Here's another chapter of CTN for your enjoyment. All normal warnings and rights apply. Take care.
When Terry finally saw Richard she was amazed by the changein his demeanor. Instead of the mousyshy way he used to carry himself he looked wide eyed as if he were seeing thereal world for the first time.
"Morning, hon," Terry greeted her husband.
"Morning, dear," Richard said, giving her a quickpeck on the cheek, something he had never done before.
"You sleep well?" she asked with a knowing smile.
"Sleep... yeah... I guess I did," Richard said with agrowing smile as if he were in on a secret joke.
"Good... so how was the sex?" Terry asked... finallygetting to the meat of the issue.
"Sex... what sex... I didn't have any sex," Richardsaid evasively.
"Oh yes you did," Terry said as she elbowed him.
"Nope... Tad had sex... I was just present for it."
"Now tell me how that works." Terry laughed.
"Well, how could I have had sex when I didn't lift asingle finger." Richard grinned.
"So what you are saying is that Tad had sex with you butyou didn't have sex with him?"
"Exactly."
Richard laughed.
"Hon... I don't know how to tell you this but it does notwork like that even if you are President of the United States."
"Well..." Richard said, feeling some of the oldanxiety return."
"Richard... did you enjoy yourself?" Terry asked,wanting to ease his mind.
"Yes..."
Richard blushed.
Terry then asked her second question. "Do you know that I still care aboutyou?"
"Yes..."
"Then I want you to say three simple words."
"I love you?"
"And I love you too, but I have three other words I wantyou to say so you can love yourself."
"Ok..." Richard asked nervously.
"I... am... gay," Terry said slowly.
"I... am..." Richard struggled to say.
"Gay," Terry finished.
"But I can't be."
Richard started to cry.
"Did Tad make you feel good?" Terry asked.
"Yes..." Richard admitted.
"Did he hurt anyone in making you feel good?"
"No..."
"Did you hurt anyone?"
"You..." Richard replied.
"You didn't, Richard.
You didn't hurt me. So did youhurt anyone?"
"God..."
"You must be very powerful then... to be able to hurtGod."
"I'm not..." Richard admitted.
"Richard... you know that I love you?"
"Yes..."
"And that God loves you?"
This took Richard longer to answer but in the end he finallysaid "... yes"
"Then the course of action is simple... you need to loveyourself... which means you need to express the love you feel."
"Terry?"
"Yes Richard..."
"I would like to make love to you right now."
"Ok..." Terry smiled as she led her husband to thebedroom, a smiling Tad looking on.
Greg woke up in what had been Nathan's bed. When he looked at the clock it read 11:30 a.m. He had stayed up nearly the whole nightwaiting for Scott to arrive and when he did so, Scott had gone straight to theshower and right to David's old bed.
Greg could tell when Scott was in one of his moods and last night hadbeen one of them. Greg slowly got out ofbed, not liking to leave the pocket of warmth he had under the sheets.
After relieving himself, Greg left the bathroom and went tocheck on Scott but found the bed empty and made. Greg then made his way downstairs finding thehouse very quiet. The only sound ofvoices came from the library. When Gregwent to investigate he found both Robert and Josh on their cell phones. The other people, whom Greg recognized asmembers of the same law firm Josh was part of, were looking though legal textsand writing notes.
"Greg," Josh said in a very tired voice when he sawGreg at the door.
"What is happening, dad?" Greg asked concerned.
"I need to talk to you as soon as I finish thiscall," Josh explained before returning his attention to the phone.
"Ok," Greg said as he took a seat at one of thereading tables.
Greg noticed how everyone looked at him with sad expressionson their faces. Something major musthave happened to trigger all this. WhenJosh finished his call he looked at Greg with a very tired expression. He then put his cell phone on the table andwaved Greg over to him.
"Let's go outside," Josh said with a weak smile ashe led Greg away from the chaos going on.
Josh took Greg over to one of the patio beaches and took adeep breath before talking.
"It's ok, dad... I can take what you have to tellme," Greg said in hope of easing his adoptive father's mind.
"I know you can, Greg... it is just very hard for me totalk about. David is in trouble?"
"Legal trouble?
Greg guessed from the going-ons in the library.
"Yes... Thomas was killed last night. David has been arrested for his murder,"Josh said with great difficulty.
"No... no, no, no, NO!" Greg said confused hoping itwas all a joke.
Josh wrapped his arms around Greg and hugged him. "We are doing everything we can to gethim freed, but until his initial bail hearing on Monday he will be injail."
