foolish. We should call the police or the fire department.” Jonathan knew Ed had a fear of
heights and he didn’t want to see him get hurt or lose his life by acting on impulse.
“I’m going back there now,” Ed said. Then he took off and ran around the side of
the house to the back yard.
Noah looked at Ed’s back. He stretched his right arm and shouted, “Dad.” Then Jonathan, Noah, and the woman followed him. When they reached the back
yard, Ed was standing at the edge of the property line. His hands were on his hips and he
was smiling and shaking his head back and forth. He looked back at them and said, “It’s
him, all right. I don’t know how he managed to get here, but it’s definitely Tucker.”
Jonathan took Noah’s hand and they moved carefully to where Ed was standing.
The woman followed not far behind, taking slow, calculated steps. When they reached a
point where they could stand safely and look down, Jonathan saw Tucker standing on a
flat rock. He wagged his tail and shook his head back and forth, but he looked much
thinner and there were a few bruises on his left hind leg. His tongue was hanging out and
he was gazing up at Ed. It was too steep for him to jump back up, and there was nothing
but a severe, lethal drop to his rear that consisted of sharp rocks and wide tree trunks.
Jonathan had never been afraid of heights. But looking down that deadly slope made his
heart skip a few beats.
“Tucker,” Noah shouted.
When the dog heard Noah’s voice, he started to bark and wag his tail faster. But
Jonathan grabbed Noah’s arm and said, “Ed, we need to get help. It’s too dangerous for
you to go down there and get him.”
Ed sucked in his bottom lip and took a deep breath. Then he clenched his fists and
said, “I think I can do it. I can slide down, grab him under my arm, and pull him back up
again. It won’t be that difficult. You keep Noah back there and hold on to him.”
“No,” Jonathan said, “I want to help. Let me go down. I can do it.”
Ed said, “I am going to do this. You’re the one who said I’m still young enough to
do anything. Just keep Noah from coming too close.” “At least let me hold onto you,” Jonathan said. “Or we can tie a rope around you
and secure it to a tree.”
“I’m fine,” Ed said. “Just stay back.”
“Be careful, Dad,” Noah shouted.
“I will, son,” Ed said. “I’ll be okay. I promise.”
Then Ed went down on the grass so he could slide down the slope on his right
side. He held the trunk of a thin tree with his left hand so he’d have support. The muscles
in his strong arm tightened and bulged to the surface of his skin. He moved fast, with
smooth, graceful motions, as if he’d been climbing rocks all his life. If he was
experiencing fear, you wouldn’t have known it from the strong, confident expression on
his face. He focused on reaching for Tucker; he braced his right foot on a sturdy rock for
added support. Then he slapped his thigh with his left hand and said, “Come on, Tucker.
Come up here so I can grab you. I’ll hold you, boy. You’re safe.”
Jonathan stood there holding his breath. He wanted to lunge forward and grab
Ed’s hand for extra support, but he didn’t want to let go of Noah. He was holding him
against his side. Noah was clutching his arm so hard, there were fingerprints on his flesh.
The woman who lived there just stood still. She had one hand over her mouth and
the other pressed to her throat.
Then Tucker barked once and jumped up. He rested his front paws on Ed’s hip
and licked Ed’s arm. And without hesitating for one second, Ed clenched his teeth and
slipped his arm around the dog’s body. He scooped Tucker up, grunted so hard his entire
face turned red, and began pulling him up to safer ground. When they were halfway to the grass, Jonathan let go of Noah and said, “Stay
here and don’t move.” Then he went to where Ed was and got down on his knees. He
slipped his hands under Ed’s arm and pulled. With one heave, both Ed and the dog were
on level ground again. Tucker jumped over Ed’s body and ran to Noah. He knocked him
to the ground and licked his face so hard Noah tumbled over and his legs went up in the
air.
The woman’s hands dropped to her side and she took a deep breath. She walked
to Noah and Tucker and said, “Oh, thank God.”
Ed was lying on his back. His chest was heaving and his shirt was soaked with
perspiration. Jonathan was sitting next to him with his legs stretched out. “Are you
okay?” Jonathan asked.
Ed wiped his brow and said, “I think so.”
“I thought you were afraid of heights,” Jonathan said.
Ed laughed and glanced up at the clear blue sky. “I thought so, too. I usually can’t
even look down a flight of stairs, but for some reason it doesn’t bother me anymore. I
don’t even mind looking down the slope now.” Then he sat up and smoothed out his shirt.
There were dark smudges and grass stains on the front and the back. “Thanks for helping
out,” he said.
Jonathan waved his arm. “I didn’t do anything.”
“You were there for Noah,” he said. “And I appreciate that.” Then he rubbed his
face and looked over the tree tops toward the bay. “This is going to sound silly, but I’ve
been dying to ask you something since Christmas. I keep forgetting about it.”
“What’s that?” “How on Earth did you ever come up with the color of the house sign you had
made, the one you gave me for Christmas? That is the exact color of the trim on my
house in East Hampton, and it’s not a color you see every day. It’s called Waterbury
Green and I keep extra cans of it on hand all the time.”
Jonathan leaned forward and tipped his head. He didn’t know this about Ed’s
house. When he’d had the sign made he’d looked up the paint color Waterbury Green,
because he’d liked it so much when he’d seen it during his visit to Joel’s rental house. He
went through five different paint manufacturers before he actually found it. “I went to
visit Joel one weekend in East Hampton before I came out here. He’s renting a house
there on Lilly Pond Lane with trim that color. It was an awful weekend I’d rather forget,
but I loved the house and never forgot the color of the trim.”
