Bullheaded

couldn’t keep the smug grin off his face and understood Cody’s need to boast. “I’ve been hooking up, but it’s all been….”
    “Empty? And you wonder why it wasn’t with me?”
    “Yeah, I have been kind of.”
    “It’s not because we’re in love. It’s because I was interested in you and you were interested in me. We clicked. We paid attention to each other in the moment. But we’re not going to ride off together into the sunset. This was still just another hookup, maybe with better people. Go back to him.” March looked oddly hopeful, but as if the conversation cut too close to the bone for him as well, he changed the mood by wiggling his eyebrows with a lewd expression. “On the other hand, if it doesn’t work out after all, you can always give me a call.”
    “I’ll bear that in mind.”
    “And if you felt like taking care of me again after tonight’s show, I could definitely help with that….”
    “I’d like to for sure, but Vern—my ride—always likes to head out right after the event,” Johnny said regretfully. He forgot all about being in a public restaurant, although it was frightfully discreet and no one could see into their booth anyway, and reached across the table to touch March’s hand. “I had a great time with you. I’ll miss you.”
    “I’ll miss you too, kid. I told you that you were smart. You know quality when you see it.” Characteristically, March started teasing him under the table by playing footsie. As his foot traveled up Johnny’s thigh, he asked, “So have you fooled around with Vern?”
    Johnny snorted with laughter at the notion. “He’s seriously straight and he doesn’t know about me. Bull riding is a conservative sport full of the flag and God, and they don’t tolerate no homos.”
    “You’d be surprised.” March looked a little smug. “There’s a reason I like to go to the rodeo. One hell of a ride, some of those boys. Men who never thought they’d let some guy knock on their back door, let alone an old guy like me.”
    “Are you going to talk dirty through breakfast?”
    “Want me to stop?”
    “Hell no! Please continue.”
    Amazingly, March managed to get Johnny hard again with some of his stories, even though he’d thought his dick was ready for a nice long vacation after the workout it had gotten. His ass wasn’t even too sore from the rail slamming, which he chalked up to a lot of healthy exercise with March after the injury.
    After breakfast, March drove him to his cheap motel and came into his tiny room to give him another of his soul-searching, tonsil-inspecting kisses before they parted.
    Pressing something into his hand, March said, “I’ll be there tonight, watching, so do me proud, Johnny Arrow. And keep in touch. I hate losing a good friend.”
    Expecting to find some bills and beginning to feel pissed, Johnny looked down to see a business card for March Avery, contractor. On the back, March had written, “If you ever want to talk…,” and scrawled his cell number.
    “Yeah, I just might. I hate losing a good man too. And thanks for everything.” Johnny squeezed March tight when he was wrapped in those big arms for the last time.
    It had been an interesting night with an interesting man. If things had been different, Johnny could have seen himself with March, but he couldn’t deny the little spurt of joy whenever March told him to go back to Cody. In fact, March seemed like a glimpse into the future of what Cody might be like if his cockiness mellowed into confidence.

    A FTER a long nap, which he sorely needed after a workout that had been better than any gym visit, Johnny’s alarm woke him in time to be waiting outside for Vern to get a lift to the ring. He’d discovered a few more marks March left on his body in the shower, but March had been true to his promise and none of them would show when he was dressed.
    It had been a while since he’d worn a man’s marks, and he bore these proudly, knowing March was also sporting a few of his. March had given him a lot to think about. Now, he could admit to himself he hadn’t been very happy since he’d left Cody, but pride had been a towering wall standing in the way of him calling his ex or even thinking there was any hope for them.
    He performed brilliantly that night, outshining his two teammates with his daring moves and athletic saves, but he wasn’t showing off even though he was well aware of March watching from his box seat as he had last night. He