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Chapter 11
The packing of the Explorer was efficient. My stuff went in first and Demetrius went in last, since he was the first to be deposited. The fire pit was checked, and Stud and I chopped wood to replace what we used. I will never chop wood again. My arms ached and my back was sore. Stud helped with a brisk massage.
The cabin was ca final perusal. A few stray condoms disposed in a trash bag. Stud said he would eliminate the evidence. Apparently, his garbage men were accustomed to used condoms in his trash.
Jack and I walked down to the stream while Carlos and Leo fitted the shutters. "How do you feel this morning?" Jack asked.
"Mixed." Jack grabbed my hand to give support, both physical and mental, as we navigated the steep terrain. "I will be ecstatic to get home and shower. I must smell worse than the garbage bin at McDonalds."
"I don't notice it," Jack grinned.
"Yeah, you reek too. We are both nose dead." I stumbled, intentionally, and knocked into Jack, who just smiled. At the edge of the stream, a pair of ducks were swimming, oblivious to us. "I like it here," I stated. "Not the outhouse or the water pump, but the quiet, the smell of freshness, the breeze."
"Is part of the city boy fading?"
"Yeah, there is so much world I have missed. My dad was never much for vacations because of the garages. College and work kept me in the city. The city had everything I needed: restaurants, movies, the zoo, and lots of available men." I punched Jack in the shoulder. "You have corrupted me," I teased.
Jack rubbed his shoulder, "You were already corrupt when I met you." I punched him again. "Ouch, I don't want to explain a bruise to my wife." He punched me back, hard.
"Fine, I will just give you a big hickey." I was standing on higher ground than Jack I pulled him in and started nibbling his neck.
"Hey, not cool." Jack stepped back.
"I had no intentions of leaving any marks," I said to mollify him. "I just want to remember the smell of you."
"You just finished say that I stink. That is what you want to remember," he laughed. We slowly ascended away from the water toward the cabin. "Not the stink, but the smell of smoke and must" At the fire pit we stopped, just ashes and trampled ground. "Thank you for inviting me. I had a very good time, despite last night's melancholy. Not just the sex, I enjoyed being here in the wilds, being rustic, no phone, you and the rest of the gang. It is a world I saw on TV and thought disgusting. But here, in it, I want to return."
"Labor Day is coming." Jack smiled and hugged me. "You could bring a friend?"
"Danny?"
"Yes."
"I don't know about six people in the cabin?"
"It would just be Stud and I and you and Danny."
"It would be nice. Danny likes nature and animals, hence the zoo." A slow smile spread across my face as I thought of the possibility. "I will ask him. But too much is uncertain between us. I need to see where we go before I commit."
"We work together. Any day you see me, just say. I know Stud is ready."
"He is always ready. Such a libido."
Everyone was at the Escalade, all the luggage stowed. "Ready?" asked Stud.
Jack tossed the keys to Stud, "You drive." Jack crawled into the back of the vehicle. I rode shotgun.
I stared out the window watching the trees slide by, a royal cavalcade limbs, raised like swords. The dirt road changed to paved, and the trees changed to houses. People were about doing things only important to them. Civilization was sucking me back. Dorothy was swept into Technicolor; I was swept me back into greys.
"You OK?" asked Stud.
"Yeah, I just think I will miss back there."
"The outhouse?"
"No not the outhouse. But the freedom to just be."
"Yeah," was Stud's only needed reply.
Conversation was muted and rare until we stopped outside Madison for lunch. We packed into the burger joint at a back table so as not to offend with our odor. No one seemed to notice or care. The place must be accustom to rank guys.
I suddenly realized I had bars and took out my cell phone. Jack laid a gentle hand on it and said, "We are eating and not texting. Save it for the car."
The other guys stared at me as if I had just made a loud toot in church. I put it away. "Sure, no problem."
The meal conversation was mundane and boring. It was about plans for the week, wives, kids, and pets. It was men returning to a different life than the last few days. It was not as if they ignored me; I just lived in a different world. I wondered if gay people that have spouses and children act the same.
Once back in the Escalade, I pulled out my cell phone. Soon everyone, except Jack, who was driving, did too. I quickly glanced through the texts and emails but decided to respond when I was home and comfortable.
"So no one important enough to reply?" asked Jack, I was still riding shotgun.
"Na, my mother sent an email hoping I was having fun. I'll call her tonight and a couple of texts from Danny wanting graphic details. I'll text him sometime later."
"Two text messages, seems he is interested in you still."
"No he is just a perv."
"Perfect match," commented Stud from the back. "Invite him over tonight and show him." I flipped Stud the bird. He just laughed.
I caught part of a conversation Demetrius was having about meeting and syncing stories. I glanced over my shoulder in a question. "My friend and I told our wives we were spending the weekend camping together, obviously that is not totally true. I at least went camping. Just need to make stories mesh if asked." He said, giving me a glare like what business is it of yours.
"If your wife asks why you are more considerate in bed, what will you say?" I said ignoring his look. Jees, he volunteered the information; I did not ask.
