One Good Favor

by J. L. Langley

  The door handle creaked as it was turned and pulled out of the latch. Moonlight appeared through a tiny crack.

  That was all Evan needed. He ran at the door, hitting it as hard as he could, making it burst open. There was a loud bang and the door flew back at him. Someone yelled, but he didn’t stop. He just kept going, shoving through the door to the outside. His foot landed right smack dab in the middle of whoever he’d knocked over with the door when he ran out of the trailer, making the man huff out a breath and groan in pain.

  Turning around, Evan took in the location of the other two men and looked for the gun.

  Lahr and Craig stood on the other side of the trailer door, stunned. There was no sign of the gun.

  Gus was backing out of the trailer in a hurry. Good. Hurry, boy.

  Evan ran back toward the trailer, right at the two surprised cowboys. He reached Lahr first. Drawing back his fist, Evan belted him right in the nose. Blood spurted everywhere and Lahr let out a hellacious, gurgling yell.

  Shit, that hurt. Evan shook his hand.

  Craig tackled Evan from the side, knocking him to the ground before Evan could do anything else. They rolled around the ground, wrestling for position, with Craig shouting out a stream of curses at Evan.

  Evan landed on a rock. It hit him in the middle of the back and pain flared up his spine. “Ah.” Using all his might, he flipped them over again and pinned Craig to the ground, straddling his hips to keep Craig from rolling them again.

  “You son of a bitch.” Craig popped Evan in the jaw.

  Evan jerked back out of reflex but the blow still caught him enough to hurt.

  Someone yelled behind them, then someone grabbed Evan under the arms and began hauling him off of Craig.

  Evan flailed his arms, nailing the assailant in the face, making him let go. Evan fell back to the ground, but Craig scrambled out from under him and caught him in the chin with his boot heel.

  Everything went white for a few seconds, long enough for the two men to jerk Evan to his feet.

  A shot ran out and everyone froze. A muted thud followed.

  Craig and Lahr let go of Evan. As one unit, the three men whirled around in the direction of the shot.

  Benson held the revolver in one hand and rubbed his gun arm with the other.

  On the ground, a few feet in front of him, lay Gus.

  “No!” Evan ran forward, not even caring if Benson shot him too. Everything seemed to slow down, taking him forever to get to Gus. It was like he was running in quicksand. He hit the ground, his knees skidding to touch Gus’s belly.

  The other men started yelling all at once, but Evan didn’t hear a word that was said. Gus’s chest rose and fell in a hard, heaving motion. He lifted his head, looking at Evan as Evan ran his hands over the short hair on Gus’s neck and chest looking for a wound. “Hang on, boy.”

  “Fuck man, we gotta get outta here.”

  “We’re going to jail.”

  “Shut up. We aren’t going to jail. Get your ass in the truck, both of you.”

  Truck doors slammed and the truck started.

  No. They couldn’t leave. Gus needed help. Evan jumped to his feet.

  The back tires threw dirt and debris and the trailer fishtailed as the truck sped away.

  “Wait!” Evan watched the tail lights fade away, feeling helpless. He had no idea where he was, it didn’t matter anyway. Aaron had broken his phone when he’d tossed it the other night.

  His shoulders slumped and a knot formed in his stomach. Tears streamed down his face. Please don’t let Gus be hurt badly.

  There was a flash of light and Evan saw his own shadow on the ground. A flashlight? Evan turned around and froze.

  “Son of a bitch, that hurt.” Aaron stood where Gus had lain, naked, rubbing his shoulder.

  “Wha—” Evan looked around. Where the hell had Aaron— Where was Gu— “Wha—”

  “Whoa. Evan, you okay?” Aaron grabbed Evan’s arms and pulled him down to the ground, making him sit.

  Evan studied the ground behind Aaron. “What the hell is going on? And where is my horse? Why in the fuck are you naked?” Okay, yeah he was shouting, but damn it, he was scared. Something was way off.

  Aaron rubbed his right shoulder again, then pulled his hand away and looked at the spot. “That left a scar.” He shook his head and crouched down in front of Evan. “You okay? You look a little pale.”

  Evan stood up. “Ya think? They shot my horse.” He walked past Aaron, looking around for Gus. Why was Aaron here? How’d he get here? Evan felt like a horse had kicked him in the head. Gus was hurt and…gone. Aaron was here and…

  Naked? Oh God! They’d brought Aaron here to pay him back for helping Evan.

  Evan spun around and came nose-to-neck with Aaron. He grabbed Aaron’s shoulders. “Are you okay? Did they bring you here? What happened? We’ve got to find Gus.”

  “You better sit down.” Aaron touched his cheek like it was the most natural thing in the world to do. He acted like there was nothing wrong, like he had no concern for anything but Evan. It was tender and loving and Evan found himself leaning into the caress before he snapped out of it. They were in the middle of nowhere, out in the country somewhere away from civilization, with no phone, no truck, and Gus needed help.

  “Aaro—”

  “No really. Sit down, Evan, I’ve got to show you something.” He stepped away and pointed at the ground. “Sit, babe.”

  “We’ve got to—”

  “Sit down.”

  The stern voice had Evan obeying, even though he didn’t want to. He sank to the ground, sitting in the cool grass.

  A flash of bright white light surrounded Aaron.

  Evan squinted and brought his hand up to shield his eyes. What the…?

  The light went out and, in the pale moonlight, Gus stood where Aaron had been seconds ago.

  He couldn’t say anything. He wanted to, but he couldn’t seem to get his mouth to work. This was unreal.

  There was another flash of light, then Aaron was coming forward, crouching down in front of Evan again. The moonlight caught his pale eyes, making them glow. They were…uncertain, worried. “Come on, Tex, say something.” Aaron tipped Evan’s chin up, staring into his eyes.

