Chapter Nine
Eddie
I’d told Mama and Ted about the vandals and helping Hollis clean up when I’d gotten home the night before. I left out the rest.
The next morning, I had to run by the courthouse to file the title to the car, and then I needed to stop at the pharmacy. I hadn’t discussed it with Hollis, but I’d decided to take the Plan B pill.
I went to the drugstore first, but when I walked in, the pharmacist behind the counter acted as if he couldn’t see me. In fact, everyone in the store acted as if I was invisible. It was like they were actively trying to make me feel like I wasn’t even there.
“Excuse me,” I said to the pharmacist.
“I’ll be with you in a moment. Please have a seat,” he said abruptly.
He wasn’t waiting on any other customers or working on anything in particular that I could see. He was just standing at the counter not helping me. I needed the pills, though, so I sat down and waited.
Three customers came and went before he finally let out an exasperated sigh and beckoned me to the counter. It was obvious that he’d hoped I would give up and go away, but I couldn’t.
“Hello, I need to purchase a pack of Plan B,” I said as quietly as I could.
“We’re out,” he said flatly, but I leaned to my left and I could see the boxes of pills on the shelf behind him.
“You’ve got a whole shelfful right there,” I said and pointed.
“No, I’m sorry. You’re mistaken. We’re all out.”
“But…” I started to speak again, but he cut me off.
“Please leave the store. We have a no loitering policy, and I’d hate to have to call the sheriff.”
I wanted to dig my heels in and argue, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good. So, instead, I spun around and tried to rush out of the store. I needed the pills, but I’d have to figure something else out. Perhaps I could go to the next town over and get them after work. Or I could convince someone in this town who didn’t hate me to go buy them for me.
In my rush to get out of the store, I ended up colliding with a little boy. I knocked him right onto his butt, but he just looked up at me and smiled.
“I’m so sorry,” I said as I took his hand and helped him to his feet. “I should have been watching where I was going.”
“I’m Harris,” he said with a huge beaming smile.
“I’m Eddie,” I said and shook the hand he’d extended to me. It struck me how much he resembled Hollis. He even sounded a little bit like him.
“I have candy,” Harris said. “Here, you have a piece.”
“Thanks,” I said and accepted the wrapped piece of chocolate. “Do you have a mommy or daddy?” I asked.
“A mommy,” he said and popped a piece of chocolate into his mouth.
“Where is she?”
“She’s in heaven,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Okay,” I said. “What about your father?”
Harris suddenly looked guilty. “I snuck out when he was busy. I wasn’t supposed to leave the office, but it’s so boring there.”
“Well, perhaps we should get you back.”
“My father says I’m a right pain and he can’t wait until I go back to school,” Harris said, but he was beaming a megawatt smile when he said it, “but I think he doesn’t mean that.”
“I don’t think he means it either,” I offered. “How about if I walk you back to your father’s office.”
“Okay,” Harris said and reached his hand out to me. I took it, and we walked out of the pharmacy together.
We were a couple of blocks away from the pharmacy when a man stepped out of an office building and looked around frantically. “Is that your father?” I asked and pointed toward the harried-looking man.
“It is,” Harris said. “Papa!” he called out and went running to the man.
“Harris, oh my god,” the man said. “You just about gave me a heart attack.”
“This is my new friend, Eddie,” Harris said and waved his hand in front of me like a spokesmodel.
“Mead Clancy,” Harris’s father said and stuck his hand out to shake mine.
“Eddie Hauser,” I said and took it.
“You’re the one working with Hollis up at the farm,” he said, and I wasn’t quite sure if he was curious or it was an accusation.
“I am.”
“Well, thanks for walking Harris back. He and I are about to go have a long talk.”
“You’re welcome,” I said and watched them walk back into the building.
My mind reeled as I drove out to the farm. I hadn’t had time to go to the courthouse or gotten the Plan B I wanted, but I pushed those thoughts aside as I tried to figure out the connection between Hollis and Mead.
Hollis was outside washing some sort of equipment with a garden hose when I pulled up. He flashed a huge smile that reminded me of the one Harris had given me at the drugstore. I hoped it wouldn’t upset him, but I had to know.
“Hey, Eddie,” Hollis said cheerfully.
He put the hose down and walked over to pull me into an embrace. I tilted my head up and let him kiss me. I’d ask him about Mead and Harris in a moment, but just then I wanted to enjoy Hollis’s affection.
“What’s on your mind?” he asked as I pulled away from his arms.
“It’s just curiosity,” I said.
“About what?”
“Well, I ran into a little boy and a man in town who looked a lot like you,” I said. “I found the little boy, Harris, wandering around, and when I walked him back to where his father worked, I found someone who bore an uncanny resemblance to you.”
“That’s my cousin, Mead, and his son,” Hollis said.
“He didn’t mention being related to you. I thought that was strange because it was pretty obvious that he was.”
“I don’t imagine that he would. That side of the family doesn’t acknowledge my existence. I would have thought you would know all about this.”
“I know folks in town don’t like you because of some family trouble, but Hollis, I’m an outsider too. It’s not like people in Silver Valley confide in me.”
“It’s nothing you need to worry about, Eddie. It actually has nothing to do with me, but the Clancys don’t see it that way,” Hollis said. “Well, I don’t think Mead really cares one way or another. He’s not a bad man. We just aren’t close because of our parents.”
I could tell he didn’t want to talk about it further. Hollis would open up to me in his own time about the reasons that Silver Valley treated him with so much unkindness. What I could tell was that he was lonely. He had the farm and Jada, but Hollis was cut off from everyone around him. That seemed to include his remaining family.
“You seem down,” I said softly.
“I’m fine.”
“Fine or not, I think I can cheer you up,” I said and pushed him softly, so he was leaning against the car.
“Oh yeah?” Hollis asked with one eyebrow hitched up.
I got down on my knees and unzipped his pants. After pulling his enormous cock out, I ran my tongue from the base to the tip.
“Oh god, Eddie,” he said and fisted a handful of my hair. “We can’t do this out here. Someone might see.”
“That’s what makes it fun,” I said and sucked the tip of his cock into my mouth.
“Eddie,” he chastised, but his actions didn’t match his words.
Hollis thrusted his hips forward, and I took more of him into my mouth. He moaned and bucked off the car as I swirled my tongue around his cock in slow circles.
“I’m going to have to punish you for this,” he growled.
“Mhhhm,” I hummed around his erection. My cock was already hard, but it throbbed at the notion of another spanking.