Page 52 of All of Us

“Joe is discreet. He wouldn’t betray that.” He nodded.

“True. I assumed you were the other guy when you two were with the horses.”

I nodded. In so many ways, I was glad it was Dusty that Joe had been with because he was a wonderful person, and that was what he deserved, but it also made me feel sick because I liked Joe so much.

I looked across the table and saw the man whom I still loved after all this time. Dusty wore black pajama pants and a half shirt with his abdomen showing—it was firm but not overly muscled— I flexed my hands, staving off the desire to grab him and lick that exposed skin. I watched him move around his living room.

“Joe is a special man. I can’t imagine what he is thinking. I’ll be honest, though, Montgomery scares the crap out of me.”

Right then, my phone rang. I held it up to Dusty. “Fuck. It’s Martin Wilson.”

“Hello.”

“Gentry. We need to have a little talk.” I looked at Dusty, and everything in me went cold. Was I about to lose my job? “Are you there with Dusty? Put me on speaker phone.”

“Yes, sir. Dusty is here with me.”

I put it on speaker as told. We looked at each other, terrified of what was coming.

“Good. You’re my guy when it comes to semen Gentry. Nobody gets it milked out like you do.”

Oh Jesus. This was not what I had expected to hear. Dusty’s face had about five emotions cross over it before he landed on confused.

“Thank you, Mr. Wilson.”

“Here is the thing. You need to know that I am thrilled you reunited with your special friend, but…” I heard him take a breath. “Love is a tricky thing. Our hearts are amazing and figure out what’s right for us before our brains understand. And sometimes the answer isn’t what you would ever expect.”

I looked at Dusty, and he was even more confused than before. By now, I assumed he knew that Dusty had been spending time with Joe, too. It seemed like his advice was directed at me.

“Well, thank you for that!?”

“What I am saying is pay attention to your heart. Dusty needs to do that, too, the man, not the horse. Listen to your hearts, they will know the best thing to do, even if it’s a surprise. You need to promise me that because I need you to milk those cocks.”

I rubbed the spot between my eyebrows.

“I promise I will listen to my heart.”

“Good, good. I think you will be surprised at what it tells you. Take a few days to talk to both of those men in your life.”

“I’ll need you to help my boys with their releases next week, so get yourself on track.”

“Yes, sir.” I felt like I might pass out, but I got through the conversation.

“And Gentry?” Shit. I knew this was going to be painful.

“Yes.”

“Relax, son, I’m not going to yell at you. These things happen.” I took a deep breath. That sounded promising. “I’d like you to work this out, though, because Joseph is a good young man and my family by marriage.”

“I will do everything I can.” Currently, I couldn’t think of a way to make everyone happy, but it hadn’t been twenty-four hours yet, so a little more time was probably needed.

“Good. Hey, you know those bald eagles that have a nest out in the north pasture?”

“Jack and Janet? Are they okay?”

He made an honest-to-God guffaw. “They are fine, but it appears Chrissy moved in and now there are three of them. They mate for life, you know, which means the three of them will live the rest of their time together. He is guarding both of them while they take turns sitting on the eggs. Who knew three could be happy like that?”

“Yeah. That’s great news. Jack is going to be a busy man with babies and ladies.”