Chapter 1

Most people believe in luck—good or bad—but they don’t always believe in fate. What they cannot realize is that fate and luck are the same thing—the difference is your perspective.

Imagine being blindfolded and sitting on a calm animal. By the spread of your legs, you might guess it’s a pony or maybe a steer, since all you can hear is the sound of the crowd.

In a split second, they remove the blindfold, sound the claxon, cinch the flank strap, and open the chute—you’re on a bull that blames you for everything and wants to kill you!

You have two options. If you think it’s just bad luck, you can simply let go, get booed—and hope you don’t die. If you think it’s a test of fate—hang on for your life—and hope you don’t die.

With either choice, death is a possibility—if you can manage eight seconds, people will cheer you, support you and maybe tell stories about you. Even if you fail after a few seconds, they will respect you simply because you tried...

Death is inevitable—your perspective determines the story that gets written on your epitaph.

Mark stirred awake as the nubile 18-year-old sleeping beside him had turned over, draping her leg over his and her hand coming to rest on his manhood—a flood of warmth sweeping along his body. Warmth amplified by her previously facing the outdoor fireplace, but exacerbated simply from the intimacy of sleeping with the gorgeous teenager.

The firelight now flickered and danced over the graceful curve of her backside, glistening off the cum that had leaked out of her pussy and over the cheek of her ass, coming to rest and drying on her hip. The result of their recent tryst on the patio lounger under a blanket of stars.

Inadvertently, his mind began replaying the event.

Her eyes locked on his, as she rode him like the cowgirl she was. Her large natural breasts swaying above him as his hands steadied them. His thumbs fondling her nipples and making them hard. Her pussy massaging his cock until they both climaxed. He flooded her womb with hot cum as her Kegel muscles milked every drop from his balls.

The mere memory stirring his cock to full erection and subconsciously causing her to hold and gently squeeze. This current state of arousal preventing sleep from returning to him.

While he considered waking her up, fucking her and filling her pussy with more cum—he let her sleep. After all, his cock had seen more action in the past few days than it had in the past two years. It was almost a guarantee that she would fuck him again in the morning.

In the meantime, he attempted to control his erection by focusing his mind on recent events, the fresh country air and the clear, cloudless sky—seeing countless multitudes of stars that just weren’t visible in the city.

Despite losing his marriage, his business, and pretty much everything he had ever worked for; he simply followed the path that had presented itself. An unlikely path that most would never have taken.

However, his surname was Phoenix, and—like his namesake—he was building a new life from the ashes of the former one.

The plan was to semi-retire out to the country and work on his friend’s ranch; living the life of a bachelor for his remaining years; albeit a life with little to no sex, but that’s what porn was for, right?

However, the last few days attesting to his new life being anything but that! He now found himself with a constantly horny 18-year-old girlfriend and an entourage of new friends that had launched his sex life out of this world—figuratively and literally.

His new friends had been living here, watching and learning for years—they obviously hadn’t planned on crashing on this planet, but the technology that still worked gave new meaning to the phrase friends-with-benefits.

Mark never believed in fate, but with his life now seeming as unlimited as the stars above. Maybe, just maybe, there was something to all that fate mumbo jumbo?

It was 6AM on a cool Saturday morning in October when Mark woke up from a deep and peaceful sleep. He needed no alarm clocks. After years of owning his own business and then the past couple of years working in HVAC, he just always woke up early.

Today, though, was different! It was the first day of his pseudo retirement.

He donned the white cowboy hat he always wore and stepped out of his trailer into the Walmart parking lot. Walmart wasn’t open yet, so he walked across the parking lot and road to McDonald’s to use their washroom facilities, grab some breakfast and read all about the sad state of the world in the newspaper.

He hadn’t planned on retiring at 50, but after Alice—his wife of 28 years—gave him the ‘I’m leaving you’ speech a little over a month ago; it forced him to reevaluate things.

They met in her first year of university, and got married after dating for a year. While he had never gone to post-secondary school, he was a whiz with computers and had landed himself a well-paying IT job at a large corporation, doing what he considered menial tasks for his skill set.

A year before she graduated, his employer merged with another company and his position ended, so he started his own IT company.

He was good at networking and could make ends meet right away. His business soon grew quite successful and not only supported them both, but had paid off their starter home and both of their vehicles—he even had her student loan paid off before Alice graduated.

Alice was a very attractive woman. Very outgoing and social, something Mark was not, but I guess that’s why they say opposites attract? She was 5-foot-8 with perfect C-cup breasts, a very shapely ass, and she kept her body in great shape. They tried to have a baby twice, but she miscarried both times, with the second time putting her in the hospital, and she ended up getting a hysterectomy.

