The Broken H (17 page)

Gray chuckled. “If I’m spoiled, it’s as much your fault as it is Mom’s.” He skimmed over the letter as he made his way to his bedroom.

Dear Sheriff Hunter,

I’m sorry to inform you that your lease will not be renewed. You have until next Friday to remove your things from this property.

Lois Wagner

“What the fuck?” That couldn’t be right. Gray flipped the letter over. There was no explanation or anything else.

“Grayson, what’s wrong?”

“My landlady isn’t renewing my lease.”

“Why?” Shane practically growled.

“I have no idea; there’s reason given. Just a get your shit out by next week. Okay, I’m going to drop by her house on the way to the ranch. I’ll let you know what’s up when I get there.”

“Can she do that? Isn’t there a specific length of time she has to give you?”

“Yeah, written notice and a grace period, I believe. I’ll have to check my lease to be sure. All right, I’m going to let you go. See you in about an hour, chief.”

“Drive carefully, Grayson.”

Gray hung up and tossed his cell phone and the letter on to his bed. What was going on? He’d never been late with his rent, he obviously wasn’t a troublemaker and he didn’t throw loud parties. Maybe she had a buyer for the place? No, that couldn’t be it, she’d have to have his permission to let people in to see the place. He shrugged and went to take a shower.

He was clean and dressed in no time, gathered his things for the following day and out the door within a half hour. He arrived at Mrs. Wagner’s house to find two cars parked out front.
Damn!
She had company. Should he come back? It would be rude to just drop in if she had guests but then again her terse note had been discourteous, too.

Gray parked by the curb, strolled up to the front door and knocked. There was feminine laughter followed by the door being flung wide.

Mrs. Wagner appeared in the open doorway with a wide smile on her face, that faded as soon as she saw him. “Sheriff Hunter.”

Gray looked past Mrs. Wagner and spotted Mrs. Murphy, the librarian and gossip hound, and Mrs. Kelly, the high school principal. They both stared at him, frowns on their faces. Mrs. Murphy actually shook her head at him. Well, guess that explained his land landlady’s letter. Apparently she had a problem with him being gay. Gray gave Mrs. Murphy a icy look, then looked at Mrs. Wagner again.

He held the note up. “I guess Mrs. Murphy’s presence explains this.”

The woman at least had the good sense to realize that it was discrimination. She immediately started protesting. “Oh, no, that’s not it at all. It’s just—”

“That’s quite all right, Mrs. Wagner. I find that I no longer want to associate with you, either. I’ll have my things out by this weekend, I expect to have every penny of my deposit back.” Gray spun around and left without another word.

The trip out to the ranch was only about a ten-minute drive, but Gray managed drag it out to twenty. He pulled up to the Broken H not nearly as excited about being there as he had been when he’d left work. Shane was going to flip over him being forced out of his rental. Oh, well, there was no hope for it. Better get it over with. He cut the engine and got out.

Shane was waiting for him on the back porch of the big house. He sat on the swing in a pair of khaki shorts and a blue t-shirt and white tennis shoes. His hair hung in a braid over his shoulder and trailed down his chest to his waist.

Gray smiled. When was the last time he saw Shane in shorts? The man sure had the legs for it—long, leanly muscled and dark.

“What are you grinning at?”

“Just thinking you have nice legs.” Gray stepped up on the porch and dropped down next to Shane.

Shane eyed Gray’s bare legs and his denim shorts. “Your legs look pretty good, too, but you need a tan.” He tried not to grin but failed miserably.

Gray scoffed. “I bet I’ve been out in the sun with my legs uncovered more than you have this year.”

“Probably. I think you need to take me out in the sun. Maybe on the lake. We’ve got a boat, you know.”

Gray grinned thinking about the twenty foot Bayliner his parents had bought a few years back. He’d never been on it. “Are you trying to tell me that I don’t take you anywhere?”

Shane shrugged. “Just thought you might like to go waterskiing one weekend.” He eyed Gray. “So, what was up with your land landlady? Why does she want you out?” Shane pushed off the porch with one foot, setting them to swinging.

Gray groaned. Apparently his reprieve was over. “Why do you think? Guess who was there when I went to talk to her?”

Shane’s eyebrows pulled together. “Who?”

“Mrs. Busybody Murphy.”

