Double Trails
 by: BndgDawg

© 2008 by the author

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 12

- TRACER -

From Ryan’s attitude after that phone call, you would have thought that time had stood still. Mom and Will weren’t due to arrive until mid-day Tuesday but that couldn’t come soon enough for him.

Erik made Ryan go to school each day – grades first! I seriously doubt Ryan paid too much attention to his class work on either day. He definitely was having trouble with his duties around the farm on Monday!

Mom and Will arrived just before three on Tuesday. Mom had gotten an early start and she always did have a lead foot.

The old station wagon was packed to the gills with stuff. Mom had been smart. Instead of packing all his hanging clothes she had simply laid a sheet in the back of the car and piled them up. Folded clothing was packed in grocery store bags. The computer, PlayStation and other electronics were buried under the piles.

Mom carried her one suitcase up to the guest bedroom while Erik, Will and I started the many trips from the car into the house. Before we got the first load very far into the house, Erik had a brilliant idea. “Will, pick out what you need to get through the rest of the week and carry that to Ryan’s room. Whoops, your room – the room you two will share. We will put the rest of the stuff in the living room until this weekend. Then we can figure out how best to arrange everything.”

“OK, Erik,” Will replied.

“Now, Will, that should be ‘Yes, Sir’,” Mom chipped in.

“Actually, Shirley, I told Patrick and Will to call me Erik long ago. I don’t want to feel ‘Sir’ old.”

“OK, I just want to make sure Will respects you and your authority.”

“I’ve never had a problem with him in all his visits, I’m sure I won’t start having problems now,” Erik replied.

We were still unloading the car when Ryan’s truck turned the corner and raced up the driveway.

“Will, be discrete. We have customers around right now,” I reminded him before he could run to the truck.

“OK,” was his only response as he took off for the truck.

The boys hugged a bit at the truck, but nothing that would cause raised eyebrows. I was impressed by their restraint. Will carried Ryan’s backpack as they went into the house.

“Let’s finish unloading this car,” Erik ordered. “Ryan, aren’t you supposed to help Ezra teach the beginner’s riding class today?”

“Yes, Dad. I almost forgot about that. I’ll go get changed and head out to the stables; the students should be arriving any minute.” Dejected looks spread across both Ryan’s and Will’s faces.

“Ryan, I’ll work with Ezra this afternoon. You help Will, Mom and Erik unload the car and get things settled,” I put in.

“Thanks!” rang out from both Ryan and Will.

I walked out to the stables as the group picked up the next load of stuff to carry into the house. As I walked through the open doors I heard Randy laughing.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“I figured you’d be helping out this afternoon after I heard your brother was moving back. Like father, like son, I’m guessing. It seems to me that the relationship between the Chamberlain’s and the Klein’s just doubled up.”

“Yup. I take it, you figured out about Ryan and Will?” I tried to hide my surprise.

“Oh yeah, sometime in early July it became apparent to me. I don’t think anyone else has figured it out yet. At least, no one has mentioned it to me,” Randy replied.

“Well, I’m sure the rest of the staff will figure it out soon enough. We appreciate the discretion y’all have used with Erik and me and hope everyone will extend that to cover Ryan and Will.”

“Most definitely. School, on the other hand, is a different matter. That would be one big mess if the boys had to deal with being gay there.”

“Yeah. Hopefully, their classmates won’t figure things out.”

“That’s a pretty big hope. The thing is to hope that those that do figure them out are discrete with the information.”

“Very true!”

The first riding students started walking through the main door to the stables, cutting off our conversation.

Ezra and I conducted the hour-long beginner’s class for the twelve students. Most of the kids had been on horseback only three times so far; a few may have ridden once or twice prior to the class. We kept them in the ring, simply following the track around and around the circle. The focus for the class was posture, basic control of the horse, starting, stopping, and gaining confidence.

After the class, I helped Ezra put the horses back in their stalls. We put all the tack away and finished general cleanup. I checked the staff board and we were the only ones left working. I checked the boarder board and saw that no one had a horse out. Ezra and I shut out all the lights, then closed and locked up all the doors for the night. I wished him a good night and headed for the house as he went to his truck.

Walking through the backdoor into the kitchen, I found Mom cooking dinner.

“Did you volunteer or get roped into cooking,” I asked.

