by Andrew Grey
Dante let himself be led through the house to his bedroom, where Ryan slowly stripped off their clothes and then pulled back the bedding. “I don’t know if…,” Dante began as Ryan turned off the light and pressed him into the mattress.
“Quiet,” Ryan told him, kissing him deeply, but without the hard edge of need that usually accompanied situations like this. “Just close your eyes and let it go. Hy is going to be okay, and whatever arrangements need to be made will get done, but you don’t have to do them tonight.”
Dante listened to Ryan’s mellow voice and let go of the worry and fear that had churned inside him for hours. The tension in his back released and Ryan pressed to him, holding Dante tight. “I just can’t believe Gramps was actually going to sell the ranch.”
“Hey, he was worried about you. Look at it that way, and when he’s feeling better, talk to him. Tell your grandfather what you really want. Lord knows, talking to one another isn’t the worst thing in the world.” Ryan chuckled behind him, the laughter and the flutter of his muscles going right through Dante, and he closed his eyes.
“I shouldn’t have doubted you,” Dante said. “I should have asked before going off like….”
“One of the bulls you ride?” Ryan snickered. “You know, they say people begin to take on the characteristics of the animals they’re around.” He squeezed Dante a little closer. “So I guess I should be glad you don’t spend more time around horses.”
“Why?” Dante asked, rolling over to face Ryan.
“Instead of a charging bull, you’d be a horse’s ass,” Ryan said. Dante reached for his pillow and smacked Ryan on the head with it. Ryan retaliated with his own pillow, and then Dante was laughing and trying to breathe as Ryan tickled his ribs. Dante let out a belly laugh and tried to get away, but only ended up thunking on his ass on the floor.
The laughter stopped and Dante stared up at the mattress, wondering what in hell happened. Then Ryan’s face appeared above him. “You pushed me off the bed,” Dante said.
Ryan shook his head and extended his hand. Dante took it, and Ryan tugged him up and back into bed. “Come on, let’s go to sleep.” Ryan chuckled, and Dante settled in bed next to him, holding Dante tight like the sun rose and set around him, and for a few minutes, Dante let himself imagine that was true.
DANTE woke and gasped softly before remembering where he was. The windows were still dark, and he glanced at the clock before realizing he’d only been asleep a few hours. “What is it?” Ryan mumbled and pulled Dante closer. Then Ryan rolled Dante onto his back, pressing him into the mattress, and kissed him softly but so intently that Dante closed his eyes and let Ryan take him where he wanted to go.
“What should I do?” Dante asked. Having sex usually involved instructions and guidance from Ryan, but Ryan didn’t answer and instead kissed him harder. Ryan caressed him, making small little circles at Dante’s sides, sliding their cocks past each other as Ryan made slow movements that drove Dante insane. “We usually…,” Dante began, trying to figure things out, and Ryan gently placed a finger over his lips before removing it and kissing him again. Then Ryan rolled them in the bed until Dante was on top of Ryan, being held closer and tighter than he could ever remember in his life. Ryan encircled Dante’s waist with his legs and made little circles on Dante’s back with his hands. Then he gently cupped Dante’s head and kissed him deeper. Dante let himself go, barely remembering the condom before giving everything over to Ryan, who didn’t have to say what he wanted or even utter a word; his simple gestures and tender caresses guided him until Dante slowly entered Ryan’s body and had his breath stolen completely away.
They moved together, Dante responding to Ryan’s unspoken commands in the most amazing way—kisses that went on forever, Ryan’s body gripping him until he was convinced neither of them ever wanted to separate. It wasn’t long until they were both flying and then slowly floated back down to earth.
Dante hardly registered Ryan getting out of bed or him gently washing away the remnants of their nearly otherworldly experience. What he did remember was Ryan getting back into bed, settling in next to him, and the gentle way Ryan kissed the top of his shoulder. Then he fell asleep and remembered nothing.
The phone woke him in the morning, and Dante jumped out of the bed, his feet barely touching the floor, his entire mind centered on what had happened to Gramps.
