Conrad, Kelly - Rogue Preacher (Siren Publishing Ménage and More ManLove) (6 page)

He sat there like a rock. Unmovable—and waiting.

Vince knew he was in trouble. Bad trouble. The kind of trouble that ends your life. Did he know? Who had told him? Chick? Or maybe he guessed. And then suddenly he saw himself sitting on his horse, pulling his kerchief down from his face. He thought he was far enough away that he couldn’t be recognized, but Sunset must have seen him. Maybe not at first, but over time, as the incident played and replayed in his mind, it must have all come back to him.

“Mornin’, Sunset. Had any coffee yet?”

“I’ve had coffee, and I’ve also had a revelation.”

“A revelation. That sounds like the kind of thing a preacher would say.”

“I ain’t no preacher no more, and you’d better realize that real quick…before you find a bullet between your eyes.”

“Tell me, Sunset, what’s happened between last night and this mornin’ to make you suddenly want to kill me?”

“You killed her! You killed my wife! Out there before God and everybody, you killed her!”

“If I remember right, she had a gun pointed at me.”

“She didn’t have no gun. She didn’t own one. I was the one you was after! I stood right there in your line of fire, and you shot her! Why?”

“The sun must’ve been in my eyes. Sorry.”

“Sorry? Sorry? That’s all you gotta say after killin’ my wife? Sorry?”

In anger, Sunset cocked his gun.

Vince stopped pouring his coffee when he heard the dreaded cock of Sunset’s gun. Looking up, he said, “Put that thing away. You know you’re not gonna use it.”

“You don’t give a damn, do you? You don’t even care that you shot a defenseless woman. A woman who never did nothin’ to you.”

A sudden flood of anger filled Vince up. “She did nothin’, is that what you’re sayin’? Nothin’?”

“Yeah, nothin’!”

“Oh, she did something, all right. Somethin’ I could never forgive her for!”

Sunset’s eyes narrowed. “You forget, Vince, I was there.”

Vince glared at Sunset. “She took you! She traveled with you, she slept with you, she enjoyed your body every night…and I had nothin’.”

“She was my wife, for God’s sake!”

“Don’t you get it? Hell, I’ve been in love with you from the moment I saw you. Even when you used to come through Rogue’s Canyon settin’ up them tent revivals you used to give. I’d see you workin’ around there with your shirt off. God, how I wanted you! When seven o’clock rolled around I was there every night to listen to you preachin’ hellfire and damnation to all the sinners.”

Sunset gave a mirthless snort. “A lot of good it did you.”

“I wasn’t there to get saved, Sunset. I was there to see you. To imagine what it would be like to fuck you ‘til I was blind. That was heaven to me.”

“You fuckin’ devil,” Sunset hissed.

The last time you came through there, I had been hired by Cassidy to run the homesteaders off his land. When you stepped in, Cassidy ordered your death. I couldn’t do it. The day the showdown came, a lot of bullets flew on both sides. When I saw your wife, I knew how easy it’d be to gun her down. No one would know which bullet killed her. I hated the bitch. I hated thinkin’ about you and her together, so I unloaded on her.”

“But you didn’t know about me then.”

“Oh, yeah, I knew. You see, I used to watch you behind your tent until I got this idea about payin’ off Clay Bentley and goin’ in his place. That was the night I knew I was in love and had to have you for myself. It was my lucky day when Cassidy contacted me and asked me to run them homesteaders off his land. After it happened, word went out that your wife had been shot. The first thing I knew, they sent a new preacher in your place. Nobody seemed to know where you were, or what happened, so I kept my mouth closed and my eyes and ears open. And then I saw you at the Oasis. Hell, I knew the minute I saw you.”

“What the hell was it you thought you knew?”

“That you was hungry, like me. Hell, I could see it all over you. Oh, sure, you hide it at first, and then you meet the right one…one just like you, and you fuck each other. Then you know. For you, it started with all them nights out behind the tent. Your wife couldn’t satisfy you, so you started lookin’ around. You found yourself lookin’ at cowboy’s asses, smellin’ their scent, and imaginin’ what it would be like to fuck the hell out of ’em. My God, Sunset, you were never meant to be with that woman. You were meant for me.”

