Chapter 1
“Katt. Is that your given name?”
The young man on the sofa, who couldn’t be more than twenty-one, tried to act cool and nonchalant in his dark glasses and black leather jacket.
He ran a casual hand through his ebony hair, but Gideon caught the slight tremor in the gesture; he wasn’t nearly as relaxed as he wanted to appear.
But that wasn’t uncommon among the boys who signed up for the Curious Boys segment.
“Kato,” he said. “But everyone has called me Katt since I was a kid.” His voice had a nice, deep timbre and still carried a hint of youth, which added to his overall sexiness. And he was sexy.
“Well, it’s certainly nice to have you here, Katt,” Gideon said with a smile. “May I ask what it is that brought you to us? Obviously, you’re curious,” he chuckled. “But is there a story behind your curiosity? Something that made you decide to satisfy that curiosity now?”
The young man shifted on the sofa, lounging against the backrest. To the naked eye, he looked relaxed and at ease. He wasn’t. Again, that was nothing unusual for these “curious” boys.
“Well, um…” Katt laughed nervously. “There is a story.” He scooted up a bit on the sofa. “When I was thirteen, me and a buddy of mine—I won’t name names, because… well…”
“Of course.” Gideon waved his hand. “I understand. Go on.”
“Well, anyway. We were walking home from school—it was actually the last day of school before summer vacation—and talking about all the things we wanted to do over summer break.” He fidgeted again.
“So, we take a shortcut through this alley, and we find a gay porn magazine lying on the ground next to the dumpster. He picks it up, and we’re joking around about it.
” He looked sheepish. “We were kids, so we were being kind of crude, thinking it was…” He faltered.
“Gross?” Gideon smiled and nodded. “It’s okay. Continue.”
“So, his house was right across the street from the alley, and we took the magazine into his fort in the backyard and started looking through it. Going on like stupid kids do. And then, he’s like, you ever think about it?
And I was like, think about what? And he shook the magazine. And I was like, that? No way.”
Gideon rested his elbow on the arm of the chair, studying the young man with a small smile on his face. He knew where this was going.
“So, he starts going on like he wondered what it was like, and what made guys want to do it with each other, and all that.” Katt rubbed his mouth.
“I should point out that the fort was actually his older brother’s, and where he hung out with his friends.
He had beer stashed in there, and we dipped into it.
And it didn’t take long for us to get a little tipsy—it was only like our second time drinking beer, and the first time was only a couple of drinks from a can.
So, it didn’t take much to get us drunk. ”
“Uh-huh.” Gideon nodded.
“Well, we started goofing off about the gay stuff, daring each other to do stuff, getting bolder the drunker we got. He dared me to kiss him, and I did. I dared him to kiss me with tongue. He did.” Katt cleared his throat, his nervousness showing through.
“Then we, uh… dared each other to get naked. Then a dare about a hand job. He went first. Then me. And then he dared me to… blow him. Even drunk, I almost didn’t do it, but he goaded me into it, calling me chicken.
” He laughed anxiously, a few speckles of sweat glistening on his brow.
“So, I, uh, I did it. He unloaded so fast he almost came in my mouth. When I told him it was his turn, he said he didn’t want to do stuff anymore, and that it was grossing him out. ”
“Uh-huh.” Gideon pursed his lips. “It was grossing him out now that he had…”
Katt nodded. “Exactly.” He sighed and slowly removed his sunglasses, allowing Gideon a look at his eyes for the first time.
They were a bluish-silver, quite captivating.
“After that day, he started hanging out with me less and less, making excuses about why he couldn’t do stuff with me.
I hardly saw him at all that summer, and when school started again, we weren’t really friends anymore.
The only time he spoke to me was to threaten me, saying I better not tell anyone what happened in the fort that day.
I promised I wouldn’t, and said I didn’t want anyone to know, either. ”
Katt went quiet, his eyes averted.
Leaning forward, Gideon asked, “So, what brought you here?”
Katt glanced at him. “I, um. I’m not sure.
For some reason, I started thinking about it again and admitted to myself something I couldn’t admit back then.
” He swallowed. “I… I kind of… liked it. And since then, I’d been with a lot of girls, but the sex never really did it for me.
” He laughed. “And it wasn’t because the girls didn’t know what they were doing.
They were very good, and it felt good while we were doing it.
But afterward…” He shrugged. “I don’t know.
I never really felt satisfied. Like I wanted something more, but didn’t know what. ”
“And you’re thinking maybe this… is what you were wanting?”
Katt sighed and shrugged again. “I don’t know. Maybe. I guess… I’ll find out?”
Gideon chuckled. “I guess you will.” He straightened in the chair. “Are you in college?”
Something shifted in the young man. “Yeah.”
“Do you have a major?”
Katt seemed to perk up and relax for real. “I’m an art major. Graphic design. I was thinking of going into advertising after I graduate. I’m not sure yet. But I definitely want to do something with art.”
“That’s great,” Gideon said. “I’m very much in favor of stretching that creative muscle.
I try to do it myself with my films.” He nodded.
“I realize many people don’t consider what I do a form of art, but it can be.
And my boys are quite talented, in many areas.
” He chuckled softly. “Not only the obvious.”
While speaking about college and his future plans, the young man’s nervousness had all but disappeared.
But Katt’s relaxed demeanor evaporated as soon as Gideon mentioned his work—and his boys.
It was understandable, but something felt slightly off.
His story was believable enough, and for the most part, Gideon did believe it.
But there at the end, something in his tone changed.
There was at least one aspect of his story that he wasn’t being honest about, but Gideon couldn’t be sure which aspect.
“Well.” Gideon rose. “Are you ready to meet the boys of the house?”
Katt visibly hesitated, then nodded and stood. His nervousness was ramping up by the second.
Gideon smiled and patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry.” He winked. “My boys only bite if you ask them to.”
Somehow, that didn’t seem to comfort the young man.