Private Relations (16 page)

“Please tell me you and Simone are the only ones that have seen these. You didn’t email them to anyone? Or upload them to Dropbox or Google Docs?”

“No, of course not!”

“All right, don’t get defensive.”

“Well then stop asking so many crazy questions.”

Though progress had been made on the case, dealing with Drake was giving me a pounding headache. Perhaps I should have asked him to keep some of the marijuana?

“So what now?” he asked.

“I’m going to meet Kurt, my boss, back in town. We’ll connect with Bobby, and eventually speak with the Academy as well. When are your parents coming home?”

“Probably not until after dinner,” Drake said. “Around eight or nine?”

“Okay -- we’ll speak with them tomorrow. Once everything’s been settled.”

“Do you really think Simone will just pick up and leave?” Drake asked. “I mean, she didn’t want to leave before. So what makes now any different?”

“Because now we have concrete evidence that she had sex with a minor while employed as a teacher, which is a felony in the state of Pennsylvania. Combine that with drug possession, corruption of a minor and slew of other charges, and she’d be a moron not to leave.”

“I don’t want her in jail,” Drake said. “Just… make her leave.”

“Relax, buddy. Like I said before: The Academy might sign my check, but Bobby brought me here for you.
You’re
my real client. Not them. And if you want Simone out of your life, then that’s exactly what I plan to do.”

Drake seemed satisfied, more at ease. Against all odds, I accomplished what Bobby and hired me to do: come back home and rescue his nephew from what could have been a life-ruining experience. Cocky as she was, not even Simone could keep her cool in the face of such damning evidence. She’d resign and get out of Drake’s life forever.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you,” Drake said. “I probably should have done it sooner, but…”

“It’s okay,” I said. “What is it?”

“I told Simone about you and Uncle Bobby. That’s how she knew. That’s why I was so sure that you wouldn’t go through with all of this -- that if I ignored you long enough, you’d just go away.”

“Trust me, Drake. I definitely thought about it. But that wasn’t what I was hired to do. Despite what you may think, your uncle cares about you very, very much.” I paused, wondered how much detail I should give him about what Bobby and I had done back when I was teenager. “The same can’t be said for Simone.”

“How can you be so sure?” Drake asked.

“I know her type. I don’t mean to be cruel when I say this, but you weren’t important to her. You were a conquest, something she used to make herself feel better about herself.”

“Don’t say that.”

“You know I’m right, Drake. Even you can see it now.”

He let out a tired, defeated sigh and collapsed onto the bed. He lay there, flat on his back, staring up at the bedroom ceiling. I recognized the look on his face, one of adolescent defeat. He didn’t do or say anything -- the complete
opposite
of the fight he’d been putting up just days before.

After a lot of hard work, I’d finally accomplished what I’d been hired to do. Drake was no longer in love with Simone. Soon enough, she’d leave the Academy for good. And with that, everyone could begin to put this so-called “scandal” behind us.

“So, what now?” Drake asked. “You just gonna stand there for the rest of the afternoon looking at me?”

“That would be kind of creepy, wouldn’t it?”

He nodded. “You can show yourself out, you know.”

“Not until you do what I asked for.” I gathered the Ziploc bags full of pills and coke and God knows what else. “Come on, I’ll help you do it. Every last controlled substance is going down the drain.”

We moved into the bathroom and sprinkled the contents of each bag into the toilet. A quick flush of the toilet, and all of the pills and powder swirled in the bowl and disappeared out of our lives.

Of course, I knew better than to think everything was over. There was no way of telling whether or not Drake was addicted to any of the drugs, or if he would suddenly change his mind and seek out Simone for drugs or sex or God knows what else. Fewer things were more volatile than an adolescent’s temperament.

“So, what now?” Drake asked. “Are you going to tell my parents?”

“No,” I said. “No, that wouldn’t accomplish anything. For right now, I just need you to stay away from Simone. In fact, just lay low in general.”

“Why? What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to meet with my boss, then Bobby. After that, I’m going to formulate a plan to get Simone out of your life forever.”

“Can you really do that?”

I shrugged and said, “It’s what I do.”

Chapter 27

“Jesse, please,” Kurt said. “Join the firm full-time in the New Year.”

Kurt all but pleaded with me to leave escorting behind and become a permanent member of Victory & Associates in January. If this latest case was any indication, I was even better at my job than he thought. According to him, what I did best was dive headfirst into a crisis and figure out a way to solve it. There wasn’t a price tag on that kind of skill -- and he promised to compensate me appropriately.

“I’ll think about it,” I said. “Just give me some time.”

Before he could continue making his case, Bobby arrived at the Italian restaurant where we were having dinner. Kurt visibly recoiled at his presence. Seemed he didn’t like the fact that Bobby had sex with me when I was a seventeen-year-old student.

