9.11 - 60. Chapter 60

October 12, 2001

Claremont, Ohio

I walked around the condo, the one that Robbie had bought, admiring how nicely it was decorated, and how convenient it was. It was right downtown, with easy access to shopping and bars, and a short walk over a bridge to Triton. Robbie had put the condo in joint name, and I’d decided to keep it. It would remind me that this city was important to him, and hopefully that would make me more willing to remain involved with it and its citizens. I checked my appearance in the mirror, grabbed my shoulder bag, and left my travel bag in the condo. The weather was nice, even though it was a bit overcast, and I was early, so I opted to walk to the plant.

I strolled through the shops, pausing to get a cup of coffee and a Danish, things I could consume on my walk. It really was impressive to think of all that had been accomplished in such a short period of time. You could almost feel the energy in the air from this small Ohio city that was slowly pulling itself out of years of doldrums. A few people walked by me and said hello in a friendly way. They didn’t know me, that’s just how people were here. I crossed the pedestrian bridge, looking at the river below as I walked across, pondering that the water in that river would ultimately flow into the Ohio River, which would merge into the Mississippi River, and ultimately find its way into the Gulf of Mexico.

I walked up to the entrance to the plant, using the pedestrian gate. “Welcome to Triton,” the guard said in a friendly way, just like they were supposed to.

“Thank you,” I said. “Here’s my card.” I handed him my Triton ID card, and watched as he read the name and blanched.

“Mr. Schluter! We expected you to arrive in a car,” he joked.

“The weather was so nice, I decided to walk through town,” I said pleasantly.

“Let me get you a guide to show you around,” he said helpfully.

“That’s alright,” I told him. “I helped design this place. I can probably still find my way around.” He just smiled and nodded. If he were a Californian, he would have told me to have a nice day.

I walked through the plant, relatively anonymous, since most of the people here didn’t notice my Saville Row suit, and my Allen Edmonds shoes. My Patek Phillipe watch was hidden by my shirtsleeves, and the emerald cufflinks didn’t seem to excite much attention either. It was incredibly pleasant to be amongst this seemingly happy workforce, yet be anonymous. I went to the main office and found the plant manager, a woman named Billie Voss, who had a much more glamorous formal title, but was the plant manager nonetheless. “Brad! How wonderful to see you!” she said, shaking my hand.

“It’s nice to see you too, Billie,” I replied. How nice to be in a place where I felt welcomed, like part of the team. I wished that the complex in Connecticut were as warm and inviting as it was here. “I’m here to brief you and your staff on Plan Zeta, and to talk to your security people about some changes we’ve made.”

“I heard all about that,” she said. “Sounds like you had some fun back east.”

“I’ve had better trips, but the plans for the future are pretty exciting.” I spent some time with Billie, then with her key people. After that, she asked me if I’d talk to the employees as a group, which wasn’t on my agenda, but I agreed to do it. I met with the security contingent, and actually had a good time with them. There didn’t seem to be any problems here. And finally, I met with the employees in the large conference room. It was filled to capacity, and their response to our plans to expand was stunningly enthusiastic. I had to stop talking several times because of the applause. When I was done, I said goodbye to everyone and decided to walk back to the condo.

Now that it was late afternoon, there was a lot of bustle in the shopping area, especially around the bars, where people congregated for an early happy hour. The whole day had energized me, and made me feel like what I was doing was important and appreciated. I contrasted the Claremont I saw here with what I’d have seen only two years ago, and that was even more heartening. We had made a difference in these people’s lives, and they appreciated it.

I was spacing out, absorbing everything, so much so that I actually ran into someone and knocked her down. “Watch where you’re going,” a woman snapped, only I recognized that shrewish voice.

“We ran into each other,” I snapped back, even as I held my hand out to help Brenda Hayes White up. She took my hand grudgingly.

“What brings you to town?” she asked with a sneer, as if I’d brought sin and evil with me.

“A meeting at the Triton plant,” I said calmly.

“How are you holding up?” she asked, seeming to melt for a minute as she referred to Robbie’s death.

“It’s not easy,” I said honestly.

