Millennium - 15. Chapter 15

November 18, 1999

 

I stood on the ramp, waiting for the Falcon to finish taxiing up to the terminal area. I was nervous and excited; nervous to find out what Stef discovered about Dan, but excited to show him the mission. Drew fit in really well at our house, but they still hadn’t managed to get him into school yet. Jeanine was philosophical about it, and had taken up home-schooling him for the time being. I’d never thought she was the sharpest tool in the shed, though, so we’d have to see how that worked out. It was interesting that of the kids, Drew seemed to have bonded best with Will. I wasn’t sure if it was because Will really was gay and they had that in common, if it was because Drew liked to surf too and was pretty good, or both.

Stef had waited until this afternoon to come down, which wasn’t like him. We’d be sitting in traffic as a result of his delay. The plane finally stopped, the ground crew put the chocks under the wheels, and the door opened. First out of the plane was Stef, of course. He always had to make an entrance. He dashed down the stairs with agility other guys his age could only envy and gave me a big hug. “Look at you. Your big bandage is gone and all you have now is this small one. You are better?

“I’m better,” I said.

“And the car? It is not dead, is it?”

I rolled my eyes. “No murder trial for me. Yet.” He laughed. I looked beyond him to see Luke. I gave him a nice hug, and he playfully grabbed my ass, cracking me up.

“Lots to do today, so I hear, and we’re off to a late start,” he said, being task oriented as usual.

“Just relax,” I said. I heard clattering on the stairs and saw Brandon come running down, looking cute as ever, the little shit.

“Hey Brad,” he said, flirting.

“Hey Brandon,” I said back. “You going to be around later?”

“That depends,” he replied seductively.

“You two will have to curb your libidos for the moment,” Stef said. Another car drove up to the plane. “Brandon has some errands to run for me.”

“I’ll see you later Stef,” he said cheerfully, and hopped into the car that had just pulled up.

“You got rid of him, eh?” I teased.

“It was not so hard. He has his own things to do, and we will find out what they are. That was no ordinary car.” Stef said. “He will be followed around all day. And what is this? No limousine?”

“Nope, limos might be bugged,” I said, as I led them to Jeanine’s SUV. It was a big vehicle, a Lexus LX 470, with plenty of room for all the kids and their stuff.

“Will I end up sitting on animal crackers?” Stef asked.

“Since when have you been picky about what you sit on?” I teased. “Just get in the fucking car.”

“Your head wound has made you obnoxious,” he said, pretending to be in a snit. “Where are we going?”

“The slums of Hollywood,” I told him.

“I did not dress well enough to see Jackie,” he said, referring to Cody’s boss and an old friend of his. She was an agent who closely resembled Joan Rivers.

“No, not the moral slums,” I joked. “The real ones.” He looked around nervously. “You’ll be safe. There will be lots of boys to protect you.”

“We looking at real estate?” Luke asked.

“Remember that article in the paper, where I told the world that we owed our fortunes to the grace of God?” They laughed. “A minister came to see me. He runs a church and a mission in Hollywood.”

“Why would I want to meet a minister? I had my fill of religious people at poor Matthew Shepherd’s funeral,” Stef quipped.

“This one is hot,” I teased. Stef raised an eyebrow. “He runs a mission, for runway teens. His shelter focuses on gay teens that have been kicked out of their houses.”

Stef is a very caring man, and so is Luke. I saw them both soften. “So they will probably need some money,” Stef surmised.

“I have an idea about that, but that’s not why Father Tim wants you to visit.”

“He has seen my pictures and must give in to his carnal urges?” Stef joked.

“Only with me,” I said. That really got him interested. “And I didn’t get very far.”

“You are such an amateur,” Stef said with a sniff.

“Can you stop thinking with your dick for just a minute?” I asked.

“Good luck with that,” Luke said.

“He wants you to talk to the kids, to spend some time with them,” I told Stef.

“They’re underage? Better call the legal department,” Luke said.

Stef ignored him. “Why me?”

