Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 2.1 - On Deck (2 page)

Dan has a familiar flash of being an outsider as they head out towards the docks and he sees some of the boats that are down there. Some of them are huge, and obviously in great condition, and Dan wonders how much they cost. It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and the dock is busy, people bustling around, all seeming to know what they're doing. Dan feels underdressed in his jeans, even though Evan is wearing the same. Evan seems to sense his unease, and hangs back a little, not touching, but smiling warmly. "You okay? We can do something else if you want…."

"No, I'm fine, I just… " He looks at one of the boats moving past them, five people on board, all fully engrossed, busy doing things that Dan can't begin to understand. He nods in that direction. "I don't really think
On Deck | Kate Sherwood
I'm going to be much use."

Evan sees where he's looking, and shakes his head. "No, that's fine…that's—" His explanation is interrupted by a booming voice from down the dock.

"Evan? Evan, it's good to see you back!" They both turn to see a sixty-ish man, grey hair blowing above his tanned, smiling face, striding purposefully towards them. "It's been too long, son!" He claps Evan on the shoulder and then they shake hands.

Evan seems happy to see him. "Cappy, I was wondering if you'd be here. Should have known you wouldn't miss a beautiful day like today!"

"Absolutely not— and I thought it was my bad luck to have been stuck doing paperwork for too long this morning… but if I'd been out on the water earlier, I wouldn't have run into you, so I guess these things all work themselves out, don't they?"

"Wow, that's pretty philosophical, Cappy. You're mellowing in your old age."

Cappy frowns a little, although he doesn't seem too serious. "Don't let these kids hear you say that, Evan. I need them to have a little fear in their hearts or they'll get out of control!"

"Ah, you're still playing that game, are you?" Evan glances over to Dan, who's been waiting somewhat awkwardly. "Cappy, this is Dan… can you believe he's made it this far in life without ever going sailing?" Cappy shakes his head sadly, and Evan smiles at Dan. "Cappy's in charge of the youth program here— I think Blaine and I are responsible for at least half the grey in his hair."

Cappy's roar of laughter draws some attention, and then there's another sailing friend greeting Evan and visiting, and then another, and Evan is careful to introduce Dan to everyone, and they're all friendly enough, but they're mostly talking about sailing, or about people that Dan's

On Deck | Kate Sherwood
never even heard of, and he smiles at Evan to show that it's fine, and then lets himself drift out of the conversation.

He watches the people instead, and it slowly dawns on him that he's seeing the same divide that he sees in the equestrian world, with a group of people who seem like they're the workers, and the ones who are the hobbyists, here because they enjoy sailing and have the money to indulge themselves. It's strange, because it seems like the work is divided in a quite egalitarian way, most people chipping in with whatever needs to be done, although there are a few exceptions, a few disdainful yachtsmen standing by and waiting while somebody else loads up their boats. Dan wonders what it means, that there are people there who are paying for the privilege, and others who are paid to be there, if they're both doing essentially the same thing. But then he notes that some people are stopping to talk to Evan, while others are just nodding their greetings and continuing on with their work, and he thinks maybe that's the secret— both groups are able to take part in the tasks, but only one group is able to stop when they want to. He thinks there are probably some parallels to be drawn to his world, but by the time he's gotten that far Evan has pulled himself away from his adoring public.

"Hey, man, sorry about that. I didn't really think about how many people I'd run into here."

 

"No, it's cool. No problem."

Evan gives him a close look as if to be sure that he means it, then nods down the dock. "Okay, well… if you're ready to go, we're down here." Evan leads, and Dan follows.

They walk down the dock to almost the end, and then Evan's gesturing with pride to one of the moored boats. Dan looks over at him to be sure he's serious. "Wow. It's… it's nice."
Evan frowns. "What does that mean? First off, boats are female, so

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she's
nice, and second… what do you mean, 'nice'?"

Dan grins. "No, I like it… her. I just… I thought you'd have some big monster boat. This is… it's cute." The boat is small, maybe twenty feet long, with no cabin, no steering wheel, no motor; it looks like a big rowboat with a sail installed.

Evan looks like he's trying to decide whether to be insulted. "
She's
cute. And, you know… she's a good boat! The smaller boats are more responsive, less forgiving— it takes a real sailor to manage one of these."

