Dustin smiled. “Okay.” He took the ring from the box. “I had it engraved. Just a simple thing.”
Vince took it and looked inside. It read simply “Love Dust.”
“You’re the only person who’s ever called me that,” Dustin explained.
“Really?” Vince asked. It seemed like a pretty easy way to shorten his name.
Dustin smiled. “Yeah. I like that it’s only you.”
Vince smiled and pulled him into a sweet kiss, which Dustin broke only to take Vince’s hand and put the ring on. Then Vince stepped away to retrieve the ring he’d gotten for Dustin.
“Is this why you wanted to make sure I saw the charm for Jane?” Dustin asked with a smile.
Vince nodded. “Exactly. And I also got the cleaner and the insurance because of our jobs.”
Dustin grinned. “Great minds really do think alike, don’t they?”
Vince laughed. “I guess so.”
He let Dustin take the box and look at the ring. An even greater smile tugged at Dustin’s lips when he read the inscription, which simply read “I love you.” Vince had hoped it wasn’t impersonal, but Dustin seemed to like it.
Vince took the ring back and slipped it onto Dustin’s finger. Then he pulled Dustin into a tight hug.
“It would really have been funny if it was the same ring,” Dustin said with a laugh.
Vince chuckled. “I’m glad it wasn’t. I’m just not sure when we’ll get the chance to actually have a wedding.”
Dustin pulled away slightly to grip Vince’s hands. “After we get back from Rio.”
“That’s over a year from now,” Vince pointed out. “If I even make the Olympic team at all.”
“It’s really not that long to wait,” Dustin argued. “And I’m going to assume you’ll make it until proven otherwise.”
Vince finally decided to just give in. “Okay.” He kissed Dustin softly, then murmured, “Let’s get ready to go home.”
Chapter Twenty-One
THEY LEFT early Monday morning. Xander settled easily into the trailer and they headed for the exit road. Vince felt a bittersweet pang as they drove away. It had been a good show.
One of the interviewers had asked him on Saturday night if he planned to return next year. Vince had replied without hesitation, “I don’t know if the other riders want me back, but yeah, we’ll be here next year.”
He was glad Dustin seemed to agree. As they drove away from the showgrounds, he asked, “We aren’t too young to be those people who spend all winter in Florida and all summer up north, right?”
Vince laughed. “Even if we are, screw the rules.”
They stopped for fast-food coffee and breakfast sandwiches, then went to get Cody. Xander didn’t seem to mind the much-smaller Cody sharing his trailer. The two sniffed each other and went about minding their own hay.
The drive went well for the first two days. They drove all day, stopping to stretch their legs—and the horses’—and to eat. At night they slept at truck stops, where Tally growled at every noise she heard.
The second day was Dustin’s birthday. They went out of their way to stop at one of the chain restaurants with a to-go pickup option, and ate while watching a movie from Dustin’s box.
Dustin had been quiet all day, and as the credits rolled for the movie, Vince hugged Dustin close. “I’m sorry you’re spending your birthday on the road.”
Dustin smiled. “I like it. It’s just that Eve messaged me earlier. I had told her that I read Mom’s letter, and I finally decided I would be willing to talk to her. But only if she left Dad.”
Vince squeezed Dustin’s knee. “What did she say to that?”
“Mom finally agreed to leave a few weeks ago, but it’s going to take time,” Dustin answered. “Some days she falls back under his control and doesn’t want to keep trying. They think he knows she wants to leave.”
“Will he hurt her?”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Dustin replied quietly. “If he does, it’ll be my fault.”
Vince squeezed Dustin’s knee again. “Your mom is perfectly capable of making this decision on her own. You said your sister was already trying to convince her to do this. Nothing is your fault. And nothing has even happened yet, right?”
Dustin sighed. “Right.”
“So don’t worry for now.”
“I’ll try,” Dustin said with a nod. “Thank you.”
THE NEXT day was supposed to be their final day of driving, but then the freezing rain started and Vince wasn’t sure they’d be able to keep going. The roads seemed to be pretty well salted, but Vince still slowed their speed considerably. The last thing he needed was to hit black ice at a normal speed and kill all of them. Other vehicles seemed to be doing well enough, though they did pass two separate minor accidents.
Vince finally stopped at a truck stop in the middle of the afternoon, having had enough stress for the day. He pulled to the gas pumps to fill the tank first and was dismayed by the amount of effort it took to get his door open. Dustin got out to check the horses while Vince was forced to use his keys to chisel away the ice around the gas tank hatch on the truck.
He wasn’t really surprised when Dustin came up beside him and stated, “All the doors are iced shut.”
Vince filled the tank. Then they both tried to chip away the ice around the trailer doors. It was too thick and they didn’t have nearly the right tools to work with.
“I guess we aren’t done driving, after all,” Vince sighed as he finally admitted defeat.
“Maybe they make cordless hair dryers?” Dustin suggested as they pulled into a Walmart parking lot.
“Guess I’ll go find out,” Vince replied.
The rain had stopped but the temperature was still hovering around the freezing point and parts of the parking lot were slippery. Once inside, Vince had no idea where to go. Eventually he found a shampoo aisle and was happy to see a store employee stocking the shelves.
“Excuse me,” he said, knowing he was probably about to sound like an idiot, “but have you ever seen cordless hair dryers?”
The kid gave him a look that asserted that Vince was crazy. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that.”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” Vince replied. “Do you think I’d be able to buy a hair dryer and an extension cord, and pay to use an outlet?” When the guy just kept giving him a look that told Vince he was utterly out of his mind, he did his best to explain the situation further. “I need to get into my trailer to check my horses, but all the doors are iced over. We’ve been driving in the freezing rain all day.”
