by V. L. Locey
“Well, that is a shame. He’s the last surviving World War II vet in five counties.” Ralph undid his tie and tucked it into the interior pocket of his blue jacket. “I’m glad I visited up at the main house for a bit then. Always did think he was a firecracker!”
“Oh, he’s a Roman candle all right,” I said and we all chuckled as folk do when they’re waiting for something big and turd-shaped to drop out of the sky.
“That he is. Well, I suppose I should get to my second reason for visiting.” I nodded assuming Davy was as well behind me. Ralph’s gaze darted up then back down to me. “I’m here to offer my deepest apologies first and foremost. To know that there is such a pocket of hate in this county grieves me deeply. It’s not been evident, but there are some who call our county home who harbor dislike for you two boys because of your being homosexuals.”
“That’s not a problem that’s only found in this county, Mayor,” Davy replied. His fingers were stroking my throat in a slow, comforting manner.
“No, I realize that of course, but to see it being shouted so blatantly and in front of impressionable children. And to try to bring harm to you because of your sexual orientations it…well, it sickens and saddens me, and it shows me that we have work to do in this community to combat racism, sexism, and homophobia. I’d like to ask you two to come forward, possibly do some keynote speeches at various official events, perhaps set up a booth at the county fair next year for LGBT groups in the area.”
“Are there any LGBT groups in the area?” I asked, not to be an ass but because I knew of exactly zero groups for my fellow rainbow brothers and sisters.
“There is not at this time but that’s where you two can also help.”
I looked back at Davy. His lips were pressed together, but his eyes were inquisitive. He gave me a short nod. My attention went back to the mayor. “Let’s talk then,” I said and got a nice shoulder squeeze from my boyfriend. Boyfriend. Yes, finally, I could call him that.
Chapter Twelve
“You know, you could help in some small way,” Davy flung at me as he carted yet another box of his stuff into the studio.
“Severe leg injury, remember?” I shouted from where I was seated on the bed, nursing a beer, and poking around in his stuff. Boxes and bags were piled everywhere which provided a good hiding place.
He peeked around the tower of cardboard boxes we’d gotten at the supermarket to tote his clothes in because Officer Aguirre wouldn’t/couldn’t use trash bags for his attire.
I smiled at him and dropped the photo album I was about to look at. “The doctor said you’re healing well, and that walking will help to stimulate the process even more.”
“Yes, walking, and I’ve walked to the goose coop then up to see Dunny and then back to the studio. It hurts. And beer is the only thing that makes it feel—hey! That’s my beer!”
He snapped it from my hand and took a swig, a smile twisting up the corners of his mouth as he drank.
“You’re still taking pain meds and this is my beer. Yours is that pissy stuff from Pittsburgh you made Kenny order in for you.” I grinned. “It’s ridiculous how spoiled you are. Does your leg really hurt badly? The skin is going to be tight and tender he said. Have you been rubbing that cream into it?”
Aw, the poor man. He was really concerned. “I’m not taking the pain meds anymore because they made me think Elton John and Bernie Taupin were here composing a song about Sampson and Orifice.” I wiggled around on the bed and held out my hand for my beer. “And yes, it hurts. Will you kiss my scar later?”
“I’ll kiss you all over later if you’ll help me out. Even taking the clothes out of the boxes and hanging them in the closet would be huge.” He leaned down, stole a kiss, then walked off with my beer. I loved him but he was a ballbuster at times.
“Fine, but I’m only doing this because I want you to kiss my balls later!” I yelled but the sound of the front door closing cut my comment short. Fine, whatever. Who needed beer? I pushed off the bed, a little cautiously to be sure, and settled my feet to the floor. Nearly four weeks had passed since Wacky Wanda as I now called her had tried to kill me. My body was healing, slowly. I’d been doing rehab and now toddled around with a cane just like Dunny. The old coot took real pleasure in that.
I limped to the closet which was already packed to bursting and wondered just where the hell he thought we were going to put all his clothes. The man had a serious clothes fetish or something. My move here consisted of like two trash bags of clothes, a box filled with mementos, and four pairs of shoes. Oh, and a carry-on type of bag for my personals. The rest I sold off with the house. Davy, obviously, couldn’t bring himself to part with anything. Ever.
