Mossy Glenn Ranch 3 -Saddles and Memories (20 page)

Salt rolled over and got his knees up under him. He braced his head on his forearms. Andy didn’t wait for more than that. He grabbed Salt by the hip and shoulder, then filled him in a quick thrust. Andy cursed and began hammering away at his ass. There was no finesse to it, the man was lost in his body’s needs.

He dropped down over Salt and bit him on the shoulder before sucking the sting away. And he rumbled as he rammed his hips against Salt’s ass. Hot spunk jetted into him. Salt felt every single shot. In his mind, it marked him inside as Andy’s. He knew he was Andy’s, and the man was his, but feeling Andy come inside him was never going to grow old.

Though the tickling as the cum seeped back out of him could stop. Salt remembered exactly how Andy had solved that problem last time.

As if reading his mind, Andy whispered, “Can’t wait to lick you clean.”

Salt shivered. “Stay inside of me a little longer?”

“As long as you want me to.” Andy wrapped his arms around Salt and pulled him onto his side.

Chapter Sixteen

Another week passed and Andy was beginning to lose hope. Ty hadn’t shown up, nor had he been found. The pre-paid cell phone number Ty had given to Andy always went right to voice mail. Giving the number to the cops had been a mistake, but one his attorney had told him he had to make. Andy hoped Ty would forgive him for it. The cops had said the phone was untraceable unless they could keep get Ty on the line and keep him there for a while. Even then, that was an expense the department wasn’t likely to spend on a runaway who, they now believed, was safe and merely acting out.

Brandt was still a fucking asshole, and Salt had had to return to his job. Andy felt like his entire life was on hold. In a way, it was, but there was nothing he could do about it.

His attorney had everything ready to go if it came down to a court hearing. Brandt was nagging the shit out of him, trying to make him go out on sales calls, but Andy wasn’t leaving until everything with Ty was settled. The company could fold if it came down to him having to go elsewhere.

As it was, Andy was making calls, literal ones, and there were some sales coming in. Nothing to rave about, but at least there were some.

He paced across the living room. Calling the cops in charge of Ty’s case wouldn’t do any good. He’d spoken to them for just that reason earlier in the morning. It pissed him off that Headly, the cop assigned to the case, always sounded like he was annoyed at Andy wanting to know about Ty.

A loud knock on the door sent a sense of foreboding over him. It just sounded like an angry knock. When he looked through the peephole, he knew why. Brandt stood on the other side of the door, glaring at him. Well, the peephole, but Andy knew who that anger was for.

He opened the door, glad that Brandt hadn’t just barged in. Andy had barely spoken two sentences to Brandt since the ugly scene at Brandt’s house. Everything Andy knew about Ty’s disappearance had come from the cops or Ty.

He told himself to be patient and stay calm, not to let Brandt get to him. The little pep talk didn’t brainwash him into believing things would go smoothly.

Andy opened the door. He stepped into the space between the door and the frame, not allowing Brandt inside. “What do you want?”

Brandt looked around the hallway. “Let me in.”

“I don’t think so. Maybe the threat of an audience will help you to be civil.” It seemed like a brilliant plan to Andy.

Brandt looked fit to be tied, his face and neck flushing with visual proof of his ire. “You need to get back to work.”

“I
am
working,” Andy pointed out. “I made three sales this week already, none of them small.” Yet none were spectacular, but Brandt was lucky Andy had done that much.

“You need to get on the road and make sales calls in person.”

Andy smiled slightly. “No, I don’t. I’m not leaving until I know Ty is safe.”

“He was safe!” Brandt glanced around nervously, then said quieter, “He was safe with me. I never hit him.”

“You never loved him, either.” Andy stood up a little straighter. “All he was to you was a way to hurt me and to control the majority of the company’s stock. He heard you say so.”

Brandt shook with, Andy suspected, a raw fury that had always been inside him. “So what? He had a roof over his head, and food, clothes, school. He didn’t need anything else. He could be an outsider in his own home just like I was.”

Andy barely kept from decking Brandt right then. “You made yourself that outsider. Nothing me or Brandt could say or do ever made you love us. You were born hateful, and you’re gonna die hateful, but that hate is never going to touch me or Ty again.”

“You think you have a chance at custody?” Brandt sneered.

