Right Move--A Gay Cowboy Romance

by A. M. Arthur

  Only time—and the universe—would tell.

  Chapter Three

  George strode across the lawn to the back of the property, his face flaming, hands in his pockets, positive he was the biggest idiot on the planet. After years of self-isolation, after years of pretending he had no physical desire or need to touch, because that meant human interaction, he’d managed a real connection to another person. And somehow, he’d fucked it up.

  Never in his life had the casual touch of someone else warmed his skin so quickly. It had both scared and excited him, because he liked talking to Levi. Levi was kind, inviting, and he didn’t push. Didn’t ask invasive questions, even though he had to be thinking them. And he was damned attractive.

  George had never given much thought to his sexuality, because he’d never had time to date as a teenager. Always busy with practice, tutoring and more practice. Sure, he’d roughhoused a bit in the locker room with other skaters, and enjoyed the physical contact, but that was typical teenage boy stuff. Wasn’t it? He sure as hell hadn’t liked it when Adrian touched him.

  Levi’s touch, though? It made George feel something he didn’t understand. Talking to Levi today, hanging around him for over an hour, had been a breath of fresh air in his otherwise stuffy existence, and he wanted that air back. But he’d humiliated himself by trying to flirt, and Levi was definitely not interested.

  George wandered near the edge of the forest that made up the back of the cabin’s property. In the far distance, he could see the very peak of the mountain that he remembered from the ghost town. The land up here was absolutely gorgeous, even with the weather easing into winter. Peaceful in its quiet. Completely different from living in the city with its constant noise and people everywhere.

  The brush rustled nearby and George froze. He’d wandered a long way from the cabin, and there were wild animals out there in the mountains. Slater had said so. The rustling got closer, and then a small black-and-white creature streaked out from the underbrush. George yelped, terrified it was a skunk about to spray him.

  Instead, the cat stopped by his ankles and bumped her head on his leg. George smiled and squatted to pet her. “You must be one of Levi’s kitties.”

  She let him scratch her head a few times before swatting him away with one paw. “Hey, sassy britches, you came over to me for pets. Are you Baby, Sporty or, well, I guess you probably aren’t Ginger.”

  She meowed at him, then turned and started walking toward the underbrush. George stood, amused when she stopped and looked back at him, as if expecting him to follow. If these cats were smart enough to use a cat door and always come home to Levi at night, maybe he was supposed to follow. Curious, he did. She darted behind a tree, and a few steps into the woods, George heard it.

  Yowling. Distant, but he followed the sound and the cat deeper into the woods until he found the source. A striped ginger cat lay on her side, meowing in distress, and at first George couldn’t figure out why. He knelt, heart aching for the poor creature’s obvious pain. Then he noticed the odd angle of one hip, protruding too far from the joint. She must have fallen out of a tree and hurt herself.

  “It’s okay, baby, we’ll get you help.” He yanked out his cell and called Orry.

  “Dude, why are you calling? Where—what’s that noise?”

  “Where’s Levi? I need to talk to him.”

  “Why? Are you okay?”

  “I found one of his cats in the woods and she’s hurt. I don’t know what to do.”

  “Shit, okay. One sec.” The hum of voices filled a line for too damned long, and the ginger’s distress was starting to freak George out.

  “George?” Levi asked. “Where are you?”

  “In the woods.”

  “North or south?”

  “I have no idea.”

  Levi’s voice was coming in shorter pants, as if he was running and talking at the same time. Knowing he was coming helped George keep a lid on his panic. “When you walked, did you go left or right along the tree line?”

  “Right.”

  “Okay, good. Which cat and what’s wrong with her?”

  “The ginger, and I think maybe she dislocated her hip but I don’t know. She isn’t bleeding, she’s just in pain.”

  “I know, I can hear her. She’s Ginger. I’ll be there soon, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Levi hung up, and George waited, making what he hoped were soothing sounds, but the poor cat’s meowing had begun fucking with his anxiety. His hands were shaking, and he really needed Levi to get there. To fix this, because George didn’t know how.

  He finally heard Levi shouting his name; George shouted right back, and it helped Levi zero in on them. His face was flushed but he seemed outwardly calm, and George was surprised to see Orry following right behind.

  “Are you okay?” Orry asked George, while Levi fell to his knees and stroked Ginger’s head.

  “I’ve been better but I’m not hurt.” George watched Levi gently run his fingers along the cat’s flank, down to her protruding hip. She hissed. “Your black-and-white one led me to Ginger.”

  Levi looked up, his eyes a bit too shiny. “That’s Baby. I think you’re right about Ginger’s hip.”

  “What do we do? Vets aren’t open on Thanksgiving.”

  “There’s an emergency vet about thirty minutes from here. Orry, can you do a favor for me?”

  “Sure,” Orry replied.

  “My house is only a few dozen yards farther north. My pickup’s there, and the keys are in the ignition. Can you bring it down here? I don’t want to jostle Ginger more than I have to.”

  “Of course, I’ll be right back.” Orry took off at a run.

  “I’m so sorry, little girl,” Levi said to his wailing pet. “I wish I could make it stop hurtin’.” The heartbreak and tenderness in his voice made George’s own heart ache a bit for the older man’s pain.

