Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2003 10:36:49 -0700 (PDT)
From: Michael Garrison <mng1114@yahoo.com>
Subject: Two Lives - Two Loves: Chapter 8

This story is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to actual
events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.  This story also deals with love and
consensual sexual activities between men.  If you are not of
legal age, reside in an area where viewing such material is
illegal, or are offended by such themes, do not read further
and leave this site now.

The author retains all rights to this story.  Reproductions
or links to other sites are not allowed without the
permission of the author.


Two Lives - Two Loves

Chapter 8


I was afraid that the mahogany spindles on the headboard
were going to break as Jon twisted them in the crushing grip
of his sweating hands.  I might be taller than Jon, but he
was a lot stronger and it took more than a little effort to
keep him down as I attended to him, both of us sweating
profusely.  He again dug his head into the pillow, his heels
into the foot of the bed and began, almost involuntarily, to
form a neck bridge.  Each time I had to push him back down,
each time with more than a little difficulty, but I loved
the feel of his tensed abs, like living steel with no give
to them at all.  I cut my eyes around just enough to see his
pecs twitching as he squirmed, the muscles in his forearms
and biceps fully extended, still pulling at the spindles.  I
could swear I heard wood cracking.  His legs jerked
spasmodically as they tried to again find footing for him.
I swirled my tongue over him and his entire frame convulsed.
Once more, slowly, and I felt him convulse yet again,
feeling him approaching the edge.  One final time, even more
slowly, and he plunged himself into the sheets, grabbing
handfuls of them as his loud, staccato barks kept cadence
with his body's exquisitely warm finale.

We both had to rest for a moment or two.  Drenched in our
mingling sweat, we laid still as we caught our breaths, our
hearts slowly returning to sensible, normal rates.  Then,
using Jon's own body to pull myself up, I lay on top of him
as we let our mouths find each other, slowly, tenderly
appreciating one another, loving each other just for being
each other.  We continued to lie there, motionless, in
silence, our heads nestled, our limbs tangled as we just
listened to the rain still slapping against the windows,
just a while longer.

                         *  *  *  *

"So tell me about that weird dream you had yesterday
afternoon," Jon said as the waitress set down the coffee pot
between us.

"You boys ready to order or do you need a few more minutes?"
she asked.

"I think we'll need a few minutes," I said, reaching for the
menus that we hadn't even cracked open yet.  She said she'd
come back to check on us in a few.  I knew what I wanted, my
favorites, the blueberry pancakes with the link sausages.  I
also knew I was going to have to do a few extra laps in the
pool to burn off those calories but I had a real weakness
for blueberry pancakes.  Of course, I was pretty certain
that Jon and I could find some mutually agreeable way to
burn off breakfast.if he'd make up his mind.  He kept going
over the menu again and again like he was cramming for
final.

"May I recommend the Steak Au Pouvre, sir?" I gibed,
smiling, putting on my best fake French accent.

"Huh?" he said looking up, not having really heard what I
said.

"Or may I suggest the Filet de boeuf Wellington?  It looks
especially good today, sir," I chuckled.

"What the fuck're you talking about?" He asked.  I loved the
little crinkle in the bridge of his nose when he got that
puzzled look on his face.

"Nothin', man," I laughed.  "You just had this look like you
were trying to translate a French menu, is all."

"Are you saying I'm slow?" he asked in that mock hurt voice
of his.

"Yeah I am," I laughed again.  Unable to resist temptation,
I added, "...but you make up for it by cumming quick!" I
whispered, followed by a loud "OWW!" as I felt Jon's toe
smack dead into my shin, and saw him flashing that 'gotcha'
smile.

"Was that fast enough for you?" he asked, a broad grin on
his face.

"Yeah, that'll do," I said, reaching beneath the table to
rub my shin.  "I'm sorry, man; I just couldn't resist.
Truce?"

"Truce," he agreed.

"It's just, you know she's not coming back until she sees
the menus closed and flat on the table."

