Cleats in Clay Read online

  “No, I don’t mind,” Odis said as he nuzzled up to Bobby. “Where else would ya go?”

  Bobby curled around Odis and spoke quietly in his ear. “Nowhere.” He snuggled close, and both soon fell into a comfortable sleep.

  Chapter 16

  WHEN Bobby yawned and opened his eyes, the bright sunlight already filled the house. He found himself once again pinned between Odis and Heim. He nudged at the dog, but she merely groaned without moving. Rising slightly, Bobby managed to see the clock and read 7:18 a.m. He reclined again with another yawn.

  Odis stirred next to him but didn’t awaken, so Bobby settled into the bed again, thinking about Tuck. Which led to thinking about Nathan. For about the millionth time, he felt an edge of anger. Nate and his fucking secrets. He wondered once again what it was that Nate had seen to lead him to try to set all of this up. Not that Nate had been wrong, as it turned out. Bobby, Odis, and Tuck demonstrated they had this strange and almost magical chemistry as a threesome. How had Nathan even seen that? Had he picked all of it up just from meeting Odis? Or had Nate, at some point, also somehow met Tuck?

  Bobby sat up again when he thought he heard something. Well, it was more of a vibration than a sound. Next to him, Heim sat up with alert ears. Whatever it was, she heard it too but didn’t seem alarmed enough over it to leave the bed. Her head dropped down again, yet her ears stayed erect.

  Stirring again, Odis rolled over and opened his eyes. “Mornin’, stud,” he greeted with a joyful smile.

  “Morning. You have a good sleep?”

  Odis’s legs vibrated and trembled as he stretched out with a yawn. “Sure did. Ya been awake long?”

  “Just a few minutes. I need to pee, but Heim has me pinned in.”

  “Damn dog,” Odis said with a chuckle as he scooted out of the bed and freed some slack in the sheet.

  Bobby got up and nearly ran into the bathroom. Odis smiled when he noticed Bobby didn’t bother to shut the door. After hanging back a minute to let him take care of business, Odis heard the toilet flush and followed into the bathroom. He walked up behind Bobby and wrapped his arms around him. “Hey, I forgot to tell ya,” he said with a grin as he steered Bobby to the shower. “I did some home improvement while ya’s gone.”

  “Oh? What kind?”

  “Get those shorts off,” Odis said as he slipped off his boxers. “I called a plumber.”

  Bobby grinned at the shower as he stepped out of his underwear. “Tankless water heater?” he asked hopefully.

  “Ya got it, stud.”

  They stepped into the lava-rock space and Odis soon had all twelve showerheads shooting perfectly warmed water around them. In comfortable silence, they enjoyed the spray while getting rained on from all directions. As they basked in the supreme wetness, they failed to hear the kitchen phone ringing over the noise of the jets.

  When Odis grabbed a bottle of shampoo from the niche, Bobby leaned down and let him lather his head with the soap, smelling a kiwi-lime aroma. Then he did the same for Odis, massaging firmly with his fingers as he worked the scented shampoo into Odis’s hair.

  After rinsing off their heads, Odis punched some buttons on the panel. The spray of the upper jets cut off, leaving only a warm, misty fog at their feet. It soon filled the lava-rock sanctuary with rolling steam. Odis squirted a large glob of soap from the wall dispenser into his right hand before moving next to Bobby. “Now for some serious cleaning,” he whispered with a grin as he gently took Bobby’s semierect dick into his slippery hand.

  When Bobby started to say something, Odis put his left hand up to his mouth in a silencing move. “Just enjoy,” he whispered to Bobby as he stroked at his dick, quickly bringing it to life.

  Bobby closed his eyes and leaned back against the polished rock wall as Odis worked his hard cock. He pulled at it and squeezed gently as he got near the head, then released it and grasped it at the base, then repeated the motion. He jacked it again with the same gentle caress. Then again.

  As his knees felt weaker, Bobby pushed into the wall. He wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer. This strange motion had some direct connection to his balls, which were already shrinking up close.

  Odis continued to tease with the same slow rhythm, glancing between Bobby’s hard dick in his hand and the concentrating look on Bobby’s face. Bobby opened his mouth to speak again, but Odis put his left index finger on his lips. “I’m not stopping. Just let go,” he whispered.

