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

Chapter 24

Cole pressed a cloth soaked with clove oil to his face before cracking open the coffin lid. The little horse figurine in his hand was missing one leg and had faded over time, but it still looked like a man on horseback.

“He used to have a little felt hat too,” he said, sliding the toy inside the coffin. Moments later, the hammer swung through the sweltering air, shutting the raw wooden box with nails. Craw had been a carpenter’s boy in his previous life and had fashioned a new one out of planks they had in their supply wagons to replace the broken thing that had barely made it from Three Stones in one piece.

But the task of digging a hole in the sweltering heat fell to them—the newly appointed camp pariahs. The ground had a reddish color to it, as if it had been watered with blood many times before, and felt hot as if hell was close under the surface. A large dried-out tree with bark scorched by many summers had provided them some shade at first, but now the sun had moved and shone straight at them, prompting them to work in their unmentionables.

Ned rested against his shovel with a huff. He had no sorrow for Scotch, but resonated with Cole’s pain. Scotch had been one of the few stable things in Cole’s life. Like a rickety chair that had a nail sticking out but still held one’s weight. He didn’t know whether Cole realized that Scotch hadn’t respected him and had said such ugly things behind his back, but he would never find out, if Ned had any say in it.

So Ned helped him dig and even gathered some desert flowers to place on the grave once the work was over, just because he knew such gestures would give Cole peace of mind.

“You wouldn’t rather keep it?” Ned asked.

Cole shook his head and hammered in another nail. “I’ll keep the other one. He told me life’s no good without friends, and made me two. A couple,” he said and reached out for Ned’s hand.

“Are they both boys?” Ned asked with a smirk and pulled Cole out of the hole. It wasn’t six feet deep but would do once they covered it with rocks.

The firm tug brought them face to face, and Cole’s hat would have knocked Ned’s off if he hadn’t leaned back in the last moment. His nostrils flared as he met Ned’s gaze and brought their hips together in an obscene, mouthless kiss. “Sure are. Maybe he knew all along?”

Ned stroked Cole’s side, unable to resist a moment of reprieve after hours of hard work. Whatever Scotch had left unsaid about Cole’s proclivities would be buried with him. “Won’t he be sad that his friend is missing?”

Cole stilled, his dark eyes softening until he couldn’t take the tension anymore and pressed his lips to Ned’s with a soft gasp. “Perhaps he will be. If a piece of wood can feel the same way I do.”

The blisters on Ned’s hands stopped hurting, as if the sweet words were camomile salve. “Perhaps they were twins, and I’ll make a friend for the cowpoke you’re keeping.”

Cole grinned, his hands grasping at Ned’s suspenders to keep them closer still. “Now that’s good news. You carve?”

“I haven’t in ages, but my dad taught me years back. I’d brush up on my skills for you.”

Regardless of the temptation to stay close, Ned stepped aside, because the dirt wouldn’t put itself back in the ground.

“That’s right! You two better pull apart. No one needs to see any of that!”

Cole’s face stiffened, and he looked toward the camp. Tessa grabbed at Mary’s arm, trying to calm her with whispered words, but the high-and-mighty strumpet dug her heels in the dirt and spoke even louder. “Dirty bumfuckers!”

“You’re just still sore that we didn’t ride you on Ned’s first night here. Make yourself scarce, Mary, if you know what’s good for you,” Cole shouted, but despite managing to keep a neutral expression, the flush crawling from under his shirt betrayed his true feelings.

“I’m sorry,” Tessa called out, but her sympathy couldn’t improve their situation. The things they did might be tolerated by some, if left unmentioned and kept to the dark, but by declaring his feelings Cole had broken the unspoken rules, and now they’d be paying the price.

Ned pulled his bandana over his nose. “How about you rest for a while and I shovel? This part is easier than digging anyway.”

Ned had feared they might find their belongings burnt to char upon arrival, or at the very least tossed into a pile out of camp, but Tom seemed to appreciate the display of loyalty, just as Cole had predicted. There was the matter of them having to move their tent before nightfall to where their presence wouldn’t offend those in favor of banishing them, but at least that would happen on their terms.