Published: 08 Apr 2014

Author’s Introductory Notes:

As usual, I retain all rights, but am more than glad for anyone wishing to offer this story to others at no charge to do so with my gratitude and permission. Josh.

CHAPTER 13a — Out

I came back from California, troubled. I was excited about Carlson-Bentolli, of course. But I was also concerned about Davey and me.

The new haircut made Davey look older, and even more handsome. His voice was deepening, and his features were maturing. Even though he and I were virtually the same height and build, I felt as though he had begun to outclass me, and I wasn’t sure how well I could continue to compete for his interest. I saw how people looked at him, both guys and girls. And I knew Davey. He just might want to say ‘yes’ to every one of them, without ever considering how I’d feel about it, or what it might do to ‘us’.

There was something else troubling me after California, and I was afraid that sooner or later it would affect how Davey felt about me. My attack of nerves at Blair’s house had embarrassed me, and it continued to bother me whenever I thought about it. Davey wouldn’t put up with a wimp forever. I was tired of my nerves failing me, and I was determined to beat them.

But first things first. There was so much to do for Carlson-Bentolli. Every day after swim practice throughout July, I poured myself into our software projects, working late most nights. Working so much had an impact on our sex life, but Davey handled it OK. In fact, there were a couple of times it was almost hard to get him in the mood.

I decided that when we were farther along on the software projects, Davey and I were going to screw like bunnies.

My visits to Amy immediately dropped to about once a week. Davey still went there a lot, and the last Friday in July, I went with him. As we walked up the sidewalk, I saw that Larice was there with Amy, sitting on the front porch. The weather was much too hot for a girl in Amy’s condition to be outside for long, so we insisted she go back inside almost as soon as we got there, and Davey went with her, leaving only Larice and me on the porch.

Larice settled regally into a high-backed wicker chair under one of the porch ceiling fans. She smiled, and the white of her teeth was dazzling against her dark skin. In the bright ambient light, and dressed in a colorful cotton blouse, she somehow looked almost Caribbean. I half-expected her to order a planters punch, but she quickly spoiled the mood by bringing up school.

“It’s looking grim for the debate team, Michael,” she said, frowning. “There’s absolutely no one I like for a teammate. But you would be a perfect debate partner. I mean, you’re smart, hard-headed, well-read, and just disdainful enough to come across as being right, even when you’re not.”

I had settled into a chair that matched hers and scowled at her as I looked across the little round table that sat between us. “I am not disdainful.”

“See!” She said, triumphantly. “That’s just what we need.”

I grinned. “No.”

“Come on Michael, it isn’t that much extra work. And it’s fun! You’ll get to travel; see the world… or at least other high schools. Besides, you have no extra-curricular activities and you need those for scholarships — these days, schools don’t just look at grades. You’ll do it, right?”

“Sorry, Larice. My social calendar is full.”

“With what?” She demanded. “You and Davey just sit around after school. Do you really help him study that much?”

I crossed my arms and leaned back. “Yeah, Larice. I help him a lot. And it’s not easy. Sometimes he gets tired of trying so hard to understand things, and I get tired of trying so hard to explain them.”

Larice’s look softened. “I guess I should’ve known.”

I uncrossed my arms, and like Larice, rested them on the arms of the chair. “Dr. Kazan, Davey’s specialist, has helped me figure out ways to explain things to Davey, but it still takes time.” Then I frowned at her. “What do you mean, we just sit around? I’ll have you know, we don’t just study! We run, we work out with our weight set… all kinds of stuff.”

Larice raised an eyebrow.

“Not that kind of stuff.” I quickly added. “Well, yes… But, no — I mean…”

I’d been thinking about taking Larice into our confidence anyway, so I took a deep breath. “There’s something else you don’t know about us, Larice.”

She raised both eyebrows. “I’m almost afraid to ask,” she said quietly.

“I swear, it’s nothing like that,” I said. “But it is a secret. And you need to promise not to tell anyone.”

She crossed her legs and gave me an amused smile. “Well, if I can keep a big secret, I can certainly handle a small one.”

“That’s exactly why I trust you, but it’s not such a small secret,” I said, smiling. “Davey and I have gone into business.”

She smiled indulgently. “Lawn mowing?”

“Designing and selling software, Larice,” I said. And then, leaning closer, I told her all about Carlson-Bentolli, and watched as her mouth silently opened and shut a few times in amazement. I was pleased — it was rare to render Larice speechless.

“So, you can see why we’ve kept it quiet,” I explained.

She continued to gape at me, eyes unblinking.

“Gee,” I said, laughing. “I think you handled our being gay better.”

“I’m…” She paused and let her eyes focus. “I’m just blown away,” she said.

I looked out to the yard. The grass was turning gold in the late afternoon sun, but it was still hot and I wiped sweat off my forehead. “Sometimes, Larice, I still feel blown away myself.”

She nodded and we sat there in silence.

“And there’s something else I haven’t told anybody,” I continued. “Something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently.”

She looked at me expectantly.

I leaned forward in my chair. “I figured out that I really like developing software! I like designing it with Davey. I like coding it. And I like business and all the things I’m learning. It’s like I’ve discovered what I was made for, Larice. And, well…” I lowered my voice. “I’ve even thought about dropping out of school to go to work full time.”

She frowned and started to speak, but I held up my hand to stop her.

“Relax!” I said. “I’m not dropping out. I promised Davey and his mom that I would help get him all the way through high school — and I will. And I’m not crazy. The software company might not work out. But you know what’s the main thing that’s going to keep me in school?”

She shook her head.

I laughed and pointed at her. “As cool as it would be to run our own company, it’s going to give me ‘immense satisfaction’ to beat your ass for valedictorian.”

She laughed, and then her eyes went wide. “You aren’t going to tell me you’re thinking about skipping college, are you?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I am.” I stood up from the chair to stretch my legs and leaned back on the front rail of the porch. “The software company in California, NBase, offered Davey and me jobs.” I bent forward and lowered my voice. “Carlson-Bentolli is already going to make over half a million dollars in three years on our software. Davey and I are good, Larice — very good.”

I chuckled when her jaw dropped again. “Hold on, hold on!” she demanded. “Did you say half a million dollars?”

I needed to walk, to pace, and pushed off the rail to do just that. “What are they going to teach me in college, Larice? Programming? Not to sound arrogant, but I could teach that myself.”

“There’s a lot more to learn than programming,” she insisted. “There’s liberal arts, business skills — you might learn about accounting. Maybe you could learn computer engineering.”

“I don’t think I have six years to learn what I need to know about business. There are other ways to learn.” I stopped in front of her. “In a couple of years, Larice, I could already be writing software and making more money than most college grads dream about.”

She looked at me skeptically. “If Davey was going to college, would you go then?”

I smiled. “But Davey’s not going to college.” I knelt down in front of her and took her hands in mine. “Larice, this can work! Davey and I can make good money at it.” I squeezed her hands. “I dream about it at night. I dream about settling down with… well, with my high school sweetheart.” I grinned. “It could happen.”

Larice patted my hand and smiled. “You just might do it, Michael. I hope you do.” She stood up and moved to the railing.

“What about you?” I asked, getting up to join her. “Have you decided where you want to go to college? What do you want to major in?”

Larice shrugged. “My mom thinks that I can have my pick of any school. My dad wants me to do law, or politics. But you know what I’d really like?” she turned to face me.

“What?”

Larice scooted closer on the railing. “You know I come from a large family, right? I have two older brothers and five younger sisters and brothers. Well, I’ve been thinking about it lately.” She fumbled nervously with one of her braids. “I like kids. No… I don’t just like them. I love kids! They’re incredible to be around, and to work with. It’s fascinating to see their minds develop and to see how they learn.”

Her face showed a fervor that was surprising for Larice. “It’s a miracle, Michael — how the human mind develops… how kids learn, how they process things.”

I chuckled and Larice frowned at me. “What’s so funny about that?”

“No, no,” I said. “It’s just that with all the learning development you’re talking about, I’ve had a sudden insight into why you like Davey so much.”

Larice leaned back against the railing and considered it. A small smile played over her mouth. “Yeah. I hadn’t thought of it that way.” She nodded, and then looked back at me. “But there’s a lot more to it than what you were thinking; I like Davey because of… well, because of Davey.”

“And because he’s the cutest guy in school,” I pointed out, grinning.

“He’s not cute; he’s drop-dead gorgeous and you know it.” Her eyes traveled off into space and I wondered what she was thinking.

“Larice,” I said, “back when you and Davey were dating, how come you two never… you know?”

She shrugged. “It wasn’t because Davey didn’t want to. He may think he’s gay, but he has an easy ‘on’ button. You better watch that boy.”

“Gee, thanks, Larice,” I said sarcastically. “I really needed that.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Problems?”

I looked away, ignoring the question. “Really,” I asked, “why didn’t you and Davey get it on?”

She shuffled her feet. “Some things are too important to play around with, Michael. Just because you love someone doesn’t mean you automatically jump into bed with them.” She glanced at me. “Besides which, I’ve got plans. The last thing I need is to get pregnant. No offense.”

“None taken,” I said and sliding next to her on the railing, I put an arm over her shoulders. “So, Larice… what areyou going to major in?”

She sat taller. “Early childhood development. I’d like to get a Ph.D. Then I want to start a school.” Larice took my hand and then stared off into space, as if she were about to take me into her dream. “I have ideas; ideas about how to teach kids. And…” She patted my thigh. “Somewhere along the line, I do want to have a big family of my own, with lots of kids.”

“You’re really something, Larice,” I said fondly and hugged her shoulder to me. “I can see you with kids. I bet that Mama’s always going to be in charge at your house.”

She smiled.

“You need to meet Davey’s specialist, Dr. Kazan,” I told her. “He works with cognitive disorders and knows all about learning styles and stuff. I bet he’d really get you going.”

Just then, Davey came back onto the porch, looked at my arm around Larice and glanced at me quizzically.

“Just friends, Davey,” I said, laughing. “I’m not trying to steal one of your girlfriends.”

Davey grinned. But Larice moved away and I wondered if I’d hurt her feelings.

Then she turned and held out a hand to each of us. She was quiet for a moment, looking mainly at Davey. “Baby,” she said, “there’s something I need to tell you — I’ve met a boy. I really like him and he wants to go steady.”

For the briefest moment, a flash of disappointment showed in Davey’s face. But he forced a smile and gave Larice a hug. When he did, she kissed him, on the lips.

It was a lingering kiss and when she let him go, she sighed. “It’ll take me a while to get over you, though,” she said and smoothed back his hair. “If you ever go straight, you’ll tell me, right?”

He smiled and hugged her again. “We’ll always be… best friends, Larice.”

A sudden chill went down my spine. I hoped I’d never get a hug like that from Davey.

The beginning of August saw the end of summer swim team and the delivery of the C-B sort to NBase. At last, it was time to relax and take our trip to South Padre.

Before we left for the beach, I took Davey up to North Star Mall. We both needed clothes, and I had something special I wanted to buy him.

As we walked into the Mall, Davey moved closer. “Do gays… cruise here?” He asked, smiling.

“At least two will be today,” I said grinning. Then I switched to my best military voice. “Activate the gaydar, corporal.”

Davey made a humming noise, then clasped his hands on the sides of his face and slowly rotated his head. After a moment, he pinged. “Contact at twelve o’clock, captain.”

I looked ahead and saw a guy of about twenty with great-looking buns. But he was also holding hands with a tall blond female. “Better recalibrate, corporal. That’s a false, repeat false, reading.” I leaned closer. “He’s holding hands with a girl, you doofus.”

“His sister,” Davey said.

“Yeah, right! We need to get you new gaydar.”

There were plenty of girls at the mall that day with working ‘guydar’. Everywhere we went girls smiled at us, and frequently tried to start conversations. Some of them were really cute, and at times like that, I always had to shake off a little feeling of guilt. I’d never completely convinced myself that I hadn’t turned Davey gay.

But after awhile, I started enjoying myself, and Davey and I had fun just observing the guys. We sat down on a bench in the middle of the mall and watched potential gay candidates go by.

“Think he’s one?” I asked with a nod.

“No… how about him?”

“Maybe. How about those two.”

After a few minutes, a middle-aged guy walked over from one of the tabletop vendor stands. He was tall and extremely thin, with dirty-looking hair slicked back into a ponytail. “You guys horny or what?”

We both stared back at him.

“The way you guys look at anyone going by in pants is pretty obvious.”

I could feel myself turning red.

He laughed. “If you want to cruise, you should go out to Crossroads Mall. Of course,” he said quietly, “I could help you out in the john right now if you want.”

Before I could say anything, Davey put his arm over my shoulder. “My friend’s… horny.”

I gasped and gave Davey a deadly look. His eyes danced and a devilish smile played at the corners of his mouth.

“Thanks,” I said. “But I’m late for an execution.” Standing up, I jerked a thumb back towards Davey. “His!”

With that, I dragged him away, and I glanced over my shoulder to see the pony-tailed guy grinning at us in the distance.

The ‘special thing’ I wanted to get for Davey was at the bookstore, though now I was tempted not to buy it. Nevertheless, I took him by B. Dalton’s.

I found what I wanted, books on landscaping. Davey’s eyes went wide, and he began pulling out book after book to look at. Most were colorful and interesting, and I got into them myself. We settled on two books, and later, found a large pad of grid paper for Davey to draw out his landscaping plans for our houses.

He would take his two landscaping books and grid pad to the beach. I would take a few books myself, even though I didn’t expect to read much. In my mind, I had planned to lie on the beach all day and make love to Davey all night. The reality was to be a little different.

The night before we left, Davey and I were rummaging through the garage. It was late and Mom had already gone to bed, but she wanted to take some roll-up straw mats we had and I’d promised that I’d look for them. As I was reaching for the top shelf, Davey hugged me from behind.

I tried to reach higher, and he hugged me even more tightly.

“You’re in a good mood,” I said.

“Just rememberin’,” he said, squeezing my waist.

“Yeah,” I said, coming down off my toes. I guess I could take time out for one of Davey’s behind-hugs. “We haven’t made love out here for a while… Come to think of it, we haven’t made love for a while.”

Davey pressed his crotch to my butt and I felt his erection.

“Whoa,” I said, laughing. “Ready for the beach?”

He kissed the back of my neck and reached into the front of my shorts. I sighed and spread my legs. There was no stopping Davey when he was this horny.

His breath was hot on my neck and his hands insistent in my shorts. “Oh, damn,” I said, moaning. “That feels so good.”

He pushed my shorts down to my thighs and pressed the front of his shorts to my bare ass, as his hands continued to work on my front. I leaned forward and rested my hands on the garage workbench.

“Davey? Ummm… I want to ask you something,” I said, moving my butt against his crotch.

“What?” he asked, leaning forward to kiss the back of my neck.

“You know how California was going to be a special time for you and me?”

“Yeah.”

“And how we wound up getting it on with Tyler and Blair and all? Well, I was thinking. This time, can we keep it to just us? You know… just me and you?”

He nibbled the back of my ear. “OK, Old Man,” he said. “But no sleeping — nothing but sex.”

I chuckled. “I’d wear you out!”

“Mmmm,” Davey said. “Just try!” Then he pushed his shorts down and laid his cock on my butt.

“Seriously, Davey,” I said as he pushed my shorts farther down and I let them drop to the floor. “Can it just be us?”

He wrapped his arms tightly around me. “I want that, too, Mickey.” Then he squeezed harder. “Umm… I love your butt,” he whispered.

Ed had reserved a three bedroom condo for us on the top floor of Sun Chaser Hotel/Condominiums, a fairly luxurious place right on the beach. When we walked out onto the balcony, we saw that the rooms overlooked the condo pool directly below, and beyond that, the sand and the gulf. Out on the horizon, two shrimp boats were returning to port.

Our moms took a bedroom each, while Davey and I shared the third bedroom, which had two twin beds. There was a kitchen and a dining room/den. Both moms’ rooms and the den had sliding glass doors that led onto a balcony.

The first day, we made it onto the beach about mid-afternoon. There was a line of umbrellas across the sand, running parallel to the water. Each umbrella had two wooden lounge chairs set up beneath. An attendant approached us to see if we wanted to rent an umbrella. We did, and set up the straw mats under it. Our moms took the chairs and Davey and I sat on the mats.

In the shade of the umbrella, the breeze off the gulf was almost cool. There was perhaps fifty yards of sand between us and the water, across which paraded all shapes and sizes of people — mostly young ones. We all watched the parade.

Mom started in right away, pointing out all the girls our age. And there were bunches of them: one group of four had settled two umbrellas down from us and appeared to be staying at our condos. They looked to be only a year or two younger than Davey and me. And they were all slender and cute, with rounded curves nicely shown off in bikinis. One girl wore a string bikini — the kind of bikini that just begged to have its string pulled.

Mom seemed willing to overlook what she usually considered to be immodest swimsuits, as long as Davey or I would just give the girls a nice healthy leer. Actually, I was inclined to; I genuinely did like looking at girls. But the last thing I wanted to do was to encourage mom. In fact, I was beginning to recognize how unfair it was to let her continue thinking I was straight. But I didn’t think a beach trip vacation was the appropriate time to come out to her.

It didn’t help that the girls showed definite interest. They made eyes at us and walked by repeatedly. The apparent ringleader was the girl with the string bikini; a petite brunet with short hair and budding breasts who finally walked over and introduced herself as Ellie.

She grinned at Davey. “I love your ear stud,” she said. “I think it is sooo sexy.”

I glanced at Mom. She’d been fussing about our jewelry since we returned from California. She frowned at me. I wriggled my eyebrows and mouthed the word, “Sexy.”

A busty blond, who looked too young to be one of their moms, walked up to their umbrella carrying an ice chest. As she went past, she boldly studied Davey and me, especially our speedos. Ellie returned to their umbrella when the blond began passing out sodas. As Ellie walked away, I watched the waistline of her bikini bottom sway up and down like a seesaw.

Then Davey and I returned to watching guys pass by. Most wore baggy swimsuits, but several were really good-looking. It was hard to do much watching though, with our moms right there, along with Ellie and friends stealing looks in our direction. In fact, it looked like the whole flock of four might be getting ready to descend on us.

I leaned close to Davey. “Let’s go swim — get away from all the attention.”

However, when Davey and I headed out for the first sandbar, we became fair game for the girls. The four of them followed us out, stationing themselves only feet away. Ellie worked her way towards us, or more exactly, towards Davey. “Have you ever tried body surfing?” she yelled out over the noise of the surf.

Within minutes the other three girls had joined us, with introductions all around. Over the next hour, the girls taught us how to body surf and even tried to get us into a little friendly wrestling. Two of the girls, both with dark blond hair, attached themselves to me. They climbed over my back, tickled me, and rolled their bodies suggestively against mine. But that was nothing compared to what Ellie and the other girl were up to with Davey. It was obvious that they were copping feels and enjoying it immensely.

I’m not sure how far it would have gone if we hadn’t been interrupted. “Ellie!” called one of the girls, pointing back to the beach. “Your mom!” The bold blonde we’d seen earlier was waving the girls back in.

After they left, I paddled over to Davey. “Tomorrow, swim trunks, no speedos,” I said. “That lady couldn’t take her eyes off my crotch.”

Davey nodded. “And her daughter kept… feeling me up.”

I laughed and stepped next to him in the chest deep water. “Did they get you hard?”

“Oh, yeah,” he smiled.

“Let me see,” I said, grabbing him and plunging my hand into the front of his swimsuit.

We wrestled in the waves until Maggie waded out to us. Davey and I showed her what we’d learned about body surfing, but she never seemed to quite get the hang of it. Mom stayed under the beach umbrella, reading. But at least she looked content, and she seemed happy that we were happy, and together.

That night, like every night we would be there, we dined out. And afterwards, we played cards.

Actually, we were all good at cards; especially Davey. We played hearts and spades, and found out quickly that Davey was a card counter — remembering exactly what had been played and working out which cards were left unplayed. He was also damned good at sticking me with the queen of spades.

I was pretty good at counting cards too, and at guessing which cards each player might have. Hmmm, I thought. I wonder how we’d do in Las Vegas? I made a mental note to remember that, once we were old enough to gamble.

