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I walked over to see them all pointing at things like Joel pointing to his dog, Millie, and the red kerchief around her neck. I saw the goats had been added, and two more horses were painted, grazing in the field by the red barn.
The mural was them; Burke and Damon painted so much alike, with Burke only bigger, two bulls heads where theirs should be. Joel had been a bull rider and traded in the actual animals for Burke and Damon, so it was very fitting.
Their animals were all in it, their club made from the barn, and Joel was indeed upfront of the entire thing, shirtless with much bigger muscles than he possessed, but his friend painted it.
“This looks so familiar,” Brett said, then looked in the bottom right corner to see the artist’s signature. “Holy shit! Xen! Xen painted this; I knew it!”
“You know Xen?” Joel asked with his jaw hanging.
“I do! He’s a good friend. Actually, his best friend and mine are partners.”
“PJ?”
“Sure! My bestie is Bennett, he, and PJ?.”
“Well, hellfire, I know Bennett! They came here on openin’ night, and we…well, we…”
Burke finished for Joel, “We’re poly, they are, you do the math.”
Brett giggled a little and said, “I got it. Wow, small world!”
“The smallest,” Theo said. “They’re…gorgeous. I tried with a few of them, but I was an ass; no one but the go-gos would hang out with me.”
“And now, you are changing,” I gave him, kissing his head. “Indeed, a small world.”
“They’re coming here next weekend. We’re open. If you’re still here, you could visit with them and have some fun.”
Brett lowered his head, saying, “I doubt we’ll be here more than a couple days.”
“Why?” I asked. My plan was being pushed a little faster than I’d hoped, but why not just get it out? “This is a wonderful place to hide. It’s why Javi thought of it for Theo. If you can get new names and buy some property, why not stay here? You already have new friends, and your old ones come now and then.”
Brett looked at Ryan, and though he warned against getting too excited, I saw the longing in his eyes. If nothing else, he wanted to make Brett happy. “We’ll…have to see what your family thinks.”
“Dante will okay it, I’m sure.”
“You can talk him into just about anything, Brett. But hold back on making plans until we speak to him.”
Chapter Twelve
We all sat at the long barn wood table in Burke’s home, Damon, and Joel near Burke, the two respective couples across from one another. Brett’s eyes were pleading, Ryan's skeptical, and Theo held my hand tightly under the table.
“This is doable. Damon can find a place, just like he did this place.”
“Yeah,” Damon agreed. “There were at least ten more properties near here. They didn’t suit our needs, as they weren’t large enough. We wanted more area to expand, like with our guest cabins.”
Ryan nodded once to Damon, then said, “I see how Brett looks at it here. From the minute we drove through the mountains, it was like he’d come alive. He’s done a lot for me the last few years, so it’s my turn, and it’s not like a punishment. It’s beautiful here; we have people, allies, that I hope I can trust with our secret.”
“Of course, you can. There’s all of us, my friend Eli and his old man, Noah,” Burke assured. “Besides us, there are good people around, and more importantly for you, like it was for us, people that mind their own business. Joel’s dad ran all over, trying to make trouble when he found out about us. He’s religious and thought we were corrupting his son.”
“No good piece of horse shit,” Joel mumbled.
“We agree on that assessment,” Burke whispered to him.
“How can this work, though?” Brett asked in a small voice that didn’t suit him. I felt his need for a place of peace. It had worked for us, for Burke, Damon, Joel, and Eli, and he needed it.
“We’d be here, Brett,” Ryan said. “You’d be closer to your friends, friends that come here, by what they say. They can come here for sex; they sure can see you.”
“Ryan, would you be happy here?”
