Simply Red

Max’s Perspective

So far, my summer had been jam-packed! First Seth and Zach’s wedding, then The Resort project and the trip to Phoenix, then Brody’s job offer, then a quick trip to Wisconsin to support Eric. I was so proud of him; I think this time he’s really taking control of his life. I wish we could’ve stayed longer, but Brody’s been pushing his luck taking time off lately. He was anxious to get back to work so, I had Gina pick me up at the airport and he took the Jeep and went straight to the office. This whole job offer thing opened my eyes to how miserable he really was at work. He’s not one to complain, he just puts up with the bullshit, but damn I wish he could find something that challenged him, but he was convinced that didn’t exist locally. There’s had to be something better out there for him… he was so fucking talented.

I walked out of the airport with Brody. We kissed goodbye then he headed to his Jeep and I waited for Gina out by the curb. About ten minutes later I heard the grumble of a muscle car engine and the song Redneck Woman blasting through the air. Yup… it was Gina in my car with the top down, her hair in a ponytail pulled through a baseball cap, and her singing at the top of her lungs with her crap music blasting for the world to hear. She pulled up to the curb where I was waiting, “hey, Baby” she yelled over the music as she moved her sunglasses to the tip of her nose. I threw my bag in the back and walked around to the driver’s side. “Oh, HELL no” she said locking the doors. “You’re ridin’ shotgun.”

I just shook my head in defeat as I moved to the passenger side and jumped in. “God, Dylan has turned you into such a redneck” I said as I slammed the door shut with a solid thud. There were a couple of good ole boys standing at the curb checking her out. Frankly, she was embarrassing the hell out of me (and she loved it) and I just wanted to get the hell out of there and get home.

 “Look who’s talking Farmer Max.” She shot back at me before she floored it and burned rubber out of the airport.

 “Goddamn, Gina. Go easy on my baby” I said petting the dashboard.

“I fucking love this car!” She screamed over the music as we roared onto the freeway. “You should let me drive it more often.”

 “Hell, I didn’t let you drive it this time” I laughed. “You stole my baby!”

 She just laughed and drove forward. Finally, she turned down the music and asked, “so, how’s Eric? Was he surprised?” Gina knew what was going on with him, and why we went to Wisconsin.

“He was blown away… he had no clue we were coming and was happy we were there. He seems to be doing great. I’m proud of him” I said. “I wish we could’ve stayed longer” then I told her about the meeting, there wasn’t much more to tell other than Eric seemed to be successfully facing his demons head on.

 “What’s their place like?” Gina wanted to know.

 “Cute as hell!” I responded, “We were only there to sleep, I wish I could have walked around the land.” I told her all about the house, and quick our trip.

 Then, out of the blue she said, “I’m so fucking happy that you guys didn’t move” then turned and gave me a peck on the cheek.

 When she pulled away from me I kissed her back, then switched the subject “How are my babies?”

 “Everyone’s happy” She said with a smile on her face as she zoomed down the freeway. “They love their Aunt Gina.”

 “That’s because last time you dog-sat you Zoey an entire bag of Pup-peroni, and Jimmy an entire watermelon” I said making her laugh. “But seriously, Thanks for pet sitting all the time.”

 “I love it! I love your pets and your house. It’s more like home to me than my apartment.” She said, then In a more serious tone she said, “I am so fucking glad you’re not moving, buuuuuut… Dylan and I had decided to buy your place if you did.”

 “Really?! Why don’t you two just fucking get married already” I barked back.”

 “Tell him, not me!” She said as we rumbled down the highway. “We’ve been talking about it and I’ve practiced saying yes a million damn times, I’m just waiting for him to ask already.” They were so good for each other. I knew Dylan planned on asking her, I just didn’t know when or how.

 I was so happy when we finally turned off the freeway and headed down our road, then up our driveway. Gina had left Zoey and Roscoe out in the fenced in pasture and they were romping around with Jimmy. She pulled my car up to the barn, I got out and greeted my little menagerie. Witchy watched me from the open entrance of the barn. Damn it was good to be home again.

