Woody
I sighed as I scrolled on my phone, I needed to find a place to live, not to mention a real full-time job. I had been staying with my buddy, Darius, for the past few months, and his girlfriend wanted to move in with him. He hadn’t told me directly, but they had both started dropping hints over the last week that it might be a good idea for me to find a new place to live. I knew they were right, they deserved to have their space, and I was a third wheel. I was 22 years old, and it was probably time to get my life in order. I had basically couch surfed, worked temp and part-time jobs for the last six years.
It all started right after I turned 16 when I figured out that I was gay. Well, I guess I should say it started 22 years ago when I was born to an alcoholic, drug using mother. I’m sure I wasn’t planned and I’m not sure the sperm donor that got my mother pregnant even knows I exist. My early childhood was spent watching one man after another move in and out of our one-bedroom apartment. My mom was never a good judge of men, the men she brought home were either looking for a night or two of sex, or a place to stay until something better came along. As a result of my mom’s drug and alcohol use while she was pregnant with me, I was a month premature and have always been small for my age. Even at 22, I only stand 5’1” and maybe weight 110 pounds. Mom didn’t make things any easier for me when she decided to name Cyrus. Yep, a skinny little runt named Cyrus. It didn’t take long for me to start using my last name, Woodson, and my buddies shortened it to Woody. It wasn’t much better, but I liked it better than Cyrus.
I grew up pretty quickly, learning how to fend for myself fairly young. The neighborhood that we lived in wasn’t the best area of the city, I guess we were lucky to have a roof over our heads. Of course, this meant that the other kids I ran around with were less than good role models. Because of my size, the rest of the guys I ran with used me as a diversion when they wanted to cause some trouble. I was able to fall and work up some tears so the adults would come running to comfort me. While that was going on, my friends would slip candy and sodas in their pockets. I guess that was how it all started, of course, as we got to our teens, the things we were stealing got bigger and the adults were soon wise to us.
So, we would move to another neighborhood, which led to fights with the kids already there. I took some beatings and as the old saying goes, you either get tough or you die. The others did look out for me, but that wasn’t always enough, so I got tough. By the time I got to high school, I could hold my own in fight, I didn’t always win, but I knew when to walk away.
I also got pretty good at conning people. A 15-year-old that looks 12 can be very pathetic standing at a grocery store checkout line digging through his pockets for change trying to pay for a loaf of bread and package of lunch meat. My sad brown eyes could coax the nice lady behind me to say, “just add it to mine”, I was still able to work up a tear or two as I thanked her for her kindness.
I knew this wasn’t the life I wanted, but a poor black kid from the inner city didn’t have a lot of options. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get out, but I was determined to find a way. I saw what the drugs and alcohol did to my mom, I made the decision that I would never use either. It was hard when all my friends started to head down that road, but again, I knew when to walk away. I would still go with them and help them steal or scam someone, but I used my money for food or clothes. I had to, I knew my mom wasn’t going to get those things for me.
I was trying to do well in school, but the public school system isn’t set up for kids like me to succeed. Their goal is to just get us through the system and out onto the streets, so we would become someone else’s problem. Not to mention the peer pressure if I did too well.
Like I had alluded to earlier, I realized I was gay shortly after my 16th birthday. I had no one to talk to about this, my friends would never understand, and I knew my mom would just dismiss my concerns as she was worried about getting her next fix.
I walked home from school one day, worried about my sexuality, how I was going to get out of this neighborhood, how I was going to do something with my life. As I got to the steps of my building, I saw another kid about my age sitting there.
I nodded my head and said, “sup.”
He nodded back, “not much, just chillin.”
I hadn’t seen him around before, I asked, “you new around here?”
He shrugged, “yep, moved in last week. They call me Moose.”
I answered, “Woody.”
