Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2013 21:43:33 -0800 From: Dave Subject: Society Boys Chapter 112 The Society Boys By Connor Matthews Chapter 112 Saturday during breakfast, I was sitting with Blake and Colin and looked at the two of them. I couldn't help but smile as Blake copied Colin's movements. As Colin picked up his coffee to drink, Blake picked up his juice. If Colin ate bacon, so did Blake. "You guys never told me how the whole CEO for a day went. What exciting thing did you get up to?" Blake looked at Colin as if they had a big executive secret they were keeping. "I think Blake made an excellent CEO. I may let him take over for me when we go on vacation. After you left he decided on the type of washer and dryer we should put into the renovation of the tower. He also selected a color for the brick in the lobby of the building that will be going up on the site of your old parking lot. He also told off one of the employees for wearing a funny tie." "What? How did he do that?" I asked wondering if he finally had spoken, although I'm sure I would have had a call immediately if that happened. "We were down with the architects and one of them was wearing a tie with a big of a risqué cartoon. Blake looked at it and frowned at it and then pointed it out to me, so we had the employee remove it as we don't allow anything that could be seen as sexist. It was a good catch. We went out to one of the job sites and toured through the work that was going on. He made me wear a proper hard hat too. Once we got back to the office, he signed several documents that came across his desk and had me co-sign them for him. I haven't done that much work in a day, ever. If this keeps up, he'll put me out of a job," he said as he ruffled Blake's hair. Blake looked proud of having had such an important job. "I think the best part was when he went out and had the secretary bring us some juice. I almost crapped when she came in with it and put it down for us. If I'd gone and asked her, I'm sure she would have told me where it was and stayed at her desk." "Sounds like you had fun. I wonder what it'll be like when he takes over for real and sends you down to sweep the parking lot," I grinned. "Well, I can't think of anyone better to take over the company," he said looking at Blake proudly. Blake had a big grin on his face. I felt sick. Colin loved him as much as I did and if we lost him, it would kill both of us. Sunday afternoon we got a call from the I.T guy who said that he would like to meet us at the Q offices as he had some video to show us. We left Blake with Alex and the rest of us went to see what had been uncovered. Several screens were cued up with the different cameras and once we were all gathered around he began to play it for us showing the interesting highlights, although interesting may be the wrong words for it. In Ben's bedroom it clearly showed him and his friend fooling around, and both boys looked about the same age, so nothing illegal there, until the father Allan came in and began filming both of them. Once he put the camera aside, he got naked and fucked both his son and the friend. The cameras we had hidden clearly showed faces and we fast forwarded through most of it. Then there was the video from the father's bedroom where he slept with his son all night and fucked him several times and make him suck him off. Troy, Kiel and two other boys were videoed together as the father moved around directing them. We didn't have audio, but we didn't need it. Additional footage the second night showed the first kid show up with a much younger guy around 12 years old that looked like it could be his little brother. Both of the 14 year olds fucked him and then the father came in and got into his usual routine of recording it all and then fucked all three, especially the youngest. We shuddered at this one imagining what it would be like if that was Blake. The most revealing video was where the father was hiding the media cards from the camera. He seemed to have a large candle in the bedroom that he had hollowed out and was securing the disks in. Once we had seen enough, the I.T. showed us the access he had to the computer in the house. He opened up all their files and showed us the pictures and porn that were there. Just that stuff alone would have been enough to get him busted for possession, but the other stuff would be far more damning. I had to admit I cried when I saw the father tie Troy to the bed and hit him with a whip and then shove a large butt plug in his ass before hitting it with a large wooden paddle. The kid videoed the entire thing. It didn't look like he was being violent with Troy, it looked like roleplaying, but I knew that Troy wasn't enjoying it and could only imagine what was going through his head. I wanted to kill the father and son. It had been a long time since I felt like this and I wanted real revenge this time, but I knew we'd have to let it go through the system, but I wanted no way in hell for this guy to get away. I was even thinking of some movies where you hire someone inside prison to shank someone. We spent a few hours deleting the video that had any of the older guys like Troy and Kiel in it and kept the stuff showing the interaction with the father and his son and the younger guys. All the video feed was being run through their family I.P. so that it couldn't be traced to us and we watched as it was expertly planted into the computer and hidden in deep folders that wouldn't be readily found if it wasn't being looked for. "Tomorrow, we will have to move fast to get this all done properly," Colin said. Kyle, you need to get Troy and Kiel to go with you after school instead of heading to Ben's place. The last thing we need is to set this all up and then have him show up and be taped again. We will go in as soon as they both leave the house and remove all the video cameras, and get his media disks. Then we'll edit the disks, and upload anything incriminating into his computer and then re-hide the media disks after we securely wipe anything that we don't want used. We've decided to launch a few of these videos `by accident' on his Facebook and email to get the authorities involved." "Wow, can we do all that in one day?" I asked. "We have to. The last thing we want is Troy and Kiel and the other guys involved as they might be in serious shit for sex with a 14 year old. Both the father and son will have to face the consequences of what they have done, but there's no need to involve Troy. He's been through enough. Once we're done, we'll let Troy and Kiel know what we've done and make sure they deny knowing the guys. Our I.T. guy worked hard to upload everything and to ensure it was being filtered properly. Then he showed us that he had access to facebook and emails for the first phase. I almost couldn't believe how easy it was, especially when it deactivated the guys firewall and other security. None of which would be visible if the family used the computer that night. By the time we headed home, most things were ready and I was both nervous and excited. I hoped it would let Troy know I really wasn't an asshole and that I loved him, but I was also scared that if we got it wrong, all hell would break loose. The next day, I waited and waited and waited and then took Blake to his diving lesson and kept waiting. Each week, Blake seemed more and more excited to go to his lessons and it looked like he was interacting really well with the other kids. Warren seemed to be his best friend and the two always partnered up when they had things to do together. I wondered if maybe they would become doubles diving partners for when we went to the Olympics. They weren't in any hurry to exit the locker room again, so last weeks quick exit was apparently just a fluke. I went back into the change room and was heading for the shower when I heard two voices in the toilet stall. I peeked under and there were two sets of feet, both looked like they belonged to older boys as they had hair on their legs. "You go first. I'll go next," I heard one guy say. I stepped back out of the line of any sight