After The Past - 2. Chapter 2

After The Past

Chapter 2

You might be interested to know that since the population had been reduced and there is now so little man-made pollution, the earth has responded, and the weather has righted itself. No more freak storms or winds, and crops and animals seem to be responding normally.

In the early morning I walked out to the wheat field to check on the crop; it was winter wheat. It was still small and green, but it would grow and turn gold as it ripened in the warm brightness of the sun. I picked and chewed some noting it was a few months away from being ready for harvest. So far, the weather had been nearly perfect for my wheat crop.

I went back home to wake Jae. I thought we’d take a walk over to the Petersen place and see if we can trade for milk, and help with the harvest, while we await the birth of our new calf. We can offer our services to our neighbor in exchange for dairy products. As well, I can talk to Jae and see if he wants to stay or move on. If he chooses to stay there are things he needs to agree to—but I don’t think they’ll be an issue.

After knocking softly and receiving no reply, I opened the door to his room slowly. He was still in bed asleep. I leaned on the doorframe and observed him at rest. He was a beautiful young man and I’m afraid my thoughts weren’t the purest.

Yesterday when he’d embraced me and offered oral sex and more, refusing him had been difficult.

I sat on the bed, still watching Jae. I wanted to reach out and push his chestnut hair off his face, run my finger down the crooked nose, and stroke his soft pink lips with a gentle fingertip. He turned in his sleep, disturbed by me, thus exposing his neck—I wanted to touch it; kiss it, drink in his scent—what made him uniquely Jae. As he’d turned over I was graced with a glimpse of a sweet tan nipple, a taut bicep and a sexy shoulder. If I leaned over I could see his back and the well-defined backbone.

When I turned back to rouse him, he was already awake and watching me ogle him. I could feel myself blush from my breastbone upwards.

Jae turned onto his back and smiled at me. “Morning, David.” He reached out then and rubbed my thigh.

I gently removed his hand. “I need you to get up. There’re chores and I want to go over to Petersen’s, and I’d like you to come with me.”

Jae sat up, rubbed the disappointment from his eyes, and said, “Okay, Dave. I’ll get up and be downstairs in a few minutes.”

In the kitchen while I started breakfast, I could still feel Jae’s hand on my leg—like I’d been burned. I leaned on the counter and took a few deep breaths—having another person with me was proving more difficult than I’d thought. No that wasn’t it; having a sexually attractive young man around was difficult. I knew I could take him to bed; he wouldn’t refuse because he felt he owed me. That’s not what I wanted, however. I wanted a connection, feelings—love maybe, but at least affection.

We ate quickly with breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs, pickled vegetables and bread. After collecting eggs, milking, and feeding all the animals, we locked up and started to walk to Petersen’s place. We took along a jar of strawberry jam to give them.

Petersen’s was a much larger concern than mine and people came to trade with him directly. We walked along the road, and I pointed out fields of grain to Jae, the hay and pastures for cattle. Our neighbor had horses too, and that was something else I wanted to discuss with Petersen. As well, Barry had a number of hands working for him. Money meant nothing now and people worked for food, shelter, and protection.

Jae hadn’t said much as we walked along the empty two-lane road and then up the long driveway at Petersen’s. I’d hoped he would talk, as walking often induces that in people. It hadn’t in this case however, so I decided not to push him just yet. Some things need to be worked out in your own head before you can talk about them.

As we got closer, Jae’s pace slowed a little and I gently slapped him on the back to let him know he wasn’t alone. “Listen, Barry’s a good man. He runs this place with his two boys. His wife was killed many years ago and now he takes in folks to help him run the place. They are good people here. You can trust them.”

Jae answered me with a small smile. I don’t think trust was something that came easily to him, but I didn’t blame him for that. We walked into the farmyard proper and I noticed Jae check out the difference in the two farms.

“Dave, could we have one of those?” Jae pulled me along to Barry’s very large vegetable garden.

I grew a few things, but often I could barter with Barry rather than growing many vegetables, but I figured we could expand the garden a little. “Sure, I guess we could grow a few more things.”

I smiled to myself. I liked the we references.

“That would be good, wouldn’t it?” He held my hand in his. It felt good and it felt right.

“Yes, it would.” I grinned at him and his enthusiasm.