We gave each other a fist bump as I sat beside him. He definitely fit his name, Moose was at least a foot taller than me, not that that was hard to do. He had a broad chest and huge arms that flexed every time he moved them. Of course, he was wearing a sleeveless shirt and basketball shorts, I couldn’t stop sneaking looks at his arms and muscular legs. As we talked, his corn rowed hair would bounce, and the cutest dimples would appear with every smile. His chocolate eyes sparkled with every word he spoke, damn he was hot. I needed to calm down, I’m sure he could snap me like a twig if he knew I was having these thoughts. I composed myself as we got to know each other a little bit better. On the following Monday, Moose started school, and I was glad that we had some classes together and we walked to and from school together every day. He lived with his mom and younger sister and like me, had no father in the picture. He was a little better off, in that his mom was at least sober, although she was always working so she wasn’t home much either.
One day after classes, we were in my apartment talking like we had done since right after we first met. We were talking about how we could get out of the life we were living. Just two teens sharing our dreams.
Moose said, “there is something I have wanted to ask you since that first day we met.”
I tipped my head back, “oh yeah, what’s that?”
He shyly asked, “do you know how cute you are?”
I searched for my words, nothing was coming to me. He said, “I have wanted to kiss those sexy lips since the first time you smiled at me.”
I stuttered, “um ok, I really don’t know what to say, but um, thanks?”
He chuckled, “don’t think I didn’t notice you checking me out. I think we want the same thing.”
I nodded, “oh God, yes.”
He pulled me onto his lap as we kissed, his huge arms and hands grabbing my ass. My cock was instantly hard, I was humping his stomach as our tongues were dueling in our mouths. I don’t know how long we kissed, but the wet spot on my shorts had leaked through, leaving the same wet spot on Moose’s shirt. I had never kissed anyone before in my life, but I was sure Mosse was the best kisser in the world. He smiled as he broke our kiss, he said, “that was worth the wait.” I nodded like an idiot as I looked into those eyes. He chuckled, “did you like it?” Again, I just nodded as he worked his hands under my shirt and pulled it over my head. Moose ran his hands up my stomach and across my chest, smiling as he tweaked my erect nipples. He said, “wow, for such a little guy, you have a sexy body.” I’m sure I blushed, he pulled me up and began to lick and bite my nipples, causing me to become lightheaded. He said, “if you liked that, you are going to love this.” He grabbed my hips to pull me up so that I was standing on the couch, my aching prick right in front of his face as he sat there. Moose grinned and yanked my shorts and underwear down in one smooth motion, my cock nearly poking his eye out. He licked the drop of precum that had suddenly formed and before I knew what had happened, my pole disappeared into his mouth. I grabbed his shoulders to keep from falling down, my legs had suddenly turned to jelly. My head was spinning, no one had ever touched my cock before, let alone sucked it to the root. Just before I was ready to explode, Moose spit my dick out and pulled me down for another kiss. I panted, “that was incredible, can I suck you too?” He grinned, “I thought you would never ask.” A split second later, he was naked, and I crawled on top of him so we could sixty-nine. Again, he was living up to his name, his cock was as big as I was hoping it would be. I was hooked from the first taste, I knew I was going to want to suck as much cock as I could for the rest of my life. I took Moose as deep as I could as I fondled his cum-filled nuts. My balls were tight against his face as his big hands cupped my ass, and a finger worked its way along my crack. I gasped when that finger grazed my pucker, that was all it took to send me over the edge, I exploded, sending my seed into Moose’s mouth. He responded by rewarding me with a mouthful of his hot jizz, it was delicious. Moose flipped me around so we could share a cum-flavored kiss. He smiled, “how does a little guy like you have such a big cock.”
Again, I blushed, “it’s not very big.”
He laughed, “are you kidding me? It’s the same size as mine, look.”
I looked down at our wet cocks, slowly deflating, Moose was holding them side by side. He was right, we were about the same size, I might have even been a little thicker. He grinned, “so, was that your first time?”
I nodded, “yeah, I hope I did ok.”
He gave me another kiss, “you did just fine.”
We resumed making out, completely lost in the moment. We didn’t hear the door being opened. We both jumped when we heard my mom scream, “What the hell are you doing?”
Her latest boyfriend looked at us in disgust, “what the fuck.”
