Belovèd
by
Don Hanratty
My Belovèd is mine, and I am his.
Song of Songs 2:16
CHAPTER 23
After Cam had left to pick up Teri for
dinner and the prom, things are around the MacKenzie household were a
little more subdued than usual. The absence of Ian and Mary
Carson, Yolanda Vega, Mark, and then, at least for that night, Cam, had
left a vacuum in the normal chaos at meals. Carl and Dan Emrick
and William Carson
talked a mile
a minute and kept everyone entertained, but Kevin was quiet.
Catherine watched Kevin out of the corner of her eye, knowing that no
matter what he said to the contrary, he was concerned about Cam's prom
date
with Teri.
Kevin had excused himself soon after he finished eating, and scooping up
Casey who was sleeping in his rocking crib in the kitchen, trudged up the back stairs to his bedroom. He'd put
the baby down in his upstairs crib, and sat down in the rocking chair to wait
for hunger pangs to awaken the child. Catherine had followed Kevin up the back stairs as Rosa and the boys
busied themselves cleaning up the dining room and the kitchen.
She knocked on the open bedroom door and walked into the room.
"Hi, Mom," Kevin said, rocking slowly with a reflective look on his face.
Catherine had walked over to him, and bending down, kissed him on the top of his head.
"You were quiet at supper tonight. Are you feeling all right?" she had asked.
"Yes," Kevin said. "Just a little tired, I guess."
Catherine had pulled over Cam's computer chair, and sat down next to him.
"Are you feeling worried about Cam taking Teri to the prom?" she asked.
There was a pause in the conversation as Kevin considered what he
should say. Well, he loved and trusted this woman, he thought to
himself. He might as well be truthful.
"Yes. I have to admit I'm a little jealous, to be honest."
"Let me tell you something about your partner," Catherine had
said. "I've lived with him all his life. Before you came into
the picture and became my son, too, it was just him and me after Alex left. So I
think I know him pretty
well. He was always a happy boy, but I've never, ever, seen him
as happy as he's been with
you since you became partners. Cam makes it a point to be kind to
everyone, but he doesn't
give his deepest affections easily. He loves you with all his
heart, Kevin, and he loves Casey. You have nothing to worry about
when it comes to this date with Teri. You and the baby are the total objects of
his affection, and whenever he finally gets himself home from this
dance and the after-party, his
obligations to Teri will be fulfilled. This issue will
never have to be visited again. You're in his heart in a spot all
your
own. So I don't want you to worry about what's going to happen
tonight. Will you do that for me?"
Kevin looked at Catherine solemnly, and then a big smile creased his
face.
"Mom, you always know just what to say. I've known deep down that
what you say is true, but I've been focusing on the worst that could happen instead of the best. You're
right. Thank you for talking to me about it. It's
helped, believe me."
"The truth does that," Catherine had said, standing up and rolling the
computer chair back to the desk. "I love you, sweetheart."
She caressed Kevin's face, kissed him on top of his head again, and walked to the door, where she turned around.
"One other thing," Catherine had said. "I'm really proud of you
for the way you're taking care of Casey. I'm proud of Cam, too. You boys
show me a lot of maturity. This is such an important time for a
baby, and you two are taking your job seriously. Casey's going to
be one heck of a kid when he grows up because you're investing so much
in him now. He's lucky to have you."
"We're lucky to have you, Mom," Kevin had said. His eyes
looking suspiciously moist, he had given them a quick rub to hide his
emotions, turning his face away. "That's the truth. Thanks
for everything you've done to make things go so well."
She had smiled without saying anything, and left the room.
Casey had stirred at last, and gave a little cry. Kevin picked him up, and kissed his face gently.
"It's about time, little dude," he had told the child, smiling.
"I'm
gonna feed you your best dinner ever!" Carrying Casey in the crook
of his arm, he
retrieved a bottle of formula from the refrigerator, and heated it to
the right temperature in the water on the hot plate. Then he sat down with the
child, rocking
gently, while the baby fed hungrily. After burping Casey, Kevin
continued to rock the boy until the child drifted off to sleep on his
shoulder. Then he had put him down until his next feeding.
He fired up his computer. After
answering some emails and checking out
a few gay stories on the net, Kevin changed into his workout
clothes and went into the boys' workout room next door. It was
Dan Emrick's night to work out with Kevin, and he was waiting
for him.
"Danno!" Kevin greeted him. "You up for this?"
Dan laughed. "Well, I knew if I didn't show, you'd come lookin' for me."
"You're so right!" Kevin responded. "If I don't make somebody
suffer before bedtime, I can't sleep. Let's warm up."
The two of them started some warm-ups, and their bodies soon had a
thin
sheen of perspiration on them. Then William came into the gym in
a cut
off tank top that showed off his abs. The white,
elastic belt of his jock peeked out of his shorts at his waist in the
back.
Man, the kid is gorgeous, Kevin thought to himself. William
started to do some warm ups, too. He hadn't been scheduled to
work out.
"Look what the cat dragged in," Kevin gasped out, his arms
outstretched parallel to the floor, clutching weights and moving them around in little circles until he started to feel it.
"You don't think I want a wimp body like yours from not taking care of business, do ya?" William asked.
"Eat me," Kevin said.
"You wish," William responded, grinning. He completed his warm up
exercises, and sitting down at a machine, begun some triceps extensions.
"Now," Kevin said, concentrating his attention on Dan, "sit down on the
bench give me some nice, slow curls." He handed him a weight.
