Simply Red

Max’s Perspective

The big wedding weekend was coming to a close and I was loading our luggage into the rental car alone. Brody was having coffee with Eric at Hunter’s request. We planned to check out of the hotel once he got back then head over to the Hall’s for brunch, and from there off to the airport. It was going to be a long ride to the airport since all six North Carolina guests were riding together in one car. Seth picked me up from the airport when I arrived, so it was just the five of them driving in, six of us would be a tight fit. After I loaded the car, I went back to our room to wait for Brody; I didn’t have to wait long.

“How’d it go?” I asked as soon as he walked through the door. 

“Good, I guess” He said in a somber tone kind of shrugging his shoulders.

“So, what happened?” I asked.

 “Well, we made small talk at first, then I brought up the subject of him bein’ drunk last night. Then I looked him in the eye and said, ‘I know we’ve had our differences, but you’re a good guy and I care about you.’ Then I said, ‘you’re a lot of things, Eric, but a liar aint one of ‘em. So, look me in the eye and tell me you’re not sneakin’ around and drinkin’.’”

 I listened intently impressed by Brody’s bold approach, “so what did he say?”

 “He just looked down at the table and said, ‘I can’t do that.’ then I asked him if he wanted help, he just nodded and we talked a little more. Damn Maxwell, he’s drinkin’ a helluva lot more than he let on. Sounds like he’s drunk most the time.”

God, I felt awful that none of us realized he was in trouble. “How long has it been going on?” I asked.

“He said he was drinkin’ a little when he was still living in the duplex but started drinkin’ more when he moved home, and the last year had been the worst.” Brody replied still speaking quietly. “After we talked, I took him up to his room to talk to Hunter. He told Hunter he loved him and didn’t want to lose him, but he needed to get help. Hunter just hugged him and promised to get him help, then he promised him he wasn’t going anywhere. When I left, Hunter was huggin’ him and he was basically havin’ a breakdown in his arms.” I could tell this was rough on Brody, he felt guilty for being tough on the guy, but that’s probably why Eric listened to him. Brody is a no-nonsense guy, and when he’s mad or disappointed in you, it hurts. Oh, hell I was so disgusted with myself when he told me he was disappointed in me when we were in Vegas, I could only imagine how Eric felt. We talked about Eric a little longer, then grabbed the rest of our stuff and headed down to meet the others in the lobby.

 Tommy and Darius were ready to go, but Dylan and Gina were running late (as usual), but finally came down. I saw Zach’s little sister Riley quickly doing the walk of shame through the lobby and out the door to a waiting Uber. Looks like her and Eli hit it off. Brody brought the rental up to the front door and we started to load everything up. Eric and Hunter came out carrying their luggage “I hardly saw you at all last night!” Gina yelled as she ran over and hugged Eric. “Let’s catch up at brunch.” 

“We’re not gonna go” Eric said. “We deiced to head back early to avoid traffic.” It was clear he was embarrassed but he shouldn’t have been. The guy had a problem… shit we all have problems. Besides, only me, Brody, Seth, and Zach knew what was going on and we didn’t care about his flaws, we just wanted him to be well.

While Gina was trying to convince him to stay, Hunter came over to Brody and put his hand on his shoulder, “Thanks” he said quietly.

“Whatever you need, just let us know” Brody responded as he patted the hand on his shoulder. “Hopefully he won’t fight you when you get home.”

“Well, there’s a meeting one town over at 7PM tonight, it’s an open meeting and we’re going together” Hunter said with conviction. “I’m hoping to learn more while we’re there about other steps we should take. He seems receptive so now is the time to act, thanks for starting the conversation with him.” Brody just nodded. I liked that Hunter kept saying “we,” it was clear he planned on being there for Eric. While we were quietly talking, Gina succeeded in talking Eric into going to brunch, and Darius and Tommy decided to ride with them to the Hall’s to give us all a little more room in the car.