“You were them. Homeless and hustling on the streets of Paris. And look at what you’ve accomplished. You’re what they can be.” He smiled at me and patted my arm.

“I would rather talk about sex education,” he said playfully, more for Luke’s benefit. I rolled my eyes.

We got there at dinnertime. I’d given Tim some money to really splurge on dinner, and they’d picked barbecue, which I thought was a bit ironic in November, but this was Southern California, so the weather was warm enough. I felt my stomach growl as soon as we got out of the car and I smelled the food.

Tim had been waiting for us, and he rushed forward with a couple of his staff members to greet us. “It is such a pleasure to meet you, and an honor to have you visit us.”

“I have heard some interesting things about your work,” Stef said politely. Tim gave him a tour of the church, and the dormitory, which was empty since dinner had started. It was quick, because they wanted to get us to the dinner. We walked into the dining hall and the guys stood up and clapped furiously for Stef. He waved at them and that brought out cheering and hoots from the crowd. There were big banners hanging from the ceiling that said “Welcome Stefan.” I was blown away by their enthusiasm, so I knew he had to be.

“You don’t have to stay. We can leave,” I whispered in his ear, teasing him.

“Shut up Bradley,” he snapped, cracking me up. He was pretty overwhelmed, which was obvious as he wiped the tears out of his eyes. He walked up to the dais and tapped the microphone.

“How nice to be here with you today. I will make this quick so I can eat some of that barbecue. I usually do not get to, because it is too messy for me. But if you will not tell, I will make an exception today.” They chuckled. He was wearing one of his designer outfits and looked typically chic, and definitely not like a guy you’d expect to see with barbecue sauce all over his face and hands. “You know why they wanted me to talk to you today, do you not? It is because if we were to go back in time, to 1962, I was you. My mother had died, leaving me homeless on the streets of Paris. I was a young gay man in a time when it was a lot harder to be gay. But I also had some advantages that you may not have. I learned that I had a family in the US that was wealthy enough to help me out. But that is not why I am successful. I am successful because of the time I spent on the streets, and I am successful because of the time I spent in school.

“From the streets, I learned how to read people, to figure out what they want. Now I am sure a handsome young man like you,” Stef said, gesturing to a really good-looking blond guy, “does not have a hard time figuring out what other guys want.” The cute guy gave a cocky nod, everyone laughed, while Father Tim and his staff looked embarrassed. “But you must move beyond that, to see their motives.” He moved to the other side of the stage and smiled at another hunky guy, this one with jet black hair and a dark complexion. “I bet you know how to read another man and figure out his motives?” Stef asked, teasing him and flirting with him at the same time.

“I know what he wants, and I give it to him,” the hunky teen said, grabbing his crotch. Stef laughed uproariously. Father Tim and his group were a little uncomfortable with Stef’s more open-minded approach.

“Business is not so different, only you must try not to screw people ... over.” They laughed. “It is not about winning, as I have said to my colleagues several times.” He stared at Luke and me, while we just shook our heads. “This testosterone-laden strategy of victory is not the answer. Business is about finding deals where everyone is happy, not just one party. It must be a win-win.”

“When I was hustling, I learned that, and the difference is that by getting a good education, I was able to use those same basic skills in a classier job. Or you can use it in a much nastier world if you go to work in show business.” That got a laugh. “I learned from a young age that I was in control of my destiny, no one else. There is nothing more pathetic, and no one more certain to fail, than one who sits around feeling sorry for himself and blaming others for his situation. If you want to be me, you have to have a plan, and the drive to see it through.”

“I don’t see you as a hustler. How did you do it?” One of the guys asked, sensing that Stef was done. Tim hurried to intervene, not wanting to upset his guest, but I stopped him. “This is when he’s at his best,” I whispered.

“You are saying I am not good looking enough to attract other men?” Stef asked, with mock offense.

“I wish my tricks looked as good as you,” the kid said, then looked around nervously.

