His True Home (Gay Romance)

by Trina Solet

  *

  Deciding at the last minute that they should take the car, Alec went in search of his car keys. He took the opportunity to change his paint smudged t-shirt too. After he held some of his jeans upside down and shook them, finally his keys fell out. As he grabbed them off the floor, he looked around his room. The mess in there couldn't have made a good impression on Cory. But why the hell did he care? The only people he needed to impress were social workers. That's when Alec went on a cleaning binge and straightened up the house. The fact was, neither Alec nor his mother were very neat and tidy. As his mother was fond of saying, "A clean house is no place to live." That woman was definitely not meant to be a housewife. After being raised by her, Alec also wasn't meant to be a housewife. Except that all of a sudden he was worried about making a good impression on a guy who was still technically a teenager. That's what came of living in the middle of nowhere. A cute guy showed up, and Alec was ready to start cleaning. Damn if Cory's ass wasn't a work of art and so was everything else that went with it.

  When he first saw him, Alec had been surprised. It wasn't that he had any particular expectations about Teddy's brother. He only knew his age and background, that he and Teddy shared a similar history. He definitely didn't expect him to be so cute yet unassuming. He had the same focused, self-contained nature as Teddy. Right now he was focused entirely on his little brother. That gave Alec the opportunity to observe him. He noticed the tiny scar on his sharp jaw and imagined licking it. He memorized the exact combination of colors that made up his hazel eyes. He took a mental impression of the shape of his mouth to make sure it would be a perfect fit wrapped around his cock. He planned the angle at which he would paint him, the same angle as the view of him from above as he fucked him with his head hanging off the bed.

  Too bad he was off limits. No. Wait. Good thing he was off limits. Alec wasn't here to fool around, especially not with Teddy's brother. Alec couldn't mess with Cory no matter how much he wanted to see how beautiful he would look when Alec made him come.

  Chapter 2

  Coming down the front steps, Alec spun a set of car keys around on his finger. Cory took in the sight of his long legs, broad chest, and strong arms. Realizing how hungrily he watched him, Cory averted his eyes. As he did, he caught Teddy giving Alec a questioning look. Answering the look, Alec told him, "Today we drive." Turning to Cory, he explained, "We usually walk into town, but you already walked here and had a long bus ride so we'll take the car."

  The car was an older Camaro. Its black paint was a little faded as well as dusty. The bottom of it was splattered with mud. Alec pulled the front seat forward so Teddy could climb into the back and into a child's booster seat.

  "Child services said I had to get this contraption," Alec said as he buckled Teddy's seat belt.

  Sitting in front, next to Alec, Cory became intensely aware of how tall, hard muscled and attractive he was and only inches away. For a second, Cory almost forgot why he was there. He was overwhelmed with the urgent need to run his hands all over Alec, maybe rip his t-shirt off. He came to his senses quickly and remembered the silent, little guy in the back. Teddy was his priority, not trying to seduce some guy who was out of his league.

  To Cory, the road to town didn't seem as long now that he wasn't walking it loaded down with his bag. The area appeared less wild and the houses closer together. There were still plenty of open spaces between them, and Cory noticed the wooded areas in the distance.

  As he drove, Alec chatted with Teddy but didn't get any sort of reply. Cory turned to look at Teddy. He was staring out the window but got self-conscious when he saw Cory watching him.

  "You guys have to show me all the good places around here," Cory told him.

  "The first place isn't so great. It's Thompson's Diner. But we like it OK, right?" Alec said.

  Teddy's expression was noncommittal.

  "As long as they have fries, I'll like it," Cory said to him.

  Teddy seemed to agree on the subject of fries. Cory felt almost like they were playing a game. What's Teddy Thinking? His eyes were the biggest clue. Though he was shy, the expression in his eyes was open and untroubled. Looking at him didn't make Cory worry, and he considered that a good sign. Alec's demeanor also reassured him. He was very casual with Teddy. His manner said loud and clear that Teddy was OK. That was a huge relief to Cory. On the ride to Seaview Pines, he had been afraid that the little brother waiting for him might be a tiny bird with broken wings. But his wings weren't broken. Though he might not be ready yet, Teddy seemed whole and just waiting for the right moment to fly.

