Short Game

By Rickdog

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Chapter Eight
Oh, Brother....

Shit! These hospital types just love to wake you up way too early in the fuckin' morning! Not only had they rousted me twice in the middle of the night to take my blood pressure and other vital information (ok, ok...also to give me my pain medication, for which I am eternally grateful...), now they were here at Six fucking A.M. to give me a sponge bath. I don't think so ladies! I hate to disappoint ya, but nobody's gonna be scrubbin' down my privates this morning but me!

Not only did I have the piss-hard of the century from all those IV fluids they keep pumping into me, but the only other person on this planet who was gonna 'walk my dog' for me, was a very cute 17 year old Aussie boy. And, I'm sure he doesn't get up this fuckin' early, either!

Ok, maybe I was a just a little grumpy this morning. But, jeez! I chased them out so I could finally take a piss (no easy thing there, since I had to wheel my little portable IV stand with me into the can and back...). I told them I would be happy to bathe myself while I was up (I didn't think they completely got the joke on that one, but then again...).

The next bit of good news for the morning was that Lance's mom had given orders for me to switch pain medication beginning today, to something a little less intense than the morphine. Man, was that shit a smooth ride! I think I'm gonna miss it; but, maybe that was the whole point...Anyway, the problem was the new stuff didn't get conveniently injected into the IV fluid. Noooo, it went right in my butt with a huge fuckin' needle! After successfully fending off the sponge bath, here I was showin' my little white ass to a perky young nurses assistant so she could poke me (she did seem duly impressed by the view, however...). Owww.

Oh ya, and it gets even better. After I got all settled back in bed, my 'breakfast' showed up. Let's see here...today we're having something that closely resembled watery scrambled eggs, a slice of cantaloupe (which I'm allergic to anyway...) a bowl of oatmeal (and not the instant kind I like with tasty flavors, raisins and stuff already mixed in it either; but rather, the kind that they make into wallpaper paste when they can't find anyone stupid enough to eat it...), my choice of hot tea or apple juice, and you guessed it...lime jello! Ok, That's it. I'm gonna have to talk to Lance about smuggling in something for me to eat, here...So, I watched a little Sports Center while I had my jello and hot tea, waiting for Lance or my mom to show up. I figured mom would be in before 7:30, 'cuz that's when she usually leaves for work. But, to my surprise, my Aussie stud muffin walked in the room at 7:05, freshly scrubbed and generally looking like his cool, handsome self. That nurse's assistant sure gave him a good lookin' over as she took my breakfast tray away. Wow. I'd never thought about that before. I'm sure he was just as good looking to the girls as he was to me. I wonder if she saw us holding hands...should I tell her he was taken? Should I even bother to worry about that kinda stuff, I thought to myself?

Lance noticed the concerned expression on my face. "Don't worry, Ricky. I'm not gonna be changin' teams any time soon," he said with a grin, after he gave me a quick 'good morning' kiss.

"You better not!" I laughed. Just then, an annoying little thought crept into the back of my mind, demanding my attention. Hmmm...wait a sec, here..."Uh, Lancer...you've never...uh...I mean, have you...?"

"No, Ricky. I've never even held hands with a girl, let alone kissed one," he said shyly. Then he leaned in real close to me and said quietly, "But don't go and tell her that, ok? I don't wanna ruin her week just yet...it's only just Tuesday, mate," he smiled.

I laughed out loud. Whew. Ok, I can breathe again. I feel much better all of a sudden.

"So, you doin' ok this morning, babe?" he asked. He sat holding my hand, and listened patiently as I told him the long sad story of how my morning had gone so far; laughing when I told him about the sponge bath, and smiling sympathetically when I told him about my big pain in the ass.

"Well, Ricky," he said with a grin, "Maybe I should be the one gettin' worried here. Now that she's had a look at that cute little butt of yours, it may already be too late for me!"

"No, it still belongs to you, babe. Only you." Then, another one of those nagging little thoughts made itself known in the back of my mind. "Uh...but, uh...Lance, you...uh...don't got any serious plans for it, do ya?" I said blushing.

"I think my imagination can handle that, when the time comes," he said with a wink.

