They parted with a short side hug and Wright welcomed the silence of the small house. His home. The place he would be sharing with Xander now. He looked at every detail. The one cabinet that he had to get Xander to rearrange because he couldn’t reach the cups on the top shelf. The fridge that held both their favorite drinks and snacks. The sink where their breakfast dishes still sat. He decided to wash them quickly and set them to dry before moving toward the bedroom to change.
He made sure to turn the phone back on and plug it in to give it a full charge. He folded his clothes when he stripped down, since he only wore them for a couple hours. He decided to lay down for a bit. It’d been a long day already and he knew there were some big conversations to have after supper.
The book he’d been reading yesterday still sat on the bedside table. He thought about it, wondering if he should chance continuing it. He wasn’t lying to Xander yesterday when he said it got to him. He ignored the trigger warnings at the beginning, thinking he’d be okay. But the main character was going through abuse similar to him and he couldn’t help but put himself in that situation again. He liked the storyline though and knew there was a happy ending. He hoped he had a happy ending after all of this.
He got comfortable, breathing deep against Xander’s pillow and closed his eyes. Now that he was alone and had time to think, his brain ramped up with the last few weeks and everything that happened. He’d had plenty of time to think over the past month, but it was different now. He no longer washealing, hewashealed. He was good to go, clean bill of health. He would look back and see this as the first day of his new life.
A month ago, he had no one but his dad to talk to. A few teachers were kind to him, even fewer of his fellow classmates. He focused on his studies and took all the classes he needed to graduate a semester early. Having been held back a grade and being over eighteen, there wasn’t much the school could do to keep him coming in the last semester for extra classes. So, he’d been home on his own during the days since January. The few times he took for himself were far between and always tainted with worry that he’d be caught or yelled at for being lazy.
But now, he was living with an older man and doing things he never thought he would get to experience. And the best part of it all, his dad had no clue about any of it. He wasn’t sure whatwas happening on that end. Xander was still in contact with the cop that took his statement, but he said there wasn’t much of an update outside of the investigation is still open and they’re keeping an eye on him. His life was still a mess, but today gave him one more step in the right direction.
He breathed deeper, rolling onto his stomach, and his thoughts turned to Xander himself. He replayed every moment he could with him. From the first day they met, when Wright was in so much pain he didn’t even want to talk, to just last night when he cried out into the night air and emptied his load down Xander’s throat. He’d been breathless and couldn’t stop himself from pulling Xander back up and sealing their lips together. He could taste himself and was surprised he didn’t hate it. Instead, he’d swiped his tongue against Xander’s and deepened the kiss, reaching between their bodies to jack him off.
Chapter Eleven
~ Wright ~
Monday morning was his first official day of working. He’d spent two hours talking to Patrick about the things he could do- yard work, cleaning, organizing- and what things he might be interested in learning. The ranch was only part of it. Patrick asked him if he wanted to go to school in the Fall, like Paxton. They discussed pay, rent, hours to work, driving lessons. His dad never wanted to spend the money for him to do the required testing to get his license. Xander was supposed to give him some lessons over the next few weeks.
They had an event for the Fourth of July in a few days. Wright was tasked with helping to clean up the field, mowing and weed eating by the fence and around the backside of the guest house. After a quick overview on the riding mower, Wright spent the morning mowing the straightest lines he could up and down the field. He went over it twice, just to make sure it looked good. It wasn’t perfect. After lunch, he spent another two hours cleaning around the buildings and even cleaned out the bird bath sitting to the right of the patio of the guest house. He scrubbed it down and added fresh water to it, plucking a fewwildflowers to add and let float, hopefully attracting some birds. He’d ask Tracy if he could put a bird feeder up.
The summer sun was insane and everyone made sure he kept hydrated. Before, he’d spend a few hours outside and just use the water hose instead of trekking in and out of the house and potentially make his dad angry for bringing in dirt or anything. Now, he was supplied with fresh sweet tea or ice water every hour. It was a nice change. Xander also made him wear his ball cap and reapply sunscreen twice, which wasn’t much of an argument for Wright. By the time he finished, he pulled off his shirt and held the water hose above his head, letting the water cool him off.
“Damn, I could get used to seeing that.” Xander’s voice was behind him and he spun around to look at him. He wasn’t shirtless, but he’d undone all the buttons and Wright had a clear view of his chest. His skin was glistening with sweat. It should be gross, but Wright wanted him closer. He was hot. His hat was low over his forehead, casting most of his face in a shadow. Wright held the hose between them, splashing on the ground, as he openly ogled the man.
“Want to join me?”