“About half of both,” she replied. “After we unloaded the car, the boys asked to be excused and disappeared upstairs. We haven’t seen them since. Erik talked about ordering dinner or going out, but I volunteered to cook tonight.”

“That was nice of you. What are you making? It smells good!” I asked.

“Chicken Marsala, pasta and broccoli raab.”

“Yum, sounds good, Mom. I’m going to go upstairs and wash up. I’ll be back down to help you in a few minutes.”

The meal was delicious and we all were stuffed as we got up. I helped Mom with the dishes and the boys quickly disappeared upstairs, again.

Wednesday morning, I drove Mom and Will to the high school to get him registered for classes. It worked out that Will and Ryan would have only English class together. Even the small high school had two academic class tracks to allow students some flexibility in their schedule. Mom mentioned to me that this was probably for the best – fewer distractions that way.

Thursday morning, the boys went to school in Ryan’s truck. After they left, Mom, Erik and I sat quietly at the kitchen table.

“Both those boys seem to be as happy as can be,” Mom stated.

“The mood around here is back to mid-summer’s level, before they started worrying about Will leaving for home,” Erik agreed.

“I guess I should go get cleaned up so I can get home.”

“You don’t have to go back today if you don’t want,” Erik chimed in.

“Mom, stay one more day. It’s great to have you visit,” I added.

“No, four days off from work is enough. It might just be a part-time job, but I do want to keep it!”

Mom went upstairs to finish packing. I went upstairs and knocked on the bedroom door. I heard a muffled “Come in” and pushed the door open.

“Mom, I’m glad this worked out so well,” I started.

Mom looked thoughtful. “I think it will work out for the best. I’m still concerned. Those two are awfully young and their emotions are so intense. If things break apart it will devastate them both.”

“I know. Hopefully it will never come to that.”

I helped Mom carry her bag down to the car and put it in the back. Erik walked out of the stables as I was kissing Mom goodbye.

“I hope I get a kiss goodbye too,” Erik requested.

“Of course, my Son’s husband will always get a kiss. Hmmm. I hadn’t thought of that. It looks like I have two married sons already.”

“I think it’s better to say one married Son and one seriously dating. Let Ryan and Will get to the year mark before we call them ‘married’,” I put in.

Mom got into her car and drove off a few minutes later. Erik and I went out to the barn to work on the daily tasks. It was Thursday, so Hank and Marty were off. Randy and Ezra would be off on Friday. Erik had worked this schedule to free us on Saturday and Sunday. Well, as free as we could get and still be at home. We wanted to help Ryan and Will get everything set up so that Will wouldn’t be living out of boxes.

Friday night at the dinner table, Erik opened the topic of organizing two boys in one room.

 “OK, guys, I know you are sleeping together and probably more.” They both started to blush. “I want to talk about the living arrangements a bit. Ryan’s room is probably a bit cramped when it comes to two of you living together through the school year. My original thought was to make the guest room Will’s room, though I know you’ll probably never sleep there. I thought about it some more and I decided that it might be better to make that the homework and study room. We’ll replace the double bed in there with a trundle bed or sofa-bed and put two desks in there. I’ll run a second phone line into the room and you can both have Internet service at your desks.”

“That sounds great, Dad.”

“Yeah, Erik. That’s really nice of you,” Will added.

“Remember, the idea of Will living here was to improve both your moods and ensure that school work did not suffer. I still expect the best school work possible out of both of you,” Erik added.

“Understood, Dad,” Ryan replied.

“Yes, Sir!” Will seconded crisply.

Erik looked at Will in reproach. Will laughed at Erik, knowing how Erik felt about being called ‘Sir’.

“We’ll get started early tomorrow and see what we can do to get both rooms set up by the end of the weekend,” I put in.

“I’m assuming we’ll need a few new pieces of furniture. Tomorrow afternoon, the four of us can drive over to Bluefield and see if we can find anything to meet our needs,” Erik said. “There are several good furniture stores there.”

Life on a farm means getting up early and all four of us were up eating breakfast by six a.m. As soon as we cleaned up from breakfast, the four of us stood in the guest room.

“Let’s see,” Erik started. “The dresser in here matches the one in your room, Ryan. What if we position it where your desk is now?”

“That sounds good. I was thinking we could pull that ratty old chair out of my room too,” Ryan replied.

“No place to sit in there?” I asked.

