Texas Fall (13 page)

Vaughn pulled the door to
the barn shut, and for a few seconds, he stretched his hands tall and attempted
to relax each muscle in turn. He’d done good work today, and his body hurt in
all the right places.

“See you tomorrow,” Liam
called. He was at the base of the stairs up to his place, and not for the first
time, Vaughn was jealous. Jack had given Vaughn access to a fairly new trailer,
but it was still a temporary solution. The block for the hands wasn’t going to
be ready, or even started, until the fall. So for now he walked across the yard
behind the main house, past the old barn with the odd-looking brand-new door,
and out toward Robbie and Eli’s place. A left and he was at his kinda-not-really-permanent
front door. At least it was plumbed in enough for water, and he did have
permission to go to the main house if he wanted to use the shower there instead
of the cramped one in the trailer.

But it didn’t seem right
somehow to get involved in the family in the house. But other than that, he was
at peace with himself. Yes, he’d had to leave Darren behind, but he’d landed on
his feet working with a boss that cared, doing what he loved, and with exhaustion
keeping him asleep all night.
No chance of missing Darren or thinking about
what they might have had if not for Hank and what he’d done.
Who the hell
was he trying to convince? He missed Darren like he’d miss a limb. He wondered
if Darren missed him.

They hadn’t talked since
the trial, nothing, not even one of his ex-lover’s stupid joke texts he’d
always sent before. Vaughn was worried with a measure of pissed. Would it kill
the man to send a one word ‘hey’ every now and again? Not that Vaughn did that either.
It was time that Vaughn realized it was over.

Stripping to his underwear,
he turned on the shower and waited for the pressure and heat to equalize before
pulling off his briefs and climbing under the slow flow of water. For the
longest time, he stood under the soft summer rain effect and allowed the grime
of the day to begin to soak away. He thought about Darren and the last time
they were together, the gentle smiles and the soft words, promises that Darren
would find a way to fix it all. Before he decided he didn’t want to fix
anything that would mean he and Vaughn could stay together.

“How?” Vaughn said to no
one.
How are you going to fix it?
Darren had a ranch to run, and with Hank
in jail, he had his work cut out for him. He was an accountant, not a cowboy.
I
should go home and help
, Vaughn thought, not for the first time, or even the
second. Then he dismissed it. He couldn’t go back down there, not after
everything that happened with Hank and those poor kids, and coming here was a
good career move.

Still, Jack hadn’t given
him anywhere permanent to stay.
He probably thinks I’ll up and leave any
minute now.
And could Vaughn blame the man? He’d left Darren and his life
in Laredo, who was to say he wouldn’t move on from the D tomorrow?

Because I’m not going
anywhere. I want Darren to come to
me
, I want him out of
that place he hates, and I want him to have a fresh start. I want us to start
again somewhere else, maybe here, maybe our own place, but that is what I want.

As he considered what to
do next, he realized it was very simple. Today was Wednesday; come Saturday he
would get himself down to Laredo and get Darren in the car and convince him to
start again. Decision made, he realized it was easier to live with that
decision than to admit it was all over. That had to be a good sign. Right?

The water began to cool, so
he quickly soaped up. By the time he stepped out, the water was cold and he had
goose bumps. He wrapped a towel around his waist and made coffee, and then with
his feet up on a stool, he leaned back on the small sofa area and watched
crappy TV. He couldn’t even be bothered to make dinner. He checked his watch.
He had a standing invite at the house, all he needed to do was let them know,
but it was six already and they’d probably eaten.

Halfheartedly he flicked
channels and realized that every single one of them was showing cooking programs.
The fuckers
. Finally he couldn’t put eating off any longer, and he
pulled on comfortable sweats and took the three steps to the kitchen. Rummaging
in the small cupboard, he located what he knew Darren would have made into some
kind of pasta dish. It wasn’t as if Vaughn was useless in the kitchen, he just
couldn’t be bothered when it was just him. He pulled out the pasta and the can
of tomatoes with basil already included, then the package of ham he had. Seemed
like it was going to be a ham and tomato pasta kind of night.

