Sporting Chance

And then it was over and he sat back, my cock pressed in the hairy crevice of his ass, his hole hot and pulsing against my foreskin. It was an intensely intimate moment and my cock gave an involuntary jerk. He felt it and he had half smiled looking at me, part joy and part fear, as if he wasn't sure how I was going to respond now that it was over. I understood entirely. Gay men have been beaten unmercifully by straight men after the orgasm is over. He'd known how I resisted him and was prepared for my retribution.

There wasn't time for retribution. Suddenly there was a banging at my front door and the doorbell ringing repeatedly.

"Baker! Baker! Easton! You in there?"

It was Chancellor, screaming at the top of her lungs.

Baker reacted instantly, jumping off me and quickly pulling on his clothes. Not hard to do since it was just a tee shirt and shorts with flip flops.

"Stay here and clean up," he ordered. "She's found out about the investigation, that's why she's here, the only reason she'd come here."

I knew he was right.

"Baker! Stop! Now!"

He stopped, surprised and I looked him over closely.

"Turn around."

He turned around as I examined him.

"You're okay to go," I grinned.

He grinned back, so happy that I hadn't rejected him and I felt sorry for him. I couldn't imagine that sex with me could bring him such obvious joy. Plus, he knew for certain that we were okay, our relationship had turned a corner.

I heard the front door open.

"What the hell, Merline? You about gave us a fucking heart attack!"

"Heart attacks, Patrick, heart attacks plural."

"Fuck you, Merline, I could be dead and you'd be standing over my goddamn coffin complaining and straightening my fucking tie. What the hell do you want?"

She laughed and I could tell he was angry, the usual Baker, and I felt relief. What we'd done would never be revealed by him, she'd never see it in his eyes. I staggered to the bathroom and used a wet washcloth to wipe the cum off me. Looking in the mirror I didn't know what Rick had seen in me that was sexually attractive. I hadn't shaved in almost three days; in short, I looked like hell. Still I pulled on the terry cloth robe that hung behind the bathroom door and hobbled into the living room on my crutches.

"Come on, Easton, you shouldn't be out of bed! You see what you did, Merline? You dragged a sick man from his bed!"

It was a wasted effort for Rick to try to make Chancellor feel any guilt. She was as testy as always and didn't give a damn if I was in excruciating pain.

"Jeremy Easton, that piece of shit is YOUR good buddy so tell me what the fuck is going on here? What have you two army bastards gotten us into? I've never cheated on an exam in my entire life and I sure as hell don't give a shit if those fucking maggots pass or not if it means I have to cheat for them!"

"Calm down, calm down, Merline, I'm sure it wouldn't take a GBI man two seconds to know those kids will never get out school because of anything you've done for them, legal or not. Besides, woman, you don't teach any academic classes, just full time coaching. What's your ass in a knot over?"

"Oh, you think you're so funny, asshole. Well, let's see how funny you think it is when they call your ass down to the administrative offices for an interview."

That was an interesting comment and Rick and I looked at each other, surprised the investigation had already progressed this far. Chancellor didn't miss seeing the look that passed between us.

"I knew it! I knew goddamn good and well the two of you would know exactly what's going on. Right in the thick of it I'm sure. Well, I've got news for you, I don't intend to cover anything up for any of you so if you think I'm going to cover for you and your buddy Marcus then you've got another think coming, Easton."

"Will you fucking give it a rest, Merline? Jeremy doesn't know shit about this; he didn't know anything until I told him, and I only found out last night."

She laughed.

"Yeah, well we all know how that happened."

"What are..."

"Stow it, Rick. Everyone knows about your pipeline. Nonnie tells Millie and Millie tells you. Everyone knows that. I've always wondered if the three of you are smart enough to know that Archie knows it the same as everyone else. He knows full well that if he wants anything to get out all he has to do is tell Nonnie it's a secret. So if he's told Nonnie about this then he's ready for the word to get out."

I laughed. "This place is incredible. I come here thinking I'm coming to Walton's Mountain and it's like I've stepped into the Twilight Zone."

Chancellor snorted. "Then you're a bigger fool than I ever thought you were, Easton. There's no Walton's Mountain anywhere. Hear me? Anywhere. We've got it all in this county; drugs, whiskey, prostitution, everything you'd find in New York City. Only it's worse here, people don't know it's here until it's too late. Grow up."

"Cool it, cool it. Just tell us, when are they interviewing you?"

