DISCLAIMER: I don't fucking care how old you are. If you like the idea of two hunky young Marine's getting it on with each other then read on!
By the way, no Marine's were injured or killed in the writing of this story but that's not true of what's going on in the Middle East or other foreign places. I would ask your prayers, good thoughts or whatever for all the Marines serving our country (that's us guys!) around the world.
This is dedicated to every one who has ever served in the USMC - Semper Fi!
SUBIC SURRENDER - Part 4 by RimPig (c) 2003
Mike and I lay there for a long time. I guess we were each deep in our own thoughts. I think he dozed for a while. I know I did. It was just so fucking comfortable laying there in that bed with him - the warmth of his body, the scent of his body. Fuck! Just the feel of that hard, masculine body curled up to me felt so right I had no idea how anybody could think this was 'wrong' or 'unnatural'? It certainly seemed the most natural thing in the world to me.
However, this didn't mean I wasn't having some difficulties with all of this. It was just that the sex and all the loving feelings were allowing me to push some of those thoughts away. They don't stay away forever if you avoid them, though.
I was only 19 and so I was still thinking in terms of 'labels'. I knew all the nasty words and names. I'd heard them all my life. Still heard them in the barracks a lot. I didn't know where to place myself. I still liked fucking Miranda but I liked it more because Mike had been there. And fucking Mike was so much better. Eating pussy was great but I had to admit that I would have loved it more if I had been eating Mike's load out of it. And eating Mike's butt was way beyond wonderful!
But that was just the problem I was having. Every thing centered around Mike. I didn't think about other guys. I didn't think about sucking anyone else's cock, getting fucked by anyone else, eating any other guy's ass, fucking any other guy. Could you be "queer" for just one guy? I didn't know.
Mike had dozed off and, in his sleep turned over so that he was no longer resting on me. I got up from the bed and walked over to the window. I stood there a long time thinking all this stuff through. There was no fucking answer I could come up with and I didn't want to talk to Mike about this. I didn't want him to think that I was in some way rejecting him and what we had together. But it was him that I really needed to talk to! He was not just the guy I was in love with. He was my friend, my buddy, the guy I depended on to help me through anything!
Just as I was thinking this, I felt his arms go around me and his mouth kissing and licking my neck and shoulder. I tensed up and I know he could feel it.
"What's wrong?" he asked quietly.
"Nothing." I said.
"Hey! This is me, Mike. Maybe somebody else will buy that bullshit, but not me. Now what's wrong?" he asked.
I don't know what happened. I guess it all just got to me. Maybe it was being exhausted from so much sex or maybe it was just all so overwhelming to me but I suddenly started crying - bawling like a little kid! I don't think I'd cried since I was about eight years old - and that was because I got hit right in the nuts by a line drive and at that age they didn't make you wear a cup in your jock. In fact, we didn't wear jocks at all.
Mike turned me around and lay my head on his shoulder. His hand gently stroked my head while his other arm held me tightly against him. He didn't say anything, he just held me. I finally stopped crying and continued to rest my head against him. I was so fucking embarrassed by this stupid display of emotion, I just wanted to sink into a hole in the ground. Worse, now I'd have to come up with some plausible explanation of why I was crying without telling him the truth. What the fuck was the truth, anyway? I didn't know! What could I say, 'I'm crying because I'm queer for you and I don't know how to live with that.'?
"I wondered when this would come." Mike said quietly after I'd calmed down.
"What do you mean?" I sniffled.
"The guilt, the self-hatred, the 'Oh, fuck! I'm queer!' bullshit." Mike said, his voice holding just a tinge of bitterness in it.
"How...how...did you know?" I asked in amazement. Could he read my mind?
"Because everybody goes through it. We're raised to think that making it with another guy is just about the worst thing in the world and then, if it happens - worse if you like it - all the bullshit starts. I went through it, too. I was just a lot younger at the time." Mike said.
"I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed.
"For what?" Mike asked. "For being a guy? Any guy that finds himself in this situation is gonna go through this. The question is, what now? What do you want to do?" he asked.
