My Father's Glory Part 13.

By Chris Z.
email: zaldanachris@hotmail.com

The author claims all copyrights to this story and no duplication or publication of this story is allowed, except by the web sites to which it has been posted, without the consent of the author.

This story is purely a work of fiction and any resemblance to person's living or dead, or to events that may have occurred, is purely coincidental.  Moreover, none of the actions of the characters in this story is meant to condone, approve, or sanction their behavior.

All comments are welcome and if you wish to contact me, please feel free to email me at zaldanachris@hotmail.com
 

I would like to give thanks to all the readers that have written in regards to the story.

I have taken into acknowledgment, your expressions, thoughts and feelings, regarding all characters in the story.

I appreciate your kind words, which have provided much inspiration, encouragement and support.
 

Please note:  Due to my very hectic and busy work schedule, all three stories will take time in being written and eventually posted.  Please have patience and bear with me, check the archive every once in a while, sooner or later you'll find the updated stories and I hope you enjoy them.

Sincerely,

Chris Z.
 

"Desire is the key to motivation, but it's determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable you to attain the success you seek."

-Mario Andretti-



I have started two different novels, and these will be posted in the Nifty Archive, under the following categories.
 

College

Once In A Lifetime

Historical

Eagle's Honour
 
 

As the alarm woke me up at 6:30 a.m, I hit the snooze button and decided to stay in bed for another five minutes.  I closed my eyes and wanted to rest a little while longer, but in a matter of seconds the damm alarm went off again, so I hauled my ass out of bed before I fell asleep again.  I moved my hand to wake Adrienne but she was not in bed, her side of the mattress was cold and she had most likely already left for work.

In all the years that we've been married, I can never get her work schedule right.  Every week it's different and the hours are just terrible, but then again she earns well and makes a helluva lot more money than me.  At first this used to bother me, I guess it was the male pride and ego thing that found it hard to digest.  But as the years went by and we decided to start a family, I learned to swallow my pride and now with both paychecks, we're certainly enjoying a good life and we're able to provide the best for our son.

The first rays of sunlight were now peaking through the curtains and as I headed towards the bathroom, I could hear the garbage truck outside picking up the trash.  I stopped and tried to remember if I had taken the garbage last night, but I had been so tired and had other things on my mind, that I really wasn't sure.  Oh well, it's too late now and besides if I did forget, then I'll hear about it tonight when I come home from work.

The fresh aroma of ground coffee coming from the kitchen, gave me the extra jolt that I need to wake up my senses.  Soon enough, Dante's alarm clock would be going off and the cub would be joining me in the bathroom.  I walked over to the sink, brushed my teeth, gargled and splashed cold water on my face.  I was about to grab a towel, when a recognizable grin was staring at me from the other side of the mirror, my own.

Tonight at exactly 9:00 o'clock in the evening, was the monthly poker game held at Tapu.  This poker game has been going on for many years and only a selected few have the privilege to join this underground club and be part of this private brotherhood.

Over the years, many law-abiding citizens fell prey to the addicting and dangerous life of gambling.  The Tapu has seen everyone and everything, from the outstanding pillars of the community, such as the cleric, doctors, wealthy business men, local judges, lawyers and even politicians.  As well the worst of human scum, the crooked cops, thieves, convicts and even the mafia.

At the Tapu, it was fair game as to who won and lost more than their shirts on their backs.  The poker games were never rigged and were always carefully monitored.  The worst penalty, is of course not having enough funds to cover your bet and having to "borrow" money from the house.

If you lost and couldn't pay your bet and it happened to many, then you were basically fucked.  You fell into the terrible ordeal of practically being owned by the house and this was the worst of all humiliations and a crushing blow to your manhood.  Your financial ruin, was spread by word of mouth and like a rampant blaze that couldn't be contained, reached within seconds to all members of the Tapu.  The poor bastards that fell into the dark void of debt, had to serve and do anything that was asked for by the house, as well as those that took advantage of your downfall and wanted to blackmail you.

In order to pay off your debt, you had to solicit yourself like a common street whore and do any favours for the man or men, that had saved your sorry ass.  This however, came with a severe price for the poor fuck that had lost everything, but if you played your cards right and were smart enough to take advantage of someone else's misfortune, then by owning a cop or even a judge, one could reap many rewards.

I still remember my first time sitting at the round Mahogany poker table, it feels like such a long time ago.  I must have been about 16 or 17 years old, way too young to be admitted into such a place, but at the time no one had dared question my age or even a reason as to why I was there.  I certainly looked older and more mature than most guys my age and with the rigorous training and boxing matches, my body had developed quite impressively and I could stand my own ground.  Looking back, I can't believe I had been so careless and nothing more than a short tempered, law breaking hoodlum and if it wasn't for Rocco, I can't even imagine where I could have ended up.

I was still transfixed and staring at my reflection, the steam coming from the faucet was by now casting a fog on the mirror.  I wiped the mirror with my hand and for a split second, I thought I saw a much younger version of me, staring from the other side.  I closed my eyes, shook my head and jumped as I felt a warm hand touch my leg.

"Dad, you o.k?", Dante was standing by the door, staring at me and rubbing his eyes with his hands.

"Hey there, sport.", I smiled at the sight of the little guy, gave him a kiss on the head and stroked his right cheek.

"Morning cub.  I'm fine, you just startled me, that's all." The little guy yawned and sleepily walked towards the toilet.  I took my shaving cream and razor from the medicine cabinet and silently watched Dante, trying to piss into the toilet but missing the bowl by at least 2 cm.

"Hey Sport! Wake up son, you're pissing on the floor." Dante yawned, opened his eyes and blushed.

"Oh,....sorry." He took aim again and this time the last of the yellow stream, hit the toilet bowl right on target.

"Don't worry about it cub, it happens to the best of us at one time or another.  No wonder your mom says that my bathroom smells like a public urinal.  But hey, who cares it's our bathroom, right?", Dante chuckled and nodded in silent agreement.

Dante, casually walked to the sink, pushed me out of the way and grabbed his toothbrush.  He carefully brushed his teeth in a very meticulous and precise manner, just the way his mother has taught him.  When he caught me staring at him, he gave me the same look his mother gives when she's pissed off and quite casually said.

"Today is friday.  Are you going to your poker game tonight?"  It was now clear why he was upset.

"That's right, son.", I splashed warm water on my face and began to lather up.  I caught glimpses of Dante looking at me and right away, I knew that he had something on his mind and even before he opened his mouth, I knew what was coming next.

"Can I come along, please?  I promise that I won't get in the way and I'll be quiet the whole time.", I sighed and took a good look at his face.  He still had that sleepy, rustled hair look and he was staring at me with those bright hazel eyes.  If there's one thing about Dante, is that he can be quite cunning and persistant and certainly knows how to get his way, but I couldn't take him to the Tapu that was simply out of the question.

"Dante, you know that place is only for adults and no children are allowed.  You ask me that every time and you already know the answer.", Dante was giving me a very angry look and had a nasty scowl on his face.  I wanted to laugh, but I knew that that would just piss him off even more and end up making things worse.

"It's not fair!  You get to go out and I want to go with you!", As he finished the sentence, he pushed me out of the way and in a fury headed out of the bathroom.  I was left with my razor on my hand and my face covered in shaving cream.

I was standing by the sink alone, and with my head spinning like a whirlwind.  I wondered how much of Dante's quick and short temper, actually came from me.  The thought made me shiver, so I set the razor on the counter and walked out after him.

"Hey, c'on cub.  Don't be angry, aren't you going to take a shower with me?"

Dante stopped in front of the bedroom door, turned around, gave me a ferocious and fierce look and, as he slammed the door, said "No."

I took a deep breath and gave an exasperated sigh.  I stood there for a moment, scratching my head and wondered as to how to handle this delicate and volatile situation.  First, I had to let Dante cool off and I know that I can't let him get away with everything that he wants to do, that's one rule that every parent knows.

When I got down to the breakfast table, Dante was watching his morning cartoons and eating a bowl of cereal.  He usually likes to talk up a storm during breakfast, but after the little tantrum episode upstairs, he simply ignored me and was completely immersed in his morning cartoons.

I helped myself to a cup of coffee and as I approached Dante to give him a hug and kiss goodbye, he quickly got up from the breakfast table, took his empty bowl of cereal and walked over to the sink.  He didn't even bother to say anything to me and raced upstairs to brush his teeth.

My mother-in-law had been watching the scene, she simply looked up, and while reading the morning paper and sipping her coffee, said "He's just in one of his moods this morning, I wouldn't make any fuss." She gave me a warm smile and continued reading the newspaper.

My mother-in-law and I, hardly ever speak to one another, we tend to avoid each other most of the time.  Our characters are way too volatile and different, we simply seem to clash with each other, besides I don't think she ever accepted the idea of her daughter marrying me. She felt that her daughter was throwing away her life by marrying an uneducated, orphaned and poor nobody.

If it would have been left to my mother-in-law, Addriene would now be married to Fernando Barbosa's son.  Something, that I still hear her whisper to the black widow, while making sure that I'm within hearing distance of the comment .  I honestly, don't know what either one of them see in that asshole.

If Addriene and my mother-in-law, only knew the truth about that bastard, they wouldn't be so fond of him.  There are not enough curse words in any language to describe that son-of-a-bitch, he's nothing more than a candy-ass, chickenshit and useless dickwad.

Franco Barbosa, is the perfect example that just because you come from a wealthy family, doesn't necessarily mean that you are born with class.  Just thinking about that cuntface, makes my mouth all bitter and dry, so I better think of something more pleasant because it's way too early to get all worked up, especially over such an asshole.

I grabbed my keys from the table and headed out the door.  This was usually the time, when Dante would come down the stairs and give me a goodbye kiss and hug that would keep me in a good mood the whole day.  Today it was different, Dante was still upstairs and by the looks of things, he wasn't coming down and I couldn't wait any longer.

"Hey sport, I got to get going.  I'll see you in the evening.", I waited for an answer, but it never came.  I felt quite bad and as I walked over to the garage and got into my car, I could have sworn that I saw Dante looking at me through the curtains in his bedroom window.

I had a lot in my mind on my way to work and my mind was racing with a million thoughts.  I was glad that it was finally friday, though, I was walking towards the building's entrance when I ran into Paolo Mesto.

"Morning Tony, I've been waiting for you.  I've been meaning to talk to you in a while, but I wanted to do it in private.", Paolo looked nervous and I could sense that something was on his mind.  He kept looking over his shoulder and seemed a bit nervous, all of this made me wonder what could be on his mind.

"Morning Paolo. What's up?", I've hardly ever seen Paolo so uncomfortable.  I can only think of two other times where I had seen him this nervous, one was on his wedding day and the other, his first time at the sports center.

Paolo kept avoiding my eyes and seemed really uncomfortable, as well as anxious.

"Listen Tony, you think we can find a quiet place to talk?  I really don't want the other guys to hear." He started walking towards the parking lot and I followed him.

Once we were in the parking lot and away from the building, Paolo took a deep breath, looked straight into my eyes and finally muttered.

"I want Cragnotti.", I must had a look of pure stupidity.  I had no idea as to what Paolo was talking about, so I just stared at his deep blue eyes and with a vague expression, said.

"Who?", Paolo had a very serious look on his face and simply rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Giovanni Cragnotti.  He's Wolfsburg's friend, the kid from the center...remember?", Paolo blushed and I must have grinned like the Cheshire cat.  The mischievous character from the book, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland.

"Ohh right,...Cragnotti.  Yeah, I always meant to ask about the kid.", Paolo's cheeks again, blushed a deep crimson red and he let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, I've been thinking about the kid night and day.  I can't concentrate on anything, I close my eyes and I see his face, I can't eat, can't sleep and what's worse day and night, I have have these urges for him.  Look Tony, I want full access to him at all times.", I raised my eyebrows and simply nodded in agreement.  The kid must have been a good piece of ass, to have this kinda effect on Paolo, or was there more to this?

"Now remind me again, how old he is?", I looked at Paolo straight in the eyes, but he averted my eyes and looked down at the pavement.

"He's seventeen.", I crossed my arms, scratched my head and sat on the hood of a car.

"Who took his cherry?", I really didn't even need to ask.  Paolo's facial expression and silence, said it all.

"There's nothing like deflowering a virgen is there, Paolo?", I chuckled and shook my head, side to side.

I cleared my throat and checked over his shoulder and made sure, that there wasn't anyone around.

"So, you've taken his cherry and now you want him all to yourself.  Well, I don't have a problem with that bud.", I gave Paolo a pat on the back and lightly punched his rock hard stomach.

"One thing that I want to make perfectly clear Paolo, is that if you want Cragnotti to be yours, than you'll have to make him your novice and take him under your wing.", Paolo nodded in silent agreement.  Over the many, many years that we've all been friends only Rocco and I had ever taken a novice.

Being a novice in the sports center was a highly regarded status, but not a highly sought after position.  Not many guys, were prepared or determined for the rigorous mental, physical and demanding training that came with being a boxer.  As a beginner, you were to do as told, follow the tough regimen and never once question your superior.  Only a handfull of truly determined men ever make to become well known boxers.  It's a lot of hard work, quite strenuous and a very demanding training.

"Yeah, I understand.  I truly like the kid and I think it will work out, I'll make sure of that.", I grabbed Paolo by the shoulders, gave him another pat on the back and I knew exactly how he felt.  We walked back to the building in complete silence and there was nothing more to discuss or talk about, as men and brothers we understood each other.

I was sitting at my desk for no longer than twenty minutes, when Cozza barged in through the door.

"What the fuck is going on and how comes Mesto gets the kid?", I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.  It was way too fucking early to be having this conversation.  My day is just getting better and better.

"Good morning to you too, Cozza.", I took a sip of my coffee and not a second later, Mesto rushed into my office.

"Sorry Tony.  He heard me talking to Rocco and he blew his lid.", Cozza gave Mesto, a very dirty look and slammed his fist onto my desk.

"He's already married and has all the pussy he can eat at home.  He doesn't need the kid!", Mesto took a big step forward and right at that moment, in walked Rocco Foglio.  Rocco, quickly took the position of standing betweem Cozza and Mesto and with his massive 6'4 frame, he stood as an impenetrable wall between them.

"Why don't you speak a little louder, you stupid fuck.  I don't think the whole floor heard you!", Rocco gave Cozza a very menacing look and although angry at the remark, Cozza simply lowered his gaze.

I got up and walked over to both of them.  I sat on my desk and motioned Rocco to shut the office door, I fixed my gaze at Mesto and then Cozza and as he was about to say something, I gave him a severe look that made him shut his mouth, before he could utter a single word.

"Paolo came to me, first thing this morning and told me that he wants the kid.  I don't have a problem with that, but if you also want Cragnotti, then we have an issue...unless, you're both willing to share." Mesto and Cozza, didn't even look at each other. Rocco was looking straight at me and I knew exactly, what he was thinking.

"Allright then, we'll just going to have to resolve this with a match.  This saturday the winner takes Cragnotti and that will be the end of this.  I want to make this perfectly clear that I do not want some 17 year old fuck to get in the way of our friendship."  Paolo and Enrico looked at me and both nodded in silent agreement.

I was about to dismiss them, when there was a knock on the door.

"Hey, morning guys.  What's with all the shouting?", Everyone was caught off guard and we all had the look of the cat that had swallowed the canary.  Fabrizio Castelli walked in carrying a fruit basket and looking very relaxed, refreshed and in a very good mood after his vacation.

Fabrizio stood at the entrance to my office with a big smile on his handsome face and looking radiant.

"What's going on?  This room looks like a funeral home, what's up?", Rocco, Paolo and Enrico, were looking at Fabrizio and then their eyes turned to me, we were all caught completely by surprise.  I did my best in giving the biggest smile, without looking the least bit guilty or nervous.

"Hey Fabrizio, welcome back!  How was your vacation and how are your parents?", I stood up and gave Fabrizio a big hug and a pat on the back.

"Well, it was great.  The whole clan got together and I got to see my brothers and other relatives, some which I hadn't seen in years.  Oh and by the way, my mother prepared this fruit basket last night for all of you, hope you guys like it.", Rocco gave Fabrizio a friendly hug and took the basket from his hands and put it on my desk.

"Glad to hear that Castelli.  I had forgotten that you were coming back to work this friday, I'm glad to see you again.", Rocco unwrapped the basket and took a couple of dried figs in his hands.

"Well listen Castelli, we'll talk some more later.  Right now, I'm supposed to be going over to the Plant B12 which is right across town, so I'll see you later.", Rocco popped another fig into his mouth and motioned for the other two stooges to follow him.

Cozza walked over to Fabrizio and gave him a hug and did his best at hiding any signs of anger.

"It's great to see you, Fabrizio.  I'll see you at lunch time, I need to get going as well.  I need to make my rounds and check the distillation systems.", Cozza gave Fabrizio a small pat on the back, walked over to the fruit basket and grabbed all the cherries he could carry.  As he placed a cherry on his mouth, he gave Mesto an evil grin and said.

"I just love cherries.  Mmmm, so yummy and sooo juicy, they're the tastiest of all fruits and my favourite!", He passed by Mesto, smiled and winked at him.

Paolo walked over to Fabrizio and extended his right hand.  They gave each other a strong and warm handshake and hugged as well.  Paolo walked towards the fruit basket, grabbed a couple of blueberries, strawberries and two kiwis.

"Thanks for the fruit and it's great to see you old friend.  I need to get back to the accounting department and close some accounts, we'll talk over at lunch.", Mesto gave us a small smile, as he closed the office door behind him.

I was left there standing in the room all by myself, with a great smile and all the best fruit had practically been taken.

"Well, I cleared out the room in record breaking time, what's going on?  All of you seem edgy and up to something.", After all the years that I've known Fabrizio, the man's sixth sense is something to admire.

"Up to something,...us?  You're imagining things, we have the poker game tonight and we were just talking about it when you walked in, that's all.", I grabbed a ruby red apple, sat on my desk and took a big bite.

"That's right, your illegal and underground poker game is tonight.  I was planning on stopping over by your house this evening after work.  I still have to give Dante his birthday presents.", Fabrizio sat on the brown leather chair, grabbed a banana from the fruit basket and slowly started to peel it.

"That's a great idea!  Dante, Adrienne and my mother-in-law, would love to see you and have you over for dinner.  Actually, there's still a piece of cake sitting on the fridge with your name on it, Dante saved it especially for you.  He even wrote a note that says, everyone is to stay away from that slice of cake, it's especially reserved for you.", As we both laughed in unison, our eyes met for a brief second.

"You're very lucky man, Tony.  Dante is a very special kid and I want to see the little guy tonight, I've missed him.", Looking at Fabrizio's natural, devoted and affectionate character, it had been no contest why Adrienne and I, chose him to be Dante's godfather.

If anything ever happened to Adrienne or I, then Fabrizio would look after Dante.  I preferred him over any other family member, either Adrienne's or mine.  Fabrizio had a perfect and clean image, never drank or smoked, never did any drugs, was highly dependable and very responsible.  For years, Adrienne had tried constantly to set him up with a "nice" girls, but he was elusive as ever and although he would date a girl once in a while, he would not commit to anything serious.

Fabrizio showing up home tonight, was the perfect opportunity for me to take my leave and sneak off to my poker game.

"Besides, that would also make it alot easier for me to get away for the poker game tonight.  You know how Adrienne feels about that.", Fabrizio gave me a sour look and continued to take slow bites out of the banana.

"Well, isn't that convenient for you.", He shook his head and I couldn't help but stare at his alluring deep green eyes.  The sunlight coming from the window, was shinning on his light brown hair and playing with the highlights in his hair.

"What are you grinning at? Why are you looking...", Before Fabrizio could say anything else, I lunged at him and planted a big wet kiss on his red lips.

Fabrizio dropped the banana that he was eating, as I slipped him my tongue.  I had pounced on him and caught him by complete surprise, I could see his eyes bulging and for a brief moment he was having trouble breathing.  I felt Fabrizio's strong arms push me away, as I forced my tongue even deeper into his mouth.

"Christ sakes, Tony!  I almost choked on a piece of banana.", Fabrizio sat up on the chair, looking at me in disbelief, while arranging his well ironed shirt and fixing up his silk tie.

"I bet you'd rather choke on this banana.", I grabbed my tenting crotch and clearly outlined my 12 inch pussy plunger.

"What's gotten into you?  How come you're so randy this morning?", He gave me a big smile and licked his lips.  I kept grinning and staring at those cat like green eyes.

"Just happy to see you, that's all.", Fabrizio raised both eyebrows and gave me another curious look.

"Mmmm, ok.  Well listen Tony, I need to get to my office or they'll be sending the hounds of hell after me.  I can't even imagine how much paper work I have to go through today.", As Fabrizio got up, I quickly noticed that he's black dress pants, were showing a very prominent bulge.

"You're going to leave in that condition?", I pointed to his hefty meat that was tenting his dress pants.

"That's your fault.  Jumping me and getting me all worked up, I don't know what's gotten into you.", Fabrizio slowly got up and tried to conceal his mighty weapon.  He grabbed the morning paper from my desk and used it to cover his crotch.

As Fabrizio turned around to leave the room, I grabbed his hand, turned him around and slammed his body against the office door.  Before he had a chance to realize my assault, I put all my weight on him and firmly kept him against the door.

