Chapter 23
Dante
“Ifeel like a kid on a play date,” I said as I pulled the SUV up to the old farmhouse. “All that’s missing is my mother and freedom of me shitting my pants.”
“Wow,” Nick answered, grinning from ear to ear. “Thanks for that visual.”
“You know I’m right,” I retorted. “Evelyn invited us out here to make friends because Jesse and Cole are gay.”
I unbuckled my seatbelt and glanced at the house. Through the windows, I could see movement, shadows passing back and forth like whoever was inside was pacing. Or maybe just watching. It was hard to tell from out here.
“And what’s wrong with that?” Nick asked, opening his door. “We could use some friends who understand what it’s like.”
He had a point. Back in Jersey, I’d had plenty of associates, people I did business with or worked alongside.
But friends? Real friends who knew who I was and didn’t run screaming?
Those had been in short supply. And out here in Montana, isolated on the ranch with only Angelo, Nick, and my in-laws, I was starting to feel the lack of social connection more than I’d expected.
“Nothing’s wrong with it,” I admitted, climbing out of the SUV. “It’s just weird. Being set up on a friendship date because we’re both gay couples in the middle of nowhere.”
“Welcome to small-town Montana,” Nick said with a chuckle. “This is how it works out here. Evelyn’s just looking out for us.”
I couldn’t argue with that. The woman had been nothing but kind since we’d arrived, even when my own in-laws could barely stand to look at me. If she wanted to introduce us to other gay men in the area, who was I to complain?
The front door opened before we even made it to the porch, and a man stepped out.
He was tall, maybe my height, with sandy brown hair that looked like he’d just rolled out of bed and hazel eyes that took us both in with open curiosity.
Tribal tattoos snaked down his right arm, disappearing under the sleeve of his worn t-shirt.
“You must be Nick and Dante,” he said, his voice carrying a slight twang that was different from the Montana accent I’d gotten used to. “I’m Jesse. Come on in before the mosquitoes eat you alive.”
We followed him inside, and I immediately noticed how different this house was from the Wesley place.
Where Nick’s family home was worn but well-maintained, this place had an edge of chaos to it.
Boots scattered by the door, a jacket thrown over the back of a chair, dishes in the sink visible through the kitchen doorway.
“Cole’s in the shower,” Jesse said, gesturing toward the hallway. “He’ll be out in a minute. Y’all want something to drink? We’ve got beer, water, some kind of juice Evelyn brought over...”
“Beer sounds good,” I said, and Nick nodded in agreement.
Jesse headed for the kitchen, and Nick and I exchanged a glance. This was already awkward, and we hadn’t even met the other half of this couple yet.
“So,” Jesse called from the kitchen, “Evelyn says you two are newlyweds. How’s married life treating you?”
I wasn’t sure how to answer that. The truth was complicated—that we’d started as a business arrangement, that I’d essentially bought Nick, that we’d somehow stumbled into something real despite all of that. But I didn’t know these people well enough to lay all that out.
“It’s an adjustment,” Nick said carefully, accepting the beer Jesse handed him. “But we’re figuring it out.”
“Aren’t we all,” Jesse muttered, taking a long pull from his own bottle. “Cole and I have been married for what, six months now? And I still don’t know what the hell I’m doing half the time.”
There was something in his tone that suggested there was more to that story, but before I could ask, footsteps sounded from the hallway. A moment later, another man appeared, his dark hair still damp from the shower.
Cole Nelson. I saw him once or twice around town, though we’d never been formally introduced. He had tattoos, was muscular in the way that came from hard physical labor rather than a gym, and he carried himself with the kind of quiet confidence that came from knowing exactly who he was.
His eyes landed on me first, then shifted to Nick, and I saw something flicker across his face. Recognition, maybe, or assessment. Like he was trying to figure out if we were worth his time.
“Cole,” Jesse said, “this is Nick and Dante. The guys Evelyn’s been going on about.”
“Right.” Cole moved into the room, extending his hand first to Nick, then to me. His grip was firm, callused. “Good to meet you both. Sorry about the mess—Jesse’s idea of cleaning is shoving everything in a closet and hoping for the best.”