"I need to talk. I need to talk to you. I need to deal with this because I don't want to end up hating myself and hurting you." I said.
"Okay, let's sit down and talk." Mike said calmly.
He let go of me and walked over to the bed. He sat down, leaned back against the headboard and swung his legs up onto the bed. I went around to the other side and got in beside him. We sat there, our arms touching.
"I don't really know where to start. I guess the first thing I want to do is ask you a question." I said.
"Shoot." he said.
"Do you still like women?" I asked.
Mike grinned at this.
"Sure I do. They can be fun. I mean, I love sex. Any kind of sex. But if I'm gonna have sex with a girl, having a guy there makes it a lot better." he said.
"But that's how I feel! It was so much hotter with Miranda then it had ever been for me with a girl and it was because you were there!" I said, amazed that it was the same for both of us.
"Okay, so we think alike on that one. What else is bothering you?" he asked.
"A couple of things - I guess the biggest one is that sex with you alone is better than any sex I've ever had with a girl and better even than when Miranda was here. I mean that was fun, but with you alone it's different. I can't explain it." I said, not being able to put what I was feeling into words.
"Lemme see if I can. When it's just the two of us, you can really let yourself go. You can do things, new things, that you can't do with anybody else around. Is that part of it?" Mike asked.
"Yeah, it is! There's like this freedom when we're alone. Like I can do anything that I want and you won't put me down for it or anything." I said.
"Yeah, that's because of the rest of what I think you're feeling. You love me. You've never loved another guy before. You've probably been only vaguely aware of being attracted to guys at all and I'll bet that right now, you could not see yourself having sex with any other guy but me. Am I right?" he asked.
"Yeah!" I said, again amazed at what he seemed to know about me.
"Rick, it's real simple. You're going to have to get used to the idea that you prefer guys. Period. Oh, it might be fun for us to fuck around with a girl now and then together but, basically, you're starting to discover that you're gay. Now before you freak out on me, listen to what I'm saying." he said.
"I'm not freaking out. Well...maybe a little - but only because you seem to be able to read my mind!" I assured him.
"Okay. Now, the reason I say that you're gay - and I am, too - is that even though we both can have sex with girls, it's not girls that we fall in love with. You never have been in love with a girl, have you?" Mike asked.
"No." I said quietly. "I've never been in love with anybody but you."
"And that's what makes you gay, Rick. Not who you have sex with. Fuck, farm boys have sex with sheep!"he said and I laughed.
"What's important," he continued, "is who you fall in love with."
"But I never knew!" I said.
"No shit! Did you want to know? Fuck, no! You kept yourself from even thinking about it! But, I bet there were guys who you really 'looked up to', who you wanted to be like, right?" he asked.
"Yeah. You're one of them." I said, barely above a whisper.
That stunned him. He just sat there looking at me.
"Fuck!" was all he said and then he reached his arm around me and pulled me close to him. Then he gently leaned down and kissed my forehead. "Thank you, Rick."
I looked up at him and tears were starting to fill up my eyes again.
"I still do." I said and reached my hand up to the back of his head, pulling his face to mine and kissing him deeply.
"I still don't want to have sex with any guy but you." I said as I pulled back from his mouth and let his head go.
"Did you ever stop to think that there might be a very good reason for that?" he asked.
"What reason?" I asked.
"Just because you're gay, doesn't make you some kind of male slut, Rick! Maybe you don't want to have sex with another guy because you're really in love with me and you're faithful to whoever you really love so you don't want anybody else." he said.
"But I'd still fuck Miranda!" I insisted.
"Without me there?" he asked.
That stunned me - not because Mike asked but because I suddenly realized he was right!
"No. Not without you there. It wouldn't be as much fun." I said.
"And that's all it is for you and me with a girl - fun. You don't feel like you're 'cheating' on me if it's with a girl because that's something totally different and as long as I'm there, it's just us having some fun." he said.
"Yeah. I get it. I'm pretty sure you're right about all of this. It is gonna take some getting used to, though." I gave him a sheepish grin.
He hugged me to him.
"That's okay. We got the next fifty years, remember?" he said.