He turned to me and kissed me impulsively, and I returned it—and then pulled him closer. I leaned into his neck and groaned softly.

Jae clung on to me and I didn’t exactly let him go—we shared the embrace. We were going to have to talk about this. I shook my head internally who was I kidding? I didn’t want to talk about it; I wanted to do something about it. Just like I’m sure Jae did. I whispered to him, “Come on. Let’s go see Barry and then go home. I think there’s something you and I need to do.”

Jae stepped back with lust in his eyes and a smirk on his lips. “You mean—so like we’re gonna ….”

I stared into his brown eyes and said yes. “But first we need to finish here.” With that I pulled him along to the main house.

Barry Petersen was wiry and tough, but he was gentle with his animals and his neighbors. He and his two boys, Joe and Terry, were just finishing up their late breakfast when I knocked on the door and entered the house.

“Dave! Come on in. Do you want a cup of coffee?” Petersen walked toward me, with a smile and a nod at Jae. “Who’s this?”

“Barry, this is Jae. I—um, found him a couple of days ago. He needed a bit of a rescue.”

Barry shook hands with Jae, who smiled shyly.

“Coffee, Jae? Help yourself to whatever you’d like from the table while Dave and I chat.”

Jae turned to me questioningly; I just nodded and indicated he should do as asked. So he went over to the food-laden table and sat down with a fresh muffin. I could hear Joe and Terry welcoming him.

My neighbor and I went out to the porch and sat.

A few minutes later, Terry, Barry’s youngest son, stuck his head out the door. “Hey, it’s nice to see you.” He smiled sweetly. “Would you like some coffee, Dave?”

“No, thank you, Terry.” I returned the smile; he’s a terrific young man. “Had a few at home.”

“How about you, Dad?”

“No, Ter. Thanks, son.”

“Okay.”

Terry closed the door quietly. He’d seemed a bit disappointed.

Petersen leaned back, legs stretched before him. “You know Dave, it’s good having two sons all grown up now. I can do just a little less.” He smiled at me. “So. What can I help with?”

I explained about the harvest, the horses and the cow, and asked about getting some milk from him.

Barry smiled. “That shouldn’t be an issue, Dave. Maybe Jae can come and weed the vegetable garden for me and care for the chickens in exchange for some milk. Does that work?”

“Yeah, that works, assuming Jae is staying. I haven’t asked him or discussed it with him.”

“He’s a handsome boy.” Barry eyed me. “You want him to stay, I’m guessing.”

“I’d like to explore the possibility. It’s been a long time since there’s been anyone in my life.”

Barry shook his head. “I still miss my wife. And since there’s a shortage of women, I guess I’ll be on my own. I can’t see me getting with a man, myself. But I get the need to want to have someone.”

I just nodded. I never really thought about my orientation much. I mean, I’ve slept with women and men and enjoyed the company of both, but if I’m honest I prefer the company of men over women. I’d never married, and few people bother anymore because so many died during the IRV pandemic that for a while, depending where you lived, you never saw anyone, let alone had the chance to start a relationship. And people have been leaving the cities because food has run out, water isn’t available and it’s dangerous. Cities were overrun with gangs of men who didn’t want to do the work required to survive—why bother when you can just take it.

Seems a lot of the smaller places are filling up again and people are returning to the land to learn to raise livestock and crops.

Barry’s voice roused me from my daydreams. “Dave, let’s go have a look at the horses.”

I blinked. “Yeah, great.” I pulled open the screen door and motioned for Jae to follow us.

Even after some great detailed information about horses from Barry, I still was unsure, but he lent me a book and said I should read it before making a decision.

And as much as Barry said he was happy to have some free time, I knew our visit was holding him back, so I thanked him, accepted the small bag of fresh vegetables he’d gifted us with, and Jae and I started our walk home.

As we walked, Jae slid his hand into mine and I turned to him and smiled but stayed quiet. I wanted him to talk to me. At about the halfway mark, he did.

“I liked Barry’s sons.”

“They’re good guys.”

“Yeah they are. Umm, you think maybe Terry is Gay? Joe sure isn’t.”

I was surprised. “Gay? No. No he’s not Gay. What made you think that?”

“Oh, just that he seems pretty into … well, you.”

I laughed. “No. He’s a sweet kid.”

We walked on, in silence. Now and again we bumped shoulders. To be honest I wasn’t sure how innocent those bumps were.