We still had a long ways to go with our mutual exploration of sex, and it didn't look like we would be making any major headway for a while, because of my little 'incident.' It did surprise me that a guy Lance's age, as hunky as he was, could still be a virgin. But, he had assured me that I was his first and only in that regard; and I have to admit that made me feel pretty good inside. Still, he seemed to know what he was doing just fine, most of the time. I guess both of us just went with what our instincts told us to do, and it had worked out pretty good, so far. I didn't want to tell Lance quite yet, but I'd had a few thoughts about what it might be like to feel that big snake of his inside me, down there. I really liked the feeling of having him on top of me, making love to me (ok, well; what we had done so far was not exactly making love in that sense, but you know what I mean...). It just seemed to complete the whole picture of us together, in my mind. I made a mental note to myself to do a little research on the 'net to fill in the gaps in my current state of knowledge on that topic. Then, the other half of my brain quickly pointed out to me about the obvious problem of geometry involved in that process, and convinced me that it was perhaps not only a physical impossibility, but quite likely a very painful one, at that. Another corner of my horny little brain jumped in at that moment, and pointed out that it might also be pretty cool to feel what it's like to be inside him, as well. Hmmmm...he does have such an incredibly sexy butt...I was just starting to visualize what that might be like when...

"Earth to Ricky, come in Ricky..." Lance said, trying to get my attention back to the present moment.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Never mind. But, some day I'd love to know where it is you go off to when you do that," he laughed.

As I was giving him the look, the door opened to reveal our mothers both entering the room together. Oh, great...tag-team mothering was also on the menu for this morning.

"Good Morning, Ricky," Karen greeted me. "Everything still attached where it should be, I trust?"

"Ya, I guess so. It feels a little better than yesterday," I answered. "Morning, Mom," I added.

She nodded with a slight smile to both Lance and myself.

"Well, Ricky," Karen began, "now that you are clearly out of danger, let me tell you what the plan is, here. You will probably go home day after tomorrow if all looks well, and rest there until Monday. But, you need to be pretty careful and stay in bed or sitting down. The vascular surgery will take at least a week to completely heal, and we don't want you to spring any leaks before then," she chuckled. "The lacerations will take about the same amount of time to heal. Unfortunately, all that is hiding underneath that nasty cast, because we need to immobilize your arm completely until the re-attached muscle tendons heal substantially; and, it's really important that you don't try and move you wrist or your hand just yet. And, when you leave, you'll get a sling to support your cast over your shoulder. In about a week, we will remove the cast you have now, and put you in a smaller soft-cast after we check your sutures. After about two weeks, we will begin your physical therapy. It will be a long and sometimes painful process, but we have to get your arm back to original, if not better, condition. You got all that?"

"I understand. Thanks," I replied.

"We did change your pain medication today, to something a little less strong." She added.

Lance laughed out loud at that point, and said "Ya mum, Ricky told me that you caused him a real pain in the arse this morning....hahahaha"

"Ricky, did those nasty nurses give you shot in your behind this morning?" Karen chuckled. "Let us know right away if you are in too much pain. You will be on this one as long as you need, even after you go home, ok?"

"But, who's gonna shoot me in the butt when I'm at home?" I asked.

"Well, Ricky," she laughed, "you can take Vicodin orally or intra-muscular...as you say, in your butt. We'll make sure that you're strictly on the oral from now on, ok?" she smiled.

Lance jumped in with a laugh, "He thinks they just wanna check out his cute little bum..."

"Thanks, Karen," I said giving Lance the look again.

As Karen made some notes on her chart, my mom came and sat down beside me with a sack full of stuff. "I think I have everything in here you asked for, son. Let me know if you need anything else, ok? I'll stop in to see how you're doing after work, this evening. Oh, and I haven't seen your brother in a couple days. I haven't had a chance to talk to him about things yet. Maybe when you get home we can all sit down and...uh, talk about it." She gave me a wistful kind of smile.

"Uh, ya Mom. Right..." I rolled my eyes. "I'm sure the whole world knows by now...including him. You know how he is. I'm sure that will be a very short conversation, anyway." She gave me strange look, patted me on the head, and went on her way.

"Lance," Karen asked, "You'd better be going too, if you're not to be late for school."

"No worries, mum," he replied. "I don't have to go in 'till nine today because of the assembly. Bill said I should wait until it's over to come in to class."

"Ok, son. Hope everything goes well for you at school today. See you boys later this afternoon then," she said as she left the room.

"I wish I could be there with you today," I told Lance. "Not that I'm really looking forward to dealing with all that bullshit, but it seems like something we should do together. I feel like you're gonna be taking the heat for both of us. It doesn't seem fair to you," I said sadly.

"Hey now, Ricky...don't you worry about that," he said. "As long as I know you're here and you're doin' alright, I'll be fine. I don't hardly know anyone there, so they're all just strangers to me anyway. And remember, I can take care of myself. But, I don't think anyone is really stupid enough to do anything at school now that Bill has laid down the law, so to speak. I can deal with all the little insults and baloney...actually; sometimes its pretty funny to me to see how insecure and idiotic other people can get, just because they know that I'm in love with another boy. It mean, it is pretty stupid when you think about it..." he smiled.

"I'll be here...ain't goin nowhere, soon. If you need to, you can call me on your cell if you need to talk or something, ok?"

