Chapter Twenty-Two

They didn’t really talk until the station wagon had crested Angel Pass. An early snowstorm had left a thin veil of white on the rocky peaks on either side. It was the kind of landscape that always made Pete feel particularly small and unnecessary in the universe.

“Pretty up here,” Seth said.

Pete nodded. “Yeah.” They’d been driving for two and a half hours. They’d stopped for gas once. Pete didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what he should have been saying.

“You ever get into skiing?” Seth said. They were passing a defunct lodge, holes in the unboarded windows and parking lot cracked by young trees.

“Not really,” Pete said. “I’m more of a stay inside with a fire kind of guy in the winter.”

Seth laughed. “I might need to become that kind of guy,” he said. “Head up north, go dig in out in the backwoods.”

“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” Pete said.

“Aww, I’d have you to help me out, wouldn’t I?” Seth gave him a cautious smile.

Pete stayed quiet as the station wagon leaned into the switchback. He sighed. “Jesus, Seth, I don’t know…”

“Come on, man,” Seth said. “You know you hate this damn college job. It’s not what you want to do…”

“Yeah, but it’s something,” Pete said. “God. I’m going to have to leave town anyway, aren’t I?” he said.

“It’s probably smart,” Seth said. “My family’s probably going to blame you for turning me away from the Club.”

“I mean, and why not...why not do this?” Pete eased the station wagon down another tight switchback. “I mean. It was pretty, uh, I mean, I liked having you stay over a few days.”

He’d liked that a lot, actually. Waking up and having Seth there beside him, coming home to Seth’s cheerful presence at the end of the day. It was something he could get used to, something he wanted to get used to.

“We could go to California,” Seth said. “Everyone goes and finds work in California.”

“Yeah?” Pete smiled. “I wanna go to Vegas first.”

“They know me in Vegas,” Seth said. “Sorry. I’d stick out like a sore thumb in my chair.”

“See, I don’t know where I want to move,” Pete said. “I don’t even know where we’re going tonight.”

“I got a friend of a friend with a place up in Utah,” Seth said. “It’s a ways, but…”

“Utah?” Pete’s voice cracked. “You want to go all the way up to Utah?”

“They won’t find us there,” Seth said. “Pete, you don’t think you can really just go back into town right now?”

“I have a job in town!” Pete said. “I have a lease! I have an office full of my belongings! I have friends who are worried about me!” He had to brake hard to make it around the very last switchback. “I can’t just...disappear for a week!”

“We’ll have to disappear for two weeks at least to get rid of my family,” Seth said.

“Are you serious?” Pete said.

“You don’t just leave the Double Eagles,” Seth said, “especially if you know as much as I do. They don’t want to risk me turning snitch or working with another club.”

“And you think they’ll come after me, too?” Pete said.

Seth shrugged. “I don’t know what they’ll do,” he said. “But I know them well enough that I don’t want to find out.”

***

They pulled off for the night at a little motel on a two-lane highway, an hour or two out of their way. It was a squat little hacienda-style building of pink stucco, built on a sandstone cliff overlooking a dying creek bed. Christmas lights covered the dead trees out front and lined the roof, windows, and doorposts.

Pete made sure to get them a room on the back of the building. He and Seth got settled in quietly, trying to keep Seth from the public eye as much as possible during the process.

It was kind of a shame. The sun was setting orange and purple through a snowstorm blowing in, and there was a walkway out on the edge of the cliff. There were Christmas lights all over everything out there, too.

Pete stopped for a second on his way back from the front office, a folding chair in one hand and a couple of toothbrushes in the other. He was still alive. He was still breathing. After the sun set, it was going to come up again in the morning.

And they’d still be here. This was going to keep happening.

Seth was taking off his leg braces when Pete came into the room. He still had a few blisters from his time in the shack at the mine; it looked like his back hurt more than usual.

“You need help?” Pete said.

“I will in a second,” Seth said. “Can you get the shower going?”

“Sure thing.” Pete took the folding chair into the bathroom and set it up in the shower before turning the water on. The hotel was still warm from the midday sun. Someone was listening to old school country on a boom box in the other room.

It was the quietness of it all that struck Pete more than anything. They were here now, and they were doing this, and the world kept on minding its own business like this was no big deal. And maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it was just something that needed to happen.

Seth wheeled himself into the bathroom once his leg braces were off. Pete turned around and actually full-body flinched.

