Rowan's Journey to Manhood

 In the previous chapters…

Rowan, a pale guy with many sexual inhibitions due to the abuse he suffered in the past, embarks in a long journey to a mature sexuality, helped by the men and boys living in a big house named “The Cove”. Charlie, a 19 y.o. playful boy, teaches him the joyful side of sex. Barry, an oversexed worker who looks alike Rowan’s abusive stepfather, scares him. During a dramatic night, Rowan reveals to Kale, an Hawaiian school counselor, his past and then they make love. Beau, the blond leader of the Cove, experiments Rowan’s ‘power’ to block a man’s ejaculation until he begs to cum. Hendrick, the house young cook, lets Rowan discover how sweet and pleasurable can be anal sex when, after many years, the guy yields his ass to the redheaded boy. The wise Native American Wahkan teaches to Rowan how to trust another man. The man and the boys of the Cove talk about Rowan and think he seems to come from another century. Wahkan allows his boy Chayton to assert his manliness by yielding him his virgin ass. Rowan discovers the pleasure of submission during a hot bondage session with Kale.

Synopsys (*** Spoiler Alert! ***)

Rick is restless and feels chased by past, when he lived as a toy-boy and was raped by a bunch of drunk men. Instead of trying to escape his past, the boy decides to face it, and brings the toy-boy back to life. Stewart, Alex, Barry and Kale, in an effort to help Rick, play their part in a dramatic act that hopefully will have a healing outcome.

Additional downloads (PDF)

• Cast of Characters with images
• The Cove – Floor Plan
• Book 01 (Chapters 1-10) with bookmarks
• Book 02 (Chapter 11-18) with bookmarks

 ≈ DOUBLE PLAY – FIRST ACT ≈ 

~ The toy-boy ~

Hendrick entered his room looking at his watch: a quarter to five, Stewart would be home in half an hour, he had to be quick. He showered with particular care, dried himself and combed his red hair, checking himself in the mirror, until his asymmetrical fringe fell seductively over his face, partly covering his right eye.

Then he wore an extremely thin boxer brief, tight enough to enhance and display his manhood without leaving anything to imagination; the mesh fabric on the sides and back showed off his legs and ass. He opened the wardrobe and took some clothes that he hadn’t worn for years, since his toy-boy days. He put them on, taking care of every little detail, and then looked at the mirror for one last check.

He suddenly felt like the last three years had never existed. He was again a toy-boy for rent.

He held his breath, looking at the boy in the mirror, who was wearing beltless tight white pants that put his bulge on display. Over it, an emerald green stretch shirt hanging out of the pants hugged tightly his chiseled torso; the two upper buttons and the bottom one, left undone on purpose, gave to the entire outfit a blatant, almost vulgar sex appeal. The cuffs were rolled up, with apparent carelessness,  just below the elbow, putting in evidence the cheap golden bracelet shining on his left wrist.

«Almost perfect…» – Rick thought, opening a drawer and rummaging inside; he took a short pendent earring with a golden frame encasing a cheap fake emerald and wore it on his left ear, where he still had a hole in the earlobe.

He looked again in the mirror: the boy looking back at him screamed “sex” from head to toes. He saw himself again at those parties, where he let the horny guests grope him, tear his clothes off and molest him in any way, and felt a stab of fear deep inside. But he took a deep breath and soldiered on: he had to do it.

Rick took a beer from the small mini-fridge and sprawled on an armchair, waiting for his master. The minutes passed, Stewart was late, and the waiting made the boy feel uneasy. In the last two years, since he became Stewart’s boy, he had talked to him several times about his previous life, including the time he was raped by a bunch of horny drunk men. Stewart knew that that trauma had never been really overcome, and that every now and then it resurfaced, making the boy restless and irritable.

«But will he understand why I dressed up this way?» – Rick wondered, feeling unsure. He needed his master to understand, to help him, but that masquerade could well end in a giant fiasco…

«Maybe, after all, it’s not a good idea» – he thought, anxious – «I’d better take away these stupid clothes». But it was too late: he heard Stewart’s voice saying hi to someone in the living room.

