Chapter Nineteen

It was snowing heavily by the time they got to the bunkhouse. While Dallas pulled the horse to the stable, he nagged at Marius to head into the bunkhouse to get warm. "You're not!"

"I have to get the horses in their stalls and take care of them."

Marius ran to keep up with him while wrapping his arms tightly around himself. "I'll help."

"You're shivering to death," Dallas said, laughing. "I have this. Please, go."

Marius stopped with him and looked longingly at the bunkhouse. "Well…okay. If you're sure."

"Go!"

After a quick kiss, Marius took off, leaving Dallas to get the horses put away and to check the heaters before he met his men in the bunkhouse. Ruben greeted him discreetly with a wink and walked over to stand beside him at the wood stove in the dining room. "Cold?"

"Most of it was, yeah," he whispered. "But some of it was very hot."

"I bet."

Ruben was grinning like wild. "That turns you on? No…no feeling left out?"

"No. I think the two of you together is super hot. Do you want me to be jealous?"

He opened his mouth to tell him definitely no, but stopped himself. "Yeah, but not with him and me, so much."

"Oh, talk to someone that isn't me or Marius and watch me tear them to tiny, nearly microscopic pieces, and then I'd piss all over them," he said before he gave Dallas a smirk and went off to get himself another cup of coffee.

Dallas laughed as Ruben walked away, and he saw the guy so differently than he had in the past. The swagger was new, his hips moving much more than they used to, and that grin was so wide and confident that Dallas nearly didn't recognize him.

Whether it was coming out of the closet or just having two guys that adored his ass, he was coming out of a shell that had seemed bulletproof.

Vic dished Dallas up a steak and baked potatoes while she tried not to smile. Dallas watched her lips twitching as she poured ranch dressing over his side salad.

"Vic, give it up."

"I don't know what you mean," she said in the most innocent way, even though she couldn't stop herself from laughing at the end of the sentence. "Fine," she said as she pushed the plate and bowl at him from the other side of the counter. "I have been asking around, and sure enough, I have the support of all the business owners, the women, of course, and most of the ranchers. I expect that to change some when Daily gets done telling them about how terrible it would look to have a woman sheriff, but I think I'll win with a nice cushy distance between us."

"Did you already file?"

"I sure did," she answered, but lost her smile. "I'll have to cut down on my hours here, if I win this. I've done the math and no matter how I adjust it, one or the other will suffer. I can't let my duties as sheriff suffer. But I know Daily, and he ain't worth a shit. I'd bet Sondra's murder will be left unsolved, but used as a campaign tactic. He'll blame you all, and I'll be the one working for you, and running against him."

"Sondra Brooks. I didn't know her, but she deserves some kind of justice." Dallas agreed readily. "I'll find someone else to take up the slack here, but I don't want to let you go completely. I hope that's okay."

"Be more assertive, dear," she said in a whisper. "If not, these idiots are gonna walk all over you on the daily."

Wise beyond what he already knew her to be, he nodded, cutting his eyes to the right where Marius and Ruben were sitting at a table, flirting sweetly.

"And about that, stop stressing. We all shit where we eat, if you think about it. Kitchen right next to the bathroom. Don't overcompensate by being too hard on him, either."

"How do you know so much?"

"Takes years to get your head out of your ass, honey. You got better chance than most doing it before you're too old to use the knowledge."

He joined his men at the table, asking why they weren't eating. Marius sighed, "I'm too tired to eat."

"I already ate," Ruben said, tapping the table by his plate. "You eat. This storm isn't going to be bad, but the next one coming is. I saw the weather report, and a big front is coming in."

"Fuck," he said, his nerves already raw. "Can you get the hands together so I can give them a talk after dinner?"

"Sure," he said and left the table.

"I can help, if you need me. Right now, I'm pretty much in limbo around here. I help look after Dante, but his bodyguard is proficient in every fucking martial arts and weapon that's known to man. I doubt he'd need my help much."

