Slip and Slide Page 17

  Jarrett had been surprised at how well Thayne had done down there. He’d asked intelligent questions and gotten a lot of information out of Haney right up until the last question about taking scrapings, but then again, Thayne wasn’t accustomed to having to worry about blowing yourself up because you ignited suspended coal dust or poisonous gas simply by lighting a match or using a tool to scrape a wall.

  The trip to the surface took about twenty minutes and once they spotted daylight coming from the mine’s entrance, Jarrett could almost hear an audible sigh of relief from all of them. Once outside, they climbed out of the mantrip and a miner came over to collect their yellow vests, dust masks, and the backpacks containing the SCSR’s. Jarrett glanced at Thayne who wasn’t smiling. He could tell, just from his demeanor, that his partner was ready to go back to the hotel and grab a shower the same way he was. He felt sweaty and gritty through and through, all the way down to the long underwear he’d put on in the morning. He had been glad to have it. It was cold down in the mine, at least twenty degrees cooler than here on the surface. Jarrett was eager to get out of there and judging by the way Thayne was taking in deep gulps of air, he figured his partner was just as relieved. When Thayne glanced back at him, he offered a small smile.

  “Happy to be out of there,” Jarrett said. “I’d forgotten how tight it was down there.”

  “I hear you boys like them tight places, Evans,” a deep voice drawled from behind him.

  He whirled around and spotted someone he hadn’t seen in years. The sight of him instantly brought a frown to Jarrett’s face along with a whole lot of unpleasant memories.

  “Thought you fags like that sort of thing,” the man said.

  Jarrett stared at Rush McBride, a big burly idiot he’d gone to high school with. The guy had always been a homophobe but Jarrett was surprised he still thought it was okay to be the bully he’d been more than fifteen years ago. Thayne stood beside him and Jarrett cut a quick glance at his partner. He was literally growling; his hands were balled into fists and he was sneering at the asshole with gritted teeth.

  “Rush McBride. Still a fuckin’ asshole, I see. I thought you would have grown out of that by now,” Jarrett shot back. He honestly wasn’t that perturbed by McBride and would have made a joke out of it if Thayne weren’t so upset by it. “Still a child, ain’t ya?”

  McBride’s large frame vibrated with rage. He had once been a linebacker on the varsity football team and was shorter than Jarrett by a few inches, but he’d grown flabby with time. The fact that he was holding a cigarette and his belly was hanging over his belt proved that he hadn’t been kind to himself over the years. He had broken blood vessels in both bright red cheeks and his strawberry red hair had begun to gray at the temples. Sweat was beading on his forehead under the yellow hard hat similar to his own, and his small rat-like eyes had heavy bags under them. Coal dust was ground into every line on his face and since the mine had been non-operational since the explosion several days ago, Jarrett was pretty certain McBride’s personal hygiene was dubious.

  “Ya better not be comin’ back to work down here, Evans. I’ll have to tell my brothers not to bend over when yer around,” he said, snickering. He took a step forward.

  Thayne stepped forward as well, holding out a hand. “I suggest you step the fuck back right now,” his partner warned.

  McBride looked at Thayne with contempt, running his gaze up and down his lover’s handsome frame. “Or what?”

  “Quit messin’ around, McBride,” Haney said, joining the conversation as he walked up. “This ain’t yer business and them’s federal agents.”

  McBride glanced at the boss and then back at Jarrett and Thayne. His eyes were wide. “Federal agents?”

  “ATF,” Jarrett said.

  “Ya don’t want to tangle with the wrong people,” Haney warned.

  “We don’t want any trouble here,” Thayne said.

  McBride sniffed in contempt, looking Jarrett up and down with narrowed eyes. “Still a gay boy. Hidin’ behind yer boyfriend, huh?”

  Jarrett pondered whether to answer that with his left or his right fist.

  “You have no business here, McBride. Mine’s closed,” Haney repeated. “Get the hell gone if ya want a job when we’re up and running.”

