Quick note: This chapter was a special birthday present to my good friend Nadja. I hope you enjoy it.

TR

GLITTER GULCH

Chapter 27: Cruel Seduction

"Fucking Yank," Sage muttered. He was currently riding to town in the rain because Rowan had asked him to pick up Anubis. He figured it was the only way Sage could pay him back for being such an ass last night. The blue-haired Yankee wanted to look his best when he saw the bartender again, so instead of going out in the rain to pick him up, he sent the next best thing. His best friend who owed him a favor.

Sage grumbled and pulled his hat down farther to cover his eyes. He was miserable and cold. But he knew better than to leave a debt unpaid when it came to Rowan. The Yankee always seemed to exact payment plus interest. Oh no, he wasn't going to let Rowan brood about this one too long. There was no telling what he'd make Sage do.

It was a long, frustrating ride from the ranch. He had to go slow because the storm clouds had stolen what little light there was left of the day. With any luck, he'd be back home, dry and warm within Ryo's arms in no time. He just had to remember the Indian's smile and the tanned, graceful body stretched out beside him.

He shivered but not from the cold.

Lady Luck seemed to read his thoughts as she tried to turn and go back home. "Whoa, girl," he chided, "you'll get to home soon enough. First, we have a visitor to pick up."

Lady Kayura's wasn't too much farther, and it wasn't long before he was wrapping Lady Luck's reins around the hitching post. He remembered that Rowan had told him to go around back. Anubis was supposed to meet him there.

He knocked on the back door and waited. Impatiently, he tapped his foot. He really didn't like to be kept waiting in the rain. He knocked again. Louder. Within a few seconds, the door cracked open, and a voice greeted him, "What do you want?"

Sage peered at the figure. "I'm here for Anubis."

"Oh!" The door swung open, and a scantily clad woman beckoned him in. "You must be Rowan! He said you were going to come get him and take him to dinner tonight! Come in!"

"Actually, I'm…"

"Rowan's here, Anubis!" She hustled Sage into the hallway and up a short flight of stairs. "His door is the last one on the left. Have a good night!" With a wink and a swish of her hips, she left him alone in the hallway.

"But I'm not Rowan," he said to the silent walls. He shrugged and followed her instructions, leaving small puddles of water on the wood floorboards. He rapped lightly on the door with his knuckle. He looked back down the dimly lit hall as he waited patiently.

The door swung open and strong hands pulled him inside the room, swiftly closing and locking the door behind him. "What the-" He was pulled against a hard chest and muscular arms encircled his waist. Questing lips found his, and his knees went weak as a hot tongue slipped into his mouth, cutting off any protest. A peppermint induced haze flooded his senses. He kept trying to back up but the other followed, still smothering him in a heated kiss. He fell back onto the bed as he collided with it, which gave him the opportunity he needed to blurt out, "I'm not Rowan!"

The shadowed figure stopped, and soon the pale light of a lantern cast a golden glow over some of the room. He saw brief panic in the bartender's eyes, then a calm, collected glaze fell over the gray irises.

"What are you doing here?" the redhead asked.

"Rowan sent me to pick you up." Sage struggled to sit up.

"He sent you to pick me up? Why didn't he come himself?"

Suddenly, the truth sounded hollow in Sage's ears. The sad, plaintive tone he heard in the bartender's voice made him cringe. He couldn't tell the redhead that Rowan just didn't want to get his hair wet. That he wanted to look and smell his best; that's why he recruited someone else the arduous task of going out in the rain to get his lover. "He… he has a fragile constitution. We didn't want him getting sick from the ride over in the rain."

"We?"

Sage removed his hat, scowling at the water dripping off it. "The others at the Halo Ranch."

He noticed a red eyebrow go up. "Halo Ranch? I thought he was staying at the Wilkerson place."

"He is. Was." Sage sighed. "It's the same thing. I'm Sage Halo. I own the Wilkerson place now."

"You were the one the Sheriff beat up in the bar the other day."

Sage bristled. He hated to be reminded of things he'd rather forget. "Yes. The Sheriff was quite put out by me and my friend."

"You're a friend of Rowan's?" The redhead moved cautiously to the door.

"Yes, I'm his best friend." Sage recognized the barest hint of a red eyebrow raising in interest.

"Well, perhaps we should get going then. Wouldn't want to keep Rowan waiting."

Sage fiddled with his hat, reluctant to leave, but also reluctant to say what he needed to say. "Let's not leave just yet."

