Simply Red

Max’s Perspective

Our first Thanksgiving together was fucking perfect! Seth and Zach showed up totally out of the blue to surprise me, god I’d missed those guys. I first saw Seth sitting in church over five years ago when I had just moved to Milwaukee. We were both walking back to the dorms when I decided to introduce myself to him. Who the hell would have guessed we’d become best friends and share so much of our lives together over the years? On Sunday morning they loaded up Zach’s little GTI and hit the road back to St louis, it was hard to watch them go. Before they left, I made up a huge gift basket full of homemade pickles, herbs, and spices for them to take to Zach’s dad at Christmas as a thank you, Nathan Hall loves to cook, and I owed him a lot for helping me through the Mimi Fargus debacle. 

It was only 5AM when they left, but I was awake with little chance of falling back asleep. Brody went up into the garage attic and started pulling out boxes of Christmas lights and decorations that Grammaw had stored way. “We’re gonna make this place visible from space” he laughed as he pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and took inventory of what we had. He had drawn a schematic of the house and property mapping out his plan for the lights. He had locked himself up in his studio almost every night since the wedding working on a “secret Christmas project,” Dylan even came over several times to help him. I figured this was what he was working on. I laughed at his child-like excitement. Grammaw LOVED Christmas and had lived in that house over 50 years. She had a collection of lights in every shape, size, and color. She had three storage crates of just cords alone. Brody said that when he was a little kid his grandpaw would ‘light this place up like the town drunk’ at Christmas and he and Dylan would help.

Growing up my parents would put up a few strings of white lights with a wreath and electric candle in every window of the house, but my mom and dad pretty much handled it. My grandparents put up thousands of white lights, but they hired a company to do it. I was never part of it. But this, THIS was an event and I loved being in the middle of it. Brody got this determined look on his adorable face and this sparkle in his sincere brown eyes when he was working on a project. He had this ability to visualize what could be and map out every detail in his head, then move step by step to create magic. That’s what made him a great graphic designed and artist. My role was worker bee. Brody was on a mission and we spent all morning sorting through everything. He had me untangling and testing lights string-by-string, once I got a string to work, he’d tell me where to lay it down in the yard. By the time we got through all the lights it was almost about 11:00AM. We had string after string laying in front of the area where Brody envisioned hanging them. To me it was a bunch of old lights lying on the ground, to Brody it was a work of art in progress. He had several outdoor outlets installed throughout the property when he rehabbed the house, and if I knew my husband (and I did) he was thinking about this moment when he decided where to locate each outlet. Zoey and Jimmy had been running around the fenced in pasture area (away from the lights) all morning, loving just being outside. Dylan and Gina showed up with McDonald’s for lunch after they dropped her mom off at the airport. and we took a quick break.

Brody made a list of lights, cords, timers, and other stuff he needed to add to the collection his grandparents left him. Gina and I jumped in Old Blue and headed out to Lowe’s after lunch to pick everything up while the two brothers went to work hanging the lights we already had. It took me and Gina over two hours to go through the store and find everything on the very specific list. Brody knew exactly what he needed; like I said he had a plan. We had almost $1,500 in lights and cords. I texted Brody the total before I put the card in the machine at checkout to make sure he was good with spending that much. He gave me the thumbs up and texted “We’ll have these lights forever.” He was a frugal guy, but he was on a mission so he was willing to invest. Gina and I checked out and loaded up Old Blue with all our purchases. We took a detour on the way home to get a cup of coffee and just talk. I thanked her for talking Seth and Zach into coming down for Thanksgiving, they made my holiday. Then we talked about how much her mom loved Dylan… but how could she not? Dylan was such a genuinely salt of the earth guy. Seth had made a comment to me about how I was making my own little village in North Carolina… he was right. I was surrounding myself with people who made my life better.

It was nice just sitting and talking with Gina, I mean yeah, we saw each other every day but were rarely alone. After coffee, we headed back to the house. Brody and Dylan had been working their asses off while we were gone. They had put up so many lights, the house was covered and I couldn’t wait until dusk so we could see the lights in action. There was a vintage blow-mold Santa in his sleigh with Rudolph leading the other eight reindeer that spanned the entire width of the roof. The two guys were on ladders working on putting lights on barn when we pulled up. Brody jumped off the ladder and almost ran to the truck pulling the boxes of icicle lights out from the bed. Meanwhile, Dylan moved the ladders back over to the house, it was clear that he was on the same mission as Brody… they had a plan. They hung the icicle lights on the porch and on the peaks of the house. When they were done with that, the two brothers disappeared into the barn and came back with two giant gingerbread men, one taller one with muscles and red hair. The shorter one had curly auburn locks. OH MY GOD, Brody had painted bigger-than-life gingerbread versions of us on sheets on plywood and Dylan had cut them out with a jigsaw. They had built-in stakes to hold them firmly in the ground and were cute as hell. They went back into the barn and brought out a wooden gingerbread Jimmy and a wooden gingerbread Zoey and planted them in the ground in front of the two gingerbread men. “This was my super-secret Christmas project” Brody said with a sly grin.

