by BA Tortuga
He hadn’t ever done this—been in his home with his lover and his best friend who had a lover. It felt surreal, like he was starring in a play.
It also felt free and right. God.
They finished up all the food, and Braden groaned. “I think it’s my turn to hit the head.”
“Beware the roses,” Miles murmured.
“The what?” Poor kid looked honestly worried.
“It was my mom’s bathroom. We haven’t redecorated.” Stetson didn’t sound a bit tense.
“Oh. Shit, my mom has pink flamingoes in her guest bath.” Braden shook his head before wandering off down the hall.
“So, you’ll both just stay in the guest room, right?” Curtis looked to Miles. “When did this happen?”
“In Hawaii. I swear to God, he came to my room one night, and… he’s never left. He’s like the Energizer Bunny.”
“Good on you,” Stetson said. “He’s got it bad for you, Miles. I can tell.”
“I just hope I can keep up. You know?”
“You just be you.” Curtis clapped Miles on the back. “You’re a good guy. And like I said, you get ready to get out of the game, I can use someone to truck horses. You can still travel with him, if it all works out.” Listen to him. All guru. He needed to shut the hell up and let Miles work out his own shit.
Hell, he survived one meltdown over Miz Betty and he was fucking Dr. Phil. Then again, he’d spent years not talking to Stetson, and look what that had got him.
Miles just shrugged. “One day at a time. He’s… wow.”
He gave Miles a half hug. “Good deal. Can’t wait to show you the improvements I want to make.”
“I want to hear it all. Seriously.” Miles shook his head. “You know how it is, huh? We’re getting older.”
“It’s a young man’s game. And by young, I mean under thirty.” They would all have to come up with something else to do eventually. If Curtis could help his oldest friend on the circuit, then so be it.
“Lord, y’all talk like you’re eighty.” Stetson touched his hand. “You’re on top of the world.”
“It only takes one bad ride, Stetson,” Miles said, and Curtis wanted to hit the fucker. He’d gotten Stetson to agree to this, to come with.
He still needed that million bucks.
Stetson nodded slowly. “Yeah. I reckon. You want to change into something like sweats? We’re gonna sit in front of the fire and watch movies and doze.”
“God, that sounds amazing. I’ll take the bags to the room, sure.”
“I’ll go show you the way. The bed’s comfy.” Curtis grabbed a duffel bag and led Miles down the hall. “Oh, and don’t talk to Stetson about bad rides. I managed to get him to agree to come to Dallas and be my good luck charm.”
“Sorry. Sorry, man. I just—you know how it is.”
“I do. Still. He’s coming with.”
“That’s too cool.” Miles punched his arm once they put the bags on the bed. “I’m tickled for you. Really.”
“Yeah. Yeah, this is what I wanted, you know?” He knew it was cliché, but he didn’t give a shit.
“I do. I’m so sorry about Stetson’s momma. I should say that to him, huh?” Miles shrugged, a tiny motion. “So weird. She wasn’t any older than my momma.”
“It was early onset. It’s not like she got diagnosed early enough, though.”
“No. I guess they have drugs to slow it down now, huh?”
“They do. Too late for Miz Betty. It’s tough, but it’s better every day.” He gave Miles a sideways look. “So you gonna meet his people?”
“God, no. They’d lynch me. I’m old enough to be his uncle.”
“Mmm. But you introduced him to your mom?”
“I did. You know my mom. She’s a hippie. She’d run the rainbow flag up at town hall if I’d let her.”
“Lord.” He leaned against the doorframe. “What did Braden think about her?”
“I think he liked her.” Miles chuckled. “He stared at her a lot. Like she was a crazy woman.”
“Yeah. She’s amazing. I adored her.”
“She made you divinity. It’s in the truck. I forgot.”
“Give me the keys and I’ll run out. You get changed.”
“Thanks.” Miles handed him the truck keys. “There’s a bag in the back seat. Wrapped presents and tins of food from Momma.”
“I’ll have Stetson give you one of his roses to send her.” He headed out, grinning at Stetson as he passed. “Miles’s momma sent goodies!”
