Cleats in Clay (15 page)

didn’t say ya was bringin’ in a celebrity.” She went over to Bobby’s side
of the table, wiping her hand on her apron before extending it to him. “My
name’s Cindy, in case the goofus didn’t tell ya. Welcome to the Catfish
Store.”
“Thanks,” Bobby said as he shook her hand. “It’s great catfish.” Cindy smiled down at him. “I won’t let ya leave here ’til ya hafta
unbutton yer pants,” she said with a wink.
Bobby blushed at the strange innuendo.
“Oh, no, sugar,” she said with a laugh. “I meant ya’ll be so stuffed,
it’ll be like Thanksgiving.” She patted Bobby on the shoulder, still
chuckling as she moved away.
Odis smiled at Bobby’s rosy-red face as he continued to eat. “So,
what are your thoughts?”
“Well, it
is
an interesting idea. But like I said before, I think you and
I kinda have something, and I’m a bit cautious to risk it trying something
that might blow up in our faces. You know, since we could all end up with
nothing in the end.”
Grabbing more okra, Odis nodded. “Well—”
Cindy appeared again with a pitcher and filled up their tea glasses.
She looked down at Bobby with a serious expression. “Nick was just
fillin’ me on that whole mess. I’m so sorry, Mr. Lane. Nobody deserves
that kind of shit.”
“It’s okay, Cindy, you don’t need to apologize for anything,” he said
with a kind smile.
“Oh, but you know.” Her expression lightened. “I hope ya enjoy
yerself here in Brungess. Take that rascal out and get him into some
trouble. Make him take ya over to the Blue Barn. Lord knows when’s the
last time he had any fun,” she playfully teased while looking at Odis. Odis rolled his eyes at her. “Just behave yerself, Cin. Maybe he
don’t wanna go to no honky-tonk full of straight rednecks.”
Cindy chuckled. “Maybe not, I guess.” She looked over at Odis and
noticed the warm smile he got when he glanced at Bobby. Her eyes
suddenly got wider. “Odie?” Then she broke out into a wide grin. “Well,
you two go on with yerselves, then,” she said, nodding as she went to the
next table.
Odis smirked. “So much for keepin’ things quiet.” He looked over at
Bobby. “Cin’s one of the biggest gossips in town.”
“Oh, I see.” Bobby ate another piece of fish. “You gonna be okay?” “Sure. No point in tryin’ ta keep secrets, I guess.”

A
FTER
two more rounds, Odis and Bobby finished their meal and paid, then returned to the car with a small Styrofoam clamshell of food they’d smuggled out for Heimdalla. The dog bounced around in the El Camino when she saw them leave the restaurant. The guys crawled into the car, and Odis fed the bits to Heim.

Odis sat back without starting the car. “Not that I’m tryin’ to rush things, but if yer seriously considerin’ this, I think we should call up Tuck sooner rather than later. I just have this feelin’ it might be one of those window-of-opportunity kinda things.”

Nodding, Bobby fished his cell phone from his pocket. “Well, let’s go ahead and call him, then.”
“You sure?”

“Not totally, to be honest. Still kinda scares me a little, about it blowing up. But….”
“I’m willin’ to try.” Odis pulled out his wallet and dug around for a ratty-looking business card. He handed it to Bobby. “Tuck’s cell number’s on the back.”

After struggling to read the faded pencil marks, Bobby punched in Tuck’s number. He glanced over at Odis as the line rang.
Odis started up the car. “Tell him to meet us at the house.”

A
S
T
UCK
fluffed his pillow and turned down the blanket, his cell phone rang. Not knowing if it might be the department calling, he quickly reached to the nightstand and grabbed the phone. “Tuck.”

