Riding Lessons
by Andrew Todd

 

Chapter 19

Zak, Spin and Mattie were all squished into the front seat of Dusty’s truck. The four boys were heading to Dusty’s house. Dusty had decided that they were going to have a cookout to celebrate the end of Zak’s driving lessons.

It was Thursday night, two weeks before the end of summer and Zak’s birthday. All four boys were excited about Zak getting his license because then he would have a car and they wouldn’t have to pack into Dusty’s truck like sardines.

Zak had the appointment to take his driver’s test on his birthday. Dusty would take him to the high school every couple of days to let him drive around the big parking lot and his mom had taken him out on the road several times.

Zak’s mom was a bit of a nervous Nellie every time he was driving and that in turn stressed Zak out. He enjoyed it more when Dusty took him, because Dusty was a calmer teacher and made him feel more confident about his driving.

Dusty pulled up in front of his house and turned off the ignition. He opened the driver’s door and stepped out of the truck.

Zak and Spin were in the middle of the seat and Mattie was by the passenger door.

Spin and Zak, having been to Dusty’s house several times before, exchanged mischievous looks as Mattie opened the door. Dusty stood by the open driver’s door looking at the two and shook his head, knowing what they were planning for poor Mattie.

Dusty didn’t have the heart to warn him either. Zak and Spin had both survived this ‘rite of passage,’ why shouldn’t Mattie.

Mattie opened the passenger door and stepped down and away from the door to give the others room to exit. Instead, Spin reached across and slammed the door shut. Mattie turned to look in the truck window. He tried to open the door to see what they were up to, but Spin had locked the door.

Mattie couldn’t figure out what was going on. Then he heard a jingling noise, like keys being tossed together. He looked over his shoulder and saw an enormous dog running right for him.

The light suddenly went on in his head and he knew what his friends had planned for him.

Standing his ground as the huge dog came at him, Mattie raised his hand and said very clearly and calmly, “No!” The big dog stopped suddenly and looked quizzically at Mattie.

“Sit,” he commanded the dog. When Herc did as he was told, Mattie walked over to him and patted him on the head and scratched his ears.  “Good boy. What’s your name?”

Dusty stepped around the truck laughing while Zak and Spin tumbled out of the passenger door still staring slack-jawed at Mattie and the Great Dane.

“Mattie, this is Herc,” Dusty said, laughing.

Mattie got down on one knee and reached out his hand. Herc placed his front paw in Mattie’s hand and Mattie shook it. “Nice to meet you, Herc,” he said, giggling.

Spin finally snapped. “How in the hell did you do that?” he yelled. “That mutt has jumped both of us the first time we came out here…and usually every time after that.”

Dusty looked at Spin and smacked him upside the head. “Hey, don’t call my dog a ‘mutt’!” he ordered.

Spin ducked away from Dusty and rubbed the side of his head. “Oww!! Sorry, you know I love Herc, but I wanted to see Mattie get flattened.”

Mattie turned to his redheaded boyfriend. “Did I mention that in addition to raising Andalusians, my grandfather also bred champion mastiffs?” he laughed. “So, I got quite used to dealing with big dogs from visiting him. Most of them are big babies and will listen to you if you are firm enough.”

Dusty and Zak just laughed as Spin shook his head and mumbled to himself.

Since Spin and Mattie had settled their differences and started dating, Spin had constantly tried to one-up Mattie. Mattie, in spite of being very shy and reserved, more often than not would rise to whatever challenge Spin set for him. Spin was becoming more impressed, and frustrated, by his new boyfriend’s gifts.

Mattie was the yin to Spin’s yang. Where Spin was headstrong, impulsive, and reckless, Mattie was calm, careful, and thoughtful. Many people had made the mistake of mistaking Mattie’s shyness as weakness. Mattie just dealt with things in a more straightforward and reasonable way.

Dusty led everyone, including Herc, through the house and out to the backyard. His mom was going out with friends so the boys had the house to themselves.

Dusty turned on the gas burners of the grill and left it to get hot.

He grabbed Zak and dragged him into the house to help him get the food ready. They left Mattie and Spin with Herc. Mattie was trying to show Spin how to teach the big dog some obedience. Dusty shook his head knowing that while Herc was a good dog and friend, he was not the brightest bulb in the box when it came to learning new tricks.

Dusty pulled some hamburger out of the refrigerator and started making patties, while Zak got together the fixings for a salad.

As the two busied themselves in the kitchen, they would on occasion start an impromptu make-out session, delaying their fixing of the meal.

When he finished making the hamburger patties and had placed some cheese and condiments on a platter with the hamburger rolls, Dusty went over to the sink to wash a tomato before he sliced it for the burgers.