Dan complied, and bending at the waist, had begun the curls with
first
one arm and then the other. He had started to sweat more
now. Kevin made him do curls until Dan's arms felt like
spaghetti. Those arms were pumped, though, and looked impressive.
"Good boy," Kevin had said. "Now lie down on the bench and give
me some crunches. Your abs are starting to look good, man."
Dan groaned, but he knew Kevin was right about the improvement to
his abs. His sixpack, even in its early stages of development, was
readily apparent. Lying down, Dan started his crunches.
Sl-o-o-ow crunches that really put him to the test. By now the
sweat was pouring off him.
Kevin then had him do some leg thrusts on one of the machines,
at a slow pace as usual, followed by some cable flyes.
Dan had sat there on the last machine when he was finished. He
was tired when he stood up, but he "felt the burn" and was in a good
place mentally.
"Dan, I wancha to know, you're doing really great!" Kevin told him,
standing behind him and giving the muscles in the boy's neck a quick
massage, digging his fingers deep. "Thanks for stickin' with
this. I'm really proud
of you, dude." He patted him on the ass. It
made Kevin feel good to pass on some of the good mood that Catherine
had put him in.
Dan was pleased at the praise, and smiled.
"Thanks," he'd said. "Are you gonna lift?" he asked. "I'll spot for you."
"Excellent," Kevin said. "But first get a sweatshirt out of Cam's
and my bedroom and put it on so you don't cool off too fast. There's one on the bed, I think."
Dan did that, and then Kevin ran through his own lifting routine
under
Dan's watchful eye. When he finished up that exercise, Kevin gave the
boy a dap, and they parted company while Kevin continued to work
out a little more on the machines. When he was done with the
machines, William had still been there, sitting and watching Kevin.
"I hafta say, you know your shit in the gym, Kevin," William said,
leaning back against the machine where he was sitting. "Thanks
for all the help you've given all of us, dude."
"No problem. You're all doin' great!" Kevin had said, perving on
the boy and hoping he wasn't too obvious. "You're lookin' good,"
he added.
There was a pause.
"Uh, y'know, you and Cam got me a date with Melanie a few weeks ago,"
William said. "She's outta town right now for a month or
so. Do you think you could recommend another girl for a date
and give her a call for me and mention my name?"
"Fer sure, man," Kevin said, grinning. "Ya want ugly or cute? Nice, or slutty?"
"Uh, cute an' slutty would be cool," William said, not so sophisticated that his face didn't color up a little.
"No prob," Kevin had said. "Of course, if the girl's easy, Father
Jim will have to go with you on your date. You're way too young
to get laid."
William had laughed. "Don't be a dick," he said, unconsciously touching his crotch.
"I can find you the right girl," Kevin assured William, and grinned. "Someone who can discuss the Bible with ya."
"Uh huh."
Kevin lost the smile and looked at the floor.
"What?" William demanded.
"I know you're going to think I'm the biggest asshole hypocrite in the world, but..." Kevin said seriously.
"Why would I?"
"Because I don't want you to make the same mistake I did. I don't
mean not using protection and getting somebody pregnant. I mean
fucking somebody that I knew deep down I didn't care about. To be
honest, it bothered me back then, and now it bothers me even more that
I did what I did. I solved a physical problem and
created a mental one. I just hope you'll go slow."
"Easy for you to take the high road at this point," William said.
"You're gettin' laid every night. And I don't mean there's
anything wrong with that. But I'm not gettin' any, and I'm
fucking horny. I'm ready."
"I understand that. I have no right to say anything to
ya. But you know that Cam and I aren't just playin' around and
getting our rocks off. We love each other. We'd be married
if we could be."
The two boys stared at each other.
"I thought you'd be the last one I'd hear this shit from," William sighed.
"I know," Kevin said. "Look, I'll find somebody for ya to date,
man. What you do or don't do is totally up to you. Don't be
pissed. I just hope you'll give a little consideration to what I
said. When do you wanna go out?"
"Well, maybe next week."
"OK," Kevin said, giving William a slip and slide handshake and shoulder bump as the boy went by him to go to his room.
William smiled. "Thanks, man. I'll think about what you said."
* * *
After showering, Kevin went to bed early, but didn't
sleep much during the first part of the night. He'd wake up and
put his hand on
Cam's side of the bed, secretly disappointed each time he did so that
his
partner wasn't there. Then he'd listened for any sounds from the
crib that might mean that Casey was hungry, but the baby was sleeping
soundly. So Kevin didn't have any excuse to give up on the sleep
that was eluding him and get out of bed. Despite being comforted by
Catherine's reassurances earlier that evening, thoughts of what Cam and Teri might be doing
in
their room together at the hotel kept intruding on his consciousness as
he tried to
drift off.
Kevin had meant what he'd told Cam. He'd told Cam to do what he
needed to do and
what he wanted to do when it comes to sex with Teri. But he also knew,
especially after talking with William, that for a lot of reasons he didn't really want that
to happen. The advice had been given, though, and there was no taking it back..
Kevin was somewhat of a
fatalist about what would happen on Cam's and Teri's date.
He'd always recognized the look in Teri's eye when she'd gazed at
Cam. He knew it well because he'd seen the same look in Heather's
eye when he and she
had been hot and heavy for each other, and had been having sex
regularly.
