Millennium - 57. Chapter 57

January 31, 2000

 

The plane touched down in Palo Alto carrying three passengers, two of whom had no desire to continue the flight, and one who was enthusiastic about it.

“Perhaps you two can go on to Claremont and I can stay here and get some work done,” Stef offered.

“Even if we agreed to that, you know that JP would make you feel guilty enough to change your mind,” I told him.

“I am not sure that is possible,” Stef answered.

“Well, you don’t even have that first hurdle covered. We’re not agreeing. If I have to go, you have to go,” I told him.

“Who says I must go?” he demanded, challenging me. He really hated cold weather.

“If you don’t, we won’t let you be there this weekend when Tiffany tells Matt and Wade they’re going to be daddies,” I responded. He gave me a positively evil look, and then sighed, resolving himself to go.

“Fine, then I will simply vent my irritation by making sure JP does not enjoy himself,” Stef said, making Robbie and me laugh. The plane taxied to the terminal and as soon as the wheel chocks were in place, the stairs lowered, and the pilots opened the door, JP was there with his bag, anxious to get going. “You are certainly in a hurry.”

“It’s good to see you too,” JP said, giving Stef a loving kiss and mellowing him out considerably.

“I’ve just spent the last hour listening to these two bitch about going to Claremont, and hearing them scheming to get out of it,” Robbie said as he gave JP a friendly hug. JP gave us a dirty look, making it seem like Robbie had tattled on us.

“There is nothing wrong with wanting to avoid the miserable winter weather in Claremont,” Stef said, battling on gamely.

“This is important,” JP said, staring at both Stef and me. We looked at each other, rolled our eyes, and resigned ourselves to the inevitable. “The weather tomorrow is supposed to be nice, which will help our cause because the turnout should be bigger.”

“By nice, do you mean with no sub-zero temperatures and with less than a foot of snow?” Stef asked sarcastically. JP ignored him.

“I talked to Gathan and he’s rounded up a bunch of guys to drive people to the polls in the evening,” Robbie said. “I told him I’d give them some money to cover the cost of gas.”

“You mean you bribed them,” I said, being obnoxious. Stef snickered. At least I’d helped cheer him up.

“There are a lot of people that are committed to making this successful,” Robbie said to me in a nasty way, letting me know I was real close to pissing him off.

“You have not told me how you feel about becoming a father again at your age,” Stef said to Robbie. He was like a shark sometimes, only instead of smelling blood, he sensed that Robbie was vulnerable to some serious ribbing. Robbie and JP were both so on edge about the election, it made them both pretty testy.

“A father?” JP asked. We’d told no one about Jeanine and Tiffany’s pregnancies.

“Jeanine is pregnant,” Stef said, filling him in. “It appears the sexual extravaganza they had on Christmas Eve is about to bear tangible fruit.”

“I am assuming congratulations are in order?” JP asked.

“Yes, even though Robbie will be 55 when the kid goes off to college. Damn, that is old,” I said. Stef gave me a nasty look, while Robbie snaughed. Stef was that old now.

“Gee Stef; I hope you’re not too feeble to come to his or her graduation. Let’s see, you’ll be what? 73 years old or so?” Robbie asked with feigned innocence, glad to have a chance to zing Stef back.

“Just because a man is 73 doesn’t mean he’s feeble,” JP snapped, and that made us all chuckle. He would be 64 this coming June. He calmed himself down. “So how do you feel about it?”

“I’m really excited,” Robbie said, his face breaking into a huge smile. “I love being a dad.”

“And you?” JP asked me.

“What he said,” I told them.

“Who is the father?” he asked.

“Could be either one of us,” I said. JP had a similar situation with my mother when she’d conceived Claire and Billy, so he couldn’t give us any self-righteous speeches. “We won’t know until they’re born.”

“‘They’? Is she expecting twins?” JP asked, remembering his own experience.

“Tiffany is pregnant too,” I said with a smile. “It seems that is was a good night for all of us.” JP grinned even more broadly.