There was one more thing we did that night that we would enjoy every night — spreading on the sunburn cream. That first night, it was the sexiest thing Davey and I did. We were too sunburned to touch each other much, and too exhausted to want to.

“You can rest your butt,” I said. “I’ll wear you out tomorrow night.”

Davey groaned. “But that’s the only place I didn’t… burn.”

I laughed and blew a kiss from my bed to his.

Early the next morning, Maggie, Davey, and I drove over to one of the small marinas. There, Capt. Reggie Hinojosa took us bay fishing. His boat, like the others used by professional guides, had an extremely small draft for red fishing in the shallows.

Reggie looked to be in his thirties, though from his face you would think he was older. There were squint lines around his eyes, and his skin was already leathery from years spent fishing on the quiet waters of the Laguna Madre. We were to be out from 7:00 AM until noon and he brought sodas, sweet rolls, and snacks for the morning, for which all of us were grateful.

The bay was smooth and clear as we raced north along the shore. Davey and I sat side by side on a seat in front of the pilot’s console. Maggie sat directly behind me, next to Reggie. She had worn a wide straw hat and held it clutched to the top of her head as the wind threatened to blow it away. When I turned back she was grinning broadly and winked at me.

Once we passed north of the buildings on the island, the bay all looked the same to me, but Reggie seemed to know exactly where he was going.

When he found the spot, he showed us each how to cast and reel in, spending extra time with Maggie. I think Maggie caught on just as fast as we did; Reggie just wanted to spend extra time with her.

After only a few minutes of not catching anything, Reggie had us reel in and headed to his next spot. Once there, no sooner had Maggie’s line hit the water than it went taut, bending her pole.

“Set the hook,” Reggie called, moving next to her. “That’s it! Now, reel in the way I showed you.”

Suddenly, Davey let out a yell. His pole bent way down, and we had fish on two lines! I reeled in quickly and followed Reggie’s instructions for netting the fish as they came alongside. The thing with reds however, is that they fight. It took several minutes before the two fish were landed.

Then Davey cast his line out again and hooked a second red while we were still landing Maggie’s.

“No fair!” I protested. “I’m workin’ here.”

“Get your line in the water, son,” Reggie yelled at me. “I’ll help Mrs. Carlson. I hurried to oblige.

While Davey was still landing his, I had my first hit. It felt like a whale on the other end. I pulled up the pole and reeled down like Reggie had told us to, but the fish was stronger than the drag, pulling more line out. I was afraid of losing it, and so played the fish in slowly. It took twenty minutes for me to land our biggest red yet.

After Reggie removed the hook, he released the fish back into the water.

“Hey! Why’d you do that?” I asked.

“Over the limit,” Reggie explained.

“There’s an upper limit?” I asked, surprised.

“Yeah, we have to release the big ones back in case they’re brooding females.”

“Damn,” I fussed, and immediately cast again. I wanted a keeper.

Maggie was on her second red by then and whooped it up as the fish fought hard. It was never more obvious as to where Davey had inherited his smile. She grinned from ear to ear. Davey let out a yell as he hooked his third red.

The whole morning went like that. Reggie kept warning us that his expeditions hardly ever went so well. But by lunchtime, when we headed back, the three of us were hooked on fishing… for life. Unfortunately, Ed had only scheduled us to fish on two days.

Back at the dock, we took several pictures. Then I called Ed while Reggie cleaned our catch.

“Ed,” I said, glad to have caught him before he made it out for lunch. “Thanks for setting up the fishing.”

“Did you have a good time?”

“You wouldn’t believe…” I started a rundown of the entire morning, but Ed stopped me after the third fish.

He was laughing. “I’m glad you had a good time. Why don’t you tell me the rest when you get back.”

“Well, there is a reason I called,” I said.

“Yes?”

“Would it be too expensive to fish every day that we’re here, and not just the two days?”

“Michael,” he said. “That’s not a problem. Just do it.”

“Well Reggie says he’s booked for the rest of the week, but thinks he knows another boat captain who can take us.”

“You like Reggie?”

“Hell, yes! I mean… yes, sir. He took us to all the right spots today. Some of the other boats didn’t do nearly as well.”

“Let me talk to him,” Ed said. “Maybe I can make him a deal he can’t refuse.”

Reggie came in to take the phone, so I walked back out to Davey and Maggie. They were watching crabs in the water under the fish cleaning tables eat the excess scraps and offal from our catch. The two of them were bubbling like kids. This was going to be a great vacation.

I don’t know what arrangements Ed made, but when they were done, Reggie was ours for the rest of the week.

We took our catch, put most of it in the freezer at the hotel, and then took the rest, along with Mom, to Bayside Bar and Grill. Bayside cooked up fishermen’s catches for a small fee, and there we literally feasted on our catch of reds, trout, and flounder.

After that, we all wanted to rest. So while Mom and Maggie took naps in their rooms, Davey lay on his stomach in the living room, working on landscaping plans. I lay on my back, using the hollow under his butt for the back of my head while I read… until I fell asleep.

In the afternoon, Ellie and company had thankfully latched on to a couple of other guys and I thought that we’d have some peace. But out in the waves, a blond ten year-old boy and his chubby little brother made friends and followed us around as if they were attached to us by a lifeline.

Late in the afternoon, Davey and I finally found a little peace and quiet at the condo pool — that is, until Ellie’s crew found us. This time Ellie decided to give me her personal attention.

She climbed on my back first, and when she wrapped her legs around me under water, her heels came to rest on my crotch. I gently moved them and pretended not to notice. As we talked, she worked her way around my side to my front so that we were face to face.

“So, does Davey have a girlfriend?” she asked, wrapping her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck.

“Yeah, he has a… kind of a special friend,” I told her, supporting her butt with my hands.

She grinned and wiggled her butt in my hands. “What’s she like?”

“Tall, black-haired beauty,” I said, walking backwards in the water.

“Do you have a girlfriend back in San Antonio?” she asked, wrapping a strand of my hair around her finger.

“Sure… uh, I have a special friend, too.”

“What’s she like?” Ellie asked, tracing the crease between my pecs with a fingertip.

“Sorry, Ellie,” I said, trying not to laugh. “But I don’t think you’d stand a chance.”

She pouted and pushed away from me. Then she swam over to Davey and wrapped herself around him, like an octopus enveloping a new victim.

I was grateful when Mom finally came out and called us for supper. As I walked past Ellie’s mom, she gave me a leering smile. I felt my face redden as I realized she was mentally undressing me, and nearly tripped running down the stone steps that led back to the lobby elevators.

The moon was up when Davey and I walked out onto the balcony after finishing cards for the night. Its light reflected across the waves out on the gulf, and I could barely make out a few ships coming back through the ship channel. Below us, kids noisily splashed in the condo pool. Davey leaned on the railing, the warm light from inside the condo washing over his strong back and shoulders.

I put my hand between his shoulders blades and rubbed. “Want to go for a walk on the beach?” I whispered.

“A run,” he said, looking back at me with a grin.

There were few people on the beach as we ran out from the condos. Turning north up the beach, we kept to the firm sand at the edge of the water.

We were silent in the roar of the surf, moving up the beach like ghosts on the wind. The moonlight reflected off Davey’s muscles and turned his hair silver. He ran easily, with incredible grace. He was beautiful when he ran.

All we had on was our shoes and shorts, but the night was warm, and there was a light gulf breeze from the southeast. We ran past the end of the condos, seeing fewer and fewer people.

“Ellie wants you, you know,” I said before leaping over a narrow wash out.

“She’s been… trying,” he replied.

“You could take her up on it,” I suggested, as we passed a couple walking hand-in-hand. “It could be a chance to see what sex with a girl is like.” I definitely had mixed emotions about suggesting it, but if Davey was ever going to try a girl, at least this one wouldn’t be around after this week.

He turned and looked at me, all of me, up and down my body. “Why would I… want to?” he asked with a smile.

“She’s cute, and horny as a guy.”

Davey shook his head. “You said ‘just us’ this trip.” He put a hand on my back as we ran. “Just you and me.”

I smiled gratefully. “But are you sure? It’s a chance to make it with a girl!”

He stopped running and I stopped too.

“I’m sure,” he said grinning, and pulled his shorts off so that he was naked, except for his shoes. A thin sheen of sweat on his chest glistened in the moonlight, and his belly heaved. Every muscled showed, and the white skin beneath his tan line glowed in the moonlight. From the dark patch of his pubic hair, his cock hung into the soft light, thick and inviting.

I looked around. There wasn’t anyone in sight so I pulled off my shorts, too. Davey started running again and I hurried to catch up with him.

We ran naked up the beach, and we ran faster. It felt incredible — our cocks and balls swinging in the night breeze. We watched each other as we ran, laughing with exhilaration. If Davey was beautiful running before, he was breathtaking naked.

A few hundred yards farther, I slowed to a stop. Davey circled back to me. I kicked off my shoes, dropped my shorts on top of them, and ran into the surf. After doing the same, Davey came splashing in after me. He tackled me from behind, pulling me down in the surf. The gulf was still warm, and stung slightly on my sunburned back.

We both came up sputtering and I charged him, hoisting him up on my shoulder and flipping him into the water. He came up spitting, and charged, burying his shoulder into my gut. The moon and the surf and the sky all spun as he flipped me over his shoulder.

I landed on my feet and spun, upending him by coming up under his legs from behind. He came at me and we took turns tossing each other over our shoulders. As we tired, we switched to butt swatting, tagging each other in turn. When Davey grabbed me with one hand while trying to swat my ass with the other, we ended up in a circling dance, moving closer and closer until the butt swats became butt pats. And those became caresses when our mouths met.

We stood in the waist deep water and tightened our embrace against the buffeting waves. The jostling was too much; I picked Davey up in my arms and carried him back to the wet sand at the water’s edge. Dropping to my knees, I lay Davey down and lowered myself on top of him.

Water rushed up between our legs and washed against our naked bodies. I looked down into Davey’s face, his hair splayed out all silver on the sand.

He grinned up at me. “Just us this trip,” he said softly and wrapped his arms over my shoulders.

We finished slowly. I rolled back from our sixty-nine and let his cock slip from my mouth. He let mine go, too, and we just lay on the sand, catching our breath, the water washing around us. I felt his hand take mine and looked up at the night sky. The moon was high now, and it was probably getting late. I sat up and rubbed Davey’s stomach.

“Time to head back, Old Man,” I said quietly.

He reached both arms up, and smiling, I leaned down to kiss him. “We’re not done,” he said. “Back at the room, I’m going to wear you out.”

“That won’t be hard,” I said, laughing. “I already am. It’s been a long day.”

I got up and offered a helping hand up to Davey. We rinsed the sand off our legs, backs, and butts in the surf, and Davey headed back to our shoes while I took a piss. As I headed back towards Davey, he had already put his shorts and shoes on, and run ahead, back down the beach.

I put on my shoes, but couldn’t find my shorts anywhere. I looked all around, and then saw Davey waiting a hundred yards up the beach. High over his head, he waved my shorts.

“You fucker!” I yelled.

I took off running, but Davey didn’t wait. We raced down the beach, and at first I was unable to gain any ground on him. I pushed myself harder as I realized somebody might catch sight of me at any moment. We were drawing close to the lights of the northernmost condos when I finally began to close the gap. Davey was getting winded.

We ran past the lights of the first hotel. There was only one couple left on the beach, and, luckily for me, they were only interested in each other. I was only a few feet behind him when Davey tried to circle away. I followed. He tossed my shorts to the side, but I kept after him until I tackled him to the sand and began tugging down his shorts.

He tried holding them up by the waistband, but he was laughing so hard I pulled them from his grasp. Jumping to my feet, I flung his shorts as far across the sand as I could and then went looking for mine. He beat me to them by half a second and we began a breathless, laughing, tug-of-war that ended with a loud shredding sound. I fell back with only the waistband of my shorts in my hand.

Just then, there were a couple of whistles and loud hoots from the direction of the water. Three young couples had stopped on their moonlight walk along the beach to applaud. I tried to cover my crotch and Davey took off running for his shorts.

I knew where I’d thrown them and beat him there. He caught me while I was trying to pull his shorts on and tackled me to the ground. We both rolled around, laughing hard, but I managed to hang on to the shorts and tried to pull them up; he tried to pull them off. I was winning when the waistband tore and the shorts ripped down the side.

Davey let go and I pulled the remnants of his shorts up, holding the waistband closed. It would work.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Davey cried, grabbing the shorts and pulling hard. There was another loud ripping sound, then he jerked again, and they tore completely off. I heard the room keys fall from them.

“Oh, shit, Davey! The room keys — they were in your shorts!”

We dropped to our hands and knees and carefully searched the sand. Davey found them, holding them up triumphantly. Then he sprang up, and tore off for the condo in just his shoes

“You asshole!” I shrieked, taking off after him, just as naked.

I know we passed at least a couple more people along the way before I caught Davey. I grabbed him by the waist and we both went down.

“What’s gotten into you?” I asked, panting, as we sat up.

He looked at me for a moment and then smiled. “I love you,” he shrugged. “I’m… I’m happy.”

“Oh, hell,” I groaned. “This is what happens when you love me?”

He grinned. “And this!” He pushed me down and kissed me hard.

When he sat back up, I took a deep breath. “Okay,” I said, “I can handle that.”

We dodged from dune to dune all the way back to the condos, but it was so late that no one was still out. The condo pool was deserted, and the underwater lights were out, though I could just make out reflections on the water’s dark surface.

“Hey, Davey,” I whispered loudly. “Let’s skinny dip.”

He stopped, looked at the pool, and started to open his mouth.

I quickly clasped my hand over it. “But we’ve got to be quiet.”

He grinned and removed his shoes.

The water was warm and almost felt thick. We moved to the side of the pool where it was darkest, and the water was only up to our necks. I brushed the sand from Davey’s body and he did the same to me. We moved closer together as we cleaned each other off… closer, until eventually our bellies touched and we reached behind to clean each other’s backs, closer still until my mouth was at his ear.

“Davey,” I whispered. “Loving you is incredible.”

We managed to sneak back into the hotel and up to our rooms, still naked, without anybody seeing us. Sometime during the night, Davey moved to my bed. I woke with his back against my side. I rolled up on to my side to spoon him and snuggled up before I fell back asleep.

We shared a bed every night after that, always being careful to mess up the other one before stepping out of the room each morning.

That first full day was our pattern for the rest of the week: Maggie, Davey, and me fishing in the morning while Mom sipped coffee and read novels on the balcony. After fishing, we picked up Mom and went to Bayside to eat some of our catch for lunch. After lunch, we’d return to the condo and rest up for an hour or two, then we’d hit the beach for the afternoon, and try to dodge Ellie and crew. Every night, we ate out for supper and played cards afterwards. And when Davey and I weren’t too tired or too horny, we ran on the beach.

Ellie saw us when we headed out for a run on the third night and wanted to go with us. But she didn’t have her shoes so we got away. But then she began pestering us to tag along the next time we ran. When we headed down to the beach on our last night, Ellie was waiting in running shorts and shoes.

“I’m going with you,” she insisted.

“No, you’re not,” I said. Davey and I wanted our final night to be special.

“How fast can you run?” Ellie asked with a smile. “I’m pretty fast.”

I looked at Davey, who grinned back at me and wiggled his eyebrows; and we took off running. Ellie wasn’t bad, but she couldn’t keep up. She fell back, but didn’t give up. Finally, Davey and I slowed down. “Shit,” I muttered. “I’m almost feel like I’m being cruel.”

“We can let her… catch up… for a while,” Davey suggested.

So we slowed down and waited for her. Eventually, she made her way up alongside us.

“I was about to give up on you guys,” she said breathlessly. “Don’t you know that it’s the girls who are supposed to play hard to get? Not the guys?”

“Ellie,” I said, laughing, “we already told you — we’re each going with someone.”

She laughed. “When does that ever stop a guy from having fun?” She slapped Davey’s butt hard and took off.

“Hey!” cried Davey. The chase was on. We raced ahead for at least another mile.

Ellie had a lot more endurance than I expected. We made it past the last condos and down to where the beach was completely deserted. She looked at us triumphantly as we came alongside. “You guys ever skinny dip in the Gulf?” she asked.

I grinned. “Yeah, sure.”

She undid her top as we ran, and pulled it off. Her firm breasts bounced provocatively, and Davey’s eyes were drawn to them.

Ellie loved the attention. “C’mon guys!” she called. “Let’s swim.”

We came to a stop. Ellie pulled off her bikini bottom, waved it with a ‘woo hoo’, and tossed it along with her top onto the sand.

Davey watched fascinated, as Ellie kicked off her shoes. It was the first time that I knew of that he’d seen a naked girl. And I had to admit, she was a damn good-looking one.

She stopped and cocked her head. “Have you ever even been with a girl, Davey?” she asked.

He slowly shook his head.

Ellie stepped up to him and pushed down his shorts. Damn, I thought. She’s fast. I had mixed emotions. At this rate, Ellie was going to rape Davey. He may have promised it would be ‘just us’ on the trip, but Davey did have an easy on button, as Larice had reminded me. How would he feel if I tried to stop things now?

His shorts fell to his ankles and his cock began to rise. I figured I better keep up, so I dropped my own shorts.

“Oooh,” Ellie said, focusing on Davey’s cock. She took it in her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Take off your shoes, Davey,” she commanded. “You too, Michael,” she added, turning to me, and then her eyes widened. “Oh, damn!” she exclaimed. “How big does that thing get?” She gave me a sly grin while she eyed my cock, but continued to fondle Davey.

I swallowed hard. Gay or not, I felt myself getting aroused, my erection already at half-mast.

Davey kicked off his shoes and followed her out into the surf. I kicked off my shoes and followed after, but I wasn’t happy. It was one thing to tell Davey he could try a girl; it was quite another to have to stand by and watch.

But Ellie wasn’t going to leave me out. With a laugh, she grabbed us each by the hand and led us out into the surf. Once we were in a quiet spot between breakers, about waist deep, she tried pulling us together with her in the middle.

Davey looked at me helplessly and came around to my side. He put his arm around my shoulder.

“Is there something wrong?” she asked, stepping closer.

“Umm, Ellie,” I said, glancing at Davey. “We’re gay.” I figured it couldn’t hurt to tell her, as we wouldn’t be seeing her after tomorrow.

“What?” she yelled.

“I said we’re gay!” I yelled back.

Her mouth dropped, and then pulled itself up into a cunning smile. “Cool! Let me see you kiss.”

That was fine with me. I took Davey into my arms and he wrapped his arms over my shoulders, we put our crotches together and kissed. We forgot about Ellie and melted together.

“That is so hot!” Ellie cried over the noise of the surf, and stepped closer. She ran her hands lightly up over our backs and down to our butts. Then she reached between our bodies to grab our now-rigid cocks.

She stroked them appreciatively and rubbed them together. Then she pushed between us, breaking our kiss, and facing Davey, she pressed her body to his. She ground her body against his and, even though her eyes were focused on Davey, she reached back and grabbed me, pulling me hard against her rotating butt. She made it clear that she wanted both of us!

Ellie wrapped her arms up over Davey’s neck and wrapped her legs around his hips, obviously pressing her crotch against the underside of his cock. Davey grabbed her butt to support her and she planted her mouth firmly on his.

It was obvious that Ellie was not going to stop, and Davey’s thinking had all moved to his cock. He was about to fuck a girl! Emotionally I had mixed feelings, but my own brain was losing its voice in this transaction. I pressed in behind her, my cock against her back, and I reached in from either side to cup her breasts. She moaned and leaned back against me.

The way Ellie began moving between our bodies, I was afraid she’d bring Davey off before he ever even made it inside her. But Ellie was just warming up. In one smooth movement, she reached for Davey’s cock, lifted her hips and guided Davey to her hole. Then she took him in, down to the hilt.

Davey’s head rolled back, mouth open in a gasp that was drowned out by the surf. He obviously liked it. She began to move on him. Holding her tightly by the hips, Davey began thrusting.

Ellie leaned back into my arms, the back of her shoulders resting on my chest. I cupped her breasts and rubbed her nipples with my fingertips while I held her for Davey.

