Taking the Long Way by Max MacGowan

Author:Max MacGowan [MacGowan, Max]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2016-02-20T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

RYE KEPT an eye on Marcus while he navigated his way out of the down-at-heel neighborhood Bud called home. Made for tricky driving, sure, but he’d had plenty of recent practice, and in this case he figured it was justified. Marcus’s smile faded as he stroked Shadow, turning contemplative and almost sad.

Marcus had a big heart. Maybe too big for his own good sometimes.

“You want to go back and slash his tires?” Rye asked. “Not that I know what happened, but if he put that look on your face it must have been shitty.”

Marcus kept his gaze shuttered and trained straight ahead. “No. I just want to get out of here. Can we do that?”

Okay, then. Strike one. Rye withdrew to regroup.

It wasn’t so bad, driving in silence. The road slipped past beneath them, its double yellow ribbon bright against newly refinished blacktop. Shadow kept both eyes on Marcus, and her muzzle in his lap. Her tail beat a steady patter against Rye’s thigh. As comfort givers went, not too shabby.

Rye stroked her hindquarters, encouraging her to lick Marcus’s hand. Marcus huffed quietly and laid a hand on her head to pet her silky ears, but that was as far as it went.

Shadow turned her head to give Rye a soulful look. Nothing did soulful quite as well as a dog.

I’m trying, he mouthed back to her.

Shadow sneezed.

“At least you’re not telling me everything’s peachy,” Rye said. “Props for that, man.”

“Yeah, no. I wouldn’t even believe me right now.” Marcus laid his arm on the sill of the open window and carded the wind with his fingertips. “Was that place as bad as I pictured it?”

Rye flashed back to what he’d seen of the unkempt yard, the trash bin spilling beer cans over its side, the little girl in her dirty clothes screaming with rage, and Bud’s own white-knuckled fixation on Marcus. “Yeah, I’d say so.”

“I can’t decide if I should call someone,” Marcus said. “I don’t live here. I don’t know if it’s a bad week for them or how their life is all the time. It’s not my business, but how can I do nothing?”

Rye drummed his thumbs on the steering wheel. He had a feeling Marcus wasn’t done yet, and he wouldn’t appreciate Rye chiming in first.

“He wanted to come with me. Us.” Marcus looked away from Rye, out the window. “He begged me to take him along. I said no. Those kids. His wife. He needs help too. I could almost smell beer coming out through his pores. The road wouldn’t help him. It’d only get him more lost. That’s what I thought. But I don’t know, Rye. Did I do the right thing?”

It wasn’t a question Rye could answer, but he figured Marcus knew that. He went for the next best thing. “You have any contacts from the old days? Chaplains and such?”

Marcus raised his head, startled. “Say again?”

“Chaplains or preachers, whichever.” Rye waved a hand in short half circles. “I don’t know the lingo.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.