“Can they test for paternity before they’re born?” Stef asked.

“They can do in-vitro tests, but they’re dangerous, and it’s not worth risking the baby’s life,” I told them. I was dying to know who the father was, as much for our baby as Tiffany’s, but there was no way any of us would endanger a child just to sate our curiosity.

“Well I’m very happy for all of you. Another grandson or granddaughter will be welcome, and you know how much your mother loves babies,” JP said, and then he changed the subject. “Tomorrow I’d planned for us to disperse ourselves to the key polling places so we’re available to answer questions.”

“I am not standing outside,” Stef said adamantly.

“I am not asking you to. I figured that you and I could man the court house, while Robbie and Brad could be on hand to talk to people at the high school,” JP said, being the organized person that he was. “We have to maintain our distance from the actual polling sites, but we’ve found a few warm spots to do some electioneering.”

“What are we supposed to do?” I asked.

“Just be there to answer questions and encourage people,” JP said.

“Sounds like a wake,” I said. Stef giggled, while Robbie and JP glared at me.

“A positive attitude would be helpful,” JP groused.

“Yes it would,” Robbie agreed.

“You two may cloak yourselves in your optimism if you like,” Stef said testily. “If you do not like my attitude and my company, I will simply turn around and go home.”

Now it was going beyond being playfully bitchy, to the point where we could actually start fighting about this, so I jumped in to smooth things over. “We’re here, we’re going along, and we’ll be model citizens tomorrow. You two will have to put up with some bitching behind the scenes as the price for that cooperation. In the meantime, I’d like to go over these pro-formas on how Triton’s factory will fit into the plans for downtown.”

“We had planned to save the warehouses downtown, but I think that will be tough to do with all of the space they’ll need,” JP said. “We’d wanted to convert those into lofts. I’ve been trying to think of alternative sites. I think we may have a solution.”

“What about the eastern part of town, where you’d planned to bulldoze some of the more dilapidated blocks? There are a lot of places where the houses are falling down and they are nothing more than boarded up shells,” I asked.

“I think a better place may be on the east side of the river,” JP offered. “The land will be more expensive, but I’ve got a contract to buy most of it already. In addition, part of the plan will be to construct a couple of covered foot bridges across the river, so people could live downtown as we planned and walk across to work.”

“You’ve already got a contract for the land?” I asked.

“I have,” he replied. “I am that confident that we will succeed.” He got an evil smile. “There is another reason I think that site will be better. There has been considerable activity in that dilapidated area.”

“You mean someone has been buying up the land?” Robbie asked. “Who?”

“The East Claremont Baptist Church and its members,” JP said. “It seems the Reverend White is hedging his bets.”

“So after they lose the election, they’ll lobby for us to build in the most blighted of areas, and then they’ll demand a king’s ransom for the land,” I observed. Those people truly were evil.

“Only the land has already been purchased to build it downtown, and the zoning will have already been changed,” he said triumphantly. “I fear they will discover they have waited a little too long before deciding to cooperate.”

“I guess that part of Claremont will be the last to see any improvement,” Robbie joked.

“Coincidentally, that is the plan,” JP said. “We’re actually thinking it would make a nice park. Most of it’s actually within the 100-year-flood zone, albeit barely, so a park would be the most prudent use. It will be interesting to see them justify robbing the city by overpricing the land.”

“When do you find out whether Triton or Omega gets the contract?” Robbie asked.

“The Senate hearing is on February 24,” Stef said.

“And Wade’s father is still undecided?” JP asked.

“It is hard to tell,” Stef said. “He says he wants to back our proposal, but wanting to back it and actually backing it are two different things.”

“I wish I knew why they were so conflicted about it,” I said. It still made no sense to me, but I was sure there was a damn good reason.

“We won’t be staying at Tonto’s old house this visit,” JP said, dropping that on us.

“And why not?” Stef asked.

“It seems that some concerned citizens questioned our use of it last week, pointing out that the terms of Tonto’s gift gave us access to it only during the Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Fourth of July holiday weeks.”

