Chaps and Hope (Mossy Glenn Ranch 1) (10 page)

Outside, Carlos was consulting with Salt. Rocky had a paint roller in one hand and a thermos in the other. A horse nickered, cattle lowed, and a roster crowed. The ranch had got noisy in a good way pretty quickly. It was good, because Troy felt like they were closer every day to getting the ranch where they wanted it to be. Oh, he knew it’d take years to really have a firmly established business, but they’d get there, one day at a time.

“Coffee,” he said when Carlos looked over at him. Troy handed him the cup and Carlos barely got out a thank you before he was chugging the steaming hot stuff. Troy left him to it and went back to finish breakfast. Will and Drake were in the kitchen, and Drake’s eyes looked red and puffy. His face was blotchy, and his hands shook as he pulled the cookie sheets out of the oven. “Want me to get those?”

“I got it,” Drake rasped.

Will shrugged and made shooing motions with his hands. “Go back outside and let Carlos know grub’s on, please?”

Troy traipsed back out and met Carlos on the porch. “It’s ready.”

Breakfast was weird, only because Troy knew they were all worried about Drake. By the time he and Will got on the road to Ashville, Troy was brimming with curiosity.

Will didn’t keep him waiting. “I don’t know what was said, but that was apparently Drake’s ex on the phone earlier.”

“Is Drake going to leave us and go back to him?” Was he awful for worrying about who’d be doing the cooking first and foremost?
Yeah, probably.

“I don’t think so. Drake was pretty mad, and maybe scared. I couldn’t tell for sure since he wouldn’t talk about it, but I
think
it was fear I saw a time or two in his expression.” Will let out a wispy whistle. “Man, I have to wonder about that.”

“What do you mean?”

Will leaned against the door and looked at him. “I mean, if he was afraid, why? Is his ex a psycho-stalker? Or did he maybe expose Drake to something?”

“Like HIV?” Troy didn’t like saying it, but avoiding one of the realities of life was just plain dumb, and he wasn’t a complete idiot. “Is that what you mean?”

Will rolled his head and looked out of the window. “Probably I’m just being melodramatic, and misreading everything. I shouldn’t have said anything, I guess, but it’s worrying me and telling you and Carlos, that’s the only way I can keep it from knotting up inside and driving me nuts.”

Troy understood that, he certainly did. “Of course you should tell us. It isn’t like we’re going to go spreading gossip. You’re worried, and we’re here for you. Besides, I think maybe you’re on to something. Drake likes you, y’all get along good. If you can, find a way to get him to talk to you some more, or just, I don’t know, offer to drive him to the clinic in Bozeman for testing.”

“They have at-home test kits now.”

“I read about that.” Troy glanced at Will, relieved to see him less stressed-looking. “Not sure how they work, mainly because I heard of them after we all got tested and ditched the rubbers. Guess I should stay informed in case anyone else needs advice, huh?” His mind shot to Fred Jr. Troy wasn’t attracted to the other man in the least, but he couldn’t seem to stop worrying over him.

“He reminds you of me, I bet.”

Troy almost jerked the wheel, he was so startled. “How the hell do you and Carlos
do
that?”

“Do what?”

Oh, he’d just bet Will had on his most innocent expression. Troy wasn’t going to check.

“How do y’all know what I’m thinking half the time?”

Will chuckled. “Oh, that. It’s because we know you, we love you, and you’re actually really transparent now that you’ve opened up to us. Plus, you’re not the only one. When you told us about Fred, I figured he’d remind you both of me and the situation I’d been in. It’s been hell keeping myself from going and checking on him. Although I have called the store on occasion.”

Troy pulled the truck to the side of the road. He had to, because damn it, he needed to look at Will as they talked about this. “Why did you do that?”

Will hitched up a shoulder. “Well, because I was worried, and I knew you and Carlos were. Carlos is more focused on us, but don’t think he hasn’t wondered about Fred. So I’d block my number from showing every few days, and call the store. If Fred Jr answered, I’d ask for the price for some item or another. If the old fucker answered, I just hung up.” Will pursed his lips. “Okay, once I started chattering about goats and flowers, but other than that, I just hung up on the jerk.”

