Page 17 of On the Land, We Shoot Straight

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rady normally liked to ride out for a few hours in the later part of the afternoon on that first day, but he decided to stay by the lake on account of the rain.

Cole seemed happy about this, settling in with his bedroll after he’d fed and watered the horses like he was planning on living there.

Grady guessed he must’ve been drifting for a good year before he wound up on Grady’s porch, so maybe this was more what he was used to.

Grady was about to fall asleep when Cole’s voice brought him back.

“Grady?”

Grady hummed to let Cole know he was still awake, but didn’t open his eyes.

“You awake?”

“Well, I ain’t respondin’ in my sleep.”

“Okay.”

Grady waited. He could hear Cole’s breathing from where he lay on his bedroll less than a foot away, but he didn’t say anything else.

“Were you gonna say somethin’?”

Cole shuffled around. Grady turned his head and made out the shape of Cole’s head facing him.

“I was just gonna ask about tomorrow.”

“What about it.”

“We headin’ through to the other lake, yeah?”

“Yeah...”

Grady had given Cole a rough outline of the ride back at the house. Cole had listened in a way that made Grady think he knew exactly how they were planning to ride it and didn’t understand why Grady was telling him. So Grady had a feeling that wasn’t what Cole wanted to ask at all.

“Cool,” Cole said now. “Night.”

Grady listened to Cole shuffle onto his back and frowned. That wasn’t what he wanted to ask.

The next night, they were camped out in the shell of the grocery store in the abandoned town near the biggest lake in these parts.

It was off Grady’s land, but right on the border.

It’d been the biggest stop on the railway line before foreclosures gave the wealthier landholders the opportunity to spread like malignant cancer, before the droughts and the death of good prices.

The horses were hobbled outside, ambling around and grazing on the ryegrass while Grady and Cole had come inside and set up camp.

The smashed-out windows and missing door gave them a nice view of Red and Chloe in the near distance.

Grady was almost asleep when Cole said his name again.

“What.”

“Sorry, go on back to sleep.”

“I’m awake now.”

“It’s nothin’.”

“It’s somethin’.”

“It’s really nothin’.”

Grady rolled over, propped his head in his hand and looked over at Cole stretched out on his back.

“You got somethin’ to ask, ask it.”

Cole lifted his head, and Grady made out him swallowing before he asked his question.

“You were in Jack’s year, weren’t you?”

Grady was thrown by the question. He also felt like it wasn’t what the kid wanted to ask.

“Yeah.”

“Were you friends?”

“Not really.”

Grady thought about Jack. Popular, boisterous, always bragging on what he’d been up to.

They boarded together in the city for high school too.

But where all the Cole boys went on to the private school, Grady went to the public.

No, him and Jack weren’t friends. They weren’t enemies either.

They weren’t anything. Even being what? Five or six years younger, Cole here should’ve known that.

“Okay,” Cole said.

Grady rolled his eyes, lay back down and went to sleep.

“Grady?”

Jesus Christ. They were camped out in the middle of the biggest field on the property. The sound of the horses drifted over them from nearby, shifting their feet as they settled. It was late, but the sky was clear and the moon high and bright so everything was cast in blue.

“What.”

Grady listened to Cole breathing.

“Just say it,” Grady said after a while.

“Say what?”

“Whatever it is you been wantin’ to say for the last three days.”

“I ain’t wanted to say anything.”

Grady huffed. “All right. Suit yourself.”

“I’m just wantin’ to ask about somethin’ is all.”

“Don’t need my permission to be askin’. Just ask.”

Grady listened to Cole’s breathing. He waited. Cole wasn’t saying anything, but whatever in the hell had him coming to the edge and backing off three times had Grady pretty damn curious even without wanting it to.

“Whaddya-know-about-guys-helpin-each-other-out?”

Grady had to parse that out because that’s exactly how the kid said it. All one word.

“What do I know about what now?”

He was pretty sure he got it, but best to check.

“Nothin’. Forget I said anythin’.”

Grady sat up, bringing his knees up with him, the blanket stretched like a tent across his thighs.

“I think you askin’ what I know about helpin’ a buddy out.”

Cole didn’t say anything.

“Whaddya know about that?” Grady asked.

Grady was watching Cole, and it was bright enough he could see him shrug, glance over and then away again quickly.

“Just that it happens.”

“It happens, does it?”

Cole shrugged again. “Yeah, you know…” He waved a hand around. “On account of men not havin’ a woman or whatever.”

“Most of ’em got a woman.”

“You know what I mean.”

Grady did know what he meant. What he didn’t know was why Cole was asking.

“What of it?”

Cole turned his face up and looked straight at Grady.

“What about us?”

“What about us?” Grady repeated dumbly. Surely Cole wasn’t asking.

