The Devil in Devlin

Dakota, maybe thinking along the same lines, kissed me harder and stuck his tongue in my mouth for me to suck for a second or two. "Ewww," Caleb half-joked as he blushed scarlet but otherwise said nothing more. So my foster brother seemed relatively cool with the idea of Dakota and me hooking up, although maybe it was the lesser of two evils, where his disappearance or death would have been far worse to deal with. We all broke into relieved giggles.

For the next forty-five minutes we discussed how we were going to get him home with the least amount of trouble. None of us were stupid; even if he was eighteen and it wouldn't be a legal issue because he isn't a minor, he was in for an intense interrogation from his parents and the cops. His integrity was going to come into question as well, and I didn't envy him the inquisition of explaining why he'd run off and where he had been all night, nor the church adults guilt-tripping him because of what he put his family through. That he couldn't admit to spending six hours in bed with me went without saying.

We rehearsed the partly true story of how Dakota had received some bad news of a buddy after school the day before that made him spaz out. Without thinking about the consequences, he'd taken off to consider what to do. He wandered around most of the night before he finally fell asleep behind the old drive-in theater/swap meet site recently sold on the edge of town—a place he never went to that Caleb and I knew had been missed in the searches. Waking up late this morning, Kody turned up on the patio of the Simmons' home around noon, contrite and worried and seeking out his best friend Caleb.

It was simple enough. Luckily, since I helped search for him nobody thought it strange that I went with Caleb and Dakota, but there was no way I would let him walk into the lion's den alone. It was imperative, however, that I act mostly disinterested in his story, like it was all bullshit that didn't affect me in the same way it did my foster brother. We all hoped none of us would mess up.

It went more or less according to plan. His mother fell on Dakota's neck wildly weeping in relief while he held her and apologized over and over. He was genuinely distressed over the pain he had caused his loved ones, so he didn't have to fake the sentiment. A police officer lectured him on his moral, if not legal, responsibility to keep in touch with his family so they wouldn't needlessly worry over him. Valuable community resources had been wasted on searches for him, and Dakota might not be out of the woods on that end except for his age and the fact that he was a good kid. Even Caleb and I had to give a statement, and I played my part very well of the new friend who had no part in the drama.

Then the pastor and several deacons of the church arrived, and the real show began. These people, however good their intentions, were relentless. Dakota stoutly refused to expose the classmate who had spoken to him or go into detail about the subject of their discussion, saying he had promised discretion. The churchmen told him he had a duty to share so the friend could be prayed for, and their determination to break him down just for a bit of gossip smacked of both mental abuse and hypocrisy to me. Dakota was equally strong and refused to reveal anything to them, and in the end the cleric convinced his parents that maybe their son should see the church counselor for a few sessions as follow-up. Dakota was grounded for a week.

On the other hand, they didn't take his cell phone away. We messaged each other all evening until our fingers got sore, and then he called me after we went to bed that night.

"Hey Kody," I greeted softly, worried about him. "How are you holding up?"

His parents had contacted his maternal grandfather about the runaway, which was how it was now being labeled. The old man arrived just before dinner with guns blazing to spend two hours shouting at Dakota for upsetting his mother so thoroughly. He was of a mind that the boy should be immediately removed from public school and enrolled in church-run education but, thankfully, it was too close to the end of his senior year, and the Brewsters realized changing schools might torpedo his chances at getting into the university. Grandpa decreed that a year at the local college, keeping Dakota at home where he could be closely watched, would be good for him, and for a time, it looked as if he might win out. Dakota told me all of this in near tears, and all I could do was comfort him.

"Keep your nose clean from here on out," I urgently advised him. "I don't want you stuck at some community school while I have to miss you from San Francisco."

"That would be horrible. Another year at home? I don't think I could live through it."

I shuddered listening to that kind of talk. "I'm here for you if things get rough, Kody. You know that, right?"

He was silent a minute, almost scaring me with his lack of response. I tried not to push him because he had been under so much pressure from everyone around him. But at last he seemed to shake it, or so I thought.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I know."

