It didn’t mean this one was the one he’d spent the night with in Hawaii.
“Hell. I guess it doesn’t matter. You’re calling now.” Romanos faded away for a second. “He was down at the barn working the horses with Randy.”
“I had to get other parts of my life taken care of so I could take time off to spend with Yancey when I found him. Thank God, my dad is okay. Yancey’d been gone two years. It took me until last week to figure out where he’d gone.” Brody didn’t know why he was explaining things to this man.
“Oh. How’s your dad doing?” Romanos sounded interested, but there was a hint of skepticism in the man’s voice.
“He’s gotten his own life back on track. I never thought I’d see the day when he would actually take a day off work and hang out with his son, but he did that the day before I left for Austin.” Brody realized he hadn’t introduced himself. “My name’s…”
* * * *
“I don’t need to know your name.” Tony glared out the window.
He saw Yancey talking to Jackson and lunging one of the younger horses.
Welcoming Yancey’s older brother with open arms wasn’t in Tony’s realm of understanding at the moment. He didn’t trust that MacCafferty was truly interested in finding Yancey.
“What’s going on between you and my brother?” MacCafferty inquired.
“There’s nothing going on between us. I saw he needed help, plus it made my nephew happy. Besides, he really is too young for me.” Why was he trying to reassure Yancey’s brother? It didn’t matter if anything was going on between Tony and Yancey.
The older brother didn’t have any say in the younger man’s life.
“We’ll see,” the man said.
Crazy as it was, excitement laced with his skepticism and wound through Tony at his statement. He didn’t know the man from Adam, but something about MacCafferty’s voice created a rush of lust in Tony’s body.
“I’m sure if you want to see your brother, you’ll figure out how to find him.”
He wasn’t going to make it easy for MacCafferty.
“Thank you for taking Yancey in, Romanos.”
“Your brother needed some place to heal.”
“I’ll talk to you again. Bye.”
MacCafferty hung up.
Tony set his phone down and stared at it. He adjusted his cock, trying to find room in his jeans. What did that man have where just talking to him gave Tony a hard-on?
“Yancey’s brother is coming out?”
He looked up to see Les standing in the doorway.
“So it would seem.” He thrust his hand through his hair and shook his head.
Les laughed, coming to him and throwing an arm around his shoulder. “You haven’t even met the man and you’re already flustered. Do you know his brother?”
“That’s the thing. I don’t know him, yet talking to him made me hard. It’s weird, but when I saw Yancey, the kid looked familiar to me and now his older brother sounds like someone I’ve met before.” Tony frowned.
“Maybe you have. The world is actually much smaller than we think it is. He might have been someone you talked to at an event. I can’t wait to meet him. Yancey’s such a great kid, for all his issues. I wouldn’t be surprised if MacCafferty’s just as interesting.”
Les glanced over as Randy walked in.
“What’s going on?” Randy kissed Les’ cheek and winked at Tony.
“Just got a phone call from Yancey’s older brother. He’s looking for the kid. I told him if he wanted to see him, he knew where to find him.”
“Why didn’t you have him talk to Yancey?” Les frowned.
“I’m not building up that kid’s hopes, in case MacCafferty doesn’t show up.
Yancey’s been through a lot of shit. It’s been five years since he’s had any contact with his brother. What if the jerk decides to head back to wherever he’s living now and not come looking for Yancey?” He scrubbed a hand over his face.
“You can’t make the decision for him. He wants to see his brother. He’s talked to me about the man all the time.” Randy took Tony’s hand. “Try to be open-minded about this whole thing. There are families where the members love each other and want to be together.”
He looked down, shuffling his feet like a chastised kid. “You’re right.”
“Cool. Remember we’re taking Lindsay out to San Diego and meeting Rick for a couple of days.” Randy pointed out as he headed down the hall to the bedrooms.
Les groaned. “I forgot about that. I’m sure he’ll still be here when we get back.”
“If MacCafferty shows, I’ll tell him he can stay as long as he wants. Thanks.” Tony grabbed his coat and hat. He was going to head out to the barns and spend some time with the horses. Maybe they’d help his nerves settle because he couldn’t believe he was nervous about meeting a stranger.
* * * *
Later that night, Tony walked through the kitchen where Yancey was washing dishes for Margie.
“Yancey, would you come outside with me for a minute?” He shrugged into his jacket, patting his pocket to make sure his cigarettes were there.
“Sure. Let me finish up here and I’ll be right out.” Yancey shot him a smile.
“Fair enough.”
He wandered out on the porch. Leaning against the rail, he lit a cigarette. His nerves relaxed as the acidic burn filled his lungs.
Ever since Yancey’s older brother called, Tony had been trying to decide if he should tell the kid about the call or not. Part of him said Yancey should be prepared if MacCafferty showed up. Another part said telling Yancey was setting the young man up for disappointment if the man didn’t show.
God knew Tony had waited long enough for one of his family to come for him. They never did. He couldn’t be confident MacCafferty really wanted to find Yancey.
“You wanted
