33 Degrees of Separation (Legacy)

by Rain Carrington

  “I was already off-balance from that, my father getting into the safe in front of me with the grail as the key. Then we went to the memoriam, and Father wasn’t acting like his usual distant self. Not completely, anyway. Again, I rationalized it was because I was finally in the Grail.

  “We got there, and sure, men were talking to each other. The perfunctory shaking of hands, polite nods to each other, even the expected cordial conversations. When my father and Mr. Kent came to each other, though, it was different. First of all, Mr. Kent didn’t seem like he was the grieving father. I don’t believe my own father, who was never warm and loving would go to a memoriam for me and not shed a damn tear at least, or hang his head a little. There was none of that from Mr. Kent. I reasoned that he, like the other monsters in the Grail, was proud of Cameron, that he made the sacrifice as they call it. Thing is, he didn’t look proud either.

  “When he and my father came up to each other, they shook hands. Their hands lingered for much longer than any other handshake my father made that day. And instead of the customary nod or meaningless words of condolence or pat on the back for his son being the sacrifice, they barely spoke. Instead, their eyes locked, and it was as if they were communicating without saying a damn word. I know that doesn’t make sense and wouldn’t unless you saw it yourself.”

  Pat squeezed his hand, the warmth of the gesture calmed him. “No, it actually does make sense. When I was a senior in high school, we had to do ten hours of community service to graduate. I was embracing the fact I was gay after years of trying to hide it, so I chose to go to an AIDS hospice to do my service. I met an old man there. He used to tell me stories about the old days, and what it was like to be gay back before it was accepted at all. Men would meet in crowded places sometimes, and the only way to gauge whether the person you were talking to was interested was a long handshake or the way their eyes would meet and hold the other’s. It was all very subtle, but in the gay community, they had it down to a science. I don’t see why that would end now, especially not with men who had to hide that about themselves, but baby, are you saying they’re…they’re gay?”

  “No!” He didn’t say that, and barely could think that. “I’m not saying they’re gay. I can’t even imagine my father being gay.”

  Javi, exasperated, asked him, “Then what are you saying?”

  That was the question he had no answer for. “It’s all so strange. I’m not sure, Javi.”

  “What about what you were saying about Cameron?”

  Ian pointed to Javi, happy to have been reminded of that. “Oh, right, well, isn’t it possible?”

  “Isn’t what possible?”

  “That he isn’t dead? I mean, I’m almost positive now that my father knew it wasn’t going to be me, which makes it pretty clear he knew who it was going to be. Whether he and James are gay for each other, or just friends or whatever, doesn’t it reason he’d tell him that it was going to be Cameron?”

  Pat let go of his hand and stood quickly, then started to pace. “Jesus, that makes too much sense, but it’s all conjecture right now! How the fuck would we prove any of it, saying it’s even true?”

  “Like I said, let me get with my hacker friend. Maybe she can get the autopsy record, something. Meanwhile, Ian, get in closer with your dad. I don’t know, go there, ask him to explain some of the Grail shit, ask him how to shave, whatever fathers and sons talk about.”

  “Shave? Javi…”

  Pat laughed at them both and told Javi, “Take off for a few, huh?”

  Ian got goosebumps all over his body when Pat turned his eyes back to him and he saw the fire there. He held his hand for Ian to take, which he did, and he was lifted to his feet and right into Pat’s arms. “I think you need something to help you focus.”

  “What’s that?”

  “My dick.”

  Ian’s eyes closed as he let out a long moan, which was cut off by Pat’s mouth devouring his. Ian went limp again, and Pat held him, taking the kiss into overdrive.

  Pat’s hand reached down to grab an ass cheek, and his strong hand held him there like that, squeezing, hurting the already bruised flesh, but it just managed to turn Ian on more.

  When he was released from both the kiss and the embrace, Pat’s hand was on his ass, pushing him to his knees. “Remember, I’m not going to even try to be nice about this. If it’s too much, what do you do?”

  “I say red and you’ll stop.”

