By Chance

by Sasha Kay Riley

  Vince wasn’t sure of his teaching skills, but Dustin did fairly well, considering he’d never even driven so much as a go-cart in his life. By the time he’d been going around the parking lot for an hour, Dustin seemed a lot more relaxed and comfortable. But Vince still wasn’t about to have him drive on the road for quite a while.

  Chapter Ten

  WHEN IT was time for the third race in the Triple Crown, Dustin apparently decided to trust Vince over Mia and made his bet on the same horse that had already won the first two races. It turned out to be a poor choice, as the horse finished closer to the back of the pack than the front. In fact, no one chose the winner, so everyone got their money back.

  The next morning, Vince went to the barn shortly after the morning feeding to see if Dustin wanted to take Justin on another trail ride and found him in Justin’s stall as usual. But this time, Dustin was leaning against the wall just watching the big gelding as he searched his clean stall shavings for any scraps of hay or feed he might have missed when he ate breakfast. Dustin wasn’t smiling like he usually was around the horse. He looked miserable.

  “What’s going on?” Vince asked as he leaned his arms on the stall door.

  Dustin shrugged, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket. “Your dad was just here. He put Justin up for sale.”

  “Already?” Vince practically gasped. Justin was doing great, but Vince never expected him to be placed up for sale so soon.

  Dustin just shrugged again. “I thought I’d have more time, too. But I knew it would happen eventually. I just have to start detaching myself now.”

  “You never know how long it will be before anyone actually buys him,” Vince pointed out. “I doubt it’ll be tomorrow. Maybe not even by the end of the summer.”

  Dustin sighed. “I know. I’m still going to miss him.”

  Vince nodded. “I know,” he said quietly. “Come on, let’s take him for a trail ride.”

  ONCE VINCE knew all the hands were at the barn for the evening feeding, he let himself in to his parents’ house and marched into his father’s home office. Wes looked up as his son walked up to him and stopped just before hitting the desk. Vince was on a mission; he’d made his decision hours ago, and he wasn’t going to give up easily.

  “How much are you asking for Justin?” he asked.

  Wes leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow. “You have a horse.”

  “But Dustin doesn’t.”

  Wes rubbed his forehead and sighed. “I know the kid loves that horse, but even if he didn’t spend a dime since I started paying him, he’d barely have enough to buy him.”

  “I’m buying him,” Vince clarified. “For Dustin.”

  His father sighed again. “Why?”

  “Because he deserves to have some happiness in his life. And Justin loves him as much as Dustin loves Justin.”

  “You should have told him I’d be selling this horse,” Wes stated. “Why did you let him get attached?”

  Vince threw his hands up. “Why is it my responsibility to make sure no one out there bonds with a horse? I told him, and he said he still wanted to have what he had with Justin while he could. Dad, the last two years of his life have been more fucked up than you can imagine. If you’re worried he might leave at the end of the summer and can’t keep Justin, you shouldn’t. You have a buy-back clause in every sales contract. And if Dustin has his own horse, he won’t bond like this with any others. Let me give him something to be happy about. Really happy, not just grateful to have a house and a job to support himself.”

  Wes looked at him thoughtfully. “Well,” he finally sighed, “if it’ll make you happy to do this, I won’t stop you. Go get your checkbook while I take his ad down. I’ll write up the contract tonight.”

  Vince turned to go, then stopped and looked back at his father. “Make sure it’s a sales contract for zero dollars. I don’t want him to know I did this.”

  “All right,” Wes replied, waving him out.

  Vince was grinning before he even made it out the door.

  HE WENT back to his father’s office at lunchtime the next day and was handed the sales contract for Justin.

  “I trust you when you say this is the right thing to do,” Wes said, looking him in the eye.

  Vince nodded. “You know it is, too.”

  His father smiled. “Maybe you’re right.”

