First Down

by Paula Mabbel

  “I intend to duel your brother,” Tommy said with a voice that told Greg there would be no changing his mind.

  “You realize that nobody has ever walked away from such a duel, expect my brother,” Greg said, as though perhaps the warning alone might change Tommy’s mind.

  “I hardly think that matters,” Tommy said with a dismissive gesture of his hand. “Your brother needs to be taught a lesson and it seems that I’m the only one with enough guts to do it.”

  “Well, if you are serious,” Greg said, and then he paused, as if he was expecting Tommy to suddenly turn around and make it clear that it had all been a joke, but he didn’t. Greg continued. “Then there is a barn just on the outskirts of town. You and your horse should be safe there for the night.”

  “Will you show me where this barn is?” Tommy asked Greg as he stood up from his chair and listened to the sound of it scraping against the stone floor.

  “Sure,” Greg said. He hurried himself into the kitchen portion of the room and started to fill two plain cloth sacks with chunks of bread and other bits that were on the side.

  *******

  The barn was much bigger than Tommy had been expecting it to be. His horse quickly found a place in the corner and tucked its legs underneath its body. It went quietly to sleep without any further attention needed.

  “This place is great,” Tommy said to Greg as they both stood in the door opening. “How is it that it’s empty?”

  “It was run by a couple of native Indians from the camp I was telling you about earlier. They used to look after travelers’ horses in exchange for a small fee, but my brother ran them out of town earlier this year and no one has come to take it over,” Greg explained. He walked into the barn and started to pull down hay bales.

  “I’m surprised. In my town this barn would have been snapped up within a day or two,” Tommy said as he continued to look around the old barn. It was clear that it had been abandoned quickly. There were small trinkets and clues that told him that whoever had been run out of town had literally been run out of town.

  “I think it’s because of who owned it last,” Greg said with a small shrug. “The townspeople think that it’s dirty or cursed or something.”

  “Your brother really has done a number on them, hasn’t he?” Tommy pulled out a hay bale from the stack in front of him and sat down on top of it.

  “He’s very persuasive when he wants to be,” Greg agreed.

  Tommy watched as Greg brought over another hay bale and sat beside him. “I brought this,” Greg said, as he reached into one of the cloth bags and pulled out a bottle of what looked like whisky.

  Tommy smiled at the sight and took the bottle out of Greg’s hands. The top was on tight, but he managed to unscrew it and then he took a long drink straight out of the bottle. The whisky was strong and it burned his tongue and his throat as he swallowed it quickly. “Wow,” he said as he blew out the hot breath from his lungs.

  “Strong, huh?” Greg said with an amused smile on his face.

  “Just a bit,” Tommy said as he watched Greg lift the bottle up to his lips. Greg didn’t flinch as he started to drink the liquor and Tommy was quietly impressed by it.

  Greg passed the bottle back to Tommy and for a moment they sat in silence. Tommy could hear the soft, deep breaths of his horse in the corner and the sound of the wind rattling against the wooden panels of the barn. Tommy took another deep drink and was relieved to find it didn’t burn quite as badly the second time around.

  “Tommy, I need to be honest with you,” Greg said in a quiet voice that could have easily been missed under the sound of the wind outside.

  “Well, I would prefer that to being lied to,” Tommy said with a reassuring smile. When he saw the look of pure worry on Greg’s face, he reached out and placed his hand on Greg’s knee, before realizing that the action might be taken out of the comforting context he had meant it in.

  Greg didn’t move his leg, but his eyes were fixed on the hand that was now sitting on top of his knee. Tommy noticed how his cheeks started to turn pink and then darkened to red, his misty blue eyes filling with thoughts.

  “It’s okay, you know,” Tommy said quickly. “I’m not the judgmental type.”

  Greg nodded at Tommy’s words, but still did not speak. His face was revealing the inner frustration that he was clearly starting to feel, and Tommy wondered what on Earth could be the matter.

