CLOSETS CHAPTER TWELVE
The following is a work of gay erotic fiction. It does contain description of graphic scenes of sexual acts between adult males. If that offends you, if you are a minor in your jurisdiction, or if it is illegal to read or possess such material where you are, then stop right now.
I do appreciate the many kind comments and encouraging words.
OPENING THE DOORS
We hadn't bothered to get dressed to drive back to my place. The roads were quiet on Sunday afternoon, and it was not that odd to see two shirtless men in a Grand Cherokee on such a warm, sunny day in the country. Of course, much of the time, only one shirtless man was visible, because I sucked Bryce off again on the way home-twice. I just had to dress briefly to buy some provisions, while Bryce sat naked in the parking lot. I swear, that man is even more brazen than I am.
Since Bryce didn't have an opener to my garage door, we had to get out on the driveway and streak to the service entrance, since I did not know the code for the box, either. I hoped my neighbors would prove to be a tolerant lot.
I sang out a greeting as we entered, and Lonnie and Calvin came running down the stairs excitedly. They were as naked as we.
"Well... tell us!" demanded Lonnie.
I was stricken with uncharacteristic shyness. Bryce, as always, gave no sign of discomfiture.
"Want to make it a double wedding?"
Calvin and Lonnie whooped. I took that as a 'yes.' The two of them grabbed the two of us in a wild, leaping group hug that soon turned into a group take-down, as we all collapsed laughing in a pile of naked bodies on the foyer rug. By the time we struggled to our feet, we all had hard-ons.
"Uh, excuse me, but I don't recall there ever having been a proposal of marriage. Booking a wedding may be a bit premature here," I suggested.
Bryce lowered himself to one knee before me. He took my hands into his gently, and raised them to his lips.
"James Pendleton Carter the Fifth, I love you more than my life, and I cannot live any longer without you. Will you marry me?"
Lonnie poked Calvin in the ribs. "I wore my best clothes to propose to you, Sweetcakes."
"Yeah and you did it in front of my parents, you baboon."
"Easy, guys. Bryce is wearing his best outfit, too. And he knows all his lines. Bryce, you are my one true love, the best part of me. With all my heart, I will marry you." He stood and wrapped his arms around me, and kissed me with a solemn strength that sent a quiver down to my toes.
"Well, this is all very uplifting and inspiring," said Calvin, "but if we might interrupt just for a moment...."
We looked their way, and they explained that they were planning to be at the club tonight. Lonnie let it slip that Dalton had called earlier to suggest that they make themselves scarce, because I would be needing privacy. They had an urgent matter they wanted to take up with us themselves, though, before leaving. Calvin was the spokesman.
"Hey, guys, tomorrow, Lonnie and I are going for our STD tests, down at Dr. DuPree's lab. We were wondering if y'all would like to come with us, get started on the all-clear to go bareback in a few months."
That didn't sound like all that hot a date, but Bryce and I had been planning to do the same thing anyway. We readily agreed to go first thing in the morning. But Calvin was not finished.
"Well, we've been talking, Lonnie and I. O. K., now don't get me wrong-we've figured out we do really love one another. I was an idiot not to see it sooner...we're serious about this marriage thing...but the thing is, guys, we are some horny sonsobitches. We can fuck each other's lights out and still be hard! And we're not through school, and don't even go to the same college. Shit. And you two, you're going to be in separate towns a lot of the time. Well, we think we all are going to need more safe people for sex than just us two. What do y'all think about us all agreeing to have faithful polygamous sex just amongst us? And never have more than a blow-job, receiving end, from any outsider? Maybe that would help us not to stray really badly, and all stay healthy, if we had an approved outlet more handy. Hell, I'm saying this badly, but you get the idea. What do y'all think?"
Bryce looked at me and raised his brows, smiling coyly. I matched his expression, and it seemed that little devil imps popped out onto both our shoulders.
"Bryce, you've got to call this one. I'm going to be right here in Sex Central a lot of the time, and it looks to me like you're the one more likely to get left to The Hand. If it bothers you at all for me to be with them, then we shouldn't do it."
"Guess you didn't know, my school is in Columbia, Jamie," laughed Calvin.
Well, no I didn't. I didn't remember even hearing where Calvin went to school.
