Chapter Twenty-One

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Colby

T hey'd been sneaking around Covington Acres, kissing and touching each other as much as possible. Colby didn't know why it felt different now than a week or two before, when they hadn't admitted to having feelings for each other yet, but it did. Like he was a kid, soaking up those feelings, the crush that gave him butterflies in his belly all the time. That secret relationship where he wasn't ready to tell anyone, but they were also so fucking into each other that it felt impossible to keep their hands off each other. Like Colby would burst out of his skin if he wasn't touching Vince…kissing him.

And Vince seemed to feel the same about him.

It had been a busy morning at the farm, Colby not getting to work with Vince, but now that he had a moment of downtime, he made his way toward his friend…his boyfriend? Was that a word they should use? He had no idea what they even were other than two friends who'd started hooking up and realized they had feelings for each other. While Colby didn't want to rush, wanted to make sure he did this right, he couldn't pretend the thought of being Vince's boyfriend didn't make him feel like he should grab on to the nearest tree so he didn't float into space.

Which was ridiculous.

He was too old for thoughts like that.

But he didn't care if he was too old. He liked it.

He liked feeling these things for Vince . He wanted to hold on to these moments and never let them go. That had to be a good sign, right? Had to mean this was real. That he wouldn't all of a sudden realize what he was feeling wasn't really romantic and he'd just gotten wrapped up in the intensity of their friendship along with the sex. Because then he would end up hurting Vince.

"Psst," Colby said to Vince, having sneaked up on him while he was climbing off a tractor.

He gave Colby a slow grin in return. "Why do you have a mischievous smile on your face?"

"Why don't you follow me and find out?" he replied cheekily, then turned and headed for one of the barns. It was a short distance away, so it took a good five minutes to walk there. Colby didn't turn around to see if Vince was following, but he knew the other man was, keeping a distance, like two guys heading the same direction and not as if anything was about to happen between them.

Colby very much hoped something did happen between them.

He said a silent prayer when he walked into the barn and didn't see anyone in there. His dick was at half-mast already, just at the thought of fooling around with Vince like this. The farm was a whole lot more fun when Vince was around. It wasn't his dream, but Vince made it enjoyable in new ways.

Colby kept going toward the back, around a stack of hay bales, into a corner he'd purposefully made for them earlier. They were out of sight from the door and afforded some privacy behind all the farm equipment and hay.

"You got something on your mind, sexy?" Vince asked, meeting Colby in the little alcove and playfully crossing his arms. "You don't stop sneaking me away like this, and I'm gonna start thinking you like me."

A fluttery feeling ignited in Colby's chest. The good kind. The one where he couldn't keep the smile off his face and the happiness from his heart.

He hooked his fingers in Vince's belt loops and pulled him closer. "I do like you." It felt like more every day, the questions in his mind getting softer and softer…and another voice, one that said a four-letter word Colby had never thought he'd feel, tried to squeeze its way in. He couldn't say that. He couldn't feel it, could he? It wasn't that long ago that he wasn't even sure he was capable of it…

But Vince had changed that.

"I like you too. We reliving high school here? You bring me under the bleachers to make out with me? Because I'm telling you right now, I'm easy. There's not much you couldn't get me to do."

Damned if Colby didn't believe him, if he didn't know that there wasn't much Vince couldn't get him to do either, and they weren't only talking about sex. But that was a lot of power to have over someone. Colby had hurt too many people in the past, and the thought of Vince being one of them was like cutting out his own heart.

So instead, he started to work Vince's jeans open. Both he and Vince were sweaty and dirty, but he didn't think either of them cared much.

Vince went to work on Colby's jeans too, until they were standing in the corner of his parents' barn, with their pants at their knees.

Just as Vince wrapped a hand around Colby's aching shaft, Colby said, "Oh, wait," then bent and grabbed a packet of lube from his pants.

Vince cocked a brow. "You're really getting into this sex-around-your-parents'-farm thing."

"I can't help it. It's just you. I want you all the time."

He saw a small shift in Vince's gaze, his brown eyes soft, but with a little fear, no doubt because of his former heartbreak.

"You're the best friend I've ever had. Everything feels different with you." He wasn't sure if that was the right thing to say, but Vince grinned, closed the distance between them, and took Colby's mouth.

They had to be quick, which was exciting, but the moment almost felt too heavy for quickness. So he tried to tell Vince that with his kiss, with each sweep of his tongue.

Thank you.

I care about you.

I don't want to lose you.

