This story contains some explicit scenes of erotic love between males. If you are under age, or live in an area where reading stories that include sex between males is illegal, or if you're not into this type of story, please leave. The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at NJMcMick@yahoo.com.
The story is set in the fictional city of Trenton, New Jersey. Yes, there is a real city by that name, but other than being a state capital on the Delaware River, it bears little resemblance to the city in this story. While a few of the places mentioned may exist in reality, all of the characters and events are fictitious.
Chapter 28
Wednesday afternoon Marcus picked me up and drove me to his parent's house in Hamilton Square, a town a few miles east of the city. We were both nervous.
"So why are you on edge, Miah? You're the one who told me I should trust my parents and not worry about them."
"Yeah, but that was about you being gay. I mean, they're your parents and they've loved you your whole life. But they don't even know me. They've got no reason to love me. They might even think that I'm the reason you're gay, that maybe I seduced you."
"You know my dad and you said you get along with him. And I'm sure they don't think you're the reason I'm gay. I told them I've known for years, long before I met you."
"Yeah, but it seems to me you weren't very sure of it until recently."
"You're not gonna let that go, are you? I was very sure of my same-sex attractions before. I just wanted to make sure I didn't have any opposite-sex attractions. Can we drop that now?"
"No, I kind of like holding it over your head. Did you explain to your parents what you were doing at school this year, or should I tell them?"
"I told them all about my experiment. They knew I was dating a girl so when I came out a few weeks ago I had to tell them something. My dad didn't come right out and say so but he implied I acted like a real jerk, that I wasn't being fair to her."
"Well, you weren't, but since she wasn't taking the relationship seriously I guess it doesn't matter."
"I know, but I still wasn't honest with her. And even though I was honest with you I didn't treat you fairly either. You were the one who was serious about a relationship and I left you hanging."
"I've pretty much forgiven you, but you're still on probation."
"You do like holding it over my head, don't you?" He frowned at me.
"Of course," I smiled coyly. "So what did you tell them about how we met? I want to make sure we've got our stories straight, so to speak."
"I pretty much told them the truth, that I'd seen you on the train and was strongly attracted, and then we ran into each other and met at the festival. I left out that first kiss, though. I didn't want them to think you were a loose woman, kissing strangers behind the dumpster."
"Me, loose? You're the one who led me there and took advantage of me. I was just an innocent sixteen-year old boy."
"That may have been your first kiss but there was nothing innocent about it. I'm trying to tell my parents as much of the truth as possible, but even though they're pretty cool with the gay thing, keep in mind Dad is a Baptist minister. I'm trying to glide over the sexual stuff."
"Then I suppose I shouldn't say anything about making money on my knees in the park?"
The car abruptly slowed as Marcus' foot slipped off the gas pedal. His mouth dropped open as he turned to stare at me, but when he saw the grin on my face indicating I was putting him on, he smiled.
"You sounded so serious there you had me scared." He shook his head as the car sped up again. "Damn, there's nothing innocent about you anymore, is there?"
"Sure there is, you just have to look harder to find it."
I looked around and saw we were in a suburban development and after driving a few blocks Marcus turned into the driveway of a large split-level house.
"Home sweet home. Ready to meet the folks?"
"As ready as I'll ever be. Lead on."
We went through the front door, which was on ground level, into a small entrance hall. Beyond the hall I heard young voices in what looked like a family room. Marcus led me up a half flight of stairs on the left to the living room. Reverend Williams was sitting in an armchair reading the newspaper. He looked up and dropped the paper when he saw me.
"Well, well, this is a surprise, Jerry," he said, jumping to his feet and crossing the room to us. "You didn't call him Jerry when you were telling us about him, son."
"His name is Jeremiah, Dad. I call him Miah."
"Nice to see you again, sir."
"Please, I told you before, it's Malcolm." As we shook hands I saw a slightly plump but attractive woman coming from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a small towel. "This is my wife, Georgia. Dear, you've heard me talk about Jerry from the shelter."
