Jesse

by Jan Irving

  spider plant swaying minutely in a macramé basket from the ceiling. Home. This

  had become his home again.

  Jed spattered the entranceway with gasoline.

  Chapter Twenty

  It was like white noise blasting in his head. Kyle grabbed his skull, grunting as his body absorbed stabbing, invisible pain like thick, hot needles entering his brain. Tears washed his cheeks, and he choked on his saliva, convulsing on the sand. It wouldnt stop. It wouldnt stop.

  “Help me!” The voice wasnt his or Jesses, but it felt familiar, using the same strange pathway theyd always employed to speak telepathically.

  “Wha—” The sound abruptly shut off, and Kyle found himself on his knees, gripping Jesses hand like a lifeline. Sweat ran freely down his face, prickling his skin. His eyes ached in the aftermath, like theyd been rubbed with something acidic.

  “K-Kyle!” Jesses face was bone pale under the wash of the moon, which only a moment before had been romantic. Theyd been sharing the late-fall strawberries Jesse had collected especially for this date in the meadows of the ranch, Jesse with an arm slung around Kyle, nuzzling and kissing him in a possessive and frankly tender way, which…damn it, Kyle had been enjoying. He was still as shaky as a colt on new legs in the wake of his confession, not that he wanted to make a goddamned production out of it, but Jesse knew. Jesse had always known him from the inside.

  “Jess…” Kyle croaked. He felt his age now, as if hed done something stupid, like take up the bull riding hed indulged in when he was in his twenties. What the fuck?

  “Are you all right?” Jesse gripped his arm, bending close so his warm breath washed over Kyles cold skin. “I blocked it. I saw it was hurting you, and I…shut it off.”

  “Blocked it?” Kyle blinked. Now he was recovering a little, he noticed that Jesses face was strained, and yet there was a strange kind of remote quality to it, as if Kyle were looking at a face carved from stone, solemn, sorrowful, and full of purpose. Jesse cocked his head, almost as if he was listening for something, but other than the soft sounds of the radio and the croak of late frogs, the night was hushed, the same lovers night theyd shared before the pain had suddenly flared out of nowhere.

  Kyle sat up. “Its Davy, isnt it?” Jesses fingers were digging hard enough into Kyles skin to leave bruises. “He reached out to us.”

  Kyle was on his feet, grateful the night had been chilly enough hed returned to the bike and retrieved his clothes earlier.

  Jesse ran ahead of him, retracing their path. “We have to go. Now.”

  * * *

  If Jesse had driven fast before, it was nothing compared to the speed he reached this time. But Kyle made no complaint, even when they took a turn he thought they just couldnt make. He merely closed his eyes and tightened his arms around his Jess, putting his faith completely in him.

  And then they were airborne, jogging up and down until they hit a smoother road, and Jesse really opened up, gravel spattering behind them like hard rain.

  Kyle gritted his teeth, hanging on. Something was wrong. Fear burned a hot kernel in his gut.

  * * *

  “Itll be, you know, dangerous for you if I dont let him out,” David told Jed, who held him by one arm. Fear made Davids skin feel tight, made sounds seem extra loud as Jed shoved open one of the stall doors to spatter fuel on the floor, the wood banging against the wall and almost making David flinch.

  But he was resolved.

  Goddamn Jed wasnt hurting his friends or his family.

  Lately with all the time hed spent training with Kyle and Jesse, hed worked with all the draft horses. But he still had a special bond with Hall, something he couldnt quite put into words, except hed known the horse had given up at one point, and David hadnt let him.

  He dragged a breath through his teeth and focused. Reached out, feeling sweat prickle on his forehead, feeling pain fork through his skull. He concentrated on Hall. On his smooth moon-colored coat. On his large intelligent eyes and the way they followed David whenever he was in sight.

  Bang! Bang!

  Halls big hooves suddenly struck the wood of his stall like a warning drum. “See?” David panted. His T-shirt was stuck to him, his back slick and clammy. Jed twisted his arm. “Shut up. I need to get this place torched.” David reached behind his back for the latch. If he could just keep Jed

  distracted… “Have you thought this through? I mean…it started out as a few stupid pranks with your drinking buddy, but this is you going to jail.” “I said shut up!” Jed looked uncertain, which for some reason made David even more uneasy. “I had a pal put the beets in the grain, but I didnt know it was that big a deal, for fucks sake. And those fences I took out were about ready to fall over.”

