The following fictional story deals with sex among males. If you are offended by such material, are too young, or reside in a location where it is not allowed, please depart. Though not observed in this story, care enough about yourself and humankind to practice safe sex.
The author retains all rights. EvanBradley33@Yahoo.com
This chapter is dedicated to three really great guys, Johnny, Joe and Tom. They were buddy/friend/lovers since college. Their relationship was graced with style, class, good humor, genuine love. They were a model. Because of injuries so severe after a semi broadsided their car (and then ran away), first Joe and then Tom had to leave Johnny. Ever loyal and faithful, he was with each one as he slipped away. So the good dynamics represented in the relationships in this series are dedicated to them. The "down" side owes to author. Johnny, your other buddies can't replace Joe and Tom, but we love you too. You aren't alone.
Chapter 16 The Explosion
Drew's taking the plunge and buying a membership in Murphy's Gym had resulted so quickly in his connection with Hal and the crew that he'd had little time to reflect on the subsequent swirl of events. Even more, the bumps in his relationship with Hal had kept his mind in a stew. It wasn't just the rapid, uneven developments with Hal. It was also the close relationships with crew members and the special dynamics in his relationship with each friend that left him feeling more blessed than he'd ever felt in his entire life. More often than not, life in the crew seemed a roller coaster ride.
Angie, Rich, and Drew were connected by some deep link that held them in sync. They often knew what the other two were thinking without that thought's being enunciated, a phenomenon that generated jokes and chuckles among them. Drew admired Max and Ted. They were strong leaders, and he enjoyed harboring in their bigness and strength. They sensed Drew's need for those gifts from them, so it pleased them no end to honor tat need. When Max and Drew were talking, Max stood close up to Drew. If the distance was too great, Drew would move closer, evoking a quiet smile from Max, who would then clap his hand on Drew's shoulder or throw an arm around his waist or - if the occasion were right - gave Drew's ass a squeeze. Sometimes Drew would mock punch Max in the gut if he were teasing him just to have a chance to touch the big guy. Ted would face Drew, placing his hands on Drew's shoulders while gently kneading the muscles there or in his neck. It gave them great satisfaction that Drew derived energy from physical closeness to them.
Drew was still slightly reserved but friendly around Bobby, Levi, Kenji, and Wes. He didn't know how much they "read" into his relationship with their lovers. Accordingly, he was solicitous of their feelings and thoughts and sensitive to the effect of his need for Ted or Max, Angie or Rich. He teased Tonio and Jamal, and received an equal measure in return, especially from Jamal. The three knew the teasing was their method of expressing considerable affection and approval.
It was Hal, of course, in whom Drew was centered, Hal, who filled his mind with hope and his heart with love. In all his life, no man had evoked so much love from him or returned so much. He was in awe of the difficulties Hal had faced in his life and his triumph over them. Just meeting Hal had prompted a new life stage. Even though a hyper-cautious person, Drew couldn't rein in his mind from creating scenarios for Hal's and his future. They would join the other couples in the crew. They would never again know boredom, emptiness, or the "killer" - loneliness. So powerful was his love for Hal that a mere glance from Hal could arouse Drew.
The fly in the ointment was Brett Carter. Drew couldn't forget the hostile look on Brett's face when the latter realized that Hal and he were a couple. Every meeting featured some slight or other behavior expressing Brett's antipathy to Drew. Drew tried to keep his reactions balanced and fair. It was a struggle.
The Haynes' Construction Site
One day when Hal was meeting with a potential client, most of the crew had gathered at the Haynes site to collect their paychecks. They were sitting in the shade eating lunch. The topic of Hal's approaching birthday came up, with Levi suggesting that they all pool their funds to give Hal a great gift. Brett, whose eyes narrowed as he leaned forward, listening to the exchange, jumped in and posed the idea of a surprise birthday party at Hal's home as the setting for bestowing the gift on Hal and letting him know how important he was to the crew.