  George risked reaching out and squeezing Levi’s shoulder. “I’m sorry she’s hurt.” I’m sorry you’re hurting, too.

  “Thank you. Me too.”

  The leaves rustled nearby. Baby came back out of the underbrush, trailed by a calico with gorgeous mottled fur in all shades of brown, tan, black and gold. Sporty. The pair stopped nearby and watched, seeming confused by their sister’s problem.

  “They were six weeks old when I rescued them,” Levi said. “Littermates, I believe. They’ve got this hive mind that’s a little scary when they conspire to steal whatever I’m cooking for dinner.”

  “It’s sweet how close they are.”

  A truck engine rumbled toward them. “Okay, you aren’t going to like this, little girl.” Levi took his jacket off and spread it on the ground. As gently as he could, he lifted Ginger up and put her on the coat. The cat yowled and hissed but didn’t actively try to bite him. Levi wrapped her up, then slowly stood. George helped him with a hand on his elbow for balance. He kept his hand there. It was just practical. They didn’t need Levi tripping as they picked their way out of the woods.

  The truck was idling, Orry standing by the fender. George opened the passenger door for Levi, who seemed torn about putting Ginger on the seat. No one to hold and support her. “I’ll go with you,” George said without thinking. “I can hold Ginger so she isn’t alone.”

  Surprise flashed across Levi’s face for an instant before something softer replaced it. “Are you sure?”

  No. “Yes.”

  “Okay. Thank you, George.”

  “Of course.” He climbed into the passenger seat, buckled up, and held still while Levi carefully arranged the coat-bundled cat on his lap.

  Orry appeared before Levi could shut the door. “Call me, bro. Keep me updated on everything.” His expression clearly said he didn’t trust Levi alone with his brother on a long car trip to an unknown destination. But George trusted Levi.

  �
�I will.”

  Orry flashed Levi, who was getting in on the driver’s side, an odd look, then gently closed the door. George closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. On the scents of leather and a light, spicy cologne in the truck cab. On the constant whine of the cat on his lap. The vibrations of the truck as Levi drove. The radio wasn’t on, leaving the truck mostly silent when Ginger wasn’t voicing her displeasure.

  “You doing okay over there?” Levi asked after a few minutes.

  “I think so.” He opened his eyes. “This is...really outside my comfort zone.”

  “Are you sure—”

  “I’m sure I want to be here.” George met and held Levi’s gaze briefly. “I need to do this. Baby found me and brought me to Ginger to help her. Let me help.”

  Levi grinned so sweetly George couldn’t help another glance at his lips. Lips he’d first noticed while they ate, watching them open and close around bites of food. Unbidden images had begun stirring in the far recesses of his mind. Images and urges that Levi had promptly quelled with his obvious disinterest. Not that George was entirely sure what he, himself, wanted.

  To feel things. To stop being cut off from the world and the people in it.

  “I’m grateful for your help and acknowledge your intentions,” Levi said.

  That was a strange way to phrase things, but once in a while, odd words seemed to come out of Levi. But he’d mentioned studying religions and spirituality; maybe that was his Zen way of saying “You can help.”

  Ginger’s cries lowered a bit the longer they drove. Maybe it was the comfort of being on a warm lap, in the warm truck cab, versus laying on the cold ground alone. George stroked her forehead with his fingertips, wishing he could do more for her and for her daddy. They soon left Garrett behind and were on the interstate heading west toward San Jose.

  “How do you know where this clinic is?” George asked.

  “Had a scare with Baby a few months ago. She came home one night with a swollen bite on her hip, and the regular vet over in Daggett was closed, so I had to find this one. Couldn’t risk it had it been a venomous snake.”

  George shuddered. Snakes freaked him out. And Baby was obviously fine if she was out there saving her sister today. “Are there a lot of venomous snakes around here?”

  “Not really, and they’re mostly varieties of rattlers, which makes them easier to stay away from. The Garretts do a good job of keeping the lands closest to the ghost town and ranch clear of dangerous animals. Most of them seem to stick to the wilder parts of the land, like the mountain lions.”

  “Have you ever seen one? A mountain lion?”

  Levi grinned as he eased into an exit lane. “I have. I run every morning, have for a while now. It wakes me up and gets me goin’ for the day.”

  George hid a grimace. He’d been a runner too, once upon a time, and not because it woke him up. It burned calories and kept him slender.

  “I moved here back in January, and it was March 13th when it happened. I was runnin’ on a new trail, trying to change up my routine, and I got into a pretty isolated area by accident. And that’s when I saw her.” He negotiated another turn, wonder visible in his face and audible in his voice. “She was sunning herself on a boulder, and I froze solid when I spotted her there. I had no idea what to do, but runnin’ felt idiotic. I stood there for a long time. She just...watched me. She was breathtaking.”

  He couldn’t imagine happening upon a mountain lion while out for a run. He’d have freaked the fuck out and probably gotten himself eaten. But George had usually run at the gym tracks or on a treadmill, not out in the California wilderness.

