You'd Have to Ask - 21. Chapter 21

The Morning After

Cole awakes with a start. When he opens his eyes he sees he is in a strange bed. He tries to remember where he is. Gradually his body starts to react to waking up. He has a massive headache and he feels achy all over. He looks around to see if he can remember anything. He can remember coming to Mike’s house and the three of them having sex.

The last thing he can remember is fucking Mike. It all goes blank after that.

Cole is very thirsty and his mouth is raw. “Boy I must have drank a lot last night.” He says as he tries to sit.

The sudden motion makes his headache worse, but it is nothing he hasn’t endured before. He tries to think of the last time he was this hung over.

Getting up off the bed he heads to the door and opens it. He sees the bathroom across the hall, as he doesn’t need to use it just yet so he walks left to the kitchen.

“Hey Cole.” Mike says as he sees his friend walk naked into the kitchen.

“Water and aspirins?” Cole asks.

“On the counter by the sink.” Mike says, “I was prepared.”

“Thanks.” Cole groans as he fills the glass with water and takes two pills. Cole pads over to a chair at the table and sits.

“Remember much?” Mike asks.

“Well some, but I don’t know how I got in the bed.”

“You passed out Cole.” Mike says, “Right after you fucked me into next week.“

“Passed out?”

‘Yeah, Rick and I had to carry you to the bed.”

“Where’s Rick?” Cole asks, “He ok?”

“He is still sleeping and yes he is ok.”

Cole looks at Mike who is sitting there wearing only a pair of boxers. He notices the man’s chest is red with some yellowing. “Looks like some bruising is coming.” He says to Mike.

“Yeah, you were pretty rough last night!”

“It’s nothing I can’t handle and besides you were in a place that I have not seen many guys go to.”

“What do you mean?” Cole says with concern.

“If you were fighting I’d say you’d lost it.”

“Fuckin A he lost it.” Rick says as he comes into the kitchen. He is naked as well. “You were on fire man!”

Cole grimaces at Rick’s words both the volume and the inference.

“Well at least I am not going to be the only one that is sore.” Mike says, “From the look of your dick you are going to remember this night for awhile.”

Cole looks down at his dick, it looks like it was attacked.

“I’m not surprised.” Rick says, “The way you were pumping it!”

Cole’s face aches as he forces a smile, “Well I guess I must have had a good time!” Then he adds, “How’s your ass?”

“Well my ass is fucking sore!” Rick says while laughing, “It has never had a workout like that!”

Rick sits down on the floor next to Mike and supports his arms on the man’s legs. He sucks up the pain signals that his ass is sending him.

Cole looks at the two of them and smiles, it seems they are closer to each other.

“Thanks to you Cole, we went to a place we have never been before too.” Mike says.

“Yeah, we did.” Rick looks up at Mike and offers his lips. Mike obliges by kissing his lover.

“Cool, glad I could help!” Cole says, “How do you mean?”

“We were one last night.” Mike says, “We have never been so close.” The two men kiss again, this time more passionately.

Cole watches them and his sore dick starts to harden. He likes the picture of to men being so open and comfortable with each other.

“Well, I better get going and allow you two to have some alone time.” Cole says with a smile.

“I think we have to recharge our batteries.” Rick says. “We fucked again after we put you to bed.”
“You did?”

“Yeah, it was different than before though.” Rick says, “This time we did it as lovers it was slow and passionate.”

“Yeah we must have kissed for an hour!” Mike says.

“And we both came at the same time.” Rick adds as he moves his hand to Mike’s crotch and gives it a gentle squeeze.

“I had something to do with that?”

“Yes you did.” Rick says and smiles.

Mike nods and smiles and puts a hand on top of Rick’s.

“I need to get going though, I have some things I want to get done today.” Cole says.

“Yeah, I gotta get back to the bar and do cash.” Mike says. “Rick why don’t you take our guest home.”

“Sure I can do that, maybe we can get that coffee together.”

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that.” Cole says as he gets up and stretches. “Where are my clothes?”

“I moved them to your room, they are hanging in the closet.” Mike says.

Cole goes down the hall and goes to the bathroom. He carefully has a piss. “Man! My dick is sore!”

When he is done he washes his face and wets down his hair. Then he heads to the bedroom and gets dressed.

When he gets back to the kitchen he has a seat at the table and drinks some more water.

Mike and Rick come down the hall both are dressed and holding hands. He notices that Rick is wearing different clothes than last night. Cole smiles they look like boyfriend/girlfriend. He thinks about this phrase, it doesn’t apply here as neither one of them could be accused of being effeminate, but saying boyfriend/boyfriend doesn’t seem to convey the same message.

