Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 16:57:37 EST
From: Heavensforlife@aol.com
Subject: They Say-Chapter 16

**Standard disclaimer. Contains depictions of gay sex**

	It's easy, they say, to lose sight of our goals. They say that in
times of desperation, all you really need is a plan.

	Charles- "Take me home," I said, not able to look at him in the
eye.
	"Charles, listen," he said desperately. "Let me explain."
	"Start the fucking car and take me fucking home," I near shouted.
	He started the car and drove in silence for a few minutes. This was
un-fucking-believable, I thought as I stared at the highway. What the fuck?
Words could not even begin to explain how unbelievable this was to me.
	"Can I explain?" he asked after a few miles of silence. I didn't
say anything. "I was losing him." I laughed out loud and turned to stare
out my window, completely ignoring what he had to say next.
	There were another few minutes of silence before he said. "Dude,
say something."
	"What the fuck do you want me to say, Brooklyn? That you have my
blessing? Since when did you need that?" I unleashed, turning to face him.
	"Ok, I deserve that."
	"Like hell you do," I said out of spite. I didn't understand where
this was coming from. I had talked to Brooklyn about this a million
times. I sat there wondering why I didn't just tell him about Matt right
then and there and spare him the grief.
	"Why do you care, Charles?" he asked me quietly. I didn't say
anything. He asked it again, a little louder.
	"What, do you want me to just sit back and let you get hurt?" I
finally replied.
	"What makes you think I'm going to get hurt?" he looked at me. I
stared straight ahead.
	"I know Jesse, Brooklyn," I said simply. I wasn't going to have
this déjà vu fight with him again.
	"You keep saying that, Charles, but do you know about him that I
don't?" he was pleading. I couldn't tell him.
	"I can't tell you that," I said.
	"So how am I supposed to take your word for something when you
don't even care enough to tell me," he said, raising his voice.
	"Do not put this back on me," I said, getting more upset. "This is
between you and Jesse and if you want to put all your eggs in his basket so
that he can crush them, then do so, but do not pin your miserable little
romance on my shoulders, do you understand?"
	Neither of us spoke the rest of the way to the dorm, and I walked
out of the car and got my things without saying a word.
	I walked up to the apartment and opened the door. I dragged my
suitcase into the bedroom to find Jesse sitting there with all of clothes
thrown across both beds. He looked up at me and grinned from ear to ear
before announcing, "You will not believe what Brooklyn asked me the other
night."

	Denton- I stared at him wide-eyed.
	"What do you mean none of that ever happened?"
	"I mean it never happened," he said, calmly.
	"So what did happen?"
	"Listen," he said. "I'm about to tell you things that the Tribe
expects you figure out on your own. Furthermore, I'm about to say things
that the Tribe doesn't want anyone, even brothers, talking about to each
other. So listen closely, do you understand?"
	"I understand." He was making me nervous.
	"Ok," he continued. "You're being winged."
	"I'm being winged," I repeated. "What's winged?"
	"Would you listen?" he said agitated.
	"Sorry."
	"You are being groomed to follow in Glass' footsteps when he
graduates."
	"What exactly are Glass' footsteps?"
	"He's the Tribes hitman," he said casually. I sat there staring at
him stunned to death.
	"What?" I stammered. I couldn't believe what he was saying.
	"Not like that," he said. "I mean, yes, like that, but not really
like that."
	"Now I'm just confused," I said. What was he talking about? "Like
what?"
	"Ok," he explained. "The Tribe has things it needs to take care
of. Every year some issues come up and the brothers discuss how to fix the
problem. Glass fixes the problem."
	"How?" I asked stunned at what I was hearing.
	"However he sees fit," he said. "He doesn't just go around offing
people," he paused. "All the time."
	"This is bullshit," I said standing up. "There is no way I'm gonna
part of an organization that goes around killing people and taking care of
things. What the hell? And no one was gonna tell me?"
	He stood up to meet my gaze. Standing only inches away from me he
whispered, "Listen. You are not going to leave the Tribe." It was that
simple to him, and to me right then and there, I knew he was right. He
inched closer and put his arms around my face. "You are going continue
shadowing Glass and when the time is right, you are going to take is
position." Again, I believed him and again he inched closer until our lips
were almost touching. I was powerless. "One day you will understand what
all of this for. For now, you are going to except it for bedim and not
worry about it. Do you understand?" I tried to nod but I felt my head
moving without my control. I heard what he was saying, understood what he
was saying, felt what he was saying and against my better judgment, I
believed what he was saying.

