When Chance reached out to take the propane tank from the guy, his hand gently brushed against his long, thick fingers. He hesitated for a moment and took a deep breath, then lowered his head to the ground and pressed his lips together, pulling the tank away. He'd already noticed the guy was wearing low-rise jeans and that there was a huge bulge in his crotch. He must have been wearing boxer shorts, or maybe no underwear at all, because you could see the outline of what looked like a very large penis pointing down to the right. A little voice in the back of Chance's head urged him to fall on his knees and pull the guy's zipper down. There weren't many places to meet men like this where he lived, and it had been a while since he'd had anybody.
"I'm Brody Johnston, by the way," the guy said. He smiled and reached out to shake Chance's hand. It was too soon for last names, but his deep voice sounded eager and pleasant., as if he couldn't wait to tell Chance everything.
Chance grabbed the gas tank with his left hand and reached forward with his right. "I'm Chance Martin." When Brody's large, rugged palm pressed against his soft, gentle skin, he had to brace his legs so his knees wouldn't start to wobble. The long, delicate, winding-vine tattoo on Brody's upper right arm jerked a little, black swirls perfectly proportioned next to where the muscle popped when he moved his arm.
He smiled. "Yeah, my mother was a huge fan of the old movie, 'Being There,' and she named me after Chance Gardiner, the guy in the movie. I've never actually seen the movie, though." He tilted his head to the right, focusing on Brody's eyes.
"I like that," Brody said, "
Chance
." Then he smiled and shoved his hands into his pockets in such a way that his crotch bulged even more.
Chance tried hard to keep staring into Brody's eyes, but he couldn't help but look down between Brody's legs..
Brody smiled and pulled one hand out of his pocket to rub his jaw. And after a brief, awkward moment, while Chance continued to stare at his crotch, he began to move his penis up and down with the hand that was still in his pocket, obviously baiting Chance. The entire world went silent; Chance couldn't hear cars passing on the road or the sound of a plane flying overhead.
Chance took a deep breath and instinctively looked around the backyard to be sure no one was watching. Overgrown trumpet vines clung to an old stockade fence behind him; with the fence, the back of the store and the old barn on the side, the yard was totally boxed in. The only people that ever went back there were Chance and the old man. So while Brody continued to slowly rub his balls, Chance went down on his knees and pressed his face between Brody's strong legs. He opened his mouth and started to chew on the bulge, and when he inhaled the thick, musty aroma of Brody's crotch, he closed his eyes and started licking the denim fabric. He hadn't sucked anyone off in almost two months. Not since those two dudes from the city had come into the market at closing time on a Sunday afternoon while Dan was taking his nap.
Brody removed his hand from his pocket and unfastened the button on his jeans. He spread his legs a little wider and the zipper went down. He wasn't wearing underwear. His thick, totally erect dick jumped out, and the head rested on Chance's bottom lip. Chance looked up for a second and saw that Brody's eyes were closed. He stuck out his tongue and slipped the whole thing into his mouth. He closed his eyes and sighed out loud. It was such a nice, meaty slab, wide at the shaft, and long enough to make him gag a little at first. The head and tip were slightly narrower than the shaft
When Chance's cheeks indented and his lips puffed out, he pressed his tongue against the bottom of Brody's cock and started sucking with more intensity. Just as he'd expected, there was large, thick vein there. He bobbed his head up and down in half circles; his teeth never touched the wet skin. Brody grabbed the back of his neck and started to moan. Chance's own penis was erect by then, and he reached down with his right hand, unzipped his pants, and pulled it out so he could jerk off while he sucked. He didn't want to waste any time—and he didn't want the old man to start wondering why he hadn't returned.
He sucked with precise, repetitive motions until the honk of a car horn out on the street broke his rhythm. Even though it was private there, they both knew they could be caught at any moment. So when Brody pulled out of his mouth and started to jerk off, Chance remained on his knees and stared at Brody's cock. He worshipped the way Brody's large hand gripped and tugged on the shaft; his eyes were glued to the head while he continued to jerk his own erection. He wanted to open his mouth and stick out his tongue, but he believed in safe sex. So instead of letting Brody come on his lips and tongue, he leaned forward, turned his head slightly, and sucked both large balls into his warm mouth.
