Protecting David-Alex’s Story 16

I’m always surprised at how much I miss my dads. Their physical presence, literally the warmth of their arms around me ended an ache that I had gotten so used to that I was no longer consciously aware of it.

I mean it’s not like I’m not busy enough what with school and Larry and getting used to the whole idea of setting up our own house. Actually when I let myself think about it, it can be a little terrifying. But there’s also this whole parental approval thing happening in my head, like what if they think that I’m a total fuckup and that I learned nothing from my time with them. I guess that………not often………but every once in a while this image pops into my head of them looking at each other and slowly shaking their heads like they can’t believe that they could have raised a kid that could fuckup so badly.

That’s never happened, just the opposite actually but I really want them to be proud of me to respect me and, of course to love me, so when I went to answer that doorbell the little knot that was in my stomach was not totally unfamiliar to me.

David, Mark and Jack Donovan are three really dynamic men. When they’re together like they were when I answered the door it’s kinda like seeing some sort of smoldering volcanic mass erupting in my direction.

All three of them were laughing and talking and all of three them were carrying boxes of what appeared to be beer wine and food. I’m always a bit staggered by the difference, at least in my mind, between me and grown up men. I mean I do consider myself pretty grownup, at least when I’m alone or with Larry but then when I’m with my dads or with Larry’s dad I like drop into little boy mode in the back of my mind. Maybe that never goes away; maybe when you’re fifty and talk to your dad you still drop into little boy mode.

David’s eyes were the first things that I latched on to. They draw you into his face and sometimes they’re so intense that it’s difficult to get beyond them but this time I looked at his hair, which, for a change, was actually combed instead of flying all over. His hair is very black and his skin fairly light and it makes for a dramatic contrast. Out of all three men the one, at least for me, that was capable of being the most intimidating was David, which considering that he was the shortest and even a lot shorter than me, is weird. And the funny thing is that David almost never comes on strong, he’s really a low key guy but I always have this awareness of a powerful intellect humming like an electric motor behind those eyes.

Just as this onslaught was peaking I felt Larry’s hand on my back and I relaxed. David shoved a case of something into my hands, ruffled my hair and said,

“There’s some very good gin in there and later I’ll teach you how to make a decent Martini.”

Meanwhile Larry’s dad had transferred his case of wine to his other arm and was pulling Larry into him for a hug. The look on Larry’s face was priceless, a combination of bliss and confusion. Probably exactly like mine as Mark set his case of beer onto the floor while he pulled me into a hug. Damn he’s strong!

Mark spoke quietly into my ear. “You okay, Kiddo? This isn’t gonna be too much is it?”

“We’re good, Dad. Bob and Becky have been helping and it’s all under control. I mean I’m buying most of it already cooked so it’s not like it’s a big deal.”

Larry looked like he thought that he was gonna get away until Mark’s other arm grabbed him and pulled him into a three-way hug.

Larry managed to gasp out, “Hi Mr. Chauvet.”

Mark looked at him strangely and smiled. “Would you feel really awkward calling me Mark? Mr. Chauvet feels way too formal.”

Larry grinned and said, “I think I can do that.”

Ten minutes later Mark, Jack and Larry were on the floor of the living room playing with the twins while David sat in a chair with his feet up on an ottoman. Bob and Becky were standing in the doorway from the kitchen watching the romping on the living room floor.

David looked like he was half here and half somewhere else. There was a smile on his face but also that disconnected look that I had come to know meant that he was working on some other problem too. I walked over and kneeled down next to his chair and rested my arms on the arm of the chair.

“What’s up, Dad? You look like you’re only half here.”

He gave me a half smile and then reached out and ran his knuckles down my chin.

He sighed. “Mark and I called Emma Block to wish her a happy Thanksgiving. She sounded bad.”

“I know, she didn’t sound good when I talked to her either but then you guys talk to her a lot more than I do.”

David gave me a warm kinda tired smile. “She’s crazy about you. Last time I was going to Washington she had me bring pictures of you when you were little.”

I laughed. “I was a really cute little kid.”

David sighed heavily. “She told me that she’s leaving us her house in Washington.”

It hit me like a punch in the stomach. “Why is she talking like that?” I could feel tears beginning. “That so fucking sucks! I’m calling her back and getting her to drop that shit!”

David hand gripped my arm. “Don’t! What do you think I’ve been doing? Monty was her life, her old friends are mostly gone……………I understand where she’s coming from.”

“She can’t die!” I realized as soon as I said it that I was acting like a ten year old.

