Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 17:43:32 -0800 (PST) From: John Gerald Subject: Connections 24 I want to take this opportunity for a LONG overdue expression of my gratitude to Colin for his efforts at editing. His work has been both timely and supportive and improved the read immensely. Thank you! Also, a question for readers of this story. After the next chapter, I'm thinking of flashing forward 15 or so years, after the guys start their family. Not a final decision yet, but it might be more interesting, getting onto the next stage of their lives. These are special characters, and they'll have special kids. Any thoughts? Whatever your comments, it's great to hear from people. It's the biggest reward in doing this! "Hey," Mike said , quietly rubbing the back of Brad's neck as they sat on the edge of the bed. "Feeling better?" Hesitating at first, Brad reached his hand back over his shoulder to rub against Mike's. "Um, I'm better. I guess I've just got to get over this thing and move on. It was kind of a nice fantasy in a way, but maybe it's just not to be." There was resignation in his voice, but not hopelessness. "I'm not sure we need to give up on this yet, there might be other angles, but for right now we really need to let things cool down. But what you said about your reception at her company, she might be in the mood to accuse you of stalking her." "I know, that freaks me out, too. Gosh, of everything about this, the last thing I want to do is scare anyone away. That's exactly what I don't want to do. It scares me enough to begin with." Mike continued the massaging for a few more moments, then released the grip on Brad's neck only to reapply it to the top of his head. Not that there were tense muscles up there. But Brad always liked that kind of attention. "How's this feel?" Brad's eyes rolled into his eyelids. "Ahhhhh...dreamtime..." "Good. This is professional therapy, so you know." Mike inched himself a bit closer to get a better grip, with his thighs now rubbing right up against Brad. "Just to keep you busy and get your mind off of things, I've got some tasks lined up for us today. You OK with that?" he said as he gave the head in his hand a playful shake. "Not that what you think matters!" "No choice?" "Nope." "Then read the sentence, your honor." He head was still cocked back, the slight smile only hinting at the dream-like state induced from the stroking. "I'll mow the lawn, and you can trim the bushes. They're kind of ugly, those tall green things, but they've been there forever and don't look too bad if we trim them up. Most of them are either ball-shaped, or rectangular shaped, you'll be able to tell pretty easily when you see them, as pitiful as they currently are. Just cut them back as close as you can to the original shape. Can ya do that?" "Sure, but can't I help you with the lawn?" "No, that's OK, unless I get real tired. We've only got the one mower, and besides, I like it as a kind of workout and all." "I can go for that, you getting all sweaty, with your muscles pumped up and just shorts and a tight t-shirt on." It was said in `jest', but Brad instantly got a little stiffer than the usual semi-hard-on he had when he was close to Mike. It didn't help that he was practically right on top of him, his smell dominating Brad's senses. "Maybe I won't wear any shirt." Mike suggested coyly as he release Brad's scalp. Brad grinned at the thought as he reached down and started to put on some socks. "No I think you should wear one, unless you want me wacking off behind the bushes." Then he paused. "Come to think of it, that could be kind of fun, you know..." Giving Brad a sly smile, Mike stood up and conspicuously tucked his shirt firmly into the elastic band of his gym shorts. He then grabbed him by the arm. "Time to go, stud." Mike did indeed get up a sweat out on the lawn. With a loud, heavy engine to rotate the blade but no power behind the wheels, it really did give him an intense workout as he pushed the 80lb contraption in the sultry summer air. After about 45 minutes he was nearly done with the yard and also with the shirt, as it was soaked almost completely through with sweat. He had to admit that it did feel kind of erotic, the wet cloth clinging his body. Looking down, he could even see his nascent six pack shadowed from the strong mid-day sun. Catching a glimpse of Brad coming around from behind the back of the house, clippers in hand, Mike got a crazy idea. Reaching around and grabbing the damp short-sleeve t-shirt from opposite sites of his body, he slowly, seductively pulled it over himself revealing his newly chiseled physique, tossing the wet shirt onto the curved metal handle of the mower. Casting a directly look back at Brad, he raised his hands high in the air, pulling them behind his head as he balled his fists and flexed his biceps, almost like someone who was just waking up. Once he'd gotten his muscles tensed, he continued raising his arms above his head, reaching as high as possible as he gradually got onto his tiptoes. He became completely stretched out, arching his body back and pushing out his chest as his fingers reached for the sky. To the innocent eye, it was just some guy limbering up, but to anyone tuned into the erotic power of the male body, Mike was supercharging the air. Beads of sweat