| Friday June 6 As usual, Mike woke up around 8AM. He noticed that the morning chill wasn�t quite so chilly today, so instead of sweats he grabbed a pair of running shorts and a tank top for his run. He�d gotten into the habit of taking Max out with him each morning. They had settled into a standard route that was about 5 miles long, down Main street, across the river, down to the bridge at the other end of town. He usually stopped in at Governor�s restaurant, a local favorite for their amazing baked goods, the source of that huge blueberry muffin he�d enjoyed his first day. So he�d grab a few goodies to take back, and finish the loop. Max loved running with Mike. In just a week, the two of them had become a fixture in the life of the town. Waiting for the light to turn so he could cross Main Street, Mike waved at Bill Miller, Nettie�s husband. Gail, his favorite waitress, was herding her kids out of the minivan in the school parking lot. They of course had to stop and pet Max before they�d even consider going in to school. Bobbie Jo, the �girl Friday� who literally ran the courthouse admin offices called out a greeting from her window overlooking the street, today giving him a wolf whistle in honor of his skimpy outfit. He laughed back at her. It was a warm spring day, and Mike was just feeling great. He couldn�t remember the last time he�d been this relaxed and happy. He jogged up the steps to Ben�s house and let himself in. Max made a beeline for his favorite window seat � after a 5 mile run, he was more than ready for his morning nap. Mike wandered into Ben�s office to share the morning�s take from Governor�s bakery. �Hey there!� Ben looked up from the documents he was reading and promptly did a double take. Mike stood there, dressed in running shorts and tank top, his hair touseled and his skin covered with sweat. He looked absolutely irresistible. The skimpy clothes just accentuated the broad shoulders and muscular thighs. And Ben was working very hard to not look just above those thighs � He finally found his voice. �Good morning, Mike. Enjoy your run?� Mike started doing some cool-down stretches. �Oh, yeah. Finally not freezing out there this morning.� // is he LOOKIN� at me? // Mike held the stretch a little longer than usual, thinking it had to be his imagination. // I wonder if he realizes he�s posing � // The thought jumped unbidden into Ben�s mind. Forcing himself to tear his eyes off the Adonis in front of him, he turned his attention to the bag of goodies from Governor�s. �You, ah, want some coffee?� Mike changed positions again, still stretching. �Yeah, great, thanks!� He followed Ben into the kitchen toward the coffee, and found himself �looking.� For a guy who made his living sitting at a desk, Ben had a pretty nice ass. // What the hell are you doin�, Mikey! You�re imagining things. Wishful thinking � // After breakfast, Mike went up to take a shower. As the hot water sluiced over him, his thoughts lingered on Ben. Was he looking for something here? He didn�t think so, at least not consciously. But he had to admit that over the past week, he had grown quite fond of the quiet attorney. They had found a number of things in common, and he really enjoyed their evenings together. He was amazed at how quickly they had found such a comfortable friendship. // Yeah, and now you want to go and ruin it // he chastised himself. But he just couldn�t shake the feeling that Ben had been checking him out this morning. Now that he thought about it, he remembered having the same feeling a few times �back in the day� when they worked together. Of course, back then he was much to scared to admit what he was feeling. It had taken Lennie to draw him out of it � Thinking of his old partner either made him sad or made him horny. And right now that scene with Ben had him on the edge of horny to start with. God, they had had great shower sex. Lennie�s hands, slick with soap, sliding all over his body. He had a vision of Lennie, spread-eagled against the wall as Mike entered him, groaning with pleasure, pushing back against him. Before he realized it, his own soapy hands were wrapped around his dick and he was coming, lost in the memory. Downstairs, Ben heard the shower start. In his mind, he pictured Mike standing there, naked, the water pouring over him. He was almost afraid of how much the idea excited him. // Don�t GO there, // he sternly instructed himself. Removing his glasses, he rubbed his eyes as if he could erase the vision in his mind. He shook his head and forced himself to pay attention to his work. Mike dressed and came back downstairs with his journal in hand. His thoughts were too tumultuous right now for writing, so instead he went out on the front porch and started sketching their little �Main Street.