16. Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chatter and noise woke Jon from an amazing dream where he'd held the cowboy all night. When he opened his eyes to see his arms were empty, he was stunned for a minute before he focused, seeing a thermos bottle being offered to him along with a mug.

"We didn't know how you like your coffee," a soft voice said. Jon looked up to see the tall, thin figure of Rocky Whipple standing over him with a small smile.

He sat up, feeling embarrassed. "What time is it? Do you know where Mickey is?" The boy sat next to him on the hay.

" Shhh! " The boy held a finger up to his mouth and pointed to the floor below. Jon leaned forward to look over the side of the hayloft, seeing men leading saddled horses through the hallway of the barn, tying them to hooks outside each stall.

"What's going on?" Jon appreciated that Rocky was trying to save him from embarrassment. The boy had a kind heart.

"They're bringin' horses over from Katydid to give rides to our friends. Mickey sent these for you to change into, and he said to go in through the basement door in the back of the house. It's our secret about you bein' up here." Rocky gave him a big grin. Jon remembered how exciting it was to share a secret with an adult when he was Rocky's age, so he grinned and nodded in return.

Jon made a promise to himself to do anything he could to help the beautiful little boy remain where he was happy and well cared for. The guilt settled into his soul for his past behavior when it came to Rocky and roping Audrey into representing the boy after the death of his mother. He knew it was probably a dark time for the little boy, and Jon had abandoned him. The enormity of his actions weighed heavy on his heart, and he didn't like the feeling at all.

Studying the clothes, Jon saw they weren't his. "Is Mickey helping with the horses?" Jon opened the thermos to pour himself a cup of coffee.

"He's in the kitchen with Poppa Tim. They're makin' food for later. Ryan and me was helpin', but Mick asked me to sneak down here to help ya out." The boy wore that same big grin, his grey-green eyes glowing. Obviously, the child was thriving in this environment, and it made Jon happy to see Lyla was dead wrong about the women needing to take the boy away from Matt and Tim.

He set his coffee mug down and began sorting through the clothes the boy had brought him, seeing a pair of boxer briefs that had to be the sexy cowboy's. He was going to like wearing Mickey's clothes.

"Tell me about yourself while I change," Jon whispered. The boy caught on and turned his back to allow Jon privacy.

"I'll be ten. I'll be in second grade, and I'm learnin' to ride horses. Ryan knows a lot about horses, and he and Mick are teachin' me. I learned how to saddle Josie so Ryan and I can take turns ridin' her. He's still too short to get the saddle over her back, but I can reach up, so I do it. I don't say nothin' ‘bout Ryan bein' short ‘cause it makes him mad.

"Grampa Josh wants me to come to the Katydid and ride Chief, his stud horse, sometime. He thinks he'd be a good horse for me to learn on. See, Josie's just about too small for me, but she's nice enough to let me ride her. And Ryan, he's good to share her with me. He just got her for Christmas last year, but he shares everything with me. We're best friends, ya know?" The boy's voice was a whisper. It was sweet.

Jon finished his coffee and folded the blanket, stowing it where he'd seen Mickey take it from the shelf the previous night. He'd hoped maybe they'd get physical since Mickey had been adamant that they couldn't have sex in the house, but as he thought about it, talking all night long and falling asleep in each other's arms was something Jon had never done before in his life. He hoped it was a step in the right direction when it came to Michael Warren.

Jon and Rocky sat together, looking over the edge of the hayloft as the cowboys continued to tie the horses in the hallway. "Hey, y'all come up to the house." Mickey appeared in the hallway to summon the other barn hands. "Miss Jeri made her sweet rolls, and I got plenty of coffee ready. Tim's up there with Marty and Matt. They were workin' out a schedule about the rides, so head on up and talk to ‘em."

"Oh, you run shit ‘round here now, faggot ?" someone challenged.

"Who's that?" Jon whispered.

The boy snarled. "That's Stevie Tanner. He works at the Katydid part-time, and he's mean. He calls me names too when I go to the barn by myself to feed apples to the horses Grampa Josh keeps down there."

"Stevie, knock that shit off. I don't know what they tolerate at the Katydid, but we don't tolerate that shit here so grow the fuck up and do as you're told." Mickey walked by the young guy who stuck out his foot and tripped him, laughing when the young cowboy hit the concrete.

Just then, another guy came into the barn, laughing at Mickey on his hands and knees on the barn hallway floor. "You gonna mount him, Stevie? He need breedin'?"

