Earth and Sky

and eating them while he talked to her.

    Hunter was tempted to walk over to Grant and possessively put his arm around his lover’s shoulders, making it clear to the woman that Grant was off limits. The problem was that would have two effects he didn’t really want. It would mean coming out of the closet, and outing Grant as well, in front of a bar full of strangers in the middle of nowhere; and it would mean admitting to Grant that he’d followed him all the way out from the ranch.

    Hunter had watched Grant leave the paddock and walk out to the crew house. He’d waited for him to come back out, determined to follow him and figure out where the hell Grant spent his days off. After seeing Grant take out his motorcycle, Hunter had jumped in his truck and driven out of the ranch, waiting around the corner of the one-way Grant would take to get to the Interstate. Once he’d seen him emerge from the driveway, Hunter had followed him.

    It hadn’t been easy. On the empty stretches, Hunter had had to keep his distance or Grant would have spotted him. Where the road was busier, Grant weaved in and out of traffic in such a way that Hunter had a hard time staying close, since his truck had no such mobility. A few times Hunter thought he’d lost Grant, but somehow he always caught his trail again. Hunter had spotted Grant leaving the Interstate but almost missed the bar. It wasn’t until he’d driven past it and saw a long stretch of empty road ahead with no motorcycle in the distance that he turned his truck around and saw the bike next to the bar’s entrance.

    Hunter had snuck inside, trying to stay in the shadows and hoping neither Grant nor the bartender would see him.

    Was this what Grant did? Go to a bar and pick up women? Hunter felt anger boiling up inside him. Anger and jealousy. He just couldn’t reconcile the idea of Grant with a woman to all the times they’d spent together ravishing each other. Was it all just something to pass the time, a way for Grant to scratch an itch before he moved on and felt the need for a woman again?

    Hunter knew what it felt like to have a woman’s body under his hands. He also knew that now he’d discovered what it was like to make love to a man, he never saw himself returning to women again. What he’d experienced with Grant had blown his mind, and it’d felt like coming home. Finding out it was different for Grant was a rude wake-up call.

    Just as Hunter was succeeding in telling himself to quietly sneak out again and drive back home, Grant extricated himself from the woman’s grasp, threw a few dollars on the bar, and walked out.

    Hunter had to talk to Grant. To hell with Grant finding out that he was stalking him. Hunter either wanted to have it out in the open with Grant or tell him not to bother coming back to the ranch.

    It was dark out when he exited the bar, and Hunter saw Grant just riding off the gravel parking lot, continuing his journey. Hunter jumped in his truck and sped after him, not bothering to keep a safe distance but trying to stay as close as he could to avoid losing Grant again.

    Grant seemed to notice something was up. He picked up speed until he was way over the speed limit, and Hunter had to push his truck to the edge to stay with him. Hunter knew neither of them would be able to keep this up for long, so he took a chance and tried to pull alongside Grant on a straight piece of road. Grant moved to ride more along the center where the road was more even, ignoring Hunter, until suddenly he threw an angry look in the direction of Hunter’s truck. Hunter saw Grant’s expression change to surprise as he looked straight into Hunter’s eyes, but then they heard a sharp horn and their gazes turned to a large truck coming from the opposite direction.

    It all happened in a split second, and at the same time, the moment seemed to stretch forever. Grant’s motorcycle wavered and the long-haul truck nicked him, catapulting him against and over the bed of Hunter’s truck. Hunter immediately hit the brakes and swerved to the side. The larger truck never stopped, but Hunter was out of his pickup without even cutting the engine. He ran over to where he thought Grant had landed and tried to look for him along the dark road. He eventually heard labored breathing.

    “Fuck, Grant. I’m sorry,” Hunter said, crouching down next to him in the dirt. It was too dark to see if he was hurt, let alone make out Grant’s expression. All Hunter could do