28
Sam
Watching Ben interact with the horse was amusing, to say the least. It was clear that he was trying, and that warmed Sam’s heart. Horseback riding was the one activity he had always enjoyed as a kid, and into his teenage years. Even now, he occasionally drove out of town to the nearby stables to go for a ride. Sure, horses were big, but the ones he rode were all gentle giants. Puck was one he’d never ridden, though. The last reunion here, he’d ridden a black gelding called Thunder, but Thunder wasn’t there when Sam had checked the barn. That was a shame. He would have been the perfect starter horse for Ben.
Sam couldn’t help but be just a little bit proud of Ben. He looked more than a little skittish around Puck, which was understandable since he had never been around horses before. Ben wiped his nose again, and Sam frowned. Hopefully he wasn’t coming down with a cold or anything. Ben had blamed his reluctance to sleep in the same bed on the fact that Sam supposedly had a cold, but if Ben did, there was a pretty big risk that that particular lie would become fact. At least it wouldn’t be the only one.
He pushed the mounting block out of the way and pulled himself into the saddle, settling comfortably behind Ben. For a moment, he thought about what it would have been like to go horseback riding like this before their relationship had changed. It would have been a nightmare, trying to keep his attraction from showing. Any sign would have been all too obvious, as they were pressed against one another, back to chest, ass to crotch.
It seemed Sam wasn’t the only one who noticed. Ben pushed back against him, circling his hips.
“If I get hard because of you, trust me, you’ll regret it,” he gritted out. A long trail ride with an erection definitely wasn’t something he looked forward to.
Ben just laughed, though. “What are you gonna do, spank me?” he asked lowly.
The words and the tone went straight to Sam’s cock. This was turning out much differently than he’d anticipated.
“I will if you don’t shut up.”
“Maybe I don’t want t—” Ben broke off as a sneezing fit overtook him.
Sam frowned. This didn’t seem like just a cold.
“Everyone ready?” his dad called.
The group nodded or shouted back their assent, which left no time for Sam to ask if Ben was all right. Instead, he tapped his heels against Puck’s flanks. The horse began to walk, plodding along as docile and obedient as possible. Clearly whoever had named him had done so without knowing his personality. Or maybe they just liked the name and didn’t know that Puck was a malicious fairy that liked playing tricks.
There were three trails to choose from, and the family had all agreed that groups could break off as long as they had a buddy. Since Sam and Ben were on one horse, that meant they automatically had each other as a buddy. He took the trail to the left, the one that curved through the woods. The leaves were just starting to change colors, so the foliage would be beautiful. It would be a perfect opportunity for Ben to take pictures. He had packed one of his smaller cameras just for the ride.
As they made their way deeper in the woods, Ben’s sneezing and runny nose only grew worse. Sam tried to accommodate him, stopping every few minutes so he could blow his nose. After half an hour of riding, it was clear that he wasn’t going to last much longer. He guided Puck over to a nearby tree.
“Here. Let’s just take a minute and catch our breath,” he said.
He dismounted and held his hands out for Ben, then caught sight of his legs. They were painfully red and covered in welts.
“Um, Ben. There’s good news and bad news.”
Staring down from his place on Puck’s back, Ben frowned. “Just tell me. I don’t care which is first.”
“Well, you’re not coming down with a cold.” He paused for just a moment, for dramatic effect. “You’re allergic to horses.”
Ben cleared his throat, and Sam wasn’t sure if that was because of his allergic reaction or just a nervous habit. “I’m what?”
“Grab onto me and I’ll help you off Puck.”
It was more cumbersome without the mounting block, but Sam was able to help Ben off the horse. And that was when Ben saw his legs for the first time.
“What the fuck?” he yelped.
“I told you—you’re allergic to horses. You’re having a reaction.”
They had identified the problem, sure, but Sam wasn’t entirely sure what to do about it. He dug out his phone. There was one bar of cell service.
“I’m going to try and call Matías,” he continued. If there was anyone from his family he wanted by his side during an emergency, it was the only other person among them who had been in the Scouts. If anyone would be prepared, it was Matías.
The dial tone sounded, which was a good sign. There was always a chance that Matías wouldn’t have service, either.
“Hello? Sam?”
Thank god. “Matías! Yeah, hey. What trail are you on?”
“The woods one. Why?”
That was even better. Sam let out a sigh of relief. “Can you come back toward the start of the trail? Ben’s had an allergic reaction. He isn’t going into shock or anything, but he’s got hives all over his legs and he’s really stuffy.”
“Can he breathe?” Matías’s voice was filled with concern.
Sam held his hand over the phone. “Can you breathe, Ben?”
Ben thought for a moment, then nodded. “My throat’s a bit tight, but I thought it was just allergies.”
Sam relayed the information and Matías hummed. “We’ll be there in a minute. Stay put.”
Great. As much as Sam wanted Matías in a crisis, the one person he didn’t want was Ambra. She would only freak out and make the situation so much worse. There was nothing for it, though. Looping the reins around a tree branch, he patted Puck’s side, then walked back over to Ben.
