Simply Red

Max’s Perspective

It was a crisp October day, the Thursday before our wedding and Brody and I had spent all day in the yard making everything just perfect for our big day. The tent, chairs, and everything else was being delivered on Friday. We both were off until Tuesday. I only worked three days that week, but it was a crazy few days! Whether I liked it or not, I was officially out of the closet at work and quickly learned which of my coworkers were behind me and which ones I had to watch out for. There were a couple of people who did their best to avoid me, but for the most part people had no issues with the news of my sexuality, in fact most of them congratulated me on the wedding. The young (and cute) janitor even felt comfortable enough to come out to me… so apparently, I wasn’t the only gay guy on staff. That was a comforting thought. In a way it felt good to be out at work but I was sure I hadn’t heard the last of it yet… but I’d deal with that later. I was officially off work for the next for days and my focus was on ‘gettin’ hitched’ to the man I loved.

Most of our friends had already arrived in town for the wedding and had told us not to make any plans for the night because they were throwing us a combined bachelor party. Seth was my best man, and Dylan was Brody’s and the two of them had been working together to plan the party. They were complete opposites, so I had no idea what to expect. We had instructions from Dylan to be ready by 6:30 and someone would pick us up. He also told us to plan on staying overnight with our friends at the beach house they rented and promised to have us back home by 10AM to meet the guys delivering the tent, tables, chairs, etc. Dylan knew our schedule for the next couple of days and made sure he covered all the bases so we couldn’t “wuss out” as he called it.

By 4:00 the place looked amazing! We had cleared out a place for the tent, cleaned out the barn and strung the lights, Mowed the lawn, put signs out to tell folks where to park, and trimmed and pruned the hell out of everything, We were as ready as we could be at that point. “Well, we got about two and a half hours before they pick us up. I need a nap” Brody said looking at me.

“Me too!” I agreed. We put the tools away in the shed, took a shower together, then laid down for an hour and a half nap cuddling together, naked in our warm bed. As we laid there, I asked Brody “Are you going to be okay this weekend?”

“Of course,” he said. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

I chuckled a little bit and answered “Well, there will be a bunch of people and the spotlight will be on you. You’ll have to socialize and speak in front of a crowd. It’ll be total chaos; all the shit you hate most.”

“He just smiled as he looked into my eyes and responded “Yeah, but I’ll be doing it with the little shit I love most.” I laughed at him and punched him playfully in the chest, then I cuddled up to him and we fell asleep.

We woke up in time to get dressed and down a couple of cups of coffee. It was going to be a long night, but damn I was excited to see all our friends again. Honestly, they were the best part of the whole weekend (well, other than knowing Brody and I would be together for life… but that was a given). At 6:30 on the dot the doorbell rang. I literally ran to the door and there stood Seth, I almost fucking cried! I had missed him and all my friends so much.

“God, I missed you so much!” Seth said hugging me so hard it felt like my insides were being crushed. Then Seth looked at Brody and said “I know you hate hugging, but tough shit. I missed you guys so much.” Then he hugged him, Brody even hugged him back. The three of us had tears in our eyes as we reunited.

“Where’s Zach?” I asked.

“He’s waiting with the others. This place is fucking amazing!”

“You want the tour?” I asked.

“I really do, but it’ll have to wait until tomorrow. Everybody’s waiting for us and If I don’t get you guys back soon, I’ll get my ass kicked.”

We started walking out the front door and I asked, “Did everybody make it in?”

“Everybody but Eric and Hunter. They’re flight was delayed so they’ll be in a little later tonight and will meet up with us.”

“Did they fly into Raleigh or Wilmington?” I asked. Wilmington International was close to us and Raleigh was about two hours away but was a much bigger airport. Some of the guys flew into Raleigh and rented cars, some flew into Wilmington, and Seth and Zach drove from St Louis.

“Wilmington” Seth said as we walked out the out the front door together and into the driveway.

