Millennium - 19. Chapter 19

November 24, 1999

 

I looked at the clock on the wall of the office at Z-Stasis and smiled. I handed the sealed envelope to the registrar, and she time stamped it in: 7:57am. “Thank you Mr. Schluter. I was expecting your proposal yesterday,” she said.

That was curious. “We wanted to take some extra time to work the numbers out as carefully as possible,” I said as charmingly as I could. We chatted away until I saw the clock hit 8:05. I turned to leave and almost bumped into Cary Chase. Instead, I held the door open and ushered him in.

“Morning Brad,” he said casually, trying to play it off. He approached the registrar. “I have a revised bid to submit,” he said.

“I’m sorry Mr. Chase, the cut off was 8:00am,” she said politely.

“We’re only talking five minutes,” he pleaded.

“It’s possible that other bidders will audit the records. We have a contractual commitment to accept only bids submitted by 8:00am. If I accept your revised bid, we could be subjected to legal action,” she said politely.

“Bet on it,” I said, grinning at Cary Chase and pissing him off.

“Yeah, well you may just get this one, smart ass,” he said to me. “Stats are out for the five we bid on yesterday. Amphion won all of them.” Inside I was jumping with joy, laughing my ass off at how well our plan was working. I forced myself to act pissed and somber.

“How nice that worked out for you,” I said in a snitty tone. “I hope you have enough money to back up all these bids. Your financials are shrouded in secrecy.”

“The people who need to know about our financials, they know,” he said with a self-satisfied expression.

I saw a chance to really goad him. “I don’t think you’ve got a pot left to piss in. The big deals come down next week. We’ll see who’s lining up the victories then.” In the past, in high school, that kind of tone would have probably brought a fist flying toward my face.

“Yep. Next week we’ll see whose pot got pissed on,” he said, being just as big of a smart ass. Then he stormed out of Z-stasis’ offices in a most undignified manner.

“I hope you know that I wouldn’t have accepted that bid even if you weren’t here,” the registrar said.

“I know you wouldn’t, because then you might actually have to work with that guy,” I said with a smile. She chuckled, I said goodbye, and left.

I got into the office to find Brandon waiting for me, trying not to look too frantic. It made me nervous that he was doing this, that he was acting this way, because he might realize he was giving his game away and then we’d be fucked. “Did you get the revised bid in?” he asked nervously.

“I did. Thanks, Brandon, for that doc file. It made changing things quite easy. I was able to line it out and drop it off on the way in.”

“That’s great!” he said, but since I knew him and what he was up to, it was easy to see how insincere he was.

“It was actually pretty sweet. You know who I ran into? Cary Chase from Amphion. Guy’s an asshole. Tried to drop off his own revised bid but he was five minutes late.” I laughed, maybe too loudly, and Brandon joined me. “You should have seen the look on that son of a bitch’s face when he missed the deadline. That’s a cracker box operation. They’re out of money anyway.”

“I heard about you and Robbie,” he said. What an asshole. In a moment of victory, he was going to poke me where I was weakest. I had my shields at maximum to control my anger. This little shit wouldn’t get to me. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s been really hard on me,” I said, and wiped a fake tear from my eye.

“If I can help out, comfort you in any way, let me know,” he said in his sluttiest tone.

“Really?” I asked, like I wasn’t getting any, and like no one would fuck me. “That’s really sweet of you. I might take you up on that.”

“You won’t be sorry if you do,” he said, and wiggled his ass at me as he walked off. ‘If I ever find myself fucking you, it will be without lube,’ I thought to myself playfully. I went in and told Luke and Stef all about my drama with Cary, and then, since it was the day before Thanksgiving, I decided to head home.

“You are driving my car today, so do not wreck,” Stef said playfully. My car was in for maintenance, so he’d lent me his. It was funny, and he’d never admit it, but the older he got, the less he liked to drive.

“Drifting practice!” I declared, and got a frown for my joke. I managed to escape from the office without any more delays.

Things at Escorial were always chaotic this time of year, with all of our extended family members coming to visit. As I drove up I saw a car parked out front outside the gates. That was rare, because anyone who was welcome would be buzzed in. It was a newer BMW 325 with California plates. I looked at the dealer frame around the plates, and they were from an LA area dealer. I hit the gas and drove up to the gates, which opened automatically for me, and I zipped up the drive. When I was halfway up the long drive I saw Carson marching up to the house, with that same pissed off look of determination on his face.

