Streak - 28. Chapter 28

November 3, 2002

Tribeca, NYC

Brad

I looked at the clock and it was 6:00am. I hadn’t slept at all. We’d fucked, then just lain there and talked, and then we’d fucked again. “I don’t think I have any fluids left in my body,” he said.

“Good,” I told him.

“So what time are you guys leaving?” It was sweet to hear the disappointment in his voice, but I wasn’t any happier about it.

“If I had my choice, I’d stay here in bed with you all day,” I said.

“I can do that.”

I chuckled. “Unfortunately, Stef is a little more task oriented than me.”

“Must be those extra billions.” I laughed again. I spent a lot of my non-fucking time with him laughing. He made me feel alive, young, and he made me happy.

“Do you have a passport?” I asked him. I heard Will’s advice rumbling around in my brain, even as I contemplated taking the plunge.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Come with me.”

He looked at me strangely. “I don’t need a passport to go to California, do I?”

“No, but you need one to go to Australia,” I said.

“You want me to go to Australia with you?” he asked me, blinking in shock.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know,” he said nervously.

“You been there before?”

“No, I’ve only been to Canada and Europe. Does that count?”

I chuckled. “That counts, but it’s not Australia. So come with me.”

“Dude, you’re going to the Gay Games. There’s no way you can’t fuck a bunch of athletes,” he said.

“I don’t want to fuck a bunch of athletes. I want to fuck you,” I said.

“In a little bit,” he joked. “I’m still recovering. Plus my ass is so sore; I think I need a short break.”

“How long?”

“A couple of hours,” he said, cracking me up. But he was lying on my chest, and I could feel his hard cock pressing against my leg. He was a randy guy. I reached over into the nightstand and pulled out a regular condom.

“I can top a guy I’m not all that into,” I said honestly. “But I can’t bottom for someone I don’t like. I have to have some sort of connection with the guy.”

“I can do it, but the connection makes it better,” he said.

I handed him the condom. “Your turn.” He took it and looked at me, his narrow eyes opening wide.

“You like me that much?”

“I do,” I said. And then he fucked me, but he was so gentle and caring, when it was over, I felt almost euphoric in a stoned kind of way. “That was amazing.”

“I liked it too,” he said, as he pulled the condom off. “You really want me to go with you?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll go,” he said. “I guess I should go through that suitcase and see how much of my shit he kept.”

“If he did, we’ll go shopping,” I said. “Or better yet, we’ll have Stef take you shopping.”

“I’ll bet that’s a lot of fun,” he said.

“Not according to Will and Darius,” I joked. “JJ enjoys it though.”

“I’m kind of a diva, so I’ll probably enjoy it too.”

“I’m not seeing this diva you’re talking about,” I said, and kissed him.

“That’s because you treat me so well, I don’t have anything to bitch about.” His fingers stroked my chest in a sexy but relaxing way.

I was going to get up and be task oriented, but there was one more thing I hadn’t talked about. “I need to ask you the other gay question.”

“You mean what my favorite decorating colors are?” he joked, and then got serious. “I’m negative. I would have told you if I wasn’t.”

“So am I, but I think it’s something we both needed to know.”

He swallowed, like he had something he wanted to say but was nervous, and then he jumped in. “I’m a pretty loyal guy.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, even though it should be obvious.

“I’ve only been with five guys,” he said. I stared at him, stunned. A dude as gorgeous as him, and he’d only been with five guys. That was unbelievable, yet I did believe him.

“I feel incredibly honored to be one of them,” I said lamely.

“I’m a relationship kind of guy, so once I’m with a guy, I’m with him. That’s what I mean by loyalty.”

“You’ve never cheated on your boyfriends?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Never. Have you?”

I sighed. “It’s complicated, but I have.” That bothered him, it really bothered him, so I tried to explain. “My partner, Robbie, was a great guy, but he had some issues. When we became partners, we were together for fourteen years, and we were completely monogamous. I was happy, and really had no problem with that. But a couple of years ago, he decided he wanted to see other guys on the side, or one other guy. It almost destroyed our relationship.”

“Did you let him?”

“I did, but I resented him for it,” I said, opening up to him. “If I make a commitment to someone, and he makes that commitment to me, it has to be all or nothing. I can’t do this half-assed shit. Some guys can do that, have an open relationship, but I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“When Robbie cheated on me in the past, it made me feel inadequate, like I wasn’t enough to satisfy him. I don’t like to fail, and that was a failure in my book. And when he had another guy in his life, I felt like it was a competition to see who would ultimately win him over. I don’t like to lose.”

He chuckled. “I’m trying to figure out how you could possibly lose.”