So he knew well that when it came
to Teri, her will and her desire to have sex with Cam were there, and
they
were
strong, and she would try to find a way to make love to the boy she was
so hung up on--all night, if possible. And if she had her way, it
wouldn't end tonight, either. He
understood it would be tough for Cam to resist her, knowing as he did
his partner's strong, amazingly strong, sex drive and prowess.
Kevin was well aware that when Cam was in the throes of physical
passion,
the
kid could last forever...
If having the care of Casey since he'd been born was changing Kevin,
and it had, his long-term
relationship with Cam had certainly had its effect on him as
well. Kevin could be a tough kid sometimes, always had been, but
these days loving Cam and their baby had turned him into a marshmallow
inside a lot of the time. That was true even when he tried to
give
Cam attitude about one thing or another. He just couldn't give
his partner 'tude for long without wanting to take Cam into his
arms and squeezing him until it hurt. Lord, Kevin thought to
himself, I'm such a pussy these days. And all things considered,
he wasn't minding it all that much It came with the
territory. He reflected on how his and Cam's partnership had
deepened and matured to include the care of Casey, and how much more
demanding the care of the little boy would have been without Cam's help and
support.
Casey stirred, and whimpered. Good, Kevin thought to
himself, snapping on the bedside lamp. Now I have an excuse to get up and think about something else.
He rolled out of bed, went to the refrigerator and took out some
formula, putting it in the pan of water and hitting the switch on the
hot plate. Then he went over to the crib, and there were two
bright eyes looking up at him. Casey was a little too young to smile and mean it, but
it looked as if he were trying. Kevin grinned, reaching down and
picking the the baby up.
"You're one spoiled little dude," Kevin crooned softly to the
child. "And that's just the way you're supposed to be right now."
The water in the pan began to steam as Kevin sat down on the edge of
the bed, holding Casey in his arms, talking to him softly and
waiting for the formula to finish warming.
* * *
Teri awakened Cam in their hotel room at 3
a.m. on Saturday morning after the prom. Cam still had his arms
around her in bed, holding her. She liked that, and she felt safe
and warm, but she also still felt queasy and had to use the bathroom
again.
Cam let go of her, groaning a little at the earliness of the hour as he
rolled over on his back and Teri walked away. He lay there, half
hard in his khaki shorts, partly from having a full bladder, thinking about Kevin and
their baby. It had only been a few hours since he'd seen them,
but he was missing them. Cam smiled to himself. He was
whipped, he had to admit it. Pretense notwithstanding, it was incredible how
much Kevin and Casey had him right under their thumbs. They were
on his mind all the time.
Teri came back and crawled into bed as Cam got up and used the bathroom
himself. He came back and crawled into bed beside her.
"I should probably go home," she said. "I still don't feel good."
"All right," Cam said. "I'm sorry you're sick."
"Thanks. I still had a pretty good time at the dance. Thank you for taking me."
"Yeah. I had a good time, too." He looked at her.
"You know I'll always care about you, Teri, even if it didn't work out
for us."
Teri nodded, smiling sadly, and they got out of bed and began to
gather their belongings to
head out. Cam telephoned the front desk and had them call a
cab. It was waiting for them at the front door of the hotel after they checked out, and
they were on their way.
Cam walked her to her front door when they arrived at the McKees' house, and
gave her a final kiss good-bye. Her cheeks were wet with
tears, turning the knife in Cam's gut about hurting her even though
he knew it was inevitable and that he was doing the right thing. The door
closed behind her, and he headed back to the taxi. Ten minutes later
he was home. The gate was closed, so Cam used his front door key
to enter the darkened house. Making his way through the dark kitchen,
he sat down on the bottom step of the back stairs and removed his shoes
before he crept up upstairs, carrying his bag and shoes, kilt and dress
shirt. A faint light was coming from of his
and Kevin's room through the open door.
Cam stopped in the doorway. Kevin was sitting in the rocking
chair in his boxers and a T-shirt, feeding Casey. Cam didn't say
anything at first, standing in the doorway unnoticed, watching his
handsome partner feed their baby. In the silence of the early
morning, Kevin's love for the child was palpable.
Kevin finally
noticed Cam standing there in the doorway. Nothing was said
between them as their eyes focused on one another. But Kevin's
eyebrows rose in the
unspoken question of Cam: had he done the deed, or not?
Cam smiled, and shook his head 'no.' Kevin grinned in relief, and
his lips formed a silent but fervent "THANK YOU, LORD!" Cam went over to
their bed to put down his stuff, and then walked over to the rocking
chair, getting down on his knees and studying the baby and the young
man holding him. Cam reached over and touched Kevin's face.
"I've missed you and Casey all night," Cam whispered.
Kevin nodded and turned his face toward Cam, and the boys kissed, their lips touching gently.
"I'm gonna make this whole deal up to you," Cam said, brushing back
Kevin's crew cut from his forehead.
Kevin looked at him with a serious expression.
"You were gone what? eleven or twelve
hours?" he said. "You weren't here, and I was thinking about how hard it
would be to raise a baby alone. Without a partner. It would
be lonely, y'know, whether you're gay or straight. I love Casey
so much, but I don't know whether I could do it without you. They
told us in baby class that this point in their
development is really crucial, and Mom mentioned that again
tonight. You know what I'm talking about--the way he's cared for now is important for a child being able to bond with
people later in life. I believe that. Casey's
such a good baby--no colic or anything like that. He hardly ever
fusses. Even so, I think he would wear me out without you.
Part of my energy for taking care of him comes from you, man.
Thanks for that."
