Tripod

Tripod Chapter 25

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"Tripod" Chapter -- 25

Mom and Dad were sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee when I rolled out of bed and walked downstairs on Saturday morning at about 10 a. m. After I'd dropped him off at 11:00 p. m, Darius and I had stayed up texting until 3 a. m.

"Buenos días, hijo. How did you sleep?" Mom asked.

"Fine, thanks," was my mumbled reply.

Dad looked up and smiled, "How was your dinner with Darius?"

"Good," I responded.

"Well, aren't you the talkative one this morning," Mom added. "Your dad was feeling ambitious and made pumpkin muffins in honor of Halloween. Want a cup of coffee and a muffin?"

I just nodded.

I sat in silence for a couple of minutes, enjoying the muffin's warm embrace on my taste buds: the pumpkin swirled with walnuts, cinnamon, clove, ginger and maybe a little nutmeg? I felt my blood vessels dilate slightly as the caffeine hit my system. Ready to face the world, I breathed in and spoke, "To be honest, I had a great time yesterday. Darius is a really cool, smart guy. And did I mention he's good-looking, too?"

"Where did you wind up having dinner?" Dad asked.

"He wanted Mexican, but not that Tex-Mex stuff that they try to pass off as Mexican, so we went to Taco Naco," I said.

"That little hole-in-the-wall joint on Ashland?" Mom asked.

"That's the one. Cheap and cheerful. The tacos are great. It's hard to find good tacos de lengua in Chicago, ya know. Darius surprised me and loved the tongue."

Dad just about spit out his coffee. "Yeah, I bet he did. Get in a little alone time?"

"Barry! It's none of your business," Mom barked.

I blushed. "Since you asked nicely...Yeah, it was really...great. I've come to realize that smart guys really do it for me. I think you'll probably meet him tonight. I'm invited to a Halloween party at Ashley's place. I asked Darius to go with me. He'll get to meet my friends, too, but I'm having him stop here first so that he doesn't show up straight to Ashley's place. He doesn't know anyone there `cause we go to different schools."

"That would be great. We'd love to meet him. You seem to be pretty taken with Darius," Mom said.

"Well, we only met a little while ago and yesterday was really our first official date, but it couldn't have gone better. That kid is so smart. It just goes to show that I let my prejudice about wrestlers interfere with reality. He's been named 'Scholar/Athlete' three years in a row."

"That's pretty impressive," Dad said. "Are you wearing a costume tonight?"

"Yup. Sexy elf," I giggled.

"Typecasting," Mom laughed. "Speaking of sexy, you are planning on wearing some underwear under that elf costume, right?"

I laughed out loud, "Jeez, mom, I said 'sexy' not 'pervy.' I don't want to make anyone faint."

Mom continued, "Listen, I know you have good judgement and we trust you, but if for some reason you are not 100% sober or are feeling unsafe, call us at any time of the night and we're happy to pick you up, OK? No finger pointing. No questions asked."

"Got it. Thanks for worrying about me."

***

I got dressed for the party with fake elf ears; green tights; green gym shorts; a thick leather belt; a red, eight-pointed collar; and a tight, green muscle-T that showed off my abs, pecs and arms. I put rouge on my cheeks and wore a floppy stocking cap with a little yarn ball on the end. Sexy elf look? Check.

Earlier that afternoon, at a thrift shop, I'd managed to find a red and white knit shoulder bag to go with my outfit. I'd need a place to stash the car keys, my wallet and my cell phone, after all; sexy elf costumes don't exactly have lots of pockets. Someone's grandma had probably gone to the trouble to make the bag, but I could clearly see why it wound up in the second-hand shop, unloved.

Darius showed up at 9:00 on the dot wearing jeans, a graphic t-shirt and a leather jacket. "You really are a sexy elf," he remarked, leaning in for a kiss. "Don't worry. I've got my costume on underneath. I haven't chickened out." One corner of his mouth curled up. "I just didn't want to meet your folks wearing my wrestling outfit."

