Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 02 - Out of the Darkness (23 page)

There are only two deck chairs where Jeff and Anna are sitting, and Dan pauses awkwardly. Is it presumptuous to pull up another chair? Is it rude to tower over them as they sit? Jeff solves the problem, at least
that
problem, by pulling his feet up, leaving space at the bottom of his chair and nodding that Dan should sit. Dan does, but it feels… odd.

“So I hear you’re trying to lure my mother out of retirement?” Jeff sounds amused, but Dan can’t be sure.

 

“Uh, yeah, sorry, I should have—well,
maybe
I should have talked to you first? It just sort of occurred to me.”

“No, I think Evan’s got it right, keeping our business decisions as separate from our personal lives as possible.” Jeff catches his acknowledgment of a personal bond with Dan, made in front of his mother, and glances over at her. She smiles knowingly, and he looks rueful as he shakes his head. Then he runs his feet down the chair a little, just enough to catch under Dan’s thighs. Now it’s Dan’s turn to look at Anna, but she just smiles at him too. Jeff is watching the exchange fondly. “And if you
had
mentioned it to me, I would have said it’s a great idea. I’d love to have her closer, and I think she could be great at the barn.”

Dan barely knows what Jeff’s talking about. All he can think about is Jeff’s feet, the casual intimacy in front of Anna. He can feel the warmth spreading through the thin fabric of his worn jeans, and then Jeff wiggles his toes a little, and Dan really can’t be expected to carry on a conversation, can he? But apparently the toe wiggle was an attempt to get him back on track, because both Jeff and Anna are watching him curiously. He fights to recall the last thing that somebody said. “Uh, good, yeah. That’s a relief, I guess.”

Jeff’s smirking a little, obviously aware of Dan’s discomfiture, and Dan doesn’t really like it. She’s
Jeff’s
mom, for God’s sake, why should
Dan
be self-conscious? So he smiles back and brings his hand over to Jeff’s ankle and runs his fingers up along it a little. He’s underneath Jeff’s pants, running his smooth finger tips along the rough hair of Jeff’s leg, and he hears Jeff hiss under his breath as Dan curves his nails in and reaches a little higher. Dan’s still safely below the knee, but now it’s Jeff’s turn to squirm a little in front of his mother and Dan’s turn to smirk. He glances over at Anna, and she’s smirking a little too, apparently not minding seeing her son’s game turned back around on him. Dan lets his fingers relax, sliding down to grip lightly around Jeff’s ankle, and Jeff relaxes a little too.

Jeff goes back to telling his mother about the gallery, and Dan half listens to them, but a big part of his mind is elsewhere. He glances over toward the bar and sees Evan looking at him, and they both smile. Evan holds up a beer bottle questioningly, and Dan checks Jeff’s and Anna’s wine glasses, then nods and makes a circle with his finger to indicate that they all need another round. Dan supposes that he should get up and get the drinks, but he’s feeling fairly benevolent about the LA Three, and he doesn’t want to ruin the mood by having to actually deal with them. Evan nods and reaches for the wine bottle just as Tat shrieks with laughter. Chris is showing her one of his bar tricks, apparently, and Anna looks over in interest.

“It’s just Chris, my friend. He’s… entertaining, I guess.” Anna stands up only a little stiffly. “I’m going to go watch.”

“Yeah, great, give him an audience. He’ll never quit now,” Dan says, but he knows Anna can tell he’s teasing. She runs into Evan part way over, and he tops up her glass before continuing on his way. Dan’s not sure if Anna left deliberately to give the three of them some time alone—is she really that smooth? But the effect is the same, whether it’s deliberate or accidental, and Dan isn’t sorry.

Evan fills Jeff’s glass from the wine bottle and hands Dan a fresh beer and then sits at the bottom of Anna’s lounge chair. He tangles one of his bare feet with Dan’s on the deck, and the other he lifts up and puts on Jeff’s chair, his toes nestled into Jeff’s instep, just beneath Dan’s thigh. They sit there like that for a while, listening to their friends and family members enjoying themselves. The sun is low in the sky, turning everyone’s skin golden in its warm rays, and to Dan it seems like the moment itself is golden too. He tries to concentrate on the feelings, hoping to imprint them on his memory so he can call them up to help him through tough times, but the more he tries to catch them, the more elusive they become, and he finally settles on just letting them wash over him.

