Page 10 of Jake

“I don’t know enough about you to think that Thomas or anyone else is any of my concern.” Which was true, but he felt something settle over him when Forrest told him it was over. “I’m on my way. And if you don’t mind, I’d like to tell my grandma too. I know she thinks a great deal of you as well.”

“I’d like that. Very much. Even after what I just told you, you’re really still coming?” He told him he was. “All right then. They’ve got me in a room. If I could escape from here, I could shift and be all right. But I think, for now, this is the best thing. The wounds are going to go a long way in getting rid of the bastard. If I shift I’ll be healed, and I have a feeling that no one would care any longer.”

“What happened to you?” Forrest asked him if he could just tell him when he came in. “Of course. Are you sure that I can’t bring you anything? Food? Coffee?”

“No. Just seeing you will be enough. Just having someone here with me will improve my mood greatly.”

Jake told him he was only about ten minutes out. After he hung up, instead of calling his grandma right away, he thought about some of the things he’d looked up last night on the Internet.

Male on male sex was somewhat like having sex with a female, but not entirely. Even in his addled mind that made no sense, but he’d felt better after reading up on a few things. Not that he’d ever enjoyed sex with Carol, but he’d read about homosexual sex and had even gone so far as to watch a couple of videos that he’d found. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to satisfy Forrest any better than he had his own wife, but he had watched enough to know that men seemed to have a better handle on sex than women did.

First of all, they touched a great deal. Like not just where you’d think to touch another person—the breasts, thighs, as well as their mouths—but men touched everywhere. The backs of knees, their feet. Nothing was left untouched or unloved. He shifted on his seat, thinking of how hard he’d come last night watching them.

And then there was how hard they seemed to come. Not just a release from their cock, but it radiated from their entire person. They shouted out with each release. Coming from their hearts, Jake had thought. It was a beautiful sight to behold.

It hadn’t been his plan to get aroused by watching them. In fact, Jake had a hard time remembering the last time he’d been sexually excited. Not for a long while, at least. But then he’d watched the two men, who he thought were really in love, make love to each other. Like they had meant the very world to one another. Then when they both came, it was as if his entire body had been a part of it. His cock erupted twice, spilling out so much of his cum that he ached afterwards.

Jake had sat there, his cock still semi hard, his heart pounding and his breathing harsh, as he thought of what he’d just done. How much he’d enjoyed coming while watching what he’d just seen. Never once did he feel like it was wrong. Nor did he feel guilty over it. At one time he might have, he supposed. Carol would have found out and he would never have lived it down. She was good at making him feel like he was less than a person.

As he pulled into the parking lot to the hospital a few minutes later, he sat there for several minutes just thinking of Forrest. And some of the things he’d been able to find out from his friend who was also a shifter, though a wolf.

He’d told him that while he didn’t know any homosexual shifters, he had heard of them. They were a rare breed, but not thought of negatively in their world as they were in the human one. Peter, his friend, had told him that they were more accepting of things like that, and rarely, if ever, were any issues with anyone’s sexual preference ever brought up as they were in the human race.

“The only thing we care about is that you care for your other half. That you are good to each other and kind to the population in general.” He also told him about cats, or what he knew. “Cats are a very different breed than we are. Not just because they’re cats and we’re canine, but I mean, wolves like to cuddle, hold each other as much as we can. Cats are the same, but they don’t live with others. Not in packs. A pride, which is what it’s called, they’re more of a single male, his mate, and any children they might have. He can take on the role of leader to more should he want to, but—and this is only what I’ve heard not what I actually know—they tend to stay in smaller groups. Once they’re old enough, they might live close but they don’t live in a single dwelling.”

Jake had wondered how that would work when he and Forrest got together, and it surprised him a little that such thoughts came into his mind. And now as that thought entered his head again, a permanency that he’d never thought of before, Jake got out of his car while calling his grandma.

She said that she’d be over later, once her bridge club was done, and bring them all dinner. He loved her for her forethought. Grandma also told him that she’d set up a meeting with Tyler Lane, but she wasn’t sure what would come of it. Jake told her to be careful.

Entering Forrest’s room, he was dismayed to think that he didn’t get him flowers. There were a great many of them in the room, most of them with cards, some of them with small notes. Forrest told him it didn’t matter, he was just glad to see him. He walked to the bed and leaned in to hug him. Jake wasn’t sure that Forrest was going to hug him back, and when he did, he felt better, restored in some way, and thought that was exactly how he felt. Restored. He asked him how he was doing.

