One for the Gods (The Peter & Charlie Trilogy) (29 page)

“Got an extra bed.?”

“Yes, but—” Peter hesitated but he couldn’t see anything really wrong with it and there was no alternative. Hal was too drunk to be left on his own. “All right. You can come with me. But listen. I can take care of myself if somebody makes a pass at me but I like you too much to go through all that. No nonsense. Promise?”

“Scout’s honor.”

“OK. Let me drive.” He got out and went around the car and found Hal still struggling to get out from under the wheel. He gave him a helpful push and got in. He was staying in a modest hotel near the Crystal Palace Market; he couldn’t afford anything grand. He had turned over the income from his investments to Charlie so that he could concentrate on his painting without having to find a job.

He drove to the hotel and parked. Hal’s eyes were closed again. He nudged him with his elbow. “Hey. Pfc. Martin reporting, sir.”

“Just dropped off for a moment, soldier,” Hal rumbled.

“I can’t for the life of me remember my goddamn room number. You wait here. I’ll be right back. Are you listening? I’ll go up first and you can follow me.”

Hal nodded and Peter left him and went into the hotel. He gave his name and collected his key. Servicemen were coming and going. He and Hal wouldn’t be conspicuous. He started back for the door and caught sight of Hal standing rigidly in a corner of the lobby. He went to him and muttered his room number and turned directly to the elevator. He had been in the room only long enough to turn on some lights when Hal knocked. He let him in and Hal immediately gathered him into his arms. It was nice to be held and Peter ran his hands over his back and gave him a hug before pulling away.

“All right. Enough of that. You better get to bed. You’re going to have to get up at dawn.”

Peter felt all his nerves tighten as Hal began to remove his beautifully cut jacket. He liked him. He was wonderful looking. He wanted to see his body. Was that all he would want? He had issued his invitation with the certainty that he was impregnable, but he knew suddenly that he was facing a test. He wouldn’t let anything happen even if he had to lock himself in the bathroom, but he didn’t want the clear, constant, obsessive preoccupation with Charlie to be broken. He wanted desperately not to feel the slightest quiver of desire for anybody. It would somehow tarnish the resplendent glow of his love.

He undressed slowly as he watched Hal casually drop his clothes. He seemed much less drunk than he had a few minutes before. His shirt was off. Socks and shoes lay on the floor. He rose and with a swift movement of long legs stood naked in front of Peter.

“No passes. Right?” Hal said, moving toward him.

Peter’s eyes slid past him, gathering an impression of startling beauty. Trust Charlie. He removed his trousers, but left his brief underpants on. Hal stopped a few feet from him and smiled.

“Isn’t this marvelous? You must know how often I’ve imagined it. You’re just as gorgeous as I thought you’d be, which is hard to believe. Aren’t you going to take that sexy little thing off?”

“No. I don’t think Charlie would want me to.” Peter’s nerves were steadying. A deep, ecstatic contentment was spreading through him. He really did want only Charlie. In a moment he would be able to look at Hal without a qualm.

“Don’t be silly. Dozens of guys see you naked every day. What’s wrong with me?”

To prove to himself that this was, in fact, no different than the shower-room exposure of the barracks, he peeled off the bit of silken stuff and tossed it away. “It’s been damn near a year since I’ve been alone in a bedroom with a beautiful guy and look at me. Nothing. How’s that for true love?”

“Beautiful. Darling Peter. I don’t suppose it’s a great surprise for you to see what you do to me.”

Peter looked into the green eyes and laughed. “I’m not letting myself look, but I’m getting a pretty vivid picture out of the corner of my eye. It’s very flattering, but I told you you shouldn’t waste all that on me. We’d better cover you up. Go to bed.” He squeezed his arm as he passed him and went into the bathroom. When he returned, Hal was lying uncovered on the bed. His erect sex was lifted tautly above his belly.

“Wow,” Peter exclaimed, confident now that he was invulnerable to temptation. “It’s a crying shame nobody’s getting any fun out of that. You and Charlie must have had a high old time together.”

“Did he tell you about us?”

“Sure. He said you taught him the works when he was a freshman. You sure did a good job of it. He’s fabulous.” Peter pulled back the covers of the other bed and lay down under them.

