Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Wyl woke to the sun streaming through the broken window.
He glanced around the room for Rod, but the space was empty.
The front door stood wide open, a grim reminder of the unforgivable way he’d treated his husband the night before.
He crept to the bedroom, hoping to find Rod in their bed.
No Rod. He checked each room on the way back to the den, but Rod wasn’t there.
His heart pounded, and his breath quickened as panic set in.
His words hurt his husband. He had to fix this, and he had to fix it immediately.
He flew down the hall to the garage. Rod’s truck occupied its usual spot, so he hadn’t left the ranch.
Rod wouldn’t retreat to the burned-out barn and wasn’t in the house.
The only other place Rod would go on foot was the office.
Trying to plan an apology, Wyl jogged to the office building.
His hurtful, uncalled-for accusations echoed in his head.
Tears blurred his vision. His jog became a run.
He rounded the office building and leaped up the steps.
He paused, hand on the doorknob. What if Rod wasn’t there?
How would he survive if the love of his life were gone?
He sighed heavily and opened the office door just enough to peek inside.
What he saw broke his heart. His husband is asleep on the floor in one corner, using the chair cushion as a pillow.
His boots stood nearby. The sight tugged at Wyl’s heartstrings.
How could he forgive himself for making his husband so angry that he had to sleep on the floor? His sleeping face was so angelic.
He tugged off his boots, placing them quietly on the floor before soundlessly closing the door. Padding over to his sleeping husband, he sat cross-legged on the floor and pulled Rod into his arms.
Rod stirred at the movement before snaking his arms around Wyl.
“Babe, nothing I can say will compensate for how I lashed out last night. It was a very stressful evening for both of us, and I’m sorry I overreacted. Shifty’s hostilities are not your fault. The fire put us both under a lot of pressure. My mouth took over, with my brain in neutral.”
Rod nodded.
Wyl breathed in the scent of smoke, sweat, and Rod. “Baby, you mean more to me than anything in this world. The fire, the threat, and the potential loss overwhelmed me. I’m so sorry. Hurting you is the last thing I want to do, cowboy. I love you.”
Rod snuggled closer and hugged him so tightly that his breathing stopped. He didn’t care. This strong, confident man was the boulder he leaned on, the sturdy hand that pulled him out of the closet, the one who made his day brighter and his night cozier.
“I love you so much,” Rod eased his grip. “I didn’t mean to do anything to incite Shifty. I was only trying to protect you.”
“I know, baby. You were right to call Shifty on his attitude. Last night, we experienced a major incident, and we were both tired. As a result, I said things in haste and anger. Can you ever forgive me?”
“I overreacted, too.” Rod chuckled. “I said the f-bomb more times last night than in the past decade.”
Wyl caressed Rod’s back. “As I said before, you’re cute when you cuss. It’s a turn-on, actually.”
Rod laughed and leaned back to gaze into Wyl’s clear, green eyes. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Wyl laughed, and the tension in his chest eased. “I hear make-up sex is the best.” He leaned in to kiss Rod.
“Can we not fight like that anymore?” Rod’s eyes pleaded along with his words.
“I hope we have no more barn fires or rocks thrown through our front window. But even if we do, having you is more important than anything else. So, I agree, let’s not fight like that again.”
Rod sniffed Wyl’s shirt. “Ugh…we both stink. Let’s grab a hot shower, then have breakfast. I’m hungry.”
They tugged on their boots, locked up the office, and strolled toward the house. “The barn doesn’t look too bad from this distance,” Wyl said.
“I remember the fire chief saying the inside had minor damage,” Rod said. “We can do a thorough inspection after breakfast.”
“Felipe and the hands should be here by then. They’ll be able to clean out the wet mess inside, so maybe the horses can return to their stalls by evening.”
After a shower, they fixed breakfast. Rod fried sausage patties, then scrambled the eggs while Wyl made toast and coffee and poured juice.
“Are we insured?” Rod asked, stirring the eggs with a wooden spatula.
Wyl shook his head. “We don’t insure the structures, but we do insure the contents. The horses are the most valuable thing in the stable.”
“No insurance on the barn?” Rod asked. “What about the other structures?”
“We self-insure, babe. Insurance on the ranch structures would cost a fortune. The only buildings we insure are the bunk house for the hands, Felipe’s residence, and the stables where the hands store the ranch workhorses. And that is mostly for the protection of the dedicated ranch workers.”
Rod scooped scrambled eggs onto plates and added sausage patties. “That makes sense.”
“The biggest issue is the rock thrown through the window and the note tied to it,” Wyl said.
After Rod set them on the breakfast bar, he added toast to the plates.
