Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 15:16:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mickey S <njmcmick@yahoo.com>
Subject: Second Wind, Chapter 13

I would like to thank all of those who have written me about this
story. There is obviously a market for romance out there. As a hopeful
romantic who doesn't always have confidence in my writing, your feedback is
invaluable and keeps me going. Thank you all.

If you are under age, or live in an area where reading stories that include
love and sex between males is illegal, or if you're not into this type of
story, please leave. This is a love story and it will take a while to
develop, so there won't be any love scenes in the first several
chapters. If you're looking for a more sexual story, I've written a few of
those. Ask me. If you're into romance, I hope this story pleases you.

I'd like to thank my friends in the Nifty Six for their support and
encouragement, especially Tim for his advice and his editing
assistance. The author retains all rights.  No reproductions are allowed
without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at
NJMcMick@yahoo.com.

Chapter Thirteen

Ben

When we got up to go to the shower, I realized how much wine I'd consumed
over the evening. My legs were wobbly and I really did need Joey's
assistance in getting to the bedroom. He sat me on the bed and pulled my
shirt off over my head. When he squatted down to take off my shoes and
socks I fell back onto the bed. I just lay there while he pulled my jeans
and boxers off. I suddenly realized nothing was happening and opened my
eyes. Joey was standing over me, looking down.

"What are you looking at?"

"A beautiful man who I love very much."

I think I must have blushed from head to toe. I knew he had just told me
that he was in love with me but I was having trouble accepting it. I
couldn't understand how he could love someone like me, especially when I
thought of all of the horrible things I'd said to him on the phone Friday
night. And now here I was, too drunk to stand up on my own. How could he
possible love me?

Joey helped me to my feet and we stumbled into the bathroom. He sat me on
the closed toilet seat and quickly took off his own clothes. Man, what a
great body he had for a little guy. Not that he was really little. He was
only an inch shorter than me and while he had a small frame like me, his
muscles were much more developed so he probably weighed a several pounds
more. But he was smaller than guys I was used to being with. He turned on
the shower and got the water adjusted, then pulled me to my feet and helped
me into the stall. One of the things I'd liked about this house the first
time I saw it was the large shower in the master suite but this was the
first time I'd had a chance to share it.

I managed to hold myself upright in one corner of the shower while Joey
washed me. He started by shampooing my hair. I kept my eyes closed and lost
myself in the scalp massage he was giving me. After he'd lathered and
rinsed my hair twice he began on my body, starting at the shoulders and
slowly working his way down. Paul and I had showered together many times,
mostly in the early days of our relationship, but it had always been about
sex, not washing. Joey was concentrating on getting me clean, yet it was
one of the most sensuous experiences I could remember.

He aimed the spray away from me and concentrated on soaping up every square
inch of my body. He worked his way down my front, and then turned me around
and soaped up my back and my butt. He pulled me close to his chest and
wrapped his arms around me and scrubbed my chest and stomach, as if he were
washing himself. By the time he got down to my crotch I was completely
hard, in spite of all the alcohol in my system. He gently washed my balls
and ran his hand up and down the shaft of my cock a few times, then turned
me around to face him. I put my arms around him, lay my head on his
shoulder and held him tight while he reached around and washed my back,
then went lower and grabbed a cheek in each hand. He squeezed hard and then
kneaded my ass in his hands, running his soapy hands into my crack, lightly
touching and tickling my hole. My rod was poking into his stomach and I
could feel his hardon pressing into me as well.

He pulled back a little and used one hand to lift my chin so that I was
looking into his eyes.

"Would you mind if we, um, kind of relieved ourselves, Ben?"

"Mind? You have to ask? I'm still not very steady on my feet, but go ahead,
whatever you want."

