Zach whispered in my ear as he crawled into my bed, “I brought you here so we could spend the holiday together, there’s no fucking way I’m sleeping alone tonight” then he kissed my neck.
I whispered back “Your whole family is just down the hallway, go back to your room.”
“Nope” he said with a peck to my neck “they’re all snoring.” He kept kissing me as he reached around me and grabbed my soft cock, playing with it. I protested, I didn’t want to wake his family, or worse disrespect his parents by breaking their rules, I was trying to impress them. Zach persisted, pushing his hardon into my back to let me know it was there, and trust me… I was aware!
After a few minutes of his persistence, my defenses weakened, and I started pushing my ass back at him. He loved rubbing his cock up and down my ass crack and I loved the way it felt. His warm, meaty slab pressing against my flesh felt so right, one of the things I loved most about being with Zach was the flesh-to-flesh contact. It was so intimate and made me feel special. No one else got to feel Zach’s flesh against theirs, it was a feeling that only I knew, and I reveled in that thought. The bed was old and creaky and so was the house. We had to limit our movements so we didn’t wake the whole house. Zach snaked his way down the old bed and took my manhood in his mouth, I was only semi-hard, but as soon as the warmth of his mouth cut through the cold air of the drafty house, I went rock hard almost instantly. Within a minute my engorged member was all the way down his throat.
Zach maneuvered himself so that he was sucking my cock and straddling my face at the Same time, his rock-hard cock just inches from my lips. I stuck out my tongue and gave it a long, wet stroke; he moaned in response. I shushed him; I was so paranoid that his family would hear us. Zach dismissed me and kept deepthroating me to perfection, his throat felt amazing as my pulsating rod moved in and out of his warm oral cavity. That, combined with the incredible feel of his cock hitting the back of my busy throat as it contracted around his bulbous head was sending me into a sexual frenzy. I started to push my hips up slowly, fucking his mouth. He mimicked my movements fucking down into my mouth. The motion from our young, horny bodies was too much for the old bed and as it creaked and shimmied across the hardwood floor. There was no way in hell the entire Hall family didn’t hear us in that room. But Zach didn’t seem to care, and we were on his turf, so I just kept going. I reached up and started playing with Zach’s hole, driving him wild. His moans vibrated over my cock making me writhe and wriggle causing the bed to creak even more.
In one big crescendo we both came, our moans muffled by the cocks in our mouths. My fingernails were dug deep into his ass cheeks as my orgasm flowed through me and my mouth filled with his warm, sweet-salty essence. I was overflowing with Zach, in his house, with his family just on the other side of the walls. It felt so wrong. It felt so right.
After we swallowed every drop and cleaned each other’s cocks, Zach laid beside me. We kissed and I whispered, “you better go back to your room, I’ll see you in the morning.”
“fuck that” he whispered. There is no way they didn’t hear that, so… I might as well spend the night.”
“What will your parents say?” I asked, “and what about Riley?”
Zach chuckled, “Well, my parents won’t say shit, but you will get to see their looks of disappointment and disapproval. It won’t last long” he laughed a little, then added “As for Riley, she may be daddy’s little girl, but she’s not as innocent as she seems. She’ll just give us shit… like your brothers.”
I sighed, “So, you’re staying?”
“Yup. Let the chips fall where they may.” With that I nestled against his broad, warm chest and fell into an incredible slumber.
I woke up on Christmas Eve morn in his arms. He got up and snuck into the hallway, looking from side-to-side to see if anyone saw him. His parent’s door was open, and their room was empty, Riley’s door was still shut. He tiptoed across the hall. We both got dressed in our sweats and met back in the hallway to go down the stairs together. His parents were already in the kitchen. His dad was dressed in a suit and tie (and looking pretty damn hot I may say so), his mom had on faded jeans and a tacky Christmas sweater with lights that flashed. They were both at the table drinking coffee, his dad was reading the paper while his mom was telling him her plan for the day.
