This story is about male/male relationships and contains graphic descriptions of sex. You should not read this story if it is in any way illegal due to your age or residence.
This is a work of pure fiction. This story is the sole property of its author and may not be copied in whole or in part or posted on any website without the permission of the author.
Questions and commentary can be sent to djakeeba@aol.com
Please consider donating to keep Nifty going. Details at http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html
TRAGEDY IN THE BLOOD by Steven H. Davis
Chapter 24
I lay in Taine's bed, cuddling my angel close to me under the covers. Our entangled limbs stroked each other in the sweet afterglow of our first lovemaking, and I felt warm, content, and finally complete. Taine's face was pressed close to mine, his eyes half-closed with sleepy, languorous pleasure.
This is what I had really wanted, despite my years of fumbling and searching, and despite my two days of disappointing sexual exploration with Mark, Kathy and Jeff the week before. This is what making love was really about, and I at last understood why poets, artists and writers had devoted so much time and energy singing the praises of this most intimate of human interactions.
Taine's breath felt warm and wonderful on my face as he exhaled. I tried to time my breathing so that I could inhale as he did, feeling so close to him, as if we were one. I was almost overwhelmed with emotion from the magic of breathing his sweet, sleepy human essence, the very air which gave life to the boy I loved.
I sighed contentedly, hugging him and stroking the skin of his smooth, pale shoulder, tracing my fingers across the flow of the muscles beneath. As passionate and sweet as our lovemaking had been, as heated and explosive were our climaxes, this part was my favorite so far, this gentle, relaxed intimacy with another human being.
Our lips brushed in a slow, lingering kiss, and Taine continued the kiss along my chin and neck, his fingers stroking the ridge of my clavicle across my throat.
"Ricky," Taine murmured softly. "Can I ask you something?"
"Anything, angel."
He slid his hand tenderly across my chest, kissing my neck and cheek. I could tell that he was trying to gather his words, which Taine only did when he was attempting to voice some very deep and complex emotion or thought.
I waited patiently, stroking his hair and kissing his forehead softly as he formulated his question. I knew that I had to listen carefully and be sensitive to subtleties in his tone and phrasing before answering.
"Well," he began, and his voice sounded so young, so innocent and vulnerable that I instinctively hugged him closer. "This was the best thing that ever happened to me. And..."
He paused, raising himself on his left elbow as he continued to explore my chest with his right hand. I watched his eyes as he studied my skin. It was as if trying to memorize all of me, the first person other than himself whom he had been allowed to examine so closely.
"And?" I whispered softly, encouraging him.
"And," he continued, turning his head away from me, "I just wanted to know if this was it."
I furrowed my brow, concerned.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Was this what?"
There was another long pause as he traced his fingers across my belly, kissing my chest with his warm, soft lips. I reached a hand up to caress his neck, stroking his hair and running a finger down the curved rise of his spine.
I loved him so much at that moment that I found it hard to breathe.
"Well, I know you've been looking at me since you first saw me. In the hallway, in the bus stop, the cafeteria. Even when Coach Keith was stripping my clothes off in the lockerroom."
I blushed, suddenly ashamed.
"I couldn't help it," I said. "You're beautiful, Babes."
He shook his head slightly.
"I'm not," he said. "You're beautiful. But I know you wanted to do this. I know you wanted to make love to me."
"Yes I did," I replied, confused. "Of course I did. Wait... Taine... are you saying that you didn't want to do this?"
He ran his fingers down my tummy, stroking them over the top of my boy parts, and cupped my balls lightly in his warm hand, as if to reassure me that he was a willing partner.
"I did," he said. "I loved when you sucked me and licked me. I loved having you in my mouth. I loved having you inside me, and holding me, and telling me how much you love me. I just..."
"Just what, angel? What is it?"
He moved his hand away from my groin, resting it lightly on my thigh. I felt a hot teardrop fall on my belly, rolling slowly down my side.
"I know I told you not to love me," he said, his voice quavering. "But I'm wondering if maybe now that we did this, if that was all you wanted."
Despite myself, I began to laugh in disbelief.
"What, you think I'm using you for sex?"
Taine turned to look at me, anger and hurt flashing in his eyes as they shone with tears.
"Don't laugh at me!" he rasped.
"Taine!" I cried out. "Taine... Babes... sweet angel... no! I love you! Do you get that? I love you! You're all I ever wanted. You're all I will ever want. Do you not understand that?"
He shut his eyes tightly, squeezing tears onto his hot, flushed cheeks.
"Do you?" he asked.
"Yes I do," I affirmed forcefully. "Listen, Taine, if I used you for anything, it was for this. This is what I love. Holding you, kissing you, feeling your body close to me. Look, I think you're the most beautiful boy I've ever seen in my life. I love the way you look, I love the way you taste, I love the way you smell... Look at me, Taine!"
