WATCHING BRAD
Part 145
I was stunned. I was shocked. Was Brook still trying to take Brad away from me?
Brook noticed the shocked look on my face and was quick to react. His hand came to my arm and he clasped it tightly, giving it a firm and friendly squeeze. A brilliant white smile split his lips. "Relax, Ted," he hastened, "Brad is safe from me. I'd never do anything to come between the two of you."
He pulled his hand away and sat back against the side of the pool again. "Let me explain. When I saw the two of you in the bar, I had no idea you were a couple. I thought maybe you were just friends, or had just met or something, or maybe you had just bought him a beer in order to get to know him. Hell, he could have been a hustler for all I knew. I got the feeling that you beat me to him that night, but that I might still have a chance if I could get him alone so I could talk to him. When he went into the bathroom, I found my chance and followed him in."
He looked away from me and toward the activities in the yard. "I saw a lot of things when that guy reached out and grabbed him. I saw his dick, of course, but I saw a lot of other things, too. I saw an innocence in him, and I saw a sweetness and tenderness which I rarely see these days. Especially in guys like him. They're usually filled with ego and attitude. I didn't see any of that." Brook's eyes turned back to me once more. "I also saw a lot of strength in him, Ted. I could see it even under his clothes. Brad was furious and he could have pummelled that guy into the floor tiles, but he didn't. He tried to talk his way out of it. The guy was trying to work him up to give him a blowjob right there in the bathroom, and I knew he wasn't about to let go. That's when I stepped in to help."
He took a deep breath. "When you left, I followed you up the street. I guess I was still hoping you weren't really together and I'd have a chance at him. I really didn't think Brad would recognize me out there. All I wanted to do was to keep an eye on him and look for another chance to make my move on him."
Brook fell silent, looking away from me again and staring blankly into space. I could tell he wasn't finished speaking yet, so I remained silent as well. Finally, he shook his head slightly and looked back at me once more. "When you came over and started talking to me, that's when I noticed the rings, and I knew all my chances were gone. You are one lucky son of a bitch, Ted. To have someone like Brad fall in love with you? Hold onto him and never let him go because I swear there are guys lining up to take him off your hands."
"I'm more afraid of him leaving me for someone. . . well. . . younger."
"That won't happen, Ted," Brook said. His voice was somehow very assuring. "You don't see the way Brad looks at you the way we do. He loves you very much. A lot more, I think, than you try to tell yourself. The only way Brad will leave you is if you push him away."
"Now, you see?" I said. "I don't understand that. I don't see how he could fall in love with me. I mean, look at me. I'm Wal-Mart and Brad's The Bay."
"Love doesn't need a reason for happening, Ted. It just happens. Brad doesn't base his love on what he sees. He bases it on what he feels when he sees you. Tell me. Did you fall in love with Brad or did you fall in love with that load he carries around between his legs?"
I'm sure I blushed at that moment. "Well, the ‘load' caught my attention right away," I said with an embarrassed smile, "but then I got to know him. . ."
Brook took up the conversation after my half dwindled into silence. "That's the same with me. His face and his crotch were the first things I noticed. Not necessarily in that order. But then I got to know him, too, and I started to fall in love with the man he is. Not what makes him a man. Brad makes it very difficult not to fall in love with him."
"Don't I know it." I made it more of a statement of agreement than a question.
"And that's my point, Ted. I can understand why Brad fell in love with you. You're thinking ‘body', but Brad sees the whole picture. He fell in love with you, not your body. The body just happens to come with the package deal and he is quite content with that."
"But he could do so much better, Brook. I feel like I'm holding him back. Like I'm keeping him away from being truly happy."
His hand came to my arm again, making certain he had my attention. "Brad could do better, yes, but he doesn't want better. He wants
you, and I don't think anything or anyone will ever be able to convince him otherwise."
I considered what he had just told me. It made sense to me and I nodded my understanding. Then a thought came to my mind. A curious thought. I looked deeply into Brook's dark eyes as I asked, "Why did you tell me all of this? You know, about going after Brad in the bar? You could have kept your mouth shut and I'd never have been the wiser."
Brook withdrew his hand from my arm. "Because, my friend," he replied with a great amount of sincerity in his voice, "I want to
remain your friend and I want to be able to come back here again. I don't want some stupid little self-indulging secret coming back and biting me in the ass. Most of all, though, I suppose I want you to know that you can trust me."
"I do trust you, Brook, and I'd like you to feel welcome to come back."
We stared into each other's eyes for a long moment. I don't know what Brook was looking for, but I was looking for sincerity, and I found it.
"Are you trying to steal my boyfriend away from me?" Brad's voice brought us both back to reality and we looked up to see him on the other side of the security fence, the fingers of his left hand hooked over the open links and a can of Ginger Ale in his right. He stood there grinning at us, his body glistening in the sunlight from the sheen of sweat which covered him.
