Real World, page 2
part #2 of Love is Blind Series
“It is. Just about a ten-fifteen minute drive from them.”
“Oh, that’s not bad at all. How many acres do you have?”
“Twelve. Just enough, you know. There’s animals, a workshop, enough to justify a riding lawnmower.”
“Hell, twelve is enough to justify a little tractor.” Audie had a wee John Deere. Dan loved it.
“Yeah. Someday. It’s on my bucket list.”
“I bet.” The truck wasn’t anywhere near gross, just full of tools and sawdust. In fact, the front seat was cleaned off and there was a towel on the seat to protect his delicate butt.
Dan chuckled. “The towel is a nice touch.”
“I know, right? I’m all classy and shit.”
“You totally are.” He winked. “What’s your favorite pancake?”
“Blueberry. I’m a total whore for a blueberry pancake.” Weldon pulled out of the parking lot, taking it easy, driving the truck like it was second nature. “You?”
“Gingerbread.” He loved the weird mixture of sharp and sweet.
“Spicy, huh? I’m gingerbreaded-out from Christmas.”
“I didn’t get any this year. No one bakes but Mom, and she broke two fingers about two weeks before.”
“Oh my God!” He got a quick glance. “What happened?”
“Oh, she was out walking her new baby poodle and a big old lab came out of nowhere. She grabbed his collar, and he wasn’t biting or anything, but he popped her fingers. She says condo living is way more dangerous than hobby farming.”
Dan could see Weldon fighting the laughter with all he was, shoulders just shaking.
“I know, right? Llamas never broke her bones.”
The sound that burst from Weldon was vaguely like a hippopotamus stepping on a duck—loud, weird, and a little squooshy.
Dan chuckled along, nodding to the music on the radio. Much more his thing than weird jazz. He liked Tim McGraw on a cellular level.
The traffic was crazy, but Weldon didn’t scream or fuss. Talk about deep water. He’d thought Audie was unflappable. Dan would have been pounding the dash by now.
“Man, I hope my little brother isn’t out in this.” Dalton would be homicidal.
“Which one? You have one that’s just turned twenty-one, huh?”
“Yeah. Total amateur.” Though Dalton had grown up driving in and out of Dallas.
“Yeah. Hopefully his frat brothers are just partying there at the house, or walking. It’s not that far to Sixth Street.”
“That’s it. I bet he’s a smart kid. Dix says so.” Weldon hit the ramp for the restaurant.
“Yeah, I guess.” Of course, they were all spectacular numbnuts in their own ways, the White boys. Dixon was the one with serious music addiction. Damon seemed intent to repopulate Texas with his little gal. Dalton was hip-deep in party central and then there was him. Army to the bone.
“He seems decent enough.” The frontage road was always longer than it looked, the turn into the parking lot almost hidden.
“He’s a kid. It’s almost like we have two separate families—me and Dix, Dalton and Damon, you know?”
“I do.” Weldon chuckled. “Kids are funny, huh?”
“Yeah. Have you met Randi and Grainger?” Those two were… damn.
“I have. They come out to the house a lot.”
“That’s pretty cool. They’re amazing, but so much energy. I’m not cut out for kids, I don’t think.” He loved kids, he did, but he wasn’t sure he could have them around all the time. Randi and Grainger exhausted him sometimes.
“No?” Weldon gave him a grin. “It’s good to know what you can tolerate and what you can’t.”
“Yeah. I guess I raised enough green kids in the Army, right?” He’d done his duty for God and country, so no one should care if the queer ex-soldier reproduced.
“There you go.” Weldon parked the truck under one of the parking lot lights. “Let’s go eat pancakes and tell Dix how much we liked his set.”
“Sounds good.” In fact, it sounded like the best offer he’d had in a long time.
Well, except for that dance and kiss at midnight.
That had rocked his world.
2
Talk about falling off a mountain. Find a dude that was hot, decent, a brother-in-law of one of your best friends, and into men, only to discover he wasn’t into guys with kids.
And Dix and Audie only had one each.
