Date: Thu, 06 Sep 2001 20:23:11 -0400
From: Jeff Allen <jeff_allen15@hotmail.com>
Subject: When Love Comes - Part 19

This is a fictional story dealing with love and consensual sexual
activities between males.  If you are not of legal age, reside in an area
where viewing such material is illegal, or are offended by homosexuality
and/or homosexual themes, leave this site now.

The author retains all rights to this story.  No reproductions or links to
other sites are allowed without the permission of the author.


	AUTHOR'S NOTE: I want to thank every one who has emailed about the
story.  I have appreciated your comments, and I've gained some real friends
in the process of exchanging messages.  Some of you said that you related
to characters in the story because of your personal experiences.  A few of
you shared some of those experiences with me which often caused tears to
form.  Thank you.


                   *******

WHEN LOVE COMES - PART 19

     Although Mark missed Jamal when he was out of town during the week, he
seemed to accept the reality of the situation, and he knuckled down to his
studies.  Of course our house was pretty quiet in the evenings since Matt
was usually trying to get ready for the next days classes at the high
school and I was always working on lab notebooks or exams or getting
lectures ready for my courses.  When Jamal returned from his recruiting
trips on Thursday or Friday night, Mark moved back into the apartment in
town.  The situation worked well for Matt and me also because while Mark
and Jamal were bouncing around on the bed in Jamal's apartment, Matt and I
could do whatever we wanted at our place.
     Jamal talked Head Coach Schroeder into getting cell phones for all the
recruiters.  He told the coach that it would make it easier for the
recruiters to stay in touch with each other and with prospects by using the
cell phones.  They all got a very generous package for free minutes with
the understanding that if they went over their allotted number of minutes
they would reimburse the athletic department for any personal calls.
Naturally Jamal and Mark made good use of the phone and talked with each
other every night for a good forty-five minutes or more.

     Easter was early that year so the high school's Easter vacation
corresponded with the university's spring break.  The four of us loaded up
the 4Runner and tooled all the way down to Key West for the week.  We
stayed in one of the gay guest houses, swam, went snorkeling out on the
reef, ate lots of sea food, and spent the evenings going from bar to bar
along the strip.  Jamal got sunburned on the first day which sort of
tickled the rest of us, but really pissed Jamal off.  We made certain the
he was liberally covered in sunscreen the rest of the week.  All in all we
had a great time!

     When we got back from spring break, Mark and Jamal started spring
football practice.  The peak of the recruiting season was over so Jamal was
in town most of the time.  Mark more or less moved back into Jamal's
apartment in town, but he still came out and stayed with us during those
times when Jamal was out of town.

     Matt and I didn't say much about it, but we realized that Mark just
didn't want to be alone.  The trauma of their mother's murder by their
father was still pretty fresh in both their minds, but especially for Mark
who'd almost been killed by the drunken bastard himself.  The counseling
had helped, and Mark was getting to the point that he didn't cringe at the
sight of every old beat up pickup truck that looked like the one their
father had escaped in.

     Final exams rolled around for Mark and me during the second week of
May.  Matt's job at the high school would continue for another couple of
weeks.  On Wednesday of Exam Week both Mark and I were almost done.  I had
one more exam to give and correct on Thursday, and Mark's last exam was
Thursday afternoon during the last exam period.
     Jamal was gone on another recruiting trip.  He wasn't scheduled to get
back into town until Friday afternoon, but he called Mark from the cell
phone around eleven that night to say that the potential recruit had
decided to go to another college so he was going to head back home.  He
thought he would get back into town about two in the morning.
     Mark told Jamal that he would go back into town to Jamal's apartment
and wait for him there, but Jamal insisted that Mark stay out with us so
that he would finish studying for his exam.  Mark was supposed to go over
to the apartment when he was finished with his last exam.

