Chapter 1

Al was glad it was near the end of school. He had one more game, a party or two then graduation and the life he always wanted to lead. Ahh, he thought, what life was that again?

Things were not perfect he thought. Carmen had long since gone her own way and Mellissa, well she was always Mellissa. She came first then her dog then anyone else. People had warned him about her. She dragged a reputation with her that was as long as the string of hearts she had broken; and in Texas, them's pretty long strings.

So he was not real surprised when he saw her bare butt sticking up and her face buried between Larry's legs. He quietly took a picture with his cell. He took another one as she mounted Larry guiding him between her legs. He opened his eyes and saw Al there.

"Aww Shit!" he exclaimed.

Her comment was classic. "Don't worry honey, I'll be doing all the work here!"

He might have laughed if it had not hurt so much! Not Melissa, he half expected that from her, but Larry had been a friend, maybe a friend. Hell as far as he knew this must have been a regular event with him being the laugh they both enjoyed, amongst other things. First Carmen now Melissa. Actually that made him a free man now. Yep free, then he thought of all those fillies in West Texas. Too bad they wern't human girls. Damn, it was going to be a lonely summer.

He had promised to help out his cousin on the ranch this summer then to attack the bold new world out there. Hell classes were over, the game and some parties were all he might miss and he could be back at school for graduation. In a way it would serve Larry and Melissa right for what he was about to do. He posted the pictures on the Web. He gave a slight chuckle as he thought of the caption he had left. "Trust" is it really that important?"

He could either fly or drive to the ranch. Since he was going back early he did not know if Terri would be there yet; so he drove. She had her own school to finish up. Her parents, his second marriage, this her Mom's third was to be a honeymoon cruise. He wished them all the luck and hoped the marriage would last until they both got back.

Knowing about Terri's Mom, he suspected she would be busy with someone on the way back home. Jeff, her new husband never did seem to mind, it gave him time to relax with his girls, all ten of them. It seemed a perfect marriage for them both. Aunt Bonnie had even been a might too affectionate with him a few times, coming in to check up in middle of the night, asking if he needed anything. He wondered how Terri had fared.

Yes, it was truly a 'loving' family they both had. He and Terri seemed to be the only 'normal' ones. Normal in that they usually only had one lover at a time, unlike the rest.

It would be good to see her again. They fought like roosters in a hen house, but, after all they had known each other their entire lives. Whenever trouble came they were always there for each other. Brother and Sister better described that relationship. Both had gone to Hell and back over the last 20 years or so for each other. Now they both were to graduate and start a new life.

Al wondered if they would still be as close as they were now. In the last year or two they had spent the summer together. Her Mom, last year, had paid for a vacation for them. They took a wagon train from St. Louis, West. There were near 200 people and they played the role of newlyweds going to Oregon. Al remembered that now with more than a cousinly grin. Damn he thought, while they had held hands and flirted a ton, to the point folks thought they really were a couple, things never went much further. Close he remembered with a smile.

Let me tell you some about Al and Terri.

As the story told they were cousins. Now in Texas almost any relationship between cousins is legal. Hell, if he could run faster than her and caught her, some brothers and sisters even stretched things a might.

Al was near 6' 3'', 185 lbs with light brown hair and grey eyes. Terri, when she dressed up; was or could be a looker. Blond, 5'10'', 112 lbs and the most dazzling violet eyes you ever would see. They were both 20 and both miserable. Neither ever had a relationship that lasted. Al did not seem to care much, he never even tried to make them work. Terri on the other hand could try, ifen she wanted to. That was part of her problem. One was that she was meaner than a stepped on rattlesnake and second, Mommy had always told her that any man worth his salt would take her over his knee and spank the daylights out of her the way she treated men. Plus she was smarter than a whip. She was still waiting for that good man to sweep her off her feet and spank her bare bottom.

Terri too recalled that trip with Al. Damn, why was it so hard to get a man, a good man. Her real daddy was a good man. Her Mom though thought variety was better. After that everything sort of was downhill. She went down on anything within 100 miles it seemed. Daddy number two did not last long and Bonnie took up where she had left off, with every Tom, Sheila or Hairy dick around, made no matter to her.

Aunt May, her Sister was like on the opposite end of the scale. When she found a man, she stayed with him. The almost Uncle Ben had been with her near 20 years. They never really married but that did not seem to matter.

Uncle Ben was always nice to her, so was Aunt May.

Many times she had wished she was their daughter. They, she always thought of them together, had a spread over in South Texas. They had invited her over for the summer several times. Once they suggested Al might get something out of coming too. They were really cool. This summer they both were coming up from Donna, Texas to her Mom's ranch. She looked forward to seeing them again. She only wished she had someone she could 'show off' to them. A snowball had a better chance in Hell(Texas ) than she had of that happening.

As he expected Terri had not yet arrived at the ranch. It was a small ranch by Texas standards, 69,000 acres, 17,900 longhorns and 1200 or so horses. 73 men worked the ranch full time with several sections under the plow too.