“Looking for the pretty blond guy?” the clerk asked.
“Yeah.”
“In the bathroom. But you’ll have to get in line. Couple other truckers followed him in there for a quickie.”
Jesus H. Christ. Gunner charged down the aisle on full battle alert. He slipped into the bathroom low and fast, his blood ice cold in his veins.
Chas stood with his back against a wall beside the sinks. He stood in a boxer’s stance, his fists up defensively, and he looked as if he was getting ready to kill these guys.
“Can I help?” Gunner asked lightly.
“With what?” Chas asked back coolly.
“Beating the shit out of these assholes.”
The two burly truckers crowding Chas spun around, scowling. They looked Gunner up and down, obviously weighing whether they could take him.
“Don’t try it, boys. I’m an active-duty Navy SEAL, and my hands are considered lethal weapons. Consider yourself officially notified that I will fuck you up bad—or kill you—if you attack me.”
One of the truckers snorted in disbelief, but the other looked a little less sure of himself.
Disbeliever demanded, “What team you on?”
“That, my friend, is none of your business. Which one do you want to take to school, Chasten?”
“I’ll take the one on the left.”
“Any bets on how long it’ll take to drop them both?”
“Are we going for unconscious or in need of an ambulance?” Chasten asked casually.
“Your call.”
Chas nodded. “Ambulance.” He moved smoothly around the undecided truckers to stand shoulder to shoulder with Gunner, then murmured, “Show them your knife.”
Chas had seen the Ka-Bar field knife he kept strapped in an ankle sheath, had he? In one blindingly fast motion, Gunner reached for it and held it out in a fighter’s stance, low and deadly. “Now with this little beauty, I can give you the closest shave of your life… as well as carve my initials on your faces.” He gave the knife a couple of graceful swings in front of him that made it crystal clear he knew how to handle the blade.
Both of the truckers backed away.
Gunner sheathed the knife as smoothly as he’d drawn it and smiled politely at the two men as Chas opened the door and slipped out into the hall. “Have a nice evening, gentlemen. You drive safe out there.”
He followed Chas to the car and Poppy, and once on the road again, they headed south on the highway. Gunner’s hands shook on the steering wheel, and more than once rage nearly made him turn the car around to go back and kill those bastards.
Chas was pale and tense beside him. No surprise. Those truckers had thought they were going to gang rape the guy. Thank God he’d gotten there before things had become rough. Chas had always had fast hands in their martial arts classes down at the YMCA. Really fast. Which was a hell of an asset in a hand-to-hand fight.
“You okay?” he finally asked when chatterbox Chas continued to be silent and withdrawn beside him. He was kind of like Poppy, come to think of it. “Talk to me. Please. You’re scaring me.”
Chapter Seven
“I’M SCARING you?” Chas exclaimed. He stared across the interior of the vehicle at Gunner, whose jaw looked carved from the same granite as the old mountains they passed by outside. “You’re a SEAL. Hell, you pulled out a knife back there as casual as can be. What the heck do you have to be afraid of?”
Gunner snorted. “I’m scared shitless that something bad will happen to you and I won’t be there to protect you. Has anything like that happened to you before?”
Chas looked away, staring out his window into the night. “Yeah. Now and then. I make no secret of being gay. I’ve had to defend myself a time or two. I took up boxing when you left Misty Falls, you know. I can handle myself in a fight.”
“Have you been…?” Gunner hesitated and then said in a rush, “Have you ever been assaulted?”
“As in raped? No. But I’ve had to beat up the odd asshole now and again.”
“Who?” Gunner demanded. The cold steel in his voice was deeply gratifying. He sounded ready to kill whoever’d laid a hand on him.
“It’s old history. And I’m better at spotting and avoiding jerks than I once was. I’m tired tonight, though, so I wasn’t paying attention.”
A low sound emanated from Gunner’s throat, and it took Chas a second to identify it. The man had growled. Actually growled. The beginning of a smile curved his lips. It was nice to have someone be so protective of him. It had been a long time since—
His train of thought derailed. The last time anyone had been this protective of him had been back in high school, when Gunner had scared off anyone who even thought about bullying him.
“What?” Gunner asked quickly.
“You’ve always been my knight in shining armor, haven’t you? You’re the only person who has always come to my defense, roaring like a lion and chasing off anyone who tries to mess with me.”
A snort. “I’m a lot of things, but a knight in shining armor is not one of them.”
“I dunno. Those truckers backed off plenty fast when you showed up.”
“Don’t remind me of them. I’m already fighting with myself about going back and teaching them both a lesson.”
“They’re not worth it. The world will always have its share of ignorant jerks. I learned a long time ago to just live my life and let others live theirs. You can’t change people who don’t want to be changed.”
Gunner’s voice lowered into the tone of a confession. “I’m still pretty new to this. It may take me a while to arrive at your sense of calm over what other people think of you.”
“You mean because I’m gay?” Chas was startled. “What do you mean, you’re new to this? New to what?”
“New to embracing being gay.”
A laugh escaped him before he could bite it off. “Well, of course you’re gay. I’ve known that since high school.”
“How in the hell could you know when I didn’t?”
“Dude. Every girl in the school threw themselves at you, and you didn’t even notice, let alone have any interest.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I was gay. It could have just meant I wasn’t interested in sex.”
“Ahh, but you forget. I knew you were interested in sex.”
Gunner’s knuckles turned white on the steering wheel.
A memory flashed through Chas’s mind of Gunner’s head thrown back, his young, athletic body arching forward, his cock thrusting into Chas’s mouth. The first time he’d given Gunner a blow job, it had almost been an accident. They’d been spending the night together at Chas’s house—Gunner’s parents were fighting again. Chas had a double bed they usually shared, and that night had been no different. He’d woken up from a hot dream about crawling all over Gunner, only to realize he actually was.
He’d started to roll away, but Gunner had reached out wordlessly and stopped him. And by the time he’d gotten his mouth around Gunner’s cock, Gunner had been groaning in pleasure. He hadn’t stopped Chas from sucking him to a massive orgasm.