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.“Why are you sorry?” Vince asked, sitting on the kitchen chair nearby that Jane must have brought in.Dustin shrugged slightly.“For making you have to deal with this.”“And it’s your fault how?” Vince demanded.“I just feel bad for making everyone waste their time on me.I didn’t ask Chris to beat me up, but now everyone has to deal with this.If I hadn’t started working here, it wouldn’t have happened.”Vince just looked at him for a long moment, fighting a sudden need to hold the kid.“Dust, what do you want me to do about Chris? Has he done or said anything to you before?”Dustin shook his head.“Do you want to see him fired?”Again, Dustin shook his head.“Do you want to press assault charges?”As Vince expected, Dustin shook his head.Vince sighed.“Then I guess he’s getting a warning.If he tries to hurt you again, he’s going to be fired.I don’t take well to my workers not getting along like this.But I need you to let me know if he threatens or tries to attack you again.”Dustin nodded.“Okay, I guess.”“Last question—does everyone know you’re gay now?”He shrugged a little.“I told Anna.I don’t know if she told everyone or if everyone just assumes because of the names Chris kept calling me.”“So do you have any clue why Chris did this?”“None,” Dustin replied.“Maybe he just wanted some amusement by making me ride Star, but I wasn’t going to do that.And I figured fighting back when he hit me would just make things worse.”Vince nodded.“It probably would have.And you were right to refuse riding Star.You’re not ready for that horse yet.Anna informed me that Chris is developing a drinking problem, so that could explain part of his reasoning.Or lack thereof.” He sighed.“Don’t worry about wasting our time.You can probably do some light work tomorrow.If not, oh well.Chris has all your work right now, so it’s not like Mia, Anna, or Joe are complaining.And I’ll take care of Justin,” he added when Dustin started to protest.“I won’t let him work with Justin if I can.”Dustin nodded and looked away.“Thanks, Vince.”He smiled and reached forward to lightly squeeze his shoulder, which thankfully didn’t seem to hurt him.“Seriously, Dust, don’t worry about this.Anna and I will take care of things.You’re not making more work for us or wasting anyone’s time.Okay?”Dustin nodded again, and this time his green eyes met Vince’s.“Okay.”Vince stood.“Just relax for the day.” He left a moment later and headed to the barn.As soon as he walked in, he yelled, “Chris!”Chris walked out of a nearby stall.He didn’t look worried or that he regretted beating the living hell out of his coworker.In fact, he was smirking.Vince pointed toward the office.“With me.”As soon as they were both in the office, Vince slammed the door.“Tell me what happened this morning and why Dustin looks like he was trampled by a raging thoroughbred.”Chris shrugged nonchalantly.“Maybe he was.”“We both know he wasn’t,” Vince countered, clenching a fist.“Is there a reason you beat him like that?”Chris just shrugged again.“What else would I do with a faggot?”“And why is he a faggot?”Chris snorted.“Obviously, if he refuses to ride a horse, he’s too much of a pansy for this place.Clearly, he really is a faggot if he didn’t fight back.No room for ass-fuckers here.I just gave him a reason to leave.”Vince took a calming breath.“I don’t care whether you like him or not, if you touch him—or anyone here—again, you will be the one leaving.In a police car.And if it’s Dustin you attack again, you’ll be charged with a hate crime, I assure you.”Chris rolled his eyes.“He doesn’t have the balls to press charges.He couldn’t face me in court.”Vince pointed to the door.“You’ve been warned,” he hissed.“Now get the fuck out of here.”As soon as the amused Chris was out the door, Vince released his anger and frustration by punching the office desk.It didn’t make him feel much better.Vince wanted to fire the guy, but he knew that even having a poor worker was better than being one hand short during the busy season.If he wanted to make any sales this summer, he needed to put up with Chris for the time being.The thought wasn’t appealing, but he didn’t have time to find another new hand.He wasn’t going to give the guy a third chance, though, that was for sure.Chapter TwelveWHEN VINCE got to the barn the next morning, he learned that Anna had just sent Dustin back home.“He can’t do much of anything,” she explained.“Not with sore ribs like that.Chris is doing all his work.”Vince nodded.“I’ll take care of Justin, don’t worry about that.”He fed Xander and Justin and cleaned both of their stalls, then went to check on Dustin.The kid looked worse than he had the day before, if that were even possible.His bruises looked uglier, and his eye was still swollen.He was sitting on his couch again with the TV on, an icepack sitting on the couch next to him.“Are you doing okay?” Vince asked.“Anna sent me home, so I guess not,” Dustin grumbled.Vince moved the ice pack and sat down on the couch with Dustin.“Take another day off.If you want to do light work tomorrow even if it’s painful for you, I won’t stop you.But don’t push yourself too much.The only one picking up your slack is Chris, so you have no reason to feel bad.”Dustin sighed.“I definitely want to try tomorrow.I’ll just keep taking my painkillers.”Vince handed him the ice pack.“Good idea.I’ll trust you to decide what you can handle.”“Thanks,” Dustin replied, putting the ice pack to his face.THE NEXT evening, Jane showed up at Vince’s house unannounced.He thought she looked rather nervous when he let her in, and he was instantly concerned about her.“I need to talk to you about something,” she told him.“Okay,” he replied, leading her to the living room.“What’s going on?”She sat down on the couch and took a deep breath.“Vince,” she said quietly, “I’m pregnant.”He stared at her from the other end of the couch.“The last person I slept with was you,” she added.The memory of that night slapped him across the face.“Oh god.It broke.And I didn’t worry about it because you were on the pill and I was planning on marrying you.” He buried his face in his hands.“Fuck.”Jane grabbed his arm and pulled it to her.He didn’t even bother resisting her as she wove her fingers through his.“Listen to me, Vince,” she began, sounding remarkably calm, “I don’t blame you.I wouldn’t have worried all that much if you’d told me right away, either.I might have been a little concerned, knowing that I wasn’t always perfect about taking the pills, but I wouldn’t have been paranoid.How it happened doesn’t matter [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]