Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 07:29:06 -0700
From: qwb224@gmail.com
Subject: Stonegate Stables ch 39

Sunday morning, it was birthday time.  Matt invited Adam over on
the pretext of helping us choose paint colors for the kitchen.
The guests had parked at the barn earlier and been ferried to the
house in the van.  I 'forgot' to unlock the gate, so Adam had to
ring the house when he arrived, and I buzzed him in while
everyone hid.  When Adam walked in from the hall, we all leaped
out and hollered.  He was completely surprised, his mouth
dropping open in shock as we all gathered around and wished him
happy birthday.

He looked for Matt in the crowd, his face lighting up when their
eyes met.  As I watched, Adam held out a hand and pulled Matt to
him, his smile sobering into a look that you couldn't mistake for
anything but love, and I hoped Matt could see it, too.  They
hugged, whispering something into each other's ears, and then the
party started.

Last week Jesse and Ben had quietly celebrated their sixth year
together and spent a lot of time smiling at each other. Now that
I knew Jesse better, I was less intimidated by his relationship
with Vincent.  As I watched them talk, Vincent caught my gaze and
held it for a second before looking back to Jesse.

Danny and Gabriel stuck together for most of the morning and I
intercepted their glances now and then.  Gabriel looked more into
it than Danny, and I wondered how things were going between them.

Cody, Wade, and TJ were standing at the fondue table forking up
cubes of angel food cake dipped in chocolate and chatting.  Cody
fed Wade a cube, and then offered one to TJ, who took it, but
dripped chocolate down his chin in the process.  Cody reached out
and wiped it off with a finger, then stuck it in his mouth.  TJ
and Wade watched him make a production out of seductively sucking
the chocolate off, licking his finger with his eyes closed.

Cody was a character and watching him was beginning to have an
effect on my dick, so I turned to talk with Tommy, Alejandro, and
Vincent who were waiting for Tony to finish their crepes.  Tony
was in a black tux with his hair slicked back and looked good
enough to eat himself.  He winked at me and I grinned back,
thinking that if I didn't already have Vincent, I'd be hot after
Tony.

In addition to the usual group, Dylan made an appearance. Since
the pig roast, we'd kept in touch on the phone once a week or so,
and had met for lunch twice.  I happened to be standing by the
window when he pulled in and went out to the drive to meet him.
We hugged, and he kissed me on the mouth, something he hadn't
done in months.  The taste of him brought back a quick thrill of
memory.

We went inside where Adam spotted him and came over.  They did a
quick hug, barely touching, but then Dylan pulled Adam back to
him for a long, warm embrace.  I couldn't hear what was said, but
they exchanged a few words and smiled at each other.

We toasted Adam several times that morning, each toast
progressively sillier until finally the toaster couldn't get
three words out without bursting into giggles, so we gave it up
and ate our way through most of the food.  The weather
cooperated, giving us a lovely warm day, so the party spread to
the patio and a good time was had by all.

Toward early afternoon, people began to leave; Matt went over to
Adam's to take care of his personal end of the party, and by
three, only Dylan was left.  We cleaned up the kitchen, and
flopped on the couch in the den, too full of crepes, cake, and
champagne to do anything more strenuous.

"You headed home?"  I asked Dylan.

"No.  Got a deposition in the morning, so I'm going into Dallas
tonight."

"How early tomorrow?"

"Ten."

"Stay here," I offered, "and drive over in the morning."

After a moment's hesitation, he replied, "Nah, that's okay."

"Three guest rooms to choose from," I assured him, remembering
the flash of insight I'd had at the pig roast that we'd never
sleep together again.  Vincent glanced at me then, holding my
gaze a second before turning to see Dylan's response.

Dylan's eyes went back and forth between the two of us a couple
times, and then he nodded slowly.

"Yeah, okay. Thanks."

With that settled, we roused ourselves to trek down to the hot
tub, lounging there until dinner.  After we ate, we did the den
again, the three of us in a pile of arms and legs while Vincent
watched a movie, and Dylan and I talked in low voices.  When the
movie was over, we walked upstairs where Dylan hugged us both
before heading off down the hall.  When we got to our room,
Vincent looked at me.

"No more Thursday nights?" he inquired.

"Nope," I replied shortly, not in the mood to dissect my
relationship with Dylan.  We finished getting ready for bed in
silence, but after we were under the covers, I relented, leaning
back into Vincent's chest.

"It's just gone between us .... the sex part, I mean.  We're
still friends, but that's it.  I knew it at the pig roast when he
apologized to me."