and watched as one boy got on his knees in front of the other. Smiling to myself I felt my crotch tingle as I knew that sex was going on behind that door. I wanted to have a look but there was no way to do that without being seen or heard, so I just let them get on with it and went to find Blake. He was already at the locker and as I approached I saw Warren rubbing his chest and stomach. Blake had a full on stiffy and was just standing there. "Hey guys. What's going on?" I asked trying not to sound overly concerned. "I'm rubbing aloe on Blake's stomach after that last dive," Warren explained. "He kinda hit hard like a belly flop, so this helps it not get so red and hurt as bad." "Thanks for that. I guess we should get some of it if it's going to be a regular occurrence." "Yeah I use it a lot. Plus I also have vitamin E in case you get a cut or anything. It helps it heal faster so you can get back in the water. I also have spray on skin as bandaid otherwise they don't let you back in to pool with an open wound." "Do you get hurt a lot?" I smiled as I listened to Warren, the first responder, explaining his first aid techniques. "You learn as you go," he smiled as he sat there naked helping Blake with his belly flop red mark. Blake was really paying attention to Warren and neither of them seemed to care he was sporting a boner. After they dressed and we left the change area, the two boys came out of the toilet stall together in just their speedos and looked a bit shocked as they ran into us. They looked about 15 and as guilty as hell. I smiled and nodded as I grabbed my crotch. They both went bright red, looked down and scrambled to the locker room. I tried not to laugh, but as I glanced over my shoulder one boy was staring back at me. I licked my lips. Sure, I'm a tease. Warren and Blake gave each other a goodbye handshake that they seemed to have developed and his Mom and I smiled as we watched. We picked up food, as was becoming a Monday routine and headed back. Kyle hadn't arrived home yet but we sat down to eat anyway. It was almost 7 before he showed up with an entourage. I was surprised and happy to see Troy with him, along with Kiel and the two other boys from the video. "Hey, we're starving to death, is there any food?" Kyle said as they passed by and headed for the kitchen. I tried not to make a big deal of the fact the Troy was home, and showed them what we had had for dinner. Plus they added a bunch of other stuff and sat at the island to eat. "We're gonna hang out and go swimming if that's okay," Kyle informed me between bites. "This is Joel and Waldo." "Waldo?" I asked just to make sure I heard him correctly. "It's actually Lucas, but my last name is Walden, so I got Waldo when I disappeared a lot as a kid. The name just stuck." I laughed. "I love it. Where's Waldo? That's gotta get tiring after a while?" "I don't mind anymore. I even got a red and white striped shirt and blue pants for Christmas one year." "Yeah, he usually disappears to go hit on some guy somewhere and we have to go looking for him," Joel said grinning. "So are you two boyfriends?" I asked. "Yeah. We've been together for a year." "How old are you?" "I'm 17. Waldo's 18." "Cool, well have fun swimming," I said as I left them alone and went to find Colin who was upstairs in our room online with the I.T. guy and private investigator. "Yeah, Justin is right here. I'll let him know. Now I guess all we do is wait. I'll be by my phone if you need to contact me." Colin got off the computer and turned to look at me. "It's done. The shit should hit the fan shortly. We uploaded a video of Ben and his Dad on facebook and to all his email contacts. It was labelled Ben and I opening presents Christmas morning, but we actually uploaded the one of them having sex with each other." "Wow, that's pretty bold. Now what?" I asked as I sat down beside him. "We're sending a tip to the cops through Crime Stoppers with a link to the video and his address. That should be all we need, but we have to make sure Troy and the others are out of the way." "That shouldn't be a problem. They're all in the pool downstairs," I smiled nodding. "What?" "Kyle brought them all home. They're in the pool." "I swear to god, we gotta keep Kyle on our side. He'd be a formidable enemy." Colin hugged me and we headed downstairs to see the guys who were all skinny dipping and attacking each other and trying to avoid the shark. Whenever it hit one of them, he would scream and go under water as if he was being attacked. All we needed special effects blood and we'd have another Jaws film. Colin and I sat on the edge of the double deck chair to talk to them. "Guys, we have some news for you. We had to wait until we knew for sure that's why Kyle invited you over today." They swam over to the edge of the pool to listen to us. Troy stayed a distance apart and pretended not to care. "We know you're all having problems with Ben and his Dad and that they're blackmailing all of you." The look on their faces said it all. Joel, Waldo and Kiel glared at Troy and then at Kyle as we revealed that we knew their plight. Troy also shot daggers at us. "Relax. As of today, it's over. By tomorrow they should both be in jail." "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?" Troy screamed. "I told you to stay out of it. We'll all go to jail ourselves for having sex with 14 year olds. Can't you mind your own business for one fucking minute? Is this just to get even with me for not sleeping with you anymore?" "Troy! That's way out of line dude. None of us would ever let you get hurt. Now shut up and listen," Colin snapped at him loudly. "There is no video evidence that you guys were ever there. You never had sex with them at all." "It's not that simple," Joel said. "They've seen us naked and could easily say what we look like." "So what, I've seen you naked. Anyone could see you changing in a locker room, or at a pool, or even if you took a shower at his house. Doesn't mean you had sex. Just deny it and this all goes away. If you say anything else, there is no evidence to prove otherwise." "Yeah, there is," Troy said. "They took hundreds of hours of video of us and Allan wasn't in any of it." "Troy, guys, just trust us. There is no evidence that you guys ever had sex with them. There is plenty of evidence that the father and son had sex with each other and used underage boys, but there is nothing with you guys in it. I can promise that," Colin said staring at them. "How?" Waldo asked. "No need to know that. Just believe what we're saying. If cops ever show up at your house and ask about Ben or Allan, you can say you know them or not. It's up to you. Maybe they never gave you their real names, or maybe you were just homework buddies or did a sports together or something. We have no idea how you know them, or if you do, but what we do know is that you NEVER had sex with either of them. You're all old enough to have sex with the father legally, just not with Ben. Keep that in mind and you'll be fine, but I doubt cops will ever show up, and if they did it would only look like the kid was saying it to get revenge or save his own ass." "What if the cops take us in and make us identify them or question us about some DNA they find or something like that?" "DNA from what? That you were in their house? Big deal, that's not a crime, but I'll make you a promise. If cops haul you in, I'll give you my phone number and then you shut the hell up until my lawyer gets there. Do you all understand?" The all said yes and asked more questions. Both Troy and Kyle assured the guys that we had the best lawyer in the city and that they should do exactly as we said. They all got out of the pool and thanked us. With three dicks hanging in front of me, a handshake and hug seemed a bit weak for a thank you. I would have settled for blowjobs and an hour in the foam room. Troy didn't get out of the pool as he swam away and headed over to the hot tub with his back to us. The other guys were buzzing and trying to get their stories straight, but Colin advised them not to talk to each other about it, and instead come up with