Flux - 24. Chapter 24

July 5, 2002

Somewhere over Ohio

Matt

“I am so glad you came with us,” I said to JJ sincerely. There’s that old saying, about how opposites attract; maybe that’s why JJ and I got along so well. We had very different personalities, but we had the same competitive streak. I decided that he liked me so much because I’d been the one to introduce him to skating, but that wasn’t fair. It was more than that. When he was with me, he seemed to be a normal person, not a diva. Wade would pay big money to be able to get JJ to do that with him, I thought with a chuckle.

“I was glad to get out of Claremont,” he said petulantly. “So what’s our plan?”

“Manhole,” Will said, cracking me up.

“Let us focus on the tasks we have to accomplish before we surrender to the lure of pleasure,” Stef said. Will just looked at him, then started laughing.

“I cannot believe you said that,” Will finally managed to say. He took out a paper and pen and started jotting something down.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Writing this down, so I can remember it for Dad.” Will and I laughed more, while Stef gave us an annoyed look.

“Look, I want to hear the plan. After that, you two can fuck around all you want,” JJ said, glaring at Will and me.

“We’re travelling with a couple of Prussians,” Will said to me, which was pretty interesting, since there weren’t many fifteen-year-olds that used Prussia in a normal conversation. Unless they were Prussian, I thought, almost making myself chuckle. It just showed what a strong influence JP had on him. It was also pretty funny to see Stef get irritated at being compared to Germans.

“We are going to go to Spartacus to meet with Geoffrey, along with some contractors,” Stef said.

“What’s the problem?” I asked. I guess I should have shown more interest in it, but I’d been too busy enjoying my time with Wade. It had been a long time since we’d hung out and been so relaxed with each other, and had such a good time together.

“There are structural problems with the roof, and with the floor to your apartment,” Stef said. “The wood beams that were supporting those two structures are decayed, and they are also not close enough together to meet modern code requirements. They are going to have to replace all the beams with steel, which will make it much stronger, but it is going to be expensive.”

“I’d be happy to pitch in some money,” I offered. I hadn’t even thought about how all of this was getting paid for, and that made me feel pretty guilty.

“Do not worry about that,” Stef said hastily, his tone telling me to drop that topic.

“Josh is probably pissed off,” I said, since that would seriously delay his plans.

“He was at first, because of the delays, which is probably what you are referring to,” he said. “But re-doing the floor to your apartment lets us accomplish two things. It allows for significant sound insulation to be installed, and it allows for entirely new electrical wiring to be set up for the lights that Josh wants.”

“That’s really cool,” I said, mostly about my insulation.

“It is, and Josh is planning to do some interesting things with the ceiling, now that he has the opportunity.”

“What?” JJ asked.

“He is going to have it faceted, so it will reflect the light in different directions, or be impacted from different directions. He described it such that the ceiling could look like a kaleidoscope if the facets or lighting are done correctly,” Stef said.

“That’s a pretty good idea,” JJ said, and that really stunned Will, who was used to JJ dissing pretty much everything.

“It will be interesting to see the plans,” Stef said. “There is also another opportunity for you.”

“An opportunity for me?”

Stef nodded. “Since they are replacing the roof, structure and all, Geoffrey is suggesting that we do two things to really enhance your apartment. The first is that he has re-worked the plans to allow for stairs up to the roof, where he proposes to have a deck.”

That really made me smile. “That would be awesome! I could have some major parties up there.”

“Yeah, for the two friends you have in Chicago,” Will said, giving me shit.

“Dude, I’ll have lots of friends. That’s what the Manhole is for,” I joked. Stef and JJ gave us dirty looks for getting off topic. “What’s the other thing?” I asked, getting serious again.

“Geoffrey wants to put skylights in, to bring in more natural light,” Stef explained.

“That won’t work if you become a club boy,” Will said.

“Why not?” I asked.

“You’ll have vampire hours. You’ll be up late, and sleep in. Last thing you’ll want is a lot of light shining in on your hung over ass.”

“Well I’m not planning to become a club boy,” I said, then grinned. “Every night.”

