Jared the Paramedic III Chapter 53

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Jared the Paramedic III ~ Redemption

Chapter 53: To the Cabin

THIS STORY IS COPYRIGHT © 2018-2019 BY SNOWBLIND. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DISTRIBUTION FOR COMMERCIAL GAIN, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, POSTING ON SITES OR NEWSGROUPS, DISTRIBUTION AS PARTS OR IN BOOK FORM (EITHER AS A WHOLE OR PART OF A COMPILATION) WITH OR WITHOUT A FEE, OR DISTRIBUTION ON CD, DVD, OR ANY OTHER ELECTRONIC MEDIA WITH OR WITHOUT A FEE, IS EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED WITHOUT THE AUTHOR'S WRITTEN CONSENT. YOU MAY DOWNLOAD ONE (1) COPY OF THIS STORY FOR PERSONAL USE; ANY AND ALL COMMERCIAL USE EXCEPTING EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS REQUIRES THE AUTHOR'S WRITTEN CONSENT. THE AUTHOR MAY BE CONTACTED AT: snowblind94@yahoo.ca

That night, Liam and Jared met three vehicles travelling together which pulled into the cabin yard. They had slept a large part of the day, all through the morning and into the afternoon. They were well rested and happy to see their brothers. The way everyone piled out of the vehicles would've made the most experienced firefighter envious with their rapid deployment. The occupants of the second and third vehicles carried the groceries into the cabin, afterwards spreading throughout the building to open windows and allow fresh air in.

The occupants of the first vehicle had a different mission. Troy and Tyler got out of the back seats, running to the rear hatch in a hurry. Just as they arrived, the hatch door opened with Patrick getting out and trying to run. He took one step when both Troy and Tyler grabbed him. Tyler firmly had one side of Patrick under control, Troy the other, and they dragged him down the sidewalk around the cabin. Liam and Jared joined their brothers from the cabin, happy to see them but not acknowledging what was happening to Patrick in any way.

"Put me down, you meanies!" Patrick screamed.

"Not a chance you little brat. It's into the lake with you," replied Tyler.

Troy added, "It's well deserved."

Patrick was struggling as he answered, "You can't do this to me! I'm your little brother!"

Liam ran to them, picking up the young man's feet, "You'll be the wet little brother."

"It's not fair; it... wasn't done... on purpose," begged Patrick as he continued to struggle.

Jesse came out through the door from the kitchen, taking some bags from Jared. He looked over at the three men carrying the struggling Patrick around the corner of the cabin towards the lake. "I take it he did it again?"

Jared grabbed some bags of groceries, "Yup. I guess the worse one yet."

Jesse shook his head as he replied, "I thought he would've learned the first few times."

"Nope, that kid is a slow learner."

Zane came out the back door to help them, "Did I hear Patrick screaming about someone being meanies?"

Both Jared and Jesse replied, "Uh huh."

"Didn't learn last time, eh? Bit of a slow learner?" asked Zane.

Jared opened all the doors to the SUV, quickly standing back when the odour hit him, "This had to be the worse one yet."

From the other side of the cabin, the three men all heard Patrick scream, "HELLLPPPP MMMEEEE!!!"

After opening the SUV doors, Jared grabbed a few bags to take into the kitchen. Inside, he found Trevor and Nikita were putting groceries away.

"Did Patrick do it again?" asked Nikita.

Jared replied to them "To quote Ray Stevens from his music video The Streak, 'Yeah, he did'."

Conner and Mark came thumping down the stairs after opening up all the windows upstairs. As Conner bounced around the corner and into the kitchen, he began to ask, "Did Pat..." He was cut off by everyone saying, "Yeah, he did."

Adam came into the kitchen from down the hallway from the other end of the cabin. "Was that my boyfriend I heard screaming?"

Jared was loading the refrigerator with fresh vegetables as he replied, "Yes and yes."

Adam smiled, "Ok, so the answer to the second question I was going to ask is yes. Well, some people learn slower than others."

"We were just discussing that very point."

A final scream from Patrick was heard, followed by a splash of water.

A couple of moments later Tyler, Troy and Liam came into the cabin followed by a soaked Patrick.

"You're all big meanies," the young man said as he approached Adam. "Ads, they threw me off the end of the dock into the lake."

"Patty, you're the love of my life but you really need a cork for that ass," replied Adam.

"It was just a little silent one," replied Patrick with big puppy dog eyes.