  Jarrett was thoroughly grateful Haney had appeared when he did. He’d been contemplating how desperately he wanted to deck McBride himself and seeing him look at Thayne the way he did, had just about sealed the asshole’s fate. McBride had always been a bully in high school. He usually picked on younger kids and had done so all the way through school when they were growing up together here in Pocahontas County, and somehow Jarrett wasn’t surprised that the guy was trying to start something here. It was his nature and always had been. McBride had been Jarrett’s most vocal critic when he was in high school and because Jarrett hadn’t dated, he’d gotten a lot of teasing about it. Unfortunately, McBride’s insults had gone way beyond ribbing and had taken on a homophobic tone.

  Jarrett hadn’t hung out with the jocks in high school, though he had played on the varsity baseball team from the time he was a sophomore all the way through his senior year. If Jarrett were a different person, he would have probably laid McBride out here and now.

  He remembered how one night, way back then, he’d been hanging out at the local burger joint when he and McBride were both eighteen. Jarrett had been out to the movies with Elijah and Steel when they’d stopped by the popular teen hangout. He still remembered how they’d spotted McBride and some of his pals from the football team in the parking lot.

  McBride had been smoking the way he was now, trying to look cool and show off for a group of girls who were sitting at lunch tables outside. When McBride and his buddies started bothering the girls, Jarrett had jumped out of the car and gone to their rescue. By the time he’d gotten to them, McBride had his hand tangled in a girl’s long hair and he was attempting to kiss her; she’d cried out in pain from having her hair pulled. Before Elijah had been able to stop him, Jarrett had stepped between them and hit McBride right in the jaw, laying him out flat on his ass.

  Jarrett was a taller guy, though not as stocky, but he’d broken McBride’s nose. He had to admit, it hadn’t been one of his finer moments, but when the girl McBride had been accosting had thrown her arms around Jarrett and kissed him full on the lips in front of everyone, he’d felt pretty damned justified in what he’d done. The encounter with her had also dispelled any further rumors about Jarrett’s sexuality since he’d made a show of kissing her right back as onlookers cheered. He couldn’t believe McBride still harbored anger toward him all these years later. The jackass acted as if it had happened only yesterday.

  McBride glanced warily at Haney and backed down. “Didn’t know they was federal agents,” he muttered, glaring at Thayne, Jarrett, Sales, and Lafford like they were vermin.

  Without another word, he threw Jarrett one last sneer and turned on his heel, walking away from them with a couple of other miners who’d come over to see what was going on. McBride began talking to the other two miners as they walked away and even though Jarrett couldn’t hear what the guy was saying, the other two miners kept looking back over their shoulders at them.

  “Sorry about that. McBride’s an asshole,” Haney said. “I take it you two know each other.” He eyeballed Jarrett with a little suspicion.

  “Not since high school but then again, it hasn’t been long enough,” Jarrett said.

  “Yeah, he’s pretty much pissed off everyone at the mine at one time or another. Sounds like he ain’t changed all that much.”

  “Once an asshole, always an asshole,” Jarrett said with a smirk. He glanced over at Thayne who was watching him closely. Lafford and Sales had remained silent throughout the exchange and Lafford finally spoke up.

  “Thank you for the tour and the information, Mr. Haney
.”

  “Yeah, no problem.”

  “If you would let us know how to get copies of the citations the mine has received, we’d like to look them over,” Sales added.

  “I don’t have ‘em. Boggs keeps them in his office.”

  Jarrett was more than a little surprised by that. “You don’t even keep copies?”

  “They’re sent directly to the corporate office in downtown Bluefield. It’s one of the reasons I have such a hard time gettin’ things corrected. I have to keep goin’ down there or to the city clerk’s office. Don’t matter anyway, Boggs told me directly he don’t want nothin’ done unless he approves it. Ain’t fixed a single safety violation since the collective bought the mine two and a half years ago.”

