Clouds and Rain

the sky and letting the rain fall all over him. His stance was a little lopsided and Flynn could tell he wasn‟t putting much weight on his bad leg, so he rushed over to him.
    “You okay?” Flynn shouted to make his voice heard over the noise of the rain. He wiped the water off his face and put his hand on Gable‟s shoulder.
    Gable shook his head. “Think I overdid it a bit.”
    “Want to go back in the barn and sit down?” Again Gable shook his head. “We‟re halfway to the house and I‟d prefer to go there. It‟s only going to get colder and I wouldn‟t want you getting sick.”
    Flynn smiled at Gable‟s concern and obvious disregard for his own discomfort. “Come here,” he said, grabbing Gable‟s hand and laying it across his shoulders so Gable could lean on him. “Let‟s get you someplace dry and warm.”
    Gable leaned heavily on Flynn as they hobbled inside. This worried Flynn somewhat, since it was the worst he‟d known Gable‟s foot to be, so he helped him up the stairs and into the bathroom, for once not caring that they‟d left a wet trail all over the house.
    “So what else do you need?” Flynn asked after helping Gable sit down on the closed toilet seat.
    “I‟m fine,” Gable shrugged.

    43

    Zahra Owens

    Flynn crouched down in front of Gable. “I don‟t mind. Just tell me what you need and I‟ll get it for you.” Gable shook his head. “I‟m not very good at this,” he murmured softly.
    Flynn put his hand on Gable‟s knee. “I know, but humor me. I‟ll go to my room and put on some dry clothes and then I can get you some too, if you tell me where you keep them?”
    “In my room, first closet on the left,” Gable answered, somewhat reluctantly.
    Although Flynn wanted to stay around to fuss over Gable, he could tell Gable wanted him out of there, so he went to his own room to do what he said he would do and get out of his own wet clothes. He then walked into Gable‟s room. It was the first time he‟d ever set foot in there, although it wasn‟t the first time he had wanted to. He found himself quietly hoping he‟d be sleeping here tonight, but he knew not to get his hopes up, so he took a good look around before opening Gable‟s closet and taking a clean pair of boxers and a T-shirt from a shelf just inside the door. Surveying the bedroom, he noted that the bed was unmade and there was a heavy book on the side table, but otherwise the space was positively Spartan. Flynn couldn‟t see any evidence of there ever having been anyone else in Gable‟s life, but he didn‟t want to go so far as to open drawers and snoop around in them, although he was tempted.
    As Flynn walked back to the bathroom, he could see the door was half-open. When he got closer, he saw Gable sitting there, tending to his injured foot. He was peeling away the wet bandages and revealing the carnage underneath. Flynn only just managed to stop himself gasping. No wonder Gable was in such pain. The foot looked red and tender, and like it definitely needed more time to heal. There seemed to be pieces of skin missing and some places looked thin and sinewy, while others seemed swollen. Flynn didn‟t know much about extensive wounds in humans, but he‟d seen plenty in horses and knew this wasn‟t the sort of injury that got better overnight.

    44

    Clouds and Rain

    WHEN Gable noticed Flynn near the door, he took a towel and dropped it over his foot. He didn‟t want Flynn to see it and hoped it didn‟t look too deliberate, so he held out his hand to take the dry clothes Flynn had brought in for him. “Thanks for those. It‟s getting kind of cold in here.
    Could you get me another towel from the hall closet, please?” Gable had to get Flynn to leave again. The scrutiny and worry he saw in the kid‟s face was too much right now, especially after what had happened in the barn earlier. Gable took the towel off his foot again and started cleaning out the wound. It still hurt after all this time, and running over to the corral earlier, totally ignoring the throbbing in his lower leg, hadn‟t helped any. The pain did help to take his mind off what had happened after that, though. The last thing he wanted was to grow hard again just thinking about how willing Flynn had been to let him have his way with him. Fuck, he‟d needed it. His own hand had proven totally inadequate once he‟d had a taste of Flynn, and all he‟d been able to think about since that first kiss was what it would feel like to be