Clue 05
Cam and Dec meet Rupert at home
All characters described in this story are over 18. Parts of the story attempt to duplicate the stream-of-consciousness, freedom from the rigors of sentence and punctuation grammatical rules-- popularized by the Irish novelists of the post-war perio. Cam and Dec met in Clue 01at Gaylord College, vacationed in Ireland in Clue 02 and 03, and started work at GAI Enterprises in Clue 04, but this story is more or less standalone. Copyright Β©2024, Brunosden. All rights reserved.
The story continues in Cam's voice....
The evening at Rupert's modern home turned out to be very strange in that it was almost perfectly normal! Given our experience at the castle with his close brother (where we had paid for our B&B with our bodies--me with Peter, Dec with his FWB, Liam--but you know all about that) and the ambiguous invitation from Rupert, our boss--Peter's "almost-twin", we really didn't know what to expect. Anything from an orgy (unlikely, given his rep for being a recluse) to a specific proposition involving one or both of us.
But, little of what we had anticipated unfolded exactly as we had expected--except of course for the game. But more about that in a minute.
Rupert invited us to use the pool and went to check on the status of dinner. Before he left however, he had proclaimed a rather specific disclaimer: he had not invited us for sex; he didn't seduce employees. It was curious that he would even think he needed to make such a statement--but probably it was CYA. Mac, probably his partner, was present and smiled throughout the declaration. This was just going to a typical suburban outdoor dinner party among two gay couples. Except that the host was a multimillionaire.
So, after changing into suits found in the pool house guest room, Dec and I plunged into the large heated pool. Neither of us was a great swimmer, but we could manage in the relatively shallow pool. So we did enjoy a reciprocal game of splashing and dunking in the warm evening--and warmer relatively shallow pool.
(It is a little known fact that most Vikings could not swim, and actually feared the water. The depths contained sea serpents and other water dragons of unknown size and ferocity.)
It felt really good to be in a casual situation where we didn't need to prove anything. I had built up a good deal of tension--assuming that we were on the Gaylord dessert cart, given our experience at Rainbow Castle. Rupert and Mac were soon back, wheeling trolleys filled with food. Mac called dinner, and we climbed out of the pool. There was a bit of very frank ogling as we emerged from the pool, shirtless and with the tight square-cuts leaving little to the imagination. But, we knew we looked good, and the experience was not new to us. We both knew we were eye-candy. Rupert and Mac walked up to us with large towels and enveloped us, holding us perhaps a few seconds too long. Wow! What next?
But, they stepped away and motioned us to the food. We grabbed tees and followed.
Mac was still somewhat of an enigma. He wasn't gregarious; in fact he spoke little. He was a good looking guy, in shape, with coloring like Dec's (pale complexion, freckles, reddish-blonde hair, green eyes, runner's slim muscles) but with a bit of fuzz on his chin, not really a respectable beard. Pretty obviously gay--and completely into Rupert--and submissive to him. He was about Rupert's age, I'd guess, but not his equal in size or demeanor or wealth. When Rupert was in the room, he absorbed all the oxygen. And Mac seemed to shrink. It was very much a duplicate of what we had seen in Ireland with Peter and Liam.
Mac was an accomplished chef. Although the dinner was simple (steaks, salads, scalloped potatoes), everything was from the finest ingredients and perfectly prepared. Rupert's wine cellar turned out to be legendary. By the end of the meal, greased by nearly three bottles of ten year old Jordan single-vineyard cab, we had exchanged far more personal information than any of us had guessed. We were beginning to feel quite comfortable--Rupert, it seemed, was a "regular guy"--not the uber-wealthy obnoxious boss--or a predator. And the image he projected to the world (a shy, reclusive cipher) was just a shell. In his own element, with just a few, he was talkative, take-charge and open.
Most of what we learned about Mac came from Perry's lips. (Mac let that secret pet name out early in the evening.) Mac was an "ancient" school chum of Perry's--from boarding school in Switzerland. He's an architect, an artist (as well as an accomplished chef), and he had completely redone the estate we were currently enjoying. In fact he was in demand for the modernization of so many of older Spanish-style homes that were in the foothills near Los Gatos. Corbels, barrel tiles, paned windows were all giving way to clean, white lines and minimalist design desired by the newly wealthy valley entrepreneurs.
Rupert (Perry)and Peter had been deliberately separated at the age of 12 and 13--their father convinced that Peter's bad-boy antics were rubbing off on his younger sib. (And maybe, Da was trying to prevent Peter's budding gay tendencies from influencing his younger brother--as though mere example could determine gay-ness.) Peter had been sent off to Scotland; Rupert, to Switzerland. But the separation had brought them closer together than ever. Both had become regular telephone bros, computer engineers, and both had succeeded beyond expectation. Each was an investor in the other's successful business.
It was also pretty obvious that Perry and Mac were indeed friends with benefits--and probably much, much more. Rupert had managed to keep his private life very secret--from his associates at GAI and the press. Their hands drifted to forearms or thighs over and over during the meal. And Mac stared periodically into Rupert's deep blues. But, it was obvious: Rupert was still very much in the closet except to a small circle of friends, and presumably his brother. Curious that he had been so open with us. Or at least that he let Mac show such attachment. But then it turned out that he knew both of us pretty well.
Dec and I talked a little about Gaylord--but of course, Rupert knew it all. We confessed to being recent friends and tried to make it clear that we were a committed couple. I noted that Rupert blew the comment off with the remark, "But you guys are only 22 years old. You can't possibly know what you want in life. You're still at the time of experimentation. Fuck, I'm 34--or will be next week--and I don't know what I want yet. Mac and I are in an open relationship. And away from the Valley, I can--and do--play an anonymous game. Regularly. You guys need to open up a bit. You're way too young to settle down--or your relationship will not go the distance unless you sample the field. You're entitled to shop the whole restaurant menu before you settle on one regular meal."