“Father Tim has assured me there will be no recriminations. You may be honest,” Stef told him. They looked to Tim, who nodded nervously. “I did not like hustling, but I like sex.” That got a lot of laughs. “I had to force myself to pretend I was somewhere else. I had it a lot easier than you did. We did not have to worry about AIDS then. You do. Men will pay you more money if you let them bareback you. It is not worth it. I have seen what that disease will do, it is horrible. I have lost friends, relatives, and lovers to it. Now we have drugs to slow the progress, but it is still horrible. If you have it, you must make sure not to infect others. If you do not, you must make sure you do not get it. Condoms can be fun to put on if you do it right.”

“Can you show us?” the hunky blond kid teased, the same kid Stef had singled out the first time.

Stef recognized a fellow flirt. He walked up to the kid and raised an eyebrow, then looked down at his groin. “I cannot. I did not bring any magnums with me, and I am sure that is what I would need.” Everyone laughed except Father Tim’s staff.

“You got that right,” the young man said, smiling. Then he stood and grabbed Stef, bent him over in a simulated dip, and planted a big kiss on him. I got nervous, because Stef was really uptight in crowds, until I saw him kick his leg out like a diva and wrap his arms around the guy. The guy finally let him up.

“Not bad,” Stef said, as if grading him. “You need to tighten your lips more, and you used your tongue too soon.” Everyone laughed and the kid blushed. “If you are surrounded by wolves, you must pick one of the bigger ones to protect you. You will by my bodyguard,” Stef said, and put his arm through the arm of the blond hunky guy, much like a bride would put her arm through the arm of the groom.

“With pleasure,” agreed the young man. Stef led him over to our table and made them get another chair for the young blond.

“I’m not sure this is such a good idea, rewarding aberrant behavior,” one of the staff members said, glaring at the hunky blond guy.

“Nonsense,” Stef said dismissively. “He did what I told him to do. He saw what he wanted, and he went for it. He had a plan.” Turning to the blond he smiled and asked, “And what is your name?”

“Jeff,” he said. I saw Stef gasp, and the kid looked nervous. It was a common enough name, but when it was attached to a tall, muscular guy, with blond hair, rounded features, and blue eyes, it had an impact. I saw Stef look away as he remembered Jeff Hayes, Robbie’s uncle. Robbie looked almost exactly like his uncle, so I compared him and this kid. Their bodies were similar in structure, strong and muscular, with that Teddy Bear look, but their faces were very different. This kid had a much more well-defined chin, and his nose was bigger as well. He was a really handsome guy. He wouldn’t have any trouble picking up tricks. I saw Stef seemingly go through the same mental machinations as he regained his control.

“Bradley, you must look at his eyes,” he said to me meaningfully. “Are they not the most beautiful shade of blue? Almost lavender.” I looked at them, and smiled. They were almost the same color as Robbie’s eyes, but not quite. “Do you have a last name?”

“Grimes. Jeff Grimes,” he said.

“And how old are you, Jeff Grimes?” Stef asked.

He looked nervous. “I turn 18 tomorrow.”

“Well a happy early birthday to you. And what kind of work do you do?” The kid got really uncomfortable then. I saw him look around the table, as if trying to find someone to save him. He didn’t want to lie to us, but he didn’t want to admit to hustling here at the table with Tim and his staff.

“Maybe Jeff can spend some time with us,” I interrupted, trying to alleviate his embarrassment. “Maybe we can take you out for your birthday?” He beamed.

“You should go get changed,” Tim said to Jeff, dismissing him. After he was out of earshot, Tim filled us in. “Jeff is one of our more difficult kids. He’s a good boy, but he is a hustler. Lately, he’s been working at strip clubs. That’s why he was so nervous when you asked what he did. He’s been planning to move out, I think, now that he’ll officially be an adult. But I think if you talk to him, you’ll find that he likes it here.”

“Does he have potential?” I asked.

“We require the boys to do chores here. That’s why the place is dilapidated, but well-kept. You’d think he would be cutting hedges or something, but he spends most of his chore-time on our books or in the office. He’s very organized.”

“I need a new bodyguard, someone who will watch out for my safety as I am out and about. Men like these,” he said, gesturing to Luke and me, “leave me virtually unprotected.” We gave him dirty looks. “Do you think he would want the job?”

