by Faith Gibson
Bryan pulled a box from the bottom of the stack, and instead of sitting next to Andy, he chose to try them on in the middle of the aisle. Andy stood when he had both boots on and walked down the aisle toward Bryan. Right as he got within arm’s reach, Bryan was hopping on one foot as he tried to keep his balance pulling the boot on. Without thinking, Andy grabbed his arms to hold him steady.
“Thanks. I didn’t realize how tight these would be.”
“They’ll stretch out when you wear them a few times. Once they’re broken in, you’ll find yourself wearing them all the time. Much easier to slip into than dealing with laces.” Andy didn’t want to think about tight places and loosening them up. The boots he was trying on were tight, too, but his toes weren’t scrunched. He’d chosen a pair with square toes instead of the pointier ones. He noticed Bryan had chosen a similar style but in brown instead of black. When Andy walked back toward the seat, he caught sight of the box Bryan’s boots came out of. Size twelve. He wondered if the rest of his body was in proportion with his shoe size. Having seen Bryan’s hands, Andy had a feeling he would be thinking of nothing else later on when he tried to go to sleep.
“He’s right. They’ll stretch out. You never did say if you were just passing through or…” Janene was fishing. Bryan looked over at Andy for help. The man was obviously shy around women. No wonder he hadn’t dated much.
“We both just moved here for a job. Our second day, actually. These will work fine for me. Those boots gonna work for you, B?” Andy didn’t want to give out Bryan’s name since he hadn’t offered it. If he wanted Janene to know his name, he could tell her himself.
“Yeah, these should do okay.” Bryan tried to toe the boots off, but they were too tight, so he leaned against the shelving and pulled them off, replacing them in the box.
“Don’t forget the hat,” Andy said. Bryan had put the cowboy hat back on the rack. When Bryan rolled his eyes, Andy reached around him and grabbed it, placing it on top of the box on the floor while he finished lacing his combat boots. “If you’ll take these to the counter for us, we need to look at the gloves.” Andy wasn’t trying to be rude, but he didn’t like the way the girl kept eyeing Bryan. Jealousy wasn’t a good look on anyone, so he plastered on his best smile.
The girl actually batted her lashes at Andy, and he bit his tongue to keep from laughing at her. Bryan followed Andy to where a rack of gloves was, and they pulled several pair off, trying them on for size. When Bryan selected the extra-large, Andy did his best not to groan. They needed to get out of there and go somewhere that didn’t require trying things on. Bryan was quiet normally, but he was being unusually so. Andy figured he’d pissed the guy off, so he kept his mouth shut until they got to the register. He handed Janene the credit card Mal gave him, but Bryan pulled the hat off the pile and stalked away. When he returned, he was empty handed.
Chapter Six
Bryan
Bryan was flattered Janene was flirting with them. She was cute enough, but she was young. And not his type. While he was returning the cowboy hat to the rack, he tried to imagine what his type actually was. The girls he’d been with were all different. There was nothing about them he could pinpoint that drew him to them other than they’d come on to him first. He hadn’t sought them out for sex or for any type of companionship. It had been so long since he’d jacked off that he couldn’t remember what it was he thought about when doing so.
By the time he returned to the front of the store, Andy was already outside. As he walked past, Janene twirled a strand of hair around her finger and waved. “Bye. I hope to see you around.” Bryan threw his hand up but didn’t speak. He pulled the keys out of his pocket and pressed the remote lock. Andy put their boots in the backseat before climbing inside.
As soon as Bryan was seated, Andy mumbled, “Sorry about that.”
Bryan had stuck the key in the ignition, but he paused and looked over at Andy. “For what?”
“I don’t know. Making you uncomfortable?”
Andy wouldn’t look at him, so he reached out and placed his hand on top of Andy’s. “Hey, I’m not sure what you think you did, but you weren’t the one who made me uncomfortable.” Bryan squeezed Andy’s hand before letting go. The touch was meant to be reassuring, but for some reason, it made Bryan want to reach back over and not let go this time. This whole thinking about sex thing was wearing on him. Why else would he want to hold his friend’s hand?
Andy turned his way and asked, “What did make you uncomfortable?”
