FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Well this is nice,' Hunter says, looking around the place. 'Rico's got his priorities all in the right order, same as usual.'

I'm prepared for this. 'I wish he'd paid you guys more instead,' I say. 'But what am I gonna do? Would you have said no to that bed?' It's no five star hotel in here, but it's sure a decent weekend break compared to the tour bus, and I don't just get it at the weekend.

'Course I wouldn't,' Hunter said. 'But right at the end of our jam I got to thinking something. I don't think Rico would care if he caught someone playing What's My Age Again on Fantasma, just so long as that person was you.' He steps close enough to me to be within pouncing distance but not quite so I can feel his breath on my face yet. 'Are you still pretending Rico bought this for your guitars? That he took Rags out of driving the main bus and put him on this one so his axes got a comfy ride?'

I'm starting to wish I'd told him we could talk tomorrow. 'What are you on about?'

Hunter's perfectly still and looking chilled enough, but I've always wondered what those fists would do if not holding drum sticks, and I'm wondering it now. 'Why does Rico like you so much, snow-boy?'

I shrug. 'He likes you too. What's he gonna do, take one member of the band and give them the new RV while the others still got the bus? Yeah, that'd make for a happy rest of the tour. I'm a loner. I travel alone. It was a smart decision.'

'You're not a loner. I know loners. None of the ones I've ever met are like you.'

'You know me so well then.'

'That's just it, snep. Who are you?'

'Who are you?' I feel like moving closer but if there's one person I really don't want to kick things off with if it comes to it, it's him. Fuck it, use what you've got. 'Why don't we make a deal? You don't ask me why I travel alone and I don't ask you if there's any kind of family waiting for you when this tours over. Or whether there's nothing, because this was how you escaped an orphanage once and the only thing you know is the road.'

'Oh, you did your research huh?' Hunter bristles slight, but I get the feeling he's able to turn that reflex on and off, or it's just the light in here and he knows how to stand in it.

'You want that bottom bunk? I can get it for you. I've got a way. But like I said. We keep personal stuff off the road.'

Hunter runs his tongue over his top teeth, the tip just poking out from under his lips. 'Did you ever ask Rico how he got you that driving licence? The one you gave to the cops the other week that said you really are Dylan Highwood?'

'How do you know about that?'

'Or how about that social security number that means you get paid into a bank account with your tour-name on it?'

Oh boy. I'm fucked. I should have seen it all along. This is what seemed so cool about Hunter all along. He reminded me of the people I grew up seeing all the time. 'You're a cop,' I say. 'Right? Whatever they sent you under this cover for, damn, I've almost gotta admire it. Was it me you were after or someone else? Coz that's some pretty big lengths for someone who only missed one hour of com-serv.'

Hunter laughs. 'And I thought I'd been called everything. No, I'm not a cop, you dumbass. I'm the one who Rico came to when he wanted to make you Dylan Highwood. In other words, to make sure he kept you, because now you can hide from whatever you're running from. Really, you thought I could be a cop? Fuck that. I was a soldier. Some of the guys who made it back from Afghanistan with me became cops, because what else would they do? Me, I had an answer to that.'

'You were in the army?'

'What's surprising about it?'

What indeed, now I think about it. That explains his sneaker money. Years of never needing a wage because everything was provided, or there was no shopping to be done when constantly fighting fire. Will he buy the only thing that's in my head? 'You're too nice.'

Hunter throws his head back and laughs. 'Yeah. Okay. I'll take it.' Now he steps closer. 'There's a family. My adoptive parents are Quoyle and Mei. He's a raccoon, she's a deer. They couldn't have kids of their own so they adopted. They adopted a lot of us, over years. They run a ski park in Colorado that's also a cattle farm. Some of the family stayed. I wanted to get out. I was fit, I was a thrill seeker who was sick of snow, and I was a good shot already. So I joined up. After I left, there were favours I could call in. Amazing what you get when you've dragged certain people out of burning vehicles because their legs were too broken for them to haul their own ass. I can wear a purple heart on veterans day if I want to. I can also make a few calls and a little snow leopard becomes Dylan Highwood, because I'm a friend who knows a friend who know's a friend.'

'Why did you leave?' I say. 'You got that decorated and they let you go? Why didn't they convince you to go career and become an officer?'

Hunter contemplates, and with his next words I know exactly what he must have talked to Darcy about. 'Something happened. It changed my mind about what life was for.'

'What thing?'

'You first,' Hunter says, twisting his neck up as if trying to crick the muscles and release a trapped nerve. 'Who are you really? What did you do that means you're hiding like this?'