He relaxed a bit. “Hey.” Tuck glanced at the clock and saw it was only 8:45 p.m. He hadn’t realized it was still so early.
“Listen, we uh, kinda might have a situation,” Bobby started. “Could you meet us at Odis’s house?”
Tuck felt himself once again tense up as his cop instincts kicked in. “What kind of situation, exactly? Should I get backup?”
“Oh,” Bobby chuckled. “Nothing like
that
. It’s cool, we just wanna talk.”
“
Talk
?” Tuck replied pointedly as the sense of threat faded. “You
are
on a freakin’ phone. So talk.”
“Really.” Bobby’s inflection sounded almost desperate. “It’s… just come to Odis’s, okay?”
Tuck reached in his closet for some shoes. “Fine. I hafta work early tomorrow, so no high jinks,” he said as he slipped on his sneakers. “I’ll be there in a bit.”
“See ya.” Bobby hung up.
As he moved to the living room, Tuck ran his fingers through his hair. One glance in the hall mirror as he grabbed his keys made him think his hair was a lost cause, so he grabbed his ball cap and slipped it on before heading out.
As Tuck drove farther from town, his mind kept wandering to dark places. He had already struggled with, and mostly won, the battle to set aside any desires for Odis or Bobby, so a touch of anger now began to boil at once again being reminded of what he couldn’t have.
Can’t these guys just leave me alone?

Tuck wasn’t even sure why he was driving out to Odis’s. Hell, he still wasn’t sure why he’d even gone to the airport to pick up Bobby earlier in the day. What
had
he been expecting? He shook his head as he turned onto the gravel road. He needed to get over this, get past whatever strange compulsion kept steering him toward these guys. This wasn’t healthy behavior
at all
.

He thought again about Bobby’s call. If it hadn’t been for that desperation in his voice, Tuck wouldn’t be bothering with this. It wasn’t a fearful desperation—Valhalla knew he heard enough of that with his job. Bobby’s voice had that yearning quality he’d heard in some of those latenight calls from Hutchinson. Or maybe he was just a boneheaded lovesick puppy hearing imaginary things.
Gods, hope I’m not
that
far gone.

B
OBBY
and Odis followed Heimdalla down the steps and into the house. Odis hadn’t even had time to offer Bobby a beer when Tuck came down the steps behind them. He entered the door, then bristled hesitantly just inside.