  Vince went straight to the barn and saw Dustin helping Joe to groom Star, who had apparently decided she wanted to become chestnut instead of gray and used the mud in the pasture to aid in the transformation.

  “Sorry, Joe,” he said as he walked close to where they had the mare cross-tied in the aisle. “I have to steal Dustin for a minute.”

  Joe waved a very muddy brush at him. “Go ahead. We were just talking about taking her to the hose out back and just spraying her off. I’ll get Chris to help me instead.”

  Vince nodded and motioned to Dustin to come with him to the barn office. Dustin was silent, and Vince wondered if he was worried that Vince was going to tell him that Justin was leaving. When they got to the office, Vince unlocked the door, turned on the light, and closed the door behind them.

  “I have something for you,” Vince announced before handing the sales papers over.

  Dustin took them with a puzzled look on his face. “What is it?”

  “Read it” was all Vince said. He had to fight his urge to smile as he waited for Dustin to realize what he held.

  Dustin began reading, and his eyes got wide. He looked up at Vince abruptly and seemed to struggle to find words for a moment. Finally, he whispered, “Your dad’s giving me Justin? Why? How?”

  Vince grinned. “I convinced him that you guys belonged together, and that Justin already has a strong bond with you.”

  “He’s mine?” Dustin breathed, still looking like he was experiencing the biggest shock of his life.

  Vince nodded. “Well, as soon as you sign these papers and I get them back to my dad.”

  Dustin threw himself at Vince and hugged him so tightly that it actually hurt. It seemed all Dustin could say was “thank you” over and over again. Vince hugged him back the best he could and let Dustin decide when to let go, which took about two minutes.

  Vince had never seen Dustin grinning so brightly, and it made him grin back. “Here, let’s get those papers signed. Then I’ll get them back to Dad while you go hug your horse.”

  VINCE WAS surprised to get a call from Jane that night. She’d been around the farm a couple of times since she had moved out, but she hadn’t stayed longer than her meetings with Wes about the financial side of things. She’d never checked in with him before, and he assumed she was trying to give him space to clear his mind. It was something she would do.

  “Just thought I’d see how you’re doing,” she explained as soon as they said hello.

  Vince started cleaning up the dishes from his meager dinner. “I’m all right.”

  “How’s your friend Dustin?”

  “Good,” Vince answered, rinsing his plate and fork in the sink. “Actually, I think he’s pretty high on life now. I bought Justin for him.”

  “You what?” she practically yelled.

  Vince winced and moved the phone to his other ear. “Dad was going to sell Justin already, but those two have a great bond, a lot like Xander and I do. I couldn’t stand to break them up, so Dad let me pay for Justin while putting Dustin’s name on the papers. I just don’t want him to ever figure out that Dad wasn’t really selling the horse to him for nothing,” he added in warning.

  “Jesus, Vince,” Jane laughed. “You sure you’re not in love with him?”

  He closed the dishwasher and rolled his eyes, not caring that she couldn’t see him. “He’s a good friend. He stayed with me when I got really drunk a few weeks ago. Though I will say Dad asked him to.” He cleared his throat and added. “And apparently, I told him about myself while I was drunk. He’s fine with it.”

  “Is he, too?”
<
br />   Vince paused. He’d told Dustin he wasn’t going to tell anyone, and he meant it. He was about to tell her he didn’t know the answer to that when she caught on anyway.

  “Oh my god, that’s why he got kicked out of his house, isn’t it?”

  Vince groaned. “Jane, please. I told him I wasn’t going to tell anyone.”

  “You didn’t tell me,” she argued. “You’re just awkward at conversations that require you to lie like that. I will never let him know that I know before others do. I will say, though—you better go get ’im. You’re already basically in love with him.”

  “Yeah, right,” he practically laughed. “He’s a kid, five years younger than me. He’s hot and all, but I think he’s more like a brother. Plus I’m technically his boss.”

  “Didn’t stop your parents, did it?” she countered. “And who cares that you’re five years older? It’s not like he’s not a legal adult.”

