by Sunny Day
“Boss?”
He raised his head to catch Brian’s questioning look. “I’m okay,” he reassured him. “That was a damn long ride.”
He’d finally made the trek out of town to see his new supplier. It had taken him and Brian almost a day to go and come back, but at least he’d gotten everything he wanted. He figured that was worth the trouble.
Brian nodded somberly. “I can go alone next time,” he offered. “I don’t mind the ride.”
“We’ll see.”
It’d certainly be more practical, but in the face of Brian’s laconic offer, Leslie’s pride stung a little. He used to handle long drives easily. Then again, he confessed ruefully, watching as Brian went to the back of the truck, he used to be ten years younger.
Shaking his head, he walked over to help Brian. Brian gave him a surprised look. “I can take care of this, boss.”
Leslie shook his head. “No, I can help.” He pointed at the boxes.
“We’ll leave some of those here, and we can sort most of them later. Calvin will know where they go. Those”—he paused as he counted the boxes—“go to the house. We’ll take them now. There aren’t many of them, and that’s a longer trip.”
Grimacing, Leslie hefted the box against his hip. His leg was still giving him trouble. Limping slightly, he followed Brian on his way to the house.
“Hey,” Brian said, “looks like Foster is already here.”
Leslie glanced up and frowned at his front door. It was open. Why would Ash do that? Before he’d time to think about it, he grabbed Brian’s shoulder with one hand. “Wait,” he said. He deposited the box down and stepped inside.
Only to stare in stunned silence at the mess that was now his living room.
“Holly shit!” He heard Brian’s voice. He came to stand next to Leslie. His eyes were big as saucers. “What happened here?”
Leslie’s mouth tightened. “I don’t know.” The room looked like a hurricane had hit it. The furniture was overturned, and papers and pillows and pieces of glass were strewn over the floor. Leslie had a sneaking suspicion the glass once used to top his coffee table. The curtains were pulled from the hangers and left in a pile on the floor.
His mouth tight, he walked over to the dining room. The big table was too heavy to move, but the chairs were thrown down, the upholstering cut and overturned. Shaken, he brushed his fingers over the table, glancing uneasily at the door that led to his bedroom. He was afraid to go inside.
“Boss?” Brian called, jerking Leslie back to reality. He sounded peculiar. Leslie sharply turned on his heel and went to the kitchen. At first he saw only Brian kneeling on the floor. Then he saw a long body sprawled over the tiles, and jean-clad legs ending in familiar-looking scuffed boots. His heart stopped. “Calvin!”
The sound of his name roused the other man. He groaned, his arms twitching as he tried to move. There was blood on his forehead, and he reeked of alcohol.
“Is he hurt anywhere else?” Leslie asked, pulling his cell off his belt and punching 9-1-1 hurriedly.
“I don’t think so,” Brian said. “But he doesn’t look good.”
He was ashen faced and mumbled incoherently. Swearing, Leslie put the phone to his ear. “Keep him calm. I’m calling the ambulance.”
Leslie tried to rein in his temper unsuccessfully. He was in the hospital waiting room, Calvin having been immediately whisked away. No one told Leslie how he was, and he was worried. Calvin wasn’t young, and the wound on his head looked pretty bad. Added to that, the sheriff deputy who’d been called to take his statement was pulling on the last strands of his control.
Brand glowered at Leslie. “He got drunk and lost control. What’s important about that? You’re warned this could happen, Kilmer. Frankly, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened before.” He crossed his arms over his chest, daring Leslie to contradict him.
“Calvin worked for me without incident for years. I don’t believe he had anything to do with what happened. Why was he hurt, if he was the one who trashed the house?”
“So he tripped over his own feet,” Brand replied impatiently. “It happens, Kilmer. People like him don’t get better.” Leslie felt a fresh curl of annoyance in his belly. People like Brand maintained he’d never amount to anything, a kid whose mother abandoned him. Before he managed to say anything else, someone beat him to it.
“Not this time.”
The voice was female, but there was underlying steel in it. Both men turned their heads. A woman stood in the doorway, wearing a hospital white coat. Leslie recognized Susan, Calvin’s estranged daughter. She was a doctor at the hospital. Belatedly, Leslie realized she must have either been on duty or someone called her in when Calvin was brought in.