  “I think I’m like you,” Greg blurted out into the barn because he refused to look at Tommy whilst he spoke.

  “I don’t understand,” Tommy said with a look of confusion in his eyes.

  Greg sighed. He didn’t know how to explain it to Tommy. He didn’t have the right words to say. He let his body lean into Tommy’s and for a moment he enjoyed the heat that was rolling off of his friend. He turned his head and let his eyes connect.

  Tommy looked deep into Greg’s eyes as he tried to find an explanation, and then he found it. It was there in his eyes. The truth was so simple to see. He nodded so that Greg knew that he understood, and then he felt his head tilt slightly, as he brought his lips crashing down onto Greg’s.

  There was a moment when Tommy wasn’t sure what Greg would do. He could feel butterflies in his stomach as he realized that perhaps he’d read the whole situation wrong, but then Greg’s lips matched his rhythm and for a long moment there was nothing in the world but them and the kiss that was melting everything else away.

  Tommy could feel Greg’s breathing getting faster as his hand stroked down his side and settled on the waistline of his pants. He could feel the tautness of the fabric on Greg’s pants. He let his hand fall further down. His hand stopped when he felt the throbbing hardness that was eagerly awaiting his touch. He took his time, slowly stroking it up and down through the fabric that was keeping them apart.

  Greg let a small moan leave his lips as the feeling of Tommy’s hands caressing his hardness became too much. He’d spent his life sleeping with the whores from the saloon, but they had never made him feel this way. They had never made his heart speed up to the point where he was sure it might explode. They’d never made his dick throb to such a point that the anticipation alone was driving him crazy.

  Tommy let his fingers dance up to Greg’s waistline again before he pulled on the leather tie that was keeping them up. He pulled his lips away from Greg’s and slowly left a path of kisses down his neck. Greg moaned again, and that was all the go ahead Tommy needed. He pulled Greg’s pants down and dropped to his knees. He owed him this. He owed him a night of pleasure and acceptance.

  He let his eyes flicker up, and there in the dark barn they held each other’s gaze for a moment, before Tommy lowered his head to the throbbing hardness that he’d been stroking and pulling with expert precision and let his mouth wrap tightly around it.

  *******

  Tommy woke up early and shifted his arm from underneath Greg’s head slowly, so that he could leave him to sleep. Greg’s face looked peaceful in his slumber, as though no real life problems could ever reach him in his dreams. Tommy could feel a slight smile cross over his lips, as he thought back to the time they had shared together the night before. Then he turned and left the barn silently.

  It was still dark outside, but that didn’t matter to Tommy. He knew that he needed to be at the dueling spot before the sun took to the sky and from the slight pink color that was taking over the inky blue, he knew that would be soon.

  It didn’t take him long to find the spot, and he was surprised to find that half the town were already waiting outside in small groups. He could hear them whispering to each other as he approached them, and then their whispers got louder and turned into full-scale verbal assaults against him.

  “You’re a Nancy,” one of the town’s folk called out from the crowd.

  “You’re going to be a dead Nancy,” another one called out in a taunting way.

  “I thought your type were good at back-door exits,” a man called out from the back of the
group, and everyone else laughed.

  Tommy tried to ignore their taunts as he stood waiting for John Paul to turn up. A buzzing through the crowd caught his attention. He turned to see that John Paul was walking up the dusty road towards him.

  “I thought I gave you the chance to leave,” John Paul said with glee in his eyes.

  “You also told me you were a reasonable man,” Tommy called out into the distance between them.

  “And do you not think that offering you a chance to live was reasonable?” John Paul asked with big, surprised eyes.

  “You hardly gave me that choice. You know I didn’t have enough supplies to survive a trip into the outback,” Tommy said as he held John Paul’s eyes without flinching.

  “Well, at least you would have survived longer than staying here,” John Paul taunted. “Not that it matters now. I’ll take great pride in putting you into the ground,” he finished with a sneer that was matched by nearly every member of the small audience that had come out to watch.

