Dreamspinner Press Year Nine Greatest Hits

by Michael Murphy

David smiled. “You mean—”

  “That’s right—eggplant.”

  “Eggplant? I’d rather eat roadkill. Eggplant? Who feeds eggplant to guests? Bleah!”

  “Don’t worry,” Gray told him. “I made sure that they prepared a huge pot of boiled okra to go with it.”

  David did his best to make a retching sound.

  A waiter handed David a printed menu. A quick read of the menu and David smiled an absolutely delighted smile.

  “Did I get it right?” Gray asked.

  “Pacific lobster tail. Yes, you got it right.”

  “It was the chef’s recommendation to stuff them with crab meat. I hope you like that.”

  “I’m sure I will.” David read the menu more carefully, setting it aside when the first course was served.

  That evening they celebrated. They ate incredible food, they talked with friends old and new, they laughed as they heard stories of happy days gone by, they danced, they indulged in sinfully rich desserts, which they then worked off by dancing ridiculously for hours while they consumed vast quantities of David’s favorite champagne—later in the evening mixed with orange juice, strictly for health reasons.

  It was well after two in the morning before they said good night to their final departing guest.

  “I am exhausted,” David said. “I had better head home.”

  “Can’t,” Gray said.

  “Why not?” David asked.

  “I sent your driver home two hours ago. Hours he works between midnight and six in the morning are double time, and we don’t have the budget for that. He’ll be back on duty in four hours.”

  “Is that so?” David asked suspiciously.

  “That is absolutely so,” Gray assured him.

  “But I need to lie down before I fall down.”

  “Come,” Gray commanded. “Help me up the stairs.”

  “Me help you? Who’s gonna help me?”

  “We’ll just have to pool our efforts and get each other up there,” Gray told him, and he got a firm grip on David’s hand and started to head up the stairs.

  That night they slept in the same bed for the first time in a very long time. Nothing happened, which was partly evidenced by the fact that when they woke up the next afternoon, they were both still completely dressed—and very hungover. Very. Remarkably hungover.

  “It’s good to have you back in our bed,” Gray told him.

  “You may think different in a few minutes if the world doesn’t stop spinning so badly.”

  “Take the aspirin beside the bed,” Gray told him. “They’ll make you feel better. And drink lots of water. There are a couple of bottles there as well.”

  “You planned ahead,” David observed.

  “Damned right. You taught me well.”

  BEFORE GRAY let David go, he insisted they drink lots of water and have something to eat. David needed the world to stop spinning quite so much before he thought about going anywhere. When the pills, water, and food kicked in and he was feeling better, David said, “I need to get going and get out of your way so you can get to work, or something.”

  “I’d gladly sit with you forever,” Gray said.

  “Yeah, but your staff wouldn’t like that. Haven’t you noticed the aide peeking around the corner every couple of minutes?” David asked.

  “Yes. I know. You come first.”

  “Gray, I know that isn’t always the way it can be. I just want some balance.”

  “I agree.” Gray looked at David and asked, “What did it feel like to be back in your own bed last night?”

  “I don’t know. I was too asleep to notice.”

  David was surprised when Gray dropped to one knee before him and asked, “Then I’d like to invite you to come back very soon and have the experience again, without alcohol this time. Just you and me… together again.”

  “Really?” David asked softly.

  “Really. Please move back in, David. I want you here so badly.”

  David was thoughtfully quiet for a moment before looking up, smiling, and saying, “I’m leaning strongly in that direction. But….”

  “But what?” Gray asked.

  “But I’m scared,” David whispered, sharing his deepest fear and concern with Gray.

  “Why?”

  “I’m scared it’s all going to just repeat again. I’m scared that I’ll come back and for a while it will be okay, but then everything will revert to the way it had been, and I can’t do it again.”

  Gray wrapped David in his arms and said, “I’ve learned my lesson. You are the most important person in the world to me. I promise.”

  “I may be crazy, but okay,” David said.

  Gray practically leapt in the air with excitement. As it was, his shout was enough to bring an agent running into the room to investigate.

  “When?” Gray asked excitedly.

  “How about the day after tomorrow? That’s the end of the week and the end of the month. I’ll get packed tomorrow so I can get things hauled back over here.”

  “So in a little under forty-eight hours you’ll be back home? In our home? In our bed? With me? Together? Us?”

  “Yep, sounds that way. No backing out now,” David warned him.

  “Not bloody likely,” Gray told him.

  Chapter 20—Moving Back Home

  ON FRIDAY of that week, David was on edge. He hadn’t expected to feel that way. He’d anticipated, as much as he’d thought about it, that it would feel comfortable, familiar to go back to the White House, to Gray. But all day long he’d been wound about as tight as possible. From the moment he’d gotten out of bed that morning he’d been in nonstop motion. When he lectured that day, he’d been pacing every minute, constantly moving around the lecture hall, never stopping, never simply still. He hadn’t even realized he’d been doing it until one of his students interrupted him and called him on it.

  “Dr. Hammond?”

  “Yes?”

