Spill the Mil

Author's Note: This is the final installment of Spill the Milk. There is a tiny bit of formatting that worked well when I wrote it but may not come across perfectly on your screen. I won't know until it posts. If it works, fantastic. If not, please forgive me. It should make sense even if it doesn't display correctly.

As always, many thanks to my beta/editor Nelle1022 for... well... everything.

****

Mitch was waiting for me in the driveway when I got home from work. He opened the passenger door and climbed into my truck before I'd had a chance to kill the engine.

"Take me to the mall."

"What's wrong with your car?"

"Nothing," he replied and buckled his seatbelt. "I need the truck. I need to pick up some stuff for the girl's room. Josh, the new guy at work, has a brother that works at a furniture store, and he's giving me a great deal on the bunk set that the girls want. But I have to pick it up."

"Then just take the truck," I offered. I didn't want to go. My phone had died before lunch, and my car charger was broken. I hadn't been able to talk to Seth all day.

"Come on. Just take me," he insisted. "I'll need help hauling it."

"I don't want to go, Mitch. I've been working all day. I need a shower," I explained. "Besides, you said that I didn't have to do any of the work."

He smirked. "I lied. Come on, princess. You look fine. Let's go."

I sighed and put the truck in reverse. At least I could get a new car charger at the mall.

When we got to the mall, I headed straight for the cell accessory store.

"Where you going?" Mitch asked. "Furniture store is this way."

"I'm going to get a new charger. I'll meet you down there. You don't need me until you're ready to go anyway."

"Well, hurry up. I don't want to be here all night."

I rolled my eyes and walked off.

It took far longer in the store than I had planned. They were crowded and slow. When I finally got what I wanted, I turned to leave and ran into Seth. I smiled, and he fidgeted.

"Seth. What are you doing here?" I asked with a grin, happy to see him. The more he fidgeted, the more a weight settled in my stomach. He looked nervous and panicky, and my heart started a rapid staccato in my chest. "Seth?"

"I'm sorry, Adam," he whispered.

"Sorry? For what?" I asked.

"I..."

"Seth!" a girl called out. "Come on!"

Seth closed his eyes and winced as if in pain, and we both turned toward the voice. The girl calling for him was beautiful. She was tall, close to Seth's height, with long, strawberry-blonde hair, and a knockout figure. I guessed her to be about Seth's age too. When neither Seth nor I moved, she gave an exasperated sigh, put her hand on her hip, and started striding toward us.

"Adam!"

I turned at Mitch's voice to see him heading toward us from the opposite direction. Mitch got to us before the girl.

"Hi, Seth." Mitch smirked. "I guess I don't have to ask what took you so long, Adam."

"Seth." The girl huffed, annoyed, as she came up to us.

"Hi," Mitch greeted the girl with a predatory gleam in his eyes that I had seen many, many times before. "I'm Mitch, nice to meet you."

"Hi," she replied. "I'm Corey."

"Adam," Seth whispered, guilt and sorrow stamped all over his face.

It took me a second. By the time I'd figured out what was going on, Mitch was already hitting on Corey. When he saw something he wanted, he moved fast. There was no way that I had a chance to warn him, and I wasn't sure of what I should be warning him of. I tried wracking my brain to remember if Seth had ever said his ex was male, or if I had just assumed it. I couldn't remember him ever referring to her as anything other than 'Corey', his ex. No gender. Everything he'd ever said about her could have just as easily applied to a girl as to a guy. Either Seth's assumed ex-boyfriend had been an ex-girlfriend, or Mitch was making the moves on a t-girl. Seth and I seriously needed to have a talk, but, unfortunately, now was not the time.

When I tuned back into the conversation, Mitch had already invited them to join us for dinner. At my house. I followed the three of them to the furniture store, and Mitch and I lugged the bunk beds out to my truck. I thought that I'd have a chance to say something to Mitch during the drive home, but he had other ideas. He decided it would be best if he rode with Corey so that Seth and I could ride together.

"I'm sorry, Adam," Seth said the second he closed the passenger door to my truck. "I know that you didn't want to meet my ex."

I pulled out my new charger and plugged in my phone, struggling internally to figure out the best way to handle the situation. "Is Corey physically male or female?" I asked. It probably wasn't the most delicate question, but it was the most imperative.

"Does it matter?" Seth asked.