Cam studied them both, and his face softened. "Buddy, I'm always going to be here for both of you. Let me
hold him before you put him down."
"OK. You can burp him when he's finished with the bottle."
"All right. Give me a minute." Cam went into their
bathroom and cleaned his teeth. He stripped
down to his boxers and walked back into the bedroom. Kevin stood
up and handed him the baby, who
was already starting to drift off after emptying the bottle of
formula. Kevin put a hand towel over Cam's shoulder, and Cam sat
down in the now vacant rocker, holding Casey upright over his
shoulder. He smelled that clean baby smell and kissed the child
on his arm before beginning to pat him gently on his back. A series of
little burps emanated from the child, and Casey began to fall
asleep almost immediately. Kevin went into the bathroom to use the toilet, and then came
back, closing the bedroom door to the hallway as he walked by it, shutting out
the world.
Cam continued to rock the child, softly tracing the contours of the little boy's face with his index finger
until Kevin reached down for the baby, took him and put him in his crib.
"Now I want to hold you," Kevin said to Cam, taking Cam's bag and
clothes off the bed
and going to the closet. He put his bag and the shoes on the
floor, and hung
up the dress shirt and the kilt before meeting Cam at the bed, where
Cam reached over and unplugged the telephone. The boys shucked
off their underwear, straightened out the rumpled
bedclothes, and slid into bed facing each other. Kevin put his
arms around his partner and pulled him close, crushing him against his
chest
for a moment and then relaxing, kissing the side of Cam's neck.
Up close and personal, they looked into one another's eyes.
"So, tell me everything!" Kevin whispered.
"Yeah. Well, dinner was off the hook," Cam began with a grin, taking him at his word. "I had free range
chicken. It was great. Teri had salmon, thinking she
was over a childhood allergy to it. But she got sick from
it. I ate some of it. It was good, and I didn't get sick, so it wasn't the
restaurant's fault. We saw Rafe Murrillo and Cassie Angstrom eating
there, too. Teri and I went on to the dance, and she was kind of
out of it. We shared a table there with Rafe and Cassie after they got there. Rafe is outrageous!"
"Yeah," Kevin said. "Actually, I like her better than I do Rafe."
"The prom committee had done a great job on decorations, and the band
was excellent. They did a lot of Black Crowes songs, so everybody
was up dancing, if you can call it that. Teri needed some down time because of her
stomach, so I danced with quite a few girls."
Kevin gave him a poke in the ribs. "What, no guys."
"You're the only guy I'd dance with!" Cam insisted, laughing.
"All right," Kevin said, smiling.
"There were a few tense moments when I had to rescue the smart little
nerd who was in our physics class, Ralph Elliot--I think that's his name--from
the football team. Those guys are such pricks! They had him
surrounded and were
just hassling him for no good reason. So we had words, but it
didn't get physical. They called me a fairy, and I thought at first they knew we were partners, but no, they were just being assholes. Like usual.
They also made some comments about my kilt, and insulted the
masculinity of anyone who plays soccer. Can you
believe that?" Cam laughed. "It's a good thing Rafe didn't hear 'em! Or you, if you'd been there!"
"Sounds exciting. So you did your good deed, huh?"
"Yep. You'd have done the same thing."
"Yeah, probably," Kevin said. "What happened after the dance?"
"Teri and I went to the hotel, and I got us checked in fast because
Teri was about to hurl. Awesome room, by the way. A suite,
really. We changed clothes, I got her some antacids, and we got
into bed--dressed, of course. Teri told me she had planned to
make love to me, and I let her know that I was tight with someone
else. I didn't tell her it was you. She cried, and I tried
to give her a little comfort without gettin' it on. We fell asleep,
and slept until we woke up about an hour ago. We got a cab, and I
took her home. That's was about it, dude."
Kevin smiled and rubbed noses with him.
"What did you do after I left?" Cam asked.
"Not much. Fed the baby. Then it was Dan Emrick's night to
work out, so I put him through his paces." Kevin smiled.
"Y'know, the longer I know that kid, the more I like him. He's
not a natural jock like Carl, but he hangs tough with the workouts and
running every day, and he's really buff now. He's
lookin' good. I think he's improved his appearance more than
anyone else."
"More than me?" Cam asked with a grin.
"When you're perfect to start with, there's no room for improvement."
"Uh huh," Cam said, smiling. "You got a line of shit a mile long."
"That's me." Kevin paused. "William came in and worked out
for awhile, too. He wants to go out on another date, and Melanie
is out of town. I told him we'd work on finding a girl for him. He
wants to get laid. Now he thinks I'm an ass because I advised him to take it slow so nobody gets hurt."
"You and I know you gave him some good advice, but it's not always
easy to hear it when your dick's hard. The kid is shit hot, and he
won't have
any trouble talking some sweet young thing into puttin' out, I know
that. But I hope he doesn't, or if he does, that he's careful, at least."
"Yeah. Well, enough of that," Kevin said, shifting gears.
"Listen, now that school's out, I want to have a party for the guys
when
Mark gets back home," he said. "It's been a tough spring for
these guys, a lotta
pressure, and they've worked hard on everything--their studies, in the
gym, running, you name it. Whaddaya think?"
"Brilliant! Like all your ideas. Let's do it. Maybe at the cabin?"
"Yeah!" Kevin said.
He fell silent for a minute, then looked at Cam with a serious look on his face.
"This bed felt empty tonight."