“Good morning boys” his mom said, “did you…” she cleared her throat with an ‘ahem’ and added “sleep well?” (emphasizing the word ‘sleep’). I blushed and Zach just kept walking towards the coffee pot to pour us a couple of mugs.
“Seth, I can turn up the heat in that room tonight” said Nathan as he continued to peruse is paper without looking up.
“No, need. It was very comfortable in there.” I said.
“Oh, I just assumed you were cold and Zach came in to warm you up.” I turned redder than I had ever been. Zach was holding a coffee mug in each hand, he handed one to me, then punched his dad playfully in the arm with his free hand. His dad didn’t laugh.
I stammered out an apology through my embarrassment, “I’m sorry Nathan and Kelly, I…”
Nathan cut me off “Don’t worry, Seth” he said as he looked over his paper. “I’m pretty sure I know who the instigator was” his gaze as aimed directly at his son. “You could’ve at least made a little effort, Zach. I was hoping for a little more respect for our wishes.”
“C’mon dad, it’s not like you don’t know we sleep together.” Zach said, he was getting a little bratty, I didn’t like that side of him.
“That’s not the point Zach and you know it” his mother said, her tone was calm, but firm. “We asked you to sleep in separate beds while you were here and expected you to respect that. You’re an adult now. Act like one.” Her words seem to hit him as Bratty Zach faded away and was replaced by humble Zach.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. You’ve both been really great about everything. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful, I just wasn’t thinking” he said.
“Thank you, we appreciate that” his dad said with a sigh. “Separate rooms tonight, okay guys?” We both nodded our heads, I was embarrassed. His parents were extremely reasonable, I respected the way they talked to Zach rationally, presented their point of view clearly, and listened to their son. They stood their ground, made their point, then dropped the subject and moved on to discussing the agenda for the day.
“I’m going to go into the office for a while this morning, then I’ll meet you all at the Country Club for the annual brunch.” His dad said as he folded the newspaper up neatly. His dad was the mayor of the little town, but also had a private law practice just a few blocks from City Hall.
“Okay, dad. We’ll meet you there. I wanna take my car so I can show Seth around town” Zach said. “Brunch at the Country Club on Christmas Eve is a tradition around here” Zach said looking at me. “That’s why I told you to pack your suit.”
His dad looked at the two of us and said “I gave this some thought. Seth, I’m going to introduce you as Zach’s friend from school.” He paused awaiting a reaction, all he got was blank faces from the two of us “I figured you can add whatever you want to that, but you’re in control of your personal information. I feel like I’m outing you if I introduce you as boyfriends. You know how this town is… you read the crowd and decide what you want to tell who. Is that cool with you guys?” Again, I was impressed. He wasn’t asking us to hide anything; he was just letting Zach control the information about his sexuality. I guess that made sense, because if anyone knew the importance of coming out at your own pace … it was Nathan Hall.
“I’m good with that, dad.” Zach said. As I watched him interact with his parents I thought back to when we first met and how afraid Zach of how his conservative parents would react to him being gay. Considering everything, I thought they were handling it extremely well, and I could tell by the look on Zach’s face that he was at ease about it.
Riley stumbled into the kitchen wiping her eyes. “There’s Miss America” her dad said folding up his paper as she walked into the well-appointed kitchen. “I was beginning to think you were going to sleep in all morning.”
“I didn’t sleep well” she said, then looked over it us “The house was creaking.” I blushed again, Zach rolled his eyes, and I’m pretty sure I saw Kelly and Nathan smirk a little. We talked for a while over coffee before his dad headed into the office. After about an hour of hanging with Riley and his mom we went upstairs to get ready for brunch.
Zach and I got dressed up in our suits, damn the guy looked hot as fuck, other than the ugly Christmas tie he wore. “Sorry about making you get so dressed up, this brunch is an annual Christmas tradition around here, all the local politicians and businesspeople show up, it’s a big deal for my dad. We just smile, shake hands, make small talk, and look like the perfect family. You’ll get used to it” Zach explained.
