Belovèd
by
Don Hanratty
My Belovèd is mine, and I am his.
Song of Songs 2:16
CHAPTER 43
Warning: Graphic Violence
Vacillating between satisfaction about the family's visit and sorrow
over their departure, Cam walked back into the Malibu house with Kevin
and Carl and the two collies after the limos pulled away. Sensing
Cam's conflicted mood, Kevin put his arm around his partner and hugged
him as they strolled into the back door.
"Was that a great week or not?" Kevin asked Cam, pulling him into his
arms once they were in the back hall.
"It was. But..."
"No 'buts,' dude!" Kevin told him, hugging him tight, speaking softly
into his ear. "We made the decision to be right here in L.A., and
it was a good decision. We need to be grateful we got to see
everybody before school starts. Now we gotta make the most of our
opportunities
down here."
"You're right," Cam admitted, smiling ruefully. He pulled his
head back and rubbed noses with Kevin, and then kissed him gently on
the lips. "I guess I needed to hear that." Before letting
him go, Cam raised his hand to Kevin's cheek, caressing it and then
leaving it there quietly for a moment. It was the gesture of a
lover
and a friend. Carl smiled at them and thought about Andrew before
walking on down the hall.
The three of them heard Maria Romero talking to Casey in the
kitchen. Peering in, they saw Maria feeding the infant
some baby food as he sat in his highchair. The child gurgled
happily and pounded his little fists on his chair's table as he
accepted baby sized bites of strained carrots.
"Thanks, Maria," Kevin told their housekeeper. "Look at that boy
eat!"
"He's hungry all right," Maria said. "Do you want to take over?"
"Why don't you finish feeding him," Kevin suggested, "and we'll make a
start on cleaning up the house."
"You don't have to do that," Maria said.
"I know," Kevin said, ignoring her protestation. "Carl,
why don't you start gathering up the sheets in the living room and
piling them in the laundry room," Kevin said. "Then
start stacking the sleeping mats, and Cam and
I will start stripping the beds upstairs."
"Cool," Carl agreed, heading for the living room.
"C'mon, Cameron, let's get busy."
Cam nodded, and he and Cam walked toward the stairs and then took them
side by side two at a time up to the second floor.
"You start with the master bedroom, and I'll start at the other end of
the hall," Kevin instructed.
Cam grinned. "You're in command mode this afternoon," he noted.
"Yep!" Kevin said, walking toward the room which Carl and Andrew had
used at the end of the upstairs hall.
"You may need tongs to touch Carl and Andy's sheets," Cam kidded Kevin
as he walked away.
"Word!" Kevin said.
As he walked in, Kevin saw the room the two boys had used was fairly
tidy. The draperies were open, and the early afternoon sun was
beaming
through the sliding glass doors leading to the second floor deck.
The two
easy chairs
were in place, and the office chair was positioned neatly under the
desk. The bathroom fixtures needed cleaning, but the guys hadn't
left any mess in there so far as Kevin could see.
Moving to the king size bed, Kevin grabbed the bed pillows and
stripped off the pillow cases, throwing them to the floor. When
he pulled back the top sheet on the bed, Kevin saw how right Cam had
been about needing tongs. The bottom sheet was covered with large
semen stains from Carl's and Andy's activities, the residue of what had
apparently been an abundance of good sex.
Good for them, Kevin thought
to himself, pulling the stained sheet and then the mattress pad off the
bed and
adding
them to the pile on the
floor. The world would be a
happier place if everybody was gettin' some!
He gathered up the sheets, mattress pad and pillow cases in his
arms, and took
them to the downstairs hall. Opening the folding doors into the
little laundry room, he dropped the load to the floor. He checked
to see if anybody was coming down the hall. No one was, and to
save Carl any embarrassment, he spread out the the stained sheet and
the mattress pad and
poured some some detergent and then a little bleach on the stains
before
scrunching them up and cramming them into the washer with the other
sheet and the pillow cases. Adding some detergent to the whole
load,
he closed the washer door and started the wash cycle.
Carl came tottering into the laundry room right then with a huge armful
of sheets and pillow cases from the living room. He threw them
down on the floor and looked at Kevin.
"Uh, I was thinkin', maybe I should get the sheets off my bed myself,"
he
said.
"Already done, bud," Kevin said. "No worries. They're in
the washing machine right now."
"Thanks," Carl said, his face reddening as he started to beat a hasty
retreat back toward the living room.
"Hey," Kevin said.
"What?"
"You don't have anything to be embarrassed about." Kevin
smiled at his friend. "Real life is good. And sometimes
it's a little messy."
Carl grinned. "Well, you're right about that. The mess is
half the fun."
Carl went back to the living room to continue working, and Kevin went
back upstairs. He stripped the next bed, and wondering where Cam
was, dumped the sheets in the hall at the head of the stairs and went
into the
master bedroom. The sheets from Alex's and John's king size bed
in there sat in
a
pile on
the
floor, but Kevin didn't see Cam at first. Then he did. His
partner was just inside the huge master bedroom closet fiddling with an
electric
switch on the wall which was almost hidden just inside the closet
door. The switch looked like a rheostat.
"Whatcha doin'?" Kevin asked.
"Look up at the ceiling," Cam said.
Kevin looked up. The ceiling was composed of 3x3 foot square
dull,
glossy glass tiles on which clouds were portrayed.
"Yeah," Kevin said. "So?"
"Watch this." Cam twisted the rheostat, and the clouds slowly
disappeared, leaving the tiles transformed into mirrored squares.
"Holy shit!" Kevin said. "How does that work?"
"You're the physicist. You tell me."
"Darned if I know," Kevin said. He went over to the edge of the
bed and
sat down. Looking up, he stared back at his face looking down at
him
from above. "Hmmm," he intoned, his face breaking into a
smile. "I don't know how it works, but you don't suppose..."
Cam left the closet and sat down beside him on the bed, gazing up at
Kevin's and
his own faces on the ceiling.
"Booyah!!" Cam exclaimed,
laughing. "I'm sure Alex and John have put this little setup to
good use. Those randy old farts! They can watch each other
while they have sex!"
Kevin leaned back on to the bed, pulling Cam down beside him. He
swiveled his head and kissed Cam's cheek as Cam watched Kevin's mirror
image
overhead do that.
"I wonder if Ian and Mary found the switch when they stayed in here?"
