by Onley James
Cal startled as the bathroom door opened, hinges screeching like in a horror movie. His brows shot up when he saw who stood there. Bastian. They both froze, staring awkwardly at each other. Cal broke off his gaze as Bastian moved to the urinal. Cal didn’t leave, just stood there, pretending to wash his hands again. He hated this. Bastian was his only friend. Had been his friend for his entire high school career. He didn’t want to leave for college barely speaking to his only friend, but he also didn’t want Bastian losing his shot at his athletic scholarship.
“Hey,” Bastian said quietly, joining him at the sinks.
“Hey. How’s it going?” Cal asked, surprised Bastian was initiating the conversation.
Bastian grinned. “Awesome. I got my scholarship to Duke. Gonna play lacrosse there.”
Cal turned off the sink, drying his hands. “That’s great, man,” Cal said, meaning it.
Bastian leaned against the wall, hands stuffed in his pockets. “What about you? Heard back from anybody?”
“Yeah, this morning. I got my full ride to Harvard,” Cal said, face flushing as he grinned.
Bastian smiled back. “That’s awesome. I’m not surprised. You have the highest grades in the school.”
“And the highest SATs,” Cal reminded him with a smirk.
“Yeah, yeah, we get it. Such a big brain. We’re all intimidated.”
Cal laughed, feeling for just a few moments like he used to, back when he was just one of the guys on the lacrosse team and they used to call him Einstein. But those days were long gone. Three years of great memories erased by months of hateful ones. “A few more weeks and we’ll be out of here for good. I can’t fucking wait.”
“What about you and Daddy? Has that finally crashed and burned?” Bastian asked. “‘Cause Hillary says he hasn’t hit her up in a hot minute, and she’s a little pissed about it. You stole her best client.”
Cal spun around, staring at the stalls. All were open but the one at the very end, but Cal didn’t see any feet. He relaxed, snagging his backpack from the floor. “No, we haven’t crashed and burned. We’re good. At least, I think we are. I mean, I’m living there, but I don’t know what’s going to happen after…”
“After…” Bastian prompted.
Cal shrugged. “After I leave for school.”
Bastian stared at him. “You’re living with him? Wait, for real? Holy shit, bro. Did you like…fall for your john? That’s, like, Sex Worker 101. You suck at this. Good thing you got that full-ride. You literally have, like, no survival skills.”
Cal shook his head. “It’s not like that. He loves me too.”
“Love? You guys are throwing around the word love?” Bastian stage whispered. “He’s old enough to be your dad. Like, literally.”
Cal shrugged. “I don’t care. He’s hot and sweet and amazing, and we just understand each other.”
Bastian shook his head. “Yeah, that’s great now while he’s all sexy and George Clooney hot, but what about when you’re forty and he’s collecting retirement?”
Cal thought about it, waiting for some kind of revulsion to set in, but he just smiled. “I don’t care. He’ll still be sexy to me. Even if he’s drooling on himself and I have to push him around in a wheelchair. I don’t care. I love him.”
Bastian cringed in horror but then shrugged. “That’s fucking insane, man. But whatever. If you’re good, I’m happy for you, I guess.”
Cal shook his head. “You just don’t understand.”
Bastian gave a dramatic sigh. “Look, I’m not trying to ruin your vibe or whatever, but I just think maybe this has more to do with your dad going to jail than you actually being in love with an old guy you call Daddy. Like, everybody who’s been with him has talked about how intense he is and, like, how it kind of fucks with your head. I just don’t want him tricking you into thinking you have to be with him to survive. You got your scholarship. You’re free.”
“Am I? My classes start in August. What should I do for the summer? I got kicked out of my last place, remember? I was homeless and living on the streets. I almost died. Or did you forget that?” Cal asked, anger and hurt bubbling up from deep within.
Bastian’s head went back, shock evident. “I-I’m really sorry. I felt so fucking awful about that. My mom cried for days after she found out you were in the hospital. You know we didn’t want to do that. This school is fucking awful. I can’t wait until we’re both far from here.”
Cal deflated, his bitterness dissolving as quickly as it appeared. “Yeah, I know. Sorry. You just really don’t get it. He promised to pay for me even if I never saw him again. He loves me, and I love him. It’s not a fling. He’s it for me.”
