Hay and Heartbreak (12 page)

Joaquin seemed to shrink down a few inches. “Yeah, yeah I—I’m sorry, man. I just— I don’t even know. There’s this thing that happened back home, and then I was outed and all hell broke loose and it was— I didn’t— Well see I—”

“Bed,” Dan ordered. Joaquin was a mess, not a danger. “Come on. I’ll help you get there if you know where your room is.”

“Last one down the hall. M’always last,” Joaquin whined. “Always, always, always last.”

Dan couldn’t decide whether he hoped Joaquin remembered his behavior in the morning or not. He likely wouldn’t have a shred of pride left if he did recall it.

Well, Dan knew that wasn’t his problem.

“Can you get my bag? I left it—um.” Joaquin hiccupped. “Somewhere. God, fuck, my stomach’s all bubbly—”

“Then it’s the bathroom for you,” Dan declared, steering Joaquin to the closest one.

“What’s all the noise?” Frankie asked, stepping into the hall. “Oh, hey, Joaquin. I’m really sorry about your mom.”

“Yeah, me too,” Joaquin mumbled. “An’ I’m disowned an’ a shitty son. Wait, not a son no more—”

“How drunk are you?” Frankie came out and took the bottle from Joaquin. He sniffed. “Ugh.”

“M’only a lil drunk,” Joaquin declared.

“It hit him like a ton of bricks,” Dan said.

“He reeks like whiskey. How much did he drink?” Frankie got on Joaquin’s other side. Several other bedroom doors came open and people looked out to see what all the noise was about.

Because Joaquin had started singing, badly, as Dan and Frankie tried to get him into the bathroom.

Soon there were several concerned cowboys around, trying to judge how much of the whiskey was in Joaquin and how much he’d spilled on himself at some point.

Dan got out of the way and left Joaquin to be cared for by people who knew him. The run-in with Joaquin had scared Dan in a way not related to the man’s obnoxious come-on. It was seeing someone else under the influence that had shaken Dan. The memories from Dan’s past were bouncing around his brain and he didn’t want to dwell on them.

It was why he hadn’t returned to the town he’d grown up in, because he didn’t want to wind up right back in the same circle of people he’d hung out with as a teenager. It happened too often. He’d been lectured and shown the statistics.

Dan needed to find something to do with his time, and his life, or he was going to screw it all up again, he just knew it. Maybe not with drugs, but with something, somehow.

“No more excuses.” He looked at himself in the mirror. He’d let his scars hold him back, because he didn’t want to have to explain how he got them, and because people were repulsed by them.

Not all people. Hector doesn’t mind them. Duke, Frankie, and no one here cares.

But Hector didn’t know about Dan’s past, and now, holding back that information seemed dishonest.

Dan didn’t know why. It was just the way he felt.

Confused more than ever, and tired of trying to work out what was going on in his head and emotions, Dan turned away from his reflection. If he were lucky, he’d escape all his confusion in sleep.

Chapter Nine

Hector tapped his hat against his thigh as he waited with Curt for Carlos to finish his phone call. After being away from Dan for nearly two days, and knowing Dan wasn’t going to be in Montana for long, Hector wanted to get back to the bunkhouse and see the man.

“Look at you, all cow-eyed over Danny Boy,” Curt teased, though there was a sharpness to his tone that was odd.

Hector put it down to Curt being tired and whapped him with the hat. “Shut up already. I told you not to call him that.”

Curt chortled and smacked Hector back. “But it’s so much fun to wind you up. You sure y’all ain’t gettin’ serious?”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, I’ve only known him for a little over a week!” Just about as long as Curt had. “Stop being an asshole.”

“Touchy, touchy, mother fucker,” Curt complained. “Calm the fuck down, man.”

“What the hell are you two bickerin’ about?” Carlos demanded. He leaned back in his chair behind the desk.

Hector hadn’t even realized Carlos had hung up. “Nothing. Just spent too much time together. And he smells bad.”

“Hey, you don’t smell so hot yourself,” Curt retorted. “You better sneak in and shower when we’re done here or you won’t be gettin’ any.”

“You son of a bitch,” Hector grumbled. Carlos wasn’t going to let the comment from Curt pass, Hector just knew it.

Sure enough, Carlos looked right at Hector. He didn’t have to ask. Hector spilled it. “He’s talking about me and Dan hooking up, is all.”

“Jealous, there, Curt?” Carlos arched one eyebrow at Curt.