"You're not mad at me about this, are you?" I asked.
"Mad at you? What the fuck for? Because you're fucked up in the head over loving me because you got raised with the stupid idea that guys can't love guys?" he grinned.
"I didn't know they could. I didn't know I could. But I do." I said quietly, looking into his beautiful eyes.
"I know you do and you know that I love you, right?" he asked.
"Well...I wouldn't mind if you proved it to me." I said coyly.
"Uh-oh! Sounds like somebody wants to get fucked again. Damn, boy! You're gettin' to be down right insatiable!" he laughed and grabbed me in his arms, wrestling me over onto my back.
"You better get ready cause you're gonna get fucked like you ain't never been fucked in your life, boy! I'm gonna make you beg for my cock - beg me not to stop! Beg me to fuck you until that cute little butt of yours just fall right off!" he grinned down at me.
"Yes, Mike! Fuck me! Please! Fuck me! But...please, make love to me." I begged.
"Babe, I told you. There ain't nothin' else I can do but make love to you." he smiled and then his mouth came down on mine.
The fuck was long and slow at times, fierce and powerful at others. Mike ended up cumming in me three times and I came all over myself that many times as well. Just to make things right, I ended up fucking him as well, shooting another load up his butt, again staking my claim to his ass! By the time we were finished we just collapsed in each other's arms and slept for hours. We woke up starving and went out and had steak dinners in a kind of celebration. Then we went back to the room and Mike made very long, exquisitely slow love to me until very late in the night.
That was the pattern of our days for that week of shore leave. We'd get up in the morning and have breakfast then we'd come back to the room and make love. We'd lie in each other's arms or we'd take a walk down one of the beaches, just spending time with each other. We learned how to be silent with each other without fearing the silence. We could be perfectly happy just being near each other. We knew that once we were back on the ship, the intimacy between us would end. Neither of us dared to do anything to let people know that there had been a dramatic change in our relationship. Luckily, we were already friends and the other Jarheads were used to seeing us together all the time.
Though we looked, we never saw Miranda again after that first night. It didn't bother me. I gradually became used to the idea of being Mike's lover. I thought at first that I needed another three-way with a girl to prove to myself that I could still function with one but I finally realized how silly that was! Who cared? Who did I have to prove anything to? Not to Mike and he was the only person in my life that mattered.
The last night of shore leave, we made love all night long until the sun came up, knowing that it was the last time we'd probably have a chance before we got back to San Diego. It was going to be hard to be near Mike and not be able to touch him but Marine quarters on a Naval ship were about as tiny as our "sister service" could make them! There was absolutely no privacy whatsoever! Certainly no place where two Marine's could show how much they loved each other.
It was over three weeks before we made San Diego and back to Camp Pendleton and then it was another two weeks before we could get leave. The moment we did, we were out the gate and headed towards Oceanside and the first motel we could find. We spent that entire weekend naked and in bed with each other, only occasionally running out for food or drink. We fucked like rabbits. It was a weekend of two 'firsts'. Mike and I sucked each other in a '69', the first time we ever did that and I ate my load out of Mike's ass for the first time.
We also did a lot of talking. We were starting to come to the conclusion that the Marine Corps was not going to be a career for us. We didn't like the possibility of enforced separations and the fear of getting caught in the 'gay witch hunts' that were still going on in the military, made us change our minds about what we were going to do with our lives.
"So let me ask you, if I wasn't in the picture, if you just were going home after your hitch is up, what would you do?" Mike asked me as we lay naked on the bed with each other.
"That's easy. I'd go to work for my Dad. He's got a construction company back home." I said.
"Do you think he'd give me a job?" Mike asked.
"Sure he would! He'd be glad to have someone like you!" I said.
"Well we've still got a year to go on our hitches. How do you think you're folks are gonna feel about you getting out of the Marines?" he asked.
"My Dad was a Marine, that's why I joined up. But I never got the feeling that he wanted me to make a career of the Corps. We never talked about it. I'm beginning to figure out that we didn't talk about a lot of things." I said.