their own stories. You could see the relief on their faces and I felt really good. We weren't out of the woods yet, but at least there was no evidence of them doing anything wrong. In fact, now that I thought about it, we could have just stopped at wiping out the evidence and not involving cops at all, but I was so pissed at them hurting Troy and turning him against me that I wanted revenge. I actually wanted to hurt them even more, but Colin had advised against going further. If I had my way, he'd be getting a taste of his own medicine. "I should go and see if I can talk to Troy," I said feeling like shit that he still wouldn't talk to me. He still hated me and it was tearing me apart. "Leave him be for now, Justin. He'll come around and realize that you're not the bad guy. He's confused and trying to learn who he is, and this scared him. Keep being there for him no matter what. That'll be good practice for both of us if we get to be long term parents," Colin said as he put his arm around me. I wanted to go swimming with the guys but with Troy in such a bad mood it wouldn't feel right to bone his friends in front of him. I could invite them over another day, but Waldo wasn't really my type as he had a slightly hairy chest. Joel was a possibility and Asian Kiel was also cute and doable, but I had no idea how Troy felt about him, so for now he was hands off. Colin and I went upstairs to Jason and Alex's room where Blake was wrestling with Alex and bouncing all over him. "Time for bed buddy. It's a school day tomorrow," I smiled as I went up to them. Blake bounced across the bed and leapt onto me for a piggyback ride. He waved to Alex and Jason as I took him off to his room. Colin told the guys we'd be back and he followed me. We sent Blake for his shower and I made sure he brushed his teeth as Colin threw some of the kids clothes in the hamper and got his bed ready. He probably didn't need to be put to bed but we had fun doing it and he seemed to like the attention. Once the shower was finished, he decided to sleep naked tonight instead of underwear or his sweatpants. He climbed under the covers and I sat on the bed beside him. "Did you have fun with Alex and Jason tonight?" He grinned and nodded. "Cool. Would you like Colin to read you a story tonight?" With a big smile, he shook his head and pointed at me. "Oh you want me to read a story?" He shook his head again and grinned. "Let me guess, I have to tell you a story instead. He propped himself up on a couple pillows and got ready. "Okay, but I still haven't memorized them all. This is the story of Beauty and the Beast." I hoped that he didn't know this story as the only thing I knew about it was what I'd seen on the ads for the DVD. There was a princess and a beast and they liked dancing in a large ballroom. From there, I'd have to make shit up. "Okay, Once upon a time, there lived a princess named Beauticia, but her friends just called her Beauty for short. Princess Beauty was actually a bit of a snob and would only hang out with rich people like herself but since she lived in the largest castle in the land, all the townsfolk wanted to be just like her. Then one day this big green hairy guy showed up at the castle door selling vacuum cleaners. `Hello my name is Shrek,' he told her when she answered the door in her rollers and housecoat, not having got ready for her day out at the mall. `Whoa, you're hideous,' she said impolitely as she looked him up and down. `Well you're no prize yourself sweetheart. Have you looked in the mirror? My talking donkey is prettier than you.' `What do you want peasant?' she asked impatiently as she only had four hours to get ready. `I'm selling these incredible new vacuum cleaners that will save you lots of time when you clean the castle. They have twice the suction power of a regular vacuum and have been approved by the castle association of Europe and rated number one consumer satisfaction.' `Do I look like I vacuum?' She asked him stunned that he could even think such a thing. `Obviously you want my ugly step sister. She does all the cleaning around here.' Just then three little pigs pushed past Shrek and entered the castle. `HEY! Yelled the princess, where are you going? Pigs aren't allowed in the castle. The tallest pig turned and looked at the Princess and said `You're kidding right. The big bad wolf has just attacked little Red Riding Hood and torn her to shreds, and is on his way over here right now. They called in all the King's horses and all the king's men, but they just couldn't put her back together again. If I stay in my brother's place which is only made out of straw, he's just gonna huff and he'll puff and he'll blow the house down, so we're gonna hang out here where it's safe. You're the Princess, you gotta protect us from things like this.' Blake giggled and shook his head. "What? Am I getting it wrong?" He nodded and grinned. "Well, in all fairness I did tell you I didn't know this one. All I know is that she ends up letting them all in when they see the wolf pack heading towards them being followed by Vampires. They locked themselves in the castle and waited it out. Princess Beauty got bored and put on some music. Shrek liked dancing and busted a move and invited the princess to join him. At first she refused, but as time went on and there was so little to do, she eventually let him show her some killer moves for the local dance off later in the year. The two of them became good friends and the princess learned that it didn't matter how you looked on the outside as long as you knew how to dance. They entered the competition together and went all the way on to win nationals. The two of them remained dance partners for many years and lived happily ever after." Blake giggled and slid under the covers as I kissed his forehead, followed by Colin. He turned and watched as we left and turned out his light. "You really gotta work on those fairy tales dude. I think you had like a dozen different ones in there," Colin laughed as we got back to Jason and Alex's room. "Maybe he doesn't know the entire story either, or maybe my version is better. Anyway he's probably too old for stories at bedtime, we should just let him watch the eastern feed of Leno or something. That shit always puts me to sleep." We told Jason and Alex about the guys downstairs and relaxed in their room for a while as we all felt a great weight lifted off us, although I was super upset about Troy still not talking to me. I wanted him to like me again. Kyle strolled in and said the guys had left which made me feel even worse since Troy hadn't even bothered to say goodbye. I felt tears starting, so I left the room and headed down the hall to the main bathroom. I sat on the toilet and cried. He had to like me again, he was my brother and I loved him. Colin knocked on the door and came in. "Are you okay?" He asked as he crouched down and put his hand on my lap. I shook my head. "Why doesn't he like me? Does he really think I only wanted him for sex, and to turn him gay?" "No, of course not. He was just scared about what happened. Once he realizes that we took care of it, he'll be fine and come home again. Just be patient, we did a good thing today and he'll see that soon enough. Let's go to bed and have an early night. You'll feel better in the morning. Maybe you can tell me a bedtime story. I hear the `Happy Prince' is a good one. Apparently he had servants to feed, dress and bathe him. No wonder he was happy. It was probably an all male Caligula in his castle." I smiled. "You can tell Blake that one tomorrow night." I followed him to the bedroom where we curled up with each other and made love. He always made me feel better and maybe it was for the best that I was going to be a better behaved Justin. Right after I had my night with Patrick and Kurt and maybe had some fun with Waldo and Joel, if Troy was okay with it, and after the porn movie with Ryan. But right after that, I'd be good, unless Kirby came over and wanted to play, but then definitely after that. Troy needed to come home. The house seemed empty without him. Blake spent the morning