Carter and the Biker Boy

The following story is purely fiction involving fictional individuals of different ages being engaged in sexual acts. Please do not read any further if you believe that this topic may offend you. If you are under the age of 18 or reside in a location where it is not legal to read these stories, then please hit the back button and leave now.

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Carter and the Biker Boy Chapter 45

It's supposed to be the happiest time of the year, right?

For all the happy people celebrating a joyous holiday with family and loved ones, Christmas is usually a wonderful time.

And yeah, I have a lot of things to be extremely happy about.

I've got a great boyfriend.

I've got a mom and family that loves me a lot and accepts me for who I am.

I've got a wonderful man who loves me so much that he is willing to adopt me so I can call him the one person that's been lacking in my life: Dad.

So why was it that on this particular Christmas Eve at my Tio Javier and Tia Rosa's house with my cousins, Mom, John, Jake and the rest of the extended family from Chicago did I feel so full of anxiety?

Yeah, anxiety. Ugh.

It's kind of crazy to think that since last year when I started high school was the last time that I've really felt so out of it.

Don't worry, it's not THAT sort of out of it. I'm not an emo fag that's ready to end it all.

I'm trying to hide it all, which yeah, I know that's not good.

I put on a happy face during dinner, after dinner, during the gift exchange, and all the while I was hanging around my younger cousins and even when talking with Javy.

Ironically, Javy picked up on something with me, even though we really hadn't spent much time together over the past few months, or really much time at all in the past year since we'd gone to Mexico. I was surprised when he broke the silence while we were playing Need for Speed on his PS5.

"You good primo?" (cousin) he asked, when I almost slammed the controller down on the carpeted floor of his room after I crashed my car. "Todo esta bien contigo?" (Is everything okay with you?).

I didn't really know how to answer, I mean on one hand I wanted to confide in the Javy that I knew as a kid, but would he give me the answer of the immature Javy, the one who didn't really give a shit what happened to me, evident when he crashed into me during the soccer game and broke my leg. Remember that? Honestly, I was almost on the verge of tears for some crazy reason, so I took a deep breath before saying what was on my mind.

"No, I'm not good." The floodgates were about to open.

"What's wrong, bro? You want to talk about it? I mean, I know I've not been around you much over the past year or so, but man, you're my cuz, my primo. You know I've got your back and don't want anything bad to happen to you. I know I messed up, but bro, can you tell me? Maybe I can help."

I just glared ahead at the TV screen watching Javy's car expertly navigate through the myriad of obstacles on the game screen. My pulse was increasing. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest like it was going to burst. But first before that happened the floodgates opened up as I covered my face with my hands.

Javy stopped the game almost immediately.

"Bro! What's wrong? Come on man, talk to me please! Did Parker break up with you?" He now put his left hand on my shoulder and began to rub my neck, as my upper back muscles were tight with anxiety. I finally controlled the tears and gathered my composure and tried to form the words that would let Javy know what was going on with me.

Through my tears that were stopping, I took a deep breath while Javy patiently waited. I was trying to gather my thoughts to tell him what was going on in my brain when the door burst open, and my little cousin Luis rambled in the room.

"Carter, mi Tia said it's time for you to go to your casa. Santa Claus va a venir." He smiled with anticipation of Santa Claus coming, oblivious to my tears, thinking only about what Santa would bring him tonight. To be young again and still believe...

I just looked at Javy and we both stood up as I told him that I'd better get going. Surprisingly he gave me a hug, one that was tight enough that I could feel him against me, which did bring back memories. His back felt muscular, more than before and his hug was strong.

"Bro, you need anything or just want to talk, you know I'm here for you, okay?" he whispered in my ear. "Damn Carter, you're getting stronger, and you've got more muscles. You're not bony anymore bro!"

With that I managed to muster a bit of a laugh. It did feel good to once again be close to Javy. Yeah, he did some bad things to me in the past, but I've learned to try and let things go, especially because he is part of mi familia -- and if it's one thing I've come to know about growing up in a Latino family is that family members will always be there for you. That means a lot.

The ride back to our house was okay. Mom and John were talking about the dinner and party at my Tio's house and Jake was just talking to me about Santa. I tried to listen and did respond to his questions, especially when he asked me if I still believed in Santa. Of course, I said that I did, since I didn't want to ruin things for him. But honestly all I felt like doing was to stare out the window at the crystalline snowflakes on the ground that seemed to twinkle in the moonlight.

When we got back to our house, John and Jake helped bring our gifts from the family into our house and we put them under the small artificial Christmas tree that I put up for the first time in about five years, only because Jake told me that we needed to have a Christmas tree in the house.

Mom asked me if I was all right, and I just told her that I was really tired and wasn't feeling the greatest. She held her hand on my forehead to see if I had a fever, but of course I didn't. She then asked me if something was bothering me. It hurt me to tell her no, but at that very moment for some stupid reason I just couldn't tell her what it was.

And so we told each other Merry Christmas and around eleven o'clock I crawled into bed. I tried to make sense of what it was that had me down. My eyes started to fill with tears again, but thankfully sleep took over and I soon fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Mom woke me up around eight o'clock once again telling me "Merry Christmas". I looked outside to see that sometime during the night we got a couple inches of snow. Everything looked so pure and clean. I took a deep breath and promised myself that I'd be in a better frame of mind today. I didn't want to break down in front of Mom and John while we were at his house celebrating Christmas Day with him and Jake. Michael was going to be there as well, so it made sense that I'd better get my act together and suck it up.

