Page 58 of On the Land, We Shoot Straight
“Nothin’,” she said, shrugging like it was a whole lot of something. “Just surprised he stuck around, is all.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Grady asked.
“Ease up, Grady,” Joel said and yeah, okay, maybe that came off colder than usual—but they got a problem with Cole, they got a problem with him.
Cheryl was undeterred by the comment; in fact, she looked like she was enjoying getting a rise out of him, lipstick-red lips smirking down at him.
“Just a lotta rumors goin’ round about what that boy’d get up to, is all. He shoulda gone to the city and taken it like his mama and brothers.” Cheryl wandered off with a parting shot: “Had some respect for himself.”
Grady stared after her, but kept himself where he was. He took her meaning well enough and felt caught off guard and angry all at once.
“Why did he stay?” Joel asked.
Grady refocused on him. He’d known Joel all his life, couldn’t remember a world where Joel wasn’t in it. But as Joel peered at him, seeking out some juicy gossip, his posture lazy andindulgent as he sipped his coffee, Grady felt like he was seeing him for the first time and not liking the view. The same old gossiping pussy as the rest of them.
Grady stood and pulled out his wallet. Joel sat back, as if Grady’s movement had woken him up. Cheryl was coming over with his plate, but she stuttered a step, and her superior smirk slipped.
Grady tossed a few bills on the table and walked out.
“You not wantin’ your breakfast?” Cheryl called after him as Joel said, “Grady, c’mon. Grady!”
Grady got in his truck and drove home.
Cole was sitting on the step and tossing a ball for Lady when he drove up. He got out, came around the front of the truck, and met Cole’s eyes. Lady nudged Cole’s hand, and he refocused on her, smiled with his whole face, and threw the ball again.
“That was quick,” Cole said as Grady came up to the steps, his hands empty.
Grady stopped in front of him. Cole looked up, squinted, the smile falling away from his face.
“You need a hand gettin’ stuff from the truck?” Cole looked past Grady to the truck and then back to Grady’s face, his voice and face unsure.
Grady watched Cole’s mouth move around the words, noted his uncertain expression. Cole stood, tentative, and Grady didn’t move back with the movement. Cole was in his space now, eyes looking up that last inch. Grady brought his hand up slowly. He cupped him by the nape and kissed him. Cole kissed him back, surprised, but then a lot surer. Grady fell into it, his other hand coming up to cradle Cole’s jaw, his thumb running along the bone there, the kiss deep and slow and full of something he couldn’t have put into words.
Cole was panting when Grady pulled back.
“Reckon I’ll go somewhere else tomorrow.”
“Okay?” Cole said.
“They ain’t got what I need in town.”
Grady moved his thumb up, swept it over Cole’s bottom lip and watched as Cole sucked in a breath.
“Feel like goin’ ridin’?” Grady asked.
Cole nodded.
Grady let him go and stepped back. He turned for the barn and Cole came up beside him. Together they walked in a comfortable quiet that was full of questions that didn’t need answering, not right now.
31
C
ole lay next tohim that night, the space between them gone. His body pressed alongside Grady from rib to toes, his head tucked in the space under Grady’s armpit. Grady reckoned it was a weird position to want to sleep in, but Cole seemed to like it; he’d drift off immediately every night, so who was he to say?
Grady drummed his fingers on his bare chest and listened to Cole breathing, his hair tickling the skin on Grady’s arm. They’d kissed in the living room for an hour before Grady pulled Cole up, slapped his ass and told him he was heading to bed. Cole mumbled that he’d join him.
Now Grady was thinking about how he still needed to get stuff for winter. He didn’t want to go back into town. He knew his irritation would pass, but as it stood right now, he reckoned he’d probably hit one of the people he’d known all his life if they so much as looked like they were going to have some opinion on Cole. He hadn’t hit anyone since he stopped scrapping as a boy, but he had a good feeling the ability would come back to him should he need it.
