The Village

Seth’s Perspective

Christmas Eve the Hall’s was great, now it was off to spend the day with the other side of my family. It was Christmas morning and the Hall’s SUV was rolling down I-94 towards Mom and Pop Nicholls’ house, Zach was in the front seat with Nathan talking about his big case, Kelly and Riley were in the middle seat talking about wedding plans, and me and Eli were in the third row talking to my dad on the speaker phone. We asked him how his vacation with Best was going… all he told us was that they were in California and having fun… but that was about it. He was very vague on the details.

After we hung up, Eli said, “Well, I hope he’s at some gay resort getting spit roasted by Best and some other dude, having the gay time of his life!”

“Eli Joseph Westin! Such talk” Kelly yelled from the middle seat as she shot my brother a blood-curdling look.

“Hey! I like happy, queer “Dad” way better than the miserable homophobic, religious Zealot “Father” Eli responded to his future mother in-law. “If him being a big ole’ queen is what it takes for him to be happy and become a decent human being and a good father, then dress him in a pair of assless chaps, lock him in a go-go cage, and bring on the drag queens.”

I yelled out “Can I get an AMEN?!” with a laugh, and the rest of the car (except for Kelly) Gave us an ‘AMEN!’ Then laughed. Kelly just looked at us and shook her head in motherly disapproval.

I could see Nathan looking back at us in the rearview mirror when he said, “life is better when the people around you know and accept you for who you are.” If anyone knew that it was him. He was a bisexual who chose to live his life as a straight man, and his family loved and accepted him for who he was.

The rest of the ride was full of conversation and laughter, before I knew it, we were pulling up to Mom and Pop’s. When we got there everyone came out to greet us and help us unload all the gifts and desserts from Nathan’s SUV. We quickly moved through the cold, snowy Wisconsin weather into the warm house where my extended family was already gathered, and the celebration in full swing. The hugs, kisses, and warm greetings were flowing. Kelly grabbed Mary’s baby Tad from Mom Nicholls arms the second she was in the door, Baby Scotty (who was far from a baby now) ran to his best buddy Zach. I don’t know what it was, but that kid had connected with Zach the moment he had met him over six years before. “That’s what Christmas Eve at our house is missing” Kelly said as she held Tad in her arms and bounced him on her hip. “Babies” she added looking at the four of us expectantly. Now that she had Zach and Riley paired off, she was ready to be a grandma and wasn’t shy about letting the four of us know every chance she got. We all just rolled our eyes at her like we always did when she brought the subject up.

I hadn’t seen Mom and Pop since my mother’s funeral, Mom gave me a big hug then said, “Grab some food and a drink and then tell me everything about North Carolina” as she helped me off with my winter coat. I did as she asked and then the two of us sat in a corner and shot the shit. She asked me a million questions about our new house, my new job, Zach’s new job, our new life in North Carolina, my dad… everything. I loved talking to her and being in the middle of my family and all the chaos. We had so much to be thankful for. We were having an awesome time opening gifts, eating, drinking, and most importantly loving our time together when my phone rang. It was Ricky. Ricky never called me.

“Hey, Ricky. Merry Christmas. What’s up?” I asked expecting the worst.

“Merry Christmas, Seth” he said with hesitation in his voice. “Listen, the guys all agreed not to tell you this, but I think you need to know. Maverick took off after Colton’s Christmas party last night and drove the Beetle home to Kentucky” he said before pausing, I was processing the situation when he added, “he texted to say he made it safely” then told me what he knew. I had feared he might do something like that. I had been more worried about Maverick than the other guys combined. Some of the guys never had a family life, so they didn’t miss it… but Maverick did and being alone at Christmas was eating him up inside. He was homesick and showing signs of depression all week, so every night before I left The Village, I went upstairs, knocked on his door, and talked with him for a while.

I was pissed that he took off like that, but relived he was safe. I was also happy that Ricky called me. “Thanks for calling, Ricky. I’ll keep it between us.” I said before asking how the others were doing. He told me all about Colton’s party and how excited Ella was when they gave her the big gift. Apparently, they had so much fun that Colton invited them all up for brunch on Christmas morning… that’s when they figured out Maverick had taken off. It was midafternoon and Ricky was at his parent’s house and had to get back to his family. I thanked him again for calling me before we hung up then I called Maverick. The phone rang twice, then his voicemail answered… I know when my call is being declined! I called again… same thing. He was avoiding me, so I texted him, ‘Maverick, pick up the phone. NOW! I know you’re in Kentucky’ then I called a third time, this time he answered.

