Story Orgy Road Trip: A Reminder Of His Shame # 3

Hello everybody and welcome to another Monday! I hope you had a wonderful week-end and that you are now ready for this new week.

As usual, here are some news you could enjoy...

Holding On by Em Woods is up for pre-order at TBE. If I were you, I would run there!

Breathless Press opened their new website- it’s shiny and pretty and just in time for the celebration of their third year as a publisher. To celebrate the birthday and the new site, you can have some free short stories:
Lee Brazil's Nothing To Forgive,
Havan Fellow's Lucky Nights.


Saint's Curse, Lee Brazil's paranormal mm romance is now availabe at Both AMAZON and ALL ROMANCE. Click over and check it out today!


And… The Road Trip Serial Anthology is starting today…but my friends…Your Story Orgy writers are ALWAYS planning ahead! We’re drafting something very special for the December holiday season- and we’d love to have your prompts. What we need from you is just a few words…a person (not a name), a place, and a thing…at least one holiday related…ie…

person- Accountant
place- bank lobby
thing- gingerbread man

That’s it. Your prompt could be selected and inspire a story for Volume 2 of And The Prompt Is, The Holiday Edition. You can even leave your prompt here in the comments for us to choose from!

Phew, there were some good news, weren't they?

And now, let's read A Reminder Of His Shame, Part 3, shall we?



A Reminder Of His Shame

Part 3

copyright © 2012 Jade F. Baiser

CHAPTER THREE

Josh snapped out his worst nightmare as a hand came resting on his shoulder. When did Aidan step this close to him? He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t hear him move. 

“Hey Josh. You okay? You look like you’ve gone somewhere far from here and saw the devil,” Aidan said with concern in his voice.

“I’m fine. I was just lost in my thoughts,” Josh answered, annoyed to be caught off guard like that. He turned slightly around and took a step back to get away from Aidan. Forgetting about the bench, he fell for the second time since this man came back in his life. That made him angry. He wasn’t this clumsy usually. It seemed that the other man brought out the worst in him. He gave Aidan a look full of resentment, knowing perfectly well that he was the only one to blame for his clumsiness but just couldn’t take the blame for it.

~~~~~~

Aidan rushed to hold Josh when he saw him ready to fall, but he wasn’t fast enough with the ski shoes and the other man ended up on his ass… again. The situation was comical, but Aidan knew that if he smiled at Josh, the other man would be furious. More furious than he was at the moment, and that was something he didn’t need right now. So he just looked at him with as much concern as he could put in his eyes and extended his hand to help him straighten up. The look Josh gave him made him drop his hand and step back. Okay.  

Since Josh didn’t seem to want or need his help, he took the opportunity to look around him. He was standing in a very intimate small room. The light was provided by the fire and by several little sconces that only diffused a softened light. There was an imitation of a bearskin rug before the fire, the kind you like to sit on with your lover on a cold night, with a glass of wine, while you cuddle. A small table covered with a white cloth stood in a corner with two chairs, and a small red sofa—which seemed very comfortable if not big enough for the two men—was a short walk from the fire place, near the bench that could be there to rest a person’s feet. And that was it; no more furniture, except for the little table by the door with the radio on it. There was no place for more anyway. And to add to the intimate effect, the walls were made of wood with pictures of the mountain at different times of the year.

“What the hell is this place, anyway?” he muttered as he turned around to look everywhere. The little room really looked like a love nest. His eyes stopped on Josh who was now sitting on the bench and taking off his ski shoes.

“You should take your shoes off too,” Josh said without raising his eyes from his task. “We’re going to be here for a while. At least until tomorrow morning, so we might as well get comfortable,” he added with a snarl.

Aidan nodded and tried to ignore Josh’s bad temper. He came to sit next to the other man, but not too close—since Josh seemed to hate to have him anywhere near him—which was not easy to do as the bench, like everything else in this room, was very small and not intended for two men their size. 

“Will you tell me where we are, or are you going to pout like that all night long?” Aidan asked with resentment in his voice. He couldn’t understand Josh’s strong reaction to him. Sure, he hurt him four years ago, but they were grown men now. He understood that he needed to apologize for what happened, that’s why he was there. But he’d be damned if he let Josh treat him like shit while he tried to. He had his pride, after all.  

~~~~~~

Josh bowed his head a little more when he heard the question. What if Aidan got mad? He certainly didn’t bring him here on purpose, but maybe Aidan wouldn’t see it that way. Oh God, would this day ever end?

He slowly raised his head and looked at Aidan.

“Well, it’s the only place I could think of when you asked for privacy. Believe me, if I knew another place, we would be there. Even now, I can’t think of anywhere else we could have gone at that moment, and frankly, I never thought we’d be stuck here for the night. I don’t want you to think—“

“Whoa! Whoa! Stop it right there,” Aidan cut him. “What are you babbling about?”

Aidan looked puzzled, and Josh felt foolish, just like old times.

“This is one of the Resort’s Honeymoon suites,” he murmured in defeat. “The newlyweds come here to find some privacy. They are driven here on a snowmobile, and they are cut off from the world, except for the radio there,” he said pointing at it. “When they need something, they just call and someone from the resort brings it to them.”

