Someone to Bank on

by Carson Wescot

  Hungry young men poured out of every door, it seemed, until all five were seated with Barbara and Al around the large dining table, heaping with roast turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, rolls, and of course cranberry sauce. Barbara looked tired but happy to have this gathering ready and eager for her men to enjoy the fruits of her all-day labor.

  Philip got his first exposure to the one-at-a-time Rushton way of joining of hands around the table, starting with Al reaching for Max and ending with Kenny reaching for his father, completing the circle. Al wasn’t a praying man, so Max usually did the honors on special occasions such as this.

  “Creator God, we have joined hands around this table today in praise and true thanksgiving for all your many blessings on this family. Thank you for watching over and restoring our dad to good health once again. Thank you for the strength and devotion of our mom as she stood by him during his ordeal and gave us all the courage and certainty to believe that he would recover. Thank you for Bobby’s and Grant’s and Kenny’s many contributions to the success and stability of dad’s business during his surgery and recovery. Thank you for Bobby’s success in bringing home the first college degree this family has achieved – and especially for bringing home our new son and brother Grant to this household. May you continue to bless and nourish their new relationship. Thank you for our visitor Philip and the friendship he enjoys with our Bobby. Bless this food and the hands that prepared it. Watch over all of us and guide our steps in the days and weeks that lie ahead. Amen.”

  “Amen,” everyone echoed.

  “Happy Thanksgiving,” Al proclaimed, raising his glass of wine, and everyone did the same.

  Philip was deeply touched by Max’s prayer. Nothing like that had ever happened in his family of origin, as they were not religious people. Sitting between Bobby and Kenny, he also was moved by the hand holding, and especially by the gentle squeeze on his right hand that he got from Kenny when the prayer had ended. He took it as a sign that there were no hard feelings for his earlier boldness in the basement, but he couldn’t know then that Kenny meant even more by it.

  The hearty passing and eating of Barbara’s wonderful feast was punctuated by much laughter and sharing of stories. Grant and Philip could only be envious of the familial joy in the Rushton home – as it was in much shorter supply in their parents’ homes. Grant’s parents had few friends, so they usually went out to eat on holidays, alone of course. Philip’s parents had no doubt that day been lying on a beach in Bermuda, enjoying their time together as empty nesters – even before their one and only child had moved on with his life.

  The boys volunteered to clean up the kitchen after Barbara had put the leftovers away, and she gratefully accepted their offer. It was still early enough when they finished that they had time to put on their coats and go for a much-needed walk – or roll, in Max’s case – around the neighborhood. They came back to enjoy some homemade date pudding, Barbara’s traditional holiday dessert, and the boys played a rousing game of Catch Phrase.

  One by one, starting with the “old folks,” the family members drifted off to bed, and Philip made up his bed in the living room. By 11 p.m. the house was once again quiet, except for the tick-tock of the grandfather clock in the hallway and the occasional sound of the furnace coming on. Philip tried to read a bit by the dim light coming from the table lamp.

  For the second night in a row Kenny could not sleep. His mind was in a turmoil of “what ifs.” He wondered what would have happened if he’d allowed Philip to continue what he had tried to start in the basement. He could kick himself now for putting a premature end to what he was secretly enjoying – and, if he were honest with himself, wanting much more of.

  He was in so much awe of Philip. Kenny was just a 20-year-old Hoosier kid in vocational school who’d never done anything more daring than shower with his brothers. Philip, on the other hand, was a college graduate from a part of the country that Kenny had only read about. He seemed worldly and exotic and debonair – and oh-so handsome and sexy.

  Kenny thought back to the sight of Philip putting on his old worn jockstrap, and to the feel of Philip’s hands and lips on him as he admired Kenny’s strong body after their workout. Never had he imagined that Philip would touch him like that – would even go so far as to slip his hand inside his gym shorts and feel his raging hardness. He had nearly gotten off at that moment and had to stand up to prevent the potential embarrassment of “losing it.”

