“This just fucking too?” Ned rasped into Cole’s ear.
“Shut up,” Cole uttered, only holding Ned tighter instead of shoving him off for being an ass.
He gave himself into Ned’s care like the dumb fool he was.
But he didn’t need to trust Ned with his heart to trust him with his body.
Overwhelmed by unfamiliar sensations, Cole hadn’t even noticed that Ned reached up with one hand to entwine their fingers, until Ned squeezed them hard while grinding his cock into Cole at an excruciatingly slow pace, as if he were petting his insides instead of just seeking pleasure.
Cole considered himself cynical, a man carved by the harsh life he’d endured, but while he was proud of his tough shell, it turned into soft clay at Ned’s touch. With Ned, there was no need for armor, and as the warm, firm hands squeezed Cole’s flesh, he no longer felt the need to resist the temptation of closeness, and let Ned mold him back into the lustful, uninhibited man he used to be.
So many people had passed through Cole’s bed, but this felt like fucking for the first time again. Always eager to take charge, he’d gladly made guys happy with his prick. Even when he sucked cock, it was on his terms, but this made him vulnerable. He couldn’t have experienced it with anyone else.
The faster Ned thrust his cock in, the more lost Cole became in the blend of sharp reality and blurry nostalgia. This man both knew him, and didn’t, but cared for him regardless. Ned wasn’t looking to empty his balls, like Cole had often done with attractive strangers. Ned was there with Cole with every part of his being.
He finally understood what Ned had meant when he’d said he wanted Cole to experience this too. The act put Cole in a vulnerable position, but Ned was right there with him—gasping, moaning, and showering Cole with hot kisses as he plowed Cole’s insides at an increasing pace. He wouldn’t let his prey go until he was sated.
It was as if they’d never parted.
Cole thought back to the countless things that reminded him of Ned. He’d seen him in the mountains, in every creek and pond, and in every lover. In a way, Ned had been with him this whole time, even if not in the flesh.
He'd been the reason Cole never settled anywhere.
He'd been why Cole had taken up photography, stupidly sentimental over the memento of happier times together.
He'd never learned how to swim because Ned had promised to teach him, and somehow Cole had held on to that.
He'd fucked other men to anger Ned.
Ned had been the memory under his eyelids as he licked sweat off other bodies.
And for once, he’d have Ned back with him when he came.
His insides were a buzzing fire, and each time Ned’s cock shifted, whether back or forth, the strange sensation that had Cole curling his toes and uttering the most shameless noises sent sparks up his chest. It was like nothing he’d never felt, so he moved with Ned, greedy for more of the blissful ache deep inside. He grabbed Ned by the nape and stared at him in the dark, breathing in the air he exhaled as they rocked ever faster, clinging to newfound pleasure as if they were only allowed to experience it once.
Wasn’t that what Cole had promised himself earlier?
But reason was gone from Cole’s head like hot air when Ned stiffened over him, uttering an animalistic growl.
“Yes,” Cole whimpered, biting his cheek as heat poured into him straight from Ned’s balls, and he frantically grabbed his own prick, tugging on it in a desperate need to join his lover.
Seconds later, he cried out, spending so hard he could no longer think rationally. It was his prick that spilled cum between them, but somehow the climax originated deep inside him, where Ned’s cock was still buried.
Cole wasn’t sure anymore where either of them ended or began, and didn’t protest when Ned kissed his neck with tenderness. All he could do was gasp for air and enjoy the moment while it lasted.
When Ned pulled out of Cole, his cock left behind an unexpected soreness, but he didn’t roll away, and kept stroking Cole’s side as if it were the thinnest glass. They’d part eventually, but Cole needed to catch his breath.
Just for a few more minutes.
A few more heartbeats.
The blink of an eye.
Chapter 13
Cole awoke to someone’s weight pressing him down and an insistent barking. In the darkness, the oppressive hold made Cole choke on cool air, and he twisted, hitting back with his elbow as wolf howls echoed just beyond the wall.
The person on top of him rolled off with a growl, hitting Cole back in the process, and rushed out of the room, their heels banging against the wooden floor.
“How dare you come back!” a man roared from the living room.
Cole slid to the floor, ready to fight for his life, but then he smelled the aroma of wood and straw, and realized that the voice belonged to Ned. His insides throbbed with a strange sensation that must have been the result of the things they’d done before falling asleep, but when Ned ran across the living room, dressed in a flurry of animal skins, Cole rose as if someone poured icy water down his back.
The noises he’d heard outside were real. Growls and distressed whinnies.
The horses.
He found his shoes where he’d left them and stuffed his feet in, collecting his rifle on the way to the open door, instantly awake.
Blinding light assaulted him when he ran out of the house. Sunshine bounced off the endless piles of snow, turning the whole world white for half a second, but Cole knew the way to the barn by heart. The dark forms of several wolves dragging something out brought his world back into focus and made all the hairs on his body bristle.
Ned let out a low roar and shot at the animals from a battered shotgun that, miraculously, still worked. Two wolves ran off right away, but three more growled back, baring their bloodied teeth in challenge. They wouldn’t give up their catch without a fight.
“This is my land!” Ned yelled and shot again, rising to his toes as if he were trying to imitate a bear. Dog roared, speeding onto the scene as if he had no regard for its life, and stopped alongside Ned, ready for battle. It seemed those two had brains of the same size.
The icy air vibrated, but Ned’s costume couldn’t chase off the predators, and when one of them approached him with its head lowered, as if he were about to attack, Cole sent a bullet straight into its skull, then got one of its companions with another precise shot.
The third wolf howled, but had the sense to flee with its tail between its legs, leaving behind a red trail.
Only then did Cole have the capacity to look at the white horse trembling in the snow, its guts dragged out and steaming on a bed red slush.
“Oh, poor Galahad…” he whispered, staring at the meat showing through tears in the stallion’s formerly pristine white coat.
Master and horse, gone within the span of a day.
“Lars must have left the stable open when he found the picture,” Cole mumbled, his gaze trailing inside the barn, but Nugget and Carol were still in their stalls, even if terrified. Safe. He squatted by the horse and only then noticed his cock hanging out through the front of his union suit. As the wind blew at him from the back, its icy fingers groped his naked backside.
He’d let Ned fuck him last night, and then fallen asleep with the man still on top of him.
A hot flush bloomed on Cole’s face as he reached back to button up his access hatch. He was sore. And his insides felt strange, even if not painful, but it made him ashamed that those were the things he cared about while the poor creature was dying at his feet.