'It's my business. Like whatever you don't talk about from your last other kind of tour's yours. I think we're at deal time now. Just in case we're not, you'd be better off not knowing because then at least you're a little less complicit in hiding me.'

'I've got a better deal for you.' Hunter turns his hands towards himself and points to his shoulders, close to his neck. 'Put your hands here. I need your help with something. You've seen how Rico sometimes brings a sports therapy massage guy in for me, right?'

'Yeah.'

'It's for my neck more than anything. The rest of me's good, but this sometimes plays up. Dig in with your left hand, about an inch up from where you are.'

Why am I letting him order me about? I do it.

'Harder. Go harder. Urrgh, yeah, not bad. Can you go any harder without claws?'

I can, but I have a feeling he'll regret it. He doesn't. I feel something click as he quickly snaps his head the other way just slightly and he gasps like pressure just released right through him. 'That's the stuff. Thanks, snep.' He takes my wrists and takes my hands off him so he can stretch for a minute. 'I couldn't wait until next week for that. It's a little souvenir. When I was doing that stuff that got me purple'd up, my helmet saved my life. But for a few minutes I couldn't get up. I thought my neck was broken. Then before anyone could get me out of there, I got myself out and brought a few others with me. That's my price. Sometimes that nerve traps. I got told if they do surgery it could make it worse and take years to recover from. But I can't not be on tour. You get it?'

'Yeah, I totally...'

I'm totally silent, because Hunter's put his hands on my shoulders. 'I know when someone's looking at me for music cues, snow-boy. I know when someone's looking at me because they think I'm cute. That's how I know you're doing neither. You're doing something else, all the times you're looking at me and pretending it's for a drum cue, or just to see what I've got on my feet today. What is it you're doing?'

'Fine, okay.' There's nothing for it. 'You got it right the second time. I think you're cute. I like the whole way you dress, not just your feet.'

'Uh-uh. You do think that. Sure. But you're always looking at me because you wanted exactly what you've got. Me knocking on that door on a night when we're not on the road, Rags isn't behind the wheel secretly waiting for the internal camera to show him some action, there's no gig, and nothing to work on for Rico, and you wanna get fucked senseless by a guy you know can do it like you've never had it even once in your life.'

'I'm not gay.'

'You're not straight either. Rico told me you swing both ways. How does he know?'

I feel sick. 'I have not even touched Rico, let alone fucked my way to this new RV.'

Hunter laughs. 'I don't care about the fucking RV, Snowball. That was just to put your fur on edge a little bit. Here's a real deal for you. Instead of lying in here trying to jerk off while you wonder what exactly I do for those guys I know everyone's heard begging in the bus, I'll show you exactly what I do, and I'll make you come so hard you'll have to do some serious cleaning up before our boss gets back from his little family reunion. If you'll tell me what name I should really be calling you,' he slides his hands down my arms and ends up on my backside. 'After I've got into this cute little snep butt right here. And I want to know what you did.'

'Hunter, listen. I don't...'

'Don't tell me you don't want this, I can already see your boner. Those PJ's don't lie. Oh look! Mmm!' He's got his thumbs hooked into my pants now. 'You wear underpants under your PJs. I love that. Gonna let me?'

'Gonna let you what?'

'Pull that elastic up so I can see what brand you're wearing.'

'Hillfiger.'

'Oh come on, what are you trying to do, ruin this for me?' He pulls them up, hinting at a possible wedgie. 'Hah! Sketchers! Liar liar snep on fire! Okay then. How about I tease you for free, then you can consider if our little deal's worth it.' He hooks in a little deeper. 'You look like you've got a decent size cock. And by that I mean you're not ridiculously oversized like some porn star. That does nothing for me. I like sensible proportions. Gonna let me feel? Come on. When was the last time you got this hard without any touching?'

Probably my best afternoon ever with Bonnie. Or maybe the first time I let Finn take everything off me. I'd give anything to have either of them out of my head right now.

'Years,' I say.

Hunter leans in, and I'm sure he's going to nip my nose with his needle-like ermine teeth. Instead he just licks me with a quick blep. 'Give me consent.'

'Yes.'

His right hand's in my pants. His left still hooked into the elastic top as if promising he's going to pull them down. He rubs my cock so the tip stands up and pokes lightly against the pull-down hand. In draw a satisfied breath down through my nose and stand up a little more. Hunter pinches my tip, then pinches a little harder as I stretch up on my toes. 'Ooooh!' he says. 'What's this? Uh-huh, there's his sheath. Nice! Mom didn't want you snipped, huh? Smart woman.'

'How did you guess that?' I drop back to my heels as Hunter rubs back down my shaft, drawing the skin of my sheath downward a little too hard, but then he's at the bottom of my cock digging in, and I'm now damn sure I'm wet already. Will he like that? Uh-oh... 'Was that a guess?'