  “Yeah. Unless I hear that, you take it.”

  Ian was on his knees, watching Pat unfasten his pants, letting the anaconda free of its cage. The thing was big, as Ian dreamed it would be, but to see it there, in his face, knowing that it was about to be a battering ram on his throat, he tensed and swallowed. He figured that would be the last time for a while that he could swallow without difficulty.

  After opening his jaw as wide as it could go, Pat chuckled and grabbed a fistful of hair on the top of his head. Aiming with that, he sunk his dick into Ian’s mouth, not a bit of hesitation as he managed to fill his throat before he stopped.

  “Mmm, yeah, warm mouth, pretty boy, all the makings of a beautiful day.”

  Ian was shaking, but it wasn’t in fear, though it probably should have been. Maybe Pat knew, and maybe he didn’t, but in all Ian’s dirty fantasies, there was a man like him, a muscled god who had strength in spades and didn’t take crap from anyone. That man would want Ian so badly that he’d take him, keep him, and he’d make him do nasty things, all in his service.

  Ian’s body would be used for the man’s pleasure, and Ian would beg for more, beg to better serve him, please him. When the fantasies first arose in his subconscious, he’d thought he was terrible, that he had so been spoiled in his life, he thought on some level that he deserved to be abused. That wasn’t the case.

  Once, a guy he was playing around with went too far, and Ian quickly found out the difference.

  With Pat, the way it felt already was everything he’d desired. The best part was that when they were finished with the hard, rough stuff, Pat was there with his arms open to gather him up into them. The love was always there when the rest was done, and that made him want to please him more.

  Sure enough, his throat was assaulted with the thick meat, it choked him, his gag reflex overridden by the fast, hard barrage from the impaling cock. Ian didn’t move, but he wanted to, his instinct to push Pat away, to try to take more than the half-breaths he could manage when Pat allowed it.

  He didn’t, though, because he didn’t want to. He wanted what Pat was dishing out to him, and it was true, all of it brought Ian into focus. At that moment, he was focusing on being still, being a receptacle for Pat’s cock and his needs. Pat needed to slam his cock into Ian’s throat and Ian wanted to give him that.

  “There it is, I see it poking out the side,” Pat grunted, then laughed loudly. “Oh, that is an amazing sight! Ian! It’s fucking unreal!”

  Ian was shaking more. He couldn’t breathe and the pounding of his throat went on while Pat moved his head by pulling his hair. He was denigrated, humbled there on that floor. He wasn’t the king of the campus anymore where Daddy could save him from things. He was a submissive man, on his knees and servicing his Dom. There was nothing else in his life at that moment except the unrelenting cock barreling into the back of his throat.

  Then, it was over, and he was working his throat muscles as best he could to swallow the cum Pat had granted him. He managed every drop, not a bit of it escaping. Pat was in front of him, pulling him close to kiss him tenderly. “Such a good boy. Jesus, Ian, you did so well.”

  He collapsed in those strong arms, laughing in the hoarsest way he could imagine hearing from himself. Pat kissed his hair, rubbing a strong, steady hand over his back and kept praising him.

  Ian knew he could die that minute and everything in his life would have been worth it.

  “Now, baby, when you are finished catching your breath, and when you can move again, you set your mind fully on your theori
es, get them straight in your mind and tell Javi and me. If they’re wrong, then it’s fine, and there is no damage done.”

  So tired, he was, like he couldn’t find the strength to think at all, but then, he did. His mind stopped spinning for the first time in his life and led him in a straight line.

  “I…” he started, then coughed, his throat raw. It felt bruised, and he wouldn’t doubt it was. “I think…I think my father and James Kent are lovers. If not that, then at least close friends. They ignored many of the others there, but they were never far from one another. I think my father knew about Cameron, and together they devised a way to save him.”

  “You think they faked his death like we were thinking of doing for you.”

  “Yeah. That’s exactly what I think, and the more I think about it, the more convinced I feel, Pat. That painting. The few times I was in the study in my life, when he wasn’t pouring over papers or on his computer, Pat, he was staring at that painting. He loved it.”

