Chapter Twenty-Two Alex #2
Juiced up with liquid courage, Rome and I left his house and walked three doors down to his folks’ place. He had tried to get handsy with me when we finished the bottle of champagne, but I successfully staved him off. Tonight would be a big night and I wanted him fully charged.
We didn’t go through the front entrance at Rome’s parents’ place.
Instead, we rounded to the back. Most houses on the street fit the same style as Rome’s, albeit in various colors.
Like his, the parents’ had a scenic view of the ocean.
Only a few clouds dotted the sky on an otherwise perfect early fall afternoon.
We arrived to a churning mass of Sicilian partiers. I involuntarily took a step back from Rome as my eyes befell a large, back patio thronged with the Moretti clan. Sinatra piped through hidden speakers. A grill sizzled with the smell of deliciously spiced meat. Laughter— so much laughter.
And then it all came to a sudden halt . Everyone turned to stare.
They all look the same , was my first thought. I would never say it aloud, but I hope it wasn’t an insensitive thing to think. All dark hair, some blue eyes, but mostly brown. Sun-kissed Mediterranean skin. Everyone fit as a fiddle. Gorgeous, every last one of them. And they all stared at me.
Donna peeled away from the group and swooped in like an Italian angel. Even Rome appeared put off by the sudden record scratch of a moment. His mother slipped beside me, wrapped an arm around my waist, and gently guided me toward the group.
“Everyone, everyone,” she called out. “Please, I would like you to meet my son’s amore . This is Alex!”
The warm sounds of welcoming undulated through the Moretti clan, some saying my name, others stating something in Italian I didn’t understand. They all looked so…
Happy .
What a beautiful family.
“Okay, all right,” Donna cooed in my ear. “We will start with my family and then work our way outward, yes?”
I looked at her and let out a little giggle. “Whatever you say, Donna.”
Rome’s oldest sister, Sofia, ensnared me and I had to briefly rethink my sexual preferences.
Tall, thin, full dark hair, and those deep blue eyes.
She had all the hallmarks of a Moretti and each of them feminized to the nth degree.
She greeted me warmly and all I could do was stare.
Of course, her husband could walk any model runway with gusto.
Though, in my opinion, couldn’t hold a candle’s flame to the sexiness of my man Rome.
I learned that Sofia worked as an ophthalmologist and owned her own practice one town over. They lived in one of the houses between Rome and their parents. Her husband owned an accounting firm. They had three children, all of whom scampered around the crowd like slalom skiers during a race.
Isa came next, the middle child and Rome’s second sister.
Donna stuck by my side the whole time as I learned that Isa was unmarried but really enjoyed dating, much to Donna’s chagrin.
Equally as gorgeous, albeit shorter, Isa carried with her a quiet confidence that felt inviting.
She worked as a programmer, bouncing around various upstarts, but I found she could have easily been a psychologist with her shrewd, assessing eyes that somehow invited me to speak more about myself.
Instantly, I wanted to invite her out and have dinner to get to know her more.
Alas, there were still more Morettis to fill my time. Rome had slipped away. For once, I couldn’t use his height to pinpoint him in the crowd. I saw him with his father over by the grill. Rome spoke with animated gestures while Arrigo stared, face pinched together in deep concentration.
I met too many cousins to count. Aunts and uncles galore.
It was like the Twelve Days of Christmas, only extremely Italian and each day had at least one Giuseppe in the mix.
A particular introduction and conversation stuck out the most. Toward the end, Donna brought in a cousin named Elena.
Her mother and Arrigo were siblings. She was mid-thirties and had what I would now come to call the “typical Moretti look” for a woman.
“This is Elena,” Donna said. She sounded delighted for us to meet. Especially when she said, “Elena is a physical therapist. She is single.”
I had to do a double take. Did… did Donna forget I was gay and dating her son? Why would she…?
Physical therapist. Like someone else I knew.
I laughed when I understood. For once, I wasn’t the confused one. Elena gave her aunt Donna a funny look. “It’s great to meet you, Elena,” I said. “We’ll chat later.”
Elena snickered, rolled her eyes, and said, “I look forward to it, Alex.”
At long last, I had a drink presented to me, something fizzy, from a can, and alcoholic.
My buzz from the champagne had unfortunately abated, so the raspberry and lime drink had a nice kick back to a state of flow.
Donna released me to the wilds after sufficiently introducing me to everyone.
I targeted a safe pathway to Rome still at the grill, careful to avoid re-meeting someone whose name I didn’t remember.
I didn’t make it three steps before someone moved into my path. Thankfully, I recognized the face.
“Joe! Hey, man,” I said, and we quickly embraced. He carried a bottle of lite beer in his hand. “When did you get here?”
“Few minutes ago. Aunt Donna is super efficient when it comes to family intros, I see.”
I laughed and scratched the back of my head. “She loves playing hostess.”
Joe looked over his shoulder and then around us, as if someone might eavesdrop.
“Hey, so listen.” I leaned in. “Our 501(c)(3) was approved this morning.” I started to react but Joe clamped down on my arm.
“Shh-shh! Rome’s got one eye on us, the sneaky guy.
We’re pretty much green lit on everything except for Rome’s approval. ”
“And Rome’s money,” I added.