  “How’s that possible?”

  “They keep payin’ the fines,” Haney said, “and they keep appealing each new citation.”

  Jarrett exchanged a glance with Thayne. Something sounded very wrong about that. “So you pay the fines and don’t do the safety upgrades?”

  Haney screwed his face into a frown. “I told ya that before. I ain’t been allowed to.”

  Jarrett knew they weren’t going to get anywhere by making an enemy out of the mine manager who was also the safety officer so he decided it best not to ask any more questions at the moment. He glanced at Thayne and the other two agents.

  “I think we have what we need today,” Jarrett said.

  Thayne raised an eyebrow and stared at him before nodding. He turned to Haney also. “Thank you for your help today, Mr. Haney.” He stuck out his hand and shook the man’s. Jarrett followed with a handshake of his own as did Sales and Lafford. They handed Haney the yellow hard hats and the mine manager walked away.

  Jarrett turned to Sales and Lafford. “Thanks for arranging that field trip.”

  “Our pleasure,” Bud Sales said. “My partner and I are gonna head over to the clerk’s office and see if we can get copies of them citations. They should be a part of public record. I think we’re on the same page here. Somethin’s really fishy about that whole bullshit order from Boggs about not allowing Haney to do any safety upgrades on the mine. I’m not sayin’ Haney’s trying to cover anything up. I honestly think he’s doing what he can with one hand tied behind his back.”

  “I think you’re right and he’s being hamstringed by Boggs,” Thayne said. “We’d appreciate whatever you could get us, agents.”

  “Sure ‘nuff,” Lafford said. “Maybe we can touch base tomorrow?”

  “Yeah. Sounds good.”

  They shook hands again and walked over to their rental truck, getting into it with Jarrett once again behind the wheel. He looked at Thayne and smiled. “I’m glad that’s over. Let’s go grab dinner. Stark raving fear always makes me hungry.”

  Thayne snorted and Jarrett saw him looking down at the dashboard clock. It was approaching 2:00 p.m. and they hadn’t stopped to have a big breakfast before coming out to the mine, settling for coffee and a doughnut. “I’m hungry too. Let’s go eat, then we can go back to the room and get some showers before you tell me all about the asshole from high school.”

  “Shit. Do I have to?” Jarrett whined.

  “Yeah. You do. I want to know everything. Besides the idea of a high school Jarrett is really kinda hot.”

  Jarrett cracked up laughing. “I was a skinny baseball player. All floppy limbs and gangly movements just like Jase.”

  “And look how well you filled out,” Thayne added with a waggle of his eyebrows.

  Jarrett reached down and adjusted the bulge in his jeans that had sprung to life the minute Thayne stared at him with his handsome gaze. “Get us somewhere to eat and then back to the hotel so I can take advantage of you, Wolfe.”

  “That sounds like a plan.” Thayne smiled and Jarrett pointed the truck toward the nearest restaurant, pondering just how wonderful it was going to be to explore his gorgeous partner in that big beautiful shower back in the hotel bathroom.

  Chapter Nine

  Thayne and Jarrett cleaned up in the hotel’s shower when they got back, washing the coal dust out of their hair and off their bodies. The gray dirt washed down the drain, swirling black as it made its way into the pipes until the tile beneath their feet had no more grit. Thayne couldn’t imagine how much worse it would have been if he’d spent a day working down in the mine, not only inspecting it. He’d felt it in every pore and grinding between his teeth when they’d stopped for food before going back to the hotel. Coal mining was a dirty business and he thanked God that he wasn’t born in West Virginia where mining was such a large industry. Under other circumstances, he might have been forced to choose that life; now having seen what the job entailed, he could much better understand why Jarrett had joined the Marine Corps even at the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He’d clearly known he might have to fight when he’d enlisted, and now Thayne thought he understood a little more why Jarrett had taken that risk.