with Chad and I was having a basically normal morning until I got a call from Colleen. "Hi Justin, I just wanted to let you know we have a family interested in adopting Blake. They would like to meet him tomorrow afternoon and take him out for a few hours. They have a boy already and are looking for a sibling." My heart stopped and I felt tears running down my face. I would rather have been told I was dying and only had a week to live than hear this. I did my best to choke out a response and tell her he'd be ready. She thanked me and said they'd be around at 1pm. As I hung up, I felt sick and ran to the bathroom to throw up. I knelt there crying and dry heaving into the toilet after my entire stomach had emptied. I called Colin and sobbed as I tried to tell him what was going on. "They're taking Blake," I sobbed as I lay on the bathroom floor. "Who is?" Colin said sounding shocked. I sniffed and wiped my nose. "Social services. They just called and there's a family coming to take Blake out for the day tomorrow as they're interested in adopting him." "It's just a first meeting. Maybe Blake won't be what they're looking for, maybe they won't like him," Colin said trying to reassure me. "You've met Blake, right? He's the sweetest most adorable kid on the planet. Who wouldn't like him? They're gonna take our boy, Colin. Can't we bribe or pay someone off. Maybe we can move to Bare Island and form our own country with no extradition to Canada." "Babe, we knew this could happen. We're only his foster parents. They're trying to find the perfect home for him. I guess they decided that we're not it if they're letting other families apply. Let's just see what happens." "I can't let him just leave, Colin. Maybe I'll take the jet and fly to an uncharted island in the middle of nowhere. I could call you when I get there. You could drop food and supplies each month." "Sweetie, I know you're upset but don't over react. I'd hate to lose Blake too, but at the end of the day we all want what's best for him. If a family with Mother, Father and other kids is what he needs, we should consider that. I'll head home. For God's sake don't do anything stupid." He air kissed me and we hung up. I tried to get off the bathroom floor but my stomach hurt. I must have been there a while as I heard someone knocking on the door and Colin strolled in. I hadn't even heard him come home. I think I must have fallen asleep. He picked me up and hugged me, then gave me some mouthwash. I guess I smelled like puke. As we headed to the living room, Blake came down and saw the two of us. His smile disappeared and he ran to sit down beside me. He stared at Colin. "He's just not feeling good," Colin explained. "Listen buddy since you're here we need to talk to you. You know that social services is trying to find you a permanent family, right?" He nodded and looked almost as unhappy as me at this conversation. Probably not for the same reason though. He just wanted a real family. "Well tomorrow, a family is coming to spend some time with you," Colin explained as I just couldn't. I'd told him everything that Colleen had told me and couldn't bear to say it to Blake as I'd break down. They have a younger son, who is 10 and a Mom and Dad and they are looking for another boy. So after lunch tomorrow you'll get to spend time with them. If you like them and they like you, they could become your new permanent family. Of course, you'd have to be on your best behaviour or they may not want you. But I know I don't have to tell you that and they'll love you just like we do. You still come back here after dinner, so it's not like you'd have to move to another foster home or anything. No matter what happens, we all still love you. We had hoped that you could be our son, but that decision isn't completely up to us. Maybe these people are a better fit for you. You'd like a brother again wouldn't you?" He nodded and pulled out his phone and showed us a picture of Cory and then one of Kyle. He had tears in his eyes and hugged both of us. I was going to lose it again. Fire up the jet, we're leaving for outer Mongolia, or maybe a place they spoke English. Inner London? "I know you've made friends with them, but if this family likes you, you'd make new friends, just like you did with all of us. Just remember that it all hinges on how you behave tomorrow, so be good for these people so that they'll like you." Blake looked up at both of us and gave a small smile. It was a weird smile, but a smile nonetheless. I guess he was conflicted about going into the unknown. I felt so bad for him being bounced around like this. I don't know if I could handle it if I were him. Sold off like a used piece of furniture as potential buyers came and checked him out. Sick. He's a kid, not merchandise. I wanted to wrap him in my arms and hold on forever. We spent the rest of the day together and I tried to be as happy as I could as we played and did as much as we possible to keep busy. After we both put him to bed, I felt exhausted and emotionally drained. We told the rest of the guys what was going on and they were almost as emotional as me. In the morning we found Blake wrapped tightly around Kyle in his bed and we almost had to pry him off so he could get ready. He walked back to his room like a man being sent down a death row hallway. I can't imagine how he must be feeling, or even how scared, at meeting someone who could potentially be his family. Colin and I waited anxiously as the clock ticked closer to 1pm. Chad had said that Blake was distracted during their school session and we explained what was going on. He could probably see how upset we were and patted both of us on the shoulder to try and make us feel better. It didn't. Colleen arrived first with the family in the car behind her. I wanted to lock them all in one of the garages and not let them near my boy. As we met, I almost wanted to hurl again. They were pleasant and the young boy with them seemed very outgoing. We headed to the living room and found out the kids name was Andrew and the parents were both working professionals. All I heard was blah blah blah, `come here my pretty!'...and then an evil witch cackle. Blake stuck close to us at first and then when they got up to go he went over and hugged the Mom and then hugged the Dad. I noticed the Dad moved Blake's hand off his ass as Blake gripped him. Nothing could have hurt as much as seeing him hug these total strangers. It was over. Blake needed a family and here was the first one interested in him since the tragedy. I almost cried. Partially because I was sad to let him go and partially because I realized how much he must miss having a traditional family. I was going to throw up again, so they needed to leave. Blake surprised everyone by hugging the younger boy and then kissing him on the lips. Well, we know he's not afraid to show how he feels. I guess he liked the kid right off the start. Blake looked and us and smiled and then waved as he headed out with them. They get hugs and kisses and all we got was a wave. As they drove off, I leaned against Colin and began crying again. "I guess that's it," I sniffed and sobbed as I wiped my wet face on Colin. He was used to it by now, I'm such a girl. "I guess we should start looking at getting boxes to pack up his room." "Babe, I know you're upset, but remember what I said about not over reacting. Let's just see how today goes. This isn't about us, it's about Blake. If we're going to be foster parents, this is going to happen a lot. We probably shouldn't have got as attached as we did. We were warned." I knew he meant well, but it was making it worse. I went upstairs and got into bed and hoped when I woke up that this nightmare would be over. Blake would be in his room playing as usual and I would go back to being happy. Colin brought me some gross tea and said it had honey in it to make me feel better. Maybe he was trying to drug me so that I'd sleep and not be such a drama queen. This was the worst day of my life so far and that includes Troy hating me. What happened to my perfect world where everything goes right and I'm