Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2013 20:22:53 -0500 (EST) From: Milford Slabaugh Subject: Family Fortunes FAMILY FORTUNES By Tommyhawk1@AOL.COM WWW.TOMMYHAWKSFANTASYWORLD.COM I was on the sixth month of my wanderjahr, and visiting one of my oldest's cousin's daughters in Spokane. Every body deserves a wanderjahr, a year's respite between your high school graduation and your entry into the university grind, twelve months to get your head together, enjoy your newfound adulthood, sow a few wild oats and generally experience life unfettered and unbound. I'd get to a place, wire my family for money (my own money, I'd inherited a trust fund when I came of age), they'd send it to me and I'd either use the place I was for my base of operations (if they were cool with my lifestyle) or find myself a hotel (if they turned out to be killjoys). Then I'd investigate the social life of where I was, when that was exhausted, I'd pack my bags and move to the next place on my list. Spokane, Washington didn't have any major reputation as a party town, but hell, I'd had a great time in the medium-small town of Jonesboro, Arkansas. Sometimes, the people are more important than the location when you're looking for a good time. Family is family and you don't expect them to turn out brass bands at such a time as a visit from a fairly distant relative, but the temperature around this dinner table was more than a little cold. Not to me, but to each other. On the surface, they were a good-looking family, of course, that's in my genetic make-up. We all run to well-built, slim-waisted blonds on my side of the family and Sally shared that with me. Her husband Eric was just as gorgeous in a black-haired, olive-skinned, tempestuous-natured way. The children took after him in their looks, you'd think the table would have had some conversation, but except single-shot question-and-answers to me, the talk stalled into silence over and over again. By the time desert was served (house servants, by now, you might have figured out that my family has more than a few shekels to rub together), I was glad to get away. I wasn't too surprised to have Sally knock on my door a bit later. She and I settled into the two chairs my bedroom suite held and I said, "Have I come at a bad time?" "No worse than any time else." Sally sighed. "I don't know, Gary! You meet someone and fall in love, and you get married and think it's going to stay that way the rest of your life. Three kids and eight years later, you're looking at a stranger sitting across from you at the table and you wonder, what the hell happened." "I'm sorry." I couldn't think of anything else to say. "I have to wait a few days until my money gets here (I'd wired my family that same afternoon, but tomorrow was Friday and I'd be forced to wait until Monday for my funds), is there anything I can do?" "Not really." Sally said then she reconsidered. "Maybe if you could talk with Eric and find out how he feels? Is this marriage worth saving, or would we be better off splitting up now while we're still young enough to find someone else? I'm taking the children to my sister's house and we'll be gone until Sunday afternoon, it'll be just the two of you here in the house, you can talk to him for me before you leave, can't you?" Sally had planned this all out before I'd gotten here, I could tell! That would have been better done by a counselor, I almost said. But hell, it wasn't like I was supposed to fix anything here. Just find out if Eric was salvageable. Did he want to stay with Sally or not? A simple question. I'd get the answer to that question and then, unless he had a second wife and family out there or something, recommend they take their troubles to a professional. You might be wondering why I was getting so involved in this "none of my business" family spat. Well, it was my family's business...literally. Eric wasn't just Sally's husband, he also was running the entire West Coast and Western Canada sector of our family's company. He'd turned what had been a rather lackluster sector into one of our best producers, and we wanted him to stay in the family! If he quit, he'd also leave our company! We were very much a family-owned business, if Eric was going to continue being our golden goose, we had to keep him married to Sally. I waited outside Eric's work until he came out of the parking lot. His car was pretty easy to spot, thank God, a pale-green Porsche, so I didn't have to tailgate him to keep him in sight. He never came home straight from work and with his wife and children absent and the servants having the weekend off, he had no reason to go home. So I wasn't surprised to follow him on a path other than