Valley of the Dudes (28 page)

Read Valley of the Dudes Online

Authors: Ryan Field

Tags: #Erotica, #Romance, #Fiction

widely and his voice was too animated. “You used to like me, too.”

 

Rush closed his eyes for a moment. He hadn’t seen Lance since Lance had left

 

Malibu with Cody. His heart started to beat faster and his face felt flushed. “And you

 

used to like
me
,” he said. Then he turned his back on Lance and walked up the hill.

 

Lance jogged up to him. He put his arms around Rush’s waist and buried his face

 

in Rush’s neck. “I’ve missed you so much,” he whispered. “I don’t blame you if you hate

 

me. I deserve it after what I did to you. I’m so sorry.”

 

When Lance used the word hate, Rush’s eyes filled with tears. Even now, after all

 

he’d been through, he knew in his heart he could never hate Lance. If anything, he loved

 

him even more. But he pulled away from Lance and said, “I’ve changed since the last

 

time you saw me, Lance. I know what I want now and I’m not going to compromise

 

anymore. I’m not the same person I was back in Hollywood. Gay men of my generation

 

are learning they can have lifelong relationships…even marriages…just like everyone else. I want to be like the guys on the cover of that book we saw once, while we were

 

walking through SoHo. At least I want to try to be like them.”

 

Lance reached out and grabbed Rush’s arms. He looked into his eyes and said,

 

“I’m not the same either. I’ve changed, too. I want you back. I’ll do anything to prove it.

 

Just tell me what you want me to do. Tell me how I can prove to you how much I love

 

you. I’ll buy rings and we can get married, just like the guys on the cover of the book.”

 

Rush spun around. He clenched his fists and shouted, “You cheated on me, you

 

bastard. You cheated on me with
Cody
. How could you do it?” He stopped for a breath

 

and he wiped a tear from his cheek. “I love you so much. I don’t know if I can go through

 

that again.”

 

Lance lifted his arms. “What I did was a mistake. I know that now. But I didn’t

 

cheat on you. I’ve never cheated on you. When I was with Cody, you and I weren’t a

 

couple anymore. I was never with him, or anyone else, while we were together. I swear

 

on my life. When we were a couple, there was no one else.”

 

Rush looked up at the trees and rolled his eyes. “What about that night I called

 

your hotel room in New York and Cody answered? It sounded to me like you were about

 

to have sex. Cody told me pointedly that he’d just removed his pants.”

 

Lance shook his head. “Cody was lying. I was in the bathroom and Cody was just

 

leaving my room. We hadn’t done anything together yet. I told him we wouldn’t do

 

anything until I spoke with you. He tried to take off his pants and I stopped him. The next

 

night, I called and told you how I felt. Give me that much credit. I didn’t cheat on you.”

 

Rush knew how to read his face and he believed him. He took a deep breath and

 

sniffed back. Lance had a point. It didn’t make him feel any better, but at least Lance hadn’t lied to him and he hadn’t cheated on him while they were together. “I’m not going

 

back to New York or Hollywood,” he said. “I’m staying here for good.”

 

Lance put his arms around him and said, “Then I’ll move here. I can commute to

 

New York. We can keep a little
pied-à-terre
in the city when we have to stay over, and

 

we can make this our full-time home. I’ll sell the Malibu house. I haven’t been back there

 

anyway since you left, and I’m not going back there alone.” He kissed Rush’s earlobe.

 

“I’ll do anything. Just give me the chance to prove it to you.”

 

Rush’s body tingled and his legs felt weak. Since he’d moved to New York, his

 

entire life had been about taking chances, not giving them to someone else. With Lance’s

 

strong arms around him, he felt warm and safe again. But he wasn’t sure—he didn’t want

 

to return to the life he’d just left. He knew if he did, the deep, dark valley he’d escaped

 

from once would devour him this time.

 

So he lifted his arms and placed his hands on Lance’s neck. He rubbed the back of

 

Lance’s head and said, “I love you, too, Lance. But I’m not sure it’s possible anymore. I

 

don’t know if we can get back what we had.”