“No it’s not. At least I have my faith to comfort me. I can’t imagine what it must be like for an atheist like you,” she said, and the shrew was back.

“I have my family,” I told her. “That’s more than enough. And more than you have.” Then I turned and walked away from her, feeling genuinely happy for the first time in over a month.

October 13, 2001

Escorial

I sat at the kitchen table, eating lunch, trying to plan out our day. Ethan had gotten in last night, and he’d brought a friend, a handsome guy whose name was Joe. If there ever was a name that didn’t fit a guy, it was Joe. He was way too attractive and sexy to have a common name like that. They’d gotten in late and largely locked themselves away in their rooms. Then they’d gotten up this morning, eaten breakfast, and I’d given them a tour of the house. They’d decided to go for a hike and explore, and since they really didn’t seem like they wanted to interact with me, I let them go on their own.

I’d stayed home last night to greet them, while Matt had gone out. He’d gotten a ride home, completely trashed, at 3am. I was pretty surprised to see him up and about at noon.

“What’s on the agenda for today?” Matt asked, looking completely hung over. I tried not to give him a frosty look, but I was having a hard time keeping my expression blank, and he noticed. “What?” he demanded rudely.

“Nothing,” I said, a passive aggressive response.

“You’re pissed off at me. I can tell,” he said.

“You haven’t done anything wrong,” I told him, and he hadn’t. But he was really bothering me.

“Then why are you pissed at me?” It was like he was trying to start a fight with me.

“Because you blow me off to go party like you’re a fucking freshman, and you ignore me to go fuck everybody you can,” I snapped, finally letting it out.

“I have enough shit to deal with without you piling a bunch of guilt on me when I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said coldly.

“I have a lot of shit to deal with too,” I said. “You’re not the only one whose father was killed.” I hadn’t meant to let that slip out, but Matt was like truth serum for me, and I had a hard time restraining my true thoughts and feelings from him.

“Oh I see,” he said in a smarmy way, being a real asshole. “I’m going out and enjoying my last year of college, and the only reason is to try and get over Robbie’s death. You’ve taken one psych class, and now you’re a fucking expert.”

“I got an A,” I said with a smile, trying to add some humor to this and defuse the anger. It didn’t work.

“First I get shit from Will, who thinks he can tell me who I can and can’t sleep with, and now you’re piling on with the guilt. Fuck this,” he said, and made to leave.

“Will handled that in a pretty mature way, for him. Tony is really important to him, and he was telling you that, so you’d know that and leave Tony alone.”

“What gives him that right?”

“Because he’s effectively your brother, and he doesn’t want his brother fucking around with a dude he’s into. How would you feel if I slept with JJ?” I asked.

“Dude, he’s fifteen,” he said.

“That’s not the point. Visualize him as a fucking eighteen-year-old and answer the question!” I had to calm down; I was starting to lose it.

“I went out last night, had a great time, hooked up with a cute sophomore and blew him, then came home and passed out. What did I do wrong?”

“You just changed the subject,” I said. I hated it when he did that. We’d be having an argument, and he’d end up in a losing situation, so he’d just change the subject. “Answer my question.”

“I’m going back to bed,” he said, and started walking out of the room.

“Darius and Will set up a soccer game at 2:00,” I said.

“I’ll try to make it,” he said, blowing me off. He stormed out of the kitchen and actually ran into Brad as he was walking in. “Sorry,” Matt muttered, and kept on going.

Brad looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “Someone’s not happy.”

“Someone drank too much last night,” I said. I almost made a rude remark about him swallowing the sophomore’s load, but I restrained myself. “You just wake up?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I spent last night watching Queer as Folk with Will.”

I chuckled. “When the second season starts in January, half the GLBT meeting will end up being a discussion about it.”

“It was pretty good,” he said.

“Why did you watch it?”

“I met this guy in Triton’s finance department, and my assistant says he’s a ringer for Brian Kinney. So I figured I’d find out what he’s talking about.”

I looked at him curiously. “You planning to fuck this guy?”

He laughed. “Hardly. It was a good incentive to watch the show, and maybe figure out what this guy’s deal is.”