"Don't worry, Ricky. I'll be fine, but thanks. I'll be back here after fifth is over. I'm gonna talk to the coach and tell him I need some time to decide if I still want to play," Lance replied.

"What?!?" I said in surprise. "You mean you don't wanna play after all this? I don't understand, Lancer. I know you're not intimidated by them."

"No, Ricky, it's not that at all. Depending on how the whole school reacts, and the rest of the golf team decide to treat us, I'm not sure if I want to do them the honor of playing for them, yet. I can still play competitive amateur golf without them. Hell, I could even try for the mini-tour if I wanted to," he explained.

"Ok, I see babe. We can talk about it after school. You know I'll be with you, no matter what you decide, right?" I asked.

"Of course, Ricky. We're a team, we'll decide together. Don't forget that, ok?"

It was a long day. I couldn't really sleep much, since I had slept so much the previous day. Daytime TV sucks. I tried to read some of the stuff my mom had brought me, but it was just too hard to concentrate. My mind kept wandering back to Lance. It still made me crazy that I had to just sit here, totally useless, while he had to face all of that alone. I hoped everything was going ok for him at school.

Thankfully, the baseball playoffs start today, and the Angels were on TV against the Yankees in the Bronx. I was just settling in to watch the Halo's kick some pinstriped butt, when Lance came walking in with Mr. Bill and Coach C.

"Hey Ricky, how go, mate?" Lance greeted me.

"Bored stiff, until the game started," I said. "Everything go ok at school?"

"Ya, I reckon so. I think Bill has them too scared to even get close enough to me to say anything. Nobody would even look at me, let alone talk to me. We'll see how they are in a day or so after things get back to normal," Lance replied thoughtfully.

Mr. Bill stepped up to the end of the bed, "How are you feeling, bud? I got everything for your classes this week. I know it will be hard to write, but at least you can do the reading. All your teachers said you were getting straight A's so far, so they didn't think you would have too much trouble keeping up."

"Gee, thanks Mr. Bill. The days will go by so much faster with these," I said, rolling my eyes while gesturing to the foot-tall stack of textbooks he had deposited on the bed-side table.

"Hey, Short game," said Coach C, "I'm real sorry to hear about your arm. This was gonna be your year, buddy. I was really impressed with your play last week, and so were the guys. Listen, some of them are here to see both of you, and I want you guys to hear what they have to say, ok? Bill and I have to go, but we'll see you again soon, sport," he smiled.

I gave Lance a questioning look, and he shrugged back at me. A few seconds after Bill and Coach C walked out, the door opened, and Jimmy & David Johnson walked in, followed by Greg Wilson and his younger brother Brendan. Greg was a very quiet and shy dude, who was returning as a second year varsity player as a senior; his brother Brendan was like a smaller, better looking copy of him, since he was just a sophomore. Nobody really knew too much about them, except that Greg was a very consistent and methodical player, and easy to be around since he never said much. I assume Brendan was moving up from JV to take my place. He was also a really good player-I think he will eventually be even better than his older bro, and very likely play as our number one some day. I could tell by watching him that he had a great natural swing. I knew him a little bit, since we were almost the same age (even though he was a year behind me in school). At least he was more outgoing and a little less of a stiff than his brother. He always seemed like a real nice kid to me. He was also getting seriously cute, as he was maturing. Not that I would ever notice anything like that...

"Dude!" said Jimmy walking to the side of the bed, "We're all glad to hear that you're gonna be ok. You had everyone really worried about you. And, we're all really bummed you can't play with us this year; you totally got the cajones dude. Nobody plays their ass off harder than you, Ricky. We all admire how you bust your butt on the course," he smiled earnestly.

"Thanks, guys," I said wistfully. "So...I'm sure you all know what this is about, by now," I said sadly, looking down at my hands.

David stepped forward, and answered, "Ya, Rick, we do. That's really why we're here. We all want you both to know that we're totally behind you guys all the way. I know that your 'coming out' wasn't really planned, but we totally respect the guts you guys must have to deal with all this. Besides, we gotta stick up for family, dude," he smiled mysteriously.

"Huh?" I said, looking at Lance, and back to David. "I'm sorry, but I don't think we're related, dudes."

"No, Rick...he means family, ya know?" asked Jimmy.

"Ok boys, ya done lost me somewhere," I replied, giving Lance a confused look again. He just shrugged his shoulders.

Greg Wilson spoke up for the first time. "He means that they are gay too, Ricky. Like, you know, the song?...We are fa-mil-eeee," he sang and grooved to the music in his head, letting out an embarrassed smile.

Lance piped up with a laugh, "Shake it there, Greg-o!"

