Texas_Winter (8 page)

All the way back to the ranch, Riley alternated between best dad in the world for Hayley and shiftiest husband in the world for Jack. When they reached the ranch, Jack thought about starting a conversation, but he needed to check on Taylors. At that moment in time, he had to put his horse first. Solving the puzzle of his husband at this very moment was something that would have to wait.

Riley was distant and thoughtful at dinner. His interaction with Hayley seemed normal, but his cell was never more than a hand's reach away from him. Jack tried not to feel jealous of the cell or the girl who had jumped into their lives with such impact.

"What's wrong, Riley?" he asked as they got ready for bed.
"Nothing. Just tired," Riley responded with a shrug. When they lay in bed at night and Riley turned away to sleep, it was the worst thing ever. He said it was because Hayley was down the hall, but Jack remembered back to the whole Jeff situation and saw the same things happening again in his husband. Something big was distracting Riley, and Jack wondered if it had to do with Jim Bailey and the discussion he had watched from the window. Since Hayley had arrived, they had slipped effortlessly into a routine. Of course, their sex life had taken a back seat, but it wasn't just the sex that Jack missed. Well, he missed the intimacy—of course he did. And the hot sex that burned him up every single time was a distant and fond memory, at least until Hayley went to school, but Riley had still held him in bed and never moved away. Intellectually, Jack was aware it was Hayley's presence causing Riley's reluctance to move past a kiss. But add in the constant worry on Riley's face, and he was left feeling like he was missing a part of the intricate puzzle of Riley Campbell-Hayes.
Several times that evening he had begun a conversation and left an opening for Riley to talk. But Riley, damn him, had a unique handle on Jack, and inevitably, Jack found himself talking about the ranch, about the horses, or about Hayley. Never about what was in Riley's head. Tricky bastard.
Then there was the interview.

Sean Harris arrived in jeans and a t-shirt and drove a beat-up Toyota that had seen better days. He wasn't overly tall, maybe a few inches shorter than Jack, and he had the toned physique of a runner. With long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail and sun-kissed skin, he looked more like a surfer dude than any kind of serious journalist. He waited outside the house for a good five minutes, just casting his eyes around the D, whose land spread to each horizon. Jack watched him from the kitchen and made several assumptions that were based on nothing but a scruffy guy eyeing his land. No fucking way this was the journalist, even if Eden said it was. This was clearly some tabloid hack who made his living ripping the hearts out of families such as his, and there was no way he was letting that happen. Temper high in him, not least because Riley and Hayley had disappeared and Eden hadn't even turned up yet, he stalked out of the door and down the stairs.

