by Chase, T. A.
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A Total-E-Bound Publication
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Leaving Home
ISBN # 978-1-78184-307-9
©Copyright T.A. Chase 2013
Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright April 2013
Edited by Rebecca Douglas
Total-E-Bound Publishing
This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form,
whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing.
Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound
Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.
The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.
Published in 2013 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL,
United Kingdom.
Warning:
This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a heat rating of Total-e-burning and a sexometer of 2.
This story contains 157 pages, additionally there is also a free excerpt at the end of the book containing 11 pages.
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Home LEAVING HOME T.A. Chase
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Book four in the Home series
Chaz struggles with his addiction, while continuing to do his job of saving bull riders, but it’s all getting out of control.
Charles ‘Chaz’ O’Brien has been at the top of his profession for many years, enduring injuries that would have crushed a lesser man. Yet the top bullfighter isn’t calling it quits any time soon. He does his job with a fierce joy, though all the while he’s hiding a terrible secret. One that could get him suspended, and could end up killing the very men he protects.
Peter Skinner loves working for Les Hardin and Randy Hersch. His bosses are amazing men,
but seeing how in love they are every day makes Peter’s heart ache. He wishes he could find a man to love him like that, but he knows they’re hard to come by in Wyoming where he
lives.
Until, one day, Peter finds a man strung out in an alley, and is the only one around to deal with it. When Peter and Chaz meet, their worlds collide in a way that could be the best thing in the world for them both, or the worst experience of their lives.
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Dedication
To everyone who has been patiently and impatiently waiting for the boys from the Home
series to have more of their stories told. This is for you. I hope you enjoy Peter’s story.
Trademarks Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following
wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
PBR: Professional Bull Riders
Band-Aid: Johnson & Johnson
Historic Plains Hotel: Providence Hospitality Partners
Vicodin: Knoll Pharmaceutical
Ford F-150: Ford Motor Company
Bluetooth: Bluetooth Special Interest Group
Kool-Aid: Kraft Foods
IHOP: DineEquity
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LEAVING HOME T.A. Chase 6
Prologue
Leaving home was an integral part of growing up. It was an important step to
discovering who a man was to become. Peter Skinner understood that, yet he couldn’t help
feeling sad as he carried the last few boxes out to Yancey’s truck.
Sad because moving out meant he’d cut his last ties to the family he’d thought would
love him forever. Peter snorted silently. He should’ve known that once he told them the
truth, they’d turn their backs faster than a quarter horse cutting a steer from a herd. His grandfather ruled the Skinner clan with an iron fist, and if he said Peter must be shunned, the rest would go along with his decree.
“Do you have everything, Peter?” Yancey helped him put the boxes in the back of the
vehicle.
He looked back at the house where he’d grown up and sighed. “No. I got everything I
want to keep. They can throw the rest of it away, for all I care.”
“Throw it away? Your parents would really do that?” Yancey frowned. “That seems a
little harsh.”
“You’ve met my grandfather, right? You’ve seen how he treated Les and Tony. He
wasn’t happy about it when I acknowledged any of you existed. Then I had the nerve to start working for Les.” His laugh was rough. “Yes, they’ll throw away anything that will remind them of me. Trust me. I saw them do that with my dad’s younger brother. He didn’t do what Grandfather wanted, and he left. No one’s seen or heard from him since.”
Peter remembered hearing his parents fight over it when he was little. His father had
removed all the pictures featuring his brother from the walls and albums. Peter’s mother
hadn’t wanted to do that. Of course, Grandfather hadn’t liked Mother either, and the feeling was mutual, so she would’ve gone against anything Grandfather had said.
Which was why Peter had been surprised when she’d stood right beside his father and
told him to leave. It had crushed him, causing his heart to break and him to question his plan to be honest. He’d run to Max, who’d held him while he cried. Then Max had explained that the best families were the ones they built for themselves.
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LEAVING HOME T.A. Chase 7
“Come on. Everyone’s waiting for us at Les and Randy’s. Margie’s cooked a welcome
home meal for you.” Yancey said, breaking into Peter’s thoughts, and reminding him that he had a family waiting for him.
It might not be the family he’d been born with, but it was the one he’d chosen, and, to
be honest, the men and women Peter was going to see in a few minutes were the people he
felt the most real with. They had opened their hearts and homes to him, even when his
grandfather had treated Les so poorly.
“I’m ready.”
Yancey clapped him on the shoulder as Yancey headed to the driver’s side of the truck.