“The ringer for Brian Kinney is Cody,” I told him. “A wolf with some compassion underneath the hard exterior.”

“But Cody has compassion for people he doesn’t know, who aren’t his friends, and I don’t think that guy does,” he said. I shrugged. It wasn’t my mode to analyze the personalities of television characters.

“So did you end up hating him?” I joked.

“No. I have a general appreciation for hot guys with big dicks,” he said, cracking me up. “The only guy I didn’t like was Michael. He’s a whiney little bitch.” That made me laugh even harder. “So how is Ethan?”

“Pretty detached,” I said honestly. “He really doesn’t want to spend time with me, or us. He just wants to hang out with Joe.”

“Is that a problem?”

I sighed. “It’s a problem because he lacks the basic social skills he’ll need if he begins to move around in this world as a Danfield, as part of our family. He doesn’t know how to interact with people very well, he’s a horrible sport at games, and he eats like a pig. I feel like I’m in a modern version of ‘My Fair Lady’ but I don’t know that he even wants to do better.”

He shrugged. “My experience with teenagers is that unless he wants to do something, it’s going to be hard to convince him to do it. You should set Will loose on him.”

“Will tried to be nice to them, and Joe was pretty receptive, but Ethan was almost rude in blowing him off,” I explained. Will had offered to hang out with them, and had been shocked that Ethan had been pretty abrupt in saying no. “It gets worse this evening. Nana gets back.”

“Worse for you when she finds out you and Matt are fighting, or worse for Ethan?” It irked me that he knew Matt and I were arguing.

“Matt and I are just having a spat. I’m worried about how she’ll handle Ethan.”

He nodded. “I think you should just go with the flow, hard as that is for you.”

“True that,” I said with a laugh. “Don’t forget the soccer game at two.”

“Jack and I are playing,” he said. “Jack promised to wear soccer shorts.” That was too funny.

I went down to our room and found Matt rummaging around, getting his stuff together like he was going to leave. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to campus,” he snapped.

“We’ve got a family soccer game at two,” I reminded him.

“You don’t need me around,” he said, being totally bitchy. “I’ll just fuck Ethan’s friend and piss you off all over again.”

“If you fuck Ethan’s friend, I will definitely be pissed off at you, since he’s sixteen fucking years old, asshole,” I said, and now I was really mad. “So here’s the deal. I need your help. I need you to be around to help me deal with this little shit that doesn’t seem to like me, or any of us, and has the manners of a hillbilly.”

“I didn’t sign up to raise teenagers,” he said.

“You signed up to be with me,” I told him. “Unless you changed your mind?”

“Now you’re threatening me?” he demanded.

“I’m telling you this is important, and that I need your help. You bail on me, you let me down. So you make the tough decision, asshole,” I said, and stormed out of the room. I paused to calm myself down, and then went to find Ethan and Joe. Matt was gone, fortunately, by the time I got back to the room to change.

I came back upstairs and was surprised to find everyone gathered out by the garage. Matt stood there, looking annoyed, but he was here. I walked up to him, put my hand on his shoulder, and whispered into his ear. “Thanks.”

He smiled a bit and nodded, then let that help change his mood. There was a large expanse of flat grass in front of the house, not quite big enough for a real soccer field, but big enough for a 75% scale model. I smiled at how the staff had put up cones to mark the goals, and tape to mark the edges of the field. JP and Stef were there, smiling at our group. “We are the fans,” Stef said. He was too funny. I noticed the staff had set up a couple of lounge chairs with a side table for drinks, just for JP and Stef.

“Thanks for setting up the field,” I said, then turned to our group. “We need to pick teams. Who are the captains?”

“Me and Austin,” Darius said, taking charge. “I pick first. We got Matt.”

“Bitch,” Austin said. “I’ll take Wade.”

“Good choice,” I joked. I walked over and stood next to him.

“Joe,” Darius said.

“Pick Ethan,” I whispered to Austin. He looked at me and shrugged.

“Ethan,” Austin said.

“Will sucks at soccer. We’re taking John,” Darius said. Will flipped him off.

“Looks like we’re stuck with you,” Austin said to Will.