I walked Darius back into the living room, where my folks were watching a movie on one of the streaming services. They looked up and paused the movie. Dad stood up and walked towards Darius with his hand extended.

"Hi, I'm Barry. Nice to meet you, Darius."

"It's nice to meet you, too," Darius said, shaking Dad's hand. Then he walked over to my mom, who extended her hand.

"I'm Nayeli. I want you to know that Jaime's been saying nice things about you behind your back."

I blushed.

Darius laughed, "Well what kind of a despicable person would say nice things about someone behind their backs? You've obviously been total failures as parents."

Mom and Dad broke up laughing.

"Yeah, we think so, too," Dad added. "Darius, Jaime tells me that your mom runs an art gallery in Pilsen that represents refugee artists. It wouldn't happen to be called Out of the Shadows, would it?"

"That's the one," Darius replied. "Do you know it?"

"We did a shoot there last year for a pro bono client, an NGO that helps refugees get settled in their new countries. Is your mom named Yasmin?"

"That's her."

"She also says nice things about you behind your back. Seems to be a trend," Dad said.

"Well, who's mom wouldn't say nice things about her own kid, right? But as moms go, she's pretty cool. She's introduced me to some interesting people through her work."

"You guys have fun tonight," Dad said. "Jaime, remember what your mom said earlier, OK?"

I nodded and grabbed the car keys. Ten minutes later we pulled up in front of Ashley's house. It's one of those 125-year-old, landmark homes on Ridge Avenue built in the prairie style. Not quite a mansion, but close to it. We parked on one of the side streets, since Ridge is a no-parking street. The side street was already filled with cars.

In a city where temperatures on Halloween can literally range from freezing to just shy of tropical, on that night, it was fairly warm. We wouldn't have to risk dying of hypothermia by walking around the corner to Ashley's place in our costumes.

Darius shucked off his jeans, jacket and t-shirt to reveal his wrestling singlet underneath. I leaned over to kiss him.

"You look so fucking hot," I said. "Just a quick kiss though, OK? I don't want to chub up in this outfit and walk into the party with my dick snaking down my leg."

"Dude, if that thing gets hard snaking down your leg, you're going to be walking like a pirate instead of an elf. Better stick to a peck on the cheek," Darius laughed.

We got out of the car and headed to Ashley's. I could hear the music from around the corner. I figured the music was probably so loud that no one would hear the doorbell anyway, so I tried the door, which was unlocked, and we let ourselves in.

The first thing that hit me was the smell of weed. Like alcohol, marijuana is legal in the state of Illinois, but not if you're under 21. Then the heavy beat of EDM filled my ears and bounced off of my chest. The lights were dim and the place was packed. So much for a small party of twenty or so kids. There were easily fifty, and that was just in the massive living room and entrance hall. Most were in costume, with a few wearing masks, making it hard to recognize some of them.

The furniture was high-end contemporary, but the architectural details that made the place historic had been mostly preserved.

I spotted Ashley talking to Stephanie and Ron in the entrance hall. Ashley looked like slutty Cinderella. She was even wearing clear shoes, but they were stilettos and not the more sensibly-heeled, glass shoes of the children's tale. Her well-above-the-knee dress was flared out with all sorts of petticoats underneath. It had a plunging neckline that would have given Cinderella's wicked stepmother apoplexy and would have made the handsome prince leak pre-cum into his codpiece.

As promised, Ron was wearing nothing but tight, tight gym shorts, a leather harness and a dog collar. Stephanie, dressed head-to-toe in black rubber, held Ron's leash in one hand, along with a riding crop. She, like Ashley and Ron, held a red, plastic, disposable cup filled with God knows what.

Ashley glanced up and caught my eye. She motioned us over.

"If it isn't my favorite pervy little elf. Hey, Jaime!" Ashley leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek and whispered in my ear, "Who's the hot Spartan and does he like girls?"

"Nope," I smiled back. Then leaned back to introduce Darius to the group. "Ashley, Ron, Stephanie, this is Darius. He goes to East." Then I turned back to Darius, "Ron is on the gymnastics team with Tyler and me. This is his girlfriend Stephanie. And this is Ashley. It's her house."

