Western Skies Ch. 05: Snowfall

Groaning loudly, Luke spread his arms forward over the desk, shoving a picture frame and glass full of pens out of the way. Without warning, I peeled apart his ass cheeks with my hands and lowered my head. I penetrated his freshly-cleaned hole with my tongue, driving as deep as I could while still being able to breathe. Luke gasped and his whole body trembled. "Fuck," he whined, seemingly unable to utter anything else.

A couple more laps from my tongue wet the entrance to his chute, then I stood up and hooked my arms under armpits. I strained froward over his larger frame to place my hands on his, and took the opportunity to whisper in his ear, "We're in this together. Always. Don't forget that."

His response was a low grunt.

Then I released one of my hands, reached back, and guided my now-leaking cock towards his moistened asshole. With only my spit and precum as lube, it was a bit slower going to fill Luke up. I pushed in slowly, feeling his suffocating warmth envelope my cock a fraction of an inch at a time. Luke groaned and twitched right as the sensitive underside of my head slipped past the entrance to his chute, sending a dizzying crescendo of sparks up my shaft and in a loop through my entire body. With a gasp, I reflexively thrust my hips inward, burying another inch of me inside him.

Luke loosed a modulated cry, sounding half pained and half euphoric. Fear hit me and I froze. "Are you okay, babe? Too much?" I whispered in his ear while my fingertips moved to rest between his shoulder blades.

He shook his head. "Easy, stud...lotta friction," he murmured before arching his back and flexing his ass back towards me. With a grin, I placed my hands on Luke's hips and slowly slid further and further forward until he had me all the way within him. The feeling was indescribable. If I had to use words to illustrate what only experience could do justice, I'd say that it was like my cock was being gripped by a burning hot vise, but one that somehow could undulate and contour around me.

Both Luke and I were lathered in sweat from my first thrust in. For a moment I didn't move, savoring the feeling of Luke around my manhood. I adjusted my arms to embrace him from behind, pushing my chest up against his back. Through our fiery, sweat-soaked skin I could feel Luke's choppy breathing and hammering heart. Arcing forward, I managed to plant a soft, unintentionally wet kiss on the side of Luke's rosy cheek. He shook his golden-brown hair out of his eyes and twisted his neck around, providing me with a distracted smile and the gleam off one of his intense blue-gray eyes. As always, I attempted to read him, staring back in an effort to decipher the machinations going on within.

At that moment, I saw nothing but the glint of lust and a whole-hearted focus on me. Blood surged through my cock and it twitched inside his ass, drawing a soft gasp from Luke. He turned his head back around and I straightened myself up, returning my hands to their place on his hips. Carefully, I proceeded to draw myself a half-inch out of him; he was still so tight I dared not try any more. I exhaled loudly and thrust back in. At almost the same time, Luke gasped and I felt a spasm inside his chute. The rapid relaxation and tightening around my cock was enough to make my eyes roll back and bring me way closer to the edge than I wanted to be, this soon. I bit my lip and tried to think of something besides Luke and what we were doing, but I quickly gave up on it as an impossible task.

Over and over again, I pulled my cock out and then slowly shoved it back in, struggling to restrain myself from getting too aggressive and hurting him, since we were doing this without any lube. With each gentle, tender thrust, Luke relaxed a bit more, and the friction surrounding my cock decreased from mind-bending to just intense. Even still, it was almost too much for the sensitive nerves in my cock to handle; precum oozed around my shaft and it was becoming easier and easier to slam myself into Luke's hole.

Grunting, my thrusts became more and more rapid as the animal side of me took over. It was as if blood was flowing out of my head, leaving me unable to think, and instead draining down into my cock, raising the pressure within it to off-the-chart levels. On about every third or fourth thrust I managed to slide over Luke's prostate in just the right way, making him arch his neck, cry out, and tremble. As I quickly began to climb the mountain towards my climax, it occurred to me to not be selfish; reaching around, my hand made contact with Luke's slightly larger and equally rock-hard cock. I barely had time to wrap my fingers around it and feel the line of precum trickling down from his slit when Luke gasped and trembled again, more violently than before. The touch of my hand on his throbbing cock was enough to set him free, and I felt rope after rope of his silky seed spill over my hand and burn against my skin.

