Renee Stevens Studly Ranch Hands By Renee Stevens

[Headstall]

I had the same thought as Gary. They had showers after walking home from the dinner and before they drank the beers. Marc would never have bought more beer if Casey was already obviously drunk by the end of their meal, and he would have noticed if Casey had washed down three beers before his shower. I was thinking Casey had four beers and Marc two.

 

And I'll maintain that Casey's reaction might have been understandable if Marc was a stranger who had picked him up in a bar. But a long time friend ? Someone who had either never said he's gay, or had never made any advances even if he was out to Casey and attracted to him. The freak out I can forgive, even though it's stupid, but the refusal to talk and the hurtful name-calling and accusations are another matter.

With my buds, and brothers, we have a code. If there's a six-pack one of us would never drink more than three... it's just not done... but that's my world. I guess Marc could have insisted Casey drink more... the thing is these are cowboys, and as friends, they must have had beers together lots of times. If Casey was a lightweight, it would be well known, and it doesn't seem like they drank enough for a straight guy to become someone different and bottom for his best friend... but enough to let go of his inhibitions and let his real feelings out... Casey protests too much... and that makes me think he's in denial, and couldn't face what he did in the light of day... easiest thing is blame the other guy... convenient...

[Timothy M.]

Casey protests too much... and that makes me think he's in denial, and couldn't face what he did in the light of day... easiest thing is blame the other guy... convenient...

 

You nailed it, buddy. this it exactly what I felt too.

[Krista]

I don't know. I think Casey is well within reason to be as angry as he is over what happened. It is one thing for that to happen, like say, with a stranger. Someone that you have zero connection and established trust with than a friend. Marc was his best friend and didn't stop the sexual encounter from happening between them. If you cannot trust your best friend to stop something like that (and we know as readers that he wanted to, knew he should) then you have terrible friends. Marc was a terrible friend and who knows how badly that scarred Casey, who may or may not be in denial about who he is. We don't even know if Casey is gay or straight, bi-sexual, or bi-curious. Or even on the fence or in turmoil about who he is as a person.

 

Casey didn't have his trust and his body taken by a complete stranger. A friend did that to him. So the fallout would be a lot worse and I think we've seen quite the fallout between them. 

 

So for now, until we 'do' know what Casey is thinking, no amount of reasoning that I can think of, is good for Marc's situation here. 

Edited October 25, 2016 by Krista

[Timothy M.]

I agree we'll have to wait for Casey's explanation before we make up our minds about him. But I still reject the theory of Marc taking advantage, and calling him a terrible friend is pretty harsh. We're not talking about him raping a guy who's in a drunken stupor, but two guys actively making love as far as Marc described it. I bet he would have stopped any time if Casey suddenly became uncomfortable or said no.

 

And why is Casey excused from refusing to talk to Marc for two months and harassing him because he made a mistake while drunk, but Marc is the bad guy for letting his emotions get away with him while drunk. He was the one having his heart broken when his friend said awful things to him when they woke, and he has tried to make amends, before he finally gave up.

[Timothy M.]

I have to say I mostly agree with Carlos, Marc should stay away from Casey. On the other hand, maybe the rewards of being a better man and more forgiving than us will be worth it. But does Casey really understand what he has put Marc through with his behavior? And is he truly able to change?

[Headstall]

I have to say I mostly agree with Carlos, Marc should stay away from Casey. On the other hand, maybe the rewards of being a better man and more forgiving than us will be worth it. But does Casey really understand what he has put Marc through with his behavior? And is he truly able to change?

I understand why you think that, but what stands out for me is that Marc was the one who caused Casey to drop all those guards in the first place... like Marc said, he was for sure right with him for round two and three! To me, to go with what Casey himself said, the reaction of Casey's was not just fueled by guilt and self-hate, but also because he feels so strongly for Marc... dare I say, loves him. If it had been a random guy, I believe his reaction wouldn't have been so disturbing... every time he saw Marc, he was reminded of how much he wanted him, despite his conviction to not give in to being gay. That struggle, by itself, is a huge one... and as readers, we know Marc has very strong feelings for Casey... or at least he did... do you not give that a chance if you're Marc? Just saying... I'm a romantic, and that's no secret   .

Edited October 26, 2016 by Headstall

[Krista]

Well.. I don't want to shoot Casey in the left butt cheek after this chapter... it would be like shooting a whipped puppy. 

