Poor Man's Son - 38. Chapter 37

August 17, 2000

Malibu, CA

Will

“So are you crazy?” JJ asked me, being a smart ass. I’d just come back from my first appointment with my shrink. I figured they’d send me to the same guy Robbie went to in the Bay area, but evidently I was so fucked up I need my own therapist, one that was close by and not embroiled in all of my parents’ problems. So Robbie’s guy referred me to Evan Bieser, a guy who was 32 years old and really handsome. That part of it wasn’t tough duty, just looking at the guy almost made it worth going, but all the questions, all the probing he’d done made me feel like someone had assaulted my brain.

“I hope so,” I said menacingly. “Then I can kill you and get away with it.” I lunged at him and tackled him.

“Let me go,” he whined. I had him pinned on the bed with me on top of him when I felt something jabbing me in the leg. I lifted myself off of him enough to see his pants tenting.

“Dude, you have a boner,” I said, laughing.

“Leave me alone,” he said, all pissed off and embarrassed. He tried to bolt out of the room but I grabbed him, realizing that by pointing it out, I’d really upset him.

“JJ, it’s cool. We all get them. See,” I said, standing up and showing him my own tenting shorts. “It’s supposed to happen.”

He looked at me dubiously. “Not when I’m wrestling around with my brother.”

“Why not? I’m hot,” I joked. He giggled at that. “Your body doesn’t know who you’re rubbing up against, only that you’re rubbing up against someone.”

“Do you get them a lot?” he asked, and then got even more upset and nervous.

“Fuck yeah. I get them all the time. I had this same talk with Darius when I started all this puberty bullshit. You know what he told me?”

“What?” he asked.

“He told me that I should just play with it and it would feel good.” We both cracked up at that. “Do you do that?”

“Play with it?” he asked.

“Yeah. Do you do that?”

“Uh, I don’t, uh, not really,” he said.

“It’s easy. You just run your hand up and down it, like this,” I said, simulating the motion.

“Then what happens?”

“Well, eventually I cum,” I told him. “Darius didn’t want to talk about that part too much. He showed me a porno instead.” JJ cracked up at that.

“I, uh, I found some stuff on the computer,” he said nervously.

“What kind of porn do you like?” I asked. “Boy porn, or girl porn?” It was weird that I didn’t know if my own brother was gay or straight.

“I don’t like porn,” he said indignantly. Who doesn’t like porn? I didn’t get that.

“Well how else are you going to learn?”

“I could watch you,” he suggested. He was staring at me, and making me horny as hell, but the whole thing was pretty confusing. I hesitated, and that freaked him out. “Never mind.”

“No, it’s cool,” I said, stopping him again. “If you want to watch me, you can.”

“When?”

“How about now,” I said. I shucked off my shorts, shirt, and boxers, then lay back on my bed and started jacking off.

“Your dick is huge,” he said, impressed.

“I got lucky,” I agreed, but now I was focused on getting off. I tried to ignore that he was in the room, but his eyes on me were really a turn on. It didn’t take me long before I felt my orgasm rising. “I’m gonna cum,” I said urgently, like I needed to get his attention; like he wasn’t totally eyeballing me. Then I exploded, blasting my load all over my chest. When I was done, and lying there covered in my own cum, only then did I feel like a cheap whore for beating off in front of my brother.

In that way that brothers can, he got that I was weirded out, and knew it was his turn to make me feel better. “Thanks Will. I don’t know if I can do that or not.”

“Well, it’s kind of fun to try,” I said with a smile as I wiped my body off and crawled back into my clothes.

“It looked like it,” he said. “I don’t have hair like you do.”

“You’ll get pubes soon enough,” I said, like I was now the expert on male body development.

“Is it OK if I ask you about this stuff?”

I nodded and put my arm around him, which freaked him out enough to make him recoil at first. “Any time.” I started getting my stuff together; I was supposed to be on my way to the plane.

“You going back to Paly?”

“Yeah. I like being there with Grand and Stef. I can help Grand keep his mind off worrying about whether they got all the cancer, and if I’m there, Pat’s there, so Stef has someone to lust after.”

JJ giggled. “Tell them I’ll try to get up there as soon as I can.”

“You want me to tell them you’ll try to get it up as soon as you can?” I asked, twisting his words.

“That’s not a problem,” he joked, sounding cocky like Darius. I nodded to him to say goodbye, then went downstairs to find Pat waiting for me; he was stressed out, and looking at his watch.

“What’s your deal?” I asked. “Why are you in such a hurry?”

“I like to stay on schedule,” he said rigidly.

“Since when? And isn’t it my schedule anyway?”

“Whatever. Can we get going?” He was pretty agitated.

