The Gifted Child 4 (musc)
by Jaypat
“Cody, what are you doing here?” I said, hardly able to believe my incredibly sexy boyfriend was right in front of me when he should have been competing in a gymnastics meet more than ten thousand miles away.“You act like you’re not happy to see me,” he said.
“Happy doesn’t quite cover it. Amazed is closer. Don’t take this the wrong way, but why aren’t you in Japan?”
“They canceled. So did the Chinese. So now I’m all yours,” he said smiling and holding his perfectly carved, muscular arms open. “Come here.”
“But how did you get here? How did you know where I was?”
“Evan Phips arraigned everything,” he said.
Holy crap! Evan knew about me and Cody. Evan knew everything. This was very bad.
“Now don’t make me come over there and get you,” said Cody. “On second thought…” He grinned as he hopped out of bed, totally naked. Holy crap, despite everything I got instantly hard at the sight of that body. He may have been only five foot four inches tall, but those perfect, globe-like pecs heaving over that cobblestone stomach with those mini bowling ball shoulders above those thick, cut arms—They got my temperature rising in no time flat. Sure his endowment wasn’t much, but fully engorged as it was now, it looked pretty respectable. And it was easy to overlook this shortcoming as it was swinging between two of the most cut, muscular thighs imaginable. Oh my God, what a powerful little stud he was, and he knew it too.
He crossed the room in six, quick, graceful strides and wrapped his arms around me. They were like iron bands. In a second he had hoisted me effortlessly off the ground and slung me over his shoulder. Despite everything I felt myself really heating up, melting and boiling all at the same time. But that’s what Cody did to me. I had a great view of his wide, muscle ridden back rippling above his perfect bubble butt, as those juggernaut legs crossed the room back towards the bed. A second later, I felt his steel grip close around me again and then I was flung bodily through the air. I landed on the mattress and in a second he was on me, ripping the clothes from my body, like a kid unwrapping a Christmas present, pausing only long enough to give me some of the most passionate kisses I had ever experienced. It was impossible not to respond. He had such an effect on me. I would have given him anything he wanted. And I did.
Deep into the night we went, licking, rubbing, pumping, kissing. Orgasm followed orgasm until exhausted we both fell deep asleep, still entangled in each other.
I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of gunshots. I pulled myself free from Cody, bolted out of bed and ran to my door, all traces of sleep instantly wiped away by the alarming sound of weapons fire. It was still dark, and I had no idea what time it was. Cody was still asleep. That man could sleep through anything. I almost woke him up, but he looked so peaceful. His boyish face had been smoothed by the carelessness of sleep, making him look even younger than his nineteen years, almost angelic. I decided to let him sleep. I could always wake him later if it turned out to be something serious. After pulling on a robe, I raced out down the stairs toward the front hall. What I found was Armond standing in front of the door.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Nothing to worry about,” the big man said in his rumbling voice “just the local farmers making trouble. Every once in a while they get drunk and start firing off their guns. It never amounts to much. Eventually they’ll stumble back home to sleep it off. In the mean time, it’ll be safer if you stay in the house.”
I head a couple more shots, but I realized he was right. The safest place was in the house. I thanked him, went back to my room, climbed back into bed next to Cody and tried to go to sleep, but it was some time before I actually achieved it. I spent most of the night contemplating Cody’s perfect body, and how beautiful he looked during sleep. And for about the millionth time I wondered how I’d wound up with him.
I slept in the next morning, and when I woke, Cody was already up and gone. When I came down I found Evan also had also risen and was outside by the pool. He was lying in a lounge chair wearing just a swimsuit, and on the phone. The remains of a huge breakfast were on the table nearby. The first thing that struck me about him was his body. Back in Connecticut he had resembled a famine victim. Not any more. He had filled out somewhat and now looked like a healthy, albeit skinny, teen. His chest stuck out a little and was no longer sunken, his stomach was flat and smooth, not shriveled, and his limbs looked fuller, not skeletal as they had before. He was no Adonis, that was for sure, but he certainly didn’t look diseased either.
