Page 1 of For the Love of the Lawyer

Chapter One

Michael Joseph Warren, orMickey, as he was known to his friends, sat on the rusty-green John Deere tractor used around the Katydid Farm, thinking much too hard about what had led him to that very spot. He was supposed to be emptying the manure spreader over the hayfields as fertilizer to promote grass growth in the pastures of the ranch where he was currentlyworking—and living. Spreading shit was a stinky job, but it wasn’t the worst job Mickey had ever done.

Mickey thanked the patron saint of transient cowboys for helping him find the Katydid after his former boss, Mr. Kessler, sold the ranch where Mickey was working. The asshole who bought it, Mr. Leslie, was a homophobe, and after Mickey and Jackie, his former boyfriend, were fired because Mr. Leslie caught them kissing in the barn, Mickey wasn't sure how life would treat them.

When he called Mr. Kessler about the firing, the man directed him to Southern Virginia to speak with an acquaintance of his who might offer Mickey a job as a ranch hand. Mickey went alone, preferring to keep Jackie protected from the possibility the man was of the same mind as the douche who’d fired them. He loved Jackie and tried to shield the younger man from the ugliness in the world as much as possible.

"You just gonna sit there and burn gas all day?" Mickey jumped at hearing the voice behind him, turning to see Jared Moore, another of the new hands at Katydid Farm, grinning like an idiot at catching Mickey daydreaming.

Mickey covered quickly. "Naw, just tryin' to figure out the best field to spread. Any suggestions?" He didn’t give a shit what Jared said because he was a total douche, too.

Everyone at the Katydid had been amazing since Mickey arrived. They’d all gone out of their way to get to know him, and it seemed they’d accepted him as a member of the family. Katie and Josh took him into their home, for God's sakes.

What kind of people take in a stranger?

He could have been a serial killer for all they knew, but they didn't hesitate to make him feel welcome. Unlike any other time in his life, Mickey wanted to live up to their expectations.

"Heath mentioned somethin' about startin' a compost heap. Miss Katie likes a garden in the summer, and the straw we use inwinter will eventually break down, but we might wanna change from sawdust to somethin' more biodegradable for beddin' in the summer, I think. I'll ask Tim to check into it with Dean Campbell 'cause sawdust ain't exactly great for spreadin' on a garden.” Jared walked over to the tractor and looked out on the field.

Jared pointed down the hill. “Just dump this load in the corner of the pasture down by that bunch of sycamore trees. I'll get Stevie and Carl to go over there on Saturday and put a fence around it. We'll turn it over once a week and add more to it. I'll ask Tim to see what's the best way to do it."

Mickey did as he was told because he genuinely enjoyed working at the ranch, and he knew nobody ever asked him to do anything they wouldn't do themselves. He'd never felt accepted anywhere before he settled at the Katydid, but when he became friends with Tim Moran, his boyfriend, Matt Collins, and the foreman's son, Ethan Sachs, Mickey felt as if he’d been looking for that place and those people all his life.

Things with Ethan, though, were tricky. Mickey remembered back to the fall after he'd arrived at the ranch.

"You need help with that little jenny?" Mickey had walked over to see how it was going.

He'd been watching the good-looking, lanky kid slowly walk around the donkey that was tied to a metal ring in the hallway, touching her sides much like a seasoned horseman. The young man seemed to have some horse sense, or so Mickey thought as he watched.

Ethan was about five-nine, maybe a buck and a quarter. The kid looked to be about sixteen or seventeen, which was far too young for Mickey, who was twenty-three. When he’d met Josh to discuss Mickey joining the crew at the Katydid, he’d embellished his age a bit to put himself in a better position for the job.

He’d been lucky—Josh hadn’t asked him for ID at the time, but later, Tim asked for his information so he could run a background check. He told Mickey if nothing came up, he'd delete the file and any information he uncovered regarding Mickey’s past, that didn’t have an impact on his ability to do his job at the Katydid, would stay between them. Mickey came to trust the man pretty quickly after that discussion because Tim lived up to his word.

The fact Tim Moran was handsome as hell didn’t hurt Mickey’s feelings at all, even if the gorgeous blond was completely in love with Matt, who was a former bull rider. After Mickey got over his initial crush on Tim, he set out to make a friend of the man, and maybe one of Ethan Sachs as well.

"Well, maybe. If you'd just stick around to make sure she don't buck me off and kick me in the head, I'd appreciate it.” Ethan had a cute grin on his face that caused Mickey to adjust his Wrangler’s.

Mickey had chuckled as he’d climbed the fence to observe the kid walk, trot, and canter the little jenny. His feet had been nearly dragging the ground as he rode her bareback around a pen, but she hadn’t seemed to mind. She’d been trained to neck rein at some point and appeared to be very gentle.

They'd all laughed when Josh had Matt Collins fit the small donkey with shoes, harkening back to when she’d arrived at the Katydid, horribly foundered and barely able to walk. Some asshole had just turned her loose in a hayfield and basically left her to die, which should have been punishable by a hot branding iron to the ass, in Mickey’s opinion.

Incredibly, Matt’s son, Ryan, had taken to the little jenny. Josh and Matt had determined she was gentle and had been trained at one point or another, making her suitable for the boy to ride.

Ethan and Mickey had become fast friends, joking and teasing each other as they’d worked with Josie. One evening, the two ofthem had been in the barn, having run the jenny through her paces earlier in the day. They were both happy that she’d done so well.

In his mind, Mickey would always blame it on a buildup of friendship and sexual tension between the two of them. The closeness had finally pushed him to do something very, very stupid.

After Mickey had pulled Ethan into his arms and kissed him, it immediately hit him what a huge mistake it was. He’d pushed the young man away as his stomach sunk lower than the worms in that compost heap. His heart had been in his throat at what he’d done.

Mickey had pushed himself away from Ethan almost as quickly as he’d pulled the kid into his arms for the kiss. “Fucking hell. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done it. I had a boyfriend before I moved here, but he didn't wait around for me to find us a new place to make a life. I've kinda been a mess, Ethan. I’m not the kind of guy to do this. Please, forgive me.”

Ethan’s handsome face had been full of hurt, and he’d felt like the devil about the whole thing. Mickey had let his wits get away from him because he’d been thinking with the wrong head.

The potential for damage to young Ethan’s heart had made Mickey dizzy with guilt. He’d known far too well how it felt to have a young heart full of hope and love, only to have it ripped away and stomped on by people who should know better.

Mickey had tried to undo some of the damage and tactfully explain things to Ethan. When the younger guy turned on his heel and headed toward the door, Mickey had been sure he was running out of time.

"No! Wait!Please, Ethan, let me talk to ya. You're an amazing guy. I mean it. The only problem with anusis I'm older than you—a lot older than you, and I shouldn't have… Well, I took advantage of you, and I’m so sorry. I'd like us to be friends,Ethan, good friends. I mean, you have a lot of years ahead of you to figure things out for yourself regarding who you want to date and how you want to live your life. Whatever you decide, you should enjoy spending your time with someone your own age.” Mickey was drowning as he’d tried to explain things to Ethan.

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