Kevin wondered.
"I don't think so," Cam said. "It's recessed into the wall behind
a little door, and
pretty well hidden." He grinned and looked over at Kevin.
"I bet Ian and Mary have a good sex life,
though."
Kevin laughed at his lover up on the ceiling. "Well, you and I
need to
try this deal out and see what it does for our sex life."
Cam clambered to his knees, and dragging Kevin completely up on to the
bed, lay down on top of him. Kevin focused his eyes on the
mirror image of Cam's Levi-clad ass above him, and grabbed the boy's
behind with both hands.
"Oh, yeah," Kevin said, having a perfect view of his hands squeezing
his boyfriend's firm butt cheeks. "I like this a lot."
"Let's sleep in here tonight," Cam suggested, grinning as he nuzzled
Kevin's face with his nose.
"I like the way you think, dude! I'm so horny for ya, I can't
stand it!" Kevin was getting hard as they pressed together, and
he could feel Cam doing the same.
"Me, too." Cam swallowed hard as he looked down into Kevin's
eyes. "I love you, Kev. I love everything about ya. I
can't imagine my life without you in it."
Kevin's face softened. "I'm the lucky one. You own me,
bud." He put his hand behind Cam's head and pulled his face down
to his own, beginning a soft mouth to mouth kiss, with lots of tongue,
that lasted several minutes. They inhaled one another's breath as
they became more and more aroused. Cam finally broke
the kiss.
"Let go of me right now, or you're gonna make me come in my pants," Cam
warned him.
"We can't have that." Kevin gave his partner's ass one more
squeeze, slapped it, and released him.
Cam stood up, reaching into his jeans at the waist and carefully
readjusting his equipment. He gazed down at
Kevin and pointed up at the ceiling.
"Listen, don't mention the ceiling to Carl, okay?" he said.
"It's sort of Alex's and John's private business."
"Yep. Don't forget to turn the rheostat back to the
cloud setting." Kevin leaned
down and gathered up the master bedroom's dirty sheets and pillow cases
off the
floor.
"I'll add these to the pile in the hall and take them down to the
laundry room."
"Thanks." Cam walked over to the closet and reset the
rheostat, then closed the little door over the switch. The
ceiling slowly returned to its innocuous cloud setting. "You
gotta find out how this works."
"Me?" Kevin said over his shoulder as he went into the
hall. "Why don't you do it?"
"No way. You're the mad scientist. You know how the Hadron
collider works. I don't know shit."
"You're overstating your case."
"I doubt that," Cam said. "Anyway, back
to work! I'll
do our room next."
Cam followed Kevin into the hall, went into their room, and began
stripping the bed. He was at work when Maria Romero
came in carrying a sleepy-eyed Casey, and put him down gently in
his crib on his back.
"Eh-h-h-h-h!" Casey complained. Maria offered him a pacifier and
started the mobile over the crib moving, and the little guy quieted
down right away.
"He's good for a few hours," the maid said. "He ate a good lunch,
and I burped him and changed his diaper downstairs."
"Thank you, Maria," Cam said, piling sheets and pillow cases on the
floor. "You do such a good job with him. And we appreciate
it."
"Thanks," Maria said. "I love him, you know. He's such a
good boy. An easy baby. We're lucky."
Cam noticed the "we" in what Maria said, and smiled approvingly.
"I know we are," he said. "I give thanks for that every day."
After Maria fixed their supper and headed home to feed her own family
that evening,
Cam and Kevin and Carl
ate in the kitchen and then kicked back and watched TV with Casey in
the
den. They were
in a subdued mood with the family gone, and were also feeling a little
on edge about school starting the next day. Then calls came
from Catherine and from Andy to say they had arrived home in San
Rafael, and the guys were
glad to hear from them.
By ten p.m., the three of them were wiped out. Cam
took the dogs out into the yard to relieve themselves for the night,
and then the boys
shut off the television and the lights, set the alarm, and headed
upstairs for bed with Casey.
Carl said goodnight to his friends at the door of their room and
started
to go down the hall to his own room when Kevin put an arm over his
shoulder and
held
him back. Carl and Cam looked at Kevin curiously. He had a
serious look on his face.
"Hold up a minute," Kevin said to Carl. "I know you're probably
feeling a little down
about Andy leaving
today. I understand that better than you think, because I know
what it is to need the support of somebody you love. And
fortunately, I know what it is to get that support." He looked at
Cam and then back at Carl.
"When you and I first met, I was still healing after my girlfriend's
brothers
busted me up so bad," Kevin
told Carl. "I almost died in the hospital. I'm sure I'm
alive today because Cam stuck by me when
I needed love and support.
He held my hand when I wasn't even awake to know it about it, and
he prayed for me. A lot. I know he did." Kevin
paused. "He willed me back to life, and I know I owe him my
life. That'll stay with me forever.
"Anyway, that's the kind of relationship I see growing between you and
Andy. A one-ness. It's so powerful it's hard
to put into words.
So even though Andy's back in San Rafael now, I just want you to
remember he's part of you this very minute and every minute until you
see him again. And you're part of him. I know how important
that knowledge is. I survived because of it, and not a day passes
that I don't think about what Cam did for me. That kind of love
and support can be your
anchor until Andy's down
here with you again. I hope you know that."
Carl and Cam looked surprised. It wasn't like Kevin to bare his
soul that way. Cam turned his head away so the
others wouldn't see him tearing up.
Carl was moved, and his throat had tightened up. "Thanks for
that, man," he said in a gravel voice, eyes moist. He
stepped closer to Kevin and hugged him for a long moment. Then he
kissed him on the cheek and went on down the hall to his room with his
sadness and loneliness lifted somewhat.
Kevin and Cam went into their room, shut the door, and put Casey down
in his crib. The little guy didn't give them any trouble.
"Just when I think I know you
totally, you surprise the living shit
outta me," Cam told his partner, pulling him into his arms.
"That's good. I don't like to be too predictable. Anyway,
as I told you this afternoon, I'm so horny for you I can't
stand it," Kevin said, nestling his face in the crook of Cam's neck and
giving it a moist kiss.
Feeling Kevin's lips on him, Cam felt his dick
start to harden and took a deep breath.
"I'm horny, too," Cam acknowledged. "Let's clean our teeth and
use the bathroom. Then I want to strip you down real slow and put
my
mouth and my tongue all over your body. And that's just Step One."