Dan nods carefully. "I've fallen off a lot of horses, but the only one that ever
bucked
me off was a little pony."

 

"Okay, we're not going to talk about you falling off horses, not today. But… yeah. The little ones are tough."

 

"Okay, so… what do I do? I mean, can I just sit there and watch you… sail, or whatever it's called?"

"Of course it's called sailing, Dan. And, yeah, another advantage of the smaller boat is that I can sail it on my own. You can just sit there and look pretty. In your new shirt and your close shave." Evan swings his backpack around and rummages through it before pulling out a small bottle and tossing it to Dan. "You better put that on now— the glare off the water makes the sun even stronger."

Dan catches the sunblock. It's brand new, SPF 30, and Dan doesn't think he's ever seen Evan use any sun protection, let alone one with such a high SPF. He grins. "Dude, you bought sunscreen for me. That's
at least
as sappy as me buying a damn shirt."

"Baby, your delicate skin is important to me. I've got nothing against you moaning when I touch you, but I don't want it to be because you're sunburned."
Dan smears sunblock on his exposed skin, and nods towards the

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pack. "What else have you got in there? What other planning did you put into this day?"

Evan swings it behind his back, hiding it from Dan's view. "Never you mind… supplies will appear as if by magic, but only when they are needed."

"Supplies, huh? I like the sound of that."

Evan waggles his eyebrows happily, then nods at the boat. "Okay, climb in. You can step there…." He gestures. "Just move a little slow— the boat will move with your weight." Dan follows instructions, and Evan settles him in the bow before getting the boat ready to sail.

Dan has no idea what Evan's doing, running ropes here and there, checking the rudder, doing… all kinds of things. Dan's used to seeing Evan being in charge, but usually it's with mental tasks; the only physical things Evan has done around Dan are sex, where, okay, yeah, he's pretty good, and working with horses, where he's really not. So maybe that's Dan's excuse, maybe the link to the Evan's other area of skill explains why seeing Evan being so physically competent makes Dan hot as hell.

Dan isn't sure what the rules are for fooling around in boats, but he's pretty sure it's not encouraged, at least not in a totally open boat that is still docked at a busy spot on a sunny Saturday afternoon. So he scoots up a little further into the bow, leaning his hands over and dangling his fingers in the water while Evan completes his tasks.

Evan looks up with a happy smile. "You good up there?" Dan nods. "You ready to go out on the water?" Dan nods again, and Evan smiles as he shifts around the boat, casting off from the dock. "Excellent, man, I'm liking this agreeable attitude. I know I'm pushing my luck, dude, but, you know… I think maybe this could be something you want to take with you into our future relationship."
Dan smiles at him calmly. "You're absolutely right, Evan. You
are

On Deck | Kate Sherwood
pushing your luck."

Evan grins, and then he's busy, one hand on the rudder to steer the boat, the other on a rope attached to the sail, pulling it in or out for reasons that aren't altogether clear to Dan. He's watching closely, though, trying to figure it out, and when Evan senses the attention he starts talking, explaining what he's doing. It doesn't take long before it starts making sense, and not long after that Dan starts getting antsy, and again Evan notices.

"You want to try it, don't you?" Evan waits for Dan to admit it. "Yeah, kinda…"

"Cool." He looks almost shy. "It'd be great to have someone to sail with. I didn't realize how much I missed it…" He makes his voice more businesslike. "Just wait another few minutes, until we're out of the crowd. Once we've got a bit more space, you can cut loose."

Dan isn't sure that he's really interested in 'cutting loose,' but the promise of getting a chance to try the sailing makes him pay even more attention to Evan's instructions. They change direction a little and he finds himself squinting into the sun, and almost instantly Evan is burrowing through his backpack, pulling out a case and tossing it to Dan.

Dan catches it, pulls out a pair of sunglasses, and resolutely doesn't look for a brand name. He's pretty sure he'd find one, an expensive one, and he doesn't really want to start adding up just how much Evan has spent on their casual day. The glasses work, anyway, and he can feel his forehead lifting in relaxation.

