The Village

Seth’s Perspective

Old Lady Jones’ heirs wanted to get as much money for the old place as possible, and we wanted it for as cheap as possible… it was a typical real estate negotiation. We loved the house, but it was a mess and needed so much work! Of course, in the seller’s eyes it was the epitome of perfection, after all it was their childhood home and they had fond memories of it back in its heyday. Well, after a lot of back and forth we came to an agreement and had an accepted offer. The Witch’s House was going to be ours, and we were about to be ass deep in even more debt than we already were. We were officially grown-ups! One of their contingencies was that we close fast. The house was part of an estate and everyone wanted their money out of it ASAP. We were buying the place lock, stock, and barrel (contents and all). We probably bit off a hell of a lot more than we should have, but the long-term result would be worth it, it would be our perfect home. We had been pre-approved for a low-interest loan and Zach’s new firm was handling the closing paperwork. We got an inspector out to the property to check things out the morning after we struck a deal… there were several tiny things that needed to be taken care of but no major surprises, so everything was in motion. The plan was to take possession and start the demolition in less than a month, and Bubba had us on his schedule and his crew was standing by ready to go to work. My in-laws were planning to come down the weekend after we closed, and my mother in-law was going to stay for a week (maybe longer) to help with the rehab. Zach and I were damn lucky to have the support we did.

Everything was moving so fast; we had left St Louis less than a week ago and had already found a home. Meanwhile we were both already buried ass-deep in our new careers.

Zach was experiencing baptism by fire as he jumped in headfirst. His new firm had taken on and an extremely high profile case which meant all hands on deck. They were already understaffed to begin with, now it was just insanity. They turned a couple of the more basic cases over to him to lead… mostly contract law, and stuff like that; nothing that would go to trial. But they made him the lead. The LEAD… on day freaking one when he was fresh out of law school and had just passed the bar exam (that’s MY husband I’m talking about! I was damn proud of him)! Plus, he was pitching-in on the big case here and there. He figured his first couple of weeks would be laid back, but he didn’t get much of a grace period. Like I said Baptism by fire.

As for me, I was already buried in my work for The Village. I had lined up a few interviews with candidates for the social work position, I was also doing the prep for our Building Dedication event coming up in a couple of weeks, and I was meeting with clients and handling pretty much every case on my own. There was so much to do! We had three of the four apartments on the second floor sparsely furnished with donated items and ready for their first residents. They weren’t prefect, but were functional enough for now and we planned on upgrading them as time went on. Colton and Mason were planning on moving in over the weekend and were both extremely excited; however, Taylor’s fate was still in question. I loved the guy (hell, I loved all those guys), and I understood where he was coming from… being part of The Village was a 180 degree turn from his previous world and he had reverted to what he knew… street smarts and survival. But if he turns tricks in our building, all hell breaks loose! He would make the other residents vulnerable and give the assholes from the church down the street plenty of fodder to come after us with. One of the biggest challenges The Village faced was getting word out to the people who needed our help while staying off the radar of the people who wanted to cause trouble for us and our clients. Taylor could put us on the radar of the latter and undermine everything we were working to accomplish. I needed to trust him before we let him move in.

I had told Max about Taylor turning tricks, and after a lot of discussion, he called a board meeting to loop the others in and get input. The protocol was for the Executive Director (me) to make a recommendation for moving forward and get approval from the Chairman Of The Board (Max). But since this was our first big problem, we both wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page. Max came down to The Village offices and we sat together on the Zoom call to show unity. Once everyone was online, I outlined the situation. The board was aware of Taylor and his past, but the only ones who had met him were me, Max, Brody, and Zach.  As expected, one of the board members Kevin, asked me for my recommendation.

“Listen, he’s a good guy who had a crap start in life. My fear is that if we drop him now, he goes back to the streets. If we give him a second chance, I think he could really turn things around for himself and have a real future” I answered, still unsure if I really trusted him.

“If we let him continue, we have to lay down the law. He needs to know this is his last chance. It can NOT happen again” Max added. “Look, he’s a good guy, but he needs to understand that this isn’t about him, it’s about the greater good. Him letting guys in the building is like… like letting someone in to invade our sanctuary. One stupid mistake could put several people in harm’s way.” Max had worked harder than anyone to get The Village up and running, he loved all the guys too, but he saw his role as the trustee and protector. Max was backing me up, but very cautiously. He didn’t trust Taylor, and he sure as hell didn’t want to put the other kids or the organization in harm’s way.

