Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to real people or events is coincidental. It contains descriptions of sex between teenage boys and between adult men. If you are offended by this type of material, or if you are forbidden by law to read it, please exit the story now. E-mail comments are gratefully accepted at brew_drinker23@yahoo.com.

Tim

Chapter 8

I heard the boys scurrying around in the den and kitchen, and then I heard the unmistakable sounds of channel surfing on the TV. I could tell from what I could see through the window that the day was going to be beautiful, and I was really looking forward to being on the water with Mont and Ter and my family. At that particular moment, Rick was deep inside me, making my whole body hum with pleasure. He leaned down over me, and we kissed with the kind of passion that brought me over the edge.

"Uhhhhhhh," I moaned in a low voice.

He was an instant behind me. He lowered himself onto me, and I wrapped my arms around him in total engagement.

"God, I love you," I said.

"I love you more," he said.

"I know," I said.

He chuckled and then kissed me. It wasn't a passionate "let's make love" kind of kiss; it was the "we're in this together forever" kind. We separated and used our handy towel to clean up.

"I wonder if it's as good for the kids as it is for us," I asked.

"Oh, no way. They're just horny. They probably race each other to see who gets off first," he said.

"Aren't you horny sometimes?"

"Nahh. I have to will it so that every cell in my body craves you. It's the old mind over matter thing I do," he said.

"I get your point. It was a stupid question," I said.

We lay in bed holding one another and not talking. Our bodies were touching in a hundred different places. Slowly, imperceptibly at first, Rick started to move over me. He carefully lined us up so that every part of the front of him was touching the corresponding part of me. We slowly brought our breathing into sync with one another, and, before long, I could feel his heart beating against my chest, as I knew he could feel mine. He very gently licked my ear, and I licked his. Neither of us moved, and we slowly, gradually melted into one another in spirit. Our mutual arousal grew between us, and, after many minutes of contact, we coated one another with the essence of our maleness. If I had died at that moment, my fulfillment would have been complete.

"Do you still love me," he asked in a whisper.

"Completely," I said.

 

After a quick shower and shave together, we went out to meet the day and the boys. They had gone to a nearby fast food place and gotten a stack of sausage biscuits. I knew Rick didn't want to eat that kind of food, but I also knew he'd toss down three or four of those grease bombs for no other reason than the boys were so proud of themselves for having gotten them for us.

"Did you fellas have a nice morning so far," Kyle asked with a leer.

Rick and I both laughed.

"The best, Kyle," I said. Rick leaned over and kissed me. I could feel the grease on his lips, as I'm sure he could on mine.

"You guys are so great," Kyle said. "I want us to be just like y'all when we get old."

"Hey, watch that `get old' shit, boy," Rick said in mock indignation.

"Sorry, Mister Rick," Kyle said.

Rick and I roared with laughter.

"So, you guys ready for a day on the Gulf," I asked.

"Yeah. What kind of boat is it," Tim asked.

"I really don't know," I said. "We've never been out before. We haven't known Terry and Mont very long."

"Do you think we'll be able to ski," Kyle asked.

"The air is warm, Kyle, but the water temps are in the fifties, man," Rick said. "Your dick would chip off in water that cold."

"Is that how it happened to you," I asked in all seriousness.

Before Rick could even fully process what I had said, much less come back with a wisecrack of his own, Tim and Kyle both started chanting "uuuh, uuuh, uuuh, uuuh" and pointing their fingers at Rick. Rick started to say something, but he just laughed with the rest of us, instead.

"I love the way you guys tease each other about sex and shit," Kyle said.

I noted that he had wasted no time in taking Rick's "we're all guys, and guys talk like guys" advice to heart.

"If you think we're bad, wait till you meet his brother," Rick said. "He rags us unmercifully about being queer, but we get him about being straight, too."

Tim and Kyle suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"What," Rick asked. He clearly didn't grasp their discomfort, and neither did I.

"You just said the `Q' word," Tim said.

"The `Q' word? What, `queer,'" Rick asked.

"Yeah," Tim said. "Isn't that a hate word?"

