Two Spirits

by Jory Strong

  With a downward sweep of his eyes, Tenino sent a pulse of heat into Trey's cock. "Better be careful what you ask for." But he freed Trey from the cuffs.

  Trey got off the bed grinning. "So does the sheriff know that's how you use police-issue equipment?"

  "I got a little carried away," Tenino admitted, his face reddening and kicking Trey's heart over at how totally endearing slightly embarrassed looked on Tenino.

  "Well, I won't say anything. But I'm thinking my silence should come at a price."

  "Oh yeah?"

  The rough, dark edge to Tenino's voice had Trey's cock ready to harden again. "Yeah. Like next time you're in the mood to play a little bondage game, you're the one who gets cuffed."

  "Any time you think you can take me down, go for it."

  Images of wrestling naked, fighting for the dominant position had Trey taking himself in hand. "I thought you were hot to get to the nearest bookstore," Tenino said, the rough timber of his voice like a phantom hand reaching inside Trey and stroking.

  It took Trey a second to remember asking where the closest bookstore was when they'd finished shooting. He circled his cock head with his thumb, rubbed over the slit, challenged. "Guess it can wait until this gets old."

  Tenino snorted and gripped Trey's testicles with his free hand and pleasure spiked through Trey. "You think this could ever get old?"

  Trey fought the urge to flop backward onto the mattress, to cant his hips and spread his legs. One fuck and he was an addict where Tenino was concerned.

  The phone rang. Tenino released him. "To be continued," Tenino said, pressing a quick kiss to Trey's lips. "That'll be Tekoa checking to make sure everything's okay. One of us should bring in some of the wood stacked on the porch so we can keep this place warm."

  Trey laughed. "One of us being the poor city slicker who you think doesn't know how to deal with a fire in the fireplace."

  "Do you?"

  "How hard can it be?"

  Tenino's cocky smile made heat flare in Trey's chest. "Good question. We'll have to see just how hard things can get."

  Tenino walked to the desk, totally at ease with his nakedness and Trey remained motionless, unable to look away from firm muscles and autumn-brown skin. Tenino picked up the phone, turned toward him and took himself in hand as he spoke into the receiver and said, "Oh yeah, the schoolteacher and I are getting along just fine. Any word from the Feds?"

  A different type of heat exploded in Trey's face. Tekoa probably had a pretty good idea what they'd been doing.

  Trey escaped to the bathroom, showered quickly then got dressed and went outside.

  Gathering an armful of wood, he inhaled deeply, pulled clean air along with the scent of evergreens and damp earth and the approaching storm into his lungs. He'd spent most of his life in the city though he'd hiked in areas set aside as preserves. But compared to here, those places seemed…tame, refined, less…

  He struggled to pinpoint the difference until the low clap of distant thunder was followed by the phantom drumbeat and then he got it. This land seemed ancient and primordial enough to have a heartbeat, as if it were a place of magic like those captured in legends and folktales.

  Trey stepped back inside. Tenino was off the phone.

  "Any news?" he asked, going to the fireplace and setting the wood on the hearth.

  "Nothing good, at least when it comes to your being Patricia Veron's target."

  "What does that mean?"

  Tenino joined him at the fireplace, smoothed his hand along the mantle edge. "A fight broke out in the prison cafeteria a little while ago. One of her uncles was shanked while the guards were distracted. I think it's safe to say he was the target all along. Child molesters aren't popular. Doesn't look like he's going to survive."

  He'd met both of them, liked them both, and maybe they'd once been innocent victims. But they'd grown up and ruined lives, perpetuated the cycle of sexual abuse.

  Bad childhoods didn't give them a pass for the life-scarring choices they'd made. And he didn't ask which man might die.

  Trey touched the thunderbird carved into the mantle. "I can see how this land gave birth to the thunderbird. There's something about it, something almost mystical. I keep imagining I'm hearing a drum, and sometimes there's chanting."

  Tenino's chest expanded with the return of hope. "We call it singing," he said, keeping his voice level, matter-of-fact, when what he really wanted to do was question, cross-examine, secure every bit of evidence proving Trey was meant to be his permanent partner.