Cam kissed him softly. "Thank you for trusting me to go on this date. I wanted to be
here with you and Casey, I hope you know that," he whispered. "I'm glad I kept
my word to Teri, though. Now the deal with the prom is one less
thing we have to worry about." He paused. "I'm here
now, right where I belong." He smiled, lowered his head and began to lick and nibble on
Kevin's right nipple, standing out there on his pec just begging for
attention. The little nub firmed up right away.
"Yeah!" Kevin said, reaching down and taking Cam's half-hard dick in
his hand. He stroked it slowly half a dozen times, and then ran his thumb over the head of it, feeling a drop of
moist pre-cum. Cam exhaled in a rush.
"I've been waiting all night for this bad boy to get back here," Kevin
added, caressing his partner's dick and cupping his balls. He ducked down and
put
the head of Cam's cock in his mouth, running his tongue over the head of it, tasting the sweetness.
The next half
hour of preparation for the main event was sweaty, juicy and thoroughly
energizing. When they were both so horny they couldn't stand it,
Cam lubed up his partner, put him on his back, and opened him up with
an increasing number of fingers. He finally entered him with
Kevin's legs on his shoulders at first. He could feel Kevin's ass
tightening around his tool, and it felt so good. Then, letting
Kevin's legs slip down into the crook of his arms, he lay down on his boy's glowing
body,
unmoving at first, making certain there would
be no discomfort when he started pumping. Cam took it slow,
escalating his thrusts only
gradually so that their coupling would last longer. Joined in passion,
pleasuring each other, this physical reflection of their ever deepening mental and emotional
relationship
made life seem complete and perfect to them at that moment. After long minutes, when the time of release arrived for
them both, they didn't think
they'd ever stop spewing. Their bond of love and respect at every
level of their being had been sealed yet again.
Cam finally moved out of Kevin's body,
and they clung together in the warm, affectionate afterglow. Cam knew he
never wanted a third party like Teri or anyone else to be in a position
to ask for, or to expect, a share of this, their most personal expression of love with one another.
Cam scooped up a dollop of Kevin's abundant spunk off the boy's abs on
his finger, and put it to his lips. It tasted good to him,
strong, like Kevin himself. The two of them lay there together in
each other's arms for a long time, enjoying their feelings as they came
down from their high.
Cam eventually went to the bathroom to get a warm, damp washcloth, and after they
cleaned up, they fell asleep entwined and grateful to have each other.
"I love you, man," was the last thing Kevin heard as they drifted off.
* * *
Early the next morning Cam and Kevin had been up once to feed Casey, but had gone back to bed. William
Carson, naked except for a pair of gym shorts, knocked on their bedroom
door about 10 a.m. and stepped
inside. The boy couldn't help grinning to himself. He tried
in vain to ignore
the bed's
physical dishevelment and the olfactory evidence that there had been a
lot of sex going on in this room, and not all that many hours
ago. Well, more
power to them, he thought to himself. William was straight, but
he
started to get hard.
"Dudes," William said, "I think your dad is on the phone for you."
"Daddy, wherefore art thou?" Cam said to himself, groaning as he tried
to wake up. "Thanks, William. We'll take it in here."
William left and shut the door as Kevin started to stir. Cam
reached over to the bedside table, plugged in the phone, and picked up
the receiver.
"Hey, Dad," Cam said. "I was thinking about calling you today."
"Hi, son," Alex MacKenzie said. "Late morning?"
"Yeah, it was prom night last night. Just catching a few extra winks."
"You have a good time?"
"Yeah."
"Who answered the phone?"
"William Carson. He's a friend of ours from San Francisco. It's a long story."
"Okay. Listen, John and I want to come up and see you and Kevin,
and the baby. We have to go to England soon to scout locations for our next movie, and we all
need to talk some more about your living down here next fall in Malibu."
"Kevin and I want to see you guys. We miss you," Cam said, sitting up in bed in excitement.
"We miss you boys, too."
"Do you think we could spend some time together at the cabin?" Cam
asked. "I was going to call you and ask if Kevin and I could go
down there and take some guys with
us. They're staying with us, and we all need a break. It's
been a tough spring."
"Well, I don't see why not," Alex said. "How many?"
"Uh, five, plus Kevin and me."
"I think we can handle that," Alex said. "As long as they know that some of them will
be sleeping on the floor," Alex said. "We have plenty of air mattresses, though. The more, the merrier, you
know that."
"Cool, Dad," Cam said. "Actually, the parents of the other guys have a cabin in the Big Sur, too."
"Really? What's their name?"
"Ian and Mary Carson."
"Ian Carson, the lawyer in San Francisco?"
"The very same. He's a great person, and so is Mary," Cam said.
"Didn't I read that one of their sons was injured recently? Shot?"
"Yeah. Mark. He was living
here with us, too, until he was hurt. He's still in the hospital, but he's gonna be all right."
"Obviously I have a lot to catch up on. Anyway, I'd like to meet Ian and his wife and your friends."
Cam laughed. "They'd like to meet you, too. You're famous."
"Cameron, you're going to give me a big head. How about next weekend for our get-together?" Alex asked, sounding happy.
"Sounds good to me," Cam said. "Can we stay a little longer after you leave?"
"Yes." Alex paused. "Is your mother all right?"
"Yes. She's doing well. She'll be done teaching this week."
"Good."
"Is Kevin there?"
"Right beside me."
"Let me talk to him, please," Alex said.
Cam handed the phone to Kevin.
"Hi, Dad," Kevin said. "I miss you."
