Mountain Menage Part 1: Prologue

Table of
Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Shades of Grey, The Art of Kinley
Grey

The dilapidated cabin huddled
forlornly in the overgrown clearing, high in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho. 
A trail had once led to its door, but years of long neglect eventually hid it
from all but the sharpest eye.  The area around the cabin was trashed with
empty containers of coffee filters, cold medicine and drain cleaner and an
eclectic variety of broken glassware including casserole dishes and crockpots. 

A sharp, acrid smell had driven the
animals away from the clearing earlier in the week.   Lights flickered behind
the covered windows, and wisps of smoke could be seen escaping from small
chinks in the cabin as daylight faded and long shadows reached cool fingers
across the mountainside.  No birds were there to sing a final note before
settling down for the night, and no creatures murmured softly to each other
before curling up to sleep.  The silence of the clearing was absolute.

Then the door of the cabin slammed
open and two men in full face masks hurled themselves out.  They’d only gotten
a few feet away when an explosion rocked the quiet night.  Both men were
enveloped in the blast and screamed as their clothing and hair caught fire. 
One man picked himself up and ran without stopping, sparking tiny fires in the
dry kindling in his wake.  Finally he collapsed and bucked and screamed on the
ground until the fire took his voice.  After what seemed an eternity, he was
still. 

The other man was knocked down by
the explosion and he stayed on the ground and rolled.  He tore the mask from
his face and slapped desperately at the flames that burned him alive.  His
slight frame shuddered to a stop across the clearing, the fires put out.  The
skin was nearly burned from his body, dirt and sticks clung to his raw flesh. 
He opened his eye slits and saw something that would have made him praise God
had he been a believer.  Right in front of him was their 4-wheeler, key still
in the ignition.

Slowly, inexorably, he dragged
himself onto the ATV.  The raw palms of his hands made it difficult and he
passed out from the pain once or twice.  Eventually, he was in the seat and had
the engine started.  Squeezing the gas was almost more than he could bear, but
he finally managed to get the 4-wheeler in motion.  Not caring that he was
leaving his hidden stash of crystal meth behind, he painstakingly turn the
wheels towards the path.  It was still at least seven miles down to the first
ranger station and he clung to the slim hope he could make it that far.

Heather sat in the front seat of the
car and watched as the mountains loomed closer.  She and Charlie were driving
up to their old family cabin, Pine Bend, to air it out and get it ready for their
parents.

“What do you want to do first,
Heather?  Maybe do a little sunbathing in the canoe?  Your tan could definitely
use some work.” 

Heather looked over at him; saw the
corners of his lip twitch as he failed to hide a smile.  “Very funny.  You
think I’d trust you not to tip me out?”

Charlie smoothed his face and tried
for an innocent look.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.  And anyway, we
didn’t tip you out, you fell out.” 

Heather wasn’t fooled.  She noticed
his flushed cheeks and thought back to that day four years ago.  It was the
summer right before her mom and Charlie’s dad split up; the last time they’d
all been up at the cabin together.  She’d rowed herself out to the middle of
their smallish lake, intending to enjoy some reading and sunbathing before they
went home the next morning.  The sun was warm and she’d fallen asleep in the
peacefully rocking small canoe.

A cold splash of water on her back startled
her awake, and she sat up suddenly, forgetting she’d untied her string bikini
top.  Staring at her from where they were treading water were Charlie and
James, his friend from the next cabin.  She was fifteen and the boys were just
a couple of years older.

“What the hell was that for?” she demanded,
hands on her hips.  She waited for a response, but realized they were both
staring at her chest, open-mouthed.  When she looked down she realized she was
topless.

She’d been slow to develop compared
to her friends, and this was the first year she’d had any breasts to speak of. 
Heather had been looking forward to showing off her new curves to James, who
she’d had a crush on every summer for years, but not like this!

With a shriek she grabbed for her
bikini top and tried to cover herself with a hand, losing her balance in the
process and tipping precariously in the tiny boat.  She grabbed for a handhold,
uncovering herself again, her pale breasts the subject of everyone’s full
attention.  Heather glanced up at James and saw him lick his lips.  This was so
humiliating.

The boat was still teetering and she
gave up on a graceful recovery.  Instead she jumped over the side, putting the
boat between her and the two pairs of eyes.  She clung to the side of the canoe
and heard someone swimming around.

Please don’t let it be James,
she thought to herself.

It was Charlie.  Her mom had married
Charlie’s dad when the kids were in middle school.  They had a pretty typical
sibling relationship:  Charlie teased her relentlessly, and she embarrassed him
in front of his friends as often as she could.  They had good times too.  He’d helped
her talk their parents into pushing back her curfew for prom, and she’d covered
for him a few times when he’d skipped football practice to hang out with his
girlfriend.

Thank goodness it was Charlie that
swam around the boat to her.  His face was flushed and he was carefully keeping
his eyes on her face.  “Are you mad?” he said.  “We just wondered if you wanted
to go swimming with us.”

“You could still come,” said another
voice behind her.  She twirled in the water and saw James had circled around
the other side of the boat.  He was very near; she could feel the warmth of him
through the cool water.  Heather had never been this close to a guy while
wearing so little and she felt her insides turn to butter.  At least she didn’t
have to wonder what he thought of the whole situation.  He was still openly
ogling her, trying to make something out through the murky lake water.