“I think if we lay out the consequences for him, and make him understand that he can’t put the others at risk, he’ll take it seriously” I said. We talked for a good half hour about the pros, cons, dangers, and most importantly what our decision would mean for Taylor and the other residents. I found myself defending him while Max played the role of devil’s advocate. Everyone on the board weighed in: Max, Brody, Kevin, Brad, Laurie, Rhonda, Gina, Dylan, Elliot, Zach, Cam, Terrance, and the Principal of Max’s old School Mr. Simmons. Our board was stacked with smart, caring people who were well connected and very involved. We all wanted to help Taylor, but not at the risk of the other boys’
 safety. We had made our decision, I thanked the board, reminded them about the upcoming dedication (they all planned to attend, even those who were out of state), then ended the call.

Max joined Taylor and I for our next session. “I’m sorry to hijack the first part of your session, Taylor. But we need to talk.” Max said. When I first met Max, he was a nerdy little ginger freshman, now he was this muscled, in-charge entrepreneur, and chairman of the Board… AKA my boss. He carried himself with confidence and was so self-assured. Taylor looked at him with those beautiful blue eyes that were hiding behind a few strands of his long, sandy brown mane. He looked worried… I hate to say it but I was happy about that. It meant he was taking this seriously. “The board and I are concerned about you moving in upstairs in light of your recent activities” Max continued to speak as Taylor sat there and just listened. “We left the final decision up to Seth and he wants to let you move in.”

Taylor breathed a sigh of relief and stammered out the words, “Th… Thank you. I… I won’t let you down.”

Max just stared him down, almost expressionless. “I hope not, and frankly I’m not as convinced as Seth” he replied. “Listen Taylor, I’ve gotten to know you well since we’ve been working together and I genuinely like you, you’re a good guy and a hard worker. You have so much freaking potential.” Max’s words were sincere and his tone serious as he looked Taylor square in the eye, “But I’m responsible for the safety and wellbeing of everyone here. If you let a stranger inside this building it puts everyone at risk. I must know that I can trust you. I need your word.”

 

Taylor was uneasy as he spoke, “I need to be here, Max. I need this.” He said, his beautiful blue eyes pleading for a second chance and his young voice trembling. “I know I made a dumb decision and I swear it won’t happen again. I just wanted to put some extra cash away. I don’t wanna fuck this up… this is as close to a normal life as I’ve ever had.” Max and I sat silently for a minute or two. Max wanted him to succeed as badly as I did, but he was hesitant. “I swear I’ll prove myself to you Max.” he looked over at me, “to both of you” He took a deep breath, “to all of you! No one has ever helped me the way all of you have. Please give me a second chance.” He pleaded then said the words that Max needed to hear; “I promise will not turn tricks anymore, and I will NOT let you down.”

Max looked at me and shrugged. The board made it clear that the decision was mine and Max knew what I wanted to do. I inhaled deeply, then let it out and asked, “Do I have your word that you’re done turning tricks?”

Taylor nodded, “Yes. I swear, Seth. You have my word.”

“That’s good enough for me. Don’t let us down.” I said as I shook his hand. He had a smile of relief on his face. I really wasn’t sure if he was being sincere or not, but I decided to trust him.

Max stood up, shook the humbled guy’s hand, and said, “Make us proud, Taylor.” Then he left us to finish our session and went back to BroMax Farm.

For the rest of the hour, we went over his progress and discussed next steps. I asked him to come to our next session prepared to discuss his goals and job prospects. I hoped we had put this matter to rest permanently. As Taylor left my office, he put out his hand to shake mine and said “Thanks for giving me a second chance, I promise you won’t regret this decision. I’ll make you proud, I’m not gonna let the other guys down.” His grip on my hand was firm, his eyes were sincere, and he said all the right words. I believed he understood that this wasn’t just about him. I wanted to believe him, but had to remind myself that he was a master of manipulation. I planned on watching him like a hawk, one slip-up and he would be out. None of us wanted that.

The weekend came and we helped the guys move into their new home for the next two months. It was a huge milestone for the three young men, and The Village. Their first adult home, and our first residents. We had all worked hard to make this happen and were damn proud of ourselves. All The Village sponsors were there to help their houseguests get settled into their apartments. The mood was festive as the three guys unloaded their meager possessions and turned the sparsely furnished places into their homes, and the sponsors all filled their cabinets and refrigerators with food.