 Brody drove to the Hall’s with Hunter following behind. As soon as we left the lot, I got a text from BA that just said, “post this.” I read it out loud, then I got a second text with a video, I opened it up and started laughing out loud.

 “What is it?” Brody asked as he drove.

 “It’s BA talking to Jimmy, your Daddy must’ve shot it.” I said laughing. It was hilarious.

 BA was standing there with a drink in her hand (probably moonshine) and talking to the camera. “Hi Y’all, this is Granny BA… BA can stand for whatever the heck ya’ want. I’m babysitting my grand-puppy and my grandkid while their daddies are at a wedding.” Then she leaned into Jimmy’s face and asked, “What’s that baby boy? You want granny BA to congratulate Seth and Zach?” as if he was whispering to her. Just then Zoey and Roscoe came running in barking, she looked at them and asked “You too? Well okay then. Congratulations on your wedding Seth and Zach from Granny BA, Daddy, Jimmy, Roscoe, and Zoey. We love all you boys.” I was laughing out loud. I forwarded it to everyone in the car, then to Seth and Zach, then I posted it on our social pages.

 “She’s a trip” Dylan said. “I’m sure she can’t wait for us all to get home.”

 “I miss them all” Gina said. Then we started talking about the wedding. “Everything was so… so over the top, and grand. I want our wedding to be more personal like yours.”

I looked at Brody with a grin as he drove, he snickered back and repeated “our wedding? Y’all got somethin’ to tell us?”

 Gina turned bright red and Dylan blushed and grinned his adorable dopey grin. “No, no, no” Gina protested. “I… I… Was just… just talking, that’s all”

Dylan jumped in to try to save her “We aint got any announcements…” he said smiling, then added, “Well at least not yet.” It was obvious they had been talking about it. I couldn’t help but smile. They were great together, and if they got married that meant Gina would stick around North Carolina. We pulled up to the Hall’s house just in time for Gina to jump out of the car and end the conversation before it got any more awkward for her. Hunter parked behind us and we all got out of the cars.

Seth and Zach were out in the yard greeting everyone as they showed up. “Congratulations again!” I said as I hugged Seth.

“That video is freaking hilarious!” Seth said laughing. “God, I love your mother in-law.”

“Yeah, I hit the jackpot… so did you” I said. 

“Yup, in completely different ways” Seth laughed. We talked for a while in the front yard, then headed to the backyard and under the big tent to greet the Hall’s and our other friends. Kelly Hall was throwing another royal bash… I gotta hand it to the woman, she knew how to throw a party. We hung out having a great time with our friends. Now that the wedding was over, Cam and Elliot had shared their news with everyone… we were already pushing them for details on when and where, ready for the next reunion. I Loved our life in North Carolina, but I missed being around all my closest friends. It had only been a year since we went our separate ways, and the wedding was already the third time we had all gotten together but I still missed having them around all the time.

 “Hey, Max!” Kev yelled from across the tent and waved me over to his table. He was sitting at a high-top with Scotty and Randy. I walked over to them with my Bloody Mary in one hand and a plate of food in the other and took the open seat.

“Hey guys! What’s up?” I didn’t have much of a chance to talk to them at the wedding.

 “Did you see Baby Scotty’s shirt?” Kev said nodding his head in the direction of the kids. He was wearing his BroMax Farm shirt with Jimmy on it. I laughed out loud. “He never takes the damn thing off. I need to sneak it out of his room at night to wash it” Kev said with a laugh. We talked about our little hobby farm and life in North Carolina, then Kev said, “Seth sent me a couple of your candles, they’re awesome! We wanted to talk to you and Brody about a project we’re working on for The Resort.” Kevin and Randy were on the Board for The Resort (a 5-star gay resort chain I worked for over a couple of summers during college), and Scotty and Matty both worked there.

 I saw Brody a few feet away and called him over to the table while Kev flagged down Matty. The two guys came over and stood by the table with their drinks. Brody set his plate next to mine and picked at it as the guys spoke to us.