Colby had his back against the wall while they devoured each other's mouths. He opened the lube, squirted some in his hand, then wrapped it around their shafts. Vince thrust against him, fucking into Colby's grip, his hot, hard cock against Colby's. He smelled the tinge of their hard day of work on his skin, tasted mint as if Vince had chewed gum recently. He wished he could get on his knees and take Vince's dick into his mouth. Funny how he'd never sucked a cock until Vince's, yet he loved the weight of it on his tongue. Loved bringing Vince pleasure any way he could.

Colby continued to jerk them off together while giving Vince free rein of his mouth. Vince, who made him feel like more than just the Colby Covington everyone saw when they looked at him. With Vince he could brew beer, pave his own way, and maybe fall in love.

Vince's lips eased away from his, their foreheads now touching while he rutted against Colby. Vince pulled his shirt up, tucking it beneath his chin. "Come for me, baby. Shoot your load all over us so I smell like you all day."

"Oh fuck." Colby's head dropped back, hitting the wall behind them. His body flushed with heat, balls drawing up as he released spurt after spurt all over their hands, then angled his cock toward Vince's stomach to finish emptying his nuts on Vince's abs. Vince, this man who had come to mean so damn much to him.

I think I love you.

What if I'm not good at it?

What if I'm not good enough for you?

Vince thrust against them again, both of them looking down, Colby letting go of his own dick to jack Vince off until his cum joined Colby's.

"Oh yeah," Vince said. "You definitely have a huge crush on me, don't you?"

"The biggest."

Vince turned serious a moment, dropping their foreheads together again. "I don't want to be scared of getting hurt by you."

"Maybe like everything else, we just do it together. We can be scared together, Vince."

Vince pulled back and winked at him. "I like the sound of that." He took off his shirt and wiped them both off. "I have another in the truck. Hopefully no one asks me where my first shirt went as I make my way over. I'll grab it, and then we should get back to work. You're distracting."

"Are you complaining?"

"Fuck no."

There was a sink in the barn, which they used to wash their hands. Vince left first, and a few minutes later, Colby followed. As soon as he did, his parents came speeding his way on one of the golf carts, his dad in the back seat. He could tell by how fast they were going that something was wrong.

They pulled up to a quick stop, his dad sitting sideways with his leg up on the seat and ice around his foot and ankle.

"Jesus. What happened?"

"Nothin'. I'm fine," his dad said.

"He is not fine. He fell off a ladder, and I'm pretty sure he broke his foot," Mom told him.

"It was only a few feet. I can't break my foot stepping down wrong from that distance. I didn't fall," he argued.

Colby's heart was beating too fast. It was likely just a broken foot like his mom said, but all these years of working Covington Acres and Colby had never known his dad to break anything. He was the first one up and the last one done with work for the day. Well, until recently.

"Your bones aren't what they used to be, Charles. Even so, anyone can break a foot." She turned from him to give Colby a sad smile, one that said his dad was going to take this hiccup as him getting older and not being able to do his job anymore.

"Take me to my truck, and I'll drive you to the hospital," Colby said, noticing Vince coming over.

"No. The wedding is in three weeks. There's too much to do here. We need you on the farm, Colby," Dad said.

"How the hell are you going to get into the truck?"

"I'll take care of what needs to be done here," Vince assured them. Because of course, Dennis wasn't in today. That's the way things went. "I'll figure everything out. Take care of your family. That's what's most important." Vince reached over and squeezed Colby's shoulder, and…he wanted to bury himself in Vince's arms, right there in front of his parents. He was the biggest asshole in the world because as worried as he was about his dad—and simple broken foot or not, Colby was worried about him—all he could wonder was if this was the beginning of it. If his dad would have to slow down and stop working and Colby would have to take a more active role in Covington Acres.

And while he'd just been thinking about how much more he enjoyed it with Vince…it wasn't all he wanted. He wanted more.

"Are you sure?" his mom asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Vince replied in unison with Colby's, "Vince will do whatever needs to be done. The farm is in good hands with him." Probably better than with Colby, who had dragged Vince into a barn to have sex with him while there was a shit ton of work to do and his dad was getting hurt.

"Get in," she told him.

This time it was Colby who reached out, who squeezed Vince's shoulder. He wanted to lean in and kiss him, to tell him thank you. To explain his conflicting feelings because he knew Vince would understand.

But he pulled back, and Vince winked at him. "See you soon, babe."

Colby nodded, got in the golf cart with his parents, and couldn't stop thinking about how he wished Vince had called him baby.

They were able to get his dad into Colby's truck fairly easily. The local hospital was in Chelsea, so he drove them there.

"I should call Dennis and have him head down to the farm," his dad said.

The automatic need to defend his friend bubbled up inside him, even though really, it wasn't as if his dad was attacking him. Still, Colby couldn't help but say, "Vince can handle it. I trust him."

"We trust Vince. That's not what your dad meant," his mom said.

