by Jake Mactire
“I think you need to tell your dad what you told Jeff. What you went through after he kicked you out, how you had to survive, how that makes it so difficult for you with him here and all. I think that would be very therapeutic for you. It did feel good when you told him how betrayed you felt, didn’t it?” She looked up at him with this concerned yet pleading look. I really pitied the guy she married. She was a master at manipulation!
“Yeah, it did feel good. I don’t know that I wanna spend time with him, though.”
“I totally understand that, Mike, but to get it off your chest, to make him know just what he put you through, don’t you think that could help?”
“Maybe you’re right. I will tell him.” He got up and went to get us drinks.
“Sandy, whatever you do, don’t teach him how to do that.”
“Do what?” She smiled innocently.
“Be so manipulative while actin’ so innocent.”
“It’ll be our secret, Jeff.” Mike’s dad joined us on the couches. Pretty soon everyone was clustered around. Smitty stood up, pointing at his watch.
“It’s getting on to New Year’s—ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, happy New Year!” We had joined him in counting down. I grabbed Mike and gave him a big, deep kiss.
“Happy New Year, buddy.”
“Happy New Year, Jeffy.” He, I, Maria, Mary Grace, and Smitty began to sing. “Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?’…”
Everyone raised a glass and yelled out, “Happy New Year!”
Chapter Five
I WOKE up to the light shining in through the skylight. The light was cold and gray but bright enough to signal morning. I was warm, and I was all intertwined with Mike. I became aware that both of us still had our longhandles on. I remembered then, we’d both had a bit to drink last night. At least we got our pants and shirts off. I was lying on my back, and Mike had his head and right hand on my chest, and his leg was over mine. His hair was all mussed up, and he opened one eye and gazed up at me sleepily.
“Mornin’, Jeffy, happy New Year to ya.”
“You too, buddy, happy New Year’s.” I felt his hand moving from my chest down my belly, over the fabric of my longhandles. It finally came to rest on my dick, which was already hard as hell with morning wood. He began to gently rub.
“That feels great, buddy.” He threw back the covers and moved so he was between my legs. He leaned over and unbuttoned the bottom few buttons of my underwear. My cock leaped free.
“I’m gonna take care of ya, Jeffy. Just lie back and enjoy.” I felt his tongue running up and down the backside of my shaft while he firmly tugged on my balls. After a few licks, he took my cock in his mouth. It felt fantastic being engulfed in that warm, slick wetness. I could feel him working the back of the head with his tongue as he continued to knead my balls.
“That feels great, buddy. So good….” He began slowly moving his head up and down. I let myself drift in the pleasure. I looked down at him and could see he was taking care of himself with his other hand. He looked up at me.
“You look good with my dick in your mouth, Mike. You like sucking my big cock, don’t ya?” He moaned and moved his tongue even more. I wanted to buck my hips up and fuck his face hard, but what he was doing felt great, and he was obviously enjoying himself. He was moaning and whimpering around my cock as he continued to suck.
“Tastes good, don’t it? My dick feels good in your mouth, don’t it? It tastes good, feels good, and you like it up your ass, too, don’t ya?” He liked it when I talked dirty to him. He was jacking himself even quicker and kept up that great motion of his tongue against my glans.
“Good boy, Mike. You’re makin’ me feel real good. You almost got your ass paddled last night, you know that, don’t ya? I was just about to pull down your pants, take ya over my knee, and slap that pretty ass of yours good.” He began moaning even more, and I could tell he was getting close.
“You would have liked that, wouldn’t ya, that pretty ass of yours swatted until it’s all red and hot. All that blond fur on that pretty butt of yours standin’ out. Yeah, you almost got your ass whooped good.” He was going crazy thrashing around. I smelled the sharp tang of semen, so I knew he’d just lost it.
“You like thinkin’ about that, don’t ya?” He nodded with my dick still in his mouth. He was sucking for all he was worth now, really doing just great.
“You know, bud, you’re gonna get a mouthful in a minute or so if ya keep that up. You want me to come? Should I shoot in your throat, unload in your mouth?”
