...Ritchie watched as Sailor's friends left and the bartender continued hanging in conversation with him. When he saw his roommate Dave point to him and the Sailors head turned around to look he froze.
Chad recoiled when he saw Ritchie and quickly turned back around. The jolt of nerves had his heart racing again. "Fuck! Shit!" his mind cursed. "What the fuck is going on here?" Chad hung his head in his hands and groped at his skull trying to shake off the tenseness of the moment. "What the fuck is going on here?" kept going through his head as he tried desperately to put into order the chain of events in the past couple hours. He had been gang fucked by five cops in the back of a police van in reprisal for hitting this faggot in a bar who came on to him. He could not wash the taste the five men from his mouth regardless of how much liquor he swallowed down, and his asshole was hurting like it had a piece of rough splintery wood stuck in it. He felt like he should be wanting to get out of this place and take a shower, but was resigned to sit there. He felt like his manhood had just been taken away and everyone around him was aware of it. The bartender knew, his pals knew and that surfer kid over in the corner knew. Chad just took another long swig of the Guinness and tried to swallow it away some more. Looking up at the bartender Chad said, "What the fuck am I going to say to him? I hit him in the face. I mean what? I just walk over there and say I'm sorry for being an asshole and for you." Dave pursed his lips and responded, "Yup, that would be about it I think". "The guy probably doesn't even want to see me, much less hear me asking for his forgiveness after what I did to him", Chad said. His mind kept reeling, "Why do I care? Why don't I just get the fuck out of this place?" He felt dirty and robbed of something. But some stronger emotion was keeping his ass planted here. He just couldn't get his head around it.
Ritchie lost his mental focus on the game of pool. His friend was now wiping his ass one round after another. He kept looking over to Dave and Sailor to see them chatting some more. "What were they talking about?" he kept wondering as he paced back and forth. His face was still stinging from earlier in the night, he just stared at them for a second. Something about the bad-assed Navy guy stirred him even though he clocked him one. He finally decided to head to the restroom and jack off, releasing the pent up sexual tension. He sat in the stall and massaged his pierced cock. Spitting on his fingers he wetted the area just below his head and rubbed it in a circular motion. Getting gooey with juice, he started pumping his rod and leaned back against the tank of the toilet. He envisioned Sailor undressing and waving his meat in his face as he tilted his head back. It only took less than a minute of jacking his tool before he blew his load. He cleaned up at the sink and decided to wipe down his eye with a wet towel. The swelling had gone down almost completely. He was not sure if it was going to turn into a black eye, but it was scraped red by Sailor's fist and still stung to the touch.
As he wiped his face, the door opened and Sailor slowly and awkwardly walked into the small restroom. Ritchie turned and looked at him and froze for a moment not sure if he needed to bolt for the door or not. Chad was looking at the floor, only glancing up at Ritchie enough to navigate his way to him. Stopping in front of him he slowly looked up at the red abrasion on the face of the young surfer and for the first time saw the raw and delicate human in him. Feeling a landslide of sorrow, Chad suddenly welled up teary eyes and stammered for a second before he said, "I'm sorry dude, I am sorry...I'm sorry I did this to you. It wasn't right". Ritchie was one to forgive easily, especially when a big grown stud like Chad stood before him sobbing. "Look man, don't cry about it", Ritchie said. "You're not the first guy that has slammed me like that. It goes with the territory. I'll heal". Pausing for a moment and taking in Sailor's emptied aura Ritchie asked, "Look dude are you alright? You don't look so good". "I am just really fucked up man and I need to get,..to go,...to get cleaned up or something." Chad stammered. "I have just really had a bad night here. Im sore, Im tired, and I`m fucked up" He ran his hands over his shaved head again trying to wipe his tension away. Chad looked back at Ritchie. "Look, man I hella respect you for being cool like this. Can I buy you a beer or something. It would sure make me feel a lot better".