“Janene. She was sweet, but she’s just a kid.”
“Oh. Well… okay.” Andy nodded once like it all made sense. Bryan hoped he came across as sounding truthful. It wasn’t that Andy’s attentiveness or playfulness was uncomfortable. It was the reaction Bryan was having to his attention. He was becoming more and more confused the longer he was around Andy. Bryan couldn’t wait until the next night when they could go to the bar and he could be around women his age. He wanted to see if there was any type of attraction there or if his body had somehow changed teams and forgot to tell him.
Bryan started the truck and put it in gear. He placed his hand on the back of the seat behind Andy when he turned to look behind him. With the truck being as large as it was, he didn’t trust using only the rearview mirror. His thumb brushed Andy’s shoulder when he pulled his arm back, and Bryan’s cock twitched at that small connection. Yeah, he was fucked if that’s all it took. Instead of driving straight to the feed store, Bryan decided to drive around the small town and see what was what. They passed a Dairy Barn that advertised the best burger in town. “We’ll have to check that out,” he said, pointing it out to Andy. From previous conversations, he knew Andy loved chocolate milkshakes with his burgers.
On the left was a small grocery store. Several churches and a strip mall were on the right. Bryan turned down the next street and found the bar Mal had recently sold. DW’s was smaller than Bryan had imagined by the way Mal described it. He’d also never referred to it by name, just the bar. The D must have stood for Dwight, his father. Bryan probably wouldn’t refer to it by name either if his father had tried to kill him. “You wanna get out tomorrow night? See what the inside of the bar looks like?”
“Yeah. I could use a drink,” Andy said. When Bryan caught his tone, he waited until he rolled to the stop sign to look over. Andy was chewing on his bottom lip while staring out the side window, but there was nothing to be seen other than an empty parking lot. Bryan wanted to ask him what was wrong, but he didn’t want to pry. Maybe Bryan was the one making Andy uncomfortable when he touched him. Or maybe he was giving off mixed signals. He didn’t mean to. When he grabbed Andy’s hand earlier, he’d done it out of friendship. Dammit. This was going to be hard.
Needing to end the silence, Bryan drove to the feed store, pulling around back. Andy got out of the other side and met him at the front of the truck. They didn’t have to wait on someone to help them. The back door opened, and a man that dwarfed them both stepped outside. He wore overalls that were unbuttoned at the sides. Bryan doubted he could have buttoned them if he wanted to. The man spit tobacco juice on the ground, not bothering to wipe the leftover from the corner of his mouth. “Y’all here for Wilson’s stuff?” he asked.
“Yes. Do you need me to back the truck in?” Bryan asked. The man narrowed his eyes at Bryan, obviously trying to figure out if he was black or a mixture of something.
“Nope.” The man spit again and walked over to a forklift. The wheels squatted when the man sat in the seat. Bryan fully expected the tires to pop under the weight. Not looking behind him when he backed up, the man drove the forklift like he was on a racetrack. Balls to the wall. He lowered the forks, sliding them underneath a pallet that was stacked high with bags and shrink-wrapped to keep them in place. He pulled up to the back of the truck and sat there. Andy was the one who went to the back of the truck and lowered the tailgate. Bryan was thankful Andy was able to move, because Bryan was frozen where he stood. The hair on
his arms stood on end when the man spit again, never taking his eyes off Bryan. He wished he’d remembered to put his pistol in the truck. After today, he’d never go anywhere without it.
Once the pallet was loaded, the man parked the forklift and jumped down, as agile as if he was a gymnast. He walked over to a desk that was located under the large metal overhang and grabbed a clipboard. “Sign here,” he said to Andy. Yep, the guy didn’t like the way Bryan looked. He mentally rolled his eyes. If that fucker thought he was intimidating, he had another thing coming. Bryan might not be as tall as others, but he’d been fighting his whole life. Men like this one didn’t scare him. If anything, they got his blood pumping. It had been a while since Bryan had used his fists, in more ways than one. He wasn’t opposed to a good brawl, but this was his first day on the job. He didn’t want it to be his last.
He ignored the sneer from the man and pulled himself into the cab of the truck, leaving Andy to deal with the asshole. It was probably a good thing the man didn’t know Andy was gay or he might have given them both nasty looks. Andy took the receipt and said something Bryan couldn’t hear. When he got in on his side, he asked, “Are you okay?”
