Broncs and Bullies

Page

A Totally Bound Publication

Broncs and Bullies

ISBN # 978-1-78430-169-9

©Copyright Bailey Bradford 2014

Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright August 2014

Edited by Rebecca Douglas

Totally Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Totally Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Totally Bound Publishing. Unauthorized or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2014 by Totally Bound Publishing, Newland House, The Point, Weaver Road, Lincoln, LN6 3QN

Warning:

This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a heat rating of Totally Melting and a Sexometer of 2.

Mossy Glenn Ranch

BRONCS AND BULLIES

Bailey Bradford

Book six in the Mossy Glenn Ranch series

Frankie never let anyone close, until Duke refused to give up on him.

Frankie Freemont knows everyone at the Mossy Glenn thinks he’s a jerk for breaking things off with Jody. Letting people get close to him just isn’t something Frankie does. And older men? No way. Frankie doesn’t do that daddy thing so many younger guys seem to like.

Which is why he can’t understand his reaction to Duke Edmonson. Duke has always made him nervous for no reason Frankie can figure out.

Duke suffers a concussion, and Frankie suffers the consequences of a bad choice he makes. With his family wanting him for only one thing—money—and Duke slowly breaking down his defenses, Frankie doesn’t know which way is up.

Duke is determined to prove to Frankie that he’s a good man—they both are. Duke’s worked hard to overcome his youthful past. He’s still ashamed of being a bully years ago, and does everything he can to make sure he never makes mistakes like that again. Being a better man is hard at times, but Duke’s spent his whole adult life doing so.

Now he and Frankie have to decide what they want, and how to go about getting it. That means making some changes that can break each man’s heart.

Dedication

Forgiveness is a blessing, and it needs to be applied liberally.

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

Craigslist: Craigslist

Medicaid: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Best Western: Best Western International, Inc.

Google: Google, Inc.

Taser: Taser International, Inc.

Chapter One

It’d been too long since Frankie Freemont had had a little girl sitting on his lap. He missed his five younger sisters something awful, especially the youngest one, Merry. She’d only been two when he’d left home five years ago.

So to get to hold Jody’s little girl Prissy, who was almost three, well, that was a real treat. Plus, Jody sure needed the help. Frankie could see that. He knew Jody well, in the Biblical and regular sense. With the latter, better than Jody knew him, Frankie would guess. Jody was young and scared and had just found out he was a daddy the day before.

Then of course Frankie had had to make it a bit more stressful for Jody by cutting off their mutual fuck buddy sessions, because there was no way Frankie was doing a dad. Guilt weighed heavy on Frankie, but he’d deal with it. Jody would be better off with someone else anyway. He needed serious and Frankie didn’t.

You got you some pretty hair, Prissy, Frankie said to the little girl.

She turned big blue eyes on him. He saw the wariness there. Well, no wonder. She got dumped here with a daddy she never met and is surrounded by a bunch of strangers, poor kid.

You like this here porch swing? he asked her.

Prissy’s bottom lip quivered and Frankie prepared himself for some bawling. She surprised him by leaning her head against him and cuddling. Yeth.

Her lisp was cute, and once again it made Frankie long to see his siblings. You can call me Unca Frankie, he told her, knowing then and there she was going to have him wrapped around her little finger. She just settled into him like she knew he was good folks. Frankie didn’t think he was, but he would never in the world hurt a kid. God knew the world was going to hurt them enough as time went on.

You want me to tell you a story? Frankie asked Prissy. When she nodded, he continued. There was this goofy boy, all elbows and kneecaps and sass. He had a bunch of little sisters, all pretty and sweet. But there was one, the littlest one. Her name was Merry and she really was the happiest, laughingest child. So sweet, you know?

What was he doing? Frankie pulled himself out of his memories. There were some stories he didn’t need to be sharing with other people. He could turn his current one into fiction easily enough so as not to disappoint Prissy, though.

Merry was a princess, he continued, staring sightlessly out at the ranch. She was kind and sweet—well, I said that already, didn’t I?

Uh-huh. Prissy gripped his shirt. You did.

Frankie chuckled and spun out a silly story about unicorns and tangled manes. As he did so, he used his fingers to work out a few knots from Prissy’s hair. He’d let Jody do it properly later, with a hairbrush.

Except he figured out that Jody didn’t know jack about brushing a little girl’s hair and Frankie ended up volunteering for hair duty. Part of him wanted to hate doing it, because damn, it hurt to interact with Prissy. Mostly, he told himself to get over it because Jody and Prissy both needed his help.

And, after the way he’d just dumped Jody, Frankie couldn’t deny that he felt like the biggest asshole ever. Jody hadn’t deserved to be hurt.

I knew it would happen, though. Knew it when I started messing around with him. He’s too innocent when it comes to sex and those kind of guys always get clingy. Thank God we didn’t fuck-fuck, or it’d be a lot worse for him.

When Frankie got a chance during his lunch break, he snuck off away from the other cowhands and called home, something he didn’t do often.

