endoftheline (2 page)

“The tall one is Genie. She’s a lover. Yoda’s her baby.” The dogs came right up to him, tails wagging, noses pushing into his hands.

“Hey ladies.” He rubbed their heads, petting them firmly. “Nice doggies.”

“They’re good girls, sure enough.” Chance’s house was mid-sized, painted a nice blue, trimmed in white. The lawn was mowed, huge rosebushes lining the wraparound porch where a bunch of chairs sat.

“Nice place you’ve got here, Chance.”

“Thank you. Come on in. I’ll show you your room and figure out some supper. You eat burgers?”

“I was in the service for sixteen years, Chance. I imagine anything you put in front of me will go down well.” He would eat damn near anything.

“Cool. I’ll fire up the grill. I took some hamburger meat out this morning.” They headed up, Chance not even unlocking the door, just opening right up. The inside of the house was clean, simple -- older, mismatched furniture, a low bookshelf, a couple of paintings with deer and bighorn sheep and bears.

“You hunt?” he asked, following Chance down the hall.

“Oh, yeah. Deer in the fall. Javelina, sometimes.” The kitchen was little, white, the bathroom good-sized with a claw-foot tub. “Here’s the guest room. There’s not much -- bed, dresser, bookshelf and an old TV, but it’s hooked to the satellite.”

The room was painted dark green, the main feature a huge window that looked out over a pond.

“This is pretty nice for not much, Chance.” Nicest room he’d seen in quite awhile. It was gonna spoil him for anything else.

“Well, I hope it suits okay.” Chance pointed down the hall. “My room’s down there, along with the laundry room. Towels are in the bathroom. Go ahead, relax, get settled and I’ll start the grill.”

“Thanks a lot, Chance, I sure do appreciate it.” Never look a gift horse in the mouth, that had been one of his mother’s favorite sayings.

“My pleasure.” Chance nodded, heading back down the hall.

He didn’t unpack, not for a couple of days stay. But he pulled out his little alarm clock and put it on the dresser. Then he went and stood a time at the window. It was a peaceful view and the place was quiet, no hum of traffic or chatter of people.

A few minutes later Chance started warbling some country song or the other and Sam picked up a change of clothes and headed to the bathroom to get clean.

***

He got the coals to burning, whistling
Rocky Top
and drinking his beer. Man, how on earth did he talk himself into company again?

Fine damned company. Fine damned, ex-military, big enough to kick his skinny ass, don’t-ask-don’t-tell-don’t-fucking-go-there boy company.

Still.

The guy looked plumb sad. And more than a touch down on his luck and what kind of man turned a vet away on Memorial Day? Hell, in another life, it could’ve been Lucky.

He put eight burgers on. Whatever they didn’t eat tonight, they could have tomorrow at the shop for lunch. There was potato salad in the fridge, some carrots. Hell, there was even some leftover cobbler and shit for dessert.

Hooboy.

Sam came out, wearing a pair of worn, tight jeans and grey t-shirt. That jaw was nice and square, fine now that the growth had been hacked off. “Smells good, Chance.”

“Thanks.” He nodded to the electric cooler on the porch. “Have yourself a beer. They’re nice and cold.”

“Thank you. You’re going to spoil me. You wanting one?”

He swirled his, looked. “Yeah, this one’s on the dregs.”

Sam handed one over to him. “Anything I can do to help?”

“Nah, they’ll cook on their own. Sit a spell.” He settled in his chair, smiling over at his guest. “Damn, but I love the smell of burgers on the grill.”

Sam settled in a deck chair, nodding. “Nothing like burnt meat to make a man hungry.”

“I got bread and cheese slices and some onion... “ He stretched. “Oh! And pickle and tomato, too.”

“I like ‘em full dressed, put on whatever you’ve got.” Sam took a swig of his beer. “Ah, that hits the spot.”

“Nothing like cold beer on a hot day.” Cold beer or hard cock.

Damn.

Be good.

“You said it.”

Sam aimed his bottle in the general direction of the fields. “You need any help with chores or something? I hate to impose without pulling my weight.”

“I could use some help feeding after supper, surely. The cattle are good, but the horses will be wanting their dinner.”

“Just let me know what to do and I’ll shoulder my load.”

“Cool. You like to ride?” He had an extra saddle and God knew Lexy needed some exercise.

“I haven’t been on a horse for awhile, but yes, I do.”