Dave watched Chad and Ritchie return from the restroom together and take a seat at a booth. The place was clearing out as it was just a half hour til closing time. Dave took it upon himself to bring a Guinness and a glass of Sam Adams to the table and set them down for the boys. He looked at them both and said, "No more fighting kids", and walked off. "Look I am sorry too man", Ritchie offered. "I didn't mean to say that shit to you in front of your pals. I had no right to put you in that position". Chad took a drink of his Guinness. "In what position?...It's all right I guess. They didn't catch any of it anyway. Afterwards they asked what set me off - they didn't even get it at all", Chad said. "I was just embarrassed I guess. On the ship we cant let that kind of shit slide you know." He held his hand out across the table and added, "My name is Chad". The surfer boy reached out and giving a tight and handshake, "Ritchie". Chad continued, "Look, I'm not usually like this man. I don't know why I went off on you like this. I am not usually a violent guy. I mean,...I don't know. I am just babbling." Feeling a bit more confident with his new acquaintance and piqued about his change of heart, Ritchie began turning it on. "I am sorry the cops got called on you man. I tried to stop Dave from calling, but he had already done it when I got to him," Ritchie offered. "So what did Sgt. Ramos say to you?" Chad's heart began racing again as if a fast button were pushed somewhere in his brain. "Did he, I mean they? Did they take you somewhere?" Ritchie asked. Chad got a sullen look on his face and replied. "You know those cops? The guys who came here?" "Yeah I do", Ritchie nodded his head as if to regret the notion. "Yeah I know Sgt Ramos and his posse".
Chad sat and thought for a minute as he absorbed what Ritchie was saying, just sipping on his beer and folding the napkin in ever smaller squares. Getting up the nerve and overruling his voice or reason that had been telling him to leave for the past hour he asked Ritchie, "You still want to go somewhere? I mean like when you asked me before. Would you still want to do that after everything that happened?" Chad just listened to what came out of his mouth like it was played from a loudspeaker in an auditorium. Ritchie reeled. "If you promise not to hit me in the face again, I'll take you wherever you want to go". Chad was battling the inner voice and not knowing really where he was headed. "Yeah, I'd like that" he said.
Sgt. Ramos and Jacks were cruising down the street by the bar just before 2:00 am to take inventory of the stragglers still parked there. It was helpful to know who was having one for the road and what they might be driving later. Jacks slapped Ramos in the shoulder with the back of his left hand, "Look at this!" Ramos looked over to the right to see Sailor and Ritchie walking down the sidewalk together away from the bar. He pulled quickly to the side of the road and they watched. Sailor had a gait that was a cross between drunk and someone corn-holed by five guys. Ramos laughed out loud. "Will you look at that, man! Ritchie's got the touch don't he," Ramos said to Jacks.
"You get high?" Chad heard as Ritchie shut the apartment door behind them. "Naw I shouldn't, they piss test us on the ship every once in a while", Chad replied reluctantly. "Do you mind if I do?" Ritchie asked. Plopping nervously down on the couch and wondering what to say or do next Chad said, "Naw, you go ahead'. Ritchie sat on the couch and grabbed a bong from the end table. "Are you alright Chad?" the Surfer asked. "You still look like you are going to have a heart attack any minute over there." He grabbed a bag of weed from his pocket and proceeded to pack a bowl. "I'm sorry, I've never done this before," Chad said. "I mean not like this". "Dude just relax. We don't have to do anything you don't want to and you don't gotta be embarrassed here with me. I certainly aint judging you. Loosen your tie, take off your boots, relax!" Ritchie told him before he lit the bowl and hit the bong good and long. Chad pulled his tie off and unbuttoned his shirt as Ritchie hit the bong again. After he pulled off his boots he sat there as if he was undecided for a minute and said "Yeah, let me hit that thing man, I could use it about now." Handing him the pipe and lighter Ritchie asked, "You sure about that, I don't want you to get busted". "Naw, I don't care anymore. I`m supposed to get out in 3 weeks anyway. If I get popped, I get popped.", Chad responded as he grabbed the bong and hit it like he knew what he was doing. He slouched into the sofa and rolled his head back at the ceiling and let the smoke out as his tensions evaporated.
Looking at Chad's warm hairy chest now peeking out of his unbuttoned shirt Ritchie said, "You need a nice hot shower". He got up and went down the hall and turned on the water.
Continued in Sergeant and the Sailor 4 - Comments welcome gruntraq@yahoo.com