Chapter Fifteen
Bailey
I fell asleep in my shitty apartment on my horrible mattress after talking to Jagger, who was dog-sitting. He sent me pictures of Dixie, the Sparks Bail Bonds mascot, and I could tell he was in love with the dog. Hell, I wouldn’t mind a dog.
“Yeah, she’s a real sweetheart. I’d kidnap her, but I’m afraid Monty would beat my ass.
He loves that dog as much as he loves Sparky.
I guess I’d think more seriously about getting a dog if I didn’t have to go out of town so often for work.
” Jagger was baiting me, and I took it hook, line, and sinker.
I said, “What if you had a buddy to watch the dog when you had to travel, would you think about it more seriously?”
I loved his playful tone when he mentioned getting a dog. There was nothing about that man that I didn’t love. I just needed to tell him when I was back in Vegas.
Jagger laughed. “A buddy, huh? Well, that’s something to take into consideration.”
I smirked at the memory. I wanted that man to be so much more than a buddy, and I was getting the impression Jagger wanted it too. I needed to get my ass back to Vegas.
There was a loud knock on the door of my shitty apartment, so I got up and pulled on some sweats, having slept naked because underwear and pajama pants confined my dick and made me restless.
I ambled toward the front door, opening it to find Thomas with a bag in his hand. “Peace offering.”
Of course he’d try to make up with me. Guilt was an overpowering emotion for Thomas. No doubt, he’d already made up with Lindsey.
“Come inside and forgive the mess. I’m giving up the apartment and moving to Las Vegas. I didn’t come back here only to give you shit. I also came to get my shit, but I wanted to make sure you’re okay, Tommy.”
“Wow! I guess I didn’t consider you’d move to Vegas. Did you find Danny Bolls? How’s Boyd?”
The last question was what my brother really wanted to know more than anything. It was easy to see Thomas still loved Boyd, even though all signs pointed to Boyd’s involvement in the blackmail threat. Was it because of Lindsey and her desire for a baby?
“Boyd is fine…maybe more than a little heartbroken, but you didn’t hear it from me. What the fuck was going on with you and Lindsey last night, Thomas?”
I wanted my brother to thrive and climb to the top of the mountain, but he was in a lane where there were no lights or road signs to guide him.
I believed he was still following our father’s example, and I just didn’t see how he could win and be happy.
He had to pick one or the other. “Thomas, talk to me.”
“I’m a fool, Bailey. In the back of my mind, I believed I could have Lindsey and Boyd. I thought after that night we spent together, the three of us could make a life together. Why was I so stupid?”
He wanted me to reassure him. With the shit he’d told me about Lindsey, I had the idea of something happening behind the scenes my brother hadn’t considered.
Chuckling, I went to the kitchen cabinet to get plates for the donuts and mugs for the coffee that I hadn’t packed yet.
I also grabbed a bottle of cognac before I returned to the living room.
I placed the mugs on my shitty coffee table, poured a shot of cognac in each mug, and picked up the paper cups he’d brought.
“It’s early for me, Bailey.” It was Thomas’s way of protesting, which made me smile.
“Not for what I’m planning to tell you.” I dumped the coffee into the mugs and sat in my shitty recliner that I planned to donate.
I’d bought it at a secondhand furniture store, and it had served me for the time I’d been in Carson City.
It was time to let it go. Besides, it wouldn’t fit into the rental.
Thomas sat forward on the shitty side chair. “What? What do you know?”
“Know? Nothing concrete. Tell me about the million bucks Mom sent you.”
My brother’s face tensed as he studied me. He had no idea that I knew what Mom had done for him.
“What? You don’t think I know about the money, Tommy?
You put together a million bucks in a matter of minutes before you rushed out of the mansion after that blackmail text.
Do you always have that much money lying around?
I suspect not. When I asked Beatrice, she confessed that she was trying to build your war chest before you started your reelection campaign. ”
Thomas’s face flamed a bright pink. “Fuck you, Bailey.”
I took a swig of my spiked coffee drink and studied Thomas. “Why did you let Mom send you that money? Aren’t you supposed to have small donors?”
“I can loan money to my campaign, but I didn’t ask Mom for the money, Bailey. You have to believe me. I’d never ask Mom for anything.” The tremble in his voice made me suspicious.
“Who did ask Mom for the money?” I didn’t have to guess. I had a feeling.
Thomas stood from the shitty chair to pace.
“You don’t understand, Bailey. There’s a lot of pressure on Lindsey as First Lady of the state.
She needs to pick a cause, and it’s never anything that can be accomplished in four years, but neither can my agenda.
We both need this second term so we can have accomplishments to take into our future and use those accomplishments to run for higher offices. ”
I shook my head. “Wow. The General really fucked with you, didn’t he?”
“What do you mean?” My brother’s expression was trying to cover up the hurt he felt because of our father. It broke my heart.
“You want that picture perfect… You want to be a familial dynasty, don’t you?
You want everyone to believe we’re one of those political families who are so fucking proper that generations to come will admire us and believe we led a storybook life.
What is wrong with you, Thomas? You know that’s not true at all. ”
He spun on me. “I fucking want the General to be proud of me, Bailey. He’s gone, and while he was alive, he was always proud of you because you went into the military and became larger than life because of the letters you wrote to Mom, you fucker. I never had that! I wasn’t as important as you.”
Seeing the tears on my brother’s cheeks brought me to a halt. I’d had no idea my brother didn’t know how much our father had admired him.
“You’re crazy, Tommy. Father was proud of your accomplishments. He knew you’d do great things, and hell, look how much you’ve done for Nevada. The only thing I had going for me was that I could follow orders and shoot straight. I was a good soldier.
