Rory's Rock

Chapter 2-4

Dinner that night was rowdy, or more accurately, rowdier than usual. Jimmy was proud of the gifts he’d found, and had given Rory most of the credit, which Rory tried to deflect. Although, if he did say so himself, he was proud of his handiwork. Instead of sewing on a simple red, blue or purple heart, he’d decided to cut out three hearts in each color, but in different sizes. As he explained to Jimmy just before dinner, the bear that was to be given to Jake had a small red heart sewn on top of a slightly larger purple heart, which in turn was sewn onto a larger blue heart. “And the 3D effect on the hearts on the T-shirts on the other two bears are similarly color-appropriate,” Rory explained, but grew uneasy at Jimmy’s continued silence. Had Rory somehow f****d up? He should have kept his mouth shut in the store and not volunteered and…

“They’re f*****g perfect,” Jimmy said, dropping the bag of bears and pulling Rory into a bone-crushing hug. “I love them!”

Rory’s heart thumped in his chest in relief, both at Jimmy’s praise, but mostly because of the close bodily contact. He rarely got hugged, especially by men as built as Jimmy.

When they’d been presented with their bears, both Barry and Jake had first hugged Jimmy then Rory, who blushed.

“He worked real hard on ’em,” Zane told the table. “I tried to help but just kept messing up.”

Rory shook his head, even though Zane probably was more of a hindrance than a help, but the fact the big man wanted to spend time with Rory was reward enough.

Even though he shouldn’t, Rory couldn’t help but think the gifts he’d help make were more romantic than the ones Jake and Barry presented. Barry had gotten Jimmy and Jake matching leather wallets with blue and red stitching. Jake had bought three pairs of skimpy underwear in the men’s signature colors, inexpertly wrapping them in gift wrap. And when they were unwrapped, Jimmy got to his feet and announced he was going to put his on right there and then.

Liam groaned. “Exhibitionist.”

“Later, when we’re in our room,” Barry told Jimmy, staying the man’s hand on his button fly.

As always, the food Barry prepared was excellent and everyone dug in. Barry explained the crab cakes they’d been given as appetizers were supposed to be heart shaped but they lost their shape in the cooking.

“Still tastes great,” Zane said, everyone else agreeing.

The heart shaped glazed carrots were more recognizable as were the piped duchess potatoes that Barry served with roast beef and Yorkshire puddings. Rory had never eaten Yorkshire puddings before Barry—who was from Yorkshire—had come to the ranch. They had become one of his favorites. Maybe he could request them for his birthday dinner. He decided he’d mention it to Barry after dinner. Didn’t hurt that the side was also one of Zane’s favorites, too. Barry always had to make extra each time because Zane would load his plate with the light and brown things…puddings?

Rory half-listened as Liam told the group of the latest weather forecast. Basically there was no let up for the next day in the ice storm.

“So no chance of the power coming back on,” Wayne observed, tearing off a hunk of bread and dipping it in his onion gravy.

“s**t,” Zane piped up. “The Nuggets are playing tonight.”

Zane would watch any sports on TV but was especially loyal to the various Colorado teams, and he was surprisingly knowledgeable about their lineups, strategies, and histories. Rory had little interest in sports, but wanting to feel closer to the guy he was crushing on, did some private research. Not that he had an outlet for his knowledge as he’d never plucked up the courage to talk sports with Zane. “The game will be on the radio.”

Zane turned to Rory, who realized he’d spoken aloud.

“Uh, well, I would think one of the local sports stations would carry it.” Rory concentrated on the contents of his plate, his appetite deserting him.

“Why didn’t I think of that? Wanna listen to the game with me?”

Rory nodded. “Sure.”

Zane smiled. “Enjoyed listening to the radio last night in bed with you.”

Wayne snickered but was immediately silenced by Liam clearing his throat.

“Uh, yeah.” Rory squirmed in his seat, his erection of earlier returning with a vengeance.

“And speaking of bed, is it later yet?” Jimmy asked.

Liam sighed. “Is that all you can think about?”

“Least I can still get it up, old man,” Jimmy said, raising his middle finger.

“f**k you!” Liam retorted.

“Boys!” Barry raised the gravy ladle and threatened first Jimmy then Liam with it. “Behave.”

As usual, when Barry spoke, order was restored, but Rory could tell both Jimmy and Jake were eager to get on with it because they started manhandling Barry.

“Time for dessert.” Barry pushed his chair back and got to his feet, expertly extricating himself from Jimmy’s and Jake’s hands. “Feel free to, uh, grope among yourselves.”

Jimmy got out of his seat and stood behind Jake. He ran his hands along Jake’s shoulders then bent over Jake to kiss him upside down on the lips. Jake reached up to run his fingers through Jimmy’s hair. Rory looked away. Ever since returning from England, Jimmy and Jake had been more demonstrative in their affections with each other when previously most of their attentions had been focused on Barry.

“Get a room,” Wayne groaned.

Rory looked up to see Jimmy had straddled Jake’s lap and the chair was tilted back on its rear legs. There was a sudden and loud cracking sound, and Jimmy and Jake fell to the floor amid the broken remains of the chair.

Liam and Zane, who were closest, got to their feet to offer their assistance.

“You two okay?” Barry asked, rushing over.

Jimmy and Jake couldn’t speak as they were laughing so hard. Rex, who had been sleeping on his blanket in the corner, leaped into the fray and ran around the men, barking his head off.

“Shut it, dog!” Jake managed to say through his laughter.

Rex stopped barking but picked up one of the broken chair legs and was running around the kitchen, brandishing his prize.

