Christian Upended

I started this story a long time ago, hitting a block and not knowing which way to go, changing directions a few times before going back to my original idea. I think it works and I hope you agree.

And having said all that, I have published a revised version. Thank you to Anonymous for investing himself/herself enough in my work to point out a few flaws in the story as I first published it. To me, that is the ultimate compliment. I hope I addressed them appropriately.

Please don't take this as an essay on the values of marriage or the lack thereof, it's simply a vehicle I used to create the story, and remember, this is a work of fiction.

Also, there is a reference to another of my works in here, who knows, maybe Chris and Ray will go for a ride with Vicki and Vick one day

Oh yeah, standard disclaimer, all people having sex are over eighteen, yada, yada, yada...

Enjoy the story and please leave me a comment when you're done, hearing what you think of my creations is what keeps me going.

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I hated weddings, renting a tux, all the standing around, the rehearsals, then the reception where a bunch of people that didn't honestly even like each other pretend to be excited about becoming a 'big happy family', it was just all so fake. Not to mention the fawning over someone you barely knew, pretending to be excited as two people sold their souls to each other for something that was in all probability going to crash and burn in the not-too-distant future. Yeah, I'm a cynic and a bit of a jerk, so sue me.

But Ashley was a bridesmaid, as her loyal boyfriend I did my duty tagging along, mostly because she was beautiful not to mention a beast in the sack. I knew she would make it up to me, letting me explore the glorious curves and valleys of her amazing body, doing anything I wanted because she wanted it more.

To be fair, I had earned my cynicism the hard way, watching as my parents' marriage dissolved into a bitter divorce only to be followed by a series of stepmothers and stepfathers, then watching my older brother follow right along with what our parents had taught us; he was on wife number four. I promised myself I would never fall into that trap, never, so far, I had been true to that pledge.

Ashley was my latest in a long string of girlfriends, most of whom had lasted less than a year, she was on year two, but I had been up front about the lack of any chance at marriage. She seemed ok with that, if I bought her nice things, took her to nice restaurants, on expensive vacations. In return, she fucked my brains out, it worked for us.

Ray and I sat toward the back of the church as the wedding party worked through the instructions the pastor was giving, who stood where and when, all the standard stuff, he looked as bored by the whole thing as I was. His date was also a bridesmaid, we were quietly commiserating the price we were paying for sex; "A hooker would have been a lot cheaper," he quipped.

"And a lot less trouble," we both laughed a little too loud which got us unwanted attention from the bride and her mother.

Throughout the rest of the weekend, we continued our ongoing joke about how expensive the sex was, never really talking about much else. When Ashley and I got home, he faded into a long list of other people I had met and never thought of again.

The ultimate cost of the wedding was what it did to Ashley and her proverbial 'clock', now she wanted something I wasn't going to give her, we lasted about three months before I caught her screwing a guy she worked with, we broke up, they got married, eight months later, she popped out number one. She hadn't waisted any time. Good for her, I hoped she was one of the lucky ones, but I doubted they even existed.

Sara was next, followed by Rebecca, then Sammy, Sarah with an 'h', and Julie, Julie had unique talent that almost got me to reconsider my stance on marriage, what she could do with her mouth, the way she craved it was almost too much. I was sitting at the cabana bar waiting for her to get back from the ladies' room, watching a young couple proclaim their never-ending love for one another on a beach in Fiji. After they said their I Do's one of the groomsmen headed straight for the bar, it was Ray.

"You know there are a lot cheaper ways to get laid, or are you just a masochist?"

"What the hell, Chris, right?" I nodded and shook his hand, "No 'tang' for this one," he laughed, "the bride is my little sister."

We chatted while the bartender got him his drinks, he loaded up a tray about the time Julie got back, he nodded at Julie, we said our cordial goodbyes; he disappeared once again.

Ray and I ran into each other every now and then in the strangest places, the airport in San Francisco, skiing in Aspen, in line for concessions at Fenway Park, we even shared a train ride from Chicago to Milwaukee, he was on his way to a business meeting, I was headed to the Harley Davidson factory to check a dream off my bucket list. It got to be that I was looking for him whenever I went anywhere. It always made me smile when I ran into him, our running joke never seemed to get old.