I let my eyes move down her slender body to where he was moving in and out of her at the water’s surface. She reached up over her head and clasped her hands behind my neck, bringing her cheek up to mine and using the leverage to undulate on Davey.

Davey was watching, too, his eyes mesmerized by her body, especially where he entered her. His eyes moved to her breasts where my hands worked. Then his eyes met mine, they were mindless, dazed. He held her butt in a vice-like grip, his pecs straining under the skin. The muscles of his belly were all working, clearly defined in the bright moonlight. His neck grew thick, his jaw tightened. Davey never looked more male, more beautiful than he did that night in the surf.

I held her with both arms, while Davey increased his speed. She writhed between us, her moans rising above the sound of the surf. Then her moans turned to cries, and just as she climaxed, I gently squeezed her breasts and lightly pinched her nipples.

Davey kept pumping until her orgasm plateaued, and then he cried out and arched back, all his muscles straining. He was awesomely male, in full rut, with the wind wildly blowing his hair and the surf spray making his body glisten. His pumping slowed and he leaned forward against her. She kissed him hard, greedily.

When she finally let him go, he slipped out of her, and floated back in the water.

My heart was still pounding. I was horny as hell and hoped that Ellie was up for a second round. With one arm, I lifted her back up and pulled her legs around with the other.

She reached down and took hold of my erect cock. I was so hard that it ached.

“Please,” I asked.

Without saying a word, she put an arm around my neck and pushed her tongue into my mouth. That was all the answer I needed.

Holding her more upright, I pulled one of her legs aside, found her soft slit, and entered her. Instantly, my cock was firmly enveloped in a soft warmth, and Ellie let out a long moan of satisfaction. She wrapped her legs around my hips, and put both arms over my shoulders. Her head rested against my neck, and I held her by the butt as I moved in her, slowly at first.

She was small in my arms and her firm breasts brushed lightly against my chest. She held my cock snug inside her, caressing my entire length as I moved in and out. The waves lapped gently against our legs and washed my balls.

Ellie began to move with me and our motions grew larger. At first, she rode up and down on me. Then she leaned back until only her fingers held the back of my neck, and she fucked me back, rocking her pelvis to meet my every thrust.

We watched each other’s bodies working, grinding, rocking on each other. There were muscles in her belly, and she used them well. Our eyes met and she pulled up for a brief kiss. Her vagina tightened as our lips met.

She leaned back again and rocked her whole body in rhythm with mine. Our eyes locked and she ground harder against me. Suddenly Ellie threw her head back and cried out as her insides clamped down hard on my cock. And then I felt Davey behind me, his hand slipping between my legs, rubbing under my balls.

Ellie slowed down, coming off her orgasm. I grabbed her ass more tightly and pumped harder as Davey’s other arm came around my chest and I felt his lips caress the back of my neck.

Ellie arched back, orgasming again, and this time she took me with her. I cried out and pumped every last drop I had into her, thrusting and thrusting until I was almost dizzy. Davey held me up, then laughed gently and nuzzled my neck.

She let go and just floated on the small swells as my cock grew softer inside her. Davey continued to massage between my legs and kissed the back of my neck. He pressed his hard cock to my butt, standing between Ellie’s loosely draped legs. I leaned my head back alongside his, trying to rub my cheek against the smooth skin of his face.

I think Ellie would have floated that way all night. She was definitely well fucked.

Davey put his lips to my ear. “You’re lots better… lots better,” he whispered.

I grinned and twisted my head back so that we could kiss. He wrapped his arms around me from behind, pressing his body to my back.

He put his mouth to my ear again. “You looked so… hot,” he whispered and his cock found my butt crack to rest in. He gently bit my neck and I wondered if he was going to enter me while I was still in Ellie.

But then I saw the headlights of a jeep approaching, so I pulled out of Ellie and stepped from Davey’s embrace. “Shit!” I said. “Someone’s coming!”

We moved apart and crouched down in the water until the jeep had passed. Ellie found Davey and wrapped herself around his front. Laying her head on his shoulder, she looked ready to fall asleep, clinging to him like a small child. We walked out of the surf with Davey carrying Ellie. Reluctantly, she let go so she could get dressed.

Davey came over and whispered. “I’m sorry, Mickey.”

I took Davey into my arms and put my mouth to his ear so Ellie couldn’t hear. “It’s OK. I did it, too. I’m sorry it wasn’t just us tonight. But at least you got to try a girl! And damn, you looked hot, too!”

He whispered in my ear. “I liked doin’ it together.”

It was funny, but I knew what he meant. It was almost a ‘buddy’ kind of thing to do.

Davey pushed his tongue into my ear and I melted into him.

“Hey,” Ellie said, walking up. “I belong in the middle.” She wedged her way between us and we sandwiched her in a hard-on hug. Over her head, our eyes met and rolled upwards in disdain — she definitely did not belong in the middle.

As Davey and I pulled on our shorts, Ellie rubbed Davey’s back. I caught her eye. “Uh, Ellie,” I began, remembering my current problem with Amy, “please tell me you’re on the pill.”

She giggled. “My mom’s had me on the pill for over a year.”

I let out a long sigh of relief.

We walked more than ran back to the condos, mostly in silence. Ellie had an arm around Davey’s back and his was over her shoulder. With her other hand, Ellie held mine. From time to time, Davey turned and blew me a kiss over her head.

When we stopped at her condo, Ellie turned to us.

“Gay boys, huh?” she said, with a dreamy smile. “I got news for you. You’re two of the hottest guys I’ve ever met. And you sure know how to use what you’ve got, Michael.” Then she kissed Davey. “You were awesome for a virgin, Davey.” She kissed behind his ear. “You’re the sexiest guy I’ve ever met.”

Then she turned away, and floated, more than climbed up the stairs back to her room, tossing us a smile and a wave while we watched her disappear.

That night we faced each other in bed, resting our heads on the same pillow. “At least now,” I whispered, “I know that if you’re gay, it’s not because you never tried a girl.”

He smiled. “I’ve always been… gay.” He stroked my cheek, tenderly. “I don’t want… to be straight. Do you… Mickey?”

I put my forehead to his. “I just want you.” He smiled, and I ran my fingertip over his lips. “Have I worn you out yet, Old Man?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m pretty tired.”

I kissed him. “Good night,” I whispered.

Davey smiled, and then rolled to his other side, backing up to me. I put an arm over his waist, and nuzzled the back of his head. I fell asleep wondering how I would ever manage to get Davey all to myself on any trip.

There was no time for fishing the last morning, so Mom, Maggie, Davey and I spent a final couple of hours on the beach. Ellie showed up, but she was definitely quieter than on previous days. She was almost demure, and her smile was actually very sweet.

She kissed me goodbye first and tiptoed to nibble me playfully on the ear. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Mom watching. Then Ellie gave Davey a sheet of paper with her address and phone number before she gave him a lingering and patently sensuous kiss. “Thanks for last night,” she whispered loud enough for Mom and Maggie to hear.

Davey and I watched Ellie’s tiny bikini bottom as she walked away. When we turned back, both moms were staring at us. Mom had an almost sour expression. Maggie looked almost pleased.

In our room, before we left, Davey and I embraced one last time. We rested in each other’s arms and I realized that I felt a bit like Ellie must have… well satisfied.

It was late Sunday afternoon when we arrived back in San Antonio. We picked up Big Macs and ate them at our house, and then Davey and I sent our moms out to the front porch with glasses of iced tea while we stayed inside and cleaned up in the kitchen. While I was washing up at the sink, Davey hugged me from behind. I half turned in his arms, and we kissed lovingly. I leaned into him, and then pulled him closer with my hand on the back of his head.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” Mom’s voice boomed from the kitchen door.

Davey and I flew apart, and the three of us stared at each other. I was hit with a storm of emotions — shame, embarrassment, but also anger: not only with myself for being so careless, but also with my mom for her reaction.

“Well?” she asked again.

What was there to say? Not a damn thing. We’d been caught.

She looked from me to Davey. “I’m going outside to get Maggie,” she said. “We’re going to talk about this — right now.”

This was not to be a casual kitchen table talk. This was a Davey-and-me-on-the-living-room-couch-with-plenty-of-distance-between-us talk. Mom paced angrily back and forth in the middle of the room as Maggie sat quietly watching us from a chair.

Mom’s fists clenched and unclenched as she paced. Then she wheeled on us. “How long has this been going on?”

Without thinking, I reached for Davey’s hand. “Since just after seventh grade, I guess,” I answered, avoiding her eyes.

“Since seventh grade? And don’t do that,” Mom said, pointing to where I held Davey’s hand.

I let it go. Mom paced again.

“Mom, listen,” I said, glancing nervously at Maggie. “We’re gay. We both are.”

“Don’t say that!” Mom glared at me, but didn’t stop pacing. “Never say that! You’re much too young to be that way! Boys just… they just do things together!” she said, as if she was trying to convince herself. “You’re just going through some kind of phase. It doesn’t mean you’re homosexual.”

Almost shaking with anger, she turned to face me, hands on her hips. “What was that all about with the girl on the beach? And dammit, Michael — You just got a girl pregnant, for God’s sake! What was that all about?”

I hung my head down. “When that happened, Davey and I weren’t together for a while.”

“Weren’t together? What do you mean, you weren’t… Oh, my God,” she said, putting a hand over her mouth. Numbly, she resumed her pacing. I could hear mumbling under her breath. “You don’t get a girl pregnant if you’re… you just don’t! You aren’t that way.”

Maggie finally spoke. “Geoff?” she asked quietly. “Was that why you were apart? Were Davey and Geoff… together?”

I looked at Davey and he nodded.

Mom wheeled on Maggie. “How much did you know about this?”

Maggie looked sadly at her. “I’ve suspected off and on for some time now. You have too, Gloria. You just never wanted to talk about it. You’ve never wanted to admit it to yourself.”

Mom collapsed onto the chair across from us. “What do we do?” she asked, half to herself.

“I don’t know,” Maggie admitted.

Mom frowned. “I’ll tell you what we do. We break it up. It stops right now.” She glared at me. “You understand?”

I sighed. “I understand what you’re saying, Mom,” I said, “but I don’t think you do. You don’t know how we feel about each other! If Davey was a girl I loved, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“Oh, yes we would, Michael!” she snapped. “In fact, I should’ve come down on you much harder after you got Amy pregnant. I thought you learned from your mistake, but I forgot how young you really are — much too young.”

“Mom,” I said, pleading. “Look at Romeo and Juliet. Greatest love story of all time, and they were younger than us.”

Mom laughed; a short, abrupt, derisive laugh. “Yeah and look how that one turned out. Besides, that was just a story — fiction. And it was between a boy and a girl!”

I glared at her. “It’s still the same thing.”

Maggie looked away.

Mom glared, and her fists clenched. Then she regained control of herself and took a deep breath. “OK. No more sleepovers. No more being alone together in the afternoons. No more being alone together… period.”

“We can’t do that, Mom,” I said.

“You can and you will as long as you’re my son, living in my house.”

I looked doubtfully at Maggie. Would she take me in if I moved out? She wouldn’t look at me. I was really afraid to say it, but I did anyway. “Maybe,” I said quietly, “I won’t live in your house. I have money now, you know.”

“Michael,” Maggie said, her head snapping back in my direction. “Just slow down. Give us time to work through this.”

“What’s to work through?” Mom asked, turning to Maggie. “I’m not going to have these two doing… those things in ‘my’ house.” She looked at me sadly. “I don’t even know you anymore, Michael.”

“I haven’t changed, Mom.”

“Oh yes, you have changed!” she spat. “I used to think that you would grow up to be as fine a man as your father. Thank heavens he didn’t live to see you now.”

“Gloria!” Maggie gasped.

My eyes filled with tears, Mom had succeeded in stabbing right to my heart. I wanted to leave. I wanted to just get up, walk out of the house, and never come back.

“Well, it’s true,” Mom replied angrily, then glared once more at me. “God knows what Grandpa Bentolli’s going to say.”

“You don’t need to tell Grandpa,” I said, trying to blink my eyes dry so I could look her defiantly in the eye.

Mom sat frowning at me, then took a breath. “We’ll see. I think he could talk some sense into you.”

“What sense do I need, Mom?” I said. “How am I dumber than I was yesterday? It wasn’t that long ago you said that I had character.”

“Well, that was before you started getting girls pregnant and sleeping with boys. You certainly have character now… bad character. Maybe we need to have you talk to a priest.”

“Yeah, right. As if you’ve suddenly got religion,” I snapped.

Mom started to say something, then closed her mouth, then shot an angry look at Maggie. “You’re awfully quiet, Maggie. Don’t pretend you approve of this!”

Maggie shook her head and let out a long breath, then rested her elbows on her closely pressed knees. She looked down at the floor, collecting her thoughts before she spoke. She looked at us when she spoke.

“It’s not like they ever had much choice, Gloria,” she said. “They’ve been best friends since they were six. I’ve never seen two boys so attached to each other. Maybe if I’d thought about it… maybe if I’d seen it coming, I wouldn’t have let them spend so much time together. Especially on sleepovers, and especially when they were hitting puberty.”

Maggie smiled at Davey and me and continued. “It’s obvious they love each other, Gloria — as friends, if nothing else. We’ve known that for a long time.”

She turned back to Mom. “Just like you, or any mother, I always hoped that someday Davey would find some girl who would appreciate just how special he is, and marry him.” She smiled at Davey. “I hoped I would someday see a home with lots of little Daveys running around.” Her eyes began to water.

Then she looked at me. “But instead of finding a daughter who would appreciate Davey, I found a son — a son who loves Davey as much as I do myself… maybe even more. Before Michael came along, Davey could barely even talk to another person.” She smiled sadly at her son. “He was such a timid little guy.” Then she turned the sad smile on me. “Davey latched on to Michael from the very first day they met. And Michael’s protected him ever since, and tried to help him be just as normal as any other boy. And now, Michael is seeing him through high school and giving up a lot to do it.”

Her eyes filled with tears and though her mouth was open, her voice froze. She swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and lowered her gaze to the floor. “With the new business,” she continued quietly, “Michael and Davey have worked some magic, Gloria, and it looks like they could be rich someday. I was just beginning to feel like Davey would be OK for the rest of his life, even if something happened to me.”

Tears now rolled down her cheeks, and she took a ragged breath, and then looked me in the eye. “Gloria,” she said, “When I look at Michael, I see a young man of great character. I’ll always be proud to call him my second son.” She glanced at Mom. “Please don’t ask me to keep him away from Davey.”

“I love my son,” Maggie said, smiling at Davey. “I’ve known how special he was from the beginning. I’ve never known a purer heart or a sweeter spirit. And I love the man he is becoming. I respect him for his courage and his endurance. He’s become strong, and I am terribly, terribly proud of him.” Her voice cracked and she paused to compose herself. “I’m proud of them both.”

Mom watched the tears rolling down Maggie’s cheeks, and then stifled a sob of her own. She struggled against it. Then Davey got up off the couch and crossed the floor to Mom. Kneeling beside her, he put his head in her lap, and wrapped his arm around her waist.

Mom choked, and her face screwed up as tears filled her eyes. She reached out her hand and stroked Davey’s hair. Some of her teardrops fell on him. Then a larger sob escaped her and she struggled from Davey’s arms.

She stood in front of us, holding up her palms as people do instinctively when they’re trying to protect themselves. “I need time…” she said, choking, and then fled back to her room. I heard the door slam behind her.

Maggie looked at Davey, still on the floor beside the chair, then at me on the couch. Quietly, she took a Kleenex and dried her eyes. “Let’s give her some time, OK?” she said, looking from me to Davey. “Can you boys promise me that you will not — God, I can hardly say it — can you promise me that you won’t have… sexual relations until we can work this out?”

Davey nodded. I looked at the floor. “How long?” I asked.

“God, Michael,” Maggie said in exasperation. “Can’t you at least give your mom and me a few days? Maybe a couple of weeks?”

I nodded without looking at her. “Sure.”

Maggie stood up. “Alright. Let me talk to Gloria.” She walked back to Mom’s room, gingerly knocked on the door, then opened it and went inside.

Davey looked at me from where he still sat on the floor, and his eyes dropped to my hands. They were shaking, and I realized that my heart was racing and I was having trouble catching my breath. Not again!

Davey got up and came over to me. He knelt on the couch beside me and wrapped his arms around me, kissing the top of my head.

“I’m sorry, Davey. I…”

He shushed me and rocked me in his arms.

I felt so stupid, so pitiful, shaking like an old woman. The longer Maggie took with Mom, the harder it was to control my body. I even thought about going with Davey to the front porch so I could hide my hands in the dark. Finally Maggie came back out to the living room.

She took one look at Davey holding me and saw how badly my body was shaking, and she rushed over, kneeling on the floor beside us. “Michael,” she said, taking my hand and looking me over in alarm. “Are you alright?”

“No,” I said, quietly, and leaned back into Davey’s arms.

She frowned. “I’ve never seen you like this before. Are you that upset we found out?”

This wasn’t good. I couldn’t have Maggie and Mom thinking I was too dependent on Davey. That’d just make it worse. “No. It’s… it’s lots of things, and I’m just really tired, Maggie. I need to go to bed.”

She nodded. “You push yourself much too hard, Michael. You should have rested more at the beach. And now this! Promise me you’ll sleep in tomorrow.” She stood up. “Go ahead. Go on to bed. Davey and I will lock up.”

She turned and headed for the kitchen, and I turned to Davey. “I think I’m shaking too much to get up,” I said quietly, my voice breaking. “Don’t let your mom see.” Somehow, I needed to get to my room before Maggie came back.

Davey acted quickly. He put an arm under my knees and the other behind my back. Lifting me off the couch, he carried me back to my bed and laid me down on it.

“It’ll be OK, Mickey,” he said, and kissed my cheek. “You’ll see.”

Maggie came to my room as Davey was standing back up. “I can stay with him,” Davey said.

Maggie shook her head. “That wouldn’t be a good idea, Davey.” She came up beside my bed. And looked down at me with eyes full of concern. “Michael, are you sure that you’re going to be OK?”

I cleared my throat. “I’ll be fine.”

“You want a glass of milk?”

“No… thanks. I’ll be alright. Really.”

She stared at me for some time before closing my door. And it was a long time before I fell asleep.

I awoke before dawn to use the john, and then undressed before returning to bed. Later, when I got up for the day, Mom had left for work, and I was just as glad.

Davey called. “I saw Gloria… drive away. Are you OK… Mickey? I worried… all night.”

“Yeah, Davey. I’m fine. I will be fine. I’m going to be strong, Davey. I’m tired of getting the shakes and being a wimp.”

“You’re strong, Mickey.”

“Yeah, well… I still missed you a whole lot last night. I would’ve given anything to have been with you.”

“Me, too.”

I thought for a moment. “Is Maggie OK?”

“Mom’s alright. I think she’s a… little sad. But mainly… for you and… Gloria. Are you planning… on working today?”

“Definitely. Wanna go too?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I do.”

Davey and I had a good day at the University. Computers were always an escape for me. And it was good to be with Davey, even if we had promised not to have ‘sexual relations’ for a few days.

But I still had to go home that night. And I wasn’t looking forward to it.

I got the silent treatment from Mom that evening. In fact, Mom said only one thing to me that didn’t have to do with supper. “Have you two heard of AIDS?” she asked, angrily.

“Yeah, Mom,” I said. “We’ve heard of it. And we’ve been careful.”

Her eyes widened as she considered all the ramifications of that statement, and she quickly looked away.

The next evening, Mom finished the last bite off her plate, leaned back in her chair, and studied me. “I talked to a realtor today. There are a lot of really nice homes being built north of Bitters Road. Those neighborhoods are in the Northeast ISD. Good schools; nice area.”

I glared at her. “I’m not moving, Mom.”

“If I move, you move,” she insisted.

“No. I won’t.”

“You’re still only sixteen, Michael. You are my child. And if I move, you move.”

“But I’m not a child, Mom.” I stood up from the table. “You make your choices, I’ll make mine. One way or the other, I’m staying.” I walked from the kitchen.

“Michael!” she yelled after me.