"It's going to matter a great deal to Mitch if he manages to get her into bed," I replied.

Seth was contemplative for a moment. "Corey identifies as female, but she has male genitalia."

"Fuck," I groaned. "I really wish that you had told me that."

"I don't go around telling people that she has a penis," he retorted.

I glanced over at the hostility in his voice. "I'm not trying to fight with you, Seth. It's just that we've put Mitch in a bad situation."

Seth sighed. "Mitch got himself into this situation. Do you really think this is the first time that a straight guy has ever hit on her?"

"No," I admitted. "She's beautiful. I'd imagine that guys hit on her all the time. Straight and otherwise."

"Then let her handle it," he suggested. "She knows how to let guys down gently."

"Are you bisexual, baby?" I asked.

Seth shook his head. "That's the primary reason that we weren't compatible. She's a great person. She's sweet and generous and loving. It's just... the more she transitioned, the harder it became for me to be with her. She understood that, and we were able to stay friends. I want her to be happy. And she's happier with her outside reflecting her inside. I'm just not attracted to women."

"So she was living as a man when you met?"

He shook his head. "Not completely. She was living as a woman part time. She didn't have the ability to make the transition until I moved in. She's still legally male, so she knew there'd be problems, and she needed some support to help her through the bad times. Once I started helping with the bills, she quit her job and started living as a woman full time. She found a new job, we found a new apartment, and no one she spends time with now knew her as a man. Except me."

I didn't respond to that. What was I supposed to say? I just pulled out of the parking lot and headed for home.

"Are you mad at me?" Seth whispered.

"No." I shook my head and reached out for his hand. "I'm just worried about how Mitch is going to react to finding out he's got the hots for someone with a cock."

The evening went well, everyone got along. I didn't even find myself getting jealous over the obvious affection between Seth and Corey. I didn't see her as a threat to my relationship, even though I knew that they had been intimate. By the time we'd met back up at the house, Mitch had cooled off toward her, and I wondered if she had told him. I didn't get a chance to find out until after they'd left. I'd wanted Seth to spend the night, but he would have had no way to get home in the morning if he had, so he'd left with Corey.

"Hey, Mitch?" I stopped him as he was heading to bed. "Can we talk for a second?"

"Sure." He turned around and sat on the couch with me. "What's up?"

"Did you and Corey get a chance to talk?" I asked. I was trying to be circumspect, but I didn't really know how to broach the subject.

"She's sweet," he replied, which didn't really help me at all.

"You like her?"

He nodded. "I like her a lot. I'm not sure that she likes me though. I thought she did. She kept looking at me like she was interested. But then, I kept striking out. Maybe she's just a good girl. Has Seth told you anything about her?"

This was more than his typical thing of just trying to get into a girl's pants. I really hoped that I wasn't about to get slugged. "She's transgendered, Mitch."

"She's what?"

"She's transgendered," I repeated. "She's biologically male."

"I fucking know what it means, Adam," he snarled. "I'm not a fucking moron. I just can't believe that she's a guy."

"She's a girl," I corrected. "Except for one thing."

Mitch was silent while he thought about it. After a few minutes of staring off into space, he got up and went to his room without a word.

**

Mitch wouldn't talk to me for the next few days. It was the second week in a row that we weren't speaking. It was starting to become a nasty habit. On Thursday, he finally confronted me.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he accused.

"I did tell you." I didn't have to ask what he was talking about.

"I meant, earlier. Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I didn't know," I explained. "I didn't know until we were on our way back from the mall. I told you the first chance that I got."

"Would you have just let me bed her?" His voice was increasing in volume as his control slipped.

I shook my head. "No. I don't think she would have let it go that far. Seth tells me that she's a good person. She knows that you're straight. She wouldn't have let that happen without you knowing what you were getting into."

"So instead of giving me a chance, she just blew me off?" he shouted. "She never even let me make that choice on my own? She just decided that I was some sort of phobic prick that wouldn't have liked her if I knew that she was born male?"

"Mitch? Are you mad that she let you down easy, or are you mad that no one stopped you from hitting on a guy?"

"She's not a guy!" he roared. He was very confused, and he was losing it. And, for the first time in his life, he realized it before it got completely out of control. "Fuck!" he yelled and stormed out of the room. I didn't know whether to go after him or let him work it out on his own. I decided that I'd given him three days to work it out, and he wasn't doing a good job. I followed him into his bedroom.

