Gorilla and the Metalhead

Gorilla called Carlos later that night.

"Where are you?" asked Carlos.

"Tonight? Hmm, let me see," Gorilla replied. He held some crumpled paper up to his cell and rustled it comically, pretending he was looking through his written notes and files. "I was meant to be headed to Jackson today, but they changed my itinerary at the last minute. Instead of driving north, I've headed west, and tonight I'm looking up at the stars in the Lone Star State."

"Whereabouts in Texas?"

"Houston."

"Looking up at the stars?" Carlos laughed. "In Houston? The oil city of the western world? Nobody in Houston has ever seen the fucking moon, let alone a star," Carlos insisted. "And fuck, dude, promise me, please don't get shot while you're there. Even toddlers carry guns there. Next, it'll be unborn foetuses packing heat. I mean, Texas is seriously fucked up." He paused for a second. "Still, on the opposite side of the ledger, it sounds like you're getting some shorter runs these days. How far is it from New Orleans to Houston? Five hours drive?"

"About six, which is the perfect length for a full day, considering I've got about an hour's worth of work at the warehouse at each end."

"And speaking of work," Carlos segued, "I've got a new job. I start tomorrow."

"Fuck, that's awesome news! Means you don't have to live like a monk anymore."

"Yeah, true, and it also means I can contribute money towards the band again."

There was silence on Gorilla's end of the line. "Please tell me you aren't gonna be working in another office job."

Carlos laughed. "No chance of that. I'm gonna be working at Eternal."

"Huge!" Gorilla knew how much a job at Eternal would mean for Carlos. "How'd you land that?"

Carlos took a breath. "Well, I began looking for jobs online yesterday morning, because I knew I needed to find a job, like, literally any job available, even if it was the worst job in the world. But before too long, my eyes glazed over and my brain froze. I went outside to get some fresh air, hating my life. I was sitting on a park bench eating lunch, knowing that my lazy days were numbered. And then Pete -- you know, Pete, our drummer? -- walks past me, wearing his office clothes. I've never seen him wearing a corporate slave uniform before, but I learned he's studying law, which I had no idea about. He's probably gonna get rich, and he'll probably make some cute femboy with cat-ears very happy one day."

Gorilla had no idea what the fuck Carlos was referring to with 'femboys' and 'cat-ears'. But as he finished his sentence, he imagined what he'd look like laid down on his back, submissively supine, wearing cat-ears and a pair of long, stripy femboy socks, with his metal mane trailing behind him as he waited impatiently for an injection of fat cock. He wondered what Gorilla would think if he saw him like this.

Carlos continued. "Anyway, Pete was going for a walk on his lunch break, presumably just to get some fresh air, and I said hello to him. He looked awkward as fuck, like his day would've been so much better if he'd decided to walk somewhere else -- you know what's been happening recently between him and me, right? -- but he sat down on the bench next to me and we got talking. Next thing, he's back at my place, having pleaded a family emergency to get out of work, and he's weaving magic on my resume. And while he's doing that, he's reading out job vacancies for gigs that I'd never want in a million years. And so while he's working away on my resume, I wondered what it was I'd *really* want to do. I mean, I'd love to work in music, or in any creative field really, but those jobs are so fucking hard to come by. Unless you're a rockstar, that is, but hey, that's still a work in progress for me. I wondered what other jobs might interest me in the meantime until I'm out there travelling the world, and I thought it might be cool to work at a bar. And then, I wondered if there were any jobs at *my* bar, my second home. I called my friend Adahlia, and she said someone had quit recently and they needed to replace her as soon as possible. She put in a good word for me with the boss, I came in for a talk, and I walked out with the gig. I start tomorrow."

"Fuck," said Gorilla, "I'm so happy for you. Being at Eternal probably won't even feel like work for you. And just imagine how much sex you'll get."

"I've already thought that through, buddy," Carlos joked. "Blowjobs for beers."

At the other end of the line, Gorilla laughed heartily. "You're onto something there. Just don't let the boss know."

"I reckon the boss at Eternal has a thing for me already, and it might be part of the reason I got the job. So you never know, he might want to blow me too."

Gorilla laughed nervously this time. He knew everyone had a 'thing' for Carlos. He remembered their first meeting in the stinky bathroom next to the Atlanta trucker roadhouse. He was the fuckin' alpha boss that night, but he didn't feel that way anymore. He still had no idea what Carlos saw in him.

"So," Carlos enquired, "you said you had a busy day yesterday?"