I reluctantly returned to the door. “Listen, Mom,” I said. “Whether I’m gay or not, you don’t make decisions like moving us away without talking to me first.” My jaw set. “All of a sudden, you want to treat me like shit. Well, I’m not gonna take it!”

I stormed out of the kitchen, walked down the hall and closed my door.

If I have to, I thought, as I lay in bed and stared at the ceiling, I bet I could get Ed to pay for an apartment and let me live there. But I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to live alone. I didn’t want to live farther from Davey.

As it was, Mom never mentioned moving again. And an uneasy truce developed at our house — one that involved very little talking.

Even Maggie took a stab at ‘converting’ us. Thursday night, Officer Richardson stopped by and took us for a ride to the local DQ in his patrol car; for root beer floats and a man-to-man talk.

“You guys don’t know what queers are really like,” he told us in a low voice.

I winced.

“Sorry,” he said. “I meant… homosexuals.”

“Gays,” Davey corrected.

“OK — gays,” Thomas agreed. “Anyway, the ones we meet out on the street… they’re total lowlifes. You guys aren’t like them at all.” He leaned closer over his float. “Look, it’s not unusual for guys your age to experiment a little. I admit, even I did it a few times with my cousin when I was a kid. It doesn’t mean anything.”

I grinned. “Did you like it?” I asked.

He frowned. “Come on, guys! I’m serious here. You don’t see what I see out on patrol. Lots of those fags — sorry, gays — they’re strung out on drugs. They get all flakey and try to talk like slutty women. Have you ever seen a guy try to dress like a chick? Ugggg-ly! And damn, it’s always really fat guys or really skinny ones that do it.”

“We like… being guys,” insisted Davey.

That was true. I certainly wasn’t turned on by transvestites, but the booklets that Knox had given us explained that some gay men liked that stuff.

“And the things they stick up their butts!” he continued. “I know some emergency room techs. You should hear their stories.”

Davey and I both sat impassively.

“Alright,” he said, leaning back. “Look how many gays wind up on the street hustling, or working as hair dressers, or hospital orderlies. You’re a whole different class from them. Even the ones who can act normal and get jobs in business — look how many of them wind up getting arrested in the park for coming on to a kid, or for exposing themselves in restrooms. It’s all sick, and you guys don’t want to wind up like that, do you?”

I grabbed Davey’s hand and put it up on the table, holding it, defiantly. “I don’t know what you see on patrol, Tom,” I told him. “I bet you see some pretty weird straight people, too.” I leaned closer to him. “But you’re looking at two gays now. And you can think we’re as weird as you want to. But I say there are all sorts of gay people in the world, just like there are all sorts of straights. There are even gay police officers.”

Tom harrumphed and shook his head.

Davey squeezed my hand, and we looked at each other. I was tempted to kiss him, but I turned back to Tom. “We are what we are, Tom. Do you want to be our friend or not?”

He frowned. “I want to be friends or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “So you’re really sure you’re gay?”

Both Davey and I nodded.

“Alright, then,” he said, resignedly, then uncrossed his arms and leaned forward. “I promised Maggie I’d at least talk to you guys, and I have. I won’t hassle you any more — either of you. I like you both, and… well, I love your mom, Davey. I want us to be friends a long time.” He looked Davey, and then me, right in the eye. “Have I blown it? Can we still be friends?”

Davey and I both nodded. “What you said was all crap,” I told him. “But yeah, we can be friends. As long as you take care of our root beer float habit.”

He laughed. “Damn straight. Oops, sorry.”

On the way back out to the patrol car, Davey leaned close with a wicked grin. “You’d be pretty… dressed like a girl.”

I pushed him away. “You fuck up!”

Then I had a wicked idea which I whispered to him as we were about to get into the car. “Wouldn’t our moms flip out if they caught us dressing in their clothes.”

Davey gave me a sick look and started to get into the car. I grabbed his shoulder. “Don’t worry. We won’t try it — you’d look terrible without makeup.”

He elbowed my gut, and I doubled over as he climbed in. “Man, don’t do that after I drank a big root beer float,” I said, climbing in after him. “You might wind up getting kissed by an alien.”

Davey laughed, and Tom started up the engine and made his way back towards home.

I wasn’t surprised by what Amy asked on Friday — just a little surprised at who she asked. Amy was sitting on the front porch with Davey and me when she told us about La Maze natural childbirth. She’d been reading up on the birthing process, and La Maze was the latest craze.

“In La Maze,” she explained, “every mom has a coach to help her through labor. Usually, it’s the husband or mom. I don’t want my mom, guys. She can’t handle it. Guys, I need a coach.”

I nodded, and then she turned and smiled at Davey. “And I was wondering if Davey would do it.”

Davey’s mouth dropped.

“What does a… coach do?” he asked.

“You’d go to training with me one night each week for about six weeks, beginning next week,” she said, smiling hopefully. “And you’ll need to help me practice my breathing exercises. And then, of course, you’ll be there when I’m in labor and have the baby. You’ll help coach me through labor.”

Davey looked blown away by the idea. Still, I wasn’t sure Amy had really thought things through. “But your mom has already had babies herself,” I pointed out. “Are you sure you shouldn’t ask her?”

“My mom? She was on anesthetics and totally out of it when she had each of us. She’s sweet, but you know her, Michael. She’d just lose it the first time I screamed.”

“Screamed?” Davey asked softly.

Amy took Davey’s hand. “I thought about Larice or Janie, or one of the other girls, but honestly, I wanted someone who was just as excited about the baby as me, someone like you, Davey. Will you be my coach? Please?”

Davey glanced at me and I gave him a big ‘thumbs up’. He grinned and gave Amy a hug. “You bet… Amy!” Davey said, patting her back. “Thanks.”

She hugged him back, and looked at me over his shoulder. “I want you there too, Michael, when the time comes.” She smiled. “You can pace the floor in the waiting room. That’s what fathers are supposed to do.”

I nodded. “I’d be doing that anyway. I just want you to know, Amy — I’m looking forward to the baby coming, too. But I’m glad Davey’s going to be your coach.”

Amy took a sip from her glass of ice water. “I know you’re looking forward to little David getting here, Michael. And your mom is too, you know. She’s coming by again tomorrow to see how we’re doing.”

“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t know. Mom and I aren’t really talking right now.”

“Oh?” Amy asked, concerned.

I looked down at the floor. “She sort of found out I’m gay.”

“Both of us,” added Davey.

“Oh,” Amy said frowning, and looked away.

We sat there awkwardly a moment before I volunteered to drive us for sodas.

“A malt,” Amy said, smiling again. “Lately I’ve had this really weird craving for chocolate malts.

We still had family dinner on Saturday night. Davey and Maggie came together and I noticed he had his landscaping plans with him. Davey had worked hard on his plans and had made them quite detailed. Even though drawing by hand was definitely not one of his strengths, they looked great the last time he let me see them.

Bringing the plans was a stroke of genius on either Maggie or Davey’s part. I hadn’t been looking forward to the four of us experiencing the stone-cold silence Mom and I had shared most of the week. It’d be nice to have something neutral to talk about for a change.

Before supper, Davey spread out the grid paper on the kitchen table for us to look over. I stayed quiet as Maggie and Mom critiqued the plans and spoke up about their preferences. I had asked for only one thing — a place for a grill — and Davey had worked that into the plan, giving me a small area of paving stones out from the garage. It looked great.

Davey wanted to start on the actual landscaping the next day.

“Davey, this is South Texas,” I pointed out. “You don’t plant things in August! They’ll burn up in the heat.”

Davey shook his head. “I just want to start with… walks and preparing beds… and stuff.”

“You could plant things that are going to be in the shade,” Mom suggested.

“You’d need to water them a lot, though,” Maggie cautioned.

Davey grinned. “Tomorrow. Let’s start.”

So that night, we called Ed to tell him we wouldn’t be over for his regular Sunday afternoon cookout, and we explained why. A few minutes later, Chase called to say that both he and Hunter would be over to help, and that they would bring his Dad’s Suburban to haul things from the nursery.

Davey and I went for a run that night, after giving our supper a chance to settle in our stomachs. We ran slowly, jogging easily into Alamo Heights and up to the quarry bluff. The night was cloudy and a little cool, but it felt good to be out and running. We ran in just our shorts and shoes, feeling almost naked in the wind.

We didn’t talk much. As we made our way along the road, people were inside their well-lit living rooms. We did pass one place with an outside party where the smell of their grill almost stopped us. At the bluff, we stopped and looked out over the quiet quarry below.

We stood beside each other as our breathing slowed. My bare shoulder touched Davey’s, and the whole world seemed to grow strangely quiet to everything but our slow, deep breathing. I longed to hold him in my arms. The previous week had been an eternity.

Davey put his hand on my back, I half-turned to face him, and suddenly, we were locked in full body embrace, kissing all over each other’s faces.

It’s funny, but I wasn’t rock-hard right away. I just missed him so much — I longed for our intimacy, just being able to hold him like this. But then Davey grabbed my butt and pressed his erection against my crotch. My own cock responded and I moaned.

I put my hands on his shoulders, but left my cheek against his. “We can’t yet, Davey,” I whispered. “We promised your mom.”

He chuckled, and pulled my butt tighter, nibbling on my ear. We were all skin and sweat and heat. The smell of his damp hair, the feel of him against me… I wasn’t sure I could let go of him, even if he wasn’t holding me so tightly.

For just a moment, I tried. I began to push away. “No, Davey,” I gasped. “We promised!”

Ignoring me, he ground into my crotch and buried his mouth in the hollow of my neck. I felt my resolve waver. I held the back of his head as he kissed and sucked on my throat. “I’ve never broken a promise,” I said softly.

There was a large, flat limestone rock close by. Davey pulled me over next to it, never letting me out of his arms. He pressed his mouth to mine and held it there as he pushed my shorts down to my thighs, and then he quickly pulled his down, and grabbing me by the butt, he pulled our naked groins together.

I wanted him so badly that I could barely breathe. We backed to the rock and Davey pulled me down onto it. The rock felt cool and rough against my skin. We kicked off our shorts and he rolled to his back, spreading his legs. I gently rolled over onto him and settled down between his legs as he crossed them over me. And then we wrapped our arms around each other and Davey opened his mouth, hot and wet, to mine.

And all the clouds in the sky, all the lights of the city below, even the hardness of the rock itself faded away. It was just Davey and me, naked, pressed together and so very hungry. He grabbed my butt and his body was demanding under me. Everywhere our bodies touched felt alive with desire.

We filled the night with moans and whimpers, and ground our straining cocks against each other faster and faster. It wasn’t just sexual tension that had built over the previous week, but the need to express our love personally, intimately, and powerfully. Davey belonged to me, and I belonged to him and this is how we took possession.

Davey came first, but I didn’t last much longer. Afterwards, we stayed in each other’s arms, glued together by sweat, and cum, and… love.

A puff of breeze blew over us and washed our hair about our heads. I held my face over Davey’s so that my lips could brush his as I spoke. “Let’s just stay here, forever.”

Davey reached a hand up behind my head and pulled my face down. His mouth was still as hot and wet and as sweet as the very first time we kissed, so long ago.

The rock was growing hard under my knees and elbows. I rolled to my side and Davey came with me, so that we were facing each other, his top leg over my hip, my top leg bent up under his butt. He stroked my face and I rested my hand on his hip. We touched our foreheads together.

“I’m running out of things to be proud of,” I said quietly. “Since I was a kid and Mom told me that my dad always kept his word, I’ve always been proud that I’ve never broken a promise.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, as he caressed my cheek.

I reached up and took his hand, kissing the palm. “We can behave after tonight, but damn — I needed you.”

He smiled gently and ran his fingertip over my lips before replacing it with his own lips. I ran my hand up and down his side, feeling his smooth, damp skin and the relaxed muscles beneath.

When he kissed my cheeks and forehead, I put my hand behind his waist and pulled our bellies together. We were both still hard. “Davey,” I said, “I still haven’t ever broken a promise to you.” I looked him in the eye. “And I never will. I promise.”

He grinned. “I know.”

“You know, huh?” I grinned back.

His face became serious and he looked steadily into my eyes. “I know.”

Damn I loved him, and told him with my eyes before I pressed my cheek to his. “Hey, Old Man,” I whispered, “as long as we broke the promise to your mom, how about we break it real good before we get off this rock.”

Davey smiled and slid his top leg farther up my side, rotating his butt my way. We were both flexible enough, and our cocks long enough, to have been able to do face-to-face on our sides before. I grinned, and pulled my hips back to let my cock slide under his balls and butt, and then I kissed him.

Davey spit in his hand, and reached under his butt for my cock. I spit in my hand, and reaching down, found his hole. We lubed each other. Then still, face-to-face, I ran my arm under his top leg to lift it higher along my side, opening him up more. Davey took my cock in his hand and guided me in. The ring of his sphincter, made tighter by the angle, traveled slowly half way down my cock, pushing back my foreskin. We pulled our bodies together, and I rested my cheek on his as I prepared to move in him.

Davey pressed his cock against my belly, and put his mouth to my ear. “Mickey,” he whispered almost as lightly as the wind, “I love you.”

I held him tightly to me, and pressed my lips to his ear. “I know,” I said, and then began to move my hips. “I know.”

By the time we headed back, the clouds were gone and a half-moon was high in the sky. Running downhill always felt like floating anyway, and tonight that was especially true. It was after one in the morning when we arrived home.

My house was totally dark, and I hadn’t carried a key, thinking we’d be home earlier. And the only time I left my window unlocked was when I had crawled out of it.

Maggie was still awake at their house and greeted us with a frown as we came in.

“That was a very long run,” she said.

Davey looked at me, and I shrugged. What could I say?

“Davey, you need to get on to bed. And, Michael, you need to go home,” she said.

“But he’s locked out,” Davey said.

She looked at me, and for just a moment, I thought she might be thinking about letting me stay with them. But then she shook her head. “Michael, your mom said no sleepovers. Maybe you’d better just sleep on your porch. You can borrow a pillow and blanket if you need to.”

So I headed back to my house with a pillow and a blanket. Stepping up onto the porch, I laid them down on the couch, and then stepped into the bushes to take a piss.

It’s fine to sleep on the porch, I thought. I’d already had an excellent night. I felt damned good as I pulled up the blanket.

I’d just begun to doze off when I heard a noise. I opened my eyes to see Davey kneeling before me. He smiled. “I snuck out… I didn’t want you… alone on the… porch.”

Smiling, I lifted the blanket and he crawled in with me.

Published: 08 Apr 2014

Author’s Introductory Notes:

As usual, I retain all rights, but am more than glad for anyone wishing to offer this story to others at no charge to do so with my gratitude and permission. Josh.

CHAPTER 13b — Out cont.

It took me a second to remember where I was – on the couch, on the front porch, spooned to Davey under a blanket. I kissed behind his ear and shook his shoulder. “Better wake up, Davey; sun’s up.”

He moaned and wiggled his butt back against me. I hugged him and blew a light raspberry behind his ear. “Don’t,” he fussed.

“Mom will skin us alive if she finds you here,” I said.

He groaned and rolled over, wrapping his arms around me and burying his face against my neck. I gently stroked his bare back and kissed the side of his head. He let me stroke his back for a while, before finally stirring.

I watched him blink his blue eyes awake and kissed him once they were open. “Thanks for keeping me company,” I said.

He grinned and kissed me back, pressing his morning wood into my crotch.

“Dammit, Davey,” I complained. “We broke our promise last night. Let’s get back on it today. Besides, we don’t have time. Mom would catch us for sure. And how would she feel, seeing her poor little boy getting fucked on the front porch by the sexy neighborhood stud.

Davey laughed and gave my butt a squeeze before sitting up. I covered up with the blanket when he walked off the side of the porch and took a piss in the bushes. He gave me a parting kiss before he left, and I dozed off.

It wasn’t long before I heard Mom stirring. I sat up on the couch and waited until she saw me through the front windows. I heard the click when she unlocked the door.

Retrieving the Sunday paper from the front lawn, I took it inside as a peace offering. In the end, I just left it on the kitchen table because she kept her back to me the whole time she was working at the stove. By the time I’d showered and dressed, Mom was on the front porch with a cup of coffee and the paper. In the kitchen, she’d left me cold eggs and bacon.

Davey called before I was finished cleaning up from breakfast to let me know that Chase and Hunter had arrived at his house.

As I left the porch, I reminded Mom I would be at Davey’s for landscaping. She nodded, but didn’t say a word. She didn’t even turn around to look at me.

Ed had helped Davey and me set up our own checking accounts, and he funded them each with five hundred dollars. I think Davey would have blown all his money at the nursery if I hadn’t insisted on paying for anything we bought for my house. As it was, we hit both accounts pretty hard.

By the afternoon, we’d all worked up a pretty good sweat and stripped to just our shorts and shoes. I couldn’t help but admire both Chase and Hunter. Hunter had hit a growth spurt and was developing a fine body. He had a long, lean torso and small hips, over which his shorts hung low. His slender legs were hairless and his brown hair shone with golden highlights from the summer sun. Hunter’s face was thinner than Chase’s, and he was already better looking, with delicate features and long eyelashes. I caught myself staring at him, remembered where I was, and quickly went back to work. Damn, I thought, watching him from the corner of my eye as he laughed at something Davey said. _He might actually turn out to be a knock out. _

But for some reason, the further Hunter got into puberty, the shyer he seemed to become. I had trouble getting him to talk sometimes, but I never really pushed. After all, Hunter was Davey’s friend, not one that Davey had inherited from me or from our mutual friendship, and it seemed important to leave it that way.

Nevertheless, when we all ended up working on the same stone path at the side of Davey’s house, I tried to strike up a conversation with Hunter.

“So, ah… any girlfriends yet, Hunter?” I asked, looking up at his long, sweat-covered torso.

He shrugged and looked away.

Chase leaned down to me. “A girl in his class lives down the street from us… Letty Valadez,” he said in a stage whisper. “I think she’s kinda sweet on him.” He grinned and picked up his shovel. “I think she’s been givin’ him kissing lessons.”

“Fuck off, Chase,” Hunter grumbled, then stood up and walked away. “I’m goin’ for more stones.”

I watched him trudge back to the Suburban. “He doesn’t talk much these days, does he?” I asked, watching Hunter’s back.

Chase shook his head. “Usually he does. But he always seems kinda shy around you for some reason,” he observed. “I think he sorta looks up to you.”

“Really?” I asked, surprised. “You could’ve fooled me.”

Later, when Hunter and Davey worked alone together, Hunter was his old self again. From their smiles and chatter, their friendship was obvious. I was grateful for Hunter; it was clear he liked Davey of his own accord.

Chase joined me at preparing a small ornamental bed in front of the porch, and spent the whole time complaining to me about how Janie was becoming a total bitch. “She just gets mad all the time for no reason,” he said, shaking his head. “She’s like, on the rag, every day! I’ve had it, Bent. If you want a new girlfriend, you’re welcome to her.”

“Have you guys broken up?” I asked as I worked in a bag of humus.

He shrugged. “We’re about to. And we both know it, too.”

I wiped a trickle of sweat off my forehead. “I’m sorry, man,” I said. “I know you really liked her.”

Chase looked up from his shovel. “You know, I really did. But I sure the fuck don’t any more. And when the feelings are gone, they’re gone. Once school starts, I’m findin’ somebody else. Anybody else.”

Maggie walked out onto the porch with glasses of sweetened ice tea. We all dropped our shovels and headed for the drinks. Chase and Hunter went up first, and I enjoyed watching their shorts covered butts as they ascended the steps. Then I caught Davey watching me out of the corner of my eye.

I smiled apologetically and shrugged. His look was hard to read. Uh-oh, I thought. Better watch my eyes around our friends. Davey wasn’t smiling.

By the end of the day, we’d done a pretty good job with the landscaping, even though we didn’t get around to doing any work at my house. We finished up by placing all the plants we’d bought into Davey’s garden beds. I felt pretty good that night, even if Mom was still giving me the silent treatment.

Grandpa Bentolli called about nine o’clock. I braced myself for the worst, and he didn’t waste any time getting to the point.

“I talked to your mom earlier today, Michael.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, and she told me about you and Davey.”

I didn’t say anything.