“So, what am I today? The pal from school, or the hot, exotic boyfriend from the desert?” I said as I fixed his hair and kissed him.
“Exotic wasn’t exactly the term that came to mind, but hey… go with that if you want” Zach laughed. “I’ll probably call you my friend with most of these old, conservative white guys just to avoid having to explain my life to them. Are you cool with that? Because frankly, I don’t give a shit what anyone else thinks anymore… well anyone other than you that is.”
“I don’t care, whatever works” I said. “I just want to know what to expect.”
“Then let’s go with the flow and see what happens. My dad seems good with whatever.” Zach kissed me.
“Sounds good to me, pal” I said, punching him in the arm playfully.
Kelly yelled up the stairs “Since you guys are driving separately, I’m going to head out now and run a couple of errands on the way”
“Cool, we’ll see you there mom” Zach yelled back as we headed to the steps and walked down to where his mother was waiting in the living room, she was wearing a form-fitting red dress and looked gorgeous, I told her so and she did a quick twirl to show me the whole outfit and thanked me for being the only man in the house that was gentleman enough to say anything. Riley came bounding down the stairs wearing a cute red and green dress, she was sixteen and stunning. Honestly, the entire family was just picture perfect.
Riley shouted as she descended the winding staircase, “I’m riding with Zach and Seth.” With that announcement made, Kelly took he leave and headed out on her errands. The three of us put on our winter coats and got ready to head out into the cold Wisconsin winter. Zach put on a long, peacoat style trench that matched his charcoal gray suit. My one and only winter coat was a little short to wear over a suit, but it was all I had. I didn’t have a hell of a lot of use for winter clothes until recently.
We went into the garage and piled in the little car. Zach turned the key and the engine whirred. It was a cute little car, somewhere between practical and sporty with a personality all its own, it suited Zach.
“Buckle-up” Riley said, “He drives like shit.” I laughed out loud as Zach told his little sister to shut up. “So. We’re finally alone. Good. I have questions.” Riley said with a straightforward tone that indicated she didn’t care whether or not we wanted to answer them. Zach loved his little sister, but it was obvious she annoyed the fuck out of him at the same time. I liked her! She was beautiful, smart, and self-assured. She was a lot like her brother (which is probably why she annoyed him so much).
“Ask away” I said.
“NO” Zach commanded. “You don’t know my sister” he said as he looked over at me. Then he made eye contact with her in the rearview mirror, “No sex questions!” Her face dropped a little, he knew exactly what she was thinking.
“Fine” She said as if her plan was just destroyed. “Seth, why don’t you live with your parents?” Damn, she came right for my jugular.
‘Well… she asked’, I thought and replied “My father’s a religious asshole” then turned to look back at her. She moved her forearm in a rolling motion and had a look on her face that said ‘okay, okay, give me details.’
“You don’t need to tell her shit you know?” Zach said trying to give me an out.
“Hey, she asked” I said to Zach, then I told her everything as we locked eyes. Her eyes were bugging out of her head, as I told her about my father’s beliefs, rules, and consequences for disobedience, Brad’s abduction, Brian, Eli, and I being locked away and forced to pray for forgiveness, Brad and Scotty getting custody of the three of us… all of it. She listened intently and had a million questions. Every time I mentioned one of my brothers or friends, she demanded a picture. And I pulled out my phone an obliged. She asked practical things like who cooked? Who cleaned? Was the house gross because 5 guys lived there? She grilled me the entire way to the country club. Zach kept glaring at her in the rearview mirror, his eyes begging her to stop. I put my hand on his leg while I talked to her letting him know I was fine with it. When I finished my story, and she asked all her questions I simply said “Now you know everything about me. So, tell me about you.”
“Shit, I am so boring compared to you” she laughed.
“Everybody is boring compared to Seth” Zach said as he leaned over to kiss me while he continued to drive through the adorable little town.
Riley rolled her eyes and said “Oh, quit the gay shit!”
“You sound like my brother Eli!” I laughed.