I had to laugh briefly, 'cuz it was just too funny to see the quietest, most straight-laced guy on campus shakin' his booty in my hospital room to a gay pride song. "Wow. So, like, you guys are all gay?" I said in amazement.

"Uh, no," Greg replied quickly, while blushing. "But my older sister is a lesbian, so I'm cool with the whole gay thing, though." His brother Brendan remained quietly in the background, looking down at the floor. He seemed a little less comfortable with the whole conversation. Hmmm.

"Now wait a minute," I said, thinking to myself out loud. "Then, David and Jimmy are gay?" I said looking at them, as they smiled broadly at me and nodded, "So, does that mean you guys are, like, you know, together?" I said in amazement, as everything crystallized in my head.

"Yup," they replied simultaneously, looking at each other with a giggle. Then, they pulled each other into a totally hot kiss, with tongue and everything. Wow.

David paused dramatically to wipe the residue of the kiss off his lips, then looked at Lance, and said, "Also, we want to make sure you don't quit the team, Lance. We really need you this year, and we want you to feel like you're really wanted on the team. Everyone but Brent is cool with it, obviously. I mean, aside from Brent, the whole six-player varsity team is basically right here in this room. It's gonna be hard enough to replace Ricky, and we don't want to lose you too Lance. Coach would really rather not have him on the team, even if he is a decent player. But, there's nothing he can do about it right now. We all just hope Brent does something else stupid, and gets himself kicked off. Not that we want anything to happen to you guys, but you know what we mean."

"And," Greg added, "We all still want you to be a part of the team, Rick. Since you can't play for a while, we asked Coach C how we could keep you involved with the team. He said he thought it would be possible if you wanted to be like our team manager or assistant coach kinda thing. He said he could set it up for you if you like. Would you wanna do that?" he asked.

"Wow, that sounds really cool of you guys," I said. "You know I would be there anyway, to root for the Aussie boy wonder, here. I guess anything that we can do together is ok with me. Whatya think?" I said, looking to Lance.

"I think that would be cool, Ricky. As long as we can be together, it works for me," he smiled.

As the guys all said their goodbyes, and began shuffling out of the room, I saw a slightly embarrassed looking clump of curly strawberry blond hair, as Jeff Carpenter tried to make his way into the room; fighting like an over-matched salmon trying to swim upstream. As he finally made it most of the way inside, he came abruptly face to face with Brendan, who was the last of the group leaving. They stood almost nose-to-nose for a brief instant (well, it would have been anyway, if Brendan wasn't a few inches taller than Jeffy...); both with eyes wide, and totally locked together.

Jeff immediately blushed crimson red, and moved quickly aside while he looked down at the floor.

"Jeffster! C'mere dude, and give me my hug..." I called out to him. Since our little 'come-to-Jesus' meeting yesterday, I felt closer to Jeffy than ever before. Perhaps closer than anyone in my world, except Lance. I kicked myself every time I thought about how much I must have hurt him, being so totally clueless as to how he felt about me, and everything. I realized that he was the most I could ever ask for in a best friend, and I promised to myself that I would make it all up to him. He was gonna be a part of my life from now on, whether he liked it or not, hah!

"So, Jeffy," I asked with a devilish grin, as he finished giving my a very tight hug, "What's with you and Brendan, there? I could see the sparks flying all the way over here, dude!"

"Ricky!" he said, still totally embarrassed. "I just didn't recognize him at first... You know...Uh, I Guess I haven't seen him in a while. He's kinda changed a lot, ya know?" he said, his meaning completely obvious to me. I had just noticed the same thing, moments before. "I don't really know him very well, anyway," he added.

"Ya, well that little snake in your pants says that maybe you wanna know him a little better!" I laughed, observing the outline of his very firm five inches staring me in the face, as I lay in bed.

"Dammit Ricky, just...just fuck off, man. Leave me alone," he pouted, as his shoulders slumped down, and he turned his back to me. He raised his hand to his face to wipe away a tear.

"Jeffy! Get back over here, dude. I'm sorry! I didn't wanna upset you. I think it's totally cool that you have the hots for Brendan. You never know, dude. Ya can't hit if ya don't swing," I said with a grin.

Jeff stubbornly remained standing where he was, refusing to acknowledge me. I looked over at Lance, and nodded towards Jeff. He got out of his chair beside me, and put his arm around Jeff. He gently escorted him over to sit between the two of us on the side of the bed. I sat up, and put my good arm around him, and pulled him towards me as Lance hugged him from the other side.

"Hey," I said softly in his ear, "You know I love you Jeffy. I just want you to be happy too. Ok?" I said, as I kissed his head. "I hope you find somebody to love real soon, because nobody deserves it more than you. You just wait; you'll find him when the time is right. You just have to keep believing that, Jeffy. That's all you havta do. Just keep your eyes open, and keep the faith, ok?"