"Yeah ... well, kinda," came the reply. "I went record shopping, so I'll retract the word 'busy' and replace it with the word 'interesting'. You already know I had the worst night ever the night before last. You know how tired I was when I pulled into New Orleans? Sleep that night was more important than getting an evening feed, so when I woke up the next morning, it felt like my stomach had disappeared overnight. I went out to find some breakfast, and while I was eating, some guy hit on me, but I turned him down. And then I went record shopping, just to pass the time. By the way, have you ever heard of an album called 'Dark Side of the Moon'?"

"By Pink Floyd?"

"Yeah ... that one."

"Dude, that's a stone-cold classic. You didn't already own a copy? Please tell me you bought it. That record is a fucking symphony. Mozart would've been proud to write something as good as that."

"I bought it," Gorilla replied, "but I'd honestly never heard it before. I mean, I knew some songs from the radio, but I'd never heard the whole thing. And when I listened to it from start to finish, I thought it was profound."

"Fuck yeah it is," Carlos said. "Profound is exactly the right word. We should listen to it together some time."

Gorilla grunted. There was a pause.

At this point, readers who read the last chapter would've noticed the parts of their stories they'd each carefully omitted. And Carlos was silently wondering how Gorilla managed to listen to the Floyd vinyl he'd bought without having access to a turntable.

More silence. Gorilla felt the need to keep the conversation moving forward. "So ... how was Pete?"

"Yeah ... he's good, I think. He felt embarrassed about recent events, but he really helped me a lot yesterday. I got the Eternal gig on my own, but Pete came with me. And if it wasn't for Pete trying to help me find a job in the first place, I might never have thought to call Adahlia."

"Did you repay him?"

"You know I did, dude. I'm a fuckin' gentleman."

"How?"

Carlos waited a beat, just to add tension. "I bought him dinner." He didn't elaborate any further.

Gorilla grunted. "That's a nice gesture. I know you don't have much cash in your pocket right now, but it won't be like that for long."

At the other end of the line, Carlos smiled. "Amen to that, dude. Can't wait to pour my first beer. And I don't have to get up early, because my first shift starts at 4pm. Fuck, I might even pour my first beer for myself!"

They were both still leaving out crucial parts of their stories, but that was about to change.

"What else did you get up to yesterday beside record shopping?" asked Carlos.

Gorilla paused. "You know how I said some guy hit on me, but I turned him down?"

Carlos waited. "Yeah?"

"He's a trucker too, and he said he remembered seeing me in a warehouse or two. It was clear we both had rest days, and he asked if I had plans. I said I did, but then an hour later, he walked up to me in the record store. I don't know if he was following me or if it was just coincidence -- like I said, we both had downtime. But it was plain as day that I was wasting time with nothing better to do. He hit me up again, and soon enough, we're back at his motel room. He ate my hole, he sucked my dick, and I jacked him off."

Gorilla waited for Carlos's response. Even though he tried to be brief, he still worried he might've said too much.

"Fuck, dude, that's hot!" Carlos yelled. "Did you fuck him? Please tell me you fucked him! You gonna meet him again?"

This wasn't the response Gorilla expected. "No, we didn't have sex ... but we swapped numbers, so ... maybe we might cross paths again. I mean, when you're out on the road, you never know what might happen ..."

"He suck good dick?" Carlos asked.

If Gorilla was truthful, he'd have said something like 'you give awesome head, Carlos, but fuck, *nobody* gives head like a thirsty trucker'; but he didn't. "Yeah, he was good," he said. "He got me off." He said nothing about the twenty minutes of glacially slow edging that Bob's tender mouth, juicy tongue and skilful hands gave him. Gorilla wanted to change the subject. "Did you and Pete do anything after dinner?"

At the far end of the line, Carlos squirmed. He decided it was best to be honest. "I invited him back to my place, and we had sex. I just felt ... well, to be honest, I don't know what I truly felt. Maybe I felt grateful to him? I don't know. It was a strange afternoon and evening. I was relieved to be employed again, and I knew that Pete had helped me with that, and I know how badly he's into me, and I guess I just wanted to thank him."

Gorilla grunted. He knew that his hookup with Bob was meaningless and transient, and that he and Bob might never meet again, but Pete and Carlos lived in the same city. Hell, they were in the same band. He wasn't sure how to digest this news, especially in the context of his recent dream. "I'm glad for you," he said, though his heart was filled with doubt.

