The Lonely Heart (2 page)

Isaiah finally pulled himself away from his little brother, dropping down onto the other bed in the tiny hotel room he’d rented for the night. He scrubbed his face with one hand, squeezed his eyes closed and concentrated on breathing. All day, he’d had to put up a cheerful front, not wanting to upset Josh. Not wanting to disrupt the kid’s excitement. But now, with Josh asleep, he could let go.

What Isaiah really wanted was a good stiff drink, but he figured that probably wasn’t the best idea. He could turn on the television and try to distract himself—Josh was out so soundly it would take an explosion to wake him—but that didn’t really appeal, either.

He wanted someone to talk to. Oh, hell, might as well be honest. He wanted someone to vent to. And only one name popped into his head.

Isaiah suppressed a growl, punching the buttons on his cell phone viciously. He leaned against the headboard, listening to the phone ring. A soft sound of frustration escaped, and he scrunched the pillows up behind his back, trying to ignore the way the ugly bedspread scratched against his bare legs.

“Grady.”

The low, rough voice had an instant effect on Isaiah’s fury. It was like a milkshake on a throat ablaze from spicy foods, soothing, coating him in a blanket of protection. Whenever things went wrong, Isaiah could always count on Grady to listen to the rant, sympathise, then plot. And right now, he needed reassurance in a way he hadn’t before.

“Hey, man, how’s it going?” Isaiah couldn’t bring himself to cut straight to the problem.

He could predict what Grady was going to say, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t nervous about broaching the subject. The whole damn situation was complicated and just plain wrong.

“Good,” Grady replied, confusion clear in the deep tones. “Not that I’m not happy to hear from you, but—”

Isaiah cut him off with a heavy sigh which, even to him, sounded incredibly weary.

“Yeah. Listen, I had no clue, huh? No one told me about Josh, and I certainly didn’t know about all the rest. If I had…”

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THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 11

“You’re not making a whole lot of sense,” Grady pointed out. “Spit it out, already.”

“I’m not sure bringing Josh back with me is the best idea,” Isaiah said, rapidly enough that the words ran together. Damn it, even saying the words hurt. He wanted to be back home, with the horses and the cows and the boys and Grady. Especially with Grady.

“Wait, what? Isaiah, I need you! What the hell are you talking about, not coming back?

Talk to me,” Grady ordered. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Josh,” Isaiah said. “I’m not sure the ranch is the best place for him. I swear, Grady, no one said anything.”

“About what?”

“Josh can’t speak.”

A sharp intake greeted his announcement. Isaiah realised he was holding his breath, waiting for a reaction, and he forced his lungs to move again.

“I’m…sorry?” Grady’s statement came out more like a question.

“What are you apologising for?” Isaiah asked.

“Dunno, just seemed like the thing to say.”

“Yeah, well, I guess I’m sorry, too. There was an accident when Josh was little, severe damage to his vocal cords and throat. He was just starting to talk, too, so it was pretty devastating.”

“Can’t they, I don’t know, fix that?”

“They tried. He had surgery when he was four, to put everything to rights. But that was, what, six years ago? And he still hasn’t said a word. Apparently, he’s been to doctors and psychiatrists and speech pathologists. They threw out a lot of terms like selective mutism and developmental aphasia and were generally fucking worthless. According to the social worker, they talked about therapy and medications, but mostly thought it would just take time.”

“But it didn’t.”

“No,” Isaiah said, battling the urge to scream or cry or run away. Something. Anything.

“Look, we can handle it.” There was a note in Grady’s voice that Isaiah had never heard before. “It won’t be easy, but come home, Isaiah.”

Isaiah sighed again, this time with relief. After all, Grady was his boss. Who was Isaiah to ignore a direct order?

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“All right,” he finally agreed. “We’ve got a hotel near the airport for the night, but we’ll head back tomorrow. I should be home in a day or so, depending on flights.”

“Good. We need you here.”

“Yeah. I think I need to be there, too.”