I smiled to thank him for that compliment. “When we had our biggest fight about it, he said kind of the same thing, and I told him that I was pissed off I was even in a competition in the first place.”

“So how did you handle it?” I looked at him blankly, not getting what he was asking. “Did you sleep with other guys too?”

I nodded. “When we opened up our relationship, I slutted it up. It was pretty extreme.” I paused to gather my thoughts. “It wasn’t even the sex, it was that I needed to feel attractive, I needed to feel good about myself.”

“You needed to feel desirable,” he concluded.

“Yes.” I paused, and then grinned. “And I did it to piss him off. He was a very jealous guy.”

“I can understand what you’re saying, but I don’t work that way. For me, it’s like I’m committed to one guy, and as long as we’re together, that’s it. Last night was my first hookup on a first date.”

“I don’t think we know each other well enough to make that kind of commitment,” I said. I watched him to see how he’d react, but he just nodded. “But I think that if we’re going to Australia together, we should be together.”

“So no hot athletes for either one of us on this trip?” he asked, grinning.

“No hot athletes.”

“I’m good with that,” he said. “So I’ll get to meet the rest of your family?”

“Probably not,” I said. “Darius is in LA, JJ is in Boston, and my mother is in Lafayette, California. You’ll get to meet Will though. He’s the one who told me I should invite you to go with me.”

“You didn’t want me to go?”

“I wanted you to go; I just didn’t know if I should ask you. He solved that problem for me.”

“Good,” he said.

“You’ll get to meet Matt, and you’ll get to meet the other guy who I consider to be a father to me, in addition to Stef. JP Crampton, who’s a professor at Stanford.”

“What’s he like?”

“He’s incredibly charming and well-mannered, but also very stoic. It’s hard to figure out what he’s thinking, even if you know him well.”

“I hope they like me.”

“They’re gay, and you’re hot. You’re already off to a good start,” I said, cracking him up. “They’ll like you because I like you.” ‘And they won’t, if I don’t,’ I didn’t say, but it was in the context.

We got up and showered together, and I got a chance to really look at his body. He was kind of like Robbie in a way, in that his soft skin covered up his muscles, but he wasn’t nearly as muscular as Robbie had been. He was all kinds of things wrapped into one. He was gorgeous enough to be a model, but masculine and down to earth at the same time. He was cute enough to be a twink, but he was bigger and more muscular than that stereotype.

When we were done, we went into the kitchen to have breakfast and found Stef there with Julian, talking about Stef’s schedule. “Good morning,” Stef said. “What a pleasant way to start my day, by seeing your handsome face, Marc.”

“I’m glad I could brighten things up for you,” he said, getting a smile from Stef.

“This is my assistant, Julian.” Julian was kind of bitchy, but even he was cowed by Marc’s appearance.

“Marc’s going to Australia with me,” I announced. Sometimes it was fun to do things like this, and blow Stef’s mind.

“I am so glad,” he said, even as he gave me an inquisitive look. “I guess this means your date went well.”

“That’s what this means,” Marc said. “I need to go through my suitcase and pare it down so I don’t have so much stuff.”

“You can put anything you don’t want to take in the room we were in,” I said. “That way it will be here when you get back.”

“Thanks,” he said.

“As we are leaving soon, Julian can help you,” Stef said. Julian gave him a foul look, while Stef smirked. He liked to torture Julian, but more than that, he wanted to get rid of him so he could grill me.

“Thank you, Julian,” Marc said in a sexy way, which totally transformed Julian’s attitude. They went off to work on Marc’s suitcase, with a couple of croissants to snack on as they did.

“You met him, went out on one date, and now you are squiring him halfway around the world,” Stef noted as soon as they were gone. “He must be an interesting guy.”

“I like him,” I said. “He’s fun, he’s sexy, and he makes me laugh.”

“Those are good reasons,” Stef said, smiling at me because I was happy. “What made you decide to invite him to join you?”

“Will told me I should.”

“You spoke to him?” Stef said, even as his eyes narrowed.

“I talked to him last night. He called me to find out when we would be coming home.” He looked at me strangely. “I’m in too good of a mood to argue with him, and he didn’t want to fight with me either.”

“I am not as giddy as you,” he said, being grumpy. I sat down with him and looked at him intently.

“Look Stef, I was pissed at JP and Will, but I think this time around, we owe JP an apology.”

“And why would you think that?” he demanded, seriously annoyed.

“Because he talked to us about Halliburton, and we both knew how upset he was about this war. This is a big deal to him, especially because of how hard he fought against the Vietnam War. On something that important, we all but ignored him, because we thought we could make some extra money.” I watched that irritate Stef at the same time it resonated. “It wasn’t worth it to upset him, and that’s the point Will was trying to make.”

