Taking Chances, by E. L. Van Hine and L.H. Nicoll

[MaineWriter]

Chapter 42:

“Then you might get a week off, yeah.”

“Well that sounds real temptin, even to a workaholic like me, Wes. Because I think I am about ta burst at the seams, an Ennis just turned down a return visit from his daughter because he didn’t want ta give up any weekend time with me, so he’s burstin at the seams too.”

“Yeah. That’s part a why I ain’t anxious ta get em back on the ranch unless he really wants ta go. An as soon as I can break you free it’d be good fer you an him ta take off an go on a nice trip with the horses an ferget about snipers an break-ins an dead bodies, while the weather still holds.”

“That is really nice a you, thinkin of us that way.”

“Yer like a son to us, Ellery. An thanks ta you, Edna an me feel like we got another son too. He is a real dear boy, quirks an all. He is very dear ta us.”

Ellery sat back in the comfortable passenger’s seat, stretching his legs. “I don’t need ta tell ya how dear he is ta me. An every time he gets on the phone with his girl, who is strugglin with money, I bite my tongue an think... is it time ta tell em about how much money I really got so I can maybe help out?”

“You ain’t said a word to em about that?”

“Hell no. He grew up dirt poor, Wes. I can’t think of anything would scare Ennis more, with the exception a maybe callin em ‘Pookie’ in public.”

“Huh?” Wes looked puzzled.

“Private joke. He hates pet names.”

“Oh, that I can understand. Edna an I have a very strict rule on that.”

“Oh, what’s she call you?”

“You ain’t gettin that out of me, even at gunpoint, boy,” Wes said, voice suddenly gruff. Ellery laughed out loud.

[MaineWriter]

Chapter 43:

Ennis shook his head, not quite understanding. “Why didn’t you go down to the station? Ellery ain’t here an he can’t help ya an I sure as hell can’t help ya. You want me ta call those guys who are watchin the house an go sit in their car? Somebody after you?” He cast an uneasy glance out, and from the vantage point of the front doorway, could not see the surveillance cruiser across the street, if it were still there. Perhaps they had gone on a lunch break: it was close to noon.

“Yeah, this guy from the Brotherhood is after me, an I could get shot.”

“Why didn’t you call Emergency from yer house?”

Sevigny shook his head. “Had ta get out, no time.”

“You could a gone to a phone booth. Cause boy, I ain’t lettin you in here, an all I’m gonna do is call Emergency an have somebody come get ya just like last time.”

“Ya can’t do that. If you let em arrest me I’ll end up in the same cell with some a those other guys from the Brotherhood an they’ll shoot me. I ain’t foolin, Ennis... I ratted them out an now they’re comin for me.”

Ennis looked doubtful. “Well then go across the street an there’s a police car there an just tell em somebody’s after ya an they’ll take care of it. I ain’t no police deputy!”

Brad smiled, looking Ennis up and down. “No, but ya live with one. What’s it like?”

Ennis stared at him. “What’s it like? What’s what like?”

“Ya know, fuckin a cop.”

“You shut the fuck up, kid!” Ennis roared. “I’m closin this door right now an call em. You can stand on the doorstep or run off, I don’t care what ya do, but don’t you come ringin the bell talkin no trash!” He stepped back to close the door, and Brad smiled up at him, nonplussed.

“I bet he’s great in bed ain’t he?”

Ennis slammed the door, shaking with fury. Goddamn son of a bitch kid. He went to the phone and dialed 911. “Uh yeah, this is um... Ennis Del Mar, at 92 Tourmaline Road, ya know, where Ellery Cantrell lives. Ain’t there supposed ta be a car here or somethin?”

[MaineWriter]

Chapter 44:

Ellery was home an hour later, and Ennis was folding sheets. When Ellery came in, he dropped the sheet on top of the bed and rushed to him, not waiting for him to drop his hat or unholster his pistol before sweeping his arms around him in a tight embrace, mouth hungrily seeking Ellery’s mouth.

Ellery did not resist. He had been quietly nervous about arresting Amos, and a thought nagged the back of his mind that another sniper might be watching outside the station, but the arrest and booking went quietly and smoothly, perhaps because of Wes and Mel’s precautions. He let Ennis’s needy mouth devour his, Ennis’s tongue wedging his lips open and forcing his desire on him, bowing his back with the force of the embrace.

