“Oh yeah. They just want me to find a nice person to settle down with.” He tipped the bottle of beer to his lips. “What about you? How does your family take your sexual preferences?”
“They don’t know about me being bi. They know about the women, of course, but not the men.”
“That must be hard.”
“It is. My mom is really pushing for me to find a nice girl and settle down, but I’m not sure if I want a wife or not.”
“How often do you do women?”
“It depends on how I’m feeling. The last six months, there have been a lot of women, mostly buckle bunnies, of course. We have to be careful around the circuit.”
“Don’t I know it.”
“Is that why I didn’t see you much in the bars where the guys hang out?”
“Yep. I would tend to find a gay bar in the town we were visiting, lose the cowboy persona and try to find someone to hook up with. It worked some times, other times not.”
“Have you ever been with a woman?”
“Yeah. Twice. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. Not that I found the women lacking, I just didn’t get as worked up with women as I do with men. I prefer my own kind, I guess.”
“I have a hankering for a woman now and again, but for the most part, I prefer men. The sex is more along the lines of what turns me on, rough and pleasurable.”
Levi drained his beer and signaled the waitress for another round. “Just the way I like it too.”
“We are very compatible, you and I.” Curt swirled the beer around in his bottle before finishing off the remainder of his own drink.
“I think so.” Levi leaned his elbows on the table. “I think you’ll like my place.”
“How many acres did you say you had?”
“Five-hundred.”
Curt whistled in appreciation. “My dream place is to have a nice little ranch house with some acreage where I can raise animals.”
The waitress brought their beers and as Levi paid her, he said, “I want to get a few bulls into the ranks of the circuit. I think it would be great, although I would be gone all the time still.” He shrugged. “Maybe I’ll just stick to training cutting horses.”
“Whatever you want to do, I’m sure you’ll be great at it. Maybe you should train riders like Clay does.”
“Maybe.” Levi contemplated the brown bottle in his hands.
Music blared over the speakers from the DJ at the front of the bar. They apparently didn’t have a band on a Tuesday night. No worries. The DJ was doing a pretty good job playing the latest country tunes out there. Several people were dancing, which was always a good sign. Lights swirled around the dance floor, reflecting off the sparkling rhinestones on the women’s clothing. Men were decked out in their Saturday night finery with button down shirts, pressed jeans, and brushed clean boots. He wondered how many of them were real cowboys and how many of them were wannabes.
The cowboys hanging around the bar looked nice. Round asses in their Wrangler jeans, tempted him beyond temptation. He wouldn’t act on the temptation though. He had Curt, at least for now, and he wasn’t one to step out on someone he was with even if they weren’t a couple. Come to think of it, he wasn’t sure what they were. Playing it by ear seemed like a good plan though. He might be able to find out more about how Curt wanted this to go while they were at his ranch chilling out.
“What time do you want to leave in the morning for your place?”
“Probably around nine or whenever we get up. I’m not in any rush. Morning chores will have already been done by the time we get there anyway. Six a.m. comes pretty early on a working ranch.”
“Yes it does.”
“I have plenty of room at the house. It’s four bedrooms, three bathrooms. You can have you own room while you’re there.”
“We won’t be sleeping together?”
“Well, I wasn’t sure how you wanted to proceed while we are there. My ranch hands know I’m gay and they are okay with it. In fact, several of my guys are gay too. The barn gets a lot of use.”
Curt laughed as he tipped his head back on his shoulders. When their gazes met again, Levi could see the smirk on his lips and the amusement in his eyes. “Why am I not surprised. You seemed to have quite the set up there.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I guess I do. It’s pretty sweet actually.”
“Did you do your ranch hands?” Curt asked, before taking a sip of his beer like he didn’t just drop a bombshell.
Levi wasn’t sure how to answer that. He had…once, and it was the worst mistake of his life. “No. I figured I needed to keep the boss/employee thing separate.”
“Have you ever had a serious relationship?”
“Yeah, once. He was a local cowboy who came out to the ranch one day looking for work. I hired him. Thus the reason I don’t do the ranch hands anymore. Things didn’t end well when he took off the parts unknown after killing me financially.”
“He stole from you?”
Levi sipped his beer, while he contemplated how much to tell Curt. It was a difficult time in his life and one he didn’t want to relive, but he figured since Curt asked, maybe he might have a little more in mind for them than just fuck buddies. “In a sense, yes. I gave him everything. He had access to all my financial information, ranch books, credit cards, the works. He took me for ten thousand dollars and disappeared after he cleaned out my bank account, ran up my cards, and fucked up my books.”
“You sound bitter.”
“I am.”
“Do you still have feelings for him?” Curt asked, his gaze narrowing as he searched Levi’s face for the answer.
With a shake of his head, he said, “No. I’m more pissed that I was so gullible to start with, than anything. I should have seen it coming, but I thought I was in love.” He drained his beer. “I won’t be so easy to dupe again.”
“I can imagine.”
“Have you ever been in love?”
Chapter Six
“No, can’t say that I have. I’m not even sure I would know what it felt like, although I have an idea.”
“What would it feel like to you?”
“Wanting to be with that person, twenty-four seven, needing to please them with every breath, taking their every want, need, and desire into consideration with every move I make, not worrying about what other people say when it comes to that person.” He shrugged. “I guess that’s my take on the matter.”
“Sounds like you have it down pretty well.”
“Maybe, although I’m not sure if I would recognize it in time to act on it. I haven’t felt that way about anyone, yet, even though my family is all about me settling down and leaving the circuit. I’m not ready for that yet.”
“You’re a good rider. You should ride for a while yet, unless you get hurt.”
“If I don’t make finals this year, I’m going to need to reevaluate my career choice, I think.”
“Why?”
“Because I haven’t made finals since I started five years ago. I should have been able to get in the first year.”
“That’s pretty aggressive to think you’ll make finals that quickly.”
“It’s what I thought.” Curt peeled the paper off his bottle before stacking it to his left with the last one. “Being that good was what came naturally to me or so it seemed, but when you’re riding in the big leagues, you’re just another rider trying to make it. You aren’t anyone. I was on top of the world in the smaller venues. I won almost every event, but here, it isn’t so easy. These guys are good, the best, and they take no prisoners.”
“True. It’s a rough business to be in, that’s why you have to think about after you retire. What are you going to do to make a living? You can’t ride bulls forever. Most guys don’t make it past thirty-five as a bull rider and I’m pushing thirty-three now.”
“You are five years older than me then.”
Levi smiled. He’d pegged Curt to be in his mid-twenties a long time ago so it wasn’t news to him t
o know the younger man was twenty-eight. “You’re just a youngin’.”
“Yeah, whatever, old man.”
They laughed together for a moment. “No, seriously. What are your plans for after you are done bull riding?”
“I’m not sure. I might go back to school for a business degree. I started out doing that before I came on the circuit full time while I was training with Clay. I’m only a few classes short of my bachelor’s degree in business.”
“Sounds good.”
“I really need a master’s though to do much with it. That would take another couple of years, but I would be able to be in a good position with a company as a vice president or something or help someone run their business who is struggling to make it financially profitable.”
“Do you know accounting?”
“Yep. Numbers are my specialty.”
“Maybe I’ll have you take a look at my books when we get the ranch. I need some help with that.”
“Sure.” He grinned as he cocked one eyebrow up over his left eye. “I won’t even charge you…much.”
I kind of like the sound of those terms. “Much?”
“Yeah. A little ass reaming is in order, I would think.”
Levi reached under the table to take Curt’s dick in his hand. The man was already hard behind the fly of his jeans. Levi stroked the rigid flesh a few times for good measure before removing his hand.
“What the fuck? We got us a couple of queers here, gentlemen!” One big, burly cowboy stood near the edge of the table. “We don’t take kindly to your type in our bar.”
“We are drinking our beers, man. Leave us be.”
A crowd began to gather behind him. “We like our women hot, our beer cold, and our bar free of queers. Get the fuck out.”
“We aren’t hurting anyone by sitting here drinking our beer.”
The guy swept the table free of beer bottles, spilling what was left of their beers on the floor. “You’re done. Leave now before I throw your asses out in the street after I beat you both to a pulp.”
Curt slowly climbed to his feet. “That so?”
“Yeah, that’s so.” The guy went to grab Curt by the front of his shirt.
Curt pulled back his massive arm, punching the guy square in the nose.
“You fucker! You broke my nose.” The guy lunged, taking them both to the floor. Blood smeared across Curt’s cheek as the other guy landed on top of him.
Bouncers appeared, dragging the two men apart. “Out. Both of you.”
“We weren’t doing anything but sitting here enjoying our beer,” Levi said as the bouncers held the two men a big enough distance apart, they couldn’t hit each other again.
“Who threw the first punch?”
The crowd pointed at Curt. “I did.”
“Well, since he jumped you after that, you both need to vacate the premises. Your night is over.”
Levi moved toward the door figuring Curt would follow as soon as the bouncer let him go.
“Fucking queers!” the guy shouted from behind them as the crowd parted to allow them through to the door.
The door stood between him and the outside fresh air. He hated it, but people just didn’t understand. With that kind of man, how could they? He obviously had a problem with gay people, but it was his problem, not theirs. The guy seemed to be the typical downhome country boy who didn’t like anything that wasn’t the norm. He probably had a thing for anyone who wasn’t white and female. Oh well, his problem.
“Hey, queer!” Great. The guy had followed them outside. “Hey, I’m talking to you.”
Levi and Curt kept going. The guy appeared near Levi’s truck with a baseball bat. With one swing, he took out Levi’s right front headlight.
“I’m going to kill him,” Curt said, coming back around the front of the truck as Levi tried to stop it.
“It’s not worth it.”
“He busted out your headlight!” Curt surged forward, grabbing the bat in mid-swing as the guy prepared to take out the other headlight. “You fucking moron. You have no idea how diminished your brain capacity is, do you?”
“What did you say?”
“I said you are a fucking moron. Come on. Swing at me, asshole.”
The bat whizzed by Curt’s head as he ducked. His fist connected with the guy’s middle, pushing air out in a whoosh. The guy doubled over. Curt’s foot came up between the man’s legs, crushing his dick in one swift blow. He dropped the bat, grabbed his crotch, and fell on the ground moaning.
“Let’s get out of here before the cops show up,” Curt said, grabbing the doorknob to Levi’s truck.
Levi jumped into the driver’s seat, slammed the door, and cranked the truck over as a group of men came out of the bar. Gravel flew as they peeled out of the bar parking lot. “You okay?” he asked, worried Curt had been hurt in the fight.
“I’m good. The guy didn’t even hit me.”
He glanced across the cab of the truck, giving Curt a once over to make sure he wasn’t bleeding anywhere or anything. “You’re a pretty good fighter.”
“I had to be in school. I was the skinny, little dude with the glasses.”
“You were?”
“Yep.”
“You’d better wash that blood off when we get back. No telling where that guy has been.”
“I will.”
They pulled back through the parking lot of the hotel. “Thanks for taking care of him.”
“No problem.”
“I’m not much of a fighter. I tend to avoid things like that if possible.”
“He was completely out of line.”
“Well, we weren’t in a bar that catered to our kind.”
They met around the front of the truck.
“Our kind?”
“You know, gay guys or girls.”
“We’re free to hang out anywhere we want.”
“I know, but we’re better staying with a bar where it’s okay to be gay.”
“I like country bars.”
“So do I, but those types of patrons aren’t okay with us touching, dancing, kissing or whatever. If we went to a gay bar, it would be the norm.”
Curt leaned in to get nose-to-nose with Levi. “There is nothing wrong with being gay, Levi. We aren’t sick or crazy. We happen to have a sexual preference for someone of the same sex. We are hardwired differently, more than likely from birth, although nothing has been proven one way or another. I, for one, am not ashamed to say I like you, I want to fuck you, and I plan for this to be a nice relationship whether it be for a long time or a short time. That all depends on you.” Curt crushed their mouths together in a bruising kiss meant to bend his will to the more dominant man in this relationship.
When they finally came up for air, they were both breathing hard.
“You need to learn to embrace your sexuality and not let others tell you you’re wrong because of your sexual preferences.”
“I can’t help the type of person I want to have sex with happens to be another man.”
“No you can’t, but stop being sorry for it. There isn’t anything you can to do change it.” Curt pressed his forehead against Levi’s. “We should probably take this upstairs before I end up fucking you out here in the middle of the grass where everyone can see. I’m not so much into exhibitionism, but I might be able to get into that with you.”
“Are you going to fuck me?”
“Hard and fast, buddy, hard and fast.”
Levi almost ran up the stairs to their room, his shaking hands making it hard to slip the keycard in the door.
“Let me,” Curt said, taking the card from him.
The door no more than banged shut behind them before Curt spun him around, yanked his T-shirt over his head and crushed their mouths together again. Levi loved it when Curt took control of their lovemaking and he had a feeling this time would be without much preamble at all. Like he said, hard and fast. Levi’s cock hurt from being so turned on by the commanding attitude Curt had
taken with him. He never knew he liked to be the weaker of the couple, but this made him realize he did. He wanted to be the more submissive of the two of them.
“Strip those jeans off while I get the lube and the condom.”
Curt watched as Levi slowly unbuckled his belt buckle, the clanking noise loud in the quiet room. He unbuttoned his pants and hooked his fingers into the waistband of the jeans, before pushing them to the floor with his boxers. He sat on the side of the bed to toe off his boots and remove his socks before discarding his jeans in quick order.
A condom and the tube of lube were clutched in Curt’s fist as he licked his lips. “You are so fucking hot.”
“You are pretty scorching yourself.” Levi wiped his sweaty palms on his thighs as he waited for Curt to undress. “Are you going to strip those jeans off or fuck me with them on?”
“I’m going to fuck you with them around my knees, because I’m so horny right now, my balls feel like they’re about to explode from the sheer force of my cum building up inside them.”
Levi rolled over on the bed, brought his knees up on the edge of the bed and spread his ass cheeks. “Do it.” The cold drizzle of lube down the crack of his ass sent shivers racing down his spine. The hard head of Curt’s cock bumped against the puckered hole of his ass. When Curt pushed through the ring of muscles and in until he was fully seated, Levi had to exhale sharply as the burn of sweet pain almost overwhelmed him.
“God, you feel amazing.”
“Fuck me hard.”
Curt withdrew his cock before shoving it back in with enough force to push Levi down on the bed. The hard thrusting of his hips felt fantastic. Levi wanted this round to go on and on, but soon it would be over and they would have to face their growing attraction for each other, at least Levi thought so.
* * * *
The tight ass of the man beneath him had Curt groaning his own satisfaction. He loved having Levi under him, in him, around him, sucking him, and fucking him. What he didn’t like was how Levi shied away from embracing his sexual preference as normal. There wasn’t anything abnormal about them being attracted to one another. He would have to work on that with his friend and lover.
Falling Hard Page 7