Fabrizio's eyes seemed bewildered and surprised.  I grabbed his head with both hands and planted another big kiss on his delicious wet lips, making sure that he felt my throbbing anal impaler.

Fabrizio tried to push me away at first.  He fought my advances with all his might, but I was way too strong for him and after four seconds, he gave up, opened his mouth fully and allowed my tongue full access. The kiss lasted about 2 minutes or so, and it was only after the phone rang, which startled us and caused our lips to detach.

Fabrizio's face was flushed and his chest was heaving, as was mine.  As the phone kept ringing, I quickly walked over to pick it up and as I turned around, I heard the office door open and barely had the chance to see Fabrizio walk out of the room.  I was left standing there with a raging hard on and a grin across my face.

I cleared my throat, sat on my leather chair and picked up the phone.

"Hello Antonio, are you there?  Did I catch you at a bad time, are you busy?", The voice was familiar, sort of deep and masculine.

"Markus, is that you?  No, I'm not busy, what's up?", My mind was reeling with what had just happened.  I closed my eyes and paid close attention to the young, energetic voice on the other end.

"I won't take too much of your time.  I just wanted to say hello and let you know that I'll be at the Tapu, tonight.", Markus sounded upbeat, even cheerful.  I however, at the moment was feeling a bit remorseful and had only Fabrizio in mind.

"Actually, I'm glad that you called.  I forgot to mention to you, that this evening I want you to wear a muscle t-shirt or a tank top, preferably in white.", There was a short pause and silence at the other end of the phone.

"Mmm, well...allright.  I think there's at least one white tank top in my dresser somewhere.  Is this the dress code for the Tapu?", Markus laughed a little, which made me smile as well.

"I can't wait to see you as well.  Listen Markus, I better get back to my work, so I'll see you later this evening and don't be late."  Markus was calling me from a pay phone at school, it was very noisy in the background and I could barely hear him properly.

I looked at my watch and it was now 9:30 a.m.  If my memory served me right, then according to his schedule, Markus should have been in his History of Philosophy class.

"It's 9:30 a.m, aren't you supposed to be in your Philosophy class?", There was another pause and silence at the other end of the phone.

"How the hell do you know this?  Seriously Antonio, do you have a copy of my schedule?", I had to laugh for a second and it was my turn to remain silent.

"Listen Markus, get your ass to class and I'll see you tonight, alright...ciao."   I hung up on him, walked towards the window and looked towards the bay.

How the hell, I'm going to explain Markus to Fabrizio and vice versa, is still a mystery to me.  I really hadn't thought this far ahead and now that Fabrizio was back in town, well they're bound to run into each other.  I've known Fabrizio since I can remember and we've become very good friends and extremely close to each other over the years.  Fabrizio has been there for me through the good and worse of times in my life.

Our friendship, at least in the sexual aspect has been non-existent for the last couple of years.  When we first met in our early twenties, we were very compatible, like-minded and the sex was great, simply awesome in fact.  Fabrizio and I, were two young stallions that fucked at every possible moment, night and day.

But the day came when I met Adrienne and a flame was ignited in my heart, soon a love affair developed and my passion for her grew and grew, until the day that I fell completely in love with her, wanted to marry her and raise a family.  Something that I couldn't do with Fabrizio, no matter how many times I bred his ass.

The day I spoke to Rocco, about my feelings towards Adrienne and playing with the idea of marriage, he gave me the longest father to son talk that I'll always remember.  That afternoon at the sports center, while walking through the gardens and looking at the sailing ships over the harbour, he talked while I listened.

At the most difficult and turbulent moment in my life, there was one person that stands out and with his affection and caring personality, made a difference in my life.  With his advice, guidance and example, Rocco helped me encounter, understand and embrace the world, whom I thought was actually against me.

Rocco became a substitute brother, mentor and father.  That afternoon, I understood that he truly cared about me and I found him to be a remarkable teacher in the lessons of life.  I remember staring into his eyes, as he spoke to me in a clear and very deep tone of voice.

"If you want to get married just because you have a certain impression about family life and how perfect it seems, then you're doing it for the wrong reason, Tony."  I remember looking straight into Rocco's eyes and feeling a bit of anger bubbling inside me.

Over the many weeks and months since meeting Rocco, I had been a very angry and confused young man, quite reckless, thoughtless and with a carefree attitude.  Rocco, showed me another side of life and with his mentoring, his coaching in the sport of boxing, he slowly changed my life.

"Knowing if and when to get married is important.  There's something about being married that implies security and stability.  There's the financial security of two people being responsible for each other, come what may and the security of having someone in case you get sick, have an accident, or whatever...", Rocco sat me down in the garden and had a heart to heart talk.

After pondering over the idea of, "to get married or not to get married.", Rocco added another perspective.

"People get married for various reasons, Tony.  First there are the bad or at least questionable reasons, such as: for security, money, sex, they may never get another chance, pregnancy, their parents want them to, pressure from a partner, to escape from an undesirable situation, to have children, loneliness, they need a mother or father for existing children, it is the expected thing to do, for peer, social, or professional approval and so on."

As we sat on a bench under the shade of an old Oak tree, I knew that this was going to be quite a long talk.  These talks, were done with the best of intentions and not to be taken as sermons.  I paid close attention to Rocco and absorbed everything that he had to say.  Even right now, I can still see and feel everything, from the cool summer breeze to the rustling of trees, as Rocco gave me the fatherly talk.

The harder I close my eyes, the better I can see the memories of the past.  How long has it been since I had that talk with Rocco?  The years have just flown by and it only seems like yesterday, that I was asking him advice on marriage.  I stared into the small sailing boats in the harbour, while I heard Rocco's baritone voice, booming in my ear.

"When you really get down to it and strip away the more acceptable rationalizations, millions of people have gotten married for one or more of these reasons.  So, let's examine some of these poor and even very bad reasons for marriage.  First, there's the issue of security.  There is no doubt that personal security depends on our having a certain amount of structure in our lives and marriage, with all its social norms, expectations, etc., marriage can provide some of that structure."

"The problem comes when one of two things happens.  When we try to shift the responsibility or control of our lives to another person, or when another much more dominant personality succeeds in taking control, in both cases personal growth and even mental health can suffer."

"Closely related to the issue of security, is money.  There is no doubt that money can make a man or woman more attractive as a prospective partner."  I had to chuckle at that last comment.  At the time I was broke and any money I made came from the boxing matches and by other obscure means.

"Now in my opinion, there are other wrong reasons for marriage and the most obvious one is pregnancy."  Rocco turned his eyes to me and gave me a very stern look that would had made any man tremble.

"The girl is not pregnant, is she Tony?", As soon as Rocco said that, I almost fell backwards on the bench.  As the colour returned to my face, I shook my head violently from side to side and swallowed hard.

"No of course not, I haven't laid a hand on her.",  Rocco smiled and raised his eyebrows.

"That's good son, I'm very glad to hear that.  You have to have self control, because pregnancy at the beginning of a marriage is not a good combination.  Again, I believe that couples should wait a year or two to let their relationship stabilize before having their first child."  I felt my face burn at the thought of getting Adrienne pregnant before marriage.

I wanted our courtship to be perfect, something that we both could be proud about and talk to our kids about.  I am old fashioned kinda guy and at least for marriage, I believe in sex after marriage.

Rocco's talk, was calming down my nerves and talking to someone that had experienced and survived marriage, made it easier to consider the commitment of marriage.

"The fear of loneliness, is often a major motivation.  Without a doubt, loneliness can be one of life's most painful experiences and even a less-than-ideal marriage seems better than the pain of being alone.  This is not a good reason for marriage, just remember that even just knowing that we have someone special in our lives, even when they are not present can keep us from feeling lonely."  I understood that.  After my parents died in the car crash, I was bounced around from one relative to another, never staying in a place long enough to call home.

Fabrizio's friendship at the time of my parent's death, was part of my salvation.  Castelli's soothing words, presence and understanding character, was enough to keep me out of serious trouble or worse.  After being thrown all over the place with different relatives, it was Fabrizio who suggested to come and live with his family.  The Castelli's, welcomed me with open arms and finally felt like I was home again.

"But being single does not have to mean being lonely, just as being married is no insurance against loneliness.  I know of many singles who lead such active social lives that they consider it a treat just to get some time to themselves.  Loneliness involves an absence, but not necessarily an absence of other people or even of one special person.  Often when people get married to keep from being lonely, they end up just temporarily diverting attention from some inner need or deficiency."

"There is also the two sides of stability.  Getting along with one person day after day, through thick and thin, is difficult and when you add to this the need for mutual personal and professional growth and top that off with the additional requirement of a reasonable amount of happiness and satisfaction, you end up with either one of life's biggest dreams or one of life's biggest challenges."

"First, to a great extent our manhood develops as we live out our lives as men, we do the things that men do. What most men lack is an inner sense of their own manhood.  In many ways, they may not have actually developed the masculine side of their being.  Living as a married man, loving a woman, caring for her and protecting her, even opening the stuck pickle jar and putting out the trash in a way nurtures a sense of manhood in us.  Fathering a child and then facing and living up to the challenges of fatherhood enhances one's identity as a man."

"Oh and by the way Tony, don't think that marriage is the end of masturbation, it's actually just the beginning.  If you think you masturbate a lot now, wait until you get married."  I had to laugh and blush at the comment. Many young man my age jerk off, but it's not something that you'll admit to other guys, especially your closest buds.

"If non-stop sex is your reason for getting married, you are deluding yourself.  Get married because you want to keep a dynamite person to go through life with.  Get married because you have never met someone as wonderful as your future spouse, but don't get married because you want a lot of sex, it simply doesn't happen.  Remember that after a few months or maybe years, you'll want to sleep more than you'll want sex and I'm not kidding, it will happen."

I couldn't swallow Rocco's last comment.  I practically think about sex 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and I'm always ready to fuck like a stallion in heat.

"And here's something that you won't hear saintly Father Ettore, tell you about marriage.", I gave Rocco a curious look and wondered why Rocco, always had such dislike towards Father Ettore.

"You stop having a lot of sex and that's hard for any young man to believe or understand, but it's true.  Fortunately, it's not as bad as you think and it's mostly because sex is always there for you.  Anytime you want or really anytime she wants, you can roll over and bug her until she gives in and let's you have sex.  Suddenly after one simple wedding ceremony, you're not spending all your time, trying to find pussy, it's right there between your wife's legs."  I had to laugh at that last comment.  Rocco's coarseness was direct and straight to the point.  I blushed, but understood what Rocco was trying to explain to me.

"Actually Tony, in all honesty regular sex kills your hunting instinct.  You're no longer a hungry wolf, out on the prowl stalking virgens, but a devoted husband with new responsibilities and goals.", Even before I came to Rocco with the idea of marriage, I could feel an invisible weight on my shoulders and a lump on my throat.  I knew that with marriage, there would be many changes in my life and new responsibilities.  This was a serious journey and that's why I wanted to hear Rocco's opinion.

"A husband is a man, who chooses to establish a marriage relationship with a woman and develops the mindset and attitude necessary to consistently nurture that relationship and maintain it for life.  In other words, you will be the king of your castle, your duties will be to lead by example, to guide, love, and teach.  As husband, you will be the provider in your home, everything from food, to shelter and maintenance."  I remember simply nodding in silent agreement to Rocco and knowing fully that I would do my very best in being the best husband I could be.

"As the man within your home, you have been entrusted with another person's life, your wife's and in the future, your children.  You will protect your home, spiritually, physically, mentally and financially."  I could feel the lump on my throat, but I still I managed to smile and nod.

"So what are your basic responsibilities as a husband?  Well Tony, there is the number one responsability which is leadership.  Leadership is one of the highest callings God places on an individual, a leader has a special talent to lead others, to motivate them and do things they themselves thought impossible.  I truly believe that you can do that, I've seen you at the sports center, you have the ability to turn losers into winners and failures into successes."  Rocco made me smile with that last comment.  I know that I do have the ability to motivate others and I'm always there to help anyone, if they need me.

"As my old man used to say, God has ordained husbands to be leaders.  To lead in marriage by spiritual development and by godly examples, he has given men the ability, desire and tools to be leaders and patience, like Agape love, is required for marriage.  Husbands need to stay focused on building the relationship, you need to let the it grow naturally and patiently work through all the issues and challenges."

"Treat the marriage like a garden and it will grow day by day.  Husbands must learn to do three important things, the first is to focus on your goal and not on your progress.  Focusing on your progress can be misleading (good days and bad days) and focusing on your goal helps you to stay motivated regardless.  Secondly, you have to pursue solutions to your problems, not alternatives to your marriage and remember Tony, every couple faces common marriage problems but confronting the issues can help to strengthen the relationship.  Thirdly, expect the storms and roll with the punches, don’t be controlled by your circumstances and remember that shit happens, so expect it and deal with it."

As Rocco continued talking, I zoned out for a few seconds and tried to remember my old man.  What he looked like, the way he talked, laughed and how he handled things.  He was a well mannered man, with no bad habits and even when my parents had arguments, he always maintained his calm and composure.  He hardly ever raised his voice or lost his temper and was always there to listen and always made time for his family.

As I came out of my fog and back to reality, I could still hear Rocco talking.

"Man in his created role in life was given a natural desire to be pre-eminent within the family unit and to be responsible in his position of leadership of his family, therefore a man must be held accountable to the duties pursuant to this capacity."

Rocco married in his early twenties and over the years, has acquired more than enough experience and knowledge in many areas, one of them being marriage.

"And when you become a married man, some strange things happen.  Believe it or not other women start hitting on you, I'm not kidding, it's odd but true.  I personally think, that the wedding ring gives some women, a false security that you're not going to try and jump them (which, if you really love your wife, you won't want to).  These women, will find you simply irresistable and they'll talk to you more easily than they would a single guy."  I raised both eyebrows and looked at Rocco with curiosity and wondered what he meant.  As Rocco's piercing green eyes shone brightly in the setting sun, I think I detected just a hint of mischief.

"But in the end son, marry someone because you have found someone you like.  Marry her because she is the person you would like to spend a lifetime with and you truly believe that she's your soul-mate.  Marry her if you can't imagine living without her and you want to build a life together. Marry her if you can't imagine living with anyone else, make plans together, do things together but most importantly, do it because you want to."  I smiled at Rocco and while looking at the harbour, I knew what I wanted to do, marry Adrienne.

"In an oblique manner, the people who talk about "covenant marriage" are right.  Marriage is something which enforces what should be a relationship and if the relationship is valid, then it will be self-bonding.  Remember these words Tony, you don't marry someone you can live with, you marry the person who you cannot live without."  I sighed deeply and nodded a silent yes.

I don't know how long the phone had been ringing, but I finally woke up from my daydream and ran to the desk.

"Yeah, hello?"  I was a bit stunned and speechless at first, but then I heard a very distinguishable voice, say.

"Where the fuck were you?  Tony, hello...you there?"  I shook my head and cleared my throat.

"Yeah, yeah.  I'm here, what's up Rocco?"  It was Foglio and I had a feeling as to what he wanted to say.

"So did you tell Castelli?"  I sighed and that was a sufficient answer.

"That means no.  So when are you going to tell him about Markus?"  I hesitated to answer him.  I mean, I knew that I had to do it sooner or later but at the moment, I didn't feel like talking about this.

"Well Tony, it's none of my business to tell you what to do or even say.  But I think Fabrizio has the right to hear it from you first, before he finds out some other way."

"What do you mean?  And what is this, some other way shit?"  My tone of voice was changing and I was beginning to get annoyed and upset.

"Don't take that fucking tone of voice with me, and you know damm well what I mean.  If Castelli goes to the center and finds out about your boxing match with Markus, it won't take him a second to realize what you did to the kid."  That was true.  In all the years that I've been going to the sports center, not many men have dared challenge me, and the ones that did paid a very high penalty and were fucked into submission and made as an example.

The problem of being in the seat of power, is that there is always someone wanting to take it from you, by any means necessary.  Over the years, I've made plenty of friends and enemies as well and the good contacts that I've made have always valued my friendship and honour.  Plenty of men, have looked for me in search of help, advice, friendship, for favours or simply because they wanted to be close to me and my clique.

Deep down inside, I knew very well what Rocco had meant by "some other way".  There were many men in town, that would have loved to break the news to Fabrizio and what better way to turn someone that I care about against me.  I mean Castelli is my right hand man, he was my best man at my wedding and I see him as a brother.

The word going around the sports center was that Antonio Alessandro Martinello had now taken a novice.  The news had spread like wildfire and scorched everything in it's path.  Questions were being asked left and right, it seemed that everyone wanted to know who this kid was.

The young man was described as a handsome, blue eyed, platinum haired and well-built Austrian fellow, by the name of Markus Wolfsburg.  Very little was known of him, except that he was a native of San Remo and that his father was from Vienna and mother from Trento.  There had been another young man with him but even less was known of him, for the exception that the had been dragged away by Cozza and Mesto after the match.  To this day, there's alot of whispering, as to where Wolfsburg, and his friend Cragnotti, ended up that day.

Since San Remo's sports center, is an all male environment there is a secret and strict silent code that every man must abide by.   For many men the center is a home away from home, a place where you can relax, get together with your buddies and let it all hang out, and most importantly to get away from the nagging wife and family.

This is no ordinary sports club, in order to belong someone has to sponsor you.  Rocco had sponsored me and I in turn, sponsored Fabrizio and so on.  Even though my lifetime membership was paid by my company, I never had to show my card to anyone, I came and went as I pleased.

I know many guys that have grown up at the sports center and eventually brought their own sons as a sort of rite of passage, like the way I did with Dante.  The sports center is a great place to exercise, swim, soak up the rays in the solarium or to make use of the saunas.  There are always plenty of activities going on and you can join a countless number of teams and sports.

Over the 200 plus years that the center has been opened it has withstood wars, countless fires and even an earthquake.  With the financial backing of many wealthy business men and politicians of San Remo, no expense was spared in it's renovations and many additions to the original building.

The finest marble and limestone was used for it's floor and walls, the most expensive and beautiful Venetian glass for it's crystal chandeliers with soft lighting, lots of wood paneling in rich mahogany trim and fully equipped with the most modern of sports equipments, making it one of the finest athletic clubs in Italy.

I stopped daydreaming, walked over to my desk and sat down.  I looked at the wall clock and it was now close to 11:30 a.m and I hadn't done dick-all.  I stared at all the paperwork that was sitting on my "In" tray, took another glance at the nice sunny day outside and furrowed my brow, this was going to be a long day.

It was around 1:00 p.m. when I decided to join the guys for lunch.  I was starving and another second in my office and I would be climbing the fucking walls.  By the time I took a detour, went to the washroom and unloaded a gallon of piss, I was practically ready to devour a live cow if it was served on the cafeteria menu.

As I entered the cafeteria and made my way to our table, I found all the single and even some married office women laughing, giggling and circling around Fabrizio.  I had to smile as the women resembled vultures ready to descend on Fabrizio and savour him as their tasty meal.

"Afternoon ladies and gentlemen."  I walked up to the table and politely bowed to everyone.

"Hi Tony!", Beatricia, Giordana, Rosangela, Lucianna, Susanna and Natalina all cheerfully and coquettishly exclaimed at once.

"Hey Tony.  Took you long enough to get here, another second and you'd be scrapping the pots in the kitchen looking for food.  Practically everything edible has been taken, except the Jell-O and well, no one ever eats that."  Paolo passed me my tray of food and I frowned at what appeared to be some sort of a stew.

"What the hell is this supposed to be?"  I looked at all of them and everyone started laughing.

"It's Ratatouille.  Eat it Tony, I promise you'll like it, I had the same and it's good." Fabrizio smiled at me, as he took a bite out of an apple.

"Rata,...what?  Sorry, but I like to pronounce and know what it is that I'm eating.  This looks like, well something I can't say in the presence of ladies."  The whole table roared with laughter.

Fabrizio simply shook his head from side to side and as he took another bite of the apple, said "Ratatouille, Tony is a Mediterranean dish with a French name.  It's mostly associated with Provence, but has a definite Italian influence and it's just a stew with tomatoes, eggplant, squash, potatoes and carrots."  I still had a look of concern on my face, because when I looked in Rocco's direction, he was simply smiling from ear to ear.  Cozza on the other hand, was busy flirting with Natalina and on purpose ignoring me.

I gave Mesto another miserable and serious look.  I sighed and stuck out my tongue at such an unappetizing and unsavory stew.

"Seriously, is this all there is left?  There's nothing more, well...edible?"  I sat on the bench, picked up a spoon and tried to eat this slop.

The girls were all giggling and smiling, as I took the first careful sip.

"Mmmm...well, it's not that bad.  Could use some pepper, though."  Fabrizio rolled his eyes and smiled.

"It's fine the way it is.  You just like to put pepper on everything, Tony."  I shrugged my shoulders, as more giggles and laughter came from the fairer sex.

"Well, we have to be going now gentlemen.  It's getting late and we have to get back to the accounting department, so we'll catch up with you later Fabrizio."  Susanna put her heavily manicured hands on Fabrizio's shoulder and motioned for the other ladies to join her.

"We'll be seeing you around gentlemen, ciao Tony."  I felt Beatricia's cold hands as she softly caressed my cheek, while Giordana was all smiles, as she rubbed my shoulders and whispered a soft goodbye in my ear.