“I fucking LOVE it” I said exuberantly as Brody went to the truck and pulled out the spotlights, he asked me to pick up, put them in the ground, and pointed them at his cut-out masterpieces. We all helped unload the truck, then Gina and I joined the other two, and the four of us worked our asses off for the next few hours hanging lights until it got dark out. With Brody’s precise supervision, we got the house and the barn done, but there were still hundreds, maybe even thousands of lights laying on the ground waiting to be strung in the trees, on the fence,  and in foliage. It would take us working every night for the rest of the week to complete, but it would be worth it.

Right after sunset, we each grabbed a drink and then went out to the front of the house while Brody went to the side of the old house and over to the breaker boxes. The outdoor outlets had their own breaker box controlled by one  lever. Brody threw the switch with a ‘clank’ and the entire house and barn lit up like… well… like a Christmas tree, I guess. Grammaw’s old farmhouse was reimagined into a gingerbread house made of lights with its four residents immortalized in paint and plywood. “oooohhh my god!” Gina laughed, “this is fucking amazing!”

“I’m putting this on our social pages and website” I said as I started to record the lights on my phone.” 

“No, don’t” Brody said. “It’s a work in progress and you know I don’t like showin’ stuff ‘til it’s ready.” Yup. I did know that. “I got a bunch of trees to light yet, let’s wait ‘til we got it all done, then y’all can do the big reveal online.”

Damn, I was so excited and really wanted to show it off, but it was Brody’s baby to share, not mine. After the exciting reveal, I went into the house and threw dinner together for the four of us. We ate, then just sat in lawn chairs facing the house on a cold North Carolina night and taking in its beauty. I was mesmerized by it all. The icicle lights shining as they hung from the peaks, the big white and red lights of the peppermint stick posts holding the porch, the smaller red and white lights that made up the peppermint shaped wreaths in the windows, the strings of colored lights laying on the roof tops, and of course Santa and the reindeer landing on the roof of our little home. Goddammit, Brody was talented. His mind concocted this (plus a whole lot more that needed to be finished).

 “Ya’ know” Dylan said quietly, breaking the silence. “Grammaw would’ve fuckin’ loved this Brodes. I bet her and Granpaw are looking down on this place with pride from up there” he said pointing towards the heavens. “This is what she wanted. You here, with someone to love, in this house. She wanted you to feel accepted here… that’s why she left you this place. You did her proud baby brother.” Then he reached his beer bottle towards Brody and they clinked them before drinking a toast.

“To Grammaw and Granpaw, I hope they’re proud of their two grandsons” Brody said as he lifted his bottle to the sky. The rest of us did the same. For the next couple of hours, we just sat there looking at the amazing display and talking quietly while Zoey laid at my feet.

After Dylan and Gina left, Brody tucked in Jimmy and let Zoey out to do his thing while I tidied up the house. We got into bed naked and spooned. Little Brody was the big spoon and my bigger frame the little spoon. The heat from his body felt so good after spending hours in the chilly outdoors stringing lights and bringing Brody’s amazing vision to life. “Damn you’re talented” I said as we lay in the darkness with Zoey at our feet.

“What can I say? You inspire me” he said as he kissed my neck and pushed his semi-hard manhood into my crack. 

“Yeah, I can feel your inspiration knocking on my backdoor” I joked. He snickered in my ear and pushed a little harder, I could feel his dick stiffening even more.

“You really do inspire me” He said with a quiet sincerity. “I love ya’, Maxwell.”

He had said it a countless number of times, but it still sent chills down my spine because I knew he fucking meant it and I also knew that no one else in the world had EVER heard THOSE words in THAT context from him. It was the one thing I had that no one else did… Brody’s romantic love. “I love you too” I said back with 100% sincerity. I pushed my muscular butt back against him and wiggled it around trying to get him even harder. He moved his growing member up and down my ass crack, I clenched my cheeks around it and made him moan. I reached in the nightstand and pulled out the bottle of lube handing it to him. I heard the “pop” of the cap in that darkness… well mostly darkness. There was a glow from the Christmas lights shining past the edges of the blinds. I felt the coldness of the lube and the warmth of his hard finger as it entered me, loosening me up for the inevitable invasion. His finger found the right spot on my prostate as it always did and made me shutter with pleasure. “Yeah, keep doing that” I moaned as I basked in the indescribable ecstasy that being with him brought me. He played me like an old, familiar fiddle, massaging each note perfectly with his bow sending his magnum-opus through my muscular body. It was like a symphony, soothing my inner beast and releasing it at the same time. Not to make myself sound like a slut, but I was far from innocent when we met, I’d fucked around a little… but no one ever made me feel like Brody did. We were together three years and every time was new and exciting. I took that to mean that I lucked out… I beat the odds… I found the one person meant for me. Goddammit I was lucky.

