Empire Ch 2
The story below is a work of fiction. It may contain erotic or sexually explicit behavior between males. If you find this subject offensive or are too young, please exit now.
The author reserves copyright privileges as of October 2004. This work may not be posted on any other website nor reproduced, except for personal use, without the written permission of the author.
If you’d like to comment or just say ‘hi”, my e-mail address is JETjt@aol.com. John Tucker.
EMPIRE
Chapter Two
An hour later, Ron and Matt’s home
Ron and Matt sat in the family room conversing with Tyler and Dan when Ronnie and Jerry walked in through the kitchen entry from the garage. Douglas and Eddie were in the kitchen making a snack when the two older boys joined them.
“Hi Ronnie, hi Jer”, Douglas said looking up at the new arrivals. “You guys know Eddie don’t ya?”
“Sure. It’s been a while though,” Jerry said smiling and extending his hand in greeting.
Eddie shook Jerry’s hand then offered his hand to Ronnie. Ronnie took it, then as their hands grasped, winced in pain.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Eddie apologized seeing pained expression on Ronnie’s face. “What happened to your hand?”
“Oh, I just got into a little scuffle. Nothin’ I couldn’t handle.”
“Would you care to be a bit more specific,” Matt requested from the doorway to the family room. “Grab a snack and come on into the family room.”
Matt retreated back to where Ron, Tyler and Dan were seated.
“What’s up Babe?” Ron asked.
“It seems that Ronnie was involved in some kind of altercation and injured his hand. I asked them to join us in here.”
Three minutes later the four boys entered the room with Jerry carrying a tray heaped with snacks of every description. He set the tray on a coffee table in front of the four men and the boys settled down on the floor on the opposite side. Jerry removed a stack of small plates from the tray, taking one for himself before sitting down beside Ronnie.
“There’s enough for everyone,” Douglas announced. “Help yourself.”
Ron smiled at the politeness of the boys who were obviously waiting for the older men to take the first shot at the goodies. He took a plate, then put a few chips and a cookie on it before returning to his seat. After Matt, Tyler and Dan had done likewise, the tray became the object of a youthful free-for-all, and emerged from the foray bare.
Everyone, especially the boys, dug into the snacks. Tyler rose from his seat and went over to the bar.
“Who’s for a drink?” he asked to both the younger and older men.
The three other older men all declined the offer to refresh their drinks, while the younger ones all asked for a variety of soft drinks. After a couple of minutes, all had received their order, and Tyler again sat down next to Dan.
“Now you can tell us about your hand,” Matt offered with insistence.
“Oh it was nothing much,” Ronnie said trying to downplay the incident.
“Try us,” Ron responded.
“Well,” Ronnie said hesitantly, “We were going back to the Honda after the movie and two older and much bigger high school guys blocked our path and started calling us names. We tried to ignore them, but they were insistent. I guess they were trying to pick a fight. I talked to ‘em, but they didn’t want to listen. One of ‘em finally backed down, but the other wanted to take both Jerry and me on. When I became convinced that there was no way out but to fight, I told Jerry to stand back. I didn’t think it was fair that the guy take two of us on, even though he started it.”
“Yes,” Matt agreed, “It probably would have gotten the other guy back in the fight.”
“That’s not likely,” Jerry added. “Three guys from Thornton showed up just as Ronnie was squaring off with the guy. Ronnie just asked them to guard his back. Then he gave the bully another chance to let us by. The guy tried a sucker punch, but Ronnie was too fast for him. Ronnie flipped the guy over his back and he just got madder, got up, then charged. Ronnie dodged, and tripped him up and the guy went sprawling. When he attacked again, he received a punch to the solar plexus and collapsed on a car hood trying to get his breath. That was it!”
“How did your hand get hurt, Ronnie?” Tyler asked.
“I guess it didn’t take your self defense lessons very good. My fingers got in the way and I kinda jammed ‘em when I punched the guy. They’re okay, just a bit sore.”
“I’m glad you acted responsibly by only defending yourselves,” Matt commented. “What did the guys say to you?”
Ronnie looked at Jerry for a long minute.
“He called us fags and a bunch of other names.” Ronnie said looking down at the floor. “Then he ordered us to suck his dick. We ignored him, but thought he was drunk and showing off for his girlfriend or something and were sure that he wasn’t going to let us by without trying to physically humiliate us.”