Tyler turned and gave Patrick a smack to his ass. "You need to register that ass of yours as a deadly weapon, Patrick. They outlawed chemical weapons with the Geneva Convention."

"You guys are so mean to your little brother," Patrick moaned while acting cute.

Adam took him by the hand, "Let's go upstairs and get you out of those wet clothes."

"Can I take yours off you too?" asked Patrick.

Adam didn't reply but said, "Race you to the bedroom." The two were gone like a shot, pounding up the stairs with their footsteps sounding like pile drivers at work.

Liam had finished putting the groceries away, "What are we going to do for supper tonight."

"I thought we would do some hamburgers and moose sausage. We have lots of both in the freezers," replied Jared.

Liam came behind his husband, embracing him from behind, pulling him in tight. Liam nibbled on Jared's right ear which immediately resulted in Jared pushing his ass back into Liam's crotch. Jared turned his head to present his right cheek, which Liam began to kiss.

"EWWWWWWW, seniors sex," exclaimed Conner.

Jared moved quickly to catch Conner, grabbing him by the back waist of his jeans. "Seniors sex... you little brat."

"Help me! The old man's got me by the pants!"

Jared got his second hand onto the waist of Conner's jeans, "You are going to get a smack on that cute little ass of yours."

Conner unbuckled his pants, unzipped and began to squirm out of his jeans. Jared realized what Conner was doing as soon as his butt popped out the back of his jeans. Mark was pulling at Conner's hands, trying to pull him away from Jared. Within seconds, Conner had squirmed out of the jeans and was running bare ass naked out the patio doors. Mark followed him as they both jumped off the deck onto the lawn.

Patrick and Adam came running down the stairs, naked. They quickly ran by Jared and Liam, out the patio door, off the deck and down to the lake. Before anyone could say anything, Nikita and Trevor ran by them naked, towards the lake.

Tyler and Troy moved next to Jared to watch the little brothers while laughing.

"When did Conner start going commando and does anyone remember when they were all shy and bashful?" asked Troy.

Tyler smiled at his boyfriend, "Care to join them?" It only took a couple of moments before the remaining members of the family had shed their clothes and were running through the patio doors towards the lake. For the next thirty minutes, they all wrestled in the shallow area, got into chicken fights, cannonball contests off the end of the dock, and finally a belly flop contest. That contest ended when Conner landed in the water but managed to hurt his cock. It was as red as his belly from the impact on the water. Mark was very concerned about the injury. As he checked his boyfriend over closely, Conner began to get engorged which caused more pain. Conner ran from the lake towards the cabin, both hands holding his dick, calling everyone jerks. Mark was running behind him yelling he was sorry. All he wanted to do was kiss it lots to make it better.

Supper was done, everyone was well fed. There was never a problem for meals and the clean up after. Everyone just pitches in for whatever needs to be done. It's actually amazing how much work gets done in between pinching, slapping, poking and wrestling done when the group are together.

The night was warm as the men were sitting around the roaring campfire, but a thunderstorm sent the men back into the cabin. They quickly decided on a movie night. While some were making popcorn or getting refreshments, Patrick, Nikita, and Trevor picked the movie. When everyone returned to the family room, they found all three young men ready for the movie. Everyone had been naked all day, now the three young men were sitting together, and all were wearing one article of clothing each. Minion hats to look like Stuart, Kevin, and Bob. Trevor even had a small teddy bear he was holding as Bob.

Jared looked at Jesse, "Guess it's Minions movie night I would assume?"

Liam came rushing into the room, "Where's my hat?? I want a hat."

Jared rolled his eyes, "Do you guys have a hat for Liam? He will be sulking all night."

"I will not sulk all night," as he stomped his feet.

Trevor threw him a hat, "We knew that would happen Jared, so we got one for him too." Trevor pulled a bag out from under the couch, "Actually, I bought enough for everyone." Everyone stood still for a moment causing Trevor to blush while reflecting what a stupid thing he'd done. He was attacked resulting in 12 men wearing nothing but Minion hats while finding seats to watch the movie. Trevor had a huge smile on his face, feeling good about bringing the hats.

Zane poked Trevor in the ribs which caused him to turn with a big smile. "You love this movie, don't you Trev?"

"I like all the Despicable Me movies, but especially this one. This movie and the others too, got me through some rough times before I met you guys. It still makes me laugh."

