Alex M. / John / Lucas / Andrew

I blame it on my dad.

The reason we never had much food in the house when I was a kid was because he spent all his spare time - and all his money - on gambling.

Cards, horses, football games, baseball scores, it was all the same to him until one day the landlord threw us out of the apartment when, once again, we couldn’t pay the rent.

That was the last straw for my mom. She threw dad out of the house and we never saw him again.

But I guess that’s why I’ve always liked card games.

After my dad left I found one of his old decks and I used to invite some kids from school round to the house to play a few hands with me. That wasn’t a problem. Once dad was out of the way, mom had to work nights at the local café for every penny she could make.

The only games I knew then were kids’ ones. Me and the guys didn’t have no money to bet with - but, like all eleven or twelve year old kids I’ve ever heard of, we soon found how to make our games exciting.

When we played strip poker (I’d picked up the rules from my older cousin Larry) we used to compare our naked bodies.

When we started, I was the only one with no pubes yet. The guys used to kid me a lot about that and I wished I’d never started the darned games. But after a few months, even if my hair still wasn’t as thick as theirs, my dick was longer - whether it was soft or hard (we soon got into the habit of finishing the games with a circle jerk).

Like I said, we started this when we were about eleven or twelve. Most kids, I guess, grow outa that sort of thing when they find out about girls. But even though the guys and I started dating at the same time as all our other buddies, we kept up the habit of our weekly poker games all the same.

No one ever said they weren’t going to be there. Every Wednesday night the guys would still come to my house, we’d play a few hands, strip off, play with our stiff dicks and then they’d go home without any of us ever making a big deal about it all. Of course, I guess we all knew that not many eighteen year olds still did that sorta stuff - but no one raised it and I guess we all just enjoyed doin’ it too much.

Gee, I haven’t even told you who we are yet, have I?

I’m Al. It’s Alexander really but only mom calls me that - and that’s only when she’s real pissed with me. You’ll always recognise me because of my favourite cap. It only gets taken off when I get really excited - as you’ll see.

My best friend is probably Lucas. We do everything together - we even fuck the same girls from school sometimes.

Everyone thinks Lucas is real cute and he knows it. He says that last year some guy from outa town picked him up in the john in Schwarz’s store and gave him $50 just to suck his dick and stick a finger up his ass.

I still don’t know whether that’s true. I spent a month hanging about in that john and didn’t see anyone - only the high school janitor they caught sniffing the basketball team’s jockstraps last year.

Funnily enough, although Lucas is the cute one it’s our buddy John who the girls in school like the best. They all say he’s real cute. I can’t see it myself. Man, he’s got the worst taste in shirts in the whole world, too.

That leaves Andrew. Never “Andy” - it’s Andrew.

He’s a good buddy too, even though he’s got a nerd’s name and I guess if you ever see him you’ll know hes the smart one. I’ve been telling him for years to get rid of his glasses. I know the chicks would like him a lot more if he did that. But he likes to live up to his school nickname “Professor” - though, as you’ll see, he’s definitely not on the professor level when it comes to a hand of poker.

Because we’ve been playing poker for, like, six or seven years now, I know the way everyone handles the game.

John and Andrew are the more honest guys. But - remember what I told you about his story of the $50 blowjob? - maybe Lucas is the one who’s likely to bend the rules a bit just like he bends the truth. He’s certainly been known to take a sly look at John’s cards from time to time….

…. and, because of that, naive Andrew’s often the first to lose his shirt.

Of course, it’s not long before the rest of us are getting naked. Usually it’s me that’s the first. Maybe I’m the worst card player - or maybe it’s because I want to get to the fun part of the evening. What do you think?

Pretty soon we’ve all lost our clothes. That’s where the fun really starts.

We usually pair off then - at least to start with. It’s weird, really. Like, none of us are fags, man. But we’ve been doing this for so long that we can go the whole way with each other - and usually do - and yet we don’t get hung up at all.

So what if we kiss a guy? A guy’s mouth is just as sexy as a chick’s. Even more when it’s right round your dick.

Well, we think so, anyway.

After the kissing starts, we get down to real business. It’s weird, but even after all these years the sex between us four just gets hotter and hotter.

Like I say, we’ve all got girlfriends.

We’re not fags - OK?

But our card games are just about the last thing any of us would give up.