“Ok, toy-boy…” – he murmured to himself – “Now it’s sink or swim”.

~ Rick gets more than he bargained for ~

The airman opened his door and stood in the doorframe for a moment, puzzled, looking at Rick sprawled on the armchair, dressed up like a cheap rent boy. The boy gave him a defiant glance, put down his second beer on the table and stood up.

It took a moment to Stewart to understand what was going on. The slutty outfit, the defiant, desperate glimpse in his eyes… The toy-boy was back! And the reason was suddenly clear to the airman.

He closed the door, looking around as if the boy was a piece of furniture. He went to the small desk near the window and feigned to read some documents. Keeping his back to the boy, he eventually said: “Have they rented you for the party?”

“Yes, sir” – was the sharp reply. Stu turned around and looked at him with more attention. He got closer and examined him like a head of cattle on sale. “Mmh… Not bad… Nice pecs… Beautiful ass… You’ll probably do fine”. Rick felt demeaned by the apparent lack of interest of the man, but kept his rebel stance.

The airman sneaked a hand into the open shirt and groped his pecs. “And what d’you do, boy?” – he asked lasciviously, treating the boy like a cheap hustler. “Anything but sex. You can wank me, if you like” – Rick replied with challenging attitude.

“No sex, uh? Too bad…” – the man growled viciously, twisting hard the boy’s nipple and make him gasp loud. “And do you have a name, boy?”. Rick pierced him with his eyes: “No”.

“Ok, boy, now there’s something I must take care of. Don’t move and don’t do anything until I’m back” – the airman said, going out and closing the door.

Despite Rick’s doubts, Stewart had perfectly pictured the situation. His boy needed his help: his previous life as a toy-boy had left deep wounds in his soul that still needed to heal, and this masquerade was the mean he had chosen to do it.

Stu could simply play the game, treat Rick a bit roughly, like the party guests did to him back then, and then make exquisite love to him, putting the boy’s mind at ease, at least momentarily.

But Stewart knew that Rick’s deepest wound was the rape by a bunch of drunk men he had to suffer during one of those wild parties, and it was about time the boy came to terms with this painful memory, too.

«I need Barry» – he thought, going downstairs. He was about to knock at Barry’s door when he heard laughter coming from Kale’s suite. He opened the door and found his buddies Kale, Alex and Barry chatting and drinking beer.

“Good, you are all here!” – the airman said. The laughter quickly trailed off, when the men noticed their buddy’s concerned frown. “I need your help with Rick, and let me tell you that it won’t be pretty”. Stewart briefly explained the situation to his friends and told them what he had in mind. “Isn’t there any other way?” – Kale asked, tense, knowing that what Stu asked them to do was against all the rules of the Cove. “I’m afraid not” – the airman replied gravely – “I know we’re walking on the thin ice, but I have to. If you don’t want to do it, I will understand”. Everyone silently nodded his consent. “OK then, I’ll be back in a minute”. He went away and rushed upstairs.

When he opened his door, the toy-boy was sprawled again on the chair, holding a third bottle of beer in his hand. “Put it down, that won’t help” – he said, in a commanding tone – “Stand up, boy, and come with me”.

Rick, puzzled, followed his master out of the room. Things weren’t going as he had planned! Where was Stewart taking him? With growing anxiety, he followed his master downstairs; when they entered Kale’s suite and Rick saw the three men laughing raucously around a table cluttered with empty bottles of beer and Scotch, he faltered: this thing was going way farther than he had imagined…

~ Back at the party ~

 “Hey, buddies, look! They’ve rented a boy to liven up our little party!” – Stu exclaimed to his friends – “Apparently, he has no name, or he doesn’t want to tell us…”

“We don’t need no fuckin’ name” – Barry shouted, laughing coarsely – “If he’s got an ass, that’s all I need!”

“I don’t do anything like that, I don’t take it up my ass” – the boy said, with a defiant glance – “Hands only. But if you like…”

“Oh, shut up, toy-boy!” – Alex intervened, getting closer and ripping off Rick’s shirt. His big hands groped unceremoniously his pecs and twisted his nipples. The boy clenched his teeth and didn’t even gasp. “Oh, you want to play hard? Fine with me! We’ll make you whine and beg, boy!”

