The Coach - Part One

*** Two: A Bit of Background.

I was just thirteen when Liam Grant first came out to the ranch. Liam was twenty-one and studying for his degree in Physical Education. At that time, my father was having city folk out over weekends for that genuine ranch experience; a sort of ‘city-slickers’ kind of thing.
Liam came out over a long weekend with a couple of his college friends. I didn’t take much notice of them because I was young and they weren’t in my interest range. I had better things to do. I lived on a horse ranch, which was expansive and had hundreds of hidden places to visit and explore. My vacations were spent riding, fishing, swimming and hiking. My father’s guests held no interest for me and they came and went with monotonous regularity, never to be seen again. Except for Liam.

Two weeks later, he was back on the ranch, this time alone. He told my father that he’d fallen in love with the place and would like to come out as often as he could.

Over the next two years, he came out at least once a month. He and my father became firm friends and by the end of the first year, Liam was upgraded from paying guest to family friend. He no longer stayed in the lodge but was given a semi-permanent room in the main house and was able to come and go as he pleased. My father looked forward to his visits and by the time I was fifteen, so did I.

My mother died when I was just a child and my father took on the task of rearing me. He was what one would technically call bi-sexual, but as the years went by, he tended to lean more and more towards homosexuality. He was very discreet and always had his ‘friends’ out to visit when I was away at school. Although Liam was gay and a regular visitor, he and my father never became lovers. My father did not try to influence me in any way and for that I was grateful. I discovered that I was gay all by myself and had come to terms with the fact by the time I was fourteen. I told my father and he shrugged it off as if I’d told him that I’d eaten something bad. After that he did not worry too much about his ‘friends’ visiting when I was around.

That’s when I really started to notice Liam. Up until then, he’d treated me like a pesky younger brother and I had kept out of his way. But with my new found sexuality, I came to realize what an incredibly sexy, good looking man he was and I started to hang around him and my father more often.

Over the next year, he treated me more and more like one of his college buddies rather than as a younger brother.

He finished his studies and decided to take a long sabbatical before he started job hunting. He came from a very wealthy family so was able to take some time out. Of course, he came out to the ranch for his holiday. I was sixteen and Liam was twenty-four.

That’s when it happened. Liam and I had taken a packed lunch and gone fishing down at the river for the day. He said that he enjoyed the jaunts out to the river because it was so quiet and peaceful. We spent the morning baiting hooks and trying to catch something but the fish just weren’t biting. So we tossed the rods aside, stripped down to our shorts and went swimming instead. Liam’s body fascinated me. He was well built, his body that of an athlete. But what really drew my attention was the pattern of body hair across his chest and the dark, wide furry path that wandered down over his belly and then under the waistband of his shorts. I found it incredibly appealing and fantasized about what lay below his waistband. I still had the gawky body of a teenager even though I had a tan and had started to fill out a bit. I was proud of the fact that my penis had developed into a bulky man-sized rod, but my body hair was confined to my armpits and my pubic area with a hint of a trail up to my navel.

The afternoon was spent swimming and lying in the sun on the small sandy beach beside the slow moving river. I could not keep my eyes off him, and I cast long sideways glances in his direction, intrigued by his hairy body. Finally, as we were lying sunbathing, he made mention of it.

“Kev,” he said, “Stop it.”
“Stop what?” I asked.
“Staring at me,” he said, “Quit it, it’s embarrassing.”
I looked away and flushed. He laughed.
“Now I’m embarrassing you,” he grinned. “Serves you right.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled.

He was silent for a while and I rigidly kept my eyes on the river. He leaned over and punched me on the arm.
“You’re funny, you know that?” He laughed. “You don’t have to look elsewhere all the time. You can look at me sometimes, you know.”

I glanced at him quickly and then looked back at the river. He laughed again. We sat silently in the sun for a while, then he dropped back onto his elbow and faced me as he stretched out his long hair covered legs.
“Tell me something, why were you staring?” He asked softly.
I looked at him. His eyes were on me, his face unreadable.
“I . . . um . . . !” I hesitated. “I don’t know . . . uh . .!” I stopped, a little embarrassed to tell him the truth.
“Come on Kev,” he grinned. “It’s me, Liam! Don’t be shy, you can tell me.”

