by Jake Mactire
I could feel a slow anger rising up, and my back and shoulders were tensing. I wasn’t going to let this jerk off easy though. “Pardon? Just what type of guy, and what type of stereotypes are you referrin’ to?”
He got all red-faced and hemmed and hawed a bit, and finally stuttered out, “Uh… you know.”
“I can’t say as I do. You have any idea, buddy.”
“Can’t say as I do either, Jeffy. Just what type of guys, and what stereotypes did you mean, mister?”
The ranger stuttered some more.
“Ya ain’t callin’ me a redneck, are ya?” I asked.
“Uh… no, look, no offense, I didn’t mean anything.”
I smiled at him. I was certain the smile didn’t reach my eyes.
“One thing I will tell ya, for every stereotype, you’ll find someone who fits it. The people that do are the ones that just stand out. And for every group that is stereotyped, you’ll find hundreds of us who are just normal folks. Now you were askin’ if I’m gay since I don’t seem to fall into any preconceived notions you have about what gay guys are supposed to do and look like. To answer your question, I am gay. I ain’t ashamed of who I am. My private life is my own business, just like yours is your business and not mine. Now no offense taken; if we made you feel a bit uncomfortable, no offense meant there either.” I held out my hand. He took it and shook very quickly. I was thinking maybe I should tell him it wasn’t catching when he spoke up.
“Let’s get those hunting licenses….” He looked a bit scared. He got a couple of forms out of his desk, and filled them out with details from our driver’s licenses. He got up and then laminated the forms in plastic.
I pulled out some cash and paid. Mike tried to object, but I just told him, “You can pack my first deer out, buddy.” The ranger laughed. “You know our names, what’s yours?”
“Mark, Mark Ashton.”
“Mark, pleased to meet ya. If you see us again in One Eyed Jack’s, say hi. I’ll buy you a beer.”
“Okay, only if you let me buy the next round.”
“You got it!” Mike and I headed out into the street and got in my truck.
“You handled that pretty good, Jeffy. I wish I could do that rather than get all pissed off.”
“Buddy, I was starting to get pissed off too. But ya gotta remember, when someone makes a comment like that or worse, they’re either, one, a closet case, two, they’re some religious fanatic nutcase, or three, uninformed and naïve. From the way he made the comment, I guessed it was the third.”
“You sure are somethin’ else.”
“You are too, Mike. I wouldn’t be datin’ you, or layin’ awake thinkin’ about you at night, or smilin’ every time I see you, if you weren’t.” He just smiled and had a real happy satisfied look on his face as we drove the few blocks to the Johnston’s. I’d wrapped the printouts of the national forest and surrounding area in plastic and then put them in a leather folder. We got to the door, knocked, and almost immediately Sandy opened the door.
“Jeff, Mike, c’mon in!” She hugged each one of us and took our coats. I kicked off my boots and so did Mike. Sheriff Johnston ushered us into the living room where the Seahawks were playing the Lions on TV. Mrs. Johnston rushed out and offered us something to drink. The sheriff was having a beer, so that’s what we had. Sandy and Mrs. Johnston joined us in the living room.
“Jeff, I hear I owe you a thank you for watching out for Sandy.”
“No thank you is necessary, sir. I’ll always be there for Sandy. And so would Mike.” Mike nodded. “I was just happy to be able to help.”
“I hear the guy tried to get back at ya later.”
“Yes, sir, he did, but he really didn’t know what he was doin’, so there was no threat.”
“Do you want to press charges?”
“No, sir. Other than a coupla cuts I got when he kept hittin’ my knuckles with his teeth, there was no damage done to me.” The sheriff laughed at that. He turned to Mike.
“And you, young man. I’m happy to tell you that you weren’t ever a suspect; I just gotta do my job. How are you holding up after getting shot at? That musta been one hell of a bad experience.”
“I’m doin’ okay, sir; although it’s not somethin’ I wanna go through again. Jeff here took good care of me.” The sheriff looked back and forth from Mike to me. His eyes twinkled.