They talked for a while longer, mostly ranch business, a little about the weather. Casual, easy conversation that helped Isaiah rid himself of the last of his anger. When he finally hung up, Isaiah was surprised to see that he’d been talking to Grady for nearly an hour.

Isaiah stood and stretched. Shower, bed, airport by six a.m. tomorrow. Maybe jack off in the shower, and if the face in his imagination looked a lot like Grady’s, well, no one had to know. Then it was home and God, he couldn’t wait.

Even if he had the nagging feeling that nothing was going to be the same when he got there.

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THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 13

Isaiah pulled his truck to a dusty stop next to the massive barn, cutting the engine and grinning widely. Damn, but it was good to be home. And the Red Bar Ranch—long ago shortened to just the Branch—
was
home, no two ways about it. Over the years, the place had become as much his as Grady’s, though the boss would probably argue with Isaiah on that.

The rambling farmhouse held court on one side of the yard, windows gleaming in the late autumn sun. It was a massive building, three stories tall if you counted the attic, which Isaiah did. There was a staircase, after all.

Grady put a lot of effort into keeping the place looking good, and it showed. Dark grey siding blended nicely with the oak trees surrounding the house. The trees were old, big and provided nice shade when the summer sun beat down.

The Grady family had been running cattle on this land for generations, each new owner adding their own touches. The yard now boasted one main barn with forty stalls and an indoor arena. Two smaller barns tucked off to one side held the breeding operation—right side horses, left side cattle. Fences stretched off into the distance, faint dark patches marring the vista, marking cattle or horses out to pasture. The majority of the herd was still farther out, closer to the mountains. Just a few short weeks now, and Grady would hire on some extra hands while they moved the herd. What they didn’t sell off would be housed close enough to get to with the truck.

It was a solid operation, and Isaiah always felt a thrill of pride when he looked around.

A prickling at the back of his neck had Isaiah looking to his right. Josh stared at Isaiah, grinned, then looked through the window at the nearest corral, where two mares were munching contentedly near the fence. Isaiah chuckled.

“Go ahead,” Isaiah said with a wave. “Just stay on this side of the fence. And be careful,” he added to Josh’s retreating figure. The kid had wasted no time leaping from the truck.

Isaiah followed, albeit with a lot less haste.

Grady stepped around the corner of the barn, ambling over with that loose-hipped stride of his, as Isaiah was retrieving their bags.

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THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 14

“Hey, boss,” Isaiah called.

“You look like shit,” Grady said bluntly.

“Gee, nice to see you too.”

Grady scowled and Isaiah laughed.

“It was a long few days,” Isaiah admitted, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“Glad you’re back,” Grady said. “Place started to fall apart. The guys don’t get a damn thing done without you ridin’ their asses.”

“Thought that was your job,” Isaiah returned.

Grady snorted.

“That the kid?” he asked.

“No, it’s a midget I picked up at a rest stop.” Isaiah blinked. God, he must be tired.

“Sorry. Yeah, that’s Josh.”

Grady moved off purposefully. “Well, don’t you think you ought to introduce us?” he yelled over his shoulder. “He’s gonna be staying here for a while, after all.”

Isaiah rolled his eyes, slung the bags over his shoulder and followed his boss. He called Josh’s name and the kid turned, jumping off the fence where’d he’d perched himself on the lowest wooden slat.

“This is Grady,” Isaiah said. “He’s the boss around here.”

Josh smiled up at the large man. The wind ruffled his already messy hair as his bright eyes crinkled with pleasure. Isaiah chuckled. No one could say they weren’t related, that was certain. Josh looked just like he had at that age.

Grady’s hard features softened as he looked down at the pint-sized human. “Welcome, Josh. We’re real glad you could come and stay.”

Josh blinked up at him and Grady received another one of those happy smiles.

Isaiah held out a bright red backpack. “Come on, kiddo,” he said with a tired attempt at a smile of his own. “Let’s get you settled and see about finding some food somewhere. You can come back and visit the horses later, promise.”

Isaiah ended up talking to Josh’s back, his brother drawn to the horses again. Isaiah shook his head and chuckled. That, too, was just like Isaiah at that age.