Dusty looked out the kitchen window into the backyard and started laughing.

Zak ran over to the window. “What?” he asked.

Dusty just nodded towards the scene in the backyard.

Zak looked out the window and saw Mattie and Spin madly kissing on the wooden swing in the garden. Poor Herc just lay on the ground and watched the two younger boys go at it with gusto. Mattie lay back in the swing and Spin was straddled on top of him with his tongue shoved as far down Mattie’s throat as he could get it.

Zak and Dusty both laughed as they watched Spin worm his hand down the front of Mattie’s pants. They laughed harder when Mattie grabbed the offending hand and bent Spin’s fingers back until the redhead yelled.

They couldn’t hear what Mattie was saying to Spin, but they both knew that Mattie was trying to take things at a slower pace than Spin wanted. Spin was quite possibly the horniest boy any of them had ever encountered and since he and Mattie had started dating he had been unsuccessful in trying to get Mattie to go further than kissing.

“Hey, guys, break it up,” Dusty yelled as he and Zak came out of the house with the food.

While Dusty and Zak got the food cooking on the grill, they had Mattie and Spin put paper plates and plastic cutlery on the picnic table.

Soon the four were digging into their cheeseburgers.

As they were finishing their meal, Spin became very serious. “Can I ask you guys a favor?”

Zak answered, “Spin, you can ask us anything.”

“Well, you guys have probably noticed that I’ve gotten a little big for Marty.”

Dusty nodded. “You’ve grown at least 4 or 5 inches in the last few months,” he said. “You’re a lot taller than Zak now.”

Zak shot Dusty a dirty look, since being ‘vertically challenged’ was a soft spot for him.

Dusty leaned over and kissed Zak on the cheek. “Hey, I like my boyfriends compact,” he whispered in Zak’s ear.

Zak blushed.

Spin continued, “So, anyways,” he exhaled, “I got my dad to agree to get me a new horse. But, he doesn’t want me to keep Marty cuz he doesn’t think I need two horses and because I’ve outgrown Marty…” he looked down at his hands as he continued, “that’s why I’ve been so…umm.”

“Moody?” asked Dusty.

“Anal?” asked Zak.

“Mean?” asked Mattie.

Spin turned bright red. “Ok. I get it,” he nodded. “I’ve been hard to deal with for the last couple of weeks.” He started to tear up. “I’m really sorry, especially for how I treated you, Mattie, but the idea of having to give up Marty has been killing me. I know my dad is right, but I’ve been trying to find a way to keep him and get my new horse.”

Mattie slid over and wrapped his arms around Spin. He hugged Spin tight. “You could have told us, we would have helped you,” he said gently.

Dusty and Zak both nodded in agreement.

Spin sniffled. “I know, but I wanted to make it work myself and I felt stupid getting so emotional about it.”

Zak looked at him. “Why would you feel stupid?” he asked. “You’ve had Marty almost half your life. He’s taught you a lot and you’ve been through so much. I’ve only had Onyx for a few months and it would kill me to give him up.”

Spin looked at his three friends, tears rolling down his cheeks and smiled. “Thanks guys, I should have known you’d have my back.”

Zak and Dusty both stood up and went to the other side of the table. Each wrapped their arms around Spin and Mattie and the four had a big group hug.

“Ok, ok,” Spin choked. “Thanks guys, but I can’t breathe now.”

All three boys let go of Spin, laughing. Dusty and Zak went back to their seats.

“So, what favor did you need to ask us?” Dusty queried.

“Well, I found a small ranch in Lancaster that rescues abused and abandoned horses,” Spin started. “They have all sorts of breeds and they are all over the place in disciplines. But they only allow you to adopt not actually buy the horses.”

Zak was confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well, when a ranch is operating as a ‘rescue’ their main goal is to rescue and rehabilitate the horses. Then the goal is to find them good, loving and safe homes. They don’t sell the horses, they let you adopt them. So you pay an adoption fee and you sign an agreement that says that you cannot sell the horse. If for any reason, you cannot keep the horse, you must return it to the rescue. That way they can protect the horse and since many of them are very valuable, it keeps some scumbag from adopting them cheap and then selling them for a profit.”

Dusty chimed in, “I’ve heard of these types of operations. Usually they are not-for-profits, so they get by on donations. The adoption fees they charge don’t even begin to cover the amount of money they have to invest in rehabilitating some of the horses.”

Spin nodded. “So, I found this ranch and I’ve been e-mailing the owner. He says they have four or five horses that he thinks might be good for me.”

