by T V Hartwell
Kirby walked straight up to the front of the line. “Hi. I’m here for my friend’s birthday party. I believe there’s a space reserved.”
“What’s the party’s name?”
“The party’s for Jake Doyle.”
The attendant looked down at her clipboard and then back up at him. “Yep. You’re at the right place. They have the billiard room and part of the back patio. Have you been here before?”
“Yes, I have. I know my way around. Thanks,” Kirby said, proceeding to go inside.
Kirby surveyed the room, checking out the scene as he squeezed past people to make his way to the billiard room. As he did so, a couple of girls tried to make eye contact with him and hold his attention when his hard, muscular flesh pressed up against theirs. Kirby toyed with them by glancing back and grinning, but he kept moving. As he approached the open doorway of the billiard room, he could see a group standing around with their backs to him, singing “Happy Birthday.”
They were just finishing the song when Kirby stepped into the room. He stood at the back, looked over shoulders, and watched Jake blow out the candles on his cake. After he did so, everyone cheered and applauded. Kirby discreetly applauded, too, not quite ready to draw attention to himself.
“Speech, speech,” different people shouted at Jake as he glanced up at them with a broad smile across his face.
Looking bashful, Jake blushed and laughed. “Speech? Oh, come on. Just have another drink and get smashed. The next round’s on me.”
The room cheered and people chattered loudly in response to the gesture, seeming pleased, but then Jake continued to talk.
Kirby kept his head bowed and stood behind a couple of guys tall enough to shield him from Jake’s view.
“No, seriously—”
“Whaaa… You weren’t being serious about the drinks?” one of Jake’s friends shouted playfully.
Jake chuckled. “I wasn’t being serious only about you. Everyone else’s drink I’m paying for,” Jake said to roars of “Ohhh!” and then laughter at the guy, a fraternity brother of Jake’s.
Jake continued, “Anyway, as I was saying, thank you all for coming. It means a lot to me that you all came. As you know, this past year ended on somewhat of a sour note for me personally. Although it was my decision to end my engagement, it was still a very difficult thing to do, and I feel bad that friendships on both sides have been broken as a result. But you guys have stuck with me, supported me, and tried to encourage me, each in your own way, through a difficult time, and I want you to know how much I appreciate the messages, the phone calls, the late night conversations over a beer or two—”
“Or three…or four…or five,” Will interjected comically to laughs around the room.
Jake giggled at himself and continued. “Yes, and getting wasted with me and allowing me to crash on your sofa as I self-medicated myself back to recovery and some degree of sanity. I’ve known most of you since college and some of you since middle school, even. I can’t think of anyone not already in this room who has been a better friend to me than each of you.”
At that remark, Kirby lifted his head. “Really?” he said under his breath, and then he stepped away from the two guys he was standing behind and moved over to his right so that he and Jake were in each other’s direct line of sight.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better group of—” Jake’s heart skipped, and he paused midsentence when he spotted Kirby standing at the back of the room.
Kirby folded his arms and glared hard when Jake’s eyes met his.
Everyone in the room turned around to see who or what Jake was staring at.
“Oh. It’s Kirby,” a voice from the group said.
“Oh shit,” Pax said in a low voice.
“Hey, Kirby,” someone else said cheerily.
Kirby nodded his head and sported a restrained grin in reply.
But before Jake lost control of the room, he squared his eyes back on Kirby, tightened his jaw, and quickly regained his composure. He raised the level of his voice to redirect everyone’s attention back to him. “As I was saying, I couldn’t have asked for a better group of friends, and I wanted to make sure that all of you whom I actually invited here tonight knew how much your friendship means to me.”
“Ahhh,” some of the girls and guys both sang in a sentimental but playful fashion before applause broke out around the room.
Immediately afterward, Pax beelined over to Kirby and slap-grabbed hands with him. “What’s up, man? What are you doing here?
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m crashing the party. And thanks for the tip, homey.”
Panic crossed Pax’s face. “Don’t tell Jake I told you about the party. He’ll kill me.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Kirby said nonchalantly as another friend approached to greet him.
