1. Jesse
JESSE
“ O ut of shape, little brother?” Beau asks as he throws the bale of hay onto the trailer.
“He does seem out of breath, doesn’t he?” Lake chimes in. “I mean out of all of us, you’re the only one who still has to impress a partner—the rest of us just have to maintain.”
“Speak for yourself,” my oldest brother says. “Have you seen my wife? She’s a ten; I gotta do more than just maintain. ”
I snort because Beau has always been the biggest out of us, his stature the most like our father’s. But none of us have ever lived at a gym. Between the tree farm and working the horses, there’s never been any shortage of manual labor around here.
“Fuck off, both of you,” I grumble which makes both of them laugh.
“You still thinking about that guy?” Harlan says as he comes around the corner. Harlan came to us for seasonal work that quickly turned into a permanent position running the horse sanctuary that’d been my father’s passion project.
He’s also in love with my cousin Reid—the one that has a really big mouth.
“I am not still thinking about a guy.”
This gets me raised eyebrows from all three of them as I grab another bale. I don’t think about guys because I don’t do relationships. Nate and I had a great time and that was that. The problem is that it has been over a month since I’ve been with anyone.
It has nothing to do with Nate.
Or the way he fucked me better than anyone else ever has.
Definitely not.
I just haven’t been in the mood to go out and find someone when my hand does just fine. I can deal with jacking myself off, but the inevitable letdown that comes with mediocre sex isn’t high on my priority list.
I’ll consider this a dry spell.
That’s a thing, isn’t it?
“What guy?” Lake asks, his hands on his hips as if this is something we talk about all the time and now he’s feeling left out.
“There’s no guy.”
“There was a guy,” Harlan repeats and I glare at him.
“What? Your mom has been sending Reid pictures of cute puppies that are up for adoption.” That sounds exactly like my mother, and I can confirm that I have also been receiving unsolicited dog pictures that she’s hoping will become her grandpuppies.
Still…
“Did I not help hold Beau back when he wanted to punch you in the face?” I throw back, the words full of indignation.
Harlan shrugs. “I would have deserved it.”
“Man, that feels like a lifetime ago.” Beau smirks, brushing his hands together. “Look at us now.”
“Yeah, it’s a miracle,” I say wryly, shaking my head as I take a step backward.
“Hey, watch out?—”
Lake’s words are a moment too late as I lose my balance, my boot getting caught on the corner of the hay bale as I stumble back. Arms flailing, I’m at the mercy of gravity as I wait for impact.
It feels like a lifetime passes but then it all happens in a flash as well. My hip connects with the unforgiving ground as pain shoots up my back and down my leg.
Awesome.
I can hear them laughing, and if I weren’t the one on the ground I’d probably laugh too, but this shit hurts and I think I need a hand getting up. So I’ll wait until one of them collects themselves enough to help me. It’s not like I have anywhere to be.
Not at all.