Streak - 29. Chapter 29

November 8, 2002

Boston

Wade

I strode toward the kitchen, contemplating getting something for lunch, when the elevator doors opened and Alex came out. “Good morning,” I said pleasantly.

“And a good morning to you,” he said. “But as it is almost afternoon, I was reminded that it was lunch.”

“That was on my mind too,” I said with a smile. “Want to go out and get something?”

“That sounds terrific,” he said. We walked to a café not too far from our house. Yesterday it had been frigidly cold, but today it had warmed up to the low fifties, which was much nicer, even if the warm temperatures were somewhat offset by gusty winds. It didn’t matter. Neither one of us would dream of complaining about being cold.

We sat down and ordered, then just chatted about bullshit as we warmed up to each other. “When does JJ skate next week?”

“He does his short program on Thursday, and his free skate on Saturday,” he said. “I have worked my schedule so I can go down on Wednesday with him, see him skate on Thursday, then come back for my classes on Friday.”

“It’s in the Philadelphia suburbs, right?”

“That is my understanding. I’m going to fly back down on Friday night, then stay over and come back with him on Sunday,” he said.

“I’m not sure what our schedules are like, or how jet-lagged Matt will be, but maybe we’ll go down with you on Friday, if you don’t mind,” I said.

“I wouldn’t mind at all. I would enjoy your company, and I’m sure JJ would appreciate that you came to see him skate,” he said.

“I take it you worked things out with him,” I said, since they’d been inseparable since they’d gotten back from Spokane.

“I apologized for being insensitive, and he forgave me,” he said simply. But that wasn’t what I really wanted to know, and it looked like if I was going to get answers to my question, I was going to have to ask him.

“Did you tell him about Mary Ellen?” He gave me a frosty look as he contemplated telling me to mind my own business. “I wouldn’t normally pry, but this is a strange situation.”

“How is it strange?” he asked, somewhat acidly.

“Because you slept with my sister while you were dating Matt’s brother,” I said firmly.

He looked at me, then smiled. “You’re right. That is a bit strange.” We laughed together at that, then he got serious. “We had not previously defined the boundaries of our relationship. We have done that now.”

“He wasn’t upset that you were with Mary Ellen?”

“I told him that I had been with someone since we’d started dating, but he didn’t want to know who it was. We promised that, from that point forward, we would only be with each other. So it turned out to have a satisfactory conclusion,” he said. There was a hint of warning in his voice, telling me that my prying was starting to become annoying.

“I’m glad,” I told him, smiling to emphasize that statement.

“I am the kind of person who, when there are rules established, I will follow them, but when there are no rules, I tend to let myself have free rein,” he said, opening up to me. “I think that, in JJ’s mind, there was an implied commitment, but I don’t work well with those. So we were able to talk about it, and put my past transgressions behind us.” That made sense, and with that bit of information, I could see how he’d done that in the past, whether it was when he was with Matt and I, or when he hit on Will.

“I appreciate you sharing this with me. It gives me closure on the whole incident.”

“You’re welcome,” he said. “I hope this doesn’t make the Thanksgiving celebration you’re hosting tense.”

“You mean having you, Mary Ellen, and JJ in the same house?” I asked. He nodded. “I think it will work out just fine. We’ve had some interesting dinners in the past. The worst one was in 1998, and I wasn’t even there.”

“And why was it the worst one?”

“Matt ended up being outed to his parents, who didn’t think him being gay was a good thing.” I told him all about the drama, at least as it had been relayed to me.

“Hopefully we won’t have anything so horrible to deal with,” he said. “And how is Matt doing?”

“Very well,” I told him. “They beat the other teams in regular play, so now they are in the gold medal match game.”

“That is quite an achievement,” he said.

“They’re playing Colorado, and they already beat them once, so it’s looking good,” I told him. “He says he’s enjoying Australia. He said they talk even funnier than you do.”

“I think my Australian cousins have a bit more a twang in their voices,” he said. “It is, in my mind, how you must sound to a Bostonian.”

I chuckled at that, his reference to my Virginia accent that was relatively subdued. “Probably about the same.”

“Since you have probed into my personal life, I will venture into yours,” he said, with his cute smile. “Aren’t you a bit nervous with Matt over in Australia, surrounded by men who are undoubtedly fit and handsome?”

I smiled. “I told Matt that this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and if he wanted to mess around with someone when he was there, that was fine with me.”

“Does that mean you are similarly freed from the bonds of monogamy?” he asked, cracking me up.