Frankie leaned against the barn, the sun warming him pleasantly, his hat shading his eyes. He listened to the rings, and knew after the fifth one the call was going to voicemail. It was tempting to hang up—he hated talking to machines. If he didn’t, his mom or Garret would see that he’d called and worry that something was wrong.

So when the pre-recorded message came on, Frankie waited for the beep then spoke quickly. Hey, Mom, I was just calling to see how everyone’s doing. All’s good here. I’ll send a card this Friday. Love y’all. He hung up, feeling like a dork, certain he sounded like one, too.

Hey, whatchu doing? Hiding?

Frankie looked up at Duke Edmonds, who was standing not a dozen feet away. He hadn’t even heard the big guy approach. Yeah, you found me. Now I’ll count and you go hide.

Duke snorted. Smart ass. I was just checking that you’re okay.

I’m fine, Frankie said, putting on his best smile. He started to saunter back to the outdoor table where everyone else was sitting. Duke made him nervous, not that Frankie had ever let it show. The man was older than Frankie by who knew how much, but he was undeniably good-looking in that weathered cowboy way.

And he was nice—congenial, he guessed it was called. But those steel-gray eyes sure seemed to peer right into Frankie’s soul, and since he wasn’t sure he had one of those in the first place, Frankie preferred to stay clear of Duke.

There was probably some sort of daddy hang-up there too. Frankie had no problem admitting he had issues with his sperm donor—and that was all the fucker’d ever been. Some hotshot Svengali who’d seduced a naïve seventeen-year-old girl. That’s how his mom told it, and Frankie had no reason to doubt her.

Duke settled in stride beside him. Things okay with you and Jody?

Frankie slanted Duke an irritated look. What d’ya mean?

Duke shrugged. Y’all were seeing each other, I thought, but—

Jesus, Frankie muttered. We were just blowin’ off steam. Ain’t like we were married or anything. And what the hell? Gossip moves faster than the events it’s about. How does that happen?

Ain’t nothin’ anyone said. Just felt some weird tension between y’all this morning. Didn’t mean to pry. Duke veered off toward the corral and Frankie watched him for a second.

He didn’t even remember Duke being in the bunkhouse earlier, but of course he would have been.

Despite the fact that Duke hadn’t done any such thing, Frankie couldn’t help but feel scolded. It was his own conscience blasting him for being a shallow slut. I never promised Jody nothin’ but an orgasm when we got together those times. He knew I wasn’t interested in more, and he never said he wanted anything deeper.

What would I have said if he’d asked for more? As if Frankie really had to ponder that question. He’d have been gone so fast his heels would have left singe marks on the floor. Jody was a good kid and all, but Frankie wasn’t up to the emotional ties the guy needed to set down.

I’m a shallow fucker. Frankie wished he were different. He slowed down as he approached his fellow workers. Were some of them looking at him like he was something lower down the chain than pond scum?

Could he blame them if they were? What kind of man dumped a scared fuck-buddy who needed every friend he had?

I’m still his friend. I’ll make sure Jody knows that. The promise didn’t do a damn thing to ease Frankie’s guilt. Not one damn thing at all.

Frankie plastered on his biggest grin and decided to try joking around with Hector, one of the grumpier cowboys. If he could get that man to laugh, everything would be all right.

So, Hector, why did the cowboy get fired? Frankie asked.

Hector groaned. Ah, kid. Not more of your stupid jokes.

That didn’t sound good at all, but Frankie was already committed and he couldn’t see a graceful way out of the situation.

Probably because he was sittin’ on his ass doing nothing instead of working.

Frankie peered behind him at Duke, who’d made the droll comment. What happened to you going to the corral? Thank God he didn’t. I might have just been rescued from making a joke worse than his.

Duke didn’t answer, instead walking past Frankie. Come on, y’all lazy bums. We got work to do. Gonna have to tell Drake to stop making y’all such good lunches. All y’all wanna do is nap after you eat. Maybe some of that hummus stuff would inspire y’all.

That’d light up our tail-ends, someone said.

Frankie was only half listening, because he’d kind of gotten distracted by the sight of Duke’s firm, muscled butt when Duke bent over to offer Barney a hand up from where he was sitting on the ground.

We all end up smelling like the south end of a north-bound bull by the day’s end anyway, Duke pointed out.

Frankie was trying to figure out how he’d never noticed that butt before. Probably because he always tried to avoid Duke.

There wasn’t any use in fantasizing about Duke’s ass, either. Frankie knew how he was perceived—as a flighty twink who would always be the eager bottom. It was true enough, anyway, but sometimes he got curious. Topping had to feel good too, or else no one would want to do it.

And surprise, surprise, here I am thinking about sex. Again. Maybe that was normal for a healthy twenty-two-year-old person. It had to be. Frankie was aware that he had a healthy libido, but he wasn’t a slave to it.

At least, he didn’t think he was.

Duke stretched and Frankie glanced away before he did something stupid like whistle or drool. He was going to have to find some other guy to fuck around with. Maybe he’d been a bit premature in breaking things off with Jody. They could jack each other off, at the very least, and not have any emotional ties.

Except Jody had already been hurt when Frankie cut him off. That signified some kind of stronger than ‘just friends’ feelings from him. Frankie supposed it could have been wounded pride.