  “You know, your intolerance is shameful,” Tommy said, but he wasn’t just speaking to John Paul, and he made sure that the crowd knew it. He turned to them and made eye contact with any who would let him. “You should all be ashamed of yourselves. Love is love, irrelevant to what form it shows up in. How can you punish a person for loving another? How can you judge a person with hate, when all they have done is love?”

  He dropped his eyes from the crowd and turned them back to John Paul. “You need to make a choice, John Paul. You can either continue with this duel or you can turn away and do the right thing for once in your pathetic and hateful life,” Tommy said with a small shrug.

  John Paul laughed coldly. “Do you think the people of this town are idiots? Do you think that they will accept you with open arms because you’ve given them some fancy speech about love? I hate to break it to you, but you are wrong. You are a freak of nature and I’m doing the right thing by putting you down,” he said in a violent and disturbing tone.

  “Well, you’re going to try,” Tommy said with a grin spreading over his lips.

  “Take your place then, boy, and we’ll see who walks away from this,” John Paul seethed as he took in Tommy’s light-hearted smile.

  Tommy nodded and turned to walk farther down the dusty strip. He stopped when he reached the saloon and turned back to see that John Paul was already standing with his hand resting against his gun.

  “Wait!” Greg called out, as he ran quickly towards the duel that was about to happen.

  John Paul turned quickly to look at his brother and hissed at him to stay away, but Greg didn’t listen. He continued running up the dusty road until he reached Tommy. Then he stopped and quickly tried to recapture his breath.

  “You left this morning before I had a chance to tell you,” Greg said in between long, pained breaths.

  “Tell me what?” Tommy asked him with a look of concern spreading across his face.

  “My brother always cheats. If you are to win this duel you need to draw your gun at the count of two. If you wait any longer you will have a bullet in your back, before you even have a chance to turn around,” Greg said quietly, so that nobody nearby could hear him.

  “Is that true?” Tommy asked Greg with deeply serious eyes.

  “I swear to you,” Greg said with a sharp nod, and then he walked over to the small crowd that was standing on the saloon porch, so that he could watch from a safe distance.

  Tommy and John Paul stared at each other over the distance between them, until one of the town’s folk called out for them to take their paces. Tommy listened carefully as they counted up from one and then, before he even gave himself a chance to think about it, he turned around at “two” and pulled the trigger of his gun.

  The sound of the gun’s explosion bounced in the silence that had fallen, and then Tommy watched as John Paul fell to his knees with a surprised look in his eye. “I regret nothing,” John Paul said weakly, as he cupped the small puncture hole that was allowing an alarming amount of blood to flow freely from him.

  The crowd watched in silence as John Paul’s eyes flickered shut and then, when they were sure that he was dead, a round of applause broke out. Tommy looked at the crowd, a little stunned by their reaction.

  “I told you, they never used to be like that,” Greg said suddenly, as he appeared by Tommy’s side. “I think they are just as glad to be rid of him as I am.”

  “Does that mean you hold no resentment over me killing your brother?” Tommy asked, because he knew how he felt about his own brother’s murderer.

  “I am nothing but grateful,” Greg said with a warm smile on his face. “He had terrorized this town and its people for far too long.”

  “I’m happy to hear that. I’m glad that I’ve managed to help your town, and I hope that whoever takes over next will be more accepting of the differences in people than your brother was,” Tommy said as he smiled at Greg.

  Greg looked at him with confusion. “You’re the new sheriff now,” he said, as though it should have been obvious.

  Tommy laughed for a moment before he realized that Greg was being serious. “I can’t be your new sheriff,” he protested.

  “But that’s how it works,” Greg said with a frown. “You won the duel with the last sheriff and that means you receive his title.”

  “I’m sorry,” Tommy said. “But I can’t be your sheriff. I shouldn’t have stayed this long really; I need to get back onto the road so that I can avenge my brother.”