"You sound sad about that, babe." he said, slipping his arm around me and pulling me close.
"Yeah, I am." I said. "It's like I wanted to be close to him but there were like these walls we built that we couldn't scale. I'm just as much to blame. Can I tell you something?"
"Sure, babe. You can tell me anything."
"When you put your arms around me the first time that night in Subic, it suddenly hit me that I had so missed a man's arms around me! I had missed my Dad holding me. He used to do it a lot when I was a little kid and then it stopped. I didn't want it to but I couldn't tell him that. I just couldn't say the words. I don't know why." I said.
"Maybe because guys go through this thing where we think we're not supposed to need that." Mike said. "I never got any of it, except from other kids."
I looked at him and saw a tremendous sadness in his eyes. It really hit me then, what his life must have been like growing up in group homes, no parents, no one to love him. Now, it was up to me. I was going to have to give him that love that he needed and never got. I put my arms around him and pulled him tight to me.
"Now you've got it whenever you want it - whenever you need it. I'll always be here for you, Mike. I'm not leaving, buddy." I said, kissing him gently on the cheek.
He clutched me to him. We just sat there holding each other for a long time. Finally, he began to kiss my neck and run his tongue under my chin.
"Mmm. Keep that up and you can have anything you want." I murmured.
"I've already got everything I want. It's just knowing what to do with it." he chuckled.
"Oh, you do, do you?" I said, pulling back from his mouth.
"Yep! I have you in my arms and your arms around me. There's nothin' else on earth that I could want right now...well...except to feel my cock slidin' into your butt." he grinned.
"And what makes you think that I want that horse-cock of yours in my ass?" I asked.
"Because your hips are doing that little wiggle thing they do every time your butt starts itching to be reamed out, that's how." he grinned arrogantly.
"What wiggle!?" I exclaimed.
"That one, right there!" he laughed.
Okay, so when I wanted to get fucked my ass started to itch and I would wiggle a little to stop it from itching!
"How the fuck do you know that?" I asked.
"Because I watch you. Every chance I get. I can't ever get enough. I've never had someone who I loved or who loved me. Sometimes, I just can't believe that it's all real. So I have to watch you very carefully so that I can see all the things you do that tell me that you love me." he said his voice very low and serious.
All of a sudden, my throat choked up and I could feel tears forming in my eyes and running down my cheek. Nothing had ever moved me so much in my life as this simple expression of what I meant to Mike.
He looked at me funny and then leaned forward and began to lick the tears from my face until his mouth found mine and he kissed me deeply. I was so glad he didn't ask me why I was crying because I don't know if I could have told him if he asked. I closed my eyes and got lost in that kiss, lost in him. I could taste him, I could smell him, I could feel his touch and, when he moaned, I could hear him. I didn't need to see him. I was so overwhelmed by my love for him.
"I want to make love to you. I want to feel myself inside you." he murmured.
"I want you inside me. More than anything." I said softly.
And then there were no more words for a while. Mike let go of me and moved down the bed until he was between my eagerly spread legs. He lay down and grinned up at me from there. I knew what was coming next and I eagerly grabbed my legs and pulled them back so that my ass was open to him. He moved his nose up and down my trench and I could hear his deep breaths and his moans as he drew in my scent. Soon his tongue was following the same path that his nose and I was moaning at sensations as he ate my butt. Soon his lips were locked on my hole and gently sucking on it as his tongue slid up inside me. I loved his tongue fucking my butt almost as much as I loved his cock.
"Oh, fuck! Mike! Eat my hole! Tongue fuck my ass! Get it deep in there!" I moaned, reaching down and spreading my ass cheeks even further.
He continued to tongue-fuck me for a short time but then rose and began lubing my butt with his fingers. He easily slid two inside me and then three. He then lubed up his cock and put it at my hole. Miked loved to fuck me on my back because he loved to look into my eyes while he did it. I loved watching his beautiful body as it pumped his hard dick in and out of my ass - all his muscles straining and the sheen of sweat covering him.
