It was typical that just as Trent had been trying to sort out his thoughts from the night before, Ashby had showed up almost naked. Again. Trent was still trying to convince himself not to feel guilty. He’d jerked off to the image of plenty of girls he knew before. This was no different because it was a guy. It was just a fantasy. Trent conjured up all kinds of dubious things in the privacy of his mind when he got off. Everyone did.

So why did he still feel rotten, even after leaving the sauna? He and Ashby had cleared the air, not that it had been totally necessary. The fact that Ashby had gotten upset over a perfectly innocent bit of flirting made Trent sad. He didn’t want such a sweet guy getting himself in knots over Trent. He was done making people feel like crap.

But Ashby was still his friend and he never needed to know that Trent had made himself come picturing the idea of them making out. Objectively, Trent could appreciate that Ashby was gorgeous. There was a femininity to his beauty which was probably why Trent had been able to take a leap and wonder ‘what if’ they’d gone to bed together. It wasn’t like he was planning on doing anything in real life about it.

Trent wasn’t queer. He had absolutely nothing against being gay or bi or whatever. It just wasn’t him. He’d know that about himself by now, at twenty-eight. He was just turned on by the prospect of a new sexual experience, was all. He’d done almost everything he could think of with all his lady hookups over the years. The novelty of doing something different with a guy was most likely what had awakened his cock last night.

Trent realized he’d been standing in front of his wardrobe after his shower for goodness only knew how long. Five minutes? His feet were starting to get cold. With a sigh, he picked out some clothes and dropped his towel to the floor. He glowered at his temporarily free cock to behave itself until he got some boxer-briefs on. If his body could only cooperate, he wouldn’t need to knock one out thinking about his new friend again.

It occurred to him that because he didn’t want to face his dad, his mind was running off on tangents. But Trent had made up his mind that he was going to see him again today and try to talk. The trouble was he was ashamed to admit he couldn’t remember where exactly his dad lived nowadays. It was staff accommodation somewhere, but Trent was damned if he could recall the details. So that left him in the uncomfortable situation of only being able to approach him while he was at work in the gift shop.

He wasn’t giving up, though. He was going to ask his dad if he wanted to visit his mom’s grave together at some point. He was also determined to ask if there was a memorial to her somewhere in the resort. This place had been her home and his dad certainly felt like she was still present within its walls. If there wasn’t a bench or a pond somewhere for her, Trent thought he could offer to have one built.

He knew it would more than likely fall under his dad’s category of ‘too little too late’ but Trent had to try. He knew he didn’t want to visit a lonely grave to feel he was close to his mom again. It was almost certainly one of the reasons he had avoided coming home during the past two years. She deserved somewhere beautiful, here on the grounds of the place she and his dad loved so much.

As he walked through the snow from his cabin over to the main lodge, Trent swung between musing on his parents and trying not to worry about Ashby anymore. Normally, if something was beyond his control, he just forgot about it. He didn’t chew over it for hours. But making amends with his dad was eating him up, and for whatever reason, Ashby was occupying almost as much space in his thoughts.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and pushed through the door into the warmth of the resort. The temptation to be reckless and just start drinking niggled at the back of his mind. But he swore he wasn’t going to do that anymore. There was a vast difference between a little too much wine at dinner and all-day boozing for no damn reason other than he was feeling sorry for himself. He had to stop running away from his problems. That was the whole point of coming here.

Unfortunately, luck wasn’t on his side.

As soon as he reached the gift store and saw the middle-aged lady behind the counter, he remembered it was Wednesday. Wednesdays and Thursdays were his dad’s weekend, so he wouldn’t be back now until Friday, when Trent was flying off to Ohio for Blake and Elion’s wedding on Saturday. He wasn’t going to be able to speak to his dad until at least Sunday night now.

Fuck. He scratched his chin and scowled at the shop from just outside the door. Now that he’d made up his mind he really didn’t want to have to wait. But this wasn’t the kind of conversation he wanted to have over the phone. Besides, with his dad as grouchy as he currently was, he’d probably just hang up on him.

Trent shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. Typical. He was trying, he really was. But Barry would lose his shit if he knew how little progress Trent had made. At least he had three months to try and fix this mess. Barry didn’t need to know how badly he was doing just yet.

