Chapter Seventeen

BRYCE

Gravel crunched under Bryce’s feet as he picked his way carefully down their shared driveway towards Dakota’s house. Clouds hid the moon, and the only light came from the cell phone he held out in front of him. Maybe he should have taken a flashlight. Who knew it was so dark at night in the country?

Unseen animals scurried through the dark fields lining the road, and off in the distance the pinprick of headlights climbed into the sky as a lonely car made its way up the hill. His breath fogged the air, and he wished he’d grabbed a jacket.

Showing up uninvited on Dakota’s doorstep in the middle of the night probably wasn't the smartest thing Bryce could be doing. Texting Dakota before leaving his house had crossed his mind, but that would make it too easy for Dakota to tell him not to come or just not reply. It was much harder to say no to someone face to face.

Bryce owned Dakota an apology. He would deliver it in person. Dakota could accept or tell Bryce to fuck off. He really hoped that didn’t happen.

Underneath his noble intentions lay a more personal reason for his late night stroll. He ached to see Dakota again, physically ached for the man’s touch.

Bryce wished his knee was healed enough that he could run again. Running a couple of miles would go a long way towards clearing his mind. It made no sense to crave something he’d had so little of. Maybe this was how addicts felt. He’d never tried any hard drugs because deep inside he was a little afraid he might like them too much.

Dakota should come with a warning label. Warning, exposure to this hot, sweet guy with great eyes may cause addiction.

Even from the outside, Dakota’s house felt like a home. Gardening tools, dog toys, and flower beds filled with dead leaves were scattered around the yard. Bare vines twined over and through the trellis that arched across the front door.

Inside, there would be dogs and books and maybe a cup of tea. Dakota was in there, too, with his kindness and his blue eyes and hard muscles covered with soft skin.

Bryce looked through the window on the front door into a darkened front room and part of a hallway. Soft light spilled from an open doorway further down the hall.

Pulse speeding, he knocked.

There was no answer or sound of any kind. Bryce peered through the window. The light spilling into the hallway flickered as if someone was moving in the unseen room.

He knocked harder.

Dakota appeared in the hallway, book in hand. Lu and Beezy barked as they pushed past Dakota into the hallway.

“Hush,” Dakota told them, stepping around them.

Bryce stepped back from the front door.

Dakota opened the door, face blank. He looked warm and sleepy in his soft flannel pants and old faded t-shirt with a picture of naked people standing in a river and holding signs that read 'Save the Poudre.'

Bryce clenched his hands to keep from reaching out to touch him. “Hey.”

“Is something wrong?” Dakota asked, brow furrowing.

“No. I just wanted to talk to you.”

“You couldn’t call?”

Lu slunk between Dakota's legs and rubbed against Bryce. When Bryce bent down to pet her, she waggled her back half so hard she almost bent in half. “I wanted to talk in person.”

Lu’s front paws came off the ground as if she wanted to jump but was restraining herself.

Dakota absentmindedly petted Lu. “It's after eleven. Can't it wait until tomorrow?”

“I’d rather not. But I can be quick.” Bryce didn’t want to be quick, but he could be.

“Okay. What do you want?” Dakota asked, voice flat. He didn’t move out of the doorway, and his hand clenched on the door as if he expected Bryce to force his way in.

Bryce’s heart sank, but Dakota had a right to be mad at him. That’s why he was here. “I wanted to tell you I’m sorry.”

Dakota looked surprised, and his grip on the door relaxed. “Really? For what?”

Bryce took a deep breath. “I was wrong to just jump in and tell you how things were going to be, even if I had the best intentions. I’ve been told I can be a little pushy. A lot pushy. And I’m sorry I let my excitement hurt you. This day had to have sucked enough for you without me pretending like I have all the answers. I don’t. I don’t know what I’m doing at all, and I don’t know what is going to happen. I hate it.”

Dakota stared at Bryce and rubbed a hand across his mouth. With a deep sigh, he pulled the door open all the way. “Come on in.”

Bryce followed him down the hallway. An arched entrance on his right opened into a kitchen with a large wooden table. The low ceilings and narrow hallway felt cozy rather than confining.