Nikita had his arm around over the shoulder of Trevor. He pulled him close, giving him a kiss on the side of his head. "I like it too."

Zane smiled, "I guess we'll start calling Patrick, Nikita, and Trevor by the names Bob, Kevin, and Stuart." The three young men were poking at each other calling out their new names. The three boys were sitting on cushions in front of the couch, and when Troy entered the room with Tyler, Patrick indicated they should sit on the couch behind him.

Patrick hyperextended his neck back to look at his friends through the top of his eyeballs. "Tyler, have I told you how much I love you and Troy today?"

Tyler bent forward, grabbed Patrick by both ears and proceeded to give him a loud, wet kiss to the forehead. "I love you too, Patty."

Patrick smiled, "Thanks for the kiss, dads."

Tyler smiled at the young man, then reached to stroke the side of his head lightly. "Thanks, little guy. You don't know how much that means to me to hear that. It really does." Patrick smiled back at the two men as Troy put his head on Tyler's shoulder.

When the movie ended, the dishes were put into the sink to be cleaned in the morning. Everyone headed off to their bedrooms for the night.

The family had been out to the cabin on a regular basis, but it was still necessary to get some cleaning and maintenance done to the buildings. Jared took Jesse up onto the roof, together they looked for lifting shingles or problems with the venting systems. Zane, Liam, and Patrick were sweeping out the quonset as well as doing the windows. Trevor and Nikita were at the boathouse with Adam, who found that both of the young men had natural abilities for working with engines, so he was teaching them to work on the motors and service the boats.

Tyler, Mark and Conner were cleaning the windows of the main cabin. Mark and Conner were cleaning the windows on the inside and Tyler was outside. Tyler had just finished the large glass doors when he thought he heard someone call his name. He looked around, but saw nothing or no one and returned to work. Except now there were two young men's asses pressed firmly against his clean glass door from the other side. They didn't get very far before Tyler smacked both of their assess a good one. By noon, everyone heard a larger truck with air brakes coming down the grid road towards the cabin.

The first comment Cliff made upon his arrival in the yard was, "So... you're all naked."

Jesse's reply was, "Oops."

Zane slapped the back of Jesse's head, "Good God man, you are beginning to sound more and more like Liam. Oops? Really? Oops?"

"What's wrong with him sounding like me?"

Tyler asked Jesse, "Did the lobotomy make it easier to sound like Liam?"

"WHAT?!" Liam shrieked.

"Yeah, but having the shop vac nozzle stuck in my ear for brain removal was a little strange. Have to admit, it was more enjoyable when I put my dick in it," replied Jesse with a big smile.

Cliff was shaking his head at his friend, "So, how do I explain all the naked men to my... my..."

From the inside of the truck, someone yelled, "Boyfriend, Cliff. The word is 'boyfriend'. It's not the end of the world or painful to say 'boyfriend'. Come on, give it a try."

Jesse started to laugh as he reached out with his hands to grab Cliff by the cheeks, "Cliff, go ahead, try and say b-o-y-f-r-i-e-n-d," squeezing his cheeks with each letter.

Cliff chuckled, "You're all a-s-s-h-o-l-e-s." Cliff turned to yell into the truck, "Get down here and meet all the guys."

Carter crawled out of the truck through the driver's side, trying not to look at everyone's exposed dicks. Carter extended his hand and stuttered, "It's nice to see you. Fuck, that's not right. It's good to come here, shit. That's no better." Cliff started laughing at his reaction. Carter barked at his boyfriend, "You could've warned me they were nudists."

"Warned you? I thought Jack was kidding me when he said they don't wear clothing a lot up here," Cliff replied with a smile. "But I do have to admit something to you, sir, boss, Jesse."

"What would that be, employee?"

"You've got as cute of an ass as I've imagined for years. Marc said you had dimples on it." That got an immediate response of laughter from everyone.

Zane gently pinched Jesse's ass, "Grade-A meat Cliff, and it does have those cute little dimples too."

"Hey, don't squeeze the Charmin, unless you're going to use it," Jesse said as he wiggled his ass towards Zane.

"Everyone, this is my boyfriend, Carter. Carter, this is the craziest bunch of guys you'll ever meet and love."

"A couple I've met already."

"Carter, don't worry about getting naked if you don't want. In fact, we'll put some clothing on if this makes you uncomfortable," explained Tyler.

