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can stay in the bunkhouse, his choice. The boys will make sure he eats, and he's old enough to do

his homework without us nagging him. If he doesn't, it's his problem."

Jake shook his head again, speechless.

"We're goin'," Tor said firmly. "Monday morning. You might want to have a last look at the books on Sunday night, follow that seventy-two hour thing you got going on." Then he picked up his hat

and headed out, sparing Jake one more grin as he opened the door. "Hey, you might even like it,"

he called as he walked outside. "Camping and shit. It'll be fun."

Jake watched him go, still trying to come up with objections, but he didn't hold out much hope of

settling Tor down without a fight, not when he was being that unrelentingly cheerful about messing

up Jake's order. There wasn't much he could do until he had some time to think about Tor's grand

plan for getting him back to the way he was supposed to be. Whatever that was.

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By the time Monday morning dawned Jake still hadn't been able to come up with anything logical

to say against Tor's idea and a whiny 'I don't want to' would likely just get him a pat on the head.

So he said nothing and made sure that he had a change of clothes ready to take along with his

toothbrush. His revenge would consist of letting Tor take care of all the details. Food, supplies,

blankets, a kettle to boil water and a pan to cook in… all of it he happily left up to Tor.

It was particularly frustrating that Tor took care of it all with a grin and obvious enjoyment. He

even made sure that Jake saw him packing the lube away in his blankets, the bastard. "Okay, hot

breakfast and we're out of here," Tor said, plunking a plate of bacon and eggs in front of him.

"I wanted toast," Jake said under his breath.

"I know," Tor said, dropping three slices of hot toast on top of the eggs. "There you go."

Jake pointedly ignored the way Tor was smirking and Jacob's laugh and ate his breakfast without

giving them any more reason to tease.

He saw Jacob off to school and then reluctantly followed Tor out to the barn, where most of the

hands were gathered. He was, by that point, unsurprised to find both River and Creek saddled up

and with their saddlebags packed; Tor wasn't giving him an out, or a reason to bitch and complain.

Within a couple of short hours the entire move had been organized, the cattle Jake and Tor were

taking rounded up, and Elias had sent everyone off to their jobs for the day. Jake and Tor sat on

River and Lug and made a final check of their overall plan, double-checked the radios with Elias,

and then they went to work.

Jake found it amazingly easy to put aside any distractions. There was a job to do, work he was

made to do, and his head didn't have space for any pondering right then. He wasn't really upset to

be there in the first place, although he wasn't thrilled with the way Tor had strong-armed him. He

was still a little baffled about what had spurred Tor into his fit of temper, but out there with the cattle and the sun shining on him, it wasn't something he was going to concern himself with. There

were more important things to deal with.

He whistled Barkley up and rode out; one of the nice things about cattle was that if they took it into

their heads to wander off from where they were wanted, they were pretty easy to urge back into the

herd. Really, he and Tor weren't moving that many either, and between the nice weather and the

scenery, it was actually kind of like the vacation Tor had promised.

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He caught Tor grinning at him a time or two, and by late afternoon Jake had finally given up the

last of his resistance. Their land was beautiful, spread out all around them. The wind tossed the

grass, the cattle kicked up dust, and everything under the huge blue sky was perfect. They rode and

called out to the cattle, urging them up a rocky slope and then down the other side, letting them

take their time getting to the small patch of level land.

The cattle milled around them and Jake waited for Tor to make his way to him, Lug nudging cows

out of the way and Barkley standing on the top of the rise they'd just come over like a proper cattle

dog, looking very pleased with himself.

Jake squinted into the sun as Tor reached him and nodded. "We'll get to the first stop site in under an hour, I think," he said, looking around. "We made better time than I thought we would."

Tor smiled and shrugged. "Nice weather, fresh start… we'll probably be right on time tomorrow,

and dragging our asses in on Wednesday."

Jake snorted. "The real drag will be the ride back to the house."