“So you think we should fly back to Palo Alto and go up to Escorial and apologize to JP?” he asked, outraged.

“That’s what I’m going to do,” I said to him.

“That does not excuse Will from calling me a carpetbagger,” he said, being bitchy.

“Will idolizes JP, and looks out for him almost as much as you do,” I said. “He was mad at us for upsetting JP to make an extra buck.”

“I will ruminate on your strategy, even if I do not like it,” he said.

“Sometimes it feels good to apologize and clear the air,” I said. “If you don’t believe me, you may want to ask Marie.” She had all but refused to admit to being in error last year, and had ended up in dire mental straits because of it. He said nothing more, so I went and helped Julian and Marc sort through his luggage.

We left for the airport, and Marc was more somber than he had been. I was worried that I’d latched onto another moody guy, but that wasn’t really fair. No one was required to be upbeat all the time. But when we finally got on the plane, I decided to call him on it. “What’s wrong?”

Stef was with us, but that didn’t seem to bother him. “I’m sorry. I’m just upset, and pissed off. He kept half my wardrobe, including stuff I had when I was with Sam.”

“Sam?” Stef asked.

“He was my boyfriend, more like a partner. He was killed in the towers,” he said solemnly.

“I am sorry,” Stef said. “Were any of these wardrobe items of sentimental value?”

He thought about that. “Not really. It’s just that a lot of my favorite clothes are gone. And shoes. Shit.”

Stef chuckled. “I can empathize with your anguish, but this is a problem that is easily solved.”

“By going back there and demanding my things?” he asked.

“Of course not,” Stef said. “They are old clothes now, and they are already unfashionable. Instead, we will buy you new ones.”

His eyes bulged. “I couldn’t let you do that.” He said that, but we all knew that he wanted us to.

“I told my grandson, Will, that buying clothes for an amazing male specimen like you is the gay man’s equivalent of playing with Barbie dolls,” he said, making us laugh, even though to me, it was an old joke. “So humor me.”

“I’m looking forward to spending time with you even more than the new clothes,” he said, and hit Stef with his megawatt smile.

“You are truly wise beyond your years,” Stef said, making Marc chuckle.

“Thank you,” he said. We had a really good time bantering, just the three of us. About midway through the flight, Marc excused himself to go to the restroom. I was tempted to follow him, but I was still satisfied from our night-long fuckathon. I stared at his gorgeous ass as he walked toward the back, and began to reconsider that decision.

“He is adorable,” Stef said.

“He is,” I agreed. Stef looked a bit pensive, which meant he was holding back on me. “What?”

“I have encountered men like him before,” he said.

“Men like what?” I asked, way too belligerently. A look from Stef calmed me down.

“He finds older, wealthy men to date,” Stef said.

“What’s wrong with that?” I asked him.

“There is nothing wrong with that,” Stef said. “He will probably be very caring and supportive, but he will probably also be demanding, and he will expect you to take care of him.”

I thought about that for a bit. “I don’t know if that’s a bad thing.”

“It is not good or bad, it just is,” he said. “He will probably let you be in control. You will like that.”

“Very funny,” I snapped. Our conversation was truncated when Marc came back.

“Do you have any hobbies?” Stef asked him.

“Painting is my job and my hobby,” he said. “Besides that, I shop and work out.”

“That sounds much like my life, if you exclude the working out,” Stef joked. “I work and I shop.”

“What about you?” Marc asked me.

“I paint, and I surf,” I told him. “Do you know how to surf?”

“I tried it once, and didn’t do very well,” he said.

“Maybe you just need to try it again,” I said.

“Maybe you can teach me,” he said, seductively. I smiled, even as I grimaced inside. I was truly a shitty surfing instructor. It was kind of a bummer that he didn’t share my love for surfing, but then again, it was my hobby, not his.

November 3, 2002

Palo Alto Airport, CA

Will

I sat in the front seat of the limo with Pedro, waiting for Stef’s Falcon to pull up to the terminal. I’d decided to be nice and put my best foot forward to welcome Dad and Stef home, and to meet Marc Carmine. Dad had worked to find a solution to our big issue, so I was feeling good about that. Besides, we’d all endured too much shit to let this conflict linger. But more than that, I was excited to meet this guy who had captivated him.

I hadn’t heard him sound this excited since he first started dating Cam Heely; but even then, he was way giddier about Marc. I wondered if this guy was amazing, or if he’d just cast a spell on Dad, or both. Pedro watched the plane, and as soon as the ground crew put the chocks under the wheels, he guided the massive Suburban limo out to the plane. I hopped out and went to wait at the bottom of the stairs.