John's house was decorated nicely for Christmas. With a white flocked artificial Frasier Fir tree in the living room next to the huge window that overlooked a nicely landscaped back yard covered with snow that had the backdrop of an old growth pine and spruce forest behind his yard, it truly did give a great sense of the way Christmas should be. On the left side of the room was a huge fireplace with what looked like actual six to eight inch round stones that made up the area around the opening to the fireplace. The hearth was a thick stone as well, and hanging from the mantle were four Christmas stockings.

John was in the kitchen getting the Christmas dinner ready. He'd made a ham, cheesy potatoes, some fresh buns, corn, a few other dishes as well as two apple pies. I didn't know that he knew how to cook so well.

Jake was so excited to show me what Santa had brought for him. No surprise that he got a PS5 and something like three games, ones that I already had. He also got a bigger bike since he'd outgrown the old one that he'd had since he was like five or six. It was a nice mountain bike with twenty-four inch tires. John commented that Santa must've known that this bike would last him for a few years at least. He'd also gotten some new sweatshirts, jeans, and a pair of Nike's.

"Well, we're just waiting for Uncle Michael to get here." John responded to Jake when he asked how much longer until dinner was ready.

"Monty is coming with him, right?" Jake asked. I had no idea who Monty was, figuring maybe it was his new boyfriend.

"Of course he's bringing Monty, silly boy." John replied. Jake replied with a "Yay! Carter, wait until you meet Monty. You'll love him."

And it wasn't but a few minutes later as if almost on cue that the front door burst open, and in walked Michael carrying a few presents in bags. I waited for a cute boyfriend to follow him in, but no one came in as Michael shut the door almost as quick as he came in. When Jake squealed in delight, I quickly found out who Monty was.

A pudgy black and white dog and as I found a later was an English bulldog, one of the ugliest dogs I'd ever seen came bounding in and went straight to Jake shaking his tail-less butt all over the place. He was jumping up to lick Jake's face, which caused Jake to giggle like crazy. Then Monty spied me. I didn't have a lot of experience with dogs, but when Monty bounded over to me and suddenly stopped, then glared at me and first growled, then woofed, I thought he was going to tear me to pieces. Jake told me to hold my hand out, palm down, fingers down, so Monty could sniff my hand. I did as he said and suddenly Monty realized I wasn't a threat and nearly tackled me, covering me with kisses. As I sat back up with my legs crossed, Monty plopped down in my lap and stared up at me with the biggest brown puppy dog eyes I'd ever seen. He was wearing a rainbow collar that had a gold heart ID tag on it.

As I started to pet him, he calmed down and was really cuddling up next to me loving every bit of affection I was showing him.

"Looks like someone's found a friend! Carter, I see you've met Montgomery A. Dog, AKA Monty!" Michael walked over to me and bent over to give me a hug. "How are you doing, future nephew? It's so good to see you again! Was Santa good to you? Were you a good boy?" I couldn't help but laugh at how good natured and how nice Michael was to me.

"I'm doing okay. Yeah, Santa was good to me, and I think I've been a good boy. I've been getting good grades; I made the high honor roll again. And my swim times are good. How is everything with you?" I asked, suddenly feeling better about my situation.

"Great. Work is fantastic. I've got the next two weeks off. I'm going on vacation to a resort in Mexico. You should go with me! I need an interpreter! It'll be a boys week!" He then laughed and told me we'd talk later.

I couldn't get over how Monty snuggled up to me. Michael couldn't believe it either.

"You know, dogs, especially my dog, tend to sense kind souls and also people who need a little cheering up on Christmas holidays." Michael smiled and winked as Monty continued to just gush over me and was just begging me to pet him and give him attention. I couldn't believe what he was saying about Monty, but it was crazy to think that he was spot on.

"We'll talk later, k?" Michael tussled my hair with his right hand, and I just smiled at him while Monty almost seemed jealous that Michael took away attention from him. Even Mom shook her head in disbelief at how the dog took to me.

Dinner was amazing. The ham was so tasty, as were the potatoes, the cold salads, and the pies. Along with hot freshly baked dinner rolls, we all ate very well. I finally backed away from the dining room table, literally unable to eat another fork full of food.

Then my sadness and anxiety returned. Bang, just like that.

Jake and I helped Michael clear the dishes from the table while Mom and John cleaned up the kitchen. When we finished cleaning the table I asked Mom if she needed my help doing dishes and she said that she didn't, and that I should just go rest.

I took her advice and sat on the floor next to the fireplace where Monty had fallen asleep on the brown rug that was probably there to protect the carpet from being damaged by any sparks or firewood that might fall out of the fireplace.

I guess I must have fallen asleep on the floor next to the dog and the fireplace, because when I woke up Michael was sitting on the sofa reading something on his phone. The house was quiet, other than some jazz Christmas music that was coming from the speakers next to the big flat screen TV. Neither Mom nor John or Jake were in the room. It was now dark outside, and the lights on the Christmas tree helped to illuminate the room in a festive manner.

"Hey there sleepy head, how was your beauty sleep? Michael said as he looked up from his phone.