“Where’s your car?” Brody asked.

Seth just smiled smugly and said “I parked at the end of the driveway.” Brody shot me an odd look. No one parked at the end of the driveway and walked up to our house, it was a long walk. Seth just made idol chit chat as we made our way down the tree covered drive talking about grad school, their drive down from Missouri, our friends, etc.

We were almost to the end of the long, winding driveway when we heard a strange rumbling noise like a diesel engine idling. Just then we came to the final turn of the driveway, when we got past all the foliage and could see the street, there was a giant black party bus and all our friends were lined up in front of it waiting for us. They all cheered as we rounded the corner, then Dylan’s voice came over a loudspeaker from the truck “Gentlemen, please welcome our guests of honor for the evening, my baby brother Brody and his soon to be better half Max The Red.” Everyone cheered louder, we were both smiling, chuckling, and just completely overwhelmed. Dylan’s voice started again “AKA BroMax! So, strip and show your support y’all!” With that command, all our friends took off their shirts and Dylan and Zach started tossing T-shirts to them.

As they all stood there shirtless, I couldn’t help but take each of them in. Kevin and Randy were the oldest of the group in their late-thirties and both in damn good shape. Scotty and Brad were both thirtyish, Scotty had a wrestler’s build, short and stocky with wall to wall muscles. The four Westin Brothers… Brad, Brian, Eli, and Seth could’ve been quadruplets. They had the same great looks and toned swimmer’s build, just different ages, and heights. Cam was beefier than all the others, like a little bear cub… well all the others except for Dylan, Dylan (who now had his shirt off too) had a nice burly build and was covered in fur. Elliot was the slightest of the group with a thin, lean build. He looked more boyish than the others. Teddy and Zach both had perfect, athletic builds. Bubba, Brody’s cousin had a cute, toned build like Brody. Darius and Kye were there too, I hadn’t seen either of them in over a year. The two of them had worked with me and my friends for a couple of summers going from Pride Event to Pride Event promoting The Resort (a five star gay resort that Scotty works for. Kev and Randy sit on the board). Darius had light mocha-colored skin and piercing green eyes with 8-pack abs, and perfectly formed pecs, and Kye was Asian American with a gym-built body to die for. My new friend (more like Gina’s new friend) Tommy was there too, he was a cute, good ole boy, with a toned, country-built body. Just looking at them all changing into their T-shirts I realized how hot all my friends really were.

When I finally snapped back into reality they were wearing shirts that said “Team BroMax.” We both laughed out loud at that. Then Seth pulled my shirt over my head and Dylan pulled Brody’s over his while the others cheered us on. Then they put T-shirts on us… mine said ‘Brody’s Bitch 4 Life’ and Brody’s said, ‘Max’s Bitch 4 life’ and on the back they said ‘Team BroMax’ like the others. I’m guessing the T-shirts were Zach’s idea.

Dylan’s voice boomed through the speakers again, “Hey ya’ll! Everyone needs to get on the bus! They’re waiting for us at our first destination”

“Where are we going?” I asked Seth.

“Dylan’s navigating” He answered shaking his head like he had no clue. “We’ve got several stops planned.” We all got on the bus and everyone took a seat, the 80’s. 90’s, and country music was blaring, and the booze was already flowing as the bus moved us towards our first destination. I went down the narrow aisle going from friend to friend hugging everyone. Damn I had missed them all so much. It was so overwhelming to see so many of my favorite people in one place. They all traveled so far just to be with us on our big day. How awesome was that?! As the bus grumbled down the back country roads, I downed a 7-Up and caught up with all my friends, I was trying to pace my drinking… it was going to be a long night. As I talked with my friends I kept looking over at Brody and smiling. He had a huge smile on his face as he was chatting with everyone… Brody hated chatting and socializing, but he was doing it, and seemingly enjoying himself. When Brody was happy, I was happy. After about ten or fifteen minutes the bus pulled into the parking lot of our local haunt, the bar/restaurant where we ate regularly.