"Same here, bud. How are you and the baby doing?"
"Great, actually. Casey is growing like a weed and gaining
weight, and wants to meet his grandfathers! I don't know whether
John wants to be a grandfather yet or not, but that's the way we're gonna play
it."
"He'll be honored," Alex said. "Uh, have you heard from your dad yet?"
"Not a word since I sent him an email that Casey had been born."
"Sorry, Kev."
"I'm not gonna let it bother me," Kevin said. "Things are going
too well to let it bother me. He'll either get with the program,
or he won't. As long as I have you and John and Catherine and Cam
and the baby in my life, I'm in good shape."
"All right, son. I told Cam that John and I want to come up and
see you boys, and maybe go to the cabin for a few days. I'll call back and let
you know when our
flight will get into San Francisco, and maybe you guys can pick John and me
up at the airport, and we can drive down to the cabin together."
"Excellent, Dad! I'm gonna look forward to that. Do you want to talk to Cam again?"
"No," Alex said. "I love you, son. Tell Cam I love him, and I'll talk with you both soon."
"Cool. Bye, Dad."
Kevin leaned across Cam to put the phone back in its cradle, moving
back slowly to his side of the bed, rubbing noses with Cam as he did
so.
"Your dad said to tell you he loves you," Kevin said.
"Thanks. Y'know, I'm really gonna look forward to partying with the guys up at the cabin..."
Kevin reached under the sheet and cracked Cam a good one on
the thigh with his hand.
"Ow!" Cam protested. "Dickwad! What was that for?"
"I delivered an important
message to you from Dad that he loves you, and I wanted to make sure
you weren't concentrating more on partying than on what Dad told me,"
Kevin said. He paused. "Seeing Alex and John and having a
change of scene with the guys is gonna be great!"
"Wunderbar, my little Kraut!" Cam said, looking at Kevin sternly. "But striking your
partner on the ass when he's vulnerable is a no-no. Especially in front of
the baby. You need to apologize to me and to Casey, in that order, and right now!"
"The baby's asleep. So I don't need to apologize to him."
"The baby's subconscious records everything," Cam said.
Kevin grinned broadly. "In that case, based on last night,
Casey's going to be a really great lover when it's his time. 'Cause
last night was awesome!"
Cam couldn't help smiling. "Yeah, you're right about that.
You outdid yourself! From now on, you're gonna bottom for me
every time
we do it, 'cause you're perfect at it."
"No. Way."
"Way. I'm just trying to help you develop your best skills to even higher levels."
"Your best skill is talkin' trash," Kevin responded. "Based on past experience, you were born to bottom for me! And you know the truth when you hear it."
"Humph," Cam snorted. "Having good sex makes you truculent."
Kevin broke into laughter and pulled Cam close to him. "Makes me what??? You're so fucking cute I can't stand it."
That made Cam laugh, and they lay there in bed laughing and hugging and
kissing and feeling each other up until they started to get hard.
"You're just trying to have your way with me again," Kevin finally
said. "Let's shower and get some breakfast. It's late, and you wore me out so much
last night that I need sustenance."
"You'ew dishing up some big words yourself this morning, huh?"
"Sex stimulates the brain."
Cam went to jump out of bed, but Kevin caught hold of his ankle, and Cam
partially fell
to the floor on the edge of the bed. Kevin stepped over him and ran to the bathroom,
reaching the toilet first and beginning to relieve himself. Cam
came in and joined him, positioning himself over the toilet, too, and
running a finger up the crack of Kevin's ass and keeping his hand
there. Kevin jumped, and his stream moved
wildly around in the toilet bowl.
"If you make me pee on the floor, you have to clean it up," Kevin informed Cam. "What's gotten into you?"
"You, many times. But I'm excited about seeing Dad and
John. And having a little vacation with you and Casey and the
guys."
"Me, too."
They stepped into the shower, and had some more playtime with an unplanned for but
predictable finale for each. Then they washed each other and went
down to a very late breakfast. Brunch. Very Marin County.
* * *
The household worked out their plans
over the next week based on Cam's and
Kevin's conversations with Alex. With a few additional wrinkles,
that is. Cam and Kevin took Ian's Navigator to San Francisco on the way
to the airport, but first they picked up Mark at the hospital.
It wasn't
hot in San Francisco, but Cam cracked all the windows of the Navigator an inch or two when they parked
at the hospital because Alice and Samantha were in the back. Cam and Kevin went
upstairs to get Mark.
Mark was sitting in a chair in his room, looking bored and watching TV
when the the boys arrived. He was wearing a leather device similar to a bicycle helmet to protect the
side of his head from injury until it was fully healed. He jumped to his feet when they came in
the door.
"Dudes!" he said, smiling. "You don't know how happy I am to see
you!" He gave Cam and Kevin hugs, and kissed each of them on the
cheek, somewhat of a departure for Mark from his usual teenage,
straight boy reserve.
"Stylish headgear," Kevin commented.
"Thanks," Mark said. "They're all the rage for the walking wounded, man."
"Hey, buddy, things have been dull at the house while you've been
gone," Cam said. "We've been missing your wise ass remarks."
"I've been saving up," Mark said, laughing.
"Don't forget that you have a lot of work to make up for in the weight
room," Kevin said helpfully. "The other guys are looking awfully buff."
"Those wienies," Mark protested. "Looking good? That'll be
the day. Speaking of lookin' good, where's Casey?" Mark asked.
