This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, products, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

This story is also set in a southern state; please keep in mind that accents are different all over the world, especially mine. It isn’t a typo or a lazy way of typing. It’s how it’s spoken. While typo’s and misspellings do sometimes occur, I do try my best to find them all. Negative comments and remarks will not effect this in any way. In saying that, I hope you love these guys as much as I do.

Contents

 

 

 

 

“If you had to pick, like… if you just had to pick one; which one do you think would pull a “runaway bride” and leave one of these guys at the alter?” I ask Jase who’s sitting in the back seat with me, while Jody drives Kayson and the rest of us to the chapel so he can get married today. It's been four months since these guys proposed to their fellas on the exact same day, at Jase’s welcome home barbecue.

“That is a terrible thing to say.” Jase scolded me, and I watched Kayson almost swallow his tongue in panic. Serves him right, he dished out plenty of bullshit on my wedding day, the fucker.

“I mean, we know he’s probably going to be there; but just if he wasn’t. Kayse, what would you do?” I tease again to watch him squirm for good measure.

“Knock it off, King. He’s nervous enough already.” Jody tries to hide his snicker and just about pulls it off, but Jase hears it and whack’s him on the back of the head.

“Hey, I’m driving up here! Do you want me to kill us before we even make it to the church?” Jody gripes, for something to do. He didn’t even swerve.

“Just remember, old man; you’re next. Do you want us giving you this much shit on your big day?” Jase asks Jody reasonably. Sometimes I wonder who the adults are in our family because surely none of us qualify.

“I feel like I’m going to throw up.” Kayson murmurs as he cracks his window for some air. I reach over the seat and squeeze his shoulders, hoping to release some of the tension that I know is what’s making his shoulders bunch up around his ears like they are. I shouldn’t razz him on his special day.

“Relax, he’s already there, I just got a text from Morgan. Everything’s going to be fine.” I assure him, feeling just a little bit bad about it now. I feel his shoulders relax and he reaches up and pinches my arm.

“Ow!” I laugh, rubbing my abused skin. “Foul! Girl move! We don’t pinch, sissy!” I poke him in the neck and then keep my hands to myself.

“Do you have the rings, King?” Jody asks me. I pat my jacket pockets and then pretend to frantically look around for the boxes that are tucked away, in my breast pocket.

“Oh, shit!” I whisper a little too loudly. “Oh, fuck,” I say again, feigning panic. Kayson jerks his entire body around to look at me, and his face is ashen and sweaty.

“Kingsley.” He almost whimpered. Damnit, I was going to have to knock it off. Otherwise, my big brother wasn’t going to make it to his wedding without expiring from heart palpitations. I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Kayson, this is the most important day of your life,” I say seriously, after laughing for a solid minute at his reaction, that is. I reach into my breast pocket and pull them out. “I wouldn’t be the one to fuck this up for you.” He breathes a sigh of relief and slides down in his seat, facing forward. Now I really feel bad for being such a dick. I rub his shoulders for real this time and keep my hands on him to try and calm him down a little. It seems to work this time.

“What really has you nervous, Kayse? This has been a long ass time coming; the man is just as obsessed with you as he was the day he met you, four years ago. After today, he’ll be a Kennedy.” I finally smile at the small smirk on my brothers’ nervous face.

“I’m not nervous really, just anxious. I want to get it done and over with.” He tells us.

“Well, be a dear and don’t say that out loud to him. He’s been bridezilla the last four months!” I tell them honestly. Conner, Morgan, Cameron and even Jase have been busting ass all summer trying to find the perfect venue, the perfect flowers, the right minister that would cater to a same-sex couple; songs, food, and liquor. He’s been a pretty, little, nightmare.

“He’s been thinking about this forever,” Kayson tells us, softly. “When other people dream of big, important jobs with nice houses and expensive ass cars and shit; Conner wanted this. A family. He wants the fairytale with the white picket fence, the yard, and the kids. We’ve started all that, and we’re continuing it today. Do you know what I want? Do you know what I think about? What I’ve been thinking about forever?” He turns in his seat and asks each one of us directly. “I want him,” he shrugs. “I want a lifetime to make him happy, that’s all I want. I’ll take the house, the yard, the kids and that ridiculously fat cat that wakes me up, bellowing for souls to feed on every morning. I’ll be beyond lucky to have it all, but all I require is him. I’m getting that today.” He grins and damn if I didn’t get a little misty eyed. I notice Jase does too.

“You should’ve saved that for your vows.” I scoffed to try to hide my moment of emotion. What an asshole.

“My vows are going to kick your vows out of the water; you might have to remarry Morgan to top them.” He winks at me and turns around, ignoring the scowl of a thousand deaths I send his way.

Pulling up to the church, we all take a collective breath and make our way to back room where we’ll stay until the minister comes to get us. Kayson is going to take his place with the minister, and then the rest of the guys are going to couple up with our men and walk down like a traditional wedding. Jase, me and Jody on Kayson’s side and Joker, Morgan, and Cameron on Conner’s side. Then, Conner will walk down the short aisle by himself to meet Kayson.

“Now that we’re here, I just feel excited,” Kayson tells us, smiling from ear to ear. We all straighten our ties and pace back and forth, waiting for our cue. I peek out the back doors into the chapel and see some of our friends and family. Kady is sitting in the front row, bouncing like the little hellion she is. She was meant to be Kayson’s flower girl at her insistence, but three days ago, she sprained her ankle while out fishing with Jody and Cameron. I would’ve guessed cheer camp, I’ve seen the flips that girl gets up to, and it’s enough to make me prematurely gray; but nope, she twisted it in a mud-hole and went down on it wrong. She was not happy about sitting this one out, but the guys agreed to let her play the piano and sing at the reception. She was okay with that since she could do it sitting down.

Kady’s mom, Merissa, and her new husband Gary were also here; as were some of our regular clients and some of the people that we’d gotten to know around town over the years. Conner’s employees from the library and his mother were also mixed in with our loud, crazy, bunch. We had a nice little turnout, and I was happy to see that so many people came out to support them, I knew it’d mean a lot to Conner. He was born and raised in this town.

Knock, knock-- The minister knocked and peeped his head in…

“Are we ready?” He smiled hugely at all of us. He’d been so great the last couple weeks, answering any questions we had and helping everyone prepare for this big day.

“So ready!” Kayson grinned, and we all followed him when he almost mowed over the minister to get out front. We gave him slaps of encouragement, and I pulled him into a fierce hug and whispered that our mom would be proud of him if she were here and that I knew she was watching him today with a smile. Then, I left him at the alter and the rest of the gang and I went around to meet the guys we were walking with. There were large, purple and white roses on the outsides of every pew. There were candles lit everywhere and it the sun was shining brightly in through the stained-glass windows. It was a gorgeous setting, and I was glad that Morgan had hired a photographer for the entire day to take candid shots of everyone throughout.

“Hey, hot stuff.” Morgan winked and blew me a kiss until I sided right up to him and took his mouth in a real and mildly inappropriate kiss, given where we were. It all reminded me of our wedding day, and it was hands down, one of the happiest days of my life.

“Today is a beautiful day, but I’m still the luckiest man in this building,” I say as I kiss him quickly one last time. I see the other guys huddled with their men, having their own little moments and I think of how far we’ve all come since moving to Edgartown almost five years ago. I can’t imagine not having each of these men in my life. We were all pretty damn lucky.

“Lookin’ sharp, Conner. You nervous?” I ask, pulling him into me for a hug; he looked a little rattled and I wondered if he had any of the anxiousness that Kayson did earlier.

“Thanks, King. Not nervous, ready.” He grinned, pulling back and straightening his suit jacket. We were all similarly dressed in tuxes with matching purple and white ties. He took a deep breath, and we all moved to take our places.

“Proud to gain another brother, Con,” Jody said as he passed and hugged Conner before stepping in his place, in line.

“Same here, Conner. Wouldn’t be the same without ya.” Jase commented, and the other guys followed suit, and we all teased him for tearing up.

When the music started playing, Morgan and I walked first. My brother looked excited as hell at the end of that aisle, and I couldn’t wait to see his face when he got a glimpse of Conner. Watching him drop his chin to his chest to hide his tears, had me choking up my damn self. Damn weddings.

Conner’s smile was radiant, and he only had eyes for Kayson. He didn’t look at anyone else or seem to notice anything else at all. The second he reached Kayson they grabbed each other in a bone crushing hug. It took several nudges and some throat clearing from the officiant for them to let loose of one another so we could start this thing. The minister read a passage about all-encompassing love and how life has no meaning if one has no one to share it with. He spoke of long-lasting eternity kind of love and binding of two souls as one for all of eternity. Kayson and Conner never broke their stare; I’m not even sure they were listening. When it was time for the vows, Kayse went first. The room was not prepared.

“I had a good life before I met you,” Okay, starting off kind of rocky. Not something you admit, bro, I thought to myself. “I had my brothers, and we had our own business, and I was happy. You know these guys can make any day bearable. But, when I met you, it was like… I suddenly knew what I’d been missing, and my life wasn’t so bearable anymore. Not unless you were with me. I can’t imagine a second without you, baby, and I wonder how I got on from day to day, not even knowing that you were out there waiting for me. What if I missed you?” He whispered, pulling Conner closer and wrapping his arms around him tightly. He leaned his forehead to Conner’s and took a deep, calming breath. Conner was a lost cause; the man could not hold it together. I couldn’t help but smile at the love between them.

“Thank you for being patient with me and putting up with me and my rowdy, obnoxious family. Thank you for loving me and accepting me for who I am and the grief I undoubtedly cause you on a daily basis. Thank you for sticking with me, even when I give you reasons to want to send me far, far away.” Conner and the rest of the crowd giggled, but I had a feeling that Kayson was serious. It was sweet and just another reason they worked so well together.

“And thank you for agreeing to spend your life with me. I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure you never regret a single day with me. I’ll love you forever as much, if not more than I do at this moment and I’ll never take for granted the miracle that you love me too. Thank you for picking me.” Kayson smiled and gave a quick peck to Conner. We all laughed at the tut-tut he got from the preacher; it was with a smile though, so we figured it wasn’t a rule too badly broken. Then, it was Conner’s turn.

“You’re everything to me,” He whispers to Kayson, arms still firmly around each other. “I love you so much, that sometimes I can’t breathe with it.” He closes his eyes with that confession. When he opens them, he smiles a smile that lights his whole face. “I’ve loved you since the minute I laid eyes on you, did you know that? I’d sit in the bookstore and pray for glimpses of you. I’d imagine scenarios’ where you’d notice me, and we’d run off into the sunset together, and we’d be happy and healthy and in love. Fairytales, you know? But life with you has been better than anything I could’ve dreamed up, anything I could’ve imagined and I thank my lucky stars every single night that you saved me. You’re my dream come true, how lucky am I?” He questioned, not expecting an answer. “We’re living our fairytale, and it’s only getting started. This, is our happily ever after and it’s the best damn story in the world. I’ll never make you regret you picking me either. Thank you for being my hero. I love you so much.” He finishes, and Kayson gave a warning glance to the minister, and we all laughed at the unspoken heads up. Kayson grabbed Conner’s face and sealed their vows with a semi-pornographic kiss for the world.