So we hit upon a plan that should be workable for all of us, and even save me some money. The four of us would take this house as our principal residence, using the two suites we were presently occupying. Neither of the guys would need housing at their colleges in the fall: Calvin would move into the spare room at Bryce's condo. Sometimes the four of us would be here, sometimes there, many times in various combinations between the two places. We'd try to see to it that all of us had some kind of sex partner available as much of the time as possible. But of course, we'd also try to be with our own mate whenever circumstances allowed. We'd all stick with condoms until we passed our second HIV test in 90 days. After that, it would be open season on bare skin just among us.
Calvin and Lonnie put on the briefest of shorts and wife-beaters to drive over to the club for the evening, now in an even more exuberant mood than earlier. I called after them, "O. K., guys, remember the good behavior starts now!"
"Yes, Mother," retorted Calvin. And off they went convulsed in laughter at their cleverness in coming up with this whole plan.
I put my arms around Bryce and laid my head on his shoulder.
"Are you really O. K. with this? Really?"
He nodded. "If other men are going to fuck you, I'd rather it be them. Of course, I'd prefer it if I get to watch! But really, I want you to be happy. And me, too! We'll both need their mouths and asses sometimes, I'm sure. Yes, I think it's a good arrangement. I'm not going to be too jealous."
It was time to prepare for our mysterious conference with Peter and Dalton. There wasn't much to do. Bryce carried the groceries, and I got a big pot from the pantry. We took them out to the pool garden, where I filled the pot with water and crab boil, and Bryce lit the propane. While the water was heating, I scrubbed up the potatoes, and he shucked the corn. What a help it was to do the prep-work outside and naked! Virtually no clean-up!
At six-fifteen, the water was boiling merrily. I gently dropped the potatoes into the pot, and slid the bread into the oven in the cabana. Bryce shredded cabbage for slaw. Five minutes later, into the pot went the sausage. Bryce made a pitcher of martinis. In another five, the corn joined the potatoes and sausage. We just had one more addition to go, and it was 6:30. Bryce strained up four martinis into stemmed glasses. We settled into poolside chairs to sip ours.
"Are you sure we should be naked for this?"
He laughed. "I've been naked around them all of my life. I'm not likely to stop now! It would be a sad thing for a doctor to be hung up about nudity. And being docs, they're sticklers about time. They'll be here any second, that's why I poured their drinks up."
"What about your grandmother? Any chance she may come, too? Did you not invite her?" Bad time for that idea to pop into my head.
"She left yesterday for Paris. Didn't you know?'
"Now how would I know that if no one tells me?"
Bryce was deeply penitent. "Shit, I'm so sorry. I fucked up. I've had my mind totally on sex. Well, she postponed her departure because of the funeral. But she went with a friend. Jamie, it's how she copes-with everything-she has her own life, you see. She travels a lot nowadays."
It was not the first time I had realized that the Carter and DuPree women did not have the ideal situation. Money can't buy everything, but thank God we all had it, because it surely did help smooth over some rough spots. I thought of my own mother, comfortably ensconced in her home in West Chester. She even had a serious love interest herself now.
The back garden gate opened, and Peter and Dalton entered. Both naked. I chuckled aloud. So much for that bit of worry.
They both looked damn good for their respective ages. With his white hair and tanned, trim body, Peter had a dignified and aristocratic bearing about him even without a stitch on. Dalton, in his mid-fifties now, had some streaks of gray in his full head of hair, but his body was in great shape. I thought, blushing, of a couple of professors in his age group that I had had sex with, who were not nearly as sexy looking as he.
They were as cordial as ever, but there was a hint of tension between them. Knowing upper-class Southerners, I realized that their calm demeanor could conceal any crisis between burning the toast to a comet heading our way in fifteen minutes. I would just have to wait until they chose to reveal it to me.
Bryce handed out martinis, and we settled down. Almost immediately, I had to jump up and toss the shrimp into the pot. With only five minutes to go now, Bryce served up coleslaw and set the bread and butter and four beers on the table.
It took both Bryce and me to lift the huge pot and haul it, steaming, to the sink and strain the boiling water out. That left the food, potatoes, sausages, corn, and shrimp, to dump into a huge wooden trencher my grand-parents kept for this very purpose.
