Aiden

I grew up in Chicago, on the west side, near-north, in a very white neighborhood that had a lot of Polish immigrants and their ancestors. It wasn't a rich neighborhood at all, and most everyone lived in apartments buildings or old houses that were crowded together on tiny lots.

I wasn't Polish at all. I had no idea what my ancestry was. Mom was blonde with blue eyes, skinny and tall. Some pictures of Dad showed that he was tall, big, blond, and also had blue eyes. He worked in a factory before he died and made good money. He was shot with a stolen pistol by an illegal immigrant for the seven dollars he was handing to the clerk at the grocery store. That was when I was four. I don't even remember him.

Mom yelled at me a lot, saying she wished she had never gotten pregnant, that I had ruined her career and her life. I had to make my own breakfast and dinner, and the school gave me free lunches. My grandparents in St. Louis sent money, and I usually got the mail after school, so I usually got the money when it was cash. They always sent me twenty bucks on my birthdays, holidays, other times, and for Christmas they always sent a hundred-dollar bill with a note telling my mom to get me something I wanted. I spent the money on clothes and food that I hid from Mom. I didn't have toys.

My friends had toys, and I played with theirs, and went to their houses, but I never had them come over to my house. I hated that. They had nice parents and homes, and they liked having friends over, but I hated even thinking about them seeing my apartment, or my room. Or my mom. I had a bed and a small table in my room, and that was about it.

Mom had to work shitty jobs, because she would get drunk and get fired after a couple of months or so. She'd stay away from the coke for a while, and be nicer, but she'd get some again and get all shitty. She had a bad employment record, so she could only get those kinds of jobs. When she couldn't pay the rent, she fucked the guy who ran the building. I guess he owned it, or he paid her rent for her, or hid that she hadn't paid it, or something.

Mom had a guy move in when I was ten. Frank was a drunk, did a lot of coke, was mean, rude, and hateful to me, like her. To Mom, he was much nicer. But Mom was usually drunk too.

But, anyway, when I turned twelve, there wasn't a party or even a single present or a card. They just completely forgot it. That night, when they were good and drunk, I packed what clothes I had, and a very few other very precious things, in a plastic bag and left. I didn't bother to cry.

I didn't know where to go, other than to the church on the corner. I used to go there for food when they still handed it out. When I got there it was shut and there were no lights on, so I walked down the street and just kept walking.

After a few blocks, a car pulled over next to me and the window rolled down. I stopped and looked at the guy leaning toward the open window.

"How much?" he asked me.

"How much what?" I asked.

"How much if I play with you?"

I remember thinking, play with me? Play what? Legos? Puzzle? A board game?

So I walked up to the open car window to ask, "Play with what?"

"Just your dick. I don't want your ass or anything. Just wanna blow you."

My dick? He wants to play with my dick? Blow me? He wants to suck on my dick? Is he kidding? What the hell?

"Hey, you're really cute, too. I'll give ya twenty-five bucks. Thirty if you'll let me undress ya and take my time."

Thirty bucks? Thirty bucks? Just to suck my dick? And undress me?

I knew I could eat for days on that. Or if I could get another guy to pay me like that, I could get a bus ticket to St. Louis and find my grandparents. They had been nice when my dad had died, and I had always wanted to go live with them instead of my mom.

"Okay. Thirty bucks, mister."

"Great! Get in."

He opened the door and I got in. He looked at me as I sat down, and he smiled at me. I remember how good that made me feel. No adult ever smiled at me, and I liked it. Even if he was a homo, and liked sucking boys' dicks, at least he smiled at me.

"What's your name?"

"Aiden."

"How old are you?"

"Twelve."

"You're small for twelve. How long you been hustling?"

"Not long."

I knew what hustling was. No one grew up in Chicago and didn't know about hustlers, whores, and pimps.

"Well, I'll take you to my place, and we can get to it, and I'll take you back here. Or wherever."

"Okay."

"What's in the bag?"

"Clothes."

"Get some new ones, did you?"

"Yeah."

"You probably make a fortune. Cute kid like you. You in the group? Or work it alone?"

"Alone."

"Wow. Usually you loners get beat on sooner or later. You better be real careful."

"I am."