Rosangela waved at me and said something to Rocco that I couldn't quite make out, while Lucianna was reluctantly willing to go and was still busy talking up a storm with Fabrizio.  Natalina on the other hand, was all giggles and blushes as she continued flirting with Cozza.

With reluctance and hesitantly, the ladies got up from the table and headed out the doors, waving and giggling like silly school girls.  I took a sip of mineral water, let a roaring loud belch and gave Fabrizio a look of pure mischief.

"They've been asking about you for the last couple of weeks on a daily basis, it was getting annoying.  I think they're all in heat and in need of a serious fuck, you should have made a move and felt one of them up."  Fabrizio simply smiled and took another silent bite out of his juicy apple.

The combination of the soup and mineral water was having an effect on me, so I let out a loud and resounding belch.

"BUWAAAH!"  As I burped, Mesto responded accordingly.

"BUUUURP!"  He raised his mineral water bottle in the air and winked at me.  Not to be outdone or be left out, Cozza followed suit.

"BAAAWHUUUUP!"  Cozza rubbed his stomach and took a sip from his mineral water.

I had to laugh, as I saw two old ladies from another department giving us a look of pure anger and disgust.

Mesto and Cozza, always trying to out do one another, began to engage in a crescendo of burps and were quite proud of this new language they had invented.  Cozza stopped burping and while finishing the last drop of mineral water, threw Fabrizio a quick look and said.

"You should have fingered Lucianna, Castelli.  She had her legs spread opened for you and was practically begging for you to fuck her, man you're slow."

Cozza pushed aside his empty tray and, while he scratched his head, said "As for Natalina, she's just a cock tease.  I've been wanting to get into her panties, for the last couple of months but being the good catholic girl that she is, she wants a ring on her finger before she spreads her legs.  I do have a ring, but it's a cock ring and I don't think that's what she has in mind."   We all started laughing and even Fabrizio enjoyed the coarseness of Cozza's vocabulary.

Mesto simply nodded in agreement and gave Fabrizio a wicked look.

"I bet her panties were all moist and wet.  Those sweet and luscious lips were begging for you, Castelli.  Cozza is right, you are slow."  Mesto grinned and looked at me, as he took another sip of mineral water.

"Well I'm glad you both think so.  Feels good to be back and in the company of such depraved, degenerate and perverted pigs.  I've missed you guys."  Fabrizio then let out a loud belch, that made everyone at the table break out in roaring laughter.

At the next table, I saw a young and pretty girl bat her eyelashes while looking at me and in almost audible voice, said to her girlfriend, "Definitely a guy thing."

*

I closed my locker and took the books that I needed for the next class.  I was nervous and my hands were all sweaty, I kept thinking of what lie I was going to tell Donna Marie.  Our matinee date was tonight, but Antonio was expecting me at the Tapu by 9:00 p.m.  I headed to the library, where I knew I would surely find Donna buried in some book or working on a project that was due months from now.

It didn't take me long to find her, sure enough there she was taking notes and with about 5 books all scattered around her.  I took a deep breath and decided to wing it, and improvise as I go along.

"Hey there, gorgeous.  Don't you ever take a break?"  I pulled a chair and sat next to Donna.

"Hi Markus.  Well, since we're going to the movies tonight, I figure'd I could get started on my assignments early."  This was going to be tough.  Donna had a big smile on her and I couldn't even try to fake a smile, she must have sensed something, because she took a hold of my hand and said.

"What's wrong Markus?"  I faked a smile and while looking into her eyes, I took her soft and beautiful hand and kissed it.

"I'm sorry Donna, but we won't be able to go to the movies tonight.  My parents have to go out of town for the weekend and I have to look after my little brother."  That was a good excuse and hopefully she'll buy it.

Donna's face changed rapidly, she looked dissapointed but still managed to give me a warm smile.

"Oh,...well that's alright.  We can do a movie some other time, it's not a problem."  As she said that, I felt relieved and tried very hard to look sympathetic.

"Well, what if I come over tonight to your place and we can just stay in and catch a movie on t.v?"  I sat there with a stupid fake smile on my face and I couldn't think of anything smart to say.  At that perfect moment, Anna Lucia walked in and she didn't even try to conceal her huge dislike of me.

"Here are the two other books that you were looking for, Donna."  She threw the books on the table, causing a cloud of dust to fly in our direction.

We both started coughing and gasping for air.  I covered my mouth and gave Anna Lucia a look of pure anger, I would have said something really mean and nasty, if she wasn't Donna's best friend.  I was covered in dust and I knew that I'd be coughing and itching the whole fucking day.  Especially, since I'm deathly allergic to mold and dust mites.

"Anna for heaven's sake, watch it!  You just covered us in dust."  Donna quickly grabbed her school bag and took out a hankerchief, to cover her mouth.

"I'm sorry about that.  Did I hear that you're date tonight is cancelled?"  I threw Anna a curious look and wondered as to why she sounded so happy.

"Then tonight you can help me with my architectural project.  You said you were going to help me, so why not tonight?"  I looked at Donna and I knew that I had to take advantage of the situation.

"Listen Donna, why don't you help Anna on her project tonight.  We can do something else another day, and besides with my little brother hanging around us, he'll never leave us alone."   Anna's face was practically beaming and she had a huge smile on her face.  On any other day, this would have bothered me but even though Anna didn't realize it, she had actually been a great help.

Donna tried to conceal her dissapointment with a smile and simply nodded.  I felt like such a slimeball for lying to her, but I had no choice and besides I'll make it up to her.

"Well listen ladies I have to head for class, I've got Advanced Calculus in about five minutes.  Donna, I'll call you on the weekend and we'll plan something for next week, I promise."  I grabbed my books, winked at Donna and left the library in a rush.

For the next two hours I sat in Professor's Delcaccia's class of Advanced Calculus for Science Majors and tried to look like I was paying attention.  The first hour seemed to drag by and I scribbled something about linear second order differential equations.  I think that I heard Delcaccia mention something about a quiz coming up in two weeks on solutions of differential equations including Bessel functions and Legendre polynomials.  Every time I would look at the clock on the wall, the time seemed to be going backwards.  I was going insane and ready to climb the walls.

As fascinating as this was, I stopped listening and paying attention halfway through the class and simply stared out the window.  On occasion I would take a long look at the clock on the wall while I heard Professor Delcaccia's voice echo throughout the large lecture hall.

I think I can speak for everyone in this class, by saying that we would all be rather doing something else rather than to hear about poly this, trigo that and something about wave equations in several dimensions.  For the longest time and for what seemed an eternity, I felt like I was in another dimension and a boring one at that.

At around 5:00 p.m, we were finally done and I almost trampled anyone who stood on my way and out the door.  I rushed to my locker, took out my bag and threw in some books that I knew I wouldn't be using and headed home.  The sun was still pretty high and even though there was a slight breeze, it was a relatively warm afternoon.  I was in such a good mood that I decided to walk home instead of taking the bus.  All day I'd been thinking about tonight and I had an itch for seeing Antonio.

By the time I got home I had butterflies in my stomach again and didn't even bother eating anything.  I headed straight to my room and rummaged through my closet looking for the tightest blue jeans that I could find and somehow I still had to find that tank top that Antonio wanted me to wear.

After searching my closet and many, many drawers, it occurred to me to check under the bed and that's where I found the tank top.  It looked clean enough, didn't smell and, most importantly, it was white as Antonio had asked for.  I went to the bathroom, gave myself a good look in the mirror and decided to shave again. I had hardly any stubble, but for tonight I wanted to look my best.

The shave only took about 10 minutes and I jumped into the shower.  I turned on the water to a scalding hot temperature, just the way I like it, and lathered my body.  I started picturing Antonio naked alongside me in the shower and I instantly got a hardon.  This had never happened to me before, I had never fantasized about men before and I didn't understand as to why this man had this kind of effect on me.

But what was it about Antonio?  Was it his good looks, his soft touch, that warm smile, that deep masculine voice, I just don't know anymore.  My heart skips a beat, when I stare into Antonio's hazel eyes and even right now, I've got goosebumps all over my body just thinking about him.  That afternoon at the sport center, when he first penetrated me and eventually ejaculated inside me, I felt as if I had awaked from a coma.  As I lay there on the bed, exhausted, worn out and drained, my body was slowly absorbing Antonio's baby batter and I felt privileged, empowered and special, but most of all, I wanted more.  I was in a new world; I could see, feel, smell and hear things differently.

But what had this man done?  Antonio had touched and healed some part of my body that I had neglected for so long.  With my new eyes and awakened senses, I saw men in a different light and not just in a sexual way, I mean all together.

As I rode the bus on my way to the university every morning, I took notice the way other men would walk, talk, dress and even smelled.  The most intriguing ones, to me anyways, were the married business men, all prim and proper in their well ironed suits, highly polished leather shoes, with their briefcase in one hand and newspaper in the other.

Sometimes, when one would really catch my eye, I would follow him as he got off the bus and get close enough just to smell the back of his neck.  That fresh morning scent of soap and aftershave, drove me delirious.  I would then have to run back to school and before heading to class I had to find an empty washroom, go into a stall and jerk off furiously.

As I would come off my trance, I found myself holding my cock and milking the last drops of sperm.  My body covered in sweat, my clothes sticking to my body and feeling all exhausted.  As I washed my hands and stared at myself in the mirror, I would ask myself, what the fuck is happening to me?

This unexplicable behaviour was getting out of hand.  My mind was reeling with thoughts and desires about men, but I shouldn't say men in plural, just one man.  One magnetic and provocative man, Antonio A. Martinello.

Antonio's presence was felt everywhere I went.  My body, mind, heart and soul ached for him and these feelings were much more than just a crush.  Even at night in my sleep, I would see him in my dreams and I would finally be alone with him and be able to do things that I couldn't do during the day, such as to kiss him, touch him or smell his body.  During the day, I found myself comparing ordinary men to Antonio.  In either build, looks, the way they acted or even spoke, in a way I just couldn't get Antonio out of my fucking head.

In his own forceful, strict but caring way, he had taught me a good lesson.  At the sports center, I had behaved like an asshole and I got the punishment that fitted the crime.  I do regret that our first meeting was going to be remembered in such a way, but at least I'm glad that I had the balls to stand up to Antonio, for a few seconds anyway.

Antonio is a handsome man and his looks are every man's envy, that's no contest.  His body ressembles the perfect male specimen but there has to be more to Antonio, than just looks.  There's a certain individuality, some characteristic and essence about the man that for some unexplicable reason, you can feel Antonio's masculine sexual essence and quality of character, everywhere he goes.

Antonio is unabashedly masculine, purposeful, confident and direct.  He lives his chosen way of life with deep integrity and humor, yet he can also be sensitive, spontaneous and spiritually alive.  I have seen many different sides of Antonio, a man of vision and character, strength and power, trust and wisdom and of course heart and love

I firmly believe that the strength of this man is not in the width of his shoulders but rather seen in the width of his arms that embraced and held me.  The power that he has over me doesn't come from the deep tone of his voice but in the gentle words that he whispers in my ears and even though Antonio is always hanging around his gang, his strength doesn't come from his buddies, either.  Antonio seems to radiate a glow of affection and proudness whenever he's around his son and Dante, in turn, gives Antonio the stability, vitality and energy that keeps him alive and strong.

Antonio may be a boxing champ and a distinguished fighter, but his toughness is not shown by how hard he hits (extremely), but by how tenderly he touches and caresses.  His masculinity doesn't come from his manly hairy chest, but it's in his heart....that lies within his chest and the man's strength is not shown by the weight he can lift, but rather on the burdens he carries.

It's hard to explain, but Antonio's sexual essence is radiated from his sexual core, his heart.  His masculine sexual essence is emanated from every pore in is body and his mighty and potent spirit is felt everywhere he goes.  But there is also another side to him, the fatherly side.  I'm sure that Antonio is the kind of man, that enjoys staying home, being a loving and caring father, husband and provider, but deep down he is also driven by another sense of mission.

I think that regardless of gender or sexual orientation, if you want to experience deep spiritual and sexual fulfillment, you must know your natural sexual essence and be true to it.  You can’t deny your true sexual essence by covering it with layers of false energy for years and then expect to know your authentic purpose and find true love.  Love is an openness, through and through and true spirituality is the practice of love and the process of openness.  A person who denies their own being and hides their true desires is constantly feeling divided and unable to relax, it's like their spirit becomes cramped, confined and restricted.

Antonio is far from perfect, but the man is an exemplary human being and has many superior qualities in him.  That's one reason why I was so curious about Antonio and wanted to meet him.  I had heard many great stories about his old boxing days, at the sports center and there was this image about him, that seemed to look up to him.  Nothing ever negative was said about the man, it was all praises which made me even more curious.  It's like all the men at the sports center seem to glorify and honour Antonio.

I decided to check things for myself and began to read many newspaper and magazines articles dating back to Antonio's boxing days.  Antonio seemed to have been completely immersed in sports during his youth and had certainly kept busy, he had been team captain for most of the sports teams.  I wanted more proof and decided to check the Hall of Honours, where I found gold and silver medals for every sport with his name on them, as well as countless trophies and championship belts.

I looked at every single photo of Antonio and felt something stirr in me, but I couldn't exactly understand what this feeling was. The more I learned about Antonio, the more I wanted to be like him, to mimic him in every way, to be a carbon copy of him and eventually I began to idolize him.

Antonio is seen as this perfect or exemplary human being.  I guess that his image is like a role model for most and a lot of guys want to follow his example and emulate what they can from him.  Perfection is an exhausting and burdensome achievement, therefore to know what a perfect man is, one has to see his spiritual and intellectual side, also to find out what his peculiarities are so that we may improve ourselves in the process.

To know a perfect man would mean that you have to know him thoroughly and completely.  I hungered to learn more about Antonio, I wanted to know everything about him, where he was born, grew up, about his family and what battles he's fought over the years.  I wanted to get acquainted with his whole personality; then and only then, will I know him as a perfect man.  Antonio had truly captivated me, so much so that I wanted to accompany him and follow in his footsteps.

Perhaps I was looking for a mentor in Antonio.  The primary function of the mentor is to teach, a mentor has something valuable (i.e., wisdom) that can pass on to others.  That process can be as formal and conscious as a scholar instructing a seminary class of eager young men or it can be as informal and unconscious as the ongoing presence of an older, more experienced man working beside a boy or youth and providing helpful feedback.  In another way, mentoring can take the form of modeling over time (even a lifetime), a form of instinctive coaching (at appropriate times), or systematic teaching (at scheduled times).

The mentor's core characteristic, is the fact that he communicates transparently with the person he is mentoring.  He imparts himself and his knowledge without undue self consciousness, in other words, he is transparent enough to share his successes, and even his failures, if these experiences will edify his students.  If a mentor fails to pass on the key of knowledge or wisdom, then he has not succeeded in his role.

I emphatically believe that there is a mentor in every man's heart.  That we all have the potential to mentor someone, but many of us never make time to help others to reach their potential.  Mentoring is basically passing on the secrets and lessons of our life and the purpose of mentoring is quite straightforward.  Mentoring builds strong individuals, who will learn by example and pass their knowledge onto others.  The attitude and posture of a good mentor is quite transferable to others because mentoring has its own built in process of duplication.

In other words, when mentoring is done well, it is very duplicatable because it has already been modeled by the mentor.  The goal of mentoring is to advance an ever increasing network of mentored mentors who will keep passing on their life wisdom to others.

Having friends or even just one person that you can trust and confide in is also important.  Friendship is a fundamental aspect of human nature, which can include a simple acquaintance, a casual circle of friends or a life long companion.  These friends will influence your actions, goals and accomplishments throughout your life.

I always wondered if it was possible for men to get close to each other and be able to maintain this closeness?  After seeing Antonio hanging around his buddies, I can see that this is possible.  There is an obvious friendliness between them and a close attachment that make them special.  It's this in-depth relationship between them that combines many special characteristics such as trust, loyalty, understanding, empathy, intimacy and support.

Everywhere they go, you can see Antonio and his friends, joking and laughing, talking about sports, family life, work, etc.  They seem to express their maleness in an intense and profound way.  They make their presence well known, it's in the way they talk, walk and behave.  These masculine men, portray an authority that seems to dominate, they take command and control over everything.  You can feel the electricity in the air when they enter a room and all other men simply stop what they're doing and pay close attention to their every move.

To me, all four men represent the true essence of masculinity.  Each one is different, but seem to behave in the same way, but have their own distinctive and unique characters.  I've met all four and their true masculinity can be summed up with different words, such as strength, compassion, vulnerability, gentleness, protectiveness, anger, courage, excitement, risk-takers, and so on.  They get along perfectly, which reminds me of the saying, 'Birds of a feather flock together'.

Every time I close my eyes and think of the day that I challenged Antonio, everything in my life changed.  In the moment that Antonio made love to me, I felt my soul open up and a whole bunch of feelings that I never knew I had exploded in every direction.  In this man I felt a sense of dominance, of protectiveness, of possession, of intense sexual desire, and most important, I felt the notion of love.

As this amazing man penetrated and fucked me raw, his life essence flowed out of his enormous cock and into my body.  I absorbed his male power, his masculinity, his genes and all his sexual energy, to give life to my body.  This was not just rape and sodomy, but I was caught in a maelstrom of sexual and spiritual energy, where we were both united into one being and in that moment I knew with complete certainty what it meant to be a man.

The sports center is a place, where most men go to talk, relax and meet other men on a deeper level.  It's a male only environment and it's associated with virility, power and machismo.  It's another dimension in the world of men, a place where men can be men, openly and freely and a place where they can clash, compete and portray disorderly conduct, which cannot be domesticated.

The sports center is the arena of competition, rivalry, and seduction.  Men of all ages come to the sports center to absorb and immerse themselves in the masculine culture of strength and red-blooded virility.  There is however one very private and secretive message for the youth and boys that come to the sports center.  This is a place where you'll learn to be a man, a place where you're constantly being bombarded with images of what it means to be masculine, to be assertive and macho.

Basically, the idea of being macho is all about being able to take care of yourself, being able to do whatever is necessary without needing or at least asking for help.  Macho means being secretly very complex but I have a problem with that ideology because it's very closed minded.  A macho man, doesn't think about what might happen later but mainly focuses on the present, on self-satisfaction, pleasure and desire.

But even at the sports center, there are different points of view.  Some older men in their sixties and seventies, divide the world of males into machos and pussywhipped men (female-dominated men).  To them the term macho connotes a man who's responsible towards his family, a man who is a provider.  To be macho more often means to be an honourable and courageous man, but even to have courage carries a heavy male accent.

I've spoken to some older men about this topic and to them a man must prove his manhood every day by standing up to challenges, brawls and insults.  To be macho is to be tough and brave, ready to defend his family's honour at the drop of a hat, and the urban Italian male must also perform exceptionally in sex and father many children.

A man's sense and experience of being male and macho, is but a part of the reigning chaos that is the lives of men in the sports center.  Being macho implies a tough, hard, blocklike approach full of pistons and rods and axles and other big steel-type stuff. Machismo to me is like a ladder and the problem with that is that there's always a guy who's more macho than you coming up that ladder.  Macho means taking the dares that come your way, and if you take every dare that comes your way, sooner or later you're gonna be dead.

The sports center is sort of like a club where boys or young men are initiated into the long path of manhood.  They are taught, either by their fathers, brothers, uncles, etc, what being male is all about.  As boys mature and enter adulthood, they enter the period of being hombres (men) and the qualities which are associated with being a responsible adult male and the many duties that they will carry throughout their lives (family, marriage, fatherhood) and in the outside world (work, politics, finance).

Like many young kids in here, I remember my own father bring me to the sports center.  I must have been in my early teens and it was here where I learned to swim and my love of boxing flourished.  My father taught me many things in order to prepare me for the next stage of my life, to leave childhood behind and move into adulthood.  With his direction and supervision, my father taught me love, patience, respect and above all, responsibility.  It is these essential qualities that men in particular, as men, ought to possess and may be admired for.

As I reached adulthood, I learned about the virtue of masculinity.  What it means to be a man and to be masculine, I was encouraged to feel good about myself as a male, and set high moral standards in order to achieve my personal goals.  The virtue of masculinity is to grow from boyhood into manhood in the physical, mental and spiritual sense.  Where you'll go your entire lifetime, constantly learning how to better yourself, and where the good of man as a man, is the activity of the soul in conformity with excellence and personal growth.  In other words, the purity of his soul, his dignity and honour and the ability to be true to his word, are significant characteristics that will bring richness, respect and prosperity into his life.

I kept asking myself, what does the virtue of masculinity consist of?  Responsibility would be the most central attribute of masculinity.  The masculine male's mind is responsible and assumes responsibility in one's doing; it is also in our male nature of masculinity to dominate.  The virtue of masculinity requires that this domination take place for the benefit of that which is being dominated or ruled over.  Unless the masculine individual is willing to assume responsibility for whatever he subdues, then he is not permitted by the virtue of masculinity, to subdue it.  Being responsible for someone requires that the other person's interest be of immanent importance.

Self-sacrifice is another aspect of the virtue of masculinity.  The masculine mind demonstrates and executes it's responsibility through service rendered towards those he is responsible for or under his care.  A man may show signs of affection and of fondness towards other males he is close with and this love is appropriate and natural because it provides a natural impulse to act upon and show their feelings or emotions toward each other.