"Damn, too bad he's not a girl," I thought to myself as we got off the train, we got along so well. He was just easy to talk to, no drama at all; with the bonus of there being no chance of him wanting to get married. I caught myself watching him walk away, "Shit, he even has a nice butt," I laughed to myself.

Two weeks later, I was sitting on the Pier at Santa Monica celebrating, enjoying the sunset when I heard his now familiar voice behind me," Shit Chris, are you following me or what?" his laugh was infectious.

"I could ask you the same thing," I smiled, tipping my beer at him, "just bought my dream bike," I mused, "what better way to break it in than Route 66, and that ends right here," I pointed to the marker, "So, what's your excuse?"

"Me, I live in L.A., I come out here every now and then to watch the sunset," he sat down next to me; we did just that. The sunset over the ocean was hard to beat. How comfortable I felt sitting next to Ray made me a little nervous as I found myself wanting to put my arm around his shoulder and pull him closer. Memories of the train ride to Milwaukee and watching him walk away as I admired his butt flooded my thoughts. I turned to look at him just in time to catch him bite his lower lip as he delicately drew his shoulder length hair back behind his ear with his middle finger, absolutely one of the sexiest things a woman can do.

"What the fuck?" I muttered to myself as I got up and walked to the railing.

"Chris, you alright?" Ray had followed me.

"Um yeah, just a long ride, that's all," Why did he have to put his hand on my shoulder when he walked up behind me?

"Well, dinners on me," he stepped up next to me, "everybody needs to go to Bubba Gump's at least once," there was that laugh again.

Dinner was nice, we spent most of it talking about my new bike and the ride from Chicago to Santa Monica, it had been a great trip. I told him I had done the whole thing by the seat of my pants, no plan, just going with the flow and stopping wherever I found something interesting.

Ray kept smiling like he had a secret, with all the women I had been with, I had never had one pay such close attention to what I was saying, Ray listened intently, waiting until I was finished with a thought before he asked a question, never trying to one up me or dominate the conversation; he was so easy to talk to, to be with, and the way he smiled at me and played with his hair.

Of course, I had to show off my bike, Ray was impressed and seemed to know as much about it as I did. He finally couldn't hold it any longer," I know exactly how you feel," he grabbed the helmet off the identical Road King next to mine and threw his leg over the bike.

"You shit, why didn't you tell me you rode?"

"What, and ruin your moment, never," the son of a bitch blew me a kiss, "just try to keep up," he put on his helmet, turned the key, hit start, and pulled away from the curb. I fell in behind him. Ten minutes later, I parked next to him in front of a small craftsman style house on a very nice lot.

"This is yours; you live here?" the house and yard were immaculate, "None of my business but it had to cost a fortune, "I let out a nervous laugh.

"Good genes, my great grandfather built it, I inherited it," he grinned at me, "and based on our conversation earlier, you probably need someplace to stay, so my guest room is yours, come on, let's get you settled," he turned heading up onto the porch. I smiled, shook my head, grabbed my travel bag, and followed him.

The house was full of antiques, from what I could tell, most of the furniture had belonged to at least his grandparents and was possibly original to the house, the kitchen and the bathrooms had been updated and a huge spa type hot tub had been added off the back porch. The pinnacle of the tour was the sunroom, Ray had transformed it into his studio, his art was amazing, oils, watercolors, charcoal, and pencil art. His day job as a graphic designer kept him busy, his art was his passion.

The guest room Ray showed me was amazing, a huge four poster bed filled most of the room with a matching dresser and armoire against the far wall, it was all mahogany and absolutely beautiful. The room shared a bath with a second bedroom that Ray had converted into his home office, when Ray left me to get settled, the first thing I did was take advantage of the huge shower, it felt good to get out of my road clothes and into something a little more comfortable, I chose a pair of shorts with a t-shirt, opting to go commando underneath.

