Two Sides of the Same Coin (43 page)

“Is Mike okay?”

“The guy who was driving? He’s fine. The truck is fine. You two missed the embankment by about six inches. Your friend has been asking about you, so I’ll go over and tell him you’re awake and more or less fine.” He walked away, and I took a deep breath. All of a sudden I heard footsteps. I looked over, and Mike was rushing toward me. The look of relief on his face was almost comical. Sheriff Johnston followed behind and had a worried look on his face. Mike grabbed my hand and just held it.

“What happened after I hit the dashboard?”

“You were out like a light, Jeffy. I couldn’t wake you, and I was afraid to move you in case you were bad off. I went over to the road to see if I could flag somebody down. Lucky for us, the first car that stopped was a doctor and his wife from Seattle heading to their cabin. They’d gotten a real late start, but still decided to come over. She called nine-one-one, and he made sure you were okay until the paramedics got here. I’m so happy you’re okay; I was really worried.” I could hear his voice crack.

“I’m fine other than the mother of all headaches. How’s your truck?”

“Other than no brakes, fine. The doctor said you’re okay to go home, but if you have any dizziness or blurred vision to get to the hospital right away. Sheriff’s gonna drive us home. They’re gonna tow my truck into the gas station/garage in Winslett.” Sheriff Johnston was peering over Mike’s shoulder.

“You okay there, Jeff? Looks like you got a nasty bump on the head.”

“I’ll survive. I just wanna get home, get some aspirin, and get to bed.”

“Give me a few minutes to finish up with all this, and I’ll give you boys a ride home.” It took more than a few minutes. I still felt really cold and a bit queasy. Before too long, a tow truck showed up and there went Mike’s pickup. Finally everything was done, and we piled into the sheriff’s cruiser to go home.

“You gonna pick up your truck on Monday afternoon, Jeff?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’ll ask Sandy if she can take you two down to Wenatchee if your truck isn’t ready by then, Mike.”

“Thanks, Sheriff.”

“No problem.” Luckily, we weren’t too far from home, and it was just a few minutes later that we pulled into the drive up to the ranch house. We got out, and the sheriff told us good night. We headed into the house. Mike was hovering over me like a cat with kittens. It was nice, but I wasn’t that bad off. We got in the house, and I kicked off my boots in the mudroom.

“You need anythin’, Jeffy?”

“Just some aspirin and water.”

“Let’s go upstairs. You go to bed, and I’ll get ’em for ya.” I was undressing when he walked in with a glass of water and four aspirin. I took them all and drank all the water.

“Thanks, buddy.” He watched me undress. I was tired and in pain, so I just threw the clothes on the floor and let them lay where they fell. I finally managed gettin’ everything off. My head was pounding, so I slowly got into bed and slid to the far side. I lay there and waited for Mike. He was looking at me.

“You want me to sleep in the other room so you can get some rest, Jeffy?”

“No. I want you right here to keep me warm. Besides, I sleep better when you’re with me.” He smiled and began shucking his clothes. He jumped in beside me and reached over and turned off the light. I was lying on my back, and he threw his arm and leg across me and put his head on my chest.

“I was so worried when I couldn’t get you to wake up, Jeffy. I was starting to panic. It sure was lucky the doc and his wife stopped.”

“Yeah, not too many folks do that anymore.”

“When you woke up and was asking for me, I almost lost it again.”

“It’s okay, bud. You ain’t gonna get rid of me that easy.”

When he spoke again, his voice trembled. He was on the verge of breaking down from all the excitement and adrenaline. “It made me realize just how much I depend on you and what you mean to me.”

“You’re just upset ’cause I told you I was gonna fuck you tonight and now you gotta take a rain check.” I guess joking around might not have been the best thing since I heard him sob a couple of times.

“I’m such an idiot, Jeffy. If you hadn’t yelled downshift, I swear we would have just ended up in the river.”

“Hey, buddy. It’s okay, I’m all right, you’re all right, and your truck’s okay. Accidents happen. The important thing is we’re both okay and we’re right here all cuddled up together. Now let’s go to sleep, buddy. We done used up this day.” I rubbed his head and arm and tried to drift off to sleep. It was hard to do until the aspirin kicked in. Mike fell asleep before I did. Last sound I remember was his gentle snoring with his head on my chest. It was a comforting, familiar sound.

