Hey guys... Yayayay!! I think I'm done with the story itself, now off to the epilogue. Thank you all for your great comments on this little story. Some of you who enjoy more realistic stories may have to roll your eyes at this, but sorry, it's just fluff and stuff romance, which is what I was really in the mood for when I started it. To be honest, that's what I'm always in the mood for... ;)

Thanks also for all the kind words for Karla. It seems that life is settling down some for her; I'm hopeful that things will be ok. I'm going for a visit this weekend, so you may have to look at more vacation pictures on my Sienata LJ. Hopefully Bailey will be in some of them too! 

Back to the story now. The Epilogue should be up in a couple of days, then I plan to get back to BFF. Hugs all around. :)


Suddenly there was chirping beside the bed and Ennis flinched behind Jack, then groaned. After a few more chirps, Ennis crawled over him and grabbed something from the bedside table. Jack heard beeps, then opened his eyes to see a cell phone lying on the bed in front of them. Ennis resettled himself behind him, closer now, so that Jack could feel his naked body pressed against him all the way down to his feet. Jack snuggled back into him, determined to take whatever he could get from the moment before his mind woke up fully and got between them.

There will probably be another part or two of this before the epilogue. There’s more bad stuff going on in RL, this time for the Betababe, so ya’ll send her some good thoughts and wishes if you would please. Thanks. S, aka WG.

Jack pushed the door open silently, found Ennis sprawled out naked on top of the sheets. His eyes were closed and Jack imagined for a moment what he might look like sleeping, and wondered – if he lost this fight with himself - if they’d ever get that intimate... Wondered what it might be like to sleep with him, to be his lover for real and not just a willing piece of ass for him to test out his gayness.

My extremely well-respected Australian language consultant has advised me that I would never pass for a native. If this were going to be a long drawn out story - WHICH IT IS NOT - I would engage her talents to help me muddle through. However, since Ennis is an American/Australian, with who knows what other language influences and idiosyncracies going on, as the world is his oyster, etc...  - I'm going to just continue on, hoping those of you in the know will try to overlook my oopsies. And don't tell everyone else!!!

Thank you, dearest, for the kind response to my query, but since I'm already mostly done, I'm going to just go on with my own invented language. Hopefully after spending some face time with you, I won't need so much tutoring!! :) 

Ok, here we go... off to the story. Wendy has just departed the fix! (That's air traffic control talk for - she left!)

“Damn her!” Jack shoved off the wall, pissed at being manipulated, and even though Ennis was hot as hell and interesting too, knowing that this was all a planned thing ruined it for him and he couldn’t get out of there quick enough.  

Jack had gone to the club that night with one goal in mind. To get fucked.

Hey Guys...

You probably didn’t expect to see me over here, and no, I didn’t expect to be here either, but here I am all the same.

Ennis had been dreaming of getting a blow job from a man for the past year, and who knew how much longer he’d been craving it subconsciously, but when they got to Jack’s bedroom at last, Ennis was out of control with the need to do, not to get, and he’d ripped Jack’s shorts down and shoved him back hard onto the bed, intent on having his way. Jack hadn’t fought him, had fallen easily onto the mattress and welcomed him with open arms and legs, wrapping him tight in his strong embrace.

The women finally backed off, giving him room to breathe air that wasn’t quite so thick with sweet perfume, and he stepped away to figure out his next move. He was considering calling Jack, or leaving, or both, when he felt a strong hand on his arm and looked around to see yet another woman he didn’t know, but she seemed different right off from the ones he’d met so far. “Hey. You’re looking pretty freaked over here. Want me to save you?” she offered, nodding at a fresh batch of cuties heading their way.

Ennis sat in a lawn chair in his back yard under the blazing August sun and watched the fire consume his tainted sheets until it burned itself out and there was left nothing but a big, black, sooty spot in the middle of green grass. Sadie watched from a safe distance under a magnolia tree at the edge of the yard, distrustful of the unusual fire, anxious because of his unsettled mood. Ennis didn’t blame her for keeping her distance. Truthfully, he wished he could get away from himself too. He was fucking up, and he knew it, but he was in the grips of a fear that was stronger than his good sense, and it was killing the one thing he was most afraid of losing – his friendship, his love affair, with Jack.

Jack kept his eyes open while they fucked, never took them off Ennis’ face, because he didn’t want to miss a look or a moment of what Ennis was feeling, but at the end, when he was done with the work and it was all about riding the wave of pleasure and emotion, Jack closed them, because he didn’t want Ennis to see inside of him, wasn’t ready to give himself away. It was too much, and he knew Ennis would read it all. So not today, not yet...... not till he knew better what Ennis wanted.

Jack listened as Ennis’ breathing settled into the peaceful rhythm of sleep, felt the bed give as Sadie jumped up and found her spot. After a minute of circling, she curled into a ball by their feet. Cooper was on his bed – everything was quiet at last. Jack glanced at the clock. The numbers glowed pale blue in the darkness – it was four-thirty. He’d been up for twenty-two hours – it was time to sleep, but his mind was fighting to the last, worrying with what Ennis had told him about Bailey.

