Bent Arrow (5 page)

Crime was crazy high around the oil fields: drug and human trafficking, rapes, robberies, assaults, and even murders. And if that didn’t scare a person, the sheer number of people and vehicles at all hours of the day and night in what used to be sleepy towns would.

Erik had practically leaped to the other side of the truck when he’d woken up back at the motel. Something had spooked him. Or maybe he was simply freaked about being seen so close to Luther in the truck. Luther certainly wouldn’t want to be seen too close to a guy in unsafe areas. Maybe that’s all it was, which Luther kicked himself for not thinking about
before
he’d driven back into town and parked in front of Erik’s door.

He had to make sure Erik was okay.
If you have time, I’d like to get together again
, he shot off.

An hour later, he got
K. Tonight?

If you can. If you’re not too tired.

I can.

9?

CU then

Luther worked the rest of his shift and then ate a dissatisfying meal at the only decent restaurant within a thirty-mile radius. The food was a hell of a lot better than the bar, gas station, or cafeteria food he survived on most of the time, because there was no means to cook in his trailer.

Once home, he showered and nursed a beer until Erik knocked on his door. Luther greeted him with what he knew was a gigantic and ridiculous smile. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Erik took a quick scan of the trailer, and his attention landed on the empty bottle, but he seemed relaxed again. “Started without me. Looks like I have some catching up to do.”

Luther closed the door and leaned in for a kiss. “Nah-uh. I need that spectacular dick of yours to work to its full potential tonight.”

Erik kissed him, greedy this time, slipping his tongue in Luther’s mouth. “Sounds like a plan to me.” He spun and pressed Luther to the door, then kissed him harder, licking deeper, curling his tongue around Luther’s in a sweet slide. Luther couldn’t keep himself from panting as Erik took over, making out with him like a horny teenager and grinding their dicks together.

Luther pulled away. “Was the shy boy just an act? ’Cause, mmm.”

“‘Mmm’ what?”

“Shy boy was cute, but shit, I like your more aggressive side.”

“I’m both. Just a little gun-shy when first hooking up for… reasons.” He walked into the kitchen, opened the minifridge, and helped himself to a beer. Luther watched as he popped the cap and took several long guzzles before licking his lips and allowing his gaze to slide up and down Luther’s body in a bold—not at all shy—fashion. “After I know everything’s… legit, I relax. The real me can shine then.”

Luther hummed as he walked close enough to get his hands and his mouth back on Erik. He buried his nose in Erik’s neck, breathing in his fresh scent. “Let’s go shine in my bedroom.”

They stripped without ceremony again and were licking and sucking each other before the bedsheets had a chance to warm up from their body heat. Luther found out Erik loved having his neck kissed and bitten, and Erik learned how much Luther loved being finger-fucked when Luther stopped everything aside from trying to drive Erik’s fingers deeper.

Erik took his time, though, stretching Luther’s hole and stroking over his prostate with teasing touches until Luther was begging for Erik’s cock.

“Not yet,” Erik said. He kissed the tip of Luther’s dick, then slid his slick lips over Luther’s hardness again, looking up at him with teasing eyes as Luther fisted Erik’s dark wavy hair. Luther didn’t force Erik to take him deeper but pulled Erik off so he wouldn’t come. Not like this.

“You. Your cock,” Luther barely got out.

“You’re sure you’re not too tired for a hard ride?”

“I somehow got my second wind.”

“Is that so?” Erik smirked, which made his green eyes look devilish.

It was a slow entry again, but then Erik thrust deep. Luther’s eyes rolled back into his skull as he was transported to Erik’s magical land of fucking again.

How did he know how to use his cock so well?

Erik bit and sucked at Luther’s nipples while Luther allowed his hands to take up an agenda all their own: touching every inch of Erik’s skin he could reach. Luther soon came without one more caress to his cock. The muscles in his ass clenched in rhythm around Erik, drawing a gasp-worthy orgasm from him. Their bodies pulsed in time, contractions widening and easing as they kissed through the sensations.

The fucking was better than their first time together, if that was possible, and Luther whined pathetically as Erik’s cock slowly softened and slid from his body.

“It’s okay. It won’t be the last time,” Erik said with promise in his voice.

“Better not be.”

Luther was sex drunk but not nearly as exhausted this time, so he didn’t fall asleep, even if he lay there boneless with come cooling on his belly. After several minutes of basking in the euphoria with Erik’s fingers weaving through his hair, he stood and cleaned up. Then he lit a few candles around his room to give them some illumination but not that harsh fluorescence of the overhead light he hated so much.

“We already fucked, so why the mood lighting?” Erik asked through a chuckle. “Why now? You already got me in your bed and seduced me.”

“Maybe I’d like to talk to you, get to know you even better than a late-night conversation in my truck and texts at work allow.”

“Oh? From what you already said, I didn’t think you did that sort of thing.”

Luther crawled back into bed, got comfy on Erik’s chest, same as before, and threaded his fingers through Erik’s chest hair. “Out here, I’ve never found someone worth spending more than an hour with.” He kept his eyes trained on Erik’s happy trail so he wouldn’t give away all his thoughts.

“Yet, I’m seeing you a fourth time, hooking up a second.”

“You are, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“Maybe I think more of you than the rest.”

“Hmmm. Why?”

Luther propped himself up on an elbow so he could look down on Erik, who had kissed-red lips and sleepy, sex-contented eyes. “I kinda like you. I don’t quite know what it is—”

“Not just my hockey ass?”

Shaking his head, Luther leaned in for a tender kiss. “Nah. You feel familiar in a strange way, like I’ve known you a lot longer than I have.”

“You do too,” Erik whispered as he thumbed over Luther’s eyebrow.

“Tell me about the feathers, the arrow? Why is it bent?”

