by Shannon West
His thrusts became deeper, harder, as he found a rhythm and Travis gripped his hips with both hands and met each thrust with his own. Travis reached blindly for his cock, but Camron brushed his hand aside and took control of it himself. One more hard thrust was all it took. Travis threw back his head and strained against Camron, clenching around his cock and making it difficult not to join him. He forced himself to ride through Travis’s orgasm without coming himself and then let himself go to join him, pulling him close in his arms and burying his face in his hair.
Eventually, he managed to slip out of Travis’s body and get to his feet. Using Travis’s damp towel, he cleaned himself a bit and then bent to care for his mate, who murmured sleepily to him as he cleaned him off. He fell down beside him then on the blanket, with the heat of the stove lulling him to sleep. Just before he drifted off, he pulled Travis closer and wrapped a leg around him. Travis belonged to Camron, by God, and neither Holden nor any other man would ever touch him again.
****
It was at least an hour later when Travis noticed Camron stirring. He glanced away from the frying pan and down at him as the smell of hot oil and fish finally registered. Camron raised one eyelid to peer over at Travis, who was standing at the stove, not a few feet away, humming a little as he used a fork to turn the fish over in the pan.
“Travis?” Camron said, his voice still groggy with sleep. “You’re cooking?”
Travis turned to grin at him. “Yep. I watched my mama enough times to know what to do. I got sort of hungry, and you were still asleep, so I got to thinking about those fish. I went down to the stream and found them on a line in the water. Didn’t take long to clean them.”
“You know how to clean fish?”
He rolled his eyes. “Damn, I really have given you a bad impression of me, haven’t I? Of course I know how. I mean, hell, it ain’t hard to chop off their heads and tails and scrape off the scaly stuff. Then like I said, I watched my mama filet and clean them and batter them up like a million times. She used to make me do my homework at the kitchen table to make sure I didn’t goof off. I had a tendency back then to just doodle on my paper and not do my work.”
“Imagine that.”
Travis shrugged. “Yeah, well, it was boring and I’d rather play video games. Anyway, she’d sit me down at the table and make sure I did it all. You didn’t have any buttermilk, or flour like she uses, but I found the cornmeal.”
“That’ll work. Sounds good.”
“Well, it’s almost ready. I made some Kool-aid too.”
Travis watched Camron get up and pull on his clothes as Travis turned the fish in the pan. He’d often cooked for himself when his parents were working late, mostly just small stuff, but he’d learned from experience that as long as you kept the heat fairly low and stayed by the pan and kept turning, nothing too terrible could go wrong. He heard Camron moving around behind him putting out dishes and silverware. Camron grabbed the loaf of bread to put on the table too and by that time Travis was sliding the hot fish onto the plates.
They sat down together and had a simple meal of loaf bread and fried fish, but to Travis it tasted pretty good. This was the first time he’d cooked for Camron and he had a kind of embarrassing need to please him. He made appreciative noises at least and cleaned his plate, which Travis counted as a victory.
When they finished eating, Camron said he was going down to get a bucket of water to heat up on the stove and Travis took the leftovers way off in the woods away from the house to throw away. They didn’t want to attract any nosy creatures during the night. When Camron had the water heated up, he said he’d wash dishes, since Travis had cooked, though Travis had just as much work to do rinsing the dishes, drying them and putting them away. Still, it was kind of nice not to be constantly bickering.
Afterward, Travis drifted out to the front porch and sat on the steps for a few minutes, looking up at the night sky. A few seconds later, Camron sat down beside him, leaning back on his hands and gazing up at them too.
“You know when I was a kid I thought there really was a man in the moon,” Travis said.
“Really?” Camron gave him a little smile. “When was that--last year?”
“Oh, ha ha. No, I’m serious. See his face there.” Travis pointed up at the full moon and Camron, obviously humoring him, looked where he was pointing. “There’s his nose and his eyes. See?”