"Oh, yes." She held out her hand and shook mine. "Santa's helper, right? You were so cute in that elf outfit."
I blushed, thinking of those green tights that didn't hide much of anything. "Nice to meet you, ma'am. I see where Marcus gets his good looks. Not that you aren't handsome, Malcolm."
"You certainly are a charmer, Jerry. And please call me Georgia."
The four of us sat and chatted for a few minutes and then Georgia got up to go back to her cooking. Marcus' little brother came running up the stairs, nearly knocking his mother over in the process.
Malcolm introduced me to Matthew, who politely shook my hand, looked me over for all of five seconds and then started complaining to his father about his sisters picking on him. Malcolm calmed him down and sent him back downstairs, calling down to the girls to ease up on him. A minute later Georgia announced that dinner was ready so we all headed into the dining room. Marcus led me to the side of the table closest to the kitchen, which was set for two. In just a few seconds, Matthew reappeared and sat in the middle of the other side of the table. His sisters followed and sat on either side of him. They were both older, maybe early and mid-teens, and looked a great deal like their mother. They both looked me over much closer than Matthew had.
The parents sat at either end of the table. Marcus startled me by reaching under the table and taking my right hand in his left. I looked around and realized everyone was joining hands, so I gave Georgia my left hand. Malcolm said grace, something I wasn't used to. Mom or Aunt Aggie had only said grace on holidays. We weren't much on religion.
As soon as he finished, everyone was grabbing for the food. There was pot roast with roasted potatoes, collard greens and black-eyed peas. Malcolm introduced me to his daughters, Joyce and Ella, as we filled our plates. The two girls kept checking me out and exchanging sideways glances as I began eating.
"I think you're right, Joyce. He's definitely the girl," the younger girl said.
"What are you talking about, Ella?" Marcus glared across the table at his sister.
"Well, ever since the other night when you told us about this guy you were seeing, we've been trying to figure out which one of you was the boy and which the girl. You're not all that big and tough, so I wasn't sure, but Joyce was pretty sure you'd be the boy."
"We're both boys, Ella. Or men, as far as you're concerned. Neither one of us is a girl, or wants to be one."
"Well, one of you has to ... I mean, you both can't..." Joyce seemed to know what she wanted to say but not how to say it, with both of her parents sitting right there.
Malcolm cleared his throat. "There are some things that are none of your business, Joyce. It's enough for you to know that Marcus and Jerry are dating. Asking for personal details about their relationship is prying."
"Tell you what, Joyce, Ella, you can ask me anything you want about my life instead," I offered, trying to get the conversation onto a more family-oriented topic.
Georgia came to the rescue by asking me about my family. There wasn't a whole lot to tell but I explained about Mom and Aunt Aggie, and recently meeting my grandparents. We managed to get through the rest of the dinner exchanging small talk, getting to know each other a little. The girls didn't seem very taken with me by the time we finished eating. They cleared the table while Marcus, his parents and I went into the living room for coffee.
Again, the conversation was polite but it was a little easier without the younger kids. Both of Marcus's parents were trying, and it showed, but it wasn't uncomfortable. I knew this was a situation they'd never dreamed of being in and it was probably hard for them, but they were very friendly and welcoming toward me. By the end of the evening, I had finally relaxed. His parents both hugged me when I got up to go.
On the way home, Marcus said he thought the dinner had gone well.
"If you'd told me back around Christmas that this evening would ever happen and come off like this, I would have said you were crazy."
"Well, I thought you were the crazy one, but even so I wouldn't have expected it to go this well. Your parents are really pretty special. They love you a lot."
"Yeah, they do. I should have trusted their love. But I think you had a lot to do with how well things went, Miah. My father liked you before and now they both like you. I think my mother wants to adopt you."
