Simply Red

Max’s Perspective

 My first week back was busy as hell! It took me two full days to catch up on my gardening and I gave the bees full credit for how well everything was flourishing. Kev sent over the creative brief with the specs for our bid project and Brody went into designer mode trying to create a look and feel to compliment and enhance The Resort’s upscale brand. I went to work on production logistics and budgets. This was very doable, especially if we started by rolling out just one location, then staggered the others one or two at a time. The initial order would be about around two thousand candles. After that we would have to see how sales went… the next orders could be massive, or literally nothing, there were no guarantees. Although Kev said they were committed to two years of promoting the products in-house, that didn’t mean they would sell any beyond the initial order. Based on that we had to be careful not to over invest in additional equipment or supplies. I found a huge commercial wax melter for about $1,300 that could handle 65 pounds of wax at a time… that’s four times what my other melter did and would be our biggest investment. It would make producing the initial order much easier, and I could use it moving forward to increase my production whether The Resort deal turned out to be long-term or not. In addition to The Resort deal, there were several tourist-trap type shops in the local beach towns that I could approach to buy my candles, and if I got ambitious, I could branch out and sell throughout the state. This proposition and my discussions with Brody had me looking at this in a whole new light, I mean Brody was right, this could be an actual business instead of a hobby. Things were really starting to come together and make sense as Brody and I tackled it together.

As we were working on our project, I realized that Brody had never been to any of The Resort’s locations, I had been to a few when I worked for them. We were invited to Arizona to present our proposal and stay at the original location so Brody could experience it first-hand. We had a couple of weeks before out big meeting. Meanwhile, it was back to the farmer’s market.

Mrs. J and I had our booths set up with a lot of produce, and of course I had a huge stockpile of candles, including my new basil/mint/sage creation. Mrs. J had a lot of honey, but it was too soon for my new hives to produce. Zoey had become a regular part of our booth coming with me every week and entertaining visitors. Before I even had the booth set up, Zoey had a crowd of people gathered around petting and talking to him. The market had become my social fix. Brody was a homebody and we spent most nights at home alone, but at the Farmer’s Market I had the chance to talk to people including friends, repeat customers, and newcomers. Several of our fellow teachers stopped by to talk, it was nice to catch up since I didn’t see them every day during the summer. Tommy and Darius also stopped by. Darius was officially moving in with Tommy at the end of the month when his lease was up, which was great since he spent most of his time here anyway. The crowd was insane that day, thank god Gina was there to help us both. We both sold out of produce before noon, Mrs. J’s Honey and my candles were flying off the shelves. It was the best Farmer’s Market to-date. After we broke things down Mrs. J & I took Gina to lunch, there was a little pet friendly, outdoor café just a few blocks away so we could bring Zoey. He was a good boy and just laid at our feet while we ate. He was becoming the kind of dog you could take anywhere.

 “Your beehives are looking great” Mrs. J said after we ordered. She had stopped by to check on things while we were out of town. “I’ll bet they’ll produce honey this season. That’s great for your first year.” We talked a little bit about some maintenance I needed to do, then we talked about our gardens, the wedding, and then candle making. “I love your new scent. Have you ever thought about selling them in the local shops?”

 “Yeah, as a matter of fact we’ve been talking about approaching a few different places” I responded. Then, I told her about the opportunity with The Resort. She was excited for us and wanted all the details. Brody was working on logo and package design, we had ordered several sample containers, and we were waiting for the Fragrance Chemist to send us the scent so I could experiment with different waxes, scent ratios, containers, etc. before our meeting. The Resort team had approved the scent and we were expecting it to arrive within a couple of days. Our plan was to show up with several options and recommendations for products and packaging all priced out so we could finalize a deal while we were there. Scotty was leading the project; he and I had been in touch all week. Kev was handling the marketing, so he and Brody had been in touch too. Things were already starting to take shape. Like everyone else around us, Mr. J offered her help. I had a feeling we were going to have to take our friends and family up on their offers of help soon.

After lunch, Zoey and I headed home in Old Blue. I pulled up to the side of the barn and started to unload. Zoey jumped out and ran up the steps to Brody’s studio, I could hear him on the phone. It was probably Eric, the two of them had talked every day since we got home, and Eric sent a text every morning to tell him he was still sober. By the time I finished unloading Brody was off the phone. Eric was making progress and was attending meetings daily, Hunter had found an Al-Anon group that was helping him deal with his own feelings, and support Eric.