As I got older and started university I came across the feeling that “masculinity” carried a negative image.  In purely descriptive terms, masculinity may be defined as the tendency to dominate a given set of circumstances and with that inclination towards domination comes the option of either dominating in a constructive or in a destructive fashion.  Some men and women seem quick to condemn all aspirations to domination as tyrannical, thus masculinity by definition gets a bad reputation.

I have begun to see masculinity in a different way.  The right way and wrong way, the right way of being masculine was to be dominating in a constructive and productive way.  The negative side of masculinity is the one that tends to be emphasized the most, masculine aggression.  This male aggression has been responsible for countless injustices throughout history ranging from senseless wars and mass-genocide to the common case of the bully strutting his stuff in the playground and it's this destructive behaviour in males that is admittedly the source of enormous evil.

In Antonio I saw strong masculine characteristics.  His masculine body build implies strong accentuation of such masculine characteristics as a large chest, a powerful and muscular body, square bodylines, strong legs, wide shoulders, hairy chest, big hands, bigger muscles, and.... yes, a large and thick penis.  A robust male with strong sexual characteristics and an expressive strong character.

These characteristics or traits are what makes a man masculine and all these characteristics are emphasized in a certain incomparable man, Antonio Martinello.  A man who is self reliant, athletic, affectionate, assertive, forceful, fatherly, reliable, caring, loyal and a mentor, yet unpredictable.  This potent and supreme man, who's clearly favoured above all other men, and with his natural charm and character is able to hypnotize you into submission.  His sexy and masculine baritone voice, those erotic and inviting lips, those hazel eyes that I can't resist to stare,...a true masculine man.

Nature has programmed us, to look for such masculine features.  It is not a choice, but an instinct for both men and women to be attracted either sexually or physically to men like Antonio.  This type of man represents; courage, durability, energy, healthiness, lustiness, potency, security, virility, sex, and power.

The first time that I saw Antonio naked in the locker room, I almost tripped on the bench that was in front of me.  At that time, I couldn't understand why the locker room was so packed with men.  Especially the area around Antonio's locker was surrounded by men of all ages.  As I saw Antonio peel off his clothes in what seemed slow motion, the whole room held it's breath and all eyes were vigilant and watchful on Antonio.

The size of the man was unbelieveable.  His muscular body was astounding and awe-inspiring, a prodigious and superhuman piece of flesh.  I, like the rest of the men in the locker room, couldn't help but to look at this handsome man.  Every drop of sweat was carefully observed and my jaw dropped, when I saw Antonio's massive penis.  His huge cock and king sized balls, made Antonio stand out as a true man, well above the rest.  I scanned the room and most, if not all, of the men's eyes were focused on Antonio and most specially on the oversized baby maker that hung between his legs.

It's intriguing to experience this hold and dominance that Antonio has over people.  Both men and women are captivated by his charm and manners, there's a certain characteristic and quality about Antonio that when a person ends up meeting him, they will eventually try desperately to be in his presence or to be in his inner circle of close friends.  Even before our meeting I had been carefully observing Antonio for weeks and I wasn't the only one, there were many men in the sports center that monitored his every move.

I remember the time that I dragged Giovanni into the locker room and made him wait outside to stand guard while I inspected Antonio's locker.  As soon as Antonio was out of sight men of all ages would casually walk up to his locker and drop little bits of paper inside.  This was really bewildering and puzzling to me and I wanted to know just what the fuck they were doing.

My eyes caught a young kid, barely 18 and heading to Antonio's locker.  Just like all the other men before him, he also had a piece of paper in his hand.  I decided to make my move, so I jumped him and slammed his body hard against a row of lockers.  As he stood there speechless and trembling before me I tore the paper from his hands and while giving him a very angry and menacing look, I told him to fuck off.  The dumb-assed kid took off like a scared rabbit and I was left holding the tiny piece of paper in my hands.  Once I started reading, I simply couldn't believe my eyes.

In a somewhat legible hand writing and with the ink barely dry, the kid had written that he was willing to satisfy any sexual needs that Antonio might have and that he was willing to do anything.  I was shocked and repulsed at what I had read, I stared at the little piece of paper, re-read the message a million times and tried to understand this fucking nonsense.

Here was this stupid young kid throwing himself at a complete stranger for sex.  The worst of all was that this kid wanted sex with a man and why Antonio?  Antonio Martinello was a straight man and married, not some lily-assed-faggot.  I couldn't believe this, I was dazed and confused, just what the fuck is going on?

Once I had shown Giovanni the piece of paper and he read it himself he had the same look of pure stupidity on his face.  Giovanni thought that perhaps I had made a mistake and that the kid was dropping the paper in someone else's locker.  But there was no mistake, the kid had addressed the paper to Antonio Martinello.  There was no other explanation, Antonio was being sought for the purpose of sex, and men were willingly offering themselves to him.  At that moment, and for some obscure reason that I couldn't explain, I felt my whole body burn with pure anger and my blood began to boil.

That had only happened a couple of days ago and the memory, was still firmly embedded in my mind.  Since then I had meant to ask Antonio how many men he had actually satisfied at the sports center.  However many times, I changed my mind because just thinking about Antonio fucking other men made me angry and with the desire to punch something or someone and so I simply pushed the thought out of my head.

As I stood under the scalding spray of hot water, I imagined Antonio being next to me and as I lathered my body with soap, I fervently wanted to run my hands over his broad shoulders and lick his massive hairy chest.  I ached to kneel in front of Antonio and with my hands follow his luscious treasure trail, down that rippled and perfectly flat and hairy stomach.  I wanted to look into his eyes as I took that glorious fat and colossal uncut cock into my mouth and milk those hairy bull balls that produced such thick and precious sperm.

My mouth felt dry and parched, I needed, desired and hungered for Antonio's oversized male organ.  I wanted to see him smile and please him with my mouth and every part of my body.  I was covered in soap suds and my cock was aching for release. I couldn't hold on any longer, I simply had to jerk off.  I started slowly and played with my balls. I pulled them, massaged them and then fingered my asshole.  I closed my eyes as I pictured Antonio finger fucking me, preparing me for his violation and at the moment when I was so close, I heard the bathroom door open and my little brother shouted.

"Markus, are you done?  Mom says to come downstairs, supper's ready!"

I almost slipped on the tub and quickly grabbed the rail.  I was startled and angry for never having any privacy in this fucking place.  At that moment, I was so furious that I probably over reacted and the next thing I knew, I was shouting with rage.

"Get out, Jens!  Get the fuck out of my bathroom!"  I heard the door slam, and Jens screaming at the top of his lungs.

"MOM...Mom, Markus just swore at me!"  I could barely make out the commotion coming from downstairs, but one thing was certain, I could make out my mom yelling something in German to my father.

This is all I needed and knowing my mother's temper, I would have to resort to blackmailing Jens in order to get out of this mess.  I quickly grabbed my robe, barely had time to put it on, when there was a loud banging at my bedroom door.

"Markus, are you decent?"  Mom was outside the door and judging by the tone of her voice, she sounded angry.

"Yes, I'm decent."  She burst right in, all red faced and checking me from head to toe.

"Your brother says that you swore at him, is this true?"  I was putting foot powder on and as I grabbed a white sock, I smiled and said.

"Of course not, you know how he is, he's so sensitive.  I didn't say anything bad, I just yelled at him to get out of the bathroom.  He dosen't even bother to knock and he's always bursting in."  My mother's face changed to a more pleasant colour and she called Jens.

"Jens Tyrol Wolfsburg, get in here!"  My mother turned around looking for little Jens.

I have to snicker everytime Mom, calls Jens by his full name.  Jens hates his middle name with a passion and he got it only because that's where he was born in Tyrol, Austria.  My parents decided to take a short vacation in the alpine region of Austria and since Jens wasn't due for weeks they just wanted some "alone" time.  Unfortunately good things don't last and during a heavy snowstorm, and just the day before they were to leave, my mother's water broke.  There was no hospital nearby and my father luckily found a farmer that lived nearby to assist in the delivery.

Throughout labour my mother kept praying to Saint Joseph, the foster and adoptive father of Jesus Christ and patron saint of pregnant women, for her child to be delivered safely and for the labour to be as painless as possible.  Jens came into the world kicking and screaming on January 09, and was named after my Dad's grandfather and his second name came, of course, after the town where he was born.

"Yeah Tyrol, get in here."  I sat on the bed and carefully covered myself with the robe, I certainly didn't want my Mom to see my tattoo, I was in enough trouble already.

Jens slowly walked in, all red faced and looking for a fight.  He gave me an angry look, but I had a few cards up my sleeve, I knew that Jens had been skipping school for the last couple of days and although I never asked where he was going, this would serve nicely as the perfect blackmail.

My mother stood between the two of us and would take turns looking at us.  Jens is the mirror image of me and it's amazing how much we resemble each other.  At 9 years of age he's quite tall and thin, with shiny platinum blond hair, blood red lips, a few freckles around his nose and deep blue eyes that were now burning with pure anger.

I winked at him when Mom wasn't looking and in sign language I told him that I would resort to blackmail if he said the truth about what happened in the bathroom.  Mom must have sensed that Jens was being too quiet and she quickly turned around but I was way to fast for her and I was now putting the other sock on my foot.

I smiled at her and then at Tyrol and gave her a look of pure innocence.

"Well Jens Tyrol, did your brother swear at you or not?  I want to hear the truth."  I gave Tyrol a severe look and while Mom had her back to me I told him in sign language that I knew about him skipping school.  His eyes widened and his face changed colour, again my Mom turned around and gave me a very curious look, but she was way too slow for two clever and young foxes.

I gave her the most sincere and heart warming look, kept quiet and smiled.

I had taught Jens sign language about two years ago.  Back then, we fought constantly, we were always at each other's throats.  I think it was because of the age difference, I mean there is a 12 year gap between us, and at that time and even perhaps now, I don't have enough patience for a kid his age.  We were grounded on a daily basis and my Mom's favourite form of punishment was complete and utter silence, so we were not allowed to speak for days and if we did, then the punishment would get even more severe.  So I came up with the brilliant way of communicating through sign language and by now we had mastered it completely and we even had even come up with our own swear words.

"Ummm, no sorry.  Markus, didn't swear or say anything bad."  He sighed and looked down at the floor, while my Mom kept trying to see if we were both lying.

"Why is it that you two are always fighting?  I come home from work very tired and the last thing that I want to see is my two sons fighting like wild animals.  Now, I want the two of you to shake hands and that is it!  Is that understood...both of you?"  Mom looked quite angry and so we both knew that it was in both of our interests to end this right now.

We shook hands and I could have sworn that I felt a current of electricity being passed from Jens to me, I gave him a curious look and he must have sensed the same thing.  Mom then gave me a good look over and still in an angry tone of voice, said "And where are you going?  Dinner is ready downstairs."  Now it was Jens turn to smile.

"Out."  Even at 21, I still feel like I'm being treated as a child.

"I beg your pardon?"  I had used the wrong tone of voice with my mother and been too self confident with my answer.

"My friends from university invited me to the movies."  Mom just stood there, sighed and looked at her watch.

"Allright Markus, but don't stay out so late, please.  You know that I worry when you're out on the street so late at night."  She started walking out the door and motioned Jens to follow her.

She turned around and with a warm smile, said "Well son dinner is ready downstairs, come down if you want to eat something before you leave."  And with that she left the room.  Jens was still giving me a curious look and while he made sure that Mom was out of hearing distance, he approached me.

"You're not going to tell are you?"  Jens looked nervous and concerned.  I could feel something wrong, but I wasn't exactly sure of what.

"No Jens, I'm not going to say anything but you and I are going to have a talk about this, alright?"

I gave Jens a smile and he was about to say something when Mom shouted from downstairs, "Jens, your dinner is getting cold.  Leave your brother alone, he needs to get ready!"  Jens smiled back, made the sign of peace and closed the bedroom door as he ran downstairs.

I looked at my watch and gave myself a good look in the mirror.  I felt quite proud of the way I looked.  In these tight jeans my butt sticks out just the right amount and provides a nice outline of my basket of goodies.  The white tank top shows off all my muscles and months of hard work at the gym and Antonio's tattoo was nicely displayed for the whole world to see.  I couldn't keep my eyes or hands off myself, and for some reason, I looked younger than my 21 years.  I smiled at the thought, that I resembled some young hustler displaying all his goodies without shame.

I was so nervous that I kept checking myself in the mirror every couple of minutes.  I couldn't get my hair to stay the right way and it was driving me crazy.  I grabbed the old spice deodorant and some aftershave and lightly sprinkled myself with cologne.  I looked and smelled good and now I was satisfied with the results.

It occurred to me, that I couldn't walk out of the house in my tank top, I couldn't let my parents see my tattoo.  I decided to look for my white Adidas spring jacket, which would cover the tank top nicely, as well as keep me warm in the evening.  My hands were getting all sweaty and I was beginning to get nervous again and the time wasn't going fast enough.  I was feeling cramped in my room, so I headed downstairs and decided to watch a bit of television before my cab arrived.

*

I was finally on the way home and with Fabrizio right behind me.  This was going to be a pleasant surprise for everyone and I'm sure that Dante's anger had subsided by now and the cub would be back to his sweet, loving and normal self.  If not, then perhaps Fabrizio's presence and gifts would do the trick.  I felt a lot better now, this was working to my advantage and no one would really take notice or even care, when I left for the poker game.

I parked my car in the garage, while Fabrizio parked his car on the driveway and as I walked towards the entrance I noticed that Dante wasn't waiting for me by the door which was his usual greeting.  So the little cranky prince was still upset, this kid can hold a grudge for a long while.  I told Fabrizio to give me 5 seconds and then to walk through the door.

"Evening everyone, Daddy's home!"  As I walked through the door, Adrienne surprised me by greeting me at the door, not an unusual thing, but this was Dante's territory.  I received a delicious kiss on the lips and while staring at her eyes, I was turned on by the sweetness of her soft perfume.  Adrienne, looked radiant and stunning in a red Chloé 2 piece suit.  I must have looked confused, because she held one of her manicured fingers to my lips and softly whispered.

"Good evening my love.  Shhhh, don't say anything, we have company."  She gently took a hold of my hand and led me into the living room.  I didn't even have time to protest or question anything and instead of the usual aroma of spices coming from a succulent meal, I was greeted by various sensual scents of soft perfumes, scented candles and roses in crystal vases.

As Adrienne led me by the hand, I took a good look at her and she looked amazing.  She wore a deep red, two piece suit, with the top of the bodice, halter strap and hem edge all beaded with a cluster of elegant and glimmering Swarovski crystals.  The suit gave her incredible curves, with an epitome of sophistication and the knee length skirt had a very sexy slit that showed her long legs and she topped it all off with black suede, pointed toe knee length boots, also by Chloé.

I had a feeling that the usual suspects were visiting, but which ones?  One thing is for sure, Adrienne had dressed to impress and looked absolutely stunning.  I was led into the dining room and was greeted by floral arrangements and scented candles, the house looked immaculate.  For a moment I got bit nervous and wondered if I had forgotten some important date, my brain was trying hard to come up with something, anything.  I was led into the patio and I was greeted by Chiara Imbruglia and seated next to her, Bianca Raffaelli.

I grabbed Addriene's hand and gently squeezed it.  Addriene simply smiled, excused herself and went back into the house.

"Hello Tony, how are you?"  Chiara slowly and seductively got up from her chair and placed her crocodile handbag on the table.  She walked over to me, gave me a kiss on both cheeks and with her right hand, twirled my hair.  As usual, Chiara looked exquisite in a violet and turquoise tweed Chanel suit.  She wore a very feminine and appealing suit, that showed a tiny waistline and amazing female curves.

Chiara wore her long blond hair down and as she got close, I took a whiff and it smelled wonderful.  I smiled and waved at Bianca, who was still sitting on her chair and drinking a cappuccino.  Bianca simply smiled, rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Chiara darling, please give Tony some room to breathe.  You're suffocating, the poor man."  She got up and set her long black leather gloves on the table and walked over and for some reason, she looked even taller than usual.  That's when I noticed the sexy black stilleto shoes that she was wearing.  I couldn't understand how she could walk on those things, she made it look so easy.

Beauty, femininity and fantasy, are words that came to my mind when looking at Bianca.  She was lavishly and luxurious dressed in a raspberry and pink suit by Christian Dior.  An elegant double breasted suit, with 6 gold buttons down the front and a big wide collar, with lapels and a straight skirt that had a daring slit at the thigh.

Bianca's look was sexy and arousing, with glimmering and shiny red lips, frosted eyes and silver-lined lids.  She portrayed a delicate and feminine look, but expressed herself in a strong and dramatic way.  She was wearing her long and wavy jet black hair down and she coquettishly batted her light green eyes, while smiling at me.

"Hi tall, dark and handsome and how was your day at work?"

Chiara moved to the side and gave Bianca a look of bold defiance.

I felt naked and like a tantalizing slab of meat for two ravenous and voracious lionesses.

"Well, I'm glad it's over and that the weekend is finally here.  And how are you ladies?  I didn't know you were paying a visit this evening."  Chiara caressed my arm and took my right hand, while Bianca gave me a bold kiss on my neck that made me shiver and flinch.

"Well, since the Flower Festival is just around the corner we needed to go over some last minute arrangements.  We were in the neighbourhood so Bianca and I decided to drop by and pay Adrienne a visit."

Hand in hand, they both led me to a chair and forcibly sat me down, Chiara on my right and Bianca on my left.  Bianca took a Biscotti cookie from the silver tray and playfully fed me, and not to be left out, Chiara soon followed suit.

By the time Adrienne came back with more coffee, Chiara and Bianca were both taking turns feeding me cookies.  I smiled at Adrienne and she just glared at me and was about to say something when the doorbell rang.

"Oh Shit!  Pardon my language ladies but I left a friend waiting outside, please excuse me!"  Chiara looked at Bianca, who in turn looked at Adrienne, who just shrugged her shoulders in confusion.

I ran into the house and as I opened the door poor Fabrizio was trying to juggle all his packages and trying not to drop, what appeared to be another fruit basket.

"Now what kind of a greeting is this?  I've been waiting outside forever, where is Dante?, where is Adrienne?, where is everyone?", By the tone of his voice he sounded a bit upset.

"I'm sorry bud, but the socialite piranhas are paying us a visit and I got, ummm...distracted."  I took the fruit basket from his hands and yelled out.

"Oh Dante, Adrienne, mother-in-law dear, we have a special visitor!"  I heard a door slam upstairs and Dante yelled from the top of the stairs.

"FABRIZIO!  Mom, Grandma, it's Fabrizio!"

Dante ran down the stairs in his school uniform while my mother-in-law was right behind him and, in an almost tired tone of voice, shouted "For heaven's sake, Alessandro!  How many times must you be told not to run down the stairs?"  Apparently Dante had been upstairs doing his homework and staying out of trouble while the vipers were visiting.

As my mother-in-law descended down the stairs, she had a very pleasant look on her face as she saw Fabrizio.

"Dear Fabrizio, you're back.  It's so good to have you back, we've missed your visits and sweet company."

As my mother-in-law reached the bottom of the stairs.  I gave her a curious look and wondered as to why I don't get this kind of warm welcome from her.  I guess it must be because I was the man that deflowered her daugther.

Dante's face was full of bliss and exhilaration.  He stopped right in front of me, gave me a quick hug and ran with open arms towards Fabrizio.

"Here's the birthday boy!  Look at you, you've grown what?, I'd say about five inches since I've last seen you.  You're getting to be quite the young man, aren't you?"

Looking at Dante and reading his behaviour he sure does love Fabrizio.  And why shouldn't he?, Fabrizio is like a second father to him and he's been around even before Dante was born.

"So cub, did you get my cards?"

Dante shook his head from side to side and was about to say something when Adrienne joined the commotion in the living room and as soon as she saw Fabrizio her face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Oh my God!  Fabrizio, you're back!"

I was beginning to feel left out.  Adrienne walked up to Fabrizio and gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek while Dante was still hugging him by the waist.

Adrienne caressed Fabrizio's face and, as she cleaned the lipstick off his cheeks, said "It's a pleasure to see you again, and how is your family?  When did you get back? and how was your vacation?, you've got to fill us in on everything!"

*

I couldn't believe my eyes, Fabrizio was back,...finally.  Even the anger that I had been feeling all day at my dad, had seem to pass.  Fabrizio was packed with gifts and, as I smiled at my dad, he was holding a huge fruit basket adorned with colourful ribbons.

"Well I got back last night.  I had a long drive and just thinking about all the work that would be waiting for me on monday was making me edgy.  So, I decided to head to work today and I was right, I couldn't even find my desk with all the files that were scattered all over my desk.  As for my parents, well they're doing alright, they just felt sad that I was leaving, but that's natural and I'll see them soon enough."

I noticed that Fabrizio was trying to hide something behind his back and I knew that it had to be another birthday present.

"So Dante, you never received my card and letters?  That's strange, but then again I gave them to my brother Matheus and he was supposed to have dropped those letters at the post office.  Then again, it shouldn't come as a surprise, that brother of mine forgets everything, and he would have lost that head of his years ago, if it wasn't firmly attached to his neck."

"I could never forget to send my Godson a birthday card, that would be a cardinal sin.  I picked this up for you, while I was in Munich.  Happy Belated Birthday!"

I was surprised by the size of the box, it was huge and looked quite heavy.  The box was wrapped with a shiny silver paper and a big gold bow but I was distracted by the sound of my mother's voice.

