Chapter 24

Anger had been brewing in Ryder all day. The conversation he'd had with his father hadn't sat well with him. Instead of brushing it off and letting it go like usual, he'd allowed his inactivity and boredom to transform it into a ball of pissed-off energy.

When he heard Nolan's car pull up outside, he was ready to rumble. It took about thirty minutes for Nolan to knock on his door, and in that time, he'd built up a good head of steam on his anger.

“What the fuck took you so long?”

Nolan paused and narrowed his eyes. “Wow. So no thank you for doing the chores, or maybe just hello?”

“You don’t have to do the chores for me. I’m not useless.”

Nolan’s lips thinned. “What happened to make you so angry?”

“I’m not angry.” The lie slipped off his tongue so easily. He was furious. He hated how his father had come in and dropped a bomb of anger. His bones ached with hate and bile.

“You sure aren’t a ray of sunshine.”

Ryder growled. “I don’t have to be. Why don’t you leave?”

“Why don’t you tell me what’s really wrong?”

“You are what’s wrong.”

Nolan shook his head. “You know what. I don’t have to put up with this.”

He turned to leave, and that pissed Ryder off more. He reached for Nolan, spinning him around and pressing him up against the wall. The thought that he was useless twisted through him. Maybe he was just an ungrateful piece of shit, but he'd finally found peace with Nolan, and now he was fucking it up.

Nolan's eyes widened with fright, and he hated himself for scaring the man. He blew out a breath and thunked his forehead against the wall right next to Nolan's head.

"Fuck. I'm so fucked up. My dad came over and delivered his usual message that I'm a total waste of air, and I'm taking it out on you. I don't want to fuck this up, but I'm angry, and I don't know how to get rid of it when I can't do something physical."

Nolan placed his hand on Ryder’s belly, sending tingles of desire through him. “You know what helps relieve anger?”

“What?” Ryder whined.

“A blowjob. Just push your pants low and sit on the couch. I’ll do the rest.”

Ryder took a step back and narrowed his gaze. “This isn’t a trick, right?”

“No tricks. Just sit and let me blow you. Then we can talk about what the fuck is going on in your head.” Nolan tapped his forehead. “This head, not the other one.”

Ryder didn’t respond to Nolan’s words because he knew he would fuck it up. He moved to the couch as he shoved his pants lower on one side and then the other.

Nolan took over, grabbing his cock and jacking it a few times before wrapping his lips around the tip and sucking down. Ryder sighed as he closed his eyes. Nolan was right. Having his dick sucked took all the anger away.

The words his father said didn't matter with Nolan's lips wrapped around his cock. He was getting close when a car door slammed outside.

“Fuck,” Ryder said as he pushed Nolan off.

"Stand, and I'll help you pull those up. We'll continue this later."

Ryder didn’t know if they would get to continue this later or if this would prove why he didn’t need to be gay.

Shock filled Ryder when he saw it was his boss, Jim, and not his mother or father. He went to reach out with his right hand to shake but winced.

“Sorry, can’t shake yet. It’s still too sore.”

“Man, I’m just glad you’re alive. If that load had fallen on you, I don’t even want to think about how bad that would be,” Jim said as he shook his head.

“Could it have crushed him?” Nolan asked.

Ryder could see the fear and shock on Nolan’s face. It felt good to have Nolan worry about him. He thought he’d lost that forever when Amy died. He wanted to pull Nolan close, but he kept his hands to himself.

Jim shrugged. “It looks like the equipment failed. I don’t know how, but the company that makes the pallet loader is investigating.”

“This is Nolan, my neighbor,” Ryder said. “He works at the medical clinic where I ended up.”

“Nice to meet you.” Jim shook Nolan’s hand then turned back to him. “Allen, the guy who was driving the loader, is going to be okay. He broke his leg.”

“That seems like an odd injury.”

“Yeah. I’m just glad he didn’t die.”

Ryder nodded, unsure what to say. If Jim had died, they would probably shut the lumber yard down for a while. Workplace injuries sucked, but workplace deaths were awful.

Jim glanced around. “Do you need any help around here? I can send some guys over.”

Ryder shook his head. “Thank you for offering, but Nolan is taking care of the chores. And I just put my goats out in the front to keep the grass short so no need to mow.”

“That’s smart. I hate mowing,” Jim said.

“The goats are a pain sometimes, but they do keep me from having to mow the yard in the heat.”

“I might have to borrow your goats one weekend,” Nolan said.

Ryder chuckled. “Yeah, they cut down on the work, and they fertilize the yard at the same time.”

Nolan winced, and Jim chuckled. He didn't mind the goat pellets in his yard, but other people might.

“Well, it’s good to see that you’re going to be okay,” Jim said.

"Is there any office work I can do? I'm bored to death sitting around, and it has only been one day."

“How about we see how you feel next week? We could probably put you on the register or maybe helping up front.”

Ryder nodded, hopeful he could work. “Anything. I can’t sit here at home for weeks.”

“Do you need someone to drive your truck home?” Jim asked.

“I was going to have Nolan help me get it.”

Jim nodded. “Good. Good. I’ll see you next week and get some rest.”

Jim left, and Ryder blew out a breath. "That was close."

“We should go to your bedroom,” Nolan said.

“You want to start up again?” Ryder asked.

“You need a shower, and a blowjob would help. Even just that little sucking got you in a better mood. Just think how good you’ll feel once you come.”

“I think you just want to suck my dick.”

Nolan laughed. “Maybe. Come on. Let’s get you dirty then clean.”

Ryder followed Nolan back to his room, happy that his neighbor had such good ideas, like sucking cock and washing his body. He pulled off his clothes and dropped to the mattress. Nolan pulled off his shirt before climbing onto the bed.