Country

by Jeff Mann

  “So no man has really, truly made love to you? That’s incredible.”

  “Not really. It’s not like there’s a lot of opportunities to meet other gay guys in Randolph County, West Virginia. I didn’t really admit to myself that I wanted men till I was seventeen.”

  “Having a gay uncle didn’t help?”

  “Not a lot. Mommy ‘disapproved of his lifestyle,’ as she put it, and he lived way up in DC, so I never saw him all that much. Plus he was kinda flamboyant, and that put me off. I mean, like most country boys around here, I was raised to be real manly, y’know? If you’re not masculine, you get a lotta shit. So a sissy kinda gay guy, I didn’t know how to handle that, and I sure didn’t relate to it. Took me a while to figure out that you could be gay and manly too.”

  “I get you. It took me years to realize all that too. So what happened when you were seventeen?”

  “I got to working in Walmart. Before you know it, I had a crazy crush on a married man, a manager there. Big, brawny, bearded guy a lot like you. About your age too. Chris Gilbert. Man, he was fine, though he hardly knew I existed. Then I started whoring, and then there I was in prison.”

  “And you’ve been with no one since you got out?”

  Lucas snorted. “Hell, no. Not a one.”

  “Not even some of those WVU guys? Some of ‘em spent time here last summer, right? That Travis Ferrell kid is pretty cute.”

  “‘Kid’ is the operative word there. Travis is sweet, but he’s a kid. I’m attracted to men. So go on. You’d treat my tits just right, and then?”

  “Then…I’d hold your arms above your head and get my face in those fuzzy armpits of yours, lick and snuffle around, get my beard all rich with the smell of you.”

  “You like the way I smell?”

  Brice chuckled. “You bet I do. Especially after lifting weights. Screw cologne or deodorant. I like your natural musk. Just a whiff of it starts to get me hard.”

  “Damn. Okay. Then?”

  “Then I’d spend more time on your nips. I’d bury my face in that chest hair of yours, that little cinnamon-brown meadow you got there, and then I’d lick all those sexy tattoos, and then…. Well, I’d suck your cock. For a long, long time. I’d tug on your balls and get the taste of your pre-come all over my tongue.”

  “Sounding sweet. Then?”

  “Then I’d…. This is driving me crazy, Lucas. My dick’s about to explode.”

  “Mine too. Hold off. Keep going.”

  “Then I’d push my cock into your mouth and hold you down and make you suck me till I was almost there. Then we’d take a break and I’d hold you and kiss you again, work your tits till they were getting a little sore. Then I’d get you on your belly and spread your butt-cheeks, and I’d—”

  “Screw me?”

  “No. Not yet. I’d eat your ass. I’d bury my face between those beautiful butt-cheeks of yours and lick your hole.”

  Lucas sighed. He pressed his hard cock against Brice’s thigh. “Oh, man. No one’s ever done that.”

  “It’ll make you open up. Make you want me inside you. I’d eat your pretty ass for a long, long, long time, till you were begging me to—”

  “Fuck me. Yeah?”

  “Yeah. Lucas, I’m really hurting here. Major blue balls. Do you mind if I…?”

  “Jack off? Naw. Not yet. So then?”

  Brice groaned, with great effort keeping his hand from straying down to his dick. “So then I’d fuck you. Real slow and with lots of lube, so you won’t hurt. On your belly. On your side. On your hands and knees. On your back, so I can look down into your eyes. I’d tug your nipples and work your cock, and—”

  “Oh, damn,” Lucas groaned. “Okay. That’s enough.”

  Lucas gave Brice a quick peck on the cheek, then rolled away from him. The sudden gap created between their bodies made Brice flinch, as if a half-healed flesh wound had reopened.

  “Did I say or do something wrong?” Brice asked.

  “No. No.”

  “Does any of that…?” Brice cleared his throat. Damn, this is hard. I’m hard. But I knew what I was getting into. There are more important things here than shooting my spunk. “What I just said. Does any of that appeal to you?”

  “All of it. All of it,” Lucas muttered low. “I know you’re hurting. I’m hurting too, man. I’m starved. I’m starved for a man to…. I’m starved for you to…. Real soon, maybe. Please be patient. I think we’re almost there. Please?”

  “You got it,” Brice rasped, his throat dry. He gave his maddened cock a quick stroke, gazing over at the dark silhouette of Lucas beneath the blanket.