"Another gift?  Fabrizio, you really shouldn't have, you're spoiling this boy."

I gave my mother a sour look and I wanted to stick out my tongue to her but quickly changed my mind.  She caught me glaring at her and snapped back.

"Don't be looking at me like that, Dante Alexander.  That room of yours has more toys than a toy store and you are getting spoiled."

My father cut her off and while holding the basket in his hands said "Where should I put this?"

My mother and grandmother walked over to the basket and peered inside.

"The fruit basket is a gift from my parents. I hope that you like it.  That basket weighs a ton with all those fruits, jars and stuff."

My mother unwrapped the basket and carefully inspected everything.

"Your parent's really shouldn't have gone to any trouble, Fabrizio.  It's a beautiful arrangement and with all these different jars and fruits, it must have been quite expensive."

Fabrizio took a step closer to me and playfully played with my hair.

"It's nothing really, and besides my parents see all of you as part of the family.  They know so much about all of you and they wanted to give you something that you could all enjoy, so don't worry about it."

My mother told my dad to put the basket on the dining room table and she began to take everything out of the basket and displayed it for all to see.

"Oh Fabrizio, this basket is practically overflowing with luscious fruits.  There's royal comice pears, crisp ruby red apples, juicy navel oranges, strawberries, pineapple, bananas and kiwis.  Oh my, there's also blood oranges and raspberry marmalade and what is this?  Your parent's went to too much trouble, there's smoked salmon, rich garlic cheddar cheese, flaky honey wheat crackers, fresh roasted mixed nuts, chocolate covered cherries, blueberries, and smooth milk chocolate almonds."

The fruit looked very boring and plain to me.  My favourite fruits are cherries and raspberries, but when I heard the word chocolate, that got my attention.  My father was eyeing the chocolate covered almonds and winked at me when he caught me staring at the same thing.  If there's one thing that we both love it's chocolate covered almonds.

"Well Fabrizio, I can't thank your parents enough for such a great gift.  I will write to them and truly express our best wishes and thank them for their kind generosity."

Like lighting, my dad and I made a dash for the chocolate covered almonds.  I was able to grab them first and once in my hand I stuck out my tongue to him.  I didn't even have time to hold the bag for more than a few seconds when my grandmother yank them out of my hand.

"Oh no, young man.  If you eat these now, you'll spoil your appetite and you haven't had dinner yet."

My dad gave me a triumphant smile, stuck out his tongue and winked at me.

My mother was reading the labels of the marmalade jars, when she shrieked "Oh my God!  I left the girls outside, please excuse me.  Mom, grab the honey wheat crackers and roasted mixed nuts and come with me, quickly!"

My mom and grandmother took off for the patio and left me deep in curiosity and checking out my present.

"Pssst, Dante.  Take this to your room."  Fabrizio handed me a plain paper bag.  I gave Fabrizio a curious look and then looked in my father's direction but he only shrugged his shoulders and was as clueless as I.

"What's in the bag?"

I was about to peek inside, but Fabrizio patted me on the butt and said "It's your Phantom comic books.  I bought you about 20 comic books. Some are very old and rare, so hurry upstairs and don't let your mom see them or she'll give us both another lecture."   I couldn't find enough words to thank him, so I gave him another hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Alright, alright, head upstairs before your mom comes back, hurry!"

I ran up the stairs as fast as I could and headed to my bedroom.  I went over to my desk and hid the brown bag in the top right hand drawer among other books and papers.  I was so excited and couldn't wait to read my comic books in peace and this night I was going to stay up very late reading all those comics, that's a promise!

I've sort of developed this thing that I do every night and before heading off to bed.  I put on my favourite Phanton t-shirt, grab all my favourite toys and take them to bed so that they can accompany me on the adventure.  I have my Centurion officer, he's the one in charge of the trip, Topo Gigio to snuggle with, my plush stuffed animal Devil the wolf, who serves as our lookout and finally Hero the white stallion, who serves as our ride, of course.  I then choose one Phantom comic book to read under the covers, turn off the lights, get under the covers and with trusty flashlight, an adventure awaits us.

*

With Dante upstairs, I finally had time to talk to Fabrizio.  I wanted to take him to the garage and as I showed him some new changes that I've done to the Spider, I wanted to tell him about Markus.

"So what's in the box?  I think your presence tonight is more than enough for everyone."  I looked at Fabrizio, who carried the big box in his hands and took it into the dining room.

"What's the matter Tony?  I can sense a bit of jealousy in that tone of voice, you can't stand the competition, can you?  Tony must always be the center of the universe."

Fabrizio set the box on the table and gave me a great smile.  At that moment Dante came running down the stairs and headed straight to Fabrizio and his gift.

"So, can I open my present?"  I looked at Fabrizio, who smiled, gave me a thoughtful look and crossed his arms.

"I don't know, can you open your present?"

I knew what he had meant, so I rolled my eyes and changed the phrase of the question.

"Fine,...may I unwrap my present, please?"

Fabrizio stood there smiling and while looking at my dad, said "Yes, Dante.  You may unwrap your present, just be careful, it's quite delicate and I hope that you'll like it."

Dante ripped his present with fury and exciment.  By now Adrienne, Chiara and Bianca, along with my mother-in-law had joined us in the dining room.

Bianca took hold of my arm, and whispered softly.

"Today's Dante's birthday?, we didn't know.  Otherwise, we would have gotten him something."

I smiled at her and while looking at Dante frantically fighting with the wrapping paper, softly whispered to her.

"No, it's not his birthday.  It was actually a couple of days ago, but Fabrizio got him another present."

The next thing I knew, Dante had finally ripped all the paper off and was staring at the box and giving it a puzzling look.

"It's a teles,...telescope."

Dante sounded and looked very surprised.

"Yeah Dante, it's a telescope.  It's actually one of the best telescopes on the market, with a resolving power of 1.0 arc seconds and a limiting visual magnitude of 11.8, which means that you'll be able to see the moon, Saturn's rings, Jupiter's belts, and many deep sky objects.

I heard a squeal of delight come from Adrienne, as she gasped.

"Oh Fabrizio!  It's magnificent, what a splendid telescope!"

My mother-in-law simply covered her mouth with one hand and nodded in silent agreement.  Chiara and Bianca looked quite surprised and whispered to each other in silence.

Fabrizio took out the giant telescope out of the box and set it on the table.  It certainly was an impressive gift and looked extremely expensive. Dante, however, was giving the telescope a dirty look with a scowl on his face.  Fabrizio, on the other hand, was a talking about the telescope as if was the holy grail.

"My father bought me a telescope, when I was about fifteen and I fell in love with it.  It wasn't anywhere near this expensive or even this state of the art, but I've treasured it ever since.  I know that you're a lot younger Dante, but I'll teach you all about the galaxies, constallations and their mythology."

Dante didn't look too impressed at the moment, but I'm sure that one day he'll come to appreciate it.  Fabrizio was calling Dante to come closer and inspect the telescope.

"Come closer Dante and take a better look.  The telescope is equipped with a 6x, 30mm finder scope, Kellner 25mm eyepiece and mounted on a sturdy aluminum tripod with heavy balance weight.  It also has slow motion controls, and you'll have to be careful when moving it, because it weighs about 50 lbs.  It also comes with additional accessories, there's the moon filter, camera adapter, extra-large 8x50mm finder scope, and erecting prism."

Everyone started getting closer to the telescope and carefully checking out every detail.

"On a clear night, we'll be able to see M31, otherwise known as the Andromeda Galaxy or M45, the Pleiades.  As you get to know the basics you'll be able to work your way through the other 108 galaxies, nebulas and star clusters.

Chiara and Bianca, walked over to Dante, gave him a kiss and wished him a happy belated birthday.  Adrienne, took Fabrizio's hand and introduced him to Chiara and Bianca.

"Chiara, Bianca, I'm sure you remember Fabrizio.  He's been gone for a while on vacation, visiting his parents in Bolzano."

"Good evening ladies, it's a pleasure to see you again."

As always, Chiara was the first to approach Fabrizio, she extended her right hand and began to flirt.

"It's a pleasure to see you again as well, Fabrizio.  It's certainly been a long time and you're looking resplendent and quite magnificent, still single?"

Bianca butted into the conversation and with a look of disapproval, also extended her right hand and greeted Fabrizio.

"Chiara, really! and how are you Fabrizio?  You'll have to excuse Chiara, she's always meddling where she shouldn't."

Fabrizio's face changed colour and with his light complexion, his face turned to a crimson red colour.

Chiara, simply ignored Bianca's comment and with a thirst in her eye, checked Fabrizio from head to toe.

"Yes, I'm single and still playing the field."

Adrienne rolled her eyes and gave Fabrizio a disapproving look, while Chiara and Bianca both exchanged glances.

It was my turn to cut in and rescue Fabrizio from these two female praying mantis.

"Fabrizio, why don't you take the telescope into the yard and set it up.  I'm sure that tonight will be a clear night for star gazing."

Dante just gave me a look of pure boredom and rolled his eyes.

Fabrizio excused himself and carried the heavy box into the backyard.  My mother-in-law, cleaned up the wrappping paper left on the dining room table while Adrienne, Chiara and Bianca, went into the living room and continued to discuss the preparations for the Flower Festival.

I looked at my watch and time was flying by.  I wanted to take a quick shower before heading to the Tapu.

"Well, you'll have to excuse me ladies but I have to head upstairs and take a shower."

Adrienne, Chiara and Bianca were so busy arguing about the entertainment planned for the Flower Festival that they didn't even hear me.  I tiptoed quietly out of the room and hurried upstairs and into the shower.

By the time I came out of the shower, it was quarter after eight.  I dried myself, went my drawer and took out a plain white shirt, underwear, and put on my faded blue jeans.  I dressed hurriedly, splashed some cologne, deodorant and frantically searched for some clean socks.  Once dressed, I grabbed my watch, wallet and headed out the door.

Once in the living room, the only lights in the house were coming from the patio.  There my mother-in-law and Adrienne were enjoying some of Fabrizio's fruit and still talking about the Flower Festival.  Dante and Fabrizio were taking turns looking into the telescope and writing down coordinates for the constellations.

"Hi love, Chiara and Bianca are gone?"

Adrienne nodded, while dipping a strawberry into whipping cream.

"Yes, Tony.  They left about fifteen minutes ago, they were disappointed that they didn't give you a kiss goodbye."

Adrienne looked at my mother-in-law, who simply made a face at the comment.

"Aren't you going to eat something before you leave, Tony."

I looked at my watch and couldn't afford to wait around to eat anything.

"Mmmm, I can't I'm running late as it is.  The guys are going to be waiting for me."

"Don't worry Adrienne, love.  Tony will get something to eat at that dump."

Fabrizio was walking towards us and as he took a seat next to my mother-in-law and took an apple from the fruit basket.

I walked over to Adrienne, gently grabbed her hand and before she could put the strawberry into her mouth, I licked her finger and swallowed the strawberry.

"I can't understand why you like to go to that dump, Tony.  Every time you come from there, you smell like cheap booze and cigar.

Adrienne pulled her finger away from my lips and gave me a look of disaprovement.

"Well, it's not like we're going to be missing a stimulating evening Adrienne.  Believe me when I say that only deadbeats go there, no offense Tony.  Let's see, there's Aldo the man who can make obscene sounds with his armpits, he's a welcomed guest at any occasion.  Then there's Lucio, the man no deodorant can tame and if you're really lucky, you'll meet Nero.  He hasn't met a toilet yet, he couldn't overflow.  Yup, these guys are a real bunch of losers."

I gave Fabrizio a look of pure anger.  He's never approved of me going to the Tapu and hates everyone that goes there. Fabrizio's face was beaming with defiance and looking for a challenge.  I wasn't going to get into an argument with him over this.  He simply took a bite out of his apple and winked at me.

"You're just jealous and resentful, because no one there likes you.  You can't even play a decent game of cards."

I was going to say something else but then I felt someone tugging at my shirt.  I turned around and Dante was looking up at me and with a gloomy look on his face, said.

"So you're leaving now?"

I looked into his eyes and while lifting him up, I gave him a kiss on the forehead and sat him on Fabrizio's lap.

"Yes, daddy is leaving now.  Be a good boy sport, I'll see you early in the morning tomorrow and don't stay up so late, we've got to get up early to go bike riding."

Adrienne walked towards me and kissed me tenderly on my lips.

"That goes the same for you, Mr.Martinello.  Please don't stay up so late, and please don't lose more than your shirt in the poker game."

I kissed her back and as I playfully pinched Dante's my right cheek, said "Have a goodnight everyone.  Oh, and you too Castelli."

I then walked into the house, waved, and closed the screen door behind me.

*

I heard a car honk outside and I knew that it had to be my cab.  I turned off the television, ran for the door and yelled out "Night, everyone, my ride is here.  Mom, Dad, I'm leaving!"

I barely heard my mom say something, she was upstairs and my dad was in the den.

I jumped into the cab and I didn't even have to tell the driver where to go.  He simply nodded to me, to sit back and enjoy the ride. I was so nervous the whole time and throughout the ride, my hands felt cold and clammy.

The driver pulled up to the entrance of the Tapu.  He stopped the car and in a deep voice, turned his head and said.

"We're here, get out."

I fumbled with the door and I had barely gotten out of the cab, when the driver took off.  I was left there standing in the darkening street and with no other soul in sight.  I've said it once and I'll say it again, this is one shitty neighbourhood.  I took a deep breath, crossed the street and walked towards the entrance.

I looked at my watch and was ten minutes early.  I opened the door and was greeted by the same old man that had worked on my tattoo.

"Ahh, if it isn't Wolfsbutt.  You're early boy, come on in."

I sighed at the sound of my last name getting butchered by this old fossil.

"Again, my last name is Wolfsburg, not Wolfsbutt."

"Right, right.  Sorry kid, the hearing comes and goes, you know."

"Is Antonio here yet?"

I closed the door behind me and from the street you couldn't hear the noise coming from somewhere upstairs.  It sounded like a combination of music, cursing and beer bottles, all mixed together.

"Yeah, Tony is here.  Got in about five minutes ago, he told me to send you upstairs as soon as you get in.  So head upstairs and don't go wandering around.  Oh, and if I were you, I'd take that nice jacket off and if you run into trouble just show off your tattoo and you'll be left alone."

The old man gave me a wicked and vulgar look as he smoked his fat cigar.

"Just hang your jacket on the coat rack and march that pretty ass upstairs, he's waiting for you."

I was beginning to feel pretty uncomfortable and the old man just kept giving me dirty looks.  Especially after I took off my jacket and showed off my body.  He kept licking his lips in an indecent and lewd manner, I simply nodded in agreement and took off for the stairs.

"Remember, Wolfsburg.  Head up to the fourth floor and don't wander around, you don't want to run into trouble in this place."

I was walking up the dimly lit stairs when I heard him say that.  I wondered what he had meant by that, I mean I can take care of myself and I certainly don't need Anto...

I was making my way up the second set of stairs, when I ran into a huge giant of a man.  He was coming down the stairs, holding a beer bottle in his hand and with a very angry look on his face.  He must have been at least 6'5, with a week's worth of beard growth, looking filthy and he kept scratching his head as if he had head lice.

"What the fuck are you looking at?"

I was caught off guard and didn't know what to say.  I knew that if I answered back, I could get my ass kicked by this monstrosity.

I took one step down and I was about to say something when he got a glimpse of my tattoo.  His face suddenly changed expression and he simply pushed me out of the way.  As he descended the stairs I caught him looking at me and simply grinned as he disappeared from sight.

Phew,... that had been close.  I've been in here for less than ten minutes and already came close to getting my face bashed in. As I reached the third set of stairs I could smell something in the stairs, was it urine?  How many times must I say that this place is a fucking dump, the paint was peeling from the walls and there was trash, beer bottles and cigarette butts scattered all over the stairs.  As I passed the third floor, I could have sworn that amidst the music, I could also hear moaning, but I wasn't sure.

I was finally on the fourth floor and this floor was missing a lightbulb and so it was completely dark.  I fumbled my way across, I certainly didn't want to touch these filthy walls, even the floor felt sticky and also had a weird smell, the smell of decay, mildew perhaps?  I carefully opened the door and entered a dimly lit hallway.  The hallway had a strong odour of cigar, among other unrecognizable smells. The floor was carpeted, but the carpet was all rags and heavily stained, again covered with all sorts of trash.  I walked toward the end of the hallway, it was there where the music, laughter and commotion was coming from.

This place was quite big, it certainly didn't look like it from the outside, but I guess the tattoo store was just a facade.  I passed many rooms that appeared to be locked and when I got the the end of the hallway there was a large door with a sign above it that read, Card room.

I stood in front of the door and by now my heart was beating as fast as it could go.  I stood in front of the door and listened to the noise coming from the inside.  Among the laughter, swearing and clinking of glasses, I heard the voice that was now familiar to my ears and heart.  Antonio was laughing on the other side of the door and even though the music was a bit loud, you couldn't mistake his deep, sexy voice.  I opened the door and walked in.

This room was different, for one thing it was clean.  It had high ceilings, glass chandeliers and with a large grandfather's clock on the right wall.  I was shocked and surprised at how distinctive this room was, it even had beautiful ornate woodwork and a huge bar with busy bartenders.  Tables with leather armchairs, were set up in the center of the room and there were men of all ages, drinking heavily.

As I entered the room, there was Antonio.  He was sitting at a corner table by the bar next to a large glass window where you could see over the bay.  My eyes had to get adjusted to the smoke of the cigars that were polluting the air.  Antonio seemed fine and by his laughter he was really enjoying himself and hadn't even noticed that I had entered the room.  He was sitting at his poker table with deck of cards in his hands and paying close attention to the game.

As soon as the door closed behind me all eyes were set on me.  It seemed that the whole room suddenly stopped and I couldn't even find any spit of my own to swallow, I just stood there like a statue.

Antonio finally looked up and as he saw me called me over.

"Wolfsburg, over here!"

Now all eyes turned to Antonio.  My heart started beating again and my brain sent a message to my legs to start walking, so I hurried to the table.  Antonio stood up, extended his right hand, and greeted me with a manly handshake.

"Glad you made it, Markus."

I smiled, shook his hand and felt that all eyes were still on me.  You could also hear that the whole room was whispering and making comments either about my presence, or that I knew Antonio.

"Pull up a chair, Wolfsburg.  I want to introduce you to my poker pals."

I grabbed a nearby chair and sat next to Antonio.

"I'd like you to meet, Aldo Fiorentini, Lucio Peragine, Nero Zucchi, and of course you already know Rocco Foglio."

I nodded in agreement and waved.

"Nice to meet you gentlemen."

As I sat next to Antonio, I could detect his sexy cologne but there was also a foul smell in the air.  Sure, guys were smoking cigars and even Mr.Foglio was enjoying his, but I was sure that the foul stench was coming from one of the guys at the table.

Antonio kept his eyes on his cards and he cleared his throat.

"If you want something to drink just let the bartender know, it's on me."

"Umm, thanks Antonio.  I think I'll get a coke, I'm kinda thirsty."

I got up from my chair and heard Antonio say,

"That sounds good, I'm kinda thirsty myself.  Get a Cranberry bacardi breezer, for me please."

I then heard the other guys on the table, yell out.

"Hey kid, since you're up.  Get me an Immaculata cocktail."

Aldo wanted the cocktail.

"Rum and lime, for me."

Lucio wanted the rum.

"Just Whiskey and soda for me."

I think that was Nero, that wanted the whiskey.

"I'll have a Brandy sour.  Thanks, Markus."

And the distinguishable deep baritone voice, was of course Rocco Foglio.

"Is that all?  Anyone want anything else?...perhaps breathmints, better manners, or even a deodorant?" I muttered the last part of the sentence to myself.

Antonio once again cleared his throat.

"Uh...yeah.  I definitely want something from you, but I'll get it later."

The whole table snickered at the comment.  I raised my eyebrows and knew what Antonio had meant by that stupid comment, but did the other guys know as well?"

"Hello there, I'll have a coke with ice, please.  Also a Cranberry bacardi breezer, Immaculata cocktail, Rum and lime, Whiskey and soda and last but not least a Brandy sour, thanks."

The bartender simply nodded and went to work on the drinks at lighting speed.  He was a man in his sixties who was sharply dresses in a black tux and before I could blink my eyes, all drinks were ready and he was putting them on a tray.

"Antonio Martinello is paying for these drinks, so I guess they go on his tab."

The bartender gave me a funny look and said.

"Tony dosen't pay here.  The drinks are on the house, enjoy kid."

I nodded thanks and carefully headed back to the table.  I didn't want to be a clutz and drop anything, then end up being the laughingstock of the entire place.

I got back to the table and distributed all the drinks.  Only Antonio and Rocco said thanks, the others just grunted.

Antonio took a sip of his cooler and checked his cards again.  While arranging his cards he gave me a sweet smile, winked and said.

"Aldo here likes to play cards.  Don't you, bud?"

"Fucking right.  I would say passionately, like eating a virgin's fresh pussy!"

The whole table broke into a boisterous laughter.

I almost had coke spray out of my nose, as I heard the coarse and lecherous comment made my Aldo Fiorentini.  I took another sip of my coke and stared at Antonio.  He kept his eyes fixed on his cards and simply kept smiling, and at that moment, I felt better.  I don't know how to explain the feeling but being by his side, I don't know... it just felt confortable.

