Jansen stood both transfixed and paralyzed by what he saw. The forms of the longhorns were moving closer and closer, the sound of their hooves growing louder. Jansen's heart sank down in his gullet and at once the life came back into legs. He turned and started to run, toward the direction that he thought was the fencing, but he was not quite sure. Feverish thoughts tumbled over and over again in his mind.

Jansen stumbled and fell. Panic and desperation brought him to his feet again. 'Where was the fencing?! It didn't seem this far out when I came into the field. Am I going in the right direction? How much more time before…?'

Another fall. This one turning him end over end. He stood up, glanced all around. The fall had now really confused his sense of direction and terror clouded his thoughts. 'Which way was I running?' The hoofs seemed louder now. One seemed almost upon him. Thunderstruck, Jansen waited for the inevitable. Pounding hooves came closer, then Jansen felt a tug at his collar. A large body close to behind him and then his feet left the ground.

Though the confusion of the external noise of the hooves and the internal noise of Jansen's own dread, he heard a voice screaming "Grab, the cantle. Grab hold!"

Jansen reached desperately for anything. A leg he took hold of. Suddenly there was another hand upon him. Before he knew what was happening, if he were alive or dead, he felt himself being swung up onto the back of a horse.

A straw cowboy hat flapped in Jansen's face and brown hair followed out around it and into Jansen's face. A voice shouted, "Hold on. Wrap 'round my waist."

The fog of alarm began to lift in Jansen's mind, just enough to realize that he was on the back of an animal, a horse to be precise, and person, woman rider actually, had pulled him off the ground and saved him from certain death.

The rider whipped the horse's flanks harder and harder with the extension of the reigns that she held in her gloved hand. Harder and faster the horse charged. His hooves pounding against the Texas earth.

In what seemed like a moment the rider turned, and Jansen was swung down on the other side of the fencing and the rider took off. Heading in the direction of the stampede. Dazed, Jansen pulled himself up bar by bar on the fencing and stared in speechless awe as the woman rider disappeared down the fence line heading toward the rumbling sound of longhorns.

The Kitchen

The warmth of the cup felt good in Jansen's hand. The Texas night had not been a cool one and with the coming gray and peach streaks of dawn another scorcher of a day was in the making, but Jansen's midnight ride had drained him. Fear of what could have happened made frost run in his blood. He looked up. Chase and J. continued to talk in low hushed tones in the hall off the kitchen. Cin went quietly about her morning work. Though questions and comments burned in her mind, she spoke them not aloud. The right time would come soon enough for questions, but not now.

The gate latch on the back door gave a small click that echoed into the kitchen and in walked a tall lanky, brown haired fellow, followed by two shorter younger looking men; one very husky with dark black hair and full beard that was streaked with white and gray, the other a medium built man, with deep set eyes, sideburns and close clipped mustache.

J. nodded at the lanky fellow and she walked over to him. Jansen could hear J. speak sharply to him and then the boots of all three moving off into the other room were the voices became a dull, murmur; light like a summer breeze.

"Had yourself a rough night there, boss?" The short husky fellow ask.

Jansen looked up at him, did something of a weak nod, then took a sip of the coffee brandy.

"Yeah, we had them kinda nights before. Stampede is rough, chaotic; sure does take a lot out of you. Leaves you sore and exhausted. Only a man can handle a stampede."

"A man? Well then J. better hire another hand to replace you." The deep-set eye man said.

"Oh, I'm more than man enough." The husky fellow said grabbin' his crotch and starting to rub it.

The other men let his deep-set eyes roll in his head and let out a short, spittin' breath.

"I was sure man enough for you the other night then." The husky man said moving toward the deep-set eyed man and grabbin' his crotch. The deep-set eye man bent back to try and escape the grasp. The husky man clasp his forearm around his back to stop him, and pressed his body right up against him, never removing his hand.

"We were stampeding then, too. Huh, huh,?" said making the deep-set eyed man squirm.

"Hoss" the man said squirming.

The started to laugh and get more into it, but at once they remembered they were not alone and they turned to find Jansen staring at them. The broke apart.

Cin walked in-between them to create more distance between the two. "As if it isn't rowdy enough when it's feeding time in there. We've got beds for that you know."

The men looked at each other slyly.

"Though you two seem to have a developed affection for the kitchen table here."

Their faces dropped and began to grow hot with embarrassment. Cin pointed a finger at them as if to say, and you thought I didn't know.

