The Village

Seth’s Perspective

 When we got back to the office after lunch, the security company was just finishing up with the alarm system. They showed me how to work the equipment, hooked the cameras up to my phone and computer and set the passcodes. It gave me a lot of peace of mind just knowing I could keep an eye on the place from my phone. BA went back to work… damn she was impressive, she was whipping our database into shape, straightening out our files, and handling the phones so I could concentrate. She even figured out how to set up automatic text reminders for session appointments for me and our clients. She was owning her volunteer position and was a massive help… and Like I said, it was just nice to have a coworker.

I had gotten a call form an agency in Virginia looking for a safe place for one of their clients that just escaped and abusive relationship with an older boyfriend. We had an open apartment on the second floor so we were able to help, we worked out the details and filed all the paperwork. We had so many clients throughout the country and I did my best to keep good records so the new Case Worker had all the information they would need. As I was finishing up, BA came in to tell me Robyn was there for our interview, “She’s beautiful” BA commented, “It’ll be nice to have another woman around this sausage fest.” I got to thinking, BA (and probably most of the people around the area) have never been exposed to anyone trans before. I just smiled and told her to send Robyn in.

BA was right, she was stunning. She reached out and shook my hand, thanked me for giving her the opportunity to meet in person, and made general small talk about her flight from Chicago and her trip to Wilmington so far; she didn’t seem impressed. She was traveling with her husband, and we talked a little about their first impressions of the area and she confessed that they both felt uncomfortable. “We saw a pick-up truck with a big confederate flag flying from its bed on our Uber ride to the hotel” she said with concern.

“Yeah, rednecks do exist, I won’t lie. But we’ve personally found most people here to be accepting and welcoming” I responded. I told her about our little community and some of my experiences, and those of our friends. I focused on all the great people we’ve met. She listened, but I don’t think she was convinced.

BA interjected, “Oh honey, there’s ign’rant folks everywhere, don’t let a couple of jackasses taint yer view on this place. It’s lovely and full of good people… the good outweighs the bad.” BA’s words made her smile and seemed to put her more at ease, but it was clear she wasn’t convinced.

We eventually went into the therapy room to get comfortable and talk. We had already spoken on the phone and she had met with Max and two other board members, so the basic experience, qualifications, and career discussions were out of the way. We spent our time together talking about The Village; our programs, our strengths, and where there was room for improvement. It was meant to be a chemistry test more than anything and was an interesting interview to say the least. She had a lot of ideas about how to change the organization and where to take it, my biggest concern was that she wasn’t all that interested in OUR vision for The Village… she had her own. We were definitely open to new ideas, but we had a strategy and a plan forward; we needed someone who was on board with what we were doing and could help us build from there. I wasn’t convinced it was her, but maybe I was looking for a unicorn. I had invited Robyn and her husband to dinner with Zach and I but was rejected. On our virtual interview she was full of energy and a force to be reckoned with; in person she seemed disinterested and almost combative. I think seeing the rebel flag flying on the truck (and whatever other experiences she had on the way over) had tainted her view of the area. I got it, but it was too bad.

The good news was that I finished work around 5:00 and could head to the house to help the family paint. BA had already packed her things up and left after I thanked her profusely, she was a humungous help to me and I loved having her around. I set the new alarm and locked the backdoor before I turned to walk towards The Green Dragon. I had only taken a few steps when I felt a hand rest on my shoulder; It was Gerald. Joel and Benji’s father.

“Excuse me” He said with a polite tone. “I was hoping we could talk.”

“I’m sorry, but you’re not supposed to be here according to the court order” I said hoping that would be enough to get rid of him. I looked up taking inventory of the new security cameras and making sure we were in view of at least one of them.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. The court order from The Village was a surprise as you had told me you had not seen my boys” he was still smiling as he spoke softly with a hand on my shoulder for intimidation purposes.

“The work we do here is confidential and I am not at liberty to discuss it” I said with my heart pounding. I kept a steeled look in my eye but was shaking inside.

“Well, I am their father and I would like to discu….” He started to say.

