Streak - 6. Chapter 6

September 9, 2002

Boston

 

Wade

 

I sat in the kitchen, eating my second bowl of cereal, when JJ came walking in, looking remarkably chipper for the morning. “Morning,” he said.

“Morning,” I responded, as did Matt.

“Dude, cereal’s about all we have, unless you want to cook,” Matt said to JJ apologetically.

“I thought you were going to hire a cook,” I said to Matt, giving him shit.

“I will. It’s at the top of my list to do next week,” he said. “I want to get this week behind me first.” The anniversary of 9-11 was on Wednesday, and that would be rough for all of us.

“I already hired a cook,” JJ said, even as he poured milk into his cereal bowl.

Of all the things for JJ to come up with, this was the last thing I’d expected. I could have railed at him for having the gall to interfere in my household, but I guess that wasn’t fair, since he lived here too. I sat there, saying nothing, as I collected my thoughts. “When did you find time to interview cooks?” Matt asked him.

I smiled, because that was the perfect response. He was so good at dealing with JJ. “I didn’t interview a bunch of cooks. I just called Rosa.”

“Rosa? The lady who works for you in Malibu?” I asked.

“No, I have fifty women in my life who are cooks named Rosa,” he said, being a smartass. I rolled my eyes. “Look, you two were going to dick around with this for at least a couple more weeks while the rest of us starved. I solved the problem.”

“Rosa is a good cook,” Matt said.

“She is,” I agreed. “Thanks for taking care of that for us.”

Now it was JJ’s turn to look surprised, since he’d probably expected an answer similar to my initial response. “What made you decide to do that?” Matt asked.

“No one lives in Malibu anymore. Cody is pretty much gone, Dad and Will are in Palo Alto, Darius lives in the dorms, Tiffany and the kids are here, and I’m here. Will and I both talked to her on the phone, and she sounded pretty lonely.”

“She probably felt deserted,” I concluded. “Everyone bailed on her.”

“That’s pretty much it,” JJ said. “She’s used to having all of us around, but over the past couple of years, we’ve scattered. So I called her, told her that I needed her here in Boston, told her there was a room for her here, and told her I’d give her a big raise.”

“She’ll need it if she has to cook for you,” Matt said, giving me shit. I ignored him.

“So you decided to bring her here, solve our problems, and make her part of our family,” I concluded. Rosa was a very nurturing woman. She would need people around to take care of. I could see where being in Malibu must have been agonizingly lonely for her. “Thanks for taking care of that for us. Rosa’s cooking: that definitely gives me something to look forward to.”

JJ smiled happily, glad that we were so enthusiastic about his decision. “When does she get here?” Matt asked.

“I’m flying her out here on Monday,” he said. “I would have done it on Sunday, but that would interfere with church.” Rosa was a very devout Catholic.

“St. Paul’s is just a couple of blocks away,” I said, referring to the massive Catholic church.

“That was one of the selling points I used,” JJ said.

I picked up my bowl and utensils, took them to the sink, rinsed them off, and loaded them in the dishwasher. I was willing to bet I’d be lucky if JJ thought to even put his dirty dishes in the sink. “I have to go. First day of school.”

Matt got up, walked up to me, and pinned a piece of paper on my shirt, even as I gave him dirty looks. “It’s your first day of school. It’s a note for your teachers.”

“Very funny,” I said, even as we all chuckled. I pulled it off, and read it out loud:

‘You’ll be as successful here, as you’ve been at everything else you’ve done.

I love you. Matt.’

“He’s right,” JJ said. “You will be.”

“Thanks,” I said to both of them. It was so nice of them to prop me up, since I was a little stressed about it. I grabbed my backpack, and walked out of the house. It was the start of my time at Harvard.

 

September 11, 2002

Tribeca, NY

 

Brad

 

We walked into the condo, viewing it as a sanctuary from the trying events of the day. We’d been to the ceremony that Mayor Bloomberg hosted, and we’d participated in some other events, and it had been emotionally exhausting.