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, and gave me a grudging smile.

"Thanks, Ricky. I'll try," he said softly.

I sat down on heavily on my bed, feeling a little more tired than I expected. The whole process of getting checked out of the hospital, and getting home had proven to be way more exhausting than I had expected it to be. Plus, all the activity had my arm hurting like hell. As I sat there looking around my room, I began to notice that it felt a little strange to me somehow...like it wasn't really my room anymore. It felt like it belonged to someone else now. It was still familiar to me and all, but just not as comfortable as I remember it. I felt like just a visitor here for some reason. The throbbing pain in my arm soon got my attention once again. "Lancer," I asked, "Can you ask mom for a glass of water and one of my pain pills? I need to lay down for a minute."

"Sure thing, love," he answered, gazing into my eyes and lightly brushing the hair off my forehead, then setting off on his appointed task.

I lay down on my bed, trying to digest why I was feeling like a stranger in my own bedroom. Before I knew it, Lance had returned with my pill and water. After he gave me my medication, he lovingly kissed me on the head, and quietly left the room. I closed my eyes, and lay back to think some more.

I awoke some time later in my darkened bedroom, having heard some voices in the kitchen. I dragged myself out of bed, took a quick piss, and wandered groggily down the hallway. What I heard, as I neared the room, made me stop and listen more carefully.

"...Well fuck you asshole! I can't believe I come home and find my faggot brother's boyfriend just sitting at the kitchen table like he belongs here or somethin'. Who the fuck do you think you are, homo? Just get the fuck outta my house!" Shit! It was Graham's voice I had heard. Even though he was my younger brother, for some reason he had really begun to scare me lately. He was taller and heavier than me (but not Lance...), but that wasn't really the reason. He just seemed so unpredictable, and so full of hate and anger. I could never tell what might piss him off next, or send him totally out of control. I felt like I really didn't know him at all any more. I had no idea what was going through his head most of the time, or why. Actually, it made me feel pretty sad at times. Everyone knew he had gotten the worst out of the whole deal with my dad, but he seemed more and more determined as he got older to push everyone away; and to make sure they shared in his pain and misery, whether they wanted to, or not.

"Listen mate," I heard Lance say, "I got no problems with you. Your mum went to the store for a bit, and I'm just stayin' here to keep an eye out 'till she comes back. Your brother is sleeping in his room, so there's no need to get loud about it, ok?"

"Well, then maybe I should just throw both your faggot asses outta my house!" I heard Graham say loudly. My heart sank as I heard those words. Shit! I knew where this conversation was going, and I felt powerless to stop it. I sank down to my knees in the hallway, leaning my head against the wall in tears. I was hurting so much inside, I just didn't even feel like I could move at that point. I was just sooo tired. Tired of living with this emotional burden my fucking asshole Dad had left on all of us.

"Well Graham," Lance said, "I reckon yer gonna have a bloody hard time doin' that. I have no wish to start something with you, but I'll be happy to finish it for ya if that's your choice. Why don't you be a smart lad and cool off a bit. Nobody's done anything here to harm you. What difference does it make to you if your brother and I are together? If you don't like it, you can just bloody well piss off, mate. It's really none of your business, anyway. And," he said slowly, "I reckon, I wouldn't use that word around myself or your brother, if I were you."

"Oh ya? Well, you're fuckin' dead meat now, faggot," I heard Graham say angrily. After the sound of a brief scuffle, I heard the back door smash open, and then I heard Graham's angry voice cursing up a storm outside. At that point, I just curled up in a ball on the floor of the hallway, grabbing my knees while I cried.

"Ricky, are you ok babe?" I heard Lance ask, as he knelt beside me and stroked my hair. I just looked up at him and cried harder. He helped me up carefully, and led me back to my bed. He lay down beside me, and I felt his arms wrap around me from behind. He stayed there talking to me softly and kissing me on the back of my head until I fell asleep again.

Judging by the light, it appeared to be pretty late when I awoke again the next morning. My bedside clock confirmed it was about 9:30 A.M. I felt totally drained, like I hadn't slept well, even though the pain pills totally knock me out cold. As my mind began to clear, I jumped out of bed in a panic, pulled on a pair of sweats, and ran out into the living room and kitchen to see if I really was home alone, as I had feared. Fuck! I was getting worried at this point. My mom had left me a note on the 'fridge telling me to call her when I woke up, that Lance had called this morning before school to see how I was feeling, that everything I needed should be handy, and that I was to rest in bed or watch TV quietly all day. Shit! Didn't they understand? I was sure he was coming back, and this time I would be here by myself. Not good...Not good at all!