  “Brice?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Are you always Top?”

  “Yeah, pretty much.”

  “Have you ever bottomed?”

  “I got screwed pretty regular in college. Fraternity brother, Gerry, I had a big crush on. I didn’t like it. He always went too damn fast. Hurt like hell. I used to bite down on the pillow to keep from crying. I was kinda crazy about him, though, so I took it just to keep him around, to keep the sex going between us.”

  “Would you bottom for me?”

  “What? You wanna top me?”

  “Maybe. We’re just exploring future options here, right?”

  “Right.” Brice hesitated. “Hmmm. It’s been nearly twenty years since I got fucked. Plus, from what I’ve seen, your cock is pretty big. But….”

  Brice laughed quietly. “Hell, why not? Yeah, Lucas. Sure, I’d bottom for you. I’ll do anything that pleases you. When you’re ready to start something, ready to go further, I promise I’ll be ready too. Ready for anything you want.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. Anything, anytime.

  “Okay.” Lucas took a long breath. “Good night.”

  “Good night.”

  Heart and groin throbbing, Brice positioned himself onto his side, pulled one of the pillows from beneath his head, positioned it against his chest, and wrapped his arms around it. He gazed at Lucas, gazed at a shaft of moonlight, then closed his eyes. Sleep, he knew, would take its own sweet time returning.

  BRICE WOKE TO FIND LUCAS’S WARM and naked weight on top of him. The room was very dark, the moonlight gone. Lucas’s stiff cock pressed against Brice’s belly. Lucas’s mouth pressed against Brice’s lips.

  “Just lie there, okay?” Lucas whispered. “Let me do everything.” The boy’s tongue brushed against Brice’s own. “I don’t want you to hurt your back.”

  Brice nodded, heart thrilling and cock hardening. “Whatever you want,” he murmured against Lucas’s moist-mouthed attentions.

  Lucas cupped Brice’s right pec and tugged on his nipple. Brice groaned, arching against the boy’s touch, wrapping his arms around him. “Yeah. That’s great.”

  Lucas gripped Brice’s wrists and pushed them down to the older man’s sides. He took Brice’s right nipple into his mouth and sucked hard, a sensation so firm and sudden it was nearly painful. He shifted to the left nipple and sucked even harder. Brice moaned, bucking his hips, already trembling with long-delayed delight. Lucas rubbed his thick erection against Brice’s own. Brice wrapped a leg around Lucas’s waist and urged him closer, trapping both cocks between them. Breathing hard, they ground against one another. Soon, both men were thrusting steadily, grunting with rising rapture.

  “Oh, damn. I’m already getting close,” Lucas whimpered.

  “Yeah. Me too. Ohhh, man,” Brice panted, biting Lucas’s shoulder and humping the boy’s lean loins faster.

  “Oh! Oh, yeah!” Lucas jerked and gasped, shooting his come over Brice’s belly hair. Seconds later, Brice finished too, with a shout and a shudder, his semen spouting over Lucas’s thigh.

  Lucas slumped on top of Brice, releasing his wrists. Brice wrapped his arms around the boy. The two slipped into a smiling, post-orgasmic drowse. Their first lovemaking had lasted a little over a minute.

  After a sleepy interval, Lucas roused. “That didn’t take long,” he
said, stroking Brice’s chest hair, gently pinching a nipple.

  “No, it didn’t. I guess we were both pretty pent up. That was just wonderful. I’m surprised that you…. I mean, man, I’m grateful! But the way you’ve been talking, I figured it’d be weeks, maybe months before we….”

  “Me too.” Lucas kissed Brice on the chin. “I honestly figured that I wouldn’t be ready to get sexy with you for a while yet, but then tonight, I had a dream. A real intense dream. It woke me up.”

  “Yeah? What’d you dream?”

  Lucas rested his head against Brice’s chest. “I dreamed about Eric. He was naked, and I was too. He was lying on the floor of that penitentiary bathroom in a puddle of blood, his throat slit open and a knife in his chest, just like the night he died. He was staring up at me…those big blue eyes…. Then he gripped the shiv in his chest and pulled it out, and his chest broke open, and blood started welling out. It was like a little fountain, then it looked like flower petals arching up.”

  “Damn. That sounds horrible.”