David’s voice was forceful. “Alex, she doesn’t want you to know! And I wouldn’t have told you if I thought you’d call her about it so don’t. It would just embarrass her and wouldn’t change anything. I just wanted you to be prepared and now I wish I had kept my mouth shut.”

I wiped my eyes and pulled myself together.

I felt like she was already dead. I felt a deep sense of loss. She was almost like a grandmother to me, the only one that I had or at least that everyone was talking to.
David’s mother was dead and Mark didn’t want to socialize with his parents and didn’t want me to either. He wouldn’t even let me be alone with his dad and always stood there with his hand on my shoulder whenever his dad was around.

I looked at David and said, “I won’t say anything.” I rubbed my forehead with my hand. “I guess that nothing I could say would bring Monty back.”

David smiled at me reassuringly and then asked very quietly, “Whadya think of Bob?”

This is not the kind of question that David ever asks without a reason. I lean forward over the arm of the chair so that I know this is a private conversation.

I say quietly, “He’s a good guy. I mean just knowing him for a day I feel like I’ve known him forever and Becky’s just as nice.”

David said quietly, “He’s an attorney.”

“Yeah he said.”

Then in a shift of gears David reached out and held my hand. “So how are you gonna do on your grades?”

I laughed. “I told Larry this morning you were gonna ask that. Should be all A’s”

“And how are you doing on the money I gave you to invest?”

I smiled cause I was really fucking proud of this. “Eleven percent! I talked to Jamie and Emi and they both said the market was going nowhere so I picked up some solid stuff and wrote covered calls. Wasn’t a whole lot of fun but it sure worked out.”

David nodded and smiled. “Very good. What would you have done if the market had dropped like a rock?”

“Well the money from the calls and dividends would have cushioned things and I took Jamie’s advice and didn’t buy anything that I wouldn’t be happy living with for a while.”

David smiled and said, “Very good. Now take it to the next level.”

“Whadya mean?”

“That’s one of the things you gotta figure out.”

I groaned. “A test? Dad my whole life is a test!”

David squeezed my hand. “What? You’re young and strong. Besides it never stops.”

I saw David eyes brighten and then felt warm hands digging into my shoulders. Mark said, “What are you guys whispering about?”

I leaned back against him while he massaged my shoulders. “My grades, which will be good by the way, and just other stuff………Emma and………stuff.”

I really didn’t want to go through the whole thing about Emma again because I knew that this was kinda throwing me more than I would have thought it would. And besides this was supposed to be a happy day and this pity party not withstanding we had guests who didn’t even know Emma and couldn’t be expected to feel the same way that we did.

I decided to mingle for a while before we started setting the table and wandered over to Bob scooping up a twin as I went. Larry grabbed the other one and followed me over to Bob.

I held the little boy carefully and asked Bob, “So how do you tell em apart?”

He laughed and said, “Actually I’m not sure. I think it’s just a case of……….well almost instinct. I just know that you’re holding Ian and Larry’s holding Sean. But it wouldn’t surprise me if I was wrong. Becky is better at it than I am, she never makes a mistake. I’m thinking of numbering em with a magic marker.”

Becky came over carrying a cracker with a cheese spread on it and said to her husband, “Open.”

Bob opened his mouth and his wife popped the cracker in and smiled. “Just like and old coal burning furnace, just gotta keep tossing stuff in.”

I smiled and Becky and Bob. “So does Jack spoil the twins?”

Becky said, “He’s not too bad. They’re a little young to understand spoiling.”

I kissed the top of Ian’s head. “Well I’m gonna spoil em. How old do they have to be to ride bikes?”

Bob smiled and said, “You’ll be outta school by then, well almost.”

I laughed. “Well, we’ll think of something. I wish they were old enough to drive, we could buy em cars.”

Larry smiled at Becky and said, “Don’t worry, I won’t let him go nuts.”

I looked at Larry. Damn he was handsome! And the gentleness with which he was handling Sean reminded me of the way that he was in bed. I pushed it out of my mind. The last thing that I needed was help in getting hardons.

Becky was doing a beautiful job of setting up the dining room table using table clothes, napkins and silverware that I hadn’t even realized that we had. We had bought two high chairs for the kids because we were hoping that this wasn’t going to be their only visit and we scrounged around and came up with seven adult chairs for the table. Fortunately the table was round and we didn’t have to make any decisions about who would sit at the head of it because there was no head.

I was helping Becky lay out the napkins and silverware and noticed David and Bob sitting on the sofa in the living room and talking, the twins were with them and climbing all over both of them. I was glad to see David and Bob talking. I wanted them to be friends for reasons that I really didn’t understand it just seemed important to me.

