The Village

Seth’s Perspective

It was the Wednesday morning before Thanksgiving, the house was immaculate and smelled like mulling spice. The den off the living room was set-up with an air mattress ready for Zach and me to move in, the guest room was ready for the Halls arrival, and the master bedroom ready for my dad. Harris and Terrance had left town already and of course their place was immaculate too (it always was). Max and I picked up our giant, fresh turkeys from a local farmer he knew. I was feeding my entire family, and Max was feeding his, and any of the Villagers who needed a place to go. After our trip to the farm, we hit the grocery store together, then I went over to Harris and Terrance’s place to fill the fridge with drinks and snacks, the bathrooms with toilet paper, the pantry with paper towels, etc. They had all that stuff but I was doing my best to be an appreciative guest and not take advantage of their generosity… I was so grateful that they offered us their home. I worked my ass off making everything perfect for this long overdue reunion. It was hard to believe that my entire family would be together again by the end of the day.

I had tried six years earlier to bring my family together for Thanksgiving; I was nervous as hell for several weeks leading up to it, and it was a flipping disaster. This time was different, I think we were all ready for it so there wasn’t as much pressure beyond the fact that I just wanted everyone to have a good time. I wasn’t expecting any miracles this time, just a pleasant family holiday.

I took the morning off to work on details, Eli, Zach, and Riley were all working. Rodney and I made sure every Villager had a place to go for the Thanksgiving, the holidays were tough on the guys; for many of them it was their first holiday alone. Our property looked amazing, the lights were all up and Zach was excited to flip the switch on Thanksgiving day as was Brody. I promised Harris and Terrence that we’d turn theirs on and facetime live so they could see the fruits of their labor… we had all worked so hard on the lights (especially Brody). Having my family here (especially all the kids) when we debuted our display was the cherry on top. It just felt like the warmest, most hallmark, made for TV movie moment ever! Before I knew it, planes were starting to land in Wilmington, and I had to hustle my ass to the airport. The Hall’s plane was landing first, then my sister’s and their families, then my dad, and lastly the crew from Arizona. We did our best to coordinate all the flights, but it’s a small airport with limited flights, and planes land when they land so arrivals were spread out a bit. I picked up the Hall’s and brought them back to the house.

Kelly and Nathan Hall were so impressed with all the progress we had made since they were last there. “Seth, this place is so beautiful!” Kelly said as she looked around. “Such a beautiful home.”

“It was still a dump when I left” Nathan added with a chuckle. “It’s amazing!”

“So where is everyone sleeping?” Kelly asked as she put on an apron and we started working on Thanksgiving dinner while Nathan took Petunia and went out into the yard to inspect the lights.

I went through the arrangements with her, “Eli and Riley, You guys, and my dad will stay with us, and we’ll sleep in the den” I said, “my other four siblings each have a room across the street, we borrowed a portable crib from Gina and set it up in Mary and Thomas’ room for the baby, and the other four kids will camp out in the family room. It’ll be a little crowded, but everyone is close by.”

“Well, this all worked out perfect” she responded, then looked at me with empathy and asked, “How are you doing with all this? Your dad being here and all.”

I sighed “Good actually. I’m not anxious like I was last time we tried this; things are different now” I said. “Kelly, I never properly thanked you for all your help with the house, and coming to Texas for the funeral, and… and just being there for me since the first time we met. You’re more of a mother to me than my real mother was.” I paused, hugged her, and added, “Thank you.”

She held me tight and gave me a “you’re welcome, honey” along with a peck on the cheek. “You and Eli are as much a part of our family as my own kids, I feel blessed to have you both.” Her words were sincere and heartfelt. “I hope you all know your mom truly loved you, she just seemed to have trouble showing it.”

“I know” I whispered. “It’s too bad, she missed out on so much. I don’t want the same thing to happen with my dad.”

“Well, he’ll be here soon. This is the first giant step.” Kelly said as she let me go, and lifted the skirt of her apron to wipe her tears. Then we went back to work.

It was about 3PM when we heard horns blaring and gravel crunching as a caravan of three SUV’s worked their way up the long drive in the middle of nowhere North Carolina. My sisters and brothers had all rented vehicles, and met up at the airport, my father was with them. Unfortunately, Zach was still stuck at work and would have to go into the office on Friday too, maybe even over the weekend… he was working so hard on his big case. I ran out of the house to greet my enormous family, brothers, sisters, in-laws, nieces, nephews, even my dad.

