Page 19 of The Finding Series: Vol. 2

“What?” Roman asked. “Do you know them?”

It was Gray who answered. “Rhys is Luke’s foster brother. They grew up together in Chicago. He’s the reason Luke came to Montana a few months ago.”

Roman didn’t know all the details of Luke’s past other than the few he’d gained from news stories. At some point Luke had been framed for murder by one of his Commanding Officers in the army and after several attempts on his life, Luke had arrived in Montana where he’d ended up meeting Gray by pure chance.

“So wait, do you know what Rhys was talking about?”

Luke and Gray shared another look and he could tell by the expression on their faces that neither wanted to be the bearer of bad news. Like it could get any fucking worse at this point.

“Rhys told me the story of how he and Finn and Callan met,” Luke finally said.

“Callan?”

“Callan Bale. He’s the owner of the CB Bar Ranch. Finn has worked for him for years but they didn’t get together until Rhys arrived in town earlier this summer.”

“So what, they’re together? The three of them?”

Luke nodded. “Callan was in the closet but Finn was out.”

“What does any of that have to do with Hunter?”

“Hunter outed him, Roman,” Gray said softly.

Roman couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He began shaking his head but couldn’t find any words.

“Hunter and Finn were in school together. Apparently there was some kind of party at Hunter’s house on the day they graduated. He and Finn were caught making out by Hunter’s father.”

A sick feeling twisted inside of Roman.

“Hunter told his father that Finn assaulted him.”

“No,” Roman whispered.

Luke took over the story. “Hunter’s father had Finn arrested for assault. Callan managed to get the charges against Finn dismissed but Hunter’s father made sure the story got out. Nearly the entire town turned against Finn.”

Roman felt like he was going to be sick. He couldn’t reconcile the act with the Hunter he knew.

“It gets worse,” Gray said.

How the hell could it get worse?

“Finn’s father beat him so badly that night when he got home that he ended up in the hospital. Callan kicked his father off the ranch and Finn hasn’t seen or spoken to him since.”

“Did Hunter…did he know what happened to Finn?”

“According to Rhys, Hunter left town the next day,” Luke explained.

“It has to be some kind of mistake,” Roman said.

Gray and Luke remained silent at that.

“Is that it? Or is there more?”

“Roman, Dare isn’t exactly a mecca of gay-friendly people,” Gray said. “I mean, it’s getting better but back then the majority of people just saw Finn as some kind of deviant and with Hunter’s father fanning the flames…well, they didn’t make it easy for Finn, or for Callan for that matter.”

“What happened?”

“It started small…the stores would refuse Finn service, people called him names, that sort of thing. Then they started going after Callan because he refused to fire Finn. He couldn’t get fair prices for his cattle, he and Finn had to go to other towns to buy supplies.” Gray glanced at Luke before continuing. “At one point, a couple of guys poisoned the water supply on Callan’s land. It killed half his stock. They also kept cutting the fences and a few months ago they burned down his barn. Finn got shot in the process.”

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