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

[MaineWriter]

And the end of the lunch from hell...chapter 70:

“Well that’s somethin at least,” Ellery said, his voice cracking slightly. “I’m sorry I ain’t bein all that gracious about it, but if you feel better I guess that is what counts. I can’t eat no more a this.”

“It is delicious,” Beagle enthused. “Excellent suggestion.”

“I brought my boyfriend here before we were together,” Ellery mused. “Told em I was winin em an dinin em. Guess bringin you here wasn’t the swiftest idea I had all day. But the food is good.”

“Ellery... I didn’t think... that there was any kind a thing between us anymore.”

“That’s a relief,” he replied, a little too quickly.

“But... I guess it makes it easier for me ta know... you ain’t scared a bein queer. Maybe one day I won’t be scared of it either. Cause I’m damn scared.”

“No I ain’t scared a bein queer, that is one thing that don’t scare me.”

“I want ta be like that.”

“Then ya got ta stop denyin it.”

“You ever do it with a woman?” Beagle asked, popping the last piece of steak in his mouth.

“Hell no.”

“I guess I just kept tryin.”

“A lot a guys do,” Ellery said. “Listen, I know it’s impolite an all, but this is a little hard for me, an I think I got ta go.”

Beagle nodded. “I understand. You think maybe I could call ya sometime, if I got questions?”

“I don’t think so, Bruce, I’m sorry. This might a been a good idea for you, but it was a real shit idea for me.”

“I guess I’m sorry too because I feel a whole lot better.”

“Then it was worth it.” Ellery flagged the waitress down. “You got my credit card on file here don’t ya? Get em whatever he wants for dessert, I got ta get back to work.” He stood up. “Take yer time, it’s all covered. We’re only about four blocks from yer car.”

Beagle looked up at him, eyes shining. “Thanks for talkin ta me.”

“Yer welcome.” Ellery hesitated a moment, and then laid a long hand on Beagle’s shoulder. “Try not ta worry about it. Bein queer ain’t the worst thin in the world. You made yer amends an that is what is important.”

“Yeah. Bye now, Beatle.” Beagle signalled the waitress.

“Goodbye Beagle.” Ellery hurried out the door, made it to the El Camino, put it in gear, and drove home slowly. He sat in the car for an hour, slumped over the wheel, crying.

[mariez]

Hey kids - Lots of good stuff again in these chapters!

From Chapter 68:
    ........
“Break it to em gently. What a you intend ta do regardin Ennis?”

“I am in love with the boy, Wes. I want ta make some sort a real commitment here... I told em I wanted us ta be partners... in the bar, in business, in our relationship... an his eyes fell outta his head, so I’m not pushin em.”

“Good plan. Bring it up again later after ... well you know, at a tender moment.”

“I intend to.”



L

Oooh  - I love this kind of father/son type talk between Wes and Ellery.  Something about the way Wes said "What do you intend to do regardin Ennis" - he knows Ellery and he know this is IT for him! 


And then this:

And more from Chapter 68:


Ellery put the palm of his hand on Ennis’ sweaty chest. “I ain’t never felt like this about anyone, sweetheart. I want... I want us ta be together like this, like partners. Like... a real married couple.”

“Yeah, ya mentioned....” Ennis replied, the color on his face deepening.

“What a you think about that?”

“I think.... I think I want it too.”

“I love you, Ennis, I love ya like life itself.” Ellery’s grey eyes swam with tears. Ennis leaned in and pressed his lips against his.

“I love ya too darlin. Like life itself.”

L

I think this is the first time the "m" word is mentioned!     Sigh  . . . "like life itself." 

All the Beagle stuff is so sad.  I think Wes once told Ellery that he was hard-boiled on the outside and soft-boiled on the inside - so true.

Great quotes, Leslie - Thanks!

Marie

[mariez]

The courtroom stuff is spot on - Louise did a great job!  -

From Chapter 67:

Ellery sat in court through a series of long-winded arguments, the shuffling of large stacks of paper, none of which he read when he was handed a copy, leaving that for the D.A., and one by one, the dismissal motion, the change of venue motion, the other two dismissal motions on the separate charges of stalking and lying in wait, the challenge to the denial of bail motion by the state, were dismissed by the cool hand of Bran Bradley. As the long minutes passed, and Worrell found himself stymied by the immovable judge, to virtually no objections from the State, Ellery could see him losing his temper. The problem with having been a judge too long and losing the poise required of a lawyer, he supposed. Judges don’t have to be patient. When they lose patience, they bang their gavel and dismiss everyone. They can take revenge on a long-winded defense counsel by denying him cross examinations... but Worrell was no longer god in the courtroom... he was a the beleaguered defense, attempting to eke outo whatever advantage for his wounded son he could manage, and hardly managing to hold his own.