“Hey, it’s Laura Ingalls” my sister Mary joked as I ran towards them with my apron and Petunia following behind. I was so overwhelmed that I didn’t know who to hug first so I just made my way through the crowd hugging them all, ending with my dad.

“I’m glad you’re here” I said with total sincerity.

“So am I” he responded. “I’m grateful for the invite. I just met the rest of my grandchildren at the airport.” I could hear the emotion in his voice, he was choked up. In the back of my head, I was still thinking ‘don’t fuck it up again’ I know that sounds bad, but there was a lot of history to power through. After my family plopped out of the caravan of SUV’s we all filed into the house. Nathan showed my father up to the master bedroom while I gave the others the tour. They all gushed over the place and I just kept wishing Zach was there to hear it… we worked our asses off on that place! I gave the Halls and Eli credit as I showed everyone around. They all seemed impressed.

“Let’s get everyone settled across the street” I said, “then we’ll come back here and order pizza. The kitchen is pre-occupied with Thanksgiving dinner.” My sibling piled back into the SUV’s, I got in the pick-up and led the way down our drive and up H&T’s. We unpacked the cars and I showed everyone around carrying Tad, Mary’s baby the whole time. I loved having all the kids around. Our friends had loaned us a bunch of sleeping bags for the kids and they were already laid out in the family room. The four kids instantly claimed the room and were already goofing around like cousins do and Maddox was trying to figure out how to turn the TV on, work the XBOX, etc. The rest of us sat down in the pristinely appointed living room and just kicked back a little. All my siblings together, sans Eli who was still at work.

“Seth, your house is freaking great” Scotty said.  He and Brad had seen it when they were here for the dedication event at Harrington House and grand opening of The Village… we hadn’t closed yet and it was a dump. “You guys have done so much work on the place.”

I gave the Halls and Eli credit for a lot of it, but it was pretty clear that I was damn proud of our home. “Wait until you see the road lit up tomorrow night” I responded then told them all about our little community. We sat and talked as everyone rested after a long day of travel. Zach, Eli, and Riley came over and joined the party after they got home from work. “Tonight’s pizza night at our place” I said and we moved the party across the street. My Dad, Nathan, and Kelly were out on the patio smoking cigars and drinking Scotch (yes, Kelly smoked the occasional stogie). They were all relaxed and enjoying the cold November night, I had never seen my father smile like that before; he truly was a different man. The rest of the family joined our parents outside, and I went inside the house to order pizza. When I rejoined the family, I noticed my father was sitting uncomfortably close to Nathan, Zach noticed it to and we exchanged glances. Knowing what I did about Nathan’s orientation coupled with my suspicions about my father, a panicked chill ran through me as I thought about the devastation this could lead to for our family. I didn’t trust my father. I did however, trust Nathan 100%. He was a good man who put his own desires aside for the sake of his family and would never hurt them. And frankly, if he did decide to be with a man… he could do a fuck of a lot better than my father. Those thoughts dissipated when the doorbell rang.

I opened the door and a small figure stood there hidden by a stack of pizza boxes with a couple of bags on top. Brian came up behind me and I lifted the pizza boxes off the tiny person and handed them to him only to find a familiar face underneath.

“Ella! What are your doing here?” I asked then introduced her to Brian who already knew all about her from our session with Colton.

“Ricky’s dad needed help with deliveries, so Colton let me borrow his car. I also got a job at the coffee shop starting on Friday. I’m trying to make some money to help Colton with the bills, save for college, and buy a car of my own so he doesn’t have to take me to school every morning.” She said in a sweet little voice. We talked a bit more before Brian tipped her a hundred bucks and she went on to her next stop.

After the door shut, Brian looked at me and said, “sounds like a job for The Green Dragon.” Maybe he was right, maybe I had found my reason to let go.

Brad’s Perspective

It was Thanksgiving day and we were all at Seth and Zach’s house in North Carolina. It was the first thanksgiving in years that we hadn’t spent with Kev, Randy, and our village of friends in Arizona. Every Thanksgiving Kev and the guys would go out and give back to the community, Scotty and I ALWAYS brought dinner to the police station to thank the guys who helped find me when I was abducted. This year, Kev and Randy were doing that for us, and Scotty and I were having dinner with the guy who abducted me… my father. Wow, I never thought we’d get to this point.