“Hold on a second, I have an idea!” Will exclaimed.

Will ran out of the room and we heard his footsteps heading down the stairs. We all looked at each other a bit puzzled. A few minutes later he came back up the stairs and into the room. He was carrying the smaller white-board from the office. He also had a ruler and several pens.

“OK. How big is Ryan’s room?” Will asked.

“No clue,” Erik responded. “We’ve never measured the rooms in the house.”

“I’ll get a tape measure,” I offered.

I ran downstairs and grabbed a tape measure out of the kitchen junk drawer. We measured the rooms and the major furniture. Will drew a floor plan for each room.

“Ryan, what do you think about placing the bed on this wall?” Will asked.

“That’s cool. It won’t be on the shared wall with the guest room, so less concern about noise,” Ryan responded. I could see a deep red blush spreading over Will’s face.

Will drew the bed in the proposed space.

“How about the dressers side-by-side on the opposite wall?” Ryan threw out.

“That might work,” I put in. “Then you could still put a chair over in the corner.”

“You going to keep your television in the room?” Erik inquired.

“We could sit it on one of the dressers so that it’s easy to watch from bed,” Will replied.

The floor plans quickly took shape. The white-board proved a stroke of genius as lines were erased and redrawn to provide better flow.

Having a plan, we removed the unwanted furniture from the bedroom and then repositioned what remained. We then moved the dresser and a nightstand from the guest room into the boys’ room. With the major furniture in place we positioned the television and a few other major items.

“What about closet space?” Ryan asked.

“How do you two want to handle it?” Erik replied.

“Why don’t I use the guest room and you keep the closet in your room Ryan?” Will answered.

“It’s our room, Will. I think it’s better if we split both closets. That way if we have a guest you won’t have to remember to pull clothes all the time.”

“OK. Sounds good,” Will responded.

While the boys moved clothing around from their bedroom closet to the old guest room, Erik and I surveyed what was left in the hallway.

“I think we should just load most of this up into a truck and drop it off at Goodwill,” Erik stated.

“I doubt they’ll take that chair,” I laughed.

“Oh, you never know. Some teen might want a ratty, beat up chair for their bedroom!”

We both laughed. Ryan and Will stopped on their trip from one room to the other to look at us. “What’s so funny?” Will asked.

“Just a joke about that beat up old chair,” Erik responded. “I’ve had it since I was fourteen. Time for a new owner, I guess. Now, what about the study lounge?”

“The what?” Ryan sounded puzzled.

“The study lounge, the new name for your new room. A place for the two of you to study and lounge,” Erik replied.

“Not much of a lounge, yet,” Will put in.

“It will be once we’re done,” I replied.

We got the desk positioned based on our proposed floor plan. The two rooms were as far as we could go with what we had on hand.

“Time to go find more furniture,” I tossed in.

“Let’s load up the stuff we are getting rid of and we’ll dump it off at Goodwill. Then we can grab some lunch and head over to Bluefield to find what we need,” Erik added.

We dropped off the few odd pieces of furniture at Goodwill, grabbed a burger and were in Bluefield by mid-afternoon. At one of the furniture stores we found a very nice L-shaped desk that would give room for both computer and paper-based work.

“Ryan, what do you think of that desk?” Erik asked.

“It’s really nice, but it’s for Will,” Ryan replied. “You should ask him.”

“There’s no rule that says you both can’t have the same desk,” Erik answered.

“Is there room for them both?” I butted in.

“Will, you’re the master planner, what do you think?” Erik asked.

Will dug a sheet of paper out of his back pocket. I was surprised to see that he had the floor plan on paper. I had not realized he’d thought to copy it down. He walked over to the sales desk and asked for a pencil and a ruler. Will quickly measured the desks and then drew them onto the floor plan.

“They’d fit like that and still leave room for us to put a futon or sofa-bed on that wall. It might be tight getting into that closet though,” Will warned.

“But that’s mostly summer clothes and stuff for really cold weather. All our everyday stuff is in our room,” Ryan replied.

“Then I’d say it will work, Erik,” Will finished.

I was proud of my baby brother. He had a good head on his shoulders.

We walked around the store for a while more and found a nice sofa that opened into a queen-sized bed. The sofa-bed would work well when my folks or others visited.