"Cool. Nice to meet you. Ashley, this place is amazing. And your costume is awesome. 'Welcome to the 21st century, Cinderella. Now go snag a prince.' And Ron and Stephanie, let me guess, one of the wicked stepsisters and her pet dog?"

Stephanie laughed, "Not exactly, but close enough." Ron laughed, then Stephanie raised the riding crop and smacked him across the ass.

He winced, then said, "Thank you, mistress," and giggled.

"There's a washtub filled with punch in the kitchen," Ashley said. "It's spiked with vodka. There's also cans of pop if you insist on playing innocent. And there's always water for you responsible, athletic types who avoid sugar."

"I've got a note from my coach saying I can invoke the 'Halloween exception clause'" Darius smirked.

"There's chips & dip, candy, and cupcakes, too, if you somehow..." she brought a phantom joint to her lips, "get the munchies. Also, feel free to wander around the house. Lots of rooms to have a quiet conversation, or whatever," Ashley said, winking at the two of us.

"Oh, Eddie and Brandon are around here somewhere. I gotta say, Brandon is looking really fine. My greatest creation ever," Ashley laughed.

Darius looked confused.

"I'll explain later. Let's go get a drink and find Eddie and Brandon."

"Isn't Eddie's boyfriend named Tyler?" Darius asked.

"Yeah, but Tyler's gotta work tonight. He should be here after 11:00. Eddie's on the track team and I think I told you about Brandon, right? He's the son of that fucked up minister who's in jail now."

"Oh, yeah, right. Head to the kitchen for a drink?" Darius asked.

We pushed our way through the crowd. On the whole, the costumes were pretty unimpressive. Most of the girls decided on some slutty version of either a story book character or a super hero. Lots of cleavage. Some of the costumes were clearly strained to the maximum, lifting tits into seemingly unachievable positions. Makeup was applied with a shovel.

A couple of girls were pretty clever. One seemed to have a small boat with oars constructed around her waist and her friend was wearing waist-high fishing boots. We both looked at them puzzled. Darius got it first.

"'Roe vs Wade,' get it?" he asked, smiling at the girls' cleverness. "Not very funny, but pretty topical."

Most of the guys didn't look like they'd put much effort into it. Lots of dudes wrapped in sheets and wearing flip-flops trying to look like Romans in togas. One guy did look hysterically funny because instead of a white sheet, he'd opted for one with cartoon characters printed on it. We weren't sure if he was trying to be funny or was just too lazy to get a white sheet and had stolen his little brother's bed linens.

There were quite a few in super hero costumes, too, which for gay guys like Darius and me, made the scenery interesting.

"I've seen a few of these guys in the shower," I said. "Trust me, there are a lot of socks stuffed into those costumes."

Darius laughed. "Wow the bitch is out of the bag early tonight."

There were also a couple of guys in full Mexican lucha libre costumes with their heads completely covered with masks. They looked pretty hot in the costumes, but I had no idea who they were.

We finally managed to make our way to the kitchen and found Eddie and Brandon there.

Eddie was dressed in a baseball uniform, which I thought was strange, since he's a runner and has never been on the school's baseball team. His last name and the number 6 were printed on the back of his shirt.

Brandon was the devil. He wore a tight, red jumpsuit that showed off his body, with a curved, arrow-tipped tail and red horns. His red and black makeup completed the pretty-convincing picture.

The two were talking to each other and didn't notice Darius and me until we were practically standing next to them.

"Hey, guys. Love the costumes," I said.

"Hey, Jaime," Eddie said, glancing from me to Darius then back to me, rolling his eyes, "Sexy elf? Shocking." The tone in Eddie's voice was sarcastic; I had never expected that from "the world's nicest guy." He dispensed with our usual hug. Brandon also just stood there rather than reaching down to embrace me.

"This is Darius," I said, putting my arm around Darius's shoulder.

"You never said you were bringing him to the party," Brandon said, with iciness in his voice.