He shifted, feeling her penetrating gaze on him. She was too damn good at reading him, and he didn't want to take the chance of her asking if anything was going on with them. He wouldn't deny it again. He didn't want to deny it, but it would add more pressure to the situation while they were still figuring things out.

"He does good work. He's a good man," Colby's dad added.

"He might not be a Covington," Colby said, "but he loves the farm. It's a few hours. Let Vince be. Plus, I'm sure Dennis will want to see what's going on with you."

They agreed, and his mom called Dennis, Jackie, and Roe while Colby drove. They were all the worrying type, so he had no doubt his siblings would end up at the hospital with them. That's just how the Covingtons were.

They got his dad into the ER, Colby and his mom joining him. When they took his dad to X-ray, they ushered them to the waiting room.

"Is everything okay with you, Colby?" his mom asked. "You seem…different lately. Happy, for sure, but also like you're carrying the weight of something on your shoulders."

Goddamn it. He knew this would happen. He ran a hand through his hair, ready to open his mouth and say whatever fell out, but before he could, Dennis came around the corner, Roe and Jackie right behind him.

"Is Dad okay?" Dennis asked. While they were all close, Dennis and his dad shared a special bond. Dennis looked up to Charles Covington, wanting nothing more than the exact life their parents had—that farm and their family.

"He's fine." Their mom got up and hugged Dennis, then Roe and Jackie.

"The doctor's pretty sure it's a broken foot. He'll have one of those boot things and crutches for a while," Colby relayed. "He also bonked his head and likely has a very minor concussion."

"Not that it's ever good timing to get hurt, but this is especially difficult," Jackie added.

"Hell. I feel bad," Roe said. "I know he's been working harder on the farm to get things ready for the wedding. Maybe I should have taken some time off from the store." He shifted, clearly feeling guilty.

"Oh, stop," their mom said. "It was an accident. It's no one's fault. Your daddy is constantly working hard at the farm, whether there's a wedding or not. I'm more worried about keeping him on those crutches than anything. We'll figure the rest out together, like we always do."

Dennis turned to Colby. "We're going to need you more over the next few weeks."

"Yeah, of course. I'll do whatever needs to be done." And he would. This was his family and he loved them. One of the things that made them special was how they were there for each other. While sometimes that did come with a lot of pressure, it was something Colby was honored to be a part of. Sometimes it was confusing how those two things could coexist, but then, he figured that was part of being human. "Vince will do whatever needs to be done too."

"Holden and I still have jobs for the next week and a half, but the kids will help, and we'll be there every spare moment we can," Roe assured them.

"Scott and I will do the same," Jackie added. "Though it might've been smarter to stop some of the farm activities this close to the wedding. Still doing all the goat and family activities makes things difficult."

"Yeah, but we're Covingtons. We'll figure it out." Mom nodded, and everyone else couldn't help but agree with her.

A nurse poked her head out of the emergency room. "Charles is back. A couple of you can go in."

Roe, Jackie, and their mom headed for the door. Colby was surprised to see Dennis lingered back with him. "I'm worried about Dad."

"He's strong. He'll be okay." Colby squeezed his brother's shoulder.

"It's not just the foot and concussion. I work with him more closely than you do. He's slowing down more than he wants to admit. I see him wincing in pain more than he wants to let on. He's been hard on his body all his life. I just…I think we're going to have to consider that it might be me and you heading up the bulk of the work sooner than we'd like to admit."

Colby's stomach tightened, but he ignored it. This was his family. His farm. Plus, he could keep brewing beer as a hobby. And the traveling…it wasn't as if most of his family were well traveled. Why did Colby think that was something he needed? "I'm ready to do whatever needs to be done." And while he knew it would be a family effort, he noticed that Dennis was having this conversation with him and not Roe. Their oldest brother had his own life, his own career, and Colby wanted him to have that, but he wished it hadn't always been assumed that Colby wouldn't want the same for himself. But then…would he have left the farm to the others to figure out? It was his family legacy. What kind of asshole did it make him to want less responsibility in it all?

He knew that if Roe was needed, he would drop everything to do what the family needed, and damned if Colby wouldn't do the same. Roe already had his business, his life. Colby had…nothing.

But now you want Vince…you have Vince.

"Good man," Dennis said. "I knew I could count on you. We worry about you sometimes. You're…I don't know how to put it…different."

Colby bristled, that word playing on the insecurities he wished like hell he didn't have. "I'm not any different from you."

"Shit. That came out wrong. I didn't mean…"

But he was different. And he was learning to be okay with that. At least, he wanted to. "Come on. Let's see if it's our turn to visit Dad." Colby walked away from his brother, feeling too many emotions to settle on just one.

All he knew was, he wished Vince were there with him.