 “Jordy, the majority shareholder in The Resort, hired a Perfumer and Fragrance Chemist to come up with a signature scent for his other hotel chain and talked us into doing the same for The Resort” Matty said explaining the situation to us.

 “So, this guy is going to create and manufacture a signature scent that will be pumped throughout all The Resort locations, and we want you to use it to create an exclusive candle line for us” Kev said.

“And Brody we want you to design the packaging. We’d use the candles at The Resorts and sell them under a private label at the front desks” Randy said chiming in. Then Scotty and Matty started talking logistics, quantities, budgets, and timing for rollout at their several locations (including the one in Hawaii that Zach and Seth were headed to for their honeymoon). Brody went into designer mode and asked all the right questions. Kev told Brody he’d get us a creative brief that outlined specs, brand essence, and a million other things I didn’t understand, so we were all on the same page. Brody understood every word and knew exactly what he meant; he and Kev were both advertising guys and spoke the same language. Brody went to the car to get his laptop, then took control of the meeting and turned it into a brainstorming session. I had never seen him in work-mode before and was impressed as hell by my husband as I watched him pull details from the guys and throw out ideas that sparked more ideas. We spent about an hour or so working together, then Brody and Kev hashed out next steps which included us getting them a proposal based on what we had discussed. We were really excited about the opportunity, and frankly honored that they chose us. This could turn our little side hustle into a legitimate money-making business.

 We hung out for a little while longer before we said goodbye to everyone and the six of us loaded into the rental car and headed to the Madison airport. Darius and I were the two biggest guys so I drove and he sat shotgun. Before we left, Brody spoke with Eric privately and hugged him goodbye (a big deal for Brody).

#####

 I had planned on sleeping on the plane but unfortunately, I ended up sitting next to Gina. I LOVED the girl but she just wouldn’t shut the fuck up. It had been a fantastic journey seeing my family and all our friends, but I was so ready to get back to our life on BroMax Farm. Me, Brody, Zoey, Jimmy, the bees, my garden, my candle making, the farmer’s market… all of it. We said goodbye to Tommy and Darius at the airport, then Gina, Dylan, me, and Brody piled into the Gladiator and headed back to BroMax Farm. Home. The drive seemed to take forever, but finally we pulled into the long, gravel drive, past Dylan’s truck, BA’s Chrysler, and Old Blue all parked near the garage that held my little Camaro, and right into the old barn. We got out of the vehicle and Jimmy was standing there bleating us a greeting, and it took less than a minute before Zoey and Roscoe came running. I crouched down and accepted a million puppy kisses on my face. The wedding was fun, but damn it was good to be home. BA and Daddy came out to the barn and helped us unload the Gladiator. “These little bastards missed ya’” BA said in her graveled voice. “I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, nothin’ fancy, but I figured you’d all be hungry. We all went into the house and sat at the dining room table, ate, and talked about our trip and the big wedding. We told everyone about the proposition from The Resort. “Well, if you need help pourin’ wax, packin’ boxes, or taking stuff to the UPS Store… I’m your gal” BA said.

 “I’ll help out too, it’ll be fun” Gina said after she sucked up a spaghetti noodle.

 Dylan was eating and talking with his mouthful as he added, “So, if this thing happens, you’re gonna need to add a couple of more wax melters and set up an assembly area in the barn. I can help you build that out.” Daddy volunteered his help too.

 As we talked it hit me that this could be big for us, turning this place into a solid third income.

 “Kev is gonna send over a brief and the initial specs and numbers this week” Brody responded. “Then me and Maxwell need to source out and price out some container, a printer for the labels and boxes, find a wax supplier, all that stuff so we can get a quote together and build a proposal.” I looked at Brody with fear in my eyes. I had never done anything like this before, hell this was way out of my comfort zone. Brody saw the look in my eyes. “I know how to do a lot of this, but I’ll need you to pull the words and numbers together Maxwell… I know what to say, just not the best way to say it. Between the two of us we should be able to do this right.” He said reassuringly. “I think we’ll make a good team on this” he said looking at me, then looked up at the rest of the and said, “all of us.” The table talk was lively as everyone got into daydreaming about building our little business.

