Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 02 - Out of the Darkness (28 page)

Evan’s quiet, but the muscles of his thigh are relaxing under Dan’s fingers. Finally, he glances over at Dan. “Smokin’ hot, huh?”

“Scorching.”
“Yeah?”

“Stop it, now. You’re just fishing for compliments.” Dan smiles, and Evan smiles back ruefully. “Okay, listen, Taylor’s gonna be back any minute, and you can do what you want about the money. That’s totally none of my business. But in terms of being jealous… chill out, man. The only excuse for that sort of behavior is make-up sex, and we are too far from privacy for that to be a good option.”

Evan looks thoughtful. “Is there an alley? Or, hey, the back of your truck, maybe?”

 

Dan grins. “Yeah, I think I’m a little old for both options, and you’re too… socially prominent.”

 

Evan frowns. “Well, I bet there’s a hotel or something around here. Hey, maybe we could find one that charges by the hour….”

“Wow, you can add ‘classy’ to your list of good qualities.” Dan looks across and sees Taylor coming out of the bathroom. He looks across nervously, as if he’s not sure it’s time for him to come back yet. Dan nods him over. “Okay, Evan, Taylor’s coming back, and I don’t have anything to say about the money, but he’s a friend of mine, and you need to be civil, all right?”

Evan nods. “Yeah, I will be. Sorry.” He sounds sheepish and adorable, and Dan starts to think that finding a motel isn’t a terrible idea.

Taylor has stopped at the bar for another round, and Dan chugs what’s left of his previous drink. He needs to slow down or he won’t be able to drive home, but alcohol’s a good way to take the edge off, and everybody buying rounds for everybody seems like a good peace offering.

When Taylor sits down, Evan starts talking right away. “So, yeah, that does sound like an interesting program.” He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a business card, then a pen, and starts writing on the back of the card. “This is my assistant’s direct line… Sam. Give her a call and say I want to have an appointment with you, and she’ll set something up. Okay? We can look over the numbers, see what’s needed.” He pulls out another card and passes it and the pen over to Taylor. “If you write down the name of the organization and the contact information, I can get my guys started on the vetting.”

Taylor’s looking a little surprised, like he’d expected to come back from the bathroom and hear a refusal. He glances at Dan, who just shrugs, and then Taylor starts writing. “That’s… that’s great, really. I mean… it’s a really great program.” He looks over at Dan. “We actually… we have a thing set up for kids to do community service out there, you know… if they’ve gotten in trouble with the law or something.” He grins. “They come out thinking they’re hot shit, so tough, and we have this big Percheron gelding, totally gentle but almost eighteen hands, and, you know, a
Percheron
, so… huge. And we’ll ask them to lead him somewhere, or something, and they’re almost all just petrified. But every now and then, a kid will just look at him, and… I don’t know, it’s like they… like they glow, or something… like a switch got flipped.” He catches himself, and Dan sees him try to lower his level of enthusiasm. He shrugs at Dan. “You know, I just… I remembered you had a thing for Percherons.”

Evan looks like he’s about to be jealous about this tidbit of knowledge, but Dan’s hand is still on his thigh, and it’s rubbing a little, and he calms down. “Which ones are Percherons? We don’t have any at the barn, do we?”

Dan shakes his head. “Nah, but we should. If we got one that was a little lighter than others, maybe a cross or something, that’d be a good horse for you. They’re huge, man, and totally… I don’t know, they’re….”

“Impressive.” Taylor agrees. “I’ve seen a Percheron-Arab cross that was nice—had almost all the size of the Percheron, but a great Arab head, and a little lighter in the body… still a good temperament too.”

Evan looks like he’s taking mental notes of all this. “So it’d be bigger than the eventers? ’Cause, I gotta tell you… Smokey seems pretty big to me.”

Dan laughs and glances at Taylor. “Smokey’s my quarter horse. He’s about fifteen hands.”

Taylor looks at Evan and grins. “Yeah, that’d be pretty small for a Percheron.” He looks like he’s debating whether to continue. “You know, donation or not—if you want to come out to the barn sometime and see the place, I could show you Boxer—that’s our Percheron. He’s big, but he’s gentle, so it’s like a St. Bernard, you know? Not intimidating.”

Evan gives him an incredulous look. “Dude, have you not seen
Cujo
? St. Bernards are… they’re a dangerous breed, man!”

Taylor looks like he’s not sure if Evan is serious. “Well… okay, then I was wrong… Percheron’s aren’t like St. Bernards. Boxer has never gone rabid and trapped a family in a broken-down car, and I really don’t think he ever will.”