 

Then he kissed Lance on the cheek and stepped back. He turned and tapped his

 

thigh so Dustin would follow him up the hill. As he started to walk, he was terrified to

 

turn back. He wasn’t sure if Lance was following him.

 

When he finally reached the top of the hill, where the woods opened and there

 

was a view of a wide, flat meadow below, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Lance was right

 

behind him. Dustin looked up and tilted his head to the side. Rush didn’t move. “Just give me a chance to prove how much I’ve changed and how much I love

 

you,” Lance said again. “I’m only asking for one more chance. I promise I will not

 

disappoint you this time.”

 

Rush pressed his lips together and stared down at the meadow. He wanted to fall

 

back into Lance’s strong arms and make love to him right there on the road, but his body

 

remained rigid and he couldn’t move his legs.

 

Then, down in the meadow, not far from where they were standing, he saw

 

something unusual. He tilted his head to the side and leaned forward. Dustin was on the

 

other side of the road by then and wasn’t paying attention. Rush pointed and whispered,

 

“Lance, look down there. Do you see what I see? Am I losing my mind?”

 

Lance stepped up and stared at the meadow. He put his arm around Rush’s waist

 

and said. “I see it. I can’t believe it. But I see it.”

 

In the meadow, standing still in the snow, was a strong, regal deer. But it wasn’t

 

just any deer: this one had large antlers and white spots all over its back, just like the

 

calico fawn they’d saved the first weekend they’d spent together in Connecticut. The deer

 

turned and looked up at them. He stared in their direction without moving a muscle. Rush

 

leaned into Lance and rested his face on his chest. He sighed and said, “It can’t be the

 

same one.”

 

Dustin ran to where they were standing. When he saw the deer down in the

 

meadow, he barked a few times and wagged his tail. The bark didn’t frighten the deer,

 

but he did shake his head and turn in the opposite direction. When he started to slowly

 

walk away, he hobbled with a slight limp.

 

Rush pressed his palm to his throat. “Did you see him limp?” Lance nodded. He put his other arm around Rush and said, “See, even the deer

 

thinks you should give me a second chance. What we have together is as rare as a calico

 

deer with a limp.”

 

Though he knew Lance wasn’t joking, Rush laughed. He leaned into Lance’s hard

 

body, then put his arms around Lance’s shoulders and kissed him on the lips. When he

 

closed his eyes and inserted his tongue in Lance’s mouth, Dustin started to bark and run

 

around in circles.

 

A moment later, Rush stepped back and looked at Lance’s body. He was wearing

 

a black leather jacket, but he wasn’t wearing gloves, boots, or a hat. He looked like he

 

was going for a stroll in Central Park instead of a hike up a snowy New England road.

 

Rush smiled and said, “We’d better go back to the house. You must be freezing, and your

 

feet must be soaked.”

 

Lance laughed. “I’m fine,” he said. “And I’m not leaving this spot until I have an

 

answer. Can I have one more chance?”

 

Rush nodded. He didn’t have any doubts. He was stronger now and he’d learned

 

from his past mistakes. “How can I say no to the only man I’ve ever loved?”

 

Then he pulled off his gloves and gave them to Lance. “Put these on. Your hands

 

must be freezing. When we get back to the house I’ll give you dry shoes and socks. I’ll

 

build a fire and you can wait for me. I have to take my aunt to the airport this afternoon.

 

She’s going to Florida for a month to visit her cousin.”

 

When they started to walk downhill again, Rush turned back to call Dustin, who’d

 

gone over the hill to explore the other side. As he turned and shouted Dustin’s name, he

 

looked into the meadow again. The deer was on the other side of the meadow and he could still see its outline. The deer stopped and stared at him. They looked at each other

 

for a second, then the deer limped off to a wooded area on the other side of the meadow.

 

THE END

 

Visit
www.ravenousromance.com
for more great stories by Ryan Field.

 

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