Saddle Up

by A. M. Arthur

  “For making you angry.”

  “I’m not angry with you, not at all.” Reyes spoke with a smooth cadence that calmed some of Miles’s rioting emotions. “And I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, I promise. I thought you heard me come in.”

  “Wes had me distracted.”

  “You were having an intense conversation.”

  Embarrassed for chasing after Reyes now, Miles crossed his arms and hunched his shoulders. “How much did you hear?”

  Reyes grunted. “Enough to know Dallas put his hands on you again, and that I want to break his arms for it.”

  “That’s not your job, Reyes.” Miles shocked himself with his authoritative tone, but damn it, he didn’t need a bodyguard or babysitter.

  “You’re my friend. I take care of my friends.”

  “Then be there for me if I want to talk, and hear me if I say I don’t, but do not go off in a huff because you hear about something bad. I can handle Dallas on my own.”

  Reyes scowled, opened his mouth as if to disagree, then shut it. “He hurt you. Again.”

  “Yeah, he did. But I’m here now, and he has no idea where I am. I’m safe and all I want to do is forget about him, but fucking Wes won’t let the past die. I don’t want to talk about it. Please respect that.”

  For a long moment, Reyes looked at him with uncertain eyes, somehow both angry and sad. As if letting this go was personal to him, when they’d been roommates for a week. His loyalty was endearing, but this wasn’t Reyes’s battle to fight. This fight belonged to Miles alone.

  “I can respect that,” Reyes finally said. “I don’t have to like it, but I can respect it.”

  “Thank you. I don’t need a knight in shining armor, but I’ll take a friend. Dallas is my problem, and trust me, a little groping isn’t the worst of the shitty things he’s done over the last five-and-a-half years.” Miles straightened his posture, finding courage under Reyes’s calm, intent expression, and from deep within himself. “I was a very lonely teenager, and when I went to college and roomed with a guy like Dallas, I was the perfect mark. He could charm anyone, male or female, and his charisma drew people to him.

  “Dallas was also the first guy I ever slept with, and when he said I belonged to him, part of me believed that. It’s why I kept taking him back every time he did something shitty or broke my heart. It took a long time for me to find the courage to finally walk away from him, and it pissed him off.”

  And he’d stayed away from Dallas for nearly a year, until Dallas showed up for his birthday celebration last year. He’d gotten Miles into his bed again, and that had been the final straw.

  “I appreciate you wanting to help,” Miles said. “I really do. But I’m here now. No forwarding address with the super. I have a neighbor picking up the last of my mail, so unless Dallas figures out how to hack the DMV, I’ve ghosted him. I’m free. Hell, the head chef on the ghost town website is a pseudonym, so my name isn’t listed. I’m safe here. Maybe not from the memories, but from the man himself.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Reyes said softly. “I apologize for storming off in a rage. I just... When I care about someone, I tend to take their suffering personally.”

  Miles’s heart thumped. “May I ask you a personal question?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you, ah, attracted to me?”

  Reyes’s eyebrows rose slightly before settling again. “Will it offend you if I say I am?”

  “Of course not.” His pulse did race a little faster, though. “I’m asking because, in the effort of full disclosure, I’m attracted to you, too. But I’m also not looking to be with anyone right now, maybe not for a long time. I need to readjust my true north, you know? Settle in and discover the new Miles, the head chef who lives here in Garrett.”

  “I understand. Would it make you more comfortable if I asked Arthur to swap us out for different roommates?”

  Miles startled. “No way! I know you, and I trust you, Reyes. I have slept better since I’ve been here than I have in years, and I know I couldn’t be that relaxed with a stranger, especially in those cabins.” He paused. “Um, would it make you more comfortable?”

  Please say no!

  Reyes paused, his dark eyes studying Miles’s face. “No. I’m an adult. I can accept being turned down.”

  “Thank you. I just want to focus on work right now.”

  “Understood, I promise. I still want to break Dallas’s arms, but I understand what you need from me.” Reyes held out his hand. “Friends?”

