My Best Man by Andy Schell (unputdownable books .txt) 📗

dripping, and reach for an extra towel. Hand it to him. And watch as he towels himself dry.

He’s more than I imagined. The veins in his forearms run up through his biceps and continue into his chest until they disappear underneath the dark smattering of hair on his upper breast bone. His stomach has a line of hair that swirls around his belly button and runs down into his crotch. The v-shape of his abdomen above his genitals echoes the v-shape of his back and shoulders. His thighs are strong, and the hair underneath his knees, on his shins, is black and straight and luxuriant. I finally take a good look at his penis, and I’m completely magnetized by its beautiful, uncircumcised dark skin. It hangs heavily down, and his balls are darker still and full and loose.

“Can’t I have this other wedding first?” I ask, toweling myself off as well. I’m thankful for the results from the gym, because I’m no longer un confident with my body, but proud of its definition. My dick is slack, but extended in its relaxed state. “We can have anything we want. I’ll pay off our school loans. We can go to Argentina, both of us. We’ll take your mother and your brother with us. We can all have houses anywhere we choose. We can do volunteer work. You can write for anything you deem worthy. We can ride horses. It will be a life we could only imagine. Don’t you want that?”

“Yes,” he says honestly, “I do.”

“Then come to my wedding. In fact, be my best man! You can stand beside me.”

He slings his towel around his neck. “I want to be your best man ….. in life. Not at your wedding. If I go to your wedding, it is as your groom. Nothing else. What about Amity? You can’t just marry her, take your money, and leave. It’s not right. I would never respect you. And your mother would not allow it. I know this from meeting her. And my mother would not allow it.”

“Gay men and their mothers,” I sigh, shaking my head. “Why don’t you let me worry about all that?”

He takes the towel from his neck and wraps it around mine, pulling me close. “Because you can’t succeed at this. Even if we run away together, you will still be married to Amity.”

“On paper,” I tell him.

“In front of God,” he counters.

“God will see we have our fingers crossed.”

He closes his eyes, shakes his head no.

I realize he’s right. I have to call it off. Follow my heart. The only reason to marry is for love. Only love. Just as I start to speak, we hear the sound of screeching tires and a loud smash and then a thump and then heels clicking against the sidewalk. “Help! Harry! Help me!”

Nicolo and I run naked into the living room and through the sun porch to the front door just in time for Amity to come crashing

through. “Kim’s going to kill us! He found out we’re getting married!” she screams, slamming the door behind her and locking it. She turns around and sees Nicolo’s dick. “G’yaw!”

Out the front windows we see Kim’s Jaguar come skidding around the corner, hit the curb, jump into the yard, and smash into the BMW. “Fuck!” I yell, grabbing Amity and Nicolo and running back to my bedroom with them. “Shit!” I scream, realizing I’ve just run us all into a dead end. I turn them around, push them out.

“Come on!”

We shoot through the hall, and out into the living room again. I look out and see him running toward the house with a gun. I push Amity and Nicolo onward, toward the back of the house so we can escape through the kitchen and out the back door. We make it to the sitting room, and all of us smash into the coffee table, but instantly pick ourselves up and dart through the kitchen, then charge through the little laundry room and throw open the back door, Amity in front, Nicolo behind her, and me in the rear.

Kim, cutting us off at the pass, stands there, pointing the gun at us. “Back in house!” he barks, like a strung-out pit bull.

We slowly retreat, facing him, and Amity starts desperately negotiating. “Now, babe. I told you, Harry is gay. I just give him a place to hang his hat.”

“He hangs hat on your tits!” Kim spits.

“Don’t be crazy,” Amity says as we back through the kitchen. “These little titties couldn’t hold a book of matches! Now I mean it, Kim. It’s not what you think!”

“She’s telling the truth,” I say as we back into the sitting room. Nicolo and I are still without clothing, and my heart is pounding so hard I’m sure Nicolo feels it on his back. I’m scared because I can see the craziness in Kim’s eyes. He’s obviously on another cocaine hinge. He’s grinding his teeth, running his free hand through his greasy hair, and waving the gun as if it’s a sword. “This is my nay boyfriend,” I tell him, before I realize he may shoot me either way for being Amity’s boyfriend or for being gay.

Kim motions with the gun for us to get on the sofa. “Why do

I believe?” he yells.

We reach back, grab for the sofa, and ease ourselves down. “Look at them!” Amity implores. “They’re nudie naked! What the hell are two guys doing nudie naked together in the middle of the day!” Middle of the die!

“Waiting for you!” Kim says, cocking the trigger of the gun. “Jesus!” Nicolo cries.

“Bullshit!” I yell. “This is the man I love.”

“Prove to me or you die!” Kim decrees.

I look at Kim and read his sinister grin. I understand. Turning to Nicolo, I look into his eyes and press my lips into his, as I’ve been yearning to do since the day we rode horses. Nicolo kisses me back, and within a moment it’s as if we’re back in