25. Ty
Chapter 25
Ty
T y felt desperate as he unbuttoned Hudson’s shirt, drawing back the damp cloth, pressing his fingers to the warm skin and the dense muscles beneath. He was going to get through this.
He was going to figure out why he’d felt jealous of Michelle, and so lost. But first, his body, now made frisky by the walk in the rain—with Hudson—and the hot food in his belly, the rattle of rain on the rainfly, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to mark the moment or tear right through it.
He was foolish to doubt Hudson.
Maybe there would always be vestiges of the memories of the chain gang that made him doubt that life could be good. Some things could never be left behind, after all. But as for now, he was going to cover all of that darkness with something more bright and fierce and alive. Him and Hudson.
Hudson let him undo his blue jeans and slide them down his thighs, but then there was the tangle of boots and socks, which made Hudson laugh low as he sat down and began unlacing them around the blue jeans bunched at his ankles.
“Better catch up,” he said, tugging everything off and throwing it on his own bed. “Soon as I’m done, I’m getting under these blankets, and I don’t aim to be cold.”
Ty leaped to pull on the chain for the overhead light, tore off his clothes, and slid into the cot next to Hudson. Hudson took up most of the space, so Ty was half-sprawled on top of him, soaking in his warmth, feeling the slight lift and fall of Hudson’s chest with each breath.
“I’m with you now,” said Hudson, as he curled his strong arms around Ty’s waist and held him.
In that moment, they could just be, with Hudson solid beneath him, the rain a steady cacophony in his ears. Hudson’s scent, the sense of warmth and goodness, all things that seemed to have been missing forever.
He could never go back to what had been, but he could stay in the moment. Trail his fingers along Hudon’s neck, and lean in for a kiss, sweet more than fierce, tender and slow.
Warmth was building between their bodies. No one would bother them with the rain coming down like it was. They could take their time.
“I’m going to blow you,” Ty said, imagining he sounded more sexy than he did.
“No,” said Hudson. He gripped Ty’s waist. “I’m going to suck you dry. Make it so you don’t have any thoughts in that pretty head of yours.”
Ty struggled to stay where he was, but Hudson moved, the sheer bulk of him rolling Ty onto the cot, with Hudson on the outside, creating a barrier between Ty and the rest of the world.
Ty blinked into the semi-darkness. Saw the flash of Hudson’s smile. He was losing control and struggled to keep it. But when Hudson kissed him on the forehead so tenderly, he knew he could simply give up and float along the tide Hudson was creating with that palm on his cheek. The kiss to his nose.
“Hudson,” he said, his throat feeling tight.
“Hush, now,” said Hudson. “Just let me.”
Ty let his head sink back into the pillow and took a long, deep breath of rain-scented air. There was nothing wrong with this, in letting go. He knew Hudson wouldn’t hurt him, but losing control was like standing on the brink of a dark abyss. He’d held himself so tight, and now—he took another breath and made himself relax.
Which was made easier because of the way Hudson was petting him, his hair, his arms, slowly as he shifted lower, till his hands clasped Ty’s hips, warm and soft. Then he pulled Ty’s half-hard cock into his mouth, and held it there, not doing anything with his tongue or his lips. Just held it and seemed to be absorbing it. Memorizing the shape of it.
Then he began to suck, slow, slow, slow, his hand at the base while he steadied himself, his head half resting on Ty’s belly, grounding Ty with the feel of hair on his skin, the movement of Hudson’s jaw.
Hudson let go of Ty’s cock, now hard, and sucked a little harder, his fingers alongside, damp when he pulled them out. Ty could feel the trail of moisture on his thigh and when Hudson pressed his hand between them, Ty let them relax, a come-hither sprawl.
“I’ll go easy,” said Hudon, lifting his head. “But let me do all the work.”
Ty tensed for a second, having finally figured out what Hudson meant to do, but as Hudson resumed, his mouth hot on Ty’s cock, he made himself relax and let it happen. Hudson’s fingers were still damp as Hudson used one to trace his anus, and he just—he just pushed in, slow, always slow.
Ty’s body tensed again, but Hudson whispered, “Easy, easy,” against his skin, and resumed his licks and sucks as his finger pushed in and pulled out, a rhythm like a heartbeat.
Impossible to resist, especially when Hudson rubbed that little spot inside Ty’s body, over and over, and Ty began to tremble. All over, as though he was terrified, but it was just his body reacting to the pleasure, the closeness between them. Hudson’s attentiveness made him hyper aware of each movement, each pulse as his body tightened and relaxed. Tensed and submitted.
When his body jumped, Hudson held him down and sucked hard, pressed hard with his finger, and then pulled it out to clasp Ty’s cock in his hands, and ease him through the ripples of his body, the shivers down his spine.
Finally, when Ty’s body was still, Hudson laid his head on Ty’s shivering belly and breathed slowly in and out. Ty could feel the sweat on the side of his face, heard him swallowing.
“Please—” his voice broke, so he had to start again. “Please tell me that wasn’t a pity fuck.”
“I don’t have any pity left,” said Hudson, as clear as could be. “So, no. It wasn’t.”
The best part of all of this was when Hudson slid up in the bed to pull Ty into his arms so Ty could use Hudson’s shoulder for a pillow and breathe through the last aftershocks of pleasure.