Joey grabbed the soap and lathered up our dicks some more, then propped me
in the corner of the shower again. He leaned in and kissed me, just lightly
at first, then he began nibbling on my upper lip, being careful of the
nearly healed cut on my lower lip. He was stroking both of our cocks
together in one hand. Then he pushed up against me and began humping his
hips into mine, our two dicks sliding against each other and being pressed
between us. His kiss became more passionate though still careful, with the
focus on tongue action rather than lips. I knew I wasn't going to last long
and when he reached behind me and slipped a soapy finger between my cheeks
and pressed it against my anus I felt my balls pull up. I grabbed both of
his cheeks and pulled his hips tightly into mine and exploded into the
soapy slippery lather between us. He tensed up at almost the same time and
I knew he was cumming as well.

We stood clinging onto one another catching our breath for a moment and
then Joey leaned me back into the corner again. He reached up and directed
the shower spray at me and gently rinsed all of the soap and spunk from my
body. I watched the suds run down his beautiful body as he sprayed
himself. He shut off the water and grabbed a towel and carefully dried me
and then himself. He sat me on the toilet seat again and brushed my hair
before helping me to bed. To tell the truth I was pretty sober my then and
didn't need the help but I wasn't going to let him know that. He tucked me
into bed and then he put on my robe and excused himself to let Lula out for
a few minutes.

When he came back he sat on the bed next to me and lightly stroked my face.

"I love you so much, Ben. Please believe that. You are all I want."

"I'm pretty amazed, but I believe you, Joey."

"I know we're gonna have problems with my family but we'll get through it
somehow. I'll figure out something."

"There's no rush. I know we keep trying to go slow and it doesn't seem to
work but as long as we know where we stand with each other we don't have to
go public with this for while, you know."

"Yeah, I know. The holidays are crazy enough with my family so I'd just as
soon lay low for a while anyway. Not that I have any idea how I'll deal
with them later."

"Don't worry about it, babe. We're gonna be just fine now, I know it."

Joey

I hadn't intended on anything sexual happening when I took Ben into the
bathroom to shower. I mean, with the emotional roller coaster we'd both
spent the weekend riding I don't think either of us had sex in mind. But
put two wet, slippery, naked guys in love together in a shower and things
tend to pop up on their own. It was the first time I had taken the lead
physically and I was afraid maybe it wasn't the right time but Ben didn't
object. It was such a basic sexual release but I couldn't help but think it
wasn't really about sex. Okay, it was a fantastic orgasm, but it was really
about reaffirming our love. And passion. Damn, was it passionate.

I woke up early Tuesday morning but Mom had breakfast ready as usual. Pop
had already left for work.

"You got in late last night, Joey." Didn't she ever sleep?

"Yeah, I went over to Ben's after bowling."

"I thought you always went to Angelo's."

"We usually do but Ben didn't go bowling last night because he wasn't
feeling well, so I went to see him to make sure he was okay."

"I hope he doesn't have anything contagious. You have to be careful with
Connor."

"Don't worry, he's not really sick. He just had a rough weekend."

"I can imagine." No, I'm sure you can't, I thought.

Connor thankfully cut the conversation short by acting up about his
breakfast. I was able to focus on getting food into his mouth while Mom
cleaned up the kitchen.

Pop was at the front counter of the nursery reading the newspaper when I
got there.

"Morning, Pop. Are John and Vinnie in yet?"

"No, it's just you and me, son. There's not much need to come in early at
this time of year."

"Yeah, I know, but that doesn't stop you, does it? In another week or so
John and Sal won't have any outside work to do until the snow starts. And
after Christmas things will really seem dead."

"I suppose it's only natural to panic when business drops off but it's just
a part of our cycle. We work hard most of the year so we should enjoy this
little break."

"Don't get me wrong, Pop, it's nice, but it takes some getting used to
after all the months of long days and long weeks."

I went into the office, poured myself a cup of coffee, sat down at my desk
and thought for a while before starting work. I wasn't sure how I was going
to deal with my brothers but I knew we had to talk. I was going to have to
be careful. I had to keep in mind that to them I would be defending my
friend, not my boyfriend, so my attitude and words had to reflect
that. About a half hour later Vinnie walked in.

"Hey Joe, Pop said you were looking for me."