“It’s just craters and holes that make it look that way. It’s called matrixing. The human brain tries to make something out of an image it can’t quite make out.”
“Yeah,” Travis said, “but that’s no fun.” He was quiet for a long time and then he bumped Camron’s shoulder with his own. “Hey, you know how the man in the moon gets a haircut?”
Camron rolled his eyes and huffed out a breath.
“No, come on, play along.”
“I will not be a party to puns or knock-knock jokes.”
“Aw Camron, how do you know they’re puns?”
“I feel it in my bones.”
“Oh come on. How does the man in the moon get a haircut?”
Camron sighed. “Okay, I’ll bite. How?”
“Eclipse it!” Travis fell over on Camron laughing, holding onto his sides. He had always loved stupid jokes like that, and when he was a little boy, Spencer always had indulged him by telling him a new one most every day. Apparently, Camron didn’t feel so indulgent.
“Well, that was dumb,” he grumbled.
“Oh, come on, Camron, lighten up. Here’s another one. What do you get when you take green cheese and divide its circumference by its diameter?”
When Camron just angled him a dirty look, Travis shouted out the answer, “Moon Pi!”
Camron groaned. “Okay, seriously. One more of those and I’ll hurt you.”
Travis got up and jumped off the porch, walking backward. “Oh yeah? Well, what do you call a clock on the moon? A lunartick!”
Camron lunged off the porch after him, but Travis danced out of his reach and ran toward the woods, laughing. Camron was right on his tail and caught him before he’d gone ten steps.
“Now you’re going to pay,” he said, pulling him into his arms and tickling his sides.
Travis convulsed in laughter but stuck his foot between Camron’s ankles and kicked his feet out from under him. Camron fell but held onto Travis so that they both crashed down and landed with Camron on top of Travis.
Travis was a master at roughhousing with his brother. He decided on a trick that got Spencer every time. Going limp, he rolled his eyes up in the back of his head and gave a little cry of pain as he slumped down.
“Travis, Travis?” Camron said, shaking him. “Travis, talk to me. Are you okay? Did I hurt you, baby?”
Travis’s eyes popped open and he laughed. “Just kidding!”
“Why, you little…” They began to wrestle on the ground, each one trying to get the other in a headlock until Travis finally managed to roll out of it and run back to the cabin. He tried to bar the door against Camron, but he pushed his way in and body slammed Travis to the wall. Grabbing Travis’s hands, he pushed them over his head, holding him pinned there while he stuck his wet tongue in his ear and jammed it down inside.
“Oh God, not a wet willie!” Travis yelled, shivering in disgust. “Shit! Please, I’m sorry. I give! I give!”
“And no more puns?”
“No--No more, I promise!”
Smiling, Camron pulled his tongue away but thrust his groin up against Travis’s. “You like to tease, don’t you? Maybe I should do some teasing of my own.”
Travis laughed nervously and tried to pull away. “Come on, Camron, let me go,” he said, his efforts to push Camron away unsuccessful. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Camron’s arms around him, but that he liked it too much. This feeling of being overpowered and controlled by someone a little stronger and bigger than he was shouldn’t feel so damn exciting. He hated the fact that it did.
Travis darted a glance up
at Camron as he managed to jerk his hands out of Camron’s grip. But then those powerful arms gathered him up, drawing him closer still to Camron’s hard body, and his control seemed to slip. His hands fisted helplessly in Camron’s shirt, and he could hear the steady beat of Camron’s heart against his.
“No—it’s not your brother or your friends you’re playing with this time, kit,” he whispered against his ear. “You’re not getting out of this one so easy. Now relax. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Another surge of irritation rushed over Travis. “I’m not afraid of you!” He struggled more, only to feel those arms tighten around him. “Stop! Let me go, damn it!”
Camron shook his head and released him, stepping back. Travis immediately changed his mind, as he suddenly couldn’t bear the idea of losing Camron’s arms around him. He tightened his grip on Camron’s shirt and pulled him back in, burying his face in the hollow of his throat.