I continued to talk about all the good parts of going away to college. "We should share a dorm."

"Do you honestly want to?" he asked in surprise. "With me?"

"No, with your sisters," I teased, but he was too quiet. "Of course with you. You're my boyfriend, aren't you?"

Dakota turned pensive, and my antennae went up seeking out the reason.

"Are you still there, Kody?" The pause seemed to go on forever.

"We're an abomination, Devlin." His wavering voice broke my heart and sent panicky chills racing up my spine. "What we did this morning is a sin."

"You didn't tell on us, did you?" My mouth felt like sawdust. If he'd confessed to anyone we knew, not only would he be persecuted but so would I. I might as well begin packing immediately because for sure I would be kicked out of the Simmons' house, forever branded as the boy who turned Dakota gay.

"N-no," he breathed. "But it's the truth."

"According to who?" I scoffed. "Don't you remember all that stuff you said this morning about God and love? Even with as few times as I've delved into the pages of the Good Book, there are commands in there that don't even apply to present times. Women keeping their heads covered, for example, or all men sporting facial hair. The way I read the Sodom and Gomorrah story was that it wasn't homosexuality that was the problem, it was that the men wanted to rape the angels sent to save Lot's family. Jesus doesn't even address the gay issue."

Dakota chuckled. "For a non-believer, you certainly know a lot about the Bible."

"So what got you so freaked?" I could tell he was calming down again.

"Grandpa is a lay minister at his church and knows how to put the fear of God into people. He got his preacher on and sermonized me but good about all the sins of the world. I guess I let it get under my skin."

His turn of phrase was waking up my cock. "I'd like to get under your skin," I rasped. "I miss you. The sex and waking up with you in my bed made this one of my best days ever."

"Mine too. So tell me about getting under my skin," he teased, but I could hear the sultry edge to it. I had him interested, and that in itself was getting me further aroused.

"Oh, it's just that there are certain parts of your skin that I'd like to wrap my lips around right this very minute."

He groaned. "Keep talking, Dev. Tell me what you want to do to me."

I swallowed hard, unaccustomed to doing phone sex with anyone, but if it turned Kody on...

"First we would be someplace that nobody knew about and we didn't have to sneak around. It would have a big soft bed with the finest satin sheets." I went on to describe taking off his clothes piece by piece, spending my time unveiling his beautiful body for me to lick and kiss. I could hear him moaning.

"Are you jacking off?"

"Yeah," he wheezed. "What would you do next?"

Oh fuck, that sent my need for him through the roof, and I wanted to jump through the mobile to get to him. I could see Dakota in all his naked glory. The images had me so hard I was hurting.

"So all you're wearing are a pair of briefs. They're thin, um... low-cut, really low-cut... bright red. I can clearly see your raging hard-on through them and you're, you know, sticking out above the top of the waistband. I take them off you and I feel up your ass before you lie down on the bed. You're so sexy and I want to play with your beautiful body and touch you all over."

Shucking my boxers, I spit in my hand and reached down to take hold of my own cock. The head was already shimmery with liquid need, and I began to slide the foreskin down my hard pole and back up, flicking around the head in gentle rotations.

"I spread your legs and see your big, hard prick, Kody. You want me so bad I can see your heartbeat making it jump on your stomach and you're dripping with jizz. I crawl between your legs and when I bend over you, I pick up your prick and squeeze it. You have a puddle of jizz on your tummy, and I put some on your pole and begin to move up and down. I decide I have to taste you. I dip my tongue in your jizz and it tastes good... like, um, kind of salty and sweet."

I could tell by his harsh breathing that Dakota was listening to me carefully. I stroked myself with long, slow grips up and down. I could feel the muscles in my abdomen begin to jerk, so I knew this was going to be short and sweet. Balancing my phone between my ear and shoulder, I began to massage my balls with my other hand, pulling on the sac and rolling them inside. I began to moan.