Although annoyed that Kirby showed up unannounced and uninvited, Jake tried to play it cool. He proceeded to cut his cake and hand slices out to his guests.
Kirby approached Jake from behind and lifted his index finger to his mouth, signaling to those standing around that he wanted to sneak up on him.
Jake bent over slightly to cut another slice of cake. When he rose to hand it to the next person waiting for a piece, he bumped into Kirby, who was standing directly behind him.
Those standing around giggled uncomfortably when they witnessed Jake’s response to the collision—tense and cold. Jake didn’t even say hello. He ignored Kirby as he acknowledged and handed the slice of cake to another person standing nearby.
“Oh, so you’re still not going to talk to me?” Kirby said in a firm voice.
Jake took a deep breath and then turned around to face Kirby. He spoke in a low voice. “Why are you here?”
“Because you won’t return any of my calls and messages, and I need to talk to you.”
“There’s nothing more for us to talk about, Kirby. Now, will you please leave and not cause a scene?” Jake turned to cut another slice of cake.
“Jake,” Kirby said, firmly grabbing Jake by the arm, “I need to have a word with you.”
Growing visibly angry, Jake flinched and then turned to look at Kirby. “Speak to me about what?”
“About Reggie, that’s what,” Kirby deadpanned. He needed to say no more. The confident, cold-blooded expression on his face said it all.
Jake glared at Kirby in silence for a moment. Kirby glared back.
“Are you guys all right?” Will came up to them and said, but neither answered.
“Do you want to have this conversation right here, right now…in front of all these people? Because if you do, I’m down with that,” Kirby said, not caring that those standing around could hear him loud and clear.
Jake sighed hard and shook his head in annoyance before turning to place the cake knife down on the table. Without saying anything, he calmly walked out of the room, toward the bathroom. Kirby followed behind him.
Jake shoved the restroom door open hard and, upon seeing that the room appeared empty, he turned to face Kirby and unleashed. “How dare you fucking come here, to my fucking birthday party, uninvited, and make a scene. What the fuck are you doing?”
Kirby scratched his head and furrowed his brow for emphasis. “You know, it’s funny. That’s the exact same question I wanted to ask you. What the fuck are you doing…with Reggie?”
Jake didn’t answer at first. “I don’t want to talk about this,” he finally said.
“Well, I do,” Kirby said, but right at the moment a couple of bar patrons entered the restroom.
“Will you just leave?”
“No. We need to talk.”
“Not right now,” Jake said as he walked out of the restroom.
Kirby followed behind and then grabbed Jake by the arm to turn him around to face him. “Then when?”
“Not here.”
“Okay, then where? I’ll meet you. When will you be leaving the party?”
“I don’t know. We might go somep
lace else afterward. Just leave, Kirby. Okay?”
“I’m not leaving until you agree to meet with me. Later tonight, tomorrow, I don’t care. But I’m not going to let you off the hook about this.”
Jake sighed hard. “Okay, fine. I can meet you tomorrow around eleven, but then I have to leave to go meet up with my family. They’re taking me to brunch for my birthday.”
“That’s fine. I’ll meet you at your place.”
“Do you even know where I live now?”
“I have a way of finding things out. I’ll show up at your door tomorrow morning at eleven a.m. sharp.” Just before Kirby stepped away to go, he pointed his finger in Jake’s face. “Don’t stand me up, Jake, because if you do, I’m going to start telling people the real reason why we’re not friends anymore. Tell them the truth. I’m not protecting you anymore. Not after this. Not after what you’ve done while passing judgment on me and treating me like shit.”
Chapter Thirteen
Jake lay in bed the following morning, anticipating the confrontation that would ensue with Kirby within a couple of hours. He contemplated what he’d say to Kirby about his liaisons with Reggie. Although he’d hooked up with Reggie a couple of times, Jake had since blown him off. Jake reckoned that his withdrawal from Kirby—which had engendered a sense of longing, reminiscence, and sadness about their lost friendship—drove him to Reggie. However, he felt that slowly but surely he was overcoming his urge for connection and intimacy with Kirby the longer he kept him away. Besides, despite hooking up with Reggie, Jake had had far more hookups with different girls since his breakup with Amanda combined with his extended causal dating relationship Julie. Therefore, Jake convinced himself to believe that as far as his sexuality was concerned, he was straight—or at least, straight enough. He now just needed to convince Kirby of the same thing and push him away for good.