“Hey,” Jesse protested, but there was affection in his voice. “At least I try. You just leave your shit everywhere and expect it to magically put itself away. Evelyn is getting too old to pick up after you.”
“Don’t let her hear you say that…”
I watched them bicker, saw the easy familiarity in the way they moved around each other, and felt something twist in my chest. Was this what Nick and I looked like to other people? Was this what we could become if we kept at it?
“So, Evelyn says you’re ranchers too?” Nick asked, clearly trying to steer the conversation to safer ground. “I grew up hearing the Nelson name, but Dante’s new here.”
“Yep,” Cole said, settling into an armchair that looked like it had been well loved for many years. “Though our operation is smaller than what you’ve got. We do mostly grass-fed beef we sell direct to customers and a few restaurants.”
“That’s a good market,” Nick said, and I could hear the interest in his voice. He loved talking shop, loved learning about different approaches to ranching. “We’ve been thinking about diversifying our sales channels too.”
As Nick and Cole fell into conversation about cattle and markets and the challenges of ranching in Montana, I found myself zoning out a bit. Jesse came over to sit beside me, a mischievous look on his face.
“You,” he said with a grin, “are not from around here and that makes you interesting. What is that accent?”
I couldn’t help but smile at his directness. “Jersey. Newark, specifically.”
“Jersey!” Jesse’s eyes lit up like I’d just told him I was from Mars. “What the hell brings a Jersey boy all the way out here to the middle of nowhere Montana?”
I glanced at Nick, who was still deep in conversation with Cole about feed costs or something equally riveting. How much should I tell this guy? The truth felt too complicated, too messy to lay out for someone I’d just met.
“Marriage,” I said finally, gesturing toward Nick with my beer bottle. “And business. My family has... interests in ranching.”
“Interests,” Jesse repeated, his grin widening. “That’s a fancy way of putting it. What, you guys some kind of cattle barons back east?”
“Something like that.” I took a long pull from my beer, hoping he’d drop it.
He didn’t.
“Come on, there’s gotta be more to it than that. Nobody just moves from New Jersey to Montana for ‘business interests.’” He made air quotes with his fingers, and I noticed his nails were immaculate. “What’s the real story?”
I studied him for a moment, trying to figure out what game he was playing. But his expression was open, curious rather than suspicious. Maybe this was just how he was, direct and unfiltered.
“My family arranged the marriage,” I admitted. “To secure the ranch. It’s complicated.”
“Oh shit,” Jesse said, but he didn’t look shocked. If anything, he looked intrigued. “An arranged marriage? That’s some old-world shit right there.”
“Yeah, well, my family’s old-world in a lot of ways.”
“And you just went along with it?” He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “Married some guy you didn’t know because your family said so?”
I bristled at the judgment in his tone, even though it was the same thing I’d asked myself a hundred times. “It wasn’t like that. Not exactly.”
“Then what was it like?”
I looked over at Nick again. He was laughing at something Cole had said, his whole face lighting up in that way that made my heart race. God, when had I become this person? This sap who got all soft over his husband’s smile?
“It was a business arrangement that became something more,” I said quietly. “We’re figuring it out as we go.”
Jesse’s expression softened, and he sat back with a knowing nod. “Yeah, I get that. Cole and I... we didn’t exactly have a traditional start either, considering he’s my stepbrother.”
I nearly broke my neck with how quickly I turned to face him. But he just took a swig of his beer, unbothered.
“Sometimes the best relationships are the ones you don’t see coming,” he added.
I suddenly had about a billion different questions. But before I could ask even one, Cole’s voice cut through our conversation.
“Jesse, you interrogating the poor guy already?”
“What? I’m just being friendly,” Jesse protested, but there was a glint of mischief in his eyes. “Besides, somebody’s gotta get the good gossip. You’re too busy talking about hay yields or whatever boring shit you and Nick are going on about.”
“It’s not boring,” Nick said, but he was smiling. “It’s important.”
“It’s boring,” Jesse insisted. He turned back to me. “So, you ride?”
“Ride what?”
“I already know what you ride at home.” Jesse waggled his eyebrows as he glanced over at Nick. “Horses are what I meant, obviously. What else would I be talking about?”