I removed his hand from my shoulder and did my best not to show my inner fear ad not to let the anger take control. “They are adults. There’s nothing to discuss.” My voice was stern and my eyes cold as I added. “You are already in violation of the court order; I suggest you leave before I have you forcibly removed.”

With his hand off my shoulder and his eyes locked to mine he said “Son, I don’t think you know who you’re dealing with.” I knew exactly who I was dealing with… I had been down this road before.

“Neither do you, sir. It’s best you leave now… without handcuffs.” I said. He sneered at me before turning and leaving. I calmly walked to my car, got in, locked the door, then took a deep breath, called Zach, and I told him the story.

“Are you okay?” Zach asked.

“Yeah, I held my own and am on my way to the house now. He was standing under one of the new surveillance cameras.”

“Perfect!” My husband said. “That’s a Class A misdemeanor that comes with up to five months in jail. I’m calling the cops.”

“No. Zach, I think we should just ignore it.” I said just wanting this to be over.

“Seth, this isn’t your call. He violated the order and we got it on film. I’m calling.” Zach said. After some convincing, I reluctantly agreed. I knew his arrest would mean battle with the church. Zach called the PD as I drove home, when I finally got there, he came out to greet me. “The police are going to his house to arrest him. I called David, he’s happy as hell and wants you to send him the video footage. This should keep them away for a bit.” I wasn’t as happy about all this as Zach and David, but the church needed to know we were serious. I pulled up the video and sent it to David before I walked into the house. David was representing the boys, and Zach was representing The Village and neither of them were about to let anything slip through the cracks… they were on a mission. I followed Zach into the house where Eli, Mom, and Riley were hard at work.

 

“Holy crap!” I said as I walked into the kitchen. It was basically done except for the countertops and a coat of poly on the floor.  Eli and Riley were screwing in the cabinet handles, they just had a few more to go.

“Holy crap is right!” Mom said. “It looks amazing, doesn’t it? It all just works so well here! Doesn’t it?” She was so excited, and 100% correct. The Witch’s House looked better than I had ever imagined it could when we first peered through its windows. Then she grabbed my hand and pulled me upstairs to the bathrooms. The tile was done and we were just waiting on the countertops. Next, it was out to the barn. As we crossed the patio, Petunia came out of nowhere to join us, then I noticed our grill had been moved over from the BroMax garage. Kelly and Eli got it so we could cook out. We entered the barn and she pulled me over to the countertops. “Look at these!!!” She said as she showed me our newly stained counter tops. “He’s coming tomorrow afternoon for the second coat, then he said he would install them on Friday!!” She was just overflowing with excitement. “You can do the final coat on the floors Saturday after we’re gone, then just let it dry a couple of days and you can move in.”

Zach had followed us through the house and out to the barn. “We can start bringing the stuff we’re keeping in from the garage first, then we can probably move everything from BroMax to here in the pick-ups next weekend. Max, Brody, Dylan, and Gina said they’d help” he said.

“Zach said you were going to use one of the bedroom sets that was already here for Eli and Riley’s room” Mom said. “I want to set that up before we leave so it’s ready for her when she starts her new job and you boys don’t have to think about it.” As always, Kelly had taken control. I was grateful as hell that she did. Shit was getting done.

“Wow” I said. “You finished in a freaking week!”

“Not quite, and it was definitely a group effort” Kelly said. “Everyone worked so hard, and it looks so nice!” She wasn’t wrong, the place had shaped up in an incredible way. The Witch’s House was almost ready to be our home. “I can’t wait to see the outside done when we come back at Thanksgiving.”

‘Thanksgiving?’ I thought to myself. ‘That’s new information.’

 “I hope it’s okay that we invited ourselves” Kelly said looking at me with eyes that said ‘please, please, please let it be okay.’ “I figured it’d be easier for the two of us to travel to you, than the four of you come to us.”

“Of course,” I said although I wasn’t as sure as my words made me sound. I was hoping for our first holiday in the new house to be quiet and intimate with just the two of us. But hell, she earned it. She did more to make this place a home than anyone.