  Odis pulled and teased more, sending a shiver into Bobby’s legs. He locked his knees to keep from trembling as Odis stroked, drawing forth an electrical charge that started in his prostate and quickly zapped into his balls. His legs trembled with the next caress as his orgasm swelled. Another stroke brought the hot bloom of singing nerves as his balls clenched and his vas deferens started pumping. The semen flowed, following the bloom as it spread into his cock and up to its head.

  “Oh Christ,” Bobby hissed when the liquid spurted. Odis grasped his cock in the center and squeezed more firmly, feeling each pulse with his fingers. Bobby’s legs spasmed, unlocking his knees as he breathed harder, trying to suck in oxygen. Odis pushed him against the wall to keep him from falling as Bobby squirted again with another spasm while collapsing toward the floor.

  Odis kneeled down and kissed him, that warm fuzzy blanket feeling joining the high of the orgasm. Bobby twitched again as the final wave passed through. Odis pulled back and smiled. “You are so fuckin’ hot.”

  Bobby chuckled. “I’m hot?” he managed to say as his breathing leveled off. “Geez, the things you and Tuck do to me… I’m surprised I don’t have brain damage.” Bobby gazed over at Odis, noticing he looked ethereal in the swirling steamy mist. “You really are a leprechaun,” he said quietly.

  “Your leprechaun,” Odis replied as he leaned in for another deep kiss. Beyond the hissing of the steam jets, they didn’t hear the kitchen phone ring again as they shared their tongues.

  Bobby’s hand wandered down to Odis’s thigh, and he traced a finger higher up to stroke his balls. He pulled back far enough to say, “Your turn now.” He thought he heard Heim bark but ignored it as his fingers grasped even higher.

  Odis shook his head. “Not me. I’m savin’ up for the main event tonight. I figured yer still young enough ta have an extra in ya,” he said with a grin.

  “You’re only seven years older, Odie. I bet you have it in you.”

  Grasping Bobby’s shoulder, Odis gingerly pushed himself up from the floor. His hip popped audibly as he reached down to pull Bobby up. “Not today. Ya pretty much drained me out last night, if ya recall.”

  “Oh, I recall,” Bobby said with a grin as Odis punched the buttons to turn off the shower. “I think I’ll always recall last night.”

  They opened the shower door and Odis grabbed the towels. The bathroom seemed full of the faint smoky steam as they dried themselves. Odis grabbed their underwear off the floor as Bobby opened the bathroom door. The smoky steam also hung in a faint haze in the living room.

  Bobby started to ask if Odis had thought about installing a bathroom vent when he noticed the smell of something burning.

  “What the hell?” Odis swore as he pushed past Bobby. Heimdalla ran over, then raced to the sliding glass door and barked sharply once.

  The phone rang again. As Bobby wrapped himself up in the towel and ran to look out into the patio where Heim was pointing, Odis rushed into the kitchen and grabbed the receiver. “Hello?”

  “Odis,” Gertie nearly yelled, “get your butt out of there now!”

  Bobby noticed the haze seemed heavier outside in the patio area. “Odie, it looks like a fire.”

  “Be there in a few,” Odis barked before throwing the receiver back onto the hook of the wall phone.

  As Bobby rushed to his suitcase, Odis ran over and yanked open his dresser. They hurriedly pulled on clothes while Heim barked sharply again, sounding insistent. Odis ran to the kitchen drawer, but his keys weren’t in it. “Shit!” he cursed, l
ooking around for his dirty jeans. He found them as Bobby grabbed his own dirty clothes and stuffed them into his duffel bag. As Odis grabbed the keys from his used jeans pocket, Bobby slid open the door, and a pungent burning odor hit them. They raced up the stairs to the garage.

  The heavy haze lingered as striations of different colored layers in the nearly still air, a smelly brown fog. While Odis got the car out of the garage, Bobby ran up to the gate and punched the button. When Odis pulled up, Bobby didn’t even wait for the car to come to a complete stop before he yanked open the door and nearly dropped down on top of Heimdalla.

  “So much for a lazy morning in bed,” Odis lamented as he sped away toward the main road. They could hardly see a few hundred yards ahead in the smoke that seemed to be growing thicker.