Curt shook his head so fast it was a miracle it didn’t fly off his neck. “No, sir, not me. I’m not interested in Dan at all.”

Hector was kind of offended by Curt’s quick denial. “Yeah? What’s wrong with Dan? You have a problem with him?”

Curt rolled his eyes. “No, you moron, I wouldn’t poach on someone else’s man.”

Carlos had a decidedly amused look on his face. “So he’s
your
man, Hector? You move almost as fast as me and my men did.”

“No he didn’t. We were fucking within minutes of meeting,” Will chimed from the doorway.

Troy, who stood behind him, groaned and face-palmed. “TMI, Will!”

“What?” Will blinked innocently. “Carlos was already talking about us all getting down and dirty in record time. I mean, I saw him, blew him a kiss, he chased after me, I ran into the bar and jumped your sexy body, then Carlos joined in. Bam-Bam-Bam! Except more bams, because we were really going at it and there’s the video to prove it.”

“Will!” Troy choked out, lifting Will up off his feet and hustling him into the hall.

Hector heard a thump then the definite sounds of kissing, with Will making more noise than he needed to. Then again, maybe Troy could really kiss like a god.

Carlos called out, “You two are gonna miss hearin’ whatever it is Hector and Curt are here to tell us!”

In short order, Will, his hair disheveled and lips already swollen and slightly bruised, traipsed in with Troy behind him.

“Wouldn’t want to miss that,” Will said as he passed Hector. “And feel free to share any smutty details with us regarding Dan. He’s so…mmm, mysterious.”

“Will,” Troy sighed. “Does the phrase sexual harassment mean nothing to you?”

“Not a thing, nope. Besides, are you being harassed, Hector, Curt?” Will asked them.

“No way,” Curt said quickly.

“Not sexually,” Hector answered. “Just having to put up with this butthead.” He nudged Curt.

“I take my answer back,” Curt snapped.

“Nope, not allowed to do that,” Will informed him. “Zip it, dude.”

“Enough bullshittin’,” Carlos announced. “And, for the record, I didn’t chase you, Will, I found you and Troy by accident. But I’d have chased you if I could have. Your little tin can car left my truck in the dust that day.”

“My version’s sexier.” Will plopped down on Carlos’ desk. “What’s up with the mystery footprints?”

Hector waited for Curt to speak first, and when he didn’t, decided to take the lead. “Here’s the thing. Those could have been a person’s footprints or not. They weren’t clear, and I think if it
was
a person, he or she knows a little something about covering tracks. I’m guessing that Rocky saw something we didn’t, either tracks that hadn’t been tampered with, or I don’t know what. All we found were some faint marks on the ground that could have been left a while back, after the last rain, even. What left them, I couldn’t swear for certain. There was some kind of disturbance not far from where Duke got thrown. Broken branches and torn up grass that couldn’t be hid. Whoever did the checking after Duke was hurt didn’t look around good enough.” Hector glanced at Curt. “You want to talk?”

Curt shrugged. “I guess. You tell a good story, though, even a true one. Anyway, we checked the line cabins. The one Duke and Frankie said was open last year was still closed, so was the next one over. But out in the south pasture, beyond that where the other two shacks are?” He shook his head. “Someone’s been in them both. They weren’t wrecked, not at all. Both were locked up tight. Wasn’t a trace of dust in either of them, and they both smelled like they’d been aired out good.”

“I’ll call Ian,” Will said, twisting around to hold his hand out to Carlos. “I left my phone…somewhere. It’s in the house. Maybe.”

“Thank God we have insurance on it.” Carlos gave Will his phone. “So you think we have a squatter, maybe two, or more, and somehow they’re tied in with Duke gettin’ hurt. Is that right?”

Hector and Curt looked at each other.

“Can’t say about Duke’s accident,” Hector finally answered. “I don’t want to pin that on someone when we don’t know if there’s a reason to do that. Something’s up with the cabins for sure, though. Like Curt said, they were clean as could be. I think whoever’s been in them was watching us, too. Think they saw us coming and cleared out. There wasn’t a speck of trash in the shacks, and I felt like we were being watched until we were a few miles away from there.”

“Me too,” Curt added. “I even tried to talk Hector into circling around to see if we could sneak up behind the cabins, but
nooo
, he said no being stupid without the bosses’ permission.”

“He was right,” Carlos informed them. “Thanks for goin’ out and checkin’ on things. Hector, you and Curt have tomorrow off. Joaquin came back last night.”

“Mmm-hmm and that man had too much alcohol last night, too,” Will said. “I swear he was exhaling fumes today.”