“Stop number one” Dylan said. “The backroom is waitin’ for us.”

Brody and I got out and went through the dark, familiar place and into the back room. “There’s my boys” BA yelled in her country accent. “Grab a shot, Y’all” she added as she stood by a table with a bunch of shots of Jaeger waiting to be downed.

Then Brody’s daddy yelled out “Congratulations boys” in a voice louder than I had ever heard him use before. My parents and grandparents were at the table with them… I had no clue they were even in town already, they told me they were coming in on Friday. Gina was sitting at a table along with a couple of Brody’s straight coworkers and Sarah, my friend from work. Even Laurie and Jeb were there. They were all wearing the prerequisite ‘Team BroMax” T-shirt, including my very reserved grandparents. They were all getting into the spirit.

Seth was next to me and said, “We’ll eat here with your friends and family who wanted to join us but weren’t quite up for a night on the gay party bus.” I smiled at him, still overwhelmed.

Brody put his arm around him and said, “That was nice of you guys to include our other friends and families.”

“Dylan did his best to convince your dad to get on the bus, but there was no way in hell he was going” Seth said. Brody just laughed, his dad supported the hell out of us, but they whole ‘gay thing’ was easier accepted when it wasn’t flaunted.

I ran up and hugged my parents and grandparents, I was so happy they were there. It was weird, I expected the wedding to be emotional, but not the bachelor party. “What the hell are you doing here” I asked my mother.

“Seth called, so we decided to come early, besides… I figured you could use our help getting ready tomorrow and we still haven’t seen the house” she said. They had rented a hotel suite on the beach with my grandparents and were staying until Sunday night.

There were a bunch of tables with candles set up and a buffet of fried bar food. I went over to talk to Laurie and Jeb first “I can’t believe you guys are here” I said.

Laurie answered with sincerity, “We felt awful about missing your wedding, but my cousin is getting married this weekend too.” I felt awful too because I assumed they declined our invite because we were gay. I was way off. I also learned that night that Tommy had come out to the two of them and they were very supportive. I completely misjudged them both. After I spoke with them a little longer, I made my way around the room talking to our friends. Brody called me over to a table to meet his coworkers, they seemed like good guys.

After we made the rounds, we filled our plates then sat at a table with our families since they were apparently leaving us after the first stop. Dylan and Teddy both got in the food line behind Gina and followed her to a table where they sat with Sarah, Laurie, and Jeb. It occurred to me just then that Gina and Teddy hadn’t talked since she left Milwaukee and he probably had no clue that she was dating Dylan. They were all talking and Dylan casually draped his arm around Gina, Teddy’s brow furled in a WTF look as Gina blushed. I elbowed Brody and nodded my head towards the awkward trio. He just kind of raised his eyebrows at me in realization of what was going on.

After about an hour Dylan yelled “Team BroMax Back on the bus! We got more places to go and more people to see y’all!” Dylan was leading the charge and loving it. After saying goodbye to the crew that wasn’t boarding the bus, we got on board and headed to the next destination. I continued to work my way from friend to friend (as I would do all night) catching up. Teddy was sitting by himself near the back with a serious look on his face. Shit! I sat down next to him and he spoke first “She’s dating Brody’s brother, isn’t she?” He asked looking at down at his lap.

I sighed, shit I was hoping for a drama free night “Yeah, for almost two months” I said.

He just nodded “she seems really happy” he said with a pained look on his face. I just nodded, hell I didn’t want to pour salt in his wounds by telling him she was happier than I had ever seen her and they were good together… but she was and they were. “I’m happy for her, I fucked up” he said then took a deep breath and said… “well, time to move on. I’m gonna get shit-faced tonight” then he put a fake smile on his face.