Never to be a mother, Mark supported her through a lengthy period of depression where she couldn’t hold a job, but he eventually convinced her to become a realtor. After all, she used to be fun and outgoing, and this allowed her to run her own business and she would get to interact with people again. Once she got her real estate license, he continued to support her as she built her realty business.

Eventually, she started dealing with bigger and bigger sales and her income nearly matched Mark’s. This prompted them to buy the big house, new vehicles and go on vacations, all while staying pretty much debt-free.

It was all sunshine and roses—until a couple of years ago. The successful IT company Mark had now owned for over 20 years ran into some serious legal and social media problems. All courtesy of an employee who cut corners with a prominent customer, left their network open and they got hacked.

Gone was the incompetent employee, but battling all the misinformation and rumours on social media proved difficult. His original customers trusted him, but they were all smaller companies, and the larger customers started taking their business elsewhere, forcing him to downsize and eventually close the doors, before going into debt or declaring bankruptcy. At that point, he couldn’t even sell the business; so he simply wiped the computers and sold everything he could.

While searching for a job, an opportunity came along with one of his long-time customers—an HVAC company. Paving the way for him to become the oldest apprentice they ever had, but they’d now have in-house IT support.

Besides his trustworthy and likeable personality, Mark’s biggest advantage was his intelligence—consistently ranking in the top 2% of any IQ tests. His aptitude to learn quickly, coupled with his roll-with-the-punches’ attitude, allowed him to never fear change. In his past, he had worked at more than a dozen drastically different jobs since he began working at age 10. Computers, of course, but also as garbage collection, oil rigs, grain elevators, truck driver, construction, fibreglass—you get the idea.

He had truly restarted his life many times, just like his namesake and tattoo he had on his upper left arm.

Mark did OK in HVAC, and they paid him well. HVAC is one of the higher paying trades, but it’s also one of the more demanding trades, both physically and mentally. Most days, he came home completely exhausted, and feeling his age. Issues with his back, knees, shoulders and other joints may have contributed to the death of their sex life, but his cock still worked and it doesn’t take much to get a man into the mood for sex.

One convenient side-effect of the job, though, was that he was in better shape physically than anytime in the preceding two decades. At 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, his size was a lot like a football linebacker. He kept his brown hair buzzed short—which kept the grey at bay—and his appearance, mannerisms, humour and wit often had people guessing his age to be in the 30s. His beard, however, betrayed his facade if he let it grow, since it came in mostly grey.

Anyway, enough history, back to the divorce.

Thanks to a hot housing market, they sold their estate-like lakefront house within two weeks. Then auctioned their furniture and other belongings—keeping only their clothes, a few personal items and respective vehicles.

Alice kept the 3-year-old Audi Q8 bought just before everything went south, and Mark got the 10-year-old Ford F-150. Thankfully, Alice also insisted Mark keep the trailer. Perhaps as a consolation prize since she had been unfaithful? Or maybe because her Audi was worth more than the truck and trailer combined?

Oh well, at least it gave him a place to live while finalizing the divorce. The trailer wouldn’t be practical to live in during the winter months, but the divorce was amicable, so it shouldn’t take very long.

She would stay with a friend—who turned out to be someone she had been seeing on the side for who knows how long? Mark didn’t care to know any of the details.

Mark had friends in the city as well. Just not close friends he would feel comfortable staying with for an unknown length of time. His best friends, Joe and Kat, had a ranch just over two hours northwest of the city—impractical for commuting daily!

Neither the speech—nor her infidelity—had caught Mark by surprise. There had been several times during the past year when he had considered giving her the speech. Their lives had been full of turmoil and their sex life had died a slow, agonizing death. They would be better off going their own ways.

Luckily, they had very little debt and adjusted to living within their new budget. However, since Alice now made more money than Mark, she held it over him continuously. Mark didn’t bother pointing out that he supported her for more than half of their 28-year relationship. He just wanted out.

Short of winning the lottery, things were never going back to living the opulent lifestyle of buying designer everything and hosting lavish dinner parties. Mind you, those dinner parties were for Alice’s personal and business friends—Mark just played the faithful spouse, making idle chit-chat with the guests.

He wouldn’t miss the parties and the fake friendships at all!

After Alice delivered the speech, Mark phoned Joseph and Katherine to advise them of the situation and inform them he would drive out to the ranch to get his trailer.

Joe had been one of his original IT customers running a construction business. Kat eventually joined Joe’s company, and they ended up getting married.

