Chapter Nine: My Angel...

I awoke the next morning in my favorite position; lying on my side, with Lance spooned up tightly behind me. I could feel his big snake snuggled safe and warm into the crack of my butt. His hand draped over my hip, lightly teasing my furry little balls. I could feel his hot breath on my ear, as he spoke to me softly, trying to wake me up. "Hey little guy...time to wake up...you awake there, Ricky?"

"Ya...been awake for a while now. I was just enjoying the feeling of you holding me, Lancer," I sighed, as I rolled towards him and kissed him on the nose. "Mmmmmmmmm...I feel a lot better this morning. It feels great to finally get some sleep," I smiled.

"I reckon," he grinned. "You've been asleep for almost 16 hours, Ricky. You went to bed last night at about 5:00, and it's just now 9:00 in the morning. We need to get you up and ready for your appointment at 10:00, right?"

"God, not you too..." I groaned. "I don't wanna go. Can't we just stay here in bed all day...wouldn't that be fun?" I asked with a devilish grin.

"Well, maybe so...but you are gonna go. I promised to make sure you got there. Besides, you must be hungry by now...you haven't eaten since lunch yesterday," he said, giving me a questioning look.

"Oh ya...I'm hungry alright!" I said, moving quickly, so that I was lying on top of his chest. "I'm very hungry..." I said, giving him my sexiest look, as I bent down and started licking and kissing his hairy little nipples, which were already half erect before I started. As I kissed my way across his flat hard stomach, and began licking my way down to the little trail of hairs around his navel, he pulled me off with an apologetic look.

"Let's get you in the shower, Tiger. We can finish with this business while we clean you up a bit, aye? Maybe you can even have a little snack before breakfast," he grinned. As we walked into his bathroom, it was very obvious that thought already had him quite aroused. Before he even began turning on the water for the shower, I was already on my knees savoring his tool. Needless to say, I'd already finished my snack before we even got wet.

Lance washed me thoroughly all over...taking care not to let my cast get wet, even washing my hair for me. When he was done washing me, he stood behind me, wrapped both arms around me, and quickly brought me to a knee-buckling orgasm while kissing and nibbling my ears and neck (god, it just drives me crazy when he does that!). Good thing he was already holding on to me! It was totally cool when he let me try and wash him too; I had never washed anyone else before. It was fun, although not quite that easy with just one hand. Of course, I had to wash his big snake really well, giving it the extra special attention it deserved. It didn't take long before he shot another bucketful of cum all over me, for the second time in the last few minutes. Man! I don't think I could shoot as much in a week as he did just about every time, let alone twice in one morning. The boy was a cum producing machine.

Lance persistently moved me along, making sure I got dressed, got fed (with real `breakfast' food this time...), and got myself out the door and into his car in time to meet the shrink at 10:00, as promised. He wasn't pushy or nagging about it, but it was clear that he intended to be sure I got there on time. When Lance made a commitment to do something, it seemed there was really no further debate necessary. I stored that little thought away in the back of my head for future reference.

After a short drive, we pulled into a small professional office complex near the center of town. The parking lot was totally empty except us. At this early hour, it seemed we were the only ones there. But soon, a brand new Lexus convertible swung into the parking lot and stopped right next to us. A 30-ish looking guy hopped out, and walked over to greet us. I could certainly see the family resemblance. He had similar features and hair color to Bill, but was younger and `hipper-looking.'

"Hey boys, looks like you're right on time. I'm Tom...and you must be Rick," he said with a big smile, shaking our hands warmly. "And, you must be Lance. I'm really glad you could make it, Rick. I feel like I already know you a little bit from talking to my brother, and I think we'll have a good time today."

I gave him a skeptical look, remaining silent.

He laughed. "Ya, I know you're a little unsure about all this Rick. But remember; you have a lot of people who care about you and worry about you, and they really want you to just give it a try and keep an open mind, ok? Besides, it's a nice day. We can talk in my `portable office' here," he said, pointing to his convertible with a grin. "You know, take a little drive, enjoy some fresh air, listen to some tunes, or whatever...ok?"

