Borrowing Trouble

Borrowing Trouble

Copyright © October 2015 by Kade Boehme

All rights reserved. This is intended for the original purchaser of this e-book ONLY. No part of this e-book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Editor: Heidi Ryan

Cover Artist: Elizabeth Mackey
                            http://elizabethmackeygraphics.com

Published in the United States of America

This is a work of fiction. While may include actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Warning

This e-book contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language and may be considered offensive to some readers. For adults
18+ ONLY
, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First, I gotta thank Heidi for believing in me, even when I write
stories that are totally not my norm.

I must thank, above all, Wendy, Meredith, Felice—the Boozy Brunch
Crew—and Nik for always being there to talk me off the ledge.
Many times my neuroses would have stopped a book from getting
titled, much less written without you angels to keep me sane.
Mon, because I would never have tried this, never have gone
for it and lived my dream without you. That first year
was rough as hell and you were a rock.

And of course, none of this would matter without my absolutely
amazing friends/family, my readers. This is all for you, babes.

DEDICATION
 

To the people who grew up with me HERE, where this book is based.
It always felt like a land time forgot, and in so many ways it has.
But I’m humbled and amazed at the few of you who still live there
who’ve reached out to me as an adult. This one is to us, to our
childhoods, to dirt roads and hayrides and lightning bug dreams.
To Montgomery County and the people who prove it’s not
the worst place to come from.

Chapter 1

              Landon kicked his work boots on the doorstop before walking into the trailer that contained his father’s office. His father was obsessive about muddy floors, a bit too obsessive for a man whose business was a saw mill. The whole mill was dirt and wood chips. Landon couldn’t even walk across the driveway of Petty & Green Mills without tracking mud into his own truck and house every afternoon.

              Once he was satisfied that his boots were as free of mud as they could get, he wandered in to where their office assistant, Ms. Lynne, sat on the phone bitching about something concerning insurance. As Landon handed over his trip report, he smiled fondly at the older woman who was rolling her eyes and making the
blah, blah, blah
hand gesture toward the phone. He felt for whoever was trying to tangle with Ms. Lynne, since she’d been doing this job for damn near twenty years. She was all of five-foot-five and constantly made up, her hair teased high, but one shouldn’t be fooled by her southern grandma façade. She was all bulldog.

              Landon walked to where they kept the coffee pot and poured himself a cup, trying to fend off the cold. “Landon,” Ms. Lynne called out. He turned back to her. She held her hand over the mouthpiece of the phone and continued, “Your Daddy wants you to pop in the office before you head out on your next load.”

              “Yes, ma’am,” he confirmed with a nod and headed to his dad’s office, sipping his coffee. He was surprised his dad was even in his office. The old man was usually out supervising the hell out of everyone. His dad was a strict boss, but he was fair, and for their little county in Mississippi, he paid well.

              The office door stood open, so Landon stuck his head in and knocked on the door frame. “Knock-knock. Ms. Lynne said you needed to see me.”

              Landon’s dad looked up and waved his son in with a grunt. Ricky Petty was a burly man, three inches taller than Landon’s five-feet-ten, and built like a barrel with a pair of sticks for legs. His grunt was one of his
good mood grunts
. Landon and his mother had turned deciphering his father’s grunts into an art, though his father was not a complicated man. He was big and intimidating, with a red beard and dark brown hair always covered in a straw cowboy hat that shaded his dark brown eyes enough to make him seem much surlier than he was. He was actually just your typical country-bred, good ol’ boy with a teddy bear disposition—unless he was in a snit. Then he was damn near horrifying to watch. Landon had stayed out of trouble as a kid, the wrath of his father’s rare temper and the firm set of his face when disappointed had been enough to make even a bigger man feel two feet tall.

              Landon plopped down in the wooden chair that faced his father’s desk, waiting for his dad to finish up whatever he was doing with the papers he was shuffling. Landon had finished his coffee before his dad finally looked up. “Sorry, son. Lynne and I are dealing with new hire insurance horse puckey.” Landon smiled at his dad. The old guy was not one for cursing, and Landon found his silly curse-word replacements endearing, coming from such a big man.

              “You guys hired someone new?”

              His dad grunted an affirmative, then shut the folder containing the papers he’d been fiddling with. “We finally hired on a new manager so you can focus on hauling full time.”

              Landon breathed a sigh of relief. He’d been hauling full time as well as handling overseeing the day-to-day management of the mill, so he was usually around until late in the night dealing with schedules and payroll. His dad had been looking for a while for someone so Landon could focus on the part of the job he liked most, hauling their wood chips from the mill down to the plywood and paper plant in Laurel, Mississippi. It was typically a six hour round trip, and when you started at three in the morning and didn’t get home ‘til eight at night, it made for a long day. Plus, his dad really wanted someone around to help on-site so they could both cut out earlier than they had been over the last year since his dad had bought out his partner, Jimmy Green.

              “That’s great, Dad. Decided not to use one of the old timers?”

              “Naw. They all sniffed around the job but wanted the extra pay without the extra hours.”

              Not surprising at all. He wasn’t sure how good they’d take to an outsider coming in as their boss, but his dad knew best. And Landon had no interest in being manager anymore, so he’d take what he could get.

              “Marty Bennett told me his son-in-law was looking for better paying work.”

              Landon furrowed his brow, trying to remember the son-in-law in question. “Bethany’s old man? Thought she was in Atlanta?”

              “Name’s Jay. I s’pose they’re actually split up. She’s off at Emory. Marty says he’s a good guy, though. Let her go off and get some fancy degree and keeps the kids during the school year. Marty figures they’ll end up back together at some point, high school sweethearts and all.”

              Landon smiled again. “You old men are as bad as the blue haired ladies with your gossipping.”

