www.total-e-bound.com A Total-E-Bound Publication www.total-e-bound.com Leaving Home ISBN # 978-1-78184-307-9 ©Copyright T.A. Chase 2013 Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright April 2013 Edited by Rebecca Douglas Total-E-Bound Publishing This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Total-E-Bound Publishing. Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution. The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork. Published in 2013 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, United Kingdom. Warning: This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a heat rating of Total-e-burning and a sexometer of 2. This story contains 157 pages, additionally there is also a free excerpt at the end of the book containing 11 pages. www.total-e-bound.com Home LEAVING HOME T.A. Chase www.total-e-bound.com Book four in the Home series Chaz struggles with his addiction, while continuing to do his job of saving bull riders, but it’s all getting out of control. Charles ‘Chaz’ O’Brien has been at the top of his profession for many years, enduring injuries that would have crushed a lesser man. Yet the top bullfighter isn’t calling it quits any time soon. He does his job with a fierce joy, though all the while he’s hiding a terrible secret. One that could get him suspended, and could end up killing the very men he protects. Peter Skinner loves working for Les Hardin and Randy Hersch. His bosses are amazing men, but seeing how in love they are every day makes Peter’s heart ache. He wishes he could find a man to love him like that, but he knows they’re hard to come by in Wyoming where he lives. Until, one day, Peter finds a man strung out in an alley, and is the only one around to deal with it. When Peter and Chaz meet, their worlds collide in a way that could be the best thing in the world for them both, or the worst experience of their lives. www.total-e-bound.com Dedication To everyone who has been patiently and impatiently waiting for the boys from the Home series to have more of their stories told. This is for you. I hope you enjoy Peter’s story. Trademarks Acknowledgement The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction: PBR: Professional Bull Riders Band-Aid: Johnson & Johnson Historic Plains Hotel: Providence Hospitality Partners Vicodin: Knoll Pharmaceutical Ford F-150: Ford Motor Company Bluetooth: Bluetooth Special Interest Group Kool-Aid: Kraft Foods IHOP: DineEquity www.total-e-bound.com LEAVING HOME T.A. Chase 6 Prologue Leaving home was an integral part of growing up. It was an important step to discovering who a man was to become. Peter Skinner understood that, yet he couldn’t help feeling sad as he carried the last few boxes out to Yancey’s truck. Sad because moving out meant he’d cut his last ties to the family he’d thought would love him forever. Peter snorted silently. He should’ve known that once he told them the truth, they’d turn their backs faster than a quarter horse cutting a steer from a herd. His grandfather ruled the Skinner clan with an iron fist, and if he said Peter must be shunned, the rest would go along with his decree. “Do you have everything, Peter?” Yancey helped him put the boxes in the back of the vehicle. He looked back at the house where he’d grown up and sighed. “No. I got everything I want to keep. They can throw the rest of it away, for all I care.” “Throw it away? Your parents would really do that?” Yancey frowned. “That seems a little harsh.” “You’ve met my grandfather, right? You’ve seen how he treated Les and Tony. He wasn’t happy about it when I acknowledged any of you existed. Then I had the nerve to start working for Les.” His laugh was rough. “Yes, they’ll throw away anything that will remind them of me. Trust me. I saw them do that with my dad’s younger brother. He didn’t do what Grandfather wanted, and he left. No one’s seen or heard from him since.” Peter remembered hearing his parents fight over it when he was little. His father had removed all the pictures featuring his brother from the walls and albums. Peter’s mother hadn’t wanted to do that. Of course, Grandfather hadn’t liked Mother either, and the feeling was mutual, so she would’ve gone against anything Grandfather had said. Which was why Peter had been surprised when she’d stood right beside his father and told him to leave. It had crushed him, causing his heart to break and him to question his plan to be honest. He’d run to Max, who’d held him while he cried. Then Max had explained that the best families were the ones they built for themselves. www.total-e-bound.com LEAVING HOME T.A. Chase 7 “Come on. Everyone’s waiting for us at Les and Randy’s. Margie’s cooked a welcome home meal for you.” Yancey said, breaking into Peter’s thoughts, and reminding him that he had a family waiting for him. It might not be the family he’d been born with, but it was the one he’d chosen, and, to be honest, the men and women Peter was going to see in a few minutes were the people he felt the most real with. They had opened their hearts and homes to him, even when his grandfather had treated Les so poorly. “I’m ready.” Yancey clapped him on the shoulder as Yancey headed to the driver’s side of
