Chaps and Hope (Mossy Glenn Ranch 1) (2 page)

“That’s the look I like to see on your face.”

Troy glanced away from Will’s brilliant smile and turned to Carlos. “What look?”

Carlos’ smile was a bare curve of lips, but it packed a sensual punch like you wouldn’t believe. “That one, the happy, you-love-us look. Makes me feel like I could fly.”

“It’s an awesome look, Troy,” Will affirmed. “If my ass didn’t feel like I’d just had a huge dick shoved up it, I’d be on you like stripes on a tiger.”

“Y’all know I love you both,” Troy said more gruffly than he’d intended. “I’m just, you know, nervous about moving here and…and what my role is going to be. I don’t know anything about ranching.”

Will shrugged. “Yeah, me either, but I know Carlos, and I know you. The three of us can do whatever we need to, to make the Mossy Glenn a successful ranch again for our friends.”

“And employers,” Troy added. “Don’t forget, Nick, Annabelle, and Rory are our bosses, too.”

Will nodded. “Yup. So are their partners. We’ve got a shitload of bosses, so we are going to make sure we don’t let ’em down. I’m sure there’s plenty you and I can do while Carlos cowboys around.”

Carlos snorted and started straightening his clothing. “Hand me the wipes out of the glove compartment, please.”

Will got the wipes and handed some to Troy, too. “I have an idea,” Will started, grinning fit to be tied when Carlos gave him an arch look. “What? It’s a good idea! You know, we have to hire a whole new staff, or hands, or whatever you call them.”

“Yeah,” Carlos agreed. “Sure do since the place has been run into the ground and everyone fired or quit.” He sighed and ran his fingers through his thick black and grey hair. “Gonna be a pain in the ass trying to find people willing to come back to the Mossy Glenn.”

Will winked at Troy, then looked at Carlos. “So, what if we place some ads in some of the gay mags and newspapers?”

Carlos stopped mid-zip. Troy did, too. Troy frowned and cocked his head to one side as he contemplated the idea. “You mean hire only gay cowboys?” Troy wasn’t sure he was down with that. He trusted his men, but only a fool would want temptation right the fuck there with them.

Will shrugged. “Gay, bi, lesbian, trans—every colour of the rainbow, and straight, too, if they’re friendly to us. Wouldn’t think there’d be any bigots reading those kinds of papers and applying for jobs. Plus, I think they’d be more likely to understand what we have going on.”

Troy sure felt like he’d paled, though he didn’t know for certain. “I. Uh.” He rubbed his forehead and finished dressing. Once he did so, he realised Will and Carlos were still waiting for him to speak. Troy grimaced and scratched his shorn head. “I hadn’t thought about that,” he said truthfully. “Just figured we’d be together and fuck it all, you know? I didn’t even consider how other people would react.”

Will nodded, but Carlos only grunted, watching Troy closely before speaking. “That gonna be a problem, other people’s opinion of us?”

“You know it’s not,” Troy snapped, feeling peevish and petty because maybe it would be, a little, and he didn’t want it to be an issue. He just needed to find his backbone. Other people’s opinions really
didn’t
matter, he was just being a worry wart. Troy shook himself internally and stood up a little straighter. “It’s not,” he reiterated. “But I think we should hire ugly men with shitty personalities.”

Carlos’ eyes widened and Will laughed like a loon. Troy raised his hands up, palms out in an almost pleading gesture. “What? I’m just suggesting we not be swayed by pretty faces.”

And Carlos, who always seemed to know just when Troy was feeling insecure, pinned him in place with a dark stare. “You know you ain’t gotta worry about neither one of us screwing around. You’re all we want—me, Will, you. That’s it, that’s perfection.”

If Carlos had said it in any other way besides his usual, calm manner, Troy’s doubts might have lingered. But with Carlos so certain, and Will’s heart in his eyes, Troy wondered why he’d ever doubted them in the first place. “Same goes,” he said, a warm, comforting flow of love moving through him. “I’m okay with Will’s idea.”

Carlos didn’t speak right away, instead kissing first Will, then Troy, thoroughly before stepping back. “We’ll talk about it once we get to the ranch and see what’s what there. May be we don’t have any other choice. Montana ain’t the most tolerant place for us folks.”

“Neither is Texas,” Troy pointed out. But they’d had quite a few friends, in the long run. Now they’d have just each other. Troy hoped it would be enough if things got nasty. “I’m not trying to be a jerk. I want this to work.”