ran down his chest, one of them dangling off the edge of his nipple until it dropped down to the top ridge of his six-pack. Mike would never be a big muscle guy, but the past few months in the gym had defined muscles that he didn't even know he had. He noticed that Brad had slowed down and, if he wasn't mistaken, had swallowed hard and stumbled before resuming his pace. He was clearly trying to act nonchalant, like nothing was happening, until he walked into the big maple tree in Kovar's side yard. He bounced off of the thick trunk, wobbled a bit, then went straight into the ground as his legs dramatically collapsed underneath him. "Oh shit!" Mike thought, as he immediately recoiled his body and ran over to Brad. "Babe, you OK? You all right.?" He was about to reach down and pick him up but was waved off by a groggy Brad. "Uh, no, I'm OK, just got to watch where I'm going," He got back up to his knees and rubbed his forehead. "You sure you're OK?" Mike reached down, gently running his fingers through Brad's hair. "Yea, yea, I'm fine, just give me a second here." He paused for a moment, then looked past Mike and over to toward the garage. "Guess I'd better watch where I'm going," he said with embarrassment in his voice, as he quickly changed the subject. Hey pup, would you look behind you, did I drop the other pair of clippers there? The big ones." It was a bit of an odd request right at that moment, but Mike felt compelled to indulge him and turned around to look. Seizing the opportunity, Brad quickly reached over and grabbed the waist of Mike's loose shorts, then....YANK! Before Mike could even react, He had them flying down to Mike's feet, faster than he could ever have removed them himself. Mike felt an unnatural breeze on his most private part, then realized what had happened. Hearing Brad's chortle behind him as he panicked, Mike bent over as his hands flew down as quickly as he could make them move. Brad sprang up off his knees. "Since you did such a nice strip tease there, I thought you like to take it a little farther, you know, and show off your big meat, too." Pulling his shorts back up, Mike rand his hands around the elastic two or three times to make sure they were actually back on. "You big dick!" Mike said, struggling but unable to contain a smile. "I ought to cut your penis off for that one." Brad just laughed. "Pup, the next time you do that out here, I swear to god that I'm going to drag you out into the middle of the street and fuck your brains out!" His right hand gave Mike a smack to the butt before he reached down and picked up the clippers "But in the meantime, you can keep the shirt off." He brushed the dirt of his knees as he decided to move onto his next task, having had enough of the bush trimming. "I'm going to go and fetch my truck so we can wash it. It's just around the corner, I'll be right back." "OK," Mike replied, as he returned to the mower to finish off the job. She rolled the crushed piece of paper around in her hand one more time. For two decades she knew a truth, and just because of Rod's testosterone-stoked claim of affinity between her brother's photo and some good-looking weirdo claiming to be her nephew didn't mean it was true. It was impossible, she thought to herself. Totally impossible. When the ball of paper rolled off of her kitchen table, she reached down and pulled in back into her hand, finally unrolling it and looking at the address one more time. 187 Edwards St. Parma. It was a working class suburban area south of town. She knew about it vaguely, kind of a post world-war two working class burb that was a few years past it's prime. Lot's of eastern Europeans, bars and churches, but not anything that would have ever drawn her there. Only her anger was enough to motivate her to actions. On the face of it, it seemed like a big waste of time, to just go over there and tell someone off who you in fact know is wrong. `What's the point?' she asked herself. Just let it go. But she went anyway. At least the rage gave her feelings, something to care about. As she pulled onto Edwards, it looked like some kind of event was going on. People were streaming back and forth into one of the houses, especially families. Probably a birthday, or wedding or something like that, but they'd sure filled up all the parking spots, though she wasn't looking for one quite yet. Drive-by reconnaissance needed to come first. Looking down at the address for the umpteenth time. Once she got her bearings, she realized that it would be in about the middle of the block, on the right hand side. In the distance, she saw a guy, probably college age, pulling a manual lawnmower up the driveway. As she cruised closer for a better look, he came into focus. He didn't look anything like her brother. Her heart sank, but she really didn't know why, or wanted to admit it. She had come here with her amour of anger to tell this guy off, to vent, to just get this over with. But when she saw that he couldn't possibly be mistaken for her brother, except in the most besotted sexual fantasy trip, aka typical Rod, she felt empty again. Maybe she needed to turn the anger on one more time. Not that the guy was bad looking. In fact, he was really pretty cute. He'd obviously worked up a sweat mowing the lawn as she could see it glistening on his lean chest and