Moose jumped up, sending me flying back on the couch, he was grabbing his clothes. Mom’s boyfriend, I think his name was Andrew, I hadn’t bothered to learn the last ten guys’ names, came at me, his fist catching my jaw. He yelled, “there ain’t no fag shit going on around here as long as I am around.”
I flew off the couch and onto the floor, wincing in pain. Moose threw his clothes down and he sent Andrew flying across the room with a right cross of his own. Mom started to cry and rushed to Andrew.
Moose helped me up and asked, “are you ok?”
Tears started to run down my cheek as I nodded, “yeah, I think so.”
Mom cried, “you hurt him, who the hell are you?”
Moose began to pull on his clothes, “you let that son of a bitch hit your kid and you are worried about him? What kind of mother are you?”
Mom continued to hold Andrew as she yelled, “get the hell out of here, both of you.”
Moose helped me pack the small gym bag that I had, and we hurried out the door. His mom let me stay with them for a couple of nights, but I knew I needed to find someplace else to go. The next week, I dropped out of school and started to look for a job. I have pretty much been doing this for the last six years. I’m running out of friends to stay with, and I’m not getting many job offers with my past. The temp agency that I have been going to is even finding it hard to place me for more than a day or two, so I may never be able to save up enough to get my own place.
I saw the Craig’s List ad in the help wanted section, “Live in help wanted as a caretaker for male that is recuperating from a severe accident.”
I clicked on the phone number listed, a man answered. I said, “I am calling about your ad for live in caretaker.”
Harley
I woke up in a cold sweat after the same nightmare for the third night in a row. My heart was racing as the accident replayed in my dreams, like it had just happened. That God damn accident, why couldn’t I have died that night, it would sure as hell been better than the life I was now being forced to live. I instinctively reached for Sam, he wasn’t there. Fuck, one more thing that damn accident took from me. Sam took the brunt of the hit, they told me he didn’t even make it to the hospital. Fucking drunk drivers, at least that is what the police thought, they were still investigating, or that’s what they told me they were doing. I seriously had my doubts, I’m sure they just went with their first thought and have moved on to other more important cases.
I sighed as I laid my head back on my pillow, the pain still throbbing in my ribs and legs. If tonight was anything like the previous nights, I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep. Shit, I didn’t even know what time it was, the bandages covering my eyes have prevented me seeing anything for the last four weeks. Hopefully they will be coming off tomorrow at my next doctor’s appointment. They told me that they had to dig glass out of both of my eyes and there was a chance that I would have some vision loss. If I didn’t have both my hands in casts, I would have probably already ripped those bandages off by now.
I thought back to when Sam and I met in law school. God he was gorgeous, blonde wavey hair that he kept styled to look like he just crawled out of bed but was still professional. A perfect smile that showed off his bright white teeth that he thanked his parents for making him get braces on back in the 7th grade. I took one look at the ass as he walked in front of me on our way out of class one day and I knew I had to meet him. I thought I was the luckiest man on the earth when he agreed to go out with me. I was even more flattered when he told me that he had been trying to work up the courage to ask me out, but thought I was out of his league. Hell, if anything, he was out of my league. When he said, “Harlan Thomas Winslow, I love you” I knew I had the man that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. We were inseparable for the rest of our college years. It had been almost five years since we had graduated and passed the bar. Sam was working at a family law firm, handling divorces, child custody cases and writing wills. That wasn’t why I became a lawyer, but he was happy, so I was happy for him. I wanted to put the bad guys away, I was thrilled when I got a job in the prosecutor’s office. Sam was just as happy for me as I was for him. After years of being an assistant on cases, I recently was given my first case as lead prosecutor. Sam was so proud of me when I won the case, and I put my first bad guy behind bars. I had just finished the trial about two weeks before the accident, we decided to get married, and we were coming home from our celebratory dinner when that car t-boned us. Now my life was a damn mess, why couldn’t I have died that night too?
I’m not sure if I dozed off, or it was already morning when I had my dream. I heard someone walking down the hall to my bedroom. I heard the door open, Todd said, “hey Harley, are you awake?”