 

I like that everything is now out on the table and we don't have to speculate where either of their heads are. So... great! I don't feel as conflicted on who's side I'm on anymore either. Marc was a fault for things - albeit minor in comparison. Casey was in all out war with himself and that escalated to include Marc. I say, Casey finally sprawled his ass out at rock bottom though. He'll have to do a lot of growing to get back up from this. He has a lot to prove and a lot of people to prove himself with 

 

I just see that maybe - after all the crap and dust has settled - this was the beginning of a turning point. At least, to the point where Casey and Marc will no longer stand in direct conflict with one another with their jobs and quietly, their social lives.

 

The damage has definitely been done. It will be quite the climb for trust to be there again.

 

Great great great chapter, Renee!  

[Carlos Hazday]

Sorry Krista, but I'm not sure how anyone could think Marc holds any resposibility for what happened. I could see Casey feeling bad the morning after because he's a self-hating homophobe, but to carry on for a year afterwards? Making his friend's life miserable? He's a coward and deserves zero sympathy.

[Krista]

Sorry Krista, but I'm not sure how anyone could think Marc holds any resposibility for what happened. I could see Casey feeling bad the morning after because he's a self-hating homophobe, but to carry on for a year afterwards? Making his friend's life miserable? He's a coward and deserves zero sympathy.

 

No. I see the fault in 'how' he went about doing it the night after. What I don't see fault in.. is his why. People are different, obviously they'll react to things like this differently. It took himself getting shitfaced to finally own up to his feelings for Marc. So it is only natural, that in the sobering light of day, those conflicts that the alcohol put to bed for awhile, would resurface.

 

Not only did he now have to meet Marc face to face.. eye to eye... he had to do that himself. He couldn't do that. It doesn't make him cowardice, it makes him human. You shouldn't belittle someone for having such inner turmoil and struggles with themselves.

 

You can take fault with their actions, but I think he does deserve sympathy, because not everyone knows who they are and there are those who have a hate in them when they don't see eye to eye with who they are and who they want to be. I couldn't imagine that being a good place to be for a person.

 

With that said, and like I said before - he needs to do a lot more soul searching and prove to himself and with the people around them that he has grown. That he doesn't necessarily dislike or hate himself anymore. Both of them should be careful moving forward, I think moving too fast would only relapse them back into the mess they were/are in.

Edited October 27, 2016 by Krista

[Carlos Hazday]

No. I see the fault in 'how' he went about doing it the night after. What I don't see fault in.. is his why. People are different, obviously they'll react to things like this differently. It took himself getting shitfaced to finally own up to his feelings for Marc. So it is only natural, that in the sobering light of day, those conflicts that the alcohol put to bed for awhile, would resurface.

 

Not only did he now have to meet Marc face to face.. eye to eye... he had to do that himself. He couldn't do that. It doesn't make him cowardice, it makes him human. You shouldn't belittle someone for having such inner turmoil and struggles with themselves.

 

You can take fault with their actions, but I think he does deserve sympathy, because not everyone knows who they are and there are those who have a hate in them when they don't see eye to eye with who they are and who they want to be. I couldn't imagine that being a good place to be for a person.

 

With that said, and like I said before - he needs to do a lot more soul searching and prove to himself and with the people around them that he has grown. That he doesn't necessarily dislike or hate himself anymore. Both of them should be careful moving forward, I think moving too fast would only relapse them back into the mess they were/are in.

 

We'll have to agree to disagree.

 

1. Alcohol is never, ever a valid excuse. If anyone doubts my assertion, they should talk to a rape victim or two. I'm certain most of myt female friends and a good number of male ones would pounce on me if I ever said "but I was drunk."

 

2. Inner turmoil my butt. When I went through that phase, I talked to my best friend unitl five in the morning (bless you Michael) and he's straight! Casey knew Marc was gay, they were best of friends but he can't talk to him? Instead he plots to get him in bed.

 

3. Which brings me to the next point: He's a coward. He couldn't face himself or his desires so he plots to drink and lure Marc into having sex with him. I'm not a lawyer but that sounds like premeditation to me.

 

4. If all that wasn't enough, when Marc agrees to see him, he takes advantage of the man being inmobile and as soon as he closes his eyes Casaey kisses him without permission. Sounds like sexual assault to me. Which by the way, happens to be against GA policy. Or is that also excused by his weakness and confussion?

 

I honestly have no idea where Renee will take the story, but if those two end up together, I'll be extremely disappointed. There's no justification for what Casey's done. He's a coward and a scumbag.Men like him, gay, straight or whatever, give the rest of us a bad rep.

[Krista]

We'll have to agree to disagree.