  “Uh-huh.” Holding Jeds gaze, David yanked open Halls stall door. “The hell!” Jed released him, cringing as two thousand pounds of Percheron suddenly bounced him against the side of the barn. The gasoline tank fell from his grasp and was absorbed into more wood.

  David swung onto Halls back, twisting a hand in his mane. “Youll take care of me. I know it.”

  * * *

  Flames were licking through the big loft windows at the side of the barn, eating away at the words Kyle hadnt had the time to remove. He heard the scream of horses—his horses—and leaped off the bike as it was skidding gravel.

  Jesse was right with him. “David!” Jesse yelled, removing his helmet and flinging it aside. “Davy!”

  “God, oh God.” Kyle couldnt imagine a scenario where David wouldnt be in that barn, trying to free crazed horses. He ran inside, eyes watering instantly from the smoke. The fire was like the breath of a hungry dragon, devouring the barn rapidly.

  Sally struck him, and Kyle went down on one knee, gasping as the mare galloped out of the barn. “David!” he croaked. “Where are you?”

  “H-here,” a voice called over the hiss of flames, over the groan of the loft, which could give way at any time. Hell!

  Jesse got to the teen before Kyle did, no doubt guided by that uncanny sense the Coulter brothers shared. “Get out now. Do it!”

  “But the horses!” David protested.

  “Goddamn you. Get the hell out of here!” Kyle yelled, lifting David bodily and tossing him out the nearest open doorway.

  Jesse wrenched open Mercys stall, throwing himself out of the way like a matador as she bellowed in terror and pounded to freedom, pale blonde mane and tail flying.

  Kyle covered his lower jaw with his handkerchief, dipped quickly in an open barrel of water. He squinted through the heated air as he checked each stall. Empty. Empty. Thank God empty, except for the fucking barn cat with one eye. The animal was walking in circles, disoriented.

  Swearing, Kyle snatched the cat to his chest, peering to see Jesse through the haze. They wasted no time in running free, Kyle gasping desperately for cool air that didnt hurt going in.

  The cat clawed Kyle for his trouble, hissing rage and disgust as it leaped from his arms. “Youre welcome,” Kyle rasped, still coughing.

  He looked around, but there was no sign of David.

  Now what?

  * * *

  “I got your plants out. Hall and Sally are in the corral. Miles is with them and getting the other horses.” David panted as they finally caught up with him outside the ranch house, standing in the middle of the vegetable garden with a large cardboard box. “They didnt burn it down yet, but Jed splashed it with gasoline, so I got all your spider plants and the fountain out, Kyle.”

  Kyle snagged David close, seeing him more clearly outside the hazy barn; he had a bruise on his cheek. “You went in the house when it was set to go up?” “Yeah, but technically it wasnt on fire,” David said. “Morrison,” Jesse said flatly. He was standing a little apart from Kyle and David, his fists balled as he faced Morrison and Jed. Jed had a handgun gripped in a shaking fist.

  “Holy fuck!” Kyle thrust David behind him. “This is our home now. You cant steal it from us again,” Jesse said. “Our family.�
��

  A horse galloped past, a long shadow in the Halloween red and orange glare reflected from the burning barn. Kyle caught the distant sound of sirens. David was digging his fingers into Kyles back.

  Morrison scoffed, but Jed looked worried. “Were in trouble now, and I told you I didnt want that!”

  “Jesse and David wont cross me,” Morrison said. “Not if Jesse wants to keep David.”

  “What about him?” Jed pointed the wavering handgun at Kyle.

  Crap. Kyle didnt like what he saw in Jeds restless gaze.

  David reached for Jesses hand, stared at Jed, both he and Jesse staring—

  Jed grabbed his skull with one clawing hand, and Kyle remembered the pain hed experienced at the beach, like an ice pick entering his head. “You wont stop me.” Jeds face twisted.

