The Masters Chapter 14
The Masters... ...of Authority
(October 4th)
William Masters had gotten used to the look.
It was the same look he'd received every morning and every afternoon for the past two weeks. It was the look Denise had given him every time he'd stepped into or out of the office, ever since she'd seen him and Aaron leaving for their first date.
Granted, it was more pronounced today...and he wasn't used to the way her gaze turned away, avoiding his own at the end. But it was only Denise. For the sake of his sinuses, after all, he did what he could to avoid the over perfumed Skunk, anyway. So, if she had her own reasons to avoid him now, too...then so much the better...
And so, the same as always, he walked on past her desk this Friday morning, in route for his office. No sooner had his white furred paw lit on the door knob, though, than a familiar voice halted him.
"William?"
And that would be Mr. Anoa'i. He was a friendly enough otter, but that didn't exactly make him a friend. After all, he was William's direct superior at the firm.
"Sir?" William turned to greet the voice.
And the well dressed otter met him with a nod, but not with the smile the husky was used to, "You don't have any appointments scheduled this early in the morning, do you?"
"No Sir," Will shook his head. "Nobody wants to come in this early, so I use this time to get other work done."
"Well then, uhm...I guess you're free," Mr. Anoa'i could barely make eye contact with the canine, rubbing the top of his muzzle as he spoke. He was clearly uncomfortable. "We need to see you down in Castagnoli's office."
"We?" the husky glanced around, as if searching for others. "Is something wrong?"
"Just, uhm...just meet us down there as soon as you can, okay?"
And with that, Mr. Anoa'i turned and walked away, eyes on his feet.
William knew that turn. He knew that walk. His boss was escaping their conversation. He was nervous and uncomfortable, and he was retreating from an awkward situation as quickly as he could manage. But why? What had made the otter so uneasy? And why had it already put Will's stomach in knots?
He barely registered the next few minutes of his morning. He passed a door, his briefcase landed squarely on his desk, he passed that door again, followed by cubicles and coworkers, and in moments he was stepping into the office of Mr. Castagnoli: the CEO, the sole owner, and the final authority at the firm.
Three faces greeted his entrance: Mr. Anoa'i's of course, though it could barely be called a greeting with no eye contact; Mr. Castagnoli's, displaying a glower, stern even for the face of a dragon whom William had never seen smile; and a bird's.
That bird. Had they met before? Was she another of his superiors? Or was she with FR? And what was her name? For that matter, what manner of bird WAS she? No bird of prey, certainly. But perhaps the husky had more important things to worry about than placing the avian's name...
With a smile at the three faces, one severe, one tense, and one indifferent -- or perhaps just inexpressive due to its beak -- Will spoke first, with an attempt at levity, "Well this can't be good."
At that, though he hadn't exactly been looking at William to begin with, Mr. Anoa'i's gaze turned even farther away, absently scanning Castagnoli's desk...and the otter's continued inability to look at him, especially after his attempted lightheartedness, only further twisted the husky's stomach into knots.
Mr. Castagnoli spoke, a claw flicking in the direction of the chair before his desk, "Have a seat, Mr. Masters."
"Yeah...yes Sir." Will did as he was told, looking between the three before he finally asked: "What seems to be the problem, Sir?"
"Do you really have to ask?" the bird was the first to answer him. "Or are you just pretending you don't know?"
And Mr. Castagnoli's glower darkened, "Or perhaps you've broken so many rules you don't know which one this is about."
"Broken rules? I..." William was taken aback by the seeming hostility, but did his best to remain professional. "I really don't know what you're talking about, Sir..."
Instead of offering an explanation, both the dragon and the bird turned their eyes on Mr. Anoa'i, and with a hesitant sigh, the otter answered for them both, "...it's about Patrick Roark, William."
"A-Aaron?" the husky nearly yelped.
"Aaron?" Castagnoli inquired...
...and Anoa'i explained, "Roark just a pseudonym, Sir."
"What about Aaron?" Will looked first to Mr. Anoa'i, but turned to Castagnoli instead. "Did I screw something up with his paperwork? I assure you, if I did, it was just a mistake. I didn't knowingly falsify anything, and, whatever it is, I can fix it."