“We’re going to leave early Saturday, we have about 20 hours of driving ahead of us and Eli and Riley have a Monday morning flight to catch out of Madison” Kelly said. That was a bittersweet statement; I loved having them here but I also wanted to be alone with Zach in OUR home. Kelly and I went through the checklist of what needed to be done and what we could reasonably get done before they left. Once the counters and sinks were in, Zach and I just had to put of polyurethane on the first floor hardwoods, then we could start on the outside while everything dried and cured.

I changed into the work clothes I had left at the house and started to make dinner. Kelly had picked up a bunch of bratwursts, buns, premade salads, etc. from the market and put them in the refrigerator which was plugged-in in the garage. She washed up and joined me as I laid everything out on Old Lady Jones’ old dining table, it was the only surface left to work on. “You got enough here for an army, mom” I said as I took inventory.

“Well good, because I invited an army” she said as she blew her hair out of her face and helped me put the brats on a platter to take to the grill. “We stopped by BroMax to get the grill out of the garage and I invited all the boys working in the candle barn. When Zach found out, he invited the two gentlemen across the street… Harry and Terry maybe?” she said.

‘Harry and Terry’ that made me laugh a little. “Harris and Terrance?” I asked.

“Yeah, that’s them” she said as she continued pulling our impromptu party together. “Oh… and I invited Brody’s parents and Gina and Dylan. It might be my last chance to see them all and hold baby Maggie before I leave.” Mom had become entrenched in our little community during her week stay and apparently decide to throw herself a going away party, I felt bad that we hadn’t thought to do that.

I found a big pot in the garage to boil the brats in. Mom had picked up beer and onions, so I started boiling the brats and getting them ready for the grill. Mom started putting more soda and beer in the fridge. She really stocked us up. “I’m gonna miss you” I said as we worked.

“Ha” Mom laughed, “I’m guessing you boys can’t wait to get us out of your hair.”

“Are you kidding?! If it wasn’t for you, we’d be working on this for the next couple of years. I can’t believe you did all this in a friggin’ week!” I yelled. “I feel like such a slacker.”

“Slacker?!” she barked back. “I’ve been watching you go twenty-four/seven helping those boys. You are NOT a slacker.” She paused, then gave me a serious look and said “I pieced together the story of the two boys and the church. Can you talk about that?” She was truly concerned. I told her what I could without sharing anything personal and breaking confidentiality. After I told the story she said “I knew there was a reason god sent your brother on this trip with us. You needed him” then she hugged me. She was a bit more into the ‘god has a plan for everything’ philosophy than I was, but it made sense and I nodded in agreement.

“Mom, I appreciate the hell outta you and dad. We could never have come this far without you. Thank you for everything” I said with nothing but sincerity.

She laughed, “We love the four of you so much, and this week has been so much fun for me! I love your village of friends here. You have such a strong community after just a couple of months. Dad and I have lived in that little town all our lives and your ties and connections here are just as strong as ours.”

“Well, maybe y’all should consider retiring down here” I said.

“With the four of you here it makes sense” she said as she sliced an onion. “But we have a couple of years before we can even think about that. Dad has stopped talking about running for Governor, so maybe we’ll start talking about retirement.” I knew that had been an ambition of his, but I hadn’t heard him mention lately. The two of us talked as we cooked, just like we had the first time we met several Christmas’s ago. We took the pot of brats out to the grill and put it on the side burner. I grabbed them one by one with the tongs and dropped them on the grill with a sizzle. Mom went back into the house to set up the buffet on the table and get the paper plates out. Zach, Eli, and Riley eventually made their way to the grill. The four of us laughed and talked while the brats cooked. About ten minutes later we heard tires were crunching up the gravel drive.

Brody and Max were the first to arrive followed by Harris and Terrance. They came out back to greet us then took a self-guided tour. While they were looking around the guys from the candle barn arrived, those guys couldn’t care less about the house… they were there for the food. They made a loud, obnoxious entrance then Ricky, Timmy, Taylor, and Mason ripped apart the spread of food on the old dining table in the middle of our construction zone. “I invited Colton too, I hope that’s cool” Mason said with a mouth full of Bratwurst, just then, as if waiting on his cue, Colton’s old silver Toyota with the red door rumbled up the gravel drive.