“I’m better now; thank you so much for coming in. Last night when they brought me here, I was sort of out of it. I don’t know what I would have done if the wolf pack that roams around the land that I live by hadn’t found me.” The bandage across his forehead was dark with blood stains. “It’s healed pretty much. But for appearances I have to pretend to be on my death bed.”

“You should have had them call me. I would have come in to be with you. I’m not sure what I would have been able to do but to talk to you, but I would have been there for you.” Forrest said he wasn’t thinking right, just terrified. “We should have some sort of notes that come up to call each other when we’re hurt. That way you don’t have to go through this alone.”

“I am alone, Jake. And have been for a very long time.” He sounded so broken that it hurt Jake to hear it. “I’m sorry. I’ve been lying here for hours just thinking and feeling sorry for myself. You should have been here before, when I was crying like a small child. I never cry. But I’m feeling particularly whiny today.”

“Well of course you are. You’ve been shot.” He reached for Forrest’s hand and was glad when he curled his fingers around his. “I’ve been thinking. About us. I mean a lot.”

“And what have you figured out? I’m assuming that you’ve not decided to run to the hills.” Jake shook his head. “I have to tell you something first. Before you tell me anything, I want you to think of what your parents will say. Hell, for that matter, what society will have to say. They’ll not be kind to either of us.”

“No, I’ve thought of that as well. Not a lot but some. My parents aren’t happy with me anyway, for marrying Carol.” Forrest laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure that they’re going to be thrilled to no end when I tell them that I’m living with another man.”

“Are you? Planning to live with me?” Jake asked him if he would have any trouble with moving in with him. “No, I won’t. But again, people will talk. I think you’ll even begin to have problems with the firm that you work for. To be honest, it’s why I have my own practice. I didn’t care for the way corporate America treats my kind.”

“Yeah, about that. I’m leaving my firm. As of this morning, as a matter of fact. I gave my notice in the form of a letter and email. I was up for partnership but was passed over again. Wendell, the guy that is in charge of hours and how that is set up, told me that I’d never be promoted, not the way I work. Then it was confirmed by the guy who is in charge of the hiring. They like having me just where I am because I work a lot of hours.” Jake nodded. “I’m going to hang out my own shingle, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll figure something out.”

“Work with me. We could be partners.” Jake said that wasn’t what he was going for. “Maybe not, but we could make it work. And with both of us bringing in hours, we could save some money too.”

“I don’t really need to work.” Forrest said he knew that as well. “I guess you would. My grandda, he left me a large chunk of money when he passed away. And Grandma told me that she’s leaving her money to me as well. It was a nice bit of cash. Carol never knew, of course. Had she known, I don’t think I could easily say that about not working. She would have drained the pot and I’m betting that it still might not have been enough for her.”

“No, she would have taken you to the cleaners and then stepped over your corpse had she any idea of your worth. But she’s having her own set of troubles.” Forrest told him how he’d talked to her dad just yesterday. “Her parents have given her a month to get her affairs in order and get out. I guess her mom wants her out now, but they said a month is all they’ll give her. I think we can get off with no sort of alimony to her if we can show that she’s not trying to make her way in this world and never has. This is a no fault state, lucky for her, or we’d have her paying you. But as it is, I don’t think you’ll have to fork out any more than necessary to end this.”

“When I heard about the abortions, it was all I could do not to hunt her down and ask her about it. But I figured it wouldn’t do me any good. She’d just figure out a way to turn it so that it was my fault. Carol would never admit to being wrong about anything.” He related the story about her coming to the house today. “This guy, Mark, who works for Grandma, was at the house with his crew, working on the yard when she showed up. He said that just after she left, the moving company called, asking for directions to my house. Mark explained to them that she no longer lived at that residence and that they should take it to her home. Her parents’ home. Mark said the guy was still laughing when he hung up. I guess Carol was none too nice to him when she made the arrangements in the first place.”

“I tried to get them to take it to her earlier this week, but that fell through. She didn’t put it in her name but her father’s, since he was being billed for the place.” Forrest grinned. “I think this is so much better. You refusing the delivery will say a lot to her, and her father will be pissed when it gets to her. Damn, but I wish I could have seen her face when she was turned away. That is not a nice woman.”

“I have it on my computer. I set up some security cameras a few days ago so I could keep an eye on the place with her locked out. It wouldn’t have surprised me to find out that she’d broken in or something.” Forrest said he’d thought the same thing. “You have no idea how content I am that she’s out of my life. No one does. I’m almost giddy with it.”