“You ready stud?” Rick asks as he heads towards the closet to get his coat.

Cole follows him there and gets his coat and then he turns to Mike.

The two men embrace.

“Thanks man, not sure if I am going out tonight.” Cole says as he points at his crotch.

“That’s ok, but wait a sec” Mike says as he foes and grabs a pen and some paper. “Here’s my number, use it the next time you are in town. Crash here.”

“Thanks!” Cole says as he puts the paper in his wallet. He then kneels and puts his boots on and Rick does the same thing.

Rick stands and kisses Mike goodbye, “See you tonight hon.” He blushes as he says this having never said it to anyone before.

Mike playfully swats Rick’s head and then says, “You bet!”

The two men go out the door and get in Rick’s truck, which is parked out front. Cole looks at Rick.

“I came here last night, Mike and I were getting together anyway.” Rick says, “When Mike phoned and said you were at the bar I took a cab.”

“Oh yeah!” Cole says as he remembered the ‘chance’ meeting was planned.

“What were you gong to do if I didn’t show up?” Cole asks.

“The usual, hang out till Mike got home and then we’d play.” Rick says, “I am not that comfortable going out by myself yet, too many unknowns.”

“Unknowns?”

“It’s different for me Cole, I live and work here.” Rick sighs, “I seems like every time I go out I live in fear of being seen.”

“So how did you meet guys?”

“I’d go to the peeps or the bathhouse. With our job you get to go at non-peak times.” Rick says, “Or sometimes I’d head to Calgary.”

“Yeah, I know it!”

“I think it would be hell if I were outed”

“Me too!” Cole echoes Rick’s statement, “But I think that that time is about here.”

“Do you have a place in mind for coffee?”

“Yeah, the Sugar Bowl.” Cole says he is hoping he can run into Greg there.

“Sugar Bowl it is!”

Sugar Bowl

They get to the coffee shop and manage to find a parking spot out front. The patio is open but it is too cold to sit outside.

They enter the café and Cole looks around. Walking straight in the door the first thing he notices is a large bar which dominates the back of the café. The bar juts out and has a serving area close to the door. There are lots of table sitting on a hardwood floor. He notices it must be an old building as there are brick walls. The sun shinning in the windows makes the place nice and bright.

They walk up to the serving bar and see that a lot of the tables are occupied.

“Go get us a table I’ll get the coffee.” Rick says.

Cole looks around he sees that the bar does not go all the way to the wall on the left. He spies a free table in the back. Cole manoeuvres through the café and gets a seat. He faces the door as he always does. Something about the cop in him, he always has to be aware of his surroundings.

Rick arrives with two coffees. “If you want cream or sugar, you have to go to that table on the other side of the bar.”

“It’s ok, the way my head hurts I’ll take it black.”

Rick sits down and takes off his coat. Cole takes his off too.

“So you arrested a guy that that says he saw you and Mike together.” Rick says, “It happened to me too. Can you tell me the details?”

Cole relays the whole story about the car thief that says he’d seen him.

“Sounds familiar.” Rick says, “A little too familiar.”

“Do you think it is the same guy?” Cole asks.

“Describe him for me.”

Cole gives him a description of the guy and then adds the man’s name, John Stevens.

“I don’t recall the name but the description sounds the same.” Rick says.

Both men drink some coffee. Cole lets Rick take some time and then he listens as the man tells him the story.

“I was working by myself that night. It was a weeknight and my partner took time off.”

Rick takes a drink of some coffee.
“Anyway I was driving down a street in the west end, near Mike’s place actually, and this car comes careening around the corner. The guy was going way too fast for a residential street.”

“I immediately chased him and the guy sped up. Soon enough though he is trapped on a dead end street. He stops the car and opens the door and starts running. We are over by a ravine and I ran after him really fast. If he got down in the ravine there would be lots of places to hide.”

“Sounds familiar, he found a dead end in Lacombe too.” Cole says.

“I thought it was kind of weird too about the dead end street. Anyway I give chase and tackle him to the ground. The usual mouthing off occurred as I got the cuffs on him.”

“It’s funny, you know, the only thing I had to charge him with is speeding at that time. Now he has added evading arrest, it seemed like a lot of trouble to go through over a speeding ticket!”

Cole nods he can’t believe the stupid things people do.

“So I get him in the back and I run the plates on the car.”

“Wait a second!” Cole says, “You are alone and you didn’t run the plates did you call it in?”