I picked up the phone, and dialed my mom at work. "...But mom, you don't get it! He's gonna come back today while you guys are all gone. What am I gonna do? You know how he can get! What exactly happened with him and Lance last night?"

"Ricky," she replied, "I think you're getting a little carried away, son. Graham may be having a hard time adjusting to things, but I'm sure you guys can work it out like you always have before."

"God dammit mom! You don't have a fuckin' clue!" I shouted as I slammed down the phone. I immediately dialed Lance's cell phone, even though I knew he was at school. I was hoping that I could catch him during passing period, as I paced nervously up and down the hallway with the cordless phone. Shit! All I could do was leave him a message telling him I didn't really want to be home alone right now, and to call me back right away.

I grabbed a donut and a glass of milk from the kitchen, and took it along with the cordless phone into my bedroom and shut the door behind me. My arm hurt like hell, but I was afraid to take a pain pill, because I didn't want to get drowsy again. As I sat on my bed eating my donut, I noticed an old putter I kept in the corner of my room. I picked it up and laid it on the bed beside me. "Come on Lancer," I said to myself out loud, "Call me back...please!" I was getting really scared. I just knew in my heart that Graham was coming back...Probably after he finished sleeping off his hangover, or his high. Sometime late in the morning, I figured.

I was thinking to myself that maybe it would just be better if I left and went somewhere else for a while, when I heard them at the back door.

"Ya see man? His fuckin' faggot boyfriend got all 'Kung Fu' on me last night, and broke the fuckin door, man. Look at it, dude!" I heard Graham laugh. Shit, it sounded like he was still drunk or high. Or both. I picked up the phone to try Lance again, but the phone didn't work. Fuck!

"Hey Ricky fag boy," I heard Graham call out. "We know you're here somewhere...You can put down the phone, dude. I unplugged the base. My friend Tony and I here just wanna talk to you, man. We're both totally horny dude. The chicks wouldn't give us any last night, so we were hopin' you could help us out here, ya know?"

"Just stay the fuck away from me, assholes!" I shouted as I locked my bedroom door, holding my old putter in my left hand. A few seconds later, the bedroom door was kicked open, and the two walked in. As they slowly backed me into the corner, I said tearfully, "Just stay away from me," holding up the club in my left arm. Tony, who appeared to be a pretty big guy (and was even older than me by quite a bit, judging by the skuzzy looking black stubble all over his acne-scarred face...), walked right up to me and grabbed the shaft of the putter as I swung it weakly at him with my left hand.

Tony said, "I ought to shove this thing right up yer ass for swingin' at me, faggot! But, I got a better idea for yer tight little hole, pussy boy," he laughed. "But first, I think you better get down on yer knees, and start suckin' our dicks, fag boy."

I just glared at him silently. No fuckin way, dude!

"No?" he asked, with a wicked smile. "Maybe I can change your mind," he said, as he pulled a gun out of his pocket, and put it roughly against my head. I kneeled down on the floor, obviously having no other choice but to do as he said.

"Dude!" Graham said. "Put that shit away, man. He won't give us any trouble. He's just a little pussy faggot, and he's gonna suck our dicks for us real good. I bet he even sucks cock better than your girlfriend, dude; and she's a cock-sucking legend..." he laughed, as he started taking his pants down. He looked at me on my knees. "Don't worry bro, I got plenty for ya here. I ain't no pencil dick fag boy like you are," he said waving his half hard seven-inch erection in my face.

By that time, Tony had his big fat member in one hand, his gun still held loosely by his side in the other (but, thankfully it wasn't pointed at my head anymore...). "Suck it real good for me Ricky," he said, "If I cum once in yer mouth, I can really last a good long time when I fuck yer ass. I know yer gonna love it. All the girls just love getting fucked by my big salami here," he laughed cruelly.

I knelt in front of the two of them, staring at their dicks waving in front of my face, trying not to puke while crying silently. I looked up at Graham, my eyes asking him how he could do such a thing to me. He just gave me an evil grin. I couldn't believe this was happening to me. It was such a nightmare, it just couldn't be true. It just couldn't.

"Police! Everybody freeze! Now, put down that gun, very slowly..." I heard, as I saw a swarm of dark blue. Three uniformed officers stormed into my room shouting at them to keep their hands on their heads and wrestled them both to the ground, pulling their arms behind them while sticking a knee roughly in their backs. They quickly grabbed Tony's gun laying on the bed, and also ended up pulling a knife out of Graham's pocket. After they had the two handcuffed and dragged out of the room, Lance rushed in and grabbed me into a big hug.

"Oh my god Ricky! Are you ok?" he asked, squeezing me to him tightly.