 “Eric?” I asked.

 “Yup, he’s had a big week” Brody answered. “He and Hunter did a big sweep of his parent’s house and farm and got rid of all the booze he had hidden around. Sounds like there was a lot, but Eric swears they got all of it. Hunter made him flush it.  Oh! And get this, Eric finally agreed to move in with Hunter.” Brody was speaking in an excited tone “He sounded good today for the first time, like he was excited and proud to tell me. I was a little surprised by that. I’m so proud of him, hell it’s gotta be hard.” Brody took Eric’s recovery very personally and they were forming a bond. My husband was one of the kindest, most caring people alive, but he guarded that side of him. We talked a little more about Eric then I moved the truck, parked it by the garage and headed out to the garden to work for a couple of hours.

 When I finished up in the garden, I stopped by Brody’s studio to check on him before I went into the kitchen to make dinner. “Don’t cook tonight, let’s go out” Brody said looking up from his drawing table. “Come look at this” He had several designs pinned to the corkboard on the wall and walked me through each one. We had ordered a bunch of different containers, Brody had those lined up on the table under the window and we examined each one as he showed me which design, he created for which container, and walked me through his ideas for packaging. With each design I got more excited about the meeting, his work was off the charts awesome and he could easily connect each to the strategy Kev had written. I was damn proud of my husband; he knew his shit. We ended collaborating and talking through our upcoming presentation and before we knew it, it was 9:00. We ended up ordering a pizza from the only place that delivered out to us, the guy showed up about 10:00 and I answered the door in sweatpants, and a tight T-shirt. The delivery guy was in his late teens and dressed in a red logoed T-shirt. He was talk and skinny with long stringy hair spilling out of his red ballcap. Redneck through and through. “Hey y’all” He said “$22.50.” I went to reach for my wallet and realized it was up on the dresser. I yelled to Brody to grab some cash.

 Brody was upstairs taking a shower and came bounding down the stairs shirtless, wearing just his sweat shorts. He joined me at the door and handed the guy $35 and told him to keep the change. “Thanks, Babe” I said without thinking and kissed him on the cheek (it’s just what I do). The delivery guy shot us both an odd look, kind of a scowl of confusion I guess you’d call it, then thanked Brody, shoved the cash in his pocket and left. His old chevy was loud as he turned it around and sped out of the driveway spitting gravel. ‘Typical redneck’ I thought to myself before taking the pizza into the kitchen.

 “Damn that looks good, I’m starving” Brody said as he filled his plate and headed to the couch. We ordered from this place a lot and always got the same thing. We cuddled up and binge watched somethin useless while we ate and kept throwing Zoey pieces of sausage and peperoni. I fell asleep with my head on Brody’s shoulder, I think I was eating when I passed out. He woke me up gently, shut off the lights and TV, put the plates in the kitchen and guided me upstairs. I was wiped out but felt gross from being at the farmers market all day. I usually showered in the morning but decided to take a quick one before I went off to bed. After I finished, I got under the covers with my naked husband. He had showered before dinner and smelled so fucking good. We were face to face and he was just looking at me “Gotdammit you’re just so hot, Maxwell” he whispered with an adorable smile, just admiring me.

 “You aint so bad yourself” I said looking into his eyes and touching his cheek. We just gazed into each other’s eyes for a little bit smiling. I know, it sounds corny as fuck, but I always felt so safe and loved with him. Fine! I admit it, loved my husband… so sue me! We started kissing and things escalated quickly. Brody pulled the covers off us and straddled my face in a sixty-nine. Before I even knew what was happening his balls were on my lips, and my cock was down his throat. I went from soft to rock hard in zero point six seconds. I looked up as I sucked his balls and there was my favorite view in the world, the curvature of his perfect little bubble but sitting majestically above his balls. I couldn’t help but smile as I grabbed his hardening manhood and took it down my throat. I loved being on the bottom in this position, but I couldn’t move much so I used my hand to stroke his shafts while I bathed the purple head in my mouth.