  “Of course.” Miles shook and tried to ignore the thrill he felt by touching Reyes’s skin. “I should get back and help Shawn finish cleaning up.”

  “Right, I won’t keep you. I apologize for my behavior. It was possessive and rude.”

  Miles smiled. “A little bit, but I won’t hold that against you.”

  “Thank you.” Reyes tilted an imaginary hat. “See you later, Miles.”

  “Yeah.”

  Walking away from Reyes felt strange, but it was what Miles needed. Time to clear his head, dive into a new job, and try to make new memories that would overshadow the bad ones. The last thing he needed was to risk his heart and body a second time.

  * * *

  Reyes leaned against the truck bed, eyes closed and head tilted to the sky, while his brain buzzed with various ways he could cause harm to Dallas Ward. Not that he was going to, but the various painful scenarios in his head helped burn off the last of the overwhelming rage that had filled him when he accidentally heard Miles’s confession to Wes.

  Seeing Dallas grab Miles by the arm at Club Base had been intense enough at the time, but hearing about Dallas sexually assaulting Miles had flipped a switch in Reyes. He’d gone Kill, Maim, Avenge, and he had needed air before he broke dishes out of fury. He hadn’t expected Miles to follow him, but Reyes had felt a keen sense of pride as Miles laid out what he needed with his spine straight and his green eyes determined.

  As difficult as it would be to live with someone he was attracted to, he preferred that to Miles moving in with someone else. At least they could continue cultivating their friendship, as they’d done this past week with evening horse rides and quiet solitude in the forest. Miles deserved a better boyfriend than Reyes, anyway.

  “You okay, man?” Mack asked.

  Reyes raised his head, then blinked colorful spots out of his vision. Mack stood a few feet away, hands in his jeans pockets, wary. “As okay as I can be, I suppose.”

  “Wanna talk about it?”

  “Can’t. Not my secret to share.”

  Mack wandered two steps closer. “Something with Miles, I take it? Wes mentioned you’d overheard something and I saw the way you stormed out of the saloon. Hell, everyone did.”

  Reyes groaned. “Fuck. Who’s gossiping?”

  “No one, really, and Wes is being unusually tight-lipped about it, which tells me it’s something bad. And really personal.”

  “Wes is right, I did overhear something that happened to Miles, and it pissed me off. I needed air.”

  “I see.” Mack leaned against the truck next to him. “So how long have you had feelings for him?”

  Reyes didn’t see the point in denying anything. Mack was his brother, after all. “A while. But we talked, and Miles isn’t in the market for anything. So we’re friends, that’s it.”

  “That’s gotta be hard for you. I can’t think of any other time in our lives you’ve openly admitted to having feelings for another person.”

  That’s because I don’t let myself act on those feelings. Ever.

  “Doesn’t happen often, and usually it’s someone I don’t know well, so they’re easy to avoid. Never been someone like Miles.”

  “What’s different about Miles?”

  Everything.

  “I’m not sure,” Reyes replied, grateful for this m
oment and to talk about his attraction with someone else. “Everything about Miles makes me want to protect him. To keep him safe from the world. But he’s made it very clear he doesn’t want that. He wants a friend, so I’ll be his friend.”

  “That’s pretty brave, man.”

  “I’d rather be his friend than give him up. But maybe a stronger man would give him up.”

  “Nah, you’re as strong as they come.” Mack knuckled his shoulder. “Good on you for putting his feelings first. This Dallas guy is obviously a selfish prick who never did that for Miles.”

  I can think of much stronger adjectives for that creep.

  “The champagne was also a nice touch,” Mack added. “If you ever manage to romance someone, they’ll be putty in your fingers.”

  Never gonna happen now.

  Reyes had come to terms with being single a long time ago, and Miles’s rejection only brought the hammer down on that choice. “Thanks, Mack. You staying up here or heading back down?”

  “Staying up. We’ve got another rehearsal in an hour, but you can hitch a ride home with Arthur.”

