THIS STORY IS PRE-HIV/AIDS.  ENGAGING IN UNPROTECTED SEX OR USING INTRAVENOUS DRUGS CAN BE DEADLY.

All stories I have written can be found in the Nifty Archives listing of Prolific Authors under the pen name of Lee Mariner.

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Chapter #25

Mickeys was not one of my favorite gay bars but it was within walking distance of the apartment.  Since it was located downtown most of the people that frequented it were street hustlers, leather types and hangers on who hoped someone would get drunk enough they'd get a chance to suck a cock. 

The bartender, a guy I knew by sight but not by name saw me walk through the archway from the restaurant section. He moved in my direction running a semi-clean bar towel over the bar surface as he moved.

"It'll take a lot more then a wet towel to ever clean the top of Mickeys bar."  I thought as I sat on a wobbly stool.

"Ain't seen you around lately dude, what'll you have?"  He said through half opened lips.

"A bottle of Miller Lite and a clean glass if you have one."

"Huh, you better go on uptown if your looking for one of those." He grunted as he reached inside an under bar cooler.

When he started to reach for a glass on the back bar I stopped him.  I could see the dust and fingerprints even in the dim bar light. "That's okay, leave it.  Let me have a couple of napkins instead." I said.  "I haven't had a tetanus shot lately."

"Well shit. Miss Hotty Totty is implying we don't have clean glasses." He hooted with his hand on his hip while waving my bottle of beer around with his other arm around like a fucking diva.

"Give me the fucking bottle and can the crap." I growled.

"It you aren't careful Mike, she'll give you a kiss." A familiar voice said from behind me. "You will need a tetanus shot then for real."

"Your probably right Ralph. That mouth hasn't seen a toothbrush in years. What are you doing on the low end of the range?"  I asked, almost losing my balance as I spun around on my stool.

"In a nutshell or the long way around." Ralph said.

"Nutshell is fine Ralph.  Did you and Spunky have another fight?" I said as he lifted the cheek of his ass up on an equally wobbly stool.

"A nutshell it is then. Let me have the same Beautiful but don't touch the neck after you open the bottle."

"Oh Lord, what did I do to deserve two of you today?" The bartender asked faking exasperation with the back of his hand against his forehead.

"Just get the beer will you without the theatrics.  If we  want to watch old queens, we can see that at the Naro."  Ralph said.

Ralph sat just as precariously on his stool as I did waiting for his beer.  He had initiated the contact so I waited for him to explain why he was in Mickeys. I didn't really care but he was not one to patronize the bars in downtown.  Spunky yes but not Ralph.   It was not the bar that he or Spunky visited.   Spunky would melt right into the Mickey crowd but not Ralph.   He was the martini with an extra olive type not a beer drinker. He wasn't snooty, not by a long shot, but Ralph worked in a totally different environment in the high rise center of finance. His hang out was Minters Cocktail Lounge in the Center Tower where he worked. 

He had picked up more than one hunky stud in Minters that worked in the building but usually hung out at the New Belle on Westover Blvd where most of the younger crowd got together. Minters had the reputation of being straight from ten o'clock in the morning until happy hour at four thirty in the afternoon.  When the ties loosened up and jackets were hung on the back of chairs the atmosphere changed considerably and you could almost taste the testosterone. That was Ralph's hunting grounds not Mickeys.

"Okay Ralph, are you going to tell me why your here?  This is not your digs." I asked while concentrating on peeling the wet label off of the sweating bottle.

"I could say the same about you Mike.  You usually cruise The Club." He answered, cleaning the neck of his beer with napkins.

"Mickeys is within walking distance of my apartment but not where you and Spunky live. I didn't feel like The Club and I haven't been cruising wise ass."

"We've been wondering just what you have been doing.  Spunky called you the other night but no answer just a busy signal.  We know you don't talk that long on the telephone and when Spunk asked them to check the line they said your phone was in working order."

"I unplugged the fucking thing. No crime in that is there?" I answered a little testily.

"Noooo there isn't Mike." He answered smoothly while toying with his untouched beer. "But why are you pissed at me?"

"Oh shit Ralph, I'm not pissed at you.  There is so much on my mind lately I'm having a hard time thinking straight."

"Rob wouldn't have anything to do with it would he?"  He asked finally taking a sip from his beer.

"Rob......Rob." I answered feeling a little befuddled. 

Ralph leaned his head closer to mine before saying, "Ugh huh, the guy we introduced you to at Uno's, Robert Breslin.  He called last night from Seattle. Said he had tried calling you but couldn't get through."

"What the fuck is he doing in Seattle? He was supposed to be up in Jersey."  I said, my mind in a whirl.

"He was Mike until he was transferred to Bremerton." He said as he turned to face me. "He has tried calling you to let you know and when he couldn't get through he called us."