"You won't get any argument from me." Kevin grinned in
anticipation, and they went into the bathroom together. Half hard
already, they took a leak simultaneously, the golden streams crossing
over and over as together they voided into the toilet. Drawing on
their
reserves of patience given what they looked forward to doing in bed,
they
washed their hands and faces and cleaned their teeth.
Going back into their bedroom, they checked on Casey one last
time. He was sleeping
soundly by then, and his diaper was still dry. Kevin bent down
over the
side of the crib and softly kissed the little boy's head.
Cam led his partner by the hand over the bed. Grasping Kevin's
T-shirt at the waist, he slowly pulled it up over his head and dropped
it
to the floor. Facing that beautiful, muscular chest, Cam began to
pinch
Kevin's nipples, then lowering his head, he licked them and lightly
nibbled them,
scraping his teeth on the nubs just enough to be felt without hurting
him. Kevin let out a deep sigh and trembled slightly at his
partner's touch.
Reaching down, Cam popped the top button on Kevin's worn 501's,
followed by the buttons on the fly, and the pants fell to his
feet. Cam straightened up and ran his hands slowly down the long
muscles of Kevin's
back and then under the elastic of his boxers to grab his butt, and
shucked the underwear down to join the pants puddled on the
floor. Kevin's hard cock, already leaking a little pre-cum,
snapped up and hit his belly. Cam pushed his partner down gently
into a sitting position on the end of the bed as he removed Kevin's
sneakers and socks, and then pulled the bunched Levi's and boxers off
his legs.
Kevin lay there on the bed admiring his partner's body as Cam made
short work of
getting himself
naked, stripping off his shoes, socks and clothes. Kevin then
stood up and went to the head of the bed and pulled down the bedspread
and top sheet, climbing into his customary spot. Cam's own dick
was hard and pointing at the ceiling as he joined him. The two
guys lay down and turned on their sides, facing each other.
Cam pulled Kevin's face to his own and kissed him gently. "I've
missed this so much," Cam said. "I've missed being with you in
this bed."
"Ditto. You don't know!" Kevin responded, reaching down and
taking as much of Cam's package as he could into his big hand.
Cam's cock jutted out from between Kevin's fingers. "I
loved having the family here, but..." He stopped talking and
rubbed noses with Cam as he smeared the drop of pre-cum now at the end
of Cam's penis over the head of it with his thumb. Bringing his
hand to his mouth, Kevin sucked the residue of Cam's sweet juice off
his thumb.
"I love you so much, Kevin," Cam whispered. He kissed him, a deep
oral invasion, and explored his partner's mouth with his
tongue, encountering the clean, fresh taste of the toothpaste they had
used before going to bed. Kevin
returned the favor.
"Shall we use Alex's and John's room?" Kevin asked, pulling back
and thinking about the mirrored ceiling next door.
Cam considered that proposition for a second or two, but
demurred.
"I don't need no freaking mirror to get turned on by you, bud."
He slipped down in the bed and took Kevin's dick into his mouth.
In the process of deep
throating him several times at a leisurely pace, he tasted his boy's
sweet pre-cum on his tongue.
Kevin exhaled in a rush. "Oh, shit! Easy, stud! I'm
already close!" he gasped.
Cam pulled off Kevin's cock and began to lick his partner's hairy balls.
Kevin groaned, stopping Cam by pulling him back up so they were face to
face,
then grasping Cam big boner again, giving it a stroke.
"No more, man," Kevin instructed Cam.
"Any more foreplay, and I'm over the edge. Put it in me. Make love to me."
"It'll be love for sure," Cam promised, studying the masculine beauty
of Kevin's
face. Kissing
Kevin's chest, he reached across his partner's body into the bedside
table and
rooted around in the back of the drawer. At last he found
the lube
they had concealed back there while Catherine was using their
bedroom. Popping open the cap as Kevin pulled back his legs, he
lubed Kevin's hole, gently penetrating him several times with one and
then two fingers
before he lubed his own erection. Cam put a pillow under Kevin's
ass and
kneeling between his legs, worked his way into his lover slowly and
then lay down flat on him, looking into his face and waiting until
there was no sign of discomfort.
"Yes!" Kevin exclaimed as Cam began at last to slide in and out of
him. Kevin reached down and grasped Cam's butt, feeling his
muscular glutes contract and relax over and over as he thrust into him
and
withdrew. "Oh, Lord, Cam, you feel so good," he groaned.
Stretching, he snaked one hand down to his own hole, putting a finger
in position to
feel
Cam's penis sliding in and out of his body.
Before long they were sweating copiously, Cam's perspiration dripping
down and commingling with Kevin's own as Cam's stomach and abs rubbed
his partner's rock hard cock, and his dick repeatedly hit Kevin's
prostate.
Despite their best efforts to take things slowly, neither of them
lasted very long. After ten minutes, Kevin came first, groaning
as his seed shot up
between their bodies six times before he relaxed. Cam ejaculated
repeatedly a moment later after feeling Kevin's hole clamping down on
his tool when Kevin came. Cam uttered little muted
cries as he flooded Kevin's insides with his cum. Rolling
partially off his partner, Cam lowered his head and licked Kevin's
stomach and abs clean of the boy's juice, unfolding then to share face
to face in a deep kiss what
he had gleaned from him. The two guys fell
asleep immediately.
They awakened an hour later, and this time it was Kevin's turn to top
his partner. Despite their earlier release, they were both hard
in seconds. Kevin sucked Cam's cock for a while, lazily circling
the head of it with his tongue and probing the slit, eliciting groans
of pleasure,
before he lubed Cam's rectum carefully. After putting the pillow
under
Cam's
butt, he worked his way into him very gently, very lovingly.
This time their lovemaking was more deliberate. And again it was
truly lovemaking. They took the
time to feel every nuance of their coition, every touch of flesh on
flesh, drawing out their union for at least
twenty minutes. Mid-way through their coupling, Cam raised his
legs and locked
them around Kevin's back. Kevin liked that, and tried even harder
to confer pleasure on Cam with every stroke up inside him. It was
a long and pleasureful ride.
This time it was the slick movement of Kevin's
sweaty body on Cam's that together with a recurrent internal prostatic
massage, made Cam spurt just as Kevin unloaded into his partner's
colon. Still hard, Kevin lay on top of the man he loved for a few
minutes after he came,
enjoying him completely before slipping to his side and tongue bathing
Cam's abdomen of the semen there. Then they shared another
extended,
juicy kiss, tasting each
other fully.