Camron smoothed his hands down Travis’s sides and landed on his hips, pulling him toward him. “It’s okay, baby,” he murmured, his voice dark and velvety. “I’m not going anywhere.”
With a wordless cry, Travis lifted his lips, and Camron bent down to take his mouth. He began to stroke and caress him as if he had all the time in the world at his disposal. Camron pulled Travis gently with him as he moved to the mattress and lay down with him, wrapping his body around his, petting and soothing him. Travis lay on his back and without a word, Camron soon divested him of his clothes, then knelt between his legs and enveloped him in his hot mouth. Travis came quickly in shivery jets and then Camron lay beside him, holding him and pleasuring him for a long time. When Travis could think clearly again, he turned toward Camron and stroked a finger down his arm.
“Let me take care of you,” he whispered, but Camron shook his head.
“Later. I’m all right for now. I just want to hold you.” So he lay in Camron’s arms and drifted off to sleep as the light around them faded into darkness. He was only vaguely aware of Camron pulling the blanket over them, and then he turned over, scooted his bare ass against Camron’s body and fell headlong into sleep.
*****
The next morning he awoke to the smell of coffee. It was still fairly early from the quality of the light filtering through the window, but Camron was already up and sitting at the table, his hair still damp from what must have been an early morning dip in the stream.
He looked up when he felt Travis’s regard. “Morning,” he said, a smile on his lips. “Did you sleep well?”
“God, I must have.” Travis sat up and dry scrubbed his face. “I didn’t wake up once.” He stretched and got to his feet, making his way to the front porch to take care of business. “Gotta pee like a racehorse, though.” He opened the door onto a day that was cloudy and much colder than it had been just the day before. This time of year was always unpredictable, especially up here. The planks on the porch were rough and cold on the soles of his feet, and he was glad of the blanket around his shoulders. He hurried back inside and sat down beside Camron at the table.
“Damn, I can’t believe you went down to the creek this morning to bathe. It’s colder than a witch’s tit out there.”
Camron smiled and shoved a plate with boiled eggs and bread toward Travis. “Eat your breakfast and warm up some. Those are the last of the eggs. I brought up a bucket of water you can heat up on the stove to wash up in afterward—considering your delicate sensibilities and all.”
Travis gave him a middle finger and dug into the food. Since he started feeling better, he seemed to be hungry all the time. He noticed that Camron had heated up some water too for shaving, and his smooth skin looked so good Travis had to stop himself from reaching out and touching his face. It was bad enough he was bottoming for the man—he refused to fawn over him too.
“I was thinking it’s about time we headed back. Maybe we’ll get an early start in the morning. I can’t afford to be away from my business much longer.”
“I thought maybe your brother Will was running things for you. Doesn’t he help out sometimes?”
“Yeah, and he is, but he goes to school too down in Huntsville. He doesn’t have a lot of time.” Camron took a sip of his coffee. “As soon as we get back, we need to move your stuff over to my house, and then you can start working with me.”
Travis almost choked on the egg he was chewing. “What? Wait a minute—we’re moving a little fast here, aren’t we?”
Camron shrugged. “No need to wait around. You belong to me, so you might as well start acting like it. What did you think was going to happen?”
“Hell, I don’t know. You haven’t given me much time to think. I guess I thought we’d date a while, get to know each other better.”
“For what? It’s a foregone conclusion that we’ll be together. Hell, we have no choice in the matter. This thing will drive us crazy otherwise.”
“Well, I thought I might have more time to understand this thing.”
Camron shrugged again, and the move was really starting to irritate Travis. “What is there to understand? We can’t do anything about it anyway.”
“Yes, but…”
“Hell Travis, it’s just as much of a transition for me as it is for you. I suppose all my old friends will be wondering when I turned gay, after all. They’ve known for years that I prefer girls and now suddenly I’m moving a young guy in my house. As for the clan, they’ll be wondering how the hell two clan males are managing to co-exist at all. I imagine there’ll be a lot of speculation.”