Our neighbors finished their tour and came out of the barn to join the rest of us. “Damn,” Harris said with a big exhale. “This place is going to be amazing! So different from our place.’

“Or ours” Max added. “It’s so weird that the three houses started out pretty similar but are so damn different” Max was right. The bones of the three houses were pretty much the same with a few minor changes in layout and facade, but BroMax was transformed into a modern version of its original self. Harris and Terrance’s place was basically gutted and rebuilt into a new house in an old shell. And ours… well it was more Bohemian; kind of old barn meets industrial, meets farmhouse. It was a true original and I loved every old, money-sucking inch of it.

“It’s all so gotdamn cool. Grammaw woulda loved this” Brody said. He took pride in rehabbing Grammaw’s house and now he was taking it all a step further by bringing good people onto the street and creating a community. He took the opportunity to push his “painted lady” and Christmas light initiatives for the street… He got confirmation from all of us.

Meanwhile, while we talked houses, The rest of the guests had arrived, BA and Kelly were loving on Maggie, all the guys were there having a great time eating and laughing. The younger guys all took off after they ate, but before they left Colton and Taylor looked around the garage and claimed some of the items we were donating… they were both getting ready to move into their own places. Taylor got the apartment he applied for, but unfortunately Colton’s roommate deal fell through and he was still looking; he’d find something. Harris and Terrance went back across the street, Dylan and Gina packed up Maggie and the dawgs and headed home with Daddy James and BA right behind them. The rest of us sat and talked. I updated Max on the latest dealing with the church and Zach told him the legalities of it all. Then I told him about my disappointing interview with Robyn.

“That doesn’t sound like who I interviewed on the phone” Max said.

“I know. Right?” I replied. “She was totally different in person. Something was off” I confirmed.

“Well, let’s hope the other guy is good” Max said before switching the subject. “Oh, by the way, one of the third floor apartments in Harrington House is opening up. We were going to ask Colton if he was interested but wanted to check with you to make sure you were cool with him staying in the building.”

Taylor may have overstayed his welcome, however, I thought Colton living there was a great idea. He had become friends with Ricky and Timmy, plus having a success story living on site made for a great story.

“Absolutely, I’m sure he’ll snatch it up” I said.

We finished up our conversation then Kelly, Eli, and Riley headed back to the hotel. Then Max and Brody helped us clean up and we all headed back to BroMax.

Zach and I went up to our room to get ready for bed… of course Petunia was two steps behind. She got settled in her bed in the corner of our room and we snuck down the hall to take a shower. Our original goal was to wash the day off ourselves, but it only took about two seconds of being alone and naked before it turned into something else. I turned on the water and stepped under the showerhead as soon as it was warm, Zach was right behind me. I swear my body wasn’t even wet before he pushed me forward, bending me over and went right for my funk-ladened manhole. His tongue was warmer and wetter than the shower water cascading over us. My hands planted themselves against the tile wall and my ass instinctively pushed itself back to meet his hungry tongue. My body was shivering as parts of it were covered with water and other parts were exposed to the AC cooled air. I did my damnedest to be quiet but it wasn’t frigging easy as his warm, talented tongue bathed my yearning hole. He reached around, grabbed my wet soapy cock, and started stroking, assuring its solidification. It felt so nice as the water grew warmer and covered more of my aching body. I could feel it flowing down my back and into the trench between my two white mounds of ass flesh and I heard Zach gargling my musk as the water hit the peerless beauty of his face. The last few times we were together the moments went beyond sex, they morphed into euphoric escapes from the weight of the overwhelming reality we were in the midst of building around us.

I reveled in the sheer pleasure-induced escape as Zach’s tongue spelunked the depths of my cavern. I swear to you, at times that man’s tongue felt like it was a foot long as it explored and tickled my insides. Quiet moans of appreciation escaped my wet lips, damn. Just damn. Damn, damn, damn it was amazing. I can’t describe the feeling of total rapture that was coursing through my being as Adam’s ale poured down over us. He transported me out of reality… again.

