Chapter Fifteen

The fossil beach was really a shallow, muddy slope that washed up to an eroded cliff about fifty feet high. You could find giant ancient seashells in some of the rocks up there. Seth’s brother had once found a snail shell a foot across lying in the mud.

Pete had shoved the boat up as far as it would go, and he’d sunk the anchor in the muck for good measure while he looked at all the fossils. His face had lit up when he’d found the fish skeleton up high on the cliff, and he’d spent the better part of twenty minutes running barefoot back and forth between the boat and the fossil beds.

This time, when he came back breathless, he sat down next to Seth and rested his head on Seth’s shoulder. Seth smiled and wrapped an arm around Pete’s thick, strong waist.

“You’re out of shape, Mr. Park Service,” Seth said.

“I’m running in mud,” Pete said.

The fossil beds were tucked into a cove a few miles away from the marina. Nobody was there that day to see Seth take Pete’s chin in one hand and kiss him on the mouth.

Pete still seemed hesitant. When Seth pulled away though, Pete put his hand on the back of his head and pulled him back again.

“I think you’re corrupting me,” Pete said. His voice was a low murmur in Seth’s ear.

“I’m glad you’re catching on,” Seth said. He pushed himself back on the seat and grabbed Pete’s far leg, pulling him across his lap.

Pete kissed him again, pressing his hips up against Seth’s crotch. Pete ground himself against him as he got too hard to keep his cock inside his jeans.

Seth reached down to unzip himself; his teeth grazed the side of Pete’s neck.

“You know, I meant it when I said I wanted to fuck that ass,” he said softly into Pete’s ear.

“Out here?” Pete said. “Are you sure?” As he spoke, it was his hands that were taking Seth’s cock out of his jeans.

“Nobody comes out here,” Seth said. “Not this time of year.”

Pete looked down at Seth’s cock as he stroked it gently. “That had better be a promise,” he said. “This is the last place I want a cop to catch up to me.”

“It’s a promise,” Seth said.

Pete stood up and slid his jeans and shorts down to his ankles. He shook one leg free and straddled Seth again, this time kneeling with his back to Seth’s chest and balancing on the side of the boat.

“Hope you dragged us up far enough,” Seth said, running his hands up Pete’s chest.

“Yeah, me too,” Pete said. “We’ll see what your sense of humor’s like if we tip this thing over.”

Seth wrapped one hand around Pete’s cock as Pete started grinding his ass against Seth’s cock again. Neither of them said a word, just faint groans as they got lost in the feeling of each other’s skin.

With his free hand, Seth dug in his pocket for the little bottle of lube. He tried to be smooth about getting it on his cock, but that wasn’t so easy with his own excitement and the distraction of Pete’s body against his own. How long had it been since he’d gotten to really touch a man? How long had he gone having other people do everything with his body but pleasure it?

He let Pete deal with his half of the lube situation while he sat back and balanced himself on the seat and the boat frame. This wasn’t the first time he’d brought a guy here to fuck on the beach, but his heartbeat thumped like he was a high school kid out here experimenting.

Pete moaned softly when Seth pressed his thumb against his tight, slicked asshole.

“You want my cock?” Seth said, gently working himself inside Pete while Pete spread lube onto his hard shaft with one hand.

“I wanna take the whole thing,” Pete said. “I want you so bad…”

Seth pushed his thumb all the way inside Pete, and Pete arched his back and bit his lower lip.

“Fuck me,” he said. “I need you inside me so bad right now.”

Seth slid his thumb gently out of Pete’s ass and guided his thick hips onto the head of his cock. Pete pushed lightly against him, opening his ass to Seth’s cockhead a little more with each thrust. Seth guided his hips with his hands, pressing Pete down harder and faster as he started taking the length of his cock inside him.

