"Hi, Jason. I talked to Colonel Stanford, who talked to Savannah. She gave me your number so I could check on you, sweet boy. Dad and I are in Oklahoma…Fort Sill. Dad's going to be deployed for six months to Iraq for training purposes. I'd like to come see you after he's gone. Please call me when you can. I love you. Bye."
After listening to the message again, he felt the tears on his cheeks, and he sniffled, reaching up to wipe his nose with his hand. Suddenly, there was a wad of toilet paper thrust into his face. He looked up to see Kayley next to him. "What's wrong?" she whispered as she looked into his eyes tenderly. Jase could see a lot of compassion in the little girl's face. It was heartwarming.
"Uncle Danny still sleeping?" he whispered as he took the wad from her and lifted it to dry his eyes and wipe his nose.
"I don't know how. You cry loud," she whispered with a gentle pat on his shoulder.
He picked her up and put her on the couch next to him. "I'm sorry, Little Bit. I had a message from someone I haven't heard from in a long time, and it caught me by surprise," he explained, not wanting to worry the young, impressionable girl.
"Who was it?" she asked with a child's curiosity.
"My mom. I haven't talked to her in a few months, and I guess I really miss her," he told the beautiful little girl.
Much to his surprise, she took his hand and held it. "I know. I miss my momma a lot, but Uncle Dan says she's with Gramma Dottie in a better place. Is your momma in a better place?"
Jase took a deep breath and released it. "I hope so, sweetheart. Let's get you back to bed." He picked her up and carried her back to her room, tucking her in and kissing her forehead goodnight.
He felt very protective of the child, and it reminded him of how he felt about Megan and Terry. Of course, they had two parents to love them. He knew Danny loved Kayley, but with the death of his mother and the job he had at the Circle C, Jase wondered how hard it was for the man to manage everything by himself. It was something they needed to discuss, but how to bring it up? That was a puzzle.
Chapter Fifteen
Danny's eyes opened when he felt a tickling against his chest. He opened his eyes to see Jason's dark head resting on his left pec. Every time Danny took a breath, Jase seemed to wiggle his head and his dark hair tickled Danny's nipple.
He gently smoothed down the long, brown hair and stroked down Jase's back before he looked to see it was about 5:30. The sky was turning purple-grey, and Danny felt his bladder was about to burst. He gently moved Jase off him, giving him a pillow to hug instead.
He hurried into the bathroom to empty his bladder, noticing a little purple mark in the crease between his hip and groin. He grinned like a fool at the amazing blowjob Jase had given him the night before, remembering how tentative he'd been when Danny started taking down his boxer briefs.
He'd kissed and tickled his way down Jase's hot body until he reached his destination. He was surprised at how…endowed…the younger man was, but he was definitely interested in taming the beast. Once he had Jase in his mouth after he kissed him intimately in other places besides the guy's soft lips, he let his mind dictate his moves. When Jase wiggled around and engulfed his aching cock, he was definitely a happy man. It was a great experience Danny knew he'd draw upon when his young lover was back in Dillwyn.
He knew he had to stop thinking about the evening before or he'd never be able to piss, so he started thinking about the things that needed to happen before the boys' party. He knew they weren't inviting as many of their school friends as they had the summer before, so that meant fewer kids to worry about being at the barn. He knew Matt had only asked Hank bring over three horses to have available alongside Chester, Sam, Mabel, and the newest gelding Henry was working with, Dillinger because Ryan had shot up over the school year and was taller than Rocky, who was two years older. It was no surprise he was going to rival his father's height.
After he flushed the toilet, he turned on the water and grabbed the shaving mirror he used in the shower when he was trying to economize on time. He stepped inside and began with washing his hair, allowing his beard to soften under the heat of the water. He was nearly finished shaving when he heard the bathroom door open. "Danny? Can I get in?"
He opened the curtain without letting water out and saw Jase with a sleepy smile and wild hair. "Come on. I'm almost done shavin'," he explained as the younger man got in with him and closed the curtain.
Jase reached up and touched the shaving-cream-free side of his face. "Soft," he commented quietly.