Framed photographs, posters, and artwork lined all the open wall space. More frames leaned against the wall as if waiting to be hung. That explained the empty spots on the walls in Bryce’s house.

A photo of Dakota with his arm around a tiny dark haired young woman in a fringed vest holding a shotgun caught Bryce’s eye. He stopped to look at it more closely. “Are these all pictures of your family?” he asked.

Dakota stuck his hands in his pockets. “Friends, mostly.” He walked closer to see which picture Bryce was examining. The heat from Dakota’s body felt good on Bryce’s skin after the chill of the night air.

“That’s my sister, Lori,” Dakota said with a soft smile.

“I didn't know you had a sister.”

Dakota raised one eyebrow. “Really? And after all this time we’ve known each other? Shocking,” he mocked.

Bryce cringed. “Okay, coming here was a bad idea. I'm going to go,” he said. “Sorry to bother you.”

Dakota sighed, and put a hand on his arm to stop him from leaving. “No, I'm sorry. You’ve been nothing but kind this whole time, and I’ve been a dick. None of this is your fault.”

“Not directly, no. But I wasn’t listening to you, either. I was just saying how things would be and not really talking to you about it.”

Dakota led him into a cozy room at the back of the small house. A small couch and two large armchairs with matching ottomans crowded the room. Knitted blankets were tossed across the backs of the chairs and couch. Crowded bookshelves lined the walls, and some type of stove in the corner spread the perfect amount of warmth in the room.

Copies of magazines with titles like Mother Jones and Organic Famer covered the end tables and stuck out from the tops of straw baskets wedged between the arm chairs.

Lu and Beezy curled up next to each other on the couch. A book and two beer bottles sat on the small table next to one of the armchairs.

The warmth and comfort of the room brought unexpected tears to Bryce’s eyes. Smaller than some of the walk-in closets in some of the expensive condos and apartments he’d lived in, this tiny room felt more like home than any place he’d ever lived.

Dakota shoved the dogs off the furniture. “Down, beasts. We have a guest.” He motioned toward the couch. “Have a seat.”

Bryce sat and rubbed his hand on the knitted blanket. He wanted to pull it over himself and fall asleep while Dakota sat in his chair and read and the dogs snored on the floor. He rubbed his hands across his eyes.

“Are you okay?” Dakota asked.

“Yeah. Long day. Days.”

“Yeah.” Dakota reached for one of the bottles, tilting it up and finishing it in one long sip. “I’m sorry for abandoning you today.”

Bryce shook his head. “I’m sorry you had to be the one to turn over the house. I don’t know what Peterson was thinking. It seems cruel to make you do it.”

“Who else could?” Dakota asked only slightly bitterly. “I’m the only one left who knows anything about the house and the land. Did you find everything you needed?”

Bryce shrugged. “I don’t know. I think so? I don’t know even know what I don’t know. Not a lot to figure out. I found the lights and the heat in the house. You’re the expert. I’m a city boy just barely realizing how over my head I am.”

Dakota shook his head. “I don’t think you know what you’re getting into here.”

“Oh, I most certainly don’t. That’s why, though I hate to ask it, I’m going to need your help. At least at the beginning. I’ll try not to make it harder for you.”

Dakota held the bottle with both hands, rolling it between his palms. “I’ll do what I can. I’m not an expert by any means.”

“Thanks.” Lu came over and put her head in Bryce’s lap. Bryce scratched behind her ears and the dog looked at him with devotion. “She likes me,” Bryce said to Dakota with a smile.

“Lu loves men.”

Bryce snorted a laugh. “Guess we have that in common.”

Though Bryce knew he should be concentrating on figuring out what the hell the real story was with the will and who the property actually belonged to, he’d had spent a good portion of the day trying to figure out why a blowjob from Dakota had rocked his world in a way the hundreds of previous blowjobs hadn’t.

“Do you want a drink?” Dakota asked.

“So badly,” Bryce answered. “And, not to sound completely helpless, but do you have any food? My place is completely empty. No one delivers here, and I was afraid if I went to a grocery store, I wouldn’t be able to find the driveway entrance in the dark.”