It didn’t take long before Brody took control and started to gently pump in and out of my mouth in rhythm with his stroking and sucking of my cock. I think I’ve said it before, but one of the biggest turn-ons for me was that Brody was a lot smaller than me in stature… I was taller and more muscular, but that little guy never hesitated to take control in the bedroom and I fucking loved it. He removed my cock from his mouth, pulled my ass cheeks up and devoured my clean, pink hole as he continued to pump in and out of my mouth. The head of his cock would smack against the back of my throat causing the most wonderful pain, I loved that feeling. You know you gave a great blowjob when the back of your throat feels bruised (just my opinion). As much as I was loving the feeling of his cock in my throat and his balls slapping my nose, his tongue in my hole was even more euphoric. I moaned with pleasure sending vibrations through Brody’s body making him moan and pump even more. We were both lost in our love/lust for each other. That’s the thing about love and monogamy… it’s not just sex, it’s a connection. Neither one of us was just trying to get off and be done, we were truly trying to give the person we love as much pleasure as we were receiving and it was amazing. We savored each other for a while, if I had to guess, I’d say hours (I would be wrong of course, it was probably ten minutes or so but it felt like the world around us just stopped). While Brody pumped in and out of my mouth I reached up, parted his perfect cheeks, and pushed a finger in.

 “Fuck, Maxwell” He grunted into my hole as he ramped up his efforts to devour my hole. In and out, in and out, he was virtually fucking me with his tongue and my hole was loving it. He switched back to my cock, swallowing it whole and working my shaft with his hand, up and down his hand moved using his saliva as lubricant and driving me to new heights. I reveled in it for a while and kept swallowing his rod as deeply as I could, but now with more vigor than ever with my finger still probing his hole. He plunged in and out of me while he worked my shaft until I couldn’t take anymore.

 I pulled his cock out of my mouth for a quick moment and said, “I’m cumming,” that just spurred him on and he stroked my cock even faster and pumped my throat even harder. It didn’t take long for me to Shoot my load down his willing throat. As he was swallowing and slurping my man juice, he exploded down my throat moaning and screamed around my cock. It was amazing how long the two of us continued to suck and clean each other off even after we came. Eventually he rolled off me and flipped around so we were face to face. We kissed, sharing our cum before we fell asleep in each other’s arms. I always felt so safe in Brody’s arms.

 Sunday morning, we woke up early, I let Zoey out the backdoor and entered the barn through the backdoor and let Jimmy out (like I did every morning), then I made breakfast. After that I put on my bee suit, lit my smoker, and went out to the hives to do some maintenance. Then out to the garden to do some weeding, and finally into my candle studio to pour some candles for next week’s market (damn, I couldn’t wait for The Resort scent to show up, I had so many thigs I wanted to try). While I was working, Brody was up in his studio tweaking his designs for The Resort, he yelled down the stairs “Hey Dylan texted. They’re coming by and want us to break for lunch!”

 “Sounds good!” I yelled back as I continued to pour wax.

 We both worked for about another hour when we heard Dylan’s truck coming up the driveway crunching the gravel, then we heard the doors of the truck open and slam shut, then Dylan yelling “Brodes! Max! Are y’all all right?! Where are you?!” It wasn’t his usually ‘hey y’all I’m here’ kind of tone, he was upset and panicked.

 “We’re in the barn!” Brody yelled.

 Dylan came running in with Gina’s high-heel boots clicking behind him on the cement floor. “Are ya’ll okay?!” Dylan asked again while Gina ran up and hugged me.

 Brody and I exchanged confused glances “We’re fine” I said wondering what the hell was going on.

 “What the hell happened?” Dylan asked.

 Brody shot back “What the hell are you talking about?”

 “The front of the barn!” Gina said as she let me out of her embrace.

 Brody and I exchanged glance again “Huh?” I asked as we followed Dylan and Gina out the small front door. The barn sat next to the house and had a small door in the front (that faced the road), a large door in the back, and two other large doors on either side. The garden, Bees, and apple trees where behind it, and the pasture on the side opposite the house. We rarely entered through the front. Dylan and Gina led us out the door then turned to look at the barn, Brody and I followed suit.

