Alex in Wonderland (The Wonderland Series Book 1) (5 page)

8

Monty's Python

The next eight hours were utter bliss. Alex had enjoyed the tryst with
Chandler, but the nonstop romp in Duncan’s bed was downright phenomenal. Alex
had never had such intense sex and was secretly relieved when Duncan fell
asleep. They both snoozed until the phone rang at 11 A.M. Duncan’s groggy hello
told the caller everything.

“You naughty boys have missed breakfast,” Jolie mock scolded. “And
you’re about to miss brunch. Shall we aim for lunch instead?”

Duncan turned away so his morning breath missed Alex. “Want to have
lunch with Jolie?”

“What happened to breakfast?” Alex muttered sleepily.

“
We
happened!” Duncan said
with a naughty wink. “Well?”

“Lunch,” Alex grunted sleepily.

“What time?” Duncan asked Jolie.

“Noonish. We’ll have mimosas in the courtyard and then ramble the
Quarter until we find somewhere festive to dine.”

“Great. See you then.”
 
He turned
to Alex. "Hey, you!"

"Hey," Alex smiled, hands roaming freely over Duncan's naked
body. "Uh-oh. I'm about to quote Mae West again."

"Let me guess. 'Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just glad
to see me?'"

"Bingo."

Duncan sighed as Alex disappeared under the covers. He still couldn’t
believe the history of the young man giving him so much pleasure.

“Damn!” he muttered. “If your father only knew!”

“Let’s send him a video and give him a heart attack!”

The fun, albeit of a different sort, continued at lunch. Jolie had a
sudden urge for Vietnamese food and drove them to New Orleans East, to the area
called Little Saigon where locals in coolie hats worked rice fields like it was
the Mekong instead of Louisiana. They gorged on shrimp spring rolls and a
hearty
pho
before continuing their lazy, serendipitous afternoon. Next
stop was the Country Club, a gay venue in a funky downtown neighborhood called
The Bywater. It was Alex’s virgin visit, and when he learned swimsuits were
optional, he embraced his newfound freedom with a vengeance. He announced he
was going
au naturel
and insisted Duncan follow suit or, as Jolie put
it,
sans
suit. When Duncan protested he was ashamed of his soft belly,
Alex assured him that no one would notice it.

“Not when you unleash the beast,” Alex laughed. Duncan said maybe and
went inside the clubhouse to get everyone drinks.

Jolie’s eyebrows darted up. “So the rumors are true.”

“Absolutely. That’s why I nicknamed him Monty.”

“Like
The Full Monty
?”

“No, but that’s good too.” Alex grinned. “Actually I was referring to
Monty's Python. I'm sure you get my drift."

Jolie grinned back. “And then some."

“Maybe you’ll see for yourself.”

When Duncan surrendered to queer peer pressure and stripped bare-ass,
Jolie gasped, along with the rest of the Country Club. Alex had been right in
predicting no one would notice anything above Duncan’s crotch. One guy walking
the edge of the pool was so riveted that he lost his balance and fell in the
water, to the hoots and whoops of his equally mesmerized buddies.

“I’ve been coming here for years but I’ve never seen anyone turn so
many heads,” Jolie said. “I guess it’s just a matter of knowing your audience.”

“Not to mention giving them what they want!” Alex said with a laugh.
“C’mon, Jolie. You’re next.”

No, no, my pet,” Jolie replied,
stripping only to his Prada shorts and slathering heavy-duty sunscreen on every
exposed pore including his bald pate. “I subscribe to the Gypsy Rose Lee school
of cruising. 'Make ‘em beg for more, and then don’t give it to ‘em.'” He turned
to Alex when Duncan, tired of being ogled, waded into the water. “You must've
had a really good time last night,
bébé.
You're looking very contented and not a little smug."

“Sorry. I just can't help gloating a little, but never mind about me.
What happened with Mr. Red Tee? I thought breakfast was supposed to be a
foursome.”

“We had breakfast in bed,” Jolie smirked. “And then he had to be on his
merry way, home to Boutt
é,
of
all the Godforsaken places. I must say I took full advantage of his youthful
charms. He left with a bit of a ‘hitch in his git-along,’ as they say in
Mississippi. And with a new nickname, too.”