Carter was undoing the buttons on his shirt as he said, "Screw that, where do I put my clothes?" As Carter finished, they noticed he had some light tan lines, but most of his body was tan all over.

Cliff took his clothing off as well and coincidently, he had the same light tan lines and all over tan. Jesse smiled, "Is there something you two would like to explain?"

Both replied, "NO."

It was the culmination of two weeks of planning by Patrick, Mark, and Conner. They had gone to Troy and Tyler for help, finally having to go to Jesse and Jared. Jesse referred them to Cliff for the planning and expert advice. Cliff designed, made or acquired the required materials for a slip and slide. He worked with Patrick, Mark, and Conner making sure to teach them about the engineering as well as the production of the entire project. He was very impressed that all three of the young men soaked up the information as quickly as he provided it. To Cliff, they appeared to be naturals at mathematics and even engineering.

There was a very gradual, almost flat slope on one side of the area between the cabin and the lake. Along the other side was a decent gradient where the slide would work. To enhance it, Cliff brought a prefab unit in pieces for a flat deck, along with the plastic and water pumps. The cherry picker on the tridem-axle flatdeck made it easy. The prefab unit took them two hours to build. When it was done, it was a structure which stood 20' high. The top of it had railings all around it except for the front where a chute made from plywood covered in thick blue plastic extended to the ground at approximately a 60-degree angle. The path of the slide was made from blue plastic with inflatable side walls approximately 15 inches high which they had found available on the net. It took four of these linked together to extend the 200' from the starting point to the end of the dock.

Cliff had come up with the idea to inject low expansion foam into the side walls instead of inflating them with air. This would ensure they lasted longer by being solid as opposed to losing air with accidental punctures. Cliff taught the young men all how to do the math for the expansion of the foam so it could be done quickly. The math for the building construction and the foam was simple for Patrick; something which had really impressed Cliff. The really nice thing about the foam was that it was eco-friendly, and would break down in direct sunlight after approximately 60-90 days. He had also brought two 2" utility and high-pressure pumps for water along with hoses, nozzles and even some devices Cliff had designed to pump the water onto the slide along the sides. Cliff had brought Honda pumps as they were the quietest for the size that he'd ever heard. There was only a need for one of each, but Cliff had brought two of each in case of breakdowns. It was mid-afternoon when they turned the pumps on to watch the water patterns on the plastic, check for leaks, stability or anything else they hadn't considered.

Jesse was technically the first one down the slide, although Cliff was right behind him. Everyone had been standing at the top of the slide discussing who should be first when Jesse suspiciously asked Cliff who had financed this project. Cliff told Jesse that it had been accomplished by corporate donations, contributions, material exchanges and by locating superfluous or excess materials. Jesse stared at Cliff for a long moment thinking, when Cliff just pushed him down the chute. Never to be outdone, Jess grabbed Cliff's foot, taking him with him. The two men wrestled, twisted, turned, and spun on the water covered plastic the entire distance before hitting the ramp which had been built on the dock. One after another they shot up into the air over the lake before hitting the water like a skipping stone, finally coming to rest approximately 50' from the end of the dock. They were quickly followed by a steady stream of naked men a few seconds apart flying off the ramp on the dock and landing in the lake.

For the next two hours, the men shot off the end of the slip and slide alone, in pairs, and finally as a mob of 14 people. Someone had the bright idea to put an inflatable raft on the water and try to hit it from the slide. It took some time but they got quite good at it.

Traditionally, in rural Western Canada (the Prairies, not BC), when people are doing things which others may consider to be stupid, risky, or really cool, the words 'hold my beer and watch this' usually preface any action. Another expression in Western Canada which is usually the first words out of person's mouth who said 'hold my beer and watch this' when they become conscious again is, 'Are you a nurse?'. This group didn't need to be drunk or even have any beer to do those types of stunts.

It was Jett who came up with the idea to try something he'd seen on YouTube. Jesse mumbled something about YouTube being worshipped by the younger generation and it would lead to the downfall of society. Carter almost died laughing at the statement, which caused Cliff to slap his boyfriend's ass. After a round of ass slapping, Jett explained that if they placed the inflatable raft just right with someone sitting on one end of it, the person coming down the slide would land on the other end of the inflated raft which would cause the person to be propelled up and into the water. It took a few tries, but soon enough it was working. Conner was sitting on the raft when Jesse hit the other end. The weight difference between the two caused Conner to fly up in a parabolic curve landing approximately 50' away in the lake. It was then they figured out if the little brothers sat on the raft, the bigger and older brothers coming down the slide worked the best for good air. Tyler took a turn on the floating raft with Patrick shooting down the slide. When the young man hit the raft, Tyler did fly off it but nowhere near as well as Patrick had when the roles were reversed. Patrick made the mistake of saying that as a person aged, their ass got heavier. His mistake was making the comment within arms reach of Tyler, who promptly grabbed him followed by a few quick slaps to the young man's ass.

