Those Left Behind - 26. Celebrations, of a sort

It was Saturday afternoon, the sun was shining, there’d not been a word about the case in the papers and there’d been a message from Graham Marcus that Jackie’s information had led to some significant discoveries and that Andreas Huber would be formally charged with more offences, and the bank was rather pleased. By which, Ludo presumed that Graham was discreetly letting them know that they had found more money. He would try and pop round over the weekend and bring them up to date.

They were expecting Gordy later, he was bringing Alessio to dinner. Amazingly the two had been seeing each other regularly. Whether anyone could manage to pin Gordy down for long, both Ludo and Arthur doubted, but they were pleased for the guy that he’d found someone he at least wanted to try and make a go of things with.

So, whilst Arthur started preparations, Ludo was pottering round the house trying to get it a bit more shipshape than usual. A thankless and fruitless task, given the way the boys scattered stuff everywhere, but he felt better for making the effort. That was another thing they had to think about; with two incomes, one mortgage and joint expenses, they could afford getting someone in to clean regularly; by the Autumn, the case should be old enough news that it wouldn’t frighten anyone off. Ludo made a note on their list in the kitchen and smiled to himself, at least they could cross one thing off. They now had a holiday sorted.

The weekend had started oddly. There had been a phone call on Friday evening. A crackly line and a voice saying hello, hello. A vaguely familiar voice. Then all of a sudden, the crackling stopped and clear as a bell he was talking to Hansi. Her German accent was more pronounced on the phone, or perhaps it was that she was even more worked up than when they’d seen her.

At first, Ludo had been worried that she wanted to berate him or let off steam about Jackie informing the police about Andreas’ money that he had hidden. Not a bit. She wanted to moan about Andreas, the stupid, stupid man who had ruined their life with his crazy schemes. It all came out in one mad tirade, but Ludo understood. All he could do was cluck sympathetically and try and sympathise. She was worried about her business, would people come and rent cabins in the woods if they knew the owner’s husband was in jail for embezzling money, would they get people coming for all the wrong reasons? He was stupid, stupid and thoughtless. Now she was left on her own to cope.

It was sad, really. Ludo had liked Hansi and, in another situation, thought they could have been friends. She seemed to have a down to earth practicality to her, as well as a lovely directness; she could see clearly that the nice income they had, even if it was a lot of work to keep the cabins nice, was far better than losing all their life for the sake of a bit of extra money spent in lonely exile.

And at the end of the conversation, she had suddenly flipped into business-woman mode. They had idly talked about coming to stay in one of the cabins, would they like to do that? So, that morning they had got their fingers out, compared diaries and confirmed things by email with Hansi. They would book a cabin for a week, one deep in the forest. Getting there and back would add a few days either end, making nearly two weeks holiday. They could afford it, if they drove; Ludo just hoped the boys were up to a couple of long car journeys and Arthur had joked that they would have to start accumulating books of things to do in the car. But Ludo had grinned and said that the boys would more likely want to watch videos. Arthur’s retort was, ‘and make themselves sick’, and they realised that their first family holiday was going to be an adventure in more ways than one.

Ludo’s musings were interrupted by shouts from the garden. ‘Dad, Dad, it’s Gordy!’ Ludo went out and sure enough, there was Gordy’s face, grinning inanely as it kept popping up over the fence as he jumped. Arthur opened the back gate and Gordy was stood there, still grinning.

“Thanks, I think I’m getting more of the hang of it, less winded this time.”

“You could try ringing the doorbell, like any normal person.”

“Och, where’s the fun in that! I’m a wee bit early, but I figured I could keep the boys amused for a while. It’s a nice afternoon, and the garden could do with a bit of a water.”

Arthur grinned, “The garden could do with a lot of things, but I think the boys prefer the water going over them.”

“Aye, that’s as like.”

The boys were delighted and in danger of becoming over-exuberant, but Gordy was not fazed. Ludo and Arthur allowed themselves to be persuaded into stripping off as well, though they did not have the stamina that Gordy had, or perhaps it was simply that the chance to sit quietly and watch whilst someone else wore the boys out was too good to miss.

Tired of being wet and mock wrestling with the boys, Arthur towelled off quickly and went in to get some beer for the three adults, though still naked. Well, why not, it didn’t seem worth dressing, after all Gordy was still larking around with the boys who were managing to spray water everywhere.

