Colorado Flames WIth A Texas Twist (14 page)

“Hey Brody, why don’t you stay with me tonight?” James heard one of the guys ask.

“No, I don’t think that would be wise. If the cops really do find that someone broke into my house and did this, it might be dangerous. And I couldn’t put any of you at risk like that.” Brody didn’t look at James once as he spoke.

“Where will you stay?” one of the guys asked.

“I don’t know. But I’ll find a safe place,” Brody replied.

The only really safe place was the ranch. James’s heart jolted at the thought. Bringing Brody onto the ranch would cause all sorts of problems. Duff would kill him and the guys would string him up. He’d avoid taking Brody to Wild Bluff as long as possible.

One by one the emergency vehicles left. First the ambulance drove away, then one of the cop cars. They’d shut off the gas to the house and opened all the windows to allow the place to air out. The gas company had tested the air before they took off, making sure it was clear. Some of the guys on the department helped Brody hook up his stove which had been disconnected. They hadn’t turned the gas back on because Brody said it would be safer to keep it off for a while and that he could find another way to cook.

It was late, a bit after midnight and they were alone again except for one cop car that sat half a block away. Brody came to stand in front of him, his head ducked.

“You still up for helping me?” Brody asked.

“This only strengthens my resolve.”

“Where do you want to stay?”

“We’ll find someplace. I don’t want to talk about it out in the open. Just trust me.”

“I do.”

“Good. I have an idea of where we can go. Grab some clothes and I’ll grab my bag. Then we can lock up and get out of here.”

“The Chief doesn’t want me coming in tomorrow. Said it would be best if I stayed away. I’m going to have to quit my job and move, aren’t I?”

James shrugged. “Probably so.”

“What about—”

James placed his hand on Brody’s shoulder. “We can sort this out later. For now, let’s find a place to sleep. I’ll use my resources at the ranch to investigate.”

“I really fucked up.”

“What’s done is done. Let’s move forward from here.” James glanced over his shoulder, his hand dropping to his side. “That cop is watching us. We need to get our stuff and head out.”

“Sure.” Brody hated that he had to hide his desire for James. Life would be so much easier if people just accepted that some guys liked guys. All of his angst and fear, his troubled thoughts and problems would have been less if he’d grown up thinking that being gay wasn’t a bad thing. He didn’t blame his parents for their views on homosexuality. They tried, but they had no clue what they were doing. He wondered if they would have changed their tune with the change in the way homosexuality was viewed now. They were gone so he’d never find out, but they were fair-minded folk who didn’t want to hurt anyone.

James stepped into the house first. He reached for a light switch and hesitated. “You know, if we hadn’t been talking about sex when we came home from the movie, one of us would have flipped the lights on, and who knows what would have happened.”

“Yeah, I’d almost forgotten about the sex stuff.” Brody grabbed James’s hand before he could switch on the light. “If we turn on the light that cop will be able to see us.”

“He will.”

“I want a kiss first,” Brody said.

James chuckled and wrapped his arms around Brody’s back. “Anything for you.”

Their lips met in a sweet slide, and he melted against James. His lips opened as he sighed and James slid his tongue over the crease, licking at the opening, but never demanding entrance. The erotic flick of James’s tongue sent a shiver down his spine. James straightened, breaking their connection.

“More,” Brody moaned.

“If I keep kissing you, this is going to be so much more, and right now we have an audience. I’ll shut the windows out here, you go take care of the ones at the back of the house.”

“Damn, you’re too logical.”

“It’s a habit. I’m turning on the light.”

Brody braced himself as the lights flipped on. He sighed and they both laughed. “That was scary.”

“Damn scary.” James began shutting the windows and Brody headed back to his bedroom, flipping on the lights as he went.

He could get used to having James around. The sensual kisses they shared were hotter than any kisses he’d ever shared with a girl. He really wanted to get up close and personal with James’s body. Heat filled him and he pushed at his dick, willing it to go down before he walked out the front door with James. Being in public with the man would be dangerous. His dick would be at a state of half hard for the rest of his life unless it was fully erect.