I looked into the kitchen and saw Mark, Jack and Larry all leaning against the counter and talking happily. Three alpha males but if that was true what was David? Frankly, ignoring all relationship issues and if any potential struggle between them was to last for more than a day my money would be on David. Not that that would ever happen but what was the point of a take-charge guy if he wasn’t always right and if Larry was an Alpha male what the fuck did that make me?

“Becky, that looks really great! Do you guys have formal dinners a lot? I mean is Bob like always bringing clients home?”

She laughed. “He specializes in international law and he’s just starting so mostly we never see his clients.” She smiled. “And that’s a good thing. He works hard and when he’s home I want him home and thinking about me and the kids not some client some place.” She sighed. “I suppose that at some point in the future it will be unavoidable but for now it’s quiet.”

“Mmmm. David and Mark never entertained at home either. It was always private and peaceful. A lot of times they would entertain in other cities, especially Washington.”

“Did you get to travel with them or did they stick you at home by yourself?”

“It depended on school. But I got to go with them quite a bit. And there were lots of places were either David or Mark would make a point of making sure that I saw them. You know, the major cities or things that they thought were important.”

“So tell me, Alex, how is it living with my brother, is he driving you crazy yet?”

I ducked my head I guess because I was a little embarrassed by the question. “No, actually he’s been pretty good to live with.” I laughed. “Even apart from the whole relationship thing Larry is really good to study with, he really has focus when it comes to stuff like that. And even just the day to day living things like keeping the place clean, he’s been really great.”

“She smiled. “Well, it’s good to know that he’s clean.”

I laughed. “Well, it’s more than that. He’s…………well anyway.”

She smiled and said, “Yeah………he is.”

Suddenly Bob appeared next to me and draped his arm over my shoulder. “She trying to get all the juicy details of your sex life.”

I ducked my head and laughed. “No! I mean we were just talking about traveling and stuff.”

The dining room was separated from the living room and was painted in two shades of taupe and frankly I really didn’t see why they went to as much trouble as they did in decorating the place. Now, however, with the table set with fine china and silverware and the candles lit on the sideboard and subtle lighting coming from recessed fixtures in the ceiling everything seemed to gleam that was supposed to gleam and yet people were cast in a very kind warm light.

The dinner delivered by the restaurant consisted of a 28 pound turkey with bread and sausage stuffing, mashed regular and sweet potatoes, gravy and both pumpkin and pecan pies and of course we supplied the other vegetables.

Becky and I got everything on platters and into bowls. David was recruited to do the turkey carving with Mark kibitzing. We got Jack to open a couple of bottles of wine while Bob and Larry got the twins into their chairs.

The twins were hyper, confused and messy but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. They had the undivided attention of seven adults and made the most of it.

Bob and Becky worked like a well rehearsed drill team, encouraging bites and catching dropped food while keeping up a steady flow of praise. The twins starred up at the ceiling and pointed at the lights while gripping small chunks of turkey in tiny hands.

The table more or less divided itself into three groups the grownup men, which were Jack, Mark and David, the non-grownup men Larry and I and the busy, Bob and Becky and the kids.

The first group talked about war, manufacturing, the dollar versus the euro and lines of credit. The second group, Larry and I talked about how good the meal was and how happy we were that everyone was here. Mostly my mind wandered to Larry’s dick during that conversation. The third group didn’t have time to talk or for that matter probably even think, they were two busy feeding the twins.

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Finally the guys headed back to the hotel, Bob and Becky got the twins settled in bed and Larry and I snuck off to our bedroom and locked the door.

It had been a wonderful Thanksgiving with good food and the best company that anyone could hope for and now, thank God, it was over. When the door closed behind us Larry’s hands started to massage my shoulders as I let my head fall forward.

I muttered. “This foreplay?”

Larry kissed the back of my neck. “Maybe. I thought I’d see how you reacted to the massage.” I groaned because of the great work his hands were doing on my shoulders.

He laughed. “Groaning is a good sign.” I was exhausted, more from the stress of trying to make sure that everything worked out okay than from physical exertion.

Larry stopped massaging and pulled me back against his chest wrapping his arms around me his chin resting on my shoulder.

He said, “You worked your butt off today.”

I laughed. “I saved a little butt for you.”

“In case I got hungry later?”

I laughed again. “Something like that.” Larry making love to me was becoming a familiar thing still exciting but also something that had a comforting quality to it. I guess the comforting part was the foreplay the kissing and touching. His arms had become a safe place for me they were home.