We laughed, while JJ and Stef just looked annoyed. Stef was normally as playful as I was, but evidently not when it came to decorating. It was hilarious to see him coping with the same kind of behavior he usually inflicted on others, especially JP. “Maybe we can just work this out without these two,” JJ suggested to Stef.

“Perhaps that would be preferable,” Stef said, in a snit.

“Dude, I cannot wait to call Grand and Dad,” Will said as he laughed, then looked at Stef. “You used to be fun.”

“So did you,” he said.

“Besides, even if you don’t want me around, Geoffrey does,” I said to Stef.

“Dude, it’s a family tradition. You have to fuck your interior designer,” Will joked, but he must have slipped up and said something he hadn’t meant to, because he shut up immediately after he said it.

“Now that is interesting,” Stef said slowly, zeroing in on that revelation. “I have not slept with my interior designers lately. Have you?” he asked JJ.

“Not me,” JJ said. They both looked at Will and snickered.

“So how was Malcolm?” Stef asked, only Will knew his weakness.

“He was hot,” Will said. “He likes to totally let a guy take charge and ravage him,” he said, winking at Stef.

“Dude, ravage?” I asked, giving him shit about his word choice, and then started laughing.

“If you don’t know how to do that, I can handle that for you,” Will said, being cocky.

“I know how to do that,” I said, raising my eyebrows.

“Tell me we don’t have to spend the entire day with them,” JJ said to Stef.

“We are only bound to them until we meet with Josh and Geoffrey,” Stef said.

“Bound? Is that like bondage?” I asked him. Stef and JJ gave me an exasperated look.

“Where are we staying?” Will asked, being practical.

“There is not room for all of us at the condo,” Stef said. “Unless you want to rough it.”

“You’re talking dirty again,” I teased, even though we were really annoying him.

“Why don’t you two stay at the condo, since it’s boring and you’ll fit right in,” Will said. “Matt and I can stay at a hotel.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” JJ said, as if being separated from us was the best thing he could imagine.

“Which hotel?” Matt asked.

“I will put Julian on it,” Stef said. He picked up the phone and called his assistant, probably relieved at avoiding further conversation with us. Right before we landed, Julian called back and said he’d gotten us a monster suite at the Drake.

We landed and there was a limo waiting for us, one that whisked us up the Drive to Spartacus in no time at all. Arriving mid-morning was evidently a good thing to do if you wanted to avoid Chicago traffic. Then again, it was the Friday right after a holiday. We drove up to Spartacus and saw all kinds of construction going on. There were workmen everywhere.

“I don’t know why Wade can’t get people to work like this,” JJ bitched. We all ignored him and went walking into Spartacus.

“Stop!” a loud, obnoxious voice said. We turned to find a short but plump guy glaring at us. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“I have come to see the progress on the work on my building,” Stef said to him. “I am Stefan Schluter.” That took the wind out of the guy’s sails pretty fast.

“I didn’t know who you were,” he said. “But you could be the Queen of England, and you’d still have to wear a hard hat in here.”

“Did he just call Stef a queen?” I whispered in Will’s ear, making him giggle.

The guy handed us hard hats, which Will and I put on without any argument. JJ stared at his, looking at it as if it might have small insects that would jump onto his head and infect him. Stef was only slightly more relaxed about it, but in the end, they both put the hats on. The guy who had stopped us was named Gus, which was so stereotypical it was hysterical, and he was the general contractor, supervising all the work. He took us through the building, from the basement up to the main floor of the bar, and talked about all that they were doing.

“So you guys are completely replacing all the plumbing, putting in new electrical, and replacing the roof and the floors,” I mused. “It will be like a brand new building.”

“There were a lot of issues we discovered, and it seemed like the smart thing just to pretty much do a gut job,” Gus said defensively.

“That’s fine,” I said, to calm him down. “I think you did the right thing. I’m just thinking about how cool this will be when it’s done.” I got an approving smile from Stef for handling Gus so politely.

Just as we were about to get in the freight elevator, Geoffrey breezed into the room, putting on his hard hat as he did. “I’m sorry I’m late,” he said, giving Stef a kiss on each cheek.

“You are not late,” Stef said. “Gus was just showing us how much they have to do to the building.”

