Wearing only a pair of shorts, I walked in the dark to the bathroom and relieved myself but didn’t go back to bed. I trudged through the living room and to the front door. I walked out onto the porch and stood by one of the post, wrapping my arm around it, as I stared out into the night. I was terrified that I could fall for a man who wouldn’t be suitable for me. I didn’t want to leave him. I couldn’t remember a time when I’d felt this comfortable around a man but the truth was that we were as different as night and day.
I couldn’t tell how long I stood there on the porch, not noticing the cool night breeze skating goosebumps about my bare upper body. Hands slipped around my waist and although I didn’t hear him approach, I relaxed knowing it was Tate. I leaned my head back into him as we stood there like that, staring out into the night.
He sighed, his warm breath on my neck and I knew he understood the turmoil I was going through because he was going through it too.
Chapter Ten
“Maybe we should do this another day,” I told Tate, staring at the row of cans he had lined up for target practice. He had been teaching me how to shoot from yesterday and now I was supposed to be trying my hand at targets. Yesterday had mostly been about the basics, how to care for a gun and how to use it properly. No wonder I never had the drive to own a job. Gun safety wasn’t something to play with and he had made sure I understood that yesterday.
“You’re ready,” he stated with a supportive smile. “Of course, if you don’t want to, we can find something else to do.”
He was being considerate but I could see that it meant a lot to him that I was willing to take a turn doing something he liked. So, I nodded my agreement that I was ready and smiled back at his grin. He squeezed my shoulder affectionately and I relaxed. Our relationship, if it could be considered that, was full of affectionate gestures and I’d never been happier. Who would have thought I’d find this measure of happiness in these same woods I had railed against? The company made all the difference.
“Okay, here goes.”
I missed the entire first round of bullets and turned to Tate in embarrassment at my failure.
“We’re just wasting your bullets,” I told him.
“That’s fine. I’ve plenty,” he assured me. “I don’t expect you to get it the first time, Bry. Just try again.”
His encouragement made me want to get it right. So, I reloaded the gun- at least I got that part right and I tried again.
“Yes!” I crowed in delight when I got one of seven beer cans.
“Now only six more to go,” Tate said on a laugh. “Celebration after. Get your ass moving.”
I wiggled it for his benefit, smirking at him over my shoulder when I saw his lustful stare. “Focus, Tate,” I stated with a chuckle.
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” he returned. “If someone would stop flirting.”
I fixed the gun on the next target. “I don’t flirt.”
I heard him scoff aloud. “Yeah, right. I don’t think you can help it. Do you flirt with all the guys in the city?”
I pumped my fist in the air when I got my second beer can. “What guys in the city?” I returned.
“Okay, don’t tell me.”
“There’s nothing to tell,” I stated and missed the next couple of shots. “You probably think the worst of me because I let you fuck me the first night I was here, but I’m not promiscuous.”
“Good to know,” he remarked. “But you can still be a flirt and not be promiscuous.”
“Then there’s no problem, is there?” I asked, turning to face him with a raised brow. “Unless you’re jealous.”
He scowled at me. “I’m not jealous.”
“Hmm, I think you are.”
“Just shoot the damn cans!” he growled at me and I laughed knowing I was right.
I concentrated on the other beer cans and only got one before I gave up.
“What are you doing?” Tate exclaimed when I strolled towards the targets. In response, I swept the butt of the gun over the remaining cans, toppling them to the ground before walking back to him and handing him his gun.
“There! All done!”
“Cheater,” he accused and with the hand not holding the rifle, grabbed me by the front of the shirt and towards him.
I knew what was coming and eagerly raised my head to receive his kisses. The last two days, there had been no sex between us, more of cuddling and kissing and talking. All the good stuff that made a relationship last. If only this would last. For now, I’d take what I could get.
I moaned now into his mouth, clutching his shoulder as I went weak in the knees. He reached between our bodies to stroke my hardening dick.
“Bryan!”
Shocked at the sound of the familiar voice calling my name, I stepped back from Tate and spun around. I stared in surprise and a little bit of fear at the confrontation that was sure to follow when I spotted an angry Keith storming towards us.
“That who I think it is?” Tate asked softly.
“Yeah,” I answered with a gulp. Keith looked fit to kill. He glared at me and sized up Tate. He returned his gaze to me and the anger burning in their depths was telltale that he still saw me as his twink.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Keith demanded, stopping before us. He ignored Tate to talk directly to me, his hands forming fists at his side.
I hated the confrontation, hated that Tate was witnessing the way Keith treated me.
“You’re on my property,” I heard Tate say. “You may want to approach on friendlier terms.”
“I’m talking to my boyfriend here!” Keith snapped, and I drew in a deep breath.
“Ex-boyfriend,” I reminded him. “We’re no longer in a relationship.”
“We had a fight,” he asserted angrily. “That doesn’t mean we’re not in a relationship. We live together or is that something you forgot?”
“I agree lovers have fights,” I stated, not backing down even though the anger emanating from him was a bit alarming. “And it’s not so much the fight either.” I pointed out. “I’m not going to be the guy you fuck then make fun of.”
“That’s what this is about?” he demanded in disbelief.
