The Summer Job - 42. Mikie's Courage

When Phillip returned, Casey had the whole house smelling wonderful. Luke asked, “Wow! That smells great; what is it?”

Jeffry said, “That’s lasagna and, it smells spectacular.”

James said, “Mom fed us before we left, but I’ve got to taste that.”

For once, Phillip was glad for the big honking house. Cleaning everything was a day-long gig but, when you had company, there were plenty of places to stash guests. He said, “Bring your stuff and follow me. I’ll get you settled in your room.”

They had to buy furniture to furnish everything and that left room for a study and a Man Cave. Many of the rooms have two double beds and Phillip put James, his brothers and Jeffry in one. It shared a bathroom with a similar room that Seth, David, Billy and... Someone would be sharing.

The boys put their stuff down and headed out except for James. It was obviously pre-planned because Marcus closed the door behind him.

James sat on one of the beds, patted the place beside him and said, “I asked the guys to give us some space because I wanted to talk to you.”

Phillip sat beside him, put his arm around James shoulder and asked, “What’s on your mind James?”

James said, “Ever since I met you the other day at Jeffry’s, good things have been happening. I’ve had the best sex ever with you, we got a place besides the hood to hang out in during the day, that shopping trip was spectacular, I think my Mom and Detective Butler are on a date, and Mom is going to get a good new job. I know you didn’t do it all but, you started it, and we all love you for it.”

Phillip smiled and said, “You, Jeffry and your brothers are all precious to me. You saw the news last night. You know I’m putting my life back together, and I want all of you in it.”

James eyes looked hurt, and he asked, “Do any of us have a special place in it?”

Phillip drew James close and said, “My heart isn’t quite ready for that yet but, my boner is saying something different.”

James smiled, rubbed the hard lump in Phillip’s jock and said, “You should listen to your boner.”

Phillip said, “I really want to but, I don’t want to hurt you James. You and Marcus deserve a lot more than just being on my short list.”

“I’m good with friends with benefits for now. So is Marcus. Even Luke and Jon want to jump your bones. You’ve been nothing but good to us and for us. We all love you. Now, please give me one of your awesome blow jobs. I’ve had a boner ever since I found out we get to spend a long weekend with you.”

As soon as Phillip was done with James, Marcus was waiting just outside the door.

While Phillip was out or occupied getting James and company settled, Britt, Tanner, Patrick, Stevie, Skyler, Ryan, Sammy, Cole and Ike arrived. More importantly, Casey had dinner ready.

Phillip got a plate consisting of a square of lasagna, spinach salad and a piece of garlic bread. He knew from the first bite Casey was a powerful kitchen wizard.

Instead of fussing with each other, Randy greeted Stevie with open arms. The two got supper on Styrofoam plates and red cups of ice tea and ate pool side.

Ike had everyone laughing with his joke about fishing with his grandfather: it was kind of a drag because all gramps did was complain about his very cross veins and how his prostitute was bugging him.

As things were going well, Phillip slipped away to his room and pulled up the cruising site that had the listings for Grissom Park and read the latest batch of messages.

Chuckles: The cupboard isn’t completely bare, but it has seen better days. The grocer is coming with more candy tomorrow.

BlowMeImHigh: Oh goodie. Candy!

BadBoyNeedsSpanking: I can’t make it this weekend. Mom.

HornDog2008: Bummer.

Chuckles: I’ll save a spanking 4 U

BadBoy4Daddy: I’m a bad boy too.

SpankMeDaddy: Me 2.

Chuckles: Oki bad boys. SpankUL8er.

Philip couldn’t help notice the coincidence. Was BadBoyNeedsSpanking Cole? Mikie knew more than he was telling, and that was a little troubling. He and Randy seemed to be immune to the worst harassment. If he was about to pull the trigger on Chuckles, there didn’t need to be any more riddles.

Mikie wasn’t handy but, Randy and Stevie were quite amenable to his invitation. They followed him into the study and, both seemed to expect sex to break out any second.

Phillip said, “I’m trying to figure out some things about Chuckle’s and his crew that just doesn’t add up. Randy, you pointed out several of them at Park center but weren’t afraid of them.”

Stevie laughed and said, “That’s because Kevin Sutton is in lust with Randy. Another one liked me and I couldn’t stand him. The pack liked both of us and wanted us to be their... I’m not sure what, but I didn’t want anything to do with them.”

Phillip asked, “Is that why they gave you trouble?”

Stevie said, “Yes”, and Randy said, “No” almost simultaneously. Then Randy said, “No”, and Stevie said, “I think we’re confused about that.”

Randy said, “Doug Lambert had a thing for Stevie.”

Stevie continued, “I couldn’t stand his Alpha dog bullshit. He wanted me to rub his feet and stuff. No.... that’s not something Mrs. McGraw’s little boy is interested in.”

Randy said, “They harassed Stevie and, for a while, he hated me because I like Kevin and Cade. We talked about it earlier. We’ve got a lot in common.”