“Thanks for making it on such short notice,” I said to Bobby. “Like I said on the phone, we have good news. I got Drake on our side this afternoon.”

“Yes, he called me,” Bobby said. “I don’t know what you did, but…”

“Did he go into specifics?”

Bobby shook his head, saying that Drake merely told him that he wanted nothing to do with Simone after he’d seen her kissing another man. Kurt and I exchanged a nervous glance, at which point I said I needed to speak with Bobby outside -- alone.

“What is it?” Bobby asked.

“Just come with me,” I said. “Kurt, hold down the fort while we’re gone?”

“You got it.”

I took Bobby outside and found a quiet corner to talk. His blue eyes were wrought with worry, and he had every reason to be concerned -- because now, I had to tell him what Simone had done to his nephew in graphic, unflinching detail.

“She gave him drugs,” I said. “Weed, coke, prescription meds. But Drake told me that he didn’t do anything except smoke marijuana. He sold the rest.”

Bobby shut his eyes and shuddered. “Please tell me that’s the end of it.”

“Simone took photos and video of him, too. While they were… you know.”

“He showed them to you?!”

“I stopped him before I saw anything I didn’t want to see,” I said. “But yes, it seems Simone wanted to capture the moment.”

Bobby looked as if he might throw up at any moment. His face paled, and even in the midst of a winter night, sweat glistened across his cheeks and forehead. He took a few steps and gathered himself, then turned back to ask me one last question.

“You don’t think she sold them, do you?”

“The photos and video? What would make you think that?”

“She’s a failed artist, Jesse. And let’s face it, there has to be a market for… pictures… of a teenage boy.”

Bobby had me stumped. As perverse as the idea of taping a teenager having sex was, selling it to creeps around the world was even worse. How much could Simone get for that kind of thing? Hundreds, perhaps even thousands of dollars?

“Let’s focus on the important part,” I said. “We have evidence now, along with Drake’s confession. That’s enough.”

“It still doesn’t change anything,” Bobby said. “It doesn’t change--!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Back in New York? When you called me a hypocrite? You were right, Jesse. Here I am condemning Simone when you and I did the same exact thing.”

“That’s not true,” I countered. “You never drugged me, for one. Nor were you sleeping with me as a way to make up for feeling like a failure in your career.”

For years, I’d been haunted by the idea of what Bobby and I did together. The sex, the intimacy -- the idea that at the age of seventeen, I really believed I was going to be with him for the rest of my life.

“I’ve been thinking a lot lately, about what we had together all those years ago,” I said. “I used to think that you crossed a line.
 
That you did something that no teacher should
ever
do with a student.”

“Jesse, I was wrong. I have no excuse for what I did. Only the fact that I wanted to be with you.”

“That’s just it,” I said. Seeing Simone today, seeing how quickly she dropped Drake to save her own skin, it made me realize you really are nothing like her. Not at all. You were ready to give up everything so we could be together, weren’t you?”

“Yes, I was. And then you left.”

“I had to. Deep down, you know that.”

“So, what now?”

“Well, Kurt wants me to join the firm full-time, for starters. Drake might need therapy. But, at the same time, one thing has stayed the same.”

“And what’s that?”

“I finally realized that I’m still in love with you.”

That did it.

Bobby and I came at each other like two teenagers. My mouth devoured his, a kiss so fast and fierce it nearly knocked us both to the ground. He leaned back against a nearby fence, letting me open my mouth and slide my tongue against his. I shuddered when his hands snaked up my shirt, and gasped when his fingernails scraped a trail over my stomach.

I broke free, leaned my forehead against his. “Jesus.”

“My sentiments exactly.”

“Your place or mine?” he asked.

“Yours. Let’s go.”

Chapter 28

I pushed Bobby’s onto the bed and told him to take off his clothes. He stripped, slowly, shedding his shirt one button at a time. His jeans came off next, though he requested that I take off his underwear for him.

“Already hard,” he said, holding his erection through the cotton of his boxers. “All you need to do is set me free.”

I climbed on top of him and kissed him on his forehead, his cheeks, and finally his mouth. Sliding down his body, I licked a trail across his hairy chest before scraping his right nipple with my teeth. He hissed in protest but pressed my head down further, encouraging me to take it into my mouth and suck.

“Harder,” he said. “Your tongue…”

A quick swirl of the tongue and he cried out my name. I nuzzled my way down to his abdomen until I was between his legs. Smiling in glee, I hooked my thumbs into the waistband of his boxers and slid them down to his knees, letting that eight-inch cock spring free.

“You’re as big as I remembered,” I said, then licked my right hand. “Enjoy…”

I grabbed his cock and started to jerk him off. Bobby shut his eyes, leaned back, and surrendered himself to the pleasure of it. When I flicked my tongue across the head -- tasting the glistening hint of semen at the tip -- he begged for more.

“Maybe I’ll make you work for it,” I teased.

