Streak - 22. Chapter 22

October 22, 2002

Simoni Ice Rink

Boston, MA

Wade

“I can’t believe you got another GMC,” I said, giving Matt shit as we drove into the ice rink parking lot. He’d just picked it up today.

“Dude, this thing rocks,” he insisted. It was a GMC Yukon Denali, almost exactly like the one he’d had in Paly. “They were completely redesigned a couple of years ago.”

“I figured you’d go for something else, just to try something different,” I said. I would have thought he’d go for the latest, trendiest SUV out there.

“I’m through trying out different things. I found out what works, and I’m happy,” he said, winking at me. It was really sweet, and really corny, all at the same time.

I was just about to utter some smart-ass rejoinder when my phone rang, and when I saw the caller-ID, I really froze up. “My mother,” I said to Matt. He rolled his eyes as I answered the phone. “Hello.”

“Hello Wade,” my mother said, with her smooth and refined Virginia accent that was so sweetly deceptive.

“Hello Mother,” I said, much more crisply. “We’ve just arrived at the ice rink for practice, so I don’t have much time to talk.”

“I didn’t know you were playing hockey again,” she noted. It made me nervous and uncomfortable that I’d revealed something about myself to her; that was dangerous.

“It’s a nice way to work off the frustrations of studying,” I said nonchalantly.

“So I do not delay you, I will get to the point,” she said, and was being jovial, which meant she wanted something. “I would like to host a party at Goodwell on the weekend of November 1.”

“That is not the best time of year to go out to Charlottesville,” I noted, probing her motives. It could be cold in the country that time of year.

“It is a fundraiser, and with the Halloween weekend, it seemed that an old house in a remote location would make for an ideal setting,” she said.

“I have to get ready to skate,” I said, stalling for time. “Let me check my schedule, and I’ll call you back.”

“You don’t have to attend,” she said in a bristly way, showing me just how much it annoyed her that she had to ask my permission to use Goodwell for this kind of event. In her mind, my family’s big estate near Charlottesville should be hers, but my father had left it to Riley in his will, and had given me control of it.

“I want to make sure that it’s not a weekend I had slotted in to go down and ride,” I said, even though I had no obligation to explain myself. “I’ll call you back.”

“Thank you,” she said, with a distinct lack of grace. We ended our call, and I stuffed my phone into my pocket and got out of the GMC.

“What’s she want?” Matt asked, as we grabbed our bags and headed into the rink.

“Wants to have a Halloween party at Goodwell,” I said. “It bugs the shit out of her that she has to ask my permission.”

“I’ll bet,” he said, chuckling, as we walked into the rink. We were here probably half an hour before we needed to be, but Matt liked to get here early and bullshit with the guys, and I had, for some stupid reason, agreed to help the team organize their trip to Sydney. I guess it was my way of helping out, and of being part of the Gay Games, even though I couldn’t go.

Matt went over to the locker rooms, while I went to where the coach had a small office. Vasily Borodin, the head coach, had lived in Russia until he was twenty-five, and then moved here after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He’d been here for ten years, so his English was good, but he had a strong accent. He was handsome in a rugged kind of way, with a scruffy, short beard and a hairy body. He was tough, and he was fair, and that had pretty much won me over, which was why I agreed to help him out. “Hello Printsesa,” he said, using the Russian word for Princess.

“Hello,” I responded, even as I rolled my eyes. I didn’t like that nickname in Russian any more than I liked it in English. My eyes scanned his office. There were a bunch of papers strewn all over his desk, something that grated on my nerves.

“I have those travel forms around here somewhere,” he said, and began to fumble around for them.

“Why don’t you let me find them,” I said, raising an eyebrow to indirectly call him a slob.

He smiled at me. “Thanks Wade.” Then he hustled out of the office while I spent the next thirty minutes organizing it for him. Matt came and dragged me to the locker room so I could change for practice.