The first person out was Stef, just as he usually was. He saw me and plastered on his fake smile, then walked down the steps more deliberately than he normally did. “A welcoming committee,” he said frigidly. “What brings you down here?”

“It’s only me, so not a committee,” I said. He just looked at me. “I’m here because I love you.”

Stef was a lot like JJ. He could be bitchy and stubborn, and he could fire himself up to carry a really big grudge, but faced with either an apology or a pledge of love like I’d just given him, he melted. “The feeling is mutual,” he said, and gave me a big hug, one that I made him hold a bit longer so he’d know I was sincere.

Dad was next, but we really didn’t need to have a big meeting of the minds. He smiled at me, I smiled at him, and I all but lunged at him, giving him a massive hug. “I’m glad you’re home.”

“Not for long,” he said.

I let go of him and focused on the guy who was following him. Holy fuck was he gorgeous! He wasn’t handsome, like Devon, he was cute. I put him in the same league as Kevin Carmichael, but with this guy, his cuteness was more masculine. “I’m Will,” I said, holding out my hand. “Welcome to California.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Will,” he said pleasantly, even as he gave me a firm handshake. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“And you’re still happy to see me?” I joked. He laughed, and threw out some serious charm when he did.

They finished loading the bags into the limo, and that was our cue to get in and get situated. I sat across from Stef and next to Marc, who sat across from my father. “I am sorry I upset you with our investment decisions,” Stef said. I shared a glance with my father. Stef couldn’t just put this stuff behind him; we had to have a meeting of the minds. I appreciated that he apologized, though.

“And I’m sorry for being so rude to you,” I said. He nodded.

“It is frustrating for you and JP to suddenly become upset with us for having defense companies in our portfolio when we have had a substantial position in Triton for quite some time,” he said, being frosty.

“Grand wasn’t saying that you had to get rid of Triton, he was just upset that you were bulking up on those other companies. It was like now that war was on the horizon, you were jumping in to make a killing.” I kicked myself for that poor choice of words.

“Well in the end, it will probably turn out to be a good thing,” Dad said. “We can do a better job of not supporting something we’re against, and we can give Matt something to do at the same time.”

“Maybe it will keep him out of trouble,” I said. “I’m so jealous you guys get to go see him at the Gay Games.”

“You are more jealous of all the hot athletes they will encounter,” Stef said.

“No hot athletes for me,” Dad said, and smiled at Marc. “I have my date.”

“And I have mine,” Marc said, smiling back at him. They were acting all lovey-dovey, and it was cute and gross at the same time. Stef and I rolled our eyes at each other.

“Do you surf?” I asked Marc.

“Not yet,” Dad said, answering for him.

“How about riding? Do you like to ride?” I was trying to find common ground, activities he might like at Escorial.

“Not big on horses,” he said.

“Well, we have a kick-ass gym, and I know you do that,” I said, smiling to try and make up for striking out with my first two suggestions.

“I do,” he said, then refocused completely on Dad. It kind of freaked me out, because I kind of figured he’d try to build some sort of connection to the rest of us, but maybe it was just me he didn’t want to connect with. I resolved to be polite anyway.

We got to Escorial and Marc was pretty impressed, but that’s not unusual. Escorial is an impressive place. Grand was there to greet everyone, then he and Stef vanished to go make-up, or do whatever, leaving me alone with Dad and Marc. “I’d kind of like to freshen up,” he said to my dad with his ‘fuck me’ look.

“Let me show you where our room is,” Dad said. They wandered off down the hall, not really saying anything to me, or even looking at me. I just stood there, staring after them as they left, until I felt alone, and a little ridiculous.

November 6, 2002

Sydney, Australia

Brad

“Mr. Schluter, the car is waiting for you,” our butler said. We were staying at the Four Seasons in Sydney, in the huge Presidential Suite. It had stunning views of both the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House, and it came with a butler, Chan, to attend to our various needs. He’d been amazingly helpful. “It is late enough that you should not have to worry about traffic.”

“Thank you, Chan. We’ll see you later on,” I said, and then Marc and I took the elevator down to the lobby and were ushered into the limo.

“What time does he play?” Marc asked.

“At 10:30,” I said. My watch said it was 9:45. “How’s your jet lag.”

“I’m doing pretty well,” he said. Being with him had been a dream. He was so in tune to my moods that he knew when I needed him close, and he knew when I needed my space. And he used his sexy body to keep me totally satisfied. “First class with those huge seats helped.”