He was making a sound like, “Uh-huh,” around my dick. The boy wanted me to unload bad. Just knowing that he wanted it, made me lose it. It felt great as I exploded. He took every drop I pumped out. He continued to hold me in his mouth until I was limp. Finally he moved up on the bed, and we kissed. I could taste my very essence on him, me, on top of the familiar taste of Mike.
“You like that, Jeffy?”
“Hell yeah, what a great way to start the New Year.”
“Let’s head down and get some breakfast. I don’t think we ever slept this late before.” I looked over at the clock. It was almost ten. We pulled on socks, jeans, and T-shirts, brushed our teeth, and headed downstairs. Sandy, Maria, and Jason were already in the kitchen. They’d cleaned up from the night before and were just about done with a big breakfast. There were biscuits and gravy, bacon and eggs, and fried potatoes.
“Mornin’, darlin’, Jason, Maria. That sure smells good, don’t it, Mike?” I gave Sandy and Maria a big hug and clapped Jason on the back.
“It does at that. Thanks Sandy, Maria, Jason, you guys are great.”
“Jeff, Mike, I brought some panes dulces, Mexican pastries, from the bakery in Wenatchee for breakfast.”
“That was awful nice of you, Maria, any buñuelos?”
“How could I forget those, Jeff? I know how much you like them.” Sandy pushed a mug of coffee at me and one at Mike.
“Jason, you want to run out to the bunkhouse and let the guys know breakfast is ready?”
“Okay.” He ran out and came back shivering in a few minutes.
“Jason, did you ever talk to Smitty about gettin’ you some boots and heavier clothes?”
“No, that stuff doesn’t look cool.”
“It doesn’t look cool to lose a couple of toes or fingers to frostbite, either. Ya know they swell up, turn black, and they gotta let ’em drop off on their own to tell where the damage stops. You don’t want to lose toes or fingers cause you made a simple mistake like closin’ the door behind you and lockin’ yourself out. Now if you don’t talk to him, I will. I mean for you to do that today.” He glared at me. I glared back until he looked away. Smitty and José came in the back door. Josh was staying in town with Renee.
“Hey, boss, I am making a pot of menudo for New Year’s if you want some later.” I really like the tripe, chile, and hominy soup.
“Thanks, José, I sure would, but aren’t you supposed to have it for breakfast on New Year’s?”
“Sí, but I did not want to get these two beautiful ladies and this tough guy mad at me since they were already making breakfast.”
“What’s menudo, José?” Jason was able to stop pouting long enough to ask.
“It is a very good soup made from chile, hominy, and tripe, the cow’s stomach. It is very good for el crudo. Jeff and I have had to eat it many times to feel better after drinking too much.”
“Can I drink with you guys sometime?”
“You sure can, Jason.” He looked at me, dumbfounded.
“Really?”
“Sure, just as soon as you turn twenty-one. In fact, whatever you want to drink then is on me.”
“I’ll split the cost with you, boss. That way Jason can drink as much as he wants.”
José was trying hard not to laugh.
“You guys are assholes.” He was glaring at José and me again. I saw Sandy and Smitty put their heads togeth
er.
“Hey, Jason, come here a minute.”
“Why?”
“Please? Bert and I just wanna talk to ya a minute or two.” He reluctantly followed them into the mud room. Sandy seemed to get along with Jason real well and so did José. He liked to throw Mike off track by making some smart remark, and with me, I really didn’t know. He had come on to me, and seemed to follow me around like a puppy, but he was always trying to push the envelope. After a few minutes, they came back into the kitchen.
“José, Jeff, I’m sorry for calling you guys assholes. I know you were only joking around, and I just haven’t had friends do that with me in the past.” I clapped him on the back.
“No problems, guy. You see we joke around with each other all the time. I wouldn’t joke with ya if I didn’t like ya.”
“Really, Jeff, you don’t think I’m a little kid?”
“No, I don’t, Jason.”
“Thanks!” That seemed to cheer him up to no end. I made a mental note to ask Sandy what she’d said to him that seemed to turn him around. We took the food into the dining room.
“This is really great, Sandy, thanks!”
