"I actually ran into him on the beach. He ministers to people up in Venice."
"A preacher? A man of God?"
"Yeah. I figure I'm already going to Hell. Might as well do it right."
"How does he make his money?"
"I don't ask. I mean, it's not really any of my business."
"It kind of is now. You share the rent now."
"I guess he makes money the way preachers make money."
"You should know. Ask him."
"Is that all you want to know? His yearly income?"
"Do you love him?" Jason was a bit thrown by the directness of Matt's question.
"Yes. I love him very much."
"As much as you loved me?" Matt asked as he slid closer to Jason. He took his hand, but Jason pulled away.
"It's not like that, but it's strong. He was there for me when I needed him and,"
"And what?" Matt was inching closer. Jason tried to move, but he couldn't feel his own body. Before he realized it, Matt was pressing his leg into Jason's.
"And, I love him."
"Do you remember that night we went to that outdoor screening of 'Casablanca'?"
"In the park?"
"Yeah. It was in that park over in Burbank. We packed up that picnic dinner. Got those blankets together."
"Oh, yeah. I thought it was going to be hot, but you insisted we take all that crap."
"And it got cold. I remember someone wrapping himself up in one of those blankets."
"It was still summer. How was I supposed to know?"
"It was actually early October and you were supposed to know because I told you. We had wine. We were way in the back so there were no eyes on us. I liked it when the sun finally went down and they shut off all the lights. I got my arms around you and you were resting against my chest."
"Yeah." Jason said with a catch in his voice. He then noticed Matt's hand sliding up his leg and he could smell his aftershave. The memory was flooding through his mind in a torrent.
It had been an evening in early October, but there had been an extended heatwave that lingered on from summer. Jason and Matt had arrived at the park a little after seven and the sky was already growing dark. When they got to the main field of the park, they saw a large portable screen set up with large flood lights arranged along the perimeter. There were already hundreds of people camped out with blankets and fold out chairs. Jason recalled that he complained they were too late to get a good spot, but Matt was confident that no matter where they sat, it would be perfect. They headed toward the back of the crowd and found a little spot behind everyone. Matt spread out one the blankets he had brought and easily set up a little nest for them both. He set out the food. It was nothing fancy. Some finger foods and sandwiches, but Matt also brought along a bottle of wine that, while not vintage, was still rather good. They talked and ate and drank and by the time the last crumb was eaten and the last drop of wind drunk, the lights were shut off and the screen lit up and the movie began. As the evening, and movie, went on, the temperature dropped. Matt noticed Jason becoming uncomfortable. He had told him to bring something to keep him warm, but Jason insisted that it wouldn't get cold. It was then that Matt pulled Jason close and wrapped his arms around him. Without a word, Jason surrendered to his embrace and they sat back, clasped together for the rest of the night.
Jason snapped back to reality and stepped away from Matt. He could feel sweat forming along the top of his head.
"So did you just come by to relive old memories?"
"I came by to see how you were. I want to know if you're really happy with this guy."
"I am. That's not to say I wasn't happy with you."
"I know. I understand. I guess it's hard to see you with someone new. Especially after everything we've been through."
"If I had known you would ever be back, I would have waited." Jason said. Matt looked back at him and a small, curious smile crossed his lips.
"You would, wouldn't you? But it wouldn't be fair for me to expect that of you. I'm glad you found David. It's clear that he makes you happy."
"He really does."
"Well. I better get going. I guess I'll see you later."
"Yeah," Matt smiled simply and made his way to the door, but as he took the knob in his hand, he felt a hand grab at his shoulder. He spun around and Jason pressed his lips against his. The sensation was familiar and comforting. As they parted, their eyes locked and they both smiled. "Just for old times' sake."
Chapter 24
Career Choices
Ken arrived at the store for his shift and he let out a heavy sigh as he emerged from his car. He had gotten the good parking spot right in front of the store and as such he could see into the store and he saw John behind the counter.
John was sporting a white tank top which showed off his well muscled torso as well as the numerous tattoos that adorned his arms. There was something about John that both ticked Ken off and attracted him at the same time. There was something about how cocky and sure of himself he seemed. It was like he just didn’t care about what people thought he looked like or how he acted. He held an annoyingly macho bravado that Ken found irritating and irresistible. Ken then noticed that he was talking to Bernie.
Ken didn’t have anything in particular against Bernie. He was a little rough around the edges, but that wasn’t a big deal. Ken just began to feel like he preferred it when Bernie wasn’t in the store. He seemed to bring a weird energy that Ken did not like. He was a bit too familiar with the customers if there were any in the store, and his straight guy bravado had grown tiresome.
Ken pushed the door open and then he saw something else. There were four neatly stacked piles of videos on the counter and he knew what that meant right away.
“More new releases?” Ken asked as he came around to the back of the counter.
