Another hour passed and still the doctors brought in different machines for more testing. Graham could see Tyler was getting tired and lines of pain bracketed his mouth.
Tyler’s father leaned over and quietly spoke into his ear. “I have always loved draft horses. Watching them compete in weight-pulling contests and in the conformation ring has been a hobby of mine for quite a few years. My favorites are the Percherons and Belgians.”
Graham looked at Glen and saw the twinkle in his eye and knew he had been busted by one member of the Hayward family. “I have always thought draft horses were one of the most beautiful animals on the planet,” Graham said honestly.
“You know,” Glen continued. “According to the magazine articles on Belgian draft horses, some of the best horses for the last couple of years have been coming out of a ranch in Texas, with a funny name. I wonder if you would know anything about that?”
“Lots of ranches in Texas have funny names,” Graham pointed out. He was thoroughly enjoying the game they were playing.
“From what I understand this ranch is owned by a man with the last name of Conner. Now that I think about it, I believe that ranch is called ‘the Crazy Angle.’ Would you by any chance be related to that owner, Graham Conner?”
“I guess I would, Mr. Hayward, intimately.”
“Call me Glen. And my wife is Janice. Now does my son have any idea that he may have found fame and fortune in the sports world, but in the horse world you have far surpassed him?”
“We haven’t actually had a chance to discuss everything yet. Tyler has been busy dealing with his injuries. We needed to get through today and then I thought we would talk.” Graham watched as the doctors loosely wrapped Tyler’s arm and helped him put on his sling. Then Tyler walked over to them.
“Why don’t we go find something to eat? I guess they are going to go over the results and they said we could meet in the morning.” Lines of fatigue and tension bracketed his mouth.
“Do you have any pain pills on you?” After Tyler nodded, Graham suggested. “How about we all just go back to the hotel restaurant? It’s getting late, and you look tired.”
“Are you sure you’re up to it? We could go to your room and I could order you something?” Janice took Tyler’s arm and started leading him out of the room. Graham watched as Tyler stopped moving and pulled his arm from his mother’s grasp.
“No, Mom. I agree with Graham. I think we should all get a table at the restaurant at the hotel. We need to talk about the tests they ran today.”
Glen put his hand on the small of his wife’s back and urged her forward. Everyone followed and soon found themselves at the hotel, seated in a round corner booth, making small talk.
Graham made sure Tyler’s water glass was full and that he took his pain medicine. Soon the group was devouring their food. It had been a long stressful day for all of them and they were all tired. Finally, their plates were taken away and they all sat back and relaxed. Tyler was leaning into the circle of Graham’s arm.
Richard looked at Tyler, speculation and contemplation on his face. “Well, Tyler, what do you think?”
“Truthfully, I think that the shoulder and elbow are going to need more time to heal.”
“Tyler, spring training starts in six weeks,” Janice said.
“Mom, get real. I am not going to be participating in any spring training. That’s impossible.”
“No it’s not.” Tears started running down her cheeks. “You can do this, Tyler.”
“Janice, enough. Every person in that hospital room knows that Tyler won’t be ready to play ball in six weeks.” Tyler’s father looked like he was ready to strangle his bullheaded wife.
Richard asked, “What about the hand, Tyler? It didn’t look good.”
Tyler for a moment looked devastated, and then he pulled himself together and addressed the whole table. “I truly think I will need more surgery. It doesn’t work right and there’s still a lot of pain.”
Tyler was so tired and the pills were kicking in. He started to wonder if it would be rude to just get up and walk away. He had been delighted with the way the shoulder had moved and felt during the tests. The elbow, he thought, would be okay with time. The hand worried him, he couldn’t deny that. The biggest question of all was, would his arm and hand be able to function normally, much less stand up to the stress of playing baseball?
Graham interrupted his thoughts. “I think Tyler needs to get to bed. How about we all meet back here for breakfast in the morning?”
Tyler was glad his mother didn’t try to insist that she needed to help him. Maybe she was finally going to listen and respect his wishes. Tyler thought it was probably the big cowboy who was urging him from the booth that had her backing off. He could only hope so.
Unfortunately, even though his mind wanted desperately to lick Graham from head to foot and feel his thick cock deep in his ass, Tyler’s body was giving out. By the time they made it to Graham’s hotel room, he was barely coherent. Graham had him undressed and they both were in bed, snuggled together, in minutes.
“Why are we always sleeping in your hotel room? Mine is just as nice.”
“My bed is bigger,” Graham answered.
Tyler frowned. His fuzzy mind gave up trying to figure out why Graham’s answer didn’t sound right. He thought their beds were pretty much the same.
That was the last thing Tyler knew before the alarm on Graham’s watch went off, indicating the day of the test results was here.
Chapter Seven
Tyler sat at a huge rectangular table in one of the hospital’s conference rooms the next morning. Graham sat on one side of him with Richard on the other. His mom and dad sat a little further down. The lead doctor of the hospital’s staff, who had been treating him for the last three months, was sitting across from him, along with the team’s top doctor. The supervisor for the physical therapy ward was also there.