"Monday morning, eight a.m. sharp. Archie said you'd take care of getting my class covered for the morning."

"I'm glad he thought to tell me."

"Come on, Rick, he knows you know and he knows the first thing I'd do is come tell you about this."

"Well, for whatever it's worth, Merline, they're interviewing you first because they know that of everyone you're definitely the sure bet for not being a party to any of this. You don't have anything to worry about."

"That's what I figure, too."

"That and everybody in the whole goddamn Southeastern Conference knows how much you hate Marcus Wolfe."

"I'm sorry, guys; I just don't know how I missed it," I said. "I mean missing it with Marcus, I'm usually pretty savvy about spotting these things. I mean, I only knew him while I was at Fort Benning eleven years ago but I never pegged him as somebody who'd cheat on exams. This whole thing's sort of bewildering to me and I confess I don't totally understand it."

"That's not unusual for the army, particularly that bunch of cowboys over at Fort Benning," Chancellor laughed.

"Hey, watch it. Don't bad mouth the army and Fort Benning's one of the best bases I ever lived on."

"Don't take her on Jeremy. Chancellor's an ex-marine."

Somehow I wasn't surprised.

"No shit. And how is it that I never knew this?"

"Well, if you didn't walk around with your nose in the air like you're better than the rest of us I might have told you. Rick might have told you."

"Okay, okay, let's not go there, Merline."

"I know you said some principal in Atlanta rolled on Marcus but I still don't understand how they got going so fast. I wonder just how much they know," I said.

"Yeah, I'll bet you do. You know you'll be the first one they'll jump on, you being known as his friend."

"I know, Chancellor, I know, but I swear to God I never knew anything. I can pass any polygraph they give and I'm not worried because I've taken them before. It's just that I'm not going to take one on principle alone."

"Yeah, you don't have to worry with your geniuses and I guess we don't to worry in the athletic department because we don't teach any academic courses. Why would we cheat?

"True, true, we know that," Rick agreed.

I looked at the two of them almost unable to comprehend their momentary stupidity.

"I can't believe you two are so dense," I snapped. "We're going to be looked at under a fucking microscope! The athletic department has as much reason as anyone to change test scores! You can't have a star athlete if he can't pass his courses. How many students have had to be kicked off a team because they can't pass math? Or biology? Or whatever?"

I could see the light click on in their eyes and they were shocked.

"Of course you're right, Easton," Chancellor swallowed. "I've got some of the dumbest goddamn girls in the whole school on the girls' basketball team and everyone knows it. I'm never sure who's going to finish the season. These fucking people are going to be all over my ass."

"Same here, Merline, and you know it," Rick agreed. "Of course, most kids that want to play sports work hard to keep their grades up but remember Willie Bascom? As soon the principal heard he was good enough to go pro straight out of high school Willie didn't do a goddamn thing because Jack Mason changed his grades to keep him out of trouble."

I looked searchingly at the two of them. Chancellor patted my arm supportively which surprised me.

"This was before your time, Easton. Jack's the man your friend Marcus replaced and we didn't like him either. The difference is that he retired and got elected to the school board so we had to put up with a lot when he was principal but now there seems to be no end to his shit."

"Yeah, and if the GBI isn't on his ass I'm going to put them on the scent," Rick laughed. "Now, Merline, what do you know and how did you find it out?"

"Okay, here's what I know, what I've found out, and I found out most of it from Randy White."

"Randy the Pansy?" Rick laughed. "I'm surprised that little sissy airhead knows anything. He's always seemed like a dumb ass to me."

"That's because you scare him, Rick, and you do it deliberately and what's more you know it. You go out of your way to intimidate him and you're a real shit hill for doing it."

"He's just such a weasel."

"Yeah, I won't deny that, we all know he is and Lou Mansfield and Marcus Wolfe are going to regret they ever promoted him to guidance counselor. I mean, everyone knows he couldn't control his art classroom students and that's why he got a master's degree in guidance counseling but Mansfield and Wolfe let a fox into the hen house when they let Randy in."

She laughed and I just sat there listening to the two of them talk. I'd excluded myself from everyone at the school except on the most professional level and had no friends other than Rick and Marcus. Now I didn't know where I stood with Marcus.

"I've noticed you hang out with Randy at staff meetings and stuff. I just never figured you were his good buddy."