The coach had built two teams from our league. One team was the group of guys who were going to Sydney, while the other group was composed of those of us who were staying home. That kind of bugged me at first, since we’d picked the best guys to go to the games, and therefore my team should suck, but the coach had talked to some of his straight friends and asked them to come play with us. A couple of the guys had even played in the NHL before, although not for long. It let us ramp up the competitiveness, and made it more fun.

We did our warm-up skate, and Hammer stayed close to me, but out of my line of sight, like he was stalking me. This guy did everything he possibly could to make me uncomfortable, but he’d never know he actually succeeded. Matt had teased me about being more rigid and uptight, but in a way, he was right. Since we’d gotten back together and I’d had my emotions on an even keel, I’d reverted to my normal, stoic and controlled self. Unless I was fighting with Matt. David, my psychiatrist, thought that was a result of me rediscovering my internal strength, which sounded to me like just so much psychobabble, but I could see his point.

I felt Hammer’s presence closer to me, as he tried to crowd me and get a reaction, but he didn’t get one. I’d originally put him in the same category as Carl Haupt, this dipshit who had been on our team at Stanford, and had caused Matt and me some pretty unpleasant problems, but Hammer wasn’t like Carl. Carl had been a blustering idiot, someone most guys barely tolerated, while Hammer was actually pretty popular with the guys on the team. When he wanted to be, he could be really charming, at least to some of the guys. That and he was incredibly hot, with a huge bulging body. Since this was a team of mostly gay guys, he worked that pretty damn well.

“You got plans tonight?” I heard Hammer ask Sharpie, our captain.

“Not sure,” Sharpie said. “Why?”

“I was thinking maybe we could hang out,” Hammer said suggestively. As far as I could tell, he’d fucked everyone on the team but Matt and me, and that was probably another thing that bugged him about us. He hit on Matt hard, but Matt blew him off. Hammer didn’t get that if Matt and I weren’t together, Matt would be a major player, doing the same thing Hammer did. In that case, Hammer would find himself seriously out-played. Matt knew his game. With me, Hammer was obnoxious, trying desperately to get a reaction from me. He didn’t, but underneath my emotionless exterior, my patience with him was wearing pretty thin. His goal seemed to be to drive me off the team, and it was pretty easy to figure out his plan. By getting rid of me, he’d isolate Matt and move in for the kill, as he saw it. That made me smile, because Matt and I were so much stronger than that, and Matt was so much smarter than Hammer.

“Could be fun,” Sharpie said. It probably would be. Hammer had a pretty big dick; he liked to get almost completely hard in the showers and tease the guys. It was the classic political game, with a twist: Sharpie could grab his ankles for Hammer, and Hammer could make sure Sharpie was in his corner.

“You get things organized?” Matt asked as he skated up next to me.

“Doesn’t matter. He just messes everything up ten minutes after I leave,” I grumbled.

“Yeah, but he appreciates how much you help him,” Matt said, reminding me why I did it.

“I hope so,” I said, pretending to be grumpy about it, when it actually made me feel good to help out.

The game was pretty typical. It was fast, physical, and a lot of fun. In addition to making me uncomfortable off the ice, Hammer had made a habit of trying to fuck with me when we were skating as well. He pulled out all kinds of dirty moves, most of which I dodged, but the coach had figured him out, and did a pretty good job of making sure we weren’t on the ice together very often. That bothered me, because it made it seem like I couldn’t take care of myself, and I was more than capable of dealing with Hammer, on or off the ice. I was probably a victim of my own nickname, I thought. Princess. Someday I’d get even with Matt for that one.

When the game was over, I hurried off the ice and took a quick shower, then went to work on some of the team paperwork. Matt liked to hang out on the ice afterward, as long as it wasn’t in demand, and he got lucky tonight. I walked up to the office and heard the coaches talking. “I think we are shaping up pretty well,” Coach Borodin said to his assistant, a chubby guy named Casey.

“I think we’re almost ready for Australia,” Casey agreed.

“Your papers are almost ready too,” I told them, so they would notice me and not talk about the other players in front of me. I pulled out the forms they’d need, all stapled together in neat packets with the individual player’s name on each one, of course. “The guys need to fill these out and get them back by next week,” I told him.

