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dealt two initial cards to each player. Jamie had a ten and a five, Tuck a three and a seven, Brendan a king and a two. “Jamie?” Tuck nodded toward him.
    “Hit me.” Jamie tapped his cards. Tuck dealt him another five.
    “Not bad.” Tuck frowned appreciatively.
    Jamie put a hand over his cards. “I’ll stand.”
    Tuck turned toward Brendan, who nodded. Tuck dealt him a nine. “Whoa, twenty-one in the first hand. Way to go, Brendan.”
    “Pure luck.” Brendan shrugged but looked pleased.
    Tuck dealt himself a two. “Twelve. I’m feeling lucky. Let’s see what I get.” He flipped over another card. It was a queen. “Busted. So Brendan gets to ask the question, right?”
    “Yep.” Jamie nodded, curious who and what Brendan would ask.
    “Since Tuck lost, we’ll start with him.” Brendan shifted so he was facing Tuck and seemed to ponder the question. “Okay. How old were you when you lost your virginity?”
    “That’s easy. I was seventeen. It was in the back of my parents’ car with a girl I’d been dating for a few months. It was basically a disaster.”
    “Details,” Jamie blurted, intrigued. Was Tuck truly bisexual or had he just been experimenting with a woman, as so many gay guys did before they recognized or felt free enough to admit their true orientation?
    “Hey, you’re not asking the questions.” Tuck laughed. “Asked and answered. Let’s play another round.”
    “Oh, come on,” Brendan urged, surprising Jamie. “Tell us the details.”
    Tuck poured a shot of vodka into his glass. “Okay, but I’ll need this to get me through it.” They laughed and Jamie found himself relaxing for the first time since Tuck had held him in his arms. Even the wind outside seemed calmer. Tuck tossed back the alcohol, winced and shuddered. “That’s rough.” He made a face.
    “Bet the second one will taste better,” Brendan offered.
    “And the third one even better,” Jamie added.
    Tuck grinned and leaned back in his chair. “Okay. You guys sure you want to hear this?”
    “Quit stalling,” Jamie teased.
    “Okay, okay. Let’s see. It was the dreaded senior prom. The dance was in full swing. We slipped out to the parking lot to smoke some weed. She produced a condom from her purse and said, ‘Happy anniversary.’ We’d been going out six months or something and we’d yet to go all the way. I wasn’t terribly excited about the idea of my first time happening in the back of a car, but on the other hand, I was seventeen and being offered the chance to lose my virginity. So I seized the moment, as they say.
    “It was kind of awkward. She was wearing this evening gown thing with lots of extra slips and stuff, but we finally got it hoisted up around her waist. She had on stockings and a garter belt, I remember that. I was in a rented tuxedo of some color not found in nature. We kind of made out for a while and groped each other. I must have made it in about one inch and then I came. It was all over in like three seconds.”
    Jamie shook his head and Brendan laughed. “Wow, that’s even worse than my first time.”
    Tuck grinned. “We’ll have to find out about that. I’ll deal another round.” He dealt the cards and this time Brendan came up the loser and Tuck the winner. Tuck, predictably, turned to Brendan. “Okay. So tell us. When and how did Dr. Brendan Aaronson lose his virginity?”
    Jamie expected Brendan to hem and haw, but he launched right in. “I was barely nineteen. She was twenty-two.”
    “An older woman.” Jamie raised his eyebrows.
    “Yep. She was a grad student. I was a freshman. She was tutoring me in French and well, one thing led to another and I found myself in her bed. We weren’t lovers, we weren’t in love, but she was eager and I was a nineteen-year-old guy, which of course is synonymous with horny. I probably lasted a full three minutes longer than Tuck, though.”
    Tuck dealt another round, and as if it were planned, this time Jamie lost. Tuck was