"Hey, let me tell you something, Rick, he may be a prissy sissy but he's smart as hell, smarter than most of the teachers on staff. And he doesn't like Lou Mansfield or Marcus Wolfe even though they hired him into the counselor position. He knows the two of them are fucking in some motel down in Atlanta and he's just been biding his time until he could expose them. If you want my opinion, I wouldn't be surprised if little Randy wasn't the one that got the investigation started statewide by blowing the whistle as soon as he found out. God only knows how long it's been going on. I'll bet you dollars to donuts it was going on with Jack Mason."

"Exactly when did you find this out, Chancellor?" I asked.

I wanted to know exactly how long Chancellor had been walking around with this knowledge. Reading people is something you learn to do in the Rangers; if you don't you'll end up dead. Her story didn't ring true and I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd been in on blowing the whistle with Randy from the start. Surprised he got the investigation started my ass; she knew he did and she was in on it.

Chancellor was delaying answering my question, a sure sign she was hiding something.

"I'm sorry, Chancellor, maybe you didn't hear me. When the fuck did you find this out?" I asked louder.

"Last night. You know Randy rents a room in my house and he warned me last night he'd gotten a call from some head investigator out of Atlanta. They're going to rip the whole fucking county apart, every grade level."

"I don't believe you, Chandler."

My eyes bored straight into her and her eyes wavered momentarily. I saw it and so did Rick.

"What the fuck, Merline?!" he yelled. "You couldn't let me in on it? You know how much I fucking hate him! And that slut Mansfield!"

"I, I, it's not like...,"she spluttered.

"Quit your goddamn lying, Merline," he screamed, "or get your ass out of this house and I'll leave your ass out in the breeze if it's left up to me. You were in on this from the start weren't you? WEREN'T YOU?! You come in acting like you don't know what's going on and you and that little turd knocker Randy STARTED IT!"

I'd never seen Rick so furious, never.

"Keep your shirt on, Rick!" she yelled back. "This is precisely why we didn't tell you. You're too much of a goddamn hot head and we were afraid you'd do what you've just done. All Wolfe has to do is call you Patrick and plays you like a motherfucking violin. You'd have just blown your stack one day and told him!!"

She was right and we all knew it. Everybody knew that Marcus and Rick pushed each other's buttons beyond common sense.

"So why'd you act like you didn't know anything when you stormed in here, Merline? I don't know why you didn't just tell us when you walked in the door. I mean, it's already out, right?"

"Okay, I'm SORRY, shoot me at dawn, Rick. I just figured Jeremy knew more than anyone, maybe he was in on it."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Chancellor. I won't forget it," I said coldly.

She ignored me.

"Randy said he knows for sure all of the principals are in on this thing and three teachers at the elementary schools, two in the middle school, and four at the high school. When Lou Mansfield tried to get Randy in on it he said he acted really scared and told her that if he got involved everyone would know immediately because he'd feel so guilty that everyone would see it in his face."

"I don't doubt that," I offered. "The first time I laid eyes on him I could read him like a book."

"True, so true," Rick agreed. "He thinks he's so fucking slick but you can see him coming in a cloud of black smoke."

"He fooled Marcus and Lou, didn't he?"

"It wouldn't take much to fool those two when they're in the same room together," Rick sneered. "All he sees his her big tits and all she thinks about his dick that she wants in her scummy pussy."

"Randy told me that Lou and Wolfe teased him about being a nervous nelly and that's when he decided he was going to get the two of then shit canned," Chancellor laughed. "Can you imagine the goddamn arrogance of trying to recruit someone into a criminal conspiracy and then making fun of them to their face when they turn you down? Randy called his brother as soon as he got to my house that night."

"His brother?"

Chancellor threw her head back and screamed with laughter.

Rick looked at me and rolled his eyes.

"What's come over her?" he grinned. "This must be damned good."

"Oh, it is, it is," she hooted. "Neither one of you don't know who Randy's brother is?"

We both shook our heads no.

"This is just too, too rich, guys," she giggled. "His brother, his brother..."

She was laughing so hard she could barely get it out. She coughed.

"His brother's a lawyer in the Special Prosecutions Unit of the Georgia State Attorney General's Office. This is right up his alley, the very type of crime he investigates!"

It was clear Marcus's ass was nailed to the Titanic. He was finished for good along with anyone else involved. Never mess with a closet queen, too much hate from too many years of taking shit from everyone.