“They’ll be here in a bit. Come on, let’s just go sit over here.”
He led Ben to a patch of grass underneath one of the trees. The roots formed a natural chair, large enough for the two of them, so he helped Ben down. Walking back over to Thunder, he pulled out a bottle of water and a bandana. He wet it, then returned to Ben’s side and wiped across his forehead.
“I ruined the ride,” Ben said, staring at his hands.
Sam wanted to give him a hug. He sounded so guilty, like he had somehow meant to sabotage the day. “You didn’t ruin the ride. You didn’t know you were allergic to horses. Are you allergic to other animals?”
Ben shook his head. “No, as far as I know, the only thing I’m allergic to is penicillin.”
Well that was certainly a good thing to know for future reference. Ben scratched idly at his legs before seeming to realize what he was doing. He tucked his hands underneath his ass, looking miserable. Sam took pity on him and wrapped an arm around him, pulling him close.
“You’re going to be fine. We’ll get you another shower, give you some Benadryl, and you’ll be right as rain.”
“You know no one under the age of like…thirty says that.”
“Do they not?” Sam had never noticed.
“Nope. That, plus your dad jokes, you’re just getting all kinds of prepared for kids, aren’t you?”
Were they really going to have the kid conversation again? It hadn’t really gone well the last time Sam had brought it up, but that had also been before the revelation that night.
“I’d like kids. I don’t know if I want my own, but I’ve thought about adopting.”
A smile tugged at the corners of Ben’s lips. “You told me that I’d be a good dad when Karrigan came and joined us in the pool, but you would be, too. I mean, besides just because you have the jokes and the old man phrases down. I see you with the kids who come in the Press Room with their parents. You’re always good with them.”
Sam felt the tips of his ears heat. They were in the shade, so he knew that it didn’t have anything to do with the sun.
“I’m glad you think so.” He leaned his head on Ben’s shoulder, and his heart clenched when Ben nuzzled against his hair.
When Matías rode up a few minutes later, Sam didn’t move. Ben had encouraged him to be more affectionate while they were still pretending. Now that they weren’t, it just felt natural that they would be intimate in little ways.
“I hear you didn’t get along that well with the horse,” Matías said, dismounting.
“Turns out, my body just really hates nature.”
To Sam’s pleasure, Ben didn’t pull away, even when Matías walked over.
“Can you breathe well enough?”
Ben nodded. “Yeah. I mean, my throat’s a bit tight, but it doesn’t feel nearly as bad as my legs. They itch like crazy.”
Matías let out a low whistle when he looked down at the hives. “Yeah, you definitely shouldn’t let your skin touch the horse’s. Why did you wear shorts?”
“I only packed shorts! It’s the tail end of summer, not cool enough to wear pants, and Sam told me this was going to be casual.”
“Oh sure, blame Sam,” he teased. “I told you there was going to be horseback riding.”
“Yeah, but I’ve never gone horseback riding. I didn’t know what to expect.”
“Alright, alright, a—boys!” Matías held up a hand. “It doesn’t matter whose fault it is. What matters is that you get home and taken care of. I brought an extra blanket just in case, so we’ll put that underneath you in the saddle so you don’t accidentally touch the horse. Sam, I have antihistamines in my medicine cabinet. You know how Ambra gets when she comes into contact with ragweed.”
Sam did. It wasn’t a pretty sight.
“So you don’t think it’s serious enough to take him in to an urgent care or anything?”
“No. Just get him inside as soon as possible.” He looked between them, as though debating whether to say anything else, then finally added, “I’m glad you worked up the courage to actually show you like each other.”
There was no way Sam could respond to that in a manner that wouldn’t give away the fact that he had lied to his family for the past six months. And he really didn’t want to open that lie up for discussion. So instead, he just nodded. “Yeah, me too.”
Matías helped him with the blanket, then helped Ben mount again, before climbing back on his own horse. “I’ll tell Bradley and Roz where you’ve run off to,” he promised.
As they were on the trail back, Sam replayed his brother-in-law’s words over in his head. Ben had said he had been suspicious of the whole thing, but he didn’t know just how much until now. “What do you think he meant, that we were showing we liked each other?”
“Hmm? Oh. He asked about it when he was letting me borrow his swim shorts. He said for a couple that was still so new in a relationship, we didn’t touch a lot. So I fed him a story about not really trusting anyone after my ex and not wanting to jinx the whole thing.”
“Was any of it true?” Sam couldn’t imagine anyone hurting Ben. Not intentionally, anyway.
Ben shifted in front of him. “A little. My last ex wasn’t that great. I got way too into it, way too quickly. It was part of the reason I didn’t want to say anything about liking you. I didn’t want to face that rejection.”
That made Sam ache for him, and he wrapped his arms a little tighter around Ben. “Well trust me, you won’t have to face that rejection from me.”
He would do everything in his power to make sure Ben never felt that way again.