Odis chuckled at Tuck. “Nice of ya to dress up for us,” he teased. Bobby, fighting back a grin at seeing Tuck dressed in a pair of tight jogging pants, a faded sweatshirt, grubby-looking high-tops, and his beatup Texas Rangers cap, motioned to the table. “Heya, Tuck. Come on in.”
Odis headed for the kitchen. “I’ll get some beers.”
Tuck and Bobby sat down at the table. Tuck glanced between the other two men. “What’s this all about?”
Bobby accepted a beer and watched Odis sit down after handing one to Tuck. Then Bobby took a deep breath. “It’s… you remember I told you about Nathan being psychic and all?”
Tuck nodded as he twisted the top and took a sip from the bottle.
“Well,” Bobby said, looking down at the note still sitting on the table. “This is the latest thing he left for me.” He picked up the note and handed it to Tuck. “The pencil marks are what Odis deciphered of it.”
Tuck studied the note in silence. He turned it over and found the back blank, then studied the front again.
Odis leaned forward. “And?”
Taking another swallow of his beer, Tuck remained expressionless as he glanced from Odis to Bobby, then back down at the note. “Is this some kind of April Fools’ joke?”
Bobby shook his head. “No, that was yesterday. That’s really what Nate left.”
“And you’re okay with this?” he asked, staring right at Bobby.
“I have some reservations, to be honest. But Odis said he knows of this kind of thing working.”
“It was two girls and a guy, but same principle.”
Tuck glanced unreadably between Odis and Bobby again. “Well, fuck a duck.” He reached into his pocket and retrieved his cell phone. After punching some keys, he held the phone to his ear. “Hey, Josh, kinda had somethin’ come up. You free to work the seven-to-three shift tomorrow?” He nodded while listening to the phone. “Yep, okay. See ya Sunday, then.” Tuck closed his phone and set in on the table, then set the note next to it before he looked up at Odis. “Go grab yer pipe.”
Odis went outside and around to his studio and returned a minute later with his corncob pipe. He went into the kitchen for a baggie of pot and brought everything to the table. “So,” he said while loading the pipe with some of the dried weed, “I guess you’re stayin’?”
“I don’t know about
stayin’
stayin’, but we should at least sort all this out.” Tuck looked up at Odis when he handed him the pipe and lighter. “And
you’re
surprisin’ the fuck outta me. I find out in the same week you’re into guys
and
threesomes?”
“I’ve never done a threesome,” Odis said, shaking his head.
Tuck turned to Bobby. “Have you?” he asked before lighting up.
“No, never even really crossed my mind.”
Exhaling the breath of pot smoke he held, Tuck set the pipe on the table, then leaned back into his chair. “So
none
of us knows what the fuck we’re doin’, but you wanna try this anyway?”
Odis and Bobby nodded silently.
Tuck reached down and adjusted the crotch of his sweatpants. “Loki’s nuts,” he muttered exasperatedly. “And ya guys don’t mean this as just a one-time roll-in-the-hay thing either,” he muttered aloud.
Bobby shook his head, trying not to look at the enlarging package in Tuck’s sweatpants. “I don’t think that’s at all what Nate meant.”
“Me neither,” Odis said.
Tuck sat up and grabbed the pipe again. He kept staring at the note as he took a big hit and held the breath. He handed the pipe to Odis, but Bobby reached out and grabbed it instead.
“Careful, stud,” Odis warned. “That’s the one I named Orange Brain-Bash.”
Tuck chuckled at the name, sending intermittent bursts of vapor out his nose like strange smoke signals.
Bobby inhaled a small drag and handed the pipe to Odis. Odis took a hit, then set the pipe and lighter on the table.
After exhaling, Bobby smiled sheepishly at Tuck. “Not exactly orthodox, I know.”
“Nope,” Tuck replied, leaning back into his chair.
Bobby glanced over and noticed the glint in Odis’s eye as he admired the way the sweatshirt had tightened around Tuck’s chest and accentuated the curves of his pecs. Odis cleared his throat. “So, what’re yer thoughts?”
Tuck smirked. “This could either be totally fantastic or completely FUBAR. I can’t really see any middle ground here.” He sat up again, grabbed his beer, then drained it.
Bobby drained his own bottle and scurried to the fridge for a round of refills. As he put the empty beers in the trash, he noticed some orange plastic lying in the bin. Something about that particular shade of orange nagged at him, but Bobby shrugged it off and went to the refrigerator. He brought back the fresh beers and stood between Odis and Tuck as he gave each a bottle. Bobby thought the room seemed to be getting warmer. “Odis said something about rules….”
