“You’re not?”
“No, in fact, I’d like it if you stuck around for a while. Trevor never wants to admit we need help, but with calvin’ startin’ in the next couple weeks, and we can’t afford to hire a hand, even temporarily…well, we’d— I’d—like it if you stayed.” It clicked he had a ranch of his own to run half a world away and she amended, “Unless of course you can’t and you need to get back to Brazil.”
Edgard drained his coffee. “No place I need to be, so if you want me to stick around, I will.” He scrambled to his feet, giving her his back. “Does Trevor know you asked me to stay?”
“No. But do you really think he’s gonna complain after last night?”
He spun and gave her a smug smile. “Nope.”
After they’d let the ritual of pouring coffee settle the unease between them, Chassie said, “I’m sorry you slept alone.”
Edgard shrugged. “I’m used to it.”
171
Rough, Raw, and Ready
“Even when you were traveling with Trevor?”
He expelled an exasperated sigh. “Chassie, is this something you really wanna hear?”
“It’s something I need to hear if you’re in our life.”
Our life seemed to jar him. “You are just as damn curious as Greta, aren’t you?”
“Worse. And I’ll warn you I’m stubborn as a mule and tenacious as a bulldog. I’ll keep pesterin’ you until your answers suit me.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve got nothin’ to lose if I ask these questions and everything to lose if I don’t.”
A considering look crossed Edgard’s face. “You are wise beyond your years, aren’t you?”
“I feel much older than twenty-five, that’s for damn sure.”
“Yet, you don’t look a day over eighteen,” he murmured.
Chassie rolled her eyes. “You don’t need extra sugar in your coffee this mornin’, your mouth is already so damn sweet, so start spillin’ your guts.”
He smiled. “Most nights on the road, after Trevor and I hooked up, Trevor and I slept in the same bed. Unless he and Colby were out or if they were entertaining buckle bunnies in our motel room. Then I crashed in the horse trailer.”
“Were you jealous? When he was with women?”
“Sometimes.” Edgard dumped another spoonful of sugar in his coffee. “Mostly I was accustomed to it.”
“Did you ever, oh, go fuck another guy and rub it in his face afterward?”
He didn’t seem surprised by the question. “Once.”
When Edgard didn’t elaborate, Chassie waved her hand in front of his face to snag his attention. “Come on, Ed. This is juicy stuff. You can’t stop now.”
“We were at the Denver Stock Show. Somehow I ended up going to dinner with Trevor and his family. His brother Brent started talking shit about a hired hand who’d recently come out. Brent spewed all these dumb gay jokes. Normally, I ignore that kinda 172
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behavior, consider the source and all that. But Trevor drank too much—like he always does when he’s forced to deal with his family—and he joined in, acting like a homophobic prick because that’s what his family expected.”
“What’d you do?”
“What could I do? I was beyond pissed off. Trevor not telling anyone about us was always a big issue between us. I understood his reasons and never pushed it. But when he made fun of guys who had the balls to come out of the closet? That was a line he shouldn’t’ve crossed. I hated he’d done it in front of me.” Edgard shoved a hand through his hair. “After dinner, the whole family loaded up and went to the big rodeo dance. I declined.
“I burned my bootheels getting to the gay cowboy bar in Denver and hooked up with a dentist who was in town for the rodeo. I spent the night in his hotel room and didn’t see Trevor until the following afternoon when we had to compete.”
Chassie figured she wouldn’t much care for Trevor’s jealous reaction, but she wouldn’t be surprised by it.
“We sucked in the arena. Lost our chance for points or purse. Soon as we were alone he lit into me. We fought. Not with words. With our fists. We beat the shit out of each other, Chass. It was ugly.”
“Where’d it happen? Since you were always so discreet?”
“In the living quarters of the horse trailer. Trev said something. I said something back. He took the first punch. I landed the last. Christ, we were rolling around on the floor, bleeding—”
“Whoa—bleeding?”