It took me a minute or two to gather my senses to remember where I was. This was actually one of the first times I'd been to John's house, so to fall deep asleep and then essentially wake up in a strange house, made it easy to feel disoriented.

"Oh, sorry Michael. I guess I forgot where I was!" He just laughed and said he understood. He then told me where everyone else was and that it was just him and me at the house. I had to use the bathroom and oddly enough was hard - probably because I had to pee really bad - so then I splashed water on my face to wake up.

"Are you awake now, sunshine?" Michael asked. I nodded my head that I was. After a moment of silence, Michael put his phone down and asked me how things were going. I told him they were going okay, but he saw through my steel exterior and challenged my response.

"Come on, Carter, what teenaged gay boy has everything going okay? I don't mean to pry, but you don't seem like yourself. I know we've only met once before but I have a way of knowing when someone is troubled. If you trust me, a guy like you who's been through a lot, then I'm here to listen. Care to share your mind with me?"

I took a deep breath and was amazed that he noticed. Before the tears broke loose, I tried to find the words to say what was on my mind.

"Well, um, okay. Um, so ah..." I started to stammer a bit, staring at the Christmas scene on the music channel on the TV. I took another deep breath, and I reached down, found my words and once I started, it all came out.

"If you haven't heard, my real dad wants to see me. I haven't seen him since I was a little kid, and I don't remember him. Have you heard about him?" "John hasn't said anything about him to me, no." Michael replied quietly in a positive tone of voice. "Do you care to tell me about him?" I felt so relaxed talking to him, so I began telling him what I knew about my birth father.

"From what I know is that he got in trouble with the law and got arrested for doing something bad in the park with someone underage. From what Mom told me he has done time." I felt a little more relaxed, and when Michael nodded and told me to continue, I did.

"So, I'm really nervous about seeing him, and I have to because if I don't then he won't sign off on the petition from John to adopt me. And I'm afraid if that happens, what if John gives up on me and breaks up with Mom? I mean..." I lost it and the tears came.

Michael immediately sat down on the floor next to me, putting his left arm around my shoulder, gently squeezing my super tense muscles.

"Carter, buddy, you know that no matter what, John will NEVER abandon you or your mom. He is not like that, and he speaks so highly of you. He's told me that he loves you like a son, like he loves Jake. I know my brother and he cares for you and loves your mom so much. Look, he will sign off on your adoption papers to John. I have a feeling, and I could be wrong, but I'm thinking that your father really regrets what he's done in his life and perhaps he just wants to see the wonderful young man you've become. Maybe he wants to apologize for what he's not done for you." I nodded my head, having not really thought about that possibility before. Michael continued.

"Are you worried about being alone in a room with your real dad?" I shook my head no and told him that I wasn't.

"I am not too worried about that, it's just the unknown I guess and not knowing what to expect. All of my life I've only known the idea of him as this guy in a picture that Mom has. I do not want anything to do with him, and I guess maybe part of my fear is that I'm really kind of mad at him too. It's not been easy at all not having a dad in my life. He cheated me out of so much that a lot of guys my age always had in their lives. My Tio Javier is the closest thing I've had to a dad, but it's not the same. Thank God that John is there for me now. I just don't want anything to happen to cause him to walk away from us. So do my feelings make any sense?"

"Sure, that's perfectly normal. I felt anger and sadness at my dad for not accepting me being gay. If it wasn't for my brother, I don't think I'd be here today. But his love and understanding helped me get through it all. I do feel bad for you and your situation. It is hard enough growing up and coming to the realization of who we really are, but to not have a dad in your life is really hard too. Just remember that you are loved a lot, okay? So will John be able to take you to see your real father?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe? I know he would but I'm not sure he can. I don't even know when or where the meeting will take place."

"Well, I'm willing to help you anyway I can as well." Michael offered, patting me on my back gently.

"Thank you, I appreciate that." I started to feel somewhat better, but then when he asked me how Parker was doing, I remembered another worry.

"We're doing good, our relationship is solid, but I'm really worried about him. His mom filed for a divorce from his dad. Now I'm really worried about what's going to happen to him, if he and his mom will be able to stay here. His dad is such a jerk, leaving them here to go work in Colorado without trying to make their marriage work out. I - I just don't want to lose him, you know? I can't imagine my life without him."

The tears started to flow again. Michael kept his arm on my shoulder and then pulled me into a big hug.

"Oh babe, you're going to be okay. These things will work out, and I'm sure that Parker's mom will do whatever she can to let Parker finish school here. Just try to think positive thoughts and good things will happen. Where is Parker, anyway? I was hoping to see him again. You guys make such a cute couple!"

"Thanks. He is with his mom and her family in one of the `burbs, I think. We're going to celebrate Christmas tomorrow. I just haven't heard from him for several days, which is kind of strange. I do miss him so much."

"Well, I don't know what time I am going to leave tomorrow. but hopefully he will get back so I can see him too. So, is everything else okay, or is there anything else that's going on?" I sighed and figured that I might as well tell him what else was bothering me.

"Um, yeah. So, you met my friend Caleb, right?" I asked.

"I don't believe so?" He replied.