I lie there, letting him work his magic, occasionally twerking my ass and pushing back to get more from him. It was a wasted effort because he was already giving me his all. Awhile later, one finger became two and I gasped at the onslaught. Shortly thereafter two became three, then they were gone and I felt empty until I felt the spongy, lubricated head of my favorite dick pushing at my ass ring. It slipped in with a ‘pop’ and Brody kept moving steadily forward until he bottomed out in my passage. Then he pulled back just a tiny bit and thrust in hard… he knew I loved that. He whispered in my ear “How’d you want it, baby? Hard or soft?”

With my eyes closed I turned my head back to kiss him and whimpered into his lips “Hard. Fucking hard and rough.” I could feel him smile against my lips as we kissed.

“You sure about that?” he asked. “I’m a little pent up.”

“Hell yeah, I am. You fucking little stud” I teased. “Gimme what you got husband.”

He snickered into our kissed then pulled out until just the head was buried in my passage. After a short pause he thrust back in unleashing the power of his sweet bubble butt and powerful little thighs. I let out a guttural noise that wasn’t a scream, it wasn’t a moan, it was a new noise that was invented to respond to the hardest, yet most tender fuck in the world. Brody repeated this over and over, seemingly harder, and faster each time. He pumped in and out of me several times, then stopped. Paused. Then did it again. He was edging himself with my ass and it felt so fucking amazing. I couldn’t control the sounds emanating from me and my gut ached with sheer, fucking pleasure as he pummeled me, then deprived me. Pummeled me. Then deprived me. Over and over making me sore and soothing me all at once… Oh my freaking god I cannot describe the ecstasy. Finally, instead of pausing he pounded me harder and faster grunting in my ear that he was going to cum.

“Fuck yeah” I screamed! “Cum in me. Cum in me. Fucking cum in me!” I felt the heat of his seed warming my guts as he planted it inside me. It was so damn hot. He kept pumping and fucking his cum deeper into me until he was soft, I had actual bruises on my ass from the beating I willingly begged for. Brody pulled out of me, rolled me on my back and went down on my rock hard manhood. Within seconds I let my load loose down his warm, welcoming throat. He gobbled up every fucking drop of it. Then, as was his signature… he kissed me with a mouth full of my own cum and we shared the sweet, dirty results of our love-lust.  After that, We drifted off with me in his familiar arms.

The next morning it was back to school after four wonderful days of friends, family, eating like a pig, and hanging Christmas lights. I walked into the building refreshed from the break and willing to take on anything. Gina, Sarah, and Laurie were already in the teacher’s lounge when I stopped in for coffee. “Hey Max.” Laurie yelled to me as I walked in. “What do you know about this Darius guy Tommy’s been seeing?” She asked.

 “I worked with him for a few summers. He’s a good guy.” I said.

“Good” she replied. “He seems decent, and Tommy seems to really like him. But his parents aren’t too happy about the whole thing. It caused a big split in the family at Thanksgiving.”

 “I heard” I replied. “We ran into Tommy and Darius on Friday night… it’s sad.”

 “I agree. Jeb and I ended up leaving his families Thanksgiving before dinner even started. His parents were being so ridiculous. We’re just glad Tommy’s happy” Laurie said, then went on to tell us in detail about the family fight. Apparently, the family is split right down the middle, Tommy and Jeb had two other siblings, one sided with him, the other with his parents… it was a house divided. Laurie asked me a lot of questions about Darius, she had only met him twice and liked him, but was protective of her future brother-in-law. I vouched for the guy and recommended that Laurie and Jeb spend some more time with them and get to know the guy. I invited them all over to our place on Friday night (including Sarah and Bubba), and told them I’d invite Darius and Tommy too, so we could all hang out and get to know each other. They all accepted, and I sent Brody a text to warn him. He surprisingly loved the idea suggesting we turn it into a “Christmas light unveiling.” I was excited about it!

 The next week of school was uneventful, and I spent every afternoon working on putting up the Christmas lights, Brody joined me every night when he got home and we’d work until it was too dark to see what we were doing. We finished everything on Thursday night. When we flipped the breaker, the place lit up the sky. It was freaking breathtaking and we just looked on in awe and surveyed our amazing creation. Brody had lit the trees in the wooded area near the street in front of the house, you couldn’t possibly miss it as you drove down the dark country road. Each tree that lined the drive was lit in a different color with several strings of lights, they led you up the driveway to the gingerbread house where our bigger than life gingerbread cutouts greeted you. The barn, the garage, and even the shed that surrounded the house were all covered in lights. Brody lined the fence in the pasture too. There were thousands and thousands of lights on the property and it looked magnificent. Brody and I jumped into the Camaro and put the top down. He drove while I filmed the lit property as we approached from the road, then he turned up the driveway and I did my best to capture the full glory of the old house as it shone like beacon through the darkness. We were damn proud of our work and Brody’s masterpiece. The video turned out amazing, but Brody wouldn’t let me post it until after we had our friends over to see it.

