Trevon Carter

"Should I call him?" I asked.

Arthur and I were cuddled on his couch. Dinner was over. Homework was completed.

"Who?" Arthur asked.

"Vincent. Scold him for trying to break up Alex and Mateo."

"I thought Alex said he wasn't doing that anymore."

"Alex wants to believe the best of everyone. I know Vincent though. He hasn't given up. If anything, he's only gotten more sneaky. Especially after what happened in high school."

"Are you ever going to tell me what happened?"

I hesitated because part of me did want to tell him. I didn't think he would tell anyone else. But it wasn't really my secret to tell.

I got up and started to pace behind the couch instead of answering him. Arthur sighed.

"I don't think you are going to be able to relax until you call him. So call him," Arthur said. He patted the couch next to him, but instead of joining him I continued to pace behind the couch.

I called Vincent.

"Are you seriously trying to break up Alex and his new boyfriend?" I asked as soon as I heard him answer. I didn't even give him a chance to say hello.

"I haven't heard from you in such a long time and this is what you call me about? No, hi, how you doing? How's school? How's family? How's life?" Vincent said. He didn't sound annoyed though.

"You haven't called me either," I said. I paused in my pacing.

"I've been busy," he said weakly.

"Me too. But I've been busy with school work. Not trying to break up Alex and his boyfriend." Arthur watched me carefully from the couch.

"I'm just trying to protect Alex."

I understood that. The way Alex would shake late at night, the way he refused to eat, the way he looked like a ghost after what happened with Jason. Those memories would always haunt me. I also remembered Alex's words that he wanted to take care of things on his own now and I respected that. I said, "He is his own person you know. And from what he tells me, Mateo is really nice."

"We thought Jason was nice at first too," Vincent said.

I glanced at Arthur just to make sure he was far enough away he couldn't overhear our conversation. He stood up, but didn't round the couch.

"Did he tell you that Jason has contacted him again and released part of the video?" Vincent asked.

Cold ran down my spine and along my arms. My stomach twisted. Was this what Alex was referring to when he said he wanted to take care of things by himself? Jason?

I realized I had paused too long and now Arthur was starting to round the couch looking concerned. He couldn't hear Vincent's end of the conversation so he wouldn't know we were talking about Jason.

"No." It was hard to speak. "He didn't tell me that."

"Is he going to try to break us up too?" Arthur asked as he drew closer.

"No," I said gently. I didn't even realize that had been a concern of his.

"But he's already trying to break up your other friend."

"Not because our other friend is gay. Don't worry."

"Let me say hi." He reached out for the phone.

"No." I tried to lift the phone up and out of his reach, but I wasn't fast enough. "No, Arthur!"

He smiled proud of himself as he put my phone up to his ear. "Hiiiii."

I couldn't help but smile. He was just too adorable.

"I'm Arthur, Trev's boyfriend. You're not going to try to break us up are you because I'm going to tell you right now I won't stand for that."

God, I loved him. I leaned in close so I could hear Vincent's side of the conversation too.

"Good," Arthur said sounding quite satisfied with himself.

"You're too far away," Vincent said in that familiar teasing tone.

"What?" Arthur sputtered.

"He's teasing," I said as I took the phone away.

"How do you know he's teasing? Give me back the phone. I need to talk to him again." Arthur reached for the phone again, but this time I was faster than he was. I held the phone up high so he couldn't snatch it from my hand again.

"Art, I've known him since the second grade," I said, "and I can tell when he's teasing."

Arthur put his hands on his hips as I brought the phone back to my ear. "Well, tell that white boy," Arthur said, "that he should stop trying to break up his gay and bi friends. It's hard enough as it is to come out when you have this big secret. To not have your friends support you is worse. I bet he's never even had a big secret he's needed to reveal." Then Arthur gasped. "Oh no," he said. His hands went up to his mouth. "What if he isn't white? I just assumed he was. What if I just made a terrible faux pas?"

I laughed. "Don't worry, Art. He's white."

"I'll tell you a big secret I've been keeping," Vincent said. "But I want only you to know. Not your boyfriend."

"You have a secret you've kept from me?" I asked. I already knew about his parentage. What else was there to know? He couldn't have kept something big from me for all these years, could he?

"He's going to tell us a secret?" Arthur asked excitedly. He hopped a little on his feet.

