30. Kess

30

KESS

Rowdy and I showered together, then he checked his phone. Sadie had sent an update, saying they were settling in nicely but that Jaxon had overextended his wrist when he’d thrown JD out of their house. Apparently he hadn’t wanted to make a fuss of it. Rowdy told her he’d FaceTime her in a bit, then immediately called up Skylar, who agreed to go over to the dude ranch tomorrow to look at it.

“Funny how when I mentioned Kit was wearing his knee brace, Skylar didn’t seem all that surprised,” he said after they hung up.

“Yeah, well. Something tells me that Sky isn’t going by tomorrow just to check out Jaxon’s wrist.”

“Oh, he’ll give it a passing glance,” Rowdy joked, then went serious. “I’m guessing Sky is trying distract himself from a broken heart.”

“What happened?” I asked, fingering the tiny braid Rowdy’d added to his hair.

“Sky’s sugar daddy got in one final night with him last Friday, then left the next morning before he even woke up.” Rowdy sat back with loosely crossed legs, thoughtful. “Maybe he’s looking for a new way to get his heart broken.”

“Chasing after a straight guy is a sure way to make that happen,” I said as Rowdy pulled up Sadie and Jaxon on FaceTime.

“Ugh,” he said, then smiled when Sadie’s and Jaxon’s faces showed up on the screen.

Jaxon moved his hair off his face, and his wrist was wrapped.

“Did Kit wrap that up for you?” Rowdy asked.

It was hard to tell, but Sadie seemed to turn a little pink. “No,” she answered. “Kit’s new land manager did that for him.”

“Lane?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Nice. Did Kit talk to you more about the office manager position?”

“He gave me a few details over breakfast and gave us a tour of his behind-the-scenes operations, but he said that when I’d had a few more days to settle, he’d like to chat about it. I’d be, uh, working closely with Lane, so he was mostly concerned that we’d get along.”

Jaxon snorted. “No problem there.” He shot us a knowing glance. “Lane’s been by, like, three times already to make sure my wrist is resting properly.”

“Well, he’s a very kind man,” Sadie said, her tone slightly defensive.

Jaxon got into the camera, his face taking up the entire viewfinder. “It was like one of those dumb Hallmark movies. They saw each other from across the room, and all of a sudden the rest of us disappeared.”

“Jaxon, we just got here. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Mark my words,” Jaxon said sagely. “Not only am I getting a new house, I’m getting a new dad.”

“ Jaxon .”

Jaxon rolled his eyes, looking every bit the thirteen-year-old. “If he thinks I’m calling him daddy, he’s got another thing coming.”

She shot him a look that should’ve singed his eyebrows right off. “You shush or I’ll have you mucking out stalls one-handed.”

“Mom, I am so bored. I would happily muck out the stalls.”

Sadie smacked his chest with the back of her hand. “You think at this age he’d be a raging hormone monster, horn dogging after whatever hot young thing he was interested in. But no, I end up with a seven foot tall aro-ace kid with nothing but time to harass me.”

Jaxon beamed. “Whatever. You already bought your first aro-ace ally shirt.”

Rowdy laughed. “There are aro-ace ally shirts?”

Sadie and Jaxon exchanged a look, then cracked up.

“Kinda?” she answered, lifting her palms. “It’s a shirt with the aro-ace colors, and the tagline is ‘My line ends with me.’”

We all got a good laugh out of that, and it was amazing to see that Sadie, with everything she’d been through, had nothing but full-throated support for her son. I knew a lot of wealthy folks with everything going for them who could learn a lesson or two about loving their children where they are.

“Looks like things might work out really nicely for y’all,” I said, happy for them both. “And if we need to find another arrangement, we will.”

“You won’t need to,” Jaxon insisted with a know-it-all look. “Lane’s got that all locked down.”

Sadie ignored his antics and turned to us. “ Anyway . Yes, I do think I’ll be able to work with Lane. He seems like a good guy.”

“And Lane’ll be thrilled to work with you because you’re super smart and can probably do anything you put your mind to,” Rowdy said, loyal to his core.

She blushed again. “Thanks, Rowdy.”

And for as much as Sadie had tried to brush off what Jaxon was saying about Lane, on this side of the call, we could see that he was onto something. The flush of first interest looked good on my new friend. So many things had been so precarious for those two for so long, and I was grateful to see the impact of stability, mere hours after they’d arrived at Kit’s place.

We made arrangements to see them later in the week, then headed out for a quick dinner at the new cafe on the square. The food was excellent, but the company was better. I recognized a few faces, and a couple folks stopped by to chat with us.

No one said anything about the fact that we were obviously on a date together, but every single one of them seemed genuinely happy for Rowdy.

We walked hand-in-hand around the square, picked up a charm for Stevie’s bracelet, and then headed home. We pulled into the driveway to find Woody astride Shadow, pointing to his and Emery’s house. Less a request and more a demand.

“Oh shit.” Rowdy grimaced as I pulled in next to Emery’s new EV truck.

“Woody makes me nervous on a good day. You can’t go around saying ‘oh shit.’ Is he gonna try to beat me up?” I asked, elbowing him. “I thought he was cool with us.”

I mean, I could take him, of course. But not without a fight.

“He is,” Rowdy said, though he didn’t sound convinced. “Just remember that a glare is a sign of affection from my cousin.”

“Great.”

Rowdy and I got out of the car as Woody dismounted and tied Shadow up to the hitching post, which meant he still had work to do. Hopefully that meant whatever this was wasn’t going to take long.