"Yes," Brook said light-heartedly. "Didn't your mother ever teach you that it's polite to share your toys?"
"That applies to candy and Tinker Toys," Brad replied with a grin. "She never said anything about sharing boyfriends."
We laughed together, and then I said, "You're feeling better, I see."
"Yeah. The headache's finally gone. I hate to say it, but that tea really worked."
"I know," I said. "Mom knows hangovers. She had a lot of time to experiment when I was in university."
"I kind of wish I'd known about it," Brook added. "I hate to think how many hours I spent with my head stuck in a sink full of water and ice."
"So, what's up, Tiger?"
"Nothing much," he replied. "Barry had to take a leak so I'm taking a break. Your Dad's quite the slave driver. And he's such a perfectionist. We have to dig the holes just so."
"Dad's cautious," I told him. "When it comes to his grandchildren, it's safety first."
"Tell me about it. When we're finished digging the holes, we have to drill holes through the leg poles. My Dad wants to pound diagonal pins through them into the ground to keep the swings from tipping over. As if burying them in dirt wasn't enough."
"Of course, we'll be doing the drilling and pounding," Barry said. He'd just returned from the house. "And then we have to fill the holes in again." He was sweating even more than Brad. "I don't work this hard chasing muggers down the street." He looked longingly at the water. "I need to cool my nuts," he said suddenly and started to move toward the gate.
Brad began to follow him.
"Brad!"
Brad stopped and looked around at the voice. Jeremy and Justin were on their feet, moving toward him as quickly as they could.
"Are you going swimming again?" Jeremy asked excitedly.
"Just for a bit to cool off," he answered as he stepped forward to meet them.
"We need to cool off, too," Justin said, and he and his brother held up their arms so Brad could pick them up and carry them to the pool. As he brought them to the gate, Justin whispered something into Brad's ear and he nodded his head. He stood the twins on the pool rail.
"Oupa!" Justin called.
Jeremy yelled, "Grandpa!"
"Watch us!" Justin yelled.
Dad and John turned to face the pool. When the twins were certain their grandfathers were watching, they squealed in delight and jumped in, surfaced, paddled to the side of the pool, and latched onto the rail to see the reactions. Of course, I was ready to move if necessary, and so were Brook, Brad, and Barry. There were plenty of lifeguards on duty for the twins that day.
Dad and John applauded approvingly and Dad whistled through his teeth - yet another skill I had never been able to master.
There was another skill I have not been able to master to this day, and that is to avoid being enthralled and awed by the beauty that is Brad. He climbed the short ladder to the pool and stood atop the rail and, for that brief moment, became frozen in time and in my mind. To me, in my eyes, there isn't a single part of him that is anything less than perfection. Even his chipped tooth. It is a perfectly chipped tooth in every way.
His hair had grown longer now on top and was a few shades lighter from the Summer sun. He parted it in the middle, sending the soft, fluffy waves to the sides. Even though it was sticky and flat from his sweat, his hair was a wonderful compliment to the tan he was developing. His face was smooth and looked as though he didn't have to shave, which he really didn't have to do very often. I envied that of him - being able to shave only twice a week or so. His nose was wide, but so was his brilliant, white, engraciating smile. And those green eyes shaded by the blond tufts of his eyebrows! Emeralds on a sandy beach.
Brad was more muscular than when I'd met him that first day almost a year ago. Toned now, and fuller. His pecs had grown and were now half coconuts neatly set on either side of his chest. He didn't have those six-pack abs that everyone talks about, but he was solid. Brad is more of a rounded-belly type guy. It didn't sag over his pants or anything. It just wasn't one of those flat bellies you sometimes see on younger guys. His waist was full and, although he didn't really have what could be called love handles, there was definitely a bit more meat on his sides. Still, it was solid and looked like it belonged there.
The hair sprouting up from his pubic regions was darker than the hair on his head - about the same colour as the hair under his arms - and made a nice, fluffy triangle as it pointed to his indented belly button but not quite reaching it.
Brad had more hair on his arms and legs than he did his chest, all four extremities glistening in the sunlight from the tiny, blond hairs which coated them and made his soft, smooth skin even softer and smoother. Like his arms, Brad's legs had built up as well, most likely from all the digging in gardens and bike riding and roller blading and such that he did.
And then, of course, there was his midsection. I would be lax in any description of Bradley Nelson Hayes if I left out that part. Standing there as he was, wearing his light blue Speedo trunks, strangers on the scene might think that he had stuffed a small grapefruit in the crotch, but we all knew that wasn't true. Four smaller mounds combined inside the stretchy material to form a single, larger mound. There were his balls, of course, each carefully tucked to either side, then the thick tube of his penis and the head itself, pointing downward and cradled on either side by his testicles. Four mounds - one mountain. Of all the people in the entire world, only I knew as much about that part of him as Brad did. Perhaps even more. Only I knew what it was like to have the entire thing inside me.