"Not 'us'. Just me," I said.

"But we don't keep secrets between us," Arthur said. He pouted and I wanted to nibble on that bottom lip.

"This isn't my secret. It's my friend's and I will keep his secret."

Arthur sighed over dramatically. "Fine," he said. "I'll just wait for you then...on the bed." I knew what that meant and I wanted to chase after him. But first, I needed to know Vincent's secret.

I waited until Arthur went into his bedroom and closed his door. "Okay. I'm alone. Tell me this big secret."

"I'm bi."

What did he mean he was bi? Bisexual? Like me? I didn't see how that was possible.

"You don't need to tease me," I said. "It's okay that you're straight. You don't need some big secret to understand us. Just ignore what Arthur said."

"I'm not teasing," he said.

"But I've never seen you check out a guy," I said.

"Trev, you know what my family would do to me if they found me checking out a guy."

They would disown him. There was no question. So it was true. He really was bi.

"Hunh," I said. "So Alex is gay and you and I are both bisexual."

"I guess so," he said.

"So, has there been any guys you've checked out in secret?"

"Do you remember that exchange student from Taiwan when we were sophomores?"

"Oh yes. He was hot. I checked him out myself. I heard he's an actor now or something. Anyone else?"

"I had a small crush on Levi until he turned out to be a jerk," Vincent said.

"Me too," I said. "Do we have the same taste in guys? When you meet Arthur, you better not hit on him." I knew Vincent wouldn't, but it was fun to tease him.

"Don't worry. I won't. My family can never find out I'm bi."

"No offense," I said, "but I kinda hate your family. Well, at least your mom. Your grandma was always nice to me and your dad was nice too. Your brother was kind of a jerk, but I think all brothers are a little. But your mom. Remember what she said to me at that Christmas party when we were 14?" She told me I should be proud of my grandpa for rising us up above the rest of our people. She also said grandpa did well to raise my father and uncle to not act black. I had never wanted to slap a woman before then. I put up with her because I loved Vincent as a brother.

"Ugh, don't remind me. I was so embarrassed." And he had been. He had apologized to me so many times at that party. He was too ashamed to show his face. Alex and I found him later hiding in the kitchen. I told him he didn't have to be sorry for her actions, just his own and he had never done anything to me to warrant an apology.

"Yeah, that's when I knew she was racist," I said. I was still amazed at how well she hid it. I wasn't even sure she realized she was racist. And now my cousin was dating Vincent's brother. "Sorry, man, but I do not like her."

"It's okay. You don't have to like her. Your family was always nice to me and your cousin, Jasmine, seems really nice. Honestly, I can't figure out why she is dating my brother."

"I don't know either," I said. "She said he's nice."

"Are you done yet?" Arthur's voice called from the bedroom. I wondered what he looked like in there. Was he naked on the bed? I couldn't wait until the lingerie I ordered arrived. I had to think of something else before I got hard.

"Almost," I called back. "Anyone you currently have a crush on?" I asked Vincent and hoped he had a crush on a boy. I wasn't sure why. Maybe just so I could tease him. "Girl or boy?"

"No," he said.

"Okay. Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me."

"I know it is." He paused a moment and then said, "Alex is calling me,"

"Okay. I'll let you answer it." I said. "Don't wait a month next time to call me."

We hung up and I went to the bedroom. When I opened the door, Arthur was sprawled out on the bed wearing only his pink boxer briefs. He patted the bed next to him. I didn't want him to know how much of a hold he had over me - even though he probably already knew - so I sauntered over slowly.

I sat down on the edge of the bed. He sat up and stared into my eyes. "You know what I don't know about you yet?" he asked.

I shook my head as my eyes drifted from his rich eyes to his lips.

He tugged at the hem of my shirt and I let him lift it up over my head. He leaned in extremely close, but not close enough to touch my lips with his. His breath sent tingles down my skin as he said, "I haven't found that one spot on you that is going to make you go crazy and give me whatever I want."

Before I processed what was happening, he pushed on my shoulders until I was on my back and he was straddling me.

"Maybe there isn't one spot," I said. "You just make me go crazy."

He smiled at me as he unbuttoned my pants. "There is going to be a spot that makes you do whatever I say. I just need to find it. You'll see."