“Good morning, Justin,” he said putting the phone down. “I hope the restless natives didn’t cause you to lose too much sleep.”
“I’ll recover,” I said as a small army of domestics descended on the table, cleared away the old dishes and started setting out new ones.
“Excellent,” he said. “In any case, you’re just in time to join me for breakfast.”
“It looks like you’ve already eaten,” I said.
“Yes, well, I always seem to be hungry these days, part of the good doctor’s treatment.”
I sat down at the table and tried to think how to proceed. I knew Evan was responsible for Cody being here. I didn’t understand why, and I needed to. But if I was pretty sure he’d never answer a direct question. So I had to think of some other way to get him to tell me.
“I wonder if you’ve seen Cody this morning,” I said.
“Ah, yes, the amazing Mr. Mackenzie,” said Evan. “I had that pleasure about an hour ago. I must congratulate you; he is breathtaking. He came down here dressed in only gym shorts and a tight tank top and I’m rather afraid I stared at him all through breakfast. I hope he won’t think me rude.”
I almost laughed. That was just like Cody. He loved his body and showed it off at every opportunity. If he got someone hot and bothered, he enjoyed it just that much more. “I’m sure he’ll forgive you,” I said. “Do you know where he went?”
“I believe he was going to visit the gym. He’s very dedicated, but I suppose to maintain a body like that, he’d have to be.” Jeeze, Evan was practically drooling.
“It was very nice of you to bring him down here,” I ventured.
Evan chuckled. “I’m afraid not,” he said. “I had my reasons for inviting Mr. Mackenzie and I assure you nice wasn’t one of them.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, suddenly alarmed.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” said Evan. “There’s that little matter of paying you back for going to my father against my will. Cody should help me nicely with that.”
If Evan was planning on using Cody for some petty revenge plan, he was going to be disappointed. Cody was fiercely loyal and he would never hurt me. “Cody won’t help you with anything,” I said.
“Don’t be too sure,” said Evan. “I have a way of getting people to do what I want. Speaking of which…” Evan gestured behind me. I turned to look and saw Doctor Kramer approaching. The poor man didn’t look like he’d slept at all last night.
“Good morning, Master Phips,” Doctor Kramer said.
“Good morning, Doctor. I hope you have good news for me.”
“I’m afraid not,” said the Doctor.
“You assured me the tank would be fixed by this morning,” said Evan sitting up straight.
“And it is,” said the Doctor. “We had the spare glass on hand and fitting it was simple enough. My news is about Manuel.”
“What about him?” asked Evan. “He looked to be in robust health last night.”
“Preliminary tests suggest he’s suffered extensive brain damage.”
“What?” snapped Evan, looking like he’d been hit by a car. “How?”
“If I had to guess—and I don’t like to, but with these kinds of time limitations there’s no other choice. If I had to guess, I’d say too much energy too quickly overloaded many of his synapses and burned them out. I imagine something similar happened to Mr. Thackeray up at the lab.”
Evan looked shocked. I was shocked. “That’s not really reversible is it?” I said. It was more of a statement than a question and I think I said it mostly for Evan’s benefit.
“No, it’s not,” said the Doctor. “Manuel has essentially become a great brute with the intelligence of a toddler. What’s more, his testosterone levels are through the roof, making him aggressive in the extreme. He is very difficult to control and I have to keep him sedated all of the time.”
“And how is the guard,” I asked.
“He has been removed to a local hospital. The prognosis is for a full recovery.”
“He was lucky,” I said.
“Yes,” agreed the doctor, “luckier than Manuel.”
“And what in your opinion caused the brain damage?” asked Evan, obviously forcing himself to be calm.
“Too much energy, too quickly,” said the Doctor.
“So, it wasn’t the overall process, just the session in the tank?” asked Evan, some of the tension easing out of him.
“That’s what I would guess, but there are a million—”
“Yes, yes, I’m sure,” said Evan, cutting him off. “We need to find a way of utilizing the tank without causing brain damage,” said Evan.
“That could mean, reworking the entire process,” said Doctor Kramer. “I don’t have the staff to continue studying Manuel and redesign the energy tank.”
