Chapter 1
“Brent, I got this, don’t worry about it.”
“No, it’s okay Whit, I can do it.”
“But, you don’t have to...”
“I know I don’t have to, sweetheart, but I want to.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because I love you.”
Whitney smiles and comes closer to me. I’m rinsing the dishes before putting them into the dishwasher and gives me a kiss, as I say the lie that I’ve gotten so good at saying, that I don’t even feel uncomfortable. It’s not completely a lie, because I do love her and I care for her in my own way, but it’s not the romantic way that she thinks I do. But, I am her husband and the father of her children, so I have a role to play and I’ve been playing it very good.
Whitney walks away from me, and goes to the living room where Justin and Isabelle are watching their cartoon before having to get ready for bed. I almost left my wife and my children a year ago, before I woke up and realized what would’ve happened if I did so. But, they say that people lose their minds when they fall in love, and I fell in love with the person that couldn’t have been more wrong for me to fall in love with: my wife’s brother, William. I was ready to tell Whitney that I didn’t feel the same way for her as I did when I married her, that something fundamental had changed in me, but then William went ahead and broke my heart, and after I gathered my wits and promised myself that I wasn’t going to let anyone did to me what William did – I realized that I wasn’t that changed after all, not really.
You see, the desire for men that William woke up inside me had always been there – but unconsciously I had buried it so deep down that I wasn’t even aware of it. Growing up in a strict patriarchal family like mine – you kinda stick to the good things inside you and you don’t stray too much. And when I first started having thoughts about men, I wasn’t even aware of it, because they were too subtle.
It started when I was a teenager, after football practice in the locker room, playing with the boys and smacking each other with wet towels on our asses. I always told myself I was just admiring my classmates’ and friends’ physiques because I aspired to look like them – which was true. But there was another, darker truth buried deep underneath all that, truth that I wasn’t ready to face until William showed me the possibility and I took it.
I wasn’t disgusted by women, and I rather enjoyed having sex with them. But I also enjoyed having sex with men, something that took a very long time for me to admit.
Now I knew who I really was, so balancing the double life I was leading was much easier. As I was putting the last dirty dish in the dishwasher and getting ready to turn it on, I heard Whitney telling the kids that they had to go upstairs and wash their teeth before going to bed. I pulled the phone out of my pocket. It was fifteen minutes until nine. I unlocked the phone and I went to my Messages.
You wanna meet up? I wrote and I send it. Two minutes later, as I was grabbing a glass of apple juice from the fridge, the response came back.
Sure. I’m going to be headed over there in about thirty, was the response I got.
See you soon, I texted and I went upstairs, to grab my gym bag. As I was packing clean tee shirt and a fresh pair of underwear, Whitney came in the room.
“You’re going to the gym again?” she asked me.
“I haven’t been in three days, honey,” I responded.
“Yeah, but I thought you were going to stay home tonight. Being Friday and all.”
Friday was our sex night, but I had totally forgotten. But I didn’t feel super bad about it, because we missed the past two Fridays as well, and I’ve been getting plenty so I couldn’t complain.
“Yeah, but I already texted Lance and I can’t cancel on him right now,” I said. “We can do it when I come back.”
“You know I have to be working super early tomorrow,” said Whitney. “I’m probably going to go to bed soon.”
“Maybe next week,” I said. “We skipped the last two Fridays because you had to work overtime again, sweetheart. Please try to understand.”
She sighed, but once I pulled the last time it was your fault card, she couldn’t continue arguing with me. “Fine,” she said. “I know you would never break your word. Have fun.”
“I will,” I said. She just had no idea how much.
When I pulled into the parking lot of the gym, Lance was already parked there, waiting for me. I got up to his car, and got in.
“What’s up, man?” I asked him.
“Howdy, dude?” he responded, and we fist bumped.
