The Watcher and the Woods

There was no time to savour the moment or even speak to Jax as Bray hurriedly cleansed away the evidence of his orgasm. He helped Jax to his feet, kissing him swiftly and pushing the still-dazed younger man back towards the picnic table.

"Sorry, Jax. So sorry." he whispered contritely. "We'll talk, I promise."

Stumbling a little as he tried to rearrange himself into a decent appearance, Jax felt his heart sink. Was Bray sorry about what they had done? Sorry he had started the...whatever they had? He stopped, ensured his clothing was in order, wiped at his eyes and began to run, scooping up his backpack and book. There was no time to indulge in feeling sorry for himself. Norm would make life even more difficult than it currently was if he was late back.

He was not aware that Bray followed him out of the woods a minute or so later, a look of worry on the older man's face, nor of the unseen watcher that silently observed both men.

****

"Have you heard of our Watcher in the Woods?" Jack asked.

"No," Jax replied. He had come to the table again in the hope that Bray might appear and this time his lower head would not be in charge and do all the thinking. He was happy that Jack had joined him and was interested in the old man's obvious prelude to a local ghost story. As Halloween was the next day, it seemed fitting.

"Oh, it would be about sixty years ago. Pretty girl called Nancy, with hair like the sun and eyes as blue as cornflowers she was. Most of the boys were half in love with her, but she had eyes for just one. A handsome young man in the football team. Of course, in those days, ladies waited to be asked, but what Nancy didn't know was that he was every bit as shy and was afraid to make the first move in case he was rejected. So they danced around each other, each afraid to say what they felt. As Halloween came round one of the girls in Nancy's class, a malicious minx, told Nancy that she had a message for Nancy to go into the woods where she would finally meet her beau. Nancy never doubted it. She told her parents she was going to a friend's house, left at seven thirty that night and was never seen alive again."

"No!" Jax exclaimed. He blushed as Jack gave him a sad smile.

"The girl just intended to give Nancy a scare and no one really knows what happened. The girl and her friends waited an hour and when Nancy didn't appear, they went home. At ten o'clock, when Nancy didn't come home, her parents began to ring her friends. Someone admitted the trick that had been played and almost half the town, it was just a little, tiny place back then, headed to the woods to search. Nancy's body, or at least what was left of it, was found two days later. Way over yonder," Jack said, waving a hand out towards the unforgiving desert that began where the woods ended.

"And no one knows what happened?" Jax asked.

"Well, theory is, Nancy got lost and panicked. Got herself all turned around and began to run away from town rather than towards it. Eventually, exhausted, she curled up against a tree trunk and succumbed to hypothermia. Unfortunately there are coyotes out here and they found her. The story goes that if you're out in the woods around Halloween, and your heart is pure, Nancy will appear as she did in life; a pretty girl talking about the love that she's looking to find. However, if your heart is impure, she appears as the faceless thing she became in death, seeking vengeance on those who took away her chance for love."

"You'll be telling us you believe in Santa Claus, too, Jax," a harsh voice said laughingly.

Jax jumped at Norm's voice and looked up at the older man.

"I didn't see you arrive, Norm," Jax said.

Norm simply grinned. He had seen how engrossed Jax had been in the story. He could hardly believe the kid was so naive. He laughed and began to head back to work. Stopping he called over his shoulder.

"If he starts offering to let you look in his yard for fairies, we'll come and help."

Jax's cheeks flamed scarlet.

"I'm sorry," he muttered.

"Why?" Jack asked amicably. "Not your fault he's an ass. I'll say just two more things, Jax," he added standing. "Firstly, talk to Bray. Better you know now if he can give you what you want, the love you need. Secondly, watch that man." Jack's head jerked in Norm's direction. "I wouldn't trust him one inch. He's a bad lot."

"Thanks, Jack," Jax said, standing himself. "I will."

****

Halloween was a big celebration in the town. Vampires or werewolves stood on street corners handing out candy and the shops were decorated outside as well as in. To Jax's surprise and delight, Norm had decided that they could finish early and watch the Halloween parade that was an annual tradition.

There had been no chance to get Bray alone or speak to him and now, as Jax enjoyed the parade, it was already getting dark. His arm was grasped and he jumped as a voice whispered in his ear.

"Hey, Jax, I got a message from Bray for you."