“You cocky son of a bitch…”

I took him in my mouth and sucked for a few minutes before releasing him. His balls were next, and then I did something I’d never dared to before: I slipped my hands beneath his ass, brought him closer to my mouth, and pressed a finger against his hole.

“I want to feel myself inside of you,” I said. “You game?”

Bobby rolled over and raised his ass into the air.

“Well, that answers that question.”

“Will you stop talking and fuck me already?”

I reached into his nightstand and took out a box of condoms and a tube of lubricant. I squeezed the liquid onto my fingers and warmed them together, then teased them against Bobby’s ass. One finger slipped inside, followed by another, and then a third. I fucked him like that, taking them in and out, scissoring and expanding them to get him nice and ready.

“Fuck…” he hissed.

“The show’s not over yet,” I said. “Hold on.”

By the time I slipped on a condom he was all but moaning in protest, begging for me to hurry up and fuck him. I took my time, not quite knowing his tolerance for being topped. Still, he was expanding by the minute, and after a few quick thrusts, my cock slid inside.

“I’ve learned a few things since we last slept together,” I said. “Can you tell?”

Bobby grunted under his breath and spread his thighs even wider apart. I gripped his hips, fucked him in quick, sharp strokes followed by longer strides. Sweat coated my skin and dripped onto Bobby’s naked back. I leaned down, licked the perspiration off his skin and pressed my mouth to his ear.

“You’re so fucking tight,” I whispered. “I’m not stopping until you come.”

I gripped his hips and gave him everything I had. The sound of my skin slapping against his was punctuated only by the grunts and moans from the both of us. My right hand strayed from his hip and cupped his ass -- and it wasn’t until I spanked him that the both of us finally came.

We collapsed into the sheets, a sticky mess of sweat and lube. I slid out of Bobby’s ass, went into the bathroom to take off the condom and clean up. When I came into the bedroom, he’d gotten out of bed and told me to start the shower.

“This will be a trip down memory lane.”

“Unless you’d rather not…?” he asked.

I stepped into the glass shower and turned on the water. After rinsing myself clean, I made it my mission to wash Bobby from head to toe. His body was still in incredible shape. Broad shoulders gave way to a trim waist and sculpted thighs. His stomach was flat and even now, I wanted to run my fingers through the hair on his chest.

“There,” I said. “Clean.”

He turned me around and let his cock press against the small of my back. I chuckled, knowing that he had the innate ability to stay hard after sex. I was too tired for another round, and truthfully, so was he.

“If you think you’re leaving town before I get to fuck you, you’re sadly mistaken.”

“Time for that later on. The two of us have a pretty big day tomorrow.”

“True,” Bobby said. “What do you think will happen?”

“Kurt is holding a meeting with the Board of Directors to tell them that we have Drake on our side and solid evidence of his relationship with Simone. Basically, that will enable them to fire her.”

“Finally.” Bobby wrapped his arms around my waist, pulled in me close for a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For coming back. For helping me get that conniving bitch out of my nephew’s life. He has too much going for him to get sidelined by her.”

I shut my eyes and leaned back into Bobby’s embrace. The water was still hot, still pulsating against both of our bodies. Part of me pondered staying in New Hope after the case ended, but I was getting ahead of myself. I had a life to go back to in New York. Though for the first time ever, having sex for cash was decidedly less appealing.

“Stay with me,” Bobby said.

“You know I can’t do that. If anything, this made Kurt all the more convinced I need to be part of Victory & Associates full-time. He made me another offer today.”

“Are you going to take it?”

“There are certainly worse jobs out there. I just don’t know if I would want to give up all the easy money escorting brings.”

“Is it just the money?” Bobby asked. “Or is it something more than that?”

“I do it because I enjoy it. There’s a risk that goes along with it, sure. But that risk makes for one hell of a rush.”

“I wouldn’t know.” Another round of kisses on my shoulder and neck followed. He tickled my ribs -- something he knew drove me wild -- then turned me around to face him.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Do you have sex with other men?”

“No,” I said. “You’re the only one I’ve been with, ever.”

Relief washed over his face. I grazed his lower lip with my thumb, craned my neck to press a kiss to his forehead. By the time we got out of the shower and dried off, it was well past eleven.

“Are you going back to your hotel, or…?”

“Jesus. I bang you in the ass and now you want to get rid of me?”

“Nice to know your smart-ass mouth has remained intact.”

“I’ll stay the night if it makes you happy.”

“It does,” he said. “Stay.”

We crawled into bed and lay in each other’s arms. As I lay there, I noticed something was different. Gone was the feeling that Bobby was somehow my elder, my protector -- my
superior
. Yes, he was still older. But now, after a decade has passed, we were on equal footing. I wasn’t a boy; I was a man.

No reason to feel guilty now. I rolled over, wrapped my arms around his stomach and nuzzled his hair. I shut my eyes, and drifted off to sleep.