back. Well, if anyone was going to do a bad impersonation of a non-existent nephew, at least he had the good sense to have a good body, she thought to herself. But she didn't come here to cruise college guys. He clearly wasn't the right guy, but just to put the whole episode to rest, she decided on one more turn around the block to check-off this clear failure once and for all, then move on. When she finally came around again, the street was still packed with cars, so it wasn't any easier to view the houses. She was craning her neck to see around a parked van when... BAM! She hit the back of an old truck that had just slammed on it's brakes. `Shit[C. M.3]!' she exclaimed to herself. She glanced up to look get a better look at what she had hit when she saw the door fly open and some guy jump out of it and run in front of his truck. She didn't get a good look at him, but loathed the scene that was about to happen, as it was clearly her fault by running into someone from behind. `so much for harmless reconnaissance,' she thought. She took off her sunglasses, laying them over on the empty passenger seat and stepped out of the car, reaching back through the window only to grab her purse before she went to see what had happened. At first she only saw a small ball rolling around in the street, heading for the gutter at the edge. `Did some kid get hurt? A kid?' The very idea of it almost made her sick. When she finally got to the front, she saw that the driver had his arms around a little, boy, holding the 4 or 5 year old gently against his chest as the child wailed and shook in fear. `My God, he must have just missed him!' she thought, as the driver caressed and stroked the boys back. The guy seemed pretty good with him as he gradually calmed down, resting his head on the adult neck but still choking and coughing through the tears. A neighborhood woman who heard the commotion came running out of a nearby house, streaking down the driveway and taking the child from the guy and into her own arms. She held him tight as the driver stayed down on his knees, watching them embrace. Jill heard the woman gently admonishing her son[C. M.4] but at the same assuring him that everything was all right. She also heard him thank the driver, in a way that made her suspect that they knew each other. This guy probably lives in the neighborhood, too, she thought, which didn't make a lot of difference to her own situation except that he was on his home turf. It wasn't until the mom scooped her boy up and was headed back to her house that this guy finally got up off his knees and turned around. Jill was now girding for battle, especially since she felt like such an idiot for wasting her time on this wild goose chase. And now she had gotten in an accident over it. `Could this day get any worse?' she thought. Without looking at the guy, she had turned around as she threw her purse strap over her shoulder and went back to the car, reaching in through the window to retrieve her ID and insurance information. She still hadn't bothered to look back at the guy as the elusive documents had her temporarily distracted. By the time she had found her Allstate card he had ducked into the truck and was reaching across into his own glove compartment, probably doing the same thing. Finally getting back some composure, she recalled all of the negotiating classes that the bank had forced her to take and confidently placed herself next to his open door. Body language clearly stating that she was ready take him on, `mano a mano', arms crossed, eyes meant to drill right into this guy as soon as he got out of the car. She could tell he was kind of tall, and seemed athletic by the way he was reaching around and positioning himself to stretch across the seat. Not clumsy at all, with dark hair and kind of hairy arms. `Pretty nice muscles,' she thought, as his own sweat-soaked red t-shirt clung tightly to his body. Then she silently admonished herself about why she was there. This neighborhood seemed to have some hot guys, but that wasn't the stupid reason that she was now here in this predicament. She came up with a quick speech in her mind and was just about to recite it to as he emerged from the beat-up old truck and finally turned around to face her. Then she looked at him. And froze. "My name is Brad North," he said. But she hardly even heard him. "Sorry I had to stop so quick, but that ball just flew out between the cars and I had to stop. I thought that some kid might be chasing it, and sure enough there was..." To Brad, the woman looked somehow dazed, she didn't seem to be reacting. "Ma'am, are you OK?" he asked, now looking at her with the kind of concentration that he had just done for the little boy. "Robert" she said. He looked at her, confused by the response. "No, sorry, I said Brad. Brad North." "Robert,' she said again, this time much more softly. Brad was even more confused now, and concerned. Maybe the impact had somehow had `rung her bell' he thought, though he knew that their collision wasn't much more than a kiss to the bumper. Opening her mouth for a moment she was on the verge of speaking, stopped, then finally got the words to come out. "Rob, why couldn't you get out, that damn house was burning!" she said, looking at Brad, but at the same time looking through him. "Why Rob? Why couldn't