I found Ray on the back porch sipping a glass of whiskey, he handed me one just like it without a word. I sat in the chair next to his, enjoying the scotch, the subtle fragrance of lavender filling my head, the fence along one side of his back yard was covered in the lush bushes, they were in full bloom. My shower had relaxed me, with the soothing fragrance of the flowers combined with the cool night air, the warm feeling I was getting from the scotch was making me very sleepy, but I didn't want to move.

"You may be carrying my sorry butt upstairs," I laughed as I fought the urge to close my eyes.

"That happens back here sometimes, it's pretty relaxing plus you're probably pretty tired from your ride," he reached over patting my arm, "but, don't worry, I'll take good care of you. Just be glad I didn't opt for a soak in the spa," he laughed giving my arm a squeeze. For some reason I didn't understand, I put my hand on his holding it there for a few seconds. Neither of us said a word until he nudged me letting me know I was snoring, offering to help me upstairs into my bed. I didn't remember anything else but woke up in the huge four-poster feeling better than I had in a long time. A quick trip to the bathroom before I went to get dressed, I found all my clothes had been unpacked into the dressers and armoire, even my dirty clothes had been washed and put away.

I thought about Ashley, how she would have complained about me falling asleep on her and about Julie who would have sucked me off, leaving me there, "yeah, too bad Ray's not a girl," I chuckled to myself pulling on my deck shoes, a pair of Bermuda shorts and a polo before heading downstairs to find my host.

My first stop was the kitchen where I found a half a pot of coffee still in the pot. It wasn't exactly fresh, but it was hot, a little cream and sugar took the edge of the bitterness enough that it didn't matter. I found Ray naked in his studio lost in one of his paintings, I just stood in the door watching as he worked, humming to himself as his brush flew over the canvass, there was as much beauty in his movements as there would be in the finished work, his long slender body, muscular legs, tight butt, his long hair dancing over his shoulders as he moved, his delicate hands seemed to barely be holding the brush in his elegant fingers as the image slowly came to life. I watched in awe as the colors melded into a beautiful floral scene, he was painting the lavender along his back fence.

"Oh, hi," he blushed bright red as he turned to find me watching him paint," it's watercolor and much easier to shower than it is to get paint out of my clothes," he was covered from head to toe in a vivid spray of pastels, as hard as I tried, I couldn't help but look, he was completely shaved and nicely proportioned, it was my turn to blush, I knew he saw me look making no effort to cover himself.

"Sorry, but watching you paint was just mesmerizing, it's almost like a dance, a ballet," I turned to leave, "but I'll leave you to it. I didn't mean to interrupt."

"You're not interrupting," he winked, "I'm obviously not very modest either," he smiled at me, "but let me get cleaned up so we can go get some breakfast, there are some things we should probably talk about, especially if you're going to stay for a day or two," he paused, giving me a wry smile, "or longer."

I openly ogled his lithe body as he sashayed past me, there was no other way to describe it, Ray knew I was attracted to him and he liked it; I didn't know what to think.

Refreshing my coffee, I made my way out onto the porch to wait for Ray, I realized I had known him for years yet effectively knew nothing about him.

"You ready cowboy?" he put his hand on my shoulder again, I turned smiling at him, setting my coffee cup in the sink as I followed him out to the garage.

Aside from his Harley, Ray had two cars, a classic C1 Corvette, and a BMW 8 series convertible, it was occurring to me that he did a lot better than I did, that BMW was a hundred-thousand-dollar car, the Corvette could be worth even more depending on the specifics.

Breakfast was at a small place not too far from the pier where we had run into each other last night. The food was excellent, the conversation better. Ray and I seemed to be able to talk about anything. He admitted that he was indeed very gay, in fact the last girl he had been with was the one at the wedding where we first met, even confessing that he had always enjoyed running into me fantasizing about me more than once. The devilish smile he gave me made me nervous.

I blushed telling him I enjoyed our meetings too, but probably not for the same reasons. He took a sip of his juice raising an eyebrow indicating he wasn't as sure of my answer as I seemed to think I was, he had seen me checking him out this morning after all.

