Chapter Thirteen

When Shepherd woke from their post-coital

nap, he was hungry. He always seemed to be hungry around Brogan. He

also remembered they needed to clean out the truck, and he needed

to do a load of laundry because with only two pairs of jeans and a

few t-shirts, nearly everything he owned was dirty.

He wiggled free of Brogan’s embrace and when

the sleeping man reached out for him, handed him one of the spare

pillows on the bed. That settled him down. Dressing in the clothes

he had worn earlier, Shepherd silently moved around the room and

out into the hall. As he descended the stairs, he said a silent

prayer that he would not run into Brogan’s brothers.

Of course, his luck being what it was, the

two men who looked nearly identical to his man were in the kitchen.

Sam was sitting at the kitchen table with what looked like Brogan’s

clipboard while Harry was standing at the stove.

“Oh, hello,” he said as he stepped off the

stairs into the kitchen.

“If you’re looking for clean clothes,

everything is in the washing machine,” Harry said. “The rest of

your stuff is in the junk room.”

“You cleaned out Brogan’s truck?” Shepherd

asked, amazed that someone would do something so kind.

“We didn’t have anything else to do while we

waited for you two,” Sam said, looking up from the stack of

receipts he was feeding one by one into a machine that looked like

the scanner he used to save his pictures.

“Thank you,” Shepherd said as he moved

toward the doorway with a small metal “Junque Room” sign over

it.

Stepping into the room, he found three

tables pushed against the other three walls of the room. Each table

had a sign over it with one of the men’s names on it. Sam’s table

was empty while Harry’s had what looked like engine parts on it,

and a basket of clothes. Brogan’s table was piled high, not only

with his things, but also with Shepherd’s backpack and duffel

bag.

Unsure of protocol, Shepherd grabbed his

bags and headed back across the kitchen to take them upstairs to

Brogan’s room.

“Tell Sleeping Ugly that dinner will be

ready in fifteen minutes,” Harry called up the stairs.

Shepherd laughed and finished climbing the

stairs. He slipped into Brogan’s room and set his bags down. Brogan

had rolled to his back, but was still asleep. He stopped for a

moment and studied the sleeping man, wondering how best to wake

him.

After a moment, he grinned and took a step

back, just in case Brogan woke up swinging.

“Beep-beep-beep,” he said in his loudest,

most annoying alarm clock imitation.

Brogan jackknifed into a sitting position

and looked around wild eyed. “What?” he yelled.

Then he blinked and looked around again,

taking in his surroundings and finally his brain clicked on and he

focused on Shepherd. “You’re awake.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And dressed.”

“Yep.”

The man then looked at the bags sitting just

inside the door. “And apparently you’ve gone out to the truck

without me.”

“Nope. Only as far as the kitchen. Your

brothers brought our stuff in from the truck and even started our

laundry. Oh, and Harry says that dinner will be in about ten

minutes.”

****

Brogan walked into the kitchen, preparing

himself for whatever comments or advice his brothers might offer on

his relationship with Shepherd. The Myles brothers were not known

for their tact so he half-expected they would comment on everything

from Shepherd’s hair to his being a non-CDL holder to anything

else.

Shepherd followed him but did not seem as

nervous about seeing his brothers again as he had been on their

arrival. What had happened while he’d been napping and his man had

gone looking for clothes?

A glance in the junk room showed their

clothes were now clean, dry, and on the table in a basket, waiting

to be folded and taken upstairs. The junk room and its separate

tables for each of the triplets was something their mother had

devised when they were in their teens. She claimed turning half of

her sewing room into a place to keep all the things her sons left

around the house and yard had kept her sane as they grew through

their teen years. At the beginning, it was one table with lines

dividing each brother’s space. After their deaths, the brothers

expand on the concept, giving each brother an entire table for not

only things they left around the house but also their mail and any

laundry that was left in the dryer.

During dinner, he waited expectantly for his

brothers to attack. It wasn’t until they had finished dinner and

were eating the apple pie Sam had made that the brother began their

interrogation. Only it wasn’t him they were focused on, it was

Shepherd.

Though he wanted to step in and protect

Shepherd from his brothers’ attack, Brogan forced himself to sit

back and watch. If they were to be together, his man needed to

learn how to deal with his brothers. Sam and Harry were as nosy as

a pair of gossiping old women who needed to know everything about

everybody.

“So, Shepherd…” Sam started the inquisition.

“What are your plans now that your father is out of the

picture?”

Shepherd finished chewing and swallowing

before carefully placing his fork on his plate. He wiped his mouth

on the cloth napkin they used and washed every few days. That was

another holdover from when their parents were alive.

The longer it took him to answer, the more

Brogan wanted to step in and shield him. But he knew if he did that

it would make Shepherd fair game for whatever other attacks his

brothers might be planning.

“Well, since we’re going to be off road for

the next week or so, I thought I’d work on the illustrations to the

book I wrote the last few days. Hopefully I can get it finished and

sent to my agent before Brogan leaves again. I also want to talk to

my agent about working a deal with some of the larger truck stop

chains to carry my books in their stores. Other than that, I

thought I’d spend the rest of my time fucking your brother in as

many ways as we can think up.”

“So, you’re not going to return to your life

before?” Harry asked this question.

Shepherd looked at Brogan and he returned

the gaze but did not step in.

“No. My life before Brogan entered it was a

time of hiding who I really was and waiting to break away from my

father and really start living my own life.”

Brogan smiled, knowing that whatever they

might have to face in the future, they would do it together.

Tossing his napkin on the table, he stood and knelt in the space

between his chair and Shepherd’s.

“I know it’s probably too soon, but you are

the most amazing man I have ever met and I love you with everything

in me. I’ll still be on the road three weeks a month, but you can

go with me whenever you want. Will you marry me and be my road

buddy for life?”

Shepherd wiped his cheeks with the hand he

was not holding before he nodded. “I will want to use our trucking

adventures for a new series of books. And I also want to get my

trucker’s license so I can be a full partner in your truck.”

“Holy shit,” Sam breathed as Harry whooped

his approval.

Brogan nodded. “You’ll always be my partner,

with or without getting your CDL, whether you’re with me or not in

the truck. You are the other half of my soul, on the road or in the

bedroom.”

“Then yes, I will marry you.”

Both men stood and wrapped their arms around

each other before kissing like their lives depended on it. When

they finished, Brogan took his man’s hand and pulled him out of the

kitchen.

“Where are you going?” Sam called after

them.

“Yeah, it’s your turn to do the dishes,”

Harry said.

Brogan did not stop walking as he called

over his shoulder. “My fiancé and I are going to celebrate. We’ll

see you tomorrow. Maybe.”

The End