Danny leaned forward and kissed his cheek, sweeping his tongue over the stubble. "Rough," he teased, happy to hear the giggle from Jase.
"I'll be done in a minute then you can shave if you wanna. There are new razors in that little cabinet over the toilet. How'd you sleep?" Danny asked as he turned back to the mirror to resume his task.
"Okay, I guess. I got up about two and disturbed Kayley. My phone was chiming and it woke me," Jase explained meekly.
Dan could tell his man was a little off his game, so after he finished shaving, he traded places with the brunette to place him under the shower spray. He reached up and moved the soft brown hair back so it was thoroughly soaked by the water before he picked up the shampoo. "Step back and turn around," he instructed.
Jase did as Dan asked, though with a little hesitation. Once he began shampooing Jase's hair, he heard the taller man moan, and it made him smile. "Who called?"
He continued to massage Jase's scalp like the lady at 'Hair Cuttery' did when she shampooed his hair before he got it cut. It felt good to him, and he hoped it felt good to Jase.
"My mom," the younger man responded, surprising Danny. Jase had explained things about his parents during several of their e-mails since he'd moved to Dillwyn, but getting information from the younger man wasn't always easy.
"What did she say? Surely if something happened with your dad Savannah Stanford would have called ya, right?" he asked, worried about why the mother had called him.
"Actually, my dad got reassigned and they're in Oklahoma now. My dad's being deployed, and my mom wants to see me after he goes," Jase explained.
Before Danny really thought it through, he said, "I'll pay for a plane ticket if you wanna go see your daddy before he goes overseas. You shouldn't leave things unsaid between ya, Jase. There were things I shoulda told my mom but I didn't, and I regret it, now."
What he regretted the most was his mother never got to meet Jase, the man who made him very happy, nor would she see Kayley grow up to be the incredible young woman Danny expected she'd become. He didn't want Jase to have similar regrets.
After Jase rinsed his hair, Danny reached out of the shower and into the cabinet, pulling out another safety razor for his younger companion. He could see something was on Jase's mind, so he waited.
Finally, Jase leaned forward and kissed Danny. "Thank you for thinking about something like that, and you're right I don't want to have regrets I can't reconcile in the future, but I think my dad and I've said more than enough to each other over the years.
“He was never happy with my choices and made certain I understood it, trust me. He was even unhappy with the colleges where I chose to apply. The bastard told me he'd never pay for college because I didn't need it, I had the Army to educate me. It's why I packed my shit and left in the middle of the night. He and I have nothing left to say, Dan," Jase explained to him.
That was new information for Danny. "Colleges? You applied to colleges?"
Jase laughed as he took the razor and ducked down to see himself in the mirror. "Yeah. I applied to UC-Berkeley, UT-Austin, Georgia Tech, Michigan, and MIT, which was my reach school. I'm as much of a computer geek as Tim Moran. I got accepted at Berkeley, Austin, GT, and Michigan. I got some academic grants and a few scholarships, but nothing that would offer a full ride. My dad wasn't even interested in allowing me to explore financing, so I got to a dead end and gave up," Jase explained as he continued to shave.
"Why would
ya just give up? Hell, I barely got out of high school and only tried to stay above a 'C' because of football. I ended up enlisting instead of college because I wasn't smart enough. Jase, honey, you need to go to college," Danny emphasized as he stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around himself.
He hadn't really given a lot of thought to things concerning Jase and his education. Everything had happened so fast for them, but he knew one thing for sure…he wouldn't stand in the young man's way. He didn't want to break Jase's heart, but he wanted the best for the kid, and ranch work wasn't in his DNA like it was in Danny's.
No, Jason Langston needed to go to college and live his life at his own pace without having to worry about an older boyfriend in rural Virginia with a daughter. How to let him down easy was the hardest part, but Danny would talk to Jon Wells and Tim Moran to figure it out.
"Why don't you stay here and let Kayley sleep in. Hell, you can catch a catnap, and I'll go help them set up for the party. I can call Jerry to pick me up on his way and you can bring my farm truck. Kayley's booster's already in the back," Danny offered. He saw Jase blush, and he knew for sure what he had to do.