	Zach- I woke up with my head clear. I knew that all Chris and I
really needed was some talk time, so I got up and went into the kitchen,
pausing for a second to look at how peaceful Chris slept, and made a batch
of my famous buttermilk pancakes.
	"Something smells good," I heard Jesse whisper from behind me while
I was flipping a couple over the stove.
	"They aren't for you, so don't bother," I said smiling. I saw him
grab a plate and two pancakes off the stack. I turned and gave him a glare
with my spatula raised.
	"After all I did for you last night?" he said. "Ingrate."
	I almost laughed. He went back to his room, stuffing his face with
pancakes.
	I guess he was glad to see me in a better mood. I was glad to be in
a better mood, so I didn't mind. A few minutes later, I heard Chris stir on
the couch. I went into the living room to see if he was awake and he was,
sitting up and looking right at me as I walked in.
	"Lets talk," is all I said. He followed me to the kitchen table,
neither of us talking until we were both seated with a plate of warm
pancakes in front of us.
	"I'm sorry," he said lamely. "I should have told you I had a
wife. I don't know, I just thought that that would change things for us. I
thought you wouldn't even give me chance."
	"I'm not gonna lie, Chris, I probably wouldn't have." I looked at
him and he looked back at me with wide, puppy-dog eyes.
	Neither of us spoke for a few minutes, not really knowing what to
say in this situation. Finally, he looked up and said plainly "You have to
forgive me, Zach."
	The words wrung in my ear over and over. 'I have to forgive him,' I
thought, but it wasn't that simple. I sat there, not saying anything,
looking at a man that was married with a child. I still cared for him, yes,
but could I still trust him? And even if I could one day trust him, would I
ever be really able to forgive him?
	I couldn't say anything because inside I knew the answer. I looked
at him and knew that, no, I couldn't forgive him.