Peter climbed into the passenger seat then took one last glance at the house. He’d tossed the keys onto the kitchen table before he’d walked out. There was no going back, even if by some freaking act of God his family wanted him.
It was time to create a new home with people who cared about him, flaws and all.
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LEAVING HOME T.A. Chase 8
Chapter One
The sound coming from the alley caught Peter Skinner’s attention. He paused on the
sidewalk, staring into the shadows between the two buildings. Tugging out his mace, he
thought about the promise he’d made to Les, his boss. He wasn’t supposed to go into dark
alleys anymore, not after the last time when some kids who’d wanted to steal his wallet had beaten him up. It didn’t matter that both Les and Max had taught him some self-defence
moves.
Peter snorted quietly. Who was he kidding? Even though he’d learnt some moves, that
didn’t make him a blac
k belt or anything. He’d be lucky not to hurt himself if he tried
something.
A pain-filled moan emerged from the alley again, and Peter took a deep breath. He
couldn’t walk away when someone might be in there, and might be hurt. Maybe he should
call the police. It would be the smart thing to do, but Peter didn’t want to do the smart thing.
He wanted to do the brave thing, which would be to enter the alley. As long as he had his mace and his phone ready, he should be okay.
“Hello?” he called out, unsure he wanted an answer. He wasn’t brave, not really. Peter
could admit that to himself, if not anyone else.
Another moan drew him closer, and he decided it was now or never. Not going in
really wasn’t an option for him, not if someone really was injured or dying in there. After straightening his shoulders, he strolled into the alley like he was six-five and muscle-bound.
Max had told him that one way not to become a victim was to act like he knew what he
was doing. ‘Keep your eyes up, and shoulders back. Meet a person’s gaze as they approach
you. That way they’ll know you’ve seen them. It makes most people hesitate before
attacking’. He could hear Max’s explanation in his head.
Peter hadn’t gone very far before he almost tripped over a man sprawled on the
ground.
“Oh shit. I’m sorry. Are you all right?” Peter crouched next to him, but answered his
own question. “Of course you’re not all right. If you were fine, you wouldn’t be lying in an alley.”
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LEAVING HOME T.A. Chase 9
The stranger muttered something, and Peter leaned closer to him. The smell of alcohol
and sweat hit his nose with all the force of a wind storm. He rocked back on his heels,
gagging slightly. Not even Yancey, after helping a horse give birth, had smelt that bad.
“Great,” he muttered. “I came back here to save a wino.”
Peter might have disliked the fact that the man was drunk, but he couldn’t very well
leave him helpless in the alley. He reached to grab the man’s arm.
“I’ll help you out of here.”
“What are you doing?” The stranger’s rank breath caused Peter to wrinkle his nose in
disgust.
“I just said I was trying to help you out of here. I actually think I should call an
ambulance. You should really go to the hospital.” Peter grimaced as he practically lifted the man to his feet. “I’m Peter, by the way.”
“I’m Chaz, and I won’t go to the hospital. I’ll be fine. Just need a place to crash for a few days.” Chaz’s head rolled on his shoulders, a dirty, disgusting version of a ragdoll.
Peter shook his head. “I really don’t think that’s a good idea. You smell like you’ve been on a three-day binge without stopping to take a shower or brush your teeth. I’ve seen pigs that smell better than you.”
“Don’t know you, man. Not sure you have the right to judge me.” Chaz sounded
indignant.
Peter couldn’t help it. He snorted as he dragged Chaz towards the alley entrance.
“Chaz, I’m not judging you. I’m simply stating a fact about the way you smell.”
They got to the sidewalk where Peter lowered Chaz to the ground. The man leaned
against the building then rested his head back on the brick wall. Standing there, Peter studied Chaz, unsure why his heartbeat increased as he looked at him. It had to have been because of dragging Chaz from the alley. Yet Peter knew that was a lie.
Chaz was covered in dirt, obviously not having made the acquaintance of a shower at
any point in the last couple of days. It was hard to tell the colour of his hair because of the grime. His green eyes were bloodshot and there were dark bags under them. Peter doubted
Chaz had had any sleep in the last several days.
He noticed that Chaz’s hands shook and his skin was sickly pale under the dirt. Peter
couldn’t be a hundred per cent sure, but he thought Chaz might have been high, or coming
down from a high.
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LEAVING HOME T.A. Chase 10
“Do you have a place to stay around here, Chaz?” Peter kept his phone out, but tucked
his mace away. He didn’t have anything to worry about from Chaz. Hell, Peter could
probably have knocked the guy over, and he wasn’t very strong.