"That was worth waiting for," Cam muttered into his partner's ear,
followed by another deep kiss.
Kevin held Cam in his arms for a long while, surrounded by the
aroma of
the sex they had enjoyed so much.
"You're my life," Kevin whispered to him. But it was too
late. Lips curled into a soft smile, Cam had slipped back into a
sleep
from which he would not emerge until their alarm clock sounded the next
morning. Watching Cam's sleeping face in the moonlight from Santa
Monica
bay and counting the
blessings of their relationship, Kevin followed him into his own
post-coital coma shortly thereafter.
* * *
The three guys and the two dogs were out on the deck at 6:00 the next
morning, the boys doing their warm-ups before running as the dogs
milled
around them. Cam and Kevin had been reluctant to get up, having
had such a great time the previous night with catch-up
sex. But obedient to the discipline which was now a part of their
lives,
they had crawled out of bed and showered together, enjoying the
spray
that moistened every square inch of their
skin.
Kevin had silently pulled Cam's body to his own in the shower, running
his hands up and down his partner's back before soaping a washcloth and
washing Cam thoroughly. Then Cam had done the same for
him, his thoughts inevitably focusing on what they had done together
the night before, and how fulfilling it had been. They were both
half hard
by
the time they had dried off and gotten dressed.
"You two look relaxed this morning," Carl observed with a smile as
they all finished their stretches on the deck and trotted out on to the
beach. Maria waved at them as she stepped away from the sliding
door and went upstairs to
collect Casey.
"We are relaxed. It was
our turn for you know what,"
Kevin grinned at
Carl. He set the stopwatch on his wristwatch as they
all started
running on the hardpack at the water's edge. Alice and Samantha
forged ahead, galloping into the surf and then back on to the sand,
running ahead of the guys and then doubling back.
"It's great having the dogs here," Cam observed, watching them have a
good time in the water.
"We're gonna to have to hose them off when we get home," Carl
said. "Otherwise Maria will be cleaning up sand all over the
house."
"Yep," Kevin said, smirking. "Take care of that little job for us
when we get back, will ya, Carl?"
"Cam'll do it," Carl shot back. "It was his idea to keep the dogs
down here."
"It'll be my pleasure to serve," Cam said, trying in vain to shame his
companions. "I want you guys to enjoy the dogs fully without
having any responsibility for 'em."
"Low blow," Carl said, grinning. "But thanks for the offer.
I think I'll take ya up on that."
"Shutup," Kevin said, shaking his head in pretended disgust. "I'm
tired of you guys'
bullshit. Concentrate on running!" He kicked up the pace a
notch, and they ran in silence
for a while.
They had just turned around at the three and a half mile mark and
headed back toward the house, followed by the dogs, when Cam spoke up
again.
"I wonder where the four assholes are. I figured we might see
them out here running this morning."
"Prolly too early for homophobes," Kevin speculated. "Only
the pure in heart get up as early as we do."
Cam and Carl laughed, and Cam punched his partner lightly on the arm in
approval. "Right again, dude! Are you ever wrong?"
"Not hardly ever," Kevin responded. "Not in comparison with you
two, anyway."
Cam and Carl hooted, and then they all buckled down to their immediate
task again.
When they arrived back at the house, they stripped off their running
shoes and socks, and Cam and Carl rinsed off the dogs and then tethered
them to the deck railing to dry off. Kevin got the dogs' water
dishes,
filled them up, and put them on the deck. The dogs lapped up
their water briskly and then lay down for a nap while the guys went
upstairs to shower.
Cam stripped off his sweaty shorts, jock and tank top, and joined Kevin
in their shower.
"I kinda wanted to shower alone this time," Kevin told Cam as the
latter
slid the glass door shut.
"Tough shit!" Cam said. "I kinda didn't want to shower
alone." He reached out and took hold of Kevin's ample cock.
"It's just amazing what this little peanut can do in the throes of
passion."
"Humph! Don't get me fired up now, or I'll throw you down right
here
and have my way with you again."
"Promise?"
"Y'know, you're like the fucking Energizer Bunny," Kevin laughed.
"It's just sex, sex, sex with you. You don't think about anything
else, and you never wear out. I like to think about spiritual
things in the shower."
Cam laughed. "You're very amusing this morning. Especially
coming from a sex hound like you."
'You resemble that remark. Turn around, and I'll do your
back." Cam did, and Kevin did. When Cam's back and butt
were washed, Kevin did a reach-around with soap still on his fingers
and
began squeezing and rolling Cam's nipples.
"You dick!" Cam said, turning around at half mast with a smile on his
face. "That's wonderful, but stop it! We don't have time
for this right now."
Kevin pulled him into his arms, half tumescent rod and all, and held
him close as the water pelted down on them. "I know," he
said. "But you're pretty irresistible. And that's the
truth!"
They kissed, finished their shower in short order, and then toweled one
another dry.
"Shall we strip the bed?" Kevin asked as they dressed in cargo shorts
and polo shirts for school.
Cam thought for a minute, and then shook his head.
"Nope. I'm sure Maria knows what we're doing up here. Leave
it." He grinned. "The sheets should smell pretty good by
the end
of the week, but we'll
be changing them every day if we start off that way. "
"Okay," Kevin said dubiously. "Let's grab some breakfast, and
bounce. We have to pick up our ID's before we go to class."
They met Carl downstairs and scarfed down some pop tarts rather then
the bacon and eggs Maria offered to cook, and left. They all rode
to
school in Kevin's Mustang, and arrived in plenty of time to
get
their ID's and find their respective classrooms. Before they
parted ways they decided to meet for
lunch at the student union at noon.
* * *
Cam's first class was Introduction to Cinematography. It was a
small class, probably 40
students at the most. Cam looked around while the professor was
getting his
shit together down in front. There were three or four especially
hunky looking guys in the class, he noticed. He was dismayed to
see one of the obnoxious guys from the Disneyland confrontation sitting
down the row from him. To his
surprise, the guy nodded at him before looking away. It was Art
Smith.
