Rory's Rock

Chapter 1-1

Chapter 1

“You fuckers are on your own for supper tomorrow,” Jimmy Wilson announced to the ranch hands sitting around the supper table.

Everyone looked up from their plates, although Rory Brown, as usual, soon ducked his head.

“Why?” Liam, the ranch foreman, asked.

“As none of you jokers are lucky enough to have boyfriends, or a girlfriend in the Z-Man’s case,” Jake Pierce told them, “you won’t know that tomorrow is Valentine’s. And Jimmy, Barry, ’n’ me are gonna have a romantic meal just for the three of us.” He leaned over and kissed Barry’s right cheek, Jimmy immediately doing the same to Barry’s left cheek.

“We are?” Barry asked, returning the kisses to his men.

The hamburger Rory was chewing took on the taste of sawdust. He picked up his glass and gulped some water to help swallow the suddenly unpalatable food. He did know Valentine’s was fast approaching, not that he had any plans to mark the holiday because, sadly, as Jake had pointed out, he was single. And also, as Jake had pointed out, Zane Fox—the man he carried a secret torch for—was straight. Rory risked a quick peek at the huge hunk sitting next to him. Zane was too busy packing away his food to pay any mind to the goings on between the three lovers at the head of the table.

When Barry Logan had first arrived on the Double J, he instinctively knew how to handle the often rambunctious ranch owners. Barry really seemed to care for everyone on the ranch, Rory included. Without being pushy, the Englishman had helped Rory come out of his shell.

“Quit it!” Barry said, slapping Jimmy’s chest.

“Aw, is the nasty cowboy hurting my man?” Jake said, trying to pull Barry onto his lap.

“And you can quit it as well.” Barry fended Jake off and straightened his shirt. “Eat your dinner before it gets cold.”

Jimmy’s and Jake’s horseplay with Barry only served to deepen Rory’s pity party. Rory didn’t begrudge the happiness the three men had found. He just wished he had some of his own.

“I said quit it!” Barry slapped at Jake’s hand that was undoing the buttons on his shirt. “This romantic meal you’ve planned for tomorrow. Who’s cooking it? I don’t have anything special in the larder for—”

“Not you,” Jake told him.

“If you think I’m letting either of you two loose in my kitchen, you’ve got another think coming.” He let out a gasp and jumped slightly before slapping Jimmy’s upper arm. “Quit playing with my junk under the table.”

“Rory’ll do it,” Zane suddenly announced.

“What, play with Barry’s junk?” Liam asked, earning him glares from Jimmy and Jake.

“Cook tomorrow,” Zane continued, seemingly unfazed by the s****l innuendo. “He did a great job of feeding us all while you three were in England.” He turned his massive head and smiled at Rory. “You’ll cook for them…us, won’t you?”

“Uh.” Rory swallowed then tried again. “I don’t know how to cook anything fancy.”

The look of disappointment on Zane’s face had Rory regretting his words. Despite his nervousness at tackling such an important meal, he would be cooking it for the man he was crushing on, along with all the others of course, so…“maybe if Barry can show me a few things then maybe—”

“Great!” Zane’s pat to Rory’s back had him pitching forward, narrowly avoiding face-planting in his food.

“That’s settled then,” Wayne, the other ranch hand on the Double J, said.

“Nothing’s settled,” Barry said. “It isn’t fair to put that much responsibility on Rory’s shoulders, and, like I said, I don’t have anything suitable in. I apologize for the rather unoriginal menu tonight. Been too caught up with trying to fix the problems in the ranch game.”

Barry had devised a game that people could download to their phones or tablets that simulated running a ranch. Rory had to admit, the game was quite addictive. All the hands were represented in the game, which made everyone feel included. Yet another example of how Barry touched everyone’s lives in a positive way. Rory remembered Barry saying something about how a recent update had broken something and it was proving difficult to fix.

“Food’s great,” Zane said, reaching for another burger. Was that his fourth?

“You’d eat anything put in front of you,” Wayne told him. Then evidently realizing his comments could be construed as criticism of Barry, he added, “But you’re right, these are great burgers. Love the onion rings, too.”

“It’s all out of the freezer,” Barry told them. He didn’t consider it cooking unless he made whatever it was from scratch.

“About tomorrow,” Jake reminded. “Me ’n’ Jimmy have it all planned. We’ll drive to the city tomorrow afternoon, book into a motel, go to a restaurant for dinner, then back to the motel to…” He waggled his eyebrows.

“You’ve booked all of this?” Barry asked, sounding pleased.

As well he should. Rory wished he had someone who would do things like that for him.