“We’re going to have to add on, no way around that,” I muttered to myself, leaning on the doorjamb of the closet then tugging a box open. “Wow,” I whispered then lifted a stunning red jacket out of the box. It had been neatly folded and fell open gracefully.
“I think this is it,” Davy called from the main room. “Just some kitchen stuff.”
“Hey, come in here,” I shouted, holding up the snazzy crimson dress jacket. I heard his grunt as he placed the box on the counter then the floorboard by the bedroom door creaked. I peeked around the jacket at him. “I didn’t know I was letting a Mountie move in with me.”
“Funny.” He lifted the jacket from my fingers and shook it out. “This is our dress uniform. There’s a pair of green trousers and a cool hat that goes with it. “
“Bet you look sexy as hell in it. Want to try it on for me?” I winked and he snorted in amusement. “Go on, slide that sexy thing on, but I want you to take everything off first.”
His eyes flared. “You want me to parade around in my dress uniform jacket and nothing else?”
“Yeah, I do,” I purred, my dick springing to life. Ah see, it did still work. Another good reason to ditch the pain pills. They made getting an erection nearly impossible, not that I needed to be springing wood while recuperating but still…
“I’m not sure that’s really respectful of the uniform and all that,” he said, his tone indicating he wasn’t one hundred percent against the idea.
“No one will ever know. It’ll be our secret. You can be the sexy game warden, and I’ll be some innocent naked angler just wetting my line when you come along and ask to investigate my creel.” I gave him a nudge and a click of the tongue.
He wet his lips. Yeah, he’d been without it for close to a month just like me, and he was getting into it. “Sounds like a really bad script for a gay porn.”
“A bad script you want to play out though, eh?” He rolled his eyes but reached for me, his fingers sliding around my neck to lead my mouth to his. His tongue was hot and aggressive. I slipped my hands up under his shirt, angling myself to the side a bit so he could line up his groin to mine. His stiff dick settled beside mine as I pinched his dark nipples. A low rumbling groan rolled up out of him. I think the coat was tossed aside. I heard something hit the bed then slither to the floor.
“Get into bed,” he huffed, licking a sweet path from my mouth to my ear before he spun from me, his clothes leaving his body at mach speed. I, sadly, couldn’t strip as fast as he could, but I was damn sure going to give it my best. My T-shirt flew across the room and landed on the curtain rod over the tiny bedroom window. Davy was nude, gloriously hard, and waiting for me by the bed. “These have to go.” He ran his tongue over my lips then hooked his thumbs into my jogging pants and tugged downward. My cock got caught in the waistband then sprang free as I held onto him for balance. “One leg then the other. Hold onto me.”
He kneeled before me, carefully aiding me in losing my pants, then as gentle as a butterfly landing on a flower petal, he captured the clear drop of precum at the slit of my dick with the tip of his tongue.
“That right there is fucking hot as hell,” I coughed, carding my fingers into his hair to encourage him to take more of me into his mouth. He pulled back, placed his hands on my hips, then nudg
ed me around until I could sit on the bed. Once I was down he pushed my legs apart, pulled on that red jacket, and gave my dick a long lick from bottom to tip.
“You want to show me how much your creel can hold?” he gruffly asked. His eyebrows waggling. A short bark of a laugh burst out of me then he sucked my cockhead into his mouth and all laughing stopped. I fell back to the bed, and one of the boxes with books tumbled to the floor on the other side. Neither one of us gave two shits at the moment. Davy was too intent on giving me the blowjob to best all other blowjobs. He sucked and nibbled, licked and tongued, then pressed my cock to my belly and feasted on my balls.
He was so damn good at giving head. Like, he worked extra hard at making it so fucking mind-blowing. Pumping up into his mouth made him moan and hum, which made me gasp and yank on the covers. Another box went to the floor. I didn’t hear glass breaking. Not that I would have cared with him pulling on my dick with his soft lips, but yay for no damage.