“Jesus Christ, boy, you act like I been gone a week,” he gasped as Ennis loosened his hold and broke the kiss, the air thick with their rapid breathing.

“I got riled,” Ennis said briefly, as if that explained all.

“Lemme get this off. I got a little riled at puttin handcuffs on Amos Marigold. Somethin distinctly arousin about that act, I admit.”

Ennis grinned, standing back and letting Ellery toss his hat, pull out the pistol and unload it. “Yeah, ya should a taken a picture.”

“Oh we got pictures. Mug shot a Amos Marigold ought to make Page One a the Boomerang tomorrow mornin, judgin by the report Wes just faxed em in response to the inquiry.”

“Shit,” Ennis said. “I might just enjoy this weekend after all.”

Ellery walked into the bedroom, dropping his bullets carefully in the ashtray. “Shit, you made the bed an everythin. I got ta start payin you fer maid service, Ennis.”

“I’m even better at messin it up,” Ennis said, coming up behind him, then dropped his voice to a whisper. “Keep yer uniform on.”

Ellery looked over his shoulder. “You got some fancy idea or somethin boy?”

Ennis nodded. “Yep.”

[MaineWriter]

Chapter 45:

Ellery let his legs down gently, softening as he pulled out, and looked down at Ennis, who had gone still almost immediately after he came.

“Ennis?”

Ennis looked up at him drowsily, a smile flickering on his lips. “Hmm?”

“You all right down there? Did I hurt ya...?”

Ennis shook his head. “Nope.” His eyes drifted closed again.

Ellery patted his cheek, and Ennis opened his eyes once more, then closed them, this time, his eyes rolling up. He reached his hand to pat Ennis’s cheek again, and Ennis’s head fell back against the bed, this time, completely out cold.

“Damn I’m good,” Ellery said, standing up and stripping off the rest of his uniform before climbing back in bed and wrapping his arms around Ennis’s wet, unconscious body.

[mariez]

Chapter 45:

Ellery let his legs down gently, softening as he pulled out, and looked down at Ennis, who had gone still almost immediately after he came.

“Ennis?”

Ennis looked up at him drowsily, a smile flickering on his lips. “Hmm?”

“You all right down there? Did I hurt ya...?”

Ennis shook his head. “Nope.” His eyes drifted closed again.

Ellery patted his cheek, and Ennis opened his eyes once more, then closed them, this time, his eyes rolling up. He reached his hand to pat Ennis’s cheek again, and Ennis’s head fell back against the bed, this time, completely out cold.

“Damn I’m good,” Ellery said, standing up and stripping off the rest of his uniform before climbing back in bed and wrapping his arms around Ennis’s wet, unconscious body.

I remember Chapter 45 very well - it's the first chapter I read of the Laramie Saga.  Little wonder I immediately went back and started reading from the beginning! LOL! 

In Chapter 46, Ellery and Ennis have a talk about Sevigny, and Ellery reveals something about their first meeting:

“Yeah. He might a been one a those Brotherhood members. Maybe he got kicked out fer bein queer, an fingered Will as someone they could pick on instead to get back in their good graces, then got cold feet.”

“You think he’s queer, or just actin?”

Ellery laughed humorlessly. “Ennis, I’d like ta think I can always tell when a man is queer. I was right about you, an I ain’t never told you how I knew, but him? I dunno. Maybe. Probably. But somethin ain’t right an he is lyin about somethin. Dupree thinks so too.”

“Whoa whoa whoa. How’d you know about me?”

“You mean besides you bein in the Red Stallion an tellin Bill you’d been with a man?”

“Yeah.” Ennis's heart was thudding again, and this time it was not with lust, but with a species of fear, as if his illusions about himself were evaporating suddenly, leaving him naked to the world.

“Cause when I came up the stairs that mornin you weren’t lookin at my face, boy, you were lookin at my crotch.”

Ennis blushed. “Oh.”

“Dead giveaway.”

Thanks for the quotes!

Marie

[belbbmfan]

hello re-reader!

today chapters 46-50 http://louisev.livejournal.com/87190.html

from chapter 46:


Ennis came awake slowly, becoming aware of Ellery’s breath as it tickled his ear, the sticky tightness of drying come on his thighs, the solid weight of Ellery’s arm lying across his chest. Why did I do that? he wondered as his thoughts cohered, remembering how he dropped to his knees, heart thudding with desperate longing to take Ellery’s cock in his mouth. Then, climbing onto the bed and propping himself up for penetration. Begging. Ellery’s words came back to him: “I need my man inside me...” he had now experienced that keening need, which nothing else but being penetrated, could satisfy.

