The Village

Seth’s Perspective

“Who is it?” Zach asked.

“Colton” I whispered back covering the mouthpiece, “he got arrested.” We were both fully awake now. I put him on speaker “Zach’s here, you’re on speaker, Tell us what happened?”

“My old boss from the restaurant in Raleigh called me, my sister was in a bad car accident” He answered, then took a deep breath. “I went to the hospital in Raleigh to see her, my dad saw me and we got into a fight… a fist fight, the hospital called the cops and they arrested us both.”

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, I got some bruises, but I’m okay” he said. That was a relief! “But I didn’t get to see my sister and I need to know she’s okay” The worry in his voice was apparent.

“I’ll call the hospital and see what I can find out” I offered, and got his sisters name and the hospital information.

“Have you seen the magistrate yet?” Zach asked.

“The what?” Colton responded in confusion.

“Did they set bail?” Zach clarified.

“Tomorrow morning. They’re holding me here over night. I don’t know what to do” I could tell Colton was on the verge of tears but was being strong.

Zach asked for more information about where he was being held etc. and Colton told him what he knew. “Just hold tight, buddy” Zach said in a reassuring tone. “I’m going to represent you, I will sort it all out, but I can’t do much tonight. You’re going to have to stay there. Okay?”

Colton kind of whimpered back “yes. Will you post bail? I’ll pay you back, I promise, I don’t know how much it will be, but I have money saved…”

“We’ll figure it out” Zach said. He was in lawyer mode and already had his phone out trying to figure out bail; thank god he was there with me. “It looks like bail should be under a thousand. Do you have any priors?”

Colton responded with a tone of disbelief that Zach even asked, “No.”

“I had to ask Colton; it makes a difference” Zach said in a professional tone.

“I know. Thank you” he said breathing a sigh of relief. “I need to know if my sister is okay.”

“I’ll find out what I can and we’ll give you an update when we come in the morning” I answered hoping to give him a little peace of mind.

He asked us to call Dylan in the morning and let him know he couldn’t make it to work “I don’t have my supervisor’s number, ask Dylan to tell him I’m sick or something. I don’t want them to know I’m in jail, I can’t lose this job.” I promised that I’d talk to Dylan, then we said goodbye and he reluctantly hung up the phone. God, I felt for the guy. He was scared, worried about his sister, worried about his job, and stuck in a jail cell overnight and his biggest crime was loving his sister. After we got off the phone, we both went to work. Zach called around trying to get information about charges and bail, and I called the hospital trying to get an update on his little sister. Zach had emailed his boss at the firm reminding him he’d be in Raleigh and letting him know he was going to help Colton pro-bono while he was there. One of the Senior Partners with Zach’s firm was homeless for a couple of months when he was younger and had a soft spot for The Village so they were extremely tolerant when Zach jumped in to help.

We found out Colton’s sister was in serious but stable condition, and the charge against Colton was a Class 2 misdemeanor. Zach said the maximum sentence was 60 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. He would bail him out in the morning and try to get the charges dropped. He had already planned to be at the courthouse in Raleigh in the morning filing something for his other case so he could post bail then, I decided to go with him. By 1AM we had done all that we could for the night, the rest would have to wait until morning. Meanwhile, we were both tired, but there was no way in hell we were going to fall back to sleep.

I was still sore and wiped out from the night before but suddenly craved intimacy. Zach was spooning me but I flipped around so we were face to face naked on the bed. His eyes were closed but popped open when I kissed his full, supple lips. His lips were just so soft, and when they touched mine a current of passion surged through my body creating a concrete pillar below my waist. The sensuality of that tiny touch, his soft, moist lips against mine awoke the beast in me again. I knew Zach was tired, I knew we had a big day ahead, I also knew neither one of us would get any sleep until I felt him in me again. His lips parted, making way for my eager tongue and our two appendages tangoed in the warmth of our oral apertures. The combined innervation of love and lust as I gyrated my iron bar of sex against his moved me to rapturous heights, and once again the world around me disappeared and just the two of us remained.

It was late, we were tired, I was still sore from the night before but Zach quickly turned our lovemaking up a few decibels by lining his steeled masculinity up with my still recovering pucker. I parted our lust-enflamed lips long enough to whisper, “You’re gonna need lots of lube.” I hadn’t even completed my sentence before Zach stretched out his arm and fumbled around in the drawer of the nightstand. I heard the lube bottle pop open then felt his fingertips soothing my burning hole with the cool gel. Lube always seemed like a necessary evil to me, but at that moment it was a welcomed, healing force breathing new life into my eager hole. Zach applied the lube as if it were a life-saving salve and his hand moved from my contracting sphincter to his own yearning manhood prepping the two to come together.