"Yeah, you're right,' Jon said, finally closing the menu and
laying it aside.  As I predicted, our waitress showed up a
few moments later.

"So what'll it be, boys?"

"I think I'll have the Beef Wellington," Jon started, taking
on that playful troublemaker aspect of his.  I knew he was
just trying to get under my skin.

"Geeeee, I'm sorry, guys," she said, "The chef's visa
expired so they carted his ass back to France...we're just
flat out of the Beef Wellington," she said in the most
deadpan voice, the faintest hint of a smile beginning to
peek out.  She was obviously an old veteran of dealing with
wise-asses and didn't miss a beat.  "I think I've got a can
of Alpo in the back I can open up for ya; folks around here
claim that's nearly as good!"  We couldn't contain ourselves
and just broke up laughing.  Fortunately, the waitress
joined in with us.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," I said.  "Pay no attention to my friend
here.  He's just ignorant's all."

"Hey, no problem," she said.  "Good to have somethin' to
laugh at these days.  So what'll it be?"

We gave her our orders and she headed back to the pass-thru
at the kitchen, sliding the ticket onto the revolving wheel
and banging the bell on the counter.

"So anyway, tell me about that dream you had," Jon asked
again.

Jon listened earnestly as I recounted the whole ordeal: The
house not being the house, the monk's habit, the difference
in the rooms and the furniture, the sphere of light and the
guy in the study.  I told him about how the guy seemed to be
trying to desperately tell me something but that I couldn't
hear a word he was saying, that I couldn't even move from
where I was standing until after the guy left the room.
Then, how when I left the room, I saw him in an old hearse
outside and that strange thing I'd heard in my mind's ear.

"That's when I woke up," I said, finishing.

"wow," Jon said quietly.  "That is weird.  You know, my
uncle told me that there did use to be a study where you
said you saw it.  What do you suppose it all means?

"Damned if I know," I said.  "I don't know if it means
anything at all.  But the weirdest thing is that it felt so
real.  It wasn't...," I struggled for the right word,
"fuzzy...like most dreams; it was like I was really there."

"Hm," Jon muttered.  "Maybe that friend of Ron's'll be able
to make something out of it."

"Who?"

"Ron," Jon said.  "You remember...Ron the Runner-
Guy...Waiter...Nice legs?  Hello?" he continued as he gently
rapped my forehead with his knuckles.

"OH, Yeah!"  I came back quickly, "Man, I must be losing
it," I said, gulping down more coffee.  "How could I forget?
He and his friend the psychic are coming over on Saturday to
check out the house, right?"

"That's it.  Geez, we only saw him the other night," he
said.  "That dream must've made some impression to make you
forget so soon."

"Oooooh, it was definitely memorable," I said.

"Hey, you wanna go back to the what'sitsname for lunch...see
if Ron's there?"

"Sure," I said.  "Sounds like a plan."

Our waitress, Susan, returned with the food and brought us
some fresh orange juice.  We wolfed it all down in less time
than it had taken to order and headed out.

"The dive shop should be open by now," I said.  "We'll get
the tanks refilled and see if we can do some kinda deal on
renting for the week.  This rain's really gonna put a crimp
in things, though."

"We've gotta get me my cool dive knife, too, don't forget,"
Jon chirped.

"Yes," I agreed, sighing with a grin, "We've gotta get you
your cool dive knife, too."

                         *  *  *  *

Dave's was deserted except for us.  He came from out of the
back when he heard the bell ring as we entered.

"Oh, hey guys!" He called.  "How'd things go this weekend?"

"Excellent," Jon jumped in.  "It was great!"

"Yeah, there's nothin' quite like it even if it is just in a
pool, huh?  Just you and your bubbles."

"Yeah, I think he's getting hooked," I added.

"I could definitely get used to it," Jon said.

"In fact, we came back to get the tanks refilled and see if
we could do a longer term rental through, say, this time
next week," I said.

