AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“There’s that look again,” Brand said. “You get it every once in a while. You sniffing around someone?”
He didn’t want to lie to his boss, who’d asked a direct question this time, so he skated around the truth as best he could. “There’s someone who makes me happy, yes. But it’s real fresh and not somethin’ we’re tellin’ people right now.”
“Understood, and I won’t push. I wasn’t exactly open and honest about being with Hugo when we first got together, so if things are complicated with this person, I’ll back off until you’re ready to talk about it.”
“Thanks.” If Jackson were the only one involved here, he might have spilled his guts to Brand about his feelings for Wyatt, if for nothing else than to get his friend’s opinion on the situation. But Wyatt wasn’t out, and it was not Jackson’s place to out him, especially not to his boss. Not that Brand would care, but it was the principle of the thing. He and Wyatt made an agreement, and Jackson wouldn’t break it.
Maybe he could get Ramie’s advice? Since she was already somewhat in the know after last night’s incident.
“I should get to work,” Jackson said. “Me and Wyatt are workin’ on his ropin’ skills again this morning.”
“Then get to it. He still has some things to learn, but Wyatt is working out a lot better than I honestly expected. Hiring someone with no experience is always a risk, but you’ve been an excellent teacher.”
In more ways than you know.“Thanks, boss.”
Jackson left the bunkhouse and headed for the barn. Wyatt’s car was there, as was Rem’s truck. Pretty sure today was Michael’s day off. They could run the ranch well with the number of hands they had, but calving season was coming up, and they always needed extra help then. Part of the herd would be ready for slaughter soon, too, and separating the steer they wanted to butcher from the ones that needed to continue growing could get tricky. Wyatt might not be ready for that, but Alan would probably be back and working when the time rolled around.
None of that was really for Jackson to worry about. Running those things was Brand’s job, with input from Wayne. Jackson knew Wayne hoped to retire soon and step back from daily operations, but he also imagined it was difficult to let go of something that had been part of his life since he could walk. Generations of Woodses had grown up here, run the land, and been buried both here and in nearby church graveyards.
Jackson had no idea where his own roots were buried. Sometimes, when he thought about Wyatt’s search for his biological father, he did give serious thought to his own past. The people who’d created him, why they’d given him up when he was three, and if he had biological family out there somewhere who remembered he existed. Other times, he told himself it didn’t matter, because his family was here in Weston and on Woods Ranch. Dog was his family. Wyatt was his family. He didn’t need more than that.
The next few days passed much as the previous few weeks. He kept training Wyatt during the day, whipping (metaphorically) the accident-prone younger man into a proper cowboy during paid hours, and exploring their sizzling chemistry off-hours. Wyatt had been grumpy after his conversation with Jared over the car issue, but Jackson had cheered him up quickly with a blow job. Even Dog seemed to anticipate Wyatt’s visits to the motel.
For the first time in a long damned time, Jackson was content. Not just happy and enjoying his life, but content in the things and people around him. He had a boyfriend he adored, a job he loved, plenty of open space around him to explore, and enough money in his pocket to feed himself and his four-legged best friend. He really didn’t need much more than that—except maybe the support of the people around him regarding his relationship.
With each day that passed, Jackson found himself wanting more and more for others to know he was dating a pretty terrific guy and that they were happy. But they’d agreed to wait a few weeks, give them both time to settle into things, before discussing it again.
Doubt began creeping in around the edges the closer they drew to the end of Wyatt’s probation period. Had Jackson simply been a distraction? A mistake? Someone fun to fuck around with while he got his Cowboy Degree?
Jackson hated second-guessing himself so much, but Wyatt fucked with his head in all kinds of ways. He both loved it and hated it. Loved because he’d never been with someone who challenged him so much; hated because Jackson liked being in charge and fully aware at all times. He had no idea what to do, so he existed in this strange, nebulous space between the comfort of his old life and the excitement of something new just on the horizon but still out of reach. And for a while, it was enough.
Chapter Sixteen
Wyatt’s plan had been to put off talking to Jared for as long as possible—which turned out to be about eighteen hours, since Bloomberg had to contact him about the police report and attempted break-in. The conversation hadn’t been great.
“Someone tried to steal my car?” Jared had asked over the phone, his voice bizarrely shrill. It wasn’t as if the car was worth that much. Hell, Jared might have gotten more back on insurance if ithadbeen stolen.
“It was probably just kids playing a prank,” Wyatt replied, doing his best to soothe his friend. “They tried to break into the trunk, not the actual car, and nothing was stolen. I put pretty much everything in the house, so it’s cool.”
“Yeah, so cool. Damn, man, maybe you should just forget this cowboy crap and come home.”
Wyatt glared at his bedroom wall. He’d just gotten home from work when Jared called. “It’s not crap. I really love what I do at the ranch, okay? When was the last time you really loved your job?”
“I’m getting there, I just need to find what I love to do.”
Other than sit on your ass and play video games.Wyatt kept that thought to himself. “I’m not going to forget it. I like my job, I’m keeping an eye on the car, and I think I’m getting close to finally confronting my Maybe Daddy.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Okay, so not really. Wyatt was still caught between his need to know for sure if Brand was his bio dad and his desire to protect the small, precious family he’d found here in Weston. Confronting Brand would blow everything up, and Wyatt had no idea if the pieces would fall in any reparable way. But continuing to keep this secret from Jackson only increased the odds of Jackson finding out from someone else and feeling betrayed. He never wanted Jackson, with his big heart and cargo ship’s worth of personal baggage, to ever feel like Wyatt had betrayed him. Jackson was too fucking special, and Wyatt cared about him too damned much.
Wyatt had a huge choice to make in the next few weeks. And a serious conversation to have with Jackson before his boyfriend had a chance to feel even remotely betrayed by the secret Wyatt had kept this entire time.
“So once you have this confrontation with Maybe Daddy,” Jared said, “does that mean you’ll pack up and come home?”
“I don’t know, okay? I have no idea how this confrontation or conversation, or whatever you want to call it, is going to go. I might be run out of town and head straight back to Glasbury. I might get an acceptable explanation and decide to stay, I just don’t know.”
“Well, then can you figure out some other way to drive around? I need the car back with all my stuff that was in it.”