Zach was poised above with his beautiful face looking down on me. His hazel eyes were locked with mine soothing my inner soul and churning up an inexpressible carnal appetite. I had to have him! I reached up and took a handful of Zach-cheek in each hand, so firm, so soft, so supple, so… so… fucking perfect. A mischievous grin crossed his lips as he pushed forward. With one thrust he breached my still aching hole and it grabbed onto him for dear life. I was pulling him in as he slowly pushed forward, my hole and his pole were working in sync. Soon I felt his warm ball sac come to rest on my ass, he pushed a little further giving me the full length of his perfection. He stopped, just holding himself inside me savoring the tightness and warmth of the hole that only he had ever traversed. He slowly pulled his hardness out of my passage, his veins and ridges sending thrills through me as my eyes rolled into my head and I bit my bottom lip. Heaven on fucking earth… Damn.

Zach smiled and let out a little laugh of pride for the ecstasy he was inducing. “You like that don’t you?” He asked in a whisper, all I could do was nod and whimper in response.

My hands were still locked to his ass when the head of his magnificent cock popped out of me, in desperation I pulled him back in, I wasn’t ready to let him go. He got the hint and pushed in slowly until he bottomed out again then slowly pulled out… again, I pulled him back in and he bottomed out. Over and over, faster, and harder he repeated his movements. “Do you want my load?” he asked… seriously, it was one of the stupidest questions ever asked (and yes there are stupid questions) OF COURSE I WANTED HIS FUCKING LOAD!

I dug my nails into his firm ass and yelled, I mean freaking wailed “YES, I WANT YOUR LOAD! FUCK ME! BREED ME! OWN THAT ASS!” Yes. I said that. Me. The nice quiet little church boy, and I was damn proud to demand what I needed. Zach picked up the pace and with a few more powerful thrusts he shot his load deep within my depths with a howl of bliss. For the second night in a row, he collapsed on top of me. I didn’t cum, but I didn’t care. Our lovemaking-fuck-hybrid left me content. He spooned me again and it put me right to sleep.

It was a short-lived rest as we were awakened by the harsh as fuck alarm at 5AM. I went into the kitchen to make coffee and Zach came down to let Petunia out. We stood in the kitchen leaning against our cement countertops and sipping coffee as we went through our game plan for the day. “We’ll need bail money, the firm has a bail bond account but I doubt they’d be thrilled if I used it for a pro-bono client” Zach said.

I added my two cents to Zach’s idea, “Well, we have an emergency fund for The Village, we never discussed using it for bail. It would set a precedent so I have to ask Max on this one.”

“I was thinking about dropping Petunia off over there for the day because I’m not sure how long we’ll be gone, we can ask him then” Zach said. “We could pull it out of our account if we had to. It would strap us, but we can’t leave him in there.”

“He’s got the money in his account; I trust him to pay us back” I said sipping my coffee as I walked toward the back door to let the scratching Petunia in. I looked at our sweet girl and asked, “Do you wanna go play with Zoey? Yea? Yes, You do…” Then I went off on a dog-talk-babble of humiliating proportions, but I didn’t care; I loved that damn dog. Next, I called Dylan to let him know about Colton. He understood and said to tell Colton not to sweat it… they loved him at work and Dylan would cover for him. Fe headed upstairs to take a quick shower and get dressed for the day ahead. I put on nice slacks and wore a sport coat (fancy for me), and Zach put on his suit so he was ready to face the magistrate. Goddammit, he was hot naked but even hotter in his perfectly tailored suit… I wished we had time for a quickie, but duty called (Seriously, I don’t know what had gotten into me! I had been fucked senseless that weekend but still wanted more… I had been insatiable since we moved to the country).  He printed some stuff from his laptop and put it in his bag, then we got into the GTI and headed to BroMax Farm.

We got here about 7:30AM and the place was buzzing with activity. The guys were already working in the candle barn and there were several contractor vehicles in the drive. Petunia jumped out of the GTI, greeted her best pal Zoey, and they were off to terrorize Jimmy the goat. Petunia had taken to country living like a bird to the blue sky.

Brody came out of the house on his way to his office in the loft of the barn, “Lookit you in yer lawyerin uniform” he said to Zach with a shit eating grin.

“Hey, what’s going on back there?” I ask as I nod towards the construction.

“I’m finally getting my greenhouse!” Max said exiting the house and walking towards us. He excitedly told us all the details and ended with “Craig’s coming down in a couple of weeks to help me plant and get it set-up” He was so excited. “Hey, why are you so dressed up?” He asked looking at me.

I let out a heavy sigh “Well, we’re off to Raleigh to bail Colton outta jail” I said getting a wide-eyed gasp in response.