"As long as that includes one of her meals now and then it's fine with me. She's a great cook. I haven't had black-eyed peas like that since Aunt Aggie went into the nursing home."
"You can be sure I'll have you over for dinner a lot this summer. Even my sisters will warm up to you eventually."
"Isn't there a bus I could take to get here? I hate you having to drive all the way into the city to get me and then do it again to take me home."
"The bus is a hassle and I don't know how late it runs. I don't mind driving, as long as one of my parents' cars is free. When Joyce starts to drive in a couple of months that may be a problem."
Later, I lay in bed and replayed the whole evening. Marcus really did have a great family. His parents were warm and loving. Matthew was cute and mischievous. By the end of the dinner I had realized that any teasing his sisters were doing was well-deserved. The whole family realized that, including Matthew. It was all a never-ending game with them. Even Joyce and Ella were nice, their odd idea of our relationship notwithstanding. I was looking forward to seeing them all again and getting to know them better.
Just before drifting off to sleep, I thought of the tail end of my conversation with Marcus. When I learned that my grandfather's business was a car dealership, my first thought had been to ask Patrick if maybe I could get a car. I didn't really need one most of the time around the city, but I didn't like having to depend on someone else to drive whenever I was going out of town, whether to the mall, the movies or New Hope. Besides, with the little bit of driving I'd done in Norman's car, I'd discovered that I really enjoyed it. Patrick had seemed to think getting a car wasn't out of the question, but then we started looking at condos instead. Now that I'd decided I wanted the huge loft condo, I was afraid to bring up the idea of a car again. I didn't want to sound greedy. Maybe I'd talk to him about it the next time I saw him if I could find a way for the subject to just come up.
A week went by and I talked to Patrick a couple of times on the phone. He had signed a contract on the condo and was trying to set up a meeting for us with Derek's decorator. I hadn't had the nerve to bring up a car. When I'd seen Marcus over the weekend I'd talked to him about it and he suggested I ask for a used car, maybe that wouldn't sound like I was asking for too much. But I couldn't even bring that up.
I was off from work the next Wednesday and was hoping to see Marcus' family again, but their church was having a dinner that they were all expected to attend. Marcus invited me along but I turned him down. His family was one thing but I wasn't ready to take on the whole congregation. Not that we would have gone as a couple. He wasn't out at church yet.
It was a beautiful June day. I spent most of the afternoon at the shelter, as usual, and on the way home I decided to go to the park and sit on my rock on the riverbank to enjoy what was left of the day. I stopped by the house to change into a pair of shorts. When I walked into the front hall, Lucille's door was open. That wasn't too unusual; she liked to watch her tenants coming and going. As I passed her door she called out to me.
"Jerry, dear, this gentleman is here to see you."
I stopped, backed up a step and looked into her apartment. A very handsome well-dressed man in his forties who looked somewhat familiar was walking toward me. He stopped short and stared at me. Lucille had been following him closely and ran into his back, almost spilling the drink in her hand. He stepped into the hall and extended his hand.
"My name is Robby Johnson. I believe you know my son, Chipper."
"Oh my gosh, that's why you look familiar. He looks just like you."
He nodded. "Yes, there's a strong family resemblance."
"What are you doing here? I mean, I barely know Chipper. Is he all right?"
"Chipper's fine." He glanced around the hall. "Is there someplace we can go to talk?"
"Well, my room is upstairs but it's not very comfortable. There's only the bed and my weight bench to sit on."
"You gentlemen could use my sitting room if you like." Lucille fluttered her eyelashes at him.
"Is there a decent cocktail lounge in the neighborhood? I think I could use a drink."
I shrugged my shoulders and looked at Lucille for advice. I knew there were bars all over the place but had never paid any attention to them.
Lucille hesitated, trying to hide her disappointment. "The Colonial Inn on Warren Street is nice." She explained to me where it was.
