Page 33 of Playing Cowboy
“His phone,” I insist.“It wasn’t under a pile of boxer briefs, or whatever lurid picture you have of what happened last night.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No, it was ...he forgot it in the kitchen when he was putting some flowers in a vase.”
Parker chuckles.“I saw ‘em.”
“What?When?”
“Last night atDusty’s Dry Goodswhen he was kitting your place all out for the week.”
“He didn’t mention that.”I sigh.
As if on cue, Grady taps at the window again, his faint voice asking, “What?What’s going on in there?Why are you bothignoringme?”
“Probably embarrassed,” Parker says before pulling away from another stop sign.
“He’s got nothing to be embarrassed about,” I huff.
Parker chuckles.“I know that, Kid.Damn, sensitive much?”
“I’m sorry if a guy like you judging me for what Grady and I do in our spare time is highly offensive.”
Parker pulls up to another stop sign.This time of day, this far from downtown, the traffic is less than sparse.He throws the truck into park and lets his foot off the gas, turning toward me with a wagging finger.“I ain’t judging you because you both have boy parts, Kid.I’m judging you because you went and got all careless about it, and I had to come and rescue your skinny little asses this morning, got that?”
Our eyes meet in the charged energy of the cramped truck cab.Even Grady stays silent, as if somehow sensing something has shifted up front.“Fine, yes...”I sag with defeat.“I get it.I’m sorry, I just ...have never met anyone like him before.”My eyes flit to peer at the back of Grady’s ball cap in the rearview mirror.
“I can see that,” Parker says more gently this time.“And I can appreciate that.He’s ...he’s one heck of a fella.”
Apology apparently accepted, Parker turns and drives the truck back into gear.“I figured you two might hit it off,” he says agreeably.
I pop my collar and sit up straight.“I mean, how could he resist this, right?”
He gets the joke, blushing in that way ruggedly straight guys often do when confronted with full swish.“Don’t gettooflattered,” he gives it right back.“After all, it’s slim pickins’ in a little country town like this, right?”
“I suppose.”I sigh.“Then again, if you’re picky?It’s slim pickins’ in a big city town like LA, am I right?”
He nods begrudgingly, the picturesque town of Pistol Creek inching into view as we ease down from the slightly elevated development out at Juniper Junction.“That’s just it,” Parker says softly as we inch closer to town.“Grady is picky.And sweet and shy and ...a real good guy, you feel me?”
I glance over to find his jaw set.“Is this ...the part where you warn me not to break his heart?”
He grins, slapping the steering wheel for emphasis.“You betcha!”
“I would never,” I gush, the sting of his love taps still clinging to my poor, chapped ass, to say nothing of the taste of his sweet, tangy jizz still lingering on my tongue.
“Easy to say the morning after,” he grunts with the weight of a thousand morning after’s in his tone.“And the week might seem mighty long to you this morning, but Friday will be here before you know it, and then what, huh City Boy?”
“Then...”I freeze, the truck pulling into a vast, newly-paved lot behind a shimmering new strip mall.“Then we say goodbye.For now.”
He throws the truck back into park again, as if angry at it.“For now?”he grunts as, behind us, Grady’s boots rustle on the old truck bed.
“Why are we stopping?”he asks through the window as he turns around.“Oh, we’re here!”
I hear him scrambling around back there, the weight of Parker’s words heavy on my mind as I reach for the door.He stills me with a vicelike grip on my forearm.I turn to him, my whole face like a human question mark.“You promise me,” he says, almost desperately, eyes beseeching beneath his big, brimmed hat.“You promise me you’ll never hurt that boy or so help me...”
I smile and pat his hand.Gently.He doesn’t flinch.“I’m no cowboy.”I sigh, mimicking Grady’s words from the night before.“But I don’t break my promises.I won’t hurt him, Parker.”
Then I wink and snatch my hand back, reaching for the door at last and giving him one last heaping, dishy serving of swish before I spring from the truck.“That is, unless he wants me to!”