Art hadn't hung around with Eric Clymer, Peter Murtha and Rory Lomer
since his recent disagreement with Eric over plans to fuck up those gay
boys down the beach from Eric's house. The truth was that he and
Eric
hadn't been
seeing eye to about a lot of things lately, particularly Eric's
relentless personal quest to make every interaction he had with people
who might be homosexuals unpleasant.
Art had
sometimes wondered why Eric seemed so interested in making things tough
for
gays, and the thought had occasionally crossed his mind that Eric
seemed a little too
interested in homos and whatever it was they did with each other.
At any rate, Smith had concluded it was time for him to move on and
make some new friends. He'd had a lot of support and
encouragement at home from his parents to do just that since the four
friends, with Eric in the lead, of course, had gotten themselves into a
scrape with the law not long ago. Lately, Art's football buddies
had been
more than willing to hang out with him once they knew he wasn't one of
Eric's confidants any longer.
Smith had seen Cam and Kevin kiss each other at Disneyland, but he had
been more surprised than horrified by it. They were normal enough
looking dudes. In fact, they were actually very good looking, Art
grudgingly admitted to himself. It was none of his fucking
business how they got their jollies, or with whom. Smith had long
since decided that from now on, a "live and let live" philosophy was
going to be his guide. And if that didn't suit Eric, tough
fucking shit. So when he had recognized Cam, he had nodded at him
and then concentrated on the cinematography lecture.
Art wasn't all that sure what he wanted to do with his life, but he had
been considered a pretty accomplished writer in high school, and had
served on the staff of the school newspaper along with playing
football. He wasn't too
interested in journalism per se, but
knew he wanted to explore writing for a living, preferably in the
arts. He knew he'd have to be grounded in a range of subjects if
he wanted to write for movies or television, and thus his decision to
start with a beginning course in cinematography. He wasn't just
another dumb jock.
The lecture was a good one, and a paper was assigned at the end of
it. Cam was excited about prospects for the course when he put
his
notebook and pen in his backpack and stood up to leave, waiting for the
main aisle to clear. When he looked around, Art was standing
right behind him. The two of them moved out into the main aisle
and
walked to the classroom door, shoulder to shoulder. Cam glanced
over at the kid, mentally readying himself to respond in kind if the
guy said something nasty. The young man was maybe an inch shorter
than Cam, with longish, sandy hair, well set up and muscular from
playing sports. He had a good chest and a handsome face, and was
wearing a
polo shirt and cargo shorts like Cam was. The guy stuck out his
hand
before Cam could look away.
"Art Smith," the kid introduced himself.
Caught by surprise, Cam shook hands with the guy without thinking.
"Cam MacKenzie," he responded grudgingly.
"Listen," Art said, "I want to apologize for the guys I was with at
Disneyland the other day. They--uh, we--had no business saying anything
to you about...you know, kissing your friend."
"He's my life partner," Cam corrected him. "And no, you didn't."
"I know that. We were outta line, for sure. If it makes any
difference, I don't hang with those guys anymore." Art looked Cam
in the eye. "They're nuts when it comes to gays. I don't
know why, but they are. Especially Eric." Art paused,
looking down at the
floor. "And I really don't feel that way."
"Well..." Cam said, caught off guard and not knowing what to say.
"You need to watch yourself around those three, though," Art
urged. "They can be dangerous when they wanna be. I'm not
trying to scare ya, but just be careful..." The kid stopped
talking, embarrassed that he might seem to be lecturing a virtual
stranger.
"Thanks, man," Cam said as he started to turn away, heading for his
biology class in another building.
Art Smith nodded and started walking in the same direction as Cam, but
at a slower pace to put a little distance between them.
Ten minutes later and Cam was standing in a science building lecture
hall which held about 300 students. He found a seat and looked
around. It was pandemonium, with kids wandering around trying to
find seats, talking on their cell phones, and shouting across the room
at friends. Cam saw Art Smith come in and sit down towards the
front of the class. So we have
two classes together, Cam thought to himself as he pulled a
fresh
notebook
out of his back pack. He labeled the notebook "Biology" with his
pen and got ready to take some notes.
The lecture was rapid fire, with the professor seemingly taking it for
granted
that students had taken a biology class in high school. Cam
had. At the conclusion of the lecture, the class was given a
reading assignment in the textbook to complete before their next
meeting.
Cam left the room without seeing Art Smith
again and met Kevin and Carl at the student union at noon. The
three of them
found an out-of-the-way table after they got some food, settled in
after dumping their backpacks, and
started to talk about their classes. Carl didn't have too much to
say about the first accounting class which kicked off his business
studies,
but Cam held forth at length on his cinematography class. His
first paper, due at the end of the following week, was supposed to deal
with the
history of cinematography stretching back to the first movie
cameras. Cam was enthusiastic. Kevin talked about his first
physics class. He wasn't as enthusiastic as Cam, but nevertheless
seemed interested in the subject matter.
After they exhausted that discussion, Cam
recounted the conversation he'd
had with Art Smith after cinematography class.
Kevin looked skeptical. "Do you buy that guy's story?" he asked
Cam. Kevin popped a French fry into his mouth and chewed it,
watching Cam's face.
"I don't know. He seemed sincere enough," Cam said.
Carl didn't say anything, just listening to Cam and Kevin discuss Art's
credibility, or lack of it. He turned his head to look at the
room when he spotted Eric and two of his Disneyland buds sitting down
at a table
part way across the room. Carl motioned with his thumb, and Kevin
and Cam looked over at the three guys. Cam noticed that Art Smith
wasn't with them, but that he was also in the huge room, eating alone
at another table. Cam turned his head back and looked at Kevin.
"I see Art Smith over there," he said. "He's all by himself at
another table." He took a swig of bottled water as he chewed
bites of his ham and cheese sandwich. "He just may be telling the
truth about not hanging with Eric's crew anymore."
Kevin grunted and munched on his hamburger. "We'll see."
Cam saw Eric give Art Smith the finger as he and his two companions
left the cafeteria after finishing their meal. Art just looked at
them without acknowledging either them or the obscene gesture.
By the time Cam, Kevin and Carl had finished their meal, Art Smith had
also finished eating and left the dining room. As they walked
outside,
Kevin got
on his cell and talked to Maria about how things were going with
Casey. All was well at home.
* * *
The three guys met after their last classes that afternoon in the
parking lot where Kevin's Mustang was parked, and headed for
Malibu. Cam, riding shotgun, looked over
at
Kevin.