“What’d he do then?”

“He called me a stupid asshole. Not very creative, and definitely no fun.”

“You’re something else, you know it?” Troy was always astounded by how lucky he was to have two awesome, intelligent partners. “I didn’t even think of checking up on him that way. When was the last time you called?”

Will held up his phone. “How about now?” The ringing was loud, letting Troy know Will had the speaker on. After the second ring, the phone was answered. Troy recognised Fred Jr’s voice and was relieved that he wasn’t dead. Will chattered about needing to find out what was wrong with his toilet, and Troy got the truck back on the road.

In town, he parked at the grocers. “I’ll walk to the hardware store and leave the truck here in case you get done before I do. Don’t want you to have to lug around bags of shit.”

Will grimaced. “Well, duh. That’d be disgusting. Why would anyone tote around bags of shit? Unless they had some weird fetish maybe.”

“For gardening,” Troy couldn’t help but point out. “And you know that wasn’t what I meant.”

Will winked and took off for the store. Troy strolled down the sidewalk, enjoying the cold, brisk morning air and the bright sunlight. He’d loved Texas, even with its fucked-up politics, but Troy would swear the air in Montana was purer. At least it seemed so in the part of Montana he now lived in.

The hardware store actually seemed to be hopping, with several customers inside. Troy thought one or two of them sent him looks bordering on hostile, but his size was such that he doubted anyone would really mess with him. Whether it was because he was new in town or because people had somehow figured out he was gay, Troy didn’t particularly give a damn.

He reckoned the gossips had heard about the ads Will had placed. Things like that always got around, and since some of their employees had stayed at the hotel in Ashville when they came for the interview. There was no telling who’d said what to whom. Thinking about it, that could possibly explain the sheriff’s problem after all. Troy wanted to smack himself for not realising that sooner. But, he wouldn’t bring it up, because Will might feel like he’d put them at risk, and that just wasn’t so. People were just mean as hell sometimes.

A guy Troy hadn’t seen there before was behind the paint counter, mixing up some colour for a woman who looked like she needed some more coffee. Her hair was standing every which way and she kept yawning big enough she could have caught a good-sized bass with her mouth.

After he handed the paint to her, the employee turned to him. Dirty blond hair and brown eyes, and a face just shy of handsome, the guy shot Troy a smile.

Troy glanced at his tag. “Morning, Hank. Can I get six gallons of Barn Red, exterior, of course?”

“I can sure enough do that, man. You want to look around while I get it mixed for you?”

“Yeah.” Like Troy needed to be asked. He wandered down the closest aisle, checking out a thing or two. He didn’t see Fred Jr anywhere, but that didn’t mean anything since Will had just been on the phone with him not half an hour before. Three aisles over, he heard a customer ask, “Where’s that boy of yours, Fred? He was in here earlier and I’m tired of waiting around for help.”

“He’s not feeling so good. You’ll have to wait or come back later. I can get your order together if you want to leave a list, Greg.”

Anger coursed through Troy. What had happened in the short period of time since Will had called the hardware store? Troy thought it over, and remembered Will laughing and cracking a joke or two. Fred Jr had laughed, too. Was that what had caused a problem? Troy was getting a headache trying to figure out what was going on. For all he knew, Fred Jr really was sick. Will could make just about anyone laugh, and he was cheery enough that it would rub off on you. He shouldn’t be assuming anything when he’d heard Fred’s dad say he was sick.

And yet Troy turned and started edging towards the back of the store. The restrooms were there, and right past them was that doorway Fred Sr had come out of last time Troy had been there. It was a different door than the one leading out to the lumber yard, so Troy was hoping it was an office or storage room. Somewhere that a sick employee would camp out in.

Careful to keep from drawing attention to himself, Troy moseyed along looking at things. Sneaking had seemed a good plan at first, but that was suspicious as hell and would surely be noticed. A guy looking at tools, hell, even his haters couldn’t make anything out of that. Just like they couldn’t say a thing if he had to take a piss.