“No, I told him I’d stick to the deal.” I paused as I took a drink of my tea. “Matt told me that he’s been a good boy while he’s down there, and I think that’s saying something, since he’s almost done. But if he slips up, it won’t bother me.”

“You are surprisingly free of that horrible vice: jealousy,” he said with a smile.

“I am most certainly not,” I told him. “This is one of those situations where, if he gets with someone, it will only be a transient thing. He’ll satisfy his raging libido, and then it will be over.”

He laughed with me about that, my reference to Matt’s raging libido, then I paid the bill and we walked home. “I truly enjoy this time that we spend together.”

I smiled at him. “I enjoy it too. We’ll have to make a point to go out and talk more often.”

“I would like that,” he said. When I met Alex in England, I’d been attracted to him because we came from similar backgrounds, and we seemed to have similar values. And while I’d found out there were significant differences, in the end, I enjoyed his friendship more than anything. It was nice to work to make that stronger. It would probably be good for both of us.

We got home and he went up to his floor, while I went into my study to get some work done. I was fully engrossed in a chapter on contract law when Josetta knocked on the door, then entered.

“Mr. Danfield, there is a man here to see you. He says his name is Hammer.” Of all the people who could have stopped by to see me, Hammer was about the last person on my list. No matter what he wanted, it couldn’t be good. I wasn’t afraid of Hammer, but I really didn’t want to be alone with him, so I planned accordingly.

“You can show him in, then alert Eric to stick around,” I told her. Eric was the guy who worked as our driver and bodyguard. He was a huge, hulking guy. He shared those duties with Bill, even though Bill was usually focused more on watching out for JJ.

“He is dangerous?” she asked, wide-eyed.

“Potentially,” I said, which terrified her. Hammer was a big guy, and the thought that he could get violent clearly upset her. I stared at her until she finally got the hint to go do as I asked, then stood up to wait until Hammer came in.

He walked in, glaring at me. “Well, you turned my life to shit. I hope you’re happy.”

“Don’t blame me for your problems,” I said icily.

“You told me you’d ruin my life, and you did,” he said.

“Why are you here?”

“To get you to call off the dogs,” he said. “I’m on the No-Fly list, so they’re climbing up my ass and investigating everything about my life. They seized my computer and claimed they found kiddie porn on there, so now they’re charging me with that. I didn’t have shit on my computer. They planted it on me. And as if that isn’t bad enough, I’m facing a full-blown IRS audit.”

I wanted to smile at how thorough my mother had been. Evidently her party at Goodwell had been very successful, but it looked like she’d done even better when handling Hammer. “Why would I call off the dogs? Why would I do anything to help you? You’ve been a flaming asshole.”

“Because it’s wrong,” he said, appealing to my moral side, to the part of me conditioned to do the right thing. Only I was smart enough to let bad things happen to bad people.

“It sounds to me like you got what you deserved,” I told him. “I don’t see any reason for me to intervene. If you get sent to jail, you’re out of my life, and out of my way.”

“I hit on your boyfriend, and that’s good enough to lock me in jail for at least five years?” he asked, outraged. “That’s worth turning me into a registered sex offender?”

“You’re right. That was a really stupid thing for you to do, especially after I warned you to leave us both alone. You’ve been picking a fight with me, and now you’ve got it.”

He sat down in one of the chairs, uninvited, but I opted to sit in the other one. “Alright, you win. You were right. Is that what you want?”

“That’s not what I want. I want you out of my life,” I said. This wasn’t some big ego thing, where I needed to have him surrender to me. “So I still don’t know what you want from me.”

He sighed, then pulled out another letter. “I got this in the mail. Can you tell me what that means?”

I opened it up and read it, taking my time, while he stared at me intently. It was a letter from the Peace Corps, accepting Hammer’s application and offering to send him to Africa to help build houses or schools. “Did you apply to the Peace Corps?”

“No,” he said. “Why the fuck would I want to go Africa and build huts for fucking natives?”

“Because that’s your way out,” I said.

“What?”

“You got this unsolicited acceptance into the Peace Corps at the same time you’re dealing with all of these legal issues,” I explained. “This is a hint.”

“You’re saying that the only way out of this nightmare, and to avoid jail time, is to build shit in Africa?” he asked, wide-eyed.

“I think that’s what this is saying. It’s not the only way out, but it’s the easiest, and the cheapest. You can spend thousands of dollars on lawyers dealing with these charges, or you can go and do something charitable.”

He looked at me suspiciously. “How do you know that’s what this means?”

