“No,” he said, proud of how strong his voice sounded.
Grant’s eyes widened, and his bushy eyebrows shot up, clearly caught off guard by Colt’s defiance.
“I beg your pardon, son?”
The deadly low tone of Grant’s voice threatened to shake Colt from his stand, but he swallowed down his apprehension and pushed all the confidence and power he could into his own voice. He crossed his arms and widened his stance.
“Me and Mason are in love, and we’re going to be together.”
Grant stared at him so long that Colt wondered if the man had somehow frozen solid from the shock of being talked back to. Nobody talked back to Grant Hayes—his very presence demanded respect and obedience. He wasn’t an overly tall man, but he was solid and broad and had a confidence that charged the air around him . . . like an alpha dog. You just knew when he walked into a room that he was in command.
Like a flipped switch, Grant shook out of his stupor and started laughing. It wasn’t a pleasant sound. He turned back to Mason.
“That right, son? Are you two inlove?”
The blood in Colt’s veins boiled at the way Grant made “love” sound like cow manure stuck to his bootheels. What was wrong with him and Mason loving each other? So what if they were both boys? Colt might only be fifteen years old, but he damn well knew how he felt. He loved Mason. It was real, and it wasn’t wrong. His mom told him all the time that love was the only thing that mattered.
“Tell him.” Colt dropped his arms and pointed at Mason, who still hadn’t moved. Mason flicked his gaze up for barely a second before returning to his study of the ground. All Colt saw in that flash of hazel was terror. Why wasn’t he standing up for them too? Was he that afraid of his dad?
“Mason?”
Grant shook his head. The sneering laughter was gone, but the anger wasn’t.
“Boys can’t love each other. Not unless they’re soft, and I won’t have a soft son. Are you soft, Colt?”
Colt tore his eyes from Mason and tried to corral his emotions. Did Mason not love him? Had he been lying when he said he did? No. Couldn’t be. Mason would never lie to him.
“Hell no,” Colt stated firmly. He puffed out his bare chest and widened his stance. “And neither is Mason.”
“Whatever you think is going on here stops right now,” Grant ordered. “You’re just foolish boys pretending at being men. You don’t understand the way of the world yet, and the world don’t work like that here.”
“I totally understand, and I’mnottoo young,” Colt argued. He turned to Mason, who still wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Mason, please. Tell him we love each other. Tell him we’re going to run the ranch together one day.”
“You’re going to do what now?” Grant spat out. His eyebrows rose so high they disappeared under the brow of his weathered, cream-colored cowboy hat. As though them running the ranch was the most insane thing he’d ever heard. He took his hat off and ran a hand through his thick dark hair as he sighed. “I’ve had about enough of this bullshit. Mason, get in the house right now, and stay in your room until I get back.”
Mason turned to bolt from the barn, but Colt reached out and grabbed his arm. “Mason.Tellhim.”
Mason stalled and finally looked at him. His eyes were glassy and wet, full of pain and shame. He made a sound in the back of his throat. Something between a huff and a sob. He yanked his arm free and ran from the barn.
“As for you.” Grant rounded on Colt. “You’ll be staying away from my son as of this minute. I’ll be having a long talk with your mother about this tonight. Now, get out of my sight. I don’t want to see you again.”
Colt stood his ground another moment, but his resolve began to slip. Pain and disbelief ate away at the anger and bravado that had kept him standing tall. How could Mason not stand up for them and just run away like that? He meant the world to Colt, and Colt had thought he’d meant the same to Mason. And Mason hadjusttold Colt he loved him. Was it all a lie?
Hurt knifed under his sternum, his throat tightened, and the backs of his eyes burned.
“Do I need to repeat myself?” Grant snapped.
Without another word, Colt turned for the ranch’s mess hall and entertainment venue—which also served as his home on the ranch, with his mom and two younger brothers in the apartment upstairs.
That night, he realized everything was about to change, and their lives would never be the same.
Twenty Years Later
“I really don’t get why you’re being so stubborn about this,” Jack snapped. His face was pinched into a familiar scowl. The ball cap he wore, with his outfitting company logo front and center, shaded his face from the mid-June sun and cut a sharp line across his cheekbones. His eyes looked like black holes.
Jack would make a great supervillain.
Mason threw another bale of hay onto the back of his pickup truck with a bit more force than was needed. He’d lost count of how many times Jack Wilks—owner and operator of Great Adventure Hunting & Outfitters—had been by complaining, bargaining, and on the edge of threatening Mason to reconsider renewing his hunting lease on the ranch. But the days of Mason being cowed by anyone were long gone.