“You’re going down,” Will said, taunting Darius. It ended up with Darius, Matt, John, Joe, and Jack on one team; with Austin, Will, Ethan, Brad, and I on the other. Ethan was in goal for us, of course, while Jack ended up in goal for their team.

We ended up having a great time, especially in the beginning. Brad had started out as a forward, but ultimately he did better as a defenseman, so he swapped positions with Austin. We got the first goal, scoring on Jack. But that just fueled Matt’s competitive streak, and he and Darius, their two forwards, really pushed their game up. I was really impressed with Darius: soccer must be his game, because he was really good. Darius managed to get past Will and Brad and moved toward the goal pretty damn fast. We were all running to help, but there was no way we were beating Darius to the goal. He took a shot, which Ethan deflected, but it flew back at Darius, who head-butted it into the goal. Darius cheered, being all cocky.

Then Ethan did his thing where he got all pissed off. He stomped around, muttering and grumbling, shocking everyone with his poor sportsmanship. “Quit being a little bitch,” Darius said to him.

“Fuck you,” Ethan said, fire in his eyes.

“I’m gonna kick this ball right down your throat all over again,” Darius said, sneering at him. And the next round of play, he did just that. Darius walked up to Ethan. “You gonna throw another temper tantrum, or are you gonna play like a big boy?”

Ethan just glared at him, but he settled down a bit. We were pretty evenly matched, and the score stayed pretty close. The next goal Matt scored on Ethan, he didn’t throw his normal hissy fit. And when Darius lobbed another one in, Ethan was remarkably calm. I was stunned by that, and wondered again at what a pain in the ass teenagers were.

It was interesting to watch the other dynamics on the field. John and Jack were a lot alike, in that they were competitive, but had a lot of fun with the game. No surprise there. The real surprise was how well Will and Brad worked together on defense. They gave Matt and Darius just as hard a time as Ethan did. In the end, we tied up the game, and decided to end it there, so there were no hard feelings.

“We gotta get ready for the game,” Matt said. We had hockey tonight, playing against USC. “You guys coming to the game?” he asked Ethan and Joe, who just shrugged.

“I’ll be there,” Will promised. We all vanished into the house to drain the hot water heater with showers. Because of our game, dinner was early, at 6pm, but Matt and I wouldn’t have a chance to stick around for it since the game started at 7:30.

He was already in the shower when I walked in to join him, wondering what kind of reception I’d get. I got a smile. “You played really well,” I told him, and his smile got bigger.

“So did you,” he said, and gave me a nice kiss. “I’m sorry I was a dick before.”

“Me too,” I said, then kissed him again, only this time I let my hand wander down to his groin, where his dick quickly hardened in my hand. “Turn around,” I ordered. He grinned, did what I said, and with soap for lube, I fucked him long and hard, so hard that I was sweating even after we got out of the shower.

“Dude, you rock,” he said, grinning at me. “Shit, between the soccer game and that awesome ride on your dick, I’ll be too worn out to play hockey.”

“I’ll bet you’re not,” I said. “If you’re a good boy, you get another reward later.” He chuckled, and then we got ready, grabbed a couple of bananas for energy, and headed to the rink.

October 13, 2001

Escorial

“We’ve got some time before dinner,” I said to Austin. “You want to hit the sauna? Or the steam room?”

“Sure,” he said, the looked at Ethan and Joe. “You guys want to join us.”

“We’ll think about it,” Ethan said, in kind of a rude way. Austin looked at me and raised his eyebrow, but I just shook my head. We headed down to the gym, and stripped off our clothes in the locker room. Austin was really hot, but I didn’t find him attractive at all. That time we spent in Maui, where nothing had happened between us, had been awesome. It had totally erased any sexual tension between us.

“Dude, what’s with Ethan?” he asked as we went into the sauna.

“I don’t know, but he’s been nothing but a little bitch to me since he got here,” I said. “He’s Wade’s brother, so I’m trying to be nice to him, but he’s not making it easy.”

“No shit,” he said.

“I swear to God I was just about to lay him out last night. I was being all polite, offering to show them around, and he totally blew me off.”