I took his chin in my hand and he opened his eyes wide, the tears stopping as he regarded me with amazement at the intensity in my face and voice.
"And, yes," I continued, my voice rising with passion. "I love having your beautiful cock in my mouth, I love licking your sweet balls, I love being inside your tight, gorgeous ass. That ass should have its own TV show! But, most of all...I love your mind... I love your heart... I love the way you can love so openly and freely even with all the pain and hurt that you've had in your life. I love the way you look at me, and I love the passion in your kiss and the tenderness of your words. Taine Maxwell... I love your beautiful fucking soul!"
I sat up, clutching him to my chest fiercely, covering his teary face with kisses, crying uncontrollably myself now, holding him like I never wanted to let him go, which I certainly didn't.
Taine wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tighter than ever before. The dam broke, and he collapsed into my arms, weeping and feverishly kissing our mingled tears from my face, neck and chest.
"I love you too, Ricky," he sobbed. "I love you and I shouldn't because you'll get hurt, I'll get hurt... everyone will get hurt!"
His body heaved with wracking sobs as he buried his face in my neck.
"Shh, angel," I soothed, as my tears began to subside.
I lowered my face to his hair, inhaling the soft, strawberry scent of his shampoo as I held him, rocking him slowly back and forth on the bed.
"No one else is getting hurt," I said softly, "unless it's Kevin and his friends. I won't let anything happen to you. And our dads won't let anything happen to either of us. I promise you, Babes, and I've never meant a promise as much as I mean this one: I will love you and hold you and protect you for the rest of our lives. Nothing on Earth could make me leave you, and nothing on Earth could make me stop loving you."
Finally, he relaxed in my arms. Taine turned his face to look up at me, drained from exposing his raw emotions so nakedly and openly. I leaned down to kiss him. As his soft, pink tongue explored my own, I felt myself beginning to stiffen again. He noticed, and moved his hand to stroke me. I reached my own hand down to his lengthening boyhood, tenderly urging it to erection.
I searched his beautiful eyes for permission, and found both love and desire there.
"Make love to me again, Ricky," he whispered. "Never stop making love to me."
I responded my kissing him passionately and deeply, and we rolled over to hold each other in a full-body embrace. We were connected totally and completely, every inch of our warm young skin touching each other's from head to toe, and our hearts and souls joined forever. We made slow, yearning, tender love until the dawn.
We showered together in the morning as we got ready for school. We were both exhausted from lack of sleep, and were running late, so we didn't do more than clean each other's backs and hold each other in a close and loving embrace as the warm water washed off the remnants of our lovemaking.
We toweled each other dry and began to dress for school, all business now, but we stopped at the door of Taine's room for another long, lingering kiss before heading downstairs.
"I love you, Babes," I said.
"More than anything, Ricky?"
I nodded enthusiastically, and he grinned with happiness and love.
"More than everything," I smiled.
When we got down the stairs, we found Sly sitting in the breakfast nook with his usual mountain of food -- pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, hash browns, toast and kippered herring. I wondered how he didn't explode.
"Morning, boys," Sly bellowed happily. "Want some breakfast? Big day for you, Rick."
I nodded. It was my first day back to school since my suspension for Hulking out on Kevin Gorman, and -- despite my exhaustion -- I was getting nervous about what the reception to my return would be among teachers and students alike.
"We don't have time for breakfast," said Taine. "Linda's coming to get us in like two minutes."
We had called Linda for a ride when Rex had dropped us off the night before, and she pulled into the driveway and honked just as Taine grabbed a slice of toast from Sly's plate. Saying quick goodbyes to Sly, we rushed out of the house to Linda's car, completely forgetting to ask where he and Rex had gone after they left us in the driveway.
Linda took one look at our tired, happy faces and broke out in a mile-wide grin.
"Long night, guys?" she asked, a lecherous tone to her voice.
Taine blushed as he climbed in the back seat, but I smiled joyfully as I jumped in next to Linda and flipped her radio from country to pop.
"The best night," I told her, as the silky voice of Donna Summer filled the car.
*When you're laying so close to me/
There's no place I'd rather you be than with me*
I looked up at Taine in the rear-view mirror. He was napping, his beautiful face slumped into the seat with a faint smile playing on his perfect lips.
*Do it to me again and again/
You put me in such a awful spin, in a spin*
Linda and I sang along, she with comically over-exuberant lustiness, I with soft, genuine feeling as I thought about last night, visions of Taine's body entwined with mine in love and passion playing in my mind.
*Lay your head down real close to me/
Soothe my mind and set me free, set me free*
After a time, I stopped singing with Linda and turned around in my seat, watching Taine's sweet, sleeping face as we drove toward the school.