“Dante,” a familiar voice said when he answered, and he shook away the haze of sleep and saw Ryan staring openmouthed at him. “Sorry if it’s too early, but I needed to get a hold of you.”
“It’s okay, Harvey,” Dante said and caught Ryan’s eye as he headed for the bathroom, mouthing, “My agent,” in a rather Hollywood sort of way.
“Good. Look, we got ourselves a problem. It seems that the Dunbar’s people got wind somehow that you’ve been spending a lot of time with another man in… that way… and they aren’t particularly happy.” Harvey had an almost affected down-home way of speaking sometimes. “There’s always been sort of… rumors… surrounding you because you were such a loner, though no one really gave a rat’s ass, but now that you’ve been seen hanging around with another man, well….”
“Rumors? Look, what do they want to do? I’m supposed to do this signing event for them in a few days. Do they want to cancel?”
Harvey made some sound that Dante didn’t think people could make, and the thought of Harvey doing voice-overs for horses in the movies came to mind. “I told them to hold their horses and think about what they’re doing. That they could be sponsoring the next champion, and they hemmed and hawed.”
“What do you want me to do, Harvey? I’m gay, all right?” There, he’d said it out loud. Jesus, why didn’t folks just mind their own business?
“Don’t do nothing,” Harvey told him. “They know you’re popular with the fans. Sure, there are some folks who will care, and others who won’t give a shit as long as you’re winning. But I get the feeling this personal appearance and signing event is going to be watched pretty closely. If folks don’t show up, then Dunbar’s will be thinking they might want to get someone else to try to help sell their hats for them.”
“Shit,” Dante said as Ryan came out of the bathroom. He must have seen the surprise on Dante’s face, because he paused pulling on his pants and let them fall back to the floor before moving to Dante and slowly rubbing his back. Dante held up a single finger. “Thanks, Harvey. I got to get going. Gramps is in the hospital and I gotta do chores before going up to see him.”
“Of course,” Harvey said levelly.
“You don’t sound upset about all this,” Dante observed with a touch of surprise.
“Doesn’t matter to me,” Harvey said with a sigh. “We here in Texas talk about wanting to live free and make our own choices. We believe in carrying guns as a demonstration of our personal freedoms. And I agree with that. Personal freedoms are important. And while I don’t understand you liking guys instead of girls, I think it’s part of that personal freedom we’re always going on about.” Harvey paused, and when Dante felt Ryan’s hand on his shoulder, he closed his eyes. “Besides, I want you to be happy, and if that means riding bulls or something else”—Harvey snickered very briefly—“it isn’t my business or anyone else’s.” There was a long pause, then Harvey said, “I’m sorry to heap all this on you now, but I thought you better know. I’ll talk to you later, and call me when you know how your gramps is doing.”
Harvey hung up, and Dante set his phone on the dresser, closed his eyes, and leaned back into Ryan’s embrace, wondering just what in hell he was going to do. The only thing that had been keeping everything together was his sponsorships and the fact that he was making money on the circuit. If all that dried up, then maybe he would have to sell the ranch, regardless of whether it was making money, especially if what the doctor said was true and Gramps needed care beyond what Dante could provide. The fluttering in his stomach grew, and the only thing keeping him from being sick was Ryan’s soft touch.
“SO WHAT’S so important?” Jacky asked as he walked into Ryan’s office at lunch a couple days later. “It isn’t Dante’s grandfather, is it?”
“No. Hy’s home and doing as well as can be expected, I guess,” Ryan said. “When you took me to the bar and I met Dante, you said that there had been rumors that he was gay.”
“Yeah, I guess, but there are rumors about every guy on the circuit who isn’t married. They’re mostly wishful thinking. You know how people are. Why?”
“Dante’s sponsor is thinking of dropping him because he’s been seeing me. It seems they heard those rumors, and now that Dante’s been seen with me, they’re thinking there’s truth to the rumors.”
Jacky flopped in one of his chairs. “That really sucks.” He shook his head. “What are you going to do?”