Todd was my brother-in-law, he had somehow assumed the role of my caretaker since I was released from the hospital. He worked at the same law firm that Sam had worked at. Sam actually introduced him to my sister, Heather. I lay there motionless, I sighed, “yeah, I’m awake. What time is it?”
He said, “it’s a little after eight, are you ready to get out of bed.”
I shrugged, “I guess so, I have nothing better to do.”
He helped me sit up and he put my robe over my shoulders and fished my casted arms through the sleeves. He had cut them open so the casts would fit. I put my arms on his shoulders as he helped me to my wheelchair, pulling my robe closed as he sat me down.
He sighed, “do you need to use the john?”
I nodded, “unfortunately, yes, I need to pee.”
He wheeled me to the bathroom and pulled my underwear down as he sat me on the toilet. I’m sure he never thought he signed up for this when he married my sister. After I was finished, he helped me stand, pulled up my underwear and closed my robe before he sat me back in my chair. I sighed, I don’t think I will ever get used to the indignity that I have endured the last 4 weeks. People feeding me, dressing me, and worst of all, wiping my ass after I take a shit.
As he wheeled me to the kitchen to feed me breakfast, Todd said, “I am interviewing another caretaker today, will you please be nice? If you chase another one away, I’m going to send your sister over here to take care of you fulltime.”
I scoffed, “I’m not that bad, if they can’t take a little constructive criticism then they need to find another line of work. Besides, I can take care of myself. Why don’t you just leave me alone here to die, it would be the best for everyone.”
He laughed, “gee, I wonder why they all told me you are unpleasant to be around. Please Harley, you should get the casts off your hands this week and your legs in the next week or two. Then we can talk about you taking care of yourself. Besides, if we let you die in here, we may never get this house sold.”
I shook my head, “yeah right, I guess I will have to behave just to make your life easier when I’m gone.”
Todd sighed, “damn it Harley, stop talking like that. I know things suck for you right now, but your family loves you. Please, hang in there, it will get better.”
I hung my head, “how can it get better without Sam?”
I felt his hand on my shoulder, “I’m sure it’s hard, but would Sam want you to sit here feeling sorry for yourself? Would he want you to give up?”
I thought about his questions, I knew he was right, but I sure wasn’t going to tell him that. I asked, “don’t you have to get to work?”
Todd chuckled, “yeah, I do.”
I heard him clear the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. He wheeled me into the living room and sat me in front of my laptop. We had gotten the laptop set up with voice commands so I could be a little entertained during the day. Heather will be over to help me with lunch and take me for my appointment this afternoon.
Once he had me settled, he said, “maybe at your doctor visit today, you’ll get the bandages off your eyes, I’ll stop by after work tonight to check on you. I’ll let you know how the interview goes today.”
I rolled my eyes, even though Tood couldn’t see them, I’m sure he sensed the eye roll. As he walked out, he said, “call if you need anything.”
I spent the rest of the morning like I had the previous weeks, listening to news stories and some podcasts that I had found, pertaining to law cases like the ones that I worked. Heather arrived a little after 11.
She said, “hey big brother, Todd said you are in your usual cheery mood.”
I shook my head, “yeah, I’m a joy to be around.”
She wheeled me to the kitchen so we could talk while she made lunch. She filled me on how my Niece and nephew were doing. We were the only family that each other had, mom has been gone for a year now, she had cancer that went undiagnosed because she hated doctors. I guess that was another one of her traits that I inherited. Dad passed away three years ago from a massive heart attack. While I love my niece and nephew, the talk did little to lift my spirits.
She got me dressed for my doctor’s visit and I was a little happy that the casts on my hands were cut off. The doctor gave me some exercises to help get strength back in hands, at least I could do that on my own.
I eye specialist arrived and asked a bunch of questions. He said, “ok Harley, I don’t want you to get your hopes up, but I am going to remove the bandages from your eyes. I will warn you, your vision probably won’t get any better than it is when I take the bandages off.”
It seemed like to took forever for him to unwrap the gauze. He held the two pads that covered my eyes. He slowly pulled them away.
He said, “ok Harley, open your eyes.”
I blinked a few times. He asked, “what do you see?”
To be continued…