Ed’s head jerked to the side and he laughed. “Well, there’s only one house on
Lilly Pond Lane with that color trim, and it’s not Martha Stewart’s. Jake didn’t like the
color of Martha’s trim and he wanted to make a statement with Waterbury Green. The
house was in Jake’s family for years and I inherited it when he died.” He stared down at
his lap for a moment and smiled, then he lifted his head and said, “Go figure. I’m renting
my house to
Joel
…your good buddy from college and Lisa’s new boyfriend.”
“It’s a great house,” Jonathan said. Then he made a mental note to call Joel and
tell him that he was renting Ed’s house, because after what he’d seen the night he’d been
there, he wanted to make sure Joel left the house in perfection condition when the lease
was up.
“I’m glad I didn’t sell it,” Ed said. “We may go back this summer.” Noah interrupted them. He was kneeling on the grass and his arms were wrapped
around Tucker’s neck. “We better go home now, Dad. So Tucker can meet the new
puppy. I hope they like each other.”
Ed rubbed his face with both hands and said, “I just realized I now have two dogs.
I didn’t plan on that.”
Jonathan stood up and brushed off his jeans. He turned to face Noah and Tucker
and said, “A lot of people have two dogs and they do just fine. I’d have a dozen if I
could.” Then he crossed back to the front of the house so he could get Tucker’s leash
from the car. He had a feeling Ed was watching him walk away.
Chapter Seventeen
Ed woke up Sunday morning with Jonathan’s soft, full lips wrapped around the
solid head of his penis. Jonathan was under the covers, on his knees between Ed’s legs,
squeezing Ed’s nuts with his right hand while he sucked the head. Ed spread his legs,
shifted his head higher on the pillow, and reached under the covers to force Jonathan’s
head all the way down.
But he didn’t have to press hard. He just rested his palm lightly on Jonathan’s
crown and in less than a second his erection was hitting the back of Jonathan’s throat. Ed
closed his eyes and groaned. He had had his fair share of blow jobs, but he’d never met
anyone who knew how to suck dick like Jonathan. (Not even Jake. And that was
something Ed would never have admitted out loud.) Jonathan had a way of sucking and
creating a vacuum of pressure that triggered every nerve ending in Ed’s penis. Ed wasn’t
sure exactly how he did this, but it felt like he used his tongue, his lips and the sides of
his face to create what felt more like an articulate hand job than a blow job. The inside of
his mouth was warm and wet and mushy. His teeth never grated or irritated the shaft; he
never gagged. He maintained a steady rhythm. Jonathan could suck with the same even
beat without stopping to rest for air or relief until Ed was ready to explode.
Ed wanted a blow job that morning. He just wanted to lie there without moving.
He pulled the covers off and smiled at Jonathan. “Can I come like this?” he asked.
Jonathan stopped sucking. He lifted his eyes and nodded yes, then he closed them
again and went back to work. Ed spread his legs and stretched them out. He pointed his toes, put his hands
behind his head, and closed his eyes. Ed knew Jonathan wanted to please him, and Ed
was ready to deliver.
A few minutes later, Ed’s body tightened and he said, “I’m close.”
Jonathan grabbed his own erection without breaking the rhythm. He jerked his
own penis and sucked at the same time. Ed’s balls tightened and his right leg moved up
and down a few times. Then he grunted, leaned forward, and said, “Ah yes, I’m coming.
Here it comes.”
It was a smooth, powerful climax that left post-orgasmic sensations drifting
through his body. His shoulders jerked forward and his feet went up an inch off the bed.
Jonathan continued to suck until there was nothing left to drain from his penis. And when
he finally stopped sucking and removed Ed from his mouth, he squeezed the shaft hard to
see if there was anything he’d missed. A small white drop formed at the tip. Jonathan
wrapped his swollen lips around the head and sucked that down, too.
Ed closed his eyes and smiled while Jonathan finished him off. He’d once come
across a peculiar Web site by accident called Weeping Cock where nasty prudes laughed
at sex scenes in films and books about people who enjoyed good sex. He was smiling
because it felt like his cock
was
actually weeping. Ed had a funny feeling that the frigid
bitches from
Weeping Cock
had never given a good blow job and probably had no idea
what it was like for a man to have a guy like Jonathan drain his weeping, dripping cock
dry.
When Jonathan finally let go of Ed’s dick, he lifted his head and said, “I’ll get you
a rag.” He’d jerked off all over Ed’s leg. “Don’t bother,” Ed said. “Let’s just take a shower together. We have to get up
anyway because Noah and Lisa are coming over for brunch, then we’re going to this
surprise birthday gift thing with Frank and Greg.” Noah and Lisa were also moving back
into the house that day, and they were coming with all their things, plus two dogs in tow.
Jonathan smiled. “Can we pee in the shower?”
Ed sat up and laughed. “We can do anything you want.” This was one of the little
things he liked about being with Jonathan. He had a good sense of humor. Neither one of
them was particularly kinky, nor were they into raunchy sex of any kind. But Ed knew
how much Jonathan liked to hold his penis while he peed in the shower. He didn’t want
Ed to pee on him—God forbid—he just wanted to hold it and guide the stream down the
drain.
* * * *
When Noah, Lisa, and the dogs arrived, the house came to life again. Jonathan
remained in the kitchen preparing brunch and Ed helped them carry their belongings up
to their rooms. Noah had decided to name the new puppy
Finder
, because he truly
believed that he’d brought them good luck and that he’d helped them
find
Tucker. But Ed
thought he should have called him
Biter
, because all he did was nip and bite at poor
Tucker’s feet to get attention. But Tucker took it in stride. Ed had given him an exam and
a clean bill of health, even if he the dog was just a little slower now. He’d let Finder go
