Tears of Life

by Shea Balik

  It wasn’t right that he felt the need to sneak out of the house so no one would try to stop him with another food request. Yet, that’s exactly what he did. Tiptoeing while holding a large picnic basket in one hand and a cooler in the other, wasn’t exactly easy.

  And he didn’t feel safe even when he’d gotten the door closed as he waited outside. It wouldn’t be until they were on horseback heading up the mountainside that he would finally be able to really take a deep, calming breath.

  The door opened just as Fritjof came around the corner of the house. “A picnic,” Fritjof said. “That’s a great idea. Wylie’s been on edge lately trying to get the others to work together when it comes to their magic. I don’t suppose you’d be willing…”

  “No, he wouldn’t,” Mingus said not even letting Fritjof finish. “He is spending the day with me. You want food, go make it yourself.”

  Then his determined man grabbed the cooler in one hand, Oluf’s now free hand in his other and tugged until they were racing across the field to the barn, laughing as they went.

  Oluf was wrong. It hadn’t taken them until they were on that mountain for him to breathe. It had taken Mingus.

  “I think I’m going to have to keep you around,” Oluf teased. “If you can keep talking to the guys like that, I might not need to be chained the kitchen all the time.”

  “Chained?” Hrafn asked with a frown. “I thought you liked to cook.”

  It wasn’t until Hrafn asked the question that Oluf realized he was beginning to hate it. Except, he wasn’t. Not really. “I do,” he told his friend, and Mingus, who was staring at him intently as if he really wanted to know the answer to that question too. “I guess..”

  What?

  But he knew. Staring into those sky blue eyes, Oluf knew.

  “I do love it,” he said to Mingus more than Hrafn. “I’ve just resented the time it has taken me from getting to know you.”

  “I know the feeling,” Mingus told him.

  Oluf wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. He was their cook and he did love it. Would his being in the kitchen put a wedge between them even if they did fall in love?

  “Maybe you just need a break,” Hrafn told him. “I know none of us can cook, but what if you make a bunch of those casseroles like you do when there’s a ritual coming?” For someone that people tended to think of as slow mentally, it seemed to be Hrafn who came up with the best ideas.

  “What casseroles?” Mingus asked Hrafn.

  “Usually we are sent out to help druids who are in danger during the rituals,” Hrafn told him. “Because we never know how long we’ll be gone, Oluf makes a whole freezer full of different casseroles and writes the instructions for heating them up on top of each one. That way, if he’s gone for several days, we don’t starve.”

  Oluf went over and hugged his friend. “That’s a perfect idea, Hrafn. Thank you for thinking of it.”

  His friend blushed a bit as he turned to the stalls. “I take it you two are going horseback riding before your picnic,” he said. “I’ll just saddle up two horses for you.”

  “You know?” Mingus said. “I think you might be right about Hrafn.” Oluf had warned Mingus that sometimes Hrafn didn’t say the right thing, not because he was trying to be mean, but because he didn’t always understand how what he was saying would sound. “I mean, yeah, there are times he needs things explained, but he really is smart. More importantly, when it comes to the people he loves, he does everything in his power to help. That’s a good quality in a person.”

  When Hrafn came back he was grinning from ear to ear. He must have heard Mingus and Oluf was glad he did. It wasn’t long before they got settled on their horses with the picnic basket and cooler, Oluf led Mingus to the path he wanted to take. When they got to the path that would lead them up the mountain, he reached over and placed a hand on Mingus’s thigh to get his attention.

  “Thank you for saying that about Hrafn. It hasn’t always been easy for him.” There were times it had been downright sad the way people felt they had the right to hurt him.

  Too often Hrafn would hide from others, refusing to interact with anyone. All that changed when he met Teagan. That man made Hrafn smile all the time. More importantly, Hrafn felt confident to voice his opinion more often, like he had in the barn a few minutes ago.

  Mingus gave him a beautiful smile. “I was only telling the truth.” Then his eyes lit up as he said, “Now, lead me to this special place you have planned for our picnic.”

