Eden's Present

PrologueHe should only have been passing through town, not stopping, not staying, not getting involved. Stumbling upon a dive bar called the Snake Pit along the streets of the quaint village, albeit one with ironically biblical implications, was the last place he’d ever expected to find the erotic promise of a one-nighter with another man. But here it was and there he was, presented to him almost like the forbidden fruit—no pun intended—from a guy even Adam would have admired for his physical dominance. Eden, Pennsylvania, was as picturesque and verdant as small towns came during the day, strangely dark and mysterious after the moon took to the open skies. He’d driven through it often enough on his way from his Pittsburgh home to Philadelphia, where he was in graduate school, but never before had he stopped here other than to refill the gas tank or his belly. Now it was all different. It called to him and he had the potential to be fulfilled in an enticingly different way—sexually, wantonly, a rare chance to indulge in flesh upon flesh with no possible ramifications. He wanted it and the hot guy who kept sneaking glances at him wanted it. The thickness present at the man’s crotch confirmed it. So why did he feel hesitant about going through with it? It wasn’t as if he had anyone in his life. Not anymore. The hook-up wasn’t supposed to have happened. But a flat tire on the outskirts of town as dusk fell had changed all that. Thankfully his smartphone had found a local garage that could assist him and within the span of an hour he’d gone from stranded to rescued. And now, while he waited for the repair job, he had a few hours to waste. A beer at the local watering hole was meant to be just that—one—and a quick one at that. He’d been toying with the idea of finding a roadside motel, even gotten a suggestion of the Paradise Motel from the grease monkey who had come to his aid, but really, wasn’t Philly just another hour east at this point? He could be there by midnight. Walking into the Snake Pit had changed all that. He’d noticed the man immediately—a dark-haired, scruffy, muscular hunk with a handsome face and a knowing smirk on his lips. As if he were two men—the one standing amid a bunch of other beer-swilling guys, no doubt laughing over some off-color joke, the other with startling blue eyes that seemed more interested in the activity going on around him. Including whoever entered through the front door. They had locked eyes just once and lingered, causing this visitor to nervously look away. But he knew he was hooked. Feeling self-conscious as the stranger in town, he sidled up to the bar and asked for anything on tap. He received back a Yuengling, the celebrated local brew. He took a sip of the lager as he leaned against the bar and distractedly listened to the music. It was country, a style he never listened to. Some guy and gal singing about being all alone and needing you now. Catchy, and it turned out, prophetic. “You new to our fair village?” The man, whose given name was William and who was in his last year of graduate studies in the kinetic arts, knew more than a thing or two about body language, body movement. The guy who had come up beside him had done so with surreptitious talent, as though it had not been his first time angling such an approach. They were a study in contrasts, with William being blond, fair-skinned and freshly scrubbed. The other was big, olive-skinned or maybe just tan, the shadow of his beard heavy. It was hard also not to notice the triangle of chest hair poking out from his open-necked shirt. William’s eyes darted down to the shocking display before looking back up. “Yes, a flat tire landed me here.” “Guess you’re stuck,” the man said, that smile returning to his sleek lips. “Nearly repaired, I should guess.” His expression didn’t falter. “Guess you’ll be on your way, then.” “Soon.” “Hope you get where you’re going, you know, safe,” he said, then made a motion toward the bartender. It was a subtle move, again, a quick read of body motion. He ordered a fresh beer and suggested to the mustached bartender that they offer their new friend one on the house for his troubles while passing through their borders. “Oh, no, that’s not necessary…” “It’s our pleasure,” the man said. “This is Eden, we specialize in pleasure.” Again, William’s eyes slipped down to the man’s chest. He’d rarely seen such a thick tuft of hair up close up and certainly never in his bed. The men he’d been with, they’d been younger, college-age, a couple twinky guys from the swim team, and…well, no need to remember his last boyfriend. Not now, not with this manly specimen standing before him. There was something so raw about the way this man carried his body had William reacting in a visceral way. The aggressive way he loomed in such proximity to his target made William feel woozier than the effects of the beer. And then just as unexpectedly as it had begun, the promising encounter was over. Despite the second beer, William had been left with a dry mouth, as though he’d panted his way through his natural saliva. He needed to pee, or at least to have a moment to recover, so he maneuvered his way through the crowd, his eyes again falling on the sexy beast. He was dancing with a woman, his hands cupped on her curving ass. William blinked to make sure it was the same man and then he realized how silly a thought that was. There was no way this bar was big enough for two virile stallions like him. He wondered what the man’s story was. Gay, bi, or just closeted? It didn’t take too long to find out. William was standing at the urinal as the door opened and in stepped his new friend. The man made his way to the urinal next to William and unzipped. William resisted every urge to look over to get a glimpse at his c**k. “I’m going to leave in five minutes,” he said, “with the woman you saw me dancing with just now.” “What…I didn’t see…” “Sure you did. I’d like to get to know you. I think you’d like to get to know me.” He wasn’t sure he had a response. His mouth was still dry, his tongue tied. “Five minutes later, you leave. Go to your left, wait under the third tree.” He zipped up, finished with the reason he’d come into the bathroom. For William, he’d finished peeing a minute ago, but he still stood in front of the urinal, replaying the exchange with the man. His c**k had hardened in his hands, and only when the door opened again did he slip it back inside his