2. Derek

Icy rain slappedDerek in the face as soon as he ducked out the emergency exit, sinking him deeper into the freeze that had taken hold of his bones.A little more wet hardly mattered; he was already soaked to the skin.He propped the door open with a nearby five-gallon bucket, gritted his teeth, and plunged back into the storm.

Late spring was always unpredictable this far east of the Cascades.Last week"s sunny t-shirt weather had become a soggy, blustery mess.The wind whistled tunelessly in his ears, ripping through the new leaves of the maples dotting Main Street.Downtown wasn"t much. Never had been.But it looked especially ugly on such a lousy night.The rain made the touristy veneer easy to see through, washing away everything but pitted concrete and a few abandoned vehicles.No one reputable would be out on a night like tonight.

No wonder a tiny city kid like that had thought the worst of him.The world was brutal to someone so young and soft.The kid had probably learned those scared-rabbit reactions the hard way.

Sabbath squirmed weakly beneath his jacket.Whatever was wrong with her had come on hard and fast.Worry and anger lodged inside his chest, under the skin, like an ugly itch he couldn"t scratch.

She was almost a year old, but still small enough to carry with one arm.Just a pint-sized bundle of fur.The day she"d turned up in a box of spare parts outside his gate, she"d barely been old enough to wean.He had a weak spot for every runt of the litter, but he should have ditched her a long time ago.Before it came to this.

He headed back to his truck and tucked her gently into a blanket before checking on the generator, which sat in a small shed at the back of the clinic"s parking lot.It was an old diesel, badly in need of service.

Rain dripped into his eyes as he squinted down at the fuel gauge.Even after wiping off a layer of grime, he couldn"t make out the dial in the darkness.Digging into the ass pocket of his jeans, he pulled out his cell and tapped the flashlight button.

An incoming message chimed across the screen.

James:You need to call Mom.

With a low growl, he swiped at the text with his thumb, adding it to a growing stack of unread messages.

Missed Call: Mom

Bethie: I've got the total expense list for next semester.Let me know if you can help.

Susan: Hey, bro. Did James text you?

Missed Call: Susan

Missed Call: Mom

Missed Call: Mom

James: Mom's freaking out. West isn't answering his phone.

Missed Call: Mom

West: Up at north mountain camp with Michael.Bad reception. Make sure Dad takes his meds, okay?

He scowled down at the last message before deliberately pressing delete.Now that his baby brother had decided to become independent, the rest of the family was continuously taking the brunt of their mother"s nervous breakdown.Typical. West had been coddled all his life, always expecting others to pick up his extra slack.

Ordinarily, Derek didn't like to leave messages on read, but they'd come in nearly on top of each other while he was neck-deep in the guts of a broken skid-loader.Besides, at least one member of the Owens family was always in a state of emergency.They could wait. His girl needed help now.

The generator"s diesel reservoir was full, but the battery that triggered the electric start was dead.Derek doubted that old Ed Riley had serviced any of his equipment in the last few decades before selling the clinic.There was no manual pull cord, so Derek slogged back through the rain and moved his truck.He parked as close as possible to the concrete berm that separated the shed from the parking lot, but it was still too far for his jumper cables to reach.

He muttered a curse and sat there for a moment, shivering, with his head hanging and his hands balled into fists on top of the steering wheel.

He was so tired of solving everyone else's problems.

The rusty hinges of the emergency exit squealed, and Derek's head came up with a jerk.

A mop of silky blond hair poked out, so pale that it tossed back the glare of his headlights.

They had never officially met, but he knew about Briar Phillips.Everybody did. It was impossible not to notice the day he blew into town like a sparkly tumbleweed.Not because he was gay. Same-sex couples were popping up around town like daisies these days, and folks had been mostly accepting of it.Or at least ambivalent. Even Derek's own brother was shacked up with another man.People didn't look sideways at Briar because of his sexuality.It wasn't even his size or his delicate foxlike features that set him apart from everyone else.It was the way he carried the city on him like a stink, right down to his Baccarat cologne and the studs in his earlobes.He was like nothing this one-horse town had ever seen before.

But he sure was pretty.

Derek couldn't help but look twice as the kid stepped outside and threw up a hand to shield his eyes from the headlights.

"What are you doing?" Briar shouted over the growl of the truck"s engine.

Derek sighed and cut the ignition.

"Battery lost its charge," he said brusquely, stepping back into the downpour.He grabbed an impact drill and extender from the toolbox behind his seat and then popped the hood.

"Do you need any help?" Briar asked, hovering at his elbow and knuckling rain out of his eyes.

Derek looked him up and down, from the gel in his artfully long hair to the red alligator print of his designer loafers, and said pointedly, "Not from you."

There was a beat of silence, followed by a huff."Try me."

"Help yourself," Derek said with heavy irony.He flipped the drill around and offered it handle-first, like a duelist offering a sword."The cables are too short, so I've got to remove the battery from the truck and jump it over there."

Briar narrowed his eyes and thrust out his chin, hyping himself for the challenge, before he grabbed the drill and gave the trigger an experimental test squeeze.

"Okay. You hold the flashlight," he said.

Despite himself, Derek laughed at his cocky attitude.He pulled a mag-lite from his back pocket and focused the beam on the engine block.

"See that metal bracket?" he asked, wiggling the light at the indicated spot."Remove the bolt, slide it to the left, and then disconnect the negative and positive terminals."