“Do?” Ryan asked. “There isn’t anything I can do. I feel bad because this happened to him because he’s seeing me, but I can’t make Dunbar’s decide to sponsor him for another year.” Ryan had been thinking of trying to see if his firm would sponsor Dante, but that wasn’t their style, and Dante would probably resent him stepping in like that.
“I know,” Jacky said.
“I thought about seeing if I could sponsor him myself, but if Dante got wind of that, he’d probably have a fit and think it was charity.”
Jacky’s eyes widened. “Do you have enough money to do that?” he asked, and Ryan shrugged. “It takes quite a bit to pay the entrance fees and stuff like that. Most places do it because then the riders make personal appearances on their behalf and stuff like that. They hope to get their investment back either through advertising or by taking a percentage of the rider’s winnings. But you better have deep pockets in order to do that, because if Dante doesn’t win, you’re out a lot of money.”
Ryan swallowed and stood up, then walked around to the front of the desk. “I have to do something.”
“I know, but maybe you should talk to Dante and find out what he wants,” Jacky said. Ryan nodded. It seemed he’d been doing the same thing Dante’s grandfather had done: trying to solve Dante’s problems and figure out his future for him. “Maybe he already has a plan or another sponsor lined up, and you’re worrying for nothing. When are you going to see him again?”
“Tonight. He said he was going to be checking out some bulls for one of the breeders in the area and he asked if I’d stop by to watch,” Ryan said.
“Then ask him afterwards and see what he thinks.” Jacky stood up. “I gotta get back to the office. I’ll talk to you later.” Ryan nodded, not much further ahead than he’d been.
Ryan tried to keep his mind on his tasks for the rest of the day, and for the most part he succeeded. A new client came in that afternoon. From their initial conversations, Ryan had expected them to open a small- to medium-sized account, but by the time the meeting was over, they’d written him a huge check and he’d landed one of his largest accounts ever. You never knew when you were going to click with someone, and he certainly had with this couple. The meeting had started off with the two men walking into his office and the larger of the two glaring at Ryan.
“We want you to know that we’re a gay couple and if you have a problem with that, we’ll go now,” the man said.
Ryan had smiled. “If that’s a problem, my boyfriend is going to be upset,” he said, silently hoping Dante wouldn’t mind being referred to as his boyfriend, although after the last few days he wouldn’t have blamed Dante if he balked. The expressions on his new clients’ faces had lit up like it was Christmas and then they’d all gotten down to business.
“Are you heading out?” Marie asked as she poked her head in his doorway.
“Yeah. I’m supposed to watch Dante ride.” He checked his watch and hurriedly shut down his computer.
“It looks like you had a good day,” Marie said as Ryan grabbed his bag and turned out the light on his way out.
“The team had a good day,” Ryan said as he and Marie headed toward the elevators. “What is it?” Ryan asked her as they waited. She’d gotten unusually quiet.
“I was about to ask you the same thing. You’ve been more… pensive… than usual these last few days. Are things going okay outside this place?”
“You’re invoking Mona’s rule?” Ryan asked as the doors slid open. Both he and Marie had read Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series of books. Mona’s rule was that you could have a hot job, a hot apartment, and a hot lover, but not all three at the same time.
“It fits,” she said as she stepped into the elevator with Ryan behind her. “You have the hot job—after all, you work with me. That condo of yours will stand in for a hot apartment, so there has to be trouble in the hot-lover department.” They rode down, and Ryan sighed softly.
“I’m not sure there’s trouble between us, but Dante seems to have come up against a mountain of hurt lately, and I know some of that is because of me. His sponsor is threatening to pull out because of rumors that he’s gay, and while his grandfather is home, this whole sponsor thing is hurting his potential to help care for him in the long run. It’s nuts, and I want to help, but….”
“I know,” she said. “I don’t get how this sponsorship thing works. Can’t he just get another one?”
“He could try. But Dante has had Dunbar’s as his sponsor for a while. Hell, he doesn’t wear a helmet when he rides because then he can wear one of their hats.” He’d seen Dante ride during the rodeo a few weeks ago, but that notion hadn’t hit home until Dante had actually explained it to him. “Besides, he’s afraid that no other sponsor is going to want to touch him because he’s gay. This is still Texas, and while things are changing here, he still has to be realistic.”