"But David wouldn't kill anyone... don't the police knowthat!"
"I'm sorry, Greg," Josh said, knowing hisapologizing would do no good."
"Why did this have to happen?" Greg cried as heclung to Josh.
There was no way Josh could answer such a question... sayingthat everything would turn out alright in the end just did not seem right. Things would never be completely alright andboth of them knew that.
After Greg settled down, Josh gave Greg a kiss on theforehead. "I have to go now,Greg."
"Where are you going?" Greg said worried, afraidthat all the people who mattered to him were disappearing from his life.
"I'll be in the library... ok?"
"Ok... Do you knowwhere Scott is?"
"Yeah... he is downstairs doing laundry."
"Ok... and Nathan?"
"He is at the station so David can see him."
"Can Nathan see David?"
"Well, whom do you think will feel better?" Joshasked.
"David..." Greg admitted.
"Yes... but David will need all of us in some way...including you."
"Really?" Greg asked. The idea that David would need him seemed toreflect the absurdity of the situation.
"Yes... you are his brother and he loves you. He will need to know that he still has yourlove."
"Ok..." Greg said as he let go of Josh.
"We'll talk more during lunch... ok?"
"Alright, dad," Greg said as he got off the benchand went inside. Having come outsideonly in his pajamas, he felt a cold that matched the numbness he was feelinginside.
Once inside, Greg went looking for Scott. He needed to be hugged and comforted. Josh was in too much pain right now to givehugs that did not empathically reflect the pain he was in. Downstairs in the basement Scott was hangingaround the dryers while listening to what sounded like techno music off thesound system. The buzzer had just goneoff the dryer when Greg walked up behind Scott and hugged him.
"What's up, babe?" Scott asked as he took off hisheadphones and turned around to face Greg, see the red spots on Greg's fairface. "Is something wrong?
"Yes... it's David.
He has been arrested on murder charges."
"What... who do they think he killed... Thomas?"
"Yes, Thomas. Hewas killed last night."
"Dang... do you think he did it?
"No... he couldn'tof. David is not like that."
"I don't know, he was sure mad last night.
"Don't talk like that!" Greg said clearly upset.
"I know, but think about it... David goes off mad after helearns that he might have caught AIDS from Thomas and the same night Thomasends up dead... suspicious... no?"
"Well, so were a lot of other people."
"That's right... your uncle Robert was pretty worked up,so was David's father. Philip too leftthe house early and did not get back till late, but if that makes him guilty Iguess that makes me a suspect as well."
"It couldn't have been uncle Mike, he broke two fingersand was with Patrick all night. And itcouldn't have been Robert; he was with Josh all night. Philip... Philip went to get his clothes andstuff, which only leaves you. Where wereyou?"
"Me... well I got a bit distracted back at home... sex partyyou know." Scott blushed inembarrassment."
"So I guess you have lots of witnesses to give you analibi. I wish David had some."
"Yeah... I'm sorry if I sounded like I think David isguilty. I'm sure he didn't do it. The police though are just going to naturallysee him as the main suspect."
"Yeah... if I were Thomas's folks I would blame him aswell," Greg agreed.
"Hey... how about you help me fold my clothes," Scottasked as if folding clothes would cheer Greg up."
"Yeah... like I would really enjoy that."
"You'll get a chance to play with my underwear,"Scott said while moving his eyebrows up and down.
"Alright."
Greg laughed.
Together, the two of them took out the different array ofunderwear, blue jeans and t-shirts, sandals, socks, and stuff. Greg saw immediately that he would have toteach Scott that you should not wash whites with darks. At least Scott was lucky this time, as thewhites did not come out gray.
As soon as the sandal's were out of the dryer Scott slippedthem on his feet and gave out a relaxing sigh.
"Ahhhhhh, now my feet are toasty warm."
"You're crazy," Greg declared with a soft laugh.
"Crazy about you, Greg," Scott declared with allseriousness as he lifted him up for a kiss.
"Why did I have to fall in love with a giant." Greg laughed after Scott let him down.
"Cause you like men who look like they can protectyou," Scott declared... "Which brings up another point... are you goingto get tested for AIDS with your brothers?"
"Do you think I should?
I never slept with any of them."
"Well you have slept with me and you have seen thenumber of guys I have slept with. Youknow the saying when you sleep with a guy you are really sleeping with everyguy that guy has slept with when it comes to things like AIDS."
"Yeah I guess I need to... but you need to as well."
