Western Skies Ch. 03

Western Skies - Chapter 3: Homecoming (Part One)

Thank you EVERYONE for the continued warm response! I read everyone's comments and emails and appreciate them all. The rest of the book is shaping up in my mind, so there are plenty of twists and turns still to come...whenever I can find the time and motivation to write.

The Homecoming story is split into two parts. This is kind of a 'bridge' chapter to move us forward...stay tuned for the real fun in Part Two ;)

Notice: This story contains male/male sexual activity between consenting individuals who are over age 18. If this is not something you are looking for, leave now! Always practice safe sex (even if not depicted in this work of fiction).

—D.

©2020 Zorse_D

***

Tucking the ball and lowering my shoulders, I charged through my open lane and down the field. My breathing came deep and fast, sucking in as much thin, dry air as I could to fuel my pounding legs. As I turned to check over my shoulder, bright sunlight glinted off my visor — radiant bands dazzling my vision, blinding me for the briefest of moments.

It was long enough.

"Oof!" I grunted, pain racing through my torso. The next thing I knew, I was looking up from the flat of my back, the wind knocked clear out of me by one of our better linebackers. Getting pummeled was an occupational hazard as a running back. Boys with over eighty pounds and half foot of height on me routinely steamrolled over my smaller frame, providing me genuine perspective on the benefits of modern football pads.

My breath returned after a moment, and I noticed a gloved hand reaching into my field of view. Grasping my forearm, it pulled me to my feet. I yanked off my helmet and glanced at the teammate who'd helped me up. Unsurprisingly, it was Luke.

His eyes were glinting, holding back a laugh. "You all right? That was a decent run, I thought Tyler would manage the block but Noah's a beast." He clapped a hand on my shoulder.

Luke let the contact last longer than normal. No one who wasn't looking for it would've noticed, but I certainly did. Luckily, I was so flushed from practice that no one would've seen me blushing.

"Ha ha." I replied wryly. "He's a fucking bull. It feels like I got run over by a bus, and for the third time today, too." Luke's hand fell away and the laugh he was holding back slipped out.

Leaning forward, he muttered, "I know a thing or two that might help with that. Later. Be the last one in the locker room after practice." Then he was gone, leaving me spinning.

I shook my head and ran over to the sideline of our scrimmage. Our first game of the season, Homecoming, was Friday night, and our head coach had worked us hard every afternoon since Monday. Today was Wednesday: a dress rehearsal, our own offense against our own defense. We were supposed to take it easy on one another to avoid unnecessary injury, but Coach wanted the defense to get in some tackles, too. If that was Noah's definition of 'taking it easy,' I shuddered to think about the damage he'd do Friday.

"Kaden! Over here." Resigned, I trotted compliantly down the sideline, ready for a lecture from the assistant coach who'd yelled at me, Coach T.

"Good effort," he barked. "I like what I see, but what should you have done differently when Noah moved in?"

"I should've cut all the way left." My voice was bitter, the knowledge of what I should've done obvious in my mind. "I would've got a few more yards before getting pushed out of bounds, at least." If I had seen him coming.

He slapped me on the back, sending me on my way. "Good man, you'll do fine Friday. Glad you're with us this year." Coach T was a good guy, he always tried to build you up.

"Thanks Coach!" I said. Feeling slightly more cheerful, if not less sore, I made my way back to the bench, plopping down between Luke and his friend Logan.

One of the biggest benefits of my budding relationship with Luke was that I was now his friend every day around school. No one had, as of yet, seemed to question the friendship we'd materialized out of thin air. We played football together and shared a common interest in all things horse, so it was easy to see why we'd hit it off so well. Luke and I had spent the Sunday morning after the snowstorm lazing around my room before risking a slippery lunchtime walk to the cafeteria. There, he introduced me to some of his friends, each one another popular senior. Of the ones who played football, I had met them all in passing, but with Luke's backing they finally welcomed me with some genuine enthusiasm. Tristan, Luke's roommate, played cornerback and safety when he wasn't catching balls himself. He seemed to be permanently funny, smiling, and teasing everyone. Logan was our starting quarterback, the hulking son of a rich Bozeman businessman and one of the few students who lived at home. Besides having a good arm, Logan was most famous around campus for pissing off a mother moose during the freshman camping trip, getting chased into a latrine building where he hid for an hour. Finally, there was Will, who was quiet and reserved. He had lived at home before his mom, an incredibly good-looking television meteorologist, moved the family down to Denver after she got a job with a bigger station. Will chose to board and finish high school in Bozeman, rather than move halfway through his junior year.