"How are you going to manage a surprise party?" Tonio asked Brett.
"Don't worry. I'll work out the details if you take care of the gift, Levi."
"Okay," Levi agreed. "But how do you know Hal hasn't already made plans with Drew to celebrate his birthday?"
Brett didn't reply immediately. "We should surprise him the night before his birthday. Then we won't ruin any plans they've made." Everyone murmured agreement, pleased that Brett finally seemed to acknowledge that Hal and Drew were a couple.
"You all can meet at Ted and Levi's home. Ted, you can let all you guys in Hal's house and then hide in Hal's bedroom. I'll get you a key. You all can park on the other side of the block where Hal won't see your cars.
"Where are you going to be?" Max asked.
"First, I'll be with the caterer. She'll come in right after you guys surprise Hal. He's already promised that I could treat him to dinner some night for his birthday. Soon after you guys hide, we'll show up. You can jump out of Hal's bedroom and surprise him."
"How are you going to get a key?" Bobby asked.
"Trust me" was Brett's reply.
"Who's paying for the catering?" Ted asked.
"I am. My mom has a friend who loves to cater little parties. I'll ask Regina to pitch in. It won't cost that much. Mostly just for a birthday cake and drinks. We aren't actually that large a group. But all Hal needs to know is that it's from all of us."
"Why should you pay for all of it?" Ted continued.
"Because Regina's my friend, it's my money, and I want to," Brett responded, smiling. "It's about time I did something nice for all of you. I'm the new guy. And it'll make it special for Hal."
"What about Drew and Rich?" Jamal asked. "You want me to tell them to meet us at Ted's."
Brett's mouth compressed into a tight line at the repeated mention of Drew's name. "If you think it's necessary to include them," Brett answered curtly, causing the others to trade glances. Maybe they'd given Brett credit too soon for accepting Hal and Drew.
"Not invite Drew?" Max asked with some attitude. "Hal wouldn't think it was much of a birthday if either Drew or Rich were absent. They've been his friends since before you arrived, Brett. And Drew and Hal are a couple."
"Whatever," Brett replied, looking levelly at Max. They didn't miss the hint of menace in Brett's body language and voice.
The group returned to their afternoon's work, but the rest of the day had an edge about it. As Levi dutifully collected the money for the gift, he asked each member of the crew what he thought Hal would like. Nobody really had a clue, so they decided to give him a gift certificate towards the hot tub that Hal intended to locate just off his deck.
On the target date, Brett took Hal off to dinner an hour and a half before the end of the workday. The group gathered a half hour early at Ted and Levi's home where they visited briefly, anticipating a real surprise for Hal. At the proper time, Ted and Levi had them in their cars and driving over to Hal's. They all parked back down the side street running along Hal's block, leaving the space in the front of his house clear.
They alighted from their cars, joining Ted at the front door. Having already adopted their "surprise" mode, Ted shushed everyone as he opened the door and the group entered noiselessly, taking care to push the door shut softly. Following Ted, they moved across the living room into the hallway and over to Hal's bedroom, opening the door and entering. They all almost ran over Ted as he pulled up short at the sight of Hal with his cock buried in Brett's ass, the latter's shapely legs, their golden down glowing in the subdued light, laying over Hal's shoulders. Both men were locked in a kiss. The members of the crew couldn't believe their eyes. Sensing the implications, they checked Drew out. He was standing still, his eyes wide in shock, his mouth open for an unasked question.
Shock and dismay didn't keep several of the crew from checking Brett out since his average, slender cock lay back on his lower stomach. He had beautiful, broadly curved pecs and a flat muscled stomach. Lean, corded muscles lay just beneath the skin on his arms and legs. The patch of hair just above his thin cock was about the same tawny color as the hair on his head.