“What the hell is going on?” Max asked. I filled him in on what I knew, then asked if I could use the emergency fund for bail money. “Of course, but keep it quiet. We don’t need to become bail-bondsmen bailing Taylor out for turning tricks and shit like that; It sets a bad precedent. But we need to get him out of there.”

“We’ll finance it if we need to” Brody said. Colton had lived with them for a while and held a special place in their hearts. We talked through the options, then Brody disappeared into the house and came back with a thousand in cash. “Use this if you need it” he said. I ended the conversation by asking if Petunia could spend the day since we didn’t know what to expect in Raleigh (of course she was welcome), then gave the guys a key to our house in case they needed it. I felt better knowing they had it. After ten minutes of chit chat, we were on the road.

I called BA from the car, she had a key to the office and was working the reception desk that day. I asked her to clear my schedule and hold down the fort “I got this. Go bring our boy home” is all she said. That was our plan. Next, I called the hospital for an update on Colton’s sister. She was doing better and they had moved her out of the ICU, but that’s all I learned. On the ride to Raleigh Zach explained his plan for the morning. After we saw the magistrate, Zach needed to go to the DA’s office regarding his other case, so we’d pay bail and I would take Colton in the GTI to the hospital to get his car. It took us two hours to get to Raleigh and it seemed like forever. When we got there, Zach talked to a few people while I waited in the courtroom until he joined me. He learned that Colton’s father had priors and the bail had been set at $1,500; luckily, he was still in custody. He also got the DA to drop the charges “he has no history and they have three witnesses, all hospital employee’s, all said his father attacked him. It was clearly self-defense.” When they brought Colton into the room, he looked like fucking hell. His eyes had bags under them from lack of sleep, his cute face was bruised, his shirt was ripped, and he was in handcuffs; I hated seeing him that way. Colton’s body went limp from relief when the magistrate dropped all charges as Zach had said they would. After court, Zach stayed at the courthouse to take care of his other business and I took Colton to pick up his car.

On the drive, I told him what I had learned about his sister and that his father was still in custody. “I’m gonna see her” Colton said in a monotone voice as he stared forward.

“So, what happened?” I asked Colton as we drove to the hospital parking lot.

He let out a heavy sigh before he spoke, “Ron (his former boss) called me and told me Ella (his sister) was in a bad accident and was in the hospital. I had to see her, Seth” he paused for a moment. The positive, hardworking, hopeful guy I knew sat in the passenger’s seat exhausted and defeated. “I went to the hospital reception desk and asked for my sister’s room number, they asked if I was a relative and I answered, ‘I’m her brother.’ My dad had entered the room and was standing behind me ‘No he’s not’ he yelled. He was pissed off and probably drunk. ‘You abandoned your family; you’re not welcome here. Now get the hell out before I throw you out ya’ little queer’ he said, by then a bunch of people were watching us. I yelled back ‘I didn’t abandon you, you kicked me out because you didn’t want a gay son!’ Then he yelled back at me, ‘and I still don’t, now get the fuck out of here.’ He grabbed the collar of my shirt, threw me towards the door, and my shoulder hit the wall. It just got worse from there, Seth. We were yelling, he took a swing at me, I swung back, the next thing I know security was on top of us, then the cops came and arrested us both. It all happened so fast. All I wanted to do was see Ella.” I had been Colton’s therapist for a few months and the one thing that had always worried me was his desire to have a relationship with parents who didn’t want him. I had personally lived through the heart wrenching hell myself and didn’t wish it on anyone. I also knew he’d eventually try to make contact… now here we were.

The ride to the hospital wasn’t very long and he was still talking when we pulled up. I parked the GTI next to his old Corolla and we went into the hospital. He asked for his sister’s room number and they told him he could go in, he asked me to come with him. When we got there, she was awake and eating some soup. She was pretty battered up from the accident with a bandage on her forehead and a cast on her arm, but she lit up when he entered the room. “Colton” she said with a shaky voice as she pushed the rolling hospital tray away from the bed with her good arm and reached for him “you came back for me.” He leaned down and hugged her and the two of them embraced and sobbed. I left them alone to reunite and went into the hall to text Max an update, I didn’t see his mother enter the room, but I heard her.

“What in the hell are you doing here. You need to go before your father comes back” she yelled in a whisper. I entered the room and she was trying to pull the siblings apart and push Colton towards the door. “He’s gonna come back and if he finds you all hell will break loose.” Over my years of training and internships I had seen battered women… Colton’s mom was a textbook example. She kept looking at the door expecting her husband to enter. She feared the man and her only mode of defense was avoidance, it was clear she was too weak to stand up to the man.

“He’s in jail, and I’m not leaving” Colton said in a strong voice, his confidence was coming back. I couldn’t help but feel for his mother, she was trying to protect her kids she was just powerless to do so.

“Who the hell are you” she said looking at me. She was extremely thin, her hair was stringy, there were bags under her eyes, and the lines on her face were deep and plentiful.