They both kept quiet as they drove themselves against each other. Seth grabbed Pete’s cock in one hand and stroked him as he stuffed the full length of his own cock into Pete’s hole. Pete groaned softly, squirming his big body against Seth’s and gasping as he came in Seth’s hand.

Seth took his hand to grab Pete’s hips and brought him down against him in long, slow strokes. It didn’t take long before his patience ran out, and he brought Pete down on his cock faster and harder until he came inside him, burying his cock in Pete as deep as it went.

He pushed Pete off of him, and Pete sat beside him on the bench with his arms around Seth’s waist. They caught their breath in silence, still alone and unseen by the side of the huge calm reservoir.

“I didn’t know how much I needed that,” Seth said.

“Yeah?” Pete nuzzled his cheek with the top of his head. “That makes two of us.”

***

His date with Pete instilled a sense of well-being and good humor in Seth that he hadn’t known since before that night on the Interstate. Seth came home feeling like a new man, walking relatively tall and more inclined to deal with every ounce of bullshit that came from his family members.

However, the bullshit kept on coming. It kept on coming in the Clubhouse, it kept on coming in the Family house, and apparently it kept on coming down at Watty’s.

“They can’t just walk in here,” Jessica said, maybe a little too loudly considering her spot at the corner of the bar close to the door.  She decided she liked Seth today, and she’d been entertaining him while his brothers silently ignored him. “Who’s letting them…”

“Shut up,” Cody said.

Angie was sitting with Jessica, and the two of them whispered to each other while Mikhail and Yuri took a seat at the far end of the bar.

Sandy stood up from her conversation with Nadia, annoyance carved on her face. She pursed her lips, picked up her bar rag, and swaggered over to serve the two young gentlemen.

Cody’s pool game continued. His brother had his back turned to Seth and Jessica.

“Fuckers,” Jessica said.

The Corovic nephews’ presence went seemingly unnoticed while most of a Desertbane album played on the jukebox. Cody, Nick, Alexei and Mike were intent on their game of pool. Jessica and Angie were focused on their angry murmured conversation. Seth was just...there, about as useful as a potted plant and just as relevant to what was going on around him.

Then the bells on the front door jingled.

The blonde was the first one in the door. They both walked furtively, sneaking looks at the guys gathered around the pool table as they approached the Corovic brothers.

Mikhail greeted them both in German with his arms held open. Yuri held up a bag from one of the nicer jewelry chain stores around town, shaking it lightly at Yulia like it was a bag full of dog treats.

Both girls squealed and hugged each other while they chattered back and forth in German.

“Excuse me?” Jessica said.

“Cool it, Jess,” Cody said.

Seth noticed that all the men at the pool table were now standing with their feet spread and their shoulders squared. He stared across the room at the situation unfolding in front of him.

“Welcome back to Watty’s, ladies,” Cody said, stepping to the front of the group. Jessica and Angie stood up abruptly and left the room. “I hope you two are having a nice day.”

“We are meeting for going to the mall,” Masha said.

“I think we’re going to Fort Maxwell,” Yuri said. “Masha tells me there is better mall there.”

“I think you’re leaving those girls here and going…”

Mikhail said something in German, and both girls started fishing in their purses. They held their passports up like shields in front of their faces.

“We do everything your father tells us to do,” Yuri said. “We give passports back, we are good to our girlfriends, we leave Scorpions alone for what they do to your...your little brother, yeah?” He twisted his face into a lopsided smirk, gesturing in front of him like he was feeding pigeons. “We stay until our job is finished here. Yeah.”

Seth’s blood boiled instantly. “Your job is none of our damn…”

“Seth, this doesn’t concern you.” Cody turned around and scowled at him before turning back to the Corovic brothers. “Look, my friends, I don’t give a damn what goes on between you and those girls,” he said. “Every single one of our Club Rules is written in our Members’ blood, and there is a good reason we have stayed out of the skin trade for sixty years.”

