back, and exhaled so hard the stack of papers Mr. Rogers was holding bristled.
“Well, Ricky,” Mr. Rogers said. “You have a fine record. It’s very respectable.” He
closed the briefcase and laced his fingers across the top.
Ricky’s eyebrows went up and he tilted his head. This sounded good.
“But you’re just not Ivy League material, are you?”
For a second, Ricky remained silent. He wanted to think before he spoke. Mr. Rogers was
rejecting him with the classic approach of turning it all around with a question instead of a
statement so Mr. Rogers wouldn’t look like the bad guy. Ricky knew enough to understand this
tactical move and he wasn’t going to let Mr. Rogers get away with iteasily— because he
suddenly realized being rejected by the Ivy League wasn’t the end of the world at all. He did
have an excellent record, he had worked hard all his life, and he still had a future whether he
went to an Ivy League school or not.
So he reached out and grabbed Mr. Rogers’s knee. He squeezed it tightly, moved forward,
and looked into Mr. Rogers’s eyes. He spoke with a low, friendly voice. “You know, Ted, if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past few days it’s that sometimes you just have to say
‘kiss my fucking ass’ and move toward the future without looking back. And that’s exactly what
I plan to do.”
Mr. Rogers’s jaw dropped. “I don’t think I understand.”
Then Chad stepped into the room again and asked, “So what happened?” He was rubbing
his palms together and his eyes darted between Ricky and Mr. Rogers.
Ricky was surprised to see Chad this interested in where he went to school. So he stood
from the settee, lifted his arms in the air, and shook his fists. “Looks like I’m going to a good
local college in New Jersey instead of an Ivy League school in New England.” Then he crossed
the room and kissed Chad on the lips in front of Mr. Rogers, and it wasn’t just a peck on the lips.
Ricky put his arms around his man’s shoulders, stuck his tongue into his man’s mouth, and
sucked his man’s face without caring whether Mr. Rogers liked it or not.
* * * *
After Ricky left Mr. Rogers alone in the library, he went into the garage to sit alone in the
dark, on a stool near his father’s workbench. As far as he was concerned, Ted Rogers could find
his own way out. Ricky just wanted to listen to his thoughts and absorb the magnitude of his visit
with Mr. Rogers, without any distractions. The most amazing part about what had just happened
with Mr. Rogers was Ricky didn’t feel much emotion at all. He wasn’t devastated to the point of
panic. His heart wasn’t racing and his stomach wasn’t thumping the way they usually did when
something bad happened to him. If he felt any emotion, it leaned more toward relief and selfactualization than despair and disappointment. The void he’d anticipated wasn’t there. Instead,
he felt full and rich and blessed to be alive.
When Chad found him there, he frowned and walked over to the work bench. “Your
friends are looking for you, Ricky. What are you doing in here?”
Ricky smiled when he heard Chad speak his name. No one else in the world said his
name the same way Chad did. “I just wanted to have some down time, is all.” His voice
remained low, his legs dangled and his feet swung back and forth. “Is that guy from the Ivy
League school still here?”
Chad nodded. “He’s in the living room, talking to Rocco and Jocko. Last I saw, they were
both trying to get him upstairs with a two-for-one special. You should have seen the look on the
guy’s face when Rocco said he could bench press Jocko in his underwear up to twenty times
without stopping.”
Oh, Lord.
“He’s with Rocco and Jocko?” Ricky asked.
“Rocco and Jocko are very nice guys,” Chad said. “And the guy seems to be enjoying
himself.” He moved forward and caressed Ricky’s face. “Everyone is having a good time, except
you. I feel bad.”
Ricky kissed his palm and smiled. Most guys like Chad would have said they felt badly
instead of bad. But not Chad. He seemed to know better. “I don’t think I’m going to say kiss my
fucking ass anymore. I’m gonna kill Leyland for starting all this.” He almost laughed.
Chad put his arms around him and cradled his head against his warm chest. “It’s all good,
Ricky. Look at the positive. You’ve made a fortune in one night, you’re a hero with all your
friends, you provided a service that was really needed, and you made your pervert neighbor happier than he’s ever been. This is one night that a lot of people are going to remember for the
rest of their lives.” Chad released his head. He turned and started toward the door. “Best of all,
you have a hot boyfriend who is in love with you.”
Ricky looked up. “Are you in love with me?” Before Chad could answer, Leyland
appeared in the doorway and handed him the telephone. “It’s a call for Ricky.”
Chad took the phone and pressed it to his stomach so no one could hear them.
“Well,” Ricky said. He sat up and squared his shoulders. Whoever was on the phone
could wait. “Do you really love me? Are you just playing around with me? Are you with me
because I’m willing to do anything you want in bed?”
“Don’t be an idiot. What do you think?”
“I need to hear you say it.”
Chad moved closer. He leaned forward until his lips were less than in inch from Ricky’s.
His voice went so soft and low Ricky could hardly hear him. “Yes, I’m playing around. Yes, I’m
with you because you rock in bed and will do anything I ask. And yes, most of all, because I love
you more than anything or anyone in the universe.” Then he closed his eyes and kissed Ricky on
the mouth with such a soft touch Ricky’s entire body started to tingle.
As Ricky’s head went back and his legs parted, the phone slipped from Chad’s waist and
Ricky heard his father’s voice blaring from the receiver. Ricky bolted upright and grabbed the
phone from Chad. He straightened his hair and held the phone to his ear. “Hey, how’s it going,
Dad?” he said.
“Who answered the phone?” His father asked.
“Leyland, Dad,” Ricky said.
“I heard noises in the background.” “I just invited a few friends over to play cards, Dad. The weather’s not too bad here.
How’s the weather there?”