Andy grinned. “If Ty wants to live with me, yeah. Courts won’t look too kindly on the head games you played with him. And by the way, you want the company? Once I have Ty, you can have my shares. I’m done partnering with you. If Ty wants to sell his, you can make him a fair offer, but the choice to sell will be his.”

Brandt narrowed his eyes at Andy. “I don’t believe you.”

Andy shrugged. “Not my problem.” Then he took a step back and slammed the door on Brandt. There was nothing else to discuss.

Brandt knocked again, but Andy ignored him. He set the lock, figuring it would be okay for this one time. Then he went and called his lawyer. Stratton would know what to do with the news of this visit.

Thirty minutes later, there was another knock on Andy’s door. He rolled his eyes. At least Brandt wasn’t trying to pound the door down. Andy undid the lock then opened the door without checking the peephole. “Look—” He stopped cold when he saw Ty standing outside. “Ty.” Andy swallowed against the sudden tightness in his throat.

“I don’t want to get my friend in trouble,” Ty mumbled. “So I guess I gotta turn myself in.”

“You’re not a criminal,” Andy said as he reached for Ty, only to pull his hand back.

“Cops have been looking for me. I feel like a criminal.” Ty sniffled and turned red-rimmed eyes up to Andy. “I’m tired of hiding, and I… I wanted to see Dad’s room. Can—Did you change it?”

“No, didn’t change yours, either.” Andy stepped back. “Come in. You are always welcome here. I’ve kept the door unlocked since your last visit, except for the past half hour or so. Brandt stopped by.”

Ty took a step back. “He’s not here?”

“No, I sent him on his way. Please, Ty,” Andy pleaded softly. “Please, come in. Come home.”

Ty sobbed and darted into the apartment, bumping Andy as he passed. Andy didn’t complain. He shut and locked the door, then watched Ty go into his dad’s room.

Andy rubbed his temples, trying to keep from doing a little crying himself. Things were so fucked up between him and Ty, and they used to be so close. “We’ll have that again.” Andy would make sure of it.

But he had to do everything the right way, starting off with what was legal. Andy took out his cell phone again and called Stratton.

“Andy? What’s happened? Did your brother come back?”

Andy looked at Destry’s closed door. “No, but Ty did. I think he wants to come home. To me.”

Stratton’s sigh sounded like a relieved one. “Good. Good, I was worried about him. Usually your PI can track down anyone. When she couldn’t find Ty after his visit, I was concerned. It’s fantastic that he’s safe.” Stratton cleared his throat. “Now, has he said specifically that he wants to live with you? Would he be willing to talk to me? Have you called the police yet?”

Andy’s head reeled from all the questions. “Uh. I’m not sure, and I don’t know, and no.”

Stratton said something unintelligible to someone, maybe a secretary for all Andy knew. Then he came back on the phone. “Okay. I need you to talk to him, see if he’ll talk to me, consent to me recording the conversation. Ask him point-blank if he wants to remain with you. And I’ll handle the cops.”

“Okay, I can do that.” Andy felt better knowing what to do, the steps to take.

“I’m also going to have Brandt served with a restraining order. You said he appeared threatening and you were scared to let him into your home.”

Andy hadn’t been scared. “I just wanted to avoid a fight.”

“Which you think would have happened, had Brandt been allowed inside—a physical fight. And he did attack you first once before.”

“But he didn’t actually hit me,” Andy reiterated. “I ducked.”

“That’s beside the point. It will also help should there be a custody case.”

Andy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay then. I trust you to do what’s best.”

“Thank you. I’ll be in touch in a few hours.”

Andy disconnected the call and tucked his phone in his pocket. Then he took it back out and sent Salt a quick text letting him know things were probably about to come to a head. He sent a second one telling him Ty was there, and he was about to go speak with him.

That done, he returned the phone to his shirt pocket and started for the hallway. Before he reached Destry’s bedroom door, he could hear the muffled sobs coming from the room.

“Shit.
Shit.
” Guilt slammed into him. He tapped at the door. “Ty? Ty, can I come in, please?”

Whatever Ty’s garbled reply meant, Andy chose to believe it was a ‘yes’. He opened the door and his heart broke at the sight that greeted him. Ty was curled up on the bed, hugging one of Destry’s pillows as he cried.

“Oh, God, honey, I’m so sorry.” Andy rushed to the bed. “Ty, please. I’m sorry.”