  Cory was getting his second look at the town now as they parked in front of the diner. Most of the buildings were clustered around Main Street. None of them were more than two stories. The Town Hall was the most impressive of them. It had a facade that rose to a clock tower.

  "So Main Street, that's a real thing," Cory concluded.

  "There are almost as many Main Streets as there are small towns. That used to be Benchley Square," Alec said and pointed at the very center of town where the Town Hall was located. "It was named after one of my ancestors who died in WWI. Then around WWII, they renamed it Hero's Square after all the local heroes who served in different wars. There are plaques that list their names. We read all of them, didn't we?" Alec said, turning to Teddy.

  Teddy looked proud of this accomplishment. As Cory looked from one end of town to the other, he wondered what it was like to live here. You couldn't exactly get lost in a place like this. You could walk it from end to end in minutes and get to know it in an hour. The place was all familiarity and no excitement, except for Alec. Cory couldn't imagine how a small town like this could contain a guy like him. On the other hand maybe it wasn't a bad place for a kid like Teddy whose life had too many uncertainties already.

  Thompson's Diner fit right into the "nothing to see here" theme of the town. It had a plain white front with big windows, and it was as bland inside as it was outside. Beige vinyl seats and beige, mottled tables were lined up next to the windows. The counter had a chrome edge, dulled by scratches. Faded pictures were on the walls. Leading the way to a booth in the middle, Alec waved to a few people who waved at him. As he walked between Alec and Cory, Teddy kept his head down.

  Alec and Cory slid into the booth across from each other and let Teddy decide where he wanted to sit. He sat next to Alec. Cory tried not to be disappointed. At least he had a good view of Teddy. As he and Alec looked over the menus, Teddy's stood open in front of him but untouched. Cory wondered about his eating habits.

  "How do you know what Teddy likes to eat?" Cory wondered.

  "A hamburger is a safe bet," Alec said. "If I'm feeling adventurous, I go with trial and error. If I order the wrong thing, and he leaves most of it on the plate, I know not to order it next time. That's what happened when I ordered him chili. And I agree with him about the chili."

  "I'll stay away from it," Cory said. Seeing Teddy peering at him, Cory smiled. Teddy quickly looked down at the menu.

  "I'm having the roasted chicken," Alec announced then looked over at Teddy. "Do you want the hamburger again? We'll ask Rosa to tell them to leave off the onions so you don't have to pick them off."

  Teddy looked somewhat interested but not thrilled so Cory had a go.

  "Maybe he wants to mix it up today," Cory said and he leaned the menu toward Teddy. "Let's see. I'm looking at these chicken fingers like they have my name on them." Cory watched Teddy's face. He had the impression that Teddy was up for some chicken fingers when his eyes widened slightly. "That's it. Teddy is having the chicken fingers," Cory decided. "And I'm having them too."

  "So it's chicken all around," Alec said, closing his menu with a plasticky snap.

  After a second's hesitation, Teddy closed his menu the same way.

  "Do mine too," Cory said handing him his menu.

  "I guess you're ready to order," a pretty, young waitress said as she came up to their table. "Hi, cutie," she said to Teddy,
who blushed.

  "Right back at you," Alec said, winking at the petite brunette, who was about Cory's age.

  "You know I was talking to Teddy. And maybe your new friend a little bit too," she said smiling down at Cory.

  He hoped he wasn't blushing.

  "Sorry, he's one of mine," Alec said.

  Cory looked at him in surprise. That meant that Alec was gay, that he was out, and that he knew Cory was gay too.

  "Did you just out me?" Cory asked after Rosa left with their order.

  "Sitting across from me pretty much outs you," Alec said.

  "Am I that obvious?" Cory wondered more to himself than to get an answer out of Alec.

  "Only for about a second," Alec said significantly. He leaned toward Cory. "When you first laid eyes on me, it was written all over your face. But you recovered nicely. If I had blinked, I would have missed it," Alec said as he leaned back with a grin.