you get out? Why did you do that? Why?" Then, suddenly, she lunged at Brad, fists flying. He didn't know what the hell was happening, the woman somehow mistook him for someone else. Maybe she was crazy, maybe she really had banged he head in the accident. Though she didn't look or dress like a street person, she looked desperate and, in someway, almost heartbroken. He didn't want to add to her misery, however, and merely defended himself, not hitting back at all. She got in one of two hard blows before he held her arms up. "Easy, ma'am, easy!" I don't know what you're talking about, who Robert is. What's the matter?" he asked in a plaintive way as he looked at her right hand to make sure that she didn't have any weapon. Then he caught a glance of the name on her bracelet. "JILL" "Jill? Robert?" When he made the connection, he almost lost his breath, but quickly decided that he couldn't let this tiger loose quite yet, as she had already showed him she could throw a punch! Though she was still struggling, Brad used his superior strength to hold her at bay as she continued to flail at him. Slowly, the wails soon turned into sobbing as the tension in her arms gave way. Now she could barely stand up as he gradually, tentatively changed from holding her off to pulling her close. She was sobbing so badly she was almost choking on her tears as allowed herself to be drawn in. Finally yielding, she leaned her head into Brad's chest as he gently stroked her back, not saying anything. The stood there for a few minutes, as he slowly, carefully began to rock her, continuing to stroke her back. When he thought she had completely calmed down, he carefully released his hold, pushing her away slowly until he could see her face, reaching his hand to her tear-stained cheek. "Jill?" She reached up and wiped her whole face with her wrist. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry" she whimpered. "I'm so sorry, Brad." "Don't worry about it," Brad assured her. "I'm just glad you came. I'm so happy you did!" There was a very long pause. "I was so angry at him for dying. I felt like he left me all alone...I...I... don't mean to dump this on you, it's just..." "No worries, Jill," he said as gave one final stroke to her cheek. "From what I know, they were great people. They'd be tough to miss." She looked up at him. "Your right. They were. I loved them both so much...and now, you." She reached up to his face. "I don't understand what's going on Brad, please tell me what the hell had happened, or is happening." She pleaded. "Why didn't they tell me about you?" All she had were questions. Emerging from the garage after hanging the heavy lawnmower back up on the wall, Mike caught site of the scene across the street, with the car plowed into the back of Brad's truck and the woman hanging onto him.. He bolted over as fast as he could. "B..." he caught himself about to say `Babe'. "Brad, are you OK? What's happening? Are you alright?" He was breathless, not so much from the short run as the anxiety of what could be wrong. There was still sweat dripping from his body as all his muscles tensed up from the excitement. "Mike, this is Jill," he said as he motioned with his hand. "She ended up kind of running into me, as it were." That got a first small smile out of her. Jill noticed that the guys stood very close to each other, and couldn't help but catch that Mike subtly poke Brad in the back. She also noticed how Brad looked at him. It was like her brother used to look at Veronica. "Hi, Mike. I'm really glad to meet you, um, even in the middle of the street." She reached out to shake his hand, which he grasped firmly. "Same here, Jill. Brad has been so anxious to meet you, ever since we figured this connection out. You all have a lot to talk about." "We sure do," Jill replied, "but maybe we should move these cars and talk some more. By the way, I'll take care of any damage to your truck, it was my fault. And are you sure you're OK?" "Yea, I'm fine, Jill. You barely touched me. But let's get the cars moved." When they finally got the cars relocated, and crammed into the Kovar driveway, Mike lead them all to the front stairs of the house "Can I get you all something to drink? Coke? Water? Iced Tea?" Mike said as he looked at one, then the other. "I'll have some tea, if you don't mind. Lot's of Ice." Jill said. In all the excitement, Mike still hadn't put his shirt back on and she was enjoying the view. Brad didn't even have to look up at him. "You know what I want. Thanks." "A-OK, be right back." Mike replied, as he slipped into the house to get retrieve the refreshments. Brad was going to invite her inside, but wanted to clear one all-important issue before anything else. He sat on the front stoop and motioned for her to join him. "Jill, before I we talk much more, there's something about me that you need to know." He sounded very determined, but she also detected just a hint of anxiety in his voice. "This was a real problem for my stepparents, but there was nothing I could do about it, not that I wanted to. But what I need to tell you is that I'm gay. Mike and I are partners." It came out more blunt than he wanted it to, but he didn't seem to have the energy, or patience, to sweeten the pitch. He didn't know what he would hear, but braced himself for the response. It came quickly. "I