Erastes

Different Points of View

Chapters 26-30

A couple of days after Christmas, Darren came into my cell again, just after we got back from rec.

"Bob, would you do me another favor?" he pleaded, while giving me a very sad look.

Damn! That looked exactly like what Jared used to do when he wanted me to do something for him. My heart skipped a few beats and I got a little sad, but I wanted to see what he needed.

"Are you trying to tell me you're horny again," I teased, while grinning at him.

He nodded, while looking hopeful, but I could also tell he was very anxious and desperate. I didn't want to make him suffer, so I merely smiled and spoke.

"Sure, Darren. I'm happy to help you out," I assured him. "But why don't we wash up first, let the CO make his next round and then I'll help you."

He agreed, so we cleaned up and then continued our normal routine until we saw the CO pass by. Once we were certain he had left the area, I followed Darren to his cell. This time, he took off his jumpsuit and sat on his bunk, clad only in his underwear. This made me slightly nervous, since it would be difficult to explain what we were doing if we got caught, but he didn't seem worried about this fact. Instead, he smiled weakly and lowered his boxer-briefs, thus exposing his marvelous cock for me. Suddenly, my concerns melted into thin air.

He was already semi-erect, so I slowly reached out, grasped it and got ready to take it into my mouth, as he casually leaned back against the wall and got comfortable. After allowing my tongue to briefly play with his spongy helmet, I leaned forward and let my mouth slowly slide down the shaft and then I began to pleasure him orally. Eagerly, I began to take more of his marvelous organ into my mouth and heard Darren sigh. I also felt him completely relax under my ministrations, so I knew he was already enjoying what was being done.

As I began to bob up and down on his engorged member, he began to moan, although barely audibly, and then I felt his hands in my hair. He wasn't trying to guide the action or force me to take more of his rod, but it was merely his way of making contact and letting me know that he approved of and enjoyed my efforts. I think I was finding this nearly as pleasurable as he was and it was obvious that he needed this almost as badly as our previous encounter. He lasted a little longer this time, although it still took only a few minutes before he was unleashing his man-seed into my throat.

When that happened, I didn't try to keep from swallowing it this time, since Darren had informed me this wouldn't bother him. Once he'd finished releasing the final blast of his creamy nectar, he literally collapsed on the bunk and lay as limp as a rag-doll for a couple of minutes. I stood up and sat down at the table across from him, as I waited for him to recuperate.

"Damn, that was wonderful again," he gushed, when he was able to speak. "I've had blowjobs before, but nothing as good as the ones you've given me. You're fantastic! Thanks, man. I really, really appreciate that."

"You're welcome, but get dressed, before the CO comes by on his next tour around the cellblock," I urged.

He smiled and did what I'd asked. Once he was dressed again, he followed up by giving me a tremendous hug. I appreciated this gesture, since I'd never expected him to request a repeat performance or be so appreciative, but it was apparent our relationship had now changed. As far as I was concerned, this change was definitely for the better.

The rest of the week went very well and everything was going smoothly. Not only was I able to write and Darren was enjoying himself and engrossed with his artwork, but we'd also been going out to rec and having a good time on a daily basis. Darren and I would grab a basketball and start shooting, but we even got a few of the others in the group to join us for a game. Even though we wouldn't exactly consider any of these games to be top quality basketball, not even close, they were still fun and we were getting some decent exercise.

As New Year's Eve approached, it reminded us about how long we'd actually been stuck in this place. The amount of time varied for everyone in here, but ironically it had been the same length for Darren and me, since we arrived on the same day. We had met in the reception area, after I'd been sentenced and he had been denied bail, plus we were serving identical one-year sentences, so we'd get out on the same day as well, provided neither of us lost any time off for good behavior. This holiday not only reminded us about how long we'd been in here, but it also helped to point out how much longer we still had to go before we completed our sentences.

On New Year's Eve, Darren asked what I was planning to do after I got out, so I simply told him that I just planned to resume my old life, minus a few of the people in it. He wanted to know what I meant by that statement, because I believe he thought I was insinuating that it wouldn't include him any longer. It seemed as if I had accidentally bruised his feelings by saying this, so I quickly explained that I'd merely meant I was fairly certain there would be people who would no longer want anything more to do with me, due to my conviction, so they would no longer be a part of life. He nodded his head in understanding, and I think I saw him breathe a sigh of relief as well, before he informed me that he was sure the same thing was also going to happen to him.

He then went on to tell me that he was glad I hadn't lost my home and had been able to keep my job, including being able to continue my work while I was trapped in here. He then admitted that he didn't know what he was going to do when he got out, since he'd lost his job and they weren't very easy to come by right now, but he also didn't have a place to live. He confessed that fact had become very apparent when his former friends had been so eager to get his belongings moved out so they could replace him, once he'd been incarcerated. He went on to admit that he knew it was probably due to the fact they couldn't afford to pay the rent without his share, so he expected they had most likely found someone else to take his place.

Darren said he wasn't sure what he was going to do when his sentence ended, but he was hopeful that he might be able to room with someone he knew, possibly even working something out with his former roommates, at least until he found a job and was able to save up some cash. He had no way of knowing for sure if anything would be available at that time, since he hadn't heard from anyone while he'd been in here, and even though he felt his former roommates had betrayed his friendship, he still felt this might be his best possibility. I told him not to despair and something would turn up, although my words of comfort didn't seem to convince him that would happen.

As a special treat for New Year's Eve, we were told that lights out wouldn't be until 12:30 that evening, so that we would have a chance to stay up and welcome in the New Year, along with the rest of the world. It was a nice gesture, I suppose, but it wasn't like we had much to celebrate, except the fact that we'd be getting released some time during the upcoming year. We also concluded the staff would probably allow us to watch one of the nationally televised New Year's celebrations as part of our little treat, but that would only add to the realization of how terrible it was to be in jail. It wouldn't be easy to watch everyone on that miniature screen having such a good time, while we had to deal with the knowledge that it would be a few more months before we'd be able to enjoy even the most rudimentary freedoms, but we would try.

The staff also allowed us an extra opportunity to buy from the inmate store, in case we wanted anything special to celebrate with. I made up my mind to do my part to make this evening more bearable by ordering some chips, pretzels, a pizza and four sodas. I was able to do this because every time he visited, Jack would add money in my inmate account, to make sure I could buy whatever items that might make this time more bearable. After telling Darren what I was planning to do, we decided to try and have as much fun as we could, while making the best of a less than ideal situation. Darren seemed to be looking forward this as well, even though he was slightly depressed that he wasn't able to contribute anything to this little celebration.

Our orders didn't arrive until well after our coffee had been delivered and drunk, somewhere between 10 and 11, when the guard called me to come and get my items off the cart. He then handed me the pizza and a bag containing my other selections, so Darren carried the heavy bag to one of the tables, as I picked up the pizza. We sat everything down, and there was definitely a lot here for just the two of us, but we could eat the leftovers during the week, since most of the stuff, except for the pizza, wouldn't spoil quickly. As soon as I had rummaged through the sack, I grabbed a bag of pretzels and another of chips, and then we each took a bottle of soda, before we sat down to enjoy our feast.

Sure, we'd eaten dinner earlier, but that was like five hours ago, so we were ready to enjoy a little late night snack. Darren and I were sitting at the table nearest the television screen, because we wanted to be able to watch whatever was going on, while we enjoyed our little New Year's celebration. We ate half of the pizza each, had some chips and pretzels, plus we both drank two bottles of soda.

After polishing off these treats, we were both stuffed, as we sat down to watch the revelry on the TV screen. When midnight approached, we watched as the ball in Time Square dropped down to signify the end of the old year and the start of the next. When that happened, Darren moved toward me, gave me a big hug and wished me Happy New Year. I knew he meant this simple gesture sincerely and was expressing his appreciation for everything I'd done to make this slightly more enjoyable. We were both looking forward to the time we'd be getting out, which would occur sometime before mid-year, as long as we each got full credit for our good time, and we were determined to make sure that happened. This gave us some hope for a better year and something to look forward to, so maybe things would work out after all.

We stayed up a little while longer and watched more of the festivities on television, but then lights out was announced shortly thereafter, so it forced us to turn in for the evening. Darren gave me a wave and wished me 'sweet dreams' as he went to his own cell, which touched me deeply. He was a special young man and I was growing very fond of him, so I vowed to continue to do all I could to make his stay here as bearable as possible.

As I lay down on my bunk, I began thinking ahead to tomorrow, because I had some of the college bowl games to look forward to. They would be played over the next couple of days, with the final game deciding the national champion, and since watching the college bowl games has always been one of my favorite activities, I was looking forward to that simple pleasure. I fell asleep thinking these wonderful thought and awoke very refreshed the next morning.

New Year's Day started off quite nicely, as we were served French toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, an English muffin, milk and juice. It was another special breakfast and another holiday treat, to make life slightly more bearable. We then watched the news broadcast on television, which showed how people all over the world had brought in the New Year, and then a movie came on, until the football games began.

Lunch wasn't that great, since it was just soup and a sandwich, with chips, pears, a piece of chocolate cake and milk. We then settled in to watch the games, but Darren wasn't quite as into this as I was, so he brought out his sketchpad and spent most of his time drawing during the game. Later, when he showed me what he had done, I was surprised to see that he had sketched a running back breaking through a hole in the line in one of his pics and a wide receiver hauling down a pass in another. They were both quite good, and when I commented to that effect, he gave me both drawings to keep.

I thought dinner was pretty special, although I had a feeling that most of the other inmates didn't agree with my opinion. That's because we were served ham and cabbage, with a side of boiled potatoes and carrots, a buttermilk biscuit and a slice of apple pie, to go along with the carton of milk. All in all, the day's meals were above average, at least as far as I was concerned, and the entertainment wasn't bad either.

During that day and the next I watched all the college football I could. There were some exciting and heart-stopping games on during this time and I enjoyed myself immensely. Darren drew a couple more pictures for me during this time period, depicting a couple of the key players on the teams I was cheering for. He would study the player when the TV crew showed a close-up or did an interview with him, and then he'd use that image to draw a picture of him in action for me. Seeing the player's face through the cage of his helmet was very lifelike and I thought it was very sweet thing for him to do, so I definitely appreciated his thoughtfulness. Besides, now I had four more pictures to frame and add to the 'Darren's art wall' I was planning to start somewhere in my house.

As the day ended, so did the holidays, and we would now slide back into our normal, boring routine again. We would bide our time until our release date approached, sometime in May, so I hoped the time would pass by quickly in between.

On his next visit, which came a few days later, Jack brought me a calendar for the new year.

"I thought this might come in handy," he said with a wink, as he handed it to me.

Once he'd given me the calendar, he also handed me a couple of other items I'd asked him to pick up from my house, since he had the guards check each of these items out before I was brought down. I thanked him for the gift and for retrieving those extra things for me, before I asked him if he could please find out when my release date was going to be, so I could start my countdown to freedom. He laughed and said he would do that for me and then took the next set of chapters I had completed and left.

Once he was gone, I took the other things he had given me and carried them back to my cell. When I got there, I walked over to where Darren was sitting and handed a couple of those items to him.

"What are these?" he asked, looking confused.

"They're a couple of the books I've written," I responded. "I asked my lawyer to pick them up from my house, so I could let you read them, if you wanted to."

"Of course I want to," Darren commented, while looking at the covers. "Wait! These say they were written by Bob White, not Bob Cox."

I then took a few minutes to explain to him about my penname and the reason I used it. He let out a little chuckle when he realized how the young readers might have had a blast with my surname and the jokes they might have made.

"I'm definitely going to read them," he announced, and then he hesitated briefly. "Did you write another book called Silver Skies a long time ago? I read it when I was younger and really liked it a lot."

"Yes, that was one of mine too," I offered, and he immediately began to light up.

"Damn, that's awesome!" he exclaimed, "but I thought you told me that you'd only started writing recently."

"I did, but only because I wasn't sure how people were going to react to me and I didn't want everyone to know my penname," I confessed. "I was afraid then, and actually still am, that the wrong person could start problems and possibly try to get my publisher to drop me, considering the crime that I've been convicted of."

"Ok, I see," he replied, "and I won't tell anyone else about this."

"Thanks, I appreciate that," I agreed.

For the rest of the day, Darren read one of the books I had just loaned him, while I continued writing. It worked out well and Darren would take time to talk to me about the chapters he had finished, each time we stopped for a meal. He seemed impressed with what he'd finished and enthusiastic to share his impression, but he was also eager to continue, which pleased me as well.

The next day, I was totally surprised when the CO announced that my lawyer had showed up again to see me. I hadn't expected Jack to come back again so soon and suddenly wondered if there might be a problem with the chapters I had just given him or others that I had submitted prior to this. Then again, I was curious if this might have to do with something else, such as a problem with the house, Boo-Boo or even with Sherry and the boys. I must have looked very concerned when I walked in and confronted him.

"Jack, is there a problem?" I wanted to know.

"No problem," he answered, while giving me a sly grin. "I just came back to let you know your release date. It's May fifth or Cinco de Mayo."

I very quickly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you for the information, but you didn't have to come back just to tell me this," I stated. "You could have waited until your next visit to relay this information to me."

"It wasn't a problem and I was glad to do it," Jack assured me. "I wanted you to have this information as soon as possible, because I thought that knowing your release date might make the time pass by more quickly and give you something to look forward too."

I thanked him once more for his thoughtfulness and told him he was right, because he had now given me something even better to occupy my mind. From this moment forward, not only would I be able to focus on meeting my publishing deadlines, but now I could also keep my sights set on my liberation date, or more specifically, the date when I would become a free man again. After he left, I concluded that I'd have to do something special for him one day, to repay him for all of his kindness.

When I got back to my cell, Darren had a worried expression on his face.

"Why did your lawyer want to see you again?" he wondered. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing like that," I responded. "He just came back to give me some information."

"Oh, ok," he stated, releasing a slight sigh of his own. "I just thought something might have happened, since he had just been here, but if that's all that he wanted."

"Yes," I said with a smirk. "He came to tell me our release date is May fifth."

"What do you mean our release date?" Darren wondered.

"I didn't misspeak," I countered. "We entered here on the same day and have the exact same one-year sentence, so we should be getting out on the same date too, as long as neither of us gets into trouble."

"Really? That's when I get out too?" he repeated. "But that's not a year."

"It is when you subtract time off for good behavior," I replied. "So if we don't get into trouble and lose any of our good time, then that's the day we'll get out."

Darren was thrilled, so as we chatted I began to number the days on my calendar. I started on May 4th, labeling that 1, and then began numbering the days backward from that date until I reached today's date. It was sort of like the countdown for a space flight, but I was looking forward to blasting free of this place.

Every morning I'd cross off the previous day, as I eagerly counted the remainder of my sentence down, one long day at a time. Darren was the one who liked this idea the most and became very excited on January 27th, when the countdown dropped under one hundred days left to go. I could see this was going to be more important for him than for me, so I began to look forward to each morning, because I knew he would soon come over to my cell to see how many days we had left. It reminded me of when I was a kid and we'd count down the days until Christmas.

We were both keeping busy, with Darren having plenty to read, as well as his ability to draw, and I was totally wrapped up in my stories. Due to this, time seemed to be flying by now and then near the end of January, our favorite trusty stopped by to chat with us one evening, after he finished delivering the coffee.

"Look, I get out of here in a couple of weeks and I wanted to talk to you guys about something before I was released," he began. "I've been debating this for a while now, but you both seem like really nice guys, so I think you should know about this. There's been a lot of talk going around and some of the other inmates have been trying to find out where you guys got moved to."

"That's not such a big deal," I countered. "They've always talked about us, so I'm not surprised they are curious about what happened after we got moved. Our former cellmates knew we were being taken somewhere else, but we never told them where we were going and I don't think the COs would tell them either."

"That's part of it, but there's a lot more than just that," he admitted. "Some of the other guys in the wing you used to be in have convinced the trusties working there that you guys have been… damn, I don't know how to say this."

He seemed to be struggling, so I thought I'd help him out.

"They think Darren and I are having sex," I stated, while looking at him for confirmation.

He turned toward me and appeared surprised that I already knew.

"They've been saying that about us almost since the very first day," I confessed. "When they initially discovered why I was in here and then saw that Darren was my friend and liked hanging around with me, they immediately added two and two together and came up with five or sex. What more can I say?"

"But I get the impression that some of these guys think if he's doing that with you," he said, while eying Darren, "well… I get the feeling that they want in on the action too."

He stopped and looked at us now, to see if we got the message.

"You mean some of those guys want to fuck me?" Darren nearly screamed.

"I think some of them would try, if they ever got the chance, including a couple of the other trustees," he confessed. "I've heard them talking about it several times and that's why I wanted to let you know before I got out, so you guys could watch each other's back."

"Thanks and we've been doing that all along," I explained. "We were even worried for a while that our old cellmates might try doing something like that."

"I'm sure glad we're in here together and none of those guys can get in here with us," Darren added.

"I am too, so I hope they never move you somewhere else," he added, before we finished.

Darren and I both thanked him for the information and for being so good to us, when he admitted something else.

"Look, I liked you guys right off, because you didn't try to order me around like nearly all of the rest of the inmates did," he confessed. "Even at coffee time, they'd be shouting things like 'get over here and give me some more.' I would have done it for them too, if they'd been nice and just asked, but they acted like they were in charge and expected me to do whatever they told me. You guys never did anything like that and it meant a lot to me."

"We believe in treating others as we want them to treat us," I offered, as an explanation.

"And I really appreciated that and it's why I always gave you more than anyone else," he admitted. "I hope the guy that replaces me does the same thing for you."

"I'm not sure that will happen, but we both appreciate what you did for us," I confirmed. "We're glad your getting out, but we'll definitely miss you."

Once that was settled, the trusty thanked us and left, so Darren and I sat down to talk about what he'd said.

"Damn, I'm glad no one can get in here with us and that you convinced me not to take the trusty job," he admitted. "I would have, if you hadn't pointed those things out to me, because I never would have thought about most of that stuff without you."

"Well, I'm just glad it worked out the way you wanted and you don't regret your decision now."

"No way!" he concurred. "If anything, I'm grateful that you convinced me to turn the job down."

I was glad to hear him say this, because I had been concerned that he would eventually regret his decision and then hold it against me, for talking him out of taking the position.

Our trusty friend treated us great each night after that and would often stop by to chat with us for a while, before he took the cups and pitchers back down to the kitchen. Even though Darren and I were glad that he'd be getting out soon, we also regretted that we'd be losing the only other guy who seemed to be helping us out, not only with the extra food and drink, but also with the information he had given us. It's too bad we wouldn't be able to throw him a party in his honor before he was released, but I would try to think of something special we might be able to do for him.