“That’s fine,” said Evan. “You concentrate on Manuel and leave the redesign to me.”
“You’re hardly qualified—“
“I’m as qualified as I need to be,” snapped Evan. “In the meantime, I want the tank ready to go by tonight.”
“What?” gasped the Doctor. “We still need many more tests. I don’t have any more processed subjects—“
“That doesn’t matter,” said Evan, “I will be going into the tank, myself.”
I could tell this took the doctor off guard. “I don’t care how gifted you are, there is no way you could redesign the entire process in a single day,” snapped the Doctor.
Evan smiled. It was not kind. “You’re right, of course,” he said. “But low levels of the energy appear to be safe enough. We can start there.”
“The safest thing would be to abandon the tank completely and let the process take its course.”
“I have already told you, Doctor, my schedule does not permit three to five years to complete this enterprise.”
“But—”
“This meeting is over,” said Evan. “I will be at the lab promptly at seven. Please have everything ready by then.”
The doctor looked like he had a lot more to say. He huffed and puffed for a few seconds before apparently giving up, turning around and marching off.
“Maybe you should listen to him,” I said, after he’d gone.
“If I listened to him and others like him I’d never get anything done.”
Evan dove into his second breakfast like a starving man. Sometimes his callousness simply disgusted me. One man reduced to a mental midget, another in the hospital, both were directly his fault and he was carrying on with his gluttonous display like nothing unusual had happened. And I had seldom seen anyone eat like that. He ate an entire serving platter of scrambled eggs, a quarter pound of bacon, half a dozen bananas, and almost an entire box of bran cereal.
“I’m going to find Cody,” I said.
“Do that,” said Evan, “but don’t say anything about our earlier conversation. If you do, I’ll be forced to ruin you. And I’ll expose your relationship with Cody, too, which means he can forget any endorsement deals he may hope to earn from the Olympics.”
I looked back at Evan sitting there smugly and something inside me just snapped. Whatever clinical detachment I had went out the window. I couldn’t see Evan as a patient anymore, just an evil little asshole. I’m not generally a violent person, but suddenly I was so outraged I almost launched myself at him right there. It wasn’t the fact that he’d threatened me. I guess I was getting used to that. It was his threat toward Cody that almost made me lose it. I’m not sure how I held myself back, but without saying another word to him, I turned around and headed off to find the gym.
I was getting better at the whole gesture-thing because it only took me two tries before I found someone who pointed me in the right direction. The gym was one of the new structures on the property. It looked like the workmen were just finishing painting the outside when I walked up and opened the door. It was quite a set up. I’d seen gyms in New York that weren’t this well equipped. It even had still rings, a high bar, a vault and a pommel horse and that’s where I found Cody. He was swinging himself up and around in moves which were an amazing combination of strength, grace and astounding muscular control. I know poetry in motion is a cliché, but watching Cody in action was almost a religious experience for me. It was also insanely hot.
As soon as he saw me, he executed a perfect dismount and walked slowly up to me.
“Up at last,” he grinned. “I thought you were going to sleep all day.”
“Just ’cause I don’t sleep like a log and get up with the sun…” I said, grinning right back at him.
“One of the benefits of being in peak physical condition,” he said, flexing his large, perfectly shaped biceps. I was instantly hard, but I had to put those thoughts away now.
“Cody, it’s wonderful to see you here, but I think you should go,” I said.
“What? Why?”
I had to be careful here. I had no doubt Evan had the whole place wired for sound, and that he’d eventually hear everything I said. I couldn’t mention Evan’s threat, but I had to get as close as I could. “It’s Evan. I don’t trust him. He’s dangerous.”
“What, that little kid? What is he, twelve?”
“He’s fifteen,” I said, “but don’t judge him by his age. He’s one of the kids I work with. He’s very, very bright.”
“Oh,” said Cody, “that explains why he talks like that. But so what? He seems ok. You know, he was checking me out.”
“Cody, everybody checks you out.” He grinned again at that. “But Evan is different. He… collects people. He hasn’t got his hooks in you yet, and I want you to leave before he does.”