“I’d love to,” Xander said. He grabbed each edge of his shirt and fanned himself. “I still have a little bit of stuff to do before we’re done for the day, though. The field looks amazing. You did a great job. Patrick’s impressed too.”
“Thanks.” Wright bent forward at the waist and let the water run through his hair for another second before he turned the water off and rolled the hose back up. “There wasn’t a large yard where I lived, but I got good at making sure not to miss any spots. We had a tree in the back and two bushes up front so I had to learn to weed around everything.”
Xander stepped forward and took the hat from his hand. His fingers trailed along his jaw and then down the column of hisneck. Wright tilted his face up as Xander leaned down to kiss him gently. The shade from Xander’s hat covered their faces and Wright was grateful for it almost as much as the kiss. Almost.
“I hope you know that you don’t have to be perfect here,” Xander whispered against his lips.
“I know,” Wright said. Xander swiped his hair back and replaced the cap with a smile. “But I want to make a good first impression for my new boss.”
“Your new boss can stick it if he says anything bad.” Xander stepped back and held his hand out for Wright to take. They walked hand-in-hand around to the front of the guest house. Wright had already replaced the mower and other tools in the small shed attached off the side of the barn. They had three different types of riding mowers and several more tools and yard equipment. The shed was almost as spacious as the guest house. He hadn’t gone into the barn in weeks though.
“I’ll be sure to tell him you said that.” Wright stopped to grab his shirt where he’d hung it on a chair on the patio. He didn’t like taking his shirt off around others.
“Have you met any of the horses yet?” Xander asked as they stood by the open side of the barn. During the daylight hours, it stayed open. It was built close to the house for several reasons, Patrick explained Saturday night. The main one being that wild animals like foxes typically wouldn’t dare to come so close to the houses where there was human scents all around.Close being an operative word, of course, because the gravel lot that sat in the middle of the guest house, barn, and main house was large enough for Patrick and Xander’s trucks, Tracy’s SUV, and the workers that came and went during the day. It could easily pack ten cars with room to walk around them. The gravel crunched under Wright’s new boots. Paxton had gone out with some friends and either Xander or Patrick must have asked her to get them because she came back yesterday with the pair. They wereexactly his size, so he was leaning toward Xander. Of course he denied it. Like he denied the tennis shoes too.
“Not officially,” Wright said. “I’ve watched them from a distance and in the outside section. But neither of us have been brave enough to get close, I think. I like horses, think they’re beautiful creatures, but I don’t have any experience with them.”
“Let’s change that,” Xander said. “This was the last thing I needed to do today anyway. I need to pull some things out of the tack room for tomorrow and make sure we’re prepared for some trail rides this weekend.”
“What are all the summer activities do you do here?” Wright asked. The inside of the barn was exquisite to say the least. It was a large, open aisle with five stalls on the right and three open stalls on the left. He wasn’t sure what the ones on the left were for, never bothered to ask when he’d walk past. Two of the horses were in their stalls, but the others were outside, in the fenced area between the barn and the non-profit houses. He knew from their walks that there was only one way that led off the property to the state road, but a few trails and unmarked dirt roads led around other parts. There was a fork in the dirt road that went to either the main road or the refuge houses. It was protected by a security camera that ran constantly. There was another trail that they walked one evening that led around the acres for the horses and toward the back of the property where the animals they raised for meat and breeding lived. Xander didn’t take him that far without the truck, but it was a nice walk through the fields.
The cattle roamed different parts of the land, depending on something Xander tried to explain to him with the grass and making sure they didn’t destroy the land or something. Wright had only half listened to that while he’d stripped out of his clothes after a day of working. He already told himself he’d steer clear of the ‘big’ animals on his own.
“It’s mostly just family events,” Xander said. “We will rent out the field that you cleaned up today for special events for those that want a country feel. Sometimes it’s locals that just need a large space, but most of the people either come from the city or up north and think it’s a cute place to live.”
Wright smiled at his use of the word cute. He knew that it was hard work to run a place like Family Ranch. Between keeping up the grounds, raising and herding cattle, all the work the horses required; it was a lot and that was why Wright wanted to help out however he could. He wanted to be part of that.
“They’re beautiful,” Wright said as they stopped by one of the stalls. The horse stuck its head over the door and Xander reached up to scratch behind its ear. It was black in color with a white patch on its face and much taller than Wright. The nose- snout? - was eye level with him. The horse’s head was taller than Xander. The height alone was intimidating in close proximity.
“We’ll get them used to you before you work with them or attempt to ride. They’re all pretty tame, but you want to be careful with animals as big as them. This is Benito. He’s a Mustang and a sweetheart. Just watch him around mud because he has a love for it and will roll around. I ride him mostly.”