Unfortunately, that never happened and he got released the day before Valentine's Day. It's not that it's a big holiday in the jail, but he did seem really eager to get out in time to be able to spend it with his wife. We felt good for him and wished him well, so he gave us his name and address and encouraged us to get in touch with him when we got out, especially if there was anything he could do to help us settle back in to civilian life again. We both thought that was a really sweet thing for him to do and thanked him again.

The following day, I was a little bummed out, because I kept thinking about Jared. It was Valentine's Day, so I knew if I had been home today, then I'd be doing something special for and with him. This made me feel horrible, knowing that I was missing out on spending this very special day with Jared, so I began to mope around the cellblock. Darren noticed this and tried to help me out, but there wasn't much he could do.

We met the new trusty later that day, but he didn't go out of his way to do anything special for us, such as the former trusty had done. It looked as if from now on we wouldn't be slipped any extra food or additional coffee, so I figured I'd start ordering a little extra Kool-Aid, in case we needed something more to drink. It was different, but Darren and I were still better off being in our current cellblock, than we had been in the previous one.

Darren asked for my help again, on a couple of other occasions during this time, and I eagerly complied with his request. Even though I was still concerned about possibly getting caught, and possibly that concern had even grown slightly, because there had been a couple of close calls when the CO had come around sooner than we'd expected. This made me begin to wonder how long our good luck was going to hold. I'm not sure what the COs would do or how they would treat us if they discovered what we were up to, but since we were both consenting adults they might just let it slide. Of course, they'd probably joke about it amongst themselves, which I think we could live with, as long as word didn't spread to the other inmates. We didn't want anything to happen that would fire them up even more and convince them that their suspicions had been correct.

Whenever Darren got the itch again, I was the one who seemed to be more worried about a guard seeing what we were up to than Darren was. That may be due to the fact that he was the one who was desperate, so as long as his needs were met he didn't seem to be overly concerned who saw us, although I suspected his reaction would be considerably different if that ever happened. The guards were generally a bit on the noisy side when they made their rounds, so we could usually hear their footsteps echoing down the corridor, them humming or whistling as they came, or their keys rattling as they made their way around each wing. However, I was still concerned about what they might discover if one of them made his rounds more silently and didn't provide us the typical warning signs.

Darren was also getting more comfortable asking me to do this for him and seemed to look forward to these times, because he always seemed to enjoy it when I polished his knob. The last few times we did it, I noticed he was also beginning to display his stamina, because he wasn't ejaculating nearly as quickly as he had in the past. I also didn't have to remind him about keeping the noise under control either and he was able to stifle himself without my constant warnings.

Darren was also becoming passively aggressive during these sessions, in that he would energetically thrust his hips back and forth to mirror the movements of my head, as it slid up and down his shaft, but he didn't do this in a rough manner. He was always very gentle, although persistent, and liked to dictate the pace of the action. Darren was always very careful not to injure or gag me in the process, even when he got wrapped up in the action and sought his release, so I never really worried that he might get carried away.

He also got in the habit of giving me a big hug for my efforts when we were through, even though he wouldn't do this until he had come down from his climactic high. I was glad to be able to help him in this fashion, since I enjoyed seeing and pleasuring his splendid tool, and it allowed him to release some of the sexual frustration that had built up in between these sessions.

The following evening, something strange happened. It took place after the trusty had given us our nightly coffee, but then he just stood there and gawked at us for a while. He never said anything and just stood there staring, which meant it was beginning to feel kind of creepy. Finally, I looked up at him and spoke.

"Is there something I can help you with?" I asked, hoping this might end this uncomfortable situation.

"Uh, yeah," he stammered back. "I'm Carl Thompson and I was just wondering what your names were."

That was not what I was expecting and seemed a bit bizarre, but I decided that since he'd told us his name, I'd tell him ours.

"I'm Bob and that's Darren," I answered. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," he replied, and then he just stood there again.

"Anything else?" I prodded.

"Yeah, what are your last names?" he followed.

I wasn't sure why he was asking for our last names, but suddenly a red flag went up in my brain and I became more than a little suspicious of his motives.

"Why? What difference would that make?" I pressed, while studying his reaction.

"Just curious," he answered. "I thought I'd try to get to know some of the people in here is all."

That might be true, but I was thinking he might have a darker reason for asking this, since our former trusty had told us that people were asking where we had disappeared. I began to think about how I wanted to respond to this question.

"I think you can get to know us without our last names," I countered, eyeing him again.

"Well, I told you mine, so I thought you'd just do the same," he responded.

I finally struck on idea about how I was going to answer his question.

"Newhart and Bishop," I told him, pulling the last names from a couple of old-time comedians out of my brain.

He looked at me oddly for a few seconds, nodded slightly and spoke briefly before he left.

"Thanks, and I'll see you around," he stated, and then he walked away.

I wasn't sure if he bought it or not, but I could tell Darren was anxious to ask me some questions now. As soon as he felt the trusty was out of earshot, he looked at me in spoke.

"What the hell was that all about?" he wanted to know.

"I'm not sure, but I didn't like where it was going," I confessed, since I wasn't sure what else to tell him.

"And why did you tell him those names?" he continued.

"I was getting some bad feelings about his intentions, so I didn't want to tell him our real names," I offered.

"But you'd told him our first names," Darren countered.

"Yes, but I did that before I became suspicious," I confessed. "A lot of people ask your name when they meet you, but very few of them ask for your last name too, unless they have a reason. I didn't know what his was, so I decided not to tell him the truth."

"So how did you come up with those names?" he pressed.

"As a joke, I thought I'd use a couple of comedians' names, but I didn't want him to recognize what I was doing, so I picked two older comedians – someone I didn't think he'd be as familiar with," I answered. "I chose Bob Newhart and Joey Bishop's surnames, hoping he wouldn't drawn a correlation to who they were. They're also fairly common names, but since he looked to be between our ages, I was hoping he wouldn't be as familiar with them, as he might be with any other surname I might have chosen."

"They only sounded vaguely familiar to me, but I didn't know why," Darren admitted, while looking at me strangely. "Do you think he was up to something then?"

"I'm not sure, but I thought he might be, so that's why I didn't want to give him our last names," I confirmed. "Most people in here probably only know us by our last names, except for the guys we go out to rec with now, but they don't know our last names, so I felt he must have a specific reason for asking. The only reason I could think of would have to do with what the old trusty warned us about, so that's why I made up those names. Just remember them, in case he comes back and calls us by them."

"Ok, I'll try," Darren agreed. "Which one am I supposed to be again?"

"Well, since it was Bob Newhart, I guess that would leave you as Darren Bishop," I replied, with a little chuckle.

Since that was settled, we put the situation behind us, enjoyed our coffee and then went back to what we were doing. When the trusty came back to collect the cups later, he didn't say anything more, so neither did we, although he did seem to glare at us momentarily.

For the rest of the evening, Darren and I watched television, while I also wrote and he drew, but we found we were suddenly drawn into the show that was on. It was probably a repeat, but since we hadn't seen much television over the past few months, it was new to us. It was a very compelling show, so we set aside the other things we were working on and focused solely on the screen. It was fortunate that we no longer had the others to contend with or we probably wouldn't have been able to do this.

When the show ended, we went to our cells, brushed our teeth and got ready to turn in. We knew lights out would happen shortly and felt there was no reason to wait until the last second this time, even though they were already a few minutes late in announcing this.

I slept fairly well that evening, at least until the CO came along shouting that it was time to wake up. Although I was never in the service, I could picture this as being similar to what the trainees went through every morning, but their situation only lasted for a couple of months in total, where our situation lasted slightly longer than that.

Darren and I were sitting in the common area talking when the breakfast trays arrived. We hadn't gotten up yet to go get them when we heard the trustee call out.

"Ok you comedians, come get your food," he shouted, while giving us a snide grin.

We did and then we took it back to our table, where we sat down and began to eat.

"Do you think his comment meant that he knows you made up the names, since he called us comedians?" Darren wondered.

"It could be, but it really doesn't matter," I responded. "We had no obligation to give him our last names, so I really don't care if he knows or not."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Darren agreed. "I'm just curious about why he asked for them in the first place."

"I think it was to pin us down and find out if we were the guys he's heard others talking about," I replied. "Who knows, maybe someone else asked him to see if he could discover where we were."

"Do you think we should be worried then?" Darren pressed.

"Nah, even if they know where we are, what are they going to do with the information," I answered. "They won't be able to get in here, so I'm not worried. Even if he, or anyone else, is playing games with this, I believe they're just wasting their time."

"Yeah, you're probably right," he agreed. "I was just a little worried, but I suppose we are pretty safe where we are until we get out. I just hope they don't put anyone else in here with us."

"Even if they do, we'll outnumber him two to one," I pointed out, "so I don't think we'd have anything to worry about. Just relax and don't let these other things get you down or upset."

Jack came back to see me again the following week, but this time he had brought back some of the chapters I had given him previously, which now contained either my agent's or editor's comments and suggestions. Seeing he had to leave the bag containing these chapters with the guards, so they could check it for contraband, Jack offered me a few of the comments in person, since he had taken the time to speak with both Dick and my editor personally.

"Overall, both Dick and your editor like this story, but there are a couple of small items you editor thinks you should omit and a couple of others you should expand."

"What are they," I wanted to know.

He set about telling me what they were, so his visit lasted a fairly long time. He actually went into quite a bit of detail about my story and even offered his own thoughts about what I'd written. He also shared his views about my editor's suggestions, and although he thought the material she wanted added was good, he informed me that he didn't agree when she suggested that I should leave certain aspects out. He felt very strongly that one section in question should remain in the story and even went on to explain his reasons for recommending this.

"Look, Bob, I know she's your editor and this is her profession, but I don't think you should cut out the parts she doesn't like," he told me. "I've been reading your chapters, after the person in my office types them up, and I think they're not only very good, but I think those parts are also necessary, so the readers get a better idea about what's happening in the story."

"Necessary in that they won't get the message of the story or that it actually leaves a gap?" I followed.

"Actually both," he answered. "Since this is a story about a young man's criminal activity, I think your readers should have the information your editor wants you to leave out, so they can better appreciate what he's going through. I disagree with her assertion that by leaving those parts in that you'll give others ideas about how to commit a crime, because I don't think you've revealed anything that most of the criminal element doesn't already know, but not having it could leave your readers wondering why his decision was so crucial. I also think it could assist others by letting them know what types of things they should be leery of in their own lives and possibly motivate them to find a way to keep something like that from happening to them."

I was impressed when I discovered that Jack had been spending his precious free time keeping up with my story and getting involved with what I was trying to do, in addition to everything else he'd been doing on my behalf. It's nice to know that your lawyer is more than just your attorney and is also a very good and caring friend.

When we finished, I told him I'd think about everything we'd discussed, make the appropriate changes and then resubmit them, but I told him that I was almost positive that I was going to leave in the sections he recommended against deleting. Jack said he was glad to hear that and then informed me he'd be back the following week to pick them up.

Before he left, I made sure that I fully expressed my gratitude and let him know how much I truly appreciated his help. Not only was he there for me with legal and financial advice, but now he was also making his own editorial suggestions, besides keeping an eye on my house and taking care of everything else for me. In addition to all of that, he was also making sure my jail account had plenty of money in it, so I could purchase whatever I wanted from the inmate store.

If it weren't for Jack, I probably wouldn't have had another great lawyer, such as Bruno, to defend me in this case and might have ended up with a novice, such as Darren wound up with. If that had happened, I could have lost everything, including my house. Without Jack in my corner, I might have been languishing in here, without my writing or much hope about the future, so he was truly a Godsend.

After Jack left, the CO gave me the bag containing my edited chapters, so I took it from him and followed another guard back to my cellblock. On the way back, the guard pointed something out to me that I wasn't aware of.

"I'm afraid that you were taking so long with your lawyer that I thought you were going to miss out on your shower, but if you hurry, I think you can still make it," he suggested. "Just strip quickly and grab your towel, so I can take you over to the shower area."

I thanked him, hustled into my cell and threw the paper bag containing my story onto my bunk. I quickly shed my clothes, slipped on my flip-flops and grabbed my towel, so I could wrap it around my waist. Once I'd done that, I went out to where the guard was waiting and we took off toward the showers. I was walking faster than he was, because I wanted to be able to stay under the water for as long as possible, so he ended up basically following me there. As I got closer to my destination, I thought I heard some strange sounds, something other than just water running. I was also surprised that there was no guard standing outside either, as there should have been, and that concerned me a bit as well, but seeing it was only Darren and I in our cellblock, then he should be in there alone.

I was not only anxious to see him again, but I was looking forward to washing off the grime from the past couple of days. Since I was in a hurry, I quickly hung my towel in the entry area and turned to enter the shower area, but I didn't like what I saw. Darren was lying face down on the shower floor, with two other guys, one basically sitting on his shoulders and trapping Darren's arms against his back, while the other guy was kneeling behind Darren and trying to stick his dick up Darren's ass. I also realized that guy trying to fuck Darren was our new trusty.

I flew in there, nearly slipping and falling as I entered, but I remained upright and grabbed the new trusty, before I flung him back against the shower wall. He hit it pretty hard and was slightly dazed, as I turned toward the other guy and shouted.

"CO, get in here! There's a problem!" I screamed, while hoping he'd be able to help me.

Chapter 27
The Countdown

I was furious when I saw what those guys were trying to do to Darren, but fortunately neither of them had seen or heard me enter the shower area. This allowed me the opportunity to catch them completely by surprise, so I forcefully grabbed the trusty behind Darren, pulled him away and slammed his body into the shower wall. This caused his back to hit the tiles with a great deal of force, which knocked the air from his lungs and caused his head to make a dull thud, as it snapped backward and collided with the hard surface, temporarily stunning him. This also made enough noise to alert his cohort that something was amiss.

As he began to turn, so he could see what had caused the noise, he spotted me moving toward him. Immediately, he jumped up to defend himself, or possibly to attack me, but I was pissed and unloosed a good old-fashion roundhouse punch before he had time to react. My fist smashed into his face and knocked him backward, against the other wall.

Just as this was happening, the CO finally arrived and observed what was going on. His first response was to grab his shoulder radio, snap it on and begin shouting into it. This let the front desk and other COs know there was a problem in this wing and that he needed help. The sound of the COs voice shouting for help also alerted the other inmates in the wing that there was a problem, so they began shouting and trying to discover what was going on.

Before the CO was able to enter the shower and intervene, the first guy had recovered enough so that he was able to lunge at me. As his body collided with mine, the force knocked me off balance and caused me to lose my footing on the wet shower floor. I struggled to maintain my balance, but the floor was just too slippery for me to do this, so I ended up falling backward. After my back crashed into the wall, my frame began to slide downward, until it came to rest on the floor.

I was naked, on my butt and somewhat dazed, but the trusty was undeterred and quickly wrapped his hands around my throat. I noticed a crazed look in his eyes, as he attempted to squeeze the life from me, so I Instinctively struggled to break his hold on my neck. Over the next few seconds, I was able to shift around enough to create a slight space between our bodies, and as soon as I'd done that, I lifted my knee as quickly and forcefully as I could. Luckily, it caught him squarely in the groin and I heard a muffled 'ooffff,' as he reacted to the sudden rush of pain and released his grip on my neck slightly. When he did that, I lifted my knee again, but this time I used my foot to push him away from me, so I could get up.

When I looked up, I saw the CO was struggling with the other guy, the one that I'd punched, since he had gotten up and tried to charge at me too. I was still a little light headed from having my head slam against the tiled wall and the lack of air from when the trusty was trying to strangle me, so I wasn't able to move right away. While I was recovering, I realized the trusty I'd just kneed was preparing to come at me again.

"You son of a bitch," he uttered, as he began to scramble toward me again.

Everything was moving in slow motion at this point, but he never reached me. As he was struggling on the slippery floor, out of the corner of my eye I saw another guard enter the shower area and he struck the trusty with his nightstick. This caused the trusty to come to a sudden halt and crash onto the shower floor yet again.

By this time, another CO had appeared as well, and then two more came rushing in. The guard that had brought me back from my meeting with Jack now directed the other officers to restrain the two aggressors, as he and I went over to check on Darren. He was still lying motionless on the floor, which made me very concerned about what had happened to him before I'd arrived.

What had they done to subdue him before I showed up? Had they punched or tackled him, and if so, had Darren hit his head on something and knocked him out? Was it possible that they had attempted to bash his skull in with some sort of weapon, as they attempted to gain control over him, so they could do what they wanted? This thought caused me to start looking around to see if I could locate the weapon they had used, but I didn't find anything.

As I glanced back at Darren, I noticed that he seemed to be conscious, although somewhat unresponsive, but I didn't see any blood, so I was hopeful that he wasn't injured too badly. He was obviously slightly dazed, and possibly even in some pain, but he was making no move to get up. Even though the guard and I both attempted to discover if he was hurt and tried to get him to tell us exactly what had happened, he didn't immediately respond.

While we were trying to get these details from him, even more COs arrived on the scene and soon four of them were taking the other two guys away. I later learned that Darren's second attacker was also a trusty, but we weren't sure if they had merely stumbled upon Darren when he was alone or if they had actually been stalking him and waiting for an opportunity to catch him unguarded. However it happened, it looked as if they thought this might be their opportunity to have a little fun, as well as a chance to get some sexual relief.

Now that the COs had taken the offenders away, those that remained tried to get the other inmates in the wing under control again. You see, when the inmates in the nearby cellblocks first heard the guard shouting for help over his radio, they realized something out of the ordinary was going on and wanted to discover what was happening. Therefore, it didn't take long for the typical jailhouse communication system to kick into gear and begin passing along any of the tidbits of information they'd overheard, imagined they'd heard or even conjectured. This meant that whatever stories were currently being passed along weren't necessarily reliable, but this process was certainly loud and the news spread very quickly.

The inmates were still shouting and demanding to know more, so the COs attempted to restore order and would most likely have their hands full for quite a while. The guard who had brought me back from my visit with Jack stayed with Darren and me, along with one of the other guards. Eventually, we finally discovered from Darren what had taken place.

After he had been led to the shower room, the CO who had brought him left to investigate a disturbance that had begun in one of the adjoining cellblocks. Shortly after he took off, those two guys suddenly appeared and grabbed him. He hadn't seen it coming, since he had been facing the showerhead, but when he realized what they wanted to do, he struggled to get away. In an attempt to control the situation, they began to pummel him and delivered several blows each, which caused Darren to lose consciousness and fall to the floor. Once he was down, the one trusty kept him pinned down, just as I'd discovered him when I entered. Fortunately for Darren, however, the new trusty had barely had time to lower his jumpsuit before I showed up, so neither of them had time to penetrate Darren before I arrived. I was thankful for that part, but now I began to feel that I had let Darren down, by not being there for him when this first occurred.