“Bend your left leg up and let me probe your creel for hidden…fish?”
We both sort of snickered. He took my ankle and pressed my left leg to my chest. “Mm, yeah, you have a beautiful little hole here.” His lips touched my asshole, then his tongue, and then his fingers, all moving in and out, spreading and stretching my hole. Ah fuck yes, I so wanted him to fuck me, and he knew it. When he had me close, he speared my hole, stood up, grabbed the lube and coated his cock with clear gel.
“Yeah, slam your rod into my creel, Officer Hungwell!” I bellowed while pounding the mattress with both fists. He snorted loudly, lined up his cock with my slippery hole and thrust. My back bowed, and my breath rushed from me.
“You okay? Any pain? Fuck you are so damn tight.” He moved inside me, easing out then slamming back in, just as I liked it.
“Fine, leg…good…ah! Yeah, oh shit!” He got a knee onto the edge of the bed, his hips moving at a slow steady speed. I fisted my dick, stroked it no more than ten times and shot all over myself. Thick hot globs of cum speckled my chest, belly, and chin. Davy lowered his head and shucked off the restraints he’d obviously put on himself. Guess seeing me come snapped his self-control. He rutted hard, balls slapping my ass, his cock going deeper and deeper with each roll of his hips. “Ah shit, baby, yeah hard now. Hard. Hard!”
He drove into me with a fury then came with a roar that rattled the windows. He pumped my ass full of cum, his jacket hanging off one sweaty shoulder as his dick kicked and throbbed inside me. My lashes dropped to my cheeks as I battled for breath.
“Well, angler, guess your creel is clean,” he panted, chuckled, and then spread himself over me, his lips capturing mine. I ran my fingers up over his arms to his wide shoulders, easing the red coat off him one arm then the other.
“Must be that big rod of yours,” I replied in my best breathy porn star voice. He lost it then, rolling off me to the bed and knocking yet another box to the floor.
“This is without a doubt proof positive that neither of us should ever take up screenwriting,” he sniggered, wiping at the cum on his chest with a sock. Where he’d found the sock I did not know, but I was happy to use it for cleaning up. “We are highly qualified to star in gay porn though.”
“Mm, baby, yeah. We could launch our own series. Taking it up the Fishing Hole starring Officer Hungwell and Angler Andy,” I replied, pushing up to my elbows then glancing over at him. I wiped a smear of spunk from near his collarbone then leaned down to kiss the warm skin over that strong bone. “I love you. I’m so happy to have you here.”
He stroked my jaw with the backs of his fingers. “I’m happy to be here too.”
“Took us a long time to make it to this place, huh?”
His dark eyes glowed with emotion. “Far too long, Kye. Far too long.” I pressed my mouth to his, ignoring the twinges in my leg as I rolled over to deepen the kiss.
“Want to go cram ourselves into the shower?” I asked, nibbling at his handsome chin.
“Sure, last one in has to stand with his ass against the cold glass door.”
The sneaky bastard wriggled out from under me and raced to the bathroom.
“I see how it goes, take advantage of the guy with the bum leg and tender ass,” I grouched as I slowly moved to my back, pushed up, and looked around for my cane. “That’s not very wardenly, just wanted you to know that.”
I heard the asshole giggling as the water was cranked on. God, I loved that man so much, even if he did cheat.
November fifth. The day it all became final.
My heart was about to burst from my chest in excitement. In less than five minutes, I’d be stepping out onto the ice, giving a short speech, trying not to cry, and then watching my jersey being lifted to the rafters. Okay, the crying shit was going to happen way sooner it seemed. I wiped at my eyes with my fingertips as the crowd began to chant my name as they had every time I’d played. Mic-Loud! Mic-Loud! Mic-Loud!
Their shouts reverberated off the high ceiling, surrounding me with sound as I stood at the Zamboni doors with Dunny and my folks on my left and Davy on my right. It was a sold-out night as they always were for Pittsburgh hockey nights. Opening day of a new season. The first in twenty-one years that I would miss. I wanted nothing more than to lace up and go out there and play. I’d known this would be bittersweet but not this badly.