"Not a problem," Dave said.  "and since you guys are the
first customers of the day, I'll give you the first day's
rental for nothin' and 10% off for the rest of the days.
How's that sound?"

"Sounds good to me," I said.

Jon and I got the tanks out of the back of the Land Rover
and lugged them around back to where Dave had his compressor
and set them in the tub of water.  He hooked up the first
one and started refilling.

"Dave, while we're waiting for the tanks...," I started, "Jon
here's interested in dive knives."

"Oh yeah!" Jon chimed in.  "What kind of selection do you
have?"

"Well, you got here at just the right time, 'cuz I just got
in a new line.  C'mon over and have a look."

Dave led us to a long display case that was filled with
watches on one side and knives on the other.  Jon poured
over them for a few moments and asked Dave to pull out two
or three to inspect first hand.  As if he were an old hand
with edged weapons, Jon tested each one for feel, weight and
balance, finally selecting the particularly nasty looking
one that I knew he would.  To me, it looked like 6" off the
tip of a samurai sword; Jon seemed instantly taken with it.

"You've got good taste in knives," Dave said.  "That's OM's
new Tactical knife.has a new kind of titanium blade that's a
lot stronger than the older ones...not as brittle."

"I'm sold," Jon said.  "How much?"

"You sure you wanna know?" Dave asked cautiously, but slyly
grinning as he remembered Jon's sticker shock reaction the
first time he was in.  "You did pick one of the more
expensive ones."

"I'm listening," Jon said quietly, waiting for the bomb to
drop.

I leaned against a nearby pole with my arms crossed,
studying the two of them with growing amusement.  Being the
good retailer he was, Dave had correctly and quickly
assessed Jon's hesitant buying habits.  I knew, however,
that he'd talked a lot about getting a knife so much lately
that I knew he'd die if he didn't get one.

"Dave, I think he's gonna need a leg wrap to go with that,"
I said, goading him on just a bit.

"A what?" Jon asked.

"Oh, thanks for reminding me," Dave said as he pulled open a
lower drawer behind the display, emerging with a small box
from which he took a black neoprene wrap.

"A leg wrap," Dave said.  "You could get by with just the
scabbard, probably, but the wrap holds it on your leg more
securely."

I could tell that Jon was trying to envision what it would
look like.

"Do it, Jon," I piped in.  "You'll love it," I said,
winking.

Knowing that I wouldn't steer him wrong, Jon agreed and
again asked how much this was all going to set him back.

Dave started writing on his pad.  "Well since you guys are
giving me so much business, I'll give you the wrap for half
price..."

Jon, a bit anxious, watched him scribble and tabulate the
total.

"Hold it a sec, Dave," I said.  "Before you scare the shit
out of him with the price, he was interested in a wetsuit,
too."

"I never said that," Jon said.

"No problem!  I've got two racks right back here," he said
pointing towards the far side of the shop.

"See, he's got two racks right over there," I grinned.

Jon was still not sold on the idea of a wetsuit and I knew I
was going to have to work on him some more.  If only he knew
how unbelievably hot he'd look in one, he'd flash that
credit card in a heartbeat.

"I know those things aren't cheap," Jon said.  "Let's just
do this and I'll think about it."

"Fine," I said.  I knew, too, that it did no good pushing
him; that would just make him all the more obstinate.  But I
had an idea about how to convince him.

Turning back, Jon said, " Dave, I'm just gonna do the knife
and the thing for now.  What're the damages?"

"Well, let's see...with tax, that comes to $88.59," Dave
announced.  Surprisingly, Jon didn't even flinch and just
handed Dave his card.  He must've really liked that knife
was all I could say about it.

Dave rang it all up and put Jon's new toy in a bag.  "Let me
go check on your tanks, guys."

We shuffled around the store a little, inspecting the
merchandise.  Jon seemed interested in the watches when Dave
came back.  "It's going to be a while longer.  Did you guys
want to stop back?"

"Sure," I said.  "We've got some stops to make.  After ten
good?"