“Oh my God, you’re naked!” He started laughing at his own surprise. “I’m sorry, babe, I just..” He shook his head. “Bam!”

“You can’t turn your back on me for two seconds,” Seth said.

Pete got out of the way so Seth could get next to the shower.

“You’re gonna have to get undressed too, you know,” Seth said.

“I can just turn the water…”

“Nah, you need to be naked too,” Seth said. “Trust me.” He winked at Pete.

“Oh, all right,” Pete said. It didn’t take any more convincing than that to get him out of his shirt and his jeans.

“That’s more like it,” Seth said, casting an appraising eye over Pete’s body that made Pete blush.

Pete stood behind Seth with one foot in the shower and one foot outside so he could help him into the folding chair, which was alarmingly unstable now that he was trying to actually do this.

“You good?” he said.

“Yeah.” Seth grabbed a washcloth and a tiny bar of soap from the thingy on the shower wall and started getting to work. His tattoo was almost done, and the newest ink had all but completely healed on his back. “Hey, do we have razors and stuff?”

“Let me check,” Pete said. There were a couple of bathroom cabinets, but it wasn’t until Pete looked in the drawer under the sink that he found some cheapo razors they could use.

“Figure we should probably shave if we’re going on the run,” Seth said. “I could probably use your help doing my beard.”

“Aww,” Pete said. “I like your beard.”

“Will you do it if I suck your dick?” Seth laughed.

“Oh, I guess,” Pete said. “I’ve already come this far because you sucked my dick.”

“Have I?” Seth said.

“I mean…” Pete bit his lip while he went through his memories of the past months. “Okay, so you haven’t literally sucked me off. But it sounded clever?”

Seth shot him an evil grin. “How much do you like my beard, again?” he said.

“You’re a mean bastard,” Pete said. There was no hiding the way his cock swelled as he thought about Seth’s lips around it. He tried to be casual as he leaned against the bathroom wall, but Seth was an audience he couldn’t ignore.

“I like the view in here,” Seth said. He winced as he reached behind himself to wash his back. “Damn, did you bring anything I can put on my tattoo?”

“I have some lotion in my overnight bag.” Pete could spend ages watching the way the water ran over the contours of Seth’s arms. No matter what he went through in life, no matter what disguise he tried on, he was going to possess a certain feral strength that shone through everything else. You couldn’t stop Seth from being Seth.

Out in the bedroom, Seth’s phone started ringing.

“Ignore it,” Seth said. “It’s probably just my buddy. Better to have him leave a voicemail than try and have a conversation.”

“Good idea,” Pete said.

“And I don’t want to think about bullshit right now,” Seth said. “I’m finally starting to have myself a good night.” He was looking at Pete with hunger in his eyes.

“Then let’s keep it going.” Pete smiled and closed the door to the bedroom.

The idea of running a razor over someone else’s skin was kind of intimidating to Pete, and it didn’t help that Seth couldn’t keep his hands off him while he was trying to do something about the beard. By the time Pete finished, he was so hard he could barely think straight.

“I bet you’re not very good at poker,” Seth said.

“Yeah,” Pete said. “Yeah, I’m pretty bad.” He leaned down to kiss Seth, running a hand up one sinewy arm. He groaned when Seth gripped his cock in one hand.

“You’re so damn cute,” Seth said. “You weren’t a virgin when you met me, were you?”

“No,” Pete said, but the weakness in his voice didn’t make him sound very convincing.

“Promise you’re not still afraid of me?” Seth stroked him gently, putting his other hand around Pete’s waist to guide him into the shower.

“I’m not afraid of you,” Pete said. “The situations you like to get me into, on the other hand…”

“Fair enough.” Seth ran both his hands up Pete’s waist. His skin was already prickling from the contrast of the warm water with the cold air. Seth’s touch was intense, and the kisses he trailed down Pete’s stomach were electrifying.

“God, I need to feel your mouth on my cock,” Pete said.

“Yeah, you want me to make you cum?” Seth ran a couple of fingers up and down the length of Pete’s shaft. “I wanna hear all those little helpless noises you make.” He was stroking his own huge cock with his free hand, capturing Pete’s gaze with his animal stare.

“I think I might cum whether you’re sucking my cock or not,” Pete said.

“Now, that would be a shame,” Seth said. Now, instead of teasing Pete with his fingers, he teased him with his tongue.

Pete shuddered and gripped Seth’s shoulders to steady himself.