No one was sure how long Colt had been watching people shoot down the slide from the deck of the cabin. He was sitting patiently on the deck, drinking from a travel cup of coffee he must've brought with him. Jared approached him, sitting down on the deck next to him.

"So, you guys are all naked," Colt stated.

"Yup, sorry. We didn't expect you for a bit. We had plans to put some bathing suits on before you got here so you wouldn't be uncomfortable with us being naked."

"It's nearly 6:00 pm, I was late."

Jared gave him a funny look, twisting to look at Colt's watch. "Wow. You're not kidding. Sorry about that Colt. We just built this slip and slide today, and the time got away from us."

"You just built it?"

"Yeah, Patrick along with Conner and Mark came up with the idea. Cliff brought it up here prebuilt. We just had to bolt the sections together. It just sort of took off from there. We just got it built after lunch, and I guess we've been playing on it since."

Colt thought for a moment before asking, "Should I come back another weekend? I mean, if you're too..."

"Colt my friend, you're always welcome here. We'll put some clothes on so you don't feel uncomfortable. This is the way we are, nothing to hide from you."

"So I saw," Colt replied with a chuckle.

"Are you going to join us?" Jared asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"I thought you'd never ask."

Jared had Colt wait until everyone had gone down the slide and were floating around in the water. Colt come flying off the end, splashing further than anyone else had made it. The group was stunned when Colt's head popped back up to the surface but quickly welcomed him. It was Conner who suddenly realized he hadn't eaten all afternoon and asked about supper. Just the mention of a meal had everyone suddenly hungry.

Colt was standing on the dock with Patrick, Adam, Mark, and Conner drying off with towels. "Adam, do you remember the first comment you made to me in the jet boat?"

Adam thought for a moment, then smirked. "I told you that you were overdressed."

Colt stood there, arms stretched out exposing himself to the group of young men, "Is this better?"

Patrick leaned forward to his boyfriend to whisper loudly, "He is impressive, and cute too." Adam elbowed him in the sternum as he shoved his boyfriend off the end of the dock.

After supper, everyone was hanging around the cabin area in little groups. There were some cards being played in the cabin as well as someone had found the Jenga and Kerplunk game on a shelf. Jared and Liam had discussed the Mistatim Village Days celebration the next day as well as all the activities. They thought it would be a great thing to go visit for the afternoon, something different for everyone to see.

The night sky was clear as a few northern lights danced at a higher elevation. The dancing northern lights with a background bright lights showing through the blackness was worth the wait each night to watch. Colt and Jared were standing in front of the rail with both of their gripping the smooth top for stability as the looked skyward.

"Jared," started Colt, "My grandfather always told me that if you went out and zipped the fly on your pants up and down, the sound called to the northern lights. He said they would dip down to me as a friend."

Jared began to laugh. "I got Liam, Darren, and a few others with that one." The two men laughed.

"Some history for you. Many of the original people believed the northern lights were spirits of the dead playing a game with the skull of an animal. Some tribes believed it was the spirits of children who died at birth. The Inuit were afraid of the lights and believed they were demons chasing lost souls. Others carried sacred knives with them to defend themselves from the lights. The forefathers of your tribe believed if you whistled at the northern lights, they would sweep down and take you away. But, if you clapped your hands the lights would retreat and you would be safe."

"I see I have a lot to learn."

"You have a lot of information hidden in your head. The memories are there; we just have to nudge them."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a brief blue flame on the dock, followed by some giggling. Jared and Colt looked at each other with looks of puzzlement. There was another blue flame from the dock. This one was a little longer in duration, and it was again followed by laughter.

"What the hell?" asked Colt.

Jared smiled, "There's never a dull moment around here when we get together." There was another blue flame except this one was small and very brief. The laughter which followed the event was even louder. "This has got my interest; let's go check it out."