     Matt and I went to bed shortly after Jamal's phone call.  Both of us
were pretty tired so I just curled up into Matt's naked body.  He put his
arm over my shoulder and side, kissed my neck and snuggled up to go to
sleep.  It was a warm night so we'd left the windows open.  Matt dropped
off to sleep almost immediately.  I heard and felt his breathing change as
he drifted away.
  I heard Mark moving around in the kitchen preparing a late night snack to
take out to the living room.  He had said he planned on studying for
another hour or so.  Gradually I drifted off to sleep listening to the
night sounds of late spring and thinking how lucky I was to have Matt in my
life.

     I came out of a deep sleep.  At first I wasn't sure what had awakened
me, but then I heard some noise from the living room.  I figured it was
just Mark getting ready to go to bed.  Then I heard voices.  I looked at
the clock beside the bed.  Three o'clock!  What was going on?
     I was starting to disentangle myself from Matt who was still sleeping
soundly when the door to our room burst open and Mark came tumbling into
the room.
     Someone was standing behind Mark and pushed him toward the center of
the room.  Even in the dark of the room I could see the terrified look on
Mark's face.
     The other man reached over and found the light switch near the door.
As the lights went on in the room, I realized who the man was.  He had lost
some weight and had grown a beard, but there was no mistaking the mean eyes
and nasty sneer.
     It was Matt and Mark's father!  And he had a gun!

     Matt woke up when the lights went on, and I felt his body stiffen when
he recognized the intruder.  "Daddy!"

     "Well look what we got here!.  I come back to town 'cause I miss my
boys, and my old buddy tells me that they've both gone queer.  I tol' that
sumbitch he was wrong and beat him to a bloody pulp for calling my boys
fairies.
  But now I see he was right."

     He pointed the gun at Matt.  "You are a worthless piece of shit!  You
blew your chances at a pro career.  You could've made us all rich.  Look at
you now!  A goddamned pansy!  I should have killed you instead of your
bitch momma."

     He raised the gun at Matt's head.

     "You've got two queer sons, you worthless prick!"  Mark found his
voice, and took a step toward his father.

     Stevenson turned the gun away from Matt and toward Mark.  "Don't you
come any closer!  What do you mean two?"

     Tears were streaming down Mark's face, but he stood his ground in the
face of the gun pointed at his chest.

     "I'm gay too, daddy.  And what makes it even better is that I'm
fucking or being fucked by a big Black man every chance I get.  You sure
raised us right, daddy.  They say being gay is genetic, and I bet Matt and
I inherited it from YOU!"

     Stevenson's face turned dark with rage, and he moved toward Mark.  I
knew he was going to shoot.

     I launched myself out of the bed toward Stevenson.  He caught the
movement and spun toward me.  Just then the screen on the sliding door out
to the deck came flying into the room propelled by Jamal's bulk.  Stevenson
began to turn toward Jamal's advancing form, but the gun was still pointed
at me, and it fired!

     I felt a hammer blow to my head, and I dropped to the floor.

     I wondered what it would be like being dead.

                        *******

     I opened my eyes.  Matt was holding me to his chest.  His chest was
covered in blood.  MY blood.

     "Hold on Gary!  Hold on!  Don't leave me!"

     But I had to leave...

                        *******

     Lights.  Bright lights!

     Voices.  Different voices...and then Matt's voice.  "I'm coming with
you, Gary!"

     Don't come.  Both of us don't need to die.

                        *******

     More lights.  Oh God, if I'm dead, then why does my head hurt so bad!
I opened the eye on the side that didn't hurt as much.  Matt was there
smiling at me.  I thought he was the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen.
Actually he looked like shit.  His hair was all messed up.  His eyes were
red from crying.  He had an old torn tee shirt on with blood stains on the
front from cradling my head in the ambulance.  But at that moment, he was
beautiful!

     "Welcome back.  You scared the crap out of us."

     "What about me?  I'm the one that got shot."

