That was the moment where Hank’s world fell apart, where all the carefully constructed lies against the backdrop of how he ran a ranch and had responsibilities simply died.

“I’m not fucking gay. They forced themselves on me.”

There was a collective gasp from the jury and some well-crafted questions to revisit the point from the defense attempting to get him back on track, but the damage was done. The idea that four young kids had somehow independently forced Hank to do anything was something no person would believe.

Summing up was painful to hear as Jack had to listen to the testimony given in sound bites. Then it was done. The jury was retired with instructions from the judge as to points they should consider, and Jack only felt like he could breathe when he was out of the court.

* * * * *

Vaughn paced the small room while they waited for the verdict and wished to hell that Darren would say something, anything. He’d been utterly quiet all morning and while Vaughn knew this had to be hard he thought that he and Darren were connected enough to actually talk. They’d been lovers for four months now and it had been a tumultuous time. Somehow they had come together in this fight and Vaughn wanted more. He wanted Darren away from this case, from the toxicity that was the Bar Five, and away from Hank.

But laying that all on Darren hadn’t gone down well. He’d been entirely honest with his lover about moving away from Laredo. He wanted Darren to go with him and he wanted Darren to give him an answer. Vaughn couldn’t spend another day at the Triple K under Yuri Fensen when he was out from his pathetic sentence after he’d plea-bargained down. Nor could he in all conscience have anything to do with the Bar Five where the attacks had happened on the kids. There was hate in the dirt there. The same hate that had sent Darren off to University and to working away from the ranch.

“Well?” Vaughn prompted again. “Will you come with me?”

Darren looked up at him, and it broke his heart to see that Darren’s eyes were damp. He’d been through a hell of a day as the brother to a man accused of rape and molestation of underage kids, but Vaughn had sat through the same thing.

Darren near whispered, “Are you really going to leave me?”

“I can’t work for Yuri anymore. I need to have Laredo in my rearview mirror. I have to.” There, he’d laid it all out again, as clear as he could.

“You could stay and help me at the Bar Five.” Darren’s voice was small and contained hope, but Vaughn couldn’t listen to it without cringing.

Vaughn stopped pacing and crouched in front of Darren. “You don’t want to stay at the Five. It kills you every day you’re there. Leave and come with me.”

“Where?” Darren sounded desperate now. “Where can you go?”

Hell if Vaughn knew where he was going. “Anywhere. We can go anywhere, do anything, together. I could even talk to Campbell-Hayes, see if he needs a hand.”

“You’d give up everything, even me?”

Vaughn grasped Darren’s hand. “I’m not giving you up. I’m starting somewhere else. Sell the Five, come with me.”

Darren tugged his hands free. “I can’t.”

“You know I have feelings for you, that this is more than just sex,” Vaughn pleaded. “I love you, Darren.”

“But, I have responsibilities, people who need paying.” Darren wasn’t listening. He looked at every point of the room except for at Vaughn.

“Hank’s sold most of it,” Vaughn pointed out. He had to make Darren see what was happening. “You know orders fell off, he got rid of the horses, and you only have the land and three hands.”

Darren looked at him directly. Inspiration had clearly hit him, even if it was inspiration tinged with that same desperation. “Then come and work for me, with me, make the Five real again.”

“For him to come back and wreck it?” Vaughn was shocked at how little his lover was getting this. “Did you hear me say I love you? Tell me you don’t feel the same way.”

Darren ran his hands through his dark hair and grimaced. “My brother is on trial, he hurt those kids and I didn’t see it… Vaughn…”

Vaughn leaned up and kissed him, and everything in that kiss pleaded for Darren to reconsider.

“Just look me in the eyes and tell me you love me,” Vaughn pleaded.

Darren looked at him for a brief moment, then his gaze slipped sideways. “I can't think,” he said.

The knock on the door and a quiet “jury’s back in” split them apart. Vaughn felt his heart break when Darren wouldn’t even walk next to him back to the court room. He’d thought Darren felt the same way as he did. Clearly he’d been wrong.

When the verdict was read out, it was almost anticlimactic. Within fifteen minutes of sitting down, there was a guilty verdict handed down from the foreman. Hank cursed and blustered, but he was led away in cuffs but not before he laid out a tirade against his faggot-ass brother and how he would destroy the witnesses. The cops guarding him had him out of the building through another door, and Darren stared at Vaughn with utter desolation in his eyes.

“I’ve got to go,” he said.

“We need to talk,” Vaughn pleaded.

Darren backed away. “I can’t do this,” he said.

Vaughn grabbed at him but caught nothing more than air. “We’ll talk later.”

“No. No more talking, Vaughn. What’s done is done. You go your way, I go mine, and we’ll see what happens.” He turned and left. The cold finality in his words was ice to Vaughn’s chest. They had never said they loved each other, never made what they had more serious than friends with benefits, so why was Vaughn feeling so sideswiped? Darren was set on rebuilding the Five, although why he was, Vaughn didn’t know. And Vaughn? Well, he couldn’t bear the thought of staying anywhere near Laredo. They were travelers whose paths had crossed for a while. Evidently it couldn’t be anything else.

He crossed to where Jack and Robbie were standing, Liam stood to one side wrapped in his boyfriend’s embrace, being held and comforted. Vaughn desperately hoped today would be the first day of the rest of these kids’ lives, and that somehow all four of them would find peace.

Tipping his imaginary hat at Jack, he wondered if now was really the time to be asking this, but at the same time, he had to strike while the iron was hot. Because was the first day of the rest of his life and Darren didn’t want a part of it.

“I have experience, good experience, worked out of the Triple-K under Yuri Fensin’s grandfather for five years. I’m willing to start from scratch, but if you or anyone you know has a vacancy, I’m a hard worker.”

Jack looked a little taken aback, but then he and Robbie exchanged looks, before Jack held out a hand. “Welcome to the D.”

Vaughn never imagined he could feel two such opposing feelings: relief at having somewhere to go warring with a heart that seemed to be out of synch somehow.

He and Darren had never reached the point to promise forever, but hell, that is what Vaughn had wanted.

He didn’t have time to dwell on his feelings when Liam and Marcus joined the small group and then was the time for quiet pleasure in the fact that justice had been served. He couldn’t think about Darren, not today. Darren needed space, and maybe one day his and Darren’s paths would converge again.

He could only hope.

Chapter 9

Riley sat back in the car and checked his phone for the tenth time. He’d texted Jack and hoped to hell it went through. He needed to think his stupid selfie had worked even though cell reception on the border was sketchy. The last time they’d properly talked was last night, and it seemed that even with all his money to organize anything he wanted, time was against him and he wasn’t guaranteed contact with his family. The door opened, and Tom slid into the seat with a grin on his face.

“We got the appointment,” he announced and offered a fist bump, which Riley matched. They’d slipped quickly into a relaxed working relationship. Tom showed Riley respect, and Riley accepted it as graciously as he could despite not feeling that deserving. The people on the border were working damn hard to get Riley into the area to test, so obviously someone thought something of his skills.