“His mom passed away. He’s entitled to mourn, as long as it doesn’t affect his work.” Carlos stood. “I thought you were callin’ Ian?”

“I got distracted.” Will began messing with Carlos’ phone.

Hector told his bosses goodbye then made a beeline for the bunkhouse with Curt right beside him, singing, “Hector’s got a crush,” like an idiot.

“Carlos and them ought to have a minimum IQ requirement for hiring people on,” Hector told Curt. “You’d be working at McDonald’s.”

“It takes smarts to work there, I’ll have you know,” Curt retorted. “Have you ever looked at those cash registers?”

“You’re right. I couldn’t do it.” Hector bounded up the steps. “Hey, look. The Apocalypse is coming. You were right for once.”

“I’m right a lot. You just haven’t caught onto that yet.” Curt raced past him and into the bunkhouse. “Honeys, we’re home!”

“There goes the evening,” someone hollered.

“Hey
Daaaan!
Guess who’s back!”

That
sounded like Ramsey for sure.

Hector entered the bunkhouse and ignored the catcalls and hoots. The guys were in fine spirits, apparently.

“What’d you and Curt find?” Frankie asked. Duke sat beside him on the couch, his injured leg propped up.

Curt started in with an explanation and Hector tried to look around for Dan without being too obvious. He must not have succeeded since Duke thumbed toward the kitchen. “He’s in there talkin’ with Joaquin.”

Hector told himself there was no cause for alarm. Just because Joaquin was easily the best looking man on the ranch didn’t mean Dan was going to take up with him.

But it wasn’t as if Hector had any claim on Dan. In fact, Dan hadn’t come into the living room, and he had to know Hector was back, what with all the hollering that had gone on when he and Curt came in.

Duke reached back and thumped Hector’s leg. “Don’t be a dumbass. Go get him.”

He guessed that was Duke’s way of showing his approval. Hector made his way to the kitchen and found Dan and Joaquin sitting at the small table there, looking at— “Is that a cookbook?”

Dan waved him over. “Hector, Joaquin is showing me his mom’s recipe book.”

Joaquin sat back. There was a sheen to his eyes that might have been tears he was holding back. “Yeah, your guy here said he can’t even boil water. I was showing him a few things he might want to try.”

Dan turned pink and glanced down.

Hector really liked that ‘your guy’ part. He walked over to Dan, tucked a finger under his chin, and tipped Dan’s head up as he dipped down to steal a quick kiss. “Hi there,” Hector said for Dan’s ears only. He noticed the love bites were still darkening Dan’s skin.

“Hi,” Dan returned, reaching up to hold on to Hector’s wrist.

That crooked smile did funny things to Hector’s heart. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to be tangled up in Dan, and letting him go would hurt like a mother.

Hector still didn’t walk away. Instead, he pulled up a chair and sat down beside Dan. “Joaquin, I’m real sorry about your mama. I didn’t get to tell you before you left.” He’d been helping move cattle.

“Thank you,” Joaquin said, but nothing more on the matter, and Hector didn’t press. “This recipe here, these fish tacos, they’ll make you the most popular cook around if you follow the directions.”

“Fish tacos.” Dan scrunched his mouth up. “That just sounds gross.”

“Well, it isn’t. I’ll make some for dinner this weekend, and you’ll see,” Joaquin vowed. “I need fresh fish, though.”

“Y’all could go down to the creek,” Hector suggested. “Or, if you want to, Dan, we can go fishing tomorrow. I’m off. We could even load up Duke and get him out for a while. There’s some of those fold-out sun chairs on the bosses’ deck. I’m sure they’d let us take one for Duke.”

“I bet he’d like that. He’s cranky and fed up with being kept inside. I was going to take him out tomorrow anyway, so fishing would be great,” Dan said.

Joaquin closed the recipe book. “If y’all don’t catch enough, I’ll take Dan and Duke out Saturday to see if we can’t bring more in.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Hector stood and caught one of Dan’s hands in his. “Want to come for a walk with me?”

Dan seemed surprised by the request, judging by the expression that flashed over his features. “Yeah, sure. I need to get a jacket. I still have yours.”

Joaquin slipped out of the kitchen.

Hector pulled and Dan stood. Without wasting a second, Hector hugged Dan and kissed him thoroughly, uncaring of anyone seeing them. He wanted to taste Dan, and make sure of his welcome.

Dan clung to him, parting his lips and trembling when Hector licked into his mouth.