The two men then stood a foot apart and stared at the floor, shifting in the boots embarrassed that their intimate moments had became know by the woman of the house.

J.'s Anger

J. paced in the other room, her feet propelled by anger and her body tense as she listened to Davis.

"The northwest pasture was where it started from. There were no storms."

"I should fire you and your two sidekicks." J. spat. "He could have been dead you know." Her eyes flashed.

"I know." Davis responded evenly.

J. paced to the corner of the room.

"Jansen, said that he had heard a boom." Chase directed at Davis, but keeping sight of J. in the corner of his eye. "You think some of the local kids could have been up there?"

Davis thought a moment. "Could be. It is near the lake, and it's a pretty night. A blowout or backfire could have caused a spook."

"And a spook could've been contained if your men were more on the job!"

"Hoss and Farrell are fine men at what they do." Davis responded.

J. opened her mouth to retort, but Chase held up his hand to quite J. "Daylight is coming on." He said to Davis. "Take Hoss and Farrell out for three hours and see if you can find anything. Report back to me at lunch."

"And make sure that's a full three hours." J. said coolly from her corner.

Davis nodded and then walked back into the kitchen. He called to Hoss and Farrell and the three men walked out the front door. As soon as the door closed behind them, Davis whipped around and gave each man a hard box to the head. Then taking a fistful of coat in his large bony hands he yanked both men up to his face. "Now you little boys listen to me. You better shape up and stop pussying around. Or I'm going to take the crop to both of you and in a way that you surely won't like."

Each man stumbled to get his footing as Davis released him, turned and barked, "Come on - we got to look at the north pasture."

"You were a bit rough on him." Chase said. "Don’t you think?"

J. clenched her jaw and looked away from Chases knowing eyes.

"Hoss and Farrell are good men."

"I won't loose a hand, Chase." Her eyes started to tear up.

Chase walked over to her and said in a low tone, so no one else in the house would hear. "You've got to let it go, J."

A short laugh escaped from J. "Let it go." She said struggling to keep together. She turned and looked at Chase. Right into his eyes. "Let it go?" She shook her head, and walked out of the Den herself.

Stopping at the door she said over her shoulder to Jansen. "Show up after lunch. Warm yourself up this morning, but be there and ready after lunch." The she exited.

J.'s Office

Back at the barns J. climbed down off her horse and led her inside, letting the reigns drop. J. walked, sleepwalked really, to the office. On days like this she couldn't help but remember. On days like this the beauty of just blue sky, rolling in over the crimson read of dawn could not lift her spirits up. Though the day held promise of what was to come, J. only could remember the pain, anguish and sorrow of what had been. The months that her world blew apart.

J. walked into the office. Sat down in her low, wooden hardback chair and stared at nothing. Images and thoughts played in her mind again and again. She looked at her bottom right hand draw. Her mind arguing with her to open it, and not open it. Her heart and call of the past won out. She reached down and slowly opened slid open the drawer.

In the bottom, there on top of a neatly folded horse blanket was a gold-framed picture. J. ran her hands over the glass and the frame. She bit her lip. Would she ever let go? Could she?

J. pulled out the picture, looking at it she smiled though her gut were tearing her up. Her eyes began to moisten. "Oh baby," she said to the empty room before bursting into full-fledged tears. Her sobs echoed through the empty barn and office, only her horse to hear her.

In the Barn..with Toby

Jansen walked into the barn, a bit more rested after taking an early morning nap and having Cin's food in his belly. But still a little tried and more so, shaken from his early morning experience. He hadn't seen J.'s truck outside, but thought he take a gander in her office just in case. Poppin' his head in he didn't see her. But he did notice the office wall was full of ribbons and pictures; Ribbons for second, third and fourth place in barrel racing, flag racing, something called "wild drag" and even one or two for Bareback bronc riding. Jansen looked over the pictures, a few of them he recognized as J., some as J. and Chase, but the bronc riders, though he could tell were women, he couldn't make out just who they were as a helmet covered up a good clear look at the face. In other places along the wall Jansen noticed clean dark squares, where pictures must have once been, but were either moved or taken down.

A hand on his shoulder snapped Jansen out of his thoughts and he jumped around.

"Whoa." Toby said. "Settle down there filly. I didn't mean to give you a scare. From what I heard you've had one to many already."

