PART 8

[Damon was somewhat of a mystery guest. Being a Floridian, he didn't know any of the guests. He had only met the deceased man's parents once before. While there was no relation, he couldn't contain his tears as the casket was closed and the memorial service began. During the wake, he viewed the body, observing the spot where the bullet pierced his friend's brain, wondering what the motive was for his to take his own life. He noticed his mother wailing at the gruesome sight of what had happened. She had just talked to her son the other night. Damon hadn't had much contact with him upon retiring from the service. They retired around the same time, both under similar circumstances. Damon, being able to cope with his anxiety better. It was revealed that he hadn't been able to find work after retiring and didn't want to live how he was. Collin had other health issues that forced him to retire earlier than what he would have liked to. After he graduated high school, he wanted to see the world. Then he was injured while on duty, leaving him with an amputated limb (lower left leg) and much anxiety. He lost interest in life after this and continued on a downward spiral.

Damon briefly stayed after the service, and got to speak with his parents. "Your son was a great guy. I served with him when we were stationed in Virginia. He was such a goofball. I remember retiring around the same time that he did. I can't imagine what must be going through your mind". What did he do to deserve his fate? Why? Why Lord?  "My condolences. I'd like to keep contact with you." he said before exchanging mailing information.

He didn't say that they'd be in his prayers as he was not much of a praying man himself. It hadn't done him or any of his friends much good over the past few years. After all, his best friend graduated with honors in high school and finished college a year early and was working as a prostitute.

After he made a quick run to the restroom before meeting the family at the cemetery to witness the burial, which he observed from a distance, he walked over to his truck and heading back to Florida.]



FRIDAY MORNING ONE WEEK LATER

"Last piece of furniture" Oliver said with a relief

"This heat" Oliver exclaimed as he was carrying dishes from the truck to the kitchen of his home. After about a week, he'd been in his new home, with a yard, and no shared walls. The area was quiet as well with little to no news of criminal activity occuring. He'd have somewhere that he could bring his client's as well as a place that he'd be able to have guests.

As the crew set up his furniture and his televisoin, he was in the process of signing the contract with his aunt. I was agreed that he'd pay $425/month in rent due on the third of each month. This was little more than half of what he was paying at his apartment, which was not nearly as nice.

"Wow, much less than that piece of shit that I was staying in. I feel like I just got a raise"

"The cable and television will still be on your end, however all utilities included in rent. You'll have to keep up the lawn"

[Ummmm yeah.......I'll probably hire a guy to cut my grass for me at a low rate]

"That's cool" Oliver responded as he grabbed the blue ink pen to finalize the deal. Reading over the lease, one stipulation was that he couldn't have any wild parties.

"You won't have to worry about that one, but I did have a house warming planned tomorrow"

"That's fine, just there are several senior citizens, and they will report you if you get too crazy." his aunt responded.

He spent the first half of his day moving it. It was hard work that made him quite hungry. After thanking the delivery man and signing the lease, he went to the grocery store and purchased items for a BLT. For him it was a splurge as he normally ate a health diet. He returned home to fix lunch with his mom and aunt sitting on the porch and Damon driving up. He had not seen him since last Saturday, deciding to give him some time to grieve.

DAMON-Hey brotha what's good
OLIVER-Exhausted
DAMON-Housewarming still on?
OLIVER-Tomorrow, just gonna fix me some lunch right now.
DAMON-I'll help w/ the invites
OLIVER-Got it covered, I invited some coworkers, you, Evandro, Carlos. I invited Juanito too. I didn't even think you'd be up for it still.
DAMON-Juan? Where the hell has he been?
OLIVER-The state capital-He went to FAMU. He's been back about a year roughly, got a job at an advertising firm. He did a double major in Business and Health Sciences.
DAMON-Shit!
OLIVER-Yep, saw him a few weeks back.
[while out with a client, talk about three's not company. I had to lie and tell him that my client was a college buddy and that we were  having a study session.]
OLIVER-Gonna fix a BLT, want one?
DAMON-Yeah, you got the olive oil mayo?
OLIVER-Of course
DAMON-I'll definitely want some of those jalapeno chips
OLIVER-Got cha

Once the bacon was done and the bread was toasted, he called everyone up. "Self service".
They ate lunch, then Damon said, "ummm can I talk to you outside"

"Sure...…." he said before turning to his mother and aunt, "Can you excuse us for just a minute?"

