James

To anyone out there who thinks I don't read my email, rest assured that I do. I just get so behind in answering it; hope I haven't offended anyone. Also, I tried to get this in before the end of July, and I almost made it, depending on when you get the update. Still no sex in this part, but I will more than make up for it in Part 18. Thanks for reading!

Part XVII

I drove down the road, my anger expressing itself through my foot pressing the accelerator to the floor. What the hell was that fight all about, I wondered. It just came out of nowhere. It hit me like a ton of bricks that we weren't really fighting about Kris at all, at least not fully. The pressure that we had been under for the past few days was finally beginning to get to us. I pulled into a drive and turned around to head back the way I came.

I was driving a saner speed as I headed back to the point where Dave had gotten out so it took me a bit longer to get to him. But soon, there he was, shuffling down the road, occasionally scuffing at a rock on the shoulder. He looked up as I did a U-turn. My heart melted as I saw the look in his eye. Dave liked to think he was so tough, that nothing could touch him. But he was really just a teddy bear in the body of the incredible hulk. His face was a bare reflection of his roiling emotions, and at that moment the pain on his face was enough to make my soul cry.

I pulled up next to him. "Hey handsome," I said. "Need a ride?"

Dave chuckled a bit. "Sure, thanks." He hopped back in and we started back down the road.

"James ..."

"Dave ..."

We began at the same time. We both laughed nervously. "Go ahead," I said.

"No, you go first," Dave said.

"No, you go."

Dave laughed, then sighed a bit. "Okay," he said. "Why did you drive off?"

I bit my lip. "I was angry. I couldn't believe that we were having that fight."

"But you left me," he said as his voice broke. "Why did you leave?"

"I'm sorry," I said. "It just hurt what you said."

Dave looked down. "I'm sorry too," he whispered. "All I ever seem to do is push people away."

I touched his arm. "But they don't have to go, Dave. I'm sorry."

A tear ran down his handsome face. "What was that fight really about?" I asked.

Dave sat pensively and he wiped his cheek. "I don't know. I think I've been on edge for the last few days. The long trip, worrying about how your family would react, and then Kris. I don't know, I guess I just broke."

I shook my head. "Yeah, just what I was thinking." I looked at Dave. "I'm touched that you wanted to pound him into the pavement for me."

Dave smiled, but still kept looking at the floor. "I would have, you know."

We were silent again, but something still gnawed at me. "There's something about this that you aren't telling me, Dave. I've seen you mad before, but not murderous. What is it?"

Dave breathed in a few times and then he started to speak in a soft voice. "James, I love you, and I care about what happens to you. When I found out about the attack on you, it was like my heart was ripped out. And ever since then, it's torn me up to know what you've been through and to know that there was nothing I could do, nothing I can do, to fix it. When I saw that shithead today, it brought all of that frustration and anger to the surface. I didn't see a man, a fellow human being. I saw the bastard who destroyed your life, who violated you in one of the worst ways possible, and I," his voice broke. He took a deep breath and steeled himself to go on, "I felt jealous."

I was stunned. "Jealous? Of what?"

Dave kept staring at the floor. "Jealous that he's had you. Someone that repulsive and evil has been a part of you in the most intimate way. That's a place where I should be the only one allowed."

I sat and thought before I spoke again. "Dave, you know I've had other boyfriends."

Dave grimaced a bit, but his voice came back a bit stronger. "Yeah, well, that's something else I don't like to think about."

I reached out and grabbed Dave's left hand. "You know, sometimes this possessive streak of yours can be downright endearing." Dave finally looked up and grinned at me. "Dave, I'm sorry. I didn't know your feelings were this deep."

"Well, I didn't know how to tell you. I didn't know whether you felt like talking about it. We've only talked about it that one time."

I glanced over and looked him in the eye. "Yeah, I know. Maybe we should talk about it some more sometime."

"Whenever you feel like it." We kissed lightly and then I turned back to the road fully. "Does this mean I can slug him the next time I see him?" Dave asked.

I rolled my eyes. "We'll see," I said.

Dave grinned like a little boy. "You didn't say no," he said and then he sat back with a satisfied smirk on his face.

My heart and points south lurched a bit. It was the same smirk he wore when he fucked me into utter sated exhaustion. "I have another theory about why we had that fight," I said.

"What's that?"

I took my hand out of his and groped his crotch. "We haven't been able to fool around. We've never gone this long."

Dave frowned. "We fooled around this morning. But ..."

I grinned. "Yeah, but we didn't get to finish."

Dave breathed out heavily. "So this makes what, the third day?"

I mentally counted. We made love the afternoon before we left. None the day before, and no completion that day. "We're starting on day three."

"Wow," Dave said as he adjusted himself. "We're setting new standards for endurance."

I smirked. "Yeah, well, imagine how good it's going to be when we finally can do something."

Dave leaned back and groaned.

Dave and I had almost finished putting away the groceries when Paul walked in. Dave had grabbed me and was tickling me. Paul took one look and shook his head. "Do you guys ever stop?" he asked as he elbowed past us and out of the room.

That was it. I pulled loose from Dave and started after my brother. "James, don't," Dave said as he tried to grab my arm.

"No," I said as I jerked free again. "This stops now."

