Domestic Bliss

Revelations

Brian and Justin watched the ambulance pull away. It looked like Nate was okay, but they were taking him to the hospital to get fully checked out. He had a few gashes and some bruising, but it didn't look like he had broken anything.

"What should we do about Nate's crew?" Justin asked looking at the men who stood around the front door of the Baggley house.

"I'm going to tell them to take the rest of the day off," Brian replied looking at the men.

"They may not come back."

"I'm painfully aware of that fact. It will all depend on Nate and what happens with him." Brian strode up to the house and explained what the paramedics had said about their boss. He told them that he thought they should head home for the rest of the day.

The men mumbled and grumbled as they gathered up their gear. Brian knew that they were muttering about whether they would ever return. He watched them file out, get into their vehicles and disappear down the driveway. He went into the house to check the locks on the doors before leaving.

"Ready?" Brian asked as he came out the front door locking it behind him.

Justin was sitting on the balustrade reading Algernon's diary. "Yeah," he said not taking his eyes from the page.

"Then shut that thing and let's go."

Reluctantly Justin closed the little book and they walked to the Corvette. They got inside and Brian started the engine. As they pulled into traffic, Justin stared back at the house.

"I wonder what really happened in that attic," Justin said.

"Didn't you find out from the diary?" Brian asked sarcastically.

"I don't think it's possible for Algernon to write about his own death."

"Hm," Brian replied. "Here, I thought you'd have all the answers by now."

"Don't be mean," Justin replied.

"Want to pick up something for lunch and then you can spend all afternoon reading that thing?"

"Sounds good to me."

Brian made a face but said no more. They stopped for Caesar salads with chicken at their favorite Italian restaurant. When they arrived home, Justin headed for the kitchen and plunked himself down at the kitchen table leafing through the pages of the diary and skimming the words.

"Have you found anything interesting?" Brian asked as he emptied the salads onto plates and set one down in front of Justin.

"Yeah, kind of," Justin said as he stuffed some salad into his mouth with his fork in one hand and the diary still in the other.

"What?" Brian asked as he sat down across from him.

"The diary starts soon after Algernon began working for the Baggley's. I think he's gay."

"What? What makes you think that? Does he say he is?" Brian asked.

"Not exactly, but he talks about his time off, how he went to a dance at some church and felt very uncomfortable when a girl stuck to him like glue all night."

"He may just have been bashful … not gay."

"Maybe," Justin said, "but I think he's gay."

"And that's why you found his diary and seem to have an affinity for him," Brian said sarcastically.

"Well, it could be," Justin shot back. Sometimes he didn't appreciate Brian's skepticism one little bit.

Brian snorted and turned his attention to his salad. Justin continued to read picking at his salad when he stopped to turn a page.

"Brian, listen to this," Justin said after a few minutes.

"What?"

Justin read: Tonight I met a young man named Leon. He is very handsome, at least to me. I hope we can be friends, maybe even more than friends. "See, I told you he was gay."

"That hardly proves he was gay, and what difference does it make whether he's gay or not?" Brian demanded. He stood up and took their mostly empty plates to the sink.

Justin shook his head. He knew he was right about Algernon. He was gay, and maybe that had something to do with why he was murdered. He continued to read.

"Oh my God!" Justin stopped reading and looked up.

"What?" Brian asked.

"He was gay. Listen to this."

"If I must," Brian said in his best drama queen voice.

Justin read: Tonight I met Leon at a local pub. We drank some beer and he was a little tipsy when we finally left the establishment. He asked me to come back to his place because he had some beer there. I should have gone back to the Baggley house, but I just couldn't turn away from Leon. My heart and my body ached to be near him.

Brian made a face. "Love at first sight. I don't believe in that shit."

"Brian," Justin said in a hurt voice. "Didn't you know I was the one when you first saw me on Liberty Avenue?"

"I knew you were a prime piece of young ass and I wanted you all to myself."

"Thanks," Justin said shaking his head and trying not to let Brian's words hurt too much.

"Well, you asked. I never believed in love back then, at first sight or at first fuck … or at all. You know that."

"Yeah, I know," Justin conceded. He hated when Brian was so extremely unromantic. It wouldn't hurt him once in a while to say something romantic even if it wasn't true.

"So, did they do the deed?" Brian asked with his tongue stuck in his cheek.

"You are so crass … and I haven't got that far yet." Justin admitted.

"Let me know when they get it on."

"Asshole," Justin laughed. He went back to his reading.