"Not when I use it," Rick said. "That's what I am. That's what you are, too, buddy."

"Tim," I said, "have you ever heard two black guys joking around calling each other nigger?"

"Yeah. So?" Tim looked a little shocked that I had said the "N" word.

"Well, black people are a minority in this country," I said, "and they use that term among themselves to do at least two things, I think. First, to say, `You and I are brothers, and we don't offend each other if we call each other nigger. Nothing we say like that can piss each other off at one another.' Second, it's a way of saying, `Fuck you, white man. You can't put us down by calling us nigger anymore.' We're a minority that is often discriminated against, too. I think gay guys might use `queer' or `fag' or any of those names in the same way. Does that make any sense?"

"It does to me," Kyle said. "How'd you figure that out, Kevin?"

"He didn't figure it out. He read it somewhere," Rick said with mock derision.

"Yeah, I did read it somewhere. Tim, are you okay with that explanation," I asked.

"Yeah. My family all call each other `Mick,' which is a kind of bad word for the Irish in Boston. I think I understand. It's kind of the same thing," he said.

"Exactly," Rick said. "Now, you two little fudge-packers go get your shit so we can go."

"Fudge-packers," Kyle asked, apparently mystified.

"Fudge-packer wannabes?"

Kyle suddenly got the meaning of Rick's joke and burst out laughing.

"What," Tim asked.

"I'll tell you, Babe. Let's go," Kyle said.

In a few seconds, we heard Tim scream with laughter from his room.

 

Mont had told us where their boat was docked. We knew where the marina was, but it was huge. Knowing the location of the boat was a must.

We were walking from Rick's Trooper carrying a cooler, grocery bags, and back packs with clothes, swimming suits, and all the other stuff we brought. Coming from the opposite direction was a runner. I noticed he was shirtless, but he wore a pair of long, white sweatpants. He had on a pair of headphones. As he got closer to us, I noticed his dick flopping up and down inside the pants. The guy was a real looker, by anybody's standard.

He nodded politely as he ran past us. When he was well behind us and out of earshot, Kyle said,

"Damn, did you see that thing?"

"What," Tim demanded.

"His dick. It was flopping up and down inside his sweats. Man, that was totally awesome. Did y'all notice it?"

Rick and I both said that we had.

"No! I didn't see it," Tim said. "Awwww, man."

"He wasn't wearing a jock, Tim. His dick was just bouncing up and down because he was running. No big deal," Rick said.

"It looked big to me," Kyle said. "He looked as big as you, Kevin."

"Huh," Rick asked.

"We saw Kevin's dick yesterday," Tim said. "It's really big."

"There's a story here," Rick said, "and I want to hear it."

"Not really. I went out into the den naked. I didn't know they were up yet, but they were."

"Oh," Rick said. Then he chuckled.

"What did you say it was, Kevin," Kyle asked.

"I don't know. Uncircumcised," I asked. I really didn't remember what I had said.

"You said it was a something, not a something," Tim said.

"Oh, I said it's a shower, not a grower," I replied.

Rick chuckled.

"Yeah, that's it. What does that mean," Kyle asked.

"It means his dick is big when it's soft, but it doesn't get a whole lot bigger when he gets hard," Rick said. "It shows off well in locker rooms and such, but it doesn't grow all that much."

The boys giggled at that, and I landed an affectionate punch on Rick's bicep.

"Okay, okay. It grows, but it doesn't grow proportionately as much as some do. As mine does, for instance." I could tell Rick wasn't totally comfortable talking about our dicks as we walked down the dock, but he was too good a sport to say anything about it.

"What are we," Tim asked Kyle.

"We're growers, not showers," Kyle said.

"Mine doesn't get totally soft all that much," Tim said. "I wonder if Mont and Terry are showers or growers."

Rick and I were ahead of them. I put my hand on his arm to indicate I wanted us to stop. The boys saw us holding up, and they stopped, too. Rick and I turned to face them.

"Guys," I said, "Mont and Terry are great guys, but we really don't know them all that well yet, okay? I doubt very seriously that they would mind a question like that, Tim, but let's be kinda cool on the subject of sex today, okay? Sex, and things like, `Oh, guys, how big are your dicks?'"