Jimmy scratched his stomach. “Nah, we figured we could just turn up and—”

“Not on Valentine’s Day,” Barry told him. “Everywhere decent will be booked up.”

“And there’s that snow and ice storm coming in tomorrow,” Liam reminded them.

“s**t,” Jake said.

“So?” Jimmy added. “I’ll keep you warm and safe if we get stuck in a snow drift on the road.”

“Me, too,” Jake chipped in.

Rory closed his eyes and sighed silently. If only he had someone to cuddle up with and…

“No way am I going to get arrested for lewd and lascivious behavior by the snow patrol,” Barry told them, setting down his silverware and looking at them each in turn.

Rory wondered if the snow patrol had arresting powers, but of course he didn’t venture that opinion. He never did, unless asked a direct question.

“Pass the fries will ya, little dude?” Zane asked him.

Rory did, trying not to stare too long at Zane’s huge hands that were connected to strong, thick arms, hidden under a black flannel shirt.

As they ate, Jimmy and Jake continued to try and persuade Barry they should go out the next evening, Barry remaining resolute they stay home. Rory knew who would win the argument. Even though it was two against one, Barry would prevail.

“Besides, I still have more work to do on squashing those bugs in the game, not to mention building the framework for that new Pony Express game.” Barry shook his head. “Not enough hours in the day recently.”

“If you plan on making more games, you should hire on an assistant,” Liam said.

Barry nodded. “Maybe in the future.”

“Really? Could we afford that?” Jake asked, sounding surprised.

“Like I said, maybe in the future. You don’t like the idea?”

Jake shrugged.

“You want me barefoot and pregnant and chained to the stove twenty-four seven?”

Inwardly, Rory shrank. Apart from the light tone, this was beginning to sound like the sort of arguments his parents used to have.

Jimmy laughed. “Can we? Get you pregnant I mean.”

“We could try,” Jake said, putting an arm around the back of Barry’s chair. “Sure, babe, if you think you could make the games thing pay, then, yeah, hire someone.”

“So long as she’s butt-ugly and can’t cook,” Jimmy said.

Everyone laughed, including Rory, whose laughter was due more to relief than amusement.

“Well, it’s something to think about if things continue to grow,” Barry said. “But for right now, I’m happy doing what I’m doing. Which means I’ll go into town in the morning and visit the store for supplies for the Valentine’s meal. Any requests?”

“A red heart-shaped cake,” Jake prompted.

“I could do that.” Barry turned to Jimmy and patted his cheek. “With blue frosting.”

Rory didn’t understand the whole blue and red thing Jimmy and Jake had going on. Jimmy always wore a blue shirt and Jake always had on a red one. These choices were carried through on the intertwined J’s on the wooden sign at the ranch’s entrance. The colors even extended to their characters in the ranch game.

“Besides, staying here tomorrow means we’re closer to a bed, and with no neighbors…” Barry waggled his eyebrows.

Liam groaned. “Don’t you three ever think of anything but f*****g?”

“I like butt f*****g,” Jimmy said, giving Liam the finger. “’Specially Barry’s.”

“Too much information,” Wayne protested.

Barry changed the subject by saying, “And, if Rory doesn’t mind, I’ll prepare you guys’ meal and deliver it to the bunkhouse kitchen so you won’t miss out.”

Rory nodded his agreement.

“Which reminds me,” Barry continued, “it’s your birthday next week, Rory. What do you want me to make?”

Rory shrugged. He didn’t want any fuss.

“You must have some ideas. Come on, give me something to work with here.”

When it was one of their birthdays, Barry would make a special effort to cook their favorite foods. But Rory didn’t really have any favorites. Okay, when he was real little his mom would bake him a birthday cake and they’d have it with ice cream, but that all stopped when she was murdered and…

“You’re twenty-one,” Barry reminded him. “We’re going to celebrate it. At least tell me what kind of cake you want.”

“Chocolate,” Jimmy chipped in.

Barry slapped him. “It’s Rory’s choice.”

“Why chocolate?” Liam asked. Then he answered his own question. “’Cause it’s brown.” He groaned.

It had been decided, mostly because of his last name, that Rory’s character in the ranch game should wear a brown shirt. Jimmy and Jake seemed to think Rory should be as passionate in real life about his chosen color as they were about theirs. In truth, Rory’s favorite color had become black, the color Zane had picked for his game character. Much to Jimmy’s and Jake’s delight, the man often wore black in real life.

“You’re twenty-one?” Zane asked, slinging an arm around Rory’s shoulders—giving the smaller man a squeeze as well as a hard on. “I’m gonna take you to a bar on your birthday and buy you your first beer.”

“Me, too,” the other men echoed.

“Uh, thanks.” Rory ducked his head. He hated being the focus of their attention.