I’d stood there, listening to the Mayor speak, and I’d watched as my sons stood there with me, looking as calm as I was. It was a very solemn and touching event when the Mayor lit the eternal flame to commemorate the unknown victims of 9-11. I had thought that this would be horrible for me, and that I’d end up like a lump of jello, but that hadn’t happened. It hadn’t happened to me, and it hadn’t happened to the rest of our group. I’d briefly ruined my whole mood by beating myself up for not feeling bad, and then I’d wrangled my mind back under control. There was no denying the emotional impact, or that all of us shed a few tears, but it wasn’t like it was before. These weren’t tears that hid a sobbing basket case; these were tears of sadness and love.

Chris Mendoza came over and sat next to me on the couch. I smiled at him, and held his hand briefly. He’d taken the day off so he could go to this ceremony and hang out with me. “Thanks for doing this with me.”

“You’re welcome,” he said. He’d been absolutely awesome. My rock at these things was usually Will, and he’d been there for me, just as he’d been before, but it was nice to have Chris to lean on too.

“We fly out to DC tomorrow morning?” Will asked.

“That’s right,” Wade told him. “We should be fine, even though they raised the terror alert level to orange.”

“What the fuck is with those levels?” Will asked.

“It is the new way that the government alerts us to terrorist activity so we can be more vigilant,” JP said. “In this case, they raised the level to orange right before the anniversary of 9-11.”

“So posting a notice with different colors is supposed to freak people out?” Will asked.

“That is the presumption,” JP said, and it was clear from his tone that he thought the whole system was lame. So did the rest of us.

“So what are we doing tonight?” Will asked.

“I expected that we would have dinner,” Stef said, making that the highlight of our evening and making us sound boring.

“I think we should go out,” Will announced.

“Where?” Matt asked.

“So last time Dad went to a gay bar, it was a total fail,” he said. I glared at him, so pissed off that he would embarrass me in front of Chris.

“A total fail?” Chris asked, looking at me.

“It wasn’t good,” I grumbled. He kept looking at me. “Some dude thought the guy I was with was my son.” It annoyed me that they all laughed.

“Cradle robber,” Chris said, giving me shit. “So what did you do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Tell me what happened, from the time you went into the bar, until the time you left.”

I sighed, and then told him about the process, and getting a drink from Devon, and how he smiled at me, and how no one asked me to dance. “Then I went out on the deck to call the pilots, and that’s when Cam came out with his young friend.”

“The dude who thought you were Cam’s father,” he said, shaking his head.

“Cam call you back yet?” Darius asked.

“No,” I said, then looked at my phone and saw the message light blinking. “Maybe,” I corrected myself, making him chuckle. I looked at the messages, and there was one from Cam. “Yes.” They all laughed at that.

I pushed play, while they all stared at me. It was nice to hear his voice. “Hey Brad, sorry I didn’t call you back before now. I figure this is a tough day for you, so I wanted to call and say hi. Next time you’re in Chicago, call me.” I put the phone down, and it bothered me that they were all looking at me so intently.

“Play it,” Darius said.

“On speaker?”

“Did he talk about gross sex things?” Darius asked.

“I hope so,” Matt said, making us chuckle.

“Fine,” I said. I put the phone on speaker and hit play. They all listened to the message.

“He wants to keep things casual. You should plan a trip to Chicago, but have a reason, so it seems like you’re there for business, and you just called him because you were already in town,” Darius said. “Wait until after we get back from Hawaii.”

“When are you going to Hawaii?” Chris asked.

“Going to a football game on the 21^st,” Will said. “It’s in Honolulu.”

Chris looked at Darius, and smiled. “Dude, you nailed that.”

“Thanks,” Darius said, and almost blushed. It was funny to see him soak up praise from a fellow player like Chris.

“How come you know how gay dudes think so well?” Will asked, giving him shit. Darius hated it when people intimated that he might be anything but heterosexual.

“Gay dudes are pretty much like chicks,” he said, then zeroed his eyes on Stef.

“You are trying to say I am effeminate?” Stef asked acidly. He had gone through a period, when he’d been with Greg, where he’d been truly flaming, but he’d changed since Greg had died. He wasn’t quite as flamboyant, but there was no mistaking he was gay.