When the homage to me was done playing on the Jumbotron, the doors opened, and I grasped Dunny by the elbow, smiled at Mom who was dabbing at her eyes with a tissue, and slowly walked out onto the ice. The fans all stood and clapped. I waved my free hand over my head, and the chant picked up once more. Mic-Loud! Mic-Loud! Mic-Loud!
I broke out in goosebumps. Dunny smiled widely, my old jersey hanging off him. He was prouder than shit to be here and had refused to wear anything but one of my sweaters to the event. Davy was in a suit and tie as was my father who was using a walker.
We finally made our way to the owner of the team who stood with the GM. Several other management types shook our hands then Dunny was led to a chair as I gave Davy a wobbly smile and approached a small podium under a lone white spotlight. The over eighteen thousand people gathered here quieted.
“Thank you. Thank you all. I’m…wow…I’m just blown away and totally overwhelmed. This means so much to me, to my family, and to other LGBTQ players out there. You know things were different when I knocked my first opposing player into the boards. Hell, some of us weren’t even wearing helmets yet.” The crowd laughed lightly. It wasn’t far from the truth though. “To be out back when I started was impossible, a pipe dream, something that no one would even imagine seeing and yet, here we are now. There are several pro athletes who are openly out and playing their games. A slew more retired players are embracing who they are and letting the world know that we’re here, and we’re not going back in that closet ever again.”
I smiled at the huge round of applause. “It’s unreal to be standing here telling you all that I’m gay. It’s been a long road traveled. But I wouldn’t have changed a thing, well, maybe aside from rooming with Lou Aspen back in my rookie year. Man snored like a chainsaw.” Another round of laughter for one of our greats who was now working as a scout for this marvelous team. “It’s been an incredible ride, and I will remember each and every one of my teammates with great fondness. I’ll also remember you fans as well for your support during my time in this great city. Thank you all for blessing me with such a wonderful career. It’s been an honor and a privilege to play on this team. It’s been an amazing ride. Thank you all for coming out.”
I stepped back from the podium, my eyes blurry again, and felt Davy’s pinkie brushing mine. The spotlight went out and another one took its place, a golden one, that shone on the banner that was slowly unfurling from the long, slim box on the ice. Dad patted my back as we watched my number slowly climbing up into the rafters to sit along with ten other greats from this wonderful team. I cried then, for real, but thankfully only for a moment. And then, as with all things you plan for, it was over. Mo
re handshakes, a gold puck, a watch, and a special seat up in the owner’s box for the opening game.
Sometime during the second period, I leaned over to whisper beside Davy’s ear.
“You look incredible.”
He gave me a sexy sort of smile. “You clean up pretty well too, Mr. McLeod.”
“You know how you told me I should write things down for my speech because I’d forget something important?” He nodded then smiled at Mom who was passing down some finger foods. She’d done nothing but feed Davy since we’d arrived. Dad was talking to Dunny about plumbing and chewing on an herbal cracker.
“Yeah, but as usual you ignored my sage advice,” Davy replied with some sass.
“Right well, you know how I am. Anyway, I did forget something, but I just remembered it and wanted to say it now. I said during my speech that I wouldn’t have changed anything aside from bunking with Aspen, but that’s not true. I would have changed one thing. I would have been a braver man and came out a long time ago. I would have told the world I was gay, and that you were the love of my life because you are. You know that, right?”
He nodded, his eyes all dewy, which made me kind of ticklish in the tear ducts. “I know, babe. Hindsight is twenty-twenty as they say.”
“Yeah, well, I cost us twenty years. I promise I will not cost us another day. I love you.” I leaned over the arm of my seat to kiss him. No one said a damn word but our mothers who gave us an ‘Awwww’ and sniffled over us, which was about the cutest thing ever. Next to Davy’s smile.
Epilogue
“Kye, I’m not sure about this…”
I nudged him closer to the activities director. “Baby, you have to enter. You’ve got the sexiest hairy chest on this whole damn cruise ship. Now come on. If you win we get to sit at the captain’s table!”