Page 6 of For the Love of the Broken Man

Danny wanted to slap himself, but he had to keep what little bit of control he had. “Come on.” His voice was harsh, though the young man didn’t deserve his attitude, it was the only way Dan could keep himself in check.

After shoes were secured, they headed to the barn. When they walked inside, Dan stopped and felt the boy run into this back. Matt and Tim were embracing in a deep, passionate kiss, and Danny was worried about how the young man might react. Surprisingly, he gasped and turned his back. Dan wasn’t sure what it meant, but he was worried. “Might as well get used to it. It happens all the time.” Dan clapped his hands to let them know they had company.

He turned to the perpetual horndogs for whom he worked. “Don’t make me get the hose after you two. We’ve got a young, impressionable child here, so put it back in your pants.”

Tim’s giggle always brought a smile to Dan’s face. “Sorry. He can’t control himself,” Matt announced as the two pulled away from each other.

Dan heard a low chuckle from behind him, and when he turned to look at the kid, he saw a beautiful smile on his face. The boy hurried forward and extended his hand. “Hi, I’m Jason Langston, but please call me Jase. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. Moran.” The kid shook Tim’s hand vigorously, and Dan noticed Matt wasn’t laughing, or even smiling. It was going to be more entertaining than Dan had guessed. Jase would put Matt, who turned thirty at the end of the summer, through the paces. Dan couldn’t wait to watch.

Chapter Four

When they walked into the large barn, Jase was definitely caught off guard at seeing two men—two extremely handsome men—kissing so passionately in the hallway. It was the first time he’d seen men kissing, in person anyway. The stuff he found on the internet at Savannah’s house when he had an opportunity to browse didn’t count because the most he could get was men kissing, and they were still photographs. The Stanfords had a smut filter on their internet access because of Robby, but what Jase got to see there was better than what he got to see at home, which was nothing.

After Dan interrupted them, Jase was pleased to see the handsome blond with the bright smile. He’d seen pictures of the couple on Savannah’s phone when they’d visited at Christmas one year, but seeing Tim Moran in person was so much better. The man had beautiful hazel eyes and a bright smile that could make Jase hard if he wasn’t careful.

“Hi, I’m Jason Langston, but please call me Jase. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. Moran.” He was in awe of both men because they looked like they should be out of some sort of a gay fairy tale, which made him chuckle.

“Hey, Jase. It’s nice to meet you in person.” Tim extended his hand to shake, and Jase took it, feeling how soft it was and gasping in surprise.

He heard laughter and turned to see it wasn’t coming from Matt Collins; the handsome bull rider had a cocked eyebrow in his direction, so he let go of Tim’s hand and extended his to Matt. “Pleasure to see you again, Mr. Collins.”

Jase heard raucous laughter behind him, and he turned to see Dan leaning against a stall where a huge black horse was standing. The man was red in the face, and Jase wasn’t sure what was so funny, so he stepped back a little, putting space between him and his future bosses.

Tim glanced at Dan and Matt before a short laugh escaped him. “Let’s go to the office, Jason.”

As they started down the barn hallway, Jase heard Danny call out.“He prefers Jase!”

Tim turned and flipped him off, which completely confused Jase, but he followed without question. Once they were inside the nice barn office, Tim handed him some paperwork and a pen.

“If you could fill this out, I’ll run a background check, if that’s okay. We run one on everybody who works here. Until next week, you, Danny, and Shiloh are going to be running things. Matt will help, and Ryan and Rocky have chores after school. Oh, you’ll meet them this afternoon.”

Jase nodded. Savannah had already alerted him of the background check.

“You’re going to live at the Katydid with my aunt and uncle because we, um, we don’t have any room, right now.” Tim’s cheeks were pink, though Jase didn’t know why.

Jase hadn’t considered the sleeping arrangements, but he wasn’t picky about it. He was grateful to have somewhere to sleep, and he didn’t even care if it was inside. All he wanted was to be on his own.

“Not a problem, Mr. Moran.” Jase put pen to paper to fill out the form.

When he got to the part about previous experience, Jase’s mouth got dry. “I, uh, I don’t have any experience, but Savannah told you that, right?” Jase’s palms grew sweaty to the point his hand slid down the pen.

Tim laughed. “Don’t worry about that part. Just fill out sections one, three, four, and sign section five. We know you don’t have any experience, but that’s okay. You want coffee or something?”

Jase was concentrating on the questions, happily checking thenoboxes regarding if he’d been convicted of a felony, if he’d ever failed a drug test, or if he’d ever used any other name than Jason Langston.

He remembered his social security number, and he listed Savannah Stanford as his emergency contact. She’d get to his mother if necessary, so he felt he’d covered his bases.

Reading the last box, Jase noted that he would be immediately dismissed if any of his claims were found to be false. He went back to look it over again to ensure he hadn’t missed anything before he signed and dated the paper at the bottom.

“Do you want some coffee or water?” Jase glanced up to see a smirk on Tim’s handsome face.

“Sorry. I get a little anal about things, sometimes. I wanted to make certain I filled out everything honestly. Um, water would be nice, if you don’t mind.” Jase couldn’t take his eyes off Tim’s graceful, slender body moving through the room toward the exit. Matt Collins was a lucky man.

After meeting with Tim in the office, Jase was directed to meet Matt outside the barn where the bull rider was waiting in an ATV. “Hop in, kid. I’ll give ya the lay of the land. Hang on.” Matt hit the gas and nearly threw Jase out of the vehicle.

As they took off through a pasture, Jase looked around, seeing a lot more cattle than he expected. They seemed to be divided into certain sections of land, and Jase undoubtedly got his exercise, opening and closing many, many gates along the way. Matt pointed out a large pen where a huge bull was butting its head against a hanging truck tire. “That’s a rodeo bull. You come down here, feed and water him, and don’t interact with him in any other way. Only Dan or I do anything more than feed and water him.” Jase nodded; not sure what else he’d signed up for outside of the computer work he thought he was going to learn.

“Do, um, do I get to use this, or do I walk down here?” Jase was a little worried about the prospect of walking through fields with wild beasts’ ready to attack. He didn’t know a rodeo bull from a kangaroo, but based on what he’d seen on the internet, neither animal was anything he wanted to encounter when he was alone and helpless.

---