At her back, Charlie pulled himself
up the side of the boat and fished out her bikini top.  He handed it to her and
said, “We won’t watch while you put it on.  Right, James?”  There was no
response, so he tried again more pointedly.  “I said we won’t watch. 
Right,
James
?”

“You said it, not me,” said James,
turning his back anyway.

Heather quickly tied the neck and
slipped the scanty piece of fabric over her head, but ran into trouble after
that.  She couldn’t reach around behind her back to tie the other strings while
holding onto the boat or treading water.  She turned to her step-brother and
touched his warm, sunlit shoulder.

He jumped at her cool touch and
turned to face her.  “Can you tie this for me?”

“Um, sure.” he said, uncertainly.

As she pivoted in the water to face
away from him her hip brushed his groin.  There was no mistaking his erection. 
He felt hard and hot against her, despite the chilly water.

“Eww,” she said, mind spinning.

She’d never thought of her
step-brother like that before.  Charlie was definitely built like a hunk.  He’d
spent the past couple of summers working as a lifeguard, so his chest and abs
were ripped and tan.  His dark hair was slightly overgrown, and his brown eyes
below the shaggy bangs were piercing and direct.

She’d always known her big brother
was hot, but he’d never stirred any feelings in her.  He’d always just been
Charlie.  Now she was hyper-sensitive to the feel of his cool hands on her skin
as he fumbled to find the strings of her bikini.

She shivered as his hands touched
her sides and then reached around in front of her.  She thought she could see
his fingers in the dark water, inches from her nipples.  Heather had a sudden,
irrational desire to arch her back and feel his hands on her firm breasts.  Her
tits ached and she couldn’t tell if it was from desire or the cold water. 

Heather thought she saw another pair
of hands in the murk and was startled to look up and see James.  He’d
presumably seen Charlie’s trouble with the strings and come over to join the
search. 

“How is a girl in a bikini like a
gun on a coffee table?” asked Charlie.

Someone’s hands were below her
breasts now, tracing the bottom of her suit to find the straps.  Warm fingers
brushed the lower part of her breast and Heather froze as she thought she felt someone
caress her. 

“How?” her voice came out like a
croak.  Charlie and James were so close to her she could barely breathe.

“How what?” asked Charlie, sounding
as affected as she felt.

“It was your joke.” rebuked James.  “Remember? 
The girl and the gun?”

“Oh yeah,” said Charlie.  He finally
tightened the knot and he sounded more like his normal self.  “Do you have a
guess?” 

“They’re both smokin’ hot,” stated
James with one last admiring look before he turned to swim for the shore.

Charlie started to swim away too,
but he stopped and looked back at Heather, treading water for a long minute
before giving his own answer. 

“You can’t stop thinking about
them.”

Heather had wondered if Charlie ever
still thought about the bikini incident.  That summer had been the last time
she’d really seen him in four years.  When they got home from their trip he’d
headed off for college and their parents had separated soon after.  He still came
over for dinner now and then or for a few hours on major holidays, but their
parents’ separation was rough on the kids, and it made things awkward. 

On the rare occasions she did see
him, Charlie remained carefully distant from her, but sometimes she would look
up and see him studying her almost wistfully.  She felt a longing for him too,
for the closeness they’d had when they were younger.  “People grow up,” she
told herself, and threw herself into her high school friends and activities. 

For the next several years the
families continued like this, but during Heather’s first year of college, her
mom and Charlie’s dad had started seeing each other again.  They were talking
about moving back in together, and they insisted the family should spend a
couple of weeks at the cabin like they used to.  Mom’s word was law, so days
off were taken from jobs and classes.  Charlie and Heather were able to get
away a little early but since they could only get a week off work it was agreed
they’d drive up one day ahead of their parents and air out the cabin.

“We’re getting low on gas.”
Charlie’s voice broke into her thoughts.  “Do you think we’re getting close to
the old Maverick station?”

Heather glanced around, looking for
landmarks.  “I don’t think it’s too far.  How low are we?”

“Oh, we’ve got a few miles left. 
We’ll make it.”

He sounded more confident than she
remembered him, and she studied Charlie’s profile.  His nose was straight and
his jaw strong.  He was wearing a close-fitting flannel shirt and faded jeans
that hugged his ass and bulged slightly in front.  She tore her eyes away
before he noticed where she was looking.  Instead she looked down his muscled
arms to the large hands casually gripping the wheel and her stomach did a
little flip flop.  She hadn’t been alone with Charlie since she could remember
and she found his masculinity disconcerting.

It’s just Charlie,
she told
herself.  But it wasn’t just Charlie any more.  Despite the scattering of
freckles he still had across his nose, she could see that he’d become a man.

A few other cars were parked in the
lot of the old gas station when they pulled in.  While Charlie filled the tank,
Heather went inside to ask for the key to the bathroom.

“Someone else already took it around
back.  You can just get it from him when he comes out,” said the young, narrow-shouldered
clerk with his baseball hat on backwards.

The area behind the station was
secluded and quiet.  A man leaned casually against the side of the building, a
cigarette dangling from his lip and the bathroom key dangling from his pocket. 
He was lean and wiry but he looked strong, and Heather could see he was
checking her out from beneath the brim of his hat.