"Dude, whaddaya think about trying out for soccer?" he asked out of
nowhere. "A highly
skilled midfielder like yourself just has to be in demand.
They'll take one look at your cute little ass in those shorts, and
you'll automatically make the team."
Kevin grinned. "You forget that not everyone is as swayed by a
cute
butt as you are."
"Now, now, don't sell your ass short," Cam laughed. "It's pretty
irresistible, as you well know. Powerful, even. I know,
because I've studied it very carefully for many years now. Even
straight guys like to look at it. You're a cinch for the team
even as a walk-on."
Kevin laughed out loud. "You're so full of shit I should make you
get out and walk home."
"See, you have a mean streak in you," Cam said. "That's just one
more reason to vent your frustrations out on the soccer field instead
of on us at home."
"I used to have a mean streak
until we started sleeping together. Then it disappeared,
practically over night. That's because I get all the action I
want in bed."
"Hey, hey!" Carl said from the back seat. "TMI! I'm
jealous!"
"All the action you need, huh?" Cam said to Kevin,
smiling. "That can change. But seriously, whaddaya think about soccer?"
"I suppose we could check it out," Kevin said, "but we have an awful
lot on our plate with Casey and our classes, doncha think? And
there's only so much
time we can ask from Maria, y'know."
Cam studied the road ahead. "Yeah, I guess you're right about
that. I just don't want you to let yourself go to pot physically,
that's all. Feeling a big gut pressing into my back when you
try to
spoon me in bed wouldn't be very appealing."
"If you ever feel some big gut pressing into your back, you're sleeping
with someone else, I can assure you of that," Kevin said.
"Guys, I have no intention of going out for wrestling," Carl chimed
in. "I could watch Casey on nights you guys were gonna be late so
Maria could get home to her family."
"Thanks for the thought, bud," Kevin said. "But I just think
soccer would be more than we could handle. Cam, you can try out
by yourself if you want to."
"Not without you," Cam said cheerfully. "Whatever we do, we're in
it
together. Casey, soccer, whatever. And don't you forget it."
"You're a prince, dude!" Kevin said, grinning. "Isn't he?" he
demanded of Carl, looking at him in the rear view mirror.
"A higher rank, even," Carl said. "I would have said at least a
queen."
"You little fuck!" Cam protested. "You're gonna pay for that
later."
Kevin and Carl laughed, and the three guys continued to banter with
each another until they pulled into their driveway at Malibu Beach.
The smell of good cooking greeted them when they walked in the back
door, drawing them toward the kitchen where they heard Maria moving
around.
"Maria!" Cam said. "What smells so good?"
"I made you a gumbo, just like you boys talked about eating over in New
Orleans."
"Oh, wow!" Cam exclaimed, going to the woman and giving her a kiss on
the cheek. "That's above and beyond the call of duty!"
Maria smiled. "There's garlic bread ready to go in the toaster
whenever you want to eat, and ice water, soda or orange juice in the
refrigerator to drink. And a pecan pie for dessert."
"Sweet!!" Kevin opined. "Don't think we don't appreciate it!"
"Thanks, Maria," Carl said.
"De nada," Maria said, talking
off her apron and hanging it in a little closet.
"Is the little guy sleeping?" Kevin asked.
"Yes," Maria said, taking her purse out of a drawer and hunting for her
car keys. "But it's time he got up, or he won't want to sleep
tonight. I'll see you boys in the morning."
"Thanks, Maria," Cam said, taking his backpack off his shoulder and
lowering it to the floor as Maria walked to the back door and left the
house. Cam went over to the huge pot on the stove, and leaning
down, inhaled deeply. A shrimp bubbled to the surface of the
steaming pot and then disappeared back into the depths. Cam
salivated and looked over at his buds. "I don't know how long I
can hold off from eating."
"Show a little self-control, boy!" Kevin said sternly. "We just
had lunch a couple of hours ago. You need more discipline in your
life."
Cam snorted. "Putting up with your bullshit day and night takes
all the self-control I can muster."
"Day and night?" Kevin shot back. "I don't notice you showing
much self-control in bed at night."
"Oh, no! Not again!" Carl said, plugging his ears and walking
away.
"Oh, yes," Kevin said, grabbing Cam and kissing him repeatedly on the
face before letting him go.
After putting their backpacks in the den, the guys went upstairs.
Cam and Kevin took off their polo shirts
and hung them up in the closet, putting on T-shirts.
"I 'spose you know that cargo shorts aren't in style anymore, according
to the fashion gurus," Cam told his partner.
"Tough shit," Kevin said. "I'm wearing these pants until
until they're rags. There's room for everything in these
pockets."
They went over
to Casey's crib and watched the little boy sleep for a few
moments. Kevin caressed Casey's head softly until he awakened,
and then picked him up. The little guy seemed pleased to see them.
"Hey, buddy, 'sup?" Cam said, kissing the boy's head.
"Time for a diaper change, that's what's up," Kevin said, walking into
the bathroom and lowering the changing table from the wall. Cam
followed him and stood in the doorway.
"Ah, the aroma," Kevin said. "Casey smells like you do before you
shower in the morning," he told Cam.
"That's a shitty thing to say, if you know what I mean," Cam told his
partner. "Anytime I smell bad, one way or another it's your
fault."
"You hear your other daddy talking nonsense?" Kevin crooned to
Casey. "Don't listen to anything he says."
"I'm gonna make you smell my 'pits later," Cam said. "Meanwhile,
I'm gonna start studying. Somebody has to make the family proud."
Kevin grinned. "Get out!" he said.
Cam went down to the den, and finding his cinematography text in his
backpack, looked
up his assignment and planted himself in an easy chair to read.
Carl joined him a few minutes later and sat on a couch. Taking
out his accounting book and some blank accounting forms, he began to
jot down some numbers relating to test questions in the book. The
two of them studied silently for fifteen minutes before they heard
Kevin bring Casey downstairs and put him in his playpen.
Carl looked up. "Hey, little dude," he said to Casey. The
little boy gurgled as he began to crawl around the playpen, diverting
himself by picking up random toys and slamming them down on the playpen
pad.
"The kid likes demolition," Cam observed. "If he digs cars, and
he will, he'll be a NASCAR driver for sure. A champion."
Kevin nodded and then took his physics book out of his backpack and
began to study his assignment.