Turning, Jax regarded the man he associated as one of Norm's in-crowd warily.

"What message, Ron?" he asked guardedly.

"He wants to meet you tonight. Not at that table you usually sit at, but further in the woods. Here, this shows the table," Ron said handing Jax a folded piece of paper. "You need to be there by eight or he'll assume you don't want to meet. If you don't trust me, look over there."

Twisting to see where Ron was indicating, Jax saw Bray looking at him from across the road. The older man seemed to have a slightly quizzical look and so Jax nodded. Of course he would go. Looking at the paper in his hand he realised it was a visitor's map of the woods with picnic tables marked and one was circled in red. It was towards the lake and it would be dark, but Jax had both a good flashlight and one of the site helmets that had a built in lamp.

"Thanks..." he started but Ron had slipped away and, glancing back across the road, so had Bray. Jax gripped tightly to the paper. All he had to do was wait until eight o'clock.

It was going to feel like an eternity

****

At seven fifteen, Jax left the motel, smiling and waving at the girl on the desk. He walked through the town's main street, refusing the candy that a variety of werewolves, vampires, mummies and zombies still offered and was soon on its outskirts heading towards their building site and the woods beyond. He flicked on the flashlight as the town lights ended, intending only to use the helmet light once in the woods themselves.

He gave a start at the disembodied voice.

"You're not from round here."

He half-turned to see a red-headed woman smiling at him.

"No," Jax said. "I'm part of the team working on the hotel."

"It will be nice to see the old place all done up," the woman said.

"Do you live out here?" Jax asked dubiously. He was not aware of any houses this far out of town.

"Oh I have a place over yonder," the red-head smiled, waving the hand not clutching her own flashlight vaguely ahead and to Jax's right. "You meeting someone special?"

At the question Jax wondered if there was something tattooed on his forehead that only inhabitants of the town could see.

"A friend," he hedged.

"Sure. At night, in the dark, with just a flashlight for company," the red-head threw back tauntingly.

"Not everyone would approve," Jax found himself admitting.

"What does it matter what others think?" the red-head asked. "Not their lives, just yours and...whoever's," she added shrugging. "When you get a chance for love, you've got to grasp it with both hands," she added.

"If it is love," Jax could not stop himself blurting out. He rolled his eyes heavenwards.

"You know what you want," the red-head said, smiling at him. "I'll give you some advice," she added her voice suddenly becoming deeper, more sonorous. "Don't let appearances deceive you. Listen before you judge and finally, don't be afraid to say what you want, what you need. Be seeing you," she added and waved at Jax as she veered right as Jax halted ready to turn left.

Jax turned to stare after her, but she had already vanished from his sight. He took a deep breath. Her parting words stuck in his mind as he crossed into the woods, activating the helmet lamp to add to the flashlight. However, he did not have time to truly ponder their significance as he entered the woods.

He had known it would be dark and eerie, but he was not expected the almost solidity of the darkness around him. As a true city boy, he had never experienced what it was like not to be surrounded by, to a greater or lesser extent, artificial light. His speed slowed as he peered into the blackness. His hearing seemed to prick up, his footsteps loud in the surrounding silence.

He thought he could hear movement ahead and picked up speed a little. As he came into the designated picnic clearing he saw a shadowed figure.

"Bray?" he called. As the figure turned, Jax could hear a shrill sound of pure terror, but was beyond realising he was the one making it.

The creature's face was grossly disfigured and its body a shapeless mass. Jax was already unconscious before his limp body collapsed in a dead faint.

****

"Jax? Jax, talk to me. Please, Jax."

Slowly Jax's eyes peeled open and it was Bray's face that swam into focus. Even as he was about to thank the older man for his concern, Jax noticed the outfit Bray was wearing. Bray had been the thing he had seen.

"You bastard," Jax said, his voice almost breaking. He aimed a punch at the arms holding him which the bigger man seemed not to even notice. "You absolute bastard. Let go of me!"

"Jax, listen to me, please."

"Let me go. I thought Norm was bad, but this is worse than anything he ever did. Had your fun? Was this your intention along, to lead me on and then play such a hurtful trick? Let. Me. Go."

"Listen to me, please. Please, Jax."

For a moment Jax thought Bray's face was replaced by the red-head on the road and her words came back to him in a rush; don't let appearances deceive you. Listen before you judge and finally, don't be afraid to say what you want, what you need.