Mike gently pushed with his hips and his cock slid slowly into my ass. I moaned at the thickness of his fuck-tool spreading the tissues up inside me and brushing across my prostate. When he was seated all the way inside me he stopped and waited for me to become used to him. Then he began grinding his hips into me and moving his cock around inside to open me up even further. His eyes never left mine as he did so. He was constantly judging whether or not he was causing me pain. I grinned up at him, letting him know that all he was causing was pleasure.
"Yeah! Fuck, yeah! Fuck me! Pound my ass, babe! Fuck me good and hard!" I begged and he grinned as he pulled his cock back, almost completely out of my hole.
Then he slammed it back in, hard and fast! I groaned at the feeling and pushed my ass up to meet his thrust. This started a punishing fuck. Mike pounded into my hole in a fury and I kept pushing up and meeting every thrust, making each one just that much harder. At one point, he pulled completely out of my hole and then slammed back in. He did this several times, pulling out completely and then slamming in as far as he could go. It was exquisite torture! The intense feeling of emptiness in my bowels followed by the intense feeling of fullness threatened to bring me off sooner than Miked evidently intended because he soon slowed down and leaned over me. He bent down until our mouths met and we devoured each other as he fucked me in slow, short thrusts.
Since my legs were over his shoulders, I was almost bent double but my hands and arms were free. I reached out and grasp his beautiful butt and began running my hands over it and up his sweaty back. I finally grabbed his head and held it to my mouth to mine as we continued to suck at each other's mouths. I felt those feelings I also felt when Mike fucked me, of being part of him, intensified by this. We were joined at his cock and my ass and now our mouths were joined on the other end. It was like a circle of love and lust between us. I knew, somehow, that for as long as I lived, I would always feel this way when Mike fucked me. There was something beyond sexual about it, beyond emotional. It was almost spiritual. Something holy and sacred about what happened between us in those moments. I just don't have words to adequately describe it.
Soon that intensity gave way to the driving need to orgasm and Mike rose up and began pummeling my butt once more. We were both close to climax and it was only a few thrusts from Mike's cock in my already sensitive hole and I was shooting all over myself. Mike watched me cum, a look almost of amazement on his face over what he had caused. Then I could feel him slamming into me one last time and the shuddering of his cock deep inside me as he delivered load after load of his nut juice in my ass. He moved my legs from his shoulders and then lay down on top of me as I wrapped my legs around his waist. My arms wrapped around him as his head rested on my chest.
Finally his cock softened and I could feel the muscles in my ass pushing out the 'invader'. When his cock finally fell out of my hole, he moved down my body again and got between my legs. I knew what he was going to do so I again pulled my legs back to give him full access to my ass- trench. He locked his lips to my hole and began to suck his load from it. I loved this feeling of his tongue in my just-fucked ass. He soothed the sore tissues and the thought of him eating his load from my butt made thrills go through my body and my sphincter began to spasm around his tongue.
When he had gotten all he could of his load from my ass, he moved back up the bed until his mouth was over mine. Then he kissed me deeply and shared what cum he was able to salvage from my butt. I admit to loving eating his cum this way - fresh from my just-fucked ass!
Finishing this, he moved over so that he was laying on his back next to me. I moved over and lay my head on his chest with my arm thrown across him. His arm came around me and I felt so wonderfully safe and loved. There were no words between us. We didn't need any. Our breathing gradually became softer and deeper as we drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.
In the next year, until our hitch was up, we had a lot of weekends like this one. Unlike most of the guys, we didn't spend a lot of money because we weren't out in bars trying to get laid. We started putting away every cent that we had so that when we finally left the Corps, we would have the money to get some type of vehicle and to rent an apartment and furnish it.
I did finally, a month before Mike and I would be mustered out, get to have a talk with my Dad about getting out of the Corps after my hitch was up. The conversation happened on the phone, however, not face to face like I would have liked. I had called because it was his birthday and the conversation just naturally drifted into what I was up to.
"Well...to be honest with you, Dad, I'm not planning on re-upping." I said.
"What do you plan to do then, Rick?" he asked.
"Well, I was planning on coming home. You know I told you about Mike, my friend." I said.