Tim grinned. “I think that would be the best birthday present he could get.” We finished eating and Tim led us to his office.

“I am impressed with what you are doing here,” Stef said. “I want to know how we can help.”

I intervened. “They’ve got a lease with an option to buy this church and grounds. The lease is $15,000 a month, and the buyout is $2,000,000.”

“You do not own the land and buildings?” Stef asked Tim.

“No, they rent it from the Baptists. The cap rate on it is 10,” I said, answering for him.

“The Baptists are not very generous,” Stef observed. “So what do you propose?”

“I think the foundation should give them a big enough grant to buy out the lease,” I told Stef. He and I jointly controlled the Schluter Foundation, a charitable foundation Tonto had set up as part of her estate plan. Stef and I had put money in it from time to time, for tax purposes, as well.

“I do not know, Bradley; there is much renovation to be done here.” Tim stared at us, stunned and nervous. “I think they will need more than that.”

“What does that mean?” Tim asked.

“It means that we’re going to exercise the option and buy the land up for you. Now you don’t have to choose between paying the rent and taking care of the guys,” I told him. “And we’ll set aside some additional money to help you repair some of the things that need fixing around here.” Poor Tim, he just started crying.

“Luke and I are going to go see if we can find my new bodyguard. We will meet you in the dining hall,” Stef said, leaving us alone.

I got up and took Tim into my arms and just held him. As horny as he made me, just because of the person he was, it just didn’t seem sexual. It was hard to explain. I pulled away from him enough to kiss away his tears. “God sent you to us,” he said.

“Now that’s not a very flattering thing to say to a couple of atheists,” I joked. He gave me a cute smile. “So if you bring Jeff over later, will that count as our third date?”

“Probably,” he said sheepishly.

“What happens on the third date?”

“Well it’s kind of biblical. On the third date we rest,” he said, then laughed at my expression. “I’ll show you later,” he said, and gave me a kiss, a real one.

The three of us piled into the Lexus and headed back to Malibu. “That was a nice thing you guys did,” Luke said. “I’ll have to send them some money.” For most people, they’d say stuff like that and never do it. Luke didn’t work that way. When he said something, he did it.

“You find the most interesting people, Brad,” Stef said. “Those eyes.”

“They’re not quite the same, Stef. This is really going to freak Dad out,” I said.

“But of course it will. I live for the days when I can rock his world, in more ways than one.” It was impossible to be around Stef and not spend at least half the time laughing.

“So tell me about Dan,” I said.

“It was funny. We’d been looking for information on Amphion and gotten nowhere, but when we turned around and started checking out info on Dan, the trail was perfectly clear. He was the Chief Financial Officer at Omega, and then it seems he formed Amphion,” Luke said. “From what we can tell, he’s still the CFO at Omega as well.”

“That means that they’re getting their funding from Omega,” I said. Omega was pretty big, even though no one really knew how big. They were structured strangely, in that they were publicly traded but the majority of their stock was privately held. It made finding information on that privately held portion very difficult.

“The big mystery now is who is behind Omega?” Luke said. “That’s a tougher nut to crack, but we’re working on it. And there’s one more thing: Dan has a boyfriend. You know him.” He gestured to Stef, so I gave him my attention.

“Lark,” Stef said. I just nodded sadly. After all that we’d been through, in the end our friendship meant so little to Lark that he’d turned it into hate and tried to destroy me. I felt the sadness almost overwhelm me as I remembered our time together in high school, and our time together in bed. But best of all, I remembered our time in the surf. Lark had been my version of Will’s Jason. I hoped Jason didn’t do the same thing to Will someday.

I drove on and we were all silent. I thought about Lark, about the man he’d become. I remembered how badly he’d treated Max, how he’d almost abused him. How he’d tried time and again to cause problems between Robbie and me. Then I pulled it together, linked him into this whole massive conspiracy, and the sadness changed to rage. Rage that these men would presume to ruin my life. Rage that these men would dare to take a nice guy like Robbie and totally play on his weaknesses. Rage that they weren’t even doing it for the money; they were doing it just to hurt me.

