Secrets From the Past

Ain’t no better place to start the day from, I thought, as I lay in bed watching Vin sleep. He’s using my chest for his pillow again, but I’m not complaining about it though. Far from it, this way I can hold him better.

I can’t believe it’s been ten years already. Ten years since I’d first laid eyes on Vin. From that very first minute, I knew that Vin would be mine. Mine and no one else’s. Turned out that as much as Vin belongs to me, I belong to Vin.

I’d been with men before we got together, so had Vin. It’s pretty common out here. A man gets lonely and after a while the need to be touched gets mighty strong and if there ain’t no women folk around well... That’s the way I used to think anyway; it was just another way to get some relief.

But that was before Vin. No man has ever made me feel like he does. Just hearing that Texas drawl of his is enough start my heart racing and my cock rising. That tracker can do things to me that... I tried to push that thought away, before I end up waking Vin, just to ravage and be ravaged by him.

Hell, you’d think after last night I wouldn’t be able to even think about it much less be hard as a rock and ready to attack him. But, with Vin just touching him, tasting him, loving and being loved by him, I always want more of him. In a lifetime I still won’t get enough of him.

That’s it. I’m waking him up now! No! Tempting as it was, I knew I wouldn’t do it. It’s only when we’re alone together out here at the cabin, that Vin allows himself to let his guard down and relax totally.

Even though we finally got the bounty lifted from Vin’s head, he still sleeps with one eye open. Old habits die hard and that habit has helped to keep him alive. Every now and then, we still get a bounty hunter in town with Vin’s old wanted poster in his hand and that hungry look that five hundred dollar reward will bring to a man’s eyes.

The past never quite goes away it might leave you be for a while, but it always comes back to haunt you one way or another.

As I hold Vin a little tighter in my arms, I think of the day we met ten years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday.

I had been watching him sweeping up in front of that store. He wasn’t exactly hard on the eyes: young, somewhere in his twenties I’d say, tall, long dark brown hair, looked like he’d had a nice build from what that apron didn’t hide. I kept watching, wondering how or if he would react to the goings on. It isn’t every day that a bunch of trail hands gets all liquored up and decides to lynch someone. Isn’t every day you see a women grab a gun to try and save the life of a colored man, only to have one of the trail hands ride in to her kicking the gun and making it discharge knocking her down into the middle of the street. I’ll be damned if she didn’t get back up and start yelling at folks, demanding to know if they were going to let this hanging happen.

Well, that seemed to have decided him. I saw him turn and enter the store then come back out loading a rifle followed closely by the store keep. From where was I standing I could just barely hear them.

“You walk off with that rifle and you’re fired!”

I bit down harder on my cheroot to stop the laugh that his reply almost caused.

“Hell I’ll probably get myself killed. Now I got to worry about a new job, too!”

I couldn’t help but admire the spirited cuss.

Then I saw him look up, then, almost like he was searching for something or someone that he hadn’t seen, but knew he would find if he looked for. I was surprised when those blue eyes met my green ones. I’ve never felt the like before, it felt....well, it almost felt like we connected somehow. The surprised look in his eyes showed me he felt the same thing. I gave a quick nod of invitation, he answered it with one of his own. As I started walking down that street he fell right in step with me. I couldn’t stop myself from giving him a quick once over now that he was closer. I liked what I saw. Yeah, he looked even better without that apron, not overly muscular but strong and wiry. He looked like he could hold his own pretty well. We didn’t say a single word as we followed that mob... I knew we had just met, but having him at my side like that, it was like he belonged there.

When the gunfight was over, we had saved Nathan and met JD. Vin and I finally spoke for the first time. Weren’t no more than a quick exchange of names and how long we’d both been in town. Going by the way he dressed, I asked him if he was a buffalo hunter. His reply of, ‘Among other things,’ got my curiosity up.

But, before anything else could be said, that woman shows up in our faces. I just knew she’d be the pushy kind. She starts sprouting off that she’s with the Clarion News. She seemed to think that should have meant something to us. But I didn’t have any interest in her, and from the expression on Vin’s face it was a shared feeling. When she asked us where are you going? All it took was a quick meeting of our eyes and she received the same answer from both of us.

“Saloon!”