"Well, that's that," Rick sighed. "God only knows what they'll hire to clean up this place now but it's probably going be like working with the Gestapo now." It'll be hell for a couple of years while we recover but it'll be worth it all to get rid of Wolfe and Mansfield. Too bad we can't get rid of Lavada Cravey, too."

"Who knows? That little gutless wonder may be in on it. She wouldn't have the nerve to say no to either Marcus or Lou and she'd piss all over herself before she'd tell on them," I said, my first real criticism of staff.

"Wow, you must be worked up, Easton, to actually speak up and offer an opinion. Good for you, it shows you have some balls after all," she grinned. "I can tell you who's going to run the high school."

She looked like the cat that ate the canary.

"Oh, really, now that's a real surprise," Rick said sarcastically. "Who?"

"Al Sumner. That's why Archie called him to take Easton's classes. Remember Al's got a master's in educational administration but he never got the chance to use it and the one real chance he had they gave the job to that piece of shit Wolfe. They're going to put Wolfe on leave immediately during the investigation and make Al the acting principal. I'll bet Al's never going to let Archie live this down."

"I thought he was retired," I said. "And what about Lavada Cravey?"

Lavada Cravey was the assistant principal, a worthless creature if there ever was one. She was the first female to have been hired in school administration in this county and she'd only been promoted because she threatened to file a lawsuit. Downtown administration knew she was useless when they promoted her but they didn't want a lawsuit so they hired her and let her drown in her own incompetence. She couldn't be pinned down on anything or make the simplest decisions.

Chancellor and Baker both blew me a raspberry.

"Oh yeah, that'd work, Easton, I can just see Cravey now. Somebody would die right in front of her before she'd make up her mind to call an ambulance or the police. And then she'd blame anyone who was standing around and claim THEY should have called. I just want to beat her ass every damn time I see her because the first woman in school administration is the most incompetent boob I've ever met in my life."

"Why didn't you ever get your administration degree, Chancellor?" I asked. "You'd be better than Cravey."

"Thanks for the compliment, Easton. A dog would be better than Lavada Cravey, at least he'd bark every now and then."

They laughed and I yawned, tired and they both noticed it.

"Well, we'd better get out of here and let Easton get some sleep. Rest is what you need," Chancellor said.

I could tell Rick was unsure of what to do, whether to leave me or to stay, and I could feel his uncertainty in the air.

"It's all right, Rick," I said. "You go on ahead and do whatever you need to do. Do you think you could drop in later this evening and check on me?"

"Sure," he grinned. "I'll be back around seven tonight."

Chancellor didn't seem at all suspicious about my request to Rick and she turned to leave.

"Oh, and if it's not too much trouble, Rick, would you mind stopping by the barbeque place and getting me some sliced beef and some fries? I like the original mild sauce. Get whatever you want and I'll pay for it all. I'd be in real trouble without you to help me, buddy."

His eyes danced with laughter at my calling him buddy.

"Aren't you afraid you might get sick and throw it up? Barbeque is pretty spicy."

"It's okay, I think I can handle it but you can clean it up if I can't. You're really good at that, you know."

"Barbeque it is then," he grinned.

After the two of them left I slept, read, watched television, and looked out the open window at the garden. A gentle breeze blew in filling the room with the fragrance of the Mr. Lincoln rose bushes that grew along the wall. I'd worked in the yard the previous weekend and it was picture perfect. The plants swayed in the gentle breeze and calmed me as I thought over what had happened between Rick and me.

I'd never even considered he might be gay, so much for my gaydar, and it threw me. I needed to know where he thought this was going. As for me, I knew where it was going and there wasn't going to be a white picket fence. Or would there be? I was torn, questioning my own sexuality for the first time in my life. I couldn't blame Rick for what had happened; I'd let it happen and I'd enjoyed it, I'd responded passionately and there was no way I could put this off on the drugs because I knew it my heart that wasn't true.

Then there was his name Rick. It had only been a few short hours since I'd writhed in ecstasy as licked and probed my asshole, trembled with desire as he sucked my cock, and willingly tasted the cum he'd shot onto my lips. The intimacy had changed everything and he was no longer Baker to me; he was Rick, the man whose lust for my body had changed my entire world in less than an hour. He'd called me Jeremy since my injury and now my calling him Rick reflected a tenderness between us that no one would ever know. Had the freedom I gave him to probe my body on the tennis court awakened his desire for me to the point he risked destroying his life if I had rejected him and told everyone? If so, I fully understood it. I'd done the same thing this afternoon when I let him have my naked body.