  He dropped the gun, and Kyle wasted no time in snatching it from the ground, covering Jed where he was on his knees now, rocking.

  Kyle studied the stricken man in shock. He could feel them somehow, his Coulter men, like some kind of machinery that had revved up yet was as elemental as the fire sending ash into the sky. Jesses face was still and hard, and David looked just as eerily calm. Kyle felt a distant brush of fear, but he was alive. He was alive, and somehow they had protected him.

  “You dont come here anymore,” Jesse told Morrison. Morrison put a hand up, as if warding Jesse away. “Well deal with you if you ever come back. You dont hurt David. You dont hurt Kyle or our horses or our home. Were strong now.”

  Morrison fell to the ground, curling up like a shriveled fall leaf.

  “Fuck!” Kyle saw with relief that Sheriff Albany was pulling up, gravel shooting out under his tires, blue and red lights flashing. Miles came running from the corral caught in the strobes of more emergency vehicles making their way hastily up the driveway.

  In very short order, two sheriffs deputies were cuffing Morrison and Jed, who still lay on the ground.

  Kyle rubbed his eyebrow, feeling out of his depth as he looked at Jesse and David. He saw they picked up on his hesitation. Finally he muttered, “Plants! Shit, David, what goes through your head?”

  “You take such good care of them,” David said passionately. “I couldnt let them burn, even if they didnt get around to setting our house on fire.”

  Jesse snagged Kyles wrist, as if hed grown impatient waiting on him—typical Jesse—and then Kyle was tugged close, part of the circle.

  Together they watched a deputy put Morrison into a squad car.

  “He wont be back,” David said, his face briefly as stony as his brothers had been. Then the gray eyes softened as if he read the worry in Kyles eyes. “Dont worry, Kyle,” he added softly, a little compassionately.

  Jesse was staring at him, his wild Jesse with his windblown hair and his ruined silk suit, the cold fire dying down, so he looked rumpled and tired and relieved. But he didnt let Kyle or David go, as if he needed to feel them safe.

  Kyle made an exasperated sound. “I guess we keep this in the family.”

  And Jesse said, “I guess we do.”

  Epilogue

  Kyle found David in the temporary horse stable on a chilly night in November before the approaching Fall Festival.

  He was grooming Hall, the sound of the brush moving over the Percheron punctuated by Davids words—not telepathic ones, thank fuck, since Kyle didnt think he was up to having two Coulters in his head. Fortunately there had been no repeat of Davids showing any unsettling signs of his gift or communicating with Jesse and Kyle. Maybe it was because the drama had finally settled down. Kyle hoped so. Hed had a hell of a headache for two days after the last time.

  “So you got to prove that whatever Jed did to you, however my…my pa fucked up your life, you can still go on, you know? Kyle and Jesse are letting me be your driver, so you got to do real good, especially the parallel parking.”

  Kyle covered a grin with his hand at the last thought. David and Hall had become a very good team. Kyle had still not put the draft horse back to work, leaving the horse free when David wanted to work with him after school. Theyd developed a bond Kyle envied. He wished he had the time to spend with Hall, but…maybe David needed him more. And David was deadly serious with his lessons, especially anything challenging like parking the carriage.

  “How was the foal?” David asked.

  Kyle smiled. “He loves to run. Its nice to see.” In the wake of losing their barn, Kyle had moved some of the draft herd back to the old training shed, expanding it temporarily. Meanwhile, Jesse had designed and was overseeing the construction of a deluxe new barn, which would offer room for expansion and just might be finished by the time winter really got rolling. Kyle had been so impressed with Jesses skills hed pushed again on the courses at the state university.

  Jesse had flushed and not said much, but Kyle had spotted a spring calendar of local classes sitting on the kitchen table recently. He didnt care what Jess did, as long as he was happy. For the moment he seemed content just working as a cowhand on the ranch, training their new employees.

  Kyle had hired two people whod been turned away at other ranches in the area. Amanda Manson, a retired veterinarian from Boston who had always wanted to work with horses, and a recent Chinese immigrant, Robert Chan. Neither of them had any experience with ranching or working with a draft herd, and hed had to set up Amanda in her own line cabin instead of the bunkhouse, but they both worked hard.