“The booty from Boutt
é
?”

“Very impressive!” Jolie was amused at being second-guessed. “Learning
at the master’s knee, are we?”

“So to speak,” Alex said, leaning over to give him a buss.

Jolie shook his head. “You truly amaze me, Alex. I mean, you are coming
out of the closet with awesome gusto. I am so proud of your newfound self
confidence and, frankly, very happy to be a part of it, in my own little way of
course.”

Alex was touched. “I’m not as brave as I pretend, Jolie. Underneath it
all I’m still scared to death.” His scanned the pool. “On the other hand, I’m
also like a kid in a candy store."

"Don't you mean meat market?" Jolie laughed. "Just look
at all that prime beef!”

He and Alex watched a pair of red-haired lovers walk by, shoulder
length hair tied in neat ponytails, naked as the day they were born. A gorgeous
black man trailed them, and behind him were three gym bunnies with perfectly
sculpted pecs, abs, glutes and lats. All were walking ads for Speedos. Of
course there were plenty of other not-so-perfect men with bald heads, pot
bellies and hairy shoulders, but Alex admired them all simply because they
announced to the world they were gay and didn’t care who knew.

He shook his head. “I just keep thinking of those old tee shirts that
said ‘So Many Men, So Little Time.’ It’s true!”

“Down, boy. You’re only twenty six.”

“Uh, oh,” Alex said as Duncan splashed out of the water. “He doesn't
look very happy."

Jolie shaded his eyes as Duncan approached. "You're right."

Alex watched Duncan stretch out beside him, deep tan gleaming beneath
the sun. “Is something wrong, Duncan?"

Duncan looked at his watch and sighed. "Just the inevitable.”

Ouch, thought Jolie.

“What do you mean?” Alex asked.

“I have to go, babe. Felicity took the kids to her folks in Baton Rouge
for the weekend and they’ll be back at five. I should be there when they get
home.”

“Oh.” The disappointment in Alex’s voice was almost palpable. Duncan
started to add something, but Alex said, “It’s alright. I went into this thing
with my eyes wide open. It’s not like I didn’t know you were married.”

“That’s my guy,” Duncan smiled, relieved. He gripped Alex’s thigh and
squeezed affectionately. “How about a rematch next weekend? We can do bad boy
fantasies in the Pits if you like.”

“I'm not sure I know what that means, but I don’t really care what we
do as long as we’re together." Jolie looked away and rolled his eyes.
“Call me?”

“Absolutely. How long are you going to be at Jolie’s?”

“As long as he likes,” Jolie announced. “Do you want me to drive you
back to the Quarter?”

“No thanks. I’ll get the bartender to call a cab.” Duncan leaned down
and gave Alex a lingering smooch while half the Country Club went emerald with
envy. He blew Jolie a kiss, thanked him for lunch and was gone.

“Go easy,
bébé
,” Jolie said when they were out of earshot.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that you’re acting like a smitten kitten.”

“So what if I am?” He handed Jolie some sunscreen. “Put some on my
back, will you please?”

Jolie smeared the grease on Alex’s fair skin. “Duncan’s an old friend,
Alex, and a good one too so I know he’s a man of honor. Just as I suspect he’s
told you he has the sexual appetite of a wild boar and will hop on anything
that’s moving. He’s been doing it for years and there’s no end in sight.”

“Oh, I know all that, but—”

“But what?”

“I can’t help having some feelings for the guy. I mean I’ve fantasized
about him for years and never dreamed this could happen.”

“Mmmm.”

Alex sighed and stretched out on his belly. “I’m telling you Duncan is
the best damned sex I’ve ever had.”

Jolie ignored the remark. “Do you want me to do your legs?”

“Please.”

Jolie chose his words carefully as he massaged the sunscreen into the
backs of Alex’s calves. “Please don’t read this wrong, Alex, but just yesterday
you said the same thing about Chandler.”

Alex swallowed hard as memories of Chandler washed over him like the
hot Louisiana sun. Jolie was right, but Alex felt he had to defend himself.
“Well, when I said it I meant it. Chandler was wonderful. Duncan was
fantastic.”