  “It was horrible. But it was beautiful too, in a weird way. When I bent down to help him, Eric gripped my hand and pulled me closer, and he smiled and kissed me on the forehead, and he dipped his fingers in that brimming blood and he smeared it across my bare chest, and it burnt like fire.”

  Lucas cupped Brice’s limp cock in his hand. “I woke up with a jolt, shaking like a leaf, and I remembered that night two years ago, the look in Eric’s eyes as he died, and then I watched you sleep, and I looked at those huge shoulders of yours, and your handsome face and your bushy beard, and I remembered all the ways you said you wanted to make love to me, and I got hard thinking about all that and started jacking myself, and then I started to think of all the ways I want to make love to you, and then I said to myself, ‘Fuck, fool, time’s awastin’. Seize the day! You want this big, hot man, and he wants you. It’s a fucking miracle, and how often do those come along? Hell, we could die tomorrow. What are you waitin’ for? For you to heal up?’”

  Lucas gave Brice’s cock a soft squeeze. “I may never heal up, but that’s no reason to postpone the future. I ain’t ready for butt-fucking yet, but I’m guess I’m ready for more than I thought I was. Big surprise, huh?”

  “Big surprise, indeed. I’m awful glad you feel that way,” Brice murmured, running his fingers over Lucas’s muscled back.

  “Me too. I’m only now getting to the point where I even know what I’m feeling.”

  “Sure you’re not gonna have second thoughts tomorrow?”

  “I’m sure. I’m real sure. I know what I want now. I want more with you. More of you.” Lucas paused to wipe Brice’s semen off his own thigh. He licked it slowly, luxuriously off his hand.

  “Ummm. Yum. One taste, and I think I’m already addicted to this stuff.” When he kissed Brice again, Brice could taste his own salty juice on the boy’s softly probing tongue.

  “Addicted? I hope so.”

  “Yep. I think I might have to milk you regular-like.”

  “I think you might, ‘cause I intend to stick around. After tonight, no way you’re getting rid of me.” Brice chuckled, rolling them over and pulling Lucas into his big arms.

  “You better stick around,” Lucas said, taking Brice’s hand. “I’ve waited too long for a night like this.”

  “Me too. And now it’s here. Unbelievable.”

  “Unbelievable. Truer words were never spoken. More to come. More to come,” Lucas whispered, voice already hoarsening with sleep.

  “I sure hope so,” Brice said, kissing the boy’s back and caressing his whiskered cheek. Hope? Yep. At last. We’ve both been starved. Now, looks like God’s decided it’s time we were fed.

  BRICE OPENED HIS EYES TO FIRST light and the greatest happiness he’d ever known. Lucas lay sleeping only a few inches away, on his back, his left forearm sprawled above his head. Brice ever so gently pulled the blankets down to Lucas’s waist and gazed on the boy’s bare chest, scarred ribs, and belly. He lifted the blankets far enough to see his limp cock, reddish-brown pubic hair, and fur-coated thighs. He studied Lucas’s sleeping face: the close-cut chestnut beard, the blunt nose, the long eyelashes, the thick eyebrows, the full lips, the black hoops in his ears.

  Brice pulled the blankets up over Lucas’s torso, lay back, and closed his eyes. Thank You, he prayed. Whoever You are. Whoever made me. You made this universe…the Great Bear and the crescent moon, the spruce forests and the sunsets, the bluebells and the rivers and the scarlet amaryllis…You made this handsome kid lying here beside me…his sweet face, his muscled body, the feelings that flood me every time I look at him. It’s like I was dead but now I’ve been born again. Thank You! All praise to Your Name! All the pain I’ve been through, it’s been well worth it, ‘cause it brought me here, to this hillside, to this bed, to this sweet, wounded, beautiful boy. He looks like a scruffy lil’ angel sleeping. He….

  Brice rose. Back aching, he slipped out of bed, moving stiffly to the desk. There he found what he was looking for: a legal pad and a pen. The melody he’d composed in the newly created “Lucas Tuning” came to him, and now words came too. He began to jot down a flood of lyrics.

  Half an hour later, Brice tore the sheet off the notepad and read through the messy scrawl he’d made, stanzas already pocked with cross-outs and scribbled revisions.

  First time I’ve ever written an honest song, he thought, complete with the correct pronoun.

