Saturday dawned with a glorious sunrise that set the birds to chirping. Squirrels scampered over the house’s eaves, then dived into nearby trees.
Matt awoke first. Turned on his side and lay there watching Adam breathe.
Eventually Adam stirred. Opened one eye, tentatively. Then the other.
“Good morning,” Matt said.
“Morning.” Adam yawned. Then he frowned. “I think I’m glued to the sheet.”
Matt grinned. “I know one way to get you unstuck.”
Adam managed a wry smile. “I’m fairly certain that’s what got me in this mess in the first place.”
“How’re you feeling?” Matt asked.
Adam sat up, peeled the sheet away from his body. Hugged his knees. “Let me do a quick inventory. Let’s see. My bladder’s screaming for relief. My ass is on fire. My left nipple feels like someone went at it with a cheese grater. There’s itchy, dried cum all over my skin. And one, or both of us, has dragon breath.”
Matt felt crestfallen.
Adam smiled mischievously. “And I’m happier than I’ve ever been. I’d do it all over again. Isn’t there some quote about ‘no pain, no gain?’”
Matt beamed. This was more like it! “That’s what trainers say, that you have to ‘feel the burn.’ You go pee, then I’ll give you a real workout.”
Adam laughed. Stood. Ambled to the bathroom. Peed.
When he returned, he leaned against the door jamb, picking at a glob of dried cum in his bellybutton.
“About that workout you offered to give me, I am interested. It’ll just have to wait a bit. I’ve got that meeting with Garland. Remember?”
Shit! Matt had forgotten all about that! “You said your dad nearly wrecked everything. What happened?”
“MCU presented their settlement offer. Free 4-year scholarship with room and board. Plus, I’d get $100,000 cash. Well, $70,000 after Garland’s fee. That’s rich kid money to me!”
“I agree,” Matt said. “Anything else?”
“Yeah, get this: Dean Smith is retiring, except that the way the lawyers reported it, it sounded like it wasn’t voluntary on his part, like they made it happen to please me. Except that I never asked for that. And, even weirder, the new dean will publicly apologize to me in Chapel, which I never asked for either.”
“Awesome!” Matt said, pretending like the whole thing hadn’t been his idea. “I told you Garland’s a great attorney. He’s obviously looking out for you.”
“Maybe.” Adam wasn’t convinced. “But Garland doesn’t know I’m vegetarian.And suddenly MCU’s gonna start offering vegetarian entrées? Something doesn’t add up.”
Matt shrugged, agreed it was weird. Changed the subject. “But what about your dad?”
Adam scowled. “So, dad showed up to the meeting uninvited. Garland told him that since I’m over 18, this is between MCU and me. Even MCU’s attorneys objected to his presence.”
“And?”
“Dad grumbled and complained, said he just wanted to make sure that I was treated fairly. Said the only reason to exclude him was that something fishy must be going on.”
Matt guessed where this was headed. “You agreed to let him stay, didn’t you?”
Adam nodded. “Big mistake.”
“…So, MCU explained their offer,” Adam continued. “They said that I’d need to sign a confidentiality agreement, which wasn’t a surprise. Garland had already told me that’s standard practice. We were probably a minute or two away from finalizing the deal, and then dad spoke up. He asked if anyone expected him to keep the settlement confidential because he wasn’t sure his conscience would allow him to do that.”
Matt crossed his arms. “His conscience? What did he mean by that?”
“I’m getting there,” Adam sighed. “The good news is that Garland must have sensed things were heading south. He told MCU’s lawyers we needed to recess so that he could confer with his client.”
