It was early evening when we arrived in Boston. Ray got us a cab while I claimed our luggage. He got a porter to help us carry the bags out, and I asked, "Aren't ya gonna call your Mom, Ray?"

"No. If we're lucky they'll be out. It's Friday, they probably have some function to attend."

"But they might not be ready for company."

He laughed shortly. "You don't know politicians, Walter. It isn't just that they need to be prepared to offer hospitality at the drop of a hat, but they wouldn't dare send us away, because someone might find out. No, they'll have room for us, God help us."

I would've liked to have looked at some of the scenery, but it was dusk, and what I could see didn't look a whole lot different from what I could see anywhere. Ray assured me that was just because we were out by the airport. "It's Boston proper I want you to see, Walter. I won't be able to go around with you much at first: I have to get right onto this job. You can go sightseeing yourself, if you want to, but..."

"No, I can wait."

"Are you sure, kid? You might get awful bored, just sitting around the house."

"I'll be fine."

"Okay." He sighed. "My mother shouldn't be too much of a problem. I expect she'll have a full day, promoting the jerk."

Ray's house was nice. I guess it wasn't much bigger than our old farmhouse, but it was brick on the outside, with tall, white framed windows. He said it dated back to around the Revolutionary War. It had been his dad's house, but his mom had inherited it when his dad died, and sometimes she didn't mention that fact when she talked about it.

While the cabbie unloaded our luggage, we went up to the front door. Ray sorted his key ring, finding a housekey. "I didn't expect to use this again. Not while she was alive, anyway. I guess it's a good thing I didn't throw it away."

He let us into a tall hallway and showed me the closet for our coats while the luggage was brought in. He was just tipping the driver when a plump, gray haired woman in a black dress came from the other end of the hall. She was frowning. "Here, now! This is a private home, you can't just..." When Ray turned around she faltered, her expression going slack with surprise. Then she burst into a very genuine smile and came toward him with her hand outstretched. "Master Ray!"

His smile to her was real, too. "Hello, Jessie. When are you going to stop with the title?"

The didn't exactly shake hands: they more like clasped hands. "I suppose you're right. I really should call you Mister instead of Master, now that you're grown."

"You do, and I'll call you Missus." She laughed. "Jessie, I want you to meet my very good friend, Walter O'Reilly."

She shook hands with me, and I said, "Hullo, ma'am." She frowned, and I said quickly, "Uh... Miss?"

She smiled, and I saw that she was just teasing me. "Just Jessie, dear. Well, you're too young to be a college friend, so you must have been in the service with Raymond?"

"At boot camp."

She looked at the suitcases sitting behind us, and the expression in her eyes was a funny combination of hope and worry. "It looks like you're planning to stay awhile, Ray?" It was a question instead of an observation.

He sighed. "I don't really have much choice. I've been assigned to cover Iselin as my first job, and I need to do a thorough job of it. Walter and I will be staying here for the next few weeks."

"It will be nice to have a couple of young gentlemen to do for."

"Jessie!" The voice that floated down the stairs belonged to a woman, and it didn't have any of the warmth and affection Ray had put into that name.

Jessie rolled her eyes, and went to the foot of the stairs. "Yes, ma'am?" I looked at Ray, he'd gone tense, and I think he was a little pale.

"Jessie, I thought I heard the front door open, and I heard a man's voice. Who was it?" The voice continued, with a hard note of suspicion in it. "You're not having visitors, are you? You know what I told you about that while John is campaigning, especially any men friends."

Jessie looked over at Ray, who shrugged resignedly. "It's Mister Raymond, ma'am."

"What?" There was the rapid tap of heels, then the sound of someone coming down the stairs. I recognized the lady that appeared. Ray's mother was actually prettier than her pictures, and I guess maybe they're right when they say that the camera adds years and pounds. I knew she had to be as old as my Mom, or older, but there was a world of difference.