  Vince walked into the living room and dropped down onto the couch. “Jane, I hardly have my life figured out anymore. The last thing I’m going to do right now is start dating the kid and fuck up his life too. He’s happy now, and I’ll be damned if I take that away from him.”

  “Maybe you should find out what he wants instead of being selfish and hiding under a rock for the rest of your life?”

  Vince shifted so he was lying on the couch with his feet dangling off the end. “If he wants something, he’s free to let me know, and then maybe I’d think about it.”

  She did laugh this time. “You expect him to make a move on an older guy who happens to be his boss and has done all these great things for him? He has a stable life there; he’s not just going to risk it like that.”

  “It’s not like I’d make him leave because I don’t want to date him,” Vince argued. “That would be pretty unprofessional.”

  “But how comfortable would he be seeing you every day knowing that you shot him down? Even if he did stay, your friendship would be ruined. You’re going to need to handle it.”

  He groaned and ran a hand through his messy hair. “Dammit, Jane, I’m not going to date Dustin. Or anyone. Seriously, I can take care of myself. Stop rushing me into dating. I can’t go from being with you for two years to suddenly accepting the fact that I like guys overnight. When I’m ready for a relationship, I’ll find a dating website.”

  She sighed. “I guess you’re right. I am pushing you. I just want you to realize that you guys should be together. He loves his horse like you love yours, and you’re good friends. Let it happen.”

  The doorbell rang, making Vince sit up and turn to the door. Dustin was standing on the other side of the door—the screen door. The weather had improved enough to make it sensible to have windows and doors open during the day, and Vince was suddenly terrified. Had Dustin heard any of that conversation?

  “I gotta go, Jane,” he said cautiously.

  “Okay… bye.” She sounded confused but didn’t ask any questions.

  Vince hung up and called for Dustin to let himself in.

  “I just thought I should bring your book back,” he explained, holding up the book he’d been reading the night Vince had been drunk.

  Vince was relieved to see that he was at least acting like he hadn’t overheard his boss talking about dating him. “That’s fine. Help yourself to more if you want.”

  Dustin smiled, and he went to the bookshelf. He put the book back, then grabbed another. It only took five minutes for him to choose a book and thank Vince before leaving again. And the whole time, Vince had sat there telling himself that he couldn’t date the kid, no matter how attractive he was and how good he was with horses—which was a major turn-on for Vince.

  There were too many reasons why it would be a terrible idea to start a relationship with Dustin for him to even let his mind wander there. He could put it out of his mind if he tried. Until Jane brought it up again. He knew she’d never let it go.

  Chapter Eleven

  A WEEK and a half later, Vince and Wes left the farm in the hands of Anna and Jane—who was the one best suited to looking after the business side of things when Wes couldn’t—and made the hour drive to the hotel Mandy and Jeff had put them up in for the weekend of the wedding. They left Friday night and would be back sometime on Sunday, and while it wasn’t likely that much would be able to go wrong before they got back, Wes thought it best to have someone besides the stable hands there just in case something did. Whenever both he and Vince left for any longer than a day, he had someone keep an eye on things. When it wasn’t Jane or Mandy, it was Mark.

  It was a nice wedding, Vince thought. Jeff’s family was religious, so they had chosen to have the wedding in the church the family attended. Vince knew his sister was not at all religious, so it was obvious that she was just trying to please her new in-laws by having the wedding there. When he entered the church, he wondered with a touch of amusement if his presence would cause the roof to collapse, but apparently, being gay didn’t carry such powers. If there was a god, it must not care about him being there or him standing at the altar as part of the wedding party.

  After the ceremony, he smiled for more pictures than he could possibly count, then squeezed into the limo with the rest of the wedding party. The limo took them back to the hotel, where the reception was being held. It was a nice place with a patio outside and a decent bar. All the tables had glittering crystal centerpieces holding silver and red candles to match the wedding. There were flowers everywhere, and quiet music played from speakers on the walls.