“They have a lot to do, but they’ve already accomplished a lot,” Geoffrey said.

“I’m amazed at how much progress you guys have made,” I chimed in, to encourage them.

“Thank you,” Geoffrey said, leering at me.

“Family traditions,” Will whispered in my ear, making it hard for me not to laugh out loud.

“Hello Gussie,” Geoffrey said coquettishly.

“You figure out those plans yet?” Gus asked him in a friendly way. For some reason, I hadn’t expected a blue-collar middle-aged guy like Gus to be buddies with Geoffrey, but they seemed to like each other.

“That’s what I’m doing here now, and that’s why these gentlemen flew in especially to meet with me,” he said. He turned and greeted me, then Will, then got to JJ and stopped. “I love that shirt! Where did you get that?”

“New York,” JJ said cautiously. He was like that around people he didn’t know.

“Well it looks wonderful on you. I’m Geoffrey Ayres,” he said, and held out his hand to JJ.

“Jeremy Schluter,” he said. Geoffrey shook his hand, and then seemed to freeze, mid-shake.

“You’re the skater!” he exclaimed. “Oh my God! I’ve seen you perform! You’re spectacular!”

“Thank you,” JJ said. Will looked at me and rolled his eyes, as JJ warmed up to Geoffrey pretty fast.

“We gonna go upstairs or not?” Gus asked.

“We are going upstairs,” Geoffrey said, giving him an annoyed look. We all got on the freight elevator, grimacing at its cranky mechanical noises.

“We’ve got an entirely new elevator ordered,” Gus explained. “We figured it’s probably just as well that it’s not here, that way we can use this one to haul stuff up and down. It works, it’s just noisy.”

“That is just fine,” Stef said.

“We planned to keep the open freight elevator concept to go with the loft motif,” Geoffrey said. “But we’re working on the doors for security.”

“Security?” I asked.

“To make sure that only you can use them. I’ll show you how that will work,” he said, not really explaining things, but placating me.

“That should look pretty chic,” JJ said.

The doors opened and we walked into a world that looked completely different than the last time we’d been here. There was nothing here but the floor, and even most of that had been torn up. Gus took us to the edge, where we could look over and see the construction guys working on the bar below. He explained how they were putting in the beams, and how the electrical and sound insulation would work. After that, he led us all away from the abyss and over to a table where a set of plans was spread out. “This is what we’ve been working off of,” he explained.

“These are the initial plans I laid out,” Geoffrey explained.

I wasn’t all that good at reading architectural drawings, but Stef was. Geoffrey interpreted things for the rest of us. JJ just stood there, watching intently, until they started talking about the deck. “I think you should change this,” he said abruptly. It was funny, because everyone, including him, seemed surprised that he’d say anything.

“The stairs to the deck?” Stef asked gently, to encourage him.

“Yeah,” JJ said. “You’ve got a door here, and they’re enclosed.” He was referring to the door at the bottom of the stairs, which was conveniently enough next to the kitchen. “Instead, leave the staircase open to the main room here and put a door at the top of the stairs.”

Geoffrey looked at the plans and smiled. “Of course! We can have a little greenhouse at the top of the stairs. That will also add more natural light. What a fantastic idea!”

“I agree,” Stef said. And then they were on a tear, the three of them, analyzing every aspect of my apartment, designing it all out and making changes as they went. Will and I just stood back and watched them.

“I think that should give us a good working plan,” Geoffrey pronounced when they were done.

“Got it,” Gus said. “We’ll need to start ordering in the doors and windows and skylights right away.”

“I’ll take care of that tonight,” Geoffrey said. “What I can’t do online, I’ll call about in the morning.”

“Sounds good,” Gus said.

Stef suddenly seemed to realize that I’d been totally out of the loop for this discussion. He got a worried look on his face. “I am sorry. We did not even ask you if this was what you wanted.”

I smiled. “It’s fine. You guys did a great job. If I’d had something I wanted to change, I’d have spoken up, but you thought of everything.”

“You are all really talented,” Will chimed in.

“Back at the Manhole,” Will joked as we paid our cover charge. We walked up to the bar and Will’s friend was working tonight. “Did you miss me?” he asked the bartender.