Jansen let out a short laugh and a "Yea." It felt good with the way that Toby was rubbing his shoulder. He was dressed in tight blue denim jeans and a denim shirt, that he had unbuttoned down to the waist. Jansen let his imagination pause over the sight of the very good looking, sculpted tease of flesh before him. The jeans all bunched up in the crotch. Bringing his attention back up to Toby's face, Jansen saw that it was covered with a wanting grin.

Toby broke his gaze with Jansen and turned it to the pictures. "They're her."

"Huh." Jansen said, still focused on that grin.

"The bronc riders. They're J. Though they don't let women bronc ride in PRCA or any of the other pro-cowboy associations, they do allow it in Gay Rodeo. She's been a champ at TGRA, AGRA and GSGRA, been to finals a few times, both NFR and IGRA. You know much about rodeo?"

"Some, I've been to a few. Never a gay one. I didn't even know they had it."

"Yup, we got everything." Toby said, his grin widening. "Maybe we'll take you up to Austin this year for TGRA."

Jansen nodded, still mulling over the thought of Toby's body, his goatee, focusing again. "Where is J?"

"She took the afternoon off. So…" Toby said grinning again. "I get to be boss of you." He put his arm around Jansen. "Come on."

Jansen spent the afternoon with Toby working on feeding the cattle and horses in the fields. Jansen was amazed at how instinctively the horses would follow the truck. "They know it's feeding time." Toby told him. But, he was more amazed at watching Toby's muscled form as they forked out hay and grain to the hungry animals. With each swipe of the fork, Jansen could see the arms and shoulders straining against the denim. And when Toby began to sweat while as they stacked hay bails inside the barn, Jansen felt his own denim strain in his crotch. The damp denim shirt clung to the line of sweat that formed on Toby's back, soaking it through and creating a teasing diamond shape; wide at the shoulders and then tapering off at the small of his back, but extending down past the waist of his jeans, and Jansen knew he was sweating inside there as well.

"Whew!" Toby said when they had brought in the last bail from the truck. He wiped his forehead with his arm and removed his work gloves sticking them into his belt. Jansen's eyes followed the gloves.

"That's the last." Toby pulled off his shirt, crumpled it into a loose ball and wiped it over his dripping body.

Jansen's eyes darted around the young, tan, hard man that stood before him. He tried keeping his eyes on Toby's face, but want forced them to roam elsewhere.

Silence fell between the two boys as Toby continued to wipe himself down and Jansen continued to watch. The knowing smile came over Toby's face again and he took a tentative step toward Jansen, then another. Jansen did not retreat.

Toby leaned forward and placed a hesitant kiss on the side of Jansen's face, keeping his eyes fixed on Jansen to gauge his response.

Jansen turned his head slightly away. "We're supposed to be working."

"The works done." Toby said. "Stacking the hay was J. 's last task for us. We're on our own for the rest of the day."

Jansen turned his head to Toby. Leaned in and felt their lips meeting. He felt Toby's tongue slide into his open mouth, touched the dampness of the sweat soaked man before him.

Toby grasped a hand into Jansen's crotch, groping hard, Jansen's let out a high pitched gasp. "Yeah" he said to the surprise of himself. Janesn wrapped his arms tighter around Toby's body, felt his drippin' back. Tasted the sweat of his shoulders.

The boys pulled apart, Jansen let his eyes roam over Toby. He felt his shoulders, his abs, his pecks, pausing to let his thumbs linger over those dark brown nipples.

Toby started intently at Jansen as he began yanking open his belt. The force of Toby's effort to get his pants undone, made Jansen loose his footing, stumble back into the John Deere tractor with Toby right on top of him, still holding onto his jeans. Toby smiled at him; half laughed. "Yeah?" He said.

They kissed again.

'This man has an incredible tongue!' Jansen thought.

Toby got the button undone, unzipped the fly and spread open the denim. He worked his way down Jansen's neck, chest and stomach. Coming to his knees he lifted up Jansen's shirt to expose his stomach and the crown of Jansen's bullet shaped rod peeking out the top of his CowboyEquipment waistband.

Toby taunted the head with short licks before he buried his face in the cotton, lapping at the trunk of Jansen's own cowboy equipment.

Jansen gasped. "Oh, fuck."

Toby pulled down the waistband, lapped, kissed and nuzzled the base. Reaching around he pulled Jansen's jeans and underwear down to his ankles, and began working over his package.