“I’ll make sure that happens,” the coach said. “Thanks again, Wade.”

“Thank me by bringing home a gold medal,” I said with a smile. There were a few more logistical items for me to work on, and then I went looking for Matt. I found him in the locker room tying his shoes while Hammer stood about five feet away from him, his erect cock aimed right at Matt. Figures that a douchebag like him would be hung. He was packing about seven inches, but they were thick inches. No wonder he was so popular around here. I just froze and watched the interplay.

“You’re not allowed to help me out at all?” Hammer whined to Matt. “Not even a hand job?”

“Not even a hand job,” Matt said dismissively. “Dude, get dressed.”

“You can’t handle the temptation?” Hammer taunted.

“No, it just bugs me,” he said. “You keep hitting on me, and you know I’m with Wade. That makes you pretty fucking sleazy in my book.”

“Yeah, but wouldn’t it be fun to have someone sleazy to fuck around with once in a while,” Hammer said, lowering his voice so it was really sexy. He had all the moves down; no wonder the other guys dropped their pants for him. “I’d never tell Wade. It would be just between the two of us.”

“Not happening,” Matt said. I figured the dude would get pissed off, but he just smiled.

“You’re smoking hot,” he said. “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

I decided to end their encounter by walking all the way into the room so I was visible. “You about ready?” I asked Matt, barely glancing at Hammer.

Matt looked really nervous, probably because Hammer was a little closer than he’d been when he started talking to Matt, and his big dick was aimed right at Matt’s mouth, about three feet away. “I’m ready,” he said, and got up to lock his locker.

“I was thinking maybe we could share a room in Sydney,” Hammer said to Matt, even as he stroked his cock slowly.

“I’ve got my own room,” Matt said, and all but stormed out of the locker room, leaving Hammer and me alone.

Hammer gave me a smarmy look. “He’ll be in bed with me the entire time we’re in Australia.” Then he laughed.

“Guess you didn’t do that AltaVista search,” I said calmly, then followed Matt out of the locker room.

He was waiting for me, and looked really upset. “Wade, I wasn’t doing anything, he just came on to me. There’s no way I’d hook up with that dude.”

I smiled and put my hand on his cheek in an affectionate way. “You know, I didn’t even think about that. I know you won’t.” That got a huge smile from him, because it just confirmed in his mind that I trusted him, but then his mood changed again.

“He does that again, I’m gonna kick his fucking ass,” Matt fumed.

“I think I’m the one who’s going to have to explain things to him,” I said, with my glacially calm voice.

“I can fight my own battles,” he snapped. It was at times like this that his nickname, Volcano, fit him so well.

“This battle is between Hammer and me. In this case, you’re the bitch we’re fighting over.”

He looked at me, shook his head, and then laughed. “Dude, it’s my turn to bottom, as soon as we get home.”

“No problem, big guy,” I said in my sexiest voice. We walked out of the ice rink, happy with each other, but as I glanced back, I could see Hammer glaring at both of us.

“So are you going to let your mother have her deal at Goodwell?” he asked, changing the subject as we hopped into his GMC.

“I’m thinking about it,” I mused. “Maybe we could go down there this weekend.”

He thought about it. “That may be kind of a fun change of pace. Why?”

“There are a few heirlooms I’d like to hide away before my mother and her friends descend on the place,” I said with a wry grin, and then continued on in a sarcastic tone. “Not that she’d steal anything.”

“No, not her,” Matt said, mimicking my caustic attitude. “She’s pure as the driven snow.”

“Are you OK with that?” I asked.

“Going to Goodwell?”

“Yeah,” I confirmed.

“I’m fine with that,” Matt said.

“JJ and Tiffany are going to Spokane for Skate America, so I thought maybe we could take Riley and Maddy with us.” I paused, trying to decide whether to throw out my other idea, and opted to go for it. “I was thinking of inviting Alex to come along too.”

“He’s probably jonesing. He hasn’t been riding since he got here,” Matt said. “I think it’s a good idea. I’m pretty sure he knows we’re OK with him, but that should reassure him.”