“Not as good as your food last night, but thanks, Mike.”
“Jeff, what do you and Mike have planned for today?”
“We wanna get out and ski a few miles and then watch some football. Oh, and thanks for the pastries, Maria. They’re delicious.”
“Can I go skiing with you guys too?”
“You’re welcome anytime, Jason, but you don’t have the gear for it. Mike or I’d loan you some of ours, but we’re quite a bit taller.”
Smitty looked at me and then spoke up. “We talked about this before, remember? Between José and I, we have the stuff. You don’t mind borrowin’ from us, do you, Jason?”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Okay, amigo, Smitty and I will make certain you are nice and warm.” José smiled at Jason.
“If you all would like to stick around and watch football, we’d really enjoy the company, right Jeffy?”
“Yep, you guys are always welcome. We got some bratwursts in the freezer and could make a pot of beans. I think the only thing left over from last night is the potato salad, and I could sure eat some more of that. We got lots of snacks, too, potato chips, dip, and chips and salsa.”
“How about you let Maria, José, and I take care of dinner while you guys ski? José was plannin’ on making menudo.”
“You sure, Sandy? You made this great breakfast.”
“It’s okay, Mike. I’m sure that Bert will help, right?” Sandy fixed a big smile on Smitty. Maria was smiling at José. I just hoped Mike wasn’t taking notes. They quickly agreed. We finished breakfast, and Mike and I started to clean up, but Sandy pushed us toward the stairs.
“Go get dressed for skiin’. And you two take Jason and get him all geared up.” They headed out to the bunkhouse. Once they were out the door, I turned to Sandy.
“What did you say to Jason to make him stop the misunderstood-teenager act?”
She giggled. “The other day he told me he has a big crush on you.”
“What!” I was dumbfounded.
“He told me how he came on to you, and you refused him. Jeff, you handled it real well. You treated Jason like an adult. At first he was all pissed off for bein’ rejected, but then it occurred to him that you respect him. You know, Jeff, he gets all turned on when you get forceful and stare him down and set limits for him.”
“I reckon that makes two of us.” Mike was smiling at me. Sandy started laughing, and he turned bright red.
“Can we keep this conversation on Jason and Jason alone?”
“Sure, Jeff. Anyway, I pointed out to him a few times last night how you and Mike joke around with one another and José and Smitty and Josh and me. He just wants to be part of the group. He really doesn’t know how. I was readin’ some stuff about how kids who come out early have a real rough time of it.”
“Don’t I know that?” Mike nodded thoughtfully.
“Well, he’s used to tradin’ sex for what he wants. He’s also always on the defensive, because he’s always been seen as a sex object. He doesn’t know how to act around people who haven’t been in his situation.”
“I just had an idea. I’m gonna call my father when we get back from skiin’.” I just looked at Mike. I had no idea where that came from.
“Mike, that’s a great idea!” Sandy hugged him.
“I don’t mean to seem dense here, but just what in the hell are you two talkin’ about?”
“Jeffy, you remember tellin’ me about PFLAG? Well, he’s a counselor in PFLAG and real active. Maybe he can never make up for what he did to me, but he sure as hell can show he’s sincere by helpin’ someone else.”
“You’re a good man, buddy.”
“Okay you two, go and get your ski gear on. I don’t wanna see this turn into a remake of Brokeback Mountain.” I heard Maria laugh from the kitchen.
We had decided to drive up to where the road through the North Cascades was closed for the winter, and ski past that. Although we were the only ones parked at the end now, obviously many people had had the same idea over the last week or so. There were cross-country ski tracks and snow machine tracks. It looked like a few folks had been through on snow shoes too. We decided to take off on a small side trail that paralleled the river, or what little of it there was this close to the source. It was obvious a snow machine had been through here earlier, but the trail was old and covered in new snow. The day was sunny and clear, but cold.
“How ya doin’, Jason?” He was gamely trying to keep up.
“This is a lot of work.”
“That it is, but it’s fun too. It’s really beautiful out here in the winter, don’t ya think?”