“Hey, you almost done?” James called out.

“Yeah, just need to grab a few clothes.” He pulled open his sock drawer and grabbed a few pairs of athletic socks, and a pair of black socks he wore for work. Being a firefighter was a dream come true. Now it was gone. He’d be forced to leave all because he’d made a stupid mistake. How could he have been so dumb?

Brody plopped down on his bed, dropping his head into his hands. James found him there a few minutes later.

“Are you okay?”

“I just can’t believe everything I’ve worked for is going to be swept away all because I’d made a stupid mistake.”

“Let’s gather your stuff and you can tell me about it on the drive to the hotel.”

Brody nodded and grabbed a few more things, even his work clothes with the hope that he might be able to work one more shift. His past was haunting him and he didn’t like it.

They finished closing down his house and locking up. They waved to the policeman and took off, driving around town until James was sure they weren’t being followed.

“Tell me what mistake you made,” James said.

“When my dad died and all the shit went down, I purchased long-term storage. I didn’t really think the freaking drug dealer would be out yet, but I either needed to pay more money, which was near impossible since I couldn’t really be in direct contact with the owner of the storage place, or I needed to get my stuff. I wanted a few things, like photos of my mom and some other stuff. I had it shipped to me, taking a long route.”

“So you broke the rule of no contact with your past.”

Brody nodded. “Yeah, I did.”

“They have those rules in place for a reason.”

“I know, but I really didn’t think the fucker would be able to track me.”

“Tell me everything about your past, and this time, don’t leave anything out.”

The dig hurt. He’d been leaving stuff out because he wasn’t sure a man like James would want him if he knew the whole truth. It was time to come clean, but he didn’t know if he had the guts to really tell James everything. It was about to get real, and he feared that James would hate him.

“I told you I didn’t do drugs, that’s not the whole truth.”

Brody noticed James tense but he relaxed quickly. “Okay, so what’s the real story?”

“Being truthful about myself hurts. I don’t know how long it’s going to take to tell you everything.”

“We have time, just spill it.”

Brody sighed. “I hope that after I tell you everything you can forgive me.”

“I swear I will not judge you on your past.”

“Okay, I’ll try to remember everything. Just bear with me.”

James nodded and Brody took a deep breath, trying to figure out where to start. The beginning, or what he thought of as the beginning was good enough.

“I was in eighth grade and beginning to realize that other guys didn’t think the way I did about girls. A few of my friends were having sex and acting all macho about it. My mom had already passed away. I was lost and confused and I had no one to really talk to. My dad made it abundantly clear that being gay was not okay.”

I pulled on my rain boots and stared into the full-length mirror. No doubt about it, I looked like a total dork, but I didn’t want my new topsiders getting muddy on the way to the party. Of course, I could have been like the rest of the boys my age and not cared, but I did care. So I wore the boots anyway.

Daniel Metcalf was the best looking guy at school. He was the quarterback, which is so cliché it sounds like a lie, but really, the guy was amazingly sexy. I don’t know if only good-looking guys can pass or if people select the best looking guy for quarterback and tell all the ugly ones they can’t throw a ball worth shit, but for some reason the sexiest guys ended up quarterback at every school I ever attended.

I hadn’t really pieced together exactly what I wanted to do with Daniel, but I wanted something that I knew no girl could do for me. I followed Daniel around like a puppy dog, and I think he realized I had a crush on him.

We were at the party together. He had some marijuana on him. We headed to the woods behind the house where the party was and started smoking. We were both high and he told me that if I wanted to spend more time with him, I’d have to start doing things for him. I was stupid so I did what he wanted. At first it seemed harmless, just a few things like stealing sunglasses from Walmart, or taking a candy bar from the convenience store. As the year went on, I kept thinking that I should get more from our relationship, but he didn’t give me anything but a little bit of time.

One night he called me over to his place. I really thought something was going to happen. I wasn’t sure I was ready for anything like kissing him, but for him, I’d do anything. He met me at his front door, his eyes wide, and his mouth open as he panted.

