Western Skies Ch. 06

Though "a unique educational experience" was the official purpose of the trip, as the brochure to our parents had stated, it was the social aspect we all cared about. As the sun set after an early dinner, we all bundled up and gathered around the collection of campfire rings near the center of the retreat. The sinking sun drifted behind the corded clouds that framed the surrounding mountains, bathing the valley in an iridescent glow. Innumerable shades of orange and red and yellow filtered through the branches of the pine trees, putting a glorious period on a beautiful mountain day, before dusk finally overtook us. As darkness closed in, the glow from the campfires beckoned everyone closer, and I found myself congregating with the other seniors near one of them.

Darkness also brought cover, and before long I received an unnecessarily sharp elbow-jab from Evan, who sat next to me on a bench by the fire. His eyebrows were raised and a small smirk creased his face. From seemingly nowhere, he thrust a small bottle into my hand, muttering, "Be cool."

I craned my neck, looking for the teachers. The closest ones were gathered around their own campfire some twenty yards away, oblivious. Grinning, I took a long swig from the bottle, feeling the burn of some obviously cheap liquor glide down my throat. A cough slipped out of my mouth and my eyes watered. Frowning, I gave Evan a look of feigned anger.

"Rum? Weird vibe, bud."

Evan snickered and shrugged. "So my brother told me to text this guy he knows who's going to college here, he has a good fake. I wasn't given a choice, I gave him a hundred bucks and he said that'd buy me three of these things of Bacardi. Bastard is making a nice cut out of that hundo, ain't he, 'cause that's not even Bacardi...it's some bottom-shelf shit in old Bacardi bottles."

I laughed and elbowed Will in turn, passing the bottle to him.

***

By sometime later in the night, muted colors danced around the periphery of my vision and a full-body buzz glowed over every inch of my skin. Alcohol had erased the misery I'd carried with me since New Year's, allowing the thrum of conversation with friends to camouflage the pain that was bound to return with the rising sun. As eleven o'clock rolled around, the remaining teachers said it was time to put out the fires and call it a night. Our group begin to split up, my classmates slowly staggering away from our little island of warmth and into the chilly spring night.

I certainly wasn't that drunk by any stretch, but the warm glow in the tips of my ears and nose, coupled with my overly euphoric mood, told me I'd had enough. Tristan, Evan, and I meandered up the snaking row of cabins, laughing about our antics and who'd be the most hungover the next day.

"Fucking Will," Evan laughed, "When he was halfway out the door earlier to take a piss and Luke rushed back in screaming about a grizzly..." Tristan and I joined in his laughter before my lowered inhibitions got the best of me and I spoke up.

"Where'd Luke go by the way, he left before us...?" If it was daylight and I'd had my wits about me, I would've noticed that Tristan and Evan shared a mischievous look right after I spoke. Instead, I stared down at the path, illuminated by the light of the waxing moon, letting my slow thoughts drift back towards Luke.

"He left for bed a little while ago, I think," Tristan muttered, glancing at Evan again. This time I noticed the look on his face, and with my clouded judgment, decided to respond.

"Look, I know what you guys are thinking, you two being like the only ones here that know things...I'm moving on...just sometimes it's easy to think of him y'know..." My face felt flushed, but the admission seemed to fall on unsurprised ears.

"You'll have that," Evan chortled. "Anyway, did you guys see Mr. Thompson and that English teacher, uh, what's-her-name, at dinner earlier, they're totally hooking up later..." With that, the free-flowing conversation returned as we meandered towards the next block of cabins, but my mind remained distracted by the one topic the rational part of me knew it should avoid.

"Hey, where ya going champ?" Tristan cried, putting an arm out to stop me as we passed yet another of the identical cabins, the light already on and shining out around the window curtain. "In you go. I'm gonna go catch up with, uh, Will, so see you in the morning." Evan had opened the unlocked door to the cabin, smirking.

"You'll thank me tomorrow," he said, grinning wider. "Sleep well." Then he gently shoved me in the door, closing it softly behind me. Outside, I could hear Tristan and Evan laughing as their voices receded. Confused, I staggered past the small closet, my half-drunk brain whirring.

Then I froze. Sitting on the far bed was Luke, in his underwear, looking at his phone.