"Okay. Well, he is a friend from the swim team. He came out to me after I came out to him, or vice versa. Well, over the summer he started dating another one of my gay friends, Noah. So, Caleb was worried about coming out to his parents, so he decided after Thanksgiving to tell his older brother first, thinking that Brennan would be cool about it. We'll, he wasn't. In fact, he almost beat Caleb up, and Caleb's not that big, in fact he's about an inch shorter than me. Needless to say, it didn't go well, and Caleb is so upset and afraid of what Brennan is going to tell his parents. I feel so bad for him! He's definitely one of my best friends."

"Oh man, dear sweet Carter, boy this just hasn't been a good couple of weeks for you! I'm sorry to hear that Caleb's attempt to come out to his brother didn't go well. Coming out can be so difficult, just like mine was with my dad. I do know how bad it can be." He paused a second or two before continuing.

"In my situation, I never thought my dad would act the way he did to me. But he did, and he about lost me as his son, like I told you before. It's kind of ironic, isn't it, how some men would absolutely do anything to have a son, gay or straight. And then other fathers turn their own sons away from them because of who they are." He took a breath.

"And not everyone can be as accepting and caring as your mom. Again, there's really not much you can do for Caleb other than be there for him if he needs anything support-wise. And if you or he need ANYTHING you can call me. Got it? I will text you my number if you give me yours. But by all means I am here for you and your friends, so I will expect to get either a call or text from you guys anytime, okay?"

"Thanks, Michael. I so do appreciate your helpful words. As far as things go with Caleb, I just wish I knew the right things to say to help him out. It just bothers me so much that Brennan has acted the way he has with him. He's a great guy and has always treated me well. The crazy thing is that most of the summer he took Caleb over to Noah's house on the weekends. You'd think that he'd have figured it out? I don't know?" I paused to search for reasons why he would physically attack my friend.

"It's hard to say. Everyone handles that sort of news differently. So was Caleb hurt physically?"

"Not too bad, I think he was just really hurt emotionally, which is very obvious. They were really close. I don't know. Perhaps Brennan was just having a bad day too or something and he regretted getting upset and fighting with Caleb. It just sucks, because Caleb is one of the most chill guys I know, and he wouldn't hurt a fly. I feel so bad because of telling him maybe coming out to Brennan would be the best thing."

"But how could you have known?" Michael offered. "There's really no way you can predict how someone will react. I can't imagine that Brennan would really hate his brother for coming out as gay to him. It sounds like they were quite close. In cases like this sometimes we don't really know what goes on behind closed doors, which means that we don't really know how Brennan truly is with Caleb when it's just them, nor do we really know how Caleb's parents are too. They could either be in line with what Brennan feels, or they could already have an idea and be totally upset with the way that Brennan reacted. Either way, I hope it gets resolved, because Caleb sounds like a good friend."

"He is, and that's why I feel so bad for him." I then went on to tell Michael how I helped Caleb with his swimming techniques, which essentially led to him making the swim team. And then I even told him about how Caleb had a crush on me too, which of course was quite awkward to me because I was involved with Parker.

"Wow, that's interesting. That is so cool that you helped him with his swimming. Why doesn't that surprise me? You're such a good friend. I bet it was hard to resist...his crush? How did he take it when you turned him down?"

"It was difficult, because, yeah, I could be attracted to him physically. We've seen each other naked in the showers at school, and he's got almost a perpetual erection during the time when we change and shower. The guys don't seem to be too concerned about it, because... it's just Caleb!" We both laughed at my comment. "But I was just honest with him and told him that because of the mistakes that Parker and I had made in the past, we vowed that we would no longer mess around with each other, you know, sexually." And then as if trying to stifle a laugh, Michael just smiled and acted like he wasn't sure if he should ask the next question, but he did anyway.

"You said that you would no longer mess around with him. Did you guys...do something? If it's none of my business, that's fine, just tell me."

I just smiled and kind of blushed. I'd never really had a conversation with an adult about what I'd done, like with Parker. But for some reason, I felt like I could trust Michael. I really did. After all he was a nurse -- a gay nurse at that.

"Yeah, we did, but nothing that involved anything, um, that would jeopardize my relationship with Parker. Basically, we just, um..." and now I was about to burst out laughing from embarrassment but tried to finish my sentence. "He was on his bed, and I was on the other bed in his room and we just, um, to ourselves."

Michael didn't laugh, though he did smile and calmly said "You're right, that really doesn't mean that you cheated on Parker. I'm glad to hear that you probably learned your lesson with what you've somewhat alluded to in your `prior experiences', correct?" Michael used air quotes to emphasize prior experiences.

I thought for a moment about how much I wanted to divulge to him about my past experiences. I felt like he didn't judge me for how I handled the whole situation with Caleb, so I thought for a minute and knew that he did seem curious about my past. If I couldn't trust him, who could I trust, right? After all, perhaps there was some guilt in what I'd done, especially while I was dating Parker.

And for that reason, my confession to him about my past experiences, yes all of them, just not the gory details (LOL) about everything that I'd done felt liberating. While I was telling him about what and who, he just nodded, continued listening, and would only stop to ask me how it made me feel. When I finished, he didn't lecture me, but simply told me this, once I told him that I did have some regrets and was happy that I didn't lose Parker in the process, and that both of knew going forward it would just be the two of us. No third (or fourth persons) involved.