I realized that I was being a little silly so I drew a deep breath and went on.
“Well, I . . . um . . . I guess it’s because you have a really great body,” I went on in a rush. “And you’re so . . . !” I stopped. Maybe I was going a little too far.
He raised his eyebrows questioningly. “I’m so . . . what?” He asked.
I looked at him and saw only sincerity in his eyes. He was not mocking me and he wasn’t trying to embarrass me. He simply wanted to know what I was thinking.
“Well,” I said with a small shy smile. “You’re so hairy.”
He laughed and looked down at himself.
“Yeah. I guess I am,” he said.
He looked at me again and smiled.
“So you really think I have a great body?” He asked.

I nodded, unable to speak because of the wonderful feeling of warmth that had suddenly made itself known in my groin.
“Thanks. You’re not so bad yourself,” he smiled. “You’re going to be a knock-out in a few years time.”
I kept silent.
“I mean, look at you,” he smiled. “You have those amazing green eyes and that blond hair is a sure winner every time. Most people are suckers for blonds.”
“You really think so?” I asked.
“Sure,” he replied and then paused. “I know I am,” he finished softly.

His eyes found mine and there was something in them that I’d never seen before. Then he suddenly leaned forward and quickly kissed me on the lips. He drew back and I noticed that his eyes had darkened somewhat. Then he leaned forward again and his lips were on mine. His tongue pushed its way past my lips and explored my mouth wetly. His hand went into my hair and gripped my head as his kiss deepened. He pushed me down onto my back and fell half on top of me. I moaned with the pleasure of it and I put my arms around his wonderful body and held onto him. My cock spasmed and jumped in my shorts and within seconds, it was as hard as steel. I felt his very hard shaft pulsing against my thigh and I thrilled at the feel of it.

Then he suddenly released me, rolled aside and stood up. I lay on the sand panting with desire, terribly aware of the way my swollen cock tented the fabric of my shorts. He looked down at me, his eyes roamed over my body, paused on my bulging groin and then he turned away.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Why not?” I breathed.
“Because it’s wrong,” he faced me. His crotch bulged with the hugeness of his hard-on. I wanted to rip his shorts off him.
“But why?” I asked again. “I thought you liked me. I . . . um . . . I know I like you.”
“I don’t mean that it’s wrong because we’re both guys,” he said, “I know that we’re both gay and it seems like a natural thing for us to be doing but it’s wrong because you’re so young and also because of your father. Whether we like each-other or not is irrelevant. Your father is my friend and I can’t do this to him. I can’t take advantage of that friendship.”
“I’m over sixteen, Liam,” I replied, a little confused at his reluctance to let things go further. “Hardly jail-bait anymore.”
“Do you think I don’t know that. God, if you’d been anyone else, I would have . . . ” He paused. “But that’s not the point. It just feels wrong to me right now. I mean, I do like you Kevin, I really do. I like you a lot and going by what just happened, probably more than I should, but we can’t get involved right now. Maybe in a few years time . . . !” He stopped and frowned and then he turned away and picked up his clothes.

He turned to face me, his face unreadable.
“You have to forget about what just happened, okay?” He said, “It would be best if you did, if we both did.”
He quickly got dressed and started to pick up the fishing gear.
“Come,” he said brusquely. “We should get back.”

I got up and put my clothes on, confused thoughts buzzing through my head. What did he mean by ‘maybe in a few years time . . . !’ Did he mean that he would wait for me to get older, that he would still want me then?
By the time we got back to the ranch house, he was his usual jolly self, and he behaved as if nothing had happened. I did notice however, that in the ensuing years, his visits became less frequent and he always avoided being alone with me. We never went on another fishing trip together again. He still treated me as he always had and it wasn’t long after our fishing trip that I realized that I had fallen deeply in love with him.

So now I had arrived at Middleton Academy where Liam Grant had tenure. My father had obviously called in a favor and Liam had obliged. I settled in quickly and looked forward to being coached by him. I was happy because I would be spending a lot of time with the man that I loved. I was older and maybe, just maybe he would make good on what he’d said to me beside that river seven years ago. Something he’d said that I would never forget: “Maybe in a few years time . . . !” And now those few years had gone by and I was ready.
I went to my first day of training with him in high spirits. Both the passions of my life would be in the same place at the same time; gymnastics and Liam, and I knew I was going to enjoy the training sessions.
boy, was I ever more wrong.