I just hugged him and said “Teddy, you’re awesome… the right one’s out there somewhere dying to meet you.” I don’t think that was of much comfort, but I meant it. All my friends were awesome and deserved the best. As we were hugging, the brakes hissed and the bus stopped. The door opened and Eric and Hunter stepped onboard… we had taken a detour to the airport to pick them up. The driver grabbed their luggage and put it away towards the back of the bus.

As soon as the driver walked past me, I jumped up and ran to the front of the bus to hug them. Brody was sitting down talking to Randy and Kev, he stayed there and yelled his welcome to the guys thanking them for coming. Dylan was sitting in the row behind the driver’s seat and threw them each a T-shirt while the rest of the guys on the bus started chanting “Take it off, take it off…” Eric didn’t hesitate and was standing there shirtless. He used to be a skinny, lanky farm boy, but he had filled-out since he left college and moved back home a few years back. His muscles were beyond well defined, and he was sporting a farmer’s tan that nicely outlined where his T-shirt typically sat.

Hunter was just standing there smiling when Cam yelled out “Strip Daddy Jack!” Hunter was a large animal veterinarian that Eric met after he moved back home and they had been together about two years. He was almost ten years older than us, looked like a lumberjack, and was all daddy… so Cam nick-named him Daddy Jack.

Hunter was a great sport and yelled “music please!” Zach moved over by Dylan and grabbed his phone that was hooked to the speaker system. Zach and Dylan had made a playlist for the bus ride, but Zach knew what he was looking for. He played Bruno Mars Uptown Funk (Zach’s favorite song), when the first couple bars of ‘Do… do, do, do, do, do, do…” played Hunter shot Zach a mischievous grin, and Eric moved down the aisle and took an open seat in front of Cam and Elliot. Hunter stood at the front of the bus aisle and started swaying his blue jean covered hips as he unbuttoned his red and black flannel shirt, when the lyrics started ‘This hit that ice cold, Michelle Pfieffer that white gold’ he had the shirt unbuttoned and pulled it wide opened eliciting cheers and whistles from the rowdy crowd of our buzzed, mostly gay friends. He kept going as he flossed his back with the open shirt then took it off completely and threw it at Eric who took a whiff and held it up in victory. The crowd kept cheering and Hunter kept going. He grabbed the pole next to the door and started working it, gyrating, smiling wide, and playing to the amped-up crowd of horny boys. Eventually he started moving his way up the aisle as he unfastened his belt and pulled it out in one fell swoop, then dropped it on the floor. If you didn’t know the guy was a veterinarian, you’d swear he was a professional stripper. He was working the crowd and taking it off. He did his best to gracefully step out of his cowboy boots, it got a little awkward but he did it, then kicked them off one by one down the aisle while Eric did his best to gather his boyfriend’s discarded belongings.

Hunter managed to seductively squeeze out of his tight jeans and was down to his socks and his red briefs with the black elastic band. By now the guys were going wild and putting dollar bills in his waistband as he worked his incredibly hot, muscular body down the narrow bus aisle. Even our token straight boys (Teddy, Eli, Brian, Bubba, and Dylan) were into it. I had never seen that much of Hunter before and all I can say about it is DAMN! He was hot as fuck! Muscles everywhere with just the perfect dusting of perfectly trimmed chestnut fur. He stopped at Brody and shoved his underwear covered crotch in my soon-to-be-husband’s face, grabbing the back of his head as he gyrated into him. If you know Brody, then you know this was his worse nightmare. Being the center of attention in front of a group of people like that… Brody preferred to sit on the sidelines and get lost in the crowd, but he was a great sport too. He also knew that his social anxiety and shyness would be challenged that weekend, so he just went with the flow. When Hunter let his head go, he stood up and joined him, gyrating his hips into what amounted to Hunter’s thighs (Hunter was much taller than the tiny love of my life and towered over him). The guys went nuts as Hunter pulled the T-shirt over Brody’s curly hair and off his body and tossing it to me. I followed Eric’s lead and took a whiff then swung it over my head in victory making the crowd go while.

