The Village

Seth’s Perspective

We followed Colton into the barn where the guys were all hard at work. They all stopped when he walked through the big old barn door in his borrowed, pinned-up suit and just stared at him. Ricky turned down the music, looked at Colton and yelled across the big room, “Well?!”

Colton grinned from ear to year and then yelled “I FUCKING GOT IT!!!!” The guys all cheered. It was such an amazing dynamic to me, three straight local boys, and three discarded gay boys from god only knows where working together and supporting each other. I just watched as they whooped and hollered in celebration for a few minutes, then went back to work.

Ricky looked over at Colton and yelled “Hey fancy pants, ditch the suit, we got candles to make” then cranked the music back up. Colton literally ran into the house to change and was back in the barn in just a few minutes working with the team. Me and Zach followed Max and Brody up to Brody’s office in the loft of the barn. Max opened the French doors and we all looked down over the candle factory. It was a hive of activity as the guys joked around with each other and worked, they wiggled their little teenage butts as the danced to the music blasting throughout the old, renovated structure. It was a positive, happy, and extremely productive work environment… hell they made it look like so much fun that I wanted to join in. Max credited Ricky for the fun, positive atmosphere. Ricky had tweaked the hell out of the process to make them more efficient, and just knew how to motivate the guys… even those who were just there temporarily had a rare loyalty to him. He created a training program that enabled newcomers to contribute immediately in some capacity, and the process was scalable so that if they lost or gained team members for whatever reason (like Colton moving on to something permanent) productivity didn’t suffer. The whole operation was impressive, but the most impressive thing was the inclusivity. Ricky knew how to make everyone feel like part of the team the second they walked into the barn. It was a gift and Max had recognized it early on and put it to work for his business.

Before we left the barn, Max invited the guys to stay for a cookout to celebrate Colton’s new job. He and I went grocery shopping while Brody followed Zach to drop off the U-Haul. We all got back about an hour later and then went to work creating a feast in Colton’s honor. After they shut down the candle barn all the guys joined us on the deck for burgers and hotdogs. I mostly observed in amazement. I had counselled Mason, Taylor, and Colton and they had each bared their soul to me, I probably knew more about the three of them than anyone, and their stories weren’t happy ones. Yet here they were laughing, joking, supporting each other and just being normal. The Village gave them hope and purpose and Max’s team made them feel like they belonged. I couldn’t help but smile as I took it all in.

I had a great time with all the guys that night, but I was wiped out from two days on the road, and I intended to dive into my new world headfirst in the morning; Max was going to take me to the new building and show my around. It was Thursday night and Zach didn’t start his new job until Monday so he was going to help me settle into my new office in the morning, and we had an appointment with a realtor to look at some houses on Saturday. We had a shitload of student debt, but our families had set up an account for us when we got engaged and we’d added to it over the years, so we had a down payment put away. We wouldn’t be able to afford much but whatever we got would be ours. New city, new job, new house, so much change and all of it exciting! I fell asleep as soon as Zach wrapped his arms around me.

The next morning, I was up at 5AM to let Petunia out, of course Zoey heard us out in the hall, he was in Colton’s room scratched on the door so I took him out too. As long as I was out with the dogs, I decided to take care of Jimmy the goat. Yup… Max and Brody had a goat! I had visited enough that I knew the routine so I figured I’d earn my keep. After my self-appointed chores were complete, I went into the kitchen to brew the coffee and make breakfast. As I cooked, I started daydreaming about our first house, I loved cooking and wanted a big, modern kitchen with granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. Of course, with our budget we’d get what we’d get for now and eventually we could turn it into our dream home. I was completely lost in my daydream when Brody walked into the kitchen. “Mornin’ Seth” Brody said in his Southern accent. Brody’s an awesome human being, I can best describe him as an unassuming original.  He’s just a little guy, about 5’4” and 125 pounds with auburn curls, sincere brown eyes, and a bubble butt to die for and would do anything to help anybody. He lived above us in college and had struggled with social anxiety his entire life. When we first met, I had to drag him out of his third floor studio to hang with us, eventually he warmed up to us… especially Max. Over the years he had become one of my favorite people on earth. He has a heart of gold and giving nature that knows few boundaries. Max would never have been able to get The Village off the ground without him. When we asked the two of them to take Craig in last year, Brody didn’t hesitate, he just told Max, “he needs help. We can help. Let’s do it.” That sentence sums up who Brody is.