Weldon rolled his eyes at himself. Like he was going to get more than what he’d gotten already. He wasn’t a one-night stand type, he never had been. Hell, he’d been married for twelve years to the same woman, hadn’t he? And before that he’d been with the same guy all through high school.
The only reason they’d broken up was college. Lubbock might as well been a million miles away back then.
Speaking of. He texted Blake with Happy New Year, knowing that Blake would be sound asleep with Travis on the little piece of land two miles down from him.
God worked in the strangest ways.
“Everything okay?” Dan asked, smiling.
“Yep. Just happy New Year-ing my friend. He’s probably sound asleep, but I thought I’d do it anyway.”
“Oh, man, I ought to text Mom and Dad.” Dan laughed. “Though I can see them today later. How weird is that?”
“Has it been a long time since you were here over the holidays?” He couldn’t imagine. He’d see his folks for brunch and then Krista’s people for supper.
“Oh, God. It’s been years. Even stateside I was always the single guy with no dependents who needed to see me. I let my guys go instead.”
“Were you an officer?” Weren’t they the ones that had guys that they could let go? He was an only child of a rancher who was an only child of a cotton farmer who was one of thirteen of another cotton farmer. They all served in their own ways.
“Yeah. OCS all the way.” Dan grinned. “I did okay.”
“Go you!” He meant it. “Did y’all go to college together, you and Dix?”
Dan fascinated him, even if the man was off-limits.
“Nah. I was kind of a fuckup for a bit. I got my degree while I was in, though.”
“Good on you! I never did. I’m like Audie, just another guy.” He wasn’t a cowboy, not professionally, but he could cowboy up when the situation called for it.
“Well, if you’re like Audie there’s a lot to admire. I like him.” Dan winked. “Never kissed him, though, so you’re one up.”
“I bet that even blind, Dix would rip off your head and shit down your neck.” He bumped their shoulders together, settling in for a long wait. This place was hopping. “Although, I have to tell you, there is this little boy that is hunting Dix’s ass and I think that Audie is fixin’ to go postal on him.”
“Is his name Troy? Because I’ve never seen Audie be mean to a soul but that boy tonight.”
“Ah, you met Troy. Audie’s livid. Troy kissed Dix and Dix went ass over teakettle, hit his head hard, landed on Boomer. It was a big old thing.” Weldon had spent hours on the phone with Audie, convincing the cowboy not to commit murder.
“Shit, I knew that I would have punched him myself.” Dan scowled, clearly ready to defend his brother.
“Yeah, that’s prob’ly Audie’s to do. He’s just looking for an excuse. Dix was more ‘oh stupid kid’ about it. He’s more used to having hangers-on, I guess.” Groupies? Did people still say groupies? He’d have to ask Jakob.
“My brother had rabid fans. I love it.” Dan’s low, warm chuckle made Weldon think of that kiss they’d shared.
Stop it. Just let it go. Not into kids. Five kids. One of these things was not like the other.
Seriously not the same.
Dan glanced at him sideways. “You okay?”
“I am. I think I got to let you know, ’specially since I’m up to the house a lot, so you’ll be seeing more of me while you’re there. I got five little ones. Well, Jakob and Madison aren’t little, but….” He shrugged, refusing to not meet Dan’s eyes. He wasn’t a liar.
“Oh.” Dan’s cheeks went bright red. “Shit, now I sound like an ass, huh?”
“Nope, not a bit. To be honest, I wasn’t thinking on them when I was with you, but…. Well, they sure ain’t disappearing.” Not with little Caleb only just turned three.
“No, I guess not.” Dan nodded. “Thanks for saying. If nothing else it keeps me from putting my foot farther in my mouth.”
“I don’t regret it,” he blurted out. He didn’t. He hadn’t felt a kiss like that in too long.
“Well, that’s good.” He got a long, speculative look this time. “So, are you—I mean, am I the first guy you’ve…. You said that bar was friendly, so I assumed. But five kids.”
“I was married to Krista for twelve years. Before that, I was with Blake. I’m picky about who I hunt, but I got me an open license.”
That netted him a chuckle. “I like that. That’s cool. I’ve never met anyone who identified as really bi.”