“Were you gone?” the guy asked him, cracking both of us up.

“What time do you go to the bathroom?” Will responded, giving him shit about the last time he’d caught the dude fucking a twink in there.

“I’ll let you know,” he said, even as he put a vodka on the rocks in front of Will. I ordered a beer, and after he gave me my drink, he went off to help some other people.

“Dude, he remembered what you ordered to drink,” I said. “I think he likes you.”

“I think he does,” Will agreed, smiling. We downed our drinks, pulled off our shirts, and headed out back to dance. Just as we started to walk toward that area, Cam Heely came storming out of the bathroom, looking really pissed off, but still totally hot. He had fire in his eyes from anger, but I moved my eyes lower to his torso, which was naked and glistening from his sweat. He must have already been out dancing. Damn, he looked even better than he did when we hooked up in high school.

“Hey,” I said, getting in front of him to force him to stop. He glared at me for a second until he recognized me. It was funny to watch his mind let go of the anger long enough to digest that it was me in front of him.

“Hey,” he said enthusiastically. “I didn’t know you were in town.”

“Just got in this afternoon,” I said. “Where are you going?”

“I’m out of here,” he said, really annoyed.

“Dude, we just got here. Can’t you dance with me?” I asked, almost begging. I wanted to spend time with him, but since we’d just arrived, it wasn’t fair to force Will to bail, and I sure as fuck didn’t want to leave him alone here.

“I’ll meet you out there,” Will said, gesturing toward the dance floor in the backroom, and vanished through the door, leaving us alone to talk.

“I probably shouldn’t,” Cam said.

“Why? Come on. It will be fun. We can dance, I’ll buy you a drink or two, and we can catch up. It’s been for-fucking-ever since we talked.”

His eyes glanced nervously toward the bathroom, then back at me, and I saw his eyes take in my body, and that seemed to give him some sense of resolution. “Alright. Let’s go.” He took my hand, all but dragging me through the hall and out onto the dance floor.

The music was loud and pulsing, just like it was last time. The songs all seemed to blur together, with the same techno beat, but that didn’t really matter to me. I saw Will dancing with some dude who was massive; he had to be a body builder. I didn’t worry about Will here, on the dance floor, or in the bar. He could handle himself just fine. What worried me was what some dipshit might do to him when he left. But here, he was fine, and it looked like he was having fun, so I just focused on Cam.

We started out dancing pretty far apart, at least for this bar, and I kept looking into his eyes and smiling, remembering all the good times I’d had with him. It seemed that he did too, because we kept moving incrementally closer to each other, until our bodies were making fleeting contact, chest to chest. I felt his nipples rub against mine, then our crotches brushed against each other, and I could feel his hard cock glancing off of mine as we danced.

The music didn’t change a beat, but we seemed to slow down. My eyes locked on his, and our faces got closer. I closed my eyes and felt his lips on mine, felt him kissing me, and it felt so familiar and so right, I just let myself fall into him. We were sort of dancing, but we were actually making out, as we moved slowly against each other in the middle of a sea of writhing, sweaty, half-naked dancers.

And then suddenly Cam was ripped away from me, and I opened my eyes, blinking in surprise, to see Josh glaring at us, his hand gripping Cam’s arm. “What the fuck?” he demanded, yelling at Cam.

Cam pulled his arm free and pushed Josh away. “Fuck off!” Some of the people on the dance floor looked at us in an interested way, because of the scene and the drama we were causing; but most of them just kept on dancing, despite the fact that the three of us were standing there in the middle of the dance floor, arguing.

Josh zeroed in on me, but he didn’t scare me. “I knew you’d do this, you’d come back into his life, steal him away, and hurt him all over again.”

Before I could say anything, Cam got in his face. “Matt did come back into my life, and I’m enjoying catching up with him, but he didn’t steal me away from you. You pushed me away when you snuck off to the bathroom and fucked Sam.” He gestured over to a tall, lithe, brown-headed guy who looked young and hot, and was already dancing with someone else. “Don’t even try to deny it. I saw you fucking him.”