“This?” Will asked.

Troy resisted rolling his eyes, barely. “This, as in the ranching thing. I know we’ll work. I just kinda worry.” He tucked his hands into his front pockets and toed at the grass. “You know, like…like that news story about the gay couple whose barn and fields were set on fire? They lost everything except the ranch house. All their cattle and horses, and just ’cuz some dumbfuck bigots got a hateful hair up their ass. That’s the kind of thing I’m worried about.”

Carlos had his deep-thought expression in place, but Will was chattering almost instantly. “Yeah, well, we can put up security cameras and see, if we just hire people who definitely aren’t bigots, they won’t be likely to try to kill us. We don’t have to flaunt anything, but I don’t want us to discriminate against someone who might be more…” Will fluttered his hands in the air. “Stereotypical, I mean, yet still very capable of doing a good job.”

“Let’s not put the horse before the cart,” Carlos finally said, drawing both of their attention. “We’ll discuss this more, but right now I’d really just like to get to the ranch.”

Chapter Two

“Uh.” Will shifted in his seat and glanced at Carlos. “Did it…did it look this bad when you left?”

Carlos parked the truck by the first barn, shaking his head as he shut the truck off. “Hell no.” It had been getting run down, sure, because Antonia, Nick’s mother and Carlos’ former boss at the Mossy Glenn, had blown every penny she could get her hands on—and not on purchases for the ranch. Or on paying the men.

The end result was, Carlos had been forced to sell off all the stock just to pay the men, and even then he’d been short because the bank had demanded money, along with a dozen-plus other creditors. And Antonia hadn’t given a damn about anything other than buying herself more shoes. Carlos rubbed at his chest.

“You’re thinking about that bitch,” Will muttered. He touched Carlos’ hand. “Those scratches have been healed up for a while. Guess the memory is still pretty fresh though.”

Carlos nodded. “She was one vicious lady. More hate in her tiny body than in a convention of bigots.”

Troy snorted and Will chuckled, but Carlos wasn’t joking. “Neither of you ever met her. Trust me, I’m not exaggerating.” He looked at the barn, amazed at how quickly it’d gone from looking decent to looking like it was about to topple into a heap. He hadn’t left the Mossy Glenn very long ago, just a couple of months.

Wincing, he unbuckled his seatbelt and rubbed at his knees. It’d been a hell of a long drive from Texas to the Mossy Glenn in Montana, and he wasn’t a young thing, that was for sure. Fucking on the side of the road hadn’t helped his achy knees any, but no way in the world would Carlos have passed up that chance to be with his men.

“Let’s start here and see how bad it is.”

“Can’t we check out the house first?” Will asked, and Carlos heard the exhaustion in the younger man’s voice. Carlos looked at the barn, saw the graffiti someone had thought was worth driving out to the middle of Bumfuck, Montana, to spray all over the damn barn.

“Yeah, we can do that.” Besides, Carlos was suddenly worried about the state he’d find the house in. Antonia had bought pretty things to put in it, but she’d broken a bunch of them in fits of rage. He wouldn’t put it past her to have torched the house. “Hope it’s still standing.”

“After what we’ve heard about Antonia, I kind of wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t.” Troy tapped his fingers on the dash, frowning intently. “She sure must be a whole different level of crazy.”

“You have no idea,” Carlos mumbled, relief making him almost dizzy as he pulled around a curve and caught sight of the big ranch house. “Whew.”

“Maybe it’s booby-trapped,” Will said as he leant forward, almost touching his forehead to the windshield. “Like, in the Indiana Jones movies, we’ll get out and step on the wrong piece of dirt, and arrows will shoot out after us…”

Troy snickered and started unbuckling his seatbelt. “You sure have quite an imagination, Will. Can’t wait to see what you do with it the next time we’re all fuckin’.”

Just like that, Carlos’ achy knees were forgotten. He felt flushed with the beginnings of arousal, and as he listened to Will and Troy banter sexual possibilities back and forth, that arousal grew stronger until his cock was half-hard. He kept his gaze on the house as they pulled up to it. The porch railing was broken in three places, and the screen door was flapping against the outside of the house, held in place by one hinge. Every one of the front windows was broken.

Will quit talking about sex long enough to exclaim, “Holy shit, do you think she did this?”

Carlos shrugged. “Some of it, maybe. Not the graffiti.” There was more of that horrible spray paint on the house. “That’s got to be kids. Antonia wouldn’t get her hands dirty with spray paint.”