He had just turned around to leave when the sound of crashing and clattering made him snap back around. To his horror, he saw Merlin come tearing down one of the shop aisles toward him. His leash was trailing behind him, knocking half the contents of the bottom shelves off in its wake as it whipped back and forth. He’d obviously been behind the counter but had smelled Trent or something and come bolting out.

“No!” the part-time woman cried in horror, leaping to her feet. “Bad puppy!” An older guy looking at a map of the local area had to jump back to stop his legs being taken out from under him.

Trent dropped to his knees and tried to calm the puppy when he reached him. “No, shh!” he cried as the little dude barked and barked, his yelps earsplitting. “It’s okay, buddy, calm down.”

“He was tied up, I swear,” the woman said as she hurried to try and grab Merlin’s leash. “Your dad is out of town for today, so I said I’d watch him. But my dogs aren’t like this one!”

Trent felt bad he didn’t recognize the woman, but at least she knew he wasn’t a customer who was going to complain. Trent wasn’t so sure about the guy who had been looking at the map, but fingers crossed even if he did find Bob to moan at, Bob wouldn’t care.

That Kiefer Burton might, though, Trent realized. If he was still around. He seemed to have his wits about him. Trent couldn’t remember his dad ever mentioning an owner above Bob before. If he wasn’t such a sleazeball, Trent might have hoped Kiefer was visiting in order to do up the place. But Trent couldn’t help but worry Kiefer was intent on doing the opposite.

Knowing how much the resort meant to his dad, Trent would rather not have him made aware of any extra issues he couldn’t already see for himself.

Between him and the part-time lady, they managed to wrangle the chubby puppy so he wasn’t near anything breakable. Trent cringed and wondered how many other broken bits of useless knickknacks he’d end up paying for after this particular destructive outburst. He was going to have to set up a running tab at this rate.

“Dude,” he lamented as Merlin finally calmed a little. Trent rubbed his ears and sighed. “Can’t you cut me a break for like five seconds? I swear, my dad will like you more if you do.”

Merlin gave another bark and wagged his tail. Trent wasn’t really mad at him. The poor pup didn’t know any better, and besides, it was nice that he was so happy to see Trent again. But wrecking his dad’s store was not the way to win his heart.

The part-time woman ran her hands through her light brown hair and sighed as she surveyed the damage. Luckily, it looked like Merlin had only wrecked a few salt-and-pepper shakers. The rest was just strewn across the floor.

“Hey,” Trent said, standing to look her in the eye. “Would it help if I took him for a walk while you clear up?”

The woman broke into a relieved smile. “Oh would you?” she asked. “I think it might be a good idea to burn off some of his energy.”

Trent assured her it was no trouble and left her to it. Merlin seemed more than happy to trot about the resort for a little while, sniffing at everything. Trent figured he could walk him around the outside of the main lodge and hopefully the little guy would do his business out there rather than the lobby’s carpet.

“Well, look who it is,” an unfortunately familiar voice drawled.

The Texan twang alerted Trent even before he turned around and registered the bright white Stetson. Kiefer Burton was sauntering down the hall toward Trent, possibly on his way to the restaurant behind him and Merlin.

Kiefer had two other guys in cowboy hats and boots walking either side of him. They were both older than Kiefer, one with a substantial belly and the other tall and gawky, all three wearing enough gold between them to open a bank. Rings and watches and spurs on their boots. One look at them told Trent they wouldn’t be the sort to tip their waiter, though. These guys got their wealth by stepping on other people’s heads.

“Jim, Marv,” Kiefer said, not bothering to look at his companions. “This here’s the Grand’s local celebrity. TJ Charles himself.” He sniggered. “Ain’t we lucky?”

Trent wondered if Kiefer had recognized him when he’d recklessly gone in and claimed to be Ashby’s boyfriend. Damn it. Forty-something dudes from the Midwest didn’t used to be his demographic. That was before The Fixer had made him more of a household name, though.

“Mr. Burton,” Trent said curtly. “Good to see you again.” They both knew he was bullshitting, but Trent smiled nonetheless.