"Ok... if you do it, then I will."
"I also want you to stop letting your teammates takeadvantage of you. There is no reason youshould let them treat you the way they do."
On hearing this, Scott went real sad. "Hey... not all of them are like that... theswim and basketball team members would even suck me off a few times as well aseach other."
"Then why not screw the football team and just stickwith your friends."
"Screw them," Scott laughed. "Yeah I would really like to screwthem."
"Scott... they hurt and take advantage of you. They are not your friends."
"Greg, what do you know about friends? How many friends do you have outside yourbrother Nathan?" Scott said, letting his control of his anger slip.
"You're my friend... or at least I thought so," Gregsaid as he began to head for the stairs out of the basement.
"Greg, I'm sorry..." Scott quickly apologized. "You are my best friend... my only realfriend. I'd do anything to not to loseyou."
"Scott, I need you to be my giant right now..." Gregbegan to cry. "I can't take allthese bad thing happening."
"Ok babe... I'm sorry.
You came looking for me for support and me being the jerk I am justadded more to your problems."
"Scott... you are not a jerk. If you could see yourself as I saw you I amsure you would not be so hard-on yourself."
"I know you see me as a better person than I feel Iam. That is one of the reasons why I'mfalling in love with you," Scott said as he wrapped his long arms aroundGreg. You make me feel like a goodperson."
"You make me feel safe," Greg replied as he felthis shirt lifted off.
Scott led Greg over to the exercise mats and laid him downbefore climbing on top of him, using his body as a protective blanket. Greg wrapped his arms around the back ofScott's neck while Scott kissed and sucked along the side of his neck. Greg gave a deep sigh when he felt Scott'slarge hand take hold of his cock and stroke it.
Scott then worked his kisses up till he was pushing hard against Greg'slips, letting his tongue slip in.
It was perfect. Theonly thing that went wrong Greg felt was that he was not able to stop himselffrom shooting his load prematurely.
Scott had then licked the cum off his hand before sharing it with Gregwith a kiss. He then rolled both of themon their side so Greg's head rested on top of the side of Scott's.
"Do you think your dad would mind if we slept in thesame bed tonight?" Scott asked as he stroked Greg's back.
"I think he already suspects that we are," Gregchuckled.
"Good... then he won't mind if I teach you what realloving is all about." Scott smiledjust thinking about it.
"Oh boy..." Greg sighed, thinking he was in for aninteresting day.
Lunch was morbid.
Except for Jessica trying to get Scott's complete sexual history, theconversation at the table focused on anything except what was on the mind ofeveryone at the table. Nathan, Mike,Philip, and Patrick coming back home during the middle of lunch changed that.
"Is he ok?" Greg asked, his mouth full of the clubsandwich he had been working on.
"Let them get some food first," Josh said as he gotup and hugged Mike, Nathan Patrick, and Philip.
After they had been given a plateful of food and a bowl oftomato soup, Mike spoke up. "He isscared, but of course what kid in his shoes wouldn't be."
"Did he say what he was doing last night?" Robertasked.
"He went looking for Thomas... and yes he was thinkingabout hurting him but he said he never found him and didn't kill him. I believe him," Mike said as if he wasdaring anyone to say otherwise.
"Do you know when his bail hearing will be?"
"It will be on Monday.
They are charging him with murder, but as David has a clear record Ihope the judge will let us take him home.
I just suspect that the bail will be very high."
"Don't worry about it," Josh said.
"Hey... I have my own money. I'm sure that I can afford whatever bail theyset, but thanks, Josh," Mike chuckled.
"I know but you have more than just the bail. You have the legal fees."
"Yeah... the lawyer is going to cost a fortune," Mikeagreed.
"So let me help out.
David is like a son to me."
"Ok... you can take care of the bail. At least you will get your money back,"Mike relented.
"Ok..." Joshsmiled. Getting Mike to agree withaccepting any help was always a challenge.
"Did you get to see David, Nate?"
"Yes... he is in bad shape. He will need our support when he getsback," Nathan said sadly.
"Yes he will. Weare going to have to home school him you know," Josh said.
"Home school?
Why?" Greg asked.
"The high school automatically expels students facingserious charges such as murder. It couldbe months if not years before his record is cleared. At the very least we should get David hishigh school diploma."
"What about college?" Nathan asked.
"Community college will not be a problem but gettinginto a high tier school will be difficult if we are still fighting thecharges."
Greg protested the injustice.
"But David is so smart!"
"He is and once all this is over he can go back toschool or college," Robert explained.