“I’m not ready yet,” I said, being a brat. He gave me a dirty look. “You going to tell me why you’re in a hurry so we can leave or not?”

“God damn it!” he said, frustrated, but I ignored him and sat down. I knew I was being a complete asshole, but he’d been acting weird lately, and I wanted to know what was going on. “How about if I tell you on the way to the airport?” He acted as if he was negotiating a UN treaty or something.

“Deal,” I said. We hopped in the car and started the trek to LAX.

“What if I don’t want to tell you?” he asked, trying to turn the tables on me. He had this smarmy attitude, like he’d won.

“Dude, you are not smarter than me. You can’t win this game. If you don’t tell me, I’ll just hang out at the airport and refuse to get on the plane.”

“I guess you don’t understand that thing about minding your own business,” he said in his smarmy, self-righteous tone.

“I guess I consider your weirdness to be my business.” I used the same tone he did.

He gave me a dirty look, and then sighed, gestures which he assumed might have some sort of effect on me, but which only strengthened my resolve. He finally relented. “I’m supposed to go out with Jeff tonight.”

“Jeff? Stef’s Jeff?” Jeff was this blond stud Stef had hired to be his personal assistant. I’d do anything with that guy that he wanted to do. “Dude, he’s smoking hot!”

“I think so too,” he said, blushing.

“I didn’t even know you were gay, other than you seemed to like it that time I grabbed your dick.” I loved giving him shit.

“Your gaydar sucks,” he said.

“Yeah? Maybe you can coach me on that,” I pondered. He looked relieved because I’d veered off topic, but unfortunately for him, it was only a temporary diversion. “So how long have you guys been sleeping together?”

“Who says we’re sleeping together?”

“Dude, if you haven’t jumped in his bed, you’re an idiot,” I said.

“It’s pretty recent,” he said, blushing really hard now.

“Which one of you is the bottom?” I asked. He gave me a dirty look. “I’m just asking for future reference.”

“That’s a little personal,” he said.

“I’ve got a leg cramp,” I said, pretending to be in pain. “I don’t want to fly until it goes away.”

“You’re being an asshole.”

“Top or bottom?” I demanded.

“Bottom, mostly,” he said, and blushed even more, if that were possible.

“I have to find a state where the age of consent is 14,” I joked.

“Very funny,” he said, deadpan.

My torture session was interrupted by our arrival at the plane. After we climbed up, told the pilots we were ready, and started to taxi, I could see him physically brace himself for more of my shit. I decided to surprise him. “So I figure once I get to Paly, I’ll probably stay at Escorial. I’m thinking that tonight and tomorrow, I’ll just be there. You don’t have to be around.” That would free up the evening and the next day for them.

He smiled at me, a big smile full of gratitude. “Really?”

“Yeah. Have fun,” I said.

“Thanks,” he said sincerely.

“Dude, I only give you shit because I like you. I want you to be happy.” The rest of the flight was pretty quiet. We got to Paly in time for rush hour, but the traffic wasn’t too bad. We finally arrived at Escorial around 6:00. As soon as we did, I told Pat to take off on his big date, while I wandered down to my room to get ready. After my jack-off session for JJ, I wanted to take a shower and spiff up a bit for dinner.

I headed to the dining room and got there with only a couple of minutes to spare. I made the rounds, greeting my Uncle Ace and Aunt Cass, Grand and Grandmaman, and Frank.

“Good to see you, dude,” Darius said, giving me a big hug. I really missed having him around. Next year was going to suck. Ella gave me a nice kiss on the cheek, but Gathan was much more demonstrative, giving me one of those Hayes hugs like Robbie dispenses. I saw Kristin watching us so I grabbed his ass, cracking her up. I greeted her warmly, and was about to take my seat, when I found myself face to face with some guy I didn’t know. I just stood there in front of him, transfixed by his beauty.

“Hey,” he said nervously. “I’m Tony Carbone.” He held out his hand, and it took me a second to make my mind work and extend mine as well. Darius snickered at me, but that was too damn bad. This guy was a walking wet dream.

“Will Schluter,” I managed to stammer. I found myself staring into some very alert brown eyes. They were set back in his face more than normal, but that just turbocharged his looks. Like his name suggested, this guy was an Italian-American, with classic Italian-American looks: Olive skin, dark hair, and an air of machismo that made him incredibly sensual. He grinned at me nervously as we shook hands for way too long.

They’d seated him next to me, probably just to torture me and send my hormones into overdrive. I’d just sat down to hide my erection when JP and Stef came in, forcing me to pull myself out of my chair and greet them as well. “Tony came to visit us for a while,” Stef said, explaining his presence.