I didn't have a clue what he was talking about, but I didn't like the sound of it at all.

He pulled up in front of a nice house, opened the garage door with a remote, and drove in. As the overhead door closed, he turned off the engine and got out. I followed him. I was so scared.

I followed him to his bedroom. The kitchen and hallway were nice, and the house was better than any in my neighborhood. His bedroom was really nice.

He sat on the bed and gestured for me to walk up in front of him. I did, not knowing what was going to happen, and more scared than I wanted him to know.

He smiled at me. No one had much before. Only my friends. Not adults.

He took my bag and put it on the table by the bed. I almost didn't want him to take it. Besides the clothes, there were the only other things I cared for at all in that bag. Then he put his hands on my hips and pulled me up close to him. He smiled at me as he slid my shirt up and then he kissed my stomach. It felt weird. Really weird. But there was that little bit of me that liked it. Maybe it just liked that an adult was paying attention to me and wasn't yelling or screaming at me, or about to hit me.

He slid my shirt over my head and put it on the table by the bed. He ran his hands up and down on my chest and belly. It tickled and felt kind of nice. He kissed me all over my front. His hands touched me all over my chest and belly and back, and then went over my butt. He squeezed and rubbed my butt. It felt... well, I'd never felt anything like it before. He kept kissing and licking my chest, especially my nipples. It was actually kind of nice.

He lifted my arms over my head and kissed and licked my pits. I thought that was gross, but I liked how it felt. It tickled a lot, and it made my insides squirm.

Pretty soon he was undoing my pants. I had to keep myself from trying to stop him. I knew I was going to let him suck on my dick after letting him undress me. He got my pants down, helped me step out of them, and sat back and stared at me. All over me. From face to legs.

"Aiden, you're a really good looking kid."

He smiled at me. I smiled back. I couldn't remember smiling at an adult before.

"Don't you like what I'm doing?" he asked.

"Sure," I said.

I did, in a way. It wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be, and it felt pretty good to be touched and kissed and licked.

"Why aren't you hard yet?"

"Huh?"

He reached out and grabbed at my junk. I sort of flinched. I mean, no one had done that before. I was worried for a second that he was going to hit me or something, like my mom and her boyfriend did. But he only sort of felt it down there. It felt really weird. It tickled a lot.

"Don't you get hard?"

"Uh, sure I do."

I never had. Sex was something mysterious I'd heard friends talking about, and that was it. I knew what a blow-job was, that it was when someone sucked on a dick, and I'd heard that it felt really good. But I had never thought that my dick would have to be hard for it.

He slid my underpants down and helped me step out of them and threw them on top of my other clothes.

"Nice, Aiden," he said, grinning at me.

I sort of laughed. It was really strange to have an adult tell me something was nice about me at all, let alone be looking at my privates and say so.

He started handling it. Pulling the skin back and forth on it. That tickled so much I almost couldn't keep from laughing. And then it started getting hard. I was amazed! And it seemed to feel even better. It got longer and thicker and harder, and it tingled like mad.

And then he leaned forward and put his mouth on it. I closed my eyes because I didn't want to see that. And then my eyes popped open! It felt incredible!

I didn't mean to, but I said, "Oh, God!" and started almost panting.

My friends were right, it felt great! It tickled in a weird way that was just fantastic!

He put both of his hands on my butt and started going up and down on my dick. I thought I was going to go nuts!

He kept doing that, and I wasn't going to do anything that might make him stop. I loved it. I knew it was faggy, but it was going to get me thirty bucks. I would let guys do that to me all night as long as they paid me!

But my legs were starting to give out after a few minutes. He had me lay down on the bed and went back to doing it. Some kind of instinct made me keep my legs still, because they wanted to run in place. And I wanted to giggle and laugh, but I did my best not to.

After a while, he grabbed my hands and put them on the back of his head. I played with his hair while he kept sucking me.

"You taste great, Aiden."

"Uh, thanks."

What else should I say?

He licked my balls, too. I didn't know if I should try to charge extra for that or not, but I decided not to mention it. Besides, I liked it too. And I loved it when he flicked his tongue all over the end of my dick. In fact, it all felt fucking awesome! I really liked it!