“They did, but I think the trip we took to the lavatory was even more refreshing,” I said.

“I told you you’re the fifth guy I’ve been with,” he said. “None of them made sex as amazing as you do.”

“Really?” I asked, appreciating his stroke to my ego.

“Not even Sam,” he said, which was a stunning statement. He’d talked a lot about Sam, and it was clear that they were tight, and that Marc had loved him completely. Sam was his version of Robbie, more or less.

“I think that I can only be good if I have the right partner, and I have the right partner,” I said, throwing some positive comments his way.

“Thanks,” he said, and moved over to sit closer to me. “So what’s our plan for today?”

“Well first we’re going to see Matt’s hockey game,” I said.

“I kind of figured that out,” he said in a playful, smart-ass way.

“After that, I need to spend some time with Matt, talking about business,” I told him. “I was thinking that you and I could go to lunch with Matt, and then I could meet with him.”

“Will you be long?”

“I’d say it won’t take more than an hour, two at the most,” I told him.

“Then I think after lunch I’ll go back to the hotel, and you can just meet me there,” he said.

“Tomorrow I planned to spend the day surfing,” I told him. “That won’t be much fun for you.” And I didn’t want to be held back by having him with me, and feeling like I had to teach him how to surf.

“I can go with you,” he said, which was typical. He’d go out of his way to make me happy.

“I have a better idea, something to keep you busy this afternoon and tomorrow,” I said.

“Oh?”

I pulled out my wallet and took out a Visa card and handed it to him. “I think you said you needed to do some shopping.”

He looked at the card, and then looked at me. “My name is on it.”

“Very good,” I said, giving him shit. I’d called the bank and had them express ship me a card in his name to the hotel. Chan had tracked it down for me this morning.

“Thanks,” he said. “I won’t spend too much.”

“Get what you need,” I said simply, without giving him a budget. I didn’t worry about it, since the card had a $100,000 limit, so he wouldn’t go over that.

“Fuck David,” he said, in a slightly pissed off way. “Like Stef said, I’ll just get newer, more fashionable clothes.”

“There you go,” I said encouragingly. “Looks like we’re here.”

“Not very impressive,” Marc said, looking at the ice rink. He was right.

Marc and I walked into the Canterbury Ice Rink, and the first thing that hit me was that rank smell that hockey rinks seemed to have. This was an old rink. It had looked pretty unimpressive from the outside, and the inside wasn’t much better. We got some good seats, and got ourselves settled in time to see the teams come skating out, warming up. “Come on,” I said, and led Marc down to the place where the team would leave the ice. I’d called Matt and told him we were here, but we hadn’t seen him yet. We’d spent yesterday recovering from our travels. But I made eye contact with Matt, and could see his eyes light up when he saw I was here.

After the warm up, Matt was the first one off the ice. He came over to us, and pulled off his helmet. He looked so handsome, with his cheeks slightly red and flushed. “Thank you so much for coming!” He gave me a big hug, or at least as big as he could with full hockey gear on.

“This is Marc,” I said, introducing them.

“Dude, you are even hotter than Will said you were,” Matt said.

“Thanks,” Marc said, and blushed slightly.

“Who are you playing?”

“Colorado,” he said. “We are kicking ass here.”

“That’s fantastic!” Marc said enthusiastically. We went back to our seats and thumbed through the program, reading the stats. They’d beat Los Angeles, then they’d beat New York, and now they were playing Colorado. If they won this game, they’d end up in the gold medal game, two days later.

“You said you didn’t like hockey,” I said, to strike up conversation.

“I don’t think I said I didn’t like it, I said I liked baseball the best,” he said. “Explain it to me.” So as they played, I pointed out the various things that were important, like being offside and the penalties. But even as I rambled on, throwing out those tidbits of knowledge, I was entranced by the game. Matt was a rock star on the ice. He was everywhere, and got two of their five goals.

When the game was over, we stood up and applauded like crazy. “They’ll be in the gold medal game on Friday,” I told him.

“That was a lot of fun,” he said. “I think I like hockey after all.”

“Cool,” I said, winking at him. “Let’s go out and wait for Matt.”

“Sounds good,” Marc said. “It smells better outside.”

It took Matt a while to come out, presumably because they were planning out their evening. He ambled over in his sexy, cocky way and gave me a big hug. “You were amazing,” I said.

“Thanks!”

“I never liked hockey before today,” Marc said, turning on the charm.

“I’m a man of many talents,” Matt said, flirting with Marc, but Marc wasn’t used to his playful banter, and that seemed to make him uncomfortable. I laughed to move us beyond that.