Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Corey

A knockon the door of the bunkhouse had us all staring around confused one morning a couple of weeks after my boy’s appointment. We never had anyone knock on the bunkhouse door. Everyone either just came in or had a key. Hell, the thing was never really locked. It was more for show because no one ever came to the ranch uninvited.

Opening the door, I realized that line of thinking was a lie. Mostly because some people had open invitations. That meant that they didn’t have to announce their arrival. They could show up whenever and however they wanted to.

Given that Ean, our friend and the former Hollywood movie star, was standing at the door in a pink jumpsuit with a balloon animal hat on his head, proved my point. He smiled wide as he dove in for a hug.

Even though I wasn’t looking in his direction, I knew my boy was watching with a scrutinizing gaze. I pulled back from the hug, holding Ean at his shoulders as I spoke loudly. “Ean! What are you doing here? And where is that fun husband of yours?”

“He’s up at the house talking to Atticus. He told me I could come say hi to my friends first.” Two sentences in, and I already knew that Ean was deep in his little mode. The hat should’ve been a dead giveaway, but if given a balloon hat, I would also wear one, and I wasn’t a little.

Ushering him inside, I told the crowd of men that we had a visitor. “Look who came to see us!”

As soon as the first person approached him, I shifted away quickly to get to Ashley. He watched my every move, then pulled me close to his side once I was within reach.

“So that’s Ean?”

I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that he wasn’t bothered by the awkward moment before. “That’s Ean. He and Rhett decided to make a surprise visit, so here we are. That means we won’t get much done today. He’s already in his little mindset too. The others will likely follow suit."

A blush came to his cheeks. “Is it ok that I’m not?”

“That you’re not what? Little?” He gave a nod as I shook my head. “It’s fine. There are all types of people in our friend group. I don’t expect everyone to act the same and neither should you. You’ve already seen these guys and little mode. Adding Ean is just ramping that up times a thousand.”

“So long as you’re sure, Daddy.”

“I am doubly sure.”

Right then, a squeal went up behind us. I turned to see Ean with his hands raised as he chanted, “Bounce!" over and over. It seemed as if we were going to open the bouncy house and have little time this morning. I wondered if we should stop them before breakfast or let them burn off some energy before they ate.

It was honestly so early in the day that either answer was appropriate. None of us had made it up to the big house for breakfast yet.

Come to think of it, that probably explained why Rhett and Ean were here. If they could get to us early, then we wouldn’t be knee-deep in chores, and we probably wouldn’t stop to play.

The group of littles hurled themselves out the bunkhouse door. A reluctant set of Daddies followed. I pressed a kiss to Ashley’s cheek before we went to catch up with them. The more hands we had to help set up the bouncy house, the better.

A few minutes later, the house was up, and the boys were jumping like crazy. We pulled out the folding chairs and settled around to watch them. Harlan loaded up breakfast, and Jackson, along with Bobby Allen, set up a couple of the folding tables for the food. We basically had a cookout when it was all said and done.

About an hour into playtime, I noticed my boy looking pained. “What’s wrong, baby?”

He bit his lip and shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

“It is something if it bothers you. Remember how we talked about you telling me things?” I gave him my most serious Daddy expression.

It took seconds for him to fold. “It’s just that… I’m not little, but that looks like a lot of fun.”

“Then go do it. No one is going to judge you or stop you.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m kind of a big guy. I would hate to destroy this amazing bouncy house because I weighed too much and popped it.”

I wanted to laugh at his pitiful expression only because the idea was so ludicrous to me. But as his Daddy, I had to take my boy’s feelings into account, which meant no laughter. I had a job to do.

Standing from my chair, I made my way to the bouncy house. When I got close enough, Ean dropped down to the netting to greet me.

“I never would’ve pegged you as a Daddy. It’s good to see you happy though Corey."

“Thank you, Ean. I appreciate the support. It would be great if you could help me with one more thing though. It’s for my boy.”

His eyes lit up. “Anything. I’m your guy. I’ll help. Name your price. I’m good for the money!”

“There is no price. It’s just that he’d like to jump, but he’s nervous about his size and everyone else being in there too. Do you think you could give him just a couple of minutes to jump alone so he can have the memory? It wouldn’t be for very long. I think it’s more that he’s afraid of missing out because you guys make everything look so fun.”

Ean’s hands moved to his chest. “I almost wanna cry. That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. We’ll get out right now.”

He turned away from me and yelled to the others that it was time to get out. They shuffled out without question, following Ean, their fearless leader for the day.

“Now it’s time to practice our cartwheels,” he declared. “Ashley is going to jump while we play here. Then if we want to go back, we can.”

It should’ve been strange to watch these grown men doing cartwheels in the grass after they had just been in a bouncy house, but it wasn’t. Turning to the Daddies, I found Rhett sitting in a chair with the balloon hat Ean had worn earlier atop his head. He gave me a wink, then his gaze went to his husband.

Seemed us Daddies were no better than the boys. We just preferred the control.

“Come on baby,” I called out to my boy.

He ran over quickly, his face beet red. I helped him slip his shoes off, then I tapped his bottom so he could slip through the flapping door.

Once he was inside, his natural instincts took over. He bounced and jumped and dove around the inflated contraption. And all the while, I heard the sweetest sound.

My baby was giggling. It was soft and melodic. I had never heard him so carefree. This one activity had wiped away every bit of his worry from before.

I knew that no matter what happened, I would make sure he got some alone time every chance he could when we blew this thing up. He deserved to have his joy as much as the others did. Even if he fought me on it, I would make it happen.

“I can’t believewe still haven’t heard back from him.” Travis lamented his woes at the dinner table a few days later.

Preacher, the P.I. who was great at finding anything anyone needed, had gone silent. It wasn’t that he was ghosting anyone, but he hadn’t delivered any news either.