“Dave? Is everything okay?”

“Sure it is, Jae. Why do you ask?”

“Just that you’re quiet.” Jae pulled me to a stop and took a step closer, sliding his arms around me. “I like you.”

Oh God I liked this—him—as well. But this had to be for the right reasons. I just wasn’t sure why. Yeah I was, but I didn’t want to be just another bastard in his life like that trucker.

I met his eyes, I wanted him to like me, wanted him to stay with me. I simply kissed him lightly and then kept moving.

We arrived home after a very quiet walk, and once I’d closed and locked the door, Jae was there, pressed against me, kissing me passionately. My body responded to his advances immediately, but I knew I couldn’t get carried away and I held him away from me by his slim shoulders.

“Don’t you like me, Dave?” He was pouting, but his eyes were full of mischief.

“I like you. But ….”

“But what? Let’s go to bed; I want to be with you.”

I gave up then. Here was this younger, very hot and sexy man, pressed against me. I felt his erection hard on my thigh and there was no going back. I pulled him upstairs into my bedroom. I kissed him hard, and I was hungry for what he was going to give me. We pulled off our clothes and he glanced down and then back to my eyes.

“You’re so hard, Dave.”

He dropped to his knees in front of me and my dick throbbed harder. He glanced up as he took it in his hand. I hissed through my teeth.

I groaned and told him I wouldn’t last long.

Smiling, he pulled at my balls gently and said, “You will the second time.” Just a few minutes later I came in his sweet hot mouth.

We crawled into bed after that. I held him close and we kissed like kids. I pushed him onto his back and ran my hands over his beautiful body. He squirmed as I tickled his belly and moaned when I stroked his hard cock. After a few minutes of loving from my hand, I took him in my mouth and sucked him until he came, thrusting into my mouth. I smiled at him and licked my lips.

“Mmm, you’re delicious.”

He blushed and pulled the sheet over us both.

I drew him into my arms. “Jae, we need to talk.”

“Oh, Dave, can’t we just fool around. What’s to talk about?”

I chuckled. “I guess I need to know how you feel; what you want from me.”

“Do you mean if I plan to stay?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Then the answer is yes. I’d like to stay. I like you. I want to sleep with you, help you … I don’t know maybe get to where we love each other.”

I craned my head around to find his eyes. “Seriously? That’s what you want?”

Jae grinned, and then took on a reflective look, “Yeah. That’s what I want. I know I’m not very old Dave, but I like you and in time I hope that will change to something more.”

I leaned closer and kissed him softly. “I like that idea, and I like you too.”

“One thing though, okay? While we’re getting to that place, can I sleep with you?” He rolled on top of me. “I’m young and horny, and I say let’s fuck as much as we want.”

As I kissed him, I ran my hands over his sweet body and gripped his ass in both hands. His smiled could have lit up the room when I agreed. “Okay, yeah, we’ll do that.”

“Finally! Come on then, we’ve got time before chores.”

And we did.

Next thing I knew, Jae was waking me up with a cup of tea. I sat up and sipped the drink. “Thanks. Sorry, I must have nodded off. What’s the time?”

Jae giggled: “It’s nearly 7pm.”

“What! Damn, you should have woken me. There’s chores and Jessy. Shit!”

“Dave … Dave. It’s okay. I did everything.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Really?”

“Yes, Dave. It’s all done and I’ve started dinner.”

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and pulled on my jeans. Standing, I took Jae into my arms and kissed him. “Thank you. For everything, this afternoon, for the chores—I mean it Jae.”

He hugged me as I spoke, and it felt so right.

“I know you do, Dave.”

We went downstairs and supper sure smelled delicious.

“What did you make?”

Jae grinned. “Well, I hope you’ll like it. It’s one of those egg and vegetable pies. Hope that’s okay—we had a lotta eggs.”

“Oh, you mean quiche. Sure, it’s fine, there were lots of eggs.” I smiled at him. “And who am I to complain when you made dinner for me?”

The pie was crustless, but delicious, and we ate it with a couple of slices of bread and butter, washed down with nice cool milk.

Our life just went on and now we were together—a couple. Jessy had given birth to a little bull calf. I wasn’t sure what I’d do with him. If we slaughtered him at six months, it would still be a lot of meat to cure and dry. Whatever we decided, we had milk again now but Jae decided to continue on working with Barry. He liked the work and the extra food Barry plied him with.