the center of the universe? The Mayans were right, the world is ending. I didn't leave my room all day and slept as much as I could. I had to be dragged down to dinner and just went through the motions of eating. I knew that if they didn't like Blake, they would have brought him back sooner, but they'd had him 5 hours. It felt like he'd moved out already. I looked around the house and each place I looked reminded me of him. From his perfect math test on the fridge to toys in odd places to the smell of the air where he'd probably been. The front gate buzzed and I think I found superpowers as I flew to the monitor and saw it was them returning. I tried to make myself presentable and raced to the door with the rest of the guys. The car pulled up and Blake jumped out with the parents. The kid just stayed in the car and didn't look up. Blake ran up and hugged us and disappeared into the house quickly. I wondered if he was going to get his stuff and leave again. "Thank you for allowing us to meet Blake. He seems like a nice young man, and I hope he is able to get past his trauma to talk, as he'll probably have a lot to say. Would you please let Colleen know that he's back and we'll contact her in the morning? We haven't said anything to Blake as we didn't want to upset him, but I don't think we'll be pursuing adoption. We feel he wouldn't be the right fit for our family. He's a little too, shall we say, affectionate," the mother told us. "Affectionate? Isn't that a good thing?" Colin asked a bit surprised. "Normally yes, but to be honest I think he's going to grow up to be homosexual, and at the moment our son is a bit impressionable. We wouldn't want Blake to give Andrew the wrong guidance as his big brother." "Blake is gay?" Colin said trying to keep straight faced. "At 12? Maybe he's just affectionate and looking for love." I wanted to elbow Colin to tell him to shut up, but I also wanted to tell the bitch that her son couldn't catch `gay' from Blake, it's not the fucking flu. "It's more than that. I just don't think we're ready to handle some of the challenges he may have ahead of him. I hope he finds a great family. Thank you for letting us spend time with him. It was nice meeting you," she said as they shook our hands and got back in the car and drove off. "Homophobic pricks," I snarled as they left. "I wouldn't let them adopt Blake now, even if they changed their minds." "I'd agree with that," Colin smiled. I hugged him and we raced back in the house to see how his day had gone. Kyle and the guys were making a fuss over him already. We made a quick call to Colleen to tell them Blake was back and that the family would contact her tomorrow. When she asked how it went, we said he just got home, so we didn't really know, which was basically the truth. She said she'd let us know what was next. "So buddy, did you have a good day?" I asked as I crouched down in front of him and looked directly into those big green eyes and realized how much I loved this boy. He shrugged and smirked. "They said you were really affectionate. That's a little unusual when you meet strangers. Were you just trying to be on your best behaviour and got carried away?" He shook his head no. "You did behave though, right?" He looked at me and then at the other guys, and then shrugged. I almost smiled. "Did you sabotage the visit so they wouldn't like you?" He shrugged again and I could see the mischievous look in his eye. "Okay, truth time. They said you were acting a little strange. Did you do something with Andrew, like you do with Cory?" He nodded. "What?" He shrugged again. "Come on Blake, show me what you did to Andrew." He grinned and stepped up to me and kissed me on the lips. "That's it, you kissed him?" He shook his head. He stepped up and kissed me again. This time on each cheek and then the lips, but held the kiss and shoved his tongue in my mouth. I moved back and heard Kyle laugh. "You French kissed him," Kyle chuckled. "Way to freak him out dude." "Did you do anything else?" He nodded and grabbed my crotch and squeezed. I removed his hand when I got the message. "Anything else with Andrew? The kid must have wondered what was going on. He's only 10." "Yeah and Cory was only 10," Kyle encouraged. "I'm loving this. You're a total bad ass dude. What else did you do?" Blake went up to Kyle and hugged him and then rubbed up against his leg as if he was humping him. "You humped Andrew's leg?" He shook his head. "The Dad?" He nodded. I almost broke out cheering, although I wasn't sure how this would look in a report from the family, although they may leave out actual details. I know I would have. I didn't want to know what else he had done. I was thrilled that he was home and that they didn't want him. Selfish I know, but if they were homophobic, it wouldn't have been a good match anyway, regardless of what Blake had or hadn't done. Maybe he had just done himself a giant favor. Any family that gets him would have to accept him for who he was, straight or gay. I still wasn't sure he was gay, but he sure seemed to have played it up today. Good for him. 10 points to the good guys...us! He sat beside me in the big chair and shared popcorn as we all watched a movie together. I had my arm around him almost the entire time and he leaned hard against me. I was more determined than ever now to find a way to adopt him. Just before lunch, I got the call from Colleen informing me that the family would not be adopting Blake. I pretended to be sad for Blake but was leaping all over the house like a kangaroo. "What happened? They seemed like nice people. All they said last night was that he was overly affectionate, which I thought would be a good thing for a child." "I don't think it was that as much as the type of affection. They said he was showing a lot of signs of being gay and that they weren't ready to deal with that." She did go on to say that if they hadn't had another child, it wouldn't have been a problem but they were worried about how the two boys might interact together. She also said they were concerned over his lack of talking and that perhaps the trauma would manifest itself later in life. Then they mentioned that he showed signs of not liking them either by spitting food out, or not responding to them. "That doesn't sound like Blake at all. I know they mentioned the homosexuality thing to us last night, but at 12, I think he's probably just curious. I've never seen him spit food out. I hope there wasn't anything else. What happens now?" I asked. "Nothing at this point. If another family is interested in him, we'll go through the process again. We'll just make sure to add these traits to his file, although I still think you'll find he grows up liking boys more than girls," she said. "If he does, that's up to him. I just hope the family that you find for him accepts him and loves him no matter what. He's been nothing but awesome around here." "He definitely seems happier in the past couple months and he's certainly calmed down and come out of his shell. He seems more trusting around older people too." "Well if he was being abused or tormented by other kids at his previous places, I can understand that. We don't allow bullying here, plus Cory has been a good friend for him, you should meet him sometime," I suggested, to which she agreed. That may have been a mistake, but Cory is Cory why try to change that. "I'll let Blake know officially then. I hope he's not too upset," I told Colleen, knowing damn well he wasn't. "If he does react badly, just give me a call," she offered. After I hung up I went and told Blake and his face broke out in a huge smile and he hugged me so tight he almost knocked me over. I hugged him back and then pried him off as I knelt down and did the thing I knew I had to do, even though I was so proud of him for sabotaging the visit. "Blake, I know it's scary thinking about a family wanting to adopt you, especially when you've been through so much, but you have to give all of them a chance. Just like you did with us. Yesterday, you did a pretty brave thing testing their reactions to an unusual situation that they