“I wasn’t thinking effeminate,” Chris said, looking at Stef in an appraising way. “I was thinking hot.”

Stef blushed, and that was hilarious. “Thank you,” he said. “I am in the market for new relatives. You should apply.”

“So what’s the football game in Hawaii?” Chris asked.

“You like football?” Will asked.

“If the Giants are playing,” he said, in a way that told Will he really liked football.

“Come with us,” I said impulsively. But I liked Chris, and he was an amazingly good fuck.

“How long you going to be there? I’ve got some time off.”

“I can probably work it out to be there as long as you have time off,” I said.

“A whole week?” he asked hopefully.

I pulled out my calendar, made a few notes, and then smiled at him. “A whole week. We’ll go to Honolulu, and then we’ll head to Maui.”

“Maui kicks ass,” Will said. “You can stay at my house.”

“I might just do that,” I said. That was nice of him to do that, to throw me a lifeline like that, because if I stayed at the villa, Scott would be there, and I’d end up hurting his feelings all over again.

Will looked at Chris. “I’ll give you the combo to the sex room in my bedroom. It’s got a sling.”

“Cool,” Chris, said, and winked at me. I knew I was blushing so hard I was red as a fire truck.

“So tonight, we’re going out,” Will asserted. I so did not want to go hit up the bar scene again.

“We’re going out,” Chris said firmly, then looked at me. “And we’re going to teach you how to work it.”

“So this is like a class?” Matt asked.

Chris looked at me. “The final exam is awesome.” Just when I’d gotten my embarrassment under control, he made me blush again, while everyone laughed at me. “We’ve got some planning to do. Who’s on wardrobe?”

“We are,” Stef said, patting JJ’s knee.

“Awesome. Make sure everything he wears is ridiculously expensive. This is New York. Guys will notice,” Chris instructed.

“We can do that,” JJ said enthusiastically.

“I feel like I’m going to a fucking debutante ball,” I grumbled.

“You, you, and you,” Chris said, pointing at Matt, Will, and Darius. “You’re with me.” He led them out of the room, presumably to go strategize about how to train me not to be a pathetic piece of shit when I was at a gay club.

“See you in a little bit, Princess,” Matt said to Wade.

“Fuck you,” Wade said. It was hilarious that had stuck as his hockey nickname.

“We have a job to do,” Stef said to JJ, and they vanished to either raid my closet, or go shopping.

“I think you will have an interesting night,” JP said, smirking at me. I just rolled my eyes at him.

“Undoubtedly,” Wade agreed.

“This whole thing is so weird,” I told them, getting serious. “It’s been so long since I’ve been single, truly single; I don’t really know what to do.” I rarely let down my guard and shared my fears like this. Since I had surprised myself, it was no wonder I’d surprised them.

“I think that you are not likely to find your next partner at a club,” JP said. “I think you are most likely going to be there to have fun and to possibly find a partner for the night.”

“A hookup,” I paraphrased. It was funny to see him get mildly annoyed, since I’d done the same thing to him that Will did, where he broke his long phrases down into simple concepts.

“Yes. So I think the first part of this is going into it with that attitude,” he said.

I nodded, even as I thought about what he was saying. “You’re telling me that I need to view going out to a bar as a fun event, not a place to meet a partner.”

“That’s what I’m telling you,” he said. “When you get to the point where you are looking for a partner, or a more serious relationship, I would suggest that you would have more luck at private parties.”

I’d gotten invited to a few of those, but I’d blown them off. “I’ve avoided those, because I wasn’t ready for that.”

“Are you ready for that now?” Wade asked.

I thought about that. “It’s really hard to think about that, especially today, where the whole focus has been on who we lost in those fucking attacks.”

“Perhaps,” JP said. “But if memory serves, Robbie was the one who told you to move on and meet new people. It seems that today, when the memories of him are so vivid, may in fact be the time to come to some resolution about this.”

“Perhaps,” I said, smiling at him. “I think I’ll take a nap.”

“Indulge yourself in that luxury,” he said. I went back to my room, took off my suit and hung it up, then climbed gratefully into my bed.