DAMON-I'm 25, a disabled veteran, and retired. Who's gonna hire me? YOU, finished college a year early, you got your degree.
OLIVER-Yeah and what has it got me?
DAMON-I think you like your other job
OLIVER-What the hell do you mean?
DAMON-I think you enjoy being a call boy
OLIVER-It's got it's perks, but it's not glamourous
[yeah, I really enjoy risking arrest, disease, being murdered, raped, etc]
DAMON-We all saw the "modeling" videos
OLIVER-That I regret.
DAMON-You were played
OLIVER-Oh definite.
[played, not to mention that this shit is still in cyber space free of charge on pornhub. This is the same shit that got Simon Rex fired from his job as a video jockey on MTV. Of course, he bounced right back.]
DAMON-You got paid to do what most guys do for free
[only difference is I'm not white. Just glad that I didn't use my government name and I didn't return after that second video. Did I mention how poorly they treated me on the set?]
OLIVER-Where the hell is all this coming from?
DAMON-You should be in Grad School now. You're exhausted. You finished in three years, your scholarship would probably pay for your first year!

The conversation was interrupted by a phone call from Juanito who was downtown with Carlos.

"What's up?"

 "Same ol. Same ol"

"Finally in the new house. Why don't you come by?"

"Definite, I'm out here with Carlos having a drink. I'll swing by around 2:00"

"Nice. See you later"

After hanging up with Oliver, he ordered his drink. "Let me get a house margarita." He said as he begin to talk about the job. He works for an advertising firm, doing mainly administrative jobs, creating surveys, sampling populations, etc. "I make $11.50/hour, married, living with my parents as hard as I work". Carlos chuckled and said "I'd ask you to work w/ me but you have a wife"

JUANITO-Entonces, ¿cómo se siente tener su diploma de escuela secundaria?
CARLOS-Se siente genial. Tratando de juntar mi vida.

Juanito could relate as he was in the process of trying to become a certified personal trainer. "Once I get that certification, I’m gone!"
CARLOS-So you going to Oliver’s housewarming?
JUANITO-Yeah, it’s tomorrow. I need to get the address from him later.
CARLOS-Send it to me once you get it.
Their drinks arrived as they ordered their meals.
"You can drink on your lunch break?" Carlos asked.
"I’m doing field work, what my boss don’t know won’t hurt. I hope Oliver has some good drinks at his warming."
Carlos sat staring at his phone for a moment while drinking his mojito looking at community colleges. As a gogo dancer, he worked nights. He also danced under the table. His plan would be school by day, work by night. He asked Juanito if he planned on a masters degree to which Juan responded "I need a break!"
"I don’t blame you...Mr. Two degrees"
Taking another sip of his beverage, Juanito looked down at his phone and saw that Oliver had text the address of his new place. He took a screenshot of the message and sent it to Carlos who decided to look it up on Bing.

"Typing in the directions from here to there now" he said while getting his route. Their meals eventually arrived, as they chatted up.

CARLOS-So, man you and your wife have been married for how long now?
JUANITO-Three years man.
CARLOS-Any kids on the way yet?
JUANITO-Hell no! We live with my parents, I can't afford a child. And no bro, I'm not selling crack for it.
CARLOS-In some cultures, it's common for a married couple to live w/ the parents for the first year.
JUANITO-Emphasis on first.
CARLOS-What about her folks?
JUANTO-They're from the Dominican Republic. Her mom is a librarian and her dad is a professor of Chemistry. She's working on her Nursing Degree, she's got a semester left. They are Afro-Dominicanos.
CARLOS-You got married pretty early on.
JUANITO-Yup, at 23.
CARLOS-Your wedding was nice though. Had it that summer, it was hella hot out, but you had it at one of the nicest resorts in Greater Miami. Your bartender, man........I got FUUUUCKED UP!
JUANITO-Of course you would.

"Man, you gotta try this jerk chicken. It's quite delicious" Juanito said to Carlos as he took a bite.

"I'll have to remember next time I come. I got the pork, it's good too"

After paying their bills, Juanito drove as Carlos gave directions. "This boy is out in the damn boondocks" Juanito said as he drove. Carlos responded "You ain't kidding" as he looked at the window and notice the road narrowing. They drove quite a while before coming to the house where Oliver and Damon were sitting on the porch. After hugs were exchanged, Oliver invited them in.

"This is my mom and my aunt"

"Carlos"
CARLOS-Hi
"Juanito"
JUANITO-Hello

"Can I offer you two anything to drink? Soda, bottle of water. Small cup of wine"

"I'll take a water" Juanito said as he sat down. "Make that two" Carlos, chimed in.

"Man, I gotta thank my aunt. I'm renting from her. I can't thank her enough for giving me the opportunity to move out of that piece of shit that I was in. I just got a raise. My rent's nearly half of what it was at the apartment."