  “I very quietly thanked her for meeting me that day,” Levi continued, “and for allowing me to experience her beauty. Her long tail flicked once and it felt like a dismissal, so I began backing away. One step at a time. When she yawned at me, I felt safe enough to turn and walk to a safe enough distance to start runnin’ again. It was an amazing moment.”

  “It sounds amazing, but if that had been me I’d have probably peed my pants.”

  Levi chuckled. “I think a lot of people would. I wasn’t calm because I’m super brave in the face of danger. I’ve just...reached a kind of peace with the world and my own existence in it.”

  “I’m jealous of that.” George stared out the window at the passing suburb, unable to remember being at peace with his life. Maybe when he was out there skating, doing his routine and living in the jumps, spins, and the timing with the music. But once the music stopped, that peace had stopped.

  Levi pulled into a space at the emergency clinic before they could continue the discussion, and George was glad. Levi got out and collected Ginger. George rang the buzzer and a few seconds later they were let inside—apparently, that was a thing, even during the daytime. A friendly nurse took Ginger straight back to their exam area, while Levi filled out a clipboard of information. George hung back, surprised they were the only people there.

  George forced himself to read a magazine so he didn’t pace the waiting room. He’d never been inside a vet’s office before, but it felt like any regular doctor’s office, except all the posters were about animals instead of people. It had that same medicinal smell. The same hard waiting room chairs. Just like the hospital he’d been in for a while after he quit skating.

  Fuck, I can’t do this.

  “I’m so sorry, Levi,” George said. “Can I please wait in your truck?”

  Levi handed him the keys without a word, his expression impossible to read.

  George fled.

  * * *

  The simple fact that George had volunteered to come all the way out here for one of Levi’s cats meant a great deal, and it had endeared the younger man to him in ways Levi couldn’t voice. Not only had George found and rescued one of his cats, he’d braved his own anxiety to hold her and comfort her while Levi drove them all to a strange town.

  George had held out longer than Levi expected, given what he knew about how sheltered George’s life had been up until recently. It didn’t hurt his feelings at all when George asked to wait in the truck. He still missed George’s presence and that was an odd new feeling.

  So he stopped thinking about George. When he finally spoke to a vet, an X-ray confirmed a hip dislocation. Since it was recent, they could manually reset it under general anesthesia. She’d have to wear a bandage for a while and—the hardest part of all—be confined so she didn’t dislocate it again before it properly healed.

  His cats were used to wandering the wider world. Seeing Ginger in a cage for days, maybe up to two weeks, sucked in the worst way. She also had to be carefully monitored, which sent his thoughts of traveling for his two-month hiatus from work right out the window. On the plus side, he had the time to keep an eye on her. But the idea of kicking around his house with nothing to do for days on end...not appealing at all.

  While he waited, he fielded a few concerned texts from Robin—Orry had apparently told several people why Levi had abruptly fled the Thanksgiving gathering—making sure Levi was okay. Levi wasn’t entirely sure, because today had rattled him. His kitties were part of him in ways he couldn’t explain, and hearing Ginger wailing so loudly had torn out a bit of his heart. But she’d be okay because George had found her.

  Stop thinking about George.

  Easier said than done. George was under his skin and digging in deeper with each new moment they shared today. He was kind and brave and scared and sensitive, and he wasn’t the kind of person Levi was usually attracted to. He enjoyed loud personalities, people who challenged him in new, unexpected ways.

  George is very unexpected.

  He was and in brand-new ways. He was soft and contemplative, instead of brash and loud. George tried hard not to be noticed, even when he was the most beautiful person in the room. He was also so freaking young and inexperienced, and Levi was terrified of getting too close. Of expo
sing him to the darkness in Levi’s past. To all the things he’d done to feed his addictions.

  George came back into the waiting room—which had grown by four people who’d brought in various pets—around four with an unhappy frown on his pretty face. “Derrick and Slater are ready to head home,” he said. “I texted them the address here. They’re going to stop by and pick me up.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Levi wasn’t sure what else to say. As much as he wanted the comfort of having George nearby, the guy had a life in San Francisco to return to.

  “I hate to leave you alone, but they’re my ride home.”

  “I know. It’s okay. I should be able to take Ginger home soon.” Home to a tiny house he shared with three cats and no one else.

  George frowned, then sat in the chair beside him. “Look, give me your number. Please? I need to know how Ginger is doing.” The bubble of hurt those words produced burst when George added, “And you, too.”

  Levi happily exchanged information with George, grateful his new friend wanted to stay in contact. “Excepting my cat getting hurt, hanging out with you today was fun, George. I’m glad we got to know each other.”

  “Me too. I have a hard time making new friends, and I think you’re, like, a really cool person.”

  “Same. Not as much the making new friends part, but the cool person part. I truly hope you keep testing your comfort zones and trying new things.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “That’s all any of us really can do.” Levi resisted the new, strong urge to kiss George goodbye. That was a bad idea for a whole host of reasons, the least of which was George’s likely inexperience when it came to dating and sex. The inexperience, Levi was guessing at, but it was a pretty good guess based on what little he knew about George’s life. He was also uncertain if George’s apparent interest was because of Levi specifically, or because Levi was the first person in a long time to show him a lot of direct attention.