“I’d sooner be with a snake.”

“Is that right? I don’t believe it.” Vince put his coffee cup down and went over and got on his knees before Sunset. Slowly, he reached out and took his gun. “We fucked, Sunset, and it was pure heaven. Just like I knew it would be. Now, you’ve got to admit that didn’t just happen by chance. We were lookin’ for each other. In fact, we been lookin’ for each other for years. Now, don’t you see why I had to get rid of the only thing that kept us apart?”

Sunset’s gaze slowly rose, and as their eyes met, a tear crept down his cheek because he still felt a strong attraction to Vince and hated himself for it. After learning the truth, and what was behind it, he still wanted him. “You bastard,” he whispered. “You son of a bitch.”

“Fine. Call me all the names—”

“I’m not talkin’ about you. I’m talkin’ about me.” He reached up and wiped at his tears. “I’m in hell, Vince. I loved my wife and almost went crazy when she died, and now I’m fuckin’ the snake that killed her.” Hearing the words come out of his own mouth ripped him apart inside. With the pain sore and throbbing, he lowered his head, and his shoulders shook as he cried. Finally lifting his head, he looked into Vince’s eyes and felt less of a man than he ever had. With that feeling eating him up, he shoved Vince aside and went to the door. After yanking it open, he stopped suddenly. Without turning around, he said, “I’m gonna need some time. I’m movin’ back to town. When…if I come back, it’ll mean…it’ll mean it’s all behind me. But I can’t do this now. Not now.” And then he walked through the door and slammed out.

“Hey!” Vince shouted as he jumped up from his knees and ran outside. “What do you mean, you’re leavin’? I trusted you, Sunset. One word to the right people is all it would take. How do I know you won’t go spillin’ your guts to the sheriff?”

“Because I gave you my word. I might not have much left, but my word is solid.”

* * * *

Sunset stayed drunk for days. He haunted saloons, flirted with the saloon girls, and even fucked them just to prove that he could. After a while they all began looking alike. An arrogant swagger, a bold, suggestive smile, eyes that when he looked into them reflected a deep well of misery. The money he left them always caused a brief smile, but he knew that even money couldn’t give them what they needed. Once he would have told them they needed God, but today he had no such message and wondered if their misery equaled his. As time went on, one faceless saloon girl after another flitted by him, one pretty much like the other, until he finally gave up and nursed his drinks in silence.

And then one night he saw a couple of cowboys standing at his table looking down at him. Without looking up, he asked, “Ain’t you two afraid to show your faces in a public place?”

“Come back with us, Sunset.”

* * * *

Suddenly, from behind, Vince felt his gun snatched from his holster. He was just about to turn and see what was going on when a pair of strong hands grabbed him and stuck the barrel of his own gun in his ribs. “What the hell is this?” he said.

“You’re under arrest, Vince,” the sheriff growled. “I’m throwin’ both you and your partner’s ass in jail.”

He looked over at Chick and saw him in the clutches of the deputy and then looked back down at Sunset. “So you did it. Solid, my ass, Sunset, your word is about as solid as water.”

Sunset stood up, knocking his chair backward. “My word? What about you, Vince? You killed my fuckin’ wife while she was doin’ nothin’ but tryin’ to hide from you. She had no fuckin’ protection and no way for her to defend herself. I thought you were after me, but never in my wildest dreams did I think you were after my wife! Well, let me tell you something, Vince, the hangman’s noose won’t be high enough, or strong enough to please me, and just so you know, it was that stupid spider tattoo that gave you away!”

“You bastard!” Vince yelled while struggling.

“I’ll be there when you hang. Hell, maybe I’ll even ask them to let me pull the trapdoor open!” With his flashing eyes boring into Vince’s, he said, “Take ’em away, sheriff. I’m gettin’ sick just lookin’ at ’em.”

