by BA Tortuga
“Go. Go.” He understood, or if he didn’t, he sure wanted to.
Sage waved and walked out to the back porch again. Dakota heard the warmth in Sage’s voice, the longing, and it made his belly hurt a little, so he grabbed a fudge round and a glass of tea and went to flip on the tube.
He did love cable. All the weird-assed fake monster shows and terrible shows from the eighties and cartoons, 24-7.
Of course, he’d learned to adore Netflix too. And Redbox. God, he and Azel could power through some McDonald’s and movies.
He leaned back, rubbing Penny’s belly with his foot. Now all he had to do was call Jayden about their not-date.
Chapter Thirteen
“ARE YOU nuts, Son?”
Jayden grinned, glad he was on the phone and not Skype with his old man. His dad was obsessed with what he called the Jetsons era of communication, talking into the screen and being able to see each other. He’d avoided that today by telling his dad he had to work on the computer while they talked.
“I guess Mom told you I’m working on a case pro bono?”
“She did. Are you having some weird-assed crisis of conscience or something?”
“Nope. Hormonal involvement.” He waited for the shouting.
“Oh, Jesus Christ on a popsicle stick! I told your mother we should have drowned your happy ass at birth!” It would be insulting if it weren’t for the hint of laughter in Pop’s voice.
“Right? I know. Thing is, I know he didn’t do it, Pop. And if a simple rape kit test can prove it, then I win one for team rainbow.”
“You’re sure?”
“I am.”
“Who fucked up, then? If you’re that sure, somebody didn’t do their goddamn job.”
Here was where he had to step careful, because Pop was fiercely loyal to the Boys in Brown.
“I think it was just that there was no other suspect, and that poor girl needed to feel safe. Not excusing bad work or anything, but Dakota was an easy answer.” While he talked he tapped in all sorts of searches. He needed to know how to go about getting that kit tested privately, and he was two years off his freshness date with the prosecutor’s office.
“Still, that means an offender is out there and this kid just lost all that life. Have there been other crimes with the same MO?”
“Shit. I haven’t gotten there. I’ve been focused on the kit.”
His dad snorted. “You’ll need more than ‘I like him’ to get it done. You want this to happen with any speed, you’ll need something to back your play. If you can prove any similar unsolved cases in the last however many years, you can really push it.” There was a pause, and then Pop asked, “You want some help, kiddo?”
“God yes. Please. Please, Pop. I really believe this guy is innocent.”
“All right. E-mail me the deets.”
Jayden cackled. His dad coached little league baseball, and God, he picked up slang like crazy. He made Jayden feel old and set in his ways. “The deets. You got it, old man.”
“You doing okay, kiddo? You regretting this whole move to boring law?”
“Shut up, Pop.”
“Well, I know you’re a mercenary like your mom, but….”
He started chortling. “Fewer people want to kill me over what I’m doing now.”
“That’s at once sad and happy-making, I suppose….”
“Thanks, Pop.”
“Anytime, kiddo. Anytime at all.” He could see his dad’s grin, the bulbous nose shadowing the world’s biggest mustache. He loved that stupid Fu Manchu. He really did.
“So, how’s the coffee klatch?” He moved on from legal Texas sites and went to look up renting campgrounds at Inks Lake.
“Eh. Being retired sucks. I’m bored. I’m considering buying some land, building a house out in the sticks.”
“Oh? You and Mom gonna live in separate places?” His mother would be… not so great at country living.
“God no. I need her like breathing. She says she’s willing to look, see if she finds some acreage she likes….”
“No shit? She’s gonna make you run alpacas so she can knit.” His mom had invested in an alpaca farm once. An alpaca farm that had delivered eighty-six pounds of filthy raw wool on her doorstep.
It hadn’t gone well.
“Lord, Son. Don’t hex me.”
He grinned, tapping away at the keyboard. Okay, so choose a cabin or a campsite? Cabins slept four in two beds, which was fine for Adam and Sage but might be awkward for him and Dakota…. Or freakishly amazing.