“Michael,” he said patiently, “I’m not going to preach at you. I just want you to think, OK?”

“I have been thinking, Grandpa. I never stopped thinking.”

“I know, Michael. But now I want you to think ahead. You’re a good chess player — you can think several moves ahead. I want you to do that now. I want you to think ahead to the kind of life you’ll have if you go down this path.”

“I have been thinking ahead, Grandpa. It’s not like I have a choice!”

“We always have a choice, Michael,” he insisted. “Some of our choices have results that last a long, long time. You know what you have to look forward to as a homosexual? You either live a double, hidden life, or you let your homosexuality be known and you wind up living at the edge of society, almost like an outcast. And at the end of it all, instead of being an old man like me, with children and grandchildren and the respect of my community, you end up a lonely old man, estranged even from God.”

“I’m sorry Grandpa, but you’re no expert on this. I’m a gay kid who is going to have a child, and that, by the way, makes you a great-grandfather. And there’ve been plenty of famous people who were gay — tons of people with plenty of respect.”

“How many with happy endings, Michael?”

“Hell, I don’t know. How many straight people wind up with happy endings? Besides, the world is changing, Grandpa. People are more accepting of gays.”

“No, Michael,” he said wearily. “I don’t think that’s true at all. Do your own friends know that you are gay? Will they treat you the same if and when they find out?”

I sighed. “I hope so,” I said. “I have good friends, Grandpa. A couple of them know, and it’s not a problem. And I’m sorry. I really don’t have a choice about who I am. I know you love me, Grandpa, but I’m afraid you can’t really help me with this. You have no idea what it’s like.”

There was a long silence at the other end of the line before Grandpa said anything. “You have no idea, Michael, what I might or might not understand. Just weigh my advice for what it is worth and decide for yourself whether it sounds wise.”

I thought. “If you really want to give me some advice, Grandpa, I could sure use some help on how to deal with Mom.”

He was silent a moment. I got the impression he didn’t want to surrender the argument so quickly. Then I heard him take a deep breath. “Well, you hit her pretty hard, Michael. Finding your son kissing another boy isn’t the easiest way to discover these things. You need to… well, give her some time.”

“I’m trying, Grandpa,” I said. “But things only seem to be getting worse.”

“Don’t give up so quickly, Michael. I gave her some advice today, too. She’s trying to cope.”

I was surprised. “What did you tell her?” I asked.

“The same thing you should remember,” he said. “I told her that you were her only son, and that she shouldn’t do anything to damage that relationship. Someday, you’ll need each other. And that’s good advice for you, too. Don’t do anything you’ll regret later.”

“I’ll try, Grandpa.”

When I hung up, I was relieved. He seemed to take it all better than Mom had.

Ruth Jamison was true to her word. Ed called on Tuesday to say that she had a couple of interested venture capitalists lined up.

That afternoon, Dr. Meyers, Davey, and I trooped down to see Ed at his office. He closed the door and sat down opposite us at his desk.

“It’s time to fish or cut bait, gentlemen,” he said, leaning forward. “This gal the boys met in California is very, very serious.” He looked at me. “I don’t know what you guys said to her, but she thinks you’re about to lead the next computer revolution.”

Dr. Meyers nodded. “I’ve talked to Ruth, too. She could be a godsend, gentlemen. If we want to act on the boys’ ideas, time is of the essence. Venture capital would allow us to hire programmers, support staff, maybe even marketing personnel.”

Ed nodded. “She’s almost talking as if we have a blank checkbook. But unfortunately, she’s dropping some hints that the money would be more forthcoming if she was the one running the company. I get the strong impression she’d like to be your company CEO, Michael.” Ed looked at me, waiting for my reaction.

“I had someone else in mind for that,” I said. “You, Ed.”

An ironic smile danced across his mouth. “You know,” he said. “I’ve even thought about it.” He grinned at us and spread his hands. “I have an awfully good job right now. But… on the other hand, I like our little Carlson-Bentolli family. And I like the potential.” He looked me in the eye. “Stock ownership potential. And Harold here ought to consider the possibilities, too.”

“Oh, I have,” he said, laughing. “Since the beginning.”

Ed nodded. “First things first: we need to develop a business plan — pro forma, timetable, etc. And Ruth can help with some of that. Her background’s financial, another CPA. And she knows the industry. If I don’t come on board with you guys, you need to consider her,” he said, seriously.

“No, I don’t want her running the company,” I said. “She’s smart, and I’m sure she’s good. But she strikes me as a lieutenant, not a general.”

Ed grinned and shook his head. “You and Chase and your war games. But I think you’re right.”

He looked from me, to Dr. Meyers, to Davey, then back to Dr. Meyers. “It depends on how much guts we have. But I think if we want to be serious about this, we have to go all out.” He turned to Davey and me. “That means you boys have to get these ideas all finalized and working, ASAP.” Then he turned to Dr. Meyers, “And we need to be serious, too.”

Dr. Meyers nodded.

Ed rubbed his chin. “You know, I have been thinking about it, Michael. And what I thought was that I’d like to be your Chief Executive Officer, and I think Harold here ought to be your Chief Technical Officer, in charge of development. We can still consider Ruth Jamison at some point. I’d recommend we let her handle the financial side, as the CFO. But we need to see what kind of noncompetitive agreements she may have signed with NBase.”

“What… what about us?” asked Davey.

“Not to worry, guys,” Ed said reassuringly. “Until you’re twenty-one, it will be best to have your moms or a trustee on the board of directors. But at least until we decide whether or not to go public, you will retain majority ownership of the stock – you’re the owners. You’ll still call the shots. How about this, you two will split the office of president — Michael over operations, and David over R&D.”

“President…” Davey said, and looked at me with a bemused expression.

Dr. Meyers leaned back in his chair and scratched his head. “Can they afford all of us?” he asked.

“Depends,” Ed said, “on how long it takes to generate income. If we can begin getting contracts within the year, then yes — there’ll be plenty of venture capital for that. We might need to tighten our belt on our own salaries, but that could be compensated for with some stock options and other incentives.” He looked at me. “What do you think?”

“If we have people who can help with programming,” I said, “we can have a great database product in a few months. But what we can have even quicker is encryption software. We can license the encryption software to anyone writing programs.”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Dr. Meyers said, nodding. “The government and military will be interested in good encryption software. I’ve been making contacts; one with the NSA. They want to know more.”

“Good!” Ed said, decisively. “It sounds like we all know what we need to do. Harold, you can work on your contacts and help the boys get their software ready for a team of programmers. I’ll put together a business plan for Ruth to look at. And Michael, Davey, I have a lawyer I want you to talk to. He’s well respected in contract law and can handle your end of any negotiations with Ed, Ruth, or myself.”

Ed’s brow furrowed. “It’s not easy to think about leaving a good job. Michael,” he asked. “Are you sure you guys are really going to have something we can sell?”

I shrugged, returning his gaze. “You and Dr. Meyers know a lot more about this sort of thing than I do. But the database schemas and the encryption protocols we’re developing are as good as anything I’ve seen, and I’ve been checking around. So has Dr. Meyers.”

Dr. Meyers nodded. “The boys are genuinely gifted at design, Ed. Some of their work looks elegantly simple, but that’s part of the genius. They have an incredible ability to design for speed, and I think that’s what is going to blow the socks off everybody.”

“I just hope we can impress Ruth and her investors when they come by,” Ed said. He looked at Davey and me. “Are you boys prepared to dazzle her?”

“Demos,” Davey said, nodding wisely. “We can do… some demos.”

We all stared at him, slightly surprised. He was absolutely right, of course. “Yeah,” I said agreeing. “But only if they sign nondisclosure agreements first. We’ll show them the surface ideas…”

“… but not the underlying mechanisms,” finished Dr. Meyers. “I’ll work with you two over the next month and get some mock-ups to demonstrate the two primary technologies. We’ll put on a show that will blow their minds.”

I nodded. “Just not enough that they can figure out how to reverse-engineer it.”

Ed chuckled. “Excellent, Mr. Co-President.” He smiled at Davey. “You too, Mr. Co-President.”

I laughed. “Well you can handle running things, Mr. CEO,” I said. “Just leave Davey and me to work in the backroom churning out designs.”

“Deal,” he said, standing up. And with smiles and congratulations, we shook hands all around.

“Hey, Old Man,” Davey whispered, putting an arm over my shoulder as we left. “Let’s go find a back room… and churn… like you said.”

“Cool it,” I said, elbowing his ribs. “We got a lot of work to do.”

The last two weeks before school started, we worked hard. I let Davey stay home a few times, but often dragged him in to the office to help me work out some last minute design issues. In my heart, I had absolutely no doubt that we’d come up with two excellent products. Our progress was good, and Carlson-Bentolli prepared to file for over two dozen patents.

Mom began to loosen up a bit, maybe because it became obvious that Davey and I were working so hard that we weren’t getting much chance to be intimate. Whenever I thought about it, I got horny and was a little put out with Davey for not acting hornier himself. But then I figured he was jerking off at night as much as I was.

I worked late on the last Friday before school and slept in the next morning. I’d told Davey I’d be at the University working all day that Saturday, but now I didn’t feel like it. I’d made good progress the night before. And besides, I woke up damned horny. I thought about jacking off again, but the more I thought about it, the more I decided that Davey and I had given Mom and Maggie long enough. We had promised to hold off on sex for up to a couple of weeks, and it would be three solid weeks on Sunday.

I figured that Davey had probably slept in, so I decided I’d walk over and see if I could surprise him. If I was lucky, Maggie wouldn’t be home and I’d be able to sneak into Davey’s bed to wake him ‘properly’.

When I didn’t see her car in the drive, my pulse quickened. I quietly let myself in the front door with my key, and tiptoed back towards Davey’s room. But, before I could put my hand on the doorknob, I could faintly hear his bed springs squeaking. I smiled to myself. Davey must be jacking off morning wood! Perfect.

I put my hand quietly on the doorknob. It was locked. But it was the kind of lock you could turn with a coin. I fished a dime out of my pocket and turned the knob, opening the door.

On the bed, Hunter was naked on all fours, moaning softly. Davey was on his knees behind him, hands on Hunter’s hips pumping away. They froze in mid-stroke and we stared at each other.

I backed out quietly and closed the door, my heart racing. I walked out of Davey’s house and back towards mine in a daze. My hands started shaking and it became hard to breathe. Dammit! I will not be weak! I might want to die, but I was not going to be weak!

At my house, I quickly changed into running clothes. I needed to run. I needed to breathe. I needed to think.

I stumbled more than ran for several blocks. It was hard to see because my eyes were full of tears. Not that I paid that much attention to where I was headed. Cars honked at me when I crossed Hildebrand. Somebody yelled out, and I heard a screech of brakes to my right. I picked up the pace and kept going.

There was a war going on in my mind as I fought to come to terms with what I had seen. Everything seemed unreal. It all seemed like some kind of strange dream. It was almost as if I was outside my own body, watching myself running along the road.

Thoughts raced through my mind. Davey needed breathing room… It’s not that big a deal… Sooner or later, this was bound to happen, right?… I mean, we’re sixteen, it’s not like we’re married for life.

My eyes were so filled with tears that I could barely see. _Why the hell does it hurt so damn much? _

I stopped in an alley, leaned against a fence, and cried. After a long while, I was able to choke back my sobs and catch my breath. And then I became angry.

When two kids on bikes entered the alley from the other end of the block, I wiped my eyes and returned to the road. The August sun had risen high and I could feel the heat off the pavement as I resumed my run. When I entered Alamo Heights, the shade of the tall trees was a relief. I ran lightly, ignoring a friendly German Shepherd that came out to run alongside. With each step, my resolve increased — I would be strong. I would toughen up.

I came out of the trees at the edge of the bluff and stood there, looking down on the quarry below for a long time while catching my breath. When I stepped back from the edge, it was with the determination to stay in charge of my life.

Following the bluff, I came to where a tree grew close to the edge and sat under it; then wrapping my arms around my knees, I tried to decide what parts of my future still made sense.

In the east, a lone thundercloud rose like a mountain above the south Texas plain and I watched it grow slowly higher. I felt a cooler, comforting breeze come from its direction. And with it, came a thought — I decided that no matter what, I knew that Davey loved me. He couldn’t have been faking that. I knew him too well. He loved me, and I would hang on to that thought.

I had just about decided to head back when I heard footsteps behind me, and glanced over my shoulder to see Davey approaching. I turned away from him and looked back out over the quarry.

He sat down a couple of feet away.

I picked up a stone and threw it over the edge of the bluff. “How’d you know I’d be here?” I asked.

He shrugged. “You didn’t have… the car. I’ve been looking… everywhere we run.”

“Did you run up here?”

“No. I drove.”

I tossed another rock. “I guess I’ve been really stupid, huh?”

Davey remained quiet.

“Your sleepovers with Hunter,” I said. “All those times you disappeared with him on Sunday afternoons. The way he doesn’t look me in the eye anymore. The way you aren’t always interested in sex.”

“It’s not like that,” Davey said quietly.

“How long has it been going on? Since Colorado?”

“No.”

“How long then?” I demanded.

“Since when I was… going with… Geoff.”

That caught me by surprise. “Geez.”

“But only… sometimes.”

“When he slept over?”

He picked up a stick and drew on the ground between his legs. “Or when,” he said quietly, “you had guitar lessons.”

“And Sunday afternoons at their house?”

“Only… once. In the shed. But, Mickey — we hardly ever… since you and me… since we’ve been… back together.”

I snorted. “Doesn’t sound like ‘hardly ever’ to me. And you certainly haven’t stopped.”

“It was hard… to stop. And… you’ve been busy… and summer’s almost… over.” He threw his stick hard toward the edge of the bluff. “Mickey,” he said, irritated. “It’s just Hunter. All we do is just mess around.”

“Yeah, some messing around!” I snapped, turning on him. “You were fucking the shit out of him!”

“It was just messing around,” Davey repeated quietly.

My throat tightened, and it took me a moment before I could speak. I looked away from him and tossed another rock over the side. “You know what, Davey?” I said. “I’ve read that excuse before in novels. That’s what a lover says when he’s been caught cheating — ‘it’s just sex’. You want to know something? That’s bullshit! Pure bullshit. You’re supposed to belong to me, just like I’m supposed to belong to you!”

He didn’t say anything.

“Look, Davey,” I said, pausing while I tried to think how I could explain to Davey what I wasn’t even sure I could put into words for myself.

I took a breath and tried. “When it was just you and me, Davey, it was never just ‘sex’. Back when it was only you and me, ‘sex’ was the most exciting thing I’d ever done. Your body was the most exciting thing I’d ever touched. And you… you touched me in places and ways no one had ever touched me. Our ‘private’ parts were private – just between us. And when we pressed our ‘private’ parts together… those first few times, Davey, it was so incredible, I could barely breathe. It was never just ‘sex’ – I loved you.”

He picked up another twig. “I know,” he said. “But, Mickey… don’t worry! It’s not like that with… Hunter. It can’t ever be like that… with anyone else.”

I looked at him sadly. “But if we keep messing around, what’s between us won’t be special any more.” I turned away with a sigh. “I know you and Geoff did other guys. You told me. But I’m different, Davey. I want us to be different.”

“We are,” Davey said. “I love… you.” He reached out his hand to my shoulder. “Nobody else.”

I shrugged him off and stood up to pace in front of him, there, at the edge of the cliff. “Then why didn’t you tell me about Hunter?”

It was several seconds before he cleared his throat and answered. “Because,” he said, “it was never… the right time. You were mad… about Geoff. I was afraid you’d be mad about… Hunter.”

“But we’ve gotten past Geoff. Why haven’t you told me since then?”

He shrugged. “It was too late.”

“It would have been better if you had told me, Davey, than for me to find out this way.”

Davey kept his head down. “If you want,” he said softly, “I won’t see… Hunter… anymore.”

I stopped pacing and looked out over the quarry. In my mind, I repeated to myself: I will not be weak. I will not be… needy! And I shook my head. “No,” I said. “Hunter’s your friend; I won’t ask you not to see him.”

We were both quiet then, thinking. It was hot, even in the shade. Sweat ran down from my armpits so I pulled off my shirt to wipe myself down.

“I almost lost you once, Davey,” I said, “trying too hard to hang on to you. I’m not going to do that again.”

Davey’s voice came quietly from behind. “It’s just… I have a stronger… sex drive than you.”

My jaw dropped and I turned on him. “You what?”

He looked down at the ground. “Some guys,” he said, “have stronger… sex drives.”

“Where’d you get that shit?”

He kept his eyes averted.

Realization set in. “Damn,” I said, shaking my head. “Geoff — right? He told you that you had a stronger sex drive than me, right? So that made it alright to screw around.”

His silence was answer enough.

“I’m Italian, you asshole!” I snapped. “Trust me — you aren’t going to have a stronger sex drive than me.” I knelt by Davey and took his hands in mine.

“Davey,” I said, squeezing his hands and trying to think once more how to explain how I felt, “I’ve had opportunities, like with Hudson. One time he and I both wanted to do it, really bad. But I didn’t. And afterwards, I felt good, really good — like I had a gift to bring to you, Davey — my faithfulness that day. No one else had held me. No one else had kissed me. And no one else had touched me where only you could touch me. That was just for you. I saved me for you. Davey, my faithfulness, my body, and… my heart were gifts that I wanted to bring to you every day.”

I squeezed his hands in mine and he looked up at me. “Davey,” I said quietly, “that’s what two people do when they really love each other. Like when married people give their vows and say, ‘forsaking all others’. It means they leave everyone else for each other.”

“Someday,” I said very softly and without thinking, “I was hoping we could make a promise like that, to each other.”

He looked away. My heart sank, and I let his hands go. I’d gone too far. A tremor ran through my hands and I tucked them under my arms.

Still refusing to look at me, he cleared his throat. “You taught me,” he said. “Don’t make promises… you can’t… keep.”

I stood up, and fought the hurt, fought the anger, fought the trembling in my hands. “Can’t or won’t keep?” I asked turning back toward the bluff.

“Don’t be… pushy,” he said, with a tremor in his voice.

I sighed. He was right. I didn’t want to bully him into anything. “I’m sorry Davey,” I said, taking a deep breath. “I won’t be pushy.”

“But it’s ok,” he said, “if you’re… mad at me.”

“Gee, thanks,” I chuckled mirthlessly. I looked at the cliff below and suddenly felt something in common with that vast, empty hole. “Are you doing it with anyone else besides Hunter?”

He answered quietly behind me. “No.” I heard him get to his feet and come up behind me. Once more he tried to put his hand on my shoulder.

And once more, I shook it off.

“I’m just curious,” I asked angrily, “if you were doing all this with Hunter, where the hell did you come off asking me to break things off with Brandon?”

“Brandon was different,” Davey protested.

“I’d sure like to know how you figured that one out.”

“It was different,” he said. “You know… it was different. You were boyfriends… with Brandon… you fell in love… with him.”

As true as that was, it didn’t excuse Hunter, but I didn’t feel like arguing the point. “Well,” I sighed, “you don’t need to worry about me falling in love with anybody else. I’m getting a lot smarter now, thank you.”

Davey tried once more to put an arm over my shoulder. I shied away from him.

“Dammit, Davey,” I said. “You’ve just been screwing Hunter! Stay away from me!” I backed from him. “Look, Davey. I’m sorry,” I said, my throat suddenly tight. “I just need time, OK?”

Before he could answer, I turned and sprinted back toward the road.

“Don’t you want a ride?” I heard him cry out behind me, but I kept running.

Even though it was downhill, I ran slowly back to my neighborhood, taking a route that I knew he couldn’t follow by car. I wanted to run back alone. When I reached my house, I could see Davey further down the street, working in his front yard. I didn’t turn in at my house, but continued down to his.

He was on his knees, weeding one of the new beds. I knelt beside him and began to work with him. Davey glanced at me, but I didn’t look at him. Since he was shirtless, I pulled my shirt off as well, and let our bare shoulders brush as we worked.

We worked silently until we finished that bed. And I followed Davey on to the next. We worked through all the beds without saying a word to each other. But I smiled at him when we finished, and he thanked me.