"And you tracked me down to tell me that? I screwed that up before he left."  I said feeling a little depressed.

"No, I didn't track you down.  My parking garage is just down the street and when I saw you walking in here I thought we could have a beer together.  I'd rather it was at the Club or Minters but we didn't have a date for drinks did we?" He said grinning at me. "Do you want another beer?  If you do, let's move to a table.  That screwed up queen of a bartender is moving closer with big ears."

I wasn't paying any attention but when I looked up, Ralph was right.  Scraggly haired shit for brains turned away trying to act like he was arranging the dusty liquor bottles on the back bar.  "If you have the time, how about two more beers?" I growled.

Shit for brains started to say something smart and changed his mind.  Opening the cooler he pulled out two Miller Lites and holy of holy's he wiped them off before opening them.  Ralph and I looked at each other and grinned. 

"Do you want me to run a tab for you?" He asked as he placed the beer in front of us.

"No need for that, we won't be staying after these." Ralph said tossing a ten spot on the bar.  "Keep the change."

"That is probably the best tip he'll get tonight Ralph." I said as we moved to a formica topped table.

"From the looks of him he doesn't spend money on grooming." He said grinning and wiping the table top and his chair with the napkins from the bar. "You better wipe your chair down." He said handing me the napkins.

"Damn Ralph, all it's doing is rearranging the dirt. I don't know how the health department lets them get away with it."

"Money, you know that.  This place has never been noted for cleanliness."  He said as he removed his camels hair jacket and hung it on the back of his chair.

He was wearing a pair of gabardine Hagar slacks and a broadcloth white shirt with a muted gold silk tie.  I couldn't see his shoes but they were probably Hush Puppys. Ralph was an ex-marine and his build showed it.  Spunky was a little lax in using the health club but not Ralph.  We worked out together once in awhile and me and others would salivate watching his muscles ripple when he used the Bowflex machine.  I was well acquainted with the bulge in his crotch. I'd had it in my ass and down my throat more than once.  Spunky's six-incher was good but Ralph knew how to use the thick tapered eight-inch cut cock resting on his walnut size balls.

He rearranged his meat before sitting down and I looked across the table at him. "Was that for my benefit?" I asked.

"You know I don't have to do that for your benefit Mike." He said; his even white teeth flashing as he smiled.

He wiped the neck of his bottle with a snow white handkerchief he took from his back pocket.  Handing it to me he sat his bottle down and loosened his tie.  "How is Tony doing on the new house." He said as he ran his finger around the inside of his shirt collar.

"I thought we were talking about Breslin?" I said handing him his handkerchief.

"We were but there is not much to tell.  He just wanted to let you know where he was, that's all."

Taking a swig from the bottle I looked in Ralph's eyes. "That's all, he wanted to let me know where he was." 

"That's it Mike, that and how much he enjoyed meeting you."

I remembered in a flash the last time Rob and I had talked after he met Troy.  He didn't cut the strings between us but he had let me know I needed to make a decision between him and Troy.  "Shit." I thought. "I've screwed any chance of a relationship with him when I got involved with Gil and he didn't even know about him."

"I guess I screwed that up didn't I Ralph?" I said downing about half of my beer.

"I don't know Mike, did you?"  He answered looking me in the eyes.

"I'm not sure.  All he said was he was being transferred to Seattle, nothing else?"

Ralph didn't answer my inquiry right away, he sat quietly twisting his almost empty beer bottle with two fingers.  After a few seconds he finished the rest of the beer and looked at me. 

"You said you walked over from your apartment.  I'm starved Mike so how about we get my car from the garage and go over to Kelly's for a couple of those monster hamburgers and fries."

"That's it?  Hamburgers and Kelly's and nothing else." I said incredulously.

"Look Mike, I'm hungry and you probably are.  At Kelly's we can eat and get a table on the terrace where there aren't so many big ears.  Besides, if I stay in here much longer I'm going to start itching."

I had to grin at that last comment as I followed him out of the bar to his garage. He was right, Mickeys had that effect on you if you stayed there to long.  I was still wondering why he hadn't told me where Spunky was and what else Breslin had told him. 

                                                                                               §

The company Ralph worked for had reserved parking places on the second floor of one of the city garages.  His office was on the fifth floor of one of the renovated buildings in downtown and while it was being done re-done the city built one of the new circular style parking garages on the lot next to the building.   The general public had the top four floors and I had parked in it a couple of times. I didn't like the circular ramps that led down on the exterior of the building, they made me a little dizzy. Ralph was lucky though, his parking space was on the second floor two spaces removed from a short exit ramp.

