Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2024 01:00:00 -0800 From: John Henry Subject: Growing Up Ry Chapter 22 (Gay/Incest) DONATION: Nifty is a not-for-profit organization that heavily relies on our donations to keep the site free and accessible. Your donations pay for web hosting fees and other day-to-day activities for the wonderful staff of editors/publishers. You can donate on the website at http://donate.nifty.org/ Every little bit helps. DISCLAIMER: This story is a work of fiction, and contains explicit sexual content involving adults over the age of 21 and minors under the age of 18, with scenes of incest involving step-parents/step-children, and adopted siblings. If viewing this material is illegal where you live, OR you're a minor under the age of 18, please stop reading this. If you're not sure about the legality, please stop reading until you have looked into your own, local laws. Any likeness or similarity between persons, places, products or concepts are purely coincidental. NEW EMAIL ADDRESS: As of mid-August 2023, I have been using a new email address. Please contact me (copy and paste) at NIFTYJHENRY1988.2@GMAIL.COM. If you've sent me an email prior to mid-August, please forward them to me, since I've lost access to my previous account. All future submissions will also be from this account. This is the third and final book in a trilogy, which starts with my first book, "Growing Up Kyle" and continues with "Growing Up Charlie." It is highly recommended that you read those stories in order before reading this book. You can find links to them, and my other stories, on my Prolific Authors page at nifty.org/nifty/authors.htlm#johnhenry . If you would like to leave positive feedback, contact me at niftyjhenry1988.2@gmail.com. Chapter 22 The rest of December was stressful. Ry didn't like celebrating Christmas. It was a constant reminder that he almost died. It also didn't help that his life didn't become a fairy tale after being adopted by Rick. There was just too much baggage. Ronda, however, wanted to do something special for her granddaughter's first Christmas. She already started buying and wrapping gifts and talked to Ry about rearranging the living room for a tree. "How about we wait to do all this next year?" Ry asked. "I know it won't be Bethany's first Christmas, but she shouldn't have her first without her dad here." "Bethany shouldn't be punished because her father is in rehab." "She's not even two months old. She doesn't even know what Christmas is." Ry was really unhappy with Ronda's attitude toward the situation. "You're doing this for you, not her, and we both know it. You can't use Bethany to make up for lost time with us." "And you're being a bitter grinch." Yes, Ry felt like the Grinch, but he felt he had good reason. "How did you feel being in jail during our first Christmas without you?" Ronda paused. "I felt like shit." "So, imagine how Charlie's feeling, only you had plenty of Christmases before you got locked up; he hasn't. Trust me, this is for the best; plus, Bethany would be more reactive next year." Ronda didn't like it, but she saw Ry's point. Ry was the one person who could out argue her, and she didn't much care for it. "Fine, no presents, but I'm still decorating." "Deal," Ry said, knowing that Ronda needed to have at least a win to not make things into a fight. * * * Rick woke up screaming. His heart was pounding, sweat ran down his face and his whole body shook. He looked around taking in the scene before him. It was his room. He was in bed. His bedside lap was on. The door was slightly ajar with light from the living room shining down the hall. Billy entered the room and went to his dad's side. "Hey. I'm here. You're safe." He handed Rick a glass of water and waited. Once Rick put the glass down, Billy pulled Rick into his arms and held him. The nightmares were becoming more frequent but were also less devastating. Billy wasn't sure if it was progress or not, but he did his best to see it that way. Rick held his son tightly. The feel of Billy in his arms gave him all the assurance he needed to calm down. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "You have nothing to apologize for." "You're studying for law school, and I keep interrupting with these stupid nightmares." "Nonsense. I was texting Trevor about our plans for Christmas, so you weren't interrupting anything." "I'm so tired of these nightmares." "I bet you are. When's your next therapy appointment?" "Day after tomorrow. Trevor's taking me." "That's good. At least you can get a session in before the holiday." Rick was thinking the same thing. This dream was a real problem for him. It started off like many of the others, where Will was trying to get him to kill Justin; however, instead of Justin, Will had Charlie by the back of the neck, and instead of killing Charlie, Will was trying to force the boy to perform oral sex on his father. Rick woke up as Charlie started to unzip Rick's pants. Ever since Charlie came home, Rick's nightmares involved his youngest son to some capacity. Usually, it was reliving the trauma of finding Charlie after Justin's abuse of the boy; however, the last few had been of a sexual nature between him and Charlie. Yes, he had been in a secret relationship with Billy for years, since his middle child was 12, but he never considered having sex with Ry or Charlie. Rick was starting to wonder if it was some kind of guilt. Sometimes he wondered if he had been with Charlie, like he was with Billy, if he could've prevented the hell that Justin and Brenda had raised within their family. No, he'd tell himself. He was never attracted to his other children. He had never even considered other boys or men, regardless of age, not even Trevor, despite Trevor knowing and accepting Rick's relationship with Billy. It had always been Billy for him. So why was he having sex dreams about Charlie, then? * * * Ry was in the office working on a supply order when he got a text from Billy inviting him and Ronda to Christmas dinner at his place. Ry fought rolling his eyes. Despite making peace for the Charlie's sake, Ry wasn't all that forgiving. He couldn't sit there, breaking bread, with his adopted brother and father knowing what he knew about them. Yes, he admitted to be a bit of a hypocrite given his relationship with Charlie, who was a minor and his adopted brother; however, he and Charlie were much closer in age, and Ry wasn't his father, adopted or not. Then there was the problem with Ronda, who was oblivious to the fact that her ex-husband had been having sex with her son since he was 12 years old. Ronda went to prison for nearly killing a man for molesting Billy, Ry could only imagine that Ronda would go back for life if she didn't end up on death row first. Ry was also certain it was an excuse to see Bethany without Charlie saying no. Rick had dropped the subject after their talk, but Ry didn't trust that Billy had ulterior motives. Ry meant it to Ronda that he wanted to wait for Charlie before doing any holidays, and he was going to stick to his guns. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to decline," he texted back. "I don't want to do anything without Charlie. Maybe next year." There was a long pause, then Billy typed back, "I understand. Maybe next year...." Ry kind of felt bad for saying no, but in the same token, Billy and Rick had been lying to him for years, starting with Billy lying about cheating on him, when Ry confronted him about it when they were about 14, and Rick covering for Billy. Charlie, of course, didn't know anything about the relationship between his biological father and half-brother. Despite not being directly related by blood, Rick and Billy were still blood related to Charlie. Ry couldn't imagine how Charlie would react if he ever found out that his father and brother had been having sex for close to a decade. But Will knew, Ry remembered. Will, Billy's biological father, knew of the affair. Will had been spying on them since he reentered Billy's life, when Billy was still called Kyle. Will didn't do anything to stop the affair for some reason, despite having had countless hours of video and audio recordings, which were left to Ry upon Will's death. It was difficult for Ry to not be resentful. His biological mother was a neglectful junky, and his biological father nearly killed him after murdering Ry's mother. This, of course, was after their drug addiction lead to the deaths of Ry's older siblings. His adoption into the Barton family was supposed to have been a dream, but so much of it was nothing but nightmares. How could he learned to forgive Billy and Rick, even though he owed them his life? ***Coming Soon, Chapter 23***