“So that takes care of getting a new horse, but what about Marty?” Zak asked.

“That’s the cool part. The adoption fees for the horses he wants me to look at are only between $500 and $1,000. My dad figured he would have to pay upwards of $5000 or more to buy me a new horse. So if I adopt one of these horses, I’ll be getting a horse I can work with and train and I can keep Marty. I talked to Mr. Jones and he’s cutting me a deal on boarding both horses, because I can use Marty as a schooling horse for both western and English lessons.”

“That’s great,” said Mattie. “But, what’s the favor?” he asked.

Spin laughed. “When I talked to Mr. Jones about going out to Lancaster, he suggested I take you guys. My dad knows absolutely nothing about horses, so it would be useless to take him. Mr. Jones said that since it’s getting close to the end of the summer, things are slowing down cuz people are getting ready to go back to school. He’s not going to schedule anything for next Sunday. He said if we come in and do the feedings and mucking out the stalls that we can have the rest of the day off. We can drive over to Lancaster and spend the night and come back Monday. That way you guys can help me pick a horse and we can bring him back.”

Zak laughed, “How do you know it’s going to be a him?”

“With this crowd it has to be a him,” Spin grinned.

All four of the boys laughed and nodded in agreement.

“Where are we going to stay if we go overnight?” Dusty asked. “I don’t think any hotel is going to let four underage boys stay without supervision.”

“They have a bunkhouse at the ranch,” Spin answered. “Mr. Murphy, the owner, explained that they like people to come for a couple of days and spend time with the horses, that way people are not showing up and grabbing the one they think looks the best. They also only show horses by appointment so they can devote the time to making sure the horse and rider are compatible. I told Mr. Murphy that I was going to bring some friends, so he is going to pull a number of horses for us all to try; that way you can give me your opinions and then I can try whichever ones we like best.”

“So,” Dusty laughed, “you already told him we were going?”

Spin again turned bright red. “Well, I knew you guys would help me out, so I just went ahead and told him we would be there Sunday afternoon.”

Dusty, Zak and Mattie all agreed to go with Spin to the ranch as they wanted to help their friend and they were all curious about the rescue operation.

After they cleaned up from dinner, the four boys loaded into Dusty’s truck so he could drive them home. Mattie was, of course, surprised when they got outside to see Herc in the bed of the truck, but Dusty, Zak and Spin just shook their heads and got in the truck.

Dusty decided to drop Mattie off first, since none of the boys had seen his house or met his parents yet.

“I need to ask you something,” Mattie said quietly as they got closer to his house. “Please don’t even mention any of us being gay. My parents are very Catholic and they would have a fit if they knew you guys were gay, never mind if they knew I was and Spin was my boyfriend.”

Dusty spoke up, “Don’t worry, Mattie. We have your back. Of course, like I told a certain blond boyfriend a few months ago, your parents can surprise you.”

“Yeah,” agreed Zak. “I never thought I could come out to my mom, but when I did, she told me she already knew and that it would never change the way she feels about me.”

Mattie was quiet for a minute. “My parents are very conservative and my mom comes from old money in Spain. They just would not understand, so until I can support myself, I don’t want them to know. They are overprotective enough. It’s taken some real begging and bargaining to just get them to let me spend time with you guys. If they even suspected that you were gay, that would be the end of that. And if they knew or suspected about me, I would probably get shipped off to a private seminary school until I was thirty.”

All three boys thought that Mattie was probably exaggerating but they would do whatever they had to to protect their newest friend.

Following Mattie’s directions, Dusty turned off the main road onto a long unmarked paved road. The road went on for about a half-mile and then stopped at a large wrought-iron gate.

Mattie pulled a key chain from his pocket that had what looked like a device to open your car doors with. He hit a red button on the device and the large gates swung open.

As the gates swung open, so did Zak’s, Spin’s and Dusty’s mouths.

They knew or at least suspected that Mattie’s family was well off, but the house they saw beyond the gate was more than any of them had imagined.

“Uh, Mattie,” Spin sputtered. “Just how rich is your family?”

Mattie again got quiet. “More than I like to admit. You guys are actually the first friends I have brought to my house in years. Most kids find out my parents have money and they become very strange. Either they want to be friends so they can get something or they treat me like I think I’m better than they are. They never realize that my parents are the rich ones; I could care less about the money. But, you guys have been true friends since the day I met you, so I trust you to meet my family and keep my parents’ affluence a secret.”

All three boys agreed that they would do as Mattie requested.

Dusty pulled up the long drive and parked in front of what he thought was a mansion. The house was huge.

“Mattie, how many of you live here?” Dusty asked.