Our eyes met, and I saw my own shock reflected in the startled expression on his face. The phone slipped out of his hand and landed on the floor with a soft thud. Surprised as I was, I couldn't help but enjoy seeing Luke in a near-naked state, the lines of his toned muscles all too obvious...and his perfectly-sized package bulging in the front of briefs. My own cock began to harden of its own volition, pushing tightly into the front of my jeans. Clearly, I hadn't had so much to drink as to prevent my body from acting out its conditioned response to seeing Luke's. He seemed to notice too, his glinting eyes snapping down to my groin, even as his own cock began to obviously harden.

With a momentous effort, I steeled myself, focusing back on Luke's face. "What...what are you doing in here..." I stammered, still bewildered.

"I could say the same thing," he muttered, making no attempt to cover himself up. "Pretty sure I'm in the right cabin, all my stuff's here." He gestured around at his bag and scattered personal effects. I immediately looked around, more confused than ever. My bag was sitting on the bed closest to the door, but I had surely set it on the far bed when we arrived...

Evan's parting comment rang in my head: "You'll thank me tomorrow."

I groaned as my addled brain started to put two and two together, realizing I was not, in fact, in the cabin Tristan I were both supposed to be in. "I think the two of our friends who know...about us...are trying to play matchmaker," I said, finally, "because that's my bag right there on the bed."

Comprehension dawned on Luke, and I noticed a look of mingled anxiety and elation take up residence on his face. "Oh..." he muttered. "I mean yeah, that bed's yours then, I guess...fucking Evan and Tristan." He managed a nervous chuckle before finally deciding to pull the covers over his sculpted figure, hiding his raging hard-on.

"Yeah, they're being really funny," I mumbled, turning away to rummage through my bag for some pajamas. Clashing emotions clogged my sluggish thoughts. Visceral excitement and muted joy at being this close to a mostly-naked Luke were the most noticeable, tempered by a flood of anxiety, indecisiveness...and a lingering anger.

Finding what I was looking for, I made a point to keep my back to Luke as I undressed and slipped on the pajamas, knowing full well he'd be staring at my ass the entire time. Once clothed, I turned, watching his gaze flick to the still-noticeable outline of my semi-hard cock in my pajama bottoms. He had the decency to look up when I stared at him, and I noticed a glint of tears around the edges of his eyes.

"Can I turn the light off?" I asked, nonchalant. He nodded his agreement, watching me with a ravenous intensity as I walked across the small room to flip the switch. A moment later I was laying on my bed, staring through the blackness at the ceiling with a pounding heart. Whatever alcohol-induced lethargy I'd had minutes before was gone, replaced with the electric shock of being thrust back into a...situation...with the one person who could draw every extreme emotion out of me.

A minute passed. I heard Luke stirring, and I imagined he must feel equally as wound up. Finally, my self-control dwindled and curiosity, egged on by my lowered inhibitions, forced me to speak:

"So how have you been."

He grunted. "Just trying to keep busy, I guess. Y'know, we were together at football winter workouts, right? Trying to decide if I should play club lacrosse again this year, it starts in two weeks...it's not the biggest thing in Montana, but I've never been much of a baseball player. Or I could just focus on riding horses instead, maybe get Finn ready for some ranch sorting events next fall..."

"Yeah, I forgot you told me you'd played lacrosse, it's kinda funny to imagine you as a lacrosse bro...our first track meet is right after we get back from here."

Luke laughed. "Track. Yeah, that's you...running."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I retorted, letting my latent anger guide my tongue. The "running" comment seemed a bit of a double entendre, given that it was me who called things off between us. Or maybe I was just being hypersensitive.

"Nothing," he replied, quickly. "Just that you're good at running. With your legs. Football. Track."

"Ok."

"Hey! Guess what? I got Finn doing sliding stops now, Willy's already solid with them you know but Finn's still figuring it out...wanna see?"

Horses. He'd changed the topic back to horses. "Sure, last time we spoke he was still struggling with it," I replied, awkwardly. Last time we spoke. I didn't have to say that the last time we'd had a "normal" conversation was before the New Year's incident.

I heard the covers on Luke's bed get thrown back, and before I realized what was happening, I felt him sitting down next to me. His phone screen lit up, and I realized by "wanna see" he meant...right now.