“I’m cumming” I grunted in a whisper, then suddenly Zach stopped. His hand fell from my cock and smacked my ass diverting my attention from the testicular explosion boiling in my loins. My orgasm was aborted before it ever had the chance to burst into life in the form of a lust-filled celebration.

“Not today” Zach hissed into my ass, his tone playful and devilish at the same time. He stood, dragging his perfection through my sodden furrow as he did. “Let’s not cum until we’re moved into our new home” he whispered and punctuated his point by shoving his ass-scented tongue in my ear.

“No, I need to cum now” I whimpered as he moved his throbbing member up and down my crack teasing my hole.

“I’m serious” he said in a hushed tone, his tongue playfully lapping my lobe. “Once we’re moved in, we’ll have a night of loud, riotous sex in our own home. No neighbors. No one there to hear us scream and howl.” His voice was so sensual and my manhood begged for release.

I didn’t want to wait, but I loved the idea of a night of raucous indignant sex. “What will do to me if I wait?” I asked playfully as my body started to prune under the shower.

“Let’s dry off and go to our room and I’ll tell you” he said with a final nip of my lobe and kiss to my cheek. We got out, dried off and walked to our room wrapped in our towels. We got under the warm covers and Zach spooned me putting his lips against me ear.

“So, what will you do to me?” I asked again as I felt his now flaccid flesh tube nestle itself between my cheeks.

His lips were so close that I could feel them move as he breathed his words into my ear, “first I’d tie you to the bed, on your back, spread eagle” he ended his statement with a kiss to my neck. “The I’d start at your feet by sucking on your big toe then taking each toe into my warm mouth, one at a time.” Another kiss landed on my nape as he continued. “Then I’m gonna glide my tongue up your leg, moving past your inner thigh and grazing the bottom of your smooth ball sac before I head down your other leg and back up to your balls.” My manhood was a steel rod, his words had me ready to cum.

“Then what?” I asked as I reached back and stroked his soft, damp locks.

“Then… well, then I will tell you more later. We have more than a week to wait” he said in a cocky, evil voice that hissed into my ear “and I plan on making you hard every night until then.”

He was serious about this. “You bastard” I laughed as he kissed me good night, then I playfully slapped the back of his head. My cock was purple and my balls blue as I lie there in his arms and fell asleep.

The next morning, I was up and rolling early again, I wore a khaki colored pair of dress pants with a collarless button-up that was bluer than my balls. I grabbed a cup of coffee and was off to the office before the others were up. I pulled into a spot behind Harrington House once again to find church pamphlets on all the windshields, in the mail slot, etc. These bastards weren’t backing down… Fine by me, it was all on film and just added evidence to our case against them. I opened the door, shut off the alarm and dropped the pamphlets in the box BA set out before I went to the kitchen to make coffee. I had a new volunteer working the desk that day. Tara was one of Marilee’s employees who was working when Joel and Benji showed up that day. She was taken by their story and wanted to help. She was in the office by 8:00 and I gave her the same rundown I gave BA a couple of days before and she went right to work. Rodney was due for his interview at noon so I had a couple of hours to spend catching up with sponsors. About 11:00 Robyn gave me a call, she and her husband were back in Chicago.

“Seth, I’m sorry about yesterday” she said. “I was really caught off guard by seeing the confederate flag on the back of that truck.” I understood, but to be honest, after just a few months of living in the south I had grown numb to it… it was just the ignorance of a few. BA was right, the good outweighed the bad. “My husband and I talked a lot about it, I appreciate the opportunity to interview for the position, but I am removing myself from the running. I’m comfortable where I am and am just not ready to move to a small southern town.”

I let out a heavy sigh, “I’m sorry to hear that, I thought that might be what was bothering your yesterday.” We talked for a while, I made a minor plea for her to reconsider, but she politely declined and thanked me again for the opportunity and apologized for wasting our time. I was disappointed, but didn’t consider it a waste of time. I took a lot away from our conversations and appreciated her perspective. We promised to stay in touch, and if nothing else, I had made a trans-ally in Chicago.

By the time I hung up with Robyn, Rodney had arrived for his interview. I was hoping beyond hope that he was the right fit or it was back to the drawing board.

 

To be continued…