"Can I help you?" Jack snapped, thrusting his hands in his pockets and refusing the guy's outstretched hand.
"Sean Harris," the other man said. Confusion crossed his face briefly, and he dropped his hand. "Eden Hayes said you were expecting me."
"We were expecting a high caliber journalist, not a hack." Sean's eyebrows rose in surprise, and Jack chalked that up as a success. Clearly, the hack hadn't been expecting someone to call him on what he was. He waited for the guy to turn tail but was stunned when the broadest grin crossed his face.
"These are my best jeans, dude," he said in the smile. Jack frowned at the informal tone. "Wait."
Surfer boy turned back to his car and reached into the back seat, pulling out a book and then thrusting it at Jack. Startled, Jack took the book and glanced down at the title
Equine Therapy
. The front was a picture of horse, not dissimilar in looks to Solo Cal, and Jack saw the name Sean Harris at the bottom. He turned the book in his hands.
"You wrote this?" His estimation of surfer boy rose a notch. Anyone who wrote about horses must be kind of okay.
"Horses are intuitive, sensitive animals with distinctive personalities." Surfer boy, wait,
Sean
, said simply. "I grew up on a ranch back in Cali. This place reminds me of mine. You can keep the book, Mr CampbellHayes."
"Jack. Call me Jack." He lifted his gaze, and instead of a guy who looked scruffy, he saw a loose-limbed cowboy with an apprehensive expression on his face. Jack held out his hand in welcome. Finally. And Sean took it firmly. "Welcome to the D."
They were interrupted by the arrival of one irritable Eden, who had been stuck in traffic downtown and the return of Riley and Hayley, who had been with the horses. Sean pulled Eden into a hug, and Jack didn't think his eyes were deceiving him when she blushed and didn't pull out of the hug so quickly. So that was the lay of the land. He wondered if Riley knew.
Hayley hid behind Riley's long legs, but Sean's judicious use of various kid-like questions, including his more than strange knowledge of
Glee
, had Hayley chatting happily as they stood in a loose circle.
"We probably need to take this indoors," Eden said softly. Jack smirked inwardly at the coquettish tone to her voice and caught Riley's quick frown and his look from Eden to Sean and back again. Jack recognized the switching on of big brother mode. He had used it often enough with Beth.
"Come on, big guy," he said, and nearly dragged Riley by the hand into the house with Hayley running in before them.
When Riley got into the kitchen, he turned. "She's flirting with him."
"Yes, she is."
"He's scruffy."
"He's a cowboy, Ri." Riley looked at him then, blinking slowly, then realization crept over his expression that Sean was another version of Jack. Suddenly, for an instant, in a sexy grin so hot it shattered his heart and then put it back together again, Jack had Riley back. His Riley. He stole a kiss before worried, stressed Riley returned.
"Break it up, guys." Eden's voice was filled with affection, and that set the tone for the whole interview.
The group took cookies, coffee, and hot chocolate into the good room, the one room that didn't have a thin layer of pervasive Texas dust covering it on regular intervals. They sat and talked for a long time, and Sean took some informal photos of Jack and Riley with Hayley sitting on Riley's knee.
Sean knew what he was doing. He asked all the right questions and spent a special amount of time asking Hayley about her new life. He focused a little on her mom and how an eight-year-old coped with loss. Hayley cried a little, and Jack watched as Riley pulled her in for a hug. Hayley had grief clear on her face, and it broke his heart to see, even more so when he saw a similar grief on Riley's face. Of course, Riley would grieve the loss of Lexie. He admitted he'd loved her in his own way, and if everything had worked the way it did in normal families, they would have maybe made a go of it. A lot of ifs and maybes though. Jealousy spiked inside Jack, and he cursed the inappropriate timing of such a self-destructive emotion.
"Jack?" Eden was saying something to him, and he tore his gaze away from his husband and back to Sean.
"Do you have anything to add Jack?" Sean was asking. Jack had already spoken about the marriage, his love for Riley, and how Hayley fit into their lives. He guessed he only had one thing to add.
"I can't wait for all the publicity to end so the three of us can just be a normal family. I hope people can respect our privacy."
Sean nodded at the words and then stopped the tape. He stood. "I'll get a draft of the interview to you, and you can approve the photos you want."
"Okay," Jack found himself saying. A good thing, right? Approval on the article was something the Campbells or the Hayeses were very seldom offered.
They walked Sean to the back door out of the kitchen, but Eden walked him to the car. Jack couldn't fail to notice that Sean's hand brushed Eden's as they talked with heads together. Riley sat Hayley on the counter and boiled a kettle to make her chocolate. He was clearly not one hundred percent happy with Eden and Sean.
"We don't know anything about him," Riley grumped. Jack thought of the book in the good room and smiled.
"He's an author. He wrote a book about horses."
"And that makes him okay in your eyes?"
Jack smirked at Riley's irritable assumption. "No. He just seems like a nice guy. He was brought up on a ranch in Cali; he knows horses. He seems to like Eden." He said the last while leaning on the counter next to Hayley and observing Sean stealing the most tender of kisses from Eden. He watched Eden leaning in and gripping Sean's arms. They looked good together; affection twisted around them in an obvious bond.
"Well, I'm not sure." Riley pulled mugs down from the cupboard.
"You have to relax. It's her life, and it's your sister's choice who she falls in love with." Jack smiled. He was totally unprepared for what came out of Riley's mouth next.
"Don't lecture me, Jack. Jesus, man, given the way you talk to your mom, that's the pot calling the kettle black."
Jack felt his mouth hang open. What? Where had that come from? Hayley was looking from him to Riley and back.
"Are you gonna argue?" she asked. She lifted her arms, and Riley picked her up and settled her on the floor. "I'm gonna go read," she said quickly. Then, with all the astuteness of an adult stuck in the middle of an impending war, she left the room as quickly as she could.
"Are we?" Jack was still bemused. Even more so when Riley sighed.
"Your mom came to talk to me couple of weeks back."
"Go on." This didn't sound good, and Jack braced himself. He'd bet this was something to do with the freaking vet.
"Neil has asked your mom to move in with him. She wanted me to tell you—"
"No fucking way. He lives in a one-bedroom apartment—"
