Promise Rock 03 - Living Promises (MM) by Amy Lane Read Free Book Online Page B

the silence.
“The one next to the gas station?” Jeff wasn't surprised—Deacon and Crick ate breakfast there on occasion. It was a pretty decent place for a small-town greasy spoon.
“Yeah. It's near The Pulpit, you can take a few people but not too many, and it's public. You and this kid sit down, have a civilized meal, and see what he wants. All you gotta do is decide who you want.”
Jeff gnawed at his lower lip and thought. “Crick,” he said, because the guy was his GBFF, “and Kimmy.”
“Hey!” Amy protested, and Jeff looked at her and shrugged.
“Kimmy and Shane are going through that whole how-to-be-acounselor program, sugar. I'd ask Shane, but I think that's one too many big, white, gay men at the table.”
“White?” Andrew asked. Although nearby Natomas was fairly diverse, in Levee Oaks, any skin color beyond a deep tan was very much in the minority.
“Yeah,” Jeff said absently, wishing he could turn on the movie and disappear. “Kevin was black… what?” He looked up at all of them, Andrew included, because they were looking a little big-eyed. “I'm the white theatre kid—I'm supposed to be gay. Kevin was definitely a surprise.”
“I should say so!” Andrew muttered, nodding. And then, as though everyone was looking at him with judiciously pursed lips, he grimaced and rolled his eyes. “Where'd you say this kid's from?”
“Georgia,” Jeff said, wondering why he'd asked.
Andrew shook his head. “Oh my God… someday, you're going to have to let me know how you managed to seduce a Georgia boy—that's just not done!” And then, before Jeff could shake his head and say that Kevin pretty much had him at “Come fuck me!” Andrew went on. “And I really should be there, Jeff. This is a whole new thing here—something I don't know if you're ready to deal with. Race in California is not easy. Race in the South is a whole new world for California boys, you hear me?”
Jeff nodded his head, vaguely aware that he didn't understand at all. “So you'll be there?” he asked, grateful for the support anyway.
Suddenly Andrew sucked air in through his teeth. “When?”
“Two o'clock, day after tomorrow. Lucas's going to meet him at the bus station and bring him.”
Now Deacon was making that sound too. “Go ahead,” Deacon murmured. “I'll be fine.”
“I can't,” Andrew snapped back. “That stallion's a monster! I'm not leaving you alone, not….” Andrew trailed off, and Jeff wondered briefly why, before Deacon started talking again.
“No, I'll be fine!”
“Forget about it, Deacon!” Crick and Drew both snapped, and Deacon flushed.
“I take it someone's got to get laid instead?” Jeff asked, hoping his acid humor could even out some of the rough emotion he heard staticking up the room.
“Yeah,” Deacon told him, and Jeff didn't miss the look he was shooting Crick. “Lucy Star. There's an outfit from down south that really wants one of her last babies, but their stallion isn't dummy trained.”
Jeff huffed and looked mournfully at the frozen screen. “Could we clarify for those of us who think horses are only pretty if they've got half-naked men on them?”
Deacon's gentle chuckle was enough to soothe Jeff's ruffled feathers. “Usually, stallions are trained to fuck a pretend horse—a dummy horse. He comes into a jar, we ship the jar off to someone, and some mare gets lucky without getting the shit beat out of her during hot horse sex. This one isn't—and if we're not there to manage him, Lucy could get seriously hurt.”
Jeff blinked at him. “Haven't horses been having sex without our help for thousands of years?”
“Yeah, but it hasn't been a lot of fun for the mares. Lucy's a friend—Ambush doesn't have to buy her dinner, but I want to make sure that fucker doesn't hurt her, either.”
“It's a two-man job,” Andrew said, and this time Jeff understood. Crick was a good man with horses, and his injuries were becoming less and less of a liability, but with