“We’ll do the rings when you’re ready, then.” I taunted their impatient-ness to wrap it up, but we had a little bit more to go. They contained themselves for several more minutes, long enough to repeat the traditional, do you... Blah blah blah take, so-and-so to be yours, they said I do, they exchanged rings and then when our officiant pronounced them man and husband, they sealed it with a quick kiss for once, and Kayson flung Conner over his shoulder and walked out of the church. They were at least a half hour late to their reception… It was their day though, so no one complained.

 

 

 

Watching my new husband as he stood around a desert table with his little sister and all of his brothers; I twisted the ring around my finger and couldn’t believe my luck. I was married to Kayson Kennedy; the man I’d crushed on for months as he worked across the street from my bookstore. The man whose had my heart for the last, almost, five years. I’d always wanted this life; being married and blissfully happy with a man that I adored, one that adored me. I never in my life would’ve imagined that I’d be standing here, married to a guy like Kayson Kennedy, though. God was smiling down on me today.

“You look so happy, honey.” I look over to see my mom standing next to me. I wondered how long she’d been standing there watching me admire my new husband. Husband. It would take a while to get used to that. I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face for all the money in the world. I’m surprised Kingsley isn’t giving me shit about it.

“Nothing in this world could make me happier,” I replied, honestly, taking my eyes right back to my husband. I was surprised to find him looking back at me because everyone else was still standing around, teasing and bickering back and forth. Kady was looking annoyed and ready to maybe kick Jody in the shin. I couldn’t imagine what it was that they were giving her a hard time about. Kayson only had eyes for me at that moment though.

Love you. I mouthed to him and watched him wink back. Seeing him in his t-shirts, blue jeans and biker boots were sexy any day of the week. Seeing him nothing at all was even sexier. But today, seeing him in his suit, waiting at the end of an aisle for me… It’s an image I’ll never forget.

“Don’t be gettin’ any idea’s darlin’. Don’t think nobody noticed your half hour “disappearing act” before you got here.” Mom teased and nudged me. I reluctantly looked away from the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen.

“Traffic was held up.” I lied. Traffic wasn’t a thing in a town this small, and she knew it. Still, she just rolled her eyes and didn’t call me on it.

“I’m proud of you, baby.” She whispered in a moment of seriousness. “You’re good for him, and I have no doubt, you’ll have a lifetime of him being good to you, too. That’s all a mama ever wants for her children. Their happiness. I’m glad you found it.” She tells me, causing us both to tear up as she hugged me.

“You’re not makin’ my man cry, are ya Ma?” Kayson said, sliding his hand around my waist as he sidled up to us. The last several years, she’d broken him down, insisting that he call her that. He was her son now, that was true; but to my mom, he had been a part of our family from the moment he saved me.

“He’s my only child, and I gave him away today, you’ll just have to deal with a little boo-hooin.” She sniffed and swatted at him lightly as she backed up and let him claim me.

“It’s time for speeches, baby,” Kayson told me softly as he leaned forward and kissed me. I wondered how kissing him felt different, now that he was my husband. He’d kissed me like that a million different times for a million different reasons over the last several years, but now, it felt somehow….more. I nodded and took my mom’s hand, escorting her to her table as we made our way to ours, front and center. Everyone was slowly making their way over to the seating area; there weren’t many people here but enough to fill a decent banquet room. We’d had twenty tables sat up, and everyone just sat wherever they wanted. Everyone practically knew everyone, so there was no use in assigning anyone to any certain place. Kayson and I sat front and center though, and I couldn’t imagine what speech time was going to entail.

Jase and Joker spoke together. Jase and Joker done just about everything together, actually, since they’d gotten together about six months ago. I was happy to see them so happy; I knew their relationship was one to last. Jase was mature for his age, and it showed when he spoke of love and finding someone who made you better and bettered your life in ways you never could, had you not found them. He was wise about such things, and I was incredibly proud of him. Joker was quieter, but he thanked us all for accepting him and giving him something to live up to. “A love to look up to and learn from,” he said. He wished us all the love in the world, and it was heartfelt and sweet; something I wouldn’t have been sure he was capable of before he met Jase.

Next, Morgan, my best friend and now brother-in-law, welcomed me into their brotherhood-not that I hadn’t been before; but now it was legit. He made us laugh and made me tear up, and I wanted to hug him and beat him in equal measure by the time he was done.

Jody and Cameron spoke together; Cameron taking the reins, telling us how lucky we are that we live in a place that acknowledges the love that each one of us has together. Allowing us to have this special day that we had today and giving us an equal opportunity to love the men we love. It was short and sweet, and Jody watched him the whole time, with big ol’ stars in his eyes. I couldn’t wait for their day. Kady had her moment but found herself too shy to say much more than she loved us, and she was so happy we were finally married. I never thought I’d see the day where outgoing, crazy, Kady would be shy, but she was getting older and noticing boys, and I had noticed that there were a couple around her age that had come with their parents. I smirked at Kayson when I saw her looking at one of them from across the room, with the prettiest, shyest blush. Kayson wasn’t impressed. I squeezed his hand refocused his attention. He leaned in to kiss me, and Kady made her escape off the small, makeshift stage.

Kingsley was our closer. I knew they were saving the best for last and I figured he’d make a spectacle of everyone and bring the house down after the most perfect day.

“Kayson and Conner. Finally! Took you long enough, didn’t it?” He raised his glass to us, asking Kayson; causing everyone to laugh. It had been a long time coming, but every day with Kayson was worth the wait to get where we were today.

“Man, I’ll never forget the day we met Conner; I’d never seen my brother so out of his head and distracted by anyone. Other than his brothers and our little sister, he was a one-man band; never one to settle down or share much of himself outside the bedroom. It was fun, watching him fall. Entertaining, eh, Kayse?” He winked at Kayson, earning a middle finger and again, causing the room to chuckle at their banter.

“It was also inspiring,” Kingsley says in a rare, serious moment. “And encouraging, because I had no idea what I was doing when I met my own heart. You taught me so much, not only in life but in love; I had no idea how much of my own happiness depended on someone else’s happiness. You showed me hope when I needed it, just by being around the two of you and I’ll forever be grateful for all the support and guidance you both gave Morgan and me when we needed it. I can’t tell you how happy I am that you’ve finally made this official because brothers, I’ll tell you this; there is nothing in the world like waking up beside your forever and knowing in your heart, that it’s actually forever. Enjoy it, guys. There is nothing sweeter. Congratulations and I love you both.” He finished, and we both stood so we could hug him. I heard Kayson and Kingsley whispering to each other, before engaging in a loud, back-slapping bro-hug that I always thought looked incredibly painful; thankfully, the hug I received was much gentler, “Welcome to the family, little brother.” Kingsley whispered to me while everyone clapped and the speech portion of our day concluded. We stood for pictures, for what seemed like ages and then it was time to cut the cake and do the first dance, which Kady and Merissa insisted that we do. I didn’t care about the fanfare, but I was glad we were doing it all, traditionally.

“Conner Kennedy” Kayson whispered to me with a smile as we swayed together to the rhythm of our third slow dance, “are you ready to get out of here and start our honeymoon?”

“So, so ready,” I tell him honestly. “As delicious as you look in that suit, I cannot wait to get you out of it.”

“Let’s make the rounds then, and get the fuck out of here.” He says, grabbing my hand and practically pulling me to the front of the room to grab the microphone.

“Ladies and gentleman, friends and family. I want to thank you all for coming to the most important day of my life. I’m so happy that each and every one of you came to support us. I love you all, and I’m very grateful. In saying that, I need to get my husband out of here because you’re all cutting into my honeymoon time.” He finished, earning a small scolding from Kady but understanding chuckles from everyone else. We hugged and shook hands with everyone while we stood hand in hand, waiting for someone to pull our car around. We thanked everyone again, and within ten minutes, we were on our way.

“This day was awesome,” I commented, looking over at my husband, who’d taken off his tie and unbuttoned his shirt and was looking especially delicious as he drove us towards our hotel. We had all of our things packed and in the trunk for a four-day trip to Honolulu. We didn’t want to go too far and to be honest; I didn’t see a whole lot of leaving our room, anyway. We could’ve stayed in Madison and just gotten a hotel for a few nights, but Kayson had things planned that he wouldn’t tell me. I didn’t care what they were; I was just happy to be getting a four day stretch of no work, no interruptions and lots and lots of naked husband.

“Clothes off,” I said to Kayson, the minute he shut the door behind us in our suit. Checking in, only took a few minutes, but watching my husband’s hand as he signed in, his platinum ring shining brightly for all the world to see that he was a married man….married to me; I was ready to jump him before we hit the elevator.

“Clothes off, Kayson. Right now.” I say, crowding him against the wall just inside the door.

“Look at you, Mr. Impatient.” He smirks, grabbing my hips and pulling me tighter to him. I surprise us both when I grab his shirt by the collar and yank with impatience. His button’s go flying, and for a second, I think he might try to say something smart-assy or witty, but I stop them with my tongue, tracing his lips before he opens for me.

“I said, I want them off,” I whisper against his lips and he groans. He wasted no more time, throwing his shirt to the ground and walking me backward towards the perfectly made bed that neither of us cared about. It was about to get all kinds of messy.

“You leading this show, baby?” Kayson whispers as I step out of my pants and bright blue boxers that Morgan insisted I wear as my “something blue.” If Kayson noticed them at all, he didn’t say anything.

“Yep.” I nipped at his lip and nudged him down onto the bed, following him immediately, pressing into his hard, muscled body. I kissed him with everything I had; I licked and nipped and sucked at his lips and tongue, feeling his big hands clutch at my body, from my arms to my waist.

“Conner,” He breathed my name as I worked my lips down his neck and chest; tracing the intricate, beautiful ink that adorned his body. I’d never get tired of looking at it.

“Fuck, Conner!” Kayson gasped as my teeth sunk into his hip at the same time my hand wrapped tight around his cock. He surged up and grabbed me by the arms before pulling me up and spinning me around and dropping me to my back, where he just was. He covered my body his tongue surged into my mouth and just like that; we started our honeymoon.

 

 

 

“Kennedy Ink, this is King, can I help you?” I answered the shop phone since everyone else was currently busy. Conner usually came and sat at the front desk when he got done at his place, but he was currently on day two of his honeymoon. When no one was here to man the front, whoever was closest, answered the phones.