 When I saw it, my heart sunk and I got sick to my stomach. Brody came up next to me and put his arm around me. “fuckin’ rednecks” he mumbled under his breath as we looked up at our old grey barn with big letters reading “FUCK YOU FAGS” written in red spray paint across the front under our barn quilt.

I was awestruck. “Who the fuck would do this?” I asked.

 “Bored, drunk, rednecks” Brody said shaking his head. “I’ve been dealing with this shit my whole life.”

 “Mother fuckers!” Dylan said, he was pissed. I had never seen my brother in-law pissed off before, the permanent smile on his cub-like face was replaced by an anger I can’t accurately describe. “Who the fuck did this?” He yelled, then paused, “hey, does that thing record?” He asked pointing at the goat cam on the front of the barn. Brody went up to his studio and pulled the surveillance footage. It was dark, but we could make out three almost indistinguishable figures walking up to the barn from the road. Unfortunately, the camera didn’t pick-up the road so we couldn’t see their vehicle. Brody stopped, re-round, zoomed-in, and did whatever he could to lighten the picture up so we could see the figures better. “Y’all need to call the sheriff’s and report this” Dylan said.

 Brody looked up at me from his desk, “I dunno, whaddya’ think, Maxwell? If we call the cops, it’s gonna be a big thing. Cops, maybe the media… We’re gonna be the center of attention.” Brody was right, if we reported it, there’d be more attention… maybe even more haters. Our quiet, private world would be turned into loud, public chaos.

 My heart was still in my stomach, I was somewhere between hurt and angry “Yeah, but what’s the alternative? Living in fear?” I looked down at Brody, “Who the fuck would do this?” I asked again feeling like my world had just been shattered.

 Brody took a deep breath and exhaled, “If I gotta guess, I’m guessing the pizza guy.” He said looking me in the eyes.

 I hadn’t thought about it, no one crossed my mind. I couldn’t think of ANYONE who would do this… “Why?”

 “Well, you saw the look on his face when you called me ‘babe’ and kissed me, then suddenly, outta nowhere this happens, and…” He looked back at the computer, flipped through the footage, paused and zoomed-in the best he could, “red T-shirt, red ballcap.” He said definitively.

 I was still trying to process all of this. I looked closer at the screen and asked, “Can you do anything to make it clearer?” Brody fumbled around for a few minutes and made the image a little clearer before taking a screen capture. I couldn’t tell for sure, but he was right… red T-shirt, red ballcap, and he was skinny with longhair. Maybe not a 100% positive ID, but pretty damn close. Brody hit play and the footage moved forward as we watched the three figures defile our haven. I was doing my damnedest not to lose it, but shit… I wanted to cry.

As the figures on the screen finished their artwork, Dylan yelled “STOP!” Go back” Brody reversed the footage “STOP THERE!” Dylan yelled again. “Zoom in.” Brody did as Dylan commanded as Gina and I looked on. “The back of his shirt” Dylan said pointing.

I’ll. Be. Fucked. There it was; the name of the pizza place clearly displayed. I gasped a little and exhaled a “fuck. What did we ever do to him?”

Brody added. “I dunno, I even tipped that little fucker like twelve bucks or something like that.”

 “Ignorance and hate are priceless” Gina said in her first words since she hugged me when they walked in.

 “Print the screen shots, let’s go” Dylan said. “We’re goin’ to that place and kick his ass.” Dylan had always been his little brother’s protector. Brody once told me that he got bullied a lot when he was in school and most of the time he just took it, but whenever Dylan found out he would come to his rescue. He was in rescue mode again. “Nobody messes with my brothers!” He barked. It felt good to have a big brother.

I was still stunned and not sure what to say or do. Brody thought for a minute and said, “Hold up Dylan, let’s not go off halfcocked.”

 “Then let me call Josh Hill to haul his ass in” Dylan barked back; Josh was a state trooper friend of Dylan’s.

 “Let’s have lunch, then go over to the Pizza place and talk to the owner and find out who the kid is” Brody said. “He’s just a dumb fucking kid.” We all went into the house to calm down. We had a Coke and talked calmly. I gotta say, I had seen a couple of new versions of my husband that week and they were both impressive. Work Brody was strategic, smart, and creative. Under-pressure Brody was calm and thoughtful. He was truly the full package.