I guess I got a little drunk because I practically jumped on top of Leon. I kissed him and it felt so good. I know it's wrong, but it still felt right. He kissed me back much to my surprise. We spent a lot of time rubbing together and kissing and stroking each other through our trousers. Leon made me lose my control and I had a big wet area on my trousers.

I felt so embarrassed going back to the Baggley house like that but I didn't have any choice. I was able to go in the back way and no one saw me. I hurried up to my room and changed into my bedclothes. I washed the trousers as best I could and hung them out the window so they would be dry in the morning. I only have one pair so I had to make sure they were presentable or it could cost me my job.

I slept so deeply the rest of the night, dreaming about Leon and what we had done. It made me feel so good. I wonder what will happen next with him.

"Poor bugger," Brian reacted as he listened to Justin read the passage aloud.

"Why do you say that?" Justin asked.

"He spent the night rubbing against some guy and creaming his pants, and he thinks he had a great time."

"He was exploring his sexuality," Justin said defending Algernon's feelings. "I can understand how he felt."

"I bet you can. You were such a scared little virgin that first night. I bet good old Algernon was just the same."

"It does kind of sound like he's a virgin," Justin admitted. "But there's nothing wrong with being one. We all were at one time."

Brian snorted. "Not at twenty-five or whatever the fuck age Algernon was," Brian declared.

"It was a different time … and he was only twenty-three."

"Only twenty-three," Brian scoffed. "That makes it so much better."

"Oh, listen to this," Justin said as he had gone back to reading the diary. "It takes place the next morning."

Mr. Baggley says he saw me come in last night. He wanted to know what I had been doing out so late. I got really flustered and couldn't think of a good explanation. I was praying that he didn't get a look at my trousers. He backed me up against the wall and wanted to know why I had been sneaking in. I was so embarrassed and he got so close to me. I could smell his cologne and his hips were against mine. I started to get hard and I think he did too. Then he cursed and walked away. I don't know what that means. I hope I don't get fired.

"So old man Baggley had something going on too," Brian chuckled.

"He wasn't old and you don't know that."

"What did it sound like to you?" Brian wanted to know.

"I … I don't know. Why don't you just let me read and maybe I'll find out," Justin griped.

"Certainly," Brian replied as he walked out of the kitchen. "Have fun with the virgins."

"Asshole."

Justin read through the next fifty or so pages. He learned about the life of the butler and how very limited his time for himself was. Algernon had few opportunities to meet with Leon. When they did there was always necking and rubbing but they never got any farther than that. Mr. Baggley seemed to enjoy tormenting Algernon and making him feel less than he already was. The owner of the house developed a pattern of trapping his butler in the kitchen and rubbing up against him. He would appear there in the evenings after the cook had gone home. They would both get hard, but then Mr. Baggley would stomp away cursing. It seemed to be a love/hate relationship, or rather a desire/denial relationship. It looked like Brian was right that there was something going on between the two men, master and servant. But neither of them knew quite what to do about it.

Algernon had been in the employ of Mr. Baggley for almost a year when Justin came to the most significant entry that he had yet read.

"Brian, come listen to this," Justin called.

"What now?" Brian asked sticking his head into the kitchen. "I'm reading something a little more enlightening in here."

"And what might that be?"

"The Wind in the Willows."

"What?"

"I thought Gus might like me to read it to him when he comes over next weekend."

Justin laughed gently. "You are such an enigma, Brian Kinney."

"Back atcha," Brian chuckled. "So what did you find this time?"

"Listen," Justin replied suddenly becoming very serious.

Mrs. Baggley has gone to visit her mother. She took the little girl, Clarissa, with her. They will be gone for a couple of weeks. Not long after they left, Mr. Baggley wandered into the kitchen. He said he wanted some afternoon tea and the cook started preparing it. I had to carry it into the library and serve the master. Once I had poured him a cup and set everything out I started to leave the room. Mr. Baggley called me back.

That's when it happened. He reached out as I stood by his desk and he brought his hand down the length of my cheek. He told me that I was a very handsome man and then he asked me if I was still coming in late every night.

I didn't know what to say to him, so I mumbled something about not having much time to socialize. I told him that I spent a lot of time in my room in the attic. He looked at me funny and asked what time the cook went home. I said that she left by eight p.m. on most days. He told me that I could take an early evening. I wasn't sure what he was getting at. I think he wanted to know if I would be going out. I told him I'd retire early if that was all right with him. He said it was. He thought he'd have an early night himself.

There was something strange about the whole conversation. He's never talked to me like that before. I don't know what it means.

