The Man Who Loved Cole Flores (Dig Two Graves 1)

“Other times, I’d be expected to watch a man touch himself, but that wasn’t too bad. It was always the same two fellows anyway, and they seemed harmless enough. Then, one night she walked me to this room upstairs but locked the door the moment I stepped in. The man inside must have come on the train. I didn’t know his face, and he had stern clothes that must have been tailored to his body. Not a miner. Not a prospector. Not a farmer. Someone with money.”

Ned was now glad Cole spoke into his neck, because his eyes itched at what he was expecting to hear next. Ned’s parents had died, but he had their protection and love for as long as they had lived. Despite the terrors they’d survived in the mountains, his mother had ensured he was safe, in the care of family, before she’d taken her life.

He hugged Cole tighter and kissed the side of his face.

Cole relaxed with a deep exhale. “She wouldn’t have sold me to anyone who couldn’t compensate her for my entire debt. I was very small, and she knew I could end up hurt, but she didn’t care. I hadn’t been an innocent child for a long time at that point, and I had an idea what he might want. It scared me. I didn’t know him and didn’t want him to come any closer. He chased me around the room, laughing as if it was only a game.”

“I’d kill the motherfucker,” Ned said through clenched teeth.

“I did,” Cole said in the softest of voices. “He lost patience and carried me to bed. Braced himself over me, tore at my clothes, too aroused to notice I had a folding knife on me. Real sharp it was, and when I cut it across his bare stomach, his blood gushed all over me. It was as hot as boiling water. When he collapsed, I climbed on top of him and stabbed until he went still.”

Ned swallowed, imagining the pure terror of a child put in that situation. He was getting an intimate picture of what Cole’s life had been like, and suddenly it struck him how safe Ned had been at Uncle Liam’s ranch in comparison. He’d rarely gone hungry, had had a steady job, even if hard, and a family who’d been there for him when it mattered.

Cole took a deep breath of air, and tightened his arms around Ned as if he were afraid of being pushed away. “I was… I was so damn scared. Could already see myself hanging by my neck while the whole town jeered. Nobody would have believed me when I told them what really happened. They’d have called it my wishful thinking, and me—a pervert.

“Running off was my only chance, so I opened the window and jumped onto the balcony of the room next door. But before I could have considered my options, the glass door opened, and Tom walked out, naked, with a six-shooter in hand. He saw me—a boy covered in blood, and lowered his gun. He and I never spoke about what really happened, or what that man wanted to do, but he had a talk with the madam, and took me with him the next morning. I was his from then on.”

Ned shuddered at that last part. Cole didn’t belong to Tom any longer. Cole was his.

“You’ve given him ten years, so I think he got his money’s worth.” Ned kissed Cole’s cheek as gently as if he were the priciest china. Their eyes met, and Cole swallowed.

“I still owe him my life. They’d have hanged me if he wasn’t there to help.”

“I’m sure you’ve saved his neck many times over.”

“He gave me a home. Showed me how to survive. How to be a man. He even paid for my first ever girl.”

Ned was still stroking Cole’s side with his knuckles but stared into the water. “How was that?”

“Good. She was real gentle and nice, only a bit older than me. I wanted to make her feel good too, and she appreciated that,” Cole said, leaning back to look at Ned. “I now know I’ve always preferred men, but there’s excitement to what a woman could give me too. That rush of pleasure was present even when I already knew what I was and imagined myself poking another man.”

Heat flushed Ned’s face. “You were already thinking about that? I really am a simple country boy. So it wasn’t… better with ladies?”

Cole blinked, only to break into laughter. He cupped Ned’s face and kissed his cheeks before diving into a warm hug. “Oh, Neddie. It’s like making the choice between moonshine and proper whisky. Both do the job, but one’s rarer and so much more pleasant on the tongue. Only one I’d be willing to take risks for. What about you? Did you really have no suspicions?”