No wonder he’d been so pissed off when he came out of the bathroom. “Whatever,” Josh said, since he was busted.

“So we’re done,” Cam said. “And the next time you so much as touch me, I’m gonna kick your fucking ass all over this fucking town!”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Josh said with a sneer. “I’m never touching you again.”

I reached out and grabbed Cam’s ass. “I am,” I said to Cam suggestively. Cam chuckled, while Josh glared at me.

Cam leaned in and whispered in my ear. “Can we get out of here?”

I turned to face him, effectively freezing Josh out, so to avoid looking like an idiot, he left. I led Cam to the corner of the dance floor, to avoid the other bumping bodies, and because I was a little embarrassed for causing so much drama. “I need to talk to Will first.”

Cam looked over at him and smiled. He was dancing with a different dude, a cute redhead. “He looks like he’s doing fine.” Cam seemed to think that we were just buds, out prowling together.

“He’s my brother,” I told him, so he’d know why I had a more important obligation to Will.

“I didn’t know you had a brother.” That must have blown his mind, because when we were together back in Shaker Heights, I was an only child.

“It’s a long story,” I said. I stared at Will long enough that he must have felt me doing it and got his attention, then motioned him over. He said something to the redhead, who looked disappointed, then as he was walking over, I gestured toward the door and he followed us off the dance floor and into a quieter part of the bar where we could talk.

“You guys done with your drama?” he asked, giving us shit. He’d seen the whole thing and ignored it, but it was cool, because I knew that if I’d have needed him, he’d have had my back.

“Like you never create drama?” I asked, giving him shit.

“Whatever,” he said. “What’s up?”

“Um, we were thinking of bailing,” I said. There was absolutely no way I could leave him here by himself, and I was really worried that he would insist on doing just that. If I gave him a bad time about it, he’d lose it, because he’d think I was telling him he was too immature to handle this bar. So if he pushed the issue, I’d be forced to stay. On the other hand, I really wanted to spend some time with Cam, and I could tell how upset he was. I was trying to figure out how to explain that to Will without having an argument, and without freaking Cam out, but I wasn’t sure how to do that.

“That’s cool. It’s been a long day. You mind if I ride back to the hotel with you?” he asked. It was like he had read my mind. I gave him a huge smile, thanking him for being understanding, and for not cock-blocking me.

“Hotel?” Cam mused, raising an eyebrow.

“We’re staying at the Drake,” I said to Cam, then turned back to Will. “Sure, we can go together.”

“I have to pay my bar tab, then we can bail,” Will said. I watched him head to the bar and flirt with the bartender, even as he whipped out his AMEX platinum card again. He was spending a lot of time talking to the guy, which was kind of a surprise, since the dude was usually not all that talkative.

“Devon seems to like him,” Cam said.

“Devon?”

“Yeah,” Cam said. “He’s the bartender Will’s talking to.”

“What’s his deal?”

“Well, he’s hot as fuck and he knows it, so he’s pretty arrogant, but once you get beyond that, he’s a pretty nice guy.”

“You got beyond that, eh?” I teased.

“We’re friends, that’s it,” he said. “I’ve been with Josh for a while now, so I haven’t had the freedom to find out if he liked me enough to jump in bed with me.”

“Dude, there isn’t a guy in here that wouldn’t jump in bed with you,” I said, to prop up his ego. I could tell this thing with Josh had shattered him pretty hard.

“Even you?” he flirted.

I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him to me, kissing him again. “I would love to jump in bed with you again. I remember how much fun you are.”

“You’re right. I am,” he said, making me smile. Then he glanced back over at Will. “How old is he?”

“How old do you think he is?” I responded.

Cam gave Will an appraising look. “I’d say he’s nineteen, in here with a fake ID.”

I laughed. “You got the fake ID right. He’s fifteen.”

Cam stared at me, stunned, and then looked back at Will. “He’s fifteen? Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Nope. Turns sixteen in September,” I said.

“I didn’t look that good when I was fifteen,” he said, shaking his head.

“You looked that good when you were seventeen, though,” I said, smiling at him.

“So did you,” he said, smiling back. “He’s smoking hot, so they won’t ask too many questions if he has a fake ID, and he looks just old enough to pull it off.”