“I guess so. You really get into all this outdoors shit, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do, so does Mike.” Mike had skied on ahead a bit. Jason was actually doing pretty well, but he was new at it and hadn’t gotten the hang of efficiently using forward momentum to keep himself going. Mike and I were taking turns waiting for him.
“I’m ruining it for you guys, aren’t I?”
“Why in the hell would you think that?”
“One of you always has to wait for me.”
“Yeah, and neither one of us minds it. Just a few weeks ago, I was waitin’ on Mike. Jason, if we thought you would ruin it or if we didn’t want you here, you wouldn’t be here.” I could see a bit of a slope ahead. Mike was waiting at the bottom.
“C’mon Jason, let’s see how fast we can go down the hill!” I began skiing as fast as I could and continued to ski fast about a third of the way down the slope. I’d gotten quite a good speed up, and zoomed past Mike before stopping and turning around to ski back to him. Jason was on his way down the hill. He was going fairly quickly, and I noticed him trying to slow down. He overdid a snowplow and crossed his ski tips. He made a spectacular tumble.
Mike yelled out, “You okay there, Jason?”
“Yeah, I just can’t get up!” He was trying to pull himself upright, but kept falling. Mike and I skied over and helped him up.
“I’ll never get the hang of this shit.”
“Relax, Jason. You’re doin’ pretty well. Ya gotta expect you’re gonna fall quite a few times learnin’.”
“Yeah, it’s all part of the fun. I still fall quite a bit, right Jeffy?”
“Yep, and that is part of the fun. Let’s keep goin’ down this path. We have a beautiful view of the mountains up in front, and comin’ back we should have a good view of the valley.”
“Sounds good to me.” Mike skied over and gave me a quick kiss.
“You guys look like two trolls doin’ that. You got ice all over your beards.” Neither of us bothered to answer. We skied on ahead. The river was frozen and had formed some beautiful ice piles as it had slowly gotten colder. The trees were all covered in snow, and many of the rocks alongside the river were draped in icicles. It was a be
autiful sight. After about half an hour, Mike and I stopped and waited for Jason. I had a thermos of Irish coffee in my day pack, and he and I shared it.
“I’m glad you thought of bringin’ this, Jeffy. It hits the spot. It seems the minute I stop skiin’ I start gettin’ cold.”
“Yeah, ya work up such a sweat your clothes get soaked. When you stop exercisin’, ya get cold. I reckon that when Jason gets here, we probably should let him rest a bit and then head back.”
“Okay.” Jason actually caught up to us much quicker than I thought he would.
“You’re gettin’ pretty good on the skis, a lot better than me when I started.” I nodded. Mike was right.
“You seem to have it down pretty well, Jason.” He was drinking some hot chocolate out of his own thermos.
“What’s that down there?” He pointed off toward the river. There was a large group of ravens on something.
“It might be a dead deer or somethin’ like that. It looks like they found some food.”
Jason started skiing toward the group of birds. “I’ll go see what it is!” As Jason got closer, the ravens left whatever it was they’d been feeding on. They flew to the nearest trees, waiting to reclaim their meal.
“Jeff! Mike!” Jason’s voice had a note of panic. I pushed my poles in and began to ski toward him. I could hear Mike right behind me. As we got closer, I could smell something dead, but faintly. The cold temperatures had probably kept whatever died preserved. Jason had stepped away from the carcass and was vomiting. I guess the kid had never seen a dead deer or road kill or anything. I was just about to start teasing him about his weak city boy stomach when I saw what the ravens had been feeding on. It stopped me in my tracks.
“Jason, back away and try to stay in the tracks you made when you skied up, okay?” He did as I asked. The ravens hadn’t been feeding on a dead deer. They were feeding on a dead man. From what I could see, he was naked. I realized I was assuming it was a man, but I really couldn’t tell. The hair was short, but he’d been horribly mutilated. I wasn’t sure how much was from animals, and how much from other causes. It looked as if he’d been gutted. I was about twenty feet away. It looked like his hands were behind his back, and his feet were tied together. Empty eye sockets stared up at the sky. His neck was horribly mangled. I reckoned that had to be due to animals. I pulled off my day pack and reached for my cell phone. No reception.