Both boys laughed.

"What you're saying is, don't ask any questions that would embarrass them, y'all, or us. Right?" Kyle got it.

"Exactly, guys. You know you can ask or say anything when it's just the four of us," I said, "but that's family. Tim, do you understand what we're saying?"

"Yeah, big brother," he said, and he flashed an unbelievably cute grin.

Mont and Terry were standing on the dock in front of what I could only think of as a yacht. The "boat" was enormous, and it had the polish and gleam of a cruise ship. I'm sure I must have looked stunned.

"Jesus Christ," was all that Rick could say about it.

"Hi, guys," Mont and Ter said in unison. They shook hands with all of us, and they made sure they knew which one was Tim and which one was Kyle. They remembered their names, but they just wanted to get them straight.

"It's going to be a great day," Ter said.

We put the cooler on the stern deck.

"Why don't you put your packs in the stern stateroom," Mont said, "and then we can have a little tour."

I had been on some very fine sailboats with my friends when I was a kid, but even the best of them looked like rafts compared to that thing. Mont led us around. There was a stateroom that had a queen size bed in it. That room had it's own bathroom, or head, as Mont called it. There were two other staterooms that had four bunk beds each. There was another head between those two rooms, but it was a good bit smaller than the one for the stern stateroom. All of those rooms were down a flight of stairs, and I wondered if they were below water level. Then I noticed the portholes and knew that couldn't be.

"This is for the captain and the mate," Mont said of the tiny room that was right off the wheel house on what appeared to me to be the main level. As small as it was, the captain's room had a head, too, and I thought you could probably shit, shower, and shave all at the same time in that place. That level also had a galley; an entertainment room with a TV set, stereo, VCR, and DVD player; and a "mess," or dining room.

"Why do these tables have these rims around them," Kyle asked.

"Well, Kyle, if you're trying to eat in rough seas, that rim keeps the plates and other stuff from sliding off the table," Mont explained.

"Cool," Kyle replied.

"Is that why the beds have a rail," Tim asked.

"That's right," Mont said. "Very observant, Tim. Those rails keep you from falling out of bed in rough seas."

"You mean like in a hurricane, or something," Kyle asked.

"Well, we wouldn't take her out in a hurricane, but sometimes the seas in the Gulf or the Atlantic can get pretty heavy, even if there's no storm. Did y'all notice that everything in here is fixed to either the deck or a bulkhead," Mont asked. He noticed that the boys didn't seem to know what a bulkhead was, so he said, by way of explanation, "a wall."

"Cool," they said at the same time.

The third level was a kind of observation deck. In fact, that's what Mont called it. It had a canvas awning over it, and it was amazingly spacious.

"How big is this thing," Rick asked.

"It's fifty feet, ten inches long, Rick," Mont said. It's a 1997 Hattaras 50 Convertible."

"Tell me you guys won the Florida Lottery or something," I said.

Mont and Terry both laughed.

"We wish. It belongs to his grandfather's company," Terry said.

"OUR grandfather's company," Mont corrected.

"OUR grandfather's company," Ter echoed, mimicking Mont.

Mont just grinned.

"We can't even afford to fuel this fucker," Ter said. "We get to use it from time to time as pay-back for looking after it for OUR grandfather."

Mont chuckled at Terry's emphasis on "our."

"Well, let's get underway," Mont said. "By the way, I'm the captain and he's the mate, in more ways than one."

Rick and I laughed appreciatively. The boys probably didn't hear him because they were busy checking everything out.

Mont and Ter ushered us to the main deck where we took seats, and they got busy in the wheelhouse.

"Jesus Christ," Rick said as soon as they were gone.

"I know," was the only thing I could think of as a reply.

We all jumped a little when Mont fired up the 875 horsepower engine. It sounded a lot like a locomotive at first, but it got surprisingly quiet once he put it in gear. We chugged our way away from the dock for our first adventure on the sea with our new friends.