I went home and showered up for family dinner. That night, Mom and Maggie were almost back to normal. It was Davey and me who were quiet. Maggie kept studying us as if she knew something was wrong, and after supper, she talked us all into a card game.

I’d never thought of cards as therapy for relationships, but it was that night, for all of our relationships. I partnered with Maggie and Davey partnered with Mom, and the play was cutthroat. Davey sat to my right and when our knees touched, we left them touching.

Mom laughed that night for the first time in a long time. Davey smiled for the first time all day. And I began to feel better as I pushed all the sad thoughts to the back of my mind — thoughts of dreams that might be dying. I simply tried to have fun with my family — our crazy, dysfunctional family.

Afterwards, Davey and I sat together on the front porch steps. We didn’t speak, but Davey laid his head on my shoulder and put an arm around me. I let him.

Maggie came out on her way home. She stopped to look at us, and in the pale light emanating from our windows, I could see her sad smile. “Don’t stay too late, Davey,” she said, bending to kiss his cheek. Then she kissed my forehead.

When she was gone Davey rubbed my back without lifting his head from my shoulder. “I love you… Mickey. You know that, don’t you?” In the dark, his voice sounded surprisingly deep.

“Yeah,” I answered quietly. “I know.” I put my hand on his leg and squeezed. “But I think I’ve been loving you too hard, Davey. I’ve been thinking all day — maybe I need to lighten up. I don’t want to smother you. I don’t want you to feel like I’m a drag on you.”

He lifted his head from my shoulders and put both arms around me. “I like being smothered by you,” he said slowly, resting his forehead on mine. “I’m sorry, Mickey.”

“Sorry enough that you won’t keep any more secrets like Hunter?”

“No, I promise, no more secrets.”

I rubbed his leg. “Davey, I’ve always liked Hunter. And I’ve always been glad he’s your friend. But you need to be careful. He’s really young.”

“About like us, when we… started rubbing.”

I felt a stab of pain as I thought about Hunter sharing his own special time of discovery with my lover.

I took my hand from his leg. “Davey, I’ll give you ‘breathing room’ but don’t take it too far, OK? And don’t ever expect me to like it.”

Davey frowned. “He started it,” Davey said quietly. “Hunter started it.”

“Oh, yeah — sure,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Like a kid seduced you.”

“But he did start it,” Davey said softly, taking his arms from around my shoulders. “He liked what we did… in the hot tub… in Colorado two years ago. Remember? Hunter always wanted to… do it again.” He cast his eyes downward. “When I was with… Geoff… Hunter slept over one night. I woke up and he was… playing with… my cock. I was all hard, Mickey… and that was when you were hardly… talking to me… then… and, well… we messed around.”

“Calm down, Davey,” I said, not wanting to remember that time. I patted his leg. “Just think a second — what if someone wants to start something with me sometime?” I asked.

Davey didn’t answer.

“Do you love him?” I asked quietly.

“He’s my friend,” Davey said and then pulled my thigh against his. “Not like us.” His eyes rose to mine. “We can mess with Hunter… together… if you wanna.”

“No,” I said, irritated and leaned away from him. “He’s a kid, Davey. Besides I’d never be able to look Ed in the eye again.” I studied his face. “Are you just trying to ease a guilty conscience, by getting me to do Hunter, too?”

“No!” Davey said angrily. “You said it was different… if we did it… together! Besides, Hunter wants to. He wanted the three of us to… for a long… time.”

“You’re kidding!” I said, with a snort. “He won’t even look at me these days. He acts like he’s afraid of me.”

“Because,” Davey said, “you’re my boyfriend.”

I shook my head. “I wish he’d thought of that before.”

Davey stood up. “I’m goin’ home.”

I stood up, too. “‘Night, Davey.”

He stared at me for a moment. Then he said “‘Bye,” and left.

I went inside. Mom was still up. I decided to let her lock up and went on to bed. I was still awake when she shut the house down for the night. There was no way I could sleep.

Getting up quietly from bed, I pulled on some shorts and slid my window open, and then closed it after I’d crawled out. I trotted over to Davey’s house and tapped lightly on his window.

Almost instantly, Davey was there and opened it. He knelt down inside so that we were almost at eye level.

“You not sleeping either?” I asked in a whisper.

He shook his head.

“I was thinking, Davey,” I whispered. “It just sorta seemed important, you know, that we, well… spend tonight in the same bed.”

His whole face lit up, and he moved back from the window. I pulled myself up and in, and then Davey closed the window behind me. I pulled off my shorts and we crawled into bed.

We lay there, on our backs, staring at the ceiling. I found his hand, took it, and listened to our breathing synchronize. Finally, Davey rolled towards me, throwing a leg over my middle and an arm over my chest. His lips came close to my ear.

“Do you still… belong to me?” he whispered, his eyes challenging.

Whatever the implications, I had only one answer. “Yes”

He nodded slowly, and then kissed my mouth lightly… once, twice. And then Davey licked down my neck and kissed my chest. His kisses and his mouth moved down my body, until finally, he buried his face in my scrotum.

I thought about what he was doing in this bed that very morning. The memory of Davey kneeling behind Hunter’s slender body hurt, and yet, undeniably excited me — but I didn’t want that memory to excite me. A flash of anger arose, and I didn’t want to be angry. I ran my hands into Davey’s hair as his mouth closed over my cock and I tried not to think at all, but only to feel.

Davey worked on me slowly and lovingly until I came.

Then he slid up beside me. We kissed and I tasted saltiness in his mouth.

“Can you sleep now?” he asked with a smile.

I nodded. “Can you?”

He smiled and nodded back, snuggling up to me. When he threw an arm and a leg over me this time, I felt his hard cock against my hip. When it didn’t go soft after a minute or so, I rolled him to his back, and lovingly returned the favor.

I woke up depressed. Normally a night of sleep has the opposite effect. But not this morning — my dreams were sad dreams and my thoughts weighed heavily on my mind. And to top it all off, I woke late.

It had been comfortable sleeping with Davey again, and I slept harder than usual. And before going to sleep, I had forgotten to set all those mental alarm clocks I normally did when I wanted to be home before Mom awoke. Maybe I didn’t care as much any more.

Davey’s room was full of daylight. His back was to me, and I admired the smooth slope of his side down from his shoulders to his butt. I was struck by the thought that waking to find his back to me was somehow symbolic.

There are few things in everyday life as sad as the death of a dream. My dream had always been that Davey and I would be together, forever. In the past, when the dream was safe, I built a mountain cabin somewhere in my imagination and Davey and I lived there. I built a house at the beach for us, and imagined a high-rise apartment in Chicago. Sometimes, I imagined us in public, and pictured how everyone would envy the love we had for each other.

But, in the harsh reality of sixteen-year-old male sexuality, my dream looked stupidly romantic, and tragically unrealistic. At least for now, Davey wanted to make no promises. If he wouldn’t, I wouldn’t. I thought of Hudson.

I hadn’t struggled with ‘the sadness’ for a long time, but it was heavy on me that morning. Maybe I would go running; that could help. I climbed from the bed, careful to not wake Davey. After I pulled on my shorts, I stopped to look back at him.

Though still slender, he was slightly broader in the shoulders than me now. He was muscled like the athlete he had become, and in rest had that easy grace of a strong young man. As I looked at his beautiful face, I had to smile. His mouth was wide open on his pillow. There was a wet spot on the pillowcase where he’d drooled. Davey was human after all.

I bent over him and lightly kissed his cheek before I crawled out of his window. Two little boys in underwear were playing at the side of the house next door, and watched me, wide-eyed, as I quietly closed the window and headed for the street. I grinned and whispered, “Good Morning.” Their wide eyes made me feel better.

Mom was on the porch when I got home; reading the Sunday paper while drinking coffee. I braced myself and headed for the front door.

“Don’t tell me you went running barefoot,” she said.

I looked down at my bare feet, and shrugged. “It feels good to run barefoot,” I told her and quickly went into the house. None are so blind, I remembered the saying, as those who will not see.

Our ear studs would’ve been bigger news the first day back at school, if we had been the only ones to have them. But a couple of other guys had gotten them over the summer. Nevertheless, we were the only ones to get them in our left ears. Art, one of our fellow nerds, kidded us about being too stupid to know that we were supposed to get them in our right ears.

Ed had worked with the school to get work-study schedules for Davey and me, so that we would be off by one thirty every afternoon and still get school credit. The only thing that anyone at school knew though, was that we worked for a local software company part time.

That first day, Geoff and I crossed paths several times in the hallway. I did not return his friendly waves or happy smiles.

It wasn’t until Wednesday that he caught me walking by myself in the hall. “Hey, Bent,” he said, coming up alongside. “Good summer?”

I glanced at him. “Yeah. In fact it was great, Geoff.”

Before I could tell him why it was such a great summer, he told me about his, or at least as much of it as he could, as he followed me to my next class. Evidently, he discovered another gay counselor at camp and they became buddies. “We taught a few of those campers how to really enjoy the outdoors,” he said, with a wink. “Maybe I’ll tell ya about it sometime.” And then he was gone.

I found the first note in my locker that Friday. It had been shoved in through a ventilation slit. “Have a good weekend!” was all it said. It wasn’t Davey’s writing.

Saturday morning, Davey’s phone call at ten o’clock, found me still in bed. I’d worked late the night before.

“Mom just left,” he said. “For a couple of hours.” I had been noticing lately that Davey was speaking more slowly, but without as many pauses in his speech as he used to have. This morning, he really sounded good. The speech therapist was evidently helping. “Come on over,” he said. “I want to practice… massaging.”

I rubbed my cock through my shorts. It was heavy this morning. And I was tired and sore from staring at computer monitors for the last few days. “I’ll be right there.”

Mom was at the office. So, after brushing my teeth and eating an apple for breakfast, I locked up and headed for Davey’s.

He was naked and pounced on me the moment I closed the door. Taking me into his arms, he kissed me full on the mouth. “Apple,” he said, smiling, and then pulled my shirt off.

I leaned back against the door as he sucked each of my nipples in turn and then pulled at my baby chest hairs with his teeth. “Needs more fertilizer,” he said with a chuckle.

“You’re sure in a mood this morning,” I said, laughing. “Fertilizer, huh? Got real horny reading those gardening books?”

He laughed and led me by the hand back to his bed, which was still unmade. As we kissed again, he pulled my shorts down and I kicked my shoes off. “Damn, Davey,” I said, breathlessly, “Are you sure you want to do relaxation techniques? I’m not sure we can make it that long.”

He laughed and playfully sucked in my bottom lip. Both of our cocks were semi-hard and we pressed them between our bodies.

“Assume the position,” he commanded with a grin. I climbed onto the bed and lay on my stomach.

Davey sat down astride me, with his cock lying on my crack and his balls in the hollow at the top of my legs. “Now close your eyes and relax.”

Davey took his time and worked down my body carefully. He really did relax me, but before turning me over, he added a new twist. “Keep your eyes closed,” he said. “Don’t spoil the mood. I want to… try something. Spread your legs.”

I did. And Davey crawled up between them.

“No peeking!” he warned.

I nodded.

Without touching me, he blew a stream of air down my crack, and then, down between my legs and onto the back of my scrotum. Then his fingers lightly tickled the insides of my legs and up to my perineum and my balls. It was relaxing alright, but my cock became rock hard.

“Keep your eyes closed and roll over,” he told me, and I did. Then I felt his fingers lightly trail up the inside of my legs and over my balls and cock, several times. And then he climbed up on the bed and straddled me. His balls pressed down on mine and he took our two cocks and held them together in his hands, rocking his hips so that his cock rubbed on mine.

It felt really good, but something wasn’t right. I opened my eyes to find that it was not Davey, but Hunter sitting on me. Davey smiled at me from over Hunter’s shoulder. “Surprise!” he said.

“Damn, Davey!” I said, starting to protest, but then Hunter laid down on me, his chest down on mine, and grabbing my shoulders, he ground his cock against mine.

He looked down at me with a mischievous grin as he swiveled his hips. “Please, Michael,” he pleaded enticingly.

Though he had little pubic hair, his cock had become man-sized, almost as big as his older brother’s. And his long, slim body and smooth, young skin felt incredible. I placed my hands on his sides and they slid naturally down to his rounded butt. I gasped as Davey reached down and rubbed firmly behind my balls.

“Oh, dammit, Davey!” I said, while my body said, go for it. I ground back up against Hunter while Davey played with both of our balls.

Hunter kissed me, almost clumsily. And then he tried again, this time with more success.

Davey was up to something at the other end, and I realized he was lubing Hunter. I started to object, but then, my hands were on that butt, and it was a fine butt.

Hunter smiled and lifted himself. Davey helped him back down on to me, and I sighed as I felt the tight ring of his sphincter slide down my cock part way as his warmth enveloped my cockhead. I grabbed his hips and he paused for a moment, and then he began to ride up and down, going lower and lower, gradually taking more and more of me in.

I arched my head back. I shouldn’t be doing this. I should be pissed. But I was mindless with the sensations of it all. And when Hunter’s ass finally made it down to my belly, I pulled him down to me and rolled us over so that he was under me. I looked down into his face. He was tense, his face twisted uncomfortably.

I kissed him, and then wrapped his body in mine. I would take it slowly.

His skin was smooth and there was a softness to his lean body that felt good in my arms. His butt was round, fleshy — but without a trace of fat, and it flattened to my thrusts. And he smelled good, more like a boy than a man; his mouth tasted fresh.

Keeping my belly hard, I pressed it against the underside of his cock as I rocked in and out of him using only my hips. He moaned appreciatively.

Hunter’s legs spread wider for me, and I paused long enough to cram a pillow under his butt. Then I lay down fully on him, belly to belly, chest to chest, my pubic bone pressing his perineum. He moaned and wrapped his arms over my back while I wrapped mine under his shoulders. Our cheeks pressed together and he whimpered softly into my ear each time I ground into him.

“Damn, Hunter,” I whispered. “You’re good.”

“So are you,” he whispered back.

Then Davey was there, straddling my butt and rubbing his hard cock up and down my crack. I felt his hand, cool with lube, slide into my butt crack, and his fingers quickly found my hole. He slowly pushed in a fingertip and ran lube around inside my sphincter while I continued moving in Hunter. When Davey grabbed my hips, I stopped long enough for him to push in, and then I let him do most of the thrusting while I just ground in little circles and gave Hunter more kissing lessons. He learned quickly.

I came first, pressing hard against Hunter’s soft butt, his sphincter tight around the base of my cock. I felt it strain with each throb of my cock as I squirted. And my own butt clamped down on Davey’s cock as his thrusts massaged out all my cum. I never really felt the orgasm end; it simply faded away to a pleasant buzz, and I closed my eyes and let everything sink in.

Sometimes you do some really clear thinking while waiting for sex partners to finish. Feeling Hunter moving under me, it came home to me that he was three years younger than us. And then, feeling Davey move in me, it was easy to imagine that this was just sex — that he was not making love to me, but simply fucking my butt.

I should’ve been angry; in fact, it might’ve been better if I had been angry. But something had started to die inside me when I’d caught Davey with Hunter that first time. And now I felt it even more — or rather, didn’t feel it. My ‘in-love-with-Davey’ feelings had begun to burn pretty low, giving way to more ‘practical’ considerations. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to be fuck buddies if that’s the way Davey wanted it. The truth was, I was beginning not to care.

After all, warm feelings are only that, I reasoned. Davey might have some affection for me, but didn’t want to commit beyond that. Fine. Let’s just enjoy sex then, right?

Suddenly, the old sadness tried to rear its head. Right there, sandwiched between Hunter and Davey, I felt a wave of sorrow wash over me. I resisted it. I won’t have it! I’m going to be strong! And then Davey was about to cum and that took my mind off being sad.

He pumped fast and frantically into me, stopping only at the end for the last pulsing squirt, and then he collapsed, kissed the back of my neck and rolled off.

Well, one good turn deserves another and I was already lubed. I scooted up on Hunter, grabbed his cock and backed on to it. I had barely settled down when he came, driving up into me, hands clutching my thighs. The kid really was good looking, even with his young face all screwed up in ecstasy. But dammit, he was a kid! And he was Davey’s friend. Worse than that, he was Ed’s son. And I had just fucked him.

Hunter opened his eyes and smiled at me with a well-satisfied expression. I mussed his hair.

“Was I OK?” he asked, dreamily.

“You were… incredible,” I said, smiling. I gave him a couple of playful squeezes with my butt, and then rose off him. I almost felt sorry for Hunter. I guess in a way, Davey had screwed both of us.

When Hunter slipped out of me, I sat back down onto his lap, pinning his cock, and I smiled down at him. “I like you, Hunter. I always have. And I’m glad you and Davey are friends.”

Then I frowned down at Davey, lying next to Hunter, and I got up from the bed. He raised his eyebrows. “Are you mad?” he asked. “Didn’t you like our surprise?”

I stood looking down at him. “I can’t help feeling like I’ve been manipulated, Davey.”

Grabbing a towel, I wiped my cock and butt, and ignored Davey’s angry look. “Don’t worry,” I said, pulling on my shorts. “I’m not mad. Maybe I’m coming around to your way of thinking after all. I mean, it could be fun to do other guys sometimes, couldn’t it? Like Hudson.” I took a perverse pleasure in Davey’s more deeply furrowed brow. “So what’s up today? Gardening?”

They both stared at me as I started to leave the room. I stopped. “Oh, and thanks.” Then I walked out.

In the kitchen, I decided to raid the fridge while I waited for the two of them to come out. When I reached in to move the milk out of the way, my hand was shaking. I closed the door and leaned my forehead against it. A shudder ran through me. I decided that I didn’t need to eat, and went out to the yard to begin weeding a bed.

When they came outside, Hunter seemed uncomfortable and was about to leave. I stopped him. “Stay, Hunter. I’m sorry if I was a jerk.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “What we did this morning was really special, Hunter. I’m sorry that I was an asshole about it.”

He looked at me doubtfully, and I felt like even more of an asshole. But I felt even madder at Davey.

We worked on Davey’s landscape plan. I kept a smile and pretended that all was right with the world. But I barely talked to Davey. He kept giving me looks like, _who are you and what did you do with the real Mickey? _

For his sake, I did try to talk to Hunter because I felt bad that my actions had spoiled the experience for him, and it wasn’t his fault. But he would barely talk to me, and I could hardly blame him.

The sun rose higher and the heat was oppressive. I pulled off my shirt and turned on the hose, running water over my head, chest, and back.

Hunter watched me and looked envious, so I squirted him. He tried to grab for the water hose and we quickly became all entangled, trying to wrestle for control of the spraying water. Davey disappeared, only to return with the hose from the back yard, water running. He mercilessly squirted both of us. The cool water was great, and the resulting water fight lasted for over half an hour.

When we finally tired out, Davey returned the second hose back behind the house. When he did, I put my arm over Hunter’s bare shoulders. He grinned up at me and I grinned back. “You really are a cool dude, Hunter,” I told him and then whispered into his ear, “and you really were incredible this morning.”

He grinned wider.

“Just take it easy though,” I smiled, squeezing his shoulder. “You’re still a kid. You don’t have to become a sex fiend all at once.”

He shrugged under my arm. “I haven’t done anything except with Davey… and now you.”

“What about the girl that Chase said is training you how to kiss?”

He grinned. “I’m training her.”

I laughed, relieved that Ed’s son might still like girls.

“Hunter,” I said. “You’re a nice kid. Take it real slow, OK?”

He grinned slyly. “You mean like today?”

“Yeah, well… treasure the memory. We won’t be doing that again soon.”

“Why not?” he asked, clearly disappointed.

“Oh, I may want to,” I said. “But deep down, I know I really shouldn’t. You’ll still be my friend, though. Right?”

He nodded. “But Davey and I can still mess around, right?”

He was a cute kid, but there were limits. “Davey makes his own decisions,” I said with a shrug. “Knowing him, he’ll probably want to keep messing around.”

I got rid of the frown as Davey came back around the corner of the house.

We played cards with our moms again that night after family dinner, and it was late when we were done. Davey wanted to sit out on the porch, but I told him I was too tired.

He disappeared and came back with my guitar and his recorder. He held the guitar out toward me, hopefully.

