"I think this is it."
Harland 'Harley' Thomas
fingered the long scar running down his cheek as he looked over to where his
driver and friend, Manny, was pointing. His heart pounded a little faster as
he glanced at the driveway. He couldn't help but chuckle when he read the
ranch sign hanging over the driveway.
Crazy Acres
That sounded just about
right.
He couldn't see anything
of the place beyond the sign as trees lined both sides of the driveway for as
far as the eye could see. Harley nodded to Manny and the SUV slowly turned
onto the driveway.
"Damn!" Manny said as
they drove past the tree line and the view opened to show a majestic sight. He
gave a low whistle as his eyes darted over the land. "This is pretty nice,
man."
Harley couldn't agree
more. It was just as he had imagined, maybe even better. Fencing lined both
sides of the driveway all of the way up to the house. The field on the
passenger side of the vehicle was empty but the field on the driver's side had
several horses grazing in it, looking as if they didn’t have a care in the
world.
Beyond the house and
fenced in pastures, the entire place was surrounded by tree covered hills,
like the little valley the ranch sat in was created just for it. The driveway
came to an end in a round circle right in front of a large log cabin. Situated
right inside of the circular drive was a large oak tree with grass growing
around it.
Manny brought the SUV to
a stop right in front of the house. "Do you want me to go in with you?" he
asked as he cut the engine and turned to look at Harley.
Harley grinned as he
looked at Manny, and then into the backseat where Bill and his lover Angelo
were seated. He shook his head. "No, I have this."
Harley opened the door
and swung his legs down to the ground. His feet hit the paved driveway and he
grimaced when he had to reach back in for his cane. He would have preferred
doing this without a cane but if he wanted to walk, he had to carry the damn
thing with him.
As he headed toward the
house, Harley’s eyes gazed over the place, taking in the vision he had dreamt
about. It looked exactly like it had in his dreams, right down to the
wraparound porch and the large front windows. He hoped the inside looked just
as he had seen it in his head as well.
Using his cane, Harley
slowly made his way up the steps to the front door. He took a moment to look
around, seeing the hard work that had gone into building the place. Besides
the fenced pastures and the house, there was a barn set just beyond the
driveway. It was all so picturesque.
And perfect.
Before lifting his hand
and knocking on the door, Harley drew in a fortifying breath and then slowly
blew it out. This was it. The next few seconds could make or break him and he
knew it. He had been through a nightmarish hell, and lived for only one single
reason. With any luck, that reason was about to be his reward for staying
alive.
Harley's heart felt like
it was climbing into his throat and squeezing the very breath from him when he
heard a soft musical voice from inside the house and then the door slowly
opened. His breath froze in his lungs and he found it hard to breathe when his
saw a long cascade of black hair and the soul deep caramel-brown eyes that
blinked up at him through the screen door.
Harley had to literally
make himself start breathing again. The vision was so breathtaking that all he
wanted to do was just stand there and admire the man.
"Hello,
Mitsuaki,"
he whispered in a voice that sounded echoed and seemed to come from far away.
"Harley-chan?" There was
a slight tinge of wonder in Miko's voice, the magical lilt pulling Harley in
deeper. "You alive, Harley-chan?"
Harley felt tears clog
his throat but he managed a tremulous smile despite them. "I'm alive, Miko."
Barely, but now wasn't the time to think about that. Harley would rather think
about the beauty standing before him. He had pretty much been thinking of
nothing else for months.
Miko had haunted Harley's
dreams, awake or asleep like a vision that wrapped itself around him and
brought him comfort in a time when he needed it most. He was pretty sure the
gorgeous man was the only reason he was alive and standing on the front porch
of a house he had only fantasized about instead of dead in some drug lord’s
crazy clutches in Central America.
The screen door slowly
pushed open and Miko stumbled out, staring up at Harley like he was seeing a
ghost—like he wasn’t real or tangible. Miko's hand trembled as he reached up
and pressed the lightest of touches against the side of Harley's face, his
fingers as smooth as silk and as warm as the summer sun.
"You
alive, Harley-chan!"
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