Lance pitched in, "Ya babe, like he said...just give it a chance and be good now, ok?"

I shrugged, smiled to Lance, as I pulled him into a quick hug and a kiss. "Seeya later, Lancer. I'll call if I need you to pick me up, ok?" I asked. He nodded, and gave me a knowing little smirk. After another goodbye kiss, I hopped into the passenger seat, and we were off.

"Just so you know, Rick," Tom said with a questioning look, "I've already talked to Bill and your mom pretty extensively on the phone. Now, don't be upset with me...I just wanted to get a little better background on you and what you've been through. I thought it would be easier for you if you didn't have to tell me all of it again yourself, cool?"

"Ya, that's fine," I answered. "I don't really like talking about it that much, anyway."

"Why is that, you think?" he asked.

"Well, I'm just really sick of it. It's in the past, and I can't do anything about it now. I don't really like re-living it over and over again, either. I'd rather just forget about it, and move on. Anyway, it seems kinda pointless to me to keep dwelling on that crap," I said, "It's done with."

"Rick," he said, "You've experienced some pretty difficult things in your life; and, aside from the physical hurt things like that may leave, they can also leave behind emotional injuries inside us too. Just like a physical injury, those take time to heal as well. And, like any other injury, if you ignore it and hope it will go away by itself, sometimes it won't heal at all...it just keeps getting worse. But, if you deal with it up front, you can heal yourself and move on."

"I dunno about that," I said. "Some things feel like they'll just be inside you forever...and they will always hurt when you have to think about them," I said, fighting back a tear.

"Ya," he said softly, turning the car onto the freeway, "Sometimes they will. But, right now those feelings can have a lot of power over you, and they can affect you in ways you aren't always aware of. However, if you can try to understand them, and put them in the right perspective, you can take away the power they have to hurt you. It's ok to feel sad, or feel hurt or angry. But if you understand why and how you feel that way, then those feelings won't be able to control you or affect your life in ways you don't want them to, understand? Feelings are just that...only feelings. But, what we do about them, or how we act on them is our choice."

"I think I see what you mean," I said, nodding my head.

"Good, enough of that for a while," Tom said, popping in a CD. "I hope you don't mind my taste in music."

I listened for a second to the classic R&B tunes that had begun playing. "Nah, that's cool with me," I said, noticing we had just changed freeways and were now headed towards Orange County. "Uh, Tom...just where are we going, exactly?"

"Well, up `till now we've been keeping one little part of your `therapy session' for today a secret. But, since you asked...here ya go," he said, handing me an envelope.

I gave him another confused look. As I opened the envelope, all I could see were two small slips of heavy paper. Looking closer, they appeared to be tickets to something. Hmmm...as I read the printing on them, I could read `American League Division Championship Series, Game 4. Anaheim Angels vs. New York Yankees; Edison Field, Saturday, October 5, 2002. 1:15 pm.'

"Shit!" I said. "These are for today's game!"

"Yup," Tom said with a grin, "We'll be there in about 30 minutes. We can watch a little BP, get some lunch, and hang for a little before the game starts. Oh, and I gotta take a few minutes to meet up with a friend of mine before the game...I hope you won't mind?" he asked.

"This is some kinda joke, right?" I asked in amazement. "I mean, you can't just get playoff tickets like that, especially to a Yankees game...and nobody would give `em to a kid like me, even if they could get them. I bet they cost a couple hundred bucks apiece."

"Well, you can't really buy tickets like this, Rick. If you could, I'm sure they would cost a lot more than that. But, there aren't any for sale. Diamond club tickets are pretty hard to come by, even during the regular season...unless you have connections. And lucky for you I have some serious connections," he smiled. " My partner/boyfriend Tim works for Disney, and these are our regular tickets."

