Leaving Home by Chase, A. (life books to read .txt) 📗

his tongue after saying that. How could he throw out a trip to his parents’

ranch when he was planning on having a two-week fling, then leaving? As much as he

wanted to fuck Peter, he wasn’t looking for a serious relationship. Not yet, anyway. He still had a few more years of bullfighting left in him, and he’d seen the toll travelling on the circuit had on a couple.

“Really? I always wanted to go to Tombstone and the Grand Canyon. Can you believe

there’s something so amazing in our country?” Peter’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

“I’ve seen a lot of awesome things while working. That’s one of the reasons I love

working for the bull riders. I get to go all over the place. It’s great.”

Peter dipped his head a little. “I haven’t really been anywhere. Just Cheyenne and

Austin. It’s not as much fun when you don’t have anyone to go sightseeing with.”

Chaz had to agree. “True. It’s nice to have someone else around who shares your

memories of places. That’s why family is so important. They’re the only people who have

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been there since you took your first breath. They know all the secrets, and will die before letting any of them get out.”

After grunting, Peter said, “I’m not sure that’s such a good thing. At least not with my

family. They’d rather just kick the embarrassing people out than support them.”

“See, I just don’t understand the mindset of people who would do that. Why doesn’t

someone stand up to whoever is calling the shots?”

“Because no one talks back to my grandfather. He holds the purse strings, and if you

don’t tow the line he will cut you off. And it’s a clean break. Trust me on that.” Peter’s eyes darkened with annoyance and sadness.

“What’s going on, Peter? I’m getting the feeling that there’s more to this story than your grandfather telling the rest of them to shun you. From what I can see, that happened a while ago, and you’ve found a new group of friends to be your family.” Chaz clenched his hands to keep from entwining their fingers.

He hadn’t told anyone on the tour that he was gay, though some had figured it out, but,

like most good people, they said nothing because it wasn’t any of their business. Being gay might be more acceptable in this day and age than it had been, but there were still a lot of places where two guys holding hands could be dangerous.

Also, he wasn’t the type of guy who went in for public displays of affection. Even a one-

night stand was a private experience that no one else needed to know about, or watch

happen.

He watched Peter pushing his vegetables around his plate, thinking he was probably

working out how much to tell him, or even whether to talk about it at all with Chaz. Like Peter had said earlier, it wasn’t like they were best friends or anything. Yet sometimes it was easier to tell a stranger deeply personal things, because they were less likely to judge you, since they didn’t know you. At least, that’s what Chaz thought.

He snorted to himself. If he really thought that, he should be spilling his guts to Peter, yet all he’d done was dodge Peter’s questions and comments.

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Chapter Five

“My mom has cancer, and it’s really bad. She’s in hospital here in Cheyenne. That’s

why I was here yesterday and drove you back into town myself today.” Peter shook his head.

“I don’t know why I did it. She wouldn’t see me yesterday, so what made me think she’d

change her mind overnight?”

“Wow… That sucks, Peter. I’m sorry about that. I can’t believe she doesn’t want to see

you. Are you her only child?”

Peter bit his lip, fighting back his tears. God, crying on top of telling Chaz he wanted to wait for a serious relationship before having sex would cement Peter’s girl card. Anyway, tears wouldn’t fix anything. After five years of not talking to them, he would’ve thought her rejection would’ve been easy to take. He was an idiot.

“Yes. I’m the only grandchild as well. That we know of, I should say. My grandfather

kicked my Uncle Roscoe out long ago. See, there’s precedent for this sort of thing in my

family. Uncle Roscoe might have kids, but no one’s ever talked about him, so I have no idea.”

Peter thought about his uncle’s call earlier in the day.

“Do you think he’s still alive?” Chaz frowned. “I can’t imagine not talking to someone

in my family. I have like a gazillion cousins and seven nieces and nephews between my older brothers. I talk to each of them at least once a month, and my mother every day. If I didn’t, she’d probably hunt me down to kick my ass.”

“It’s good to know that about your mother. At one time, I used to think my mom would

be the same way, but as I got older I realised she wasn’t that warm a person. My entire

family is pretty cold. And in answer to your question, yes, I know he’s still alive.”

He motioned to the waitress to bring him their bill. He was ready to go back to the

ranch—he didn’t want to run the risk of meeting any member of his family at the moment.

“I think we should head back to the ranch. I have some more work I need to do, and

you can go for a ride if you’d like. Randy keeps several horses around just for that purpose.”

It was time to change the subject, or just end the conversation. He found he wanted to

go home and lick his wounds. Being denied yet again at the reception desk at the hospital

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had hurt more than he’d thought it would, since he’d thought he’d been prepared for such an eventuality.

“All right. I’ll follow you. Going for a ride would be nice. You should think about

joining me.”

Chaz might be agreeing, but something in the tone of his voice told Peter the topic