“She can’t do that, Grayson. She can’t not renew your lease because you’re gay. That’s discrimination and it’s illegal.”

Gray smiled humorlessly and ran his finger down the furrow on Shane’s forehead, smoothing the lines. “I know that, chief, but you and I also know that she can. Proving that’s the reason she wants me to leave is next to impossible. She’d never admit to it. And I’m not going to spend money taking her to court to try and prove it when I’d rather not rent from a bigot anyway.”

Shane frowned harder. “You don’t sound too upset.”

He shrugged. “I’m not. I knew it was a possibility. Besides, it’s not like I spend a lot of time there. I’m better off to find something smaller and cheaper. And I’m always out here more often than not nowadays.”

Shane put a hand on his nape and tugged. He kissed Gray’s forehead. “You are amazing. I don’t know how you can be so calm about this. It still pisses me off to no end when people act that way.”

Gray nearly swallowed his tongue. He’d been expecting a rant on how this was Shane’s fault, even though it certainly wasn’t. “I knew a long time ago that this life wasn’t going to be an easy row to hoe, but that’s how it is, so I deal with it. As long as no one is targeting me because of who I love, which as we know isn’t out of the realm of possibility, then I’m happy.”

“You’re absolutely right, of course, but I’m still amazed.”

“Funny how people show their true colors when they find out you’re gay, huh?”

“Yeah.” Shane growled.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For not freaking out on me.”

Shane got a strange look on his face, then it was gone, almost like it had never been there. He thumped Gray’s shoulder. “I’m trying. It’s not easy, but I’m working on squelching the urge to knock out your landlady.” His eyes twinkled.

Gray chuckled and pushed him. “You nut!”

Shane laughed. “Seriously, I don’t like it. But I’m trying to look on the bright side. You now need a new place, right?”

“Right.”

“Move in with me.”

Gray’s eyes widened. “What?”

“You heard me; move into my house. Come live with me.” Shane raised a brow.

He’d love to, he was here all the time anyway, but…“That would be like moving back in with my parents.”

Shane snorted. “I am not your parent. You’d be moving in with your lover, your…partner, not your parents.”

Partner,
he liked that. “I know, but I’d be living off my folks. That isn’t right.”

“How do you figure?” Shane pointed at his small house. “That is my place. It came with the job. I pay for my own groceries and my electricity. You can pay half the groceries, electricity and upkeep.”

Gray grabbed Shane, kissing him hard.

Shane grinned and returned his kisses. “Does that mean you’ll move in with me?”

“Hell yeah!”

* * *

“Shane!”

Shane groaned at the summons. Who knew Gray would have so much shit? He set the last of Gray’s clothes on his bed and went outside to see what Jamie—or maybe it was John, they sounded so much alike—was yelling about. “What?”

Jamie had one end of an old, beat up, wooden desk; John had the other end. “Where do you want us to put this?” Jamie asked.

Shane glanced at the truck where Gray was handing boxes to Ethan and McCabe. “The wood pile?”

Gray looked up and frowned. “I like that desk.”

“It’s shit. How about we buy you a new one?” Shane looked the desk over again. It was an old roll-top that had seen better days. It appeared to be constructed of real wood, but over the years it had been painted, several times from the looks of it. The top coat was white but where the white was flaking off, it was red and there was a bit of green, too.

Gray growled menacingly at him. “It’s an antique.”

“More like a relic.” Shane sighed. He’d agreed to give Gray the remaining bedroom for his office. The cottage’s other two rooms were, of course, his own office and his, no, their, bedroom. “Okay, fine. But you’re going to strip that thing and refinish it.” He turned back Jamie and John, then jerked his head toward the front door and stepped out of the way. “Stick it in the last bedroom.”

He let the two men pass and followed them inside, detouring to the kitchen. He grabbed six water bottles out of the fridge and took them out to the porch. Setting them down on the edge of the low wooden porch, he opened a bottle.

McCabe set a box, books it looked like, on the porch behind Shane and sat down beside him. He grabbed a bottle, held it up to Shane and dipped his head. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Thanks for helping us move all this, er—”

“Crap?” Gray flopped down on Shane’s other side with a chuckle and lay back on the porch. “Hand me a water, old man.”

Shane poured a little of his own water onto Gray’s belly.

“Ahh! Damn, that’s cold!” Gray sat up and snatched the bottle from Shane, trying to douse him with it.