But it was the bird who responded, "This isn't about paperwork, Mr. Masters. Everything is in order with his files."
"I didn't just mean his files; I meant the transfer, too. I've never done anything like that before, so if I didn't handle it right, I...uhm..." The husky tripped over his words a bit, as he motioned first to the otter, and then to the dragon, "I mean, should I have run it by Mr. Anoa'i first? Or even you, Mr. Castagnoli?"
Anoa'i shook his head, "Actually...yes, you should have, but-"
"Stop dancing around the issue, Mr. Masters!" Mr. Castagnoli interrupted the lesser supervisor to snap at their employee, "You know very well what we're talking about. This has nothing to do with paperwork; this is about your relationship with Mr. Roark."
And William sank in his seat. He had hoped that that wasn't the case, "Our relationship? But I thought-"
"You thought, what, Mr. Masters?" the dragon cut him off as well. "That we wouldn't find out?"
And the bird met that with a short, amused chirp of laughter, "That's a pretty bold assumption, what with the way we hear you've been flaunting it about the office."
Denise! Of course it was Denise. Who else? She was an unrepentant gossip, and she'd made it very clear -- with her stares alone -- that she wasn't comfortable with their relationship. So of course she was the reason it had come to their attention. But...
"No. I didn't think it would even matter if you DID find out. I didn't think it was a problem, especially now that-"
The dragon cut him off again, with a single shout of a laugh, "You expect us to believe that you actually thought this was an appropriate relationship to have with your client?"
"Well...maybe not 'appropriate' but-"
And then the bird cut him short as well, "Such relationships are clear conflicts of interests, Mr. Masters. How can you be trusted to effectively manage your other clients, or to manage Mr. Roark, himself, ethically and legally, if you're..." she paused with a nearly unnoticeable twitch, "...involved with him?"
William put a paw to his chest, as he spoke in his defense, "I was under the impression that there weren't any rules against this sort of thing. I remember all of my training -- and all of the videos I've had to watch -- and I never remember hearing or reading anything about this." In fact, he distinctly remembered a conversation with a senior agent who told him that it was acceptable here, thanks to the multiple levels of review.
But Castagnoli continued before he could mention that: "Some rules are unwritten."
The husky blinked and shook his head, "So, wait. I'm being reprimanded for an unwritten rule? That's not exactly fair. How can you try to enforce something you haven't even laid out rules for?"
The bird clicked her tongue, "We don't have explicit company rules against murder, either."
"Okay!" Mr. Anoa'i finally spoke up again, in William's defense, "That's a bit of a drastic comparison, isn't it?"
Mr. Castagnoli clearly didn't like the otter's interruption, and shot him an almost snarling glare, "...perhaps." He turned back to Will, "But the implication stands. Explicit rule or not, it is clearly unethical."
"And dangerous for the company," the bird added.
William raised an eyebrow, "Dangerous?"
"Yes, Mr. Masters. Dangerous." The bird leaned forward as she explained, "Even if you treat him exactly like the rest of your clients, what is there to keep those other clients from accusing you of preferential treatment? Let's say, for instance, that his book makes it through to publication more quickly than theirs, or is afforded better publicity. And perhaps that's simply because it was the better book, but that won't stop them from believing it was actually because he shares your bed."
"Exactly," Castagnoli agreed. "Should we really invite lawsuits and scandal just so you can have your...fun with Mr. Roark?"
"My fun!?" the husky barked back at that. "That's what you think this is? That I'm just looking to bury a bone!?"
Anoa'i held up his paws quickly, hoping to calm his employee before things became too heated, "No one said that, William."
"Didn't he!?"
"Well am I wrong?" Castagnoli coldly inquired.
William pointed at himself as he fired back, "I don't know whether that's a shot against me personally, or gays in general, but yes Mr. Castagnoli, you are!" And the dragon opened his muzzle to speak, but the husky didn't pause long enough to let him, "But more importantly than whether or not you believe I actually have feelings for Aaron...your argument is moot anyway."