Vincent was quiet for a bit, and then settled more comfortably
behind me.  "Just so you know ...... if that changes, it's okay
with me."

I stared off into the dark room long after Vincent was breathing
steadily against my back, thinking about the fluid nature of
relationships - how they can deepen and ease off and grow, then
sometimes disappear entirely.  It was an unsettling train of
thought, and I didn't sleep well that night.

Dylan was up when we came downstairs, shoveling in Maria's
poached eggs and home fries like it was his last meal.  We
chatted around the island while we ate, and then headed out to
our respective jobs.  Vincent left first, leaving Dylan and me in
the drive to say goodbye.

He shoved his overnight bag into his car and then turned to me.
Our eyes met, and he glanced away before coming back to my gaze.

"I'm sorry," he said softly.

"What for?"  I asked him.

He shrugged.  "I don't know."  He sighed.  "Because I fucked up
our relationship.  I never meant to get so distant from you
that...."  His voice trailed off and he looked down at the ground
for a moment.  "Anyway, thanks for letting me stay over."

"It's okay," I assured him.  "We'll always be friends, huh?"

He gave me a lopsided smile before pulling me in for a quick,
tight hug, and then turned to get in his car.  He held up a hand
as he pulled away, but didn't look at me.  I spent the rest of
the day wondering if the loss of intimacy with Dylan was the
trade-off for a deepening of my relationship with Vincent.  The
one really had nothing to do with the other, but I was in an
overly analytical mood.

By the time I got home, I was exhausted.



Tony, Vincent, and I officially purchased Corleone's on the first
of November.  The other two restaurants had been sold off, and
the proceeds would be used for some renovations at Corleone's -
all new linens, a larger capacity dishwasher, and a fresh coat of
paint inside and out.  When we finished at the lawyer's office,
the three of us went to lunch at a little Mexican place that had
cracked linoleum on the walls, cracked tile on the floors, and
the best carnitas in three counties.

As we ate, the two of them tossed ideas around - couplesonly
romantic late suppers on the night of each full moon, a quicker
lunch menu for folks in a hurry; that sort of thing. I listened
to them with half an ear, while I was daydreaming about the good
use Vincent and I had put the removable, adjustable shower head
to this morning, when a thought popped into my head and out of my
mouth before I could think.

"An art walk," I said.

Their heads swiveled in my direction, and two sets of dark eyes
regarded me with curiosity.

"A what?"  Vincent said.

"Like they do in San Antonio," I enthused, warming to the
thought.  "You know .... find a neat area to stroll around, then
line it with artists' work and food stations.  An Art Walk."

Vincent stared at me for a moment, then glanced at Tony. "The one
in San Antonio is great.  They have it all along
the river that goes through town."  He stopped at that thought
and turned to me.  "We could do it along the bank behind the
restaurant, wind it around through the trees so that it's longer
than just our river frontage."

I left them planning it for early April and went back to work.
As I drove up the lane to the stable, I looked at the donkeys, as
I always do.  What I saw brought a smile to my face, and I pulled
into the little parking area we'd made for donkey visiting.

TJ was in the pen with them and had Fran, Kukla, and Ollie each
standing with their front feet on an upturned feed bucket,
looking for all the world like circus horses.  The only one not
cooperating was Eeyore.  He was cavorting around the far end of
the pen, just out of TJ's reach, darting this way and that to
avoid capture, kicking up his heels and having a ball.  TJ
finally lunged at him, getting a hand on his tail, which brought
a surprised squeaky honk from Eeyore and scared the others off
their buckets.  By then I was laughing so hard it hurt as TJ
brushed dirt off his jeans.

"You think it's so goddamn funny, let's see you catch him," he
said hotly, rubbing a bloody scrape on his elbow.

I picked up the scoop that we dish out their grain with, scooped
up some alfmo, and shook it a little, as I called Eeyore.  He
trotted directly to me, as did the other three, and stopped right
in front of me where I clipped a lead to his halter and handed it
to TJ.

"Ya just gotta be smarter than the donkeys," I explained to him
with a helpful grin as his eyes narrowed.

"Fuck you," he muttered, "and the horse you rode in on."

"Anytime, honey, anytime," I purred as I hopped back in my car.
I fluttered my fingers at him as I pulled out, and he gave me a
single finger salute in return.



That weekend, Katie did well in events five and six, pulling into
fourth place overall with another win and a second place finish.
The seventh event was a couple hours away, but several of us were
free that Sunday and drove over to watch her.

