Many of the youngsters were disappointed they didn’t get to skinny dip that time. The Covers explained to them that Mr. Ken won’t swim with them unless everyone wore a suit and they really wanted him to swim with them that time. They didn’t say that is was actually Ryan who said he wouldn’t swim unless everyone used a suit.
Ryan spent most of his swim time doing things with his Cover 'brothers’. He wanted his last memories from his time spent at Three Finger Cove to be of the fun he had with Eric, Robert, and Charles. Mr. Ken knew what Ryan was doing so he spent time with Camm and the other lads doing the Rock Ledge jump to see who could make the biggest splash. He helped in timing some races but he refused to play horsey. He didn’t want a young lad on his shoulders and something unavoidably pop up.
It was close to six o’clock when the parents started coming to The Cove to collect their kids. Mr. Ken had made sure that all the lads had changed and were up at the Main Gate waiting for their folks to arrive. Charles asked if Camm could spend the night but his foster dad said he and the boy needed to have their sit down talk and the man wanted to do that tomorrow. He also said he needed the lad to get his physical from Doc Powers and then make an appointment with Doctor Doug.
Robert also asked if Eric could spend the night, but again Mr. Ken said, “Not this time”. He explained he wanted to talk to Charles without any distractions around and he needed to get Doc Powers to give the lad a physical, explaining he should have done that first thing Monday. Mr. Ken also reminded the new teen he didn’t make his Doctor Doug appointment that week and they also needed to sit down and get caught up on their Tuesday night talks.
Robert walked away a bit disappointed but he understood his 'dad’ had responsibilities, not only for him, but for Charles now, too. He explained to the guys before they went home that he’d have to get a message out to them if they’d be allowed to come over later the next day.
The lads told their parents about the new water rafts as soon as they saw their folks. That information caused the parents to stop and want to ask Mr. Ken about the climbing wall and Jungle-Jim, which ultimately caused a traffic jam at the Main Gate. Before long the parents exchanged stories with other parents and their laughter and conversation increased amongst them and before everyone knew it there was a party atmosphere going on at the top of The Cove’s driveway.
It was about that time that Mr. Dominions always left for home. The large number of people and cars at the top of the drive stopped his progress. Ken Thomas saw the man in his car on the other side of the closed gate so he went over to the man. He convinced Chris to come and meet some of the lads and their parents.
“Can I get your attention for a few minutes, please,” called out Mr. Ken.
A few of the closer parents and lads heard Mr. Ken ask for their attention, so they stopped and turned to face the man. Mr. Ken again called out for the people to give him their attention and more parents and boys stopped and turned. Soon everyone was looking at Mr. Ken and the man standing next to him.
“Parents … boys … I want you all to meet my new Estate Manager, Mr. Chris Dominions,” spoke up Mr. Ken. “Mr. Chris has taken Mildred Johnston’s place since she and I have parted ways. No need to go into why we are no longer associates, with one another, but Mr. Chris here will be a permanent figure around here for the coming future.
“I wanted you all to meet him so you’d know who he is if you ever come to get your child and I am not here. Also, he may be the one calling you when I am busy, or not at home. He is a former U.S. Army Veteran of Iraq & Afghanistan who was injured in support of our country. He has been fully vetted by my attorney, so you can trust him to be around your kids when they are visiting. Are there any questions?”
None of the parents had any immediate questions, so they came over to the man to introduce themselves and their lads. They were all curious about Chris and they asked him many questions. Chris wasn’t used to be grilled the way he was but he was able to control his emotions during the meet and greet. He thanked them all for their acceptance of him then he asked if they could move their cars so he could get home to his own family.
Once Chris was in his car and away from the estate, he pulled over and did his breathing exercises in order to help himself calm down. That was the 'something’ he never did reveal in his job application or subsequent interviews. Yes, Bill Jackson and his employer Mr. Ken knew he had PTSD but they did not know his appointments with the Veteran’s Administration (VA) hospital were for specifically treating him for that. The VA’s job involved getting him to learn how to control his emotions when he gets into a confined space, or when confronted by large numbers of people. That time he was able to use what they’d taught him to keep under control after meeting all those parents at the same time.