Max couldn't stand it, clearing his throat. Brett and Hal broke the kiss, the former smirking as he noted which crew members were assessing his endowments. He winked at Bobby and Angie. Hal turned toward them, halting his thrusting into Brett, squinting to see who was there, his body tipping this way and that. They realized that he was quite drunk, a sight they'd never seen, which only added to their confusion and dismay.
"What the fuck!" Hal slurred out. "What do you want? What the hell are you doing busting into my bedroom when I'm fucking my lover?" Drew sucked in a short breath at Hal's last pronouncement.
"We came to surprise you on your birthday," Jamal said. "Didn't know you'd be getting a little nookie . . . from your lover, you said? What's Drew then?" he asked in a manner just short of a challenge.
Hal looked around as though he hadn't seen Drew in the group. When he spotted him, he gulped. Defensively, he glared at Drew: "I might have known you'd be checking out my new boyfriend. Well get a good look. He's Richie. He's beautiful. He's hot. I've waited for him for years. He's what I've always wanted. You couldn't match him in 50 years." Hal turned to Brett, planting a hot kiss on his mouth. After Hal turned back to look at the group, Brett was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
Drew felt dwarfed by the circumstances, especially in the face of Hal's fiery glare and Brett's constant smirk. Drew expelled a deep, shuddering breath. Concentrating on Hal and blocking everyone else out, he said quietly, "I have never wanted anyone as wholly as I want you. I have never needed anyone as completely as I need you. I have never loved," here Drew's voice caught, "anyone as entirely as I love you. You are the center of my universe."
As Drew spoke, Brett moved up close to Hal, pressing his body into Hal's and sliding his arm around Hal's waist, stroking his fingers across his ass and down into his crack, reminding him to whom he'd just committed himself. "See this man lying under me?" Hal answered Drew. "He brings more excitement, energy, love, and magic into our bed than you ever could."
The look on Drew's face was the same the group would have seen if Hal had struck him. Drew didn't know if his body froze in place because of Hal's words or his realization that he was being rejected as unworthy. Hal was ending their relationship. No opportunity for hope existed.
Max growled out a warning: "Hal!"
"Fuck off!" Hal shot back angrily. Max frowned.
Even in his inebriated state, Hal suddenly realized that the entire crew was feeling the way Max did. He'd chosen to ignore the way they held back when Brett joined them. He realized that they never joked as freely with Brett as they did with each other. He had to assert his stance.
He whirled around, pulling Brett into a hot embrace and kiss. Drew's body lurched as though he'd been struck. Then he righted himself, standing stiffly, his eyes blinking rapidly. Members of the crew swapped glances, wanting to protect Drew but uncertain how to do that, afraid that rushing to his side would only call more attention to his plight. Suddenly Drew's arms shot around his chest as though protecting his heart. Drew turned around and walked out of the bedroom into the living room without ever looking at anyone else. They heard the door open and then close. They all stood there looking at Hal and Brett kissing. They heard Drew's car start down the block. To Max, it seemed as though a book had been slammed shut. The crew felt that that they had witnessed something of ineffable value being destroyed. Angie had started crying, turning her head into Bobby's shoulder. He placed a protective arm around her, taking one more look at the two hot bodies entwined on the bed, swallowing hard, and then walking them out of the bedroom.
Hal and Brett broke their kiss, looking deeply into each other's eyes. Brett sported a big smile. Then he caught each of them in a look that announced that he was now ascendant. He'd won - just the way he was always pushing Hal to win in the competitions he created at the gym, card table, swimming pool, jogging trail - everywhere.
Hal turned to them. "Can't you leave us alone so that we can finish our fuck, or do you need to watch that too?"
Levi snorted, "I can find something better to look at!" he said, throwing their gift envelope on the floor and whirling around and shooting out of the room. As drunk as Hal was, he found Levi's disdain unsettling. Levi had never reacted to him that way before. Ted's look suggested that someone had just died. He followed Levi wordlessly out of the room. Rich was pale, his hands shaking. The scene reminded him too much of the recent debacle with Wes. Tonio looked hurt; Jamal's eyes blazed. They followed hard upon the heels of Rich. Brett's smile deepened.