The back gate clicked, having not been locked after Gordy came in and a head appeared.

“Fucking hell!” Ludo quickly held his towel round him as Graham Marcus emerged from round the gate.

“I did ring the doorbell but I could hear you in the back and so I took the risk. Sorry, if I’m interrupting.”

At that moment Arthur appeared with three beers and not a stitch on, giving Graham Marcus a full view. ‘Ta da’ died on Arthur’s lips, and Graham Marcus’ eyes carefully took in the details. Arthur quickly put the beers down and went to coral the boys, to prevent them mobbing Graham Marcus and getting him wet, too.

“Gordy came round, and the kids persuaded us to get the sprinkler out.”

Gordy came over, wiped a hand dry on the towel Ludo offered him, and introduced himself.

“Gordon Macmurdo. Gordy, head gardener at The Garden and reprobate friend of these guys.” He gestured to his nakedness, not a whit embarrassed at having everything on display, “Blame it on my uncouth ways, I grew up like this, wearing next to nothing.”

Graham Marcus raised an eyebrow, “In Scotland?”

“Aye, we breed ‘em hard up there.”

Ludo noticed that Graham Marcus had a bottle, and the man had noticed him noticing. Graham gave a rueful look, “I had some free time for once, it was a social call.”

“Do join us, Gordy was doing the same.”

Gordy grinned, “Yeah, I do have clothes.”

The kids escaped from Arthur’s clutches, “Detective Marcus, do come and join us, it’s fun in the water.”

To Ludo’s surprised, Graham smiled, “OK, maybe I’ll give it a try.”

Which prompted cries of ‘Please, please’ from the boys. Graham winked at them and turned to Ludo.

“They remind me of my sister’s kids when they were smaller.”

Gordy gathered the kids, whilst Arthur and Ludo took Graham into the house, figuring he’d want to strip off somewhere comfortable. Ludo’s study was a safe bet, the window looked out onto the garden where Gordy could be seen carrying Adam by his waist whilst Damian looked on enthusiastically.

Graham unfastened the top button of his shirt, then stopped, “Look, I’m not butting in on anything am I?” His manner politely enquiring.

“Bloody hell, no! Gordy’s boyfriend Alessio is coming over later. This afternoon is purely about larking with the kids. Gordy strips off at the drop of a hat.”

Graham smiled, “So, I’ve gathered.”

“And I’m afraid the boys are rather similar.”

Graham looked quirkily, “Well, perhaps the four of you, later?”

Arthur laughed, “The boys have a knack of appearing at the wrong moment. Believe me, we know from experience.”

Graham smiled, “My nephews were the same, except my sister would never allow this.” He gestured to Ludo and Arthur’s bodies, “Very proper is Ginny”, he smiled. “Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, I’m not!”

He was neat and meticulous whilst undressing. Ludo tried not to stare, looking out the window, but it was impossible to not notice Graham disrobing, folding his clothes slowly and precisely. And yet Ludo could hardly leave him on his own because the man kept talking. As he approached the last garment, a pair of black boxer briefs, Ludo decided that he ought to warn Graham, embarrassing though it might be.

He coughed, “There is something. About Damian.”

Graham looked at him, just in his underpants, his body neat, trim and remarkably smooth, the bulge in the briefs rather prominent.

“It’s how all this started. He has developed a bit of a fascination with guy’s bits and their body hair.”

“Or lack”, Graham didn’t seem too shocked.

“Jackie left him with Gordy at The Garden”, he made an exasperated sigh, “I went to pick him up and found the pair of them like that, messing about under a sprinkler. Gordy didn’t see the harm in it.”

“And Damian was fascinated?”

“Yeah. Another naked bloke, and one without any hair down there. You know. Lots of questions. And he knew it was dodgy too, volunteered that they hadn’t done anything like that, for God’s sake!”

Graham raised his eyes, “He was interested?”

“In the look of things, rather than the functionality if you get my drift. And we thought we ought to make it a bit more ordinary, so we started messing around like this when it was warm, and the boys wanted the sprinkler on.”

“And no funny business?”