They were all born and raised in central Alberta and their rural upbringing made them kindred spirits, which is why they became such good friends.

Joe and Kat eventually had twins, Annabelle and Jason, but as they started paying more attention to the school system and other people’s kids in the neighbourhood, they realized they didn’t want their kids to grow up in the city. Preferring instead to raise the children with rural values and work ethics.

Upon selling their business to a larger company for a lot of money, they found a great deal on a run-down ranch with roughly 240 acres of pasture and woodland bordering the crown lands in the foothills of West Central Alberta. Mark may have lost an IT customer, but their friendship continued.

The ranch’s early years saw Mark out there every weekend helping with building, repairs, chores, and even working as a wrangler on trail rides. Since then, Mark was there at least one weekend every month and almost every weekend during the summer months, sometimes even coming out there midweek to help with trail rides.

Which is why his trailer had a permanent parking spot at the ranch, complete with water and electrical hookup, just no sewer. It was just more convenient to leave it there and have a place to stay on the weekends than to pay storage fees simply to store it close to the city.

The Hendersons always had a standing offer for Mark and Alice to build their own cabin or house on the ranch. Alice originally considered it, as it would be better than staying in the trailer, but over the past decade, she rarely even accompanied Mark out to the ranch. In reality, it was only ever a dream, since there was no way Alice would ever leave the city to live out in the middle of butt fuck nowhere—as she termed it.

After selling the house, auctioning their belongings, paying the legal fees and their debts, they split the remaining funds—leaving them just over $500K each. Not enough to retire and live a life of luxury, but that wasn’t the type of life Mark wanted, anyway!

Knowing approximately how much money he would have, Mark asked if the offer to live and work on the ranch was still on the table? It was, of course, so that was going to become his retirement plan.

On that day, Mark gave his notice to his employer and agreed to work for the next two weeks. Rather than leaving them short-handed, Mark was loyal, hardworking, and always made sure nothing was unresolved.

Despite Mark’s world being turned upside down for the past month, by playing the cards fate had dealt, he was actually going to come out better for it! A blessing in disguise, as he now realized how much he had stifled his life to be with Alice in the city.

He finished his breakfast, refilled his coffee mug and was soon on the road, starting the two-plus hour trip out to the ranch to begin this new adventure.

The drive was relaxing and uneventful. The skies were clear and blue. There was no wind and all the leaves that remained in the trees were yellows, oranges and reds, which contrasted nicely with all the evergreen trees. It was a very scenic drive to take in the early morning, when the rising sun shone on the Rocky Mountains in the distance.

Mark started feeling nervous as he neared the ranch, but that feeling quickly faded as he crested the last hill, exposing the green rooftops of the ranch buildings in the valley filled with colourful trees.

He soon turned his truck and drove under the ranch gate and HENDERSON RANCH sign and looked down the lane toward the ranch.

He had this sensation sweep through his body ... this is where he wanted to be, more than anyplace else in the world.

The ranch was barely visible from the highway for the abundance of mature aspen, poplar, and evergreen trees. Even when driving down the long gravel lane, all that was visible was the entrance of the lodge and the loop feature in front. Everywhere else was just white wood fences, lots of trees and horses.

They split the right side of the lane into fenced group pastures. The left side had paddocks all the way down the lane, each with a shelter. The abundant trees provided shelter from the sun and rain, but they did little to stop the cold north winds.

A 130-foot by 200-foot groomed outdoor arena was just beyond the paddocks, beside the barn—large enough that several of the area’s rodeo riders practiced barrel racing there. Plus, it had a clay/sand base, so it didn’t turn into a big muddy mess when it rained.

They had painted and re-roofed the aging barn. It was a long brown building with white trim and green roof and it sheltered forty 10-foot by 12-foot stalls, each with their own equipment lockers.

The ranch itself owned fifteen horses, and the rest were all horses that people boarded there. The primary income source for the ranch was the boarding, although they also offered day rides, trail rides, horse training, riding lessons and lodging. All of which contributed to the ranch being quite profitable.

There was premium boarding, where the horse got to stay in the heated barn each night and daily turnout to their own paddock during the day. Then there was outdoor boarding, where each horse stayed outside in an individual paddock with shelter, bedding, food, and water. Then there was budget boarding in the pastures along the north side of the lane where a half dozen horses were just kept in a group pasture with shelters, salt licks, a water trough and hay bales to eat.

The boarding was consistent year-round. Everything else was seasonal or weather dependent, although the lodge was becoming more of a stable source of income.

The lodge was at the back of the clearing with a 30-foot round loop feature in front featuring two trail riders on horses and filled with flowers and a few shrubs. It also covered the lodge’s buried septic tank. Fortunately, there was a water well on the property, so water supply was not an issue.

