Page 15 of On the Land, We Shoot Straight
“Yeah, course.”
“He ain’t never talked ’bout no horses.”
Cole snorted. “He wouldn’t.”
Now that Grady thought on it, maybe he wouldn’t. Jack was loud, always talking shit, and so if there was something to know about the Cole boys, Grady had figured he’d know it from Jack.But his conversation ran to football more than anything else. And then girls. And then what he was going do with girls and football once he got to the city and away from this damn place. Still, Grady reckoned they must’ve been using horses if the kid could ride like that.
“I had a horse,” Cole said.
Grady glanced at him from where they were standing side by side against the kitchen counter, their ankles crossed over their socked feet, their hands holding their glasses.
“We all did, but I don’t reckon the others…” He shrugged, but it was forced. “You know.”
Grady didn’t know. He was looking at Cole, his eyes adjusting to the dim of the kitchen; he thought Cole’s eyes looked watery, like maybe he was going to cry. Grady had no idea what to do if the kid started crying. But he reckoned he was getting what Cole was trying to say.
“Do you know where he is?”
Cole shook his head, cleared his throat.
“She.”
Cole took a long drink and set the glass aside. “She. And I don’t know. Slaughterhouse probably.”
Grady nodded because what else could he do? Horse was probably dog food by now, and there weren’t words to make that better. Make any of it better. And none of it was Grady’s business anyway.
“I’m gonna shower,” Cole said and pushed himself off the counter, his back to Grady. “Unless you want?”
“No, you go on.”
And Cole went out, his shoulders slumped and head down. And Grady wished he’d never asked and vowed not to ask anything else about that business ever again.
12
O
nly problem was, Gradycouldn’t stop wondering about it. If Cole could ride like that, it meant he’d probably had a damn good horse. Horse like that? Well, you’d get more for selling it to someone who wants to ride it, not just selling it on to get rid of it. Chloe was a damn pain in the ass, and maybe Cole would be the only one who could ever ride her properly, but no way a horse like her would end up at the slaughterhouse.
Grady had come into town to pick up a piece of machinery he’d ordered to upgrade the header. He decided to stop in at the bar for a beer. Because that was the other thing. Normally he only needed to scratch that itch every now and then. But lately, Grady felt like he needed to blow off steam weekly.
He ordered a beer and nodded acknowledgment to the guys warming the bar. He sipped and made eye contact with Chris.
Chris nodded back, holding Grady’s gaze for a moment longer than everyone else before he went back to talking to Steve. Steve had been running his dad’s farm for at least a year now, but no doubt still had a lot of questions because he’d gone to thecity straight from school and had missed the worst of the heat cooking the land these last few years. He’d have to adapt like the rest of them had.
Grady finished his beer, shook his head at Donna when she came over to ask if he wanted another one, then headed out. He went down the alley between the bar and the grocery store, stepped into the alcove, lit a cigarette and listened as the sound of boots crunching on the gravel came towards him. Grady took a drag, and Chris stepped in front of him.
“Grady.”
Grady nodded, dropped the cigarette, crushed it under his boot and went for his belt. Chris sank to his knees in front of him. Grady pulled his dick out, gave it a few strokes as Chris leaned forward and gripped Grady’s hips.
Chris sucked the head into his mouth, then sank all the way down.
Grady let out a long exhale and focused on the pleasure of that wet heat engulfing his dick as Chris got him hard with a few quick sucks before settling into a good rhythm. Grady groaned quietly, rocked his hips, felt his dick bump the back of Chris’s throat.
Chris brought one hand off Grady’s hip, wrapped it around the base of his shaft and jerked him off in time with his mouth. His suction was ruthless in a way that’d get Grady there fast.
Grady let himself go into the feeling of that hot mouth, that tight pressure. He came with a grunt. Chris pulled off and spat into the dirt. He stood and went for his own belt.
Grady tucked himself away, did his buttons up and fixed his belt before dropping to his knees and returning the favor. Chris was already hard, so Grady sucked him down and sucked him off in the same way he liked it done on himself—efficiently.
