Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2013 17:53:34 -0500
From: Andrew Todd <atodd867@gmail.com>
Subject: Riding Lessons-Lessons Learned-Chapter 5

This is a continuation of my first story, `Riding Lessons'. As always, if
you have any issues with romantic relationships between young men, please
do not proceed. I appreciate any and all feedback and constructive
criticism.

Riding Lessons II: Lessons Learned

By

Andrew Todd

Chapter 5

 "I'm your brother."

Zak stood in the entryway stunned by Danny's declaration. Dusty had his
hands on Zak's shoulders and was gently kneading the muscles he felt
getting tighter and tighter.

"I don't, I, what do you..." Zak couldn't get a coherent sentence out.

Danny stood silently in the doorway.

Finally, CJ broke the silence. "Why don't we all go into the living room
and sit down and figure this out?"

"I think that's an excellent idea," came a voice from behind them. Zak's
mother Kate was standing in the kitchen doorway. She had come in through
the kitchen door from the garage.

Zak ran over to his mother. "Mom, how long have you been here?"

"I just got here." She walked over to Danny and looked at him. "Your mother
is Alison, isn't she?"

Danny nodded. "She was."

"Was?"

"She was killed in a car accident."

"Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry."

"You knew her?" Danny asked in a whisper.

Kate shook her head. "No, I knew my husband and it's quite obvious that you
are his son, which means there is only one other person who could be your
mother." She wrapped her arm around Danny's shoulder. "Let's all go sit
down; I can tell you what I do know and then you can let us know what you
know and maybe we can make sense of all this," she said as she led Danny
into the living room.

Zak and Dusty followed, Zak clutching Dusty's hand like a life
preserver. CJ brought up the rear, unsure of where he fit in anymore.

Kate sat in the middle of the couch; she had Danny take a seat on one side
of her and Zak on the other. Dusty and CJ took seats in the recliners
facing the couch.

Kate took one of Danny's hands in her hand and did the same with Zak. She
took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Ok, Zak, you may know some of this,
but most you won't; it's just not stuff that parents usually talk to their
kids about.

"Aaron and I met as freshmen in college. It was pretty much love at first
sight for us. He was my first and only love. We were together all through
college and married within a month of graduation. I became pregnant with
Zak right before our first anniversary," Kate began. "As I said, Aaron was
my first love. I was not his. There was a girl he was in love with in high
school--Alison."

Danny looked up. "My mother."

"Yes. They had grown up together. It wasn't until their sophomore year in
high school that their lifelong friendship bloomed into love. Through their
sophomore and junior years they planned their futures together; they wanted
to go to college and settle down. Aaron never gave me specifics--it wasn't
something I really wanted to know about--but the only time they were
`together' was the night of their junior prom. Aaron said they had planned
to wait, but they both got caught up in the moment and things quickly got
out of control. They promised after that night that they would wait until
they were married before it happened again."

"Dad told you all this?" Zak asked.

Kate nodded. "We never kept any secrets from each other. Alison was the
only other person he had ever loved, so to him it was important that I know
about her."

"Anyway, after school let out for the summer between their junior and
senior years, Aaron went to a summer camp to be a counselor," Kate
continued. "He was gone until the week before school started. Alison and he
would write to each other several times a week. About halfway through the
summer, Aaron stopped getting any letters from Alison. He thought it was
odd, but figured she was probably just busy with her summer job and
family."

"But she wasn't," Danny stated.

"No," Kate answered. "When he returned to town, the first thing he did was
go to Alison's house to see her. Her parents met him and told him that
Alison had been accepted into a foreign exchange program and she had
already left. They gave Aaron a letter that she had written. It explained
that she had been given this opportunity for her senior year and she could
not pass it up. At first, Aaron thought this just meant spending their
senior year apart. He received a letter from her later in the year, telling
him that she would not be coming back, that she had met someone else. It
was essentially a `Dear John' letter. Aaron was heartbroken. He kept
checking with her parents to see how she was, until they finally asked him
to stop. He graduated high school and went to college. He had been a
late-in-life child for his parents, and they both passed away while he was
in college, so when he graduated he had no reason to move back to his
hometown. We both found jobs here and settled down."

"It's true then," Danny whispered. "He didn't leave me; he never even knew
I existed."

