Sex in the Sky

Love can bridge any boundary.

Tommy

Growing up with divorced parents wasn’t easy. Knowing your parents separated because your dad was gay was harder. Spending most of your young life watching your dad suffer silently over the fact he had no one in his life was the worst. For a while my sister and I had blamed ourselves for Dad’s lack of a partner; we thought he was staying single to protect us from “gay life”. When I was eleven, Dad met Josh and things got a lot better. I admit I had a crush on Josh at first. I didn’t understand it at the time; I hadn’t realized I was gay too. It wasn’t until I was thirteen that I figured that out. Having Dad and Josh as examples of what gay men could be was a big help. They weren’t swishy, effeminate or immoral. They were masculine, strong, honorable, loving, monogamous men. The hard part of figuring out I was gay was that I realized I was in love with my best friend.

Sometimes the simplest things are the most important.

I sighed as I saw the signs for Morrisville. My home town, the place I had struggled to escape over fifteen years ago; now I was coming back with my head hung low and my tail between my legs. It was humbling and humiliating. I had left when I was eighteen and never looked back. I wanted a career, I wanted a life, and I wanted love. I’d gotten the career, I’d had a life, and I thought I’d had love. I’d been wrong.

My company started the cut backs at the beginning of the year. They hit different departments, pruning the dead wood and scaling back over the course of the year. I had thought I was secure; I’d thought I was invaluable; I thought wrong. My loyalty had been appreciated and I was most regretfully given the boot, but the boot came nonetheless. At least they’d given me a good severance package and my skills were in demand.

An accused killer speaks.

“Maybe I’d better do this alone.”

Dillon paused, his key poised in the Lumina’s ignition. “No way, Jamie. Ash more or less tried to ram his cock down your throat the last time. What’s he gonna do for an encore, strip you down and rape you?”

“Yeah, well, he was drunk last time, too.”

“Who’s to say he won’t be drinking this time?”

Dillon had a point, but Jamie wasn’t about to tell him so. Besides, he had to make sure of one thing before giving in. “You’re not gonna jump on the guy and start pounding him the minute we walk in are you?”

Commanding officer teaches a captain what men can do.

I sat at my desk, working on paperwork in my office at battalion headquarters. I turned pages but couldn’t remember a word I had read. “A week. I’ve been a cum-slut for a whole fucking week.” I bit my lip.

“One week ago I was a proud US Army officer, standing tall, bowing to no man. I had come up through the ranks to the silver oak leaves of a lieutenant colonel. At 50, I reached battalion commander, proud of my achievements, proud of my memories of combat, CIA missions, even a Purple Heart. I looked forward to retirement and an easy life in only six more months.” But my life had done one motherfucker of an About-Face.

The continuing saga.

The drills had been run several times, at various times of day. Once clear of the base’s gates, it would take the driver approximately thirty minutes to reach the cove where the modified seaplane was kept. Losing a man hadn’t been part of the plan. Captain McNeely was a crack shot, that hadn’t been in his file. Paul Johansen slapped his hand against the van’s dash, letting the frustration and fury loose for a moment. Then, as he was trained, he put it away. The temporary glitch forced him to compromise. With one of their own men dead, there was no choice but to bring Masterson along. The original plan called for his disposal. That changed.

Someone makes a confession.

Even though Brandon had seen pictures of Wilson, the image he”d built of him in his mind was of a man with almost super-human abilities, able to blend in anywhere at any time. A chameleon capable of wreaking havoc and destruction of mammoth proportions. He”d inflated Wilson, made him into some type of mythological phantom. Now he saw him for exactly what he was: a corpse. Death, the great equalizer.

The Sunshine Motel didn”t exactly live up to its name, but had the room not been crawling with Howard”s men, it wouldn”t have been half bad. The single bed and double dresser looked new, and the floral wallpaper gave the place a homey touch. The carpet was clean, and the sheets probably had been, too, before Wilson decided to die on them. A table beside the bed held a bottle of whiskey and an empty glass.