In the Life (22 page)

A beautiful picture of Sharon that they had blown up at Kinko’s was placed by the front door by the guest sign in book. Friends and family had been in all day bringing in flowers, cakes, buckets of store bought chicken, as well as home cooked items. With all the food coming in, Shirley made sure every visitor ate or left with some kind of plate for later. She busied herself organizing things, cleaning after guests, and making sure everyone had signed the book.

The twins had stayed by the front door for the most part of the evening. Their duties had been to meet and greet the guests as they came in, many of whom they had not seen in ages. There were countless ‘Well, look how you two have grown’ and ‘my, aren’t you two so handsome’ statements. At one point, they wished that they could each wear a sign around their necks that said their age, college, and marital status. They had become too tired of answering the same five questions over and over again.

Towards the end of the night, Shirley had finally worn herself out. Upon Frank’s insistence, she had gone upstairs to lay down a spell. The men promised to see to the guests out and clean things up afterwards.

The last of the guests leaving was the Saxon family. Their 20 year old daughter, Irina, was definitely interested in the brothers. Even after her parents had made their way to the car, she lingered a bit longer to talk to Braylon. After a quick goodbye and thanks for coming, Braylon closed and locked the front door. They now had an empty house.

Frank sat on the couch drinking out of a Coke can. Both brothers knew that their father had poured a little extra in there after their mother had retired.

“See, that’s the shit I am talking about right there,” Frank said as he gestured towards the front door. “That girl is a pretty young thing, the type that you could settle down with, Braylon. And she was just throwing herself at you. Why won’t you just give up this faggot shit and make me and your mama happy? It’s not too late for you.”

“Why don’t you just shut the hell up, dad,” Brandon responded. He was not in the mood at all.

“Did I ask your fat ass to participate in this conversation?” Frank turned his attention to Brandon. “I would say the same thing to you if everyone didn’t know you were a fairy. I raised you both to be MEN! Not fucking fudge packers! You were supposed to get married, have children, and take care of me and your mother. Not lead this life that will send you both straight to hell.”

“So what does that make you, huh” Braylon had enough of his father’s hypocrisy. How dare this man preach to them about right and wrong after what he had done?

“What does that make me?” Frank asked indignantly. “I am your father!”

“No! You are a child molester, a liar, and a rapist! You took advantage of your two young boys and yet you think you have the right to judge us. If anything you made us who we are!”

“You are delusional, boy!” Frank got off the couch and stood in Braylon’s face. “That devil done got in to you.”

“Is Frank Hayes afraid to face his own demons?” Brandon stepped up and now the man was surrounded by his accusers. “When we were just nine years old, you molested us. You made us do things that no child should do. That no father should ever want to do to his own kids! And now here you are to judge us like we are the sinner?”

“You are sinners! How dare you pin these things on me?” He could feel the heat from both of the boys. This was an uncomfortable position to be in. Braylon’s eyes began to burn holes into him as he spoke.

“We are your baby boys, Frank. Whether we would be gay or straight without your wrong doing, we will never know. Perhaps we were born this way. Or maybe it is indeed your fault. We don’t know. But one thing we do know is that when and if we do have children, we will never and could never subject them to the nasty, filthy things that you did.”

“Oh my Lord!” Shirley cried out from the top of the stairs. She gripped her heart as tears ran down her face. She had heard everything.

Her decent down the stairs was slow. No one made a sound. The men were too shocked to. With one hand still at her chest, she pointed the other straight at her husband. It shook as she tried to find the words to say.

“Shirley…” Frank finally managed to say. She got closer up to him and once in arms reach, she slapped him.

“You!” She wanted to slap him again, but she felt out of control of her own body. All she could do was cry.

Stunned by the slap, Frank tried to compose himself. Once he was able to formulate something to say, Shirley felt the strength to slap him again.

“Get out!” She demanded. “Just get out of my house!”

It took Frank a second to move, but he grabbed his coat and keys without a fight. As soon as the front door closed, Shirley collapsed into the sofa. Her cries sounded more like torturous screams. The teary eyed twins sat down on either sides of her and tried to give her comfort. She grabbed their hands tightly in hers. The emotions the boys felt were not caused by their father or what he had done. They wept because of their mother’s pain. They clutched her tightly as she sobbed.

“I am sorry,” she said incessantly. “I didn’t know! Why didn’t I know? I should have known! My boys! My sweet innocent little boys! Please forgive me. I didn’t know.”

Brandon and Braylon put their heads on their mother’s shoulders. They never loosened their grip on each other. They just cried together. The twins stayed silent. No words could begin to repair the damage done.

Chapter 19

Frank had not shown up to the funeral the next day. It was best that he hadn’t. Braylon and Brandon stayed home with their mom for as long as they could before heading back down south. They didn’t want to leave her, but they had to. They did, however, promise to come back next weekend if they could.

Saying goodbye to their mom was especially hard this time around. Normally, they left knowing that she would be okay and that she would slip into her normal routine of perhaps what some would call blissful ignorance, but, what about now? The truth was out. And even worse, she didn’t have Aunt Sharon to confide in.

As time went by, the boys did fulfill their promise to come up more often. Frank was now completely moved out the house and Shirley had filed for divorce. They worried about her being by herself, but she always put up a brave face around them. She seemed to be doing okay and she even went on a date once. Neither Brandon nor Braylon really wanted to know about their mother’s dating life. It just felt a bit weird. They just wanted her happy.