Marie sighed as the elevator door opened. “Tell Dante I wish him luck and I’ll keep my ears open for him.”
“Thanks,” Ryan said before they parted in the garage, each of them heading for their own car. Ryan popped his trunk and made sure he had a bag of clothes he could change into before setting his case inside. He also took off his coat and tie, laid them on top, and then closed the trunk. As he walked to the driver’s door, he loosened his collar and then climbed inside, turning on the engine and sighing as the first hint of cooler air reached him. Then he headed out of town.
Ryan followed Dante’s directions to the ranch where he was riding and pulled in. He parked next to Dante’s truck and got out. Hurrying so he wouldn’t miss anything, Ryan opened the trunk and took off his shirt, pulling on a black T-shirt from his bag before changing his shoes and then heading toward the group of men gathered around the paddock fence.
As he approached, some of the guys looked him over suspiciously and then made room for him. A chute had been built at one end of the enclosure, and men were loading in one of the bulls. “It seems so quiet,” Ryan observed.
“That’s Widowmaker’s Revenge. He’ll let you do anything to him, but as soon as you sit on his back, he turns from quiet to hell on wheels,” the young kid next to Ryan said. He couldn’t have been more than sixteen. “You Mr. Abbott?” Ryan nodded. “Dante said you was stopping by to see him ride.” The kid turned away, and Ryan could almost feel the tension building up around him.
“I don’t have three eyes and horns,” Ryan said, and the kid turned toward him, looking surprised for a few seconds and then breaking into a laugh.
“Cody,” a deep voice called, and the teenager backed away from the rail.
“That’s my pa,” he said and hurried away. Ryan didn’t watch him go, concentrating instead on the snorting bull in the chute. The men appeared to be putting on the bull rope, and then Dante climbed the fence. The men cheered, Dante sat on the bull, and the chute opened.
The bull took off with Dante on top, spinning and bucking at the same time. Ryan barely saw the bull, narrowing his gaze on Dante as he rode the damned thing for all it was worth. Widowmaker’s Revenge certainly seemed to have earned his name, because he threw Dante off and into the air. Ryan gaspe
d as Dante just missed the horns and somersaulted onto the ground.
“Jesus,” Ryan mumbled, holding his breath until Dante got to his feet and raced to the fencing before bounding over just ahead of the damned bull. Ryan found himself shaking like a leaf, and he refused to look to either side for fear the men would see the shock and terror on his face.
“That was nothing,” one of the guys next to him said. “Last time someone tried to ride the Widowmaker, he got stomped.” The bastard actually seemed to be rooting for the bull.
“All right, men, time to get back to work,” Cody’s father called. With some low grumbling, the men largely filtered away, and a towering man walked toward Ryan.
“Ansen Marquette,” he said, extending his hand.
“Ryan Abbott,” he said as they shook hands. Ansen had a firm handshake.
“Cody, you can watch Dante ride the next bull, and then you need to get your chores done,” Ansen said with a slight turn of his head after releasing Ryan’s hand. Cody raced up and leaned against the fence, nearly bouncing with excitement. “He wants to ride bulls,” Ansen explained, “but he’s already too tall, and he’ll be more like me than Dante.”
“Why do I get the feeling you aren’t disappointed,” Ryan said softly, and Ansen nodded slowly.
“Cody’s a smart kid,” Ansen said as he settled against the rail while a second bull was brought into the chute. He glanced a bit warily at his son. “So is Dante. His mother and mine were good friends. They’re both gone now, but I remember Dante when he’d sneeze and fall over.” Ryan nodded but said nothing, wondering where this conversation was headed. “I heard the rumors.”
“I see,” Ryan said. “Won’t apologize for him or me, if that’s what you’re expecting.”
“I’m not. Worried, though. Dante’s got one, maybe two years, and then he’s done. He told me about his sponsor troubles. Don’t rightly know what I think about all that, or about you and him. Doesn’t sit right with me, but I knew him when he was in diapers and….”