Brad was truly a blessed young man, but he had also been blessed with an innocence and modesty which quickly made people forget about what he carried between his legs. To the people that really mattered, his genitals soon became second-nature to them, much like his chipped tooth. It was part of the whole package that was Brad. He was strong and hard and he was sincere, yet he was, at the same time, soft and tender and loving. He could hold a larger man in those arms of his and cause the man to grunt under the pressure of them, yet he could also hold a little boy in those same arms and make him believe that he belonged there, that he would be forever safe and protected from harm. He had the strength to bend steel, but he also had the gentleness to catch a soap bubble in mid air.
Brad was a man among men. He was
my man. But, just as Justin and Jeremy are my little boys, so is Brad, which is evidenced by the fact that, as he stood on the rail, he let out an horrendous shout, "
Belly flop!!", took a mighty leap, and annihilated a goodly amount of water onto the lawn and almost washed the twins right out of the pool when he splashed down in the centre of the pool.
* * * * *
Brook and I were each floating on our backs, a home-made pool noodle ring beneath each of us. Lindsay was similarly occupying herself. Actually, I had two rings beneath me - one smaller ring inside a larger ring. With their assistance, I was able to remain afloat with two little boys straddling my chest and paddling me around the pool with their hands. Daddy, apparently, made a more than adequate canoe.
"Theodore!" Dad called out over the energized chatter of the two little boys exploring some vast and unknown lake on their canoe, "we are ready for final assembly and erection!" Dad had a way with words, even when he didn't know he was having them.
"Okay, boys," I said to my sons, "time to put up the swings."
With a hearty ‘Yippee!', Justin slid off to the side into the water. Jeremy slid off to the other side. They were still a little reckless with their dog paddling, but it worked and it got them to where they wanted to go. There had been plenty of talk about pool safety, and they knew all the rules, but I was happy to see that they weren't afraid of the water. Brad had taught them how to swim and now they were learning much more on their own. They were most certainly doing much more than I could at their age.
I followed the boys out of the pool and Brook followed me. "Are you coming, Sweetheart?"
"Can I stay here, Daddy?"
I shook my head ‘no'. "You know the rule, Lindsay. You can't be in the pool by yourself."
"But you'll be right over there," she said, pointing toward the swing set.
"No exceptions," I told her emphatically. "If an adult isn't inside the fence, then you aren't either."
"But, Daddy!" my daughter whined.
"Lindsay?" I gave her my best stern father look. "And please stop whining."
"Grown-ups," Lindsay mumbled to herself, but she slid off the pool ring and swam to the ladder. I lifted her out and hugged her.
"Your brothers need to learn this rule, Sweetheart," I said softly, "and they can't learn it if you break it. Okay?"
"Okay, Daddy." She hugged me back. "I'm sorry."
I set her on the ground, wrapped a towel around her, grabbed a few other towels, and followed her out the gate, pushing the gate closed behind me. The twins were already standing near the swings, waiting patiently. I wrapped towels around them as well before drying myself off.
Mom, Bernice, and Nathan had joined us by that time, having finished most of the preparations for dinner that night. Nathan had been kind enough to bring out the cameras, which both Brad and I had completely forgot.
The holes were all dug to the proper depth and the base of the legs had been drilled for the safety pins John wanted to use. All the pieces were laid out in an orderly fashion and the two swings and glider were already bolted to the upper crossbar. All that remained to be done was to slide the top of the legs into the crossbar, bolt them into place, and attach the horizontal supports.
I picked up the twins so they could have a bird's eye view of the proceedings, then we stood back with the others and watched as Dad and John and Brad and Barry made the final assembly. Within minutes, a swing set was standing in our back yard and welcomed with hearty applause from my two sons.
Brad and Barry moved the set into place in the holes and Brad pounded the pins through the legs and into the earth. Then, with spades in hand, he and Barry filled the holes back up and packed down the dirt with powerful stomps of their feet. A bit of fine-tuning with the sod they had salvaged and the lawn was as good as new except for the white and blue swings now sprouting from it.
Brad grabbed the upper crossbar and tested it for strength and stability. It didn't even bend under his weight when he dangled from it. Both Dad and John were enormously pleased with their efforts and came to me, each taking one of the twins from my arms and carrying them over to place them on the glider, one on each seat. Lindsay followed and sat in the swing next to the glider. When everyone was safely out of the way, the kids began swinging as Nathan snapped photos of them. Mom filmed it on the digital video camera.
Within seconds, the twins were screaming with delight and excitement, pumping the glider with their feet - first one way, then the other - and Lindsay was grinning broadly. She had always enjoyed the swings.
I picked up my cell phone from the ground where I'd set it and called Warren.
