Home > Half a Cowboy(6)

Half a Cowboy(6)
Author: Andrew Grey

As soon as they entered the living room, the scent of sauce and herbs wrapped around him. Ashton’s belly rumbled, and he slowly went into the kitchen and lowered himself into a chair. At least his leg wasn’t aching the way it had been before.

“I’ve been thinking, and I’m going to call some of my associates.” He lifted his gaze, looking at each of them in turn. “We need some help to protect this place. This is the third time something has happened. The first couple were subtle and might have been accidents, but this definitely was not.”

All of them nodded, including Ben.

Lucy got the table set, and Ashton was grateful for his help. The ache in his leg was starting up again, this time heading upward to his hip. Ben was probably right—he needed to keep his weight off it for a while. But on a ranch, there was always work to do, and he’d be damned if he was going to sit around all the time while everyone else pulled their weight.

Marcel carried over a bowl of pasta along with some salad and garlic bread and took a seat.

“Thank you all for your help,” Ashton said, and lifted his cup of coffee in a miniature toast before they all dug into their lunch.

Ben shoveled the food in as if he hadn’t eaten in a week. Lucy and Marcel followed suit, and soon enough the dishes were empty.

Ashton left his cane leaning against his chair and took the dishes to the sink, rinsed them, and put them into the dishwasher. Outside, the wind picked up, whipping the snow to a complete curtain of white.

“Lucy and I should be heading home,” Marcel said as they got up.

Ashton turned from the sink. “Thank you both for your help today.” He was so tired that he didn’t move as they went into the back, got their gear on, and headed out into the weather. Their house was only a hundred feet away to the east, so he wasn’t too worried. Still, he was relieved when he got the text that they had made it home. Then he turned to Ben. “You may as well rest. There are books in the office just down the hall—you can help yourself. There’s TV too, but I doubt you’ll get a satellite signal in this weather.” Ashton sat in his chair and put his leg up.

“I’ll get a book.” Ben left the room, and Ashton watched him go, enjoying the view for a few seconds before picking up his phone and making a call to one of his managers. He needed help—and he knew just who he needed.

By the time Ben returned, Ashton had moved to the living room and made the arrangements and was reading his book. One of the smaller dogs, Poochie, a poodle mix, jumped into his lap, while two of the others—Barker, a beagle, and Celeste, a golden mutt—jumped onto the sofa once Ben sat down. The other three lay on the rug in front of the fireplace.

Ash smiled. The dogs really seemed to like Ben, and he could probably use some unconditional puppy love about now. Hopefully the rest of the afternoon would be quiet.

 

 

Chapter 3

 

 

BEN WATCHED Ashton, who occasionally looked up from his book. It was kind of a game of cat and mouse. He was pretty sure Ashton was curious about him, and Ben couldn’t help wondering how long he could stay without someone finding him. He had pretty much decided that as soon as the weather broke, he would get into town and on his way out of here. His car was useless, though that didn’t really matter. He would get another one eventually. Mostly he had to get away. These people had been good to him—a complete stranger they had found in the barn. Ashton had fed him and made sure he felt better. Ben didn’t want to bring trouble, but if he remained here too long, trouble was going to find him.

“Just relax,” Ashton said quietly. “Get some more rest. And you should probably continue drinking. The dehydration will take some time to reverse. Just go get whatever you want. There is still come coffee, though juice or water is probably better for you.”

Honestly, Ben didn’t want to move from the center of his warm puppy pile. A third dog had joined him, and three more lay at his feet. It was nice to be surrounded by them, as if they were standing guard, allowing nothing to hurt him.

“I’ll get some water. Do you want anything?” Ben asked, slowly getting up, much to the dogs’ disappointment. “I’ll be back.” He gave scratches all around and went to the kitchen for a glass of water. He returned just as the house went silent and the lights flashed out. He joined Ashton in the living room, sitting on the floor with the pups all around him as he built a fire.

“There’s some more wood on the back porch. It should be out of the snow. We’re going to need it because the power may be out for days and the fire is going to be the only heat we have.” Ashton lit the papers crumpled beneath the logs, and the fire flickered to life, throwing light and heat. Ben pulled his coat on and went out back and brought in a couple of armloads of wood. As Ashton fed the fire with some additional wood, his phone rang. He’d left it on the table. Ben handed it to him before getting out of his way.

“You two okay over there?” Ashton asked. Ben assumed he was talking to the guys in the other house. “You have to be kidding….” He clenched his fists. “You ran them off….” Ashton nodded.

Ben settled on the sofa. It seemed as if while he’d been running from his own problems, he’d landed in the middle of someone else’s. Ashton spoke some more, and Ben put another log on the fire for him, then settled back on the sofa with the dogs.

“Lucy and Marcel saw someone pulling away from their place as they got home. They chased whoever it was off, but this is getting to be too much. I can’t believe Henderson is still at it in this weather.”

Ben’s anxiety grew. What if it wasn’t Henderson? What if he’d been tracked here already? It was very fast, but this was exactly the kind of thing that Dallas would do, especially in this weather—harass his opponent so they’d get no rest, then go in for the kill. Ben had seen Dallas do just that on too many occasions to count—including in his treatment of Ben.

When he’d met Dallas, Ben had thought he was a great guy—exciting, sexy, and generous. Ben had been dancing so he could go to school for massage therapy, hoping to one day have his own business. Dallas had been supportive… at first. But Ben learned the truth too late. Dallas was a snake, and before he knew it, Ben’s entire world constricted to contain only Dallas and the people in his circle. His friends from school, and the rest of Ben’s life, had been cut away as soon as he finished school until Dallas controlled everything. Ben found himself the plaything of a criminal who made his skin crawl and whose touch revolted him. But he had no choice, especially once the threats and demonstrations of power began. He had become a prisoner of the person he had once thought to be his savior.

Ben pushed those thoughts from his mind, because to continue down that road was only going to lead to more pain.

“What about the horses?” Ben’s voice rang with concern.

“The guys said they will go up in a few hours to check on them. There isn’t much that any of us can do until this storm abates. I’ll be able to get some backup in here once the weather clears, but until then, all we can do is hole up and stay as warm as we can.” Clearly, Ashton felt as under siege as Ben was beginning to think they were. “I hate feeling like this. I can’t help wondering what’s so different all of a sudden.” Ashton turned his attention to the fire, and then Ben felt his gaze shift to him.

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