“Yeah, man. My name is Felix Finnley, Finn if you want me to answer. I work here at Envy Ink, in Atlanta. I’m going to be honest with you; our shop is getting axed because some dumb fucking idiot went on the news and said he contracted Hep-C from our shop. Now, I’ve been here almost two years, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that we take sterilization and sanitation serious as shit, but our rep is ruined, and our shop owner is hitting the road. It’s no secret that you and your crew are close to the best and being honest again, I’m one of the best.” The man said with a confident, growly timbre.

“So, you’re looking for a new shop?” I asked, stupidly. If I’m honest though, his voice is kind of throwing me off. It sounds like what you’d imagine the voice of God to sound like or something. I love my husband more than anything in this world, but I’d kill to see what this dude looked like right now.

“I’m looking for roots, man. Honesty again, I’ve got a two-year-old daughter that I’m raising by myself and rent that is ridiculously high for such a shit hole. I’ve been in a little bit of trouble; I’ll tell you that from the jump, but my main concern is my daughter and gigs are hard to come by. I have a resume; I have a portfolio, and I’ve got references.”

“Well, I’ll be honest, man, we’re all family here and when I say that, I mean that in every sense of the word. If you wanna send me all your stuff, I’ll talk to my brothers, and we’ll see what we can do to help you out.” I say honestly. It’s not uncommon for people to want to come for our shop; we get inquiries all the time, but as I said, we’re a family here, and it’s hard to accept outsiders into our space.

“Alright.” He sounds disappointed, and for some reason, I didn’t like that. It was tripping me up.

“If you go to our website, click on my name specifically. It’ll give you my personal e-mail. I’ll have a chat with my brothers, one’s away on his honeymoon right now, but I’ll get back to you quick, let you know something one way or another.” I offer. I hear him release a breath and he thanks me before ending the call. As I said, we get calls all the time, e-mails and people showing up wanting to apprentice or fit in here with our guys. Hiring Joker was a favor, and even though we were skeptical at first, he’s family now.

“King, come here.” Jody got my attention, and I went to one of our drawing tables to see what was up.

“I’ve got a cover up I’m working on. She wants this here going this way, around her thigh but I’m not convinced it’ll look right and to be honest, I think I need to make it bigger and change the color of this here…” Jody went on, and I helped him draw up a couple of different ideas. Sometimes, people knew what they wanted and couldn’t be swayed, but none of us, here, would ink something we didn’t feel would represent our name or our shop in a good light.

“Yeah, I’d offer one of those, if she doesn't like it, she can go elsewhere. I’m telling you from the picture, that blue will not set right over the black, it just won't.” I tell him honestly; he knew it, he just wanted another opinion.

“Thanks, man.” He slapped my shoulder as he passed and I got ready for my next appointment.

“What’s got you thinkin’ so hard in here?” Morgan asked as he brought his paint brushes into the kitchen to rinse them off. I was sitting at the table, scrolling through the portfolio from the guy, Finn, that called yesterday.

“Come look at this,” I reply. He sets his brushes in the sink and washes his hands before coming over. Morgan is an artist; he spends a lot of his days in his home studio, lost in whatever it is he’s working on. I admire his creativity, and there’s nothing more gorgeous than watching him work. I’ll never stop considering myself the luckiest man alive for the life I have with him. I almost didn’t get it, I almost lost him before I could love him and it makes me grateful, every single day that it didn’t happen that way.

“Whoa, shit. Who’s is that?” Morgan asked, flipping through the pages on my iPad.

“His name’s Finn; he called yesterday, and I don’t know, I only talked to him for a minute, but… I got this gut feeling. It was weird. I told him I’d look over his stuff, see if we had room for one more.” I shrugged. His big pieces were stunning.

“That looks like a photograph,” Morgan says as he points to one particular portrait. It really does, his detail is amazing. “Kayson was just complaining a couple of weeks ago that y’all needed more hands.”

“We really do.” I murmur, scrolling through pages and pages of work.

“The thing is, we’re not any more busy than usual; it’s just that with Jinx and Layla moving away and the rest of us all loved up and wanting to spend less time at the shop and more time at home. It wouldn’t hurt to bring in someone else to manage our time better. All of us. “I’ll need to talk to the guys,” I say as I pull out my phone and start a group chat.

“How about you do that in a minute and join me in the shower first.” Morgan slides his lithe, little body down on my lap and wraps his arms around my shoulders. His eyes look tired, and it causes me a moment of hesitation. We’ve not made it to our five-year mark yet, where the chance of his cancer coming back diminishes exponentially. I know it could come back at any time, one year of twenty years later, but for some reason, I’ve got that countdown to the five-year mark, locked in my brain.

“You’re beautiful,” I whisper and watch his face go soft. Since the day I saw him throwing up on the floor of the living room, several years back; I’ve never seen a more attractive man. He calls to everything in me, and I can’t get enough of him.

“I love you.” He smiles, kissing me softly for just a moment.

“Not as much as I love you,” I tell him honestly. Sometimes I can’t breathe with how much. I stand with him cradled in my arms as he wraps his arms and legs around me tighter. Group text forgotten for now; I carry my man to the shower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Why? Why is there an alarm going off before the sun is even up?” I growl as I feel Cameron climbing out of bed.

“Sorry, I told you I had an early shift, today.” He whispers, leaning back to kiss my shoulder before crawling out of bed. I listen to him shuffle his way to the bathroom without closing the door.

“When we get married, I’m putting in a “no alarm clock clause,” I complain, my voice only half muffled by the pillow that my face is half buried into.

“You could try.” Cameron chuckles, moving to the closet for a pair of scrubs that he’ll wear to work today. I first met Cameron at the hospital where Morgan had his brain tumor removed, and although he was in a relationship at the time, I couldn’t keep my mind off him. I still can’t.

“Don’t forget that Kayson and Conner get back today and you guys have that video meeting with the new guy.” He reminds me unnecessarily. I’ve been looking forward to talking with this guy since Kingsley forwarded us all his portfolio. I wouldn’t ever admit it to the guys, but I thought he rivaled Kingsley and that was saying something.

“I didn’t forget,” I grumble, hearing him turn on the shower. If it weren't the middle of the fucking night, I’d be in there with him; but I had a late-night session with an out-of-towner, and his piece went on for two hours longer than I anticipated. Fuck it. I thought, as I jumped out of bed and joined my man in the shower.

“How is it that I came from Hawaii and I made it here before you did?” Kayson teased, Conner sitting on his lap, both looking tan and happy.

I flipped Kayson the bird but otherwise ignored him. I wasn’t late, my shift technically didn’t start for another hour, but we scheduled to talk to the new guy before we opened. The phone ringing stopped Kayson from saying anything else.

“You look good, happy.” I smile at Conner, and he beams. Joker walks in with Kingsley and Jase, and everyone greets them.

“Wow, you guys look orange.” Kingsley teases them, and this time it’s Kayson flipping the finger, still on the phone. He’s scrolling through our appointment book, but by the looks of it, we’re all booked up for the next couple weeks at least. This new guy couldn’t have come at a better time, to be honest.

“What’s up, Papa Bear?” Jase smiles, but it’s a little bit strained. Things haven’t been the same since I opened my mouth and asshole came out. I’ll admit, I’m a dick. The things I said to him were mean and unforgivable. I hate myself for it because Jase is like a son to me. Cameron and I became his sort of, honorary dads when he aged out of the system and came to live with us. I love the kid, and although we talked it out and he forgave me, I still feel like he doesn’t trust me as he did, and I hate that.

I have anger issues; I don’t know why, I don’t know where it came from, but when I get emotional about any damn thing, asshole pops out.

“What’s up, kid?” I say, tagging him around the neck and pulling him into me for a weird, side-hug thing. He laughs and leans into me.

“Hey, hey now… this one’s mine. You have your own.” Joker teases, glad to see us getting along. I know he felt to blame for my temper tantrum, but It wasn’t him at all. It was my own insecurities about Jase moving on from Cam and me. I shouldn’t have worried; he’s our family. Tell that to irrational me.

“So, what do we know about Felix?” Morgan asked, coming in from the back room. It looked like the whole gang was here, except Cameron who was at work.

“Well, he goes by Finn.” Kingsley starts, looking over his resume.

“I don’t blame him.” Kayson murmurs, earning a nudge from Conner. He kisses him quickly to make up for it. I roll my eyes at the newlyweds.

“He says he’s a single father of a two-year-old, daughter I think he said.” King flips off the tablet. “He said he’s looking for roots; to settle down. Been in trouble before but is all about his kid now.”

“Did he say what he’d been in trouble for?” Jase asks. Kingsley said no, he had no idea and he didn’t question him. We can today though, though we’d try not to judge him for it if he truly got his shit together for his kid. Joker had been to prison before coming to Madison, for something terrible. Had we not gotten to know him first…. Well, okay… exclude me from that, because like I said, I know I’m an asshole. But, I learned from that mistake, believe me, I did.

“Alright, should we call him?” King asks, and we all settle in around the computer. It rings for a solid thirty seconds before he picks up and all I notice is a beard.

“Holy shit!” Kayson barks a laugh, “That is the most epic beard I have ever seen!” The man has no couth. The guy on the screen looks startled, then maybe embarrassed, but then he laughs.

“Excuse him; he hasn’t taken his medication today.” Kingsley offers as an apology.

“It’s okay; I’m used to it.” The guy says with a smile. He looks friendly as hell, and it’s such a different contrast to his voice. He sounds scary.

“Oh my gosh, you sound like Paul Bunyan,” Kayson said, again, like a moron.

“What is wrong with you?” Jase slaps him upside the head, good-naturedly as Conner just scoffs.

“How do you know what Paul Bunyan sounds like?” Joker asks at the same time Morgan chimes in.

“You guys are idiots. Hi, I’m Morgan, that’s Kingsley.” He says pointing us each out. “Over there is Jody, his boy, Jase and Jase’s boyfriend Joker; and this idiot with the big mouth is my brother-in-law, Kayson, and his new husband, Conner.”

“You’re all married?” The guy looks taken aback.

“Well, not to each other.” Kayson teases, earning another slap, this time from Conner.

“Yeah, is that going to be a problem?” Kingsley asks all joking aside. We wouldn’t hire anyone if they had a problem with any of us or our partners. He needed to know upfront; it wouldn’t stand. I thought we were well known for being a crew of “queers” anyway, but apparently, this one missed the memo.

“No, not at all.” He blushed. “I um, I can’t be out, here. I’m just surprised.”

“Well shit,” Kayson whispered.

“That’s no way to live,” Jase commented, concerned for the guy on the screen. My boy had a good heart, that way.