"Who is going to teach him?" Nathan asked.
"David is very smart and can learn on his own most ofthe time, but both Mike and I are going to teach him at night," Josh said.
"What about sports?"
"Nothing we can do about that," Robert said.
"I guess it is the best we can hope for," Nathansighed.
"Yes... it's not going to be easy. I know that all of you have not been watchingthe news..." Josh said with some difficulty.
"What has the news been saying?"
"Thomas was not just killed..." Josh was unable to finish.
"It was bad?" Greg asked nervously.
"Yes... it was," Robert said when Josh could not gethimself to speak.
"From what happened..." Mike spoke up. "the DAis going to file first-degree murder charges... unless David pleads."
"But he didn't do it!" Nathan said shocked thatthey were already talking about pleading guilty.
"Yes... but between David spending the rest of his life inprison and being able to live a normal life one day... it is something that wehave to consider," Robert said when neither Mike nor Josh could say thewords.
"I have a friend who is a cop..." Patrick spokeup. "He tells me that whoeverkilled Thomas knew what he was doing.
There was lots of blood but not a single footprint. They are looking for hair and fiber sampledbut so far no go. The same with fingerprints. That is the good news."
"What's the bad news?" Nathan asked
"The police have accessed Thomas's cell phoneaccount. They found a phone message thatDavid left threatening Thomas's life," Patrick finished.
"But they still don't have any real proof," Gregprotested.
"Yes... it is all circumstantial evidence," Mikeagreed but it is very good evidence. Myson goes to Thomas's house looking for him, he makes threatening phone calls,and Thomas shows up dead the same night.
Face it... he's screwed," Mike said as the tears began to fall.
"Can ya'll leave the two of us alone?" Patrickasked when Mike did not calm down after a while.
Everyone agreed and left the dining room, Philip going up toGreg's old room to think. There was asimple solution to all this. All he hadto do was take the fall for David. If heconfessed to the murder then David's name would be cleared. So what if he went to jail... his life wasscrewed up enough already. Philip hadjust gotten three letters informing him that he did not win one of the sportscholarships he had applied to. Kylesaid that they would help him find a way... but he didn't believe him. The only person he had ever counted on...Trevor, let him down. Even with theirgood intentions, Philip knew they would let him down... not unless he gave them areason to thank him by taking the blame for David.
He would take the blame and after David was cleared he wouldtell them all the truth that he had nothing to do with the murder. Philip was sure that the feelings ofresponsibility and guilt would bind him to David and Nathan's family. They would take care of him... like an adoptiveson. Since Philip knew he didn't committhe murder he felt that on appeal he would be set free. That might take three to five years but whenit was over Philip felt he would be taken care of. Of course for this to work, Philip needed toknow how the murder happened. He couldnot just go up to the police and say he did it and expect them to believe itfor long if he knew nothing of what really happened. He would need to see the police evidence andfor that he would need to see one of his college buddies.
Big strong David was scared out of his mind stuck in a cellwith twenty other prisoners, many of them reeking of sweat and urine. David himself needed to use a toilet but theone in the cell gave no privacy. He wasalmost tempted to ask the officer on duty if he could use a more privatebathroom but he knew that both the officer and his jail mates would just laughhim at.
After watching four other prisoner use the toilet and knowingthat he could not hold it in any longer, David tried to make his way over to itin the best nonchalant manner he was able to muster. But while the otherprisoners had been able to do their business in peace, David received laughter,jeers, and whistles when he pulled down his pants and sat himself down.
The three minutes he was on the toilet were one of thelongest in his life. He had seemed tohave became constipated in a matter of seconds, unable to relax himself enoughto poop. With each drop into the toiletDavid received an applause. When he wasfinally done, David was red-faced and sweating as much from trying to take adump as from embarrassment. David stayedon the toilet for a second wondering how he was going to stand up and not showanything. In the end he tried to pull upboth his underwear and jeans at the same time buttoning them on the way. It almost worked. His jean came up quick but his boxers didn'tmake the trip.
Just as he took care of his bathroom problem, David had todeal with the uncomfortable feeling in his pants. The boxers had made it up to his balls buthis dick was still hanging out. Makingas if to tuck his shirt in, David reached down into his pants and tried toraise his boxers up without unbuttoning his pants. This attracted the unwanted attention ofanother prisoner.
"Hey need some help with that?" a greasy man asked.
"No thank you," David said as he kept his eyes tothe ground.
"Awww come on you seem to be enjoying yourself."
