Trevor Dunn has never gone to the Calgary Stampede. In spite of living in the city all his life, he would much rather stay in his basement and listen to music while drawing comics. When his sister Madeline tricks him to come to the Stampede's opening parade, Trevor believes this is a temporary event ... until he sees a man in a green cowboy hat named Charlie.
Over the next few days, Charlie changes Trevor's mind about the Stampede, about country music, and what being a cowboy is really about. When an old flame from Trevor's past -- Mathieu, a punk singer turned acoustic country crooner -- appears in the middle of the festival, Trevor isn’t sure what to do. He likes Charlie and the new life he's been shown, but Mathieu is Trevor's first love, and the one person who understands what life is really like in Calgary basements.
The Stampede, Madeline reminds Trevor, is only a ten day affair, then Charlie will go back to his job in Toronto and Mathieu will go on tour. Should Trevor try to make amends with Mathieu and his past, or should he stay with Charlie and embrace a new kind of future? Can there be life outside of Calgary basements? Or will Trevor always be stuck in the shadows, never riding off into the sunset?
Trevor had never been to a rodeo before. Now that he was here, he had to admit it wasn’t too bad. There was a lot of chatter, a lot of screaming, and a lot of rodeo clowns going back and forth and trying to lasso a couple of stray cattle and bulls. Charlie purchased the tickets for them both while also grabbing them a really quick lunch inside the stadium so they could eat as they watched. Their seats were in the middle of a row, surrounded by a couple families with kids and a few older men who had clearly been army buddies back in the day given their sporadic talk of “old times” Trevor kept overhearing. Charlie was relatively quiet, his eyes fixated on the show in front of him.
Trevor, for the most part, kept his eyes on Charlie.
“How are you doing?” Charlie asked during a lull between riders. They had finished their fries and burgers, their napkins and other remnants under their seats. “You following the show?”
“It’s not hard. Get on horse. Try not to get kicked off.”
“See? Nothing to it. Very simple.” When Charlie gave Trevor a small wink, his stomach quivered. They hadn’t been touching each other nearly as much as Trevor wanted. He knew that was because of how many people were at the stadium; he and Charlie couldn’t exactly paw at one another like they had at the hookah bar without drawing attention. But Trevor found himself inching closer and closer to Charlie, especially now that they no longer had their food to worry about.
“You want me to throw out your garbage?” Charlie asked. Without waiting for a response, he slipped his hands over Trevor’s and under his seat, keeping eye contact as he did.
“Yeah, sure.” Trevor grinned, sliding his arm around Charlie’s empty place as he got up. “I’ll save your seat.”
“You better.”
When Charlie sat back down, he was much closer to Trevor. He stretched back, his broad shoulders bumping against Trevor, indicating for him to lean back too. When Trevor did, he could barely see a lot of what was going on in the rodeo, and the sun was right in his line of sight, but it didn’t matter. He brushed his shoulder up against Charlie’s and felt like a kid in high school again, waiting for the smallest bits of acknowledgement from a crush.
“Bet you wish you had a hat now,” Charlie said when he noticed Trevor’s eye twitching.
“No. I would still rather be just like this. Sun and all.”
“I will see if we can break you of that.”
“What now?” Trevor nudged Charlie playfully. “You’re breaking me in?”
“Maybe. We’ll see. A lot can change in ten days.”
“I certainly hope so.”
Trevor was surprised when Charlie shifted closer, pressing his mouth against Trevor’s ear. He breathed in and out for a moment, taunting and teasing Trevor, before Charlie asked, “You want to leave?”
“That depends on where we’re going.”
“Oh, I have ideas.” Charlie sat straight again and tugged Trevor’s hands into his. Trevor heard the army buddies behind them hissing at their sudden physical affection, along with some of the couples and families staring in abject horror. It didn’t matter, though. Not anymore. They were leaving. Trevor laughed, imagining it like the typical ending of a western, running away like outlaws. And into the sunset after pulling off our best heist.
Trevor shook his head. Don’t get in too deep. This is only ten days.
By the time they reached the back area of the stadium, no one from their seating arrangement was paying attention to them anymore. A cowboy had fallen off his horse and busied the crowd. Trevor and Charlie walked down the dark stairwell to the concession stands and bathrooms hand in hand before they were out from the stadium doors and outside in the sun again. Everything around Trevor felt too warm and too sticky, like being at an amusement park during a heat wave. The air was the sickly sweet of cotton candy and sugar, not the sexy sweet smoke of the hookah lounge.
Charlie startled Trevor from his thoughts as he tugged him into a corner around the doorway, still pressed up against the stadium wall. Charlie gripped Trevor’s waist, lust in his eyes.
“This okay?”
“Uh-huh.” Trevor swallowed as Charlie ground against him. All thoughts of being caught ceased. Trevor placed his hands over Charlie’s waist, begging him to stay put and not let go. “Yeah. This is great. Don’t move, please.”
Charlie grinned and pressed a kiss to Trevor’s mouth. Trevor opened to the embrace right away, realizing it was the first point of actual contact since the night before. Then, thinking of the night before, Trevor moaned. His lips were still chapped from being spread so wide. His throat was still a little raw, too. Charlie’s fingers danced around the bandana’s knot, touching the tender skin he had previously marked.
“You want more?” Charlie asked, playfully biting at Trevor’s chin.
People Also Bought:
