Page 16 of On the Land, We Shoot Straight
“Jesus Christ,” Chris muttered above him as he rocked his hips forward.
Grady let him use his mouth, and that always did it; Chris was shooting off within a few minutes.
Grady stood and spat. Chris chuckled and fixed his belt.
“You were on the Cole settlement,” Grady said as he caught his breath.
Chris finished with his belt and glanced up. Grady couldn’t make out his expression that well as dusk fell around them, but his voice was easygoing as he replied. “Yeah, while ago now though. Not much left in it. What’re you after?”
Grady shook his head in response to the question. He couldn’t believe he was asking. But here he was, asking.
“Just wonderin’ what happened to their horses.”
Chris blew out a breath, stepped back into the alley and paused while Grady came up beside him.
“Ain’t got no horses left.”
Grady offered Chris a cigarette. He took it, and they headed back towards the road.
“I figured. Shipped ’em for slaughter?”
“Hmmm,” Chris took a drag. “Think they were good ridin’. Think Stewart’s missus took ’em for the school. Cost a pretty penny, but y’know he’s whipped for ’er.”
“I know it. All of ’em?”
“What, you need some horses? Can get you some better ones than that. Got a good guy in the city if you can manage the ex-racers. Cheap, too.”
They were on the street now, and the light from the bar windows lit up the asphalt with two elongated rectangles. The place buzzed with noise, but otherwise all was dark, quiet.
“Nah, just been thinkin’ on it.”
“That’s a mighty peculiar thing to be ponderin’ on.” Chris looked back at the bar as he said it. “You comin’ back in?”
Grady shook his head.
“All right.” Chris flicked his cigarette out and went back in through the old wooden door, the buzz of male voices spilling out onto the street before getting muffled as the door swung shut. Grady made his way back to his truck.
He thought about it on the drive home. Not that there was much to think on, but that didn’t stop him going back and forth on whether or not to say something, put the kid’s mind at ease. At least she wasn’t dead. Maybe. But was that better? Grady had watched Cole ride Chloe for one day, and he swore the kid was already in love with her. The thought of someone else using a horse he’d presumably had since he could take riding seriously? Must’ve been torture.
Still, Grady would want to know if it was him. He drove up over the little hill before descending down to the house. He put the truck in Park, got out, went on up to the house, and decided he was going to tell him.
Grady went in and looked into the living room, expecting the kid to be up reading like usual, but he wasn’t there. He must’ve turned in already. Or maybe he was reading in bed. Grady had caught him at it before, staying up to all hours while he devoured another book, the choice of which made no sense to Grady. Last he’d seen it wasTo Kill a Mockingbirdand Grady had said, “You’ll like that one,” and Cole replied he’d read it before, he’d read them all before, and Grady didn’t know what to say to that, so he said nothing.
He got his boots off and climbed the stairs. The light from the lamp was spilling out of the kid’s room, the door wide open. He laughed under his breath.
He figured he’d guessed right.
Grady got to the door and stopped. Cole was asleep, book on his chest, one leg straight and the other up and cocked to the side; and from the angle it was hard not to notice how hard Cole’s dick was under those threadbare sweats.
Grady swallowed. He didn’t look away. Kid was hung.
Grady flicked his eyes up to Cole’s face and watched as he took deep, even breaths. His lips were parted and his brow was creased like he was thinking on something bad even in sleep. He looked back down at Cole’s dick like his eyes were drawn there by a magnet, made out the length and width of it against the material. Grady felt his own dick responding and backed out of the room like he’d done something wrong. He shook his head and headed for the shower, told himself not to think on it, and anyway, it was natural to get turned on if someone else was.
Grady stripped out of his clothes and got the water running. He stepped under the spray and had his hand around his dick before he could think too much about it. He got some soap around himself, lathered up, and knew he’d be drawing this out since it’d be the second one tonight.
He was like a teenager again. Only thing was, once he started stroking himself, he felt the pleasure spike quickly, and he was jerking it fast and rough, coming with harsh breaths under the sound of water hitting the tiles.
He got his breath back and stood under the spray until it went cold.