"Is everybody else up at the house, Paulie?" The other man nodded at Stevie's question, and Jon sensed something bad was about to kick off.

He turned to Rocky. "Go back in that corner and sit there with your hands over your ears until I come get you, okay?" The boy nodded and did as Jon instructed.

Jon scrambled down the ladder just as the two men tackled Mickey. Jon had the element of surprise on them, so when his bare foot met with the tall, dark-haired man's ribs—Paulie, if he'd paid attention—the asshole was shocked as he tumbled on his ass.

Mickey shoved the dirty-blond, Stevie, off him and hopped up pretty quickly. "Where's Rocky?" Jon examined the cowboy, seeing a strawberry bruise starting to bloom on his cheek, likely from hitting the rough concrete floor of the barn.

"In the loft with his hands over his ears until I tell him to come down. Who the fuck are they?" Jon's breath rushed from his lungs as he got a surprise punch to his left kidney.

The other guy jumped for Mickey, knocking him down as punches flew at his handsome face. When Paulie straddled Jon's chest and began an assault on him with fists ablaze, Jon was at a loss of what to do. He'd never had to defend himself in a physical fight, so he did the best he could to protect his head and tighten his abdomen to keep the punches from doing damage to his internal organs.

Shouting suddenly filled the cavernous space, and the assailant's weight was jerked off Jon. When he lowered his arms from around his head, he saw Matt Collins and Josh Simmons with their knees in the backs of the two aggressors. "You boys okay?" Josh asked.

"I'm fine." Jon rolled over to see Mickey's bloody face.

"Oh, baby. I'm sorry I wasn't a better fighter." Jon crawled over to Mickey and pulled him up to a sitting position.

"I'm fine, darlin'. Thanks for helpin' me 'cause I don't know that they wouldn't have followed through on the threat." Jon tried to clean some of the blood out of Mickey's eye from a nasty cut to his head.

"Can I come down?" Everyone turned to see Rocky Whipple with tears on his face as he looked over the side.

"Oh, sweetheart, come down. What're you doin' up there?" Matt rose from the ground, pulling Stevie up with him.

"That fuckin' fag had him up there and was molestin' him." Stevie pointed a shaking finger toward Jon.

Josh chuckled as he rose from the ground and walked over to the idiot, cocking his fist to punch the asshole in the mouth and send him back onto his ass. "You're fired."

Matt walked over to the ladder and climbed up a few rungs, holding his arms out for the boy. "You okay, Rock?"

Rocky nodded and moved into Matt's arms, wrapping himself around the huge man's body as Matt descended the ladder. Jon could see the child was trembling, and it pissed him off even more.

"Rocky brought me coffee and a change of clothes because Mickey and I slept in the hayloft last night. We were waiting for the place to clear out so we could go back to the house because Mickey was trying to save me the embarrassment of being caught sleeping in the barn with him since we aren't welcome to sleep together in your house." Jon turned to look at Matt.

Matt looked surprised and Mickey gasped. "No, Jonny, it's not that way, okay? Matt didn't… doesn't… Can we talk about this later?" Mickey pointed to Paulie and Stevie.

Josh chuckled and looked at the two of them. "Oh, you're fired, too. Get the fuck outta here before I call the sheriff and have both y'all arrested. Do not go to the Katydid for any reason today, or I'll have ya charged with burglary and trespass. I'll be there tomorrow, and you can both come pick up your saddles and shit. Katie will have your last check ready about noon. Do you two idiots understand?"

Stevie Tanner seemed to bristle. "Mr. Simmons, I didn't do nothin' to you, and I've worked for you for three years. This asshole showed up a year ago. How the hell can you take his word over mine?" Stevie pointed to Mickey.

Matt put Rocky on the floor and knelt in front of the boy. "You take Mickey and Jon to the house so Poppa Tim can clean ‘em up before all the company gets here, okay? You didn't do anything wrong, buddy. We'll get this mess cleared up and be up to the house in a few minutes for Gramma Jeri's sweet rolls. Go on." Matt kissed the boy's forehead and patted his shoulder.

Rocky walked over to Mickey and Jon, taking each of them by the hand. "Come on, guys. Let's get you cleaned up." Jon smiled as he allowed the boy to lead him out of the barn and turned to see a smile on Mickey's face as well. They had another thing in common—they'd both had their asses kicked trying to defend the other.

Jon was sitting in an old-fashioned, webbed lawn chair just like the ones he remembered from his childhood. His parents used to have stacks of them at the country place in the shed next to the pool. He remembered having to fold them up after parties and put them back into the shed, and it made him miss his parents.

