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.Nate and Kyle kept up at his side, unease and determination radiating off both men as theystrode through the snow.There was something they were missing about Nate, some detail onwhat was driving him and why he wanted this money.They reached the barn door, and Kyle opened it.He flipped on the overhead light and tooka step inside.The horses whinnied. Sorry girls, he said. Not time to eat yet. Evan followed him in.The creak and bang of the large sliding doors as they shifted in thewind, the shuffling of the horses hooves, the smell of hay and manure& It all brought backthose days during the summer when he and Kyle had helped out on the farm.When he d watchedthe shirtless Kyle shovel out the horse stalls, his tanned back rippling with the heft of each load,his ass on display as he bent to thrust the shovel in again.Evan hadn t done much to help withthe chores, he d been too busy staring and trying to keep his hard cock from jumping out of hispants.He smiled.He couldn t help it.After all the years since that summer day in the horse stall,he d finally gotten everything and more than he d been picturing that day.Kyle cleared his throat and gestured for Evan to go on ahead. Sorry.Memories. Kyle gave him a knowing smirk.They walked past the horse stalls toward the back of the barn.Kyle s cousin only had thetwo horses he kept as pets for his daughters.The rest of the hay he sold as needed throughout thewinter to local horse and livestock owners.The hayloft should still have a good supply left.Evanjust hoped it was laid out in the same configuration as it always was.That way they could get tothe exact location from the journal.He stopped at the ladder that led to the loft above.Hesignaled for Nate to climb first, then Kyle.There was a hesitation before Kyle put his hand on the ladder like he was going to makeEvan go up before him. That ankle is still bothering you. A little. Which meant there was no way Kyle was letting him climb last.He d want to bethere to catch him if he fell.Kyle had always been protective of him, but it had taken on a newintensity in the past six days.It was going to get old fast.They d have to have a talk at somepoint.They stood still for a moment more.Just the two of them in the dim light of the barn, anintimacy passing between them that had nothing to do with sex.Kyle nodded and whispered, Be careful. Then he climbed the ladder first. Take Me Home 169The hayloft was warmer than the first floor.Neat stacks of hay bales nearly filled the entireupper half of the barn except for a narrow walkway around the inner edge of the center openingwhere the hay was raised and lowered into the loft.There were new planks of wood at variouslocations across the walkway s floor, most likely to replace the ones that had rotted throughoutthe years.If the money was in the hayloft, how had it survived all this time? How had no onefound it in sixty years? Where to? Kyle asked. They were in that corner. Evan pointed to the right back corner with the flashlight. They had just hidden the bags.It doesn t say where, but it sounded like it was close by.It wouldhave to be somewhere private. He looked to Kyle. As private as somewhere they d have tohide in order to have sex. It actually mentioned the bags? Yeah. Jeez. Kyle grabbed the flashlight, and Evan tried not to laugh.He understood why Kylehad skimmed certain parts of the journal.It wasn t like he d even felt all that comfortablereading about Kyle s grandpa having sex.They moved along the walkway until they faced the far corner of the loft.The bales werein tightly packed stacks that spanned from the walkway to the back wall, each stack climbinghigh above their heads, stopping short of a narrow wooden ledge than ran the perimeter of thebarn where the angled roof met the outer barn walls. We need to get into the corner. Kyle glanced around at the hay. It ll take us forever to make a path. Well, well, Nate said. Guess I should ve brought the hay hook after all. Kyle glanced his way, and Nate shrugged, then flashed a smile.Maybe Dennis had been right.Maybe Nate was crazy.Evan held back a laugh. It s okay, he said.He took the flashlight from Kyle. We don t need to move the hay.They were up there. He pointed the light toward the top corner. All right. Kyle looked around again. There should be a ladder up here somewhere. Heand Nate turned to search along the walkway.They didn t have time for that.They couldn t spend all Christmas Eve in the barn.Theirfamilies would be worried.It would take finesse to keep the bales from toppling over, but theycould climb the sides and crawl along the tops of the stacks.Evan slipped the flashlight into thebackpack, then put a foot on the edge of a bale and gripped the one above his head.In no time,he d made it halfway. Ev, Kyle shouted from below. What the hell are you doing? Get the fuck down here. He stopped and looked back at Kyle. Trust me. I do, but& we can find a ladder. It s okay.I m almost there. Okay.I m coming up. No.One at a time or we might knock it all down. All right. Evan reached the top of the hay bales and knelt on the flat surface.He could see across thelayer of hay to the back wall.The stacks were twenty rows deep, each stack reaching to the same 170 Sloan Parkerheight as the one he knelt on.Except for five locations along the back wall where angledreinforcement beams ran from the wall to another beam above him near the center of the barn sroof.The angled beams prevented the bales closest to the back wall from being stacked as highas the rest.He crawled toward the largest opening in the far corner and shone the flashlight over theedge.The taller stacks around the opening created an eight-by-eight-foot alcove made of twobarn walls and two walls of hay with an angled beam along one side of the hay. I was right, he called out. This is where they were. Evan, Kyle yelled again toward the top of hay bales.He spotted Nate watching him. What? Penny and I knew the two of you were fucking each other.She said it was love.I told hermaybe it was for him, but I wasn t sure about you.Guess she was right.She s always beensmarter than me.She came up with the idea to take the train. Kyle ignored him and focused again on where Evan had disappeared. Evan! Nate continued. I can see why your grandfather left the journal to you.Considering howmuch he loved his friend too. Shut up. Kyle couldn t hide the amusement in his voice.Nate was growing on him,crazy and all.Evan peered over the edge of the bales. Come up here. Kyle put his foot on the first bale, but Nate stopped him. I m going first. That might not be a good idea. Why? Because I m older than your father? I can make it. Kyle looked up at Evan and then back at Nate. I m not dead.Get out of my way. Nate shooed Kyle aside.The climb took twice as longas it had for Evan, but Nate managed, and Kyle quickly followed.They crawled their way to join Evan in the corner, where he sat with his feet dangling overthe edge of the bales.He pointed downward with the flashlight, and they all looked to the alcovebelow
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