Antonio raised his gaze and looked directly at Aldo.

"Then how come you lose all the time?."

"Oh, I don't lose all the time.  Just the first hour or so, I like people to feel happy."

"Aha, and what happens after that?"

"Probably I'll win all your money, Tony."

"Really Aldo?.  Aren't you just a little overconfident?"

"No, not really.  I've been down this path before, and I know how you play your game."

The poker game begins again, everyone at the table is quiet and paying close attention to their cards.  I look at Lucio, who sips his drink and makes long slurping sound between sips, which is quite annoying.  He also holds his cards tightly, too tightly and as he makes a bet, Antonio doubles it and Lucio folds, he was bluffing.

"Figlio di puttana (son of a whore).  One of these days, Tony."

Antonio smiles and looks at the other guys at the table, he pushes his chips into the pot and the other three follow suit.  Rocco gives Antonio a curious look.

"That's a lot of chips, Antonio.  We're talking about five thousand lire, you're either brave or stupid."

Antonio dosen't answer back.  He has his eyes steady and fixed on the pot.

Rocco makes a bet and very casually Antonio doubles it.  Another bluff.

Rocco Foglio is out of the game.

"Don't let your mind wander out of the game, Tony.  It's far too small to be let out on its own, ceffo (asshole)."

"Sticks and stones, Rocco.  Play nice and don't be a sore loser, you taught me that, remember?"

Rocco gives Antonio the finger.

Nero is guarding his cards with both of his huge hands.  He makes a big bet and Antonio makes a bigger one.  Nero closes his eyes and folds, he was bluffing.  His face changes an angry purple colour.

"Baciami il culo (kiss my ass)!"

Antonio grins, takes a sip of his cooler and scratches his balls.

"Language, Nero.  Besides old friend, your ass is too hairy for my taste."

Antonio leans close to me and softly whispers in my ear.

"It's like looking at a gorilla's ass!"

I laugh out loud and can't help to feel sorry for poor Nero, literally.

While the guys were busy playing their game of poker, I went to the bar and got another drink.  This time I wanted something different and more daring so I asked the bartender for a Cranberry cooler.  A familiar song was playing amidst the noisy background, "My Way" by Frank Sinatra.  I scanned the room and wondered where the music was coming from and out of the corner of my eye I saw an old vintage jukebox.

This was one of those old vintage jukeboxes from the 1950's and after all these years in this place I was surprised that it had been meticulously looked after and it was quite beautiful and colourful.  I believe this type of jukebox was called a Bubbler because bubbles of air perk merrily to the top of it's 8 bubble tubes, while a "kaleidoscope" of colours flow through the translucent plastics, giving it quite a retro look.

The jukebox played 45 rpm vinyl records from the forties, fifties and sixties.  It was cool to see the changer flipping the vinyl records right down in front of you.  The jukebox was magnificently crafted with metal trim pieces of die cast metal, triple plated with copper, nickel and polished chrome.  With quality in mind, only the finest of hardwoods adorned this beauty.

The selection of songs was limited to the 40', 50' and 60's, so there was nothing there I really wanted to hear.  My parents have the same records at home and I grew up with the music from that era.  The jukebox contained songs from singers like Frank Sinatra, Nat 'King' Cole & His Trio, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Doris Day, etc.  A lot of the songs in the jukebox were of Frank Sinatra, so I guess he's a big favourite in this place, and since the selection was quite limited I ended up picking one of my favourite Sinatra's songs, "I've got you Under my Skin."

I got back to the table and as I took a sip of my Bacardi cooler, Antonio gave me a curious look.

"What?  You're having one." I gave him a mischvious smile and took another sip.  He simply winked at me and got back to his cards.

"Good pick, Markus.  I like that song as well."

Antonio hummed the tune and laid back on his chair.  I couldn't help to take quick glances at the massive bulge in his jeans.  I tried to be careful so that the other guys wouldn't notice me.

Aldo broke the silence, with a loud belch.

"So Markus, ever heard the joke about "The Creation of Woman?"

The whole table groaned and complained.  Lucio slammed his fist on the table and rolled his eyes.

"Not that fucking joke again.  Man, Aldo...don't you know any new ones, that shit is getting old."

"Shut up!.  Besides, the kid here probably hasn't heard it, have you, Markus?"

All eyes were now on me, with the exception of Antonio.  He was busy, shuffling his cards and drinking his cooler.  Everyone was frowning and I felt like I had been placed under a magnifying glass.

"Uhmm, no.  I've never heard of that one."

The whole table groaned again.  Rocco Foglio rolled his eyes and in an angry tone, said,

"Thanks a lot Markus.  You've just added fuel to the fire."

Aldo seemed happy, cleared his throat, and then started.

"Well, then I'll tell you the joke."

"The Creation of Woman,

One day, after a near eternity in the Garden of Eden, Adam calls out to God, "Lord, I have a problem."

"What's the problem, Adam?", God replies.

"Lord, I know you created me and have provided for me and surrounded me with this beautiful garden and all of these wonderful animals, but I'm just not happy."

"Why is that, Adam?", comes the reply from the heavens.

"Lord, I know you created this place for me, with this lovely food and all of these beautiful animals, but I am lonely."

"Well Adam, in that case I have the perfect solution.  I shall create a 'woman' for you."

"What's a 'woman,' Lord?"

"This 'woman' will be the most intelligent, sensitive, caring, and beautiful creature I have ever created.  She will be so intelligent that she can figure out what you want before you want it.  She will be so sensitive and caring that she will know your every mood and how to make you happy.  Her beauty will rival that of the heavens and earth and she will unquestioningly care for your every need and desire.  She will be the perfect companion for you," replies the heavenly voice.

"Sounds great."

"She will be, but this is going to cost you, Adam."

"How much will this 'woman' cost me, Lord?" Adam replies.

"She'll cost you an arm, a leg, an eye, an ear and a testicle."

Adam ponders this for some time.  And with a look of deep thought and concern on his face.

Finally Adam asks God, "Uh, what can I get for a rib?" I smiled and chuckled at the joke.

Rocco punched Aldo in the arm and while taking a drink from his rum and said.

"You see Aldo, even the kid didn't find that funny."

Aldo looked pissed and sighed.

"No, no guys.  It was funny, a rib....I get it, really."

Antonio gently strocked my leg and gave me a big smile.

"Markus, you can't lie for shit.  Don't worry, Aldo's jokes are quite lame."

I looked at Aldo and blushed at Antonio's comment.  Aldo looked angry and was about to open his mouth when all of the sudden Antonio raised his voice.

"Aldo, shut the fuck up.  I'm speaking to Markus right now, have some manners man."

Antonio's tone of voice and sudden outburst surprised me.  Was it the alcohol?  That couldn't be, there's hardly any alcohol on this cranberry thing, it tastes more like fruit punch.

The game continues for a long while, and by now, the grandfather clock on the wall reads eleven o'clock.  No one at the table seems to notice that the time is flying by, they're all enraptured in the game.

Aldo has been quietly watching the game and while playing with the strap on his wristwatch, makes a huge bet.  Antonio takes a big gulp from his cooler, smiles and makes an even bigger bet, Aldo scowls and stares at Antonio.  Aldo waits patiently and looks scared, he begins to perspire, the others are following the game closely and also waiting.

Aldo throws his cards down.  Antonio looks at his cards and hesitates, he moves the top card to the bottom, does it again, moves the top card to the bottom.  There are no signs of emotion on Antonio's face, he just waits.

"Hurry up, you bastardo!"

Aldo looks nervous and studies his cards carefully.  He clears his throat and quite loudly says,

"Look Tony, I tell you what.  I'll raise you another thousand, if you match it."

Antonio pushes all his chips into the pot, without blinking or saying a word.

Aldo picks up his cards and shakes his head.  He blinks, mutters, fidgets, you name it he does it. It's impossible to tell what's conscious and what isn't.

"That certainly takes balls, Tony.  But I have a five, six, seven, eight and nine, all of them of diamonds.  That my friend is a straight flush.

Antonio smiles, adjusts himself on the leather chair and displays his cards one by one.  The other guys are stunned, it's a phenomenal hand.

Ten of spades.

Jack of spades.

Queen of spades.

King of spades.

And the last card he still has on his hand.  He gently taps it on the table.  You can see the fire, burning in those hazel eyes,  full of confidence and boldness.  Antonio throws the last card in the middle of the table.

The Ace of spades.  A royal straight flush.  The man is clearly without flaw.

Aldo has his mouth open and is looking in disbelief, as Antonio collects his pot.

"You son of a whore!  You just wiped me out."

Antonio stacks the chips silently.

"Well, say something, you son-of-a-bitch.  How did you know I was bluffing?"

Antonio looks at Aldo, leans back on the leather chair and puts his arms behind his head.

"Well Aldo, the game of poker is all about bluffing, and when you bluff you've got three dead giveaways.  First, you touch your thumb to your little finger.  Second, you have an annoying habit of flicking your teeth, and the last one, when you run into trouble, you tug your ear lobe."

"You know what Tony?  I've got a suggestion for you, how about you go get a spoon, then you can eat my hairy ass."

Aldo walks away and heads to the bar.

"If anyone wants me, I'll be at the bar getting wasted."

"Markus, come with me."

Antonio got up and handed the chips to Rocco.

"Can you cash them in for me?  Please tell the Vince to deposit the money into my account, thanks Rocco."

Rocco took all the chips and left the room.  Lucio and Nero, excused themselves and joined Aldo at the bar.

I looked at my watch and it was close to midnight.

"Where are we going?."

Antonio walked towards the balcony window and motioned me to follow him.  The patio was quite spacious and well lit and gave a splendid view of the marina.  It was also packed with men, some sitting on chairs and chatting away, others drinking, smoking, or even enjoying a meal.  There was a full moon tonight, so you could even see the beach and boardwalk.

The beach looked deserted and not a soul in sight.  This being a very dangerous neighbourhood, you certainly wouldn't want to be walking on the beach at this time of night.  As soon as we had entered the patio, all eyes were fixed on Antonio and me.  I was inspected from head to toe, and some men even looked upset, agitated, or seemed bothered that I was with Antonio.

Most men simply waved, smiled or even greeted Antonio with a polite, "hello".  However the bolder ones, the younger guys actually made a bee line for him and this really annoyed me.  The closer they were to Antonio, the more tongue tied they got and these idiots, went so far as to push me out of the way.  I even got looks of condemnation, especially when they saw my tattoo, but then it was my turn to gloat.

There was one guy, among the rest that stood out.  There wasn't anything special about this imbecile, except that he didn't care how absurd and desperate he looked, his main objective was to get Antonio's attention.

"Hi there Tony.  You free right now?, perhaps we can go down to the third floor and find a room. "

"Hey there, Val.  I can't today, I'm busy."

Antonio was motioning me to follow him down the fire route, by taking the stairs down to the beach.  However, everytime Antonio tried to take a step, Val blocked his way.

"Tony, I've called you many times at your office, but you never return my calls."

I was beginning to lose my patience, this fucking cocksucker had a lot of nerve.  I was practically standing next to Antonio and he was already making a proposition to him.  Some part of me wanted to grab him by the neck, punch him in the face and tell him to fuck off.

Antonio's face changed colour and in lighting speed, he grabbed Val by the arm and pulled him into a corner.  No one in the patio seemed to notice the little scene, but by the looks of things Antonio was giving an earful to Val.

With the damm music blaring from speakers and the loud noise conversations, I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying.  I did hear Val say "sorry" about a million times.  Three other guys stood in front of me and were now obstructing my view.

"So, you're the new flavour of the month?"

I gave this fairy such a look that he changed his tone of voice quickly and even took a step back.

"I didn't mean it in that way, sorry to have offended you.  It's just that well, Antonio has many admirers."

Another guy about my age and with the same build, gave me a wicked smile and gave me a good look over..

"That's right, man.  You think you're the only one that Antonio has ever brought here?"

My heart sank as I heard this other faggot say that.  They must have enjoyed the look on my face because they looked at each other and at the same time rolled up their sleeves.  Sure enough, they had the same Tiger's Claw tattooed on their upper right arm.

"We've all heard about you, Markus.  Word travels fast and especially where Antonio's concerned, but for the moment you're Antonio's favourite."

The anger boiling inside me was too much to bear.  I wanted to beat the living shit out of these two assholes, but it wasn't them that I should be angry at, it was all Antonio's fault.  I pushed them out of the way and descended down the fire stairs and onto the beach.

*

I was actually enjoying watching the stars in the telescope, for one thing they looked different, colourful and a lot bigger.  It took Fabrizio about one and half hours to set everything up. He read the complete instruction book from cover to cover.  He said that he wanted my first experience in astronomy to be just perfect so that I would remember it forever.

Tonight was going to be the perfect night for star gazing.  There was a full moon out, with a clear night sky and not one cloud in sight and my mother had given me permission to stay up late, well at least until midnight.  Having Fabrizio back in our home was great, he always made time for me and as he cleaned the telescope he explained everything in detail.  I told him that he would have been a great teacher because he has a lot of patience and also makes learning fun and interesting.

The first thing he explained to me was the difference between signs and constellations.  By the time the telescope was ready, I couldn't stop yawning and I was beginning to get sleepy.  I'm not used to staying up this late except during the Christmas holidays or when I'm on vacation. 

The cool night breeze that was coming from the ocean and it was giving me goosebumps and I was starting to get cold.  Fabrizio came out of the house just at the right time, with a cup of hot chocolate, a coffee and under his arms, a large towel and two pillows.

"Dante, grab the pillows and the towel please.  Your mom said we can use the pillows as cushions and I made us some hot beverages to keep us warm.  Here you go, hot chocolate for you and coffee for me."

I set the large towel on the grass and sat on the pillow.

"Thanks for the hot chocolate, Fabrizio."

Fabrizio smiled and winked at me, while he took a sip from his coffee.

"So, what do you think of astronomy, Dante?"

We sat under the stars and drank our beverages, I got closer to Fabrizio for both comfort and warmth.

"Yeah, I like it.  It's fun to be outside and there's so many things to see in the sky.  I can't believe how different everything looks through the telescope.  There's so many, many, many, stars!"

"Are you cold, cub?.  Maybe we should be going inside, it is getting late and you have to get up early tomorrow, or should I say today."

Fabrizio looked at his watch, took another sip of coffee and yawned.

"Let's stay out just a little longer, pleeeeease Fabrizio!"

"Alright, a little longer and then we go inside.  Did you know that astronomy is the oldest of all sciences?  In fact, it may well be one of the oldest of all human professions.  Since ancient times, human beings have looked into the night sky with a mixture of wonder, curiosity and fear.  Many people throught time have searched the stars for answers and, in past centuries, astronomy also served many practical purposes.  For example, the appearance of particular constellations in the sky at certain times of the year meant that Spring was coming and that crops could be planted."

"Although we live in a very small piece of the Universe, it's where we call home and it's quite the interesting place.  The nine planets that make up our solar system range from very tiny rocky planets, to huge gas giants featuring fascinating ring systems.  Do you know the nine planets that make our solar system, Dante?"

I closed my eyes and tried to remember the name of all the planets.

"Well, I know that we have nine planets.  Their names are, ummm....well, there's Venus, Mars, Earth, Saturn, Uranus, Mercury, Pluto, did I say Venus?  How many is that?, I always forget one."

I started counting the planets with my fingers, but I always manage to forget one.

"Yes, you said Venus already.  Well, it's easier if you remember them this way, start from the sun and work your way outward.  So we have the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto."

I wanted to get more confortable, so I layed down and rested my head on Fabrizio's lap.

"That's the one I always forget, Neptune!"   Fabrizio's lap felt warm and hard.  This was a lot of fun, I only wished my dad was here so that we all could be watching the stars.

Fabrizio took another sip of his coffee and gently caressed my face.

"Mercury, is the closest planet to the Sun.  Tiny Mercury is the second smallest planet in our solar system, only Pluto is smaller. It's surface has many thousands of impact craters as a result of being bombarded by objects since the solar system's early days. And since Mercury has no protective atmosphere, the temperature on the surface ranges from extremely hot on the side facing the Sun to extremely cold on the side that faces away from the Sun."

I stared at Fabrizio's handsome face and carefully paid attention to his every word.

"Although Mercury is very small, it is one of the most dense planets in the solar system, second only to our own planet Earth. The tiny planet is made up mostly of iron, which is very dense and helps to explain why Mercury has managed to cram so much matter into such a very small space.  Even though the planet is made up mostly of iron, it has a very weak magnetic field, which is another mystery of the solar system."

"So it's too hot for anyone to live there?"  I sat up and drank more of the hot chocolate, though it could have used a couple of marshmellows.

"Yes Dante, it's way too hot live there and do you know who's Mercury in Roman mythology?"

I nodded my head and shouted.

"That's easy!  Mercury was the god of trade, commerce and thievery. "

"Very good, cub.  What's Mercury's name in Greek?"

"In Greek?.  Isn't he called Hermes?"

"That's right, cub."

Fabrizio noticed perhaps that I was feeling cold and hugged me even closer.

"Why was the planet named after the god Mercury, Fabrizio?"

"Well the planet's reputation for speed may well have been the reason that ancient astronomers named the planet for this particular god.  The tiny planet pops up on one horizon for a few days, only to disappear and then pops up on the other horizon some time in the future."

Fabrizio finished his coffee and set the cup on the grass.  He gave me a sweet smile and gently tugged my earlobe.

"Who comes after Mercury, cub?"

"Venus."

"That's right, and Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty.  But, this is one of those cases where beauty is only skin deep, because the surface of Venus is a very unpleasant place, featuring very high temperatures and winds that blow hundreds of miles per hour and an atmosphere of sulfuric acid.  The surface of the planet is covered with a thick blanket of clouds made up mostly of sulfuric acid and these clouds keeps the temperature of the planet hot enough to melt even lead, and the atmospheric pressure on the surface is almost ninety times as great as it is here on Earth."

"And what is the Greek name for Venus, cub?"

I yawned for a quick second and started playing with the soft hair on Fabrizio's arm.

"Her name in Greek mythology is Aphrodite."

"That's my boy!.  Who comes next?"

I was counting the planets in my head.

"We do!  It's our planet, Earth."

"That's right, we're next.  Our home planet is a very beautiful place with the most varied surface in the entire solar system.  From a distance our planet looks like a beautiful big blue marble.  The constantly changing cloud patterns gives our home planet an ever-changing appearance.  There are a number of things that make our planet unique in the solar system, not the least of which is that we are the only planet so far that we know for certain has ever had life of any kind.  Among the things that have made life as we know it possible here on Earth are the facts that most of the surface of our planet is covered with water and we are protected from most of the Sun's dangerous radiation by our atmosphere.  Our atmosphere is made of a layer of gas surrounding the Earth and is made up of about seventy-seven percent nitrogen, which is what the plants breathe and about twenty-one percent oxygen, which is what we humans breathe."

"What's the name of Earth in Roman and Greek mythology?"

I thought for a long while, but couldn't really say that I knew that one.

"Mmmm,...I don't know that one."

"Well in Greek, Mother Earth is known as Gaea.  The Roman name is Tellus."

"Ohhh alright, got it."

Fabrizio layed back on the towel and put his head on the pillow.  I snuggled even closer to him and placed my left hand on his chest.

"Who's next, cub?"

"Mars follows Earth."

"Correct, cub, and what's the Greek name for Mars?"

"Ares."

"Excellent, Dante."

"The Red Planet is named after the Roman god of war.  It has a distinctive rust colour, which you saw tonight and the surface of Mars features many mountains, canyons and even polar ice caps that look a lot like those here on Earth.  Throughout history, the appearance of Mars in the sky, with its somewhat ominous red colour, has been interpreted as an omen that something important and usually bad, was about to happen."

I played with Fabrizio's shirt buttons and ran my hand all over his chest.

"Fabrizio, what's an omen?"

"An omen is another word for sign or prophecy."

I nodded and rested my chin on his chest and looked into his eyes as he spoke.

"Mars is a very cold, windy and desolate place.  The dark areas that were originally thought to be vegetation turned out to be nothing more than dark rock that had been blown clean by the howling winds on Mars.  The planet has an average surface temperature that is below zero and even during the Martian summer, there are storms on the planet that can generate clouds of dust that can hide most of the planet's surface from our view."

As Fabrizio caressed my hair, I thought about the Martian summer....sounds cool and reminds me of that Looney Tunes character, Marvin the Martian.  

"If humans are ever to live on the surface of the Red Planet, then we will have to do so either underground, or in some kind of domed area to protect us from the extreme cold and high winds that are common on Mars.  In addition, we will have to find a way to extract water and oxygen from the icy soil."

"Did you know that Mars has moons, cub?"

I raised both eyebrows and gave Fabrizio a curious look.

"Really, Mars has moons?  Like our own moon?"

"That's right.  They're called Phobos and Deimos, Greek words for fear and panic."

I sat up and scratched my head.

"What?  Seriously, fear and panic?"

"It's the gospel truth.  Mars's two moons are named after the horses that pulled the chariot of the Roman god of war.  Phobos and Deimos are the greek words for fear and panic, these moons are very tiny and scientists now believe that they are actually captured asteroids that strayed too close to the planet and have remained in orbit ever since. 

"And who's after Mars, cub?"

I unbuttoned three shirt buttons and slipped my hand inside, I wanted to feel Fabrizio's chest.  He didn't say anything or even try to stop me, Fabrizio's chest felt smooth but rock solid.