Not only were we worried, because while we lived in the state of worry about Gerald, but Robin was also frustrated. His brother was entrenched in this. Griffin told us often about how his worry had only grown in the last couple of months.

It was hard to believe time was moving as quickly as it was without Gerald around. I didn’t understand it one bit. I’d blink and days would pass.

It seemed like only yesterday Clancy was falling out in the yard and then coming home, pretending to be ok. It seemed like only yesterday we were laying him to rest and mourning his loss.

Yesterday. It was just a word. The meaning of the time was abstract, and as much as I wanted to understand it and keep track of it better, I couldn’t.

“Maybe he has a lead. He could be getting ready to call us at any minute,” Elton chimed in as the voice of reason. He was good at that. His life and struggles had given him a perspective others didn’t have.

“Even so, I wish we knew something." Griffin said. “Robin is going to make himself sick with worry. I’ve wanted to step in and say something, but it’s kind of hard to when he’s so down.”

“You’re his friend, though, aren’t you?” At Ashley’s question, he nodded. “Then, as his friend, you should say something. Let him know that you care and you’re there for him if he wants to talk. It can make a world of difference when someone feels alone and then they realize they’re not.”

My boy was more involved in the ranch than ever. His hearing aids had come in and had been an almost flawless fit. We did a tiny bit of adjusting at Dr. Beverly’s orders, then he was good to go. We still struggled at times, of course. Some noises get to be too loud, and he had to adjust. Other times he’d just sit around mesmerized that he could hear in both ears again.

I couldn’t explain how blessed I felt to be along for the journey. How blessed I felt just to have him. He was everything to me.

“It feels weird hosting the market without him. I know that we’ve had several now, but I’m going to just say the quiet part for everyone to hear. Gerald is a big part of this when it started and now, he’s⁠—

“Gone,” Atticus said to Travis’s plea. “Right now, Gerald is gone. He has chosen to be somewhere else and to live his life without us in it. We have to respect that until such a time when we can do something else about it. Wallowing in the frustration isn’t healthy for any of us. We’ll have our market day just like we have been, and it’s gonna go great. The ranch is doing so well, I can’t ever remember a time where things were this good with the books.”

“I understand what you’re saying. I just don’t like it.” Travis crossed his arms as Holt snickered. He whispered something in the other man’s ear, which had him hiding his face in his hands.

I ignored them to focus on the rest of the conversation. We were trying to figure out if we should clear off more land to use for the market. It had grown so exponentially that people from all over were asking to come set up stands. While the ranch was doing much better, the other people in the community were also benefiting from it. People who set up shop made money hand over fist.

The discussion finished around the same time dinner did. We all went our separate ways after everyone decided to keep things the way they were. We never wanted to be bigger than what we could handle, and it had already grown so much.

Maybe if Gerald was around, and we had the extra hands, the answer would’ve been different. But since he wasn’t and things were how they were, this was what we had to go with. I was sure the day would be fine, no matter what.

When the market day arrived,it was a beaming success, like always. The day started out with our normal surplus of customers coming early. Lights would flash along the drive into the makeshift parking lot long before the sun came up. People camped out so they could be the first in line for their favorite products and things that they couldn’t get in stores.

I knew for a fact that some people who sold at the market only did so in that one instance. They didn’t have a website or sell anywhere else, which made their product even more desired.

The day went as normal as could be. I floated around, helping where I could, and making sure that my boy was doing ok with Harlan at the food table. The two of them had some strange bond. I didn’t know if it was because they were both really big guys in terms of size, or if it was because of the prison time and military time being kind of similar. They had made jokes before about how they were basically the same except for you got paid for one.

I was doing another round of checking up on my boy when I noticed his smile widen. It was a look that I was accustomed to only receiving, not witnessing for someone else. When I followed his line of sight, I found someone I didn’t expect.

Stalking towards him, I patted his shoulder. “Adler. Care to tell me why my boyfriend is looking at you like he looks at me?”

He chuckled softly as he shook his head. “I imagine it has something to do with fond memories.”

I nearly growled at his words. His smirk should’ve been a hint that he was kidding, but my little green monster had risen and would not be satisfied until a proper answer was given. My hand squeezed harder on his shoulder, the grip well past comfortable and into painful.

“Fond memories? Do tell.”

At his wince, I loosened my hold, but I didn’t let go. “I just meant that I had driven him home. To you. I drove him to you, dammit. The day he got here.”

My hand flew off his shoulder quickly. The memory of my boy telling me about his arrival hit fast and sudden. Right behind it was guilt. I had hurt this man out of my jealousy.

“Shit! I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

“I’m pretty sure I know what it was. I guess I should be glad that you’re not the Hulk, and you didn’t just pummel me with your big green muscles.” At least he was smiling as he said it. He rotated his shoulder a couple of times, then motioned for us to move towards Ashley, who had been watching the conversation go down.

My boy’s hands were on his hips, and his scowl was firmly in place. “You did not just do that!”

Adler, the little shit, stuck out his bottom lip and nodded. “He did. Did you see the big bad man come after me?”

I shoved him away from me as I rounded the table to pull my boy in my arms. I kissed him hard and fast.

“I’ve already apologized to him for acting like a moron. It’s really hard not to be possessive of you when someone tries to pretend like you and him had some type of relationship. I’ll have to do better about my jealousy in the future.”

He shook his head. “You should’ve known he was lying. It’s only ever been you. You’re the whole reason I’m here.”

Everyone around us disappeared. It all drifted into a fuzzy background until the only thing left in my view was Ashley.

My Ashley.

My boy.

“I will always be your reason, baby.” And with that, I kissed him again, settling the jealous monster inside me once and for all. Or at least, until someone else tried to insinuate they wanted what was mine.