  “What’s wrong, sir?”

  “What do you mean? There’s nothing wrong.”

  “I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t buy it.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You’re kidding me, right?” the student asked.

  “I’m sorry, but I really don’t understand what you’re talking about,” David responded.

  “Sir, you haven’t stopped moving once since you started the lecture. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so much on edge as you are today.”

  “Really?” David asked, still not entirely believing what he was hearing.

  “Yes, sir, and it’s very distracting, sir.”

  “I’m so sorry,” David apologized. “I had no idea.”

  “So, sir, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I’m actually feeling quite excited and upbeat today. Let’s take a quick break,” he said, stepping out of the room toward the restroom. His usual shadow was with him. By that point David knew his agent moderately well, at least well enough to ask, “Is what they said true? Do I really―”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Crap,” David said, dropping his head to the bathroom sink to try to collect himself.

  “I know it’s not an original question, sir, but what’s wrong?” his agent asked him.

  David tried to find the right words.

  “I’m… anxious.”

  “About going back?”

  “Yes,” he whispered.

  “But you know what you’re going back to,” his agent argued.

  “No, I don’t. Everything will likely be different now.”

  “But it will be different in ways that you know, in ways that you like.”

  “I certainly hope so,” David said, splashing some cold water on his face. “Because it’s what I asked for. Time to get back to work,” he declared, pulling himself back together. He made a conscious effort not to exhibit nervous energy during the remaining hour of his lecture.

  Immediately after class, it was time—time to go back to Gray, time to go to what would be
their home for at least another couple of years, provided Gray’s job didn’t kill him first.

  David had kept his anxiety mostly in check during the last hour of class by pure willpower and focused determination, but sitting in the back seat of the black SUV as someone else drove him back to the White House, David didn’t have the same focus he’d had during class. He needed to have something to do to keep his mind off his anxiousness. All he could do was sit and look out the window as they slowly made their way through rush-hour-crowded streets to get from the medical school to the White House. He wasn’t sure if it was purely his anxiety, but it seemed to take forever that afternoon to get back. He admitted to himself that he was just out of practice at making the trip every day, which could have accounted for some of the feeling.

  When his car turned and drove through the gate at the White House, David’s anxiety seemed to click several degrees higher. The car stopped at the door, and he had no choice―it was time.

  “Thanks, guys,” he told his agents, and immediately moved into the building.

  David had walked through the same doors more times than he could count. Every single weekday for a long time he’d gone in and out through the same doorway. There was nothing new to see, but at the same time the experience seemed profoundly different to him, somehow more alive and vivid than he could recall it ever being before.

  Just walking back through the door into the house was a heady experience for David. He paused, closed his eyes for a moment, drew a deep breath, and noticed the house had its own unique scent. He hadn’t smelled anything quite the same since he’d been away. He supposed it was a cleaning agent the household staff used, but he wasn’t sure. What he was sure of was that the scent was unique to that building.

  David knew his destination. He had been looking forward all day long to seeing Gray, having dinner together, spending the evening with him doing nothing special, and then rocking the bed until the entire house threatened to fall apart. But he felt the need to pause and soak in everything. The color of paint on the wall, the way the handrail on the stairs glistened, the spring to the carpet, the particular shade of blue in the rug beneath his feet.

  He was shaken from his moment of quiet observation when a White House staffer walked past him and said hello.

  “Um, hi,” he called out to the rapidly retreating person whose name he couldn’t recall.

  With one hand on the banister of the staircase leading to the residence, David looked upward, half expecting to see Gray standing at the top of the stairs to greet him home. He wasn’t 100 percent sure that Gray would be there, because David was home a little early. Typically he’d have spent some time in his office after class, but even he’d had to admit that he wasn’t worth much to the students that particular afternoon. So he supposed the reason he didn’t see Gray was because he was early getting back that afternoon.

  But having a few minutes at home before Gray got in was not necessarily a bad thing. It was, in fact, actually, a rather good thing, in that it gave him time to get the feel of the place that he’d once regarded as home, so that he could hopefully get back to a place where it felt like home again.

  Just as the downstairs had felt so new, so did the upstairs, the residence. He stood outside the living room and listened, not to voices of people, but to the voice of the house. The stately old mansion provided to the President and his family for use while he occupied the office was a very old building. Parts of the structure dated back more than two hundred years. While it had been substantially rebuilt in the late 1940s, and it had been updated and upgraded on an ongoing basis to keep up with the times, the house was still old. The floors creaked in certain places, and gentle breezes could be felt as the air system circulated heated or cooled air throughout the house. To David that afternoon, the house felt very much alive, and it was talking to him very loudly. As he walked around the family living quarters, he listened to the house. David smiled, and his nervousness seemed to dissipate in the gently moving air.

  Placing his shirts on hangers and returning them to the closet in his and Gray’s bedroom, he felt better. Placing his underwear back into the drawers of his dresser made him feel even better. By the time he was hanging his pants on hangers and adding them to the shirts in the walk-in closet, David was feeling positively upbeat.