When Chris Dominions asked to be able to leave The Cove his request to the parents to move their cars also caused the makeshift party to dissolve. Mr. Ken was happy about that except that one parent hadn’t yet left.
“Hello, Mr. Ken,” stated Joyce Cambelle.
“Oh, hello, Joyce … what can I help you with?” replied Ken Thomas.
“Oh … I wanted to again thank you for the way you are treating my son. I’ve never heard him so enthusiastic and he told me he actually made a good friend in Charles,” offered Joyce.
“Yes, Charles and Camm have connected and I am glad that Charles has, I hope, a good friend, now, to call his own. All the other lads are friends of Robert and Eric, and are their classmates. Except the two younger boys who are brothers of two of their friends,” explained Mr. Ken.
Joyce had stepped over to the man and began to touch his shoulder and then rub it as Mr. Ken spoke. Mr. Ken had seen that coming as Joyce Cambelle seemed to always lag behind the other parents, so she could be alone with him. He inwardly smiled at her unsubtle approach.
“You might not know this, but Camm … well, he has a difficult time in making friends … and ever since he met and became friends with Charles he has talked non-stop about what he’s done over here. I really want to thank you for offering my boy opportunities he wouldn’t otherwise have. Up until last night, Camden has never been invited for a sleepover.
“He thanked me over and over for allowing him to spend the night. Then, he explained what you all did when you went shopping yesterday. And now those water rafts, or whatever they are called, he is super thrilled over them. I’ve haven’t seen that level of interest in him since he first went to school. There has got to be a way that I can personally thank you, Mr. Ken Thomas, for all you’ve done for my Camm,” finished Joyce.
Ken Thomas felt he was being trapped and had no way out.
Luckily for Mr. Ken his phone rang as he was trying to come up with an answer for the woman. It was Momma Maria and she wanted to know if she should hold dinner. The man gave her a curious answer but it was designed to facilitate his quick departure away from the Main Gate and Ms. Cambelle. Joyce was disappointed but said she understood and she and Camm went to their own home.
At dinner, Mr. Ken told the lads they all needed to remember that Momma Maria made dinner for them for the same time every evening and twice, now, they’ve not honored her by being on time. He told the lads he was just as guilty and he needed to get everything back on a schedule, especially for dinner.
The boys tried to argue they didn’t need a big dinner every night, and they knew how to cook hamburgers and hot dogs for their friends when they were over. Mr. Ken said it was nice they took care of their friends, but they also needed to allow their buddies to go home for dinner, every once in a while, to allow their parents to know they were okay. And the man added, he wasn’t responsible for feeding all the kids all the time. Robert and Charles got the hint and stopped arguing with their 'dad’.
The three Covers watched a movie that evening with Mr. Ken bookended with Robert on one side and Charles on the other. Robert had done that many times before and it was second nature for him to lie beside his 'dad’. Charles had done it once before and this time he recognized it for what it was, a time for him to bond with his new foster dad. Charles liked the idea of him being able to hug or hold onto the man and feeling safe with him being there right beside him.
When the movie was over, Mr. Ken said his goodnights to the boys and told them he’d see them at breakfast. The lads hugged their 'dad’ and told him good night as well. The lads then shut down the projection unit and headed up to bed.
The new 'brothers’ stopped at the porcelain god and made their offering before they headed for their separate bedrooms. But, before Charles opened his bedroom door, Robert asked him if he would like to sleep in his room that night. Charles didn’t take long to think about it and eagerly agreed, but he decided to leave his clothes in his bedroom, first.
Clad only in his boxer briefs, Charles entered Robert’s bedroom only to see Robert had taken all his clothes off and was standing there naked beside his bed.
“Wha what are you doing?” asked a surprised Charles.
“Oh, I started sleeping naked, Charles, you should try it”, announced Robert.
“But, but why?” asked Charles.
“It feels so good. I used to like waking up in my boxer briefs and seeing how good I looked in the door mirror with my boner sticking up. But, I also like waking up with my unclothed boner standing tall and seeing it in the same mirror. I like how big it’s getting ever since I began living here. You should try it,” fully explained Robert.