Rick had never seen Alex say or do something like that, treating a boy with such roughness! So far, he had just pretended to act like the toy-boy he used to be, but now reality was blurring, and in his mind the image of the four men in the room started to melt into the memory of the guests of those wild parties he once attended. And not just one of those parties: he was back at that party!

He looked around, and saw greedy, lustful faces looking back at him. Somewhere in his mind, he knew who those men were, but he was not sure, it seemed that he’d never seen them before.

Kale stood up and moved to the boy’s back, holding his chest with one arm and sliding the other hand into his tight pants. He groped his manhood and squeezed hard, making him gasp. The Hawaiian started licking the boy’s ear, making him squirm in disgust, but then he whispered under his breath: “The safe word is Hawaii”.

Rick turned to Kale with a puzzled glance: why that tanned, exotic man was telling him there was a safe word? Sure enough, to break him more easily, and make fun of him if he’d ever used it! If it really was a safe word, anyway… In doubt, he gave to the man a nod of acknowledgement.

“You won’t need this anymore” – Kale said roughly, tearing away the boy’s green shirt and throwing it on the floor. Then he moved his hands to his pants and unbuttoned them, forcing him to face the other men. With a thug, he tore down the tight slacks, revealing the boy’s sexy mesh underwear and arousing raucous comments and whistles from the men.

“Enough  compliments!” – Barry yelled, getting into the action. “Let’s teach the kid a lesson!”. He got closer to the boy and abruptly tore away his underwear, making his cock and balls swing free between his legs. “Nice cock!” – the rugged worker said, taking a handful of it. “Let’s see if the plumbing is in good shape…”

Barry started wanking Rick roughly, while Kale caressed his ass. Alex ripped away his own shirt, revealing his massive torso, then opened the fly of his jeans and took out his cock, making it hard with slow strokes.

“Look at me, boy…” – he growled, giving him his signature lascivious glance – “I know you’re lusting after me… Your cock is drooling…”

It was true, the boy had to admit: that bulky man, whoever he was, had a sexy body that could rouse a dead, and Rick’s cock was hard as steel and oozing copious pre-cum, under the sensual massage provided by the hairy man’s relentless hand. The boy’s breath became rugged, but he tried hard to fight back the exquisite sensations radiating from his cock.

«They won’t make me cum» – the toy-boy thought – «I won’t let them… I must not cum!». He clenched his fists, trying to ignore Alex’ hands playing with his own meaty nipples and his massive, veiny cock. He felt penetrated by the guard’s lascivious eyes that seemed to whisper “Cum… Cum…!” . Kale’s hands groped hard the mounds of his ass, and Barry tightened his fist around his cock. He tensed, fighting his battle against the relentless stimulation on his sensible body, but he sensed he was quickly losing the battle.

“No… aah… stop…” – he moaned, trying to escape the delicious massage. His breath became heavier. “I won’t cum… I won’t… Jeeeez… No! AAAAGH!”.

Rowdy laughter burst around him as his cock exploded in a massive orgasm. Stream after hot stream of semen flew in the air, landing on Alex’ chest and pants. He was still cumming when the men started mocking him: “He said he wouldn’t cum! Ah ah!” “Not much of a tough boy, uh?” “He seems to like the treatment!”

Rick had to recall all his inner strength to force himself not feel like a cheap boy-slut and push back the tears of humiliation that stung behind his eyes.

~ Torment and torture ~

 “Look at what you have done, boy!” – shouted Alex, pointing at his pants stained with Rick’s sperm. He angrily took off his pants and underwear and moved behind the boy, taking Kale’s place. He locked him tightening his massive arm around the boy’s neck. Rick couldn’t move and felt the guard’s hard cock, pointing upward, pressed against his back.