“ARE YOU SAFE?!” I yelled through the phone. I was so worried about him. He was such a good guy, but he was an emotional wreck.

“Yeah. I’m safe” he answered quietly and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank god” I responded. I had stepped outside in the Wisconsin winter to take the call. As I was talking with Maverick, Zach came out with my coat and whispered, “is everything okay?”

I hit mute and answered, “Maverick took the Beetle and bolted last night… he’s in Kentucky.” Then I unmuted the phone and said, “I’m not going lecture you about how frigging stupid it was to take off in the middle of the night alone without telling anybody, or how irresponsible it was to take the Beetle over state lines without permission, or how much you scared the hell out of everyone.” I was yelling my non-lecture into the phone. After Zach realized Maverick was okay, he kissed my cheek, shook his head, and went back into the warm house.

When I paused, Maverick said, “I know. I know, I’m sorry Seth, I shouldn’t have left like that. I just got homesick” I could tell things weren’t going great by his tone.

That poor fucking kid, I felt for him. I changed my tone, “I’m glad you’re safe. How is the visit home going? Are you okay?” He took a deep breath then told me everything. It started out rocky with his stepmother turning him away, then he went to a local truck stop to figure out his next steps and ran into an old friend. His sister tracked him down at the truck stop and brought his other siblings to see him. Although the trip wasn’t what he had hoped for, it seemed like some good came of it. I was seriously just glad he was safe, but the idea of him driving another eight hours back to Wilmington alone had me anxious. I wished him a Merry Christmas and told him to call me 24/7 if he needed help, he was lonely, vulnerable, and too far away from The Village for my comfort. After I hung up the phone, I just paused for a moment taking it all in, deciding if I needed to take further action. Against my better judgement, I called Rodney on Christmas Day to let him know the situation (I hated interrupting his holiday). He was grateful that I filled him in and promised to stop by Harrington House and visit everyone after he left his parent’s place. Knowing he was around made me feel better. I went inside and filled Zach in on the call, then rejoined my family for a great Christmas.

On the ride back to the Hall’s house I got a text from Maverick saying ‘I just wanted to let you know that my dad invited me over for dinner. Everything went well.’

I responded, ‘do you want to talk?’

‘No. all is GREAT! I’m heading back to Wilmington tomorrow morning. I’ll talk to you when you get back. I’m sorry I took off without telling anyone.’ I responded with a thumbs up, and a caring emoji. I really hoped all was great and he wasn’t just giving me a line of BS.

The next morning after an awesome, albeit way too short holiday, the four of flew back home to North Carolina. We all had the day off, so Zach and I just lounged around with Petunia. She had stayed at BroMax Farm while we were gone and was happy to be home. Eli and Riley spent the day packing boxes and getting ready for the big move into their villa after the first of the month, I was looking forward to just me and Zach living in our house for a while. The refrigerator was bare because I hadn’t shopped for groceries since our party for The Village, so we decided to order pizza for dinner.

The doorbell rang and there stood Ella with our order. “Hey! How was your Christmas? I asked excitedly, ready to hear the details.

“So, awesome” she said with sincerity in her eyes. “Colton had everyone over for dinner, we did a goofy gift exchange thing, then those guys…. did you hear what those guys gave me?”

“No” I lied as I put on my best inquisitive look. “What did they give you?”

“A thousand freaking dollars so I can go to DC with the debate team from school” She said as she pulled the two pizzas out of the thermal bag.

“Damn” I replied with a grin as I added, “Still think you got too many brothers?” She laughed at my stupid comment. “Hey, Colton says you’re not loving your visits with your mom. Do you need Zach to look into getting you out of them.”

She shook her head, “No. Colton told me he talked to you about it. She’s frustrating me, but it’s fine for now. I’ll let you know if things change, thanks for the offer.” She was so grown up for sixteen. I dealt with so many kids through The village, but I felt a different kind of kinship with her more than any other… I think it was the fact that she was pulled from the life she knew as normal and ultimately saved by an older brother who put her first. We had that rare thing in common. We talked for just a minute before she had to jump into Falkor and head off to her next delivery.  When she was gone, the four of us just kicked back and enjoyed one of our last nights of living together.