"Yes, I remember. You seemed to be quite tight with him." Dad said.
"Yeah, and I still am. We're planning on getting out together and I was wondering if you had the room in your crew to give us both jobs?" I said hesitantly.
Dad was silent for a few moments and my heart dropped into my stomach. When he spoke again, though, I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
"Son, you don't know how much I've wanted to hear you say that! Job, hell! I want what I've always wanted, to change the company name to Copeland and Son Construction!" Dad was practically yelling through the phone he was so excited. "That's the best birthday present you could give me, Rick!"
"Dad, why didn't you ever say anything about this before? I just figured you didn't think I had it in me to become part of the company." I said.
"Not have it in you?! Shit, boy! You've got my genes, don't you? Of course you've got it in you! I just didn't want you feeling like you had to! I wanted you to have the same choice that I had in making my own way in life." he said.
"And there's room for Mike?" I asked again.
"Son, if you want him working for Copeland and Son then he's got a job for as long as he wants one." Dad said.
"Thanks, Dad. I can't believe this! Why didn't we ever talk about this stuff?" I asked him.
"I don't know, Rick." he said quietly. "After you left, I started thinking about all the things we should have talked about and didn't. I guess when you get home, that's something we're going to finally have to do."
"I agree, Dad. I feel like there's been this stupid wall between us and I don't want it there anymore! Dad, I want to be close to you the way I was when I was little...well...maybe not the same way! You understand what I'm trying to say, don't you?" I asked.
"Yes, son. I do. And, believe me, I want the same thing. I really do. When I said good-bye to you going off to boot camp, it all came back to me how much time we had lost. I want to make up some of that time." Dad said.
"Me, too, Dad. Me, too!" I assured him.
We talked for a while longer and then I went back to the barracks. I saw Mike as I walked in and gave him a look that told him to follow me. I turned around and left the barracks, waiting for Mike to meet me outside.
"What's up?" he asked.
"I just talked to my Dad." I said.
"What did he say?" Mike asked, I think somewhat worried.
The grin on my face as I answered told him not to be worried.
"Dad says he's got to change the corporate papers. We'll be going him to Copeland and Son Construction, Incorporated!" I exclaimed.
"Oh, fuck! That's great! Uhh...what did he say about me getting a job?" Mike asked tentatively.
"He said that as long as I wanted you in the company, you had a job for as long as you want one." I grinned.
"Hot DAMN!" Mike yelled.
"Actually, you're going to really have to learn the business. If I'm going to have to take over eventually, I'm going to need your help running the company." I said.
"You're kidding right?" he asked.
"No, I'm not kidding. Mike, I don't want to be your boss. I want us eventually to be partners in the business, just like we're partners in life." I said seriously.
"What do you think you're Dad's going to say about that?" he asked.
"I don't know. I guess we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it, won't we?" I said.
"Yeah. I just hope it's a long way off." Mike said and I could hear the worry in his voice.
"Mike, no matter what, nothing is going to come between us. Not my family, not the business. I need you more than I need either of them." I swore to him.
That month just flew by. Mike and I had originally thought of driving cross-country but that would have meant buying a vehicle in California. We decided that it would be better just to fly to my home and buy vehicles once we got there. I wondered how Mike was going to deal with a new life in a new place. He'd grown up in northern California but we were heading now to southeast Florida - all the way across the country. As we were flying to Fort Lauderdale, I asked him about it.
"Fuck, I'll just deal with it the way I always have. I never had a home. I just lived in group homes. You can't call those places home. Besides, they'd move you around every couple of years anyway. I guess if I had to call anyplace home, it's wherever you are." he said quietly.
There is was again! That fucking knot in my throat that I got every time I realized how much I meant to Mike, how different his life had been from mine. How much I felt for that little boy who never knew the love of parents growing up, who only found love in bed with other kids who would get adopted, run away or somehow always leave him.
"We'll be home for each other." I said.
"But you've got a home. You've got a family." he said.
"Well, yes and no. Remember, they don't know me. They don't know who I really am. I don't know how they're going to deal with that. You are the only one that I can really be 'me' around. So that makes you my home and my family, too." I said.