“They going to the game tonight?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Dude, I’m sorry I can’t make it,” he said earnestly.

“You have a hot date,” I said. He was taking this chick named Chelsea out. “She’s got a big J-Lo ass, just like you like.”

“No shit. Lot’s of cushioning for when I fuck her brains out,” he said, acting all studly.

“Won’t take you long,” I joked.

“Dude, I have endurance,” he said seriously, cracking me up.

“Yeah, but she doesn’t have much in the way of brains.” We sat in the sauna, joking and sweating, and then got out to take a shower.

“I gotta run,” he said as he dried off.

“No time for steam?”

“No time,” he said. He threw on his clothes and was out of there pretty fast. I shrugged, and went into the steam room. I was surprised to find that it was on, and that Ethan and Joe were in there.

“Hey,” I said pleasantly.

“I’m done,” Ethan said, and walked out, not even looking at me.

“Hey,” Joe said.

“You mind if I join you?” I asked, even though it was our house.

“Not at all,” he said. He was sitting on the top step, with a towel around his waist. I sat on the step below him, with his hairy leg about two feet away from my arm. For a dude who was sixteen, this guy had some serious body hair on his legs.

“You have a good day?” I asked him.

“It was OK,” he said. He leaned back and closed his eyes, then spread his legs wider apart. I kept glancing back at him, admiring how handsome he was. Ethan was like this short, pudgy, muscular dude. He had almost no body hair, and it made him look like a little kid who was on steroids or something. Joe was different. He was taller, thin, muscular, and very sexy.

He responded to my attention, in a way that made me giggle. I watched as his towel rose up as his dick got hard. He saw me giggling at him, and smiled. Our eyes met, and he raised his eyebrows in a suggestive way. I returned the gesture. He lifted his leg up, the one closest to me, which lifted the towel up too, exposing his hard dick. It was nice, probably a little over six inches long, but kind of on the thin side.

I took the hint and reached up and touched it gently. He moaned and closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of my hand slowly stroking him. “Feels good,” he said, to encourage me.

“I’ll bet this feels even better,” I said, being cocky, and I moved up and took his dick in my mouth.

“Fuckin right,” he said. I moved up and down slowly, keeping him on edge, because I could sense that he had a short fuse. I was just about to bring him off when the door flew open. Fortunately it was really steamy, so I think we had a chance to sit up and look all innocent.

“You almost done?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be out in a minute,” I said, just to annoy him. Joe laughed.

“I’m almost done too,” he said.

“I’ll be upstairs,” Ethan said petulantly, and left.

“Dude, do you think he saw?” Joe asked.

“No, it was steamy, and we were pretty fast.” I reached up and grabbed his dick, and he was fully hard in no time. I stroked him, looking at the door as if expecting Ethan to come bursting in, and just before I could take him back into my mouth, he groaned, and blasted his load out into the steam room. I milked him until he was done.

“Thanks,” he said. “Maybe later tonight I can track you down.”

“Maybe you can,” I said, flirting. He chuckled and left me there to wash his cum off the floor, and then I took a shower and headed up to my room to change for dinner and the game.

I walked into the dining room right before 6:00 to find Nana standing by the door. “Welcome home!” I said to her, and gave her a big hug.

“Well it’s nice to be back. You want to go riding with me tomorrow?”

“I’d love to,” I told her, “but I figured you’d be busy teaching Ethan and Joe.”

“You can help,” she said.

“I’m not sure about that,” I told her. “Ethan’s not the most fun to be around.”

“I’ll bet he’s just fine,” she said.

“So you say,” I told her. We all sat down to dinner, but Ethan and Joe didn’t show up until 6:05. Grand was irritated, but only those of us who knew him could tell.

“You’re late,” I said, in no mood to put up with crap from them.

“It’s only five minutes,” Ethan said. He reminded me of JJ when he was bitchy, only without his refinement.

“Young man, that is hardly the proper response when you are in error,” Nana said to him firmly. And then the funniest thing happened. Ethan looked at Nana, ready to give her some shit, but his eyes locked onto hers, and he looked scared shitless. “You should apologize for being late, and promise Professor Crampton that you’ll be on time tomorrow.” He looked at her and blinked. “Do it!” she demanded, her voice just slightly louder.