I felt myself being nudged awake by a body on top of me, and I opened my eyes to find Chris kneeling over me. “First rule of going to the bars: ease the tension.”

“What?” I asked, only before I could say anything else, his lips were on mine, his hands were on my body, and his dick was in my ass. I lay there panting after we were done, amazed at how much fun I had bottoming for him. “Ease the tension?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Don’t go out with a loaded gun. You have to bust a nut before you go. This was one way. Beating off is another.”

“I liked this way,” I said, making him chuckle.

“Alright, time for a shower,” he said.

“Now? It’s early,” I whined, then caught myself doing it.

“We have a lot to do if we’re going to overcome your lameness,” he said, giving me shit.

“Fine,” I grumbled. We took a shower, and then I wrapped a towel around my body.

“Put on some boxers,” he ordered. “It’s fashion time.” I put on some boxers and followed him out to the main room, where Stef and JJ were waiting.

“Put on this shirt,” Stef ordered. It was a basic white shirt, with sleeves way too long. It was much tighter than I was used to.

“This doesn’t fit,” I complained, as the sleeves flopped around near my fingertips.

“That is how it is supposed to look,” JJ said, looking at me like I was an idiot. “That’s Hedi Slimane’s new look.”

“Hedi Slimane?” I asked.

JJ rolled his eyes at me. “He’s the creative director for Dior Homme.”

“Now the pants. These are Dior Homme too,” Stef said. They were pretty fitted as well.

“They make your ass look good,” Chris said. I frowned at him.

“And a skinny black tie to match your pants,” JJ said. I started to tie it, and he stopped me. “No, a half Windsor knot. It’s supposed to look skinny.”

“And for the jacket, we have a Helmut Lang,” Stef said, capping it off. I was dressed completely in black and white, and the Prada shoes they got me were black too.

“You look good,” Chris said.

“Thanks.” I felt pretty ridiculous.

“Alright,” Chris said. “Next stop is the training team.” Stef and JJ stood aside, as Matt, Will, and Darius came in.

“So here’s the deal,” Matt said. “You went to Spartacus and you hung out at the bar, waiting for someone to make the moves on you. You’re too alpha for that. You have to be the one to initiate things.”

“You reek power,” Darius said. I’d rolled my eyes more in the last half hour than I had in a long time.

“Fine. I’m the one in charge,” I joked.

“It’s a control thing,” Will said, grinning. “You’re good at that.” I gave him a nasty look that wasn’t entirely faked.

“Here are some basic rules for when you go to clubs,” Chris said. “First of all, you never go alone.”

“Why?”

“You’ll be a prime target for two types of guys: sugar babies; and if you go to a sleazy place, some rough trade that will try to roll you.” I just blinked at him, since I didn’t know what the fuck he was talking about. “Sugar babies are looking for a sugar daddy. That’s you. And rough trade dudes, who are fortunately pretty rare, may rob you – or worse.”

“I can see that,” I said, getting the basic security issue.

“The other reason is that a guy like you, who’s on the Forbes 400 list, would never go out without an entourage and a couple of bodyguards.”

“I need bodyguards?” That seemed pretty extreme.

“You do. They walk up with you when you go in, and make a huge impression, then they stay in the background while you’re there,” Chris said.

“How do you know all this shit?” I asked.

“Seriously?” Chris asked. “Dude, I am the club scene in New York.” I laughed at that, and then stopped when I saw he was annoyed with me.

“Fine.”

“Everything you do at a club, do it without hesitating. You walk in with your head up, smiling, laughing, looking confident,” he said. I nodded. I could do that. It wasn’t much different in the business world.

“I need to act like I know what I want, and I’m going to go for it,” I said.

“Right,” he agreed. “Second thing is the ten second rule.”

“Ten second rule?”

“That means that if you see a guy you like, and lock eyes with him, you have ten seconds to go say hi to him, or just forget it,” Chris said. “When you walk in, you have to scan the room without looking at people. You check them out with your peripheral vision, as if you’re seeing them a few seconds after your eyes have moved on. When you see someone who attracts your attention, you lock on with your eyes, and if they look back, then you have ten seconds.”