Chaz licked his chapped lips, drawing Peter’s attention to their plumpness. Fuck! He
needed to get a handle on this weird attraction. There was no way in hell Peter could want a dirty druggie who was more than likely homeless. Doing anything to make it obvious would
surely lead to Peter getting his ass handed to him, Chaz being high notwithstanding.
“What day is it?” Chaz looked at his wrist like he expected to see a watch there. He
grunted when he saw it was bare.
“Seriously? You’ve been so high you lost track of the days?” Peter shook his head. “It’s
Monday, August fifth.”
“Fuck!” Chaz scrubbed his hand through his short-cropped hair. “I didn’t realise it was
so late. I need to get back.”
“Where is home? If you don’t mind me asking?” Peter propped his hip against one of
the building corners. “We’re in Cheyenne, Wyoming.”
“I know I’m in Wyoming,” Chaz snarled. “Home would be wherever I hang my hat. I
move around too much for a permanent place.”
“So then where do you need to get back to? Is someone waiting for you somewhere?”
Peter didn’t like the small rush of jealousy he felt at the thought that Chaz might belong to someone. Christ! He was an idiot. It was like he was a baby duck, imprinting on the first new guy he met.
“No, man. I need to find a place to crash for a few days, get cleaned up before I have to go do my job. The next event’s in Tulsa, and I need to make sure I’m ready.” Chaz braced his hands on the wall behind him before starting to stand up.
Peter watched as Chaz made it to his feet, swaying as he tried to find his balance. He
tensed when Chaz started to tilt to the left. He rushed in, and encircled Chaz’s waist.
“You never answered my question. Do you have a hotel room around here?” Peter
locked his knees to keep from falling over himself when Chaz put almost his full weight on him.
“I don’t think so.” Chaz reached into one of his pockets to pull out his wallet.
After taking the wallet, Peter fumbled a little bit, but finally got it open. He glanced
quickly into it, not wanting to invade the man’s privacy any more than he had to.
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LEAVING HOME T.A. Chase 11
“I don’t see a key card or anything. What else do you have in your pockets?”
Chaz’s hands were shaking too much for him to dig in his other pockets. Peter sighed,
and moved Chaz over to the wall again.
“Lean here.”
Peter tried not to think about the fact that he was putting his hands all over Chaz’s
body. He could tell the man took care of himself, for the most part. If he was a druggie, it hadn’t been for long, or else his body would’ve been wasted. He mentally rolled his eyes. All he really knew about drug users and the effects of drugs on the body was what he’d seen on TV.
From what he could feel, Chaz’s stomach was flat and his ass was firm. There was
nothing in Chaz’s front pockets, but there were a few slips of paper and a baggie of white pills in one of the back ones. He also found a set of keys in his coat pocket.
“At least we know you have a vehicle somewhere,” he pointed out, holding the keys up
for Chaz to look at. “We
just have to go in search of it.”
Chaz’s eyes widened at the sight of the baggie, and Peter put it away in his own pocket.
He didn’t want to know what it was, and he didn’t think Chaz needed any more of it at the moment. The papers were receipts from different restaurants in the Cheyenne area. They
were dated for the last couple of days, which meant that Chaz had been in the area for a
while. He had to have been staying somewhere.
“Maybe the hotel card is in your ride.”
He checked his watch. Damn! He needed to get back to the ranch or Margie would start
to worry. With Les and Randy out of the country, and Jackson off on his honeymoon with
Tammy, there wasn’t anyone there to run the place. Not that Peter was such a take-charge
person, but he followed directions well, and Jackson checked in once a day to let him know what needed to be done.
“All right. We should find your car, and I’ll follow you to your hotel.”
“Don’t bother. I’ll get myself there.” Chaz pushed away from the building.
Peter watched him take a few steps before his knees buckled.
“Shit.” Peter swore as he caught Chaz right before he hit the ground. “Man, I’m not
leaving you out here. You know what? My car’s right down the street. I’ll drive you to a hotel or something. I have to get home, but damn me for being a good person.”
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LEAVING HOME T.A. Chase 12
Chaz didn’t say anything, and Peter checked to make sure the man was even conscious.
Chaz’s eyes were glazed over, making Peter think maybe Chaz had used up whatever
strength or determination he’d had to get as far as he had done. Either whatever he’d taken was wearing off, or Chaz had spent all his energy getting to where Peter had found him.
Sighing, Peter made a decision he was probably going to regret in the morning. He
stumbled and tripped as he carted Chaz back towards his car. He’d take Chaz home to the