His mom and aunt stayed for about an hour longer before leaving, with Carlos and Juanito leaving shortly afterwards. "Good to see you again Damon" Carlos said.

"Same here" Damon replied "Add me online, I"ll shoot you a link to my page"

Oliver and Damon sat on the sofa with Oliver taking a deep breath. "Right now I feel as if I just won the lottery."

He grabbed a bottle of water, walked outside, took a look at his surroundings and smelled the fresh air.

"Taste the air D. The scent of the grass freshly cut along with a quick drive to the beach. The soothing feeling of the breeze."  Damon following close behind, resumed their conversation from earlier.

"Promise me you're going to start school? Soon"

"I've been looking around for scholarships for the last couple of months."

"Good. Now can I say something else?"

"Yeah."

"Don't bring your clients to this house. You're a quiet space. You don't need all these men and women going in and out of your house."

Oliver knew his friend was right. This was how people get killed. After all, he recently read the paper discovering that a female sex worker had been found dead after vanishing a month ago. His job was already a dangerous profession as it was.

"Not planning on having all that shit out here. Turning my house into a sex dungeon is pretty much out. Don't wanna get put out."

"Good. I'm going to head out now."

"Catch you later. Man, tonight, why don't you just pack a bag and then stay the tomorrow night here?"

"All I needed was an invite. Will do."

He watched Damon leave and then he went inside and took off his collar shirt and put on a tank top. Afterwards, he plugged in his Roku Player and decided to catch up on a series. For the next three hours, he managed to get in three episodes prior to going take a shower. He checked out his profile and noticed he had five requests. Three women two men. One was a married couple (husband and wife) into swinging. This was his first request of this kind so he responded kindly and asked what Hotel they'd like to meet at and advised them to bring condoms and took a shower. He decided that he'd take a drive into town with the knowledge that he could breathe. His first stop was at an ice cream parlor before going to the grocery store to get some food items for his party. He picked up a block of cheese, some ground beef, a couple of bags of chips, A can of Rotel, a vegetable tray, a fruit fray, some Greek yogurt, and some marshmallow cream. Once he returned, he noticed a response to his email from the couple that they would like to meet at a luxury hotel in downtown Miami. The email read: "Condoms will be available in abundance. I've also got strawberry scented massage oil."

Oliver responded to the email that the meeting could happen around 3:00 PM next Friday.

"I noticed your rates, how about this? You spend the night with us that night and I'll pay your car note for the next six months?"

That was a deal that Oliver couldn't turn down. That would save him an additional $200+ per month for the next six months.

"What do I have to do?" he responded.

"stay the night with us, and of course participate in a threesome with us"

"you and your wife?"

"yeah, we're swingers and I've been wanting to pound a black hole for a while now."

[Oh shit, one of these. Nothing new. And your wife’s fine with me fucking her right?]
"My wife’s been wanting to sleep with a black guy."
He responded that condoms would need to available and he went to bed. He had a busy day the day ahead.


The following day, he mopped the den before cleaning the bathrooms with cleaning supplies that his mom and aunt purchased for the house. He did this while the dip he was making was heating in the crock pot. "Ground meet cooked. Check. Need to make the fruit dip". He wanted cook some wings as well. He went to the gym for about an hour and a half before returning home.
He only had a few things left to do, once he took a shower, he finished the foods, picked up a sandwich tray.
He just sat down to watch TV when Juanito called him.


OLIVER-yep
JUANITO-hey, what's up?
OLIVER-been cleaning all damn day. You?
JUANITO-out here at work. I'm conducting a survey right now.
OLIVER-on what?
JUANITO-Grocery shopping habits
OLIVER-What?
JUANITO-Yeah, he's trying to get an idea on the shopping habbits of residents in low income communities in greater Miami.
OLIVER-[scoffs], figures

[Maybe conducting these surveys are better than answering them for a low rate. You provide one fucking answer that isn't to their satisfaction then you are kicked out and entered into some bullshit "sweepstakes" that nobody wins.]

JUANITO-I hadn't seen Damon in forever and a day. How's he?
OLIVER-Alright. Retired from the military. Looking at the possibility of going to school.
JUANITO-Tell him to go to a trade school or get a certification. He doesn't need to do the four year degree shit that we did.
OLIVER-Who you tellin?
JUANITO-Well playboy, gotta get back to work. I'll see you in a couple of hours.
OLIVER-Bye bye.

A couple of hours before his scheduled event, Oliver fixed himself a smoothie and laid down for a nap. At 5:30 pm, Damon was at the door. Shortly, Juanito pulled up with his wife.