Mr. Johnson and I walked the three blocks in silence. I tried again to ask him what he wanted with me but he just shook his head. I found the bar with no problem and we went in, our eyes taking several seconds to adjust to the dark. The place looked just like any bar to me, a long bar along one wall and a row of dark red leather booths along the other. There were half a dozen men in suits at the bar and a few sitting in booths near the front. We settled into a booth near the back. After the waitress brought our order, a scotch on the rocks for him, a Coke for me, he took a long sip of his drink and stared at me, looking a little angry.
"So what are you doing here? I tried again.
"What kind of game are you playing, kid? Did you really think this was going to get you anywhere? I came here to tell you to stay away from my son. If you have anything to say to me, don't be dragging him into it. I'm here now so you can tell me what you want."
"What are you talking about? Why would I have anything to say to you? I don't even know you. I barely know Chipper."
He took another long sip and stared at me again for a long moment. Finally he frowned and shook his head.
"You don't have any idea who I am, do you?"
"Of course I do. You're Chipper's father. You just told me that." I was beginning to wonder how many drinks this guy had had before he got to the rooming house.
He downed the rest of his drink, caught the waitress's eye and asked her to bring him another, this time with a little water added to it. After she brought it he just toyed with the glass, moving it around in small circles on the table. He looked up at me and sighed.
"The other day I borrowed Chipper's cell phone to make a call. My heart nearly stopped when I saw the name Coy Walton in his phone book. You see, back when I was around your age, in fact going all the way back to when I was ten or so, I had a best friend whose name was Coy Walton."
"My grandfather said I had an uncle by that name. Was he your friend?"
"Apparently. We attended the same private school. Our families were both quite well-to-do. They didn't live in the same neighborhood or move in the same social circles, but there was a special bond between Coy and me from the moment we met." He smiled sadly. "We always joked that we were really brothers but we'd been separated at birth. And that's the way we felt toward each other. It was more than just friendship. Maybe it was because neither of us had a brother, I don't know. Anyway, we were inseparable all through high school. I've never had a friend like him since."
He finally took a sip of his new drink. I still hadn't touched my Coke. I had no idea why he'd come all this way to see me and I didn't know what to say, so I just sat and waited for him to continue.
"After high school graduation, I came up here to Princeton and Coy stayed near home and went to the University of Georgia. We saw as much of each other as we could on school vacations but after four years of college we'd begun to drift apart. I married not long after I graduated and that changed my social life. We each went to work for our fathers and sometimes crossed paths in business, but we didn't see much of each other. I missed him terribly and would always suggest getting together socially, but it just didn't happen."
"One day about six months after Chipper was born, Coy was in the bank on business. We talked a bit and when he said he wanted to buy me a drink to celebrate my fatherhood, I took him up on it. We met at a bar in a downtown hotel after work. He seemed troubled when I got there. He'd obviously had a drink before I arrived."
"My grandfather said he had a problem with alcohol."
Mr. Johnson snorted. "Your grandparents are such teetotalers they think all Catholics are alcoholics because they drink wine at Communion. Coy's only problem with alcohol was that he couldn't hold it. Three drinks and he was under the table. Anyway, we had our drink and talked a while, but something was obviously on his mind. Finally, he got up the courage to blurt it out. He said that he was in love with me."
"Oh my God, he was gay?"
He nodded. "I was shocked, appalled even. I didn't know anyone who was gay and had never suspected that he was. I had all of the usual prejudices. Plus, it made me wonder about our relationship for all those years. Not that I had any doubt that I was straight, but knowing how he felt toward me made me wonder what we were all about. I tried not to show how upset I was, but I'm afraid I didn't cover it up very well. He was still the best friend I'd ever had, but I was having trouble processing this new information. We talked a bit, him more than me, and then I made my excuses to leave, you know, the wife and baby at home. I needed time to let it all sink in. Coy was understandably distraught and decided to stay for another drink. I made him give me his car keys and promise to take a cab home."
He took a gulp of his drink and sighed.
