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“You look like you’ve been up to no good,” Nate called, his arm now sling free even though he was on light duty.
“So there’s something I need to explain,” I started with as my sight danced from Nate to Landon, Perry, and my brother Will, Ron, and Donnie, as well as a few temporary helpers that would, hopefully, sign on permanently.
“We don’t need to hear about you jerking off every night,” Will shouted. The others chuckled, which was followed by silence. A complete and utter quiet, like a graveyard. I felt Shep step up on my left, his arm brushing mine. Which explained the dumbstruck looks on every face in the dooryard.
“I told you to stay put,” I mumbled at Shep and took a step out the door.
“I’m done hiding,” Shepherd announced and pushed around me as Nate and Landon came stalking up, expressions bordering on violent.
“What the fuck are you doing here, McCrary?” Nate snarled, the angry words mere puffs that dissipated quickly. If only the glower on his face would disappear as quickly.
“Kyle has given me sanctuary,” Shep told the small but deeply upset group of men. All eyes flew to me.
“Yep. Me and Quasimodo here have been bunking together for about a month now,” I stated loud and clear. My brother’s mouth literally hung open. Perry Yellow Horse looked like a sparrow could knock him over. Then it hit me how that sounded. “Not that we’ve been sleeping together,” I hurried to say. Lie. I hurried to lie. It sat on my tongue badly but neither one of us wanted our little “slaking of mutual desires” to be common knowledge. A month of weakness. That’s all it was. Who the hell wants his friends to know that he tossed aside years of burning hatred for deep blue eyes and a pretty mouth? Not this old cowhand. Nate was irate. “Give me time to explain. Come inside, all of you. We’re not heating the outdoors.”
I turned from the glares and questioning looks. Shep followed suit, his stance rigid as he positioned himself by the fireplace as the small cabin filled with big men with even bigger attitudes. Landon removed his hat, tossed it to the table, and turned those smoky gray eyes on me.
“I want an explanation now, Kyle,” the owner said with zero emotion. Shepherd—because he was a know-it-all Vassar man and a snotty McCrary—spoke right up.
“You should be speaking to me, Reece, as I’m the one who trespassed on your land,” Shep stated calm and cool as a string bean. Bet he was on a debate team at that fancy college. I tended to settle my scores with my fists, as his brother knew all about. “My brothers have exiled me from Hollow Wind.”
Nate snorted. “Right. Sure they did. I’m not really in the mood for some bullshit story from you, McCrary, so you might as well stop—”
I barged in, mouth engaging way before my brain, which was par for the course. “It’s not bullshit. He showed up here a few days after I arrived and was beaten to a pulp.”
Everyone glanced from me to Shepherd. He nodded. It was one of those regal nods that he dispensed so well when he was in full McCrary mode. Maybe he should dial down that superior attitude and lower his uppity nose just a bit?
“Abbott’s telling the truth. I was thrown out, literally, with only the clothes on my back. I saddled up my horse and rode into the blizzard.” The group packed into the cabin gaped. “It wasn’t the smartest thing to do, I know. I might have been concussed. Clay has one hell of a left hook.”
“You could have killed your horse,” Perry snarled.
“I told him he was an asshole for doing that to Dundee,” I chipped in.
“Argus,” Shep threw at me, then bobbed his head. “I know, but I had to leave. I thought they’d put a bullet into my head if they caught me hiding on our land. So I rode out.”
“Wait, just back the fuck up,” Nate tersely said. “You expect us to believe that Clay and Morgan beat the hell out of their precious little brother and then threw him out into the snow? Why? Why would they do that? I’m sorry, but I’m not buying this. What are you really doing here? Are you working some sort of angle or swindle?”
“Please, like I’d swindle anything from this ranch?” Shep flung back. And there it was, that McCrary uppity demeanor that made a person want to slap the shit out of him. It set me right off, as it did the others, but now that I knew the man a little better—intimately even—I knew that the haughtiness was a shield that he put up. I still wanted to slap the smug out of him, but at least I got why he acted like he did at times.
“Excuse him. His asshole sneaks out at the worst times. What Shep meant to say was—” I started, and the man sliced me off at the knees.
“I don’t need you or anyone else to speak for me anymore, Abbott!” I held up my hands. “I said exactly what I meant. There’s not a thing on this side of the Jante I want aside from a safe passage across your property and a stable for Argus until I’m financially able to take him back.”
Nate was still prickly as a pear, but he waved a hand at Landon as if he was the owner. The ex-superstar goalie ran a hand through his hair, then leveled a dead eye at Shepherd.
“I’m going to need more to go on than that. I’m like Nate in that I cannot see your brothers laying a hand on their youngest sibling, let alone throwing you out into a raging blizzard like a bag of garbage.”
Shep’s features—the same ones that were so stunningly beautiful when in repose or on the brink of an orgasm—turned hard.
“They discovered something about me that they found to be…revolting to them.” His speech was clipped and curt. I ached deep down inside for the man having to retell this painful story again. It was like a rape victim taking the stand for fuck’s sake. I opened my mouth and then closed it, pressing my lips tightly together. This was not my story to tell or even my dragon to slay. It was Shep’s.
“Did they discover that you have some Native blood?” Perry flung out like a dagger.
Shep winced a tad but shook his head. “No. They discovered that I’m gay.”
You could have heard a fly fart, the room had fallen so silent. I dropped my weary ass into a chair and waited for the gang to digest what he had just said. I was insanely proud of Shep. When he’d said he was done hiding, that good-looking bastard meant it.
“Holy hell,” Nate finally mumbled as I studied Shep closely. He was tight, ready for a fight or to possibly flee. I suspected he would face neither here, now that the truth was out.