The meeting started and the group was told pretty much what Tyler thought would be said. His shoulder was healing well and they would like to evaluate it in six months. The elbow was unstable and they would like him to come back in three months for tests. Then they would be able to tell if he needed more surgery on it or if it was about as strong as it was going to be.
Now the hospital doctor turned to him. “Tyler, I know you have worked as hard as you could, trying to strengthen that hand. But scar tissue has built up and is pushing some of the smaller bones out of line. My recommendation is for you to have surgery as soon as possible. In fact, if you agree, I would like to preform it tomorrow. Also, I want you to know, I feel the purpose of this surgery is for you to be able to use that hand in everyday activities. Baseball isn’t even a consideration at this point.”
“How dare you?” Tyler’s mother jumped out of her chair, confronting the doctor. “Tyler’s whole life has been devoted to playing baseball. Now you’re saying it isn’t even a consideration?”
The doctor, too, stood up and met Janice head-on. “Let me tell you something, Mrs. Hayward. My concern is for my patient’s well-being and giving them the opportunity to live a full life. If we don’t go in and take that scar tissue out now, eventually that hand will stiffen up completely and it will be useless. You’re worried about him being able to play professional baseball? Mrs. Hayward, I’m worried about him ever being able to pick up a fork and use it to eat..”
Tyler ignored his crying mother, who thankfully sat back down in her chair with a little help from his father. He looked at the doctor and said, “Schedule the surgery for tomorrow.” Addressing the whole room, he smiled somewhat sadly. “Thank you all for coming. I guess all we can do is see how everything heals. Again, thank you for giving me your time and doing your best to restore my arm to the best that it can be.” With that, Tyler left the room, so very glad the big cowboy was right beside him. He had a park bench and some ducks that needed his attention and then a surgery to get ready for.
* * * *
The morning afte
r the surgery was spent getting ready to check out of the hotel. Tyler’s mom was helping him gather his stuff together and pack everything up. Graham had already checked out of his room and was sitting next to his father at the small table in the corner, drinking coffee and talking about horses. Who would have thought?
Removing his sling was one gift the doctors had given him. They had told him the surgery went well on his hand, and after he had been awake enough to meet their standards in recovery, they had discharged him. When Graham had asked him to come home with him to Texas, he had said yes. Tyler was free right now to do what he wanted and he wasn’t ready to say good-bye to his cowboy.
A knock on the door caught everyone’s attention and, when Tyler’s father opened it, Richard stepped into the room.
“Tyler, I just wanted to warn you. There’s a group of reporters out in the lobby waiting for you to check out of here. How would you like to handle them?”
“Oh no,” Janice exclaimed. “What are we going to do?”
Tyler’s first inclination was to sneak out the back of the hotel. How many times had he and Tony done that to avoid being caught by the cameras? He looked over at Graham, their eyes meeting, and knew those days were gone.
“How about we all just go down there together?” Graham said. “I think Richard can give them enough of a statement to satisfy them and then we leave.”
“That’s a terrible idea,” said Janice.
“Why is that a terrible idea, Mom?” asked Tyler.
“Because, first of all, they’ll be taking pictures of you two together. Who knows how the fans will react to that. Second, what’s Richard supposed to say? This is never going to work.”
Tyler could feel himself getting angry with his mother again. Just when he was going to start yelling at her, he felt a warm hand on the small of his back. Tyler looked up into Graham’s warm green eyes with those little brown flecks and he felt all of his agitation drain away.
“Usually when dealing with reporters, keeping it simple works the best.” Graham smiled at the Richard. “Just tell them nothing has been decided yet. You’ll let them know, when you know.”
“You know, I think that’s a great idea.” Glen stood up from the table and clapped his hands. “Let’s get out of here.”
“You okay with this, honey?” Graham asked Tyler, gently kissing him on the lips.
Tyler was in awe of this big, strong cowboy, who never seemed to back down from anything.
“Yeah, I’m way okay.” Tyler smiled and reached up and gave Graham a peck on the lips.
Their little group moved through the lobby with Richard leading the way. Tyler was behind him, carrying a small bag, with Graham bringing up the rear, carrying the rest of their luggage. Tyler’s mom and dad were on either side of him.
Of course, the minute the reporters saw them they rushed over, sticking their microphones in all of their faces and shouting questions at them. Richard stepped forward, drawing their attention to him, and started speaking to them. After making his short but sweet announcement of nothing, Richard started to lead Tyler’s family out of the hotel. The reporters continued to shout questions at them and some jostling did occur, but they made it out of the hotel better than Tyler thought possible.
At the airport, the small group was again greeted by more reporters. They only had to make it through the front public area and then they knew they would have some peace. Tyler looked at Graham and saw he was walking easily, a calm, disinterested look on his face. Tyler took a deep breath and tried to copy the cowboy. Soon enough, they were away from the press and, after hugs and handshakes all around, they all split up to go to their respective airplane waiting areas.
As Tyler and Graham walked to their waiting area, Tyler had to ask the question that was burning at him. “How did you do that?”
Graham chuckled and gave him a loving look. “My dad always says, when dealing with reporters, you have to follow an old saying from a deodorant commercial.”
“What’s that?”