"Thanks, dude. I knew you'd understand."

But Gorilla wasn't sure if he did.

"Oh, by the way," Carlos continued, "I'm gonna meet up with Ace from Boipussy soon. He emailed me. He's gonna be in Atlanta soon, chasing a show, and I messaged him to swing by Eternal. We're following each other on Instagram and we've swapped dick pics on Grindr."

Gorilla grunted again. Carlos and Ace were gonna fuck, it already felt like it was written in the stars. He felt very, very unsure of himself right now. But was he jumping at shadows? He already knew that Carlos wasn't into Pete in terms of a relationship, but the other side of the coin was a mystery: what *did* Carlos want in a relationship, and could Gorilla provide it to him when he was away so often? He parsed Carlos's tale about Pete last night as being little more than a sympathy fuck, but maybe there was more to it than that. And as for Ace, he knew Carlos hadn't met him yet, but the swapping of bodily fluids was almost certain.

But then again, Gorilla hadn't met Carlos until that humid night in a stinky Atlanta roadhouse bathroom, and anything was possible. He wasn't looking for a connection that night, but against all odds, he found one. Or, at least he thought he did -- he didn't quite know anymore.

Gorilla had a lot to think about. He wondered if these past few months with Carlos were a sexual mirage. He knew Carlos was a powerful sexual magnet, and in his darker moments, he wondered if a man like this was long-term out of his league.

Gorilla moved to shut the conversation down. "Hey, dude," he ventured, "gonna turn in for the night."

Carlos felt bad vibes. "Have I upset you?"

Gorilla deflected the question. "It's just been a hard day at the wheel, man, and I'm just really tired." Carlos heard him sigh.

"OK, I get it, I get it. Get some sleep, man. Are you travelling again tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Gorilla replied.

In strange, abstract, unexplainable and unspoken ways, they felt their connections to each other becoming more tenuous.

"Good night, dude," wished Carlos. "Sleep well."

Gorilla grunted. "You too."

The line went dead. Gorilla turned the light out, rolled over, and slept. Carlos opened the sliding door to his balcony. He looked down at the city, deep in thought, his long hair waving in the light breeze. He wouldn't sleep for a few more hours yet. He walked back inside and retrieved a beer from the refrigerator. He flipped the cap off the bottle and sat out on the balcony, thinking.

The sounds of traffic wafted up.

The fumes of exhaust wafted up, too.

*

Gorilla woke early the next morning. He checked out, taxied to the warehouse, and piloted his 42 wheels to Oklahoma City. 'Fuck, I hate Oklahoma,' he said to himself as he crossed the state line. It was a mighty long drive, but he unloaded on time. He headed to the local Sleep Inn, checked in, and found a place to eat. He watched TV in his room for an hour or so before preparing for sleep.

He was about to call Carlos, but he knew he was working, and he didn't want to interrupt him, especially on his first day.

*

Carlos rocked up at Eternal at 3.30pm, a good half an hour before his first shift started. Adahlia met him at the door and hugged him. She gave him a clipboard full of employment forms to fill in. "Sorry to be a downer on your first day," she apologised, "but we all have to do this."

"No problem," Carlos beamed. His pen flew across the pages like lightning. He handed the clipboard back to his friend. "We good?"

"We good," Adahlia confirmed. "Welcome to Eternal. I mean, I know you've been welcomed here many times before, but welcome to the dark side."

They hugged again, and Carlos felt Adahlia's fat tits squeezing into him. They kissed on the lips, but platonically so. "Wait a second," she said, as she took the clipboard back into the office. She came back out a minute later. "My advice to you before your first night on the job is to eat a good meal at your break."

"Why?"

"Because you're not gonna be leaving here in one piece tonight." Adahlia checked the clock. "It's 4pm. You're on duty, newbie." She turned to walk away, but she threw Carlos a reassuring smile across her shoulder.

Carlos walked behind the bar. He hadn't been trained in how to serve drinks, how to take money, or anything. But he'd seen it play out numerous times from the other side of the bar, so he took that as a starting point.

There was a thin crowd tonight, and no bands were scheduled, so he felt lucky to have a quiet night in which to pop his barstaff cherry. And for a while, he stood behind the bar with nothing much to do.

A customer approached. "Two beers, thanks." Carlos reached for two clean glasses, tilted them appropriately, and poured perfectly from the tap. He punched the amount due into his machine, the customer waved his bank plastic, and the transaction was complete. The customer walked away with two cold, frothy ales. Carlos felt satisfied.