Once that had been cleared up, the COs told us to finish our showers, but I think they just wanted us to stay put for a little while longer, so the other guards would have sufficient time to take the trusties back to their cells, collect their things and then lock them up in one of the isolation cells. Darren was still a little weak and slightly shaky at this point, so I helped him to his feet. After he assured me that he was well enough to finish his shower, I watched him for another minute to be sure, before I began to clean up as well. When we finished up there, I helped him as we walked back to our cellblock, since he wasn't exactly steady on his feet, and then I helped him make it to his cell, so he could get dressed.

Before he left, the CO assured us the pair that had attacked Darren would no longer be trusties and it was doubtful that they would even be allowed back into the general population again. We thanked him for his help and then he urged us to hurry up and get dressed, because he'd be back in a few minutes to get us again, after he had a chance to made arrangements for us to be transported for medical treatment. Once it was just the two of us again, I turned toward Darren and spoke.

"Man, I'm so sorry I let you down by not being there to protect you," I began, but I couldn't even look him in the eye after what he'd just gone through.

"Why should you be sorry?" he wanted to know. "You didn't do anything wrong and there was no way you could have known the CO would take me to shower before you got back. Besides, you were the one that kept them from doing what they intended, so I owe you, not only for today, but also for convincing me not to become a trusty too. Just think of what they could have done if I'd been alone with them in the area where the trusties are housed."

After saying this, he shuddered slightly, before he forced out a weak grin.

"Are you all right?" I asked him.

I was deeply and sincerely concerned about how he was handling this.

"Hell, yes. Except for all of the punches I took, they didn't really get to do anything else to me," he confessed. "I think the trusty that wanted to know our names barely got his dick out before you rushed in, so neither of them ever stuck anything up my ass, if that's what you were wondering about."

He winked at me after saying this, which I think was to let me know that he was all right and his worst fear hadn't come to pass.

"Darren, that's not what I meant. I just wanted to make sure you're ok," I told him. "That must have been a very traumatic experience for you."

"Hey, I've been in fights before, so I can handle myself, just ask the bouncer," he added, with an evil chuckle. "I just never had someone try to rape me before."

This time he wasn't smiling or winking.

"I'll be fine, though," he continued. "It takes more than those two assholes to put me out of action."

"I'm glad to hear that, but I'll try to make sure nothing like this ever happens to you again," I offered.

We didn't discuss this further, because the CO came back and told us to come with him, so a doctor could check us out. Even though I tried to convince him that I was fine and didn't need to go, the CO insisted that I come along, since my head had been slammed into the wall and one of the guys had tried to choke me, so he wanted a doctor to examine me too. Unfortunately, I wasn't in any position to argue, so Darren and I were placed in handcuffs, put in a patrol car and then driven to the hospital's emergency room to be looked at. It was more than a little embarrassing being in public wearing bright orange jumpsuits and having our hands shackled behind our backs, but luckily we were taken in through the ambulance entrance, so the only people that saw us were the hospital staff.

The doctor checked Darren over first and gave him a clean, but bruised, bill of health. Seeing we were in the same room, so one deputy could watch us both, the doctor examined me next and found nothing seriously wrong, although he gave my throat a thorough going over. After we finished up there, the deputy drove us back to the jail and a CO took us up to our cellblock. Darren and I stayed pretty close to each other for the rest of that day, probably because I still felt guilty and was being overly protective, so we only separated after lights out was announced.

The next morning, we had another new trusty deliver our breakfast. When he came back later to pick up our trays, he stayed for a short time, so he could share some information with us.

"I heard those two guys that attacked you had set the whole thing up after they saw one of you were alone," he began. "The guy I replaced knew who you were and what you were in for, even though you gave him fake names. He was convinced you guys were getting it on, so he and his buddy were watching and waiting for a chance to get you alone, because they wanted to get in on the action too."

When he made his last comment, he looked directly at Darren, to let him know whom he was referring to.

"When they saw the CO was taking you to the shower alone," he continued, "he ran over and talked a couple of the guys in one of the nearby cellblocks into starting a commotion, so it would pull the CO away and then they could do what they planned. They didn't tell the other guys why they wanted them to start a ruckus, but they promised them extra food and some other stuff, if they agreed to do it.

"Once the other pair said they would do it, the two trusties left there quickly, before the other guys began shouting and fighting. Seeing the CO with you was the only one around at the time, he went over to investigate and left you alone. As soon as he went to the other cellblock, the two trusties made their move. The CO shouldn't have left you alone and should have called down for help instead, because it gave the trusties time to attack you, so he'll probably get in trouble for doing that."

"I can't believe they were able to pull it off so quickly," I offered. "It sounds as if it was almost too easy."

I was still somewhat surprised they'd been able to get as far as they did, even after we had been given these additional details. Then, he shared some more information with us.

"The COs not only put the two trusties in isolation cells, but they also put the two inmates who faked the fight on administrative restriction," he added. "That means they've not only lost their good-time, but they also don't have the right to have visitors any longer, except for their lawyers, and they can't go out to rec or send and receive mail either. I'm not sure how long that will last, but they've been moved to a two-man cellblock, down at the far end of the cellblock they were in before."

Several days later, I was informed that the jail administrators had also investigated whether charges should be brought against me, for punching the one trusty and shoving the other one into the wall and then kneeing him in the nuts. They even discussed whether I should lose any of my good behavior time because of what I'd done too, but fortunately the CO who had been with me backed me up completely. He told them that I'd only acted in self-defense, to protect both Darren and myself, and that I'd only used enough force to keep Darren from being raped and preventing the one trusty from choking me. The panel finally accepted his explanation and recommendation, so I was exonerated, but the other pair didn't make out quite as well.

Not only had they both lose their Trusty positions, they'd also lost all of their good time credit and were being brought up on additional charges for aggravated assault and sexual assault. Since the D.A. was pushing for the maximum penalty on both counts, the former trusties eventually agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge, although it wasn't reduced very much. Rather than facing the possibility of lengthy felony convictions, which could put them in prison for 10 to 15 years, by accepting the lesser charge they were only sentenced to 7 to 10 years in prison instead. Ironically, they will both be required to register as sex offenders when they get released as well.

Once that was behind us, things quieted down and there was very little excitement during our remaining time in jail. It also left us completely alone during the period leading up to Easter, which turned out to be a very rough time for me. During the days preceding the holiday, Jared was constantly on my mind and I couldn't shake the memory fragments of the things we had done together before this incident had happened and that it had nearly been a year since he first walked into my life. By late in the afternoon each day, I had worked myself into a very morose state, so I ended up spending time alone in my cell. I think Darren guessed what my mood was all about, so he sought me out, in an attempt to make me feel better.

"Hey, Bob. How about I give you a blowjob this time?" he offered.

I smiled weakly at him, while silently acknowledging what a generous gesture this was from a straight guy.

"Thanks, Darren, and it's very nice of you to offer," I agreed, "but it's not necessary."

He looked a little disappointed.

"I don't mind, really," he insisted, as he tried to convince me that I could accept his help. "I told you before, blowjobs are no big deal. Even though I've never given one before, I'm willing to do it for you, especially considering all you've done for me. Come on and let me help you out. I have a feeling you could really use one to get your mind off of other things."

After saying this, he suddenly began moving toward me.

"No, you don't need to do this," I repeated.

I figured he was only offering to be polite or maybe it was his effort to pull me out of my funk, but I didn't want to make him do something he might regret later.

"I know I don't need to, but I want to do this for you," he insisted. "I won't swallow or do anything like that, but I really want to be able to help you out and pay you back for doing so much for me."

"I told you before that I didn't expect any payback," I confirmed. "I know you've appreciated everything I've done for you, without you having to go to all of this trouble."

"Bob, really. It would make me feel better, knowing I was able to do something for you too," he persisted.

I thought about this for a short time, while trying to read his expression, as I considered what to do next. It was apparent this was very important to Darren and he was anxious to do something for me for a change, and it certainly wouldn't hurt me any either. After careful consideration, I finally responded.

"Ok, if you're sure this is what YOU want to do, then we'll do it," I agreed.

He shot me a grin, but I told him we'd have to wait until the CO made his next tour by our cellblock. He agreed, so we sat in the common area and waited for that to happen. Once the CO had passed by and we were certain he had left the area, we went to my cell.

After I'd lowered my jumpsuit and boxer-briefs, I sat on the cot, with Darren kneeling in front of me. I quickly gave him a few basic pointers about how to do this properly and what type of things he wanted to avoid. Now that we were ready to begin, he took my cock in his hand, brought his head slightly forward and tentatively began to use his tongue to check out the taste and feel of my man flesh.

After this brief exploratory effort, Daren began in earnest. He was actually doing a pretty decent job for a beginner, but he did gag a few times from trying to take too much of my cock at once, even after I'd warned him. He also let his teeth get in the way a couple of times, which caused me some minor discomfort, but it wasn't bad enough that I wanted him to stop. Other than those problems, I was enjoying this attention and was slowly building up to that pinnacle of sensation, as my skin began to radiate enormous amounts of heat and my body started to tingle. Soon, I was telling Darren that he'd better pull off, if he didn't want me to unload in his mouth, but he continued as before, until the contents of my nuts exploded up my shaft.

Darren handled this like a trooper and didn't let the sudden blasts of hot fluids interfere with what he was doing or slow him down. He kept pumping on me until I had given him all there was to give and then he eased up, as he released my wilting dick from his lips. He immediately got up, walked over to the toilet bowl and spit the contents out of his mouth. Then, he grabbed his cup, which he'd left in here earlier, filled it with water and rinsed his mouth out as well. When he came back to where I was on my bunk, he looked pleased with himself.

"Well, how did I do?" he wanted to know.

"Terrific," I exaggerated, since I didn't want to hurt his feelings. "I didn't realize how badly I needed that."

Now, he seemed to swell with pride and was happy that he had been able to repay me with a suitable performance.

"Ok, now it's my turn to help you," I instructed him.

"You don't have to," he insisted.

"Yes, I do," I countered. "I know you need it as much, if not more, than I did."

At that moment, I happened to glance over and notice the clock on the wall outside our cellblock.

"Well, maybe we should wait until after the CO makes his next round," I suggested, "to reduce our chance of getting caught."

He agreed, so we sat down to play cards for a while. It wasn't very much longer before the guard passed by again and we finished our game, before we headed back to my cell. We took up our usual places and before long I was doing the old nod and slurp on his fleshy tool. Darren was really getting into it this time, even more than usual, so he was working my mouth like a porn star on steroids. Before he dropped his load, my jaw had even begun to ache a little, as the muscles operating it started to twitch and spasm, but I was able to hold on until he finally busted a nut. Once I had drained him of his cream, we went back out and watched some TV until lights out.

When Good Friday came, we almost failed to realize it, until the news came on and pointed out how various people around the world were observing this holy day. It wasn't as if there was anything special we should be doing today, but it did remind us that we'd totally lost track of the days. It also meant Sunday was Easter, so we wondered if the jail was going to do anything special to recognize this holiday, as they had with Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Friday and Saturday were basically just two more normal days for us, except for some of the shows on television, but Sunday quickly turned out to be more than just another routine day. It began with another very special and larger than normal breakfast, and then we watched Easter services held on TV. That was followed by the movie, The Robe, which I believe was a DVD that one of the COs had brought in, because there were no commercials. It was an older movie, from the 1950s, about a Roman military tribune who took part in crucifying Jesus. He happened to win Jesus' robe, when the soldiers cast lots for it, and this small occurrence led to many unusual events taking place in his life afterward.

When the movie ended, I decided to write for a while and Darren worked on some drawings until lunch was served. This turned out to be another ham diner, similar to the one we'd had at Christmas, and it was both tasty and filling. We then watched another movie after lunch, before we decided to go back to our writing and drawing.

After dinner, I went into my cell, so I could lie down on my bunk for a while, and almost immediately, thoughts of Jared began popping into my head. I tried very hard to push these images from my mind, but I wasn't exactly successful. Frustrated, I gradually gave in to my subconscious and began to wonder how his day had been and if he'd enjoyed it. This caused me to slip into another mild funk, since I'd missed out on another special holiday with him – one that I'd never be able to have back again. Dwelling on this thought only caused me to slide even further into despair.

Darren happened to drop by to see how I was doing and noticed my unusual behavior. He could see that I was far from being all right, so he tried to find a way to help pull me back from the depths of this dark abyss in which I now found myself.

"Bob, come join me for a while," he urged, "because it's not good for you to stay in here like this. I know you're sad, but let me try to help you, like you've done for me so many times."

I knew he was probably correct, but it didn't matter. I couldn't even force myself to get off my bunk and merely lay there, motionless and without looking at him. Darren patiently sat down at the little desk in my cell.

"Tell me about him," he urged, in a soft and soothing voice. "I know you care a lot about him and I'm sure he's probably having the same problem thinking about you – especially today. Tell me what he's like, because I think it might help."

I didn't think this would work, but anything had to be better than the way I was feeling now. Possibly it would help, by not keeping this pain bottled up inside me, so I rolled my head slightly to the side and studied Darren for a moment. He looked sincere, and possibly even interested, so what did I have lose?

"Those boys were like my sons," I began, "but Jared was more than that. I know you probably think I'm nuts, because he's only fifteen, but he was the one who wanted it and came on to me. It started out harmless enough, with him finding ways to get naked in front of me, because I think he knew it would turn me on. The first time he did it was after I'd let him take a shower at my place, and when he finished, he came back downstairs and somehow his towel just accidentally fell off while he was standing in front of me. Sometimes he'd use the excuse that he had to change his clothes for some reason and then just undress in front of me, but he'd always change everything, so he could get totally naked in the process. He knew I was gay and would probably enjoy seeing him without any clothes on, so he would find a way to put on these little shows for my enjoyment."

At that point, I actually sat up on my bunk, as these images of Jared came alive in my memory. Over the next hour, I told Darren stories about some of the things Jared had done and how I spent time with him, his brother and mother. Even though I'd first suspected recalling these events would make me feel even sadder, that's not what happened. Instead, picturing the good times I'd had with Jared was actually perking me up. I continued doing this until we heard the trusty call us down to get our nightly coffee and then we sat at one of the tables in the common area, slowly sipping our drinks.

"Do you really believe he's thinking about me too?" I asked, even though I wasn't totally convinced that I wanted to hear his answer.

"If you two were as close as you've indicated, then I'm positive he is," Darren replied. "Holidays are when you think about your family and the people who mean the most to you, so even if he only cares half as much about you, as you do for him, then he has to be going through a similar rough patch today."

In a way, this made me feel better, now that Darren had convinced me that Jared was missing me as well, but then I felt badly when I realized Jared might be enduring a pain similar to what I was feeling. Was there a chance that he might want to get together with me again when he came of age? Of course he would! You can't possibly care as much about someone as deeply as we did for each other and then just forget about it. I latched on to this morsel of hope and ran with it, which suddenly gave me something positive to look forward to.

I'm not sure how Darren had accomplished it, but I was definitely no longer depressed, as I had been just a short time ago. I made sure to let him know what he'd done, so he'd have a sense that he'd achieved his goal of doing something for me, similar to how I'd been helping him. I even went down to watch a show on TV with him, although I was thinking about Jared and not actually paying attention to what was on the tube. Was it possible that Jared was thinking about me at this moment too?

When lights out was announced, I went to my cell, took off my jumpsuit and slipped between the sheets. I feel asleep thinking about Jared, and I dreamed about him as well, as I clung to the hope that I might still have a chance to one day be with him again.

Over the next few weeks, I finished the story that was based on Jared, including all of the corrections and rewrites. Jack sent the revised copy to my publisher and the book actually went to press before I was released from jail. On one of his return visits, Jack brought me two copies of the book and told me that he thought I might find a use for them. After they were inspected by one of the COs, I kept one copy in my cell and the other I inscribed with a personal note, before I gave it to Darren. When I handed him the copy, he acted as if I had just given him a bar of gold. He lovingly caressed it to his chest and took it back to his cell, which told me that he would always cherish my gift to him. He confirmed my suspicion later, when he told me that after he read it, he was planning to stick it away for safekeeping.

With only the two of us in the cellblock, we continued to enjoy the freedom to do nearly anything we wanted, without having to hassle with anyone else. We'd also been enjoying going to rec again, since the group we were taking it with now didn't seem quite as judgmental, so we'd been able to get in some decent exercise, while also enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. Even after the guys in our rec group learned what I was in for and what the two trusties had tried to do with Darren, they still didn't act any differently toward us, which proved to be a huge relief. Seeing they didn't react badly or turn on us, it meant that Darren and I didn't have to quit going out and hide out in our cellblock again, which was a real blessing and left us feeling great.

Even though Darren and I had been able to go outside once a day for rec, we also continued the exercise program that we had been doing in our old cellblock as well. Our routine consisted of several different types of exercises that I had done as a kid, such as jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups and squat thrusts, but we also did some running in place. It seemed as if the closer I got to my release date, the more I wanted to work out, so I'd be in the best shape possible when I was released. That way, if anyone decided to attack me for what they thought I had done, I'd be in a better position to defend myself and fight them off. As an unexpected side effect of this process, I began to physically feel better than I had in quite some time, so I knew this extra effort was paying off.

Now that the story based on Jared was behind me, I only had my latest story about the kid in the gang to work on, so I put all of my effort into it. I decided to establish a very strict regiment and maintain it until I was released, in an effort to make the days go by as quickly as possible. Since rec time rotated on a weekly basis, Darren and I agreed that once if was determined if we'd have rec in the morning or afternoon, then we'd do our exercise routine at the opposite time, so we'd workout once in the morning and then again in the afternoon.

I planned to work my writing around these workouts and Darren would work on his artwork while I was doing that, so between the two, it should help to make the time fly by. Oh, the two of us still continued having our occasional sexual encounters as well, since we both enjoyed that too, and we filled in the remaining time however we saw fit at the moment. We also continued our countdown to freedom, which was another motivator for us, since there were now less than thirty days to go.

On one of Jack's previous visits, I had asked him to go over to Darren's old apartment and talk to his former roommates, to see if they were going to be able to take him back when he got out. Jack said he'd do that for me and I told Darren what we were up to, so he wouldn't think I was doing this behind his back. He said he was glad I had thought about doing this for him, but it also made him slightly nervous, while at the same time mildly hopeful about the outcome.

The next time Jack visited though, the news didn't turn out to be good. It wasn't that Darren's former roommates didn't want him back, but it turned out that none of his friends even lived there any longer. When Jack knocked on the door, he discovered that someone else had moved in and been living there for the past couple of months, so that option was no longer available. Jack even contacted the college to see if he could locate any of these guys, since Darren had also given him their first and last names, but it turned out that each of them had either dropped out of school or transferred somewhere else.