I looked up at him and an image of Ben's bruised face flashed through my
head. I jumped up, crossed the room in three long strides, put my hand on
Vinnie's chest and slammed him back against the wall. So much for being
careful.

"What the fuck's gotten into you, Bro?"

"Just what I should be asking you, Vin, after what you did to Ben." I let
go of him, turned and went back to my desk. I leaned against it, took a
deep breath, folded my arms across my chest and stared at him. He averted
his eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't lie to me. I saw Ben last night." I still wasn't sure exactly what
had happened but I had a pretty good idea. I was appalled that my brothers
had physically attacked Ben and wanted to know how they could have done
such a thing.

"I thought he didn't show up at bowling."

"He didn't but I went over to his house later." Vinnie scowled. "Uncle
Angelo saw you and John in the parking lot with Ben last week. Want to tell
me about it?"

"We just wanted to tell him to back off. The queer's got the hots for you,
anybody can see that. We told him to leave you alone."

"You did a little more than talk, didn't you?"

"I didn't mean to hit him but he pissed me off. He made it sound like you
were the one who was after him." I wondered exactly what Ben had said. I
knew he would be careful not to give anything away but still... "Okay, so I
hit him, but it was only once and not even that hard. It's not my fault the
fag can't take a punch."

"The 'fag' is my friend, Vinnie. Get that though your thick head. He's not
'after' me and I'm not 'after' him. We both want to spend time together
because we like each other a lot and enjoy each other's company. I'm old
enough to know what I want and to pick my own friends and you guys can just
butt out."

"But what are people gonna think if you spend all your time hanging out
with him, Joe? They're gonna talk."

"I really don't care what people think. It's none of their business. It's
none of yours either. I'll tell you one thing, though. If either you or
John ever lays a hand on Ben again you'll have one less
brother. Understand?"

Vinnie knew what I was saying but he obviously didn't like it. "Yeah, I get
it, but I still think you're making a big mistake." He turned and walked
out of the office.

After lunch Ben called. I smiled when I heard his voice. It was just like
old times. Well, like those few days after Thanksgiving, anyway. Funny how
they seemed to be my reference point to what was normal now. I was in a
playful mood and would have liked to have flirted with Ben, but I had to be
careful what I said since Margaret, our bookkeeper, was sitting her desk a
few feet away from me.

"So how about joining Becky and me tonight, Joey? We're doing our usual
takeout and TV."

"I don't think so, Ben. This is your special night with her. Besides, you
two haven't seen each other or even talked much in over a week. I don't
want to be in the way."

"You could never be in the way, babe. Are you sure you don't want to come
over? Please?" He sounded so sweet, like a little kid.

"I think you're just afraid to be alone with her after all that happened
last week. You're afraid she'll rip into you."

"Well, maybe that's a little of it. I'm sure she's gonna give me hell for
the way I treated you. But I really do want to see you."

"Same here, but I think it will do you both good to have an evening alone
together."

"Hey, I know, what about Thursday? Are you doing anything?"

"No plans so far. What did you have in mind?"

"Well, it's not exactly a romantic evening, but I've invited my mother and
Sam over for dinner to hear about their trip and I thought maybe you'd like
to meet them. After all, I've met your family."

"Are you sure, Ben?" I looked over at Margaret and hesitated, not sure what
to say.

"Mother will love you. Don't worry about that."

"Okay, but how about if I cook? From what you've said, your mother doesn't
sound like a steak and baked potatoes kind of woman."

"You don't have to do that, babe. I could order out."

"Just leave it to me, Ben. I'll take care of it."

Ben

Things with Becky went in a different direction than I expected when she
came over Tuesday night. When I called her during the day I briefly
explained that Joey and I were back together, that it had all been a big
misunderstanding. Of course, I still had some explaining to do over our
Chinese food.

"Misunderstanding? It sounds more like you panicked, Ben."

"Panicked? What do you mean?" I hadn't told her about Vinnie and John
attacking me. I hadn't actually told Joey about that either although he
knew.

"Well, you say you tried to break it off because being with you would
disrupt Joey's life too much, but you guys had already talked about that so
I don't see why you thought that was still such a big problem. I think
maybe it was more like you were a little scared about how deep your
feelings for him really are."