"He is? Damn."

"Yeah, Burke practically drooled when he heard. Burke runs a security company, sends guys out to do what Dante's bodyguard does. He's lost two of his best recently, one of them being Tango."

Dallas laughed a little and whispered, "When I first met Tango, I didn't think much. Little guy, ya know? But after hearing about his tours, the marines and all the shit he knows, I look at him a little differently."

"Tell me about it. He's a badass too. I am, but around them, I feel like a real poser. What's a street fighter to guys like that?"

"I don't know. I like tangling with you," he whispered, cutting into his perfectly cooked steak. "Sure, Dimples, you can be my little helper."

He laughed and threw a balled-up napkin at him. "You're such a creep."

"Yeah, and you suck my cock, so what does that make you?"

"A cocksucking creep fan?"

Dallas laughed and ate some of his food, though it was hard taking his eyes off his partner, and yeah, that's what the guy was.

Ruben came back to the table with a smile. "Well, if we were trying to hide it, it's no use now. Everyone knows, and more than that, they like it. Avery actually thanked me for putting you in a better mood."

"Oh yeah? Well, I'll have to be a real prick to him tomorrow."

"Not nice," Ruben accused. "It's true, though. You are in a better mood nowadays."

"He's getting laid," Marius said, winking at Dallas.

"That doesn't hurt, no."

Ruben huffed, "You two are fucking horrible. Yeah, the sex is amazing, but could it be that we are…becoming…whatever we're becoming?"

"Yes, baby," Marius said to him, grabbing his hand. "It's that most of all."

Ruben preened and Dallas finished up his food. "That is the best part, yeah. Ruben, I'm sorry."

"No need for all that. I have some bad news, though. I'm staying here tonight."

Dallas laughed and said, "I am too. With storms coming and this one already blowing, I can't be that far away."

"Guess I'm staying here too. I wish they had the rooms already built, but a bunk sounds pretty good right now."

Dallas wasn't up for sex anyway. In fact, he was dog tired. "Sleep. We all need sleep."

"I'm going soon," Ruben said. "We were scrambling to get the cattle handled, the heaters, the fucking windmill on that southwest corner seized up too, so Avery and me are heading over there tomorrow to fix it, as long as the weather doesn't bury us."

Marius's eyes sought and met Dallas's, and they exchanged in only a look that they didn't like that idea. Dallas was cautious, however, of making Ruben feel like he wasn't able to look after himself. "Why don't all of us go? I'll help, then we make the rounds, count heads, do some shit I've needed to get handled."

Ruben eyed him suspiciously. "Avery and me are always the ones going to fix that stuff. Why do we need help now?"

Marius saved him, barely. "Because, Dallas was looking forward to the ride around the place with you tomorrow. He knows that's not happening, but he could still be with you."

Ruben's eyes changed immediately, his slow blinking in Dallas's direction showing Dallas wasn't only forgiven, Ruben was more enamored than ever. "Oh, shit, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking about our outing tomorrow."

"It's okay," Dallas said, then watched Ruben get to his feet.

"I'll go let Avery know we'll fix shit and then go with you for other things."

Dallas leaned over as far as he could and whispered, "I owe you so much right now."

"Yeah, I know. See, we mobsters, as you like to sling at us, do certain favors for folks. And when the favor comes due for repayment…"

"Well, I'll be damned."

As he rose and started toward the kitchen, he said, "Oh, yeah, you will."

The morning came as usual, a cluster to the bathrooms, everyone stumbling around in various stages of undress, and Dallas's mind going a mile a second.

There was so much to do in the winter that was different from the rest of the year. The earlier it came, the later it went, it seemed, too. Heaters malfunctioning, troughs freezing, fences being broken by the snow or animals fleeing storms, it was a never-ending line of things to do, riding out on ATVs or horses to the far reaches of the property.

He was tired thinking of it, but then again, he knew he'd do it better than Harrison had the last few years.