Jansen looked down. He stroked the blond hair. It felt soooo good to have this man down on his knees. His wet tongue working Jansen's balls, his shaft. The way he took in his cock and swished it around in his mouth. Covering every inch of it. "Fuck Me" he said.

With a slurp, Toby brought his lips off of Jansen's rod. "I was kind of hoping it'd be the other way around."

He stood. "Huh?" He undid his own belt and pushed his jeans to his calves "Would you like to fuck me?"

Jansen's mind studdered. "I - I've never done that before."

Toby gave Jansen a quick kiss. "Oh." Then another. He took a hold of Jansen in his hand. "I'd like to feel this inside me." Stroking him, he added. "Yeah, I'd like to find that tractor crank up in side me, plowing my field."

The talk made none of the butterflies that were going on in Jansen's stomach stop their acrobatic flight.

Toby got back down on his knees. Slurped at Jansen's tractor crank once, twice, then pulled out a condom from inside his jeans, opened it and slid it down Jansen. Starting with his hand and ending with mouth to get the condom tight around the base. Jansen felt himself bump up against the back of Toby's throat. He felt himself jump; once/twice.

"Hmmm." Toby said coming off him. "Yeah. I'd like you to fuck me. I'd like you to rip me open with that rod."

Toby stood up and tuned, putting his back to Jansen. He brought his hips backward and teasing rubbed his bare backskin against Jansen in small motions, side to side and in circles. He looked over his shoulder at Jansen, and then bent over. "Plow me, field hand."

Jansen rubbed himself in-between Toby's legs. 'You've got this hot man in front of you. You can take him.' Jansen's mind called out again. But his body seemed unwilling. His nerves seemed to start to make him go soft and the condom didn't help much either. Should he take it off? No, that was unsafe. But he wish he could be a little bit harder, a little bit more knowledgeable.

Toby turned back "Fuck me, boy." He said. "Slide it on in me."

Jansen worked himself over Toby. Should it go in. Toby opened his legs up more, allowing Jansen to find his pink pucker hole. Jansen started to work himself in his hips. He slipped. Jansen tried again, and he slipped. He took a hold of himself. Staring at the strong muscled sweat covered back of Toby, Jansen tried to focus on all the hot things about his man to work himself up again. He slipped again. 'What was wrong with him. Was he not a man? Here is this hot guy, begging to be fucked--' He slipped again.

Toby turned and repositioned himself, so that he was lying on his back, pulling Jansen on top of him. He took a hold of Jansen in his hand and tried guiding him in. But to no avail. Sitting up didn't work either. Toby tried sliding down on top of Jasnen, but the out come was the same no matter what position they tried.

Finally, giving up on the idea, Toby stood Jansen up and worked him over his mouth once more. Licking at the dark brown hair that surrounded Jansen's pole. Taking him in and out of his lips and working him up again.

"Yeah, there we go. Nice and hard now. Someone like to be sucked."

Toby went down on him again, and Jansen, though enjoying himself once more, still fretted over his lack of performance for what Toby really wanted.

"hmmmm." Toby said, working his tongue around. "Yeah, were getting ready to blow, Yeah?"

Jansen nodded. Toby started stroking him, soft and slow at first, taking a slurp here and there of the hard pole before him, then he worked up the pace. Jansen got harder and harder.

"Yeah, there we go. Blow for me boy. Blow all over me."

Jansen exploded, showering Toby's chest, neck and shoulders with white, thick spray.

"Oh, fuck, yeah." Toby let out, leaning his body back to catch every drop. "A nice hot load."

When Jansen let out his final release, Toby again looked up at him again, with that knowing smile.

*********************************************************

Somewhere in the distance of the barn; echoing through, Toby could here distant clapping, slow and methodic, but coming closer, and a voice, low gruff and worn from tobacco. "Very nice."

Toby's face contorted in displeasure. He had stayed in the barn just to relax after his trist with Jansen. To cool down from the sweaty, pleasurable hour of before. Now he wished that he had left immediately.

"Very nice work. Some of your best I believe." The voice said - right on top of Toby.

Toby straightened up and turned to face the visitor. A tall thin man, with a leather worn face from years in the sun. In his youth he had a dark brown mustache and even darker hair, but the sun and age had taken it's toll on them as well. Changing them to a faded mousy color, filled in all over with gray, which matched the thinning hair on his chest, which showed liver spots of age.