“You will pay for this!” – he threatened, twisting hard one of the boy’s nipples with his free hand. Kale knelt in front of the boy and took his cock, still dripping cum. He started wanking it slowly, and the boy jumped, into the vicious lock of Alex’ arm: “AAAAGGH!! Shit! NOO!! Too sensitive… GAWDDD!!!”.

“Yeah, buddy!” – Alex exclaimed at Kale – “Go ahead! Make him scream and whine!” Kale pumped the cock faster, and then engulfed it all with his mouth, pushing his face down to the boy’s pubes. He had done that many times, during his bondage sessions, when he tormented his victims, viciously stimulating them right after an orgasm and rejoicing their screams and pleads. But those ‘victims’ were all more than willing to suffer that pleasurable pain… Now, doing this to Rick make him feel sick. It was horrible. But he had to do it.

Rick gritted his teeth, hissing loudly, trying to resist to the vicious post-orgasm torment. Kale’s throat massaged his cock vigorously, while Alex’ hand titillated and twisted his nipples, until the exquisite torment slowly turned into irresistible pleasure. His cock, rock hard, responded with youthful enthusiasm to Kale’s expert massage, and Rick felt again his balls tighten up to the base of his cock.

Despite the initial discomfort and the deep embarrassment he was feeling, another shameful orgasm was about to be forced out of him. “No… please, no…” – he pleaded, to no avail. “Owww… No! No, no… NNNGGGHH!” – he groaned, between his clenched teeth, while once more his man juice blasted out of his cock in long white ropes.

Again, his demeaning orgasm was greeted by raucous laughter and jeers. Alex abruptly lent the boy to Barry and shouted: “You’ve got your share! My turn! Barry, hold him still, he’s not going to like it!”

“No more, please…! I can’t… Please…!” – Rick whined, looking at the beefy man taking the place of the tanned guy in front of him. The boy’s pleading fell on deaf ears. The guard scraped his entire torso with his nails, making him hiss for the unbearable tickling,  and then curled his big hands around the boy’s cock and balls, squeezing and massaging them with vicious determination.

“Owwww. ..SHIT!! AAAAHH!! Nooo… I beg you! No more…” – Rick shouted, bucking wildly, trying unsuccessfully to escape the relentless stimulation of his oversensitive cock and balls.

The tormented screams echoed on the walls and covered another grievous moan coming from a corner of the room: it was Stewart, who was watching in pain at his three buddies tormenting and torturing his beloved boy. He had to restrain himself not to  intervene and stop the trial, because he knew it all had to be done to help Rick.

He gritted his teeth and looked plaintively at Kale. The counselor nodded and stood beside the boy, looking at him seriously, silently reminding him to say the safe word, to stop the ordeal. But Rick shook briefly his head, determined to resist the fierce torture he was subjected too: he had to resist, he had to win! He wouldn’t let those men break him!

But he still had to endure the last, most ferocious onslaught… Kale leaned over the boy’s exposed chest and started licking, lapping and biting his nipples, tracing with his nails the mounds of his pecs and the ridges of his abs; and Alex, while still pumping furiously on the boy’s cock, sneaked a finger under his balls, up to his anus, and then deep inside his ass.

The sensation of the man’s finger flickering inside him was maddening, and Rick went wild. It was like those evil man had decided that the more sensitive he was, the more intense their stimulation had to be. He was kept forcefully exposed by the vicious grip of the rugged hairy man, and every bite on his nipples, every stroke on his cock, every flick into his ass sent waves of unwelcomed sexual tension to his mind and groin. “NOO!! Not this! NO! OWWW… It’s too much…! FUCK!! No… You’re making me… No! AAAAAARRGGHHH!!!”

Tears started flowing from the boys eyes, when he was forced to cum against his will for the third time. His hips bucked wildly, while his sore cock exploded once more in an unpleasant, weary orgasm.

Soon, everything stood still, in the room. Rick was panting heavily, still held by Barry, while his shrinking cock dripped the last drops of sperm on the floor. Kale was looking at him, to check if everything was OK, but the boy was keeping his eyes tight shut and his head bowed on his heaving chest. Alex slowly stood up and exchanged guilty glances with the other men. No one uttered a word. The only sound was the hoarse panting of the exhausted boy… and his master.