He pulled my pants all the way off, but left my boxers on. He crawled up me and dipped his lips to my neck. He kissed all along the side.

"I really don't think you're going to find a specific spot," I said. His lips trailed to the hollow of my neck. I was starting to get hard. He moved on to the other side of my neck. His kisses sent tingles down through my skin, but it wasn't anything more than it usually was. I wasn't going to stop him though.

He took my earlobes in his mouth, kissed behind each ear, around the ears before he went to my face. He kissed along my jaw, met my lips, but moved on before the kiss could get too heated. He kissed my nose, my cheeks and forehead. When he got to my eyelids, I laughed. He sat up and looked at me.

"Why are you laughing?"

"It tickles."

He frowned at me and dipped his head down to my left shoulder. He kissed all along it, down my arm, the inside of the elbow and wrist. He kissed my palm, the back of my hand, each finger and then repeated the process on the other side. Then he moved on to my chest. He took each nipple in his mouth one at a time. I moaned and got harder, but it still wasn't anything more than usual. I always got so turned on by him that I couldn't imagine it being more. He moved down my stomach, down to the hip, but he worked around the boxers. He went down the thigh of the right leg, over the knee, down the shin, over my feet and toes. He lifted my leg and kissed my calf and behind my knee. He set the leg down and sat up straight to frown at me.

I shrugged. "I told you there's not going to be a special spot."

"Everyone has a special spot," he said.

I wasn't sure I believed that. Everyone was different.

He bent back down and started to kiss the inner thigh of the right leg. His lips hit a spot in the middle of the inner thigh that shot hot electricity through me. I moaned loudly and my hands clung to the bedspread. My breathing heated tenfold.

He sat up again and smiled down at me triumphantly. "Found it," he said and dipped his head back to that spot. He licked it and my toes curled with my fingers as another loud moan escaped me.

"What did you and Vincent talk about?" His breath hit that wet spot along my inner thigh and for a moment I couldn't breathe.

"You know. You were there," I said.

He nibbled the spot. I was hard and aching. I reached out to relieve myself, but Arthur grabbed my wrist and held me back.

"I meant when I came into the bedroom." He sucked on that spot. I tried to hold back my moan, but I couldn't.

"Secret," was all that I could manage.

I reached for my hard on with my other hand, but he reached out and grabbed my hard on before I could. He didn't jerk me off though. He prevented me from climaxing.

He dipped his head back down to that spot on my thigh and licked and nibbled.

"Vincent's secret is still too fresh then," Arthur said. "What about Alex's secret?"

"I can't say," I said in agonizing pleasure. My legs were weak. My arms were weak.

"I think Alex would want me to know," Arthur said against that spot. "I'm not going to tell anyone else or judge him." He licked the spot again. Tortured ecstasy spasmed through me.

"Fine," I said before I processed what I was saying. "Just let me cum."

He smiled grandly before he pulled my hard on out of my boxers and took me in his mouth. I released almost immediately. I didn't even have the presence of mind to warn him. He swallowed and settled in beside me. He had a leg draped over mine and an arm over my stomach.

"I'm listening," he said.

"For what?"

He sat up and frowned at me. "You said you would tell me about Alex."

"Can I ask him for permission first?"

He fell back onto the bed dramatically. "You called Vincent without asking for his permission first."

"This isn't the same."

"Please," he said to me. "Please," he said cutely, but his hand was seductively moving down to that spot on my inner thigh.

"Fine," I said frightened of the power he had over me.

He sat up and stared down at me expectantly.

"Alex's first love secretly recorded them having sex and then blackmailed him with it."

Arthur visibly deflated. "You probably shouldn't have told me that," he said after a pause.

"You forced it out of me," I defended.

"No one can force you to do anything if you don't want to."

I sighed defeated.

He sprawled out over me so his head was on my chest. "Poor Alex," he said. "I won't tell anyone. Is Vincent's secret that dramatic?"

That wasn't an easy answer. It seemed like it should have been. I should have been able to say no, Vincent just said he was bi. Except Vincent's family would not accept him. Nothing he owned was his. Even his apartment was in his father's name.

Still what Jason had done to Alex had sent my best friend down to a place lower than I thought possible.

"No," I said. "It's not as dramatic. But it is important to him."

"Okay," Arthur said.