  While he worked, he kept an ear open for the sound of footsteps. He expected Gray to appear and wrap him in a hug at any second. What he couldn’t decide was whether they should sweat up the sheets before dinner or after. Hell, if he’d been a younger man, they’d have done both. Perhaps that night they’d both have to pretend they were once again younger men than they really were. Every once in a while it was probably good to not act your age but to play the part of someone younger and more care free. Perhaps that would be the best course for their evening.

  With everything unpacked, David changed into more comfortable clothes and made his way into the living room where, much to his surprise, he found Gray. Holy shit! Gray was completely naked and arrayed seductively on a sofa, one hand raised over his head.

  David decided to play with him for a moment before pouncing on him. “Um, hi. Have you by any chance seen the President? I’m looking for him.”

  “He’s busy with his husband and can’t be disturbed.”

  “Oh? Well, since he’s busy, what are you doing? I’m kind of horny, and you’re kind of hot—for an old guy. But we have to be quick before my husband gets here,” David said playfully.

  “Well, then, get over here and let’s get busy. You’re hot and all, but I don’t want to get caught by some pissed-off, jealous husband.”

  “Eh, don’t worry. My husband is oblivious to a lot of stuff. You’d be amazed what he doesn’t notice.”

  “Don’t count on it. People can change. Haul your cute ass over here,” Gray said, reaching out toward David, who had been moving toward him while they talked. Gray grabbed David by his hips and brought him down on top of Gray’s naked body, his legs automatically spreading to give David room.

  David wrapped his arms around Gray’s naked torso, gave him a quick kiss, and smiled at him before bringing his lips back to lock on to Gray’s for a curl-your-toes kiss that left Gray panting when David pulled away. “You feel spectacular,” David said, looking lustily down into Gray’s eyes. “For an old man, you’ve still got it going on, you know that?”

  “I don’t know if I should feel excited by that comment or insulted.”

  “Probably a little of both,” David said, then gave Gray a quick kiss. “Aren’t you afraid of having the Secret Service walk in and see you naked with your husband having his way with you?”

  “Couldn’t care less, because I’m going to be the lucky one having sex with you, and that’s worth just about any price,” Gray said between kisses.

  “Oh, it is?”

  “Oh, yeah. They’re all gonna be jealous because you’re having your way with me instead of with them.”

  “I’m gonna have my way with you? What am I going to do with you?” David asked.

  “I hope you’re going to fuck me until I can’t scream your name any longer,” Gray said.

  “Why would you want to scream my name?” David asked.

  “To make you fuck me harder, deeper, and to do it again,” Gray said.

  “So, you want me to what?” David toyed with him.

  “I hope I can persuade you to fuck me,” Gray said, reaching his hands up as well as his lips. “Am I asking okay?” Gray said.

  “Perhaps. Let me think about it for a minute or two and decide.”

  Gray wrapped his legs around David’s torso and moved his hands around David’s back and head. David locked his lips back on Gray’s and kissed him passionately enough to be sure his intentions were crystal clear.

  “All we need is you naked and hard,” Gray said.

  “Oh, I’ve got the hard part covered,” David told him.

  “I know. I can feel it. I’d really like to feel it more up close and pe
rsonal.”

  “I’ve got to find some lube,” David said as he started to push himself up off the sofa.

  “No, you don’t. It’s all taken care of. All you have to bring to the party is a hard-on. Now get naked and fuck me, please.”

  “I’ve got a better idea.”

  “Please, David, I want it so bad.”

  “Oh, you’re going to get it. Have no fear.” Rather than strip off his clothes, though, David unbuckled his belt, loosened his pants, and hauled his hard-on out, snagging his underwear beneath his balls. Still basically fully clothed, David started to rub his exposed dick against Gray. It only took the slightest bit of direction from Gray for the head of David’s erection to find its way to a place it hadn’t been in a very, very long time.

  But rather than just shove himself inside Gray in one push, David held perfectly still, looked down at Gray, smiled, and asked, “You sure you want this? I mean, we could watch some television for a while instead.” This elicited a groan from Gray, who tried to buck his hips up to capture the head of David’s erection where he wanted it.

  “Or if you don’t want to watch television, we could find some old magazines and go through them looking for recipes,” David said between two more kisses. “Or—”

  “Shut up and fuck me, damn it,” Gray ordered.

  “My, my, but aren’t you a bossy bottom. I was thinking that a bottom should sometimes be somewhat submissive, don’t you agree?”

  “Anything,” Gray said.

  “Anything?”

  “Anything, just fuck me, please.”

  Without moving more than a couple of inches, David started to insert his erect dick into Gray’s body. But he stopped with only the head inside.

  “Are you sure this is what you want?” David toyed with him as he held perfectly still.

  Gray’s legs, which were still wrapped around David’s hips, jerked him forward, sending his erection deep inside Gray’s body. David felt Gray shudder and moan at the sudden invasion. David rested inside Gray’s body, pausing to kiss Gray, more tenderly this time.

  “What do I do if your husband comes home early?” Gray asked.