"I put my mouth around the head of your cock, Kody," I whispered hoarsely. "It's soft and sexy, and I suck on it hard to get your jizz because I need it. After I rub my tongue all over you, I hear you talking to me and telling me that you want me to suck you really hard. I start licking all over your hard dick, feeling all the little bumps and veins in it. Every lick sends you into heaven. I'm going down on you as far as I can. I have to work at it, but I can get you into my throat. You feel so good in my mouth, Kody, and I suck you hard."

I moaned again, partly from the way I was now riding my hand, partly from my description of what I wanted to do to Dakota's cock. I wished he was with me so I could do that to him and, by his whimpers, so did he. My fingers were flying up and down my shaft, and my pinkie was grinding into the slit, making it belch squirts of precum. I could feel my climax building deep and my balls were getting tight.

"Oh Dev, I'm so close," Kody sang into my ear. "Keep going."

"Yeah, well... I have the head of your prick in my throat, and every time I swallow it's tugging at you. You're so far gone, Kody, that you begin fucking my face. You're sliding your prick in and out of my mouth, and you can feel every single inch of my tongue sliding over it. Your nuts are pulling..."

"Aaaah, Dev, I'm cumming... I'm..." He abruptly stopped talking, but I could hear the muffled screams, so I had to assume he was pressing a pillow into his mouth. No matter, listing to him orgasm was all I needed for my own, and my cock began to shoot cum like a fire hose. I cried out Kody's name as quietly as I could while I blasted all over my abdomen in long strings that dripped down my sides into the sheets. Just drifting, I lay back in dazed satisfaction.

"Shit, Dev." He was back on the phone breathing like a bull. "That was one fine nut you just gave me. Did you blow too?"

"Yeah, Kody," I panted. "It was good for me too."

We talked for awhile longer, but both of us were exhausted. Soon we hung up; I turned over and went to sleep.

I didn't hear from Dakota all day Sunday, but Caleb talked to him at church and said he was okay. One of his parents had remembered his cell phone that morning and relieved him of it. I was just glad that I hadn't given in to temptation and sent him a text picture of me naked with cum all over me like I'd been considering. Someone was watching out for us, I guess.

I could hardly wait until Monday to get back to school. The rumor mill had been working in full force over the weekend, and by the time classes started, I think every student knew that Dakota had disappeared all Friday night. There were a few sympathetic murmurs, mostly from girls who had the hots for him and hoped sharing their feelings might kindle his in return, but I had to secretly giggle over their wasted breath. Even Caleb found it funny. Most of our classmates teased him about it and Dakota laughed along with them. There were one or two who made off-color remarks about him having a secret gay lover, and I held my breath willing him to be cool and not take them seriously.

I sat with him and the guys at lunch, and he looked kind of pale. It was just my good fortune that I was part of Caleb's group of friends, even though I didn't attend their church, so our eating together was natural. We sat next to each other, and he ate his turkey sandwich with one hand while resting the other on my knee under the table. He needed the contact to soothe him and let him know it would be alright.

We held back as the bell rang to send us to fifth period.

"Mom says I can't stay for tutoring," he griped, his eyes sad. I could see the struggle inside him; he wanted to hold my hand or kiss me, but he wisely refrained. "I might be able to talk her into later this week since it's all about my government grade. I'm sorry about the phone."

"Shh," I tried to console him. "It will work out. Just be strong for me, 'kay?"

He nodded and looked at his feet. "I love you," he said in a voice only I could hear.

"I love you too, honey." I tugged on the hem of his shirt in place of a hug, and he smiled at the new endearment. "Have a good afternoon, and I'll try to see you following sixth."

We managed to get through the rest of the week of torture, with our only contact being school which was much too public to even touch each other. I could see it in his violet eyes how much he yearned for my embrace. His life was constant pressure to conform to his parents' standards. At least Randy and Amber left me alone. They made no demands other than that I follow their rules and do my best in school. Seeing as how I was generally a good kid and an honor student, they were tickled pink.

Caleb came to be my ally. Mrs. Brewster, possibly thinking that Dakota deserved one phone call a day with a friend, allowed him to speak with Caleb at 6:30 every evening, and he passed messages back and forth for us. His face was usually a solid blush for the last fifteen minutes of the call, not that we resorted to anything like our phone sex. It was just the fervent vows of 'I love you' and how much we couldn't wait for the weekend.