Once outside, the members returned to their respective cars. The Coopers were already driving away in their pickup. Nobody said anything. "Shell-shock" would have been an understatement in characterizing their state of mind.
The Coopers' Home
Not a word had been spoken in the cab of the Coopers' pickup as they drove away. Bobby glanced in the review mirror, noting the mass exodus from Hal's house. "The other crew members are leaving," he reported to Angie. She softly wept and sniffled for a bit. Once they had entered their duplex, Bobby snagged a beer from the refrigerator, and Angie excused herself to prepare for bed.
For weeks, Bobby had quietly been in distress, yet he had been successful in hiding it even from Angie. When they had stayed in Hal's home upon first arriving in town, Bobbie had been catapulted into his past, a painful part of it. It was his coming upon Drew kissing and clinging to Hal in the bedroom hallway, with legs locked about the latter's waist, that acted as the trigger. Then hours later, upon returning to their bedroom with a glass of milk for Angie, he'd found the old excitement returning as he listened to Hal and Drew moaning at the height of their love-making.
Now Bobby was seething. Not just because of Hal's change of character or because of what Bobby was now convinced was Brett's malicious heart or of Angie's being upset. It ran much deeper. For as he watched Drew shade from shock through disbelief to pain to resignation to crushing defeat, he remembered all too well his experience with the very same feelings - a slide into doom, he had thought at the time. The difference was that his slide hadn't happened as quickly as Drew's. Still, it had been rough for him, and he'd had to go through it all alone, so he had no trouble imagining how horrible Drew felt.
Looking cuddly in a cute flannel nightgown, carrying a glass of orange juice, Angie joined Bobby in the living room. She was still dabbing at tears in her eyes with a handkerchief. "Did you see that look Brett gave us? He wanted us - both of us. We're going to have to watch him now. . . I still can't believe Hal," Bobby spat out. "Treating Drew like that. . . After all they've been to each other. It just evaporated overnight. . . And there's nothing you can do if your self-esteem is under assault like that except stand and bear it." Angie looked quickly at Bobby, noting the shift in his point of view as though he were including himself along with Drew.
"In Art Appreciation, I once saw a painting of this guy, his chest pierced with arrows. I don't remember the painter - maybe Botticelli - but I remember the guy - St. Sebastian. He was martyred by those arrows piercing his body. He didn't die immediately. In fact, he looked serene, like his chest wasn't pierced by lethal arrows. That's what grabbed my mind when I first saw that painting. It's the same way I saw Drew tonight. Hal was the Roman archer martyring Sebastian, his words sharp arrows. And when Drew walked out of that bedroom, he was dead, in a manner of speaking. No serenity for him. Just dead. . . That's how he feels now. Life is over. Promise and hope are gone. There's no future. . . And he'll make a grave for himself: work and home - that's it. I bet we go for long stretches before we see him again. . . A person thinks he's protecting himself, dropping out of sight like that. It's why we weren't able to reach Rich until just recently, why he was absent from us so long after Wes left the bar with that young woman. And after it happens, you don't even know what you did wrong."
"Were you in love with him, Bobby?" Angie asked softly.
Bobby looked startled, swallowing hard. "Drew? Rich? I'm not in love with them," he answered indignantly. "We're good friends. I respect them. Drew's funny, fun to be around. Rich is your friend and a former jock. That's all. What do you mean anyway?"
"I'm not talking about Drew or Rich. I'm talking about your Hal." Bobby's face flushed with color. "Don't worry, Bobby. I knew not long after we became acquainted that you were hiding a deep hurt. At first I thought it was from a woman in your life. But when we first met Drew in Hal's house, I realized that it was a man - or men?" she asked, raising the tone of her voice just a little at the end of the question to indicate that it implied no threat. Bobby squirmed in his chair, obviously disturbed at the nature of Angie's question and frantic to think of a way to deflect her question.