I was afraid this information was going to devastate Darren, but he didn't take it as badly as I'd feared. He admitted that he didn't expect them to welcome him back anyway, but now he was once again concerned about where he was going to live and how he was going to survive when he got released, since he had no friends he could turn to, no money and no means to support himself. He even began to envision himself living on the street and working a minimum wage job, just to have enough money to buy food, so that's when I decided it was time for me to step in and relieve his anxiety.

"You'll do no such thing," I informed him. "You'll come live with me and you can stay for as long as you want. You can either leave once you get back on your feet or you can decide to stay indefinitely, since I know that we're compatible and enjoy each other's company. I live alone, in a fairly big house, and other than for you, there isn't much chance of that changing any time soon."

Darren stood open-mouthed, staring at me, after I made this offer, so I gave him a few seconds to think it over, because I didn't want him to feel pressured. When I thought he'd had sufficient amount of time to reach a decision, I asked my next question.

"So what do you think about doing that? Would you like to stay with me?"

"Are you sure you want me to do that? I mean… I could end up being there for a pretty long time," he pointed out.

After saying this, he gave me a look that seemed to ask if I was just being nice or if I was truly serious about my offer. I thought I'd better reassure him this was an honest and sincere offer, not one based on sympathy.

"Hey, we've lived together in here for how long now and we've gotten along really well," I mentioned. "Besides, I'd love the company, because it gets quite lonely not having anyone to talk to. So what do you say?"

He totally lit up after hearing my response.

"Are you kidding? I'd love that," he confirmed. "I just can't believe that you're saving me yet again."

I'm not sure if he forgot where he was or if he no longer cared if anyone saw what he was doing, meaning a CO or trusty, but he covered the short distance between us and wrapped his arms around my upper body. There was absolutely no hesitation on his part, as he enthusiastically hugged me for all he was worth. It wasn't difficult to see how relieved and grateful he was that his major concern had now been settled, and to his satisfaction, but he could have just thanked me or even shook my hand. I was, however, very touched that he had chosen this much more personal way of thanking me instead. Now, all we had to do was to hold out and survive our final few days in this place.

Since that problem had been solved, I took some time to tackle a few of the other issues I'd need to deal with before we finished our sentences. To begin with, on Jack's next visit I informed him that I'd be out at 8:00 a.m. on the fifth, just to let him know when his duties of taking care of everything for me would end. However, he cut me off before I'd had a chance to finish what I was saying.

"Wait just one minute," he objected.

I was not only stunned and confused that he had said this, because I wasn't sure what he was objecting to. When he saw my puzzled expression, he quickly clarified his statement.

"Look, I've learned from Bruno that prisoners are eligible to be released one minute after midnight, if they have someone to pick them up, so I'll be here before midnight to get you," he pointed out. "I'm not going to let you spend one minute extra in this place than is absolutely necessary, so I'll meet you in the administrative section that night, so those in charge will know that I'm here for you."

Hey, what could I say?

"Jack, that's really nice of you to offer, but there are other things that come into play with this as well," I mentioned, so he wouldn't be surprised.

"Like what?" he asked, looking confused.

"I told Darren that he could stay with me until he got back on his feet, so it won't just be me getting out at that time," I clarified.

"So what? I can accept responsibility for two of you, just as easily as I can for one, so it won't be a problem," he insisted.

"Are you absolutely certain?" I followed, just to make sure.

I looked him straight in the eye when I asked this, because if the eyes are the windows to the soul, then I figured this would let me know if he really meant what he'd just said. He never blinked and remained motionless, while looking me squarely in the eye as well. It was almost as if he knew exactly what I was doing.

"I'm positive," he finally responded, to emphasize the point.

I thanked him and then followed the CO back to the cellblock. As soon as I got there, I told Darren the good news, so now he was even more excited than before. It was a huge relief for both of us that we were now able to see the light at the end of this long and depressing tunnel.

Unfortunately, the euphoria didn't last for long. It seemed that no matter how much we did or how busy we tried to keep ourselves, those last couple of weeks seemed to drag on. I guess it was probably due to the fact that we were anxiously looking forward to finally being free of this place, and the only analogy I come up with was that this was similar to when I was a kid. Back then, the time always seemed to drag just before I had a birthday or when I was waiting for Christmas to arrive, and this was no different. I knew time would continue to drag on, until the big day arrived.

Our final chance to buy from the inmate store came along on Day 2 of our countdown, so there was still an entire day to go before we got out. I used this opportunity to place a special order, so we could throw a little going away party and mentally begin to celebrate the end of our incarceration. Since the weather was gradually getting warmer and it was getting closer to summer temperatures, the guards had added ice cream cones, ice cream sandwiches and Popsicles to the order form and those items caught my attention. I ordered one ice cream cone and one ice cream sandwich for each of us, along with a six-pack of soda. We still had a few snacks left over, along with some cookies, so I didn't need to order anything else.

Once my order was delivered, Darren and I pigged out before we left the common area to go back to our cells, so we could pack up whatever belongings we were going to take with us. We had to remember to leave the things out that we would need for the following day, but we were also separating out the other items we either planned to leave or throw away, since we didn't want to keep any additional reminders about our time here. We were both getting extremely excited now, so it was very difficult to concentrate on much of anything, except our impeding release.

We spent most of our final hours in jail playing cards, watching TV and working out. In fact, we were almost working ourselves into frenzy, sort of like sharks do when they smell the scent of blood in the water. However, what WE smelled was our freedom and the aroma was driving us wild. I just hoped I didn't get too excited and pop a blood vessel before I got released.

When I looked back at our time after we had moved into this cellblock, I was mildly surprised that the jail administrators had never found it necessary to put anyone else in with us. It was possible that the incident with Sid and then with the two trusties had influenced their judgment, but I also wondered if it was their way of rewarding us for staying out of trouble, since they'd left the two of us alone since Thanksgiving. No matter the reason, it had worked out well for Darren and me.

On our final evening in jail, the time between dinner and lights out seemed to drag on forever. We tried to keep busy, by filling the trashcan with the items we no longer wanted or needed, and then we double-checked that we had packed everything we were planning to take with us. We also decided to leave our flip-flops and the deck of cards that Fred had given us on the table for the next residents in this hellhole, rather than throw them in the garbage. Hopefully, finding those simple gifts might be enough to help take the edge off their loneliness and despair, while possibly making their stay there a little more bearable.

Doing all of those things took less than an hour, so there was still a huge block of time left over and nothing we did, including watching TV, seemed to make it go by any more quickly. Every time I glanced up at the clock that hung on the outer wall, it seemed as though the hands had barely moved since I'd last looked at it. Darren and I were quickly becoming as jittery as two virgins at a porno festival or as excited as a couple of kids in a toy store, as we waited for our release time to arrive. Our prize was currently just beyond our grasp, but we knew we'd eventually get out of this place in one piece.

When lights out was announced, we reluctantly walked into our cells for the final time. Everything was in order and we were both ready to leave, but we still had one more hour to endure, before we got to use our 'get out of jail free' cards and were able to finally pass Go. That last hour was the longest one of all, since there was absolutely nothing to do and no one to distract us from thinking about our imminent departure. It was almost as if we were watching the clock counting off all sixty seconds for each of the sixty minutes that still remained in our sentence. This was worse than being tortured.

Finally, we heard the CO coming and he eventually summoned us from our cells. We grabbed our pillows, towels, bedding and personal items, and then we followed him down to an area where we'd turn in everything belonging to the jail and swap our lovely orange jumpsuits for the clothes we'd been wearing when we were brought here. After changing into those garments, I was a little surprised at how roomy they were on me now, which drove home the fact about how much weight I had lost during my stay here. I was happy about slimming down, although I wouldn't recommend this health club or diet plan to anyone.

As we were led out to the front desk, I immediately spotted Jack waiting for us, with a big, silly grin plastered across his face. He was one special guy. Once the paperwork had been completed and signed, we picked up our paper bags filled with the items we were taking with us and followed Jack to his car. Darren and I each let out a little cheer of relief as we shut his car doors, which made Jack laugh out loud.

After I'd introduced Darren and Jack to each other, since they hadn't actually met before, Jack drove to my place and came inside with us, so he could show me where he'd placed the items I had left in his custody and the things he had moved from Darren's apartment. He also told me that he'd hired someone to come in to clean and make the beds for us, so we wouldn't have to bother with those details right away. Once he'd finished explaining this, Darren and I both shook his hand and thanked him for everything he had done on our behalf. I owed him big time, so now I just had to think of a way I could repay his friendship.

After Jack left to go back to his place, I gave Darren a quick tour of the house, and then I showed him to the room he'd be using, which was at the other end of the hall from mine. After that, I dug a towel out of the linen closet and handed it to him and pointed out the guest bathroom, since neither of us had been able to shower for the past couple of days. I then sent him in to clean up before he turned in, while emphasizing that he could take as long as he wanted.

I intentionally hadn't given him the room Jared and Josh had used when they stayed over, because my heart just wouldn't let me do that yet. I was still hopeful that some day they'd be back in my life again.

While Darren was showering, I did the same, but in the master bath, and it felt good to be able to take as long as I wanted, using real bath products and an actual bottle of shampoo. When I completed this simple luxury, I dried off, slipped into some clean underwear and then went out to make certain Darren didn't need anything else, before I crawled between those nice clean sheets on that very comfortable bed.

I slept like a baby that first night home, but when I woke up the following morning, I almost forgot where I was. After I got my bearings, I slid out of bed, used the toilet and then walked down to check on Darren. I discovered he was still sleeping, so I decided to go downstairs, put on a pot of coffee and get things ready so I could make breakfast for us, as soon as Darren joined me. Jack had been kind enough to also stock my fridge, so there was actually food in the house that I could prepare, and I quickly looked over what was there.

About an hour later, Darren came stumbling down the steps, clad only in his boxer-briefs and looking as if he should have stayed in bed for a few more hours.

"Good morning," I greeted him, as he joined me in the dining room. "Did you sleep well?"

"Sleep well? It was absolutely fantastic," he replied. "I almost forgot what it was like to sleep on a real bed. It also took me a few minutes to remember where I was, since everything looks so different in the daylight."

He smiled dreamily after saying this.

"I had the same problem," I confessed. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, I'm starved," he confirmed.

"What would you like? I can whip up some pancakes, French toast, an omelet, eggs of any style, toast, English muffins, bagels… you name it and I've got it. It appears that Jack either went shopping for me or had the company I use do it instead."

"I'm impressed with the choices, but an omelet sounds nice," he hinted. "Would you happen to have ham and cheese to put in it?"

"I think I saw some sliced ham and a package of cheese in the fridge and that sounds good to me too, so I'll whip one up for each of us," I agreed. "How about a bagel to go with that, toasted and with cream cheese?"

"Yeah, ok. Sounds good," he conceded.

After I fixed the omelets and put the pans over the fire to cook, I put the bagels in the toaster and quickly poured each of us a cup of coffee. When everything was ready, we took our time enjoying every leisurely bite. Once we'd finished our first repast together as free men again, we rinsed off the dishes and put them in the dishwasher, before I gave Darren the complete tour of my home. I could tell he was impressed, especially when he saw the pool, so I knew he was going to fit in well here. However, I wondered how I was going to be able to handle things now that I was here, since everything around this place only served to remind me of Jared.

Chapter 28
The Adjustment

Things had been going very well, since Darren began his stay with me. We took the first week or so just to kick back and enjoy not being locked up, which meant we carried on like a couple of kids left at home with no adult supervision. We stayed up late, slept in the next morning and ate what we wanted, whenever we wanted. Then, as it got closer to the beginning of June, Darren urged me to get the pool ready for the summer, because he liked to swim and thought it would be something fun we could do together for exercise. Since I thought this was a good idea too, I did as he asked and then we began spending a great deal of time in the pool together.

We also spent a great deal of time talking about many different topics, one of which was Darren filling me in about more of his life. About the only thing we hadn't done during this time was anything sexual. Since we'd been released, Darren didn't seem to have that urgent need any longer, so I wasn't about to bring it up, if he didn't. We did do other things together though, including a few trips to do some shopping or to see a movie.

At first, I was hesitant about going out, since I was worried about how people were going to react if they recognized me, but I was even more concerned that I might run into Jared, since I didn't know how he might react if that happened. After thinking about it some more, I decided that becoming a recluse would be unfair to Darren, seeing he didn't have a car or other means to get around. I didn't want him to feel that I had talked him into leaving the jail just to stay with me and end up becoming a prisoner in my home. That didn't seem appropriate and I wanted better for him. If I had personal issues, such as my concerns about how I was going to handle various situations, then I'd have to deal with them on my own and not let those concerns affect Darren too.

For the time being, we made a lot of these excursions at night, such as going to a late movie or shopping at Wal-Mart after midnight. Even though I preferred doing things this way, I knew I wouldn't be able to continue this 'vampire' routine forever, because eventually I'd have to drive Darren around to look for a job. Since that would have to be done during the daytime, my preference for remaining in the shadows would ultimately have to come to an end.

Gradually, I weaned myself from this irrational proclivity, but I was only able to do it as long as I took certain precautions. Therefore, whenever I took Darren out during the day I'd don a pair of sunglasses and a hat first, in an effort to appear less recognizable. This seemed to do the trick, so as time went on I began to feel more and more comfortable doing it this way.

Darren was also a big help around the house and even offered to take over some of the household chores for me. He felt that by doing this it would serve as a partial payment for taking him in, so he volunteered to be responsible for the dishes, laundry and basic housecleaning, which freed me up to spend more time on my writing. I was still working on the story I had begun in jail and doing my very best to finish it. The publishing house and editor that had agreed to put out my story based on Jared had decided to publish this story as well and signed me to another generous contract, so this part of my life was good.

In just a few more days, I planned on submitting the final chapters to both my agent and editor, so I will be getting their feedback and suggestions about what they think should be incorporated into them shortly after that. This means the story will probably be going to print within the next couple of months, so I'll end up having had two books published during the span of a single year, which is extremely rare for an author. I always get a little excited when one of my books comes out, especially when I think about the additional money it may generate, particularly when sales exceed the publisher's baseline projections and trigger the lucrative terms for my bonus payments.

It wasn't about the money or even just about me, because I was already thinking ahead and considering other important issues. First of all, I sat down with Darren and began to discuss his future plans and what he hoped to do with his life. I started out by asking him what courses he had been taking in college, while he had been attending, and what he planned to do with it after he got his degree. He then informed me that he had been majoring in computer science, so I asked him if he might be interested in going back to finish up his degree and he told me 'no,' because he'd since discovered there were too many people going into that field, so he thought the prospects of getting a decent job after graduating would be slim. After he'd told me that, I asked him what else he might be interested in doing, and he replied he wasn't sure, so we began to brainstorm about some alternatives for him.

After discussing this over the course of several days, Darren had narrowed his options down and was leaning toward two different programs, neither of which was offered at the local college. He was currently torn between either becoming a teacher, so he could teach computer technology, or getting into computer animation and graphic design, to combine his talents for computers and art. To do either of those things, however, he'd have to attend a college that was much farther away than the local college and that's when he informed me that the college near his parents' house offered both majors, so he might have to return home to follow his dream.

Darren seemed torn about possibly leaving me alone, so I explained to him that he had to do what was best for him and not let anyone or anything stand in his way and keep him from achieving his goal. He promised he'd consider this matter further, until he'd determined which option he thought would be best for him to pursue, and then he'd let me know which career choice he had settled on. I told him that would be fine, but he should start thinking about what he might want to do fairly quickly, if he had any hope of going back to school in the fall.

Even though there were still a few months before classes would begin, chances were that he probably wouldn't be able to get in at the last minute, so he'd have to wait a semester, or maybe even a year, before he'd be able to enroll. He agreed with my logic and then suggested the next thing he would need to do would be to find a job, so he could start saving his money for tuition. I concurred and told him I'd help in any way I could.

Darren immediately began making a list of places he thought he should submit applications for a job, but seeing he didn't have a much of a work history, his choices were limited. The good thing was that he wouldn't need the money to live on and could merely put the money away for a vehicle or his educational bills, since I had offered to cover the rest.

Over the next couple of days, I drove him around to several area locations where he filled out the required job application and even managed a couple of interviews, but he eventually decided to take a job at Walmart, on their night stocking crew. It wasn't a great job, but he liked the hours and I could drive him there and pick him up when his shift ended. The pay was actually better than the other jobs he had interviewed for, because of the overnight premium, so he thought it would work out fine. Now, he would be away during part of the day and I'd be alone during the hours he was working, but I'd probably just be sleeping while he was gone anyway.

Now that he had a job, he'd be able to save up for his future, but he still had to make some decisions pretty quickly, if he hoped to jumpstart a career. We sat down again to talk about that and Darren told me he had decided to try to get into the computer animation and graphic design program at the college near his parents' home. Since he had made up his mind, I suggested he contact both his parents and the college, in order to see what his chances were of getting admitted for the fall semester. If that wasn't possible, then he was going to see if he could apply for the second semester or the following fall. No matter how this worked out, he was moving in the right direction.

We thought it would take at least a month before he heard anything from the college, but he ended up getting a fairly quick response. Unfortunately, the program was full for the upcoming academic year, but they were willing to enroll him the following fall, if he was still interested. He also had some college credits he could transfer into this program, and due to the fact he'd be living at home and not needing a dorm room, it wouldn't be as expensive for him either.

After getting this news, he first talked it over with me and then told his parents he would stay here for another year, since he had a job and a place to live. This way, he could save up to pay for college and wouldn't be a burden on his folks during the interim, since they were still having financial problems of their own. They agreed this arrangement might be best, but it would benefit me as well, because by having him around it has helped to keep me from thinking so much about Jared. I still did, of course, especially whenever we were outside and I happened to glance up the road toward his house, but between working on my stories and spending time with Darren, it has made it a little easier for me to endure.

After I finished making the changes to the final chapters of my story and had submitted them, the book was now set to go to print. After I got over the temporary euphoria of completing this story, I suddenly had another idea, but this time I could go back to utilizing my original publisher. This time, I was thinking about writing a couple of children's picture books and thought that I could use Darren to illustrate them for me. Since these types of stories aren't as lengthy, although it does take a lot of thought to condense a concept so children will comprehend it without getting bored, I decided to do one on bullying and another on empathy.

Before I contacted my publisher about this idea, I talked this over with Darren first, to see if he might be interested in doing this with me, and he seemed thrilled with the idea. He thought that not only would it give him some good exposure as an artist and provide him with something to put on his resume, but I had also agreed to split my royalties, so he'd have another way to earn even more money for college. He could work on the illustrations when he wasn't working at Walmart and I'd be able to tell him what I was looking for on each page, as well as be able to critique what he had done. This was turning into a real partnership, even more than either of us had ever imagined when we first met under those awful circumstances.