  “Shit, what the hell’s burning?” Bobby asked. Under the aroma of wood, leaves, and grass that reminded Bobby of autumn lawn care, he could also smell that pungent plastic tang and other trash.

  “Smells like a grass fire. It’s been so dry this winter, wouldn’t take much to spark one off. Ya remembered yer phone?” Odis asked hopefully.

  Bobby nodded as he unzipped the duffel and dug the cell phone out of his dirty jeans pocket.

  “Call Tuck. He might know some details.”

  Bobby hit the Redial button and listened as the line rang a few times, then went over to voice mail. He hung up without leaving a message. “No answer,” he told Odis.

  “He’s prob’ly on the scene, then, wherever it is,” Odis replied as he drove as fast as he dared. With no wind, it was impossible to tell which direction the smoke was coming from, so they had no clue where the fire was. Odis worried they might be driving straight for it.

  He relaxed a little as the foggy haze got a bit thinner when they neared the main road.

  They left the smoke behind as Odis sped into town. He soon pulled into the B and B.

  Gertie greeted them at the door. “Geez, Odie, ya scared me half to death. Been callin’ all morning.”

  “Sorry, we were in the shower. Where’s the fire?”

  Gertie glanced down at Heim as if she didn’t quite approve of the dog being in the house, but she didn’t say anything. Heim just sat quietly at Bobby’s feet, looking alert.

  “Don’t know,” Gertie told them, motioning toward the dining room. “Chrystil at the sheriff’s called, said she tried to call ya for evacuation but got no answer. Was checking to see if ya might be here. There was some kinda explosion out by Route 7 and Aiken’s Road. The fire’s burnin’ south.”

  “Shit,” Odis hissed. “It’s headed straight for the house, then.”

  Bobby looked at Gertie as he sat in one of the dining chairs, keeping the duffel in his lap. “Was that about seven thirty this morning? Me and Heim sort of heard something.”

  “I guess, sounds about right.”

  Odis sat at the table. “Where’s Tuck? We tried callin’ him.”

  “I don’t know,” Gertie said. “Don’t know much, really. Just glad you boys got out of there in one piece.” She disappeared into the kitchen and returned with mugs of coffee.

  “I’ll call the sheriff’s,” Odis said as he stood again. “They should know more.”

  “Sit back down,” Gertie scolded. “You’ll do no such thing. I’m sure they’re too busy dealin’ with stuff to have pesterin’ calls clogging up the phone lines.”

  Bobby looked at Odis, feeling the same gut-twisting concern he saw on his lover’s face. “It’s his job,” he said aloud, not clear if he was trying to reassure Odis or himself. Heimdalla nestled up next to his leg and curled up on the floor. “Tuck’s good at his job, right?”

  “Right.”

  “Then he’s fine. I’m sure they train for this kinda thing all the time. We don’t even know if Tuck’s out there.”

  Odis nodded but still looked racked with worry as he sipped at his mug.

  Gertie patted Odis on the shoulder before she sat next to him. “And ya have insurance on the house, right? Ya can just rebuild, if need be.”

  “I ain’t worried about the fuckin’ house,” he said quietly.

  Gertie threw a glare at the language as she put down her mug and glanced quickly between the two men. “In the shower together, huh? So I guess it’s… more serious now?” Her gaze landed on Bobby.

  Bobby looked over at Odis, trying to read how much he should divulge.

  Odis cleared his throat. “Well, yes. And—a bit more complicated too.”

  “I see….” Gertie sipped from her mug. “How exactly is the matter complicated?”

  As Odis thought about Tuck again, his face squirreled with worry and he rose to his feet. “I’m calling—”

  “Odis Tyler! No yer not. Sit your ass back in that chair ’fore I tie you down.”

  Odis dropped his butt back into the seat.

  Bobby gazed at him with a tight smile he hoped was reassuring. “Tyler?”

  Gertie looked over at Bobby. “Odis Tyler Vorleik.”

  “Thanks, sis. Why don’cha just go spill all my secrets?”

  Bobby raised an eyebrow. “Oh? What secrets?” he asked teasingly.

  Gertie shook her head. “He don’t have any, I don’t think. Just lives out there like a monk in a monastery.”

  Odis got a pained expression on his face. “Oh fuck,” he said and then glanced furtively at Gertie, but she didn’t scold him as she got up and went back into the kitchen.