The men turned to Stewart, who looked like he himself had endured the harsh torment suffered by his boy. He frowned even more, looking back at his friends, knowing that the worst had yet to come. Taking a deep, rugged breath, he nodded his consent to the men and braced himself, fearing what he was about to witness.

The three men soldiered on and went on playing their part.

~ Things turn to the worse ~

 “Shit! I’m stoked” – Barry growled – “This boy had all the fun and my balls are killing me!”. He dragged Rick to the bed and threw him on the mattress. The boy stared aghast at the worker quickly stripping himself naked and wanking his hard cock as thick as a can of beer. “N… No… I said no sex… I said NO SEX!!” – Rick screamed, trying to run away. But Alex was quicker than him, and pinned him down on the bed: “Too late, boy! You made us all too horny!”

Barry took two ropes from a drawer and tied with expert hands the boy’s wrists to the headboard. Kale noticed with relief he had used the escape knots and had placed the loose ends into the boy’s hands. Barry took some lubricant and greased his cock, and then climbed on the bed, kneeling behind the bound boy.

“And now, boy-without-a-name, I’m going to do what I wanted to since you entered this room”. Rick was appalled, and Kale, once more, looked at him seriously, mouthing silently “safe word”. But again the boy shook his head and looked defiantly at the horny worker towering above him. Barry almost hoped that the boy had spoken the safe word, because what he was about to do repulsed him. But he had no choice, he had to go all the way. He even hoped to lose his erection, but his overactive sexuality didn’t let him: that soft, inviting ass at a few inches from his cock was too tempting…

He raised the boy’s legs, pointed his greased cock on his sphincter… and shoved his entire, hefty cock into the tender ass. “AAAAARGG!!!” –the boy yelled, paralyzed by the sudden pain radiating from his ass. He was not given a moment to rest, as the giant cock started pumping into him like a piledriver.

It didn’t take long for Barry to reach his orgasm. He could last much longer, of course, but he wanted that nightmare to end as soon as possible. Rick was tossing his head from side to side, moaning “No… No…!”. Barry tensed, increasing the speed of his fucking, until he screamed: “Here it comes, kid!” – and his cock blasted his semen deep inside the boy’s hole.

Rick looked in disgust at the hairy man’s muscle stiffen in the effort of the climax, and winced, feeling his huge cock reach deep inside him and flood his inner depths with his thick, hot cream.

Barry moved out, and was soon replaced by Alex, who didn’t say a single word: he just assumed the position and shoved his cock into the tender ass, already slick with semen.

The boy floated in a nightmare where reality and memories mixed together. He was back at that infamous party, and those muscular, horny men were taking turn to rape him, to satisfy their lust over his helpless body. «I knew it… I had it coming…» – Rick thought, feeling guilty – «If I act as a toy-boy, this is what happens… It’s all my fault…». “NO!” – he shouted, more to himself than to the man fucking him: he was the victim, there, and he had nothing to blame himself for! He tried again to set himself free, but he couldn’t. “Motherfucker! Leave me alone!” – he shouted, defiantly.

Alex pounded hard the boy’s ass, forcing himself to ignore his outcries, until he let out a beastly grunt and shot his juice, that mixed with Barry’s inside the ravaged hole.

The guard got off the bed and Kale took his place. He tried to check Rick, but he was keeping the head turned to his side, with his eyes tight shut. He entered the boy as careful as he could, and started fucking him, but he realized he couldn’t do it. The grimacing, defeated expression he saw on the boy’s face was too hard to stand, and he felt he was quickly losing his erection. He shoved his cock one last time deep into the slick ass, as if he was cumming, and then pulled out and moved out of the way.

The Hawaiian glanced at Stewart, who was stripping naked. He looked back at him, silently nodding, acknowledging his sensibility and forgiving his failure.

~ The end of a nightmare ~

Stewart came closer, naked. He greased his cock, making it hard. He got on the bed, knelt behind his boy and raised his legs. When his cock head touched Rick’s sphincter, still oozing sperm, he realized the boy was clenching it furiously, as a last desperate defense against his rapists. He was still keeping his head turned to one side, pressed on the pillow, with his eyes tightly shut.