Next, Hunter moved my way and gave me the same treatment he had given Brody… pulling my face into his underwear-clad crotch. I couldn’t help but take a whiff of his musky man scent, I could feel the heat from his soft cock against my cheek as I reached around and cupped his firm ass. I couldn’t help but start to get hard… he was ALL fucking man from head to toe. He pulled me up and pulled my shirt off and tossed it, just like he had done to Brody. There we were, the three of us… Hunter in just his socks and underwear being sandwiched by the shirtless grooms-to-be as the bus moved towards the next unknown destination. I stretched my arms to reach around Hunter and Grab Brody’s perfect bubble butt, Brody did the same to me until we were squeezing hunter tight between us. My face was buried in his hairy chest, his man scent filled my nostrils and my stiffening cock as pushing into his balls through my jeans. Fuck, this was so erotic and dirty. I assumed Brody was grinding his hardening cock into the back of his thighs. When the song ended, the crowd cheered and Hunter kissed each of us on the lips (yes, he slipped his tongue in there), then threw his arms in the air riling up the crowd even more. He went over to Eric and put his ‘BroMax’ shirt on and sat down next to his boyfriend in his T-shirt and underwear.

The crowd begged for more, so Kye stood up to fill the void. Kye moved over to Zach and took his phone for a minute, suddenly this hardcore techno music with a heavy base and some rap mixed in loudly filled our ears, and Kye stood at the front of the bus. His shirt had snaps and he ripped it open with one grand motion and stood there with his smooth, muscular chest glistening with sweat in the dim light. Kye gyrated his hips and teased the crowd by removing his belt. Whereas Hunter was sensual, erotic and fun… Kye was raunchy. Kye played to the more vulnerable in our group. He set his sights on Elliot and moved his way down the aisle to where he sat next to Cam. When Kye got in front of Elliot, he dropped his pants and stood there in just his underwear, he was almost completely hairless except for a small, dark patch sticking out of the top of his G-string. That’s what I said… a fucking G-string. He had the perfect music, a freshly waxed body, snaps on his shirt, and a G-string… it’s like he had planned this moment. He used the pole by the seat to hoist himself up and plant his feet on the arms of Elliot’s seat so his barely covered man meat was right in his face.

Kye had worked with me and the guys for a couple of summers. When we first met, he was, well… he was a self-centered asshole. Kye had money, a great body, good looks and didn’t give a fuck about anyone but Kye. He had gotten better over the past couple of years, and we had gotten to know the guy underneath the bullshit but he still loved to be the center of attention, and his main focus was getting laid. He held himself up by the bars of the bus and ground his crotch into Elliot’s face. I was watching Cam, and he wasn’t pleased. He knew Kye was a predator and by the look on his face he did NOT like the way he was honing in on his man. Cam pulled Elliot away from Kye’s crotch and in for a kiss as he looked up at Kye with venom in his eyes. Kye got the hint and kept his strip show going by sliding down the pole seductively and back to the floor.

He worked his way a little further down the narrow aisle until he came to Tommy. Tommy was still in the closet for the most part, he was out when he was away at college, and recently came out to his brother, but he just couldn’t bring himself to tell his family yet. Tommy was mesmerized by Kye, and who could blame him? Kye was hot as fuck once you saw past his arrogance. Kye sensed Tommy’s vulnerability (that was one of his talents) and hoisted his way up to the arms of Tommy’s seat shoving his crotch into his face like he had done to Elliot. He put a hand on the back of Tommy’s head and slammed his face into his groin. Kye slyly put his thumbs into his string and pulled it down to expose his stiffening rod and slapped Tommy in the face with it. The straight guys were noticeably uncomfortable, and I could tell Dylan was out of his element and not sure what to do. I noticed Kev, Randy, Seth, and a few others starting to stand up and intervene, but Zach was the one who shut it down. He turned off the music, announced that we were almost at the next destination, then raised the lights. Kye quickly covered himself as Tommy slunk down in his seat, clearly embarrassed, but horned up as hell.