I whipped past him, almost hitting him with a mirror and scaring the shit out of him, and then turned the car abruptly, squealing the tires, finally stopping right in his path. This was Stef’s car, and he had a panic button installed on all of his vehicles. It would bring the wrath of our security and the local cops down on anyone who messed with him. I pushed it, and then hopped out. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing here?”

“I’m here to see my boyfriend,” he said with a sneer. “He loves me, not you. You’ve got him locked up in this jail and I’m going to spring him.” It would be sweet if he wasn’t so duplicitous.

“I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. You’re turning around and leaving.”

“Not without Robbie,” he said adamantly. “He was supposed to not see both of us.”

“Well it’s Thanks-fucking-giving, so he’s here with us,” I said. “Family trumps boy sluts.”

“Fuck you. He wants to see me, not you. He called me and told me so.”

“Sure he did,” I said. Robbie didn’t call him, did he?

“Listen asshole,” he said. He hit the playback on his cell phone voicemail.

“Carson, baby, I’m stuck here and I can’t leave. It’s like I’m in jail. I miss you so much. I want you so bad. All I do is sit in my room and beat off thinking about you. It’s driving me crazy. I can’t wait to get out of here and sink my dick back into your sweet ass.” It was Robbie’s voice, and it was dated on Monday.

He hit play again. “I miss you so much. I miss how good you feel, just being with you. I love you so much. When I get out of here, I’m moving into the apartment and you’re moving in with me. We’ll finally be together. I know I can trust you, that you’ll be completely faithful. Fucking Brad is such a slut.” That one was Tuesday.

He hit play again. “I’m so horny. I sit here stroking my dick thinking about you. Why don’t you answer the phone? You could make me cum, just by hearing your voice. I miss you so much. I love you even more.” That was last night.

I grabbed the phone from his hand and threw it down on the concrete, then smashed it. “You broke my fucking phone! You’re gonna pay for that!” Carson screamed.

“He fucking called you and told you that?” I yelled. “That motherfucker is dead!”

“You leave him alone!” he shouted. Just then Jeff came running down the drive, with the gardener and one of the stable hands behind him.

“This is where you leave,” I said calmly. From the other side, three Palo Alto police cars pulled up.

The cop who had pulled me over hopped out of his squad car and we both smiled slightly at each other before he got task oriented. “Is there a problem here?”

“This man is trespassing, Officer,” I said. “He’s been stalking me. I had to have him removed from my home in Hawaii on Sunday.”

“They have my boyfriend trapped there!” Carson said emphatically, pointing at Escorial.

“Ridiculous,” I said.

“Do you want to press charges?” the cop asked me, hoping I wouldn’t.

“Absolutely,” I told him. “I let him off with a warning the first time, but he’s tracking me around. This time I caught him outside. In Hawaii, he was actually in my bedroom,” I said, acting like I was terrified. They cuffed Carson, ignoring his arguments, and read him his rights.

“He claims that you’re holding his boyfriend, a Mr. Robert Hayes, against his will. I’d like to speak to Mr. Hayes,” the cute officer said.

“Certainly Officer. It will be easier if you drive up. Would you care to follow me?” I asked. He nodded. I saw Carson being manhandled into one of the other cars, kicking and threatening the cops. I kept wishing one of them would use his billy club on him. I straightened out the Porsche, drove up to the front, and parked. The officer pulled in behind me and hopped out. He really was cute, probably only in his mid-20s, with light blond hair almost the color of Carson’s. How ironic.

“Right this way,” I said. “I hope you will pardon the confusion. Our family is coming in for the holidays, and there’s usually a lot of pandemonium.”

“It’s not a problem at all,” he said, gawking at the Great Hall. “I’ve seen this house from a distance, but never up close.”

“Would you like a tour?” I asked.

“I need to talk to Mr. Hayes first,” he said.

“Of course,” I said. I led him down the hall to our bedroom, knocked once, and went in. Robbie was still in bed, sprawled on his stomach. The sheet was pulled down, exposing part of one of his ass cheeks. It was such a sexy pose it could have won a photography contest. “Wake up,” I said, gently kicking the bed. The cop was blushing slightly, trying to be all professional, when Robbie stirred. He rolled over, his morning hard-on flopping out. I started cracking up and quickly put the sheet over him, and that woke him up.