“Yeah, I bet ol’ Jeff here did take awful good care of you.” Sandy snickered; Mrs. Johnston, Mike, and I all turned red. “But boys, that’s what friends are for. Sandy here tells me you two, she, and Maria did a real nice thing for some dudes and a young boy who’s gonna remember yesterday for a long time.” We spent a while talking about our day yesterday. We went over where I’d met the folks we entertained, and the kids. Before we knew it, Mrs. Johnston said dinner was ready. We headed into the dining room. She’d made a pot roast with potatoes, carrots, and turnips. I love turnips. Mike looked at them suspicious like until he saw me eating some, then tried a bite. We also had green beans, a big salad, and some dinner rolls. It was a great dinner, and we spent quite a bit of time complimenting Mrs. Johnston. Dessert was apple pie. Mrs. Johnston is a great baker, and the pie was delicious. Over coffee afterwards, the sheriff looked at me shrewdly.
“So Sandy tells me you gave that guy from San Francisco the boot?”
“Yes, sir. To be honest, I can’t see now why I didn’t do it before. We made each other unhappy.”
“You just needed someone to show you what you were putting up with and that there’s a lot better for you out there.” He looked at Mike long enough to make him turn beet red. He then looked at me. Sandy and Mrs. Johnston were in the kitchen.
“Jeff, you remember when you came to my office to tell me you saw Mike and vouched for him?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You remember me saying how close I was to your dad, and that you’re like a brother to Sandy?” I nodded. “Mike, I hope you know Jeff’s dad thought the world of you. We talked about it a few times.”
“No, sir, but I appreciate hearin’ that. Mr. Connelly was a great guy.”
“Well, boys, since he’s not here and I am, I am gonna say what he wanted to say to you two. Jeff, he’d always hoped you’d see your friend Robert really wasn’t the guy for you, and that you’d come back here to stay.”
“I am here to stay, sir.”
“Glad to hear that. He was also hoping you and Mike here would be friends. In fact, he told me quite a few times Mike put him to mind of you, Jeff. He thought you guys would click as friends real well. And it seems he was right. I know he cared about both of ya. He didn’t want either one of ya to be alone. Jeff, you’ll remember me saying I really don’t understand how you got to be how you are, or you either, Mike, but remember I also said it don’t matter none to me?” I nodded. “Watching you two and hearing about you boys together, you should keep that friendship and build on it. You two seem to have a better basis than most straight couples I’ve seen. If your dad was here, he’d tell you too. Don’t lose that.”
“Thanks, Sheriff.” Mike and I both muttered that. In that moment, I missed Dad acutely. But I was lucky to have Sheriff Johnston in my life too.
“Now let’s go back into the living room, boys.”
We followed him and took our seats on the couch while he settled into the lazy boy chair.
“Sir, Mike and I were doin’ some lookin’ on the computer the other day. We knew the Nelsons and Flannigans also lost cattle. We began to think there might be more victims. We looked online and found quite a few ranches here have got hit by rustlers. Those ranches are all clustered around the national forest. We did a printout if you wanna see it.”
“Sure, boys, different agencies don’t always cooperate or fill one another in, so there might be more to this than meets the eye.” We spread the papers over the floor, and showed him how the forest was ringed by ranches which had cattle rustled. The forest service roads showed up on the printout like an interlinked
web, connecting the ranches.
“You boys might really be on to something. You mind if I keep these?”
“Not at all, Sheriff, that’s why we printed ’em out.”