I looked at him, which was almost a mistake because when I did, I almost sank right into those brown pools he called eyes. They were like the LaBrea tar pits, the way they sucked me in. “What brings you here?” I managed to stammer.

“I’ve got tryouts for the soccer team here at Stanford,” he said. His voice had a really deep and resonant tone, probably as a result of that huge Adam’s apple that bulged from his throat. “I thought I’d come out here and do my best to make it.”

“Tight,” I said. “How long have you been here?”

“I just got here yesterday,” he said. “I’ve been kicking back, doing nothing.”

“That’s a good thing,” I said, smiling awkwardly. “Doing nothing, I mean.”

“He always acts like an idiot when I bring hot guys home,” Darius said. I glared at him, so pissed off I wanted to kill him. But if I was tongue-tied around Tony, with Darius, my wit was at peak form.

“You think Tony’s hot? Maybe he should watch out for you?” I said. Darius was as gay-friendly as a straight boy could be, but it still bothered him when people, like me, suggested he might actually be interested in other guys. It was one of his weaknesses, and as his little brother, it was my job to know all of his weaknesses and exploit them mercilessly.

“You’re acting just fine,” Tony said to me.

“Thanks,” I said.

“I met Tony when we were in St. Louis,” Gathan offered. “We stayed with his mom. Damn, do they have good food.”

“I love Italian food,” I said, then realized I’d made a huge leap that that’s what kind of food Gathan had been referring to. I covered up my flub by segueing the subject. “I just got back from Rome.”

“The Italian food there is different from here,” he said.

“Yeah, but it’s still good. Have you been to Rome?”

“We usually go there every other year, at least,” he said. “I still have relatives there.”

“Have you been to the Bay area before?” Everyone else was talking now as they ate, so the conversation was just between the two of us.

“Yeah,” he said. “My dad, uh, lived here for a long time before I was born. We came out a few times to see Stanford and the City.” And then all the tumblers fell into place, and I remembered the name. This guy was the son of Sam Carbone, the guy that had been JP’s partner for over ten years, long before I was born. I glanced down at JP to see him watching us. He had a pleased and contented expression on his face; clearly, his feelings toward Sam didn’t evoke the same kind of anguish that his feelings about Jeff Hayes always did.

“So what are you doing tomorrow?” I asked.

“I’ve actually got the day off,” he said, grinning.

“Me too. Want to go see the City, or something?” I asked.

“Sure,” he said. “Sounds cool.” I tried not to act too elated that I had plans with this Adonis for the whole day tomorrow. We both turned our attention back to the table at large to talk to the other people there.

“And where is Pat?” Stef asked me.

“You don’t know?” I teased.

“Should I?”

“You usually know all the secrets,” I said, torturing him.

“And you usually do not torment me by withholding interesting information,” he joked back.

“He’s out on a date,” I said.

“You’re here, so it must not be with you,” Darius said, trying to get back at me for embarrassing him a few minutes ago.

“You are so smart,” I said sarcastically. “Did you figure that out all by yourself, or did Ella help you?”

“Who is he out with?” Stef asked, intervening before Darius could tell me to fuck off.

“Jeff,” I said. “Your assistant,” I added.

“The two of them, together?” he mused.

“I know. It could be a porno,” I joked. I was trying to figure out how Tony felt about our gay references, or about the fact that I was gay; that much had been obvious from our dinner conversations. He seemed cool with it, which made sense because his dad had been bisexual. On the other hand, he was from Missouri. Didn’t they still shoot gay people there?

Dinner was pleasant enough, but just having Tony next to me was pretty frustrating. First of all, he reminded me of Berto, and even though I was still pissed off at him, when I looked at Tony I remembered how much fun I’d had in Rome. But more than that, he just seemed like a really laid back and engaging guy.

“John’s at home with some of his friends from school,” Aunt Claire said to me after dinner was done. “You’re welcome to come over and visit with them.”

That made me a little sad, because just a month ago I’d have lunged at a chance to spend time with John, but now I didn’t want to go down there. He’d be with his friends, and they were all younger than I was. It would be like going to some little kid’s party or something. That and I was having a really good time here with Darius, Kristin, Gathan, Ella, and Tony. I looked sideways at Tony’s handsome form, and that tipped the scale. “Thanks, but I think I’ll just stick around here tonight.”

“You can hang with us,” Gathan said. “We’re doing the same thing.”

I looked at Darius for approval. I’d learned over the years that it was best to make sure he was cool with me sticking around with his friends; if I stayed when he didn’t want me to, he’d find nasty ways to get back at me. I got a slight nod from him. “That sounds good,” I agreed.