Ty’s blue eyes were puffy, his face red. He looked so young and scared that Andy couldn’t stand it.

“Please, Ty. I swear I’ll never do anything so stupid again. I can’t take back what’s happened, what I did, but I will never let you feel like you aren’t loved, like you don’t have a home.”

“I lost everything,” Ty whispered. “I don’t know if I can forgive you.”

Andy sat down on the floor beside the bed. He folded his hands together and stared at them. “I understand. You don’t have to forgive me, just…just let me take care of you. Me and Salt, he’s my partner. You’ll like him, and he hasn’t done you wrong.”

“P-partner?” Ty got out as he rubbed his nose on his shirt sleeve. “Is he here?”

Andy shook his head as the first tear escaped. “Nah. He’s a cowboy on a ranch outside of Ashville. A real calm guy. He’d never have let someone get away with taking someone he loved. He’s…he’s pretty awesome, Ty. He wants to meet you.”

When Ty didn’t speak, Andy looked at him. It must have been what Ty was waiting for.

“I don’t know. I just want to come home, but I don’t know where that is anymore.”

Andy hoped he didn’t screw up and say the wrong thing. He was aching to have his nephew back in his life. “If you’ll let me, and Salt, we’ll show you where home is. What home is. I don’t believe it’s a place. I believe it’s where your heart feels safest and you know you’re loved.”

Ty started sobbing quietly again, and Andy had to risk being rejected. If Ty needed him, then he was going to be there. Andy leaned over and opened up his arms. Ty hesitated, then he slid off the bed and curled into Andy’s embrace. With Ty being nearly his height, it should have been awkward, but all Andy could think was how perfect it felt.

There were questions that Stratton needed answers to, but for that moment in time, nothing else was as important as holding Ty.

Eventually, the crying ceased and Ty went slack against him as sleep carried the boy away. Andy stood, bringing Ty up with him. He got Ty onto the bed and tried to cover him up, then he left the room.

He had messages from Salt. Andy didn’t even read them, instead calling Salt. He needed to hear Salt’s voice. Afterwards, he’d do what needed to be done.

* * * *

The next morning, Andy woke up feeling as if he’d been out partying the night before. He hadn’t. There’d been police at his house and Brandt throwing a hissy fit when he’d been served with a restraining order. Child services had been called when Ty refused to go back to Brandt’s house, and now the ball was in a completely different court.

Andy had felt like the biggest fraud when Ty had been taken by the state workers. Ty should have been there with him, but due to Brandt’s attempt to retain custody, and Ty’s vow to run away again if he were returned to Brandt, there was going to be an investigation by Child and Family Services to determine what—and who—was best for Ty.

All Andy could do was hope Ty believed him when he told the boy he didn’t want him to leave. That Child and Family Services weren’t giving him a choice. The social worker had told Ty as much, too, but still. It was too similar to the way Andy had let him go before.

Andy’s cell rang with the ring tone he’d assigned Brandt. Apparently the ass didn’t understand what being served a restraining order meant. Curious, Andy answered the phone. “You are in violation of a court order.”

“This is Mary,” his sister in law said. “Not Brandt.”

Andy wasn’t too sure what the rules were regarding that. He was sure Brandt had put her up to it.

“Okay, and what do you want?”

“The shares. You promised you’d give them up.”

He should have known. “You don’t get them and Ty, too.”

“We don’t want Ty.
I
don’t want Ty. Brandt can deal with letting his weapon against you slip away. I don’t want to raise someone else’s kid.”

“Why, Mary, you’re all heart.”

Mary huffed. “Oh, up yours! You don’t know what it’s like!”

He did, actually. He’d helped raise Ty up until he’d stupidly let Brandt and Mary manipulate him. Arguing that wasn’t going to get him anywhere. “I tell you what. You call my lawyer, and ask him to draft papers saying Brandt gives up all claims to Ty. Do what he says about that, and once it’s all filed with the court or Child and Family Services, I’ll sign over my shares.”

“What’s the number?” she asked unhesitatingly.

Andy gave it to her then hung up. Hopefully he would never have to speak to her or Brandt again. He dialled Stratton’s number and left him a voicemail explaining what had just happened with Mary.

Then Andy called Salt, and after a short conversation, Salt told him he was on his way to Andy’s place.