The Broken H (10 page)

Ted looked at Shane. “This girl been giving you problems, boy?”

“She’s been bothering him, Dad.” Gray sat down on the couch.

Shane moved to the chair in front of Ted’s desk and seated himself. “She’s harmless.”

Ted raised a brow. “Lying and saying you got her knocked up is harmless?”

Gray’s radio went off, interrupting their discussion. “Shit!” He informed the dispatcher he was on his way, then focused his attention on Shane again. “We are going to have a long talk about this, chief. I know you feel sorry for her, but this behavior of hers has got to be dealt with. God only knows what she’s going to do next.” He stood. “Daddy, you all right?”

Right on cue, Kaitlyn came bustling in, immediately fussing over her husband. “He will be.”

“Good.”

His mother smiled. “Thank you for coming, baby.”

“Thanks for calling me, Mama. I’m glad I wasn’t too far away. If he comes back, I expect you to let me know. I’d hate for Shane to get to do all the ass-kicking by himself. That wouldn’t be fair.” He winked at Shane and smiled broadly.

Shane rolled his eyes. “I had it under control.”

Gray snorted. “So I saw. Very impressive self-control. I’d’ve been spitting mad, myself.”

“Well, I know it isn’t true.”

Kaitlyn stopped rubbing Ted’s shoulders long enough to pat Shane’s arm. “We all know it isn’t true, Shane.”

Gray and Shane shared a smile, then Gray frowned. “Now you have both him and Sherry Ann to deal with. That man is spiteful as hell; he’s not going to let this go. I have no doubt he’s going to drag you through the dirt, chief. He’s going to dig up stuff you’d probably rather he didn’t.”

Shane’s stomach sank a little. He suspected that Gray was going to be proven right.

Chapter Nine

Shane stood outside the big house more nervous than he’d ever been in his life. He sat down on the back porch swing and dropped his head in his hands, knocking his hat off. It was still an hour before Gray got off work.

He wanted to go next door and strangle Sherry Ann. He could understood to an extent why the girl was doing this, but Gray was right: Kauffman wasn’t the kind of man to let go of a perceived insult to his inflated sense of self. In this case, it would appear his daughter’s honor, or lack thereof, was tied to his own.

Shane sighed; he was partly to blame for not having put a stop to Sherry Ann’s nonsense sooner. Shane hadn’t really considered the ramifications of Kauffman’s tenacity and bullheadedness until Gray had pointed them out. If he dug in the right places, it wouldn’t be hard for the man to discover Shane’s homosexuality. Shane had been very careful to hide it, but it wasn’t like no one else knew.

He wasn’t concerned about what most people thought of him, but the Hunters were his family. They deserved to know and should hear it from him, not the town gossips. God, he did not want to do this.

The back door opened. “Shane? Honey, you all right?” Kaitlyn bent and picked up Shane’s hat, then sat down on the swing next to him.

Shane turned his head to look at her and she handed him his hat. “Thank you.” He put it back on his head and leaned back in the swing.

“You’re welcome. What’s the matter, Shane? And don’t tell me nothing. I’ve known you a long time and I darn well know when something is bothering you.” She reached out and rubbed his back. “Is it this nonsense with Sherry Ann? Honey, don’t worry about that. We all know you don’t have anything going with that little girl. The child needs her backside blistered.”

Shane nodded and closed his eyes. She sure did, and at this point Shane was considering being first in line to volunteer to administer it. Kaitlyn was like a mother to him, always trying to take care of him. She treated him damned near the way she treated Gray. He opened his eyes and took her hand, lightly squeezing. “Kaitlyn, I…thank you. Thank you for being the mother that mine never was. I could never repay all that you’ve done for me over the years. No matter what happens, I want you to know that and that I love you.”

Kaitlyn framed his face with her hands, pulling him down to kiss his forehead. “I love you, too, honey. Nothing going to change that. You are like a son to me; you have been for a long, long time. Taking you in was never a hardship, you know. You’ve always been very appreciative and you’ve repaid us in kind over and over. Try not to be so upset over this. It will work out, I promise.”

He hoped like hell that she was right—and that she still felt the same way after he told them what he needed to say. “Ted still awake?”

“He’s in his office. You eating with us tonight?”

Shane got up, drawing Kaitlyn with him. “I actually have plans for dinner tonight, but I’d like to talk to the two of you first.”