“Fuck, what took you so long?”

“Chill out Daniel, I came as fast as I could.” Of course I wouldn’t tell him that I changed outfits twice and brushed my teeth before coming over.

“Get in here. I need you to do something for me.” He tugged me inside, his grip tight.

“Sure.” I was too innocent to realize the path of destruction Daniel was on.

“Just get in here and don’t ask any questions.” Daniel slammed the door and took off to the back of his house. His parents were rich, unlike my father who barely had two nickels to rub together. The house stretched on and on, eventually we took a short set of stairs that led to a half basement that was decorated to look like a rocking disco.

At the door to the basement I stopped, my heart stalled and I couldn’t breathe. On the pool table lay Missy Waters, the head cheerleader. She was naked and had bruises all over her body. My gaze swung from Missy to Daniel. Horror filled me and I knew I needed to call an ambulance for her. My mother had been sick for a long time. Her illness had been a part of our lives for years, and I’d called for emergency help more than once. I knew the difference between needing to call for help immediately and waiting for someone to come home to take my mom to the hospital. Missy needed help now.

“You have to get her out of here,” Daniel said.

“What?” I stared at him, wondering what was wrong with him.

“She passed out. Just go dump her in a field somewhere.”

“Is she dead?” I didn’t know which would be better for her. She looked like shit. If she survived, she’d never live this down at school. If she were dead, Daniel would go to jail for a very long time.

I moved closer to the pool table, and saw that her chest rose and fell. I felt a little better. She wasn’t dead. A vicious cut ran along the side of her head from her temple to her mouth. Blood matted her hair, dripping to the table below, leaving a black stain on the green cloth. Daniel was screwed.

“Grab her legs and I’ll help you get her outside. You’re going to have to get her on the ATV. Then you can drive her out and dump her.”

“I can’t do that alone.” My heart was thundering and my head spinning.

“You little faggot, you’ll do it because I said so.”

“I’m not a faggot,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

“Whatever. Just fucking do this for me. I can’t have her here.”

“She needs a doctor.”

Daniel rushed me, pinning me against the wall. He looked wild, unlike I’d ever seen him before. “You won’t be calling a Goddamn doctor. Just do what I said.”

“You have to come with me. She’ll fall off the back of the ATV.”

“Fine. Grab her legs and help me.”

We struggled to get her out to the garage. Eventually, I told Daniel to let me carry her head since he let her bang into everything and wasn’t being careful. Her shoulder end was heavier and I struggled to hold her, but we eventually made it over to the ATV.

Daniel grabbed a can of gas, strapping it to the rear and hopped on to the front of the seat. I sandwiched Missy between us, using all of my strength to keep her on the damn thing. We rode for what seemed like forever, dumping her north of town in a remote area covered in trees. She was still alive and for that I was thankful. I was ready to leave when Daniel stopped me.

“Jerk off on her.” Daniel spoke but I had no clue what he was talking about.

“What?”

“Come on her.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so.”

I closed my eyes, wondering what hell I had entered. “I’m not doing that. Did you at least use a condom?”

“Shut up. Of course I did. I can’t have the bitch getting pregnant.”

My stomach turned. He was worried about her getting pregnant when he was beating the hell out of her.

“You wanna fuck her?”

I shook my head, my stomach rolling “I can’t fuck her. She’s half dead.”

“What’s your problem, pussy boy? She’s the hottest girl at school. You should be able to get it up for her. If you can’t, then there’s something wrong with you.”

“I’m not fucking her.”

“You’re a virgin, aren’t you?” Daniel spit the words out, his face twisting in disgust.

“Let’s just go.”

“No, you fucking help me or I’m telling everyone you did this.”

“I didn’t do anything. Plus she knows she was with you.”

“Idiot, I gave her some drugs my brother told me about. She won’t remember anything.”

“She’s not stupid. She’ll remember going to your house.”

“Fuck.” Daniel ran to the ATV and grabbed the can of gas he’d brought with him. He unscrewed the lid and tossed some of the liquid on her.