I watched as Will went to hand the pen back to Devon, but still held onto it, making Devon pull it out of his hand, only he did it in a really smooth, sensual way. “He’s got some game too.”

“He does,” Cam agreed. “Gonna be hell on wheels when he’s actually legal.”

“He’s hell on wheels now,” I said, then stopped talking about Will as he came walking up to us.

“Sorry about that. You guys ready to go?”

“We are,” I said. We walked out of the bar and found our limo waiting. “Don’t worry about your car,” I told Cam. “I’ll bring you back to get it later.”

“I don’t have a car, so don’t worry about it,” he said. “Don’t really need one in Chicago. With the train, and cabs if I’m desperate, I get around great.”

“Guess I’ll have to find out about that,” I said.

“So what were you fighting with Josh about?” Will asked.

“Josh went to take a piss, and was gone for a while. When I went in to check on him, I found him fucking some guy in one of the stalls,” Cam spat bitterly.

“He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would make a good boyfriend,” Will said. Cam got a little annoyed at that. “He’s too big of a player.”

“Well he wasn’t a player until tonight,” he said.

“That’s the first time he’s cheated on you?” Will asked. I knew what he was doing. He was trying to get information for me, since he knew I’d fucked Josh.

“This is the first time,” Cam said, shaking his head.

“That you know about,” Will corrected.

“I would have heard about it if he’d been with someone else, or I’d be able to tell by the way he acted,” Cam said confidently.

I looked at Will and shared with him, just using my eyes, how much I dreaded this next part of the conversation. “This wasn’t the first time,” I said.

“What? What the fuck are you talking about?”

“I hooked up with him the last time we were here,” I admitted.

Cam got really pissed off, and looked around the limo as if trying to find an exit. “Why would you do that to me? What the fuck did I ever do to you to make you do something like that to me? Shit, I put myself out there when we were together. I gave you everything. All I was was a fuck to you. And now you come back and you’re gonna shred me all over again?”

“I didn’t know Josh was with someone until the morning after we hooked up, when I asked him to give me a ride and he told me he couldn’t because he had to pick his boyfriend up at the airport,” I said calmly, even though Cam’s words had ripped into me like a lance. “I didn’t know it was you until I met you at the bar later on.”

“I was there when Josh asked him to spend the night,” Will said, to back me up. “He made the moves, and sure as fuck didn’t say he was with someone.”

Cam heard him, but didn’t really respond. “And for the record, you were never just a fuck to me. From the first time we hooked up at Harleton’s party, to the last time we were together, you were always more important to me than that.” That seemed to bother him more, rather than calm him down.

“I should just go home,” Cam said, totally freaked out now.

I put my arm around him, and he made to pull away from me, but I held it in place until he finally stopped fighting me. “I’m sorry that I hurt you all those years ago. You were really important to me, but it wouldn’t have worked. We were both going in different directions, to different parts of the country.”

“I loved you, and you didn’t love me,” he said. I felt so bad for him, for having all this shit go down with Josh, and now having the wounds from our relationship opened up all over again.

“But I cared about you,” I said. “I still do.”

The limo pulled up in front of the Drake, and the driver got out and opened the door for us. “Will you need me anymore tonight?” he asked.

“I think we’re good,” Will said. “Thanks for everything.” He gave the guy a monster tip, even as we walked to the hotel entrance.

“I really should go,” Cam said, as if he was dreading being alone with me.

“You don’t want to be alone,” I said. “I’m not gonna rape you. Come in, we’ll order room service and bullshit, then you can crash here and go home in the morning.” He still hesitated. “And if you’re nervous, you can crash in Will’s room.”

“Dude, you can crash in my room anytime you want,” Will said, smiling at him. “But you should be hella nervous. I’d be all over you. You’re fucking hot.”

Cam gave Will his adorable smile, the one I loved. “I’ll take my chances with Matt,” he said.

“You must not be a bottom,” Will joked.

Cam looked at me, confused. “He’s hung like a horse,” I explained.

“Size isn’t everything,” Cam said.

“Right,” Will said sarcastically, cracking us up as we walked into the suite.