I started up the stairs after Paul. "Hey!" I yelled to his retreating back. "You're not getting by with that shit any more, jackass!" His bedroom door slammed shut right in front of me. I barged in before he could trip the lock. "Now look," I began. "I've put up with your shit long enough. It's time to have this out now. I know you've had a rough time, but shit happens. Time to move on. If you want to hate me, that's fine. But be a man about it and say it."

Paul looked down. "I don't hate you," he said quietly.

I snorted in exasperation. "Well, you've sure picked an easy-to-tell way of showing it. Ignoring me, being pissy with me, all that crap. If you don't hate me, then what?"

Paul sat down on his bed and looked at the floor. I waited for him to react. I wanted him to shout, scream, hit me, anything but the silence. Then I noticed his shoulders were shaking. He was crying. I saw down next to him on the bed and put my arm around him. He tried to shrug me off, but I held firm. "Not this time, little bro. Come on. Tell me."

Paul took a ragged breath. "You were my hero, James."

I frowned a bit, then smiled as I remembered how Paul followed me around like a puppy. "Yeah, I know."

Paul went on as if I had said nothing. "Everything you and Daddy did was incredible to me. I saw Daddy, and I saw you, and I wanted to be like you both. But you were my brother, so you were even closer. I saw you and I wanted to be like you; hell, I wanted to be you.

"You had everything, in my eyes. You were smart, funny, had it all going. Everyone around us was captivated by you. The teachers, the principal, everyone in town, you could say a word and they'd bend over backwards for you. And I wanted to be like you, and I wasn't. I knew I wasn't, but it was okay. You even had a hand in that, you told me I could be whatever I wanted to be. But even though I didn't want to be just like you, you were still a big influence on me.

"I noticed the change in you long before I knew for sure. It was subtle, but it was there. It confused me a little, but I didn't think too much about it; but it was always there in the back of my mind, waiting to come to the front. Then came that awful time." Paul choked a bit as his eyes teared again. "I remember when the call came in that morning. It was hell. Mom and Dad raced out of the house, and all I heard was that something had happened to you. I was a teenager, growing up, but I felt like a little kid. I was sick to my stomach, I worried all day. Then Mom and Dad came home and they wouldn't say anything at all about what happened. Dad disappeared, and Mom fixed supper for us and then locked herself in her room.

"You were still in the hospital when it happened. Dee and I went to get a get-well gift for you. All we knew was that you were hurt and in the hospital. Neither Mom nor Dad would say a word so we decided to go on our own. We were out shopping when we ran into Kris and his thugs." I closed my eyes as I imagined the what came next. Paul sniffled and wiped his eyes, going on. "I didn't like the way he was looking at me, so I sent Dee on an errand. When she left, Kris started in on me. I talked back for a while, then he started telling. He told me everything, James. He told me every little detail, about how you cried, about how you bled, and how he left you lying there, covered in blood, cum, and piss. I just stood there listening. I didn't believe what he said, I didn't want to believe it. One part of me knew it had to be true, but another couldn't believe that something so awful could have happened to my big brother.

"Dee and I did go to the hospital that day, but Dee never got out of the car. I made her stay in there, because I had in mind what I was going to do. I was going to go up there and prove Kris wrong, then I was going to beat him up for saying that stuff about you. You were going to tell me what a liar he was and everything, and when you got out of the hospital we'd take care of that sack of shit together. Then I got up there and I overheard the doctor and a nurse talking about you in the hallway. They didn't see me, but I heard everything they said. They talked about how your anal tissue was traumatized and how you might need rape counseling. I didn't want to hear it, but I did. I heard every word they said, and then what I had thought about came flooding back. It all clicked into place. And I knew then that what Kris had said was the truth.

"I had this image of you in my head, and now all of a sudden my idol is a faggot who got beat up and raped by a bunch of stupid little shits. I thought Kris and his crowd were nothing, that you could stand up to them. I thought that maybe it happened because you liked it, that you wanted it to happen. I know it's bad to say that, but that's what I thought. It really bothered me. There was my big brother, athletic hero, most popular in school, total stud with the girls, everything a little brother had to look up to, and then it all came crashing down. I learned my hero was mortal. It really did fit that all of this could really happen to you." Tears streamed down Paul's face. "But I was wrong about that. It took a while, but I finally accepted that you hadn't asked for what happened to you. You were already gone by the time I realized it, and then it was too late to say anything."

I was crying too as the memories of that day came back to me. I tried to imagine everything from Paul's point of view and I could feel his hurt. I pulled him closer with my arm. "I'm sorry, Paul. I always thought you were ashamed of me because of the attack. I thought that's why you didn't want to have anything to do with me."

"It was everything," Paul said as he wiped his nose. "It was the attack, finding out you were gay, all of it. I wondered how much of what I knew about you wasn't true. My whole world felt like it was crashing down around me." Paul looked at James. "And then you left. You left, you ran away. To me, it seemed like you were being a coward. That was the last straw for me."

I closed my eyes, my speech broken with sobs. "I know it was cowardly, I know. But I didn't think I had a choice. Mom and Dad were ashamed of me, none of you would even look at me. And you ... you were the biggest hurt of all. All those years I knew how much you looked up to me, and when I saw the look in your eyes, I knew I couldn't stay."

"I didn't hate you, James. I never could," Paul cried. "I didn't know how to feel! You were my hero! Then all of a sudden everything I had known about you was worthless. I felt like I didn't know you anymore!"