Ethan swallowed hard and looked at Grand. “I’m sorry we were late, Professor Crampton. We’ll do our best to be on time tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Ethan,” Grand said nicely. Darius and I looked at each other, trying not to smirk. Grandmaman seemed mildly amused, while Frank just looked hollow, like he normally did these days.

“I have new heated gloves for the game,” Stef said, trying to make the dinner conversation pleasant. At that point, the staff brought the food out, we all helped ourselves, and then we started eating. Ethan did his normal thing, where he just shoveled food into his mouth like a total pig.

Nana watched him for about thirty seconds, and then put her fork and knife down in an authoritative manner. “Young man, where did you learn your table manners?”

“Um, at school,” Ethan said nervously.

“Well wherever you went, they did a horrible job. We’ll teach you how to eat at a table like civilized people do,” she said. The rest of us looked on in amusement.

“Can’t I just eat dinner?” he asked, annoyed. That was pretty bold, so bold that Darius looked at me and raised an eyebrow. Ethan was lucky JJ was in LA; otherwise he’d have gotten some snarky comments from him.

“You will do what I tell you to do, or you’ll end up spending every waking minute with me until I’m satisfied you’re conducting yourself like a proper young gentleman. I’m old, and have nothing better to do, so if that’s how you want to spend your weekends, that’s fine with me,” she said. “So what’s it going to be?”

“Fine,” Ethan said, and then wavered under Nana’s gaze. “Ma’am,” he added.

“Cut a piece of that roast,” she ordered. The rest of us just ate our dinner, although we definitely spent more time on our table manners than normal, so as not to be drafted into Nana’s boot camp. “Now put it in your mouth.” He did it, and chewed a couple of times, noisily, then swallowed. She gave him a frustrated look. “Did I tell you to swallow?”

“No, ma’am,” he said.

“Then try again. This time chew it twenty times, and chew so that none of the rest of us can hear you chewing,” she said. He took a bite, and she watched him intently. He did a pretty damn good job, and so did Joe, who was only a little better than Ethan, but he was a quick study. “Nicely done,” Nana said, giving him some kudos. And so it went, with Ethan and Joe eating under Nana’s steely eye, while she gave them pointers as they did.

“I think that if we are to make the game, we will have to leave shortly,” JP said, cutting the meal off before we had dessert.

“You two go wash your hands and meet me in the foyer,” Nana ordered. They did as she said. As soon as they were gone, she talked to Grand and Grandmaman. “I’m terribly sorry to have ruined your dinner with instructions on table manners for those two.”

“That’s quite alright,” Grand said. “I’m sure it was a nice reminder for all of us.” He glanced at Darius and me when he said that, and got eye rolls from us in return.

“And I have to commend you for shaping them up so quickly,” Grandmaman said smoothly. “That was truly well done.”

“Men are like horses,” Nana said. “Once you show them who's boss, they fall in line pretty fast.”

“I’ll have to remember that,” I joked. “Maybe I will go riding with you all tomorrow,” I said, getting a chuckle from her. It would be hilarious to see her teach them how to ride. We all wandered up to the foyer, where Ethan and Joe were waiting, looking just a bit nervous.

“You two are with me tonight,” she declared. “I’m going to show you how to watch a hockey game.” We watched them walk out and get into the limo, while I opted to ride with Darius in his Jeep.

“Dude, Ethan is a little bitch,” Darius said. “I want to smack him around almost as bad as I usually do with JJ.”

I laughed at that. “Yeah, but I think he’s met his match.”

“No shit. That woman is scary.” He said that the same way that Noah had, and thinking about him made me sad for a moment. I’d enjoyed his friendship, and thought we were tight. Guess I was wrong about that.

“You were really good today,” I said, referring to the soccer game.

“Duh,” Darius said, because he didn’t want to focus on himself, and that was his way of deflecting my comment. “You didn’t suck.”

“Not when I was playing soccer, anyway,” I joked. He looked at me, frustrated, while I just laughed.