“Good for you,” Yuri said. “We entertain your father because he is friends with our uncle, yeah?” He spat on the ground and took Yulia by the waist. “That is what your Club Rules mean to us.”

“Let them go.” Alexei’s voice was a low rumble, barely audible from where he stood in the back of the group. The men around the pool table stood like attack dogs ready to go, almost humming with rage as their eyes followed the Corovic boys out of the bar.

Sandy was the first one out of the trance, probably realizing what was going to happen next. She grabbed a tray of dirty glasses and headed to the back, muttering something about the deep fryer.

Cody turned around to walk back to the pool table.

Seth wheeled in front of him and cut him off. “What the hell just happened?” he said.

“Dad spoke to the Corovics last night,” he said. “Fixed the situation.”

“That don’t look like a fixed situation to me,” Seth said.

“Well, fixed or not, it’s none of your damn business,” Cody said. “So don’t go running your mouth off about it like it is.”

“The hell it ain’t my business!” Seth said. “I am an Enforcer in this Club and I will…”

“Enforcer, my ass!” Cody said. “You sit around and drink and wear the jacket is all you do!”

“Fuck you!”

“Someone’s got to tell you eventually,” Cody said. “You’re not getting out of that goddamn wheelchair, and I’m not getting into shit because you run your mouth like you can still ride.”

“You wish you could see me out of the Club,” Seth said. “Little brother’s always gonna be a threat to you, legs or…”

“Both of you, shut the fuck up!” Jessica had come back into the bar. “Cody, the least you could have told us what was…”

“You two loudmouths are the last people I want in on Club business from here on out,” Cody said. “It’s dad’s bleeding heart that got us into this goddamn Corovic situation, and it’s time we started paying more attention to what’s actually going on here.”

“What is wrong with you?” Jessica said. “Keeping us out of the loop just…”

“No, I’m not hearing another word out of either of you,” Cody said. “And you either, Angie. Bar’s closed. Get the fuck out.”

As his brother turned around, Seth felt his heart plummet to the bottom of his ribcage. The barroom suddenly seemed very large, and for a second or two it seemed like he was in some kind of weird childhood memory. But no, here he was, following his sisters out the back door of Watty’s because the men had business to discuss.

“Fucking asshole.” Jessica lit a cigarette and shook her head. “He’ll get what’s coming to him, though. Mark my words.”

“He’s gonna cause more problems than he’s ever gonna solve,” Angie said. “Motherfucker has to learn everything the hard way.”

***

If Seth had gotten his way, he could have distracted himself completely with his midterms and avoided any dealings with his brothers.

Marcie finally had her baby, and when Jessica brought her home from the hospital there was really no choice but to get a ride over to Cody’s place and pay his respects.

He got Pete to pick him up from the Family House. Today was not the kind of day he wanted to be relying on his family for a ride home.

Seth was waiting in a lawn chair out front when Pete rolled up, nursing a cup of coffee and wondering what kind of pain situation he was in for today. The novelty of his pain ebbing on occasion had worn off. It was starting to get annoying not knowing how much or how little medication was in store for him when he woke up in the morning.

He waved at Pete as he got out of the car. “Are those balloons in the backseat?” he said.

“Um.” Pete rubbed the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. “I mean, I...I don’t know what, uh, what you normally do when there’s a baby,” he said. “I kind of let the lady at the flower shop upsell me a little.”

Seth’s mouth hung open for a second while he took this scene in. Pete was always kind of a breath of fresh air after dealing with his family drama, with his hipster tattoos and his college job and all his mundane civilian problems. It was weird, though, for Seth to feel like his presence made him suddenly able to breathe again.

“I think I’m in love with you,” Seth said.

“Um?” Pete stopped in his tracks, and Seth realized what had just fallen out of his mouth.

He laughed like he’d planned to say that as he grabbed his walker from next to his chair. “Look at your face, dude,” he said. “Come on, Jessica’s probably throwing a fit because I’m not at the hospital yet.”