“We don’t know who wrote the note, but I’m betting it wasn’t Shifty.
” The note still lay on the coffee table.
“He’s the rock-throwing kind, but I bet someone else wrote that note. ”
They sat to enjoy breakfast. “Who would do such a thing?” Rod asked, drizzling honey on his toast.
“I don’t have a clue,” Wyl said. “Maybe the guy at the college who started the rumor about us kissing in the courtyard? You never did give me any details about that.”
Rod finished his bite of scrambled egg. “I guess it won’t hurt to tell you now. It was Alfonso Ortega.”
“My biology teacher?” Wyl gasped.
Rod nodded, chewing a wedge of sausage patty.
“What was his problem?”
Rod swallowed. “He has a strong faith and figured he would serve the world by discrediting me. You know, the misinterpretation of the original Leviticus passage and all that.”
“While we both worried differently about that first kiss, you were dealing with the Ortega mess?” Wyl spoke around a bite of toast.
“I didn’t want to add to your fear of being a college student,” Rod said. “And I didn’t think Alfonso Ortega would stoop to this kind of threat. He didn’t warn me of anything. He merely started a false rumor. A rumor that Stella picked up and ran with. Still, he could be a suspect.”
Wyl shook his head. “I still think Shifty is the rock-throwing guy. But someone else wrote that note. If it wasn’t Ortega, then who?”
Rod gathered the now-empty plates. “The only other person I can think of is Mitzi. But rocks and fires don’t seem to be her style. She’s more of an in-your-face gal.”
Wyl picked up the empty coffee mugs and carried them to the sink. “Yeah…she likes to threaten in person. Maybe Jack can come up with a couple of ideas. We’ll give him that note the next time we go into town.”
* * *
After cleaning up the breakfast dishes, they cleared the shards of glass from the rug and the floor, then vacuumed the area.
Then they strolled to the barn to survey the damage more.
One corner of the exterior needed replacing.
The interior, although wet, showed damage only on the wall near that corner.
Felipe and the hands were busy shoveling out the damp straw and cleaning up the mess.
The barn would dry out in a few days with both doors open.
Meanwhile, the horses stayed in the corral, safe from predators.
“It’s not as bad as I expected.” The fire residue stink assaulted Rod’s nose. “But will the horses be afraid of the lingering smell of fire?”
“I’ll have Felipe spray down the burned area with white vinegar,” Wyl said. “That, and the open doors, should eliminate the smell.”
“Vinegar? Won’t that make the barn smell like vinegar?”
Wyl shook his head. “We had a small pump house fire years ago. Dad sprayed the inside of the structure with vinegar, eliminating the odor. When the vinegar evaporates, the odor goes away.”
“Let’s hope we have no more reasons to use that,” Rod said.
Wyl gazed at Rod. “I’m proud of you for fighting that fire as you did. You didn’t hesitate to run into the burning barn and help, and you knew what to do when the water didn’t douse the flames.”
“I have a personal stake in the fight. It’s my ranch now, too. And I fought the fire not only for you but with you.”
Wyl smiled. “We fought for each other…protecting our assets…determined to not let the bad guys win.”
“Do you understand how much I love you?” Rod snaked his arm through Wyl’s and pulled him close.
“You always make me feel so good. I’ll never forgive myself for how I lashed out at you last night. Exhaustion, cold, and shock left me senseless, and after our fight, I feared losing you.”
“We both acted on pure adrenaline. After the fire was out, our brains were mush, and our emotions were high. But you came and found me, and we wrapped our arms around each other.”
Wyl tugged at Rod’s chin, searching deep into his eyes. “Do you realize how often we come to find each other when things don’t go right? I came after you when we first met. You came after me when I ran from Dusty. I came after you this morning. What does that tell you?”
“Why didn’t you come to find me last night?”
Wyl chuckled. “I wanted to give each of us a few minutes to calm down. I sat on the couch to rest for a second, and the next thing I knew, it was morning.”
Rod snuck a quick kiss. “Yeah, I settled in the corner to wait for you, and the next thing I know, you are pulling me into your arms. I guess we both needed to rest.”
“While the hands clean the stables, why don’t we run into town and take that note by Jack’s office? I don’t know that he can do much with it, but he sure can’t do anything if it stays on our coffee table.”
“Good idea, babe. And I guess I need to know where Jack’s office is. As a Sterling, I may interact with him on occasion.”
“Great point, cowboy.” Wyl kept his arm around Rod as they strolled toward the house. Although the damage was minor, the arsonist and possibly an accomplice were still out there. Wyl hoped Jack could corral the perps before they caused more damage. Or worse yet, harmed Rod.