The six of us went outside after dinner to hang out and smoke some weed. I noticed that Ella and Kristin didn’t partake, but that didn’t stop the rest of us. “So what do you want to do now?” Gathan asked. “We could go swimming.”

That idea didn’t seem to have much appeal. “Let’s watch a movie,” I said. “Pop gave me a DVD to watch.”

“Which one?” Darius asked.

“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” I told him.

“Is that some old Bruce Lee movie?” Tony asked. “I haven’t heard of it.”

“It hasn’t been released yet,” I explained. “At least not here. It’s out in China and Taiwan, but not in the US. Pop says it won’t be for at least a couple of months.”

“It hasn’t been released yet?” he challenged.

“Robbie is a Hollywood producer,” Gathan explained. “He gets access to movies before the rest of us plebes. I’m up for it. We can tell him if it sucks or not.”

We went down to the theater room Pop had built for everyone up here and sat in the cushy chairs. It was weird, since there were six of us, and since the other four people were coupled, it made Tony and I seem like a couple too. I wondered if that would bother Tony, but he was so engrossed in the movie it didn’t seem to matter what the rest of us were doing.

“That was a great movie!” Tony said when it was over. I noticed that he sat there after the final scene was over to watch all the credits. He must really be into movies. I wasn’t as into movies, but I was pretty into him.

 

August 18, 2000

Escorial

Palo Alto, CA

Gathan

“I’ve never done a budget before,” I told JP as I handed it to him. He’d told me that I was getting it together for Stef, but we all knew that I was doing it for him. He looked it over intently, and I stood there, damn near shaking, hoping I’d done decent work for him. I wonder if his students felt this way. I’d have to take a class with him and find out.

“You may sit down,” Stef said, smiling at me.

“I feel like I should be standing at attention,” I joked. JP looked up at me and frowned, while Stef giggled. “I owe you so much for being understanding about this.”

“We are all flawed beings,” JP said. “Some more than others,” he quipped as he looked at Stef, who raised an eyebrow to challenge him.

“The reason JP is being such an ass about all of this is that he doesn’t want you to repeat the same mistake again,” Stef said.

“I am not being an ass,” JP asserted.

Stef gave him a look that suggested otherwise. “You have never had money in the past, and now that you do, it is easy to manage it badly. I have experienced the same feelings you did. The overwhelming draw of almost unlimited wealth, where you could buy anything where before you had nothing.”

“That’s it,” I agreed, happy that someone understood me. “That’s exactly what it was like.”

“Ah, but money can be a drug, just like sex,” Stef said knowingly. “You must learn your limitations. That is why JP is compelling you to turn into an accountant.”

“So you have limitations on sex?” I teased him.

“We consume relative to our tolerances,” he said airily, cracking me up.

“I think this is a good first attempt,” JP said, handing it back to me. “You have a few things to refine.”

“What?” I asked, wondering what I’d forgotten.

“What about contingency planning? Emergencies? You have no money set aside for that?” I stared at him, blankly. “You get an income from your trust, but the principle is not accessible. If something happens, what would you do?”

“I guess I never thought I’d be worried about saving money in college,” I reasoned. “I figured that worrying about saving money would come later, after I graduated and had responsibilities.”

“Planning for contingencies is something you have to do at every stage of life,” he said. I got what he was saying, and he seemed to get that I got it, so he moved on. “You are planning to go to Ohio once a month?”

“That’s what Kristin suggested,” I said. “You think I’ll need to be there more often?”

“I think that you may want to see each other more often than that. If you do, you do not have room in your budget for it,” he observed.

“I’ll go make some revisions,” I said. “When is the final budget due?”

“How about tomorrow morning,” JP said. I nodded and left the study. I almost ran into Will as he was heading in there.

“You figure out how to get into Tony’s pants yet?” I teased.

“Dude, I am so working on it,” he said seriously, cracking me up. “You think he’s up for it?”

I didn’t want to out Tony, but I decided Will could use some encouragement. “I’m only saying this: it’s possible.”

His eyes lit up, and he looked like he was going to ask me more questions, but then seemed to change his mind. “I have got to figure out this whole gaydar thing.”

I laughed. “Well, you look really good today.” His hair was short and combed forward, but had a bit of a windblown look to it. Somehow, the casual way his hair was lying contrasted in a really compelling way with his intense green eyes. “Tony got his car with him?”

“No,” he said, frustrated.

“He’s into cars,” I told him. “He’s got a Camaro convertible that he’s in love with back home.”

“He’s into cars, eh?” Will asked. He had a devious look on his face. “I have to go talk to Stef.” Now he was a man with a plan, and with that kid, I decided, that was a pretty scary thing.