Branding Dylan
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Intro:
A
summer at the family ranch had been carefully planned for Brandon by his father,
to impress upon him the kind of life he should not want. Old man Ashcot had not
anticipated Brandon’s love of the land, nor did he anticipate Brandon’s love for
a ranch hand. Brandon discovers much more than love while on the family ranch.
Brandon discovers family secrets which his father has worked a lifetime to keep
hidden from him.
Excerpt:
For the past year following four long and lonely
years of prep school, Brandon had been sent to work on the ranch which straddled
the border between Montana and Canada, one of many ranches the Ashcots claimed
as their own. It was an Ashcot tradition that the men of the family learned all
aspects of the family business, especially ranching, as the love of the land was
the foundation of the Ashcot fortune. Brandon knew it wasn’t really about the
love of the land, but more about how it looked to others that the Ashcots loved
the land they owned. The bottom line and status were the only things now that
were of importance to the Ashcots.
This past year on the ranch and away from the family business was a welcome
change from the mundane life of prep school. Brandon had never felt so free.
He lived among the ranch hands, many nights sleeping outside under a star
studded clear blue sky. Unlike his life back east, he had plenty of free time
to experience new adventures and meet new people, people who were happy with
their lives on the ranch, the simple way of life, people to whom prestige and
money were not required to validate their existence. It was during this year
that he had met Dylan.
Dylan Todd was one of the many ranchers who worked on the Ashcot ranch to which
Brandon had been sent in order to learn about life on a working ranch and to
learn an appreciation for, if not a love of the land so seemingly important to
the Ashcot family. Dylan had been working on the ranch since he was a young boy
and loved all aspects of it, loved the elk and bison too numerous to count, the
sheep which were shorn each spring, the limitless number of stars which shown
each night in the big Montana sky, but Dylan especially loved the land, the land
which knew no bounds, the land which spread out before him like his life spread
out before him also knowing no bounds. His life thus far was like a book whose
pages were so far blank to be filled as he chose. He did know one thing for
certain. He would never leave this land he had come to know and love, for there
was nowhere Dylan would rather be.
When Brandon had first arrived at the Ashcot ranch it was Dylan who was to show
Brandon all aspects of a working ranch, a charge which Dylan took very
seriously. Dylan was eager to share all he had learned and experienced during
his life on the ranch in the hope that perhaps Brandon too would come to love
the land as he did. New to the ranch, Brandon found in Dylan a friend unlike
any of his fellow students at prep school, as they wanted to be friends with him
for one reason and one reason only, to say they knew one of the great Ashcots.
Dylan’s friendship seemed sincere and indeed it was, so proud was he of this
land he loved, and so unimpressed with money and status.
********
Dylan stressed to Brandon that there were only two small, mostly unused cabins
in the northern part of the ranch, the part of the ranch which straddled the
Canadian border, the part of the ranch usually needing the most repairs as the
Canadian snows and the north wind caused the most damage to this border of the
ranch. He stressed this to Brandon, as these two cabins were oftentimes their
only refuge from an unexpected early snow or subzero temperatures.
Dylan carefully went over the map of the entire ranch with young Brandon each
evening as if he were teaching a young child how to ride a horse for the very
first time. Brandon listened intently to every detail. He so wanted to please
Dylan as he had been pleasing others his entire life, giving little thought to
his own desires, so ingrained in him was the importance of the family business
and the unimportance of the individual with the exception, of course, of His
Eminence, Preston Ashcot. As Dylan and Brandon would be the only two to make
this trek to the high country, Dylan needed to know that Brandon understood the
importance of relying upon each other and relying upon themselves in order to
survive, two things which were so new to Brandon he wasn’t sure he knew exactly
what these newest of Dylan’s instructions meant.
They awoke early the morning of their departure at 4:15 a.m., earlier than their
usual 5:00 a.m., saddled up Roth and Pritz, the only two horses which had made
the trek each year for the past seven years now. Roth and Pritz knew the ranch
almost as well as Dylan, and served as guides as well as transportation. Dylan
and Brandon said goodbye to their fellow ranchers who were already out in the
crisp chill of the morning beginning the morning chores, and headed westward on
their journey to the open range, into the unknown which awaited them, not
knowing that the end of the month’s journey would bring them to a place neither
had ever been before.
********
On Thursday night, just as promised, one of the ranch employees was waiting for
Brandon’s plane to land, while Dylan was anxiously awaiting his arrival back at
the home the two of them had made. Dylan had wanted to meet Brandon’s plane
himself, but knew he had to be careful not to let anyone closely associated with
Preston Ashcot, as every one of his pilots were, know of his relationship with
his son. All of the employees of the ranch could be trusted, as they too had
witnessed the wrath of Preston Ashcot numerous times. Bud, the man who had
picked Brandon up from the airport, dropped Brandon off at Dylan’s on his way to
his own small house on the ranch.
As Brandon opened the door, Dylan was waiting inside, and the two men just
stared at each other for the longest time, then Dylan rushed toward Brandon
grabbing him and kissing him hard on the mouth as the door slammed shut behind
him. Dylan was kissing him with mouth wide open now, as if he were trying to
swallow him up so that he couldn’t possibly get away. Brandon knew he was home,
and began kissing him back just as intently, his breathing becoming shallower as
he was gasping for air. Although almost breathless now, he still couldn’t take
his mouth off of Dylan’s. It had been a week, yet seemed a year, since he had
felt Dylan’s mouth on his, his arms around him, his hands now beginning to find
their way from his neck to his waist, unbuttoning Brandon’s designer shirt as he
did so. They stopped kissing only long enough to catch their breaths. Then
Dylan wrapped his arms around Brandon again, their mouths finding each other,
and held him close to him as he practically carried Brandon to the bed they had
shared for so many nights.
********
At that very moment, the phone rang. Dylan went into the kitchen and picked it
up. “Hello,” he said. It was the pilot who was ordered to pick up Brandon and
take him back east calling from the airport. Surprised by this, Dylan was
suddenly struggling to come up with a plausible answer for Brandon not being at
the airport on time. Thinking quickly and trying desperately to remain calm
with the demanding voice on the other end, Dylan replied, “This is the ranch
foreman, and Master Ashcot has taken ill. He is very sick and we are awaiting
the arrival of a local physician to come to the ranch. Master Ashcot is much
too ill to travel at this time. I am sorry we could not contact you to save you
the trip.” Pleased with his semi-lie, Dylan was relieved that the pilot
believed him. “Oh, I am most sorry to hear of this. Please give Master Ashcot
my wishes for a speedy recovery. I shall return to Ashcot Enterprises and await
a summons to return by either you or Master Ashcot.” “Thank you,” replied Dylan
and quickly hung up.
********
As Dylan pulled on his jeans, the morning sun streaming through the sheer
curtains shone brightly on his chest making the thick hair still wet with sweat
from last night’s lovemaking glisten, and Brandon felt the same tingling he had
last night. He loved Dylan’s body and didn’t think he could ever get enough of
him. Dylan pulled on his shirt and headed downstairs to get the much needed
coffee started. Brandon started the shower and let the warm water course its
way down his body. The pulsing stream felt like a million fingers massaging his
muscles tired from yesterday’s walk across the vineyard, and Brandon thought he
could stay there forever. After his muscles felt loosened a bit, he washed
quickly and headed downstairs where Dylan was waiting with a cup of hot coffee,
just what Brandon needed. “Mm, this is good, Dylan. I think I got a little too
relaxed in the warm shower. This will wake me up.” “Sis not only has good
wine, but great coffee.”
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