the one between his office and his home in the suburbs. He went deeper into the city, not away from it. We ended up in a public parking lot in a neighborhood I wasn't that comfortable with. But Eric's soul was in my hands, I managed to spot him as I left the parking lot (I'd nearly lost him going down those stairs) and he went into a place that was either a better-class bar or a lower-class restaurant. The first, it turned out, a lot of red-velvet decor and decorative hangings, out of place in this neighborhood until you considered the clientele. Eric had led me to a gay bar! Well, my job was done, Eric was a lost cause. Then I spotted him. Sitting at a table, all by himself. And in this crowd of man-hungry studs looking for their weekend fuck, he was being left alone. I'd been in enough of these bars to be able to pick out one of the regulars, so I sidled over to him and invited myself to join him and his friends at their table. "Just a question or two." I promised as I slid into my seat. "Honey, you can ask me anything you want!" my target returned, and everyone laughed and I managed a friendly smile. "I was wondering about that tall dark stranger over there, actually." I both turned him down and started the conversation I actually wanted. The man followed my point and turned back with a confident grin. "If he's your target honey, there isn't a bullet made that can hit one that small." "What's wrong?" "He's a married man." my confidant started. "Not a huge obstacle, but it's the first thing you get told if you try to sit with him. He's turned down every man who's made a play for him and most of us don't even try anymore. He's been using that table three times a week for the past three years, he sits, he drinks, he watches the show (a stage, currently bare, was at one end of the bar) and he leaves." "One time, I actually saw him crying." another man at the table put in. "While he was leaving." "A total closet case." my man (well, the guy I'd come to talk to) concludes. "So honey, if you're on the hunt, pick yourself another duck to give the goose." I stood. "Actually, I think I'll try to talk to the guy myself." I said. "If anyone can land him, it'll be you." the man eyed my body appreciatively. "He'll never make it." The man who'd spotted Eric crying challenged. "Five dollars says Blond Bomber gets shot down like everyone else. My man looked at me and something in my eyes told him the odds were in his favor. "I'll take you on that. Go get him, cutie." "Wish me luck." and I moved off to Eric's table. He looked up and saw me and blanched. "Gary!" "Relax." I said. "I won't say a thing to Sally." He gestured to me to sit down and I did. "What are you doing here?" "I could say hunting for a date." I admitted. "But that would be a lie. The real reason I'm here is that Sally asked me to check on you." I forestalled the question behind his lips. "No, not to see if you're cheating on her. Just see if you wanted to stay married to her. I'm told you just come here to sit and drink. Is that why?" "Yes. No." Eric made a face, sighed. "It's kind of complicated." "I got time to listen." I lifted the full glass of wine they'd just brought me at our table. Set it down untouched, I don't drink, it was decorative only. "You know I met Sally in college." Eric began. I nodded, and he said, "What you don't know is what I learned when I hit my final year." I cocked my head on one side in lieu of an "uh-huh" or such. "If you want to get ahead in the corporate world, you have to be married." Eric declared. "You can find and point to unmarried corporate successes, but in every case, you'll find they started a small business and built their own major corporation from there. If you want to join an established corporation and get ahead, you have to be married." I couldn't deny it, my family's corporation heads were all chosen from family, but the structure otherwise had that unmentioned point on any executive above the first two layers, an established, reliable family man (or woman) was required for any job. "So I met Sally and I could see that I could get her and so I married her." Eric tossed back his drink (he was taking shots of whiskey) and signaled for another. "At first, things were good, I didn't have to pretend to be in love with her, Sally's a terrific girl. Then our first child came." "And suddenly you weren't her first love anymore?" I nodded understanding. "Not that clear. Sally was a wife and a mother and I was a husband and a father and then the second child came and we were a real family. You can hold a woman, pretend she's a man, and make love to her, when it's just the two of you. Suddenly, I couldn't shut out everything that told me out loud and over