"Diamond Club? You mean, like, right behind home plate?" I asked with wide eyes. This was all beginning to feel like some kind of dream again...a little too good to be true, it seemed. I kept wondering when I was going to wake up, or discover that the big joke was really on me, or something.

"Yup, right behind home plate. When Bill told us you were also a big time Angel's fan like us, Timmy and I wanted to do something nice for you; given all the stuff going on in your life right now. Timmy and I were both in your guys' shoes at one time, being gay and being in love since we were in high school. Relationships are hard to maintain Rick, gay or straight. It takes a lot of thought and a lot of hard work. We know how hard it can be when you add on top of that being gay and being as young as you guys are. We just wanted to let you guys both know that you're not alone, and that we're here to help you and support you any way we can. We want you to feel like you can come to us any time if you have a problem or a question, ok? Not to take anything away from my brother Bill, but there are just some things you can't discuss with a stick-straight guy like him, even if he has the best of intentions, ya know?" he smiled.

"Ya, I think I get the picture..." I grinned. Ok, I admit it. I was really starting to like this guy. I wasn't totally sold on the `psychotherapy' bit, but he was a nice guy and he really seemed to know where Lance and I were coming from. It sounded pretty cool to have an older (relatively speaking; not like all wrinkled and senile or anything, duh...) gay couple to help us out, like being our mentors or something. I'll have to ask Lance what he thinks about that.

"I don't mean to presume too much, Rick, but I understand from my brother that you guys really are in love, right?" he asked with a grin.

"Oh ya...we are definitely in love," I sighed. "I worry sometimes that people will think we're too young, or that we just haven't been together long enough to really know how we feel. But we really are, man. We have no doubts about how we both feel," I said with conviction. "It's kinda funny, but I never even thought about another guy like that before I met Lance. I mean, I could tell you which guys were cute, and good looking and stuff, but I don't think you have to be gay to do that. But he was just so damn sexy to me; right from the moment I met him. But it wasn't like and instant boner when I saw him...it was more like a really awesome warm feeling that grew and grew inside me. After that, then came the woodies," I laughed. "I can hardly look at him now without saluting, ya know what I mean?"

"That sure sounds like love to me, Rick," Tom agreed with a smile. "I hope you know you're a very lucky guy. Not only is Lance stunningly handsome, but it sounds like he's a real sweetheart and a very talented athlete as well. And, it seems he has sights for nobody else but you. But, let's face it...Rick; you're as cute as a bug yourself. And you better prepare yourself, because once you get out in the big bad world—especially in a gay crowd—you're gonna get a lot of attention too. That cute boyish look you got goin' there drives a lotta guys crazy," he said with a grin.

"God, I sooo totally know how lucky I am," I answered. "Every day I keep waking up afraid that this wonderful dream will be over. When I realize that he's still there, I'm so happy I can hardly stand it. But, sometimes when I'm not with him I just get kinda scared. I love him so much; it would kill me if I ever lost him. It would just totally kill me..." I said, shaking my head and holding back a tear again.

"Well, Rick; nobody can predict the future, can they?" Tom replied. "We just have to enjoy it one day at a time, and be grateful for every day we're given on this planet to be with the one we love. And, I'm sure he feels just as deeply about you. I can see it in his eyes when he looks at you, Rick."

I nodded to myself, while staring thoughtfully out the window. We chatted for a little while longer about Lance's and my relationship, as I told Tom the story about how we met, and the story about Lance and Corey. Every time I think about it, I just get reminded again how lucky I am to have him in my life. God, I love you, Lancer...

After we zipped right into our front row VIP parking spot, it was just a short walk into the stadium. We hung out and watched the Angel's batting practice while we enjoyed a cold drink and some hot pretzels. There was already quite a buzz in the stadium, as it was about half-full. I watched, and counted them out in awe, as Troy Glaus hit 13 of his 20 batting practice pitches far into the ozone above left field. It was cool. But, it did amaze me that what was considered a monster home run in baseball was about the equivalent distance to a six or seven iron for me. An average drive for me would be, like, a 750-foot home run! I guess it must be their totally low-tech equipment, huh? I mean, golf gave up on wooden sticks and leather balls a very long time ago...