Angry blue eyes settled on Brand.
“I had the same thought as you, so I ordered a blood test when he arrived. Figured I would have the chance to tell him that no, he hadn’t changed. He is still the same as he was when I was a child, and there is no way I’d let him in my life. It appears I owe him apology.” She moved her hands restlessly. A flicker of worry went over her face. “The tests came back clean. There wasn’t even a drop of alcohol in his blood.”
Leslie gave Brand a vindicated look. “He must have seen someone came to the house, caught them. They hit him and then spilled alcohol on him, to make him look guilty. Everyone in town knows he used to drink. He was easy to blame.”
“It likely happened that way,” Susan agreed. She sighed, running a hand through her blonde hair. “I’m sorry, Leslie, it’s highly unlikely that he will be able to tell you anything. He got hit on the head, and probably won’t remember anything. Was there a lot of damage? The guys said the place was trashed.”
“Will Calvin recover?” Leslie asked.
Susan’s lips curved into a smile. “He will. It looked worse than it was. Still he isn’t as young as he used to be, so it will take time.”
“Good,” Leslie said. “I can fix the rest.”
“But you don’t think he’ll be able to tell us who did that to him?”
Startled, Leslie turned to see the sheriff entering the room. His green gaze focused immediately on Susan. She shook her head. “We can ask when he wakes up, but I don’t think so.”
“Now where have I heard that before?” Grant mused, giving Leslie a sardonic look. A chill went through him. In the light of the conversation he and sheriff had last, this was a worrisome development. He shifted uneasily on his feet.
“I’ll take care of this,” he heard the sheriff say to Brand. The deputy looked like he was going to protest. Leslie narrowed his eyes on him. Brand twisted his lips. He was older than both Leslie and Grant. Leslie wondered if it galled him to take orders from a man years his junior.
“If you say so.” He put his hat back and left.
“Smart decision,” Susan said. “I’ll leave you two to talk.”
Leslie and the sheriff eyed each other in silence. Looking like he had no worries in the world, Grant leaned casually on the wall. “Well, Kilmer,” he asked, “you want to amend that list of people you’ve annoyed?”
Leslie’s heart sank.
“What’s he talking about?” Leslie stiffened at the sound of Ash’s voice. Who called him? Slowly, he turned to face his lover. Ash leaned in close like he was about to kiss him. He seemed to recall where they were at the last moment and satisfied himself by putting his palm on Leslie’s shoulder and squeezing encouragingly. His gaze swept over Leslie. “I heard there was trouble? Are you all right?”
“I wasn’t there.” Leslie answered in clipped tones. “I had to leave—” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Ah, shit.” He wet his lip hesitantly before saying to the sheriff. “I had sort of a…misunderstanding with Ben Richards.” He grimaced. “Calvin had had some problems with him, so I went to clear up the matter. I ended up closing my account.”
Grant looked interested. “Calvin had problems with him?”
“The orders were coming in late, or not at all. I found a store
out of town. That’s where I was today.”
“I see.” Grant’s eyes slid toward Ash. “I didn’t know you had problems with Ben.”
Leslie rubbed his face. “That was the day I had the accident. I didn’t have time to tell you.”
“Whoa, wait a minute. You argued with Ben on the same day you had the accident?”
God, that really didn’t sound good.
“Yes.”
“What am I missing?” Ash asked in a sharp tone. He wasn’t talking to the sheriff. He’d focused all his attention on Leslie.
Leslie shrugged. “The sheriff thinks that my accident wasn’t an accident. He wanted to know who my enemies are.”
He saw the sheriff arch a brow at that. The sheriff wanted to know who his enemies are…besides the Fosters.
“Ben wouldn’t have done something like that.”
Leslie felt something inside him crack. “Excuse us a minute.” He grabbed Ash and pulled him aside.
“Ash, why are you here?”
“I was afraid you were hurt.” Ash looked like he was annoyed with the question.
“Good. If you are here as my lover, can you stop being your family advocate?” Leslie was still gripping his arm, staring into his eyes.