He really wanted to take Mickey to visit the farm again, this time as his guest. He was sure his mother would be happy about it because she'd loved Mickey when she'd met him in Dillwyn.

"Hey, Mr. Jon." Ryan Collins greeted him as he walked over with a bowl full of folded papers.

"Hello, Ryan. What's this?"

"We're playin' a game called Pie Face. This tells you which round you'll be in."

Jon reached into the bowl, pulling out a piece of paper and opening it. He saw the number four written on the paper, so he showed it to the boy, who smiled. "You getta go against Ethan." Ryan pointed to his right.

Jon's gaze followed the boy's finger, seeing the hot young stud he'd seen in Mickey's arms the previous day. It had set Jon's blood to boil at the sight of the man he had designs on in the arms of someone else—especially, a hot young guy who was closer to Mickey's age than Jon.

"What's the game?" Jon asked, hoping it wasn't any sort of feat of strength because his body was aching from the ass-kicking he'd received earlier in the day.

"Poppa asks some questions, and if you don't answer right, you gotta spin the wheel. Just come watch." Ryan took his hand and pulled him along.

The two of them walked over to the side of the yard to see a crowd gathered around a table where Mickey and another boy sat with their faces through a cardboard cutout. There was a paper plate with whipped cream on a hand-shaped lever, and Jon chuckled, picking up the gist of the game.

"Okay, Tommy. What is eight times eight?"

"Sixty-four." Everyone clapped at the child's correct answer.

Tim glanced at Mickey, a smirk overtaking his face. "Mickey, what's the square root of—"

Mickey laughed. "Just spin the dang wheel, Tim."

Everyone laughed, and Tim stopped the spinner with his thumb on five, which made him laugh. "Aw, Mick, five."

"You donkey—" Mickey's comment brought a laugh from Jon.

Mickey, the man Jon was becoming more attached to by the moment, turned a crank handle on the side of the game apparatus. After the third turn, the hand that held the plate aloft brought it up to smack Mickey in the face.

A roar arose from the crowd, and Jon joined them as Mickey took some of the whipped cream from his face and brushed it over his young opponent's cheek, bringing a loud giggle from the small boy.

After they stood to make way for the next pair, Jon walked over to Mickey who took a finger full of the cream from his chin and held it up to Jon's mouth so the man could suck the finger inside. "Mmm. Almost as good as the sweet cream that comes from the very nice source in your pants. Any chance I can taste it again anytime soon?"

Mickey laughed. "Yeah. Tim gave Matt ten-kinds-of-hell after that shit at the barn, so we've been given the okay to share a room if it won't scare the hell outta ya."

Jon grinned, unable to hold in the honest, overwhelming affection he felt for Mickey. "I'd love to share your bed, regardless of whether we have to remain monk-like. Can I help you do anything to get me out of playing that game?" Jon pointed to where Miss Jeri was wiping the whipped cream off the table for the next pair.

Mickey's chuckle was sexy as he glanced around, before he leaned forward, leaving a gentle kiss on Jon's lips. Jon licked them and smiled. "Maybe we should buy that game and target it a little further south? I could quiz you on things for your GED, and if you get the answers right, you turn the handle and take the cream on your gorgeous cock. I'd definitely suck that off." Jon's whispered come-on to the cowboy brought a flush to Mickey's cheeks.

"Sure, Jonny. We can find a lot of rewards, I'm sure. Now, I need to go in and clean up. What round are you?"

Jon laughed. "Four."

"I'll be back." Mickey hurried toward the house. He'd have followed him, offering to help him in the shower, but he wasn't about to step on the toes of his hosts, so he continued to watch the festivities with a smile.

After his turn at the game, where Tim asked him if he could spell Lichtenstein, Jon surrendered to a little girl, Gracie, who took Ethan Sachs' place because he had to go take care of the horses at the barn.

The little cutie had curly red hair and a toothless smile along with bright green glasses, and from what Jon could tell, Ryan had more than a passing interest in her. When the cream hit Jon in the face, he did as Mickey had done, sweeping some of the whipped cream off his face to dot a dollop on her nose, bringing a tinkling giggle from the girl.

Rocky approached with a few paper towels and a big smile. "Here, you go, Mr. Jon. You played a good game. I gotta learn to spell that word, too."

Jon laughed and pulled the boy into a hug. "I think you and I need to become better friends, Rock. I'd like to come out to the ranch again. You think your dads would be okay with that? Maybe we can find a better place to get your haircut?" The boy had a rash toward the base of his skull that proved to Jon the person cutting the boy's hair wasn't sure how to cut it properly.