“This is pretty fucking complicated,” I bitched. They ignored me.

“Remember, no hesitation,” Matt added. “That means that when you walk up to a dude, you have to know what to say to him in advance.”

“I can do that,” I said.

“When you start talking to a dude, be a little disinterested,” Chris said.

“I thought I was supposed to be charming, interesting, and entertaining,” I said, confused.

“You are, but when you’re talking to a dude, make sure he knows he’s not the only one you’re interested in. Glance around at other guys,” Chris said.

“If you hit it off, it’s okay to touch the dude. Don’t grope him, but you can touch his arm, his shoulders, whatever,” Matt said.

“And if you do hit it off with a dude, try to get him to a place that’s more isolated and quiet, so you can talk,” Will added.

I was listening to these guys, trying to figure out what they were talking about, when it dawned on me that this wasn’t all that different than the business world. I had to be confident, I had to be in charge, and I had to have a game plan. And you never fall in love with an idea, because then you make mistakes. I smiled at them. “I think I got it.”

“Really?” Will challenged.

“Really,” I said firmly.

They changed clothes so they looked like me, and we all went to a late dinner. After we were done with dinner, JP and Stef, along with JJ, went back to the condo, while Matt, Wade, Chris, Darius, Will and I went to a club Chris recommended. I was wondering about the bodyguards Chris said I needed, but with these guys with me, I’d be fine. We pulled up to the club and there was a long line. “It’s popular tonight,” Chris said.

We got out and found two hulking guys waiting for us. They led the way up to the door, Chris followed them, I followed Chris, and the rest of the guys were behind me. We got some curious looks from some of the guys in line, and some pissed off ones too, since we were technically cutting in front of them. We got up to the front and a guy stopped us. “The line’s back there,” he said, but said it a little nicer because of the hulking bodyguards.

“The guy behind me is Brad Schluter. Do you know who he is?” Chris asked. He was whispering loudly.

“Should I?” the door guy asked.

Chris pulled out a piece of paper, one that I recognized as the Forbes 400 list. “That guy,” he said, pointing at my name. “He’s almost as rich as Oprah.”

“No shit,” the guy said. “Twenty dollar cover tonight.”

“I got it,” I said, and gave him the cash. We went into the club, where the music was pulsing. It was pretty high energy, and there were guys everywhere. Hot guys. About half of the guys dancing were shirtless. Then there were the go-go boys, who were fucking eye-popping gorgeous. “For those guys, I’ll break the ten second rule,” I joked to Matt.

We walked up to the bar and ordered drinks, then stood there, checking out the action. I practiced scanning the room with my eyes, and it didn’t take me long to get the hang of it. I was making visual sweeps of the bar, until one guy caught my eye. God, he was beautiful. He was probably 5’9”, with a really slim body. He wore pants that just accentuated his amazing ass. He had blond hair, and pale blue eyes, eyes which resonated with confidence as they locked onto mine. We stared at each other for about four seconds, and then he looked away.

I started walking toward him; when I was about halfway there, he looked up, saw me, and smiled, raising his eyebrows. He was wearing a really unique necklace, with a medallion of some sort attached to a leather strap. “Nice necklace,” I said.

“Thanks.” His voice had that twenty-something nasal tone to it. It was sexy.

I reached out and held the medallion, letting my fingers brush against the soft skin on his chest. “What is it?”

“It’s a native American good luck charm,” he said.

“Is it working?” I asked. I glanced around a bit as I talked to him.

“I’m not sure,” he said, raising an eyebrow at me. “It might be.”

“I’m Brad,” I said, introducing myself.

“Dustin,” he replied.

“Wanna dance?” I asked him.

“Not really,” he said. I was kind of surprised that he was shooting me down. I thought I was doing pretty well. I let it pass; acting like it was no big deal. “You been here before?”

“Not this club,” I said. “I’m in New York a lot for business, but I live in California.”

“Let me show you my favorite part,” he said. He took my hand and led me to the back of the bar, where there were a lot of people making out. It wasn’t like a designated backroom, but it was pretty secluded, and everyone there was involved in some sort of sexual encounter. He found a corner, and pulled me into it. It was dark, it was relatively quiet, and it was intimate.