After the Angels finished their BP and left the field, Tom motioned to me. "Rick, come with me for a minute, I gotta go meet my friend Davy. It'll only take a minute. Come on...this way," he said, as he was turning to walk away. I followed him as he showed some sort of ID pass, and we went through a number of doors, and deep into the labyrinth of hallways and tunnels under the stadium. Security was thick, but Tom's pass kept us moving deeper and deeper without any delay.

"Where are we going, man?" I asked. "This is like some kind of ultra high security zone, dude."

Just before we reached another human wall of security people, Tom turned into a doorway, holding the door open for me to enter with him. He said, "Right in here, Rick."

As we walked into the rather large room, Tom pointed over to the corner where a shortish-looking blond guy in baseball practice gear was sitting with his back to us, drinking out of a big water bottle. "Hey, Davy" Tom said loudly, "I got somebody I want you to meet."

The blond guy turned to see us coming his way, and stood to greet us. "Oh my GOD!" I said to myself, and accidentally out loud at the same time. "Ecks!"

"Rick," Tom said with a huge grin, "I'd like you to meet my friend Davy. I think you might have heard of him, you know...David Eckstein? Angels shortstop?" he said with a laugh.

"Nice to meet you, Rick," David said, holding out his hand with a sincere smile.

I shook his hand awkwardly with my left hand (since my right hand was still in a cast). "Uh...uh...wow. It is sooo, sooo cool to meet you, Davy," I stuttered. "You are like, totally my hero man. I'm sorry, but I still can't really believe this is happening. I don't even know what to say. But, thanks for taking a little time out for me. I know you gotta get ready to kick some Yankee butts today, man. Oh, it's gonna be so cool...I just know you guys are gonna do it, Davy. I could totally feel it when we were out there in the stadium. Wow. This is so cool..."

"Thanks Rick," David said, smiling. "It's always nice to hear stuff like that from real fans, which I know you are. Listen, I heard from Tommy here about some of the stuff you've been going through lately, and I just want you to know that I wish you two guys the best. Hang in there, and don't let `em get you down, ok? Keep your head up and keep battling. Anything really good is worth the hard work it takes to get there, right?"

"Right," I said with a huge smile.

"Well, I gotta run. It was good talking to you Rick, but Mike's gonna kill me if I'm late for the team meeting," he grinned. "But first, I thought you might like a little souvenir from yesterday's game," he said, reaching down and picking up a bat laying on the chair next to where he was sitting. "Here you go...I signed it for ya, `cuz Tom said he thought you might like one. It's the bat I got the sac' bunt with last night."

"No way..." I said in shock. "I...uh...I...I can't take that...it's like, way too special; it should be, like, in a museum or something...I mean, the bat you used to help beat the Yankees? No...I, uh...I just wouldn't feel right about that, and..."

"Really, it's ok Rick; there'll be a lot more of those, I hope," he said with a smile. "Please, keep it. I want you to have it. I know you'll appreciate what it means to all the Angels' fans and to the team."

"Whoa...I dunno what to say, Davy. Thanks," I said, humbly.

"Hey, no problem Rick, that big smile of yours is payment enough for me," he said with a grin, putting his arm over my shoulder and pulling me into a half-hug. "Take care, now, ok?" he said, as he headed for the door to the locker room.

"Have a good game, Davy!" I called out as he left. He turned and smiled at me as he reached the door, giving me a `thumbs-up' as he went in.

I sat down heavily in the chair next to me, feeling a little bit dazed. This day just keeps getting more and more surreal. Stuff like this just doesn't happen to me...well; not before the last 2 weeks it didn't. But, since I met Lance, it's sure been an amazing ride. How could someone as calm and relaxed as Lance appeared to be, manage to cause such a storm in my life, I wondered to myself. I think I'm starting to miss those quiet, boring old days before I met Lance...well, almost. I looked over and noticed Tom studying me as I sat there in a daze. "What?" I asked.

