Trailer Thrashed

At nineteen, Scott Danner has been at the Barto Ranch long enough to know the work and short enough to still be the new guy.

Most days are horses, fence, manure, and whatever else needs doing before somebody has to ask. Scott likes it that way. Work makes sense. So does John, at least when they’re working.

John has been at the Barto longer than Scott has, and he seems to know everything worth knowing about the place. Horses, cattle, the work, the people. He’s good at all of it, which would be easier to ignore if Scott weren’t already paying far too much attention to him. He also has a habit of standing a little too close to Scott, calling him Scotty when nobody else does, and leaving Scott to figure out whether any of it means what he hopes it means.

Then a broken irrigation pump sends them on a hundred-mile parts run to Casper.

A long Wyoming highway leaves plenty of room for things neither man has said. By the time John’s hand settles on Scott’s thigh, the ranch is far behind them and Scott isn’t interested in asking him to move it.

John is easy to want.

Understanding him is harder.

As the day carries them farther from the ordinary rhythm of the ranch, Scott begins learning how much can hide inside a joke, a touch, or the feeling of being chosen by someone who knows exactly how to make you feel that way.

Trailer Thrashed is the second of six prequel novellas leading to Rodeo Clown, following Scott Danner from eighteen to twenty-five through the ranches, roads, men, and choices that shape the person he will become.