Suddenly he was serious. “His hooks?” he asked. “Has he got is hooks in you? Is that why you were so weird on the phone the other day? Are you in trouble, Justin?” He scowled and balled his fists, my hero ready to charge to my rescue; if only he could save me. But this was way beyond him, way beyond either of us.
“Don’t worry about me,” I said. “I can handle this. But you should go before…” I almost slipped, but I stopped myself before I could say anything about him losing his endorsements. I never could think straight when I was around Cody. “You should go,” I repeated.
“Fat chance,” he said. “What kind of man would I be if I just ran off and left you here in trouble.”
“Please just go. I’m asking you to.”
“Not a chance, I’m staying. The more you try to convince me to leave, the more I know I need to stay. You’re stuck with me, so you’d better get used to it.”
I wanted to be mad, really I did, but I couldn’t be. I realized he meant it and I actually felt a huge serge of relief. I wasn’t alone anymore. I reached over and hugged him. He was hot and hard and sweaty and so damn sexy.
I spent the rest of the day watching Cody work out and go through his routines. I don’t think I could have been happier. But I knew it couldn’t last. It must have been about 5:30 when Armond showed up to “invite” us to join Evan for dinner.
“Who’s the big guy?” asked Cody.
“Evan’s bodyguard,” I answered.
“That figures. I guess that means we’re going to dinner,” he said.
“Pretty much.”
We stopped off at the room just long enough for Cody to shower and change. But that almost caused a very long delay when he invited me to join him. Cody had just spent the entire day on a killer work out, and now he wanted to take a shower with me. Where he got his energy, I’ll never know.
When we got down to dinner Evan had not yet arrived. It wasn’t a particularly large dining room or a very large table. There were only four places set. Armond was there and dressed formally in a jacket and tie. I wasn’t and neither was Cody. He was wearing a pair of tight cotton pants that showed off every striation in his large, cut quads. His polo shirt was a size too small for him; his biceps stretched the sleeves, his large pecs pulled the front wide open, and his abs were making a definite impression below. He was such a showoff, but it worked. Along with that chiseled face, those sparkling blue eyes, and that self assured smile. It was difficult to look at him without getting hard.
Armond, of all people, actually knew who Cody was. He followed gymnastics and the two of them had a lively conversation about the men’s gymnastics team and their chances in the upcoming Olympics—that is until Evan arrived.
Evan looked a little bleary eyed and disheveled. He was still wearing shorts and his light cotton shirt was a mass of wrinkles. “I must apologize for being late,” he said. “I’ve been absorbed in calculations all day and I’m afraid I lost track of the time.”
“Trying to work out the problems with the tank?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said, “and it’s turning out to be quite a challenge.”
“You’re not still going in tonight?” I asked.
“Yes, I am,” he said, “and I’m glad you brought that up. I’d like you to be there, Justin.”
“I don’t know, Evan,” I said. “I think I’ve seen enough of your little toy.”
“Please,” he said. “I’m asking you as a favor. I don’t like the idea of going into that thing alone.”
“Doctor Kramer will be there,” I said.
“Doctors and technicians aren’t exactly comforting, and now that the moment is approaching, I find I’m somewhat… nervous. And believe it or not, you’re the closest thing I have to a friend.”
I was more than a little inclined to tell Evan to go straight to hell. But he did look scared, and if I have a fatal flaw it’s that I’m far too compassionate. I hate seeing anyone suffer, even someone as loathsome as Evan.
Cody was looking at me. I could see he knew what I was thinking. “He’s not going anywhere without me,” he said. He could read me like a book.
“Of course you’re invited too,” said Evan.
Somehow the idea of Cody being there made the whole thing seem bearable, and so I agreed.
No one said much of anything else for the rest of the meal and afterwards we all went straight out to the warehouse where the tank was kept. Doctor Kramer was already there. He and the technicians were rushing around getting everything ready. If anything, the Doctor looked even more exhausted than he had when I saw him that morning and I wondered when he’d last slept.
“Are you ready for me, Doctor?” asked Evan.