  But that was hours ago, and this was now – here he was, once again tossing and turning and yearning for more as his oldest brother slept peacefully in his bed across the room. He thought back to the frustration of the Craigslist encounter just five days earlier and the fear he had afterward that he would perhaps never meet anyone who really wanted him the way he craved to be wanted – with every fiber of his youthful, sexually charged, virgin body, which now literally ached with frustrated excitement.

  “Okay, Kenny,” he told himself with a pounding heart and slightly sweaty palms. “Don’t blow it again. How many more chances will you have like this?”

  Clad in just his tight white briefs, he tossed his blanket off and swung his feet off his bed and onto the floor. Checking to be sure that Max was really sound asleep, he slipped some white socks onto his cold feet, and forced himself to stand. It was now or never.

  Opening the bedroom door, he slipped out into the hallway as quietly as possible and closed the door behind him. The closed French doors to the living room had translucent glass panels, and Kenny could tell that Philip still had a light on. He had not expected to see that and almost chickened out. At that moment, however, the light went out as Philip prepared to spend what he thought would be another night alone.

  Scared out of his mind but determined, Kenny inched on, fearful of making any noise that would alert his family to the fact that he was up and about. Moments later he stood at the French doors. His hand froze on the door handles as he shivered. Summoning the courage from deep inside himself, he finally entered the room, closed the doors, and stood nervously at the foot of Philip’s makeshift bed.

  “You want some company, Philip?” he whispered. His mouth was so dry that he barely got it out.

  Startled, Philip sat up in bed. With the aid of the streetlamp in front of the house, there was just enough light in the room for him to see Kenny’s nearly nude body standing there. He eagerly threw off his covers and moved to the end of his bed, where he sat directly in front of the young Adonis who had come to him.

  Philip reached out and drew Kenny’s body to him so that he was standing between Philip’s open legs. He kissed him just above the waistband of the younger man’s briefs and let his hands trail down the side of his firm smooth legs.

  “Are you sure about this, Kenny?”

  “I’m sure. I want this…want you.”

  “I’m sorry I scared you earlier today. I didn’t mean to.”

  “It’s okay…it’s just that I never…”

  “I know, Kenny. That’s why I want you to be really sure before we go on. I don’t want you – or anyone else – to think that I took advantage of you.”

  Kenny took one of Philip’s wandering hands and placed it directly on the pouch of his tented underwear.

  “What does that tell you?”

  Philip squeezed the surprisingly large contents of Kenny’s briefs, and the younger man gasped in pleasure.

  “It tells me you’re ready to be a man – and all that that means.”

  Philip slipped his hands up Kenny’s hips inside the legs of his briefs and slowly pulled them down until his rock-solid circumcised manhood was fully exposed to Philip for the first time. It throbbed invitingly in his face, and he stuck out his tongue to lick it just below the slit. A drop of precum fell onto his tongue, and Philip savored the sweet taste of it.

  Kenny inhaled deeply as Philip put his hands on Kenny’s now-bare ass cheeks and pulled him even closer. Seeking even more of a connection, Kenny s
lipped his fingers through Philip’s coal-dark curly hair, just above his ears.

  “I want you naked,” Philip said, pulling Kenny’s briefs the rest of the way down his legs and removing his socks. The coldness of the room – combined with his extreme nervousness – was starting to make Kenny shiver a bit, so Philip pulled him up on the bed, removed his own briefs, and pulled the covers up over them. Lying on top of Kenny, Philip propped himself up on his elbows and leaned over to gently kiss him – tentatively at first to be sure he wanted that kind of intimacy. Kenny responded eagerly and kissed him back with a passion he never knew he had in him.

  Philip stroked Kenny’s hair and kissed him all over his face, neck, and ears, and then moved slowly down his body, exploring it with his hand, tongue, and mouth. It was every bit as tasty as he had imagined, and he couldn’t get enough. Kenny writhed in pleasure and excitement as he felt Philip’s mouth on his bare body parts. Finally, his cock was fully and deeply embedded in Philip’s mouth, and Kenny could already feel the onset of the release that he so desperately wanted from another man for the first time in his sheltered life.