Luke was gifted at breaking the ice, inserting me into his friend group like he'd known me for years. For that, I was incredibly grateful. The other jocks rolled with it, including me in jokes and asking about my life before I showed up in Montana.

Everything was relaxed, normal, just a bunch of friends. But a permanent pit had formed in my stomach; a rancid, burning kernel of disquiet that lurked just out of sight. I was haunted by the knowledge of the secret I carried, a secret that seemed to be fermenting just out of sight, waiting to escape its shackles and jump into the spotlight wearing a rainbow flag.

I had always hated secrets. I hated the way my parents had planned their divorce for months before telling me. I hated the way my dad hadn't told me he was retrieving me to Montana until all the arrangements were complete. Now, I hated that my soul yearned to be with another guy — and that I was too afraid, too ashamed to admit it to the world. Most of all, I hated that when Luke sat ten inches apart from me in the cafeteria, he might as well have been ten thousand miles away.

After our first tryst barely a few days earlier, it seemed like a no-brainer that we'd keep everything quiet. Even after I'd committed to seeing where things went with Luke, I never thought that secrecy would bother me; in fact, it seemed excitingly romantic, given how obvious it was that we'd have to keep everything under wraps. Even now, the logical part of my brain acknowledged that nothing good could come of a public revelation at the current point in our lives. Our connection would have to remain clandestine — for the sake of our school experience, our families, and our own immature relationship. At least for now. None of which meant that the recalcitrant, confident part of me had to enjoy our exercise in deception.

With all that weighing heavily on my mind, any hope of more one-on-one time was dashed as the weekend folded into the busy school week. Sunday afternoon, Luke and I split up to chip away at the mountain of homework we'd accumulated. That night, we ended up spending only a few platonic minutes together after our study groups ended.

Monday practice had run long, and then Tuesday stormed in with the return of a much-improved Evan. He did not have mono, apparently — only an early-season bout with the flu, which a quick round of antivirals had nipped in the bud. With both of our roommates now in residence, more long football practices ahead, and endless homework, Luke and I accepted the reality that our next encounter would have to wait for the time being.

And now Wednesday found me sweating on the bench between Logan and Luke. The weather up here was puzzling. Barely a few days ago, we'd gone from sunny and unseasonably warm to blizzard, and now back to sun and mild temperatures. Except for plowed mounds of snow in shaded corners of parking lots, there was no trace remaining of the early snowstorm. In Texas, the winter weather was either mild...or ice storm apocalypse. The whole Montana climate thing sure had thrown me for a loop.

Lost as I was in my own thoughts, it took a second for my attention to return to the bench after I heard my name spoken, the word ringing loudly in the recesses of my skull.

"Yo, Kaden, you going to the dance with anyone?" My attention snapped to Logan. I honestly had barely thought about the homecoming dance, which was scheduled for Saturday night. Moreover, my swirling feelings for Luke meant I wasn't too focused on looking around for a female date to take.

Tristan meandered over, listening in and saving me from having to drum up a quick response. "I'm going with Kelsey. You're taking Allie, aren't you, Luke?" Despite my acute awareness of the charade we had to keep up, my heart still sunk like a stone to hear Tristan mention Luke going to the dance with someone else.

Allie was the best friend of Luke's sister, Nora. Luke was notorious for not wanting to date any girls, always saying he didn't want to spend time on it at this point of his life. The real reason for him not dating was obvious to me now, but the unintended consequence was that all the single girls practically lined up for him when the occasional school dance came around. Besides being his sister's best friend, Allie was apparently the waiting-till-marriage type, which suited Luke just fine. There would be no pressure on him to perform after the dance.

"So what about you, Kaden? Who are you going with?" Will asked, punting the question back to me.

"Well, I'm not really sure," I managed to say. "I hadn't really thought about it. It's kind of hard, since I only just got here. Not sure anyone would want to go with me."

"Please," roared Logan, loud as ever. "You play football and I've overheard at least one girl say you were hot, even if you're practically fun-size. It shouldn't be that hard to find someone. What about Kelly or Megan?"

