CHAPTER 32: THE PROMISE, THE TALK & THE HOUSE

BRITIN – SUNDAY EVENING

MASTER BEDROOM

JUSTIN

I brush the hair out of his eyes and look adoringly at my husband.  He arches his head back and grabs the headboard tightly.

“So…”  I kiss him softly and deeply as he groans with frustration.  “Do you promise?”

He opens his mouth to say something but pressing the remote silences him.

“No talking or cumming until I say so.  Remember?  Or I will have to start again.”

He nods his head frantically and clamps his mouth shut.  We could’ve used the Toy Room for this but I wanted to catch him off-guard.  I press the remote in a staccato rhythm that has him grunting with each pulse.

I slither down his body, planting kisses as I go.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen his cock this colour but then again I’ve never edged him for this long, either.  Gently, I pull out his butt plug and watch the relief flood his face before he almost screams when I slide it back in.

“So you promise…”  I swallow him down whole and suck for one minute.  “To not…”  I repeat the action.  “Buy any…,” he’s fisting his eyes and heaving breaths, “...thing but a smoker for Portland…”  I lower my mouth but pause.  “And promise not to get anyone else to surprise us with a new property?”  I suck leisurely on my favourite cocksicle.

He’s struggling to keep his legs apart and is thrashing his head from side to side.  “You can speak but don’t come.”

“I-I promise.  P-Please... I p-promise!”

“Good.”  I press twice more and slide up his body.  “You may come.”  I whisper in his ear.

“Oh fuck!”  He yells as his cock explodes and I watch in fascination as his hips jerk and he thrashes on the bed.  Finally he quiets down and the shaking stops.  Gently I remove the butt plug and clean him off.

“Brian, babe, drink this.  Come on.”  I nudge him gently and his eyes flutter open.  Slowly he sits up and drains the glass.  “More?”  I ask and he nods.

“Shower.”  He croaks quietly.

“Sleep for a bit, then we shower.”  I mould myself to his side and in seconds he’s asleep.

Wonder what she did to Faal to get his agreement.  That was my last thought as I succumbed to sleep.

CHARLES & DAVID’S HOUSE – WEDNESDAY EVENING

LOUNGE

CHARLES

“Do you think we should get them to do their homework down here?  It seems awfully quiet up there.”

David sighs.  “I agree and I also think we may need to speak to Mel, Leda, Ben and Steve.”

I head upstairs as quietly as I can and check that I’m not being an overprotective stepdad and no I’m most definitely not!

I head downstairs quickly.  “Yes we do that like tomorrow!”  I hiss and drain my glass of wine.

SAN FRANCISCO PENITENTIARY – THURSDAY AFTERNOON

INTERVIEW ROOM 2

CRAIG TAYLOR

I’m planning to appeal this farcical sentencing so I figure this is my lawyer.  When the door opens, it’s not my lawyer but he looks familiar.

“Schenk.”

“Pardon?”

“I am Tobias Schenk from the IRS. We met briefly before your incarceration…”

“And…”  I snark.

“You owe the IRS $3.7mil in back taxes and of course there is the fine for non-disclosure, which would be $600K so all in all you owe $4.3mil payable within 30 days.”

I feel my stomach hit the ground.  “I don’t have that kind of money available.”  I stammer.

“Yes I had a feeling you would say that.  So we’ve placed a garnishing order on all, and I mean, all the accounts that you hold so, here’s your receipt and balance.  And another thing, putting your home in your daughter’s name was a bad idea because she’s too young, so she’s signed that over to her mother.  Good day Mr Taylor.”

I stare at the closed door in fury.  I look down at the piece of paper he handed me; I have just over a million dollars left. I can start somewhere new with that when I get out of here.

I stand and knock on the door to be let out.  “Where are you going?”  The guard asks.

“Back to my cell.”

“You have another visitor.  Sit down sweetcheeks.”  He eyes me and I grimace at the affectation but sit down to wait.

This time it is my lawyer.  “Where the hell have you been?”  I snarl.  “I want to appeal this bullshit and…”

“You are no longer my client.  My bill is due.  If you want to appeal this then you need to get a court appointed lawyer in San Francisco to help you.”  He cuts me off.