Mattie sighed. “Well, right now, just me and my parents and some of my parents’ help. They call them servants, but I don’t like to refer to them that way. My older brothers and my sister have all moved out. My sister is a freshman in college, one of my brothers is a senior in college and my oldest brother is a first-year law student.”

“Wow!!” said Zak. “You’re the youngest of four? You’re the only one of us that has siblings.”

“Well,” confessed Mattie, “I think I was a mistake. I think my parents were ready to stop once Natalia, my sister, was born, cuz my mom wanted a girl, but three years later they got the ‘bonus boy’. I’m really close to my brothers, mainly cuz we all agree my sister is a raving bitch.”

All four boys laughed at Mattie’s last statement.

Mattie had sat next to Dusty so that he could give him directions. Zak was next to Mattie and Spin was by the door. As Dusty and Spin opened their doors, Mattie grabbed Zak and Dusty’s arms to stop them. Both boys turned to Mattie who had a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Spin hopped out of the truck and was so busy staring at the house that he did not notice the other three still in the truck.

Spin almost jumped out of his skin when he heard a loud bark and looked up to see a huge mastiff running straight towards him.

“Oh, shit!!” he yelled. He turned to jump back into the truck, but Zak had shut and locked the door at Mattie’s request. Spin turned around to face the enormous dog. He steadied himself with his back against the truck. The dog stopped in front of him and jumped up so that its paws were on his shoulders. Only the truck was keeping Spin from hitting the ground. Spin felt the dog’s huge tongue start licking his face.

Herc saw a new playmate had cornered Spin and jumped out of the bed of the truck and went after Spin too.

With both big dogs on him, Spin went down and ended up on the bottom of a real doggy pile. Both dogs were licking Spin’s face.

“Hey!!” Spin yelled from under a few hundred pounds of dog. “You guys want to give me a hand here?”

Dusty, Zak and Mattie came around the side of the truck laughing.

“Herc!!” Dusty shouted. “Get over here!!” The Great Dane went over to where Dusty stood. Dusty opened the passenger door and motioned to his dog. Herc sadly jumped into the front of the truck. Dusty rolled the window down halfway and shut the door. Herc whined at him since he was missing the fun.

Mattie called to the mastiff. “Caesar, come,” Mattie ordered. The dog immediately stopped his ‘attack’ on Spin and walked over to Mattie. “Sit,” Mattie commanded. Caesar sat right at Mattie’s side as Mattie patted his head.

Spin looked over at his boyfriend. “You also neglected to mention that not only did your grandfather breed these monsters, but you had one.”

Mattie laughed. “Caesar was given to me by my grandfather the last summer I spent with him in Spain. He is the only one of the dogs my grandfather bred that is still in the family. I hope when I am old enough, I can use him to start a new line in honor of my grandfather.”

“What about the horses?” Dusty asked

Mattie’s eyes teared up. “Unfortunately, my uncle, my mother’s brother, did not want anything to do with the horses or dogs that my grandfather had spent his life breeding and raising. So he sold them all and then he sold my grandfather’s estancia. Someday, I would like to track down some of the horses and start breeding them again, but they were very valuable and much sought after, so it will be hard to get my hands on one.”

Zak and Dusty each took turns letting Caesar sniff them so he would get to know them. Spin thought he knew him well enough already.

“Well,” Mattie said, “let’s go in and meet my parents.”

The four boys walked into the house, Caesar right at Mattie’s side.

They walked through the entryway and into a cavernous room with bookshelves on three of the walls and a huge fireplace on the fourth.

A man and a woman sat at a table in the center of the room.

“Mother, Father,” Mattie called as he walked into the room.”

“Ah, Mateo,” the woman said. “Home at last.”

“Yes, Mother. These are my friends that I’ve been telling you about…Dusty, Zak and Spin.” He gestured to each boy as he introduced them. “These are my parents, Carlos and Anita Alvarez.”

Mr. Alvarez rose and shook each boy’s hand in greeting and they all greeted Mrs. Alvarez as well.

“I want to thank you boys,” Mr. Alvarez said. “Since we moved here, we could barely get Mateo out of the house and since he started riding at the ranch and working with you boys he’s so happy, but we never see him anymore.”

“Well, Mr. Alvarez,” replied Dusty, “he’s been a great help at the ranch and he really helped me out of bind the first day he came there. I was having an awful time training a new horse and he showed up and the horse just took to him. He’s been a different horse since he met Mattie.”

“Ah, yes,” said Mrs. Alvarez. “We have heard so much about Ash as well as Phoenix and Onyx. Mattie has always loved his horses; he got that from mi padre.”