He shrugged and offered Dan another grin. “I just am into who I’m into. My wife understood that. She used to tease me about finding some man to join us.” He rolled his eyes, but he had to smile. She’d had Caleb, come home three days later and had died from a thrown blood clot four hours after that. He’d been in the next room and never heard her make a peep.
Weldon had damned near laid down and died after that. Only the kids had kept him going.
“Did she pass away? You don’t talk about her like she left.”
“Yes. She died when our youngest was three days old. It was very sudden.” For her, anyway. For him, it had been a few endless months.
“Oh, that sucks. I’m sorry.” Dan did reach over then, big hand warm and callused on Weldon’s wrist.
“Thank you. I’ve had time to deal, but I appreciate it. Very much.”
“What are you two hooligans doing!” Audie’s voice rang out. “Y’all didn’t get us a table yet?”
“It is New Year’s, buddy.” He laughed and stood to give Dix his seat.
“I’ll go tell them the gang’s all here, though,” Dan said. “They want to seat whole parties.”
The teenagers who were sharing the bench with them moved away, staring at Boomer, so there was room for all of them.
“What did you think, Weldon? I taped it for Jakob and Grainger. I wanted them to hear.” Dix looked tickled as a pig in shit.
“I thought you rocked it, and jazz isn’t even my thing. I danced.”
“You did. Audie says with my brother. Don’t break his wee baby heart, okay?” Dix was laughing, that smile utterly contagious.
“That will not be an issue, Dix. Promise.”
Audie chuckled. “Good. He’d have to find you to hit you.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. He’d probably sniff me out.”
“Hey! I could use echolocation like that kid on Criminal Minds,” Dix said.
“Yeah, I saw that. Jakob was bouncing off things around the fucking house for three days. Pickle was beside herself trying to save his ass.” His son Jakob was one of his favorite people, funny, warm, and a giant pain in his ass.
“He should use his guitar to make sound waves.”
“Who should what?” Dan sat next to him on his other side. “They say five minutes for the blind guy. I think they want Boomer out of the lobby.”
“That’s not bad. Weldon’s oldest. He’s one of my students.” Dixon’s eyes still searched for Dan, like he could see.
It fascinated Weldon—how much difference there was between a man who’d lost his sight and a kid who was born without any. Jakob never did anything eyes first. He always had his head tilted, listening.
“Yeah? That’s pretty awesome.” Dan’s hip bumped his.
“He is a good kid, as a rule. I guess I’ll keep him.” The connection was like being touched with a cattle prod through a pair of jeans. Weldon could feel the heat of that hard body, the strength.
“Hey, are you coming to the house tomorrow?” Audie asked. “Dan can meet the kids then.”
“Sure, if y’all want. I can come for lunchtime, watch a little football. If your guys want, they can come to mine for the night.”
“Randi might want to, so she can see Emma, but I guarantee Grainger will want to stay home so he can play with Oliver next door,” Audie said. “They’re thick as thieves.”
“Sure. I’m good with whatever.” Weldon loved that Randi and his Emma were tight. Emma had needed a girl buddy.
Not that Randi wasn’t just as much a dirt-in-her-hair, jeans-wearing, trouble-making tomboy as his Em was.
Together they were like a whirling dervish that loved strawberry milkshakes and ponies. A hundred pounds of pure devilment, those girls.
“That’s us,” Dan said, holding up the light-up pager, which buzzed madly.
“Perfect.” Audie stood, put Dixon’s hand on his elbow and they headed into the dining area.
The wall of noise hit Weldon like a ton of bricks. God, Dix must hate this. The only sign he gave was the long fingers tightening on Audie’s arm.
“Here you go,” the hostess chirped. “A booth in the back. Hope that helps with the noise.”
Weldon glanced at Dan, because he hadn’t thought to ask. Good man.
Dan looked over at him, winked, and gave him the Boy Scout hand signal. Butthead. Weldon really liked him, just as he liked Dix. Too bad about the kids thing, because Dan was sex on a stick, as well.
They settled in next to each other in the booth, which was big enough to avoid contact, thank God. He didn’t need another boner.