It was also the first time that my Siblings had celebrated a holiday together in six years, and the first time that we had all been together with my father in over twelve years (except for my mother’s funeral). Our entire family, including the Halls, were all together. The Halls, like Mom and Pop Nicholls, had become part of the fabric of our family.  Once Eli and Riley started dating, the Hall’s just naturally blended into our village. They even started coming to Christmas at Mom and Pop’s in Wisconsin, heck our kids even called them Grandma and Grandpa Hall. They were good people; my dad seemed to spark to them too so they were a good buffer for our possibly awkward reunion. When Zach first came out, Nathan Hall had confessed to him that he was bisexual to make his son more comfortable with his own sexuality. That took guts, and I admired his love for and commitment to his family. Since my dad came back into our lives, there had been discussion among my brothers that he maybe he was… well, “less than straight.” Shit, that would explain a lot! Maybe spending time with Nathan would help him figure out his own issues, who knows.

Anyway, Thanksgiving was absolutely amazing and pleasantly uneventful. Kev and Randy facetimed us from the police station, the officers were shocked, but happy for us when they learned we were spending the Holiday with our father after all these years of estrangement. Father was grateful to be surrounded by his family again, and everyone else was happy to be together. Seth and Zach’s home was beautiful, you could see the hard work and love that went into fixing it up. Seth was the most spiritual one in the family, in his younger years he was the perfect little church boy, but as time passed, he had built a more personal relationship with god outside of organized religion and left the church behind for the most part; he offered up the prayer. “I am grateful that we’re all together again. Thank you for this incredible meal, but most importantly thank you for this collection of amazing people that make up our family.” He had been saying a version of that prayer every year at Thanksgiving ever since he came to live with me and Scotty. Kelly Hall told me that her family had adapted a version of it that they say at Christmas Eve dinner every year. I thought it was nice that Seth had such a big impact on them.

After dinner the entire family bundled up and went outside for the big reveal. Seth and Zach bought an old farmhouse on the same county road as some of their other friends and had created this great little community of young gay couples out in the middle of fucking nowhere. All three houses were done up like the painted ladies you’d find in Georgia, New Orleans, or even San Francisco, and all the homeowners decided to go all out with Christmas lights to bring even more life to the old country road. They had been working for weeks making sure every bulb, cutout, and inflatable with just perfect, and at dusk on Thanksgiving they would flip the switches and illuminate the darkness of the secluded North Carolina countryside. We were all out front on the dark road, about a quarter mile down the road we could see Seth’s friend Max with his family and some of the Villagers waiting. Zach was ready to flip the switch, Brody was ready to do the same, and Eli was at the house across the street manning the third switch. The owners of the third house were in Boston for the holiday and let my family stay at their place, Seth had them on facetime. The kids were so excited as we all counted down, “TEN” the gathering of friends and family yelled into the darkness, “NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN…” and when we shouted “ONE! MERRY CHRISTMAS” the lights from the three homes pierced through the darkness. Oh my god, it was freaking amazing! Seth and Zach had been talking about his for weeks and I thought “meh, you see one light display, you’ve seen them all” right? But this was amazing. Each house had its own theme and you could see Brody’s artistic eye in the details. BroMax farm looked like a gingerbread house of lights straight out of a fairytale. Harris and Terrance’s house was more polished and pristine with White and red lights and dozens of illuminated deer peppering the landscape. And Seth and Zach’s house was known locally as the Witch’s House because folks had rarely ever seen the old woman who had lived there before; they played off that theme and decorated like the Nightmare Before Christmas. There was so much to take in, Zach and Brody each hooked up a trailer to the back of their riding mowers and the little kids piled in and rode up and down the road as the adults walked around, drinks in-hand and admired the beauty of it all. All-in-all it was an amazing Thanksgiving, and I think my father got a good taste of what he had missed out on over the years.

We spent Friday together doing family stuff. We were about to sit down for dinner when my husband Scotty grabbed my hand and said, “come on, let’s go” and dragged me out to Riley’s Mercedes convertible. The family gathered on the porch and waved us off saying their goodbyes, “Have fun daddies” our little girl Brooklyn yelled.