The airbrakes on the bus hissed as we stopped at our next destination. Dylan’s voice boomed over the speaker system again telling us to exit the bus. There were several gay bars scattered through the area and we were apparently hitting several of them. Seth escorted me and Brody past the bouncer, through the dark little bar and into a back room with several other people sitting at tables. There was a stage in the front of the room and Seth led us to a two-top table in the very front, right in the middle of the stage. “What are we doing here?” I asked Seth.

“Just be patient and don’t be a drag” He said with a grin. We were at a drag show! The rest of our group filed in and set at the bigger tables surrounding ours. A couple of the guys came in from the bar with trays of drinks and they put these two giant fruity drinks in pineapples in front of me and Brody, then Someone put a tierra on my head and one on Brody’s just as the lights went down and a spotlight shown bright on the stage.

“Ladies, gentle ladies, and well… anything else,” said a deep not quite mannish, not quite feminine voice. “Welcome to the stage your host-ess for the evening Ms. Anita Drink!” And the crowd (mostly our friends) went wild cheering and whistling as an amazingly over-done drag queen sashayed onto the small stage blowing kisses, waving, winking, and generally flirting with the small but engaged audience. She welcomed us all to the show and sang her first number. I was surprised that she sang and didn’t lip sank. Most drag queens I had seen before were just lip sinking but she belted out “Redneck Woman” and had everyone hootin’ and hollering. After the applause died down, she thanked the audience and started interacting with us then said, “It’s a very special night here tonight, I understand we have a double bachelor party here!” She looked over at our group and moved across the stage towards us, first she addressed the table where all the straight boys were sitting “Well aren’t you a fine looking bunch of uncomfortable specimens” she asked, then looked up at the crowd and said, “These are the straight friends.” The crowd laughed and Dylan yelled out a ”WOOO!” Getting her attention “And aren’t you an adorable little bear cub” she said teasingly. She spent a little time flirting with the straight boys then moved over towards Scotty, Brad, Kevin, and Randy’s table “You boys aren’t from around here, are y’all? You’re way too put together and pretty to be from these here parts.” Then she worked the rest of our group flirting and teasing as she made her way through.

She finally made her way over to Brody and me “Well, well, well the happy couple” She said. “A muscle ginger and his tiny dancer” she said to us as we sat there in our BroMax T-shirts and our tierra’s, Brody doing his best to endure the unwanted attention with a smile. Damn, he was being a great sport. She looked at the two of us and said “Damn you two are hot as hell! And what does BroMax mean, boys?”

I knew there was no way in hell Brody would respond so I answered “He’s Brody, I’m Max.”

She squealed in delight “Oh my Lord, that’ adorable!!!” Then she made small chit chat with us asking us how we met, how long we’d been together, etc. etc. Then she pulled us up on stage and sang Endless Love to us and made us kiss at the end. It was corny, cute, and probably one of the most embarrassing moments of Brody’s entire life but he took it. He took it like a champ. He took it for me. The smile on my face as I looked out upon all our friends hanging together, smiling and enjoying themselves as they celebrated us fueled him. He was completely out of his comfort zone, but I was having an amazing time and that’s all that mattered to him.

We hung out at the drag bar a little longer before we all filed back onto the party bus and headed to our next unknown destination. Brody and I sat together near the back of the bus. “Are you having fun?” I asked Brody as I gave him a peck on the lips.

“I’m in utter shock that all these people came all this way and did all this just for us, and the smile on your face is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever gotdamn seen.” He said beaming.

“I love you Brody James” I said.

“And if it aint already obvious as hell, I love you too, Maxwell” Then he kissed me as the music blared and the loud bus moved forward. It was going to be a long night.

To be continued…