“Yup. I was just telling John I need these up as soon as possible. If these sell well, we might just get the full line.” Bernie explained. Ken set his bag down on the floor and then turned to the videos. It looked like they were mostly straight videos and the theme seemed to be super young girls acting like overgrown babies. The models were dressed in costumes that seemed intended to make them appear as children, but they had their legs spread wide and they were looking at the camera as if they were hungry, insatiable beasts. Ken picked one of the videos up and checked the back. There was a collage of screenshots spread around and each one was pretty much the same. One of the young girls on her back with a thick cock crammed into her vagina or ass. Ken let out a sigh. When he started the job, he was disgusted by the pictures, but after seeing so much, he was simply bored.
“I already cleared a rack for them. I just need you to enter them into the system and price them.” John said.
“Why didn’t you do that yourself?”
“Oh, come on. I didn’t want to do all the fun stuff.” John said with a smile. Ken hung on that for a moment. It was another vexing aspect of John. His smile managed to be sweet and sincere, yet arrogant. Ken was still figuring out if he liked John or not. He wanted to fuck him, in either case, but that was just a fantasy. Ken had seen enough porn videos that could have instructed him on how to turn the situation to his advantage, but even if such idiotic tactics could work in the real world, Ken was with Adam, and that was a dealbreaker.
Bernie shot the shit with John for a few more minutes and then decided he had enough and packed up his stuff and left. John and Ken were alone and there was still another half hour before John was off the clock. Ken started to sort through the videos on the counter, if only to engage in some busy work.
“You don’t have to get right on it,” John said. “It’s been a super slow day today. You’re going to need something to do later.” Ken then checked the register and it had been a slow day. There didn’t seem to be any recorded transactions all day.
“Wow. You didn’t make anything?”
“Nope. I had a few lurkers, but no sales. It’s the internet, man. Why come o
ut and buy something at three times the price when you can stay home and download it? For free in some cases.”
“Well, I never spent much time with online porn. I’ve got plenty of videos.”
“Old school. All my wank material is online.”
“I thought you had a girlfriend.”
“And I thought you had a boyfriend. It doesn’t matter. Nothing beats jerking off when you need it, right?” Ken felt heat rise up through his neck and up to his forehead.
“True. I actually think it’s good luck.” Ken said. John smiled with interest and stepped toward him.
“Good luck?”
“Yes. I’ve never told anyone this before, but I jerk off every morning between seven and eight in the morning because I think it’s good luck.”
“Are you for real?”
“Yes. It doesn’t happen every day so I’m not saying it’s a law of nature or anything, but most of the time when I do it, something great happens to me at some point during the day.”
“Like what? What happened today?”
“Well, nothing, but one time I got stuck for jury duty, but I yanked it every morning and they never called my group number. That’s five days.”
“Not conclusive, but I guess even if nothing great happens, at least you jacked off.”
“Exactly.”
“How do you do it? I mean, you and your boyfriend sleep in the same bed. How do you get away with it?”
“I usually just do it in the shower.”
“Cool,” John seemed intrigued by the concept of the good luck jerk off and Ken could see his mind was bubbling with questions. “What about this? If jerking off is good luck, how much better would it be if you had sex? I mean, that’s a more intense thing, right? It would have to be worth more luck.” Ken thought for a moment and he had to admit that John had a point.
“I actually never really thought of that before. I guess it would be worth investigating, but Adam isn’t a real morning sex kind of guy.”
“Heh. Call me over. I love morning sex.”
“What?” Ken said with a start.
“Oh, hey, I was just kidding. I didn’t mean I wanted to get between you and your guy.”
“No. It just surprised me. Straight guys don’t usually joke around about that kind of stuff.”
“Who said I was straight?”
“I just figured you were. What with the girlfriend.”
“Yeah, I like girls, but I’ve kind of dipped my feet in the other pond too.”
“Really?”
“Nothing major. When I was younger guys would offer to blow me once in a while and I’d take them up on it if I was in the mood. And considering I was eighteen, I was always in the mood.”
“So, you’re bi?”
“I guess. If you have to put a label on it.”
“Well, I tend to like labels. They help you see what you’re about to buy and let you know where things are supposed to go.”
“That’s a good point. I just live. If you want to know a secret, I paid for all my tats with my dick.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yeah. I could never have saved enough for all this work. Some dudes would look at my body and give me some line about what a great canvas I was. They liked my muscles or they liked the skin tone. They’d get me in the chair and we’d talk a bit and after a while an offer would be made and I’d take it.”
“Your girlfriend knows about this?”
“Well, sort of. I told her the same thing, but instead of guys, the tattoo artists were girls. She’d freak if she knew I had done guys.”
“I hear some girls get off on it.”
“I heard that too, but my Rosa isn’t one of them.”
“Too bad.”
“Yeah. I’d love to have a three way with her and another guy.”
“Sounds like it’d be interesting. I think I’ll get started on those videos.” Ken then pulled out the price tagger and some envelopes to put the discs away in. He then went over to the end of the counter and started opening up the video boxes and tried with all his might to banish everything he had just heard from his mind. He then felt the heat of John’s body coming up behind him.
