CHAPTER 18 - NEW BEGINNING

Both of us were quiet for most of the day. Chavez seemed to have a permanent smile on his face, but at the same time he kept his head down or averted and didn't speak to me. In turn, I had no clue what to say to him except to ask how he was feeling once or twice, to which he nodded and said the discomfort was bearable. He seemed uncharacteristically shy and this made me awkward and tongue-tied. In just those few minutes before we left Billy behind, things had shifted dramatically between us and it almost seemed as if we didn't know each other.

We had crossed the border a little way back and then stopped at the first available water source to let the horses rest and drink. Chavez slid a touch clumsily out of the saddle, clutching his side, and unhooked his water bottle from the saddle to drink the last of the contents and refill it. I jumped down from my horse and went to him.

"Do you know this area at all? I mean, Billy said you weren't born here, but..."

"No, I've never been this side of the border. There's a town a few miles ahead though. I figured we'd find somewhere to rest up for the night and go on tomorrow."

"How do you know there's a town?" I frowned.

"Smoke." He pointed and I immediately noticed a thin line of grey rising into the blue sky in the distance.

"I'm not too observant sometimes," I muttered ruefully.

"I noticed."

"Jose...do you mind if I call you that?" I could feel myself reddening again. Damnit, this was all so new to me.

"It's my name," he smiled.

"Yeah. Look, I don't want things to be awkward, but since..."

"I don't know how to behave any more," he said with a sigh.

"Nor do I really."

"What do you want from me, Dave?"

"I guess...I just want to be with you."

"As what?" He bit his lip and looked down.

"Friends? More than that sometimes. Um..."

He grinned in apparent relief. "That sounds good to me."

"Come here." I took my hat off and placed it on the horn of his horse's saddle. He stepped closer and I raised my hand to touch his face. His skin was smooth and soft and his eyes half closed as I traced his cheekbone with my fingers and then slid my hand around his neck beneath his hair, leaning in to kiss him. It was just us now and our arms crept around each other, holding tight as our lips caressed. I didn't deepen it, but drew my head back after a minute. "What are we gonna do about tonight? I want to be with you, but...if we stay in a saloon or something..."

"I have an idea. Let's just find a place first. I really need a bath and to change this bandage again."

I nodded and a little while later we mounted the horses again and rode on. Things seemed easier now and we talked as we rode, wondering how far Billy would make it before he was caught; bemoaning the loss of the rest of the gang. I hadn't really been able to relate to them that much, but I had seen some things I liked in each of them and I found I had positive things to say, contrary to my usual careless insults. Eventually a small town came into sight and we rode in slowly, looking around us for potential accommodation. There was a saloon and eating house which looked like a possibility and we tethered the horses out front and went inside.

Chavez spoke in Spanish to the bartender and I listened, barely able to make out anything other than 'si' and 'no' and 'pesos'. At last he turned to me with a scowl.

"There's only one free room," he said and raised one eyebrow slightly. Unusually for me, I caught on immediately.

"What the hell? I guess we better find some place else," I grumbled.

"Wait, Senors..." It appeared the man could speak English and we both looked at him. "Please...I need money. I give free meal and whiskey if you stay. Just pay for room."

"Damnit, Chavez, I'm not sharing a room with you!" I exclaimed.

"Well, what choice do we have? I need to take care of this." He pulled his shirt up to reveal the bandage.

"Alright...I guess it'll have to do." I gave a long-suffering sigh and Chavez tossed some coins onto the bar.

"Gracias, Senors! Maria!" The man turned away as a woman who could have been his wife appeared. He spoke in rapid Spanish and she vanished again.

"She's bringing us a meal," Chavez said for my benefit and we took a seat at the one small table in the corner. Pretty soon two plates of rice and some kind of meat in gravy arrived along with a large jug of beer and two glasses of whiskey. While we ate, we observed the guy appearing and reappearing with two buckets in his hands, heavy footsteps charging up and down the stairs.

"What's he doing?" I wondered.

"I asked for a bath too," he grinned.

After the meal, we headed up to the room. I suggested Chavez use the iron tub first and left him to it while I went out in the hopes that I might find some kind of store, not that I had more than a handful of small coins to spend. I was in luck; there was a tiny general store just yards away which seemed to sell a whole jumble of things all crammed into a very small space and much cheaper than I expected. I poked around, looking for two things in particular, but the most important one - bandages - was nowhere to be seen. I had no hope of communicating what I wanted to the old Mexican man sitting in the corner and instead I picked up three shirts from a pile - two to wear and one to tear into strips. I had seen some small bottles of oil which was the other item I sought and I waited until the old man was looking at the pipe he was attempting to light and then slipped one into my pocket. I had just enough money for the shirts and I rolled them up and headed back to the saloon.

Chavez was out of the tub and wearing only his trousers, dabbing at the slightly oozing wounds with the towel that had been provided with the bath. I set about tearing up one of the shirts and bandaged him as efficiently as I could manage, then stripped off quickly and sank into the tub of tepid water. It was better than nothing - at least I came out cleaner than I went in.