"That was the last time I ever saw him. Apparently, he had a second set of keys and decided he could drive. He never made it home." His hand trembled as he touched his glass.
"My grandfather said he was driving drunk and ran into a tree."
"Technically that's what happened but that's not the whole story. I read the police report. Yes, his blood alcohol level was over the legal limit, but it was a sober driver who ran a red light and sideswiped him, pushing his car off the road. It doesn't really matter though, because dead is dead.
"I blamed myself. First for reacting badly to his news, making him want to have another drink. And for not driving him home myself. I know it wasn't my fault, but it wasn't his either. It just wasn't fair. His family was devastated, no one more than his little sister, Jessica." My ears perked up at the mention of my mother. "Jessica had been a cute kid when Coy and I were in high school, but she'd grown into a beautiful young woman. She absolutely adored Coy and was beside herself with grief, as was I. She and I naturally gravitated toward each other, trying to console one another. Without meaning to, we ended up having a very brief, though passionate affair."
I gasped as the implication of what he was saying sunk in. I was too stunned to move. He nodded.
"We quickly broke it off as we came to our senses. We weren't in love, it was just our shared grief that threw us together. We stopped seeing each other and a couple of months later I heard she had left town, I assumed to try to deal with her grief elsewhere." He looked directly into my eyes. "I never knew she was pregnant. You must believe me, I would never have left her to deal with that on her own without any help."
My mind was in a tailspin. I thought back to the name on my birth certificate. Robert Johnson, Jr. Of course, how could I have not realized it? But then, it was a very common name. And then it hit me. If he was my father, then Chipper...
"Oh shit! Chipper's my brother! But we..."
"I know, that's one of the reasons I rushed up here. When I asked Chipper about the name in his phone, he told me about meeting you and then spending the night with you. I wasn't sure who you were at the time but I immediately went to see your grandfather and he filled in the missing pieces. I didn't know what was going on in your head, but the idea of blackmail of some sort occurred to me. I couldn't imagine that it was just a coincidence that you ended up with Chipper."
"You thought I was a blackmailer?"
"I didn't know what to think. My family does have a bit of money and you might think something like this would cause quite a scandal. Whatever you were up to, I wanted to protect Chipper."
"You're okay with him being bisexual, then?"
"Yes. I was a bit surprised when I walked in on him and another boy a few years back, but I didn't make the same mistake I did with Coy. Chipper tells me that he's bisexual but I've assured him that no matter what, he's my son and I love him. That doesn't mean I think it's a good idea that he sleeps with his brother, though."
"No, that kind of creeps me out, too. It never would have happened if I'd known. So does he know about me?"
"No, I haven't told him yet but I will as soon as I get home. I told my wife about the affair with your mother right after it happened, so there's no need to keep it a secret. It caused quite a rough patch in my marriage for a while, but fortunately Carolyn is a very loving, very forgiving woman."
"So now what do we do?"
"I don't know, er, son. I'm still in shock over this whole thing and I'm sure you are too. I've at least had a couple of days to let the possibility sink in, but it's hard to get used to the idea of having another son."
"You think that's hard? I've never even allowed myself to think about having a father."
"Well, I know we're never going to have any kind of normal father-son relationship, but I would like for us to get to know one another and see where that takes us."
"Yeah, I guess. It won't be easy though, living so far away from each other."
"Maybe you could come down and spend some time in Augusta this summer. You couldn't stay at my home, though, I think that would be asking too much of Carolyn, at first anyway. Maybe you could stay with your grandparents and we could spend some time together."
"I don't know. They invited me down when I met them last month but I don't know that I like them very much. Besides, I can't just leave my job. Maybe we can work something out, though."
"I hope so. We can at least spend a little time together now. I'm here for a couple of days. How about we get some dinner and talk? Do you know of anyplace good to eat in the neighborhood?"
I smiled at him. "How do you feel about Portuguese food?"
To be continued.