and it’s just not a good time. If you don’t want to see Brighton, that’s fine.” He knew it
was mean to use guilt, but Michael hadn’t always been the best father.
“No,” Michael said. “Send them out. I bought a small condo in Hollywood with
the money from the sale of our house in the hills. And I have a guest room already set up
for Brighton. I miss her.”
Dexter shook his head. Though Michael had done a lot to hurt him, the fact that
he’d set up a room for Brighton was nice. “I’ll call you in the middle of the week and
give you the itinerary,” Dexter said. “Brighton is going to be thrilled.”
When he hung up the phone, Lang reached down and grabbed his chest muscles.
He pinched Dexter’s nipples and said, “The man is a complete waste. You should just
ignore him completely. You and Brighton are better off without him.”
Dexter closed his eyes and arched his back. His nipples had always been sensitive.
“I can’t do that. Michael is her father and she loves him. And he’s not all that bad. I
wouldn’t have been with him all those years if he was. Give me some credit.” He yawned
and rubbed his eyes. “Before Michael met the nineteen-year-old, he never cheated and
things were fine. Maybe he had a pre-mid-life crisis. I don’t know.” Captain Lange bent over and kissed his earlobe. “I never thought of it that way.
Maybe he’s just a fool, but not a bad fool.” Then he squeezed Dexter’s nipples harder and
said, “At least we’ll have the entire house to ourselves every night this coming weekend.”
Dexter reached behind the leather office chair and grabbed Lang’s dick. He was
planning to suck him off. “I didn’t think about that. But you’re right. This will be the first
time we’ve ever been alone in the house. This is going to work out fine. Brighton will see
her father, and everyone is happy.”
But when he told Marion the news during breakfast, she didn’t smile. Kellan and
Paige had the camera pointed at Marion’s face when Dexter told her she was going to
California for the weekend. Jesse was still in Los Angeles and he wasn’t returning until
later in the week. And Captain Lang was standing at the end of the center island, not far
from Marion.
When Lang saw Marion frown, he knocked over the salt and pepper grinders and
laughed. No one but Dexter could see him or hear him. It looked as if the grinders fallen
over by themselves. Marion put her hands on her hips and looked at both grinders; Kellan
and Paige looked at each other and shrugged. It wasn’t the first time they’d seen
something strange happen in Keel Cottage. Lang was always doing little things like this
to Marion. He took pleasure in teasing her.
Marion picked the grinders up and said, “Did you see that, Mr. Moore? They just
fell over by themselves, plain as day.” She pointed to Kellan and Paige. “I hope you got
that on camera. There’s something very unusual about this house.”
Kellan and Paige looked at each other and shrugged. They’d become invisible
intruders in the house and they knew Marion’s outburst to them would be edited out of the show. They remained in the background and never offered an opinion about anything.
Sometimes Dexter felt as if he had three ghosts instead of one.
Dexter faked a laugh and waved his arm. “You probably hit it by accident,” he
said, then gave Captain Lang a dirty look and shook his head.
Marion and Brighton were making pancakes that morning. When Brighton heard
she was going out to see her father, she jumped off her chair and ran to hug Dexter.
Marion dropped the wooden spoon into the pancake batter and gave him a long, hard
stare. Then Marion forced a smile for the camera and said, “I’ll start packing on Thursday
morning, Mr. Moore.”
Dexter put his hands into his pockets and frowned. “There will also be a nice
bonus with your check on Friday, too, Marion.” He knew she wasn’t happy about going
back to Hollywood, especially the part about spending the weekend at Michael’s.
Marion looked down at Brighton and smiled. She was petting Cleo, telling him
she was going to visit her father that weekend. Then Marion looked up at Dexter and said,
“Thank you, Mr. Moore. I appreciate it. And after seeing the expression on Brighton’s
face, I think this will be a good trip for her. I’m looking forward to it.”
Dexter sat down at the table to wait for his pancakes. He opened his napkin and
placed it on his lap. “Oh, and Marion,” he said. “I won’t be home for dinner tonight. I’m
going to a small dinner party with Elliot.”
Marion nodded and smiled, pouring pancake batter onto a hot buttered grill. She
never questioned his personal life.
But Captain Lang crossed to the table. He raised his eyebrows and said, “What
kind of dinner party? You didn’t mention it to
me
.” Dexter shrugged and said, “I was invited to Fred and Steve’s house.”
Marion flipped a pancake and stared at him. “Fred and Steve? Aren’t they the
ones who you’re fighting in this battle to save the fundraiser?” She thought he was
talking to her.
Dexter shrugged his shoulders. He smiled at Lang, then looked at Marion and said,
“I ran into Fred yesterday in the market. He invited Elliot and me to dinner, and said he
didn’t want the issue over Memorial Day weekend to become personal. He wants to be
friends.”
At the same time, Captain Lang and Marion both said, “They sound like strange
people to me.”
Dexter blinked. He wasn’t sure where to look. He stared at his lap and said, “I
don’t know. I guess I’ll find out tonight, and I’ll fill you all in tomorrow.”
* * * *
At seven o’clock, Dexter picked up Elliot and they drove to Shank Painter Road
where Fred and Steve lived. Elliot directed him. They had to cross Bradford Street and
Dexter still wasn’t familiar with that part of town yet. In Provincetown, everything
seemed to revolve around Commercial Street. And if you lived on Commercial Street,
you rarely ventured into other parts of town unless there was a specific reason.