"It's got my interest, too." The two men were almost to the dock when another blue flame was seen. This one was followed by some quick Russian words, the sound of footsteps on the dock and a splash. The laughter was really loud this time. Jared walked up to the dock and found Nikita sitting in the shallow water with a disgusted look on his face.

"What's wrong Nikita?" asked Jared.

"They lit the hair on my ass on fire that time."

Colt started laughing, "They what?"

"Oh my god..." exclaimed Jared. "Blue Angels."

Colt gave him a strange look.

"They are lighting their farts on fire, Colt. The methane and hydrogen sulphide in fart gas is flammable."

Nikita stood up and moved back onto the dock. "I had a good one but they lit the hair of my ass on fire with the lighter. Bastards."

"Who was it that lit your ass on fire, Nik?" asked Jared.

"Conner."

"Wasn't it Conner who lit your ass on fire outside of the nightclub that night we picked you all up drunk together?"

The young Russian thought for a moment, "I see a pattern developing here."

Jared was laughing, "You mean to quit doing it?"

"No. My boyfriend needs more practice at it so he can do it instead because Conner sucks at it." Colt lost it with laughter. On the end of the dock were Conner, Adam, Mark, Patrick, Trevor, and Jett. Every one of them had a sheepish look on their faces as if they had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"Hi guys," said Jared.

They all replied, "Hi dad."

Jared turned to Colt, "This is what happens when the kids are left unsupervised." Colt laughed.

"Jett, how did they con you into this?" asked Jared.

Jett smiled. "Well, it was sort of my idea."

Jared looked at him with interest. "Sorta your idea? Is that like someone who says 'not me', 'ida know', or 'that's not my hand in the cookie jar'?"

"We did this in the hockey change room at the arena a couple of times."

"Before or after a few beers?" asked Colt with a smile.

"Both, when playing AA, never beer. You would get turfed from the team for something like that. But, when playing rec hockey or pickup, it was a different story. We all brought a case of beer each just to get warmed up for the trip home on the bus," Jett replied with a smile. "The farts were always best after a few beers and pickled eggs."

Conner was smirking, "If we fed pickled eggs to Patrick..."

Jared rushed to Conner, shoving him off the end of the dock. "Don't you even think of it, young man. He has enough problems with that deadly weapon of his."

Adam came flying at Jared, intending to grab him as he went off the end of the dock. He missed. Jared was still talking with Colt but suddenly stepped to the left, used his hand to push Adam off the end of the dock. Next was Mark over the edge, landing on Conner who was getting out. Nikita almost got him. He and Patrick had come in from different angles at the same time, but just as he reached for Jared, he was gone. Nikita crashed into Patrick, and Jared used his foot to shove them over the edge of the dock. Trevor was sitting on the dock when Jared looked at him, took a step forward, and yelled "BOO." Trevor got up and ran off the end of the dock on his own.

Jett was the last one on the dock, and he was staring at both Jared and Colt. Just like when he was stick handling, Jett came down the dock towards Jared, but at the last second deeked over and body checked Colt into the water. Colt was actually still mid-air as Jett stepped back sideways and took out Jared. The two men hit the water at the same time. When they surfaced, Jett was doing a showboating dance as if he had just achieved a touchdown in football.

Colt was treading water as he said, "Gonna have to keep an eye on that one Jared."

"He definitely fits in with the rest of them."

"Plus, there's something about him besides being cute."

Jared just replied, "Interesting."

Everyone was sitting around the campfire. Liam had brought out his s'more making materials, followed quickly by a free for all to be the first to eat one. Jared brought his guitar out and sang a few songs. Colt took the guitar and sang songs by Tyler Shaw, Gordon Lightfoot, and Charlie Puth with amazingly accurate duplication of each one of their voices and singing style. Troy was sitting on a half cut log in front of Tyler, leaning back into his boyfriend's arms. Tyler was still on edge from the shooting, never far from his boyfriend's reassuring touch. Sitting next to Tyler was Patrick and Adam. Across the fire from them was Cliff and Carter sitting next to Jesse and Zane.

"So Jess, this is what you guys do, eh? How come you kept it a secret? It's so fantastic out here," asked Cliff.

"How many time did I invite you and you were too busy?"

Cliff waived his hand at Jesse dismissively, "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Jesse had a look of surprise on his face, but smirked as he said, "Good grief, someone else is quoting Liam."

"Quoting me on what?"

Zane yelled over, "Silly answers."