I don't even know when he got his dick out of his pants, but he stopped sucking me and sat up over my legs and jerked his dick like crazy. His head was back and he grunted a lot and then he shot his wad between my legs. It went all over the blanket, and some got on my thigh. It was sort of interesting to see. I'd never seen a guy shoot before. I didn't know how long it would last or how much he would squirt out.

When he was done, he looked down at me, smiling really wide, and said, "Wow, that was great!"

He fell onto his side next to me, still smiling at me.

"Good," was all I could think of to say.

I smiled back. It was easy to smile at him.

He stretched out on his side and faced me, still smiling at me. He reached out and ran his fingers over my chest and belly, then my leg too. It tickled a little and it felt really nice. It was so easy to smile at him.

"Can I pick you up again tomorrow?"

I had no idea. I liked the idea of doing that with him again, but I hoped to find someone else to pay me another thirty bucks tonight so I could get to St. Louis.

"If I'm still around."

"Going somewhere?"

"I hope to St. Louis."

"Oh. Too bad. I'd really like to see you again tomorrow."

I hoped to find someone else to pay me to do that to me again tonight, but I didn't know how to. If he was willing to again tomorrow, I wouldn't have to hustle and maybe end up in trouble. I'd just have to find somewhere to stay tonight.

"Well, maybe. I'll be there again at the same time, if I'm still here."

"Great."

He tickled me some more. And before I even knew it, he was hugging me and we were just lying there. It was really nice. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been hugged. Probably by my grandparents at my dad's funeral.

"Well, guess I better get you back to work."

I really didn't want to leave. I had nowhere to go, for one thing. And I had no idea how to get another guy to pay me to let him suck me. Or what I would do until tomorrow if I needed to meet him for another time.

He pulled his pants back up and I got dressed. He handed me a twenty and a ten. It was the most money I had ever seen at once, except the money my grandparents sent on Christmas. I put it in my pocket and said, "Thanks."

"You're welcome, Aiden. Any time. I really enjoyed it. Hope you did too."

I nodded and smiled. I really had. It hadn't been so gross or sick at all. And it had felt really great.

We headed toward his car. His house was really nice. I looked around and wished I lived somewhere like that instead of the hole I had left. I wondered where I was going to be in an hour, by morning, tomorrow. I got so worried that I started shaking all over.

We got into his car and he drove back the way we had come. He asked me if I would see him again tomorrow. I promised to be there tomorrow night at the same time. I figured I would stay nearby, find some place to hide and sleep, and wait to meet him again.

I wished I had a guy like him at home instead of the bastard my mom was with. I wished my Mom cared enough about me to at least talk to me about something normal instead of just to tell me I was in her way and a waste of her time, and that she wished I hadn't been born.

I ended up crying before he got to the block where he had found me. I tried to hide it, but I guess I didn't do a very good job of it.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

He pulled over and I opened the door. He pulled me back by my shirt and made me look at him.

"What's wrong?"

He smoothed down my hair and held my arm with his other hand. I didn't know what he was thinking as he looked at me, but his expression was nothing I had ever seen on my mom's or her boyfriends' faces.

"If nothing's wrong, why are you so upset?"

"Nothing."

I was getting mad. I didn't know why.

"Hey. I hate seeing you cry. You're so cute when you're smiling."

That made me sort of laugh.

"Tell me what's wrong. Maybe I can help."

"I don't have anywhere to go!" I nearly yelled.

"What? Why not? Where've you stayed since you started hustling?"

"I... I never. I mean, I never did, before."

"You mean, you've never done this before?"

"No."

"Did you just leave home? Or did you get kicked out and can't go back?"

"I left. My mom and her boyfriend won't miss me for a couple of days. And'll probably be glad I'm gone!"

Now I was crying really hard. I couldn't help it. It hurt to see the truth like that. I just wouldn't think about it before, but telling him made it real. I was homeless. Out on the streets, and my mom didn't give a damn. She would be glad I was gone. I knew it.

He hugged me really tight. I cried. And hard. I heard how loudly I cried. It was embarrassing. But it just hurt to know I didn't have anything. I wasn't loved. No one cared. My friends would probably wonder what happened to me, but, otherwise, there was no one. My grandparents wouldn't know until I showed up on their doorstep. If I ever made it.