Before I could come up with a reply, Luke interjected.

"Actually, Kaden, any chance you'd want to go with my sister? She's not looking to date anyone but she'd mentioned that she'd be down to go with someone like you. I had meant to talk about it with you after practice." Luke stared at me with a small smile, his eyes sparkling.

My eyes widened in return, the only clue belying how confused I was. Luke's sister wanted to go to homecoming with me? Logan and Will looked almost as stunned as I did.

"You're barely here a few weeks and the hottest girl in the school wants to go to Homecoming with you..." Will trailed off, eyeing me with an impressed look. Logan chuckled at my continued silence. The other guys were now smirking, enjoying my surprised reaction.

"Umm yeah. Yeah, of course," I finally replied. My head seemed to be spinning a lot these days. Some part of me sensed that Luke was behind this, judging by how calmly he'd conveyed his sister's comment.

Logan stood up and broke out laughing, his sonorous booms drawing stares from the other players. As we jogged back onto the field, Luke gave me a sideways glance, grinning. What he was up to this time, I could only guess. If Luke's public persona was cool and confident, his sister Nora took things to a whole other level. As Evan never failed to remind me, she was a complete knockout - the female version of Luke. A year younger and half a foot shorter, she was arguably the pinnacle of most guys' high school dreams. Even I would agree she cut a striking figure, walking around in her tight jeans, vest, and those boots the girls all seemed to wear the second the weather turned colder.

Nora was in several of my classes, but I'd only spoken to her on occasion. A pang of anxiety tickled my insides as I remembered our run-in from Sunday. After finally setting aside my homework, I'd practically skipped over to Luke's room hoping for a little quality time together before the chaos of the school week was fully unleashed. When I knocked and Nora flung open the door of the room, rather than Luke, my fist froze in midair.

Her eyes had instantly narrowed when she saw me, tilting quickly up and down my body. Some guys might have thought she was checking them out, but her cold expression brushed aside that notion. She was sizing me up like I was a particularly nasty insect that needed to be squashed. While Luke's gray eyes were often fiery and playful, Nora's seemed dark and ominous — boring into me with a frosty intensity that seemed to chill my bones.

She'd greeted me in a level-enough tone, but I just couldn't shake the feeling of impending doom that surrounded her. It was like she knew something more and most definitely did not approve. Fortunately, Luke appeared at the door to save me from his sister, explaining that they had been coordinating family plans for the upcoming weekend...

As practice continued, my thoughts kept returning to what Luke had told me on the bench. Given my chilly reception three days' past, it seemed borderline illogical that Nora would have wanted to go to the dance with me. Something was up and I planned to pin down Luke later, demanding an explanation.

Practice ended when the sun finally dipped beneath the mountains, casting dark shadows all around us while a chill crept into the air. Purple and dusky orange bands hung in the western sky, painted against the deep, velvety blue backdrop of fading light. Fall sunsets were my favorite, the colors appearing like spectacular brush strokes, layered upon the heavens in perennially immutable glory.

Underneath this shimmering mosaic, the team of exhausted football players marched inside the athletic center and made a beeline to the locker room. More than half of the guys dumped their pads, threw on sweatpants and jackets, and headed out without a backward glance. The rest added in a brief shower or friendly conversation before departing. With detached ease, Luke and I dawdled, taking our time to change as we bantered with the other guys.

Before long, we were the only two left, as Tristan called out goodnight and made for the door. For a moment, we just stood there in the steamy locker room, the air full of the competing odors of sweat, water, and nauseating amounts of body spray. My eyes dashed around the room, seeing no one. We were alone.

"So..." I began, unsure of what I was actually going to say.

"So I need to take a shower," Luke interrupted, familiar sparks dancing in his eyes above a shit-eating grin. "You coming?" He didn't wait for my response, instead stripping off his clothes and strolling towards the shower without a backwards glance. My eyes were glued to the lean, rounded muscle of his ass, transfixed by the way it wiggled when he walked.

I felt my dick start to harden. He had me by a spell, somehow...waiting for his next glance, a spontaneous touch. Around him, I was constantly on edge. Normally that wouldn't be a good thing, but this was a constant, visceral, thrumming excitement that simmered deep within me, ready to boil up at a moment's notice.