"What do you want, Lewis." Though Toby new the answer to that question.

"I just thought I'd - pop in." Lewis grinned, showing his aging teeth. "I saw that you were busy, though, so I delayed my entrance." Lewis reached out to play with one of Toby's nipples. "I see these still work."

Toby grabbed Lewis' wrist with a tense grip to stop him. "Not for you. They only work when I'm turned on by the guy I'm with."

"Oh," Lewis said with mock surprise. "I never turned you on?"

"Not for free."

"Hmmm." Lewis mused. "Which brings me to my point. You're a little late on this months payment. A little behind." Lewis patted Toby's rear.

"You'll get your payment."

"One way or another." Lewis added.

"One way." Toby said.

"You know you could work for me to pay off the debt?"

"That'd be like prison."

"A place I know you want to avoid."

Toby's face dropped.

Lewis chuckled, "I'm always amused by that reaction. Don't worry Toby, nobody will know as long as you keep me happy. Just remember, I know about you."

"I know about you, too."

Lewis' expression changed, he tried to maintain a poker face. "What do you know."

"I know your scum."

Lewis laughed, a deep throaty laugh. "You amuse me Toby. I'll expect to be paid by Friday evening. No joke or I'll tell all I know, and then you'll really be in prison." Grinning, then stepped toward Toby. "So, shall I meet you somewhere or" He took his fingers and ran them over Toby's chest and stomach."will you meet me at my ranch?"

"You meet me here." Toby said, then picking up his shirt he headed out of the barn without a second look at Lewis.

A Call and A Visitor

The mood at the dinner table that evening was more quite than other evenings, with none of the boys guffawing or teasing each other as they normally would. Hoss, Ferrell and Davis had found nothing on their examination of the north pasture and though occasionally they would nudge each other with elbows while eating, stifling harsh looks from Davis stopped their typical joviality. Cin did provide her usual sparky comments to the men who had trouble keeping food from falling from their forks, plates and mouths. "This is a table, not a pig trough."

Rickett spent his time staring at Jansen in a way that made him as uncomfortable as the silence. Jansen was grateful when the phone rang and Cin announced that it was for him. Expecting his family to be on the other line, he was surprised and pleasantly so. Jansen recognized the voice on the other end of the line, a soft, friendly twang. A smile spread across his face.

"I heard about your day." Dwayne said after obligatory 'Howdys'

"Yeah" Jansen said feeling his head grow hot.

"I take it your alright?"

"I'm alright."

"Good."

There was a moments pause.

"Well, the reason I'm calling…" Dwayne started in. "is that I was wondering if you might like to go to dinner some evening."

Jansen was stunned for moment. This man, this nice, good-looking man was asking him to dinner. "Sure. Sure, I would." Jansen said with much enthusiasm.

"Well, good. Let's say Friday 'round about 7. I'll come get you."

"You know where to come?" Jansen said before realizing how stupid that sounded.

"Yeah, I think I do."

Jansen though he heard a laugh behind Dwyane's reply.

"Well, I'm not much of a phone person. I get on and get off. So I'll see you Friday and we'll talk more then."

"Okay." Jansen said. "Looking forward to it."

Jansen felt himself glowing as he returned to the dining room, and others around the table noticed it, too.

"What's got your grinning on the inside, Cheshire?" Hoss asked.

"Nothing."

"Who was it on that phone call?" Farrell chimed in.

"Dwayne."

"Ohhh, he sure is a looker."

"He just wanted to see that I was alright." Jansen added sheepishly.

Chase started at Jansen with a half grin on his face, 'The boys grown' up' he thought to himself.

The side door to the house clicked, drawin' the attention of chow crowd as a body entered into the dinning room; his heavy boots clomping on the floor. Immediately Chase felt something hot and glowing grow up in side his belly as he took in the visitors face, he stood up from his chair slowly and spoke to the man through a clenched jaw. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Scenes from the next Lone Start Tomorrows

As the woman stepped from the truck and came closer to the barn J. could feel her ears growing hot and her palms starting to sweat inside her gloves.

YankeeCowboy
Size Me Up!
The 5 w's
Bi American
Climbing into The General Lee, and out of the closet
Slide and Ride
In the flesh, or at least a glossy simulation
Cowboy Poetry
Blood, Sweat and Steers
LST - Episode 1
LST - Episode 2
LST - Episode 3
LST - Episode 5
LST - Episode 6