“Hoo yeah! What kind?” Stetson followed him to the back door. “Don’t you let those dogs in.”
“You’re unreasonable about the dogs. They’re good.”
“I am not.” Stetson reached down to scratch ears. “They herd the dining chairs.”
“You wait, I’ll have them wagging and eating out of your hand.”
“Curtis, them eating ain’t one of my problems!”
He laughed out loud, bringing the bag in from the truck, his breath cutting swaths of mist through the night. He ran up the stairs like his ass was on fire, but really it was freezing. Stetson grabbed him up, dragged him in.
“You’re mine, you know. Quit freezing your dangly bits.”
“Miles’s momma made divinity. It’s worth it.” He kissed Stetson to warm up.
Stetson took his lips, hands running up and down his back.
“Mmm. Now that’s dessert.” Curtis shivered. “Still too close to that damned door. I need to put in a new window.”
“Yeah? You think that’ll help?” Stetson moved them closer to the fire.
“I think so. We get a double-paned window for it with those blinds in between? I think it will be grand.”
“That would be fancy. I’d like that.” Stetson kissed his temple. “So, are they going to stay in the bedroom, cowboy?”
“They are. They’re a thing.” He shook his head. “Miles was always willing to lend a hand, but I had no idea he would go full-on Brokeback Mountain.”
“You never know about cowboys. Six-packs or not. I meant more, like, can I take you to bed and have my way with you, or do we got to be social?”
“Oh, well, we told them fire and movies, but if I made our apologies, I bet they’d snuggle up just fine.”
“No. No, I just meant—” Stetson snorted. “What movie should we watch?”
Curtis took one more kiss, which was when Miles and Braden tumbled down the hall, flushed and guilty looking.
“Movie, boys?” Curtis asked.
“Uh-huh.”
“Sure. Sure.” Miles looked damned disheveled.
Stetson just cackled.
Braden grinned hugely. “I can see us coming to visit a lot, if y’all don’t mind.”
Curtis glanced at Stetson and nodded. “We definitely need to build that casita.”
“We do.” Stetson went to sit on the big overstuffed love seat. “Y’all can have the sofa.”
“Thanks. The fire is great. It’s cold as a witch’s tit here.” Braden sat at one end of the sofa, flushing when Miles sat right beside him instead of at the other end.
Curtis grabbed the remote and the box of divinity. He was going to have to start dieting. Really.
Maybe not today.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“HAVE YOU seen my hat case, baby?” They were just about packed, but Curtis couldn’t find the hard case for his good felt. He would need it for the interviews and autograph session.
“Did you put it in the closet in that room you’re fixin’ to make your office?”
“Oh.” Yeah, maybe he had. He headed that way, and darned if the hat case wasn’t right there.
He was going to have an office, right here. Stetson had surprised him by emptying out Betty’s sewing room, painting it for him. The desk was handmade and finished in a dark walnut color, the perfect place for his laptop and his file folders.
It was fucking weird and wonderful to have a place of his own like this. It left him a l
ittle giddy.
In fact, he wasn’t sure he wanted to leave, but the payout at Dallas was too good a chance to pass up.
Anyway, Stetson was excited about having a vacation, an adventure. They’d never had much chance to travel together, and he wanted to show Stetson everything. And show him off.
“You find it?” Stetson looked in, the heavy mane of hair long enough to be tied back.
“I did. I’ll get my boots shined at the hotel.” He knew the Sheraton downtown had a shine stand.
“Ooh, fancy!” Stetson grinned at him, waggled his eyebrows.
“Hey, I intend to take you to a Cavender’s.” Stetson needed new boots. They’d gotten him a pair at the feed store to replace the ones with the holes, but he needed a new dress pair.
He wanted to play “dress the cowboy” so badly. The very idea gave him a happy.
Stetson rolled his eyes. “Save your pennies for the bucking horses.”
“Hush. Let me play. I want to see you in a white button-down, jeans that fit.”
