Page 56 of For the Love of the Bull Rider

“Stop it,” Tim whined as he moved away before he felt a tug on the back of the hood on his zip front hoodie. He turned to see Charlie had snagged it in his mouth, pulling Tim back to the stall door.

Mickey laughed. “Oh, seems he likes ya, Tim. He doesn’t want you to get away.”

“I’m guessing he wants to know what the hell he’s doing here with somebody as lame as you looking after him,” Tim teased in return.

They both laughed as they headed toward the office for coffee after Tim freed himself from Charlie’s teeth. How he and the stallion would get along, Tim wasn’t sure, but he hoped and prayed buying that horse for Matt was a good idea.

Aunt Katie had given him doubts, and it made him sick to his stomach. He was only trying to do something for the man he loved, but suddenly, he wasn’t so sure of his choice.

The two men walked to the house together, but before they went inside, Mickey stopped him. “I gotta thank ya for all the support you gave me with Josh and Katie. I doubt they’d have given me a shot if you and Matt hadn’t been in my corner. I hope we’ll become better friends in the new year. I’d like to hang out with you guys sometime if that’s possible. You didn’t know me from anyone, but you gave me the benefit of the doubt and I wanna prove to you your trust wasn’t misplaced.”

When Mickey enveloped him in his strong arms, Tim didn’t hesitate to return the grip. He knew the man hadn’t been off the farm since he’d been jilted by his former lover, Jackie, and Tim was sure Mickey had missed physical contact, even of the innocent type. He’d be glad to help a friend with an affectionate hug when needed. Everybody needed a hug now and again.

Tim sat in his F-150 waiting for Ryan to come out of Holloway Elementary. He’d heard the bell ring, but he was so excited to take the boy to the Katydid to see Charlie and ask his opinion regarding whether Matt would appreciate the stallion, he was fidgeting in his truck seat.

Tommy Morrow ran out of the building toward the bus, and Tim knew Ryan wasn’t far behind their neighbor because Tommy’s classroom was next to Ryan’s. When Rocky Whipple walked out of the building alone, Tim worried. As far as he knew, the boys were best friends, and Ryan was dutiful about walking his friend to the bus to ensure nobody messed with him, even though Rocky was much larger than Ryan.

He noticed Miss Blankenship walked out of the building to wave goodbye to her students as the buses pulled away, and he felt an uneasiness in his gut. He still hadn’t seen Ryan, so he pulled out of the carpool line and parked in the visitor parking lot. He hopped out of the truck and dodged the buses, trying to catch the teacher before she returned inside. When he touched her shoulder, she turned to him and smiled brightly. “Merry Christmas, Mr. Moran. Did Ryan forget something?”

Tim’s blood ran cold. “Did Matt pick him up? He was busy at the ranch, and I had some things to do this morning, so we didn’t exactly catch up.”

They hadn’t explained their relationship to the teacher, and standing on the sidewalk outside the elementary school didn’t seem the right time to do it, so Tim remained vague. He knew a lot of the parents thought he and Matt were just good friends,and Tim was fine with it, opting for whatever caused the least number of problems for Ryan at school.

“His, uh, his mother and grandmother picked him up. They said Mr. Collins was running late due to a problem, so she agreed to pick up Ryan since they were having an old-fashioned, family holiday at the ranch. It sounded like they were preparing for an exciting holiday,” Cecelia Blankenship explained.

Tim felt his stomach fall into his boots before it attempted to creep back up and cause him to lose his lunch. “Okay. Do you remember, uh, what time did she pick him up?”

The woman stared at him with concern on her face. “Did I do something wrong, Mr. Moran? Mrs. Collins showed me the papers to verify she had joint custody of Ryan, and I didn’t question them. She and her mother picked him up an hour ago, just as our holiday party was ending.”

Tim could barely contain his stomach, but he simply smiled at her and offered a reassuring nod. “I’m sure things are fine, Miss Blankenship. Merry Christmas,” he told her before he sprinted to the F-150 and climbed inside.

He made a hasty U-turn in the parking lot and gunned it out to the ranch. He prayed the boy was home and his mother and grandmother were there waiting to ambush Matt for whatever past indiscretions they deemed him guilty.

Unfortunately, Tim’s gut kept telling him that wouldn’t be the case, and he knew this was a horrific turn of events. It was going to be bad, for sure, but he prayed it wasn’t the worst-case scenario he imagined—the two women taking Ryan away where they could never find the boy.

Tim grabbed his cell from the console where it was charging to call the ranch, disregarding the law against talking on one’s cell while driving. “Circle C.” Danny answered.

“Hey, it’s Tim. Is Ryan around? I was supposed to pick him up from school to do a little last-minute shopping, but I thinkhe forgot. The bus should have dropped him off by now,” he explained to the ranch foreman.

Danny answered too quickly, in Tim’s opinion. “Naw, the bus came by but didn’t stop. Are ya sure he isn’t at the school?”

Panic seized Tim’s chest, but he tried to tamp it down and keep his shit together. “Is Matt around?” He left no room in his voice for confusion regarding the severity of the situation.

“He’s on his cell phone right now. Hang on for a hot minute.” Danny put the call on hold.

The various scenarios running through Tim’s head were too much for him to contemplate as he drove out to the ranch. Bertie and her mother weren’t supposed to be in Holloway, much less picking up Ryan at school on Christmas Eve without any notice. The sooner he got home to see the boy in the house, safe and happy, the better.

“Hey, babe. What’s wrong?” Matt asked, not waiting for Tim to respond. “I’ve got a cow in labor right now on Christmas Eve. How weird is…” the cowboy joked.

Tim broke in. “Matty, is Ryan home?”

“No. You told me you were pickin’ him up for his last round of shoppin’. Is somethin’ wrong?” Matt suddenly sounded concerned. Tim knew it wasn’t something to explain over the phone, so he didn’t.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes.” His heart was pounding out of his chest because he had visions of a repeat of three years prior when Bertie Stanford took Ryan away from Matt. Tim wasn’t sure how the man would recover from the pain once again.

Tim was kicking his own ass for not giving the watch he’d had made especially for the boy as an early Christmas gift. He thought maybe he was being paranoid because it had an embedded GPS chip, which really seemed fucked up as he thought about it.

He’d had a feeling something bad was lurking around the corner and would take them by surprise since he’d heard Matt’s story, so he ordered the watch to be on the safe side. It had Raphael, Ryan’s favorite Ninja Turtle, on its face, but Tim worried Matt wouldn’t be happy with him for the gift after he explained its value. He didn’t want to upset Matt, so he’d held off giving it to Ryan early.

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