“Well I guess I fucked up!’ Rick says, “I was actually in the neighbourhood as I was gonna stop in at Mike’s for a coffee.”

“I guess it goes back to our little problem.” Cole says and indicates to Rick to go on.

“So after I run the plates, nothing. I run the guy’s name, nothing. I am puzzled why he tried to bolt. So I turn to him and ask him what’s up.”

“Just so I get this straight”, Cole says, “You have a perp in your car and no one else knows, right?”

“Yeah and you know what?” Rick locks eyes with Cole, “I think he knew it too!”

Cole doesn’t say anything. We all have our own way of handling things. He begins to wonder if Rick is a loose cannon.

Rick reads Cole’s face, he hasn’t told this story to anyone but Mike. Mike had a hard time with it too.

“I ask for some background on the guy and he is upfront. I am still puzzled about the cat and mouse, so I ask him.”

Rick takes a pause and drinks some more coffee. Even though Cole and him have slept together it is hard for him to discuss being gay.

“He blurts out that he saw me and Mike at the bar a couple of nights before. I almost had a heart attack. My only time in that fucking place and the guy sees me.”

“Now I am starting to get the picture. Can I ask you one thing though?”

“Sure” Rick says quietly, he thinks he knows what the question is as he left it out of the story when he told Mike.

“When you first saw the car, did you get a look at the driver?”

“Yeah.” Rick says, he is almost whispering.

“Hey bud, I am not here to judge you!” Cole says as he pats the man’s hand.

“Yeah, I recognized him from the bar. I was running on pure adrenaline. I wasn’t thinking straight, but I was not going to let him get away. I couldn’t stop doing my job.”

“Need some more coffee?” Cole says. He wants to let the man gather his thoughts before continuing.

“Sure” He says as he passes his cup over.

Cole is in a line-up to get refills he looks around at the people but he doesn’t see anything. He is busy in thoughts about how this impacts him.

“Geez, it gets busy in here!” Cole says as he gets back to the table.

“Yeah sometimes!” Rick says and shows Cole a little smile.

“So this guy, he knows from my reaction he has got me by the balls. He starts to negotiate with me. Saying I am going to let him go or he is going to tell all the guys at the station that I like cock.”

“So you let him go?”

“Well what else could I do Cole?” Rick is close to crying, “I fucking live to be a cop and this guy was going to take it away!”

Cole notices there is a washroom to his left. He indicates with his eyes that Rick should go there. Rick gets up and enters the room and closes the door.

“Hey Guy!” Greg says as he comes down the walkway beside the bar.

“Hey Greg!” Cole says as he stands and offers his hand.

“So you finally made it, are you alone?” He look down and see two coffee cups.

“Well a friend of mine is here and we are having a deep conversation.” Cole says.

“OK well I’m at the front, doing the crossword, come up and see me after you are done.”

“I’ll be there, Greg you can count on it.”

“Cool.” he says with a smile and goes back to his table.

“Who was that?” Rick asks as he comes back to the table and nods towards the guy leaving.

“Just a guy I met running a couple of weeks back.”

“He on the job?”

“Nah, he’s an Immigration Officer.”

Cole notices the guy’s spirits are better.

“But I am not comfortable knowing there is a guy out there that has me by the balls. What if he has told his friends, he has my name?”

“I see, well has anyone else tried this on you?”

“Not yet, but I have always been with Mike, my partner err my fellow officer, since then.”

“Now we have to figure out what to do with this guy, I mean he is still in jail in Lacombe as we speak.”

“I don’t know man.”

“Well Rick I am going to have to think this through. We can’t let a guy run around thinking he owns cops!”

Rick dreads what this means, “I guess I am going to have to come out too!” he says to himself.

“So what say I think about this and get back to you.” Cole says, “I have Mike’s number I’ll call.”

“Yeah whatever.”

Cole can see that the man is going through hell. He knows he has been there.
“Why don’t you go to the gym and take it out on the weights.” Cole says.

“Yeah, I think I should, I am so wound up!”

“Well I should go over and talk to Greg.” Cole says, “After all that is part of the reason I came up here this weekend.”

“Well if it remember correctly your dick is pretty beat up.” Rick says with a smile.

“It seems to me that you have to be careful too!” Cole responds.

Rick gets up and grimaces. He had forgotten how much his ass hurt. “Bye Cole, see ya when I see ya.”

Cole stands and picks up his cup, “Not if I see you first!”

The two men walk to the front of the café. Rick heads to the door and Cole heads over to Greg’s table.