Evan shows Dan how to tack, how to duck the boom as the sail swivels around, and then gets a concerned look on his face. "But, look, man, you
have
to duck. The boom's just made of aluminum, it's not the end of the world if
I
get hit with it… but your brain is recently scrambled… you're supposed to be being extra careful…."
"Dude, I'll be fine." He feels a bit impatient, but one look at Evan

On Deck | Kate Sherwood
shows him that the other man is genuinely worried, and Dan smiles reassuringly. "I'll be extra careful. I'll duck, for sure."

Evan looks like he still has doubts, but he lets Dan shift down towards the stern of the boat. At first, they divide the jobs, with Evan handling the sail while Dan gets the hang of using the rudder, and then switching to let Dan get a feel for the sail while Evan steers. When Evan finally decides that Dan's ready to try both, he feels like a kid being handed the keys to his first car. Of course, Dan's first car was the truck he's still driving, and he'd bought it himself, when he was well into his twenties, but… he can imagine how it would have felt if someone had handed him keys as a kid.

Sailing is fun, and Dan gets the hang of it pretty quickly, which makes him proud. Evan sees that, and takes pains to point out that he's in the middle of a huge bay with nothing to run into or go around, but he's smiling as he says it, and it's not long before he moves up and takes Dan's old seat in the bow, trusting Dan with a little independence. That doesn't mean that he doesn't still tense and look like he's ready to pounce every time they come about, but Dan is careful to duck away from the boom as far in advance as he reasonably can, and eventually Evan calms down a little. It's not long until he moves back next to Dan and shows him how to get the boat going faster, taking full advantage of the wind, and teaches him to hook his feet under the hull and lean out over the ocean to balance the boat. It's a little nerve-wracking the first time, but once he gets used to it, Dan loves it.

After an hour or so, Evan shows Dan how to tie the sail so it's loose and won't pull the boat anywhere, and they both take a break, shifting onto the wide, low bench in the middle of the boat. They're still really exposed, and the bay is pretty busy, so there's no real privacy, but there is the illusion of it, and they make out a little, nothing too heavy, just warm and rhythmic, like the afternoon sun and the movement of the boat on the

On Deck | Kate Sherwood
small swells of the ocean.

Evan burrows into his magical backpack and pulls out a couple sandwiches, thick slices of chicken and bacon on crusty rolls, and Dan takes a moment to bless Tia, because the food is clearly homemade and Dan can tell that Evan had nothing to do with it. Well, that's not true, he guesses. Evan had gone to the trouble of asking for them. There are a couple of beers, too, kept cool with an ice pack, and Evan hands one to him almost furtively. "Technically, not allowed," he confesses, but then shrugs. "I don't think one beer will be a problem."

So they eat, and make out a little more, and then it's back to the sailing, with Evan setting tasks for Dan, giving pointers, and only teasing a little when Dan messes up. Dan's lost track of the time when Evan sighs and looks at his watch. "We should probably head in pretty soon. There's usually a bit of a traffic jam at the dock, people trying to get home in time for dinner— we should either go now to miss it or be prepared to stay out here another few hours, and I'm not sure the weather's going to hold." He smiles shyly. "And I want your first day of sailing to be perfect, not ruined by getting caught in a rainstorm."

Dan nods. "Aye aye, Captain."

 

Evan grins. "That's what I like to hear. I should handle it when we get closer to the dock, but do you want to take her for a while longer?" Dan thinks about it, then shakes his head. "Nah, I'm good. It's fun, but I kinda like watching you do it, to be honest."

Evan doesn't seem inclined to argue, and they head back to the yacht club, not really talking much, just enjoying what's left of the afternoon. Evan guides the boat into its slip expertly, just the right angle and velocity, and Dan can see why he was the one in charge of that job. Dan had enjoyed messing around out on the Bay, but it hadn't really mattered where he went, or how fast he got there. Bringing the boat home requires a

On Deck | Kate Sherwood
lot more precision.

They tie the mooring ropes to the rings on the dock and then Evan shows Dan how to bring the sail down, bundle up the ropes, and otherwise put the boat away. "Like untacking a horse," Evan explains. "Not exactly exciting, but it's part of the deal— and everything will be a lot easier next time if you do it right this time."