“I don’t know for sure, it’s just my best guess,” I said. “Since your problems are at a Federal level, and the Peace Corps is a Federal project, it makes sense.”

“How can I find out, for sure? I don’t want to run off to Africa if I don’t have to.”

“I don’t think you have that luxury,” I said. “You could hire a lawyer to investigate the whole thing, and after that, he or she may be able to give you a more definitive answer.”

“I don’t have money for that,” he spat.

“You asked me what I thought, and I told you. What you do about it is up to you,” I said.

“You mean you can’t make a phone call and make this whole problem disappear?” he asked. I probably could, but I didn’t want to.

“The wheels are in motion, and it looks like someone is throwing you a life preserver,” I said. “I’d take it if I were you.”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Send me off to Africa, where I can’t steal your boyfriend away from you,” he said with a sneer.

I shook my head at him and smiled. “I’m not worried about you stealing Matt away, I’m just pissed off that you’re being so fucking annoying. You can’t take a hint. You don’t worry me, you make my life unpleasant.”

“You’d have me shipped off to Africa just because I’m annoying?”

“I’m not the one shipping you off to Africa,” I said, even though I probably was. I told myself that I didn’t pick Africa, so that wasn’t entirely a lie. “But if I was, yeah, I think it would do you a lot of good.”

“Whatever,” he said, and stood up, holding out his hand, asking for the letter.

I glanced at it, then handed it back to him. “It says that your acceptance requires you to respond by November 11. You’ve got this weekend to decide what you want to do.”

“Asshole,” he snapped, then stormed out of the house. I smiled, then went up to my room, shut the door, and laughed my ass off. Hammer was a borderline bigot, so having him working in Africa was genius. I was just coming down from my laughter fit when my phone rang, but there was no caller id.

“Hello,” I said.

“Hey baby,” I heard Matt say. “I just won a gold medal.”

“Dude, that is awesome!” I said enthusiastically. “I am so proud of you!”

“We played Colorado for the championship, and beat them five to nothing again,” he said. He was so high on victory, so ginned up.

“Fucking amazing,” I said. “Tell all the guys I said congrats!”

“I will,” he said. “I got three of the goals.”

“A hat trick? No shit?” That was really an achievement.

“No shit,” he said. “They announced the MVP for our division. I won.”

I stared at the phone, so happy for him. “Matt, that is really awesome. I’m so glad you went. You really are incredible on the ice.”

“Just on the ice?” he asked in his sexiest tone.

“Remember I told you there were two things you were definitely better at than I am?” I asked. We’d had this big discussion after our issue with Carl Haupt.

“Hockey and sex,” he said, chuckling. “I am so horny. I cannot wait to get home.”

“I will give you a heroes’ welcome,” I said, lowering my voice and letting my accent get more pronounced to try and sound sexy.

“That almost makes me want to hop on a plane now,” he said.

“Stay for the closing ceremony,” I said. “Enjoy this victory.”

“Thanks,” he said. “How are things there?”

“I had lunch with Alex today, and he told me that he and JJ worked things out.”

“Did he tell JJ about Mary Ellen?” Matt asked. I could hear the annoyance in his voice.

“He told JJ he’d been with someone, but JJ didn’t want to know who it was,” I said. “So now they’re exclusive.”

“I guess that worked out for them,” he grumbled.

“Hammer came to see me today.”

“What did he do to you?” he asked defensively. I told him all about Hammer’s problems, making both of us laugh pretty hard. “So the solution is for him to spend two years in Africa?”

“That’s what it looks like,” I said.

“It will probably be good for him.” I tended to agree with him. “Brad showed up with his new boy toy.”

“Marc Carmine,” I said. “Will told me about him. Said he was smoking hot.”

“He is. He reminds me of Lou. He’s pretty and masculine at the same time.”

“So what’s he like?”

“I don’t really know,” he said. “He doesn’t really talk much about himself.”

“I don’t get it.”

“I went to lunch with them, and he spent all his time focused on Brad. He wasn’t rude to me, but he wasn’t really all that interested in what I was doing. And when I flirted with him, you know, just bullshitting like I do, he kind of freaked out.”

“Did they hang out with you?”

“We did lunch, I had a meeting with just Brad, and they came to my games, but other than that, I haven’t really done anything with them,” he said. “I mean, I’ve been pretty busy here, mostly keeping the other guys out of trouble. But it was pretty clear they were into spending time alone with each other,” he said, and sounded kind of bummed about it.

“I’m sorry,” I said sympathetically.

“It’s not a big deal,” he said, shrugging it off.

“Does Brad seem happy?”