But why? The question circled back like an angry bull in a rodeo ring, pawed the ground, and charged him. Why now? It had to be more than simply Ellery’s skill with a rifle, his prowess in subduing an armed sniper, enhanced by his easy acceptance of his duty under fire. More than Ennis seeing him spring fearlessly into action to protect him when his truck window exploded, and more than his calm certainty in performing his duty, knowing there were men tracking him who wanted him dead. What was it, then?

“What’s it like? Fuckin a cop.” The words came back to him in the arrogant, sassy voice of Brad Sevigny. He had forced the encounter out of his mind, and hadn’t even told Ellery about it, that’s how angry he was about this boy, this kid – daring to presume, to ask things he would never tell anyone, invading that intimacy he had at one time, shared only with one, his precious secret, and now – with the one person he held dearer than anyone living.

“I bet he’s great in bed.” Stupid kid. What was he there for, and why did it trouble Ennis so much? He knew what he had to do, even if bringing up the subject confirmed for him his worst, most baseless anxiety – Ellery had to know.

[belbbmfan]

from chapter 47:

Ennis made tuna sandwiches and soup, dishing up leftover fruit salad from dinner the night before, and they ate together on the patio, Ennis watching for hummingbirds. But he was distracting himself.

“Ya know, sometime yesterday mornin after we didn’t give depositions to His Royal Assholeness, you an me were sittin in yer truck an you said you wanted ta tell me somethin, in bed, with our clothes off, holdin on ta me, or somethin a that nature,” Ellery said.

“Oh,” Ennis set down his tuna sandwich, his face growing pale. “I was sorta hopin you’d forget about that.”

“Okay. I thought ya needed ta get somethin off yer chest, Ennis.”

“Well, I do.” He picked up the half-finished square of sandwich, nibbled on it, set it down again, picked up his soup spoon and set it down again.

“Well ya want ta tell me or are we finishin lunch an gettin naked again for this conversation? I don’t mind – just askin.


I just bet he don't! 

[belbbmfan]

more from chapter 47 very painful memories for Ennis:

Ennis shook his head, tossed the sandwich down as if declaring surrender to his appetite. “That ain’t why. It’s on account a... the killin down in Sage when I was a kid.”

“Killin?” Ellery’s eyes widened slightly, but he kept his tone soft.

Ennis nodded, his eyes now fixed at a point between their plates, and he ran his thumbnail along a crease in the tablecloth, as if measuring the distance an ant could crawl in the time it took him to draw the next breath.

“Yeah. Couple a ol’ ranch hands lived up there. You know, queer men. My dad didn’t care for them one bit, always said somethin if he ran into one of em in town. Earl an Rich. I told Jack this story, about my daddy takin me an my brother K.E. out when I was about nine, an there was Earl, lyin dead in a ditch outside a town.” Ennis’s breath caught.

“Oh, Ennis,” Ellery said, his eyes shining now, and he reached out a hand, gently touching the hand that was working his thumb into the tablecloth. Ennis stopped moving his hand, accepting the caress as comfort, took another breath.

“Daddy laughed about it, that was the part that hurt. Anyhow... I told Jack if he was ta come through that door right then, an saw me lyin there with my cock stickin half in em, he’d go get his tire iron an do the same ta me right there an then. Jack didn’t talk too much about doin this ranchin thing after that.”

“Jesus god, Ennis. How come you never told me this before now? You know if you don’t ever want ta come out an tell people about bein queer that is entirely up to you, this ain’t a friendly world for our kind, but I never knew you of all people had the best reason of all ta keep mum about it.”

[mariez]

Good Morning -

Thanks for the quotes, Fabienne!

It was such a relief when Ennis finally told Ellery about Earl and Rich - so painful, but Ellery really needed to know.

From Chapter 49 - so many twists and turns to the mysteries:

They sat together in the interview room after Leon was returned to his cell, Ellery looking down at the table and then finally back up at Wes. “I … don’t get it, Wes, I really don’t. Why would Sevigny go to my bar an hire some boys ta go put Ennis in the hospital? This must a happened right before he called me on that Friday. Which means he lined up somebody ta go after Ennis at the same time he broke faith with the Brotherhood an decided ta start tippin me off. But I don’t get why.”