"I know that one.  It's Jupiter."

"Correct little prince and what's Jupiter's name in Greek?"

"Zeus, the king of all the gods!"

"You're on a roll, bright boy!  Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system and has at least sixty-one moons and features the Great Red Spot, which is a huge "storm" that has been observed from here on Earth for over three hundred years.  Jupiter is the King of the Planets and is twelve times bigger than Earth and its mass is well over twice as much as all the rest of the planets put together.  Jupiter is also the first of the gas planets in our system, meaning that it does not have a solid surface like Earth."

I let my hand rest on Fabrizio's chest.  I wanted to feel the beat of his heart, I heard something about Jupiter not having a solid surface and gave him a puzzled look.

"It's not solid?  So you can't walk on it?"

"That's right, it's all gas.  Think of Jupiter, as being a giant ball of mostly hydrogen and helium, but there are some scientists that believe that Jupiter has a small rocky core at its center, but even the core of this giant planet is much larger than our Earth. Considering that Jupiter is by far the largest planet in our solar system, it is only fitting that it also has the largest number of moons."

Fabrizio's body warmth and soothing voice was making me feel sleepy.  I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open, but I would be woken up by Fabrizio's deep voice.

"There are four large Galilean moons, along with at least fifty-seven smaller moons, some of which haven't even been named yet.  Ganymede, is the largest of Jupiter's moons and is larger than the planets Pluto and Mercury.  The second largest is Europa, and apparently has an ocean under its icy surface and tiny Io has many active volcanoes.  Jupiter's Great Red Spot is one feature of our solar system that almost everyone is at least somewhat familiar with, and this red spot is actually a huge storm that has been raging on Jupiter for at least 400 years."

"Who follows Jupiter, cub?"

"Ummm....wait, don't tell me.  It's Saturn."

"That's correct, Dante.  And what's Saturn's name in Greek?"

"Uhhhh...yeah, I think it's called Kronos."

Fabrizio sat up and gave me a warm smile.

"You know the name?  That was always hard for me to remember, I'm very impressed."

"Saturn is one of the most beautiful planets in the solar system and named after the Roman god of agriculture.  It's fascinating system of rings have been a source of wonder since the dawn of man.  Powerful telescopes, have proven that Saturn's rings are actually hundreds of individual ring systems and Saturn has so many moons that it is like a miniature solar system."

"Believe it or not cub, Saturn was the first planet I ever saw through my telescope and I will never forget how stunning it was to see the rings for the first time.  In spite of it's giant size, Saturn doesn't weigh very much, in fact as a whole Saturn is lighter than water and would float in a bathtub, if you had one big enough."

I laughed at the idea of a giant planet floating in a bathtub, that would be a cool thing to see.

"Whos' next, Dante?"

"Uranus"

"Very good, and the name for Uranus in Greek?"

"Uranus in Greek.  Ummm, I don't know."

Fabrizio smiled and gently patted my butt.

"It's actually the same name, cub.  The original Greek name is Ouranos and the Roman name, is Uranus.  The planet is named after the god of the sky.  The giant planet is another of the gas giants, it's mysterious blue-green color provides very few clues as to what is going on underneath the surface clouds.  The planet does contain some rocky material, but the planet is almost all gas, with the outer layer of methane providing the blue colour we see and is more than twice as far away from the Sun as Saturn. Uranus has many interesting features, including its ring system, five moons and more."

"And who's after Uranus?"

I placed my head on Fabrizio's chest and listened to his heart beat.

"Neptune"

"Correct and what's the name for Neptune in Greek?"

"Poseidon, the Roman god of the sea."

"Outstanding cub, you certainly know your mythology.  Neptune is the eighth planet from the sun and a windy and very cold blue world.  The planet has winds that blow hundreds of miles per hour, and a moon that features "geysers" of nitrogen that erupt and leave dark marks on the surface."

"And finally the last one?"

"Pluto"

"And what is the Greek name for Pluto?"

"Hades"

"And who was Hades in mythology?"

"Hades was the god of the underworld."

Fabrizio gave me a playful patt on my butt that made me jump and I gave him a huge smile.

"You're one smart boy!  That's one of the many reasons we love you so much!"

"The last member of our family of planets is Pluto.  At an average distance of over three billion miles from the Sun, Pluto and it's tiny moon Charon, are very much off by themselves.  Pluto is so small that six moons of the solar system are larger than this small planet.  Pluto is the smallest and most mysterious planet in our solar system."

I was yawning non-stop now and Fabrizio must have sensed how tired I was.

"Allright, cub.  Let's head inside, it's getting late and you need to get to bed."

I rubbed my eyes and stretched my arms.

"Awww, c'on Fabrizio, I'm not that tired."

Fabrizio got up, pulled me up and started to put away the telelescope.

"Before you head to bed, just do me one favour cub.  Please take beach towel and the two pillows in the house, your mom said to leave them by the laundry room."

I picked up the two pillows, the towel and started walking towards the house.

"Hey cub, wake up.  You're dragging the towel all over the grass and your mom is not going to like that, please roll it up."

I couldn't stop yawning, but I stopped and rolled the towel.

Fabrizio was walking alongside me and yawning as well.

"I think that you'll oversleep this morning cub.  You'll be so tired, that your dad won't want to wake you up in the morning."

"I'll be alright.  Besides after dad and I come from our morning exercise, we barely have time for lunch, a quick shower and then we head out to the sports center."

Fabrizio tripped and almost dropped the telescope.  He stopped steps away from the screen door, he set the telescope on a chair and knelt to my eye level.

"What did you say, Dante?"

"I'll be alright in the morning for the bike ride with dad."

Fabrizio grabbed my shoulders with both hands and looked alarmed.

"No, after that.  What did you say, after that?"

"Uhh, what?  You mean about the sports center?"

Fabrizio looked upset...very, very upset.  I had never seen his handsome face look so angry, I don't know if it was my fault and I had said something wrong.

"Yes, exactly.  You mean, you've been to the sports center?"

The light coming from the kitchen was giving Fabrizio a warm glow, but his eyes were full of surprise, of disbelief.

"Well yeah, the weekend that you left, dad took me to the sports center.  What's wrong Fabrizio, you look upset?"

Fabrizio's facial expression changed.  He started muttering something in german and he was saying things too quickly for me to even catch anything.

"Is something wrong, Fabrizio?  You alright?"

"I'm fine Dante.  Let's go inside, I want to hear everything that went on while I was gone."

*

I was so angry, that I didn't even know where I was going.  I kept tripping on this fucking sea kelp that was scattered all over the damm beach.  I kept asking myself, how could everything have gone wrong so fucking quickly?

I stopped for a second and felt something wet on my face.  I touched my cheeks and noticed that I was crying, these were tears caused by pure anger and somewhere in the distance, I heard someone shouting, a faint but familiar voice, it was Antonio's.

I started walking again, faster and faster, I wanted to get away from this fucking place and specially from him.

"MARKUS!.  Wait up, where the hell are you going?"

Fuck!, I can't believe that Antonio had caught up with me.  I should have run in the opposite direction, maybe then he wouldn't have been able to find me.

Antonio stood in front of me and the look on his face was of anger and confusion.

"What the hell is wrong with you?.  One minute you're next to me, and the next you're running off."

He took a step forward and was about to grab my arm, but I took a step back and pulled away.

"What's the matter?."

He stood there looking at me, like I was some oddity.  I was so fucking angry, that I could't find the right words to shout at him. My mouth was full of bitterness and venom.

"Why did you come after me?  Why don't you go back to your filthy whores!"

Again he tried to take my arm or hand, but this time I pushed him away or tried to push him away.  His body is so fucking solid that it felt like trying to push a brick wall.  Now it was Antonio's turn to look furious and incensed.

"Watch that fucking tone of voice with me!"

I gave him another push, but he didn't even budge.  I was so infuriated that I wanted to hurt him.

"Or what, Antonio?  What are you going to do, teach me another lesson?.  Fuck me, right here on the beach?."

My face felt like it had been dosed with gasoline and then set on fire.  Anger was boiling from inside me and this time, I was ready to explode.

In lighting speed, I felt one of Antonio's huge hands slap me across the face.

That set me off and all gloves were off.  My temper exploded and at that particular moment, I had been possessed and could no longer control myself.

We rolled on the sand for a while.  I tried punching him but Antonio was way too strong for me, which made me even more annoyed, but I fought as best as I could.

"Relax, Markus.  Relax and listen carefully to me, I am not going to hurt you, but you have to stop this!"

Antonio swiftly and quite easily pinned me down, and was now straddling me.  He was sitting on my chest and had both of my arms pinned down.  It dawned on me that he had been captain for the wresting team at the sports center, back in '63.  All I could do was to wriggle from side to side and curse him.

"Get off me, you fucking asshole!"

"Language and temper, Wolfsburg.  Those are two vices that you're going to have to learn to control."

"FUCK YOU!"

I tried to spit on his face, but again he was too quick for me.  He gave me another irritated look and straddled my face, so that his crotch was at my eye level.

"I've had enough of this little cat fight, haven't you?.  Now, I'm going to let you go and if you launch yourself at me, you'll go down with a punch.  So, I'm warning you right now, not to try anything stupid."

Of course, I wasn't going to listen to him.  So as soon as Antonio was off me, I catapulted myself towards him and down I went. My jaw ached and my pride, hurt even worse.

"I warned you, but you didn't listen."

Antonio extended his hand to me, so I reached for it and he pulled me up.

The punch must have calmed something inside me, even though I still felt angry but no longer with a desire to fight.  There was an old row boat that was decaying on the beach, I walked up to it and leaned against it.  Antonio stood there looking at me for a while, without saying anything and then walked towards me.

"You feel better, now?"

He looked sad and sounded concerned.

I nodded silently and wiped away my tears.  He sighed and took a step closer to me.

"I'm sorry about punching you.  I really didn't want to do that, but I think you would have killed me, if I didn't."

He made me smile, which in turn made him smile.  I gave him a questioning look and cleared my throat.

"Why did you come after me?"

He gave another deep sigh and crossed his arms.

"You scared me.  I caught a glimpse of you running down the stairs and I got concerned.  This is a very dangerous neighbourhood and I didn't want anything to happen to you, I didn't know where you were going."

He sounded like he was telling the truth, at least like he was being honest.  His eyes looked tired and grieved.

"Val wanted you all to himself, as did the other guys."

Antonio looked down and averted his eyes.  He stood there and didn't say anything for what felt the longest time.

"Val is someone that I've known for quite a while, but he's not my lover if that's what you're thinking."

Antonio gazed towards the moon.  He remained quiet for two seconds and it looked like he was carefully choosing his words.

"So who is he?.  Val, I mean."

Antonio kicked the sand and cursed something, that I couldn't quite make out.

"Val was a mistake, a big fucking mistake.  I met him here at the Tapu when he was sixteen, he was a troubled kid, a runaway and a hustler.  At first he reminded of myself at his age, angry at the world, always looking for a fight, not having a place to call home and I thought I could help him out.  He was involved in many dangerous things, mostly drugs, gangs and even prostitution."

Antonio's face looked like he was in a lot of pain as he told me the story.

"I thought, I could make a difference in his life.  I took him to the sports center, got him off the streets, put him back in school, got him a place to live and trained him to be a boxer, much like Rocco did with me.  I wanted him to have a chance, much like the one that I was given, but there was one big problem.  I was never involved with drugs, so I didn't know how strong of a pull they can have on an addict, and Val would do drugs behind my back."

Antonio leaned against the boat and would on occasion look at me and give me a warm smile.  There was still one thing, that was bothering me and I had to ask.

"So you never slept with him?"

Antonio smiled, which annoyed the hell out of me.

"It's that what this is all about?.  Is that why you're so angry?"

I looked at the moon, wiped my face and pretended that I didn't hear him.

"To answer your question Markus, the answer is no.  Val was already messed up and that would have made things worse, I only wanted to give him a chance in life and help him out."

Now that I knew the truth, I felt better.

"So what happened, between you and Val?"

Antonio gave another long sigh and closed his eyes.

"Well, I confronted him about doing drugs and he denied it of course.  I told that I was willing to send him to a rehab center, he agreed but when it came time to admit himself, he never showed up.  From what I heard, he was back on the streets, selling his body for money, had quit school and was no longer living in his pad.  I can't say that I gave up on him, but I extended my hand to him and he didn't seem like he wanted to take it."

I felt very bad about the whole thing, I had behaved so fucking badly this evening.  What's worse, I didn't even let Antonio explain anything before I jumped to such a stupid conclusion.

"I'm very sorry to hear that, Antonio.  I guess, I should have let you explained things before running off."

Antonio turned to face me and smiled.  I felt my face begun to blush and my heart was beating fast again, I wanted to forget about my childish behaviour and to give Antonio a kiss as a gesture of peace offering.  I leaned towards him and slowly approached his sexy lips.

The meeting of our lips was electric and as soon as our bodies came into contact, I felt my heart stop for a brief second.  I was finally in heaven and kissing this god of a man.  A very good-looking man, who has the power to attract, capture and control you with his masculine magnetism and potent sexuality.  My tongue greedily explored every part of his mouth, I hungered and wanted to swallow his saliva, to taste everything that he had to offer.

As we kissed, I opened my eyes and wanted to remember this kiss forever, Antonio looked so handsome and majestic under the moonlight and I couldn't be any happier.  It was at this precise moment in our lives and as we looked into each other's eye, I knew that I was his and he was mine.

Under the perfect setting of a beautiful full moon, the splashing of waves behind us and a canopy of billions of glowing stars above us, I felt that the world had come to a standstill and as far as I was concerned, we were the only two people on earth.

I ran my hand through the small hairs on the back of his neck and kissed him on the chin.  I licked his sexy stubble and I could detect just a trace of saltiness on his skin, which made it more sensual and erotic.  The result was a small whimper that escaped from Antonio's throat.

Antonio's hazel eyes flew open when he felt my lips come in contact with his and he sucked in a sharp breath when he felt my teeth gently nibbling his bottom lip.  I tenderly licked the side of his face and gave him sweet little pecks down his neck.

Suddenly I stopped, pulled away from his body and gazed into his eyes.

"Are you alright?" I asked while kissing his forehead.

"I'm fine, why?"

His eyelids were fluttering open and close, yet his face always had a warm expression.

"No reason.", I replied and leaned forward to kiss him tenderly once again.

I had an uneasy feeling to be kissing another man even though the beach was deserted.  What if someone saw us?, but then again who would be walking around at 1:00 a.m in the morning and in this part of town.  I felt safe in Antonio's arms, so I pushed the thought out of my head.  

I entangled my fingers in his hair and we settled into a deep and wet passionate kiss.  I could feel Antonio's strong hands moving across my back and there was a raw animalistic heat, emanating from his body.  We continued to kiss, to caress and taste each other and many types of sensations ran through my body.  There was a sense of desire, of lust, passion and a need,....a need to absorb Antonio's soul into my body.

Antonio pulled me closer to his fiery body and I could feel him growing hard.  I ran my fingers over the enormous bulge in his jeans and stroked it firmly and gently.  He quickly opened his eyes to reveal that familiar flame of passion that was burning brightly in his hazel eyes.

I wanted him so badly, that every part of my body ached.  His carnal desire was glowing brighter and hotter, his hands found their way inside me jeans and he slowly caressed my smooth ass.  He slowly forced one finger into my most private and sensitive area, and I felt that I was going to have a heart attack and melt in arms.  As soon, as he had invaded me, I started to tremble uncontrollably, my own hard cock was dripping pre-cum and long moans of pleasure escaped from my lips.

Antonio continued with his assault and my body responded with waves of pleasure at each delicious touch.  He was tenderly biting my earlobes and the feeling was driving me delirious.  The harder and deeper he shoved his finger up my asshole the more I squirmed and wriggled my ass.  I wanted, no better said...hungered, thirsted, and yearned for the real thing.

I wanted his thick cock inside me, to feel his mighty weapon plowing my insides, I wanted to be violated and plundered by this stallion of a man.  He kissed and tasted my neck and my body was burning up, I couldn't handle much more, my body and senses could only take so much.  I felt as if my mind had drifted off into another world, but I was still conscious of Antonio's touch and wanting a lot more.

My lips and tongue were on his neck licking gently his skin.  I took a big whiff of his masculine smell, I wanted to inhale deeply and savour his male essence.  I could no longer control myself, I was burning up, I was on fire, and so I knelt to him.  This was my place, to honour, worship, adore this powerful man.  I gazed deeply into his eyes and with a hypnotized look, ran my hand over his strong chest.  Antonio placed one hand on my cheek and ran his fingers along my face as if to memorize every feature.

I took his right hand and kissed it, he leaned down and kissed me softly on my lips.  He towered over me, like a colossal and majestic Roman marble statue, to be worshipped and adored.  He ran one finger over my lips and placed it inside my open mouth, I sucked and nursed it, like it was a baby's pacifier and while I was looking up at him, he began to pull down his zipper. I knew what he wanted and I was more than happy to oblige, it would be my pleasure and privilege to service his massive weapon of creation.

My fingers trembled with desire and as I pulled down his zipper, I felt his powerful stare.  I wanted to taste Antonio's thick baby batter again, to be sanctified and be anointed by it.  My heart swelled as I fumbled with his underwear and tried to free the magnificent penis.

As I freed the monsterous cock, it throbbed and jerked wildly in my hand, I could only think of one word that came into my head, Wow.

Everytime I saw this gorgeous uncut cock, it appeared to grow bigger in inches and thickness.  The broad dickhead was close to my lips, tempting me, teasing me, making my mouth water with desire.  I stuck out my tongue and lapped the giant head like a kitten lapping at his milk bowl.  I tasted delicious pre-cum and I was finally drinking this exquisite ambrosia.

I looked up and there was a sexy smirk on his face, he knew what I was thinking.  He could invade my private thoughts and he knew very well, how much I desired him.

How I could I be angry at the way men throw themselves at him.  There are no fucking words, possible to explain the behaviour he causes when he's around either sex.  He has a raw and masculine sex appeal, which drives people nuts, but I still believe it has something to do with his pheromones.  Then again, Antonio has a natural appeal, a charm and seductiveness that everyone seems to want a piece of.

I licked Antonio's thick cock and he moaned loudly with lust and in a swift thrust, he impaled my mouth on his entire cock.  As I started building up rhythm, he started talking dirty to me, something about how my mouth felt like a warm pussy and that he was enjoying the blowjob.  Antonio forcibly held my head with both hands and started moving it up and down his thick cock and as he did this, he also started to move his hips, roughly fucking my face.  I felt proud, that I had taken the entire cock deep down my throat without gagging.

Antonio pulled his mouthwatering cock out of my mouth and firmly ordered me to get up.

"Strip, Markus!"

I gave him a look of abashment and confusion.

"Right here?, in the middle of the beach?  What if someone walks by?"

Antonio gave me a lewd and vulgar look.

"You're with me and nothing is going to happen to you,...unless I want it to."

Again, he had that ferocious and lecherous look.  And what the hell did he mean by, unless I want it to?

I was going to protest, but as I was about to open my mouth, he pulled me close.

"Remember that day at the sports center Markus?  The day when you lost your cherry?"

There was an evil grin across his face and even the tone of his voice had changed.

"You had to learn things the hard way and if there's one thing that I really, really hate, is having to repeat myself.  So, take your clothes off or I'll rip them off and you'll be taking a cab home in nothing but rags."

I quickly begun to undress and carefully set my clothes on the old row boat.  I seriously think that this man has split personalities, the image of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, came into mind.  A while ago, I was talking to a caring and loving guy and right now I'm dealing with the savage, blunt, and agressive Antonio.

Antonio stripped under the moonlit sky and now that he was bare assed, he looked more commanding and overwhelming.  He stood there naked and looking even more intimidating in his agressive virility.  His thick legs were like two elegantly curved and strong columns, accented by bulging and hard muscles.  His broad and heavily muscled hairy chest and wash-board stomach were certainly striking to look at and once again my fingers itched to touch his body.

I wanted to run my hands over his incredibly hot body, to roam freely over every square inch of that massive frame.  To feel him all over, his neck, shoulders, arms, chest, back, ass and legs.  I longed to caress and explore the contours of all those big, flexing muscles and to experience their rise and fall.  I lusted to trace every meaty curve and dent, to search and follow every line and each wide plane of these hard slabs of muscle.  I craved to enjoy the tinkle of all those hairs while my fingers ran over this spectacular body, brushing admiringly through that thick forest of stiff, black hair.

Antonio gave me a look of approval as I stood naked under the full moon.  He motioned me with his index finger to approach him and to kneel in front of him.  I slowly walked over to him and I was once again over-awed at the sight of his mighty body and cock.  The massive male organ, was etched with large, jagged, blood-gorged veins and perfectly shaped.  Antonio's flawless and unequaled 12 inches, stood right in front of my watering mouth.  His hairy balls seemed even bigger and now that they could finally swing freely back and forth between his strong and hairy thighs, they looked like a pair of nuts any stallion would be eager to own.

Fuck yeah!.  Antonio has got it all; looks, brains, money, strength and power.  Oh yeah, and he's really huge, really hairy, really hung and this man was horny, horny as hell!