     Matt leaned over and kissed me on the lips.  "Yeah, and if you ever
pull a stunt like that again, Dr. Griffith, I'll kill you myself."

     "Promise that you'll do it by fucking me to death."

     "I love you, Gary."

     "I love you too, Matt."

                        *******

     I had been very lucky.  The bullet had glanced off the left side of my
skull tearing out a hunk of my scalp along the way.  It gave me one helluva
concussion but didn't penetrate or fracture the skull.  Matt told me it was
further proof that I had the hardest head in the world.
     Jamal had gotten back to his apartment, but he was so anxious to see
Mark that he decided to drive out to the house and sleep on the couch in
the living room so that he would be there as soon as Mark woke up in the
morning.  When he pulled into my driveway he recognized Matt's father's
truck parked in the drive just off the road.  He called 911 on his cell
phone and then snuck up to the house.  He heard our voices and crawled up
onto the deck.  When it looked like Stevenson was going to shoot Mark,
Jamal made his move by running through the screen door at the same time as
I tried my failed superhero move.  Jamal's entrance through the screen
distracted Stevenson and undoubtedly saved my life by deflecting his aim.
     Jamal, Mark, and Matt quickly subdued Stevenson.  They weren't too
gentle in the process.  Stevenson's injuries included a concussion, a
broken jaw, two broken ribs, and both his shoulders were dislocated when
Jamal tied his hands behind his back just before the sheriff's deputies
came storming into the house.
     Because of all the blood from my head wound and the chunk of missing
scalp, every one thought that the bullet was inside my head and that I was
dying.  It was an easy mistake to make.  I'd thought the same thing!
     Somehow Jamal and Mark got Matt to pull on a pair of shorts and a tee
shirt while the ambulance guys were working on me.  The paramedics tried to
prevent him from riding in the ambulance, but they relented when it became
clear they would have to fight off not only Matt but Mark and Jamal as
well.

     Stevenson was tried and convicted of second degree murder in the death
of Matt and Mark's mom (no premeditation they said), convicted of criminal
battery for the beating of Mark, and convicted of attempted murder for
shooting me.  During the trial Stevenson's lawyer (the sleaze) made a big
deal out of Matt and my relationship as well as Mark and Jamal's.  I don't
think it made much of an impression on the jury or the judge.  Stevenson
won't be eligible for parole until he's at least 150 years old!

     Since the four of us we "outed" so publically at the trial, we knew
there would be some problems.

     It turned out that there were a lot fewer problems than we thought
there would be.  Yes, we got some stares in the grocery store and in town,
but most folks treated us the same as before.

     I was unanimously recommended for tenure in the department.  Now, ten
years after the trial, I'm the chair of the department.

     Matt lost his job at the high school.  The superintendent of schools
suggested to him that a gay man could not be a good role model for the
young men on the football team.  Matt told the man to get screwed and
walked out.
  When John Schroeder, the head coach at the university, heard about the
incident, he drove out to the house and offered Matt a job as one of the
assistant coaches.  He first looked at the two of us sitting next to each
other at the kitchen table, then he looked right at Matt and said, "You
were one of the best players I've ever coached.  You'll be a great coach
yourself.  In addition I know that some of our players are gay.  Having an
openly gay coach on the staff will help the gay ones and help teach some
tolerance to the others."  Coach Schroeder retired two years ago.  Matt's
now the head coach.

     Jamal stayed at the university as a recruiter/assistant coach until
Mark graduated and went to law school at Duke.  Jamal moved to Durham with
Mark and opened a sporting goods store while Mark was in law school.  Today
Jamal owns a chain of six stores.

     Mark is a public defender in Durham.  He and Jamal have a great place
out in the country with a huge hot tub.

     Matt and I are still together and very much in love.  I know we've
beaten all the odds for gay relationships.  I don't know if our love will
last the rest of our lives.  I hope and pray it does.  I just know that you
have to be ready to take a chance when love comes.

The end