He smiled. "You asked me in the car before why anybody would give a kid like you tickets to the game today, and stuff. But, like Davy said, my reward was just seeing the look on your face when you walked in here. Totally priceless," he grinned. "I knew you and Davy would hit it off. But then, you two are so much alike I should have known you would," he said with a laugh.

As we walked back to our seats in the Diamond Club, I reveled in the atmosphere and excited anticipation of the growing crowd. There was an ocean of red everywhere. I felt a little out of place not wearing any red (sorry, I don't do red clothes...Maroon maybe, but I look terrible in tomato red!) except my ever-present Angels hat (and that was only half red and half navy blue since it was a `vintage' style reproduction).

As we walked along heading back to our seats, I noticed the people in front of us: a classic Orange County twenty-something yuppie couple, holding hands and stealing kisses from each other from time to time. It got me thinking..."Uh, Tom," I asked, "How do you guys do it? I mean, like, being together in places like this...I was looking at those two," I said, nodding towards the yuppie pups, "And I thought to myself, if Lance was here I would want to be doing the exact same thing; but, then I realized I would be afraid to a little bit. I mean, I don't know any of these people; but still, it makes me uncomfortable thinking that they might not `approve' or something...ya know what I mean?"

Tom gave me a real serious look, as he said, "Rick, you don't need anyone's approval to be who you are! Remember that, ok?" He paused in thought for a moment, and then added, "Ya, I know there are always gonna some people out there who wanna give you trouble. So, you can't just walk around with your head up your ass; but you can't live your life always looking over your shoulder, either. It's not worth it. Just be yourself, and don't apologize for it. If anyone chooses to hassle you for that, all you need to do is treat them with respect and demand they do the same to you. And, don't ever be afraid to ask for help if you really need it. We have laws in this country for a reason; if you need to call on the people who are paid to enforce the laws, don't hesitate to do it. That's their job."

I digested his reply for a moment. "I understand all that; but I mean, like, how do you guys do it? Do you feel comfortable holding hands and kissing and stuff in a place like this? Do you guys have any `rules' about what you both agree to do or not to do in certain situations? I hope it's ok for me to ask you that...I don't wanna piss you off or anything, but I'm just curious, ya know?"

"That's ok, Rick," he laughed. "Timmy and I don't have any `rules' as you say...we just go by how we feel at the time. I'm sure, after you and Lance have been together for a longer time, you'll just be able to sense how the other is feeling, so you'll know. I guess that's how we do it. But, we're both pretty private people. Not that we're trying to hide anything, but we don't go around flaunting it in everyone's faces...we're usually pretty low key at a place like this. But, if I really felt the need to give Timmy a big wet one, I wouldn't hesitate to do it most of the time, as long as it's not in the middle of a funeral or something," he grinned. "You just can't let other people's reaction matter more to you than your relationship, Rick. If I let what someone else thought determine when and how I showed Timmy how much I love him, what does that say about how I value our relationship? I would never do that, because it means way too much to me. And, I'm sure Lance means just as much to you. So, it's really a pretty easy decision when you think about it."

"When you put it that way, I can definitely see what you mean. Like you said, Lance means more to me than anything in the world. I'd never let anyone else get in the way of that," I said with conviction.

As we reached our seats, I tried to imagine Lance and I walking through a crowd like this, holding hands or something. Man, I just couldn't get rid of that nagging little uncomfortable feeling lurking in the back of my head. It really bothered me that it was there...I mean; I didn't want to feel uncomfortable about it. By all rights I shouldn't have to feel that way; but I did. Then, my sense of stubbornness and determination kicked in, and I promised myself not to let that beat me. I'm gonna have to work on that...I just know something like that wouldn't bother Lance in the least. Hell, nothing seems to bother him.