"Catherine's bringing him," Cam said. "Mom's staying with your mom
and dad at their cabin this week. She just finished teaching her
last classes 'til fall."
"Cool," Mark said.
Cam studied Mark. He could feel his own
heart
beating in his chest because he was so glad that this boy was all right. From all
appearances, he would soon be back to his old self. In truth, Mark
was one of Cam's favorite people in this world. Over the time they
had all lived together, Cam had found him to be smart, good humored,
even tempered, unselfish, affectionate, sexy and handsome, and a jock--all
qualities that he admired.
"Let's grab your shit, and bounce," Kevin said. "We're on the way to pick up our dad and his partner at the airport."
"That's what Ian just told me on the phone," Mark said.
Cam and Kevin each took one of Mark's bags, and
they left. Mark said good-bye to the doctors, nurses and nurse's aides one after another as the boys walked down the
hall, and they all said good-bye to Mark by name, men and women alike, wishing him luck. The kid's a charmer,
Kevin concluded yet again.
They went down to the parking lot, found the Navigator, and added
Mark's bags to those already there. Border collies Alice and
Samantha, relegated to the baggage area of the truck, gave Mark an
enthusiastic greeting, licking his face as he petted them. Cam
leashed the dogs and took them over to a grassy divider in the parking
lot so they could pee. Then
the animals and the three boys got in the truck and headed for the
airport.
"I thought you'd be in the Camaro," Mark said, sitting belted in behind Cam in the Navigator's second row of seats.
"Not enough room," Cam said. "It's against my better judgment,
but Carl is driving the Camaro to the Big Sur. He'll bring
William, Dan and Berto with him. Mom will bring Casey and
pick
up Ian and Mary and Yolanda at your condo here in town in her car, and bring them."
"This sure is a great way to start the summer!" Mark said enthusiastically.
"Considering everything that's happened lately, things can only get better."
"Yeah," Kevin said. "True dat." He reached down and turned
on Ian's stereo, one of Bose's better efforts. Counting Crows was
soon blasting out of the multitude of speakers, and the guys were soon
smiling as their heads bobbed in time to the music. Kevin cranked
up the volume. There was no subwoofer because Ian didn't approve
of them in cars, but the bass clef was still definitely in charge. Foo Fighters was up next.
They pulled into the airport parking lot about 30 minutes later.
Cam checked his watch, and they had about 15 minutes to make it to the
right gate. They caught a shuttle, and soon were there.
The
plane from LAX was on time, and passengers began flooding out of the
ramp door and
into the terminal, where armed, expressionless national guardsmen were
watching the
crowds. Coming out of first class, Alex and John were almost the
first to appear off the
plane. They put down their carryons and embraced Cam and Kevin,
hugging them
and kissing them. If anything, the two men looked younger than
the last time they'd seen them, Kevin mused. They must be happy.
"Where's the baby?" John asked right away.
"Catherine has him," Cam said. "We'll get him later."
Kevin introduced Mark to the new arrivals. "Dad, John, this is Mark Carson. Mark, Alex MacKenzie and John Kelley."
Smiling, the men shook hands with the boy.
"Mark, I read about what happened to you in the L.A. papers," Alex said. "I'm sorry. Thank God you're all right!"
"Thank you, Mr. MacKenzie. It was a close one."
"Call me Alex, and this is John. Everybody else calls us by our
first names, including these two ne'er-do-wells when they think we
don't hear them." Alex gestured at Cam and Kevin.
Mark laughed.
"Dad!!" Kevin said. "I'm shocked! At how right you are." They all laughed.
Cam checked out John as they all walked together toward the baggage claim. The
man's as much of a stud as ever, he thought to himself, watching the
tall, muscular blond guy as he strode along confidently.
"Are you old goats getting proper exercise?" Cam asked, grinning.
"Well, yeah," John said. "We miss having you guys around--so we can make you look bad."
Kevin groaned. "I'm glad we have a weekend at least to re-teach you some humility," he said.
John chuckled and put his arm around Kevin's neck and squeezed. "Lord, I've missed your line of crap."
Kevin laughed and put his arm around the man's waist. "It's good to see you, John."
They reached the baggage claim just as the bags began appearing in the
terminal on a conveyor, making serpentine loops around and through the
gathering crowd. The two men pulled their bags off the conveyer
belt. Cam and Kevin grabbed them, and put them on carts to go out
to the shuttle which would take them to the parking garage. In a
matter of minutes,
they were at the Navigator. Cam pushed a button on the key fob, and the back hatch opened slowly on its
own. Ian and John added their bags to the pile in the back and
met the dogs. Cam fired up the truck and, once out of the
airport, headed south toward Monterey County. The stereo was now
playing softly in the background.
Alex admired the inside of the truck as they drove along.
"Nice ride," he said.
"Yeah," Mark said. "It's Ian's. It's almost big enough to cart all of us around."
"I'm a little out of the loop, here," Alex said. "You're all
living in San Rafael?" he asked. "How many of you are there?"
Mark counted them off on his fingers. "Catherine, Ian, Mary,
Yolanda, Cam, Kevin, Casey, William, Carl, Dan, Berto and me.
Twelve. And Rosa is usually there at the house all day, too. Thirteen."
"Hey, he counted without using his toes," Cam noted.
Mark reached forward from where he was sitting behind Cam and, without comment, slapped the back of his head.
"Hey, hey!" Cam cautioned. "Watch it, dude! Don't make me hurtcha!"