“Yup,” interjected Spin. “If it’s ok with you folks, Mattie is going to come with us this weekend to help me pick out a new horse. We’ll be gone overnight, but we are staying at the ranch.”

Both of Mattie’s parents gave their consent, provided he attended mass on Saturday night.

Spin, Zak and Dusty thanked Mattie’s parents for allowing him to go with them and then they said their goodbyes so Dusty could get Zak and Spin home.

***

By 10:00 Sunday morning the four friends were on their way. They had gotten to the ranch at about 7:00 and split the feeding and cleaning duties amongst them and got everything accomplished quickly.

Mr. Jones had let Dusty borrow the F-250 Super Cab that the ranch had, since it had a back seat and would be more comfortable for the four boys to make the two-and-a-half-hour trip to Lancaster.

Dusty had hooked the horse trailer up to the truck so they could bring back Spin’s new horse, if he found one he liked.

Spin’s dad had given him strict instructions to not get the first horse he tried and to make sure he was confident in the horse he chose. Spin had readily agreed. He secretly wanted to find a horse like each of his friends had, one that would just be his.

The boys gabbed and joked and needled each other to pass the time.

About halfway through their drive, Dusty pulled into a Bob Evans restaurant so they could grab an early lunch and stretch their legs. He had to pull the truck around the back of the parking lot due to the trailer.

Zak, Dusty and Mattie spent most of their meal trying to keep Spin calmed down. He was a whirlwind of excitement over the thought of getting his new horse. The three boys kept laughing at Spin’s antics and each tried their best to get him to calm down, but it was proving to be an impossible task.

Finally, an exasperated Mattie grabbed Spin’s hand and said, “Come with me.”

Dusty and Zak looked at him quizzically.

Mattie looked at them. “We’ll be right back,” he said.

He led Spin into the restroom in the back of restaurant. Luckily it was a ‘one at a time’ bathroom with a lock on the door.

Mattie pulled Spin into the restroom and locked the door.

He put his hands on Spin’s shoulder and looked him the eyes.

“I know you are excited about going to this ranch and getting a new horse, but you’ve got to calm down. You’re driving us all crazy.”

Spin nodded. “I know, but you know I can’t help it. I just get so crazy.”

“Well, then, we need to expel some of that energy,” Mattie said as he pulled Spin closer and locked his lips onto Spin’s.

Spin kissed Mattie back. The boys stood there lip-locked for a few minutes and then Mattie reached down and unbuckled Spin’s belt.

Spin’s eyes opened wide. “Wha…” he started.

Mattie looked him in the eyes while his hands were busy unzipping Spin’s fly. “Shh,” he said. “Just relax.”

Mattie let Spin’s pants drop to the floor and nuzzled the redhead’s neck. He slipped his hands into the waistband of Spin’s briefs and pushed them down to Spin’s knees.

Mattie dropped to his knees and took Spin’s rock-hard tool in his hand. He stroked his boyfriend’s beautiful penis. He wiped a small drop of pre-cum off the slit and stuck his finger in his mouth.

Spin’s head started to swim as Mattie lowered his mouth over his cock and began to lick and suck the pale-pink member. Mattie reached around Spin and clutched his lily-white ass cheeks.

This was a new experience for both boys and Spin didn’t last long as Mattie worked on him. Within minutes he was screaming, “Mattie, I-I-I’m c-c-umming!!”

Mattie doubled his effort and swallowed every shot that came from his boyfriend’s dick.

Spin leaned back against the bathroom wall panting, while Mattie ran his fingers through Spin’s bright-red pubes.

Finally, Mattie stood up, pulling up Spin’s briefs and jeans with him. He tucked Mattie’s deflated penis back into his briefs and zipped him up.

Spin leaned forward and locked his lips onto Mattie’s. The two boys shared another passionate kiss. Spin could taste the remnants of his seed on Mattie’s tongue.

Spin moved his hands to the front of Mattie’s pants and reached for his belt. Mattie grabbed his hands. “No,” he whispered. “This was just for you, to relieve some stress and calm you down.” He smiled at Spin. “But, we need to get back before they know that something is up.”

They briefly kissed one last time and walked out of the restroom.

When they got back to the table, Dusty and Zak grinned at them knowing they had gotten up to something while they were away.

Looking at the grins on Dusty and Zak’s faces, Spin blushed a bright crimson while Mattie was nonchalant and showed no reaction.

To their credit, Dusty and Zak didn’t make any comments or say anything to embarrass either of the younger boys. Whatever Mattie had done to or for Spin had calmed him down and for that they were grateful.

 

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