There and then, he
resolved to make sure he was eating in the main house tomorrow.

The knock on his door was
loud and scared the living shit out of him. He yanked open the door, irritated,
only to nearly swallow his tongue to see who was at the door.
Darren.

His lover pushed into the trailer
and shut the door behind him. With no words spoken, Darren guided Vaughn away
from the door toward the unmade bed, shoving him back so he fell onto the
mattress with Darren following him straight down to cover his body.

“I’m so fucking sorry,”
Darren said sharply.

“You’re here,” Vaughn
replied. He couldn’t help the shock in his voice. Darren was here, in his bed,
and they kissed for the longest time, undressing each other with determination,
and there was nothing else to say.

They rocked against each
other until, finally, just when Vaughn tipped over the edge, he couldn’t stop
what he wanted to say. Near sobbing with relief, he came, saying, “I love you, Darren…
love you.”

Darren stiffened and came
hot against Vaughn’s belly. He said, “I love you, Vaughn. I’m sorry,” before lying
flat against him, exhausted and heavy. Vaughn wriggled a little, and Darren half
slipped to one side before cleaning them off with wipes from beside the bed.

“I missed you,” he said
tiredly before lying on his back next to Vaughn. Both men looked up at the
ceiling.

“Why are you here?” Vaughn
asked. He wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know the answer, but Darren
hesitated and appeared to give the question his full consideration.

He rolled up on his side
and placed his hand over Vaughn’s heart. “I followed you. I’m not going back.”

Vaughn frowned and turned
his head so he could look into Darren’s beautiful gray eyes. “But what about
the Bar Five?”

“It’s done. The Jerrods
were interested. Like you said, Hank’s run it down so much, sold off a load of
stock for his defense.”

“I know he did.”

“Turns out there wasn’t much
left, so I sold it, cleared all the debt. The Jerrods put in a caretaker and
hands, and I packed and left.”

“What do you mean packed?”

“It’s all in the car. As
much as I could fit.”

Vaughn was confused.
Darren’s whole life was in Laredo, his clothes, his belongings, the things in
the house, hell, the house as well. “What do you mean?”

“I left it all. Money goes
in the bank in twenty-eight days. I’m splitting with Hank, who didn’t even
hesitate to sign the papers to clear some of the debts for the case. Fucker
even wanted my half, but I have plans for it. It’s done.”

“How much is left?” They
knew each other well enough for Vaughn to ask that kind of question.

“Couple hundred thousand.
Enough for me to make things right with the kids Hank hurt.”

“But… Darren…”

“You want to be with me?
Don’t you?” Abruptly Darren’s confident mask slipped, and insecurity colored
his tone.

“Of course I do. Fuck, I
was coming to get you this Saturday, and I was going to drag you up here to
talk.”

Darren smiled and
continued in a more enthusiastic vein. “I can work anywhere, start my own accounting
company. We could get a place where you’ll be with the horses and I’ll have my
numbers. We could be happy.”

Vaughn wanted to talk
logistics: money, houses, and everything else that swirled in his head, but
Darren didn’t need that right now. Instead Vaughn settled his weight on Darren,
pinning him to the mattress.

“It’s everything I want,”
he said. He kissed Darren, and his stomach chose that moment to let out an
embarrassing grumble of hunger.

“You didn’t eat again.” There
was no question there, just the easy statement of someone who knew Vaughn very
well.

“I have pasta,” Vaughn
said, hopeful that Darren would get the hint.

Darren shoved at him. “Let
me up, then, you big idiot. I’ll cook us something, and then maybe we could go
for a ride, ’cause I missed my cowboy.”

Vaughn glanced outside the
window and considered leaving the trailer when he had the chance of staying in
bed with Darren. “You want to go riding tonight?”