That was enough to send me to the moon. Inside of Luke, I erupted with all the force of a volcano, deliriously pumping spurt after spurt of cum inside him. My entire body throbbed with adrenaline while my vision dimmed, trapped as I was by pure instinct. Seconds, minutes, hours later--whatever amount of time had passed--I collapsed, panting, with my head against Luke's sticky, sweat-drenched back.

Our breathing slowed in tandem, each inhale and exhale echoing the other's, while our heartbeats slowly returned to their normal rates. It struck me that the old expression, "when two hearts beat as one," could quite literally be true. The thought made me grin, and I kissed Luke gently on the back, making him twitch. I shoved my arms under his armpits and reached out, taking his hands in mine right as I slid my deflating rod out of him. He sighed, deeply; I could feel every muscle in his body relax contentedly against mine. For not the first time, I was filled with wonder and joy that we could share a bond such as the one we had. It seemed almost improbable that we each could bring one another so much sheer happiness...but we did. Somehow, together, we worked. Against the odds, and sometimes against our own doubts, we made it work. We did. I told myself that over and over again as I laid over him, against his father's desk.

When I left Luke's family's ranch and began the two hour drive towards my grandparents' house, I felt like we might finally be able to move beyond the fear and hesitation that had dominated our relationship. When I left, Luke was busy wiping down his dad's desk and making sure no sign of our activities remained. Doing it where we had just did it meant something important to Luke on his journey of self-discovery, that much was obvious; the real question, then, was if it would make him feel better or worse about who he was.

As I stared up the road towards the northern horizon, I could only hope it would be the former.

***

Brilliant white snowflakes drifted silently to the ground, sparkling like burning embers in the reddish glow of the setting sun. The wind rustled softly off the high peaks, swirling the descending ice crystals round and round above the twisting alpine road.

"Why the hell did I let you drive," muttered Luke, rolling his eyes.

"Because it wasn't supposed to start snowing till later," I retorted, shooting him an angry glare for a split second. My hands were fastened to the steering wheel of my pickup with a death-grip and sweat was beginning to bead up on my brow. "You said, 'hey, it's fun to drive in the mountains, why don't we take your car so you can get used to it...'"

"If you drive faster, 'Kade, we'll get there before it actually starts getting slick out."

I shook my head angrily. "Fuck this, in Texas if even one snowflake touches the ground the entire world grinds to a halt. Driving around town in the snow is bad enough, but this, this is fucking nightmare."

Luke snickered and settled back into the passenger seat, closing his eyes. "We're only fifteen minutes away, but let me know if you need me to drive."

Ignoring him, I continued to focus on the road as it wound deeper and deeper between the towering mountains. The day had started sunny, if not cold -- a bluebird winter day in the Gallatin valley.

The "what are we doing" conversations from six days earlier were pushed out of mind, at least on the surface. When Luke and I reunited in Bozeman before driving up, the only emotion I could detect in his features was delight. I knew better than to push him on the subject of his dad, or what the future would bring for us, so it was with enthusiasm that I instead regaled Luke with the goings-on of my time away from him, and him from me. So it seemed like almost no time at all had passed by the time we turned into a magnificent community near the town of Big Sky, and wound our way up a road past some of the most beautiful houses I'd ever seen.

As it turned out, Luke's family "cabin" was anything but rustic. Even though he assured me they owned one of the more modest properties in the community, the house was still four bedrooms of opulent mountain splendor on its own three-acre lot, with a massive rear deck that provided incredible views of the surrounding peaks and town. As he gave me the tour of the house, Luke made sure to stop by the hot tub on the deck and fix me with a knowing look that was anything but subtle; in the corners of his eyes I detected an amused, lust-filled twinkle that gave away his thoughts on what the hot tub would be best used for. I raised my eyebrows and gave him an innocent smile in return.

Going back inside, we picked up our bags from where we'd dropped them by the front door and proceeded upstairs. Luke nodded towards a door at the end of the hall, so I went in and dropped my duffel bag on a chair in the corner. Before I could turn around and size up the room, there was a soft 'thud' as another duffel bag landed beside mine.

Luke smiled as I turned around to look at him. "We get to share a room, it's gonna be a full house. Apparently Nora has two friends coming this year so she gets the room with the double bunks, and my grandparents will be in the other." He shrugged before gesturing at the queen-size bed. "So we get to share." A devilish smile tugged at his lips and Luke gave me a sideways glance. "Actually, my folks said one of us could have the room and the other on the couch out on the landing, but I said we didn't mind sharing...it'd be like when we went camping."