"I never thought of it that way. You've got so much to lose!" he said.
"No I don't! I get you and I don't really lose anything." I said.
"But what about your family?" he said.
"If they can't love me the way I am, then they never really loved me and I lost a long time ago. I'll just have to face whatever they do. But I've already got you. You love me just the way I am." I smiled.
"Okay, I can see that. I'm just afraid you'll end up hating me if your family rejects you because of me." he said.
"That won't be the reason. They will either reject or accept me for who I am. Loving you is part of that. You aren't responsible for what happened between us. The only way I could ever hate you, Mike, is if you stopped loving me or left me." I said.
"No way that's gonna happen." he said and that pretty much ended the discussion for then.
When we landed in Fort Lauderdale, it was hot, as usual. We have four seasons in South Florida: Early Summer, Mid-Summer, Late Summer and Next Summer. Winter is usually when the temperature drops down below 70 and usually happens on a Thursday. You get the picture? Just think of Death Valley but wet. REALLY wet! Humidity over 95% most of the year. Anyway, the only one to meet us was Dad. I up the ramp from the gates and threw my arms around him. He hugged me tight and we just stood there for a while, just like when I'd left. It was good to feel his arms around me again, but I was used to feeling a man's arms around me.
I could see Dad looking over my shoulder and I turned to see Mike standing there. He was obviously embarrassed and didn't know what to do. It was the first time I ever saw this huge, rough, masculine - now former Marine - blush! I have to tell you, he's incredibly cute when he does! I pulled out of Dad's arms.
"Dad, I want you to meet Mike, Mike Riley." I said. "Mike, this is my Dad."
The shook hands.
"I'm glad to finally meet you, son. Rick has been talking about nothing but you, almost from the first day in boot camp!" Dad grinned.
"I'm glad to meet you, sir. Rick is the best friend I've ever had." Mike said and I could hear what he meant but I don't think Dad did.
"Please, son. Call me Hank, I prefer it to Henry, but drop the 'sir'! Neither one of us is in the Corps anymore and you just make me feel old calling me that!" Dad laughed.
"Uhh...okay, Hank. I want to thank you for giving me a job. I will do my best to repay your confidence in me." Mike said.
"Any former Marine has a job with my company if he needs it. But, I have to be honest with you right off, Mike. It's not my confidence in you that matters here. It's my confidence in Rick. He says you're the best guy he's ever known...well...that's good enough for me." Dad said.
And damned if Mike didn't blush again!
Something, however, dawned on me.
"Dad, where's Mom?" I asked.
I saw Dad's face become very serious.
"Son, I didn't want to tell you until you got here. She's in the hospital. Now don't go getting all upset. They're just running tests. We don't know anything yet." Dad said.
This hit me like a ton of bricks! Something was wrong with Mom? How could that be! She was always the strong one of the family, the one who made us a family. When Dad and I couldn't talk to each other, she was the one who talked to both of us!
"Dad, what's the matter? Please tell me. They have to be looking for something if they're running tests." I asked.
"Rick, we honestly don't know. She's been feeling real tired lately for no apparent reason. Then, two days ago, she just passed out in the kitchen while cooking dinner. I called the paramedics and they took her to Broward General. Dr. Calvo is running a lot of tests and we haven't gotten any results yet. I figure we'll stop there on the way home and you can see her." Dad said.
"Okay, then let's get going." I said.
We went down to the baggage claim where Mike and I picked up our duffle bags and headed out to the parking garage. What Dad lead us to was a new, 4 door Ford F-250. I looked at the door and there was the logo for Dad's construction company but what I saw written was: Copeland and Son Construction. I pointed it out to Mike who smiled at me.
Dad pulled out of the airport and turned north on US1. He headed up to SE 17th Street and then over to Andrews Avenue to the hospital. Since I'd been home, they'd added on to the hospital, and were constructing even more additions. We parked in the garage and went into the hospital and up to Mom's room.
I walked into the room and was shocked by what I saw. Mom was laying in the bed and it was very evident that she had lost a lot of weight. She looked so much older than I remembered her. I approached the bed and Mom looked up at me.