Troy made sure to keep his steps steady and his posture casual as he walked to the restrooms. One man in particular glared at him as if he’d like nothing better than to skin Troy alive. Troy paused and levelled his own look at the man, who scowled and mouthed ‘faggot’ at him before scampering off like a mangy rodent.

Troy’s hands ached from curling them into fists. He wanted to chase the man and beat the hate out of him, but he’d have a better chance of killing him first. That wasn’t the person Troy was, nor wanted to be. He resumed his trek to the restrooms.

The men’s room was clean if a bit worn. One of the faucets dripped, a fact that irked the shit out of Troy. It was just wrong for that to be going on in a hardware store. He drained his bladder and washed his hands, relieved not to have encountered anyone else in the restroom. He supposed none of the men were brave enough to go in there with a gay man for fear Troy would be overcome by lust and have to fuck their irresistible fat asses.

“So many misconceptions, so little time to correct them,” Troy whispered to himself. He checked and saw that no one was looking his way. Troy slid around the corner to the swinging doors and pushed one open slowly, afraid it’d make some noise. As soon as he got it open enough, he slipped inside and eased it shut.

The room was dark, but not pitch. He blinked a few times and spotted Fred Jr sitting hunched over on a box. Troy approached him slowly and noted that Fred was cradling his arm, or his ribs, it was hard to tell. He let his foot drag, not wanting to startle the kid.

“Hey, you okay there?” he asked when he got close enough that he thought Fred could hear his whisper.

Fred didn’t answer him. Troy asked again, and when he still didn’t get a reply, he touched Fred’s shoulder. Fred didn’t move. Fear shot through Troy and he fished his phone out of his pocket. Keeping his tone calm and his voice low, he tried again. “Hey, hey, kid, you okay?”

Troy moved his fingers over until he felt Fred’s pulse, faint and not really steady. “Fuck!” Troy unlocked his phone and dialled for emergency services as he tried to get his hand under Fred’s arm. The kid was sitting with one knee up, his back to the wall, and an arm around his knee with his other arm around his middle. Troy felt a bare puff of breath leave Fred’s lips just as the emergency dispatch operator answered. Troy didn’t even know if there was an ambulance service or a hospital in Ashville, but he sure as fuck hoped so. Fred needed medical care now.

“Send an ambulance to the ACE Hardware in Ashville. The owner’s son is in bad shape. I think his dad beat the shit out of him.”

“Jesus, not Fred Jr. His daddy’s always been mean, but—hang on, okay, what can you tell me?”

Troy guessed that meant the EMS services were in Ashville since the operator knew who he was talking about. “I don’t have much to tell you. I was going to the restrooms. I came out, heard a pitiful groan—” He didn’t think telling the operator that he’d been snooping around was wise at all. “It sounded like someone was really hurting, so I came through the double doors and found him. I can’t get a response from him now, though.” Troy held the phone away and let the light from it reflect onto Fred. The kid was covered in bruises and blood. “Hurry, he’s looking bad. I don’t know—”

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

The shout almost had Troy dropping his phone, but he managed to keep his grip as Fred Sr thundered towards him. “Better send two ambulances,” he said as the light came on and he saw Fred Sr’s bloody, bandaged knuckles. Troy saw red as the older man lunged at him, swinging hard. He dropped his phone and let out a roar that matched his attacker’s, ready to defend himself and Fred Jr from the raving lunatic.

Chapter Ten

Will ran down the sidewalk along with what had to be half the town. Sirens blared in the distance, but they didn’t sound far away. He didn’t question how everyone seemed to know bad shit was going down at the hardware store. It was a small town—news was carried in the air in some weird-ass small-town ritual. Whatever, however, he knew from the others around him that Fred Jr had been hurt and one of the ‘new queers’ in town was whaling on Fred Sr. Will’s heart slammed against his ribs. He got more than one nasty comment as he shoved people out of the way, but damn it, they needed to fucking
move
out of his way!

