5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

As crazy as it was, he was on a plane, heading to Montana. Looking around at the people with him, he was so excited, he almost couldn't contain himself. Binx was much the same and reached across the aisle to grab his hand. "Are you afraid to fly?"

"Huh? Oh, no," he said, as Binx felt his shaking. "I'm not scared, I'm excited and…well, a little freaked out my uncle and parents let me go."

Dex Monarco was sitting with his new boyfriend, Prince, on the sofa, cuddling, giggling, but Dex looked over at Sel and said, "I'm to watch you like a hawk."

"Figures," he drawled.

Dex was a member of the crime family The Kings. His cousin, Marius, was already in Montana, and Dex was bringing the new IT man, Prince, to the ranch to take care of all the things Neil Harrison used to handle.

"Prince is really your name?" Binx asked the sweet, shy man who was wrapped in one of Dex's thick, tattooed arms.

"Yes. I know, it's weird."

"No, it sure isn't," Dex chided his partner. "It's perfect."

"Oh my god, the prince and his knight in shining armor," Binx swooned, fanning himself with his hand. Sel noticed Prince blushing wildly and understood. He'd likely do the same.

"Binx, lay off," Nathan growled at him.

"Sorry, Prince," Binx said, but everyone could see he wasn't sorry a bit.

"It's okay. He is," Prince said in a small voice, but when he looked at Dex, his eyes shined with the love he felt.

The plane took off and Binx chattered away with everyone, but Lonnie moved as soon as he was able, sitting next to Sel. With his voice low, he informed him, "Your family is worried about you. I would suggest you don't give them a reason to snatch you out of Montana if you really want to be there."

Sel glanced over at Bennie and griped, "With him around?"

"Oh, I have a feeling you can slip away from him anytime you wish. I'm just giving you a warning. Dante is stubborn, too. I know that from meeting him a few times. I'm sure I'm not telling you anything surprising."

"You're not, and I appreciate it, really. I'm just…"

"You have wanderlust. I see it in my boys and they're still just that, boys. We all want to spread our wings, Sel, but with a family like yours, you are going to have enemies. They know that, and that is why there is a little extra worry on their part."

"A little?"

Laughing, Lonnie admitted, "Fine, a lot. This is a wild place. There are predators of the animal and human varieties."

"I'm a skinny gay kid going to a place where most men look like Dex back there. Cowboys, my family, his family, all big and ripped."

"I was like you when I landed myself that big, brawny ginger. I've only recently started adding a little weight and working my ass off to turn it into muscle instead of flab."

Sel could believe it. Lonnie was tall and still very lean. "But you're…sorry, I hope your husband doesn't kill me for saying, but you're like one of the most gorgeous men I've ever seen. And on this plane alone, that is saying a lot!"

"Thanks. You're pretty gorgeous yourself, Sel. Never sell yourself short." After glancing over his shoulder, Lonnie whispered, "And look at Prince. You two could be related, except he's a little paler than you are. Maybe talk to him, see if you can get a friendship going and he can give you the secret for landing someone like Dex."

"The Monarcos are…hot. You should see their cousin, Barry. But he's straight."

Lonnie laughed while patting his arm, then moved back to sit next to his husband. Binx was busy flirting with his men, Dex and Prince, damn near groping one another. Feeling like a third wheel, he took out his phone and started scrolling through his Insta, when he felt someone sit near him. He turned to see Prince. "Hi. Sorry," he said shyly.

"Sorry for…what?"

"I didn't mean to disturb you. Dex told me you come from a family kind of like mine. Rich and in your business all the time."

"He'd know," Sel said with a laugh. "You too?"

"Yes. In fact, I think I might be out of the will now for disobeying them."

"The guy, or what the guy does for a living?"

"Both. Oh, they don't mind the gay part, but the," he started then lowered his voice more. "The mobster part."

"They know?"

"My dad probably had a private investigator on it the second I told him. I don't care. I'm not my parents' biggest fan."

That's where they differed. "I really love mine. They're good to me, really. Just…"

"Overprotective?"

Sel laughed, and he relaxed a lot as they spoke. "So much so that I barely got to come with you all. They forbade me, then Binx helped me, Lonnie too. I think my Uncle Blaine likely helped too."

"Blaine?"

"My Uncle Dante's husband."

"Oh, the infamous Dante Carrillo. Dex told me a lot about him. Nothing personal!"

"I'm not judging. I'm sure he had to get you ready to be surrounded by…men like Dex. Like my uncle. I've grown up around them, so I'm used to them. They're all like uncles and cousins to me. I promise they'll be good to you. You will probably have to do some things you're not used to, being the computer guy."