"Perfect," he said.  "More than enough time."

"Besides," Jon added, "with this rain, I don't think we're
going to be spending much time outside today."

"No," Dave agreed.  "I think this is supposed to go on most
of the week.  Not exactly the best weather for diving."

"What difference does it make if you're underwater?" Jon
asked innocently.

Dave laughed.  "None," I drawled.  "...if you don't mind
lightning."

"Oh," came his meek response as I grabbed his shoulder and
started pushing him out the door.

"We'll check back in an hour or so, Dave.  Seeya," I called
as we stumbled over each other, waving back to Dave.  "What
difference does it make if you're underwater?" I droned at
him with a touch of friendly sarcasm.  "You constantly amaze
me, babe; you know?"

"Hey," he said defensively, "...there's no such thing as a
dumb question."

"Oh, yeah there is," I corrected as I needled him in the
ribs, finding him to be excruciatingly ticklish as he jumped
away banging into the door of the truck.

"Cut it out," he yelped, rubbing his elbow where it'd hit
the side panel.

"Sorry," I said, holding my hands in surrender, "Truce?"

"Always," Jon said.  "Let's go see if the Blockbuster's is
open yet."

We got there just as they were opening the doors.  Dumping
the tapes through the slot, we headed inside to see what we
wanted to get for the afternoon.  I told Jon to see if there
was anything new up since we were in yesterday while I went
to look for something I knew he'd like, and, ahhhh, there it
was...a single DVD copy of "Navy Seals".  Perfect for an
afternoon of doing nothing...plenty of mindless, gratuitous
violence, enough techno-toys to keep anyone happy and plenty
of hot guys.  You had to love it.  As you might have
expected, Jon zeroed in on a horror selection...something
called "They".  I'd never heard of it myself, not being one
to go out of my way for horror flicks, but Jon always had a
knack for finding them.

"What's this about," I asked, studying the blurb on the back
of the case.

"I think it's about how someone's childhood nightmares come
true," he said.

"Oh, great," I replied.  "Just the sort of thing I need with
everything that's been going on."

"Well," Jon started...ah, there was that sneaking grin, "I
think they might have a copy of "Snow White" left...if you
think you can handle the violence," he laughed, unable to
contain himself.

I pursed my lips in mild annoyance and handed him back the
case, "Yeah, okay...let's hit it," adding, "...and don't laugh!
That wicked queen was a total bitch!" I said, wagging my
finger at him with a broad grin, prompting Jon's quick
laugh.  He was so fucking gorgeous when he laughed.

We paid for the rentals and then headed back to Dave's to
pick up our tanks.  Dave had them ready and waiting by the
door.  As I was squaring the bill for the week, a thought
crossed my mind, "Hey, Dave, I meant to ask you when we were
in before...," I started, Dave looked up attentively, "Where
do people go around here if they want to dive?"

He mentioned a couple of lakes in the area but didn't really
recommend them 'cuz they were on the murky side.  "But if
you want clear water around here, you'll have to go to that
old granite quarry about 20 miles up the road."

"A quarry?" Jon asked.

"Yeah," Dave continued, "It was in operation until about 15
or so years ago, then the company that owned it abandoned it
when they couldn't control the flooding after they hit an
underground stream.  Some of the local divers go there and I
hear some of the equipment got left behind in the flood, so
at least there's something to look at besides rock."

"Awesome," I said.  "What kind of stuff?"

"I thought I heard there was a couple of old dump
trucks...maybe a car.  I think they said there's a shed down
there, like where the foreman was," he said.

"Cool! Wanna go check it out?" I said, turning to Jon.

"Absolutely!" Jon said.  "How do we get there?"

"Hey, look guys," Dave said, his tone a little grimmer.  "If
you guys want to go diving there, you be careful.  You can
still get into plenty of trouble in a quarry and that place
is supposed to be nearly 150 feet deep.  And don't
forget...your buddy Jon here isn't even a certified diver," he
said.