� Once he had come down from the high of his orgasm, his thoughts lingered on Lennie and everything he had left behind. He wondered how Lennie was doing. Don had told him that Lennie had decided to retire after all, that he and Jack had �come out� together and were getting a new place. He tried to picture Lennie as the stay-at-home househusband, and it just didn�t work. He wondered what his friend was going to do now. // But of course that�s MY big question too, isn�t it � // ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Later that afternoon, Mike wandered into the Unicorn. He�d become quite the regular here, usually stopping in around 3 in the afternoon for a beer and to chat with Gail, since things were slow then. Today she greeted him with an extra big smile. �Hey Mike, did�ja hear the big news?� Mike grinned at her. Big news around here was usually who was dating who this week. �Nope, haven�t heard a thing. What�s up?� �Frank Leary�s moving to Florida! Esther laid down the law � after this last winter, she�s had enough of cold for the rest of her lifetime. And besides, I think she�s tired of him flirting with Bobbie Jo!� Mike laughed. He hadn�t yet experienced a Maine winter, but if this was summer, he wasn�t sure he wanted to see the winters. �Frank Leary � don�t think I�ve met him.� He swore Gail�s grin got wider. �He�s the bailiff in Judge Stone�s court ever since he retired from the police.� �Oh, yeah, Frank.� Mike remembered the guy now; he�d gone down to the courthouse with Ben on Tuesday just to see the place. �So Mike, you gonna apply for the job?� Mike blinked. �What?� �Well, you said you were trying to find somethin� to do with your life now that you�re retired from the New York police. Why not this?� Mike took a long pull at his beer. // Why not, indeed? // Gail was looking at him, her head tilted to one side. �You do like it here, dontcha, Mike?� He had to smile. �Yeah, I do. It�s so � I don�t know � laid back up here. So slow compared to the city �� And that was the big question. He�d lived in New York all his life. Would this sleepy little town bore him after a while? Although Ben had been here three years now, he seemed to fit in just fine. And then there was the biggest question of them all. Despite Ben�s assurances, he was afraid they would reject him once they knew his secret. Gail could see the doubt in his face. �Mike? You think you�d get bored here?� He made a decision. // Let�s see how SHE handles it. // �No, Gail, it�s not that. There�s just something I haven�t told anybody up here.� She waited, her eyes asking the question as he hid behind his beer. Finally, he put it down, took a deep breath, and told her. �Gail, how do you think the folks here would react if they found out I�m gay?� Of all the reactions he imagined, laugher wasn�t one of them. �Well, of course you are, Mike. We all know that!� Mike just sat there with his mouth hanging open. �Huh?� was all he could manage to say. Gail squeezed his arm. �Ever since Judge Ben told us you were coming to visit, we�ve been hoping he�d finally found someone. Here, let me get you another of those.� Gail disappeared to refill his drink, leaving Mike sitting there with his thoughts whirling. So Ben had been �looking� this morning! Why hadn�t he said anything? Gail came back with another beer. �So what do you think, Mike? You gonna apply for the job? We�d love to have you stay.� Mike laughed and shook his head. �I don�t know, Gail. I�m gonna have to think about this �� ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mike was pretty quiet when he came home and started on dinner. Ben was definitely NOT a cook; with his family�s money, he�d never had to learn. So Mike had decided to put some of his time to good use, and started coming home early enough to throw something together for the two of them. He found much to his surprise that the simple domestic chore became enjoyable when he had someone to share the results with. And Ben seemed satisfied with those results. After dinner, they�d usually retire to the study, sometimes talking, sometimes playing games. Ben had a real passion for mental challenges. He had a whole collection of games, not kid stuff, but real brain teasers, strategy games, that sort of thing. They had settled on one in particular, called �Ricochet Robot.