 “Oh, and your garden looks like shit, Red” BA said completely changing the subject. “It needs some TLC. I spent a little time out there this morning, but you’ve got a week’s worth of weeding and picking to do. Your friend Mrs. J came by to check on the bees, she said everything looked good.” Suddenly I was overwhelmed, but in the best way. I realized that everything I loved to do needed my attention after a week away. I would tackle it all on Monday morning. We finished dinner and everyone headed home. We could not thank BA and Daddy enough for taking care of everything while we were gone. BA mentioned that Seth and Zach called her earlier to thank her for the video and laughed… she was proud of herself for that.

When everyone was gone, we went into the barn to tuck Jimmy in for the night. Witchy was sitting on the wall of his stall and jumped into Brody’s arms. Even she missed us. “Ya’ know, Dylan’s right. We’d need to expand a little, but it wouldn’t take much” Brody said as we surveyed my makeshift candle studio in the barn. “We got plenty of room to add a counter there for pouring more wax” he said pointing.

“And I could put another counter over there that could easily fit like half a dozen wax melters if we needed that many.” I added picking up on his vision. “We might need to add some electrical outlets.”

 “That’d be easy, we added that new breaker box for the outdoor lighting and we got plenty of space for more breakers in that” Brody said thinking through the logistics. “What about a sink? We could put like a big farmhouse sink over there.”

 “Run plumbing out here? Shit, that’ll cost some bucks, won’t it?” I asked.

 “Nah, we got plumbing out here for the water spigots already” Brody answered confidently. “It wouldn’t be that big of a project to put in a sink.” This idea was really taking shape and we were both excited.

 I started to worry about the animals, “what about all the fumes, will that hurt Jimmy? Hunter said it was cool for my hobby stuff, but if this is going to be consistent thing…”

 “We can call Hunter about it, and frankly, if this shit pans out maybe we build a new smaller barn for Jimmy” Brody answered. Damn, this was starting to sound expensive. I needed to crunch some numbers before we went much further, but it’s not like we had a mortgage. “Let’s do our research and figure out if this is a good opportunity and then worry about the details.” It was interesting, Brody was four years older than me and just a hell of a lot more mature and thoughtful. He rarely let his emotions take control. He was rational and calm. I was the emotional one.

 After spending a little time daydreaming in the barn, we went into the quiet house with Zoey. Our house. Home. FINALLY! I had missed that place so much. We went upstairs to get ready for bed with Zoey running ahead of us and jumping on the bed. He was so happy to see us. We both stripped naked and got under the covers with Zoey on top of the covers rolling around licking our faces until he eventually he took his place at the foot of the bed, and Brody spooned me. God, his skin against mine was so sensuous. His fingers danced on my bare chest as he wrapped his arms around me and stroked my red chest hair. It felt so good to be home.

 I pushed my ass back against Brody and felt his warm, flaccid cock against my ass crack and he made a little “mmmmmm” noise in my ear putting a huge smile on my face. I teased him gyrating my hips around as I pushed back and felt him growing behind me. He kissed my neck while his fingers pinched my nipples. After a few minutes, his hands moved down to my crotch as his lips kissed my back moving lower and lower until he got to my ass crack then he pushed me onto my stomach and started licking my pink pucker. He got behind me, pulled my ass up in the air and pushed my face into the pillow. He slapped my ass before he pulled my cheeks apart and just dove in, eating me out. I whimpered like a puppy as I pushed my ass into his face. I heard a thud as Zoey fell onto the floor. I laughed a little as Zoey made himself comfortable on the floor with a whimper while his daddies went at it.

 After a snicker, Brody went back to eating me out with rigor. Damn, his warm, wet tongue felt amazing up my ass as he pushed in and out tongue-fucking my hole and swirling it around. I pushed my hole out, opening up to let him in. Brody was on his knees eating my hole and jacking himself off. He moaned into my hole sending vibrations through my entire body making me shudder and bite the pillow. God, that man knew how to work me. He smacked my ass cheeks with both hands then went back to eating me out and jacking himself off. He was into it, and nothing was hotter to me than Brody getting into sex.