“We’ll fuck for real next time,” said Ty, mouthing a kiss along Hudson’s warm neck. “Promise me we will.”
“Stuff,” said Hudson, and then he yawned, pulling up the bedclothes. “Or it’s a no go.”
“You got it,” said Ty, and now he was yawning, too. A great big, open-mouthed yawn that seemed to go on forever and drew the very last bit of tension out of his body. “Stuff ’n stuff.”
He fell asleep hard after that, and when he woke, he realized he’d not moved. Not once during the night.
When Hudson woke up, he didn’t act like he had been squashed, but of course he had been. He didn’t complain, just yawned as he sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the cot, scratching his beardgrowth, and looking at Ty with sleepy eyes.
“You were like silk in my arms,” said Hudson, his voice morning-warm.
Ty sat up and took half the blankets. He didn’t understand what Hudson meant, and looked at him, unable to form the question.
“Fluid.” Hudson shook his head. “The way you move. Fluid.”
It seemed he couldn’t explain it any better than that, and that was okay with Ty. His body felt on the verge of aching, but in a pleasant way. Like he’d been rolled up and squeezed and then unrolled and soothed. He could go through that about a zillion times more and never get tired of it.
“Where do we get stuff?” asked Ty.
“Hell if I know,” said Hudson with a shrug. “Amazon?”
“What?” Ty stood up and stretched, aware of Hudson’s eyes on him.
“Gabe said we can use the valley account if we needed something.”
“But do we have to ask him first, is what I want to know.” There was no way Ty wanted to explain to Gabe what was going on between him and his tentmate. What had been going on, from the very beginning, it seemed.
“Don’t know.” Hudson stood up to hug him, and there they were, bare naked, rumple-haired from sleep, and Hudson was smiling. A low, soft smile that reached his eyes.
Ty felt himself smile back and enjoyed the up and down feeling of Hudson’s muscles and skin. The scratchy hair of his chest, his groin.
“We’ll figure it out,” he said, though he didn’t know if he meant where they were going to get stuff so they could fuck, or if he meant what they were going to do when summer ended. And then beyond that. “First, shower. Breakfast. Then everything else.”
Everything else meant hustling through their showers, then racing to breakfast, where they arrived a little bit breathless and had to stand at the end of the line.
It moved quickly, and nobody seemed to notice how Hudson had cut himself shaving and how Ty’s hair was damp at the ends. How sensitive his ass was, and how his cock seemed to feel every last thread of his briefs.
They went to work that day amidst glittery sunshine and rolling clouds that passed shadows over the glade where they were working.
Hudson was chopping wood again, splitting it to kindling for campfires to come, and for cookstoves, for the guest ranch’s cattle drives and chuck wagon dinners. He was soon sweating, in spite of the cool air, and actually took off his shirt. Wearing leather gloves and bare from the waist up, he was a sight to see.
Ty couldn’t let himself stare. People would notice, and he felt that it was better if nobody noticed. Besides, it was fun to pretend he wasn’t looking, and then to actually look in Hudson’s direction, like he just happened to be looking that way. At Hudson’s strong form. The sleek draw of his muscles every time he lifted the axe over his head and slammed it down.
Ty made himself concentrate on using the chainsaw, safety helmet and goggles firmly in place, trimming small and medium-sized branches off a large tree that had been felled and dragged into the glade.
Gabe made them take breaks, as he always did, with bottles of cold water and cheese and crackers. This was night and day from being in the chain gang, but it was still hard to ask about buying something personal.
So, he lied.
“Hey Gabe,” he said as they were walking to the mess tent for lunch. “I wanted to surprise Hudson with a little model of his favorite truck. Can I order that?”
“Sure,” said Gabe. “Just use the computer in the mess tent. When you open Amazon, you’re already signed in. Just don’t overdo, okay?”
“You got it,” said Ty, his heart thumping a little hard, even if he knew that while Gabe might be pissed about what he was going to order, he wouldn’t beat the living shit out of him.
“Hey,” said Gabe.
Ty stopped, letting Hudson go on ahead into the mess tent.
“Maybe you could order him pens or whatever. Can you?”
“Sure thing, boss,” said Ty. The office supplies would be more of a cover, plus it’d been ages since he’d ordered anything online.
“You can join us in the glade when you’re done,” said Gabe.
After lunch, Ty sat down at the little desk and clicked the mouse to turn on the computer. His hands remembered how, even though it’d been two years since he’d done anything like this. He opened Amazon and scrolled for a bit, overcome by the lush colors and hyped-up descriptions.
He couldn’t decide between the purple Peterbilt model and the red International, but since the International seemed more like the description that Hudson shared with him, he ordered that, some index cards and blue Sharpie pens, and a set of three notebooks, in case Hudson wanted to take some notes.
At the very end, he ordered a small bottle of Astroglide and mentally crossed his fingers that everything would come in the same package, all in a clump, the way he remembered Amazon delivering little stuff like that.
He found the delivery address when he finalized the order and figured Maddy would be circumspect even if she did open the box to check. Or maybe she wouldn’t. It was too late to worry about it as he’d already clicked checkout. Then he set the computer to sleep mode and stepped out of the mess tent and took a deep breath.
His life could keep getting better as long as he believed. In the valley. In him and Hudson. In the future.