Kate nodded. "I think the thought might have crossed his mind, but he never
believed that Alison would leave him and not tell him he was a father, so
he dismissed the thought. I know there was always a part of him that loved
her, because he never got closure with her."

CJ looked over at Danny. "Danny, what happened?" he asked.

Danny glanced over at CJ, tears starting to fill his eyes. "I'm sorry," he
cried. CJ went over to the couch and sat next to Danny; he hugged Danny to
him. Danny buried his head in CJ's shoulder and wept.

"Danny," CJ whispered. "It's ok. I just want to understand why you didn't
come back, what happened."

Everyone watched the two reunited lovers in an uncomfortable silence. Zak
walked over to the chair that Dusty sat in and squished himself in tight
next to his boyfriend. Dusty wrapped his arms around Zak and hugged him. He
gently kissed Zak on the cheek.

"Are you ok?" Dusty whispered in Zak's ear.

Zak nodded. "Just a little overwhelmed," he whispered back.

After a few minutes, Danny was finally able to compose himself.

"I'm sorry, CJ," he said. "I never meant to hurt you."

"I know. Just tell us what happened."

"I went home for my mom's funeral, like I was supposed to. There were so
many of her friends and co-workers there it was just too much. At the end
of the services, her lawyer came up to me and asked me to meet him at his
office a few days later. He wanted to give me a few days before he read my
mom's will and started settling her estate. I was so out of it that it
didn't occur to me to be suspicious."

"Why would you be suspicious?" Zak asked.

"My mom and I only had each other. I was her only heir. The will should
have been a formality. My grandparents had passed several years ago and my
mom had always told me that my dad had abandoned us," Danny answered.

"She what!?" Zak exclaimed. "My dad wouldn't do that!"

Kate looked at Zak sharply. "Zak, let Danny tell this, ok?"

Zak nodded, but couldn't hide his anger. Dusty hugged him tighter.

Danny continued, "Well, I went to the lawyer's office and he went through
the will and everything was pretty much as I expected. I had already met
with a realtor about selling the house, so I thought I'd be heading back to
Florida the next day. Then the lawyer gave me a letter that my mother had
left for me."

Danny began to sob again and the conversation came to a standstill.

Finally, Danny inhaled deeply and continued, "In the letter, she told me
the truth. She told me that my dad was her high-school boyfriend, that she
had become pregnant and she had gone to stay with an aunt until I was
born. She had decided that my dad was better off not knowing about me. At
that time she thought that having me had wrecked her plans and she didn't
want it to do the same to him. As the years went on, she realized that she
had made a mistake in not letting him know and in letting me believe that
he had abandoned us. But, it was too late, she felt trapped by the lies she
had told. She wrote the letter when I left for college. It was her
insurance that I would know the truth if anything happened to her. She said
in the letter that she hoped I would never see it, because she was planning
to tell me after graduation, then I could decide if I wanted to find my
father. The only information she had on my dad was his name and the town
they had grown up in, which was the town that my grandparents had lived in
as well.

"When I finished reading the letter, I was numb. I felt like everything in
my life had been a lie. I wanted to scream. I hated my mother for what she
had done and at the same time I wanted nothing more than to have her
back. I basically retreated. I moved into my mother's house and I shut
myself off from the world. I turned off my cell phone so no one could find
me. I couldn't face anyone. After a few weeks of being a hermit, I decided
I needed some help. I started seeing a therapist to try and help me make
sense of this. One of the first things he had me do was go back to Florida
and get my stuff. He wanted me to see CJ and tell him what was
happening. But I was so ashamed of the mess that I was in and how much
bigger I had made it, so I left you that voicemail. I wanted to see you so
bad, but I thought you'd be better off without me."

"So you took that decision away from me, just like your mom did to your
dad?" CJ accused.

"CJ; I'm sorry, I couldn't even think straight," Danny cried. "I was
falling down a deep pit and every time I tried to get out, I'd fall
deeper. Eventually, my therapist diagnosed me as having Severe Depression
Disorder. He thinks I've been dealing with it all my life, but my mom's
death and the news of my dad just made it worse. I was at the point where I
was thinking of hurting myself."

CJ grabbed Danny tight. "Don't you ever even think of that," he demanded.