"I know I love him, Beck. Why should that scare me?"

"Because of what Paul did to you. You said all summer that you didn't ever
want to be in a position to be hurt like that again."

"I know I said that but I don't think Joey would ever hurt me. I know this
is all very new for him, but I think one of the reasons he wanted to go
slow is that he's the kind of guy who only moves ahead when he's sure of
his feelings."

"Well, you're the guy who craves security. Do you think you've found it in
Joey?"

"Yeah, I do. It's funny, in a way. He looks like such a kid compared to
Paul, yet the whole time I was with Paul, I was never completely secure. I
was always trying to be just what he wanted, to do just what he
wanted. Looking back, I can see that I was never totally sure of his
love. With Joey, I've never tried to get him to love me but he fell in love
with me anyway. And I believe he loves me. There's just something so solid,
so steady about him. I know that he means what he says and I can trust
him. I could never quite believe in Paul. I always thought that was due to
my own insecurities, but it was him. He just wasn't trustworthy."

Becky didn't say anything for a few minutes.

"Well, I don't know what your problem was last week. Maybe it was cold
feet. Maybe you did think that Joey would be better off without you. But
you seem sure now. And I think you're right. Joey is someone you can count
on. Don't fuck it up, Ben."

"No way, Beck. I'm gonna do whatever I have to to hang onto him. He's the
best thing that ever happened to me."

Joey

I debated as to whether to bring Connor to Ben's on Thursday. I hated all
the time I had to spend away from him when I was working and didn't like to
leave him with sitters, even though there were so many who loved him in the
family. And Ben had said that Connor was always welcome at this house and
not to think twice about bringing him along. But for a first meeting with
Ben's mother, I thought he might be a distraction. We were going to have
enough problems with my family; I had to make a good impression on Ben's
family.

Wednesday night I got out my list of nieces to see whose turn it was to
baby-sit. I'd made the list for two reasons. They all loved to watch Connor
so I didn't want to play favorites, but I also didn't want to impose on
anyone. This way they all got a turn and no one was burdened. I picked up
the phone and called Anthony's house and made arrangements with his
sixteen-year-old daughter, Carole.

Over breakfast Thursday morning I told Mom my plans.

"Ben had such a good time meeting our family at Thanksgiving that he wants
to return the favor." I tried to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. "He's
having his mother and stepfather over for dinner and has invited me." I
didn't mention that I was doing the cooking.

"Stepfather?  I might have known he came from a broken home."

"Ma, what's that got to do with anything?"

"You never know. The way a kid turns out has a lot to do with their
family."

"Well, Ben turned out just fine. He's a fantastic person." Mom just frowned
and shook her head. "Anyway, I hope I make a good impression on his
mother."

"How could you not? You're a wonderful boy. Any mother would be proud of
you. She'll probably prefer you to her own son."

"Ma-a-a."

I dropped Connor off at Anthony's at five and went food shopping. I'd
decided on Caesar salad followed by shrimp scampi over linguine. I knew Ben
loved shrimp. While I hoped to impress his mother I was really doing this
for Ben. I got to his house a little before six and he had already set the
table. It was a pretty simple meal so we had plenty of time before his
mother arrived at seven. Ben followed my instructions as we made the salad
together, then he peeled the shrimp while I chopped the garlic. By
six-thirty everything was pretty much ready. I would sauté the shrimp with
the garlic while the pasta cooked but that was last minute stuff. All of
the preparation work was done so we poured ourselves some wine, went into
the family room and snuggled on the couch.

I was a little nervous about meeting Ben's family. I knew they'd be far
less intimidating than my own but I was meeting them as Ben's boyfriend,
not just his friend. That made it a lot more intense for me. Ben assured me
that they were going to love me. Twenty minutes of tongue wrestling seemed
to relax me. Well, maybe relax wasn't the right word but it did take my
mind off his mother.