Then Riley spilled her guts! She told me everything she could think of about herself. Favorite music, best friends, crushes, her plans to go to nursing school after high school. She was wrong… she wasn’t boring at all, in fact, I found her to be engaging and generally awesome. The time flew by as we drove to the outskirts of town and soon, we were driving up the long private road to the country club.
I was in awe of the place. The club was housed in a beautiful, majestic stone building that looked to be well over 100 years old. The grounds included a golf course and were probably perfectly manicured, although it was hard to tell under the dusting of Christmas snow. There was a giant old pine tree covered in white lights standing in the middle of the circular drive that led to a covered porte cochere where a valet waited to park the car.
“ZAAAAACH!!!!” The valet yelled as we pulled up.
“LUCAS!” Zach yelled back as he hugged the valet and they danced from foot to foot.
“We miss your sorry ass around here!” Lucas said “You wanna park your own car for old times’ sake college boy?!”
Zach just laughed “No thanks! Working with your sorry ass for two years was enough.” I had no clue that Zach had been a valet at the country club. He told me later that he saved his checks and tips to buy his car for cash. I was impressed that he did it on his own, I assumed it was a gift from his parents. He also paid for his first two semesters at UWM on his own with his savings and a partial scholarship. I don’t know why we had never really discussed it before, I just assumed his parents paid his way in life. I was wrong. I was learning a lot about Zach.
“Hey Lucas, I want you to meet my boyfriend, Seth.” Zach said. I couldn’t believe it! He just came out to his former co-worker and the words just rolled off his tongue without hesitation.
Lucas’ eyes got wide as he tried to figure out if Zach was serious or not, then he looked at me and shook my hand. “You must be a pretty fucking special guy to land Zach” is all he said. He didn’t say a thing about Zach being gay, he just accepted it. As Lucas whirred away to park Zach’s hard-earned VW, the three of us walked into the stately old building.
The interior was as impressive as the exterior. It was very… I don’t know, I guess the word is grand. It was beautiful with old hardwood floors and 20-foot ceilings. The chandeliers were massive! I had never seen anything so elegant, and every inch of the place was decorated with white twinkle lights, fresh wreaths, and red bows. It smelled like pine and cinnamon. My eyes were wide open and my mouth agape as I looked around the place with. I truly was in awe of it. Zach led us up the incredible, winding staircase to the second floor and into a grand ballroom where his father was already mingling and enjoying himself. He waved to us across the room as we entered, and we gave him a quick nod back.
It only took Riley seconds to recognize some friends. She squealed, ran across the room, and pulled two girls into a bear hug and they chatted excitedly. Meanwhile, Zach Worked the room like a pro. His confidence was oozing as he went from person to person, saying hello with me by his side. He was in his element. To some people he introduced me as his friend from college, and to others his boyfriend. He wasn’t hiding anything, but he was being diplomatic about how he shared the information. There was a politician inside of him. ‘Shit, maybe I’ll be the First Man of the United States some day!’ I thought and laughed to myself.
His mother arrived shortly after us. As we all mingled with the upper echelon of the small Wisconsin town, Nathan Hall kept looking over at me and his son, I wondered what he was thinking. Was he worried about what people would think of his gay son? Was he worried what people would think of him? Did he fear it would shine suspicion on him and stir up rumors again? Was he worried people would be rude to us? Or was he envious of his son’s ability to be true to himself? I suspected the latter.
The brunch was very elegant, and the Halls were obviously loved and respected in the community. I couldn’t believe how kind people were to me, I felt very welcomed and comfortable. That’s one thing I had learned about living in Wisconsin, the people were friendly and seemed to treat everyone as an old friend. Well, that is all the people except Sean, Zach’s old teammate from high school… and there he was standing in the middle of the room laughing and conversing with a group of people. Zach saw him, grabbed my hand, and we headed his way before I could protest.