Now that the initial planning and agreements had been made, we temporarily fell into a more monotonous existence, but we did have our share of more memorable moments too. One of them was when I called Darren into my office one day, so I could show him something I had done. On one of my trips taking him to work at Walmart, I went in and did some shopping, so I could buy a number of picture frames. After I got them back home, and while he was still at work, I framed all of the pictures he had drawn for me, so I could surprise him when he got back. Not only had I framed them, but I had also hung them strategically on one of the walls of my office, to inspire me while I worked.

When he returned home after finishing his shift, I asked him to join me in my office. I believe he thought this was to discuss ideas for the picture books, but I remained silent and waited to see if he'd notice what I'd done. He merely stared at me for a few minutes, while I shuffled through some papers, but then he began to look around. I enjoyed seeing the expression on his face when he became aware of the fact that I'd showcased his drawings, because I think he initially figured I was merely being polite when I'd told him what I had planned to do with them back when we were in jail. His mouth fell open, his eyes darted back and forth from one drawing to another and then he turned toward me, with this glow radiating from his face. Even before he uttered a word, I knew I had been successful in impressing him with this little display.

"Damn, I didn't think you were really going to do this," he told me, while still gawking at the wall.

"I'm a man of my word," I informed him, "and besides, they are there to inspire me. They not only help to remind me of your wonderful talent, but they also make me remember the rough times we managed to get through by sticking together, so it makes me want to succeed even more, so I can make life a little better for each of us."

He smiled at my response, which indicated to me that he thought it was an adequate explanation.

I'd be willing to wager that I would soon be getting even more of his artistic gems to add to this wall of fame, in addition to what he'd be doing for the picture books, because I could almost see the wheels turning in his head right now. Over the next few days I saw him studying various parts of the house, both inside and out, so I knew I would soon also have some reminders of his time here with me. I tried to guess what types of pictures he might draw, and who or what might be in them, but he remained pretty tight lipped about his plans. No matter what he did, I knew it would absolutely be his best work, so they would be valuable assets to add to my collection.

During this time, Darren also started dating a young woman who worked as a cashier at Walmart. She would come on duty just as Darren was getting ready to leave for the day, or actually night, and I guess they began to talk and hit it off. He didn't tell me much about his dates, so I wasn't sure if he merely wanted to keep this part of his life private or if he felt that I might be hurt if I knew what they were doing together. Although I've had no sexual contact with him since we'd been out, we still remained close and Darren seemed to enjoy other types of contact with me, such as when I placed an arm around his shoulder or merely gave him a gentle pat on his arm or back. I knew he wasn't gay, so this was more like the type of contact a father might have with his son, but I could tell how much he enjoyed it and how often he sought this sort of attention from me.

I saw the girl he was seeing on a couple of occasions when I picked Darren up in the morning and I must admit she was cute. The first time I actually got to meet her, so we could actually talk, was when Darren brought her home one evening, after a date. He didn't tell me he was going to do this in advance, but I was used to her coming to the house to pick him up and drop him off, since Darren didn't have a car, but one night he asked her in and sought me out.

"Julie, I want to introduce you to Bob," he told her. "He's like my second father, so I wanted you two to meet."

I was very flattered by his introduction, but he was still talking.

"And Bob," he continued, "I want you to meet Julie. She works at the store too and we've been getting along really well."

He was beaming now.

"Hi, Julie. It's very nice to meet you," I told her. "I hope Darren has been a gentleman when you're together."

I gave her a wink to let her know I was just teasing.

"Darren?" she shot back. "He does ok, but I think he was a lion or a tiger in a past life, because he likes to pounce without warning."

Darren turned red at this comment and looked astounded that Julie had made such a comment.

"You may be right," I told her, picking up on her comment. "He tends to groom himself a lot as well and he also likes to play with his food."

Julie let out a little giggle when I said this, so I concluded she had her own personal interpretation of what I meant by my last comment.

The three of us sat and chatted for a few minutes, so Julie and I got a chance to know each other better, and then Julie said she had to leave, since she knew Darren had to get ready to go in to work. We said our good-byes and Darren walked her out to her car. He was out there for a few minutes before he came back in, but I heard the front door shut when he entered and merely expected him to head upstairs to change. I guess that's why I was so surprised to see him standing in the doorway of my office, staring at me. As soon as I looked up, he spoke.

"So, what did you think of her?" he wanted to know.

"I think she's very sweet and lovely," I informed him. "And she seems to have a good sense of humor too."

I think he knew what I meant by that.

"Yeah, and she seemed to like you too," he replied, but then he paused briefly and I saw him swallow hard. "You know I really meant what I told her about you."

I looked directly at him and could read the sincerity on his face, so I stood up and walked toward him.

"I knew you did and it meant a great deal to me when I heard you say that," I confirmed. "I hope you realize how deeply your comment touched my heart."

I was looking him straight in the eye right now and could see the tears starting to well up in them. Suddenly, he just threw his arms around my upper body, so he could give me a big hug, and it happened so quickly that it reminded me of Julie's pouncing comment. He squeezed me quite hard in the process, and for quite a long time, before he finally released me again. I wasn't sure what to do or say next, but he took care of that for me.

"You're the one who doesn't realize how many times you've actually saved me since I first met you in jail," he confessed, although I wasn't exactly sure what he was referring to. "It wasn't just that you got your lawyer to help my public defender or even that you saved me when those two guys attacked me, because you did much more than just those things. You gave me hope, offered to be my friend and kept me from thinking about how bad it was in there. You know if you hadn't come along when you did, I might have thrown in with some of those other guys and just learned how to be a good crook. My whole life would probably have turned out completely different, if I hadn't met you in there, so I most likely wouldn't be thinking about going back to college now."

I could see how truly sincere he was being and it really moved me that he felt this way. However, I needed to set him straight about a few things.

"Darren, whatever I did for you wasn't what made the difference in your life," I explained. "Whatever happened came from within you and not from me. You are a decent, intelligent person and you possess some very interesting talents. All I did was to help show you what was hidden there, so you could learn how to use it to your advantage. Whether you took my advice and utilized those traits was strictly your choice, but I was fairly confident you'd choose wisely. All I did was to show you your options and then I sat back and watched, until you actually acted on them."

"But without you there to show me, I might have made some really bad choices instead," he admitted. "I knew a kid in high school who went to jail right after he graduated and all he learned while he was there was how to be a good criminal."

"That was him and not you," I pointed out. "I don't think being dishonest or a criminal is part of your make-up. Even if you had decided to take that route, I don't think you'd have been very good at it or happy living that kind of life. I think it might have taken you a little longer to discover that fact for yourself, but all you had to do was to focus on what was in your heart the entire time. When you did, you would have realized that you weren't meant to be a criminal and couldn't be happy trying to be something you aren't."

He looked at me, almost as if I had just scolded him.

"That may be how you see it, but I know you were the one who actually changed my life," he reiterated. "That's why I will always be grateful to you for being there for me when I really needed someone."

After saying this, he hesitantly reached out in my direction and then gave me another major league hug. I returned the gesture and finally relented.

"Ok. I'll give in and take some of the credit then, just as long as you take the rest," I whispered in his ear.

After I'd said that, I felt him squeeze me even harder and he had a huge grin on his face when he finally broke the embrace.

"Darren, does Julie know how we met?" I inquired.

"Yeah, she does. She recognized your name from seeing it in the paper and wanted to know why I was living with you," he answered. "I told her everything, including the fact that I knew you weren't the type of person who would force someone into doing anything they didn't want to and she believes me. In fact, I think she likes you too. She said something like that when I walked her out to her car tonight."

"Interesting!" I responded, because it was the only thing I could think to say at this point. "Have you told her about your plans to go back home and attend college?"

"Yes, she knows all about that too," he stated, very matter-of-factly.

"And she doesn't have a problem with it?" I questioned, mildly surprised.

"She isn't exactly happy about it, but I told her I'd be coming back here and staying with you each summer, if that's ok with you?"

He looked concerned, when he realized he had told her this without asking me first. Sensing his predicament, I quickly took him off the hook.

"Of course it is. You are welcome here anytime you wish to come and you can stay for as long as you'd like," I confirmed. "I mean, what kind of a second father would I be if I told you it wasn't ok?"

After hearing me say this, he seemed to relax a bit and then let out a sigh, before he gave me another hug.

"Thanks, Dad, I knew I could count on you," he mumbled into my ear.

At this point, he let his cheek come to rest upon my shoulder, as he continued his embrace. After a few seconds remaining this way, his head suddenly shot up and he looked at me with a panicked expression on his face.

"You don't mind if I call you Dad once in a while, do you?" he asked, concerned.

I could tell he just realized that he might have gone too far again, by the way his body had stiffened. It must have suddenly hit him that he had called me 'Dad' without seeking my permission to do so first, so now I felt it was my turn to reassure him.

"No, son, that doesn't bother me at all," I replied. "Even though I realize I'm not actually old enough to be your dad, I'm still very honored to know you feel that way about me."

Darren began to smile, now that he knew everything was all right, and then he hugged me once again. After he finally broke this embrace, I decided it was time to move on to something else and quickly switched gears.

"Ok, so let's get back to Julie now," I announced, bringing him back from wherever his mind had taken him during this time. "So she's fine with your going away and just coming back for vacations?"

"I guess," he answered. "She knows that I'll probably have to move away from both areas, if I hope to eventually find a job in my field, and she seems to be ok with that too. I still want to come back to visit you once in a while though, if you don't mind, and she seems cool with that as well."

"That's great," I agreed. "I just wanted to be sure that you two had discussed these things and agreed that it would work for both of you as well. That's all that matters."

He smiled.

"And how about you? Will that work for you too?" he asked, as he stared at me and studied my reaction.

"What do you mean?" I wondered, since I was a little confused about what he was getting at.

"I mean, will it be all right with you if I'm only able to come back to visit you once in a while?" he clarified. "I know how much you've done for me, so I don't want you to feel that I'm deserting you and leaving you all alone again either."

He actually looked as if he felt he had just disappointed me and might burst into tears at any moment.

"Darren, I've told you before that you have to do what's best for you first, and then the rest will fall into place," I answered. "I'll be happy to see you whenever and for however long you can manage, but the most important thing is that you're happy and doing what you want to do. If that's the case, then I'll be happy for you too. You don't need to worry about me or feel you owe me anything, but I'll be tickled pink just watching you grow and develop into the fine young man that I know you are. I'll be here for you, if you ever need me, and I'll be happy to welcome you back, whenever you wish to come visit."

I guess that was enough to convince him that I bore no ill feelings about his plans, or about him in general. He seemed satisfied that everything was settled and we could go on with our lives.

Throughout June, I slowly began to slip into another funk, when I realized that only a year earlier I had been spending a great deal of time with Jared and Josh. In fact, about this time last year, Sherry and I were starting to plan for Jared's birthday party and I began to think about those times and remember everything we had done and all of the hours we had been together. I thought about the time we spent in the pool, the miniature golf outings, the fishing trips and all the various other ways we had spent time with each other.

These thoughts also prompted me to think about how Jared had kept after me to do sexual things with him, how I had put him off and stalled him for as long as I could, but then finally gave in to his desires. I was driving myself crazy, as I remembered each of those times, but what bothered me even more was that I knew Jared's birthday was approaching and just barely a month away.

Darren seemed to notice how depressed I was becoming again, so he tried many different ways to snap me out of the hole I had mentally dug for myself. First, he tried to talk me into going someplace with him, or with Julie and him, but I didn't feel like doing that. Then, he tried to get me to go out for a meal, but I preferred to just whip up a little something at home, because I wasn't eating very much at the time and knew I'd merely end up wasting most of what I ordered. When that didn't work, he even offered to do something with me again, like we had done in jail, but I told him that wasn't necessary either. I thanked him for his concern, however, as well as his offer, but I told him he didn't have to worry and I'd work my way through this in time.

Seeing nothing else had worked, Darren decided to use another approach to pull me out of my funk. I had just picked him up from work when he began to explain his idea to me.

"Hey, Dad, what would you say about starting an exercise routine again, to help keep us both in shape?" he asked. "I don't think either of us wants to lose what we worked so hard to gain in there, at least I know I don't. Do you?"

He appeared hopeful, as he looked into my eyes and waited to see how I was going to respond. I thought about this for a minute or two and eventually decided that he had made a very good point. I had wanted to get in better physical condition, so what better time was there than now to keep working toward that goal? I also realized that doing something like maintaining an exercise program is always harder to do alone, so why not do it while I had an eager partner? Doing it might also distract me from the thoughts I was having about Jared and help to improve my appetite, so I concluded that he had struck upon a very good idea and we should run with it.

"Ok, that sounds good to me," I concurred. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

Now, I had tossed the ball back into his court.

"Let me think about that for a second," he replied, as he quickly tried to organize his thoughts. "Well, we could start every day with a swim, and then maybe go for a walk or a jog, before we come back to the house and do some exercises. After that, we could work out with some weights, if you have any."

"I have a few, but we can get whatever we need, if we decide to do this," I agreed, since I didn't want to put a damper on his idea.

"Great, and then at night we could go for another walk or jog and take another dip in the pool before we call it a day," he added. "That way we'll only tie up a little time in the morning and a little more at night, so you'll still have the rest of the day to write. We could do the first part after you wake up each day and right after I get home from work, and then we could do the last part before I leave for work and you go to bed."

"Well, it sounds like a plan for me, if that works for you," I agreed, while trying to sound as positive as I could about his suggestion.

"Great, do you want to start tomorrow then?" he followed.

"Sure, but I'll need to do some shopping first, so I can pick up some more weights and things like that," I replied. "While you're sleeping today, I'll go to the sporting goods store and check out their weight training equipment and pick out a few items, unless you'd like to go with me to do this?"

"I'd like to be there too, if you don't mind," he confirmed.

His face had a pleading quality to it, so I knew I didn't want to disappoint him.

"We could go now, if that's okay with you, and then you could go to sleep after we get back," I suggested.

"Yeah, that would work for me," he concurred.

He then gave me a big grin, so we went out and got in the Tahoe, drove down to the big sporting goods store and began to look around. Darren knew exactly what he thought we would need, but he ran it all by me first, to make sure I was ok with each of his selections.

While we were discussing what we might need, an employee came over to offer his assistance, and it was quite apparent that he was also into bodybuilding. Almost immediately, Darren and the man got into a discussion about the merits of the various pieces of equipment, which of the items would be best for our combined needs and what discounts might be available, if we bought multiple items at once. I was surprised by Darren's negotiating skills, since most guys his age would just assume the price was the price, but he was doing quite well on his own. After a few more minutes he asked the employee if he would leave us alone for a couple of minutes, so we could talk things over. He agreed, and soon Darren and I were able to discuss this amongst ourselves.

"What do you think, Dad?" he asked, very directly.

"I think I'm amazed at how well you dealt with that guy," I admitted. "Where did you learn to negotiate like that?"

My comment brought a huge grin to his face.

"My dad used to be the sales manager at a car dealership back home, before it went out of business," he replied, "and I spent some time with him at work and watched how he did things since I was a little kid. He also let me sit in some of his sales meetings, when he was training the new salespeople how to deal with customers, and that's how I picked up a lot of these tricks."

"You were obviously a good student then," I agreed. "Wherever you learned it, it was very impressive."

"Thanks, but what do you think about the equipment?" he wanted to know, suddenly very business-like again. "What things do you think we should get?"

"Hey, I'll bow to your expertise on that," I answered, so I was surprised when his smile began to dim.

"I can't make those kinds of choices. You have to do that," he insisted.

"And why would that be?" I wondered.

"Because I don't know how much money you want to spend," he confessed.

Now, I understood his concern and made up my mind to make this easier for him.

"I'm willing to spend whatever it takes to keep us both in shape," I announced. "You know the equipment better than I do, and you know what we need, so you have to pick it out. As long as they are things we need and will use, then I'll pay whatever price you can negotiate. Does that sound fair to you?"

He still didn't look convinced, however.

"But I don't want to overspend and upset you," he insisted.

"You won't. Just tell me what you think we need, work a price out with the guy you were talking to earlier…"

"That was the store manager," he interrupted, giving me a detail I had missed earlier.

"Even better," I announced. "Work out the overall price with the manager and then I'll either tell you yes or no. Will that take you off the hook then?"

"Yeah, thanks. And I'll only get what we absolutely need," he added.

He then went and got the store manager again, explained what we needed and then negotiated a price. He actually got us fifteen percent off on all of the items we were going to purchase, and I thought that was admirable, seeing some of those items were also on sale. Once I gave him the go ahead to make the purchase, then Darren and a stock clerk set about loading up the items on a cart, got everything rung up and then offered to take the items out to the car for me. I quickly handed Darren the keys, so they could load everything into the Tahoe while the manager and I completed the purchase. After the manager ran my credit card, the transaction was approved and he handed me the sales slip, and then I went out to join Darren for the drive home. They were just loading the final items in the back when I got there.

Darren was all smiles as we drove back to the house and I knew I'd get my first workout with this new equipment just helping him unload these items from the car and carrying everything inside. I was definitely right about that, because it was a demanding, tiring and a more strenuous amount of exercise than I'd had in quite a while. Darren seemed to be enjoying this physical exertion, as well as taking pleasure in my misery.

"It's a good thing we got this stuff," he teased, "because now I can see how far out of shape you are."

He gave me an evil grin as he said this.

"Well, this old guy is going to eventually work you into the ground, while you try to keep up with me," I shot back.

He readily accepted the gauntlet I had thrown down and gave me a taunting sneer.

"You can try, old man. You can try," he retorted, and then he laughed out loud.

"Hey, who are you calling an old man?" I shot back.

"Well, if the shoe fits…" he began, but I didn't give him a chance to finish.

Before he could get any more out of his mouth, I tackled and wrestled him to the floor. I immediately realized this had been a mistake, because he was younger, stronger and more agile than I was, so I soon found myself pinned to the floor and begging for mercy.

"Ha! See I told you that you were out of shape," he chortled, while sitting on my chest. "Now, admit that you're an old man and I'm the champ."

I wasn't going to give in, but he began to bounce up and down on my stomach, while playfully swatting me across the face.

"Ok, ok," I relented. "So I'm an old man, so what?"

"And I'm the champ," he pushed.

I wouldn't give him that satisfaction of adding that to my comment, so he started the same routine of bouncing on my abdomen and gently slapping my face again.

"Ok, ok," I gave in. "You're the chump too."

"Not chump, I'm the champ," he snapped, catching my intentional slip.