Jack had sudden fear and immediate anger churning inside him like acid. The relationship between his mom and that kid scared the ever-living shit out of him.
"He bought into the practice—"
"Fuck no." Whether the guy had a proper home or not didn't matter one bit. He was a newly qualified equine veterinarian, and he was only three years older than Jack himself. Yes, he had a way with horses, and yes, Jack grudgingly respected what he knew, but that made no difference. Neil was not the right person to be with his mom. "He's young enough to be her son."
"Jack—"
"It's sick. He just wants her money."
"Jack—"
"I'm going to talk to the vet."
He grabbed keys and stalked out of the kitchen, out of the door, and straight to Riley's 4x4, next to where Eden was still standing with Sean. Riley was right behind him. Calling him, telling him to calm down. But nothing was going to stop him. Jack had just about reached his God damned limit, and some guy fucking with his family was the icing on the cake.
"Eden, can you stay with Hayley?" Riley said as he was getting in the car. Jack didn't want his husband in the freaking car.
"Fuck off, Riley," he snapped. Every single shitty feeling inside of him was building to boiling point.
"I'm coming with you. I won't let you hurt him."
"Hurt him?" Jack was momentarily confused, and then he realized what Riley was implying. Clearly, Riley imagined Jack was going to go and kill Neil. And wasn't that a strong and sudden wish that spread through him like wildfire? "I'm going to talk to him. I won't kill him. Not that it's any of your business, Riley—"
"I'm going with you, Jack."
Riley pulled his belt over, and Jack heard the clunk as it connected. Riley was evidently here to stay. Jack forced the vehicle into drive, Riley wincing at the noise as the gears grated.
"We can't all afford brand new trucks," Jack sniped.
And suddenly every single ounce of vitriol hit Jack in an instant, all wrapped up in his fiery temper. Fucking husband with all his money and his strong silent attitude and his cell phone and his God damn fucking secrets. His mom being drawn in by some cheap two-bit hustler. How much more could one man take? The roads were familiar, and all too soon, the one-story veterinary practice was visible from the road, and if it was possible, Jack's temper rose another notch.
He put the car in park and stalked to the front door. Neil was in the reception area talking on the phone. He looked up and took a step back. Jack moved right into his space. Riley was there, pushing between them.
"Let's move this into the office," Neil was saying, but all Jack could see was red. "Jack, wait—" Neil held his hands up in a gesture to placate. That just made it worse.
Jack wasn't going to hold back on this one. "If you think for one minute that—"
"Jack. Office. Now." Riley's voice was strident and firm, and Neil scrambled away from the wall to open his office door and then moved behind his desk. Like having the desk there was going to stop Jack from fulfilling his mission. Riley stood between them again, and Jack waited for Riley to move that single inch that would let him though to Neil.
"How much, Neil?"
"What do you mean?"
Neil was wide eyed, but at least he was standing tall. Jack had to admire the other man for not cowering despite having put a desk between them. Still, he didn't admire him enough to allow anything more permanent with his mom.
"How much money will it take to get you to leave her alone?"
"What the hell? I don't want your money."
"We can have it in your account by tomorrow."
"I love Donna—"
"Riley will pay you," Jack snapped. "So how much do you want?"
"I'm not paying anything to anyone," Riley interrupted.
"I don't want her money—" Neil said at the same time.
"She's twenty years older than you. What the hell else do you get out of it—"
"I love her."
Jack used his extra body mass to trip Riley forward, and when Riley released his hold on Jack to balance himself, Jack took the opportunity to reach for Neil. In seconds, he had the shorter dark-haired man up against the metal file cabinets with his hand twisted into Neil's scrubs.
"Jack!" Riley was trying to pull him back.
"You think you're going to get to me and Riley through my mother? Is that what you want? A tap into the Hayes millions?"
"No. Jack—let me explain."
Neil was pushing back, and Jack stumbled. Neil wasn't dissimilar in size to himself, though a little shorter. The vet was broad and built. One final push from him and there was air between them, Neil holding out a hand and Jack being held back by Riley.
"What else can it be?" Jack spat. "It has to be money. She's old enough to be your mother."
"My mother lives in San Antonio, Jack. Donna is my lover, not my mother."
"And it's just sick—"
"No. She's everything I want, Jack. She's beautiful, smart, independent, funny, and I love her. Her heart, Jack…" Neil's tone changed, and some part of it fractured Jack's temper. "She has such a good heart, and she makes me laugh. How many times do you want me to say it? It's simple. I love her."
"It's wrong." Jack didn't feel the heat burning inside of him anymore. Something in what Neil was saying was getting through the red mist. Riley moved between them.
"Like us then," Riley said simply. "We're wrong, aren't we? Two men bringing up a kid? Married?"
"No," Jack breathed, and looked directly into Riley's hazel eyes. How could Riley say that? Is what he thought? "There's nothing wrong with us." Then it hit him, and in the second between one breath and the next, his anger left him, and he felt nothing but shame.
"Jack?" Riley was speaking so damn quietly.
"You love her?" Jack had to hear it from Neil again.
"I want to marry her if she'll have me." Neil winced as he said this, and Jack felt yet more guilt that the other man thought he was going to get beaten up. "Wait, I have these…" He turned to the drawer behind him and pulled out a folder of papers.
"I don't have anywhere near what Riley has. I probably don't have half of what you have, but there's money in the practice, and I have about a hundred thousand in the bank. Here." He thrust the papers at Jack. "You can see it all."
"Neil—"
"I'll sign a pre-nup," Neil continued. "I don't want anything of yours or Riley's or your mom's. I just want to be with Donna and make her happy."
Jack backed away a step and was up against Riley, who simply supported him with a firm grip.
"I don't need to see," Jack said. "I have to go. I'm sorry." He wasn't entirely sure what he was apologizing for. Was it the fact he had thought the worst of his mom? Or he had wanted to beat Neil into a pulp? Was it that Riley had said something about them being wrong? Whatever it was, he wanted to outrun it, and he stumbled out of the room, past startled clients and out into the sunshine.
When Riley followed him into the parking lot, he grabbed the keys from Jack's hand. "I'm driving," he said simply. "I need a beer."