I looked up. "And how do you feel now?"

Paul met his brother's gaze. "What do you mean?"

I focused on the gaze of my little brother. "How do you feel about me now?"

Paul blinked and looked at the floor. "You're my brother. I love you, that's never changed."

I wiped my eyes. "But you've still been so bad since I came home."

"I know," Paul said, sniffling. "It's so new seeing all of this. You know it takes time to get used to everything. It's tough meeting my big brother's boyfriend."

"Yeah, I guess that might be tough," I said, managing a smile.

We sat in silence before Paul looked up at me. "I'll bet you're the woman, aren't you?"

I looked at him in shock. "What?"

Paul grinned. "I'll bet you're the woman. I'll be he mounts you like you're a mare in heat."

I blushed. Paul picked it up right away. "Oooohhhh!" he crowed. "I knew it. I knew it!"

I stood up. "You don't know shit," I said as I leaned in and started tickling him. Paul dissolved in giggles and he started trying to avoid my fingers, but I was still stronger than him, even if he did outweigh me. I stopped tickling him and wrestled him over to where he was on his stomach. I sat on his ass and pulled his right arm behind him. "Say uncle!"

"Never!" he yelled as he tried to free himself.

I pulled tighter, making him yell. "Say uncle!"

"No way," he said as he started to laugh again. "I won't say uncle to my pansy girl brother ..." I twisted his arm again to cut him off, making him yell again. "Okay, okay! Uncle! Uncle!"

I let him go and stood up with a huge grin on my face. " `Pansy girl brother,' huh?" I said as I flexed my arms. "Who was the one who sounded like a girl there, huh?"

Paul rubbed his arm. "I was suckered. I didn't have time to prepare."

I laughed. "You are so full of shit."

Paul looked up and grinned. I grinned back, and I knew that everything would be okay between us. I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into a huge hug. We held each other for a few seconds before Paul pulled away. "Okay, okay. Now, get out of my room and go back to your boyfriend. He's probably wondering if we've killed each other yet." I slugged Paul a good one in the shoulder before leaving the room and heading back downstairs.

I slowly got off the bed so as not to disturb my sleeping boyfriend. James had come back downstairs looking positively radiant. He had told me about how he and Paul had made up, and he looked so happy. I couldn't believe how much his mood had improved. After we finished tidying up the kitchen again, James wanted to take a short nap before his relatives descended on the house for the barbecue, so I decided to join him. We spooned each other and took a nice nap, but I woke up first. James was still in a deep sleep. He needed the rest, so I decided to get up and go downstairs to offer some help if I could.

I slipped out the door and downstairs to the living room where I found Deanna Kennedy watching a baseball game on the television. I sat down next to her. "Who's playing?" I inquired.

"Reds," she mumbled. "Losing again at home, as usual."

"You're a big baseball fan, huh?"

"Yup," she said. "Girls watch sports, too." She turned and gave me a dazzling smile.

I laughed. "Yeah, I know. You need to meet my sister-in-law. She's a sports nut, too. You should see her on Super Bowl Sunday. She out-yells my brother, her husband, any day." We laughed.

Then Deanna hit the mute button and turned to me. "So how's he doing?"

I looked over. "Pardon?"

"James," Deanna said, her arm indicating the second floor. "My big brother. Your boyfriend. Ring any bells?" she asked with a grin.

"Why do you ask?"

Deanna shook her head. "Come on, Dave. A blind man could hear it in your voice, and I see it in your body language. Something's up, and I just bet it has something to do with him. What happened?"

I sighed loudly. "What hasn't happened?"

Deanna turned off the television. "So tell me."

I leaned back into the couch and proceeded to tell Deanna the events of the day, one by one. I told her about the scene with James' dad, running into Kris, and then my fight with James and the subsequent `dialogue' with Paul. Deanna whistled and shook her head. "Sounds like quite a day. Poor guy. At least he's finally getting stuff settled with Paul."

I nodded my head in answer. "Yeah, that's one bright spot. But overall, I think the whole trip has been exhausting."

Deanna sat quietly for a moment. "So everything's okay between you two now?"

I laughed. "Yeah, I think so. For now. I don't know. We both have a lot of issues to work through with this. Part of me really wants to find this Kris SOB and annihilate him. But mostly, I just hope that James is getting what he needs right now, and I'm not sure about it."

Deanna frowned. "Sure about what?"

"Don't take this the wrong way," I began, "but I'm not sure this trip was such a good idea now, especially considering everything that's happened."

Deanna smiled. "You're protective. Good," she said thoughtfully, as if evaluating me. "But Dave, you have to know that at some point he's going to have to deal with all of this. Better now while the walls are still kind of low than in the future when nothing will be accomplished."

"You're right."

"I know my brother," she said, turning the TV back on. We watched the rest of the game, me in silence, her cursing every so often. The Reds lost again.

"I've been here for two days, and it feels like two months," James said as he buttoned his shirt. I was sitting on his bed as he dressed for the barbecue.

"Try looking at it from my perspective," I remarked, then I looked up at James and winked. He scowled and threw a pillow at me, which I dodged. "You can do better than that."

"I can," James remarked, "but I think the point's been made." I made a face at him, which made him laugh. He stood up from the bed and gave me a hug. "Thanks."