"We just want to go look, Dave," Jon said.  "We're not going
in; we just want to kill some time before lunch."

After a little coaxing and promises that we weren't going to
do anything stupid, Dave finally gave us directions to the
quarry.  Jon said it...we had plenty of time before lunch and
there wasn't much else to do around the area unless we
wanted to go hang out at the mall.  At least there was a
small element of excitement involved here, albeit tame.  We
loaded up the truck and took off up the road.

After about a half hour, we turned off the highway onto the
county road Dave had told us about.  He said the sign to the
place was long gone so we'd have to keep our eyes peeled for
a tall brick post that had held the sign for years.  I think
we drove past it twice before we saw the post, thickly
overgrown with weeds and vines, and turned up the wide,
heavily rutted gravel drive.

The drive seemed to go on forever and I was really glad we
had the Land Rover with us; my Camaro just would not do well
on road like this.  It'd be my luck to bottom out and get
stuck back here, but the truck just took it all in stride
even though Jon did have to do a little bobbing and weaving
to get around some of the larger potholes.  Finally, after
what felt like an hour of getting my kidneys punched, we
passed through a tree line that opened out to a wide
clearing littered with broken down sheds and trailers.  I
could only guess these were the field offices for the
company that owned the quarry.  The entire area totally had
the feel of a ghost town; it was a little creepy in its own
way.

We drove slowly past the field offices, continuing down the
path past what must have been equipment sheds that were long
since vacant and were crumbling slowly away.  Just past the
repair sheds, the path started to get steeper and as we
passed a huge mound of gravel, the entire quarry opened up,
revealing itself.  It was huge.

"Wow," Jon said.

"Bigger than what I was expecting," I murmured.

To be honest, neither of us had ever seen a quarry before,
so this one might have been small by quarry standards but to
us it was gigantic.  It was easily the size of a half a
dozen football fields, maybe more, its sheer granite sides,
which bore the marks of years of hewing, rose a hundred feet
or more above the waterline.  We continued on down the road,
which took a spiraling path, hugging the rising wall, until
Jon slowly brought us to a stop at the edge of the water.

We didn't say anything for a moment, just kind of taking it
all in.  It was one of the most tranquil places I'd ever
been, no noise, no movement at all except for the droplets
of rain pounding away at the surface of the water.

"Dude," Jon finally said, breaking the silence, "...we have got to
dive this.  This place is too cool."

"Yeah it is.  Let's keep an eye on the weather...," and I felt
Jon's hand on the back of my head, pulling me towards him.
I quickly unsnapped my seatbelt and leaned over the console
to meet him.  He tasted so good and I loved the just utterly
hot feeling that this entire setting gave us, totally alone
in a nearly isolated wilderness, the rain pounding steadily
but gently on the roof.  I felt like we were a couple of
kids who'd snuck out of the house to be together after our
parents had gone to sleep.  I loved the feel of Jon's tongue
as it played with mine.  I loved the sound of his nasal
breathing, the feel of his solid shoulder as I massaged it.
I, "...love you, baby," I whispered.

"I love you too, Brad," he whispered back as I felt his
wandering hand gently caress the inside of my thigh.

"Let's get in the back," I whispered again.  We both laughed
quietly as I told him that leaning over this console was
killing my back.

"I'll massage it for you," Jon offered.  "....amongst other
things," he winked.

Neither of us had to think twice.  Doing the best we could
to dance between the raindrops, we jumped out and folded the
back seats flat, stripped out of our clothes and tossed them
in the front seat.  The cool rain pelting my face and back
just seemed to make me all the hotter when I heard Jon,
"Dude, look what fell out of my wallet," he said with his
Cheshire cat grin as I saw the condom he was waggling
between his fingers.

"You must've been a Boy Scout," I grinned.

"Eagle," he nodded.

"I should've known," I murmured.

"...but I still need some help with my safe sex badge," we
laughed.