	Charles- After waking up and getting dressed, avoiding both of my
roommates, one of which was packing boxes to the rhythm of show tunes, the
other depressingly washing sticky breakfast plates with tear-filled eyes, I
finally escaped the apartment.
	I checked my voicemail to find two messages from Prince, both
asking me to call him, and one from Brooklyn. All his said was "I'm sorry."
I felt like hurling when I heard it.
	I headed in the general direction of the pool with no plan in mind,
other than to swim a few laps.
	Swimming laps in the empty pool definitely gave me a chance to
clear my head. I thought about Jesse's moving out, which mean the prospect
of getting a new roommate, which was always cool. That lead to me thinking
what would happen if the new roommate was straight? That wouldn't be so
cool. Then I thought about how much fun Jesse and Brooklyn would get to
have living together, and I secretly wished they were miserable within a
week. Then I thought about Brooklyn and me sneaking around and how that
would work out.
	In mid-stroke as well as mid-thought, I heard a deep base voice
echo through the pool.
	"How's the workout coming?" I stopped at the edge, looked up and
was greeted by the sexy smile of Coach Danny, clad sparingly in a pair of
tight Speedos. He took the dangling whistle off of his sexily defined chest
and jumped in the pool. I climbed up and sat on the edge, realizing just
how long I had been in the pool, and watched the hard body swim a couple
fast sprints before stopping right next to me.
	"So what have you been up to?" he asked me, crossing his arms over
my lap, positioning himself between my dangling legs.
	"Not much," I said coyly.
	"Really," he said with a hint of mischief in his voice. He moved
his hand over my lap slowly, massaging my thigh with his wet hand. "We
should remedy that."
	"What do you have in mind coach?" I asked. I scooted back into the
water. Coach Danny pressed his chest up against mine, grinding his whole
body into me and pinning me to the back wall of the pool.
	"You don't have to call me coach," he said pressing his lips up
against mine in a savagely raw kiss. We made out for a few minutes, feeling
the water travel between our bodies. While he was searching my mouth for
some hidden treasure, I followed the contours of his body with my hands,
feeling every defined muscle and exaggerated curve. I pulled back after a
moment, looked him in the eye and asked, "Would you prefer daddy?"
	That got him really turned on and he redoubled his effort to suck
the life out of my mouth. I could feel his hard on growing through the thin
material of his shorts. He started savagely grinding his hard cock into
mine, making mine grow to new lengths as well. He had me pressed hard
against the back wall of the pool.
	After a few minutes, he reluctantly released my tongue and ordered
me to sit on the rail. I jumped back, feet dangling, and he pushed my legs
behind me so that my ass was inches from his face. Before I knew what was
happening, I felt his warm, wet tongue delve deep into my ass, warming me
up and stretching me out. I moaned loudly, and he took the cue to
continue. He ate my ass for minutes, sending waves and waves of pleasure
all throughout my body.
	Finally, after I felt like I couldn't stand it any more, he slowly
got out of the pool. I could barely breath; my eyes were still rolling back
in my head.
	"You like that?" Coach Danny whispered. I moaned softly as he
licked the back of my ear. I could feel his impossibly hard dick edging
towards my ass. I was still on my back with my legs rapped around coach's
torso. I wanted him to fuck me so bad.
	"I guess you do, babe," he whispered. He clawed his back and in
between short shallow breaths begged him to fuck me.
	"You want it babe?" he asked in a sexy raspy voice.
	"Yes," I let out.
	"Alright," he replied. "Now I'm really gonna make you scream
daddy." And he did. In one motion, his dick was buried in my ass to the
hilt. I let out an inaudible moan followed by a loud scream, muffled by
coach's tongue in my mouth. He kissed me hard as he fucked me even
harder. He didn't spare any expense, driving into me like there was no
tomorrow. His long, hard cock was reaching places no one else's had ever
reached. I was gone with pleasure.
	He fucked me for minutes, grinding his entire body into mine,
causing the right kind of friction for my dick. Before I knew it, I was
ready to squirt my seed right between both of our torsos.
	"You ready babe?" he asked me, breathing harder and harder. The
workout was coming to a climax and I could feel his thrusts speed up. "I'm
about to come babe." I wanted it so bad.
	"Give it to me," I managed to escape.
	He gave it to me. Rope after rope of thick hot cum spewed its way
into my ass. I felt squirt after squirt make its way into the deep confines
that Coach Danny had opened up inside of me.
	He collapsed on top of me, both of legs dangling over the edge of
the pool.
	"That was great," I said in a lame attempt at conversation.
	"Yeah it was," he said, standing up and jumping back into the pool
for a relaxing swim.
	"I guess I'll see you around," I said standing up and heading to
the locker room. I paused at the door, turned and added with a big smile,
"Daddy."

	Zach- I watched Chris walk out of my door. He was going to be ok,
and so was I. It was better this way, me not getting involved and he having
time to sort things out.
	We'd talked about it for hours and decided that it was best. I
wasn't going to come between him and the family he had already started.
	For some reason, it was easier than I thought. I was worried that I
would break down, like I'd done in the past, but that didn't happen. I was
calm; I was fine. But I was empty.
	I couldn't help thinking that I'd made some kind of mistake, and as
I stood there watching the door close behind him, I almost started after
it. But I couldn't. I accepted it, turned and went to my room. I looked in
my closet, found an outfit to wear, and decided the best therapy at this
point in time was to get out.
	"Jesse," I called from my room.
	"Yeah?" he said, poking his head into my room a minute later. "Are
you alright?"
	"Yeah," I said softly. "I was wondering if you had plans tonight."
	"I was gonna hang out with Brooklyn, but I can cancel if you need
me to," he replied. "Is everything ok?"
	"No, everything's fine. I just kinda," I paused. "I dunno. Never
mind."
	He came into the room. "What wrong?" he asked compassionately.
	"I just wanted to spend a night out, but I really don't feel like
going by myself."
	He almost let out a laugh. "Consider it done. Give me a few minutes
to shower, and I'll take to a great bar I used to tend downtown."
	"Awesome," I said with a huge smile. Then in a moment of severe
cheesy-ness I called Jesse before he walked out the door. He turned and I
smiled at him and simply said, "Thank you."