"Oh, man, would they! Tim took me to a barber in Radford, but I hate the way the man cut my hair. I want it more like yours." Rocky touched the side of Jon's head where his hair was short. It was groomed impeccably with the sides and back close, while there was a little more on top. It wasn't a fade per se, but it was groomed to his liking, and he could see the boy's blond, curly hair had been clipped far too short at the back and sides.

"I'll find a place out here where they can do it right, I swear. Now, let's go inside so I can wash up. Can you introduce me to your friends?"

The boy nodded, and for the rest of the afternoon, Rocky held his hand and introduced him to everyone in attendance as his friend , Mr. Jon.

After the gifts were opened and the arsenal of NERF guns unveiled, the kids divided into armies and moved into the yard, much to the adults' relief and appreciation.

Jon was sitting on that webbed chair speaking with a woman with white hair who was insistent on figuring out how a handsome man of color, who wasn't Rocky's dad, fit into the party. "I'm a lawyer, ma'am. I work for Matt."

Mickey plopped down on Jon's lap, wrapping his arm around Jon's neck. "Miss Ruthie, you're just givin' him trouble because you don't know him. He's mine."

Mickey then turned to Jon and smiled. "She's the librarian in town, and I've been spendin' a lot of time there while I'm studyin' for my GED. She's just givin' ya hell." Mickey then kissed Jon on the lips in front of everyone.

It sent a shock to Jon's system because he'd never been kissed in front of so many people, but it felt good. It felt natural, so he pulled Mickey down for another kiss, keeping it chaste, but enjoying the feel of their lips molded together.

When they pulled away, Jon was sunk. In his wildest dreams, he never thought he'd be so stupid as to fall in love with a white boy with bronze hair and bright-green eyes who worked with horses and had more compassion in his little finger than anyone Jon had ever met in his life. It seemed his soul settled in that very moment.

Jon took the lady's hand and shook it. "Miss Ruthie, it's a pleasure to meet you, and if you think this guy's slacking off on his studying, please call me. I'll get you one of my cards before you go home." Mickey's slow grin lit up his face.

"How you feel about helpin' me clean up the kitchen and put the food away before we start poisonin' people?"

"Show me the way, baby." Jon patted that hot ass as the young cowboy hopped up.

They carried dishes in from outside, throwing away most of the food that had been out in the heat of the day for far too long. After they cleaned up the mess, Mickey went to a refrigerator in the laundry room and brought in two ice-cream cakes.

He opened the lids and showed them to Jon. "Tim drove all the way to Roanoke to get ‘em. They're cute, right?"

One cake had a turtle standing on its back legs, wearing a mask of red, and some sort of armor with a weapon in his other hand. Jon was confused. The other cake was Ironman, and he understood that one completely. "What's the turtle?"

"Oh, come on. You were a kid once, I'm sure. It's Raphael from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He's Ryan's favorite. Turns out Rocky's favorite is Ironman. Trust me, they argue about whose hero is the coolest for hours on end."

Mickey set the cakes on the counter and headed to a drawer. Before he got too far away, Jon grabbed the hot cowboy and pulled him into his arms. "After cake, can we slip away somewhere and maybe spend some time alone?" Jon's thumb caressed Mickey's tanned cheekbone where the bruise was forming. If the man was his, Jon had definitely struck gold.

"Like I said earlier, Matt and Tim had a change of heart regarding guests, and I'm able to entertain a gentleman caller in the event he's serious, and it's not just a one-night stand. Your thoughts?" Mickey cocked his head and met Jon's eyes.

Jon leaned forward and kissed Mickey's soft lips. "I promise you, it's not a one-night stand, Mickey. Let's serve the cake and work the crowd. I'll meet you in your room at ten if I'm judging this right."

"You're on." Mickey shoved the candles in the cakes and Jon lit them. They carried them outside for the boys to make their birthday wishes.

Ryan and Rocky were extremely happy when they saw the cakes, and Jon remembered some very happy birthdays of his own, but as he watched the cowboy, he could see him taking in everything with a pained smile.

As Jon observed Mickey while the boys enjoyed an off-pitch rendition of the birthday song, he vowed he'd find a way to make up for things that hadn't been exactly wonderful in Mickey's past.

Jon felt like he might be able to make the future better for the young cowboy if they were a couple. Based on what he'd heard about Mickey's parents, he was pretty damn sure he couldn't make it worse.