Erik gave him one of his shy smiles again. “’Cause I am.”

“You got it ’cause you’re gay? Shouldn’t it be a pink triangle or something like that?”

“Nah. I’m not gay.”

“What?” Luther asked, utterly confused.

“I’m bi.”

“Oh….”

“Is… is that gonna be a problem?” Erik asked with narrowed eyes.

“Uh… no. I guess not. I just… I’ve never been with a bisexual guy before.”

Erik’s mouth was transformed by a slow, broad smirk, and then he laughed. “You probably have, you just didn’t know it.”

“Fair point.” Luther licked his lips. “So… the arrow?”

Erik took a deep breath as though he was ready to tell a long story. “The arrow is bent wood because I don’t fit anywhere: not in the straight world and not in the gay world. It was just my way of acknowledging that and celebrating the beauty of it at the same time.”

“It’s an amazing tattoo,” Luther said as he traced over the elaborate design on Erik’s thigh with the multitude of rich pigments. In the flickering candlelight, some of the colors almost looked iridescent, like peacock feathers.

He tugged on Erik’s hip, encouraging him to roll onto his belly so he could study the shaft. The arrow tip was an open tracery, delicate and beautiful, but it was messed up by those damn words. Erik buried his head in the fold of his arms, as though he was hiding.

Luther tried to ignore the words, tracing each line of the arrowhead, but then he let out a frustrated sigh. He moved higher up, brushed over the words, and Erik tensed.

“You didn’t ask for this, did you?” Luther whispered, hoping not to spook him and send him running again. “Someone did this to you without your permission.”

“Several people did.”

Luther shook his head. “What sort of monsters would do this?”

Erik released a shuddery breath before turning to face Luther. There were unshed tears in his eyes. “People I worked with on the pipeline.”

“That’s why you quit?”

Erik nodded and then studied the sheets.

“Do you wanna tell me about it?”

“Uh….” He laughed bitterly. “Let’s just say they saw me on a date with a man. They watched me kiss him good night and then planned this…
prank
they followed through on the next day at work.”

“You mean assault.”

“Yep. It could’ve been worse.” He shrugged as though he was trying to shrug off the memory of the attack. “I know it could’ve been a hell of a lot worse because of what they were sayin’, but the foreman showed up. He fired the guys on the spot and helped me escape by finding me work here.”

“Where were you when this happened?”

“Williston.”

“Did you file charges?”

“Tried. Was told by the cop it was my own fault for having an arrow pointing at my ass. Whatever. The fuckers. All of ’em.”

“I’m so sorry that happened to you. I can’t believe you hung around at all after that.”

“I had to so I could make enough to pay for laser removal.”

“Not of the whole thing. Please tell me you’ll just get the words removed and leave the arrow.”

Erik smiled. “You really like the arrow, huh?”

“Hell yeah. But being a plumber, all that bending over, doesn’t that cause a lot of questions?”

Erik chuckled. “I never thought I’d be a plumber. I was a hockey player, playing in the WHL, hoping to get noticed so I could go to the big show. Had my tattoo for less than a month before I fucked up my shoulder bad enough that I couldn’t play anymore. College wasn’t affordable without hockey. Home wasn’t for me. So I followed a buddy to work in the oil fields where I eventually got trained as a plumber. It’s not what I wanted to do, but I like it, which is crazy to me.”

“How much more do you need to save to get the words removed?”

“I have enough saved up. I just don’t have days off during the week to get it done when the clinic is open or a car to get that far.”

“I’ll drive you. Take a day off and I’ll take you wherever you need to go.”

“We’re talking a five or six hour drive one way.”

“Two days, then. We’ll spend the night.”

Erik’s face was split by his beautiful smile as he seemed to realize Luther was dead serious. “You’d really do that for me?”

“Hey,” he said as he leaned in to steal a slow kiss he had a hard time pulling away from. “I have a favor to return,” he whispered against Erik’s lips.

“No, you don’t, but I’ll talk to my boss tomorrow when he picks me up.”

“I’ll make some calls too.”

Luther stole another kiss, which turned into sleepy kisses and eventually sleep.

SIX

R
ELEASE

T
HE NEXT MORNING,
Luther woke to Erik still beside him. He snuggled in closer, smelled the musk left on Erik’s body from last night, and burrowed his nose in a little deeper to make sure his memories were real, not a dream or an illusion.

Erik squeezed Luther and kissed his neck and ears. He made sleepy, content noises.

“Wanna?” Luther asked as he straddled Erik’s hips and looked at the time. He had forty-five minutes before his own early-ass shift started, but he tilted his head, directing Erik’s attention to the clock so Erik could make the determination for his own work schedule.

“Yeah. Fucking you would be the best start this day could have.”

Luther quickly rolled a condom over Erik’s already-hard dick, drizzled cold lube over it, and slowly sunk down, turning that cocky grin into an ache of desperation.

“Gonna fuck you so hard.”

“Yes, please.”

Luther bottomed out and lost his words. And the way Erik touched him, looked at him, he felt as though he was losing his mind. Or falling in love.

E
VERY FREE MOMENT
they both had off, Luther drove to Erik’s motel to pick him up so they could spend it together. Often it was at Luther’s place, but they also ventured out to restaurants miles away and ran errands together. It wasn’t a ton of time because of Luther’s work schedule. Nevertheless, he took advantage of every moment they had.

Luther couldn’t explain his new relationship to anyone at work, but they could tell he was flying on cloud nine. No matter what they said to upset him or try to get him to spill the beans about his “new girl,” he allowed it all to roll off his shoulders.

After he offered the guys extra hours, they got off his back. Luther needed to get Erik to Fargo to get his tattoo removed so Erik could be free from those words and the men who had put them under his skin. That meant letting shifts go.