"You sure you don't need help? I know how to do stuff at the ranch. I can help out," the young man offered, and Danny was seeing him as a young man in need of a nudge.
"Naw. Y'all stay here and come over later. Trust me, it'll be a long day. Better if Kayley sleeps in so she doesn't get cranky later. I'll call Jerry," Danny told him as he picked up his cell phone from the charger, surprised he'd remembered to put it on the damn thing in the first place.
Dan had things to do, and he needed help to do them so his phone was instrumental in accomplishing those tasks. After a phone call to Jerry, one of the older hand who worked for him at the Circle C, he walked back into the living room to see Jase asleep on the couch with a small smile. He pulled out his phone and took a picture, preparing for the heartache that was to come.
When he heard the horn, he hurried out of the house and into Jerry's old El Camino. The guy preferred restoring the stupid thing more than companionship, and while Danny liked him, he had no idea what to expect out of Jerry from one day to another. Jerry was a good employee, but he was a little squirrely from time to time.
"Heard your kin was in town. Long visit?" Jerry quizzed.
Danny's orientation wasn't a secret, but it seemed Jerry either didn't understand it, accept it, or maybe he didn't really give a shit. Danny didn't really care about the man's approval, so he simply nodded. They didn't talk about personal things; only work. Dan preferred it that way.
"I don't like it when family drops in without announcin'. I got no room for anyone, and I really ain't that happy with mosta my family. You think we'll have to work late today? I'm in a dart league at 'Pete's' and if I can't make it tonight, I need to call somebody," Jerry told him.
"We don't deal with the horses, so you ain't gotta stay late. Just your usual workday till two. The party ain't startin' till three, so no worries," Danny told him.
"You and your girl gonna go?" Jerry asked.
"She's," he started to correct the man but then remembered the papers he'd asked Jon to file. That might actually be what he needed to put his plan in place. He just needed everyone to go along with him. "Yeah, we are. She's buddies with Ryan and Rocky, and we were invited. You were invited as well, you know. You can hang around and eat," Danny reminded as they made their way through town.
"That's nice, and I got the boys some gift cards to Walmart, but I'm better off avoidin' shit like that. Don't like big parties. Makes me anxious," Jerry explained as he turned on the road leading to the ranch.
"Yeah, I get it," Dan responded, remembering how nice and quiet his life had been before Kayley moved in. Actually, it had been quite lonely because he'd refused to get close to anyone. Since Kayley, and now Jase had come into his life, things had changed quite a bit.
When they pulled up to the carport where the hands parked their vehicles, Danny got out and turned to Jeremy Brown who was standing outside the entrance to the barn doors which were still closed. "You already started in the barn?"
"Uh, well, I started to go inside, but…" he stalled.
The three heard loud groans from inside the building, and there was no mistaking them. Danny wondered how long Matt and Tim had been in the hayloft 'making-up'.
"Shit. Okay, let's just start with…Jeremy, you ride with Jerry to open gates. Take the grain truck and go down to fields three and four. I'll take care of one and two. Just make sure the west gate is closed so none of the cows get into five or six where the hay is growin'. Carl Billings is set to come give it a second cuttin' next week," Dan instructed.
Both men nodded and went about their business as Danny did the same. He laughed about the fact Tim and Matt got down in the barn. Dan hoped…then he stopped himself in his tracks. No, it won’t happen for me. I won’t be in the hayloft of the barn with anyone, ever.
Dan remembered Mick and Jon getting the hell kicked out of them in the barn hallway by two of the hands who were later fired. It was a damn shame he'd never get to carve his name into the hayloft wall like Mickey said he'd done…beneath Tim and Matt's names.
After the cattle were tended, Danny returned with the flatbed and trailer to find Adam's motorcycle and Wayne's old Camry parked in the field. He went to the machine shed to find one of the Gator's gone, so he decided to send Wayne and Adam out with the other one to check the new bull down in the pasture not far from the little creek.
Once everyone was busy, Danny went to the house because he needed to talk to Matt and Tim. He knocked on the back door after he toed off his boots. "OPEN!" he heard yelled.