By the time I finished with the bath, both of us were yawning and I eyed my none too clean clothes reluctantly, not wanting to put them back on before I got in the comfortable looking bed.

"Which side do you want?" I asked awkwardly.

"I need to lie on my left side, so...this one." He sat on the right side of the bed and unfastened his trousers again. Naked, I dived into the other side, feeling ridiculously nervous. It wasn't as if we were going to do anything; I was too worried about his wound. I lay rigid, holding my breath for a moment as he slid under the covers and stretched out with his back to me.

"I thought you wanted to be with me," he whispered a moment later.

"I don't want to hurt you; you're not healed up."

"I won't break. You can get closer."

I moved towards him, my heart hammering, until my chest came into contact with his back. I brushed his hair away from his neck and eventually slid my arm around him and relaxed. I was surprised at how good it felt, just holding him and I pressed my face into his hair and breathed in the somewhat rare smell of soap. I fell asleep breathing it and when I woke, neither of us had moved a muscle.

It was early morning and I was achingly hard, my erection pressing into the crack of Chavez's butt. My arm rested loosely around his waist and I could feel his cock nudging my wrist. I moved my hand and captured it, giving it a few firm tugs until he groaned aloud and then I froze.

"Sshh!" I hissed.

"Sorry. I'll be quiet."

I resumed stroking, gyrating my hips slightly and biting my lip to suppress my own sounds of pleasure as I rubbed against him.

"Christ Almighty, I want you so bad," I murmured into his ear.

"What are you waiting for? I'm alright, I just can't move too much."

Excitement filled me and I drew away from him for a moment, scrambling across the bed to find my trousers and the small bottle of oil in the pocket.

"Dave, what are you doing?" Chavez whispered.

"I got something to make this easier. I don't want it to hurt you like last time."

He lay still, glancing over his shoulder at me as I opened the bottle and dribbled oil onto my fingers, coating them liberally. Then I reached down and felt around for his hole with one finger, finding the tightly puckered area and stroking around it in circles. Chavez shuddered and turned his face away, pressing it into the pillow. Carefully I pushed the tip of my finger against him and felt it slip smoothly into his heat, prompting a soft grunt to issue from him.

I remembered the first time we did this; how I had shoved two fingers into him, followed not too soon after by my cock, lubricated only with spit and I cringed with guilt. He must have been sore for days afterwards. This was the first time I'd ever really wanted my partner to enjoy what I was doing and I ignored my own arousal, exploring him slowly, turning my finger this way and that until he had loosened up a little, then hesitantly adding a second.

"Is this alright?" I whispered.

"Yeah."

"Let me know if it hurts."

"Mmm."

I stretched him slowly, while my cock throbbed impatiently and Chavez's arm began to move under the covers, touching himself while I prepared him. I was pushing both fingers deeper now, curling them this way and that and suddenly he arched back against me, his head almost hitting my nose as he let out a deep groan and something that sounded like a curse in Spanish.

"Sshh! You have to be quiet!" I breathed in his ear.

"I'm going to...lose it," he panted.

"Then stop touching yourself." I withdrew my fingers slowly and reached over him, prying his hand off his swollen cock. He groaned again in protest and I slid my free arm under his neck, covering his mouth with my hand to smother the sounds he was continuing to make. I grabbed for the oil again with the other hand and awkwardly tipped some into my palm, put the bottle down and then slicked it onto my cock. The only way I could think of to do it without putting pressure on his right side was in the position we were already lying in.

"Lift your leg up," I whispered.

He raised his right knee, propping it up and giving me better access to him and I shifted slightly, guiding myself to his entrance. I was shaking with the effort of the awkward position and from spending so long preparing him that my balls felt as if they might explode from the pressure. As tempted as I was to simply shove myself into him, I inched in carefully, pausing every so often to make it easier for him to take my length. I removed my hand from his mouth and slid my other arm around him, grasping his erection as I began to move slowly, shallow thrusts to avoid jarring him too much and losing control too fast. He felt incredible - hot, tight, slippery - and this time it wasn't a case of us falling upon each other in desperation and lack of options. I loved him, wanted him; he had told me he felt the same; nothing that I'd ever experienced could compare to it and when I spurted into him minutes later, it was him hushing me as I cursed and groaned into his neck, my body trembling, my hand slowing its movement as he emptied into my palm.

"Hell, Dave, they'll have heard that for sure," he whispered and then laughed quietly.

"I couldn't help it. You feel so good." I was still inside him and I tried not to move and slip out. "I never knew it could be like this."

"Me neither."

"I love you, Jose," I said for the second time, much more confidently than before.

"I love you too."

We lay together for a while longer, then reluctantly drew apart and got up to clean ourselves and dress. We considered asking for breakfast when we headed down to the main part of the saloon, but the look of revulsion on the owner's face indicated that he had a good idea of what we'd been up to and we departed quickly instead. There would be another town soon enough where we could get food and maybe some more clothes. It didn't really matter; wherever we ended up next, at least we would be together.