Darren smirked and cradled
Vaughn’s face tenderly. “Yeah, but not on a horse.” They kissed again, the
connection so right and real.

“Best get me pasta, then,”
Vaughn pointed out very determinedly. “I’ll need the energy.”

* * * * *

Jack shut the door as soon
as Darren disappeared around the corner in the direction of Vaughn’s trailer.
Riley limped into the kitchen with a twin on each hip, and Jack relieved him of
a very sleepy-looking Connor. Four weeks had passed since the kidnapping, and
Riley seemed less closed off, talking to Jack some, even going into the office.
He’d lost the crutches now and was in a walking cast, but he was still a little
unsteady on his feet sometimes. Jack could handle that. Couple of weeks’ time
and they were into Dallas to have the final cast removed. Jack couldn’t wait
for the last link to the trouble to be gone. The wound on Riley’s forehead was
entirely healed, and there were no other reminders.

Together they went into
the good room and each took an end of the sofa with Max trailing behind. He
climbed up between them and pressed random buttons on the control, happy when
an episode of
Tom and Jerry
came on. Jack had noticed that Max liked the
bright slapstick of cartoons, and even though he didn’t have them on loud, he
could watch them for the longest time. The kids only came in the room when Jack
and Riley were with them; it was a quiet calm space… family space.

“Did you do your
spelling?” Riley asked Max. Max didn’t look at him, but he did nod. That was
probably the limit of the interaction for the moment. Max was getting into the
animation zone, and then there would be thirty or so minutes of quiet time
before bed. Not that Max slept much, but he at least stayed in his room or
moved into the sensory area.

Hayley was in her room
working on a project for school and skyping friends. Jack had an awesome
feeling of peace wash over him.

“We’re actually pretty
good at this, aren’t we?” Jack said. Riley looked up from bouncing Lexie on his
knee. He let her go when she climbed down to stand on the floor. She was a
little spitfire, always on the go.

“We do okay,” Riley
answered. “So you think Darren is staying a while, or has he come up for Vaughn?”

“He didn’t say anything,
just wanted directions.”

Connor leaned back to look
at the tower of bricks his sister was building, and for a moment he tugged in
Jack’s hold. Jack made to let him down, only then he was clinging hard and
curling up against Jack’s chest. Where Lexie was the spitfire, Connor was the
one content to sit and stare or, more likely, sleep. He settled in for the long
haul, and Jack relaxed back into the sofa.

The tower toppled, Lexie
squealed, and Max yelped and covered his ears. Riley calmed Max, Connor fell
asleep, and all it needed was for Hayley to come down and Jack’s moment would
be perfect.

“What would you do if
Vaughn went back to Laredo? Maybe Darren is here to talk to him.”

Jack considered the issue.
“I’d find someone else, but I don’t want to have to. Vaughn is a good guy, friendly,
calm with the horses, learning every day, and Robbie, Eli, and him make a good
team. It would be a loss.” He couldn’t help but regret that Vaughn might well
decide moving back was a good thing. He was on a casual contract at the moment,
and if Jack was honest, he’d done it that way to give Vaughn the chance to test
the waters up here. Poor bastard was in the trailer Jack had towed onto D land.
Jack had the plans for accommodation for the hands, for Vaughn and the others
he’d have to think about pulling in if he was running the therapy center and
his breeding program. He wanted Vaughn to stay, but would he?

“Vaughn seemed set on
coming up here,” Riley pointed out. “Can’t see as it was an easy decision, but
he made it. He doesn’t seem the sort to back out.”

Max left the room, and
Riley followed, which stopped the conversation, but enough had been said. On
the way back, Riley grabbed more coffee for them both, and they took up where
they’d left off catching up on the day.

“Did you read Sean’s
book?” Jack asked. He’d wanted to ask the same question ever since the day Sean
had visited with the book.