Pizza Boy at the Door Ch. 19

Josh only smiled and did...for as long as they could both hold off the next dual eruptions.

* * * * *

Trying to keep from blurting out the news to Kyle's family had been near impossible; but they managed it for a day and a half after they got back from Niagara Falls. Kyle really wanted to make the announcement to his parents at the country club dinner and suddenly that event was less than an hour away. They were getting dressed in the suits they had brought along when he reminded himself yet again, that he would have to tell his sisters later, since they were already committed to a double dinner and movie date.

"You sure I look okay in this, Kyle?" Josh was standing in front of the full length mirror on the bedroom wall, retying his tie for the third time.

Kyle walked up behind him and kissed him on the neck. "Sure you do, baby. Even if you didn't, once we show them the rings and tell them we are married, you could be wearing a pair of sequined leotards and they wouldn't notice." He laughed as he gave Josh a playful butt spank and then said, "Just be prepared for Dad to stand up and broadcast it to the whole dining room."

"He wouldn't? Would he?" Josh asked.

Kyle laughed before he replied. "He might. You really made an impression on both of them. They already see you as part of the family. The marriage just makes it formal. That wouldn't embarrass you, would it?"

Before Josh could answer, Jack Roberts' voiced boomed from downstairs. "You guys about ready? We have reservations in thirty minutes."

"Be right down, Dad," Kyle yelled back. "Get Mom and we will meet you at the car in two minutes." He then turned to Josh who was still fooling around with his tie, and proclaimed, "Stop worrying about your costume. It's curtain time, hubby."

The entire way down the stairs and out the door to the large Mercedes, Josh kept telling himself: 'Kyle's right. After everything else this week, how could tonight turn out any way but perfect?'

* * * * *

The short trip to the country club had been uneventful. Traffic was a little heavy, but Kyle didn't mention it for fear of giving Josh something else to trouble his mind with. They were nestled in the back seat of the big sedan and listening to Kyle's Dad tell the story of how he and Kyle's Mom had talked about running off and getting married without telling anyone in their families. Kyle squeezed Josh's hand hard to keep him from chuckling out loud. 'Don't let the cat out of the bag,' he mouthed to him as the big car slowed to a stop.

"Hope you like good steak, Josh," came from the front seat as Mr. Roberts waited for the oncoming traffic to clear so he could make the left turn into the club's driveway. "What they serve here is the best in all of western New York."

The next ten seconds seemed like an eternity to Kyle. Like watching a movie in super slow motion. Only moving one agonizing frame at a time. Unable to miss a single thing.

The first clue something was wrong was when his Mom screamed out her husband's name.

Next was watching his Dad yank the steering wheel to the right as he hit the gas, and feeling the luxury car jerk towards the shoulder of the road.

Looking through the windshield, he saw the jacked-up four-wheel-drive pickup almost filling it as it first impacted the Mercedes. Somewhere right near the left front wheel well. The sounds of metal-against-metal as the huge truck dug into the sedan was even louder than the jumbled yells inside the car.

He instinctively tried to throw his arm towards Josh, but the initial collision had lurched him out of reach. He saw the terror in his husband's eyes though as the pickup's bumper crawled along the hood and slammed into the front roof pillar, exploding the windshield glass. He tried to call out Josh's name, but it was stuck in his throat.

As the truck continued its destructive path, he watched the driver window blow out and his Dad's head jerk violently. In his peripheral vision, he saw his Mom reaching towards his Dad with a look on her face that made his blood chill.

As the big car was shoved off the road, the truck finally mercifully bounced the other way and stopped causing destruction...or so he thought. But in the final seconds of this slo-mo horror film they were a part of, the Mercedes dropped down a small embankment and the passenger side smashed against the culvert at the bottom; momentarily putting it up on two wheels. In the millisecond after it hit, he saw Josh's head whiplash into his door window and shatter it into a thousand pieces. As the car settled back down on all four wheels and the horrifying noises of the previous moments in time ceased, Kyle began to cry as he saw Josh hanging limp in his shoulder harness, and the multiple trickles of blood dripping from his forehead and temple onto his suit jacket.

It was many, many long minutes before he heard the sirens approaching. Minutes he would have given almost anything in the world for, to have not had to experience.