  “Can you really not stay?” Greg asked, and Tommy could see hurt flickering in his eyes.

  “I’m sorry, but no,” Tommy said gently. “I think, though, if I have received the title of your sheriff then that means I can appoint the next one, right?” he asked.

  “It does,” Greg said with a slow nod.

  “Then I give the position to you, Greg.” He said it loudly enough that all those who were still watching could hear. “You have proven to me that you are much more open to the differences of people than your brother ever could be. I know you care about this town and its people. I can’t think of anybody better to take on the role, and when I’ve finished on my quest, I promise you that I will come back so that I can see the wonderful job I know you will do,” Tommy said with a reassuring smile.

  “Do you promise that you’ll come back?” Greg asked in a barely-there whisper.

  “Yes, I promise I will come back,” Tommy said with sincerity burning in his eyes. “For you,” he added, before he turned and started to walk away from the crowd, Greg and the town.

  *****

  THE END

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  Here is a FREE 9000 word Lesbian Romance story “Studying Her Body” by Cassandra Michaels.

  Studying Her Body

  Adaline could feel the weight of the box in her hands pulling down against her. The muscles in her arms burned with strain as she pushed herself forward and then very quickly gave up and put the box on the floor.

  “Do you need some help with that?” a cute guy with dark brown hair and clover green eyes asked her when she’d straightened herself up.

  “Do you mind?” Adaline said with an innocent smile that was just bordering on flirtatious.

  The guy shook his head quickly and returned her smile with a goofy one of his own. “What room are you in?” the guy asked as he picked up the box.

  Adaline turned her head when she realized a smirk had worked its way across her lips. The box was full of old books that her grandfather had insisted she would need for the school year, and it weighed more than rainforest. “I’m room 405,” she said as she turned her head back and smiled sweetly at the guy.

  “Cool, I’m Sam by the way.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Sam, I’m Adaline. I’d shake your hand, but you’ve kind of
got your hands full.”

  “Yeah, I guess they are,” Sam said with eyes that gave away his disappointment over not being able to touch her.

  “Is it this way then?” she asked when she realized that the guy seemed to be waiting for her to make a move.

  “Oh yeah, is it your first year here?”

  “No, I’ve just forgotten my way since last year,” Adaline replied with a dry, sarcastic tone.

  Sam looked confused for a moment and Adaline couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him. “I was joking. I’m a freshman,” she finally clarified.

  She was used to guys like him, because her hometown was full of them. They would do anything for her because she was pretty, but they couldn’t hold a decent conversation, even if their lives depended on it. It wasn’t like any of that really mattered to Adaline, though. Guys weren’t her type, but she was more than willing to use their own stupidity against them if she gained from it.

  She stopped walking when she saw room 405 and felt the box ram into her back. “Hey,” she said, as a pain shot up her spine.

  “Sorry, I couldn’t see,” Sam said and then he blew his long, floppy fringe out of his face.

  “Well, you should be more careful,” Adaline scolded him, before pulling out the key she had been sent through the mail and opening the door to her new room.

  She ignored Sam’s following footsteps as she took in the dismal room that was in front of her. “Where is the rest of it?” she said, more to herself than to Sam, as she walked in and looked behind the door to see whether it was hiding more of the room behind it. She pulled her head back around and looked over to the two beds that were yet to be made. “Why are there two beds?” she asked, and this time it was aimed at Sam.

  Sam looked uncomfortable as she sharpened her eyes at him. “Well, these are dorm rooms. You share them,” he said with a small shrug.

  Adaline could hear fear in his voice, as though he knew giving her the wrong answer would result in him feeling some kind of pain. “I’m meant to share this cupboard with another person?” Adaline said in distaste, as she suddenly realized that everything she had believed about college was a lie. She let her legs drop from under her as she sat down on one of the beds. For a moment all she could do was shake her head.