"How so, Will?" Mr. Anoa'i asked, before the CEO could respond. And only then did it click with the husky: Anoa'i was trying to help him! He was uncomfortable and tense because he felt bad for the dog. He wasn't on board with Castagnoli and the bird, and -- as best as he could manage without endangering his own job -- he was trying to help William protect his.
After a minute nod of appreciation at the otter, the husky explained himself, "I had already taken all of this into consideration. Clients aside, I wasn't interested in being the subject of office whispers, or in having Aaron's every bit of success put under the microscope on account of me." He motioned back toward the rest of the offices on the floor, "That's why I traded him out with one of the other agents. He's not my client anymore. How can there be a conflict of interest when my paws are completely out of his business, now?"
For a moment at least, that seemed to have stumped the CEO, and the bird that Will assumed was from FR. Neither one came quickly with an answer, but William could almost see them searching, scraping for a way to continue admonishing him...
And Mr. Castagnoli was the first one to find an approach, "That doesn't change the fact that you WERE his agent for some time while this was going on. And any progress made in that time still remains subject to scrutiny and review."
"Progress? What progress?" Will laughed darkly at the assertion. "The poor guy hasn't MADE any progress: not with Sylvia before I got him, and not with me, either! Sylvia wasn't even trying, and I had to shuffle him off to somebody new before I ever had the chance."
And now it was the bird's turn, "But don't you think there should have been some level of transparency here, Mr. Masters?"
"Transparency?"
She pointed at him, "You admitted, yourself, that you were worried what people might think...worried enough that you pawed him over to another agent. But it never crossed your mind to be honest with Mr. Anoa'i? Mr. Castagnoli? ANYONE in FR?"
Ah ha! He was right. She was from FR!
But more importantly: "There are no rules requiring that I disclose my personal affairs, Ma'am."
Castagnoli jumped on board, "Personal affairs stop being personal when they affect the company."
"Even so...I haven't exactly been keeping it a secret, have I?" William smiled almost mockingly, "If I had, how would any of you have even found out?"
"And there's that as well, Mr. Masters!" the dragon took the opportunity to shift the subject. "No matter what other gray area you might want to hide behind, what in the world possessed you to think it was okay for the two of you to...parade your liaisons around the office and throw your little affair in your coworkers' faces?"
And that was when the husky finally realized what the problem was. His every argument had been shot down, until they'd finally run out of ways to do so...and were forced to grope blindly for new complaints. Castagnoli had already made it clear that he thought William was leading entirely with his dick, and twice now they'd spoken of how he was 'parading' or 'flaunting' his relationship. And now he was 'throwing it in his coworkers' faces'?
"That's what this is really about, isn't it!?" Will pointed angrily at the dragon. "This isn't about conflicts of interest, and law suits! Unwritten rules? Transparency? No! This is about the fact that we're both male! If he were a female client, or if I were Sylvia, we wouldn't be having this discussion, at all!"
Neither Mr. Anoa'i nor Castagnoli ventured to confirm or deny his accusation, but the looks on both their faces were more than enough proof: the otter's look of shame at even being a part of this debacle, and the dragon's look of smug satisfaction, veiled by righteous disgust.
The bird, though, attempted to keep up the pretense of professionalism, "The firm has a clear policy of non-discrimination, Mr. Masters."
"Of course you do," Will responded sarcastically. "In a state where you're not legally obligated to follow it!"
Castagnoli tapped a claw on his desk in a single, piercing clack, "You have the gall to call OUR ethics into question?"
"Me? Do I have the gall?" Finally having had enough, the dog stood up from his chair. "I've been dragged in here for breaking a rule that doesn't even exist, just because you-" he paused just long enough to glance at Anoa'i, who he remembered was -- at least partly -- on his side, and then he continued, pointing only at the dragon and the bird, "-just because the two of you and Denise have a problem with my sexuality...and now you're gonna' talk to me about GALL!?"
"This hostility is entirely uncalled for," the bird made a show of leaning back in her chair, as if threatened by the husky, and then turned to her CEO. "Should I contact security, Sir?"
"Security?" William couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity, but sat back down regardless. "You've got to be kidding me!"
"That won't be necessary," Castagnoli waved the bird off and turned back to Will. "You can throw around whatever accusations you like, Mr. Masters. You can continue to try and turn the blame around on us to your heart's content, but it won't change the facts."
