Chapter 8 – Chapter 8

The Royals' season ended without a playoff birth. Cal finally cut his Jim Morrison hair. He was even more handsome with a proper haircut. It showed off his ears, which I found adorable.

One Sunday morning, out of the blue, Cal announced he was working on a backstory.

"For what?" I asked.

"For you. I'd like us to be able to go out. For that, I need a backstory for you. Who you are. Why you're here."

"That's a tough one. I'm thirty-five years old. It's hard to make a new friend at my age outside of work."

"I know. You almost have to be the new boyfriend of one of Kate's friends, but that seems too elaborate to pull off."

"I wouldn't be comfortable in that deceit anyway."

"I'll figure something out. In the meantime, I thought maybe we could spend the day in bed."

"I like the way you think."

We did just that. Other than to get food and use the bathroom, we were in bed the entire day. There was less sex than I expected. There was talking and napping and, often, just the two of us, lying there and exploring each other. Football was on in the background, but the volume was off.

I looked at him in a detail I had not before. I tried to memorize every aspect of him. I found more scars. I found one on his ear from a dog bite. I found one on the bottom of his foot from a broken bottle.

He returned my interest in his body. He poured over my body. His eyes and then his tongue explored every hidden spot, what my grandmother called the nooks and crannies.

"You're relatively pristine," he said.

"I am. I've had stitches only once. In the palm of my left hand."

My body was aglow by the time he finished. I leaned back against him. He moved his hand to my crotch.

"Someone enjoyed that."

"It was very sensual."

He jacked me off while he chewed on my ear and neck. After I came, he licked my cum from his hand, then held his hand in front of me so I could do the same. I liked the taste of him more than I liked the taste of me.

"Shall I reciprocate?" I asked.

"I don't want to move. I want to hold you just like this. I like the weight of you against me."

I relaxed my neck and let my head rest against his shoulder. He tickled my stomach and chest. I fell asleep. In my sleep, there was no public, no peer pressure, no closet, and no Kate. There was just Cal and me.

When I awoke, the room was as dark as it could be. I could hear Cal in the other room. He was on the telephone. I suspected he was talking to Kate. I stayed in the room. I didn't want to hear the "I love you, too" that rendered my heart. I put my headphones in and listened to one of the CDs Billy Jack's mother had given me after he died.

The light startled me from my thoughts. I pulled off my headphones.

"I knocked," Cal said. "You probably didn't hear me over the music."

"I didn't."

"I'm making dinner."

"Thank you. I'm famished."

"Me, too," he said, moving toward me.

"Is dinner going to burn?"

"No," he answered, pulling his undershirt over his head and pulling his gym shorts off.

"Then make love to me."

He did. I was on my back, he had my legs in the crooks of his arms, and he was sliding in and out of me. I stared into his eyes. He smiled at me and winked. When he was close, he said "hey." I had my eyes closed. I opened them, he said "I love you, Matthias," and he leaned down and kissed me as he came. When he was finished, he pulled out, moved his mouth to me, and brought me the rest of the way home.

"That was quite an appetizer," he said, once he had swallowed my cum.

"Yes, I hear it soon will be added to the menu at Plaza III."

"I'd order it."

"You don't have to. You can have it whenever you want. No charge."