Liam stuck his tongue out at them, then leaned back onto his husband.

Ever being the inquisitive one, Conner asked, "Cliff, you are the only person besides Zane I've ever heard call him Jess."

"Yes." Conner didn't know what to say to the one word answer.

Jesse laughed as he said, "You are such a dick at times, Cliffy."

"But you love me anyway," Cliff replied fluttering his eyelids.

Jared was laughing, "You two really do go back a long way, don't you?"

Cliff smiled, "There were a few times we killed some bottles of wine or vodka together like the three musketeers."

"Don't remind me of those mornings," Jesse replied quickly. "I'm too old for that shit now."

"Yeah, I sorta outgrew it too," Cliff replied. But then he smirked and added, "Most of the time."

"There was the night we..." Carter started before Cliff put his hand over his boyfriend's mouth.

"Some things we don't need to share, Carter."

Jesse leaned forward, "Please... share Carter." Cliff raised both hands up in the sign of surrender.

"We were out together one night with a couple of friends of mine. We may have overindulged a little that night."

"A little? I still don't remember any of this. You're making it all up."

"Right, you and the Russian government... deny, deny, deny."

"Just get on with it before the young ones over there collect their pensions."

Jesse was almost falling off his log laughing, "You've really met your match with Carter, haven't you Cliff."

"This I learned from Liam," as Cliff stuck his tongue out at Jesse.

"So anyway," Carter continued. "We were sitting on the balcony of my apartment."

"Sitting? I seem to remember you had your tongue in my ear."

"Oh, now you remember that? But, we had been out there for a little while, enjoying the view. Yeah, that's what we were doing, enjoying the view," Carter said his eyes rolling. "Suddenly Cliff needed to vomit. Without thinking, he did it over the side of the balcony."

Everyone was laughing as Cliff cut in with, "Just finish the story."

"So he did the mother load of all yaks over the railing. It projected straight out from the railing then into a steep angle of decline when the weight of the chunks slowed it down. When he finished, we both looked over the edge to see where it had landed."

Cliff had his head in hands by this time.

"Well, I didn't know that Cliff's assigned parking spot was four floors right below my balcony. He had barfed all over his own truck, covering the cab just beautifully. There was Chinese food stuck to the hood, windshield, and roof. It was as if someone had taken a big bucket to slop the pigs over his truck." Everyone sitting around the campfire lost it in laughter. "The bean sprouts were the most obvious, along with something with batter he didn't chew very well."

"You're exaggerating."

When everything had settled down in volume, Cliff looked at Jesse and said, "Actually, it was his company truck." Cliff promptly stuck his tongue out at his boss which caused even more laughter. Jesse slapped the back of Cliff's head.

Suddenly, a huge wolf came running into the crowd, jumped onto Jared and causing him to fall backwards. Carter stood up immediately trying to figure out what to do when Jesse put a hand on his shoulder. "No worries Carter. That's Shadow, Jared's wolf."

"Wolf?"

"Yes, wolf. They've been companions since both were little." Jesse called out loudly, "Shadow." The animal bounced over to Jesse, licking his face. "Do you remember Cliff? He met you at the housewarming party." The big wolf nodded yes and used his nose to get a pet from Cliff. "This is his boyfriend, Carter." The wolf sat, presenting a paw to him to shake. Carter did it carefully. Shadow used his nose to nudge Carter's hand for a pet.

"He's not subtle, is he?" Carter observed aloud.

"This is nothing," Jared said while laughing. "You should see him when he wants something."

"Watch the ass of your jeans," Liam added quickly. "He loves tearing them and your gitch right off your ass for fun."

"Shadow," Tyler called out as he stood. The big wolf ran over and sat in front of his friend. He stood on his back paws, placing his front paws on Tyler's shoulders before gently reaching over to take his friend's throat into his huge teeth. Colt and Carter both gasped as they watch it, but realized no one else seemed to be concerned. They continued watching as Tyler reciprocated to Shadow's throat. The big wolf licked Tyler, then landed on Troy. He knocked Troy over, licking his chest. Troy was laughing so hard he couldn't catch his breath.

Tyler called out "Shadow" again, and the wolf sat in front of him. "I would like you to meet a new friend, Colt." The wolf stood, looked at Colt, then turned his head slightly to the side as if he was thinking. Shadow's eyes flashed pure white, connecting with Colt. The big man stood, blinking rapidly, trying to figure out what happened. Shadow sat and yipped, coughed, growled, and howled.