“That’s what was on my mind,” I said. “I guess I should call my mother and tell her she can have her party.”

“She’ll probably be frustrated, because she’ll appreciate you doing that, but then she’ll owe you a favor,” he said in a joking way, but his words flew through my brain like a lightning bolt. He looked at me in a curious way. “What?”

“I think I finally figured my mother out, or at least you did,” I said, still in a bit of a daze.

“What are you talking about?” He didn’t get why I was acting so strangely.

“Everything about her life is about exchanging favors and influence.” He still looked confused, which made sense.

“So?”

“So I don’t view my family that way. If I do something nice for Beau, or for Will, I don’t expect them to pay me back for it. It’s just what you do for family members.”

He pondered that. “You’re saying that you’ve done that with your mother, and that’s a problem?”

“Yeah, because she doesn’t know the price. She did it with Mary Ellen on the Jason Haupt deal. She gave Mary Ellen $2 million each time Mary Ellen jumped through the hoops she set out. Everything the two of them do is a transaction. It probably drives her crazy to deal with me. She has this debt hanging over her head, where she owes me but she doesn’t really know how much it is. And she hates to owe anyone anything.”

We got back home just as I finished that statement, so we held off our conversation until we got into the kitchen and started raiding the fridge. “Alright, if that’s true, then what does that mean for you?”

“It means that when she asks me for something, like borrowing Goodwell for a weekend, I need to ask her for something in return,” I told him. I pondered times in my past where I hadn’t done that, and how it had just seemed to make her more vicious.

“Dude, she can’t even do shit for her family, just because they’re family?” he asked, totally appalled.

“No, she can’t,” I said sadly.

“So what’s the price for her to use Goodwell?”

“I think Hammer is going to find out his life just got a lot harder,” I said with a smirk.

Matt laughed, the stopped abruptly. “You won’t have him killed, will you?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “For just hitting on you? Hardly.” he pretended to pout. “Just a little pain, to remind him not to fuck with me.”

“Or to try to fuck me,” he joked. We were laughing when JJ and Alex came walking into the kitchen. JJ looked really upset, while Alex even looked a bit sad underneath his stolid exterior.

“Have a good trip,” Alex said to him, then realized we were in the room, and put on his cheerful façade. “Good evening.”

“Good evening,” I said pleasantly, and then focused on JJ. “You’re leaving?”

“As soon as Tiffany manages to stop puking,” JJ grumbled. Tiffany’s morning sickness was a lot worse with this pregnancy than it had been with Riley.

As if by mentioning her name we had summoned her, Tiffany walked into the kitchen, looking like shit. “You don’t look very good,” Matt said to her.

“Thanks a lot,” she snapped. The bulge in her stomach was obvious now, and to be honest, it made her look pretty sexy.

I put my hand on her tummy in a gentle way. “I think you look hot.”

She smiled slightly. “I do.” We laughed at that. “The car is here, we have to go,” she said to JJ.

“We’ll see you when you get back,” I said to Tiffany, and gave her a nice kiss and a gentle hug. Matt followed suit.

“And good luck to you,” I said to JJ. “We’ll make it Alex’s job to tell us how you’re doing.”

“Thanks,” JJ said. He turned to Alex and a tear actually fell down JJ’s cheek. “I’ll see you in a few days.”

“You will,” Alex said. He seemed uncomfortable, having this romantic scene in front of us, and then he must have realized that we were pretty harmless. “I’ll miss you.”

“Me too,” JJ said. Alex gave him a nice kiss, one that seemed to be showing mild affection while simultaneously holding back some serious passion. It was pretty sexy.

They broke off their embrace, and JJ all but fled out the door to the car, with Tiffany trailing after him. Matt, Alex, and I stood in the kitchen, looking after them, until it kind of became weird. “I think I’ll go up and finish some of my homework,” Alex grumbled.

“That sounds like my evening,” I said. “What are you doing this weekend?”

“I had no plans, but I had expected that I would just spend a quiet weekend here at home,” he said.

“We’re going to Goodwell, my family’s country home, for the weekend. You’re welcome to join us.” I could see him thinking about it.