Then Chris is there with a small parade of people behind him, and Dan jerks a little, thinks about moving, but Jeff and Evan aren’t so Dan doesn’t either. Chris notices the positions, obviously, and smiles. “I almost forgot. I had our specialist look over the contract again, and she says it’s still good.” He pulls an envelope out of his jacket pocket and passes it to Dan. “Evan’s already signed, so as soon as you put your mark on it, it’s official.” Dan looks around at the audience, and Chris adds, “Witnesses are always good.”

Chris produces a pen as well, and Dan looks at the little tags indicating where he should sign. Tat grabs a book from the end table and hands it over to use as a desk… Dan isn’t sure what
Centered Riding
is doing out by the pool, but he doesn’t complain. He just starts signing. It’s weird to have an audience, but when he hits the last tag and signs it, they all applaud, although it’s mostly a little awkward since they’re all holding glasses at the same time.

Chris raises his glass and says quietly, “To new beginnings.”

Dan is still smiling at him when Blaine chips in, “To new partnerships,” and there’s just the right amount of emphasis that it’s clear to everyone that he means more than just business, but it somehow isn’t enough to be lewd or inappropriate. Maybe the guy has some redeeming qualities, Dan thinks, and he smiles at everyone as he raises his bottle and then takes a long swallow.

He has no idea what he’s gotten himself into with Jeff and Evan, and has no idea how things are going to turn out. But if his time with Justin taught him one thing, it’s that he
never
knows how things are going to turn out, even when he thinks he does. Whatever this is, this thing that’s grown between the three of them, for now it’s right. It’s perfect, even, for now. He can’t see the future, so he’ll concentrate on the present. And, with these men and these friends… the present is more than enough.

Chapter 14

T
HE
day after the barbeque feels anticlimactic to Dan. He’d stayed sober enough to drive, so he and Chris had returned to Ryan’s apartment for the night, although Evan had repeated his offer of the guest house or beds in the main house. There had been only a slight suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows to accompany the second offer. But Chris hadn’t seemed to care, and Dan was feeling a little overwhelmed. It was great to have Chris in California, but it was hard to see the guy without thinking about Justin, and… Dan didn’t feel
guilty
, exactly, for being with Jeff and Evan, but he felt… he felt like he might need a night in his own bed.

Jeff had gone home, too, and Dan had to resist the feeling of relief that created in him. Yeah, things seem to finally be going smoothly with the three of them, but Dan doesn’t really like the idea of the other two having a lot of time alone without him. He’s not sure if he’s worried they’ll change their minds or just jealous of them having sex. Then he realizes that it’s not even the sex, he’s just jealous of them getting to spend time together without him. That’s a little worrisome.

Chris and Dan sleep in on Sunday and then go out for breakfast. After the meal, Dan’s at a bit of a loss; he’s used to just hanging out with Chris, but it seems like they should be doing something more exciting, since Chris is only in town for a couple of days. Chris seems perfectly content, though, and spends his time giving his opinion on everything he sees or thinks about
except
for Dan’s new relationship. Dan spends half the day bracing himself for the onslaught and the other half wishing that it would come, just so he’d have someone to talk to about it all. He’s not sure if Chris is doing it on purpose or if the guy has evolved to the state where he can drive Dan up the goddamn wall without even
trying
. Either way, Chris is a son-of-a-bitch. It’s just Dan’s bad luck that he’s also his best friend. Dan finds himself with a new sympathy for the Evan and Blaine dynamic, although at least Chris seems to limit himself to making
Dan
crazy; everyone else seems to think he’s utterly charming.

They go out to the farm in the afternoon and ride up to the crosscountry course. Chris takes Smokey but only after carefully inspecting him to make sure that Dan is taking good care of his present. “He looks a bit thin, Dan… well, not so much thin, as… unfit. Un-muscled, I think. He’s a quarter horse, you know, not one of your eventers. He’s supposed to be stocky. Sturdy.”

Dan lifts the heavy western saddle up a little higher and then shove-drops it at Chris, who’s too much of a horseman to let a saddle fall on the ground. It’s not exactly a victory, but it shuts Chris up. For a while. But Dan’s pretty sure Chris catches him when he runs a quick hand over Smokey’s quarters, relieved to find them as muscled and firm as they always have been. Stupid Chris.