"I've been told, and I've already done some. Our trip to Italy was a working vacation. Dex gave me a crash course in all of it, and, well, we had fun too. I've always loved Italy but seeing it with Dex was better. He took me to places I would never have seen."

Sel remembered that, going to see the extended family of Carrillos in Italy. They never saw the tourist parts of the country, only the hidden treasures, the views of centuries-old vineyards, flats that were in buildings older than the US. "My mother's family is from Sweden, and of course I know a lot about it too, but she has very little family there. We go every couple of years to ski. That's it. Italy is where we thrive, my father says, and it's true, of course."

"It must be wonderful, having roots like that. My family is rich. That is their culture. Rich snobs that would rather be anywhere but home with their kid, but let that kid step out of one of their lines and…"

Sel grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "You'll have another family now. We Carrillos treat our friends like family."

Prince looked like he was about to cry. "I made some friends last summer, and they were some of the first real friends of my life. I think I just met another. Thank you, Sel."

"You're welcome, Prince."

The flight wasn't long at all, from Denver to Billings, but in that short time, he'd made a couple of friends. It was a good start.

When they got off the plane, however, they were immediately surrounded by bikers.

The others seemed to take it in stride, but he and Prince were the exceptions to that. He'd expected his uncle or a member of the Carrillo family to be there to watch over him. Seeing that he was being escorted by a bunch of bikers had him a little wary.

Prince whispered to him, "Who are they?"

Sel knew his family was close to a few bike clubs. They did business together often, but he knew nothing of these men.

The Aztecas Asesinos.

"The Aztec Assassins," he whispered. "I don't know any of them. Dante dealt with the bike clubs he works with himself. My father never did."

"They're scary."

Dex was talking with one right off the steps of the private plane. "No scarier than Dex."

"Dex isn't scary," Prince sighed. "He's wonderful."

Lonnie and Travis were speaking to another man, and his patch was different. It read, The Devil's Rebels.

"Two bike clubs? My uncle really is worried."

They were all escorted to two black SUVs, him feeling like he was a visiting dignitary. Sel was with Binx and Lonnie, who'd gotten separated from their men because the three had stayed back to talk with the bikers.

The biker in his car was switching radio stations or trying to. "Seriously, country?"

"It's why I have all my music on my phone," Sel told him.

He got the nastiest glance back. "Sure, I'll bet your music is so much better."

The driver whispered something to him, and he grunted once before saying, "Sorry," in a way that told Sel he wasn't sorry at all.

Binx grabbed his hand protectively. "No need to be rude," he said in a low voice, but he wanted to make sure he was heard.

The biker ignored him but stiffened considerably.

Lonnie was behind them, but moved up to whisper, "Everyone having fun yet?"

"We wanted an adventure," Sel said, then looked over at Binx, who was laughing silently.

Binx winked at him and then told Lonnie, "Maybe they know you're a cop."

"Could be, I guess," Lonnie laughed.

The driver mentioned to all of them they were entering the ranch once they turned off the main road and onto a wide dirt road. "Still a little way to go, but we're getting there."

They'd already been driving for nearly an hour, but as soon as the driver said they were entering the property, Sel could do little else but stare out the window at the place.

It was so beautiful he could barely breathe. Trees taller than most houses, green grass laid out like a perfect carpet. There were fields of wildflowers blooming, purple and white, like patchwork quilts through all the green.

Arroyos and hills made the landscape anything except flat, and they passed over two streams on charming wooden bridges.

"Where is the actual ranch?" Sel asked, remembering everything either of his uncles had told him.

"The southernmost part of the property. It takes up almost a third of it."

He imagined buffalo running over the land, and he'd asked about them, of course, seeing them in his daydreams. Dante took the suggestion and promised to ask about raising a herd, just for his darling nephew.

After the biker's phone rang, and he answered with another deep grunt, he handed the phone back to him. "It's Mr. Carrillo."

Sel took the dirty phone from him, resisting the urge to wipe off the screen before placing it to his ear. "Uncle Dante?"

"Are you close?"

"We are. The driver said another hour, but that was a while ago."

"It's slow going around the mountains, but I'll see you soon. Stay with the men you're with right now until you see us. Deal?"

"We're in a car. Where am I going to escape to?"

"Smart ass. I mean, if you have to get out to piss or anything. Just be careful, Sel."

"You know, I can't wait until you and Uncle Blaine adopt some kids, so you aren't watching over me every second of your life."

"You'd wish me on a baby? Sel, I thought you were more loving than that."

He laughed and then said, "Thanks, Uncle. I already love it here."

"I'm glad. See you soon."

"Bye."