              His dad harrumphed. “Nothin’ wrong with a man wanting his kid happy. Thinks they’re a good fit and Jay’s a good family man, treats his girl well. It’s best for those kids, you know.” Landon’s dad and his friends were old school, so they would think that. Landon thought he remembered Jay from the couple times the man stopped by when Bethany had babysat Landon. They were both a good seven or so years older than him, so he didn’t remember either of them all that well.

              “When’s he start?” Landon asked.

              “Monday, next week. You should come by tomorrow and meet him. Your mama is makin’ dinner for him and his kids over at the house tomorrow night.”

              “You know I wouldn’t miss a free meal, pops.” Landon also wanted to meet the man he’d undoubtedly have to train before they got mired in the work.

              “Your mama will be happy to hear it. You can cut out early since it’s Friday, so come on over to the house at six o’clock.”

              “Will do. Anything else you need?”

              “That’s all. You get on out on the road again. We’ll be seeing you tomorrow.”

              “Yessir,” Landon confirmed, and headed on out to check that his next trailer was loaded. He couldn’t wait to shake the man’s hand who’d be lightening his work load. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have too many days left like this one where he’d have to come in and write up payroll. Maybe he’d actually be able to get out to Jackson on the weekends and scratch a long-burning itch he’d let fall by the wayside for months now.

***

              Landon showed up at his parents’ house the next night a little after six. He’d managed to get all the payroll checks passed out and still had time for a shower and a change of clothes. Thank God for small favors, he wouldn’t meet his new mill manager in dusty, day-old clothes and muddy boots. Not that the man would actually be paying attention, and he’d sure understand if Landon was dirty, since he presumed the man was used to dirty work clothes.

              Landon had seen the man’s application and his work experience was full of welding, mechanical, and mill work. Hired as a favor to a friend or not, the man had almost twenty years of solid hands-on experience, so he was more than qualified for the position he was stepping into. He’d even been a supervisor at the steel plant he’d worked at in Tupelo before moving back to his hometown. Ms. Lynne knew the family and had shared that Jay had moved to get his kids closer to his in-laws so they’d have family around while he worked.

              Landon parked his truck in his parents’ massive, dusty yard next to his father’s dually and pet their two black labs that ran out to him as his mother opened the front door. “There’s my handsome son!” She waved from the porch as Landon approached.

              Hugging her neck, he greeted, “Hey, Mama.”

              “Glad you could make it for dinner. You work too hard, I never get to see you anymore.”

              “Hopefully this new manager is gonna change that.”

              “He’s a nice man. Your daddy seems to like him.”

              “That’s good,” Landon said with a smile, walking in the house and shedding his jacket. His mother took his jacket and hung it up on her overstuffed coat rack by the door. She asked him about work as he followed her to the kitchen-slash-dining room. As they approached, he could hear his father’s booming laugh, which meant his dad must really like the guy.

              “Jay, do you remember my son, Landon?” his mother asked when they turned the corner into the room. Landon blinked and willed his body to behave when he took in the form of the new manager he was going to be training.
Holy hell.

              The man was as tall as Landon’s father, slimmer in the mid-section, but well-muscled up top from hard work. The baby blue henley he was wearing was tight on his chest and biceps, which were nicely defined. The lighter blue of the shirt set off his sun bronzed skin. His short brown hair and stubbled beard had a few lighter patches that’ll probably grey in another five years or so, but he didn’t seem all that much older than Landon. Those light patches only served to make him more attractive. Kind brown eyes crinkled at the sides with a smile that nearly took Landon’s knees from under him. Jay extended a large hand at Landon, who stood blinking for just long enough that his mother had to smack his shoulder.

              Landon shook his head to snap himself out of his embarrassing daze and walked forward to shake the man’s hand. “Surely this can’t be little Landon? Last time I saw you, you couldn’t have been more than ninety pounds dripping wet.”

             
I’m not twelve years old anymore, man.
And his cock was sure reminding him he was well past puberty the way it started perking up at just the contact of their hands. “Uh, yeah. Been a while. Sorry, I don’t remember you much.”

              And that was a total lie. Landon remembered now being thirteen the last time he’d seen Jay Hill. Jay’d been twenty, and he was at a Christmas party with Bethany and their baby son. Landon’s body reacted much the same as it was today. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten how incredibly attractive Jay was, and damn if they man hadn’t gotten better with age. It was going to be torture working every day with this guy.

             
Thank goodness I won’t be at the mill as much.

              But the glaring reminder that the man was straight made itself known as he turned to introduce his now sixteen-year-old son, Clint, and his twelve-year-old daughter, Millie. They both looked like their father, which was lucky for them because his genes had produced handsome children.

              “Landon here’s gonna be training you,” Landon’s father beamed. “He’s been managing the mill while we looked for a new manager.” He patted Landon on the shoulder proudly. “He’s been a big help while we’ve been short-handed.”

              Jay’s eyes went wide. “You’ve been managing and makin’ hauls?” Jay seemed impressed.

              “Yeah, it’s been a long year. Glad to have someone to take some of the load.” Landon almost groaned when his brain immediately supplied a dirty connotation to his latter statement. Oh, this was gonna suck. And not in a good way.

              “I’m just glad for the work. Hope I don’t disappoint.”

              Landon’s father waved off Jay’s concern and assured the man he was sure they’d made the right decision bringing him on.

              Regardless of his traitorous dick, Landon couldn’t help being relieved. His dad was usually a good judge of this stuff and Landon felt that much closer to being free of so much extra responsibility. He also reminded himself how long it’d been since he’d gotten laid. He would be able to go to Jackson, to the bar, and find someone for some fun once he got Jay trained up. That’d surely make the whole horny-for-the-straight-man thing easier to handle.

He hoped.