“What’s going on?” I asked my little aging muscle-pup of a husband.

“You better not have forgotten what today is” He said. I HADN’T forgotten at all! It was the tenth anniversary of our first date. Technically our first date was on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, but we celebrated it on the Friday night after every year with a night at The Resort while Kev and Randy watched the kids. It was a tradition.

“Of course, I remember” I said before kissing him and putting on my seatbelt. “But what the fuck is going on?”

He dropped the top on the fancy little car and said, “I gotus a room at a hotel on the beach, Riley loaned us her car, Theresa’s watching the kids, and our bags are already in the trunk.”

Shit! I thought to myself. As sweet of a gesture as that was, I had a gift for him that I needed to grab from my backpack at the other house. “Wow” I said in shock, appreciation, and admiration of the man I had loved for a decade, “but I need something out of my backpack.”

“It’s in the trunk” He answered, and I hoped he hadn’t gone through it. The car drove down the long driveway and onto the Christmas light-lit country road with the top down and the chilly night whipping through. It was exhilarating.

“This is a great surprise” I said out of love as my husband drove the fancy little borrowed car towards the ocean. We talked the entire trip… loudly so we could hear over the wind, but it had been a while since we just talked with no kids around, no problems to solve, etc. We just shot the shit and it reminded me what an awesome husband I had. I hit the fuckin’ jackpot with this guy, he was one of the kindest, most loyal, and hottest men on earth… and he was all mine. Most guys would’ve jumped ship as soon as I got abducted by my own father, and if that didn’t chase them off then taking in my three teenage brothers would’ve sent them running to the hills, but not Scotty. Scotty drew his line in the sand and doubled down by proposing after I was abducted to ensure he was my next of kin, then when Brian showed up on our doorstep, he welcomed him with open arms, then stood by my side when I fought for guardianship of Eli and Seth. Scotty never hesitated or wavered, and was an amazing guardian to the three of them.

When we got to the oceanfront hotel, we grabbed our bags, locked up the Mercedes, and headed inside where Scotty was greeted by the manager. “SCOTTY” She yelled across the beautiful lobby, it was off-season and the place was quiet.

“Hey, Diedre!” He yelled back. Apparently the two had met at some hospitality convention.

“I can’t believe you actually came to visit my property” She retorted with excitement. “I’ve got your room ready for you. It’s quiet so we gave you a little upgrade.” Scotty thanked her and they talked shop talk while the clerk checked us in, then he finally introduced me.

“This is my husband, Brad” he said. We shook hands and she gave me the once over.

“You weren’t lyin’” she said and the two laughed. I shot my husband a look. “All good stuff” Diedre added with a chuckle before walking us up to the room, she took the long route showing Scotty some of the amenities of the property as they continued to talk shop. After about ten minutes or so she hugged Scotty goodbye at the elevator and we went up to our floor and to our room.  We opened the door to the beautiful room with a stunning ocean view. There was champaign chilling next to a charcuterie plate, a bottle of Seagram’s 7, and a fridge stocked with 7-up so we could pour a few of our favorite cocktails.

“Man, you thought of everything” I said. Scotty just smiled that fucking smile of his. We dropped our bags by the bed, then Scotty went to the bathroom and I reached in my backpack to find the tiny box containing the wedding ring Scotty thought he had lost a couple of weeks earlier and slipped it in my pocket. He came out of the bathroom, poured us a couple of cocktails and we went out and sat on the balcony wrapped up in our sweatshirts to keep warm in the brisk North Carolina air. The sun had set and it was eerily dark and quiet, the only sound was that of the waves breaking on the shore as I sat to Scotty’s left and held his hand. “Your hand feels naked without your ring” I said tauntingly.

“Stop rubbing it in, you know I feel like shit about losing it” he said. The poor guy had lost it and looked around for days, He was miserable about it. I found it behind the toilet in the master bath and decided to take the opportunity to do something special.

“Losing what?” I teased again, “This?” I said as I pulled the little box out of my sweatshirt pocket and handed it to him.

“You replaced it??!!!” He asked excitedly.

“Nope. I found it” I said as he opened the tiny box.