Danny hugged CJ back. "He put me on medication and eventually things
started to clear up for me. But I still had to deal with the mess that my
mom had created and that I had made worse. I started searching for my
dad. No one in their hometown knew what had happened to him after his
parents had died. I spent a lot of time doing research and trying to locate
him. Finally, I narrowed it down to a few `suspects' that were the right
age. Of course, the way things had been going, I ran through the others
before I got here."

"So that's your F-150 that I've been seeing the last week or so?" Dusty
asked.

"Yes, I was trying to see if my dad was here--I had no idea that he was
gone. The only information I could find on him was old work records and an
address. I was grasping at straws. I saw Zak one day and I knew right away
that I was at the right place. I kept waiting. But finally, tonight, I
figured I'd make my move."

"And here we are," Kate said. "So now that you know that you have family
what are you going to do?"

"What?" Danny asked. "My dad was the only reason I even came here and he's
gone."

"That's right, but I am your stepmother and Zak is your brother. So you are
family." Kate answered.

Danny leaned over and hugged Kate and began to cry again. "Thank you," he
cried. "It means so much to me to have a family."

Kate hugged him back. "If Aaron had been here, he would have welcomed you
with open arms. I'm not about to treat you any differently. Besides, Zak's
always wanted a big brother--now he's got one."

Danny looked at Zak questioningly. Zak smiled at him and nodded; Danny
smiled back.

Danny turned to CJ. "So what are you doing here?" he asked.

"This is where my family moved to earlier this year," CJ answered. "I
finished school, like we had planned, and since I had to come home to sign
for my trust, I decided to move up here. There were too many memories in
Florida."

"What about Angel?" Danny asked hopefully.

CJ grinned. "She's here, too. I should have known about you and Zak just
from that."

"What do you mean?"

"When I pulled up to the ranch that Zak and Dusty--that's Dusty over there,
Zak's boyfriend..."

"Boyfriend?"

"Yup, you guys have a whole lot in common apparently," CJ
laughed. "Anyways, when I got to the ranch where the guys work, along with
my brother, Mattie, and his boyfriend..." Danny looked at him again. "Yup,
me and my brother have a lot in common, too. So, anyways, when we got
there, I was getting Angel out of the trailer and she pulled away from me
and came tearing out of the trailer.  Well, she was in the barnyard,
rearing and putting up a fuss until she saw Zak. She went right over to him
and he grabbed hold of her lead and jumped right on her and they took off
down the road. I had never seen her take to anyone like that except you. I
should have seen the resemblance and maybe subconsciously I did, but I
never would have imagined that you were brothers. Maybe Angel knew
something that none of us did."

Danny smiled at Zak. "So you like my baby?" he asked.

Zak smiled back. "I love her. She's so awesome. But I think she'll be happy
that you're back."

Dusty interjected, "You should see them together. Zak was running jumps on
her this afternoon and he kicked the other two rider's asses."

Zak blushed. "It's all her."

"No, Zak," stated CJ. "You're a helluva rider, just like your brother."

"Zak, how long have you been riding?" Danny asked.

Dusty and CJ started laughing.

Zak got a pissed-off look on his face. "Why do you guys laugh every time
someone asks that?"

"Cuz the answer is so funny," Dusty answered.

Zak looked at Danny. "I've only been riding since May."

Danny's eyes bulged. "You've only been riding for a few months and you were
running jumps on my horse?"

Zak blushed.

"Yes, he's that good," Dusty proclaimed proudly. "He took to it like he was
born in the saddle."

"I'm gonna feel guilty if I take my horse back," Danny said quietly.

"Don't," Zak said. "I still have mine."

"Yours?" Danny asked.

Now it was Zak's turn to laugh. "Ah, yeah, I have a Friesian named Onyx and
an Arabian named Apollo. Well, actually, Apollo is Dusty's and mine. And
Dusty has a Mustang named Phoenix."

Danny shook his head. "I guess I joined the right family," he laughed.

Zak looked at CJ. "Tell him the rest, CJ," he said.

"Rest?" Danny asked, his head already spinning.

"Ah, I'm buying the ranch that the guys work at and I'm buying the ranch
next door to start a horse rescue," CJ stated. "Actually, if you're
staying, then I guess we are buying the ranches."