Charles stood there not knowing what to say. He had noticed how his own boy toy had begun to grow ever since his pubic hairs began to slowly appear. He too liked how he looked every morning standing in front of the door mirror in his boxer briefs, with his morning wood standing tall. A few times he even pulled his briefs down, under his balls, so his boner became pushed up more and gave the appearance it was bigger than it actually was.
With his thought process finished, Charles decided he’d try sleeping nude that night. He’d been naked in front of Robert a lot of times, and not just there at The Cove. So, he never gave it a second thought as he dropped his briefs right then and there.
Robert watched as his new 'brother’ thought a bit about sleeping nude and then dropping his briefs. “I figured you’d give it a try. It’s probably something you wouldn’t have tried for a while unless I’d have told you about it. Now you can try it and see if you like it,” offered Robert.
“Yeah, I kinda like the idea of sleeping naked but … well, what if Mr. Ken comes into the room and we’re … you know … hard or worse … you know … jacking off?” questioned Charles.
“Well, there is the three-knock-rule and Mr. Ken won’t ever enter your bedroom until he’s done that. Well, ahh … he might enter if there is an emergency, or he knows you’re in trouble,” replied Robert.
“How would he know if I’m in trouble?” quickly asked Charles. “Has he ever entered your room without knocking?” added Charles.
“Yes, he has,” began Robert, but before he could continue to answer, Charles asked, “He did? Did he ever find you with a boner or even with you playing with it when he entered your bedroom?”
“No, nothing like that; nothing other than him finding me and Eric all boned up and asleep in my bed and each other’s arms,” laughed Robert. “But … when I first came here I … I sometimes had real bad dreams. You saw how Chief got Mr. Ken the other night, well … she saw I was having a bad dream and she went and got him. When he came to my room the door wasn’t closed and he told me he could hear me yelling and saw me thrashing around so he came right in and tried to calm me down.
“One time I had such a bad dream … that I fought him and almost gave him a black eye, I think. I know I scratched his arms up real bad, one time. Then, he came to me and calmed me down and reassured me that everything would be okay.
“Charles … Mr. Ken won’t ever tease you if he sees you with a boner. He will tell you that you need to remember where you are and should be prepared to make it go down, or cover it up, before you are around other people,” continued Robert, as he tried to explain how their 'dad’ would react to him having a boner or morning wood.
Charles took that all in and wondered if Mr. Ken ever caught Robert in that situation so he asked, “Robert … did that ever happen to you? You know … that Mr. Ken had to tell you to cover your boner?”
Robert laughed at the question and replied, “Yes he did.”
“Why are you laughing?” asked Charles.
“Well, when 'dad’ took Eric and me on a Disney Cruise, last Spring Break, one morning I had a boner. I knew he’d seen it before, so I didn’t think it would be any problem to jump out of bed and head to the bathroom with it leading the way. Believe me, it was a problem. He didn’t yell or anything, but he did sit me down afterwards and talk to me about it
“He told me that virtually all males, especially kids our age, wake up with their penis being hard. And, yes he did use the word penis and not what we call it. Anyway, he said that when it comes to erections, and yes he used the proper term instead of what us kids call them, we should be a bit more private about them. He told me I should be more careful about my erection, where ever I am at. He said those I may be with, you know, Eric and Brad and Chuck and the rest of the guys, may have seen it before, but then he asked me what I’d do if I was around people who hadn’t seen it, or didn’t want to see it? He told me that I needed to consider where I was before I went parading around with my 'arrow’ pointing the way.
“Then one morning both Eric and I had boners that would not go down. 'Dad’ knew we had them as he told us he could tell. We both tried everything we knew how to make them go down except, you know, playing with them. When they wouldn’t go down, I asked him to go out on the balcony, so Eric and I could get to the bathroom without him seeing us. And you know what? He did! He went out on the balcony while we ran to the bathroom and peed.”
Charles just stood there taking it all in. He was coming to realize that his new 'dad’ was more than anything he could ever imagine a 'dad’ could be. He had seen how Mr. Ken did everything he could to take care of him and how he seemed to be concerned about his welfare. He also saw that Mr. Ken never got angry with them for things other kids would probably be punished for. He also liked how his new 'dad’ would take the time to explain to them what they did wasn’t the right thing to do. Charles was now very happy he had been brought to The Cove and that he had made the decision to remain there after his two weeks were up.
