The City of Rossford

Adele and Fenn were sitting in his kitchen drinking coffee when the door opened when Layla entered followed by a slightly older woman and a little girl.

“Hello?” Fenn raised an eyebrow.

“Where’s Dylan and Todd?” Layla said.

“And hello to you, too,” Adele said.

“Oh,” Layla looked at her distractedly, “Hi, Mama. I wanted as much of the family here for this as possible. Sit, Caroline. Or do you want to stand?”

“I’m fine, Layla.”

“Dylan’s at the movies with Sheridan,” Fenn said, regarding the woman and her daughter. “And Todd’s out with Tara and Maia.”

“Oh,” Layla said. “This is Caroline. And this is her daughter, Laurel.”

“Pleased to meet you,” the girl stepped forward and took both Fenn and Adele’s hands.

“I like a girl who’s not timid,” Fenn said to her.

“Are you friends of Layla?” Adele asked.

“Well, yes,” Caroline allowed.

Layla said: “But it’s much more than that.”

“You’re a lesbian!” Fenn cried, clapping his hands and smiling at his niece. “I always thought—”

“No, I’m not a lesbian!” Layla said, while Adele stared at her brother. “Caroline is not my lover. She’s my sister.”

“Your what?” Fenn began while Adele shook her head and said, “That son of a bitch.”

“So Vanessa had you, and then gave you away?” Adele said.

“Yes,” Caroline said. “I ended up with a family from New Orleans. But they died and then I was in foster care and when I was old enough, I started to look up my blood family. It wasn’t as hard as it is for some people. I changed my name. My family’s name was Royce.”

“You changed it to Lawden?” Fenn said.

“No, I changed to Houghton, because that was Vanessa’s name.”

“And ours,” Adele said.

“Do you all know my mother?”

“Not really,” Fenn said. “I mean…. Things are complicated. I don’t—”

“I can’t stand the bitch,” Adele said, and then looking at Caroline and Laurel, she said, “I mean… we don’t really get on.”

“Our father had an affair with your mother’s mother,” Fenn explained. “So we never knew about Vanessa.”

“And then years later Vanessa was having an affair with my husband,” Adele continued.

“So Julian is my half brother,” Layla explained. “But he’s also my first cousin.”

Caroline blinked while Laurel ticked off names on her fingers, trying to make sense of it all.

“Incidentally, you are too,” Fenn told Caroline. “Julian’s your full sibling.”

“Who is married to my best friend, Claire,” Layla added.

“Who is the sister of my best friend, Paul,” Fenn continued.

“I have been able to forsee many things over the years,” Caroline began, turning to Layla. “But not this.”

“So, do you like this movie?” Sheridan whispered.

Dylan sucked noisily on the straw. They were at the back of the theatre, and it was nearly empty anyway. Finally he said, “Yup. But I wanted to see the one with the swords and stuff.”

“Your dad doesn’t want me to take you to that,” Sheridan told him.

“I know,” Dylan said in a sullen voice, slinking into his theatre seat. He was so small, he almost disappeared.

“Sheridan?”

“Yeah?”

“How come we don’t do stuff anymore?”

“Whaddo you mean?”

“You’re never around. Chay isn’t either.”

“I… Well, now I got work and everything.”

When Dylan didn’t say anything, Sheridan said, “But how about this? How about I’ll be around a lot more from now on? Alright?”

“Alright,” Dylan echoed.

“No, buddy, I’m serious. I’m sorry I haven’t been around.”

Dylan looked up from his seat, just the top of his head and his little eyes showing.

“What’s wrong, kid?”

“I thought you didn’t like me anymore.”

Dylan turned away.

“No! No!” Sheridan touched his shoulder. “Don’t you ever think that, alright? I’m so sorry. Okay?”

Dylan nodded.

“I’m serious, Dyl.”

“I know.”

Sheridan felt so bad for what Dylan had said. He hated the idea of hurting the little boy. He thought a moment, and then spoke.

“Hey,” Sheridan said, “You wanna go get something to eat after the movie?”

“Like at McDonalds?”

“No. Like at a real restaurant. On the Strip. My treat, okay? You can even meet my friend Logan if you want?”

“Okay,” Dylan nodded, looking serious. He suddenly felt very grown up, meeting Sheridan’s other friends.

“Sheridan?”

“Yeah, guy?”

“Are you and Chay still friends?”

“I hope so,” Sheridan said. “Things get complicated when you’re older is all. But you can meet Logan.”

“I never heard of him. Is he a secret friend?”

Suddenly, in the theatre, a thrill went through Sheridan’s body, the physical memory of making love with Logan. He was embarrassed to feel this in front of the boy and simply said, shaking, “Sort of a secret.”

“I have a secret friend,” Dylan said.

Sheridan’s face changed. His brows drew together.

“Whaddo you mean, Dylan?” he tried to keep his voice from being serious.

“She’s this lady,” Dylan said.

“Really?” Sheridan said, carefully.