Wade, Cody, TJ, Matt, Danny, and I went in Wade's big SUV,
stopping for breakfast on the way at a place by the river. As we
ate, the conversation turned to Thanksgiving, and I volunteered
to host a dinner at my place this year.  TJ stayed quiet during
the conversation, so I glanced at him as we walked back out to
the parking lot.

"Got plans?" I asked.

"Maybe," he shrugged.  "Del invited me to his folks' place, but I
don't know."

"Louisiana, right?"

"Yeah, somewhere out in the boonies."  We climbed into the SUV
and went on to the jumping event.

Calvin behaved and Katie took second again.  That brought
her up a notch to third overall, meaning that she'd have to win
two of the last three events to take the championship. The next
one was the last weekend in November, then there was one the
weekend after that, with the third and final event the weekend
before Christmas.



The morning of the 17th, I awoke to find Vincent's eyes on me as
he leaned back against the headboard.  It had been a year ago
today that he'd come home from going after Ray, and I'd wondered
how he would acknowledge it.  We looked at each other for a
moment before I slid to him and curled up against his chest.  He
settled his arms around me with a sigh.

"This was a happy day for me," he said softly into my hair.
"Seeing you again was... well, 'wonderful' barely begins to
describe it.  God, I missed you so much."

His arms tightened around me and I smiled, remembering opening
the door to his shaved head, beard, and black eye. That brought
to mind our frenzied sex in the hall, and I turned my face to
him, kissing my way to his nipple, which tightened as I licked
it.  I went back and forth across his chest as his breathing
shortened and his cock came to life under me.  I moved slowly
down his body, following the trail of black curls that led to his
erection, which pulsed up from his belly every time my mouth made
contact with his brown skin.

Vincent groaned softly and slid down flat on the bed as I took
his cock into my mouth.  As he hardened, I ran my mouth and fist
up and down the length of him.  His pre-cum was slick on my
tongue, the taste of him familiar and arousing. When he began
thrusting into my mouth, I nudged his legs apart with my elbow,
held his balls aside, and dripped some saliva just below them,
guiding it to his hole with my finger tip.  He clasped a hand
behind each knee to lift his legs over my head as I began to
tease the warm, wrinkled skin.

I took my time working my finger into him as I continued licking
just beneath his balls, giving him just a bit more every few
minutes until he was grunting softly with each stroke.  I wrapped
a hand around my own erection, squeezing it as I pushed my
fingers into Vincent.  The inside of his ass was hot and smooth,
and knowing that shortly my cock would be in there was
tantalizing.

"God, Sean, please," he finally whispered to me.

I gave him a few more strokes before sitting up with his ankles
on my shoulders and spreading my knees around his hips.  I looked
down as I pushed the head of my dick into him, and then glanced
up to see him watching me again, his eyes urgent with desire.
When I thrust a little deeper, his eyes dropped shut and his
mouth fell open in a moan.

I placed my hands on his stomach, feeling the muscles flex as he
moved against me.  We had done this so many times over the years
that it was a like a dance we both knew by heart. His eyes
drifted open and closed as I fucked him, and his hands tightened
on my thighs when I angled into him a certain way.  Neither of us
were in a hurry, so I took my time, bringing him along slowly,
enjoying the tingle of
anticipation gathering in my balls.

When I was close, I gripped his hips and increased the pace
slightly, letting him know that the finale was near.  I waited
until he began to shoot before letting myself go.  When we get
the timing just right, it's better for both of us, and this time
we were spot on.  His contractions milked my cock while the
spasms of my body nudged at his prostate.  As our breathing
evened out, he pulled me down onto him.

"Ahhh, man," he growled in my ear.  "Fuck, that's good.  Did I
ever tell you that the first time I came getting fucked was with
you?"

Another revelation.

"No," I whispered, too surprised for more.

"Well, it was.  I didn't think I could .... Ray's head games had
me pretty fucked up .... but I was so caught up in being with you
that I didn't even think about it - it just happened."

We lay there for a few more minutes before getting going for the
day, but he didn't offer any further gems of information.


The next morning, Matt came into our room before we were up,
climbing over me to wedge himself between us.  Vincent lifted his
arm off me and I scooted over to make room as Matt curled up
behind me.  When we were all settled again, he kissed the back of
my neck and sighed.