After breakfast, we drove over to the beach, taking a long walk in the sand filling each other in on all the missing pieces of our lives, I told him where my aversion to marriage came from flowing effortlessly into how I had started my own software company, selling it to a larger company while staying on in a 'consulting' role that let me do pretty much whatever I wanted for the next five or six years at least. I was socking away whatever I could and playing with the rest, hence my new Harley and my trip down route 66.

Ray was a trust fund kid; his great grandfather had built an empire in Southern California in the construction business. His grandfather had taken over before leaving Ray, his little sister, his father and uncle equal shares of his estate in a trust when he died. Ray had drifted around finally going to USC for a degree in contemporary art, his studio was proof he had made a good decision. He inherited the house because no one else wanted it, his dad and uncle had moved to Nevada, his sister into the mountains east of San Francisco.

"So, no contenders, huh? Not one of the women you've been with has even made you think about it, getting married?"

I grinned, "well, Julie, the girl I took to Fiji, damn, she could do this thing with her mouth that's hard to describe, when she really wanted to get nasty, she'd sick her finger in my frickin' ass massaging my prostate as I came, fuck, I still get horny just thinking about it, so yeah, I guess there was one," I laughed , "whoever she's with now is one lucky guy."

"So, great blowjobs and a finger up your ass is what it takes to get on your list," Ray pulled his sunglasses down to the tip of his nose giving me the most devilish smile, "what do I need to do to get an audition?"

I shoved his shoulder pushing him out into the surf, "if I ever think about switching teams, you'll be the first one I call."

"I'll hold you to that," he tried to splash me with the cool water falling on his butt. I went to help him up ending up in the surf right next to him, each time one of us tried to get up, the other pulled him back down into the water. Completely soaked, we both laughed until we got back to his car, it was a good thing his seats were leather.

"I was serious," Ray winked as he looked at me across the car as he unlocked the door to climb in.

"I know," I blushed smiling as I joined him.

We did end up in the hot tub that night, coming to an agreement that flirting was ok, but he wouldn't push the issue. I sat back in the hot water, sipping my scotch, struggling with the conflict between my aversion to sex with men and my attraction to Ray.

The few days I had planned on staying quickly turned into two weeks, we went to watch The Angels lose to The Rangers, to the beach, out to dinner, even dancing, I had never been this comfortable with any of the girls I dated, not Ashley, not even Julie.

My first time in a gay nightclub was interesting. It was like any other club except the lines were a lot less clear cut, mostly the guys danced with the guys, the girls danced with the girls, but some of the girls I was positive where girls weren't while some of the guys were more feminine than any woman I had ever dated.

I got hit on a lot accepting a few offers to dance, confident I could handle myself. When a couple of guys got a little aggressive, Ray started doing things to let people know I was his, putting his arm around me, even holding my hand, outright kissing me twice just to make his point; as much as I didn't want to admit it, I enjoyed his lips against mine.

As the night went on, I found I liked the attention, especially Ray's efforts to save me from the predators. I also found that I felt a little jealous when he danced with someone else or touched them in a manner I felt was too intimate.

We closed the bar down stopping at a Denny's for a late-night breakfast with a few of Ray's friends, all of whom were convinced we were fucking each other silly, none of them believing for a minute I was straight; I had just had too much fun at the bar, the way Ray protected me, the way he kissed me, well, that was all the proof they needed.

I had to agree with them about having a good time, I had checked my reservations at the door doing my best to fit in, I guess I did too good a job. Ray and I laughed about it all the way home, teasing each other with pet names like sweetheart, lover, boyfriend.

"I'm glad you had a good time, boyfriend" Ray smiled, laughing lightly.

What I did next was as much a mystery to me as anything I had ever done, I didn't laugh, instead I smiled putting my hand on his cheek cupping my fingers just under his chin, "thank you for tonight, I had a great time, boyfriend," I whispered softly as I pulled his lips to mine giving him the most tender kiss I could imagine.

My heart tried to leap from my chest as he returned my kiss, his hands going around my body pulling me close as mine wrapped around him, our kiss and our embrace growing more and more passionate. Was it a moment, a few seconds, or longer? I didn't know, I didn't care, all I knew was that when our lips parted, I had experienced a kiss unlike any other.

I smiled resting my head on his shoulder, "you know I have to go home soon?"