If we thought, however, that the lifting of Dakota's restriction was going to help matters we were wrong. We had no privacy. Definitely none at school, not even in the library or waiting in the hall after school for the other students to leave because we couldn't be obvious that we were better friends than we were supposed to be. None at home when Dakota came over for Bible study and his hungry eyes would rake me as I made small talk on my way to the kitchen. Not during game or movie nights because Esdy and Justin were there too.

Two weekends after Dakota and I got together we thought we had the perfect plan but neither of us was really gung ho for it. If we could talk Caleb into asking for permission for Dakota to spend the night, and we could sneak him into my bedroom... Caleb was aghast. As much as he was secretly rooting for us, he had no intention of deceiving his parents like that, and he made me promise I would never have sex again in the house. I needed his support, so I agreed. But that left us no options for solitude unless Dakota changed his routine. It wasn't like I could stay the night at his house as a guest... not without Caleb there.

Being at school every day with Dakota became nearly unbearable. My palms itched to grab hold of his hand every time we passed each other on our way to class, and we had to settle for the brief shirt tugs that were our secret code. We sat as close as we dared at lunch. I longed to kiss my man when we met by one of our lockers or at Starbucks. But the risk was ever-present, fear for him invading me like a disease, knowing just one minor slip-up could be his undoing. I kept my eyes averted from his in case someone saw the love pass between us. We settled for text messages that we deleted as soon as we read them, much as I would've liked to save his vows of devotion. I doodled his name in my binder, blending it in with my artwork so it became part of a picture. I did the same on notes I passed to him, and I hoped he kept them somewhere safe or destroyed them.

Acting as if we were merely friends was easier for me than it looked. I was adept at hiding being gay by now so this became another piece of the deception, but it created all sorts of insecurities for Dakota. He wasn't so glib and would sometimes take my nonchalance to mean I didn't care about him in the same way. He began to come home with me after school on the days I was supposed to tutor him, and Caleb would give us time alone. Amber was as an office secretary at one of the local elementary schools, and we had about an hour's worth of privacy before she returned from work. Not nearly long enough for me to hold him and let him pour out his anguish on my sodden shoulder. Sometimes we indulged in a few soft, sweet kisses, but that was all we'd trust ourselves to, and I wouldn't go back on the promise I made to Caleb. Kody was so torn up with guilt and having to pretend in front of everyone else. We longed for the ability to make the rest of the school year instantly disappear so we could go to San Francisco and begin our real lives together.

What would you do for a friend? Obliterate your own moral code of ethics? Evade inquiries over why you were suddenly spending so much time with your foster brother and your best friend and run the risk of having to take on your family in the process if they found out? That was what Caleb did for Dakota. What he did for me. Aside from the man I adored, Caleb became the closest friend I ever had, the brother I never had until I moved into his house. Kody and I had so much to be grateful for, we couldn't even explain it.

As the weather warmed and the days lengthened, we became desperate to find private time for one another. Dakota had no alternative but to become more enigmatic with his parents. I never did learn what he used in the way of excuses but we scheduled trips up into the hills in Dakota's pickup truck on Saturdays and an occasional day after school. Living on the cusp of Angeles National Forest, there were plenty of places for us to head to where nobody would find us. Fire roads were good for parking, and we could sit in quiet spots and make out in the cab without worry of detection by Randy, Amber or his parents. We just had to time things properly to ensure nobody became suspicious.

One Thursday evening in late May, Dakota made excuses to the guys that he wouldn't be at Bible study, and I lied to Randy and said I was going to the library with a friend. Kody picked me up two streets down and we headed for the ANF. There was some Scout camp up there we'd explored previously where the chain holding the gate of the parking lot closed was merely folded over itself, and we could drive through. If we followed the driveway back, there were a lot of private spots where we couldn't be seen.

Dakota had sneaked a thick blanket out of his room and spread it out in the bed of the truck. Using our hoodies for pillows, it made for a somewhat comfortable resting place. I hopped up and held out my hand to him.