Joe nodded. “Yeah, and Rome’s money. But this means everything is officially set.” He took a sip of beer. “Anyway, we’ll talk later, all right? Enjoy the fam for now.” He turned to go, and I successfully made it to the grill.
Rome had a glass of red wine waiting for me by the time I reached him at the grill. I set aside my seltzer.
“Okay, so who is that?” he asked teasingly as he pointed to a random cousin in the crowd.
“Giuseppe?” I said, and he laughed.
Arrigo stepped away from the grill to give us a private moment.
“You’re doing great,” Rome said sweetly. I wanted to collapse into him.
“Thank you. It’s… easy? I’m not sure how to say it. Your family is so fantastic. It’s like talking to people I’ve already met.”
Rome beamed. “Everyone keeps coming up to me saying how nice you are. Also how handsome you are. Which, y’know, duh .”
I dug an elbow into him and sipped the wine. “Oo, wow. This is delicious. What is this?”
“One hundred percent Sangiovese. The best .”
I took a second and third sip. “This could be dangerous.”
The look he gave me. Seductive, imploring, and elated all at the same time. “Well keep drinking, amore mio . This is going to be a day and evening to remember.”
I politely ignored his sweet Italian words. My love .
Yes. We both knew what tonight meant.
I drained the glass and asked for a second.
?
We fell to the landing at the bend in the staircase.
Rome broke my fall, his ass hitting the hardwood with a heavy thud and me on top of him.
We were both laughing, wine-stained lips smashed together in sloppy and drunken kisses.
I made a poor attempt at straddling him.
He attempted to sit up straight to accommodate, but we ended up falling back down.
His back slammed the wrong way into the stairs and he let out a painful yelp.
I found my feet. Attempted to, at least. Then yanked Rome up.
We fumbled our way up the remaining flight of stairs while exchanging a semblance of kisses that were more saliva-covered mouths smashing.
My head swam like I had been at the tilt-a-whirl at the fair.
Down was up, left was right. Rome stood before me but he gyrated uncontrollably in my grasp.
Somehow, we found our way into the bedroom. Cascading onto his enormous bed was a blessing. Soft, comfort, stable.
Shirts peeled off. Then pants. Rome took a solid minute of fumbling at the clasp of his necklace to take it off before remembering and resorting to looping it over his head.
I worked at his boxers, then mine. Finally, our naked bodies pressed into each other, hard cocks rubbing together in a frenzy.
I wanted tonight to be the night. I hadn’t told him I loved him. Yet. That would come after lovemaking.
If one could call this lovemaking. The more difficult it seemed to get things right, the more I realized that maybe we should wait. But I wanted him so badly I had clarity through my drunken haze. We had to connect tonight—I wanted him inside me, pressing into me, through me, right to my soul.
No foreplay. Right to business.
I straddled Rome as he laid on the bed, his massive cock rigid against my backside.
I was already sweating and breathing heavily.
I leaned away and draped myself half over the bed, naked ass in the air, as I fished through my duffle bag for the bottle of lube and condoms I brought.
I squirmed back onto the bed and dropped the items beside Rome.
He looked at them with wide eyes that I ignored as I ripped the condom package open with my teeth.
I bought the largest size they had. Triple platinum mega XL, or some bullshit.
Took me three tries to roll the condom on his his cock, like plugging in a USB. Wrong. Wrong. Right! He whimpered as I stroked his dick.
This is gonna be rough , I thought. The condom was tight and difficult to get down, but I managed to reach the base, not that I would be taking this whole thing tonight.
Poured a metric ton of lube onto my hand and slathered every available surface.
I couldn’t gauge Rome’s face in the dark, only the sounds.
I took the quick, rapid grunts as good things as I worked his dick with my hand and played the head of it against my hole.
I was up on my knees, hovering over him, my fist gripping the base of his dick so I could target by feel alone.
His hands were on my hip, gently moving to help me.
My head swam the longer I remained upright. The room danced as the alcohol in my system spun the wheel controlling my equilibrium. I swayed in a boozy breeze as I fumbled to get the enormity of the head of his dick to at least start penetrating.
Finally. Target acquired . I giggled to myself at the silliness of the thought. Damn, I was a little too drunk for this.
I dropped down and commanded myself to simply loosen . Which, in my mind, seemed like a good idea, as if I could will any part of my body to do whatever I demanded. Rome poked me, but nothing penetrated. He grunted and I growled in response. Lifted. Dropped again. Harder this time.
His head poked through and I gasped. Sudden burning, but I knew I could power through it. If I just relaxed and…
“S-stop. Alex. Stop,” Rome said, his words slurred. Gently, he pulled me off of him, lifted, and guided me to lay beside him. “This was a bad idea.”
I couldn’t disagree. “This was a terrible idea,” I expanded. “I’m… I’m sorry. I thought…”
I heard him remove the condom and toss it off the bed. “We drank too much. Way too much.”
As if my intoxication had a mind of its own, I hiccuped. “Agreed. Oof. I’m sorry. Should we just sleep?”
“As soon as the room stops spinning, yeah.”
Guilt hadn’t quite hit me yet. Still in the dark, I couldn’t read Rome’s face. His slurry words gave no indication of what swirled around inside his head. We’d have to let tonight be tonight and face the music tomorrow.
The room continued to spin. I grounded one foot on the floor, half my body hanging off the bed. I don’t think either of us fell asleep until pre-dawn.