Lance was ten years younger than me, but he was really cool and we bonded quite a lot in the past six months. He was the only other guy I ever did anything with while the whole thing with William was going on, and after William left and I didn’t know how to go on about my life. Then I bumped into Lance once I got over my depression and I started working out again. He hadn’t said anything to anyone about us rubbing dicks together in the showers one time after working out. He was acting normal and cool, as usual, as if nothing ever happened. Once I realized I could trust him, we started hanging out more and more. At first, we were working out, and then we were rubbing our cocks together afterwards. It was hot and scary because we were risking ourselves by getting caught. Lance is straight, just like me. Well, he dates women, I should say, and would never date a guy, but enjoys little man-on-man action every once in a while. Soon, we stopped working out altogether and started going straight for the fun part, but we would always meet up at the gym.
“You ready to go in?” I asked him.
“Actually, I was going to ask you if you wanted to come over,” said Lance.
“What about Julie?” I asked. Julie was his girlfriend that he had been dating for a year now.
“Julie flew to Michigan to see her family. She’s going to be gone for ten days,” said Lance.
“Why didn’t you say so, I could’ve came straight to your house,” I said.
“Well, you know I don’t like to text certain things when we talk, so I figured I’d meet you here to ask you in person. I am, after all, only eight minutes from here,” said Lance.
“I’m down,” I said. “Let’s go.”
“But, I’m not alone,” said Lance.
I was confused. “What do you mean?” I asked him. “I thought you said Julie was in Michigan.”
“She is,” said Lance. “I have a couple of buddies over.”
“Oh,” I said. “How would be able to do anything with them there?”
“They won’t mind,” said Lance and smirked. Then it dawned on me.
“What kind of buddies are they, Lance?” I asked.
“They’re close buddies of mine, just like you,” said Lance.
So, there were other men like me out there, and they were all friends with Lance. I never considered the possibility, but now it was kind of tempting. But first, I needed more information.
“How many of them are there?”
“Three,” said Lance. “With me, it’s four, and if you join us... well, you do the math.”
“How old are they?”
“One is twenty-seven, the second is thirty one and one of them is forty,” said Lance. So there was going to be there someone who was older than me. I was officially interested. But there was one other question I had to ask.
“Are they all discreet like you and me?”
Lance smirked again. “One hundred percent, dude,” he said. “I would never do anything without the guarantee of discretion first. Two of them are married, and the third one is in a relationship, just like me. Mostly straight guys, like I said, just like you and me.”
That decided it for me. “Then I’m game,” I said. “Let’s go.”
Lance smiled broadly. “I knew you wouldn’t pussy out on me, man.”
He started driving. My heart was beating faster by the minute, but I had decided that I was ready to broaden my horizons and open myself up to new experiences. If someone told me this time last year that in a year I would be driving with a ten years younger stud on a way to three other grown ass men to have some naked fun with them, I would’ve probably throttled them and called them idiots, and maybe even laughed it off. But, now, I was a different man.
When we got there, it was the first time I saw Lance’s house. There were two cars parked in front of it already. His house was nice and big. I never knew what Lance did for a living, but whatever it was, it must’ve paid very well because it was obvious that he wasn’t suffering financially.
“This is your house?” I asked him.
“Well, I’m renting, but yes, it is mine until the lease is over,” he said, as we walked out of the car.
I was looking around for suspicious neighborly eyes, but every window seemed calm and no one was walking their dogs outside or taking a stroll. “Your neighbors are cool?”
Lance shrugged. “For all they know, I’m having my buddies over for a couple of beers,” he said. When I thought about it, I figured that he was right. If I saw guys arrive over at my male neighbor’s house while his wife was out of town, I wouldn’t think that they were going over there for naked man-on-man fun; I’d think that they were playing poker, while drinking beer, talking shit and scratching their balls.
Lance unlocked the front door, and we entered in a spacious hallway. I might’ve been more interested in the house if I wasn’t so nervous. I breathed out soundly thought my mouth.
“Relax, dude,” said Lance, patting me on the back. “Everybody here is cool, like I said. And we’re all here to do the same thing, so don’t feel weird. The living room is this way. I’m gonna go put some beers in a bucket of ice before I come and join you. Go introduce yourself to the guys.”
