Page 14 of Protecting Mr. Fine

“I’m buying a place in Majestic,” I reminded him. When our friend Silas had settled down with his rancher hubby in the weird, wonderful Wyoming town, the rest of our brotherhood followed. “I showed you the pictures. Now I just need to make a final decision and put in the paperwork.”

I had to admit, I’d been dithering about it. There was a ginormous spread available just down the road from Silas’s place, but I’d need to build a house there, and what would I do with all that space? I loved it, but it felt like a big responsibility. I was leaning toward a brand-new modern build a little farther from town, which was tiny but high-end and better suited to a life spent mostly on the road.

“That’s great, Zane. But I wasn’t talking about that… necessarily.” Landry’s eyes took on a faraway look as he stared at the ceiling. “I’m talking about a place that… thatcallsto you. A place that’syours. A place that makes you smile when you think of it because it feels good, and happy, and safe. A place that anchors you when you’ve been traveling around so much you start to forget who you are and where you belong. A place where you… where you bring the people who matter.”

I gaped at him. That was the most genuine, un-Landry-like thing I’d ever heard him say… and it made me wonder how much more I didn’t know about this man I considered a brother. “Doyouhave a place like that?”

“Hmm?” Landry blinked like he was coming out of a daze, and when he turned his head to look at me, the mischievous twinkle was back in his eyes. “Oh, of course. Several. And I have loads of good times in each of them.” He raised his voice in a loud, protracted, keening moan. “So.Fucking.Goooood.Baby!”

Snickering, I slapped his arm lightly. “You’re an ass.”

“Thousands of men have said so,” he agreed. He turned on his side to face me, squashing the pillow between his arm and his head. “So. What are you looking forward to when we get to Barlo tomorrow?” he asked with a fond smile.

Even though Landry didn’t know about the targets, he knew something had been bugging me lately. He’d even made a point of sleeping over in my hotel room whenever he joined me in tour cities. It was a kind gesture—a thoughtful, caring side of Landry he didn’t show many people—and I loved him for it.

I yawned. “The usual. Gran’s cooking and Aunt Rinny’s teasing. I love that they still treat me like my old self no matter what they read about me on the internet. The two of them… well, they’ve been amazing.”

The truth was, I looked forward to pretending, if only for two days, that I wasn’t Zee Barlo anymore. That I was simply plain Zane Hendley—no one interesting enough to scream at, reach for, or sneak stamps onto. No one who owed anyone anything or had commitments to hundreds of thousands of people across the globe for months on end. Someone who could dare to ask his crush out on a date, just to see where things went, without it turning into a feature of viral social media posts or causing conflicts with someone’s job.

I let out another loud yawn.

“Go on, then,” Landry said, breaking me out of my thoughts. He waved a hand toward my phone. “Do your thing, boo.”

I blinked at him sleepily. “My thing?”

He rolled his eyes. “You’re clearly exhausted and ready for bed, so turn on that podcast you listen to every night, and let’s sleep.”

“It’s noteverynight.” I cradled my phone to my chest a bit defensively. “It’s just… sometimes.”

“Mmhm. That’s what you say every time I stay over,” Landry agreed. “Then you toss and turn until you think I’m asleep and finally turn it on. Tonight, let’s cut to the chase.” He rolled off the bed just long enough to strip the covers back and crawl beneath them and motioned for me to do the same. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t understand the appealat all. What’s relaxing about learning that mindless, ferocious, territorial predators lurk in the woods around us waiting toattack?” He gave a mock shudder. “But we all have our strange comforts. Who am I to deny you yours?”

I plugged my phone into the charger on the nightstand and cued up the newestBear Facts for Insomniacsepisode, then curled back under the blankets. “You’re wrong, you know,” I said with a yawn. “Bears aren’t mindless—they’re scary-intelligent. They have the biggest relative brain size of any mammal. They know which creatures are their friends and which are their potential enemies, and their priority is protecting their territory. They only attack if they feel provoked.”

“Well, good.” Landry turned off his lamp with a satisfied huff. “One less thing to worry about. I can’t recall provoking any bears lately.”

I laughed sleepily. The man had no idea.

As I drifted off to the sounds of the podcast, though, I thought over Landry’s advice to find a place that was mine… and about bears and their territories. Where was my place, my territory? Where did I feel safest and happiest? I wasn’t sure it was Barlo anymore, though I loved the town and the people and always would. Was it in Majestic, where most of my brothers had made their homes? Maybe. Or maybe it was a place I hadn’t seen yet. A place I needed to keep looking for.

Maybe once I found it, I wouldn’t need podcasts to sleep.

I fell into slumber thinking about bears—specificallymyBear—curled up in a warm, cozy bed…

So it was a real shock when, a little while later, I found myself on the Scream Machine at Six Flags. The ancient wooden roller coaster squeaked and shuddered as the car I was on careened out of control. People crowded into the car with me, screaming and laughing maniacally. I kept dropping my phone over the side and leaning precariously over other people to reach for it. Someone’s large hand always grabbed the back of my shirt to pull me back at the last minute, just as we fell into a large drop.

As soon as we began going up the next incline, I felt the familiarpress of a rubber ink stamp against the back of my neck and a huff of laughter.

“This is fun, isn’t it?” a stranger’s voice asked. “This is fun. Isn’t. It.” The voice repeated the question over and over with increasing anger.

I looked around for Bear in hopes he would get me out of here, get me off the ride, or somehow tell me this was all a bad dream, but I couldn’t make my voice call out for him.

I kept opening my mouth to scream his name, but it wouldn’t come.

Bear.Bear.Bear!

I tried to climb out of the roller-coaster car the next time it dipped down, but someone tried to wrestle me away from the edge again.

Bear!Why couldn’t I say his name? If he knew I was stuck here, he’d get me off this ride. Where was he? Why wasn’t he watching me?

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