I held him tighter and kissed the side of his neck. "No problem, babe. I love you."

"I love you, too." We kissed on the lips. James let out a deep sigh and leaned his forehead against mine. "Are you ready to go meet all of the relatives?"

"I think so."

James walked to the window. "If you think you have a lot of family, wait until you meet mine. I guarantee you that you won't remember all their names."

I grinned. "Ah, a challenge."

James turned and winked. "Yup. Care to make a wager?"

Intrigued, I walked closer. "What did you have in mind?"

James put his arms around me. "If you remember everyone's name that I ask you at the end of the evening, then you get to do whatever you want with me when we get home."

I pulled him closer and ground my crotch into his. This was beginning to get interesting. "And if I don't?"

James grinned wolfishly. "Then I get to do whatever I want with you."

"Sounds like a good deal to me," I said.

James turned and wiggled his cute ass against my crotch. "I call it a win-win situation." He walked back to the window.

"Works for me," I said as I did some adjustment below the belt. "So how do you want to handle tonight?"

James leaned on the sill. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean us, gay, boyfriends, getting hitched and all. What should we tell your family?"

James turned and frowned. "The truth, of course. I'm not hiding anything from anyone."

I held up my hands. "Okay, okay. No big deal. I just wanted to be sure."

James walked up and slipped his hand into mine. "Dave, I love you. We're going to be together. I want the whole world to know. Now," he said with a quick kiss, "you ready to face the family?"

I kissed him again. "You bet."

We walked downstairs, hand in hand, ready to face the horde of Kennedy relatives.

Three hours later, my head was completely spinning, and not from alcohol. It was from the sheer amount of relatives I had been introduced to. I stood off to one side of the pool trying to get a breath of air. If I had to endure one more `knowing glance' or "Oh, I see" from another one of James' relatives, I was going to drown myself. But James had been the one who had endured the most from his relatives, as I had seen each one of them take him off to the side the whole evening. His face was red a great deal of the time. Mister Iceman was melting in the face of the heat from his family.

I think that the only thing holding him together was my growing confusion with his relatives. Our little bet was giving him a lot of pleasure, as I could tell from the sly winks and knowing grins he shot my way every time I was perplexed by someone I had just met three minutes earlier. Oh well, I thought to myself. If it gets him through the evening, then that's great. Besides, as he said it's a win-win situation. My thoughts were interrupted by an intense cold at my neck. I jumped and turned around, and Paul Kennedy stood behind me with a freshly-opened bottle of beer. "Sorry man, didn't mean to scare ya," he said with a grin.

"No problem," I said. "What's up?"

"Well," he said, taking a healthy pull from the bottle, "seems to me I haven't been all that fair about you. So here I am." He held out his hand. "You seem like a decent guy. And if I have to have you as a," he broke off to fortify himself with another drink of beer, "brother-in-law, then I can live with that."

I took Paul's hand and shook it. He had a hearty handshake and applied a bit of pressure to my hand. I grinned and applied some back of my own. Then he squeezed tighter, causing me to squeeze. "Okay, okay, you win!" he said as he pulled his hand back. He shook it gingerly. "Man, you got a grip like a gorilla!"

"I wasn't the locker room arm-wrestling champ four years running for nothing, you know," I said, flexing my arms a bit.

Paul whistled, then clapped me on the back. "You're cool, man. We're gonna get along fine. Now," he said as he leaned closer and dropped his voice to a whisper, "my girlfriend's here. That's her over there talking with Liz." He pointed out a pretty blond with pretty big tits. "I'm gonna sneak off and get me some pussy before the night's over, so I'll just take my leave of ya now." He shook my hand again.

I laughed. "Have fun, dude. Be safe."

Paul grinned. "Hell yeah, man. Don't have to worry about that. See ya!" He raised his bottle to me and ambled off. I watched him go up to the girl and subtly maneuver her away from his sister. He leaned in and whispered something in her ear, something that made her blush beet-red. But she followed him out the gate that led toward the barns. I shook my head. Maybe it's genetic, I thought to myself.

Just then James walked up next to me. "Hey," he said as he wrapped his arm around my waist.

"Hey," I answered. "You know, your brother's a horndog."

"Which one?" he asked.

I looked at him. "Paul. He just told me he was going to go `get him some pussy' and he just took his girlfriend toward the barns. What do you mean, which brother?"

James laughed. "Are you kidding? You think Gary's an innocent little pup? Please. If he takes anything after me or Paul, he's well on his way." I shook my head in amazement. I guess it really was genetic. James leaned in closer. "So how are you doing with those names?"

I laughed. "I give," I said. "There's no way I'll remember. I accept defeat gracefully, and when we get home, I am yours to do with as you please."

James grinned devilishly. "Oh, what fun I will have with this." We both shared a laugh, then we looked out over the rolling fields and pasture. It was a lovely scene, and we both forgot about the people and the pressures of the day as we stood in silence.

Our pleasant interlude was broken by the sound of James' mother coming up behind us. "James Patterson," she yelled as she walked up, "what's this I hear about you two getting married?!"

James closed his eyes and swallowed, and mouthed "here we go" before he turned around. He left his arm around my waist and fixed a resolute look. "Yes Mom, Dave and I are getting married."

She got a disgusted look on her face. "Now look here, young man. I've done my best to put up with this since you've been back in order to put m y family back together, but married? No sir, young man. That's supposed to be between a man and a woman."