"What facts?"
The bird answered for him, "That so long as Mr. Roark is dating a member of our staff, his work will face brutal and increasing scrutiny. His every step toward publication will be slowed by safeguards, red tape, and review the likes of which no other client has to face. In all likelihood, he will soon be finding himself in something of a professional limbo."
"To put it more simply, Mr. Masters," Castagnoli grinned -- for the first time Will had ever seen -- as he summarized their point: "so long as you're working here, we will see to it that Mr. Roark's career goes nowhere."
From the corner of his eye, William saw Mr. Anoa'i's jaw clench, just before he turned to look out the window. He was appalled with the situation...
...and the husky would have liked to feel the same, but unfortunately, he was too overcome by disbelief to be outraged. Disbelief which slowly gave way to an encroaching, claustrophobic despair as his reality sank in.
They couldn't fire him. Despite the fact that his state had no protection from discrimination on the basis of sexuality, the firm technically did. And since he had broken no actual rules, they couldn't dismiss him without the concern of a wrongful termination suit.
But they wanted him gone, nonetheless.
And what better way was there to get him to quit on his own, than to threaten Aaron?
~
It had taken some convincing.
Elliot's mother felt it was far too short of notice, and despite their relative financial security, she was always worried about money for food. How were they supposed to feed an extra mouth for three whole days?
Luckily, Elliot's father was there to back him up. 'Elliot never has friends over, Robyn,' he argued, 'You're seriously going to turn him down?' Though in reality, he knew this friend was something special. This friend was something more than just a friend, and he wasn't about to deny his son the opportunity to see him.
And so, having secured his parents' permission earlier in the week, this Friday evening Elliot sat alone in his room with his tiger -- and his newly official boyfriend -- Hunter Thurman.
But their seclusion would not remain uninterrupted, and shortly into the evening, his door swung open without a knock or any pretense of a warning, as his mother strode in.
Luckily, they knew better than to be doing anything risky with her at home...
"Elliot, sweetheart?" the elder female husky called to her son...
...and he turned in his computer chair to meet her, "Yeah, Mom?"
"I'm on my way to the store. Do you need me to pick anything up while I'm out?"
"Nah, I'm okay."
"What about Hunter?" Robyn motioned to her son's feline friend. "Are you sure you two don't need anything for while he's over? Snacks? Drinks?"
Elliot opened his mouth to say 'no,' but noticed in his peripheral how Hunter sat up just a little straighter at the question. So, he turned to look at his friend, who shot back a cautious and hopeful smile. Of course, Hunter would be too polite to ask for himself!
So the young husky turned back to his mother with a grin. Luckily, he knew what his tiger liked, "Uhm...maybe some ice cream? Or one of those party trays with all the little meats, cheeses, and crackers?"
Robyn smiled, "I think I can handle that. Just don't fill up on it right when I get back. I'm picking up stuff for supper, too." And with that, she waved and backed out the door, "Call me if you think of anything else."
"Sure thing, Mom."
A silence fell over the room as she disappeared, both teenagers barely even breathing out of fear of it drowning out the noise they were waiting to hear: the sound of the front door opening and closing, which soon echoed through the house.
Ell was the first to breathe, but Hunter was the first to speak, "Is this it?"
The husky just nodded, "It's the best chance we're gonna' get."
"Are you sure she'll be gone long enough?" Hunter turned to look out his boyfriend's window, waiting for the sight of departing headlights.
"She should be. But we'll hear her coming, if not." Elliot stood up, rubbing his paws together nervously, "There's no danger of her sneaking up on us."
Turning away from the window, the tiger joined him, "I just don't get it, though."
"Don't get what?"
"Your mom seems so nice," Hunter pointed in the general direction she'd gone. "I don't understand why we're so worried about her finding out. Are you really sure it would be that terrible if she did?"
"I asked that same question," Ell rubbed the back of his neck. "But, all I know is: Will and my dad aren't the kind to freak out over nothing. If they're scared...I'm not gonna' risk it."
"Right."
"You ready?" the husky flashed an uneasy smile...
