Two Sides of the Same Coin (50 page)

I
WOKE
up from a sound sleep. I was a bit groggy. I wasn’t sure what time it was; I could see that it was later since the shadows cast by the waning moon had moved. Mike and I were all tangled up. I wondered if he’d moved and that woke me. That happens, but I usually don’t come awake like this. I looked at the clock. It was three-thirty. Something caused me to wake up. Then I realized what it was. I smelled smoke.

“Mike, buddy, get up, I smell smoke.” Mike sat up. I jumped up and pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Mike followed my lead. I ran downstairs to see the back porch in flames.

I yelled up the stairs, “Mike, there’s a fire extinguisher in the loft! Bring it down!”

I ran to the mudroom. There was another fire extinguisher there. The heat from the fire had broken the glass pane in the door and the kitchen window that overlooked the porch. It hadn’t spread inside yet. I grabbed the fire extinguisher and threw open the door. I began to spray the fire. I could see Mike run up through the flames. He’d gone out the back and run around the house. He was screaming, “Call nine-one-one,” at the top of his lungs.

I continued to use the fire extinguisher, as did Mike. Just then the door to the bunkhouse burst open. Smitty ran out in his white long handles with a fire extinguisher. José came out with the other fire extinguisher; he was in a pair of boxers and a long-sleeve thermal shirt. I could see Josh with his cell phone in the door to the bunkhouse. He was yelling into the phone, dressed in only a wife beater and white jockey shorts. With the four of us using fire extinguishers we had it put out pretty quick. We were lucky that we caught it before the logs in the wall started on fire or it spread inside. I stepped out on the porch to survey the damage. There was a can of charcoal lighter fluid thrown over to one side.

“Guys, we better get dressed, I reckon the fire squad and the sheriff are gonna be here soon. If you wanna come back up here, I’ll make some coffee.”

We all headed back to our separate rooms to get dressed. After that, I headed downstairs and made a big pot of coffee. José, Josh, and Smitty walked over from the bunkhouse.

“Thanks, guys. I really appreciate your fast thinkin’.”

“Glad to help.”

“Boss, why didn’t the smoke alarm go off?”

“Good question, José.” I pulled a chair over and took off the cover of the smoke alarm. I change the batteries every time the clock changes to or from daylight savings time. There were no batteries in the smoke alarm.

“What in the hell, someone took out the batteries.”

“Jeffy, we locked the door didn’t we?”

“I don’t remember, buddy.” Just then I heard the sirens. In a minute or so the fire truck was up here, and the sheriff was right behind. I put another pot on for coffee.

“Looks like you guys were pretty handy with the extinguishers. Was someone smoking and didn’t put the butt out?” I looked at the fire chief. He had been a Seattle fireman before moving here.

“Nope.” I pointed to the lighter fluid can. He walked over and began to look at the charred wood the fire left and the patterns. He called to the sheriff.

“Dwayne, come over here.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you smell it?”

“Smells like gasoline.”

“Lighter fluid, the can’s right over there.” I was standing right behind them.

“Sheriff, someone also took the batteries out of our smoke detectors.”

“You’ve been lockin’ the door, haven’t ya?”

“Yes, sir. Only thing is that neither me nor Mike is sure about tonight.”

“When are you gettin’ that alarm installed?”

“Day after tomorrow.”

“I’ll feel a lot better when that’s up and running.”

“So will I, sir.” The fire truck left, but the sheriff stuck around taking statements from us all. The sun was just coming up when he left. I turned to Josh, José, and Smitty.

“Thanks again, guys. I’m gonna try to get a bit of sleep. C’mon, buddy.” They turned to the bunkhouse, and Mike and I headed upstairs. We fell asleep right away.

Chapter Twenty

“
M
IKE
, I can’t wear this. Look at it. It’s so tight everythin’s outlined. Hell, you can even tell I’m cut.” I was standing in our room in my blue and yellow Wolverine costume that Renee had made. We were getting dressed for the Halloween party. Mike and I had worked out earlier to get a good pump on. We were both lean but muscular, and every single cut of muscle stood out in sharp relief. Looking in the mirror, the suit’s thin spandex clung to me like a second skin. My ass looked muscular, and no one could say I didn’t have a bubble butt. What made me the most self-conscious though, and remember I ain’t shy, was that my dick and balls were really clearly outlined, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination.