A look of understanding passed over the kid’s face and he grinned. “I thought I recognized you. You’re that horse guy.” When Vince gave him a confused look, he excitedly explained, “I follow a couple of the gay sports news sites and you were the headline story on all of them a few days ago. I don’t know anything about horse sports but you’re basically famous. Holy shit.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Vince replied, suddenly feeling awkward. “So do you think someone can help me out?”
It took some convincing and a hundred dollars in cash for the manager to agree to let Vince use an outlet near the door. Vince was sure the guy was just going to pocket the money for himself, but corrupt Walmart managers weren’t his problem. He also had to buy a cheap hair dryer and extension cord that the manager explicitly stated could not then be returned when they were done.
It turned out that the stock clerk, Josh, had been in the last minutes of his shift when Vince had showed up, so he stuck around to help. Vince pulled the trailer up near the door and they got to work, starting with the door to the living quarters. Ideally, Vince would have taken both Xander and Cody out to let them stretch their legs, but a busy, slippery parking lot was not a good place for that. They’d have to wait a bit longer, but Vince would make sure the ice on the back doors was gone before they headed away from the store. The dust and particles from hay and grain could be high
ly flammable, so Vince wanted someone inside before they went after those doors, to stop things before it got too hot. Just in case.
It took an hour before Vince was happy with the job. He ended up giving Josh a hundred dollar tip of his own, plus a signed rosette when Josh had declared that no one would believe his story. He even allowed Josh to take a picture with him.
Tally was not happy to have been left in her travel crate in the truck and didn’t stop crying until Dustin cuddled her on his lap while he shivered. Vince cranked the heat and checked his phone to find a text from his dad.
Looked at the weather. You’re almost out of the sleet area. Warms up as you get closer to home.
“Should we keep going?” Vince asked, glancing at Dustin.
“You’re the driver,” Dustin replied. “But I would love to get home tonight.”
“Me too.”
He took it slow until the thermometer in the truck said it was more than a few degrees above freezing. It didn’t get all that much warmer the closer they got to home, but it was enough for them to feel safe driving. Plus, they’d left the rain behind a while ago.
They stopped for coffee after dinner, but it was still difficult to stay awake as the time grew later. If there had been more than an hour left, Vince would have decided to stop. More coffee solved the issue and they arrived home just after midnight, all in one piece.
Xander and Cody settled happily into their stalls after calling out to the other horses. Vince and Dustin parked the trailer—leaving the unpacking until tomorrow—then checked the horses one last time before driving up the driveway to the house.
Vince had expected everything to be as they’d left it, but he should have known better when Jane still had a key to the place. Their mail was stacked neatly on the kitchen table and a note had been left to tell them that the refrigerator had been stocked yesterday. It wasn’t Jane’s handwriting though; it was Anna’s.
He looked in the living room, expecting to still see the artificial Christmas tree, but it was gone. Instead, all their opened gifts were stacked in the corner where it had been.
Though it felt a little odd to be back in his house after so long, the thought of some brief time off made Vince smile.
Dustin wrapped his arms around Vince from behind and rested his chin on Vince’s shoulder. “It’s good to be home.”
Vince couldn’t hold back a yawn. “I agree.”
More from Sasha Kay Riley
Anderson Stables: Book One
Vincent Anderson has everything he thinks he wants: a job he loves, a girlfriend he feels comfortable with, and a horse that never lets him down. He successfully trains off-track Thoroughbreds at his dad’s stable, teaching them to do things other than race. When he’s not working at the stable, he trains with Xander, a rescued former racehorse turned talented show jumper—not that Vince takes him to many shows.
Everything changes when he hires a homeless drifter as a stable hand. Seeing the young man’s passion for working with horses, Vince takes him under his wing. But his passion for horses isn’t the only thing Vince notices about Dustin. This revelation leads to him to question his relationship with his girlfriend of two years.
As Vince learns to accept himself, he and Dustin grow closer. At the urging of his family, he agrees to try to make the United States Olympic show jumping team with Xander, and he hopes Dustin will travel with him as his groom. But first, Vince must confess his feelings before Dustin decides there’s no hope for romance between them and moves on.
Anderson Stables: Book Two
When Vincent Anderson returns from eight months in Florida helping his dad train racehorses, he expects a peaceful homecoming. But the initial happiness over the reunion with his boyfriend Dustin doesn’t last long. Chris, a disgruntled stable hand, causes a riding accident that sends Dustin to the hospital—then Chris disappears.
The fear of Chris’s return hovers over the stable like a dark cloud while Vince and Dustin build their relationship and Vince works with his own horse, Xander, to begin trying for the United States Olympic equestrian team. The competition becomes the last of Vince’s concerns when Chris shows up at the barn brandishing a gun and demanding money. Vince faces his former employee alone, and what happens next changes everything.
SASHA KAY RILEY grew up near a small thoroughbred racetrack in upstate New York, where her earliest memories of horses began, thanks to her dad. Her obsession with writing started several years later, and of course she decided to combine the two. Throwing in a romantic twist made the adventure especially fun. It was even more fun when she discovered that love stories between men didn’t make her feel lonely like the rest of the romance genre. When not writing or reading, Sasha can usually be found at the barn playing with her Haflinger pony, Alec. She plans to one day own and run a small equine boarding stable, and to keep writing until the voices stop talking.
Website: www.sashakayriley.com
By Sasha Kay Riley
ANDERSON STABLES
By Chance
By Blood
By Fault
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
By Fault
© 2015 Sasha Kay Riley.
Cover Art
© 2015 Anna Sikorska.
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
Digital ISBN: 978-1-63476-182-6
First Edition December 2015
Printed in the United States of America
By Fault Page 15