“Hey Brodes” I responded. “Breakfast?”

“Hell yeah, it smells good. What we havin’?” he asked and I responded with a list, eggs, breakfast meats, potatoes, etc. your typical country fare. “day-um, Max usually just makes oatmeal and microwave bacon durin’ the week” he laughed. “I’m happy as hell you guys are movin’ here. Y’all feel good about it?”

Mimicking him I responded, “Hell yeah!” Brody knew that we had other options and that we went back and forth on what to do. “I’m excited to find our own place, and anxious to get settled.”

Brody smiled, “Hey, Harris told me that he heard a rumor that the place across from him and Terrance’s place is goin’ on the market.” Harris and Terrance were a gay, black couple that lived up the road from BroMax Farm. Harris was a teacher at Max’s old school (that’s how he and Max met) and Terrance was an ER Doctor. They moved from Boston to be closer to Terrance’s two teenage boys who lived with their mother in town, their oldest son, Trey worked for Max. They were very involved with The Village, in fact Mason was currently staying with them. They were good people and lived just two driveways down the road (that’s almost a half mile in country speak).

“Really?!”” I shot back as I pulled out my phone and started searching Zillow for places nearby, there it was with the caption ‘Fixer-upper farmette with five acres’ it was fresh on the market, listed just a couple hours ago.“It looks interesting, in our price range, but looks like hell” I laughed. I forwarded the link to Zach and our realtor then asked, “do you know anything about it?” All Brody knew was that “Old Lady Jones” had lived there forever and when they were kids, they swore she was a witch and called her place The Witch’s House. He said he kinda’ forgot the place was even there, it was set way back off the road on a wooded lot. While we were talking, the others… Zach, Max, and Craig came down the stairs. Max and Colton were dressed and ready to go, and Zach was still in his boxers. I saw Colton check him out, I can’t say I blamed him. My husband is hot as hell.

We all sat down to breakfast and Zach scrolled through the real estate listings on Zillow, including Old Lady Jones’ place as we filled our bellies with a hearty breakfast. I looked around the table and thought to myself ‘this is what I want. A home where everyone is welcome and just feels comfortable and free to be themselves.’ Max took the morning off from candle making and Brody cleared his schedule so they could lead us into town and show us the new offices. Zach helped me load several boxes into The Green Dragon and we followed Max’s Red Hot Camaro into town.

The downtown area was cute, and the building was smackdab in the middle of everything. An old, charming, yet unassuming little 4-story brick building. There was a man working on the building. “What’s he doing?” I asked.

“He’s carving “Harrington House” above the door Max answered with a look of satidfaction. Max’s Grandpa Harrington was the whole reason Max was able to found The Village, naming the building was an ohmage to him.

When you entered there was a little foyer with a door to the first floor offices, and another with stairs behind it that lead to the apartments above. The first floor had a storefront that had been converted into a cute little waiting room. There was a reception area and a door that led to a hallway, the building had most recently been used as a dentist’s office. Down the hall were four offices, with a little kitchenette, and bathroom located at the very end. Next to the bathroom was a door leading out to the ally in back. It was perfect for what we needed and would allow for growth, but for now it would be just me and the occasional volunteer receptionist. “Come out here” Brody said as he walked out the back door into the alley. There were several parking spaces for the building, we turned and looked at the old building. It had an old steel fire escape leading to each floor and the roof, and next to the door we had exited from as another door that led to the basement. “We can store furniture and other donations down here until someone needs it” Brody said as he showed me around the big, cold, dampish space. We went back upstairs and through the offices one more time, then up the front steps to the apartments. The efficiency units on the second floor were all vacant. They were small but cute and functional, two of them had been repainted already, and Brody and Max had volunteers lined up to help with the other two on Sunday. The three one bedroom units on the third floor were all rented as was one of the two bedrooms on the fourth so they couldn’t show me those, but I did get to see the unit that Ricky and Timmy had claimed and were calling “The Penthouse.” It was actually very nice. All units had hardwood floors and were well kept up. The building was a great find and as a fledgling organization we were damn lucky to have it. Most nonprofits would kill for what we had.