He thought he’d be jacking off to the memory of Dan’s prick against him for a long damn time. That kiss would fuel his dreams until Caleb started college and Weldon could devote real time to sex. The thought made him chuckle.
“What’s funny?” Dan asked.
“Oh, life. I was thinking about how this is my first New Year’s Eve out in… well, forever, I guess.”
“Right?” Dixon laughed too. “Dan’s as well.”
“At least here, huh? I’ve been to some amazing parties.”
“Did you guys get entertainment at the holidays?” Audie asked. “Like in the movies?”
“Sure, lots of times. We spend a lot of time fucking off and wishing we were anywhere else.”
“See anyone famous?” Weldon asked. This was kinda fascinating, a glimpse into a whole other world.
“Saw a great show with Craig Morgan and Toby Keith once.” Dan seemed so relaxed about his time in the service, not twitchy or unwilling to talk on it.
“Oh, that’s cool. I bet Grainger squeals about Toby Keith, huh?”
Dix shook his head. “Toby Keith is old now, man. He’s into Keith Urban still, but only because he can pick.”
“Right.” Weldon laughed. “Jakob is an old soul. Willie Nelson. Stevie Ray Vaughn.”
“He’s got talent.”
Weldon knew Dix was telling the truth because the man didn’t embellish. He was a tough teacher, but fair, and Jakob idolized him.
“Thanks.” Weldon grabbed his menu. “Queso?”
“Kerbey Queso!” everyone to a man said, and Weldon nodded.
Shit yeah. Guacamole, cheese, and pico. The chips were always a little stale, but the cheese dip was always superlative. Now, did he want the baked potato omelet or the chicken enchiladas?
Oh, who was he kidding? He always got the baked potato omelet.
“Coffee, y’all?” The waitstaff always took forever here, but that was kinda part of the Kerbey Lane experience.
“And queso,” Audie said before she could get away.
“Nice save, bud.”
Audie bowed at his words, and they all chuckled. They were wired like kids allowed to spend all night awake for the first time.
“Pancakes, Dix?” Audie asked, hand on Dixon’s wrist where it lay against the table.
“Yes, please. With bacon. What are you having, Dan?”
“Gingerbread pancakes with bacon and a side of sausage patties.”
He did love a man who could eat. Though this was not an eligible man. Not to him. Christ.
Dan poked him with an elbow. “You in there?”
“I am. I was admiring your appetite.”
“Yeah?” Dan’s smile widened. “I like food.”
“Yeah. Me too.” He wanted to touch.
Maybe needed to.
A little.
Damn it, had he had that many beers? He didn’t think so.
Dan chuckled softly. “Be good, Weldon.”
“I’m trying, honey.” He really was. He just felt a little giddy.
Maybe it was the beer. Maybe it was that he hadn’t been up this late since Caleb had had an ear infection a year ago. Or maybe he was just incredibly attracted to Dan. Period. Hormones and all were a weird thing.
Audie was whispering something in Dixon’s ear and Dan took the opportunity to lean in and say to him, “You are thinking hard.”
“About our kiss.”
“I keep thinking about it, too.” Dan touched his leg gently.
“Yeah.” He chuckled, his cheeks heating. “Yeah. I can’t help it.”
“I can’t either. I keep telling myself to back off.”
“Uh-huh. I guess it would be forward to ask you to share a hotel room?” Had he just asked that?
“It would, but you know, I would say yes.”
“Good to know.” This time he did touch. He had to. It was a moral imperative.
“So, are you asking?” Dan asked, green eyes dark with a mix of pleasure and need.
“I am. You wanna?” He had to grin.
Well, grin and hope Dix couldn’t hear everything.
“I do. Food, then we’ll duck out?”
“Are you two planning a booty call?” Dix asked.
He gave Dan a wide-eyed look, and Dan just grinned like a monkey.
“Would I do that, bro?”
“God, yes. You’re a jerk. Weldon is a decent human being, though. Don’t lead him astray.”
Audie hooted. “Tell him how you really feel, babe.”
“Don’t you dare, Dixon. You let this guy think I’m a hot military stud.”
Weldon muttered under his breath, “Like that’s gonna happen.”