James looked shocked. "Who says, mother? Why does it have to be that way? Dave and I love each other, and we want to show it."

James' dad walked up and took his wife by the elbow. "Honey, let the boys be. If this is what's going to make them happy ..."

"No!" she yelled as she pulled out of his grasp. "This, I refuse to accept."

"Mom ..."

"Honey ..."

"No!" she yelled again, cutting off both her son and her husband. "If you want to condone all of this nonsense," she said, pointing a finger at her husband and then to her daughters, "that's fine. I refuse to take part in any of it." With that, she turned on her heel and went into the house.

James' dad turned to us with a heavy look on his face. "Boys, I'm sorry about that."

James' look was stony. "We're sorry too, Dad."

James' dad ran his fingers through his hair and looked back after his wife, who had just slammed the door. "I didn't think she'd have such a problem with all of this." He turned back to his son. "She'll come around, son. Just give her time."

James looked out over the horizon. "I don't know." He walked over to the hedge surrounding the pool. Then he turned back. "Regardless, I think it's time for us to leave."

James' dad looked disappointed. "Now James, it's only been a couple of days. Maybe if you stayed longer ..."

"No, Dad," James said, a sad and weary tone entering his voice for the first time. "We need to leave. Give everyone some space, time to think."

James' dad looked down. "Maybe you're right son. Maybe you're right."

James walked away from us, toward his sisters. He spoke to them in low tones, and Deanna and Elizabeth seemed to be trying to talk him out of leaving, but to no avail. He finally entered the house, his head hanging.

I turned to James' dad. "Sir, for what it's worth, I appreciate all that you've done for James, and for me as well."

He smiled. "You're a fine young man, David. Not what I expected at all from my son's gay lover. I'm glad you proved me wrong. I've been wrong about a lot of stuff. I'll be better from here on out."

I clapped him on the shoulder. "Thank you." I looked toward the house. "I guess I'd better go in and see about him."

He nodded. "You do that, Dave. I'll handle stuff out here."

I walked past the remaining people, all of whom quieted as I passed. I walked up to James' room and heard muffled sobs. I rapped sharply on the door and went on in, closing and locking the door behind me. I laid down on the bed behind James and took him in my arms. He turned over and cried into my chest.

Early the next morning, James and I stood by his Wagoneer with his dad, his sisters, and his brothers. His mother was nowhere to be seen.

"You all have a safe trip," Elizabeth said as she gave both her brother and me a hug and a kiss.

"We will, Liz. Thanks," James said.

Gary clapped my hand in a firm grip. "Be good, Dave. We'll toss the football some more soon."

"You got it, kid," I said as I grinned.

Deanna hugged me and James. To me, she said, "Take care of him for me." I nodded. To James, she said, "Keep your chin up. And remember to call!"

James grinned. "I will."

Paul shook my hand firmly, then grabbed his big brother in a hug. "Stay cool, bro," he whispered roughly before letting go. James just nodded.

A half-asleep Lauren hugged James tightly, then hugged me as well. Then it was James' dad. He shook my hand firmly. "David, you're a fine young man," he echoed his words from the night before. "I'll be happy to see my son with you."

"Thank you again, sir, for the hospitality," I replied.

"Don't mention it," he said with a grin. Then he turned to his son, and his eyes misted. "It's been good to see you, son. I miss you a lot."

James swallowed. "I miss you too, Dad."

The two men stared at each other and then grabbed each other in a tremendous hug. I was getting misty, and I noticed that nearly everyone was in the same condition. James' dad clutched him tightly. "You keep in touch, all right? I'll try to work on your mother as best I can. And I intend to be there when you two tie the knot."

James sobbed once before replying. "Thanks, Dad. I promise we'll keep you up to date."

They hugged tightly again before separating. His dad slapped the hood of the Jeep. "You got gas and all? Engine running okay?" Typical dad stuff, I thought. He was trying to regain control of his emotions.

James nodded, equally regaining control. "Yeah Dad, all's cool. We'll be fine."

James' dad smiled. "Good deal. You two be careful!"

"We will," I answered as I got in behind the wheel.

"Call us when you get in, okay?" Deanna asked as I started the engine.

"You bet," James called. He smiled through the window as I put the car in gear. Slowly, I pulled the car around and headed down the driveway. James looked back the whole time, waving to his family. But I knew what he was thinking of; the one member who wasn't there. As we pulled out, I noticed a figure at an upstairs window. James' mother was there; her hand was up in a silent wave.

We returned to our apartment late in the afternoon, and I was next to beat. James thought we should hold off on unloading and unpacking until later, and I readily agreed. I went to the bedroom to lie down while James made his phone calls and listened to the messages. I was starting to really relax when I heard James' excited voice. "Dave, come here! Now!"

I jumped up and ran into the room. He was on the phone, pacing. "What? What?" I asked.

He shushed me with his hands. "Yes doctor, I'm here." He covered the receiver. "The doctor's office called, our results are in."

My eyebrows went up. We had gone to get tested again a couple of days before leaving, and we left before the results got back. James listened intently, and then he broke out in a big grin. "Thanks, doc. Here's Dave." He held out the receiver and then walked off to the bedroom.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hi Dave. How are you?" the doctor asked pleasantly.