We settled at the table to eat. For half an hour, there was small talk or no talk, while we enjoyed the meal and sipped our beers. Dalton drained the martini pitcher, too. Finally, Peter spoke up.
"Perhaps we'd be more comfortable in the spa now?"
"With more beers? Or brandy?" I asked.
"I'll stick with beer," he said. I got four more out, and we moved to the whirlpool.
For a few minutes, Peter seemed lost in thought as he composed himself. Dalton was uncharacteristically quiet, even for him. Bryce and I said nothing as we waited. At last, Peter launched into the business of the evening. Once he began, his monologue flowed almost uninterrupted. It was quite a saga.
PETER'S STORY
"I think I should begin with J. P. and me. That takes me back quite a ways. Bryce knows some of this, and Jamie, you may have figured more out than I'm aware of. But I'll try to cover the essentials as briefly as I can.
"We were neighbors, out in the piedmont country where we grew up. Both of our family farms are still in family hands, about a mile apart. Of course, we went to school together, played sports together, sometimes got together to ride horses, hunt, fish, play games, and so forth. It wasn't until we were in high school that we made the awful discovery. We were attracted to one another sexually. Neither of us had ever heard of such a thing between boys. There was no one to talk to about it. We knew what a sissy was, and we were definitely not sissies, quite the opposite, really. We both loved sports and outdoor activities of all kinds. This was during World War II, mind you. There were almost no young to middle-aged men about. If the war had not ended when it did, we'd have gone into the military, too, right after high school.
"We became inseparable, but in those more innocent days, it caused no scandal. We were just best friends, that was all. But in truth, we were running around naked, riding our horses naked through the fields, fishing in the buff--right on that property where we later built our lake-and figuring out dozens of different ways boys could have sex together. We thought we invented most of them. Hell, we thought we were the first homosexual males in human history, to the extent that we thought of that at all. But something happened to the two of us in those days: we fell in love. And in over fifty years, we never fell out of it....Jamie, you've seen old photos of J. P. in his younger days. I can tell you, they do not do him a bit of justice. If you could have seen him then, how handsome and manly he was. He was, quite simply, the most beautiful man I ever saw in my life. And the most wonderful. I miss him terribly. And even in all the events of this awful week, I have not been permitted to show it."
Peter fought back tears, and we waited for him to continue.
"I was also interested in girls, more than J. P. was, though with his looks, he had to fight them off. I had a few girlfriends on the side, and sometimes we double-dated. We made the decision that we were going to be as much like other men as we could. We would marry, have children, have careers, and families. We would be upstanding members of our community. But we would also have one another, whatever the risks. We went to the University; then I went to med school and J. P. to law school. We both married within a year or so of one another, while still in school, to very pretty and sweet, socially well-placed girls. I don't know why we rushed into that, trying desperately to be normal, I guess. It was common to marry early in those days, because there was so little sex, with nice girls, anyway, outside of marriage. Anyway, we came back to Hebron and set up our practices. We worked hard, and both really tried to be everything we should be. Much of our sex drive got diverted, I think, into our professions, and we both became quite successful. But there was always that emptiness in both our lives, without each other. Oh, we were together when we could be. We bought the creek property and built the lake. We bought these lots and built our houses back to back, so that we could have some access to one another privately from time to time. Our marriages were not miserable ones. I tell you frankly, we both loved our wives. Unfortunately for the women, we loved each other more.
"But I'm getting ahead of myself now. Because what I need to tell you about is the birth of our two sons. Of course, there was no birth control. But in any case, Emmy and I were actually trying to have a child, because that was what she wanted, and I wanted to compensate her in any way I could for my shortcomings to her. Months went by, and she did not conceive. Then, we got the news that your grandmother was expecting. J. P., the one less interested in straight sex, had succeeded where I had failed.
"I had contacts in the med school, of course, and I arranged to get a sperm count done on the Q. T. It came back low. I had been working hard, but mostly firing blanks. Barring a miracle, it was unlikely that I would be able to impregnate my wife. I looked upon it as a judgment upon me, for my perversion. But why must she suffer because of my shame?