“Yep. I’ve been getting looks from assholes my whole life. Not anything new.” He started the truck and headed toward the farm. When he glanced in the side mirror, the jackass was watching them drive away. Motherfucker.
It was Andy’s turn to put his hand on Bryan. Since both Bryan’s hands were white-knuckling the steering wheel, Andy reached out for his shoulder. “Next time, I’ll come by myself,” Andy offered. The spot where Andy’s hand touched Bryan was like a brand through his T-shirt. If he wasn’t driving, he would close his eyes and enjoy the feeling. Shit. Bryan swung the truck into the parking lot of the grocery store, braking a little harder than necessary, both their bodies catching on the seatbelts.
“Sorry,” he muttered before getting out of the truck. Bryan stalked into the small building and looked around. Most stores like this didn’t carry liquor, but he could at least get some beer for later on that night. When he got their juice earlier that morning, he noticed there was less than a six pack in the fridge. Instead of asking for directions, Bryan started on one end and walked the length of the store, reading the signs over each aisle. When he found the beer aisle, he turned down it and ran into a girl. Reaching out to keep her from falling, Bryan grabbed hold of her biceps. “I’m so sorry,” he told her. When she looked up, the girl gasped. Only this girl wasn’t a girl. She was all woman.
Instead of finding fault with the way Bryan looked, her face slid from the startled look to a sexy grin as she blatantly checked out his arms that were attached to the hands still holding onto her. “Sorry,” he said again.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you around here. I’m Laurel.” She held out her hand, and Bryan took it, shaking firmly but gently.
“Bryan,” he returned. Her hand was soft, where Andy’s was rough. Her eyes were green, where Andy’s were bright blue. Her hair was blonde, but not natural like… Seriously?
“It’s my pleasure, Bryan. So, are you new to the area? I could maybe show you around, you know, as a welcome to the community?”
This was it. A beautiful woman wanted to spend time with him, and he was stalling. Why? Fuck it. “I’d like that.”
“How about tomorrow night?”
“I have plans tomorrow, but maybe Saturday instead?”
Laurel paused and narrowed her eyes. “That works, too. Do you have a cell phone? I’ll text you my address.” Bryan pulled his phone from his back pocket and entered her number. “Now, call me so I’ll have your number.” Bryan did as instructed. Laurel’s phone rang, and she grinned. “Got you now. I’ll see you Saturday.” Laurel leaned in and kissed Bryan on the cheek before walking off. He heard her say, “Excuse me,” as she rounded the corner. Bryan finally found his feet and continued down the beer aisle until he found what he was looking for, all the while wondering what the fuck just happened.
Bryan grabbed two cases of beer — one he liked and one Andy liked. He didn’t stop to think about what that meant. Instead, he thought about going on a date with Laurel on Saturday. Bryan should be excited. Instead, he was nervous. He hadn’t been on a date in… damn.
When he got to the truck, he loaded the beer in the back seat. When he climbed in, Andy was staring at him. For some reason, Andy looked like he was ready to blow a gasket. “What?” Bryan asked.
“Just checking your mood. Seeing if I need to drive.”
“Nope. I’m good now.” And he was. Sort of. He’d been pissed because the jackass at the feed store didn’t like his looks. Now, a good-looking woman had appreciated his looks, so yeah. He was better. Still, he didn’t know why he wasn’t more excited about the possibility of spending time with her. He felt Andy’s gaze on him, but he focused on the drive back to the farm.
Bryan waited in the truck while Andy pushed open the gate. As soon as he was through, Andy waved him on, yelling he’d walk. By the time Bryan got the truck backed up to the barn door, Mal was waiting on him. “Everything go okay?” he asked.
Bryan climbed out of the truck and handed Mal the keys. “Other than the big fucker at the feed store giving me the stink-eye, yeah.”
“That’d be Roland. Sorry, I should’ve warned you.”
“Warned him about what?” Andy asked as he rounded the truck.
“About Roland. Him and his brother, Randy, are dickheads. Remember when I told you how Cade and me met? It was those two who were tryin’ to pick a fight with Cade outside the bar.”