"Yeah, I thought he'd like to come to the party and get to meet my friends, who I love so much and who love me," I responded, "He's not out to any of his friends and I want him to see how we're always there for each other," I said, giving both Eddie and Brandon a guilt-inducing look.

Darius, to his credit, never let the smile fade from his face. He reached out to give a fist bump to both of my friends, who grudgingly reciprocated and forced a smile.

"Jaime, you were right. They both are really hot," Darius said. Then he turned to Eddie and Brandon. "He also talks about Tyler and the two of you all the time, telling me how much he loves you guys and what you mean to him. He's lucky to have friends like you."

By that point, Eddie and Brandon were obviously feeling guilty and the steely looks that they'd been giving Darius had started to soften. I could see why Darius was considering becoming a lawyer. He had a gift for convincing the jury.

"By the way," Darius continued, "he also told me what you guys have been up to and asked me if I was OK with it. I called him a 'disgusting slut' and said that if he ever so much as touched you guys again, I'd never speak to him."

My eyes flew open wide and Eddie and Brandon looked like they'd just been kicked in the head. Then Darius started to laugh. "I'm kidding!!! I'm cool with that. If you guys love Jaime as much as he says you do, why would I want to stop that? You were here first. You guys are like bonobos."

Smiles spread to everyone's face, knowing exactly what he was talking about. Bonobos are great apes, a cousin of chimpanzees, who strengthen group bonds and settle conflicts by having sex with each other. Sex between two males is common.

"What's with the costumes?" I asked.

A big smirk grew on Brandon's face. "My asshole dad would never let us go out trick-or-treating. Said it was a celebration of the devil. So, I picked the costume most likely to give him a meltdown. I should take a selfie and send it to him. But, oh, right, the fucker's in jail. No email. Boo-fucking-hoo."

All of us smiled and I gave Brandon a big hug.

"What about you, Mr. Big Leaguer?" I asked Eddie.

"Ever since we got outed and everyone knows that Tyler's my boyfriend, people keep asking, 'Who's the pitcher and who's the catcher?' I figured we'd keep `em guessing. I'm wearing number 6, Tyler's wearing number 9 and he's bringing a catcher's mitt, which we'll keep handing off to each other all night."

"So, who's the pitcher and who's the catcher?" Darius asked.

Eddie laughed. "We both play all the positions. And we're both switch hitters, ready to take whatever's thrown our way, fast balls, curve balls, sliders, left-handed or right-handed."

"I'd sure like to watch you guys train," Darius laughed. "Maybe even toss a few balls around with you."

"I think that could be arranged. You look pretty hot in that wrestling outfit. I'm sure Ty would be up for it," Eddie said.

"Just Tyler? What about the rest of the team here?" Darius asked. I could see he was starting to chub up in his singlet. Eddie and Brandon both noticed, too.

"If the pervy elf and the devil are up for it, absolutely," Eddie said, then he turned to me, "Jaime, I'm sure you're in, but Brandon, is this gonna be too much for you?"

Brandon thought for a second, then smiled broadly. "Nope. I figure that if it gets to be too heavy, I can just sit back for a few minutes and watch...or not, but I'd love to give it a try. Kind of a fantasy."

"We should wait for Ty," Eddie said, "but we can go upstairs and scope out the right room ahead of time, then come back down. I'd kinda like to check out the house anyway."

The four of us pushed through the hordes of increasingly drunk and stoned partygoers and made it up to the second floor. We passed a massive seating area on the second floor, even before we made it to any of the bedrooms. A girl dressed as a medieval wench had her hand shoved up under some guy's toga. She was obviously giving him a hand job and the guy was leaking pre-cum through his sheet. The two were kissing and completely ignored our passing by them.

We heard a guy moaning through the door of the first bedroom. Then a girl screamed, "My fucking jaw's sore. Come on, dude, is that the best you can do? Fuck! I waited for this and you're too fucking drunk to get it up and fuck me? What a loser!"

We quickly moved past, not wanting to face the wrath of a pissed off, sexually frustrated and would-be mortified girl running into us as she walked out of the room.