"What does it mean?" Brian asked with a frown. "It sounds like a whole lot of nothing."

"It's what follows that is so important," Justin said looking very serious.

"So, read on, MacDuff."

"This is sometime later that day or early the next morning."

I haven't slept at all. I don't know what to do or feel. I'm so excited and so worried and so happy.

Mr. Baggley came up to my room after I had retired. He knocked on the door and when I answered it in my nightshirt, he was standing there. I think he had been drinking as he smelled of alcohol.

I asked him what he wanted and he didn't reply. He just pushed past me and entered my room. He looked around like he was sizing things up. Then he looked at me and it was like he was looking deep inside me. I didn't know what to do, but I felt myself grow hard. I placed my hands in front of my nightshirt so he wouldn't see how it started to stick out. But he knew.

He stepped very close to me and then he grabbed me not in a gentle way. He kissed me like I have never been kissed before. My knees felt weak and I thought I might pass out, but he just kept on kissing and I kissed him back. It was so much better than what I had done with Leon. My member was so hard it ached, and I could feel his body against mine and then his hand closed around me and I thought I would faint from the sheer sensation of it. I know I moaned. He whispered for me to be quiet, that he wanted me, that it would be all right.

The next thing I knew I was on the bed and he was behind me and then… I don't know if I can put this down in words. He drove into me and I cried out, but the house was empty except for us and no one could hear. It hurt so much at first that I was afraid I would never recover. But after a bit, as he continued to press into me, I started to feel things that I have never felt before. Things I could never even have dreamt of. He whispered words to me the whole time. He said things about how handsome I was and how he had wanted to do this for so long. He wanted to know if I felt the same desire for him. I didn't know what to say as I had no idea that this could happen between two men.

And then it was over. I felt him leave me and I wanted to weep. He told me to clean up and that I could sleep late today. Then he was gone.

I was so sore. I tried to wash down there but it was very tender. I've been lying here wondering what to do. I think I'm all right. The pain has eased and there is no blood. I realized that I had spilled my seed all over my sheet. I stripped the bottom one off and rinsed out the spot. I hung it on a chair to dry. I'm lying on my other sheet and I'm covered by a quilt.

My body feels so strange. The pain was great, but there was so much more to what happened. I don't know what the morrow will bring. I'm afraid to think what the master will do. He could fire me or he could come back to my room tomorrow night. I hope it's the latter.

"What do you think about that?" Justin asked.

"I think poor old Algernon was raped."

"Raped? Yeah, I guess you could call it that, but Algernon doesn't seem too upset about it."

"Have you read any farther?"

"No, there's not too many more pages, maybe thirty or so."

"I wonder if this rape or sexual encounter, whatever the fuck it was, had something to do with Algernon's murder," Brian said speculatively.

"It was supposed to be an intruder."

"But this intruder seemed not to have stolen anything or done any damage. He just killed the butler."

"Are you saying Baggley murdered him?" Justin asked, his mouth falling open as that possibility dawned on him.

"I don't know, but stranger things have happened. If Algernon threatened to reveal what happened between them, that could ruin Baggley's reputation, to say nothing of what it might do to his family."

"Wow! That makes a lot of sense. But how would we ever be able to prove that Baggley did it?"

"Unless old Algernon wrote it in his diary, I doubt that there would be any way to prove it."

"So we're really no better off than we were before we found the diary?" Justin said shaking his head. "I thought I had really found something."

"You did. We know a lot more about Algernon and his life than we did before you started looking into his murder."

"Yeah, but it doesn't help solve the mystery," Justin said dejectedly.

"Maybe it's enough that someone knows."

Justin perked up at that thought. "Maybe that's all the ghost wants, someone to know the truth."

Brian shook his head. "You really think the ghost is Algernon, don't you?"

"Well, don't you?" Justin challenged.

"I don't believe in ghosts," Brian averred, but his smirk indicated otherwise.

"You are so full of shit."

"Maybe I am, but all this talk of rape has made me horny," Brian laughed. He took the diary and set it down on the table. He pulled Justin up into a passionate kiss. "Think you can leave Algernon and his master long enough to fulfill a little rape fantasy?"

"If I get to rape you," Justin said keeping his face serious.

Brian's eyebrows shot up, then they lowered as he thought about what Justin had said. "That might be hot," he said as a smile lifted the corners of his mouth.

"Want to test it out?"

"Come on," Brian stated as he grabbed Justin's wrist and they headed for the bedroom.

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