Terry, Rick, and the boys went to the stern on the main deck, and I went into the wheelhouse to keep Monte company. There was surprisingly little noise.

"Hey, buddy," Mont said as I entered the little room. "Do you want to take the wheel?"

I laughed, but he looked like he was dead serious.

"Maybe later," I said, "but thanks."

"I definitely want the boys to take a turn at it," he said. Then he added, "Under my careful supervision" when I started to object.

"Oh, they'll love it," I said.

"They are really cute. I don't think I was ever that cute," he said.

"Oh, sure you were. But I agree they're pretty cute."

"What it like being a dad," he asked. "Especially of a gay kid."

"Rick and I are still trying to figure that out. Both of them are incredibly open with us," I said.

"That's good, though, don't you think," he asked.

"Oh, absolutely, and we encourage it" I said. "You wouldn't believe the questions they've asked."

"Like what," he asked.

I told him about how Kyle's question about whether butt sex was better than what they had done had led to a lesson on male anatomy and how they had joyfully announced the next morning that they "did the finger" the night before.

That cracked him up, as I figured it would, but then he got sort of misty-eyed.

"God, they really trust you guys, don't they," he said.

"That's the second time you've said that, and, yeah, now that I think about it, I guess they do."

"I really envy you and Rick, Kevin. And Ter's going to turn green with jealousy when he finds out. You don't mind if I tell him, do you?"

"Of course not. Rick and I don't keep anything from one another, and I assumed y'all don't either. But why the envy and jealousy," I asked.

"Well, we've talked about maybe adopting a kid at some point. And we've talked specifically about adopting a gay kid. I know y'all haven't adopted Tim, but you might as well have, at least as long as his dad is gone," Mont said.

"Have y'all looked into it," I asked.

"Well, you know adoption by a gay couple isn't legal in Florida, don't you?"

"Yeah. Only too well. But what about long-term foster care, like until he's an adult," I asked.

"That's the route we'd take, for sure, but that route is littered with land mines," he said.

"What do you mean?"


"Well, a kid's probably not going to know he's gay until puberty, and by then he'll be twelve or thirteen. It's pretty obvious Tim's a happy, well-adjusted kid..."

"Yeah, George, his dad, has seen to that," I interjected.

"But they're not all like Tim at that age. We couldn't take a kid into our lives and then kick him out in six months when we found out we couldn't handle him. Imagine what that would do to the poor little bastard," Mont continued.

"I see your point. By the way, where the hell are we going," I asked.

He laughed.

"Have you ever been to Dune Island?"

"I've heard of it, but I've never been there."

"Well, that's it on the horizon, and that's our destination. Is that okay?"

"Who's the captain of this ship," I asked.

He laughed. "It'll be fun. Riding around on a boat, even one as nice as this one is, gets pretty boring if that's all you're doing. I saw the cooler. What's in it?"

"A six-pack of beer for the adults and soft drinks for the kids. Plus a couple of pounds of cold cuts, a couple dozen hot dogs, chili, condiments, ice cream, I think. I don't know what all, really," I said.

"Well, we've got about the same amount of stuff, too. We forgot to talk about eats on the phone, so we figured we'd be on the safe side, in case y'all didn't bring anything to eat or drink," he said.

I chuckled. "You were thinking about those three bottomless pits I brought with me, weren't you," I asked.

"Three?"

"Okay, four," I said, and we both laughed.

I could see through the windshield that the other guys had moved to the bow deck. The boys had changed into their bathing suits, and Kyle was wearing what appeared to be a Speedo. Mont noticed them, too.

"Jesus," he said. "Those boys are really built, especially Kyle."

"And they ain't too bad in the what-you-can't-see department, too," I said.

"Pervert," he said jokingly.

"Nope. Not a bit," I said.

"I know, man. I was just teasing you. But it's a good thing I'm happily married," he said.

We both laughed.

As we got closer to the island, Mont slowed the boat down. There was a dock, and I figured we'd tie up there.

"This is convenient," I said.

"Yeah. It's the dock for a ferry that brings people over in tourist season. It's on public property, so anybody can use it, but one side is reserved for the ferry, by common consent. They built it and maintain it, after all."