...and Hunter shuddered and drew in a breath as he prepared himself, "I think so. This is...it's just really weird, though."
"If you're uncomfortable, you don't have to-"
"No! No, it's okay. I've got this," the tiger smiled more confidently. "It's just not something I ever thought I'd be doing."
"You're tellin' me!" Elliot laughed. "But I promise you: this is what I was told to do."
And with that, the husky motioned for the cat to follow him and the two made their way out of his room, and to the den. With every step, the sounds of television grew louder and louder: sportscasters recapping and analyzing recent games and arguing about the potential outcomes of those yet to come...something Elliot had never kept up with or understood, no matter how much his father watched it.
And soon enough, he'd drawn to a stop alongside the older husky's recliner, nervously coughing before he mustered the courage to speak, "Hey...Dad?"
Kristoff turned to look at his son,"Yeah?"
"Can we talk for a minute?" With a gulp, the young dog rambled out an apology and a frantic explanation, "I...I'm sorry to interrupt your TV show, but...but Mom just left, and I don't know if we'll have the chance to do this again, so I just-"
"It's okay!" Kris held up a paw to stop him and then muted the TV. "It's okay. It's nothing I didn't see when the games were actually on." Sitting the remote aside, he tilted his head at the boy, "Is everything alright?"
"Y-yeah!" Ell nearly yelped in response, chattering out a string of assurances, almost too quick to be intelligible, "It's fine, we're fine. Of course! Everything's good."
The elder canine could only laugh at his son's obvious anxiety, "Maybe you should relax, then!"
"Sorry." Elliot beckoned Hunter along, and the two boys took their seats on the couch, where the young husky stared silently at his feet for a long moment before he even tried to begin, "Okay...uhm..."
Noting his boyfriend's difficulty with continuing, Hunter reached out and took the dog's paw into his own, with a gentle and comforting squeeze. Elliot smiled at the reminder that he wasn't in this alone, but he wasn't the only one...
Kris, too, smiled at the compassion, now confirmed, that he had previously only hoped the tiger showed his son...
Steeled by the orange paw, Ell pushed on, "Dad? Do you remember what we talked about on the, uhm...on the weekend you found out about...everything?"
Kris let out a slow breath as he tried to remember, "Well...we talked about a lot of things. You'll need to be more specific, kiddo."
"About you...about you running interference for me."
The elder husky just nodded at first, "Oh." But almost immediately his eyes shot open wide, when he realized what was happening, "Oh!" And -- honestly for comedic effect, more than anything, following his unintentional double 'oh' -- he smiled and waggled his eyebrows at the boys as he repeated and suggestively drew out a third: "Oh?"
Hunter and Elliot both blushed at the elder fur's surprising joviality, but despite his embarrassment, Ell managed to continue, "Yeah. Uhm...Hunter and I..." He paused to better compose himself and then just said it: "Dad? Hunter and I would like to have sex, and we need your help."
Kris burst into laugher immediately, barely believing the bizarre situation he'd gotten himself into, "Well, I DID agree to cover for you, right? I definitely wasn't expecting such a formal proposition...but...I guess I really don't know what I WAS expecting, either."
Hunter perked up, "Does...does that mean you'll help?"
"Elliot and I had a deal, Hunter," the elder husky explained in response. "This stuff is going to happen no matter what I do, so we agreed to work together to keep him safe, and to keep it in the privacy and comfort of our home." He pointed first at himself, and then at his son, "So I agreed to cover for the two of you, so long as Elliot lived up to his end of the deal. Do you remember what that was, kiddo?"
Elliot nodded meekly, "Honesty."
"Because I can't do my job unless I know what's going on!" Kris took a breath, and displayed his friendliest smile, as he prepared to tackle the surreal conversation ahead, "So, as fun as this is gonna' be for all of us, let's hear the details! What did you two have in mind? And why the formal proposal?"
"Well...I..." Ell tried to answer, but was clearly having trouble finding the words...
...so Hunter took over, "Elliot and I have only done so much, Sir."
"You don't have to call me sir," Kris interrupted the boy.
"Sorry," he smiled bashfully. "I'm still a little nervous."