“Maybe she paid someone to do this,” Troy suggested. He opened his door and got out. Will was right behind him, and Carlos got out as well.

“She didn’t have any money left,” Carlos explained. “Now, maybe this here’s the work of some kids in the nearest town, or could be some of the cowhands she pissed off. There’s a lot of that word,” he pointed to ‘bitch’ sprayed on in bright red, “on the house. Some on the barn, too. I’m telling ya, she didn’t make no friends here.”

Carlos went back to the truck and took a camera out of the glove box. “Who’s got the photography skills?”

“Will,” Troy volunteered, pushing Will towards Carlos. “He’s got to, being a private investigator and all. Bet he’s had to snap thousands of pictures.”

“Who says I do it well though?” Will took the camera then smirked at Troy. “But of course, I do. Because I am just awesome like that.”

Carlos popped Will on the ass, getting a yelp from the man. “Well, get your awesome self to taking pictures of the damage, will ya? We need to send them to Nick and the others, let them decide if they want to spend the money to fix this place up still. They might just change their minds.”

Troy walked over to stand beside Carlos as Will set about taking pictures. “We can fix most of this. I used to work for a glass company ages ago, right out of high school, did some carpentry, too.”

Carlos looked at his lover and arched a brow at him. “You never mentioned that before.”

Troy’s cheeks turned dark as he blushed. “Didn’t see any point to it. I’ve been a bartender for the last eleven years, and that’s kind of all I think of myself as most of the time.”

“You’re more than that to me and Will.” Carlos knew Troy sometimes doubted himself, and that the man had a bundle of concerns about moving to a ranch in Montana, not the least of which was his usefulness here. Carlos knew Troy would fit right in once he got past being intimidated about learning new skills.

“I know I am,” Troy said quietly, his eyes lighting up with his joy. “Wouldn’t be here otherwise.” Troy glanced around the yard, then turned and looked from the direction they’d come. “Those mountains still creep me out. Make me feel tiny, which is funny considering.” He flexed his biceps.

“You are a big guy,” Carlos agreed. “And I love that about you.” He leaned in to whisper in Troy’s ear. “Especially when you submit to me and let me have my way with you. Tie you up, beat that ass until it’s red and you’re begging me to fuck you. Oh yeah.” His erection, which had faded, began plumping right back up. Troy gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing. Carlos palmed one of his ass cheeks and squeezed, hard. “Maybe I should take you out to the barn, bend you over a hay bale and—”

“And not without me,” Will interrupted. Carlos looked at him just in time to get a face full of flash from the camera. “Whoops. Well at least it’s already sunny out so you shouldn’t be blinded.”

Carlos rubbed at his eyes, seeing spots behind his lids regardless. “You know we wouldn’t be fucking around without you.”

“Well, duh,” Will drawled, “I bring the fan- to the -fuckingtastic!”

Carlos felt a sharp stab in his head as he often did when Will created weird sayings. “All right then, let’s get on inside, check the damage there. Then maybe I’ll see about getting out my rope.”

Will groaned and Carlos whacked him on the butt. Will could glare all he wanted, but Carlos knew how much the man liked getting his ass paddled.

“I’ll go first,” Troy offered, darting up the steps. Carlos was going to protest, since he had the keys, but then he saw the gap between the door and the frame. Someone had broken in already.

Troy pushed the door open and stuck his head inside. “Fuck, it stinks in here.”

“Ain’t no telling what’s been done inside.” Carlos caught a whiff of rancid odour. “Jesus, smells like a garbage dump in the Texas heat.”

“No shit,” Will said, elbowing his way past Carlos and Troy. “Well, there’s garbage all over. Might explain the smell.”

Carlos and Troy went on in and Carlos cursed when he saw all the trash strewn across the living room and entryway. “What the hell, looks like someone really did dump out a garbage truck here.”

“Smells like it too,” Troy agreed, fanning his face. “But I’m thinking rats and raccoons can make messes like this.”

“Rats!” Will shrieked right before he turned and literally jumped on Troy. Lucky for him, Troy was quick and strong. He caught Will easily, hefting the slighter man’s body up high. “I hate rats! Hate! Them!”