“There are some pretty spirited horses there, but I’m not sure you could handle them,” Matt taunted playfully.

“I’m willing to wager that I can,” Alex said, being cocky. “I would love to go riding.”

“Then it’s settled. We’ll leave Friday afternoon,” I said.

“And once again, I will be indebted to you for your hospitality,” Alex said gracefully.

“Then you will have to return the favor this summer,” I said. It may be fun to go back to Bridgemont, especially now that Matt and I were a solid couple.

“I will do just that,” he said, smiling. He went back to his room, while Matt headed toward ours.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” I told him, then called my mother back.

“Hello Wade. Did you check your schedule?” she asked coolly.

“I did. It is timely that you want to use Goodwell, since I need a favor from you as well.”

“And what is this favor?” she asked.

“There is a guy on our hockey team who needs to have some unpleasantness inflicted upon his life. Nothing fatal, just some unlucky events.”

“How much information do you have on him?”

“Quite a bit. He’s travelling to Australia, or at least planning to, next month, so I have all of his passport information.”

“I’m not sure if simply letting me host a party at Goodwell is a reasonable exchange for that much work,” she said, bargaining with me.

“Mother, let’s not be gauche and barter like we are in a Turkish bazaar,” I said with disdain.

“Very well. Fax me this information that you have,” she said. Her tone was different than I usually encountered. It was almost pleasant, or at least content.

“I will be flying down to Goodwell this weekend to go riding,” I told her.

“I had hoped to stop in and do some planning,” she said. “I trust that will be alright?”

“That will be fine. I’m bringing Riley with me, so you’ll get to see him,” I told her.

“Excellent. Then I’ll look forward to seeing all of you on Saturday.” We ended our call after that, and I went into the office and faxed Hammer’s info to my mother. The more I thought about the whole encounter, the funnier it seemed. I was chuckling as I walked up the stairs and into our bedroom.

“What’s so funny?” Matt asked.

“I actually had a pleasant conversation with my mother,” I told him. “She tried to bargain with me, but I told her she was being tacky.”

He laughed with me. “You know, she’s like this vulture just hanging out there, lurking, waiting to chomp on us if we’re even a little weak. If you can figure out a way to ward her off, it would probably make our lives a lot better.”

“That’s pretty profound, big guy,” I teased.

“I’m pretty smart.”

“Why don’t you get your smart ass into that sling,” I joked, sort of. He laughed; we stripped off our clothes, and then went into Matt’s sex room and had one amazing extravaganza. We didn’t worry about Hammer and his thick seven inch cock. Hammer, on the other hand, should be very worried, because he’d just become a prime target for Elizabeth Danfield.

October 25, 2002

Goodwell

Charlottesville, VA

I was glad we’d gotten an early start, because with winter looming, the days were getting shorter. The big Suburban limo barreled down the long road lined with dogwood trees, which even looked impressive without their leaves. It was a miserable, overcast day, about 40 degrees with some drizzle, but it still seemed like paradise. Sometimes, when I was away from here, I forgot how bound I felt to this land.

“This is magnificent,” Alex commented. “There’s quite a bit of land here to explore.”

“There is,” I agreed. We drove up to the house, a quintessential Southern Plantation mansion, complete with white pillars and a broad porch.

“And this is just as spectacular, just what someone from Europe would envision when they think of a Southern mansion,” Alex said.

“We won’t have to share bedrooms,” I joked, referring to Goodwell’s size.

“That’s almost too bad,” Matt flirted. The big SUV pulled up to the front and disgorged all of us. I led Alex and Matt across the porch, feeling myself bonding with my home, my heritage, and my father with each creak of the old boards. I walked through these doors, just as Danfields had done for generations, and went straight into the large great room, with its blazing fire and view of the paddocks.

“Welcome home, Mr. Danfield,” one of the maids said. She summoned some of the other servants, and they began to scurry around to get everyone situated. Just as I was about to go make sure things were taken care of, I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“Why Wade! I didn’t know you were coming home this weekend,” Mary Ellen said, using her sugary-sweet southern accent.