Bastian shook his head, hands flailing. “You’re nineteen. That’s crazy.”
Cal didn’t understand why it was so crazy. “People marry their high school boyfriends and live happily ever after.”
“When he was in high school, you weren’t even a sperm in your dad’s balls yet.”
They both stared at each other for a long minute before erupting in laughter.
“Can you never talk about my dad's balls again, please?” Cal begged.
Bastian shoved him. “I make no promises.”
Gideon couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt nervous about anything in the last several years, but he had no clue how to deal with coming face to face with people he hadn’t seen in over two decades, people he’d walked away from all on the say so of one man. People who’d had his back since middle school when he’d come out as gay in a town full of rednecks and blue collar guys who thrived in a toxically masculine culture.
He’d stood in front of his closet trying to figure out how to dress like ‘he didn’t have a stick up his ass’ as Des had requested. Callum had laid on the bed in his jeans and hoodie, making suggestions from the bed. Gideon finally settled on jeans and a black v-neck t-shirt with an open gray cardigan and his brown boots. He’d skipped his contacts and worn his glasses and had even contemplated Ubering to the venue so he could leave the car at home. He didn’t want to seem like he was bragging about his status or wealth.
“Doesn’t Des drive a Mercedes?” Cal asked from where he now sat perched on the bathroom sink, pushing his fingers through Gideon’s hair to shape it into some semblance of a style.
“Yeah,” Gideon conceded, hating how awkward and out of his element he felt.
Cal wrapped his legs around Gideon’s hips, pulling him closer. “You’re nervous over nothing. These guys are your friends, right?”
“Were,” Gideon said. “They were my friends before I ditched them for a rich guy who told me they were no good for me and that they distracted me from my studies.”
“They aren’t going to be thinking about that. They’ll just be happy to see you. Now, can we go? This is the first time we’ve ever gotten to go out in public together.”
Gideon dropped a kiss on Cal’s forehead. “Okay, let’s go.”
They snapped Alexa’s leash on her collar and took her with them as far as the front desk. She didn’t do well with being left alone at night, so Frederick, the night desk clerk, kept her with him at his desk. Gideon paid him for his trouble, but Frederick said he would have done it for free. He said it was too quiet at night.
Once on the road, Cal laced his fingers through Gideon’s but remained quiet, playing on his phone one-handed, while Gideon quietly chastised himself for acting like a child instead of the forty-three year old adult that he was. It took forty-five minutes to get to Bru’s Room, but it seemed like Gideon blinked and they were pulling onto the stretch of gravel that was their parking lot.
They stamped Cal’s hand at the door, indicating he wasn’t old enough to drink, and gave Gideon a long look when Cal took his hand without thought, head on a swivel as he took in the long bar that lined the wall and the numerous tables between the bar and the stage where Des stood at the mic, a guitar in his hand, belting out a Bon Jovi song.
He grinned when he saw Gideon,
pointing to a table at the front. It wasn’t empty. Two women a bit younger than Gideon sat at the large eight top table. Gideon dragged Cal through the crowded and overflowing tables towards the two women. Though they were strangers, they waved excitedly when they saw Gideon and Cal, gesturing to the empty seats. Gideon left an empty seat between him and the pretty blonde woman because there was a half-filled glass on the table.
The woman leaned over, practically screaming as she said, “I’m Pam, JD’s wife, and that’s Christy, Dave’s girlfriend. You’re Leo, right?”
He hadn’t been Leo in so long, but the guys didn’t know that. “Yeah, this is Callum.”
She reached out her hand and squeezed Cal’s. “Nice to meet you, honey.”
Cal smiled, waving. Before anybody could say anything else, a heavily pregnant girl with long dark hair and a deep tan waddled across the room to collapse back into the empty seat between Gideon and Pam. “I cannot wait to evict this kid,” she said, clearly short of breath. She glanced in their direction and gave a big smile. “Leo!”
Leo blinked. “Melody? Holy shit.” Gideon gave the girl an awkward hug. “I haven’t seen you since you and JD got engaged…” He trailed off. “Wait.” He looked at Pam then back at Melody. “Did you and JD get a divorce?”