“He’s on fucking cloud nine,” Matt said. “He’s so cheerful it’s almost annoying.”

“Well, then I guess this is a good thing,” I said, even though it seemed kind of strange.

“I got a job,” he said, changing the subject. “I’m going to be screening our investments, to make sure we don’t indirectly support this war with Iraq.”

“We’re not at war with Iraq,” I said, even though it looked inevitable.

“JP is sure that we will be,” he said. “It’s cool, because it will give me something to do, and keep me involved in their business.”

“As long as it’s something you want to do, I’m happy for you,” I said.

“I think it will be good,” he said. I heard rowdy noises in the background. “I have to go.”

“Have fun,” I said. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he said, and hung up the phone. I wondered if he’d celebrate and fuck someone. I thought about that, and decided that if he did, I’d be OK with it, and not just because I’d said he could. It’s not every day you win a gold medal and an MVP award at the Gay Games.

November 10, 2002

Kingsford-Smith Airport

Sydney, Australia

Brad

“Would you like something to drink prior to take off?” the flight attendant asked. We were in the luxurious first class cabin, with ample leg and elbow room.

“Vodka tonic,” I said.

“That sounds good,” Marc said, ordering the same thing. “What time do we land?”

“We’re supposed to take off at 2:30, then we land in San Francisco at 9:15 this morning,” I said. “It’s fourteen hours.”

“A long ass flight,” he said. “Crossing the International Date Line really fucks me up. We’re travelling all day, and we land in the morning of the same day we left.”

“That makes up for the day we lost when we flew here.”

“When was Matt leaving?”

“They all left a couple of hours ago, but they won’t make it back to Boston until almost 5:00 at night,” I said. “And they have to change planes at LAX.”

“He could have flown back with us and spent a few days at Escorial,” he said.

“I think he’s anxious to get home. He missed Wade,” I said. Matt had enjoyed Australia, but he was pretty much ready to get back to Boston on Saturday.

The plane began to taxi, and that evidently prompted him to change the subject. “Thank you so much for bringing me to Australia. This has been an amazing experience.” He made sure he looked into my eyes so I could see how sincere he was.

“You’re welcome. You were terrific company. God did I enjoy you,” I said, and leaned over to nibble on his neck behind his ear. He was so sexy, it was like every part of him turned me on.

“Knock it off,” he said, even as he giggled, then he got serious again. “And thank you for fixing my wardrobe.”

“You ended up with an additional suitcase,” I teased.

“You wore the shirt I bought you,” he said with a smile. He’d gone shopping, and had picked up stuff for me too. Even though it was my money, the fact that he spent the time to pick things out for me was nice.

“I did,” I said, smiling back. “You have excellent taste.”

“So what’s your plan for the week?” he asked. We both knew there was a lot more to that question than merely my schedule. We’d taken this trip together, and bonded really well. I was enjoying him, and I found that when he was around, I was happy. The thought of him going back east, and walking out of my life, was pretty traumatic. He was an amazing and willing lover, but there was so much more to him than that. He watched out for me, and tried to do little things to make me happy. When I went surfing, he made sure the hotel put a parcel in the car with water, sun tan lotion, and a snack in case I got hungry. And when I’d been busy surfing, or meeting with Matt, he’d stepped in and arranged our evening, planning dinners out, and even took us to the Opera House for an event.

“I have to be in California this week,” I said. “I’ve got all kinds of meetings.” I reached over and held his hand. “What’s your plan?”

“I guess I should get back home, and fire up my studio,” he said. He didn’t want to go back, and I didn’t want him to go back.

“Do you have to get back right away?”

He shrugged. “Not really. I mean, I need to get to work so I can support myself, but a few days isn’t going to make much of a difference.”

“Why don’t you stay in Palo Alto with me?” He looked at me, trying to figure out what I was saying. “I had a really good time with you. I like having you around.”

“I like being with you, too,” he said. “This is kind of a weird stage in our relationship.”

“How is it weird?” I asked, since there were any number of reasons why it was.

He sighed. “I like you, and I like being with you. I’m trying to think of what more you could do to satisfy me, and I can’t think of anything. I’ve never been with a guy like you.”

“It’s pretty amazing how well we mesh together,” I said, raising my eyebrows to allude to a double entendre.

“It is,” he said, and blushed slightly. He was so fucking cute it was scary. “I would really like to spend more time with you. I haven’t been with someone I felt this close to, this bonded to, for a long time. It’s special, really special, and I don’t want to let it go.” He got a little choked up when he said that.