Will’s smaller stature came in handy. He slipped between people as the ambulance pulled up in front of the hardware store. Moving fast, not wanting to get blocked out, Will ran inside and began shoving through the spectators there. A dozen or so people were crammed at a doorway in the back. Will made a beeline for it, grunts and curses crackling in the store.

“Let me by,” he snarled at a couple of men standing shoulder to shoulder.

“Fag,” one of them snarled back. Will ducked a punch and slammed his fist into the man at kidney level. The man yelled and hit the floor. Will gave the other guy a glare, but the man raised his hands up as if to ward off an attack.

“I ain’t like him.” The man gestured with his chin to the downed form on the floor.

“Good,” Will huffed as he went into the room. He’d have said more, but he saw Troy, straddling a giant of a man who was cussing and bucking. Troy sat on his chest and had his knees pinning the guy’s arms. Fred Sr, Will guessed, and Troy had his wrists, too. There was blood running down from a gash at the corner of Troy’s left eye, but the bastard on the floor didn’t have a mark on his ugly face. And that man kept jerking, twisting, kicking—Troy was having a hell of a time holding on to him.

Will didn’t call out. He knew better than to distract Troy, doing so could cost Troy his life. The man he held down was in a rage, froth and spittle flying from his foul mouth. Troy grimaced and grunted and held on. Will looked past him when he heard a pain-filled whimper. His stomach twisted into hot shaky knots as he saw a kid beaten black and blue, blood smeared from too many places to tell where the original wounds were. Two women and a man were with him, trying to help the poor guy.

Will turned his attention back to Troy as shouts from the EMS crew rang out, ordering people to clear the way. It was the distraction Will had feared, and Troy looked up at the additional noise.

Everything moved in a blur, Troy’s eyes widening, the man beneath him freeing himself enough to throw a mean punch. Will shouted, and he wasn’t the only one, but he didn’t know if the others were cheering or screaming in protest as he dove forward. Troy’s breath just burst out of him, like he’d been hit with a demolition ball. He came up several inches off the other guy’s body, then he was toppling to the side.

Will found himself amidst a crowd all over again. Confusion warred with fear and fury as he tried to get to Troy. That man would kill him, Will could see it in the hateful fucker’s eyes. Will battled the bodies and his own panic, managing to get to Troy just as two other men did. He yelled in a rage, thinking they were going after his man. No fucking way was he letting them hurt Troy!

“Get out of my freakin’ way!” Will snarled at the men grabbing Troy. He was vaguely aware of other people grappling with the man who’d hit Troy, but that just wasn’t his point of concern right then. He pushed at a smelly guy in front of him, pressing him sideways. Will was grabbed and yanked backwards, his feet actually leaving the floor. “What the fuck—”

“They ain’t hurtin’ him.” Minty tobacco breath wafted over his cheek and assaulted his nose. Will snorted, doubt and the need to get that stank out of his sinus passages both at play. “I’m serious, little man. They tryin’ to help him and t’others are holdin’ Fred down to keep him from attackin’ again. Ain’t no one wantin’ to see yer, uh, yer…”

“Partner,” Will snapped. “He’s my partner, my husband, my lover—”

“Got it, okay?” said his—Will didn’t even know what the guy was. A good Samaritan trying to keep him out of harm’s way?

Whatever. He smells like hogs and I hate the way chewing tobacco smells.
“Let me go, you ass.”

“Aw now, I can’t do that, and it ain’t nice ta call names.”

Will craned his head around and glared. The guy holding onto him was about the size of Troy, and young-ish. He had a scroungy-looking blond beard and bright blue eyes. He had on a ratty straw hat and overalls, a cardinal sin as far as Will was concerned. “If you don’t let me go, I will hurt you.”

The blond guy’s eyebrows shot up, but he didn’t let go. “Ya promise not to try to kill Fred? The cops’ll take care of him. I think that’s why yer man there didn’t beat the shit outta him.”

“Really. The cops.” Will couldn’t hide his scorn. “I haven’t been impressed at all by Sheriff Bowman yet.”