 

1. Alcohol is never, ever a valid excuse. If anyone doubts my assertion, they should talk to a rape victim or two. I'm certain most of myt female friends and a good number of male ones would pounce on me if I ever said "but I was drunk."

 

2. Inner turmoil my butt. When I went through that phase, I talked to my best friend unitl five in the morning (bless you Michael) and he's straight! Casey knew Marc was gay, they were best of friends but he can't talk to him? Instead he plots to get him in bed.

 

3. Which brings me to the next point: He's a coward. He couldn't face himself or his desires so he plots to drink and lure Marc into having sex with him. I'm not a lawyer but that sounds like premeditation to me.

 

4. If all that wasn't enough, when Marc agrees to see him, he takes advantage of the man being inmobile and as soon as he closes his eyes Casaey kisses him without permission. Sounds like sexual assault to me. Which by the way, happens to be against GA policy. Or is that also excused by his weakness and confussion?

 

I honestly have no idea where Renee will take the story, but if those two end up together, I'll be extremely disappointed. There's no justification for what Casey's done. He's a coward and a scumbag.Men like him, gay, straight or whatever, give the rest of us a bad rep.

 

1. So are you saying that Alcohol doesn't make people do what they wouldn't typically do? Also, are you calling Casey the would be.. "rapist" or person taking advantage of the other? Now that we know Casey used Alcohol to quell his fears, fine. He didn't use the alcohol to break down Marc's resolve. He used it to break down his own. Neither of them were unwilling participants, it is just one had to drink a substantial amount of alcohol in order to bring himself to that level of participation. If the beer wasn't there - it wouldn't have happened. Since it did, alcohol was definitely a factor. Maybe not the defining factor, but an influential one to say the least.

 

2. People go through different levels of acceptance. Just because you, personally, got over your own turmoil in a manner more beneficial and in an acceptable way.. doesn't mean every one does. To say that you are somehow better or braver for handling a similar situation is the very definition of belittling someone's feelings. Best of friends means little to someone who outwardly cannot accept themselves. It doesn't mean anything if the very best friend already went through it. If one cannot bring themselves to even "think" or "talk" about what they're experiencing w/out extreme measures, then they're not going to extend that beyond themselves.

 

3. He wasn't plotting to seduce Marc into bed. He was drinking as a sort of mechanism to finally cross a line with himself. The pre-meditation didn't have anything to do with Marc. Marc was just the person he wanted to have the experience with because he knew Marc would be more willing as a gay man and not a stranger where hey may or may not have to guess their intentions.

 

4. Casey makes bad decisions. Marc makes bad decisions as well. The kiss wasn't forcing himself onto Marc. It was more or less a way of Casey telling Marc that he was okay with moving forward. It wasn't the smoothest of moves, but the one thing that Casey couldn't do the next morning when he was more sober was to allow Marc to kiss him... so in a way, he was showing Marc that he had taken so many steps forward towards acceptance and wouldn't be a problem moving forward.

 

--

 

I see them getting together. Maybe because I can look past the actions and see the motives behind what Casey was doing. He was trying to find himself, but in doing so he went about it in a way that wasn't healthy for himself or for the people around him. That shouldn't be easily forgiven, but you have to also see that.. for whatever he is worth, that also wasn't Casey being his truest self. Now that he is working towards that, you have to build him up with those different merits too. If they overshadow what he was before - then why couldn't they be a happy and stable couple for one another?

Edited October 27, 2016 by Krista

[Carlos Hazday]

As I said, we'll have to agree to disagree.

 

Alcohol does affect behavior but it's NEVER a valid excuse. And I'm nothing special, trust me. At 22, my head was so far up my ass I could see my stomach.

 

An uninvited kiss is sexual misconduct. At least in my book. Maybe the rules are different in other parts of the country. Considering the permissive environment I live in, I'm surprised I'm the one advocating for the rights of sexual assault victims!

 

The only thing Marc's done wrong is not smacking Casey.

[Renee Stevens]

WOW! I knew this story would cause some passionate responses, but not to this extent. I am glad to see that there are members that are advocating for both Marc and Casey. Things have been crazy here and so I haven't been able to comment as much as I would like to, and I'm still trying to get caught up on reviews. But I did want to say this, I can completely understand the negative reactions that Casey is getting. We haven't really seen a "good" side of Casey to this point. He hasn't had the best behavior. He's made some idiotic mistakes that could have turned out much worse than they have.