Handing the phone back to the biker, Sel felt much more comfortable being a dick right back to him. "Might want to clean that. It's pretty gross."

The man turned in his seat, which was easy, as he hadn't attached his seatbelt, and stared him right in the eye.

The Carrillo men, those generations before him that had taken a few downtrodden men in the streets, tired of being bullied and starving, turning them into a force to be reckoned with. That blood was in his veins, and no matter the urge to look away from that stare, those icy green eyes piercing his, he returned the stare and said, "It really is."

The biker turned away first, and Binx's jaw dropped. Sel could hear Lonnie in the back, chuckling.

Well, he'd just made an enemy of a member of the Devil's Rebels. And he found he didn't care.

When they finally pulled up to meet Dante and Blaine, Sel got out, stretching as he heard the steady sound of screw guns and men's deep voices. Dante was standing with his arms outstretched. "Selestino, you gorgeous young man! Get over here!"

Sel jogged to his uncle and took the crushing hug. "Uncle, you're killing me!"

"Sorry, honey," he said before planting a hard kiss on Sel's cheek. "You look so grown up."

"Dante Carrillo," Blaine said, rolling his eyes before he took Sel into a much gentler hug. "Your uncle is an asshole."

"It's okay, Uncle Blaine."

"Well, he does!"

Sel smiled at Dante before telling him, "Maybe I look that way, because I am a grownup?"

"No. You were just seven last year."

Giving up, he turned to the other men getting out of the two SUVs. "Dante, you remember some of these men?"

"Lonnie, Travis, how are you both?"

Dante took to shaking hands with everyone, then he escorted them all to the plastic lawn chairs in front of the little trailer. "Excuse the seating, the construction noise, and, well, all this mess. I'm hoping to have it finished soon, if my darling husband can decide on the interior."

"You just started this in the fall?" Travis Walton, Lonnie's husband, asked.

"I'm sure you know that when you have the money, things move a lot faster," Dante told him.

Sel asked Binx, "What does he mean?"

"Travis is a millionaire. He ran a club too, but in the city. No, strike that. Two clubs."

They were dressed rather casually to be rich, Travis and Lonnie. "Wow. Okay."

Dante had everyone take a seat while Bruno and Blaine asked what everyone would like to drink. Dante pulled Sel aside, like Sel knew he would. "Sel, come over here a second."

It wasn't like he could refuse. Dante's arm was slung around his shoulders.

"What's up, Uncle? Is this the lecture?"

"One of many, I'm sure, but I just wanted to ask first how the trip was. Do the doctor, preacher, and that purple haired man sound like they're interested?"

Sel wanted to jump up and down while screaming hurrah. He was being asked his opinion. That meant a lot to him. "I think so, Uncle Dante. Binx, he's…eager to have an adventure."

"Well, that's great. Three for one, there, quite the get. And the bikers, were they good? Keeping an eye on everyone?"

"Yeah," he said, unwilling to tell Dante about the rudeness of the one in their SUV. He knew from his raising, only snitch if there's no other choice, and make sure there's always another choice.

"Good, good. Sel, as much as you think I still see you as a kid, you're right. I've known you since you were two days old. I've loved you since I knew you were on the way." Dante moved around to face him. "If anyone were to ever hurt you, I would use all my money and all my connections to make them suffer for the rest of their pathetic lives."

Even as Dante said it, Sel had already known that. It wasn't hyperbole for Sel's family. Even his beautiful mother would cut the balls off anyone that hurt her family. "I know, Uncle."

"Good. Then you know that if you put yourself in harm's way, ditching that stupid fucking bodyguard or whatever you were likely planning to get here before we relented, you will get someone hurt. You will get someone killed. Do you get that?"

Suddenly, he felt terrible. "Dante, if I ditch someone, it should be my own ass."

"Well, it's not. That's not how it works with us, Selestino. So, when I have you with someone for your fucking protection, you had better believe you're also protecting them by keeping safe."

Letting his head fall forward, Sel closed his eyes. "I'm really sorry, Uncle Dante."

Dante pulled out a lanyard from his pocket and hung it around Sel's neck. "Order number two. You will always wear this. And don't bitch, everyone on the ranch is required to always wear one. It's a GPS tracker."

"Everyone is?"

Dante pulled his from under his shirt. "Everyone, asshole."

"Okay, okay, Uncle. I'll always wear it."

"Good. Now, let me tell you how fucking glad I am to see you."

He was hugged again, just as tightly. "I'm glad too, Uncle Dante."

"Let's go work some shit out to get people into this place."

Sel sighed then agreed, "Whatever I need to do, Uncle Dante. I'm ready."

"Yeah. Unfortunately, I think you are."