Travis felt the heat rush to his face. “Yeah, I know! And you can just guess what conclusion they’ll come to. After all, you’re older and bigger and…damn, this is going to be embarrassing!”
“It’s nobody’s business what we do in bed together! And if anybody is nosy enough to ask, then tell them to go to hell.”
“Yeah, easy for you to say…” Travis pushed back from the table and went to retrieve his jeans from the cabin floor where they’d landed the night before. “And what’s this shit about working for you? I’ve promised my dad I’ll take over the hardware store in town.”
Camron turned to face him. “Well, that was before. Now you’re working for me.”
“Damn it, who said? I haven’t agreed to that! You can’t just sweep in and take over my life like that!”
Camron stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets. His face was set and stern. “Yes, I can and I have. And what’s more you like it that way. You’re just fighting the inevitable.”
Furious, Travis turned and shoved his feet into his boots. Grabbing a towel he headed off toward the stream. If Camron could take it, so could he. He’d show the arrogant ass! He might have little choice in this mating, but he didn’t have to like it. And he didn’t have to just lie down for the asshole either. He would stay unmoved and unresponsive to his touch—and if he still wanted him, he’d have to take him. He’d be an unwilling partner at best.
As he stomped down to the creek, a vision of Camron’s dark curls bent over his dick came to his mind and his knees weakened so that he stumbled a little on the trail. Despite his determination not to respond to him in the future, he couldn’t trust his traitorous body not to give in again. The things they’d shared since he’d first opened the door to Camron that morning felt like nothing he’d ever experienced before. He stopped by a big tree growing near the path and leaned against it, his anger draining away as quickly as it had come. Damn it, he was falling in love with Camron—and no matter what happened, he couldn’t let him know it. It would only give him one more weapon to use against him.
****
Emma Sutherland jumped up from the kitchen table and began pacing in front of her oldest son. It was still godawful early in the morning, and she woke him up and demanded his presence at five a.m. He’d finally told her the evening before, after repeated badgering, where Travis was, and who he’d left with. She’d been so angry he’d taken off, claiming important business at the store, but he should have known t
hat wouldn’t be enough to stop her.
He’d grabbed a cup of coffee when he walked in, but he had a bad feeling that he was going to need more than just caffeine to help him out.
“Spencer Sutherland, have you completely lost your mind to let my baby go off to some hunting cabin with Camron MacKay? A MacKay, for God’s sake.”
Spencer gave his mother an exasperated look. “Mama, Travis is not a baby. He’s twenty-one years old and can make up his own mind who he wants to go off with. Besides, I think that Camron might be good for him.” He didn’t quite have the nerve to tell her that Camron was Travis’ mate. That might just be enough to push her completely over the edge. He was a MacKay, after all, and his mama hated the Mackays.
“I don’t care what you think. Travis has a heart condition, and he doesn’t need to be out in the woods somewhere. I let you and Hawke take him out once, and he was sick for a solid week when he came home.”
“Oh, Mama, he was not. He just told you that so you’d let him stay home from school.”
She stopped pacing and fixed him with a deadly gaze. “Are you implying I don’t know when my own child is sick?”
“Uh, no ma’am. But…”
“But nothing. Not another word on that subject, young man.”
Spencer looked over at his dad, who was sitting in his chair, hardly listening to the conversation, and realized that there would be no help from him. His dad knew from long and bitter experience how Emma was once she got started. Argument was useless and would only make things worse. Spencer knew it, too, but couldn’t seem to stop himself. He refused to let any of his own concern for his brother show, and truthfully, he harbored a little.
“Mama, Travis is a big boy, no, he’s a man, who is perfectly healthy. He’s just lazy, and you know it.”
“Spencer Sutherland, you’d better watch that smart mouth and do not contradict me. Now, tell me where that cabin is.”