“Aw, it ain’t the sheriff that’ll be showin’. It’ll be Ashville’s finest. We do have a police force here, even if it is just three men to it.”

Will supposed they were out of the city limits at the Mossy Glenn, which was why they got the stupid fucking sheriff instead of Ashville’s finest. He wasn’t going to worry about it now. “Let me go, please. I need to check on Troy. He was hit hard.”

“Yep, he sure was. Fred hits like he wants to kill a man.” The blond scowled, anger contorting his features. “Someone shoulda done somethin’ about him a long time ago.” He released Will and also got the men seeing to Troy to scoot over. “Let him down there. That feller belongs to him.”

Apparently some of the townsfolk were decent people who didn’t care who he loved. Some weren’t. It was the same as pretty much anywhere Will had ever lived, and he could handle it. What he couldn’t handle was for Troy to be hurting.

Will wedged himself in front of one of the men and put his hand on Troy’s chest. Troy opened his right eye, his left swollen almost shut, and looked right at him. Will’s heart pinched with pain at seeing Troy bruised and bleeding, but damn it, he was so relieved that Troy was alive. Will couldn’t hold back the tears, couldn’t keep in the sob as he leant down. Troy reached for him, getting one shaking arm around Will’s neck and tugging him down.

“I’m all right,” Troy wheezed, not sounding all right at all to Will.

“You’re hurt,” Will argued, letting himself be brought down until his head rested on Troy’s chest, his ear right over his heart. He tipped his face up so he could partially see Troy’s face. Will put his arms around Troy as best as he could in such a position. He could only get his fingers under Troy’s shoulders, but he did his best to hold on to him.

“Just bruised.” Troy petted his back in a long stroke. “I didn’t hit that fucker. Didn’t want to go to jail.”

“Yep, we can vouch for that.”

Will ignored whoever was intruding on his private—fuck the crowd—conversation with Troy. “But you’re bleeding, too, by your eye. And he hit you so hard I thought he popped your lung or something.”

Troy’s chest shook and he made a godawful sound that took Will a second or two to recognise as laughter. “Fuckin’ thought he popped both of them.” He coughed and groaned. “Damn, that hurts.”

“Troy…” Will began, pushing himself up on his hands so he could better see Troy’s face. “You might have broken ribs. They can puncture—”

“No.” Troy closed his eyes for a moment and Will thought he had passed out until he looked at Will again. “Not broken. Been there, done that, and this isn’t nearly as agonising. In fact, I can get up if you’ll help.”

Will opened his mouth to argue, only to be beaten to it by a familiar, annoying voice.

“Now, now, ya need ta stay right there and git looked over.”

“Fuck off, blondie,” Will growled, glaring to his left at the fashion disaster.

“It’s Barney,” the blond drawled. “Like the dinosaur, ’cept he’s punier than me.”

“Smarter, too, I’d bet.” Will was still angry at being held back by the jerk. “Troy, you need to let the EMS people check you over. They’re seeing to Fred Jr right now, but you’ll be next.”

“There’s another crew comin’ in right now.” Barney grinned when Will glared. “Jus’ tryin’ to help.”

Will was too bitchy for words, his emotions rampaging from the adrenaline. “You can help by butting out!”

He might have felt bad if Barney hadn’t looked pleased as a bee buried in pollen. Was the guy just trying to piss him off? If so, he was succeeding.

“Clear out, folks. Let us do our jobs. Barney, get out of the way.”

Will smirked at Barney. “Shoo.”

“You too, sir.”

Barney smirked back.

Will was going to find the big oaf and trip him just to watch him fall.

Will stroked Troy’s cheek. “I need to let them check you over, okay? I’ll be right here.” He scooted back and watched as Troy was examined, his gaze never leaving Troy’s except when Troy had to look at the medics or someone got between them.

“He really will be okay.”

Will sighed grudgingly as Barney sat down beside him. “Why are you bugging me?” He guessed the oaf shrugged before answering since one of his shoulders jostled Will.