  “Chinese lanterns,” Kyle said, offering a dried bouquet to David.

  Davids lips quirked. “You so grew these.”

  “From seed in the vegetable patch. Do not tell anyone.”

  “Its okay,” David assured him. “Im good at keeping secrets. So these are to dress up the carriages and junk?”

  “Without the junk, yep. The judges are susceptible to a nice-looking fall design. You can get up to five points just for that.”

  “Good to know,” David said.

  Kyle cleared his throat, reaching out to rub Halls long neck. “Your friend Sam coming?”

  David immediately looked away. “Shes not my friend anymore.”

  “Im sorry.”

  David shrugged. “Her choice.”

  “Is it? I was under the impression that her parents might be uncomfortable about me and Jess.”

  “Lame,” David said.

  “Yeah.” Kyle squeezed Davids shoulder. “Dont stay out too late.”

  But David had already tuned him out, absorbed in sorting through Kyles donated flowers. Kyle had no doubt that, come morning, the carriage would be decked out fit for the harvest celebration, and David would have his five points.

  * * *

  “And hold the pose for two more breaths…” Kyles yoga instructor was chanting. She looked about fifteen to Jesse, smiling as she did when she twisted her body into all kinds of positions. But it was watching Kyle assume those same asanas that had had his blood simmering the past half hour.

  Jesse leaned against the window looking in at the class, his motorcycle helmet and the extra hed brought for Kyle gripped in one hand.

  Kyle lifted up into something called a cobra. His muscles flexing in his tight tank T-shirt, his nipples poking the thin material, his body coated with a light sweat while his face was calm, focused.

  Mmmm.

  Despite how gloriously fit Kyle was, Jesse had had to talk him out of using something to cover up the silver in his hair recently. He knew it stemmed from their first public date, when theyd gone to the local diner, Cherrys, to share meatloaf. Everyone had watched them, humming with gossip over the doings that had gone down at the Double M this fall.

  Jesse shoved thoughts of the talk aside. It didnt matter; in time it would die down. What mattered was, hed come home, hed got his man.

  “The light in me honors the light in all of you,” the yoga instructor finished in a perky tone. “ Namaste!”

  “Namaste,” the class murmured, doing the hands-over-their-hearts chakra thingie as they bowed. Jesse knew the routine now.r />
  * * *

  When Kyle exited the yoga studio, he couldnt help a smile as he spotted Jesse waiting for him. The tall young man caught a lot of looks, in his cowboy boots and battered brown leather jacket, his dark hair in his blue eyes. All those looks he ignored, his gaze firmly fixed on Kyle.

  He slung an arm around him.

  “How did orientation at the university go?” Kyle asked. He couldnt help wanting Jesse to make the most of his opportunities. Mac would have wanted it too. And it had eased the last of his concerns about being with him. If Jess had more than his relationship with Kyle, he would always have something of his own.

  “Okay.” Jesse waited until they were outside in the parking lot before pulling Kyle into his arms. They shared a kiss that made Kyle moan, sagging against the studios brick wall.

  Jesse reached down and cupped Kyle through his loose yoga pants.

  “Are we still on to see that tattoo artist?” Jesse asked as he stroked Kyles hardened prick. “Or do you need me to take care of this first?”

  “Please, Jess,” Kyle whispered. It had gotten easier to ask, beg even. They both enjoyed it whenever Jesse brought him to that point.

  “I think I want it now too,” Jesse said, snagging Kyles wrist and his leather knapsack and leaving the helmets with his bike.

  Kyle didnt question him, giving himself over. Jesse pulled open a rusty door that led to what looked like a maintenance room with warm pipes running through it and the sound of machinery humming. He hit the light.

  “Youve cased this place,” Kyle said.

  Jesse smirked. “Yep.” He raised a brow. “Why are you still dressed?”

  Kyles heart thudded as he recognized the special commanding tone of voice. Hed never thought hed go for playacting, but sometimes they did it. Now Jesse had assumed the role of the biker leader, and Kyle was expected to act his captive.

  He quickly slipped out of his loose yoga wear, his head falling back as Jesse took hold of his cock, stroking it.