Colt was staring at the animal for a moment before he said, "I understand him. Holy shit, I understand him. Yes, Shadow, I am from the north and I'm Dene." Colt stared at Jared and said, "What the hell?"

"He's one of us Colt, that's part of what you're here to learn this weekend. He linked with you to help if you need it."

Carter was stunned by what he had seen, "What was up with his eyes? Was it my imagination?"

It was Jesse who answered, "Carter, Cliff, both of you. You're safe here."

Zane reached out with both hands, "Each of you, grasp my hands." The two men did it. Zane linked with them, explaining the family and their role as Medicine Men and Shaman. He shared the memories of meeting Jesse, and his joining the family. It only took a moment, but the two men sat quietly for a few moments afterward, digesting the information. When Zane had finished, Cliff and Carter sat on the log with wide eyes, slowly looking at the group of people around them, unsure what to say.

Jared spoke first, "Cliff, you and your boyfriend are being welcomed as friends, maybe even as family members. Earlier today when I was speaking with Colt, I had made the comment to him that us being naked was our way of having nothing to hide behind. What you see is what you get."

Cliff looked at his long-time friend, "Jess, this is real? You talked with Marc and your parents?"

Jesse looked at Clifford, locking eyes with him. "He saved my life from the next world." Jesse's eyes began to water as he continued, "He spoke to us both, blessing us to have a relationship. He stood right there and told us about how love never dies in the next world, it gets better and he would wait until both Zane and I joined him to share love with him."

Cautiously, Cliff asked, "How... did... he look?"

"He looked as good as the day we were married. Cliff, the physical body is gone, but the spirit continues. Both his and my parents were together and visited with us." Jesse took Zane's hand into his, "He told me my love for Zane does not replace or diminish what we had together when he was alive. He told us to use the bed for something other than sleeping in."

Cliff snorted a laugh, then put his hand over his mouth. "Sorry, that just sounded so like something he would say."

"It was. He told me that he would love me forever, and that love was different on the other side. These men and Zane healed me. They brought me back from the brink of giving up totally."

"I don't understand, but I don't care as long as it brought my friend back." Jesse embraced Cliff.

Carter was quiet, but asked, "So this isn't evil or satanic?"

"No, if anything the evil one has become very scared of us as a family," replied Jared.

"Carter, I've known you for a while, I guess since I joined the force so you know I'm basically a pessimist," Colt said.

Carter chuckled, "I could accept that description."

"You know I was in the accident a couple of weeks ago, right?"

"Yeah, the young guy crossed the centre line, hitting you."

"That's right. After the accident, I crawled into the wreck to try and help him. He asked me to hold him as he died so he wasn't alone. He wasn't alone, neither of us was. Two of these guys brothers, Darren and Josh, helped us at the scene. They calmed the young guy and helped his spirit to move onto the next world. They explained to me I needed to open my mind and accept help from Jared."

"Who is Darren and Josh?"

"They were our brothers who were shot in the park last year. Gunned down while eating ice cream," Liam explained quickly. "They are messengers now, helping people who need it if they want it."

"Like angels?" asked Carter. "Wait, you mean Josh as in the police officer and Darren the firefighter?"

"Yes, they are our brothers. You might think of them as angels, but they are messengers. The same as all of us," Jesse said carefully. "The main messengers are me, Liam, Zane, Patrick, Nikita and now Colt. Both Nikita and Colt will do a sweat with us to learn about their futures."

"You are both invited to join us, as friends, and see what happens," Jared said with hope in his voice. "The sweat is a great way to heal, and to cleanse yourself."

"I've heard about sweats," Carter replied. He turned to Cliff, "What do you think?"

"With what we saw through Zane, I trust these guys."

"So do I. Maybe they can teach you to say boyfriend without hesitation, stuttering, or chest pains."

"You're such an asshole."

"Never stopped you from using it."

Jesse was laughing, "You really have met your match in the little guy, haven't you, Cliff?"

Cliff put his arm over Carter's shoulder, "He was worth the wait... most of the time."

Carter pushed him backwards off the log, then called out, "Next person who would like to apply for the position of boyfriend please, but if you want the job you have to be able to say the word boyfriend." Cliff reached up and pulled him backward off the log. They began wrestling on the ground in the dark.

End of Chapter Fifty-Three

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