His giant cock throbbed, pulsed wildly and oozed a generous flow of pre-cum.  Antonio grabbed the thick, hard shaft with one of his big hands and began to milk it for even more lube, spreading the clear fluid over the smooth, delicately surfaced dickhead. He cupped his huge balls and gave them a tug with the left hand and with his right, he pumped slowly the monsterous rod up and down.  Tingling sensations ran through my body and I gasped.

Antonio smiled, winked at me and seemed pleased by my admiration, awe and the respect in my eyes.

"Like what you see, sweet prince?  You're craving for this big cock, aren't you?"

His words were blunt and straight to the point.  He knew the effect that he had on me, and there was no way of denying the truth.

"You're hot as hell, aren't you Markus?.  You're yearning for me to fuck your ass with this big, hard cock, aren't you?.  Well come on, sweet prince touch it, touch my cock, feel me up, feel this hot cock in your hand and think that it will be up your ass in just a few moments, up to the hilt and all the way!"

My eyes burned with lust and my throat was dry.  My hand moved upwards as if guided by some invisible magnetism, while my fingertips brushed across Antonio's hot flesh.  I tried to close my hand around the big fat shaft but it was too thick, way too thick.  A gap of several inches between my thumb and middle finger remained and no matter how hard I squeezed the king-sized and hefty bar of man meat, was as thick as a fire hose.

I was excited beyond all means by the fullness and thickness of this perfect cock.  You could hold this monster in your hand and be dumb-founded by its massive physical presence, by the heat it emanated, by its incredible hardness under the silkily soft skin, but you could never possess it with your groping and fondling hand, it was simply too big, way too big.

One had to touch Antonio's powerful maleness to experience the wonder of such an incredible symbol of male virility.  I moaned as my trembling fingers touched the king of all cocks.  I ached to explore the monumental member, circling the contours of the enormous fat head that was as large as a door-knob and sticky with a thick layer of glorious pre-cum.

The wrist-thick rod was as hard as steel, yet wonderously alive.  It jerked, pulsed and throbbed in my hand.  Almost frightened by the thickness of the shaft near its base, I moved my hand upwards again and caressed the smooth skin with my fingers and squeezed the burning hot rod hard from time to time.  My heart raced at double speed when it throbbed in response and seemed to swell even more, forcing my clutching hands wider apart.

"Yeah, sweetie.  That hand of yours, feels great on my cock and you're ready as well, aren't you?"

Antonio licked my ear and whispered,

"You ready now prince?  I can sense your exciment, your need and ache for my cock, how you long to feel it up your ass.  I bet your tight ass is already hot, incredibly hot and itching and waiting for this fat cock.  Am I right, Markus?"

I didn't really have to say anything.  The fierce blushes across my face said it all, my voice was slightly slurred as I answered,

"Yeah, Antonio.  I,... I want you to fuck me, I want you inside me."

"Yeah, that's what I thought.  But not yet, Markus...not yet, first I want you to finish what you started, so get on your knees!"

I ran my tongue around and under Antonio's foreskin, I skinned it back and tongued around the naked head.  I grabbed his hips and forced the head of his cock deep into my throat, where I worked on it with my throat muscles.  Antonio responded very quickly with a rock solid erection.

Giving Antonio a blowjob is always a jaw breaking task, because he is never a passive receiver, quite on the contrary he's an active facefucker.  He held my head in his hands to control the position of my mouth and fucked my face.  Antonio plunged deeply into my willing throat and moved his hips up, down and sideways while generating pressure on different parts my mouth and in his cock.  Then considerate of the fact that I needed to breathe once in a while, he would withdraw until only the head of his cock was in my mouth.

Whenever Antonio would withdraw his cock from my mouth, the delicious foreskin would roll over the head of his cock and whenever he plunged back into my mouth the foreskin would peel back and expose the giant head.  With just the foreskin covered head of his cock in my mouth, he would make circular and figure-eight movements with his hips, while I ran my tongue between his foreskin and the head of his juicy cock.

Antonio loved to plunge his thick cock deep into my throat and would embellish this plunge with graceful movements back and forth, up, down and sideways.  He also enjoyed to take his cock out of my mouth and wipe the tip of his foreskin around my cheeks and around my lips, just before he plunged it into my mouth again.

I complied to his every desire; it was a privilege to suck his cock.  After about ten minutes of trying to swallow such a gargantuan monster my jaw begun to ache.  The large head of his cock pulsed and swelled and the tip released a fountain of creamy sperm, spraying towards my face.  Panicked that I might lose a single drop, I engulfed his shooting cock into my mouth, and pumped the milky nectar out of him and down my waiting throat.

"Arrrrhhhhh...Fuck!.  Yeah baby, swallow everything." he roared, as I swallowed his virile load, jet after jet after warm jet of delicious sperm.

Antonio's hips thrusted into my face and his pubic hair was tickling my nose.  My hands were fervently jacking off my own cock as it fucked the air and, in a fury, I shot my cum like liquid bullets.  I came in a delirious explosion and I still had Antonio's cock in my mouth, still nursing it, even though I'd already sucked every precious drop of his semen out of it.

I lay back on the cool sand exhausted, yet savouring Antonio's thick baby batter.  A thought came into my mind that if one could only sell Antonio's sperm he'd be one wealthy man.  I mean this semen is made of pure DNA perfection, coming from a certified champion of virility, a sperm that is unique and priceless.

I stared at the moon and quickly changed my mind, there would be no chance in hell that I would let anyone else get a taste of this potent and well-seasoned sperm.  There's nothing on this fucking planet that even comes close in taste, purity and quality. Antonio's semen is heavenly and incomparable.

I could actually feel Antonio's exceptional genetic superiority being absorbed by my own body.  His DNA, would give me strength, knowledge and power.

Antonio looked satisfied but was still jerking his mighty python.  I got up and was about to give him a kiss on the mouth, but he backed away and said.

"We're not done yet, my sweet prince.  I still want a piece of your ass."

I knew he'd want more.  In addition to all of his physical beauty, Antonio is a sexual athlete.  He can climax several times in a row and usually does.  Whenever I would give him a blow job, he would never lose his erection after climaxing, actually if I kept sucking his hard cock, Antonio would climax in my mouth at least two or three more times.

He walked over to the boat and searched for something.  I gave him a confused look and wondered what the hell he was looking for.  Nestled among some old fishing nets, he found what he had been looking for, a raggedy, dirty and worn-out blanket.

I must have looked surprised, because Antonio simply smiled and layed the blanket on the sand.

"How did you know that was there?"

Antonio didn't say anything, but simply motioned me to come over to the blanket.

"I'm not lying down on that filthy thing, it's disgusting.  God only knows where it's been, and how the hell did you know it was there?"

Antonio sighed and got up.  I knew where this was going, he was going to force me down.  Good luck, because I'm not going down without a fight.

He grabbed me by the neck and threw me on the blanket.

"You jerk!.  I told you, I'm not lying down on this soiled blanket."

"Now Markus, don't be such a pussy.  I've used it before and it's not bad, as long as you get used to the smell."

As soon as he had said that, I jumped off the blanket.  Antonio gave a wicked laugh and scratched his head.

"For fuck sakes, Markus!.  I was just kidding, I brought that blanket from home and I use it when I come to the beach."

I didn't know wether to believe him or not.

I layed on the blanket and it didn't smell too bad.

I assumed the position, and teased him for a bit by wildly shaking my ass.  I turned me head to see a mischivious grin across his face.

"Well, aren't you feeling brave.  I guess that we'll see how long you can keep that up."

He slid his thick fingers up and down my ass crack and I jumped when I felt Antonio's tongue licking my tender pucker.

"Relax, sweet prince.  You know that I wouldn't hurt you, don't be so jumpy."

After sucking a 12 inch cock, you can't help but to feel a bit of anticipation for what will be a rough and bumpy ride. Antonio was endowed with an over-sized cock and had proved to be an expert in fucking ass, he had a masters in the art of riding a guy to glory, by fucking his butt with carefully timed, hard and deep powerful thrusts.

I was already well experienced when it came to spreading my legs and opening up my ass, yet I waited anxiously for Antonio's anal assault.  After all he had simply the biggest and thickest dick that I had ever seen, and deep down in my heart I feared that those12 hard inches are still hard to take, no matter how expertly my butt had previously been trained.

With my naked ass in the air, he continued to run his fingers over my crack, as well as to lap my asshole.  As he did this, I would tighten my muscles around my asshole which seemed to amuse him.

"You got the idea sweet prince.  You're gonna work that sweet pussy for me, just like that!"

Without warning I felt one by one of his fingers enter me.  After about two minutes, it felt like he had shoved his whole hand in me.  I started to yell out in pain which made him push my head harder into the blanket and his grip on the back of my neck was getting stronger, even with one hand.

I felt four fingers and my body was trembling with rapture, so I tightened my hole around his fingers.

"That's my boy!.  Sweet, tight pussy...mmmm, yeah sweetie!"

That's all I heard Antonio say, as he started to pump his finger in and out of my hole.  A shot of pain ran up my body and headed straight to my head.  Antonio started to probe deeper and deeper and just as hard, all the while I kept tightening my asshole around his finger, which only made him laugh.

"My sweetheart is still tight.  Perfect, my love...this will be perfect."

Antonio withdrew his fingers for a moment and my body seemed to relax.  I thought that this might be the end of it and that he had finished with his little game.  Then I felt something else, not his finger or his tongue and I could hear Antonio's breathing getting heavier.  Antonio ran his cock head over my asshole, making it wet with his slippery pre-cum, I even felt his foreskin moving along my crack, it was thick and textured.  I held my breath and bit my lip, as I knew that this would hurt a lot.

Antonio was emanating a strong heat, and I could feel his overpowering scent of sweat and sex.  I waited in anticipation for the assault and sensed his strong and muscular body behind me.  I trembled all over in lust and anticipation, he then spat on his cock and covered the awesome weapon with a large amount of saliva.  The head of his dick brushed across the glowing skin of my buttocks, coating it with a broad trail of sticky, clear lube.  Then I felt the head of his cock pointing at my opening and I slowly felt his cock push against my asshole.

At first it seemed it wasn't going to go in, it was way too fucking big for any hole, but Antonio was determined and with a second push I felt his knob enter me.  Pain and excitement overtook me body, I tried to scream but all that came out was a muffled groan.  No matter how many times Antonio takes my ass, I can never get used to the searing pain

Slowly the huge cockhead probed into the wet, sweaty valley between my buns and I tensed as the hot bar of pulsing meat and my spasming asshole made contact.  Antonio's slick cock slithered juicily over the puckered opening and a generous stream of pre-cum began to flood my asscrack, making it even more slimy.

I wanted to shout out for him to stop, but my energy seemed spent and the fact that I was all hot and horny didn't help my cause.

"Oh Fuck, shiiiit!.  Antonio slow down please, let me get used to it!"

He was talking dirty again, something about my ass feeling like a virgin's pussy.  He wasn't listening to me, so he pushed again and again until his entire tool was deep inside me then he started pumping me hard like a jackhammer.  I swore that I was seeing different colours in the night sky, or was it that my vision was getting blurry?  I heard him groan with every thrust, I looked up at the sky and saw beautiful shooting stars but I can't say whether they were real or a hallucination caused by pain and eventually,... pleasure.

As Antonio pushed my face into the blanket, his grip did not ease up and by now my head was scratching the filthy blanket.  I wanted to say something, but I seemed to have lost my voice and I was unable to speak, all I could do was to make grunting noises.

This time I heard Antonio moan loudly,

"Arrgghh, fuck...yeahh!"

I felt his thick cock open me up deeper and he started to slide his cock back and forth, his foreskin helping with the motion. This must have gone for at least ten minutes and all I could hear from Antonio was pure groans of gusto and gratification.

"Oh yeahhh, this is one sweet fucking pussy!.  I'm gonna fill your other end, sweetheart."

My own dick was dripping with pre-cum and jerked wildly as Antonio thursted himself in and out of me.  He spread my asscheeks further apart and pushed his fat cock deeper against my quivering sphincter.  I had prepared myself for the stabbing pain, but instead I felt a burning heat that spread rapidly through my whole body and the fieriness, became more intense with every second that Antonio's hard rod was in my ass.

I felt full, full of big, hard cock that I thought I could not take anymore, although he had only just begun to shove his monsterous cock into my butt.  It dawned on me that this was not not just another hard fuck, this was the way in which Antonio seized, controlled and took possession of your body, mind, and soul.

Antonio took pleasure in leaving only a small fraction of the head of that monsterous cock stuck in my ass.  I felt not only stuffed, but impaled and paralyzed by the intense heat that this pulsing rod emanated.  I felt suffocated, strangled even by the wrecking spasms that radiated through my body and rendered me senseless.  Like a drowning man, I cried out with my last ounce of strength.

"Oh God, Tony!.  Please go slowly, you're way too big man, please slow down!"

Antonio gave me a playful pat on the ass and said,

"Sure thing, my sweet love.  See what I mean, you're all brave and tough at first and now, you're acting like a girl."

I turned my head around and gave Antonio, an angry stare.  It's a whole different story, when you're sucking a 12 inch enormous cock, than when you're taking that same fucker up the ass.

"Keep that up Antonio, and you'll be using your hand to get off!"

Antonio gave me a hard slap on my ass.

"Ha... Yeah right!  The day anyone denies me sex is the day that I'll kiss the feet of the fucking Pope!"

I rolled my eyes and kinda laughed.  What a mouth he has sometimes, so vulgar...so profane.

Antonio kissed me on the lips and they tasted salty with sweat.  I drove my tongue wildly around his mouth, eager to reach every area of it, sucking hard at his squirming tongue which darted out of his mouth.  Antonio coated his cock with more spit, the only lubricant he preferred, and started his assault again.  I could hear his muffled groans and feel the strong spasms that shook his heavy body, these were clear signs of the slow progress of that seemingly endless ramrod of man meat that stretched my ass wider apart than ever before.

He started slow and kept that pace, much to my relief.  Antonio would kiss the back of my neck and take little bites, which distracted me and I forgot about the pain.  After a long while, the agony gave way to a mere discomfort and then to a tentative murmur of uncertainty and confusion.  Antonio's breathing became less strained and the rigid tension of his powerful muscles began to ease.

I could feel and sense the steady stream of lube, flowing out of his huge dickhead and it was making my butthole even more slippery and easier for his cock to piston in and out of my asshole.  I closed my eyes and enjoyed the fuck, Antonio was now writhing, shoving, drilling and pistoning forward.  He was sweating profusely and the sweat was coating my back and ass, he fucked me in a series of hard and fast stabs.

"Ahhhhhhh, yeah.  Yeah baby, c'on impale yourself on my cock!"

I would hear Antonio groan in ecstacy and intoxication.

At times, he would allow only the tip of the head of his cock in and out of my rectum and from different angles, he would plunge deeply.  To prolong the ecstasy whenever Antonio would feel an approaching climax, he would plunge deep into me and lay perfectly still, not moving until the approaching climax passed and he would begin fucking me vigorously again.

"You have one sweet and tight pussy, Markus.  Dammm, your ass feels great!"

Antonio slowly started his creative fucking motions. With just the head of his cock inside of me, he moved his hips sideways, as he kept up a series of little short in-and-out strokes that bumped his huge corona against the inside of my rectum.  This motion would vary with deep plunges, during which Antonio kept his cock fully immersed in me and stirred my guts by moving my hips sideways and up and down with his hands.  Then he withdrew his cock fully, wiped it around the sensitive area around my ass hole before he shoved it in.

I was now fully relaxed and enjoyed and took pleasure in this magnificent fucking.

Antonio soon changed his pace, he started to fuck my ass harder and faster, almost throwing me off balance.  His fucking was becoming frantic and more rapid and I knew that he was reaching his climax.  Antonio plunged deeply again and held his pelvis tightly up against my ass as I felt spurt after spurt of Antonio's semen deep in my guts.

"Ohhh fuck yeah, baby!.  Yeaaaah, milk my cock, take it all sweetheart!"

"OH FUCK!  Arrgghhh, dammmm!"

I felt his sperm coating my insides and there was alot of cum.  Such a big load, that it started to leak out of my asshole.  The life giving semen felt warm and wet and I could feel Antonio's seed drip down my crack and over my balls which were ready to explode by now.

Antonio was still shaking and bucking from his orgasm.  I grabbed hold of his ass and impaled myself harder and deeper into his babymaker, I wanted every single drop of sperm in me, it was mine.

"Dammmm, what a fuck."

Antonio was trying to catch his breath, leaned in close and whispered in my ear.

"I want to see you cum!"

He said this so close to my ear that I felt his hot breath against my skin and with those words, I exploded in his hand.  Shot after shot of warm cum covered Antonio's hand and the rest spilled onto the blanket.  I kept shooting as my cock twitched and I was so tired and spent that I thought I was going to pass out.

Antonio withdrew his cock from my ass and wiped his body juices all over my ass.  He grabbed one end of the blanket and wiped the tip of his cock and even cleaned under his foreskin as if he was a warrior wiping the blood of an enemy from his mighty sword.

"Antonio you jerk!  You're wiping your cock all over my ass?"

He simply winked at me and blew me a kiss.

He layed on the blanket, pulled me close to him and covered us with the blanket.  I moved my hand towards his crotch and his cock was still hard, unbeliable.

We remained motionless, our eyes shut and we held each other in a tight embrace.  I stared at the sky, neither one of us saying anything, but I could have fallen asleep on the beach.  Antonio continued to kiss me gently on the forehead and on my lips while my hands were busy caressing his body, one hand played with his cock and the other moved along his hairy chest and stomach.

I was looking at Antonio's face as he had his eyes closed, he looked quite relaxed.  After the rigorous exercise I think he had fallen asleep.  I felt an urge to confess something to him, so I whispered in his ear.

"You make me feel warm inside, when I'm with you.  Without a care in the world and at peace, I feel like I'm melting all over.  I just wanted you to know that no one has ever made me feel this way."

I said those words in a shaky voice, but I don't know if Antonio actually heard me.  I sat up and started to get dressed, I cursed at myself for saying something so stupid to him, I really hope he was sleep.  I was putting on my jeans, when I heard him get up.

"I know luv," He smiled at me and as he walked bare assed towards me, he took his cool hand and caressed my face.

"You make me feel the same way…"

I couldn’t help but to smile back at him, and kissed once again.  Eventually, Antonio pulled away and looked at his watch.

"We have to get going, it's already 3:00 a.m.  We'll head back to the Tapu and I'll get a cab for you and listen, I want to see you later today.  Mmmm, let's say around 5:00 p.m at the sports center, think you can make it?"

I smiled and nodded silently.  I was willing to meet him anywhere and at anytime.

I picked up my running shoes and leaned up against the boat, the rough wood was scraping my back.  Thousands of thoughts were running through my head at the moment, it was hard enough to concentrate on a specific one.

*

It was around 3:30 a.m., when I heard the sound of a motor in our driveway.  I needed to pee, so I got up from my bed and walked towards the window.  As I pulled open the curtains, I couldn't believe how bright and clear everything looked under the full moon.  That's when I saw my father walking out of the garage and he stopped for a brief moment just so that he could take off his shoes.  I looked at the time in my clock again and wondered why he was home so late.

I went to the bathroom and peed.  I could hear my father walking around downstairs and bumping into things.  I guess that he didn't want to turn on the lights, so that he didn't wake anyone up.  I decided to wait for him and sit at the top of the stairs, I was so tired that I couldn't control my yawning.  He was slowly walking up the stairs, carefully tip-toeing and trying very hard not to make a noise.

"Jesus Christ, Dante!.  You scared the living daylights out of me, what are you still doing up?"

I put one finger on my lips,

"Shhhh, I needed to pee and heard your car.  Why are you home so late?"

My father smiled and scratched his head.

"Let's go to your room, I don't want your mom and grandmother to wake up."

My father followed me into my room and closed the door behind us.

"I just lost track of the time, son.  The poker game went on forever."

There was something strange about my dad, that I couldn't quite make out.  His hair was wet and his clothes were soaked and smelled like, I don't know...fish, the ocean???"

"You're wet, dad.  Did you go swimming?"

My dad laughed and covered his mouth.

"Nothing escapes you, does it cub?  Yes, son I actually took a quick dip in the ocean."

I felt kinda jealous that I hadn't been there.  I walked over to my bed and got under the covers.

He stood there looking at me, as he took off his shirt.  He used his shirt to wipe his muscular hairy chest and then the jeans came off.  As he threw his clothes on the floor and stood there only in his white underwear I took notice of his strong muscles. The flexible material clearly outlined his huge balls and the thick shaft of his dick was sneaking down to the left in a meaty arch. I turned crimson-red every time I saw this obscene and agressive display of his "private parts".

"Hey sport.( he paused and scratched his balls) You don't mind if I sleep in your room tonight, right?"

I rubbed my eyes and yawned.

"No, it's fine dad.  Besides you'll wake up mom if you go into your bedroom."

My dad smiled and got into my bed.  He gave me a kiss on my forehead and gently strocked my cheek.

"Thanks, cub.  I owe you one, now let's get some sleep, 'cause I'm soooo tired!"

My dad's body felt cool, but he smelled very fresh and in a matter of seconds he was snoring loudly.  I smiled and gave him a hug and rested my head on his hairy chest.  I fell asleep playing with the hair around his nipples and with my leg on his hairy stomach.  The last thought that came into my mind before closing my eyes, was the conversation that I had with Fabrizio, I gotta remember to tell dad about it in the morning.

To be continued!