Page 48 of Cattle Stop

“Cooper!” Drew shouts again.

Cooper winces and opens the door to call back, “Yeah?”

“Where are the fucking cows?”

“The what?” Cooper shouts. God, his head hurts.

“The cows! Where are they?” Drew yells from the open door of the barn.

“In their pasture where we put them yesterday?” Cooper squints against the sunlight. “The barn? I don’t fucking know.”

Drew jogs toward him, his boots splashing through the puddles dotting the barnyard and his eyes too wide. “They’re not there.”

“They’re not where?” Cooper presses his palm to his forehead. “How the hell are you so goddamn chipper? You drank more than I did.”

“They got out. All of them, the calves too.” Drew sounds out of breath. Looks it too, skidding to a stop in front of Cooper. His cheeks are flushed and his hair’s a mess from the wind kicking off the fields. “They’re not in the back field. They must’ve got out.”

“Okay.”

“Cooper.” Drew grabs his shoulders. “Where the fuck are they?”

“We’ll…we’ll find them.” Cooper nods once, to prove his point. He’s a little nauseous. And he still feels good. Heavy with the release of a really good fuck. If he focuses, he can remember the feel of Whit inside of him.

“The storm spooked them, fuck, this is so much worse than just the heifers going for a damn stroll,” Drew says, holding Cooper way too tight. “Where’s Whit? We need Whit.”

Cooper jerks backward. “I don’t know. Why would I know?”

“Running, he’s probably out running.” Drew turns in a circle like the cows might be just behind him. “We’re—I’m going to take the truck. No, you should, or I can drive to the—”

“Drew.” Cooper closes the door and steers Drew back around again. “Go get a bucket of grain. And take a deep breath. They probably just went down the road again.”

“Grain,” Drew says, nodding quickly. He grabs Cooper’s arm again and shouts, “Whit!”

“Ow, fuck.” Cooper rubs at his ear with the heel of his hand.

He has to shield his eyes against the sun to see Whit. His stomach turns over. He needs another couple minutes to figure out this new dynamic between them. Or a day. A day would be good. A week, even. Maybe he’ll just jump in his truck, drive to Oregon, and come back in half a dozen years, and by then, he’ll know how to handle the fact that he finally, wonderfully, deliciously fucked Whit.

But Drew drags him forward. “Whit! The cows are out.”

Whit slows from his run into a walk. “I know.”

“Hey,” Cooper says. His face feels too warm. The sun, he wants to believe.

“You know?” Drew jerks Cooper another step toward Whit. “Did you see them?”

“Their tracks.” Whit wipes his palm over his forehead. His shirt is already clinging to his arms and shoulders, and the day hasn’t really started to heat up yet. Those shorts on him look…they look good. Even the mud splattered up his muscled, tanned calves catches Cooper’s eye.

Cooper turns and frowns at the fields, where the cows should be. He’s not going to stare at Whit. He’s going to be utterly, perfectly normal.

“I’ll get the truck.” Drew finally lets go of Cooper’s arm. “No, I’ll get the grain. You guys get the truck. Whit, take Coop.”

“No,” Cooper says.

“No?” Drew asks.

Cooper wipes his hands on his thighs. “I’m driving, I meant.”

“You’re not,” Whit says.