“God, no. Gordy’s taste is guys a good dozen or more years older than the kids. He’s currently obsessed with his former intern, Alessio. We are very much a couple and, if we did anything extra-curricular, it’d be together and when the boys were miles away.”

Ludo smiled and Graham pushed down his briefs, to reveal grey pubes and a very impressive dick unfolding. Of course, he noticed Ludo noticing. And Ludo couldn’t help but glance at Arthur, who had come inside and was standing in the doorway, remembering their conversation about policemen’s underpants. Oh Lord. Graham looked at Ludo and Arthur, a significant look, flirting almost, something you’d expect in a bar or something, not a suburban study.

“Perhaps you’ll have to invite me round when the boys are away. They go away?”

“Yes, they do”, and Ludo went bright pink, whilst Arthur simply goggled.

“So, yes”, and Ludo’s eyes turned to Graham’s groin again, “we’ll invite you over, soon.”

Graham nodded, “Shall we go and keep the boys happy”, he stopped suddenly. “Thank you and, well, I’m not usually this naughty.”

Ludo sort of doubted that.

Graham hadn’t lied, he was good with the boys and Ludo and Arthur were able to leave Graham and Gordy to it. The boys had the time of their lives and were making so much noise that it was easy for Ludo and Arthur to have a discreet conversation.

“Did that happen?”

“I think so?”

“Are we going to ask him over?”

Ludo smiled, “I think we just did. What do you reckon?”

“That’s quite some weapon he’s carrying; I wonder what it’s like when it’s loaded.”

Ludo sighed, “And no doubt Damian will have lots of questions tonight.”

Arthur looked amused, “You reckon! Seriously, you want to try that for size?”

“I’m up for it, if you are?”

“Just once. See how it goes. We won’t freak out?”

“Promise. It’s a bit odd, the idea of watching Graham fuck you. Both hot, sexy and makes me jealous too.”

“Well, if it’s too much?”

“No, let’s go for it. Just once and promise we won’t get worked up if it all goes wrong.”

“Something tells me our friend Graham has done this before.”

“You reckon he gets off with all his suspects?”

Arthur smiled, “Only the cute ones! And who say’s who’ll be fucking whom?”

When it approached the time for Alessio to arrive, the boys had departed upstairs and the four were having a last drink. Graham wasn’t staying, he had to be home promptly, and Ludo wondered whether it was a romantic or sexual assignation, but he finally admitted that his sister was coming round as she was worried about her youngest and wanted to talk. Graham suspected that his sister wanted to talk to him in policeman-mode, which made him anxious about what the kid was getting up to. He stood up and thanked them for a most entertaining afternoon, one that had taken his mind off things, and he looked forward to coming back for dinner. The way he said this seemed to convey a lot more than simple good cooking.

When Alessio arrived, Graham had just left, they were all dressed, and Gordy and Ludo were watching Arthur prepare the food. Alessio insisted on helping and proved to be very adept in the kitchen, but Ludo had to admit he was just as fascinated by the way that Alessio’s jeans hung so low on his hips displaying a remarkable amount of naked flesh, with certainly no waistband of his briefs on show, and when he squatted down to put something in the oven the view was truly remarkable. Perhaps Graham was right in his suggestion, and that Gordy was interested in a foursome, or perhaps Alessio was doing it to annoy Gordy.

Except, of course, Gordy noticed Ludo noticing and winked at him. And later on, Gordy told a story about Alessio managing to lose control of his jeans completely when walking, giving everyone a nice view of his naked arse and more. Alessio had simply smiled and said that there was nothing to be ashamed of, he was proud of his body, and the way he and Gordy interacted seemed to leave no room for anyone else. Thank goodness.

In fact, dinner was a bit of a let down because Gordy and Alessio seemed to function as a pair. Whilst they might talk to Ludo and Arthur, they were really only interested in each other, and after all the excitement the evening unwound gently.

Ludo and Arthur had just about finished tidying up after the visitors had left and were pottering around the kitchen when Ludo felt Arthur standing behind him. Arthur whispered in Ludo’s ear that the events that afternoon had given him all sorts of ideas and before Ludo could object, he found his chinos being unfastened, his briefs pushed down and Arthur doing things to his naked rear that only normally happened in the privacy of their bedroom. Thankfully, the boys seemed to be fast asleep and there were no interruptions.