He held me against him and let me cry. I knew he was driving, but I didn't care where. When I noticed that we weren't moving for a while, I got curious and was able to stop crying, and looked up. We were parked in his garage.

"Come on."

He had me get out of the car, and he put his arm over my shoulder and we walked to his bedroom. I didn't want to do it again, but if it made me another thirty bucks, I was willing to let him. He sat down next to me on his bed and then had me lay down. I waited for him to take my pants or shirt off. He rolled me to face him and held me. And I ended up crying more.

I think it was that I was being held, and I wasn't used to that. It just seemed okay to lay there and cry in his arms. So I did.

When I woke up, he was slipping into the bed next to me. He had boxers on, and nothing else. It was time to earn that other thirty bucks. I took my shirt off. I kicked my shoes off and took my jeans off. I started to take my underwear off.

"Keep them on," he said, stopping my hand.

"Uh, okay."

He rolled me to face him and pulled me up close and hugged me. I didn't cry, but I was almost sad enough to. I waited for him to get started. His hand sort of rubbed my back, but it wasn't like before. It was slower and softer. And his hand stayed in the middle of my back.

"You can get started," I said.

"What?"

"I said, you can go ahead. I'm ready. It'll get hard in a minute, I think."

"Oh. Um, I'd rather not. Just go to sleep."

"You don't like boys who cry?"

He laughed, which sort of made me a little angry.

"I don't want to do anything. I want you to get some sleep. I've got to call into work early tomorrow and tell them I need the day off."

"Why?" I suddenly worried I knew what he was going to do. "Please don't call the cops!"

"The cops?" he asked. He pushed me away enough to look at my face. "No cops. I'm going to take the day off, take you out for breakfast, and we're going to figure out what you're going to do."

"Do?"

"What's in St. Louis?"

"My grandparents."

"Your mom's folks?"

"No, Dad's."

"Will they let you live with them?"

"I hope so."

"You don't know?"

"They wanted me to when I was a kid, Mom said. But she kept me. I asked her why. She said I was worth a few hundred a month."

He sort of sighed in a weird way and shook his head. He pulled me into a hug and kissed the top of my head.

"We're going to call your grandparents. Do you have their phone number?"

"No."

"Then how are you going to find them?"

"I have some letters they sent. Return address."

"Good. We'll find them, then. And I'll take you there myself."

I jerked back and looked up at him.

"You will?"

He smiled and nodded at me.

"I'm not going to let you live on the streets. Or go back to your mother. So, you're going to live with your grandparents. If they'll have you. If not, we'll figure something out. Don't you worry for a second, Aiden."

I started crying again. This time it was different, though. It wasn't so sad. I fell asleep in his arms, feeling safe for the first time I could remember.

In the morning, I showered and got into clean clothes, and we went to Hardee's for breakfast. We went back to his house, and I gave him a letter from my grandparents. He called the operator or something and asked for their phone number and gave their address. Then he gave me a huge grin.

"Yes, that would be them," he said. "Yes." Then he wrote down a phone number. "Thank you very much."

He handed me the paper, still smiling at me.

"Call it," he said.

My guts were swirling around inside me, I had the shakes all over, and my hands were shaking like mad! I dialed it. It rang three times, then I heard an old woman's voice say, "Hello?"

"Uh, grandma?"

"Aiden?"

"Yes!"

I started crying so hard I couldn't talk. I couldn't even see the phone as he took the handset from me and pulled me against his chest.

"Hello? My name is Charles. I live in Chicago. I found your grandson wandering the street late last night. He left his home. It seems his mother gets drunk and... So, you know how... Yes... No..."

I kept crying so hard I couldn't breathe.

"Yes, he's fine. He doesn't have a scratch on him... He left last night... A plastic bag of clothes... He's had breakfast... No, that won't be necessary, I can get him down there in a few hours... I'm sure... I've already taken the day off work... No, ma'am, I'm a foreman at Thompsons Electronics... Yes, I have vacation days, so it's no trouble... I'd be glad to..."

He gave her a phone number, I expect his, and then he said, "See you in a few hours... I'll be waiting by the phone, and you can call back... Yes, ma'am... Right away... You're welcome... I think so, hang on... Aiden?"