“Sean, it’s great to see you” He said in a bolstering voice as he extended his hand for a handshake and pulled Sean into a one-armed hug. Then he greeted the group of people Sean was talking to one by one, he seemed to know them all. It was a couple of guys about our age, and a few men in their fifties. They all seemed happy to see him as they greeted him and patted him on the back. “This is my boyfriend, Seth” he said boldly. The men each introduced themselves to me, a couple of them had odd looks on their faces, but the others didn’t seem to flinch at the word ‘boyfriend.’ Sean smirked as if he was expecting some big commotion, or backlash. There was none... we joined the conversation about some golf pro who had just joined the club or something (Zach was interested, and I just nodded and smiled a lot. I didn’t know shit about golf). As the conversation continued it seemed as though Sean was kind of left out, so I engaged him. He was surprisingly pleasant to talk to, he had a fun personality. Why the fuck he and Zach weren’t friends I had no clue. After about ten minutes most of the others had moved on to other conversations leaving me, Zach, and Sean to talk.
“So, you’re out” Sean said, that snotty smirk back on his face (and just when I was starting to like him).
“Yeah” Zach said, then extended his hand to shake Seans. “And I owe it to you” (Okay, so that surprised me). “Something you said to Seth woke me up. You told him everyone knew, you just wanted to hear him say it.” Zach maintained eye contact with Sean “You were right, It needed to be said so that I didn’t have to hide and pretend to be something I wasn’t, and Seth didn’t have to lie for me.” Sean was no longer smirking; he was listening as Zach went on. “So, I said it to my parents, and it changed my life. Sean let’s bury the rivalry bullshit. We live in the same damn building, and we have so much shit in common, why the fuck aren’t we friends?” I had been with Zach for the entire semester, and yet he never ceased to surprise me. If Sean had outed me, I would have probably slugged the guy, but Zach was trying to befriend him.
Sean got a sincere look on his face and responded “I’d like that. I’m trying out for the soccer team again next season.”
“That’s awesome, you want to start training together when we get back?” Zach said as he completely ignored their history.
Sean smiled, not a snotty smirk but a genuine smile “I’d like that.” Then they talked about schedules and workout regimens, and all that jock shit. Sean turned to me “Seth, I’m sorry for being such a dick to you” as he shook my hand and gave me a one-armed bro hug “you seem like a decent guy; I hope we can get to know each other better.” Then the three of us hung out and talked for a while until it was time to find our table and sit down with Zach’s family.
Nathan addressed the crowd for a few minutes, welcoming them. He was so engaging and people seemed to genuinely like him. For the next couple of hours, we ate and mingled, and I was just one of the Hall’s. I noticed that there didn’t seem to be any whispering and pointing about Zach Hall being a queer, or anything. Nathan Hall noticed it too. He was watching people’s reactions as Zach paraded me around like the trophy I am (excuse me, but I looked damn good in that suit and my hair was perfect that day… so let me have my moment). I was surprised at how well I fit into Zach’s world, I expected to feel like an outcast.
“I’ve been keeping an eye on you guys” Nathan said. “It doesn’t look like anyone gave you any trouble.”
“Not at all” Zach said. “I’ve been choosing my words carefully, but I’ve introduced Seth as my boyfriend several times and no one seemed to have an issue.”
“Good!” Nathan said as he sat upright in his chair. “That’s the way it should be.” Zach’s parents really did support him. For a moment I felt a twinge of embarrassment and regret for breaking their rules last night. They were really trying hard.
After brunch Zach and Riley showed me around town, they seemed to know everyone. Oh, and Riley was right… Zach drove like shit! He made me nervous as fuck! I found the best plan was to turn and talk to Riley and not look at the road or the speedometer. After our tour we went back to the Hall residence and hung out. The family all changed into their tacky Christmas sweaters, and we drank hot chocolate and listened to Christmas music. I hooked my phone to the Bluetooth speaker and played RuPaul’s Christmas album, Kelly and Nathan LOVED it and immediately downloaded it. The five of us had a great time just being together. I helped Kelly and Nathan in the kitchen again, and to their surprise Zach did too.