“Who was he?” Ron asked with rising anger.
“It doesn’t matter Dad,” Ronnie said. “It’s all over.”
“I hope so,” Ron said forcing himself to cool down. “If you have any more trouble, just let me know.”
“Dad, you, Matt and Tyler have taught us right. We tried to avoid the fight, but when we had to we put ‘em down thanks to Tyler’s lessons and training. I’m sure he won’t bother us any more. I just wish all young gay guys had the opportunity to learn self-defense the way we did. ”
Ron looked into Tyler’s eyes. Tyler hesitated, then shrugged his shoulders in defeat.
“Okay Ron**,**” he said with resignation, I’ll call Thornton and arrange with Leonard Johnson to give some self-defense lessons to the boys there. I’m not sure when I’ll find the time, but I’ll make the time.”
Ron smiled. He was very proud of both the boys and even more proud that he had such a giving brother.
* * *
Two hours later, Douglas’s room.
“Man, that Ronnie is something else!” Eddie said as he sat propped up on pillows in Douglas’s large bed. “I can’t believe he beat that bigger guy up.”
“Yeah, but as Tyler always says, ‘It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog’.”
“Huh?” Eddie responded not quite catching the nuance.
“It means that the more determined fighter will almost always win even if the other guy is bigger.”
“Oh,” Eddie said, thinking again about the expression. “Well, I don’t like to fight.”
“Very few people do, especially me,” Douglas admitted. “But I will say that I feel a lot more confident now.”
“Why is that?” Eddie asked.
“Well, in spite of my disabilities, Tyler thought it would be a good idea if I learned some self-defense. Of course Ron and Matt had to get permission from the doctor first. Tyler went along and explained to the doctor what he was going to teach me, so he would know if I would likely injure myself. The doctor gave permission and Tyler began teaching me enough so that I could do a reasonable job defending myself if I have to. You can imagine how hard it is for me, but I’m glad Tyler’s doing it.”
“I guess if Tyler comes to Thornton, I’ll have to learn,” Eddie said a bit dejected. “I really don’t want to, but I’ll do it.”
“Yeah, I think you should. You know Jerry could have done the same thing that Ronnie did. I think that Ronnie just volunteered because Jerry is smaller and was sick for awhile.”
“Wow! Ronnie really is my hero,” Eddie responded.
“Heck, I was hoping it would be me,” Douglas said with a wink and a grin.
“Maybe it will be soon,” Eddie admitted. “I have to say that I’ve really enjoyed being with you this evening. You’re a great guy and we have so much in common, especially writing.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you knew more about me,” Douglas said with a frown.
“It couldn’t be much worse than me,” Eddie said, contradicting his host. “When I came to Las Vegas, I was pretty lost.”
“What happened?” Douglas asked.
“I guess I’ll have to tell you the whole story,” Eddie replied. “It takes a while.”
“That’s okay, we have all night,” Douglas offered.
“I’m from Champaign, Illinois,” Eddie began. “My mother’s family had lots of money. My dad is the grandson of the writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote the Tarzan books. His family had a famous name but not much money. When he and my mother married, my mother’s father put my dad in business, and with the help of my mother, they made a lot of money.”
“Besides me at home, there was my little brother Frankie who was two years younger than me. We got along really good, and were pretty happy. We both went to a private school, where I didn’t have many friends, but I did have one special one. His name was Billy Dupont. We were best buds and both liked school and writing and all that. He and I used to hang out together all the time and after we got a bit older, started playing around. We finally admitted to each other that we liked guys better than girls. He was staying over one night at my house, and when we were in my room getting ready for bed, we started doin’ stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?” Douglas asked.
“Well, we had already done hugging, kissing and touching each other to get each other off. That night we started out like normal, but ended up doing the 69 thing. When we were ‘almost there’, my mother walked in on us.”
“Oh shit!” Douglas swore.
“Yeah! She hit the ceiling. It was nothing though, compared to what happened when she told my dad the next morning. He came after me with a vengeance and started hitting me and yelling at me. The next thing I knew, I was standing outside my house with my bag in my hand. He threw me out.”
“Gosh! What did you do?”