After their talk, the lads each got into a bed. But that wasn’t the last of their conversation before going to sleep. Charles wanted to talk about the sex they both did that morning in the shower. He wanted to know what his new 'brother’ thought about what they did and was it okay that he and Camm had done what they did. The youngster felt somewhat confused about the sex he had with Camm. He needed to talk to someone about it and Robert was the only one he knew who had done stuff with another boy.
“Robert,” began Charles, “can I ask you something, ahh, very personal?”
“Sure … I guess,” Robert answered back.
“If I ask you something you, ahh, don’t want to talk about, or answer, I’ll understand Robert,” prefaced Charles.
“Okay, I’ll tell you if I don’t want to answer something, but, hey, we’ve known each other for a long time so I don’t think there will be anything I won’t want to talk about,” reasoned Robert.
“Ahh, well, I, ahh, want to ask you about, you know, the, ahh, the … sex we did in the shower this morning,” Charles finally got out.
“Oh,” said Robert. “Ahh, what do you want to know, Charles?”
“Well … I guess what I want to know was … what we did in the shower was it alright, you know, to do in front of each other,” hesitantly asked Charles.
“Charles, we did more than that back at that one house when those older boys made us do stuff. Don’t you remember?” replied Robert.
“Yeah, I know it’s just … well … that what we did was so, so natural and I didn’t even feel, you know, embarrassed that I did it in front of you and Eric. I know we both talked, at that other house, about what we each were made to do with all those men but, other than what we did together at that house, I’d never had sex with another boy near my age,” began Charles.
“So, what is it that you want to ask me?” said Robert.
“Well, as I said … it might be very personal,” answered back Charles.
“Well, then ask! All I can do is either tell you I won’t talk about it, or I’ll tell you. So, ask away,” Robert said in a cheery voice.
“I hope you won’t be mad at me, so here goes,” started off Charles. “Have you and Eric ever done, you know, more together, I mean sex wise, than what we did in the shower this morning? I mean you did say that Mr. Ken caught you and Eric nude and hard and in each other’s arms, one time, so I was just wondering.”
“Oh, yeah, I guess I did tell you that didn’t I,” began Robert. “Well, ahh, yeah, I guess you can figure out from us being naked together, in my bed, that we had done something together, couldn’t you. To be honest, Charles, just like you, other than what we did together, Eric was the only boy my age that I’ve done some sex with. … Can I ask you why do you want to know?”
“Well, Robert … I guess it’s, well … it’s that what Camm and I’ve done together is something that makes me feel real good inside. Is that what you feel like when you and Eric do things, you know, sex things together?” asked Charles.
“Charles … what are you really asking?” directly asked Robert.
“It’s just … that I liked what me and Camm did together, but … well, it feels so good to do sex with a boy my age and NOT have to do it with Smokey, or any of his gang or other biker guys. I just wondered if, ahh, you felt the same thing, or the same way?” replied Charles.
Robert laid there stunned at what Charles just revealed about how he felt about doing sex with Camm verses with the bikers Smokey made him do it with. He then began to think about his own feelings between what he and Eric did compared to all the men his dad, his real dad, made him go with and have sex with. He knew he loved what he and Eric had done together and how much better the sex was between them. He continued to think about what Charles had said and he wondered if his new 'brother’ was having the same feelings.
“Charles … can I ask YOU something, this time?” Robert asked, as he broke the silence.
“Sure, I guess. I asked you a question. Does it have to do with, ahh, Camm and me?” replied Charles.
“Yes, it does but, but hear me out, okay. I was just thinking about what you just said, you know, about doing something sexual with another boy your age rather than with older men. Okay … here goes. Does having sex with Camm … feel a thousand percent better than any of the sex you ever had … with any of those bikers?” Robert finally got out.
Charles quickly asked his own question, “Does sex with Eric feel a thousand percent better than what you had to do with all those older men?”