 

I will say, that when I wrote the kiss in, I was thinking much like Krista. Casey had previously flipped out when Marc tried to kiss him, and that's Casey's way of showing Marc that he wants to try to and move forward. Did he go about it in the best way? No, and I won't say he did, but at the same time, I will defend Casey, simply because I know what is coming. Is Casey beyond redemption? Each individual reader has to make that call for themselves.

 

I think part of the problem is, we really only see things from Marc's perspective. In the first part of Studly Ranch Hands, I didn't want to shift back and forth between various characters POV's. But at the same time, I want people to know Casey's POV, and how Casey feels about what happened. That's hard to do when we never see into his head like we do Marc's and when we only see Casey when he's with Marc.

 

It's easy to hate Casey at this point, because all we see is what he "does" and what he "verbally" tells us. That will change with Part II.

 

Yes, this is a multi-part story, but don't worry, it will all be posted together under the title Studly Ranch Hands. For the story we have:

 

Part 1: Marc's POV

Intermission: Outside POV (neither Marc nor Casey)

Part 2: Casey's POV

 

All I can ask from my readers at this point is that they give me until partway through Part 2 before they fully make up their minds about Casey.

[Headstall]

WOW! I knew this story would cause some passionate responses, but not to this extent. I am glad to see that there are members that are advocating for both Marc and Casey. Things have been crazy here and so I haven't been able to comment as much as I would like to, and I'm still trying to get caught up on reviews. But I did want to say this, I can completely understand the negative reactions that Casey is getting. We haven't really seen a "good" side of Casey to this point. He hasn't had the best behavior. He's made some idiotic mistakes that could have turned out much worse than they have.

 

I will say, that when I wrote the kiss in, I was thinking much like Krista. Casey had previously flipped out when Marc tried to kiss him, and that's Casey's way of showing Marc that he wants to try to and move forward. Did he go about it in the best way? No, and I won't say he did, but at the same time, I will defend Casey, simply because I know what is coming. Is Casey beyond redemption? Each individual reader has to make that call for themselves.

 

I think part of the problem is, we really only see things from Marc's perspective. In the first part of Studly Ranch Hands, I didn't want to shift back and forth between various characters POV's. But at the same time, I want people to know Casey's POV, and how Casey feels about what happened. That's hard to do when we never see into his head like we do Marc's and when we only see Casey when he's with Marc.

 

It's easy to hate Casey at this point, because all we see is what he "does" and what he "verbally" tells us. That will change with Part II.

 

Yes, this is a multi-part story, but don't worry, it will all be posted together under the title Studly Ranch Hands. For the story we have:

 

Part 1: Marc's POV

Intermission: Outside POV (neither Marc nor Casey)

Part 2: Casey's POV

 

All I can ask from my readers at this point is that they give me until partway through Part 2 before they fully make up their minds about Casey.

After the last chapter I'm more or less in both their corners... now that the truth is out they'll each have to decide what they want and how much it's worth to them... loving the story

[Timothy M.]

I'm guessing the next chapters will be Marc and Casey talking more and getting to know each other. Casey should hear Marc's coming out story and we also want to know what happened afterwards and whether Marc has ever contacted his (former) family. Casey should face and talk about the reasons why he has so much fear and denial, and it's probably related to his family and friends, but perhaps more. Did he see an openly gay guy get harassed or something?

Even if they never get back together, at least Casey won't make the same mistake again. I'm glad Marc is honest about not being able to forget even ifhe tries to forgive, and how his trust may never return. Guilt and pain are not a good foundation for a friendship, let alone a relationship. Giving Casey another chance to redeem himself is a big deal, when Marc has been rejected for months.

[Headstall]

I'm guessing the next chapters will be Marc and Casey talking more and getting to know each other. Casey should hear Marc's coming out story and we also want to know what happened afterwards and whether Marc has ever contacted his (former) family. Casey should face and talk about the reasons why he has so much fear and denial, and it's probably related to his family and friends, but perhaps more. Did he see an openly gay guy get harassed or something?

Even if they never get back together, at least Casey won't make the same mistake again. I'm glad Marc is honest about not being able to forget even ifhe tries to forgive, and how his trust may never return. Guilt and pain are not a good foundation for a friendship, let alone a relationship. Giving Casey another chance to redeem himself is a big deal, when Marc has been rejected for months.

I agree... and I like when characters talk honestly. This was an open and honest talk between the pair, and that is what is needed. This isn't the time for misunderstandings. They've had enough of that .

[Headstall]

Great chapter. I loved the progression it showed. Casey seems to be handling his fears... not letting them rule him or make him do or say something stupid or damaging... was this the calm before the storm?