The lodge itself was a large two-storey log building shaped like a baseball diamond with a wall of windows for the backstop ... err, main entrance. There were three steps up to the wide covered porch, which ran the entire length of the right wing. The left wing was wider, but didn’t have a porch, just a door to access the living quarters.

With the autumn weather still quite warm, the ranch was a pretty busy place by the time Mark arrived. Joe and Kat had seen him driving up the lane and were waiting outside the barn to greet him.

Joe was a cowboy through and through. He was 56 years old and stood 6-foot-2, with silver hair, grey eyes and he his trademark moustache. He was in very good shape for his age, partly because he and the family worked out every day, but mostly just from the cowboy lifestyle and working on a ranch.

Kat was a former rodeo queen and certified horse trainer. She was 5-foot-2 with blue eyes, shoulder-length brown hair, soft red lips, large natural D-cup breasts with a small horseshoe tattoo on her left breast and a firm heart-shaped ass. Being a cowgirl kept her body lean and fit, looking more like a 20-something than a 42-year-old.

They both had smiles on their faces as Joe shook Mark’s hand.

“We are both so glad you are here and joining the ranch.” Kat said as she hugged him and gave him a passionate kiss.

Kat’s phone alarm went off, and she acknowledged the alarm, then gave Mark and Joe both kisses and said, “Off to another riding lesson.”

Both men stared at her tight jeans and perfect ass as she walked away. Eventually, Joe cleared his throat and said, “Go park your trailer and then meet me in the workshop.”

The passionate kiss hadn’t really surprised Mark since they had made love before. In fact, Joe and Mark had fulfilled her threesome fantasy several times. Although Mark and Kat had also been intimate alone before as well. Being swingers at heart had resulted in more than one sexually stimulating multi-day trail ride with customers.

Mark backed his trailer into its usual spot, which was a concrete pad off the southwest corner of the workshop so he could plug in his power cord. He never left water in the tanks and didn’t use the toilet, since the trailer was at the ranch year-round. The lodge was just across the lane, and he could always use the facilities in the workshop if he had to.

With the trailer unhitched and plugged in, Mark left his truck parked in front of the trailer and walked into the workshop.

The workshop was just that, a place where the tools lived and tinkering got done. They demolished the original house and built the larger workshop in its place. It just made sense to use the basement, plumbing, gas and power, even though they couldn’t re-use the old foundation.

As far as workshops go, they built this one right. It looked like a log building, so it would match the lodge for aesthetics. The interior, though, was anything but rustic. It had insulated plywood walls, bright lighting, radiant heaters, epoxy covered concrete, hydraulic lift with a pit, and a washroom with shower. Externally, it had two overhead doors. The tall door was on the end—beside Mark’s trailer—and the other was halfway down the workshop on the side. They equipped the rest of the workshop for blacksmithing, woodworking, leather work and mechanical work.

Joe was busy tuning up the tractor and attaching the blade, so Mark just jumped in and started attaching the closed cabs to the Gators to prepare for the coming winter.

For those of you that don’t know, a Gator is a utility vehicle manufactured by John Deere. Those things can go almost anywhere and have lots of accessories.

Eventually, Maria announced over the radios that lunch was ready.

Maria, the only non-family employee at the ranch, was a Hispanic woman in her 40s, with short black hair, nice C-cup breasts and a very curvy set of hips. She lived on an acreage a few miles away, but her husband worked for an oil and gas company and was often away on business.

Maria enjoyed having a part-time job. It kept her busy and gave her people to socialize with, so she worked on the weekends, or whenever anyone was staying at the lodge—almost a full-time job during the summer months. She was the official cook and housekeeper, cleaning the rooms when people checked out, and making the lunches and suppers at the lodge.

Her 16-year-old daughter, Sofia, went to the same school as Annabelle and Jason and would hitch a ride with them. It allowed her to spend time with her boarded horse and, whenever there was no school, she would come to the ranch with her mom. She would help with meals, cleaning rooms, landscaping or whatever else they could use her help with, and Joe and Kat paid her for when she was there helping, which made both women happy.

This Saturday, though, Sofia had gone to Edmonton with her dad.

As you came into the lodge entrance, the lobby area looked like a campground, complete with artificial turf instead of carpet and a couple of hexagonal picnic tables for eating, playing games, or whatever.

Off to the right side was a feature wall made of logs, with a big natural gas fireplace surrounded by a rock chimney that went all the way to the peak of the roof. There were three couches arranged around it and a TV mounted above the mantle.