"It was subtle," Angie continued, "but I gradually realized after that evening over dinner at Hal's that your reaction didn't have to do with disapproval of Hal and Drew's relationship. And your reaction ran deeper than just discovering Hal's sexual orientation. I perceived that as you opened up to them that evening. I hope you'll give me an answer, but I want to tell you first that I won't love you any less for what you are about to tell me. In fact, I may end up loving you more. Remember: I'd already figured it out." She smiled. "You're lucky I'm in my mothering period."
Bobby grinned faintly. "One of your best roles," he replied.
"Tell me, Bobby, so that I can fully understand the man I'll love forever."
His smile faded. His head dropped, and his shoulders drooped as though in defeat or perhaps relief. He paused for a long time. Angie could see that he was collecting images and then words with which to clothe them. "It was in basic training. Gerald was in my barracks, his bunk just below mine. We became the best of buddies, helping each other, keeping our spirits up, trying to make the other feel good. On long hikes, when we camped out, we shared a small tent. We were so close and so horny that even on the very first night out we knew we were going to help the other guy out."
Bobby paused, remembering. "Gerald was handsome, so I envied him right away."
"Let me see what he looked like?" Angie asked softly to let Bobby know that she was genuinely interested in his history.
Bobby paused, looking off into space, looking closely at the image his memory held of Gerald, determining how to characterize his appearance. "He was about 5' 10" and beefy. He was one of those guys who looked really hot with a military high-n-tight haircut. Black hair, broad forehead, really dark eyebrows, full lips. He was muscular, but he wasn't muscle-bound. Straight nose of medium length. He had these full, darker lips. Nice square chin. Well-endowed. Okay butt. Muscular legs. . . . Funny. As I describe him, he doesn't sound that special. I guess there's no way I can describe his poise. He was his own man: everything about him radiated from inside. He felt good about himself. He never expressed any envy or jealousy of anyone in all the time I knew him. He was quite happy being himself." Angie noted that Bobby had fallen into a smile as he remembered the first friend he'd made in the military. "He had the looks I'd always wanted."
Angie smiled. "I don't think many humans have the looks they'd like. They always find those in someone else. You're a handsome dude, Bobby Cooper. MY dude. I wanted you the first moment I saw you."
Bobbie's eyes grew larger. "Really?" Angie shook her head in the affirmative. "I thought maybe I was just a route away from your past, from Dennis Huxley's controlling behavior, so you'd take anything to avoid him."
"Well, I'll have to start a campaign to help you see yourself as I saw you then, won't I?" she asked, grinning mischievously. "I'll start developing strategies toward that end." Bobby grinned back, relief lifting his spirits.
"Gerald and I kept up our relationship during basic - that's not easy when there's little privacy." Bobby stopped and gulped again. "Maybe I'm giving you more details than you really want."
"I want you to tell me all of it, Bobby - if you're comfortable with that."
Nodding his head, Bobby continued, surprised at the relief he was feeling upon finally sharing this hidden dimension of his past experience, especially sharing it with Angie. "At the end of basic, we spent our leave together in the city in a cheap hotel room. Didn't make any difference how cheap it was. It was a refuge. I always thought Gerald felt the way I did. He seemed to. We were horny for each other all the time, and the sex was hot. Back at camp, when we were assigned our special training, we both were in the same electronics school. That's where he met Nate, also a hunk with killer looks."
Bobby paused a moment. "Nate always reminded me of those magazine pictures of young guys from the East coast who were about to set out for World War II in Europe. Had a darker look." Bobby squinted, thinking. "Olive-skinned look. Maybe he had a little Middle Eastern influence in his gene pool. Anyway, he was taller than Gerald. Dark hair, square forehead with an oval face below. Okay shoulders. He wasn't really muscular. But he was built. Dark eyes, but they always seemed so guileless. Nice nose, great lips, nice chin to round out his oval face. Always smiling. The kind of guy women immediately go ape over." A frown moved onto Bobby's mouth. "I didn't need to be told. I saw them connect immediately. I remember feeling an immediate pang of fear run right into my gut. Kept telling myself it was my imagination. Gerald got us involved in some hot three-ways. I was jealous, but I swallowed it out of consideration for Gerald."