  Philip sucked the rigid organ hungrily, marveling at its size and perfection. Suddenly his mind was flooded with happy memories of sucking on a practically identical organ that belonged to Bobby. All told, over a period of several months, he was sure that he’d coaxed more than 100 orgasms from that one, and now here he was enjoying giving the same pleasure to his younger brother.

  Ever since he had met the young man briefly last May in Nashville and then again only a little more than 24 hours ago, he’d dreamed of doing this to him, and now here he was. Kenny had come to his bed voluntarily and given himself fully. The fact that the young man was virginal made him all the more appealing. Kenny’s cock had never been in anyone else’s mouth before, but Philip was sure he would be wanting it more than once.

  Kenny was over the moon with pleasure and excitement at being in Philip’s bed and having the older man making love to him. Male sex was even better than he had imagined it would be, in his recent longings and dreams. He threw his arms over his head and surrendered his body completely, knowing that it wouldn’t be long until he experienced his first orgasm at the hands of another human being.

  “Ahhh, Philip, I think I’m coming. I know I am – better pull off now if you don’t want it in your mouth. Oh, geez, this is Heaven – here it comes. Suck harder! I can’t believe this!” Kenny had to stifle his natural impulse to groan with pleasure, but he knew that the rest of his family shouldn’t be hearing him enjoying his first-ever blow job, right there on the family’s living room couch.

  Philip got the prize he’d been working for as Kenny filled his mouth and throat with ropes of love juice from deep inside his body. Kenny’s head was thrashing back and forth on his pillow as enormous waves of pleasure washed over him. He’d never come like this before and never imagined he could.

  “Omigod, Philip – that was out of this world! Where did you learn to do that so well?”

  If you only knew, kid.

  “Practice makes perfect. Wanna practice on me now?”

  “Sure – just give me a minute. I’m still on Cloud 9. You sure know how to turn a guy on.”

  Eventually they traded places, and Kenny squatted between Philip’s open legs and took in the full sight of him as he touched every contour of his sexy body. Even hard, Philip’s cock didn’t approach Kenny’s in length and girth, but Kenny was almost happy about that. He would have felt intimidated if his first experience with oral sex had required him to take in a tool as big as his own.

  Bending over, he took Philip’s and sucked on it eagerly, pleasantly surprised by how good it tasted and felt in his mouth. At the same time, he fondled Philip’s balls in their silky sac, trying to emulate the more experienced man’s technique as best he could.

  Philip had a hair trigger and didn’t last long at all, filling Kenny’s mouth with tasty gobs of his spunk in less than a minute.

  “Wow – that was pretty darn good for your first time giving head. You’re going to make some guy very happy someday if you keep that up.”

  “I don’t want just any guy, Philip. I want you.”

  Warning bells went off in Philip’s head when he heard that, thinking back to what Bobby had said earlier in the day.

  “Hmm, well maybe we’d better sleep on it. Better get your underwear back on and get back to your room pretty soon before someone discovers you’re not in your own bed.”

  “I suppose you’re right. Can we do this again tomorrow night?”

  “We’ll talk about it tomorrow. We both need some sleep now. But thanks for coming to me, buddy. You’re a hot little number – this was fun.”

  Kenny pulled on his socks and briefs and bent over Philip’s supine body to give him a kiss.

  “Thanks. See you in the morning.”

  “You bet, kiddo.”

  Kenny slept contentedly the rest of the night. From what he could tell, Max was not awake when he got back to their shared bedroom, and he hoped he had not been missed. He was deeply content with his decision to go to Philip, who had received his visit enthusiastically. After what had happened recently with his disappointing Craigslist liaison, tonight’s “visit” with Philip was just what he had needed to boost his shaky sexual ego. He wished he could have slept the rest of the night with him, but he wasn’t ready for the rest of the family to know about it.