All so true - judges really are gods of their courtrooms and they all suffer from "black robe" disease, some more seriously than others.  I love seeing Ellery at work - both investigating as a chief deputy and in the courtroom!

Marie

[MaineWriter]

Today, chapters 71-75, and these are some rough chapters, folks...

http://louisev.livejournal.com/68865.html

“Fuck off, Ennis, you are pissin me off.” Ellery took a step back, his foot fetching up against a leg of the table, and he almost fell backward.

Ennis leapt up from the table and grabbed him, Ellery grappling with him messily, and Ennis subdued him, pulling his arms close against his body and trapping him in a hug. “Settle down boy, yer just upset.”

“I ain’t gonna settle down an you let me go, goddammit.”

“This is Ennis. I’m the one you love remember?”

Ellery tried to focus on Ennis’s face. “You let me go boy.”

“I ain’t lettin you go Ellery. You made a promise not ta get stupid drunk again an hurt yerself, an you broke yer promise, now you got ta deal with me.”

“I said let me go boy,” Ellery’s voice rose, taking on a hard edge Ennis had never heard before. “You don’t know what yer dealin with here.”

“Oh I think I got a real good idea, now we’re goin inside an I am gonna sit you down an you are gonna tell me what got you so fuckin drunk.”

Ellery struggled in Ennis’s stronger arms, weakened by lack of coordination and his afternoon of weeping, but he struggled nonetheless, and Ennis pulled him, inch by inch, through the patio door, when he finally stopped resisting and sagged against him.

L

[MaineWriter]

More from 71:

Ellery turned his head, burrowing into Ennis’s neck, then sought his mouth, kissing him urgently, fingers digging into Ennis’s back. “Don’t want ta be alone,” he whispered against his mouth, then renewed kissing him, fingers now reaching for Ennis’s buttons, unfastening them one at a time. “Need ya, Ennis... I need my man inside me....” he said, fastening his mouth on Ennis’s, his fingers urgently unbuckling his belt, unzipping him.

“Hold on, slow down, slow down, boy...” Ennis soothed, big hands pushing the hair back from the pale face. “Plenty a time.”

“I need ya, Ennis. Fuck me, please....” he urged, and something in his manner alarmed Ennis, the tone of his voice, the needy desperation.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m gettin there, it’s okay Ellery, it’s okay, darlin. You just lie down there, relax.”

Ellery obeyed, sitting on the edge of the bed and then rolling onto his belly, rising to his knees, his head half obscured by the pillow as he watched Ennis push his denims down.

“I stink like horses, darlin.”

“Don’t care...” came the immediate response. “Please.” Ennis looked at Ellery kneeling on the bed, ass in the air, and it occurred to him that Ellery was in severe pain. Somehow, this sex was to reassure him, to let him know that he was loved. But what would reassure him most?

“You want it hard or soft, darlin... any way you want...” he said, kneeling beside him, once again, stroking his hair, his hand wandering down his back to the sensitive pink cheeks he had paddled the night before.

“Just take me, fuck me... I’m yours.”

“Yeah I know...” Ennis picked up the new jar of Vaseline he had bought on his way home. “I got ya somethin too, remembered it,” he said, holding up the jar.

“Hurry....” came that urgent, strange voice.

“Yeah I’m hurryin.” Ennis rubbed his cock with a thick coating of jelly and eased up behind him on the bed, rubbing his hands softly over the pink flesh of Ellery’s ass, hearing his breath hitch. “You got a nice pink rear end boy,”

“Yeah... oh god... yeah....” Ennis rubbed his fingers between his cheeks, dabbing Vaseline into his pucker and slipping a finger inside smoothly, moving it in and out, and Ellery sighed, calming visibly. “Oh yeah... feels good...... “ he slid his other hand lower, cupping his balls and massaging them, then pulling on his cock, stroking it lightly.

“You ready now...? “ Ennis asked softly, letting his cock go and resuming strokes with his left hand over his ass as he fingered him, Ellery’s hips rolling up and back with a sensuous writhing motion.

