Spider Webs - 15. Chapter 15: Oh Brother

“When did he go to bed?”

Voices were annoying me; someone wouldn’t stop shaking me. I brushed a hand away, grabbed for my blanket and buried myself under it, using my pillow to shield my ears.

“I don’t think he’s getting up.”

Whoever he was, he was right: I definitely had no intention of getting up.

Someone sighed. “Let him sleep. I’ll leave him a note.”

Whatever the response was to that, I had no idea, because the voices went away and I went right back to sleep.

It was quiet in the house; too quiet. It made me want to roll over and go back to sleep; intuition told me that would be a bad idea, that it was probably far later than I was thinking it was. My alarm clock was useless; someone had put a folded note in front of the numbers.

I reached for it, dropped it on the ground when I saw the time: 10:00. I pushed my covers off and panicked; I was late for school. Extremely late for school. Elizabeth was going to kill me if I missed anymore classes.

Or not.

I was on my way out the front door, ready to start walking to school when I read the note that had been placed in front of my alarm clock:

We couldn’t wake you, so we decided to let you have the day off. Everybody else is going to school/work. Make sure you let the puppy out. Tonight you’re going to have to take your sleeping pills earlier than three in the morning. Don’t take your truck anywhere until Ken gets home. He will be home around noon-ish for a little bit.

Don’t work on the house either, unless someone is with you.

Love,

Elizabeth, Ken, and the boys.

I turned and stared at the truck sitting in the drive way. I don’t think I would have taken it anywhere even if I had been feeling inclined to drive the thing. I don’t know where I would have gone. Plus, I didn’t know where the keys were.

Something yapped when I walked back into the house. Cat-bait. I shook my head at the name and let him out of the laundry room, where he had been penned up. He left a pile of steaming shit in Ken’s parking spot. I think it helped that I encouraged him, seeing as I couldn’t leave him outside by himself.

Which presented me with a couple of problems; a fence was going to have to be built for the dog, and I didn’t want to watch the dog. Perhaps it should be better said that I didn’t want him watching me. It was the first time in weeks that I had actually been left alone. No Patrick, Reese or Joel following me around. No Ken or Elizabeth to pop up at unexpected times.

My dick was already hard at the thoughts floating through my mind. I was going to have a daylong marathon jerk-off session with no one to bother me except the dog. Who was still watching me.

My idea for a daylong marathon jerk-off session only worked in theory.

I was sitting on the living room couch, waiting impatiently for the laptop Elizabeth had gotten me to boot up. I was more than ready to explore all the possibilities the internet presented me. My mesh-shorts were down around my ankles and my hand was reacquainting itself with my dick when the front door opened and slammed shut. I leaped to my feet and whirled, facing the front door. Reese stomped his way into the living room, ready to head up the stairs when he stopped cold in his tracks, his wide eyes staring at my naked crotch.

Me? I was too busy staring at his head to bend over and pull my shorts back up. His hair was … well, it looked like he’d been attacked by a mad barber.

“Whoa…you’re freaking…” Reese stuttered.

“Whoa…your freaking…” I echoed, too shocked to do anything else.

“…huge…”

“…hair…”

I snapped out of my shock and actually looked at Reese. His face was red, and there was snot running out of his nose. It was obvious he had been crying.

“What the hell happened to you?” I snapped; more worried about the fact that he had been crying and someone had gone and done a Sweeney Todd number on his hair.

“Huh?” Reese tore his eyes away from my crotch and clapped his hands to his head in an attempt to cover up the bald patches strewn haphazardly around his head.

“Nothing! I don’t want to talk about it. Sorry!” he blurted, bolting up the stairs.

I winced. The back of his head was even worse. I stooped down and grabbed my shorts, pulled them up and tugged my cut-off shirt down over the front of my shorts before I followed him up the stairs.

He had locked his door. I pounded on it. “Reese, open up!” I demanded.

“Go away,” he shouted. “I don’t want to talk about it!”

“You have to talk about it!” I replied, “Because you’re going to have to tell your parents something when they get home!”

Something slammed into the door from the other side. “Go away!”

I sighed, threw up my hands and gave up. Damn teenagers. They were way too dramatic for their own good, if you asked me. Hopefully Joel would have an easier time going through puberty. I went downstairs and sat back down on the couch, staring intently at my computer.

“Damn!” I swore, no longer in the mood to pursue any recreational activities that were of an interest to me. Instead, I tried to figure out how I might be able to get Reese to open up and talk to me. That was funny, considering three weeks ago he hadn’t been of any interest to me whatsoever.

“Lunch!” I shouted. I didn’t bother waiting to see if Reese came down the stairs, just went into the dining room. I had made sandwiches and potato chips. It was quick and easy, and I was tired of Reese sitting upstairs in his bedroom, sulking. Besides, with as much as he’d been crying, I figured he had to be hungry.

I only knew he had been crying because I’d been sitting outside his door.

“Thanks; how did you know to make me lunch?” someone asked. I was still facing the kitchen and I turned, startled by Ken; who was home earlier than I had expected, just as Reese came into sight. My eyes went wide; so did Reese’s. The only thing that saved us was the fact that Ken had his back to Reese.

“Uh…Elizabeth said you’d be home around lunch time,” I replied, remembering the note.

Reese turned and tiptoed out of sight. I guess he didn’t want his dad knowing he was home.

Ken nodded, took off his suit jacket and sat down at the table. I joined him. I was biting into my sandwich when he pulled his briefcase up and set it down on the table. He opened it and pulled out license plates, sliding them across the table toward me.

“Thanks,” I mumbled through my food. Ken shook his head at me. Manners. I rolled my eyes at him. “Hey…where are the keys to the truck at?” I asked, swallowing my food.

“Up there with the spare keys,” Ken replied, as if that’s where they belonged. I rolled my eyes at myself. I should have looked there first. “Planning on going somewhere?” he asked.

I shook my head at him. “No, I just wasn’t sure where they were. I wanted to go out and look at the truck. The doors are locked,” I said. What I’d told him was true, too. For the most part, I really hadn’t planned on going anywhere.

Ken nodded, looking uncertain, but he opened his mouth anyway. “Because, if you did want to go somewhere, that’s okay with us, you know. Just make sure you call someone and let them know where you’re going, though,” he said.

I nodded, still unsure that I wanted to drive the truck. “Okay. Thanks,” I replied anyway.

Ken pulled out the documents he had shown me last night. “I wanted to talk to you about these,” he said, putting a chip in his mouth. I nodded, but somewhere around the time he started talking and I started stuffing my face I tuned him out.

My mind was on Reese, and the fact that someone had seriously f**ked up his hair. I couldn’t understand how or why he would let someone do that to him. If it had been me and someone tried to do that to, I would have seriously kicked someone’s ass. I think I was just starting to figure out that Reese wasn’t a fighter. That should have been obvious though, with the way his parents loved him. Almost to the point that I’d consider him spoiled rotten. But he didn’t act like he was spoiled rotten. I think his parents just wanted him to be a kid while he could.

Elizabeth had said something to me about that early this morning. She didn’t think I’d know how to have fun. To be honest I wasn’t sure I knew how either. My idea of fun had been stealing cars, and that had been done for the money more than anything else.

“Is that okay?” Ken asked, grabbing my attention.

“Huh? What? Yeah, sure, whatever you think is right,” I answered, not quite sure what I was agreeing to. I just smiled at him.

Ken looked uncertain but nodded anyway.

“Hey Ken, can I ask you something?”

“Yeah,” he replied.

“Do you think it’s okay if I start acting like a kid?” I asked. I think he was expecting me to ask questions about whatever it was he’d been saying, but I hadn’t been paying any attention to him, so his surprise was understandable. I think I surprised myself, too. I didn’t think I’d ever go to him for advice or permission on anything.

“Uh…yeah…I think that would be great. Actually, I’m a little relieved…is something going on?” he asked.

I shook my head at him. “No, why would something be going on?”