“That’s fine,” Aidan answered. “I don’t see any problems there! I asked for some privacy, and I wanted to go somewhere comfortable. You picked the right place. You couldn’t know about the avalanche.”

“Well…” Josh said not looking in the other man’s eyes. “As you can see, everything here is kind of small. Everything but…” He took a deep breath. “The only huge bed. In the tiny bedroom.”

Aidan was looking at him, motionless, for a long time. Josh was beginning to feel sick thinking what Aidan could be thinking.

“It’s not a problem, you know,” he added, words rushing out of his mouth. “I’ll stay on the sofa, I don’t mind, really.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Aidan answered. “You won’t be able to lie down. You won’t be able to sleep.”

“We’ll take turns then.” Josh said, desperate. “You’ll take the bed first. I’ll stay in this room. Then we’ll exchange.”

“What’s the big deal, Josh?” Aidan asked. “If this bed is as huge as you say, then there’s no problem. We can spend the night in the same bed without touching each other. You don’t want to abuse me during the night, now, do you?” he asked with a grin.

Josh turned twenty shades of red and lowered his eyes. “Of course not,” he mumbled. “I was just afraid you’d be uncomfortable, that’s all.”

“It’s settled then,” Aidan added as he looked once more around him. “Is there anything to eat? And is there anywhere to cook?”

“What? Oh sure, there’s a small kitchen over there. The door near the table.”

“Small kitchen, huh?” Aidan laughed. “Why am I not surprised?”

Josh felt the relief invade him. Aidan seemed to take this whole thing pretty well; the night would not be as bad as he thought after all, forgetting his resentment as he watched Aidan move in the room.

~~~~~~

“Well, it was a feast,” Aidan said, rubbing his belly. “I’m sated!”

 They had spent a pleasant evening, cooking and joking; Josh had almost forgotten about how much Aidan had hurt him in the past. Now that the time to go to bed approached, he was beginning to feel uncomfortable again. The glow of joy that shone in his eyes faded and he looked gravely at the other man.

“Aidan, why are you here?” He asked. “Why did you follow me this afternoon? It’s not like we were friends before. We never were. So, of course, I can’t help but ask myself the meaning of all this.”

Aidan sighed loudly and took his napkin to wipe his mouth. He seemed to buy some time. Josh waited, not wanting to put pressure on him, but he was now very curious by Aidan’ reaction.

“Four years ago,” began Aidan, “after the…er…incident, I really felt like shit.” He stopped to drink some water, looking nervously at Josh. “I wanted to apologize, but at that time, I didn’t have the guts to do it. Believe me; I’m not proud of myself. I just couldn’t come to you and do my Mea Culpa.”

Josh was staring at him, wanting so much to believe what he was hearing. How many times did he dream about that; Aidan apologizing to him? He cleared his throat and waited. He wasn’t going to make it easy. He suffered too much to just help Aidan right now.

Aidan seemed to understand that he’d have to make his full confession before Josh could even think about forgiving him. He took another sip of water and went for it.

“Josh,” he said, looking straight in the other man’s eyes. “I’m sorry. What I did back then was stupid and insensitive. You see, in fact, you were right about me.”

“What?” Josh looked angrily at Aidan. “What are you saying exactly?” He growled.

“I am gay. I always was. But I wasn’t ready to come out, not then. You have to understand me, Josh. I was the football captain. Every guy on the team looked up at me,” Aidan said, his eyes pleading Josh. 

  Josh felt the anger rising in him. Bastard! He took a deep breath, trying to control his temper. He was so close to jumping on this guy and beating the hell out of him. He closed his eyes and counted to ten, breathing deeply, his hands gripping the table cloth.

“I can understand the whole macho shit,” he said between gritted teeth. “What I don’t understand, is why you had to make fun of me in front of the whole football team.”

Aidan lowered his head, and said in a low voice, “I envied you so much. You were proud of who you were. You never seemed to have a problem with your sexuality. I wished I could be just like you. When you came to me, it made me angry. Not at you; at me. I felt so weak compared to you. And I spilled that anger on you. I have no excuses for what I did, and I’m not expecting you to forgive me right away, but I had to find you and apologize. This was on my conscience and I needed to come to you.”

Josh looked at him, stunned. “So, what you’re saying is that you had to apologize to me, so you could feel better?” His face emotionless. “It’s always about you, isn’t it?”

“No! No, I mean… no!” Aidan said. “It’s about you! You didn’t deserve the way I treated you. You were the courageous one. I was just a coward.” He raised his hands in helplessness. “I just wanted to tell you that you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I know that, dammit! It’s not what hurt me. You hurt me, you and only you. There was so many other ways to tell me that you weren’t interested. You chose to humiliate me!”

He had been so happy that day…

To Be Continued

I think that you are more than ready to read what the rest of the Story Orgy Group have in store for you... Just click on their names to find out!

Lee Brazil, Em Woods, Havan Fellows, Hank Edwards, JR Boyd