Terrance and Harris had hosted Mason for a little more than a month. They had two teenage boys of their own who split their time between their home and Terrance’s ex-wife’s place… in fact that’s the reason the couple had moved to the area, to be close to the boys. They were black and so was Mason, he had requested to be placed with a black sponsor if possible. He grew up gay (and obviously black) in the system. He was abandoned when he was very young and had no memory of his family, and no idea who his parents were or if they were even alive. He was shuffled around to several different foster homes when he was very young and sadly suffered some abuse along the way. As he got older, it became harder and harder to place him and eventually, he ended up in a group home. He knew he would have to face the world on his own when he turned eighteen and he spent his Senior year of high school preparing to do just that. He also knew he was gay. He had a parttime job and had put away some money, and he graduated high school a couple of weeks before his birthday so he had his diploma.

While he was getting his ducks in a row trying to figure out where to live and how to make a living, he came across a LGBTQ group in his hometown of Richmond and sought their help. They connected him with The Village and I interviewed him to see how we could help. He had lived around mostly white people his entire life and when he initially met with me, he came right out and said that he wanted to be around people more like him… gay and black (his words). Harris and Terrance stepped up and it was a freaking match made in heaven. Mason moved in with them when he turned eighteen and went to work at the candle barn on BroMax Farm with their son Trey who was the same age and about to go off to college. They treated him as part of the family, he told me in one of our sessions that after just a few weeks together he considered them family… and that living with them was exactly what he had dreamed having a family would be like when he was a child. Even though he hadn’t stayed with them very long, moving out was rough on him. On the other hand, his prospects were good and he was excited to take control of his own life. With Trey going off to college, Max was about to be shorthanded at the candle barn and offered Mason a fulltime position. He had a good start.

Colton was a little apprehensive as well, he felt safe with Brody and Max. Plus he had just started a new job in addition to moving into his own place. After a LOT of begging, pleading, and convincing, Max and Brody let Zoey spend the night with Colton. “Tonight ONLY” Max said to Colton before they left the building. “He comes back to BroMax with Mason and Taylor in the morning, and tomorrow night you’re on your own. You got Mason and Taylor down the hall, and Ricky and Timmy upstairs. Your safe here.” Colton nodded as he knelt down and hugged Zoey, happy to have one more night with him. Zoey and Petunia were amazing… I swear they understood the guys we helped better than we did and knew how to calm them down. I know a lot of people dissed the idea of “Emotional Support Animals” but I watched it in action daily.

Meanwhile, on the fourth floor Ricky and Timmy were taking a huge step into adulthood as they both moved out of their parent’s homes and into their first apartment. Max and Brody had cut them a deal on the place because they liked the idea of having someone on site to keep an eye on the things… the two of them trusted Ricky implicitly. Timmy… well he had grown on them too, but Ricky was their confidant. He ran the candle factory like a well-oiled machine and he had this natural ability of making people feel like part of the team. Max had given several of our clients’ jobs since founding The Village, and Ricky trained them all and made each of them feel like they belonged there. Unfortunately, a side effect of his attention and charm was that the young gay boys fell for him regularly… they were vulnerable, and he was cute and friendly, but he always handled it with class and finesse. It was also good that he was there because neither Taylor nor Mason had transportation yet, so Ricky promised to drive them in.

I left the building on Saturday night tired as hell, but happy knowing that the guys were all moved in and safe. Max was right, I did feel better knowing Ricky was keeping an eye on everything. Brody and Max took us out for dinner to celebrate our milestone. We walked to this little local fondue place a few blocks away from the building. It’s not like fondue is exotic or rare or anything, but I realized as we sat down at our table that I had never had it before. It was good, different but good. We were lucky to have Max and Brody to show us around town, hell there’s no way we would’ve ever found this place, or our house for that matter on our own. I was really feeling good about our decision to move to North Carolina. We both were. I was especially proud of the work I was doing with The Village.

After dinner we all went back to BroMax Farm and Zach and I immediately went up to our room with Petunia following behind. Zach took a quick shower to rinse off the moving day funk, when he was done, I jumped in and took one too. The warm water helped me relax, the last couple of weeks had been nonstop and I just needed to destress. I dried off after my greatly welcomed shower and walked into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around my waist. I let out a heavy sigh as I entered the room ready for a good night’s sleep, it had been a trying week. I looked up to see the room was lit with candles, there was soft music coming from the Bluetooth speaker, and Petunia was already passed out on her bed in the corner. There was a fresh towel spread out on the bed, and Zach was standing there in all his naked glory, his beautiful body glistening in the candlelight. “what the hell is all this?” I asked with a delighted smile (yeah, I know how gay that sounds).