“I like the way it looks, Jeffy. I better not touch ya or anythin’. If you got hard in that….”

“Buddy, it’s one thing to walk around in my underwear or even bare ass in the house or around you or other guys, but this is a Halloween party with kids. It looks like I’m gonna parade up and down Castro Street.”

“What’s Castro Street, and what do you mean by parade up and down it?”

“It’s the main area of the gay ghetto in San Francisco. On Halloween, they close the street off to traffic, and everyone wears costumes. Some of ’em are pretty amazin’.”

“Yours is pretty amazin’ all right!”

“That’s what I mean; this might be all right there, but not here. Besides, you want every gay guy and every single woman gettin’ a show and hanging all over me?”

“You are so cocky, Jeffy, but I do see your point. I got an idea.” He went over to the dresser and rummaged through his underwear drawer. He came up with a pair of yellow bikini style briefs.

“Put these on over the costume. They’re the same color as the yellow in the costume.” That did hide the detail, but my package still looked enormous.

“That’s a little better. People are gonna think I got a wad of sweat socks stuffed down here.”

Mike laughed. “Jeffy, you grew up here, you played sports, and went to gym class. I reckon there have been rumors floatin’ around about you not bein’ exactly small. Hell, even Sandy heard that from her brothers.”

“Yeah, at least now everythin’ isn’t perfectly outlined, and I don’t wanna hurt Renee’s feelings. By the way, buddy, you look awesome.”

“Thanks.” He really did look awesome. He had on these tight black leather pants, which showed off his ass and thighs to perfection. He was wearing a pair of clunky motorcycle boots, to which were attached kneepads painted silver. He had on a skin-tight burgundy shirt with steel blue stripes on the side. It showed off the cut in his abs and chest. Over that, he had Gambit’s signature brown duster. He’d needed a haircut when we started talking costumes and hadn’t cut it yet, so his hair was much longer than usual and sticking up and over a headband. He’d shaved his beard to a really short goatee, and put a rinse in his hair, so it matched his beard. He’d even found a pair of contact lenses that made the whites of his eyes look red.

“You look pretty good yourself. Maybe, um… we can….”

“You wanna fool around in these costumes when we get back.”

“Uh yeah.”

“I was thinking the same thing. Wolverine is really gonna fuck with Gambit, use his ass good.”

“Don’t get me goin’, Jeffy; these pants are so tight a hard-on would hurt.”

“Yeah, I don’t wanna be more embarrassed than I already will be.” We headed downstairs. Maria, Sandy, and Renee had gotten dressed downstairs, and Josh and José in the bunkhouse. Smitty was also there dressed as Zorro. Everyone looked good. As we came down the steps, Sandy, Renee, and Maria let out some wolf whistles.

“Holy Mother of God, how often do you boys work out?” Renee was staring us up and down.

“We work out at least five days a week, sometimes six of seven. Plus we like to throw a football around, run, and do other stuff.” Mike smiled at her.

“It shows. Josh, when are you gonna start workin’ out with them?” Josh scowled at her.

“I dunno if they want me to.”

“The more the merrier, right, Jeff?”

“Yep.”

“So does that more the merrier extend to me too?” Smitty was looking at both of us.

“Sure. Do you want us to let you know when we’re workin’ out? Sometimes for us, it happens on the spur of the moment.”

“I’d be much obliged.”

“Jeff, I guess those rumors are true, unless you’re carryin’ an extra pair of sweat socks!” Leave it to Sandy.

“C’mere, darlin’.” She walked over. I whispered in her ear, “Sandy, I’m self-conscious enough. These little briefs are Mike’s. The costume was indecent without ’em.”

“Comin’ from you that’s sayin’ a lot.”

“There’s a time and a place for everythin’, and confirmin’ rumors in great detail at a party with kids doesn’t seem like a good idea.” She gave me a hug.

“Sorry if I embarrassed you.”

“I ain’t embarrassed, just a bit self-conscious. Anyway you look absolutely beautiful dressed up like that.”

“Thanks. You and Mike look pretty hot yourselves.”

“I noticed Smitty seems to think you’re pretty easy on the eyes.” She blushed, but smiled at the same time.

“Why do you say that?”

“Just noticin’, that’s all.”

“He’s a real nice guy. I’m glad you hired him.”

“I am, too, especially after the yahoo we had before him.”

“José told me and Maria about him. What a jerk.”