“I feel the same way,” I admitted. “The thought of you flying back east depresses me. I feel lonely just thinking about it.”

We sat there for a minute, just holding hands, both of us thinking about our conversation and plans. “At the same time, we don’t really know each other very well, and this is new, so new it’s hard to say if it will work out or not.”

“That’s pretty much how I feel,” I said. “I’m not at the point where I can make a commitment to you, and tell you that I want to be together. I need more time for my feelings to grow, and to make sure we’re compatible.”

“I understand that. I’m not trying to pin you down,” he said defensively.

“I didn’t mean to imply that you were.” I paused again, to let him settle down. “Why don’t you spend a couple of weeks in Palo Alto with me. I want you to get to know my family too. They’re really important to me.”

“I’m really looking forward to my time with Stef,” he said. “And I’m excited to get to know JP.”

“I think you’ll like them,” I said. “It will also give you a chance to get to know Will better.”

“I’ve never had to deal with kids before,” he said.

“If you call him a kid, the conversation won’t go well,” I joked, then I got serious. “My sons are very important to me, in fact, they’re the most important people in my life.”

“You’re telling me that if I don’t get along with them, we don’t have much of a future?” he asked, and seemed annoyed.

“That’s what I’m telling you.”

“I feel like they’re grading me, and if I don’t do well, you’ll just dump me,” he said, exposing his insecurities.

“It’s not like that. They’re all good guys, and they’re pretty easy to deal with. It’s not like a contest, or a competition. Just treat them like you’d treat a friend. Talk to them like you’d talk to a friend.”

“I don’t have many friends,” he said. “When I met Will, I felt like he was trying to point out things I couldn’t do, to make me feel like I didn’t fit in.”

“Marc, I can see why you’d think that, but that’s not how he works,” I said. “He wasn’t trying to make you look bad, he was trying to find common ground.”

“What do you mean?”

“He wanted to know if you surfed, because that would give him something he could do with you. It’s the same deal with riding.” He blinked a little bit, as if that surprised him. “We both have baggage we bring to this. In my case, I have a family, and that means that not only are you getting into a relationship with me, you’re getting into a relationship with them.”

“This is all so new to me,” he said, frustrated.

“That’s why we’re still exploring this thing we have,” I said. “Probably the only one of them you’ll have to deal with, at least initially, is Will. Spend some time with him, go sightseeing or something, and let him get to know you.”

“I guess I can do that,” he said.

“He’s actually a fun guy, and he’s got a really outgoing personality. That, and he’s freaking smart.”

He nodded. “What about the others?”

“They’re more involved in their own lives. You already met Matt. He’s got his own family in Boston. JJ lives with him, and he’s a diva but a good guy. He’ll like that you have such good taste and you dress well.” He chuckled at that. “And Darius is in college at UCLA. He’s pretty preoccupied with his life there. Matt is probably the most charming, JJ is probably the most talented, Darius is the coolest, and Will is the smartest,” I said summing them up.

“Are they gay?”

“Matt and Will are, although both of them have been with women. JJ is bisexual, and Darius is straight.”

“If they’re important to you, they’re important to me,” he pronounced.

“I’ve got an idea.” I pulled out my checkbook, and wrote out a check to him for $100,000. “Here.”

“What’s this for?”

“Spend a couple of weeks with me in California. If things don’t work out with us, you can go back to Massachusetts and that will give you a cushion to get your studio back on track.”

“I feel like a whore,” he said. “I don’t mean to sound like an ingrate, but it makes me feel kind of sleazy.”

I think he expected an explosion from me, but I could see his point. “If we land, and you get your bags and book a flight straight to Massachusetts, the money is still yours.” He looked confused. “You’re only a whore if you have to do something for it. There are no strings attached.”

“You mean if I don’t spend the two weeks with you, I can still keep the hundred grand?” I nodded. “You struck a bad bargain.”

“Why?”

“I would have stayed for nothing,” he said, smiling at me. “I really do like you. I think that we are good together.”

“I know we’re good together,” I said, and nibbled his ear again. We had dinner, then they dimmed the cabin lights, and while everyone else was sleeping, we snuck into the lavatory and fucked.

He fell asleep, while I stayed awake a little bit longer just to ponder our conversation. He dealt with Stef just fine, but he’d never had to handle a family before. He’d told me that Sam didn’t have kids, and neither did David, so this must be pretty new to him. I could see how it would be different, and weird, but there really wasn’t a solution to this problem if he couldn’t adapt. If he couldn’t build a relationship with my sons, we really had no future.