We both jumped when the doorbell rang. We'd gone off into our own world for
a bit. When we got up we were both aware of a problem. Two problems,
actually. A very obvious bulge in both of our pants. My pants were tighter
so mine was more pronounced.

"I'll go get the door and stall them, Joey. Go in the kitchen and do some
calisthenics, something to tame that beast." As he turned toward the living
room he gave it a squeeze, which only made things worse.

I went into the kitchen and did as he said. I jumped up and down a few
times and did a few deep-knee bends, all the while staring at the raw
shrimp, trying to focus my mind on dinner. I only had a minute since it
would be rude to leave them standing by the door too long. When I walked
out to meet them my erection had gone down a bit but I was sure it was
still noticeable.

I was surprised by how young his mother looked. I knew she was a lot
younger than my parents but she didn't look close to fifty. I could see
that Ben took after her quite a bit. He had her coloring and her slim
build, but the resemblance was especially clear in their eyes. Sam looked
somewhat older but he was obviously younger than Pop also. I held my hands
clasped in front of me and tried to relax as Ben performed the
introductions.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Thurston."

"Oh please, it's Sam and Gale." Ben's mother smiled as she held out her
hand. I shook hands with her and then Sam.

"Okay, Gale, nice to meet you." I glanced over at Ben and he rolled his
eyes.

Gale looked back and forth from Ben to me, a thoughtful look on her face.

"Are we too early? I hope we're not interrupting anything." She raised an
eyebrow as she added that.

"No, Mother, you're right on time. Don't worry, Joey and I weren't planning
on having wild sex until after you left."

My mouth fell open in horror as I turned to Ben but Gale just laughed and
even Sam smiled and shook his head. This was definitely a different kind of
family than what I was used to.

Ben

I wasn't nervous about Mother meeting Joey. I knew she'd love him. I was a
little uncertain about Sam. He could be pretty cool and distant. He'd never
really warmed up to Paul, which was more evidence toward my theory that he
was okay with me being gay as long as he didn't have to deal with it up
close.

I directed Mother and Sam into the living room and made them drinks, a
cosmo for Mother, Chivas on the rocks for Sam, while Joey refilled our
wineglasses. We sat and made small talk for a while, the weather, the
upcoming holidays, work, that kind of thing. Joey was pretty quiet and
seemed to be trying to get a feel for things. I think Mother and I had
shocked him at the door.

After a while Joey excused himself to go to the kitchen to finish preparing
dinner. Mother's eyes followed him across the room.

"He's a doll, Ben, such a sweetheart. Not your usual type, though. I
thought you went for older guys."

"So did I, but Joey is just so perfect. Wait until you get to know him
better. You'll see what a great guy he is."

"I'm sure. So how long has this been going on? I don't even remember you
mentioning a Joey until the other day but you two seem so comfortable
together."

"Well, it happened slowly, starting out as friends. I didn't want to say
anything until I was sure where things were heading and by then you guys
had left for Europe. We're still just getting started but we both know it's
serious."

"I can see that in the way you two look at each other. He seems like a nice
young man, Ben. I wish you the best of luck."

I turned toward Sam, a bit surprised. "Why thanks, Sam, that means a lot to
me."

Just then Joey stuck his head into the room, announced that dinner was
ready and asked that we move to the dining room.

I knew that the food would be good but still Joey amazed me. I'd watched
him with all of the preparation and it all seemed so simple, but there was
obviously magic involved somewhere. For the first few minutes of the meal
there was very little conversation except for raves about the food. Once
conversation resumed I'd expected it to be all about Mother's trip but
instead she was focused on getting to know Joey. He had relaxed a bit by
then and talked about the nursery, his parents and siblings. I noticed he
didn't mention Jenny. I hadn't really given Mother any of his background
other than that he was just coming out.

"It sounds like you have a wonderful family, Joey. Did you learn to cook
from your mother?"

"Pretty much, although this scampi is my Aunt Josephine's recipe. She used
to do the cooking at Uncle Angelo's place when I was growing up and she's
even better than my mother at some things, though I'd never say that to
Mom. I guess it's just as well that I didn't bring Connor. He may be half
Italian but he hasn't acquired a taste for garlic yet."