"Carter, everything you've told me is just about normal. The main thing for you to remember is that it's a maturing process you've gone through, relationship wise. We all learn from our mistakes. I know I sure have. And yes, I've been there, done that. You just have to be careful, and make the realization of what's most important to you, and from what I see here is that Parker is what's most important to you as far as relationships/boyfriends go, correct?"

"Yes, that's true. But I have to admit that I do have a terrible weakness." I said, lowering my head, looking at the carpeting now, finally admitting to myself and him about what my weakness was, and probably always will be.

"Let me guess. Based on what you've told me, I would guess your weakness is Dylan."

I nodded my head, and quietly whispered as I was looking down again "Yes."

"But he's over eighteen now, right?" I nodded my head again and told him he was, and that I nearly gave in to him in August before he went to school. "What you have to try and do is make sure that you do not put yourself in the position to be alone with him at your house or his. If he invites you over, you have to decline. If he texts or calls you, that's fine to an extent, but don't let him manipulate you to seeing him or being with him sexually."

"I know, it's just that...he was my first serious crush. You must have had a serious crush too, right?" Michael just laughed.

"Oh, did I ever. And it took me a long time to get over him. Still today I think if he walked in the door and threw himself on me, I'd turn to mush, and it'd be all over. So yeah, I get it buddy. The difference for me is that we were both the same age. But hey, maybe when you turn eighteen and if your paths cross with him again, who knows, right?" We both laughed. But then my logical part kicked in.

"True, but like we talked about before as it pertains to Dylan, he's got issues. There's very much the mystery and the elusive truth about what happened between him and his brother Dayne. I can't deal with someone like that who's got serious issues."

"Good, I'm glad to hear that you realize that Dylan has some issues that are far too great to deal with. Yes, he's great to be with on a... `fun' level, but relationship wise, you do not want to be with someone who's going to go all psycho on you at some point. He could turn physically abusive on you, and based on what I know about Parker, that's just not going to happen, right?"

"I agree. One thing for sure is that yes, Parker can get upset when he has a right to be upset at me, like when we nearly fought in the locker room at school. But he knows how to channel his frustrations through working out and not be beating up his boyfriend."

"Good, I figured as much. I don't want to hear about him being abusive to a wonderful, kind soul like you." Michael smiled. "Carter, as my nephew-to-be, I just want to commend you for trusting me enough to open up about what was bothering you. Having an adult that understands completely what you're going through is so important. I've said it before; I'll say it again. Reach out to me anytime you need to talk about anything, okay? Text me or call me anytime."

"I will. And thanks for listening. Yeah, I was really stressed out about meeting my birth father, and then about Parker's parents, and of course about Caleb's coming out issues. But I feel better hearing from you about how to handle it all. I think I'll be okay. Thank you!"

I got up and Michael gave me a huge hug and a small kiss on my right cheek. Shortly after we broke the embrace, the door to the garage opened up and Jake, Mom and John came into the kitchen where we'd gone to get a couple of water bottles from the refrigerator.

They'd gone to see the beautiful Christmas light display in Sinnissippi gardens. Every year they put lights on almost every tree along with bike path, as well as have a drive-through Christmas display made up of small displays from companies around the area. One time Mom and I had to wait close to fifteen minutes to get into the park to see all of the lights. It was so cool, and it just made Christmas seem so amazing, especially for a little kid like I was then.

"Carter! You should have seen the lights! They were beautiful with the snow around them! And the displays on the east side of the road, you know that we drove through! It was awesome! Dad thought he saw some reindeer running through the park!" John corrected him, telling him they were probably just ordinary deer. Mom corrected John, telling him that no, they were definitely reindeer, playfully punching John in his left bicep.

"Yeah Jake, it would have been nice to see them. But I got a chance to hang out with Uncle Michael for a bit. It was pretty cool too you know. He is a pretty cool uncle!" Michael just smiled and Jake just looked at me, giving me one of those looks that said "duh, I knew that already!"

Since Mom had to work in the morning, we gathered up our gifts, said our good nights and goodbyes and then we left for home. I gave John, Jake and of course Michael big hugs before leaving, and on the way home Mom asked me if Michael and I talked.

"Si, mama, hable mucho con el." I told her that I did talk a lot with him. She didn't ask me what I said but was very happy that I was able to open up to him.

"Que bueno, mi amor. I thought that maybe he could help you out. I knew something was bothering you but was afraid I wouldn't understand what it might be."

"I know. I just had a lot of things that were bothering me all at once. I'm sorry I didn't let you know. I just didn't want to worry you and bring you down right now. Plus, some of the stuff was guy things that, um, I knew Michael would understand." Then it dawned on me that Mom and John purposely took Jake with them so Michael could try to talk to me.

"Mama, Michael is easy to talk to. I'm so happy he's going to be my uncle."

"Mi amor, you need guys to talk to. It's okay that you might not feel comfortable talking about guy stuff to me. I'm glad that he could help you."

Based on our conversation the following evening, I figured that Michael did tell John about my fears in meeting my real father, as Mom never said that was the case, but she did tell me not to worry about meeting him. She told me that I probably should first listen to what he has to say and then tell him how I feel. I agreed with her and told her that I'd try not to worry about it until the meeting happens. She agreed.

"Mama, I'm also worried about Parker's parents getting a divorce." I confessed.