“Where’s that cute little boyfriend of yours?” Kiefer asked, biting his thumbnail and spitting the bit he’d torn off away. “I would have imagined he would be the one on the leash.” He glanced down at Merlin and Trent’s hackles rose for more reason than one.

He didn’t like Kiefer getting anywhere near his dad’s puppy, and he definitely didn’t like him mentioning anything to do with Ashby. “He’s around,” Trent said curtly. He felt bad continuing the lie that they were dating, but he wasn’t exactly going to admit they’d made the whole thing up. That would leave Ashby vulnerable to this asshole.

Kiefer gave him a mock show of concern. “Trouble in paradise?” He licked his lips and leaned in toward Trent. “I should have just fucked that sweet lil’ ass anyhow. Maybe I still will. Clearly, you haven’t got the kind of hold on him a boy like that needs.”

Jim and Marv, whichever was which, suddenly looked extremely uncomfortable as they shifted from foot to foot behind Kiefer. Their disgust no doubt came from homophobia. Trent, on the other hand, was completely appalled that Kiefer would talk about Ashby in such a vulgar way. He could feel his anger rising.

He jabbed a finger toward Kiefer. “You stay away from Ashby. You hear me?”

He was somewhat undermined as Merlin chose that moment to pounce on Kiefer’s boot and chew it, his tail whipping back and forth as he issued little growls that he clearly thought were terrifying. Trent cleared his throat and tugged Merlin’s leash, trying to encourage him back.

Kiefer regarded Trent coolly, ignoring the puppy’s attack. “Or what?” he drawled. Then he laughed. “Sugar, this is my little kingdom. I’ll do what I want. Although I am curious. Are you serious enough about this cute lil’ twink to go public with him? I’m sure your fans would be pretty devastated to find out you don’t like fuckin’ pussy no more.”

Trent ground his teeth. “That a threat?” he bit out, arching an eyebrow.

Merlin dropped his ass on the carpet and scratched his ear.

Kiefer shrugged. “Depends,” he said slyly. “Are you ashamed of him? See-” he placed a hand on his chest, showing off his bling “-I’m a real man. Everybody knows I’ll fuck all the cute twinks I like and fuck up anybody who thinks that’s some sort of weakness. But you?” He sneered, his eyes dancing with malice. “I know your history. You run at the first sign of trouble.”

Once again, his companions became extremely interested in the bland, outdated décor of the corridor. Merlin gave a noisy yawn and batted at the laces on Trent’s boots.

Trent couldn’t help but hesitate in the face of Kiefer’s accusations. It was one thing to say he was dating Ashby to keep this fucker away from him. But it was another entirely to risk the public finding out and the homophobic backlash that might cause.

But when Trent thought of sweet Ashby’s face, his innocent smile and sparkling eyes, he couldn’t bear the thought of hurting him. Was an easier life with the tabloids and bloggers worth putting before Ashby?

Fuck anyone who thought less of Trent if he dated a guy. Blake and Raiden had both thrown their sexuality in people’s faces. Blake very publicly so.

No. Trent was going to choose his friend over anything, even if they were telling a little white lie.

He leaned into Kiefer, looking him unflinchingly in the eye. Trent quirked the corner of his mouth into a sneer. “Go find another cute twink who isn’t repulsed by you,” he said softly. “Ashby is nobody’s property. He’s not interested in you, so leave him – and us – the fuck alone.”

Marlin yapped in agreement.

Trent didn’t bother looking back at Kiefer or his cronies as he marched away, heading for the door to take Merlin to his cabin for a while. Trent was aware that Kiefer had the power to make life difficult for his dad, but Trent knew firsthand what a stubborn old bastard his dad could be. Let Kiefer try and pick a fight with him.

But if Trent was going to be serious about this whole ‘dating Ashby’ thing, he had a real decision to make.

Because you brought your other half to weddings. And if he didn’t take Ashby this weekend where there would be press coverage, there was a chance Kiefer could find out. Let alone the idea of leaving Ashby alone for three days with him around made Trent very nervous.

He let himself into his cabin and took a deep breath. It looked like if he was going to keep up this charade, he was going to have to go whole hog with it.

The question was, what would Ashby think of this idea?