I sniffled a few times, then looked up at him and asked, "Huh?"

"Can you talk to her?"

I nodded, and he handed me the phone.

"Aiden?" she asked.

"Yes. Hi, grandma."

"Oh, Aiden. Why didn't you call me? Or write and tell me you were having a rough time there?"

"I didn't... I didn't know I could."

"Oh, Aiden. Of course you could have! You silly boy!"

She cried. That made me cry.

"Aiden, you get your butt down here. Charles says he's going to drive you here. Has he been good to you?"

"Oh, yeah."

"He hasn't tried anything funny, has he?"

"No. What do you mean?"

"He hasn't tried to... touch you, or anything?"

"He's been really nice. He let me sleep here last night after he made me tell him why I was on the street. And he bought me breakfast, and got your phone number for me. He's been so nice."

"Oh, good. Then you be sure to thank him. And you be good for him, and listen to him. He's going to drive you down here. I'm going to call him back so I know this is his home phone number, in case anything happens. You are at his house right now, on his phone, right?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now, don't you worry about a thing. We'll get a lawyer and make it legal and get custody of you and you won't have to go back to your mother's again. Is that what you want?"

"Oh, God! Yes! Please!"

I started crying again. Charles took the phone from me and held me again.

"Hello again. He's out of sorts right now... Yes, ma'am... Okay... Bye."

He hung up and then pulled my face up to look at him.

"Stop crying, Aiden. You're too handsome for it."

He smiled at me. I smiled back. The phone rang.

"Answer it," he said.

I did. It was grandma. She said she was making sure it was his phone number, so she would know who he was. He handed me his driver's license and said, "Read it off to her." I did. She got a pen and wrote it all down. I gave it back to him.

"Now, you be good for Charles, and get down here. I'll see you soon. I love you, Aiden. Your grandfather is overjoyed that you're coming down to live with us. We have a nice room that can be all yours. It has a big bed and big windows that look out over the woods. And there's a swing on the old tree back there. I'll have to have your grandfather put new ropes on it, but you can help with that. I'm sure you'll find friends down here too. The Culley's have two sons, nine and thirteen, and they live just up the road, and have a pool, and I'm sure you'll get along fine. They come help with things we can't do any longer. Now you'll have to help with those things, but I think you can handle it. Just get down here."

"Okay. I'm coming."

"Good." She sniffled and started crying again. "I'll see you soon, Aiden. I love you."

"I love you, too, grandma!"

I started crying again. Charles took the phone and talked to her for a few moments, then said goodbye and hung up. He hugged me tightly and let me cry until I stopped. Then he lifted my face and smiled at me again. I liked having him smile at me.

"I'm going to miss you, Aiden. But you'll have a better life with your grandparents."

I nodded and smiled. I was sure I would miss him, too. I was sad that I wouldn't see him again, but I was so happy that I was going to go live with my grandparents. I could only smile.

He smoothed down my hair and hugged the stuffing out of me. I hugged him back. After a while, he pushed me back and stood up.

"Well, let's get going. It's a long drive. We can stop for something for lunch on the way. We can probably get to your grandparents by dinner."

He handed me my bag, then we walked toward the garage. I looked around at his house and tried to remember it. And I looked at him, and tried to remember him. I remembered what we had done last night. I hadn't minded it much at all. I'd even liked it. And he'd paid me thirty bucks. I pulled the money out of my pocket and handed it to him.

"Hell, no, Aiden. Keep it. You might need it."

"Not with my grands. You keep it."

"No, you earned it. We made a business deal, and you earned it. It's your money. Tell them I gave it to you before I found out about your grandparents. If they ask where you got it. I gave it to you to, uh..."

"Get a bus ticket to St. Louis."

"Yeah. But you'd need nore, I think, for a ticket to St. Louis."

"Twenty-nine and change," I said.

He smiled, pulled out his wallet, handed me a fifty and a ten, then took back the thirty bucks.

"Now, I owe you another turn," I said.

He laughed so hard I got worried he was going to break a blood vessel or something. Then he looked at me and shook his head.

"You're too much, Aiden," he said, grinning at me.

"Um... I'm serious."

"What?'

