AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It went fine,” Barry answered for Indio. “They tried to trip him up, of course, but he stuck to the truth.”
Indio nodded to Dante, who was coming over to him. “Let’s get back to the ranch. You all need some rest, and I’m meeting with Roland. We can finalize the plans for the rest of the building and get this place finished at long last.”
Finished. The end. It felt like an end, and Sel couldn’t imagine it ending. And, really, nothing was ending, but he had a heaviness in his chest, like he was saying goodbye.
When he said goodbye to Dante and Bruno, Indio drove them away from the trailer and Sel sat beside him, looking anywhere but at him as the tears continued to well in his eyes.
“What’s got you quiet?”
“Nothing.”
“Fuck! Don’t do that. I can tell something’s wrong. Tell me.”
“I can’t even explain it, Indio. I feel like something’s…gone. Like it’s ending.”
“Are you leaving?”
His head spun so he could tell him, “No! I want to stay!”
“Then stay, Sel.”
At the bunkhouse, they slept. After Sel told his friends how it went, Indio pulled him into the room they’d shared the previous night and he pushed him on the bed. “Stop worrying. Get some sleep.”
“Easier said than done,” were the last words he said for ten full hours. Indio woke him by getting off the bed.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” he said groggily. “Where you going?”
“Starving. Want some food?”
Sel wasn’t falling for the thought that he was offering to bring him a tray. “Yeah, let me get changed. I’ll meet you out there.”
Hesitating, Indio stared at him a minute, then started for the door.
Sel smiled as the closed door, knowing in his gut that Indio had just had an internal argument with himself. Should I kiss him? Would that make it too obvious I am falling in love?
Sel wanted to believe that, of course, so he could be fooling himself, but he didn’t think he was. Indio was being much softer with him, and sure, it could be Sel’s recent trauma, but Sel did believe it was more.
After changing clothes, Sel headed out to the dining hall and Vic surprised him by being the one cooking. “Done with the investigation already?”
“I am! I know you guys didn’t trap him to kill him or whatever those idiots are thinking!”
There was an air around Vic that was no-nonsense but loving and sweet too. He took the cup of coffee she handed him and asked how he wanted his eggs.
“I like soft-boiled, but you don’t have to. Scrambled it okay.”
“It literally takes three minutes to cook a soft egg. Bacon or sausage?”
“I shouldn’t have either. I’ve been eating so much lately.”
Instead of arguing with him, she simply glared until he got out, “Bacon! I’ll do bacon.”
“Jesus.”
Sel saw Indio was sitting across from Dex and Prince. He hurried over to them and sat next to Indio. “Prince, how are you? Hi, Dex.”
“Hey, Sel,” Dex said with a nod. “How you doin’?”