That morning, after a long kiss goodbye to Marius, who was going to help secure the trailers for winter, Dallas, Ruben, Bonita and Avery started out in the big truck, pulling their horses in the horse trailer behind the truck.

Dallas drove over the hard dirt road that barely felt the previous snow. One thing Harrison had done right was to add gravel every year to his roads to make them better resist rain, snow and the mud that came with them.

"Say, Avery, Bon, Ruben, what do you all think of a stagecoach for the resort town and such?"

Bonita whistled, "Damn good thinkin'."

"Yeah, Dal," Avery agreed from the seat beside him. Ruben carefully chose to sit with his sister, so no one could blame Dallas for favoritism. "Not in the winter, though."

"No, I was just thinking that. We could do it in the winter, but we have a winter stage. Big tires, motorized. We could have some, I don't know, fake horses on the front or something."

"Cheesy to the maximum, my pal," Avery said. "How about painted on horses."

"Better," he said with a laugh.

Bonita asked, "You sure you came up with the stage idea? You're smart and all, but you're not exactly creative."

"Oh, he's very creative," Ruben mumbled loud enough for them all to hear.

Avery and Bonita were only quiet for a second or two before they cracked up and Dallas felt his face heating. "Ruben, fuck," he said, but then laughed with them.

After all the chores were done, they made sure everything was fed and the water wasn't frozen over for the cattle, then took a few of the horses to exercise. Marius met Dallas and Ruben at the office that night, giving bad news.

He pulled Dallas into the office, and Ruben came along with them. "You guys, now, this is fucking weird. Another two men came up missing from the construction."

Dallas sat behind the desk, shocked to his core. "This is…insane. And the others, they've never showed up back home?"

"No. They haven't. We're not bringing more construction workers in until we can bring in more security. Then, we'll have to eventually tell the cops here."

"I don't blame them," Ruben whispered. "This is scary, guys."

"Fuck! Well, we have to figure out what the hell is going on here. We'll have the FBI coming if we're not careful, and they'll see that we have a mafia family running the place and we'll all be in jail," he said a little too quickly, making Marius frown deeply.

"Baby, stop. We'll figure this out. Vic is going to become the sheriff, even if we have to step in for some help. Once she's in, we'll all get some relief. Until then, we get the security guys and me, Dante, and the rest of our people and find out what's going on."

Dallas sighed out some of the tension, but it all weighed on him like a ton of hay. "If this place shuts down…"

"It won't. I know you don't know Dante well, and we haven't known each other except for a couple of years, but by reputation first, and now firsthand knowledge, the man is determined. Blaine has his heart set on this place, and that makes Dante have his heart set on the place. No matter what, we'll take care of this, baby."

"Why do you call me that? I don't hate it or anything, but…"

"Because," Marius croaked, cutting his eyes away from Dallas. He wasn't used to expressing his emotions. "Because you are my baby, Dallas."

"Oh," he said, his smile widening by the millisecond. "Okay, baby."

"Fuck you," he said with a dark laugh. "Let me call the boys in and you can sit in on the meeting. You'll see that we'll handle this."

"I trust you. I don't know why, but I've trusted you from the start. I'll follow your lead on that part of things."

"Finally! I thought you were going to be big bossy Dom man all the fucking time. Annoyed the fuck out of me."

Ruben cracked up and Dallas smiled sarcastically over at him before he laughed for real, and it felt so good, he wanted to pounce on Marius. They had too much to do, and the weather was soaking them in but good already.

Ruben sat on the corner of the desk between them. "When can you have this meeting with the security people?"

"Tomorrow morning at the latest. I want the both of you there. You'll have to know the deal with the new security measures, if they come up with any."

"I'm sure they will," Ruben said. "This sucks we have to stay here again. I miss your house."

"Me too. I was just getting used to the idea, but until we get a good scraper for the road, we have to be close. Besides, I don't want either one of you traveling alone! When we can go stay there again, you two come together, armed, or you stay in the bunkhouse."