Or the fact that Frankie had burnt him just when Jody needed everyone most.

Jesus. I’m an asshole, but it’s for the best. Jody needs someone who is gonna be the real deal. Someone who wants kids, too. After helping to raise most of his siblings to an extent before he left home, Frankie really didn’t want that kind of responsibility.

He couldn’t afford it, either, not with him sending almost all of his checks to his family.

You’re lookin’ awful serious, Duke said.

Frankie blinked and had his smile back in place before he finished doing so. Why was Duke paying him so much attention today? Was thinking about my mom, he said, blurting out a partial truth he hadn’t meant to let loose. He’d been thinking about her and his stepdad, Garret, as well as all his little sisters. Homesickness was a dull ache in his gut, but he ramped up his grin. You kinda remind me of her.

Duke sputtered, looking plumb indignant.

Frankie laughed, glad he’d thrown the man off from asking questions, and went to get started on the rest of his workload for the day.

Chapter Two

One minute he’d been riding his horse and the next he was waking up in a hospital. Duke didn’t know how it happened, but it wasn’t a dream no matter how much he wished it was.

Stay still, Will scolded.

Duke hadn’t realized he wasn’t being still. W— He tried to gather enough spit in his mouth to make speaking possible.

You hit your head, Troy said, stepping up beside Will. A deep frown pulled at the corners of his lips and a wrinkle divided his brow. You don’t remember that?

Duke’s head suddenly throbbed like one giant, exposed nerve. His eyes watered from the pain and he closed them again. How was he supposed to answer when his mouth and throat were dryer than a summer day in Vegas, and his stomach was swirling around, trying to toss up whatever he’d last eaten?

Here, open up.

At Will’s prompt, Duke parted his lips, hoping that was what Will meant, because the eyelids? Those were staying down until Duke was sure his brains weren’t about to burst from his ears.

Cold and wet, the ice chip only served to emphasize how thirsty he was. Duke crunched it and was grateful when Will gave him a few more, one at a time.

When he didn’t feel so parched, Duke risked peeking out of one eye. What happened?

He wasn’t sure, but he thought Will and Troy exchanged worried looks. A blurry shadow moved behind them.

You hit your head.

Oh, that wasn’t Troy or Will. That was Carlos. Carlos the shadow. That’s fitting. Duke had the most bizarre urge to giggle, something he’d never done in his life. That scared him more than hurting did.

I hit my head? he asked, his heart thumping wildly. M’I gonna die? Because it sure felt like he might.

You’d better not, Carlos growled at him.

No, you just have a concussion, Will said, turning to glare at Carlos. Calm down, cowboy. You’re going to freak Duke out.

No, Duke was already there. How’d I hit my head? And what was the other question he wanted to ask? Oh yeah. How long have I been here?

Troy still looked all puckered with concern when he answered. We don’t know. You collapsed in the barn while Jody was in there. He leaned closer and seemed to be searching for some reaction from Duke.

Duke didn’t know what the hell the guy wanted from him. Fear was about all he had to give, because he couldn’t remember anything about what Troy had just said. Don’t remember, Duke mumbled. He didn’t want to look at Troy or anyone else. Fear was threatening to leak out of him like sweat. Duke didn’t want anyone to see him like that.

Okay, Will said. It’s okay. You hit your head somehow, and Jody was there in the barn when you collapsed. He called us. You’ve been checked over and had every test in the world run on you, at least it seems like it. The good news is, you’re healthy except for the concussion.

Duke grunted. He’d had a couple of concussions before, none of which had resulted in him passing out. Ain’t the first one. Got a couple breakin’ horses and back when I was in high school.

Football, huh?

Yeah, Duke answered Will. He was going to say something else, but whatever it was eluded him. Duke found it easier to go back to sleep instead of worrying over it.

* * * *

God damn it, Duke groused. He’d just closed his eyes. What the hell was wrong with people? Not letting him sleep, shining fucking spotlights in his eyes and trying to blind him—

Mr James, I need to examine you and that’d be much easier to accomplish if you’d quit fighting me.

Duke turned his head and the entire world tilted.

Quick moves like that aren’t going to help you.

Who the fuck was the know-it-all? Duke slowly rotated his head around until he saw a rather plain-looking man with intense dark eyes. The white lab coat and whole professional air registered then.

I’m Dr McAvoy, the doctor said in a soothing voice. I just need to check you out, make sure there’s not more going on than a concussion, though nothing showed on the CT scan.

When Duke didn’t answer, the doctor held his pen light up. The sooner I clear you to go home—

Well why didn’t you say that in the first place? Duke sniped.

Dr McAvoy glanced behind him. Is he always this grouchy?

No. He’s just about the most laid-back guy on the ranch.

Will was obviously still there, since he answered. Duke had better not be hallucinating that.

Hm. Well, some people aren’t good patients at all. They get angry at being helpless—

Duke blocked out the rest of that shit. It was making him angry and he curled his hands into fists. It was hard to control his temper, and some little voice was telling him that wasn’t like him at all.

Duke told