Love in Xxchange: Miles to Go, Bailey Bradford [the reading strategies book txt] 📗

Max bit his lip and was grateful he hadn’t tried to tell Bo to look elsewhere. Bo had a point; after all, he’d met Chance on the rodeo circuit, and Bo had to have been more places than Max could ever imagine.

“So I’m at this club and I’m just not into it, but I keep hanging around because—well, it’s what I’ve done for years. Then this one guy catches my eye. He wasn’t exactly attractive, he wasn’t ugly. He was just…there was something about him that kind of scared me.

Sometimes…sometimes when I’ve been attracted to a guy, it’s felt like that, like icy fingers tracing my spine and flicking my heart into high gear. So maybe I’ve picked dangerous guys before, or maybe I confused arousal with some internal warning system, I don’t know.” Bo shifted a bit and huffed softly. “All I can say for sure was, I was an idiot.”

Max couldn’t stop himself from reaching for Bo’s hand. He cradled it gently as Bo looked at him. “No, you don’t take the blame for what that asshole did. You didn’t ask him to hurt you.”

Bo’s right eyebrow twitched. “Are you sure about that, Max? Maybe I like it rough.”

Max growled as he gritted his teeth so hard his jaw throbbed. “I’m sure, but why you’re trying to piss me off is beyond me.”

Bo pulled his hand away and rubbed at his forehead. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. You just seem to have so much faith in me and it’s misplaced, Max. I’m not a good person.”

Max didn’t agree. Sure, Bo had to have made some mistakes in his life, maybe even a lot of mistakes, but that didn’t mean he was a bad person. “I don’t think it is. I think you are a good person. A bad one wouldn’t judge him or herself as harshly as you seem to be doing.”

“Right.” Bo dropped his hand to his lap and leaned his head back. “Well, me, good person that I am, decided to let this crazy-eyed fucker lead me out into the alley, where he proceeded to pin me to the wall and choke me. I thought I was dead then.” Bo shuddered and laid his hand on the cushion between them, turning it palm up. Max hoped he was reading it right, and he placed his hand in Bo’s, relieved when the man’s fingers slipped between his. “Next thing I know I’m alive and naked. And before you ask, no, the guy didn’t MILES TO GO

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rape me or anything like that. Turns out he was one of the bashers we all fear encountering.

The only thing he did with my private parts was hurt them, either with his boots or his belt. I tried to fight back, I did.”

Tears slipped down Bo’s cheeks and Max couldn’t stand it. He moved slowly but

unerringly over until he could slip an arm around Bo’s shoulders. Bo sobbed softly and turned into Max, looping an arm around his middle. “He wouldn’t stop,” Bo stuttered out.

“Then he was choking me again…”

Max closed his eyes as he held Bo and gently caressed his back. He didn’t let himself think about what he was doing, or why, all he did was hold Bo, and he’d keep on holding him as long as Bo needed him to.

“What are you doing to Max?”

Bo jerked awake, the top of his head smacking into something hard and a little fleshy.

“Ow!”

“Shit!” Chance flailed his arms and tumbled onto his butt. Only the fact that he managed to grab the wooden rail kept him from falling down the porch steps. Bo squirmed before he thought about it—his ass had gone numb. Maybe the bench on the bunkhouse porch wasn’t the best place to take a nap. It was a little nippy outside, but the sun was shining and he hadn’t meant to conk out.

Bo looked at Chance. The man appeared to be more than a little pissed off. “Sorry.”

Though really, Chance shouldn’t have sneaked up on him like that.

Chance rubbed at his chin, glaring at Bo as he did so. “I shouldn’t have gotten so close.”

No shit. Bo rubbed at the goose egg on his head then let his hand drop. What difference did another bump make? He’d healed a lot over the past week and a half, but he still looked like cold shit.

“So.” Chance pushed himself up but kept his distance. “What are you doing to Max?”

Bo forgot the advice Rory had given him the first time they met, about not trying to look cute and coy at his age. Glancing up through his lashes at Chance, he used his most innocent voice. It was a stretch. “What do you mean?”

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“I mean, what are you doing that’s turning my foreman into a bumbling, stumbling mess?” Chance threw his hands in the air then started pacing back and forth in front of the bench. “And he’s bitchier than a momma dog guarding her pups. I swear, he’d as soon snap at you than say hello, and that isn’t Max.” Chance stopped and pivoted, facing Bo once again.

One big rough finger extended out to point at Bo, and he figured he was lucky it was the index finger. “Max is all smiles and laid back and ‘how ya doin’ boss?’ So what have you done to turn him into the anti-Max?”

Obviously the innocent act wasn’t going to work. “I haven’t done anything to him. I swear!” Bo tacked on the last two words to counteract the accusing look from Chance.

Chance’s face darkened with anger. Well, now what? Why is it telling the truth only makes things worse?

“Are you messing with him?”

Bo kind of was, but not in the way Chance meant. “I haven’t touched him, except when we’re in bed and—”

“What?” Oh damn, Chance looked like he might pop an artery. “What do you mean,

except when y’all are in bed? I swear, Bo, I’m ready to…”

If