Bobby shifted in his chair. "I noticed that Gerald and Nate were off together more and more, leaving me out of their plans. But the next time the three of us were together, they subtly guided me into a subordinate role. They even called me 'babe.' If things hadn't changed, I believe they would have been my masters. I would have been their slave." Angie's eyes had widened only a little upon Bobby's last disclosure.
After a pause, during which Bobby was staring at the floor, "My brother Anson was in an auto accident, and they thought he was dying, so the Red Cross helped me get home. Gerald and Nate saw me off, telling me to keep in touch. They'd be waiting for me when I got back. When I finally did get back to camp, they weren't anywhere to be found even though I'd written them when I was arriving. I learned that they'd transferred out. It took me a week to track down all the details. They had asked for the transfer about two weeks after they met - well before Anson's accident. Didn't tell me or include me at all." Angie saw tears glistening in his eyes.
"I swear, Ang, I can't think of what I did wrong. I never hurt them or interfered with them. But I must have done something wrong because they rejected me. I felt like trash."
"Maybe their feelings were growing so strong for each other that their feelings for you were getting in the way. That's a compliment, by the way. They didn't want to hurt you, but they knew you would be hurt when you found out. So they took the coward's way out and ran. You didn't do anything wrong. They did. . . Did you ever hear from them again?"
Bobby shook his head in the negative. "Would you want to hear from them again?" Angie gently probed.
"I've asked myself that. I don't know . . . Sometimes I want to talk to them so much. Just to find out how they are. What's happened to them. . . After all, I cared about them. I had been struggling over admitting to myself that I was falling in love with Gerald. . . I'd like to know if maybe later they regretted ditching me." He stared off into space as Angie pondered all that he'd related to her. "Other times I feel as though I don't want to ever hear their names again. That's how I felt when we left Hal's this evening. As much as I owe him and have liked him, I didn't want to ever talk to him again. . . Tonight he was too much like Gerald and Nate. I realized that if I had confronted Gerald and Nate about their relationship, it might have played out as it did for Drew tonight. Even now I can't stand how bad Drew is feeling because I remember how I felt. As I explained, the only difference is that my learning about Gerald and Nate's plans was disclosed over a week because I had to check things out with several people. Drew was hit right between the eyes all at once. And Nate wasn't a snake like Brett. Hal will be sorry someday that he hooked up with that guy. Brett has no soul."
Again, Angie noted how Bobby was including himself in Drew's predicament. Letting Bobby's prediction about Brett slide for the moment, Andie asked, "Where did they hail from?"
"Gerald was from Seattle. Nate was from Virginia."
"Bobby, some circumstances suggest that they may not have remained together." He looked at Angie expectantly. "They came together so quickly that they could have ended almost as quickly with each other on down the road after they transferred. Lying to you as they did introduced a note of unsavory behavior at the beginning of their lives together. If they felt any guilt at all over what they did to you, that could have been enough eventually to kill the relationship because, over the long term, the guilt would connect to each of them. Humans don't like guilt. They would observe the guilt in each other. Besides, when they left you without a word, they set up a behavioral pattern that either of them could replicate, alone or with another guy. You know - if they do it once, the next time it's easier. Or they could have been reassigned to different posts. Maybe something bad happened in their families as happened with Anson in your family, such that they couldn't get back together. I think it's unlikely that they are still together." She could tell Bobby wasn't buying anything she had said. "I just don't want you believing you have missed out on what you think they've had all these years."
Bobby shook his head in the negative. "I'll never know why Gerald and Nate did that to me. Do you think we'll ever really know why Hal hurt Drew like that?"