Jake eventually got out of bed, showered, and dressed. However, as the hour of Kirby’s arrival drew near, Jake grew increasingly anxious and agitated. The more he thought about what had transpired the night before at The Cottage, the angrier Jake became, especially about the threat Kirby made about outing him to their friends. Jake started talking aloud to himself as if Kirby were in the room with him. “This is my fucking life, Kirby. I don’t have to answer to you or explain myself to you. I can do whatever the fuck I please. Lay off me, okay? I don’t want you in life my life anymore. I hate you,” Jake shouted as if he was looking at Kirby directly in the face but then his voice broke, and tears formed in his eyes. The uttering of such words even in an imaginary conversation was too painful. In that moment, Jake felt hate. He felt anger. But he also felt hurt because deep down he felt love, love that he couldn’t fully suppress for his friend.
Jake plopped himself down on the sofa and buried his face in his hands. He tried to settle himself down and clear his mind of the conflicting thoughts and feelings that ran through it, but time was up. The moment of truth had arrived when, at eleven a.m. sharp, his phone rang and Kirby’s name appeared across his caller ID.
“Hello.”
“Hey. It’s me. I’m outside your building.”
“I’m on the fourth floor. Number four-zero-eight,” Jake said before buzzing Kirby in.
Jake took a few deep breaths and paced back and forth in his apartment until he heard Kirby’s knock at the door. When Jake opened the door to let Kirby in, he didn’t say anything at first. Neither did Kirby. They just glared at each as if picking up exactly where they had left off the night before.
While Jake held the door open, Kirby walked in and lightly brushed him with his shoulder. Jake took it as provocation. He quickly slammed the door shut and got in Kirby’s face. I’m not afraid of you, Jake thought but said with his body language.
Kirby stepped in closer so that he and Jake were nose to nose and eye to eye. His adrenaline racing, Kirby was so intense and filled with anger that his nostrils flared with each breath. “So now you’re ready to give up your booty, huh? What…I wasn’t good enough for you? Are you a size queen now? Was I too small for you? Huh? You like being Reggie’s BITCH?” Kirby yelled and then pressed the tip of his nose to Jake’s to underscore his ire.
Feeling challenged by Kirby’s aggressive stance, Jake wasn’t about to back down. He rode with it and decided to take a shot at Kirby’s pride and ego. “Yeah, I liked it,” Jake sneered. “He could teach you a thing or two. I didn’t realize what I’d been missing. And yeah, he’s bigger than you. Better than that limp-ass ding-a-ling of yours.”
“Is that right?” Kirby smirked. Just as Jake attempted to turn away from him, Kirby used both his hands to grab Jake at the collar of his T-shirt and yanked him hard so that they were face-to-face again. “You sucked on my cock like a champ for more than ten years. Never heard you complain before.”
“Well, I’m not sucking on it anymore. Now get your motherfucking hands off me,” Jake said as he struggled to pull himself loose from Kirby’s grip. “Get off me. Get off me,” Jake yelled as Kirby swung Jake around to push him against the front door.
“So you like being a bitch, huh?” Kirby said and then licked the tip of Jake’s nose to taunt him. “See. I knew it. I always knew you wanted dick. That’s the real motherfuckin’ reason you broke up with Amanda—because you wanted more dick but didn’t have the guts to admit to it. I bet you were fooling around, sucking dick behind my back, the whole time.”
“Fuck you,” Jake said while still trying to push Kirby off him, but he was overpowered.
Kirby slammed Jake back up against the door. “No. Fuck you, bitch. Dogging me out for messing with other guys while you were doing the same damn thing.”
