Chapter 4 #3
They both stared out at the night as Kitt’s choice of underwear again entered Austin’s thoughts. “Do you have his number? I can’t get it out of my mind that I need to apologize.”
“Yeah, sure. Here.” Austin typed the number Mike spouted off.
“He goes to bed early, but honestly, Mr. Grainger, Kitt doesn’t get mad like that often, and he doesn’t hang on to it like his dad did, either.
He’s fine.” Mike turned his full body toward Austin, hooking an arm over the back of the chair and looked directly at him.
“Good. I’d hate to have already pissed off my neighbors.” Austin chuckled.
“What’re you thinkin’ about all this so far?” Mike’s eyes didn’t waver. Austin was finding Mike had a way about him of just cutting to the root of a situation, finding out what he wanted to know.
“I love it. All the silence out here rocks! I love how y’all don’t treat me any different. I regret ever leaving,” Austin said honestly.
“Okay, I guess I can see that. What’re you gonna do when you get found out? It has to happen eventually.” Mike drained his beer and shook his head when Austin offered another.
“I’m hoping enough time passes that no one really cares anymore.”
“Is your wife gonna come out and live here, or is she stayin’ in California? You know what? Don’t answer that. It’s none of my business. Mr. Grainger, I gotta roll. Tomorrow’ll be here pretty quick. Good night, sir.” Mike stood from his chair. Just like that, the conversation was over.
“Good night, Mike, and you can call me Austin.” Austin stayed seated, but gave Mike’s outstretched hand a shake.
“No, I already told you, all owners go by their last name,” Mike called over his shoulder, already down the steps walking out to his truck.
“Then lose the mister. Wait, I don’t remember that rule!” Austin yelled out after Mike.
“It’s one we’re definitely enforcin’ around here,” Mike called, without looking back before getting in his truck and driving off.
Austin raised his beer in answer before looking at the phone he still held in his hand.
He had Kitt’s number! Now, all he needed was the guts to call the guy.
How long had it been since Austin called someone he was interested in?
He couldn’t even remember, and the thought made him more nervous.
What would he say when he called? A simple ‘I’m sorry” wouldn’t have the conversation going much longer than a few minutes.
Austin needed a second reason. He could call Kitt and ask about artificial insemination.
Mike made several references to Kitt’s expertise in that area, but hell, Austin seriously couldn’t remember jack about that shit.
He’d been out of this world for way too long, and his own dad wasn’t a modern kind of guy himself.
He could ask about pasture management, but again, he knew dick about it, not even enough to form an intelligent question.
He could ask Kitt to come over and lick his balls.
A smile spread across his lips as he took another drink.
That topic he definitely knew plenty about.
After a couple of swipes of his finger across the smartphone, he got enough of a signal to pull the key facts about artificial insemination and began to read.
Austin sat on the porch for at least an hour forming his questions in his mind. He drank his beer and listened to the oldies play on the radio. When he felt reasonably comfortable at being able to ask a couple of legit questions, he started to dial Kitt’s number, but Sam rang through first.
“Yeah?” Austin said a little too gruffly. His security team was to only call with problems. So far, no reason presented itself. Of course, the exact moment he planned to make his move, the phone rang. It kind of spoiled his good mood to even be reminded they were out there.
“Sir, we have a Fisker pulling along the property line. Along the east side of the Circle K. We’ve been tracking it since it left the highway. It’s going slow, clearly the driver’s concerned about the car, but it’s headed south, coming your way.”
“How far down?” Austin asked dropping his feet to the stone porch as he sat up a little straighter.
“Halfway down, already.”
“Who’s inside? Anyone we know?” Austin asked, finally standing. Shit, how the fuck did Rich and Mercedes find this place already?
“One person, male. We can’t see anyone else in the car. He’s dark headed, no one I’ve seen before following you, but his windows are tinted. I could be wrong.”
“Okay, stay on him, and keep me posted. Stop him before he crosses the fence line. Stay with the car. Maybe we can head ’im off.” Austin bent to turn off his radio and grab his cooler.
“We are, sir. We just wanted to notify you since you’re sitting outside in the open.”
Just like that, he reminded Austin that he wasn’t truly as alone as he thought, and didn’t that just completely suck.
He disconnected the call without responding and decided not to follow through with calling Kitt.
Instead, he stood in place. He stared off toward the guy’s house.
Did Kitt let the world know he’d relocated here?