We were able to put both desks in the back of Ryan’s truck. The store offered to deliver the sofa, at a cost; however, Erik told the sales person someone would pick up the sofa the next day.

We got home at dinner time and Erik walked out to the barn to check on business. Ryan and Will started working on getting the desks up to the bedroom. I started working on dinner.

The good thing was that the desks came apart enough for the boys to manage. I heard the two of them running up and down the stairs while I fixed dinner. I figured they were moving the rest of Will’s stuff up to the two rooms.

Erik came in a few minutes later and set the table for dinner. I called to the boys and told them to wash up for dinner.

After a quick dinner and cleanup, the four of us walked upstairs. I was stunned. In the short time it took me to make dinner, the boys had set up both computers on their desks; they had set up the PlayStation in their bedroom.

“Let’s call it quits for tonight, Guys,” I suggested. “I think we all need a good night’s sleep.”

“Agreed,” Ryan put in. “You two can run over to Bluefield tomorrow and get the sofa. While you’re gone, Will and I will get all his clothes and the rest of his stuff out of the living room and organize it all. If that’s OK?”

“Sounds like a plan!” Erik added.

We said our goodnights to the boys and went to our room. Both Erik and I were tired and dirty after a busy day of moving furniture.

“I’m gonna grab a shower,” I said.

“Not till I finish grabbing you,” Erik replied.

Erik pulled me to him and started unbuttoning my shirt. He pulled it off and pushed my arms up over my head. He ran his tongue over my chest and up into my left pit. As his tongue washed my pit, I heard him breathe in deeply.

“Nice and musky,” he whispered.

Once my left pit was soaked in his spit, he moved his tongue back across my chest and into my right pit. He sucked on the hair and licked till it felt very damp.

Erik started his tongue moving down my chest as his hands moved to unbutton my jeans. Erik pushed my jeans to the floor as he moved his tongue down past my belly button and up my hard dick.

He dropped to his haunches and took my dick into his mouth. I gasped as he started giving me one hell of a blowjob. As he continued to work up and down my shaft, he started lifting my legs and pulling my jeans off. I now stood naked in front of him.

He pulled off for just a moment and huskily said, “Musky and wonderful down here too!”

After another minute, he stopped sucking me, spun me around and pushed me onto the bed. Immediately, I felt his hands spread my cheeks and his tongue started working up my ass crack. He licked and probed at my hole, causing it to spasm. I pushed my ass back on his tongue as he continued working my hole.

“More Tracer musk,” he said. “You taste just right tonight!”

I felt his tongue leave my hole and turned my head to find him stripping. I knew my ass was about to get fucked. Best of all - my ass wanted to get fucked!

Erik grabbed a condom and suited up. He added a generous amount of lube and started to work his dick into my ass. The head popped in easily and his shaft followed till he was fully buried in my ass.

“Aw fuck,” he moaned. “You’re so fucking tight tonight, Baby.”

“I’ve missed having your dick in me the last few nights!” I moaned back.

“Too much stress and too many issues around here,” Erik replied.

Erik started long strokes with the head of his dick popping all the way out once in a while. He would plunge back in, giving my ass the ride it had been missing.

He had started to pull out of my ass when the doorbell rang. In addition to the doorbell, there was a loud pounding on the front door. Erik pulled out quickly; I grabbed my robe off the stool at the foot of the bed and started to throw it on as I ran for the stairs.

As I got to the top of the stairs, Ryan, standing naked in his bedroom doorway, called out, “There’s a cop at the door!” I ran down the stairs, worried as to what was wrong. As I sped down the entry hallway to the front door, I heard several sets of footsteps pounding down the stairs.

I opened the door to find a county Sheriff at the door.

“Erik Chamberlain?” the Sheriff asked.

“No, I’m Tracer Klein. That is Erik Chamberlain,” I got out in response and pointed toward Erik who was just coming down the stairs.

“Right here, Officer. How can I help you?” Erik added.

“Sorry to disturb you; however, I understand you now own the old Pittston place up the row about a mile?” the Sheriff asked.

“Yes, Sir. I bought the place in June. Is there a problem?” Erik asked in a deeply troubled voice.

“Yes, Sir. The fire department has responded to a fire at the house. At last report the house was fully engulfed in flames.”

“Oh, FUCK! We’ll get dressed and be up there in a minute, Officer,” Erik responded.