Ash opened his mouth to protest. Not caring how it would look, Leslie shook him none too gently. “I hate to break it to you, but your family has a hell of a motive to get me out of the way. I’m not saying that they are guilty, but I can’t completely write them off.” He was breathing harshly. He could see annoyance on Ash’s face and wondered whether they were going to have an argument right there and then. Suddenly he felt tired. It would be a shitty end to an already crappy day. They glared at each other. Ash sighed and rested his head on Leslie’s shoulder. Surprised by his action, Leslie automatically wrapped an arm about him.
“Fine,” Ash said. “Fine, I’ll try to keep quiet.” He pulled back to cast a narrowed glance at the sheriff. “Within reason.”
Expelling a long breath of relief, Leslie tugged him back toward Grant.
“I suppose,” Ash said, twisting his mouth unhappily, “that now would be the time to tell you that my men were on Midnight Stars.”
“Ash lent them to me,” Leslie explained. “But they were there for weeks. If they wanted to do something, they’d have done it earlier.”
Ash huffed. “I can talk to them.”
Grant gave him a measuring glance. “I guess that’s all right.”
“Are you mad at me?” Leslie asked when Ash parked the truck in front of the bunkhouse on Midnight Stars. He turned in his seat to have a better look at his lover.
Asher methodically turned the engine off and then took the key out. “Why?”
Leslie grimaced. “I could have it handled better at the hospital. It wasn’t fair to accuse your family. I made you pick between me and them.”
“You had a point.” Ash wouldn’t look at him. “I still don’t think they were involved, but I’ve to agree that you’ve a reason to suspect them.”
“Yes, well I—” Leslie sighed. There wasn’t anything he could say to make it better. “God, I had an awful day.”
Ash mumbled something that sounded like, “So did I,” but he was out of the car before Leslie could call him on it. Jared and Brian rushed out to see him.
“Is Calvin all right, boss?” Jared asked, clearly worried.
“He will be. His daughter is there, that should help,” Leslie answered. He glanced at the empty space next to the truck. “I see you cleared the boxes.”
Brian grimaced. “It’s not like there is anything else to do.”
Leslie rubbed his hip. His eyes felt gritty. With Calvin out of commission, him still not completely recovered, Midnight Stars was going to be strapped for workers. Borrowing people from Fourteen F obviously was out of the question, not that he really suspected them. God, what a coil.
“We’ll talk tomorrow,” he said. “Good night, guys.”
They nodded before retreating inside. Leslie watched them go. He supposed he should be grateful neither of them wanted to quit. Bile rose in his throat. Most likely, Calvin was hurt because of him.
“Leslie? You coming?”
Leslie looped an arm around his waist. He buried his head into Ash’s shoulder. The movement knocked Ash’s hat off. He deftly caught it, and led the way to the house. He froze once they were inside. Startled, Leslie pulled back. Ash surveyed his living room.
“I forgot about that.”
“It doesn’t look good,” Ash agreed. He turned to face Leslie abruptly, digging his fingers into Leslie’s shoulder. The look in his eyes was wild. “I’m sorry about Calvin, but I’m glad you weren’t here.”
“They must have known I was out. Calvin wasn’t supposed to be here, either. Jared said there was a problem with his saddle. He must have seen—” Someone’s car, Leslie realized, and decided to investigate. He leaned heavily into Ash. “I didn’t even check the bedroom,” he said. “We found Calvin, and I didn’t have time.”
Ash pulled back, smiling faintly. “We can camp outside, the way we used to.”
Leslie remembered what they used to do, too.
“I didn’t forget, either,” he answered in a husky voice. Despite everything that happened, a frisson of desire traveled up his spine. He gave Ash a hungry look. Ash’s lips stretched into a slow smile. He gave Leslie a deliberate once-over. His cock jumped.
Ash nodded. “Let’s head out, then. We can relax a little. We’ll tackle this in the morning.”
As it turned out, the bedroom was the same way Leslie left it. He heaved a sigh of relief as he sat on the bed. “It looks normal enough.”
“Probably they didn’t have time,” Ash agreed absently.
Leslie blinked, his gaze sliding over Ash’s body. His dick pressed against his zipper.