  Oluf couldn’t help but smile back. “That I will, sexy. That I most definitely will.”

  With any luck, he’d even have the chance to kiss those full lips.

  CHAPTER 11

  “Your mom must have really loved your dad, huh?” They had been asking questions for the past hour as they rode up the mountain and along a ridge before finally descending on the other side. It was everything Mingus had dreamed of when he finally found that someone to love.

  Wait.

  Love?

  Was that what he was feeling?

  Mingus wasn’t sure. Then again, he’d never had much of a boyfriend before. The few guys he had gone out with usually didn’t ask him on a second date once they realized he wasn’t going to have sex with them. Well, not right away.

  Mingus had wanted to find someone special. Yeah, he knew that wasn’t the ‘guy’ thing to say, but Mingus had never understood that. Why should it matter what gender one was when it came to sex? To him, it represented a commitment to each other. He wasn’t necessarily requiring marriage, but Mingus also didn’t want cheap, meaningless, one-night stands.

  Oluf let out a small chuckle as if he were remembering a happy memory. “Yeah, she did. I think she might have loved him more than he loved her, but they were happy.”

  “Did she teach you how to cook or did you have to learn that later?” He had been fascinated with some of the stories from Oluf’s childhood. To have a first-hand account of what it was like growing up as an actual Viking was downright astonishing.

  No. It was so much more than that. Mingus wasn’t sure he would have survived back then without all the modern conveniences, but it would have been cool to experience it.

  “Nah.” Oluf steered them to the right when they reached the bottom of the mountain. The path narrowed a bit, but they made it work so they could still ride side by side. “My da would have beat me if he’d found me doing something only women did.”

  “See?” Mingus shook his head. “That would have been a miserable way to live. I would have hated being told what I could and couldn’t do just because I’m male.”

  Oluf gave a shrug. “There were times I wished it could be different, but the fact was, it was the only way we knew how to live. The thought of not following in the path set out for each of us wasn’t even a question. We just did.”

  Huh. Mingus had never really thought of it that way. “I guess that would be true. Even today, in a way. Kids tend to follow their parents when it comes to religion, politics, and often even careers. I mean, not to the same degree as it was back then, but there are plenty who just follow along, perfectly happy.”

  Hell, he knew many of those kids. “And hunters,” he groaned. “They might be the worst. It’s like once they’ve shot an animal there’s no going back.”

  “Is that what turned you off of eating meat? Seeing hunters?” Oluf asked as they walked into a breathtaking meadow.

  Mingus gasped as he looked around. There were still a few flowers mixed in with the grass. He imagined it would be bursting with blooms in the middle of summer. “This is…” he lost the ability to speak, or even think of adjectives that might begin to describe the sheer beauty before them.

  Instead, Mingus reached out his hand, which thankfully Oluf took since he hadn’t been able to look away from the splendor of nature’s gift to see where Oluf’s hand was. “Thank you,” he finally managed to whispered. “I just…” A lump formed in his throat as he continued to stare over the grassy
meadow.

  His hand was lifted up and Mingus felt a warmth press against the surface of his skin. A tingle started at that point and skittered along his arm, sending a shiver down his spine.

  Suddenly, the view couldn’t begin to hold his attention as he looked over at Oluf, who’s lips were still pressed against the back of his hand. “Oh.” His voice was breathy with nerves and… desire?

  He lifted his gaze from where Oluf’s lips touched his skin to the man’s eyes. Golden flecks glowed as Oluf stared back.

  Yeah. It was definitely desire. Mingus was almost dizzy with how hard it was hitting him. Never had he wanted anyone as he did Oluf in this moment. Not that he would do anything, for they didn’t know each other well enough. That didn’t mean Mingus couldn’t appreciate the attraction between them.

  “I wasn’t thrilled to see the hunters when we first moved to Michigan, but it hadn’t turned me off of meat.” Mingus frowned at the thought of Mr. Salis.