  “All right.” As much as Reyes wanted to stay at the site, he had duties and guests waiting for him down at the ranch.

  At least he had his job to drown himself in, while his feelings had nowhere else to go but back inside his heart where they belonged.

  Chapter Six

  Mack Garrett paced a bit near the gathered crew and cast members as the time ticked down to opening day. The gravel parking lot was fenced off from the west end of the ghost town, and a fenced path corralled visitors down toward their main gate, which was really two long hitching posts on either side of another path that emptied onto Main Street between the post office and the sheriff’s office.

  Almost time to see if his dream came true.

  His phone rang with Wes’s tone, and he’d never been happier to hear it. “Hey, boss.”

  “Hey, yourself,” Wes replied, the excitement in his voice apparent even over the phone. “You nervous?”

  “A little. Hard not to be.”

  “You’ll be fabulous. And don’t even worry about opening day glitches. They happen all the time in theater, but that’s what the dress rehearsal was for.”

  “True.”

  Yesterday, they’d brought up that week’s group of ranch guests, most of the hands, plus some family members who were already in town, to be their tourists for a full, all-day dress rehearsal. They’d had a few minor glitches, but Colin reassured him everything would be great.

  “You heading down soon?” Wes asked. “It’s almost ten.”

  “Yup, we’ll be there in a jiffy.” A little softer, Mack said, “Love you, boss.”

  “Love you back. See you soon.”

  Mack slid his phone into the back pocket of his period-specific slacks, then adjusted the vest he’d been given. Tilted his head just so. Everything had to be just so for this to work. So far, so good, and the size of the crowd excited him.

  Instead of charging an entrance fee to the town, Mack had chosen to charge a $2 all-day parking fee, and wooden donations boxes were affixed to various buildings, including the small church. The bulk of their money should come from sales of food and other goods, including memorabilia and canned items. The lack of entrance fee, he hoped, was to get visitors here, build word of mouth, and to drive traffic. He planned to add a small fee later, once they had a reliable tourist trade.

  Hopefully, his plan worked. Some of the actors, particularly the older, retired ones from Garrett, were volunteers. They were there to rock on porches, wander and chitchat with visitors, and generally do more than sit around at home. But many of Mack’s staff got a salary, and for this to work, he had to get the attraction into the black, so he could stop dipping into the last of his settlement money.

  He’d used a lot of it to get this attraction off the ground, and he wouldn’t run out anytime soon, but he would rather turn a profit sooner than later.

  The office trailer was still on-site, but his team had built a tall wooden fence around it, to hide its modern exterior from visitors. The door had a digital keypad lock that only a few people had, including Miles, Megan, and head actor Colin James. Colin was a professional actor and stage director, and he was in charge of wrangling the paid actors who participated in the two storylines that would play out over the course of the day.

  Mack glanced at his gathered cast and crew, catching a lot of excitement and nerves on their collective faces. Nearby, Miles tugged at the collar of his shirt. Even though he would almost exclusively be in the kitchen wearing an apron and cooking, he and Shawn still had on period-specific clothes for the noon saloon robbery scene, when they would have to leave the kitchen for the holdup.

  The town sheriff, a retired San Jose detective who had volunteered for the role, looked a bit green. Hugo Kirkman had been delighted to take part in the town. “I’ve always wanted to be a real cowboy,” he’d said during his first phone interview. “This is a lifetime dream for a man my age, and I’d be honored to work with you.”

  After being emailed a photo, Mack had hired him on the spot.

  Most of the cast would stay in town during the opening ceremony to present an authentic experience, but a few others were expected to go down for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Some local media had shown up, and everyone was corralled behind a thick red ribbon that hung between the hitching posts. Some of their friends and family were already waiting down by the ribbon for the ten o’clock opening.