While Chance sucked, his cheeks puffed out. Brody liked the ball-sucking; he moaned and jerked his cock even harder and his eyes were still closed and his mouth was wide open by then.
A moment later, Brody squinted, his legs started to wobble a little and he exploded all over Chance's forehead. He grunted a few times, and while he jerked out the last few drops of white juice, Chance arched his back and blew his own load all over the grass. Then he took a deep breath and Brody's wet balls slipped out of his mouth. He stood up while Brody shoved his dick back into his pants. "Wait here, man," he said to Brody, "I have paper towels in the barn." He quickly zipped up his pants while he crossed toward the barn. His face was dripping now, and he wiped come away from his eyes with the side of his hand. But he stepped lightly and smiled all the way to the barn.
When he returned, Brody said, "Sorry I made such a mess, buddy." He laughed awkwardly, but looked directly into Chance's eyes.
"It's cool," Chance said. His face felt dry and tight. He could still smell the sweet, bleach-like aroma of Brody's come. "But I'd better get that tank filled before I get into trouble with the boss."
"Ah, thanks," Brody said. The thank-you sounded awkward, as if he wanted to say more but held back.
Chance shrugged and started filling the tank with propane. When he leaned forward, he had a feeling that Brody was staring at every move he made. He was terrified to look up, but from the corner of his eye he could see that Brody's head wasn't moving at all. When the tank was filled, he had to use both hands to lift it off the ground.
But Brody jumped forward and said, "Hey, man. I'll take that. It's heavy." He effortlessly lifted the tank with one hand, and didn't even blink his eyes.
This offended Chance slightly, for some reason. He knew Brody meant to help out, but he couldn't stop wondering if Brody thought he was too weak to carry a tank of propane. "I do this all the time, though," he said. "Carry all kinds of heavy things around here, and I make out just fine on my own. As a matter of fact, I do almost everything around here, from deli work to operating the heaviest machinery." He straightened his shoulders and used a firm, hoarse tone of voice. If he'd been the type to grab his crotch and spit on the ground, he would have.
A voice rang out from the front of the market. "You! Inside, I need you now! Is a line of people waiting for meat, and for what? The meat slicer is-a jammed!" Dan never called Chance by his name. He just pointed and referred to him in pronouns:
He
can do it
. You,
go clean-a that bathroom on your hands and knees.
Chance raised his hands in the air and shrugged. "See what I mean? He can't even slice his own deli meats without me." He kept smiling, but by now he realized that Dan was a noisy little troll of a man who had never quite learned how to manage his own business. After all, that was his meat slicing machine, with the rickety blade that kept faltering and causing backups in the deli line on the busiest weekends of the year. If he hadn't been so mechanically inept and had taken the time to check the back of the blade to see if anything was stuck, it would have saved a great deal of time in the long run. But Chance knew he'd never do it, and that made him seem even more pathetic and doomed.
"I should go back inside and pay for the cold cuts and the propane," Brody said.
But neither one of them moved away from the propane tank. They were both caught in that awkward, endless moment when you either take the next step toward getting to know someone, or just abandon the idea and move on with your life. Brody just stood there grinning, with his legs spread wide, rocking on the balls of his feet. Chance pressed his lips together and smiled. At one point he reached toward the propane tank and brushed a twig off with his palm.
"Ah, well..." Chance said. He knew that if he didn't get back to the store, Dan would make his life miserable for the rest of the day.
"Ah, you wanna hang out later?" Brody asked. His voice grew softer, the words tongue-tied and disconnected. "I haven't been back here in a long time, maybe ten years, and I don't really know anyone anymore. I'm a naval officer on extended leave for personal reasons. I thought maybe we could just go over to The Island and hang out for a while. That is, if The Island is still
there
." The Island was a small, broken-down amusement park on the other side of the lake. It was a local joke, but weekenders found it quaint and kitschy.
"It's still there," Chance said, "broken-down roller coaster and all." He didn't actually say yes, but he smiled. He'd always fantasized about sucking off a Navy guy, and here he'd gone and blown a naval
officer
and he hadn't even known it. He glanced at Brody's tattoo again and raised his eyebrows. He'd planned to stay home and do what he did every night: read cookbooks and watch the Food Network when the old man went to bed. The only thing he ever thought about was going to cooking school and becoming a famous celebrity chef one day.