Thankfully, Emery and Stevie joined us right as Woody did.

Woody pushed his tongue against his lower lip, and Rowdy held his hand up. “We’ve already hashed it out, cousin. I don’t need any more of your opinions on me and Kess, especially since I had to hear you bitch and complain about the new neighbor, and then come to find out you’d been fucking him the entire time.”

Emery put his hands over Stevie’s ears. “Could you not?”

Rowdy grimaced. “Sorry. Just saying.”

Stevie pulled away from her dad’s hands. “I’ve heard the F word before, Dad. And he’s not lying. You were both complaining about each other and secretly going after it. Of course, Rowdy and I always suspected.” She looked to me. “Just as I always suspected you loved Rowdy.”

I put my arm around my feisty boyfriend. “How could I not? He’s the best.” I said, looking down at him as he looked up at me.

“Oh, gross,” Stevie said, looking like a puke emoji. “We were going to invite you to pasta night as a couple, but if y’all are going to be this gross, I would prefer if you faked it again.”

Emery laughed. “I think we’re all allowed to be a little gross in love. Besides, I happen to think Rowdy has excellent taste in men.”

Woody looked at the side of Em’s head like he was crazy. “What the fuck does that mean?”

Emery rolled his eyes. “I can think that my best friend is a catch without it meaning anything.”

I’d discovered a while ago that Woody’d thought Emery and I had some sort of arrangement. That misunderstanding had made him jealous as a mothertrucker back then, and it was funny to see that he still carried a little jealousy in him. Emery stood a little taller and pulled Woody into a saucy kiss.

My best friend loved it when his guy got a little jealous.

“See what I have to deal with every day?” Stevie said, burying her face in her hands. “At some point, Rowdy’s going to move into Kess’s house, and I’m calling dibs on the cabin because I can’t stand any of y’all.”

I pulled Stevie in for a big hug. “Fine, but I’m keeping that goddamn headboard.”

Stevie cursed under her breath.

“Wait, does my goddaughter need a headboard?”

“Need?” she asked, stroking her chin. “No. But am I jealous of the awesome headboard you made for Rowdy, of all people? Yes.”

“What do you mean Rowdy, of all people ?” Rowdy asked, putting his hands on his hips.

“You already liked him. He didn’t need to go all out with the headboard. That was just excessive. It should be my headboard, really.”

“From my cold, dead hands,” Rowdy said.

She threw her head back and laughed. “Okay, fine. I love you too much for all of that.”

Woody narrowed his eyes at us. “Fine, yes. We all saw this coming from a mile away. But my mother-in-law is making homemade pasta this Thursday and insists that you join us.”

“I haven’t seen Dawn in forever. We’ll be there,” I said, smacking Rowdy’s butt.

He shivered, then put a sassy hand on his hip. “Just because I let you control things in the bedroom doesn’t mean you get to boss me around out here.”

Stevie stuck her fingers in her ears. “La, la, la. I don’t wanna hear it.”

Emery rubbed his forehead. “Bring your daughter out to the country, they said. Let her get some fresh air. Wholesome living, they said.”

Rowdy cracked up. “Whatever made you think country boys were incapable of being dirty?”

I winked at him, then leaned in for a soft kiss. I expected our friends to chirp at us, but they didn’t, and when we looked up, the three of them were watching us with shining eyes. Even Woody.

When you had something special, it was hard to hide. And when you had people who loved you, they were genuinely happy when you found your happiness.

“See, this is what happens when you take care of an injured joint,” Skylar said to Kit as he looked over Jaxon’s fully healed wrist.

“I’m wearing the damned brace,” Kit complained, gesturing to the brace in question. “I’m even doing the damned therapy exercises you gave me.”

“Are you doing the rest I prescribed?” Skylar asked, putting his manicured hand on his trim hip, hiking his eyebrow sky high.

Kit gestured around us. “I have a place to run.”

“I’m gonna start taking that personally, boss,” Lane said with a grin.

“Me too. I’ve already got your office in tip-top shape,” Sadie said, winking at Kit.

Kit looked between me and Rowdy. “I blame you two for this,” he said, gesturing between Sadie and Lane. “This collusion you see? Your fault.”

“You were mucking out stalls this morning,” Jaxon pointed out, quite reasonably I thought. “I’ve been literally begging for y’all to give me whatever work you can now that my wrist is better, and you’re in the stall at five thirty this morning, mucking it out. Make it make sense.”

Everybody at the dude ranch snickered. We were there for Slim’s retirement party—he’d been the old land manager and had stuck around to make sure Lane had everything he needed.

Rowdy leaned against me. “Based on the number of these folks who already know him as Sky, I’m guessing that he’s been here more than once.”

“He does know Kit is straight, right?”

Rowdy watched as the two of them went back and forth. “I think the bigger question is whether or not Kit knows he’s straight.”

“Just because we’re happy and in love doesn’t mean you have to couple up everybody around us,” I teased.

“Excuse you. This is not my doing.”

“It’s a little bit your doing.”

He huffed on his nails and buffed them against his shirt. “Okay, fine. I’m not not gonna take credit where it’s due.”

“What’s real funny is, depending on how far back that goes, it’s possible Kit has more experience than you do.”

“Oh, fuck you very much for saying that,” he hissed. He checked his phone. “That’s it, we’re going home, and you are doing naughty naughty things to me.”

“I can’t wait.”