*I love to love you baby/
I love to love you baby/
I love to love you baby/
Oh, I love to love you pretty baby/
Love to love you pretty baby/
Ohhhhh*
Chapter 25
Linda parked at the mall across the street from the school and we all walked over together, Taine shaking his head every few steps in a futile attempt to wake himself up for the long day ahead. Once inside the hallowed halls of Polk, we thanked Linda for the ride and each went our separate ways, as we all had different classes for first period.
I was expecting a lot of stares and whispers, considering that I had just put Kevin Gorman in the hospital the previous week by beating him bloody with Taine's English book. I certainly got all the stares and whispers I could want, and by the time I walked into Mrs. Colby's English class and took my seat, I felt like I was the talk of the school for all the wrong reasons.
That was when I noticed Mike Colman standing beside my desk. Mike was a painfully thin and geeky freshman, brilliant but not what you'd call socially adept. He wore wire-frame glasses which were too large for his small, almost fetal baby face, navy-blue rayon slacks above battered brown sneakers, a light-blue short-sleeved shirt with buttons down the front, and -- God help us all -- a plastic pocket protector in his breast pocket which held two pencils, a pen, a mechanical pencil and a protractor.
"So, uhm, Rick," he began in a low, nervous voice.
"Hey, Mike," I said casually.
I always tried to be friendly to him, not just because no one else was, but because I truly appreciated both his intellect and his wit, which usually went over everyone else's heads with its multi-layered cultural and historical references.
"Uhm, I just wanted to say that what you did last week was really cool."
Cool? This I hadn't expected. After my walk from the side door of the school to my locker and then to class, I felt like everyone had decided I was Charles Manson, dangerous and not to be trusted. I cocked an eyebrow at Mike, and saw an unexpected admiration in his eyes begind the thick lenses of his glasses.
"That guy is a dick," Mike explained. "He's been picking on me and everyone else since the fourth grade. He deserved what he got, and I'm glad you did it."
I gave him a wry smile. "You don't think I'm a psycho?"
Mike shrugged. "Takes one to beat one."
He took his seat as the bell rang and Mrs. Colby entered the room. She gave me a long stare, causing a few nervous titters and more whispers around me.
"Welcome back, Mr. Spivey," she said flatly. "Let's see if you've found some less combative uses for your English text during your vacation."
I blushed, and she smiled, and the class laughed, breaking the tension. I started to think that maybe things were going to be okay after all.
I was wrong.
When English class was over, I gathered my stuff and went to Mrs. Colby's desk, handing her some assignments which Taine had gathered for me to complete during my suspension. She accepted them and then looked up at me, pulling her glasses down her nose and staring me in the eye.
"As a teacher at this school," she said, "I can't condone what you did to Kevin. But I had him in class two years ago, and as a person..."
She fingered the cover of the teacher's edition of our English textbook laying on her desk. It was at least double the size of the student version, heavy, bulky and thick.
"...it would have been nice if you'd had this one," she whispered with a smile, then turned her attention to her paperwork.
I grinned. Mrs. Colby affected the persona of a grumpy old schoolmarm, but she never failed to delight me when she let it slip.
I turned and left the room, a smile still on my face. The smile froze when I heard a deep, menacing voice behind me in the hallway.
"Woof, woof, motherfucker."
I spun around angrily to see who it was, only to catch a brief glimpse of some giggling girls who had overheard, and a Polk varsity letter jacket disappearing into the crowd of students.
It was going to be a long day.
I managed to make it to lunch, and sat with Taine at our usual table, trying to ignore the stares and whispers. I invited Mike Colman to sit with us, but he merely shook his head, staring at the ground as he made his way to the Geek Table, where protractors, geometers and heated discussions about Dungeons & Dragons had made his life somewhat bearable throught his education.
I looked down at my lunch, then over at Taine. My poor Babes looked so tired that I was afraid he would fall asleep in his food. He held a French fry awkwardly in his fingers, aimlessly dipping it into a pool of ketchup on his tray.
"So how has your day been going?" he asked quietly.
"Weird," I replied. "I'm a hero to the Geeks and the teachers, and Richard Speck to everyone else."
I didn't mention the "woof, woof" to Taine, because I didn't want to upset him. He looked like he had been through enough that morning as it was. I wanted to ask him what had happened, but I knew that Taine hated to be asked how he was doing. He would tell me in his own time.
I forced down most of the dark, leathery meat which was advertised as "Salisbury Steak" on the school menu, gobbled the fries, green beans and doughy "strawberry tart," then accepted the remains of Taine's lunch as he pushed the tray over to me. I began working on my second course as Taine finally spoke.