Delight surged through me, but I tried to hide it, instead doing my best to glare at Luke's handsome face and ignore the playful sparkles in his eyes. "What, so you just assumed I'd be good with sharing, did you?" I muttered in the most pissed-off voice I could muster.

Quick as a flash, Luke's facial expression went from mischievous to stern. His golden-brown eyebrows furrowed together while he stared at me with solemn intensity, like he was seeing me in a whole new light. I stared back with what I assumed was an equally serious mask, devoid of any sign of mirth...except for the involuntary twitching at the corner of my mouth. Before I realized what was happening, Luke's strong hands seized me around my midsection and shoved me onto the bed. For a split second my train of thought derailed, noticing how comfortable the plush bed was, before Luke's lean body pounced onto mine.

I couldn't hold it together any longer and burst out laughing. Luke may have been taller, but my stocky frame wasn't good for nothing; I managed to wrap an arm and a leg around him and twist, using my well-honed muscles to push him over and wedge him against the headboard of the bed. Luke began to half laugh, half gasp as he struggled to free himself and fight back. For a minute we wrestled around before I managed to pin him on his back. Panting, I looked down on Luke's face, letting my eyes trace his angled jawline and perfect features for the hundredth time. He stopped struggling and stared back at me, breathing heavily. Right as I started to feel him stiffen against me, there was a knock at the bedroom door...followed immediately by the entrance of Luke's mom.

We hadn't even latched the door before starting our antics, I realized, cussing to myself within the confines of my skull.

Luckily, Mrs. Robinson seemed distracted and was talking rapidly. "You boys are making so much noise, but anyway, dinner's at seven-thirty down at the club, the adults are going down early for a cocktail but--" She stopped, finally realizing that we were both on the bed, wrapped around one another, and panting. A surprised, quizzical look dominated her features, but before I could say anything, Luke beat me to it.

"Hey, mom. Sounds good. Just seeing who's a better wrestler." He gave her a toothy grinned and shrugged. "Sorry about the noise."

Mrs. Robinson seemed to have recovered from the surprise of seeing her son lathered in sweat and entwined with his best friend, but I still noticed a few lines of worry crease her brow. "Ah. Well, that does explain the noise. Anyway, why don't you two put on some nice clothes, the governor's family will be here for drinks soon."

She stepped out into the hallway, shutting the door with a soft thud. Luke and I waited a second, locking eyes in an eyebrows-raised moment of apprehensive amusement, before erupting into a fit of nervous laughter.

***

Night had settled cold and heavy upon the mountains, and the house was silent. Luke's parents had set off with the governor and his wife to a party at the community's clubhouse, with Nora and her friends all dressed up and in-tow. Luke and I had excused ourselves in an attempt to gain some alone-time, claiming in relative honesty that we wanted to hot tub, after which we would shower and drive over to meet them.

What we didn't tell them was that both the hot tub and our shower were about to get used in a very X-rated manner.

So that's how I found myself in a hot tub, alone with Luke, high in the Beartooth Mountains on New Year's Eve. Out here, everything was perfect. I snuggled up to Luke, letting my forearm rest on his thigh and my hand gently hook under the crook of his knee. He sighed and leaned deeper into me, snaking an arm around my back and slipping a few fingers into the waistband of my swimming trunks. My eyes slowly rose towards the heavens, and I felt a few icy snowflakes tickle my face. There were no stars to be seen tonight; instead, the cloudy sky hung low over the craggy peaks, reflecting back the lights of Big Sky in a ruddy, dim glow. The air felt heavy, and the clouds seemed to be creeping lower and lower towards the ground. I wondered if the fitful snowflakes were the prelude to an impending storm. The thought of this drove me to cuddle even closer to Luke, and a feeling of contentedness grew within me.

It was quiet in the way only the mountains could be: frozen air, pierced by the hushed creaking of the pines in the irregular breeze. And then there was the faint burbling of the hot tub's jets, which combined with the heat of the water to lull me into a hazy stupor. Normal thought dimmed as my brain waves were overwhelmed by the mellifluous clouds of steam that billowed over the surface of the water. Worries, doubts, and fears gave way to the languid, nebulous tendrils of abstract meditation. Countless minutes passed. There was only the feeling of Luke's body against mine, swaddling me with an overwhelming sense of contentedness. For a while, we were silent, each of us lost in our own amorphous thought. Then, somewhere in between my contemplation of fate and the purpose of the universe, Luke brought me back to reality:

"I feel so stupidly lucky, I sometimes wonder if this is real."