  "Oh," Trey said. "Sorry."

  "No offense taken." He tapped his fingers on the mantle. "Ukiah made this."

  Trey looked away, blushed. "Tekoa mentioned him when we were in the sheriff's office."

  Tenino grinned. Wondering if Tekoa's gaydar was pinging as hard as mine? The answer is yes. Wondering if Tekoa knows we've been going at it hot and heavy? I didn't kiss, touch, fuck or otherwise tell, but the answer is still yes.

  He refrained from teasing Trey. "Ukiah is Tekoa's brother, my cousin. He's an artist. Also operates a lodge, complete with private cabins, for people who come here to hike and rock climb but don't necessarily want to rough it in tents. These days he's got a waiting list and there are always people begging to stay during the winter when he closes."

  "I can understand it. This place feels ancient. It feels magical."

  Trey's blush deepened and amusement was replaced by tenderness and a more pervasive swell of hope. "The land has a way of holding you, making it almost impossible to leave. I managed it once. Worked as a cop in Los Angeles then in San Francisco. But I couldn't stay away. When I came home, I felt whole." And I don't want to lose that feeling.

  Trey nodded, ducked his head so his hair completely hid his expression. Tenino wanted to reach over and pull the strands of gold back, or better, pull Trey against him and prevent him from hiding.

  Shit, it'd all happened so fast. It was way too soon to talk about something that transcended the pleasure of fucking and was more about the spirit than the body.

  He grimaced. In a minute he'd be reciting poetry. Then how fast would Trey run?

  "So the name of your tribe translates into People of the Thunderbird," Trey said, his voice holding a hint of a question, as if he didn't want to risk saying or straying into something sensitive.

  Tenino sighed. Sometimes political correctness was a fucking pain in the ass. He curled his arm around Trey's waist and gave him a quick kiss. "Just ask. I'm a gay cop. You think I can't handle anything you can dish out? What is it you want to know?"

  "What does the thunderbird mean to you?"

  "Short answer, the Thunderbird serves the Creator by guarding the land, just as The People serve by protecting and caring for it." It was the best he could do, the truth as much as he could tell it. Once his people had been so much more, but…

  Tenino turned his thoughts away from anger and bitterness. The past couldn't be forgotten. Neither could it be changed, and there wasn't a hell of a lot of point in blaming anyone alive today for wrongs their ancestors had committed.

  He was one of The People. He was Thunderbird. But he was also American. A cop. A man who enjoyed technology but still revered the natural world.

  "I want to show you something," he said, releasing Trey, sudden impulse riding him.

  He took a quick shower, got dressed then went to the table. Picking up several guns, he carried them to the weapons safe. Trey collected the rest of them, handed them to him so he could put them in their proper places.

  "Does the sheriff's department have budget problems?" Trey joked. "Looks like an arsenal in there."

  "Hazard of the trade. I don't know a single cop who'd settle for just an on-duty piece."

  "Won't do you much good if you have to get to them fast."

  "If I need this much fire power, I'm in deep shit. I've got my service piece and the shotgun that stays in the Jeep. The chance of someone breaking into the cabin is remote but I don't like to take unn
ecessary risks. Last thing I want is for one of my guns to turn up at a crime scene."

  Tenino put on a shoulder holster, then slipped his Smith and Wesson service piece into it. He didn't expect trouble, but that didn't mean he wouldn't be prepared for it. Closing the safe, he stepped away, stopped because of a sudden tightness in his chest.

  His touched the keypad on the safe, hit a series of codes, then asked, "When's your birthday?"

  He keyed in the date. Felt ridiculous at putting so much meaning into trusting Trey with access to the guns, but… Hell, label it the strange twists and turns of falling in love.

  "Just in case I'm not here and you need protection, it's keyed for your birthday. Just hit TM first so it'll match the user with the code."

  Trey visibly shivered. "Hopefully that's not information I'll ever need."

  "Yeah, well, that's the plan. Better grab your jacket. A storm's moving in. I think we can make it to the place I want to show you and back before it hits."