"The guys, you know how guys are, compared notes and I fell short."
"Good enough, I guess." I gave a smile that said your life, not my problem.
Carlos started a round of Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall. It fizzled at 89. Leo was a sleep in the back; Stud was furiously text.
"Who you text?" I asked.
"Carissa, my wife," he smile. "Letting her know I'll be home soon. I am very well trained."
"She has him on a short leash." Carlos said with a chuckle. I did to because I thought it was real and not figurative.
"So much?" I asked.
"Only," he hesitated a little, "The salient points of the weekend. She is very curious." Stud reached over the seat and grabbed my shoulder. "She is anxious to meet you." The grin on Stud's face was alarming.
"Oh fuck," moaned Carlos as he shoved the phone away, "My old lady wants the entire family to go out to a move and pizza when I get home. As she put it, `You spent the weekend playing with the boys, now spend some with your family.' I hope they pick a boring movie so I can sleep." Carlos scowled at me, "It's all your fault, TIM-O-THY."
I scowled back at him, "I didn't force a picnic, nor force you to drink too much, or force you lose much needed beauty sleep. If you are all worn out, maybe you're just getting too old."
"Me old." Carlos huffed, "Let me tell you I'm only 36 and my candle's got a long way to burn."
"Think you might have shortened a little this weekend," Stud interjected.
Carlos smiled, teeth all showing. "Yeah, and worth every flick of the Bic. Timothy, I'm jiving. I loved our time together even if I have to pay tonight."
Leo was tumbled from his sleep by his cellphone. He fumbled, "Hi,...fine ...8:30..usual place...bye." He met the stares of four men waiting. "My wife, ex-wife. We're meeting for supper tonight." He paused looking at us realizing that he was not finished with the explanation. "It will be good. I think both of us will finish the meal happy." Satisfied all heads turn forward.
One by one, we dropped off the band.
Demetrius gave me a hug and wished me well. I did him too. I think he needed it more than I.
At Carlos's, his wife was sitting on the front porch watching the kids play. He gave each of us a manly hug and a slap on the back. He whispered to me, "Gracias, a mi pequeña flor silvestre. May you always blossom."
It took longer to say good-bye to Leo. We exchanged emails and phone numbers. I told him to call me if he had questions. He hugged Stud and Jack, but I got a full tongue French kiss. I felt proud that he was learning.
At Stud's, we had to come for coffee and meet his wife.
Stud's wife was beautiful: tall, dark hair, and intense grey eyes. "Did you boys have a good time?" she asked Stud, but looked at me. "And who is this young man?" she asked Stud.
"This is Timothy," he replied. I bowed and offered a handshake. But she grabbed me and gave be a big French kiss. I was shocked and stumbled back. "That is my Carissa," laughed Stud.
"I enjoyed that Timothy," Carissa said. "Did I embarrassed you? I like that too." Then she grabbed my crotch. She gave a little cackle.
Jack whispered loudly in my ear, "She's a vampire and will suck you dry."
"Now, now Jackie, don't tempt the boy," a thin grin spread across Carissa's face. "You have survived my fangs, and you're not dried out--yet." She looked at Stud and then at Jack and laughed, throaty and deep. "Maybe both of you are dried out." She looked at me, "Timothy, what did you do to my boys?" She smiled, "I'm impressed." While rubbing the front of Stud's pants, she cooed, "We will get this mended" She then kissed Stud delicately. Stud blushed. "I think the boy is starting to revive." She looked at me and winked.
Jack broke in, "Timothy, time to leave before we see some live porn."
Stud and Carissa broke from the kiss. "How disappointing that you will miss an educational program," she purred. I could tell it was not true and that she want us gone with Stud to herself. Carissa hugged me and whispered in my ear, "Once Stud gives me all the details, I may invite you over for a meal." I stammered that I would like that.
Stud kissed me goodbye while fingering my ass. "You said I was a perv." I sputtered as soon as my mouth was free. "You're worse."
Stud gave a twisted smile, "Never claimed I wasn't."
Once we were in the car and on the way, Jack said, "Carissa is quite a woman."
"She is not shy." I replied.
"If they invite you over, and she will, go." Jack paused, "go."
"That good?"
"Amazing"
"But women do not turn me on. I am not very bi."
"She has devices. I do not know where she finds them. She could make water stiff."
I laughed. "Definitely need to learn her source."
As we proceed to my house, we talked about the weekend, work and life. Once at my apartment, I invited Jack up, but he declined. He needed to get home to his wife and kids. She always benefited from his return from the fishing trips.
I was alone. I placed the trophy on the coffee table until I could decide where it belonged. I unpacked, building a pile for laundry. I gratefully took a hot shower and then a bath, with bubbles, just because I could. Exhausted, I just threw on a pair of boxers.
I fell into my sofa with soft jazz on the player and two shots of bourbon in a glass. Feet up on the coffee table about to drift, a knock at my door expelled me from the coming dreams. My neighbor was always forgetting her keys, so I grabbed them from a key dish and opened the door.
"Hi Timmy." I froze. "May I come in?"
"Of course, Danny."