Vin, Nathan and I stepped up to the bar and ordered some well earned whisky. It was Vin who first noticed we had company. They weren’t exactly the type of people that you would expect to find in a town. They wanted to hire us to protect their village from ‘The Ghosts Of The Confederacy’.

Vin didn’t seem too eager at first. Then he decided, he wasn’t planning on dying with a broom in his hand anyway. I tried not to give in to another smile, because from his expression it was pretty plain to see he was looking forward to the fight ahead.

The first thing to do was to get together some more men, and I knew right where to find one. I asked Vin if he would be willing to give me a hand. Then I explained just how and what needed to be done. The look of pure mischief that lit up his eyes was all the answer I needed. And when Buck came rolling off the roof in to the street, I knew Vin had done all I had asked. I could see the pleasure in Buck’s eyes when he saw me for the first time in years. He hadn’t changed a bit. First thing he did was give he a hug, course since all he had on was his pants around his ankles and his long johns and his hat, it looked just a little strange. That caught the attention of a few town folk, not that anything like that ever bothered Buck.

When Vin came around the corner and asked me if Buck was with us, I saw the many questions in Buck’s eyes. He asked me if Vin was with me. I answered him with a nod. For just a moment, I thought I saw something more in his eyes. Maybe loss, jealously, but I was never really sure what it was I saw there. Buck should have known by now that although me and him could be pards, we weren’t going to be more than that again.

I remember meeting Josiah and Ezra. Didn’t think to much of Ezra at first glance. He was just another con man. And when he got himself in trouble, I figured it was his problem not mine; ‘till I saw Vin reach for his gun. He must have seen something in that gambler that I didn’t. Funny thing was, I trusted his judgment. Turned out Ezra didn’t need anyone’s help. He proved he was fast with both his gun and his wits. He showed promise, and I thought we just might have a need for a wildcard like him.

The village and the fight are kind of hazy after all this time. What I’ll never forget though is that first sunset Vin and I shared on those rocks overlooking that village. He surprised the hell out of me when he told me if anything happened to him to take his body to Tascosa, Texas; Because there I could get five hundred dollars for it. I couldn’t help myself I wanted to hear his story so I asked him “How come you’re so valuable?”

Vin told me that after the buffalo had run out that he had became a bounty hunter. And as he when he was going after a bounty named Eli Joe, Eli had framed him for murder. And because of that, he had gotten a hefty bounty on his own head. While he was telling me this, Vin’s eyes met mine as he told me that he figured if a friend collected his bounty, that he would get the last laugh. His trust in me had left me speechless. All I could do was smile at him in wonder. I swore to myself then, that I’d happily ride to hell and back again, so long as he was with me.

It was a while after that we became lovers. We’ve had many nights like last night, teasing each other with the lightest of touches ‘till our cocks were both rock hard and weeping. We’ve learned the fastest way to get each other all worked up. All those hot spots on our bodies that cause a body to arch silently, begging for more of the same. Feeling Vin thrusting in to me, as I push back against him, loving the way he fills my body. His hand stroking my cock in time with his thrusts, till I cum so hard I can barely breathe. Feeling his cum as he shoots deep inside me, leaving me panting, and spent, my body covered with sweat and shaking from passion.

Last night as I lay in his arms after we were done, I told him if he was trying to kill me, this was just the way I wanted to go!

He laughed and saying he reckoned he owed it to me.

I asked what he meant and his blue eyes sparked with mischief. He figured where I wasn’t ever going to get that five hundred dollars he promised me, that he didn’t think I’d mind taking it out in trade.

I didn’t meet his eyes, and I kept my voice light and my body relaxed as I laughed with him, but deep inside my heart went cold with guilt.

The past never quite goes away. It might leave you be for a while, but it always comes back to haunt you one way or another. And secrets from the past always try their best to see the light of day, but my secret won’t. I’ll take it to grave with me, I swear I will. Vin will never know that the reason I came to Four Corners. The reason those bounty hunters haunt me as much as they do him.

I always make it point of knowing who’s in town. I knew Vin was in Four Corners that day. Like I said, the first time I saw him, I knew he was mine and no one else’s. My secret, the one I will take to my grave, is that the first time I ever saw Vin: it was on a wanted poster. I’d just decided five hundred dollars might make it worth my while to try my hand at being a bounty hunter.