  "Yes, I find arrogance very attractive," Cory told him. There was no hope in hell that he wasn't blushing now.

  As he stewed under Alec's confident grin, Cory saw Teddy looking between them in confusion.

  "Do you think Alec is handsome?" Cory asked him.

  Teddy looked over at Alec with even more confusion. As he contemplated Alec, his expression turned almost grim.

  "Damn," Alec said. He sighed then explained to Cory. "That's the same look he had on his face when he was tasting the chili and picking off the onions." Glancing from Cory to Teddy, Alec asked, "Is Cory good-looking?"

  While he considered Cory, Teddy looked thoughtful but not as bad as the chili look.

  "What was that one?" Cory wanted to know.

  "Pork chop. It was a little dry, but at least he ate it. Lots of ketchup was involved," Alec said, smiling at Teddy.

  When Cory smiled at him too, Teddy lowered his head shyly. Cory kept looking at him until Teddy peeked at him. He quickly lowered his head again, but Cory could swear that he was trying not to smile.

  Rosa brought their orders and Teddy's arrived with a small salad but Cory's didn't. Alec explained about that.

  "That's Teddy's special salad. No onions, no cucumbers. Rosa knows to bring it with every order. Dr. Wheeler said to feed him fruits and veggies and give him gummy vitamins. Right?" Alec asked Teddy.

  Teddy didn't look happy to see the salad, but he ate it anyway. Cory remembered that Alec said how Teddy was a little malnourished. He was happy to see that Alec was making sure to feed him some healthy food too. Cory made a note to himself to do the same and resist fried food so he could set a good example. For Teddy, he would give up fried food completely if he had to.

  Cory did his best not to watch Alec as he ate. It was really inconvenient that he was so sexy. Plus he had that attitude that said, "I'm a great fuck and ready to prove it." Why couldn't he be some pudgy, balding guy instead of looking like he was built from Cory's fantasies.

  While Cory worried about keeping his lust under control, Alec had paid the bill. Though he didn't have much money, Cory was going to offer to pay. From his look, Alec knew what he was thinking.

  "Next time," he told him. He totally didn't mean it.

  Cory thanked him.

  "We should stop by Mom's office before she decides to hunt us down," Alec said as they left the diner.

  They walked up the street to Town Hall. Stopping in front, all three of them looked up at the clock tower.

  "It's always ten minutes fast," Alec said of the clock. "Mom claims that makes us a town of the future. She can spin anything."

  Inside, the Town Hall was pretty modest but with some interesting paintings on the walls. Cory barely glanced at them. He was a little apprehensive about meeting Alec's mother, the mayor, and Teddy's benefactor. He hoped she would be OK with him staying at the house.

  The mayor's assistant, a tall redhead, stepped out from behind her desk to greet them. She was almost as tall as Alec. As she gave Alec a kiss on the cheek, he introduced her as Nancy, a high school friend, his mother's hired assassin and all around henchwoman.

  "When I start assassinating people, you'll be first on the list," she told him. She turned a friendlier expression to Cory and welcomed him to Seaview Pines.

  She poked her head into the mayor's office. After she whispered a few words, Nancy came over to them. "She'll be with you soon. She's on the phone. A few things came up that's why she couldn't meet you," she said to Cory.

  As he focused on staying calm so he would make a good impression, Cory noticed Teddy gazing up at a painting.

  "That's her," Alec said of the painting of the woman in a red suit. "She looks positively regal."

  "Yes, I do," a woman said from behind them. "I was born to wear a power suit."

  "Definitely not an apron. Can't cook worth a damn," Alec said as he kissed his mother on the cheek.

  The mayor had carefully styled, reddish brown hair and a full figure that looked good in a gray suit. Her eyes were a soft brown, warning Alec to behave. He resembled her only a little. Turning away from her son's teasing, Alec's mother faced Cory. Her look softened instantly.