"Really?" Danny asked. "You still want me?"

"Baby, I never stopped wanting you," CJ answered. "It's gonna take me a
little bit to digest everything, but I want you with me always. In fact,
now that you're back, I'm never letting you out of my sight again."

Danny started tearing up again and hugged CJ as hard as he could manage.

"Ok," Kate interjected. "Too much emotion on an empty stomach. I saw some
boxes in the kitchen when I came in; I'm assuming someone picked up
dinner?"

"Oh, shit," exclaimed Dusty. "I forgot all about it. It's probably all cold
by now."

"That's ok," said Kate. "As long as there's enough for everyone."

"Oh, there is," said Dusty. "I always over-order when I go there--bad habit
since I'd rather heat leftovers than cook when my mom works late."

"Well, I'll go heat things up, if you guys want to go wash up," Kate said
as she got up from the couch. "I assume that I won't need to make up
another bed for Danny."

CJ and Danny both turned red. "Uhh, no, he's covered," CJ answered, while
Dusty and Zak busted up laughing.

"What are you two laughing at?" Kate asked. "I assume Dusty's staying as
well," she said as she left for the kitchen.

"Yeah, might as well," Dusty said. "I'll give my mom a call to let her
know."

CJ took Danny's hand and led him upstairs to show him their room and give
him a chance to freshen up, while Dusty went to call his mom and Zak went
to help his mother get dinner on the table.

Dinner was a much more relaxed affair than the past hour in the living room
had been. The boys spent most of the time joking and getting to know each
other.

After dinner, Kate excused herself as she had an early day the next
day. She advised Zak not to stay up too late as he had school the next
morning.

The four new `brothers' spent another hour or so talking and laughing until
they all decided it was time to turn in.

As they were getting up from the table, Zak went over and gave Danny a
hug. "Yesterday, I had no brothers and today I have two. Thank you."

Danny hugged him back. "No, thank you guys for accepting me."

When they reached the top of the stairs the two pairs split up, Zak and
Dusty heading to Zak's room and CJ and Danny going to the guest room that
had temporarily become CJ's.

Zak led Dusty into his room and closed and locked the door behind them. He
pushed his much taller boyfriend against the wall and tilted his head
up. He locked his lips onto Dusty's neck, sucking and licking at the smooth
dark skin.

Dusty tried to move his hands to touch Zak's face, but Zak grabbed his
wrists and pinned them against the wall. Dusty decided to let Zak have his
way, both knowing that Dusty could push Zak off him anytime he wanted.

Zak pulled Dusty's t-shirt out from his jeans and over his head. He licked
around Dusty's dark nipples, stopping to nip and bite at them. Dusty
groaned. Zak was driving him crazy; it wasn't very often that Zak was this
aggressive in their lovemaking.

Zak pulled back and grabbed the waist of Dusty's jeans and dragged his
boyfriend over to the bed. Zak unbuckled Dusty's belt and unbuttoned the
buttons on the fly. Zak pulled down Dusty's jeans and jockeys in one fluid
movement.

Zak pushed Dusty onto the bed. He pulled off Dusty's boots and socks. The
odor of sweaty feet that usually was less than pleasant just inflamed Zak's
desire. He finished pulling Dusty's jeans off so Dusty was lying in front
of Zak in all his glory.

Zak just stood there for a moment once again admiring the beauty that was
his boyfriend. Zak reached down and pulled the band that tied Dusty's hair
back. Dusty laughed hungrily. Zak had this thing for Dusty's hair hanging
long and loose.

Zak quickly stripped and lay down next to Dusty. He took Dusty's head in
his hands, running his thin fingers through Dusty's long black hair. He
leaned forward and kissed Dusty long and hard.

Dusty grabbed Zak around the waist and moved him so that Zak was lying on
top of him.

The two continued to kiss and caress.

Both were rock hard.

Zak began to flex his hips, rubbing his aching dick against Dusty's, and
Dusty followed suit.

Soon both boys were humping into each other as their lips remained locked.

They quickly passed the point of no return. Zak wrapped his arms around
Dusty's neck as he felt his orgasm build. Dusty wrapped his arms around
Zak's body as he felt himself going over the edge as well.