“I see Reverend White’s hand in this,” I said.

“You see quite clearly,” JP said. “I acquired a house to stay in while we are here.”

Stef put down some papers he was reading and eyed JP carefully. “You bought a house here? That is a permanent commitment, is it not?”

“I’m not moving here, I just wanted somewhere for us to stay that’s comfortable when we visit,” JP answered. Stef just stared at him, and his look told me that this really pissed him off for a lot of reasons. JP jumped in to try and placate him. “I’m really sorry Stef. I should have talked to you about it, but you were gone and this house came on the market, so I snatched it up.”

“And which house is this?” Stef asked.

“It’s my grandparents’ old house, about a block away from Tonto’s place.” That was in Claremont’s former exclusive neighborhood just adjacent to downtown. It would be a short walk into the heart of the City from the house.

“The one that looks like a castle?” Robbie asked.

“And is as cold and inviting as one,” Stef said.

“It needs a complete renovation,” JP said, throwing that out to placate Stef.

“You want me to do that, to renovate your ancestral home?” Stef asked with mild sarcasm.

“If you’re up to the task,” JP said, taunting him.

“You will give me a free hand?” Stef asked.

I watched JP digest that, digest the bargain he was going to have to make. He handled it a lot better than I thought he would: he caved gracefully. “A free hand,” JP said.

“Now you can build your own love den,” Robbie said. “Use the basement. The dungeon will be realistic then.” JP looked horrified while Robbie and I laughed hysterically.

“I will put all of my creative energy into it,” Stef said. JP just sighed, accepting the inevitable.

 

February 1, 2000

 

“This town hasn’t been the same since your grandmother died,” a nice older lady said as she shook my hand. I was standing in a large central area in the Claremont High School, doing my electioneering.

“If she would have been here, she would have said ‘Not the same? As in better?’” I joked. The older lady laughed, told me it was nice to meet me, and went in to vote. That was how my day went. I hung around outside the gymnasium to talk to people before or after they voted. Every hour a stampede of students would pass by as they went to their next class, and then during the breaks some would stop by and talk to us. I was actually enjoying myself. The older people stopped to talk to me about Tonto, or Grandmaman, and those were good memories. The younger people and the high school kids asked me about life beyond Claremont’s City limits. It was those questions that were the most compelling, because they illustrated how desperate the youth of Claremont were to escape from this town, this place that offered them no opportunities.

I looked over at Robbie, who was talking enthusiastically to a couple of older citizens. I was thinking about how even here we acted like the typical couple, never straying more than 15-20 feet apart, always available to support the other in case there was a social situation where we needed each other for support.

“You keep looking at him like that and you’ll gross out all the voters,” a familiar voice said.

I turned and looked at Gathan, ignoring what a handsome and charismatic young man he was. “Don’t you have a class to go to or something?”

“You can’t tell time?” he asked gesturing at the clock. “School’s out in five minutes. I got out early to organize our car pools.”

“Did Robbie give you money for gas yet?” I asked.

“No, I’ll go interrupt him,” Gathan said. “He said he’d give each of the guys $50, and there’s ten of us. I figured I’d point them to Robbie when they show up, and they can get their money from him.”

“Nonsense,” I told him. I pulled out my wallet and gave him $1000. I always liked to have a bunch of cash on me, while Robbie rarely had more than a couple of hundred bucks, so it was lucky Gathan was talking to me. In addition to the wallet in my back pocket, I usually carried a long wallet that fit into my breast pocket, filled with $50 and $100 bills. “You’re in charge. You hire them, you tell them what to do, and you pay them. There’s extra money there so you can buy pizzas or burgers afterward.”

He stared at me, at the money, and then back at me. At first he seemed nervous, and then he smiled. He was a guy who thrived on having responsibility and control. “You got it,” he said.

“Just don’t spend my money on beer,” I joked.

“Why? Some of the guys are pretty hot. You don’t like hot, drunk guys?”

“Funny how you noticed they were hot,” I observed, wondering if he’d tell me about his sexuality.