and over that she was not a man, not what I wanted, not at all. Don't get me wrong, I love Sally and I love our children, just...not that way." Eric got his second drink and it went down just as quickly. To my relief, he didn't order a third. If it was his third and not his fourth. "So what do I do? I can't hurt Sally, hurt my kids, with a scandal, and with another guy! I'd lose my family, lose my career, lose my future, everything I care about and have worked for, for the last twelve years or more, all of it gone. But I'm trapped by those same things, blocked off from the one thing I really want, the one core fact of my existence." "Sally would understand." I said to him. "She's a terrific person, really. You just have to talk to her, tell her what you told me." Eric cocked an eyebrow my way. "You know Sally as well as I do. You tell me. Would she stay with a man who only wants to have sex with another man?" "Maybe. Maybe not." I admitted. "But you have one other card to play here." "What's that?" "The family wants you to stay with her." Eric wasn't surprised by this. "So that's it. You came out here to make sure Sally and I stay together." "Not entirely." I admitted. "I was traveling and available and Grandpa asked me to look into things while I was traveling, make sure the family is staying together. A divorce could be nasty on several levels, after all. Sally asked me just to find out if you wanted to stay married to her. Nothing else." "So I'll stay married to her, to keep my job with your family corporation. Sure." Eric signaled for another drink. "So your job here is done. You can move on down to the next town on the list, protecting your family fortunes." When he got the drink (the bartender seemed to anticipate him, have his drinks ready at a second's notice) and lifted it to his lips, he sloshed it, over half the shot went onto his shirt. "I think you and I have had enough." I said to him. "If you'll give me your car keys, I'll give you my glass of wine." I hadn't touched it, it was decorative only, I don't drink at all. "Forget it." Eric stood up, swaying. "You can drive me home." "We'll take your car." I said. "I can call the rental company and ask them to come pick up mine." I had to help Eric keep his feet on the walk to his car. He'd drunk more than I'd thought, that or he had a very limited capacity for alcohol. Which also didn't jibe with him hanging out in a bar. He must have spent his time just sitting there, looking around, at all the beautiful men he couldn't ever, ever have. Poor bastard. I got him back to the house and into his bed and went back to my own. I'd done my duty here, I could move on down the road. This marriage was a train-wreck, but as long as the family stayed together, my job was done. So why was I having such a hell of a time getting to sleep? But sleep I finally did, to wake up about ten a.m. the next day. Nothing too surprising about sleeping until ten on a Saturday morning. But the reason I woke up was that Eric was crawling into bed with me! Stark naked! "Eric?" I said, trying to keep my eyes away from that dark patch at his crotch, the dong dangling from it like a tasty, browned bratwurst. "To stay in my job, I have to stay married to a member of your family, right?" Had I admitted that last night? It was a secret! "Right." I said in lieu of a silence that would have said the same thing. "Does it say anything about which member of the family?" Eric snuggled in next to me and lowered the covers over both of us. "Or does it have a rule that says I can't run in a substitution among the members of the family, without losing my position." His lips were reaching for mine. I just had enough time to say, "No rule I know of." before those lips closed upon mine and I got kissed. Long, slow and passionate. I was getting all the sexual need of a man who had been denying himself for at least a decade. It left me more than a bit breathless, but when he let go, I managed to gasp out, "Eric, talk with Sally. Our family really wants to keep you right where you are, you know." "What about you? What do you want?" "I want you right where you are, too." I said and this time I reached to kiss him, and he rolled to bring his body up on top of mine. I felt that dong of his, hardened now, pressing against my crotch and my only regret was that I had on my briefs, that prevented it from nuzzling right up against my own manhood. But the rest of my body could feel his flesh pressing against my own. I had his arms resting on either side of me, my hands brushing his ribcage on his back, and my stomach and his sternum were getting very well acquainted. I could feel that thin ribbon of hairs that he had from his mid-chest down