 “What’s that?” I asked pointing to a stack of boxes on the porch.

 “I dunno? They must’ve been delivered while I was picking you up.” She said as we walked to the porch. It was the first shipment of candle jars; they were several days early. There were also a couple of boxes from the fragrance company. I was so excited! This meant I could get rolling on The Resort candles. Brody had already sent the final label designs to the printer and we were expecting them to be done before the weekend.

 I went into the house and threw my backpack on our bed then went outside and grabbed the dolly from the garage. We moved the stack of boxes into the studio. Damn it was hot out there. Brody had installed a little window AC unit in my studio and another in his, I turned them both on, then pulled off my shirt. “Damn, somebody’s been working out” Gina said with a laugh, then felt up my hard chest. I gotta admit, I was in the best shape of my life. Anyway, we organized the boxes by size of container (we had three different sizes), then we lined up several containers on the big tables and I put plastic sheets over the top to keep the dust off. We were set up for a day of wax pouring. I called Ricky and asked if he wanted to make a little cash, I made the same offer to Gina “Well, it’ll cut into my beach time, but I’ll do it!” She said with a smile. Gina, Laurie, and Sarah had been meeting at the beach almost every day during the summer break to lay out, but she was a poor teacher so of course she went for the cash.

 By the time we got everything prepped, Brody was home. He walked into the barn and saw me shirtless and sweaty “Day-um. Now that’s how to welcome a guy home” He came over, kissed me, and grabbed my ass. Gina cleared her throat. Brody turned red, “Oh shit, I didn’t see you there.”

 “Yeah, obviously” she said back with a coy smile.

 “Hey, the containers and scent came, I can start working” I said excitedly. Brody looked around at my organized space and nodded with a smile. Things were coming together

 “Hey, I’ll text Dylan and we can grab some dinner together.” Gina said pulling out her phone.

 Before I could respond, Brody shut her down “Not tonight. I’m tired and just wanna hang with Maxwell.” He usually went with the flow, but I got it… it had been a busy couple of weeks and we needed some alone time.

 Gina went in the house together her stuff, then I walked her out to the car. “9:30 tomorrow morning, boss?” she asked and I nodded, thanked her, and hugged her goodbye. She yelled for Roscoe, the two of them jumped in her Toyota and headed home to Dylan’s place.

 “I’ll make dinner” I said heading into the house. Brody went upstairs to change, about a half hour later we sat down in the dining room to eat with Zoey sitting next to me begging. It was nice and quiet… damn it was good to be home.

“Hey” Brody said timidly. “Kev called me this afternoon with a counteroffer.” ‘Shit!’ I thought to myself. ‘Here we go with the whole should we or shouldn’t we move shit again.’

 I just looked up at him with a distressed expression… the decision to stay took a lot out of us and I thought it was behind us. “Don’t worry, we wouldn’t have to move for this job” My face must’ve lit up because Brody laughed.

 “Really?!” I asked. “Is it a good offer?”

 “Well, it’s Senior Art Director position. A step down from Associate Creative Director, but still a couple of steps up from where I am here.” Brody said with excitement. He was animated again and I fucking loved it. “It’s a little less money than the other job, but still a buttload more than I make now, I’d have to go to Phoenix a couple of times a month and travel for client meetings once in a while… I’d get to work on some awesome national accounts. Stuff I can get excited about with a team I respect, and the best part is I can work from here.”  He handed me his phone; it was opened to Kev’s offer email.

 I read through it quickly, it looked like a great offer. But more importantly, Brody was excited about it and we wouldn’t have to move… it was really the best of both worlds. “So, you’d work from here?” I asked.

 “Yeah” He said as he ate. “We’d have to upgrade my studio with climate control so I could work out there no matter what the weather was like… I was thinking we should do that anyway for your candle studio. I was also thinking maybe we could build another barn, a smaller one that could hold Jimmy, maybe another goat, and have a chicken coop.” Not only were we staying, but Brody was talking about putting down even deeper roots. I just let him talk. “We could convert the old barn into a working candle factory on the first floor, and a design studio on the second. I was thinking if we put a kitchen and bathroom in, we could use it for a guest house if we ended up moving the businesses offsite. It wouldn’t take that much more to do it.”