The cabins had electricity, which meant phone chargers and AC, which…. Yeah. No question.
Roughing it was really not in his vocabulary.
Less equipment to haul too. Hey, that one had a porch. If Dakota needed to sleep outside, he’d be good.
There would be places to hang wet clothes, a place to eat outside. Hell yeah. He reserved the cabin for Friday through Sunday. If Dakota could get off at noon on Friday, then they’d be able to be out there in the late afternoon and set up camp. Sage had to know someone who could take care of the horses, right?
“Did I lose you to work?” Pop asked.
“Huh? No, camping.”
“Pardon me?”
“I’m going camping.” He waited, grinning, for his dad to give him a raft of shit.
“Son, you do realize camping is outside, right? Like in the big outdoors?”
“I do! I’m renting a cabin, but other than that, it will be mosquitoes and sunburn. I know you’re proud.” He put in his credit card info. “I’ve got a friend who owns a horse ranch. Can you believe it?”
“Who are you and what have you done with my son?”
“Right?” Jayden sat back after clicking to finalize. “I just needed a change, I guess. The guy who ran my security detail. Adam Winchester? Ex-deputy from Hunt County. He’s a good guy, and his guy is the one who runs horses.”
“Hunt County? Man, that’s a good-old-boy network and a half.”
“Yeah? He doesn’t talk about it much. He’s doing well for himself now, running private security in Austin.”
“Huh. I wonder if he wants a base in the Metroplex….”
“I’ll give him your number. I know he’d like to cut back on travel.” That would keep Mom out of cow shit country.
“Do. I can still organize a group of men better than anyone I know.”
Yeah, Dad still wasn’t over the fact he hadn’t joined ROTC or Boy Scouts. “Not a problem. I’ll warn him how grumpy you are, but that’s all.”
“Grumpy? Excuse me? I’ll have you know I’m a fucking angel among men!” Pop was barely holding his laughter back.
“Yep. A bastion of reason. A defender of flowers and puppies.”
“Don’t forget champion of women and evil little shit lawyer sons.”
He lost the war, cracking up, just laughing like a loon. He’d done a lot of laughing lately. Jayden liked it. “Love you, old man. Let me know what you find out on that case.”
“Will do. Enjoy your camping, such as it is.”
“I totally will. Wish me luck.” Jayden knew his dad wouldn’t be able to resist the inevitable question.
“Luck? You need luck for this?”
“If I want to get laid, yes.” He held his breath, hoping for a sputter at least.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
“Yes, exactly.”
“All right, you. I give up. Gonna go get your momma her fancy coffee. I’ll holler when I have something.”
“Thanks, Pop.”
“Love you, Son.”
“Love you too.” They hung up, and Jayden spent a moment staring at his computer, thinking how sad it was that Dakota didn’t have that kind of support.
The man had a family, sisters, and there was money there. Lots of it. Why walk away from their son? It just didn’t make sense. His mom was still digging, so maybe she would shed some light on it….
He should call Dakota. Should he call Dakota? He didn’t want
to waste those phone minutes, but he wanted to make sure the idea of getting off early on Friday was even doable.
Maybe a long text? Or a short text asking Dakota to supper tonight?
“That’s an amazing idea,” he said to the web form still up on his screen requesting records for the district court.
Jayden grabbed his phone, then keyed up Dakota’s contact, the little picture he’d snapped at Sage’s house waving at him.
He sat there for a second, trying to decide where to ask Dakota to go. Maudies? Pizza? There was this crazy New York-style hole-in-the-wall in Leander. There was Mother’s…. No, too vegan. Mekong River was too foreign, Cheddar’s too much of a chain.
They could do Amaya’s again. That was sort of like their place-ish.
So, yeah. He tapped in Amayas? Pick U up after work? and hoped for the best. Jayden refused to label himself a coward about this. This was fucking challenging.
Sure. OK. 5:30?
Oh. Oh, excellent. Very much wonderful. He caught himself grinning down at the screen like a dipshit. He had it bad. In fact, Jayden thought he hadn’t experienced “it” before now.