Before I could answer Colton said in a strong voice, “he’s with me and we’re staying.” I took his mother out of the room so he and his sister could talk. His mother asked me a million questions about Colton, none of which I could answer due to confidentiality. All I could say was “He’s a good man and doing well for himself.”

After about fifteen minutes Colton came out and said to his mother “she’s coming with me when she’s released.”

“The hell she is” his weather-beaten mother said with as much strength as she could muster. “You aint taking my other baby away from em too.”

“Colton, you can’t just take…” I started to say and he shut me up.

“I’ll figure it out, but she’s not going back to that fucking house. Mother, you aren’t protecting her so I’ll do it!” I had just witnessed defeated Colton, I had known strong, determine Colton, but THIS. This was a whole new Colton. This was Colton on a mission. I don’t know what his sister said to him, but it lit a fire under him. We hung out at the hospital for a couple of more hours, the siblings locked me and his mother out of the room while they talked. Zach called to let me know he was finished at the courthouse and I updated him on what was going on at the hospital. He went to check on the status of Colton’s father and then texted me back that he was still in custody. No one had posted bail.

Colton said a tearful goodbye to his sister and they whispered between them before he gave his mother a cold nod and we left. There was obviously no love lost there. Colton got in his car and followed me back to the courthouse. When we met up with Zach Colton asked if Zach could ride with him while I led the way back home in the GTI. I was curious as to what was going on in the car behind me but I had my suspicions. I took advantage of the alone time and made several calls on the Bluetooth; it was a pretty productive ride back to our house. When we got there, Colton said goodbye and thanked us. “So, what was that all about… he wants to take his sister doesn’t he?” I asked Zach.

“Yup. She’s 16 and he wants me to help her emancipate herself from their parents and then get him named guardian” Zach explained with a sigh.

“Can you do that?” I asked.

“No clue. I already called my dad and Pop Nicholls; they’re looking into state law. I’ll talk to the Senior Partners when I get back to the office… speaking of which…” Zach said then kissed me and jumped in the GTI and whirred away. It was only about 4:00, I got in the Green Dragon and headed to Bromax. I updated Max and gave him their cash back, then Petunia and I jumped in the car and we headed to The Village. BA was there holding down the fort. She greeted me and Petunia then gave me my messages and an update on her day before I headed to the second floor to talk to Colton. Petunia followed behind me.

I knocked on the door and Colton answered, he was happier to see Petunia than he was to see me and the two friends greeted each other with smiles, wags, and kisses. I sat on one of the weathered chairs in his apartment. “So, you wanna talk about it?” I asked.

“Not if you’re going to talk me out of it” he answered.

“No. I just want to understand your plan and how I can help” he looked at me trying to read me.

“He beats her, Seth. She crashed her car trying to get away from him. I… I.. just can’t. I just can’t let her go back there.” He said.

“What about your mother?” I asked.

“I fucking hate her for letting him hurt Ella” he spewed forth in a venomous rage. I had never seen him like that before. “She’s just a sweet little, sixteen year old girl, she deserves to be safe.”

I gulped a bit before mustering the courage to ask him, “Did he used to beat you?”

“Not really. He smacked me around a couple of times when I deserved it.” ‘deserved it?’ I thought to myself. No kid deserves to be smacked around. “Ella said he took my being gay out on her since I left. He’s been drinking more and getting meaner and meaner.” He sighed, looked me square in the eyes and said, “I’m getting her out of there even if I need to kidnap her.” I knew that tone, I knew that look in his eye… it was the same resolve Brad had when he decided to get us away from my father.

“I’ll help” is all I could say. He hugged me and did his damnedest not to break down. “All I know from Zach is that he’s looking into it.”

“She can have the bedroom when I move upstairs, I’ll get a pullout for me to sleep on. I make enough to support us; I can put off culinary school for not is I have to.” He said determined, but disappointed. “I’ll need help getting her into school here.”

“One thing at a time, Colton” I said trying to reason with him and slow the train down. “You don’t even know if you can get custody.”

He glared at me and said through gritted teeth, “She. Is. Moving. In. With. Me.”

I responded, “legally she’s a minor and…”

“Fuck the law, it’s happening one way or another.” He was shaking as he pet Petunia’s soft coat and was doing his best not to kill me for trying to be the voice of reason. He didn’t want reason, he wanted help and reassurance.

I backed off… for now. I gave him a hug before I left and begged him not to do anything stupid until Zach could figure out the options. In all honesty, I was the last person in the world who was going to stop an older brother from saving his younger sibling.

To be continued…

 

---

*Credit to The Donling for the phrase “iron bar of sex.” If you haven’t already, please do yourself a favor and read his series ‘A Long Hard Life’.