"Alright, you're the champ then, chump," I rephrased, which drew an evil glare in response.

"And the champ is going to work this old man back into shape," he added, grinning.

"You'll be sorry then," I challenged.

"Why?" he wondered.

"Because once I'm in better shape, I'll be sitting and bouncing on your chest, while smacking you in the face next time," I threatened.

He let out a loud guffaw after he heard this, to let me know that he didn't believe a word of my boast.

"In your dreams, old man," he scoffed. "In your dreams."

He let me up and then went off to shower and get some sleep. I used this time to think back upon the past few hours and replay everything over in my mind. I certainly had enjoyed the interaction we just shared.

After I'd finished savoring my recollections of the brief give and take I'd just had with Darren, I eventually began to work on the picture books Darren and I were going to collaborate on. It wasn't as easy as I'd initially suspected and relaying those concepts to a much younger crowd was actually quite difficult. Therefore, I wasn't getting a lot done, but having spent the time with Darren and now focusing on this story had, at least temporarily, made me forget about missing Josh and Jared, so I momentarily stopped feeling sorry for myself.

I did take time to fix a nice meal for Darren later, so he'd have something good to eat before he went to work, and it was almost done when I heard him coming down the stairs. Not bad timing. As he entered the dining room, he smiled when he saw the table set and the food on it, so he thanked me for taking such good care of him like this. After I told him it was my pleasure, we sat down and he ate very well. Once we'd finished, he rinsed off the dishes, put everything in the dishwasher and then fixed a lunch to take with him. As soon as he was done with that, we got in the Tahoe and I drove him to work. As he was getting out, I told him I'd see him later, when I picked him up after his shift.

"Don't forget we start exercising today, old man," he added, as he turned back to face me, "so make sure you get plenty of rest."

"I won't forget and I'll be ready for you, you young smart ass," I responded, not knowing what else to say.

As soon as he shut the door, I started to drive away, but stopped again when I saw him wave at me. I turned and made sure he saw me waving back, before I finished making the return trip home.

I had only been there for less than a half hour, when the doorbell rang, which surprised me. It was late and I was just getting ready to head up to bed, so I couldn't imagine whom it could be. Suddenly, I began to worry that something had happened to Darren and someone was bringing him home. I wondered if he might be sick or possibly had been injured during that short period of time, so I hurried over to the door and opened it, so I could discover what was going on. However, I wasn't prepared for what awaited me. There, standing at my door was Sherry, Jared and Josh's mother.

"Bob, may I come in, please? I think we need to talk," she stated.

This made me wonder if she was about to unload on me for what I had done with her son.

Chapter 29
The Various Perspectives

I was shocked to find Sherry at my door, but even more so by her request, so I didn't respond right away.

"Bob, I'm not going to bite," she informed me when I hesitated. "I just think we should talk."

This comment brought me back to reality.

"I'm sorry, Sherry. Come in, please," I urged.

She entered and I guided her into the living room. I expected I was about to get the tongue-lashing of my life, if not worse, but I was prepared to take it.

"Bob, I think there are a great many things we need to discuss," she began, so I decided to beat her to the punch and steal some of her thunder.

"Sherry, I don't know what to say," I began. "I know a simple 'I'm sorry' won't suffice and I wish there was some way I could erase the past and make things better."

I was trying my best to make amends, even though I was sure there was nothing I could do or say that would set things right or make the situation better.

"Bob, I'm not here to blame you," she interrupted, surprising me with her comment. "Yes, Jared and Josh have been hurt greatly by this whole episode, but it wasn't because of anything you did."

I was in total shock now and sat dumbstruck.

"When I first learned about everything and was told what had happened between you and my son, I was furious," she admitted, "but that only lasted until I talked to Jared about what had happened. He confirmed that you two had been intimate, and at first it disgusted me, but then Jared explained how he had kept pestering you to do those things with him and how you had put him off for such a long time. All at once I began to realize that you hadn't forced Jared into doing anything and that he had been the aggressor, not you. Suddenly, I began to realize that my son was… well, you know… gay… and he had fallen in love with you. I never realized that before, but once I did, it was only too obvious how much he actually cared about you.

"I understand that in the eyes of the law he was a minor at that time," she continued, "so legally it was wrong, no matter who instigated the contact, but I also realized that you only treated him with love and tenderness. I wish I could say the same thing about those bastards he dealt with later. I'm sorry about the language, Bob, but that is the least offensive term I could think of to describe how I feel about them. If anyone harmed my sons, it was them, not you."

She paused here and took a deep breath, stared off into the distance for a few seconds and then resumed with what she wanted to say.

"It all began when that aide overheard something Josh had said to his friend," she finally continued. "He wasn't judging you or his brother, but I think he wanted his friend to try something similar with him. However, once the aide reported it, that's when the real abuse began. Jared tried to explain that you'd never forced him to do anything and both he and Josh had said they wouldn't sign any statements or testify against you. That's when the police and social workers began to make their threats and when the actual abuse began."

At this point she paused again, so she could wipe away the tears that were forming in her eyes. I felt really badly for her now, but I wasn't sure what to do or say. After a brief pause, she began again.

"Those pricks all teamed up and began to tell both boys that they HAD to sign those statements and testify against you, because you were bad and needed to be stopped," she added. "Of course, neither boy believed that for even one second, so the threats began to escalate. Next, those same people told the boys that if they didn't sign statements and testify against you, then all their friends would conclude, and possibly even be informed, that they had voluntarily participated in those acts.

"Jared wasn't about to back down and told them that's exactly what had happened and he didn't care who knew it," she went on, "but these so called 'public servants' then told my sons that once their friends knew they were gay and participating in gay sex with an adult, then they'd turn on them and probably beat them up or worse. Those threats still failed to shake the boys' resolve as well, so they added even more pressure.

"This was when the boys were told that if they didn't sign the statements and agree to testify against you that they would go to court and file PINS petitions against both of them," she explained. "If you haven't heard of that term before, the acronym PINS stands for 'Persons In Need of Supervision,' and the authorities were threatening to take the boys away from me. They stated they would tell the court that the boys weren't properly supervised and that I wasn't a fit parent, because I had allowed this to happen. They said if I had been more diligent in my duties as a mother, I would never have allowed them to spend so much time at your house or go on trips with you."

She started to breakdown at this point and was sobbing. I reached over to comfort her and she merely looked up at me, forced out a weak smile and nodded slightly.

"You are so amazing and caring," she began anew, "but I hate each of those other motherfu…"

She stopped before she completed the word and looked at me in horror, shocked that she'd almost said that. Once she got over her initial horror about her near slip, she began to laugh.

"I'm sorry, but that's what they are," she acknowledged. "They actually told the boys that if the courts agreed with them, then they would be taken away from me and placed in foster homes. That's when the boys began to show signs of breaking, but they still didn't give in. They continued to hold their ground, but then one of the people from the D.A.'s office, the detective in charge and the caseworker from D.S.S. threatened that if they didn't agree to their demands, they'd go directly to the courthouse and have the judge sign the orders. Then they'd have them picked up, taken away and held at a group facility, so that's when both boys relented and told the authorities they'd do what they wanted. I think they only gave in to keep me from being alone though.

"Later, after they were returned to me, I watched how they both began to suffer for what they had been forced to do or were about to do," she continued. "Jared would come home from school every night, go straight to his room and shut himself in for the night. He only came out to eat, but even then he wouldn't eat very much and getting him to say anything was like pulling teeth. It broke my heart to stand outside his door nearly every night and listen as he cried himself to sleep, because he knew how much harm his agreeing to cooperate had done to you. Josh wasn't quite that bad, but he also felt extremely bad about the problems he had caused for you after he'd let that slip and how badly it had all hurt his brother.

"I've never seen my boys as depressed and unhappy as they were after this all began to happen," she admitted, "but as the time approached when they'd have to testify against you, with you sitting in the same room, they became totally inconsolable. The night before the court date, I had my hands full trying to keep them from totally losing it. Neither of them wanted to do this and they even asked me what would happen if they refused to talk or if they claimed nothing had ever happened when they were put on the stand. They even talked about running away. I explained that the authorities would probably hold good to their threat then, if they did anything like that, and they'd be taken from me. That's when they tried to talk me into just packing up and leaving here. They said we could come back after this was all over, and if they had suggested this earlier, I might have gone along with their request, but by this time, I felt it was too late to do anything like that.

"Even as we left the house that morning, I still didn't know what the boys were going to do once we got there," she confessed. "There was a lot of whispering going on in the back seat of my car and I was really afraid to ask them what they were planning."

She took another brief pause at this point, to wipe her eyes once more and clear her throat. Finally, I came to my senses and asked her if she'd like a drink and she said a glass of water would be nice. I ran out to the kitchen, grabbed a big glass, filled it with ice cubes and water and then brought it back to the living room to give to her. She thanked me, took a big drink and then continued her story.

"That morning at the courthouse, I was told I couldn't stay with the boys and the lady from D.S.S. led them away, but none of us realized that you were going to be on the elevator when they stepped inside. The boys told me later that when they saw you, they began to feel even worse than they had before. They said they couldn't even lift their heads to look at you or acknowledge your presence and it was obvious how badly this was eating at them. Once you and your lawyer disappeared from sight, both boys began to cry and were nearly hysterical as they waited outside to be called in to testify.

"I had come up to sit in the courtroom that day, but when I heard the boys crying, I went to see the D.A. and begged him not to make them do this," she admitted. "I explained how much emotional pain this was causing them, but I was soon informed that they would either testify or they'd be taken away from me before we had a chance to go home. At that point, I lost it and called the D.A. a few choice names. I'm sure I was about to get a lecture from him, but that was when he was called into the courtroom. I tried to follow him inside, but a police officer prevented me from entering and made me wait outside. I guess they were afraid I'd cause a scene in there."

After saying this, she paused again and took another drink of water.

"About a half-hour later the D.A. came back out and brusquely informed me that the boys wouldn't be needed and I could take them home," she explained. "The boys were brought back to be with me again and the three of us just stood there, speechless, totally bewildered and confused. The situation was cleared up for us a few minutes later, when we learned you had accepted a plea agreement and pled guilty."

She stopped again and looked me squarely in the eyes, before she spoke again.

"Bob, we all know that you did that to prevent the boys from having to take the stand and do something they didn't want to do," she confirmed. "The boys felt badly that you were going to have to go to jail, but I think it hurt them a little less, since they didn't feel that what they'd said had sent you there."

She now got up and walked toward me, so she could give me a hug. As soon as she released me again, she continued to tell me what she'd come here to say.

"Out of all of those people, especially the ones who were supposedly doing this to help my sons, you were the only one who put my boys' welfare above your own situation and career," she stated. "No matter what you and Jared did, I know it was done out of love and that you alone would never do anything to harm him. The boys and I talked this over later, at home, and we all agreed that we would be forever in your debt. Rather than put the boys in that horrendous position of testifying against you, you took them off the hook and went to jail, sacrificing yourself to save them. Bob, we all love you dearly and the boys miss you and want things to go back to the way they were."

Her eyes seemed to be pleading with me at this moment and I could tell that everything she had said was sincere.

Now, I understood the drift of her visit and knew she wasn't here to rip me a new asshole for what I had done to her sons, but unfortunately I had to face something far worse. I could have understood and taken her abuse and anger, but this was a bombshell I had never even considered. No matter how much I might want to resume the life we had before all of this had taken place, I knew nothing like that could happen now. While I was in jail, I'd conceded that I wouldn't dare to even approach the boys again, at least until both of them had reached the legal age. Now, I had to inform Sherry of that same fact.

"Sherry, I'm afraid that I don't see how anything like that can happen, at least not right away," I pointed out.

I think this stunned Sherry more than anything else that had happened and she looked at me blankly, somewhat confused and disappointed.

"It's not that I wouldn't like things to go back to the way they were," I continued, "but that would open up a whole new can of legal worms for me."

I could see the wheels spinning in her head.

"I don't think it has to be that way," she countered. "My boss has a very good friend who is a lawyer and he worked it so I could get some legal advice without having to pay for it. The lawyer told me that as soon as Jared celebrated his next birthday he'll have reached the legal age of consent in this state and then the two of you could do whatever you wanted. If you remember, his birthday is in just a few weeks."

Now, I was the one who was speechless, as I tried to rationalize the things Sherry had just told me. I don't know how long I sat there before I was able to respond, but eventually I came back to my senses and broke the silence.

"Sherry, I don't want to argue with you, but I know my lawyer told me that a restraining order had been issued to keep me away from you and the boys," I explained. "If I ignore that, I could be sent to jail again. I'm sorry, but that's not a place I want to ever see again."

"I understand," she replied, sympathetically, "but I've also done some checking on that. The restraining order had a six-month time limit on it and was only meant to keep you from swaying our testimony or threatening us. It is invalid now."

Suddenly, I had to take a few moments to be able to digest this information. I sat silently in my chair once more and had no idea about how much time had passed before I looked over at Sherry again. I could see she was hopeful that I would accept her logic, yet dreading the possibility that I might reject her argument. Finally, I broke the silence.

"Sherry, I don't know what to say," I confessed. "Before I can make any decisions, I'll have to consult both of my attorneys, to see what advice they have for me. All I can tell you is that I'll consider everything you've said, but I can't make any promises. I still love you and the boys, and although I already suspected much of what you told me, I now know for sure that the boys only did what they felt they had to, in order to protect their own welfare. I will never hold that against them, but I'm also not sure whether or not anything like that can ever happen between us again. I do want to thank you for coming here to explain this to me, because at least now I know that you and the boys don't hate me and I understand the reason why things happened as they did."

I was going to say more, but Sherry interrupted me yet again.

"Bob, I'm certain you wouldn't hesitate if you could see how much Jared wants to be with you," she admitted. "I'm not sure I'll ever understand why he's attracted to guys, instead of girls, but I do know he couldn't have made a better choice for a lover." She smiled at me, while I blushed. "I know there is no one in this world, or any other, who would love him more than you do, so I'm willing to give you both my blessing. All I ask is that you come back into his life and heal his pain. Even Josh needs you, although not in the same way, and we'll all be better off with you in our lives again."

What in the hell could I say to that? I appreciated her deep understanding and acceptance of the situation, but there were still a bunch of legal issues I'd have to consider first. I failed to do that once and look what it did to me, so I wasn't about to make that same mistake again.

"Sherry, I don't know if you could ever understand how much your visit has helped and how much it means to me, but the best I can tell you is I'll take this under advisement," I told her, in all sincerity. "I'll contact my lawyers and get their opinions on the legal aspects of what you've told me and then we'll go from there. I don't know what more I can do."

Sherry studied me for a few seconds, but I wasn't sure what she was sizing me up for. Finally, she ended my curiosity and let me know what she was thinking.

"You could end both Jared and Josh's misery, as well as make Jared the happiest kid in the world again, if you would do this for us," she countered. "I have watched them both suffer and seen Jared withdraw from the world during the past few months. I'd like to have my boys back and I think you are the only one who can do that for me. He blossomed under your guidance and love and that's the kid I want back now. You, and only you, can do that for us again."

I didn't immediately respond and merely attempted to digest what she had just told me, but I knew she was waiting for my answer. I had to say something or she might not leave.

"Sherry, I told you the best I can do is consider your proposal and talk things over with my lawyers," I confirmed. "If and when I make a decision, you will be the first to know."

She looked slightly disappointed, but I think she realized this was the best response she was going to get for now. Finally accepting that fact, she reluctantly decided it was time for her to leave.

"Bob, just don't forget how much that boy loves you," she reminded me. "In fact, if you hadn't made that plea agreement, I'm afraid Jared would have risked the chance of being taken away from me, before he would have testified against you. He was deeply hurt and extremely sad knowing you were going to jail, but I think he was relieved that he didn't have to feel like he was the one who had sent you there. I'll always love you for doing that for him."

After I had digested what she had just said, I thanked her for coming once more and then escorted her to the door, as she left to go home. Once she was gone, I sat down and began to analyze everything she had told me. Later, when I glanced over to see what time it was, it was already 2:00 a.m. and I'd have to get up at again 7:00, so I'd be there to pick Darren up at 7:30. However, getting up would be the easy part, because after that Darren would be dragging me off to begin our exercise regimen. I wasn't sure if this would be a good time to start this routine with him, but I didn't want to disappoint him either, seeing I knew how much he was counting on this happening.

I hustled to bed, but my mind was still reeling from everything that had happened tonight. I'm not sure what time I actually fell asleep, but it seemed as if I had just dozed off when the alarm began to buzz. Wearily, I turned it off, rolled out of bed and dragged myself to the bathroom, to relieve myself. Then, I brushed my teeth, but I seemed to only have as much strength as an eighty-year old paraplegic. Somehow, I managed to get dressed, drag myself downstairs and get into the S.U.V. so I could drive to Walmart to pick up Darren. I could see him talking to his girlfriend as I drove up and then he raced over to join me. As he entered the vehicle, he took one look at me and his mouth dropped open.

"Dad, you look awful!" he exclaimed. What's wrong with you?"

He had this extremely worried expression on his face, so I knew I would have to try to reassure him.

"It's nothing," I replied. "It's just that I had a visitor last night, after I dropped you off at work, so I didn't get very much sleep."

He continued to stare at me.

"We don't have to start exercising today," he offered, showing his concern.

"No, I'll be fine," I replied, not knowing if it was actually the truth or a lie. "If I need a little nap later, then I can always take one while you're sleeping, but now we have to begin working out. The quicker we start doing this, then the sooner I'll be able to whip your butt."

Darren took this as a challenge, so I knew I was going to get one hell of a workout now.

"Ok, but remember you asked for it," he informed me, with a smirk.

We drove home, went inside and put on our swimsuits, so we could take a little dip in the pool first. We swam a bunch of laps before we got out and then we changed into our jogging gear and went for a very brisk walk, rather than a jog. Due to the fact that I was afraid of running into Jared, we didn't walk anywhere near the house, and since I didn't want to run into any younger kids either, we also didn't use the track at the local school. Instead, I took us over to the college and we walked around the perimeter of the campus.

It wasn't a nice leisurely stroll, as you might take with a lover, but instead we set out at a rather energetic pace, which got our heart rates up quickly. We finished our walk by doing another two laps around the track and then we moved onto the football field to do our exercises. Darren was like a drill sergeant, as he called out which exercises we were going to do and then counted off each repetition as we did it. After participating in a variety of calisthenics and completing this vigorous workout, we took a more relaxing walk around the track and then finished up with some stretches, to work the toxins out of our muscles. Once we had completed doing all of this, we returned home.