  With Pat’s cum still coating his tongue, he licked his lips then kissed Pat hard. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” Pat went to the door and yelled for Javi, who came back in smiling. “Javi, how the hell do we find out if the Cameron Kent in the grave is the same one that was born and grew up as Cameron Kent?”

  “You really think they switched him?”

  Javi was looking to him, and Ian was less confident than a moment before, but confirmed, “It’s a theory.”

  “It’s Ian’s theory, and it’s pretty fucking good. If it’s true, and if Ian’s father is going against the Grail at all, we could use that.”

  “Use it how, Papi?”

  Ian answered for Pat. “Either he’s totally against the Grail all together, and we can join up with him, see how to take them down, or we blackmail him with the information that he and Kent are lovers and faked the sacrifice. If that was all they did, it would be enough for the Grail to kill them both without blinking. Their sacrifice is important, and they see it like loyalty to the Grail above all else, including your own kids. Without that, you aren’t important.”

  Scoffing, Javi asked them both, “And what if it’s neither, geniuses? We could rile two big time members for nothing.”

  “Ian’s not going to confront them directly, Javi. We’re going to make sure first. Now, find out where Cameron Kent is buried and everything you can find on him, including dental records, DNA, anything. I know that’s hard to get with HIPAA laws…”

  Ian watched the two, and he had a feeling Pat was putting up roadblocks to dare Javi to cross them. Sure enough, Javi pulled out his phone and spat, “Fuck you, man, hippo laws and shit. Fuck you.”

  Pat whispered to him, “We’ll have everything we need before nightfall.”

  Javi threw the keys at them an hour after he started to make his phone calls. He had a spot fixed for himself in the basement, so Pat drove Ian home to the apartment. They walked up the stairs together, hand in hand and before they opened the door to go inside, Pat pushed Ian against it, kissing him slowly. “You’ll build up your confidence, Ian. Don’t second guess yourself so much. I guarantee you know more than you’re giving yourself credit for a lot of the time, babe.”

  Ian placed his hands on Pat’s chest, the heart thrumming there, under all those muscles and bone. It echoed through him. “From the time I was first in school, I knew I’d never have to try hard, but I eventually wanted to. It was too late, though, no one thought I could do it on my own, and they made me think the same. Then Denny told me different, and now you. I guess I’m just afraid now to prove the two of you wrong.”

  “Baby, wrong, right, rich, poor, I swear I’ll love you the same, count on you the same and trust you the same. I’m in love with you, and it’s not for how handsome you are, or how great you are in bed. I love you because I see you, Ian. I see all those places inside where you think are hidden or lies. You’re a good person, with a beautiful heart. Trust that, if nothing else.”

  “I trust you. Is that enough for now?”

  Laughing, he said, “I guess it’ll have to be.”

  Inside the apartment, Denny and Cara were on the couch, cuddled up and watching a movie. Denny smiled at Ian and threw him a letter. “Congrats, my friend.”

  The envelope wasn’t open, but it was from the college. “What’s this?”

  “If I’m not mistaken, it’s to tell you that you’re getting your Masters.”

  Ian sat hard on the couch, nearly sitting on Cara. His hands were shaking so badly, he didn’t think he could open it, so he tried to hand it to Pat, who held up his hands and told him, “Not a chance. You worked for that; you open it.”

  Pat wasn’t going to be an out, and by that reasoning, Denny would tell him the same thing. He slipped his finger under the flap and got it open, taking out the paper.

  “Read it,” Pat ordered.

  He unfolded the paper, then closed his eyes, thinking on all the tests he’d taken, how distracted he’d been, and he knew it would say he failed miserably.

  When he finally did read it, however, he was completely surprised. “I fucking passed!”

  Pat pulled him up and held him off the floor as he spun him around, kissing over his face and Denny was whooping it up, dancing with Cara.

  “Celebration time,” Denny announced. This weekend, we’re having a party. We deserve it, after…after such a long damn semester.”