"I kinda liked it."

"It was your first time, wasn't it?"

I nodded.

"Huh, wow," he said, shaking his head.

"So, how about it?" I asked.

"You're really serious?"

"Yeah. Like I said, I liked it. It was fun. I wanna again. I'll probably never see you again. And I kinda want to make you happy, like you did me."

"You don't have to do that to make me happy. I'm glad to help you out. That makes me happy."

I kind of felt let down. Kind of insulted.

"You don't want to?" I asked.

"Oh, hell, I'd love to! I really would."

"Then why not?"

He thought for a minute, then shrugged.

"You paid for it," I said. "And I wanna."

"You really do?"

I nodded. I stepped up close to him and put my arms around him. He put his hand on the top of my head and brushed my hair.

"You'd really like to?" he asked again.

I nodded against him and said, "I really, really want to."

"Son of a bitch," he said softly.

My mom's boyfriend had called me that a lot, but in a different way. I kind of knew that Charles wasn't calling me a name at all.

He picked me up and carried me into his bedroom. He put me down on his bed and kept smoothing my hair and grinning at me.

"Um, will you show me how to do it to you?"

"You sure you want to?"

"Hell yeah."

"Then I'll show you whatever you want. You just name it."

I smiled at the first adult to smile at me in years, and I felt safe and loved. I was going to miss him so much.

This time, he showed me everything I worked up the guts to ask him about. And we kissed, too. I liked that a lot! This time, with all the mutual touching and kissing, it was far better than the first time when he just sucked on mine. I got to do it to him, and I really liked doing that. His was huge, and hairy, and it tasted funny. But I liked it. It felt great to touch, and it was so smooth and soft against my tongue. And he did something I'd never heard of. He said it was called rimming, and I fucking loved it! Oh, my, God, how awesome that was! Then he used a finger inside my hole. He went slow and took it easy, and before long I was just squirming on his finger like mad! The way it felt in there, rubbing up against my prostate was amazing! I didn't even know what a prostate was until he explained what he was doing to me. He said I was a natural bottom, and then explained what that meant. He sucked me at the same time, and it got so powerful and strong that I thought I was going to piss into his mouth. I warned him and he said to hold on and enjoy it and he went back to it. Then I had my first orgasm. Oh, my, God!  How can your body make such amazing feelings? I thought I was going to just die! I squirmed and twisted and had to almost yell! It was amazing!

We stopped for while and talked, and hugged and laughed. And then I fucked him. Sort of. I was too short, but I got the very tip inside a little and it felt great! Then we did a sixty-nine, which was awesome! He warned me he was going to shoot, so I did what he had told me to do, and watched as I jerked him off and he shot all over his belly. It was so awesome! The way his dick moved in my hand was just neat! And I fucking loved that I made him feel so good.

I'd never felt so good. Or so happy. Not that I could remember. Sometimes with my friends, but even then nothing like I did in his arms after what we had done. I could have died right then and been happy about my whole life. We took a shower together, and played around, and ended up doing it to each other under the running water. He sucked me, then I sucked him until he finished, then he sucked me until I got sore. I didn't have an orgasm this time. He said it was pretty normal for guys my age to sometimes not have one every time.

We got dressed and had lunch at Applebee's. Awesome lunch! I was starving! Then we started the drive. I was sad and happy. I didn't know if I should let myself cry, like I felt like doing, or keep myself from crying and just smile at him. I ended up doing both. He held me in his arm the whole way. We stopped for a bathroom break, but otherwise we kept driving. The closer we got, the more sad and happy I got. It was so weird to be both!

We got to my grandparents house just after sundown. I got huge, long, tight hugs, and I cried along with Grandma, and Grandpa smiled and tried not to show he had tears in his eyes. They made Charles stay for a while, and then talked him into staying the night on the couch downstairs.

I went to bed in a huge, soft, warm bed after Grandpa made Grandma leave me alone and stop hugging me to death.

I couldn't sleep. After midnight, I got up and sneaked downstairs, and cuddled up next to Charles on the couch. I didn't mean to wake him up, but I did. He curled up around me and held me really tight. I fell asleep right away.