"You know that old bumper sticker?" he said softly.  "The one
that says 'today is the first day of the rest of your life'?
That's how I felt when Jesse brought me over here that first day.
Like maybe my real life would finally start again."

I turned over to face him as Vincent wrapped him up from behind.
We looked at each other for a long moment.

"And did that happen?" I asked him.

He smiled at me then - a gentle, loving smile that warmed my
heart - as he said, "You know it did.  Coming here was the best
thing that ever happened to me.  Vincent said you were a good
person, that you could help me.  I didn't really believe him, but
I figured anything was better than what I had at that point."

He touched his fingertips to my face, drawing them lightly across
my cheek and down my neck until his hand rested flat on my chest.
"That first night I lay there and just ran my hand over the
sheets.  You know how long it had been since I'd slept in a bed
with sheets?  And the next morning I dried off with my clothes
cause I was afraid to use the towels."  He sighed again, more
heavily this time.  "After a couple days, I started to believe
that you were gonna let me stay."

He'd been looking at his hand, motionless on my chest, as he
spoke.  Now he raised his eyes to mine again.  "I've thanked you
before, but now, a year later, I really understand what you did
for me, taking me in like that.  I mean, you didn't know what
kind of person I was or anything."

"Vincent asked me to," I told him, meeting Vincent's eyes over
Matt's shoulder.  "So I did."

"That simple?"  Matt asked.

I nodded.  "Yeah, that simple."  I leaned forward and quickly
kissed the tip of his nose.

Vincent reached over and ran a hand through my hair, smiling at
me as he did so.  I turned my head to take his thumb into my
mouth, sucking on it with lots of tongue action.  The smile died
from his face and his gaze intensified.  When I let his thumb
slip from my mouth, he lowered his hand to Matt's cock, taking a
firm grip that caused Matt to catch his breath.  I bent to Matt's
chest, flicking my tongue across his nipple, smiling a little
when it peaked in my mouth.

Vincent and I worked on Matt until he was moaning and twisting
under our friendly assault.  Vincent shifted on the bed, sliding
down until his dick slipped between Matt's legs.  Matt rolled
forward a little, lifting his leg as Vincent probed his ass with
slick fingers.  As they joined up, I leaned into Matt, thrusting
my cock along his and into the press of our stomachs.  Vincent
kept up a steady pace, pushing Matt against me, and it wasn't
long before Matt began the breathy pant that meant he was about
to shoot.

I moved back slightly as Vincent slid his hand down Matt's belly
to grip his cock.  That was all it took for Matty, and he arched
his back and froze as cum pumped from him in long spurts.  The
warmth of it triggered my own orgasm, and as I began to grunt,
Vincent groaned deeply, thrusting hard into Matt, who had his
eyes tightly closed.

At this point, the phone rang.  I stretched an arm over to the
night table and picked it up.

"'Lo?"

"So, what're you guys up to this morning?"  Jesse's voice was
amused - he knew damn well what we were up to.

I manufactured a yawn.  "Nothing.  Just waking up."

"Bullshit," he laughed.  "Well, I just called to talk to Matt for
a second.  He handy?"

I handed the phone to Matt, nudging it into his hand until he
opened his eyes.  He put it up to his ear.  "Hi."

I could hear only his side of the conversation.



"Thanks."



"No, it doesn't, does it?"



"I know, I just told him that."



"Yeah, I will.  I love you, too.  Bye."



He handed the phone back to me with a smile.  "He says to tell
you that you did good, that I turned out okay."

"Okay?  Just `okay'?"  I snorted.  I tickled him until he was
crying, and then we got in the shower.




Matt's birthday was the 22nd.  He had taken great care of the
little truck we'd given him for Christmas the year before, and
we'd decided to get him something a little nicer.  We put the
keys next to his plate, and when he came down to breakfast he
went to the fridge for juice, then wandered over to look out the
patio doors at the weather, then got bread out for toast.
Vincent and I were about to burst when he finally sat down at the
island and reached for his fork.  His hand stopped in mid-air
when he spied the keys, and all three of us froze for a moment
before he put his hand back in his lap and looked at us.

"What did you guys do?" he asked, trying to keep his smile of
delight under control.

"Just upgraded your ride a little," Vincent said.  "Can't have a
famous artist running around in a beat-up old truck."

"I'm not famous, and there's nothing wrong with my truck."