“The guys are scattered around,” Grady said. “But I’m sure they’ll come out of the woodwork to meet our newest resident. And if you need to get work done, you’ve got plenty of built-in babysitters. They’ll watch out for him.”

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Isaiah chuckled. That was for damn sure. For all their tough exteriors, Grady’s cowboys were big softies, particularly when it came to kids. Marshmallow centres, one and all.

Grady suddenly laughed, the sound one Isaiah hadn’t heard in quite some time. “Heck, you might have problems keeping Tommy from adopting Josh.”

Okay, now that was odd. All of a sudden, Grady seemed almost…cheerful? Damn, that was an unusual sight. Maybe having a kid around would be good for all of them.

Grady was nearly back at the house when he suddenly stopped and turned. “Oh. And bring Josh up to the house for dinners. No kid should be exposed to the crap you guys eat down there.”

Isaiah couldn’t do anything but stare, mouth open. Well, heck. What alien had snatched his boss and left someone…personable in his place? Surely Isaiah hadn’t been gone
that
long.

Isaiah physically shook the thought from his head and grabbed his bag, leaving the mystery of Grady’s sudden personality change for later, when he wasn’t so tired. He stopped briefly to retrieve Josh, steering the small body towards the bunkhouse. He was quickly finding out that herding a kid was a lot harder than herding cattle. He finally ended up grabbing one small hand to keep Josh pinned to his side instead of darting after everything that caught his attention.

Whatever the locals said about Grady as a person—mainly certain adjectives like grumpy, irritable, quick-tempered and damned stubborn—he treated his employees well.

The bunkhouse was a rambling, two-storey building, comfortable and solid, that sat a few hundred yards from the main house. The first floor took up more space than the second, which was mostly a combination of a games room and a hangout. Kept the boys from traipsing off to town all the time and kept the drinking to a minimum.

The front entrance opened into a large dining room. Off to one corner, forming an ‘L’, was the kitchen. It was comparably small next to the massive dining room, but considering most of the current gang’s culinary skills consisted of burning things on a grill, it hadn’t been a problem. A long hallway stretching to the back of the house led to a half-dozen rooms, almost like a college dorm setup, but nicer and with more privacy. Better bathrooms, too—

three of them with oversized showers. The guys tended to drag a lot of dirt in with them.

Isaiah’s room was towards the back, bigger than the others. Most of the rooms were doubles—two twin beds, a pair of desks, two large dressers, with a couple of corners left over for large, comfortable chairs and maybe a bookshelf. Isaiah’s room, while the same size, was www.total-e-bound.com

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a single. Tucked into a corner of the big building where it was a bit quieter, he had a double bed, his own television setup and a couple of niceties not found in the other rooms, including a private bathroom. Isaiah still wasn’t sure what he was going to do long-term, but for now, he’d decided to crash in one of the empty dormers with his little brother.

It wasn’t that Isaiah thought anything would happen. He guessed he was just being a paranoid control freak. He should probably look into getting a place in town for the two of them. Not ideal—it would mean a good half-hour drive twice a day. He just didn’t see many other options.

Isaiah let Josh go into the room first. Josh turned his head back and forth, blond hair flopping and eyes wide as he spun in a circle. He looked back at Isaiah, bright green eyes still gleaming with excitement. Josh had, from all accounts, led a pretty sheltered life, so this must be quite the adventure for him.

“I guess we’re gonna go join Grady for dinner later, but we should have enough time for a tour.”

Isaiah wasn’t stupid enough to turn down an invitation for a dinner away from the bunkhouse. It was Tuesday, which meant Joseph’s turn to cook, an event to be avoided at all costs. The mere thought made his stomach churn with nausea. Joseph was darn near famous throughout the county. Or infamous, rather. He’d been known to ruin takeout.

Josh dropped onto one of the beds, bouncing a few times. He looked so happy that Isaiah had to smile. He sat down next to his brother and draped his arm over the skinny shoulders.

“I take it you like it here, huh?”

Josh gave him a quick hug, still bouncing. Isaiah made a mental note to keep a close eye on the kid’s sugar intake.