probably weren't ready for. Neither of us know how you will grow up and who you will love but please make sure that any family that is interested in you, you give them a chance okay? I was upset when you left here yesterday, but you can't worry about that. YOU have to be happy and have a proper life. I'll let you in on a little secret. Even if you do leave here one day, you can always come back and visit. Once you're 16 you get a lot more freedom, and when you're 18 you can even make your own decisions about where you want to live, so keep that in mind if another family is interested in having you as their son, okay?" He looked so sad and I felt horrible talking to him like this. All I wanted to say was, next time kick `em in the nards and be a total douche so they'll never want you and you can stay here, but that's not fair. We got in the car and went to look for ideas for Kyle's upcoming birthday. The next few days were quiet until I got a call from Colin telling me to check the CTV news. Leading the headlines was the arrest of a local man and his son on charges of production and distribution of child pornography. It couldn't name them because Ben was under age and protected by the Young Offender's Act, but the story had details about it and the fact that they had videoed and coerced younger neighbors into it. There was no mention of anyone older but it did say the police had seized the computer from the home. I smiled to myself and figured we had done something decent, even if we had to remove and adjust some of the information. I wondered how the father would react when they showed him the recordings from the hidden cameras. No one would believe that he hadn't done it since it was clearly in his house, and there was so much more that he had recorded. Kyle got home after school and I told him about it and he said they'd seen it already and the guys were all nervous but happy that the two of them were arrested after what they had done. "Can I talk to you about something?" He asked as he sat down and got something to drink from the fridge. "You know you don't even have to ask," I smiled hoping he wasn't going to move out and hate me. "You know that Aaron broke up with his new boyfriend already right?" I nodded. "Well, he wants to get back together and asked me if I'd be interested. I still love him, but I am also falling for Jordan too. Jordan and Kyle like each other and we talked about open relationships in the past. Do you think it would be okay for all three of us to be boyfriends together or would that be stupid?" "So you mean like all of you would be equal boyfriends? Aaron and Jordan would hang out together if you weren't around and you and Aaron would fuck if Jordan wasn't there etc.?" "Yeah, exactly. A three-way boyfriend relationship. Is it ever done?" "I'm sure it's done, but I'm not sure it always works. What if you find yourself liking one of them more than the other, or what if they fall in love with each other and you get left out. What would happen then?" "I dunno, but it can't be any different than when you get dumped for someone else in a regular relationship. Do you think it would be a mistake?" "It's a hell of a unique solution to a problem. Short term, as long as you're all into it, it would be fun, but long term, it's not going to work. What happens if you want to get married and have kids or something? You'd have to eventually decide what you wanted and if for some reason it went on a long time and worked, would you be able to handle it? Would the three of you sleep together all the time? Would you get jealous if Jordan spent more time with Aaron than you? Would Aaron get jealous if you spent more time with Jordan considering he was here first and probably sees you as his more than Jordan." "No idea, that's why I'm asking. How cool would I be with two boyfriends? I'd be the total stud of the whole school." "You're asking the wrong guy I think. To me, if it's just about sex, then the three-way is fine, but if you love either one of them, or possibly both of them, then this would end badly somewhere down the road. You have to decide." "That's no help," he grinned. "What would you do?" "Me? If I hadn't met Colin and fallen in love with him, I probably would be out screwing every guy I could find, so I might have done the three-way thing for a while, but if you want love, then you have to pick one. Nothing says you can't still fool around with others if that's the relationship you choose, just like Colin and me." "But I love them both and Aaron is so unhappy at making a mistake and dumping me. I miss him too, but I can't hurt Jordan." "Well if you all want to be together, then do it, just accept the fact that at some point it will end and that at least one of you is going to get hurt. Maybe rather than boyfriends, you label it as friends with benefits." Boyfriends sounds cooler and it should sure shock people, but I just thought of a better idea. Aaron and Jordan can be boyfriends and I'll be your boyfriend. You have a husband, so it's not like you'd have two boyfriends. You and I could be together and you could share me with Colin. Aaron and Jordan could also share me. I'd be like the community boyfriend." I laughed. "You're determined to get me as your boyfriend aren't you?" I turned him around on his stool and stood between his legs. "I'll always love you Kyle. Boyfriend or not, you and I have something special together. I hugged him and as I did he reached up and grabbed my crotch and rubbed me. When I didn't move, he popped the button on my pants and slipped his hand inside my underwear. "Want to help me relieve the stress of school? I mean all that hard work and now trying to decide on this whole boyfriend thing. I need to unwind," he said into my ear. "Plus I really really need a good hard fuck." "Awww, you're a romantic. I guess you learned that from me," I replied as I kissed his cheek. "Okay, but just as stress relief. We'll consider it a medicinal fuck." "Nice. I wonder if you can get a prescription for that, `cause I'm pretty sure I'll need to take one fuck in the morning and one before bed." We raced up to his room and were naked almost as soon as we got there. I threw him face down on the bed and spread his legs so I could bury my face in between his firm cheeks and rim out his sweet pink hole. He handed me the lube as he pushed his ass up slightly to give me better access. "Fuck me," he moaned as his head move around on his pillow in anticipation. I lube both of us up and stuffed him hard and fast, slamming my entire length all the way into him. He cried out in pleasure and wiggled around to make sure he had all of me. He really did need to unwind. I think he yelled out that he loved me at least three times as I fucked him. He has gotten quite good at sex over the years and I certainly wasn't complaining. I bounced on him hard and felt his awesome muscles on his back. I lay on top of him and pounded away as I nibbled his ear. He was humping the bed as I fucked him hard and he cried out as he shot his load. I felt it as his ass throbbed with my dick inside, causing me to fill him up with my love juice. We both were breathing heavy and I left my cock inside him as I lay on top, gently moving back and forth, until I popped out and rolled beside him. "So what do you want to do for your 18th birthday next week?" I asked as we lay together. "Nothing major. I was thinking maybe we'd keep it low key with an orgy and then we could all go to Hawaii for the weekend. I was thinking that you don't have to buy me a present either. You want to get rid of the Lamborghini, so maybe just give that to me and that way you'd save money." He smiled as he kissed me. "Alright. Low key it is then," I laughed. "How many people at this orgy?" I dunno 50 or so. We'll call it Kyle's 18th nude birthday extravaganza. Clothes are prohibited and must be left at the door. Maybe we could open up the playroom and set up some black lights in the pool area. We could also have an outdoor BBQ. I'll invite some of the guys from the Academy that I've met. Reece has a lot of new friends now." "Well, let's not