“I don’t think we’re going to have to worry about him.” We turned to everyone and started figuring out who would ride with who. Smitty wanted to ride with Sandy, but would need a ride back to the ranch.

“That’s fine, but Mike and I are goin’ to a Wicca ceremony with Mary Grace and Rick after the party.”

“Wicca huh? I always wanted to see one of them. I read someplace a lot of what they do recreates practices from over two thousand years ago.”

“I’m surprised you heard of it.”

“Jeff, everyone’s heard of it. It’s also called the craft, or witchcraft.”

“I knew that; Mary Grace gave me a book about it. Both Mike and I read it.”

“Mind if I tag along?”

“Not at all.”

“Jeff, I just want you to know I reckon I’m mighty lucky to count you and Mike as friends.” He extended his hand and I shook it.

“That works both ways.”

“I better go and try to impress Miss Sandy. She sure is beautiful, ain’t she?”

“Yeah, she is, and a really great person. Treat her nice okay? She’s just like a sister to me.”

“Is this the brotherly warning?”

“Reckon so, although I don’t think you need it.”

“I don’t, but it makes me appreciate you and her more.” He gave me a long look and then smiled before heading over to Sandy. It turned out that Josh, Renee, and José were all going in Renee’s car. So that left me and my buddy in my truck. I grabbed a sack of clothes to put over my Wolverine costume for the ceremony tonight. I’d shaved part of my beard to have Wolverine’s big mutton chop sideburns. I also borrowed some scentless hair gel from Sandy, so my hair was standin’ up in a kinda long flat top. As we were drivin’ to Winslett, Mike and I held hands.

“What a week, huh, Jeffy? With gettin’ the door and windows replaced, and sandin’ all the burned wood off the logs and porch, and then restainin’ it?”

“It was a lot of work, but just think how much worse it could’ve been. Besides, with you, me, José, Josh, and Smitty working together, it went pretty quick. I sure would like to catch the son of a bitch who’s behind this.”

“Just don’t get yourself hurt. I’m sure Sheriff Johnston will get to the bottom of it pretty quickly.”

“Reckon so. I just want it to be over. I wanna go huntin’ with you, buddy. It really grits me to have to be puttin’ stuff with you on hold and always watchin’ over my shoulder. I could gladly kill the guy.”

“Sheriff get any prints?”

“No fingerprints, but one set of boot prints in the yard was the same as at the cattle rustlin’ site.”

“Then it is the rustlers after ya or after us. Why ya think they’re after us?”

“I reckon they think we know something we don’t, or with what we do know, it’s so obvious we shoulda figured it out but haven’t.”

“If that’s the case, I hope it clicks soon.”

“Me too.” We got to the big town center/barn where the Halloween party was being held. It was already starting to get crowded. I saw Wayne’s truck, and that made me happy. He had called the day after the fire, all shook up that he wasn’t there to help. Wayne’s pretty close-mouthed about personal stuff, but he let me know his mom in Idaho was dying. I knew he had a mom and sister there, but didn’t think they were particularly close. I guess the fact of her being sick shows blood’s thicker than water and explains some of where he’s been spending his time. It can’t be easy driving back and forth between here and Idaho, so I gave him the week off with pay and told him if he needed another week to let me know. I’d told him about hiring Jeanette and Smitty. I wasn’t too sure if he’d think I was walking all over his toes, but he was fine with it. Bottom line was that he trusted me and José. He ended up almost begging me to take care before he hung up. I reckon he was a lot more upset with his family stuff and the goings on at the ranch than he let on. Wayne was like that. It really did make me appreciate him even more though.

We all met in the parking lot and headed into the barn as a group. We did turn heads as we walked in. I guess with the tight outfits some of us had on and the bright colors, we were quite a sight. I saw Wayne and headed over.

“Hey, Wayne, how ya doin? How’s your mom?”

“Hi, Jeff, I’m glad to see you in one piece.” He clapped me on the shoulder and kept his hand there. “She’s not doin’ too good. Doc gives here maybe about another week. I had to get outta there. Listinin’ to my sister talkin’ about religion all the time was gettin’ to me. I’m goin’ back tonight after the party. I was hopin’ I’d see you, the rest of the boys, and Sandy.”

“I’m glad to see you, too, Wayne. I been a bit worried with all you got goin’ on, your mom, the shit at the ranch, maybe a new relationship.”