“Uhm, well, I guess the proper question is why you think you need to ask permission to be a kid?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Elizabeth said something to me last night,” I said. He looked curious, so I continued. “She said she didn’t think I knew how to be a kid or how to have fun.” I tried not to look insulted when I said that but I don’t think I succeeded, if his laughter was anything to go by.

“I think…I don’t think I did either, and if you think about it, you probably haven’t. You’ve been acting like a parent since you were eleven years old, Micah. We’re pretty sure that that hasn’t been very fair to you…” Ken said.

“But I didn’t mind taking care of Joel…”

“And I’m glad you didn’t mind taking care of Joel,” Ken replied. “The point is, though, that right now you don’t have to. I’m not saying you have to stop being a brother…but perhaps you could be the great kid that you are, and be a great older brother, too, if you know what I mean?”

I nodded. I didn’t think that I had been acting like a parent; I just thought I was being Joel’s big brother. Apparently I was wrong.

“So…I should let you and Elizabeth do the parenting, then?” I asked. That was the only thing that was left, as far as I could tell.

Ken nodded. “Yeah, let Elizabeth and me do the parenting,” he said. He looked worried. That was my fault. I’d made it quite clear from the get-go that they weren’t my parents and never would be. I sighed. I still didn’t want parents. I had parents. One was dead and the other was a drunk.

“Micah?” Ken demanded my attention. I’d been staring out the window.

“We can try it…but, I’m not promising anything,” I said. He looked relieved, gave me a smile. “I’m still cooking though. It’s safer that way,” I informed him.

He grinned at me and got up from his chair, came around the table. His actions confused the shit out of me, especially when he hugged me. I didn’t hug him back. I got uncomfortable real quick.

“Uhm…we can work on the hug thing, like…take it slower, perhaps?” I asked.

Ken let me go, looked embarrassed. “Uhm, yeah…you just tell me if you need a hug, or something. Will that work?”

Oh brother. I had really put my foot in it this time. I nodded.

“Now that all that’s out of the way,” Ken took a deep breath, “I wanted to talk to you about what you told me last night.”

I raised an eyebrow at him, not having a clue about what he was talking about. I think we had done a lot of talking last night.

“I meant with the principal,” he informed me.

I groaned. “You’re not grounding me…” Ken looked at me. “Please?” I asked. “I mean seriously, that guy’s an asshole, and he deserved to be hit, and he pissed me off…”

“You’re right. He is an asshole; and no, I’m not grounding you for that. I do however want you to apologize to him,” Ken said.

I shook my head. “At least consider it?” He asked.

I didn’t want to consider it.

“Also, I know he pissed you off and that’s the reason you tried to hit him, but… you shouldn’t do anything out of anger, Micah,” Ken said. “If you’re going to hit someone, you should do it when you aren’t angry. You should do it when you’re calm and collected. Because there’s nothing scarier than a man who does something like that when they’re calm and collected. It tells the other person, ‘hey, don’t f**k with me, because you can’t get to me, and if you try, you’ll be in a world of hurt’, you understand?”

I let out a startled laugh, surprised. “That’s some…great parenting advice,” I said, confused. “Are you allowed to give me advice like that?” I asked.

Ken shrugged. “I’m a soldier first, and a lawyer second. Micah, as long as we don’t tell Elizabeth what kind of advice I’m giving you, I’m pretty sure I can get away with it,” he told me.

I didn’t even know what to say to that. “Okay, we won’t tell Elizabeth,” I said.

“Okay, great,” he replied. He grabbed the sandwich left on his plate and his briefcase. “I’ve got to get back to work to meet with a client and I don’t want to be late. I’ll be home late tonight, too,” he told me. I nodded.

“Oh, this came for you in the mail,” he said a second later, handing me an envelope. I looked at it.

“What is it?” I asked suspiciously.

“Probably your ATM card,” Ken answered. “Oh, that reminds me. I called the bank that had control of your and Joel’s trust accounts, and…”

“Hrm, can you just spit it out, otherwise you’re going to be late,” I interrupted him.

Ken grinned. “I like that about you, you know. You’re short and to the point, no bullshit. Alright. They’ve given us control of the trust funds since we’re your court-appointed guardians for now, and I’ve had them wire some money into your bank account. Not much, though. Just what your dad and I agreed upon last night.”

Wait. “You talked to my dad?” I asked him, startled.

Ken nodded. “Yeah, in these situations it tends to be easier to get things done when you do communicate with the parent, you know,” he informed me. I shook my head, not liking this one bit. Ken held up his hand.

“Anyway, your dad said he had no objections if money were taken from the trust account; he figured you probably deserved it. Joel too, and now I really have to go,” Ken said, backing away like I was about to explode.

He was out the door before I could say anything, and I sat back down in my chair. I hadn’t even been aware of standing up.

I decided not to think about the money sitting in my bank account. I wasn’t even curious, really. I was however thinking about what he had said.

I was staring back out the windows, petting Cat-bait when Reese came down the stairs and into the dining room. I looked at him. “There’s bread on the counter, and meat in the fridge,” I told him. He was wearing a hat on his head. It didn’t do a very good job of covering up the missing patches of hair.

Reese nodded. He still looked upset, but at least he wasn’t crying anymore. “Thanks for not telling dad I was here,” he said. I nodded. “So what’s the plan, wear a hat until your hair grows back?” I asked.

Reese shrugged. “I don’t know.”

I scowled at him, getting pissed off. I held it back. Ken said I shouldn’t do anything out of anger, and Reese hadn’t done anything to deserve it, either. Not really.

“I do. I need you to watch Cat-bait for a while,” I said as I stood up and grabbed the temporary tags and the other documents that Ken had given me with them. I found the keys to the truck right where Ken had said they would be.

“Where you going?” Reese asked.

“To put my temporary tags on the truck, then I’m taking it for a test drive. I’ll be back shortly after that,” I replied as I found my wallet, put the bank card and pin number in it and put my shoes on.

Butterflies were in my stomach when I unlocked the truck and sat in the leather driver’s seat for the very first time. I started laughing, because I was too short and couldn’t see very well over the steering wheel. At least I couldn’t until I found buttons on the lower left side of the bucket-seat that I was sitting in that raised the height of the chair. I was thinking I was going to have to find platform shoes to wear just so I could reach the pedals; that didn’t turn out to be the case. I reached the pedals just fine.

I adjusted the mirrors, turned the key so I had power and rolled down the windows and finally I was ready. Tentatively, I turned the key further and listened intently as the diesel engine roared to life. I smiled. If it wasn’t loud, obnoxious and full of power, then it wasn’t worth having. That was something that my dad had said a lot when I was younger. It was the one motto he still lived by.

Intending to reverse the truck, I put my foot on the gas, pushing slightly. I didn’t go anywhere. Laughing at myself, I moved my foot to the brake, popped it out of neutral and into reverse; eyed the rear-view mirror nervously. I had no idea why I was acting like a little girl. Hell, I’d driven up here all the way from Oregon with hardly any problems.

I fiddled with the radio, deciding the lack of tunes was the problem. It wasn’t, though. Reese was on the back porch now; Cat-bait was running around in the backyard. Apparently Reese wanted to watch me set off in the truck on my maiden voyage.

I couldn’t chicken out now.

Making sure the truck was in reverse, I hit the gas pedal.

My foot slammed on the brake when I heard Cat-bait yelp loudly. I was out of the truck and looking around wildly under the truck; my face felt weird, like all the blood had drained away.

“Micah!” I turned, saw Reese holding Cat-bait on the front porch. I cursed, “What the hell!”

Reese looked startled. I ran to the back porch and examined the dog. “What’s wrong with him?” I finally asked. He didn’t look injured.

“Flea bit him in the butt,” Reese informed me, grinning.

I shook my head. “Stupid…we’re building a fence this weekend,” I informed Reese.

He looked confused. “Why are we…”

“Just hold onto the dog until I’m out of here, please?” I asked.