"No... get the hell away from me!" David said as hepushed the guy away from him and right into a meaner looking man."
"Sorry..." David said quickly, the situation in hispants no longer the main issue.
"You think you're someone special... don't you punk!"the large guy said as two others joined him.
"No... I was just trying to keep him away from me,"David quickly explained.
"How old are you, kid," the large man demanded ashe moved in closer.
Being too scared to lie, David answered. "18."
"Oh... fresh meat... so tell me fresh meat, what is a preppykid like you doing here?"
"My name is David."
"Your name is fresh meant cause I say it's freshmeant. So tell me why are youhere?"
"Murder charges..." David said in a low voice, notwanting it to be heard by everyone.
"What was that, fresh meat?"
"Murder!" David said in a louder voice.
"Murder... and here I thought it was a DWI. Man you must be a fucked up kid."
"I didn't do it," David insisted.
"Yeah... that is everyone's story. I didn't run a chop shop... Ted didn't sell sixounces of crack... Lane here didn't beat his wife... we are all innocent here. Isn't that right, fellows!" The large man laughed to the reception ofgrumbles.
"I didn't DO it!" David insisted. After dealing with so many cops who believedhe was lying, David didn't want his cell mates also to think he did it."
"If you say so, fresh meat... so you didn't like Georgehere messing with you," the large man said. The guy who David pushed down remained on thefloor and gave David a wink of the eye, sending a shudder down David'sspine. "George is what's called anover-the-hill call boy... how old are you again, George?"
"32," George replied.
"Pretty old for a gay prostitute... don't youthink?" The large man laughed. "My name is Chuck, by the way, and ifyou make any "fat" jokes about it I'll make sure you regret it.
"Ok, Chuck," David said relaxing a little. At least the guy didn't look like he wasgoing to beat him up.
"So tell me, George... does fresh meat show up on yourgaydar thing?"
"He might look butch, but he's just a littlefairy," George said in a campy voice.
"Good then, he might enjoy what I plan to do tohim," one of the other prisoners said with an evil grin.
"Not if you want to deal with me, you won't," Chuckwarned.
"Hey what gives, Chuck... he's fresh meat, just as yousaid?"
"He's "my" fresh meat, unless you think youcan beat me."
Unlike Chuck, who looked like he could be hit by a brick andnot feel it, this other guy looked out of shape. The guy might outweigh David, but David wassure he outmuscled him.
"I can handle this," David said withself-confidence.
"Are you sure, kid..." Chuck said, not calling himfresh meat for the first time.
"Yeah... made all state last year in wrestling."
"Why didn't you say so in the first place? Show that freak who the cocksucker reallyis."
While the other prisoners made to block the view of the cell,the guy raised his fist as he moved in.
David moved in slowly trying to see how good his adversary's reflexeswere. As he suspected he was slow, bothwith his fists and his feet.
Now that he knew what he was dealing with, David made hismove, ducking a punch before tackling the guy down. In no time flat he had the guy down on hisback and unable to move, but screaming for the guards like a child.
The guards then came in and broke the two of them apart. David watched as Chuck went to one of theofficers and talked to them. When hefinished talking, the officer waved David over.
"We are moving you to a juvenal cell."
"Really!" David said shocked and relieved.
"Yes, but if you do a maneuver like you did on that guyin juvenal hall, I will personally see to it that the next guy who makes a moveon you can beat your ass. Do youunderstand?"
"Yes... thank you."
"Well, it is not like you will be there long. You will have a bail hearing on Monday. You just better hope you make it or else youwill be going to the county jail."
"Thank you," David said.
"Don't thank me... thank Chuck... he might be a crook but heis an honest one."
"Thanks Chuck," David said as his eyes went lookingfor the large man, finding him with a large grin on his face.
"You take care, kid... if you're as good a person as youare a fighter, I don't think we will be seeing each other again... which is agood thing." He laughed.
As David was led to a different holding cell he gave a prayerof thanks for the Chucks of the world.
All of CTN and parts of it's follow up Underline the Verb are now up on the yahoo web site. There's also the new series Children of Mir on the yahoo group for those interested in a fantasy story. Two of my books have managed to get published and are up for sale on Amazon. I do hope you take a look at them. Take care and be well.
JMH
trandar2002@yahoo.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adultwritingworkshop/
http://www.amazon.com/Academy-James-Higuchi/dp/1934625515/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202659250&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Centurion-James-Higuchi/dp/1934625507/ref=pd_sim_b_img_2