The next morning, I was up and rolling early. I’d been away from the office for the last several days, and even though I had kept in touch with the guys and Rodney, I felt out of touch. While I was finishing breakfast, I opened the garage door and started my car from my cell phone. Yeah… that’s what I said! I started the damn car from my phone. Oh my god, this new car was amazing and I loved it. The Green Dragon was always more than enough for me, I never wanted anything more but this new car was so much fun with all its bells and whistles. Maybe I appreciated it more because I’d waited so long before I upgraded… whatever it was, I loved it. I got into the warm car and sat on the heated seats as I drove downtown with a smile on my face. I pulled into the parking lot behind The Village and parked next to Falkor (the contrast between the two vehicles was amazing). The old green Beetle was parked back there too (thank god – Maverick made it back safely). I had an 8AM session with Maverick, that gave me an hour to catch up on emails and all that crap. I walked over to Marilee’s to grab a quick cup of coffee for me and another for Rodney. I said good morning to Ella (who was working her butt off as always), and then I caught up with Marilee before heading to the office to get started.

I was in the office about ten minutes when Rodney showed up. We hung out in the therapy room, had our coffee, and talked about our Holiday break and everything that had gone on with the guys. We were only going to be in the office for a few days before heading to Vegas to get everything set up for our meeting at Jordy’s hotel. As we were talking, Maverick came in ready for his session.

“Hi Rodney and Seth. Merry Christmas” he said sheepishly, unsure if he was in trouble or not.

“Merry Christmas, Maverick. I’m glad you made it back safely” Rodney said as he walked past him, patted him on the shoulder and left the room.

“Have a seat” I said motioning to the seat vacated by Rodney.

“Am I in trouble?” He asked.

I just shrugged and responded, “The only rule you broke was taking the car without permission… I decided to overlook it THIS time, although I really wish you would have told us what you were up to so we knew you were safe. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, there’s a lot of people who give a shit about you here.”

He looked down as he sat there, “I know, but… after seeing Colton and Ella together the night before, I got to missin’ my family. I just left Seth. I couldn’t help I, I got restless and had to see my family.” I listened to his story and could relate. I remember ed the time at the end of my freshman year of college; I made Zach take me to see my parents after exams. I didn’t tell my brothers because they’d try to talk me out of it, but I had to go… I understood what was going through his head.

“Was it worth it?” I asked.

 “Yeah” he said with a smile. “I reconnected with an old friend, got to see my family, and my dad asked me to move back home.” The last statement caught me by surprise.

Well, that was unexpected. I knew he had connected with his family, but I didn’t know that they asked him to move home. “So, what are you thinking?” I asked.

“I told him no” Maverick said quietly. “I thought about it the whole way back. I wanna be part of the family, but I’m proud of the life I’m buildin’ here. I love my job, I love my friends, I’m savin’ up for a truck, I’m lookin’ for my own apartment. I wanna stay here. I’m happy here, I just get a little home sick now and again, My daddy said I’m welcome home anytime… that felt good. But my home is here” We talked for a while, he apologized several times for taking off, but the reality is that he did what he felt he had to do. I couldn’t help but respect him for that. We ended the session with him asking for permission to have an overnight guest at New Year’s, I gave him the paperwork. I was just happy he made it through the Holidays, I had been worried about the guy. My noon session with Colton was a total contrast. He talked nonstop about what an awesome Christmas he had with Ella and his village family. He was doing so well.

Over the next couple of days, I met with all the villagers one-on-one, and got my ducks in a row.

Before I knew it, it was the day before the board meeting and Rodney and I were in Vegas setting up the banquet room at Jordy’s hotel for the board meeting. Several of the board members were going to stay there, while most of the gay board members were staying at The Resort just a block off the strip. Zach and Victor had gone over to The Resort while Rodney and I got everything set up for the meeting. We set the tables and chairs in the perfect formation for the big meeting. We put the handouts and a thumb drive at every place setting, set-up side rooms for breakoff sessions, hooked up the computer, and ran through our presentation twice. Lastly, Rodney played the final cut of the opening video of the guys for me for the first time. HOLY SHIT! It was amazing. I saw these guys every day, I knew their stories, hell I was part of their stories… but to watch them tell it in their own words, with such emotion was moving. “Wow, Rodney. You did an amazing job” I said to my coworker.

“Thanks, but all I did was hold the camera and edit. This is all unscripted.” He responded, it truly was an amazing representation of our work at The Village. All made possible by a generous donation from Max’s grandpa, an involved board, and network of good people. We were all prepped and ready, so we locked up the room and went over to The Resort.

“Listen, Rodney” I said as we walked over. “I know I gave you the heads-up on all this already, but you’ll probably see me, your boss… and some of the board members naked at the pool this weekend… maybe more than you bargained for” Rodney just laughed. “I don’t want things to get weird between us.”