He loved putting that look on Stetson’s face. Loved it. The color in Stetson’s cheeks didn’t hurt either.
“I got plenty of people to feed, and the delivery is coming in Thursday. Tom will be here for it, and he’s taking the dogs.”
“Rock on. I got the oil changed in the truck, so we’re good to go there.” He was looking forward to the trip too. Twelve hours in the truck with his lover.
“What else do we need to do?” Stetson looked a little lost.
“Hang the shirts in the back seat?”
“I can do that. I filled the cooler with Cokes and cheese and grapes.”
“Rock on, baby. I’ll get the bags loaded.”
“You excited?” Stetson hauled him in for another kiss.
“I am! I mean, it’s a day of work for five or six days of fun. It’s easy-peasy.”
“I am too. We’re having a trip.”
“Good.” He took one more kiss. “Okay, I need to pack my hat. Let’s get loading.”
Stetson saluted, chuckling. “I’m on shirt and cooler duty.”
Stetson disappeared into the kitchen, and he grabbed his hat case.
They had a long, leisurely drive down, then a day at the hotel before he had to surrender to the sponsors and such. Braden and Miles would be there, though, and he had three dozen folks he wanted to introduce Stetson to.
It was time for his rodeo world to crash into his new ranch world.
Nerves fluttered in his belly. Miles knew all, and most of his friends, his agent, and some of his sponsor reps knew he was queer. The fans, now, they probably had no idea. Neither did the judges.
Stetson wouldn’t out him. He knew that. He just—he wasn’t fixin’ to start lying either. Not now. Not now that he finally had what he needed in this world.
He loaded the hat box and the bags. The dogs had all disappeared; they hated it when bags got loaded in the truck. Everyone on the ranch was a little PTSD. Poor puppies, they hadn’t completely figured out that leaving didn’t have to mean forever. Every time someone left, they worried.
Curtis reckoned they were all going to have to get used to a periodic trip. He was going to explore the world with Stetson, and he didn’t think his Roper would fuss.
Stetson hung shirts and checked doors and finally stood on the porch, looking around. “I keep feeling like I’m going down to see Momma, and it makes me edgy.”
“You’re not. Let’s just go, babe. Seriously. Come play with me. Please.”
Stetson reached out for him, nodding, hand steady. “I’m ready when you are.”
They headed out to the truck. He would do whatever it took to make Stetson feel better. Once they got down past Santa Fe, that weird feeling would fade, he knew it. Then they’d be cooking with oil.
“Let’s go see if Dallas is all it’s cracked up to be.”
“I think you’re gonna love it.” People-watching alone would tickle Stetson to death, and there was going to be a vendor room.
“I don’t doubt it a bit.” Stetson settled in the passenger side, a pillow already there to tuck in against the door.
“Maybe we’ll run to Fort Worth and see the stockyards.”
“Sounds good. We got time to play a little.”
“Yeah. Have a steak at the Cattlemen’s.” He was doing good. Back in fighting shape with hardly a protein shake in sight.
“Anytime you offer me a steak, cowboy.”
“Old-fashioned man.” It was the baked potato that got Stetson, though. Every time.
“Yessir.” Stetson reached for him as they started out.
He grabbed Stetson’s hand and held on, glad they weren’t forced to drive a stick anymore. Made touching way easier. All they needed was Tim McGraw on the radio and they were gone.
Lord help them.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
JESUS, DALLAS was big.
Stetson stared up at the skyline that he’d seen in a hundred episodes of TV and just gawked like he’d never been out of Taos.
There was the building with the lit up X, the tower hotel with the big ball, and a dozen other things to stare at. Curtis drove like he’d been here a hundred times, and Stetson reckoned he had. He was grateful, because he wanted to stare.
“Oh, look at that!” Their hotel was tall and amazing when Curtis turned in, pulling the truck up to valet parking.
“What do I need to do, cowboy?” How did this work?
“I’ll handle the valet if you can run up to the desk right there and get us a bellman with a cart.”
“Sure. Sure.” He followed instructions—bellman, cart, go.