He looked at me first, and I really wanted to kiss him, to feel his skin, but I couldn't risk it in the crowded lunchroom. I sent him a message of love with my eyes instead, and his slow blink told me that it was received and returned. He smirked and leaned back in his chair.
"Lenny French bodychecked me in the hallway," he said, "and I got a few nasty looks from people, but it wasn't that bad. I don't think many people remember it was me. That's one of the perks of being invisible."
My heart clenched at his words.
Even though it was actually a blessing for him that day, I felt bad that Taine was so ignored and relegated to the sidelines, an extra in the movie of his own life. I knew that much of it was by choice -- the ever-present cap with its brim pulled down to shield him from the world speaking to that choice -- but I wondered how much he might secretly hate it.
One thing I knew for sure, I thought as he rose and slowly left the cafeteria, is that he wasn't an extra to me.
He would always be the star of my show.
Mr. McRory took me into his office during Drama class, pointing at the bench along the wall. It was painted in "UIL gray," part of the school's practice-set for the University Interscholastic League's One-Act Play contests in the spring. The plays were all performed using the same unit sets: various benches, platforms and blocks fashioned of plywood and painted in the same flat gray color.
Mr. McRory was also in standard mode, wearing his usual outfit of Izod, khaki slacks and TopSiders with blue socks. He was no more a real preppy than I was, having attended a public high school across town before studying theatre at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, 35 miles up the highway from San Antonio.
Still, we both liked the look, and on some days we appeared to have been dressed by the same person, the only difference being that I set off my Izods and TopSiders with designer jeans instead of khakis. While the rest of the class practiced in the classroom, Mr. McRory lit a cigarette and began what I was sure was going to be an unpleasant speech.
"Rick," he said, "I'm going to level with you. I was really pissed off at you all week. We needed you at that tournament. You let us down. You let Linda down."
"I'm sorry," I said.
"You're a good actor, Rick, and everyone here likes you and wants you to be in the play. But I need to know whether this was a one-time thing and we'll be able to count on you for the play and for the rest of tournament season, or if you're going to make this a habit."
I studied Mr. McRory carefully before replying. It was only then that I noticed his mustache was gone. Without it, he bore even more of a resemblance to the actor Donald Sutherland than he had with it.
"What happened to your 'stache, Mr. Mac?" I asked. It was the wrong answer.
"I shaved it off," he said coldly. "Forget it. Go back and practice your Duet."
I tried to dial the conversation back, but in vain. Dejected and embarrassed, I rejoined Linda on the Drama Room's makeshift practice stage.
"That didn't go well," I said to her, as we moved two chairs to the starting positions for our scene.
"Oh, Rick," Linda replied indulgently. "You know Mr. McRory. He'll come around eventually. Just run the scene with me a few times. Show him you mean business. He'll be fine."
"Okay," I said, taking my place next to her and facing the imaginary audience for our brief introductory speech.
"Doris and George are married," she began.
"But not to each other," I joined in.
And so it went...
After school, Linda and I waited for Taine in the parking lot, and talked about this and that. I hadn't had any more run-ins with any of Kevin's friends for the rest of the day, and I hoped that my Babes hadn't either. After a few minutes, he emerged from the building, talking to no one, his eyes downcast as he shuffled from the school.
God, I thought. This place must have been Hell for him even before this mess started. As I was getting all twisted up in a sympathetic knot, the cap raised and Taine saw us, smiling brightly. He began to walk faster, joining us at Linda's car.
"Hey, Taine," she said.
Taine blushed, painfully shy around girls, even Linda, and said "Hey" in a barely audible voice.
Linda grinned and gave me a twinkling glance, as if to say, "he's so adorable!" I agreed.
We all jumped into Linda's car, happy to have the school day behind us. As I began to get in the front seat, Linda placed an arm across it and gave me a look, gesturing to the back seat with her head and eyes. I smiled at her and climbed in the back beside my Babes, showering him with kisses and hugs as Linda drove down the road toward our homes, a satisfied smile playing on her lips.
"You're my boys now," she said.
We both looked up at her smiling eyes in the rear-view mirror. What a strange thing to say, I thought.
"Are you adopting us?" Taine asked facetiously.
"As a matter of fact," Linda replied, "I just might."
We all laughed, not noticing the dilapidated black Charger following us slowly down Walzem Road.
Thank you for reading Chapter 24 & 25. To be continued...
"Love to Love You Baby" written by Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. Performed by Donna Summer. c 1975 by Oasis Records.
I'm always happy to hear from readers at DJAkeeba@aol.com. You have all been so supportive and encouraging, and I thank you all for your e-mails.
If you're enjoying this story and others on Nifty, please consider making a donation to the site. Details at http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html