Mont docked the boat, and he and I went forward to where the others were.

"What is this place," Kyle asked.

Mont told him.

"Damn, I've heard of this island all my life, but I've never been here before. Oh, man, this is too cool." Kyle was obviously very excited.

"Is anything here," Tim asked.

"Yeah! There's a fort from hundreds of years ago," Kyle said. "They told us about it when I took Florida history in seventh grade. Don't you remember that?"

"I went to seventh grade in California," Tim said.

"So?"

"You don't take Florida history in California, Babe," Tim said.

"Oh."

Rick mouthed "dumbass" after Tim said that, and the four older guys laughed.

"Well, anyway, we're going to find that fort," Kyle said. "And you and I can get naked and..."

"Kyle," Rick said with an edge to his voice.

"I'm just teasing him, Rick," Kyle said with devilment in his voice. Then he pulled a Rick and mouthed "not" to the four of us.

Rick, Mont, Ter, and I burst out laughing.

"What are you guys laughing at," Tim asked.

"Kyle's being an asshole," Rick said.

Tim shot Rick a stern look.

"Sorry," Rick said, and that made us all laugh again, including Kyle.

"Come on, Babe, let's get our shit and get on the is-land."

They moved away to get their stuff, and we could hear Kyle mumbling to Tim. He said "old farts" two or three times loud enough for us to hear him, and Tim giggled each time.

When the four of us had stopped laughing at Kyle's antics, Terry said,

"Okay. That's it. I want `em. I want `em both, and I want `em right now. I don't care if they have parents. They're mine."

Rick, Mont, and I laughed.

"That Kyle's a cutie, for sure," Mont said.

"Not any cuter than Tim," Ter said. "They're perfect. They play off one another. You should have heard them back on the stern on the way over."

"Wait till you hear the stories Kevin told me about them," Mont said.

The boys came forward with the cooler and the grocery bags of non-refrigerated stuff we had brought. They had both packed back packs, but I noticed they didn't have them.

"Okay. We're here. Let's go," Mont said, and he and Terry led the way.

We were near the eastern tip of the island, and it wasn't very wide right there. We walked for about fifteen minutes up and down sand dunes until we made it out onto the most magnificent beach on the south side of the island I had ever seen . The sand was so white it hurt my eyes, and the water was a shade of clear bluish green that I had rarely seen on the mainland beach. There was a light wind, but the air temperature must have been in the mid-seventies. The sky was cloudless, and Rick commented on how much darker blue the sky was there.

"Less humidity out here than in town," Terry said.

"Surrounded by water, and there's less humidity?" Rick sounded like he doubted that.

"Yeah. Actually, our humidity comes from our bay system and the ambient pollution from the city. It's about as pure and natural out here as you'll find any place in Florida," Terry said.

It was almost one o'clock, and everybody was hungry. We set out a couple of beach tarps and used the tops of their cooler and ours as a buffet table. We took turns scooting down the "table" on our butts, making sandwiches, getting pickles and chips, and grabbing something to drink. It was a really cool lunch.

After lunch, the boys took off to find the fort.

Before they left, Rick said, "What time should they check back here, Mont?"

"Oh, I don't know? Four o'clock," he said.

"You heard him. Do you guys need a watch," Rick asked, pulling his off as he said it.

"I want to watch," Kyle said.

"In your wildest dreams, buddy," Rick said, handing his watch to Tim. Rick was grinning, and we all laughed when we processed what Kyle had said. Kyle grinned, obviously proud of his witticism. They took off like two puppies, pushing and trying to trip each other as they ran down the beach.

Rick took off his shirt, and the rest of us joined him. Then he pulled off his sweat pants to reveal running shorts underneath. We all stared at him as he was doing that.

"No free show today, boys," he said.

We all laughed.

"So what did you tell Mont about in the wheelhouse," Ter asked.

I repeated my spiel for Terry's benefit, but Mont and Rick laughed in all the right places, too.