Brody looked at his watch and asked, "Where do you live?"
He found it interesting that Brody simply assumed he could take complete control, or maybe he just figured since he'd been the one to ask, he should at least offer to pick him up.
"I live here, but I'll meet you there at eight, at the front gate." It's not that he was offended by Brody's assertiveness. He just knew the old man would go ballistic if Brody came knocking on the door for him. If a guy even so much as smiled at Chance in the store—and plenty did—and the old man saw it happen, there would be pots and pans banging around the kitchen all day long.
Brody nodded. "That's cool, man."
Chance reached out to shake his hand. He didn't know what else to do, and he couldn't stand there talking all day. It was an out-of-place, formal gesture for someone who had just sucked a guy off, but he did it fast, and then started to jog back to the front of the store. He was already planning a good excuse for being out back for so long, a superior one so the old man wouldn't question him. When he reached the middle of the alley, he turned back and said, "See you later, and don't worry about the gas and the deli stuff. It's on me." Then he turned and jogged back to the store. He didn't want Brody walking back inside to pay—the old man would become suspicious.
As soon as Chance reached the entrance door, he crossed back to the deli and started working on the slicing machine. There were no customers waiting, just the old man leaning against the sink, his arms folded across his sunken chest, tapping his right foot. Chance reached down and yanked on a huge chunk of plastic that had somehow become jammed in the blade, looking sideways toward the old man and wondering how the plastic had gotten jammed there in the first place. He knew
he
hadn't done that.
"And where were
you
?" Dan asked.
Chance stared at the blade, wiping bits and pieces of dried deli meat onto the counter. "The valve got stuck while I was filling a tank. I had to work it slowly until it loosened up." He hoped his lips weren't still red and swollen from sucking dick. He stepped back so Dan couldn't smell Brody's come on his face.
Dan stared down at his ass for a moment, and then licked his lips. "I'm going to the market. I'll be back in a coupla hours." Dan went to the wholesale fruit and produce market down in Newark on Monday and Thursday mornings, but today he meant the supermarket. He shopped all the supermarkets within a fifty-mile radius for bargains on anything from canned soda to jars of mayonnaise. Then he'd stock his shelves and mark the prices up three or four times what he'd paid. Locals only bought fruit, produce or deli takeout there. It was the weekenders who didn't mind paying extra for the other groceries.
"Is it okay if I go to The Island later tonight with Sarah?" Chance asked. He had to use Sarah as his excuse. He'd ask her to go after he asked for Dan's permission. His voice had a fake lilt, as if he were a teenager asking for permission to go out on his first date. He didn't want to piss the old bastard off. But he wondered how much longer he'd be able to endure working and living with him.
"I have poker tonight. Just get back before midnight," he said, then headed toward the front door. When he walked behind Chance, he looked around to see if anyone was watching them, then he reached down, slipped his hand into the back of Chance's pants, and grabbed a handful of his ass right there in the deli. He squeezed hard and bit his bottom lip, and then he whispered, "This ass-a belongs to me, so don't fuck around,
you.
"
Chance's entire body tightened; he closed his eyes and held his breath. The old man didn't touch him often, and when he did it was only to cop a cheap feel either on his ass or between his legs. He began to wipe the counter with fast, round circular motions, spraying with a mixture of water and bleach, and he tried not to gag out loud as the old man's hand moved around inside his pants.
The market closed at seven on Friday nights, but that night, Dan made him scrub all the floors, even behind the deli counter, before he went out. This was unusual, because Monday was normally floor-scrubbing day, and Chance suspected that Dan was mad at him for wanting to go to The Island with Sarah. He didn't like Chance to have
any
fun. So to put the old man in a better mood before he left for his poker game, the minute the last customer left and the shades were pulled down, Chance grabbed the mop, filled a bucket with soapy water and removed all his clothes. Dan was clearing out the cash register, and Chance knew he was watching every move he made. When he leaned forward to wet the mop with soapy water, he purposely arched his back and wiggled his pretty ass in Dan's direction. When he came to a corner where the mop wouldn't reach, he went down on his hands and knees with his legs spread wide and scrubbed with a wet rag. He even stood and scratched his balls a few times with soapy fingers.