We spent another half an hour chatting and visiting. When it was time to go, Mrs. Johnston gave us a huge doggie bag with pot roast, veggies, and gravy plus a spare apple pie. It was about four in the afternoon when we got back to the ranch. Wayne’s trailer was dark, and so was the bunkhouse. I’d mentioned a movie to Mike, so he came right up to the ranch house with me. I asked him to get us a couple of beers and a couple of shots of whiskey while I made a fire in the fireplace. After this last cold front, I was pretty sure that our summer weather was over. The forecast we saw on TV at the Johnston’s called for rain for the next week and nighttime temperatures dipping into the thirties. I got the fire started, and Mike was back with the drinks. I had a couple of gay movies I’d gotten from Amazon.com. One was called Latter Days about a Mormon guy whose family can’t accept his being gay. He gets brutally outted on his mission trip to LA. I thought that might be a bit difficult for Mike, given his background. I put in a movie called Big Eden. It’s a sweet movie about a guy who moves back to his hometown. Everyone is accepting of him and try to fix him up with this guy who has a crush on him, but is too shy to say anything. It was kind of funny. As the movie started, Mike and I were about three feet apart on the couch. About half an hour in, I paused the movie to make popcorn. We were about two feet apart when I started the movie again. By the time the scene of everyone at Thanksgiving came up, we were next to each other. The popcorn bowl was on my lap, and we were both eating from it without having to pass back and forth. By the time the movie ended, I had my arm around Mike’s shoulders and his head was resting on my shoulder. It was really comfortable. When the movie stopped, neither of us moved.
“Comfy, buddy?” I finally asked.
“Yeah, I am. How about you?”
“I gotta say, not only am I comfy, but I really like touchin’ you.” He snuggled a little closer.
“Jeffy, you know how you were sayin’ you wondered if your dad was tryin’ to set us up?”
“Yeah?”
“What do ya think now?” I leaned my head down and kissed Mike’s forehead.
“I think he’d be pleased as punch. Now if you’re still up for it, you wanna learn how to dance?”
“I do.”
“Okay, when ya cowboy dance, ya sorta just slide along the dance floor. I figure with the hardwood floors here, if we move the couches and roll back the rug, we’ll be able to slide just fine in our socks.” We moved the couches and rolled up the rug. We got out in the middle of the floor. The lights were still low from the movie, but the fire was bright and throwing just enough heat.
“Okay, buddy, the two-step is real easy. It’s two sets of two steps. Now face me. I’m gonna take your right hand in my left. Put your left hand on my right shoulder. Now I’m gonna put my right hand down here around your waist like this. You okay?”
“Yep. Do we get to dance closer?”
“All in time. Ya gotta walk before runnin’. Now I’m gonna take one step forward with my left foot. You step back one step with your right foot.” We did that.
“Now I step forward with my right foot, and you step back a full step with your left. So your left foot is behind your right foot, just like you was walkin’ backward. That’s the first set of two steps. Now I’ll step forward with my left foot another full step and you step back with your right. Got it? Now step back with your left, so your two feet are even. I’ll do the same with my right foot. So see we’re now standin’ with our feet together. That’s the second set of two steps. And we just repeat that.” We continued goin’ through the steps at first walkin’, then slidin. After a few mistakes, a few stepped on feet, and a lot of laughter, we had it down.
“You ready to try this with music buddy?”
“I sure am.” I walked over to the CD player and began lookin’ through the CDs. It occurred to me that this was kind of a special moment, so what song to play. I finally settled on “Tim McGraw” by Taylor Swift, a beautiful song about teenage love and loss.
“Okay, buddy, here we go; let’s catch the beat.” We did and off we went.
Mike was doing a great job. We fit together real good, and as the song went on, we got closer. When it ended, we just held on to each other for a while. I was facing out the glass windows. The clouds had blown off for a little while, and the moon was shining on us like a spot light. I could see lots of stars. The fire cast a warm glow. I could smell wood smoke and clean sweat and Irish Spring soap on Mike. I didn’t want the moment to end, but finally said, “You wanna try something just a little faster?”
“That sounds good. This is really fun. Thanks.”
“There is somethin’ about holdin’ a hunky, handsome guy close and havin’ him put his head on your shoulder.”
“You can say that again.” I picked the second song, “Nothing On But The Radio” by Gary Allan. We got into position, got the beat, and started two-stepping. “You’re picking good music, Jeffy. I really like dancing with you. Could you maybe pick another slow one?”
“Sure, that sounds real good to me.” We each took a drink of the whiskey, and then I walked over to the CD rack and picked one of my favorite bands, Little Big Town. The song I picked just seemed to fit. I started it, and we slid onto the floor.