I sighed and took it.

We sat on the porch swing and played while our moms sat on the porch couch and talked. It was one in the morning when we finally finished and I went to bed.

Davey came over early the next morning and we began landscaping the yard at my house. It was fun work and I was having a good time until Davey began rubbing my butt when we were working down the side of the house. I moved away from him.

That evening he used my butt for a pillow while we watched TV, but we didn’t talk much. I just wasn’t interested. As far as I was concerned, it wouldn’t hurt us to give sex a rest for a while.

That night, there was a tapping at my window. I pulled open the shutters to find Davey on the other side. I was tired, and still feeling pretty empty. My first inclination was to tell him to go home, but I knew that might end up creating even more serious problems.

When I opened the window, he motioned for me to come out, so I pulled on my shorts and stepped through the window.

Davey was only in shorts too, and the faint light from the street glimmered off his skin. His slender form moved closer and he ran his hand up and down my bare arm. “I’m sorry, Mickey,” he whispered.

He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and put his cheek to mine. “Mickey,” he whispered. “I said I was sorry.”

I laid my head on his shoulder. “I know, Davey,” I said quietly. “I’m sorry, too. But that doesn’t mean things are going to be magically alright again.”

He nuzzled the side of my head with his nose and I heard him take a deep breath through his nostrils. “Everything feels alright again,” he whispered.

“No,” I said softly. “It doesn’t. Not on the inside.”

“You won’t forgive… me?”

I crossed my arms behind his back and squeezed. “I forgive you, Davey. I can’t imagine ever not forgiving you. But I still feel empty inside.”

“I feel… sad inside,” he said.

“Yeah. Me, too.”

He rocked me in his arms. I pressed my hands to the smooth skin of his back and felt the hardness of his muscles beneath. Davey laid his head over on mine. Down the street, a cat howled and we both jumped, and then chuckled.

“Mickey?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I sleep with you tonight?”

“Yeah,” I answered. We continued to stand, pressed together, swinging gently back and forth. “Do you want to make love?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said, and rubbed his cheek on the back of my head. “But the old way. Just holding each other and putting our… rubbing spots together. You know… frotting.” He pressed his crotch to mine.

I smiled. “I’d like that way too.” I lifted my head from his shoulder and in the dark, moved my mouth to his. Our lips touched softly and we breathed into each other’s mouths. Then I pressed my lips more firmly to his and ran my fingers up into the hair on both sides of his head. “Have I ever told you,” I whispered into his mouth, “that you’re the most beautiful guy I’ve ever seen in my life?”

He laughed, softly. “You haven’t looked… in the mirror.”

I grinned and took his hand, leading him in through my window. Inside, we pulled off each other’s shorts and then stepped nose to nose. Our hands brushed lightly over each other’s shoulders and backs and butts, then our chests and bellies, as our eyes met.

We had been lovers for a long time, and friends for almost two-thirds of our lives. There were things we could say simply through our eyes — things that others would never be able to say — about love, about possession, and about desire.

Our erections rose between us and we pressed them together. Davey grabbed my head and pushed his tongue into my mouth. When I pushed my tongue into his, his mouth was hot and wet, and all mine.

He backed to the bed while kissing me, and pulled me down on top of him. Our legs wrapped around each other and our hands moved to shoulders and butts. We took our time. I knew I’d regret it when it was time for school in the morning, but this was important. We were healing each other, and that sort of thing can’t be rushed.

Later, when we were done and Davey’s head lay on my chest, I combed his hair with my fingers. “I’m not doing Hunter again,” I said quietly.

“I know.”

I chuckled. “You always know. Pretty soon, I’m not going to have to tell you anything.”

He let out a long sigh. His hair was soft and thick. Thin shafts of light came in from the street through the shutters leaving little spots of light across his face and shoulder.

“Don’t do Hunter too much, Davey,” I said. “He’s a kid, and he still likes girls.”

Davey squirmed uncomfortably, and then moved up so that his head was on the pillow beside mine. He put a leg over my middle and laid his hand on my chest. “Can we afford an apartment yet? So we can spend every night… together.”

I laid my hand on his and smiled at him. “Our moms won’t let us and you know it. Not while we’re still in high school.”

“It’s gonna be forever,” he sighed.

“Someday,” I said.

We lay there together and listened to the crickets chirping outside in the night, and I thought of our future — if there was a future. I hoped there would be a ‘someday’ but wondered if I could ever really trust Davey?

Tuesday morning, there was another note in my locker. “Still the hottest ass in school,” was all it said. I tore it up and tossed it.

Wednesday afternoon, Davey and I left school early, with permission. We told them that we were required to attend a special meeting, which was true. Ruth Jamison had flown into San Antonio with Teddy Silverman, who represented a group of prospective investors. Teddy was a good-looking man in his mid-to-late forties. Other than his salt and pepper hair and a few wrinkles around his eyes, he could have easily passed for younger.

Ed and Dr. Meyers took the afternoon off, and arranged for the use of a boardroom at the offices of the law firm that handled our patent filings. The four of us had debated whether Mom and Maggie should be there, but in the end, with our moms’ agreement, we decided it would be good for Davey and me to be there on our own. We could summarize for our moms later.

Ed sat at the end of the table, with me, Davey, and Dr. Meyers down one side of the table. Across from us sat Ms. Jamison and Mr. Silverman.

After introductions, Ed passed around copies of our business plan. “You’ve already seen our demos and our software presentation,” he began. “This afternoon, I’d like to start with a quick overview of our best-case scenario, and then we can go into each facet in more detail.

“First, we’ve located a proposed office site in a complex in Round Rock, just outside Austin. It has the security we need, it’s in the Texas ‘silicon valley’, and is close enough to UT that we’d have a large pool of educated professionals to hire from. It’s a bit of a commute from San Antonio, but initially that will not be a problem.”

“Harold and I,” Ed continued, “would immediately begin full-time employment with Carlson-Bentolli. He’ll work on marketing and I’ll work on administration and operations. We already have one young man working for us, Arturo Rodriquez. He’s decided to stay on as our lead programmer. And…” — here he paused and looked at Ruth — “if and when Ms. Jamison decides to join us, provided there is sufficient funding, she would be our Chief Financial Officer, heading up finance and HR. You’ve seen all of our resumes, but I’ve included them again, in your packets with your copy of our business plan.”

He passed out additional folders. “Inside these, you’ll find diagrams and pictures of the offices in Round Rock, as well as a picture and diagram of an office we would like to set up for the boys here in San Antonio. It’s close by, and in a secure office tower.”

I looked up at Ed in surprise. He winked. “It’s on the tenth floor,” he continued, so we might have to keep Michael away from the windows — I’ve gotten the impression he likes heights. Anyway, we’ll set up a high-speed connection to the offices in Round Rock. That way, the boys can work here in San Antonio most of the time and only come up to Austin when necessary.”

“Our plan,” he said, leaning back, “will be to hire ten programmers for the database project and six for the encryption software project. With the latter, we’re targeting the government and military first, since Harold has already made numerous contacts there. In fact, the Army is just about ready to sign, based simply on the performance of the prototype and our plans for implementation.”

“Truth is,” Ed said, “if it was our preference, we could get all the venture capital we need just from our initial sales to the military.” He paused dramatically to let that sink in. “But we’d rather work with your investors for a number of reasons.”

I was still trying to get over a tenth floor office for Davey and me, and barely paid attention as Ed began to lead everyone into more detail through the plan which we had already discussed and approved days earlier.

We worked through the afternoon, and on into a working supper at a nearby Italian restaurant. I’d never tell Mom, but their cooking wasn’t half bad.

The next afternoon, Teddy Silverman began the meeting with the announcement that the plan was not only approved by the investors, with whom he had been in discussion, but that they also insisted on additional funding for a more aggressive approach to development, security, and marketing.

Silverman reached for his cup of coffee and took a sip. “One of the investors wanted me to remind you that at some point, you’ll need to get government security clearances for your people. Keep that in mind as you hire. He also has a couple of contacts in the government he has given me to pass on to you.”

“And there are a couple of final issues,” he added. “We want to increase your funding sufficiently to pay Ruth’s salary for the next two years at whatever level and terms you and she agree to. And secondly, we want you to appoint a board of seven directors. We appoint three and have right of refusal on the other four. And we have to approve any increase to the number of directors.”

Ed frowned and looked at Dr. Meyers, who shrugged. An uncomfortable silence fell upon the table.

“My people are putting up a lot of money, gentlemen,” Teddy said. “This isn’t too much to ask.”

Ed rubbed his chin, and then opened his mouth to say something, but I beat him to it.

“Who was the investor who made the suggestions about security clearances and contacts within the government?” I asked. “Would he be willing to serve on the board?”

Teddy nodded slowly. “He, ah… wants his identity secret for now, Michael. He’s pretty big in the industry. But, yes — he might be willing to serve.”

I looked at Ed before going on. He gave me a half-smile and a wave forward, so I continued. “We hire Ruth, provided she agrees to our terms. And you choose two board members and have right of refusal over two seats. That gives you effective control over a majority of directors.”

Teddy started to say something, but I wasn’t finished. “You may be putting up the money Mr. Silverman, but you’re going to be making money. We’re putting up our ideas and our sweat and blood. It’s our company and it’s our future we’re putting on the line.”

Teddy studied me a moment. “Three directors and right of refusal over a fourth seat,” he countered.

“We get right of refusal over your three?” I asked.

“Two,” he countered.

I looked at Ed. “How would that sound?” I asked.

He laughed. “It sounds fine, Michael.” The he looked at Teddy and leaned back in his chair. “I think,” Ed said, “this is going to be an interesting afternoon.”

And it was. After several calls to the West Coast, and hours of discussion, it was finally settled: Carlson-Bentolli was going to be fully funded! For up to ten million dollars over the next three years.

After a brief discussion of the terms of her employment, Ruth decided to come on board, too. The rest of the afternoon was spent hammering out the terms of the funding. That night, our moms joined us for a celebration supper.

And I kept thinking about our own tenth floor office.

The note in my locker Thursday was slightly longer. “I said I’d do whatever it takes to win you over, Bent. And I will.”

There was only the slightest tremor in my hands as I tore the note up and threw it away.

Hudson, the student guitarist I had met a few months earlier, called Sunday night after Davey had already left. Knox had told Hudson that I had opted out of guitar lessons for the fall.

“I’m supposed to seduce you,” Hudson said, and he chuckled a little even though it didn’t exactly sound like he was joking, “and lure you back to Knox’s fold.”

I lowered my voice so that Mom wouldn’t hear. “I see. Speaking of which, have you been with a guy yet?” I asked, curious as to whether he’d been able to find anyone. “I mean… are you seeing anybody right now.”

“No,” Hudson answered ruefully. “Not yet. I guess you’ll have to show me how to seduce you.” I could hear the nervousness in his voice. “Seriously, can we get together to play?”

“You mean play as in…”

“No,” he interrupted. “I mean… can you and Davey come over tomorrow night and bring your guitar and recorder?”

“How about Tuesday?” I asked. “Davey has a La Maze class tomorrow night.” The sexual banter was fun, but made me think it would be easier to behave if I took Davey with me.

“Tomorrow’s best for me. What’s La Maze?”

“A natural childbirth method,” I explained. “Davey’s helping a friend out.”

“Geez,” Hudson said quietly, “just how much did he help your friend out.”

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” I said. And then I made a snap decision. Davey, with his recorder, couldn’t always keep up with Hudson and me when we played anyway. “I’ll come over tomorrow night,” I told him.

Hudson lived in an older ranch style home, behind North Star Mall. The house had freshly painted wood trim, a well-kept yard, and a three-car garage. As soon as I walked in the door, I found out why Mondays worked better for him: nobody else was home. Hudson led the way back to his bedroom.

I watched his backside as he walked ahead. If ever there was a perfect bubble-butt… I thought, watching said butt through his tight shorts. I wondered if it was soft like Hunter’s. Hudson’s slender frame had a gentle sway as he walked, and I imagined that his entire little body was probably soft. Neither of us said anything, but the closer we got to his bedroom, the more I felt my own tension rise.

We got out our guitars and faced each other from opposite ends of his twin bed. His room was small like mine, and where there was space, the walls were covered with concert posters. The room also held an older desk and chair, a chest-of-drawers, and a large closet.

As soon as we began tuning up, the sexual tension died down. And once we got going, I had fun, just getting into the music with Hudson. After an hour, he volunteered to bring us a couple of Cokes, and I followed him to the kitchen. That’s when I felt the temperature rise again.

As he moved from the cabinet for glasses, to the refrigerator for ice, to the pantry for soda, it was obvious that Hudson had an erection, a nice one, pointed off towards his right hip. It was tempting to want to touch it. My own cock was getting hard and I saw Hudson glance at it.

“So, uh,” he asked, clearing his throat, “are you and Davey still boyfriends?”

I watched him pour the soda over ice and leaned back against his kitchen table. “Yeah, sure.”

Hudson turned and came toward me with a drink in either hand. He stopped in front of me. “Does Davey ever loan you out?” His face was serious — hungry.

“We’ve talked about it,” I said casually, which was sort of true.

I knew I should leave, or at least back away, but Hudson’s face was so pretty and his body was so close. Davey’s the one who didn’t want commitments, I told myself. He wanted us to fool around with other people, right?

He set a drink down on either side of me and slowly, tentatively, moved forward between my legs until our noses almost touched. Timidly, he leaned forward and kissed me. I kissed him back.

I stood up and his arms went around me. Putting my arms around his shoulders, I brushed my lips over his. His mouth opened hungrily to mine and I plunged in with my tongue. Hudson moaned and pressed his crotch against the top of my thigh.

I know, I know. I should have left his house as soon as I found out no one else was there. But I honestly believe that the whole thing with Hunter, and Davey’s overall attitude, left me without much resolve. Davey didn’t want promises; he wanted his freedom. And that meant freedom for me, too: freedom standing open and inviting, and pressed hotly to me; freedom with red hair.

Hudson wrapped his arms tighter around me and pressed his cock against me hard as we kissed. I pressed hard back and we lightly rubbed our crotches on each other. Suddenly his body stiffened and he gripped me tightly in his arms. Pulling his mouth from mine, he gasped. “No! No!”

I felt his cock throbbing against my leg and knew immediately what had happened. With his head hanging, he slowly backed away from me. There was a growing wet spot on the front of his pants, and his face was a deep red.

“I’m sorry,” he said with a choke and turned toward the door. “I’m so sorry.” And then he was gone, back towards his bedroom.

I sighed. Grabbing up the Cokes, I followed. He had closed his door, so I tapped with my foot. “Hudson, I need you to open the door — I’m holding our drinks, and I only have two hands.”

He opened the door and walked quickly back to his desk, flopping dejectedly into his chair. I kicked the door closed and brought the two drinks to his desk. Then I knelt before him and took his hands in mine.

“Hey, dude,” I said smiling. “Did I really make you cum in your pants? That was so cool. I’m not sure I ever did that to anyone before.”

“Don’t patronize me, Michael,” he said, turning away. But he left his hands in mine.

“OK, I won’t patronize you,” I said, squeezing his hands. “The truth is, I really am flattered. Besides, what guy hasn’t gone off when he didn’t intend to? We’re cool, Hudson.”

With his eyes still averted, he sighed. “I had really hoped to lose my fucked-up virginity tonight.”

I smiled and squeezed his hands. “I wish it had been a little more fucked-up. But only in a good way.”

He looked back at me. “I really did want to seduce you.”

“Maybe it worked out for the best,” I said, and patted his thigh as I stood up. “Davey and I are still working through some things.”

He looked at me sadly and I felt sorry for him. Poor guy. What a start to a sex life, I thought.

“Look,” I said, putting a hand on his shoulder and giving a squeeze, “maybe we still could still…”

“No,” he shook his head. “I spoiled it.” Then he looked up into my eyes. “I want my first time to be special.”

Smiling, I gave his shoulder a final squeeze. “Maybe I better go.”

He nodded.

I bent over, draping my arms over his shoulders, and put my cheek next to his. “You really are hot, Hudson — damned hot. It won’t be long. You’ll see.” I kissed his cheek and hugged his neck before retrieving my guitar and seeing myself out.

But as I got into our Camaro, I began to feel resentful. Evidently Davey didn’t have trouble messing around with other guys. Why did I?

I had difficulty sleeping that night. I thought about not telling Davey about Hudson — after all, we didn’t actually do anything. But I had wanted to. And we did kiss. After recalling what happened when we weren’t honest with each other the last time, I decided that for better or worse, I would tell Davey.

So as he drove us to school the next morning, I told him about Hudson. “So that’s what happened,” I said with a sigh. “Or at least, what _didn’t _happen. I’m sorry, Davey.”

He didn’t answer. It was hard to read his face. We walked to our homerooms without saying a word.

Geoff’s notes were appearing in my locker virtually every other day now. They had moved on from wishes for a ‘happy weekend’ to voicing appreciation for a different part of my anatomy each time. There was another in my locker that morning and I’d had enough. I cornered Geoff in the hall and told him to quit leaving me notes.

When I turned to leave, he grabbed me by the arm. “Michael,” he said, “Look, I’m sorry we got off to a bad start…”

“Bad start?” I snapped.

“Dammit,” he said, frowning. “I told you how it was. I got totally worked up, hoping all day it would be you, thinkin’ about what we could do together. And when you tried to leave…” he made a helpless gesture and his eyes softened. “I’m sorry. I just… got a little crazy, is all. I’ve said I’m sorry a million times now.” He looked at me with sad eyes. “Michael,” he said, “I want to be friends. Honestly.”

I jerked my arm away. “You forget that you took Davey from me! You forget all those things you said to me down in the basement! You’re an asshole, Geoff. I don’t trust you. I don’t want to have anything to do with you.” I turned to walk away.

Geoff grabbed me tightly by the arm again and swung me back around. A couple of kids passing us turned to look, so he stepped closer, his face inches away from mine. I could feel his hot breath on my face. “You want the truth, Bentolli?” he hissed. “You lost Davey because you treated him like you owned him — like he was your private property. He just wanted to have some fun, and you tried to keep him all tied up for yourself, like some kinda house pet. The truth is, Davey’s a fun guy and he wants to have fun. I showed him a good time. You didn’t.”

I tried to turn away, but he held my arm tightly.

“Look,” he said, trying to smile, “I know I said some mean things to you that day, but dammit, I was pissed at you.” His brow furrowed and he lowered his voice. “You’re a fantastic-looking guy, Bentolli. And you don’t take shit from anybody. I liked you from the day you stood up to Brandon in the hall. And if I got rough in the basement, it’s because I knew you were tough. It’s part of what makes you so damn hot.”

He lightened his grip on my arm. “I was frustrated, Michael,” he said softly. “I liked you a lot and you wouldn’t have anything to do with me. You’re still stuck up. But dammit, I still like you. You totally turn me on, y’know?”

I put a shaking hand on his and pulled it from my arm. “You don’t rape someone you like, Geoff.” Then I turned and walked away.

I was still shaken by my encounter with Geoff when Dr. Meyers took us to our new office later that afternoon. The building was twelve stories of dark brick and glass, located beside the McAllister Freeway, just south of Loop 410.

Dr. Meyers showed us our parking spot in the covered garage and explained about building access rules, nighttime security, and free membership to the sports club next door.

Inside, the lobby had a water fountain, a brick floor, and plants; lots of plants. As we walked towards the elevator, Davey leaned towards me. “What about potted plants… on our front porches?” he asked happily.

Our office had a small reception area, behind which ran an interior hallway. On the same side of the hallway as the reception area were a small supply room and a break area with a sink, refrigerator, and microwave. There was also a private executive washroom even though there were public restrooms close to the elevators that serviced the entire floor.

“Not much of a bathroom,” Dr. Meyers said. “But if you ever need to shower up for a meeting, just remember the sports club downstairs. The first time you go, they’re going to give you each a pack with some complimentary toiletries. Just keep some work out gear handy, and maybe a clean shirt and underwear in case you have to attend a meeting.”

Davey wriggled his eyebrows at me from over Dr. Meyer’s shoulder and I was afraid he’d say out loud whatever it was he was thinking. So I quickly frowned at him and let Dr. Meyers lead the way out of the bathroom. When I turned to follow him, Davey goosed me.