� It was a board with a grid pattern. There were walls marked on some of the grids, others had one of several symbols in one of four colors. There were four tokens, or �robots� one in each color. The idea was that each turn, you�d draw a chit with a colored symbol from a bag. You had to move the matching color robot to the square that symbol was on in the least number of moves. Each turn started in silence as the players tried to spot the routes and count the number of moves, turning whenever you encountered a wall. Once someone found a route, they announced the number of moves, and their opponent had one minute to come up with something shorter. Whoever had the shortest route � and could demonstrate it, often the hard part because you had to remember sequences that could be 20 moves long � won the round. If both saw the same number of moves, the person who was behind got to take it, making it possible for a less experienced player to not feel entirely left out. At first, Mike got a headache just trying to find any route, but he quickly figured out some tricks and was giving Ben a run for his money. He couldn�t ever remember having this much fun just from thinking before! This particular night, however, Mike wasn�t interested in playing a game. He�d been quiet ever since he got back. Ben gave him a good long look and decided a little prodding was in order, so he poured the brandy and handed Mike a glass. �What�s on your mind, Mike?� // You. // �Had an interesting conversation with Gail this afternoon at the Unicorn.� Something in his voice made Ben wary. �About what?� Mike decided to take the round-about route. �I hear there�s a job opening at the courthouse.� Ben relaxed a little. �Ah, yes. Our bailiff resigned yesterday. I meant to tell you about it, it must have slipped my mind. I�m sorry.� �Gail thinks I should apply for the job.� Ben nodded. �I must admit I had the same thought. If you wanted to stay here, it�s a perfect opportunity. I don�t think any of our current police are thinking of retiring soon who might have their eyes on the job. Of course, it�s only part time, Tuesdays and Thursdays when court is in session. But you have your pension from New York, and that goes a lot further around here �� Mike found himself seriously considering it. �You know, Ben, I�ve been thinking about it all afternoon. I keep asking myself if it�s just the easy way out, the first opportunity. I mean, can I really be happy in this little town? I like the people, I�m certainly more relaxed than I�ve ever been, but what about long term? Is a part time job in a sleepy little town enough for me?� Ben sipped his brandy. �It�s been enough for me, Mike. It�s amazing how quickly you can become adapted to not working 16 hour days.� He grinned. �And while it�s slower and quiet here, it�s not dead. You�d have the time to take that art class you always wanted � we�ve got a liberal arts college here that has an excellent fine arts program. Who knows, you might eventually become a professional artist.� Mike laughed. �Right.� But he had to admit, the idea had appeal. �Where would I live? What�s housing like up here?� �Well, the room you�re currently occupying is available long term, shall we say $300/month?� Mike stared at him. �That�s insane!� It was Ben�s turn to laugh. �Mike, this isn�t New York. I bought this entire house with what I got for selling my condo in the city. And besides, I enjoy the company �� Their eyes met for a moment, before Ben looked away. Mike got a bit more direct. �OK, that leaves one question. What�s it like for a gay man living in a town like this?� Ben felt Mike�s eyes drilling into him, as if he knew. �I told you before, Mike, they�ll accept it.� �So it seems. I told Gail this afternoon as an experiment.� Ben paled. �Uh, how did she react?� Mike took another sip of brandy. �Not in any way I expected. She said everybody already knew that, since I was with you �� Ben sipped his brandy. How much to tell him? Ben still wasn�t certain what he wanted here � �Ah. Well, I see where they could have gotten that idea � You see, when I first got here, I was the �eligible bachelor.� Everybody was trying to set me up with their sisters, widowed mothers, whatever. I sort of told Nettie one day that I was gay just to get them off my back.� Mike looked at him closely. This didn�t quite wash with the looks he had gotten this morning. �So you�re not really gay?� Ben fidgeted nervously with his glass. �Let�s just say that I�m off the market in any case, shall we?� // uh huh. // �OK, I hear you.� He decided to let Ben off the hook � for now. �Tell you what, let�s play a game or something.� Ben relaxed, relieved that Mike seemed to accept his answer. Later that night, he lay in bed, thinking about the discussion. There was no doubt he was attracted to Mike. If he was honest with himself, he always had been. But the one time he�d tried to act on his attraction, he�d been rejected and ultimately lost a good friend. Of course, then he had no way of knowing in advance whether the object of his desire had any interest at all. This time he knew Mike liked guys. So any rejection would be purely personal, not because he just didn�t go that way. Ben wasn�t sure which was worse � Continue to Chapter 4 Return to the Story Index Send me some feedback Disclaimer: These characters belong to Dick Wolf and NBC. I'm just borrowing them for fun, not profit. |
| Corner of the Sky |
| Chapter 3 |
| Mike gets an interesting offer, and finds out something about Ben - or does he? |