I found him sitting on the edge of his bed with his elbows braced on his knees and his head in his hands.

"You really like her, huh?" I asked as I sat beside him.

"Fuck," he groaned.

"Maybe you should talk to her," I suggested. "I'm sure that she has more insight into this than I do."

"How the fuck am I supposed to do that?" he grumbled. "She has a cock."

I chuckled. "So do I. You don't seem to have a problem talking to me."

"I mean..." He raised his head to look at me. "I don't know how to treat her. She does have a dick, right?"

I nodded. "I've never seen it or anything."

Mitch growled at me, and I smirked. He was possessive of her. I didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad one. I could see this going either way, very quickly.

"Am I supposed to treat her like a girl or a guy?"

"Like a girl, Mitch. She's a girl."

"Is she going to have the surgery?" he asked, looking somewhat hopeful.

"I don't know," I replied. "But does it matter? She's the same person now that she would be then. Either you like her or you don't. And I think we both already know the answer to that."

"I just don't think that I could... I don't... Fuck. I don't know what to do."

"Well, I'm going to stand on the suggestion that you talk to her. You never know. She may not even like you."

He growled at me again, and I laughed that time.

**

In typical Mitch fashion, he didn't take my advice. I knew that to be a fact because the only way he could have gotten Corey's phone number would have been to ask me to get it from Seth, which he never did. Instead, he threw himself into the task of redecorating the girl's room into a place suitable for his two princesses. He painted the walls pink with white and purple trim, refinished the wood flooring, tossed down some throw rugs to match, put up the bunk beds, with frilly pink and purple bedding, and somehow acquired a couple of whitewashed dressers and a mirrored vanity. He also hung a flat-panel TV on the wall opposite the beds and hooked a game console up. For the amount of money that he'd spent redoing that bedroom, he could have easily rented his own place. Truthfully, I didn't mind. I loved those girls like they were my own, and having them at the house didn't bother me in the slightest. Except for the inconvenience of being forced to stifle the amazing, sexy noises that Seth made in the throes of passion.

The girls weren't due until Sunday evening, so I had all weekend to enjoy letting Seth get as loud as he wanted. And me too, since it was my turn to bottom. If the sex noises bothered Mitch, he didn't say anything about it.

Seth went home on Sunday night, and by Wednesday morning, I was chomping at the bit. There were plenty of times that I had gone weeks without sex. My longest stretch was six weeks, but I had done that more than once. But, for some reason, since I'd started seeing Seth, going five days without access to his body was torture. I woke up that morning with more than the normal morning wood, wishing like hell that Seth didn't feel the need to spend weekdays at his own place. I understood the logic; I just didn't like it.

We started a new job that morning. The new site was thirty miles from my house. I left early, not knowing what traffic would be like. When I got to the site, I did the same thing I always did when I was in a new location. I checked Grindr. I wasn't even thinking when a pretty brunet caught my eye as I scanned the thumbnail images. I clicked on his beautiful face automatically. He was even better looking in the full-sized screen image. His blue eyes popped, and I wondered if the image was shopped.

His name was Blaine. "How ironic," I thought. Last seen twelve minutes ago, so he was a day person. He was eight miles away. I mentally calculated if I could manage that quick of a turnaround during my lunch hour. Deciding that I could, I tapped on the dots.

"BTTM looking for fun, maybe more.

23yrs White

5'7" Toned

155lbs Single

Right Now, Dates, Otter

Friends, Chat

Want a Take Charge TOP who knows how to handle me. ++Wolves. HMU"

My cock pulsed in desire. I was halfway through typing a message to him before I realized what I was doing. The enormous feeling of guilt nearly knocked the wind out of me. I immediately closed the app and went to delete it from my phone. My thumb hovered over the confirmation as I hesitated for a few seconds before I tapped the button and removed the app.

I couldn't believe what I had almost done. I spent the morning mentally berating myself. I couldn't figure out if I had actually cheated on Seth or not. I didn't know if I should tell him what I had done, or had almost done. I knew that I was supposed to be honest with my significant other, but was there a thing as too much honesty? I really didn't know, and it was eating me up inside. I had no idea how relationships worked, but I knew for a fact that I shouldn't take relationship advice from my best friend. I loved him, but he was a dog. By the time lunch rolled around, I was a wreck. So I did the only thing I knew to do.