  He carefully folded the paper. Locating his jeans, which Lucas had draped over the back of an armchair, he slipped the lyrics into a pocket before clambering back into bed.

  “HEY, HANDSOME,” BRICE MUTTERED, RUBBING his eyes. Lucas was snuggling against him from behind, the boy’s hand ranging lazily through Brice’s belly hair.

  “Morning.” Lucas rubbed his whiskers along the back of Brice’s neck. “How’d you sleep?”

  “Great. You?”

  “Great. I had a big ole man to keep me warm all night. You put off a lotta heat. Think I’m gonna nickname you ‘Furry Furnace’ from now on.”

  Brice rolled over and took Lucas in his arms. “Sounds like another song title. Speaking of which, I wrote a song about you this morning.”

  Lucas grinned. “This morning? Really?”

  “Yep. I woke up at dawn and watched you sleep, and then I got to thinking about how sweet last night was.”

  “You’re telling me.” Lucas nibbled Brice’s chin. “Too short, though. Next time, let’s make it last longer.”

  “So you still don’t have second thoughts? There’s gonna be a next time?”

  “Damn straight there will be. As a certain Nashville cohort of yours would sing, ‘I like it, I love it, I want some more of it.’”

  “That’s mighty fine to hear.” Brice fingered Lucas’s right nipple. “Next time, I’m gonna be wanting to play with these tasty little things. Long as that’s all right with you.”

  “After last night, I’m pretty sure I’m ready for that. So you gonna sing me that song?”

  “Give me a few days to polish it. Then maybe I’ll play it for you.” Bending, Brice kissed the patch of rust-colored hair between Lucas’s well-shaped pecs. “But only if you let me spend a couple of hours making love to that beautiful chest of yours. Those nipples…. Man, I—”

  A hard pounding on the door downstairs interrupted Brice.

  “What the shit?” Lucas bounded out of bed and peered out the window.

  “Cain’t see who it is. Better not be more reporters.” Lucas threw open a drawer and jerked out an over-sized pair of black gym trunks.

  “If it is, I’ll—” Brice sat up, only to gasp at the sharp pain in his back.

  Lucas frowned. “You take it easy. I’ll handle this,” he said, tugging on the shorts. “Tell you what. There’s the phone. There’s the number for the police on that notepad there. If it’s more of those assholes, you can sic the cops on ‘em. Okay?”

  “Okay.” Brice, wincing, managed to balance on the edge
of the bed. “So much for me being your great protector, huh?”

  Lucas cupped Brice’s chin in his hand, tilted his head up, and kissed him on the mouth. “We’re in this together, buddy. Sometimes you protect me. Sometimes I protect you. Deal?”

  “Deal,” Brice sighed, trying to smile despite the discomfort. “But Lucas, don’t—”

  “I know what you’re gonna say. I ain’t getting in any scrape with anybody, I promise. I really have a reason to stay outta prison now.”

  With that, Lucas pulled on a ball cap and stomped downstairs. Brice moved gingerly along the edge of the bed till the phone was within reach. When he heard the sharp sounds of Lucas shouting and cussing, he punched in the number. When a woman answered, he cleared his throat and began.

  “Yeah, this is Brice Brown up at Philip Roger’s place, up Brantley Valley. I’m calling for his nephew, Lucas Bryan. We need a favor. Chief Willey told us to call if….”

  “IT WAS THAT SAME STAR reporter,” Lucas said, peeling off his gym shorts. “That West guy, the fucker.” Brice watched as Lucas pulled on another maddeningly skimpy pair of briefs.

  “Him again? I figured Amie’s gunfire would have sent him away for good.”

  “I wish it had.” Lucas fetched a pair of jeans from the closet. “This one’s stubborn. He got a few more photos before all my threats about calling the cops drove him off.”

  “Good. The police said they’d be here in half a hour.”

  “I’ll call ‘em here in a minute and tell ‘em the shithead left.” Lucas tugged on the pants, then, sitting on the desk chair, pulled on socks and then a pair of lace-up work boots. “After that, I have a few chores to do.”

  “What? Where are you going?”

  “I’m driving up to Buckhannon to Lowe’s. I’m gonna install a goddamn gate today, and I’m gonna set some electric fence. And get some ‘Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted’ signs. I’m sick of this shit. You came here for some peace and quiet, and peace and quiet’s what you’re gonna get.”

  “You want me to—”