“My granddad had left me a small trust fund that provided money for me each month. I went to see Mr. Mack, the trustee and he gave me some money, and said he’d send me a small check every month. It wasn’t enough to live on, but it was enough to keep me from starving. I took the money he gave me and bought a bus ticket to Los Angeles. On the bus I sat next to a young guy who said that L.A. was a huge place and a town where it was easy to get swallowed up, so when we got here to Las Vegas, I got off and decided to try here first. The first night I stayed in a cheap motel, but I could see that I couldn’t afford to stay there or I’d run out of money real fast. I went to the youth homeless shelter the next night. It was crowded, but it was there I found the pamphlet for the Thornton Center. It sounded good, so I signed up.”
“So did you move there right away?”
“No, it was a lot more complicated than that. The Center was new and hadn’t opened yet. The day before it opened all the gay guys from the youth shelter that were going to move were invited to a welcoming party here at Ron and Matt’s. We were having a great time, when Matt got a call that my brother Frankie had killed himself.”
“How awful!” Douglas said, shocked.
“Yeah. Matt got stuck giving me the bad news. The next day he took me back for the funeral. My mom wanted me back, but my dad was still against it. There was a big fight and Matt and my Mom told my Dad off, but then my Mom decided that I should come back here until my Dad changed his attitude. We stayed for the funeral then returned to Las Vegas and I moved into the Center.”
“Why did your brother kill himself?”
“He was gay too. I knew it, but I kept my mouth shut so he wouldn’t get thrown out like I did. He had a friend that he liked and one day at school they got caught doin’ stuff in a bathroom by a bully that hated him. The guy said he was going to tell Frankie’s parents and get him in all kinds of trouble. Frankie believed him and knew what happened to me, so that night he killed himself.”
“I’m really sorry, Eddie,” Douglas said softly with genuine sympathy in his voice.
“Thanks. I was really crushed when my brother died, but now I can at least think about him without crying.”
“It must have been terrible. Have you been at Thornton ever since?”
“Yes and no,” Eddie replied. “After I got back here my mom filed for divorce from my dad and wanted me to come back there last summer, so I went. I was not there even a week, when she started going out with some guy. After another week, I met him. He seemed ok at first, but as the summer went on, I came to believe that he was after my mother’s money. That wasn’t the worst part though. My mom really liked him, but he wanted to do sex stuff with me. I tried to tell my mom, but by then she was hooked and didn’t believe me. I told her I wanted to come back here. It took some doing, but she finally agreed.”
“Wow! That’s quite a story!” Douglas said shaking his head.
“Yeah, so here I am.”
“That Thornton Center place must be okay, if you came back to it.”
“Yes, it is. My house parents are real nice and the houses and recreation stuff are really good. The guys are like brothers too. It took a bit of getting used to, being around so many other guys all the time, but it was far better than being home.”
“Do you have any trouble at school? I mean, like, for living in a gay boys home?”
“Yeah, at first we did, but some of the older tough guys from Thornton were there and they protected those of us that were younger. One of ‘em even laid-out one of his older classmates that kept taunting him for being queer. The only witnesses were a couple of guys from Thornton who lied like a son-of-a-bitch to keep the guy out of trouble. Honestly, I think the principal knew, but he also knew that the guy who got punched was a bully, and when we stuck together, he couldn’t do anything.”
“That’s cool,” Douglas said smiling.
“Now you know my story,” Eddie said, “you want to tell me yours?”
“I guess I might as well,” Douglas decided as he spoke.
After a moment ’s hesitation, he began to relay his own tale.
“You’ve noticed that I’m handicapped,” Douglas said more as a statement than as a question.
“Yeah,” Eddie said. “I know it must be tough on you.”
“Thanks, and yes it is,” Douglas replied. “It’s the beginning of my story. It’s a sad story, but a true one. You see I was born this way. Actually I was far worse, but I’ll get into that as we go along. Some of this I really don’t know from memory, only what I’ve been told. You see, I never knew my parents.”
“That’s terrible,” Eddie said.
“In my case, probably not. As I grew older, I learned a little bit about me as a baby. You see my real parents weren’t married, and my mother was a substance abuser. Even after she got pregnant with me, she didn’t stop. I’m sure that’s why I was born a cripple. Anyway, after she saw me, she didn’t want me. When I was only 6 weeks old, I was left in a dumpster to die. Often I wished that I had.”
“Oh man!” Eddie said in shock. “How could anyone do that to their baby?”
“I’ll never know. Anyway, I was found and the child protection people came and put me in the hospital, then in an orphanage. They were able to trace who my mother was and she was tried and convicted of attempted murder. She got a life sentence, so I’ll never see her.”