“I talked to Robbie last night. He talked to Carson.” Stef’s brows furrowed. I hurried to reassure him. “He didn’t tell him anything. He said that Carson was trying to pressure him into doing two movies his team said they should pass on.” Stef and Luke both looked at me, shocked.

“It is all becoming more and more clear,” Stef said. “We know their game, so now we must slaughter them with their own plan. I have an idea.”

“What?” I asked.

“There is a big deal coming up for bid. It is a firm called Alphalogic. They make security software, and are big on data storage. They should go straight to IPO, but they have one big project they want to complete before they do that. They are convinced it is worth getting done before they hit the market. It will require a great deal of money, probably close to $100,000,000. They are convinced it is the golden calf for them. I am not. I think it is bound to yield a very modest return. If we bid on it, and bid it up, and Amphion bites, it may very well take them down, or at least seriously hamstring Omega. If we bid and win, we could lose a lot of money.”

“When are the offers due on Alphalogic?” I asked.

“They are due on Thursday, December 2, the night before the convention ends,” Stef said.

“I think we should go for it,” Luke said.

“If we win, it will end up sapping up our cash reserves and costing us a lot of money.” Stef was nervous.

“I have an idea,” I said, and I laid out my plan for them.

 

November 19, 1999

 

“Today we must go shopping,” Stef announced. He put his arm around Drew and smiled at him.

“I have other things to do,” I told him sternly.

“You are no fun. When are you allowed back into the waves again?” he asked, implying that if I surfed, I’d be in a better mood.

“As soon as I can,” I told him.

“But what did they tell you, the doctors?” he persisted.

“They told me I’m in good shape and I have a big dick.” I’d forgotten Jeff and Drew were in the room until they snickered. I blushed to what I’m sure was a bright red. Will and Darius chose that moment to come walking in.

“I am sure we are all glad to hear that,” Stef said, enjoying my discomfort. “You do not have to go shopping. You would be no fun anyway. I will take Jeff and Drew.”

“Can I go too?” Will asked. We all turned and stared at him, stunned. There were great waves today, and he usually hated shopping. I saw him looking over at Drew and recognized that look, the look of a boy who had one big crush.

“But of course you can come along. You are always welcome to come with me wherever I go,” Stef said, pulling him in. Stef tried so hard not to be partial to the kids in our family, but he’d never been able to pull it off. It had always been obvious that of my brothers and sisters, I was his favorite. He tended to transfer that down to my kids, as opposed to Claire’s kids or Ace’s daughter. He doted on JJ, because he was so cheerful, and also on Will, because he was so much like me. And on Darius, I thought with a grin, because he was so handsome and such a wolf. He was almost like a heterosexual version of Stef.

They all paraded out the door, leaving me alone with Darius. “Looks like Will’s got a boyfriend. You never brought women home for me,” he said. He was in a good mood, and he was fun when he was.

“I never had to, you wolf,” I said. “What are you doing today?” It was some sort of in-service day, and the kids were home from school.

He grinned. “Prowling.”

“Want to go grab some lunch?” I asked. He and I didn’t do enough stuff together, just the two of us, very often.

“Sure,” he said. We took the Porsche and put the top down. I had a 911, light blue with a dark blue convertible top. “When’s Pop coming home?” The boys called me “Dad”, and Robbie “Pop”.

“I don’t know. He promised he’d meet us at Escorial for Thanksgiving if not before then,” I told him.

“Are you guys breaking up? Is he moving out?” Darius asked nervously.

“We’re having some problems right now,” I told him. He looked at me, telling me that wasn’t good enough, that he was old enough to hear more. “He wants to be able to sleep with other men. It’s a mid-life crisis kind of thing.”

“And you won’t let him?” he demanded. It almost made me laugh, the way he instinctively jumped on Robbie’s side.

