Come on out here.”

Jovian rubbed his eyes adorably, then pushed the screen and came outside, sitting immediately on Cherokee’s lap. “Morning.”

“You were sleeping so good, I didn’t want to make any noise.”

“Why don’t you have a dog?”

That was random. “Uh, I did. He was pretty old. Lost him about a year ago.”

“That’s sad,” he said with genuine sorrow in his voice. “I’m sorry, Daddy.”

When he said that word, daddy, to Cherokee, it lit him all over his body. Mostly, though, it touched his heart. “Well, baby boy, he was a good dog and very old. He lived a good life with me here. I’m thinking about getting another pup sometime. Maybe you can help me pick him.”

“Or her. I prefer girl dogs.”

“Why’s that?”

“I can dress them. I’ve always wanted a Yorkie, and I’d put little ribbons in her hair.”

“Well, baby, I can’t have a little dog like that. An owl or hawk would take that little dog and fly off with it.”

His jaw dropped comically, and he whined, “That’s horrible!”

“That’s living where I live, baby. You…you live in the city, though.”

“But I could live out, you know, out like this one day.”

“Would that interest you?”

Jovian set his hand on Cherokee’s face and looked him in the eye so sweetly Cherokee wanted to confess things better left until later. “Anywhere you are interests me. Don’t you know that?”

“I suppose I do, but it’s nice to be reminded.”

Cherokee delighted his boy by carrying him inside the house and depositing him in a chair at the table while he started on breakfast.

“I love this breakfast,” Jovian said after he’d started eating. “How did you master that stove?”

“I didn’t make it on the stove today. I have a hot plate I use when it’s too hot to use the wood stove.”

“You couldn’t have told me that?”

Cherokee smiled and informed him, “I did not know you wanted to cook for me. Besides, I use as little electricity as possible.”

“Oh,” he said, then got suspiciously quiet.

“What?”

“It’s just that, well, I use a lot. My music, my blow dryer, my cappuccino machine…”

“You don’t like my coffee?”

“I actually love your coffee, strangely enough,” he said, then bit his lips.

“I’m not offended. I just make it the way people have made it for centuries, that’s all. I do what those machines do. It might take a little longer, but…”

“I didn’t mean to sound so…”

“Condescending?”

“Yes. I really don’t mean to be this way!”

“Honey, I’m not offended. You’ve been the way you are for a long time. You used it as a shield. You just don’t need that shield with me.”

Jovian’s hand covered his, well, as much as his little hand could. “I know that.”

“Good. That means a lot. Now, finish eating. I have an early class, and I’m sure your friends would love to spend a little time with you.”

“Why?”

There it was, that insecurity he had that never stopped taking him down into dark places. “Jovian, they like you. They put up with your mouth and attitude before I ever did. Stop worrying they’re after something.”

“How did you know that?”

“Because I’m a quick study of subjects I like. And I enjoy studying you. Now, eat!”

“Yes, Daddy,” he purred.

“Stop. I cannot fuck you right now, even if I am dying to! Eat!”

The giggle that came then just tugged on his heart and made him laugh, too.

They got ready and took off from the cabin, but didn’t get far before Cherokee noticed some tracks on the trail.

They were faint, as it hadn’t rained recently, and were just in the soft soil. Pointed to the camp. He kneeled on the ground to assure they were what he thought, and Jovian joined him. “What is it? A wolf?”

“Jovian, there are few wolves left in Colorado, and this isn’t one. Much too big. We had this class. What is it?”

Jovian lowered his head to get closer, then took out his phone and took a picture, spreading his fingers on the screen to enlarge it. “The foot pads or whatever, they’re rounder, and there are three…what are they called?”

“Lobes.”

“Right. Three lobes on bottom and rounder on top. And the toes aren’t even, so it’s not a dog or wolf or…wait…I know this…coyote! It’s not…”

“Any canine.”

“Right! So…” he lifted himself and then slowly turned to Cherokee. “It’s a cat! A mountain lion!”

“That’s right. Very good.”

Jovian’s eye cut back to the phone and then to the print on the ground. “They’re pointed to the camp!”

“Yes, they are. Do you have any bars?”

“One, yeah!”

“Give it to me,” he said, then took the phone. After calling the office, True answered, “Pride Camp, Trudeau Phillips, speaking.”

“True, it’s Cherokee. We’ve got a big cat coming toward you. The prints are pretty fresh. I’m heading back to the cabin to get a rifle. Get yours out and call Parks and Wildlife.”

“On it. Be safe.”

“You too and get the campers into the Mess Hall or cabins and keep them there until we find the thing.”

“I will.”

When he looked back at Jovian, he saw his boy was pale and shaking terribly. He gathered Jovian into his arms and carried him quickly back to the cabin, placing him on the bed. “Baby? Are you okay?”

“There’s a lion! An actual lion headed for the camp!”

“Honey, I know that, and True and Bernie, they know what to do. They’ll get everyone inside and they have rifles to protect the place. I’m going to make sure they’re okay. You stay here where you’ll be safe.”

“Excuse me?” he screamed. “You were the one that said never go around alone, especially if you think a predator is around! And you’re going alone?”

Cherokee was dumbfounded as Jovian got out of the bed and steeled himself to stop from shaking. “Let’s go. You have a gun for me?”

“You don’t know what to do with a gun, Jovian.”

“Point and shoot, right?”

“You’re not getting a gun, and you’re staying here!”

Jovian’s hands curled into fists at his side. “Punish me. Put me in a corner for three fucking days, I don’t care, but you are not going alone! I may be scared out of my head, but I love you and I’m not letting you go alone,” he stated, then pushed past him and went to the kitchen.

Cherokee followed him once his shock waned some and found him grabbing knives from the block. “Three should be good,” he said.

Cherokee grabbed his arms and said, “Baby…I love you, too.”

“We haven’t got time for that! God! Let’s go!”

If the moment wasn’t so serious, he would have laughed like he’d lost his mind, but he grabbed Jovian by the back of the neck and kept him from leaving the kitchen. “No knives. If the damn cougar got that close, you wouldn’t have time to use them. Just stay behind me.”

“Fine, but don’t you dare get hurt, Cherokee Dixon! I won’t have it!”

“Yes, sir, Jovian. I live to serve.”

They left after Cherokee retrieved his gun from under the bed and made sure he had plenty of ammunition.

Not that he wanted to kill the creature. As far as he was concerned, man was encroaching far too much on their homes and they had every right to take them back, but he also had a responsibility to the campers. He refused to let any of them get hurt. They’d been hurt enough.