	Denton- The ride back home in the Tahoe was quiet. Glass and I had
nothing to say to each other and I ended up sitting in the back with
Mitchell for the second half of the ride.
	When we were finally back to the frat house and Glass and I were
unpacking our things back into his bedroom, he unexpectedly walked up to me
from behind and grabbed me around my waist.
	The first thought that crossed my mind was fear. He hadn't said
anything to me since I insulted him back at the mansion-cabin and here was
getting ready to 'take care' of me like he always did.
	"What the fuck?" I breathed softly as he clutched me around my
stomach.
	"Don't move," he said. I was so mortified, I couldn't have moved if
I wanted to. "I know what Mitchell told you."
	I wanted to cry. I could almost see my life flash before my eye as
I felt Glass tighten his grip around me. I didn't speak. He breathed softly
into my ear before saying, "Be careful, Denton."
	He tightened his grip around my stomach and I felt my lunch lurch
up into my throat. A lone tear welled in my eye from fear as well as pain.
	"What are you gonna do?" I choked.
	"Nothing," he replied still not loosening his grip. "But you'd
better watch your ass before you get hurt." He finally let up a little bit
before saying, "I wouldn't have to go look for another little to take your
place this late into the semester would I?" I didn't move. He let go of me
and I fought to catch my breath. "Besides," he added from across the room
as I collapsed onto the bed in a rush of fear and thought, "You'll be
taking my place soon, won't you?"
	I heard the words. They sounded far away, but I heard
them. Mitchell was right; Glass was right. My intuition that I had been
fighting since that first day at orientation was right. I would be taking
his place soon. This, I thought, was the price of the perfect life.

	Jesse- I called Brooklyn and told him I needed to hang out with
Zach tonight and that he was welcome to tag along if he wanted, but he said
he was ok. He didn't want Zach feeling like a third wheel.
	"That's true," I replied. "What if I ask Charles if he wants to
go?"
	"No," he said quickly. "I mean he probably has plans and stuff."
	"I'm sure he doesn't," I said. "And he's been acting all strange
since he got back from his swim meet. He'd enjoy a night out with the
guys."
	"I guess," he finally said reluctantly.
	"What wrong with Charles coming?"
	"Nothing," he replied quickly.
	"Then why are you not wanting him to hang out?"
	"No reason," he said defensively. "I just didn't think he'd want to
come is all."
	"Do you not like him?" I really wanted to know why he didn't want
to Charles to hang out with us.
	"Why are you pushing this?" he asked me.
	"Ok," I said. "Forget it. I'll pick you up at eight." I hung up,
and then realized that Brooklyn had never agreed to come. Oh well, I
thought, tonight's gonna be fun anyway.

	Charles- I walked around for a while, avoiding going home because I
really didn't want to see Jesse's gloating face packing his suitcases,
head-over-heels ready to go to Brooklyn's house.
	I finally headed back and the living room was quiet so I assumed
everyone was studying or out for the night. I went in my room and was
ambushed by the sight of a naked Jesse getting dressed in front of the
mirror.
	"Hey dude," he said when he saw me walk in. "Get dressed, we're
leaving in five."
	"Leaving for what?" I asked flopping on my bed and taking my shoes
off. I didn't feel like going anywhere.
	"The four of us are going out to cheer Zach up," he said slipping
on some tight underwear. That showed how out-of-the-loop I was; I didn't
even know Zach needed cheering up. I was thinking of a polite way to
decline when I asked, "Four of us?" I could only count three people that
would have any interest in Zach needing cheering, and one of those was
Zach.
	"Yeah," Jesse replied. "Me, you, Zach and Brooklyn. It's gonna be
fun."
	Like hell, I thought with a smile over my face. Like hell, this was
gonna be a blast. I stood up and started getting dressed.

	They say that in times of sheer and utter desperation, all we
really need is a brand new plan.

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