As we looked around the empty two bedroom, Max explained how for now the apartments would pay the mortgage and any money for rent from The Village would be put towards the down payment on the building. Eventually when the building exchanged hands and belonged to the organization, the rental income from the apartments would cover the mortgage and generate a positive net income to help sustain The Village. Elliot (another friend from college and our pro bona accountant) had crunched all the numbers and put together a smart plan. After about an hour Max and Brody left Zach and I to move in. One of the offices was filled with a donated desk and some other mismatched furnishings, It would work perfect for my business office. Apparently, Dylan had a friend at a local furniture store that was able to get furniture for the waiting room and my therapy room (next to my office) donated and it would be arriving in a few days. He said they were returns but would work fine. I would finally be able to do in-person sessions with local clients and could continual virtual sessions with the others. Everything was falling into place. Zach and I spent the entire day cleaning and unpacking. My last task was to hang my diplomas on the wall of the small office filled with used furniture. I just kept thinking how perfect the place was for what we needed. By the time we finished and started back towards BroMax Farm the sun was starting to go down. Max texted that they were ordering pizza, I texted him back to let him know we were going to stop by Old Lady Jones’ place on the way home and take a look around, I got a thumbs up in response just as Zach turned the old Buick into the driveway and towards the old house. Even in the semi-darkness I could see the place was a fucking mess but had the potential to be cute as hell. We got out and looked around the property using the flashlights on our phones and the headlights from The Green Dragon to guide the way. The location was perfect, but the place needed a shitload of work. Looking in the windows and around the buildings we both saw past the shit and could see making our home there… we were just starting to look, but this place felt like a viable option.

We walked back to the car holding hands in the darkness, it was only about 8:30PM but it was dark as hell out there, and so freaking quiet. It would be a huge change from living in the middle of St Louis. I leaned with my butt resting against the hood of The Green Dragon while we talked about what we wanted in a house.  “I can’t believe we’re to this point” Zach said as he stood in front of me so we were face to face, then he put his arms around my waist and kissed me tenderly on the lips. “We’re actually planning on buying our own house.” He was looking in my eyes, “we’ve come so damn far from those two dumbass freshmen in the dorms.” He said in a soft, sensual voice.

I joked, “you mean back when I thought you were a straight boy?” Then kissed him back. He moved his arms up my body and hooked his elbows under my arms, lifted me up onto the hood, then stood between my legs and pulled my torso tight against his. Our left cheeks were touching as our chins rested on each other’s shoulders and looked out into the dark night. We continued to talk about our life together and our future in North Carolina as we held each other. So many changes, all good. We kissed.

Our kiss was one of intimate celebration for all we had accomplished together. We were a few years behind most of our friends because we chose to get advanced degrees, but we were following our plan… our dreams. Yeah, so we made some slight edits to the plan along the way but were still on a good path. The right path. Our celebratory kiss turned passionate quickly as our lust for each other took control. Leveraging his position, Zach pushed me until I was flat on my back with my feet on the bumper and the hood ornament in the worse possible place. Zach lifted my legs and scooched me over a little until I was on the driver’s side of the car with the ornament to my side instead of between my legs. The little genius also managed to pull my shorts off in the process so that my bare ass was touching the very warm, dirt covered metal. “Zach, somebody could catch us” I protested.