  “My senior year in high school, we had this activist for a teacher, Mr. Salis. We were supposed to be learning math.” That had been a joke. Good thing Mingus hadn’t been able to afford college right away or he might have been more pissed about not learning anything about trigonometry.

  “Instead he would show us movies that depicted the danger of drilling for oil. Or, my favorite, how the food industry is making us fat.” That one still stumped him. “I mean, I get what they put into a lot of our food is wrong, but, we were eighteen, we lived off of processed food and nothing about that documentary was going to stop me from eating chips, candy, or French fries.”

  Oluf had swung his leg over the back of his horse. When he was on the ground, he came over and helped Mingus down. He didn’t actually need it, but it was nice to know Oluf was a gentleman.

  “Anyway,” he said as his own feet touched the ground and then started carrying the picnic basket and cooler to a spot near the edge of the trees so they could have some shade if it became too warm. “One of the movies he showed was how animals were sent to processing plants to be butchered.”

  Mingus shivered. He couldn’t help it. Every time he remembered that stupid movie, he was creeped out all over again. “They were so mean to those poor animals. I mean, I got where the meat came from when we bought it at the store.” Although, he hated to think about it at the time.

  “But that doesn’t mean they needed to treat those sweet animals with so much… I don’t know… indifference? I guess. It was as if the fact that the animal was a living breathing thing didn’t matter.” Oluf handed him a bottle of water.

  Grateful, Mingus drank down half of it. He had been parched between the ride and all the talking they’d been doing. As Oluf pulled out a blanket and spread it on the ground, Mingus forgot all about what he’d been talking about.

  “You’re trying to romance me,” he stated quite baldly. He hadn’t meant to sound quite so accusatory, but he was stunned.

  There was that damned wink that always sent the butterflies in his stomach fluttering. “Damn right,” Oluf said. “And there’s a lot more to come.”

  Mingus let out a laugh at that. “No one’s ever tried to…” What was the word?

  “Woo you,” Oluf provided as he straightened after placing the picnic basket on one corner of the blanket and the cooler on another so the breeze wouldn’t blow it away. Then he came right up to Mingus, getting into the personal space Mingus usually tried to keep between them.

  Except now… he leaned a little closer as Oluf’s large hands landed on his hips. There were only a few inches that separated them, but instead of backing up like he usually had since they’d met, Mingus found that he didn’t want to move. Maybe forward, but definitely not backward.

  “Yeah,” he said with a slight giggle that just sounded wrong to his ears. It was as if his nerves had sent his voice two octaves higher than it was supposed to be.

  Everything around him was spinning and Mingus began to panic as he was having trouble forcing his lungs to keep working. Yet, there was no way he was ready to move away, especially as Oluf’s head was leaning in as if he intended to kiss Mingus.

  Did he want that? He liked Oluf. Who the hell was his kidding? He was falling for the man, hard. Between the butterflies flapping their wings wildly, his throat suddenly becoming as dry as the Sahara, and his brain screaming at him to both run and meet Oluf, all Mingus could manage was to stand there and wait.

  Beautiful green eyes with little flecks of gold were staring right into his. A question was in their depths, but Mingus wasn’t sure he could answer it, for all ability to speak was lost. He wasn’t even sure his brain was functioning to create words, much less say them out loud.

  Less than an inch separated their lips when Oluf stopped to wait for Mingus to answer his silent question. The world had suddenly gone still as the endless ways this could play out went through Mingus’s head. But only one caused a slow burn within his body. One that he desperately wanted quenched.

  From one breath to the next, Mingus closed the distance between them, sealing their mouths together in the kiss that he’d been secretly dreaming about since he laid eyes on this man.

  And, oh, was reality so much better than any dream ever could be. He was surprised at how soft Oluf’s firm looking lips actually were as the man kissed along Mingus’s lower lip and then his upper lip before aligning them with his. It was sensual and so damn sweet, that Mingus could feel his heart melting.