On Friday I rushed home from school to get ready for our unveiling. Snacks and appetizers covered the dining room table. The island in the kitchen was transformed into a full bar, and the smell of Apple Cider and Hot chocolate warming in Grammaw’s old samovars that we found hidden in the pantry when we remodeled the house. We had cut a tree from a wooded area on the property and decorated it with Grammaw’s ornaments, we also added a few that we had collected over our three years together. The inside and outside were a combination of our style and creativity blended with tradition from Brody’s Grammaw. When Brody got home from work he jumped right in and helped me with the final touches. The place looked and smelled amazing; we were ready for our guests. 

We jumped in the shower, put on our ugly Christmas sweaters, and went downstairs to wait for our guests. Zoey was donning the cutest Christmas sweater and antlers from BA, and Jimmy had a sweater too. We could NOT have been more festive! The doorbell rang, Gina and Dylan were the first to show. Dylan had on an ugly Christmas sweater, but Gina was dressed to the nines and looked stunning in her red Christmas dress. Dylan and Brody each grabbed a beer and went out to check out the lights and make sure everything was lit. Without asking, Gina found her way to the kitchen to help, but there was literally nothing left to do. “You mean finally I get to come over and just have fun… no work?” Gina said with a smug look on her face. 

“Oh, shut up, how many times have I fed your sorry ass while you got drunk?” I joked in response as I poured her a glass of red wine.

“The lights look fucking awesome, Max” she said switching the subject with a smile as she took the glass from my hand. 

“Brody had a plan. Can you believe the cutouts him and Dylan made?!” I said laughing in disbelief. “God, he’s so talented.” I added with incredible pride in my husband.

As we were laughing and talking BA entered the room with a bang! “Hey kids!” She yelled as she walked over to the bar. “I can hardly see… those damn lights blinded my old ass” She said laughing. “Grammaw would’ve loved it!”

“Where’s Daddy?” Gina asked.

“He’s out in the yard with the boys checking on all the lights.” BA retorted as she motioned for us to come along. We all grabbed our drinks and headed outside. It was so damn bright out there! As we were looking around, the others started to show up. First Bubba and Sarah arrived, then Jeb and Laurie pulled in right behind them, about fifteen minutes later Darius and Tommy got there. Once everyone had seen the lights and had a drink in hand, I posted the video of the lights on our website and links to it on our social media pages. The comments and likes instantly started to fly. Meanwhile, I gave all my attention to my party guests, it was a small group, but it was a blast. Laurie and Jeb were getting to know Darius, the rest of us were just having a fun night.

Over the next couple of weeks, I finished up my first semester of teaching and felt great about it. On the last day of school, I loaded up the Camaro with mugs, ornaments, small gift baskets and other miscellaneous stuff from my students. I even had a plate of homemade cookies from Mimi Fargus… yeah, those were going in the trash the second I got home; I wouldn’t put it past the bitch to poison my gay ass. But I let all that go. It was Christmas and I was ready to enjoy the holiday and my time off with Brody. Our light show had made the favorites list on several local social pages and websites, and even on the local news. Our quiet road was booming with traffic at night as cars came by to see the lights of BroMax Farm. 

We had debated going to Minneapolis for the holiday, but my Parents and grandparents decided to take a trip to Ireland to visit my Grandfather’s family for a couple of weeks. We were invited to join them, but I just didn’t want to leave the farm for that long… and Brody was not up for a two week trip. Instead, we opted for a quiet Christmas Eve at home, Christmas Day with the James clan, and New Year’s Eve in Vegas with all our college friends and the Westin/Nicholls family… well actually their entire entourage including their friends from Phoenix, and our friends from Milwaukee. It was expected to be an insane weekend. We were looking at this as our honeymoon since we never got a chance to get away after the wedding.

On Christmas Day we went to Daddy and BA’s, it was just the four of us because Dylan went with Gina back to Wisconsin to spend Christmas with her family. As always it was a blast, but on Christmas Eve it was just the two of us (well the four of us if you count Zoey and Jimmy). We exchanged several gifts, but my favorite was a huge barn quilt with “BroMax Farm” written above the logo Brody created for our website. It was massive and he painted it on four pieces of wood. It would be the perfect addition to our little hobby farm. 

It was and amazing Christmas at home, and I couldn’t think of anywhere I wanted to be more than right where I was.

 

To be continued…