Grinning, I tore the clothes off my compact frame and followed Luke. Rounding the corner into the shower, I froze. There he stood, naked and soaking wet. His massive cock pointed skyward, jiggling as he moved under the hot water. My cock literally wept a drop of precum as I stood there, I was so turned on. Turning, he noticed me staring. Luke's mouth parted into a dazzling smile, and his pink tongue darted forward, wetting his lips seductively.

I swallowed. My feet seemed full of lead, keeping me from moving. Luke strolled forward, resting a palm on my heaving chest. "Look how hard you make me, just thinking about you," he whispered, a low growl creeping into his voice as his cock brushed against my hand. A shiver ran down my spine.

Finding my voice, I croaked, "I think the feeling is mutual." It was a stupidly cliche thing to say, but my brain wasn't processing words well at the moment. I let him guide me into the spray of water, feeling the warmth flow over my shoulders and down my back, soothing my pulverized muscles. A strangled, involuntary groan escaped my lips. You don't realize how badly your body hurts until it's finally blessed with some relief. "Gahhh, that feels so good...how about we just stay in the shower forever?" I muttered through clenched teeth.

Luke snickered. "Deal."

His arms wound round my waist, his strong grasp yanking me up to him. I gasped as our erect cocks brushed up against each other. The feeling was electrifying, more intimate than even his lips wrapped around my shaft. Luke didn't give me long to ponder the sensation, since he arched his neck, pressing his lips to mine. They felt slightly chapped today, weathered from the exertion, sun, and wind of our football practice. His grip felt tired, worn down, but brought alive by the moment. Exhaustion gave way to arousal, and my lips pressed firmly back against him. Despite my weariness, I wanted to show him that I was a right there with him — a copilot in our journey together, not just a passenger along for the ride.

Our steaming, wet bodies melded into one other, and I sighed deep in my throat. Like a drug addict forced to go days without a hit, the feeling of Luke against me sent a dopamine rush through my brain. Tension melted away, replaced by bliss. How could I ever doubt being with him, deny the tendrils Luke had slipped in around my heart? Fear of discovery prowled through the back of my mind, but the urge in my loins was too strong to ignore.

Aches were replaced with soothing relief as Luke's hands kneaded up along the back of my neck. Severals days' worth of knots melted underneath the heat of the shower and Luke's massaging grasp. His hands traced down the ridge of my spine, circling the sensitive pockets above my ass. An involuntary groan escaped my mouth, drawn out for a pityingly long time.

Luke chuckled, then spoke softly in my ear. "I thought this might help with things."

I stood there, mumbling my appreciation but mostly lost in the feeling of his hands manipulating my muscles.

Eventually Luke's lips pressed against mine once more, forcefully. I could feel his fingers twirling on my lower back, circling in time with the movements of his tongue. This kiss wasn't tender, it was a return to our endless battle, a quest for dominance in which our tongues were warriors hellbent on conquering one another. My hands dropped to his sides, feeling every inch of his skin as my fingers wound around the hard edges of his hips. Luke's teeth closed gently on my tongue, pulling it inside his mouth with a firm suck. Groaning, my fingers dove over the supple, muscular mounds of his ass. I could feel the fine hair covering his skin, the mole on his left cheek. Drawn by the power he held over me, my fingers crept inwards towards his pucker, splitting his cheeks slowly. He exhaled violently, releasing my tongue from captivity and instead biting my earlobe. It was my turn to gasp. Luke's hands stroked up and down my back, supporting me, letting me know he was there and wouldn't let go.

My left middle finger slid inward, pressing firmly against his clenched hole. Luke practically yelped, his head rocking forward till it rested on my shoulder.

"Fuck, don't stop, Kaden babe..." He mumbled, thrusting his hips forward. His cock pressed straight up against my abs, smearing a thin trail of clear precum from the tip. Luke's left hand fell, cupping my ass while his right found the small of my back, pressing me into him.

The word 'babe' registered slightly in my foggy, distracted brain. Part of the old me twinged uncomfortably at being called 'babe' by another guy. But another part of me loved it, feeling our connection deepen by the minute. My finger pushed onward, pressing through Luke's relaxing muscle into the fiery confines of his hole. Inch by inch my finger advanced, drawing moans and gasps and squirms. Luke had us pressed so tightly together I thought we would cease to be separate and somehow merge into one being, one heart, one mind.