Page 4 of Bales and Brawn

He lets out a heavy sigh and goes away. I feel the immediate relief of not having his intense gaze on me, and can breathe properly now while I work. Not the best way to conduct myself on my first morning. But there’s something about Zane that makes me want to poke him until I get a reaction. A bit like someone might poke a sleeping alligator to get it to snap. I might not be stupid, but I’ve never claimed to be smart, and I know it’s a dangerous game to play, but I can’t help it. He walks around all wound up tight, like a coiled spring. I wonder what he does to relax . . . But looking at him, he probably doesn’t. He’d have to take the rod out of his ass first.

I work steadily until my phone buzzes, and I take a breath and sit on a pile of sacks. Pulling out my phone, I see there’s a message in the group chat with my brothers.

How’s the job, Dev?

This is from Griffin.

What’s your new boss like? Is he hot?

Of course this is Corbin’s first question.

Hope it works out for you, Dev

The last is from Godwin and is typical of him.

Okay so far. Boss is as stiff as an ironing board and as much fun as a dish full of dead flies

I answer and receive the expected lol emojis in return.

By stiff, you don’t mean in a good way?

I send the only appropriate response to Corbin, which is a flipping the bird emoji, though I half expect him to say something about that too.

“Hullo, Devin.” Nova’s appearance startles me, as I hadn’t heard him approach, and I jump up.

“Sorry, I was just taking a minute.”

“Oh, it doesn’t bother me.” He gives me a sunshiny smile, and I can’t believe how two brothers can be so different.

“Anything good?” He perches on the next pile of sacks and indicates to my phone, which I’m still clutching in my hand.

“Oh, just my brothers in our group chat, asking how it’s going.”

“You have brothers? How many? What are their names? What are they like? Are they like you?” Nova asks excitedly.

“There’s Griffin. He’s the eldest, a couple of years older than me. Corbin is two years younger than me. They’re bigger than me and have our dad’s reddish-brown hair and beard, whereas I have black hair like our mum. They’re both stonemasons and run their own company. Then Godwin is the youngest. He’s also the smallest and has bright red hair. He’s an archeologist.”

“Three brothers! I’m so jealous. I would have loved to have more brothers. But my mom died when I was born. Not that I don’t love Zane of course, but sometimes he acts more like my dad than my brother.”

“That must have been tough, not having a mum,” I say, and Nova shrugs.

“I guess I don’t know any different. Not Zane, though. He was twelve when I was born. Since then it’s just been me, Zane, and Dad.”

“What about your aunt Arlene?” I know I shouldn’t really pry.

“She’s Dad’s sister. She came to live with us when Uncle Buck died a few years ago. She didn’t have any children, so I haven’t even got any cousins.” He scuffs the toe of his boot on the floor, looking glum, and I get a glimpse of how lonely it must have been for him and Zane. I guess I take my family and brothers for granted.

“They can be fun. But I promise you that sometimes they’re too much. Even from a few thousand miles away.” I try to lighten the mood and he brightens up.

“Have you told them about me?” I look to see if he’s being coy, but he’s not. He looks genuinely interested.

“Not yet,” I reply noncommittally. But also, no way am I doing that. All of my brothers are gay, and while Griffin seems to be in a new relationship that he’s keeping annoyingly quiet about, Corbin is like a vulture even at this distance. A customer arrives and Nova gets up to serve them, so I return to my work. When I’ve cleared the area, I carefully sweep the floor until there’s not a speck of dust to be seen. Since Nova’s still busy, I walk out into the yard. The doors of one of the large barns are standing open, and inside I can see a huge tractor. Attached to it are three platforms. I’ve always loved machinery, the bigger the better. It’s one of the reasons I came over here to drive big rigs. So I can’t help taking a look. I walk into the cool of the barn and see Zane working on what looks like a set of large cutting blades. He raises his eyes as I approach.

“That’s some impressive bit of kit you have there,” I say. I see the corners of his mouth twitch for the briefest second before he slams down the usual sour look he has for me. But I don’t care. I’ve seen a crack in his armor, and if I can do it once, I can do it again.

“It’s a mega mower. We start the first cut of hay in a few weeks, so I’m just getting it ready,” he says and then gives me a few facts. They don’t mean a whole lot to me, but he’s almost animated about the subject, so I’m content to let him ramble. Once he’s run out of steam I let him know I’ve finished the task he set me, and he follows me back to the feed store to inspect my work.

“Looks good.” He gives his verdict and I nearly whoop at the heady praise, but luckily I manage to hold it in.