“No, we just picked up another wife,” she said, like she was telling him she’d popped over to the corner store to pick up eggs or a gallon of milk.
“Oh,” Gideon managed. “That’s… That’s great.”
Cal barked out a laugh. “You okay over there?”
Gideon pinched him under the table, but Pam and Melody were laughing. “Yeah, we get that reaction a lot. Especially now,” Pam said, rubbing Melody’s big belly. “But the three of us just work better together.”
“Is this your first?” Gideon asked Melody.
“Hah,” Melody said, “I wish. This little brat will be baby four for me, baby seven for us.” She pointed between her and Pam.
“Are you guys trying to create your own soccer team?” Gideon asked.
“JD wants us to be the next Partridge Family.” She laughed.
Gideon looked up at JD who was currently slamming out a beat on the drums. His long brown hair was now close cropped on the sides and long at the top, flopping into his eyes with every emphatic gesture. He had a full beard that appeared red in the stage lights and two full sleeves of tattoos. How had Des failed to mention that JD had turned into a baby breeding machine with two wives?
Dave’s girlfriend, Christy, was ignoring their reunion, her eyes on Dave, who was playing bass on the left side of the stage. He hadn’t cut his blond, curly mop of hair but had secured it into a ponytail. He was shirtless, showing off an eighteen pack and a belly full of random tattoos. Time had clearly treated him well. “Does he always play shirtless?” Gideon asked Melody.
She rolled her eyes. “Only since he met Christy. They’re still in that googly-eyed stage where they both only have eyes for each other.” She looked at Cal. “You know, like your boy over there who is staring at you like you’re Mick Jagger.”
Gideon glanced over at Cal and smiled. Cal flushed, like he wasn’t expecting Gideon to catch him looking at him. He captured his hand under the table and leaned back to watch the show. Des and the boys did covers of all kinds of songs from seventies classic rock to boy band songs of the two-thousands. The crowd loved them. It made Gideon weirdly nostalgic. Once upon a time, he’d been the band’s lead. They’d had big dreams of becoming famous, and every time they played the bars, they felt like grunge gods.
“How’s everybody doing tonight?” Des asked the crowd before taking a long slug from the beer he had sitting on the wooden stool beside him. “Everybody having a good time?”
The crowd erupted in excited screams and whistles. Cal laughed, clearly delighted by the crowd's enthusiasm. He seemed to really enjoy the music and just being out in public with Gideon.
“We have a special guest tonight. My best friend in the world has decided to take a break from being an egghead to come back to his roots. Maybe, if you guys scream loud enough, he’ll come up here and sing for us. What do you think?”
Gideon raised a hand as the spotlight hit him in the eyes. His heart slammed in his chest as the crowd lost their minds, screaming, whistling, clapping, and stomping. Cal included, looking so proud and excited that Gideon felt almost high from the adrenaline shooting through his veins. He hadn’t sang in years, not where anybody could hear him anyway, but Des had clearly set him up. If he refused now, the crowd would most definitely turn on him.
Cal clapped when Gideon stood, giving Des the finger as he made his way towards the steps.
“Please welcome to the stage, Leo Gideon.”
Des tipped the microphone towards him. Gideon took it, leaning close. “I’m going to fucking murder you the minute you walk off this stage.”
“Calm down. You know you’ve missed this shit. Besides, your boy is two seconds away from pissing himself with excitement. Do it for him,” Des said, clearly not taking Gideon’s threats seriously.
Gideon let out a breath and snagged Des’s guitar, checking it was in tune as he took a seat on the stool and adjusted the mic. “I’m a little rusty, sorry,” he said with an embarrassed laugh.
He did a few test chords on the guitar, risking a glance at Cal who gazed at him, eyes wide, hands clasped, looking for all the world like he was holding his breath. Here went nothing. He started playing the opening chords to Every Rose Has its Thorn.
He closed his eyes as he sang, ignoring the overwhelming hush that fell over the bar. Only when he was finished did he finally open his eyes, finding Cal in the shadows of the crowd, his eyes filled with tears. Gideon’s heart seized in his chest at the stricken look on the boy’s face. He stood as the crowd erupted in cheers, handing Des his guitar back and giving him a one-armed hug.
