Dirty Angel-BarbaraElsborg (16 page)

When Aden wasn’t busy shovelling actual shit, he went to Captain. Who’d have thought he’d have spent more time chatting to a horse than he had to any guy? He found himself talking to the animal as if he were a person. It was a lot easier. There was no condemnation, no disgust, just the odd nip with those big teeth, though Captain never hurt him. Aden would have liked to take the horse outside, but the weather had been terrible all week. It had hardly stopped raining.

“Sorry, mate. Too wet again,” he said as he brushed Captain’s coat.

Grooming Captain soothed both of them. Every time Des went anywhere near the horse, Captain kicked off. Aden was the only one he’d tolerate. There was still some shoving, stamping and snorting, but Aden saw it as a sort of macho display saying—I’m a badass stallion but I’ll tone it down for you. Except when he’d said that to Des, the guy had laughed and told him Captain was a gelding. No wonder the horse was bad tempered. If Aden had lost his nuts, he’d be pissed off too.

He started to work on Captain’s tail which led him into thinking about another sort of tail. Aden wanted Brody. That was a new one for him, not acting on what he wanted, because he didn’t want to hurt someone. Of course, he was deluding himself that Brody was still interested, and that after their first fuck, maybe
while
they were fucking, love would blossom. That didn’t happen in real life. Instead, they’d have sex, suck each other off, lick a few interesting places and it would be enjoyable, maybe even amazing, but that would be it. Except they weren’t even going to do that. Tomorrow, Aden would be gone.

Shit, why not go today? Hitch a lift to Brighton. Go into a bar. Buy a drink. Find some twink to love him for one night at least. Aden closed the door of Captain’s stall and ensured it was secure. And how was messing up some starry-eyed kid a better thing to do? He thought back to what Raphael had said. A month to become the man he should be. To understand the value in being kind and selfless. To learn not to use people. To become someone worthy of love, to believe in it, feel it and offer it.

Did loving a horse count? He leaned against the door to Captain’s stall and rested his arms on the top. The horse stepped over and opened his mouth. Aden growled and yanked the sleeve of his jacket from Captain’s teeth.

“Quit doing that. You need someone to love you and biting them is not going to make that happen.”

Des barged into the stables calling his name. “Hey, Aden. I need your help.”

“What’s up?”

“One of my neighbour’s has got a problem. The river’s burst its banks and he needs a hand getting his sheep onto higher ground.”

Aden followed Des to his Land Rover. Nelson sat in the back and a horse trailer was already attached.

“Not sure we’ll need the trailer, but might as well take it,” Des said. “Hopefully Nelson will remember what he used to do.”

Aden clipped on his seatbelt. “He was a sheep dog?”

“Yeah.” Des glanced at Aden as he set off. “He’s always been good at rounding up strays. You’ve been a real help this week. Done some good work.”

“Thanks.” He’d wanked ten times, then stopped counting, but apart from that he
had
been good.

“Sorry I have to chuck you out tomorrow.”

“That’s okay. I appreciate the accommodation and the food. Karen’s kept me well supplied.”

“Have you seen much of Brody?”

“No.”

“Hmm.”

Aden wondered what that meant.

“My brother’s messed up. I don’t want him to get even more messed up.”

Right,
that’s
what it meant. Aden bristled.
I’m leaving, aren’t I?
I haven’t done more than kiss him and I could have done a lot more than that.
He stared out of the window at the flooded fields. He needed to get back to a town or city. Civilisation. There’d be no shelter for him out here. What was the point being cold and miserable when he could find a bed to share in Brighton without too much trouble?

Des parked in a layby and Aden climbed out. Nelson jumped out after him and rubbed himself against Aden’s leg. He was a lovely dog, the sort Aden would have liked when he was a boy, bouncy and enthusiastic. When Aden was in the yard, Nelson followed him.
Rounding me up?

Aden and Des climbed over a gate into a field and Nelson slid underneath the lowest bar. It had started to rain again and Aden turned up the collar of his jacket. Karen had given him a black beanie hat and gloves, and he pulled them on.

In the distance he could see a guy standing next to a tractor by a huge lake dotted with islands, except it wasn’t a lake, but fields full of water. As Aden looked down into the valley it was impossible to see the route of the river, hidden beneath the covered floodplain.