I smiled. "Depends on what you have to tell me."

The doctor laughed. "Hang on a few minutes, and I'll have your results." Then he put me on hold.

I stood there, feeling rather impatient, for a few minutes. James was suspiciously quiet in the bedroom. About three minutes later, the doc was back. "Well Dave, nothing but good news. You check out clean on all fronts. Throw away the condoms, you two are free as birds."

I grinned. "Thanks doc. I appreciate it."

"No problem. See you on your next visit." I hung up the phone and looked toward the bedroom. I wonder, I thought to myself. I went into the bedroom, and James was lying on the bed looking like the cat that just swallowed the canary.

He looked up at me. "Good news, huh?"

"Yep," I answered as I pulled off my shoes. I was going to start on my shirt when James held up his hand.

"Uh-uh," he said as he sat up. I stopped in confusion. "Remember our bet?" he asked with an evil grin.

"Ooooh, yeah," I answered. James lay back down on the bed. "So what should I do for you, master?" I asked with a grin.

James chuckled. "Keep up with what you were planning to do, just slowly. I want to watch."

That was an easy enough request, but I knew I wasn't going to get off that easy, so to speak. But I complied. I thought back to our first meeting, and how we'd come full-circle. There was no music playing, so I made up my own rhythm as I began to move. I danced around, wiggling my ass and thrusting my crotch at him, trying to set up a sensuous mood. Then I moved around and began unbuttoning my shirt, button by button. I played with my chest hair as each button opened, something James always loved to do. The smile on his face indicated that he wanted to do to me exactly what I was doing.

I pulled open the shirt and slowly edged it off, licking a finger and playing with one nipple and I pinched the other. James groaned a little in his throat, but remained still. I shed the shirt from my arms and stretched them out, flexing my muscles as I did so, knowing it would drive James crazy. I moved around in every way I could to bring out the definition in my chest and back, and he was definitely groaning. A heavy ridge was growing beneath the fly of his pants and his hips began to move.

I backed up from the bed and seductively unbuckled my belt, slowly pulling it out loop by loop. Once it was out, I put it around my neck and began dancing with it as a prop, moving it up and down my back as I turned and thrust to my invisible beat. A look of hot lust was on James' handsome face as the huge bulge in his crotch tested the strength of his zipper.

I unbuttoned the first button on my 501s, running my hands up and down my torso. I was going to prolong this as long as I could. After moving for a few minutes, I unbuttoned the second button, then did the same thing, this time playing with my nipples again. James got a look of impatient agony on his face, but he remained silent. A dark stain began to show on the front of his pants where the head of his cock pushed at the material. I teased him some more by playing with the fly, then I unbuttoned the rest of the buttons in one swoop, exposing my pubic bush. I ran my fingers through it and ran them under his nose, causing him to breathe deeply. Then I stepped back and turned around as I eased the waist off my hips. As the waist cleared my ass, James sighed deeply and then I pivoted on one foot, exposing my cock to him from the side. He groaned loudly and began to play with the bulge in his pants.

I pulled my pants and socks off and got down on all fours, climbing onto the bed and up his hot body. Inches from his mouth, I breathed in and whispered huskily, "What shall I do for you now, master?"

James closed his eyes and took in a ragged breath. "Let me up, and you lie down here." I sat back and James got up, going into the closet. I lay back on the covers and wiggled around to get comfortable. When James came back, he was shirtless, a light sheen of sweat on his broad chest and his nipple rings glinting in the light. He held up his hands; in each one were two of his ties. "Put your arms out."

My eyes bugged out. This was one thing we hadn't tried before, the whole bondage thing, but I was definitely curious about it. I wondered what he was going to do. He reached down and tied one arm to a bedpost on the headboard, and the other arm to the other post. He then tied my legs to each of the footboard bedposts. Then he grinned. "Too tight?"

I tested the ropes. He hadn't really tied me up; if I really needed to, I could get loose. But it was symbolic. I grinned back. "Just right, master."

James stood back, and then he began his own dance. His flexible body moved fluidly as he turned and moved in front of me, and I groaned. He was going to torture me, and it was going to be so good. After our short abstinence, we were going to burn up the bed. James began flicking his nipple rings, each time causing him to whimper a bit in pleasure. Then he undid his khakis and shoved them off, revealing his huge prick, already leaking fluid prodigiously. He crawled up on my body, much as I had done just moments before, and got right up in my face. "You know what I need, Dave?"

"What?" I answered. It was more of a half-groan, half shriek as my voice cracked.

James bent down and sucked on my neck, hard. I didn't care if it did leave a hickey; I was too far gone. I sucked in breath and lifted my hips off the bed. He put his lips to my ear. "I need a good hard fucking."

I groaned again as my dick twitched. "And just where are you planning on getting it?" I asked, hoping that fit with his game.

James bit my earlobe and sat up. He touched my chest with one hand, and then he grabbed my cock, milking it upward with a tight stroke. I almost shot right then and I moaned loudly. He let me go and grabbed my hair, pulling my head up. "From you, hot stuff," he rasped in my face. Then he shoved me back down into the bed.

I shuddered and twitched as my body fell back down from the heights it had almost reached. James got off the bed and walked over to the dresser where we kept the lube and condoms. I moaned again as I watched his sexy ass flex and bounce. He looked back over his shoulder and leered at me. I shut my eyes and fought to hold back the flood of cum that was bursting to get out.