“As ready as I’m ever going to be,” said Doctor Kramer. “If you would care to prepare yourself?” The Doctor handed Evan a diaper-thing like the one Manuel had worn last night and Evan, apparently not feeling particularly modest, stripped down right in front of us and put it on. He was a skinny little guy, there was no denying it, and his genitals still seemed particularly underdeveloped. I couldn’t help but wonder what the tank would do to him. A huge Evan… What would he be capable of? But maybe low levels of power would have no visible effect on him at all. The truth was I had no idea what to expect.
Evan climbed up onto the platform where one of the technicians began sticking the little electrodes all over him.
“What’s happening?” asked Cody. “What’s the tank for?”
I wondered how I could even begin to explain it to him. In the end I realized I couldn’t. I didn’t really understand the process myself, and what I did know would come out sounding like some crazy fetish story you might read on the internet.
“I can’t explain,” I said. “Just watch.”
Evan put on the oxygen mask and hopped into the tank. I looked at him floating in there just like Manuel had the night before and a feeling of dread stole over me.
“Can you hear me, Doctor?” came Evan’s voice over a loudspeaker system.
“Yes, Mr. Phips, loud and clear,” said the Doctor leaning over a microphone that had been installed into the console. I didn’t remember it being there yesterday. I guess Evan had had some modifications made.
“Excellent,” came Evan’s voice. “You may begin.”
He doctor’s fingers floated over a keyboard and the tank began to mildly bubble. I heard a gasp from Evan.
“How are you feeling, Mr. Phips,” the Doctor asked the microphone.
“Quite exhilarated,” said Evan. “What power level are you using?”
“Zero point three,” replied the Doctor.
“Point three?” exclaimed Evan. “Surely we can do better than that.”
“I don’t want any repeats of yesterday,” said the Doctor.
“Manuel had his problems somewhere around eighty-seven, if I’m not mistaken,” said Evan. “You’re being over cautious again, Doctor.”
“Be that as it may, the power level remains at zero point three.”
“I think we can risk level five,” said Evan.
“Out of the question,” said the Doctor.
“Just for a few minutes, then I’ll come out.”
“No,” said the Doctor.
“Armond,” said Evan. And suddenly the giant emerged from the shadows where he had been standing, forgotten, and moved over to tower over the much smaller geneticist.
“Level 5 please, Doctor,” said Evan from inside the tank.
The Doctor scowled up at Armond and then over at Evan. “Fine,” he said. “If you want to kill yourself, why should I stop you?” Then he hit a couple of keys on the board and the tank began to bubble a little more rapidly.
“Yes,” cried Evan from the tank, “Oh yes!” And over the next few minutes, as we watched him thrash around in the tank, we could see little muscles begin to bulge up all over him. Little pecs formed around his nipples. His arms got thicker both above and below his elbow. We started to see the outline of his abs against his stomach and his thigh and calves swelled up and gave his stick legs some shape.
“Holy crap,” whispered Cody, grabbing my arm. “What the fuck is happening to him?”
“He’s growing,” I said. “It’s what the tank does.”
“Enough,” gasped Evan from the tank, “enough Doctor, please shut it down.”
The Doctor’s hands flew over the keyboard and the bubbling ceased. Evan practically vaulted out of the tank. He jumped down from the platform and suddenly he was standing dripping in front of us.
“What do you think?” he said, flexing his arms and looking down at his little chest, his faint abs and his tiny bulging muscles. He looked like a kid admiring the pump after his first workout, exceptionally proud over very little. But he was definitely bigger. And he was also about an inch taller.
“It appears to work,” I said.
“Doctor?” questioned Evan, turning toward him.
“Synaptic function seems to be unimpaired,” he said peering at his monitor.
“See, I told you there was no need for concern,” said Evan smugly.
“Jeeze, he got taller, too,” said Cody, staring at Evan. “Can anybody do that?”
“What?” I gasped. “Cody, no, it’s dangerous.”
“Apparently not,” said Evan, displaying his slightly improved frame. “Why do you ask, Cody? Would you like to give it a try?”
“Hell yes!” he exclaimed.