"Yeah, but it's days off," Tor said, flashing him another grin. "You settled in your skin, now?"

Jake nodded slowly. "Getting there," he admitted. "This idea didn't suck, I guess."

"Why, thank you," Tor laughed, looking as pleased as Barkley on his hill. "Lucky for you, I do. So we should get these cows, moving, yeah? Before I change my mind about rewards for good behav-ior."

Jake rolled his eyes, but he moved River into a walk and whistled for Barkley. He wouldn't do just

anything for one of Tor's blow jobs, but he wasn't stupid enough to turn one down if it was in the

offering.

He was almost dead on with his assessment of how long it would take them to get to the first camp;

they rode into the field in just under an hour, the cattle funneling through a short gully and into a

pen that had been there for as long as Jake had worked the spread. It wasn't big, but it would keep

the cattle where they were supposed to be for the night. He and Tor rode through them, leading

Creek and pushing their way to the far end and out the gate. They'd camp there for the night, and in

the morning it would just be a matter of opening the gate and herding the cattle on out.

"You better be riding that girl tomorrow," Tor said, eyeing Creek who was tossing her head and looking very put out that she'd just been led around most of the day.

"Yeah," Jake agreed, ground tying River and going to her. "Her turn. I'll take her in the morning, then we'll switch around. Between the three of them we'll--" He broke off with a laughing gasp as

Tor pounced him, dragging him away from Creek almost before he could make sure she wouldn't

wander. "Aren't we going to set up camp first?" he asked as Tor tugged him by his belt.

"Nope." Tor grinned at him and pushed him to the ground, fingers working at the buckles of Jake's chaps and his belt at the same time. "Goddamn, I love chaps."

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Jake laughed and looked down, his cock stirring as Tor undid the buckles and started in on his

jeans. "They're a bit in the way," he pointed out.

"Don't care," Tor said, leaning over him and kissing his mouth hard, one hand holding his weight and the other massaging Jake through his jeans. "Well, well, what have we here?" he teased, rubbing a little harder as Jake firmed up even more.

"If you don't know, you ain't been paying attention."

"I think it requires closer inspection," Tor said, his eyes crinkling as he grinned.

Jake really didn't have any objections, and he even helped out a bit by wriggling when Tor finally

got his jeans open. Tor moved down his body, hand wrapped around Jake's cock and tugging with

far too light a touch, teasing. Jake watched, his erection leaping as Tor tossed his hat off and bent

his head over Jake's groin.

"Looks like it belongs here," Tor said, his breath puffing across Jake's hot skin.

"Cut it out," Jake pleaded.

"If you insist," Tor said, his tongue darting out to lap at the head and flick at his ring.

Jake moaned happily, the wet heat from Tor's mouth a pleasure he never really got enough of. He

let his head fall back and saw nothing but sky, starting to darken in the east, and suddenly all his

senses felt jacked up. He could hear the cattle and the horses, the wind rustling, and even Barkley

sniffing around the fire pit. He could smell the country, a mixture of scents that he'd always associ-

ated with freedom: grass and cows and horses and sweat. He could almost taste it, wild and com-

forting at the same time.

And all he could really feel was the dirt under him, small rocks in the soft grass, and Tor's mouth

on him, licking and sucking and taking him to full hardness. He lifted his head again, his hat falling

off, and looked down to see Tor watching him, brown eyes hot and dark and somehow knowing.

"It's good," Jake whispered, tangling one hand in Tor's hair. "So good."

Tor made a noise that might have been agreement, might have been something else, and winked at

him. Then his mouth got tight and wet, his tongue pushing on just the right spot and Jake gasped,

arching.

Tor's hand curled around the base of his cock, the heel pressing on his balls and jerking him off a

little with shallow strokes as Tor took him deeper into his mouth. He spent almost too long playing

with the spot just under the head that made Jake crazy, but just as Jake was about to tug his hair,

Tor dove down, sucking hard and doing that special thing with his tongue that even after years of

experiencing, Jake had never been able to manage to duplicate.