Their orgasms hit at the same time. As they each shot off, they moaned into
each other's mouths and each gripped the other as tight as possible.

"Oh, my God," Zak whispered as he lay across Dusty's chest, panting.

"Shit, what got into you?" Dusty laughed. "You've never been that
aggressive before."

"I don't know," Zak replied. "I just love you so much and sometimes it just
hits me how much I want you and need you. Something just came over me."

"Wow..." whispered Dusty. "My little stud."

Zak blushed as Dusty hugged him close.


***

CJ and Danny entered the guest room hand in hand. Danny was walking
slightly behind CJ, still not sure what his status with CJ was.

CJ turned and looked into Danny's eyes.

"What's the matter?" CJ asked as he gazed into Danny's perfect blue orbs.

"I don't know," Danny answered. "Nothing that's happened since I rang that
doorbell has turned out like I thought it would. I never expected you to be
here. I honestly thought I was never going to see you again. I thought I'd
meet my dad, he would or wouldn't accept me and we would move on from
there. Instead, I find out he's been dead for years and I have a brother
and the love of my life is living in his house."

"Am I still the `love of your life'?" CJ questioned.

"You always have been. What I did was my reaction to everything that had
happened and everything that I found out. I know it was wrong, but I
couldn't deal with anything."

CJ caressed Danny's cheek and lightly kissed his lips. "Just promise me one
thing," CJ said.

"Anything."

"Don't you ever leave me again," CJ said seriously. "If you ever get that
down or feel that lost, come and get me; tell me, tell Zak, tell anyone--we
will help you. You're not alone. You never were."

Danny began to cry. "I know that now. I'm so sorry I hurt you."

CJ started to cry as well. "I was so lost without you, Danny. If you hadn't
left Angel behind, there would have been no proof that you had even existed
in my life. I've been on auto-pilot for the last nine months. I tried so
hard to forget you, to get over you, but I couldn't. I even thought of
selling Angel or leaving her in Florida."

Danny flinched as if he had been slapped.

"But, I couldn't," CJ continued. "You mean too much to me and the only
thing you asked me to do was take care of Angel, so I had to do that."

Danny grabbed CJ in a fierce hug, holding on as tightly as he could. CJ
returned the embrace. Both just stood there in each other's arms, not sure
what their next move should be.

Worn out by the emotion of the day, they both eventually collapsed on the
bed and fell asleep in each other's arms.

CJ was awakened by Danny kissing his chest. He tried to focus but the room
was pitch black.

"Danny," he whispered.

"Shh," Danny whispered back. "I need you, CJ. I've needed you for so long,"
he moaned as he kissed his way down CJ's body.

The two had been lovers for so long that they didn't need lights to know
every inch of the other's body.  Danny kissed and licked down CJ's torso
and stomach. His hands stayed on CJ's hard pecs rubbing them and playing
with his hard nipples.

Danny sat back on the bed and reached under CJ's legs and pushed them back
so CJ was bent in half on his back. Like a blind man reading braille,
Danny's hands felt their way to CJ's ass. Danny pulled the fuzzy cheeks
apart and laid on the bed. He licked and sucked at CJ's pucker.

CJ groaned loudly.

"Shh," Danny giggled. "We don't need a fucking audience right now."

CJ tried to control his volume, but it had been so long since anyone had
touched him, that he felt like he was going to go insane if he didn't cum
soon.

Sensing, CJ's need, Danny ended his assault on CJ's ass and moved up to
take CJ's big uncut dick in his mouth.

Over the years, Danny had become something of a deep-throating expert. He
took CJ's length in one swallow.

CJ had forgotten how great Danny was at this. He was so desperate for
release, that he knew that he would only last a few more seconds.

"Danny, Oh, Danny," CJ moaned. "God, I love you."

Tears came to Danny's eyes as he continued his work on CJ's cock.

Without warning he felt CJ's cock pulse and shoot wave after wave of sweet
salty goodness down Danny's throat.

Danny swallowed every drop.

After everything that he had been through and everything that he had put CJ
through, it was at this moment that Danny truly felt that he was home.

Within moments, he was back asleep nestled in CJ's strong arms. Danny's
last thought as he drifted off to sleep was that he would never leave CJ
ever again.

There wasn't much peace in the Myers house that night, but there was an
abundance of love.