Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 02 - Out of the Darkness (17 page)

“That arrogant son-of-a-bitch. Tell him you’re talking to the Queen about finally getting him the knighthood he deserves, and he’ll be good as gold.”

“Yeah, okay, Chris, I’ll tell that to the horse.” Dan pauses. “Hey, did you know that ‘knight’ in French is
chevalier
, and ‘horse’ is
cheval
? So if he was a
French
knight, he’d be Chevalier Cheval.”

“Okay, well, that’s what I called to find out. So, I guess I’ll talk to you later.”

 

“Dude, you’re the one who brought it up. You should be impressed with my knowledge of a foreign language.”

“Yeah, two words. I’m stunned.”
“Also, ‘knight’ in Spanish is
caballero
, and ‘horse’ is
caballo
.” “So he’d be Caballero Caballo?”
“You see? Talking to me is fun
and
educational.”

“Yeah, you’ve convinced me. This conversation is so much fun that I think we should continue it in person.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“What, aren’t you going to tell me how to say ‘in person’ in Swahili?”

 

“Are you saying ‘in person’ in Californian?”

 

“Yeah, maybe. I was gonna FedEx this contract back—it looks fine, by the way—but I thought I might as well bring it out myself.” “Are you going to FedEx yourself? ’Cause they
say
that they take extra care with live animals, but I’m not really sure they do.” “Nah, I thought I might fly passenger. Let the contract breathe a little.”

 

“Huh. When?”

“Well… this afternoon, maybe? Then we could go out tonight and hang out tomorrow, and I could deal with the lawyer stuff Monday morning and still be back in time to catch up on work here Monday night.”

“Shit, really? That’d be great. I mean, things are a bit upside down out here, but… yeah, it’d be nice to have my own contribution to the chaos, actually. Did I tell you that I moved out of the guest house, though? So you could have the couch at the apartment, or I could whore myself out and you could have the bed at the apartment…. That might be fun for me, at least. Or I guess you could have one of the bedrooms at the guest house, but it’s been designated as ground zero for most of the whoring, so I don’t know if you want that.”

“You have a designated ground zero? This is some very organized whoring you’ve got going on.”

 

“The logistics of a threesome are a little insane, my friend.” There’s a pause, and then Chris sounds a bit more serious. “So you’re really doing it? It’s going okay?”

 

“Yeah, it’s… it’s good, mostly. I mean, it’s weird, but… it was gonna be weird with anyone other than Justin, probably. Right?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Dan can almost picture Chris shaking his head. “Okay, I’m way too sober to talk about your feelings. It’s good if I come out?”

“Absolutely, that’d be great. Give me a call when you have your flight information, and I’ll pick you up. There’s airports in San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland—although I have no idea where Oakland is, to be honest, but I could find it.”

“Yeah, you’d probably find the airport and not be able to find your way back home. We could end up in Mexico.”
“Well, that could be a good weekend too….”

“Yeah, fair enough. I’ll call you when I have a flight. Assuming I can get something today.”

 

“If I don’t answer, leave a message. I want to get at least a few horses ridden, so I might not be able to pick up.”

 

“All right. Talk to you later.”

Dan clicks his phone shut and looks down to where Tat is helping Evan to steer. Smokey’s helpfulness is almost a problem, Dan thinks, because he’s guessing what Evan wants, even when Evan gives him the wrong signals. But Tat seems to be on top of things. Dan nudges Monty forward, and they trot down to stop next to Smokey.

“Looking good, Evan. You know, John Wayne was a big guy, and he rode quarter horses.”

 

“Yeah? Did his little sister lead him around like he was on a pony at the fair?”

“I don’t remember seeing that on film, but, hey, maybe.” Dan holds his phone up. “Chris just called. He’s coming out for a visit, gonna try to get a flight for this afternoon. So, you know, in case the weekend wasn’t mental enough….”

“That’s great, though, man. He can check up on you, make sure that we’re feeding you enough….” Evan looks at Dan a little critically. “Maybe you should wear a heavier sweater or something.”

“I
told
you he doesn’t eat right!” Tat exclaims. “You can make him eat Tia’s lunches, can’t you, Evan?”

 

“I’ll work on it.” He turns his attention back to Dan. “Do you want him to stay at the guest house?”

Well, the pros and cons of that are a bit awkward to discuss in front of Tat. “I don’t know, whatever. He’s slept on my couch lots of times in Kentucky; he can do it here too.”

Tat doesn’t like the sound of that. “But if the guest house is just sitting there empty… he should use it!”