"The thing about those two is you never know what to expect," Rick said. "I mean, one minute they're totally naïve and innocent, and the next they're talking about having sex in the dunes. Kyle's pun about the watch and then them running down the beach playing is a good example of what I mean."

"I noticed you jumped right in when it came up about sex in the dunes," Mont said.

"I thought I knew Kyle was saying that for comic effect, but I didn't want him to say anything to embarrass Tim," Rick said.

"I'm glad you jumped in, Babe, but my money is on..."

"They're doing it," Rick, Mont, and Ter said in unison. We all laughed.

We made small talk for a little while, discussing a recall election in a local city, the pair figure skating controversy in the Olympics, the upcoming ACC baseball season, and the boat. Just ordinary queer talk.

"Do you guys ever like to take afternoon naps on the beach," Mont asked. He was cute the way he said it, but it was obvious he wanted a nap.

"You just said that to get rid of us," Rick said jokingly.

"No. He said that so maybe you'd shut the fuck up and let us sleep," Terry said. He was grinning at us.

"Let's go find the fart, er, fort," Rick said.

Rick and I put our arms around each other's waist as we walked down the beach. We stopped when we were out of sight of Mont and Ter, who were probably already asleep anyway, and kissed. It was one of those "let's make love" kisses, and I knew it because I felt the same way.

I reached up to his chest and started playing with his nipples.

"Oh, God, I want you so bad right now," he gasped.

"Me, too," I said, my breath a ragged as his.

Our erections rubbed against one another as we kissed again.

"Do you think we should," I asked.

"No."

"I don't either," I said.

"But you just wait till we get home," he said. "I love you so much."

He'd said that many times before, but, for some reason, that time it just took my breath completely away.

"Me, too," I whispered. He stroked my face, and that gesture said, for the thousandth time, "I'm all yours." We loosened our grip on one another and continued walking. Our hard-ons led the way.

"What if they see this," I asked, touching his cock. I was talking about the kids, and I knew he knew it.

"Or this," he asked, touching mine.

"Yeah," I said.

"They'll know we're in love and we turn each other on," he said.

We walked leisurely down the beach, sometimes holding hands, sometimes holding one another around the waist. We heard the sound of the surf, the sound of the wind, and the sound of the odd seagull overhead. It was about as peaceful and idyllic a place as we had ever been.

We turned around after about forty-five minutes and headed back to our camp. We got there just as Mont and Ter were breaking from what appeared to be a pretty passionate kiss. They grinned at us, and we grinned back at them. They were both hard in their pants, but nobody said anything about that.

"God, I would kill for a cup of coffee," Rick said.

"Me, too," Terry echoed.

"We can make some when we get back on board," Mont said. "I could do with a cup, too."

"This place is beautiful, man," I said to no one in particular.

"It is, isn't it," Mont said. "It sends chills up my spine when I think of oil drilling off this coast and possible oil spills. That would be a crime."

"Do you know anything about the fort Kyle was talking about," Rick asked.

"Yeah. It was a Civil War fort, not from hundreds of years ago," Mont said. "I've read about it on the Florida state parks Web site. It's small, but it's pretty well preserved, apparently. I've never seen it."

"Is this a state park," I asked.

"Not officially. The official state park is on the bay, right over there." Mont pointed in the direction we had come from. "But the state park service owns the island, so there won't be any development here."

"Do they allow camping," I asked.

"Oh, yeah. Do you guys like to camp," Ter asked.

Monte and Terry were so easy to be with that I forgot from time to time that we hadn't known them very long. Questions like that one reminded me that we were still all getting to know one another.

"We love to camp," I said. "Are there any facilities on the island?"

"Nope, not a one," Mont said, "but we'd have the boat to use. We've camped here a few times, and it works great. Do you think y'all might be interested?"

"Oh, no question," Rick said.

"Great," Mont said.

Just at that moment a shadow of a man cast itself over our little site. He was standing west of us, so the sun, fairly low in the sky as it was, made him appear enormous. It startled me, and, judging from their reactions, it startled the rest of us, as well. Rick jumped to his feet.

We all turned to look, and we were presented with Kyle, buck naked.

