But when he reached the open window and looked into Luis’s and Jase’s bedroom, he stopped moving and pressed his palm to his throat. The shock wasn’t because the window was open and the air conditioning was running. Luis often opened the bedroom windows in the morning to get fresh air into the house. The shock was because Darius was in their room, prancing around in nothing but Luis’s see-through black thong. Cory stood frozen with his mouth half open.

Darius, who thought he was alone, reached for a photo on the dresser. He took the photo of Jase’s face and rubbed it up against his dick, then bucked his hips and said, “Fuck me, Jase. I’m better than prissy fucking Luis. Fuck me as hard as you can. I can do things to you Luis could never dream of doing.”

Well! Cory remained still. He knew if he started back down the ladder Darius might hear him.

Darius climbed up on the bed and propped the photo of Jase up against the pillows. He got down on all fours, spread his legs wide, and pulled his erection out of Luis’s sheer thong. Cory didn’t bother to notice Darius’s athletic body. He didn’t care about the size of his erection. And he didn’t gape at the way Darius’s back arched when his legs were spread. At that moment, everything about Darius repulsed him to the point of nausea. Though Cory and Luis flirted with each other openly, there was nothing dirty or perverted about it. But what Darius was doing in their bedroom made Cory feel so creepy he had to concentrate hard not to climb through the window and beat the shit out of him.

It wouldn’t have been difficult for Cory to kick his blond boy ass. When he saw the way Darius rubbed Jase’s face against his dick, Cory imagined his fist meeting Darius’s nose. When he saw the way Darius stuck his fingers in his ass and pretended Jase was fucking him, Cory felt his foot kicking Darius’s ass as hard as he could. When Darius finished himself off on the photo of Jase and then licked it clean, Cory pictured his fist going down Darius’s throat.

But all Cory did was lurk, absorbing the decadence he’d suspected was there all along. He knew if he went inside and confronted Darius, or if he went in and beat the shit out of him, Darius would turn the story around and Cory would wind up looking like the bad guy. So he decided to slowly climb down the ladder and allow Darius to finish what he’d started in their bedroom without saying a word. He’d keep this secret to himself for now, saving it for a day when it might come in handy. He knew one thing for sure: he’d never take his eyes off Darius when Hunter was around. If the creep made one wrong gesture toward Hunter, Cory would, in fact, kick his ass until he couldn’t walk again. Cory had come to love these guys like family and he wasn’t going to let anyone harm them, especially not some creep who put on other people’s underwear and licked come off pictures. Just thinking about this turned Cory’s stomach around again.

However, as Cory’s right leg went down, his tool belt scraped the side of the ladder and made a loud noise. Cory froze and remained in the window. Darius stopped licking Jase’s photo and turned to see what the noise was. Their eyes locked for a moment. Neither one of them moved a muscle or said a word. Then Cory lowered his eyes and descended the ladder, hoping Darius had the brains not to confront him about this, ever.

* * * *

Later that afternoon, as Cory walked to the end of the driveway to meet Jasper, he removed his shirt and wiped sweat from his forehead. The entire day had left him with a splitting headache and all he wanted to do now was go home, lie down beside Jasper, and make love. He wanted to forget about what he’d seen Darius doing in Luis and Jase’s bedroom. He’d tried hard to erase it from his mind but it wouldn’t seem to go away. He’d avoided all contact with Darius, and Darius seemed to be avoiding him, too. And there was his Jeep to worry about. When he’d called the garage earlier, he’d learned the engine had seized from lack of oil and it was useless to try to fix it. How this had happened was anyone’s guess. Cory had been checking his oil fanatically for months. He knew Jasper would help him out with rides to and from work, but he’d have to get a new truck or Jeep and he hadn’t planned on that. Jase and Luis had been paying him very well and he’d been saving his money to buy a small condo with Jasper, so he could get out of his rented apartment over a garage and Jasper could get out of his parents’ home. A new truck would set him back at least a year.

When he reached this middle of the driveway, he heard a car coming toward him. He knew it wasn’t Luis.

Hunter had risen from his afternoon nap and Luis had been in the middle of a new blog post for that romantic blog he contributed to. Cory could never quite remember the name of this blog. Although he’d often made mental notes to check it out to see what Luis wrote, he’d never actually bothered. The blog was part of Luis’s and Jase’s life in New York, and Cory didn’t like to think about them that way. He preferred to think about them in Cider Mill Farm all the time, where things were casual and relaxed. In spite of his pragmatism, not to mention his flirting with Luis, he’d grown to love them both.

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The car came closer. Cory turned and saw Darius’s white pick up truck heading toward him. He was speeding, leaving dust in the background, barreling in Cory’s direction without a hint of slowing down.

At first Cory tipped his head sideways and glared at the oncoming truck in the distance, not taking in the magnitude of the situation. He clenched his fist and set his jaw, hoping Darius had come to confront him about what he’d seen earlier that morning. But when he realized Darius had no intention of stopping, his body jerked and he started running toward the road. He thought about jumping behind a tree, but Darius was so close now he didn’t want to slow down. He figured he’d be safer on the main road, out in the open.

Thomas’s house was there and he could run into the yard for help. He could tell everyone what he’d seen that morning and he could tell them how Darius had tried to run him down.

Darius’s truck was gaining on him. He couldn’t look back; he had to keep running for his life. Beads of perspiration formed on his forehead, and he could almost smell the rubber on Darius’s tires. If he did look back, he might trip and Darius would ride over him. When he saw the road approaching, he started running faster, knowing he was almost safe and minutes away from letting everyone know Darius was dangerous and couldn’t be trusted. He heard the truck slow down; it wasn’t on his back anymore. But when he felt safe enough to glance over his shoulder, he wasn’t thinking about anything but Darius. He ran into the road and right into the path of the Reverend Thomas von




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