“What the...?” he said. “What’s going on?”

“This is Officer, uh….” I didn’t know his name.

“I’m Officer Milton of the Palo Alto Police Department. Are you Robert Hayes?”

“I am,” Robbie said nervously.

“We arrested a man for trespassing on this property. He claims you are being held here against your will.”

Robbie looked up at me and smiled. “No Officer, this is exactly where I want to be.”

“Then I see no reason to bother you further,” he said, grinning slightly. I led him out of the room, and then took him to the kitchen. JP was there, and I quickly explained everything. He took over for me, giving Officer Milton a tour of the house and even feeding him. I hurried back to our room, happy to find Robbie still in bed, and still naked.

“What was that all about?” he asked.

“Carson tried to sneak into Escorial to spring you from this prison,” I joked.

“Why would he do that?” he asked, his eyes twinkling.

“Evidently some guy he used to date called and left him a bunch of messages, telling him how horny he was, and how all he could do was jack off thinking about him.”

“That guy must have exaggerated,” Robbie teased.

“I heard the messages. You said I was a bum lay?” I asked.

“It got the little shit here, didn’t it? It got him arrested, didn’t it?” he asked. I kissed him, and pushed him onto his stomach. Before he knew it I was in him, and not long after that we exploded together in a great morning orgasm.

“I thought you’d be mad at me,” he said.

“Did I seem mad at you?” I asked.

“No, you seemed to like me a lot,” he said, grinning.

“If you thought I’d be mad at you, why did you do it?”

“It wasn’t about you. That asshole fucked up my life, everything that was important to me,” he said. “I am kind of in a prison, only I eat well and I like getting fucked here.” I laughed. “I wanted to strike back at him, to hurt him like he hurt me.”

“That’s why I’m not mad at you,” I said. “You’re no wimp. You’re a man who is in control of his destiny.” I watched his pride and his dick swell when I said that. “I love it when you’re like this, when you’re together, when you know what you want and you go for it.”

He let out a growl, and then he fucked me, really hard and really rough. He was more into that than I was, but this time it was really good. Really good. “We have to save some of our energy for our guests,” I joked.

“You’re going to fuck them?” he asked.

“Hell yes. Hopefully with you,” I said. I felt free, sexually uninhibited, and incredibly horny.

“You’re hornier than you were when you were 17,” he teased.

“My version of a midlife crisis is a lot better than yours, don’t you think?” I teased.

“Fuck yeah!” he said, cracking me up. “Especially since mine is still in the body shop.” I thought about what he said. Ever since we’d fucked Kevin together, the idea of being with him and other men really excited me. I had first chalked it up to my exhibitionist streak, a latent fetish that I usually didn’t indulge, but I pondered that by having other guys there it let me be with him without fully committing to him. I didn’t have to be “just his,” which I wasn’t ready to do, and I also didn’t have to fight with him for being with other guys. I analyzed it, rolled it over and over in my head, and in the end I decided that at the pace my life was moving, it was useless to waste brain cells on what was happening today.

“Next week I’ll be staying up in the City,” I told him. “I leave Tuesday morning, and I’ll get back Friday evening.”

“I’ll miss you,” he said, and his sincerity made me smile. “Would you be OK if Kevin came by and visited a few times?”

“Visited?” I asked, and then laughed. “Yeah, that’s fine with me. And nice of you to ask.” I paused for a minute. “I’m planning to do something in the City, and I want you to know about it first.”

“What?” he asked nervously.

“I have a hunch that Dan is going to be there. I’m planning to seduce him,” I said.

“Why?” He was visibly upset now.

“For the same reasons you sent Carson those messages,” I told him.

“That’s hardly fair. Phone messages and fucking someone are entirely different,” he snapped.

“Robbie, this isn’t about sex, or love, it’s about revenge. This man is the mastermind, or one of them, behind this whole thing. He’s worked to break us up, he’s tried to hurt Stef and our company, and he’s plotted to destroy my pride and my self-esteem.” I felt the hate, the sheer hate, coursing through my veins. “I want him to remember why he hates me, because he can’t get over me. I want to re-open those old wounds and pour salt in them.” I was surprised by how evil I sounded, and how much I wanted to hurt him.