They head out on the trail and make polite conversation for a while, but Chris starts it up again before they’re halfway up the hill. “Speaking of skinny Kentuckians, your clothes are hanging a little loose too. I think it’s the California
girls
who are supposed to have eating disorders.”

“Shut up, man. I’ve lost a few pounds, maybe. I’m just getting in to a new routine.” Dan grins. “I really didn’t realize how much food I mooched off people back there—Karl and Molly, you and your family, the bar….”

“Dude, there’s got to be good mooching potential at the Kaminskis’—that was a hell of a spread last night, and there must be leftovers.”

“Yeah, I dunno, it’s a bit weird to start hanging around the kitchen….” And Dan waits for Chris’s comment, waits to be made fun of for sleeping with a guy but not taking food from him, or for whatever else he’s going to come up with, but Chris just shrugs and looks out at the view. “I can feed myself,” Dan says eventually, and Chris looks at him like he doesn’t even remember what they’d been talking about.

“I’m sure you can. You’re all grown up, right?”

 

“Yeah, seems like.” Dan decides to try to steer the conversation a little. “So, you had fun last night?”

Chris shoots him a questioning look. “Sure. Hot women, lots of food and drink… and the company was all right too.” He smiles affectionately at Dan, a rare break from his customary expression of detached mockery. “And it was good to see you happy.”

Happy. Dan thinks about it for a second, almost repeats the word out loud. Had he been happy the night before? Is he happy now? It’s hard to reconcile the word with the tight bundle of tension that he carries in his stomach so often these days, but it’s not a bad tension, maybe. It’s scary to be hoping for good things, that’s all. But still better than
not
hoping, surely…. Dan realizes that Chris is watching him, and shrugs. “Hot men, lots of food and drink, and okay company….”

Chris’s mouth twists a little, but he smiles. “Yeah, okay, I guess we’re both just easy to please.”

 

“Simple men, simple pleasures.” Dan twists around in his saddle and grins. “Wanna race?”

Chris looks at Ronan, the off-the-track Thoroughbred Dan’s riding, and then down at Smokey. “I don’t know, man, it doesn’t really seem fair. How’s your poor guy gonna keep up when we go”—he looks around the field. —“Straight line up to that jump, then around it,
not
over it, three times. Then over to that tree and around it, then back to this jump, around it twice, and finish at the gate over there.”

Dan follows the course with his eyes. “Damn, that’s a good one. That’s fair.” His horse will have the advantage on the straightaways, Chris’s on the turns. He honestly can’t predict which horse will win. “Yeah, let’s do it.”

Chris is watching him closely. “Yeah? Really? I thought….” He smiles. “I thought maybe California Dan was too mature for these silly games.”

“Horse racing? Immature? Dude, you understand that jockeys are just really small, right? I mean, they’re not actually children.”

“Shut up, Dan.” It’s pretty rare for Chris to not have a comeback, and Dan isn’t sure if he should savor the moment or worry about Chris’s mental state. But Chris is already working Smokey up into position for the start of the race, so Dan figures maybe Chris is just thinking about his strategy. That’s their typical routine: Chris with some insanely complicated and carefully calculated plan, Dan operating on pure instinct.

Chris still seems preoccupied when they get the horses lined up, so Dan gives him another minute to think. When Chris looks up, Dan grins and says, “Ready?” Chris nods, so Dan continues with, “Set… go!”

Smokey takes off fast, like a quarter horse should, but Ronan’s giant stride brings him well into the front by the first obstacle. Dan has to slow the horse to make the turn, and he seems to have trouble with the quick direction changes, while Smokey cuts right in between Ronan and the jump with his agile cow pony moves. Dan could be pushing Ronan a bit harder, but he’s not going to mess up a valuable eventer screwing around with a friend, so he’s a little careful. Smokey comes out onto the straightaway well in the lead, but Ronan’s got a good competitive spirit and charges after him. They only go around the next obstacle once, so Dan doesn’t slow Ronan as much, just lets him go a little wide, and of course Smokey cuts tight around the inside, but Ronan is close enough that he’s able to get ahead of his competitor on the straight. The final turn needs to be done twice, and Smokey gets in front at the start of the second turn, and then they’re on the final stretch, and Smokey’s got some speed but not compared to a Thoroughbred, so Ronan catches up fast, and if the straightaway had been a few strides longer Ronan would have won easily, but as it is….