“Got nuthin’ else to do, an’ ya needed distractin’ earlier ’fore ya got yer fella killed. Found out pokin’ at ya was fun then. Now I’m gonna wanna do it every time I see ya.”

Will narrowed his eyes, but didn’t turn to Barney. “Are you always such an ass?”

“Guess so.”

As suddenly as it’d hit him, Will’s anger drained away, probably with the adrenaline, he figured. He felt exhausted and weak and fuzzy-headed, but he kept his spine straight. He wasn’t going to let Barney see any weakness—but he also owed the guy an apology.

“I’m not usually so mean,” Will admitted. “Sorry for that.”

Another shrug, this one almost knocking Will sideways. He slapped a hand to the floor to keep from toppling over. “Sorry ’bout that. Yer little.”

Will was fairly certain Barney was trying to irritate him. Whether it was to distract Will from worrying over Troy or not, he couldn’t say. He could, however, put an end to the ‘little’ shit. “Barney, I’m not little where it counts. I’ve got a dick that’d make yours weep with envy.”

When Barney didn’t have a comeback for that, Will was tempted to check his expression, but the female medic turned to him then and waved him over. Will finally looked at someone other than Troy. “He’s going to be okay, right?”

“We’d like him to get his ribs x-rayed, but he’s refusing.”

Will glared at Troy, who shook his head. “Not happening. I know my body, and I know the difference between broken ribs and just being walloped. There’s nothing broke in there.”

Will had no choice but to trust that Troy was right. He wouldn’t challenge Troy’s claims, at least not in front of strangers.

“He could be right, but we’re always cautious,” the medic said. “I bandaged his eye where Fred’s knuckle tore the skin, and he’s going to be black and blue by this evening. He needs to take it easy for a few days, and rest those ribs even if it’s just a bruise.” She took some papers from her partner and handed them to Will. “Here’s some aftercare directions about concussions, in case he has one, and how to handle bruised ribs. Just because we didn’t see any obvious signs of a concussion doesn’t mean there isn’t one, and he’s declined x-rays for that as well. We don’t know near enough about head injuries, so watch him closely, and call 911 if there’s any sign of him losing consciousness or having trouble breathing.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Will folded the papers and tucked them in his back pocket.

“Have him seen by his regular physician tomorrow just to be safe. If he doesn’t have one yet, there’s two doctors here in Ashville, Doctor Viglio and Doctor Shepherd. Both are good at their jobs.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” Will helped Troy sit up when she left. He stood and held out his hand to Troy. Another hand appeared in his peripheral vision. Will and Troy both turned to see who it was and Will rolled his eyes at Barney. “Troy, Barney. I’ll explain to you how we met later.”

Troy let them help him up, which told Will just how shitty Troy must be feeling. “Maybe we should get you to one of those doctors for some pain medicine—”

Troy cut him off with a slash of his hand. “Whisky’ll do it.”

“Best painkiller ever,” Barney chimed in.

Will bit back the impulse to ask Barney why he was still there. Will knew he was still cranky from being scared, and he didn’t want to keep being a bitch about everything. Besides, he imagined this was the most excitement Barney had seen in Ashville.

“Cops are here,” someone called out from somewhere in the store. Will hooked an arm around Troy’s waist.

“Come on, you’re wobbly. How about you sit down on one of these boxes?”

Will noticed then that Fred Jr was gone, and he hoped it was only in the temporary sense.

“Ambulance took off with him a while ago,” Barney told them, looking out of the double doors as he took off that battered hat and rolled the brim in his hands. “Freddie didn’t look so good. His daddy really went too far this time.”

“This time?” Will spat out. “Why the hell didn’t anyone put a stop to the abuse if people knew about it?”

Troy looked at him and Will closed his eyes, drooping a little as he did so. He knew good and well why no one put a stop to it—because that was just how most people were. They didn’t want to get involved, and for the victim—goddamn, he hated that word—pride and shame kept them silent. After a while, you just figured it was what you deserved for being stupid enough to put up with the beatings in the first place. At least, that was Will’s experience.