“And Chandler is in Key West, and Duncan is married and uptown with an
eternally roving eye.” Alex’s leg tensed beneath Jolie’s fingers. “Sorry. Am I
rubbing too hard?”

“No. But you’re hitting below the belt.”

“Easy, Alex.”

“I mean it’s not like I’m in love with these guys.”

“No one said you were, darling boy, but I saw the look in your eyes and
heard that vulnerable tone when you said you didn’t care what you and Duncan
did as long as you were together. Those aren’t the actions of a guy saying
good-bye to last night’s trick, and like it or not that’s all Duncan will ever
be. He’s smooth and charming and obviously a heavy hitter in the requisite
department, but I wouldn't expect much more.”

"Damn,"Alex grunted. “If you weren’t right, I’d be pissed.
Really pissed.”

Jolie gave his thigh an affectionate pat. “There are few things I
admire more than a man who can admit a difficult truth. I just don’t want you
to get hurt. So far you’ve only dabbled in the gay life. When you embrace it
full-time it’s a whole new ball game, and it’s not much different from the
straight world.” He thought for a moment. “Except we don’t fake orgasms.”

Alex chuckled, pleased when Jolie’s quip made him temporarily forget
his ache for Duncan. He found further balm when he propped himself on his
elbows and ogled a blonde dude his own age. The guy gave him a long cruise when
he passed, then looked over his shoulder and smiled as he leaned against the
cabana bar, bikini-wrapped buns aimed in Alex’s direction. “Nice ass,” Alex
mouthed.

Attention focused elsewhere, Jolie was oblivious. “If I were you, dear
boy, I’d forget about Duncan and—”

“Thanks for the advice, but I’ll be fine. Excuse me a minute.”

Jolie watched Alex head for the bar and strike up a conversation with
the blonde. The two laughed together and a few minutes before diving into the
pool and swimming toward the deep end. It wasn’t long before they were pressed
together.

“How quickly the young’s wounds heal,” Jolie muttered to himself.
“Especially with such delicious medicine.”

Jolie was hardly surprised when the blonde bombshell invited Alex home,
and once again assured Alex he didn’t mind being left behind. Solitude was, in
fact, a state he had come to cherish, having enjoyed more than his share of
romps and flings from Rio to Tangier, New York to New Orleans. Besides he’d had
one helluva time last night with the booty from Boutt
é
. Jolie’s good mood evaporated, however, when
he returned home and found a phone message from Alex’s mother he could barely
understand through a heavy rumble of traffic.

“This is Karen Sumner. I’m on my cell phone, so you may have trouble
hearing me. Please tell Alex things are terrible at home and growing worse by
the minute. His father is furious that he disappeared, and since nobody ever
disobeys him it’s impossible to know his next move. Alex can come home and deal
with it if he wants, but my advice is to stay away and keep a very low profile.
I’ve never seen his father so angry and I’m worried that he’s going to—” That
part of the message was drowned out by what sounded like an eighteen-wheeler.
When the racket stopped, Karen promised she would “call again tomorrow.”

Jolie hit the “save” button. “Hmmm. I wonder if smooching naked in the
swimming pool of a gay club is considered low profile.”

He poured a glass of Evian and wandered to the second floor gallery,
drowsing on a
chaise longue
as he enjoyed the final moments of the day.
Dusk always unleashed flocks of purple martins which swooped and dived in
graceful flight as they gorged on mosquitoes. It also brought dazzling sunsets
and fantastic cloud formations inspiring Tennessee Williams to proclaim New
Orleans the best city in the world for skylights. Jolie had shared several
similar twilights with Tennessee and lofted his glass toward a sky streaked
with high-flying, heliotrope-tinged cirrus.

“Miss you, Tenn,” he murmured. He sipped the mineral water and added,
“Yeah, I know. It oughta be bourbon!”

Jolie lost himself in memories of Tennessee, concern over Karen
Sumner’s phone call and thoughts of Alex, the poor lost lamb whose future was
about to be disrupted by angry ghosts from the past. The day’s cocktail
consumption crept over him, as inevitable as the dusk, and Jolie dozed until
Alex came looking for him.