Two Spirits by Jory Strong Page B

nod. In this moment, in this place, with this man,
he could believe in legend and myth.
    Longing filled him, sinking in like talons
driven into his heart. Tenino had said he was whole in these
lands.
    He wanted what Tenino had found here, that
sense of being whole.
    It's just a matter of courage , his
heart scratched out like a chalked message across a blackboard.
    Tenino was more than a gay man. He was a
cop. A Native American. A protector, a son, a cousin, a thousand
other things.
    While I'm hung up on only one of those
things, being gay. And have been since I was twelve and got an
erection for Aaron .
    He'd been convinced he was going straight to
hell then. He'd become certain when the fantasies became more
detailed and erotic as he grew older. And he'd never confronted
that belief, not in high school, not in college, not when he moved
back home to take care of his mother.
    And now? If a student or friend or fellow
teacher came out to him, would he think their desire to be with
someone of the same sex was a sin?
    No. Hell no. A thousand times no!
    The first drops of rain hit, cold and
gentle, but they didn't chill him. He turned toward Tenino, hooked
a hand in the front pocket of Tenino's jeans and pulled him
forward.
    "Thanks for bringing me here," he said,
initiating the kiss.
    He regretted the dishonesty he'd brought to
his relationships with women. But he wasn't sorry that there hadn't
been anyone before Tenino.
    Tenino's arms wrapped around him and it was
like being home. Their tongues rubbed, twined, their bodies
heating, needing, finally driving them apart so they could get
somewhere and satisfy the desire.
    "Ready?" Tenino asked, voice husky, dark
raptor's eyes probing, as if sensing the difference in Trey, the
peace he'd found for himself.
    He'd try and explain it when they got back
to the cabin. "Ready."
    They got on the ATV and Tenino fired the
engine. But as the four wheeler kicked forward, the phantom sound
of drums beating had Trey looking back and his heart syncing with
the thump, thump, thump, thump, thump of quickening
drums.
    An old man sat astride a horse where no man
or horse could be. They were on the edge of the precipice as if it
really was a gateway, as if they were the land personified.
    Braided into the man's hair and horse's mane
were red, yellow and blue feathers. They lifted and fluttered,
caught and played with by the wind.
    The ATV hit a crater. Trey blinked and the
old man and horse disappeared.
    Real? Imagined? Something else to talk to
Tenino about when they got to the cabin.
    Thunderbirds fly here, Tenino had said. And
in these lands, Trey was willing to believe he'd actually seen the
old man on horseback.
    They headed downward, and the descent was a
death defying ride that was equal parts exhilaration and terror. He
clung to Tenino, was fairly certain he'd left his heart and stomach
and most of his nervous system somewhere higher up on the mountain
by the time they got to the smooth, wide, gentle trails.
    The wildness coursing through him needed an
outlet and he knew just what form it should take. His arms loosened
so his hands could go to the front of Tenino's jeans.
    "I take it you like living on the edge,"
Trey said, exploring the bulge he found, deciding one wild ride
deserved another.
    "Shit," Tenino said, his voice catching.
    Trey measured the length and hardness of the
erection protected by denim, then found the button, the zipper, and
freed them.
    The four-wheeler slowed, bucked with the
unintentional application of brakes.
    Trey wrapped his fingers around Tenino's
cock.
    "Unfair," Tenino panted.
    Trey laughed. "Definitely fair. Any jury
would rule in my favor after what you just put me through."
    "You enjoyed it."
    "And you're enjoying this," Trey said,
exploring the soft skin and wet tip of Tenino's cock.
    Tenino hit the gas and raced to the cabin.
Stopping the ATV a few feet away from the garage, he covered the
hand on his dick. "A quickie then I was thinking we could head