“It’s for you” he said. “lay face down, I’m gonna give you a massage.” I saw a bottle of massage oil on the nightstand and the scent of spearmint and sage (one of Max’s more popular candle scents) wafted through the air of the cozy little room. Zach had a stressful week too, yet he was focused on relieving my stress. I shared that thought with my handsome, blonde, soccer-jock of a husband and told him HE was the one who deserved a massage… seriously, the guy had been my rock through all the changes. He just kissed me tenderly and said, “being alone with you is my stress relief, just fucking enjoy the moment, Seth.” Then he slapped my ass and said, “now get hot your hot little butt on that bed and lie face down” with that devilish smile on his face. The same fucking devilish smile that sucked me in all those years ago.

It took zero convincing, and I laid down face down on the warm bed as instructed. I was a little cold and damp having just gotten out of the shower but it was only a few seconds before I felt his warm, oily hands on my stressed out body. He started in the middle of my back and worked his way to my tight shoulders, then down to the small of my back. He transferred the oil from his hands to my back as his soft hands soothed my aching body. He wordlessly rubbed my shoulders and back while the candlelgith and music transported me to a place of bliss. It felt so good and so relaxing, within minutes I was ready to doze off. Zach moved his hands down my back to my exposed ass, I let out an involuntary moan as he did. He poured a little oil directly onto my white ass globes, and drizzled some of the cold liquid into my crack. He set the bottle down and quickly distributed the oil over my ass and down my thighs, then he worked his hands up and down my crack letting his fingers tease and awaken my hole. It was so sensual, so intimate, so… so… us. I LIVED for these moments alone with my husband and they had been few and far between during our last months in St Louis. He lovingly caressed by buttocks, pulling them open and exposing my tender pucker to the chilled air each time he did. I shuttered and my cock grew under me, digging into the old mattress at his touch.

Zach left my ass for a while and moved down my right thigh, to my calf, then to my ankle. He bent my leg at the knee elevating my foot and sucked my toes before he massaged my soles with his lubricated hands digging his thumbs in deep. Oh my god, the warmth of his mouth followed by the strength of his hands had me hard as concrete. He put my right leg down, then repeated the treatment on my left leg starting at my thigh and working his was down again. This time he sucked my toes twice as long and I freaking loved it. He put my foot down when he had completed the treatment and told me to roll onto my back. Zach smiled down when he saw I was hard as a rock. He warmed some more oil between his hands then quickly rubbed it on my chest, and gave my arms a quick once over. Then he crawled onto the bed and knelt between my legs. He moved his hands down my abs, then down each leg. He wasn’t as slow and sensual as he was with my backside. Once he saw my hardon I think he was ready to end the massage and wanted the games to begin.

He moved to the side of the bed and grasped my hard cock with his hand as he bent over and took his first taste. His tongue lapped from the tip of my cock, down the base, and then he engulfed my balls with his warm mouth. He sucked them in and swirled his tongue around shooting sensations of ecstatic pleasure through me. He stroked my cock as he worked my balls with his tongue and I moaned quietly in appreciation. My body involuntarily squirmed as Zach worked slowly and lovingly to bring me to orgasm. I was just about there when he stood up and took his mouth off my balls and his hand off my cock.

He poured a little more of the massage oil over my body and rubbed it in, mostly covering my groin. Next, he got on top of me and stretched his body over mine, covering me from toe to head and we kissed, a tender, yet impassioned lover’s kiss. His dry body was absorbing the oil from mine as he wriggled on top of me grinding his growing cock into my steel rod, it was so erotic and wonderful. He reached between us and grabbed both our cocks, frotting them together as he moved his perfect body up and down fucking his own hand. It was all too much for me and my cum shot out like a bullet in the darkness. The first shot hit me on the chin and a few drops landed on my lips, I could taste myself. The rest of my load landed between us as Zach kept pumping and frotting for a few more minutes. Very stealthily he dropped my cock and bent his back as he moved his body a little further down so his cum-covered cock was lined up with my oil-slickened hole, he gently pushed his way in. He slipped in easily and naturally, like he belonged there… as far as I was concerned, he did. He moved in and out of me giving me the most euphoric and satisfying fuck. It just felt so damn good. It only took about a dozen strokes or so before he fed his seed into my wanting ass passage. His warmth filled me as he fucked his cum deeper and deeper into me making me feel full and complete. He kept pumping in and out until he went soft, then he pulled out, laid by my side, and spooned me.

“I can’t wait until we’re in our very own place” he whispered in my ear. We fell asleep content… and covered in massage oil.

To be continued…