Kaitlyn gave him a speculative look, opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. “Come on in, then.” She tugged him behind her into the house. When they reached the office, Shane had the sudden urge to flee.

“Ted, Shane has something he wants to talk to us about.” Kaitlyn let go of his hand and went to the couch and sat down.

“Oh, good, I have something I want to talk to him about, too.” Ted glanced up from some papers on his desk and smiled at Shane.

Shane swallowed hard and took a deep breath. He pulled his hat off, circling it around and around in his hands.

Ted looked at Shane’s hands and frowned, then gazed back to meet his eyes. “I’m guessing this is pretty serious. Have a seat, son. You aren’t going to tell me that you
did
get that Kauffman girl pregnant are you?”

“No! Oh, good Lord, no!”

Ted grinned. “Well, I didn’t think so, but you look like you’re going to a funeral.”

Shane walked across the office and sat down beside Kaitlyn.

“I…Gray was right today when he said that Kauffman was probably going to dig up a lot of stuff about me. And I owe the two of you too much to not let y’all know what he’s likely to find out.”
Damn, this sucks!
His stomach was such a mess he wasn’t going to be able to eat a damned thing tonight. He had the sudden urge to throw up.

Kaitlyn patted his knee encouragingly.

Ted nodded. “This have anything to do with why you left New Mexico at alone at sixteen and ended up in Texas?”

Shane nodded. “Sort of.”

“Well, I can’t tell you that we haven’t wondered over the years, but I’ll be honest, son, I doubt you can tell me anything that is going to make me think less of you. I’ve watched you grow up, boy, I know what kind of man you are. Whatever you ran from, was a long time ago and—”

“I’m gay!”
Well, shit!
He’d just blurted that right out, hadn’t he?

Ted sat still for several seconds, frowning, eyebrows pulled together.

Kaitlyn gasped, clutched her hands to her chest and flopped back against the couch. “Oh, God!”

Shane felt tears burning his eyes. He couldn’t look at either one of the Hunters. They didn’t understand and were going to toss him out. Worse, they didn’t love him anymore.

Kaitlyn took a deep breath and dropped her head in her hands. “Oh, God, honey! You scared the heck out of me! I thought you were going tell us you’d murdered someone.”

What?!
Shane’s mouth dropped open.

Ted groaned. “Now, Katy, how it the world could you think that?”

His wife blushed. “Well, what did
you
think he was going to say?”

“I thought maybe he’d stolen a car or something.”

Shane couldn’t help himself; he just stared, looking back and forth between the two of them. He didn’t know whether to be insulted or relieved. They’d thought he was a criminal on the lam? Did this mean they didn’t care that he was gay?

Kaitlyn wrapped her arms around Shane, hugging him tightly. “Honey, you look like you’ve seen a ghost. Say something.”

“Y’all don’t care?”

Ted chuckled. “Hell, son, we’ve known that for years!”

Shane was aghast. “You have?”

Kaitlyn nodded. “Of course, honey. Is that why you left home so young?”

Even after all this time and in the midst of one of the hardest conversations he’d ever had, Shane still felt old anger boiling up inside him. He clenched his jaw and gave a crisp nod, hoping like hell the response would be enough.

Ted got up from his chair and slowly made his way around the desk and over to the couch. He sat down on Shane’s other side and slung an arm over his shoulder. “We figured as much. You don’t have to talk about it. Nothing has changed, son. We love you and support you, just like always.”

Shane swallowed hard. “How long have you known?” Did he dare to ask how they’d known?

“Since you were a teen, honey. You never brought it up, so neither did we.” Kaitlyn reached behind him, grabbing Ted’s hand.

Shane felt a tear slip down and swiped a finger under his glasses to catch it. It felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his chest. Ted and Kaitlyn hugged him and each other.

Kaitlyn kissed his cheek. “Did I tell you I like the glasses?”

Shane grinned and shook his head. “No, but thank you.”

“So when do we get to meet him, boy?”

Huh?
Shane jerked his head around to face Ted.

“You’re seeing someone, aren’t you? That’s why you aren’t eating at home and why you’ve told us not to wait up for you, isn’t it?”