"Some factors to consider: Hal was really drunk. I wonder how much of tonight he'll remember tomorrow. Clearly, none of us realized how important Richie Collins was to Hal."
"But Brett isn't Richie Collins!" Bobby said with no little frustration.
"To Hal, sometimes he IS Richie."
"I guess I just don't understand how he could fool himself that way."
"Bobby, we didn't know Hal or Richie then, how much they needed someone in their lives to really love. Hal convinced himself a long time ago, when he was in the orphanage or was being bounced from foster home to foster home, that the cause of ALL his problems was having no family. None of us has appreciated how positive the feelings engendered by an effective family can be. He thought if he had a family, he'd be like everyone else. Bobbie, hang onto that idea. Along comes Richie, who partners with him. They become putative parents for the younger boys in the orphanage. Hal thinks and feels he has a family. Then Richie takes off into drugs, and Hal is left feeling like a loser. The same way Gerald and Nate left you feeling. A part of him never moved past that time. It's a hole in his life he's never filled. He wants that family feeling back, and he thinks finding Richie - in whoever's body that may be - is the only way it can happen. Imagine how you'd be feeling now if your couldn't accept what Gerald and Nate did."
"But he's got us. We're his family!"
"No, Bobby. Is Hal here with us now? After Drew and you and I left his home that time we stayed with him, who was there with him? No one. If you are home alone, in one sense, you have no family. Those who are alone really can appreciate the horrible power of the dark night of the soul." Bobby was startled by Angie's remark. He never imagined in all her time with Dennis Huxley that Angie could feel alone. The realization struck him suddenly: it was her brother Randy's flight to Europe that had deprived her her of her "twin." He resolved to do something to get the two back together. Randy was tantamount to his Gerald and Nate.
Neither spoke for a while, pondering the possibilities Angie had set out. "Bobby . . . ," Angie began hesitantly, "maybe someday you'll regret our meeting, marrying, having a family." Even before she finished, Bobby started shaking his head vigorously in the negative.
"But how can you know the answer if you never meet Gerald and Nate again?" she asked.
"Ang, when I met and fell in love with you, I learned why I was created a man. To take liberties with a slogan, I was born to love, serve, protect and honor - you, our children, our friends. Don't think that, if I met Gerald and Nate, I'd want to move back into a relationship with them. There was a day, maybe a year later after they ran off, when something inside me automatically shut off. That was my need to be rejoined with them. I don't wish them anything bad, but I don't need them. I need you, Ang. You are my life, my heart, my whole purpose for being. You've got me for the long haul." He grinned. "You'll have to beat me off with a stick if you ever want to get rid of me." He arose, walked over to her chair, scooped his arms under her, lifting her and turning around, sitting down in the chair, holding her to him. She snuggled into his arms. They sat that way in silence for some time.
Eventually, Angie looked up and into Bobby's eyes, sliding her hand along his cheek, shivering slightly with delight as the stubble on his cheeks scratched the palm of her hand. "I'm so proud and honored to be your lover, your wife, the mother of your son." She gently touched her lips to his. Bobby slipped his arms around her, pulling her to him more as the deepened his response to her kiss. Eventually, they separated as Angie lay her head back on Bobby's shoulder and he rested his cheek on the top of her head.
"I dread going to work tomorrow," she confessed, "facing Hal, trying to act as though something really ugly never happened, as though he hadn't had a role in its occurrence. I'm trying to understand his Jekyll/Hyde transformation tonight, but I can't. I guess that bothers me. I don't think I'll feel comfortable until I can understand it."
"You aren't afraid of Hal, are you?"
"No, Hal would never hurt me. If he hadn't been drunk and caught off guard, he would never have spoken to Drew that way. It's like Hal and I got to know each other and our work together had moved us close. But after tonight, there's a stranger in our midst - hiding inside Hal. And I can't even begin to think what I can do to help Drew."
(To be continued.)