The freeways ended not long after they got into Monterey County, and Alex started looked for some place to eat.
"You guys hungry?" he asked. "Food on domestic flights is a little skimpy these days."
"We're always hungry," Mark spoke up. "I've been eating hospital
food. Too healthy. Let's get some real crap to eat."
They all laughed, and Cam pulled into a chain drive-in.
They went inside to eat, and Mark outdid himself with all the hot fried
food he ingested. Fries, onion rings, two giant hamburgers, two
big cokes. One minute everything was there on the table, and then
it was pretty much gone.
"Hm, hm," Mark said, burping modestly (for him). "If my mom were
here, she'd be telling me I just took two years off my life.
Ain't America great! I can feel my ass getting fatter as we speak. Uh, John, are you gonna finish those fries?"
John laughed and shoved his sack of potatoes across the table to Mark. "Knock
yourself out," he said. Cam and Kevin got their fingers on a few
fries themselves before Mark inhaled the rest of them. Alex took the check, paid up, and they were off
again.
When they arrived at the cabin and alighted from the Navigator, there
was a cool breeze off the ocean. It wasn't quite T-shirt weather
yet unless you were exercising. Mr. Anderson, the caretaker for a bunch of cabins in their
neighborhood, had obviously been at work--a thin column of wood smoke
from the chimney reached for the sky before the wind caught and
scattered it. A fire had no doubt taken the chill off the cabin.
Alice and Samantha were happy to be released from their prison, and ran
for the undergrowth to do their business while their humans unloaded
baggage and trekked up the back stairs to the deck. Everybody no
sooner went inside than they heard a car horn, and there were
Carl, Dan, William and Berto in the Camaro. They came trooping up the steps and
into the cabin, dumping their bags on the floor by the door.
Kevin introduced them to Alex and John, and then the guys gave Mark a
lot of attention. The kid ate it up.
"You better have treated my Camaro right driving up here!" Cam told
Carl when things settled down. "She has ways of telling me if you
didn't."
"Negative thoughts, negative thoughts!" Carl warned. "You know how moderate I am behind the wheel."
"Just which split second in your driving career was that?" Kevin asked. "I must have missed it."
"Yeah," Cam added. "Berto, Dan and William were white as sheets when you pulled in here."
The crowd laughed as Carl blushed, caught by buddies who knew him and his driving habits all too well.
Alex MacKenzie looked around. "Any of you guys up for a run? I need some exercise."
"Good plan!" Kevin said happily, looking at the boys. "How 'bout it, you pussies?"
"You what!!?" William put an arm around Kevin's neck and squeezed hard.
"You magnificent examples of young manhood," Kevin said in retraction while he still had breath.
"That's more like it," William said, releasing his captive and whacking
him on the ass, and reaching down to pick up his bag. "Where can
we change?"
"Pick a bedroom," Alex said, and the group scattered to change into jocks, T's and running shorts.
"Y'think I can run with ya?" Mark asked.
"I don't think so, buddy," William said. "But call Ian on his
cell and ask him. He might want you to work up to running gradually."
Mark called, and the answer to whether Mark could run or not was an
unequivocal "NO!" But Ian told Mark that he could go down to the
beach with the boys for a fast walk instead of an all-out run.
Mark went down to the driveway with the other boys once they were
suited up, and watched them do their stretches. Then, to
accommodate Mark, they all walked with him on the road toward the ocean
and together traversed the long, l-o-n-g stairway from the cliff down
to the beach.
The clump of runners took off down the beach at a fast pace.
Kevin looked back as Mark, alone, trudged briskly after them through the sand,
and he pealed off from the other runners and went back to the boy.
"I'll walk with ya, dude," Kevin said.
"You don't have to," Mark said.
"That's all right."
They walked in silence for a minute.
"I've missed ya, man," Kevin said. "We all have. It wasn't
the same around the house without ya. Thank God you're all right."
"Thanks. That means a lot. I've missed you guys, too. Have things been goin' all right for you?"
"Yeah. Casey has been such a good baby, and everybody has really
helped take care of him, which I appreciate. But I miss him right
now, even though I know he's just fine with Catherine. I know I
can't be with him all the time, but still..."
"We all love that kid, you know that," Mark said.
"I know." They continued walking at a good pace.
"Cam had his big date for the prom, and things worked out well," Kevin
said. "He looked really good in his kilt, by the way, all the kidding
he got aside."
"I'll bet he did. I wish I could have seen him."
"I have pics."
The two boys continued walking and talking companionably as the runners ahead of them turned into a blur on the horizon.
Cam and Carl were at the back of the pack of runners. Cam liked
it back there so he could watch the guys' asses. Carl reached
out and slowed Cam down a little bit, putting a gap between themselves
and the other boys.
"I need to tell ya something," Carl said, looking straight ahead as he
ran. "Please keep it to yourself for right now, except you can tell Kevin."
"All right," Cam said, looking over at Carl curiously.
"I've spent a lot of time in counseling with Dr. Smith..."
"Yeah?"
"I'm gay."
Cam stopped running, turning and looking at Carl, who had also stopped. They faced each other.
"I'm not hetero, bi or confused. I'm really gay!" Carl
looked into Cam's face. "Now the question is, what do I do about
it, and who do I do it with?"
© 2006 Don Hanratty
Just before posting this chapter, I received two emails from M.G. pointing out a continuity error and another error in Belovèd. They were deleted by mistake. If he would resend them, I will appreciate it.
dhanr1@msn.com.