“I notice everything,” he said. He winked at me and ran off to get his drivers organized.

Robbie came ambling over shortly after he left. “Was that Gathan? I need to meet with those guys and pay them.”

“I gave him money to pay them,” I told him.

“You gave him all the money?” he asked me incredulously.

“Yeah, I did. He organized it; he can make sure it works smoothly. I trust him, don’t you?”

“I trust him, I just don’t want to tempt him,” he said.

“Robbie, he’s smarter than that. If he runs off with a grand, he runs off with a grand. We’ll learn something about him, and he’ll learn something about himself. But I’m willing to bet that he won’t, I’m willing to bet he’ll handle it really well.”

“Oh yeah? What’s the bet?” he asked me, flirting.

I decided to mess with him. “If I win, I get to stick my hand up your ass and make you cum like a volcano. If I lose, I just get to fuck you.”

“Fuck, you’re making me hard as a rock in front of all these people,” he said, smiling at me. “It sounds like I win either way.”

“It sounds like I do too,” I told him.

The bell rang and we were swamped as students came to talk to us. Most of them wanted to ask Robbie about their favorite movie stars, that is until they realized I was much more tuned in to the Hollywood gossip mill than Robbie was. Then again, I was only this tuned in since Stef had spent the weekend in Hollywood catching up on all the latest tidbits, and the last two days relaying them all to me. Gathan introduced us to his friends, and he was right, some of them were hot.

I was on autopilot at that point, politely answering questions, until a familiar face appeared in front of me. “Hi, I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Zach,” he said.

“I remember you, Zach,” I said, smiling at him. “You were the one who was freaked out when you found out I was Robbie’s boyfriend.”

“I’m sorry about that. I wasn’t freaked out, I was just surprised.”

“I figured you would have heard all about that by now,” I said.

“Not really. When Mom and Dad talk about Robbie, they usually talk about how it’s important that we do well in school and in sports so we can be successful like him. They don’t talk to us about sex.”

“Not at all?” I asked. He shook his head. “They didn’t talk to you about using condoms?”

“I already know about that,” he said indignantly.

“They didn’t teach you how to put them on, or how to masturbate?” I asked him, keeping a serious face. He stared at me, horrified at the thought, until I couldn’t hold back the laughter any more.

“I already know how to do that too,” he said, sounding cocky like Gathan.

“I’m sure you do,” I teased. “Safe sex is important. I’m glad you know the routine. You got any questions, give me a call.”

“Really? I can call you for pointers on how to jack off?” he asked, giving me shit.

“Absolutely,” I joked. “Seriously, you can call me if you need anything. You got a cell phone?”

“No,” he said. “I’m saving up for one, but they cost a lot, and the monthly fees are expensive.”

“Well in the meantime, here’s my number,” I said, giving him one of my cards with my personal number on it. I reached in my wallet and grabbed $50. “This should cover any long-distance charges.”

“I can’t take your money,” he said seriously. “Mom and Dad made us promise not to.”

“Why did they do that?” I asked, mildly offended.

“They said that having rich relatives is nice, but it’s not our place to mooch off of them.” That actually made a lot of sense.

“Well do me a favor. Tell your mom and dad that I gave you the $50 to cover it if you or any of your siblings want to call us. Make sure it’s OK with them.”

“Alright,” he said cheerfully. “Gotta run. I’ve got practice.”

“I hear you think you can run,” I joked.

“I hear you think you can surf,” he joked back, cracking me up. Then he ran off to practice.

The polls closed at 7:30pm, and Robbie and I stayed there the whole time. There were a few unpleasant incidents with some of the Reverend White’s followers, but nothing we couldn’t handle. We were getting ready to leave when Robbie walked up to the principal and asked him a question. He pointed toward the door down the hallway, and Robbie nodded, and then came over to get me. “Come with me,” he ordered.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“To pee. Just come with me, OK?” he asked, begging me with his tone and his eyes not to argue.