“The people in the orphanage did the best they could, but all I can say is that I was little and didn’t know what was happening. It was probably the only time I was totally happy until I came here to this house. I grew up in the orphanage. I never went into foster care because who would want to raise a crippled kid who couldn’t even walk?”
“But you’re walking now,” Eddie observed.
“Yes, and it’s still difficult. I can get around better now, but the operations and therapy were awful.”
“Did they do that at the orphanage?”
“Yes, a little. They had very little money, but there was a Doctor Jaynes that handled the orphanagework ‘Pro Bono’, that means for-free. The state paid for the medicine, but he gave his time for nothing. He was older and retired from his regular practice. He took an interest in me and got some really good doctors that owed him, I guess, to work on me. Anyway, I had some operations on my legs and clubfeet, and some limited work on my deformed spine. It was just enough so that I could learn to walk and could hobble around for short distances with canes and braces. Most of the time I was in a wheelchair. They made me work real hard to learn to walk. Every day I had physical therapy. It was awful, but I was grateful, since it seemed the people there really wanted to help me. As I grew, it continued to be difficult as my legs didn’t grow at the same rate and I had to continue to work on my therapy. By the time I was 10 or so, I knew that I would never be totally cured, no matter how hard I worked. I decided that I wanted to die, so I tried to kill myself.”
“Oh no!” Eddie responded, “You didn’t!”
“Yes, but I was unsuccessful, obviously. After they patched me up, Doctor Jaynes, the older doctor, talked with me for a long time. Then he got a psychiatrist friend of his, Doctor Tompkins to see me. It helped, and after a few months I decided I could go on.”
“I bet your friends were shocked,” Eddie guessed.
“I had no friends. When I was real little, I couldn’t play or do anything with the others. I just lay in bed. As I got older they taught me to read. I could only do what I could do from my bed. I watched TV, played video games, but mostly I read. None of the other kids wanted me around. I grew up being only with the adults that took care of me. After I tried to kill myself, I was forced into being with the other kids. They made fun of me, but I finally got a friend. His name was Franklin. He was black, and the only black kid that nobody wanted for foster care. The other kids treated him badly, so we kinda gravitated toward each other. You know, the two kids who were ‘different’.”
“I know a bit of that,” Eddie replied. “Not as bad as you, of course, but I was always a loner. I liked to read and did good in school. I was kinda the school freak. I guess they call that a nerd.”
“Well, I was the freak,” Douglas said sadly. “The kids never let me forget it either. Only Franklin was nice to me. Anyway, we became pals and a couple more years passed. We then began to really grow. Franklin began shooting up and got a lot bigger than me. Heck he was bigger than almost all the kids and he was barely 13. I got bigger too, and fortunately got a bit stronger and could get around better. I was lots smaller than Franklin, in all areas but one. I probably shouldn’t say this, but I grew a really big dick and big balls. It made me even more of a freak with the other kids. Franklin was almost as big as me, down there. Pretty soon Franklin started fighting with the kids that picked on us. He was really gentle inside, but was always in trouble, ‘cause he’d had enough of being ridiculed and more than for himself, he’d lose it if anyone made fun of me.”
“He was your white knight,” Eddie remarked.
“He, he, he,” Douglas giggled. It was like the irony of a black boy being his ‘white knight’ overcame the gloom of the story. “I guess you could say that, in a manner of speaking,”
Eddie suddenly caught the joke and burst out laughing too.
“So what happened to Franklin?” Eddie asked.
“It’s a bit complicated,” Douglas answered. “As I told you we were best buds. I don’t quite know how to say this,” he continued, “uh…. I guess you could say that we became …intimate. At first we learned about jacking off by ourselves, then we started doing it together. Things kinda progressed from there.”
“That’s cool with me. All the guys at Thornton, including me, are gay.”
“Wow! That must be really great!”
“Yes,” Eddie said. “But everyone is pretty cool about it. I mean, with one exception, if you met any of us on the street, you wouldn’t guess that we are gay. A few of the guys have coupled up, you know, like boyfriends, but most of us are ‘unattached.’