Shit! He typed in Works for me. Answers were good.
Dakota didn’t answer, but he got it. They’d just used 10 percent of the man’s data in—he checked his watch—seventeen seconds. Damn. Really made a man think about what he took for granted.
Jayden got back to work, pleasure humming at the back of his brain. He had a date. With Dakota.
An enchilada date. The best kind.
He rolled his eyes at himself and shook his head. “Patrick, I’m losing my mind.”
“Shall I act surprised, boss?”
“It would be nice.”
Patrick made the O mouth and clapped his hands to his cheeks.
“There? See? Hey, can you call Jerry Anderson for me? I need all the stuff to file a motion. Here’s all the case information.” He shot the same info off to his dad in an e-mail.
“Sure, boss. No problem. I’m going for coffee. Latte?”
“Nah. I’m gonna take off at about four thirty, have an early supper.” Patrick could have lattes all damned day.
“Oh, cool. I’m going to a dinner party with a few friends. Should be interesting.”
“Yeah? Interesting how?” He hadn’t really talked to Patrick in a while, and he kind of felt guilty now.
“There’s this gay-singles thing. We’re meeting at one guy’s house, and there’s a thing.”
“Things and stuff,” Jayden teased. “What thing? Tell me or I’ll call everyone in the Rolodex your analog-loving heart keeps in your third drawer down.”
“Snooping is wrong, boss!” Patrick came to sit next to him. “You know I’m on this whole stupid dry spell, right? Well, there are a group of locals online—mostly just white-collar guys looking for a hookup or marrieds wanting an eager… uh….”
“Blowjob?” he offered.
“You said it, I didn’t. But yeah, exactly. A subset of us are looking for Mr. Right or at least someone that isn’t opposed to rightness.”
“Go y’all. But that doesn’t tell me the thing.”
“Well, we decided to start meeting once a week in person at someone’s house. The first meeting’s tonight.”
“That’s really neat, honey. I don’t know why you didn’t just say so.” He thought that was adorable.
“Well, it feels a little desperate. Hey, I live in a meat market, and no one I know is interested.”
“Stop it.” Jayden turned in his chair to level a finger at Patrick. “You’re a great guy. You live in a meat market where no one is interested in settling down. Just the fact that a bunch of you are narrowing it down so you know who’s on the same page will help.”
“We live in a young meat market—a young, inked, hipster meat market.”
“Yeah.” He grinned. “I haven’t cared for a long while. Anyway, I have a date.”
“A date date? Good for you!” Yeah, he’d had his own run of dry somehow. Not that he couldn’t have, or didn’t have, people he could have mutual orgasms with, but not someone like Dakota.
Dakota gave him a real happy, not just a hard-on. On the surface they had nothing in common, but Jayden wanted to spend his time getting to know more.
“A date date. Go get your coffee and then deal with those e-mails for me.”
“I’m on it, boss. Have fun tonight.”
“That’s the plan.” He would take Dakota to supper and ask about camping for his birthday. That was it. No pressure, nothing stalkery. No creepy.
Just buddies going to eat.
God, his palms were sweating. He was going to have to grab a shower before he left. But Dakota was going to be super sweaty, right? Maybe that would be mean.
What the hell did he know?
Jayden finally decided it was get back to work or run around in circles slapping his head. He actually opened a file for a client and got to it. Right after he set a timer for four o’clock.
Date night.
Christ.
Chapter Fourteen
“HEY, MAN, thanks for the help on that fencing project today.” Jim Leon handed Dakota a bottle of water. “You really saved my bacon.”
“No worries.”
“Seriously, man. You rocked it and kept things on deadline. I appreciate it.”
Dakota nodded and drank deep, the cold water feeling so good. “You’re welcome.”
He liked working, liked having a start and a finish and a way to measure his progress. Who would have thought he was good with his hands?
“So, Henry was asking around to see if we knew anyone to add to the crew more permanently. Would you like to join on instead of being cleanup all the time?”