I
WAS
sound asleep the next morning when I heard Mike calling me. He must’ve gotten out of bed and went downstairs to make coffee. The headache had gone from the mother of all headaches to just plain bad. I got up and put on my socks, long handles, and jeans. I headed downstairs. Sheriff Johnston was in the kitchen.

“You feelin’ okay, son?”

“Headache’s better than it was last night. I suppose I’ll just end up taking it easy today.”

“I’m glad to hear you’re doing better.” Mike set a mug of coffee in front of me and another in front of the sheriff.

“Two things, boys, first the good news, Sandy’s gonna take you to pick up your truck tomorrow, Jeff.”

“Great!”

“Second thing, I stopped by the gas station/garage today to check on your truck, Mike, just a hunch. I got them to put it up on the hoist, and I’m glad I did. Your brake line was cut.”

“What?” Mike had a puzzled look on his face. “Somebody sure has a sick idea of a joke.” Mike was getting mad. The sheriff’s words caused a chill to go through me, like some ghostly finger was tracing a path down my spine.

“You don’t reckon it’s a joke do you, sir?”

“Honestly, Jeff, I don’t. Remember you told me that biker was screaming that you’re dead, and the boss man is gonna come and kill you? I reckon he tried last night. One other thing, I got the report back from the lab on the different shootings. The same rifle was used to kill Pedro, shoot at you, Mike, and Wayne, kill the biker, and shoot at Jeff here.”

“Porky was involved with the rustlin’, too, wasn’t he?”

“The tread on his bike matched the tread on the motorcycle tracks we found in the national forest where the cattle were processed. I’d have to say he was.”

“So was he shot because he was such a screw-up, or because it looked like he was gonna get caught and could identify the others?”

“Probably both, Jeff. Every time he tried to get at you or Mike he failed. I reckon he didn’t have much credit left with the others, and when it looked like he would be arrested, he was killed.”

“Sheriff, I don’t know the law too well, but here in Washington, wouldn’t the murders committed durin’ a cattle rustlin’ make the rustlers eligible for the death penalty?”

“You’re right, Mike, it would.”

“So really by killin’ one of their own, or killin’ someone else, they wouldn’t have a whole hell of a lot more to lose.”

“I reckon they wouldn’t.”

“In other words, sir, you’re of the opinion that someone’s gunnin’ for me, or Mike and me?”

“Yes, Jeff, I think that is the case.”

“Okay, so what do we do?”

“I’ll try and have myself or the deputies drive by once in a while, but we’ve got a lot of territory to cover. You’re locking the door at night now, aren’t you?”

“Yes, sir. Since we found Porky in here, the door’s been locked all the time.”

“The hood on your truck only opens from the inside, right Jeff?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then use your truck. Make sure the alarm is turned on also. I’d caution you not to reschedule your hunting trip until we catch the sons of bitches who are behind this. You may want to stick around home a bit too. Best advice I can give is to be really careful.”

“Sheriff, I’ll be honest, that doesn’t make me feel a whole lot safer.”

“You shouldn’t feel safe, Jeff. Not until these criminals are behind bars.”

“That just really grits me, sir. We have to change everything we’re doing, put off things, just because whoever is a coward. If he’s gunning for me, why doesn’t he have the balls to show his face?”

“Could be a lot of reasons, Jeff. First and foremost, you probably can recognize him. We figure it’s got to be a local, and everybody knows everyone in these parts. Second, he still has rustling or thievery he can do and get away with it. Third and finally, you’ve been really lucky. He doesn’t wanna risk leaving you for dead and having you wake up in a hospital to tell who he is.”

I was angry and Mike looked real unhappy.

“Boys, give me a call anytime you need to. We’ll get this maniac sooner or later, and they’ll be behind bars.”

“I hope sooner.” Mike looked at the sheriff.

“Me too, Mike. Sandy should be by around one Monday afternoon. We’ll do our best to keep an eye on you boys.”

“Thanks, Sheriff.” With that we said our goodbyes, and he headed out to his cruiser. By now I was ready for someone to kick, but any movement like that would make my head pound. The day dragged on very slowly. I couldn’t do too much without my head aching to beat the band. Mike and I just read and watched TV.