Suddenly we were real close. Rubbing belt buckles was a good way to put it. My arm slid down from his waist to his butt. I grabbed it and pulled him in real close. His arm on my shoulder went around me, and he put his head on my other shoulder. As we moved in close, we ended up with one of his legs between mine and one of mine between his. I pulled the hands that we were holding right up to us. The song seemed to end too soon. We stayed like that, just holding each other for a few minutes. Finally, we pulled back just a little, enough to look at each other. Mike had a half smile on his face. His tawny brown eyes were gleaming. His red beard caught the firelight.
“Buddy, you must be the handsomest guy on the planet. You’re beautiful.”
He smiled at me. “I think you got me beat.”
My hand was still on his ass. I pulled him in close. We kissed. The kiss was a hungry one. We lit into each other with an intensity that was electric. I could taste the sharp bite of whiskey, and a tangy, malty undertone of beer. My hand pulled his tight, hard butt forward. My other hand was running down the muscles in his back. Our legs were intertwined and we were pushed against each other. The hardness below my belt was intense. The way Mike was pushing against me let me know he was rock hard also. We finally pulled apart. I put my head on his shoulder and nuzzled his ear, licking his earlobe and gently bit his neck.
“Buddy, stay with me tonight.” He smiled at me. I continued, “Let’s go upstairs.”
I grabbed his hand, and we headed upstairs and into my room. We fell into an immediate kiss. I was unbuttoning his shirt, and I felt his hands at my belt buckle unfastening it. All of a sudden, my pants fell around my ankles, and I pushed his shirt down his arms, it stuck on his wrists. With my jeans around my ankles, I had to hobble around a bit to get his shirt off of him. He was unbuttoning my shirt, and I unfastened the buttons on his jeans. His pants fell, and his belt buckle caught on a button on his underwear. We both laughed. To be truthful, we were both a bit nervous, and the comical undressing cut the nervousness. We finally stood there, both of us with our pants around our ankles. I felt down the front of his long johns, and began rubbing his cock through the material. He broke the kiss and moaned, and his hands were busy on me. Having him touch me felt so great; I knew everything was going to be okay. This was the right moment to finally get together. Looking at Mike, I could read the same thought on his face. I stepped out of my pants. I turned him around, and pushed him down on the bed. His feet flew up and I grabbed his jeans and pulled. I knelt over him and began unbuttoning his underwear. Each time I undid a button, I’d rub whatever was under there
, his chest, his belly, and all the way down. Finally, he was all unbuttoned. I pulled his underwear and socks off, and he lay on the bed. He had more body hair than I did. His chest and belly were one soft mat. The fur continued all the way down to the base of his cock. His cock was hard and lay on his belly pointing up. I shucked my underwear real quick and climbed on top of him. I rubbed my chest against his, just close enough so only the hair touched.
“You don’t know how long I been dreamin’ of this, Jeffy.”
“From that first day we rode fences?” He nodded. “Me too; I just knew somehow that tonight the time was right.” We kissed a long slow kiss. This wasn’t desperate like the kiss in front of the fireplace, but more of an exploration. We were running our hands up and down each other. I reached down and fondled his balls with one hand and put the other behind his head, pulling him up into the kiss. He mimicked me, rubbing my balls. I started moaning with pleasure.
“Feel good?”
“Hell yes. Just like that. God, I love that.”
“Jeffy?”
“Yeah, buddy?”
“Will you fuck me?”
“I’d love that, buddy, but you sure? If you’ve never done that, it’s gonna hurt a bit. I ain’t exactly small either.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. I want you inside of me. Hell, Jeffy, I’ve never wanted anythin’ so bad.” I smiled at him. I could see the longing in his eyes.
“I like it when you call me, Jeffy.”
He pulled me down on top of him and whispered in my ear, “Jeffy, Jeffy, my Jeffy. You know your eyes light up when I say that?”
“I bet they do. It makes me feel special when you say my name, when you call me Jeffy.” I moved down the bed and knelt between his legs. I grabbed his ankles and pulled them up, and then pushed his legs back so his thighs were almost parallel with his belly.
“Fuck, buddy, you look so hot all spread out for me like that.”
“I like bein’ spread out for you.” There was a tender quality in his voice. When I spoke, my voice was husky.