“Did he say that? How amazing. I thought he was the most experienced kid I’d ever been to bed with.”

“Oh, well, that’s Charlie. He always likes to pretend he’s one step ahead of everybody else.”

“That stupendous cock. He’s certainly one step ahead of everybody there. Is it really as big as I remember?”

“It’s big, all right, but if truth must be told, I’ve had bigger. Never better. For somebody who likes being fucked as much as I do, that’s saying something.”

Hal swung his feet to the floor and rose and dropped down on the edge of Peter’s bed. Peter was immediately upright and sitting on the opposite side, poised for flight.

“Now come on, honey. None of that. You promised. Go back where you belong.”

“Can’t we just lie here and talk?”

“Lie here, my Aunt Matilda! What do you think I’m made of, for God’s sakes? One of the most attractive guys I’ve ever known, waving that thing in my face. I’d love to hold it and make things happen. I could do that without getting a hard-on myself. There wouldn’t be anything unfaithful about it. It would be because I like you and you have a gorgeous cock, but I’m not going to. I want to go back to Charlie exactly the way I left him, no new experiences, no little secret thrills, nothing. It’s probably hard to understand what it’s like being so in love with somebody.”

“Is it all right if I just sit here for a little while?”

“If you put something over that.”

Hal leaned across to the other bed and pulled the pillow to him and put it on his lap. Peter lay down again. Hal put his hand on the side of his face and stroked it. “If I can’t have anything else, I’d love to see you with a hard-on,” he said. “Isn’t there anything we can do about that?”

Peter laughed. “Stick around till morning. All the guys in the barracks wake up that way. We compare them. It’s very military.” Feeling the warmth of companionship, soothed by the gentle hand, Peter was aware more poignantly than ever of the depth of his longing for Charlie. He didn’t see how he was going to get through another year of this. Another two? Tears welled up behind his closed lids. He took a deep breath that caught in his chest.

“You two are really torturing yourselves,” Hal said. “I told Charlie. It’s a sweet idea, but it can’t work. If you go on like this, something’s going to snap.”

“Did you try to take him to bed when you saw him in New York?”

“Sure.”

“I’m almost sorry you didn’t succeed.” Peter giggled. “If you had, maybe I would’ve been able to do something with you. Our teacher.” His mind slid down into a pocket of sleep and swooped up again. “What?” he asked dazedly.

“I said, have you ever tried it the other way around?”

“Fucked a guy? No. Oh, technically, Charlie once. But it was so sudden and unexpected that it doesn’t really count. When it comes to sex, I’m one of the girls. There’s never been any doubt about that.”

“Wouldn’t you like to try it so you know what it’s like?”

“Not really. Have you?” Peter felt himself spinning into another hollow of sleep.

“As a matter of fact, no.”

Peter put his hand on Hal’s and pressed it comfortingly against his face. “We both want a man called Charlie,” he mumbled. “Don’t let’s confuse ourselves.”

Hal said something, but Peter didn’t hear him. He felt as if he were falling. He plunged and plunged again and was asleep.

He was awakened by light in his eyes. He blinked and saw the back of Hal’s head on the pillow. As the fog of sleep cleared, he realized that he was lying on his side up close against Hal’s back and his erect sex was held between Hal’s thighs. Simultaneously, he became aware of movement in the room and he struggled up in sudden alarm. As he did so, Hal rolled over and reached out for him blindly and tried to take his sex in his mouth.

“For Christ’s sake,” Peter cried in warning.

They scrambled up together, Hal still reaching for him as if to bring him back to bed until his hands suddenly fell away. They stood naked and erect, confronting two MPs. The soldiers advanced on them.

“Well, a couple of lilies,” one of them said. He was a big man with a beefy neck and a sneer on his thin lips. He struck their subsiding erections lightly with his club. “What a shame. We’re interrupting something. They make a real pretty pair, wouldn’t you say, Ed?”

“Watch your step, sergeant,” Hal said, managing an astonishing note of authority. He gave his name and rank.

“I see, sir. Sorry I didn’t notice your insignia.” The sergeant turned to Peter, the sneer more pronounced on his face. “You a general, sis?” Peter identified himself, although his heart was beating so fast that he could hardly get it out. The sergeant nodded. “A commissioned officer and an enlisted man. You’re in real trouble. Your men love you, do they, captain?”