"Fuck," Jake groaned. "Oh, God." He felt his balls pull up, knew that Tor could tell how close he was. "Come on, do it. Please."

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Tor made a noise around him, the vibration traveling out and spreading through Jake's body, and

then he did it again. A suck, a lick, and a swirl of his tongue and then Jake was crying out to the

sky and spilling down Tor's throat in long, ragged pulses, his eyes closed tight.

"Come here," he said when he could, petting Tor's hair. Tor had his head on Jake's thigh and was breathing just as hard as he was. "Come here."

Tor nodded and crawled up to lie next to him, smiling. "Hey."

"Hey," Jake said, wrapping his arms around Tor and pulling him down for a long, wet kiss. He

could taste himself on Tor's tongue and he moaned happily, his hands tugging at the back of Tor's

shirts.

"It's okay," Tor said into the kiss. "Um. Really."

Jake pulled away and glanced down at Tor's crotch, then grinned. "Bring extra jeans?"

"Hell, yes. I'm not stupid." Tor grinned right back at him, apparently not worried at all about ruin
-

ing a pair of jeans on the first day out.

Jake laughed and kissed him again. "I didn't. I'd appreciate it if you kept that in mind."

"Keep your dick where I can get at it, and it won't be an issue," Tor promised.

Jake shook his head and looked at the sky, smiling. He sure as hell hadn't been thinking about his

horses that time. "Ready to set up?"

"Just gotta start a fire. Hungry?"

Jake nodded. "Yeah, I could eat. We've got to water the horses, too. You want to take them to the

stream or do you want to start the fire?"

Tor shrugged. "Doesn't much matter. You relaxed yet?"

Jake considered that, took it for what it really meant. "Getting there," he said honestly. "Tomorrow night'll be better."

Tor nodded at him and kissed him again before rolling away. "You got it, cowboy. Tomorrow

night."

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The second day was as good as the first, although Tor was right about the timeframe. They were

going over terrain that had a rougher patch in the afternoon, two hours of being a bit slower and

watching the cows carefully, the horses dancing over loose soil and rock, the cattle plodding.

Jake took more than a little pleasure from sinking into his work, doing what he did best. He rode

easier, the sun warming him and the sound of the herd and Tor's voice as they called back and forth

soothing him to his bones. They had to work with one stubborn beast a little, finally gathering the

herd into formation and moving along at a better pace, and Jake realized he'd been grinning for so

long his face was starting to ache.

He felt better in his skin, his body relaxed and soothed so much that he wondered just how long

he'd been holding himself stiff and tight. Even his bones felt better, his gestures wide and sweep-

ing, his joints all unrestricted and slack. He was fairly sure that if he were walking instead of riding he'd be sauntering along, so unwound he'd be a rolling puddle.

They made camp that evening in easy silence, both of them smiling as they settled the horses for

the night and got the fire going. It was an easy quiet, Jake not at all worried about the lack of con-

versation because it wasn't necessary. They worked together like they should, two halves just doing

their part and knowing that the other was taking up the rest. They'd get everything done that needed

doing, and then they'd eat, the world working the way it should.

Tor made supper, crouched down on the far side of the fire, and Jake sat on a rock, watching him.

Tor looked as relaxed as Jake felt, glancing up every now and again to give Jake a smile or a wink,

his hands careful as he cooked over the low flames. Jake returned every smile, unable not to, and

when they ate it was side by side, close enough that their thighs were pressed together.

Tor put the kettle on the coals while Jake rinsed their bowls out, making a bit of weak tea for them

to have while the sun set, then shook out their blankets. Chaps were shed and Jake took his belt off,

too, knowing it would just be in the way eventually, and grinned when he saw Tor do the same. He

knew there would be talking first, but it didn't matter. They were going to get naked and sticky at