“Please....” he replied, his voice still using that strange tone... and it struck Ennis suddenly. Young. He sounded young, vulnerable... needy, in a way that was entirely unlike the Ellery he knew. He pressed the head of his cock against that twitching pucker and pushed in, provoking a low, pleasured moan. “Oh yeah, oh please....” he begged, fingers clenching on the pillow, back arching up as his ass pushed back against Ennis’s cock, trying to engulf him.

“Whoa boy, whoa...” but Ellery was frenetic in his need, bucking back to impale himself on Ennis’s rigid shaft, moaning loudly and continuously. He was drunk, out of his head, and horny.... he wondered, what’s the boy feelin now, all the hurt left when Beagle left em.... is this goin to be enough ta stop that hurt? he wondered, thrusting deep, pulling back, responding to the urgent bucking body beneath him, those needy moans... how much of this will wipe away that hurt... could he ever make it go away? They moved together, Ellery’s need provoking Ennis’s, their vigorous thrusts quickly becoming passionate, nearly violent, before Ellery released with a sudden cry, his spasm triggering Ennis’s orgasm in mid thrust, their cries dying out as they fell together onto the bed, smelling of horses, sweat, liquor and semen. Ennis held on, buried deep inside him, his arms cradling the shivering body of his hurt lover, rolling him gently onto his side, slipping out as their sweat cooled, and he kissed his neck, his quivering shoulders, turning his face gently and licking a trickle of sweat as it made its way down behind his ear, bending down to press his lips against Ellery’s dry lips.

“I love you so much,” he whispered against those lips.

“Thank you,” Ellery replied softly, and when Ennis looked into his face, he saw Ellery’s grey eyes were full of tears.

[MaineWriter]

Chapter 72:

“Maybe it was too soon for ya,” Ennis said.

“Or maybe twenty years too late. I can’t help Beagle learn how ta be queer. He needed ta learn that twenty years ago an he didn’t. An it is way too late fer me an him.”

Ennis looked down at his plate. “I hope... it ain’t too much of a struggle helpin me learn... how ta be queer darlin.”

“Oh Ennis...” Ellery’s eyes clouded once more, his face crumpling as tears came to his eyes. “No... it ain’t too much of a struggle. Come on now. That isn’t what I meant.”

“I know it’s hard for ya, with me actin like I hate queers an not wantin ya ta touch me an stuff.”

“You are comin along real good. Yesterday Wes even said so, you weren’t flinchin away when I touched you no more.”

“I wasn’t?” Ennis blinked. “I don’t remember.”

“See? Yer gettin used to it. Don’t compare yerself ta Beagle, there ain’t no comparison.”

“I don’t mean ta argue with ya, Ellery, but there is. I am just startin ta get used ta the idea a bein queer. I just came here three months ago ya know, never went to a queer bar or talked to nobody else who was queer till then.”

Ellery shook his head. “You didn’t drive off on me in 1965, Ennis. You ain’t him. You will never be him or anythin like him ta me.”

[MaineWriter]

More from 72:

“I got a question for ya darlin,” Ennis said between bites.

“Whassat?”

“When you get all insecure an say that thing you say, I need my man inside me... like ya done a couple a times, do you like it fast an hard or slow an easy?”

Ellery’s face brightened as he blushed. “I’ll tell ya somethin about me, boy, almost every time I’m riled up you can go at me fast an hard an I’m gonna like it.”

“So... fast an hard, huh?”

“Pretty much.”

“Okay, well that’s good ta know I did the right thing then.”

“You got good instincts, Ennis.”

“Yeah, like grabbin ya when you was actin crazy on the patio. Jesus boy, you can act real crazy.”

“I’ll do better Ennis. This was a unique situation.”

“I know. Which is why I ain’t gonna spank ya this time over it.”

Ellery’s eyebrows shot up. “Well why not?”

“Cause you’d like it. You like spankin entirely too much, boy.”

[MaineWriter]

And the end of 72...

“All right I’m gettin off the phone. If you are feelin too lowly in the mornin you call me at 7, you got that?”

“Yeah Wes. I know. Don’t Daddy me or I’ll get riled.”

“Shut up boy, I am all the Daddy you got right now. Let Ennis look after you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He rolled his eyes, said goodbye, and set the phone down.

“Between you an Wes I am havin a whole lot a trouble bein irresponsible, Ennis.”

“That’s good. Now about this hard an fast thing... ya want ta give it another shot in there?”

Ellery grinned. “You got another one in ya?”