“Yeah, well….” Evan shakes his head. “That’s what they thought about Cujo too.”

Dan sits back and lets them get to know each other. They leave the Percheron and Cujo conversation after a while, thank God, and move on to discussing where Taylor’s living, and his son, and where his sister lives, and what she does for a living, and what his brother does, and then his parents. It should feel like an interrogation, Dan thinks, because it’s all Evan asking and Taylor answering, but Taylor doesn’t act like he’s being interrogated. He looks a little dazzled, maybe, but not intimidated, not uncomfortable. He seems surprised when he lifts his bottle for a drink and finds it empty, as if he’d been so engaged in the conversation that he hadn’t even realized he’d been drinking.

“Another round?” Evan asks, but Taylor looks at his watch and shakes his head.

 

“I can’t, man. I told Owen I’d be home for bedtime, and I’m already pushing it.”

 

Evan nods. “Yeah, okay. Can’t let the little man down.”

“Well, I don’t
want
to, if I can help it.” Taylor stands up, and Dan and Evan do too. They shake hands, and Taylor heads out, and Dan looks over at Evan.

“So, how much of that was real, man? How much was you just showing off how charming you can be, and how much was you really being interested?”

Evan looks like Dan had asked if he’d eaten his daily bucket of rotten potatoes. “Of course I was interested, Dan!” He’s just a little too shocked, though, and a little too sincere sounding, and Dan stares him down until he cracks. “Okay, it started as showing off, but… he’s not a bad guy, is he?”

“No, Evan, he’s not. He’s a good guy.”

Evan nods as if that topic has been resolved, and he moves on to the next. “I was talking to Jeff this afternoon—he said to come by if we wanted on the way home.”

“Yeah?” Dan would like to see Jeff, would like to hear his rumbling voice. He wonders whether Jeff called Evan or the other way around, and what exactly they’d talked about. Whether he’d been mentioned, and if so, what Jeff thought about him meeting up with Taylor. He doesn’t know if he wants them to have talked about him or not. The whole situation seems topsy-turvy, somehow. He thinks of how he’d realized earlier that he’d been in a sort of threesome in Kentucky, and he doesn’t think he’d have worried if Chris and Justin had talked about him; he knows, in fact, that they did. So why is he worried about it now, with Jeff and Evan?

Evan’s voice cuts into his reverie. “So, do you want to? Go by Jeff’s?”

“Uh, I don’t know…. Do you want to?”
“Yeah, I told him I would.”

And that clears that up. Evan and Jeff have already decided what to do with their evening; if Dan doesn’t like the plan, he’s on his own. Part of him wants to be contrary, to say he’d rather do something else just so they know not to take him for granted, but he’s pretty sure they’d just let him go, and then he wouldn’t get to see Jeff. Wouldn’t get to take Evan’s clothes off, run his hands over that lean stomach….

“Yeah, okay. I’ll come by for a bit, maybe.”

 

Evan looks like he’s not thrilled with the lack of enthusiasm. “Did you have something else planned?”

Dan doesn’t really feel up to explaining his ambivalence. “Not really… just maybe an early night… get some laundry done, or something.”

“Is that your version of ‘washing your hair’?” Evan’s mostly joking, Dan thinks, but there’s a bit of an edge to it.

 

“We don’t all have housekeepers, Evan—some of us really do have to do laundry.”

 

“Well, you know, don’t let us keep you from it, if it’s important.”

Dan wonders where the charming, easygoing Evan has gone. Did he use it all up on Taylor? And if it was an act with Taylor, has it been an act with Dan too? He’s losing his patience. “I think I can manage to do both, Evan.”

“What, pop by for a quickie and then take off? So it’s still just sex, then?”

“What the fuck, Evan.” Dan shakes his head tiredly. “You can’t think that acting like this is going to make me
want
to spend a night cuddled up and watching TV with you.” He looks around the bar. Nobody’s really paying any attention to them yet, but Dan isn’t sure it’s going to stay that way. “Let’s go outside, all right?”

Evan looks like he’s about to argue, but then he nods abruptly and leads the way out the door. Once they’re outside he starts walking, heading toward his car, Dan supposes, but Dan’s car is in the opposite direction. Evan doesn’t seem to be waiting for him, and Dan isn’t inclined to call after him. He
is
inclined to
stare
after him, apparently, because that’s what he does for several of Evan’s giant strides. Then he steps back into the alcove around the bar’s door and pulls out his cell. Dan’s in over his head; he’s calling for backup.