He raised himself up, sitting on his knees, and with nothing but his own saliva lubricating my happy hole, he lined himself up and pushed forward. I yelped in mixed pleasure and pain as his cock jettisoned forward all the way into my hole until his balls slapped my ass. “fuuuuucckkkk” he said with more of a throaty vibration than a tone or voice. Then he pulled out and pushed back in over and over with long, hard strokes. He spit in his hand then reached around using his spit as lube to jack me off. His hips and hand were in perfect rhythm as he pounded my ass and my cock. The sound and feel of his balls slapping against my ass were hitting all the right spots and pushing me into ecstasy. I was moaning, groaning, whining, whimpering, and begging for more like a wild man. “I’m cumming” Brody grunted.

 “Breed me fucker” I yelled involuntarily making Brody laugh… I NEVER called him fucker, but I couldn’t help myself, I was in the lustful throes of a wonderful fuck with my husband and I gave into it. He pumped harder and harder and shot his load deep into my ass as he continued to fuck me using his juices as lubricant and hitting all the right spots. I finally shot my load all over the sheets with an unbridled scream. Fuck it felt good to just let loose in my own home with the man I loved more than anyone in the world. Even after we were both spent, we kept going until we both just collapsed… me on my stomach and Brody on top of me with his cock softening inside me. Both of us stuck together with sweat and cum. We laid there regaining our composure, then jumped up and took a quick shower to rinse off. We dried off and ended up sleeping in Grammaw’s room because we were just too damn tired to change the well-used sheets. I fell asleep with Brody spooning me and Zoey sleeping at (more like on) our feet.

 The next morning, I woke up alone in Grammaw’s bed. I pulled on my underwear and walked down to the kitchen; it was about 8:00. I heard Brody on the phone.

 “It was a big step” Brody said to the person on the other end of the line. “and I’m damn proud of you. Whatcha’ gonna do next?” He asked, then just listened, and contributed the occasional “mmhmm.” At the end of the conversation, he said, “I’m proud of you Eric. Call me after your next meetin’ or anytime you need to talk.” Then he said goodbye and hung up the phone. I smiled as I eaves dropped. Brody NEVER invited anyone to call him, he just wasn’t a talker… but I’ll be damned if he wasn’t there for his friends no matter how uncomfortable it made him.

 I came up behind him, put my arms around him and asked, “So how is he?”

 “His first meetin’ went well, and he’s goin’ to another one tonight. He said sharin’ his story was the hardest thing he ever had to do, but at the same time it was a relief.” Brody responded recapping his conversation. “Hunter went with him, but he’s going alone tonight. I’m proud of him.” That was the end or our Eric conversation as Brody said “I changed the sheets on the bed” then poured me a couple of coffee, kissed me goodbye and rushed off to the office, he was running late.

 I drank my coffee, got dressed, checked on the bees, then spent several hours in the garden while Zoey and Jimmy played in the pasture. BA was right, there was a lot of work to do after a week away. I pulled the weeds and left whatever vegetables I could growing in the garden so I could pick them later In the week and they’d still be fresh to sell at the market on Saturday.  I picked some herbs and hung them to dry so I could use them for candle scents. After that, I melted some wax and experimented with the mint I had picked and dried before we left town, making sage/mint candles and some other odd combinations. It was about 5:30 when I finally went in the kitchen to make dinner. While the chicken breasts were baking, I spent some time online looking at commercial wax melters, bulk wax suppliers, etc. to get an idea of what things would cost. We couldn’t really do much more work on the proposal until we got the brief from Kev with the specs.

 I was glad to be home. By the time Brody got back from work, I had dinner on the table and a renewed purpose. It was good to see all our old friends, but it was great to be home and I was excited about the opportunity in front of me.

 

To be continued…