"Ya," I said, still in shock. "I'm ok now. Just hold me, please," I said, beginning to cry again. "Just hold me, Lancer. I really need you to hold me right now. Please."

"I'm right here Ricky. I'm not going anywhere."

I looked across at Ricky sitting on the couch with a drained expression on his face, already looking bored with this conversation; only about two seconds after it started. "So, Rick," I asked, "How are you feeling about all this stuff that's happened the last few days?" It was Friday afternoon, just one day after his brother and his brother's friend were arrested for aggravated sexual assault against him, and only just a few days since his accident and surgery. God, the poor kid has been through an awful lot. It made my heart ache to think about it.

"Well Mr. Bill," he said somberly, "I had the dream again last night, ya know? I haven't had it for sooo long...and then it had to happen last night. But this time, Graham was there beatin' on me with him. No coincidence I guess, after yesterday. I finally had to sleep on the couch. I don't think I can sleep in that room right now. I'm gonna stay with Lance tonight, I think."

I winced to myself inside, as I heard that. They actually had to move after his dad was arrested, partially because he refused to sleep in his bedroom because of that nightmare; the same one he had again last night. He was only 10 then. He hasn't seen or heard from his Dad since the night he was arrested for beating him, except in his dreams.

"I just don't know how I feel, exactly," he sighed. "Mostly, everything just hurts inside you know? Like inside my heart. And everything feels so different, like my life is totally changed now and I don't even know all of it yet. Like I'm still learning what it's gonna be like now. It's frustrating, because I hate not knowing what my life is...it makes you uncomfortable inside feeling you don't even know what to expect anymore. God, that sounds so weird, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about," he sighed.

"Well," I replied, "I know a lot of things have changed for you in the last few days. Change is very stressful; even good changes Rick. And, I'm sure it takes some time to really get your head around all of it. Just be patient, son. You have a few more days to rest before you go back to the grind. Try and use it well. You have a lot of time here to just sit back and think, and try and understand where you are right now. Try not to worry about things you have no power to change, Rick. Just focus on what's good now, work on what you can change, and where you want to go from here. But, I really think everything is gonna just get better and better for you guys from here on out. One day at a time, like they say, right?"

"Ya. A lot of shit has happened to me this week. But one thing definitely outweighs all of that stuff a hundred times over," he said with a little smile. "I honestly don't know what I would do without him, right now. He's like, totally my anchor right now. He's the only thing in my life that I can hold on to. He's the center of my universe, Mr. Bill. Without him, it feels like everything would just fall apart. I feel a little guilty sometimes, because I need him so much. It doesn't seem, like, totally fair to him or something. But, I just feel sooo lucky to have him. Oh man, where would I be without him right now?" he said, shaking his head, holding back a tear.

"Rick, love is a two-way thing," I reminded him. "You can bet there will come a time when he will need you just as much, and I'm sure you'll be there for him."

"One more thing," I added. "I've talked to your Mom a little more, and I want to make a suggestion to you, Rick. I want you to consider seeing a counselor-you know, a psychologist-to talk about all this some more. I think it would really help you to deal with all that's happened this week, learn how to better understand how you're feeling, and to just get it off your chest, you know?"

"So, you two think I'm so fucked up now, I need to see a shrink?" he said in amazement. "You gotta be fuckin' kidding me man! I thought we were cool, you and me, ya know?" he said with a hurt look on his face.

"Rick," I replied, "That's not meant as an insult to you. We both care about you a lot, and we think it could really help you. Just go one time, and see what you think. I know a guy in town here who specializes in counseling gay youth. I think you might like him. I know I like him," I laughed, "But then, he's my little brother."

"In fact," I added, "He told me that he had an opening Saturday morning, tomorrow, at 10 AM. He's holding it open for you. I really think you should go."

"I dunno. I'll think about it," he said half-heartedly.

I smiled. Secretly, I had no doubts that he would be there. I had already arranged it with Lance, and he had promised to see to it that Ricky would be there.

Shortly after Mr. Bill left-finally-Lance got here to pick me up. I can't believe they all think I need to see a psychologist. Shit! Why don't they just send the assholes who try and beat me, rape me, or just wanna make my life hell to talk to the fuckin' shrink first. That would save everyone a lot of trouble, seems to me.

As soon as he walked in, I wordlessly pulled him into a tight hug, and just held him there for a long, long time, laying my head on his shoulder. "Let's go, babe. I'm really tired. I hardly slept at all last night, even on the couch."

Lance helped me put my stuff in his car, and off we went. Thankfully, my mom had agreed to let me stay with Lance over the weekend. I knew it would be a while before I could ever sleep in that room again, if ever. Ever since I was a baby, I could never sleep anywhere I didn't feel safe. Just another one of my well-developed self defense mechanisms, I guess.