  “What?” Bobby asked as he reached down and petted Heim.

  “That last inscription from Nathan. It’s still written down at the house, and I don’t remember it,” Odis told him with a frown.

  “Not any of it?”

  “It’s one of those poem puzzles that doesn’t make much sense. Somethin’ about a bird’s nest is all I remember.”

  “Bird’s nest?” Bobby shook his head. “Doesn’t mean a damn thing to me.”

  “Sorry. Just hope it dudn’t burn up. It’s not a fireproof filing cabinet.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Bobby told him. “Wait, isn’t it on a computer printout? Maybe Gertie still has the original,” he asked. He didn’t really care about Nate’s message, but he welcomed anything that provided even a moment of distraction from the anxiety of waiting.

  Odis lit up. “Hey, Gert,” he yelled out. “Ya still have my computer orders from October last year?”

  Gertie stepped just inside the dining room, her hands covered with flour. “Sure. I save all that stuff. Why ya askin’?”

  “Could I get a copy?”

  “Right now?” Gertie asked as she glanced back at the bread dough on the counter. “Well, give me a sec.” She disappeared back into the kitchen.

  Odis leaned forward and quietly whispered, “While we’re gone, try Tuck’s cell again.”

  Bobby nodded.

  Gertie returned with clean hands, and Odis followed her into the office.

  When they left, Bobby retrieved his phone from the duffel bag and tried Tuck’s number again. This time, it only rang once before kicking to voice mail. He hesitated but decided to end the call without a message.

  Returning a few minutes later with a printout, Odis watched as Bobby gave a curt negatory shake while Gertie passed through on her way back to the kitchen.

  “Come here, dog,” she called from the doorway. “Let’s get you outside for a bit.”

  Heim sat up and looked at Bobby. “Go on, you can play outside,” Bobby told her. She perked her ears at the word “outside,” then followed Gertie into the kitchen and out the back door.

  “Dumb dog,” Odis said as he put the paper in front of Bobby and pointed to the bottom. “Here it is.”

  Bobby looked over the note in the inscription box.

  turn around the sine, fluff the feathers and freshen the nest

  treasure Be un-mined, upon our Early Day of the past

  Bobby just laughed as he read it. “Nathan Price. You are a bastard.”

  Odis frowned down. “Doesn’t mean anything f
or ya?”

  “Not a goddamn thing,” Bobby nearly spit out. “You take a crack at it—you managed to figure out the last one.” He pushed the page across the table at Odis.

  Odis carefully read over the poem but couldn’t concentrate on it. His thoughts kept getting commandeered with fears over Tuck’s safety. “I’m callin’ the department,” he told Bobby very quietly as he took out his wallet and fished out the ratty business card.

  They exchanged tense glances as Bobby slid his cell phone across the table to Odis.

  In a voice loud enough to be heard in the next room, Odis declared, “Let me think about this note a minute. I’m gonna take a walk outside.”

  “Okay,” Bobby agreed a bit loudly. He also stood when Odis did, taking the coffee mugs as Odis made his exit.

  Bobby just stood at the table with the mugs in his hands. His guts churned. He hated this feeling of apprehension and waiting. And even more, he hated being forced to feel it all again.

  Why in hell was he? Technically he’d only met Tucker Krickson less than twenty-four hours ago, so why the fuck should he care so much already? So deeply?

  Not only did these feelings suck, they didn’t make the least bit of sense. Love at first sight was mostly fairy-tale nonsense—he was lucky enough to have found it once with Nathan. Or, maybe not lucky. Considering that Nate was a goddamn psychic and all, it was likely Nathan “saw” Bobby ahead of time and tracked him down. It only felt like magic from his end.

  And here he was again, waiting helplessly to hear the fate of someone else. And once again, it was Nathan’s fault.

  He finally turned to the doorway. Before Bobby even stepped into the kitchen, he could hear slapping and pounding noises. He walked in to find Gertie with a huge mass of bread dough, which she seemed to be beating to death. “You do homemade bread?” he asked over her shoulder.

  Gertie jumped slightly at the sound of his voice. “Goodness, ya startled me.” She looked over when Bobby went to the coffee pot. “Yeah, not usually so much, though. Kinda got carried away this mornin’,” she said with a shrug before turning back to pushing and pounding at the bouncy mass.