“And I did not know you would be here, so it’s a lucky coincidence all around,” I told her, even as I gave her a stunted hug.

“Hey Mary Ellen,” Matt said, and gave her a hug, one she held longer than he wanted her to. It was her way of reminding me that Matt had fucked her once, and a way for her to try to throw me off balance, as if that would work.

“Good to see you, Matt,” she said. “Really good.”

“And this is the Earl of Bridgemont,” I said, introducing Mary Ellen to Alex.

Mary Ellen did her best curtsey, one that was quite good. “It is a pleasure to meet you, my lord.” It was hard to imagine anyone uttering ‘my lord’ in a more suggestive manner. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

“You must call me Alex,” he said smoothly, and with old world charm, he bowed and kissed her hand. I felt like I’d been time-warped back to the Goodwell of the 1850s. “And the pleasure is most assuredly mine.”

“You will call me Mary Ellen,” she ordered, and put her arm through his. “Have you had a tour of the house?”

“I have not. We just arrived this moment,” Alex said.

“Alex’s true passion is riding,” I said.

“One of them,” he said flirtatiously, getting a giggle from Mary Ellen.

“Let me show you around,” Mary Ellen said, leading him off. I watched him walk off with Mary Ellen, and then looked at Matt, both of us with horrified expressions on our faces.

“Dude,” Matt said, shaking his head. “She’s gonna fuck him.”

“Let’s go unpack,” I said, so we could have this conversation away from other ears. I led him into our room and we started taking our clothes out and putting them away.

“This is going to kill JJ,” Matt said.

“First of all, nothing has happened yet,” I told him. “And even if it does, it’s not our place to get involved, or to say anything.”

“You mean if he fucks Mary Ellen, we’re supposed to keep it from JJ?” he asked me, outraged.

“I guess if you catch them in the act, you can say something, but if you don’t, it’s just rumor and innuendo,” I said. “Look, JJ just about lost his mind when we interfered in his relationship with Alex before. We don’t even know what their deal is. Maybe they’re not exclusive.”

“I don’t want to keep secrets from him,” Matt said stubbornly.

“What do you know, factually, that you want to tell him?” I challenged. He gave me a dour look. “Let’s do this. Let’s just relax and enjoy our time here. If we witness something, like them together, then we can figure out what to do. If we don’t, we really don’t have anything to go on.”

“Fine,” he said. We finished unpacking then went downstairs to check on Riley and Maddy and played with them for awhile. After that, we relaxed in the great room, and had a few cocktails while waiting for dinner. The drinks did a lot to calm Matt down. Goodwell functioned much like Escorial did, in that we always ate dinner at the same prescribed time: 7:00pm. Matt and I were the first ones to the table, followed shortly afterward by Alex and Mary Ellen. I could sense Matt’s annoyance that they arrived together.

“This is a lovely home,” Alex said, even as he held Mary Ellen’s chair for her as she sat down.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Do you know when JJ skates?” Matt asked curiously. To me, it was obvious that he was trying to remind Alex of JJ, but Alex didn’t seem bothered by that allusion.

“The men’s short program is tomorrow, while the free skate will be performed on Sunday,” Alex said smoothly. “I am not sure exactly what time he goes on tomorrow and the order won’t be set for the free skate until the results of the short program are known.”

“Let us know how he did as soon as you hear something,” I said, then changed the subject and addressed Mary Ellen. “Mother will be here tomorrow.”

“Good thing Nana went to California,” Mary Ellen said, making all of us but Alex grin.

“She asked me if she could host a fundraiser here on Halloween weekend,” I said.

“And did you agree?”

“I did,” I said.

“That was very nice of you, Wade,” she said. “I may have to show up and see how Mother’s party turns out.”

“You are more than welcome to be here,” I said. In his will, my father had requested that I allow Mary Ellen and Beau pretty much unfettered access to Goodwell, and so I did. It would be interesting to see how Mother handled Mary Ellen’s presence at her event. She’d probably have to negotiate something with Mary Ellen too.