“That explains a lot. Anyway, we got some boots, and I got some more beer for tonight.”
“Good. Let’s get this unloaded, and we’ll get ready for supper,” Mal said, climbing up into the back of the truck. He pulled a knife off his belt and carefully slit the plastic. “There’s an empty pallet in the tack room. We’ll stack the feed in there.” He grabbed the first bag and tossed it down to Bryan. He grabbed another and tossed it to Andy.
“Hand me that one,” Bryan said to Andy. The bags weren’t that heavy, and it’d go a lot quicker if they didn’t take them one at a time. Andy passed by with his arms full, but he didn’t look Bryan’s way. Andy had been quiet on the ride home. Bryan thought he was giving him space after what happened at the feed store. Now he wasn’t so sure. Within ten minutes, the truck was unloaded. The horses had been watching them with their heads hanging over the stall doors. Andy stopped to pet them both. Bryan stepped up next to him and did the same. Instead of talking to Bryan, Andy mumbled silly words to the animals. Feeling like a wall had been erected, Bryan left Andy in the barn and headed inside.
Mal was already at the sink washing his hands. Bryan went about putting some of the beer in the fridge. The rest of it he put in the small pantry. “Thanks for pickin’ up the beer. I don’t usually drink every night, but it’s nice knowin’ it’s there if I want it.” Bryan wondered if Mal was hinting that he didn’t want Andy and him to drink if he didn’t. Like he’d read his mind, Mal added, “I don’t care how much you drink as long as it doesn’t interfere with you crawlin’ outta bed every mornin’. I can’t imagine what you and Andy went through overseas.” He looked like he wanted to say something else, but he stopped talking when Andy walked through the door. “So, did anything else excitin’ happen while you were in town?”
Andy gave Bryan a funny look and said, “Excuse me. I’m going to wash up.”
Bryan watched him walk away before he said, “I met a woman in the grocery store. Her name’s Laurel.”
Mal’s eyebrows shot up. “Tall blonde with lots of hair?”
“Yeah. I take it you know her.”
“If she’s the same one that comes in the bar, then yeah.”
“I’m supposed to go out with her Saturday. Do you think that’s a good idea?”
Mal grinned. “If you wanna get laid, then it’s a good idea.”
“You make it sound like she sleeps around.”
M
al shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve seen her leave the bar with different men on occasion. Maybe they were goin’ for coffee.”
“Or maybe she’s a real slut,” Andy said when he returned. He stuck his head in the fridge and pulled out a beer. Popping the top, he sucked half of it down without stopping. Bryan wanted to get him alone and ask him what was bothering him. He’d been acting funny ever since the grocery store. Totally ignoring the surprised look Bryan was shooting his way, Andy asked, “Say, Mal, do you ever let the dogs in?”
“No. They’ve always stayed outside. They guard the place.”
“But you have an alarm.”
“And?” Mal asked, frowning. “What’s your point?”
“I just… never mind.” Andy downed the rest of his beer. While he was tossing the empty in the garbage, Mal cocked his eyebrow at Bryan, who shrugged. He didn’t know what was going on with Andy. But he sure as shit was going to find out before they went to bed.
Supper was strained with Andy not making his small talk, so Mal filled in the silence by telling them more about his three nieces. The love Mal had for the little girls was evident in the way he described each one, but it was also evident he was partial to Mattie, the five-year-old. “I can’t wait for you to meet her. She’s a pistol.” Bryan was looking forward to it as well. As rambunctious as his nephews were, he missed being around them. Something about seeing the world through a child’s eyes made everything better. Less stressful.
Once the dishes were washed and put away, Bryan grabbed the cooler Mal had used the night before and filled it with beer. Mal had told them the night time was theirs to do as they pleased as long as they were up and ready to go the next morning after breakfast. This was so different than being in the military, and Bryan had a feeling he was going to enjoy his time on the farm. Mal had plenty of firewood and kindling stacked up by the pit, so it didn’t take Bryan long to get it going. He didn’t expect Andy to join him with his sour mood, and that had been okay with Bryan. He was going to drink a few beers to loosen up before he found Andy to talk to him.