“Think so.” Ennis got up and stepped over to where Ellery was sitting. “Come on boy, let’s use up some more a that new Vaseline.”

[MaineWriter]

from Chapter 73, one of my favorite Wes and Ellery conversations...

“Come inta my office, boy,” Wes said, and led the way into the crowded, untidy room. Ellery followed, glancing at his watch. “Don’t do that, you got plenty a time till that guy from Justice shows up.”

“Right.” Ellery closed the door and sank into one of Wes’s comfortable chairs, crossing his ankles on the edge of the desk.

“You talk ta Ennis about yer intentions?”

“In a very tender moment, yes.” Ellery sipped his coffee.

“You two have a lot a tender moments. I take it I was interruptin one last night.”

“No, not really, I was sleepin then.”

“Oh, I thought that was a euphemism.”

“No I was sleepin. If we was getting busy he wouldn’t a picked up the phone.”

“All right all right. He sounded a bit funny.”

“He answers the phone funny when he’s naked.”

“So how did it go?”

“He said he liked the idea.”

“Liked it or really liked it?”

“I think he’s scared out of his drawers, but I don’t think he’s goin nowhere.”

“This business about this boy bother em?”

“No, it bothered me. He just gets all jealous an possessive an then we argue an then we make up.”

Wes held up his hand. “Don’t tell me anythin I don’t need ta know, Ellery. So how did ya leave it with this guy?”

“I walked out on lunch an told em it’d be a bad idea if we talked again, an wished em good luck bein queer.”

Wes peered at him. “You were really hurt in other words. I never seen you back away scared from something.”

“I will never answer this question in a court a law, Wes, an if you ever repeat it I’ll deny it. I was seriously seekin my own life after that boy walked out on me. Fortunately I didn’t know fuck all about drugs an got the metabolism of a hummingbird or I would a succeeded.”

“Jesus Ellery, your granddad never told me about this.”

“My granddad don’t know nothing about this. It happened in an empty dorm room an I woke up two days later dehydrated an covered in puke, an thus ended my suicidal career.”

“Jesus I’m sorry. I didn’t mean ta be flip.”

“You wasn’t. I’ll get over it. It was a fuckin long time ago, Wes. I am happy, I got my man with me, an he is real cute when he’s jealous so we’ll be fine.”

“Well all right then, finish yer coffee, don’t drink in the office today an you come in here when that interview is over. I’m gonna be goin through it this afternoon.”

“You haven’t talked ta Ennis about knockin off afternoons have you?”

He shook his head. “No, I was waitin ta find out if you were serious about it or not.”

“I am, an tonight would be a good night, an I forgot all about it. Mind if I call em?”

“No, guess not. He’s just cleanin tack an doin his Ennis straightenin up stuff. Pretty soon he’ll be paintin the barn purple or something.”

“I’ll call em now.”

[MaineWriter]

Chapter 74:

“Never sat much watchin tv cept on Saturday nights ya know. An when I was married...” he stopped dead, blushing. “Sorry.”

“I don’t mind you talkin about when you was married, Ennis, shit. Ain’t we been through enough together already?”

“Didn’t seem polite, after our discussion.”

“Oh, what discussion was that?” Ellery sat up, looking at him archly.

“Ya know, about... bein a real couple an all.”

“Oh you remember that do ya?”

“I remember every word. Just because it was after gettin fancy don’t mean I forgot.”

Ellery leaned close, nibbling on his collar. “We was fuckin Ennis, like wild animals.”

Ennis’s blush deepened. “Yeah.”

“You ashamed a that?”

“No... just... I dunno... talkin dirty seems easier when I’m hard.“

Ellery laughed out loud. “Do I got ta get ya hard for that?”

“You want me ta go into that bar a yers lookin crosseyed an sweaty ...”

“An smellin like spunk? Well no not really. Men can pick up on that fresh fucked look, an it drives em wild.”

“I’d rather not drive anybody wild tonight. Just you.” Ennis slid his hand around Ellery’s neck and drew him close, brushing his lips barely against his mouth. “An I want you when I get home, boy.”

“Good. Cause I am still feelin pretty upset about this shit with Beagle an I could go for my man any time.”

“Then let me get goin so I can get back.”

Ellery pressed his mouth againset Ennis’s, and slid his tongue between his lips, and Ennis’s embrace tightened, eyes closing. “Hmm yeah. Lots more a that.” He stood up, grinning. “You stay right there an don’t go nowhere. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

“You better.”