 I was excited by his plans, but I was even more excited by his excitement. “We can give Bubba a call to take a look and give us an estimate” I said. The greatest thing about him inheriting the house was that we didn’t have a mortgage and our cost of living was dirt cheap. We had been putting my entire paycheck in the bank since I started my job over a year ago, plus we banked some of his too… we lived simply and most of our money went into the bank or back into the farm. Our vehicles were our only real splurges, so we could afford the renovations. “So? You gonna take the job?” I asked.

 “Are you good with it?” He asked. I just nodded and shot him a look that said ‘of course.’ He smiled broadly, his eyes sparkled and he said, “Then HELL YES!” This was what he really wanted; a career opportunity with the ability to stay in North Carolina… the best of both worlds. He took a sip of his drink, swallowed, wiped his mouth with the napkin, took the phone out of his pocket, and said, “I’m callin’ Kev right now and acceptin.’”

 I couldn’t help but smile seeing him so happy. When he left the room to call Kev, I cleared the table, then grabbed one of the leftover bottles of champagne from our wedding and two champagne flutes. I went into the living room, put on some music, dimmed the lights, stripped naked, and laid on the couch holding the cold bottle of Champagne in the most seductive pose I could come up with. We were gonna celebrate right!

 “It’s official!” Brody yelled with excitement from the other room “Kev was happy as hell, I start two weeks from Monday” Brody said, his voice getting closer as he walked towards the room. When he got in the room and looked towards the couch, his eyes almost popped out of his adorable head. “Day-um” He said under his breath.

 “We’re celebrating. You so fucking deserve this!” I said holding up the bottle of champagne. He grabbed the bottle with a proud smile and pulled out the cork with a POP. He poured us each a glass and we toasted his new, well-deserved opportunity. “You are way overdressed” I said with a smirk. Brody shed his clothes almost magically… one second, he was fully dressed, the next second naked as a jaybird. “Get over here” I said holding my arms open as I sat on the edge of the couch. Brody approached me, his cock was plumping up and pointed right at my face. I leaned in, grabbed his ass cheeks with both hands and pulled him into my mouth. I loved the feeling of his manhood getting bigger while I sucked it. He moaned when he felt the warmth of my wet mouth engulf him.

 Zoey was sitting in the corner watching the action. At first that used to creep me out, but I had gotten used to it. He started licking himself, seemingly oblivious to what I was doing to Brody.

 At first, Brody had his hands behind his head as he pushed his pelvis forward and I pulled him in further by his tight, round ass cheeks, after a few minutes he moved his hands to my head and just rested them there as I moved up and down his fleshy shaft. I was twirling my tongue and swallowing his head, doing my best work. “Gotdammit, Maxwell” he moaned in a lusty tone. Just as he was getting lost in the sensation, I pulled him out of my mouth, turned him around by his hips, put a hand on the middle of his back and pushed him forward exposing his perfect little bubbled butt to me. I pulled his ass cheeks apart and took a deep whiff before I licked from his taint all the way up his crack as he let out an involuntary moan of pleasure. His man musk was a total aphrodisiac for me. He smelled from the sweat and stress of a day at the office with just a hint of body wash from his morning shower. DAMN! I dove my tongue in deep, I could not get enough of him, and apparently, he couldn’t get enough of me as he reached back and put both hands on the back of my head and pulled my face in deep into his crack smooshing my face against his hole and almost cutting off my air supply. I. Didn’t. Fucking. Care. God, I wanted him so much at that moment. I smacked his ass hard, he yelped a little and I did it again. I went at it until I had to break free to catch my breath. “Fuck, Maxwell. That felt so damn good” Brody grunted.

 I flipped him around again then stood up, bent over a little to kissed him. He grabbed the back of my head and pulled me in for a dirty make out session. He had to taste his own ass on my lips. We were grinding our cocks together “Let’s go upstairs” I whispered lustfully as I noticed Zoey laying in the corner with his paws on his snout half asleep.