As soon as I left Ricky's house, I called my brother Tom on my cell phone. "Hey, Tommy," I said, when I heard him pick up, "It's me. I just talked to him, and he'll definitely be there at 10. Lance promised me to make sure he got there. You got the tickets?"

"No problem bro. I already told you we had them on order. Timmy agreed to let me use his ticket, since it was for such a good cause. But, he says you owe him lunch somewhere tomorrow where you guys can watch the game on TV and have a few beers, cool?" Tom replied. "Oh, and I talked to Davey, and he said he could give us a couple a minutes before the game, if we get there early enough. I can't wait to see his face. It'll be worth a million bucks, just to see that," he giggled.

After we dumped all my stuff in the corner of Lance's room, I lay down on the bed in exhaustion. At this point, I hadn't slept in about 36 hours. Thankfully, my boyfriend was there to take care of me...I was sure that I'd sleep well tonight!

"Let me help you get comfortable, babe," Lance said, as he helped me get undressed. Well, actually he undressed me. I didn't really help much. He knew I had no immediate plans for anything but a very long sleep. He pulled the covers back on his bed, and I lay face down on just the bottom sheet, naked as the day I was born.

"You just relax, and let me take care of things, Ricky," he said. Soon, I felt his warm, soft hands rubbing up and down my back, across my butt, and along the back of my legs. He continued to do that for a few minutes until I felt his weight shift on the bed, and I could feel him straddling over my legs, sitting on his knees over me. I couldn't feel anything but his bare skin touching mine. Hmmmm...how did he do that? Apparently he had also undressed himself while he was rubbing my back.

Lance leaned forward so that his whole torso covered mine lightly, and I could feel his immense hardness settle into the crack of my butt. He whispered in my ear, "I hope you like this, babe. I kinda learned this last year from my massage therapist, when I pulled a muscle in my back. You just relax and enjoy, Ricky. Fall asleep any time you like. That's the whole idea." He kissed me lightly on my ear and my neck, as he sat up on his knees again. Soon, I felt a warm liquid dribble on my back, and smelled the pungent scent of Eucalyptus. Lance rubbed the massage oil into my skin, as he thoroughly worked all the different muscles in my back and shoulders, draining them of any remaining tension.

"Mmmmmmmm. That's awesome, Lancer," I said, in total ecstasy.

He continued to work methodically down to my lower back, and hip muscles. He moved down to my calves, and again worked upwards methodically to the back of my thighs and my lower butt muscles. I was complete jello in his hands by that point. I had never felt anything more relaxing in my life.

As his hands slowly migrated to the insides of my legs, I unconsciously spread them a little wider for him. As his fingers rose higher and higher towards my butt, I could feel the fire beginning to burn again inside my groin. When his strong hands began to deeply knead both sides of my butt, I could feel my erection lengthening underneath me, pointing out backwards between my legs. His hands caressed closer and closer to my crack, and I could eventually feel them brushing my balls and the tip of my now aching hard-on. By reflex, I widened my legs a little more as I gasped out in pleasure, and raised my butt a little to let my erection snap back forwards into it's normal position.

Lance adjusted his knees, so he was now sitting in between my legs spread behind me. He continued to work up and down from my butt cheeks, to my hairless crack, and down to my balls. Finally, I felt one of his fingers brush against my most private spot, and I shuddered as my butt lifted up, trying unconsciously to continue that brief contact.

"Oh god, Lancer," I whimpered, biting into the bed sheet (and, I don't think I've actually 'whimpered' anything since I was at least two years old....). On his next pass down, again his finger brushed against it harder this time, as his hands slid down under me to stroke the length of my erection and gently squeeze my balls. He continued this for a few agonizingly erotic moments, and then changed his approach slightly. Now, one hand remained under me to continuously stroke my aching dick and occasionally fondle my hanging balls, and the other massaged the area immediately around my hole, teasing it incessantly.

I was feeling such incredible desire at that point; I was barely coherent. "Oh god....please... inside..." I groaned into the bed, hoping he would satisfy the intense need I was feeling.

I felt a little more warm oil drip down the crack of my butt, as his finger collected it and massaged it into the center of my whole universe, at that moment. Gradually, his long finger began to work in and out as it made its way fully inside me, until it felt like it was in up to my eyeballs. At this point I was babbling, whimpering, whining...whatever you want to call it...by now totally incoherently, I'm sure. After Lance's finger brushed that magic spot inside me a few times, I literally screamed out, as I shook violently while shooting all over the bed. I then proceeded to collapse, completely passing out where I lay, unmoving until morning (at least, that's what Lance told me the next day...).

Mmmmmm. I know I slept well that night...better than ever. Better than ever!

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