“Yeah? I got an extra saddle. We’ll have to go for a ride over the weekend.” He grinned, pleased. “Hell, if you’re into fishing, we can head down to the pond.”

“The one I can see from my window? It’s a pretty looking piece of water.”

He nodded. “It’s full of bass and crappie, too. I keep it stocked.”

“That sounds great. Haven’t caught my supper in a few weeks.”

“Oh, then we’ll have to rectify that.” He grinned, then blushed. God, Sam must think he was a fucking looney.

“Sounds nice, Chance. Thank you.” Sam wasn’t looking at him like he was crazy. Yet, anyway.

He got up, flipped the burgers. A horn honked and he waved at one of his neighbors without looking up.

“Guess I’m going to be the talk of the town ‘til something new comes along,” Sam noted dryly.

“Oh, as many folks as are coming in from Austin, you’ll only have to worry for a few days.” He grinned. “Mr. and Mrs. Daughtry live the next house down; she just had a stroke and is not doing so good. Buck and Brenda Kaye live across the way -- he services vending machines and she manages the grocery.”

“I imagine everyone knows everyone and their business? Tends to be a trend in small towns. Of course small town folk’ll help each other out more often, too. It’s a trade off.”

“Well, there’s two types of folks here -- small-town and ‘we’re getting out of the big city and building big-assed houses where it’s cheap’ people, you know? The out-of-towners that work in Austin? Not so friendly.”

“Uppity?” Sam asked it like he knew all about uppity.

“Yeah, all big money and big city, you know? Posers.” He hated when they came into the feed store, rolling their eyes and wrinkling their noses and calling the place ‘quaint’.

“Some people think they’re the cat’s meow, but the cat always knows better.”

That tickled him and he laughed, nodded. “You got that right. Let’s pull these babies in and eat. I’m starved.” A little shaky, too. He needed his shot and some grub.

“Sounds good. The smell is good enough to make me starving.”

He nodded, pulling the burgers off and onto a plate. “Everything else is on the kitchen table.”

He hurried inside, putting the burgers down and giving himself eighty units before anything else.

“You all right?” Sam asked, taking a seat at the table.

“Yeah. Just need to eat.” He was jittering and, fact was, he shouldn’t have given his afternoon snack away, but Sam had looked so fucking miserable...

“I hear you.” Sam dug in, putting a burger between two halves of a bun and putting some of everything on it. “Damn, this is a fine burger, Chance.”

“Thanks.” He set himself up and munched down, shakes easing up, body relaxing. “I’m not bad on the grill, if I say so myself.”

Sam nodded, the way he chowed the burger down and grabbed a second one attesting to the truth of it. Or to the fierceness of the man’s hunger.

He had some potato salad, some tomatoes, a bit of pickle, then went to pull the cobbler out. “You like peaches?’

“You pretty much put anything in front of me and I’ll eat it.” Sam gave him a wink.

“Oh, cool. I’ll warm this up and we can share.” He popped the dish in the microwave, humming.

“You’ll have to take some room and board out of my pay.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, yeah?” He didn’t mind having the company, actually. It was nice to have someone to talk to, look at.

“All right.” Sam seemed content to leave it at that. The man’s pride no doubt demanding he say something, the wallet happy to let it slide.

“So, tell me stuff about you. You like watching movies? Music? Axe-murdering?” He grabbed the ice cream and two bowls and spoons.

“You should have asked about the axe-murdering before inviting me home.” Sam gave him another one of those winks, blue eyes glinting.

“Oh...” He gave Sam his best stupid redneck look. “You got yourself a point there...” Then he winked, grinned. “I’m a great judge of character.”

Sam chuckled, digging into his dessert with gusto. “I don’t mind movies, though I prefer sports, playing over watching, but watching will do. And I like cards -- anything with strategy and a little bit of something to sweeten the pot.”

“Yeah? I play catcher on a softball team. Wednesday nights. It’s fun. I do a lot of riding and fishing and such.” Oh, Daddy’d love that -- another victim to kill at poker.

“Softball, heh? Open league or you got to sign up at the start of the season?”

“Open. You oughta come out one week, meet Mike and Aaron -- they’re the coaches. It’s a thirty dollar entry fee, but we got extra gloves and shit. You look like you could hit a ball a mile.”