Robert didn’t have to think about that question. He knew the answer and he replied with only one word, “Yes!”
“Yes, that’s how I feel, too, when Camm and I do stuff together,” honestly revealed Charles. “We haven’t done anything more, though, than touch each other and … and suck one another. I don’t think I want to go any further than that with him right now. It isn’t something that I enjoyed when Smokey made me do it.”
Robert heard the sincerity in Charles’s answer, so he said, “I know what you mean Charles. When Eric and I have sex … I feel so into it with him. He makes sex feel so damn good when we do anything together. And, yes, we too haven’t done anything further than sucking each other. I’ve thought about going further, but I suppose that is something we can share some time in the future. I don’t want to lose him, Charles. He is someone I really, really love. Do you know what I mean?”
Charles laid there a few moments thinking about what Robert just revealed and he then wondered if that was what he was feeling towards Camm. So, he knew he needed to ask the question, so he did.
“Robert … how did you know that you … you 'loved’ Eric? Was it something he said, or did? What is it about him that makes you feel the way you do?” simply asked Charles.
“Charles … I think I was always looking for him. I guess what I mean to say is that I enjoyed some of the sex I had with those men, but I wanted to do it with someone closer to my age. When I was in school, I liked looking at the older teens and how big their dicks and balls were. I used to beat-off just thinking about them, at times.
“When my real dad made me do the sex with those men, I would often think I was doing it with those teens and not them. But, the more I had to do what I did I knew I liked the male-to-male sex … but, I wanted to do it with someone my own age. When I met Eric, I felt something click inside of me and I hoped that one day we could be more than friends, and, we have,” revealed Robert.
Charles listened to Robert and knew that his 'brother’ had spoken the truth about what he felt and how he and Eric had gotten together. But, Charles was still at a loss for what he felt for Camm and he wanted to get Robert’s opinion about it.
“Robert … can I ask you … what was it that really made you know that what you felt for Eric was the real thing? … Do you know if Eric feels the same way for you?” asked Charles.
“Are you asking me … because you may feel something for Camm?” Robert turned the question around.
“Yes … I do have feelings for Camm. It’s just that … I don’t know if he feels the same way about me. That is why I asked what I did. How do you know? What are the signs? Can you tell me?” responded Charles.
Robert thought about that for a few moments and then answered, “Charles … when Eric and I got together … it was something that we shared together. We had sex together. You know, simple, ahh, jacking off. Then later when we had a long talk, we both told each other … we loved one another … and we kissed. And every time we kiss, or we are having sex together, it feels so right. When we are together … I can feel Eric is there for me and I think it is the same for Eric. It is as if we have a bond that holds us and keeps us as one.
“I can’t say what it is that you should look for in Camm. What worked for us may not work for you. I don’t know if he is the one you should be with, but, for now, I’d tell you to go with how it feels. If you both are enjoying sex together and it feels good being together then don’t let these questions cloud your feelings for him. As long as they’re mutual you are going to be okay. Does that make any sense to you Charles?” finished Robert.
“Yes … what you’ve said and what I feel when I am with Camm does make sense. We haven’t done all that much together but I sure do enjoy what we’ve done. I guess I shouldn’t worry about it and just go with the flow. Thanks, Robert, for talking with me tonight. You are the only one who I figured was doing what Camm and I are doing which is why I asked,” said Charles. “I’m gonna enjoy what Camm and I can do together and see how it all works out. Good night, my 'brother’!”
“Good night Charles. Sleep tight!” replied 'brother’ Robert.
Both lads were fast asleep within five minutes.
After listening to her boys talk, Chief let herself out of the room, as soon as she knew the lads were asleep. She went out to do her business and returned within five minutes. Being that she was inside the room it was easy for her to fully close the door. The only decision she had to make now was at which bed she should stand guard. She chose Charles since he was still new to The Cove and she felt he had way too much on his mind. She also told herself she would never let the lad down, ever again, as she had back during the Carnival. She knew she owed her newest 'master’ more than her loyalty and protection. She owed him her life.
After getting comfortable, Chief was fast asleep as quickly as the boys were. But she was ready to protect her boys against anyone who entered her domain.