I woke up in the bed to the smell of cooking. I hadn't smelled that when I woke up ever. I put on my clothes and went downstairs. They were having coffee at the kitchen table, talking about me. I listened in. It was embarrassing, but really nice.

My grandparents were saying they had called a lawyer yesterday and we were all going to go see her later today. They weren't totally sure, but the lawyer thought it would be possible that I would just stay there while the courts decided when to hear the case. Charles said he would help with the lawyer fees. My grands said he didn't have to, and he said he felt like he should. They told him to forget it. He offered to come visit once in a while, if they would let him. He said he was interested in how I would do, and wanted to stay in touch. My grands said they thought that would be okay.

"He seems to have taken a real shine to you. I was surprised to see him curled up on the couch with you," Gramps said.

"So was I. He crawled in after midnight, and I didn't have the heart to chase him off," Charles said.

"You're a very nice man, Charles. I thank God you pulled over to see what he was doing on the street so late."

"No kid should be walking a dark street that late at night. I just knew something was off. And when he started crying, I knew it was something really bad."

"Well, we'll always be in your debt, Charles," Gramps said.

I decided I wanted in on that part of the conversation, so I pushed through the doors and said, "I think I owe him my life. Who knows what kind of pervert might have picked me up. I might have gone missing or something. Might be tied up somewhere right now, naked and being raped."

"Aiden! What an awful thought for a twelve-year-old to have!" Grandma cried out, shocked.

"True, though," I said, sitting down at the empty seat that had a plate in front of it.

"Still, an awful thing to think," she said, pouring orange juice into my glass.

I hadn't had orange juice for years. It tasted better than I remembered. So sweet and tart and just awesome!

"But you have to admit, he's right," Gramps said. "Eat up kiddo, we've got a busy day ahead. You're going to meet a nice lady who's going to help us get custody of you. Do you know what that means?"

"It means I get to stay with you and there's nothing my bitch of a mother can do about it."

"Aiden! Such language! Did you speak like that at home?"

"I wasn't allowed to speak at home. I had to be quiet and not make any noise."

"You were?"

"Sure. If I talked, I was usually hit for it."

"Oh, dear Lord," Grandma groaned. "I never liked your mother. I never saw what my Michael saw in her."

"He knocked her up," I said honestly.

I'd heard the story a hundred times.

"Oh, Aiden, we're going to have to work on your table manners, I see. And your language. This is going to be very trying."

"I'm sorry. I'll try to watch what I say. I don't want to be any trouble."

"Oh, you'll be a lot of trouble, I'm sure," Gramps said, grinning. "Boys will be boys. And I expect you're going to be one hell of a boy."

Charles had to leave right after breakfast. He said he had to get back home and see to a few things. And he couldn't take another day off work. We all stood on the front porch and he tried to leave, but my grandparents kept talking and inviting him back whenever he liked. And I wouldn't let go of the hug I'd locked onto him since we got outside.

Eventually, he pried me off of him and knelt down in front of me. My grandparents walked back inside.

"Aiden, I'm really glad I met you. You're going to be someone really special."

"I wish you'd just stay," I said, knowing how stupid it sounded.

"I do too. But in life, we rarely get to do what we want. We have to do what we have to. Besides, we got to do what we wanted for a day, right?"

I laughed and blushed.

"I'll remember the time we spent together forever, Aiden. Some of the most fun I've ever had. And I'll come visit about once a month, on weekends. If you're not out running around with your friends I'm sure you're going to make, we'll hang out and find things to do that we both like."

"We can do the same old stuff as far as I'm concerned."

He laughed and hugged me again. He whispered in my ear, "I hope you find someone you can share those things with. I hope you find someone special for yourself, Aiden."

"Thanks, I guess. Maybe. But I think I already did."

He kissed the side of my face and then let go and stood up.

"Your grandfolks have my phone number and address. I expect a phone call in a couple of days about how things went with the lawyer, and a letter every week. Okay?"

"Hell yes."

He gave me a stern look.

"I mean, yes, sir."

"Better, but don't ever call me sir."

"Okay, Chuckie."

"Oh, God."

He grinned and ruffled my hair, then turned and walked to his car. I cried. My grandparents came out and stood beside me, hands on my shoulders, as he drove away - but not out of my life.

---

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