Max had come out with Josh, not wanting to miss even a minute of the excitement. He spotted Jack immediately, and was, as usual, totally enchanted at Jack’s visit and not the least bit shy with his greeting. As Jack walked up the steps leading from the street sidewalk to Ennis’ walkway, Max galloped down the porch steps to greet him, barking ecstatically, slobber strings flying from both sides of his mouth.

Josh looked over at Ennis. “Is that who I think it is?”

Ennis took a long pull off his beer, swallowed hard, then pushed through the crowd, hoping like hell he could pull this off. “Yeah, it is. Ya’ll try to act normal, ok? He’s just a guy.......” then went down to greet him.

By the time he reached Jack, Max already had his full and undivided attention. Jack was laughing, squatting down, hands full of Max, holding him back from delivering the tongue bath Max so desperately wanted to give him. As always, Ennis had nothing but respect for Max’s brilliant ideas.

“Hey.... welcome to the party.”

Jack pulled his sunglasses off, hooked them in the vee neck of his shirt. He glanced up, but stayed crouched down on the sidewalk, canoodling with Max. “Hey. Thanks for inviting me. Finally.....” he added at the last, rolling his eyes.

Ennis blushed, turned his head away. “Sorry. I wasn’t sure what to do.....”

“It’s ok,” Jack said, talking mostly to Max, who was wiggling excitedly in response. “Glad you figured it out though. That first message kinda hurt my feelings.”

“Sorry.” Ennis looked back down, caught Jack looking at his crotch. He did that a lot when he played with Max.

“I see you’re wearing those same jeans from last night,” Jack noted, still looking straight at his dick, which was feeling every bit as wiggly and excited to see him as Max was.

“Yeah.... I’m behind on my laundry. How’d you know?”

Jack grabbed the box of beer, stood up. “’Cause they make your dick look fucking huge,” Jack told him, stuck out his hand for Ennis to shake.

Ennis felt himself blushing more, but he grinned back, switched his beer over and shook Jack’s hand. “It’s not the jeans, Jack. It’s you.....”Jack’s grin lit up a notch, but before he could speak, Ennis shook his head. “And there’s not a damn thing I can do about it right now, so don’t tease me, ok....... Come on and meet my friends.”

They followed Max back up to the house. Ennis stopped at the bottom of the steps, Jack right beside him. “Guys, this is Jack Twist... You might've heard, he’s in town making a movie. He’s eaten at my restaurant a couple of times and I helped him find a place to stay for the summer. Jack hasn’t had a chance to meet anybody around here yet, so I’m trying to be neighborly and show him a little Southern hospitality. Ya’ll try not to terrorize him too much.”

Ennis introduced them all, and to their credit, they handled it fairly well. Once they got over the unbelievability of Jack Twist showing up at Ennis’ house for a Wednesday night cookout, Jack’s charm and their own easy-going friendliness took over, and everything was fine.

Ennis took Jack’s twelve pack of beer out back and put it in the ice tub, left him on his own to field their first round of chatter.  By the time Ennis got back out front, the initial excitement had settled. Ennis moved up beside him and handed Jack a beer. “I hope you’re not starvin’... we always end up eatin’ late at these things, but I’m gonna put some sausage on the grill as soon as the last two guys get here. They oughta be pullin’ up any minute.”

“That’s fine, Ennis.” Jack took a swig of his beer, scanned the group, then turned back to Ennis. “So is one of these guys him?”

Fuck! More of this already! “Him who?”

Jack rolled his eyes, mumured, “Him from last night, Ennis! Who the fuck do you think I’m talking about? My competition....”

Fucking great. No one was paying them any attention yet, or if they were they were being sly about it, but that wouldn’t last long if they got into it right there on the front porch. Jesus! Ennis leaned in to Jack, whispered, “Yeah, he’s here, but he’s not your competition, Jack. He’s just an old friend that I fuck sometimes. He knows it’s not happening this visit.”

Jack looked at him hard, blue eyes full of questions. “I won’t see him again till the fall. You’ll be gone by then.”

Jack just said, “Yeah,” made it sound like a curse. Melissa and Laurie joined them then, ending the conversation, not a moment too soon as far as Ennis was concerned. Jack could give Max lessons on the fucking woe-begone, sad-eyed puppy dog look.  What the fuck did he expect – that he was going to retire his dick after this summer was over?

Ennis moved away, listened idly to the various conversations, sat on the half-wall of the porch drinking his beer, waiting. By unspoken mutual consent, the group hung around out front waiting for Troy and Rob. They didn’t have to wait long. Within minutes, Max sounded the alarm, and soon they could hear the rumble of Rob’s growly pick-up truck with the mud tires and the chrome roll bar. Sometimes they came in Troy’s late model Corvette.  Regardless of how they got there, they always came together.

Troy and Rob were a complete enigma to the rest of the group. They’d been members of their fraternity, been roommates all through college, and were still inseparable eight years later. They’d both gotten good jobs right out of college, Troy as an architect, Rob as an engineer, and had quickly bought houses in the same neighborhood. From the outside, they looked like just a couple of good old boys..... they drank beer by the case and changed girlfriends about as often as they changed razors, but they remained best friends through it all.

Ennis, Josh and Melissa had whiled away many an hour trying to figure them out, but had never gotten one iota closer to knowing what was really going on between them. Troy and Rob maintained that they were just friends, seemed totally unconcerned that anyone might think different, which, in itself, was odd.....  They went on hunting and fishing trips at least twice a year, watched football in the fall and played golf all summer long. They even took cruises together, sometimes with girlfriends, sometimes to chase girls, so they said.

