Chapter Seven

Travis didn't remember the drive home and wasn't aware of how he even got there until he pulled up outside the main house. Jaron had hypnotized him. He sat in his truck for the longest time.

Had he just told Jaron about his bisexuality?

He hadn't told anyone except for his dad. Dad hadn't told anyone except for his mom, although Travis only suspected that. He'd never asked her if she knew. The old man hadn't cared, so Travis hadn't made a big deal of it. He had sexual attractions to both men and women, leaning more toward women for some reason unknown to even him. It was what it was, so Travis hadn't thought about it that much.

Dad dying meant the farm had become Travis' responsibility. He didn't have time to date. That fact didn't change because he saw someone who interested him.

But God, something about Jaron knocked him for a loop. Never in his life had he experienced anything like that. More than attraction, although that was there too. So much more he didn't know what to do with it.

Greg came out of the bunkhouse and went into the horse barn. He looked as if someone had eaten the last of his favorite cereal, and Travis needed to find out why.

Travis put his truck keys in the center console before getting out. He headed into the barn and found Greg scratching Trick's big nose, whispering secrets to the horse.

"He's a good listener, but he doesn't talk back." Travis leaned against the other end of Trick's stall door. "Is listening all you want?"

Greg shook his head.

Travis couldn't begin to understand the things Greg had been through in his life. His parents loved him and each other. Although he didn't remember getting spanked, he remembered a few times when he'd deserved punishment. He might not have anything useful to say, but it didn't hurt to let Greg know someone had his back regardless of the current issue.

"I went to get my guitar today. It's the last thing I needed from home. Mom and Dad were fighting again and I had to call Leonard to come pick me up before meeting him at the feed store."

"I wish you would have called me. I was in town getting something for Mom. I would have brought you home."

Greg shrugged. "It's fine."

"That's not your home anymore, anyway. Hasn't been since the day you got to this farm. Your family is right here. You need me to send you inside the house to Mom to prove it?"

Greg smiled. "Nope." He cocked his head, looking thoughtful. "Did Bev bake recently? I'd go in for cookies or cake."

Travis chuckled. "You'll have to go in and see."

Greg nodded. His smile died. "I want to hate them. I should, right? I mean they put each other and me through hell."

"Whatever you feel for them is just fine. There's no wrong way to be." How many times had his dad said that last statement? It fit a lot of different situations. Hell, it even fit his feelings toward Jaron. Maybe he needed to take his own advice.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I just…the guitar was the last thing, ya know. I don't have to go back to that house. It took two years to go back just to get the guitar. I don't know how I feel about that right now."

"I guess there's good and bad with that, huh?"

Greg nodded. "Yeah."

Greg came away from the stall. Travis slung an arm over his shoulders when he did, walking him out of the barn. Greg tried to walk toward the bunkhouse, but Travis held on. "Where are you going? If we have any chance for cookies, you're the one that's gotta talk Mom into making them. She won't do it for me. I'm not cute enough anymore. But you, you still have a baby face."

Greg chuckled. "So I'm like your puppy now. Using me to get what you want."

"You're the one who brought up cookies." Travis pulled the kid closer, hugging him as they walked into the house.

"I disagree that I have a baby face, for the record."

"You're young still. Twelve years old now, right?" Travis grinned as he led Greg around the side of the house to the back. Going in through the kitchen would get him yelled at less.

"Very funny. I'm eighteen. An adult." Greg gave him a narrow-eyed stare.

Travis chuckled as he pulled the back door open. "Well, don't let that adult thing scare you. You're still a kid to us. Our little fella."

Greg pulled out of his hold and made a face, making him laugh even harder. "No. Just…no."

"If you've been in the barn, take off your shoes." Beverly sat at the kitchen table with a book and a cup full of coffee beside her.

"Yes, ma'am." They both spoke at the same time.

Travis had his boots off first. He walked over to the sink and washed his hands. After he dried off, he made his way over to his mom and kissed her on the cheek. Travis sat at the table next to her.

She smiled and then waved Greg over, tapping her cheek in a silent bid for a kiss, which Greg gave her right before sitting down on her other side.

Beverly looked from one to the other. "Why do I get the feeling you two are up to something?"

"Because we are." Travis grinned and pointed to Greg. "He wants cookies. And I might have found you a housekeeper."

Beverly patted Greg's hand and smiled at him before turning her gaze onto Travis. "Did you get my crackers?"

Oh, shit. "I forgot to bring them in."

Beverly pursed her lips and shook his head. "You never forget anything."

Travis shrugged. It wasn't that odd, considering his reaction to meeting Jaron.

He stood and walked to the back door, pulling on his boots. "I'll go get them."

"Who did you hire for me?" Beverly asked.

"I didn't hire him. Just told him to call you." Travis had his hand on the doorknob. "You know Gloria McAllister's son."

"Gloria talks about Jaron all the time."

"Yeah. Turns out he wasn't missing at all. He's back in town and needs a job." Travis wanted to ask his mother to hire Jaron so he'd get to see him every day but maybe that wasn't a good idea since he didn't have a fucking clue what he should do about his attraction.

Everything about Jaron called to some protective instinct Travis wasn't aware he even had until meeting him. He couldn't help but want to wrap his arms around Jaron and never let go, shield him from the world. Maybe that was what had him all twisted up in knots. Lord knew he'd never felt like that about anyone else in the whole of his life. He was too self-absorbed in high school to pay attention to someone like Jaron.

He had just turned the doorknob when Elmer, one of his farm hands, crossed the backyard. "It's Maggie. She looks like she's having contractions."

Travis was out of the door in a second, with Greg right behind him.

"She's early." Greg's presence beside him calmed Travis some. The kid remembered everything he ever read and had a love for animals. He read everything he could on horses because he thought it was a fun topic, which made him almost as good as having a veterinarian there.

"Yeah." Everything left his mind except Maggie.