For a Hero Read Free Page A

sigh. “Each bachelor will be donating his price to a charity of their choosing. And you, my dearest friend, are already signed up. Your picture is even in this fancy little brochure I had distributed through Austin and San Antonio yesterday. Half of your proceeds are going to your beloved fire hall and the other half to Austin Home for Orphaned Boys. I know your weaknesses.” Blaine seals his news with a wink.
    “Dammit.”
    “I know. Let’s go climb that mountain.”
     
     

Chapter Two
     
    “Get your damn hand off that rope. It’s secured in the clasp on the buttress and wrapped around my hip for belay. David, I swear, I am going to beat the shit out of you.”
    “I know you can do it yourself, Big Man. No reason to risk it, though. You know as well as I do that the more pressure on the rope, the more secure you are.” David had the anchor line from Blaine’s rope wound tight in his hand. Their bodies were now several hundred feet above the waves of Lake Travis. Dots of canoes and water skis danced beneath them adding a faint summer buzz to the ambience. The blue of the sky enhanced the emerald of the forested hills, but the pinkish brown earthiness of the cliff consumed them. Blaine, in black, and David, in red drew the outline of the rock with themselves, reaching for the peak.
    “It’s called a cordelette. Speaking of how obnoxiously wholesome you are, have you picked out a thong to wear to the fantasy date?”
    An uncharacteristically beastly growl emanated from David’s chest. “I’m not wearing a damn thong. I still can’t believe you signed me up for that. And you used charity, how low.”
    “We all have a weakness, Pal. Clip me out.”
    “No, why?”
    “I’m going to dyno.”
    “You shouldn’t even be climbing at all. The doctor would hang me out to dry if he knew I let you do this. There is no way I am going to let you leap up this rock.”
    “Let’s make a deal. If I make it, you buy yourself a thong and stop complaining about the date, if I fall horribly to my imminent death below, you don’t have to go.”
    Before David could respond, Blaine kicked both feet down into the stone, propelling himself upward. With one hand outstretched high above him, he grabbed at the face of the corner.
    He slipped.
    Dust and chipped stone broke away in his fingernails and gravity stole him. He shot downward. Instinctively, David’s palm contracted. His arm and back locked in place. The rope stopped. Blaine fell but only 3 short feet below David. With panic, David flung his body round to look down at his friend. Blaine reclined in the harness, arms behind his head, swinging with the wind. The trademark smirk plastered across his mouth exaggeratedly.
    “You knew I’d catch you, didn’t you?”
    “Oh no, Boyscout,” the facetiousness dripped thickly from his voice. “You are my hero. As a matter of fact, you saved my life. I didn’t die. I guess that means I need to buy you a thong and get you a ride. I’m thinking blue with a bright red “D” on your dick.”
    “D for David, right?”
    “Of course not.”
     
    *****
     
    The two Adonic men stepped together out of the aptly red doors of “Le Rouge” with two small, frilly burgundy bags that contained scraps of fabric much too small to please David. He liked his underwear to be manly and conservative, not something a Chippendale dancer would wear.
    “I am going to take so many pictures. My Christmas cards for the next decade will be a picture of your jolly stocking and mistletoe berries.”
    “Don’t get your hopes up. I gave my cousin ten thousand dollars of my money that I was going to donate to charity anyway so she could bid on me. I’m not going to let you sell me to one of those Cougars.”
    “Don’t be silly, those Cougars are the ones that pay for your bright red trucks, those fashionable yellow suits, and that silver pole you love sliding down so much. Come to think of it, you are going to be a natural out there tonight. They