 After we all calmed down a little, we left the house and went to look at the barn on more time before we piled into the Gladiator to go to town. I was trembling inside. I felt so… so… violated. Someone who didn’t know us judged us, then invaded our safe place and attacked us. I hated that feeling with a passion. We all got into the Gladiator and went to lunch. Dylan called his buddy Josh on thew drive over and got some advice. Josh wanted us to press charges instead of handling it ourselves, but Brody wasn’t ready for that. Josh agreed to let us talk to him but made us promise to call immediately if things started to go south, and not to do anything stupid.

 We ate at a little restaurant a few doors down from the pizza place, it was a very quiet lunch. Dylan was pissed, Brody was thinking through a plan of action, I was scared shitless, and Gina was sullen and empathetic. Not our usual loud selves. When we finished, we got up and headed to the pizza place. “Let me do the talking” Brody said.

 We walked in and the owner, a pleasant man in his early to mid-forties was behind the counter and greeted us with a smile “Hi, Did you want to eat in or carry out?” He asked. There were several people in the place.

“Hi” Brody said with a smile. “We ordered a pizza for delivery last night; I was wondering if there was somewhere we could speak in private.” He was calm, and I swear his accent disappeared as he went into serious mode. The man was caught off guard but smiled and led us to a small office in the back.

The man looked concern “I’m Fern by the way” He said with a strong handshake and a smile.

 “Brody James” Brody responded and the rest of us introduced ourselves and shook his hand.

“Brody James…” the man repeated, then thought for a second, “You’re a regular! Extra-large thin crust with sausage, peperoni, onions, and extra cheese. I don’t remember faces, but I never forget a regular’s order” he said smiling. “So, what can I do for you?” He asked. I’m sure he hd no idea why the four of us invaded his office.

 “We ordered a pizza for delivery last night” Brody said, adding “and it was fantastic as always by the way” then paused. “Listen, your delivery guy visited us last night, and then we woke up to this painted on our barn” Brody put the pic of barn on the table. Fern looked at us in confusion as if to say, ‘what does that have to do with me?’ But before he could say anything, Brody added, “and our surveillance camera captured this shortly after midnight” as he dropped the picture of the three figures on the table, and the close-up of the guy in the red logoed T-shirt and hat. Fern’s face dropped. He leaned out the office door and called for his wife, Sue. She entered the room and he updated her on what Brody had told him. Then showed her the pictures.

 She gasped “no” she said quietly under her breath to herself.

 “We believe your employee and his friends are responsible” Brody said. 

Fern looked up at Brody and gave him a weak smile and almost whispered “that’s our son, Ricky.” Then he looked at his wife and asked, “Where is he?” 

“He’s in the kitchen” she said. “I am so sorry” she said with sincerity in her voice almost on the verge of tears. “We raised him better than this.” The husband and wife looked at each other with disappointment on their faces. Sue excused herself for a moment, then came back with Ricky. 

“Do you recognize Mr. James, and Max?” Fern asked.

 “Yes, sir” he said quietly, “I delivered a pizza to them last night” Ricky said not making eye contact with anyone.

“Looks like you delivered more than a pizza” Sue said picking up the close-up photo of him.

Fern and Sue laid into him, asking him what the hell he was thinking, etc.

Ricky started to explain himself “I told the guys I delivered pizza to some gay guys… it was Billy Ray’s idea and…”

Fern shut him down “zip it, there is no excuse for this bullshit. None! Period. You and those two dumbasses you call friends are repainting that barn.” Then added “You’re seventeen, it’s time for you to grow the hell up.”

“But dad…” Ricky started.

“But nothin’!” Fern said. “You will do as I say, or I’ll take your sorry asses to the police station and turn you in myself.” He had put his foot down. Ricky half-heartedly apologized and Fern committed him and his friends to come out to BroMax the next day (under his supervision) and paint our barn. Sue and Fern kept apologizing with agonized looks on their faces, they were good people. Ricky on the other hand seemed like a typical redneck punk. He was only sorry he got caught.

 That night, before we went to bed, we decided to get an alarm system with more security cameras throughout the property. We locked up the barn and all the doors in our little house for the first time. I laid in bed with Brody and experienced another first. For the very first time since we met… I didn’t feel safe in Brody’s arms. Our world had been invaded and it chilled me to the bone.

 

To be continued…