through his navel to his pubic patch, like a hand that went finger-tickling all the way down over and over, and my own erection was begging to be freed from its cotton jail, and I moaned and hunched it up at Eric's abdomen, while he kissed me completely, utterly, totally possessing me and I gave myself to him. Eric raised up onto his knees and his hands grabbed my elastic waistband. The briefs surrendered their captivity of my crotch and ass without any serious struggle, they slithered up my legs and sprang from my feet with a bit of a snap and Eric tossed them to the floor. "Sally won't be back until Sunday afternoon." he pointed out. "I was just thinking that myself." I said. "The entire weekend to ourselves." "Loads of time." Eric murmured. And his hand grabbed my cock and fondled it rather than flogged it, not that it didn't turn me on just as much the way he was handling it. I got hold of his and did a more pedestrian pumping on him, but only until I sidled down underneath him and got low enough to be able to fasten my mouth on that magnificent pud! I don't blame Sally for not wanting to let go of this man, he was absolutely smoky-dark luscious! When I got that prong into my mouth, his hands came down and took charge of my strokes back and forth, all I had to do was hang on with my lips and let him do the work for me! "Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!" Eric was moaning and I judged him far too turned on to dare keep this up so I did my own moaning to stop and he heard, released me and I sidled on out from underneath his legs. When I straightened out, Eric fell backwards, we ended up head-to-toe and a sixty-nine was an obvious release to that bit of bed calisthenics. I recovered his prong and he caught hold of mine and if he was groaning again in no time, at least this time I was grunting right along with him. "Um, um, um, um, um!" That was Eric. "Mg, mg, mg, mg, mg!" That was me. Eric began to groan alarmingly again but this time, he pulled himself out of me and turned around so I couldn't get to him, I think the bigger part of his legs were off the bed, and his cock was smothered in the sheets, out of reach. He was still playing Hoover Vac-u-matic on my dong, though, so I gave up trying to retrieve it and just enjoyed the sight of this dark-haired, dark-eyed, dark-toned stud, his muscles glowing from the combination of the sweat of his exertion and the sunlight sneaking through the lacy curtains into the room. The arcs of sunlit skin were pale gold, his skin was a tawny brownish-gold and as he moved, those arcs danced over his body in tune with my pleasure, moved by the same muscular motions that were shifting his body and plying his mouth over my pud. "Oh, oh, God, Eric, stop, please, I'm close, too close, God, oh, oh!" I grunted. Eric released me, thank God, and he said, "Good. Now we can get to the main event." He was rising up and moving, I lay where I was, panting, waiting to see what his idea of the main event was, and it wasn't until he got straddle of me and reached behind him to grab my prick did I realize what he intended. "You want me to fuck you?" I gasped. "Damn straight!" he said huskily. "I only get this weekend with you, I'm damned well going to ride you and ride you hard!" His hand had my glans matched up with his sphincter by now and I didn't argue any further. Trouble was, Eric wasn't skilled in being fucked. Let's face it, whatever talents women have in bed, fucking their man's ass isn't in the list. Best they can offer is a finger, if the man has the nerve to ask them to use it on them and I'd bet Eric hadn't. But his passion kicked in where his experience couldn't, he got my prick up his ass by sheer dint of will and exertion and, panting hard, he shifted around and began to bob himself up and down on me even though I could see the pain creasing his face as he did it. "Take it easy, stud." I said to him. "We have lots of time." "Screw that." Eric grunted. "I'm so fucking hot, I got to get off now! Shit, come in my ass, Gary, I want your load in my butt at least once. Sally comes home early sometimes, so I don't want to wait!" With that hanging over our heads, I didn't do anything but watch his athletic body moving over me and enjoy the ride! I saw his hardon bobbing and caught hold of it and pumped it, he didn't try to fight me off, so I pummeled him right up to the point where he moaned and closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, moaned again and sprayed me hard, right in my face! I mean the spunk jetted out, arced up and over and landed right on my face, the first landed on my left cheek, the second on my forehead, the third got my left eye, the fourth on my right