When we got there, I helped Darren assemble some of the equipment we had purchased for our weight training, including a weight bench and a couple of training stations. Putting those items together and lifting all the various parts turned out to be workout enough for me today, so we stopped after doing that and called an end to our first morning session. We then both went up to shower, but Darren went to bed once he had cleaned up, and I went back down to my office to get a little writing done. All in all, I felt pretty good after that first go at our new morning routine and pleased that I had actually held up better than I might have expected.

The rest of my day seemed to go by fairly slowly, because I just couldn't get into writing. I ended up spending most of my time thinking about what Sherry had told me earlier. Even though I had concluded that Jared and Josh would probably never have reported me on their own, I never imagined the extent to which the authorities had gone to secure my conviction. I thought about Sherry's comment that both boys had been harmed, but not by me, and then I began to appreciate what she had meant by that comment. Sure, Jared and I had enjoyed some sexual activities together and the little shit had made me feel alive again, but I don't think Sherry OR Jared felt I had harmed him in any way. However, the contempt she felt for the authorities was obvious and very deep-seated.

Not only had they threatened that sweet kid into making a statement about what we had done, but they were also going to force him to testify against someone he loved. It hadn't been easy to get him to cooperate and the authorities even had to threaten to take both boys away from their mother. When the boys still balked, the authorities even went as far as to promise they would make good on their threat to get what THEY wanted.

I found it ironic that they claimed I had harmed the boys by my actions, but did they actually think that what they did hadn't harmed them even worse? Did this show any concern for the boys' welfare or did they scar them far more than I could ever have done, even if what we did was as bad as the legal system claimed? Were they really protecting the boys or just making a name for themselves and possibly furthering their own private agendas and careers? In the long run, who really harmed these boys more?

I guess those were the same sort of questions Sherry had been asking and she made it crystal clear that she had already made up her mind on those points. Now, she was asking me back into her sons' lives and pretty much giving me a green light as far as Jared was concerned, but I still had the law to consider. To this end, I sat down and called Bruno next, so I could explain the situation and discuss my concerns. I also questioned him about some of the things Sherry had told me just a few hours before.

Bruno was very patient and went over everything in great detail. He very thoroughly brought me up to speed on all of the laws that pertained to this situation and explained how each one might be interpreted. He then offered suggestions about how he perceived everything I had told him. Before I concluded my conversation with him, I asked about the restraining order, and he said he'd have to read it again, to see what it said and what legal ramifications it might still hold for me. He then told me he'd call back to relay his honest opinion, after he had a chance to do that.

Bruno also told me he had talked to Sherry and the boys that day after court. Although I didn't realize it at the time, after I had been led to jail, he went back upstairs to see if he could find them, so he could explain why I had taken the plea bargain. He stated that he could tell each of them still considered me a friend and felt terrible about what had happened. He said it was easy for him to see how crushed they all were, because they had inadvertently, goaded on by some over overzealous public servants, caused me to go to jail.

Before he concluded the call, he wished me well, but then remembered he was going to check on the restraining order for me, so he told me he'd be back in touch shortly. I thanked him one final time and then we concluded our conversation.

After I finished talking to Bruno, I called Jack, so I could get his take on this situation as well. I think he was not only surprised by this new revelation, but he was also concerned about me resuming relations with any of them. Sensing his reluctance, I went into great detail about our past experiences and about the things Sherry had told me. After listening to all of this new information, I think he changed his perspective too, so now he just warned me to be careful. He did mention a few things that I thought were relevant and highly significant before we concluded our discussion, so I thanked him for his input. Once I finished speaking to Jack, I began thinking things over once more, while I waited for Bruno's return call. I wasn't sure when that would be, but for now I couldn't concentrate on anything else.

I was actually surprised when Bruno called me back later in the day, because I thought it would take him longer to complete his investigation. First, he told me he had read over the order of protection and had determined that it was no longer valid. He said it had been a temporary order, to protect the boys before the trial, and he had found no other documents that extended it or set any new parameters limiting my contact with them. He said the only restriction I would have would be that I was a registered sex offender and had to honor the stipulations that entailed. I thanked him once more, although I realized I'd be getting a bill for this service, but I was happy to have a better understanding about how things stood for now.

I was still mulling all of this over when Darren woke up and he was ready and raring to get going again. He told me to put my swimsuit on, so we could go for a swim, and I actually thought this distraction would be good for me right now. We swam some more laps and actually did a few aerobic type exercises in the water as well, and then we got out, dried off and changed into our jogging outfits again. Once we were ready, we drove back to the campus and duplicated our earlier walk. The only difference was, this time we didn't do the exercises after we finished our walk.

Once we got back to the house, we both showered and then I worked on fixing us a meal, while he got ready for work. I also fixed something he could take with him for lunch, and when we sat down to eat, he asked me a question.

"What's up, Dad? You've seemed distracted ever since I woke up," he observed.

I quickly explained to him about Sherry's visit, some of the things she'd said and the implications of her requests. He listened very carefully and then offered his own advice.

"It sounds like that kid loves you even more than I do," he stated, "so I think his mother might be right."

I was somewhat surprised by his comment, so I looked up to study his expression. I could see that he was being serious and this wasn't meant as a joke, but before I had a chance to respond, he decided to continue his train of thought.

"Look, I'm not gay, so I don't love you in the same way," he clarified, "but I can sure see how someone could. I think this boy wants and needs you, as much as you want and need him, so I'd suggest you go for it, just as soon as he's legal. Once he's old enough to make those decisions for himself, you two should be very happy together."

I appreciated his comments, but wasn't sure I understood his true feelings about this.

"You mean you approve of my having a sexual relationship with this boy?" I asked, just to be sure.

"Absolutely. I enjoyed the things you did with me at the time," he assured me, "so I can see how someone else might enjoy that too."

"And it wouldn't keep you from coming back to see me or change your opinion of me?" I persisted.

"Hell, no. Not at all," he confirmed. "In fact, I'd probably just consider him to be a little brother, and a very lucky little brother at that."

"And what do you mean by that?" I wondered.

"I mean he'd be very lucky to have such a loving, caring and gentle lover as you," he explained, and then he gave me one of his special grins.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked, since I still wasn't convinced. "I mean, are you sure something like that wouldn't bother you? What if you came back to visit and he wanted to sleep with me that night?"

"It wouldn't be a problem, as long as you don't mind if Julie does the same with me," he added, with a wink.

"Hmmm, I should have known there was a method behind your madness," I teased, and then I winked back at him.

"But really, that's not why I said it wouldn't bother me," he added. "Of course, I also didn't think it would hurt for me to take advantage of this situation either."

He was grinning again.

"Well, you're definitely old enough to make your own choices, so I won't try to make your decisions for you," I assured him. "The only thing I ask is that you go slowly and proceed very carefully."

"Yes, Dad, I will," he promised, but he had this huge grin on his face now. "It sure is nice to know that someone cares so much about me."

Later, after I had dropped Darren off at work, I had only been home for a few minutes when the doorbell rang. This time, however, I suspected who it was, so I went over to answer it and let her in.

"Good evening, Bob. I hope you don't mind me stopping by on my way home from work again," she began.

"No, Sherry. I was still up and just got home myself," I replied.

"Have you considered the things I asked you last night?" she pressed, looking hopeful.

"I've hardly done anything else," I confessed.

She looked pleased when she heard my response.

"So, what have you decided?" she persisted.

"I haven't yet, but I was able to check out some of the things you told me," I stated.

"I hope you're leaning in the right direction then," she urged, "because I can't overstate how much my son needs you. He has withdrawn back into his shell since this happened, his grades plummeted during the last school year and he's been so unhappy and depressed that it's made me cry many times. I'm convinced that only you can bring the old Jared back to me again."

"But how do you feel about all of this?" I challenged, and she looked puzzled.

"What do you mean? I've told you I want you back in his life," she clarified.

"I know, but how do you feel knowing about the types of things we've done?" I stated, directly.

"Oh, that," she replied, in a very casual way. "Well, I've always known that sooner or later my boys would be getting into sex, but I just didn't expect either of them would be doing it with another male."

"So what do you think about him doing it now, especially with a male my age?" I continued.

"Bob, I trust Jared's judgment and I know he's chosen a sweet, gentle lover," she agreed. "If you're the one Jared wants, then I definitely won't stand in his way."

"So you have no problems with this?" I persisted.

"I always thought I'd have a daughter-in-law, not a son-in-law, especially one my age," she teased, while releasing a nervous little giggle, "but I guess I can live with that."

"Possibly even older than you," I corrected.

"I still don't mind, because I know how much you mean to him," she confirmed, "and how much you've done for him. He was a completely different kid after you came into his life and the changes in him were all positive. He was very fortunate to have found you in the first place, so I don't want him to lose you now, because of what he was forced to do."

"I don't hold that against him, Sherry, nor do I hold it against Josh either," I admitted. "I totally understand why they did what they did."

"Then you'll come back into his life?" she asked, looking hopeful again.

"I didn't exactly say that, because I haven't reached a conclusion yet," I explained. "The lawyer says there is nothing to stop me, once he reaches the legal age, but then there's still the issues concerning Josh."

"With Josh? Did you plan on doing things with him too?" she asked, looking shocked and maybe a little panicked.

"No, Sherry, but how will I be able to allow Jared to come down and spend time at my house, but tell Josh he isn't welcome?" I reasoned. "That would be very hard on him, as well as being difficult for Jared and me too."

"But why couldn't he come down too?" she wanted to know. "He has in the past, unless you don't want him there while you and Jared are having sex."

"That's not it, Sherry," I quickly stated. "The problem is that Josh is still a minor, and now that I'm a registered sex offender, I'm prohibited from being around anyone below the legal age. If anyone were to find out he was coming down here, then I could be charged with failure to comply with the stipulations I need to comply with, even if I am allowed to be around and able to do things with Jared."

"Ah, I hadn't thought about that, but I don't think it would be a problem," she stated. "There's no way Josh would ever say anything like that in public again and he has missed you nearly as much as Jared has."

"That may be true, but Josh presents a whole new set of problems for me," I informed her. "I'll have to do some more research and think about this a little further, before I can give you an answer."

"I understand, but please don't close them out of your life without giving them one more chance," she urged. "They both love you so much, even though it is in totally different ways."

"I know that, Sherry, and I love them too," I agreed, "but I'm just not sure that's enough right now. Until I'm satisfied that I can continue to protect myself, as well as both of them, I won't be able to make any firm commitments. Can you understand that?"

"Perfectly," she concurred, "and I appreciate your honesty and caution. I also realize that you not only want what is best for you, but what is best for the boys too, and that's why I trust you implicitly."

She smiled, thanked me for my time and then said good-bye. As she drove home, I felt she had applied a bit more pressure for me to make a decision in their favor, but I still wasn't sure what I was going to do. There was no way I wanted to go back to jail, let alone get sent to prison, so I had to weigh the options and do what was best for me, first and foremost. I would contact Bruno again, to further investigate some of my other concerns, especially where they concerned Josh.

When I checked the time, I noticed it was late again, so I went upstairs to get ready for bed, but once again, I was not able to quickly fall asleep. Why does everything have to be so damn complicated?

Chapter 30
The Decision

I contacted Bruno again, to find out what types of restrictions I was facing in regard to Josh, but first I told him about everything that Sherry and I talked about again. Bruno advised me that I was not allowed to be around persons under the age of 16, but when I pressed him on that fact and asked what would happen if I visited someone with children or they visited me, he clarified that as long as there was another adult around and I wasn't alone with the child, then it wouldn't violate the restriction. I thanked him for his advice and began to think about how this information might change things.

Since I didn't feel I could go down to the diner to see Sherry, I merely called and left a message. It simply stated, 'See Bob on your way home tonight.' Since she had stopped by the previous two evenings, I didn't think she'd have a problem doing this now.

When she stopped by later that evening, I explained to her the additional information I had learned from Bruno and attempted to clarify how that would fit in with my observations from the evening before. I thought it would be unfair to allow one down without the other, but that would also include any of their friends that had joined us on previous occasions. Besides, I didn't feel their friends' parents would want their sons hanging around me anyway, so I guess that point was moot.

"You know," Sherry added, "I've been trying to get Jared to agree to having a birthday party similar to the one you arranged for him last year, but he refuses to let me do that for him."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I observed, "but you can't let him keep refusing to live, just because of me. He's a kid and should be enjoying this part of his life."

"Trust me. I agree with you and I've tried," she replied. "He just feels that doing it will create too many reminders that you're missing and he's partially to blame for it."

"Don't let him continue to beat himself up over this," I urged. "Tell him I understand and don't blame him. Let him know that I want him to enjoy his life the way it is now and not continue to wish for things that can't be changed."

"I did get him to make a minor concession along that line," she informed me. "He's at least agreed to let me hold a small family party to celebrate his birthday, but only with the three of us. He told me he didn't want me to invite anyone else, not even his friends. Jared wasn't originally going to allow me to do that much for him either, but he finally relented when he saw how upset I got, so I know he only agreed in order to placate me. Even though we're going to have a party, it still isn't going to be very much fun for him."

Sherry then asked me to reconsider my stance and continued to emphasize how much Jared needed me in his life. I told her I would do that, but I still couldn't make any promises. She said that was fine, as long as I didn't rule it out completely, and then she left.

I was painfully aware of every day from that moment on, and even though I was trying not to do it, I was making a mental countdown until Jared's birthday. Even that simple task became very painful for me, because I kept thinking about how I went about planning the surprise for him the previous year and remembered the great time I'd had with him and his friends.

I was slowly slipping into a deeper depression as the days passed by and my mood became noticeable to Darren as well. He tried his best to help me through this painful time, but I just couldn't shake the morose feelings I was having. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't even follow the same advice I had asked Sherry to relay to Jared. I could only think about what we once had and what might have been, so Jared and I were probably sharing very similar feelings.

When his birthday arrived, Jared was almost dreading the fact, but he knew he had to go along with it, if only for his mother's sake. She even took the day off from work, so she would have more time to spend with him and, hopefully, be able to make this day at least somewhat enjoyable for him. It was just after lunch when they decided to have his cake and ice cream, seeing no one else would be coming. Sherry had baked the cake herself and had purchased three of Jared's favorite ice cream flavors. She had just lit the sixteen candles on his cake, when she and Josh began to sing 'Happy Birthday' to him.

"Mom," Jared protested, "I'm not a little kid any more, so we don't need the candles or the singing."

Sherry and Josh ignored his rant and continued until they had finished the song. Then, she had him cut the cake, gave him the first slice and added one scoop of each of the three flavors of ice cream to his plate. Once he was set, she and Josh joined him in savoring this little treat. After they had each finished cleaning off their plate, she brought out his presents for him to open. There were two gifts from her, two from Josh and then a final gift from both of them, but Jared didn't seem very thrilled with any of them. He did thank them for their presents, told them each item was very nice and he liked it, but they could both tell he was just being polite. Sherry's heart was breaking, as she watched how her son was moping through the day that should have been one of his happiest times.

They were just about to give up and call it quits, when they heard a knock on the door. Jared gave his mother a bone-chilling look when he heard this, because he was afraid she had ignored his wishes.

"I hope you didn't invite anyone else after I told you not to. You didn't do that, did you?" he spat out.

"No, dear. You told me not to, so I honored your request," she confirmed.

He looked at her like he wasn't sure if he believed her and then went on to question her truthfulness.

"Then who's there?" he demanded.

"I don't know, but one of us should go check," she replied. "The only thing I can think of is that I ordered another present for you, which was going to be delivered by the U.S. Postal Service, so maybe it's being delivered now."

He continued to eye her suspiciously.

"Do you want to go see if that's it or do you want Josh or me to do it?" she followed.

"One of you can go," he spat back. "I'm going to my room."

He started to walk away, but his mother spoke to him and stopped his progress.

"Honey, why don't you just wait a second and see if it's your present. If it is, then you can open it now too."

He wasn't happy about having to do this, but he stopped and walked into the living room.

"Ok, I suppose I might as well get the door then," he said, as he began to walk dejectedly over to see who was there.

When he opened it, he suddenly became very excited, began jumping up and down and turned to smile at his mother and brother. After that he jumped up, wrapped his arms around my neck and his legs around my waist.

"Happy Birthday, sport," I told him, while giving him a wink. "I hear you're legal now."

He was still speechless, probably because he was so choked up, but he was hugging me so tightly that I was actually having difficulty breathing. I noticed even Josh seemed excited, because he had also come over to stand beside me. Finally, Jared found his tongue and began to speak.

"Oh, Bob, I've missed you so much!" he exclaimed, before giving me a huge kiss.

"Don't you think you should invite me in first, so we're not in the doorway for all the world to see what we're doing?"

"I don't care who sees us, because I love you," he reasoned, "but come in, please."

He stepped aside, after he'd unwrapped himself from my body, and let me enter. Then, once the door was closed, he turned to me and spoke.

"Bob, will you ever be able to forgive me for all the trouble I caused you?" he pleaded.

"Jared, it wasn't you who did that to me and it wasn't Josh's fault either," I assured him, as I placed an arm around Josh's shoulders and hugging him against us. "First of all, it was my mistake for giving in to you about engaging in sexual activities, because I was the adult and ultimately responsible."

"But if it wasn't for us, then you wouldn't have gone to jail," he insisted.

"That might be true, but your mother explained everything that had been done to force you into doing it," I confided. "As far as I'm concerned, it's all in the past and there are no hard feelings. How about you boys?"

"What about us?" Josh asked.

"Well, can you forgive me for putting you in that situation?" I stated.

They both looked at me as if I had three heads.

"You never did anything to hurt us. You were good to us and did all kinds of special things to make us happy," Jared countered. "Josh and I think the world of you and we both love you a whole lot. You're my dad now, but because of me you went to jail."

He burst into tears and began to sob hysterically.

"Jared, I love both of you too and nothing that happened has changed that," I insisted.

"Then why didn't you come see me or at least call after you got out of jail?" he demanded. "I saw you a few times, so I knew you were home, but you didn't let me know because you hate me now. Don't you?"

He began to cry even harder now, if there was humanly possible.

"That's not it at all," I assured him. "I was also told that I had to avoid contact with you or they would send me back to jail. I was told that I couldn't be around you until you reached legal age and then they couldn't stop me. Since today you became legal, at least in the eyes of the law, I was able to come here. You do turn 16 today, don't you?"

He looked at me and I could see the pieces starting to fall into place and then a big grin began to split his face.

"Yeah, I'm 16 now," he confirmed, energetically.

He was beaming, as he realized what this meant for us.

"What about me?" Josh wanted to know. "Do I have to wait until I'm legal too, before I can spend time with you again?"

"I'm afraid you can't just come down with Jared like you used to do, sport, even though we weren't, and won't, be doing anything sexual," I answered, and a sad look swept over his face, as if a veil had suddenly been pulled over it.

"So there's no way I can come down to your house to go swimming and do other stuff?" he persisted.