“We’re in the middle of freaking nowhere, who’s going to catch us?” He replied as he put his soft, meaty hands on my naked thighs and then licked the inside of my left leg from my knee, up my thigh, to my pelvis grazing my nuts and licking the tip of my semi hard cock which was resting warmly on my abdomen. Then he took his tongue and dragged it across my abs, grazing my nuts again and licking down the inside of my right thigh until he got to my knee. Then he stood up, smiled at me, bent over, and put his mouth over my cock taking me all the way in. Holy shit. His mouth was hot and wet and felt so damn good, even in the humid air of a hot summer night. I propped myself up on my elbows and watched as Zach moved up and down my stiffening manhood. My eyes met his in the darkness and they locked. Zach had a mischievous grin on his handsome face as he continued to go up and down on me… he had gotten his way. Of the two of us, Zach was the more sexually adventurous and he liked to push me out of my comfort zone.

Damn, his mouth felt so good on my engorged phallus, the shaft was almost bursting out of its skin as the excitement shot through me. I put my feet on the hood of the car to give him access to my tight, pink hole; he took the hint and licked from the tip of my hard cock, down the shaft, then bathing my balls with his tongue on his way to my ass crack. His tongue found my hole and he flicked his tongue around it. I belted out something between a whimper and a moan that probably sounded like a mating call to a couple of the creatures scurrying around in the surrounding wooded area. After he lubed my hole with his spit, he stood and spit into his hand and readied his manhood for entry. He was at the perfect height as pushed my legs up against my chest then slowly, gently breached my ass ring. His head entered me and kept moving forward until his warm balls were resting against mine. He was usually a gentle lover, but he had his moments and this was one of them. He pulled all the way out then plunged all the way back in. Fuck! There was a fire in my ass and I loved it. He moved with fast, hard thrusts and his hand grabbed my cock and matched every powerful stroke.

I spit in my own hand, pushed his hand out of the way, lubed myself up then grabbed his wrist and moved his hand back to its rightful position. Zach looked down on me with a beaming smile, he knew I was loving every second of it. The move had been a stressful one and I couldn’t think of a better outlet then getting fucked by my hot husband on the hood of my car in the middle of fucking nowhere. He pumped me hard hitting all the right places, “fuck I’m cumming” I wailed… and I mean wailed! I’m sure my ecstatic moans could be heard by Brody and Max a half mile down the country road but I didn’t care I was in another world. The first spurt shot through me but before it could hit the night air Zach bent over, contorting his body so that he could take the tip of my cock into his mouth and suck me dry. His cock stayed in my ass as I fed him my load. He milked the final drops out of me with his hand, kissed me with my cum in his mouth, then went back to fucking the shit outta me.

He planted his hands on my hips as he stood on his tiptoes and pistoned in and out of me wildly. We both grunted with every euphorically painfully thrust until he made his final push and spray painted my insides with his pearly essence. Oh. My. Fucking. God! His T-shirt was drenched in sweat, my ass was burning from the hot metal of the hood, and the two of us were huffing and panting like wild animals. Zach leaned in for a ‘that was fucking amazing sex’ kiss as I basked in the feeling of having been thoroughly fucked by the magic cock that was slowly softening in my anus. We both let out a little laugh was we smiled the smile of satisfaction that only he and I could share.

Suddenly we heard crunching gravel and Zach looked up, “Shit! There’s a car coming up the drive.” Zach pulled out of me and turned his back towards me as he pulled up his shorts to cover his perfect ass. I slid off the hood and planted my feet in front of the grill of the old Buick and fumbled for the shorts that were laying at my ankles. It took us all of ten seconds to get presentable, then we both turned and looked towards the vehicle with its high-beams on as it came to a stop next to The Green Dragon. I didn’t recognize the newer white Chevy Trailblazer, but I sure as hell recognized the woman who hopped out of the passenger seat before it even came to a complete stop.

“I can’t believe you’re actually here! FINALLY!” Gina said in a hushed yell.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked as Dylan emerged from the driver’s side.

“We’re on our way to BroMax for pizza, I couldn’t wait any longer to see you guys” Gina said as she hugged my sweat drenched body.