Reese must have figured out what had me freaking out because he looked amused as he nodded. At least something cheered him up. This time I put the truck in drive and carefully maneuvered into the field behind the barn before I circled around it, put it back in the drive way and pulled onto the street, driving slowly into town.

Reese was going to be a lot happier before the day was over.

---

Sunglasses were far more expensive than they should have been, if you asked me.

At least they looked good on me; plus they helped keep the sun out of my eyes so I could actually drive. That’s what I was thinking as an asshole in his sixties pulled around me and sped up until he could get in front of me, honking his horn the entire time.

I was going 25 in a 45.

He was the last asshole to pass me. There was nobody else. I pushed on the gas pedal, finally started relaxing as I continued to get used to the way the truck handled.

I was back at the Windleton’s, putting the truck in park, carrying the package I had spent thirty bucks on. Reese was on the couch watching TV.

I ignored him and went into the dining room; pulled a chair into the kitchen. “Reese!” I hollered. I opened up my package and went carefully through its contents.

“What?” he shouted.

“Come here!” I ordered. He came in and I pointed at the chair. “Sit!”

Reese frowned but did as I commanded. I snapped the cutting cape through the air.

“What are you doing, Micah?” Reese asked, startled.

“Fixing it,” I told him as I pulled his ball cap off his head.

“Fixing it?” Reese parroted.

“Yup,” I replied, turning on the hair-clipper I’d just bought.

Reese turned and looked at me, his eyes wide. “I don’t think—”

“I think you should trust me. Now turn around and hold still, otherwise I’m going to sit on you,” I threatened.

Reese gulped. I managed to stay calm while I brushed out his hair. What he had left, anyway.

“Now tell me everything you know about the assholes that did this to you,” I said as I took the plunge and made the first swipe with my clippers.

Reese didn’t say anything. “Now!” I demanded.

Reese sighed. “Brian’s the worst. The rest aren’t that bad, really.”

“Who’s Brian?”

“The boy you hit on the beach.”

I frowned. “I thought his name was Jamie?”

Reese shook his head. I got the clippers away in time and smacked him lightly on the back of his head. “Sit still or you’re going to end up missing more than you want.”

Reese flinched, but continued with his explanation. “No, Brian’s the one you hit. Jamie’s just a traitorous jerk. He used to be cool, hung out with us when we were younger, but ever since his mom married his step-dad, he’s changed. Now he’s just a jerk,” Reese said.

“Tell me about Brian, then, and everyone who’s been giving you trouble.”

“Well, Brian’s a football player…” I listened intently to all the information Reese supplied me with, asking questions where appropriate until I had a general idea of what Reese was dealing with; carefully positioning Reese’s head and cutting at his hair the whole time.

It wasn’t just Reese dealing with these kids. Ben and Patrick were catching shit from them, too, as were other kids that I didn’t know. The worst part was it wasn’t just some of the football players giving people shit. A couple of them were on the wrestling team; and I almost cut open Reese’s head when he told me about the shit Joel was catching from these assholes, as well.

I followed Reese up the stairs and into the bathroom when I was done cutting his hair, even though he’d finished telling me everything he knew about the assholes picking on him.

“Where was I during all this?” I asked out loud. “I mean seriously, how could I not know about this?”

Reese looked at me before opening the bathroom door. “You were too busy avoiding everyone by walking home,” he reminded me. “Or Timmy was picking you up and bringing you back here for your sessions. Plus you’d be outside working on that house by the time we got home; we always made sure we looked okay just in case. Joel insisted, so, Patrick would drive around for thirty or forty minutes, wasting time.”

I shook my head. I think I was disappointed.

“Hey,” Reese laughed, fingering the skin on the side and back of his head, “I look like a marine.” He growled, made what I think was supposed to be a ferocious look at the mirror. “You going to flex next?” I jokingly asked.

Reese shook his head and rolled his eyes at me. “Thanks Micah, I like it.”

I nodded. He shouldn’t have been thanking me.

“You know,” he commented, “you’re like a mom in a boy’s body.” I mockingly growled at him. He laughed at me. “No, I mean it. I mean, you know how to cook, and you clean, and do laundry, and play guitar and sing, and you can cut hair.” He fingered the spikes I had managed to work into place using a lot of gel. I had to admit it, Reese really did look good. He was still smiling when he turned around and looked at me. “I’m glad you’re here.”

That made me feel bad. I had made him get rid of his cat and ignored the fact that he had been getting bullied. I shook it off. “Good, now help me get the kitchen cleaned up,” I said. Reese followed me back down the stairs and swept while I put everything away. “Hey Reese,” I said, thinking about something Patrick had said.

“Yeah?”

“I think it’s time for you and Joel to learn how to do your own laundry. You’re both old enough, you know.”

Reese looked startled, before his face turned thoughtful. It was like he had never thought about it before. He nodded, though. “Yeah, I think you’re right,” he said.

Yup. I was definitely right.

“You two also get to start helping with some of the chores around here.”

Reese looked like he was about to argue with me on that one. “You might get a raise on your allowance,” I informed him.

“Really?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Probably.”

“Okay than,” he said.

I grabbed my wallet and keys again, locked Cat-bait in the laundry room. Reese watched me, curious.

“Since you’ve agreed with me on everything I’ve suggested so far, how about I take you back to school now.” It really wasn’t a suggestion. Reese started shaking his head. “And be sure you catch a picture of that prick’s face when he sees your new haircut,” I suggested, watched as Reese went from frowning to smiling. I took that as an agreement. Reese ran upstairs and grabbed his backpack, hopped into the passenger seat of my truck where I was waiting for him.

I didn’t have any problems with going the speed-limit this time. Hell, I think I even managed to go over it before my nerves got the better of me and I slowed back down to the speed-limit, driving through town like I knew where I was going. That’s probably because I did. The truck came with a navigation system set into the center console as part of its cd-player and radio.

I drove slowly by the elementary school that Joel was going too. “Where do you guys usually meet Joel at?” I asked. Reese started giving me directions until I was stopped by the side of a park that was across the street. Reese was pointing out the spot they usually stood in when Brian and his goons came by to give them trouble. Why the hell didn’t they ever try to pick Joel up somewhere else?

It was a good question, and I asked it.

“Because they find us no matter where we try and pick him up at. They don’t care who sees them causing problems. They think they’re king-shit and need to be knocked down a few pegs,” Reese replied, sounding angry over the bullshit.

I nodded. I could understand why he felt that way. He just wouldn’t do anything about it. He was too scared. I couldn’t blame him, either. I knew the type of kids messing with him. I had been that type, once, not so long ago. Back when I’d been living in Oregon and people pissed me off with their contempt and hatred for my lot in life. The worst ones had been the ones with sympathy. Those were the ones I tried to hurt the most, just by being an asshole.

I wondered if I still had it in me to be a complete, utter asshole. The answer, unfortunately, was yes. I hadn’t changed that much, when I really thought about it. People just hadn’t really messed with me up here.

It was 12:45 when I dropped Reese off at the school entrance. “Hey Reese, you guys are picking Joel up at that park this afternoon, right?” I asked.

Reese looked back at me, the passenger door open. “Yeah,” he said. He wasn’t in a very good mood anymore.

“Good, make sure you’re all standing right where you said you’d be standing,” I said. I ignored the curious look he gave me. “Hey, the instruments are still in my house. Why don’t you tell the girls and the rest of your band to come by around four if they can? I don’t have my session with Timmy, so we can make up for the practice I’ve missed these last two days.”

Reese nodded, happy with my suggestion.

I sat in that parking lot for a good thirty minutes after dropping Reese off. My mind was racing with ideas and things to do before I finally put the truck in drive. I reached into the middle compartment and pulled out the bank slip showing the balance on my bank account. I had been surprised at the balance, not that I was rich or anything. I was just glad the money was there for me to use. I had to find Wal-Mart and a hardware store, because it was time to start acting like a kid. More importantly, it was time to act like a big brother.