“We’re all impressed with your resume and equally as floored with your portfolio. Where’d you learn to draw like this?” Kingsley started asking the questions.

“I’m not sure, I just always could do it. Kept me out of my head, growing up; kept me out of trouble, out of my parents’ way. It was just a hobby until I hit high school. I applied to art school, but my parents would never go for it. Not a lucrative career, it was a waste of time. They wouldn’t pay for it or even help me pay for it as they did for my sister. She went to medical school, but we lost her to breast cancer about three months after her daughter was born. She stopped treatment when she got pregnant and refused to terminate the pregnancy. It wasn’t safe for chemo while she was pregnant. So, that’s that.” He trailed off, clearing his throat and looking around the room before settling back on us. I heard Morgan sniffle beside me, and Kingsley looked over to him, but Jase wrapped him up in a hug, and I saw him wink at Kingsley. He was okay, probably just remembering his own battle.

“Anyway, after high school, I lied about my age and worked in a pretty seedy shop for a while until I got certified. Nobody checked, fuck they didn’t even get a copy of my license. I’ve been hopping from shop to shop for the last seven years, but I’ve been with Envy for the last two. As I said, I have a kid now; I got custody of my niece through the courts, I’m raising her as my own. She’s my first priority; she’s my number one, but like I told Kingsley; I need roots. I’m not jumping around with her with me, she needs stability, and I need steady work.” He lays it all out on the table. I respect that, he doesn’t seem to be about bullshit and Kingsley said from his conversation, he laid it out for him too.

“What about child care? We work crazy hours sometimes, though usually no weekends.” Kayson asks. I see King look to Morgan and I already see that idea forming.

“No, I don’t know. Not yet. I’d figure something out once I got there though.” He shrugs, but I could see the tenseness in his shoulders.

Daddy!

We hear wailed in the background. Finn spins in his chair and looks behind himself, but before he can stand up or excuse himself; the cutest little, black-haired, red-faced, little girl runs into his room. She’s crying, and by the looks of it, she’s still got on her jammies. She runs to him, and he scoops her up and plops her on his lap.

“Sorry about this.” He looks ten shades of embarrassed but I can already see, Morgan, Conner, Jase and fuck if Kayson isn’t melting right in front of them.

“She’s gorgeous,” Morgan says, sweetly. She really is, though I don’t say anything.

“This is my baby girl, Lennon. Can you say ‘hi’?” He asked, cooing at her, trying to get her to wave.

“Noooo.” She sniffled and hid into his chest. Other than Jinx and Layla’s baby girl, we weren’t very practiced with babies. I wondered what Cameron would be like as a father. I bet he’d be amazing; I wondered if he wanted kids or if we would ever have any.

“Sorry about this, guys.” Finn smiled and pushed the hair from the little girl's eyes as she calmed down. She really was adorable, and I could see Finn fitting in here. There was just something about his friendliness that I liked. He reminded me of Kingsley, in some weird way.

“It’s okay, no problem. We really like your work, Finn. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that you’d be a good addition to our family and that’s what you’d be. We’re family here. In saying that, you mentioned on the phone that you ran into some trouble, can you expand on that?” Kingsley asks, his professional voice back on. I see the man take a deep breath before releasing it.

“It’s kind of a long story, I mean… my parents, as I mentioned, weren’t the greatest. They’re country club members, high society, or pretend to be, snob-asses. Nothing my sister or me done was good enough, and when we did do something redeeming, they only cared how it made them look like great parents, never about us doing something as great kids. Leena, my sister, left home the second she could, but I still had a few more years to go. They demanded more and more from me and eventually, I just quit giving a shit. I started acting out and getting in trouble, to piss them off, so maybe they’d leave me alone. Started smoking pot and got caught with it a time or two, to tell you the truth, one of those times, I did it on purpose at a gala I was made to attend with a doctor’s daughter. I’m gay; I didn’t want to date trust fund girls.” He ranted. “I fought the pretty boys who thought they were better than me and my dad called the police when he ordered me home, and I refused. He said I’d stolen his car, which was my car but was legally in his name. Just another way to keep me under his thumb. Things like that, nothing major and nothing since I moved out at nineteen, but, it’s still on my record.” He shrugs. It’s a relief, and I can see it on Kingsley’s face as he looks around the room. We all give our silent support with head nods and winks. When Kingsley turns back around, he offers Finn the job. Before Finn ended the call, he took the job.

 

 

 

“Baby, I can’t find my funeral pants,” I say, stalking back into the closet and searching for the pants I was planning to wear to Jody and Cameron’s small, outdoor wedding. They’d only invited our close family and friends; it wasn’t going to be quite the fanfare as Kayson and Conner’s wedding.

“Sweetheart, you’ve worn them to one funeral and two weddings. Can’t you call them your wedding pants?” He asked seriously. To be honest, I didn’t realize I’d even called them my funeral pants, that’s just what they were to me because I’d first bought them to wear to my mother’s funeral. We didn’t have cause to dress up very often, so it was often I needed them.

“Sorry, yeah, my wedding pants.” I shook it off and kept looking while he went straight to the back of the closet and pulled them out. Handing them to me, he arched on the tips of his toes to kiss me. I leaned down and accepted.

“You’ve been broody lately, not like my Kingsley. What’s going on with you?” He poked me in the side and caught my attention. I had been a little broody but not in a bad mood, just contemplative, really, and quiet. I guess that’s a giveaway; I’m never fucking quiet.

I grab my tie and sit on the bed and look at him as he pulls his pants on.

“Do you think we’ll have kids?” I blurt and watch his body turn solid.

“You want kids?” He squeaks. .

“I dunno, maybe. I wouldn’t be against talking about it.” I tell him honestly. If I'm real, I haven’t stopped thinking about it since seeing Finn with his baby. It’s possible now, marriage and adopting is legal for us. Why couldn’t we have that?

“I’ve thought about it. A lot, actually.” He admits. I have to say I’m surprised; it’s not something we’ve talked about.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I ask, kind of upset that he’d not brought it up before I had. Would he have ever, if I hadn’t?

“Well, you haven’t brought it up, either!” He says, defensively.

“No, I’m not mad about it, don’t get upset.”

“Sorry.” He mumbles.

“So, you’ve thought about it, as in…you’d want to, or you thought about it and wouldn’t want to?” I ask, confusingly. It honestly isn’t something I’d thought of until recently, so for him to say he had, I’m curious of his thoughts. He comes and sits beside me on the bed.

“I think you’d be an amazing dad.” He whispers, looking straight into my eyes. It rocked me a little bit.

“You do?”

“100%” He answered, no hesitation. I have to admit, that made me feel really good.

“The only thing I’m worried about is if I get sick again. Ya know?” He admits. I know he’s scared of that, it’s a possibility, of course, it’s something to worry about.

“You’re not going to get sick again,” I tell him confidently. I’m convinced that if we say it, it won’t happen. He smiles a sad smile at me, but nods.

“I don’t think I will, either. But, if I do… could you be a daddy by yourself? Helping me go through treatment and all that, all over again. You wanna bring a kid into that?” He asks. I don’t even have to think about it.

“I think I don’t want to live half of a life with you, being afraid and not doing things we want to do because of a ‘maybe.' I think I’d rather have kids with my husband and get however many years we get together, being daddies. I think you’d be the best one.” I tell him honestly.

“Would you want to adopt or get a surrogate?” He asks; eyes lighting up with hope. I had no idea this was something he wanted. I wish I had; I’d have thought about it a couple of years ago.

“I think there’s a lot of kids out there that need families and love. If you want to adopt, we’ll adopt, if you want a child of our own, we’ll do that. But, I don’t care who made it, I’d love a kid with you just as much as I’d one that came from one of us.” I vow. It’s true.

“It takes a while, to adopt I mean.” He tells me. I’d heard that it does, though I can’t imagine why it would with so many homeless, abandoned children in this world.

“We better get started then, eh?” I smile at him, and he leaps onto me, causing me to fall backward onto the bed. He frames my face and kisses me hard.

“Are you serious with me right now, Kingsley Kennedy?” He demands to know.

“I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life, other than you, Morgan Kennedy,” I reply. We’re going to be late for the wedding.

 

“I cannot believe y’all are late!” Jase scolds us in a whisper. Morgan smiles at me and releases my hand as he goes to find Cameron. I want to immediately tell my brothers what we talked about but two reasons why I don’t. One, this is Jody and Cam’s day and two, we don’t even know if we’ll be able to; if we’re eligible. We’re calling our attorney tomorrow. I’m over the fucking moon about it though, and I have really high hopes now that I’ve entertained the idea, it’s the best damn idea, I’ve ever fucking had.

“What’s going on with your face?” Jody asks, standing in front of me now, in a button down dress shirt and nice pants. Thankfully, it’s not a tux kind of ceremony; there are literally about 12 people here in total; the majority of them is standing in this room.

“Morgan and I are getting a baby!” I explode, smiling from ear to ear.

“Kingsley Kennedy! We said we weren’t going to tell!” Morgan says loudly, laughing as he walks into the room with Cameron and Kayson.

“What?” Kayson almost yells.

“I’m sorry, okay? I can’t help it. I’m happy!” I tell them all, claiming my husband and wrapping my arms around him tightly.

“You’re having a baby?” Kayson says confused.

“We’re going to talk to someone about adoption. It’s a long process; we’re just getting started, that’s all. It’ll probably take ages.” I tell him. His face breaks out in the most cheesy smile, and he throws himself on me, much like Morgan did…except, not as sexily.

“I’m going to be an uncle!” He exclaims.

“Someday, don’t go expecting it to happen overnight.” Morgan admonishes. Kayson doesn’t care; he’s as excited as me.

“Conner!” He says, searching for Conner in the room.

“Don’t even think about it, we’ve been married for five minutes.” He says.

“I want King and me to have kids the same age! They’ll be brother/cousins.” He says seriously. We all laugh at the absurdity.

“Baby, that’s not a thing,” Conner tells him softly. The rest of us are laughing at the ridiculousness that comes out of this man’s mouth.

“I’ll talk ya around.” He winks at Conner and shoves me backward, playfully.

“I’m proud of you! You’ll make a great dad.” He says.

“Who’s going to be a dad? Is someone pregnant?” Kady yells, walking into the room with her mom, Merissa.

“Jody is, that’s why he’s getting married.” Kayson lies, easily. I see he and Merissa share a look and I’m sure he’ll fill her in, later. I have a feeling him not wanting to tell Kady yet, has to do with it being so new and not knowing if it’s even a possibility yet. I’m grateful he done that.

“Well, speaking of getting married, the minister is here. Everyone ready?” She smiles at us and we all couple up and follow her into the back yard, where Jody and Cameron are going to say, ‘I do.'