They never did or said anything to give themselves away, but Ennis was still completely convinced that they were a couple. It was a mystery that had taken hold in their group years ago, and was even more interesting to Ennis now than ever before. How could they keep their cover so air tight? He knew he and Jack would never be able to keep that kind of secret for years...... Hell... at the rate they were going, they’d be lucky if they made it through the night without giving themselves away.

Troy and Rob piled out of the big truck, dressed in their usual faded Levi’s and golf shirts, laughing, smoking cigarettes and drinking beer. They greeted Max loudly when he charged out to sniff them over. Everyone gathered round to say hello when they finally made it to the porch, shaking hands and slapping backs all around.... even Jack got a slap, Ennis noticed. Ennis took their beer, handed a twelve pack to Jack and nodded towards the door. “Come on.... Let’s go put this on ice.” Jack took it and followed him through the kitchen to the deck.

“Which one is it?” Jack asked quietly as they put the beer in the giant tub. He needed to add another bag of ice.... there was some more in the storage room freezer.....

“Let’s get some ice......” Ennis told him, started walking towards the old garage in the back of the yard. Jack caught up with him quickly. No one else had made it out back yet, which was good, so they walked, undisturbed, through the lush spring grass to the ancient little building.

“It’s Josh...... We were roommates in college. We hook up sometimes when we’re both single, but I told him I’m not right now, and he’s cool with it.... ok?”

“Yeah, Ennis, it’s ok. I know you had a life before I got here, and I don’t have any right to make demands on you, but I just want you for myself while I’m here. I can’t help it.”

Ennis stopped at the door to flip the latch up, held Jack’s gaze for the few seconds it took him to get the door open. He let the door catch on a rock so light would come in, then led the way into the cool, musty building complete with dust and cobwebs and even a few resident creatures of the night..... The walls were stacked high with storage bins on one side, restaurant memorabilia on the other.... There was a large refrigerator and a deep freeze sitting on a concrete slab.

Ennis half expected Jack to touch him, to wrap his arms around him and push into him, but he didn’t. When Ennis turned around, Jack had his hands in his pockets, was looking hard at the concrete runners laid down eons ago to park on. Apparently it was his turn to talk.

“Is this thing between us working both ways, Jack?”

Jack looked up, but his eyes were still hidden beneath a thick cover of eyelashes. “What do you mean?”

Ennis walked up closer, till they were almost touching, stared hard into Jack’s eyes. “You want me all to yourself..... I just want to know if I’m getting you all to myself too.......”

Jack cocked one eyebrow at him, stepped in closer still, asked softly, “Is that what you want, Ennis? Not just some tit-for-tat bullshit, but is that what you really want..... to be my only lover.... the only one touchin’ me, fuckin’ me?”

Just hearin’ Jack say it sucked the air out of Ennis’ lungs....... seein’ the heat in Jack’s face, the lust in his eyes........ shit! Ennis could feel pure, hot need pourin’ into his cock, but they didn’t have time....... fuck!

“Ennis? I wanna hear you say it.......” Jack was moving even closer, hands reaching out for him.... Ennis could see their toes touching when he looked down, trying to catch his breath again......

“Yeah Jack, I want it to be just you and me,” Ennis admitted. As soon as the words hit the air, Jack grabbed him with strong, determined hands, push-walking him back fast till he slammed into the refrigerator.  Jack was all over him then, kissing him hard, grinding their mouths together, bruising their lips with the force of the kiss. Ennis wrapped his arms around Jack’s straining body, pulled him flush against his front as he surrendered to the need to kiss him and hold him, to let go of his reserve and for once give Jack back as much as he was getting.

They kissed and rubbed their bodies together until their cocks were hard and desperate, but there was no time.... Ennis could hear voices coming from the deck. They had to leave within a minute, two at the most, or there’d be hell to pay.

Jack pulled his mouth away, but his fingers were still clutching his shirt. “Do you love him?”

“What?” Ennis asked, confused. He tried to focus in on Jack’s eyes, but they were still veiled behind those fuckin’ eyelashes.

Jack pushed against him, not so sexual anymore, just touching. “I just want to know if you love him. I know it’s none of my business, but fuck that.... I want to know, Ennis....”

Jack opened his eyes then, great pools of liquid blue, and what Ennis saw there made him ache inside, because it was what he wanted so badly but knew he could never have, at least not for long. But maybe for the summer, because it seemed this wasn’t just a summer fuck after all.... from the look in those eyes, this was turning into a summer love affair.

Ennis cupped Jack’s jaw, tilted his head to study him close. “He’s my friend, Jack. I love a lot of my friends. But I’m not in love with him, if that’s what you mean.... and he’s not in love with me. Ok?”

Jack nodded, pressed one last hard kiss on his mouth. “Ok. Let’s get the ice before they come lookin' for us.”

Ennis nodded. He grabbed ice from the freezer, pointed at the restaurant equipment. “See all that.... that’s my collection of old restaurant stuff. It can be really fascinating if you’re into that kind of thing.”

Jack grinned. “Well I’m not real smart about that kinda stuff, but thanks for taking all this time to show it to me, anyway.”

Ennis grinned back, tossed him a bag of ice and started for the door. “No problem.” They walked slowly back to the party, carrying ice, talking about Jack’s day, willing their dicks down as fast as they’d wilt. Ennis wasn’t sure if he’d just imagined what he’d seen in Jack’s eyes or not, but he felt lighter on the inside regardless. Jack had promised to be his alone for the summer – that was plenty good enough for now.