“You never let them see you sweat.”
Tyler couldn’t hold back his laughter and soon both of them were laughing together.
* * * *
Tyler leaned back in his first class seat on the flight to Texas. On his lap, he had his bandaged hand resting on a pillow. “So tell me what your home is like in Texas. Are you a real cowboy or do you just like to dress that way?” Tyler realized he had never asked Graham much about himself. He started to feel bad at his selfishness, but the uncomfortable and sheepish look on Graham’s face caught his attention.
“I own a large ranch, honey. It covers over fifty thousand acres.” Graham picked up Tyler’s uninjured hand and laced their fingers together. “It started out that I needed a place to create a real home for my sister. I was twenty-four at the time and realized that my parents were starting to get deeply involved in their latest cause. From experience, that meant they were probably going to leave her with a nanny in an apartment somewhere or send her off to boarding school. I couldn’t let that happen.”
“What did you do?”
“I have always been crazy about horses, especially draft horses. I learned everything I could about them and then I worked on different ranches during the summers while I attended college for business. I already knew when I finished college that it was just a matter of time before Cindy would be coming to live with me.”
“So after college, you bought a ranch?”
“Don’t sound so skeptical. While I was working for different ranches over the years, I met this old guy who had draft horses and wanted to sell. The thing about draft horses is that everything has to be supersized. The barns, stables, walkways—everything has to be larger and taller. And to be honest, it’s hard to make any money raising draft horses unless you have a plan.”
“So you met a guy and he had a ranch for sale and you bought it? What’s the name of the ranch?” Tyler was curious. From what he knew, ranches could have simple names or meaningful names.
“Well, that’s kind of the very short version of what happened. But yeah, I bought it and vowed that Cindy would have a stable life with me. When she moved in a couple of years later, I became her guardian. She was already competing in gymnastics by then. It was a good thing I had already set up the ranch, with a great bunch of skilled guys to run the place, because I started accompanying her around the country to events she was competing in.”
“Don’t think I didn’t notice you’ve avoided telling me the name of your ranch. But now, you have to tell me what happened next with Cindy.” Tyler squeezed their joined hands.
“Cindy is a very talented gymnast and at sixteen, she competed in her first Olympics. She didn’t medal, but it didn’t matter at that point. I was just so proud of her. Then at eighteen I didn’t have to accompany her all over as much anymore, and I went back to the ranch fulltime.”
“Are you going to tell me its name?”
“It’s called the Crazy Angle.”
Tyler’s laughter rang out, causing everyone around them to turn their way. Graham couldn’t help but smile. Even with the scar on his face, Tyler was beautiful.
“There has got to be a story behind it. Come on, tell.”
“Billy, the former owner, told me the official story is that he named it after his first Belgian, whose tail cocked at a funny angle when she ran. But one night after we both had way too much whiskey, he confessed that story was a bunch of horse hockey. The real reason the ranch is called the Crazy Angle, was because Billy’s dick stuck out at a crazy angle when he got hard.”
“No way. You just made that up,” Tyler accused. “There is no way anyone would name a ranch after his dick.”
“Oh yeah? You would be surprised how many ranches are named after totally different things than the owner tells you. I know for a fact that The Rocking J was named after a wild night the owner had with a woman named Jean.”
By now, everyone was again looking at and laughing with Tyler. With his eyes shini
ng with mirth, head thrown back, and that sweet laughter ringing out, Graham couldn’t help himself. Right then, he fell in love with Tyler Hayward.
* * * *
As Graham drove Tyler through the iron archway that proclaimed the ranch the Crazy Angle, Tyler looked down the long driveway at white fenced-in pastures filled with huge sorrel draft horses. Tyler thought of the line in The Wizard of Oz. He sure wasn’t in Kansas anymore. This place was huge and impressive.
Graham had told him about all of the men who lived on the ranch and worked for him. Looking out the passenger window across the large pasture, he saw a huge tractor working up a field. That had to be Zaiden, the man who managed all of the crops that they grew on the ranch. Tyler was fascinated to learn that the ranch not only raised and trained draft horses, but they grew some of their own hay and other grains. They also grew and sold cabbage and had a decent-sized pecan grove.
The truck rounded a small curve and the main buildings of the ranch came into view. Tyler could see the main driveway split off into two different directions. To the left was the working part of the ranch. Tyler caught a glimpse of a cluster of huge, red metal buildings with white trim before the truck took the driveway to the right and the house came into view.
The first thing Tyler saw was a huge, open porch extending out from the smooth sandstone walls of the single-story house that spread out on either side of it. The porch’s green metal roof was supported by four huge stone pillars. Great exposed wooden beams supported the roof, making a person feel like the large house was greeting guests with a warm welcome.
As they drew nearer, Tyler took in the small, landscaped pond that the driveway circled around in front of the house. Two huge wooden double doors opened to reveal a petite older woman in jeans and a brightly flowered tunic. Tyler concluded she must be the housekeeper, Lucy Romberg. The truck stopped and Graham and Tyler both got out into the warm, bright afternoon sunshine.
Tyler's Transformation [The Men of the Crazy Angle Ranch 1] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) Page 5