“Yes,” said Dylan. “And she brings me presents sometimes. She has hair like Dad’s. Like Tom’s.”

Chay was the one person Sheridan was keenly aware of a need to protect. Dylan had never needed protection, but now he felt the anger, the cold edge in his voice that came when he tried to stop Chay from doing dangerous things, when he couldn’t believe Chay was doing something he shouldn’t. He took a deep breath.

“You know… you’re not supposed to talk to strangers.”

“But she’s not a stranger,” Dylan said in a slightly desperate voice.

Sheridan looked at the little boy.

“She’s my mother.”

In the large bedroom, with the door locked,where it always happened, while movies were being shot upstairs, Casey struggled desperately to undress Chay, and then from behind began kissing him up and down while Chay’s hands reached back. Chay turned around and started undressing him, running his hands over Casey’s body. And then he was on his knees, sucking his cock, taking it deep into his throat. Casey’s fingers were in his hair, and then Chay came back up and they were kissing again and Chay was turning around and grabbing the window ledge. Casey caught his waist and slowly, and then with a fierce insistence, began fucking him, his mouth open, his cheek pressed to his back, Chay arching back while Casey sucked his throat.

They stopped for a moment.

“Wha?” Casey said, half dazed.

“Now that he knows… What are we going to do?”

Casey quiet, his face pressed to Chay’s back, whispered, “I don’t know.”

And then there was a sudden jolt, a startled sound from Chay’s mouth, a widening of his eyes as Casey entered him, and while Chay’s mouth opened wider, and his eyes went wider, Casey fucked him slow and steady, repeating with his thrusts, “I… don’t… know.”

Outside of the house, through the thin curtain, Keith McDonald watched them.

He pulled out his cell phone.

Logan was still half asleep when the phone rang. He was not all the way asleep, because Sheridan had just called him, and he’d promised to meet him.

“Sher?” he began.

“No, I need you right now.”

“I can’t. I’m busy.”

“I’ll pay you seven hundred dollars.”

“You have seven hundred dollars?”

“I do. I just need it quick. Alright? Same place. Same way. Won’t take that long.”

Logan stood there, his tongue pressed between his lips. He actually liked getting fucked hard by this guy, not having to pretend or role play. And it was quick. It was little more than busting a nut. And it was seven hundred dollars. Tax free.

“Alright,” Logan said. “I’ll be there. I just gotta call a friend.”

“This is amazing,” Paul said. “This is just amazing.”

“You’ve already said that,” Claire murmured.

“I know, but…”

“Let’s go in the living room,” Claire said, standing up. “And let them have some time to themselves.”

Paul nodded, but remained sitting, and then he said, “Oh… right!” and followed his sister out of the room.

Caroline, Layla, Julian and Fenn watched them, and then Fenn told Laurel, “You have a cousin. You have several cousins, I guess. Is Maia her cousin?”

Layla shrugged. “More or less.”

“You have a very complicated new family,” Fenn told his great-niece. Then he looked at Caroline, “You both do.”

“And my mother, our mother,” Julian said. “Where does she figure into it?”

Caroline looked reflective. She looked very little like Julian, more in fact, like Layla.

“Actually, Julian, I don’t really have any desire to know her.”

“But you came back,” he said.

“I came back for my family,” Caroline said. “And now I have one.”

“Yes,” Fenn said. “Yes you do. And as for Vanessa, I can’t really say I blame you.”

“You hardly know her,” Caroline said.

“Relationship never quite happened for us,” Fenn admitted. “Though Layla tried to make it happen. Once.”

Layla laughed and Caroline waited for an explanation.

“Years ago I brought Vanessa over for Christmas dinner and my mother nearly killed us all. I never tried that again.”

“It was an interesting holiday, though.”

“Yeah, it was the same one where you got Dylan.”

“How did you get Dylan?” Caroline asked. But just then, the door opened and Sheridan came in with the little boy.

“Dylan,” Fenn began. “This is my son, Dylan. And this is Sheridan. Sheridan is Layla’s boyfriend’s brother. It’s all a very small and incestuous world.”

Caroline was about to stretch her hand out in greeting when Sheridan said, “I gotta speak to you, Fenn. And quick. I got someone waiting in the car.”

Fenn raised an eyebrow, but gestured for Sheridan to follow him, threading his way through the kitchen.

“Dylan, play with your new cousin.”

In the library, he closed the doors and saw Brendan and Kenny driving up, getting out of Bren’s car and then coming up the little walk toward their apartment.

“At the movies Dylan told me something. About having a secret friend. He said that a woman brought him little presents and… things like that.” Sheridan lowered his eyes and added, “He told me I couldn’t tell you.”

“I knew I should have beat him more,” Fenn reflected. “Oprah said no, but what the fuck does she know about children?”

“Fenn,” Sheridan continued.

Fenn looked at him.

“He thinks it’s his mother.”

“Well,” Fenn shrugged. “I do too.”