“You know, I like white guys like you.”
“What? I’m over a decade older than you!”
“You don’t look it, and I don’t really care about age.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty four.”
“Of course you don’t care about age. Give it another ten years.”
“I’m serious. I think people get way too hung up on shit like age and race. We’re all guys and we all want to have fun. I am attracted to what goes on in someone’s head.”
“That’s very mature.”
“I know.” The moment fell into silence and Ken was beginning to feel sweat form along his brow when a tone rang out. John turned to the computer and saw that his shift was up.
John clocked out, gathered up his stuff and rushed out, waving to Ken as he ran out the door and flashed him that smile as if they hadn’t been talking about anything. Ken stepped back from the counter and used one of the video boxes as a fan to get some air on his skin.
After Ken entered the videos into the system and put them up on the shelf in the back, he found that he had little else to do. He went around the store with the feather duster and cleaned what he could. He then walked the adult section and made sure all the video boxes were lined up correctly. After all of that was done, he went behind the counter, settled in the chair they had back there and turned on the small TV they kept under the counter. There wasn’t much to watch and the time stretched on slowly.
An hour had passed and not a single customer had come in. Ken began to feel a rumble in his stomach and he realized it was coming upon dinner time. He shut off the TV and left the store, locking the door behind him. He then wandered down to the burger joint that was in the shopping center. He normally got his dinners there. It was cheap and they actually had an extensive menu that went beyond just burgers and fries. He had been in so many times, the night staff was starting to recognize him and he no longer had to order, unless he wanted something different.
He walked up to the cashier on duty. She was tall and pretty with short black hair and well painted red lips. She smiled as he stood before her and held her finger over the keypad of the register.
“The usual?” She asked. Ken thought for a moment. He didn’t want healthy, but he felt he should have ordered healthy.
“Yes,” He said at last. “But can I get a small salad instead of the fries?”
“Sure.” The cashier said with a grin. She punched up his order and it came out to the same amount as always. Ken pulled out his wallet and held out a ten dollar bill and got a little bit back in change.
After Ken got his dinner, he walked back to the store and as he got closer, he saw that no one was waiting for him to return. He got to the door, pulled out his keys and struggled to open the door. He went in and went right back to the counter where he unpacked his dinner and began to eat.
When Ken was done eating, there still hadn’t been any customer activity. He bagged up his garbage and stuffed it in the trash can they kept in the back. He sat back down and resumed his television viewing.
Two more hours dragged on with no customers. Ken usually enjoyed his quiet time, but it was getting to the point where he actually wanted someone to come into the store. Even if they only came to look around. He just wanted some sign of life from the outside world.
It was getting dark outside and Ken knew he only had a couple more hours to go. He shut the TV off and decided to go another round with the feather duster, but as he got up, he heard the door chime ring and he looked up and it was an actual human being walking in. He lumbered forward with an odd gait. It looked like he was drunk or had some kind of leg injury. He came up to the counter and looked Ken right in the eye.
“Hi.” He said. His voice was distant but confident. He was a handsome, for an older m
an. He looked to be in his late forties and his skin was rather worn and creased. His hair was mussed up a bit. It was mostly blonde but there were significant accents of silver and gray along the sides.
“Good evening,” Ken said. “Can I help you?”
“Uh, maybe. Do you have an electrical outlet?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Some place I could charge my phone? My car broke down outside and my phone died. I just need to charge it up so I can call my car service.” He said. Ken was taken off guard by the request. He looked around and he saw a few outlets behind the counter, but he wasn’t sure if it would be acceptable to let him use them. Ken thought of calling Bernie to ask, but then he figured it was such a stupid reason to bother Bernie, especially since he really didn’t want to talk to him again.
“Sure. Right here.” Ken said as he indicated to the closest outlet to the man.
“Thanks!” He said as he plugged in his phone. He set the charging phone down on the counter and he and Ken just stood there in silence. The man looked around, in some hopes of finding something to talk about.
“Video store, huh?” He said.
“Yeah.”
“Don’t see many of these anymore.”
“I guess not.” The man then noticed the door leading to the adult section and he pointed to it.
“Is that where you keep the adult videos?”
“Yes.”
“I guess I’ll take a look.”
“Feel free.” The man then went on in and he wandered around, taking careful consideration of all the videos on display.
“You know, I was on TV.” The man said from out of nowhere.
“Really? What show?”
“24.” Ken took another look at the man and while he didn’t watch the show faithfully, the man’s face was completely unrecognizable.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t really watch that show that closely.”
“I was one of the main agents. I was only in a few episodes. Hell, I don’t even remember my characters name.” The man said and he then let out a loud, raucous laugh. Ken simply shrugged his shoulders and walked away to check on how long it would take for the man’s phone to charge.
Beautiful Days (Jason Of The Valley Book 5) Page 17