He was expecting another smart-ass remark from Seth, but instead Seth drew Pete closer and took the length of his cock in his mouth. His tongue took its time exploring every bit of Pete’s skin, one moment coarse and the other soft depending on how he moved it.

“Oh my God,” Pete said softly, putting one hand against the shower wall to stay upright. The water was starting to go cold, but he didn’t care. Seth had taken his cock so deep into his mouth that Pete was afraid of choking him. The whole time, his thick, strong hands groped at Pete’s ass and the back of his thighs. One of his fingers started exploring the space between his balls and his ass, stroking and probing the hardness it found there.

That was what proved too much for Pete to handle. His legs quaked as he came hard, spilling a giant load of cum down Seth’s throat as he groaned with pleasure.

Seth released him from his mouth and began to lick him clean. He paused and sucked in a sharp breath, and Pete looked down to see Seth’s hands covered in thick white cum.

“Water’s getting cold.” Seth sat up straight and started wiping himself clean.

“Guess I hadn’t noticed,” Pete said.

“Yeah.” Seth laughed as Pete reached over to the faucet. “I’m talented like that.”

***

The free TV channels at this place included weather, news, a local pledge drive, and an old barbarian movie. Seth had turned the volume up so he could keep track of the plot while they ate dinner on the stoop.

Pete had gone down the highway a few miles to grab them some barbecue at the little joint they’d passed on their way here. The meat was dry and the sauce was mostly ketchup, but the cornbread it came with was so phenomenal they ate four orders before they’d managed to get halfway through their little styrofoam cup of brisket.

They sat on the darkened porch of their room, watching bats dive at the dying lamp above the parking lot. The crickets were still active on this side of the mountains, and a few frogs too. From inside the room, the flickering glow of the TV and the bedside lamps lit up one side of Seth’s face.

“I think I can get used to you without the beard,” Pete said.

“Yeah?” Seth smiled. “I don’t look as different as you do.”

Pete shook his head. “You have a chin,” he said. A shave had made Seth look a little more cleaner cut, more like a farmhand than a road warrior. Pete, on the other hand, had gone from ‘young bear’ to ‘baby seal’ in under ten minutes.

“You don’t look so bad,” Seth said. “Might have some luck applying for another professor gig.”

“Yeah.” Pete sighed, rubbed his forehead. “Damn. I’m gonna have to figure something out.”

“It won’t take you long,” Seth said. “You’re a clever guy.”

Pete nodded. “Yeah?” he said. He wasn’t sure how much clever counted for when you were running around with a guy like Seth.

“Yeah.” Seth nodded. “We’ll hang out a while on my buddy’s ranch, maybe take on some odd jobs and get a little money if we can’t get any from Jessica.”

“And how likely do you think Jessica is to come through with your money?” Pete said. “Sounds to me like your family considers it their money.”

“We’ll figure something out,” Seth said. “Just trust me, okay?”

“Babe, right now I’m gonna need something a little more specific than ‘something’ to go on,” Pete said. “Do you realize what I just did to my job prospects?”

“Do you trust me or not?” Seth said. His voice was sharp; he looked wounded that Pete had questioned his ability to support them both with a life of...something.

“Yes, I trust you,” Pete said. “I just can’t…”

“There is no ‘I just can’t’ when it comes to trust, Pete,” Seth said. “You’re either with me or you’re not.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Pete said. “I was never part of your world when you were in the Double Eagles. I don’t know a goddamn thing about your family or what they’re capable of, or what they’re willing to do.”

“Just stick with me and you’ll be fine, darlin’,” Seth said.

“I want to stick with you,” Pete said. “I think I’m falling for you just as hard as you’re falling for me.” He took a deep breath and looked Seth in the eyes. “But I’m not cut out for life on the wrong side of the law, babe. I’m just not.”

“I’m not gonna get you in any more trouble,” Seth said. “I promise.”

“I want to believe you, babe,” Pete said. “And I’ll have a hell of a lot easier time believing you if you tell me what you are gonna get me into.”

“Look, I’m gonna get my money from Jess, we’re gonna go to California, we’re gonna rent a little place in the desert where nobody knows me, and we’re gonna start over. Okay?” He put a hand on Pete’s shoulder and gave him a puppy dog grin. “Just don’t worry about it.”

“And if Jessica doesn’t give us the money?” Pete said.

“Let’s just cross that bridge when we come to it,” Seth said. “I’ll get my money. Don’t you worry.”