Jesus Christ! Could things possibly get any more fucked up? Ennis watched without a word as Jack listened to the rest of the messages, stabbing at the key to delete them until they were all gone and he slapped the phone shut and tossed it onto the bed.

“There you go, Stud! All cleaned up and ready for you. Have a nice fucking life, Ennis,” Jack said, spitting the words at him like they were acid in his mouth. He pulled his clothes on quickly and started for the door. Ennis wanted to say something, but his jaw was locked up tight and he couldn’t think of anything helpful to say anyway. “I’ll be back to get Cooper in a few hours, after you’re asleep. I’ll leave my key on the table when I go.”

Author's Note: Before you even start reading this, just remember - this is not my idea of a good time either. I'm not making this up to be mean. I'm  just telling the story the way it happens in my head. I'm for sure not sitting over here all happy thinking - ooh, this will really wind their watch. (I only do that when I get to write smex!) However, if it's any consolation, believe it or not, I'm pretty sure this is where they hit rock bottom. I think the next chapter will be better. Ok, here it is.......

Ennis leaned back into Jack when it was over, and for a minute Jack held him while they breathed and drifted back down to earth. Jack didn’t hold him as tightly as he wanted to, and he didn’t say any of the things he wanted to say, because he knew Ennis wasn’t ready for them, so he tried to convey everything he was feeling in a minute of gentle touches. He hoped it was enough.

“Jesus, Jack!” Ennis whispered against his mouth after a minute of kissing, his words still thick with sleep. “What’re you doing here?”

Jack rolled off, still working his cock with quick, hard strokes. “Came to get Sadie. How’d you know it was me?” he whispered back, since the room was pitch black and you were supposed to whisper in the dark. There wasn’t a light on in the whole house.

Ennis slowed down once he got out of the suffocating coffee shop and into air that he could breathe again. Car fumes and pollen were sweet compared to the expensive reek of Randy’s cologne that Ennis had smelled even over the heady aroma of coffee that had filled the shop. He saw the shiny red car Jack had parked next to, with the vanity tag LAWMAN. It was Randy’s car, for sure, and Ennis wanted more than anything to dump the rest of the coffee he’d never be able to drink all over the windshield, but Jack was coming and he’d made enough of a fool of himself already for one morning. This was going to be a major bitch to deal with as it was.

Jack finished them both off as fast as he could, because they were too far gone too quit, but it wasn’t fun anymore and he just wanted to get it over with. Ennis might be lying about not wanting sex with a man, but he wasn’t lying about not wanting it with him. Yeah, the chemistry was there, was shit-hot between them, but Ennis didn’t want it, was more a victim of it than anything else, and Jack didn’t have the stomach for that. He wanted to be wanted, felt like he was good enough to deserve that, and if Ennis didn’t want him, he’d find somebody who did. Come to think of it, he already knew somebody who did.

Ennis was lying. There was not one smidgen of doubt in Jack’s mind about that, and he figured he had a pretty good idea why. For whatever fucked up reason, Ennis was totally locked up about the idea of them being together, but he’d caught on pretty quick to the fact that he wasn’t going to be able to get away with doing anything with another guy and still keep their friendship intact. So, Ennis was going to take it back under cover, fuck around on his trips, like he’d planned to do in the first place, and just keep things friendly between them. Or so he thought.

Ennis lay in bed, alone and thinking, long into the night. What had seemed so simple and straight-forward – getting laid by a guy he didn’t know and had no interest in - had quickly deteriorated into an ugly mess of embarrassment and disappointment and hurt feelings. The embarrassment he could deal with - it was no less than he deserved for going off with some guy he felt zero attraction to in the first place. He certainly wasn’t worried about Grayson’s disappointment. Shit happened when you hit on strangers. It probably made for a funny story to tell his friends over mimosas this morning.

Jack took the dishes, disappeared into the kitchen area. Ennis returned to the bar, saw Grayson walking back from the pool room, laughing still from something his friends had said. Grayson and Jack both got back to Ennis at the same time. Jack passed Grayson the check, and without so much as a glance, Grayson handed it back to him, along with a credit card he pulled from his money clip. While Jack had his back to them, running the card through the register, Grayson made his move.

They stayed like that, in each other’s arms, for several minutes. Ennis could feel Jack’s lips pressing soft, weightless kisses on his neck, and he could see his bed there, waiting for them. It was what he wanted more than anything – right now - but how sorry would he be in the morning, or more importantly, sometime in the future, when it was over and Jack had moved on to somebody new? Even if he tried to keep his feelings neutral, Ennis knew, in his heart, that he wouldn’t be able to be friends with Jack if they kept going in this direction. Not once it was over and Jack was with another man – there was no way he could stomach that.