  They’d fallen into bed and taken out their emotions on each other by making love with mutual blowjobs after their shower. Thayne could almost feel something had changed between them since their trip down into the mine. Jarrett had been more open to him, more vocal with him in bed, calling him ‘darlin’’ which always made Thayne’s toes curl. He loved the term of endearment whenever Jarrett said it and Thayne noticed he was using it more and more. He’d decided when the time was right, maybe after this assignment, he was going to come clean with Jarrett and tell him how he felt. He wanted to wait until the time was right but when was the time right to tell another man you were in love with him? Thayne had never been in love before so finding a way to do it seemed like some puzzle to solve. He knew that if he waited for Jarrett to say it, they’d probably be old men before it ever happened.

  Other than when they drove and held hands, the only time Jarrett seemed to open up to him emotionally was when they were in that post-coital buzz that happened when they’d thoroughly fucked themselves out and were trying to recover from mind-blowing orgasms. Telling him then just didn’t seem right to Thayne and his more logical mind told him he should do it when they were both fully clothed so Jarrett would take him seriously. But every time Jarrett threw him one of his sexy half smiles or a teasing smirk, it made Thayne want to grab him, throw him down, kiss him, and tell him just how much he loved him.

  The clown in Jarrett came out when he felt uncomfortable with people. He just preferred to be a comedian with strangers and for the most part, it worked. Thayne was always fascinated watching how Jarrett could charm a room simply by walking into it and making a self-deprecating statement, poking fun at himself. Thayne did realize it was a defense mechanism though. Jarrett had gotten used to covering his true feelings by making people laugh to throw them off. A lot of comedians did that. They became clowns when they were trying to disguise their true feelings. Robin Williams came to mind.

  A little more of Jarrett’s true nature had begun peering out from behind the mask the more he let his guard down. Finding the real Jarrett was becoming an obsession with Thayne and he was determined to chip away at the wall his lover had built around himself. Thayne sometimes wished something would blast away the last of the barricade Jarrett had erected around himself the way the seals down in that mine had blown apart. The only problem he saw with that happening was the wreckage that might be left behind, like the bloody remainder of the miner’s lives Thayne had seen painted on those walls deep in the earth.

  So, Thayne had to bide his time until Jarrett was ready to confess his feelings. The truth was, he knew Jarrett had deep feelings for him. They’d gone way past the feelings of this relationship just being an easy and convenient fuck a long time ago. Jarrett’s decision to go without condoms had proven that to Thayne. He’d been utterly blown away by it, but they’d been committed to playing safe with each other since the first time they’d had sex. Doing awa
y with condoms had been a huge step for them, and Thayne was well aware that neither of them would have even entertained the idea if they weren’t both very committed to being only with each other.

  Sometimes, things just needed to go without saying, but Thayne found himself having to stop from whispering ‘I love you’ when they were coming down from the ecstasy of a climax or something as simple as Jarrett leaving him to return to his own place to change. He loved being in a relationship with Jarrett. It felt different from anything Thayne had ever felt before but whatever it was, it felt right. He didn’t feel at home without Jarrett. Maybe he should just confess the feelings that had been growing for months now and risk looking like a sad bitch if Jarrett didn’t reciprocate. Then again, Jarrett was worth any amount of risk Thayne could think of.

  They headed out to a local bar where the hotel staff said the food was good… a place with a pretty nice T-bone which Jarrett wanted, and a great selection of appetizers and salads for Thayne. The concierge told them that some of the locals stopped in there as well as an eclectic mix of those passing through and when Jarrett had asked about moonshine, the concierge smiled and told them that they had a good selection of various flavors made by some of the locals.

  “They have flavors?” Thayne asked Jarrett as they sat down at the bar at the Silver Dollar Saloon.

  “Not everywhere. Some of the hillbillies resist putting anything in there that ain’t in their pappy’s recipe, but they can sell more if they can make it appeal to the ladies and they like that flavorful shit.”