Stevie huffed and said, “Except for the part about following that psycho Doug around like a lovesick puppy. I get it. You like Kevin and, Cade is tolerable, but under Doug(Lambert)’s influence, they’re... bastards.”

Phillip asked, “Is that why there’s tension between you two?”

Randy sighed and said, “We’ve known each other since kindergarten and were best friends until Doug’s crew came between us. I’d like to fix things if we can.”

Stevie’s eyes went wide, and he said, “Do you really mean that?”

Randy said, “Of course I do. None of this was my idea. When I saw which way Doug's crew was going, I backed away. I hate that they pushed you around.”

Stevie put his arms around Randy and said, “That’s the best thing I’ve heard this year.”

Phillip asked gently, “I can see you two are having a moment, but I still need to know where Mikie fits into this?”

Randy said, “Mikie ran with them for a while until things got too weird for him and he stopped. He knew way too much for them to push him around.”

“Cole runs with them too”, Stevie added. “He's just in it for the weed.”

Randy said, “Mikie can tell you more... just give him a foot massage, and you’ll own him.”

Phillip stood and hugged Randy and Stevie and said, “You two go find a room. I think you’ve got some catching up to do.”

Phillip found Mikie in his room. He was lying on his stomach stripped to his boxers catching a nap on the couch. Fun things were going on downstairs, but Phillip’s crew was wasted from their early start.

He locked the door, stripped to his jock and sat near Mikie’s feet. He began to rub them in a way described in a video he had seen called “the Erotic Foot”.

Gradually Mikie began to wake and said, “Wow. Working for you has great benefits.”

Phillip asked, “Would you rather have a spanking?”

Mikie sighed and said, “So you figured it out.”

Phillip said, “Stop me if I get it wrong. Vice Principle Chuckles is in charge of discipline for the Middle School. He has bad boys in for a talk and a paddling.”

Mikie said, “So far, so good.”

“He gets to see who gets stimulated by spanking.”

Mikie said, “Yeah. That’s how it works. He doesn’t make a play for you. He asks you if a little spanking turns you on. If you get all embarrassed like I did, he’ll be all nice about it and tell you it’s cool, and you would be surprised how often it happens. You go on your way and, he tells his boys you might be interested.”

Phillip said, “They invite you to party with them, and eventually, you end up at Chuckles house for booze, pills and weed.”

Mikie said, “You missed a step or two. It starts with a little sex and some weed with the pack. Then you deal a little. Once you make it to his house, Chuckles pulls some wild sex shit on you in his basement. The best sex ever type shit to a seventh or eighth grade kid. When you get addicted to it, he invites his friends. If you play along, you’ll make a few hundred bucks over the weekends.”

Phillip said, “I did not see that coming.”

“That’s why I quit”, Mikie growled with a self-loathing Phillip had never heard out of him. “The money was good, but with strangers, yuck! They tried to recruit Randy and Stevie, but Stevie hated Doug from the jump and Randy stopped at the part where you move up to party at Chuckle’s house. He wouldn’t deal. That’s what keeps it quiet: you get in deeper and deeper with each step. No kid wants to admit what they’ve done.”

“I’m sorry Phillip, but I couldn’t just tell you everything at once. I had to let you figure it out by yourself. Please don’t hate me now.”

Phillip gathered Mikie into his arms and said, “There’s no way I could hate you. All of you were victims. Is this how they got to Cole?”

Mikie said, “Cole was different. He got cancer a few years ago, and thought he was going to die, so he partied like crazy. Cole discovered that weed makes chemo easier. He got rid of the cancer but kept the weed. I didn’t know he had a thing with Ike.”

Phillip chuckled and said, “I caught them this afternoon. They’re a very sweet couple. Cole and Ike were in the hospital at the same time. Cole was ready to quit chemo until he met Ike.”

Mikie said, “I wish someone loved me like that.”

“Silly Mikie”, Phillip said and kissed him. “Somebody does love you like that.”

Mikie said, "I'm not so sure if you'll feel that way when it all comes out. Chuckles took pictures and video of us having sex. That's another big reason he's sure if you walk away, you'll stay away."

"No Mikie, it's another reason I like you. Character and courage are very, very sexy. You saw something ugly and had the strength to walk away"

Just after dark, Phillip turned out the lights. Everyone slipped into the pool naked. Much to Tanner’s regret, it wasn’t an all-out orgy. There was quite a lot of hugging and making out in the dark pool under the stars, but it was mostly bonding. Before, many of the kids felt isolated and alone. Now they were part of something bigger.

There was a mass induction into the Gentlemen’s Club. That might have been described as an orgy, but it was carried out in the best traditions of the Club.

Afterwards, the big group broke up in many smaller ones. Mikie joined Phillip in his study where he filled in the missing pieces of Vice Principle Chuckles Farmer’s escapades in the long narrative he would send to Sergeant Daniels. Now he had primary sources and that gave the document much more power and weight. Phillip wouldn’t hit send until after their upcoming expedition which, according to Mikie, would be best after eleven.