“I like this part,” I said. I put my hand on his cheek, and then let it move around to his neck. I pulled him in to me, and he resisted enough just to make it hot. Our lips met, and it was like a beast in him was set free. He kissed me more aggressively than anyone I’d been with, at least that I could remember.

I broke off the kiss and leaned in more, biting his earlobe, making him moan. I felt his hand running up my leg to my crotch, and then he froze when he got to my hard cock. “Holy shit.”

“Think you can take me,” I said, in a really slutty way.

“Oh yeah,” he said, grinning. He turned around and slid his pants down so they were just below his ass, and I paused to run my hands over it. It was so soft and smooth. I pulled my dick out, stroked it a bit to make sure I was fully hard, slipped the condom on, broke open the lube packet, and started working him open. That took me all of five seconds, when I realized this boy had been around the block a few times. I lined my cock up and pushed in slowly, letting him get used to my presence. I was good at this. I knew how to top another guy.

“Nice,” I said, as I began to pivot in and out of him, going slowly so we weren’t too obvious.

“Feels so fucking good,” he moaned. “Fuck! Fuck!” I sensed he was close, so I slowed down, waiting until I felt him coming back from the edge of an orgasm, then I picked up my pace again. I did that to him three times, until we were both too crazed to stop.

“Gonna cum,” I growled into his ear, and rammed my dick as far into him as I could, blasting my load into the condom.

“Me too,” he said, and then he did. He just lost it, in what was an incredibly erotic orgasm. He worked his ass back into my cock, moving in smooth but quick motions, as he stroked his cock. I felt like I was riding a bucking bronco. “Fuck!” he said, probably much too loudly, then shot his load against the wall.

When he was done, I slowly removed my dick, massaging his asshole after I did to help dull the pain of having me pull out. As soon as I was finished doing that, I pulled off the condom and tossed it in a garbage can that was pretty close to us. I got back to him and he looked like he was staggering, about to fall, so I propped him up. “Are you OK?”

“That was so incredible,” he said. “It was so good, I can’t walk.”

I chuckled. “It was that good.”

“Dude, I came out tonight to dance and get laid. I never thought I’d get this lucky. Holy shit. I’ve never felt anything like that.”

I leaned in and kissed him, only his hormones had been sated, so it was a gentle and loving kiss. “You’re fucking hot,” I told him. “It was awesome.”

“Thanks,” he said, blushing slightly.

“I get into town once or twice a month,” I said. “I can call you if you give me your number.”

“Absolutely,” he said, rattling off his digits. I programmed him in as Dustin NYC. “I have to go catch up with my friends.”

“Me too. I’ll call you.”

He started walking back to the bar, with me behind him ogling his amazing ass, when he turned around abruptly. “A lot of dudes say they’ll call and they don’t. Make sure that you do.”

“I will,” I promised. We got back to our group, and right before Dustin went back to his friends, he planted a really nice kiss on me. I watched him walk away, and then I turned to see Will looking at me.

“Dude, he is fucking hot,” Will said. “Where did you go?”

“Went back there and fucked him,” I said, gesturing toward the backroom area. He started laughing, then high-fived me. “Where’s Darius?”

“Dancing,” Will said, and nodded toward the dance floor, where Darius was dancing with a really attractive girl.

“Lesbian?” I asked, referring to the girl.

“Hag,” Will said. “She’s here with some gay guys.”

We ended up having a really good time, and even though I didn’t think I’d hang out at these places much, at least when I did, I’d know what I was doing. It wasn’t until 3am that we piled in the limo to go home. “Did anyone get laid?” Matt asked.

“Dad did,” Will said. They all gave me a bad time about it. As we drove home, I realized that a lot of what they’d done, all of them, had been to get me out and about so I didn’t let myself get all depressed. They must have planned this, from the shopping to the bar boot camp to the actual foray to the club, all just to help me not think about 9-11 and it had worked.

I wondered if Robbie’s spirit was watching me. If he was, he’d be proud of me and he’d be jealous that I got to fuck Dustin.