Carlos wasn’t particularly fond of the critters himself. “Might not be the cause of the mess.” Although he suspected Troy was right. Some of the mess might have been left by people, but there was that musky, fetid scent of animal faeces. “Take Will outside while I do a quick run-through of the place, since I know the layout of it.” He tacked on that last part so neither of his lovers thought he was implying they weren’t up to the task—even if Will clearly wasn’t.

Carlos waited for them to clear out, making sure to get the camera from Will. It amazed him that, even with the windows busted out, the house still reeked.

Until he found the carcasses. “Aw, hell.” Carlos had to swallow hard to keep from upchucking when he saw all the dead rats, and yes, there were some raccoons, too. His best guess was that they’d got into the poison in the pantry. It was supposed to be appetising, and it looked like it had worked.

Flies buzzed and he swatted at them as his stomach gurgled. He set the camera down and walked around dead critters and trash to get to the kitchen. With no electricity on, the refrigerator hadn’t been running, and there was a good chunk of stink coming from it, too. Carlos pulled his bandana out of his back pocket and quickly tied it over the lower half of his face. He grabbed the trash can, trash bags, and gloves he found in the work tool drawer.

The camera he took back outside to Will and Troy. “Y’all go on and get pictures of the barns, will ya please? I’ll handle this mess in here. If you see anything else—broken fences, down trees, stuff like that, snap a few shots too.” He didn’t bother sending Nick photos of the inside of the house. That was just too gross to do to someone.

Carlos got busy bagging up everything he could. He worked non-stop, not wanting Troy or Will to walk in and see any of the dead rodents. After an hour, he had all the bodies up, but there was still trash. That was okay, it wasn’t as awful as what he’d already cleaned up.

What he was doing was the easy part. There’d have to be more hands hired to fix the barns and even though Troy was handy with carpentry, he couldn’t do all the repairs himself. Not in time for the cattle the Mossy Glenn’s owners would want to bring to the ranch. Will could help, too, but there was just too much work for the three of them.

Carlos piled the bags up on the back porch, which looked marginally less damaged than the front. He went about sweeping up the trash next, and by the time he had the second story done, too, a few hours had passed. He came down the stairs and veered for the front door upon hearing Troy and Will.

He saw them leaning against the truck, both men talking, sometimes at once, sometimes more politely. Troy was pointing with one hand and waving his other around like he was trying to encompass the whole state. Will was nodding and pointing here and there as well.

Carlos’ heart filled with that warm, bubbly sensation he knew was love. He’d never understand how he’d got so lucky, or what two young studs saw in a wrinkled old cowboy like himself. He was just damned glad they saw it.

“Y’all done with the picture-taking?” Carlos asked as he came outside.

Troy nodded and Will answered, “Yep. We found downed fencing, and followed it for a good while until we got worried about wolves and bears and animals that could make us their dinner.” Will gestured at the house. “Is it safe in there yet?”

“Still need to bleach the place from top to bottom, and have the electric and water turned back on.”

Troy snapped his fingers. “Shit! I was supposed to tell Nick when we got here. Let me text him real quick.”

“It’ll still be a day or two before it gets done. Will,” Carlos waited for Will to come over to him. “Help me nail trash bags over the windows. Troy can figure out how to shut the door so nothing else gets inside.”

“Okay.”

Between Will, Troy and himself, it didn’t take long to have the house closed up. “Guess we can either hit up a hotel or camp in a barn,” Carlos offered.

Will harrumphed and cocked his hip. “Uh, like the barn has a nice hot shower? Man, I reek, and as much as I love you both, I’m not gonna lie. Y’all stink, too. Definitely vote for a hotel.”

“Me too,” Troy added. “We could all use a good scrub-down, and besides, I found this.” Troy jogged to the truck and took a coiled length of rope from the truck bed. “That’s your rope, Carlos. I dug it out from under the other crap we have here.” Troy patted a vibrant orange and blue striped suitcase. “Will’s bag was on it.”

“I didn’t want it blowing out,” Will said, an impish grin on his face. “I
love
that rope.”

“You’re not the only one,” Troy rumbled. He set his hot gaze on Carlos. “You have a promise to keep.”

“I have several promises to keep,” Carlos said, keeping his voice deep and slow.

Will whimpered and pressed the heel of his hand to his dick. Troy just looked at him, desire tightening his features.

Carlos wanted to curse, because he wasn’t going to be able to take them into the nearest town and fuck them senseless. Three men holing up wouldn’t be tolerated in Ashville. Probably wouldn’t be tolerated much of anywhere, but a bigger city was their best bet.