“I’ll follow you anywhere,” I said, smiling at him. He smiled weakly back at me, but he was nervous, really nervous, and I found that was making me just as apprehensive.

He led me to a door and pushed on it, guiding me through it, and then the pungent smell hit me: the smell of sweaty boys and their moldy gym gear. This was the high school locker room. He flipped on the lights and took my hand, leading me down the hallway to the banks of lockers. The place was completely deserted. He paused to look through the glass into the coaches’ office, and based on how old the furniture looked, it must have been the same stuff that was here 20 years ago. I could feel the anxiety and stress in him, but I could also feel the raw purpose in him. This was something he needed to do. I kept my mouth shut and followed him as he wound his way toward the back where the showers were.

It was a typical locker room with typical showers. There were four tiled areas with eight shower heads each, four on a side. He led me to the last one, the one farthest from the coaches and lockers and just stood there, frozen. “There,” he said, pointing to an area at the back. “That’s where they raped me.” He walked over to it and stood there. I remembered how he looked when he was in high school, and it was easy to visualize him being held down naked while those assholes plowed into him. I put my arm around his shoulder and he looked at me, tears in his eyes. I pulled him to me and held him while he cried softly, purging himself of the horrible incident.

He finally pulled away from me and made to walk out but I stopped him. “This place has bad fuck vibes.”

“What?”

“Remember when I showed you where Sam had fucked Jake the day we first met? That’s what you told me, that it had bad fuck vibes.” He’d told me back then to fuck him, to replace the bad vibes, more as an excuse to get laid than anything, but I went with it. He figured out that was my plan now.

“You want to fuck me?” he asked, surprised.

“Yeah, I do. Right here, right now,” I said. I put my arms around his neck and pulled him to me, kissing him gently at first, then more passionately. After I got him worked up, I pivoted him around and undid our pants, lowering them just enough to pull my dick out and give it access to his ass. I didn’t have any lube, so I pushed on the soap dispensers a couple of times, slid the soap on my pole, and pushed into him slowly and gently.

He was really tense at first, almost fighting me, but I knew how to work him and loosen him up. In no time at all he was with me, thrusting back into me, begging me to fuck him. This wasn’t about a long, passionate encounter; this was just a quickie, so we both worked to blow as fast as we could. He stifled his groan, letting me know he was close, so I picked up my pace and before I knew it, I was blasting my load inside him. I was stroking his cock as I did, and I felt it swell in my hand as he exploded right after I did, blowing his load all over the wall and the floor like he must have all those years ago.

We looked at each other sheepishly as I stuffed my soapy dick into my underwear and he pulled his pants up. We washed our hands and walked out of the locker room smiling. I’d hoped I’d finally at least partially erased some of the demons he still fought when he remembered that time. We said our goodbyes and headed out to the waiting limo for the ride back to JP’s house.

“You know,” I said, “It kills me that you had to go through what those guys did to you, but in a way, I’m kind of glad they did.”

“You’re glad they raped me?” he asked, not a little pissed off.

“If they wouldn’t have, I don’t think I would have met you, and even if I had, I don’t think you would have moved out to California to live with us, and I don’t think we would have gotten together.” He looked at me and nodded, then turned away. I put my hand on his cheek and turned him back to face me. “You are my world. You are everything to me. I wouldn’t trade you for anyone. We’ve both been through some pretty rough shit over the years, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything, because giving up any one of those things might mean giving up you.”

He stared at me, surprised by my emotional outburst, almost as surprised by it as I was. His eyes got teary like mine. “You’re right. It was hell, but I’d go through it all over again as long as I got to end up with you.”

“Did Gathan pay all those guys?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah, you were right. I should have trusted him,” he said grumpily.

I made my hand into the shape of the “silent duck”, the shape it was in when I fisted him, and ran it across his face, down his chest, and to his groin. He was already hard by the time my hand got there. “You’re not too tired to pay up on your gambling debts, are you?”

“Fuck no,” he said. “I think it will have to wait until we find out what the election returns look like though.”

“Something to look forward to,” I said, as I leaned in and kissed him.