 “Fuck no” Brody said as he pushed me on to the couch. He pushed my knees to my chest, crouched a little bit and lined his hard cock up with my hole. He pushed in raw and dry. I grunted and bit my lower lip as I powered through the pain. Brody breached my hole and drooled some saliva onto his cock as it impaled itself deeper into my tight hole. “You okay?” He asked as I grunted my approval. Yeah, it hurt but I wanted it. He kept pushing forward until he bottomed out then he bent over and kissed me savagely while he pulled himself out and pushed in again. This time his balls slapped against my ass, he did it again, faster, and rougher. Then again, faster, and rougher until he was just out and out fucking me roughly. Goddammit, I was in ecstasy as the pain turned to pleasure. I was scrunched against the back of the couch with my knees still pinned to my chest as Brody fucked me hard. He was possessed, his hips moving his perfect cock in and out of me like a fine-tuned piston.

 “Fuck!” I yelled for no real reason “Shoot your fucking load in me, dammit.” I was trying to stroke myself but Brody had my legs pushed so tight against me that my mobility was limited.

 “I’m cummin’, Maxwell” Brody yelled breathlessly as he kept pumping. Finally, he made one final thrust as he shot deep inside me “mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm” he grunted as he unloaded, then just collapsed on top of me. The gull weight of his tight little body was resting on me as he kissed me again. Then he pulled out slowly. Then he shocked me by putting two of his fingers in my hole, scooping out his cum, rubbing it on my cock and masturbating me with it. Oh fuck, the warm, slick cummy mess got me off so fast and soon my own load was blasting out spurt after powerful spurt and covering my chest and chin. I came with a convulsing grunt, and then several shudders. Damn! Brody kept stroking my sensitive member until I couldn’t take it any longer and pushed his hands away.

 “Gotdammit that was hot as hell!” Brody said as he stood up in front of me. We both laughed breathlessly still recovering from our rough fuck. After that we headed up to our bathroom and rinsed off in the warm shower, then went to bed. We both slept great knowing that things had worked out for the best.

 The next morning, I got up and made a big breakfast for Brody. He came down to the kitchen and we sat at the table and ate. “I think I’m gonna do it today” he said.

 “Do what?” I asked.

 “Quit!” He was smiling ear to ear. “I’ll give my two weeks’ notice today, take a few days off, then start the new job two weeks from Monday” He was just fucking beaming. I loved seeing him so happy. “I gotta go to Phoenix for a week for orientation. You gonna be good here alone?”

 I nodded my head as I swallowed a forkful of eggs then said, “I got a lot to keep me busy. I gotta shitload of candles to make before school starts in a few weeks.” It was just about a year ago when I moved here and was bored shitless, now I have so much to keep me busy I can hardly keep up. I had come a long way in a year. While we finished breakfast, Brody told me about his plan to resign later that day and I told him about my plan to spend the day making candles with Gina and Ricky. When we were finished, I kissed him goodbye before he went off to work and I told him to keep me posted. I took a quick shower then headed into town to get donuts for my crew. I got back to the barn, took care of the Jimmy, and went to work. Gina showed up at 9:30 sharp with her Starbucks in hand, ready to work.

 After we said our greetings and she grabbed a donut I said “Hey, guess what… Brody got a counteroffer from Kev’s agency and he accepted.”

 Her eyes went huge “Fuck. So, you’re moving?!” I thought she was gonna cry.

 “Nope. He can work remotely, it’s a different position, but it’s still a great opportunity. He’s quitting today.” I could see the relief in my friend’s face when I told her we were staying.

 “YAY! That’s amazing! I am so happy for him!” She sent Brody a congratulatory text immediately. He responded with a thank you and told her he had called Dylan on the way into work to give him the news. “We’re going out on Friday night and celebrating” she said as she looked around the barn and assessed the situation. “Okay, where do we start?”

 “The wax is still melting, let’s finish lining up the containers, then we can set the wicks” I showed her which wicks went in which containers, etc. “You can work this station and I’ll put Ricky over there” I said pointing to the second station.