No one is standing with either of the guys. We all just stand back and watch them do their thing. Their standing under the giant weeping willow tree that looks gorgeous with the little creek behind it. Morgan is taking pictures, not being shy about getting up in everyone’s faces to do it. They’ll be glad to have memories of this day though.

The start of the ceremony is traditional, it doesn't take any time at all, but surprising us all, Jody says he wants to say his own vows. I see Cameron about swallow his tongue. Either they didn’t talk about it, and Cameron didn’t plan anything, or Jody’s about to make him cry.

“Cameron, I’m not good with words. We all know that.” Jase scoffed in agreement. Jody shot him a look but Jase blew him a kiss, and he turned back to his man and continued. “Sometimes, I say and do the wrong thing, and I get myself into trouble or piss someone off…” “Sorry,” he says to the minister, shifting his weight from foot to foot, nervously.

“You’ve always stood by me. You’re always on my side, even when I’m wrong. Even when I make you so mad, you wanna strangle me. Even then, you keep loving me. The only time I’ve had that was with my brothers, and with Jase. I feel like I apologize, more than I say just about anything else and yet, you’re standing with me, here today. You’re going to promise forever with me, and I’m that selfish, I’m going to take it; because there’s nobody else in the world that I want to spend my forever with. I love you, so fucking much.” … he peeps at the minister and apologizes again, making us all laugh, and the minister just roll his eyes. “I love you, Cameron. I love you in a way that I know; I’ll never stop. Thank you for making me happy. Thank you for putting up with me. Thank you for marrying me.” He says and leans forward to kiss a teary-eyed, Cameron.

“That was really sweet, bubby!” Kady exclaimed, tearing up herself. We laugh at her outburst and Merissa hands her a tissue.

“How can I top that?” Cameron whines, making Jody smirk but kiss him again. The officiant asks if Cameron has anything he’d like to say and of course, he does.

“I won’t lie and say loving you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done….But, I will say, that loving you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done. You’re hard to handle sometimes, that’s true. You talk out your ass (sorry) and speak before you think, that’s true too. And I get frustrated, and I hate when you hurt someone’s feelings; but those are just things that you do, baby. That’s not who you are. You’re a great, Papa Bear and the best big brother. Right, Kady?” Jody asks Kady.

“Right!” She agrees.

“Things aren’t always going to be perfect; I know that; but, I don’t care. It will be perfect, because, we’re perfect, together… Because of that, you make loving you easy. The way you love me makes loving you easy. The way you care about your brothers and little sister makes loving you easy. The way you set my coffee up at night so I can just flip the switch in the mornings, makes loving you easy. The light you have in you, that you only show the people you care about…makes loving you easy. So, even when it’s hard… it’s still easy. I love you, and I can’t wait to be your husband. So, can we finish this up, please?” He asks the minister and has us all laughing again. Seconds later, they’re announced: man and husband. An hour later, we’re all in our living room in our comfy clothes, getting wasted to celebrate.

All in all, it’s been the perfect day.

 

 

“Hey, man. I’m Finn.” The new guy says, as Kingsley introduces him to everyone and then heads to his office, letting Finn look around and get a feel of the place. He’s been into town for several days, staying at a hotel in town.

“Hey, great to meet you,” I say honestly. His smile is contagious, even though it’s half hidden behind a mound of facial hair. He looks hipster to the extreme, but with an edge.

“How are you getting along around here?” Jase asks from beside me.

“It’s tough; I hate moving.” He chuckles, but I can hear how exhausted he is, especially with the little one wriggling around in his arms.

“Hi, pretty girl.” Jase coo’s at her, and she leaps towards him without preamble.

“Whoa, hey,” Finn reaches out and catches her before almost dropping her.

“It’s okay, can I?” Jase reaches for her, and he hands her over.

“She’s usually shy; you must be good with babies.” He smiles at Jase, his smile is friendly, and I can tell he’s going to fit in just fine around here.

“It’s been a while, but I grew up with all kinds around.” Jase smiles. “You look around, get settled, this little lady, and I are going to go right over here to Joker’s station and color. You wanna color with markers?” He asks her, but I doubt she has any idea what he’s saying. He’ll have to show her. She’s adorable.

“That one’s your husband, right?” Finn asks, nodding to where Jase and his daughter just sat down.

“Not yet, someday,” I reply seriously. No doubt in my mind it’ll happen someday.

“I can’t believe everyone’s married here, or close to. Nobody gives a shit?” He asks. To be honest, before I’d moved here and met these guys, it was a foreign concept to me as well.

“No one bats an eye. Conner lived here his whole life, so everyone knew him and knew he liked men. Then, when we moved here, he met Kayson. Then, Kingsley met Morgan; then Jody met Cam. Jase and I just got together during summer break, so less than six months. We’re serious, though.” I tell him, just in case he gets any ideas.

“Hey, no, I was just curious. It’s new for me, that’s all.” He clarifies. I can understand that; I tell him as much.

“Do any of you have kids?” He wants to know while looking through pictures of different pieces hanging on the wall.

“The guys’ brother Jinx and his wife Layla, but they moved back to their home state just recently. To tell you the truth, I’ve only met them a handful of times, myself. But they visit often. They have a daughter, she’s about your daughter's age, maybe a little younger.

“That sucks, I was hoping y’all knew of a good daycare or a nanny type situation or something.” He asks but shrugs it off.

“Conner and me can help with that.” Morgan pops his head out from the office where Kingsley is hanging out answers that question. “I work from home; I could babysit until you found someone more permanent. My husband and I are looking into adopting; it’d be good practice.” He smiles encouragingly.

“Oh, I couldn’t put you out like that. Y’all already gave me a job.” He huffs a nervous laugh.

“It’s no trouble at all, honest. I’ll call Conner over so you can officially meet him. We’ll see how we all get along.” Morgan smiles, already walking back into the office.

“He’s nice” Finn replies, and it’s true. He’d have to be, to live with Kingsley. “Everybody is so nice here, actually.”

“It’s a good place to settle down; I won’t lie. I love it here; the people just make it better.” I tell him. Before he has a chance to reply, Conner comes barreling into the shop with the biggest smile. I swear, these guys heard there was a baby coming, and they all freaked the fuck out. It’s just a baby.

“You’re here! Hi, I’m Conner. It’s awesome to meet you finally.” He says, shaking hands with Finn but then walking quickly away when he spots the baby.

“I literally had no idea all these guys were baby crazy. Including mine.” We chuckled as we watched Conner fuss over the baby that Jase was trying to keep hold of.

“Look at how precious!” Conner squatted next to the table next to Kayson’s chair, where they sat, coloring on the paper. Well, Jase was coloring, it looked like the baby was just punching markers down on paper.

“We’re coloring, go away.” Jase teased, spitting his tongue out at a crazy Conner. Morgan joined them and sat next to Conner.

“Stop hogging the baby! Finn, tell Jase to stop hogging your baby!” Morgan whined.

“You sound like King, you big baby.” I tease them.

“Take that back, or I’m gonna tell!” Kingsley whines playfully as he walks out of the office with a bag of money to take to the bank.              

“You guys are crazy.” Finn laughs, enjoying everyone’s banter.

“Who’s doing the bank run, tonight?” King asks.

“I’ll do it, Kayson is expecting me home pretty soon, anyway. I can hit it on the way home.” Conner says. Finns phone rings and he excuses himself to answer it.

“That was the movers, my truck of stuff is in, now. We should probably meet them over at the rental.” He tells us, and Jase reluctantly hands him back his baby.

“Do you need help moving? We were going to ask earlier, but, you said you were still at the hotel.” Morgan offers.

“Oh, no. I couldn’t ask that.”

“You didn’t.” Morgan laughs. “Here, write down your new address and me, and some of the guys will meet you over there. It’ll take half the time it would’ve taken you, and one of us can hang out with this little lady while you big guys lug the heavy stuff.” He smiles at the baby and Finn.

“Well, whoever wants to help is fine, please don’t feel obligated. I’ll make sure and feed you all if pizza works for everyone.” Finn negotiates.

“Deal.” Conner says, “I’ll go drop this off and then pick up Kayse. Text me the address.” Conner says, walking out the door. “It was great to meet you, Finn. Glad you’re here.”

“I’m glad I’m here too.” He murmurs softly.

“You riding with me, baby, or you gonna stalk the baby and ride with Finn?” I ask Jase, watching him watch the baby.

“Hey, I don’t want one of my own yet, but that doesn’t mean I can’t temporarily kidnap someone else’s.” He smiles at the baby, touching her long, raven black hair. I’ve never seen such a little thing with so much hair; but then again, I’ve not been around many babies. Did he just say he didn’t want one, yet? As in, someday? I wonder if he means, like…with me? He must see the slight panic in my face because he comes over and kisses me, softly, in front of everyone.

“Someday, we’ll talk about it in a couple of years, yeah?” He whispers and I only nod. That’s a crazy idea, isn’t it? This is as close as I’ve ever been to a live baby before, who would give me one?

“Relax, I said years.” Jase giggles and kisses me again. I catch Finn smiling at us, but he looks unsure, probably all the PDA we’re displaying at the moment.

“Come on; we’ll help you move. I’ll text everyone on the way.” I tell Finn and everyone else. I smack Jase’s ass on our way out for all his teasing.

 

 

 

I’m exhausted, helping your friends move, sucks. We were all happy to lend a hand though, Finn is more like our group than we realized and I’m glad he looked us up.

“I wanna stop and get gas, baby, that way I don’t have to in the morning,” I say to Morgan on our way home. He gasps as he turns to me.

“The station with the churro’s?” He asks hopefully. As we eat somewhat healthily most of the time, my little chocolate bug could live off of all things chocolate.

“If you wanna churro baby, I’ll get you some.” I laugh at his kid like expression. That woke him up.

“Ooooh, with the chocolate dipping sauce?” He moans, next to me.

“Yes, with the chocolate dipping sauce.” I laugh at his blissful expression. Down to my soul, I love that man and its little times like these that I’m reminded why.

We pull into the gas station, and it doesn’t look busy at all. There are two cars in the lot and looks to be two men and a gaggle of children. I’m not sure who belong to whom, but I go inside to pre-pay with Morgan on my heels.

“I’m going to grab a soda; you want something to drink?” I ask Morgan as he hits the aisle with chocolate.

“Chocolate milk.” He says, making a beeline for the churro stand. I roll my eyes and go to the cooler with all the soft drinks and pick out his childlike, chocolate milk. I slide down a couple of doors and grab me a cola and just when I back up to open the door, I bump into someone standing out in the aisle.

“Oh, shit. Sorry.” I say, turning around to apologize properly. The man looks familiar, but I can’t tell where I’d seen him before.

“Oh, hey, yeah, sorry.” He rambles.

