AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Got that right,” a man shouted from the other side of the wall.
Finley buried his head against Kieran’s neck and laughed until his body shook. Then he pulled back and gave Kieran the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen. “Deal.”
They sealed their pact with a series of kisses that alternated between sweet and hungry. Kieran reluctantly pulled back and said, “I better get Cinderella back to the ranch before midnight.”
Finley snorted but reached for his clothes. They cleaned up with a wet washcloth because Kieran was convinced the disgusting shower had been a crime scene at some point.
“I take it back,” he said when they stepped onto the sidewalk in front of the room. “Even jail was cleaner.”
Finley laughed as he leaned into him. Kieran wrapped his arm around Finley’s shoulders and pulled him flush against his body. He couldn’t remember a time when he’d ever felt so happy, but that all shattered when they arrived at the truck, and he noticed the door was unlocked and someone had taken the camera equipment.
“No, no, no, no,” he groaned.
They’d been too focused on fucking to secure the vehicle properly. No, that was on him. He’d been the last one in the truck, and he was the one who’d let Finley down. Bad things happened when good people like Finley got tangled up with guys like him.
Finley opened up the driver’s side door, and his stomach rolled when he realized the source of anguish in Kieran’s voice. His duffel bag with his grandfather’s equipment and the potential evidence against Ritchie’s operation was gone. Then his heart plummeted when he recalled the other photos on the memory card. He’d captured dozens of images of Kieran astride Loretta in the arena to hone his skills with the equipment.
“Fuck!” Kieran shouted, his voice echoing off the pavement. “I’m so sorry.”
Finley snapped his head up and met Kieran’s desolate gaze. As sorry as he was about the missing equipment and photos, he had a bigger fire to extinguish. Kieran was clearly blaming himself, and that just wasn’t fair. The progress they’d made and the promise of sexy nights in the cabin were in jeopardy if he didn’t act fast. “This isn’t your fault.” Kieran’s tormented expression didn’t change, and Finley couldn’t be sure Kieran had even heard him. He closed the door, rounded the front of the truck, and gripped the taller man’s biceps. Finley shook him and Kieran blinked a few times, but his regret remained.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I know how much that equipment meant to you, and I shouldn’t have been so reckless.”
“This isn’t your fault, Kieran.”
“I was the last one in the truck. It would’ve taken seconds to secure the vehicle, but I was in too much of a hurry.”
To claim me. Finley could never regret what they’d shared, not even after this setback. If he didn’t get Kieran to come around to see his side of things, he’d never get a chance to experience that passion again. Even worse, Finley couldn’t allow Kieran to add another thing to his overburdened soul, so his brain went into damage control mode.
“Hear me when I say this,” he said, both his words and grip resolute. “The thief wouldn’t have hesitated to bash out a window to steal the equipment, so locking the door wouldn’t have mattered. That gear belonged to me, and it was ultimately my responsibility to secure it.” Truthfully, it was a miracle he hadn’t left his keys in the ignition too. “I will get my stuff back.” That earned a quirked brow at least. “They’re going to take it to a pawnshop, and I will buy it back.”
“They’ll remove the memory card before pawning it.”
Finley had already thought of that and had a solution at the ready. “We’ll take more pictures. This changes nothing.”
Kieran’s dour expression said it changed everything. “Not we,” he replied. “I’m not involving you in my stupid scheme anymore.”
Finley wanted to argue with him, but he could tell by the firm set of Kieran’s jaw that he’d just be wasting his time. He had to focus on what he could do instead of beating his head against Kieran’s brick wall. Finley hadn’t managed to knock it down or even scale it, but he’d managed to knock a brick or two loose. He could almost hear the splatter of the mortar and the scraping of the trowel as Kieran built the wall taller and thicker. “It’s probably a waste of time, but I’m going to talk to the motel clerk to see if there are security cameras on the parking lot. Then we’ll head back to the ranch.”
Kieran narrowed his eyes like he was going to protest but nodded. Finley was reluctant to release his biceps, fearing he would bolt like a skittish horse, but they couldn’t stand there all night. He’d just have to trust himself to reach the place where Kieran had retreated to lick his wounds.
The clerk didn’t look up from his computer when Finley entered the office again, and he only responded to his question with a snort and head shake. Their first encounter hadn’t been much livelier, but Finley had been too eager to get naked with Kieran to care. He left the cramped space as quickly as he’d arrived and headed toward the truck. His heart faltered when Kieran wasn’t standing by the vehicle, but he breathed a little easier when he made out his shape through the windshield.
“No luck,” Finley said when he climbed into the cab, “but I didn’t expect much.”
Kieran’s countenance was even stonier and his posture more rigid than the first day they’d met. The man in his passenger seat was a stranger again, and he bit back a heavy sigh. It would be a battle of wills, but Finley believed he’d come out on top. He had to. They rode back to the ranch without uttering a word. Finley played the radio softly because complete silence would’ve driven him mad. But he made a last-ditch effort when he parked his truck and killed the engine.
“I figure they’ll fence the equipment fast. Do you want to check out the pawn shops and grab lunch after morning chores?”
“No,” Kieran said. Then he opened the door and shoved out of the truck without explaining his answer. Finley watched him disappear into the shadows with a sinking heart.
His misery deepened when Kieran didn’t show up for breakfast the following morning. Finley kept his head down and focused on eating to avoid the sympathetic looks everyone tossed his way. Well, everyone except Ivan, who looked too damn smug for Finley’s liking. His nerves got the best of him, and he pushed back from the table without finishing his breakfast. The rare occurrence didn’t go unnoticed either.
“Whoa,” Rueben said before he got very far. “I’ll take those sausages and pancakes.”
Finley extended his plate and let Rueben take what he wanted before rinsing his dishes and placing them in the dishwasher. His thoughts tangled and spun in his brain like a thorny tumbleweed. He wasn’t sure which emotion to latch on to until he reached the barn and found Kieran mucking out the stalls. Indignant fury won out over hurt and dismay. At least he could do something productive with that one; the others just caused him to mope around like a sad sack. Tyler and Owen had kitchen duty once they finished eating, so it would be just the two of them for a while.
“Assigned yourself the shit jobs as penance?” Finley asked. He tried to keep the anger from his voice, but Kieran stiffened before turning his head and meeting Finley’s gaze. He fought back a sob and the urge to throw something when he couldn’t find a trace of the man he was falling for in the stranger looking at him. “So this is how it’s going to be, huh?” Kieran didn’t respond or even blink. “Carry on then.”