So was Robbie. “Wow. I’ve never seen you like this. It’s kind of scaring me,” he said. “Shit, I thought you just wanted to fuck him.” I looked at him and laughed.

“No, I want to fuck him over.”

“This is a really scary side of you,” he said. “I hope you don’t have to let it out very often.” In other words, he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of my wrath.

“Not many people go to such lengths to screw me over. This isn’t business, it’s beyond that. It’s personal,” I told him.

“And when you come back on Friday, I’m free, and our deal is up,” he said.

“It is,” I said nervously.

“I want you to know how I feel about this,” he said.

“Robbie, everyone’s going to be here soon. I don’t want to fight,” I said.

“I don’t want to fight either. Don’t you want to know what I want, though?” He had a point there.

“Alright, as long as I don’t have to win an argument about it right now,” I joked.

“Win?” he asked, and grinned. Fucker. He knew he could melt me by being cute. “I want you back. I want to be like we were. But I really liked being with you and Kevin. I’m thinking we can work our way back to monogamy, and maybe along the way we’ll find a few guys we like to play with, together, once in a while.”

He was trying hard to get there, and that deserved some credit. “I think that’s a good goal.” He took a shower, while I went out to see if Lou and Marcel had arrived yet. I got to the Great Hall as the grandfather clock gonged four times, announcing that it was four o’clock. This year, JP and Isidore had decided to have a buffet set up from four to nine, since people were coming in at various times. I saw Matt and Wade there already.

“I should have known you two would maximize your time at the buffet. I bet if I come back at nine, you’ll still be here,” I joked.

“That’s a pretty good bet,” Matt said, winking at me. Ever since that kiss, it was like a line had been crossed. Before, thoughts of fucking him had been sheer fantasy, but that kiss had made them a possibility. That kiss had changed everything. That kiss told me that he lusted after me as much as I lusted after him. “So Kevin’s been here a lot.”

“He’s been coming over,” I said, emphasizing the word ‘coming’ to make it a pun. “Is he going home for Thanksgiving?”

“I doubt it,” Wade said sadly. “His father is that asshole pastor of Calgary Baptist.” Carmichael. I should have known.

“What’s he doing then?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Wade said guiltily. His social skills were on a par with JP’s and Isidore’s, so forgetting to invite Kevin over was a pretty big slip-up. I smiled to try and blow it off and pulled out my cell phone. Kevin answered on the second ring.

“Is this a booty call?” he joked.

“Any call to you is a booty call,” I joked back. “What are you doing for the next four days?”

“Um, I’m hanging out here and with friends, getting things done, stuff like that,” he said nervously.

“I have a better idea. Come up here. Stay with us,” I said.

“I don’t want to impose,” he said.

“Kevin, there are going to be at least ten eminently fuckable gay guys up here, all pretty damned hot. You got a better offer?” He laughed so hard he dropped his phone.

“I’ll be there in a couple of hours,” he said. My mother was less pleased with my generous spirit, as she and Consuela went through the room assignments to account for all these other people.

“Do you think JJ and Will can share a room?” she said.

“Why don’t you go ahead and put Will and Drew together,” I said. “They’re pretty tight.” She raised an eyebrow, which I ignored.

“Lots of peoples here,” Consuela groused.

“Better have lots of clean sheets around,” I joked. She shook her head and muttered some choice oaths in Spanish. I headed back to the Great Hall just as Lou and Marcel arrived. They saw me and smiled, and came over to give me hugs and a squeeze on the ass in Lou’s case. I’d brought them over from Paris when we’d moved back to the states in 1986. Marcel was Jeff Hayes’ natural son, while Lou was a hot model I’d sort of picked up in Paris.

“You are looking as attractive as ever,” Lou said. “I understand you are available?”

“Who’s asking?” I flirted.

“I am,” he said. “It has been a long time. Do you not think it is only fair to satisfy my years and years of lustful cravings?”

“Yep,” I said simply.

“I have already tasted your wares,” Marcel said playfully. “I am here for seconds.” These guys were so much fun. About that time Robbie showed up, and they flirted with him for a while. He and Marcel were cousins but could almost be twins. Being with the two of them was erotic, so erotic I had to think of something else so I didn’t sport a raging erection in the Great Hall.

Cody and Max showed up next, and that made things just a little tense. Max and Marcel had been a couple for quite a while, and they’d only been apart for a little over a year. Last year had been really tough on Max. He seemed to be doing better, and that probably had a lot to do with having Cody there. I migrated to him almost by habit.

