“Of course I do. Fuck, I was coming to get you this Saturday, and I was going to drag you up here to talk.”

Darren smiled and continued in a more enthusiastic vein. “I can work anywhere, start my own accounting company. We could get a place where you’ll be with the horses and I’ll have my numbers. We could be happy.”

Vaughn wanted to talk logistics: money, houses, and everything else that swirled in his head, but Darren didn’t need that right now. Instead Vaughn settled his weight on Darren, pinning him to the mattress.

“It’s everything I want,” he said. He kissed Darren, and his stomach chose that moment to let out an embarrassing grumble of hunger.

“You didn’t eat again.” There was no question there, just the easy statement of someone who knew Vaughn very well.

“I have pasta,” Vaughn said, hopeful that Darren would get the hint.

Darren shoved at him. “Let me up, then, you big idiot. I’ll cook us something, and then maybe we could go for a ride, ’cause I missed my cowboy.”

Vaughn glanced outside the window and considered leaving the trailer when he had the chance of staying in bed with Darren. “You want to go riding tonight?”

Darren smirked and cradled Vaughn’s face tenderly. “Yeah, but not on a horse.” They kissed again, the connection so right and real.

“Best get me pasta, then,” Vaughn pointed out very determinedly. “I’ll need the energy.”

* * * * *

Jack shut the door as soon as Darren disappeared around the corner in the direction of Vaughn’s trailer. Riley limped into the kitchen with a twin on each hip, and Jack relieved him of a very sleepy-looking Connor. Four weeks had passed since the kidnapping, and Riley seemed less closed off, talking to Jack some, even going into the office. He’d lost the crutches now and was in a walking cast, but he was still a little unsteady on his feet sometimes. Jack could handle that. Couple of weeks’ time and they were into Dallas to have the final cast removed. Jack couldn’t wait for the last link to the trouble to be gone. The wound on Riley’s forehead was entirely healed, and there were no other reminders.

Together they went into the good room and each took an end of the sofa with Max trailing behind. He climbed up between them and pressed random buttons on the control, happy when an episode of Tom and Jerry came on. Jack had noticed that Max liked the bright slapstick of cartoons, and even though he didn’t have them on loud, he could watch them for the longest time. The kids only came in the room when Jack and Riley were with them; it was a quiet calm space… family space.

“Did you do your spelling?” Riley asked Max. Max didn’t look at him, but he did nod. That was probably the limit of the interaction for the moment. Max was getting into the animation zone, and then there would be thirty or so minutes of quiet time before bed. Not that Max slept much, but he at least stayed in his room or moved into the sensory area.

Hayley was in her room working on a project for school and skyping friends. Jack had an awesome feeling of peace wash over him.

“We’re actually pretty good at this, aren’t we?” Jack said. Riley looked up from bouncing Lexie on his knee. He let her go when she climbed down to stand on the floor. She was a little spitfire, always on the go.

“We do okay,” Riley answered. “So you think Darren is staying a while, or has he come up for Vaughn?”

“He didn’t say anything, just wanted directions.”

Connor leaned back to look at the tower of bricks his sister was building, and for a moment he tugged in Jack’s hold. Jack made to let him down, only then he was clinging hard and curling up against Jack’s chest. Where Lexie was the spitfire, Connor was the one content to sit and stare or, more likely, sleep. He settled in for the long haul, and Jack relaxed back into the sofa.

The tower toppled, Lexie squealed, and Max yelped and covered his ears. Riley calmed Max, Connor fell asleep, and all it needed was for Hayley to come down and Jack’s moment would be perfect.

“What would you do if Vaughn went back to Laredo? Maybe Darren is here to talk to him.”

Jack considered the issue. “I’d find someone else, but I don’t want to have to. Vaughn is a good guy, friendly, calm with the horses, learning every day, and Robbie, Eli, and him make a good team. It would be a loss.” He couldn’t help but regret that Vaughn might well decide moving back was a good thing. He was on a casual contract at the moment, and if Jack was honest, he’d done it that way to give Vaughn the chance to test the waters up here. Poor bastard was in the trailer Jack had towed onto D land. Jack had the plans for accommodation for the hands, for Vaughn and the others he’d have to think about pulling in if he was running the therapy center and his breeding program. He wanted Vaughn to stay, but would he?

“Vaughn seemed set on coming up here,” Riley pointed out. “Can’t see as it was an easy decision, but he made it. He doesn’t seem the sort to back out.”

Max left the room, and Riley followed, which stopped the conversation, but enough had been said. On the way back, Riley grabbed more coffee for them both, and they took up where they’d left off catching up on the day.

“Did you read Sean’s book?” Jack asked. He’d wanted to ask the same question ever since the day Sean had visited with the book.

“I haven’t, not yet. I don’t get why it’s something he thinks I should read, I know there’s PTSD stuff in there, but I’m trying to deal with it my own way, okay? And Eden is coming out this weekend for a girly thing with Hayley, getting ready for the party, so I’ll talk to her then.”

Jack hated that Riley had changed the subject. Things were definitely not okay. Riley had woken him up last night in the throes of a nightmare. They were all too frequent.

“Wouldn’t hurt to read it,” Jack said. He worded it so it sounded like it didn’t matter one bit if Riley didn’t. He was pleased when Riley scooped it up and took it to the bedroom with them, although it got left on the dresser once they were there.

They climbed into bed, and Riley immediately turned into Jack’s hold and buried his face into Jack’s chest before turning his head. He was doing a lot of that kind of thing. Wanting hugs, to be held, and he seemed most at ease when he had his ear pressed to Jack’s heart. Jack just wished Riley would actually talk some more about what had happened to him in Mexico. They hadn’t really made love since it happened, nothing more than some mutual masturbation. It was something that didn’t sit right with Jack and normally wouldn’t have been right for Riley either.

Jack buried his fingers in Riley’s short blond hair and tugged him up for a kiss. Riley made a small noise of protest but moved enough so he could meet Jack’s lips. The kisses were slow and soft, and only when Jack was hard and needy did he press for more. And then the inevitable happened.

Riley pulled away and resumed his position in Jack’s hold with his head lying on Jack’s chest.

“’M tired,” he whispered.

Jack didn’t sleep. He waited until Riley was asleep and was pliant enough to gently ease off him. Then he slipped out of bed and pulled on his jeans.

This wasn’t a happy Riley in his arms. This was a man who had demons, who couldn’t seem to rest, who was on the go in avoidance mode as often as he could be. For a second, Jack stood by the open door and looked back on Riley, curled in a ball on his side. Even that was different. Riley was the kind to sprawl this way and that, stealing covers and generally making the bed his own. That was one of the things Jack loved, when he and Riley tussled for blankets and inevitably came together in heated passion at any time of the night. The sex, the making love, that wasn’t what was missing. It was the most basic of connections that Riley was not making.

Grabbing his cell, Jack let himself out of the kitchen door and found his familiar place at the fence. Leaning against the solid wood, he dialed the first number he could think of, the only person who could hear all his thoughts and not judge. It was late, but he hoped to hell she was up.