---

The shit was heavy. The rope I’d bought on a spur of the moment decision had turned out more useful than I had expected it to be. Everything was set up as perfectly as I could make it. Now all I had to do was wait. I hated waiting, because I sucked at sitting still. For the sake of not giving myself away, I managed it.

I held my breath when I saw Reese, Patrick and Ben standing in the park, just as Reese had said they would be. It would be close. Perhaps too close. I considered scrapping the entire plan.

Scrapping the plan was no longer an option. Some kid I took to be Jamie came into view and got in Ben’s face. I couldn’t hear a single word being said between them. Patrick and Reese looked like they were nervous. I could understand why. The tall, skinny kid in Ben’s face was being backed up by three more of his buddies. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Brian amongst them.

“Fucking faggot,” Jamie suddenly shouted, pushed Ben backward so that he sprawled onto his ass. Jamie took a step forward, followed by Brian and the rest of his goon squad. Reese and Patrick caught Ben’s arm, pulled him backward.

It was perfect.

It stopped being perfect when Joel ran into view underneath me. I watched in disbelief and then pride as Joel kicked Jamie in the nuts and, grabbing at Jamie’s shirt, pulled it up and around Jamie’s head, blocking his sight. My heart-rate picked up speed. Joel swung his fist and punched Jamie in the side of the head, knocking Jamie onto a knee. I almost cheered when Joel grabbed at the back of Jamie’s head and pulled him forward, planting a knee into Jamie’s face and knocking him backward. I thought I heard something go crunch.

“Joel!” Reese shouted a warning. Brian and his goons were rushing forward to help Jamie. I couldn’t believe these idiots were going to beat up an eleven-year-old kid. An eleven year old who happened to be my brother. Reese ran forward and grabbed Joel around the waist. They managed to get out of the way. Brian and his goons stopped next to Jamie; disbelief on their faces. I understood why. From what Reese had said, no one really resisted the goons.

This must have been a first.

It was perfect.

I grabbed the five-gallon bucket of black paint and tipped it over; the rope helped me guide pouring the paint into place. All over the heads of: Brian, Jamie, and the two goons. I wish I’d had a camera so I could see the expression on their faces. I wanted to see the look on Ben, Patrick, Reese and Joel’s faces too. I’d done one better, though.

I let the rope and bucket fall to the ground, laughed when the bucket hit Brian square on the top of his noggin. Grabbing the pillow I’d slit down the seams, I unloaded the feathers into the air, more pleased with the results than I had ever expected to be as the feathers drifted down and settled on Brian and his friends.

It was the closest thing to a tar-and-feathering that I could think of, and if anyone deserved it, it was these assholes. I was done. Everything had gone off perfectly. I had calmly caught the goons by surprise and, as far as I was concerned, I was done dealing with them. I wasn’t satisfied, though. I dropped from the tree where I’d been perched out of sight, behind Brian and on top of his two goons.

Brian whirled around when he heard me land on his two buddies that had been nice enough to catch my fall. I didn’t waste any time; a one-two punch into Brian’s stomach had him bending over, and taking one out of Joel’s book, though it was technically mine since I’d taught him the move, I grabbed hold of Brian’s shirt and pushed on him so he wasn’t bent over, stepped really close and kicked at the back of his knee.

Brian dropped to his knees. I was getting pissed, losing control as the adrenaline kicked in. That didn’t stop me from grabbing Brian’s paint-slicked hair at the back of his head. I pulled him forward, kneed him in the forehead, hoping I didn’t hit him in the nose. The wrong hit would kill the kid.

I didn’t want to kill him. I wanted to teach him a lesson. I followed up by pushing Brian’s upper body back up again, then forward into my knee. It wasn’t quite enough. I let Brian continue his fall forward onto his stomach. The two-goons were wiping paint into their eyes; I had time. I stood so I was almost straddling Brian’s body, reached down and grabbed the back of Brian’s shirt, pushed him onto his back. The satisfaction came when I punched Brian in the mouth, punched him again.

The lesson needed to be made clear.

I wrapped my hands into Brian’s shirt at the top near his neck-collar, pulled him until he was almost sitting off the ground. The only strength supporting him in the air was mine.

“Oh God,” Brian groaned.

My face was in his in a second. “That’s right, asshole. I’m god, and this is my first and only commandment. You ever come near or touch my brother’s or any of my friends again, I’ll rip off that Barbie-doll Ken-sized dick you have between your legs and beat you to a pulp with it, understand?”

Brian groaned something. I was choking him, that’s how tight my grip was on the collar of his shirt. I could only assume he understood. I wanted to make sure.

“That goes for you and all your buddies, clear?” I tightened my grip, released my hold some.

“kuah…” he choked out again. I shook him. “Yes!” he finally managed to get out.

“Good,” I slammed him back into the ground, not caring that his head practically bounced off it.

It was a fifteen –second fight that I couldn’t even consider a fight.

Jamie was getting up. Rushing him, I nailed him in the face with a wild swing I didn’t think would connect, watched him fall onto his back again. It was time to get out of there. I grabbed the paint-bucket and started coiling the rope as fast as I could. Months of practice made it pretty quick. It was a short rope. Only fifteen feet or so.

“Get out of here,” I snapped at Patrick and the others, not taking any time to admire the surprised looks on their faces. Joel reacted to my words, grabbed Patrick’s hand and tugged until Patrick was moving. Ben and Reese ran after them. The rope was coiled. I snatched up the bucket and ran to where I had parked my truck at the side of the road.

“Did you get it?” I asked as I got in the driver’s seat of my truck, peeling off the thin gloves I was wearing. I tossed them on the towel I’d set on the center console, after it’d been pointed out to me that I might need it.

My truck was already running. I put it in drive and hit the gas, heading up the hill that would take me home. I could see Patrick’s car ahead of me. I looked briefly at the passenger seat, eyed the video-camera being held.

I wasn’t disappointed.

“Got it all Bach,” came the grim answer.

“Good,” I replied, satisfied.

---

Despite the fact that Patrick and the others had left before me, I still managed to make it back to the house before them, even after dropping my passenger off. I was in the backyard, digging holes when they finally pulled up an hour later, wide grins on their faces despite the fact that they were covered in paint. I frowned. I was pretty sure I hadn’t gotten any paint on them.

“Why are you guys covered in paint?” I asked, wondering if Brian and his goons had caught up with them.

“Oh, we had to go clean up the mess you made in the park,” Patrick informed me. Despite the fact that he had cleaned up my mess, he still looked like he was in a good mood.

I rolled my eyes at him. “It’s eco-friendly paint,” I informed him. Patrick just shrugged at me, looking unbothered. Ben and Reese were horsing around behind him, recreating the fight from the park like a couple of eight year olds. I shook my head at their antics, pleased that they were in such good spirits.

“So…what’re you doing?” Patrick asked as I shoved the post-hole digger into the ground and pulled up more dirt. I’d found it in the barn.

“Building a fence,” I informed him as Joel came out with Cat-bait.

“Why?” Ben asked.

I gestured at Cat-bait. Ben stopped horsing around, went aww and ran over to play with him. “I thought I killed him earlier,” I informed him.

“You’re grounded if you kill my dog,” Joel informed me. Patrick snickered at me. I rolled my eyes at him. He made up for it by picking up another post-hole digger. I’d bought that one. “Where do you want me to start?” he asked.

“Over there where that orange flag is sticking out of the ground. We’ll run the fence posts to the barn and then run em from the back of the barn going that way and then up the side to the house.” Patrick looked slightly confused by my vague answer. “Just dig where the orange flags are. About four feet deep.”

Reese looked at the flags I’d laid out on the ground. “This is going to take forever. Got another shovel?” he asked.

“In the barn, I think. Where are the girls and everyone else?” I asked.

Reese shrugged. “No one else could make it, and Ben’s staying with us for the next week,” he reminded me.