“Didn’t hurt ya, did I?” I ask, studying his face. I know I’ve seen him before, but I cannot for the life of me, remember where from. “Do I know you?” I ask, knowing it’ll bug the piss out of me if I don’t.

“Yeah, uh…” He shuffles his feet and looks around nervously, “I doubt it.

“Hmmm,” I say, noncommittedly. I’d swear I know him from somewhere.

“Ooooh, if I could marry this, I would.” Morgan paddled down the aisle way and stopped just short of this guy I’d just run into. “Oh, hey… sorry, I’m having a love affair with chocolate churro’s.” He smiled at the guy I’d just bumped into.

“No problem, sorry I bumped into you.” The guy tried for a friendly smile, but it presented itself as a grimace.

“Running over people again?” Morgan asked, dunking his finger back into his dipping sauce.              

“Oh no, it was my fault. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” The man says to both of us, looking afraid to dispute the simple mistake.

“Just backed up into him, wanted to make sure I didn’t step on him or accidentally give him a concussion or something.” I tried to tease; I knew my big body was hard and probably not fun to faceplant into. Especially my elbow, which felt like bumped him first.

“Nope, all good. Sorry, again. Sorry.” He says just before taking off.

“Jeez, scare the man, why don’t ya.” Morgan giggled. The whole encounter did seem kind of weird, but I’d swear there was more to it than that.

“You got all you need, fiend?” I asked my husband, shoving away the awkward encounter. He was still dipping his finger into his chocolate and if I knew any better…and I did, he was going to need more chocolate before we got home to eat his churro. “You better refill your chocolate, else you won’t have enough for bathing that in,” I suggested.

“Good idea.” He murmured around the chocolate dipped finger in his mouth, and he turned to spout of chocolate to get some more. I met him at the counter and paid for all of our things, including the extra chocolate; then, we jumped back in the truck to head home.

“So, now that Jody and Cam tied the knot, the only one left to do it is you and Joke. Any plans for that yet?” I ask Jase, just as Jody came into the shop and sat down. I was inking the Joker card on Jase’s hip that he was doing as a surprise for Joker’s birthday. I had a feeling, Joke wouldn’t be too happy with me for inking his man, but whatever. I’d been inking him long before he’d ever met Joker; he’d just have to get over it.

“What the fuck, King?” Jody grouched, like I knew he would. I see Jase’s flat stomach bouncing with his chuckles as I continue to taunt Jody.

“I’m just saying, Papa Bear, our little boys’ all grown up. Do I get to be your best man? Please tell me I can be your best man.” I goaded.

“I guess y’all can draw straws.” He chortled, Jody, rolling his eyes and flipping us off.

“Don’t rush him, King. They’ve known each other for half a’ minute.” Jody grumbled but then looked to Jase seriously, “I do think it’ll happen eventually though and when it does, I’ll give my blessing. I like Joke.” Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Jody.

“What? I do!” He jumped up defensively and disappeared into the back, break room.

“That was weird,” Jase commented, and I agreed. Jody wasn’t known for his thought out nicely timed compliments. “Marriage made him soft, I think.” I murmured.

“Jody! King said marriage made you soft!” Jase yelled back to Jody. I should’ve stabbed him with my tattoo gun, the little punk.

“Fuck you, King! I’ll show you soft in a minute!” My eyes went wide at his threat, and I couldn’t help but laugh… I seemed to like easy going Jody; I hope he stayed a while.

The shop wasn’t busy today at all; Jody was here for a three-hour session with one of his out-of-towners and Finn was coming in later for an unofficial first day, handling walk-ins. I was going to let him ink me; a small cancer ribbon on the inside of the wrist of my right hand. I’d been wanting to do it for a while, just never got around to it. It’d be the perfect time to let Finn break some skin at his new shop before his official start up. He readily agreed and was coming to meet Morgan here so Morgan could watch his daughter Lennon. I had to admit; I loved seeing Morgan with that little girl; any time he, Jase or Conner was within eyesight of her, one of them (or all of them) moved in to claim her. If Finn stayed around and let them be honorary Uncles, that little thing was going to be spoiled rotten- just ask Kady.

The rest of the next few weeks was watching everyone get settled in with life as married couples and us with our newest addition to our tribe. Everyone got along with everyone, and we even suspected that Finn had met someone. Morgan had offered to babysit if he wanted to ever go out with the guys after work or find something to do before coming to pick her up of an evening. We were going through the process of getting an adoption started, but we were told that fostering might be a better option. It was costly and a long shot for us to adopt, but my man wasn’t giving up. If anything, the time he spent with little Lennon, made him more determined that we would be great parents. Everything was going great, Everyone was happy and healthy and in love, and things couldn’t be better….

At least, that’s what we always say, right before shit hits the fan, isn’t it?

 

 

“Hello?” My phone rang, mid-back piece and I wouldn’t have answered it at all, but ennon and I, were still getting used to our new home and all the new people in our lives; so when I saw that it was Morgan calling, I wanted to make sure that everything was okay with her. He’d been a godsend the last month, they all had been. Jase, Morgan, Conner and even Kady had become extremely taken with my little lady. I appreciated them, more than they knew. They’d all accepted us with open arms, and I was so grateful that they’d given me a shot.

“Hey, Finn. Everything’s okay, but Lenny girl, here, is running a slight fever and I just fed her those puff things she likes, not many, about a handful and the first drink of juice she took, she threw up. I mean, not just spit-up, but like…exorcist throw up. I gave her the baby medicine, and although she’s a little fussy, her fever went down a bit, but I just wanted to let you know.” Morgan rambles. He’s trying to sound calm, I can tell; unfortunately, his panic is showing through his long but rapid explanation.

“Okay, do you think we should take her to the clinic? We don’t have a doctor here, yet.” I ask as I’m thinking out loud.

“I mean, kids get sick, right? It doesn’t seem like anything terrible. I’m sure it’s not emergency room sickness, is it?” He asks, worriedly, like I’ll have a clue. While it’s true, I’ve been doing this dad thing for a couple of years now, I’m still at a loss when it comes to knowing the ins and outs of everything, baby. I’m learning as I go.

“I’m not sure, should I google it?” I turn my gun off and ask. I take off my gloves that I would’ve replaced before restarting and apologized to my client. “It’s about my daughter; I’ll just be a sec, do you wanna take a break for a few minutes?” I ask, and she agrees.

“I already did. I wouldn’t advise it. I’m pretty sure it’ll tell you everything from a simple infection to prostate cancer… she doesn’t even have a prostate; it’ll just scare you!” He almost squeaks. I can’t help but giggle at his warning, I already knew about those doctor sites, I try to stay away from them. Why is everything, always cancer!? Earache? Cancer. Stomach ache? Could be cancer. Long menstral period, probably cancer! I didn’t fancy myself a hypochondriac until I started looking things up on the internet. I was convinced we were all going to die within days of a stubbed toe, from blood clots, gangrene, and infection. I’ve learned my lesson.

“How about I check her temp again in about a half-hour and I’ll see if I can’t get her to drink some water, and if it gets worse, I’ll meet you over at the clinic?” He suggests. I have about a half-hour-forty-five minutes left on this outline, so I agree. Hopefully, it’s nothing, but if she’s not doing any better, I’ll just reschedule my next appointment that’s a couple of hours after this one, and we’ll see what’s what. Better to be safe than to be sorry. I apologize to my client, and she fully understands, having three children, herself, her stories keep me distracted until we finish.

 

Hey, Kayse, that was Morgan, he says Lennon is running a fever and throwing up, has been for about an hour. Would it be okay if I checked out early and ran her to the clinic? I just want to make sure it isn’t anything to worry about; he says now that Kingsley’s home, even he can’t get her to stop fussing. I hate not being with her when she isn’t feeling good.” I explain and hope he has mercy on me. I know I’m still the new guy and this will technically be the second time I need time off for something baby related. About a week after moving here, Lennon caught her little toes on a frayed piece of carpet in the hallway and bumped her head pretty good. She’s just learned that running, is fun when you have bouncy hair, but it’s also dangerous when it’s not pulled up because it gets in her eyes and she can’t see where she’s running. Hence, head-bounced-off-wall.

Kids get bumps and bruises, I know this, but head injuries are no joke. And I know these guys don’t have children yet, so I wasn’t sure how empathetic they’d be to my situation. Sometimes, people who don’t have children, don’t understand that literally everything else comes second to being a parent. Your child will always come first, no matter how many clients I have or how important I know that they are. Luckily, the Kennedy’s understand that.

“Of course, You should’ve said something earlier; someone would've taken over for you. Go, make sure everything is okay.” Kayson tells me, and I’ll be damned if he doesn’t look just as worried as I feel. I knew these guys were good guys, I’d heard of their reputation for as long as I’ve been inking. I never dreamed they’d adopt us into their little fold and all but adopt my little girl as their honorary niece or something. They do that, though. I shouldn’t have been surprised; between Jody, Jase, Joker, and their partners; blood couldn't make them any thicker. Now, they’ve engulfed my baby and me into all that familial goodness. For someone who doesn’t have anyone but the baby they inherited, that family means the world.

“I really appreciate it, Kayse. Thank you.” I shake his hand and gather up my things. I text Morgan on my way out, and he tells me that he’ll just meet us at the walk-in. Since it’s a little bit closer than their house, I agree. Within ten minutes, I walk in and find that they’re not only there, but they’ve also already been given a triage room.

“I’m here for Lennon Finnley. My babysitter brought her in; they said she’s already in a room.” I tell the tired looking, middle aged woman at the admittance desk.

“Oh yes, beautiful little girl. Come with me.” She smiles and ushers me down the hallway, “The doctor is a little behind, we apologize, but someone will be here in just a minute.” She says and opens the curtain. I can hear my girl whimpering and humming like she does when she tries to fight sleep.

“Daddy’s here, Lenny, look,” Morgan says to her and turns her my way. Her little head is resting on his shoulder, and she’s wrapped up tight in a blanket with her little pink bunny that she can’t live without.

“Hey, baby girl,” I say softly as she reaches for me. Her little head falls right to my shoulder, and her little chubby arm wraps halfway around one side of my neck. She fusses a little bit, but I pat her back as I hug her too me and bounce a little bit while we rock back and forth.

“She feels so hot, but when I take the blanket off, her whole body trembles.” Morgan explains, “I texted Cameron, he’s up on ‘labor and delivery’ so he can’t come down at the moment, but he’s sending his second-year intern. He assures me that he’s very good with kids.”

“Thank you. Thank you for bringing her and for calling me.” I tell him, honestly. I hate having to rely on someone else to be with my girl, but I have to work. I can’t be with her 24/7 like I want to be. I don’t think I could find a better replacement, though. Morgan is just as much of a father-hen than I am.