When we reached the exit gates a husky broad shouldered dark haired young man stepped out of the attendants booth. While Ralph was fishing in the glove box for his magnetic authorization card the boy leaned down and looked inside the car.  He had green eyes and succulent red lips. The hint of a lascivious grin played at the corners of his mouth and he looked at me and then at Ralph.  "Leaving for the day Mr. Schaffer?" He asked in a soft mellow baritone that reminded me of Gil.  Standing up he let his hand brush over the bulge in his uniform pants.

"Its been a long day Darren. Here, put the card in for me please."

"Yes sir." The boy said taking the card from Ralph's hand and pushing it into the machine slot.

"I've still got five hours until I get off at eleven." He said as he handed the card back,  raking his fingers over Ralph's extended fingers.

"Hang in there Darren. I'll see you tomorrow evening." He said glancing at me with a grin.

"I always do Mr. Schaffer, I always do.  You and your friend have a pleasant evening." He said almost seductively as he stepped back into the booth with the thumb of his hand hooked in his pocket, his fingers stretched over the increasing bulge."

I looked back over my shoulder as we pulled away. Darren's fingers were playing a tattoo on the bulge in the right side of his pants.

"There is plenty under his fingers." Ralph said with a grin as I turned looking out the windshield.

"And how would you know that?" I asked feeling a surge in my crotch.

"You can drop back by at eleven tonight Mike if you'd like to find out.  That little display was for your benefit not mine."

"I'll bet." I said feeling my cock getting hard. "Have you had him?"

Ralph turned onto Lehigh Ave. before answering. When he looked at me his deep blue eyes gleamed. "Darren is one of my specials that Spunky does  not know about and I'd like to keep it that way.  Spunky has his stable and I have mine.  You have known since you and I first met that Spunky and I are not completely monogamous."

"Oh.....and you and he shared me like a piece of meat." I asked trying to sound offended.

"Hell no. If you hadn't met Spunk at the Club and been so damned horny he would never have known you and I had been in bed.  You see a cute ass, and he does have one, you just have to sink that cock of yours in it."

"It's not much cuter than yours and how was I supposed to know you guys were an item?"

"Touch'e Mike. I left myself open for that one. There was no way you could have known but it all worked out for the best." 

We drove in silence for a few seconds and then I asked him about Darren.  "He looks kind of young Ralph."

"How young is young Mike?" He answered cryptically in answer to my question.  "Darren's eighteen going on nineteen. He was kicked out of the marine corps about five months ago when he was caught in bed with an officer.  The officer was asked to resign but Darren was booted with an undesirable discharge.  Kind of rough on him getting booted and the cock-sucking officer resigned.  I think that entire system sucks.  I sweated it out for four years before I was discharged." He said almost angrily. 

"Yeah." I said without thinking. "I've got myself hung up in pretty much the same predicament."

"You mean Troy that young good looking kid over by the house?"  Ralph said quietly without looking at me.

My aching hardon died instantly when I heard Ralph mention Troy's name and a feeling of chagrin washed over me. "How many other's know?" I thought to myself as he parked the car in the lot behind Kelly's. 

Ralph turned in his seat and looked at me his eyes filled with sympathy. He scooted closer and laid his hand on my thigh. Any other time his touch would have sent shocks coursing through me and into my groin. All I felt was the pressure of his hand, not other sensation except for an emptiness deep in the pit of my stomach.

"Mike............" He said softly. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have hit you with that."

"What the fuck, everyone will probably know about sooner or later." I said turning my head away and looking out into the gray light of dusk.

"Not from me they won't." He said squeezing my thigh. "Spunky doesn't know about it although he kidded you about being a "chicken queen". Spunky has to big of a mouth to keep a secret.  He doesn't do it maliciously and I love him to death but he just does not know when to talk or shut up."

"Rob told you about Troy?" I said still looking out the window.

"Yes he did.  That's one of the reasons he asked for a transfer. He said he didn't want to try and compete with a teenager."

"He wasn't competing with Troy Ralph.  I never gave him a reason to think he was.  They met one evening when I was showing Rob the house. Troy came in and I introduced them.  Nothing was said that I can remember."

"Nothing needed to be said Mike and I don't think you're giving Rob very much credit.  Just like you, me and just about every other queer we sense and see things.  Body language and the way things are said Mike. Rob saw and felt how Troy felt about you. When you tried to avoid it he could tell your feelings."

"I guess your right Ralph but it's not just Troy.  I got involved with an eighteen year old kid that works for me.  Christ, how can I get so fucked up so close to my retirement."  I almost wailed.

"Whoa shit.  You have piled up a bit of trouble for yourself haven't you? Tell you what, let's eat and let things rest for a bit.  If you want to tell me about it, I'm here for you buddy you know that. Remember, I was in the marines and I know a little about horny teenagers."

I turned my head and looked at Ralph with wide-eyes. He was grinning at me.  "You don't mean, oh Christ I can't believe that." I said

"Welllllllllllll, lets eat and then we can get into true confessions. Okay?"