As they drove down Shank Painter, the homes resembled classic Cape Cod
cottages with gray shingles and white trim. But when they approached a newer home and
Elliot told him to pull into the driveway and park, Dexter’s jaw dropped. He switched off
the engine and stared wide-eyed at Fred and Steve’s house. In the midst of all the Cape
Cods stood a white stucco tract house with two large concrete lions on the doorstep. It looked like one of those homes you’d see in a cookie-cutter development somewhere in
the New Jersey suburbs. The lawn was lush with green sod, the driveway was paved with
smooth black macadam, and there were all kinds of perfectly trimmed topiaries. The
topiaries that flanked the front door were tall corkscrews. The mailbox at the end of the
driveway was a scaled-down version of the actual house.
Dexter turned to Elliot and said, “This is where they live?”
Elliot shrugged his shoulders. “I know,” he said. “It’s awful. It sticks out like a
pimple on the end of a big nose.”
When they knocked on the front door, Fred answered it and said, “I’m so glad you
could both make it. We
love
you both so much. We really do.” He was wearing acid
washed jeans with pegged legs, a red and white striped T-shirt, and thick red socks. He’d
been in Madonna’s closet again and he’d forgotten to raid the shoe shelf. His hair was
slicked and stiff with product and his eyebrows had been freshly plucked into thin arches.
Elliot poked Dexter in the ribs and said, “We
love
you, too. We really do.”
The entire interior of the house was just as out of place in Provincetown as the
exterior. The formal furniture was brand new and it had all been purchased from a large
department store. The entire house was a conglomerate of well-planned sets. The fabrics
on the upholstered furniture matched the custom drapes. The end tables and coffee tables
matched the dining room furniture. There were new hardwood floors with glossy factory
finishes, and granite countertops in the kitchen with beveled edges.
In a corner of the entrance hall there was a large basket filled with shoes. Fred
smiled and pointed to the basket. “You can take off your shoes and put them in the basket,” he said. “We don’t wear shoes in the house. They scuff the floors and carry
germs into the house.”
Dexter widened his eyes and gave Elliot a look. Then he pulled off his shoes and
dropped them into the basket. If he’d known, he would have worn slippers.
Fred escorted them to the back of the house to a large great room off the kitchen,
where four other shoeless gay men were sitting on matching chairs around a square
coffee table. They were all sitting on the edges of their seats, as if they were terrified to
sit back and squash one of the polyester accent pillows. Steve asked them what they
wanted to drink and Dexter said he wanted a vodka martini. He wasn’t usually a drinker,
but he knew he’d need something strong to get him through the night.
After cocktails, they all went into the formal dining room in their stocking feet
and took their seats. The drinks had set in by then and the party loosened up. The long
Chippendale table was covered with white linen and the starched napkins matched. There
were crystal knife rests, gold plastic charger plates, and crystal wine glasses for either red
or white wine. They served pumpkin ravioli as the first course, and poached salmon as
the main course. Dessert was a light chocolate mousse.
And in spite of the shoe thing, it would have turned out to be a pleasant evening if
Fred hadn’t asked Dexter if he wanted a tour of their home.
Steve had just served coffee and one of the guests was telling a joke. Fred crossed
to where Dexter was sitting and said, “Do you want to see the house?”
Elliot poked him in the ribs again and said, “You have to see the entire house,
Dexter. You don’t want to miss it.” Then Elliot covered his mouth with his napkin. It was
hard to tell whether he was laughing or clearing his throat. Dexter shrugged his shoulders. “Of course I’d like to see the house.” What could
he say? They’d just served him a nice dinner and they seemed like nice guys.
Fred clapped his hands and smiled. “C’mon Steve,” he said. “We’re going to
show Dexter around.”
Steve didn’t say anything. He stopped pouring and put the silver coffeepot down
on the table. He went to the entrance of the dining room and stood there with a huge grin
on his face.
When they were upstairs on the second floor, Fred took him through three well
furnished guest rooms, a home office, and a large media room with black leather theater
chairs. Fred did all the talking and Steve smiled and nodded his head. When they finally
reached the master bedroom, Fred pushed the double doors open and said, “And here’s
our room.” He smiled, put his arm around Steve’s waist, and said, “This is where we have
all our sexy fun. This is where it all happens.”
Dexter smiled. He thought it was nice that a couple who had been together for so
long were still affectionate and sexual. He’d always wanted that with Michael.
But when they crossed into the master bedroom and stood at the foot of the king
sized bed, Dexter felt a hand on his ass. Fred was on his left and Steve was on his right.
Then Dexter felt another hand on press into his crotch.
Dexter looked to the left and Fred smiled. He looked to the right and Steve was
grinning and his eyes were glazed. Fred leaned into Dexter’s neck and licked it, then
cupped Dexter’s balls in his hand and said, “How would you like to have two expert cock
suckers drain that big thick cock of yours dry right now?” His voice became low and dark;
his eyes narrowed and he licked his lips. “We both just
love
you.” Dexter’s eyes bugged and he raised his arms. He stepped back and said, “Look,
guys, I had a really good time tonight. Dinner was great. But I have to get home now. My
daughter waits up for me. I always read her a bedtime story. Don’t get me wrong. You
guys are okay and everything. It’s cool. But I really have to get home.” He smiled, not
wanting to insult them. But he couldn’t wait to get out of that house.
Fred shrugged his shoulders and said, “Well, if you are ever interested in two hot
mouths sucking you off at the same time, let us know. We’ll take real good care of you,
Dexter.” Then he licked his lips again and said, “And I swallow.”
Dexter smiled and started to back out of the room on his heels. “I’ll keep it in