"Si mi amor, that is a valid fear." She agreed with me. "But I know Parker's mom well enough to know that she's doing what is best for her and Parker. And I also know that Parker's dad makes enough money and will have to pay child support and alimony so I really don't believe that she will have to leave their house to move away. You also know that she does really like you and loves how good you and Parker are together."

I was shocked almost at just how much Mom knew about what was going on with me and my life. It also made me feel a ton better knowing that even though Parker's parents were going to go through a divorce that Parker would be staying here and probably not moving away.

***** Speaking of Parker, the week of Christmas that he spent in Chicago with his mom and her family seemed to last an eternity. Apparently, his aunt and uncle have a summer home in the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan that they also go to during Christmas to spend a real back into the country style of Christmas. According to Parker, they didn't spend hardly any time in the `burbs, because the summer house in the UP is big enough and is more like a huge log cabin and nestled in a pine forest that surrounds a decent sized lake.

Of course, the family has snowmobiles, cross country skis, and other winter sports fun things to do. The unfortunate part is that for some reason, they are far enough away from a cell tower that they had no cellphone reception. That pretty much explained why I didn't get any texts from Parker until they were on their way back to his cousin's house in the `burbs.

< Babe! How are you? How was your Christmas? I just now got your texts.

< Hola mi amor! Good, when u going to be home?

< Hopefully later tonight. Can't wait to see you. Had a lot of fun up north tho.

< Yay! Christmas was okay. Missed you like crazaay!

< I missed you so much too!

< Okay, we have to stop for lunch. TTYL tonight. LY!

< (Huge smiley face) LY2. CU tonight! Can't wait! (smiley face with tongue out).

Thank goodness I'd be able to see my boyfriend tonight. Just seeing his text made me get instantly hard. Since there was an assignment due the day we got back to school for English, I figured now would be the best time to start on it. We had to write a critical response to a poem or short story, so of course I chose a story by Edgar Allen Poe, specifically "The Cask of Amontillado", which is one of his well-known short stories. Once I got started on the response it was pretty easy to write and before I knew it, the paper had reached the minimum length of three to five pages. It's a good thing that English is my best subject, right?

The afternoon flew by and before I knew it the short late December day had faded quickly into the long, cold December night. I had just finished proofing my paper when Mom got home. She was just home long enough to let me know that she was going to have dinner with John at a restaurant east of town and then go back to his house to work on the wedding plans. Of course, she told me there was leftover ham and potatoes in the fridge from Christmas dinner at John's house as well as leftover Mexican food from Tia Rosa's Christmas Eve dinner. I did tell her that Parker was probably going to come over. She just smiled and told me to have a good time. After she showered and left, I also showered. I was so much missing my boyfriend that well, yeah, I really wanted to take care of it in the shower but knew that I so needed to wait for him. And yeah, I was rewarded for my patience.

Let's just say that, um, we left a trail of clothes into my room.

If our lives depended on lasting more than a minute the first time, we'd have already died and gone to heaven, literally.

And yeah, I know... once again we lost count. Six? Seven? Does it matter? Our youthful exuberance gave us the strength and stamina to set a record over the course of the cold December evening. When mom texted me to let me know she was going to spend the night at John's house, Parker texted his mom and let her know the same thing. Not that my mom was going to spend the night at John's house of course, but that he was going to spend the night with me.

When we awoke the following morning naked in each other's arms, our morning wood nestled against each other, I felt like once again everything in the world was right. I woke up before Parker did, so of course I just laid there admiring him as he slept. He had a faint smile on his face and must have been dreaming about something. He moaned softly, and I felt his right hand reach down under the covers to find his erection.

As he touched himself and his smooth tight sack, I couldn't help myself. Going under the covers I took him in my mouth and as he woke up to me going down on him, I moved my legs to my pillow, where a now awake Parker took me in his mouth. We did this slowly and took our time, going up to the edge a few times until neither of us could take it any longer. Exploding at the same time, we took each other's load, then moved back to face each other, kissing and hugging.

Damn, it felt so good to have him back in my arms again!

After taking a nice long shower where we gave each other another load, we sat down to eat breakfast and to focus on everything going on in our lives. I told Parker about my conversation with Michael and about how he offered me some really good advice to everything that was bothering me.

"Wow, you really must trust him to talk about everything with him." I couldn't tell if Parker was happy for me or if he was being somewhat sarcastic. But since I was still in a state of euphoria from last night and this morning, I took it as him being sincere.

"I do trust him. He's been there, he's educated, and he knows what it's like." I told him, being calm and not at all sarcastic.

"That's good. I'd like to talk to him to someday, you know, have someone like him to trust. That would be huge, don't you think?" he responded with sincerity. Good thing I didn't take it offensively.

"I agree. I'm sure he would talk to you if you wanted to or needed to talk to someone. He's just seemingly genuine that way. I mean I trusted him with quite a bit of stuff about everything that's gone on in my life. I trusted him about Caleb, and about meeting up with my birth father."

"What happened with Caleb?" I realized I'd not told Parker about what happened to Caleb.

"You didn't hear, did you?" I asked, with anticipation in my voice. Parker shook his head that he had not as he took a bite of his waffles.

I proceeded to tell him about everything that happened between Caleb and Brennan.

"Oh my gosh, is he okay? Did he tell his parents?" I could tell Parker was definitely concerned.

