Page 40 of On the Land, We Shoot Straight
Cole nodded and nudged Chloe to a canter for the gate. They got them through and the gate shut, some of the ewes at the rear of the flock glancing over their shoulders as if to sayAnd fuck youbefore trotting to the dam for a drink.
Cole blew out a breath, wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his forearm. He looked at Grady and laughed, his eyes dancing, chest heaving.
“It ain’t funny,” Grady said. Well, shouted. Fucking wind.
“It kinda is!”
Grady shook his head, turned Red and got him moving out fast. He knew Cole would follow. Grady led them through the pasture and then into the next one until they were riding on the top of the hill, getting the full blast of the wind before descending down into the valley below. The wind disappeared as soon as they dropped to the lower ground.
They slowed the horses and made for the stream, the cottonwoods thick amidst the rocks down here; Grady’s daddy had liked it so much, he refused to clear it. Good thing, too; it was a cool reprieve that lasted all year round in an otherwise cleared and barren landscape.
“This is nice,” Cole said as he came alongside Grady, horses at a walk.
“Good campin’ down there.” Grady nodded at the thicker trees a good mile away.
“Nice.”
Red knew what was what and he was making his way through the trees to the stream, Chloe on his tail. They walked the rest of the way with their hooves splashing in the water. It rose at some points so Grady’s boots skimmed the top. He turned in his saddle to look back at Cole and saw him with the stirrups pulled up and swung crisscross over Chloe’s neck, his booted feet crossed-legged over the saddle. He had one hand resting on an ankle, the other resting on the top of the saddle, reins loose. Grady shook his head and snorted softly to himself; no one else could take liberties like that with that horse.
The air was degrees cooler, and the wind a faint memory whistling high above them. Grady urged Red out of the water, into the shade near the rocks, and dismounted. Chloe came up behind them, and Cole slid down.
“Just gonna take her for a quick swim.”
Grady nodded and looked down the stream to where it widened and got deeper. He figured Cole had figured that and left him to it.
When Cole came back, holding the lead rope loose, once again naked, Grady was sitting back and drinking his coffee. His eyes were drawn to that impressive dick. He took his hat off, set his coffee aside and got up as Cole finished tying Chloe on and came over. Cole was about to reach for his pants when Grady stopped him with a hand on his hip. He dropped to his knees and took him in his mouth. Cole slid his hands into Grady’s hair and held on.
That night, after they’d eaten and fucked and turned in for the night, Grady asked the question that’d been bugging him.
“Why didn’t you go to the city?”
“Huh?”
Grady kept his eyes on the clear night sky between the canopy of trees and asked again.
“Why didn’t you go to the city?”
“Whaddya mean?”
“When you left the farm. Why’d you stay?”
Cole blew out a breath. Grady felt the air between them change with it, as if the temperature had dropped and a cold wind gusted over them.
“I shouldn’t have asked.”
Grady listened as Cole’s bedding rustled around. Cole sat up, brought his knees up and rested his arms there so his palms dangled. His gaze was fixed on the stream trickling over polished stones, on the horses tied on to the closest tree, their hooves lifting and touching the earth softly, the brush of Red’s tail swishing, Chloe’s head nodding up and down. Cole was a dark outline in profile against the night blue of the sky, the fire nothing but glowing red embers between them.
“It ain’t that,” Cole said after a while.
“It ain’t what?”
“You askin’.”
“All right.”
Cole shook his head and looked over his shoulder. “I can’t talk about it.”
“All right.”