“I really don’t mind if he does. The problem I have is that Robbie doesn’t usually just have sex with someone without developing feelings for them. He’s not like you,” I said, teasing him. He smiled back at me. “It’s that part of it that bothers me. I don’t mind sharing his body, but I won’t share his love.”

“I can see that,” Darius said. It occurred to me that if I treated him like an adult, he acted like one. I don’t know why I didn’t remember that from when I was his age.

“He got himself into a bind, where he loves me and another guy. He went away to be alone, and try to sort through his feelings,” I said.

“Yeah, and to figure out how to not make any more shitty movies. We told him 13^th Warrior was gonna suck, but he wouldn’t listen,” Darius said bitterly. So much for Robbie’s lame excuse about getting in touch with the younger generation. His sons were here, telling him what to do, and he’d ignored them.

“I’m not sure how this will all work out, but I love Robbie, and we’ll be together as friends, at the very least.” I put my hand on his leg. “It’s not like a big nasty thing, where we end up hating each other. I talked to him day before yesterday and he was fine.”

“A lot of my friends are jealous of me. They used to give me shit for having two dads who were fags,” he said, then looked at me nervously for using the “f” word. “But their parents fight all the time or they go through multiple marriages. We’ve all been together with no problems, except for when Bitty showed up.” He was still bitter about that.

“She was a woman who had issues for as long as I can remember. I learned how to deal with cruel people, growing up with her and my mother. They used to say some horrible things to me, and I just learned to shut them out. I was shyer than Will until my mom and dad took me in. But it was Stef who really brought me out of my shell, helped me be the person I am.”

“I love him. He’s awesome. My friends always want to know when he’s in town so they can come over.”

“They don’t mind that he’s gay?” I asked.

He laughed. “No, they like to flirt with him. The guys, to get him all fired up, and the girls, to see if they can bring him over from the dark side.” I laughed so hard I almost wrecked the car.

“Have you thought about where you want to go to college?” I asked.

“My grades aren’t as good as they should be,” he said. He didn’t like to do homework and it showed. “My SATs are pretty stout though. I’m thinking of maybe going to Berkeley, or UCLA.” He looked at me nervously. “Is that OK?”

“Just because you come from a family of Ivy-Leaguers doesn’t mean you have to go that route. As long as you go to college, I’m fine with wherever you want to go. You should probably spend some time going over the options. You know who would like to do that with you?”

“Grand?” he asked. It was funny how they used the same term for JP that we’d used for JP’s father. “He won’t be disappointed I’m not going to Stanford?”

“Hell no. He has enough trouble keeping Matt out of trouble there, much less you. You’d send him to an early grave.”

“Hey, at least you don’t catch me blowing my boyfriend,” he said, then realized that he fucked up. “Forget I said that.”

“Will and Drew?” I asked. He looked away and nodded. “It’s OK, Darius. I never discouraged you from getting laid, why would I discourage Will.”

“I walked in on them, and they were doing each other. It freaked me out, and them too. Will made me promise not to say anything. I fucked up.”

“Yeah, but you did it with me, and it’s OK. I’m kind of surprised Will’s never told me he’s gay.”

Darius laughed. “Yeah, you’d think he’d be excited, like you’d be proud. I remember how disappointed Robbie looked when I told him I didn’t like dick.” We both laughed hysterically at that. “He’s just shy. I mean, he’s just gotten into puberty big time. I think he’s just now pretty sure about it.”

“What about JJ?” I asked. He looked at me funny. “You’re the oldest; you’re supposed to know these things?”

“I think he’s straight.” Just what I thought. We had a great lunch in Santa Monica, and then started the drive back to Malibu, enjoying the lack of traffic in the early afternoon. We got home and everyone else seemed to be gone, so we headed out onto the deck.

“Can I ask you a question, Dad?”

“Sure.”

“How old were you when you first smoked a joint with Grand?” I looked at him sternly, and suddenly got what this was about. This was about a strange rite of passage, of me recognizing him as an adult, and not as a little kid.

“Seventeen,” I said. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a joint and lit it, then handed it to him.

“Bitchin’,” he said, making fun of my surf slang, and took a hit.