"Adam?" I could hear the shock in Craig's voice.

"Hey," I replied.

"I didn't think that I'd ever hear from you again," he said, compounding the guilt I was already feeling. "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry that I haven't called. I just didn't know if I should." Craig and I had been friends almost as long as Mitch and I had. But when all the shit went down, I had stopped talking to him. Not because I had any problem with him and Jamie. I had always known that he'd had a thing for her. He'd been the one to pursue her first in high school. But in the competition for girls, Mitch always won.

"I understand. I'm just glad that you called. Is there a problem with your computer?"

That stung. Mostly because it was earned. Craig did something I didn't really understand for a living. His title was Database Administrator, but I didn't know what all that entailed. All I knew was that every time I managed to fuck up my computer, I called him, and he fixed it. "No. It's fine. I woulda called sooner, but I've been kinda busy."

"I know," he chuckled. "Jamie told me about your boyfriend. Congrats. It's about fucking time."

I chuckled. "Thanks. I really appreciate that nobody's making a huge deal and flipping their shit or anything."

He was quiet for a minute. "Is that what the problem was?" He sighed and continued. "I wish you woulda... I don't know if I should tell you this, but I've known that you were gay since high school, man. My cousin Jeremy saw you at The Rabbit Hole a few times."

The Rabbit Hole was this really sleazy dive a couple of towns over that I had frequented before it had closed, years before. The drinks were watered down, there was almost no dance floor, and the place was dark. Its sole purpose was suck, fuck, and go. I loved that place. "You shoulda said something. I didn't even know that Jeremy was gay."

"He's bi, but it wasn't my place to say anything about him or you. I wasn't going to call you out. And, in case you're wondering, I never told anyone. Not even Jamie."

"Thanks. But now I'm realizing that I've had my own head so far up my ass that I've been fucking my whole life up. I'm trying to get it right now, but I have no clue what I'm doing. That's kinda what I wanted to talk to you about. I thought maybe we could get a beer after work or something."

"That'd be great!" he exclaimed. "I'd be happy to. But I gotta make sure that Jamie doesn't have plans for us or anything first. Okay?"

This is why I was getting my advice from him. Some guys would have called him whipped, but the way I saw it; he knew how to keep the peace and show his respect and devotion to his partner. I could use some of that. Mitch could use some of that. Hell, we could ALL use some of that. "Sure." I grinned. "Just text me and let me know."

**

"Hey." I sat down across the table from Craig, and there was already a beer waiting for me. "Thanks."

"No problem," he replied and looked me over. "You look like hell."

I chuckled, shaking my head. "Fuck you, man. Some of us work for a living." I took a long pull off my beer and added, "And here I was gonna tell you how great you looked, but now I'm not gonna."

He grinned. "Love makes everyone look good."

That, and a suit that probably cost more than a month's pay for me. "Surely you didn't dress up to impress me." I smirked. "I already know that you're a dweeb."

He smirked. "Nah. You're not my type. I don't go for the blue collar and dirty fingernails look," he joked. "I had a meeting today. And I can't stay out all night. Jamie wants me home at a reasonable hour."

"Lucky for me, my boyfriend likes the rough-and-tumble look. And he's way prettier than you," I ribbed.

He laughed. "Yeah. Jamie said he seemed nice."

I arched my eyebrow. "Is that what she said?"

"Not really," he admitted, fidgeting with his beer bottle. "She said he seemed sweet, and that you guys were probably going to be a bad influence on him."

I sighed. "She's never going to forgive me. It really wasn't my fault. Hell, you got more play outta his philandering than I ever did."

His eyes opened wide in surprise. "Bullshit!" Then he paused for a second and started laughing. "Okay. Yeah. I did. Sometimes it pays to be the wingman. But seriously, man. She doesn't blame you or me. She knows it was him. Besides, considering she knows that you were never interested in picking up chicks, how could she possibly blame you?"

"How did she find out?" I asked.

He shrugged. "She figured it out. She's the one who told Mitch. Mitch asked me if I thought it was true. I didn't know what to say, so I told him that, if it was, it was none of our business until you decided that it was. This was all a couple of years ago. I don't remember the conversation word for word."