How often did a hundred-thousand-dollar sports car drive a rugged path to get to Kitt’s cabin?
The underwear came back to Austin’s mind.
He sprang off the porch in a matter of seconds, sprinting toward the barn.
He didn’t break stride as he entered from the side.
He grabbed a pair of binoculars from the tack room and the keys to his four-wheeler and took off toward Kitt’s house.
He rode full throttle, eating the distance between their houses.
As he got closer, he slowed the engine, bringing it to a crawl and turned off the lights. The moonlight guided him.
Austin spied a line of fresh new trees planted along the fence.
By spring, they would grow big enough to hide the fence and all of Austin’s land from Kitt’s sight.
For some reason, the move seemed intentional and it hurt his heart.
He’d been so focused on seeing Kitt again while Kitt obviously spent his time trying to block Austin from his view.
He drove the rest of the way in the dark, still worried they could hear the motor.
Austin stopped at least a hundred feet out and parked the four-wheeler in the middle of the pasture.
He jogged the rest of the way, staying low as he bridged the small hill before the pond.
He lay down on the grassy slope, edging forward until he got a clear shot of the car parked in front of Kitt’s house.
The curtains were drawn, closed tight and most of the lights were out.
Only a small glow peeked through the curtains from somewhere in the back of the house.
Austin moved forward and hid behind one of the trees. He stayed there watching the house. Beside the Fisker was a truck, he supposed Kitt’s, but there was no sign of anyone. He palmed his phone and texted Sam on a very weak signal.
“Are they in the cabin or did they leave?” Simple, clear and to the point.
“They’re still inside.’ Equally clear.
“Did you see who arrived?” Austin asked.
“One man. Kelly opened the door, let him in. That’s all we got.”
“Any visual on what’s going on inside the house?” It was all Austin asked when he really wanted to know how the guy was greeted, what he looked like, and did anything personal happen in the way Kitt answered the door.
“No, not from any angle.”
“Me either, sir.” Good, more than one set of eyes locked on the house.
“Can you run the plates?” The binoculars returned to Austin’s eyes before the message was sent. The car was new, nice, specially made. It had to have come from Dallas, maybe Houston, but probably Dallas. They were flashy kind of people there.
“Already on it.”
“Let me know when you find out anything.” Austin’s message ended the texting session.
Surprisingly, two hours passed as Austin stayed there, binoculars trained on the house.
No real movement, nothing changed inside, but he planted himself there until he got word on the driver.
His gut told him Kitt wouldn’t sell him out.
If for no other reason than the sheer fact Austin would bury him in legal trouble deeper than anything he could dig his way out of if he so much as breathed one word to the wrong person.
Their contract was ironclad tight. Certainly, the educated hot cowboy wasn’t that dumb.
Austin’s phone beeped, alerting him of an incoming text message.
It simply read: “The car is registered to Sean Romero. Address 211 Cedar Springs Rd, Dallas, Texas. Age 35. Senior Vice President of Global Market Share, a brokerage firm. Positive ID.” Sean’s picture came through and damn it if wasn’t a good-looking guy.
The photo looked to be from some sort of a badge, a professional shot.
The guy wore a cocky grin and tailored-looking suit.
Austin conceded he’d be attracted to Fisker himself if they crossed paths. Could this be Kitt’s boyfriend?
The next text broke his train of thought. “The background report isn’t complete, but so far we aren’t tying him to surveillance or the press.”
“No connection to those two motherfuckers who follow me everywhere?”
“Not so far.”
“All right, nothing’s going on here. I’m going back to the house.
Call me if anything happens. Anything! Send whatever pictures you have in the morning.
I want him recorded leaving that house.” Austin stood, but stayed low as he ran back to the four-wheeler.
He drove slowly back to the barn, turning on the lights only once he’d made it about halfway back.
Too many years had passed since he’d been to Dallas, and he’d only lived there for a few months before moving to New York.
The name Cedar Springs rang familiar with him, but he couldn’t place it no matter how hard he racked his brain.
Austin parked and silently made his way back inside his house.
He flipped on the lights as he went. Did he seriously have the good fortune of living next door to a hot, young gay man?
It was one thing to fantasize that a pair of underwear gave some sort of clue, but did Kitt’s lover really just come to his house?
Austin grabbed his phone and laptop and kicked back on his brand-new leather sofa and waited to hear from security.