Through the door of the second bedroom, we heard three girls giggling. One of the girls said, "This is really fine weed. It's making me super horny. Ever kissed another chick?"

Then another girl giggled, "Yup. But only after she ate me out first. Her mouth tasted like my pussy."

The third girl jumped in, "Fuck, I'm not waiting for you two to feel each other out on this. My boyfriend's got a teeny cock and he's a shitty fuck. Shut the fuck up. You, get over here and suck on my clit and you, bite my nipples."

Laughter from all three girls.

There was no one in the third bedroom. We opened the door and realized that it must be Ashley's room. The bedding was by a fancy designer. His logo appeared all over the sheets. Her poster bed sat high off the ground. Unlike a typical teenager's room decorated with posters and homemade artwork, Ashley actually had real artwork and photos done by well-known professionals on her walls.

Her en suite bathroom was nearly as large as my bedroom at home, with a separate tub and walk-in shower. The closet was enormous. The bedroom had clearly been remodeled, cannibalizing a smaller bedroom to turn it into a closet. Ashley is one lucky girl.

Across the hall was a fourth bedroom. It had a king-sized bed, a reading chair and a love seat. I guess it had to be a guest bedroom, since it didn't have any really personalized touches, but it seemed like a high-end hotel room, complete with a nice bathroom. The four of us agreed that this room could do nicely for our little orgy.

Bedroom five at the end of the hall had to be the master. It had a double door. We opened one of the doors and walked into a palatial suite. The bedroom was clearly larger than a decent-sized Chicago apartment. The oversized bed occupied only a corner of the space with a seating group in front of a 90" (228cm), wall-mounted, video monitor in another corner and a separate area with library shelves and a chaise for reading in yet another corner of the room.

We walked through the dressing area, which was lined with racks of clothes and cubby holes filled with shoes. At least 100 pairs were neatly arranged, seemingly by color and style. There were also trays for jewelry, filled with earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings. I'm certainly no expert, but it didn't look like the kind of stuff you'd pick up at the accessories store at the mall.

The bathroom just beyond was also straight out of an architectural magazine, with double-headed rain showers, a large whirlpool tub and a sauna. She even had one of those electronic bidets on the toilet!

"I think five could easily fit in that shower," Darius said, raising his eyebrows.

"You could probably fit twice that many in this shower, plus it'll make clean-up a lot easier," I said. "Besides, I think it would be really tacky to have sex in Ashley's mom's bed. I mean, yeah, I'm a slut, but at least I like to think I'm a slut with some class."

"Yup, I'm sure you'll use a dainty, little handkerchief to wipe the cum from the corners of your mouth after you give us all head," Eddie laughed.

"Or do you hold your pinkies out while you're stroking that huge cock of yours?" Brandon chided.

"No, actually, it's that he always swallows. Spitting would just be so vulgar, don't you think, ladies?" Darius said, trying to imitate the Queen's English.

"You know, it's already 10:30. Maybe you could text Tyler and let him know where we are and we could get started? All this talk has gotten me really hot, as you can all see."

"Yeah, we've noticed," Eddie said. "I have to say that Jaime has good taste. You're in awesome shape and that singlet doesn't leave much to the imagination. Jaime told us you like big cocks. You're not gonna be disappointed here either. I mean, Jaime's in a class of his own, but we're all hung. And I can see you're not exactly packing a little cocktail wiener in your singlet. Let me send a text to Tyler and feel him out on this. I don't want him to feel left out."

Eddie got to texting while I tilted my head up to kiss Darius, then got up on my toes to kiss Brandon. Brandon's devil costume didn't leave a lot of room for imagination either and he was obviously getting hard. I myself had to do some rearranging to give the beast some room to grow.

Darius reached down to cop a feel of Brandon's dick. His eyes went wide and he said, "Fuck! Eddie wasn't kidding. You're huge, too! I've died and gone to heaven."

By the time Eddie came back, the three of us were stroking each other through our costumes and kissing back and forth.

"Ty's cool," Eddie said. "I told him to walk into the master bedroom at the end of the hall and knock on the bathroom door when he gets here. I did promise that no one would cum until he got here, OK?"