'It's almost always Mom with un-snipped guys. Except in my case. I don't know. Nor do I know who you are. Why else was I asking?' He puts both hands inside my pants but instead of teasing my cock again he slides them around to my butt, then up into the small of my back. He tickles my tailbone a little, then slides his hand out of my pants, up my shirt-covered back and to my head. He lightly pulls one of my ears, making me tip my head to once side, then he makes it sting a little, forcing a sharp breath through my teeth, before he lets go, let's me feel the burn a little, and strokes the back of my head repeatedly.

I purr. I let myself close my eyes.

Still stroking, he says it. 'Tell me your name, snep.'

I'm not getting more if I don't. Besides, who would he tell when he's the one who helped me hide? Even if he did charge Rico probably enough to keep him supplied in designer sneakers for years. There would have been a bargain just like this one, and he wouldn't have accepted a cheap deal. 'My name is...' I have to take a moment before I tell him. 'Alex Shaeffer.'

'Mmm-hmm. Not so hard, was it? And what did you do, Alex? Why are you hiding?'

'Do we have to go there? Why don't you just look it up later?'

'And create a browsing history with a name you don't want known, let alone put into the internet? How wanted are you? What got you that com-serve? Did you do something else they didn't know about until you ran?'

It's not just what I did. It's what a lot of people thought I did. He's right, stupid idea about the search. He can have one part of it. 'Robbery.'

'Ooooooh! Gunpoint?'

I shake my head. 'I don't like guns.'

'Good. Neither do I anymore. No weapons at all?'

Now I can't help but smile. 'I was smarter than that.'

'Except the getting caught part.'

'I confessed.' Actually, this could play damn well. 'There was a matter of honour.'

His eyes widen in unmistakable excitement. 'Details?'

I shake my head. 'I just honoured our deal. You know my name and what I did. Details weren't part of the deal.'

'Give me one for free then. What did you rob? Bank? Jewellers? Seven-eleven?'

'Worthington's Supermarket. The one in Cedar Rapids.'

'Ah. No wonder you were edgy when we had to play Des Moines. Close to home. So Rico did what he never does and gave you a sick pass. Because a little leopard had a bit of a sore throat. I knew there was something to that.'

'My dad was in the audience. He never went to live music unless he was at work. He asked Rico if he'd heard from me. He knew Rico from...never mind. Rico saw it all coming. I'm lucky Dad didn't smell me. I didn't see him. Did Rico demand a quick pack-up after it was over?'

'No. Darnell did. Because I think Rico told him to. Rico was edgy as a motherfucker. Why does he like you so much?'

'That's another question.' I'm shaking on the inside, but like years of learning to deal with stage nerves, even when they're all about how well an instrument I've handled performs for someone else's act, have taught me how to push this down. So I do what I've wanted to for months: I put my hands on the collar of Hunter's black t-shirt and I circle it. Then I put my nose right up to his face, then go under his chin and sniff at the air I've released from inside his T. I slide my hands down, up under his shirt, and feel the soft fur around his belly button, taking in the slightly rounded curve of his stomach.

'Your end of the deal, please.'

'Mmm. He asks nicely.' Hunter takes my upper arms in a grip that promises a good sharp yowl if he sinks those permanently open claws in. 'Give me a safety word you like.'

'Wintergreen.'

'Nice. The world's most disgusting flavour tic-tacs.'

'Aren't they?'

Hunter grins, full of manic energy like I don't think I've seen even on the nights I swear he was on meth no matter what Darcy says. 'One more thing. I've just really gotta know. Why Worthington's?'

He can have this one. 'I worked there. My boss was a motherfucker.'

His eyes gleam. 'Ah. Gotcha. You ready to go, Alex?'

'Do not get used to calling me that. If you do it by accident even once on this trip then it's game over.'

'If Rico hasn't managed it by accident then you can bet your ass I won't.' Hunter slaps my left buttcheek. I soon know it's a distraction, but not before he's behind me. He snatches my tail as it lashes and it's in his mouth, his teeth at the top close to the tip. He bites down hard and sends a bolt straight to my brain. As I squawk rather than yowl, he grabs my left ear and seriously pulls this time. There's no air left in me to make any more noise, so I have to draw the hardest breath of my life before I can let another one out, but Hunter's already grabbed my muzzle with his free hand and clamped it shut, so the sound just hits my teeth so hard I feel like my whole head's vibrating. Releasing my ear, he goes straight down back into my pants and this time claws into the bottom of my head. I swear there's a claw poking at my pee-hole, threatening to give me sudden agony if I move.