"Here," he murmured, holding his phone and resting his hand on my leg. My breathing quickened and my already elevated pulse began to hammer out a war beat. For the first time in over two months, Luke and I were intimately close once more. I could barely focus on the video of Finn, distracted as I was by the body leaning up against mine. Without thinking, my hand reached up, cupping the back of Luke's as the video played. I felt his arm brush against mine and goosebumps erupted over every inch of my skin, despite the warmth of the cozy cabin.

A minute later, the video was over but neither of us moved. I realized Luke was breathing just as hard as I was, but still, he sat there. And I didn't ask him to move.

"You're doing well with him, you'll definitely have him ready to show in the fall," I managed to say, before adding, "I do miss riding Willy, though my dad says we can work out something for me to bring Radar up if I want to spend the summer up here instead of Texas." My head felt heavy and warm, and a tingle began to creep into my fingers and toes.

"Hmm. That'd be nice, Radar's your favorite horse from back home isn't he?" Luke said softly. Amidst my thick, sticky thoughts, his voice seemed to come from a million miles away, like a faint susurration carried on a mountain breeze. I could feel Luke's shoulder pressed against mine, and his hand seemed to have dropped his phone, now resting palm-down on my thigh. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness--absorbing the faint rays of moonlight creeping in around the edge of the window curtain--so when I tilted my head to look at Luke's face, I could see that he was staring back at me from barely a few inches away.

My heart pounded out it's erratic beat for another few seconds before temptation, inebriation, and--beyond everything else--insurmountable attraction guided my actions before my brain could keep up. I leaned across the small distance that separated us and allowed my lips to meet Luke's. With the first contact, a warm electric jolt circuited my body, rekindling the pure, instinctual passion that drove me to Luke in the first place. Where our lips touched burned like a hot weld, and before I realized what was happening, I felt a tongue that didn't belong to me intrude my mouth. Hands that weren't mine crept around my back, holding me tight, tracing the ridge of my spine to the back of my head and fanning out into my hair.

Pulling back, I gasped for air, drawing in a lungful of the faint smoky-sweet scent I associated with Luke. It was enough to make me dive back in for another kiss, and this time, I wanted more. My brain seemed to have shut conscious thought completely down, except for whatever part of it fueled the most ferocious limits of my emotions. The frustration, anger, and misery I'd allowed myself to dwell on weren't gone, but rather combined with the repressed desire and longing for Luke I'd ignored since New Year's. Whatever the concoction of feelings inside me was, it was powerful, and it seemed to be surging more and more forcefully into my limbs, my heart, and my soul.

With sudden vigor, my hands clasped at Luke's sides, flipping him around onto his back while I maneuvered on top of him. His head seemed to tilt back in ecstasy, and I unthinkingly moved my mouth to nibble one of his ears. A low groan escaped his lips, driving me feral. I dove down, my hands cupping the sides of his torso as my mouth slid over his chest, biting one of his nipples en route to his groin, drawing a small wince from Luke. A moment later, my fingernails dug in--claw-like--above his hips before my fingers violently yanked off his underwear.

I couldn't care less if I tore his clothes, as long as I was getting closer to his cock. I couldn't care less if I was being too forceful, too rough. My arousal was different now than it had been before with Luke; an animalistic fury burning inside my heart compelled only fierce, wild actions. It couldn't have been more different from the first time we'd slept together. Months of joy, shame, euphoria, anxiety, anger, and fear meant that this...this had to be different.

And it was. My lips curled around his iron rod and I immediately took him all the way into my mouth, almost gagging when his cock brushed against the back of my throat. The salty odor of his unwashed body came thick into my nostrils when my nose tickled his trimmed pubes, but it only served to drive me crazier. Up and down on his cock I bobbed, making no attempt to be delicate; I let my teeth rub over the ridge under his helmet, then I sucked hard on the tip. Intermittent moans and gasps escaped from Luke's lips, and he began to buck his hips up and down with my movements.