"Of course you are! Who wouldn't be?" Kris laughed aloud at this young guest, but retained his smile, sincerely wanting to make this as easy on all three of them as he could, "But we'll get through this, Hunter. So go on."
The tiger nodded and repeated himself, "We've only done so much, so far. Just...uhm..." he took a breath of his own to steady himself enough to actually say this to his boyfriend's father, "Just oral and paw stuff. Nothing past that. But we've been talking...and we think it's time."
"Time? You mean...?" the adult paused, looking for the most appropriate word to label it. Bugggery? Sodomy? Mounting? Topping? Butt sex? What exactly would the least offensive way to say it...and still direct and adult enough for the situation? Perhaps the more clinical term was best. "You mean anal sex."
"Yes Sir-" Hunter caught himself saying 'sir' again, and corrected it, "I mean: yeah."
"I'm...I'm ready to do it!" Elliot finally chimed in, worried his father would think they were moving too fast. "I've been ready for a while, actually, and I want Hunter to be my first."
Kris nodded thoughtfully and turned back to Hunter, "Will Elliot be your first, too?"
"He will. Not the first who's asked, though."
"We just want it to be right when it happens," Ell continued. "We want it to be special and romantic. We don't want to have to worry about Mom, or anything else. But we want it to be somewhere safe and comfortable...not anywhere risky."
"And my grandmother's place really isn't an option," the tiger added.
The elder canine took a moment to appropriately appraise and digest the situation at paw. This was what he'd agreed to do, and he knew it was the right decision. He wasn't even gay, and at his son's age, he had already done everything Elliot had and more; there was no way he could expect less of the boy. And as unorthodox as it might be, it was his job to support him and keep him safe.
In truth, the thought of his son having sex didn't bother him. The thought of helping his son have sex didn't even bother him. The only fact which brought him even a moment's pause, in fact, was that NONE of this was bothering him.
His mind did wander in his moment of reflection, though. And to questions he was certain no normal father had reason to ask about their fourteen-year-old son. Like: when they did this...who was going to be on the bottom? He almost laughed aloud at how silly a question that was, though. Obviously, it would be Elliot...
But how odd was it that he found that so very apparent?
But that was that, he supposed. He was really going to be helping his son get mounted by another boy...and he was helping to make sure it would be as 'romantic' as possible, at that!
"You know?" he finally spoke, breaking the ever increasing tension of the silence between them. "I must have mounted at least four different guys in high school, and not a one of them less than twice. But it was always just for fun. It never occurred to me it should have been anything 'special' or 'romantic.' I guess I should have known it would be different for an actual gay couple, though." His eyes widened as he was struck, first, by a realization, "Oh shit...I'm sure some of them were gay, too," and then by guilt, "Oh, I hope I didn't ruin their first times."
Hunter, though, was nearly frozen stiff at what he'd just heard Elliot's father admit. "You were...?" his words caught in his throat and he tried again, "When you were in high school, you...mounted...?"
Kris just laughed at the boy, "Elliot hadn't told you about that, already?"
"I uhm..." the younger husky hesitantly explained, "I didn't think it was my place to share your secrets." But the real reason was that after what Hunter had learned about him and Will, he didn't want the cat worrying that he and his DAD had fooled around, too.
"You told me about Will," Hunter argued.
But Kris backed his son up, "Yeah, but it's not exactly a secret with Billy."
The tiger's mind was flooded with images of an elder husky's imagined youth, and with personal realizations that he and his friends' games were not as uncommon as he'd believed. And as his mind wandered, sifting through all the ramifications of this new revelation, another fact dawned on him as well, "Wait! If you did this sort of thing...and so did Will...does that mean that the two of you...?"
And that was the line too far. Kristoff's eyes shot open wide, and he coughed, not expecting that question, or anticipating they would make such a connection. And what was worse, was the realization that his immediate physical reaction had destroyed any chance for him to pretend the answer was no.
"Hey!" Elliot, though, came to his father's -- and his own -- rescue, "What say we get back on track, here?"
"Right!" Kris shook his head and moved along as smoothly as he could manage, but no small part of his mind was left, nonetheless, lingering on his unintentional confession. "Yeah. Okay, so you two want to uhm...to take things to the next level, and you need me to keep Robyn occupied."