“I need a shower,” he said. He stood up and slapped Ash’s ass. Startled, Ash turned to look at him. But there was no reproach in his eyes, only lust. He licked his lips. Leslie smiled, slowly, reaching down to adjust himself. His gaze following Leslie’s hand, Ash sucked in a breath. “Want to join me?”
The hot water cascading over his body brought him distinct relief. The press of Ash’s body against his, wet and slick, caused him to quiver with desire. He dipped his head down for a kiss, his hands roaming over Ash’s body.
“Seems like it has been a long time since we did this,” Ash murmured in his ear, his hand trailing down Leslie’s chest and flat belly. He returned to toy with one flat nipple. Leslie bit his shoulder. Ash moaned and pressed closer to him, his dick rubbing against Leslie’s hip.
“Turn around,” Ash ordered in a husky voice. Leslie saw him reach for the lube before he turned and braced both arms against the wall, spreading his legs. His cock bobbed against his belly. He hissed when Ash’s hand gripped him, pulling languidly at the stiff prick.
“Thought you were going to fuck me,” Leslie said, desire spiraling inside him. His hips bucked in Ash’s hand. Ash’s laugh was positively evil.
“I will.” He slid his other hand down to toy with Leslie’s balls. “Don’t worry about that.” Breathing harshly, Leslie leaned his forehead against the wall. He moaned when Ash’s fingers slid into his hole and pushed back eagerly.
“I don’t need it. Please, Ash.” He wrestled with pent-up desire, the water running over them both, tiny rivulets teasing his skin.
They hadn’t done this since Leslie’s accident. As his body waited impatiently for Ash, Leslie wondered why. He needed this. He needed Ash. He let out a strangled cry when Ash finally pushed into him. Strong hands gripped his hips, holding him in place as Ash slowly glided inside him. Leslie wanted this fast and furious. Ash obviously had something else in mind. Leslie panted, letting his body adjust to the intrusion. Swirls of delight raced over his skin. He shivered.
“Leslie.” Ash breathed his name, a sound filled with want and need. Leslie whimpered in answer. Ash had said it the same way the first time they’d done th
is, on the old blanket spread over grass, the stars blinking at them languidly. He could imagine Ash’s face as he said it, a look of intense concentration and naked lust, something he rarely saw on his usually controlled lover. His cock jumped. Like he was reading his mind, Ash changed his pace, plastered himself over Leslie’s back. He could feel Ash quivering with suppressed excitement. Ash was close to finishing, he realized with surprise, waiting for Leslie’s completion before letting himself go. His pleasure spiked. Ash’s hand closed around his cock. He fucked Ash’s hand while Ash fucked him. He couldn’t take it anymore. With a choked gasp, he threw his head back and came, the water washing off the evidence of his release. Ash’s breath stuttered. He growled low in his throat before speeding up his trusts. Leslie gasped. Pressed against the wall and held up only by the weight of Ash’s body, he could do nothing but take the pounding. Asher’s dick was hot and wet inside him. His muscles spasmed around him like his body was trying to hold Ash inside. Ash tugged him closer, hard, before burying himself one last time. A rush of hot cum spilled in his ass. Panting, he stayed still while Ash finished.
“Leslie.”
Blinking the water out of his eyes, Leslie turned his head. Asher’s mouth met his, claiming him in a demanding kiss. Leslie gasped, tearing his mouth away. “Fuck,” he said aloud.
“Yes.” Ash’s voice was deep, the way he always sounded after sex, sated and lazy.
They stayed like that for a couple of precious minutes. Then Ash sighed regretfully and pulled out carefully, causing Leslie to shiver in delight. He stepped out of the shower cabin, throwing a clean towel on a startled Leslie.
“Come on,” Ash said. “It’s time for bed.”
Neither of them bothered with pajamas or even boxers. They just settled under the covers, curling around each other.
Leslie dismounted, patting Delilah on her neck. She nuzzled his shoulder affectionately.
“Wait for me there, girl, I just need to take—” Leslie stopped in midsentence. Frowning, he went over to the side of his barn, where there were neatly stacked orange canisters. He had not seen them this morning when he left, and all his men were out in the fields. Leslie should have been there, too, except that they noticed a breach in a fence, and Leslie decided to return for the needed tools to patch it up.