“You found it and didn’t freaking tell me. I’ve been going nuts!” He said a little pissed off while at the same time relived to be reunited with his ring. He took it and put it on his finger and held it up in the darkness.

“Look at it!” I exclaimed. He held it up to the moonlight trying to see it. I had added ten subtle gemstones to it. “One for each year we were together. One is Maddy’s birthstone, another is Brooklyn’s, and the other eight are diamond chips” I Explained.

“I love it” he said and hugged me in the darkness, “But I’m still pissed that you made me go through all that hell thinking I lost it.”

“You really DID lose it” I said in my defense. “I just um… found it and forgot to tell you.” He punched me in the arm playfully.

“I love it, you deceitful biotch” He said with a smile as he kissed me. “ten fucking years” Scotty said.

“Ten fucking years” I repeated and we both sat back in our chairs, sipped our cocktails, and looked out over the cold sea as we held hands. After about twenty minutes of basking in the serenity of it all Scotty led me into the room. He ducked into the bathroom while I freshened our drinks. I heard the water rushing and Scotty came back into the room.

“There’s a huge Jacuzzi tub in there. Whaddya’ say we get naked and soak?” he asked putting his arms around my waist and kissing me on the lips with his eyes open.

He didn’t have to twist my arm, “I’m in.” Scotty and I have always had an awesome sex life. With the two kids around things weren’t as wild and frequent as they used to be, but it was still hot. We both stripped and stood in the middle of the room naked and kissed. Damn! Scotty’s body was as muscular and tight as it was ten years ago. I loved the feel of his wide, wrestling-built chest against my lean, former swimmer’s chest, and the feel of his bugling muscles under my fingers. The man was in his mid-thirties but had the rock hard body of a 20-something, and the face that never aged. There was this masculine innocence about him that attracted me to him since first sight. We both grew harder and harder as we made out in front of the huge window and ground our manhood against each other as our passion rose. Any boats out there should’ve been racing for the safety of the shore because so much heat that close to the ocean could cause a hurricane. And if there were any boats near the shore already, they were getting a helluva show. Scotty led me into the bathroom where he had lit some candles (his friend Diedre had made sure they were there for us) and had music playing as the tub finished filling with hot water. He shut off the water and felt the temperature with his foot before stepping in, still holding my hand. I stepped in so we were face to face and we resumed our hot make out session from the bedroom.

Reluctantly we parted and sat at opposite ends of the tub. Scotty turned the Jets on, we sipped our drinks, and I fell into a state of total relaxation. It had been such a stressful time with my mother dying, facing my father again, and doing my best to close and lock the door to my painful past… but at the moment the world was gone. I hate to admit it, but I fell asleep. My sweet, romantic husband had created utopia for me and I fucking dozed off. Just as my body was falling into a much needed respite, I felt Scotty’s foot push against my low hanging man berries, and his toes begin to massage my slumbering beast. My eyes popped open in response to his unexpected touch and I saw his impish grin through the steam wafting up from the tub.

“You can sleep if you want to” he said with the smirk of the devil himself “Or you can dry off your hot little body and get into bed with your husband and enjoy a rare night of privacy.” Option one was tempting at the moment, but there was no way in hell I was saying no to option two. He stood up in the tub with his hot (literally), semi-awakened whale at eye level and reached out a hand. I grabbed it and he pulled me up into a kiss. We stepped out of the tub and onto the soft floor mat as he reached for one of the big fluffy towels. He dried my body first; it was so fucking sensual! His lips followed the towel as it absorbed the moisture from my skin. He dabbed my chest with the towel, then kissed it, teasing my hard nipples with kisses, licks, and the occasional bite. Then my biceps; he dabbed then kissed. He repeated the sensual routine on my abs making me iron hard from anticipation before dropping the pretense of drying me, then dropping to his knees. He licked me as his light brown eyes met mine. His beautiful, innocent boyish face, sporting that devilish little grin of his was aphrodisiacal and transported me to the next level of desire. The bathroom was still steamy and hot as Scotty went down on me giving me an amazing blowjob. My hands instinctively rested on his head as I watched him bob up and down.