“Brodes texted that y’all were runnin’ late cuz’ ya were checkin’ out Old Lady Johnson’s place, so we decided to join ya’” said Dylan as he pulled my sweaty husband into a bro-hug, then looked over at The Green Dragon and commented “Grammaw’s car is still runnin’ strong.” Brody inherited the old Buick from Grammaw and sold it to me for dirt cheap so I had transportation to my internship my Sophomore year of college. I loved that car.

“Where’s baby Maggie?” I asked.

“Sleeping in the backseat” Gina whispered.

“Is this your car?” Zach asked looking at the SUV.

“Yeah, it’s my new mom mobile” Gina laughed. She was a mom now… damn we were all grown-ups.

“Dayum, I aint been to the witch’s house in years. I forgot this place was even here.” Dylan said as he looked around. “Ya’ know this place is a lot like Grammaw’s old house (BroMax Farm). It could be nice with some work.” I had seen pictures of BroMax before Brody rehabbed it and it did look similar.

“Max can give y’all some sage to burn the witches out of it” Gina said with a laugh as she walked back to the Blazer to make sure Maggie was still passed out.

 “There’s a garage and a small barn out back” Zach pointed out even though it was pitch black and we couldn’t see a damn thing. Dylan told us what he knew about the place, then after a few minutes, we got back into our vehicles and crunched back down the gravel drive, up the road a piece (yeah, that’s southern-speak) to BroMax Farm, then up another long gravel drive. We helped Dylan and Gina pull Maggie out of her car seat.

“Oh my god she’s so big!” I squealed when I saw her. She was almost a year and a half old and I hadn’t seen her since last Thanksgiving. She wasn’t thrilled that we woke her up and gave me kind of a nasty look (I’d seen that look on her mother more than once), then buried her head in Dylan’s shoulder wiping her nose on his shirt. We went inside the house to find Max, Brody, and Colton waiting on the couch.

“FINALLY!” Colton yelled then jumped up and ran to the kitchen to break into the Pizza. Max and Brody obviously made the poor guy wait for us.

Maggie perked up when she saw her guncles and reached her arms out for Brody with the most beautiful smile on her face. “Jimmy” she said clear as a bell.

“God, she loves that damn goat” Gina said shaking her head as she put down the diaper bag on the dining room table.

“Jimmy’s sleeping” Brody said as he kissed his niece’s cheek adoringly, the love and adoration between the two was obvious. Max came up behind her and sandwiched her in a hug and kissed her cheek, she returned the gesture. Yup, she loved her guncles.

“Where’s Petunia?” I asked.

“She’s out in the barn with Zoey” Brody said. “They wouldn’t leave Jimmy and Witchy so I left them there to sleep. They’ll be fine.”

‘My baby’s becoming a farm dog.’ I thought to myself with a smile as Zach looked at me and shrugged. We all followed Colton into the kitchen and filled our plates with Pizza, then went back to the living room and caught up. It was so nice to be with my friends again! Dylan talked to Colton about working on the docks and promised to show him the ropes and introduce him around. Colton was so animated and seemed so well-adjusted.

“Well, y’all she’s had enough” Dylan said holding the sleeping Maggie in his arms. Gina packed up the diaper bag and the little family made their way out the door as we all said goodnight.

When they were gone, we all talked for a little longer then decided to go upstairs to bed. “Where’s Zoey?” Colton asked as he looked around for her, he seemed almost panicky.

“She’s in the barn with Petunia sleeping with Jimmy” Max said.

“Is it Okay it I let her in the house?” Colton asked with pleading eyes. Max and Brody exchanged glances then gave Colton the greenlight. 

Once Colton was out the door Max said “well, I tried” and Brody just sighed.

“What was that about?” I asked.

Max sighed “He can’t sleep without Zoey, we’re trying to ween him off the dog before he moves into the apartment, I’m scared he won’t be able to sleep.”

“I love the guy, and I’d give him anything” Brody said, then shook his head “’cept my husband and my dawg.” We all laughed at that statement, but I suddenly became very aware of the fact that no matter how put together Colton seemed on the outside, on the inside he was a scared little kid. I could relate, I had been in his shoes.

There was no doubt that I had my work cut out for me.

  

To be continued…