 

Dan gives Evan a look, but just nods. “Well, I appreciate the offer. Maybe we’ll just see how the evening shakes out.”

 

“We should have a barbecue, though, right, Evan? Your friends are here, and Momma Stevens, and now Dan’s friend….”

 

“Yeah, a barbecue would be good, if you’re up for it, Dan. How long is Chris staying? Are you okay with sharing him?”

“Uh… he was talking about going back Monday, but nothing’s really set yet. He’s got to get a flight.” Just then Dan’s phone rings, and he looks apologetically at Tat and Evan, who gesture for him to answer. He picks up. “Hey, man, what’d you find?”

“I’m on my way to the airport now. The flight leaves in two hours, going to San Francisco… I get in at 4:57, your time. Delta flight 743.”

“Okay, excellent. Delta 743, five o’clock.”
“Four fifty-seven.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll be there. I’ll park off site; just give me a call when you’re off the plane, and I’ll start working my way in to the terminal.”

“Cool. I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah, excellent. Bye.” Dan clicks his phone shut. That happened fast. Dan feels a little off balance, but it’ll be good to see Chris again. Good to compare the performance of Puppet-Chris with the real thing. Dan bets real Chris can hold his liquor better, if nothing else.

He gets back to work on Monty, and Evan and Tat continue with their lesson. There’s a rousing game of “red light, green light” in which Tat is almost run over three times, saved only by Smokey’s good manners. Then Evan manages a perfect stop, and they apparently decide to end on an up note. Monty is still fighting, so Dan can’t take the same easy out, and he’s still working as Tat and Evan head into the barn.

He’s dimly aware of a car moving into the parking lot, but Monty’s almost giving in, and Dan’s too focused on that to pay attention to any arrivals. It’s only when Monty finally agrees, letting his head fall into frame, relaxing his back, swinging along like he’s relaxed and happy, that Dan looks up and notices Jeff and an older woman standing by the railing, watching. Dan takes Monty down to a walk and then back to a collected trot a few times, just to reinforce the lesson, and then he lets him walk and cool off. He heads over to the audience, not sure of their reactions. It might just look like he doesn’t even know how to ask a horse to trot….

But Jeff and his mother are both smiling when he arrives. “He finally gave in, didn’t he?” the woman asks. “He certainly made you work for it!”

Dan nods. “He almost always does.”

“The best ones are rarely the easy ones, are they?” She reaches over the railing to run an admiring hand over Monty’s well-muscled neck. “He’s beautiful.” She looks up at Dan. “And I’m Anna. I’m the one who failed to teach Jeff how to introduce people.”

Jeff rolls his eyes. “You taught me not to interrupt people, as I recall, and you haven’t stopped talking since he got here! Mom, this is Dan. Dan, this is my mother. I could try to introduce a little anecdote to get you two chatting, but I’m a little late on that, I’d say.”

Anna smiles at him. “You know how I am about horses, dear. Once I get started….”

“Speaking of getting started, do you want to ride up the hill and see the cross-country course? Dan said we could borrow his quarter horse, and I can probably handle one of the eventers.”

Dan grins. “I’m sure you can. You can take Monty, if you want. He needs to cool off anyway. And Evan just took Smokey in, so it won’t take long to throw his tack back on him.”

Jeff and his mother both look at Monty with interest. “You don’t mind one of us riding him?” Anna asks.

Dan had really been thinking that Jeff would be riding Monty, but he can’t exactly tell the woman that she’s too old, and she doesn’t look too frail…. “Uh, I’d want you to wear a helmet—he’s not afraid of anything, but he likes to pretend sometimes, play-spooking.”

Anna beams at her son. “You can get a helmet for me when you go inside to get your horse, can’t you, Jeff?”

 

Jeff looks as if he’d like to argue. “I thought maybe
I
could ride Monty….”

“You can ride him any time.” She glances apologetically at Dan. “Well, anytime Dan lets you.” Her expression becomes a little sly. “Maybe you could figure out some way to talk him into it.” The suggestiveness is clear, and Dan is a little boggled. He knows he isn’t obviously gay, not stereotypically effeminate or flamboyant, so if Jeff’s mother is suggesting what she seems to be suggesting, does that mean that Jeff has talked to her about Dan? Dan thought he and Jeff had agreed to
not
discuss that with her, but he guesses that she’s Jeff’s mom; if he can handle it, Dan will just have to find a way.