“Okay…when are your parents going to get home?” I asked. I’ll admit it, I was nervous about what I had done, and I was hoping no one had seen it. But the possibility existed that someone had seen and Elizabeth and Ken were probably not going to be very happy about it.

Reese shrugged. “Dad’s going to be home late and Mom won’t be home until seven or so. She has sign-language class tonight.”

I grunted. “When did she start taking those?”

Reese grinned. “After you and Joel moved in,” he informed me. I shook my head. I should have known that.

I found myself looking at Joel anyway. “She knows she doesn’t have to take them anymore, right?” I whispered.

Reese nodded. “Yeah,” he whispered back, “but since Joel’s moving at his own pace, she thought it would be a good idea to continue them. She’ll teach me and dad what she learned later.”

I could only shrug at that. Reese went into the barn and grabbed two more shovels, handed one to Ben, who just stared at it and shook his head. “I don’t get dirty,” he told Reese.

“You do if you’re sleeping in my bed with me tonight,” Reese replied.

Ben looked slightly torn between the two choices but took the shovel. “The things I do just to sleep next to a pretty face,” he said, sighing dramatically.

I breathed in relief. It was supposed to rain again this weekend. Today was the only break in weather we would have and the ground was barely dry enough as it was. The more hands I had helping the better off things would be.

I should have known it would be that line of thinking that would get me in trouble with Patrick. It was sometime later that he tapped me on the shoulder. “Hrm?” I grunted, planted the post-hole digger into the ground and looked at him.

“What’re they doing here?” He asked. I looked where he was looking and saw Dafydd and several of Patrick’s Uncles milling around in the backyard, wielding shovels.

“Helping,” I informed Patrick.

“Helping?” he parroted.

“Yup. I ran into your grandpa at the hardware store earlier. He said something about how neighbors help each other out when they need it, and this needs to get done,” I informed him.

Patrick didn’t look very happy. “You can’t ask for help from my family without…”

I sighed. “Patrick?”

“What?”

“I’m helping you with your chores tomorrow morning; and your Grandpa wants me to use my truck to help haul some crap out of one of your fields. He’s helping me, I’m helping you. Besides, I didn’t have a choice. He more or less told me they’d be coming over to help put up the fence. So please…”

Patrick grunted but gave in.

“What’s the deal with your grandfather anyway?” I asked, “I mean, he seems nice enough, once you get past all that gruff tough-boy attitude he displays on the outside.”

Patrick looked amused with my comment. “You’re nice enough once a person gets past that—”

“Don’t make me hurt you,” I growled at him.

Patrick grinned but went back to work. My stomach hurt. I wanted to kiss him.

The desire to kiss him was becoming annoying; because I was pretty sure he wanted to kiss me too. He was just... not kissing me, or anything else, for that matter. I knew he’d be sleeping in my bed again; that was becoming a problem. My dick had a mind of its own and it was getting harder and harder to refrain from jumping him the minute he crawled in next to me. After Reese’s interruption this morning, and the lack of hand exercises these past few weeks, I had to wonder if my dick could fall off from lack of use.

I decided I wasn’t going to ask Ken about that. I was going to take a long shower, though.

Elizabeth. I’d forgotten about her. She was standing on the back porch, watching us work when I handed the water hose off to Uncle Bryce. “Be right back,” I mumbled.

I ended up racing Cat-bait across the backyard. He came out ahead of me, leaping up and putting his paws on Elizabeth’s pants. She picked him up and started petting him, still staring at her backyard.

“What’re you guys doing?” she finally asked.

“Building a fence,” I replied.

“Why are we building a fence?”

“I almost killed Cat-bait with my truck?” It came out a question. I had thought it was a good enough reason to build a fence. But, perhaps it wasn’t.

“I should have asked first…sorry,” I offered.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at me. “That’s an utterly ridiculous name.” she muttered, giving the dog an affectionate rub.

“We can still change his name. It’s not too late, you know,” I offered.

“How much did all this cost?” Elizabeth asked, instead.

I hesitated. “About a grand for all the materials,” I answered.

“Micah…”

“It’s worth it if it keeps Cat-bait from becoming Truck-bait,” I informed her.

Elizabeth grinned at me. “Fine…I’ll go cook dinner. You’re planting the garden back there, too,” she informed me.

“No need…” I blurted out, focusing on the first thing she had said and not the second.

“We’re putting a garden back there…I’m not going to stare out at some hideous fence…”

“I meant no need to cook. There’s a huge turkey in the oven…and…how about you go help them and I’ll finish up dinner?”

She rolled her eyes at me again but handed me Cat-bait without any objections.

The fence posts were setting in Quikrete © by the time I got dinner ready; Dafydd and the majority of his clan had left. Only Patrick and Uncle Bryce were left.

I scowled at the now almost empty back yard. “I was going to feed them, you know,” I said, put out by the hard work I’d put into cooking dinner and now there was hardly anyone around to enjoy it.

Uncle Bryce laughed at my tone. “Don’t worry about it,” he answered, amused. “Mom’s used to feeding everyone at all hours of the night and half that bunch will be eating at the bars tonight, anyway.”

“Oh, Grandpa said to give this to you,” Patrick said. He handed me a CD. I took it and smiled. “I didn’t think he knew anything about CD’s. Thought he was still stuck on 8-tracks,” he informed me.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Be nice…and you might be surprised at what your Grandpa knows.”

I drew Patrick’s interest with that comment. He looked like he wanted to ask me about it. “C’mon,” I hollered. “Dinner’s ready!”

Patrick groaned. “I’m going to have to eat at home tonight,” he informed me. Uncle Bryce stopped before he got to the door, looking toward the table I’d set before he looked at Patrick and sighed.

“Why?” I objected.

“Because I have to take a shower and change,” Patrick informed me.

I rolled my eyes at him. “I think half your clothes are in my closet,” I replied. “So take a shower here and change in my room. Just dump your dirty clothes in your laundry basket.”

He raised his eye. “My laundry basket?”

“Yup, it’s the ugly orange one.”

Bryce rolled his eyes at us and followed Elizabeth, Ben, Joel and Reese into the house, kicking off his boots in the process.

“Okay than,” Patrick muttered behind me. I didn’t let him see the grin on my face as I followed Bryce.

I was hungry.

---

“What are you doing?” I asked as I practically bounced into my bedroom. Patrick was lying on his stomach on my bed; his face was flushed and my laptop was lying in front of him.

“Nothing,” he replied.

“You okay?” I asked. “You look sick,” I informed him, tempted to feel his forehead. Patrick stretched out, let out a groan that was accompanied by a slight ‘ow’.

“No. My back hurts,” he answered.

“Awww, poor baby,” I said, appropriately sympathetic.

He grunted. “You should give me a back-rub,” he informed me.

“Now why would I want to do something like that?” I asked.

“Because...”

Screw his reasons for why I should do it. I had plenty of my own reasons for wanting to do it, which is probably why I didn’t even hesitate to crawl onto my bed and straddle his back. It was all I could do to restrain myself from grinding my hips into his butt when I sat down on him.

“Umph.”

I immediately began digging my hands, one of which was pretty sore, into his backside. I was more than pleased with the muscles in his back.

“Oh yeah,” he groaned out. I snickered. He sounded like a sound-track to a really bad porno. Speaking of which…I narrowed my eyes at the back of his head, thinking.

“You should take your shirt off,” I informed him as I stopped kneading at his backside.

“Huh. Why?” he asked. I rolled my eyes at him, thinking.

“Because it would be easier to do this if you didn’t have your shirt on,” I answered, pulling at the hem of his shirt, watching in breathless anticipation as it slid up his backside, revealing his smooth flesh.

Patrick helped me out by lifting his tummy off my mattress. I didn’t waste any time in getting his shirt off of him, and promptly sat back down on his ass, almost ready to resume the vital task at hand.

“You should take your pants off, too,” I informed him.

My thought was interrupted as soon as he tried to roll over underneath me. I lifted off him long enough to let him do so, watching as his green eyes seemed to suck in the light, sparkling with amusement. I sat down on his crotch, not as startled as one might think when something hard poked me in the ass.