  It made sense, in a strange sort of way. The eye color, the fact that Aaron was never around when Gus was. The man Evan had thought he’d seen in Gus’s stall… “I…you…” This was the strangest night of Evan’s life. On the bright side. “There’s no one else is there?”

  Aaron smiled. “No Evan. Just you.”

  “Why?”

  “You looked so sad. I had this crazy urge to cheer you up.” He leaned forward, nipping Evan’s lip before he kissed it. “I knew I had to have you.”

  Epilogue

  Adam’s rope hit the ground about a foot behind the calf’s legs as his horse turned away. Evan could see his frustration from here. This was the third time the mount he was training had done that.

  Mark shook his head, but he had a smile on his face. His horse had gotten it right all day and his time heading was damned good.

  Cupping his hands around his mouth, Aaron shouted out at his twin. “You suck.”

  Adam stopped pulling in his rope long enough to flip Aaron off.

  Upon arrival at Two Spirits Ranch a month ago, Evan’d learned quickly that the twins never missed an opportunity to rib the other. He was still somewhat amazed that he hadn’t noticed Aaron’s resemblance to Adam when he’d first seen Aaron at the bar. Actually, Evan hadn’t realized they were twins until he seen Adam again. Adam’s long hair and sunglasses had gone a long way in masking the resemblance.

  Evan chuckled. “They’ll get it eventually, Mark just got lucky with that moun—Wait. Mark’s not riding one of your family members is he?”

  Aaron groaned, but there was a grin just visible under the shadow his gray hat cast on his face. He jerked his head to the side, indicating he wanted Evan to follow, and turned his mount away from the
practice arena. “Most Anasazi would never allow themselves to be saddled. It’s why no one knows of our shapeshifting abilities. Hell, it’s part of the reason historians believe we died out. My people are good at hiding. No way were they going to be captured and made into a white man’s faithful mount.”

  “You didn’t seem to mind.” Evan pulled his hat down lower, shielding his eyes from the sun.

  “Only because I wanted to be bound to you, Tex.” Aaron reached out and tugged on Evan’s reins, pulling them both to a stop. He leaned over, grabbing Evan behind the neck and drew Evan forward. His lips touched Evan’s briefly, but it was enough for the familiar excitement to ignite.

  Evan groaned at the loss of those warm, sure lips.

  “What about you? You don’t mind spending your off season here with me, training horses?” Aaron nudged his horse into motion again.

  What was to mind? Evan had the man he loved, a place to live with said man, and steady pay. “As long as you don’t mind traveling with me during the season.”

  Aaron stopped again, the sunlight caught him just right, showing off those pale blue eyes. “Nope, not now that those psycho ass bull riders are gone and I don’t have to worry about them beating you to a bloody pulp and shooting me.”

  It wasn’t likely they’d shoot Aaron now, even if they were around. Benson, Lahr and Craig had disappeared from the rodeo after shooting “Gus.” The best Evan could guess is they were afraid of him pressing charges. For all they knew, they’d killed Gus. After the shooting, Aaron had remained in human form and called home for another horse to be brought to Evan.

  Mark was told Gus died from the gunshot and that Aaron had felt so bad for him, he’d loaned Evan his own horse for the remainder of the season. Which was partly true. It was Aaron’s horse, Trixie, Evan had ridden. Explaining that Aaron’s family owned Two-Spirits Ranch was a little trickier; Evan had wondered if it would raise questions, but Mark had allowed that to pass as a strange coincidence. He also hadn’t noticed the resemblance in the twins. Apparently, Superman wasn’t the only one who could hide his identity with a pair of glasses.

  “Think they’ll ever show back up?” Evan reached down and patted Moe’s neck. Moe wasn’t Gus, or Buck for that matter, but he was a good horse. And by the time the season started up, Evan should have him trained for roping.

  Aaron shrugged and pulled Trixie to a halt again. “If they do, they’d best be smart enough to stay away from you.” The glint in those pale eyes was downright murderous.

  Evan stopped, too, then leaned over and kissed the snarl right off that tanned mouth. Some things didn’t change, horse form or human, Aaron was a possessive, protective bastard…and Evan loved that about him.

  Ring.

  Evan drew back from their kiss.

  Aaron blinked, then glanced down at the phone on Evan’s belt.

  Evan looked down, too. Aaron’s hand came into view, headed straight for Evan’s phone. Oh shit! Evan heeled Moe and took off as he grabbed his phone.

  Aaron gave chase. “Coward!”

  About the Authors

  JL LANGLEY is a full-time writer, with over ten novels to her credit. Among her hobbies she includes reading, practicing her marksmanship (she happens to be a great shot), gardening, working out (although she despises cardio), searching for the perfect chocolate dessert (so far as she can tell ALL chocolate is perfect, but it requires more research) and arguing with her husband over who the air compressor and nail gun really belongs to (they belong to JL, although she might be willing to trade him for his new chainsaw). You can find JL on the internet at:

  http://www.jllangley.com

  or her yahoo group

  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_yellow_rose/

  DICK D. Sex: Anytime (Male), born: September 11th 1963 in Fort Hood, Texas (Army Brat) and currently resides in San Francisco (Mecca). Dick holds a Bachelor of Computer Science Degree, served from 7/87 - 6/96 as a United States Navy Radioman Second Class (SS) with Highest Security Clearance Held: Top Secret-Specat. He’s been HIV+ since 4/90, presently works as a Internet Banking Security Specialist and is an alumni with Centaur Motorcycle Club, Washington DC. He lists his hobbies as being Evil Overlord, World Domination and loves his iPod.

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