“I did okay playing with my unit. Usually took second base or short stop, but I do okay in the outfield, too. Been awhile since I played, but it sounds like it could be fun.”

Chance nodded, finished his dessert. “Yeah. There’s something about a good game, gets the blood pumping.” Of course, the guys in their shorts and muscles shirts wasn’t bad either...

“Yep. I do like riding and fishing, too. And believe it or not, running. Got into the habit with PT and never really got out of it.”

“Running? As in jogging and stuff? There’s lots of guys do that in Austin.”

Sam chuckled. “I’m not uppity about it, I promise. Just got used to moving and kind of need to keep doing it or my knees freeze up on me. Hell, they give it their best effort regardless.”

“Oh, I hear you. I’m always trying this or that to keep the diabetes from eating me.” Hell, the first thing to go would be erections and, even if he wasn’t getting some a lot, some was better than none.

“You look pretty fit for it. Only diabetics I knew before you were pretty old and rickety.”

“Well, I’ve had it since I was three and I try to take care of myself, you know?”

“So I guess you don’t really even remember a time when you didn’t have it, then.”

He shook his head. “I remember being in the hospital, sort of, but even then it might have been the stories. Momma said she had to bring Lucky up because he wouldn’t stop screaming for me.”

“You two were that close? You hear stories about twins, but you never know if they’re just wives tales or truth.”

“Oh, we were damned close. He was nine minutes younger than me and we spent all the damned time together before he left for basic.”

“Was that hard? Getting split up like that?”

“Oh, hell, yes. I was so pissed -- at him for going, at me for being diabetic, at God for everything. He loved it, though, and honestly? He’d never have been happy here on the farm.” Teasing his gay brother, playing practical jokes and shit.

“But you obviously are -- you look right at home.”

“This is my home.” He shrugged. “I’m not an exciting guy, you know? Just damned near forty-year old cowboy who likes to fish.”

“Excitement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

“No shit. Boring means nothing’s fucking up, yeah?”

“Hell, yeah.” Sam pushed his plate away and stretched in his seat. “Damn, that was a fine meal, Chance.”

“Well, you stick around any time at all and you’ll get it again. It’s my favorite.”

“I’m partial to burnt meat myself.” Sam got up with a bit of a groan, stretching out again. “I’ll do the dishes.”

“Cool. I’m gonna run out and start feeding. Come out when you want, I’ll introduce you around.” He put his plate in the sink and grabbed his hat on his way out.

It was nice to have another person about to chew the cud with.

Real nice.

***

It didn’t matter that it was Sunday and there was no work and he could sleep as long as he wanted. For nearly all his life, Sam had been up by six am. When he’d been little he would play with his matchcars and his GI Joes and then there was school and then training and PT and a body just got used to being awake at the same time everyday.

He came in from doing his morning run along the fences that broke up the fields in Chance and his Daddy’s places, and started doing his stretches and simple PT exercises.

The warm weather and consistent use were working a number on his knees -- he felt better than he had since he’d discharged. He pulled off his shirt and wiped his face with it before lying on the ground and starting his sit-ups.

The curtain in Chance’s bedroom window twitched, then settled. Damn, he hoped he hadn’t woken Chance. The man wasn’t usually one to sleep late, but possibly he’d just been polite the last couple of weeks, having a guest and all. He didn’t think he’d made a lot of noise, but Chance was used to being on his own.

Sam turned over to his belly and started in on his push ups. A couple hundred of those to go with the sit-ups and he was done.

He headed in to see if the bathroom was free. The bathroom door was open, Chance’s bedroom door closed. He could hear Chance moving around, waking up.

“Alright if I take a shower?” he called.

“Huh? Uh. Yeah. Yeah, cool.” Man sounded like he was catching a cold, all husky. He hoped not. Colds were miserable buggers.

He hopped into the shower and washed quickly, hands slowing as he washed his cock and balls. He lingered long enough to jack off, and if he was thinking on what the long, lean cowboy in the other room might look like naked and hard beneath him, well that wasn’t hurting anyone.

As he was shaving, he decided he needed a haircut. It had been awhile since he had money for that kind of thing and he was bit flush now. Chance had been letting him mooch off the man longer than was right. It was time to settle their arrangements. It worked out well for him to stay here, they seemed to suit each other well enough, but he could understand if Chance wanted his privacy back and if that was the case, he’d find himself a room to rent somewhere now that he could pay.