Jake hadn’t been, but this was not the time for a sensible, rational conversation. This was a fight, and Jake didn’t feel the need to prove Kirby wrong or provide him an explanation for his hookups with Reggie. In fact, Jake reveled in telling Kirby that Reggie was a better lover than him because he knew that would hurt him. And in that moment, Jake wanted Kirby to feel the same hurt he felt when he’d first learned that Kirby had secretly maintained a sexual relationship with Antonio. Jake had never admitted to Kirby his hurt and jealousy over Antonio, but the sense of payback felt good nonetheless.
“Think whatever you want to think, man. I don’t give a fuck. Now get off me and get the fuck out of my house. Meeting with you is pointless,” Jake said, still wrestling to break free.
“I know you don’t give a fuck. You’re a cock-sucking bitch and proud of it. Aren’t you?” Kirby said before taunting Jake again, licking the tip of his nose and then kissing it. Kirby went to kiss Jake on the lips next, but Jake turned his face away. Kirby used his right hand to hold Jake’s face at the jaw and then he kissed Jake hard, pressing his thick tongue to Jake’s lips to push through his mouth.
At first Jake grabbed Kirby’s wrist to pry loose his hand from his jaw and managed to turn his face away again, momentarily stopping the kiss. However, Kirby turned Jake’s face back and pressed his lips hard to Jake’s, attempting to push his tongue through Jake’s lips again.
Jake wanted to resist Kirby. He wanted to hurt him, physically and emotionally, but Kirby’s touch, although aggressive and taunting, triggered a lustful urge in him. He allowed himself to succumb to it, if just for a fleeting moment. Jake kissed Kirby back, opening his mouth to welcome Kirby’s tongue. Savoring its taste once again, Jake licked back wildly. The connection brought about a stiff hard-on immediately. However, as he found himself slipping under Kirby’s spell, Jake abruptly stopped and pulled his head back as if coming to his senses again. “Get off me. Get off me,” he yelled, resuming his attempt to push Kirby away.
“You know you want this. Admit it. Why are you still fighting it?” Kirby said before pressing his lips to Jake’s again.
With his defenses weakening against the sensual forces rising up from within and overtaking his body and mind, Jake kissed Kirby back. Their tongues collided and tangled hungrily with a sense of longing and desperation but
also with a hint of aggression and combat. They weren’t making or showing love but instead channeling their rage and anger toward one another through the release of pent-up sexual frustration and energy.
Kirby reached down to grab Jake’s ass, hard, pulling him forward so that their bodies were pressed together. Although Jake continued to kiss back, he didn’t want to wrap his arms around Kirby. That seemed too affectionate and conciliatory, and this wasn’t about reconciliation. So he grabbed Kirby’s arms in a futile attempt to pull his hands away from his ass. Even though his boner was throbbing and eager to burst from his shorts, Jake still wanted to put up a fight and show resistance. However, the longer Kirby had his thick, juicy, delicious pink tongue buried deep in his mouth, the more overwhelmed Jake became by the sensations of lust and desire permeating his body.
Within moments, Jake stopped trying to pull Kirby’s arms away and simply held on while Kirby slipped his hands underneath Jake’s shorts and underwear to feel the hard, round, muscular flesh of his buttocks. Kirby grabbed and squeezed Jake’s butt-cheeks tightly before using the middle finger of his left hand to tease Jake’s hole.
Jake pulled his head back to break their lip lock. “You still want that, don’t you?” he said in a taunting, provocative way.
Kirby looked at Jake squarely in the eye and answered back in an equally taunting and provocative way, “I own you. You’re always gonna be my bitch.”
Not liking the sound of that, Jake slapped his open hand to Kirby’s face to push it away in disgust. “Fuck you. I’m not your bitch and never will be.”
Kirby stumbled backward slightly as Jake moved to step away from him.
Kirby swung his left arm to slap Jake back, but Jake ducked fast enough so that Kirby barely swiped his chin. “You motherfucker,” Kirby yelled as he leaped to tackle Jake. Jake held out his arms to prevent Kirby from pulling him down. They tussled momentarily, using their arms to push and pull each other around. Kirby tried to swing Jake down to the floor while Jake tried to break loose from Kirby’s grip. After a few moments, Jake broke free and then began swinging violently at Kirby with his fists.