By evening, it was just like a normal headache. I felt close enough to normal to start a business plan for the dude part of the ranch. I put the cost of ten prefab cabins and some other facilities together, added in some advertising costs, and then balanced out how many dudes we’d need to break even. It wasn’t as bad as I had feared. I started on the website also. That made the time just fly by; I got a rough draft put together and also downloaded an application to the American Dude Ranch Association. I could link to their site, put a mini page on it, and link back to our website. When I looked at the clock, it was after eleven p.m. Mike was asleep on the couch with his feet in my lap. I signed off the computer and rubbed his feet through his black work socks.

He stretched and smiled at me. “Feelin’ better?”

“Yeah, I am; you about ready for bed, cowboy?”

“I reckon I should wake up so we can go to bed.” We turned off the lights and made sure the doors were locked and the heat was turned down. I made a mental note to myself to check out security systems when we were in Wenatchee on Monday. Once upstairs, we stripped and got into bed. Mike and I held each other for a while and kissed gently; he must’ve known my head still hurt because he was being real gentle. Feeling pretty tired from the long night before and little sleep, we fell asleep all tangled up with each other. As I drifted off to sleep, it occurred to me that with anyone else I wanted to be on my side of the bed. With Mike I wanted to be all wrapped up with him. That thought made me smile.

W
HEN
I woke up, Mike and I were still all intertwined. The sun was coming up; the light from the skylights was a soft gray. I could see clouds above. It was breezy too; I could hear the wind whistling through the pines near the house. My headache was pretty much gone. I nuzzled Mike’s beard and neck. He gave out a contented little growl type of noise and pushed into me. We seemed to find each other’s mouth without even trying. I licked his lips gently before moving my tongue against his. He smelled good. I kept on kissing him while I moved my hand through the thick fur on his chest and belly. I kept rubbing in circles until I reached his red bush. I kept my hand massaging that area for a couple of minutes. He obviously liked it as he was moaning into my mouth. He had one of his hands on my cock and would stroke it a few times and then fondle my balls. After rubbing him just above the base of his dick for a few minutes, I gave in to his pushing and thrusting with his hips and grabbed his cock. He was dripping precum, so I used that to lube him up and began to gently stroke him. He had been doing the same to me, and his hand was sliding easily up and down my shaft.

After a few more minutes of that, I moved around so my dick was in his face. He got the hint. It felt incredible to slide into his hot, wet mouth. His tongue was doing a gentle massage on the back of my dick. He began massaging my balls with a free hand. I ignored his cock and began to tongue his beautiful ass. I licked around the hole and then began to tongue fuck him. When he’d start squirming, I’d back off and gently rub my beard up and down his crack. When he was good and wet and relaxed, I moved back and stuck a couple of fingers into that tight, slick hole. I swallowed his cock. I heard him sigh in pleasure around my dick. After a few minutes of a very pleasant sixty-nine position, I moved up to kiss him. It was a bit awkward as I kept my finger in his ass. I smiled at him.

“Good mornin’, buddy.”

“Mornin’, Jeffy.”

“You about ready to get fucked, bud?”

“I’m always ready for you.”

“Why don’t you lube me up and put the condom on me?”

He did that while trying to continue kissing me as much as possible. He stroked me both before and after he unrolled the condom on my cock. I was really raring to go by that time. I got up on my knees, and he pulled back his knees by his ears. I positioned myself and slid in. He opened to take me and then got all tight. It felt so incredible. I held still, just savoring the sensation. He had his legs far enough back that I could get in, push up, position, and kiss him while I fucked him. I began a nice easy pumping. After a few minutes of kissing, I whispered, “Feel good, buddy, was this worth waitin’ for?”

“It’s incredible, Jeffy. I feel so full.”

“So you like my big cock? Makes ya feel real good, don’t it?”

“Oh yeah. Ride me, cowboy!” I began thrusting a bit harder. He was smiling at me. When he got really into it, his eyes would roll back into his head as he gave himself up to the pure sexual pleasure. “Fuck, this feels good! You could keep this up for hours if you wanted to.”

“I dunno, buddy, that sweet ass of yours is pretty hot. You get me goin’.”

“You keep me goin’ with that beautiful body, that fuckin’ huge cock. Fuck me, Fuck me!” He bucked up to meet my thrusts.