“Of course, it’s what this is about,” I remarked in anger. “This thing between us, it’s not going to work. I told you that the last time I saw you.”
“I fucking combed this mountain trying to find you!” he exclaimed. “And you want to tell me this is over because you’ve met somebody else?”
“I told you it was over before I met Tate,” I reminded him. “This has nothing at all to do with him. We aren’t suitable for each other, Keith. You know that. I just wish I’d acknowledged that before I allowed it to get this far.”
“So you run from my bed and find yourself another man?” he shouted at me. I suppose you think he can give you what I can? He lives in the fucking mountains. Have you forgotten how much you hate it here? I’ll make the offer once for you to leave right now with me. If you do, we’ll forget this whole thing happened.”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Keith but after everything, I just can’t see you in the light of boyfriend again. Ever again.”
“I think you’ve heard enough,” Tate butted in. “You need to go now. You’ve heard what Bry said. It’s over.”
“Bry?” Keith asked, staring at me. “You let him call you Bry? You listen to me good, Bryan. We’re leaving our camp tomorrow to head back to the city. I give you until tonight to find your ass back where it belongs. Otherwise, don’t bother showing up for work.”
“Get the fuck off my land,” Tate commanded, his voice brooking no argument. My heart galloped in my chest as I thought of the two men coming to fists because of me.
Keith looked him up and down. “I can take you on my own. You think I’m just going to let you steal what’s mine?”
“I’m not yours,” I contradicted, letting him know which side I was on.
Tate cocked his gun and my blood ra
n cold. Fuck, this was getting out of hand fast.
“You’ve until the count of five to get the hell out of my face and as far away from us as you can.”
“You’ll regret this,” Keith threatened me as he walked backward. “You won’t have him around to protect you all the time. In fact, I’ll be seeing you back at my condo, where your things are stashed. Or, did you forget that?”
He stalked off and I ran fingers through my hair as he disappeared into the trees where he had materialized from.
“You okay?” Tate asked me.
No, I wasn’t okay. I felt like I’d just been in the middle of a war zone and wasn’t sure where to go from here. Keith was right. Tate wouldn’t always be there and I would be heading down the mountains tomorrow. I was worried about the look in Keith’s eyes and hoped he had the sense not to do anything stupid.
“Fuck!” I muttered and stalked towards the cabin.
“Bry!” Tate called to me but I kept walking. I needed some time to figure this shit out.
Chapter Eleven
“Stay with me,” Tate implored me as we lay in bed that last night together. For the first time, we were lying on the opposite sides of the bed and didn’t touch any at all. I hated the space we had created between us but what was the sense of trying to bridge the gap when it was only going to get wider tomorrow after I leave?
“You know I can’t,” I responded, keeping my back to him.
“Why the hell not?” he cried in frustration. “You know I make you happy. You won’t have to work. Just us both up here, away from the jerks of this world.”
“Not everyone is a jerk,” I answered. “I can’t stay up here with you, Tate. I mean it’s fun for a while but I’m a city boy. I would go crazy being on this mountain.”
“I’ll give you something to take your mind off the city.”
“The sex is great but it can’t be all there is.”
“Is it all there is?”
When I didn’t respond, I heard him shuffle over to my side of the bed, grasped my shoulder and turned me over onto my back.
“Is sex all there is?” he repeated, staring into my face and I stared right back.
“You tell me,” I answered. “Is it all there is?”
From the disappointment in his eyes, I knew it wasn’t what he wanted to hear but I was tired of being the one to talk about my feelings all the time. I’d like to hear it for a first. I wanted him to tell me I made him happy and that he would move to the city to be with me. Why should he expect me to move up here in the woods when he’d made the decision to cut himself off from the public?
“Since that’s all there is,” he growled at me. “Then it would be remiss of me not to get one last shot.”
I didn’t stop him because I wanted him one last time too. I didn’t want the normal sweet lovemaking of ours which would surely make me emotional at the thought of leaving him. So, when he kissed me hard, his teeth digging into my lips, I knew he wanted the same thing I did.
He bit my lip hard enough to draw blood and my heart started beating like a drum. He tilted my head back to kiss my neck, kissing down my body to my nipples. He bit and sucked them hard, his hand digging into my boxers, to grasp my turgid cock, aching with need.
He pumped me hard and fast before grasping the waistband of my underwear and pulling it down my legs. He divested himself of his underwear as well and slid off the bed to one side. Grasping me by the legs, he pulled me towards him, his desperate actions making me more aroused than I had ever been in a very long time.
“Kneel,” he instructed me to get down on all fours at the edge of the bed. I lay my torso flat on the bed and moaned in encouragement when he grasped the globes of my ass cheeks, his blunt fingernails, digging into my backside.
Pressing the cheeks apart, he slapped his hands hard against my ass and I gasped at the sting of his palms. He lowered his head to swivel his tongue over my entrance, that he had become quite familiar with over the past few days. I moaned and gyrated my ass over his face as he plunged his hand beneath my body to grasp my cock and jerk me off, at the same time he rimmed me with his tongue.
“Fuck,” I heard him mutter. “Hold your cheeks apart for me Bry.”