Jeff just rolls his eyes. “Fine, I’ll go get Smokey.” He looks at his mother. “And the ugliest, most uncomfortable helmet I can find.” Jeff has just started for the barn when Evan and Tat appear in the doorway. “Hi, Momma Stevens!” Tat yells. “Do you want Smokey?” “Jeff does!” Anna calls back. “But could you bring me a helmet, sweetheart?”

Tat and Evan both disappear inside the barn, only to return a moment later, Evan leading Smokey, now with an English saddle, and Tat carrying a helmet. Dan swings off Monty and looks at Anna. She’s tall, but not as tall as Dan, so he shortens the stirrups by a few holes on each side. He checks the girth, and by then Tat is there, collecting a hug from Anna in exchange for the helmet she’s brought. She hands a helmet to Jeff, too, who puts it on without protest; there’s too much proof of the dangers of riding right there in their little circle for him to deny the importance of protection.

Anna smiles at Evan. “Jeff says you’re learning to ride, too, Evan. Isn’t that sweet?” Dan tries to keep a straight face, but it isn’t easy. Anna
had
sounded like she was talking to a toddler. He wonders what Evan’s done to deserve her opinion of him and hopes that he manages to avoid making the same mistake.

Jeff and Anna are soon mounted up and riding out on the path to the cross-country course, and Dan heads back inside. He’s still got several hours before he needs to get cleaned up and drive to the airport. The rest of the weekend seems likely to be a write-off, so he’d like to make the best use of the time he has. Tat and Evan come with him, and they’re almost to the barn when Dan hears a shout from the roadway and sees Blaine, Monica, and Amanda strolling toward the barn. Great. If there was ever an antithesis to using time well, those three are it.

He raises his hand in greeting and then says to Evan and Tat, “I’m gonna go get another horse ready. I’ll see you guys later.” If he’s lucky, maybe they’ll all go back to the house. But he’s got a sneaking feeling that he’s not going to be that lucky.

Chapter 11

J
UST
as Dan had feared, the three visitors soon troop into the barn. Tat seems to be enjoying their company, but Evan looks a little worried, and Dan smiles, hoping to reassure him. As soon as Evan grins back, Dan busies himself with brushing Tulip; the sooner he can get out of the barn, the better. Unfortunately, he seems to be the only one with that goal. Blaine’s the first to try to distract him.

“Hey, Dan, good to see you, man.” It sounds like they’re old friends who’ve been cruelly separated for years.

 

“Uh, yeah. Hi.” Dan ducks around to Tulip’s other side and practically runs into Amanda.

 

“Dan, hey!”

 

He almost yelps. “Whoa! Hi. Uh….” He looks around a little wildly. Okay, there’s only one more. Where is she?

He runs his eyes over Tulip—he’s only done a quick brushing, but…. He ducks back over to Blaine’s side and grabs the saddle. Time to get this show on the road.

“He’s a really beautiful horse, Dan.” Blaine pets the horse’s neck and looks like he’s trying hard to be sincere. Too bad he’s an idiot. “She’s a mare, dude,” Dan corrects, and Blaine bends over to look.

 

“Huh. Well, still beautiful. Right?”

“You bet.” Dan pulls the saddle pad up a little, then slides the saddle into place on Tulip’s back. He goes around to the off side to attach the girth, and Amanda’s still there.

“So, Dan, we were thinking about going out for lunch. You could pick the place….” Amanda’s smile is almost seductive.

“Uh, I don’t really eat out that much. I’m sure Evan knows somewhere good.” The girth is attached, and he moves back around to the other side to tighten it. Evan is standing off to the side, apparently monitoring the situation. Dan frowns at him, and Evan shrugs his shoulders apologetically. He’s apparently given pretty clear orders to his friends to be nice; how can he go back and tell them to be a little less nice now?

“But where would
you
like to go?” Okay, now
Blaine’s
almost seductive. That’s… nasty.

“Uh, I don’t know. But I’m eating lunch here, so… it doesn’t really matter. Ask Evan.” Girth done up, time for the bridle. Almost done, thank God.

But then, holy shit, Monica’s there. She’s so little, she’d been just around the corner, part way into one of the stalls, but now she’s out, and her smile isn’t seductive, it’s… sweet. Damn it. “We haven’t really gotten a chance to talk much, Dan.” She looks a little sad, but she’s not overdoing it. “It would be great to get to know you.”

Dan backs away a little. “Yeah, uh… well, I’m at work right now, so this isn’t a good time for me.” There, that’ll help. If he can’t dislike her as Evan’s ex, he can at least call up a little class resentment to help him resist. Have any of these people ever had a damn job?