As for the brothers, they were doing okay as well. After the drama of the trip, they were able to really sit down and talk. Each man voiced how they felt and they dealt with things like they should have done all along.

Braylon and Adrian made it official. They were now a couple. After all the one night stands and meaningless encounters, Braylon finally decided to quit playing the field and settle down. Now, this was not an easy transition, but he had done it without cheating even once. He was happy with what he had with Adrian. It was a new chapter to his life. He was even able to become actual friends with Jerrell. Not close friends, but they were cool nonetheless.

Brandon and Jerrell, however, was a done deal. Brandon did eventually apologize for how everything went down, but he did not desire a renewed relationship. If he was going to ever feel like he was not under his brother’s shadow, he could not do it with his brother’s ex plaything. Besides, he now had the confidence that he could do better and get the man that he envisioned when reading ‘The Secret’.

August 7th was Adrian’s birthday. A small get together was planned for the day before. Braylon and Brandon’s apartment served as party central. Many of the party goers were gay or bisexual so Adrian and Braylon did not hold off on the public displays of affection. It was funny to Brandon to see a softer side of his brother.

The party was winding down when another guest arrived. Brandon opened the door to see a tall, chocolate Adonis standing on the other end. His shoulder length locs were freshly twisted and his smile was Colgate white. Judging from the color of his attire, Brandon guessed that he was one of Adrian’s frat brothers.

Adrian, with Braylon in tow, quickly came up to greet the new guest and to make introductions.

“Todd, you remember my boo Braylon here and this is his brother, Brandon.” Todd and Brandon shook hands while never taking their eyes off of each other.

“I think I have seen you around campus,” Todd said to Brandon with a smile.

“Yeah?”

“I always thought you were cute.” Brandon’s smile got wider. Braylon and Adrian took that as their cue to exit.

“Well, make yourself comfortable, Todd.” Braylon said. “And Brandon…”

“Wassup?”

“Don’t do nothing that I wouldn’t do!” Both guys laughed. Brandon looked back at the young man in front of him and knew that he was going to go for what he wanted.

AIN’T THAT SOME SHIT

Chapter 1

Jackson poured a little more vodka into his cup of pineapple juice. Sure, it was not even eight o'clock yet, but Jackson was already beginning to feel a bit of a buzz. It was his off day and he was going to spend it exactly the way he wanted to.

He took a sip of his cocktail to see if it needed some more Grey Goose. The drink was strong, but good. He took a big gulp as he thought to light a Black & Mild. Jackson did a quick scan of his room to locate the lighter only to find it was lying right next to him on the bed. He had just begun to unwrap the plastic cellophane off the Black when his phone started ringing. It was his roommate, Alonzo.

"So I have this huge favor to ask you," Alonzo said shortly after hello.

"What's good?" Jackson already knew to hold off lighting up. Something told him not to get too comfortable just yet.

"Well, you know I have my little date tonight coming to the apartment, but I really need to get stuff like some candles and maybe some alcohol. You have any?"

"You know I do, but this here is mine, all mine and I ain't sharing." Jackson looked over at his liquor bottle. After having it for two days, it was almost empty.

"Then can you please go to the store for me and pick me up some? Please! I will give you the money when I get there. I promise." Jackson rolled his eyes. He knew that repayment wasn't going to happen.

"Why don't you get it? Where you at?"

"I am downtown right now about to get on the bus headed home, but I am running late. Actually, he might beat me there so can you let him in for me please."

Jackson wanted to ask why Alonzo didn't call and tell his date that he was running late, but he didn't feel like wasting the energy. He knew that it would provoke a fifteen minute speech, during which he would zone out after the first three minutes of hearing Alonzo talk. Instead, he just agreed and hung up the phone.

"Well, I needed to re-up on my vodka anyway." Jackson threw on some shoes and his coat and headed for the door. He knew he wasn't looking his best, but he was only headed for the corner store, a five minute walk at best.

The cold Chicago winds hit Jackson as soon as he made it outside. He zipped up his coat to protect his thin, but muscular frame. It was only going to be a short walk, but Jackson already regretted that he had not grabbed a hat for his shaven head.

His walk was uneventful, except for almost slipping twice on the ice and snow that covered the sidewalks. He walked into the liquor store and was greeted by the sight of the Canadian Club Whiskey poster with Diahann Carroll in a leopard ensemble on the wall. Jackson laughed every time he saw it. Diahann Carroll and whiskey just didn't seem to go together. It was like having Celine Dion promoting Seagram's Gin. Well, maybe they would try and class it up a bit for her and let her at least hold a bottle of one of the flavored gins, raspberry perhaps.

He went to the drink coolers and pulled out three bottles of fruit punch. As he turned to walk to the counter, a familiar face stepped into his path.

Sherrod Thatcher was a 6'2, 195 lb. piece of muscular chocolate goodness. Jackson had always admired two things about this man, well, actually more than two. He loved Sherrod's warm, beautiful smile which showcased his dazzling white teeth and Sherrod's plump, booty. There had been many days when they worked at Bennigan's together that Jackson would just stare at the man's phat ass in his black pants. It was definitely a sight to see.