"Yeah..." Hunter, too, had to shake off those thoughts weighing on his mind, but for him, it was his new understanding of just how incestuous this family really was. He managed, though, just as Kris had, to get back on track, "Yeah. That's the plan."
"When?" the elder canine asked.
"Uhm, well..." Ell smiled hopefully. "It's kind of why I invited him over."
Kris recoiled, "So, are we talking about tonight??"
"No! No," the tiger held up his paws, "We understand that that's too short of notice."
"Yeah," Elliot agreed. "We were thinking...tomorrow, maybe?"
The elder husky paused to take another minute to think. It was a far shorter minute, this time though, as he was only considering the logistics of the plan, "Okay. I think I can make this work. I really don't see your mom turning down a chance to go out on a Saturday night. She should jump at the opportunity for dinner and a movie!" He smiled proudly at the boys, "That should be good enough, don't you think? It should give you two enough time?"
Hunter, though, met the idea with a laugh, "Dinner? A movie? That's a lot of money you're spending just to help your son get laid!"
Ell's eyes shot open wide, "Hunter!"
"Please," Kris laughed mockingly at their feline guest. "Don't kid yourself, kitty. This is NOT just for Elliot." He leaned in with a devious smile, "After treating her to a night on the town, do you really think I'm not gonna' get anything out of this, too, when I get back home?"
And at that, Elliot's cheeks immediately began to burn, "Dad!!"
"What?" Kris threw up his paws. "We just sat here having a long, serious conversation about YOUR sex life, and I can't even hint that maybe I have one, too?"
Elliot took a breath, and as he let it out, the mortified scowl on his face shifted slowly to match his father's wily grin, "Okay then, Dad! Let's talk about your sex life!" He rested his cheek on his paw, "What all DID you and uncle Will do in high school?"
"Yeah!" Hunter joined in, "Was he one of the 'four' you mentioned?"
Ell snickered, "Well, now there you go assuming my dad was the one on top."
The elder husky was clearly uncomfortable at first, his own blush showing brightly on his ears, and his grin completely disappearing. But he'd known already that it was too late to hide it. Thanks to his wide eyed cough, his fate had been sealed minutes before.
So now, his best bet was to simply make sure the boys weren't allowed the upper hand. After all, he couldn't let them think they'd gotten the better of him! And so, despite his discomfort, he forced that devilish smile back onto his muzzle, and leaned in on a paw to mirror his son...
"How was it you put it, Hunter? Billy and I 'only did so much'." He smiled wider, showing off his teeth, "But if we had done more...I promise you, he would have been the one on bottom."
~
There we go! The Masters continues!
* This particular chapter was written entirely by yours truly: Oloroso Rhone! But it was based on characters and story lines I created jointly with my friend Phil Anthro Pist
If you'd like to go say hi to Phil, he's got an account on here at http://phil-anthro-pist.sofurry.com/ *
So here we are!
One more chapter and The Masters ends for good, setting the stage for its characters to play their roles in the much talked about Sibirskaia!
The Masters Chapter 15 will set the stage for Sibirskaia, but THIS chapter sets the stage for 15! So what IS going to happen next chapter?
Will William quit his job to save Aaron's career, or does he have another way to handle the situation? And Elliot has been begging Will to top him for 14 chapters now, and he's finally about to get his wish...albeit from his new boyfriend, Hunter! So how will their first time go?
And HOW is all of this paving the road for Sibirskaia? Tune in next time to find out in the FINAL CHAPTER of The Masters!
SIDE NOTE: When casting Mr. Anoa'i, Mr. Castagnoli, and the FR bird, I used the runner-up species from my votes on Mic & Denise. Denise ended up being a skunk, but avian was #2...and Mic ended by being a Hyena, but dragon & otter were #'s 2 & 3. Oh! And is it clear enough what "FR" is? ^_^
Anyway, thanks for reading!
I welcome any feedback! Comment or PM me here, or email me at theottercoon[at]gmail.com
See you for the FINAL CHAPTER of The Masters! ...and then...Sibirskaia!