Authors: Lavinia Lewis
Chapter Five
When Luke cracked open his eyes, the early morning sun was beaming in through the large picture window beside the bed. He had to blink a few times to adjust to the brightness in the room. He turned in the bed to find Mark already awake. He was lying on his side, head resting on his hand, staring at Luke with a happy, serene expression.
“Morning,” Luke greeted bashfully.
Mark leant forward and kissed Luke tenderly on the lips.
“Morning.
Sleep well?”
“Like a log.
How about you?”
“I can’t remember the last time I got such a good night’s sleep. That is, after I put a pillow over my head to drown out your snoring.”
“I don’t snore!” Luke said, slapping Mark on the arm.
Mark chuckled and gave Luke a long, lingering kiss that had Luke melting in his arms.
“I don’t know who told you that but they were lying,” he said after releasing Luke’s lips and pulling back. “Don’t worry, it was
kinda
cute.”
“Shut up,” Luke said, feeling his cheeks heat up.
Mark chuckled. “Mind if I take a shower?”
“Sure, help yourself. There are clean towels in the bathroom.”
“Actually, I was hoping you’d be joining me.”
“Do you mind if I take a rain check? I really need to talk to
Kelan
.”
“Of course not.
I’ll see you in a little while.” Mark placed a chaste kiss on Luke’s lips, threw off the covers and got out of bed. He strolled to the bathroom naked. Luke watched his ass sway as he walked, feeling himself grow hard. Maybe the conversation with
Kelan
could wait? He shook his head and got out of bed, reluctantly pulling on a pair of pants. He had to do this. He knew something had been going on with
Kelan
recently and yesterday’s declaration only proved there was a lot more happening in his brother’s life than he’d imagined.
He wished that his brother would confide in him more often than he did. Luke was always the last person to pass judgement.
Kelan
should know that. So why had he been keeping all of this to himself? Luke padded down to the kitchen barefoot. He was almost through the door when he heard
Kelan
talking on his cell.
“Look, I’m sorry Rick, but I don’t have it. If I did, I’d give it to you, you know that. Can’t you ask your brother for the money?”
Luke walked into the kitchen and nodded to
Kelan
.
“Rick, I have to go, we can discuss this later. Don’t worry, something will turn up. Yeah. Bye.”
“Morning,”
Kelan
said to Luke, after ending the call on his cell.
“Morning.”
Luke took the seat opposite his brother and helped himself to coffee from the pot.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah.
That was Rick. His landlord is selling the farm, so if he doesn’t buy
it,
my beta’s going to be homeless.”
“And he asked you for the money?”
“He can get a mortgage from the bank, but they won’t lend him the full amount, want him to make a down payment.
Says he’s about fifty thousand short.”
Luke whistled.
“That much?
I thought his farm was doing really well.”
“It is
,
that’s the reason he’s so frustrated. He’s not looking for a straight
loan,
he’s offering a share of the business. I know it would be a sound investment, but I don’t have that kind of cash lying around. All of the money Pop left is tied up in property and business interests.”
“Hmm, shame.”
Kelan
raised an amused eye at his brother. “You look happy this morning. I wonder why that could be.”
Luke felt heat rise in his cheeks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Kelan
snorted.
“Right, Luke, sure.
I bet it has nothing to do with the way you were screaming like a girl last night either.”
“I was not screaming like a girl!” Luke argued indignantly.
“Sure you were. You know, I think they may have heard you in New Mexico.”
Luke’s blush deepened. He tried to hide behind his coffee cup but
Kelan
apparently wasn’t fooled.
“It’s good to see you so happy Luke. At least someone in our family is.”
Luke sighed and put down his cup. “
Kelan
, why didn’t you tell me you were gay?”
“I don’t know.”
Kelan
sighed. “I guess I got so used to hiding it when Pop was alive, it
kinda
became a habit.”
“How long have you known?”
Kelan
laughed. “How long is a piece of string? When you start high school and you’re watching the football players more than the cheerleaders, it’s kind of a giveaway, you know?”
“Wow,” Luke breathed. “That long? But that was before Cody came out.”
Kelan
hung his
head,
the coffee in his cup suddenly became very interesting to him. “I know, Luke. Why do you think I feel so guilty about staying quiet every time pop had a go at Cody? I knew what I was even then. But I was so damn intent on making Dad proud of me, of living up to his impossible expectations, that I couldn’t bring myself to hurt him by telling him. In a way, Cody was a braver man than me. Maybe he should be
alpha
.”
Luke shook his head.
“Don’t even say that. You’re a great alpha,” he said. “Are you…are you seeing anyone right now?”
“No. Not for a while now. It’s difficult to have a relationship when you’re in the closet, you know? I know a lot of men are, but to be honest, that’s not what I’m looking for now. I’ve hidden who I am for long enough. I want someone who would be happy to be seen with me. Would you want to have to hide your relationship with Mark?”
“No, I guess…”
Luke was interrupted by a loud bang on the front door.
“Are you expecting anyone?”
Kelan
asked, getting up to answer it.
“Nope.”
Luke helped himself to a piece of toast from
Kelan’s
plate. He was still munching on it when
Kelan
came back into the room, frowning.
“You’d better call Mark,”
Kelan
said. “Sheriff Ferguson wants a word with him.”
Luke looked up startled, nearly choking on a piece of toast.
“What about?”
“Wouldn’t tell me.
Says it’s important though.”
“How did the sheriff know where to find him?”