Brandon, Darius and I all nodded. I reached in to turn on the shower.

It took all of a minute for us to shed the Halloween gear and start sucking on something other than candy. We never made it into the shower. Brandon looked a little overwhelmed, but not in a bad way. I think he just couldn't decide who to give his attention to and when. He leaned down and started kissing me and tweaking my nipples. Eddie squatted down and started eating my ass. This left Darius the choice of three huge cocks, all within reach when he dropped to his knees. He decided to grab Eddie's long, black 8 ½" with one hand, while he grabbed my monster with his other hand, leaving his mouth to explore Brandon's ten-inch, uncut meat bat. Darius's eyes were glazed over like a kid in a candy store, not quite sure which move to make next.

Darius had the skill of a hall-of-fame drummer, able to keep up his stroking on two dicks while he made a great show of downing Brandon's huge prong. No complaints in this bunch. Brandon was starting to moan and reached down to pull Darius off of his cock.

"Fuck, that's amazing. I don't want to cum yet though. Can we switch?" Brandon asked.

Darius looked up at Brandon, pulled off of Brandon's cock and stood up, releasing the dicks he'd been playing with. Brandon dropped to his knees and opened wide to take me into his throat, while stroking Darius and Eddie. Just as I was starting to breath hard, Brandon slipped my cock from his throat and went for Darius's. Darius slipped easily down Brandon's throat. Darius leaned in and started to kiss me hard, shoving his tongue into my mouth and then sucking on my tongue. His free hand grabbed my dick, matching Brandon's stroking so that I now had two hands, in synch, rubbing the snake. Between Eddie's masterful tongue up my butt, Darius's amazing kisses and the two hands stroking my cock, I was loving this group action. You can just feel the positive energy and love emanating from this group. Pretty soon, both Darius and I were getting close and I reached down to pull Brandon to his feet.

"Eddie, get up here," I said, sad to have his slithering tongue leave the comfort of my rear snake pit.

Eddie stood up and immediately went in for a kiss on Brandon. "I never, in my wildest dreams, would have thought that I'd be here with Brandon Grimes doing what I'm about to do, but I'm really glad you're here, Brandon. I know Tyler will be, too." Eddie pushed his lips against Brandon's for a deep, sensual kiss, then he hugged him tightly, before letting his lips drift down Brandon's neck, chest, stomach and down to Brandon's cock. Brandon smiled slightly, a tiny tear appearing in the corner of his eye.

"Man, Jaime wasn't kidding. You're not much smaller than he is. Fuck! Amazing," Eddie said, just before slipping Brandon's devil dog down his throat. Brandon reached down to stroke Eddie's face and grabbed Eddie's free hand with his other hand.

That left Darius free for me. I pulled him up to me and into a kiss, then turned him around and grabbed his rock-hard pecs from behind and lightly twisted both nipples that were nestled in a little, furry forest. He let out a groan of pleasure. My tongue traced his spine all the way down his back before finding its target between his two tight, hairy, melon-shaped, butt cheeks. I reached around to stroke his big, cut cock. Darius moaned.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Brandon pull his dick out of Eddie's mouth and take a step back. I turned my head to see that Brandon was now full-on crying, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"I, I, I need a few minutes, OK?" Brandon managed to choke out, then walked straight to the bathroom door, opened it and walked out.

The three of us looked at each other, stopped what we were doing and followed Brandon, hard dicks bobbing back and forth, to check on our friend.

What we saw as we stepped out of the bathroom was not exactly what we'd expected. Standing in the dressing area, just outside the bathroom, were the two guys dressed in lucha libre costumes we'd seen downstairs earlier, one was holding a handgun that was now pointed at us. They had clearly been helping themselves to Ashley's mom's jewelry collection.

The shorter of the two turned to his accomplice and said, "What the fuck! We agreed. No guns."

The taller thief shot back, "How fucking stupid are you? This way, we walk out of here and we get away. No weapon, we'd be fucked. Got it?"