Several hours later the guys took a supper break, not being able to
resist any longer the smell of gumbo which was circulated around the
house by the air conditioning. Carl took Casey into the kitchen
and put him into his highchair, tying a bib around his neck.
"What should I feed him?" Carl asked Kevin.
"See if he'll eat some strained asparagus tonight," Kevin suggested as
he
pulled a platter of garlic bread out of the refrigerator and began
putting slices into the two four-slice toasters on the
countertop. Cam began to set the table in the breakfast nook,
using the extra-large soup bowls that Alex and John kept around for
just such occasions.
After the table was set, Cam shut off the low flame under the huge pot
of gumbo. Taking a wooden spoon, he dipped out a sample and blew
on it until the liquid was cool. Sliding the spoon into his
mouth, he let the gumbo sit on his tongue before he swallowed.
"Oh, Lord, this is SO GOOD!" he said. "Thank you, God.
Thank you, Maria!"
Using pot holders, he moved the pot from the stove to a trivet on the
table and began ladling out the aromatic gumbo into the huge
bowls. Kevin filled the toaster with more bread, and placed what
he had already toasted over on the table. While waiting for more
toast to pop, he took a bag of dog food out on to the front deck, and
fed Alice and Samantha. He also filled their water dishes again.
"Go ahead and dish mine up to cool," Carl said. "I'm gonna feed
Casey." He sat down and began spooning the strained asparagus
into
Casey's mouth, and the little guy ate it eagerly. "Good boy!"
Carl told the child repeatedly. The jar was soon empty, and Carl
wet a paper
towel and wiped the little boy's face clean.
Cam and Kevin had waited for Carl, and they held hands around the table
for
a
quick blessing before diving into the thick broth.
"Oh yes!" Carl said after his first spoonful of the shrimp, fish, crab,
crawfish and lobster concoction. "This is as good as we had in
New Orleans!"
"Yep," Kevin said. "I wonder where Maria got the recipe?"
"I don't know," Cam said, biting down on a piece of garlic toast.
"She sure knows her way around a kitchen, though. Lucky us."
Four more pieces of toast popped up over on the countertop, and Kevin
went to get them. He spread garlic butter on them before taking
them to the table.
The three guys consumed almost half of the huge pot of gumbo. Cam
covered the pot and let it continue to cool while he cleaned up the
kitchen, filling the dishwasher and wiping down the countertops.
Kevin and Carl took Casey back into the den and started to study again,
letting the little boy crawl around on the floor until he put his head
down and took a nap.
Cam joined them a few minutes later after the kitchen was clean and
also began to study again.
After two hours steady studying, Cam put down his cinematography text
and stood up, stretching.
"I'm all keyed up," he said. "Anybody want to join me for a short
run on the beach before bed?"
Kevin looked up at him. "Why don't you wait a half-hour or so,
and I'll go with you?"
"Me, too," Carl said.
"I think I'll go ahead. If I wait any later to run, I won't
sleep tonight," Cam said.
"And that would be bad because...?" Kevin said, giving him a little
leer.
"You wear me out, boy!" Cam told him as he headed for the door on to
the front deck.
"And that would be bad because...?" Kevin said again, this time to his
partner's retreating back. "Hey, you want my stopwatch?"
"No thanks."
"Listen, you be careful out there," Kevin said. For some
inexplicable reason he had a nervous
feeling in his stomach.
"Yep," Cam said.
He went out on to the deck, and the dogs crowded around him while he
did his
stretches, wanting to do whatever he was going to do. Cam thought
about taking them with him as he did limbered up, but decided
against it because he'd have to
hose the sand off them when they came back and let them into the house
wet for
the
night.
Cam told them "No" when he finished his stretches, and the dogs lay
back down on the deck. Ignoring their reproachful looks, he
trotted out to the waterline, and began running northwest. It was
pitch dark--the moon was covered by clouds.
Cam never saw it coming. He was just getting into his run at
about two miles and endorphins were flowing, when without warning
something
knocked him off his feet
into the water. He began to struggle when someone put a
cloth over his nose and mouth, and a moment later he passed out.
He awakened to the pungency of smelling salts held to his nose.
He had been stripped naked and was hanging by his
wrists by ropes from the beams in a room somewhere, his toes barely
touching the floor. His legs were stretched far apart by some
kind of horizontal metal pole, ankles secured in the parted position
with velcro. To one
side of the room he saw some leather implements--whips and
floggers. There was also a pile of
dildoes, some of them quite large, on the floor next to some metal
clamps of various sizes. A narrow strip
of cloth between his teeth held his mouth slightly
open, and was tied tightly at the back of his head. He could make
noise, but not speak.
"Ahhhhhh!" Cam tried to scream, but nothing intelligible came out.
"'Ahhhhhh!' is right, you fucking fag!" a voice said, and Eric Clymer's
smirking face came into view. The kid was stripped to the waist
and wearing board shorts,
as were his two buddies, Peter Murtha and Rory Lomer. The three
of
them looked
like the jocks they were, all ripped. And at the moment,
they looked potentially lethal when it came to their prisoner.
"Do you know why you're here, faggot?" Eric asked Cam.
Cam unsuccessfully tried to respond with a threat.
"We really don't care what you think of our little beach party, you
dumb
fuck," Eric said. "You're here because you and your kind offend
civilized society. You don't have the right to fucking kiss other
men in
public,
you insensitive prick, and we're going to teach you never to do that
again. Oh, and we're also going to teach you to never let your
queer friends knock down
somebody
who's straight, just because they object to your
antics.
God only knows what you queers do to each other in private, but we can
guess. We might try some of those speculations about that on you
tonight."
Cam closed his eyes. This had to be a bad dream. A
nightmare from which he would awake at any second now.
"Rory, get the flogger and let's make sure this asshole is wide awake,"
Clymer
ordered.
The young man followed instructions, picked up one of the leather
implements, and walked behind Cam, first sticking the handle in the
Cam's
crack and touching his hole with it before drawing back his arm and
giving Cam
a hard stroke across his ass.
Cam tried to scream though his gag, and couldn't.
* * *
Kevin didn't start to worry until an hour had passed. He closed
his physics textbook and went out to the deck, and was surprised to
find Alice and Samantha there still tied to the railing. He sank
to one knee and began to pet them.
"Hey, girls, why didn't you run with Cam?" he asked. Samantha
swiped him across his face with her tongue.