Jae was sweet and affectionate but there was a lot more to him than just being a hot sexy guy. He was smart—intelligent—and a lot tougher than he appeared. Over the last few months, he seemed to grow within himself; he was more confident and self-assured. To me that was very attractive. In addition, he put on muscle and regular decent meals meant he shed his scrawniness—he was fit young man now. It was nothing for him to spend a morning chopping wood for our stove and fire.

Those were great changes, and our relationship changed too. We grew into a couple, equal in most things, and while our sexlife was better than I ever had hoped, it was the other things I’d grown to cherish. The little things; the glances and smiles, the little touches around the house, chores we do for each other, washing each other’s backs, things like that. And we’d taken to reading before sleeping, well I read to him, but it was nice just lying in bed together; it felt so right.

The day things started to change for the worse, began with Jae chopping wood. I sat out on the back porch prepping some green beans and I watched Jae working. His muscles moved under his sun-darkened skin. It was warm and soon he was sweating freely. I didn’t mind; it was a nice view.

He stopped and propped the axe against the stump we chopped on. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he walked to me, grinning broadly. “Need some water.”

I dipped the chipped mug into a bucket of water and held it up to him. Jae drank it all down and then bent down and kissed me. It started off as a peck but developed into something more, hotter and more intense. He moved the basket of beans onto the porch floor and pulled me up. Now his arms were around me, pulling me against his hard body and his tongue pressing against mine. We were both panting when we broke apart.

He pulled me back though and nuzzled my neck. Soft as a breeze on a hot summer day I heard him whisper, “I love you, David.”

I pulled away a little and touched his sweet face. “Do you?”

Grinning, he just nodded.

How did I feel? We’d become so very close. I reached up and stroked his cheek. “I love you too.”

Jae just grunted and smiled. He pushed me back down and picked up the green beans, handed them to me, and gave me a peck on the cheek. He walked back to the stump, picked up the axe and started to chop again. Huh.

I finished the beans and had taken them into the kitchen when I heard voices. Not raised, just conversation, but it scared me—we rarely saw other people. I’d been stupid the last time we’d been out in the truck, and left the rifle there.

Then I heard Jae swear and I quickly grabbed another axe that sat in the mudroom and went out into the yard.

Jae was talking to a man who sat astride a large yellow-colored horse. It was a pretty thing.

The man glanced at me and the axe, and Jae saw the concern on my face—he held up a calming hand to me and the stranger. “David, it’s okay. I just got stung by a bee. It’s okay. This is Jim. He’s passing through but wondered if he could share some water, and he’s got some berries to trade.”

Not taking my eyes from the man, I told Jae to go ahead. Jim dismounted and led his beast to water. The animal drank deeply, now and then raising its streaming muzzle from the trough.

Jim left the animal to graze under a tree in the yard, returned to Jae and gave him a bag full of blueberries. Jae and the stranger walked toward me, and Jae said he’d make some coffee.

The man didn’t seem to be more than what he was, so I invited him to sit on the porch.

“Thank you. I’ve been in the saddle for a few days now. I’m heading north up to Canada.”

“Why is that?”

“I stopped for water but also I have news. There’s a large gang of men, burning and thieving, coming this way. I saw them and what they can do and it wasn’t pretty. I’m tired of trouble mister, so I saddled Pedro there and started on my way. I saw your smoke and thought maybe you might share a little water and I’d share the news. Sorry it ain’t better.”

I just stared at Jim. Run, run, run, I screamed in my head, I didn’t want to run but I also didn’t want to die.

I got to my feet and put my hand out. Jim shook it. “Thank you. You’re welcome to unsaddle Pedro and spend the night if you like. Dinner comes with that too.”

“I’d be grateful.”

I just nodded. He walked to get his horse and took it into the barn.

Rubbing my face, I went indoors and told Jae the news. He’d been breading a chicken we’d killed earlier and he put the last piece on the baking sheet before he turned around.

“What are we going to do, Dave?”

I said nothing and just pulled him close.

Our life was happy and starting to feel precious to me. I didn’t want to lose it. I’d worked hard for this place, these animals, and now there was Jae. I didn’t want to run, but I thought we might have to.