Shane grabbed his wrist just as Gray tipped the container. “You little shit!”

Gray smiled. “You started it.” He relaxed his hold, then instantly shoved the bottle, upending it and soaking them both.

Shane sucked in a breath. “Ugh!” It was so hot from moving furniture that the cold water was a shock to the system.

Gray froze, his eyes wide, watching Shane, a smirk tugging at his lips.

Shane looked to his right, trying not to be obvious that he was checking out the other water bottles. When he glanced back, Gray’s gaze was glued to the other bottles as well. Shane lunged for one as Gray practically dove over him, clutching his hand just as it wrapped around a bottle.

McCabe roared with laughter and smartly jumped out of the way, rescuing two of the other bottles before they got emptied.

Gray released his hand and scrambled for another bottle.

Shane unscrewed the lid on the one in his hand and dumped the contents down Gray’s back.

“Ah! Shit!” Gray returned the favor and poured water over Shane’s head.

Shane sputtered for a few seconds, then burst into laughter himself. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so much fun. He and Gray used to do things like that all the time years ago when Gray was a kid. Shane had been in his early twenties at the time.

Gray leaned against him, arms resting on Shane’s shoulders, his forehead against Shane’s, laughing with him. When they finally stopped cackling like a couple of hyenas, they found the rest of their friends were gathered around the porch drinking their own water—with the exception of Ethan, who was stealing drinks from Jamie’s bottle.

Gray rose, shaking off water. “I’m going to go get more bottles. I’ll get you one, too, Ethan.”

Ethan shook his head, grabbed Jamie’s water again and took another swig. “Nah, I’m good.”

John, who was standing next to Jamie and Ethan, walked over to the porch and took a seat beside McCabe. “Is it safe now?”

Shane shrugged. “Depends.”

John raise a brow, grinning from ear to ear. “On?”

“On whether or not Grayson decides to behave when he comes back.” Shane looked over his shoulder just as Gray returned with two bottles.

Gray held up his hands, chuckling. “I’m behaving! Who wants one?”

Shane held out his hand. Gray raised a brow, tossed one to him and sat down on the other side of John.

Shane laughed. “Chicken!”

Gray put his thumbs under his arms, flapping them and making clucking noises. The others chuckled.

Shane shook his head and took a drink. The back screen door of the big house slammed, drawing everyone’s attention. Kaitlyn was coming across the yard with a picnic basket and a tray that looked like it contained a pitcher of lemonade, some paper plates and cups. What a sweetheart she was.

Shane headed across the yard to help her. About a yard from the gravel drive between his house and the main ranch house, something hit him from the side. “Oof!”

It took him a few seconds to figure out Gray had tackled him. He was laughing before he hit the ground and so was Gray. Both of them went down in a tangle of arms and legs, rolling across the grass.

Kaitlyn laughed, too, and continued to his porch.

Gray finally got the upper hand by ending on top of Shane. He pinned Shane’s hands beside his head and sat up, smiling down at him. He was still chortling and winded. “Hey, chief.”

“Hey, Grayson.”

Gray finally caught most of his breath. He sat still for a few minutes, panting lightly, staring at Shane. “Thanks for letting me move in with you.”

Shane felt good right down to his toes. He looked up into those happy green eyes and saw his future. He smiled. “Thanks for agreeing. It comes with a price though.”

“Yeah?” One of Gray’s eyebrows lifted “What price is that?”

“You can’t ever move out again. You’re stuck here, stuck with me.”

Gray’s eyes went serious, his grin faded and he dipped down and kissed Shane’s lips. “That’s a price I’m more than willing to pay.” Gray got up and stretched out a hand.

Shane took Gray’s help and stood facing him. “Good. I’m going to hold you to that.” Then before Gray could evade him, he lowered his shoulder, planted it in Gray’s stomach and lifted him into a fireman’s carry, then took off toward the stables. “But you’re still going in the water trough.”

Chapter Sixteen

Gray clicked the mute button on the TV remote and sighed. It just didn’t get any better than this. It seemed like he hadn’t been able to get Shane to sit still long enough lately to just relax together. The man had been constantly on the go since Gray had moved in. He was either in his office, on the phone or out working on the ranch. It was almost like he was up to something, but Gray couldn’t imagine what.