"Why? What reason is there to stay?"

"You are a whore, right?" There. He'd said it. He needed to know.

Anubis' eyes narrowed. "I am. So what of it?"

The blonde found it hard to continue. His eyes scanned the floorboards like they were searching for some sort of escape. "I… I just have to know that you really do care for Rowan. That you… aren't just in it for the money."

The silence was unbearable. Sage wanted to crawl under the bed and hide, but his foolish pride kept him wide out in the open.

Finally, the redhead spoke. "I care deeply for Rowan. I… I haven't asked for any money. If you are his best friend," he spat out the words, "then you would have known that."

Sage swallowed the lump in his throat and the hate in his gut at that last phrase. "It's because I'm his best friend that I'm asking that question."

"Why? What does it matter to you if Rowan pays for it or not? You're not giving it to him, are you?" The bartender stood on the other side of the room. His face was now hidden in the shadows.

"It matters because I don't want to see him get hurt." Sage stood up and brushed off his hat. "But I see that you don't really care for him if you're standing here arguing with me." He started for the door.

Anubis crossed the room in long, quick strides and punched Sage in the jaw. The blonde fell against the bed again. "Who the hell are you to come in here and tell me who I love?! You son of a bitch!"

The cowboy wiped the blood from his mouth and looked up at the redheaded fury in front of him.

"Who the hell are you to come in here and tell me that I don't love Rowan?! What the hell do you know?! I have a job to do and I do it! That's all that it is to me! As soon as I get enough money to pay my debt, do you truly think that I would stay here? Do you truly think that I would continue to whore myself to the filth and slime that comes in this place?" Anubis pulled Sage up off the floor by the lapels on his leather duster. "I love Rowan more than you could ever know! He's one in a million, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let someone like you come in here and tell me that I don't care for him!"

Sage held up his hands in a defensive gesture. He really didn't want to get punched again. He swallowed the blood that had collected on his tongue.

"If Rowan asked you tonight to give all this up, would you? Would you do it for him?"

Some of the rage left the gray eyes.

"In a heartbeat. If I could, but I can't. Not until my debt is paid." The redhead released Sage's jacket.

"What do you mean, debt?"

Anubis lowered his eyes. "I owe Lady Kayura a significant amount of money for my freedom. As soon as it is paid, she says that I'll be free to do as I wish."

"How much? How much do you still owe?"

"Two thousand."

"Dollars?!"

Anubis hung his head and closed his eyes. "Yes. Two thousand dollars."

"My god, how come you owe that much money?"

The redhead snorted. "Because I'm talented. That's why." He shook his head. "I'm a slave. I'm not a free man."

"But two thousand dollars? Are you truly worth that much? I mean, is anyone worth that much money?"

"Lady Kayura seems to think so."

The only sound was the ticking of the pocket watch on the side table by Anubis' bed.

Sage tried to run through all the options in his head. One of them kept coming back. He didn't like it, but it seemed like the only solution. The only way that Rowan wouldn't get hurt. Besides, he already had his dream. Why not let Rowan have his?

"What if I gave you the money?"

Anubis' eyes flickered with gratitude, but then the cool outer mask slipped back into place. "What do you mean?"

"What if I gave you the two thousand dollars?"

"Why would you do that?"

Sage licked his dry lips. "For Rowan." He almost couldn't stand the bartender's gray stare. He fidgeted and played with the brim of his hat.

"I can't take your money."

"Why not?"

"I can't just take someone's money like that. I have to feel like I've done something to earn it."

"But you have. Rowan really likes you. That's enough for me."

"What about you? What would you get out of it?"

"I don't need anything really. I have what I wanted. A ranch. A place to call home."

Anubis shook his head. "No. I won't take your money. I haven't done anything to deserve it."

"Work for it then."

The redhead's forehead wrinkled. "What do you mean?"

Sage realized what he'd just said, and he stumbled for the right words. "I mean, come out to the ranch. Do odd jobs around there. Our barn just burned down, I'm sure we could use the help building a new one."

"I don't have any skills like that."

"You could carry things. We could use a strong man like you."

Anubis seemed to be thinking over Sage's offer. "But you still haven't said what I should do for you."

"The work around-"

"No. I don't mean that."

Was it hot in here? Sage tugged at the collar of his shirt as Anubis crept closer. He attempted to stand up and head for the door when gray eyes locked him in place. "I could do… other things for you." A hand crept up his chest and slowly began unbuttoning the small wooden buttons on his shirt.