"Gotcha." Briar was so small, he had to lift onto his toes to reach the battery.He jammed the tip of his tongue into the corner of his mouth and concentrated fiercely.

Derek leaned against the fender, amused.

"You k-know, back when I had my car, the only thing in the backseat were some stale French fries and an old condom wrapper.But you've g-g-got a whole Home Depot back there." Briar"s words were nearly drowned by the whine of the drill.

His teeth were chattering, and his nose and cheeks were a stinging red in the backwash of the flashlight.From his superior height, Derek watched as a raindrop slid down his pale neck and under his collar.

"I'm Briar, by the way," he continued, as if he didn"t notice the cold.

"I know."

"I didn't catch your name."

"Derek." He grunted, hauling out the battery one-handed as soon as the terminals were disconnected."Derek Owens."

He'd jumped so many batteries over the years, he could do it in his sleep.In less than five minutes, the switch clicked, and the generator gave a metallic whir.The lights inside the clinic flickered back to life.

"W-wow, good job!" Briar exclaimed, like it was magic and not a simple fix."I was getting worried about the animals.It shouldn"t be so cold this time of year."

"Welcome to eastern Oregon." Still crouched on his haunches, Derek spared a quick glance over his shoulder.

Briar was clutching himself at the elbows and shivering.No wonder. Beneath his lab coat, he wore nothing but pricey-looking slacks and a thin mesh sweater.Ridiculous clothes for a country practice.Like hogs and cattle would be impressed.The lack of common sense should make Derek angry, but for some reason, his tone came out gentler than expected when he spoke."Get inside. I'll finish up out here."

"I'm fine."

"Of course, you are. It's just a little weather." Derek purposely curled his lip in disgust and pointed toward his truck."But she doesn't have much time."

Briar jolted into action like he"d been zapped by an electric fence.He slogged his way over to Derek's truck, tilting at the wind with each step.Sabbath was still curled in her blanket.She didn"t twitch as Briar scooped her into his arms and hustled into the clinic without a backward glance.

Derek was soaked to the bone by the time he re-installed his battery and locked the truck.The clinic was so cold he could almost see his breath, and the fluorescent lights made his eyes water.

Briar was already hard at work.He'd set up a laptop with an open Zoom call and was relaying information to Nate Silva while he checked Sabbath's temperature and scrubbed her all over with a soft towel.He'd already shaved a tiny spot on her foreleg and drawn a couple vials of blood by the time he noticed Derek's entrance.

Derek knew the exact moment he'd been spotted.Briar froze and glanced at him uneasily.Derek met his gaze, and Briar"s eyes popped wide before he looked away.

The kid had been high-strung but friendly outside.A little manic, maybe, but confident enough to help despite not having the tiniest clue what he was doing.Now he was like a different person, as if being enclosed in the same space with Derek made him nervous.

Grimly, Derek stuffed his numb hands into his pockets.He settled in a corner of the room, as far away as possible, but there wasn"t much hope of making himself appear smaller or less threatening.Ever since hitting puberty, he"d made people nervous just by breathing.He was big and rough and short-tempered, and he knew it.Worse—every single person dropped from his family tree had been whacked at least once with an ugly stick on the way down.Derek never had much trouble getting women, but he wasn"t fooling himself about why.No one was exactly spoiled for choice in a town like Sweetwater.

People looked at him like he was a thug, but he didn"t blame them.Especially not someone young and softer than whipped cream.Briar looked like he"d never spent a day outside.His hands were so pale that Derek could easily track the delicate map of blue veins on their backs.The pulse in Briar"s throat beat like a rabbit"s—quick and nervous.

In a perfect world, people like him would never have a reason to be frightened.They would be protected. But that wasn't how the world worked.Derek had learned the hard way that there was nothing the universe enjoyed more than punching below the belt.

"When did you first notice she was ill?" Nate Silva's voice crackled over the laptop speaker.

Derek focused on the screen. Briar had angled it toward the exam table, but he could still make out the frown on Nate"s handsome features.

"Two days ago," he said gruffly."She's been off her food for a while.Sleeping more than normal. But she started throwing up this afternoon, and dehydration kicked in fast after that."

Sabbath was lethargic on the table.Her head lolled over Briar's slender wrist as he stroked her ears.Dumbo ears; too big for the rest of her body.She was already almost a year old and still hadn"t grown into them.She was mostly black and brown with the nose of a hound and the spirit of a cattle dog, and she was so ugly that she"d circled all the way back around to cute.

No telling who had abandoned her, or why they'd ditched her in a box of spare parts instead of turning her in at the shelter.But they'd better pray he never found them.She deserved better than being dropped like trash at his gate.

Briar was carefully inserting a needle into her leg.He didn't look up when he asked, "What made you bring her in on a night like this?Most people would try to ride it out until morning at least."

"I'm not an idiot." Derek didn't even try to moderate the disdain in his voice."She's dying. You need to fix her."

"We'll do our best, but—"

"Your best isn"tgoodenough." He didn"t like the doubt in Briar"s tone.He came out of his slouch fast.Too fast. Briar jumped and tripped backward, like a startled animal.No, like Derek was theanimal.Like putting the exam table between them could stophim.

Like anything could stop him if he decided a slim little wisp of moonlight was something hewanted.