Mom's kind of... Well, she calls herself dumpy, but I think she's bein' hard on herself. She's more like comfortable. There's a lot of gray in her brown hair, (seems like most of it showed up after I went into the army) and she has lines around her eyes, and even across her forehead when she looks surprised. Ray's mom was... I guess she'd say svelt, though I was thinking more along the lines of skinny, and there wasn't any gray at all in her carefully arranged blonde hair. I decided, after I knew her awhile, that it was probably because of the once a week trips to an expensive beauty parlor. The skin around her eyes and under her skin also looked... stretched. Like it was pulled to tight. When I mentioned it to Ray later, he said, "Nip and tuck."

"Ray, sweetie!" She rushed toward him, and he stiffened up even more as she planted a kiss on his cheek. She wasn't smiling, though her tone of voice was welcoming. "I knew you'd come to your senses. You're just in time. If you hurry and change, you can accompany John and I to his fund raiser. I do hope you brought your uniform--it will look so dashing with the medal. But if you didn't, I still have your college tux upstairs, and I'm sure it will fit..." She trailed off, catching sight of me. "And who's this?"

"This is my friend, Walter O'Reilly. He's staying with me."

"Oh?" She studied me, and I felt like I was being put on a grocer's scales, and she wasn't too pleased with how I was weighing out. "You weren't part of Raymond's squad."

"No, he wasn't." Ray didn't offer any other information, just said, "And I'm not going to a fund raiser for John. Not tonight, anyway. I may have to later on, but not tonight."

"Oh, really, Ray, don't be a bore. I'm sure your friend Wallace won't mind..."

"His name is Walter, and I'm not running off and leaving him alone his first night here, especially not to be paraded for John's money men. The only reason I'm here is because Bennet asked me to write a series of articles about John's candidacy, from an insider's viewpoint. I suppose I should have told him that I'm not really an insider: I'm window dressing."

Her mouth had pressed down into a thin line, and it would have been invisible if she hadn't been wearing lipstick. She looked at me and said, "You mustn't listen to my son... Walter. Most boys are a little jealous of their stepfathers, and I'm afraid that Raymond has taken it to ridiculous proportions."

"And you don't need to propagandize him." He picked up my two big suitcases. "Walter, can you get my overnight bag?"

"Sure, Ray."

"Come on upstairs to my room." He paused as he passed his mother. "Unless you've turned it into, say, a storage area of campaign leaflets?"

"You wound me, Raymond. We'll have to have a talk about your attitude later, but I haven't time now. Jessie," she turned to the housekeeper. "You may put Walter up in the green bedroom."

Raymond snorted. "That glorified broomcloset? I don't think so." He addressed Jennie. "He'll be sleeping in the front corner bedroom, Jessie."

She nodded. "I'll make the bed with nice, fresh sheets."

As we went up the stairs, Mrs. Iselin was stalking into a room off the hall. Ray said, "She's going to fix herself a cocktail, because she's angry. But she'll only have one, and she'll just pretend to sip her drinks at the fund raiser. Mother isn't about to risk the papers saying that Senator Iselin's wife is a lush."

Ray went to the second door on the upper hallway and let us into a bedroom. It was nice, about twice as big as mine at home. I laid Ray's case on the bed and looked around. The thing I noticed was that there were no pictures. You know, no photographs. I keep a picture of my Mom on the table next to my bed. It went with me to boot camp, to Korea, and it was in my suitcase now, waiting to be set up.

Ray still had my suitcases in his hands, and he was watching me, amused. "What do you think?"

"It's nice. Is... um, is my room close by?"

"Go open that door over there."

I went to one of the three doors in the room. I knew that one of the doors was to the hall, and I figured one had to be to a closet, but I had no idea of what the third door might lead to. When I opened it, my mouth dropped open.

"Ray! It's a bathroom! You have your very own bathroom?"

"There are three: Mine, the master bathroom, and the one downstairs. But it's not entirely my own." He indicated a door on the opposite side of the room. I went over and opened the door. It was another bedroom, and Jessie was in the process of putting sheets on the bed. She smiled at me, and I smiled back, a little startled, and shut the door again. Then I looked at Ray questioningly, and he nodded. "Your room." He grinned. "If I remember correctly from Doris's, you don't mind sharing a bathroom." He set my cases down and held out his arms. "Come here."