“Why don’t we, you know.”

“Help each other out?”

“Yeah.”

Grady blew out a breath.

“I don’t reckon that’s a good idea.”

“’Cause you got someone in town?” Cole put an odd emphasis on town—derisive and dismissive all at once.

“I ain’t got one person for anythin’,” Grady heard himself saying and wondered why he was getting into this.

“So, you do it then?”

“Jesus.”

“What?”

“Okay, first of all, we can’t do it ’cause you breakin’ all the rules.”

“What rules?”

“We don’t talk about it. You’re talkin’ about it. If I wanted to talk about it, I’d screw a woman.”

That shut Cole up. Grady settled back down and thought that’d be the end of it.

“What’s the second of all?”

“What’s what second of all?”

“You said first of all.”

Grady rubbed a hand down his face. What was the second of all? Well, there were a lot of damn reasons why this was a shit idea, but the main one that came to mind was—

“You’re too young.”

Cole scoffed.

“I’m old enough to drive sheep and cattle and put in the crop but too young to suck dick, yeah all right.”

Grady laughed. He couldn’t help it; Cole sounded so affronted.

“You wanna suck my dick?”

“I’m askin’, aren’t I?”

Grady liked the sound of how put out Cole was and besides, he didn’t reckon he’d really do it, he was just testing the waters, so to speak.

“Go on then.” Grady kicked his blanket off and prepared to win this game of gay chicken when he felt Cole scrambling over to him, his body slamming into Grady’s chest as he straddled his thighs.

“Oof.”

“Sorry,” Cole said. He sounded winded already.

“I was just messin’.”

“I wasn’t.”

Grady drew in a deep breath and blew it out real slow. Cole’s eyes tracked the movement. Cole was straddling his waist, and Grady felt his dick stirring where it was pressed up against Cole’s ass. He shuffled down before this went in that direction and Grady blew out another breath.

Cole was still watching him. He hooked his fingers in Grady’s waistband and slid it down.

Grady’s dick was exposed to the night air, straining up and to the side as it hardened without Cole even doing anything.

Cole dropped his gaze to Grady’s dick and shimmied down until he was resting on his stomach between Grady’s legs.

He took Grady in his palm and stroked, a sure movement as he moved from root to tip and then back down before he held him towards his lips, his breath fanning over the skin.

Grady could see his own chest moving, and Cole looked up at him again as he darted his tongue out and licked around the head.

He sucked the tip into his mouth and got Grady good and wet before he slid all the way down to his hand and then up again.

Cole’s eyes fluttered closed and he did it again, up and down, slow and deliberate, a tiny moan vibrating against Grady’s skin.

If Grady had of had any questions about whether or not Cole had done this before, they were gone.

Cole released the hand he had on the base of Grady’s shaft and slid it down to roll his balls in his palm as he took him down his throat, swallowed around the head, before bringing his mouth up again.

Kid didn’t even choke. Grady thrust up and groaned before he could stop himself.

Cole pulled off and moved his hand up to stroke Grady with expert flicks of his wrist while he took his balls in his mouth and got them all wet before coming back up for his dick.

Grady brought his hand down and gripped Cole’s hair.

Cole moaned and applied suction, and Grady fucked his mouth while Cole played with his balls.

Grady’s eyes were fixed on the sight between his legs—Cole opened his eyes and Grady was trapped, even in the darkness; the heat there, the kid was absolutely loving it.

Grady thrust in and out and groaned as he came down his throat.

“Jesus,” Grady said as he caught his breath, his hand still resting on Cole’s head as the kid cleaned him up, gentle licks before he let him go. Cole had swallowed. Grady guessed he didn’t give him much room to do otherwise, but he didn’t miss the way Cole did it natural as breathing.

“Give me a sec,” Grady heaved out.

“I’m good.”

Cole brought Grady’s pants back up and stayed where he was, catching his breath.

“That’s not how it works.”

“I’m already good.”

Grady frowned and Cole rolled onto his back, Grady’s thigh under his head. And then Grady got it.

“You already got off?”

“Yeah,” Cole breathed out. He didn’t sound embarrassed about it, he sounded sated.

Christ, but that was hot. It should not be hot. Nothing about this should be hot. Hot was gay and this was not gay. This was just helping a buddy out.

“All right,” Grady said for lack of anything else to say.

“Thanks,” Cole said and sat up.

Grady snorted. Cole shrugged and crawled back over to his own bedroll. Grady listened as he got his pants off, cleaned himself up and rifled around in his saddlebag for fresh pants.

Grady’s eyes drifted closed. He felt good, like he’d just had the orgasm of his life. But he was also feeling unbalanced.

“Night,” Cole said as he settled in.

Grady grunted.