“What?”  I bluster.

“This is the total and it is payable immediately.”

“I’m not paying you squat!”  I spit.

“This is a copy of the garnishing order that has been placed on your accounts and there is the matter of the ‘robbery.’ The insurance company will not be processing your claim.  You will have to pay the new owners for the loss.  This is your receipt.  Good day Mr Taylor.”

After he leaves I wait for a minute, because as they say all good things come in threes but I’m simply taken back to my cell. As the door clangs shut, I wish I could die here.

BROWNSTONE – FRIDAY EVENING

LOUNGE

HUNTER

I keep looking at my ring.  We both do.  “Why did you ask me?”  I take Matt’s hand.

“Because I didn’t want to leave this planet without knowing how it felt for you to be my husband.”

“Have you always been gay?”

“Um.  Well yeah.  What about you, have you ever…I mean with a girl?”

“Once.”  I wait for the outburst.

“Me too.  What did you think?”

I turn off the movie and wriggle back against him as he pulls the blanket over us.  I love spooning on our sofa in our home.

“It was okay I guess.  It felt weird.”  I confess.

“You too.  I just love the grip and the warmth you feel and you don’t get that from girly parts.”

I giggle and turn round to kiss him.  “You know that J and Hank have done it, don’t you?”

“Thought they had.  As long as they are being careful…”

“But she’s only just turned 16…”

“And this is J we are talking about.  She’s smart and sensible and despite the freaking out that is most likely happening at Squirrel House, they know that too.”

SQUIRREL HOUSE

LOUNGE

MEL

Nobody says a word.  Leda is inhaling her wine and Steve looks like he wants to kill Hank.  Of all the people to react like that, I didn’t think it would be him.

“So how…I mean when?”  Ben asks.

“Just after my 16th birthday.”  Jenny replies, her defiance somewhat abating.

“But what about protection?”  Charles is almost hyperventilating.

“We used that and we always use that.”  Hank replies.

“Ooh squickiness!”  Gus shudders.

I have to hide my smirk and not look at Brian.  Gus is here because Jenny said since he’s having sex too, he deserves the talk as well.

“And what about you Gus, are you being sensible?”  Ben asks.

“I’d cut his balls off if he wasn’t.”  Brian growls and that wipes the smirk off Gus’s face.

“Listen.”  Justin looks round to see that he has everyone’s attention.  “These are our kids and they are smart, sensible and we should trust them.  Right?”

Leda nods.  “Let’s not make a bigger deal of this than it needs to be.  It’s just sex and they’re having safe sex.  And after what they’ve been through, they need the release!”

“Momma!”  Gus and Jenny yell.

DEBS & CARL’S – SUNDAY AFTERNOON

LOUNGE

CARL

We’re all crammed into the house, Zee’s brothers are here, and I’m so happy.  I’m currently looking on Google for blessing rules as I don’t want to screw it up.

“Can we have your attention please?”  Matt calls out.

The room goes silent.

“As you know Hunter and I went to New York on Friday for the showing and we bumped into Lindsay.”

“Was she a bitch to you?”  Zeon is immediately on the defensive.

“No. She didn’t have the chance to be but she knows we are married.  So that means that Michael will know.”

“So ZayZay, Faal what are you going to do?”  Zeus asks.

“Nothing.”  Zee replies.

There is a stunned silence.

“What do you mean nothing?!”  Zeus is in full rage. He’s become very close to Hunter.

“Husband beats mom.  But we do get a tap in.”

“And in English that means?”  Blake looks round.

Zee takes a deep breath.  “Hunter and Matt want to handle this themselves and we’ve agreed to let them.  But they have agreed to come to us, the tap, when they need us.”

“Oh that’s why you want me to talk to him!”  Justin gasps and then grins.  “Ooh consider me your Henry Higgins to your Eliza Doolittle.”  He chortles.

“This is going to be a nightmare.”  Hunter grumbles.

“Speaking of nightmares.”  Jen grins.  “The final nail in the Craig Coffin was dealt this week.  It’s official; he’s destitute!  Well in WASP circles, he is.”