He said this firmly, looking at us with a stern face, before he
couldn't stand it any longer, grabbed the keys, and dashed out
the door to see what we'd gotten him.  He came to a halt just
outside the door to the kitchen, staring in delight at the Lexus
GX SUV we'd chosen.  It was metallic white and sparkled under the
garage lights.  We'd had a big red bow put on top, like the
Christmas ads, and I thought his smile would split his face in
two.

"God, it's beautiful!  This is the one I liked."

"Duh!"  I said.  "Why do you suppose we bought it?"

He swatted at me, and then walked slowly around it, admiring
every line and curve before climbing in carefully and inhaling a
lungful of new car smell.  He tinkered with all the controls, and
finally flipped down the visor, dropping a folded sheet of paper
into his lap.  He opened it and read for a moment as I watched
him.  When he glanced up at me, I smiled.

"It's a land deed, Matt.  You're the proud owner of 50 acres of
prime Texas real estate.  We bought you the parcel that was for
sale to the east of Stonegate, along the road by the creek."

He just stared at me, and I wondered if the concept of owning
land was simply too foreign for a 19-year-old to comprehend.
"You could build there someday, if you like.
We walked it and it's a pretty piece of land.  You could put a
studio by the creek, like David has out there in the pines."

Matt had climbed out of the Lexus as I'd been talking and now
stood in front of us as my voice trailed off.  His smile had
faded to a look I'd never seen from him before, and his eyes held
mine as he spoke.

"You bought me land?" I nodded, mesmerized by the look in his
eyes.  "You have no idea what that means to me, do you?" I shook
my head.  "When I was on the street, it was real important to
carve out a space that belonged just to you, a place to sleep
where no one would steal your stuff.  It was more important than
food, and I swore that when I got out of there, I'd find a way to
own a piece of land that no one could ever take away from me."

He looked back down at the paper in his hand until Vincent lifted
his face with a finger under his chin.

"It's all yours, Matt," he told him.  "No one else's name is on
the deed, and as long as you pay the taxes on it, no one can take
it away from you."

He looked back down at the paper, and I could tell he was out of
words.  We pulled him to us as he scrubbed his sleeve across his
eyes.

"Happy Birthday, Matty," I whispered.

After a long hug, Matt was recovered enough to take us for a ride
through the neighborhood in his new Lexus.

Last year, Matt had surprised us with his birthday, so we'd had
no time to plan anything. This year Matt wanted a quiet get-
together after the big party we'd had for Adam, so that's what we
did, having only Adam, Ben, and Jesse over for dinner.   Vincent
did a great job grilling the ribs and chicken on the BBQ, and
Maria had baked a huge chocolate cake.  Adam stayed that night,
returning the personal birthday present that Matt had given him.



Thanksgiving Day dawned cold and grey, so I built fires in every
room and had a big pot of mulled cider steaming on the stove when
people began to arrive around noon.  We nibbled and drank for a
couple hours before sitting down to the feast around two.
Vincent and I sat at either end of our big dining room table with
Dylan, Wade, Cody, Matt, and Adam down one side, and Danny,
Gabriel, David, Jesse, and Ben down the other.  TJ had called me
Wednesday morning to say that he was going to Louisiana after
all.

"I just need to get away and have some fun," he said.  "And Del's
a fun guy."

"He is that," I agreed, recalling our night with him in Amarillo.
"Have a good time."

I looked down the table at our friends.  Cody was waving his fork
in one hand as he talked to Matt, David and Wade were discussing
which artists should be invited to display their work at the Art
Walk, and Jesse and Vincent were laughing at something Ben had
said.

"What're you thinkin'?"  Danny's hand settled on my arm as he
spoke softly to me.

I shrugged.  "Nothing special.  I'm just glad everyone's here.  I
love it when we all get together."

Danny glanced around the table.  "Yeah, they're a good bunch of
guys.  Matt was right when he told me that sometimes your friends
love you more."

I put my hand over his and squeezed.  "Your dad still holding
out?"

"Yeah, I guess he figures if he waits long enough, I'll go back
to liking girls.  I told him it ain't gonna happen." He paused.
"But he told me I could move back into the apartment."

I turned to him with raised brows.  "Really?"

He nodded.  "Yeah, but I'm not gonna.  I like it right where I
am."

Gabriel caught the tail end of our conversation and smiled at
Danny's words.  "I like you right there, too," he said.

The weather stayed cold, so we gathered in the den after dinner,
lolling around moaning about having eaten too much. It was a good
day, a day that reminded me how important it was to cherish your
friends.


--------------------------------------

As always, thanks to David of Hope for pointing out what needs
fixing.

qwb224@gmail.com