“I’m okay at it,” I admitted. “Haven’t ridden in a bit though thanks to the broken ribs. Angelo and Nick have been taking care of everything in my place.”
“Angelo?” Jesse’s eyebrows shot up. “Who’s Angelo?”
“One of my guys from back home. He came out here to help with the ranch.”
“One of your guys,” Jesse repeated slowly, and I realized too late how that sounded. “What, like a bodyguard or something?”
I felt Nick tense from across the room, and I knew I’d stepped in it. This was exactly the kind of thing I wasn’t supposed to talk about. Nobody needed to know about the mob connections, the business back in Jersey, and all the real reasons why I was here.
“Just a friend,” I said quickly. “He wanted a change of scenery. A fresh start.”
Jesse looked like he didn’t quite believe me, but mercifully he let it drop. “Well, if you want to get more practice in, let us know. I’ll never turn down a riding partner. Ryder and Connor are too busy being love birds to go out with me anymore.”
“Ryder and Connor?”
“Oh yeah,” Jesse nodded. “They live out in a little cabin on the ranch. Ryder was disowned by his dad and likes to be tied up. Connor is an ex-convict, and he’s apparently good at tying knots.”
My eyes widened as I tried to process all that sudden deluge of information.
I shot a look at Nick, who had gone completely still, his beer bottle halfway to his lips. Cole just sighed and shook his head like this was a normal Tuesday conversation.
“Jesus Christ, Jesse,” Cole muttered. “You can’t just—”
“What?” Jesse said innocently. “I’m just being honest. They’re gonna meet them eventually, anyway. Might as well know what they’re getting into.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Back in Jersey, people didn’t just casually mention their kinks over beer in the living room. But then again, back in Jersey, I’d never met anyone quite like Jesse Harris.
“So, there’s two gay couples on this ranch?” Nick asked, clearly trying to redirect the conversation to safer territory.
“Two and a half if you count Evelyn’s nephew Tim who visits sometimes,” Jesse said. “But he’s only here in the summers after his college classes are done. I think he’s a senior this year actually, so maybe we’ll see him more.”
“That’s... a lot,” I said, genuinely surprised. “For Montana.”
“Right?” Jesse leaned back, throwing his arm over the back of the couch. “When I first got here, I thought I was gonna be the only queer in the whole state. Turns out this place is like some kind of gay ranch magnet. Few more years and we’ll run the place, top to bottom.”
“It’s not a magnet,” Cole said, but there was affection in his voice. “We just don’t discriminate who we hire around here.”
“Hard to discriminate when you married your stepbrother,” Jesse pointed out. “Which is like peak gay if you ask me.”
“Nobody asked you,” Cole shot back, but his lips were twitching like he was trying not to smile.
I watched them go back and forth, saw the easy banter that spoke of real intimacy, real comfort with each other. It was different from what Nick and I had, rougher around the edges, maybe, but no less real.
“How long have you two been together?” Nick asked. “Before the marriage, I mean.”
Cole and Jesse exchanged a look, and I saw something complicated pass between them.
“It’s a long story,” Cole said finally. “The short version is we grew up together, lost touch for years, and then reconnected when Jesse came back to Montana after my dad died.”
“The long version involves a lot more drama, a shared tent in a blizzard, and a lot of lube,” Jesse added with a smirk. “And some really stupid decisions on both our parts. But we figured it out, eventually.”
“Sounds familiar,” I muttered, and Nick shot me a look that was half amused, half warning.
“So, what about you two?” Jesse asked, turning that sharp gaze back on us. “How’d you actually meet? And don’t give me that ‘arranged marriage’ bullshit. I want the real story.”
I looked at Nick. He shook his head slightly, warning me not to tell them any more.
“Oh,” I said with a dismissive shrug. “I’m in the mob.”
Cole and Jesse exchanged a look before they broke out laughing.
“You’re hilarious,” Jesse grinned, clapping me on the shoulder. “I like you.”
I glanced over at Nick, watching him laugh along as best as he could, his eyes wide with horror. I couldn’t help but smile. The truth, I’d learned, was far less believable than any lie I could make up. And every good lie began with the truth.