Colt’s breath caught.Mason Hayes.
Twenty years since he’d heard that name. Twenty years and it still hadn’t been long enough to ease the pain.
“Please give it some thought,” Nick urged, cutting into Colt’s thoughts. “Sleep on it and call me back tomorrow, okay?”
“Fine,” Colt said, if only to put an end to the phone call. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “But don’t expect the answer to be any different.”
“Appreciate it,” Nick said in his no-nonsense way.
Colt disconnected the call, dropped his cell phone onto the counter, and stared out the window over the sink. Their horses grazed lazily in the small pasture behind the house, oblivious to his turmoil. Nick had said Mason. Not Mason’s father, Grant. That would have to mean Grant had passed away because there was no way in hell that man would let anyone take control of his ranch as long as he drew breath.
His mind bounced unbidden to the only innocent time of his life, to his fifteen-year-old self and the most beautiful boy he’d ever laid eyes on, who’d fully owned his heart. To this day, no man had come close. Regardless of the heartbreak he’d suffered, Mason was still the one all others had to be measured by—and had so far failed.
His thoughts darkened to that fateful day when they’d been caught in the barn, after they’d confessed their love for each other. How Mason wouldn’t look at him, hadn’t defended them, and had turned his back on Colt. How Mason’s father had come to their apartment above the dining hall that night and the argument that had exploded between Grant and Colt’s mother.
She’d stood up for Colt in a way he’d never expected. He’d never told his mom he was gay. He hadn’t told anyone. But when Grant Hayes started ranting and raving about how Colt was a pervert who was corrupting Mason—and worse, thatMasonhad said Colt pressured him—Colt’s mom had transformed into a big ole momma bear and torn a path up one side of Grant and down the other. She didn’t care that Colt had been caught with Mason; nothing at all was wrong with her son or Mason. If that was how they felt, then that was how they felt, and it was up to them, the parents, to be there and support their kids no matter what.
Colt had never been so proud as he’d been in that moment. Even though his mom standing up to Grant Hayes had meant she’d been fired and the whole family had been kicked off the ranch. Guilt that he’d been responsible for jeopardizing his whole family still lurked in the recesses of his mind, no matter how many times his mom assured him the blame lay solely at Grant Hayes’ feet. That if she had known he was that backward, she’d never have taken the job in the first place.
“Why did you turn down a job without consulting me and Levi first?”
Colt jumped, startled out of his reverie, and turned to find his middle brother, Wes, standing in the kitchen doorway, arms crossed over his chest and a frown on his face.
Colt cleared his throat. “Because the job is at Haverstall Mountain Ranch.”
He didn’t have to embellish. Wes knew exactly what Colt meant. Their mom had taken on a full-time live-in job at the massive cattle ranch, running the kitchen in the community dining hall, after their dad had died. The job came with a fully furnished apartment that enabled her to provide a home and sense of stability for the boys. Those years had been the best of Colt’s life.
Until he’d fallen hard for Mason.
Until Mason had broken his heart.
Until Mason’s father had kicked them off the ranch without so much as a second thought.
“Oh.”
Wes pushed off the doorframe and walked across the room to stand beside Colt. He dropped a hand on Colt’s shoulder and squeezed. Wes was the only one who knew the real reason they’d had to move that summer. He’d heard the fighting too.
Colt had been sitting at the top of the stairs, eavesdropping on the argument between his mom and Grant. When he’d stood and turned to go back to his room, he’d frozen. Wes had been standing down the hall, his eyes wide. Colt had held his breath, knowing Wes had heard everything, waiting for his brother’s judgment. Wes just shrugged and said, “You’re my big brother. No matter what.”
Their little brother, Levi, had still been so young and, possessing a crazy ability to sleep through anything, had missed the entire fight. They’d told him they were all off on the “next great adventure” when they’d packed up the car the next morning as the sun rose. No one wanted to see that sparkling light in Levi’s eyes dim, so they’d made sure his memories, at least, would be good. Because until that point, life on the ranch had been like heaven.
Wes’s voice was soft when he said, “It’s been twenty years, big brother.”
Colt huffed and slanted a glare at Wes. “I know, but I can’t go back there.”
“Is old man Hayes still running the ranch?”
“No. Mase—” Colt swallowed back a strange taste that coated his tongue at speaking that name aloud. The first time in two decades. “Mason runs it now.”
He turned his attention back to their horses in the pasture, but he could see Wes studying him out of the corner of his eye.
“It’s okay to still feel some hurt and anger,” Wes said, “but you never did get Mason’s side of the story.”
Colt snorted. “Grant made it pretty clear what Mason’s side was.”
“You sure about that?”
Colt turned to Wes again and raised an eyebrow. Was his brother being obtuse on purpose? “You heard what I did.”