kind of picked that up, Brad. Not so much from you alone, but how you two interact with each other. Oh yeah, and some other things confirmed it." She added, "but I didn't want to say something inappropriate." `Confirmed it? Confirmed what?' he said to himself. "What do you mean, how could you tell?" He asked. He always assumed that they were never obvious, although maybe she picked up on how Mike had almost said `babe' to him earlier. It wasn't said in anger, but she sensed a defensiveness in his voice. She didn't know much about Brad's story yet, but quickly assumed that he'd been through a lot because of this issue. "No Brad I'm no homophobe. But it's still inappropriate to say what I was going to say." He wasn't convinced. "No, go ahead and say it." She almost laughed out loud. He sure was his father's son, determined and stubborn. "Well, what I was going to say was that you're just like your Dad -- your partners have to have a great body. Mike does, and your mom sure did." Brad cleared his throat, then looked at her with a sheepish grin on his face. "Um, you are right about that, but that's not why we're together, I mean..." "No need to make excuses," she said, "It wasn't your Dad's reason either. Far from it. But every damn girl he dated had a killer body. I was always so jealous, I feel like I got cheated." Jill didn't have such a bad body herself, but not a lot of women could `stack up' to Veronica, so to speak. He laughed, but then got serious. "I'm not sure how to describe Mike to you, but I don't know what I'd do without him. He's my whole life." She saw a sparkle come into Brad's eyes. "I can understand that, Brad. Your parent's were like that too, to each other. I hope that I can get to know you both better. And for you to know me, too," she said. They talked on that front porch for hours, the three of them. Brad made it clear to Mike that his story was important, too and Jill was equally engaged. When Mike's parent's returned that night Jill had to repeat some of her own story, but the warmth and hospitality of the Kovars made it no burden at all. Of course it was impossible to really cover much in one evening, though there was hardly a pause the whole time But when it got late and time for Jill to return home, Brad had one last question. "Jill, where are they?" "Your folks?" "Yea, where are they, I mean where are they buried?" With all that they had talked about, it was surprising that they hadn't yet covered such an important topic. But they hadn't spent a lot of time talking about that fatal night and it's immediate aftermath -- it was clearly very painful for Jill, and of course for Brad, too. But she had discovered a person, a nephew, that she already knew she'd do anything for. She just wished that this particular answer was easier. "Brad, I should warn you, I'm going to say some more nasty stuff about your step mom..." "Ha!" he laughed, "Don't let me stop you." She had already railed when she learned of Mrs. North's role in concealing Brad, so he wasn't surprised. Or disappointed. "As I mentioned, she refused any contact with our family, so we had to find out from the newspaper. She's in Ridgelawn cemetery, near where you grew up. Your Dad is in St. Paul's, near Norwalk. They're not far from each other. I've visited them both." Mike looked straight at Brad, putting his arm on his broad shoulder and pulling him close. "And so will we." he told him. When Jill returned to work on the following Monday, she felt like a new person. "So you saw him...and is he?" Rod's question was obvious, without even any detail. "Well Rod, I have good and bad news for...." "Stop! Stop right there!" he proclaimed, as he raised his hands to his head, then pounded on his desk. "I know what you're going to say, here it goes again, the story of my life." `Yes, Rod," he mimed her next words. " the good new is that I've discovered that my cute, long-lost nephew is gay, but the bad new is...he has a super nice boyfriend who he's not only madly in love with, but who is HOT! HOT! HOT!" In his most plaintive tone he returned to his own voice. "Tell me that's right? RIGHT?" he asked with a comical mock indignation, hoping it wasn't quite so perfect." "Well, um... yes, you're sort of right, though I'm not sure the boyfriend is `hot' as you say, as much as just really, really, cute." That fine distinction was lost on Rod, who was now gritting his teeth at her. She continued, delighting in how easy it was to pull Rod's chain "Then again, I saw him with his shirt off, and he does have a great body, kind of slim, but really defined, nice muscles, so I guess maybe you would call him `hot.'" "Arghhhhhhhh!" Rod yelled to the ceiling as Jill smiled behind him. [C. M.1]Do you really mean Mike? You have been talking about Brad's state of arousal, so I would have thought that this should actually be `dominating Brad's senses'. [C. M.2]Nonplussed means confused/puzzled, I think that you probably were trying for `nonchalant' -- acting as one unaffected by what is happening around them. [C. M.3]Up to this point it appears that you are using double quotes for actual speech and single quotes for thoughts -- from this point on it got a bit confused so I have standardised [C. M.4]I am guessing that you missed a word ( either `son' or `child') -- otherwise the pronoun should be `him'.