It just wasn’t what I expected it to be. I rolled off him and reached into the back pocket of my jeans, pulling out the disc that I had been given. “Hey, I meant to show you guys this,” I said, giving Patrick a cheerful grin.

Yeah, I was in a good mood because neither Ken nor Elizabeth had said anything about anyone getting tarred and feathered this afternoon. That meant I was in the clear. I pulled the laptop over and opened it up. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Patrick buttoning up his jeans just as the laptop powered on, a web page opening right up.

I squinted at it as Patrick tried reaching for it. I pulled it out of his reach and read what I was seeing. “Patrick, who is Nah-roo-toe and Saskey? And what’s yowie?”

He blushed, pulled the laptop from my hand. “No one and it’s nothing. Just a story I was reading,” he replied, not looking at me. I squinted at him, suspicious.

“Is it porn?” I asked, grabbing the laptop back so I could read what he had been reading.

“No,” he replied. His nose twitched.

“Liar,” I replied, flipping over onto my stomach and huddling protectively over the computer.

That didn’t stop Patrick from pouncing on my back and tickling me. I squealed, tried to bounce him off me. It didn’t work very well, but it allowed me to roll over onto my back. I pushed at him; he grabbed my wrists and pinned them above my head.

“What now?” Patrick crowed, triumphant. He had a reason to be. He was far stronger than I had given him credit for. I just grinned at him grinning at me. His face was way too close. It was…

I tilted my head upward and brushed my lips against his, more certain than ever that I wanted to kiss him. Patrick let go of my wrists, breaking the kiss in his surprise. I sat up on my elbows and chased him with my mouth.

“Shhh,” I whispered, hoping he wouldn’t say anything, before my lips met with his once more. I rolled us over so I was on top, trailed a hand down his chest, felt his heart beating erratically, and licked carefully at his lips. A finger found one of his nipples and I stroked it. He let out a slight groan. His mouth opened beneath mine. I slid my tongue into his mouth, keen on exploring. My heartbeat picked up; I felt warm and tingly all over; found his tongue with my own and brushed it gently.

I was wearing way too many clothes.

Feet were pounding up the stairs. I broke the kiss and rolled off Patrick; grabbed at a pillow and tossed it over my lap, keenly aware of how hard my dick was in my pants. Patrick looked confused, slightly dazed. I grabbed the laptop and put it on his lap just as my bedroom door opened and Reese came in.

“What’re you guys doing?” Reese happily asked.

“Uh…”

“That’s great. Ben said get your asses out to the house, now!” he ordered before he turned around and went to leave my room. He stopped before he left though and turned around, looking slightly confused.

“Uhm…Put a hoodie on. It’s raining again, and it’s starting to get colder out,” he informed us.

“Bloody hell…yeah…okay,” Patrick muttered. Satisfied, Reese ran from my room like his ass was on fire.

I let out a groan, and turned back to Patrick; ready to pick up where we had left off. Patrick wasn’t though, because he had rolled off my bed and was putting his shirt back on, standing in front of my closet. His face was red and he wasn’t looking at me either.

“Hey,” I whispered.

Patrick gave me a funny look.

“Uhm…”

“So hey, I’ll see you out there,” he said as he grabbed a hoodie off the closet-rod.

“Bloody hell,” I groaned out in confusion as I watched Patrick’s back exiting my bedroom, “I’m never gonna get fucking laid.”

Patrick’s head popped back into my room, the grin on his face belied the slight furrow in his forehead. I sat up, annoyed with him. “It’s pronounced more like ‘bloodeh,’” he informed me, “and I wouldn’t say never, just…I’m confused. I need to think…I’m sorry. I’ll get back to you, though.”

I stared at the door, more confused now than I had been before.

He’d get back to me? What the fuck did that mean? I knew he’d been enjoying what we were doing. The tent in his pants said so. Hell, the tent in my pants said so. I sighed and shook my head, shut the laptop down and, grabbing whatever hoodie was closest, walked down the stairs, sliding my hoodie over my body to hide my wilting erection. Yeah, he could get back to me.

I was shaking my head as I bounded down the stairs, stopping when I heard the piano playing in the basement; someone singing along with the chords. I walked slowly down the basement stairs, listening intently to the sweet, melodic notes as Elizabeth sang with an intensity that surprised me. Joel was playing the piano for her.

When the rain is blowing in your face,

And the whole world is on your case,

I could offer you a warm embrace

To make you feel my love.

When the evening shadows and the stars appear,

And there is no one there to dry your tears,

I could hold you for a million years

To make you feel my love.

I know you haven't made your mind up yet—

“Hey Micah,” Ken whispered softly.

“Hey,” I replied softly.

“She’s pretty good, huh?” Ken asked.

I nodded. She was good. “Hey Ken, can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah?”

“When’s a good time to have sex with someone?” I asked, trying to play it cool even though I felt my cheeks begin to burn.

“Uh…” he spluttered. “What?” he yelped.

I looked him in the face, squared my shoulders. “Sex, you know…when’s a good time to do it?”

Elizabeth turned her head and looked at us; she didn’t stop singing though.

I know you haven't made your mind up yet,

But I would never do you wrong.

I've known it from the moment that we met,

No doubt in my mind where you belong.

Ken startled me when he grabbed a hold of my arm and pulled me up the stairs so we wouldn’t interrupt Elizabeth and Joel. I didn’t blame him. She had been wearing the scariest glare I’d ever seen on a person’s face before.

“Micah, are you thinking about having sex with someone?” I asked.

I rolled my eyes at him. “I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t thinking about it,” I informed him, “I am a teenager, after all.”

Ken shook his head, looking stumped and more than frazzled. I raised my eyebrow at him curiously, wondering if he was going to answer my question. He wasn’t answering though, and I was getting impatient.

“You do know what sex is, don’t you?” I finally asked, curious. Perhaps it’d just been too long since he had last done it and he’d forgotten what sex was.

His face turned red. “I know what sex is,” he hissed. I grinned, realizing I’d embarrassed him.

“Okay, so sex…uhm…well, you know how to use a condom and…”

I rolled my eyes at him. “I know how to have sex. You have the internet, you know,” I informed him. “I just wanted to know when is a good time to have sex.”

“Well, when you love someone, usually,” he replied.

“Was Elizabeth the first girl you had sex with?”

“Uh…well, no,” Ken replied.

I frowned at him. “So…”

“So I was a horny teenager and I regretted it afterward, because I didn’t really love her. I think you should wait until you’re sure you are in love,” Ken replied.

“How will I know I’m in love?” I asked.

Ken grinned at me. “You just will. The first time I saw Elizabeth…”

I grunted and shook my head. “Nope…I decided I’m not having this conversation with you. Ick,” I muttered.

Ken looked slightly offended. “You can tell Reese all about your sex life, I just don’t want to know,” I informed him, unapologetic, and then looked at him. “You guys still have sex?” Okay, my curiosity was getting me in trouble again. Ken blushed.

“I mean, I didn’t even think it was possible to get a hard-on at your age,” I said.

Ken narrowed his eyes on me. “For your information, I’m only thirty-eight,” he informed me. I was pondering that statement when Ken swatted me lightly on the ass, giving me a grin. “Now get out of here, runt, and go embarrass someone else for a while.”

“Yeah, sure,” I said, regretting ever bringing this conversation up with him.

“Hey honey, do you know anything about internet filters?” I heard Ken shout. I shook my head and ran out of the house to my house; breathing in the fresh smell of cold rain as it drizzled lightly, wondering what the boys were doing.

Dancing was the answer, I discovered. Ben was shirtless and had somehow convinced Reese and Patrick to take their shirts off as well. I stopped in the foyer to admire their forms, even Reese’s skinny, muscled form, as they shuffled their way through a dance, Ben stopping them every now and then to show them the steps.