I had to smile to myself again, as I thought about my boyfriend. I think his cheerful, easy-going attitude was one of the things I loved most about him...my own little ray of Australian sunshine. I guess we were a little bit opposite in that regard. He was definitely a calm and steadying presence, in contrast to my own tendency for more highs and lows. When I was with him, it was like I finally felt free to really be myself. He was like my anchor...the center of my orbit, so to speak; I just knew I was safe around him. Nothing to hide, nothing to guard against, nothing to be afraid of. It felt really cool.

We sat down in our seats, and ordered some lunch. The start of the game was only a few minutes away, and the building excitement was incredible. It felt like everyone in the stands just knew this was gonna be a special day in Angel's history. There was such an overwhelming positive feeling in the air, it was like nothing I've ever experienced before.

Spank the Yank's!

Go Angels!

"Did you have a good time at the game, Ricky?" Lance asked with a big grin, as he gave me a big hug. I had just walked in the door to Lance's house, after Tom had dropped me off.

"It was totally awesome...just an incredible experience. I can't believe you knew about all that and didn't tell me!" I said with a grin.

We sat down and snuggled together on the couch next to the crackling fireplace, as I told Lance the whole story about the game and about meeting Davy. I tried to explain to him about the bat, and what the sacrifice bunt was all about; but I realized that it would take much longer than a few minutes to impress upon him the importance and significance of that noble act. I'll save that for another time.

We talked quite a while about Tim and Tom, and shared with each other how we both felt about being `out' in public. Lance liked the idea of maybe doing more things with Tim and Tom, and perhaps developing a stronger friendship with them. We both agreed it would be nice to have another `experienced' gay couple to do things with sometimes; and even though we didn't exactly say it, I'm sure we both felt it would be cool to just see how they handle themselves in public. You can learn a lot by just watching, sometimes.

Sitting beside the warm cozy fire, snuggled up to the boy I love, soon began to take its toll on me. I stretched out my feet, and lay down with my head on Lance's lap. As I looked up into his glowing eyes, it was clear that we both had exactly the same thing on our minds, and in our hearts. Lance leaned down and began kissing me slowly and gently, as I reached up and put my arms around his neck and pulled him closer. Our kissing grew slowly and steadily more intense, like a different kind of fire building gradually inside both of us. Our kissing eventually grew into a full-scale necking marathon; I think we kissed for almost an hour. We both seemed to sub-consciously agree that this little make out session would stay strictly above the belt; and that we would save the rest until later in the bedroom. But, in the meantime, we were having way too much fun seeing how totally aroused we could make each other and ourselves feel with just kissing and caressing. My hands wandered all over his upper body...slowly tracing every inch of his broad chest under his shirt, rubbing lightly across his very sensitive nipples, eliciting moans of approval from him. They teased across the top of his belt, tickling the little trail of hairs that run from his navel downwards. They wandered across his strong back, and enjoyed the feeling of combing through his soft hair. My lips wandered all over the place in between stretches of blazing hot tongue wrestling. I especially loved running my lips over the little bits of stubble on his chin, and tasting the succulent place on his neck just below his jaw and his left ear. Again and again. Mmmmm.

At the same time, Lance was hardly idle. His warm, strong hands explored every possible inch of my skin they could find under my shirt. A few times, I swear I was seconds away from cumming in my pants when he did that little nibbling and licking thing he does on my neck, making little circles with his tongue in just the right spot. Uuuunnngggh.

It was really cool to learn together that it was just as much fun (if not more so) to draw things out with this extended `foreplay,' and learn how to tease each other eventually into a state of such overwhelmingly frenzied horniness that we were ready to completely devour each other. It was difficult, but we both managed to keep things under control until we made it hurriedly into his bedroom. But, once we were naked in his bed together, things quickly exploded from there. Several times. All over the place.

I think we're doing laundry tomorrow.