James opened the drawer and pulled out our bottle of lube, tossing it over onto the bed next to me. Then he pulled out the condoms. We had bought a twelve-pack a few days before leaving on our trip. Only four were left. He opened the box and pulled out the strip of condoms, then he grinned at me again. He put the condoms back in and wadded the box up, throwing it into the trash. "Bare at last," he said as he winked at me. He sauntered back over to me and sat on my legs. He stared at my straining meat for a few moments, as if deciding what to do. Then he looked at me. "You ready?"

"For what?" I gasped.

He grabbed my balls. "I didn't say ask me a question. I asked if you were ready?"

"Yes!" I yelled out.

James grinned again and he let my balls go. He turned around where his bull dick was lying on my lips, and he rubbed it there a few minutes. Then he sat up. "I don't want to wait too long," he said, "so get me nice and wet." He then shoved his ass in my face, and I started licking. I wasn't sure how clean he was, but I wasn't about to argue. I was happy to discover that somehow he'd managed to clean himself. He must have done it when I was on hold. I pulled at my bonds a bit and shoved my face more fully into his ass as I tongued his tight hole, getting it slick and loose.

James moaned and then lowered his torso to where his face was right over my dick. He stuck out his tongue and began licking the precum off the hard shaft. I was hovering right on the precipice of orgasm, and I pulled back and yelled it out. "Well, we don't want that to happen." He sat right back up, shoving his delectable ass right on my mouth. I didn't wait for a comment, I just began vigorously tongue-fucking him, something I knew drove him wild. It had the desired effect. Soon he was bucking and moving like a wild bull on top of me.

Then he jumped up, seizing the bottle of lube. "All right fucker, I've waited long enough." He squeezed a generous amount into his hand and he slicked up my prick, careful not to stimulate me too much. Then he slicked up his hole. In a matter of seconds, he was hovering over my prick, and was ready. He sat there, grinning at me for a minute.

The agony was killing me. I wanted to be in that slick cavern so badly, I was almost in tears. "Please!" I wailed.

James grinned bigger, and then he just lowered himself. I had thought fucking James with a condom on was a religious experience, but nothing prepared me for the feeling of being inside him bare. For a brief second all but one sense shut down, my sense of touch. I felt nothing but his slick insides, and his heat was incredible. I thought I was going to have a stroke. I was distracted by a loud sound, and I came back to reality to discover that it was me emitting a huge groan the came from the depths of my soul.

James sucked to the bottom and let out a similar groan, and then he began to bob up and down. He wasn't taking any time, he wanted to be filled and fast. Soon, he was riding me like a cowboy on a bronco. His throbbing horsemeat bobbed up and down in front of him, scattering slime all over my hairy stomach and chest.

"Oooohhhh, so good, so good," James moaned. "I need this so bad." He moved around on my diamond-hard pole, trying to hit his sweet spot. When it hit, his breath came out and went back in a flash, and every muscle in his body twitched. I strained at my bonds again, wanting to feel him. James came down from his high for a moment and noticed my desperate look, and me straining again at the ties holding me down. He grinned. "All right stallion, time to get freed." He leaned over, pulling off my dick but not letting it out of his tight channel, and untied my arms. Then he sank back down to the hilt, making me squirm yet again as he reached back and untied my legs. I moved my limbs a bit, feeling my freedom. Then James hooked his legs on me, grabbed my arms, and rolled over, taking me with him. Now I was on top.

"All right you horny fucker," he growled, "do the deed. I want it hard, and I want it now." He tightened his ass muscles around my cock. I gasped as he went on. "Turn my ass into a froth. Give it to me!" he yelled, grabbing my ass with his hands and jerking me forward, pulling me in even deeper. We both moaned, and then I sat back a bit.

"You want it, huh?" I asked, maneuvering my hips around. He bit his lip and nodded vigorously. "All right then," I said, pulling back. "Now ... you're ... going ... to ... get ... it!" I said, punctuating each word with a hard thrust. James' head shot back and his eyes rolled back into his head. I put my arms under his calves and I lifted his legs up to where his feet rested on my shoulders. I started pummeling his ass, causing him to moan.

"Aww, fuck, yeah," he hissed. "Fill my ass, Dave. Make me feel every fucking inch of that cock." He grunted a few times then let out a long moan.

"Ugh," I grunted. "Fuck, yeah. Take it, you cock-hungry bitch. Yeah, you're my slut. Beg me to keep fucking you." Every bit of my dominant side was coming out now.

"Ahh, yeah!" James yelled, grimacing as I hammered home again. "Please keep fucking me! Make me scream! I'm your cock whore!" He moaned loudly as I hit his prostate several times in succession.

I shifted positions again, pulling his legs down around my hips. He wrapped them down, digging his heels in. I began jackhammering his ass hard, and James soon lost his ability to speak coherently. He was reduced to grunts and whimpers as I took his ass hard. His head thrashed back and forth as I long-dicked him.

