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Jace nodded behind Dante. “Here he comes now.”
Tango jogged over to them, all smiles. None of them were dressed in kink clothes, as they were on the job, but Roland had confessed to him that Jace planned to take them into his office periodically through the night to play. The guests began to line up just as the clock was turning seven. They wouldn’t always open that early, but the first night, as the first night of Pride, would have dozens of shows, bands, and much more celebration.
On one side of the door, they made a line, Jace as the first, then his partners, Sel, then Dante and Blaine. Indio begged off the line, as he wasn’t much of a people person, and Sel was fine with that. He stood over by the corner of the barn, smoking a cigar and watching.
Dante made a show of opening the doors as Blaine had a microphone, announcing, “Cowpokes two is now open for business! Enjoy!”
The first of the line of guests started moving toward the door. After ten of them, Sel’s hand was already aching from the handshakes.
Binx was coming next and he bounced in place before launching himself to hug Sel. “This is so great! I’m so happy!”
“I can tell!” Sel laughed and hugged his friend again, then shook hands and kissed cheeks with Nathan, Pappy and all Binx’s friends from Colorado.
When Lonnie came up, he too kissed Sel’s cheek and waved to Indio behind him. “The club looks amazing, and this is coming from someone who’s owned two of them. You guys have done a great job.”
Travis agreed, “We can’t wait to get inside and judge you harshly, but so far, you’ve blown us away.”
“Judge all you want, I think we’ll pass even your inspection!”
They laughed and the next people in line were Burke, Damon and Joel, who looked like he’d rather be anywhere except in that crowd. He confessed to Sel in a loud whisper, “They make me do it at our damned ol’ club.”
“Line up to greet guests? Yeah, it’s not my favorite thing either. Go in and grab up your guys and have some fun, though, okay?”
“Plan ta,” he said with a wink.
Behind them were two gorgeous men that Burke introduced to all of us. “These are our good friends, Eli and Noah.”
Eli was model pretty and Noah looked so much like Sam Elliot, Sel almost swallowed his tongue. “Very nice to meet you.”
“We almost didn’t make it. I never took a private plane before, and it wasn’t my cup o’ tea,” Noah said.
“Don’t let him fool you, he hates all planes,” Eli said, pulling him into the club.
Jace was overjoyed to see more friends from Colorado, introducing the line to a gargantuan man named Hud and his much smaller partner, Theo. Theo had his nose up and Sel heard him comment, “Ours is much better. Just because something is bigger, does not mean it’s better.”
“Hey,” Hud said as he towered over Theo.
“Sorry. Except for you, of course, gawd.”
Hud sighed in exasperation as he pushed Theo toward the door as he told them, “I’m gagging him soon, don’t worry.”
Sel saw the friendships that had been made in Colorado where the first Cowpokes was located and he finally understood what Dante had seen that was the starting point for building the resort.
They were a family. Roland’s eyes lit up seeing his friends, Tango even dropped a few tears as he hugged Burke. Later, when they were inside, he caught Joel hugging Xen, each of them with huge tears falling down their faces.
Indio was by his side by that time, and he said to Sel, “I’ve never felt so…good. It’s like, I don’t know…”
“Love is permeating this place already?”
“Yeah. Yeah, exactly.”
Sel moved into his arms and was held by Indio in a quiet moment between them among all the noise of voices and chairs moving, music playing in the background.
Those were the best times for Sel. Those quiet moments between them. Indio had such a gentle side, but he was so afraid of showing it to people, afraid that they’d take that as weakness. Since he was a kid, he had to be strong or he’d have never made it to adulthood.
The band was set up on stage, far in the back of it, to give room to those that would be announcing things up front. Dante and Blaine were set to be the first, then Jace, so Indio led Sel to their reserved table in front of the stage.
As they sat, Dante and Blaine took their places at the microphone and the crowd gave a thunderous cheer, everyone standing, whistles, the stomping of boots and it lasted a full minute.