He went into the house to find Rocky and Ryan in the kitchen with Tim, all busily at work. "Where's Matt?" Dan asked out of habit.
Tim glanced at the boys and smiled. "Running an errand. Where are Kayley and Jase?"
"Uh, I left 'em to sleep in for a little while. Sweet Pea gets crabby if she don't get enough sleep, and Jase and I…well, it's his days off so he should relax. Can I talk ya outta a cup of coffee?" Danny asked, mindful of Ryan and Rocky being in the kitchen.
Tim looked at him with a discerning eye and nodded. He then turned to the two young men standing in the kitchen. "Will you guys go up to Gramma's and see if she needs help setting up tables and stuff? Dad and I will be up as soon as he gets back from town. Now, go!" he ordered, pulling each one to him for a kiss on the forehead and a hug.
Both boys groaned, but Danny noticed neither pulled away. They both ran upstairs without any argument, and after Tim gave him a cup of coffee and invited him to sit down on a stool at the counter, they heard the boys run down the stairs and out the front door.
When they heard it latch, Tim turned to him and smiled. "Out with it."
Danny took a deep breath. "You know enough about me to know ain't nobody ever gonna ask me to speak on anything intellectual," he offered, trying to figure out how to lead up to the subject at hand.
Tim sighed, heavily. "Okay, now you sound like Matty. What's wrong, Dan?"
"What did Savannah Stanford tell y'all about Jase and his schoolin'?" he asked.
Tim went to the refrigerator and pulled out a large tub filled with what appeared to be steaks in some sort of liquid. He opened the tub and dumped it into a strainer inside a large bowl. He pulled out the strainer and set it in the sink before he poured the liquid into a saucepan and turned on the stove. Danny was very confused.
Tim turned back to him and took a sip of coffee. "What did Jase tell you about his schooling?"
It figured Tim would answer his question with a question. "He told me he applied to a whole bunch of really good colleges and got into a few but his parents wouldn't help him with tuition because his father was set on him joinin' the Army. He didn't wanna and that's why he left home," Danny explained.
Tim nodded. "Vanna told us he had a solid four-point-oh in high school and he is extremely gifted when it comes to anything to do with compute
rs. He hacked into their school's mainframe to change his schedule his junior year and got into trouble. His father and mother were called to the school because of it, and after that, she said Jase was determined to leave after he graduated because his father was very angry and had decided to make his life miserable.
"I'm not surprised he got accepted into those schools because he picked up on using the software I wrote for the Circle C and the Katydid, and he even wrote a patch of a glitch in my programs. What's your real question, Dan?" Tim finished.
Danny tried to decide how to go about explaining the problem because it wasn't about him at all. "I'm a broke-down, cowhand with a pin in my leg, Tim. Jase needs to go to college and make somethin' of himself. He has no more business workin' at a ranch or a farm than I do performin' brain surgery. I'm gonna tell him he can't come around anymore because of Kayley's adoption, and I need you to support me on it. He knows that's why y'all put him at the Katydid, though you coulda explained it to him in the beginnin'. He needs to move on from me and Kayley. You see the logic, right?"
Dan's heart broke at his own rationality, but it was the right thing to do. When Tim Moran nodded, Dan finished his coffee and left the kitchen, walking outside to put on his boots and heading back to the fields. He needed to check on the bulls they'd just castrated to be sure all of them got their antibiotics and none of them had acquired an infection.
He stopped outside the barn and dialed his good friend, Mickey. "Hey, Danny. How's it goin'? You callin' to thank me?" Mickey teased with a laugh in his voice.
"What the hell would I thank you for?" Danny joked in return.
"Oh, I thought maybe last night you mighta got a little 'sexual healing'," Mickey sang, bringing a laugh from Danny and insight he hadn't had prior. It only solidified his resolve to follow through with his plans.
"Ah, I guess I do have you to thank. Anyway, that's kinda why I'm callin'," he began. He explained things as he saw them and asked for Mickey's help in his mission, sure his best friend would be on board.
Loving the Broken Man (The Cowboys of Katydid Farm Book 3) Page 15