"Connor? Who's he?"

"My son. He's eighteen months old." The smile that always appeared when
Joey talked about Connor broke out on his face as he reached for his wallet
and took out a few pictures. I knew parents always did that and I usually
found it so boring to look at pictures of some generic looking baby and
have to ooh and aah over them and make the same bland comments but I knew
Connor and how much Joey loved him. I found I was the one raving about him
as Mother and Sam passed the snapshots between them.

"You should see him on the floor playing with Lula, Mother. They've become
best friends. And he can almost say her name."

"I can't imagine you playing with a baby, Ben. I wish Joey had brought him
just to see you with him." Mother turned to Joey. "So is he with his mother
tonight?"

A flash of pain appeared on Joey's face and I started out of my chair, but
he recovered quickly and motioned for me to sit.

"It's all right, Ben." He turned back toward Mother. "No, Gale, one of my
nieces is baby-sitting him. My wife passed away right after Connor was
born."

"Oh my God, Joey, I'm so sorry. Ben didn't tell me or I wouldn't have said
that." She shot me an annoyed look.

"That's okay. I should have said something when I was talking about my
family, but it's still hard for me to talk about."

"I understand. I just want you to know how sorry I am." Mother reached over
and took Joey's hand in hers and gave it a squeeze.

There was a lull in the conversation so Joey and I got up. I cleared the
table while he made coffee. I pulled him into a hug before we sat down
again.

"Are you okay, babe?" I whispered into his ear.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm getting better at this. Thanks." He smiled and gave me
a little peck on the cheek.

Over coffee we finally talked about Spain and Portugal. We adjourned to the
living room and Mother had a little Sambuca while Joey, Sam and I sipped
Remy. The conversation flowed much easier than before and it was eleven
o'clock before we knew it. Mother and Sam got up to leave and we walked
them to the door.

Mother hugged Joey and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "It was so nice
meeting you. We'll have to have you boys over for dinner very soon." She
hugged and kissed me and whispered in my ear. "He's a keeper, Ben. I'm so
happy for you."

Sam surprised me by hugging Joey and then me. I couldn't remember him ever
hugging me before. He also whispered in my ear. "He's very special,
Ben. Hang onto him."

After they'd left Joey headed for the kitchen to clean up but I grabbed
him.

"No way, Joe. I'll take care of that later. I just want to hold you a while
right now." I poured us each another brandy and we went into the family
room and cuddled on the couch.

"That was really nice, Ben. I like them a lot. From the way you described
them I was expecting them to be a little, I don't know, stiffer or
something."

"Yeah, Mother is usually a lot more formal and dramatic and Sam is often a
bit distant but they both took to you right off. Tonight, Mother was more
like the mom I grew up with and I don't think I've ever seen Sam be
affectionate like that."

"Well, I'm glad they liked me. I wanted them to but I didn't want to seem
to be trying too hard."

"You weren't, babe. You were just being yourself so of course they loved
you. Who wouldn't?"

I was sitting between Joey's legs, leaning back into his chest. He had his
arms around me and pulled me tight to him. We just lay there for a long
while like that. It felt so perfect, like I never wanted the moment to
end. At last, he slid out from behind me and got up to leave.

"I really don't want to go but I'm keeping someone up at Anthony's house. I
just hope it's not Carole. She has school in the morning."

"But what about the wild sex I told Mother we were going to have?"

"Next time. Ben, I promise. In the meantime, this will have to do."

He pulled me into a tight embrace and kissed me, starting lightly but
becoming more passionate. As he probed my mouth with his tongue he ground
his hips into mine, rubbing our hard cocks into one another. I was
beginning to think he was going to make me cum in my pants but he must have
sensed the change in my breathing as I got close and he pulled away.

"Sleep tight, babe." He grinned as he turned toward the door.

"After that?" I gasped. "I'm gonna have to work on a little problem as soon
as you're out the door."

"As long as you think of me while you do."

To be continued...