I chuckled and adjusted myself to face him. "Tell me, is this real?"

Closing my eyes, I pushed my lips pushed up against his, finding the comforting, wet embrace of Luke's mouth. The feeling was enough to warm my soul more than the hot tub ever could. Our tongues danced in their oft-recurring waltz as I felt Luke's hands gently grasp my sides. This time, his kiss came soft, but powerful, and his grasp on my hips was unyielding; inside me, the feeling of familiar elation was morphing into something more resolute. It was a feeling of closeness that transcended any lust, and was far stronger than any sense of emotional closeness I'd ever felt before -- even towards my own family. It was, I knew, the feeling that had been growing within me for four months...the feeling I refused to acknowledge, and the same one Luke and I would stray irreversibly close to discussing, but never could bring ourselves to face openly.

Trembling, I broke the kiss and opened my eyes. Luke's flew open as well and he looked alarmed, but I just leaned forward and hugged him tight. I felt him relax, but my heart was pounding. Should I do it? I thought, still trembling with anxiety.

Luke's voice murmured softly in my ear as he squeezed me back, 'You okay, 'Kade? Whatever's got you worried, it's okay. I'm here."

And like that, any doubts I had about what I was planning to say disappeared like morning dew under summer sun. I nuzzled my mouth close to his ear and finally spoke, each word seeming to drop from my mouth like a heavy weight off my chest: "Luke, I...I need to tell you. About...shit..." I took a deep breath. "About how I feel, no matter what the hell happens--"

Behind me came the soft sliding noise of the door opening. Instinctively, my head pulled back and my eyes flicked up to Luke's face, ready to read his emotions and discover how to react to what was happening.

My heart sank and the cold pall of dread flooded through my veins. His eyes had grown wide, and instead of fiery sparkles dancing in their blue-gray depths I saw nothing but sheer panic. A moment later, Luke confirmed the worst.

"Mom?" Luke stammered, his voice small and weak, so different from the mellifluous tone I was used to. Somehow, I managed to push my way out of Luke's arms -- which were still tangled around me -- and turn to face Luke's mom, shoulder to shoulder with him. Despite the heat of the hot tub and the swirling steam around us, a very real chill ran down my spine, and the night seemed to close in around us.

Before us she stood like a statue, arms crossed and lips pursed thin. Her once-kind eyes had taken on a hardness I hadn't seen before, but I saw less anger in them than...was it sadness? As we waited for her to pass judgment upon us, the distant howling of a wolf sent another shiver down my spine. Anxiety nipped at every muscle, bone, and sinew within me, as surely as a wolf would have. Time had frozen in the cold mountain air, and fear seemed to be the only emotion my heart could feel.

In reality, it must've been only a moment that passed before Mrs. Robinson spoke. "So," she said softly, seemingly trying to find the right thing to say. "It...it wasn't a phase then, was it, Luke? Hmm?"

Luke seemed to be lost for words. His silence echoed for a full, agonizing minute. The wind softly shook the pine trees next to the cabin, cascading a mist of snow crystals upon us. Goosebumps erupted on my skin. I chanced at glance at Luke's face and could see the gears of his brain spinning at full speed, working through the shock of getting outed and trying to determine how to respond.

Luke's mom shifted her weight, then uncrossed her arms, sighing. "Kaden, I think if may be best if you go to bed. Perhaps on the couch tonight."

What she said wasn't a surprise, but still, my heart sank. And she really didn't seem angry as much as disappointed, which confused me a little bit...and then what she had said a minute before hit me. It wasn't a phase. What had already happened, and what did she already know?

Hot anger rippled through me: anger at the unfairness of the situation: that we'd done nothing wrong and were being treated like some sort of delinquents; anger at our own carelessness, that we'd been so distracted we'd missed hearing her come home; and then, in sharp contrast, was my surprise at Luke. He had clearly been been keeping a secret from me...what did his mom already know? I reached out underwater for his hand, seeking some comforting signal from him that we were still in this together. He didn't recoil from me, but neither did he make any attempt to grasp my hand back, and my heart sank.