slacks. Thankfully the newcomer went to a stall. William thought he could hear a sniff, as if maybe the guy had done a snort of coke. Not wanting to get further involved in the drama of this place called Eden, he was ready to depart when he saw his new friend walking out the front door. With the woman, and she had slid a hand inside his back pocket to stay connected to him. As though they were a couple and they were on their way to do unspeakably wonderful things to each other’s bodies. But William knew differently, the way he knew to recognize movement told him so much more. The man was stiff in her presence, uneasy. He was a closet case with a system of picking up men that kept those around him from knowing the truth. William downed his second beer and when he saw the clock tick five minutes since the man had left, he, too, departed the place known as the Snake Pit. Outside was cool, an early summer night that hadn’t fully embraced the season’s warmth. He did as instructed, his heart beating wildly as he leaned against the trunk of the third tree. A car’s headlights suddenly flicked on, off, flicked again, like a signal. The car with its own body language. William approached the curb, tried the passenger door. It was unlocked. Of course it was. Slipping in, he found no sign of the woman. Just the sexy, dark-haired guy who right now was grinning from the night’s potential. Without hesitation, he leaned over and his lips found William’s. The scruff scraped against his skin, sending electric shocks down his spine. Then the man’s hand dug into William’s crotch, rubbing it, making him hard again. William slid an anxious hand inside the man’s shirt and undid a third button to get his first feel of the dark pelt that covered his chest. The hair was rough to the touch, so dense. He wanted to melt into this guy’s arms, to feel this beast atop him, to cry out when he penetrated William with his hard c**k, as he thrust at William with every ounce of power, when he came and came. Explosions would light their night. As the steamy kiss ended and their eyes locked, William, catching his breath said more on instinct than familiarity, “I’m Billy.” No one called him that and few even outside his family called him William but tonight it seemed right. Be himself but be a stranger, too. “Brett,” the man responded, “and that’s all we need to know about each other—for now. Are you ready for a night to remember?” William nodded as if he’d lost control of his movements. This man was in charge, in control, and William would do anything he asked. He stole a look into the side-view mirror and saw that his eyes were like fire when he said, “Yes. Hell yes.” Brett grinned, his gaze darting down to William’s crotch. Billy looked down to see the thick outline of his hard c**k through the thin material of his pants. It looked ready to rip right through. Billy knew it would soon be in Brett’s mouth, even before the ride was over. That’s when Brett said, “I know this place we can go, no one will disturb us.” * * * * He swore after that crazy night he’d never return to Eden—a night to remember indeed but one to forget as well. Yet here he was, just weeks later, back within the village’s now-suspect borders. And considering the reason for his unscheduled return, from where he stood and what he was witnessing, the sound of life suddenly felt offensive to him. Raucous laughter and the steady thrum of voices carried through the starry night wind, the constant beat of house music blaring through speakers large enough to consume a stadium, all of it competing with the silent rhythm of their hearts, the unseen turn of their lives. As if none of them had a care in the world beyond this hedonistic moment. Today’s entitled youth imagined they were invincible from the ills of others and that hot, sweaty s*x was everywhere for the taking. The notion of their eventual death failed to register. To them, it was as if the only thing capable of dying was death itself. Let the party go on, the celebration of life continue. William had had these thoughts even before arriving, and now that he was here—at the scene of the crime—he found the name of the place as tragic as he’d found the Snake Pit ironic. Immortal. An endless life. It’s not that he was normally bitter about indulging in life’s luxuries except that recent circumstances had begun to alter his thinking. He saw how people dealt with their hungers, their hidden passions. He was guilty of it himself. The imbalance in his world had to be corrected, the unjust needed to reap what they had sown, and he wondered if he was the person to start the revolution. He had come for answers, to make a killer pay. That one phone call had changed everything. “Is this William Kelton?” The deep voice was immediately familiar to him and he felt both fear in his stomach and desire rush his c**k. He remembered it whispering into his ear, asking him what he wanted, how he liked it. How had the man found him? Dry-mouthed, like that night he’d been approached at the town’s dive, he struggled to find any words. “Uh, yes. My friends call me Kelt. Who is this?” Kelt is what he answered to, not William, and only Billy during that passionate night when he’d heard this same man crying out his name, “Take it, Billy, take my thick c**k,” and he had, all of it, until they’d been discovered. “My name is Brett Ellers, I’m the chief of police in Eden, Pennsylvania. Are you familiar with our village?” Regrettably, yes. “Uh, no, I’m sorry.” “Well, I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.” Kelt’s mind nearly drowned as he attempted to absorb the news being delivered to him. Nothing registered, nothing made sense, especially not coming from a man whom he’d known intimately, if only for a few hours, and only in shadowy, sweat-drenched darkness. They’d rocked the bed, their hard bodies entwined in a heated coupling, his world opened as much as his ass, his sexuality reawakened by the hairy-chested beast pounding hard at him. Now though, thanks to this call, it wasn’t s*x that was on his mind but the bigger picture of life and death. Those dual forces were hard at work and one was determined to take the ultimate prize. It appeared that death had won this first round. Didn’t death always, eventually, win? Kelt swallowed hard and felt the ache in his throat when he said to the stranger who had f****d him, the man who represented the law in Eden, “How did it happen?” Part 1: A Stranger in Town