Peter saw his shorts on the floor and made a dash for them. The sergeant stepped nimbly after him and ran his club between his legs as he bent for them. Peter sprang up and the sergeant guffawed.

“How’s that for size, sis?”

Peter took a step toward him. His fists were ready to strike. Their eyes clashed and the sneer was replaced by the glint of battle. A warning sounded in Peter’s mind. They might still talk their way out of it. Hitting the sergeant wouldn’t help. Maybe Hal would know what to do; he had got them into this mess. He wouldn’t mind socking him, too. He backed away to the chair where he had left his neatly folded uniform. It was some gratification to note that the sergeant kept his distance.

He and Hal put on their clothes in silence without looking at each other. When they were dressed, the sergeant approached Peter once more and prodded him with his club. “OK, sis. We’ll see you get back to your base. Your girl friend here—oh, sorry, sir. You’ll be hearing from the provost marshal’s office.”

“For God’s sake, aren’t you going to say anything, captain?” Peter pleaded. “We haven’t done anything.”

“I have the impression that I’d be wasting my time with the sergeant. I’ll straighten it out when I get back to the base.” Hal was looking sober again and very dashing in his uniform. He addressed the sergeant with the condescension of one accustomed to command. “If you think you have to put in a report, you might get a few things straight. Private Martin and I are old friends. We knew each other before we were in the service, so it’s not a question of fraternization. We had a few drinks together, and I decided it wouldn’t be wise to drive back so I came here for a little sleep. That’s all there is to it.”

“I see, sir. I don’t guess I have to mention your sneaking past the desk clerk without registering. But how about this being nude in the same bed together and you having his prick in your mouth? How do you want me to put that in the report? Sir.”

“He didn’t, damn it,” Peter burst out. “We were both asleep until you walked in. What happens when you’re waked up suddenly? We were both just sort of falling over each other trying to get up.”

“Well, maybe my eyesight is failing. Maybe I should put in for retirement.” The sneer was firmly fixed on the thin lips. “I sure thought I saw the both of you in the same bed.”

“Nobody says you didn’t, goddamn it,” Peter maintained stoutly. He still wanted to hit the sergeant, but the fact that he was willing to talk was hopeful. “We were both drunk. I went to sleep as soon as we came in. I don’t know what happened after that. Maybe he didn’t notice there was another bed. Tell them, sir.”

“I don’t see any particular need to argue it out with the sergeant. However—as Private Martin says, he went to sleep while we were talking. I turned out the light and stumbled around and got into the first bed I came to. Once I was in it, it didn’t seem worth the trouble to move. We’ve slept in the same bed before, when there wasn’t another available.”

“Of course,” Peter confirmed with conviction.

“Well, you tell your story, sis, and I’ll tell mine. The court-martial will decide.”

Peter’s blood froze. His thoughts had been skirting the possibility; to hear the words spoken made him want to cry out with fear and outraged innocence. “Why do you want to talk like that? You’re just making trouble for nothing. Why can’t you just let it go?”

“Because you’re a fucking little pansy, that’s why,” the sergeant roared. “It sticks out all over you.” Peter’s feet shifted and his fist lifted again, but the sergeant was prepared for him. He put his club against his chest and shoved. “You try any tricks and you’ll get this across the side of your head, and then some. Those fancy little panties you wear. That yellow hair. Your shitty long prick. Decent men don’t have pricks like that. Both of you. Excuse me, sir. I don’t say all pansies should be shot—waste of ammunition—but there ought to be a place where they’re put away so they can’t have anything to do with real men. Get a move on, Nelly.”

Peter’s spirit recoiled. He had rarely been exposed to the world’s derision and hostility, and the sergeant’s contempt cut into him and brought him close to tears. He struggled against about his sexual tastes in order to bolster the truth about the them, he struggled against the mindless condemnation that suddenly threatened to crush him. “Just a minute,” he said with desperate determination. “If you want to make a case out of this, you ought to have some evidence. Why don’t you check the towels and bedclothes? If there was any sex going on here, there should be traces.”