Page 14 of Head Above Water

“Are you listening, old man?” Bryce asked.

“Opinions are like assholes—everyone has one, and everyone thinks theirs doesn’t stink,” his father said. “And yes, I’m not so feeble that I can’t hear you from a few feet away. And Hazard is right. Everyone will have an opinion, and since mine is the only one that matters….”

“Yeah, I know, you’re in charge of everything.” Bryce leaned forward. “Except, how are you going to run things from that chair? You can’t get out there and see the condition of the herd or that the farrier did a great job shoeing the horses. All you can do is issue orders, and you aren’t going to know if they’re the right ones.”

“Are you saying I don’t know my own place?” Dad countered, then began to cough.

“Of course he’s not,” Hazard said gently. “You know this land better than anyone else. You grew up here, and I bet you know all the trees and rocks on every acre of land.”

“Damn right.”

“But Dad, you can’t be out there. So, you and I need to come to an agreement. We need to go over what your plans are. And then you need to let me take over so you can concentrate on healing. And I promise that I’ll consult you on any big decisions.”

“Lyle, I think that sounds like a good idea,” his mother said gently. “No one is going to take the ranch away from you, but you have to step back. Bryce knows what he’s doing.”

“And I have to take orders from him?” Willard said. “Like that’s going to happen.”

“No. You come and go any time you like and spend money you don’t have,” his father snapped. “That ends. You either work on the ranch or you aren’t going to get paid. And yes, Bryce will be the one making the decisions and seeing to it that the family stays in business. And that also means he will be the one overseeing whether you get paid or not.”

Willard stomped out of the room. “Son of a bitch.” More swearing drifted in, and a minute later, Willard breezed through the room with a bag over his shoulder, slamming the front door behind him.

His father sighed, and for a second, he tried to get out of the chair, but sat back again, paling. Then he turned to Bryce with a rather pleading expression.

“Don’t worry about it. I can handle Willard. You concentrate on beating this thing so we can all go back to normal.”

His dad didn’t move. “Never going to happen,” he said softly, almost to himself. “Nothing is going to be the way it was. You need to step up and take charge, and I need….” He took Bryce’s hand just as Hazard lightly touched his back.

Bryce’s heart beat a mile a minute, and he was shocked that sweat wasn’t rolling off him. This was a huge job, and one he wasn’t sure he was ready for or capable of. His father had always run the ranch with an uncanny ability to know what was coming. That was something Bryce had always admired and knew he didn’t have. He turned to Hazard, who simply nodded and stayed where he was, that hand not moving, maintaining a connection between them that Bryce desperately needed.

“Running a place like this isn’t something you can do alone,” his dad went on to say. “It’s time you found someone to share your life with and to help you the way your mother has always supported me.” Bryce leaned in closer to hear his dad better. The words were on the tip of his tongue to tell his dad that maybe he had found someone like that, but this was not the moment to explain that he was gay and that he hoped that Hazard was his person. Instead, he nodded. “I always hoped you would have settled down with someone by now.”

“We all have our own speed,” Bryce said.

His dad nodded just a little, and his eyes drifted closed. Bryce stood and was about to leave the room when his dad snapped his eyes open, looking at him and Hazard like he was trying to figure something out. Then he rested his head back against the chair and closed his eyes. “Don’t forget. We need to sell off some of the herd soon to avoid overgrazing.” He might have been talking in his sleep. Bryce knew he was right, but wanted to figure out a way that they wouldn’t have to do that. It was always best to sell when the cattle were at their peak, rather than sell them early.

Bryce went into the kitchen, poured some coffee, and sat at the table. “I need to figure out a way to get us another three months of grazing,” he said. “We could pump water out of the existing holes to the south range and set up a station of some sort.” How many times had his dad and mom sat at this sametable to try to figure their way through or around issues? Bryce had long ago lost count.

“True, but we’d need to build a pipe bridge or run it under the road, and that’s just part of it. We’d need nearly half a mile of pipe or heavy-duty hose, and then where are we going to store the water? We could get a tanker, fill it, and drive the water over. But taking that water is going to stress the other sources we have and could put the rest of the herd in danger.”

“Sometimes I’m with my dad and think old man Calvin should be shot. But things are the way they are and….”

“Why don’t we try to sink a well where the old watering hole was?” Hazard offered.

“I saw the size of that rock you tried to get out. There are more in that area. I suspect we’ll hit another one and that will be the end of it.” He sipped some more coffee, letting the heat and smooth richness slide down his throat. “But I appreciate your ideas. Hell, I’m thankful you haven’t run for the hills.” He turned to stare out into the darkness. Other than the lights near the yard, night seemed to fall like a curtain, and outside the bubble near the house, the rest of the land was shrouded in a curtain of blackness.

Hazard finished his coffee. “Come on,” he said softly, and Bryce downed the last of his drink before rinsing and placing the mugs in the sink. Then he followed Hazard out into the night. “I don’t have any answers for you, and I wish I did.”

“Sometimes there are no easy choices,” Bryce said as Hazard took his hand in the darkness, leading him toward one of the old trees his grandfather had planted along the edge of the houseline. It hulked above them as they approached, and once they passed under its shadow, they seemed to disappear into the near-total darkness. Between the shadow of the house and the tree itself, no light seemed to reach them.

Hazard stopped near the thick trunk and drew Bryce to him, but then they both stilled, with only the sound of the rusting leaves overhead and the cattle lowing in the distance. “Maybe…,” Hazard said as Bryce slid his hand along his rough cheek.

“There’s no maybe about it,” Bryce whispered before running his thumb over Hazard’s lower lip and then kissing him hard. This was what he wanted, and the taste, a hint of coffee flavored with Hazard’s deep richness, was perfection. He quivered a little as Hazard returned the kiss, their arms enclosing around them, each clutching the other hard.

When Bryce broke the kiss, they both breathed quickly before bringing their lips together once again. Desperation and need seemed to take over. Their hands shook as they continued to kiss each other breathless.

Hazard pressed him farther into the darkness until his back hit the tree. The rough bark pressed to his shoulders as Hazard slid his hands downward before grabbing his ass. Fuck, that felt good, and Bryce groaned softly. “Damn….”

“I know,” Hazard whispered, parting his legs until their hips came together. Fucking hell, Hazard was as hard as he was. Bryce held Hazard’s ass, and together they rolled their hips. Hazard moaned softly, and Bryce kept moving, desperation taking over. “Can I?”

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