"Hey, how's it going? Y'all a little early" he said as he invited them in.
JUANITO-This is my wife, Margo
MARGO-Hello
JUANITO-You are not gonna get better than this guy
MARGO-He talks about you like all the time. He says, you are the nicest person that one can ever encounter
OLIVER-Nice to meet you

"Let me go put on something more presentable. Just took a quick nap."

"I cannot take naps" Juanito said "I had to fake nap time in kindergarten so I wouldn't miss out on snack time".

As the time passed by, guests begin arriving. Claudia arrived along with Ayana. He hugged them both and introduced them to his friends. "This is my boy Juan and his wife Margo and my best friend since the sandbox Damon"

"This is my coworker Claudia and her friend Aya. I'm glad you two could make it. Did y'all have a hard time finding the place?"

 "Not really" Aya said. "It feels remote, but you aren't far from the one of the main beaches"

He invited a few of his peers that he graduated high school with as well as some college friends. Eventually Carlos and Raja managed to find the place. It didn't take them long to dive into the hors d'oeuvres. As a host, he wanted to make a good impression and strived to ensure that no guest felt they were ignored or overlooked. Evandro made his way to the house about an hour or so after everyone else had arrived. He greeted Oliver who was talking to Raja and Zinam at the time.

"Hey. Nice place. Fresh start"

"No kidding. Man, I wasn't sure you were gonna make it"

"I'm here. I ran into a bit of trouble today. I'll talk about it later"

After introducing Evandro to his friends, he got up to fix himself a cup of wine and fix a plate of dip. He briefly excused himself from the kitchen counter to take a phone call from Cody who he had seen earlier.

"Why don't you come out here? You can pass by for a bit. I'm just having a little get together with a few of my friends."

[Talk about the mystery guest. I'm inviting my client to my house. This is what I said I wouldn't do.]

He sat outside for about 15 minutes and waited for Cody who arrived about a half hour after hanging up with him. He hugged him upon arrival and escorted him in. "Self service. Feel free to help yourself to some of the bites up there"

He made his way to the kitchen where to join the rest of the company. Introducing himself to the guests. Protecting Oliver's privacy, he introduced himself as a college friend. The more he told about himself, guests like Damon wondered how the hell they met. "Randomly, eating lunch in the cafeteria, then we ended up taking the same elective together. A Spanish class to be exact." Pretty smooth considering that he was 12 years Oliver's senior. He managed to find a seat on the porch to finish off his food with Oliver observing from a distance. Raja, Ziggy, and Aya observing from another room.

"Who is THAT?" Claudia asked.
"Go and ask him" Ziggy said

They managed to track Oliver down to ask who the mystery guest was. "Cody."
"Can you excuse us" Claudia said as she followed Oliver outside.

CLAUDIA-THAT'S Cody? The client you last went on a date with?
OLIVER-Yep, but can we not spill the beans here?
CLAUDIA-Why are all the good ones either taken or gay? What the hell is your client doing out here?
OLIVER-I invited him. I'm paying the bills here.
CLAUDIA-Yeah, but you are digging yourself into an early grave. You can't give random encounters your address like this. We work a dangerous line of work as it is. Sex workers vanishing left and right, two that we know of have come up dead.
OLIVER-I wanted to see him again.
CLAUDIA-You are on thin ice. I'm gonna go back inside. You behave yourself, you're getting way ahead of yourself.

During the last hour of the warming, Oliver stood there for a moment. He had said he would not be using his home as a brothel. That said, Cody wasn't acting as a client this time. He was there as a guest. It wasn't the first time that he had contacted Cody after that date. It was a great date. After taking some time to collect his thoughts, he returned to the party where he fixed himself a fifth drink and a plate of wings and chips. He almost threw that plate up when he saw Cody introduce himself to his mother and aunt. Oliver wasn't a praying person, but he prayed in that moment that they did not suspect anything more than that. Asking about his line of work, he admitted to being an accoutant.

"I wish my son had gone into something like that instead of what he did" his mom said with a smirk on her face.

[really mom? I'm sorry I disappointed you]

"I need for him to get his MSW so that he can make some real money"

[And there's nothing that I'd like more]

As guests left and the atmosphere simmered down, it was down to Damon, his mom and his aunt. "Damon's staying over". That staement immediately got a look from his aunt.


[No, we're not fucking. Why is it that females can have friendships like this and no one bat an eye, but heaven forbid males have any friendship that goes beyond a sporting event. They must be dating.]

They helped him clean up before calling it a night. "Be safe"

"Good night. I'll come by mid morning"

 SYNOPSIS

CHARACTERS