A cd-player was sitting on the ground, blasting out music from ‘Jersey Boys’. I groaned.

“Hey Micah!” Ben cheered when he saw me standing there.

“What’re you guys doing?” I asked.

“Rehearsing,” Patrick replied.

I raised my eyebrow. “I know that. My question is why are you rehearsing?”

“Because I made one of the leading roles,” Patrick informed me.

I raised my eye at that. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I asked, wanting to congratulate him, until I remembered I was annoyed with him for leaving me hanging the way he did.

“I didn’t find out until today. Our choreographer,” Patrick placed his hand on Ben’s shoulder, “has insisted that we start practicing immediately.”

“Why are you doing it shirtless?” I asked.

Ben rolled his eyes at me like it was a stupid question. “Eye-candy. It’s all about the eye-candy!”

I shook my head. I shouldn’t have asked.

“Now get yer shirt off and join us,” Ben demanded.

“Not a chance,” I replied.

“Aww, c’mon. Don’t be such a spoilsport,” Reese piped up, flexing his muscles. I laughed at him.

“Fine…but only for an hour or so,” I replied.

Patrick raised his eye. “Why only an hour?” he asked.

“Because, I’m gonna teach you pipsqueaks how to fight,” I answered confidently.

“Hey, how high is your range?” Reese asked. I shrugged at him. “I dunno, pretty high if I need it to be, why?”

“Because you get to be our lead,” he informed me.

I raised an eyebrow. “I’m already your lead. Unless you managed to get through puberty in…what, a week?”

“No, I mean, for this rehearsal. The CD-player gets to play my part,” Reese replied, unhappy.

I smiled at him. “It’s okay, Pony.” Ben snickered at my use of Reese’s nickname. “Everyone goes through puberty sooner or later. You’ll get your voice back…Hey, why do you call him Pony anyway?” I asked.

Reese groaned. Ben grinned at me. “Because he’s soo cute, like a pony, that you just want to ride him all night long,” Ben declared.

I groaned. Patrick smacked Ben over the back of his head. “Down boy,” he ordered.

“Yeah well, one of these days this pony is going to be hung like a horse,” Reese muttered, blushing.

“Not according to your mother,” I informed him, ignoring the curious, open-mouthed looks that comment received. “Let’s get on with this. I want to teach you guys how to fight,” I said.

If only I’d known what I was going to be getting myself into, I would have kept my mouth shut. Unfortunately, I had a funny feeling that they were going to have to know how to defend themselves.

---

It was cold in the basement bedroom. There was no Patrick to keep me warm. I hated that, but he had taken to being evasive, and stuck to Reese and Ben like glue. He hadn’t even looked up when I’d left them watching TV in Reese’s bedroom after saying good night.

As for the reason I was in the basement, it was so I could sulk in peace. My bed smelled like Patrick, and I hated it. I hated it because lying in my bed, thinking about the fact that I’d made out with him, was giving me a boner that was crying out for relief.

It was relief that I wanted, lying in a bed that wasn’t my own and smelled nothing like Patrick. My hand was pumping up and down in heated strokes on my cock, my heart racing with my panting breaths as images of Patrick; naked, wet and blowing his load all over my face and chest after getting out of a shower came to mind. It was the closest thing to sex I’d ever gotten from him, and remembering it had me cleaning up my mess ten minutes later.

Feeling sated, I rolled over onto my side; my eyes lazily drifting shut, ready to go to sleep.

It was the mattress dipping as more weight settled into it that had me opening my eyes fifteen minutes later. My mouth was dry, a side-effect of the sleeping pill that was just beginning to kick in.

“Who?” I croaked.

“Oh…sorry Micah. I didn’t know you were in here,” Ben whispered, sounding slightly unhappy about something.

“S’ok,” I mumbled, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing…I think Patrick wanted to talk to Reese alone,” Ben mumbled.

I nodded, not quite understanding until I remembered Patrick saying Ben didn’t really like being alone. I woke up enough to lift the blanket up. “C’mon, get in here,” I mumbled. Ben crawled swiftly under the covers. I imagined seeing a wide grin splitting on his face.

“Never thought I’d end up in bed with a guy as hot as you,” Ben said happily.

“Ben, go to sleep,” I ordered sleepily.

Ben scooted up next to me. I draped my arm over him, so that my hand was touching his firm stomach, cuddling with him as his ass seemed to melt into my crotch. Spooning together, I nuzzled my nose into the back of his neck, smelling his hair. He smelled like strawberries. My eyes closed, ready to stay that way this time.

“Micah, are you naked?” Ben asked.

“Yuh,” I mumbled.

The bed shifted slightly as Ben started moving, shifting position in the bed. I wondered curiously what he was doing, right up until I felt his bare ass-cheeks brushing the head of my dick. That answered my question. My dick started hardening at the realization that Ben was naked next to me.

“Someone’s waking up,” Ben remarked next to me.

I let out a slight huff of laughter. “You’re incorrigible, Ben,” I muttered.

“Yup,” he agreed.

I shook my head, rubbing my nose against the back of his neck, deciding the sleeping pills were the reason for my inability to think. “Good night, Ben,” I mumbled.

“Night Micah,” he whispered back.

It felt like I’d hardly fallen asleep when I was being woken up again.

“Owe owe owe owe owe,” someone was whispering repeatedly.

“Shhh, you’ll wake him up,” someone whispered hoarsely.

“You’re mean… let go of my ear.”

Ben. Someone was being mean to Ben.

“You’re mean… you’re not allowed to sleep with Micah, especially when you’re both naked,” came the reply.

“But…”

“No bare butts…now go sleep with Reese,” was the softly spoken demand.

“Fine, take away all the fun,” Ben huffed.

“You’re not allowed to have fun with Micah…alone…and naked,” the other voice growled.

“He wouldn’t be alone…and naked…with me, if you’d take your clothes off and get in here with us,” I mumbled, stretching out until I was no longer curled up around the spot Ben had been lying in.

Utter silence in the room. I decided it was the sleep meds speaking for me.

“Yeah, what he said,” Ben whispered.

“Ben!”

“Okay okay, I’m going, yeesh.”

I closed my eyes, listening as the bedroom door opened and closed. The slight rustling of the comforter being pulled back and the dipping of the mattress informed me that my new company was crawling into bed with me. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised.

“That was mean, kicking Ben out like that,” I mumbled.

“I said I needed to think. That doesn’t mean sleeping with Ben… naked,” Patrick informed me.

“He wanted company, and you and Reese were talking,” I informed him, trying to open my eyes. “We didn’t do anything,” I added.

“I know,” he whispered, one of his hands coming around my waist, encouraging and at the same time pulling me closer to him.

“How do you know?”

“Because Ben’s a virgin; I think it’s why he’s horny all the time,” Patrick informed me, “he just wants to experience sex, and I don’t think he cares much who he experiences it with, as long as he knows them and they’re nice to him.”

“I’m glad he thinks I’m nice… so Reese and Ben aren’t having sex, then?” I asked, not sure where that thought came from.

Patrick huffed. “Reese is a virgin and straight,” Patrick said.

“Oh…sorry,” I mumbled into his chest, closing my eyes so I could go back to sleep.

“For what?”

“That I’m not Reese.”

Something wet and uncomfortable got stuck in my ear. I let out a groan of discomfort, thumped lightly at Patrick’s stomach until the sensation went away.

Opened my eyes. “Did you seriously just give me a wet-willy?”

Patrick snickered. “I’m not,” he whispered.

“Not what?”

“Not sorry that you’re not Reese,” he informed me.

My brain was mush. I couldn’t even think of a response.

“Why’d you start sleeping with me?” I whispered.

Patrick didn’t answer my question right away. He seemed to be thinking about something.

“Does it bother you?” he asked.

“Yuh…I never have time to jerk off,” I complained. His chest seemed to get warmer.

“Is that why you came down here?” he asked, giggling.

I nodded against his chest. He stopped giggling. “Wait, did you jerk off in this bed?”