"Shame on you," Kevin told her. "You know you're not supposed to
lick! What happened to all that training you got?"
Samantha barked once, and sat down. Kevin thought she looked
pleased with herself.
"Where's Cam?" Kevin said, standing up and going over to sit in a deck
chair. The dogs tilted their heads toward him inquiringly as if
they were trying
to figure out what he was asking them.
Kevin sat there for almost thirty minutes, expecting to see Cam running
toward him across the broad expanse of beach and up on to the
deck at any moment. But he never appeared. Sliding open the
door to the
house, Kevin called to Carl.
"Carl, commere, dude." he shouted into the house.
Carl appeared and came out on the deck.
"Sup?"
"Cam's not back yet," Kevin said. "I'm gettin' worried."
Carl looked at him with a frown on his face. "Y'wanna take a
run? Let's see if we can find him."
"We'll have to see if the Millers will watch Casey for us for a few
minutes," Kevin said.
"Yeah," Carl said. "I'll grab a Maglite out of the kitchen drawer
while you get Casey."
The two guys ducked back into the house. Kevin ran upstairs,
gently picked up a sleeping Casey, and met Carl, a little flashlight
stuck it into his back pocket, on the deck. They walked over to
the Millers' house and knocked on the beachside door. Sean Miller
slid open the door with a smile on his face.
"Hey, guys, what's going on?"
"Will you watch Casey for us for a few miniutes, Mr. Miller?" Kevin
asked. "Cam went out for a run on the beach earlier, and hasn't
come back. We want to see if we can find him."
"We'd love to watch Casey," Sean said. "Give him to me."
Kevin transferred the baby into the man's arms just as Susan Miller
joined them at the door.
"Hello, boys," she said.
The guys greeted her.
"We get to watch Casey for awhile, Susan," Sean told his wife.
"Well, don't feel you have to hurry back," Susan Miller said, pleased,
taking the baby out of her husband's arms.
"Thanks so much," Kevin told them. "See you in a few minutes."
He and Carl loped back over Alex's house, went over to the dogs on the
deck and untied them.
"Find Cam!" Kevin told them, and they darted off the porch and started
running toward
the black waters of Santa Monica Bay. It was dark as pitch out
there, without a glimmer of light from the moon or stars.
"Do ya wanna change into running shorts first?" Carl asked.
"No. Let's get going. The dogs are gonna lose us if we
don't."
"Well, at least let's do our stretches." Carl said, grabbing one leg
and
pulling it up behind his back, holding on to the rail of the deck so he
wouldn't fall over.
Kevin followed suit. After an abbreviated limbering-up session,
they trotted off the deck into the darkness. Kevin whistled for
the dogs, and they suddenly appeared out of the night, their legs and
bellies wet
from running into the ocean.
"Find Cam!" Kevin told the dogs again, and they took off.
Carl and Kevin ran side by side up the beach, occasionally whistling
the dogs back to them before letting them forge ahead
again. Still no sign of Cam.
"I don't like this," Kevin told Carl as they approached what Kevin
realized from the lights from the houses was the two-mile mark on their
usual run.
"Me either," Carl agreed.
Neither of them saw the dogs, but they heard one of them bark a short
way ahead of them, over near one of the houses. This particular
house
was dark. Carl pulled out the Maglite and pointed it at the
house. The beam revealed a realtor's "For Sale" sign. The
eyes of both dogs reflected back at Kevin and Carl through the darkness.
"Let's check it out," Carl said, and he and Kevin veered off the
hardpack by the water and ran on the loose sand through the gate
leading to the darkened domicile. The dogs, tongues hanging out
of their mouths from their run, were circling around on the deck.
Samantha pawed at the sliding door.
"Back, girl," Kevin told her. He tried sliding the door open, and
to his surprise, it moved. The dogs went around Kevin, nudged
aside some drapes covering the opening, and went into the room.
Carl and Kevin followed them into the dark room, empty of
furniture. Carl panned the
flashlight around. They both spotted a tied-up, naked, inert body
lying on the floor. The two dogs were there, pushing their noses
into Cameron's face and getting no reaction.
"Oh, God!" Kevin said, moving quickly toward the body of his partner,
kneeling down and putting an index finger on the young man's neck,
seeking a
pulse in the carotid artery. It was there, but faint. Carl
flashed the light around the room again until he found a light switch,
and running to it, flicked it on. Light from a chandelier
flooded the room. It allowed Kevin to see a small pool of blood
on the carpet, apparently leaking from from between Cam's buttocks.
Moaning and cursing and beginning to weep silently, Kevin pulled out
his
pocket knife and cut through the ropes binding Cam's hands and feet,
and
sliced through the strip of cloth still in his mouth. Then he sat
on the floor and cradled Cam's upper body in his lap, rocking him
gently as tears ran down his face.
Cam didn't respond to his
boyfriend's ministrations as Carl stood there almost paralyzed, looking
on in horror at
his friend's condition: Cam's back, butt, legs and chest were
cherry red and also covered with serious welts. His softened
penis had
several
welts on it as well. Although there was no bleeding from those
wounds, blood continued to seep from between his buttocks into the
carpet.
"Do you have your phone?" Kevin asked Carl, his voice shaking.
"Yes."
"Will you see if can open the front door and get this place's
address? We
need to call an ambulance and the police. Please hurry."
Carl got on it, and turning the dead bolt on the front door, opened it
and quickly scanned it for a number. Finding one, he stepped
outside and dialed 911. He collected his thoughts, and when the
dispatcher answered, he asked her to roll an ambulance and sheriff's
police to the scene. He gave her the address in Malibu.
"What is the nature of your emergency?" the dispatcher asked.
"Male victim, age 18, beaten and unconscious," Carl said succinctly.
"We'll send an ambulance and a sheriff's car immediately," the
dispatcher
said.
"Thank you," Carl said. "Please hurry," he added, echoing Kevin's
earlier words to him. He snapped his telephone shut and ran
back inside the house to be with Cam and Kevin.
Sitting down on the floor, Carl watched Kevin, tears running down his
face and dripping on to Cam's ravaged body, gently rock his friend and
lover as they waited for an ambulance and the police to arrive.
© 2010 Don Hanratty
This chapter is later than usual due to computer problems I recently
experienced. These
computers are sometimes a bane as well as a blessing, as you all well
know.
DH
dhanr1@msn.com