  The few guys Mingus had kissed in the past had none of Oluf’s finesse or attention to detail. They would just thrust their tongue in while trying to get into his pants. But Oluf didn’t do any of that.

  He never even attempted to slide his tongue into Mingus’s mouth. Yet, even then, it was the most sensual and intimate kiss he’d ever shared. Their breaths mingled as they parted their lips just slightly and Mingus was hooked.

  Because Oluf, still the gentleman that he was, never took it any further than that. Mingus could feel the press of Oluf’s fingers digging into one hip as if he was struggling to keep himself under control. The other hand traced a feather light path up along his side and over his shoulder before cupping Mingus’s jaw.

  How someone so big and strong could make him feel like a he was a fragile, cherished gift was something Mingus would remember for the rest of his life. For it was there, in that breathtaking meadow, surrounded by nature, with birds singing in the trees and the breeze blowing softly along their bodies, that Mingus realized one important thing.

  There was no longer a question of what his feelings for this amazingly sweet, gentle man were. No doubts about whether or not he could open up and let Oluf in. Not even a single concern about if they could find a way to spend time together because Oluf was so busy in the kitchen.

  Visions of him sitting at the table watching the man work, or even helping him as they prepared the meals, swam around in his head. But it was what happened after, that made everything change in that moment for Mingus. All he could see was him lying in this man’s arms every night as they slept.

  Mingus was in love with Oluf. He wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but he knew it to be true deep in his soul.

  CHAPTER 12

  Oluf was sure he was walking on air for the next several days after his picnic with Mingus. Nothing, not even the long hours in the kitchen, could sour his mood. Of course, part of that had to do with the fact that now when Mingus joined him in the kitchen, things weren’t so… strained.

  Their conversation was easier. Mingus was more comfortable around him, often even initiating touch, or once in a while a kiss. Yep. Oluf was flying high.

  “I smell bacon,” Arne sing-songed as he waltzed into the kitchen with his arm around Dermot. The pair looked happy as they grabbed plates and started filling them.

  It wasn’t until Arne sat down and put the bacon strip to his mouth that Mingus said, “Hope you like it because it’s veggie bacon.”

  Arne’s face fell as he literally flung the piece of bacon across the
table, hitting Bjorn in the face. “Hey,” Bjorn yelled. “Why are you throwing it at me? I’m not the one forcing you to eat veggie bacon.”

  Then Bjorn picked up the strip, which had fallen onto the table before him, and shoved it in his mouth. “But I have to say, for non-bacon, it’s not half-bad.”

  “Half-bad?” Arne cried. “Half-bad? I don’t want half-bad. I want bacon.”

  Oluf spun to face the stove. He had to or Arne would see the laughter in his eyes and know it was all a joke. Quickly, he cracked a few more eggs and placed them on the pan he’d put back on the burner.

  “You could at least try it before deciding you don’t like it,” Mingus told him.

  Oluf had turned back around, prepared to defend Mingus if Arne decided to attack him, which considering it was about bacon, anything was possible. Dermot, who must have decided he should help his lover out, took a strip and bit into it. His eyes widened and then looked right at Oluf.

  Because Arne was staring at Dermot like he’d lost his damn mind for even taking a bite, Oluf was able to grin at Dermot, which was all Dermot needed to see to know they were playing a joke on Arne.

  Well, really it was Mingus. To be honest, Oluf had no idea what came over Mingus to even suggest the bacon wasn’t real, but he had to give the guy props for coming up with it. That Bjorn, Kegan, Ulf, Cullen, and even little Bryce were willing to play along and not give anything away was even more impressive in Oluf’s eyes.

  Anyone who had tasted the bacon damn well knew it was the real deal. Although, having said that, since no one had ever tasted any meat-type product made from vegetables, they couldn’t possibly know for sure it wasn’t exactly what Mingus claimed it to be.

  They just assumed it wasn’t the same. Now that Mingus had come to live with them, Oluf had bought and tried some of the so called veggie burgers and a few others. They weren’t kidding anyone with their supposed ‘meat-like taste.’