Chapter Nine – Mike
Well, the old perv finally made his proposal. Tommy Lynn wants to have sex. I should have known it would come to this. It's so easy and uncomplicated with the ladies. I think most of their husbands know exactly what's going on, but as long as there's no big hoo-hah over it, it's no problem for them – or me. There was only the one performance issue with Mrs. Goodheart in Rappahannock, but she was so old, I don't think she even noticed. She never got my name right even, kept calling me Mitchell.
Well, all that aside, I repeat Tommy Lynn wants to have sex. I might could, I suppose; but I'm not really sure I should. Way more possibility of complications. For one thing, he's not really an old perv. He's not that bad looking and I haven't done stuff with a man since Butch left. What if I like it? It could get worse. What if I like it more than he does? Should I charge him more or less than I do the ladies? What if word gets around? And it always does. Plus, What if he wants to fuck me? I'm not sure I want to get fucked. It was ok with Butch, but with some random dude? No, I'm sure I'm not looking for that.
The answer, I decided, was that I would charge a price he absolutely wouldn't pay and he would just say no. It seemed like the way out. I wouldn't have to say no, he would do it and that would end it. And maybe he would tell anybody else who might be interested and that would end that, too.
So, a couple of days later, after we had gone over his survey documents and decided the barn and well were feasible, he popped the question. He just came out and said it, like it was another part of the deal.
“I understand you have sex for money, Mr. Pierce. I'm interested. Would you be?”
“If we're gonna do that, you might as well call me Mike.”
“Are you interested … Mike?”
I gave it my best shot. “Five hundred?” He countered immediately with seven fifty and made me feel so stupid with my mouth hanging open.
“There are terms, however.” Ah, here it comes, I figured. “Nobody can know anything and I want to play a passive role.” I wasn't sure what to do. He took my hesitation for agreement and charged ahead. “Tuesday night, about eight, I'll be in this room. You come in, bend me over the desk and fuck me. I don't mind if it gets a little rough. I'll leave an envelope for you on the kitchen table. You can come in that way. Try to keep your truck out of sight.”
Thinking back, my objection was so lame. “It's a big truck.”
“And a big cock, I hope.” I swear that's what he said and there I was with my mouth open again, like I was a cocksucker or something. OK, I guess I am a cocksucker, but you know what I mean.
So along comes Tuesday morning and my stomach is almost churning I'm so worried about the coming night. Breakfast at Franks was hard to look at.
“Trubs, Mike?” Refo asked me. “You're not eating. Are you worried about the Delaware job?”
I guess it was reasonable for him to assume I was thinking about Butch, 'cause that was all I had been thinking about for a year. I briefly wondered if I should tell him about what I was up to with Tommy Lynn. He's understanding, and he never bitches at me like Frank does, and he keeps his mouth shut. I dumped the whole story on him.
“There was a guy once,” Refo said. “Nothing like your deal with Tommy Lynn, but I figured what the hell and got involved with him. To me it was just another notch in the belt, more or less. Well, ok, I liked him a lot, but I knew it was just a thing. The trouble was it really hurt Frank, who was sort of my 'official lover' at the time. So it's complicated. Not like your complications, but still complicated. After it was over the only thing I remember about it was I hurt Frank. You might want to think about whether what you're going to do will hurt anybody. That will make your decision easier, I would think.”
It didn't make my decision easier at all, but I was glad I told him. Who could I hurt? Well, the list is pretty brief. I could hurt Frank if it wrecked our business. I could hurt Marlee who isn't a bad person and has been nothing but nice to me. Two people, basically; but two people I didn't want to hurt. I guess I could hurt myself, you know, doing something I'd never be proud of; but it's getting easier to forgive myself all the time over stuff like this.
So I put it out of my head and went to work. We were finishing up the tack room with some fancy woodwork that was never in any real tack room; but it was fun to do and I had to admit looked great, like maybe the Queen of England had a tack room this nice, but nobody else.
Emma brought me lunch. “Momma thought you might like this,” she said and gave me a po' boy sandwich big enough to satisfy any po' boy. Pretty girl, Emma. Way different from the ladies I had been … Fucking makes it sound commercial, but that's what it was. She looked at me in a sweet way. I wondered if she knew or guessed what her momma and I were doing. She complimented me on the woodwork and said she wished she had a skill. She hung around a bit and then said, “Momma said she'd like to talk to you about hardware tomorrow.” That was my signal for sex; I wondered if Emma knew fully what kind of message she was delivering.
She left me to my sandwich. Oysters. Sex food, they call 'em. Maybe I could meet Tommy tonight and refuse the deal. Save the sex for Marlee. It made working harder and when work is hard for me, it isn't good. I didn't like anything I was doing so I left early. We were being paid by the job, not by the hour, so it didn't matter. I went home to my little place and was pleased to see some curtains I ordered for the front windows had come. Imagine me – buying curtains!
Then I watered the chickens and fed 'em. There were scratches on the fence. That fox had been back I guess. Butch would know if the fence was strong and tall enough to keep the fox out, but I sure didn't. Dead chickens would be the only way I'd figure that one out.
I showered and shaved like I was meeting one of the ladies. Silly shaving, I thought; he said he didn't mind it a little rough. Well, stubble is a little rough, isn't it? I looked at myself in the mirror, glad it was a short mirror. I don't like seeing all of me naked. Renee La Gerbille has a mirror that covers all of one wall in her bedroom and seeing myself with a hard on … well, it's a sight I try to avoid. It makes me look like some kind of person I don't think I am. My dick looks like a weapon and I just want to be a lover.
O' course, thinkin' stuff like that just makes me think of Butch and that pisses me off because there's no sense beating myself up over that again. And yet I do, time after time. It made me more and more pissed off as I drove back to Tommy Lynn's place.
“Don't let anybody see your truck,” echoed in my head as I made sure to park it in the shadow of some trees on the woods side of the house. “Use the kitchen door,” like I was a servant. “I want to be passive,” came back to me also. Leaving it all up to me. Like I was guilty of something.
The envelope. I picked it up and stuffed it in my pocket. Counting the money was his job, not mine. How fucking thoughtful, I thought, seeing a tube of lube next to it. I went into the library and expected to find him sprawling over the desk with his ass out waiting for me. Instead the room was empty. Of course, I should have known; he would keep me waiting.
So I waited. It got darker outside and I was losing interest in this caper. Still pissed at Tommy Lynn and myself for getting into it. Might as well make it quick, I decided. I lubed up my dick and kept it hard and ready. Finally I heard a noise in the kitchen. He walked into the darkened library and turned on the desk lamp, pretending to shuffle through some papers. What the fuck is he wearing? He looks like some fuckin' teenager in basketball shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt. He bent slightly forward and I decided Fuck It. Literally.
I yanked the silky shorts down and tried to ram it in. He struggled ineffectively. I held him down and put a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet. Just as I achieved partial entry, I relaxed and my target wiggled out of my hold. He flipped over to confront me. I was ready for a fight but I didn't get one. The desk lamp lighted his midsection, highlighting his torso and his erection. Something was wrong. It wasn't the midsection of a fifty-year-old. I moved the lamp to shine on his face.
“You're not Tommy Lynn.” I back off quickly.
“No. I'm Willis.”