"So, Jamie, and Bryce, I made the miracle happen. We didn't live here yet, of course, but we lived in the two halves of a duplex in the city. Well, Emmy was using the temperature method to determine when she was ovulating, something she had just learned about from one of my women classmates in med school, very advanced for the time. She announced one morning that she thought she was ovulating, and that night would be our optimum time to make a baby. I, of course, knew better, but what was I to do? How could I fail her on every front related to our life together?
Well, I got in touch with J. P. I told him to find a way to meet me out in the back behind the garage at 10:00. I said I had to see him, could not wait any longer. After dinner, Emmy and I had a glass of wine and a leisurely evening together. Around 9:45, I told her to prepare herself for bed, and I would be with her shortly-I had a couple of things to take care of first.
What I had to take care of was J. P. I met him behind the garage, and-well, I must tell you just as it was-I sucked him off. But I didn't swallow. I turned immediately, left him with his pants still around his ankles, and I went straight back into our apartment. I stripped off all my clothes in the hallway. I found Emmy, just as planned, waiting for me in the bed. And I went straight to her and planted your grandfather's seed in her vagina. We then had sex as usual, as if the other was merely foreplay. I was fully aware of what I was doing. I even knew there wasn't much chance for success. But it did work, and when Dalton was born, blood type confirmed that J. P. was the biological father.
He paused to let this bombshell sink in with Bryce and me. I was stunned. But I was most concerned about Bryce, as this affected him so much more than me. I glanced at him.
Bryce was not looking at Peter, but at Dalton, and I understood more deeply why I loved this man. He had realized instantly that the one most affected by the confession was his father. He was busily weighing how Dalton was dealing with this admission concerning his birth and ancestry. Now Dalton spoke for the first time.
"I've known for ten years, Bryce. Don't worry about me, I'm fine. I could wish to have known it even earlier," he glanced at Peter, who was staring at the frothing water in the middle of the pool, "but that was not to be."
Tears formed on Bryce's cheeks. "Then why not tell me earlier? Why wait till now?"
Peter looked up. "Send all blame my way, son, because I am the cause of all of this. I advised him not to tell you, because of what came next. There is somewhat more to this story, and I'm afraid it doesn't get any better. First, let me say that, while my actions in this are the least honorable ones of my life, they aren't my greatest sin. Bryce, what I did gave me my son, and eventually, gave me you, too. However reprehensible I was, especially to Emmy, I cannot regret that. When I told J. P. about it, he of course, was magnanimous. He would gladly have given me all the sperm I needed, had I asked. But I could not bring myself to do that. He quickly and easily forgave my deception. For Emmy, it was harder. I could not tell her the truth. But she is a smart woman. How could she not notice that her growing son looked so much more like my handsome best friend than he did like me? Eventually, she checked the birth certificate and saw the blood type. She knew it was not biologically possible for Dalton to be my son. She knew she had not been unfaithful to me. She remembered the events of the night of the conception. And so, she put together what I had done. It was not easy, and I did not deserve it, but I am glad to tell you that she too has forgiven me."
There was a period of silence. Then I spoke up. "You said there was more to the story?"
Dalton cleared his throat. "Well, I will tell this part, if I can." His voice was like gravel, and I realized he was struggling not to break down."
"Jamie, your daddy and I grew up together, we used to say, like brothers, not knowing we were brothers. I can't tell you when we fell in love with one another. I don't think we were ever not in love. We were together every day. Like our fathers, we were active and athletic. We played football and baseball, the two big sports around here, and we were jocks at the school. Hell, we were president and vice president of our class every year. We actually alternated. In warm weather, we grew up out at the lake, running around naked with our dads, often with friends, swimming and fishing. It was the perfect childhood. By that time, we lived in these two houses. This pool was not yet here, but the gate was. We hardly ever slept apart. One or the other of us would sneak out of the house every night and creep into bed with the other. Our mothers knew to expect two kids in bed in the morning, or none, but hardly ever just one.
"We started having sex at thirteen. I'm sorry if that is more than you want to know, but it's just the truth. And once we started, there was no stopping us. But we did well in school, too, and soon enough, we were off at the University, living together of course, with student deferments from the draft. We followed our fathers' footsteps. I went to med school, he went to law. But then, things began to go wrong for us.