“Where do you want us, Silas?” Des called.

“Bottom field. There’s stragglers. If you could bring them up into this one, they should be okay. I wish I’d moved them yesterday, but I hadn’t thought things would get this bad, this fast.”

The middle-aged man shook Aden’s hand. “Thanks for helping.”

“Name’s Aden,” Des said.

“Hi.” Aden nodded at him.

“He knows nothing about sheep, but he’s a quick learner,” Des said. “Come on.”

Aden followed Des and Nelson through a field that already had a few sheep in it, into an empty one and over a gate into another that was flooded at the bottom end.

“Shit weather,” Des muttered. “Oh Christ, look at that.”

A few sheep were stranded on a narrow slice of land surrounded by water.

“Probably not deep but unless they have a leader among them, the silly buggers won’t wade through it.” Des increased his pace.

“There’s more over there.” Aden pointed them out.

“Take Nelson and get them up to the top field. You need to move slowly, be calm and quiet. The more you chase them, the more they’ll run and you’ll stress them out. Nelson—go with Aden.”

It was a good thing the dog knew what he was doing because Aden didn’t. All he could do was wave his arms in an attempt to get the sheep to go in the right direction. On the way back, Nelson herded together a few of the ones Des had retrieved and with the dog’s help, Aden managed to get them all into the higher field with the gate closed.

By the time he returned to help Des, Aden was shivering. The jacket wasn’t as waterproof as it once was. Rain was trickling down his neck and back, soaking his trousers from the waist down. His feet, head and hands were also cold and wet and Aden was feeling uncomfortable and increasingly miserable.

Des waded through the water, picked up another sheep and carried it back to the open field. There were four more to rescue.

“Want a hand?” Aden shouted against the noise of the wind and rain.

“You have to know how to pick them up.”

“Okay, tell me.” The sooner it was done, the sooner he could have a shower.

“Cup your hand under the jaw. Grab the bony bit, not the throat. Keep the nose up and it stops them moving forward. They have a lot more power when their head is down and they’re stronger than you think.”

Aden waded through the water, tried to do what Des had said, and ended up being kicked in the thigh. Both Aden and the sheep fell in the water. Des grabbed it and carried it to dry land. Aden struggled to his feet.

“Second thoughts, take a look at the next field in case there’s any stranded there,” Des said.

Aden climbed the wall rather than struggle a hundred yards back to the gate. He stood on the top and looked around, the rain blasting his face as it blew horizontally. He’d never seen floods like this close up. There was more water than land. In some places it was impossible to identify the outline of the field. Des was lucky his place was well away from the floodplain because the river had spread to cover the whole valley. Nelson jumped up beside him on the wall. Aden didn’t think there were any more sheep, but when the dog leapt down and set off across the field, Aden followed.

They found a small flock sheltering at the bottom of a hedge and Nelson chivvied them up to the gate where Des was waiting, then ran back past Aden to the bottom end of the field. Aden saw he was going after one sheep standing under a tree surrounded by water.

“Stop him,” Des shouted and ran toward Aden.

Aden turned and went after the dog, calling him back only to watch in horror as before he reached the sheep, Nelson was enveloped by the water and dragged into an invisible current. Aden didn’t have time to think. Nelson was going to be swept past him and there’d be no chance of grabbing him unless he got closer. He waded into the water hoping to intercept the dog as he went past.

He had to go deeper than he’d anticipated and as he heard Silas yelling behind him, there was suddenly nothing firm beneath Aden’s feet and he went under.
Fuck.
Water swirled up his nose, bored into his ears. He couldn’t get his head above the surface. He felt as if a hundred hands had grabbed him and were pulling him down. The current twisted him over and over, he hit his head and tasted blood in his mouth. For a long moment, he was motionless in the river’s hold, not breathing, then he came to senses and kicked and kicked, to emerge with a gasp. The dog was behind him, both of them being carried along by the current but when Nelson came closer, Aden had the presence of mind to reach for him.

Though he snagged Nelson’s collar, both of them were in the hold of the river. Aden was freezing, battling to keep his head out of the water as his clothes pulled him down.
I’m not going to die though, am I? Maybe I already did.
Safety was only yards away, though kicking toward it seemed to bring him no closer. He hauled Nelson to the other side of him, nearer to land and put all his effort into trying to break out of the river’s grip. A little way downstream Des stood up to his waist in water and Aden shoved the dog toward him. As the water carried Aden past he saw Des wrap his arms around Nelson and haul him onto the grass.