"No time like the present," I said as we slammed the doors
behind us.

                         *  *  *  *

By the time we got to the Beef 'N Bird, it was closing in on
one o'clock.  We asked the hostess if we could get a booth
and if Ron was available.  Fortunately, he was and she went
to send him out after we were seated.

"Hey, guys!" came his cheerful opening.  "Didn't expect to
see you back so soon.  How's your day goin'?"

"Excellent!" Jon piped in.

"Yeah it is," I said.  "How's yours?"

"I'm here, you know," he said as a bored expression flashed
across his handsome face.  "At least it's not raining
inside."

"No kidding," I said.  "This weather can get old fast."

"Yeah," Ron said.  "But I hear it's supposed to clear up a
little tomorrow then pick up again on Wednesday."

"Cool," Jon said.  "Maybe we can try diving that quarry,
then."

"You guys dive?" Ron asked.

"Well," I began, "I'm kinda unofficially teaching Jon, but
yeah."

"Oh, far out, man," he said animatedly.  "I've always wanted
to try that but I never had the money."

It clicked immediately and I had about a half a second to
take seamless advantage of this opportunity, "Well, I could
take on a second student, I guess," I said.  "...kinda payback
for not hassling us for ID the other night," I whispered.

"Hey," Ron said, holding up a shushing finger, "I did not
hear that," he whispered back.

Flawlessly, like a perfect mate, Jon picked up exactly on
where I was going with this, "So, if it's gonna be nice
tomorrow, what're you doing?" he asked.

"Well, I'm off on Tuesdays...," he began.

"Perfect," I said.  "Why don't you come by, say tenish, and
bring your swim trunks; the house has a pool."

"You don't mind?" he asked.

"Hell, no," Jon said.  "...plus, it'll give you a chance to
scope out the house for when you and your friend come back
on Saturday."

"Excellent!" he beamed.  "Thanks guys.  Sounds great!  But,
I don't have a mask or stuff like that."

"Not a problem," Jon said.  "You can borrow mine."

"Great!  Thanks!" Ron said, bobbing his head.

"Hey, Ron...on a different note..." I said.  "...in all the
excitement the last time we were here, I don't think we got
our last names."

"Oh...Warner," he said, extending his hand.  "Ron Warner," he
said cheerfully.

"I'm Brad Williams," I said, shaking his hand.

"Jon Shepard," Jon said, offering his hand to Ron.

"Get it right," I corrected.  "Jonathan James Wellford
Shepard..."

"Whoa...," Ron started.

"...the Fourth," I finished.  "We're housesitting for his
uncle, the Third."

"...that's a big one," Ron added.

If you only knew, I thought to myself.

"Must take you a half a day to fill out forms with a name
like that."

"Just plain ol' Jon Shepard," he smiled with a note of
humility.  "The name's a lot stuffier than I am."

"Hey, that's cool.  So what can I get you guys today?"

We probably overdid it a little but the morning's activity
had given us both huge appetites and we knew it wouldn't
take us long to burn it off.  We paid the check, said our
goodbyes to our soon to be new dive buddy and headed out.
When we were comfortably in the truck and out of earshot.

"Truly excellent work," Jon said, giving me a thumbs up.

"Hey, you helped," I said, holding up my hands in my
theatrical 'aw, shucks' kind of way.  "Let's just hope he's
a Speedos kinda guy," we laughed nodding our heads in
unison.

"So whadaya wanna do now?" Jon asked.

"Home, James," I said with mock haughtiness, waving my
finger towards the road.  "There's carbohydrates that need
burning!"

                         *  *  *  *

(To Be Continued)

                         *  *  *  *

Author's note:

I want apologize to those who may have been following this story for
the long time since the posting of Chapter 7.  My professional life
required a great deal more of my attention in recent weeks than normal
and I also had a slight case of Writer's Block.  Hopefully, I can now
resume more regular postings.

I hope you've been enjoying the story so far and thank you again
for your patience.

MG