cheek, the fifth on my chin. Only a few small splats decorated my chest and my stomach was shielded by Eric's own body from the dribbles that finished his climax. Eric paused, panting hard, and said, "Finish me now." I blinked, understood and rolled us both over, so I could hump his ass proper. He wrapped both legs around my thighs and his hands clung to my back and I was looking right into his eyes. They were dark and softly shining and his face was softly vulnerable and trusting, slackened by passion and dimmed by lust. I fucked his butt like so much warm pudding, it was totally loosened up now, and in that slippery sucking orifice, my dong was stroked and sucked and massaged in every thrust. I felt my climax building inside me like a slowly rising river at flood. "I'm coming, Eric, I'm coming." I panted. "Yeah, in my ass, shoot it in my ass." Eric begged me. "Let me have it, all of it, one time at least. I need it at least once!" "Yeah, here it comes, yeah, uh, uh, uh!" "I want it, I want it, I want it!" "Uh, uh, UH, UH-HUH-HUH...." I shoved it in deep and held it inside him. "Shoot it, shoot it, now, now, yeah!" "...HUH-UH, UH-UHHHHHHH!" And my cock was blasting my wads deep inside Eric's ass, and he closed his eyes as I ejaculated, a look on his face of intense and utterly complete satisfaction as I blew a heavy load of hot man-jizz into his ass. Done, we panted hard, both of us, and then Eric reached up and kissed me, a short kiss, but it was perfect, like he'd said "Thank you" in a way that words could never reach. That was only the first time we made love, Eric and me, for Sally didn't come back until after sundown on Sunday and called us from the road. I gave the phone over to Eric and he talked to her in soft, earnest tones. I walked away, there are things that even a man's lover shouldn't listen to. I was sitting in the living room, wearing a pair of sweatshorts and a t-shirt, when Eric came out, clothed in his bathrobe. He sat next to me and I put out an arm and he snuggled in under it and we just both sat, kind of happy and kind of unhappy at the same time. It had been great, terrific, wonderful. And now it was over. Sally couldn't wait to get me alone when she got back. "I've been gnawing my knuckles all weekend." she gushed at me. "Did you talk with Eric? What did he say? Is he going to leave me? Do you know what the problem is?" "Yes. He won't leave you. I know what the problem is, and no, it isn't going to make him leave you. But he's not going to be happy, ever. And if you want to know more, you and Eric need to go to a marriage counselor." And I refused to clarify it further. I moved on the moment my money arrived, because staying with Eric and Sally would have been far too damned painful. I got my money Monday afternoon and was in the air, bound for Minneapolis and another second cousin and their family, by midnight. When I landed, I checked into a hotel to rest the day. When I awoke, I called my Aunt Margaret. While Grandpa was the head of the family business, Aunt Margaret, his eldest daughter, was the head of the family. I told her everything about Eric and Sally, absolutely everything and it's a testament to her abilities that learning her granddaughter was married to a man who'd just had sex with her youngest adult nephew didn't faze her in the least. "You're sure about him not leaving Sally, though?" she asked when I was done. "He'll stay married to her." "He's staying with her." I said. "He'll stay miserable, but he'll stay." Aunt Margaret could always read me. "And how about you?" I didn't try to lie. "I'm going to miss him." I agreed. "He and I...well, it wasn't just sex, you know." "I know." Aunt Margaret did know. She was that sort. "You let me worry about that." I hung up and tried to enjoy Minneapolis but (and please don't blame the town for this) had a miserable time of it. By Christmas, I was headed back home, and thinking about trying to get enrolled for the spring semester in college. Pack in the wanderjahr at six and a half months. I'd wandered enough. Meanwhile, Aunt Margaret had managed things. Eric was waiting there for me to get in. Grandpa had called him back to handle the main office in New York City. Sally and the kids were staying in Spokane, and the man they'd sent to replace Eric was a guy Sally had dated back in college. He wasn't family...but I didn't doubt that he'd fix that in no time. Meanwhile, Eric and I are seeing each other, a lot. I'll be attending Princeton in the fall. By then, I'll know if he and I have a future in my family's fortunes. It's sure looking that way to me! THE END Comments, complaints or suggestions? E-mail the Author at Tommyhawk1@AOL.COM WWW.TOMMYHAWKSFANTASYWORLD.COM