  Wes was waiting with Sophie, Conrad, Derrick, and Wes’s parents. They’d all come in last night and stayed at the motel, since the ranch was still full of guests until three o’clock today. Arthur was also here, along with Colt, Avery, Reyes, Robin, and a few other hands, but most had to stay to look after guests. They’d all promised to come up later, though, for the final few hours of the day.

  Colt’s brothers, Brand and Rem, had also flown in from Texas for the big day, to support Colt and all the work Avery had done to get this project off the ground. Mack had sent invitations to his own family, but he didn’t expect anyone to be here. It was enough that Wes’s family was there.

  And when Mack turned the corner of the post office to approach the ribbon with Miles, Megan, and Sheriff Kirkman in tow, he was surprised by the amount of Garrett folk he recognized. Local people he’d known for years, including the town doctor, and the motel owner, Mitch Everly. Not to mention the sea of unfamiliar faces, tourists who’d heard about the opening on social media, as well as local TV and radio station hosts. He even saw a news camera from a San Jose affiliate.

  Butterflies exploded in his belly for the first time that morning, but Mack could do this. He’d been practicing his speech all week, in between tweaking and polishing all the final details. So many moving parts had to stay in sync today for them to be successful.

  Mack picked up a microphone attached to a raised bullhorn. “Good morning, y’all, and welcome to Bentley Ghost Town!”

  A roaring cheer rose over the crowd, and Mack waited for it to quiet a bit before continuing. “Eleven months ago, we discovered the remains of a town that had been built during the California gold rush, back when everyone wanted to go west and strike it rich. Well, no one struck it rich here in Bentley, and eventually the town died off. But we’ve brought Bentley back to life for you fine folks. Not much is known about the town, but there are rumors that once upon a time, a group of bandits who’d just robbed the railroad for gold ended up here. They tried to hide from the law, but couldn’t resist their nefarious ways.

  “Could be those bandits are still in Bentley today. But we’ve got Sheriff Kirkman here to keep us safe.” Mack waited for Kirkman to take a step forward and wave, his expression stern. “So we invite you to visit our quiet little town. You can find some fantastic food at the Tango Saloon, cooked up by our head chef, Art Milo.”

 
Miles stepped forward to smile at the media. In the crowd, Wes wolf whistled. The pseudonym had been Wes’s idea, so Miles could take credit for his food without his real name getting out there.

  “You can also sample some fine local jams and breads at the general store, run by Ms. Megan Landsdowne.” Another wave. “You have any questions or concerns during your stay, we do have an official visitor’s center near the blacksmith shop, as well as first aid, and we’ll be happy to answer your questions. Now, let’s see about getting things started, shall we?”

  More cheers as Mack accepted a pair of silver sewing scissors from Megan. He pulled them open, positioned them across the ribbon, and then paused. Sought out Wes in the crowd and met his eyes. Then stepped back and picked up the mic again. “Seems to me the man who discovered Bentley should be the one to cut the ribbon. Wes?”

  Wes’s mouth fell open. He approached with a beaming smile and damp eyes. Leaned over so he could say into the mic, “I don’t know, if you really want that, you’ll have to go get the horse who spooked and took me all the way out here gripping those reins for dear life.”

  The crowd laughed.

  Mack handed over the scissors. “Please,” he whispered. “This feels right.”

  Wes took the scissors, then angled so he faced the media more. “Welcome to Bentley Ghost Town!” The scissors snicked through the satin, and the ribbon fell. Cheers and voices joined the din, and Mack pulled Wes off to the side by the hand as visitors slowly streamed into the town. Mack tried to count, but he lost track at one hundred, with dozens more in queue.

  “You did great,” Wes said, as they were slowly swarmed by family, coworkers, and friends. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”

  “So am I,” Arthur said, clapping Mack on the shoulder. “This is gonna help save Garrett, I know it.”

  “That’s the whole point,” Mack said. “And to leave a lasting legacy for Geoff.” His throat squeezed with emotion, as it often did when he remembered his late lover. But not the overwhelming grief he was used to. This emotion was a mix of gratitude and love for the man who’d once had his heart.