"I didn't say that," I corrected. "You aren't allowed to come down with Jared, but you can come down with your mother or if there is another adult present."

Gradually, his morose façade suddenly began to lighten.

"That's better than not being able to come down at all," he agreed.

"Who is that other guy I've seen down there?" Jared wondered. "It looks like he's living with you, so when I saw him, I thought maybe you had found someone else to take my place."

"Absolutely not," I stated. "The guy that you probably have seen me with is a friend and his name is Darren."

"So you guys aren't doing stuff?" Jared pressed.

"No, Jared, we're not," I confirmed. "He's straight and has a girlfriend. I'm just trying to give him a helping hand, until he gets back on his feet."

"So how did you meet him?" Jared pressed.

"I met him in jail," I admitted. "He's a good kid who made a silly mistake, but he was about the only person in jail who didn't treat me like some evil and vile creature. We became close, and since he'd lost his job and apartment while he was locked up, I offered to let him live with me until he got back on his feet. Since we've been released, he took a job at Walmart and is planning to go back to college, but not until a year from this fall, so he'll probably be with me until then."

"Does that mean I won't be able to stay with you sometimes?" Jared asked, concerned.

"If it's ok with your mother, I'm sure we can work something out," I confessed, "but we'll just have to make sure the door is shut and locked from now on, so there are no further problems. I wouldn't want to gross Darren or his girlfriend out."

I gave Jared a wink, after I'd made that last statement.

"That's not a problem," Jared stated, enthusiastically. "I'll take care of that personally, as long as we can do sex stuff again."

Just then he happened to think about what he'd just said, so he looked back and noticed the expression on his mother's face.

"Sorry, Mom. I didn't mean to bring up the sex stuff in front of you," he apologized.

She just made a flip of her hand and waved the matter away. Once he saw her do that, Jared turned back to me, wrapped his arms around my chest and planted a big, wet kiss on my mouth. Once we broke apart, I decided I needed to say something.

"We're in front of the window, where everyone can see you kissing me, so aren't you concerned?" I asked.

"I don't care any more," he stated, while hugging me hard. "I'm legal now, so I don't care who knows I love you and want to have sex with you."

After saying this, he turned around again and looked back in his mother's direction.

"Sorry, Mom. I just keep forgetting," he apologized, for the second time.

Once more she waved away his apology, but he realized he was beginning to push his luck.

"Can we go down to your house now, so I won't get mom all hyper?" he whispered in my ear.

"Well, you'll have to ask your mother if you may do that," I informed him.

At this point, he released me from his grasp and quickly walked over to his mother. He immediately wrapped his arms around her next, so he could give her a big hug and kiss.

"Mom, thanks for talking to Bob and explaining things," he began. "I'm glad he's back, so would you mind if I go spend the night with him?"

She just smirked and hugged her son back.

"Oh, you only come and kiss me so I'll let you run off with your boyfriend?" she teased, while giving me a nod of the head when Jared looked down at the floor.

"You know I love you and…" he began, but then came to an abrupt stop. After a few seconds, he spoke again.

"Did you just call Bob my boyfriend?" he nearly shouted, when what she had said finally sank in.

"Well, he is, isn't he?" she followed, with a smile, as Jared turned back toward me.

"Are you really my boyfriend now, Bob?" he wanted to know.

He was deadly serious with this question and looked at me eagerly.

"I don't think I can be both your boyfriend and your dad," I explained. "I guess it would be up to you to pick which one you'd prefer I'd be."

I studied his reaction for the next few seconds, as he thought about what I had just told him.

"I pick lover," he announced proudly, before correcting himself. "I mean boyfriend."

By now his mother was laughing hysterically.

"What's so funny?" he asked her.

"Jared, Bob and I had this all planned out," she confessed. "I had already told him the best present he could give you was if he would spend the night with only you, so he could love you. Now I didn't say 'make love to you,' just love you."

After hearing her clarification, it was Jared who turned a lovely shade of red.

"Mom!" he shouted.

All of this time Josh stood there looking happy for his brother, but I could tell he was still a bit dejected.

"Josh, as much as I'd love to have you stay over from time to time, that just won't be possible until you get older," I pointed out. "Even if Darren or your mother were there, it could always be claimed that I got you alone during the night or whatever, so I just can't take that chance."

"I know and I understand," he agreed. "I do feel sad about that, but it sure is nice to have my brother back again. We were both sad about everything that happened, but he was a lot worse off, so I'm just glad he's happy again."

"That's very mature of you and we both appreciate it," I replied, while speaking for both Jared and myself. "How about this? Darren and I swim every evening, around 8:00, and then we workout for a while after that. How would you like to come down and swim with us tomorrow at that time? You don't have to work out with us and can just stay in the pool if you want, but with Darren there, you'll be able to at least do that much. Would you like that?"

"Hell, yes!" he shouted out, and then he realized what he'd said. "Sorry, Mom. I know you don't like it when I swear."

"I'll let it slide this time," she responded, with a smile. "Jared, why don't you go get your things and then you can take off with Bob."

"I won't need any clothes down there," he stated, and then he realized how that probably sounded, so he clarified his comment. "Remember, I have things at Bob's house already."

His mother was giggling at his comment, but more so with the fact that he felt he needed to clarify it.

"Ok, you two run along," she urged. "I'm sure you have a lot of catching up to do."

Jared hugged and kissed his mother again and I gave Josh a hug, before I walked over to hug Sherry too.

"Thanks, Mom," I teased.

"Oh, go on and get out of here," she answered playfully, pushing me away.

"Hey, she's not your mother," Josh corrected.

"Maybe not, but she may end up being my mother-in-law," I teased some more.

It took both boys a few seconds to get the drift of what I meant.

"Are you asking me to marry you?" Jared suddenly wanted to know.

"Well, not yet, but who knows what might happen in the future?" I stated.

After I'd said this, Jared began to dance around, thinking this meant he finally had his commitment from me. I suspected that he felt he was getting a lover, companion, father and friend all rolled into one. I had all I could do to calm him down and get him into the Tahoe, and then his mother and brother waved at us as we drove off.

As we made our way to my place, Jared turned in his seat and spoke.

"Bob, I love you so much and I'm so glad we're back together," he admitted. "I don't ever want to be separated from you like that again."

"I feel the same way, sport, but there's a few things you probably should know," I stated. "I told you Darren is staying with me, but what I didn't tell you is that he's been calling me 'Dad.' He thinks of me like a second father, but he knows about you too and he's cool about us. Does any of that bother you?"

For a moment, Jared looked slightly confused, but then after the last part of my statement sank in, he began to brighten again. Since he seemed to be ok with this, I went on to tell him a little more about Darren, gave him some more details about how we'd met, why he came to live with me and what was going to happen with him in the future. I told him how Darren knew a little of the story about us, that he accepted it and even mentioned how it would make the two of them brothers. I think Jared liked that idea as well, so everything seemed to be going just fine.

I knew Darren would be sleeping when we got home, so I told Jared we'd have to be quiet, so we wouldn't wake him up. I told him we could go into the living room and watch TV or a movie in the meantime, if he wanted.

"I'll do anything, as long as I can do it with you," he responded.

Getting his agreement, we went into the living room and I turned on the television. We found a movie we thought would be acceptable and then I sat on the sofa beside him. Jared got up and moved onto my lap instead, and then he began to kiss me, passionately. His tongue immediately attempted to gain entry into my mouth, but at the same time his hands were all over me, feeling me up. I broke from his kiss for a second and he immediately looked hurt.

"What's wrong?" he wanted to know.

"I didn't know you'd changed so much while we were apart," I told him.

He looked confused.

"What do you mean?" he insisted.

"Well, when I left you were a young boy, but now you're an octopus, with eight arms roaming all over my body, but you also have a suction cup fastened to my lips."

He now began to realize that I was teasing him, so he started to laugh.

"I have a lot of catching up to do, so I hope you're rested up," he explained.

"That's about all I've done," I shot back.

After hearing my response, I think Jared took it as permission to rape me, because he began to try to undress me at that point.

"Jared, I think we should still be a little careful and wait until after I've taken Darren to work," I advised him.

"What time does he usually get up?"

"Usually between 8:00 and 9:00," I informed him.

"Well, it's only 3:00 now, so we still have plenty of time," he pointed out. "Come on, I think we need to check and see if that lock on our bedroom door still works."

"Our bedroom door?" I repeated.

"Yeah, seeing we're going to be lovers, it's our bedroom now," he stated, very forcefully.

He gave me a huge smile and began to drag me toward the stairs. We quietly tiptoed our way down the hall, locked the door behind us and then Jared began to remove my clothing.

"I don't think we need to rush," I told him.

"Maybe you don't," he responded, "but I do. I've been praying for this day for a very long time, so if we don't get to it soon, I'm going to start shooting all over the place, without you even touching me."

I nodded my understanding and quickly got out of my things, while he took off his clothing. Once we were both undressed, we got in his favorite position, a sixty-nine.

He was as hard as tempered steel and his body shivered as my lips touched his dick. I hadn't even slid halfway down his shaft before I felt the first blast of his hot seed and heard him begin to groan. Before I knew it, I was drowning in a sea of his hot cum, which made me wonder if he had ejaculated at all since we'd last been together. Once the tidal wave was over, he looked back at me and spoke.

"I'm sorry about that, but I was all hot and excited being with you again," he explained.

His face was slightly red as he told me this.

"Don't worry about it, champ," I told him. "You're young and will be able to do it again soon, but this time I know you will last."

He thanked me for understanding and then went back to work on me. Seeing he had just spewed his load, I decided another approach was required, so I slid my head further between his legs and started to lick around his bunghole. I don't think he was expecting this, so he initially began to stiffen and then squirm, but I think he must have liked the sensation he was getting from it, because he started to push his butt back into my face. I continued to rim him, but this time in earnest, as I let my tongue attempt penetration. I felt a little hesitation on his part at first, but he gradually began to open up to my probing and was soon giving me complete access to his most private area. Eagerly, I tongued him for a while longer, before I turned my attention to trying something different.

At this point, I began to lick the back of his scrotum, before taking that fleshy sack into my mouth and tonguing the watery orbs hidden within. He was beginning to squirm again, so I knew he was becoming aroused once more. Ah, the joys of being young and resilient. After playing with his testicles for a little while longer, I latched on to his serpent of love and began to suck on it as if I were a starving, suckling calf.

Jared was thrusting his hips into me at this point, while still working on me, but now I knew I was getting close and doubted I could bring us off together. Try as I might, I was soon feeding him my creamy load, even though I had futilely attempted to stay focused on what I was doing to him, so he would cum soon as well. Purely out of impulse, I slid one of my fingers up his chute, so I could massage his prostate a bit, and wham, he unloaded once again. After I had drained him for the second time, I swung him around and hugged him to my chest.

"Do you think that will last you for a while?" I teased.

"Yeah, at least until after you take Darren to work," he replied with a shit-eating grin on his face.

It was at that moment when I realized that I might be in for a long night.

Jared and I cuddled, kissed, groped and hugged for another hour or so, and then we went back downstairs. Eventually, I began to take out the food so I could fix dinner, but I was preparing enough so we could all eat together. I knew that after Darren woke up, he'd want us to do our exercise routine next, before he took his shower and we sat down to eat. I had explained this to Jared as well and he decided that he wanted to join us when we did our workout, if we didn't mind, so I assured him that would be fine.

When Darren came downstairs, I gave him some time to shake the fogginess of sleep from his brain, before I introduced him to Jared. He smiled and looked him over.

"So you're the little hottie that Dad talks about all of the time," he offered, with a grin.

"He does?" Jared asked, gawking at me.

"Yes, he does," Darren emphasized. "I don't think you can appreciate how much he has missed you these past few months."

"I think I can," Jared shot back, "because I've missed him that much or maybe even more."

This time when I looked at him, he was beaming.

Darren then asked if we were going to work out tonight, since Jared was here, so I told him Jared wanted to join us when we did our exercise program, at least whenever he could.

"Great," Darren enthusiastically agreed, "The more the merrier."

Once that had been agreed to, we all went upstairs to put on our swimsuits and I think Darren was a little surprised when he learned that Jared kept a stash of clothes at my house. After we were ready, we took our swim, dried off and then we changed into our running clothes. I drove us over to the college and we started our walk, which was like a slow jog with the two of them leading, but it wasn't as bad for me now, since I've done this a few times already. When we finished I drove us all back to my place and then Darren went up to shower, while I finished getting the meal ready.

When Darren came back downstairs, we all ate together and then I drove him to work. Jared offered to let Darren sit in the front, and he rode in the seat behind us, but when Darren got out to go into Walmart, Jared moved up front with me, before I drove home. When we got back, Jared wanted us to take a shower together, so we did, and we washed each other thoroughly before we got ready for bed. Neither of us put anything on tonight, since we assumed that would be foolish, because it would all be coming off soon anyway. Jared told me in the shower that he wanted us to do each other separately tonight, instead of doing a sixty-nine, so I told him that was more than fine with me.

Jared wanted to do me first and I wasn't about to argue with him, so I silently consented to let him have his way with me. He was moving slowly and gently this time, and it seemed as if he was trying to reacquaint himself with every part of my body, as he let his eyes, fingers and mouth wander all over my frame. When he finally decided it was time to do the deed, he lovingly took me into his mouth and began to nod up and down on my organ. Brilliantly, he began to play the first several measures of his lovemaking sonata and gradually began to build toward the crescendo, as I exploded in an aura of melodic splendor.

I was left breathless for a few moments, as I slowly recovered, and then we changed places. Lovingly, I returned the favor and ran not only my eyes and fingers over his soft, smooth body, but my tongue as well. I licked his nipples, his navel, his stomach, his scrotum and his inner thighs, before moving on to his splendid pole. By the time I reached his helmet, I knew he was nearly ready to explode.

Our session reminded me of an old time whaler, out on a hunt, and once the target was spotted, I could even hear the shout, "Thar' she blows." Even though I had barely taken more than a few bobs on his rigid shaft, I could feel him tense up and knew he was about to blow too. When he released his milky load, I took it all, not wanting to waste a single drop, and once I had drained him, I slid up and cuddled with him until we both fell asleep.

We stayed that way all night long, and every once in a while I would feel Jared leaning in to me and planting a kiss on my lips. I'm not sure how much sleep either of us got that night, because I think we both slept very lightly and kept waking up every so often, yet it was the most restful and relaxing night either of us had enjoyed in quite some time. When the alarm went off, Jared looked at me, because he didn't know I had set it, so I explained we had to go pick Darren up from work and then we'd be doing our morning exercise routine. He seemed excited about this, which sort of surprised me.

I'm not sure if Jared understood how much harder we worked out during our morning session, but he didn't complain, kept up with us and participated in everything we did, including all of the calisthenics we went through after our invigorating walk. When we got back home, we did some work with the weights and Jared was surprised to see all of the different things I had in the house now. After that, we took another shower, with Jared staying in with me, so Darren could have the other shower to himself. Once we had all finished and got changed, I called Sherry to make plans for the rest of the day, seeing it was the Fourth of July.

Initially, I was thinking about taking all of us to the park, so we could have a picnic lunch and then stay to watch the fireworks, but I decided that might not be such a good idea. Our being together might raise some eyebrows, if we were spotted, and that could get some tongues wagging, so I thought it would best for Sherry and the boys if they didn't have to go through that again. Hell, someone might even decide to claim that I was now having inappropriate sexual relations with Josh, since Jared was old enough to consent. Since Josh wasn't, but was with us and in close proximity to me, I didn't want any part of something like that happening.

Instead, I decided to have a cookout at my place, so Jared and I ran back down to Walmart to pick up meats and other things we needed. Of course, I wore my hat and sunglasses, hoping that would help to keep people from recognizing me, and it seemed to work. When we got back home, we merely waited for Sherry and Josh to come down to join us, but I would wait until it was closer to lunchtime before I fired up the barbeque.

Without me realizing it, Sherry had managed to whip up a couple of salads during the interim. She had hurriedly put together a potato and macaroni salad to be precise, after I'd told her about my idea. When she joined us later, she and Josh carried them inside, so we put them in the fridge to keep cold until we were ready to eat. Since Darren had decided to stay up and join us, I introduced everyone to each other, and then Darren suggested he would help me grill the steaks, hamburgers and hot dogs, so I'd have more time to spend with our company.

I quickly told him I'd appreciate the help, so we all sat down for a brief time first, before Darren got up, lit the grill and began to slave away preparing the meat. Since everyone wanted to swim first, I sent Josh up to change, while I stayed downstairs with his mother, and when he came back, Jared and I went up to change next. I had warned Sherry to bring her bathing suit with her, so she wore it under her clothes and merely took off her outer garments to get ready. Once the four of us were appropriately dressed, we spent a brief time in the pool, before Darren announced that the meat was ready.

We had a wonderful meal and horsed around together until Darren went up to his room to get some sleep. The rest of us spent more time in the pool, played cards, tossed around a Frisbee and played with Boo-Boo, because of course Sherry had brought him along too. I was very pleased to learn that they had kept him while I was gone, but I was totally shocked when I first saw him again, because he was no longer a puppy, but a full-grown dog now. I told Sherry and Josh they could leave him with me again, if it would make things easier for them, and Sherry began to nod her head vigorously. I guess she felt badly about having to keep Boo-Boo tied outside while they were gone each day, because the one time they had left him alone in the house, I guess he got into quite a bit of mischief.

Sherry and Josh both got along well with Darren too, so he insisted that I wake him up later, so he could go with us when we went to watch the fireworks, so I did. Just before it began to get dark, we all loaded into the Tahoe and I drove to a place where we could watch the firework display, yet maintain a limited amount of privacy. It was a wonderful show, and not only did it celebrate the birth and independence of our great country, but it also helped to announce this new stage in Jared's and my relationship.

I was pleased to see that both boys liked the idea of having Darren as a big brother and several times I caught Sherry wiping tears from her cheek during the day, when she saw how well they were getting along. I knew these were definitely tears of joy and were shed because she could see how happy her sons were again, especially Jared. It turned out to be a most glorious day for all of us.

That night Jared stayed with me again, but I felt badly that Josh couldn't join us, because I could tell that he really wanted to. No matter how badly I felt or how much I wanted to appease him, I knew I couldn't do it, because the potential cost would be far too great. I'd already found myself in trouble because I failed to heed the inner voice of my conscience when it came to Jared, so I wasn't about to make that same mistake again. No matter how badly I felt for Josh, this time I would have to put my own welfare first and foremost. I certainly didn't want to end up going to jail again, especially when I remembered the reception I got the last time, but if the inmates thought I was a repeat offender, I'm convinced my treatment would be even worse. No thank you.

NEXT PART