Chapter 17

D
AN
hits Jeff’s number on speed dial. Things are spinning out of control, and Jeff is good at slowing things down. Dan stops for a moment before hitting “send,” and wonders if he should keep Jeff out of it; what if Jeff turns out to be on Evan’s side? Could this be it? After all of the big talk, is this all there’s going to be? He hesitates, but then hits the button to make the call. He’d rather get bad news than be left in the dark.

Jeff’s voice is instantly soothing when he answers. He sounds almost amused. “Dan, hi. Are you coming over?”

Dan hesitates again. “Uh… I don’t know, man. I was just with Evan, and he seemed a little….” Dan trails off. He’s not sure what word would best describe Evan. “Insane” certainly comes to mind.

“Yeah, I know.” Dan can hear the smile in Jeff’s voice. “He’s on the other line. And, yeah, he’s a little wound up. Why don’t you come over and we’ll sort things out.”

“Shit, Jeff, is this…. You don’t sound too concerned. Is this normal for him?”

Jeff almost laughs, and Dan wonders for the first time if it’s real amusement in Jeff’s voice. “Well, you know, he gets worked up sometimes.”

“Maybe… should we sleep on it, and calm down a little?”

“Dan?” Jeff’s voice is gentle. “It’d be good if you could come over.” He pauses. “I’ve got to get back to Evan, but it’s not far out of your way.”

“Jesus, Jeff, I’m not worried about the travel time! I just….” Dan rubs his face with his hand. “Yeah, okay. I’ll be there… well, just about the same time as Evan, I guess, ’cause we’re coming from the same place.”

“Okay. We’ll see you soon, then.” Jeff hangs up, and Dan leans back against the wall of the building. He’s really not sure what he’s going to have to say to Evan… or what Evan can have to say to him. But Jeff thinks it’s a good idea, and Jeff is better at this stuff than Dan, so he pushes himself off the wall and walks down the street to his car.

When he’s pulled away from the curb, he realizes that he may have lied a little to Jeff. Dan doesn’t think he’s going to arrive at the same time as Evan, because Dan has only the sketchiest idea of how to get to Jeff’s from downtown. He knows where he is, and he knows where Jeff’s is, but he’s not sure how to get from one place to the other. He ends up having to pull out a map and sort things out that way, and then he gets caught in a bit of a traffic jam. Evan probably knew enough to avoid that area of town.

He pulls up into Jeff’s driveway and sure enough, Evan’s car is already there. Dan parks off to the side, so that anyone can get their car out at any time… just in case. He takes a deep, steadying breath and heads up on to the porch. Jeff meets him at the door.

“We were starting to get worried. Thought maybe you got lost.” His voice is calm, but Dan can tell he’s asking a question.

“Yeah, I did, a little. I wasn’t sure how to get here from there.” Jeff smiles. “Well, maybe that’s symbolic somehow….” “Fuck that, Jeff, I’m not the one having a temper tantrum.”

Evan appears from behind Jeff, and apparently the brief separation hasn’t done much to calm him down. “No, you’re just the one meeting up with old boyfriends.”

“Oh, fuck that, too, Evan. I’m allowed to have friends. And you had an old girlfriend in your house all weekend, so spare me the hypocrisy, all right?”

Evan stares at Dan, and he really can’t tell if it’s because the words are sinking in or because he’s not willing to hear a single thing. Jeff doesn’t seem sure, either.

“Okay, guys, let’s chill out a little. Come on inside, Dan, and we’ll just figure this out.”

Dan’s about to go in, because it’s Jeff, after all, but then he literally catches himself, latching on to the doorjamb with his fingers. “Wait a second. Are we going inside to talk about how Evan’s getting paranoid and imagining things, and what we can do to help him with that? ’Cause, okay, I can have that conversation. But if we’re going inside to say that I did something wrong by going to have a drink with some guy I used to know, and
inviting Evan along
, for fuck’s sake… I’m not having that conversation.”

“Some guy you used to
fuck
,” Evan corrects, and it’s under his breath and Dan could ignore it if he wanted to, and he can tell that Jeff wants that, but he’s had about enough.

“That’s right, Evan, a guy I used to fuck. And it was
good
, man, totally intense. We just couldn’t get enough of each other; we’d—”

“Okay, okay.” Jeff’s voice is raised, and Dan doesn’t think he’s ever heard that before. “That’s not ‘chilling out’, guys.” He takes a deep breath. “All right, let’s… Evan, can you go get us some beers? Dan and I will… well, I was gonna say we’d go out on the back deck, but I don’t think the neighbors need to hear all this. Let’s just sit in the living room.”