“What happens to his house?”  I ask and Jen smirks.

“Since Molly doesn’t want to have anything to do with it, I was going to sell it.  But Debs had a much better idea.”  She pauses for a sip of wine.  “We’re going to give it to Kiki.”

“Why?”  Not that I’m displeased with the idea but it does seem a little out of left field.

“Remember if it wasn’t for Kiki then we would never have known about Craig.  And she mentioned to Debs that she was looking for somewhere to live.  It fulfils two purposes... well three.  One to say thank you.  Two, it will chafe Craig’s ass to no end when he finds out and he will and three, and I can’t believe I’m going to say this of this particular nest, but they absolutely adore Kiki at the country club.  After her talk and having heard what she did for Bernie, they have seen past the cover and read the book.  I can’t believe I’m quoting Kiki!”  She laughs.

“So onto even more pleasant subjects, the wedding!”  Blake is grinning.  “I understand it’s going to have a Kansas theme?”

“Food wise, yes.  Brian and Faal are tasked with getting the smoker and BBQ and that’s all they’re getting.”  Zee chuckles.

“Yeah right.”  Ted scoffs.

“No, honestly, I made a promise to Justin and I never break my promise.”  Brian kisses his hand.

“So did you promise too, Faal?” Ted teases him.

“No.  But I won’t do it because I know she will...”

“Will what?”

“Compact my Spyder.”  He replies calmly.

“She wouldn’t dare!”  Leda snickers.  “You’d most likely divorce her; you love that thing.”

“She would and I wouldn’t.  She’s done it before.”

“I smell a story.  Hang on!”  Zan ambles to the kitchen and gets more wine.  “Proceed.”

Faal looks at Zee who shrugs.  “I had a couple of friends from South Africa who Zee didn’t like and I couldn’t understand why.  Anyway, she tells me that they are always nice as pie to her when I was there but not so much when I wasn’t.  So she asked that if I had to meet up with them that they didn’t come to the house.”

“And you ignored that.”  Zeon snickers.

“Yep.  She was fucking pissed and told me that she would not be disrespected by anyone in her home and that included me.  She said that if I brought them to the house again she would compact my Mercedes Coupe; which my Oupa gave me for my 16th birthday.”

“So you brought them back again and…”  Jenny’s looking hopefully at her Aunt Zee.

“Compacted it.”  Zee replies.

There is a stunned silence.  “B-but his Oupa gave him that.  How could you?”  Steve asks.

“How could he?”  Zee asks.  “I had to follow through and even though I cried with every crunch, it had to be done.”

“Faal how did you feel?”  Steve asks, for some reason he’s taking this badly.

“I was fucking pissed and called my dad and Oupa about it and you know what Oupa said…?”

“You can get another car but can you get another wife?”  Ben suggests.

“How did you know that?”  Faal asks.

“Just a guess.  Steve, think about it.  They disrespected her and by bringing them back to his home against her wishes then he disrespected her.  She is first, not his friends, she is.  If she hadn’t have done it…”

“But you replaced the car?”  Steve questions. Faal shakes his head with a smile.  “Why does that make you happy?”

“Because I realised how brave she is.  The car had great memories for her too but she had to make me realise how far I could go.”

“What happened to your friends?”  Justin asks as he and Brian share some torte.

“Well they encouraged me to leave her saying that she disrespected me and I shouldn’t be pussy whipped by the likes of her.”

“Likes of her.  What the hell is that supposed to mean?”  Jen huffs.

“I never found out.  Haven’t seen them since.”

“How long ago was that? I don’t remember you rowing about that?”  Matt asks.

“You were six or maybe seven.  We’d been married for about three years.”  Zee explains before turning to face Steve.  “Why does it bug you?”

He sighs.  “I just don’t get how you could deliberately hurt him like that I guess.”

“I deliberately hurt and disrespected her.  Besides it’s not as if I wasn’t warned.”  Faal argues.

“You wouldn’t do something like that to me though, would you?”  Steve turns to Ben.

“Absolutely.”  Ben replies firmly.  “Don’t give me a reason to though okay?”

It seems to finally make sense to Steve.  “I won’t.”