  "I heard the population of Seaview Pines just went up by one." She smiled at Cory with tears in her eyes. "I'm so happy you're here," she said and hugged him.

  Alec signaled to her from behind Teddy to warn her that Teddy didn't know who Cory was yet.

  "We went to lunch and we're going to walk around a little," Alec told her.

  "Wish I could go with you," the mayor said and leaned down toward Teddy. "Make sure Alec doesn't get into any trouble." As Teddy nodded, she cupped his cheek, and he looked up at her.

  Cory could tell that he liked her. If she was the way she seemed to Cory, he wasn't surprised.

  When they left, the mayor gazed after them with a smile. A little confused, Cory looked at Alec, but his mother probably wasn't a surprise to him. Cory hadn't expected her to be so casual and motherly or so welcoming. Instead of the questioning he expected, Cory had gotten a warm hug. He was glad that someone like that had taken Teddy into her home.

  Having a mother like that probably explained why Alec was so easygoing. Cory observed him, but he wasn't noticing his character at the moment. Cory's eyes were traveling down Alec's strong arms to his long fingers. Those fingers must know their way around a man's body, in and out. Cory let his eyes wander down Alec's legs in jeans as he took long strides leading them to the edge of town and beyond. Snapping out of his admiring trance, Cory realized that he didn't know where they were headed.

  "I thought you were going to show me the town," Cory said seeing that they were leaving town but going in the opposite direction from the mayor's house. They walked next to fenced in fields and then turned into the woods.

  "The town can wait. I'm going to show you a special spot," Alec said.

  Teddy seemed to be happy that they were going on an adventure. He was more lively here than he had been in town. There, his head had been lowered whenever people were around. Cory didn't really blame him. People did stare. They showed friendly interest in Teddy as well as Cory, the newcomer. Even if it was friendly, Cory was a little uncomfortable with the attention so it was no wonder Teddy was too. Now Teddy held his head up and looked all around. In particular he tried to catch sight of birds they could hear twittering in the trees.

  As the wood became its thickest, Teddy stopped looking all around and only stared ahead. He seemed excited. Now Cory could hear faint sounds of water rushing. In that direction, Cory glimpsed some big rocks through the trees. With Alec leading the way down a vague path, they came out from among the trees to a stone ledge that came up to their shoulders. Looking up and down, Cory saw that they were at its lowest point. Further on in both directions, it towered above their heads. Alec pulled himself up onto the ledge easily. Teddy looked up at him worriedly.

  "Cory will hand you up to me," Alec told him. "When we came here before, I improvised a harness to get Teddy up here."

  Teddy turned to Cory shyly. Cory picked him up, surprise
d at how light he was. Holding him, he felt like his heart would burst. For now, he focused on handing him up to Alec safely. Once Alec had him up on the ledge, Teddy looked down at Cory worriedly, like he was wondering who would help him up. Determined not to embarrass himself in front of his little brother, Cory took a deep breath. Hoisting himself up the same way Alec did, he only managed to clear the edge when Alec gave him a hand at the last minute.

  "Not a perfect score," Cory said as he stood up, but Teddy looked pleased that they all made it up there. From his perspective, it probably looked impossibly high.

  Cory looked around and just took a moment to absorb what he was looking at. The stone ledge they were standing on was part of a group of large boulders that encircled a pool of water. Two outcroppings of rock came together enclosing the place. The ledge was part of one of them. The other huge rock had an opening at its base. The low cave was where the water was coming from. It flowed out and filled the stone pool. On the other side, the rocks parted and a patch of ground and trees could be seen. Beyond it, Cory could see a thick forest.

  "You are looking at geology in action," Alec announced.

  From the edge, Cory looked down into the water. It flowed smoothly then swirled when it hit the other end of the stone basin. Alec continued with his explanation.

  "An underground river surfaces here then it goes back underground. It resurfaces again miles away, but this spot is its masterpiece. The softer stone got eroded leaving this space. The water is pretty cold though. Even when it's scorching hot, this spot will freeze your nuts off."

  "Shouldn't you censor yourself?" Cory said, nodding toward Teddy.