This is what it's all about, I thought to myself. Reducing the man I love to a frenzy. James was lost in a world of excruciating pleasure as I royally fucked him. There was nothing but his ass and my dick. I looked down at my cock going in and out of his stretched hole and the sight almost made me cum, but I bit my lip and tried to hold it. Then I looked at James' face. His eyes were open wide, but unseeing and glassy, unfocused. His mouth was open, but now he was incapable of even making more than occasional whimpers. His tongue lolled out one side and a trail of drool worked its way down the side of his cheek. That did it. I felt the tide rising inside and the pressure began to build. I pulled James' legs tight around me and I bent down to kiss him. He regained enough strength to meet me halfway. As our tongues met, the dam burst and I began flooding James' ass with stream after stream of thick cum. I was yelling with the pleasure, but the sound was muffled by James' mouth. The pleasure was so intense after just a few days of abstention that I thought I would pass out.

I pulled back from James' mouth to catch my breath as my cock spurted its last streams. I started to slow down, but James grabbed my ass. "Keep going!" he moaned, so I screwed up the strength to keep thrusting. All of a sudden, James let out a bloodcurdling yell and I felt a hard spurt hit my chin. I looked down to see his cock belch out another long stream of cum that hit me right in the mouth. I opened my lips to catch it as it kept coming. I thought he'd never stop shooting. By the time he finished, his chest, my chest, and both of our stomachs were coated in gooey jizz. I licked my lips and tasted James' spunk for the first time. It was somewhat salty, but had a bit of sweetness as well, and it made my mouth tingle. I swallowed and licked my lips. "Mmm," I murmured.

I gingerly pulled my spent organ from James' well-stretched ass, and I lay back to James' side. James was still trying to catch his breath from his intense orgasm. Finally, he opened his eyes. "Wow," he said quietly.

I breathed out loudly. "Yeah. Wow."

James lifted his head and looked down. His eyes widened. "Jeez! Did I do all of that?"

I turned my head wearily. "Don't you remember?"

James' brown gaze met my blue one. "Last thing I remember clearly is telling you to make me your cock whore. Then it's all stars and explosions. All I remember is waves and waves of feeling going through me."

I shook my head. "So it was good for you?"

James sighed. "Oh yeah. Good doesn't even begin to describe it."

I stretched a bit. "How does your ass feel?"

James gingerly moved around, probably clenching his sphincter muscles. Then he groaned. "Like I just had a two-by-four shoved up there repeatedly. I'll probably walk funny for a week." Then he grinned. "Man, all the guys at the bars will envy me. You big stud, you," he said, chucking me lightly on the chin.

I took his hand and kissed it. "You know what you look like?" I asked as I took him in. His blond hair was sticking up in a thousand different directions, and it and his body were covered in sweat. Spunk was running down the sides of his torso and he was still flushed.

James looked down. "Like a man who has been very well fucked, I expect."

I couldn't help but beam a bit. "Yeah, that. But something else."

James looked up. "What's that?"

I leaned down to kiss him. "You look like a man I will love for the rest of my life."

James wrapped his arms around me and we kissed deeply. Then I tried to pull away, and the drying cum stuck us together. I pulled away, feeling like every hair on my chest was staying behind. "Ow!" I said.

James chuckled. "Maybe we should shower before we do anything else."

I sent James on to warm the shower up while I changed the bedspread. More laundry, I thought ruefully. But I had a good excuse. I headed into the shower, where James was standing still under the spray, waiting for me. I climbed in and we wrapped our arms around each other. We touched foreheads, then gently kissed each other. I grabbed a bottle of shower gel and began so rub it on James' hot body, making sure I got every muscle and crevice. I even bent down to wash his feet, which made him moan in happiness. I rubbed gently on his tender asshole, cleansing the lube and my leaking cum from it. Soon I took the spray nozzle off the holder and washed down his body. He was nearly humming in contentment. Then I took the shampoo and washed his hair, something else that made him hum. It was a wonderful experience, bathing my lover.

Once finished, he gave me the same treatment, gingerly cleaning my chest hair of his cum and making sure that I was squeaky clean. When he washed my hair, I thought I was going to die. It felt so nice, feeling his strong fingers massaging my scalp. I could really enjoy this. I decided then and there that while fooling around in the shower was fun, taking a shower together to get clean was also fun. After he rinsed me, I remembered one part of him that I forgot. Without a word, I took a bit of gel and cleaned his cock, remembering to retract the foreskin and clean underneath. He looked down on me with fondness as I made sure that this intimate place was as clean as the rest of him.

We got out of the shower and took clean, fluffy towels to slowly and thoroughly dry each other off. Once we finished, we went back into the bedroom and lay down on clean sheets in our warm bed. James immediately snuggled up next to me, and I wrapped my arms around him. "Mmm, this is nice," he murmured against my chest. I softly grunted my agreement. Just then, something came back to my mind. I chuckled. "What?" James asked, still not moving.

"Umm, all of our stuff is still outside. When do you want to go unload and unpack?"

James laughed softly. "I think we both just unloaded. Pretty spectacularly, I might add."

"Twirp," I said as I clinched him tighter momentarily. "Seriously, when?"

James groaned. "How about next month?"

I smiled and rubbed his back. He sighed in contentment, and very shortly after he was sound asleep. As I listened to his soft breathing and felt the air ruffling my chest hair, I became a bit drowsy. Soon after, I joined my sweet lover in dreamland.

End of Part XVII

I am fairly sure, though I can't be positive, that Part Nineteen will be the final part to "James." Just so you know. Any questions or comments, please email. I can't guarantee that I will answer immediately, but I will try as best I can.