Marcus was just passing through Texas when he met Kent. In his cowboy hat, low-riding jeans, and black boots, Kent looks like the type of guy Marcus desperately wants to love.<br><br>But two years later, he's discovered Kent is cold and distant, the quintessential American cowboy, and spends more time drunk than sober. Marcus can never predict his mood and blames himself for the flailing relationship.<br><br>Then, one day when Kent rides into town, Marcus finds a young runaway hiding in their barn. Luke is warm, loving, and quick to please ... everything Kent is not. Though the answer seems obvious, Marcus finds himself torn between the boy who demands his love and the man whose love he craves.

Cowboy

The silence in the kitchen between the three


of us is deadly. Luke sits at the table—in my seat now, not Kent’s,


he plopped down there and the look my lover gave him was enough to


make him switch chairs without a word—and he shovels in his eggs,


watching me as he eats like he’s waiting for my lead. Kent puts the


groceries away, storming around the kitchen with stiff steps,


throwing cans into the cabinets and slamming doors shut, the look


on his face curbing anything I might want to say.


easy talk between Luke and me is gone, replaced with an unnerving


tension that hangs over us like a funeral pall. Every time Kent


brushes by me, I jump. I want to ask about the showerhead but


don’t, I feel his mood building like thunderclouds, I don’t want


So I busy myself with the dishes, and I make


a pot of coffee because I know he likes his java in the morning.


Chapter 25