“Rex, come here, boy,” Wayne coaxed. The dog approached but stepped back again when Wayne reached for the chair leg in Rex’s mouth. “f*****g dog.”

As Barry was busy helping Jimmy and Jake get to their feet, checking them over for injuries, Rory thought he’d try and get the stick of furniture from Rex. Just before leaving for England, Barry had got Rex and Rory together and patiently explained to the German Shepherd that while he, Barry, was away, Daddy Rory would look after Rex. Rory was highly skeptical the dog would understand, much less obey. Rex was definitely Barry’s dog, and pretty much ignored everyone else. But to Rory’s surprise, the dog had seemed to understand and followed Rory around the ranch while he did his chores during the day and even followed Rory into his bedroom at night, sleeping on Rory’s bed. For those few weeks Rory’s almost nightly bad dreams had lessened significantly. But as soon as Barry returned home, Rex transferred his affections back to his original owner and totally ignored Rory.

Rory was somewhat surprised therefore when Rex approached him with the chair leg and let Rory grasp the other end, although Rex still had a firm hold of the other end and began to tug.

“Rex, come on, give it to me,” Rory encouraged, but the dog was enjoying the pulling game too much and began to growl.

“Rex, drop it,” Barry said, seemingly satisfied that Jimmy and Jake were unharmed by their fall.

The dog instantly let go the chair leg and Rory was left holding it and not quite knowing what to do with it.

“You two going to behave now you’ve wrecked the furniture?” Barry asked his partners.

“Nope,” Jimmy smirked.

Barry shook his head in apparent exasperation but Rory could see the man was fighting not to smile.

“It’s now officially later,” Jake announced, picking Barry up and throwing the man effortlessly over his shoulder. “Time to wear our Valentine’s gifts.”

“But we haven’t eaten dessert,” Barry protested.

“Decided we’ll eat you instead,” Jake announced, slapping Barry’s upturned ass.

“Hey!” Barry protested.

“You got the briefs, Jimmy?” Jake asked, his back to the room and heading for the hallway.

“And the bears, too.”

Barry smacked Jake’s butt. “Just a minute.” Jake paused in the doorway and Barry lifted his head. “Rory, dessert’s in the big Tupperware. Would you mind dishing up? And your supper snacks are in the usual place on the counter next to the back door. And would you feed Rex and see that he goes pee-pee?”

“Okay.” Rory nodded.

“Rex, you mind what Daddy Rory tells you, okay?”

The dog let out a single bark and swished his tail, Rory again marveling at how well the canine seemed to understand Barry’s words.

“And Rory? Don’t worry about the clean-up, as these two horn-dogs are responsible for much of it, they can deal with it later.”

“We only broke the chair, we didn’t dirty all the dishes,” Jimmy protested.

“And neither did Rory.” Barry slapped Jake’s butt again. “Mush!”

Jimmy snickered and followed Jake and Barry into the hallway.

Rory turned back to the table, and with a heavy heart, began to gather the dishes. He certainly didn’t begrudge the attention and loving Barry was receiving, although Rory was envious of how Jimmy or Jake would often pick Barry up and carry him around. He wished he had someone big and strong who’d do that to him. He tried so hard not to look over at Zane.

“You stack ’em and I’ll carry ’em,” the object of Rory’s impossible fantasy suggested.

Relishing the prospect of standing close to Zane for a bit longer, Rory suggested they go ahead and do the dishes.

Zane agreed. “But can’t we just put ’em in the dishwasher?”

“Power outage, remember?” Rory poured hot water from the large tea kettle into the sink and added dish detergent.

“God, I’m so dumb sometimes.” Zane hung his head, his shoulders drooping. “You must get real sick of me, especially with you being so smart and everything.”

“Zane, you’re not dumb. And, no, I’m not sick of you.” Far from it, he added silently. “And I’m not that smart myself.” Rory wanted to reassure Zane with a hug, but didn’t know if the big man would be receptive, even though Zane was one of the most demonstrative people Rory had ever met. But as Rory was elbows deep in soapy water, hugging probably wouldn’t be appropriate anyway. In an attempt to change the subject, he asked, “What time does the Nugget’s game start?” Rory already knew the answer.

Zane looked up at the wall clock. “Is that the right time? You know, with the power outage and all?”

The clock was battery operated, but Rory didn’t want to point that out and further embarrass Zane. He wiped his right hand on his jeans and fished out his cell phone. It had very little charge left in it, but he was still able to check the time. “It’s about five minutes fast.”

“Game should be on in a half hour.”

Rory nodded. “Wanna finish up in here then? It’ll save Barry a job tomorrow.” He doubted Jimmy and Jake would help much.

“Maybe we could burn the chair in the fireplace?”

Rory laughed and looked over at the destroyed chair. He was no carpenter, but it sure looked beyond repair to him. “Good thinking, Batman! We’ll take it with us and see what Liam says.”

“Batman?”

“Aren’t you wearing Batman underwear?” Rory grew uneasy; he probably shouldn’t have admitted he had noticed what underwear Zane had put on that morning.

Zane tipped back his huge head and laughed. “I’d forgotten that. Betsy buys my drawers and tees for me. Used to like reading the superhero comics when I was a kid and…” Zane blushed.

“I liked reading them, too.” Rory had read them as a form of escape from his crappy life, hoping one day a caped crusader would fly in, sweep him up and…He shook his head to rid it of the foolish and childish memories. “Come on, Rex, time to go pee then I’ll make your dinner.”

The dog barked and trotted to the back door.