"Rickie!" she exclaimed using the name she always called me.
"Hi, Mom. I'm home." I said. And leaned down and hugged her gently, kissing her on the cheek.
"Oh, it's so good to see my little boy!" Mom said.
"How are you, Mom?" I asked.
"Oh, Rickie, I'm just tired. They're running all these silly tests to run up the insurance bill!" she smiled at me.
"Mom, Mike is with me. Do you want to meet him?" I asked.
"Your Marine friend? Oh, yes, honey! I want to meet him. You've told us so much about him, I feel like I know him already." Mom said.
"I'll go get him." I said and went out to the hall where Mike was waiting.
"Mike, Mom wants to meet you." I said.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm sure. Come on in." I said.
I brought Mike into the room and he very cautiously approached the bed where Mom lay. She looked up and saw my big, muscular lover and she smiled at him.
"You can come closer, Mike. I don't bite!" Mom smiled.
Mike grinned at her and approached the bed.
"Rickie has told us so much about you. He didn't mention what a handsome boy you are!" Mom said.
"Thank you, Mrs. Copeland." Mike said.
"Oh, please, Mike - call me Rose." Mom said.
"I don't want to impose, Rose." Mike said.
"Nonsense! Anyone who is a important to Rickie as you are is never a bother!" Mom said.
"Thank you." Mike said, giving her one of his incredible grins.
"I just wish I was home to welcome you but I will be in a few days." Mom said.
"I think I should get these boys home and let you rest, honey." my Dad interrupted.
"Oh, I suppose so, Hank, but you make sure you bring them both back with you tomorrow!" Mom said.
"I will, doll. You get some rest. We'll be here when the visiting hours start." Dad and leaned over and kissed Mom.
I did, too, and then we went out. We didn't talk about anything while Dad drove us home. My Mom and Dad had bought a house in Victoria Park, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Fort Lauderdale over thirty years before. The area had gentrified long before I left for the Corps and was still one of the better neighborhoods even though a lot of the older homes were falling victim to developers who were buying up whole blocks and putting up over-priced town houses.
"I guess you boys can bunk in your old room, Rick. I hope you'll both fit in that double bed." Dad said as we got the duffles out of the truck.
"It won't be a problem, Dad. I just want to sleep for about a year!" I said.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. I remember when I finally got out of the Corps, that's all I wanted to do." Dad said.
"When were you in the Corps, Hank?" Mike asked.
"I was in the Corps from 1966 until 1972." Dad said.
"You were in during Viet Nam!" Mike exclaimed.
"Yes. I did three tours in Viet Nam. I wasn't drafted. I enlisted." Dad said, the pride in his voice evident.
"Dad won a Bronze Star, Mike." I said.
"That's quite an honor, Hank!" Mike exclaimed.
"It was a mistake. I got it because I was the only one who came back alive. They wanted to give it to somebody." Dad said quietly.
"He's being modest. He got his best friend out of a ambush in the jungle." I told Mike.
"That's enough." Dad said.
"Okay. Dad doesn't really like to talk about it." I said to Mike.
By this time we were in my old room. It was just the way I left it. But I left if a boy. I wasn't a boy any more. Mike was looking at all my wrestling trophies and pictures of me playing football.
"You were really something else!" Mike exclaimed.
"No, I wasn't." I blushed.
"Yes, he was! My boy was quite an athlete!" Dad said proudly.
"I was okay. I wasn't offered any scholarships, though." I said.
"Scholarships aren't everything, son. Hey! Are you boys hungry?" Dad asked.
"Starved!" I said and Mike echoed me.
"Good. Let's go out. I can't cook worth shit and I want to celebrate you coming home! Let's go up to Houston's and have some nice thick steaks! What do you say?" Dad asked.
"That's great, Dad!" I said.
THE END of Part 4 of SUBIC SURRENDER.
If you like the story, write me at rimpigfl@yahoo.com.
I have a lot of other stories on NIFTY. If you want a complete list, write me and I'll be glad to send it to you.
RimPig