“Yup,” I replied, too tired to be ashamed of my needs.

“Was Ben…”

“No,” I answered immediately, my mind starting to wake up a little.

“Good. I would have had to kill him,” Patrick muttered.

I decided to distract him and bit lightly at a nipple that I found with my wondering mouth, listening with delight as a gasp escaped his mouth.

“Answer the question,” I mumbled, pulling my mouth away.

Patrick sighed. “You used to sleep with Joel, didn’t you?” he asked.

The question threw me off. “How’d you know that?” I asked.

“That first night, when you were in jail and Joel had just gotten here, he couldn’t sleep. Elizabeth and Ken could hear him pacing in his bedroom. Finally Joel went into Reese’s bedroom and got into bed with him,” Patrick murmured.

“I had to come over in the middle of the night because Reese couldn’t understand why Joel was crying, or why he was in his bedroom. Joel fell asleep lying on top of Reese. It didn’t take long for us to figure out he usually slept with you at night, seeing as he crawled into bed with Reese the next night, after pacing a hole in his bedroom floor, again,” Patrick murmured, his voice neutral.

“Ken got up in the middle of the night and put Joel in his own bed. The next day Elizabeth went out and bought Joel a giant teddy bear that he keeps in his closet until he’s ready for bed. After that they just kept moving him in the middle of the night, tucking him in next to the teddy bear until he finally started to fall asleep by himself. That pacing that Joel did…it’s the same pacing you’d do at night. I think everyone knew you weren’t sleeping well.”

I sighed. Patrick stopped talking, apparently done with his tale, even though he hadn’t really answered my question. I think he had a question of his own.

“We lived in a one bedroom house. I used to sleep in the basement that was more of a cellar than anything else. Joel had outgrown his bed, and I gave him mine. He had the bedroom. Dad slept on the couch. I managed to scrounge up enough cash to get an air-mattress, but the thing kept falling apart more often than not. That cellar-floor was so uncomfortable, and I wouldn’t ever be able to sleep, so I’d crawl into bed with Joel more often than not,” I whispered. “Finally I just took to sleeping in that bed with him, at least until he asked me about my morning wood one morning,” I found myself laughing softly at myself, and the humiliation I’d felt that morning.

“I think I was like thirteen at the time. I told him not to worry about it, and that night I tried to sleep on the air-mattress. It didn’t work out, for me or for Joel. He came down at like two in the morning because he couldn’t sleep, and crawled onto the air-mattress with me. I was finally falling asleep when I had to wake up Joel so we could go sleep in his bed,” I continued.

“Really?” Patrick asked, curious.

“Yeah. The air-mattress wouldn’t hold our weight,” I snickered. “The next morning I had to give Joel the talk about puberty, and explain to him the changes his body would go through when he got older. It was so embarrassing.”

“You gave your brother the talk about puberty?” Patrick asked. “He was like…”

“Eight,” I whispered. “But that wasn’t the really embarrassing thing. The embarrassing thing was my underwear had gotten too small, so I’d taken to just not wearing any. I’d wear shorts that, in truth, weren’t much better. They left nothing to the imagination. I’d have to make Joel get out of bed and go eat breakfast while I laid there in bed, waiting for my boner to go away. The piss boners were the absolute worst though; I’d end up having to piss out the window just to make my boner subside. Then there were the wet-dreams…” I trailed off.

“That sounds…”

“Horrible?” I supplied.

“No, I was going to say kind of hot,” Patrick whispered back.

I rolled my eyes at him. “You’re a kinky boy, aren’t you?” I whispered, slightly playful, before I shook my head against his chest. “It wasn’t. It was embarrassing, and I hated it. I hated my dad because we couldn’t get me a new mattress. I hated Joel at times when I had to explain things to him that Dad should have been doing.”

“You hated Joel?” Patrick whispered, surprised.

“Yeah, but I got over it. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t know anything. I think in the end I finally just hated my dad,” I replied.

Patrick sighed. “I’m sor…”

“Don’t apologize,” I whispered, interrupting him. “I don’t need anyone’s sympathy. I’m…”

“Okay,” Patrick interrupted me, rubbing my back gently with his hand, like I needed comforting.

I sighed and closed my eyes. I wanted to go to sleep.

“So that’s why you started sleeping with me?” I asked, instead.

“Yeah…that night you got drunk, you slept soundly. I was startled at first, when you burrowed into me the way you did, up until I remembered that you and Joel had probably been sleeping together.”

“Probably? I thought you said…”

“It was theory. Joel wouldn’t really say anything about you, or what your life was like back home. He said we had to ask you,” Patrick whispered.

I smiled. “I always told him not to talk to strangers,” I informed Patrick.

“It worked…at first,” Patrick mumbled. “He didn’t really talk to anyone. Just followed Elizabeth around until the next morning when he woke up with Reese. After that he started following Reese around. Still wouldn’t tell us anything about you, or the life you guys had. He’d talk though, when he wanted something.”

I snorted, focused on the third comment Patrick had made. “Bet that drove Reese mad,” I replied, “it used to drive me crazy sometimes.”

“Not really. Reese always wanted brothers,” Patrick replied.

I nodded. Patrick had said something like that before, I think.

“Why didn’t you just go in and sleep with Joel?” Patrick asked.

“I didn’t want people thinking we were weird,” I informed him.

Patrick huffed slightly with a hint of laughter. I bit his nipple again; letting out a huff of my own laughter as I intertwined my legs with his, realizing that he, too, was naked. That sucked, because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stay awake much longer.

“Micah?”

“Hrm?”

“I don’t think anyone’s going to think you’re weird. I don’t think they really think anything bad about you, at all. I think everyone’s just waiting for you to stop being angry when your parents and home-life are brought up. I think…everyone’s just waiting for you to be you.”

“You’re naked,” I informed him, more intrigued by the possibility this presented than with what he was saying. I’d think more on what he was trying to tell me, later.

More laughter. “Yeah,” he replied, “and you’re dreaming.”

I grunted. “I didn’t think you’d remember that,” I mumbled.

“I didn’t, at first,” he whispered. “Not until you started making out with me. After that…it just had the feel of truth to it.”

“We should make out more often…and do other stuff, since you’re sleeping with me all the time,” I informed him.

Patrick sighed, still rubbing my back.

“Micah?”

“Hrm?” I asked, hoping he was at least thinking about it. I wanted him to do more than think about it, though.

“I need a little more time…is that okay?” he asked.

“That’s fine,” I mumbled. “Just don’t take too long, otherwise ‘m calling Ben back down here,” I added.

“Over my dead body,” he whispered; started stroking my hair. I felt some contentment with this, assured in the fact that he was at least thinking about the fact that I wanted to have sex with him.

“I didn’t think you’d ever like me,” he whispered.

“I don’t,” I mumbled, “I just want to have sex with you, ‘cause you’re here and I’m here.”

He smacked me lightly over the head. I smiled into his chest.

“Hey? Why’d you do that earlier?” he asked.

It took me a few minutes to comprehend the question. His hair-stroking was lulling me back into sleep.

“Do what?” I breathed.

“Kick those kids’ ass. I saw the video,” he whispered, “and who took the video?”

“I told Ken I’d stop acting like a parent and more like a big brother,” I replied, “and Reese came home this morning upset. I wasn’t really going to hurt anyone until they went after Joel.”

It was all I could really get out. I could barely focus.

“Who took the videos,” Patrick asked, shaking my shoulder lightly.

“Uncle Bryce and Grandpa…”

“Uncle Bryce and Grandpa did?” he whispered, sounding startled, “why did they shoot the videos? Micah? Micah?”

More quiet laughter. He started stroking my hair again. “Say good night, Micah,” he whispered.

“G’night Micah,” I whispered.

“Ass,” I barely heard him say. It made me smile.

“G’night Patrick,” I breathed out, falling asleep.

---

End of Chapter 15. Please leave a review.

Thanks,

Linxe

 

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Yaoi

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