Jamie, your grandmother could be difficult, I think you know that. She was always what they call 'high strung.' Over the years, she had two or three kind of genteel 'nervous breakdowns.' I'm not blaming her, it was not easy for her, surrounded as she was by gay men. But from the 60's on, she was pretty wigged out on drugs and alcohol. She was the original Valium queen here locally. And she could get pretty shrill, O. K.? She was after Jimmy all the time to get away from me, get a girl friend, all of that. Finally, he did. He got engaged to your mother, and he told me he could not see me anymore.
"I was devastated, of course. I later found out, he was, too, but I didn't know that then. I thought he didn't want to hear from me, and I forced myself to oblige, though it hurt like all hell. There was certainly no other man for me. So I chose a woman, who became my wife and Bryce's mother." He looked appreciatively in Bryce's direction.
"I hurled myself into my career. The marriage was a sham from the first. We stuck it out for years, though, I can't imagine why. But when we split, I dropped Jimmy a note to let him know. I was aware he visited Hebron from time to time, and I did, too, of course, but we didn't see one another. Well, that changed. We got together, and it was as if we had been apart twelve days instead of twelve years. We mostly met at the lake. I think you were there one of those times, Jamie.
"Well, your mom is also not a dumb woman. She caught on and forbade Jimmy to see me. All that did was make him more careful, and keep you out of the equation. But it was so hard, and we loved one another so much. Finally, he decided to leave her and be with me. We were so happy-we could hardly wait."
Here, he broke down weeping. Bryce was sniffling, too. We waited him out. At last, Peter took up the tale.
"Boys, that was when I told Dalton the story I have just told you. Now, in hindsight, I realize my timing was pathetic. I should have told them both years earlier, or not at all. But I foolishly thought that they should know before they took up living together as a couple that they were biological brothers. So I did it."
Now Dalton was sobbing almost uncontrollably. Bryce slid over to his father and put his arms around him. Dalton wept onto Bryce's strong, bare shoulder while Peter continued.
"Well, it did not go down well. I should have known. Dalton was very badly hurt by my deception. He immediately got on a plane for Philadelphia. Jim was not at home. Dalton went to his office, though it was after hours. He got the security man to let him in by claiming to be Jim's brother. He went to Jim's office, and found him there in flagrante delicto, with Andre. To spare you the details, there was a row. Dalton spilled the beans on me, not under the most opportune circumstances. It was a big, unfortunate blow-up."
Now Dalton was stony-faced, but no longer crying. He gamely, but hoarsely, took up the tale.
"That night was the worst experience of my life, except, I guess, when I heard what Jim did later. I know it was the biggest mistake of my life, and I'll never get over it. Boys, don't ever say awful things to one another. If you are hurt and angry, for God's sake, shut the fuck up. I don't know how we could both be so cruel, but we were. I was cut to the quick by his betrayal with Andre, and he was blown out of the water by my news. It was just awful. And we were never to have the opportunity to recover from it.
"Jimmy was his mother's son, in many ways. More emotionally reactive than me, more given to see things negatively. Though, I was plenty emotional and negative then, too. I was so stupid. And we were both so stubborn, neither one able to make the first move toward reconciliation. I knew he had a tendency to dark moods, but I didn't know how he was eating himself up. He went into a deep depression, and of course, you know what happened."
My mind was numbed by the enormity of this tragedy. My heart crumbled in sorrow for my unfortunate father and this fine man who loved him even in death. I started to snivel, too. Bryce still clung to his father, and tears poured quietly down his cheeks as well.
Dalton raised his head after a couple of minutes and kissed Bryce tenderly on the mouth. "Go to Jamie," he said. "He has to be your main concern now, son. We must live with what was, and what might have been, Pop and I. But not you. You two have the opportunity to do it differently. No closets for you, not anymore."
Bryce returned his father's kiss lovingly. "You're the best father in the world," he said.
And to Peter, "And I have the best grandfather, too. Two of them, I guess."
He slid across the bench to me in the spa and took me into his arms. "But most of all, I have the best friend and lover. The best partner. The best husband." He kissed me even more passionately than he had Dalton.
I pulled away in a moment. "God in Heaven!" I exclaimed. Do you realize that practically every good-looking man we know is our cousin?"