Page 71 of My Cowboy Freedom
“I’m sorry.” I was sorry we were in this mess, at any rate. I took off for the ranch house, Maisy at my side, silent and judgment-free. Elena eventually fell into step with us.
“You want to stay at the ranch, right?”
“Of course.” If my only alternative was conversion therapy, sure.
“And if you’re here, your parents assume I’m going to watch out for you. And while I never exactly nailed down everything they want me to protect you from, recent ex-cons—even seemingly nice ones—are probably on that list somewhere.”
“So now I can’t even have friends.” If she wasn’t even going to listen to me—
“Hold it right there, mister. We both know you aren’t auditioning Sky for the role offriend.” She stomped over the path. “Start thinking with your big head.”
“Excuse me?” I gasped.
“I don’t need to tell you your parents are watching, do I? And the boss is still angry with Ryder and the doc and this isn’tNew York City. If you’re dead set on pursuing Skyler, you’ll have to be smart about it.”
I slowed... “Smart, how?”
“Smarter than you’ve been so far.” She finally matched her pace to mine. “First things first, you need some sleep and so do I. I’m going to tell the boss I need Sky’s help tomorrow. We’ll talk more when I can think clearly again.”
I followed her in silence until I couldn’t stand it anymore. “Nina—”
“It’s all right,m’hijo.” She slung her arm around my hips, which was about all she could reach and still walk alongside me. “I’ve got this, baby.”
“Thank you.” I hugged her so tight. “I swear, Sky’s a decent guy. Even if he’s done time. He’s not like you think. He’s not hard.”
“No?” She lifted a single, mocking brow. “That must have been a little disappointing.”
“Oh my god,Nina.What kind of maternal figure says something like that?”
“Baby, you’re the one who said it.”
“He’s not ahardened criminal.”
“You should learn to lighten up.” She peered at me through narrowed eyes. “From everything I’ve seen so far, Skyler’s all right. But we only see what he wants us to see and men in prison have a lot of time to practice manipulating people.”
“I know. He told me.”
She paused. “He did?”
“That’s what we were talking about when you came, actually. He was telling me about this dude who played him.”
“Cons manipulate. They play the system and they play everybody in it. That’s what they learn inside. Believe me, I know firsthand.”
“Who from?” My fierce love of this woman made killing that person seem perfectly reasonable.
“We’ll talk sometime about how I know that, just not in the middle of the night when I have hands to feed at dawn.”
“Sorry.”
“Oh, baby.” She sighed and hugged me tightly. “I know you’re isolated here. I’m sure your dad would reconsider your Bible Study. Pastor Everett would welcome you to the Friday night group—”
“Not going to happen.”
“But at least they’d be your peers. You might make some—”
“I will not go to the Friday night Single Minglers group. I’m not interested in drinking punch and being sized up for marriage.”
“You think you’re the only queer dude in town? Think again. Ryder and Declan already proved you wrong. What if one of those other Single Minglers is just waiting for a guy like you.”