"No, because of course he's afraid to come out to his parents. I haven't seen him yet, so I don't know if he got physically hurt. We have swim practice tomorrow morning, so I'll know more then."

"That makes sense. Man, I feel bad for him. He's a good friend and a nice guy. I hope there's a reason why Brennan acted that way. I just can't see him being that way towards Caleb, can you?"

"No! That's why it's so weird. I mean, okay, if he has a problem with Caleb being gay, then why in the world wasn't he paying attention to all of the times that he brought Caleb and me places, and especially taking Caleb to Noah's house ALL summer long?" I shook my head wondering why.

"Yeah, true, but babe, you don't act gay at all. If I saw you in class like I did before we met, the last thing I would have thought to myself was that `he's not like me' I'm sure he's got a girlfriend and all." I smiled and told Parker I thought the same of him. I bent towards him and kissed his lips that tasted sweet with maple syrup from his waffles.

Parker then went on to tell me all about Michigan, his cousins, his time riding a snowmobile, cross country skiing, walking on a frozen Lake Superior, and how bright the stars were at night. "When I look outside at night at the stars, I couldn't believe how much I wished you would have been there with me, holding on to me as we gazed up at the heavens above. It would have been amazing." I just listened with wonder, hoping that someday we'd be able to see those stars together.

He then told me about his parent's impending divorce. His dad was not going to contest the divorce; apparently, he wanted it just as much as his mom did. He felt like it would probably be over relatively quick, like maybe by June or July. He was taking it all okay, since the trial separation with his dad being in Colorado seemed to be going as good as could be expected.

"Do you think you'll have to move?" I asked with fear and apprehension in my voice, afraid to hear his response.

"No, Mom said that staying where we're at and providing stability for me is what's important. She loves her job here and is in line for another promotion. So, if that's the case, we still need to live somewhere, and we both like our house."

"I like it too! Especially the basement!" I winked and we both laughed.

"So does that mean you want to spend the night at my house tonight?" He asked with anticipation of another fun night ahead, making up for lost time with me.

"I'll ask Mom, but I don't think it will be a problem. I will let you know after she comes home."

No sooner did I say that that Mom walked through the door.

"Amores! Como estan, chicos?" Mom emphatically asked as she shut the door and put a box of pastries on the countertop.

"Hola mama!" I replied, standing up to give her a hug.

"Hola mama!" replied Parker, doing the same.

"Aww, my boys are so nice to me. It's good to see you Parker, how was your Navidad?"

"It was good. I just missed you guys so much!" he responded, giving Mom another hug.

"We missed you too. How's your mom doing?" Mom asked, hoping he would say something about the divorce. He did.

"She's doing okay. Glad that she finally served my dad with divorce papers."

"It's a very difficult thing to do, and the process can be horrible. But let's hope it is the best outcome for everyone. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask, okay?"

"Gracias, mama. I appreciate that."

We talked for a little while longer, and Mom did say it was okay for me to spend the night at Parker's house, which caused a stir in my briefs in anticipation of the fun night ahead with my boyfriend.

Parker left a little while later and Mom then told me about the call she got from the lawyer.

"The lawyer's secretary wanted to let us know that first off, she did send a letter to his lawyer, stating that you would agree to meet him. He did respond back to the lawyer, and they want to set up a date. I told the lawyer it would probably have to be either a weeknight or a Sunday since you'll probably have swim meets on Saturday mornings, unless they would do it on a Saturday afternoon, verdad (correct)?"

"Si, a Saturday afternoon would work. Where would we meet?" I asked, curious now, getting a little bit nervous knowing that it could soon happen.

"She didn't say. But I'm guessing that he's not around here. I don't think he can come around here at all. He's not allowed to have unsupervised visits with you or any other family members. I will tell her to set it up for a Saturday afternoon. Don't worry, mi amor, you are a strong, confident young man. You will be fine. Just don't let him push you around or make you feel sorry for him." I thought Mom was going to speak badly of him now, but she didn't say anything else.

I was in my room doing some homework that was assigned over the break and was listening to music on my phone when Mom came in my room.

"Okay, got a call back from the lawyer. It's set up for two weeks from this Saturday in Bloomington. We'll have to drive there. I will see if I can get out of work." Mom looked at her work calendar, realizing that she was scheduled to work that day.

"Where's Bloomington?" I asked, unsure since I'd never been there before.

"It's something like two hours south of here. Apparently, he was released to live in that area. The good thing is that like I mentioned to you earlier is that he can't come back up here and see you. So don't worry about that, okay?"

I told her that I was okay with that. I was past the point of ever wanting anything to do with that man. Putting it out of my mind for the time being, my focus was on getting the remainder of my homework finished. Two hours later, my stomach told me it was time to eat more leftovers, so putting the homework back in my backpack, I meandered out to the kitchen where mom must have read my mind and was warming up a plate of food for me.

We sat in the kitchen and talked about Christmas at John's house, Michael's conversation with me, and then about the meeting in two weeks.

Nothing earth shattering was resolved or discussed; it was just nice to have idle chatter about what had transpired over the past few days. We both agreed that we would be looking forward to every Christmas and holidays being just like the one we had, with the lone exception being that we'd all be a family then.

After Mom showered and got ready to go to John's house, I got ready for the night at Parker's house. Mom dropped me off after Parker agreed to take me to swim practice in the morning.