Ruben didn't argue, which surprised Dallas. "Okay."

"Okay? Really?"

"I like that you care about me. Besides, Bonita already threatened my life if she caught me alone anywhere on this ranch."

"Ah," he said, laughing. "That explains it."

Marius got up, stretching and groaning. "I'm not too disappointed we can't fuck. This outdoor living you all are so used to, my body is not."

"Get used to feeling that way. Once I teach you to ride, you'll feel worse than this."

"I think I ride great," he said, winking.

"Not that kind of ride," Ruben said, laughing. "I want to help," he said to Dallas.

"You're on. I have a feeling he's going to be a pain in the ass when it comes to learning how to ride a horse."

"Hello," Marius complained. "I'm right here!"

"And?" Ruben asked, smiling wickedly.

"You're the big dom daddy, why don't you whoop his ass?"

"Because we'd all get so turned on, we'll fuck, and I'm not fucking in here until it's cleaner. It's still got…Harrison dust and shit," Marius said, scowling around the room. "Speaking of which, did you find anything else?"

"Nothing yet. Those payments went to someone with the name John Doe, went to some offshore account. They're hunting it down, but even computer geniuses and security specialists aren't God."

Marius concurred, "If there is any way to find it, they will, but some people hide things very well. Whatever this was, it was so far under the table, it was incredible. In fact, we could learn some shit from this."

Ruben was staring at a map of the ranch, and Marius joined him while Dallas watched. "What is this?"

"It's the ranch, the entire thing. The Xs are buildings. See, here is the office," he said pointing to the X off the stables.

"Damn, lots of Xs on there."

"Mostly for pole barns and things like that. I don't think I've gotten to all these before. There are a lot."

"We could be here ten more years and not see them all," Dallas told them. "And there's about to be another thirty or forty."

"If not more," Marius said. "And that's just the ranch and resort. So far, I'm watching Roland scrambling to plan ten more small homes up on Dante's third."

"Jesus. That's a lot."

"Good building spots up there. Flat land areas are perfect for the wiseguys and soldiers when they're here. That big place for Dante and Blaine, then another for his brother and his family. Either Dante or Blaine are constantly throwing more at Roland. One more thing, he may implode."

Dallas thought of Roland, and Jace, who adored the man. "I'd say something if I was Jace. If he starts working either of you that much, I'm going to say something. Mob boss or not."

Marius laughed and said, "I told him the same. Roland is officially getting help. He's got leave to hire three more architects, though he will have final say of anything being presented to Dante and Blaine."

"Great! That means we'll have the bunkhouse finished sooner."

Marius groaned, "I'm ready to be out of there. It's cramped, and all those fuckers fart in their sleep."

Ruben cracked up and Dallas was following that with his own laughter. "Yeah, I'll be in my own place, all fart free except for my own."

They both stared at him, and he simply smiled at them.

"Except when the two of you are there, which had better be a bunch."

Marius cracked a grin first. "Yeah, you can count on that."

Ruben finally sighed, "You scared me a second."

Dallas got up and went to him, grabbed his face and kissed him hard. "I don't ever want you too far from me again. Ever." He looked over to Marius. "That means both of you."

"He's finally done it, Ruben. Finally committed to almost relationship status."

"Facebook relationship status or IG?"

"Does IG have one?"

Dallas grabbed a cheek of each their asses and squeezed, making them yelp. "Enough, you assholes. It's too fucking early for any of that talk. I just like having you around right now. Nothing more than that, except…don't go fucking around with other guys."

Marius and Ruben glared at him again. Finally, Ruben said, "We're exclusive, what? Fuck buddies?"

"No! We're…we're more than that, but…" He saw the dancing eyes on the both of them and grunted, "Assholes."

Marius kissed him. "We know. We're not ready to walk down the aisle yet. I'm not even moving in with you for at least another couple weeks."

As they walked out of the office, Dallas stared behind them. "A couple weeks?"