“I’ll hurry up and finish my story,” Douglas said. “Things began to get bad. About the time we were 13, one really mean dude caught Franklin and me suckin’ each other off one day in the woods. The guy called us a lot of names and said he was gonna tell on us. Franklin tackled him before he could get away, and beat him to a pulp. I mean I was screaming for Franklin to stop, but he had had all he could take. Franklin just went out of his head and just kept pounding and pounding. Finally someone heard me screaming at Franklin, and one of the staff guys came in and pulled Franklin off. The other kid was about dead and only with luck did he survive. They arrested Franklin and took him away. I was told that they sent him to reform school. I never saw him again.”
Tears filled Douglas’ eyes as he thought of his lost friend. Eddie moved close beside him, wrapping his arm around Douglas’ back, drawing him into a comforting hug.
“Shortly after Franklin left, two things happened. First, the taunting started up again. I was miserable. I could have stood it if Franklin had been there, but he was gone for good. It was like the kids had been saving all their meanness up ‘til Franklin was gone. The second thing that happened was that Dr. Jaynes came to see me. He said that there was a foundation in Las Vegas that often helped boys in need. He said that there were operations that I was now old enough and big enough for, that could make me much better, but they were too expensive for the orphanage, or even his friends. He told me about Ron Turner who ran the foundation, and that he was going to contact Ron and see if he could get him to help me. He said that he was going to start the giving himself, and gave me 2-$100 bills for me to hold as the beginning of the fund to fix me up. When things were bad with the boys, I’d go to my bed and pull out the money and look at it. It was the only thing that kept me going at times.”
“So that’s how you got here?” Eddie asked. “No. Weeks went by and I didn’t hear from Dr. Jaynes. After while I began asking why he didn’t come to see me. Finally the head of the orphanage took me in her office and told me that Dr. Jaynes had had a stroke and had died. I felt like my future had ended. I went into deep depression. I just wanted to die too. All my remaining hopes and dreams were gone. The next night I was laying on my bed just feeling sorry for myself, thinking about dying. My hand accidentally went into the hiding place where I had the $200. As I realized what I was touching, I decided to run away, and go to Las Vegas to find Ron Turner. I waited until the next day, taking an apple and a couple of pieces of bread from the lunchroom. After the lights went out, I slipped out of my bed and gathered my few things that I had put in a paper bag, and left the orphanage. I had been out of the orphanage to go to school and to the doctor’s, so I knew my way around okay.”
“I went to the bus terminal with my money and tried to buy a ticket. They said I was too young. I argued, but the guy threatened to call security, so I went away. Before I could leave the building, a guy stopped me and said that he’d heard me trying to get a ticket. I told him my story with a few lies thrown in, so that he wouldn’t send me back to the orphanage. He said he would buy the ticket for me, if I’d give him the money to buy it.
“Gosh, that was nice of him,” Eddie said.
“I thought so too, at the time. I gave him one of the $100 bills and told him I wanted a ticket for Las Vegas. He told me to stay hidden so they wouldn’t see me. He went up to the counter, then suddenly took off for the side door of the bus station with my money. I was too far away and way too slow to catch him.
“How awful! Eddie said shaking his head.
“Yeah, I felt lost. First Franklin, then Dr. Jaynes, then my money got stolen. I just sat down on the floor and began to cry. After a few minutes, an older guy came from the bathroom and saw me. I think he was about 20. He asked me what was wrong. After a minute, I stopped crying and I told him what had happened. Then he offered to buy the ticket for me. I was afraid to give him the last of my money, because then I would have nothing if he stole it. He said that if I would show him that I had enough money for the ticket, he’d buy it with his own money, then come back and trade it for my cash. He was pretty trusting, ‘cause he told me that the money for the ticket was about all he had. I said okay, and that’s how I got the ticket. It cost $85, so I only had $15 left to buy something to eat and find Ron, but I was desperate. I finally got on the bus and three days later I arrived in Las Vegas with two dollars and fifteen cents in my pocket.”
“Wow, that’s quite a story!”
“It wasn’t over yet,” Douglas said. “I didn’t know how to get in touch with Ron Turner. I decided to look in the phone book at the bus station. I looked up ‘Turner’ and I found quite a few ‘Turners’ but no Ron Turner. I did notice though, that there were a lot of ‘Turner’ Companies with the same address. There was even a listing for “Turner Charitable Trust”. I didn’t know what a Trust was so I asked an old guy. He said that it was where they gave money to charity. I was sure that was what Dr. Jaynes was talking about. It was night, so I knew they wouldn’t be open. I finally found the location of the office on the map in the phone book. I feel real bad because I ripped the page out of the book when no one was looking, and put it into my pocket, but I didn’t have enough money to buy a map. I decided to buy a drink and a hot dog and walk there. It was a long way, about 6 miles, Ron told me later.”