“Let’s go to the bed” I whispered coaxing yet another devilish grin from his beautiful face. He stood then dried his still-dripping body. Goddamn the guy was built! We walked to the bed with our hands lock in and embrace and my eyes locked to his perfect little muscle butt. He turned to face me when we reached the bed and I pushed him back onto the luxurious mattress. Without hesitation I got on my knees at the side of the bed and pushed his legs to his chest until his little pink pucker was mine for the taking. I spit on the tight little hole making it glisten then went in for the kill, eating him out like a shark devouring its prey. The texture felt incredible against my tongue, I could feel and taste every erotic wrinkle and fold of his starfish. The most magnificent part of sex with Scotty were the sounds of his pleasure, god I loved it when he got lost in the moment and grunted out a guttural moan of pure ecstatic pleasure and knowing that it was me who caused it. I pulled his cheeks apart and got my tongue so deep into his hole that my jaw hurt and I couldn’t resist the urge to smack that muscle ass of his. He yelped involuntarily with his eyes rolled into the back of his head. I smacked him again, then again, each time pushing my face against him harder and my tongue in deeper.

“Goddammit, Bradley! That feels so fucking good” He groaned as one of his hands grabbed my hair and pulled me even deeper into his sweet muscle butt. My nose was smashed in his crack and I had a cramp in my tongue but who the fuck cared. I was eating out Scotty Nicholls, my college crush turned savior and love of my life. I could NOT have been more turned on. It was a frenzy of slurping and slapping as I overindulged like and obese child at an all you can eat candy buffet. After an eternity of intemperance, feasting on the ass of the man that changed my world, I came up for air.

“You’re about to get the shit fucked out of you” I growled as I got into position. I had his knees pinned to his chest as if I was about to win one of the hundreds of wrestling matches Scotty had in his youth. My raging hardness was aligned with his sopping manhole and eager to explore; I pushed. Slow and steady I pushed in making him purr with pleasure. I pulled out the same way savoring the tightness as he contracted his muscular ass around me. In and out we moved for at least a half hour. Seriously, we made love for a half hour with our eyes locked. Each and every stroke was a pleasure trip for both of us. Occasionally I moved in and we kissed tenderly, it was the kiss of a couple who knew every inch of each other and shared a deep tapestry of love, respect, and history.

After what seemed like a lifetime of tender lovemaking, Scotty growled “Now, fuck me you hot little thaaang” doing his best to Southern drawl in honor of our North Carolina adventure.

“Why, Mista’ Nicholls, I aim to please” I said channeling a Southern Gentleman.

Scotty didn’t miss a beat as he did his best Southern bell impression “I do declare, I would like for you to ravage my aye-us” and we both laughed at our stupidity as I thrust my cock deep into the fun man, I was honored to spend my life with. Scotty was such a fun fuck! I fucked him with long, hard strokes hitting his prostate with every chance I got. He was grunting like a wild animal as he held his knees to his chest and begged me for more.

“Goddammit, Brad! Harder! Fuck YES!” he screamed as my meaty balls slapped his ass and my long cock hit his prostate and pushed him to orgasm. “Fuck” he panted, “fuck. Fuck. Fuck!!!” each thrust extracted another “fuck” from his beautiful mouth, and after about ten of those he shot his load onto my chest and chin… he never even touched his cock.

“Fuck, I’m cumming” I screamed with a hush in my voice as I quickened my pace and shot my pearly bounty deep inside him. I pummeled him with a few more strokes before collapsing on my muscle boy. We lay there, just a mass of naked muscle covered in sweat huffing, puffing, and catching our breath.

“I love you more than anything” he said to me with his sincere eyes locked to mine.

“I get that” I smiled back. “I could never love anyone more. Remind me to thank Chip for sending me a friend request ten years ago.” Chip, Scotty’s best friend had taken Scotty’s phone and reached out to me when he learned Scotty was gay and had a crush on me. That was the beginning of our life together.

Scotty laughed, reached for his phone, and sent Chip a text that said “Thank you. We owe you one!” Chip responded with a question mark, and the two of us just laughed and left him wondering. After that we took a quick shower, freshened our drinks, and went back out to the balcony and sat quietly holding hands.

The next morning, we returned to Seth and Zach’s house where my family waited. I was surrounded by my entire family, including the man who pulled us apart, and the man who brought us back together.

It was a weird holiday, but there were million reasons to be Thankful.

 

To be continued…