"You really don't have to-" He swatted at the hand. He was knocked backwards on the bed as a long, muscular body settled on top of him. "Hey, now, I don't… Mmmph!" Once more a peppermint tang overwhelmed his senses, and the room began spinning. Butterflies twirled in his stomach, and he found it difficult to think straight with the candy-flavored tongue swirling across his.

One of the strong hands toyed with the buttons while the other began to caress areas that Sage had thought off limits to other guys until a couple of days ago. He managed to break the kiss and gasped, "Okay, that's enough. Stop… Ugnnhhh!" That hand had expertly infiltrated his trousers and was now briskly stroking him. "You… can… stop… that now," he panted.

"Do you really want me to?" was breathed against his neck.

Sage shook his head, even as he grabbed the redhead's forearm to halt the movement. But the attempt was half-hearted and easily broken.

An expert mouth bit and licked at his earlobe rendering him completely helpless. His body was quivering from the attention, and the tongue left tingling trails over his heated flesh. Goosepimples broke out over his arms as the blood in his body traveled to his groin. "Stop… this… this isn't… oh…"

Swirled peppermints danced in his brain as tiny pinpricks of pleasure crisscrossed his chest. He hissed as the chilly air in the room caressed his heated skin, his nipples stiff and erect. Moans of shame spilled from his throat, and he clutched at the bartender's clothing, not certain if he should push the redhead away or pull him closer. The tongue traveled across his mouth and down his neck, paying particular attention to the smooth hollow of his throat.

And it kept creeping lower.

"Don't… I can't…" His hips rocked forward, and his back arched up off the bed. The hard, rhythmic pumping thrusting his body into a state of willing acquiescence. His mind's strong willed resistance became small pitiful pleas as his vision blurred from sensory overload. This was forbidden to him. This was wrong. It was Rowan's boyfriend, and he had Ryo. He shouldn't want this. He shouldn't be doing this…

"Oh god!" A scorching blaze of desire shot through his soul as an inviting mouth wrapped around his sex. He was no longer breathing but gasping for air, trying to pull the bartender's warm lips from his body. He knew that if this went any farther, he wouldn't have control.

There would be no turning back.

But Anubis began sucking and using his tongue to tease and caress the underside of Sage's hard shaft. "Stop… oh, god… stop…"

But it didn't stop.

The humming started.

"Fuck!" Sage was squirming on the bed, his hands alternately clutching and shoving at the bartender. His pants were down to his knees. "I can't… Don't… Ugnhhhhh!"

A fingertip rested lightly just inside his body. His muscles clenched and tightened around it. The finger pressed down, and Sage groaned, his body flexing in tandem to the movement. Another finger joined the first, still just inside. Not deep enough to satisfy, but deep enough to tease.

The mouth continued to suck.

"We can't…" Sage panted, trying to form a coherent thought when his mind was screaming for more. He thrust his pelvis back, trying to embed those teasing fingers within him. He could feel Anubis' body shifting on top of his, heard the jingling of the belt buckle, and the soft rasp of fabric against skin. "This isn't…"

Then his pants were being tugged off over his boots and a hot, muscular body positioned between his legs. The fingers continued pulsing up and down, coaxing the tightened muscle to loosen. Then a third finger joined them. He moaned.

Sage's tenuous hold on his dignity snapped as his ankles were hoisted up over Anubis' shoulders, red strands of silken hair tickling his shins, and a thick, hard dick was shoved into his ass.

"Shit!"

The ride was relentless, fast and furious. No time to relax. No time to calm raging desire. Sage was practically screaming with every thrust of the bartender's tight, muscular thighs. He bit his lower lip and tasted the coppery tang of his blood. Then the world exploded and he nearly passed out as his seed coated his chest and stomach.

Anubis grunted and continued to thrust until he too was frozen in an orgasm. Then his body twitched as the last of his release spilled into the blonde.

The post-coital phase didn't last long. Shame burned on Sage's face and a righteous indignation flamed in his heart. He shoved Anubis away, rolling to his side and sitting up, grimacing as the bartender's sex withdrew from his body. "Get off me," he growled.

Anubis' eyebrow was arched, but he didn't say a word. He silently crossed to the dresser and poured water into the small basin on top of it. He began to cleanse himself and tossed Sage a wet rag.

The blonde's lower lip trembled as he took the rag and wiped off the evidence of his treachery.