“Okay, let’s say he was involved in Wilkes’s death….” Wes said.

“That’s the other thing. Why would those red bandana boys be skulkin around in the dead a night just ta blow Wilkes away? He wasn’t even queer.”

“Maybe that is why,” Wes said.

“Huh?”

“I said… maybe that’s why. Sevigny said he was interested in em an Wilkes turned em down.”

“You think Sevigny had em shot because he turned em down?”

“Stronger motive than pickin some random guy who ain’t queer out a the summer school boys an just shootin em in the middle a the night. That’s the part that never added up. Koonz told the officer at the hospital that Amos Marigold gave em a list a names, an to look fer queer boys outside the Red Stallion bar, an if they got any a the names on the list they would get five hundred dollars, an fer any other known queers from the Red Stallion they’d get two hundred dollars. An Jim Allen an you an Ennis were on the list.”

“Okay, an Wayne an Rudy an Dupree weren’t on the list, an they probably mistook Dupree fer me because a the car.”

“An Wilkes never went to the Red Stallion. The Brotherhood weren’t huntin fer guys on the campus a the U. So…” Wes set a thick finger down on the edge of the table to emphasize his point. “So the Wilkes killin had nothing ta do with Amos Marigold. But if Sevigny was involved with these boys, he could a decided he could kill the boy who pushed em off by just hirin out an make it look like one a the contracts Amos had made.”

“An then afterwards, finger the Brotherhood guys an look like a hero," Ellery replied, nodding. "An have somebody beat up Ennis bad enough ta distract me so that I wouldn’t look at his story too careful, an maybe blame the kidnappin on the Brotherhood too, thus coverin his involvement with them as well. Or if things got tight fer Sevigny he could admit he used ta be a member but bought em off.”

“When he really paid em to kill a boy who turned em down.”

“Not exactly the kind a crime I like ta see written up in the paper, Wes. People are gonna think queers eat their own kind.”

“In this case, sounds like they do.”

“An Worrell, don’t forget Worrell,” Ellery said. “Come on, let’s get outta here, I got ta go find out if Ennis is feelin better. We can interview the others Monday maybe… I think we got enough ta charge Sevigny an put em in a lineup.”



Keeps me on the edge of my seat - and I already know what happened!

Marie

[belbbmfan]

from chapter 50

The afternoon was waning… and so far the day had been consumed by Ellery’s work. This had to be bothering Ennis, he thought. He wondered if his exhaustion were a way for Ennis to escape from the inescapable reality of murder, assault, and hatred. He had avoided it all of his life, after the horror of seeing the consequences of men expressing their love for one another openly… and now, Ellery had convinced Ennis to take the chance he had avoided for his entire adult life, and his life – both of their lives -- had now been threatened repeatedly. Ennis had been beaten, punched, hit over the head, kidnapped and shot at – all in the same week. And yet – he had not blamed Ellery, or his job, or his position at the Red Stallion, for what had happened, even though they were largely responsible. If Ellery were not doing police work – he would not have been targeted by Brad Sevigny and his plot, and Ennis would not have been beaten and kidnapped. If Ellery had not been on Amos Marigold’s hit list, due to his professional contact with him, they would not have been shot at.

For the second time that day, Ellery found himself ruminating. About Ennis, about their relationship… and about his career. Ennis had said he did not want to get rid of the bar, even after what had happened to him there. Ellery wondered whether it would make Ennis happier if Ellery were to give up his job. But could he give it up?

He didn’t think Ennis would ever ask him to. But maybe… considering how threatening Ellery’s work had become to both of them – it would be the best thing to do. Ellery didn’t have to stay in this little house, pretending to be a middle class civil servant. That was his retreat from his past, from his family… from the legacy his father had also shunned. He could afford a luxurious home, as remote from the world as they desired, with as much land as they wanted, to ride through on horsebac, lock themselves away from the strife and violence of the outside world and be together – alone.

There was a great temptation in this – but even as he fantasized about taking Ennis away to a private wilderness all their own, he knew that he himself could never be happy this way. It would be like running away.

The only way out – was through. Capture and convict the killers, nail Sevigny on whatever conspiracy he was involved in, put the bad guys away. That is why Ellery worked when he did not need to. To make the world safer for his kind.