I did exactly as he asked, reaching behind me to grasp my cheeks and hold it apart for him. He retrieved condom and lube and got both of us ready. I would have loved for someday to feel his cock, bareback pushing into me but for now, I was playing it safe.
“Ooooooooo,” I moaned as the bulbous head forged through the tight ring of muscles.
“Fuuuuuuuuck,” Tate groaned, gripping my shoulders hard. He retreated and slammed his pelvis into my ass causing me to cry out from the sheer intensity of it.
Kneading my shoulders, he continued rocking hard into my body after each retreat. I heard him hiss and glanced back to find him staring down at my pucker, watching his cock penetrate my ass. He would pull out fully and moan at the sight of the gape he had created. But soon, his teasing ended, as he drilled my ass.
He wrapped his hands around my torso and guided me into an upright position, so my back was in alignment with his chest. He wrapped an arm around my neck, caressing and squeezing slightly as he rode my ass hard and fast. The sound of my cries, mixed with his groans and the slapping of his pelvis into my cheeks drove me mad with passion. I moved my ass to meet his thrusts as I angled my head for him to kiss me. I hooked an arm behind his neck and brought his head forward so our lips met and our thrusting tongues matched his penetrations.
“Oh God, Tate!” I cried out his name as my climax approached. He moved even more frantically against me, desperately seeking for his own release. I leaned heavily back against him, my ass clenching as warmth flooded my back and tightened my cock. I jerked my cock once, my mouth falling open in wonder as I sprayed the bed sheets with my cum.
“Fuck Bry!” Tate shouted gutturally, heaving into my ass and climaxed, shuddering behind me. I collapsed onto the bed on my stomach and he followed suit on top of me, pumping his hips a little as he slowly got over the lingering effects of his orgasm.
“Hmm,” I groaned, gasping for air.
Tate sucked on my earlobe. “That good enough for you?” he asked and I stiffened beneath him. I tried not to take offense at his words because he was feeling the same way I was— a dreaded sense of loneliness at the thought of never being with him like this again.
Chapter Twelve
I wasn’t surprised when I woke up the next morning to find myself alone. I sighed and buried my head in the pillow, wondering what to do. Was it worth it? Could I stay here with Tate and not miss city life and all it had to offer? What about when I wanted a night of relaxation at a restaurant or something? Just to get away. This was already as “get away” as it could get up here in the woods.
Yet, I realized that I wanted to be with Tate. I’d never met another man who understood my emotional needs as well as he did. I thought of his patience in teaching me how to shoot, after the fishing incident showed him how sensitive I could be to criticism of my manhood. Hadn’t he confessed to me who he really was and about his family’s death?
The more I thought about it, the more my heart was pushing me to stay but my heart was at war with my head. My head reminded me that I now knew this man for less than a week. Could it be possible to feel as strongly about Tate as I thought I did, in such a short space of time? He was an amazing man and I didn’t see how I could feel any other way about him? The man was boyfriend goals.
I thought of all the other guys I’d attempted to date in the past. Men who were more caught up in their ego than me as their partner. To my first boyfriend Jerry, who had been openly gay, I’d been more of arm candy for him. He would get overly affectionate in public to show how much of a cute couple we made, but outside of that, our relationship had been all about him and what he wanted.
Tate was down to earth and didn’t pretend to be someone he was not. Seeing him out here in the natural elements had shown me a depth in this ma
n, that I saw in only a few. Wasn’t that worth me trying? I wouldn’t have a job working with Keith’s company anymore anyway. Maybe I could give it a try and see what it would be like. And maybe I could broach the subject to him about making a split. We could stay sometimes in the city and other times here in the mountains. That way, we would achieve balance.
That I was sure I could handle.
Excited that I had come up with some form of solution for us to continue seeing each other, I got out of bed. If Tate didn’t agree with both of us sacrificing a part of what we wanted, for us to be together, then the relationship didn’t stand a chance. I wanted balance and reciprocity in our relationship. Equal sacrifice— if there was such a thing.
A quick check of the cabin revealed Tate wasn’t around. I didn’t worry about this because sometimes he disappeared to find game, something he hadn’t been able to talk me into doing with him yet. It was one of the reasons he had been teaching me how to shoot. I smiled as I remembered him talking me into letting him teach me to shoot, stating that I should be able to protect myself, in the event he wasn’t around.
I took a shower, humming to myself and after washing up, I returned to the bedroom to get dressed. Either way, I’d need to get my stuff from Keith’s condo. I had a key and hoped he would be at work when I made the sweep to collect my clothes. I didn’t want another confrontation between him and Tate.
I was combing my hair when I heard the front door to the cabin open. I dropped the comb to the dresser and hurried to find Tate. I couldn’t wait to approach him with my idea and find out what he thought.
I stopped short outside the bedroom when I saw Keith was the one who had entered the cabin.
“What are you doing?” I asked in alarm because if Tate arrived and found him here, I knew they both wouldn’t be unscathed like the last time they’d faced off.
“I’ve come to take you home,” he answered, walking towards me. “Come with me willingly Bryan and I’ll forget you ever let him touch you.”
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