Page 17 of Herds and Hooves

“It must be. Now, let’s flip to see who breaks.” He won the flip and I instantly regretted suggesting pool. It was obvious he played often and was very good.

“There’s a place in Auburn that has weekly tournaments. I used to go all the time for something to do outside of work,” he explained.

“Did you win all the time?”

“A few times,” he admitted.

“You could have warned me that you’re a shark,” I said just as Isaac Carter and his boyfriend Tig walked over to the table. Isaac was younger than Bart while Tig was around my age.

“Who’s this shark?” Isaac asked, never one to hold back.

“Isaac, this is Bart Martin; he’s working for Asa Martin.”

“No shit, is he your grandpa?” Isaac asked and took a seat at our table while Tig wandered over to the bar.

“My uncle,” Bart said with a grin before taking a sip of his beer. “Did you guys want to play?”

“I would have sworn I heard the word ‘shark’ as we were walking up. How do I know you’re not going to try to get us to bet on the game and then steal all our money?” he asked, and I couldn’t control the way my brows contorted before shooting up into my hairline just as Tig walked back carrying two beers.

“Don’t mind him, we just watched The Hustler.”

It took me a minute to realize what he meant. “That old movie with Paul Neuman?”

“That’s the one. Now he’s convinced anyone playing pool is up to something.”

“Not true, and why are you telling my secrets,” Isaac said before kissing Tig then taking a drink of his beer.

“Well, usually you tell everyone your secrets, so I guess there’s not really a lot that I can’t share.” Tig looked at him like he hung the moon and even while they were giving each other a hard time, their feelings were there for everyone to see.

“I might resemble that comment. But you don’t need to be telling everyone. Especially the new transplants. Bart might have thought I was someone who could keep a secret and now he knows.”

“Everyone in town knows. It was only a matter of time before he figured it out,” Tig said with nothing but admiration in his voice.

“What are you doing hanging out with this old guy?” Isaac asked Bart while staring at me.

“He asked me out and he’s not bad to look at,” Bart said, making me nearly spit my beer out after an unfortunately timed drink.

“What?” I sputtered.

“It’s not a lie. Now are we playing or are we drinking?” he asked surprising me once again.

“We’re playing and we’re drinking,” Isaac said and picked up the quarter to flip.

“Oh, look at that, looks like we’re breaking,” Bart said, and I already knew this was not going to end well for Tig and Isaac.

Fifteen

Bart

“So, what do you think of Foggy Basin?” Isaac asked. I liked him, he was very direct and didn’t beat around the bush. If he wanted to know something he just asked. His hot boyfriend was the opposite. Tall, dark, and mysterious, or maybe that was just me. Tig seemed very sweet and was obviously very in love with Isaac.

“I like it. I was only going to stay a weekend, that turned into a week. That was more than four months ago.”

“So, you and Keith?” Isaac asked and tipped his head at Keith who was watching us from across the table like he was waiting to throw me a life preserver at any moment.

“We met on the first day I came here. I was having a hard time finding that fucking road to the ranch, so I doubled back to town and stopped at the hardware store.”

“Nuts and Bolts, that’s my guy Jack’s place. Oh, and Hudson, can’t forget him.”