When I felt him start to shake and heard his breathing grow shallow, I pulled back. With a rapacious grunt, I grasped Luke's midsection and tried to force him over onto his stomach. He resisted, instead struggling into a sitting position. A deep exhale fell on my face, then I felt his tongue once again intruding my mouth, violently trying to stake a claim over my own. His strong hands fumbled with my T-shirt--which honestly I'd forgotten I was even wearing--so I raised my arms, allowing him to tear it off over my head. His fingers glided back down me, tracing the lines of my flexed muscles from my shoulders, down my back, to my waistline. Then they started to tug at my pajama pants and briefs, ripping them down my legs. With a quick motion, I reached down and plucked them off over my feet before I leaned back to kiss Luke again, more softly than before. His hands curled around the back of my head and his fingers combed through my hair, playing with the longer locks I'd allowed to grow since winter began. For a moment, time hung in the balance, allowing us a a few seconds of closeness with our foreheads pressed together.

Then, through gritted teeth, he spoke: "Fuck me."

Perhaps I imagined it, but in those two words it almost sounded like he was begging for forgiveness...for redemption.

He didn't need to ask me twice. In the past, we'd made love. But this time, I knew damn well I was going to fuck him. I was going to fuck him like I might never fuck him again.

So I did. The next minute passed in a blur; my vision was narrowed, like I was looking through a straw, my entire body trembling and tingling with exertion. One second, we were face to face. The next, Luke was on his stomach and my cock had plunged into his ass, savoring the gripping tightness of his chute. One of my hands stretched under his chest, palm up, cupping his upper torso. My other hand twisted around underneath to clench his cock, so that each forceful thrust I made rocked him forward and back in my hand as well.

Fragmented sensations rolled across my consciousness before fading from one to the next: a spasm in Luke's ass gripping my cock harder, making me cry out in pleasure; Luke gasping my name; my teeth closing around his shoulder, biting harder than I normally would've meant to; and, finally...oblivion.

Neither of us lasted long. I knew what was happening, but I couldn't make any effort to slow down and last longer...the familiar tingly-itch soon stirred within the depths of my balls, and barely a moment later, erupted through my cock. With a snarling roar, I pumped as much cum as I could into Luke, continuing my quaking gyrations long after the last of my eruption had ceased. Sometime during my climax, Luke too emptied himself into my hand with a loud cry and violent shudder.

Panting, sweat-soaked, and with a spinning head I pulled out and flopped on my back, one of my hands still cupping Luke's chest as he lay facedown. A few soundless minutes passed before, by unspoken agreement, we got up and grabbed some tissues to wipe up with. We stepped outside the bathroom-less cabin into the quiet night, pissing off the small porch shoulder-to-shoulder rather than clothing up to make the trek to the nearby outhouse.

Luke finished first, ducking out of the cold and back into the warm cabin. I stood there a moment longer, my thick thoughts having grown even muddier in the aftermath of the release we'd just shared. Through the pine branches I could see the moon, its glow illuminating the fog from my breath as it rose into the cool air. The heat from my exertion only managed to keep me warm for a minute longer before a chill snaked up my back, goosebumps again springing up across my exposed skin.

Rejoining Luke in the same bed, I didn't know what to say. The problems of the world...the drama of our relationship...what had just happened...I couldn't be bothered to make sense of it all. Not right now. Tiredness had finally begun to seep into my bones, and sleep loomed ever closer.

Luke cuddled close, burying his head in the crook of my neck. And as I drifted off into my dreams, I could've sworn a distant voice whispered, "I really do love you..."

***

My eyes flew open. The first gentle rays of morning light filtered in through the cabin's east-facing window, scattered into twisted patterns by the pine trees outside. Everything was perfectly still and quiet, like the world itself was still sleeping. I didn't know what had caused me to wake so suddenly, but everything seemed fine...the cabin was cool, but not cold, and nothing seemed amiss. I grasped at the covers and turned on my side, intending to doze back off if I could. Next to me, Luke's warm body was a comforting, familiar presence on the cool March morning--

I sat bolt upright, stunned. Luke's warm body. I tilted my head to the side, taking in the lithe, slumbering figure who shared my bed. What the actual fuck had I done? My heart rate went from zero to sixty in an instant, and the vague memories of last night's questionable decision-making rushed back. A tingly-soreness lurked within the muscles of my abdomen and upper legs, and a content feeling of release lingered somewhere behind my belly button. I didn't know that sex could feel that good, but it sure as hell must've been magnificent for my body to feel the way it did the morning after. It was only my damned head, aching slightly from the aftereffects of too much alcohol and questionable decisions, that criticized what I'd done.