“Lord, yes. Please. I’d like that. I’m going to get me a truck on the fifteenth. Just a used one from a friend, so I’ll be mobile.” Sage was selling him the old Ford for five hundred, payable with work at the barns.
“Perfect timing!” Jimmy sucked down a bunch of water. He was a good-natured guy who could work his ass off. “Hey, we’re having a big birthday bash for Hank next week if you want to come. He’s in AA, so there won’t be any alcohol.”
“Sounds good. Just let me know what all to bring and I’ll do it.” Slowly but surely the guys had started asking him to lunch, to watch a softball game, silly stuff.
Good stuff.
And tonight he had dinner with Jayden. Like a not-date date where he was going to ask Jayden to the Fourth of July rodeo in Wimberley. His belly felt like one giant knot, but it was a good kind of pain. The best.
And then there was the camping part. Him and Jayden and Sage and Adam at the lake, in a cabin. Dakota worried a bit about Adam, but hey, Sage assured him no one would be ugly. He believed it.
Adam had been on his best behavior when he’d gone to the ranch to help with Montana. He’d worked with her three, four times. He’d love to say she was eating out of his hand. She wasn’t. Still, she didn’t hide when he fed her, and she nickered at him now when he spent too long grooming someone else.
Sage said it was progress.
Dakota guessed he got it. She was so hurt inside that she had to take things slow.
“We’re having the party on Wednesday at my house. My wife’s cooking a brisket.”
“Good deal. Like I said, just tell me what y’all want me to bring—I buy a really good chip and dip.”
“That sounds good. Don’t get salsa. My wife will get all offended. Bring, like, Ruffles and french onion.”
“Fair enough.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow on the fence crew. Comes with a two dollar an hour raise, starting Monday.”
“Excellent.” Sixteen a day, eighty a week. More than three hundred a month. That would make all the difference in the world.
That would make an unlimited talk, text, and data plan on his phone. Maybe Hulu. How hard would that rock?
“Thanks, Jimmy.”
“Hey, you earned it. See you later.” Jimm
y clapped him on the back before leaving him.
He saw Jayden’s truck and waved, walking over, his bag in hand. He’d started bringing a clean cap and T-shirt to work, so if Sage needed him or whatever, he could be ready.
Jayden rolled up, just far enough away to avoid any nails. “Hey!” Jayden grinned at him. “How you doing?”
“Good. Good. Great even. Let me change my shirt real quick so I don’t sweat on your seat.”
“No problem.” Jayden looked amazing, his button-down shirt only a tiny bit wrinkled, no tie.
He stripped his wet shirt off and tugged on a clean one, sneaking a little deodorant as he did. The last thing he wanted was to be BO man. When he glanced up, Jayden was watching him, blue eyes hot as the Texas sky overhead.
“I promise I smell like Old Spice.” He pinked and hopped in. “How’s you?”
“Good. It was a pretty productive day.” Jayden handed him a bottle of water. Man, everyone was on it, keeping him from getting dehydrated.
“Thank you. I got a promotion. I’m on a crew.”
“No shit? Well, we definitely need to celebrate. Is Amaya’s okay, or would you rather go somewhere else?” Jayden got them moving, sliding into traffic.
“Amaya’s is cool. Enchiladas sound amazing.”
“Good deal. So what are you gonna be doing?”
“Fence work. I like it. Not as gross as picking up trash, and there’s a raise.” Two dollars an hour.
“That’s awesome.” Jayden’s smile widened. “Does that mean more texts? I might bug the hell out of you.”
“Yes! Yes, I’m going to go to the Walmart and get it changed, and Sage is selling me a truck too. It’s a beaut. Needs some work, but I can learn.”
“I bet.” Jayden shook his head. “I never learned to dink around with cars, but I know someone who owns a shop. He’d probably trade training for some physical labor.”
“That’s cool. I already checked a manual out from the library too.” He was learning to do so much, learning that he could do more than people thought.
“Oh, good idea.” He got a sideways wink. “I’m so spoiled on YouTube.”
“Yeah? I haven’t tried a lot of that, but I’m not on restriction from the Internet.” Some guys were.