“May I help you, sir?”
“We’re checking in. We need a cart up to the room.”
“You got it. Y’all got here at a good time. Couple hours past the rush.” The kid grabbed a cart and followed him back out to the truck.
“Yeah. It was a good drive. Not bad on traffic.”
“Nice. It will get hairy over the weekend.” Once they got to the truck, the kid began pulling out bags and shirts and hat boxes like this was no big deal. “How long are y’all here?”
“’Til Tuesday morning, I think.” They might just go on to Fort Worth Monday morning.
“Oh, that’ll be nice for you. Sunday afternoon it will get quiet, and you can just hit up the restaurants and bars without competition.”
“Yeah? Good to know. I’ve never been here before.”
“No? You should ask at the concierge. Jack knows everywhere to go.”
“Thanks.” He sent Curtis a wild look, and Curtis smiled, walking over to take his elbow.
“We’ll need to check in. Can you wait, or do we need to get a ticket so you can bring it all up later?”
“I’ll give you this. You’ll call the bell desk when you get to your room, and we’ll bring it up. Have a great time, y’all.”
Stetson watched them take the truck, take their things, all but Curtis’s bag of electronics. Okay, that was unnerving.
“You should have seen my face the first time I stayed at a big host hotel,” Curtis said, steering him toward the big revolving door. “The kid with the cart took my rigging, and I about popped him on the chin.”
“I remember that. You called me from the room, just about in hysterics.”
“Right? Now I know not to leave my laptop, but no one wants my riding gear.” Curtis stepped up to the front desk. “Hey, there. Curtis Traynor, checking in. I’m a rewards member.”
Lord, look at all the folks. There was somebody here for a wedding—colors black and green, he thought, although maybe the whole family just had matching bags. There were a ton of folks in Western wear, a couple of little toddlers in cowboy boots, and a load of dudes in suits.
They’d have to come back down and have a beer in the bar just off the lobby, watch all the people.
“Thanks.” Curtis turned and caught him gaping. “We’re in 904.”
“Yeah? Cool. Just people-watching. No big.”
<
br /> “I knew that would get you.” Curtis winked. “Wanna go get our bags delivered and clean up some? Then we can figure supper.”
“Sure. You don’t have to check in with the event organizers or nothing, right?”
“Nah. I’ll text Miles and let him know I’m here. Maybe Barb. But no one will expect anything.”
“Good deal.” They headed up into a fancy-assed hotel room that was all beige and classy and shit. There was even a sofa. “They do know that you’re cowboys, right?”
“Athletes, baby. We’re athletes.”
“Right. You gonna get a sports psychologist to help you win more?”
Curtis gave him that look. “Absolutely not.”
He couldn’t have fought the grin if he’d tried, and he had to admit, he didn’t try so hard.
“Butthead.” Curtis picked up the phone to call for their bags. “It’s nice, though, huh?”
“It’s amazing. Stuffy. You mind if I turn the AC on?”
“God, no. The humidity here is killer.”
“It’s crazy. The air is so heavy. Look at how green everything is, though.” It wasn’t even spring yet, and things were green, and there was water standing everywhere.
“I know. I swear, I wonder what they do with it all.”
Yeah, Stetson knew Curtis loved the high desert too. Maybe the places Curtis tended to light weren’t as high as him, but Curtis’s favorite part of Colorado was all adobe cliffs and scrub brush.
Spare water was strange and wonderful, and he didn’t quite get it. He turned the thermostat down, then sat on the end of the bed.
“Oh, that’s nice.”
“Good. Nothing worse than a squishy bed after a day of riding.” Curtis grabbed the hotel book off the desk.
Stetson eased off his boots and leaned back, eyes closed, his body suddenly heavy. Just over ten hours hadn’t seemed like long in the truck, but now he was wearing down.
“Nap time before we go down for supper, huh? It’ll be a half hour before they show with the bags.”
“Sounds good.” It did too.
Curtis sat next to him, and he heard boots hit the floor.
“When you traveled lately, I mean before my call, did you travel alone?”