  Two doors away, however, his brother Bobby – a light sleeper – had seen Kenny’s shadowy figure go by his and Grant’s slightly open bedroom door twice in the night – once in each direction – and was certain that his little brother’s virginity was now a thing of the past.

  CHAPTER 22

  Sitting together at the breakfast table on Friday morning, Kenny and their houseguest Philip didn’t say much. Only Bobby and Grant, whom Bobby had confided in when Grant awoke, were aware that Kenny had apparently lost his virginity to Philip only hours before, in the living room where Philip was sleeping. Bobby was sitting next to Philip, so he couldn’t see their faces very well. However, Grant was watching them carefully for any sign. At that point Kenny and Philip were not aware that Bobby had observed Kenny’s passing in the hallway to and from the living room. Grant noted that both Kenny and Philip seemed to have a shy smile on their faces.

  As things were quiet at Al’s business due to the holiday weekend, Bobby announced his intentions during breakfast to take Philip and Grant to Tell City for a few hours. Max, who seldom left town, finding it to be too taxing, said he would stay at home. He wasn’t keen on revisiting the scene of his spinal cord injury anyway. But Kenny, obviously interested in staying close to Philip, asked if he could go along. Bobby assumed he would want to and said “Sure.”

  Grant volunteered to give Max a sponge bath while his brothers helped their mom clean up after breakfast. By 10 a.m. they were ready to go. After waiting to see where Philip would be sitting, Kenny jumped in the back seat beside him, while Grant got in next to Bobby, who was driving his own car. Grant had sold his car shortly after bringing it up to Evansville from Nashville when they vacated their apartment a month earlier.

  The day was cold but sunny as they started out, so they had not checked the weather forecast. They should have, because an early winter storm was brewing in southern Indiana. Before they got to Tell City, the sun was long gone and the winds were whipping up menacingly. Despite the change in the weather, Bobby naïvely drove on, confident that they would be back home in only a few hours.

  Tell City, Indiana is a sleepy county seat of 7,000 souls located on the Ohio River about 45 miles east of Evansville. Named for the legendary Swiss hero William Tell, it was founded in 1858 by a group of Swiss-German settlers looking for a place where they could live in harmony. A statue of William Tell and his son sits upon a fountain outside city hall.

  Natives of the area, Al and Barbara Rushton thought Tell City would be the perfect place to start their married life 30 years ago. Al set up a
home-based electrical contracting business, and Barbara taught third grade in the local elementary school. For five years they tried to start a family, but nature took its time before they were rewarded with a sweet, dark-haired son. They named him Max Alvin Rushton, after Barbara’s father and Max’s own father, and Barbara quit working to be a stay-at-home mom.

  Two years later Robert Evan Rushton joined the family, followed three years later by a third son, Kenneth Gary Rushton. The younger boys were always called Bobby and Kenny – names that stuck long after they grew up. As they matured into their teenage years, they were often mistaken for twins.

  Tell City was large enough to provide everything the growing family needed – especially work for Al and a wholesome environment for the boys to grow up in. Seventeen years into their happy marriage, however, their perfect life took a disastrous turn, followed by another cruel one the following year.

  Barbara would never forgive herself for that summer day when she had agreed to let the two older boys go off by themselves to explore the riverbank area south of town. She had kept Kenny at home, as he was only six at the time.

  Shortly before lunchtime, Bobby appeared at the door screaming that Max had been hit by a rock down by the river and couldn’t get up. Barbara called Al, who was out on a customer call, and Bobby took them to the spot where Max had been hit. Paramedics were called to the scene when it became obvious that Max had sustained a serious injury.

  He was taken to a small local medical center, where it was decided that he should be airlifted to Evansville, where specialized medical help was available. Neighbors took care of the younger boys while Barbara and Al drove in a panic to the Evansville hospital, where they learned that Max, who was just 12 years old, had sustained a spinal cord injury that would likely keep him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. The family was devastated by this development, but fate wasn’t through with them yet.