  Ian wouldn’t disappoint him, though he wasn’t exactly up for a party. “A small one. None of the ones where fifty people show up uninvited and we shrug it off again.”

  “Deal, roommate of mine. You got yourself a deal.”

  After more congratulations were given him, he was pulled into the bedroom and Pat held him while giving him some very good news. “You’re getting to come tonight, baby. Hell yes.”

  “I’d go through another semester for that. Glad I don’t have to.”

  Twenty-Four

  Ian was on the phone most of the morning, making plans, calling his father with the good news and asking for a meeting between the two of them.

  He got his graduation details in order and even managed the surprise for Pat that he’d wanted to give him for over a month.

  His father’s secretary called back with a time for them to meet, in two days, when his father returned from a business trip. He spoke to Javi and Pat about it during their shooting practice that afternoon.

  “He’ll deny it, probably. Then what? You have no proof of anything yet,” Javi reasoned. “Prue is getting some info coming in slowly, but even she said this was risky. She’s cautious, sure, but the Grail gives her the creeps.”

  “Did you give her all the addresses of the places they’ve taken Ian, the names of those involved?”

  Javi glared at Pat and said sarcastically, “Ya think? Why the hell do you think she’s creeped out? Some rich mother fuckers, Pat, with friends in high places. She said she asked a few of her very secret CIA connections about them, and they warned her point blank to lay off the search and walk away from the entire thing.”

  “Is she?”

  His first smile of the conversation told Ian and Pat that she hadn’t.

  “Tough bitch. If I was straight, man, she’s the first woman I’d marry.”

  Ian laughed and asked, “The first?”

  “Fuck yeah! You think I’d be any different straight than I am now? Commitment is great a little at a time.”

  “I can vouch for that,” Pat quipped. “Okay, well, so should Ian not say anything yet?”

  Ian tried to interrupt, but they ignored him as they argued.

  “I don’t know, man, if he shows his hand too soon, we could be fucked.”

  “If he doesn’t show it at all, we could be fucked.”

  “Papi, we gotta have proof, man! Let Prue do her work.”

  “Not if we don’t need her! Why put someone else in danger if it’s not needed?”

  Again, Ian tried to speak, but they spoke right over him.

&
nbsp; “Javi, standing still is not an option any longer. We’ve got to move on this or fake his death. Are you looking into that at all?”

  “Give me more to do, Pat! Please! I don’t have enough on my plate right now!”

  “Stop,” Ian screamed, making them both spin to him and stare incredulously. “Shit! You two bicker like you’re the married ones and not Javi and his girlie.”

  Javi flipped him off, but Pat chuckled, pushing Javi playfully. “Sorry, baby. What did you want to say?”

  Exasperated, Ian set the gun on the hood of Javi’s old car and explained, “I think I know how to approach this without giving anything away that we know too much. I’ll go gently. I won’t let on how much we suspect. I won’t give him a reason to ask for proof.”

  “How, babe?”

  “Talking. Talking to the man. That’s how. I’ll know when I see him. Please, you guys, I’ve trusted you, so trust me.”

  Pat looked to Javi and said, “He’s got a point. I trust him.”

  “Yeah, me too, I guess. He’s alright for a rich white boy.”

  “Assholes,” Ian laughed.

  He was so excited for the morning that he could barely sleep after he and Pat made love. That time, it was slow and easy, Pat touching him all over, kissing him, loving him.

  When his alarm sounded, he rolled over to see if Pat heard it, and sure enough, his eyes were fluttering. “Why…alarm?”

  “I had to call one of my professors this morning to arrange my graduation tickets. If I don’t get more than two, one of my parents are going to be upset they’re losing their ticket to you.”

  “Mmmkay,” he mumbled, rolling onto his side and instantly sleeping again.

  He was glad he had thought of that the night before and didn’t have to lie to him. Well, it wasn’t all a lie. He was sure to get more than two tickets, but he did have to call to arrange for them.