“Have you met Kevin?”

“Kevin?”

I sighed. “Sometimes he goes by Sergio.”

“That boy is fucking hot,” Cody said. “Dude, is he here? I’m so gonna fuck him.”

“I invited him to stay for the weekend,” I told him. He grabbed me and gave me a big kiss.

“He can keep me happy when you’re not around,” he said.

“You’re such a wolf,” I teased.

“You don’t get it, do you?” he said. He was irritated.

“Get what?” I was confused.

“I’m really into you. You’re not just a fuck. So don’t treat me like that,” he said, offended.

At first, I thought he was joking, but when he turned away to storm off, I realized he was being honest. “Come on,” I said. I dragged him down to his room.

“You questioned me before and now again. It’s like you don’t believe me,” he said.

I wrapped my arms around him, and he fought to push me away, but only for a little bit. Then he pulled me in and kissed me. It was amazing how one minute we’re kissing, and the next minute he’s fucking me. He moved so fast. I lay there afterward, panting and exhausted. But it wasn’t just that, it was how much of himself he put into it when we made love. Cody really did care about me. A lot.

“I won’t question you again,” I said. “It’s just that I’ve had you up on a pedestal for so long, it seems strange to take you down from there.”

“I’ve had you on a pedestal too. So when you say shit like that, it makes me feel like you don’t think I’m good enough to be an intimate friend.”

I stared at him. “Think about that. You know what bullshit that is. And you know what we’re doing here? We’re arguing about whose insecurities are bigger.” We both laughed at that. “Now we have to hurry back upstairs. Mother has a rule. No fucking before dinner is over.”

“That’s a rule destined to be broken in this house,” he joked as we headed back into the Great Hall. “By the way, speaking of fucking, where is Stef?”

I laughed, and then when I saw him I laughed even harder. Matt’s parents, Edward and Amanda Carrswold, must have just gotten here. A year ago Matt had been outed here, during Thanksgiving, and they’d been awful. They’d insulted all of us, shunned Matt, and caught the next flight home. I’d pretty much written them off as hateful and spiteful people. But then when Matt got sick, and was near death, they’d managed to shake off their right-wing views on homosexuality. So here we were, just a year later, with Stef practically hanging on Edward while they talked, and he seemed just fine with it.

“There you two are,” Amanda Carrswold said, with her Locust Valley Lockjaw. “Two of my favorite men.” Cody and I gave her the obligatory faux kisses on the cheek, along with a demi-hug.

“It’s really good to see you Amanda,” I said.

“I’ll bet you didn’t think you’d hear yourself saying that a year ago,” she joked. Cody and I laughed.

“I’m just happy to see you become as beautiful on the inside as you are on the outside,” Cody said, shamelessly flirting.

“Well you are divine. You must keep me company,” she said, and put her arm through his. I chuckled. She wasn’t his type, unless she wore a strap-on. I saw Kevin out of the corner of my eye, standing shyly in the alcove. I went over and gave him a nice kiss.

“You are welcome here,” I said. “Let me introduce you.” I got him as far as Lou, and he was gone. I laughed to myself. Claire and Jack showed up next, with their two kids. But true to the adage ‘save the best for last’, there was a rush of people as my family arrived. First in was Jeanine, looking tired and frazzled. I smiled at her and she gave me a frosty smile back. It was what it was.

“Dad!” Will said, as he ran right to me. I laughed at the disturbed look on JP’s face, since he’d charged right past him.

“How are you doing?” I asked. “You getting along with Drew?”

“Oh yeah,” he said.

“Grandmama was short a room, and I told her you two wouldn’t mind sharing. I hope that’s OK?” I teased.

“We would have anyway,” he said, being cocky. He ran off to see his cousins, and I noticed then that he had an extra bounce in his step, a little more confidence, and greater control over his shyness. I wonder if that’s how I’d seemed when I started seeing Robbie. Drew trailed after him like a puppy until he saw me. He walked over and gave me a big bear hug.

“Thanks for saving me,” he said. “If it weren’t for you, I’d be turning tricks tonight.” And somehow that hit me really hard, and I felt my eyes water up. I grabbed him and hugged him again.

“Instead you’re here, brightening up our lives,” I told him.