“Oh,” Odis said, taking his eyes off of Tuck’s chest. “Right. Ground rules.”
Tuck nodded. “Like a contract. Prob’ly need sumthin’ like that ta lay it all out. So what’s the first rule?”
Bobby looked at Odis, who seemed to be drawing a blank, so Bobby spoke up. “First rule, prob’ly doesn’t need to be said, but no outsiders. This would be a totally exclusive thing just with us three.”
“Right,” Odis agreed. He looked right at Tuck. “No diddlin’ on the side.”
“Hey.” Tuck bristled. “Don’t look at me. I haven’t diddled in about nine months now.”
“Oh?” Odis asked playfully.
Bobby looked over at Odis. “That’s all I got. What other rules? What about pairing off?”
“Well, the way the Sunflowers did it, they’d have a threesome at least once a week, and then they had different ‘date’ nights to pair off with.”
Tuck nodded at Odis. “So, like Monday night, you and me’d have a date, then Wednesday night, you and Bobby, then Friday, me and Bobby. And all of us together on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday?”
Bobby chuckled. “That schedule seems a bit optimistic, but I kinda like the ‘date’ idea.”
Tuck laughed. “Hey, if we can make up our own rules, why
not
be optimistic?”
Odis grinned. “I could go with that, except maybe Sunday. Should have a day off to get laundry and shit done.” Odis scooted closer to Bobby and nudged him with his hip to get closer to Tuck. “I think a lot of it will depend on your work schedule, Tuck.”
“Right.” Tuck glanced between the men. “And does this mean we’d hafta live together? I don’t think there’s enough room for all of us here. Speaking of which,” he said, looking up at Bobby. “Does this mean you’d be movin’ out here? I can’t see even
tryin’
sumthin’ like this if yer not.”
Odis ran over and started rifling through his filing cabinet while Tuck gazed at Bobby.
“Well.” Bobby smiled. “There’s absolutely nothing tying me there anymore, and I just got a fat check. The thought of moving
has
been on my mind.” Bobby turned to glance back at Odis in the other room. “If you guys wanna try this, I’m game.”
Tuck kept studying him. “What about work?”
“Haven’t even thought about
that
yet,” Bobby admitted with a frown.
Odis rushed back with a big tube of rolled paper and plopped it onto the table. Bobby grabbed an empty beer bottle out of the way and Odis unrolled the tube, revealing a huge set of blueprints.
Odis smiled over at the other guys. “Here’s the rest of the house. This,” he said, waving around in the air, “this part is just the starter module.” He motioned behind himself to the bed. “That’s supposed to be a living room. This module was designed ultimately for entertaining.” On the drawings, he pointed with a finger to the opposite side of the dug-out patio. “
This
is where the master suite is supposed to go.” He pointed to an area next to the studio. “And a spare bedroom here.”
Tuck and Bobby glanced over the plans. Then Odis rolled up the top sheet to reveal a second page. “And this second circle goes on the other side of the garage, adding a huge craft studio, storage, and more bedrooms, possibly.” He grinned up at Tuck. “All totaled up, it’s about five thousand square feet. Is
that
big enough for ya?”
“Damn, Odie, why didn’t ya ever finish it?” Tuck asked with a touch of concern in his voice.
“Didn’t seem like much point when I’s alone. And didn’t feel like buildin’ any damn shit for Tina.” Odis rolled up the second sheet, showing a larger garage plan underneath. “And here’s the extra two-car garage that goes with it.”
Bobby glanced over the drawings. “How long would all this take to build?”
“Well, ya know the old saying, ya either spend your time or ya spend your money. So if ya got a lot of money to pay, could prob’ly get it done in sixty days.” Odis patted Bobby on the shoulder. “No point in bleedin’ out the nose, though. Reasonably priced, I’d say four months for the whole ball of wax. Less than thirty days for just the master suite.”
Tuck sat up more squarely. “Okay. Sounds like we got some good options for the future, but we still don’t know if it’ll actually really work. With three of us, I mean. You two’ve already hooked up, and I’m assuming it was good….”
Odis released the papers, and they lazily rolled back into a tube shape. “We didn’t really.” Odis blushed. “Bobby just gave me a blow job.”
Bobby stepped closer to Tuck and put his hand on the larger man’s back to massage him lightly between his shoulder blades. “Then I guess I owe
you
one, to start.”
Tuck gazed up at Odis with slight worry in his eyes. “You
really
sure about this, Odie?”
Odis walked around to the other side of Tuck’s chair. He slid the ball cap off of Tuck’s head, filling the air with Tuck’s musky scent as he dropped the cap on the table. Odis placed a hand on each side of Tuck’s face as he leaned down. “Yeah,” he said as he moved closer for a kiss.
