2 Chapter 2
“See you around,” he calls as I walk away.
It being a fine day, I head to the nearest ranch outside town, but there’s no work, and the owner says Iwon’t find anything upriver. “You’d best try the mine,” he says. “They’ll hire anybody.”
* * * *
My five dollars are down to one when, three days later, I enter the Acme Saloon and ask for Abel Fortnum.When he comes over, it’s like he knows what I’m going to say, because he looks at me like he’s going to give me a try. “Upstairs work?” he asks.
“Guess so. I’m needing money and can’t find a job.”
“Come with me.”
Upstairs is a hallway with rooms on one side, and as we pass one, I hear a woman laughing. At the next, I hear bedsprings squeak. The end room we enter, and soon as the door is shut, Abel says to strip. “I haveto make sure you got the goods.”
I do as asked and stand bare for him, hating him for what he’s making me do, hating him more for giving me such awful opportunity. He nods, has me turn around, then comes over and starts to handle my dick. Before I can speak, he drops and pulls me into his mouth, where he sucks me off. He then sits back, wipeshis mouth, and says to get on the bed. I know what’s coming.
When he’s bare, he says he doesn’t hire anybody without a try, so he proceeds to get into me and ride out a come. He’s okay-looking, but sweaty as hell, and by the time he’s done, the room reeks of him. Ashe dresses, he says I’m hired. “Fifty cents a throw, I get half, you get half. The more throws, the more you make, and I expect lots of business. In between, you show yourself in the bar just like the girls. Man gives you the eye, you take him upstairs, let him know he’ll have to pay, and with your looks, they will pay. Once you’re done for the night, you can sleep in the room at no charge. You get Sunday off. If you prove to be popular, I may raise your price, so do a good job at satisfying the men and you’ll prosper. Now clean up, come downstairs, and go to work.”
“How about food?” I ask. “I’m powerful hungry.”
“Sam, that’s the bartender, he’ll fix you a sandwich.”
It is not the life I want, but when I ask myself what I do want, I have no idea. “Free” was all I thought about, and I am that. I don’t have to labor in some mine or punch cattle. I tell myself it’s temporary, and as, not an hour later, I take my first fellow upstairs, I hold onto that.
* * * *
In the weeks that follow, I am well-used. Some men just want to get in and get off, but others want more,and I oblige. A couple are married and experience shame after they’re done. I find myself trying to assure them that it’s okay to need more than a woman can provide. For this they are grateful, though they still skulk away.
One night, the marshal, a fine-looking man, big and gruff, comes over to me. I’m thinking he’s going to bust me, but instead he takes me upstairs and spends an hour just playing around with me. Lying naked, he’s content to lick me all over, to suck here and there. He runs his fingers through my hair andI run mine through the hair on his chest. His dick is hard but he doesn’t seem pressed to use it, which I find rare, as most men’s dicks run them. Not so the marshal, and I wonder if that’s why he’s marshal, having such control. He also kisses me.
I had not been kissed by anyone before this, and when I flinch, he assures me it’s all right. “Men can kiss. It’s not all fucking.” I find he is gentle with his kisses, never mind that thing prodding below. I am swept away by such attentions, such softness in a man of his stature, such care. “I’ve had my eye on you,” he says between kisses. “You’ve captured me.”
I want to say how that’s quite a turn, ex-con capturing the law, but he’s kissing me again and I fall into a sort of swoon. I kiss him back, then his tongue is there, pushing, and I open to him, and holy hell, this gets me going. I start sucking his tongue and I get a hand on my dick because I want to come sobad. He gets this, slides down, sucks me off, then returns to his quiet play. “There now,” he says amid more kisses. “I mean for this to last.”
Sometime later, he raises my legs and drives his cock into me, at which I come again. He’s powerful in his thrusting and I’m liking every bit of it because there’s more to him than the others, than any man who’s ever taken me. The swoon returns, and when I receive his spunk, I feel grateful, which is a new thing for me.