invite Zane this time. Let's keep the minimum age for this thing to 16," I said remembering the last party he'd been at. "Agreed. So you're cool with it? An orgy on the Friday and off to Hawaii on Saturday morning. Can Blake come with us?" "No, he'd have to stay here as he doesn't have a passport and trying to get him out of the country is a massive amount of paperwork with social services. That's why we haven't taken him to California to meet Colin's parents yet." "You wouldn't leave him home alone would you?" "No, of course not. I'm sure he'd love to sleep over at Cory's. Plus if anything went wrong, we could be back in three hours." "Sweet. I'm gonna catch some waves on the North Shore and we'll all be howlies bra! That's my Hawaiian that I've been practicing." "Narly," I grinned giving him the hang loose sign. We hung out for a while making plans until we heard Blake knock on the door. Usually he just strolled in and caught us in a compromising act but perhaps he had finally learned to give us some warning. We were still naked when he came in but we'd cleaned up and were just lying around at that point so it wasn't any big deal. He climbed on the bed and showed us his newest video game that he'd gotten online. Kyle and I got our shorts on and played it with him until Cory burst into the room making us all jump. "Hey dudes! Cory is here! What's going on? Why are you all in here and how come it smells so bad?" Jason followed behind him. "Cory is here!" And why DOES it smell so bad in here?" He grinned knowingly. "That's what happens when you don't change your socks and underwear daily," I replied trying to get a lesson out of it and change the subject. "Alex wanted me to tell you that dinner is ready," Jason informed us. The boys jumped off the bed and raced out of Kyle's room together. "You guys should open a window and hit the place with air freshener. It smells like you've been having sex in here for a week." "Nuh uh!" Kyle said. "Only two hours and several loads. I think I still slosh when I walk," he chuckled as he got up and wiggled his ass towards Jason. "TMI, buddy. You guys are incorrigible," he said as he turned and headed out. "What's that mean?" Kyle asked looking at me? "I dunno," I admitted. "Maybe he means we encourage each other to have sex together a lot, which would make sense." "Cool." We dressed and headed for dinner. Cory was his usual animated self and talked about his entire week and what he'd been up to. He was still friends with Ricky and Bobby and things were pretty much back to age appropriate since Max had been sent to military school. He seemed to be into more normal 11 year old topics now, like Star Wars and which girls at school were weird. "I'm gonna join a soccer team too. Blake you should join and we can be on it together. All of us can go out and play a game after dinner. Three of you guys against me, Blake and Kyle, and one can be the ref." "I'll be the ref," Jason volunteered quickly. "No fair, I wanna be the ref," I whined. "Double no fair, I wanna be the ref," Alex said joining in. "Triple no fair, I was going to be the ref," Colin wailed. "You guys are weirder than girls," Cory said. "Jason is the ref `cause he called it first. It'll be the old guys versus the young guys. We're gonna kick your ass." "That would be your first yellow card," Jason laughed. "You have to kick the ball, not an ass." Both Cory and Blake stuck out their hands for a loonie. "I don't think so. You said ass, so why don't you have to pay?" "We're kids. You have to pay us, not the other way around." "I think you missed the point of the swear jar," Jason said. Anyone who swears, pays. You swore once, so you owe a dollar and we swore twice, but we'll call it even this time. Now finish eating and get your asses out to the back yard." He handed both of them a loonie. We spent the next little while in the back yard playing soccer. They were fast at running, but their ball handling skills needed work. My ball handling skills were perfect, although my soccer ball handling sucked. I think Cory figured it was hockey as he body checked us repeatedly. I'd have to review the rules, but I'm not sure that was part of the game. Fortunately I was able withstand the attacks until he got into tripping. Then it moved from there to just jumping on us. It kinda turned from soccer into professional wrestling. By the time we were done, we were covered in grass stains and needed to go soak them off in the hot tub and pool. Cory disappeared upstairs for a few minutes and then returned carrying the big dildo he had been given and stuck it to the wall beside us, giggling as it wobbled around hanging there. "You can have this back, Jason. It's too big. I guess you were right about me being too small to use it. It's okay though because Blake and I have figured it out ourselves anyway." "Really? What did you figure out exactly?" "We know how to do all the grown up sex stuff now, so we don't need you to show us. But will you ever love me enough to have sex with me?" Cory asked as the two boys sat on the edge of the hot tub dangling their feet in the water. "Love isn't about sex buddy. I can love you without sex, the same as you love your Mom or Blake." "But Blake and I do do sex. That's what we learned. He puts his thing in me and then I do it to him. So why can't you do it with me?" "Because you're not old enough. Once you're 16, if you still feel like you want sex with a boy, ask me again and we'll talk about it. I have a feeling that you'll probably find a girl you like and you won't want sex with a boy after that." "I doubt it. Girls are stupid. They don't even like video games, they never laugh when you fart, and they're always giggling or talking about clothes and makeup and stuff. Plus they'd rather play house and dress up than wrestle. Nah, I'll stick with boys." I laughed. Seemed right to me. No flaw in that logic. I noticed that Jason just ignored the fact that Cory had just told us that he and Blake were fucking. I wanted to say something but I'd trust Jay on this one. Maybe ignoring it would be best. If we made a big deal of it then they might think they should do it more to prove they were adults. Who knows. They don't cover this in parenting books. They have one for kids called `Everybody Poops.' I have never heard of one called `Everyone Experiments with Same Sex Sex'. I wonder how big a seller that would be? "So what are we gonna do tomorrow? Blake wants to know," Cory asked. "Blake wants to know huh?" Jason grinned. "I thought maybe we could vacuum the house, do the laundry, pull weeds in the garden and then go shopping for clothes." "Seriously?" Cory said looking at Jason like he'd just turned into a three headed alien. "That doesn't sound like fun at all. Boring!" "What would you like to do?" "We want to go to the wave pool and then to the magic shop afterward," Cory smiled. "Before or after we do all the other things I suggested?" Jason said trying not to grin. "Instead of them. Come on Jason. We supposed to have fun, we're kids. That's adult stuff." "So you're too young to do adult stuff when it comes to weeds and laundry, but your old enough to learn sex like an adult. I'm confused. Which are you, kids or adults?" "That's not fair Jason. We're tweens, so we like kid things but want to be adults without doing boring things like adults." Ouch, nice comeback. The kid was good. Jason's turn. "Well you can't just pick all the good things you want. Sometimes you have to take the boring stuff too if you want to be all grown up." "We do. We already do homework and take out the garbage and that sure as hell isn't fun," Cory said definitively. I smiled. Again, he was right. "Okay, you win. We'll go to the wave pool and magic shop." "Yay! You're the best big brother ever!" Cory squealed as he hugged Jason. Blake nodded and hugged both of us before going to jump back in the pool. "Nice try. But the older he gets the smarter he gets. I hope Blake isn't that bad once he starts talking or we're really gonna have to be on our game. I have a feeling that Cory will ask you for stuff and if he doesn't get the right answer, then