I went to him, and he took me in his arms. We didn't kiss, he just held me. After a minute he said, "I couldn't do this without you, Walter. When I'm here, my... my teeth are just on edge all the time, but with you, it's all right."

There was a tap at the bathroom door, and as I stepped away, Ray said, "Yes, Jessie?"

The door cracked, and she peeked through. "I've put extra towels in, Ray. I expect you'll both want something to eat?"

Ray looked at me, and I nodded. He squeezed my arm. "I'm glad you're getting your appetite back. That would be wonderful, Jessie. Nothing elaborate: sandwiches will be fine. I know you were expecting an evening off, with them being out."

"As if I have anything better to do." She addressed me. "Young man, would you prefer ham or chicken salad?"

"I pretty much eat whatever's put in front of me and enjoy it, after having to live on army chow." I blushed. "Not that your cooking would be anything like... I mean..."

She laughed. "It's all right. I like your friend, Ray."

When she left, Ray carried my cases into my room, opened them, and we started putting my things away. It was kind of weird. In the army I'd had a trunk, but I don't think my clothes had ever hung in another closet except my one at home. When we were done he sat on the edge of the bed and held out his hand. I went and sat with him.

He put his arm around my shoulders and said, "She knows about me, Walter, so I suppose she's guessed about us."

"Oh. But I thought your Mom..."

"She doesn't know." Ray's voice was acid. "She hasn't paid much attention to me since my dad died. Jessie pretty much raised me. She noticed that I didn't seem all that interested in pursuing girls, then one summer she walked in on me and my roommate from college." He smiled. "The look on her face. But she just backed out, never mentioned it, and made us cookies that afternoon. I'm lucky I've had her." He sighed. "I know that I'm a little screwed up in some ways..."

"Ray!"

"No, Walter. I know I am. I'm not psychotic, or anything, but I could do with a little therapy. I'm just grateful I had her, or I would have been a lot worse."

He patted me, then got up and went to the door. "This is something for you to remember, Walter." He locked the door. "As long as you're in this house, if you want privacy, lock your door." He locked the bathroom door. "Both of them. My mother does not feel particularly bound by the rules of privacy, at least not where I'm concerned." His face was stiff. "I learned that after she walked in on me a couple of times when I was in the shower."

The way he said that gave me a kind of funny feeling, and I thought that maybe he was right: maybe talking to someone like Sydney about his mother would be good for him.

Then he smiled again and came toward me. "I think this is the first time I've seen you in a suit, Walter."

"Well, Mom said I had to look nice when I traveled, and since I would be meeting your family."

"You're cute, dressed up." He pulled my tie off and hung it over the footboard, then opened my jacket and pushed his hands up under it, stroking along my ribs. "But you're cuter when you're undressed."

"I thought we were going to get supper."

"We can do that after." He removed my jacket, and it joined the tie. "Unless you'd really rather have a ham sandwich than me?"

"Let me think." I wrapped my arms around his waist. "No."

"I'm glad to hear it." Ray took off his own jacket and tie, then sat beside me again. "Though we shouldn't take too long. I know Jessie is looking forward to sitting with us when we eat, and I'd really like a chance to play catch up with her."

"Well," There was a box of tissues on the bedside table, and I pulled it over. "One good thing about being guys is that it can be quick and pretty neat, and still be good."

He laughed. "I never thought of it in such a practical light." He opened my pants and pulled out my prick, beginning to stroke me gently. When I reached for his fly, though, he pushed my hands away. "No, not this time, Walter. I need a little more time to get comfortable here."

"Well, gee, Ray, I can wait." It wasn't exactly easy to say that, because he had his fist curved firmly around me and was slowly pisoning it up and down. It felt awful good.

"I don't want you to wait, sweetheart." Ray kissed me, and then got on his knees in front of me. "I need to make you feel good, right now, and you won't need those tissues."