  * * * * *

  Chapter 6

  Trey followed Tenino outside. He expected them to take the Jeep but instead Tenino stopped only long enough to retrieve the shotgun before going to the stand-alone garage with doors that opened sideways.

  "ATV's on this side," Tenino said, grabbing the handle on the left and pulling to create an opening just wide enough for a four-wheeler.

  "Just one?" Trey asked, his cock reacting to the idea of riding with his arm around Tenino's waist and his front pressed to Tenino's back, even if the little kid in him wanted his own ATV.

  "A guy can only ride one at time. But there's room in the garage for two."

  Trey's heart tripped into its Morse code tapping.

  Say you'll stay.

  Say you'll stay.

  Say you'll stay.

  If he did, he wouldn't have to hide that he was gay. Not when the sheriff openly kissed his male lover and was obviously part of a threesome. Not that it'd be a secret anyway if he lived here with Tenino.

  Yesterday, their waitress's eyes had been full of speculation, but the next time he and Tenino entered the diner, she'd have her answer. There'd be no hiding he was Tenino's lover.

  His skin iced and pebbled. His throat locked. His heart banged harder, this time saying coward, coward, coward.

  The shotgun went into a sheath secured to the ATV. Tenino rolled the four-wheeler through the open doorway.

  Trey closed the door. The ATV engine rumbled to life. He slid onto the seat behind Tenino and within minutes understood why they hadn't taken the Jeep.

  The trail was steep and narrow and pock-marked. It was dark in places, shaded by thick evergreen trees.

  Every low spot sent a shower of muddy water over their legs and had him wishing for jeans instead of sweatpants. It felt like they were heading straight up the side of a mountain and when they finally leveled out and cleared the trees, Trey's breath caught.

  Below was a valley with vast tracks of old-growth forest containing trees that had been alive for thousands of years. And in front of them, around them, above them were snowcapped mountains.

  Tenino cut the engine and Trey slid from the seat. Tenino got off the four-wheeler and the two of them stood on a small rocky plateau that felt like an ancient gateway.

  In the distance the storm gathered. Dark clouds formed and reformed, served as a backdrop for splintered bolts of lightning.

  Thunder rolled across the land. Power vibrated through the air, primal, unstoppable, uncontainable—destructive but also life-giving.

  "Thunderbirds fly here," Tenino said and Trey could only nod. In this moment, in this place, with this man, he could believe in legend and myth.

  Longing filled him, sinking in like talons driven into his heart. Tenino had said he was whole in these lands.

  He wanted what Tenino had found here, that sense of being whole.

  It's just a matter of courage, his heart scratched out like a chalked message across a blackboard.

  Tenino was more than a gay man. He was a cop. A Native American. A protector, a son, a cousin, a thousand other things.

  While I'm hung up on only one of those things, being gay. And have been since I was twelve and got an erection for Aaron.

  He'd been convinced he was going straight to hell then. He'd become certain when the fantasies became more detailed and erotic as he grew older. And he'd never confronted that belief, not in high school, not in college, not when he moved back home to take care of his mother.

  And now? If a student or friend or fellow teacher came out to him, would he think their desire to be with someone of the same sex was a sin?

  No. Hell no. A thousand times no!

  The first drops of rain hit, cold and gentle, but they didn't chill him. He turned toward Tenino, hooked a hand in the front pocket of Tenino's jeans and pulled him forward.

  "Thanks for bringing me here," he said, initiating the kiss.

  He regretted the dishonesty he'd brought to his relationships with women. But he wasn't sorry that there hadn't been anyone before Tenino.

  Tenino's arms wrapped around him and it was like being home. Their tongues rubbed, twined, their bodies heating, needing, finally driving them apart so they could get somewhere and satisfy the desire.

  "Ready?" Tenino asked, voice husky, dark raptor's eyes probing, as if sensing the difference in Trey, the peace he'd found for himself.

  He'd try and explain it when they got back to the cabin. "Ready."

  They got on the ATV and Tenino fired the engine. But as the four wheeler kicked forward, the phantom sound of drums beating had Trey looking back and his heart syncing with the thump, thump, thump, thump, thump of quickening drums.

