TABOO: THE COMPLETE SERIES(21)

I felt weird. Numb and a little overwhelmed. I think my brain was having trouble processing it.

We hung out with Dad for a while and then had to leave. My father looked at Jake as we were about to leave. “Jake,” Dad said. “You bring him back here, before I get worse, okay?”

“Okay, sir.”

“Weldon calls me Dad. You should too.”

Of all the things, this was the one that broke Jake’s resolve. “Dad,” it was one word but it took him a huge effort to get it out. The minute he said goodbye, Jake left the room.

I knew it was to hide his tears.

But my sister wasn’t about to leave him. She stood and talked to him, wiped his tears and they hugged for a long time.

It was time to make my own exit.

“I’ll see you soon, Dad.”

***

When we were standing outside the hospital, Jake was saying goodbye to the kids and exchanging high-fives with them.

Jackie turned to me. “Listen to me, Weldon. I looked in his eyes. There’s so much sadness there. He needs someone to take care of him. He needs you. Just as much as you need him. The sooner you realize that the better.”

I watched her kiss Jake’s cheek and Jake waved goodbye to the kids. He was smiling at them when I caught up to him. It felt weird saying the next words and it took me ages to do it. “Thank you for what you did for my family.”

“It’s okay.”

“I’m not used to people doing things for me that I cannot repay.”

“You’re obviously not used to people doing things without needing repayment either.”

The sadness that Jackie had mentioned was back. It was a good distraction but even something like meeting my obnoxious family hadn’t distracted him long enough. “Can we go back now?”

“You could have called the cops on me. You could have done anything. Why didn’t you?”

He was thinking about it for a long time. “I don’t know.”

Everything inside me was screaming to just go and fuck him hard enough that he forgets everything and so do I. I got close to him, and put my hand around his neck. I pulled him in and kissed him. I expected him to protest but instead he let me and kissed me back harder. When our bodies touched, I felt his erection. I could feel him responding to me. He was getting less and less resistant.

I broke off then. “Don’t worry,” I said. “I know you don’t want to fuck me.”

I fished the key fob out of my pants pocket and unlocked the car. I got in and waited. Okay, so I did feel rather smug when it took Jake a while to come to his senses and walk to the passenger side.

When he did, he quickly got in and the bulge was still visible. “Are you okay?”

He looked preoccupied. “Fine.”

No, you’re not.

You’re dying to experience what you got a taste of just now. Accept it so we can both move forward. Accept that you want me.

“Weldon?”

“Yes?”

“That thing we talked about before, the not-fucking thing?”

“What about it?”

He paused. “It’s still on.”





TREY


“Why do you keep staring at the wall?”

I hadn’t realized I had been doing it until someone pointed it out. I had to quit staring at the clock. I smiled at Damien but he had a point. “Just an appointment that I guess someone isn’t keeping,” I explained, taking off the gloves and placing the stethoscope on the desk. “You look fine, Damien.”

“That’s a relief,” Damien said, getting up and putting his shirt back on.

I was writing Damien a prescription for his usual meds when he stopped me. “All work and no play makes Trey a dull boy. You don’t want to be a dull boy, do you?”

“No, Damien it’s nothing like that.”

“So, what’s it like?”

“I’m just busy.”

“Staring at walls?”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to engage in small talk with Damien but he was obviously not interested in that either because he grabbed my coat and pulled me toward him. “Wasn’t it good when we did it the last time?” he wanted to know. “I’ve learned some new moves and I’ve been dying to try them on someone.”

I was horny. It had been a while since I’d jerked off, let alone have sex. That wasn’t like me. I could understand Damien’s frustration. But I couldn’t quite explain to him what was wrong with me. The fact that Weldon agreed to bring Jake for an appointment and never followed through or the fact that I couldn’t stop thinking about Jake.

But Damien was nothing if not persistent. He grabbed my crotch and noticed the erection, he just didn’t know it wasn’t for him. “Hey there!” Damien crooned and kissed my cheek. “You want to play Doctor?”

He grabbed my stethoscope and tried to put it on, but I stopped him. “Damien, please!”

He looked confused. “What’s the matter with you?”

“I’m just not in the mood.”

“Clearly,” he gestured to the bulge in my pants.

“Shut up.”

“Fine,” Damien said, straightening himself up. “A girl can take a hint.”