Rodney laughed again, “This job has been great and different from any other for a lot of reasons. Everyone is so open and generous about everything. but the fact that everyone is so sexually open is weird for me, but hey… when in Rome, right?” he laughed. “Besides, what happens in Vegas…” With the guys from Arizona being in town for the grand opening of The Resort Vegas, and all the board members staying at there on New Year’s Eve, there was little doubt that that Rodney and Victor would witness some “unprofessionalism.” I hoped he really was good with it all because he was an awesome asset to The Village and I needed him around.

When I first went to live with my brother and his husband, I was a shy little closeted straight boy. The world I moved into had little modesty or shyness, the men in my world were proud and unashamed of their bodies and sexuality, nudity at the pool was just part of life. As I got older, I was exposed to The Resort (at my own insistence) and saw strangers, and people I knew openly expressing their sexual sides. It’s funny how all that stuff turned me on, however, I chose a monogamous life with Zach instead. I was in love with Zach and our sex fueled it. But I also understood that sex alone was enough for a lot of people and I saw no reason to judge.

Rodney and I made it to The Village, picked up our keycards at the front desk and went up to our rooms. Zach was lying on the bed buck naked watching TV with The Resort BroMax signature scent candle burning next to him. “HEY! You’re finally back!” he said excitedly with a giant smile. “This place is amazing… even better than Arizona or Hawaii! I spent the day at the pool with Victor… um naked” he snickered. My eyes opened wide as I stripped out of my jeans and button down joining him naked on the bed. “He’s fucking HUGE” he whispered as our lips met in a kiss. Then he told me about all the spa amenities, and of course any action going on there (there was always action going on at the spa of The Resort, no matter the location). You had to have an open mind to stay there and really enjoy yourself. Always 5 stars. Always sexually charged. Zach was hard and horny as hell as he told me about his day. He stopped talking, flipped around, and got on top of me in a sixty nine. Before I could even frigging blink I was gagging on Zach’s long, hot, perfection. My eyes were oozing tears and my hands instinctively grabbed onto his athletic, dimpled buns to pull him even deeper. I loved gagging on him.

Meanwhile, his mouth had enveloped me and he was deepthroating my rapidly growing manhood. Goddamn his warm mouth felt amazing after a long day of travel and meeting prep. The combination of the deep blowjob I was getting with the one I was giving had me hard as shit and bursting out of my skin. My foreskin was stretched so tight that it hurt. I bucked my hips up in an effort to fuck Zach’s beautifully chiseled face as I continued to blissfully choke on his flesh rocket. Zach pounded my face as he deepthroated me. It was rough and awesome because it was Zach. I couldn’t help myself but with my mouth full of cock I couldn’t give Zach a warning so I just shot. I fucking shot spurt after spurt of hot, creamy spunk down the throat of my one and only. I could hear and feel him choking on my thick load. He sputtered as my load filled his mouth and I kept working on his pole. He licked me clean then flipped around, got between my legs, and spit my own cum onto my asshole. He used his tongue and fingers trying to open me up with urgency. I push out as he slipped one, two, then three fingers into my deprived sphincter. He laughed a little and said, “Damn, you want to get fucked don’t you.”

Even in my post-orgasmic state, I did. I wanted to get fucked and fucked hard. “Yeah, fuck me” I panted. “Fuck me hard!”

Zach lined up and push in. In one fell swoop he was balls deep inside me. I grunted and yelped at the same time (I invented the “Grelp” that night) and it was loud as hell. “Fuck me” I shouted, “FUCK ME HARDER THAN YOU’VE EVER FUCKED ME!!!” I screamed meaning every. Fucking. Word.

A grin formed on his beautiful lips as he leaned down and kissed me, then with pile driving force his muscular ass fucked me and fucked me hard. Over and over, he fucked me, each thrust more powerful than the last. His tongue was deep down my throat as he groaned his warning into my mouth, “I’m cumming” and he did! He came hard, shooting into my ravenous ass. His balls slapped against me over and over aa the sound echoed in the perfectly appointed room and the scent of the candle mixed with man sex wafted through. It was the perfect end to a lust-induced fuck as Zach’s swimmers splashed around inside me like it was a damn waterpark. His cum lubed my ass up and Zach kept pounding until his sweaty body collapsed on top of mine. I was so satisfied after a sexually charged fuck, and it was only around six O’clock. We took a shower, got dressed, then headed to the lobby to meet Rodney and Victor for dinner. We walked the strip for a while until we found a great sushi place.

After a short wait, the four of us were seated at a table in the middle of the restaurant. We were drinking sake and getting to know Victor (I hadn’t spent much time with him) when Zach got silent and was staring towards the corner. “Seth” he said in a loud whisper as he tapped me on my thigh, “look over there.” It’s your dad and that Best guy.”

 

To be continued…