“Man, I don’t know how you did it,” Eddie said in amazement.
“It took me all night,” Douglas responded. “I think I walked for about 8 hours. It was slow and I had to stop often to rest and once I found a place where I could sleep a little. Finally in the morning, I got to Ron’s office building, but then I was afraid to go in. I was sure they would throw me out. I was dirty, and one of my legs was hurting bad, so I was kinda dragging that leg. I finally got to the door and opened it. I found a lady sitting at a desk in this big room and I asked for Ron. She took one look at me, and asked me if I had an appointment. I said no, but that I’d been sent by Dr. Jaynes to see Ron Turner. I’m sure she thought I was lying, but she smiled and picked up the phone. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, and was sure that the security guy I saw standing in the entryway was gonna come and throw me out.”
“Did you get to see Ron?” Eddie asked.
“No, she said he was out, but that a man named Matt Davidson would come out to see me. I was sure it was all over for me. Pretty soon this good-looking guy came out and sat down with me in the big room. After a few minutes of talking he invited me to his office. We had no sooner arrived there and I put my paper bag down, than he invited me to lunch. I said ‘yes’ right away. I was really hungry.”
“After we ate I felt a lot better. I was gonna lie about the orphanage so they wouldn’t send me back, but after talking to Matt for awhile, I decided I couldn’t lie any more. I told him everything I just told you.”
“You told him about Franklin????”
“Not at first, but pretty soon I got comfortable, and it just slipped out. Matt said that it was not bad to care for another guy, and that he and Ron Turner were partners. Not just business partners neither. They lived together and loved each other!!!! You could have knocked me over with a feather! I said, ‘You mean you’re gay?’ Matt just smiled and said, ‘yep.’ I had never met a gay person before, I mean except me and Franklin of course. I didn’t know what to say. I will say though that when Matt accepts you, you are accepted. Anyway, that’s how I got here. Sometime when you have lots of time, I’ll tell you what happened afterward. It was nothing short of amazing. I’d tell you now, but I’m really getting sleepy.”
“Yeah, It’s getting real late,” Eddie said yawning. “I think we should go to sleep.”
“You still want to sleep in here?” Douglas asked.
“Will it be alright?” Eddie queried.
“Yeah, Ron told me that you could stay with me if we hit it off.”
“Way cool,” Eddie responded. “I’d really like that.”
“I think that since we just met, we should sleep in our under shorts. I wouldn’t want you to think I’m hittin’ on ya,” Douglas offered.
“Well, I think you’re a really nice guy, Doug. I like you quite a lot already. Besides you’re cute, in spite of your handicap. Maybe we could spoon. I know I’d like that.”
“I’d like that bunches,” Douglas admitted. “But I should warn you, if I’m in the back, you’re likely to feel something about 9 inches long hitting you in the back.”
“I’m sure that might be fun,” Eddie said with a giggle.
* * *
At the same time, Ron and Matt’s room
Ron pulled back the sheet on the bed and slid in beside Matt. Wrapping his arm around his lover who was propped up by pillows as they talked, Ron looked at the man he loved most in the world.
“I thought that bringing over Eddie to be with Douglas seemed to work well, don’t you agree?” Ron asked.
“Yes, they seemed to hit it off,” Matt responded. “I know Doug sure seemed to be livened up by the company.”
“That Eddie is a cutie, and smart too,” Ron said in his most complimentary tone.
“I hope Douglas doesn’t resent our inviting him over,” Matt commented.
“If you were Doug, would you resent it?” Ron asked.
“Nah, I’d get an instant boner,” Matt answered with a laugh.
“You’re BAD!” said Ron in an accusatory voice.
“And you love it,” Matt responded
“That’s what I keep thinking,” Ron replied with an evil grin as he slid his free hand under the sheets.”
“Mmmmm……I’ll give you all night to stop that,” Matt said as his whole body responded to Ron’s touch.
“I love you with all my heart, my dearest lover,” Ron said softly.
“I was hoping for something more pointed,” Matt groaned as he slid the pillows from behind his head, lay flat, then slipped one between his lower back and the mattress.
* * * * *