  Vince wasn’t sure he felt like socializing very much, but Wes felt the same way and kept him company by the bar. At one point, Jeff’s parents approached them and started making conversation. Vince didn’t pay much attention and didn’t contribute unless he was asked a direct question.

  Did he think his sister had made a good choice in marrying Jeff? Of course.

  Was the ceremony nice? Sure.

  Isn’t the reception room just lovely? Yeah.

  Was he seeing someone? Not at the moment.

  Could he believe those gays thought they deserved to have these wonderful weddings?

  Just then Vince spotted Mark and his wife across the room. “Excuse me,” he said, not bothering to answer his brother-in-law’s mother’s stupid question. He took his drink over to where Mark and his wife, Leah, had just finished greeting Mandy and Jeff.

  “How is Justin doing?” Mark asked after they exchanged greetings.

  “Good,” Vince replied with a nod. “He actually found himself a new owner already.”

  Mark looked surprised. “That was fast. I knew he was a smart horse, though. How’s that boy that you picked up?”

  Vince grinned. “I’m glad you didn’t give him a shot. He’s great with the horses, and the biggest problem I have with him is that he doesn’t know how to drive. He gets along with everyone, has no drug or alcohol problems. We’re working on the driving. So you missed out.”

  Mark laughed. “I guess I did. Well, I’m glad you could help him. I hated turning him away like that, but it was too risky to take him on.”

  “It was worth it for us,” Vince stated with a smile.

  THEY WERE halfway home Sunday afternoon, both of them nursing slight hangovers, when Vince’s cell phone rang. As soon as he saw Anna’s name on the screen, he was worried. He pressed the speaker button and answered.

  “Hey, you’re coming home today, right?” she asked.

  “Yeah, we’ll be there in about a half an hour,” Vince answered. “What’s going on?”

  She let out a deep breath. “There was an… altercation between Chris and Dustin this morning.”

  “What?” Vince and Wes both asked at once. Vince was stunned.

  “What exactly happened?” Wes demanded from the driver’s seat.

  “I had just finished the last of the stalls, Star’s, and went to get her. Joe and I were the only ones in the barn. I didn’t think much of it because Mia was riding Foxy in the indoor ring and I assu
med Dustin and Chris were there watching. You know how wild that horse gets in the indoor ring; she always has someone spot her in case Foxy flips her shit and bucks her off. I went outside to get Star and found her tacked up in the outdoor ring. Dustin and Chris were both there, and all I saw was Chris haul off and slug Dustin. By the time I ran over, he was practically beating the shit out of him. Joe helped me pull them apart—he must have heard me yelling from inside. And Dustin’s not seriously hurt, to be clear.”

  “What the hell?” Wes’s hands were gripping the steering wheel so tightly that Vince could see his knuckles turning white. “How did this start?”

  Vince had a feeling he knew, but he waited for Anna to answer.

  “Well, I guess he tried to get Dustin to ride Star, and Dustin told him flat out that he wasn’t going to. He said he didn’t ride anyone Vince or myself hasn’t told him to because he’s not that experienced a rider yet, and neither of us told him to ride her. Dustin didn’t want to tell me everything, but Chris informed me that Dustin is, in his words, ‘a fucking faggot’ if he wouldn’t ride her and that, again, in his words, ‘faggots get beat.’ Apparently, Dustin didn’t give in to prove his manhood, so Chris beat the shit out of him.” She took a deep breath and asked, “Did you know that’s why Dustin was kicked out of his house?”

  “Yes,” Vince answered.

  “I didn’t,” Wes added. “But what concerns me right now isn’t his sexual preferences. I want to know what the hell is wrong with Chris. I’ve never known him to be violent.”

  “He’s been developing a drinking problem,” Anna admitted. “It started when Alex left. I think he’s pissed because Alex was his gambling buddy. None of the rest of us care that much for him.”