Once in his seat, he leaned into Cal’s space, his lips against his ear. “What’s the matter, little bird? What’s with the tears?”
“That was so good. You’re so good.”
“It’s not worth crying over,” he assured.
“It just sucks that you could have been doing this with them for all these years and he didn’t let you. It’s just not fair.”
Cal’s words were a knife through Gideon’s diaphragm. Cal was upset that Grant had stolen this opportunity from Gideon. This boy…his boy was sad for him. With all Cal had lost, he was still thinking of Gideon.
He hooked his arm around Cal’s neck, pulling him close and knocking their heads together. “Don’t think about that. Let’s just enjoy the rest of our night. It’s our first date, remember?”
Cal nodded, smiling, wiping tears from his face. Gideon tried to take his own advice, but it was hard to concentrate on the stage when he wanted to take Cal home and strip him naked and show him just how much he meant to him in the only way Gideon knew how. He glanced at his watch. He’d give it another hour or so, and then Cal was his for the rest of the night.
“Ow,” Cal whimpered, his hands shooting out to keep Gideon from pressing in any farther.
“Put your hands down,” Gideon growled.
Cal lay on his belly, Gideon on top of him, slowly pushing his cock into the boy’s slick hole. Cal made another frightened noise, but it was all for show. They’d done this enough for Gideon to know that Cal got off on Gideon making him take it, by the illusion of forced submission. That was fine by Gideon. Cal’s frightened, innocent little whines went straight to Gideon’s already rock hard cock as he took the boy an inch at a time. Cal’s body fought him, but Gideon pressed on, blanketing his body over Cal, his arms bracketing the boy in place even as he kissed his cheek, his jaw, his ear. When he flexed his hips, sinking himself deeper into Cal’s tight channel, the boy gave another hollow whine.
“Shh, baby. Relax and let Daddy take care of you,” Gideon crooned, “Fuck, you’re always so tight. Daddy’s good boy.”
Cal’s hands tightened into fists as he lay h
elpless, completely at Gideon’s mercy. He craned his head up to look at Gideon, looking so vulnerable in the shadows, like he needed Gideon to protect him, care for him, reassure him. God, he was perfect. He was just the absolute perfect mix of innocent and dirty, madonna and whore. Gideon captured his mouth in a filthy kiss, catching the boy’s hair to yank his head back so he could feed two fingers into his mouth. He moaned, sucking Gideon’s fingers as he fucked them in and out of the boy’s hot, wet mouth.
“That’s it. Suck on Daddy’s fingers like you suck my cock, dirty boy,” Gideon murmured against Cal’s ear, rocking his hips, forcing himself deeper. “So good for me. Daddy’s good little whore, aren’t you?”
Cal nodded, sucking Gideon’s fingers harder as if to prove his claims. He pulled his fingers free, gripping Cal’s chin as he thrust into Cal hard enough to drive his whole body forward. “You like that? You like when Daddy uses this slutty little hole?”
“Yes, Daddy,” Cal whispered, breathing ragged as Gideon fucked him without mercy. “I love it, Daddy.”
Gideon sat back, dragging Cal with him so he was in Gideon’s lap, looking into the mirror. “Yeah, you do. You love Daddy’s big cock in that tight little hole, don’t you? Look at you, look how hard your cock is, how desperate and needy you are for it.”
Cal opened his eyes, mouth slack, gaze hazy, already so gone. Gideon rocked his hips slowly, and Cal gave a confused whine. “Harder, please,” he begged.
Gideon’s fingers dug into Cal’s hip. “You want it hard? You want me deeper?”
Cal’s head fell back on Gideon’s shoulder, his hands gripping Gideon’s thighs, this time, trying to encourage him to get closer. “Please, Daddy. I need it. I want to come.”
Gideon chuckled, holding Cal in place, keeping him from riding Gideon’s cock. “This isn’t about what you want, is it?”
Cal whined, shaking his head as he stared at the two of them in the mirror. “No, Daddy.”
Gideon flexed his hips, pushing himself deeper. “That’s right. This is about what I want, and I want to watch you fuck yourself on my cock. I want you to see what a dirty little whore you are for Daddy.”