Hunter lets my tail go and puts his chin on my right shoulder like an affectionate dog. 'Keep still and pant for me, Alex. Tonight I'm calling you whatever the fuck I want. Understand?'

'Mmmm!' I nod hard. His grip on my muzzle's incredible. He's got control of my whole head. Fuck, he's got control of all of me as long as he's threatening to do worse than rod my cock-hole with that claw.

'Knees. Get on them.' He lets my muzzle go so I can do it, and mercifully my cock too as I get down. His hand on the top of my head, he comes around to the front of me, keeping it there, his crotch level with my mouth and a bulge showing me he's got a proper package at least the size of mine inside his pants. 'Show me your teeth. Open that mouth.' As soon as I do it he tilts my head up slightly with the hand that's still on it and with the other he puts two fingers into my mouth and runs them over my teeth. 'Yeah, those'll do. Those are sharp. This cat never skipped on going to the dentist, huh?'

'Aaaaah!' I say, more like I'm getting my throat looked at.

'You want this in it?' Hunter rubs his bulge.

I nod. I've been hungry for anything he'd give me for months, and now it's being served to me? I still feel like I'm not quite here.'

'Mmm.' Hunter loosens the cord on his tracksuit pants, drops them down a little, showing me his blue and white Rudderbutts boxer-briefs.

'Aren't those for otters?'

Hunter stops and glares at me in a way that I can't read whether it's part of the act. 'Don't ever call me an otter.'

'I thought it was don't ever call you a weasel.'

It is don't ever call him a weasel. The one night I was certain he was fired was when he had Rico by the throat against a wall for that one. Somehow, Rico didn't do it. I don't imagine Hunter got an apology, but Rico knew the score. Maybe he was just scared of firing Hunter somehow.

'Oh, a smart mouth. Well nice. Let me tell you how this works, Snowball: if you bite me without me telling you to, I'm going to drown you when I come, because you will not pull off fast enough. Understood?'

'Oh yeah.'

'Good. Shut that smart snep mouth and lift your chin up.'

I look up at the ceiling of Rico's trailer, and Hunter pulls his cock out of his pants, balls and all. 'No looking yet. You just get to feel this. You like this?' He's rubbing his tip under my chin, holding my scruff with his left hand so he can gouge me if I dare move. 'I said do you like it, Snowflake?'

'Yeah, oh yeah! How come you're not wet yet?'

'Because I'm getting there, dumbass. Shut the fuck up. No talking unless I say so.'

If I liked his snoring, I love his satisfied deep breaths even more as he keeps rubbing against my chin, and works it up to a full crotch-rub against my neck, his legs almost right against my chest. When he stops I expect another order.

Instead it looks like Hunter's thinking. 'It was submission you wanted right? I read that right?'

I nod, remembering he hasn't told me to talk.

'Okay. Time out, Snowball. Not a safety but just a thing.' He rubs my head. 'I don't want to to do this one to you. Not yet anyway. I really can come like that, but I don't think this one's for us on our first go. Sorry to kill the mood right there but here's the thing: that one's too easy.'

'Too easy? What the hell's hard?'

Hunter deftly tucks himself away and pulls his tracksuit pants back up. 'Get up, I want you to do something else. You'll like this more.' He touches my face, a hand on each cheek. 'You're cold. Where's that red Superdry hood you're always wearing when you're not working?' He spots it on the bottom bunk, folded up. 'Put that on. Where are they? Yeah, there we go, those.' He picks up my sneakers. 'Put those on. Put socks on too.'

'Hold on, you're getting me to put clothes on?'

'Duh, I'm gonna take them off again, but when the times right. I need you to warm up. I don't mean jerk off, I don't even mean stay hard. Just get what I need on you. I'm gonna go get something. I promise I'll be back; I'm not welching on our deal, and you are gonna see the kind of time you will never get again.' He stops at the door. 'Unless I like you enough.'

'No pressure then.' Goddamn it, he let that whole thing stop? I was ready to go all the way to swallowing. I've never swallowed for anyone. The last time I was prepared to ending more than just badly. I needed that to go right, and I needed it with him. I'm sure wet even if he isn't. I'm changing my pants too and not caring he didn't ask for it. 'What are you getting?' I say just as he's opened the door.

'A bag with some stuff in it,' he says. 'Don't worry, it's not more band kit. Hell no it ain't! Get ready, snep. This is gonna be the most fun I've had all tour. By the way, if it's any consolation for how we're not both squirting each other already, you're a great sub and this is gonna be dope. Know how I know?'

'How?'

'It's for real with you. See you in five. By the way, don't change out of those pants.'