  An old man sat astride a horse where no man or horse could be. They were on the edge of the precipice as if it really was a gateway, as if they were the land personified.

  Braided into the man's hair and horse's mane were red, yellow and blue feathers. They lifted and fluttered, caught and played with by the wind.

  The ATV hit a crater. Trey blinked and the old man and horse disappeared.

  Real? Imagined? Something else to talk to Tenino about when they got to the cabin.

  Thunderbirds fly here, Tenino had said. And in these lands, Trey was willing to believe he'd actually seen the old man on horseback.

  They headed downward, and the descent was a death defying ride that was equal parts exhilaration and terror. He clung to Tenino, was fairly certain he'd left his heart and stomach and most of his nervous system somewhere higher up on the mountain by the time they got to the smooth, wide, gentle trails.

  The wildness coursing through him needed an outlet and he knew just what form it should take. His arms loosened so his hands could go to the front of Tenino's jeans.

  "I take it you like living on the edge," Trey said, exploring the bulge he found, deciding one wild ride deserved another.

  "Shit," Tenino said, his voice catching.

  Trey measured the length and hardness of the erection protected by denim, then found the button, the zipper, and freed them.

  The four-wheeler slowed, bucked with the unintentional application of brakes.

  Trey wrapped his fingers around Tenino's cock.

  "Unfair," Tenino panted.

  Trey laughed. "Definitely fair. Any jury would rule in my favor after what you just put me through."

  "You enjoyed it."

  "And you're enjoying this," Trey said, exploring the soft skin and wet tip of Tenino's cock.

  Tenino hit the gas and raced to the cabin. Stopping the ATV a few feet away from the garage, he covered the hand on his dick. "A quickie then I was thinking we could head to one of my cousin's places. Tonight's the night a bunch of us usually get together to talk smack and do karaoke."

  Trey's heart rabbited. His arm muscle flexed and if not for Tenino's hand covering his, he'd have snatched it away from Tenino's cock like a kid caught doing something wrong.

  Tenino released him. "Does that mean you're going to go b
ack to pretending you're not gay?"

  "I'm gay, already, okay?" But he'd only just gotten all right with that. Couldn't coming out to the world wait another day?

  He slid off the ATV. Grabbed the garage door handle. Pulled.

  A gun fired from somewhere to the right of the building. Tenino jerked and fell forward, tumbling off the ATV and landing on his back.

  "No!" No. No. No. No. No.

  He grabbed Tenino. Dragged him into the garage.

  Rain beat against the roof. It was muted by the thunder of Trey's heart, his frantic, harsh breathing.

  Blood soaked the front of Tenino's jacket. It leaked from the corner of his mouth along with bubbles of air.

  No! No! This couldn't be happening.

  Trey stripped his jacket off, pressed it to the wound in Tenino's chest and applied pressure.

  Footsteps crunched gravel, getting closer and closer.

  Too late he thought about the shotgun in its sheath on the ATV.

  His hands shook but he pulled Tenino's gun from the shoulder holster. He needed to get to a phone, a car, to—

  "You betrayed me," Patricia said, stepping into the doorway, a gun held against her thigh. "You ruined my life and destroyed my family. Now you're going to pay."

  Trey found the gun's safety and pushed it into the disabled position. His hands were covered in blood. His mind was a white haze consumed with the will to survive, the absolute need to do whatever it took to save Tenino.

  Patricia laughed, a sound holding a deep well of hatred, a thirst for violent revenge whose origins were anchored in the abuse she'd suffered as a child at the hands of her father and uncles. She smiled savagely as she brought the hand holding the gun up.

  Their eyes met. Held for a surreal instant.

  Trey pulled the trigger.

  It struck her in the heart, only she wasn't one of the paper targets. She crumpled and lay face up in the storm, eyes staring blindly as the rain struck.

  He dropped the gun. Pressed his palms to the wadded, bloody jacket on Tenino's chest. There was no movement beneath his hands.

  His gaze jerked to Tenino's face. A sob choked Trey at seeing lifeless, dulling eyes.