We had the house to ourselves again as Parker's mom went out with friends. So, after having pizza from our favorite pizza place again, and yes it was the same cute delivery guy who seemed disappointed that we weren't wearing just our briefs again when we answered the door.

But we still gave him a generous tip anyway.

While eating pizza, we watched Netflix.

Then we sat in the hot tub.

Then we wrestled.

Then we had fun on the wrestling mat.

Then we went in the hot tub again and had more fun.

Then we showered, and yep, you guessed it.

Finally, we went to bed in the basement, falling asleep naked in each other's arms.

Morning came way too early, and although we both wanted each other again, I had to be at school on time otherwise we'd all have to swim ten extra laps for each person that showed up late.

Since we had to pick Caleb up, we had to leave Parker's house very early. We didn't say much as the Rav 4 finally warmed up. Parker decided to work out at Harlem's weight training center while we were swimming. Neither of us were very much awake when Caleb jumped in the back seat of Parker's car. For that reason, we didn't see his black eye until we were in the locker room changing into our swimsuits.

"Whoa, what happened to your eye, was that from Brennan?" I asked Caleb in an alarming tone of voice. He nodded his head and was on the verge of tears. "We're going to talk about it after practice, okay?" I told him since we were close to being late if we didn't get out to the pool. Before going to the pool, I gave Caleb a big hug and since no one was around I kissed his cheek. I think I held him a little too close to me because I caused his dick to get hard in his swimsuit.

"Gee thanks, Carter. I hope you're happy now!" He laughed walking behind me on the way out of the locker room to the pool.

"Not as happy as you!" I responded with both of us laughing now.

Practice went well. It felt good to get back in the pool again. Since we were hungry after practice, Caleb offered to buy us some breakfast bagels. Parker agreed to drive to the one bagel restaurant on the strip not far from Freddy's. While we ate our bagels with cream cheese and drank orange juice, Caleb filled us in on what happened between him and Brennan. "Something was off with him that day. He had picked me up from Noah's house and on the way home he was just acting sort of weird, like he was on something. To the best of my knowledge, I don't believe that he does anything, but I wasn't sure, you know? And when we got home it was just us. Mom and Dad had gone out. He must have seen Noah giving me a hug and a kiss when he came to pick me up, I don't know. He was just acting weird and didn't say much to me on the way home. Nothing at all in fact. When we got home, he went to his room, I went to mine. I was texting Noah, the last text I sent to him was something like "Thanks for a fun afternoon. I love you and will see you later."

"Oh no, I think I know where this is going." Parker replied, spreading the plain cream cheese on his cinnamon crunch bagel.

"Yup, so he came in my room, without even knocking. The first thing out of his mouth was `what are you doing, texting your boyfriend?' he said angrily, grabbing the phone from my hands despite my protests. I tried to keep him from getting it from me, but he wrestled me for it and since he's bigger than me, he took it and read what I wrote."

"Oh no! Then what happened?" I asked in horror, afraid to hear what was coming next.

"He um, read it of course and then he started yelling at me: `What the fuck is this shit, Caleb? Don't tell me you're a fucking faggot! Is Noah your boyfriend? You better tell me you're not gay.' I started to cry and just blurted it out to him." Caleb was on the verge of tears again. I reached over and held his hand. He continued.

"I was so upset that I just blurted out without really thinking first: Yes, I am gay, and Noah is my boyfriend . And then I reached over to him to get my phone, and he just swung his hand at me and the back of his right hand punched me in the eye. He threw my phone on my bed and then pushed me and I fell down backwards on my bed. He told me that he wouldn't take me to Noah's house ever again, or that and I quote "your faggot friend Carter" will never come over here again."

I was shocked and felt totally angry at what Caleb had just told me. I never thought Brennan would ever say that about his brother or about me either. Caleb continued. "Then he tells me that `you better hope I don't tell Mom and Dad. They will be so pissed, since neither of them want a faggot for a son' and that I'd better not tell them about my eye, that he'd hit me otherwise he would tell them about me and Noah."

Caleb tried to hold it all together, but I could tell he was on the verge of breaking down. Both Parker and I came to the conclusion that we needed to confront Brennan. This could not go on, and Caleb should not have to deal with getting abused by his older brother who was almost twenty years old.

He calmed down and we were able to finish our bagels and then talked about a plan for what we would do to protect our friend from getting physically abused by his brother again. We all agreed that we would get to the bottom of it all and try to figure out what was going on with Brennan. When we pulled in the driveway to Caleb's house, we noticed that Brennan's car was in the driveway, still covered with the heavy frost from last night, so we knew he hadn't left the house and in all likelihood was still asleep.

"Okay buddy, text us or call us if you need us, okay?" Parker reassured Caleb that we would have his back.

"Thanks guys." Caleb managed to smile as he nervously got out of the car. I love you guys so much. Thanks for being such great friends! I'll call you or text if I need to put the plan in motion.

We drove away still in disbelief at how Brennan acted towards his brother. It was frustrating to think that he would treat him in that manner. It made both of us thankful that at least one of our parents (and my future dad) was so accepting of us.

We had no sooner gotten back to my house and were in my room playing video games and listening to music when my phone buzzed.

It was from Caleb. I felt a pang of fear run through my body.

< Activate plan. Please come quickly!

I quickly responded:

< On our way. Call 911 if you have to.