Adahlia came back to check on him. "Quiet night?"

"Seems that way so far."

She looked deep into his eyes. "We're gonna get you smashed tonight, sexy rockstar." She sank to her knees behind the bar. "I've got a welcoming gift for you," she said. She unzipped Carlos's pants and fished out his dick. She ran her tongue across the head of Carlos's soft penis before inhaling it. She felt him growing inside her mouth.

Another customer approached. Carlos greeted him, which wasn't easy considering the sensitive head of his cock was brushing up against Adahlia's back teeth and her fat tongue. "Three beers and a glass of red wine, thanks." Carlos's movements were constrained by Adahlia's mouth. The beers were relatively easy to deliver, the glasses and taps were within easy reach; but the wine proved a challenge. Carlos collected a wine glass from the rack above the bar -- was there a difference between red wine glasses and white wine glasses? -- but either way, he needed to walk a few steps to find the bottle, and he knew his wet, erect dick would be on full display. He looked down at Adahlia, crouched beneath the surface of the bar, for some professional advice.

She shrugged. She was too preoccupied sucking Carlos's dick to answer his unspoken question.

Carlos zipped up for a moment, packing his wet dick inside his pants as he searched around for a bottle of red wine. He poured a glass, placed it on the bar next to the three beers, and serviced the transaction.

Adahlia unzipped him again. "I'm not done with you."

The bar was quiet again, and Adahlia picked up the pace. Within minutes, Carlos threw his head back as he came hard on Adahlia's wet tongue.

She swished his semen around her mouth for a moment before swallowing. "Welcome to the Eternal team," she said, looking up at him. "Enjoy tonight. It's relatively quiet, but I promise you it won't be quiet tomorrow night."

He looked down at her. "I'm not straight, you know ... I'm not into chicks ..."

Adahlia stood up to face him, breath smelling of cum. "Yeah, I know you're into dudes. But you know a good mouth when you find one, don't you?" She kissed him on the lips and walked away.

Carlos was still coming down from his orgasm. He watched her walking away. "Wait. What's happening tomorrow night?"

"A band from interstate," she said, looking back over her shoulder. "I don't know much about them, but I hear they've got a good local following."

"What are they called?" Carlos shouted.

"Boipussy," yelled Adahlia.

Carlos was stunned. Tomorrow night was gonna be fucking huge. He wished Gorilla could be here for it, but he knew how the trucker game works.

Carlos looked up just as Pete walked in the door.

Pete approached the bar. "Gimme a beer, sexy," he smiled. Carlos poured a tall, cool glass and passed it to Pete. Pete gave Carlos a $10 bill, and Carlos returned two $5 bills as change.

Pete pocketed his cash, lifted his beer, and took a sip. "I'm just here to make sure you showed up for your first shift," he smiled.

"Looks like you went home to change after work," Carlos replied. He noticed Pete wasn't wearing his office attire. Instead, he was wearing a black t-shirt, a pair of tight denim jeans, and a pair of scuffed black boots. His red hair was tied back in a bun.

"Yeah," Pete responded. "Wasn't coming back here in corporate clothes again. I've got a reputation to uphold," he joked. He lifted his glass. "Thanks for the beer."

Carlos watched as Pete sat down quietly at vacant table, sipping his beer as he checked his phone. He wasn't here with anyone else. He'd come on his own, presumably just to wish Carlos well.

Carlos's heart melted at the sweetness of Pete's gesture, but he didn't have long to reflect. Trade began picking up, and within half an hour, Adahlia was serving beverages alongside him. Pete continued sipping his beer as he scrolled through his socials.

A few minutes later, Pete stood to leave, waving Carlos goodbye for the night. "Thanks, Pete," yelled Carlos, and Pete responded with a gleeful thumbs-up before heading home.

Carlos stayed to finish his first shift, but the room became empty earlier than expected and Adahlia called time half an hour early. The final few customers left, and she locked up. "Come have a drink with me, Carlos."

"Gimme five minutes to finish up." A co-worker helped him close the register and showed him how to do a quick cash reconciliation. He knew the boss would check his work first thing tomorrow, but his co-worker knew it was Carlos's first day and he'd never done this before, and volunteered to cop the heat if there was a small error.

Adahlia's voice boomed across the room. "Spirit of choice?"

"Uhhhh ... vodka, I guess?" Carlos replied.

"When you're finished with your bullshit behind the bar, come sit with us."