He turned back to the four of us and said, "You faggots look like you just stepped out of some porn video. Fuck! That's a lot of dick. Anyhow, you're just gonna stand here naked. Me and my friend here are gonna slip out of here. You're gonna wait ten minutes before you get dressed and leave. If you try to rush after us, we'll shoot whoever's closest. Got it?

"You, short stuff," the taller thief continued, pointing to me, "go back into the bathroom and grab everyone's cell phones. Bring them to me. If you as much as move a finger to unlock any of those phones, I'll kill one of your friends. Got it?"

With my heart pounding in my chest and my erection shrunk back to what passes as normal size for me, I walked into the bathroom and rifled through everyone's pockets. I walked back into the dressing room and delivered four cell phones to the shorter thief, who shoved them into a bag with whatever they'd stolen.

"Good. Now my friend and me are gonna walk outta here, got it? No one makes a move for ten minutes. Understand?"

All of us nodded.

All of a sudden, a voice echoed from the bedroom, "Hey, studs, I hear the shower running. I hope you're so quiet 'cause your mouths are full of cock!"

"Tyler!! Run!!" Eddie screamed. But it was too late. Tyler had already entered the dressing room. The thief with the gun spun around and Tyler's eyes went wide. Before Tyler had a chance to turn and run, Eddie and Brandon dove at the gunman. The gun went off as the startled gunman reacted to the force of impact.

Darius ran toward the shorter thief and, with a single move straight out of a wrestling manual, knocked the legs out from under him. Darius had him pinned within a second. I ran over to help Darius.

Eddie had managed to get the gunman into a choke hold, but Brandon's pent-up rage exploded and he started punching the shooter in the face.

"You motherfucker! You're gonna pay! I'm gonna rip off your balls and shove them up your ass! You're gonna regret you were ever born. Those psychos in prison are gonna rape you good. Every. Fucking. Night." With the final three words, Brandon kicked the gunman in the guts so hard that he passed out, blood trickling from his mouth.

"Brandon!" Eddie shouted. "Stop! STOP!!

Brandon looked dazed. Eddie's words snapped him out of his tirade and he sunk to the ground, sobbing.

Darius screamed, "Jaime, grab some belts out of the closet so we can tie these guys up. I've got this little fucker under control."

"Tyler?! Ty?" Eddie screamed. But there was no response and Tyler was out of our line of site. He'd fallen backwards into the bedroom.

Eddie grabbed the gun and went to see what had happened to Tyler.

"NO!!! Eddie screamed, the anguish in his voice making my blood run cold. Oh, God. Oh, God," he sobbed. "Ty, please hang on."

I returned with a half dozen belts and handed a couple to Darius, who used them to tie the shorter thief's wrists to his legs. Then he went to check on Tyler while I tied up the other thief, who was still passed out.

Darius screamed back from the bedroom, "Jaime, call 911. Tell them there was an attempted armed robbery at this address, but that the two robbers have been subdued and tied up. Tell them we'll need an ambulance for a gun-shot victim. Let them know that we're in the master bedroom at the end of the hall on the second floor. Then grab towels from the bathroom."

I grabbed my cell phone out of the loot bag and did as I'd been asked. The dispatcher said that the police would be there within five minutes, but that the ambulance was probably at least ten minutes away.

I ran over to see what was going on with Tyler and set the towels down next to Darius. Tyler was on the floor moaning softly. Eddie had Tyler's head cradled in his lap, stroking his face.

"Tyler," Darius asked, "can you breathe OK?"

"Ugh huh," Tyler grunted.

"Can you wiggle your fingers and toes for me?"

Tyler's fingers and toes moved.

"Does your neck or back hurt at all?"

"No, just my shoulder," Tyler whispered.

"OK, this is gonna hurt, but I've gotta turn you over, OK?"

Tyler nodded.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Eddie screamed.

"The bullet went into his shoulder. There's not a ton of blood rushing out of the entrance wound, but we need to see if he's bleeding out of an exit wound, OK?" Darius said, trying to reassure Eddie.