Now Aden wasn’t worrying about the dog and could use both arms, he managed to move sideways and when he felt land under his feet, he groaned. It still took a lot of effort to get out of the water. Des hauled him the last few yards and they lay in the mud breathing heavily.

“Are you okay?” Des gasped.

“Yeah.”

“Silas shouted at me to get the vehicle. You’re lucky I was near it. You went down for so long. I thought you’d drowned. When you popped up… I couldn’t believe it. You’re a fucking idiot.”

Aden turned his head to look at him.

“Thank God for that.” Des managed a smile.

Aden smiled too. That was truer than Des could ever dream. They struggled to their feet.

“What about the sheep?” Aden asked.

“We can’t do anything from here. That’s what I was trying to warn you about. It’s stranded on the other side of the river.”

“We could go round.”

“We need to go home. Get dry. You in particular.”

Aden stuffed his wet gloves in his pockets, he’d lost the hat, and tucked his hands inside the sleeves of his wet jacket. By the time Des had driven them back to the top field, they were both wracked by violent shivers. Silas had corralled the sheep they’d rescued. They climbed out to talk to him.

“Thank God you’re all right,” Silas said. “I didn’t see what happened. How did you end up in the river?”

“He went in after Nelson.”

Silas rolled his eyes. “He’d have probably got out downstream.”

Aden groaned.

“He might not have.” Des patted Aden’s arm. “You shouldn’t have done it, but Nelson means the world to me. You seem to be indispensable to my family.”

“You did really well to get all these.” Silas looked at the bedraggled sheep. “Thank you. You better get off home.”

“There’s one ewe on the other side of the river,” Aden said.

“Won’t be one of mine. It’ll belong to that couple playing at being farmers. Go on, get off home with you.”

Aden climbed into the Land Rover beside Des, and as he opened his mouth, the guy turned and said, “No.”

“We could try. Can you get down that side?”

“We’re soaked and half-frozen.”

“But still alive.”

Des swore under his breath. “I’m not risking pneumonia for a bloody sheep.”

Aden hadn’t ever thought of sheep as having thoughts other than—this is nice grass, oh that looks like nice grass, that grass was tasty—but he could have sworn he’d seen awareness in the eyes of those they’d rescued.
Christ, I really am losing it.
Nelson curled up on his knee and whined.

“Let’s see if we can get it. The water’s still rising. It’ll drown.” Aden stared through the windscreen at the rain-blurred road. “I’m already soaked to the skin. You’re half soaked. What difference will a few more minutes make? Please?”

Brody was almost glad it had rained all week. Sunshine didn’t suit his miserable mood. Ever since Aden had told him to leave, and said he wanted this to be different, all Brody had done was think about what that meant, especially since Aden hadn’t come knocking on his door. He’d spent all week desperate for sex, yet not desperate enough to go into London or to use Grindr. He wanted Aden even though he knew the guy would be bad for him.

He turned onto the track that led to the Gledow’s place and his vehicle bumped down a muddy track toward the farm. Henrik had asked him several times this week what was wrong and it irked Brody that he was letting his personal life interfere with his work, something that rarely happened. Since the TV crew were there filming, Brody made an effort to hide the way he was feeling, but his mind churned with thoughts of whether Aden was interested or not. They didn’t have to fuck. They could be friends first. Was that different enough for him? But then why hadn’t Aden come round to see him?

Other than Matt, no one had ever had such a presence in Brody’s head. The week was almost up and instead of Aden moving on, Brody wanted him to move in with him. Not necessarily into his bed, but he was afraid if Aden left the farm he’d never see him again. Tonight he’d knock on Aden’s door and ask him to stay.

Definitely.

As he drove down the winding potholed drive, it stopped raining and a moment later, a watery shaft of sunlight broke through the cloud. Well, there was a sign if ever he needed one. He liked Aden and he was sure Aden liked him. For the first time Brody wanted to tell someone about Matt. He hadn’t told Peter because he’d been too afraid Peter would walk away, but there was something about Aden that made Brody want to tell him the truth. So that was what he’d do tonight. Go round with a bottle of wine and tell Aden all his dirty little secrets.