Chad reached down and slid his hand down Ricky’s back. When he grabbed the top of
Ricky’s ass, Ricky bolted upright. He covered the phone, controlled a smile, and mouthed, “Stop
doing that. This is my father.” Ricky had a feeling his face was red, and his father wasn’t even in
the room.
“Are you still there?” his father asked. “Ricky? What’s going on?”
“I’m here, Dad. How’s Mom? How’s the trip going?” Smarter to change the subject and
get him onto another track.
“How many others are there? It sounds like a party.”
“Ah well, there’s no party here,” Ricky said. “Only a few friends.” He wasn’t lying. This
was a business deal, an
operation
, not a party.
Chad licked his left earlobe, then pushed his knee between Ricky’s legs and moved it up
and down Ricky’s crotch.
“I don’t remember saying you could have a party, son.”
Before Ricky could reply, his mother took the phone and said, “Honey, this is Mom.
There’s nothing wrong with having a few friends over. I’m sure they are all very lovely boys.
Just use your best judgment and be a dear, okay? We trust you, honey. And no girls in the house,
dear. I feel safer knowing you’re with your pals.”
Ricky smiled. “No girls, Mom.” If she only knew.
Then his mother explained their itinerary once again, and rattled off flight numbers and
what time they were coming home. But while Ricky was supposed to be writing down this
information, he was too busy undoing his zipper and arching his back so Chad could get into his pants. Chad was still licking his ear, and Chad had one hand between Ricky’s legs and he was
working the other down the back of Ricky’s open pants. By the time Ricky’s mother said
goodbye and wished him pleasant dreams, Ricky’s pants were down around his ankles, he was
bent over his father’s work bench, and Chad was preparing to mount him right there in the
garage.
Chapter Seventeen
At two o’clock on Friday morning, Ricky ran into Mr. Rogers at the bottom of the steps
in the front hall. Rocco and Jocko weren’t far behind. Their large feet pounded the treads and
their gigantic hands gripped the banister. Ricky stepped back with his palm to his chest as Rocco
slapped Mr. Rogers on the back and Jocko said, “We’ll be outside waiting for you, Teddy boy,”
with his deep, husky voice.
Mr. Rogers was still carrying his briefcase. But his hair was mussed, his jacket and tie
were over his arm, and his white shirt was open to his waist, exposing a lean chest and well
defined abs. He sent Ricky a secretive glance and pressed his fingers to his lips. He smiled and
said, “I’m taking the boys out for breakfast this morning. Thanks for everything tonight. I’ll see
what I can do about getting you admitted, Ricky.” He winked and said, “Guys like
us
have to
stick together, if you know what I mean, buddy.” Then he winked, shook Ricky’s hand, and
jogged out the front door with his open shirt flying in all directions to catch up with Rocco and
Jocko.
Chad sat in the library wrapping paper bellybands around stacks of cash. Each paper band
was marked
$100
and Ricky couldn’t even see the top of his father’s desk. It was all so
professional and businesslike. When Ricky walked in, Chad looked up and smiled. “We had a
very profitable night. I’ve already paid everyone off and now I’m dividing the profits between us,
Ricky.” He gestured to a chair on the other side of the desk. “Do you want to count it yourself?”
Ricky shook his head no and kissed Chad’s forehead. “I trust you,” he said. Then he went
back into the hallway to close up the house and make sure no one was upstairs lingering. The women yawned as they slogged out the door and down the front walk. One tall
blonde carried her high heels over her shoulder and walked in her stocking feet. A redhead
ripped off her push-up bra and shoved it into a small handbag. When Ricky met up with Leyland
in the kitchen, Leyland yawned, stretched his arms, patted Ricky on the back, and said he was
going home to sleep for the next twenty-four hours. After he left, Ricky went through the house
to turn off all the lights.
When he was certain the house was empty, he went back into the library to see Chad.
Though the house wasn’t in perfect shape, nothing had been damaged, there was no food lying
around because this hadn’t been an actual party, and there weren’t tons of half-filled glasses on
the table tops. He’d already planned to have the extra mattresses removed first thing in the
morning and he’d have plenty of time to give the house a good going over later that day because
of his suspension from school.
Chad was packing stacks of cash into a brown paper bag: his cut of the profits. He
pointed to another bag on the desk and said, “There’s your cut, Ricky. There should be plenty of
money to take care of the car.”
Ricky didn’t open the bag; he trusted him completely. He crossed to the desk and asked,
“Are you tired?” Though Ricky should have been exhausted, it occurred to him he had enough
energy to go out for a long bike ride.
“I’m hungry,” Chad said. “Let’s go to a diner.” Ricky only ordered a bagel with cream cheese and a cup of black coffee. But Chad
ordered a massive grilled Rueben, a side order of French fries, a milkshake, and a wedge of
cheesecake that had to measure three inches at the widest end. While Ricky sat there listening
quietly, Chad talked and ate without the slightest hint of self-consciousness. Ricky knew Chad
had a good appetite, and he also knew Chad liked to talk a lot, but this was the most animated
Ricky had ever seen him. The fact that Ricky wasn’t much of a talker didn’t seem to bother Chad
one way or the other. He just trailed on, talking about how successful the night had been, wiping
his chin and taking huge bites from his sandwich.
When Ricky reached for the check, Chad grabbed his arm and said, “I’ll take this,” with
an authoritative, masculine tone.
Ricky smiled and lifted his arms in surrender. “Be my guest, big shot.”
On the way to the van, Chad ran ahead of Ricky and opened the driver’s door for him. He
bowed halfway and said, “After you.”
Ricky laughed. “What are you up to?”
“I’m not up to anything. I just wanted to be a gentleman and open the door for you.”