“Look at me, Ricky…” – Stewart said with the most loving tone he was capable of – “Open your eyes and look at me, Ricky…”. The boy heard the man calling him by name; the tender voice made something flick inside his mind and gave him the strength to painfully drag himself out of the nightmare: could it be…? No, it was impossible…!

“It’s me, Stewart… Look at me, Ricky boy…”. ‘Ricky boy’! He had called him with the nickname that only one man in the world could knew! The boy opened his eyes and hesitantly looked up. A tanned, beautiful man with square-cut military-style brown hair and kind hazel eyes was looking down at him with such a struggling affection that he felt his heart throb. Despite the pain and the horrible torture he had endured, or maybe because of them, the boy felt he could trust that stranger, he could love him, he could devote himself to him now and forever.

He struggled to focus his eyes on the man’s face, while the nightmare and the reality blurred and blended back and forth into each other, until the name he was desperately trying to get from his memory suddenly resurfaced….

Stewart! His master, the proud airman who had sworn to protect and keep him safe, had come to save him! His eyes brimmed with tears and Stewart felt the boy’s ass relax and open up, inviting him inside. Stewart penetrated him with the utmost tenderness, until he was fully into him.

“It’s over, Ricky boy. I’m here” – Stewart said softly, leaning forward to look his boy into his eyes, while his cock started giving a loving massage to the ravaged ass. “That was the past, a past that will never come back. Never, you hear me? Never again. This is the present, where there is no more pain, no more sorrow, only love: absolute, exquisite love. Can you feel it, Ricky boy?”

Rick nodded, sobbing uncontrollably. The man he loved more than himself had come to take him away, to stay with him forever. The airman’s kind voice resonating in his ears and his soothing cock caressing his insides were like bright flames burning one by one the black veils of the nightmare that so far had enveloped his heart like a mortuary shroud. “You’ve come, sir…! You’ve come to save me!”

“Of course I’ve come… Didn’t I promise? You’re my boy…”

And they went on making love, ecstatic, healing love, until the boy’s sobs turned to sighs of pleasure. “I love you so much, sir!” – Rick said with hoarse voice. Under his master’s surprised eyes, he quickly pulled the safety ropes, freeing himself, and pressed his hands on Stewart’s firm pecs, feeling his heart thumping hard into his chest. “You’re so hot, sir… Your cock feels so good into me… Aaah… You’re making me cum…”

Stewart looked at him in amazement: after enduring three forced orgasm and a savage rape, and without touching his own cock, his boy loved him so much that he was about to cum again!

“Let’s do it together, Ricky boy… I can’t hold any more, either... Yes… Aaaahhh!”. Two cocks exploded in unison, one showing to the master how great was his boy’s devotion, and the other filling the boy’s ass with the balm of his master’s love.

Exhausted and drained, both physically and emotionally, the man and the boy held each other in a warm, loving embrace and fell suddenly asleep, on Kale’s crumpled bed, while the flaming sunset flooded the room with a fiery red light.

They hadn’t even realized that the other men, silently, had long left the room, out of respect of the intimate, private act of love between a master and his boy that was taking place under their eyes.

~ Another boy, another plan ~

When they had seen the magic glow of love radiating around Stewart and his boy, Kale silently signaled to Barry and Alex to go away. They moved to Alex’ suite, just across the corridor, and sat around his small round table.

None of them felt to talk: they all had soldiered on, earlier, knowing that they were doing it to help Rick, but it was a tough trial for them, too. The room was getting darker, as the sun was setting in the ocean, but no one moved to switch on the light.

“Hope that it worked…” – Kale said in a low voice, and the other man nodded; they all were concerned not only about the boy, but about themselves, too: if their ‘act’ didn’t work as planned, they could have made things even worse. They had raped the boy.