 “Ricky? Who’s Ricky?” She asked then realized who I was talking about “Fuck. Not that homophobic redneck punk that painted fuck you fag on your barn?!!” she yelled then started to protest.

 “He’s a good kid. Give him a chance” I retorted. Ricky was a good kid; he just gave into peer pressure from some bad friends. I liked and trusted the kid. Brody didn’t trust him yet but was warming up to him. Gina and Dylan just saw him as the punk that attacked us. I sang his praises and pleaded with her to give him a chance. She reluctantly agreed… even if only to appease me.

 Ricky showed up a little before 10:00 and Zoey ran to greet him. Jimmy was out in the pasture frolicking around already so he yelled out a greeting to him. It was cute, he had befriended our pets… hell if Zoey and Jimmy liked him, that was good enough for me. He looked over at Gina, it was clear he was checking her out… and frankly, what young straight boy wouldn’t? Gina was hot as hell. I introduced the two and he went shy. She shook his hand and shot him a look that said, ‘I’m watching you, punk.’

 I went through the plan with them both, then checked on the wax. Gina put her tunes on and the two of them jumped in and went to work. Things were going well, it took a good hour for Gina to drop the bitch façade and give Ricky a chance, she was watching him like a hawk. The song Good As Hell by Lizzo came on Pandora and Gina started singing; “I do my hair toss, check my nails. Baby how ya’ feelin’?” Then in a falsetto voice Ricky absent-mindedly sang back “Feelin’ good as hell” as he continued to focus on his work. The verse repeated itself and the two of them were working and singing together, Gina was doing her damnedest not to like him, but she was warming up to him despite herself. We worked our asses off and got a lot done that morning. At about noon I went into the house to make lunch, Brody called me while I was working in the kitchen.

 “Well, I did it” He said with a sigh.

“How’d it go?” I asked.

 “They were surprised, then it got kinda tense when they accused me of taking all that time off to interview, then they countered.” He said.

“And…?” I asked.

 “I told them it was the work not the money. They were pissy at first and the owner wanted to walk me out the door right then, but my boss convinced him they needed me to finish some stuff up. After we talked a while, they calmed down, wished me well and promised me they’d have a decision on my last day by the end of the week. I gotta feelin’ that tomorrow might be my last day” Brody was sullen and almost whispering into the phone, I’m sure he just didn’t want his coworkers to hear.

 “How do you feel about everything?” I asked.

 He shyly and quietly said ‘fuckin’ great” then laughed a little. He truly was happy. I told him about dinner with Dylan and Gina on Friday, then we hung up and I went back to fixing lunch. I set everything up on the kitchen table then went out to the barn, made sure we were at a good stopping point, and brought Gina and Ricky in the house. At lunch I brought Gina up to speed on everything with Brody, Ricky was surprised to hear all of it… he didn’t know anything about our almost move. Whenever Ricky spoke, Gina would respond to me and dismiss him… she was not cutting the poor kid any slack. I dunno, maybe that was good for him. Maybe Brody was right and I forgave him too fast. But it was obvious to me that the kid had remorse for what he had done.

 After lunch we went back to the barn and back to work until about 5:00. We got a lot done, I was proud of my little team, everyone was ready to come back on Friday morning and do it again. Before he left, Ricky asked to speak to me privately. Gina left the barn and went into the house to freshen up. “Are we good, Max?” Ricky asked.

 I nodded, “Yeah, we’re good. You did something stupid, you learned, and frankly, I think you’re a good guy, Ricky” I said in response.

 He smiled sheepishly. “Well, it’s obvious your fiend hates me.”

 “She’ll warm up to you. Gina’s awesome, she’s also protective as hell of us. Those words you guys wrote on the barn scared us all” I said being honest. “It was more than just random graffiti on a barn… it was a personal attack. I mean, being gay in the south aint easy son” I said in my best fake redneck voice (mimicking daddy).

 He nodded and replied, “I know.”

 Was that empathy or a plea for understanding and acceptance?

 

To be continued…