Rory had never been carded when he’d gone out drinking with the other guys, although he didn’t go out very often. He preferred to stay in the bunkhouse and take advantage of the quiet to read or listen to music.

“But Rory’s eating supper here first before you take him out to get him drunk,” Barry insisted. “In fact you can all line your stomachs first.”

“Yes, Mom,” Jake joked.

Barry was kind of a mother figure to them all, and Rory secretly appreciated that, although no one could replace Rory’s real mom.

As Liam was the foreman and the oldest man on the Double J, Rory saw him as a father figure—a world away from the…monster that was his so-called real dad.

Barry chose to ignore his partner’s jibe and focused back on Rory. “Just have a think about what you’d like me to make for your birthday, okay?”

“Okay, thank you,” Rory quietly agreed. “But a chocolate cake, maybe with some ice cream, would be great.”

“All right!” Jimmy pumped his fist.

Rory liked to pretend Jimmy and Jake were his older brothers. He fantasized they’d protect him like big brothers should if he needed them to.

The ranch was a place where Rory felt safe, where he had enough space to just be himself. Everyone let him be most of the time but pulled him out of himself when he got too insular. Hence the occasional visits to the bar. He thanked his lucky stars every day for his motorcycle breaking down just past the driveway to the Double J a couple years back.

“I like chocolate cake,” Zane said, wiping his mouth.

Wayne smirked. “It’s food, so of course you like it.”

Rory wasn’t quite sure how to position Wayne in his pretend family. Maybe an uncle. Wayne had served in the military and seen action in Desert Storm. But that was about the sum of Rory’s knowledge because Wayne rarely spoke of his time in the service. But, again, Rory thought he could call upon the man’s protection if necessary.

All the members of Rory’s pretend family were good looking to a greater or lesser extent, although none set Rory’s pulse racing. That all changed when Zane started paying them visits. Zane had been the ranch hand at Jimmy’s parents’ spread next door. Rory had been immediately smitten by the newcomer. Zane pressed every one of Rory’s buttons. Rory thought the man was almost perfect—big, gentle but strong, kind, genuine, honest, and had no idea of how amazing he was. But, sadly, he was also straight. That was the only thing that stopped him from being totally perfect in Rory’s book.

When Jimmy’s parents sold their ranch and the Double J bought much of the land, Rory took the highly unusual step for him by asking that Zane be hired on. He couldn’t bear the thought that Zane, straight or not, would have to move away to find work. Fortunately Jimmy and Jake agreed, and Zane moved into the bunk house, in the bedroom next door to Rory’s.

At times it was sheer torture working alongside and sleeping next door to the object of his infatuation. Zane had little regard for personal space and was forever slinging an arm over Rory’s shoulders or patting him on the back, but Rory knew he’d done the right thing by agitating for Zane to be employed at the Double J. Zane never showed much initiative in his work, but he put his whole heart into whatever he did and soon became an invaluable member of the team.

“What’s for dessert?” Zane’s question, and the laughter from the others, snapped Rory out of his musings.

Wayne good-naturedly punched Zane in the arm.

Although the men constantly teased one another, Rory liked that it was never mean. Meals were lively and good-natured, a world away from the silent, tension-filled ordeals while he was growing up or the later grab-what-you-could-before-someone-else-did battles in the group homes.

Zane wrapped a beefy arm around Wayne’s neck and mock-threatened to choke him, the others egging Zane on.

“Boys!” Barry rapped his spoon on the table. Everyone fell silent and Zane let Wayne go. “I used the last of the canned huckleberries to make a cobbler,” Barry announced, getting to his feet. Accepting Jake’s empty dinner plate, he added, “Don’t worry, my red cowboy, I’ll fix raspberry pie in a couple of days.” He kissed the top of Jake’s head.

That earned him a big smile from Jake. Barry got a matching smile from Jimmy when he kissed the top of his other cowboy’s head. “But today is a blue-dessert day.”

Liam groaned and Jimmy’s and Jake’s faces instantly morphed into frowns.

“You don’t want any?” Barry asked, taking Liam’s plate from him.

“Didn’t say that,” Liam protested.

“Uh huh.” Turning to Zane, he asked, “Don’t need to ask about you, do I, Big Z?”

“No, sir.” Zane stacked Rory’s plate on top of his, then put the empty serving bowls on top of them. “I got these.”

“Thank you, Zane,” Barry praised.

“You only do it so Barry will give you a bigger portion,” Wayne said, handing his plate to Zane.

“So a smaller portion for you then,” Barry said, sweeping out of the room, Zane following him.

As the others teased Wayne, Rory took the opportunity to stare at Zane’s big, full, and firm ass.