“Well, Sir. I’d advise you take your time. The fire department is real busy trying to deal with the fire; you’ll need to stay back quite a ways while they fight it.”

“Understood, Sir. We’ll stay out of the way,” Erik answered.

“Also, the fire investigators will need to talk to you tomorrow morning after they have looked over the house.”

“Yes, Sir.” Erik sounded nervous.

“It’s routine, Sir. No reason to worry. I’m going to the scene now. I’ll see you there.”

We all ran back upstairs and threw on clothing. We drove the short distance up to the house. By the time we got there it appeared that the fire was contained; however, it was obvious that the house was destroyed.

“Damn, I wonder how long it was on fire before someone called it in?” Ryan asked.

“Considering how little traffic goes up and down this road, it could have been quite a while. I’m just glad it didn’t spread beyond the house,” Erik answered.

The four of us stood and watched as the fire department put out the remainder of the flames. A tall man in a fire department outfit walked over to us.

“Are you the owner?” he asked.

“Yes, Sir,” Erik responded.

“Have you been provided with any details?” he asked.

“No, Sir. Officer?” Erik was searching for a name.

“Chief Johnson, Sir,” the man answered.

“Chief Johnson, I’m Erik Chamberlain. I bought this place in June. This is Tracer, Ryan and Will. We live up the road about a mile,” Erik responded.

“We received the fire call about an hour ago. We responded and found the house completely engulfed. We have things under control; however, we will be here a good while longer looking for hot spots.”

“Understood, Chief. Thanks for the information. What do I need to do?” Erik asked.

“You should contact your insurance company regarding the fire. I have assigned a fire investigator to this incident. Lieutenant Saxon is walking around. Let me get her over here to talk to you,” the Chief said.

The Chief pulled out his radio and called for Lieutenant Saxon to report to the front of the house. We noticed one fire fighter detach from a clump of people and walk towards us.

“Lieutenant Lucinda Saxon, this is Erik Chamberlain. He owns this place,” the Chief indicated.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Chamberlain,” Lt. Saxon stated.

“Nice to meet you Lt. Saxon and feel free to call me ‘Erik’.”

Lt. Saxon looked at Ryan, Will and me. “Lt. Saxon, this is my son Ryan, and Will and Tracer who live on the farm with us,” Erik added.

“Gentlemen,” she nodded. “Erik, I have been assigned to investigate the fire. First, I need to ask that you do not attempt to enter the residence until I let you know that it is safe and that my investigation permits it.”

“Understood,” Erik responded.

“I will be here the rest of the night and probably well into the morning,” she added. “Is there a number at which I may reach you?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Erik answered. He pulled his wallet out of his jeans. Here’s a business card. It provides the office number for our farm. The number rings in the house as well.

“I’ll call you tomorrow morning to discuss things.”

“Thank you.”

The Chief looked around a bit. “Gentlemen, I’d suggest y’all go home. Not much more to see and you really can’t get any closer until Lt. Saxon permits it.”

“Thanks, Sir,” I responded.

The four of us stood there a few more minutes and then finally, without saying anything Erik turned and herded us to the truck. When we got back to the house, Erik walked into the office and all of us followed.

“I’m just going to call the insurance company. Y’all go on to bed. I’ll be up in a minute,” Erik stated.

Ryan and Will said their goodnights and left the office. I sat down at the second desk. Erik called and left a message with the answering service telling them that someone could call after seven a.m.

We walked upstairs, stripped down and climbed into bed. “You OK?” I asked.

Erik rolled over into my arms and put his head into my chest. “I’m really fine. That was never our home. Hell, I’d owned it for about three months. I’m sure June will take it hard when I tell her it burned down; it was her home for decades.”

“I’m just concerned this will add to your stress,” I replied.

“Naw, just a lot of unwanted work, but no more stress,” Erik replied, quietly. Within seconds I heard him gently snoring. It took me a few minutes to settle down and fall asleep.

To be continued...

Author's Note: This is the first story I have written. I look forward to positive comments, constructive criticisms and otherwise pleasantly worded feedback. Flames and attacks will be ignored and addresses blocked.

The polish on this story comes from the hard work and dedication of a select group of volunteers. Thanks as always to Chael who has supported me from the start. Thanks to KPBuck and Rock Hunter for their continuing efforts.

Posted: 07/18/08