I walked towards the left side of the house, where Lance said the living room was. When I walked in, the first thing I saw was that all the blinds were closed and the curtains drawn. Good, at least no one could spy on us. Then I noticed two guys sitting on the sofa, chatting with each other. They seemed relaxed enough, but there was that weird electricity in the air of something more than just a normal buddy hang out situation.
“Hello,” I said.
“Hello,” said the guy who was sitting closer to me, and he got up from the couch. He was athletic and ginger, with a five-o’clock beard on him. He was wearing a blue tee shirt and white shorts, and when I walked in he reached out with his hand to shake mine. I accepted. “I’m Josh,” he said.
“Brent,” I said, and nodded at him. I was feeling weird about this now.
“This is Vincze,” said Josh, pointing at the other guy who was sitting next to him. He was blond and blue-eyed, and was wearing a white long sleeved v-neck tee shirt and jeans. “He’s Hungarian.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said to him. “Brent.”
“Hello, Brent,” said Vincze with a thick accent. “Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you as well,” I said. So, it wasn’t just American guys who did this then, I thought to myself. I sat down in the big armchair next to Josh. They both had beers in front of them. Vincze’s beer was empty, and Josh’s was getting there. There was a two more bottles in front of the other couch that was facing me. The TV was on, playing some music channel quietly.
“Where is Lance?” asked Josh.
“He went to get us more beer,” I said. I was looking at Josh and Vincze, trying to figure out how old they were. Josh looked like he was in his early thirties, so I figured that he was the thirty-one year old guy that Lance told me about. Vincze was definitely the youngest one, because you could tell by his face. He was the twenty-seven year old. Where was the forty-year-old guy then? I didn’t want to be the oldest guy in the group, even though by the way Josh and Vincze were secretly glancing at my bulge, I knew that they weren’t too disappointed with me. Lance liked his jerk off buddies in athletic shape, that was for sure, judging by the look of all of us.
“So, how do you know Lance?” I asked, because I didn’t have beer and I had nothing to do with my hands.
“Me and Lance go to school together,” said Vincze.
School, I thought. How did they end up stroking or rubbing cocks together then? I was sure I was going to find out before the night was done.
“We used to work out together at the previous gym,” said Josh. “Then he moved to this part of town, but we would occasionally still get together every once in a while.”
I didn’t have to ask why they got together, because I already knew the answer. This was a bit awkward, and just as I was getting ready to ask where is the oldest guy, Lance came back in the room with beers.
“What’s up, dudes!” he said, smiling from ear to ear. “Damn, I never thought I was going to get all of my bate buddies together for a fun night together. This was an awesome idea, Josh!”
Josh nodded, and blushed a little, but I smiled at him encouragingly and he relaxed a bit more.
“Beer for you, Vincze,” said Lance, as he was opening the bottles and handing them out. “Beer for you, Brent.” I accepted my beer with a thank you. “And finish that one up before I give you a new one, Josh.”
Josh gulped it up all at once and Lance gave him a beer, laughing. He was definitely hyped. I’ve never seen him so excited.
“Where is your friend, Josh?” asked Lance.
“He is in the bathroom,” said Josh, taking a sip of his new beer.
“Do you think he’s okay?” said Vincze in his Hungarian accent. “He’s been gone for a while.”
“Probably talking to his wife,” said Josh. “She can be a nightmare sometime.”
“Cheers to our wives and girlfriends,” said Lance, and we all clanked our beers.
I took a sip with everybody else, and put my bottle on the table, making a mental note not to drink too much because I had to drive myself back home. I wasn’t sure how long this was going to go on, so I was wondering if I should text Whitney in a little bit to tell her that I’m going to a friend’s house for a couple of beers with some gym buddies. I figured that it was too early to decide yet.
“Brent?” said a voice.
I looked up and saw the fifth guy of the group, and my heart sank to the floor. It was out friend, George Warren, Danny’s father, my children’s playdate friend, and Elizabeth’s husband.