By now, the room was almost completely dark, faintly lit by the moonlight, and still the men were sitting around the table, in silence. “Still no sound from your room…” – Alex said to Kale after a while – “Tonight you’d better stay here, hopefully you won’t be able to go back to your room until tomorrow”. With his offer of hospitality, Alex was clearly implying that Stewart’s plan, after all, was successful, and the men felt lighter. “Yes, thanks Alex, I’d better stay here. I couldn’t stay alone anyway… It was… I feel…”. Kale’s voice cracked.

In the merciful darkness, Kale couldn’t hold anymore the unbearable tension that had built up in him while they… worked on Hendrick. He tried to restrain himself, but he couldn’t stifle a heartfelt sob. Barry fidgeted in his chair: he never knew how to deal with people crying. It was Alex who rushed to the aid of his friend; he stood up, moved behind Kale, leaned down to the sitting man and wrapped him in a tight embrace.

Kale gripped to the guard’s strong arms like a lifebelt, trembling, and couldn’t hold his sobs anymore. “I’m sorry, buddy…” – he said, with a blurred voice – “You too had to deal with it… I shouldn’t throw at you my own burden…”

Alex held him even tighter and said softly: “I have strong shoulders… in case you didn’t notice”. He meant to be supportive, but the outcome was hilarious, and all the men giggled, lightening up the mood.

“We’re a good team” – Alex said, standing up and switching on the light. “Hey, now that I think of it, I too need your help to play an act for my boy!”. All the man raised their eyes to him, in alarm. “No, don’t worry, this time it will be fun… and Charlie will love every single moment of it!”. He explained his plan to his friends… and all of them smiled in anticipation.

~ “Where is everyone?” ~

Up in his attic, Beau took one last glance at himself in the mirror. It took him almost the entire afternoon to shower, shave accurately, comb perfectly his hair and dress up in the formal tuxedo, double-checking every little detail. Hopefully, this time the bosom was not off-center. He felt anxious for the charity event he was going to attend and the public speech he was going to make.

He went downstairs and headed to the kitchen, knowing that at that time the entire house was about to gather around the dining table: he needed a little encouragement from his buddies.

But there was an eerie atmosphere in the house, that evening: the corridors were empty and silent, the living room and the dining room were dark, and there was no sign of life around. Puzzled and a bit worried, he noticed the light coming from the kitchen and pushed the double swinging door. Charlie was standing near the small table, holding a plate with a half-eaten sandwich.

“Charlie!” – Beau exclaimed – “Where is everyone? Where is the dinner?”

“I… I don’t know exactly, sir” – the boy replied, uncertain. “In the afternoon Alex told me to make myself scarce until he would come downstairs, and I hadn’t seen him since then. Rowan fled… I mean he went to work at sunset as usual. Wahkan and Chayton are out, don’t know where. And I haven’t seen Kale, Barry, Stewart and Rick since lunch time. But I didn’t see them going out, they must be at home… somewhere”.

The boy bowed his head and frowned, still convinced that his master was not interested in him anymore, as his long absence surely meant… And the surreal, eerie silence of the house didn’t help dispelling his fears. He raised his eyes to Beau, astonishing elegant in his formal suit and smiled: “But you’re here, sir, and you’re so beautiful I could kiss you!”

Charlie gasped, realizing too late how inappropriate was his comment, but Beau smiled at him opening his arms: “Then, what are you waiting for?”

The boy dropped the sandwich on the table and ran into Beau’s arm, who leaned down and locked his mouth to Charlie’s, in a tender, affectionate kiss. “Thank you, kid, I really needed it. I’m going to a charity event and I will stay out until late. Wish me good luck…”

“Good luck, sir! You’ll knock ‘em down!” – Charlie replied, excited for the unexpected, sweet moment of intimacy with the boss, always beautiful as a god.

Beau went away, and Charlie was again alone in the silent, solitary kitchen. He resumed eating his sandwich, and his gloomy feelings about his future with Alex chilled again in his heart.

The boy didn’t have a clue that soon his doubts and fears would be dispelled in the most exciting and thrilling way…!

Footnotes and references:
None

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(End of chapter 18 – Please proceed to Chapter 19)