"Hello?" he said, but I didn't respond. I simply held out the phone so he could listen to the happy laughs resulting from his gift.
When I finally brought the phone to my ear to talk to him, I was met with sobs and sniffles. "Thank you, Warren," I said to him, "and thank Bill as well. The kids love the swings."
"I'm here, Ted," Bill said. "We're both here and listening."
"We just got it assembled," I told them. "This is their first ride."
"Are you filming it, Teddy?" Warren asked, his voice crackling and breaking up with emotion. "Please tell me you're filming it."
"We sure are, Buddy," I told him.
"I wish I was there to see it," he said sadly.
"It'll be here when you come down, Warren. We nailed it to the ground."
"Really?" he chuckled.
"Yup. She ain't goin'
nowhere." I paused a moment, catching my breath and swallowing the lump which had grown in my throat, then said, "We're all going to enjoy this for a long, long time, I assure you."
"I'm glad, Teddy."
"Do you want to talk to the kids?" I asked him.
"No," he replied. "Let them have their fun. But could you let me listen to them again?"
"Sure," I said and I held out the phone once more.
* * * * *
The twins truly loved the swings, abandoning all thoughts of the swimming pool and naps to them. When they weren't riding the glider, either with each other or with their sister, they were on the swings. They even gobbled down their dinners in a rush so they could get back to them, but, by six o'clock, Mr. Sandman was tossing sand on them by the bucket full and their energy sank faster than a rock tossed into a pond. They were exhausted, as was just about everyone else.
We retired to the livingroom where Mom and Bernice made tea and coffee for everyone whilst Brad and I gave the boys a quick bath and got them into their pyjamas in case they fell asleep in our arms. I admire their determination, though. They refused to give in to sleep as long as everyone else was there.
Fortunately for us, though, everyone knew what a busy weekend we'd had and called an early end to the evening.
"Bye." The twins farewell wishes to Brook, Barry, and Nathan were far from exuberant. They were, in fact, very weak and had a distinct ‘I'm falling asleep now' tone to them. Nathan, sweetheart that he is, offered to drop Brook off at the GO station for us. It was no big deal for him. Barry was driving.
Brook really didn't want to go home and left reluctantly, but I expected he would be a regular visitor in the future. Our parents left shortly after our friends did and Brad and I were finally alone with the kids. Well, one of them, at least.
As soon as the front door was closed and locked, Justin laid his head on my shoulder and I knew it was time. Brad followed me into their bedroom, carrying Jeremy in his arms. I don't know if they were even aware that we kissed their cheeks and said ‘goodnight' to them. As soon as I pulled the sheets over them, they curled up on their sides, put their foreheads together, and closed their eyes. I suspect they were asleep immediately.
"Did you lock the pool gate?" Brad asked when we were seated once more on the sofa. Lindsay was curled up in my lap, her cheek resting against my chest as she watched television. She was running on reserve batteries as well and I was grateful she'd had her own bath when the twins had theirs.
"Yes," I replied. "And I already checked it again before we came inside to be sure, but I didn't lock the patio door."
Brad got up, locked the door, then came back to the sofa and curled up on my shoulder and I rested my cheek against the top of his head. A sorry and extremely tired lot we were.
* * * * *
Brad sat between my legs in the tub as I massaged him. My fingers worked his shoulders as my thumbs rubbed the muscles in the back and sides of his neck.
"Oh, yeah, Pops," he sighed with great gratification. "
That's the ticket."
I continued massaging him for a minute or two before he said softly, "Promise me you won't let me drink so much ever again. And, if you forget, promise me you'll drink just as much as I do so we can die together."
My hands slid over his shoulders to his chest, crossing themselves there as I hugged Brad close to my chest. "I love you, Tiger."
Brad's hands came up out of the water to be placed over mine and he held them there as he leaned to one side, twisted himself around so he could see me, and said, "I love you, too, Pops."
He kissed me briefly before turning back and settling into my arms once more. As we sat there, as I snuggled and cuddled Brad, his swelling cock broke the surface of the bath water - a breaching whale in ultra-slow motion. We watched it grow and swell, rising out of the water like Atlantis rising from the sea.
My hands went to it, one above the other, and I held him as he grew bigger and stronger. Brad sighed once again when I began to stroke it. He twisted himself around once more so he could kiss me as I jerked him off. He kissed me the entire time I stroked him and he kissed me throughout his entire orgasm. He kissed me as he groaned and moaned his ecstasy into my mouth and he kissed me as his semen torpedoed out of his cock and onto both of us. And, as his orgasm finished and his magnificent cock shrank in my hands and sank once more beneath the surface of the water, he continued kissing me.
He kissed me until we went to bed twenty minutes later, and then he kissed me some more. My last memory of that incredible weekend before I fell asleep was the feel of Brad's lips on mine.
To Be Continued