When it was time for dinner, we all sat down in the beautifully appointed dining room and Kelly asked me to say the prayer, she apparently wasn’t aware of my feud with god. But before I could decline Zach intercepted the offer (to his mother’s shock). We bowed are heads and Zach said: “I am grateful that we’re all together again, and thankful for the new addition to our family, Seth. Thank you for this incredible meal, but most importantly thank you for this collection of amazing people that make up our family.”
After a group ‘Amen’ his mother said, “That was beautiful, Zach.”
Zach took his first bite of the incredible meal and said, “I totally plagiarized it… that’s the prayer Seth said at Thanksgiving.” Then he looked me in the eye and said, “Seth’s faith has really inspired me.” He said it to remind me what an important role faith had played in my life. I needed the reminder.
After dinner we sat around the tree and exchanged gifts. Kelly handed me the first beautifully wrapped box and said “open this first” they all grinned knowingly. I ripped through the wrapping paper and opened the box. Inside was the ugliest, gaudiest Christmas sweater I had ever seen. It had reindeer, Santa, Christmas trees, and flashing lights. “It’s a Hall tradition” Kelly said with a smile “You gotta wear an ugly sweater to open gifts.”
“Welcome to the family” Nathan said with a laugh. Then we continued to open gifts. I noticed that most of the gifts were very thoughtful. Yeah, there were socks, underwear, and clothes (including several items for me), but the other gifts were given with love by people who knew each other. His parents liked the gifts I gave them, Zach and I just exchanged little nothing gifts. We had talked about it and decided to save our money for spring break instead of spending it on big gifts for each other. Riley flipped over the concert tickets and the promise of a weekend in Milwaukee away from her parents. This family was so different from mine, but they were wonderful.
When all the gifts had been opened, Nathan handed me a small box with a huge bow on top with a tag that said simply “from Nathan and Kelly.” I opened it. It was a St. Joseph medal on a chain. “I know saints are more of a Catholic thing, but Saint Joseph is the patron saint of family, and we know how important faith and family are to you, this is just a reminder.” Nathan stated with a sincere smile.
“I hope we didn’t overstep” Kelly added with a look of worry on her face. She was afraid they might have offended me.
Overstep? Fuck! They just reminded me of what’s important. When Kelly asked me to say the prayer, I assumed she was unaware of my personal feud with god, this gift said the exact opposite. Obviously, Zach had told his parents what I was going through, and this was a thoughtful way for them to remind me of what was important to me. When I first met Zach, I had pictured his parents as right wing, religious zealots like mine. They were anything but. They were two flawed people who loved their family and trusted their faith. I thanked them as best I could with a heartfelt hug, but I don’t think they realized that they had given me renewed faith. Zach did. He saw it on my face.
Later that night we went to midnight mass as a family. The church was a charming old cathedral downtown near Nathans office. I surprisingly felt welcome there. I had never been to a Catholic mass. The rituals, the traditions, The music, it was all so beautiful and fascinating to me. No one batted an eye at my presence; however, we did get some looks when Zach kissed me on the lips at what they called The Sign Of Peace. Maybe that was a little too far.
When we got back to the Hall’s we all went up to our rooms, Zach and I slept in separate beds that night. It was almost 2AM when we got back from church, but I called my mother to wish her a Merry Christmas anyway. She was thrilled to hear from me, even at that hour of the night. She handed the phone to my father; I hadn’t heard his voice in almost three years. It sent chills through my body, but he sounded softer, more human to me. He asked me about school and ended the conversation by asking me if I was happy. I absolutely was and told him so. I then asked him the same question “I’m working on that” he said quietly. I was surprisingly glad we spoke.
Thanksgiving with my village had been the pinnacle of untraditional, Christmas Eve at the Hall’s was The other extreme, something straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Christmas Day at Mom and Pop Nicholls would be somewhere in between.
I was beginning to see that the possibilities for my future were endless.
To be continued…