“No, Cody, you don’t know,” I said. “You didn’t see Manuel. Evan, show him Manuel.”
“Of course,” said Evan.
“Who’s Manuel?” asked Cody, while Evan stripped out of his diaper, toweled himself off and put his clothes back on.
“Manuel was last night’s experiment,” I said. “The tank left him a mindless brute.”
“Seriously?” said Cody.
“Oh yes,” I said.
“Why don’t you see for yourself?” suggested Evan. And he led us out the door and across the yard to another, smaller building. This one looked like it was made out of reinforced concrete and it had a heavy steel door. Evan produced the key and opened it up for us. The inside wasn’t nearly as oppressive as I was expecting. It seemed more like a hospital ward than a prison. There were several beds in here. Four of them had been pushed together and on top of them lay Manuel. He was fast asleep.
I had forgotten the size of him. Those amazingly broad shoulders, that thick neck, those pecs rising out of him like twin striated mounds. His abs looked like a fucking mountain range. His arms were enormous. Thick veined biceps, at least 25 inches around, ran into his cannonball shoulders and his veined forearms were about as thick as my neck. He was so thick with muscle and so lean, he looked like a champion bodybuilder ready for a show. All that on a six foot five inch frame made him startling.
“Jesus, he’s huge,” said Cody.
“Breathtaking, isn’t he?” said Evan. “And yesterday he was smaller than I am now.”
“No way.”
“It’s true, isn’t it Justin?”
“He was also a human being. Now he’s just an animal.”
“It’s true we had a problem with the process,” said Evan, “but now it’s all been ironed out.” And Evan extended his arms wide, offering his own body as proof.
“Yeah,” said Cody, “I see that.”
“Cody,” I said. “You can’t possibly be thinking…”
“Why not?” he said, interrupting me.
I was not going to have this conversation in front of Evan. “Would you excuse us?” I said.
“Of course,” said Evan.
“Cody, can I talk to you outside?”
“Sure.”
I couldn’t help but notice Cody’s gaze as it lingered on Manuel just before he followed me out the door.
“What is wrong with you?” I said as I got him outside.
“Nothing. I’d just like to be a little bigger. What’s the matter with that?”
“You don’t need to be bigger, Cody. You’re perfect—oh Christ, you’re more than perfect—exactly as you are.”
“Really,” he said. “Is that how you really feel? I mean, I know you love my body. You wouldn’t love me even more if I were, you know, bigger?”
“Cody if I loved you any more my insides would implode.”
He pulled me over and gave me a big hug. “I love it when you say things like implode; it’s so amazingly geeky. Can I tell you something?” he asked releasing me.
“Anything,” I said.
Suddenly he got very quiet and very serious. It wasn’t like him. “I hate being short,” he said. “I hate it.”
“You never said anything about that before,” I said.
“Well, it was never really important before,” he said. “I’m five foot four,” he said, “and I always just assumed I’d have to live with it; so I’d better just accept it and get on with life.”
“That’s a healthy attitude,” I said.
“Except I’m no good at it,” he said. “Every time I see one of those big guys who do shot put or power lifting, I just think how awesome it would be to be that big and strong and then I get angry inside. I’m so damn short; I realize that no matter how much I might work at it, there’s no way I could ever get as big or as strong they are. I feel like I’m running a race I can never win, even if I do my personal best. There’s absolutely nothing I can do about it and it just seems so incredibly unfair.”
“Cody,” I said, “you’re an amazing athlete. You’ve got a body that would stop traffic. You don’t need to be any bigger.”
He just looked at the ground. “I didn’t think you would understand,” he said. “No one who wasn’t short really ever could.”
And that’s when the first cramps hit. I grabbed my stomach and bent over, groaning. Crap, my drink at dinner, it had had ice in it! Crap. Damned infected water. I hate Mexico.
“Justin, what’s the matter?” cried Cody. “Are you alright?”
And that’s when we heard the rifle bolts pull back. I looked up to see a couple of rugged looking Mexican men, armed and pointing their rifles right at us. Displaced farmers, they had to be.
Cody and I were in serious trouble.