“You’ll pay later,” I hissed over my shoulder.

He goosed me again.

The main office was across from the reception area. It wasn’t a corner office, but the two, large floor-to-ceiling tenth-floor windows gave a great view of downtown. The office was much larger than our living room at home. It had been outfitted with two desks, one at either end. There were also side tables, bookshelves, phones, high back leather chairs in front of each desk, a wide leather couch on the wall between the two windows and another on the opposite wall, and a table with four chairs in the center of the room. On a counter in the corner of the room stood a copier and a fax.

There were two computer terminals, one behind each desk. “The high-speed connection to our Round Rock office won’t be in until Monday,” Dr. Meyers said, apologetically. “And then we still have to wait for the computers to be set up over there. But what do you think?”

“I like it,” Davey said, while I walked to the window.

“I love it,” I said, looking out towards downtown, impressed by the dramatic view.

“You’ll have to buy supplies, of course,” Dr. Meyers was saying. “Paper, paper clips, snacks — things like that. Ed is getting each of you credit cards, but in the meantime, Ed said to give you this.” He handed over an envelope. “There’s a couple hundred dollars in there, but if you need any more, write a check and we’ll repay your account. Someday, when we’re making money and you guys are more full time, we’ll get you a secretary who can do all that.”

“Davey and I will get the supplies,” I said, looking around the office. “Are you sure we need a secretary?” I liked the idea of just Davey and me here.

“You’ll love having a secretary,” he said. “Help get you organized, keep track of messages.”

I watched Davey looking over the office, and the couches caught my eye. “Dr. Meyers,” I asked. “Are there rules against sleeping over if we work late?”

Davey was examining one of the desks, but suddenly looked up at me wide-eyed, and a smile spread across his face, just out of Dr. Meyers’ line of vision.

Dr. Meyers shrugged. “No, I guess not. You just need to tell the nighttime security guard because he checks people in and out.” He looked over the room. “Fix it up however you like,” he said. “Just remember to actually do some work. And bring any work you have at home here. It’ll be a lot safer.”

As soon as he left, Davey started hopping up and down with excitement. “Our own place! Our own place!”

“It’s an office,” I said laughing. “Not an apartment.”

He took me into a bear hug and lifted me up, swinging me around. “But it’s our own… private place!”

He set me down, his eyes dancing. Then turned serious. “I’m gonna fuck you.”

I laughed and pushed him back. “Not yet, you doofus! We’ve got things to do.”

We called Maggie first and talked her into letting us sleep over in the new office. Mom was a harder sell and only gave in when I was about to say I’d do it anyway. We promised them both a tour on the weekend.

When I hung up, Davey tackled me onto the couch. Burying his face in my neck, he growled and began pulling up my shirt.

“Wait, wait,” I pleaded, pushing him away. “We gotta go buy supplies.”

He rolled off me in frustration and harrumphed.

I got up, and pulled him to his feet. “Tonight — I promise,” I said. “You can screw me on every couch and chair we’ve got.”

He looked around the room and began counting chairs. I slapped his butt.

We headed to the new Wal-Mart to buy our office supplies, which I decided also needed to include some blankets and pillows. Davey had other ideas and disappeared down an aisle, returning with a basket overflowing with heavy foam nerf balls and two nerf basketball nets. He grinned mischievously and I shook my head. “At least they aren’t water balloons,” I said.

“One net for each end of the… office,” he explained.

Next we hit the grocery store to buy food for the refrigerator. When Davey tossed a tube of KY into the shopping cart, he winked, and I was sure I’d been forgiven about Hudson. That, or Davey was so excited, he just plain forgot.

Our last stop was for pizza and sodas.

We ate at the office table, talking about various plans to decorate the office. While I cleaned away the pizzas, Davey distributed nerf balls equally to each desk, filling the drawers.

“OK,” he said when he was done. “Pick a desk.”

I walked to the far desk and by the time I was there, the first nerf ball flew past my head. Quickly, I ducked behind the desk and returned fire. Seconds later, nerf balls were bouncing over every square inch of our office.

Later, after I surrendered, we turned out the lights and pulled up a couch to the window. I leaned back against the arm of the couch and Davey settled back into my arms. We were silent as we watched twilight settle over the city.

“It’s pretty after dark,” Davey said, looking out at the tall buildings downtown, and all the lights of the city.

“Yeah,” I said. “I think I want to sleep right here by the window.”

‘Can we sleep here all the time?” Davey asked.

“Probably not all the time,” I said. “That might be stretching the building’s policies. And I can guess what our Moms would say.”

Davey was quiet a moment, then he rubbed my leg. “Mickey?”

“Yeah?”

He turned to sit across my lap and put an arm over my shoulder. “I’ve been thinkin’…”

I smiled. “You do it well.”

He grinned. “I think about you… a lot.”

“See!” I said with a laugh.

He grew quiet. “I’ve been thinking about… promises. What if we do make a… promise?” he asked slowly. “What if we promise to try to be faithful to each other?”

“Davey,” I said with a sigh, smoothing the hair back off his forehead. “I tried last night with Hudson. Promising to try is like promising to fail. If we promise, we need to just promise.”

“‘Do or do not; there is no try,” Davey said, in a fair impression of Yoda. Something I had quoted to him once.

I nodded and gave him a squeeze.

He bit his lip and ran his fingers lightly over my cheek. “What if we promise,” he asked, “for a while… like you did with Brandon?”

“You mean like promise a week or two at a time?”

He nodded.

“Davey,” I asked. “Are you bringing up promises because of what almost happened with Hudson?”

He paused a moment, and then nodded. “But if we promise,” he said. “I promise about Hunter, too.”

“You won’t do anything with Hunter?” I asked surprised.

He nodded.

I studied his eyes. He was sincere. “When do you want to do make the promise?” I asked.

“Now.”

I took a deep breath and looked out the window. “Someone told me,” I said. “That you’re a fun guy. And they made me think that I should let you have your fun. Maybe I shouldn’t make you promise.”

He turned my chin back with his hand. “We’ll have fun,” he said, looking into my eyes. “You’ll be my fun.

I put my arms around his shoulders and held his gaze. “You really mean it?”

He smiled and put his forehead to mine. “Yes.”

“Want to do two weeks?” I asked.

“OK.”

Keeping my forehead pressed to his, I took one of his hands. “Alright,” I said. “Then I promise you, Davey — for the next two weeks, I will stay faithful to you. No sex with anyone else.”

“I promise, too, Mickey,” he said, squeezing my hand. “I will stay faithful to you. For two weeks, you will be all my fun.”

He softly kissed my lips.

“No Hunter?” I asked.

“No Hunter,” he said. “No Hudson?”

“No Hudson,” I answered.

He smiled and slowly unbuttoned my shirt. “I bought KY,” he said.

And so that night, Davey and I made love on our couch at our own place, even if it was just an office. We did it while looking out over the lights of the city and in the security of shared promises — even if the promises were only for two weeks.

I woke during the night when Davey turned in his sleep, and pulling the blanket higher, I snuggled closer, spooning him. Looking out past his shoulders, I could see lightning in the sky over the city, and shortly, I heard the low rumble of thunder. Davey’s back swelled against my chest as he breathed and I was reluctant to get up, but I was fascinated by the city and the storm.

Carefully, I climbed over Davey so that I could stand at the window and watch. Raindrops splashed against the large glass wall, and I reached my hand out to trace the trickles as they fell. A flash of lightning brilliantly lit all of the downtown buildings, followed almost immediately by a loud clap of thunder. The power was spectacular.

I heard Davey get up from the couch. He came up behind me, still wearing the blanket, and circled his arm over my shoulders, bringing me into the blanket with him. I grabbed the ends of the blanket lower down and pulled it tightly around us, backing me into Davey. He nuzzled the back of my head.

“Davey,” I said thoughtfully, “you ever wonder about fate? You ever wonder if there’s some god directing our paths?”

“There is,” he said quietly.

“Oh, you know?” I chuckled.

I knew he was going to say it and said it at the same time. “I know,” we said, and I laughed.

He squeezed me in his arms, and I laid my head back against his.

“It just seems to me, Davey,” I said, “that a lot of really good things are happening to us. I wonder if there are good things we’re supposed to do in turn.”

“Maybe,” he said quietly.

“You help me, Davey,” I said. “You’re a lot better at spotting people who need help. You help us do good things, OK?”

He kissed my neck. “I’m proud of you, Mickey.”

There was another bright flash of lightning, followed quickly by the boom of thunder. We both jumped.

“It’s pretty,” I said looking down on the freeway, the Olmos Basin, and the city beyond. Off to the left was the quarry bluff, occasionally lit by the storm.

“And a little scary,” Davey said, laying his head on my shoulder.

“You tired?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

I turned inside the blanket and put my arms around his back. Davey hung on me, all naked and tired. “Davey,” I whispered. “Thanks for promising me the next two weeks.”

Davey was quiet.

“Davey?”

“Hmmm?”

I smiled and backed him to the couch. After I laid him down, I lay down next to him and covered him with the blanket, and an arm and a leg.

I awoke the next morning to find Davey spooned to my back, gnawing my neck, his hard cock rubbing in my crack. “Dammit, Davey. Are you trying to turn me into a total bottom? You fucked me twice last night and you’re trying for it again this morning! I’m going to be walking funny all day.”

He chuckled. “I’m happy about our office,” he said and hugged me hard.

“Yeah, I can feel how happy.” I put my arms over his and leaned my head back against his. “And I’m happy, too.”

“Our promise?” he asked.

“Yeah, silly isn’t it. Just two weeks. But it means a lot, Davey, and I’m not sure why.”

I felt him rest his forehead in the middle of my back. His breath tickled as it traveled down my spine. Then he grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back so he could look down into my face, and his look was serious.

“It’s not silly,” he said and rested his chin on my shoulder. “I love you, Mickey,” he said quietly. “You’re the only one I ever loved. You’re the only one I’m ever… gonna love… even if we never… promise.” He kissed my shoulder. “I know why you want us to promise… but that’s why it’s hard.” His brow furrowed.” I don’t want to break a promise… to you.”

His face was absolutely sincere, and his eyes, loving. “Damn,” I said with a grin, “stick it in me, I’m in love.”

He smiled, and without taking his eyes from mine, he licked his fingers, and then rubbed them in my butt. I felt him shift behind me, and then the hard tip of his cock pressed up between my ass cheeks.

“Oh, man,” he murmured. “I’m really hard.” And then he slid slowly in and I felt the pressure inside as he filled me. He pushed in all the way, pressing his weight onto me, rolling me to my stomach; his legs settling between mine, his balls coming to rest on the back of mine.

He slid his arms up under my shoulders and grabbed on, while I slid mine under the pillow at the end of the couch and let my cock press against the leather of the seat cushions.

The blanket had fallen behind us and in the morning light, I could see our reflection in the window. No one could see up this high though, so I didn’t worry; I simply relaxed and enjoyed watching Davey’s hips rotate in and out.

Soon Davey began pumping so hard, he was literally pressing my cock into the couch each time. And I decided I really would be walking funny today.

I felt his teeth on the side of my neck and his hands gripped my shoulders more tightly as his thrusts quickened. The feelings inside my butt were incredible and I felt my own orgasm rising. “Damn,” I said, panting. “You aregonna make me a bottom.”

“Don’t cum,” He said through clenched teeth. “You can do me next.”

“Oh, fine for you to say, ‘don’t cum’ while you’re doin’ everything you can inside my butt to make me,’ I said through clenched teeth as well.

And then he was coming, his loud, “Ah, ah, ah,” echoing in our office, pushing me forward and down into the couch. And then as he held me there, at the end of his deepest thrust; while he pulsed out the last of his cum, I came, literally impaled on his hardness — holding onto the end of the couch, I came, hands-free, spilling cum out onto the seat cushion below me.

When I was done, Davey eased back and I relaxed under him. “I like this office,” I murmured.

He wrapped his arms under me and ground his still hard cock inside me. “I like our promise,” he said.

We stood, dripping on to the bathroom floor, trying to sponge bathe each other before leaving for school. “We’ve gotta get some wash cloths,” Davey said.

“For us and the couch,” I said. “Here… in the meantime, use me.” And I turned him away from me and began rubbing my soaped up cock and balls over his ass. We both chuckled and I started to get hard.

“Go ahead,” Davey said.

“Nah, we’ll be late for school,” I answered, but I didn’t stop rubbing.

Davey turned, and, grabbing my butt, pulled our crotches together. “Let’s skip school today,” he said, pleadingly, our noses almost touching. “Let’s just stay here, in our place.”

I chewed my lip.

He smiled. “I’ll let you screw me on every chair and couch,” he offered.

I looked up toward the ceiling and quietly began to count. “One, two, three…”

Davey threw his head back laughing. Then our eyes met. His pupils dilated, and his smile softened. “I…” he started to say.

“Yeah, me too.” I put my arms around his neck and pressed my cheek against his. “I love you too.”

The note in my locker the next morning simply said. “I’m sorry.”

But I was tired and had too much on my mind to worry about Geoff any more. Besides the new office and the work to be done for C-B, there was school, and household chores, and working out with Davey, not to mention a couple of trips to be made to Round Rock. And, in the near future, Amy was going to have her baby – our baby. They would need time, too.

Geoff had a sad look in his eyes when I saw him right before my fifth period class, but he still looked determined. And over the next few days, he seemed to be just around every corner, stalking me. He tried calling my home, so I bought an answering machine to avoid taking his calls. But still, he was always there. And one night, as I slept alone in my room, I was restless, and kept imagining that I could hear footsteps on the porch.

Another night, when I had snuck in Davey’s window to sleep with him, I had a nightmare that Geoff grabbed me at school and was dragging me towards the stage basement again. I cried out and no one would help. Geoff put his hand over my mouth, and I woke up trying to scream, but it was Davey’s hand and I was drenched in sweat. I probably would’ve awakened Maggie had Davey’s hand not been over my mouth. He was shushing me, and trying to calm me down.

So I told him about the dream and how Geoff was still stalking me. He rocked me in his arms, and we stayed together like that until my trembling finally stopped, and I drifted back to sleep.

The last Saturday in September, Davey and I grabbed an early breakfast at Denny’s and then traveled the hour and a half from San Antonio to Round Rock. Dr. Meyers met us at the gate of the office park to give us our ID’s and took us past gate security. The campus was made up of multiple two and three story buildings, tucked among oak and cedar elm trees. In front of one long, two story building was a black sign with gold lettering that read “Carlson-Bentolli Inc.”

We had already been briefed that none of the new people knew that there was even a Carlson and a Bentolli — much less who they were. So when we showed the receptionist the IDs Dr. Meyer had given us, her eyes grew wide, especially as she studied us. Then we could see her mind working. She smiled as she evidently filed us away as bosses’ sons, and we didn’t say or do anything to correct her.

There were offices for Ed, Dr. Meyers, Ruth, and Arturo. There was also, a spare, unlabeled corner office, fully equipped for when Davey and I came up. I could have spent all day in the computer room, but we were there to sit in on interviews for prospective programmers.

That night, Ed took Davey and me out for a barbeque before we returned to San Antonio. He watched us while Davey and I had apple pie for desert. “How do you feel about the programmers you interviewed today?” he asked.

I shrugged. “There were some good ones. I’m not sure what Dr. Meyers thought about my preferences.”

“We hired a couple of cute girls,” Ed pointed out. “Were those a couple of your preferences?”

“I think all of the ones we hired were my preferences.”

Ed laughed and nodded. “I’m not surprised,” he said. Then he grew serious. “Just remember, oldest rule in business is don’t screw the help.”

There was an awkward silence, and then Ed grinned. “Why is it that you call almost everyone by their first name, but you always call Harold, Dr. Meyers?”

I leaned back and thought about it. “I don’t know. I guess because he was sorta like a teacher for us. You just don’t call teachers by their first names. Do you think I should call him Harold?”

He chuckled. “I don’t think it matters. I was just curious.”

Davey’s foot ran up my leg under the table and I giggled.

Ed looked at me curiously, and I decided to change the subject. “It’s a really long drive up here from San Antonio. I didn’t realize how long it was. Dr. Meyers… Harold, has already moved up here. What about you?”

Ed shook his head. “I’m not sure. The kids wouldn’t want to change schools until the next school year, but by then, Chase will have only one year left until graduation. None of the kids really want to move.”

“For now,” Ed said, “we’re going to leave things like they are and I’ll continue to commute. At least,” he said, smiling, “until we all make our fortune.”

All my efforts to stay away from Geoff failed utterly that next Wednesday afternoon. I’d been in the john between classes and it took longer than I’d expected. When I left the bathroom, I still needed my book for the next class, which forced me to go to my locker. Everyone was already in class and there was no one else around… or so I thought.

Geoff was next to me before I even saw him. I turned to head out from the lockers by the back way, but he grabbed my arm.

“Michael, wait!” he said. He backed me to the lockers, planting a hand against the lockers on either side of me.

Geez, I thought. Will this guy never let up?

“What do I have to do?” he pleaded, looking down into my eyes. “What do I have to do to be friends? Apologize again? I will — I’m sorry.”

“Once and for all, Geoff, please leave me alone,” I said quietly. “I don’t know why you keep insisting that we have to be friends. We’re never going to be friends.” I tried to duck under his arm and he stopped me, grabbing me with a hand on each bicep.

“Wait, Michael,” he said and stepped very close so that our bodies were almost touching. “Don’t say that. I’m not going to give up on you… I really… I love you, Bent! I can’t stop thinking about you. At night, I remember that time I watched you and Davey, and I remember the feel of your body.” He leaned closer. “I want you bad, Bent.”

His nose touched my hair and his breath came down my neck. I shuddered.

“I think of the way your thick black hair shines,” he said and his legs pressed mine. “I think of your long, graceful neck, your beautiful butt.” He nuzzled my hair and took a deep breath. “I wish I was Davey.”

I began trembling and couldn’t stop myself. Geoff kissed my hair and pressed his body to mine, pinning me to the locker. I could feel his erection. “Look, I…” he began, and reached into his pocket, pulling out a cassette tape. “I got you another Spanish guitar tape.”

I looked at it, uncomprehending.

“Take it. It’s a present,” he said.

Numbly I took the cassette from his hand. When I looked back up at him, he was ready, and pressed his lips to mine. There was nowhere to go. The back of my head pressed hard against the locker as I tried pulling away.

And then we heard a gasp. Geoff turned his head and I followed his gaze. Two senior girls stood open-mouthed at the end of the row of lockers. We all froze.

Then one grabbed the other’s hand and they left. Their laughter echoed back down the hall to us.

My heart stopped. I felt completely numb. They’d seen everything!

Geoff looked at me, wide-eyed with panic. His mouth opened and closed without saying a word as reality set in. He grabbed my hand. “C’mon. Let’s get outta here.”

He tried to drag me with him, but I pulled my hand away and slowly slid down the lockers until I was sitting on the concrete floor. Geoff stared at me, and then took off running.

He’d done it to me again — fucked up my whole life! My hands shook badly as I took the cassette and threw it down the row of lockers.

I could still hear the girls’ laughter ringing in my ears. I hugged my knees and cried while I wondered what friends I’d have left by the end of the day, other than Davey and Larice and maybe Amy. What would Chase say when he found out? Or the nerds? Or Mr. Weishamer? Or Ed? Or Dr. Meyers? Would they quit working with us?

My hands began to shake violently; worse than they ever had before. My whole body began to tremble, and it was suddenly hard to breathe. I tried to get control, but my body refused to cooperate and the shaking grew worse. I slid over onto my side, and fought to pull myself back up. I was losing all control and wasn’t sure I could even stand.

“Michael?”

I looked up to see the Vice-Principal and a secretary standing over me. “Son, are you OK?”

I looked up at him in a daze as my limbs convulsed uncontrollably.

He turned to the secretary. “Call EMS,” he barked. “It may be some kind of drug overdose!”

“No!” I tried to say, but only a small cry made it out. I tried to sit up but couldn’t. Someone else came and they stood over me, staring. I buried my face in my trembling hands. I didn’t want to be seen like this.