“But to put him in some facility?” Prison was afacility. I knew it wasn’t a good comparison, but I hated the word. People need homes. They need to belong. Not to be facilitated, or whatever.
“It won’t come to that, because we protect him.” Foster grinned. “You see?”
“I do.” I did see.
I saw that if he got involved with one of the hands, his folks would take him away from Elena, away from the land he loved, away from a job he appeared to be really good at.
They’d put him into either conversion therapy or...a facility.
“Message received.”
“I’m sorry. It’s going to be hard to distance yourself from him. He seems real taken with you.”
“Not as hard as seeing him end up in some group home.”
“Right.” He gave a nod, like he’d settled the matter. “That’s right. If you think about the consequences, it won’t be difficult to let him down easy.”
Either they didn’t see what I’d seen or they didn’t understand what it was like to be a gay twenty-three-year-old boy in an environment full of healthy, active men.
I said, “I’ll do my part by not encouraging anything.”
“I appreciate that.”
“I just hope it works out for y’all.”Ididn’t think it was up to all of them to decide what was good for Rock. Despite his health, when I looked at him, I saw a twenty-three-year-old man, trying to get the things any man his age wants: a job, respect, someone to love, sex.
Before I went to prison, I’d have drawn up that list backward, and it would have only been one word long.
“As long as you understand why Elena might want to put the brakes on anything happening between you and him,” Foster said.
“I understand.” But friendship isn’t one-sided, and I didn’t want to let him down, gently or otherwise.
“We should get back.” He turned his horse toward the massive cloud of dirt that was my fate that afternoon. “Let’s go take drag and give Jason and Robbie a spell.”
I pulled up my bandanna before Foster and I rode the cloud down.
Choking dust battled Ogre’s farts for the title, Foulest Odors I Ever Smelled.
Tad’s smile was a little thin when he dropped back to check on us. “How you holding up?”
“Never better.” I lied.
“Me neither.” He had to be lying too. I didn’t need some machine to detect that. “It is good to be alive, huh?”
“It’s all good, yeah?”
“Yep.”
He rode back to the lead, where he let Julio know it was time for a change. Eventually Tad and Julio came back to spell us for good.
The rest of the way we rode flank, keeping the cattle together. When we got to our destination, we put them through a series of gates to count them and physically inspect them. I followed along and eventually got the hang of opening and closing each gate as they sorted the herd. Julio made careful notes about each animal.
And the good news—we hadn’t lost any.
’Nando had a saying: “Do what you gotta to get what you want.”
I was never as fearless as ’Nando, and I wasn’t as cold either.
I could tell Rock to back off so I didn’t get into trouble with the boss, and he’d believe that.
I could sell that.
And if I were to flirt with some of the girls in town or drop a hint about a possible girlfriend back home, it’d make everyone happy. And then I could get out of the public eye, because four separate warnings to stay away from Rock were plenty, even for a dumbass like me.