Oh, shit!
How in the hell did he answer that without telling them about Gray? Shane silently groaned. Oh, man, he’d solved one problem only to realize he had another. He had no idea how they’d react to him seeing Gray. Would they think he’d taken advantage of Gray? Probably not, they weren’t those kinds of people. They truly cared for him, but he was so tired of emotionally draining confessions today. And what if it got out that Gray was gay? How would that affect him in the community? At work? Shane didn’t care so much what others thought of him or how they treated him, but Gray…He didn’t want to chance it, not now, and it wasn’t up to him to tell them before Gray did. Or, at the very least, the two of them tell his parents together.

Ted chuckled. “Well, hell, boy, you don’t have to bring him home. You look like a teen balking at bringing your prom date to meet your folks.”

Shane chuckled. “It’s not that. I just…well, I’ll talk to him, see if he wants to come to dinner one night.”

Kaitlyn grinned. “Good. We miss not having you eat with us. It’s bad enough that Gray doesn’t come by more often. Although I will point out that you are way too late. You should have done this years ago when most kids bring their girlfriends or boyfriends home to meet their parents.” Kaitlyn rose. “I’m going to go start dinner.” She stood in front of Shane and patted his head. “We love you, honey. You don’t have to be afraid to tell us stuff; you should know that by now.”

Shane got up and hugged her tightly, warmth welling up in his chest. “Love you, too…Mom.”

When he pulled back, Kaitlyn had tears in her eyes. “I like that! You call me that anytime you want. I’ll always answer, you hear?” She pinched his cheek, gave him a watery smile and left the room.

Ted left the couch and slapped Shane on the back. “Get out of here, boy! Go meet your date.”

Shane grinned and put his hat back on his head. “Yes, sir.” He turned to leave, but Ted’s voice brought him up short. “Son, if Kauffman starts anything else, I want to know. I’ve already talked to our lawyer, and he’s working on it, but it’s gonna take time. If nothing else we can get them for slander.”

“I just want them to buzz off.”

Ted nodded. “I imagine we can do that, too.” He was quiet for a moment, then smiled. “And, Shane?”

Shane faced Ted.

“I’m happy that you’ve finally found someone important enough to get you off the Broken H now and again.”

I just hope you still feel that way, when you find out that someone is your son.

Gray had just finished filling the tea pitcher with water when he heard the door open. He grinned and pulled down two glasses. “You’re just in time; the hamburgers are almost done.”

Shane groaned from the living room. “If you’re serious, I’m going to beat you, then hightail out of here!”

Gray chuckled as he filled his and Shane’s glasses with ice and tea. “Nah, of course I’m not serious—we’re actually having hot dogs.”

Shane’s groan was closer this time, almost behind him, in fact. “I’m still going to beat you.”

“I’m joking, chief. I ordered pizza. I got home late and—” Gray swung around and stopped dead in his tracks.

Shane stood a little way inside the kitchen sporting a pair of low-slung jeans and a red pullover with a collar. The clothes were nice, but that wasn’t what had garnered Gray’s attention. Shane’s hair was loose and hanging down his back, slightly damp from the looks of it.

“Damn! I…you…damn!” Gray wordlessly held out the tea. His cock had already started to fill. After Shane took the refreshment, Gray reached down and adjusted himself.

Shane’s lips quirked. “Hmm, must be my sexy eyewear again. Thanks for the tea.”

Gray looked at the gold wire-rimmed frames and hell if his prick didn’t get even harder. He sighed and shook his head. “Yeah, they’re pretty hot, but I was drooling over your hair.” He tipped his head toward the little, round, four-seater table in the middle of the kitchen. “Have a seat. I’ll get us some plates and napkins.”

Shane did so and lifted his nose, sniffing. “Mmm…pepperoni, hamburger, sausage and jalapeños. You remembered.” He took another whiff of the air, then settled back. “I broke my rubber band on the way out the door and didn’t want to go back for another one. You’d think I’d learn to keep a bunch stashed in my truck.”

Gray chuckled, grabbing two plates and some paper towels off the roll next to the sink, then opened the oven door and removed some pizza slices. “Not that I’m complaining, but if you wouldn’t continue to try and wrap the things around again after you’ve stretched them to their limits, you wouldn’t keep snapping them.” He handed Shane a plate and watched the man dig in.

“Yeah, but if I don’t get them tight enough, my hair slips out. Then what would be the point?” Shane took a bite. “Mmm…”

Gray munched on a slice himself. “How did things go after I left today? Kauffman didn’t come back, did he?”