He slumped in Bray's arms, all his anger and outrage suddenly evaporating at the vivid memory.

"Okay," he said. "I'll listen."

"It was a set-up, I swear. Ron told me he had a great idea for scaring Norm. He said you were all for it and when I saw you talking to Ron it was supposed to be you nodding to tell me to go ahead with tonight. I don't even know what made them pick here, or this outfit."

"I do," Jax said softly. "Norm heard Jack, an old guy from the town who sits with me occasionally, tell me the story. He knows, Bray, about you and me. He must. Why else choose you to lure me into the woods? I wouldn't have come to meet anyone else. And then to pick you to scare me so much. I...I hoped, I wanted..." Jax came to a stuttering halt.

"What did you want?" Bray asked, his fingers tenderly tilting Jax's face upwards. "Tell me what you need."

"I need love, Bray, a relationship, and commitment. I don't want casual or fuck-buddy. Can you give me that? Can you love me?" Jax asked, his voice dropping to a bare whisper of sound, his eyes large and pleading.

"I can give you that, Jax. I can do that." Lowering his head, Bray claimed Jax's lips. It was not demanding or hard, just a soft, gentle pressure that held promise of things to come. They broke apart and Bray helped Jax to his feet. He held the lithe frame tightly to his own, nuzzling at Jax's neck.

"Just one thing to do before we leave, sweetheart," Bray murmured.

****

At the sound of the shrill scream of terror, Norm howled with laughter until tears streaked his cheeks.

"Got him good style," he guffawed accepting another can of beer from Ron. His other accomplice, Devlin, was dragging on a joint. Devlin, hiding in the woods for a daytime smoke, had seen Jax, followed by Bray, sneaking away from their little woodland tryst and had come and told Norm all. The joke was Norm's idea and Ron had got all the stuff organised.

And it had worked like a dream.

"Bet Jax doesn't do anywhere near Bray again," Ron laughed, swallowing half a can of beer in one long draught.

"Screams like a little girl," Norm sniggered.

"I'd lay odds the kid'll leave," Devlin drawled, his soft, Southern accent sounding louder than normal in the silence around them. "Good enough worker, but we don't need his kind around. Probably seduced Bray by fluttering those big doe eyes and waggling that tight ass."

"Don't leave anything to incriminate us," Norm warned, sobering suddenly as a twig cracked loudly in the darkness that surrounded where they sat. They were sitting around a couple of torches. He had already been warned a few times about being drunk on duty and had been forbidden to drink during a job. The cool box of beers alone was enough to have him fired without taking into account the joints that Devlin was happy to supply for their private party.

He grinned as he took another deep swig of beer. Not as if there was anyone out here to watch what they did. He reached for another joint, rolled and ready, when all three jumped at the sound of a twig breaking loudly ahead of them.

Bray.

It had to be.

Norm stood, glowering angrily into the darkness, aware that Ron and Devlin had also risen. Then Norm began to laugh, a harsh, cruel, sound.

"Just because the girlie-boy got scared doesn't mean we will, Bray," he said mockingly. "We're men, not babies." Ron and Devlin joined in the laughter as they trained their torches on the trees ahead. Smirking, Norm watched as a figure came into view; a shapeless body and a disfigured face.

"We did a real good job with the costume," Ron laughed. "Kid must've wet himself when he saw you, Bray."

The figure made no sound as it came forward.

"Oh come on, Bray. We know it's you."

The figure seemed to shimmy and then rose into the air, floating, before its mouth opened, wider than humanly possible, showing a black maw of broken teeth. Then it came forwards towards them, reaching for them...

Three shrill screams rent the air as Norm, Ron and Devlin turned and ran.

****

Reaching the motel, Jax followed Bray into the older man's room. As the door closed and locked, he was enveloped in the bigger man's arms and his mouth opened to accept Bray's demanding tongue.

"Make love to me?"

Intent on nibbling Jax's earlobe, Bray barely heard the whisper, despite Jax's mouth being so close to his ear. It took the older man a few seconds to register what had been said and when he did he felt his member begin to swell rapidly to full hardness.

In reply he began to trail small kisses down the column of the young man's throat, pausing at the pulse point and nipping the sensitive skin. Bray ran his tongue up the other side of Jax's neck, savouring the sweet taste of the young man's skin as he had never done before. He knew now that if had done so before, he would never have been content with mere snatched moments in the woods.