* * * *

For days Sunset paced in his hotel room. It would be weeks before the circuit judge would be coming to Rogue’s Canyon, and he had to stay around to testify in Vince and Chick’s trial. He couldn’t sleep or eat, and at night, when he was hungry for some cowboy’s dick, he thought of Vince and Chick. He felt like dirt. Many times he’d get on his horse and ride as fast and as hard as he could just to try and get the picture of being with them out of his mind.

And then when he’d sunk about as low as he could, he found himself with a gun, standing on a crate outside the jail.

“Pssst!” he called out. When he got no answer, he did it again. Finally he saw Vince looking out between the bars.

When Vince’s gaze lowered and saw who it was, his eyes reflected a look so cold Sunset could almost feel the freezing winter wind circling around his heart. “What the hell do you want?”

Without saying anything, Sunset heaved a gun upwards, and with a well-placed toss, it landed on the ledge outside the bars with a muffled clink. Vince’s gaze shifted. When he saw the gun, his gaze cut this way and that to make sure they weren’t being watched. “What the hell is this?”

“You know what it is. Take it, and get out of there.”

“Why are you doin’ this? You’re the reason we’re here.”

“I’m stupid, that’s why. I’ll probably be sorry tomorrow, but tonight it seems the right thing to do. If you want out, take it and make your escape. If not, I’ll see you around.” Without saying anything more, Sunset furtively crept away, sneaking through the alley until he came to the street. While still covered by shadows, he peeked around the corner wall of the jail to make sure he wouldn’t be seen, and then got on his horse and rode hell-for-leather to Vince’s hideout—and waited.

The minutes crept by, turning to hours. By the time the sun was coming up, he looked out when he heard the gallop of horses’ hooves on the ground. He turned away from the window and began to pace. What the hell would he tell Vince? He didn’t know himself why he did it. They needed to be locked up and hanged for the crime they’d committed, but he just couldn’t let it happen. He kept reminding himself that they’d killed his wife, but somehow—hell, it wasn’t that it didn’t matter, it did, but it seemed so far in the past now. So many things had changed. He was a different man. That day, like so many others, was behind him now, and he had to look ahead. He led a new kind of life—a life that didn’t touch his wife. He felt as if he’d actually died and been reincarnated into who he was now, and this man, whoever he was, led a different kind of life. No longer the preacher, the do-gooder, or the peacemaker, he didn’t really know what was ahead for him, but he had a feeling he was about to find out.

The minute Vince and Chick walked in, they all went into each other’s arms, their hungry kisses wet and sweet with desire, their bodies pressed together. With the welcome feel of their cocks pressing against him, Sunset knew he was lost in a maze of decadence he now called home.

Chapter Six

With a frantic pull at his clothes, and their mad rush for the bed, Sunset could feel passion rising in him like the hottest fire, clouding his brain. His thoughts were swirling. This was what he’d thrown his whole life away for. A hard cock and a firm ass. He couldn’t help but be ashamed of the way he felt, but he couldn’t deny that his lips ached for their kisses, hot kisses that were rough, but still gentle.

He wanted to push them away, but a kiss on his lips and a hand on his cock stopped him.

Flames surrounded him, engulfing him in sinful heat. The feel of their flesh against his was intoxicating, making that heat ripple beneath his skin. In the flush of sexual desire, their eagerness excited him. Their lips sought every inch of his body, sucking, licking, and nibbling until he met their desire with that of his own. And then they began their wild acts of love and wouldn’t stop until every unholy flame was quenched.

He savored the taste of the wild prairie that flavored their kisses, the wild Texas wind that branded their skin. He longed for a tongue with the taste of sin on it, causing another surge of god-awful heat to fill him until it at last burst like an exploding gun. Every thought of resistance fragmented as their hands and lips continued their hungry search of his body. Turbulent passion swirled, hot tide raged, guttural moans roared as they engaged in this raw act of passion. Sunset couldn’t help it. He became lost between their bodies and surrendered to their every touch of his trembling body.

Now, as he lay on the bed with one on each side of him, they loved his body with their kisses, salted with sweat. Their cocks grew and rubbed against his as their lips grazed his body, biting, nibbling, licking, sucking. He abandoned himself to this wild swirl of passion within him and allowed it to draw him into a red-hot hell where every desire he’d ever known was satisfied.