Tuck felt the warm sparkles of Odis’s kiss as another set of hands reached around his shoulders and down to his chest, sensually rubbing and massaging his pecs through the sweatshirt. His pecker swelled to full mast in a mere instant.
Deepening the kiss, Odis pulled his right hand away from Tuck’s face and moved it down to rub the swollen tent in Tuck’s sweatpants. Bobby kneeled and licked Tuck’s ear. As Odis kissed Tuck, Bobby slowly suckled farther down his neck as he scooted closer and pushed his swollen groin against Tuck’s thigh.
Tuck pulled away from Odis’s kiss. “Holy fuckin’…,” he managed to mutter. “You guys are like a couple of incubuses.”
Odis whispered, “Incubi,” as he moved to the side and slid his hand into the neck opening of Tuck’s sweatshirt to rub firmly at Tuck’s sparsely haired pecs.
Bobby moved around to Tuck’s mouth and kissed him with electric sparks. Tuck reached out and grasped Bobby’s ass as he felt the waistband of his own sweatpants sliding slowly down to just below his hips. Bobby pulled away long enough to maneuver around and kneel between Tuck’s legs. Bobby kissed Tuck again with the sparking fizz as he moved his hands under the hem of Tuck’s sweatshirt and rubbed Tuck’s slightly furry stomach.
Odis moved his mouth into the kiss, but it was too strained and physically awkward for all three sets of lips to fit together, so Bobby pulled away. Odis took over and kissed Tuck with warm fireworks as Bobby kneeled on the floor. Bobby slid the front of Tuck’s waistband down to his thighs, revealing a cock even larger than Odis’s. “Damn, Tuck,” he exclaimed admiringly. “Are all you Vikings hung like this?”
Both chuckling, Odis and Tuck broke the kiss. Odis smiled down at the sight of Bobby kneeling in front of Tuck’s erect, uncircumcised dick. He’d never seen Tuck with a full hard-on and thought it was definitely worth exclaiming over. “There is a legend,” Odis said, “that Loki gave birth to a horse, and some of the Nords were descended from him.”
After wrapping Tuck’s cock gently in both hands, Bobby squeezed slightly, feeling the firmness of his flesh. “Well,
you
guys got some of that horse blood, that’s for sure,” Bobby said. Then he opened his mouth wide and engulfed the head of Tuck’s cock.
A pleasant moan escaped Tuck.
Odis moved back and grabbed the hem of Tuck’s sweatshirt, then slid the shirt off the frozen man. “You okay?” he whispered near Tuck’s ear.
Eyes still closed, Tuck moaned. “Fuck yeah. Ooh. Just kinda busy,” he managed to mutter. The glorious feeling of Bobby’s hot mouth working his pecker seemed to be stealing all of his concentration.
Putting his hands gently on Tuck’s shoulders, Odis leaned him back in the chair before bending down and licking at one of his nipples.
“Oh fuck me,” Tuck nearly hissed as Odis reached up and gently tweaked at the cartilage of Tuck’s ear while nibbling at his nipple.
Odis gently dragged his teeth up Tuck’s torso and then moved his mouth near Tuck’s ear, whispering, “This is the blow job part. We haven’t got to the fucking yet.” Gazing down to watch Bobby feed on Tuck’s dick, Odis licked and suckled at Tuck’s ear.
“No shit,” Tuck teased back. Then Bobby did something with his tongue and Tuck clutched the arms of the chair, moaning, “Oh shit. What—?”
Bobby grasped him firmly and slid down more of the foreskin, working deeper with his tongue as Tuck’s cockhead swelled larger.
“Oh fu—” Tuck gasped.
“That’s it, stud,” Odis urged Bobby on. “Worship that dick.”
Bobby gazed up at Odis and nearly grinned as he did another tongue swirl.
Odis moved around to kiss Tuck, but when he saw Tuck panting heavily, he decided to move back down to his nipple.
“Oh!” Tuck nearly screamed. “Oh fuck me!” he moaned as his torso stiffened and he bucked his hips upward, ejaculating as Bobby pulled his mouth away.
As Tuck’s legs shivered, Bobby grabbed hold of Odis’s hand and pulled himself up to share a warm and fuzzy kiss.
As Bobby stood, Odis leaned closer to the still-panting Tuck. “Did
that
work?” he asked teasingly.
“Fuck yeah,” Tuck agreed as he opened his eyes, gazing over at Bobby as he sat up. “Can we move to the bed, though? These iron chairs suck,” he said as he tried to rub at the reddened indentation left behind by the hard chairback.
Odis lightly massaged at the mark across Tuck’s shoulder blades. “Sorry. I’ll hafta go buy a padded dining set.”
Bobby took Tuck’s hand and helped him out of the chair. He noticed the lacy impressions on Tuck’s forearms as Tuck pulled up his pants. “No more metal chairs,” Bobby agreed.