“Wouldn’t tell me that either,”
Kelan
said. “You’d better go call
him,
maybe he can shed some light on all of this.”
Luke darted up the stairs to find his mate. When he entered his bedroom, Mark was dressed and rubbing his hair roughly with a towel. When he saw Luke he crossed the room and wrapped his arms around Luke’s waist, placing a kiss on his lips.
“Hey babe.
You talk to
Kelan
?”
“Yeah.
Mark, you’d better come downstairs. The sheriff is here, he wants to talk to you.”
“Me?
What about?”
“I don’t know, he wouldn’t say.”
Mark frowned. He threw the towel on a nearby chair, waited for Luke to put on a shirt then followed him out of the room. When they arrived in the living room, Sheriff Ferguson was sitting in a chair passing the time of day with
Kelan
. The sheriff stood up when Luke and Mark entered the room.
“Luke. Good to see you again. You home from college?”
“Yes
sir,
just graduated.”
“Good, good. Your daddy would be proud.”
Luke swallowed down his retort. His daddy might be proud of him graduating college, but he knew damn well the old man would be livid over him mating with a man. But the sheriff wasn’t a wolf and knew nothing about their situation. So Luke managed a smile and nodded at the old man.
“Thank you, sir.”
The sheriff turned his attention on Mark. He regarded the man for a moment, lips pursed,
taking
in his wet, dishevelled hair before offering his hand to Mark.
“Mr. Malone?”
“Yes sir,” Mark said, shaking the sheriff’s offered hand.
“Sheriff Ferguson. You mind if we have a little chat?”
“No sir, of course not.
What’s all this about?”
“Is there someplace we could talk in private?” the sheriff asked, directing his question to
Kelan
.
“Anything you’ve got to say to me, you can say in front of them,” Mark said. “I’ve got nothing to hide. Luke is my ma…uh, partner.”
The sheriff raised a curious brow, looking to Luke for confirmation. Luke stepped forwards and took hold of Mark’s hand.
“That’s right, Sheriff.”
“I see. Very well,” he said, nodding. “Why don’t we take a seat?”
Sheriff Ferguson sat down in the chair he’d just vacated and made himself comfortable. Mark took a seat on the sofa opposite and Luke sat next to him, still holding his hand.
Kelan
had leant forward in his seat to listen to the sheriff.
“Mr. Malone, we…”
“Please, call me Mark.”
Sheriff Ferguson nodded. “We received a call in the early hours of this morning from
Marnie’s
guest house. I understand you’ve been staying there.”
“Yes sir, I have.”
“Seems they had a break in last night.
Only when I called by,
Marnie
confirmed that nothing had been taken.
Only one room had been disturbed.
Yours.”
Luke gasped and squeezed Mark’s hand. Mark could smell the fury pouring off of
Kelan
, but Mark just stared at the sheriff, open-mouthed.
“I don’t suppose you know anything about that, do you son?” the sheriff continued.
“No sir, I don’t. I left
Marnie’s
at eleven to start my new job at Joe Walker’s ranch and I haven’t been back there since.”
“Do you have witnesses that can confirm that?”
“Yes, I…”
“Both Luke and
myself
can vouch for Mark’s whereabouts, Sheriff,”
Kelan
cut in. “We picked him up at Joe’s place yesterday around four and he’s been here ever since. Would you mind telling me how you knew where to find him?”
“
Marnie
told me Mark was starting work for Joe yesterday but hadn’t returned home, so naturally I paid Joe a visit.”
“Go on,”
Kelan
prompted when the sheriff stopped talking.
“Well, Joe seemed reluctant to talk about Mark, would only say he’d fired him after a few hours and that if I wanted to know anything else, I should come and talk to you boys.”
“I see.”
“Four hours is a mighty short time to hold a job, Mr. Malone. You’re not some sort of trouble maker, are you?”
“No sir, I…”
“He didn’t do anything!” Luke blurted out.
“Luke,”
Kelan
warned. “It’s nothing to speak of, Sheriff, just a minor disagreement. Joe found out about Luke and Mark’s relationship when we paid him a visit yesterday. Let’s just say he wasn’t pleased about it. That’s all there is to it. Joe let Mark go and then Mark came home with us.”
The sheriff frowned. He shifted in his seat a little, looking uncomfortable.
“Joe Walker’s an old fool. I hope you boys know not everyone around here shares his views,” Sheriff Ferguson said, looking at Luke and Mark in turn.
“Yes sir, we know,” Luke answered. Mark just nodded.
“Good. Mark, I understand you haven’t been in these parts very long. Other than Mr. Walker, who I’ll be speaking to again, is there anyone else around here that you’ve had any disagreements with? Anyone you can think of who might be holding a grudge against you?”
“No sir, there isn’t anyone. As you said yourself, I haven’t been here very long so I haven’t had the chance to meet many people.”
Sheriff Ferguson looked satisfied with Mark’s answer. He nodded, smoothing his hands over the Stetson in his lap.
“Fair enough.
It might be nothing to do with you at all. Could be whoever did this got disturbed before they had the chance to get into the other rooms at the guest house.”
“Could have been kids playing a prank,”
Kelan
suggested.
Luke raised an eyebrow at
Kelan
but the look he received in return was enough to silence him.
“Sure enough,” the sheriff said, missing the exchange between the two brothers. “Even so, I need you to come back there with me Mark, check if anything is missing.
Shouldn’t take more than an hour or so.”