“You were the future Father wanted for our family. He knew you would carry on the family tradition of political excellence. I was a grunt in the Army, Thomas. I think we can agree that we’ve both lived up to whatever the fuck the General thought was important.
“Let’s talk about what’s going on with you. You fell in love with Boyd, am I right?” We needed to get to the heart of the matter.
Thomas sat on the floor of my shitty apartment in his fancy Hugo Boss pinstripe suit, and I’d never seen him look so devastated. He was spectacular in his enthusiasm as the governor of the fine state of Nevada. Seeing him so defeated brought pain to my chest.
“God help me, but I did. I know he’d never be good for my career, but he got to me, Bailey. He knew me better than anyone. He listened when nobody else did, and he gave me the support I needed when it felt as if I had none.”
I blew up because my feelings…were hurt. “When did you have no support? Give me a fucking break, Tommy.” I’d supported my little brother his whole life. He had no right to say he had nobody in his corner.
“You were just gone one morning without a word to me after we graduated! Father compared me to you at every turn and reminded me that you were going to make something of yourself in the Army. You have no idea, Bailey, how much pressure I felt as I started undergrad at Penn State, and then law school at UPenn. You were rising in the ranks, and I was fighting to make the dean’s list.
“I wouldn’t have married Lindsey if Father hadn’t pushed me to do it. He said she was a smart woman from a good family. I knew her family, and they’d always been nice to me.
“I never came out to him like you did. He would never have accepted that both his sons were gay, so when you came out, I was forced to be the straight son. It was all on me to produce an heir to carry on the Gregory name.”
My mind immediately went back to the night our father caught me sneaking a guy out of the house after we fucked in my bedroom. I’d never seen him speechless!
I’d been home in Philly on leave before my first six-month deployment to South Korea. I’d wanted to play some poker and let off some steam before leaving the country, so I went to a casino not far from my parents’ house.
At the time, Father was teaching at the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, south of Philadelphia. Mom was busy with the Dawson Foundation that had been established by her parents, so Father usually didn’t come home on weekends.
Of course the weekend I was there, he decided to come home so he could see me before I left. That thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.
“Bailey? You still awake?” My father’s voice boomed down the hallway leading to my bedroom.
I’d been in the Army for six years, having gone through infantry training. Thomas was in law school, living in an apartment near Penn Carey Law School, and Mom was in New York for work. I’d thought I had the house to myself.
“Who’s that?” my companion asked as he caught his breath with my cock still in his ass.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck! That’s my father. Hop up, Johnny.” I patted his ass for him to get off me so I could get to my bedroom door to lock it before the General came busting in.
“Jimmy. My name is Jimmy.” Whatever…
I pushed him off me and rushed to the door, clicking the lock as the sound of footsteps stopped outside my door.
“I’ll be out in a minute, sir.”
“Where’s your mother?”
I grabbed a sock from the floor and wiped Johnny/Jimmy’s cum from my chest before folding the condom into it and slipping on a pair of sweats lying on the bedroom floor. “Mom is in New York at a charity thing.”
I turned to the guy. “Get dressed. Now!”
Dad laughed outside my door. “I’m going to my room to unpack. It’ll take me five minutes. Get yourself squared away and meet me downstairs for a drink.”
“Yes, sir.”
I picked up the guy’s clothes and tossed them to him on the bed as I raced into the bathroom to throw away the sock and the condom. It was just my luck that when I thought I’d have the house to myself to get laid, something would get fucked up.
He got dressed and grabbed his shoes, only finding one sock. “Where’s my other sock?”
Unfortunately, I’d used his sock to clean myself and wrap the condom. I hurried to my dresser and found a pair of socks, handing them to him. “Here. Take mine.”
“I had a good time, Bailey. Can we do this again sometime?” he asked as he slipped on the socks.
“I’m leaving on Monday for a deployment. I’ll be gone for six months.” My answer was short and sweet, and I could tell it pissed him off, but hell, it was what it was…a hookup.
Once he had his shoes tied, I cracked open the door and looked outside to be sure the coast was clear. “Come on. Follow me on the stairs. They squeak in certain places, so walk where I walk.”
Thomas and I had scoped that shit out in grade school. I swore our parents didn’t have them fixed on purpose, so they’d know when we were trying to do something we shouldn’t. By high school, we were pros at sneaking out.
I headed out first and pulled him behind me. Once we were at the bottom of the stairs, I basically dragged him to the front door and opened it. “I’ll call ya.”
Of course the guy was sweet and kissed me just as the General was coming down the stairs.
“Bailey!”
I looked into Johnny/Jimmy’s eyes. “Get out of here. You don’t need to be here for this. I’ll look for you the next time I’m in town.” I gently pushed him out the door and closed it, turning toward my father to face him with my head held high.
“So now you know.” My heart was in my throat, anticipating his wrath.
Father’s face went pale. “Know what?”
Surely he wasn’t that dense? “I’m gay.”
There was no shouting. No hitting or threatening. The General shook his head and walked back up the stairs. He left the next morning before I got up, and we never spoke again. I never went back to Philadelphia until his funeral.
“Did he ever mention me again?” I knew the answer Thomas didn’t want to give.
“Come on, Bailey. Of course, h-h-he did.” He didn’t seem so sure, but I wasn’t going to take him to task over history that couldn’t be changed.
“Point is, Thomas, you’re making yourself miserable by trying to live two lives. I love you, little brother, and I don’t want you to be in pain.”
“I can’t leave her. Staying is for the best.” He put his coffee cup on the floor and left. I hoped it wasn’t the last time I saw him.