“No problem. If I know Cam, he’ll be down here as soon as he can.” Morgan smiles and I’m betting he’s right.

Knock-knock. Someone knocks on the door, just before walking in.

“Hey guys, I’m Jay. The doctor will be here shortly, but for now, how about I get this little lady something cold for her tummy and check her over real good. That be okay?” The lanky, gorgeous, baby-faced man says, seeming to talk softly to my girl but the question seems to be for me. Unfortunately, my struck-stupid brain hasn’t reprogrammed itself after the light blue of his eyes, struck me that way.

“Finn,” Morgan calls.

“Yeah. Oh, yeah, that’s fine, thanks.” I mumble to myself. Oh, shit. The smile. Dimples.

“Great, let’s get her over here so I can check out those ears. If you wanna have a seat here. Are you dad?” He asks, looking back and forth between Morgan and me. Morgan points to me.

“Yeah, me,” I reply, stupidly. I can’t tell how old he is, but I know he’s got to be at least legal, if he’s a nurse or a doctor, I guess. Second year interns have years of school, surely, he’s old enough for me to be checking out, right?

“I’m just the manny.” Morgan informs him, voice full of humor, probably at the way I seem to have had a stroke in the last three minutes.

“Lucky you.” The pretty man, says as we winks at me. What did that mean? Did he mean, me?

“This little lady must be all the fun, huh?” He talks to my girl, and he looks into both ears, gently with the ear things. What are those called, I wonder? “Her ear over here on this right side looks red. Has she been pulling on it at all?” He asks, now, sticking one of those ear thermometers in her ear. He holds it until it beeps, after only a second and then throws the little disposable tip away. He grabs her chart and jots things down as Morgan answers his question. I feel like a heel because I can only stare at him.

“I haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.” I finally speak up. I haven’t noticed any ear problems or fussiness at all.

“That’s okay. Sometimes ear infections go undetected and clear themselves up. Sometimes they give us problems. It doesn’t look terrible, but that’d be my guess. You said she was throwing up?” He asks and again, Morgan answers.

“That could’ve just been the fever, especially if she's drinking milk.” He smiles at my girl and hands her tongue depressor to play with. She hides her face into my chest, but flirts with him, shyly. She seems to be feeling better now that her daddy is here. At least, I’m hoping so.

I’m not sure if I’m making him uncomfortable or not, seeing how I can’t stop staring at him; but he seems to be staring back, just as hard. I feel like a tool. Actually, the man’s got me struck absolutely stupid. He’s small, way smaller than me; bright blue, almost white looking eyes, dark brown hair and a small, twink-like body. His baby face hides his age, and I want so badly to ask. Maybe Cam knows him, and I can ask. I wonder if he’s gay or interested. I wonder what he’d say if I asked him out.

“Does she like freezer pops? I can get her a push pop while you wait if you want.” He smiles at me, prettily.

“Yeah, thanks. That’d be nice of you.” I say softly, loving the eyes. I can’t seem to look away from them. We both stare for longer than is acceptable and I feel Morgan shifting around, beside me. I blink and look over to Morgan who is looking for all the world, like the cat who got the cream.

“I’ll uh; I’ll be right back with that, then.” Jay clears his throat and shuffles quickly out the door, looking as embarrassed as I feel.

“Somebody has a crush on the pretty doctor.” Morgan teases. I don’t even deny it; he’s simply gorgeous. I can’t imagine he’d like a big, bear looking man like me, but he seemed at least a little bit interested, didn’t he?

“That was embarrassing.” I sulk, sitting Lennon and I back on the exam table, holding her to me, tightly as she gets comfy on my lap, playing with the wooden tongue stick.

“I’d say he was just as smitten.” Morgan comments.

“Really? You think so?” I ask, feeling ridiculous, but not caring. Dating has been impossible since I brought Lennon home and while I have had a couple of buddies that ended up in my bed; they were friends first, and I didn’t have to go through any trouble, meeting new guys and dating. Unfortunately, I left everyone behind when I left Atlanta.

“Totally, you should ask him out.” Morgan smiles mischievously; all for that idea.

“That’s weird, I talked to him for maybe three seconds, and that was after I tried to swallow my tongue.” I complained, “What if he’s not even gay but was just looking at the bush I have on my face.” Morgan laughed his ass off and was still giggling by the time Jay walked in, with a push pop for Lennon. He offered it to her, already opened and chattered with her for a minute before handing me a paper print out on temperatures in toddlers. Babies temperatures run hotter, so 103 might seem high to me, but it isn’t a cause for immediate panic in toddlers. It also gives medicine and doses, by age and weight on here too, as well as other options to try before bringing her into the emergency room. Cool compresses, a luke warm bath. Things like that.

“And this here is my card, if you have any questions at all…you know, don’t hesitate.” He stammers, just a little. I found myself nodding and thanking him, but he left before I could say much else. He didn’t even look at Morgan, which I found weird but cute.

“Dude.” Morgan deadpanned. “He gave you his number.”

“No, he didn’t, he gave me his card. Totally different. He takes his patients, seriously.” I try to argue.

“Except you aren’t his patient because he’s just an intern. The doctor hasn’t been in, yet.” He smiles again, looking far too pleased with himself. Would I call him? Should I? I don’t even think I’d know what to say if I did.

I look down at the print-out paper and palm the card in my hand; pulling out my wallet, so I don’t lose it.

Dr. Douglas Jay Perry
  510-555-1415

The beginning….not end.

©Jenny Wood 06/14/2017

I know, I know, y’all. Don’t hate me! I hate cliffhangers too! But come on…That was a good one, eh?

If you don’t know who Douglas Perry is, perhaps you’ve forgotten him from “Kayson.”

Have a reminder, here.

 

 

Prologue: Conner

The weather is terrible today; the rain clouds are casting a shadowed gloom over the small block of independently owned businesses that my bookstore sits in the middle of. I have a sweet little lady in the building beside me who sells her homemade, purely organic bath products. She has shampoo’s, conditioners, bath bombs, moisturizers, lotions and a handful of other things that leave a sweet smelling, honeyed aroma throughout our small block. Although it smells amazing, the building to the left of me is a small, family-owned deli that makes the most delicious soups and sandwiches. Between their hot chocolate and “Bett’s Naturals’,” sugary smells; every time I walk through these doors, my brain convinces me I’m just on this side of starving; which is why I’m so distracted today I think.

Directly across from the deli is an intimate little music store where Jetson Jacks, sells CDs, concert DVDs, vintage vinyl and the walls are even lined with used guitars and all different types of musical instruments that people stop in and jam with from time to time.

In the spring, I can hear the classic rock music that Jetson of “Jetson Jacks Music” plays for the block. He used to be in a band in his glory days and wants to live out the rest of his life with other people who enjoy the music as he does. I’ve only been in there a handful of times since moving into my building a year a half ago; I couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, never mind attempt to play an instrument, but he’s really funny and his store is really neat, even I could admit, it’s a fun place to hang out.

Directly across from Betts; (whose name is Betsy Valentine-seriously, how adorable is that?), is a small, art gallery, where semi-famous hometown artist, Camden Robert Ross, teaches his art classes. I call him “Cob Ross” and I think he hates me just a little bit for it, but only because he swears he’s actually better than the actual Bob Ross…He isn’t, but he’s almost, just as good. They do pottery, group paintings, sculptures and every few months; he holds a charity function to donate to our children’s home here in town.

 Our whole block is lined with little shops like ours; antiques, eateries, clothing stores, thrift shops, flower shops and even a “Wiccan Spells” shop.” I’ve never been in there, personally, but I’ve heard some really interesting things. The lady who owns it, Wendy, (Yes, her name is Wendy, and she’s a witch who was born on Halloween- coincidence? I think not! Talk about a pre-destined calling in life.) She’s incredibly sweet, and she’s married to a local computer repairman that I’ve had to hire more than a handful of times since I started renting tablets out by the week or if you had a “Hideout” card, you could check them out for any amount of time up to a week. We’re a nice little community on this side of our small little hick town that’s home to about nine hundred people; and everyone- Wendy included- is just a part of our family over here on our small block.

Now, what is directly across the narrow, two-lane street of my shop, you may wonder? That would be the recently renovated and newly opened tattoo shop; “Kennedy Brother’s Ink”- owned and operated by Kayson and Kingsley Kennedy. I’ve yet to actually meet either one of them, but that doesn’t stop me from peering into their glass fronted windows from time to time…. Okay, slightly more than from time to time but not in a weird way… Okay, well not in a completely, stalkerish, weird way.

 They usually come in around ten in the morning and stay open until well after ten in the evening; they have a couple of others who work there, piercers and whatever other kinds of people who might work in a tattoo parlor. Do they call them parlors anymore? That seems old-fashioned, even to me and I’m the definition of old-fashioned.

Me? I’m Conner Allen, and I own this book store/makeshift library.

While it’s true that I inherited it from my grandma who left it to me when she retired; it was basically my refuge growing up. I’d probably be doing the same exact thing, even if she hadn’t left it to me; but I’m forever grateful that she did. I hope I’m making her proud, because I’ve switched things up a bit, since making some renovations myself. We do buy, sell and trade, but we also have a monthly membership where you can check out as many books as you’d like as long as they came back or you renewed them at the end of every week. I’ve been turning a pretty decent profit since taking over several years ago. I had to take a few business courses that weren’t much fun, but, someone had to learn the books when Nan got sick, and I’m thankful that I did now. I was content with my small little house in my small little neighborhood. I loved it here in Madison, Georgia. It was country living at its finest and before Kennedy Brother’s Ink. opened up their shop right across the street; I’d never in my twenty-six years of living here, ever seen a tattoo shop/parlor. I wondered what made them come to our small town and settle here.

I didn’t know much about them yet, which was odd because in a town like ours; people liked to talk. I’m sure there are folks around here that know their entire life stories, but none that I had come across yet. It wasn’t really my business, and I didn’t like to entertain idle gossip, but I have to admit I was curious as hell about them. All of them, sure, but Kayson Kennedy especially.

While it’s also true that Madison, isn’t the friendliest of the gay-friendly towns; or even state, I’d lived in this town my whole life; as did my mama, her mama and her mama’s, mama. They used to joke that hiding me in the closet would never work because I’d bust out in all their heels and give myself away. I didn’t get it back then, but I guess looking back, it just was what it was. I never thought to hide it because everyone had known it, before I did, even. It helped that I lived with my Mama and Nanny my whole life. My father was killed in a gas station robbery when I was just a couple of months old, so my Mamma sold our house across town, and we moved in with Nanny. Mama still lives in that same ol’ house, but I’d moved out years ago. I did still visit a lot because it was just us now; no one else. Mama never remarried or even dated anyone after losing my dad; meaning, she never had any more kids; no matter how much I begged in middle school for a little brother or sister. It never happened, and we lost Nanny last summer to pneumonia, so; just us.