He held my cock between his palms and bent. Putting out his tonguee, he traced a tiny circle just around the slit on my cockhead. He did it again and again, as it quickly hardened. The head was already slick and shiny when the first bead of pre-ejaculate fluid eased out to mingle with his saliva. The he fitted his mouth over the glans and sucked strongly. While he did, he fisted the rest of the shaft.

I usually don't try to give Ray directions when we make love. Heck, he does real good on his own, but I couldn't help settling my hands in his hair and pushing up, just a little. He obliged by beginning to sink down on my cock, taking more of it into his mouth. It felt so good that I pushed up some more.

I was afraid I'd gone too far when he pulled off, and I was ready to apologize, but he said, "Walter, I want you to fuck my mouth."

"I... Ray, you're already..."

"I'm sucking you, yes, but I want you to fuck my mouth like it was my ass. Just shove it in and keep on till you come."

"But Ray, I don't want to, like, make you gag, or anything." The idea of doing that was making me even harder, but I was concerned about him.

"Don't worry about that. I just want you down my throat, baby boy. Can you do that for me?"

"If you're sure," I said doubtfully.

"I'm sure." He bent again, and this time he swallowed half my length. I still wasn't sure, but he reached around to grab at my ass, and tugged. I took a stronger grip on his head and pushed up firmly. I sank all the way in, sliding deep into his throat. He moaned, but it wasn't a bad sound, you know? He sounded happy, so I pulled back some and did it again. His hands squeezed on my buttocks. It seemed that this was what he really wanted.

I started to fuck into his his mouth with steady, strong strokes. It felt so good that I was soon speeding up. Ray was making little whimpering and slurping noises that made me feel crazy. He was pushing down to meet each upward stroke, like he was trying to find even more of me to swallow.

This was a part of our relationship I know a lot of people wouldn't understand. They think that, with guy couples, one of them is always... Well, sort of the girl, always turning over for the other one. It isn't like that with Ray and me. He fucks me more often than not, but sometimes I'm the one who's... well, being active. Ray seems to like it just as much one way as the other, and so do I.

While his head bobbed up and down on my shaft, Ray reached down into my pants and found my balls. He began massaging them, lightly at first. When I started to pump harder, his touched firmed, till the rubbing was almost hard enough to be painful, but it just made me feel even wilder. At last I had a double handful of his hair, and I was slamming into his mouth as hard as I could from that possition. If it had been kind of reversed, say with Ray laying down and me over him, I never would have dared. I would have been afraid of actually choking him.

But Ray wasn't going to let up. He was determined to make me come. He helf me tightly and pushed down till his nose was pressed against my lower belly, my entire cock buried inside him, and sucked furiously. Then he made a low, grunting sound. The vibrations I felt along my encased cock did it. I gasped his name as I climaxed, shooting directly down his gullet. He swallowed, and the massaging of his throat muscles stripped even more seed from me.

When I was done,he just held me there for a minute, and I could feel his warm, moist breath ruffling my pubic hair. It was like he didn't want to let me go. Finally he released me, letting my softening cock ooze slowly and reluctantly from his oral embrace. Then he thoughtfull licked it all over, removing any traces of come. When he was through, he used the tissues after all to pat me dry before he tucked me back in my shorts, then zipped me up.

He stood up, his face flushed, his mouth a little red and swollen, and I touched his hip. "You all right?"

He leaned over and kissed me deeply, sliding his tongue into my mouth so I could taste myself. "I wonder," he whispered, "if you can understand how important you are to me? I think that you're what got me through the capture in Korea, and that damn de-briefing afterwards. I think I'd have just given up somewhere along the line if I didn't know you were out there waiting for me, worrying."

I hugged him. "Then if that helped, you have to remember it, Ray. Anytime you think about giving up, just remember me. Remember how much I need you." I pinched him. "And remember that I'll hunt you down and kick your butt if you don't come back to me."

He laughed, pulling me to my feet, and then he unlocked the door and we went down to the kitchen to see what Jessie had made for us.