He continued to lavish the exposed neck with attention and then slowly let his lips descend until he came to Jax's half-exposed collarbone. He flicked open the buttons on Jax's shirt and spread it wide to stare hungrily as sinfully smooth flesh became exposed. He began to kiss his way downwards, heading for the large, dark areolae and began to gently suck on the warm skin.

Moaning softly, Jax closed his eyes and let his head drop back to rest against the door. His breathing became shallow pants as Bray's lips amorously assaulted his skin leaving it damp and red in the wake of his kisses. His trembling hands reached to cup the back of Bray head and gently urged him towards a silently begging nipple.

At the feel of Jax's hand Bray licked over the tight nub before sucking it slowly to a low groan. One of his hands began to massage the inside of Jax's thigh while the other pinched and rolled the neglected nub. His lips moved again, finding the irresistible skin above Jax's nipple and Bray began to suck. When he finally pulled his mouth away from Jax's skin, he smiled when he saw the small love bite that he had left as a mark of his passion, of his possession.

Lifting his head, Bray gazed at his lover, Jax's eyes were half closed and there was a look of bliss on his beautiful face. Bray leaned forward to claim the pink, delectable lips. The kiss began was slow and tender, but it soon became hot and demanding, both men's desires straining against the confines of their jeans.

"Bray, want you, take me," Jax panted his voice thick with longing and arousal.

Leading Jax by the hand, Bray moved them to the bed. He did not put on the main light; instead he flicked on the bedside lamps giving the room a warmer, almost romantic glow. He then stepped back to Jax and possessed the younger man's soft lips once more. Bray was gentle at first, but again the kiss soon began to get more demanding, eliciting gasps and moans from both men. Bray's lips descended once again and he started to suck and bite at his lover's neck.

"Bray," Jax moaned as his lover pressed his groin against him, showing the extent of Bray's arousal. He hesitantly pushed his own groin forward and, at the older man's to groan, Jax did it again.

They fell onto the bed, Jax beneath Bray, not breaking the heated kiss. Bray put most of his weight on the hands on each side of the smaller man's shoulders. He moved on top of the supine form, pushing his hips gently into Jax's causing delicious friction at their groins, the roughness of their jeans heightening the pleasure.

"Clothes...off..." Jax murmured between heated kisses.

"Let me," Bray said. He began undoing the brunette's jeans, tugging the clothing down long, lithe legs, along with the boxers, throwing both items of clothing out of sight. They did not matter, all Bray's thoughts were on the young man now naked before him.

He laid Jax lay back and hesitated, devouring the sight of the beauty spread out before him. Jax's curls framed his flushed face and lay across the white pillow. The smooth, olive-toned skin already had a sheen of sweat making it glisten enticingly and the younger man's shaft jutted upwards, dripping enticingly. But Bray's eyes irresistibly were drawn to the two large, dark discs on Jax's chest. He bent down and took a hardened nub into his mouth and relished Jax's gasp.

The older man swirled his tongue around the taut nub and pinched and rolled the other, urged on by the seductive sounds of pleasure that Jax made. Bray slid his hand down the young man's body, fondling the swollen flesh between spread legs as his mouth moved onto the other nipple.

"You're wearing too much," Jax gasped, unable to touch as much of the older man as he wanted. Soon Bray's jeans joined Jax's on the floor. They could now have the skin to skin contact that they craved and they found pleasure in the simple act of being able to freely touch one another.

The older man leaned forward and let his lips glide over his lover's skin, worshipping the supine form with kisses and caresses, never moving his mouth far from the smooth flesh beneath him. He fumbled in the top draw of his bedside table and withdrew a tube of lube. He left it in easy reach of where he had settled between Jax's open legs and began running his fingertips lightly over the inside of creamy thighs.

At the litany of whispered pleas, Bray took the lube and squeezed a large amount onto his fingers. He had no intention of unnecessarily hurting the willing and beautiful young man beneath him. Stretching Jax was important and Bray intended to make it enjoyable for them both. He would have Jax begging him by the time he was ready.

He moved his slick fingers over Jax's thighs and bypassed the erect member until he reached the tightly-furled entrance to the young man's body. He swept his finger back and forth, occasionally pressing against the resilient muscle.