I figured I’d be getting a lot of business over this way the next couple weeks; I was in the business of buying and selling books, so I knew that the kids from the college would be coming over here to get some cash for their useless textbooks now that the semester was over. I did, as I mentioned, buy, sell or trade and whatever books I’d get at the end of a semester, someone would surely buy them at the beginning of the next one. It happened every term. As long as they were in good shape, I wasn’t picky. I had a little bit of everything in here; from textbooks to romances to murder mystery to gossip mags; it didn’t matter; there was a little something for everybody.

I also had three employees’; Craig, Denny and Claire, because not only did we have books for just about anyone, we also had a coffee station where people could come in, have some coffee and read or work on their computer’s. It stayed pretty quiet in here/unless it was Tuesday nights, that’s when we had kids’ night, where someone (usually Claire) read for the kids. All of my employees were younger than my twenty-six years old and worked between going to school and hanging out with their friends. I didn’t have many friends, partly because I was uncomfortably shy, but also partly because I was always in here. Craig, Denny, and Claire all rotated days of the week to share a shift with me; and twice during that week I had the day off, and they worked together. Mostly, though, I was always here and worked with one of them from open to close. I was only open from 9-5, so it wasn’t like I never got any free time; just when I did, I preferred to go home and read or watch TV, instead of going to one of the bars in town, the pool hall or the one movie theater we have here in small-town, Madison.

 Buying one ticket to see a movie by yourself was embarrassing, especially on a weekend. I’d made that mistake once before; never again. Jade Gentry and his shadow puppets sat behind me and acted like high-school kids, kicking my seat and throwing popcorn and slinging slurs about being the only gay man in town- the whole time.

I can’t say it didn’t bother me, much, like it did when he’d done it back in high-school but I also can’t say it was as bad. I knew his wife and two kids had left him last year and moved to Stonebrook to get away from his drinking and to stay out all night. I’d heard that through the grapevine and I knew that he was miserable without her, but instead of fighting to get her back, he just stewed in his misery and tried to make everyone else that way too. Hence, I never stepped foot back in that movie theater and didn’t plan on changing it anytime soon. I was content getting to talk to the people here in town that would come through my store. They were friendly enough, and my employees were friendly enough that I’d call them friends. So, I wasn’t lonely; not really. Not until I went home at the end of every night and had no one to talk to but my cat; Pickles. Only then did I feel a little bit of the loneliness creeping in.

It was a slow day today; Monday’s usually were, until around three, when kids got out of school. Then, instead of going to the deli/café next door or the park when it was warm; most of the high school and community college kids came here to study. That was another reason business was as good as it was. Our little town didn’t have a library closer than 20 miles away so this was it, as far as a quiet place to study went; and even though I had three desktop computers that could be rented out for two hours at a time, (unless no one else was in line, then I was pretty lenient about it), but still, this was as close to a library as a lot of these kids got.

“Good morning, Conner” Betsy came in around ten. Although there was a deli right next door; nobody beat our fancy coffee.

“Good morning, Betsy. How are you today?” I asked politely.

“Things are getting better. You know Harold fell and broke his hip last month and he’s got that therapy lady coming over today, bless him. I swear she flirts with him until he gets out of his chair. If it wasn’t working so well, I might be jealous.” She jokes, telling me, again, about her husband and the goings on between them, like she does most every morning. He had, in fact, fell and broke his hip last month, but didn’t require surgery, as it wasn’t bad enough to warrant it. He did have to do physical therapy four times a week though and getting him out of his TV chair before the new therapist, was next to impossible. According to Betsy, it was down-right easy to get him out of it now, when “Misses. Stethoscope”, came calling- her words, not mine.

“I’m glad he’s doing better.” I smile my sincerity. Betsy and Harold have been married for forty-one years. I couldn’t even imagine knowing a person for that forty-one years let alone spending every single day with them. What that must be like?

“Carl and I are going to welcome the new proprietors across the way, here in a bit. You wanna go check ‘em out with us?” She asked, Carl being the proprietor of “Bailey’s Deli” next door.       To be honest, I couldn’t see any of us in a tattoo shop and wondered how we’d look, all of us, trotting across the street to say our hello’s.

“Oh, no thank you. I’ll let ya’ll be the welcome wagon.” I tell her and she beams. Although she’s the one that’s always in everybody’s business, she is a good person to have on your side. She’s not one of those gossip hounds that tells everybody’s business, good or bad; but she does have a tendency to know a little something about everyone. 

“Alright then, honey. I’ll tell ‘em all to come introduce themselves, another time then.” She winked as I handed her, her usual vanilla cappuccino and she scuttled on back over to her store.

Claire came in at noon and we had a few people meander in and out for the next couple hours while I stacked some books and replaced some others. When the school kids came in, it got louder than usual but not to a disruptive noise. I’d been noticing this high-school kid, Douglas, as everyone called him, kept side eyeing me every time I’d get near his area. The kid had been coming in for the past couple weeks but I didn’t know him nor did I know his parents; which I thought, rare, because like I said, everyone tended to know everyone around these parts.  I tried to smile encouragingly at him, but he always got weird looks and looked away. I’m not sure what his problem was, but he seemed to have quite the attitude. I ignored his dirty looks and suspicious behavior and went back to the front counter.

“We have two of the house computers in use and three tablets checked out. Two for the week, and one for an hour.” Claire tells me, as she makes two cups of French vanilla, iced coffee.

“Great, thanks. Mary Henley turned hers back in, I assume?” I asked, knowing Mary Henley was always a day late and a dollar short, every time she came in here. She never turned anything in on time and always tried to haggle my book prices, even though most of them were way too cheap as it was. Still, she was one of our best customers so, I didn’t give her too much trouble about it. Plus, she was only 13.

“She did and her mama came in and paid the late fee.” Claire rolled her eyes but then smiled. She knew how challenging that girl could be. I almost felt sorry for her mama.

“Hey, do you know that kid over there? Tall, black hair, big hoodie? I see him in here from time to time but he never checks out with me and I never catch him leaving.” I asked her quietly; wanting to at least know the kid’s name.

“Mmmhmm.” She huffed. “That’s Douglas Perry. He’s a punk, alright. I caught him trying to walk out of here with a book last week. I dang near had to chase him down. I told him no more of that stuff or I’d have to call his folks. He rolled his eyes and got a card, so, I reckon he hadn’t done it again, since.” She says while now entering new books that we’d just gotten from the thrift store, into the computer.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I stopped digging through the boxes and asked.

“I thought I had it handled. He didn’t actually steal anything so I didn’t want to get him in trouble.” She answered, staring back at me with wide eyes

I sighed and agreed, I guess she had a point.

It wasn’t minutes after we’d brought up that the kid in the oversized hoodie, passed by me at a shelf I was rearranging; when his shoulder slammed into my shoulder and made him drop the tablet from his front pocket. He scooped it up and continued to walk out.

“Sir, you didn’t turn in your tablet!” Claire called out to the kid but he just kept walking. “Excuse me! Douglas!” She yelled again and tried to go after him but I held up my hand to stop her. I didn’t know this kid but if he’s taking something that doesn’t belong to him, right in front of us, he’s not going to listen to her if she follows him outside. So I do.

“Excuse me, Douglas is it?” I try, following him out the door. “If you want to rent that for the week, you’re more than welcome. It’s cheap and you already have a card. Just go in there to Claire and she’ll set you up.” I try again, but he doesn’t turn. I put my hand on his arm to stop him but wasn’t expecting him to turn as quick as he did or for him to tower over me in anger.

“I know you didn’t just put your hand on me, faggot.” He snarled loudly; spittle flying from his mouth into my face. While it wasn’t the first time someone had called me that, but again, I wasn’t expecting it and it stopped me up short.

“I just wanted to tell you that you could rent that tablet, but taking it out of the building without renting it, is stealing. Cl-Claire tried to tell you but you weren’t listening. I need you to hand it over or go back in and rent it.” I tried to seem unfazed but he was towering over me and if I was being honest, it was scaring the shit out of me. I really should have thought this through a little better, but I’ve never had a problem like this before, not like this.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He backs up and looks around.

“The tablet, in your jacket. It belongs to the bookstore.” I tell him unnecessarily; he knows it does, he’s just trying to steal it.

“You accusing me of something, Cho-Mo?” He crowds me again, trying to intimidate me and it’s working.

“I called Sherriff Lang, Con; he’ll be here in 10,” Claire called to me from the door. That seemed to piss the young man off, because, without warning, he reared back and hit me square in the nose. I doubled over in pain, hands holding my face. I could feel the warmth of the blood pouring down my lips and chin and making my shirt stick to my chest. I couldn’t help but cry. Seeing people on TV get punched in the face and snap back like nothing happened was crazy. This hurt so bad, I thought I was going to throw up, the pain was so intense. I couldn’t open my eyes or seem to stop them from watering on their own.

“Hey, man. Hang on, let’s sit you down here for a second.” I hear a baritone voice beside me as he helps me to the sidewalk to sit. I look up through the blur of teary eyes to see tatted up, Kayson Kennedy- the man I’d been watching from afar. His golden-brown eyes are all I see while he’s gripping my chin and turning my face this way and that. He’s the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen up close and I curse not being able to see him in all this inked up glory from across the two-lane street on a daily basis.

“Here, take this rag.” Claire is suddenly at our side, shoving a towel at Kayson.

“What the heck were you thinking, Conner? You should have let him go! Look at your face!” She squeals, frantically. I’d actually forgotten that I just got punched in the face, while I was getting lost in the golden depths of Kayson’s eyes. It’s then that I notice my shirt is covered, my hands are covered and from sitting here with my knees bent up to my chest; even they are getting covered with thick, sticky, blood red, splotches. It’s more than I can handle and the next thing I see… is nothing.

 

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Chapter 1

Alvin

I’m out.

They say I’m not fit to serve anymore.

The things I’ve seen over there; the people I’ve hurt; none of that shit matters to them. As long as I’m pissed at the right people, as long as I take it out on the right motherfuckers; they let me stay. They ship me off and they let me rage at the enemy. And I do-I did. But now, on the plane home to attend the funeral of my entire family; my beautiful mother, who clung to me and cried the first through the fourth time I got sent overseas; sent me and my team care packages and letters from home every chance she got. My father, who told me he was proud of me, literally every time he saw me, even though I knew he was scared to death every time I left that I’d never come home. And my twin, nine-year-old sisters; Alexis and Alecia, who were my parents later in life surprise and loves of my life. All of them are lost to me now. I’m coming home to bury all of them and I can’t muster the gumption to give a fuck that my career is over.

 

If you want to read what happens next, that started this whole thing: Click here!