Blake will try and ask me," I suggested. "Just like we did with Mom and Dad you mean?" He smiled as we remembered playing our parents off one another. Half the time I'd ask Mom and then when she said no, I'd go straight to Dad. If we ever got caught, we'd just say that it was the other twin that asked the other parent and pretend we knew nothing about the original answer. Worked every time. "So it looks like it's off to the wave pool tomorrow. Alex and Colin said they'd join us as well for a family outing. The boys liked it not just because of the waves, but because of the two waterslides. We let the guys stay up late in hopes that they'd sleep in which seemed logical. It was almost midnight before they crawled into bed without showers, which was fine since they'd been swimming. In the morning, I went to check on them since we hadn't heard any noise from their room at all. They weren't in there, so I peeked in on Kyle who was asleep by himself. I stuck my head in to Jason and Alex who were just waking up. "Have you seen Blake and Cory this morning?" "No, but they slept with us most of the night. They crawled in between us around 2 making up an excuse that there were monsters in their bed trying to eat them. I think it was just an excuse to sleep in here. They left about an hour ago." "Okay, thanks. ADAM please locate Cory." The monitor lit up and showed that he was in their bedroom, so I went back to see if I'd just missed them, but they weren't there. I found his phone on the floor. "ADAM, please locate Blake." The monitor lit up with the address of the Grind'r and I looked at it in disbelief. "ADAM call Blake." The phone rang and Cory answered. "Hello," he said cheerfully. "Cory, where are you guys?" "Who is this? I'm not allowed to talk to strangers," he giggled. "It's Justin smart ass," I said smiling to myself. "Hi Justin Smart Ass! This is Cory Danger Mills. We're at Alex's restaurant. We're getting you guy's coffee and breakfast. It's supposed to be a surprise, so don't tell everyone okay." It was a surprise alright. "How did you get there?" "We rode our bikes. Blake used Kyle's bike `cause it's still too big for me and I used his. We'll be home soon." "How are you paying for everything?" I asked. "We don't have to pay silly. It's Alex's restaurant. Everything is free here. Is there anything you'd like now that you know we're here?" "No, just be careful coming home alright. We'll talk when you get back." "Are we in trouble or something? `Cause you know we're not little kids anymore. I even know how to take the bus and stuff, as long as I have someone with me, and I have Blake, plus we're on bikes not the bus." "Just be careful, okay? If you need us to come pick you up, just call." "Okay, bye!" He hung up and I went back to Jason's room. "Did you find them?" Colin asked. "Yep. They're at the Grind'r." "WHAT?" He said sitting upright. "Did Kyle take them?" "No. They rode their bikes to go get us breakfast and coffee." "Are you serious? We should go get them," he said as he swung out of bed and headed for his dresser. "I think we should let them do this. I have the GPS tracker on and we'll monitor them, but Blake is 12 and should be given a little bit of freedom to go places as long as he's not alone for now. All we should do is maybe talk to them about letting us know where they're going before they leave." "Well looks who's turning into a Dad," Jason smiled and he patted me on the back. "But seriously, do you think they'll be okay?" "Why wouldn't they be? They're both smart enough and they gotta learn to be on their own at some point. Legally Blake is old enough to babysit, so this is probably good, except for the whole scaring the shit out of us thing." We dressed and waited for them to come home which didn't take long. They had all the food and coffee in their backpack, and it was obvious that the Grind'r staff and packed it carefully for them. The two boys were grinning proudly as they laid it all out on the island for us. We had to heat up the coffee, but the gesture was nice, and we made sure they knew it. "Guys, this was a good surprise, but from now on if you leave the house, you have to at least let one of us know where you are going. You can't just disappear. We thought you'd been kidnapped." "You mean like by aliens or something?" Cory asked wide eyed. "Maybe," Jason grinned. "How would I explain to your mother than you were on your way to another planet?" "Yeah, I suppose. But if we were kidnapped by aliens, they probably wouldn't have allowed us to tell you anyway, so that kinda doesn't make sense." "True, but if you tell us that you want to go somewhere and we know where you are, then we won't have to worry about you being in outer space. See the difference?" "Sure. If we say we're at the restaurant, then you won't worry. If you can't find us, you'll assume we're in outer space. Got it! Sorry, we'll make sure we tell you from now on. If you're not here, can we leave a note or something?" "No, you call or text and ask permission," Jason said. "You don't leave the house until you get our okay. Pretty soon you'll be old enough to stay home alone and we'd have to rules like that too." "How old do you have to be to stay home alone?" Cory asked as he and Blake stared intently for the answer. "twe...twenty," Jason replied. "You were gonna say 12. That means Blake can stay home by himself and I can stay with him, doesn't it? I'll bet it's 12. I'm gonna look it up after breakfast." Cory said excitedly. True to his word, he got out the computer and looked it up. I was actually shocked that there were no laws about a minimum age. All it said was usually from age 9 to 11, depending on the maturity and preparedness of the child they could be left home alone for short periods of time, but shouldn't look after other siblings. From 12 upward they could babysit small children for periods not recommended to exceed 4 hours and not overnight, but it was just a guideline as no laws existed about it. They recommended babysitting courses and emergency preparedness drills etc., before allowing them to stay home alone. Cory saw this as a license to stay home by himself. "I should show this to my Mom. I know to call 911 if something happens and get out if there's a fire or something. Plus I already know how to drive, so I could take the car and go for help." "You know how to drive?" I asked. "Sure. I play lots of driving games and I have my remote control car that I drive, plus I've driven go karts and stuff. I also know not to use the stove unless an adult is around and never put metal in the microwave and also never stick a knife in the wall plug. Learned that one the hard way, damn near killed me." He said bluntly and I tried not to laugh out loud as I could just hear his Mom saying that to him. "I'm also never supposed to open the door to strangers. So I'm ready. So can I stay home alone? Blake is 12, so he's definitely old enough." "I'll talk to your Mom about it. No promises though. This house is too big to stay home alone and until Blake starts talking and can ask for help, we'd prefer he not be alone yet," Jason said wisely speaking what I was thinking. "If we stay together, I can do the talking," Cory gave as a rebuttal. "I'll think about it. In this house, if you stayed home alone, you wouldn't be allowed in the pool area until you were older." "We'd be okay with that. Wouldn't we Blake?" Blake nodded and smiled. "We'll think about it. Meanwhile would you like to go to the wave pool, or stay up on the second floor by yourself all day?" "WAVE POOL!" Cory yelled as he jumped up and the boys ran to grab their stuff. "Thought so," Jason said quietly after they left. "They want to be alone until they realize how boring it actually is." Everyone grabbed the stuff we needed and it was off to the wave pool. I would be on my best behaviour, just like Blake had been. I was going to start by counting the total number of abs in the pool. End of Chapter. Kyle will turn 18 soon, then what? Stay tuned for the birthday bash. You'll need plenty of sleep to attend that party. Comments welcome at outinwest@gmail.com