"Hi," he said sheepishly.

"What the fuck is going on here," Rick demanded. "Where's your suit."

"We lost them," he said.

We all caved at that line, and Terry flopped down, laughing hysterically.

"How the hell did you lose your suits," Rick asked.

"We took `em off to, er, go nudist, I guess, and we couldn't find them. All the dunes look alike. We don't know where we left them. Please don't look at me." I could tell he was embarrassed, but I couldn't tell if it was because he was naked or because they had lost their suits.

"Kyle, you can't come up to a group of guys stark naked and expect them not to look at you. Besides, you don't have anything to be ashamed of, man." Rick's gentleness with him impressed me. People who knew Rick only casually didn't see his sensitivity, but he was certainly showing it then.

"I know I don't, but we lost our suits," he said. Kyle's penis suddenly began to grow. He tried to cover it with his hands, but it couldn't be done. He was as hard as a rock in a matter of seconds. "Fuck," he said, and he started to cry.  He turned bright red all over his body.  He looked down and turned away from us.

Rick bounded over to him and wrapped him in his arms.

"Shit, man. Why are your crying. It was just a crappy-ass suit. That's no reason to cry."

"I know. It's this," he said, indicating his erection. "I'm so ashamed." He sobbed.

"Kyle, buddy, you're a gay man standing in front of four other gay men. We're your brothers, dude. We love you. You can't be embarrassed in front of us for a hard-on, for Christ sake. It's natural, buddy. Any one of us would do exactly the same thing as you, man." He switched to his confidential tone of voice. "Plus, I happen to know that Kevin is so hard right now he's about to bust through those jeans he's wearing."

That last statement made Kyle laugh a little through his tears.

I glanced at Mont and Ter, and they were taking it all in. Their faces were hard to read. They were somewhere between sympathy for Kyle and admiration for Rick.

"Where's Tim," Rick asked.

I could tell Kyle was feeling better.

"He's behind that dune. He was too scared to come out, so I did. Please be nice to him," he said.

The way Kyle said that was so tender, so loving, so concerned that it just about made my heart break.

"Hell, no. I'm kicking his fucking ass, and you are, too." Rick pulled his shorts off right at that moment, and, suddenly, he, too, was naked except for his shoes.  He grabbed Kyle by the hand and pulled him until Kyle started running, too.

In about ten minutes, the three of them came over the dune, all buck naked. The boys were carrying Rick on their shoulders. They both staggered a little under Rick's weight because of the loose sand. Kyle was soft by then, and all three had huge grins on their faces. Both boys were tear streaked, but they weren't crying any more. When they got to where we were standing, they dumped Rick off their shoulders. He fell down into the sand, and, when he stood up, his dick and mid-section were covered with sand.

He pointed down to his crotch and asked, "Who wants to get fucked?" I think we were all stunned for a few seconds at that question, but, when we realized he was coated with sand and saw the implications of that fact for sex, we all howled.

We struck our little camp in about two minutes as Rick cleaned himself off, and we started our march back over the dunes to the boat. I glanced at my watch and noticed it was only 4:15. The sun was still about twenty degrees above the horizon, and I wished we could stay for sunset. There were clouds in the west, and I knew the sunset would be spectacular. I had read about the sunsets at the western end of Key West, but I had never seen one.

As though he read my mind, Mont said, "You'll see one soon. By the way, that boy you're married to is a total keeper, man. You'd better do whatever it takes to hold on to his ass."

We continued our trek over the dunes, and I just grinned. I was already bursting with pride at the way Rick had handled the boys, and Mont's comment only added to it.

Rick and the boys got dressed when we got back on the boat. It was still full daylight, but the sun was sinking fast. Mont took the boys into the wheelhouse, presumably to let them steer the boat on the trip back. They must have done a decent job of it because I didn't notice any lurching or unplanned movement.

Right after we got home, Kyle had a phone call from his parents. They hadn't seen him all weekend, and they told him to come home. Tim stayed in his room doing homework, and Rick and I crashed on the sofa to watch TV. It had been a great weekend, and we went to bed pleasantly tired.