Eddie nodded and helped Darius turn Tyler over. Tyler screamed in agony. Eddie winced. A quarter-sized hole was bleeding just above Tyler's shoulder blade. While there was a lot of blood, it wasn't pouring out of the wound.

Darius put one towel behind Tyler and the other over the entry wound and pushed. Tyler wailed.

"I know it hurts, buddy. But we need to stop the bleeding as best as we can. You're lucky. It looks like no organs or major blood vessels were hit."

At that point, I realized that we had the police coming in five minutes and four of us were stark naked. I ran and got our clothes. Poor Brandon was still a sobbing mess on the floor. I got dressed, then helped Eddie into the baseball shirt and his underwear. Darius managed to slide into his singlet with one hand, while still applying pressure to Tyler with the other.

I ran back to Brandon. I pulled him up to a standing position and hugged him.

"It's OK. It's OK. We're gonna be fine. Here are your clothes. Get dressed. The police are coming," I said.

"I am the devil. I'm a horrible, evil person. I coulda killed that guy if Eddie didn't stop me," Brandon sobbed.

"Get dressed, Brandon. You're a wonderful person and I love you. We can talk about getting you help later. Come on, hurry up," I implored.

Brandon slipped into his devil costume. I gave him another hug and nudged him into the bedroom.

By now, the taller of the two thieves had come to and was moaning on the floor. I called 911 again and told them that there was another person injured and that we were going to need another ambulance.

The other thief looked at me and said, "I'm really sorry. I just needed the money. No one was supposed to get hurt. He said there wasn't gonna be any guns. This is so fucked up."

"Yeah, tell it to the cops," I said, and walked out to check on Tyler, but something in his voice nagged at me.

As I walked back into the bedroom, the doors blew open and two armed policemen instantly pointed their guns at Eddie.

"Drop the weapon!!!" one of them shouted.

"Officer, it's not him!" I screamed. "Don't shoot!! The guys who stole the jewelry are tied up in the closet over there."

Eddie looked up and it took a split second to register that they were shouting at him.

"Drop it!" screamed the officer.

Eddie looked at the gun in his hand, and making sure it wasn't pointed at anyone, placed it slowly on the floor, then put his hands up.

"Everyone put your hands up!" screamed the second officer.

We all did as we were told. The officers walked into the bedroom and checked around to make sure there were no hidden weapons.

"Nobody move," said the first officer. One policemen stood in the doorway between the bedroom and the dressing area while the second officer went to check out the guys who were tied up.

Then, I heard the second officer say, "Let's get these masks off." There was a long pause. "Jesus Christ, they beat this guy up good."

The first officer spoke into his two-way radio, "Tell the EMTs that the site is secure. We've got a gunshot victim who appears stable and a perp who got the shit kicked out of him."

The first officer walked back into the bedroom, and once the EMTs had arrived on the scene, he began taking statements from us. The second officer was still in the dressing area, out of site.

One of the EMTs who was attending to Tyler turned to Darius and said, "You did a great job here. How did you know what to do?"

"My dad's a doctor. Well, he's a dermatologist, but he had to go through ER training when he was a resident. He's so freaked out about all of those school shootings that he taught my sister and me how to react to gunshot wounds and stabbings."

"Well, you may have saved your friend's life. We're taking him to Evanston General. Do you have contact info for his parents?"

"I don't," Darius replied.

"My phone's in my pocket," Tyler said weakly. "Give it to Eddie."

Eddie grabbed the phone and dialed Tyler's code to unlock it. He found the number for Tyler's mom and dialed her.

At that moment the shorter thief was led into the bedroom. The second officer was blocking my view, so I couldn't get a good look.

As the officer stepped out of the way, Darius, Eddie, Brandon and I all looked up at once.

"Do you know this guy? Does he go to your school?" the officer asked.

I felt my skin grow cold as the wave of recognition swept over the three of us.

Eddie, Brandon and I looked at one another. "Miguel," I whispered, "what the fuck have you done?"

End -- Chapter -- 25 "Tripod"

Author's note: Special thanks to my friend Dr. Tavo for his guidance on the medical issues related to this chapter. He saved my life on this one.