Dylan immediately wrapped his arms around me as he started to sob. I embraced him and pulled him inside, shutting the door behind us. I took him by the shoulders and asked, “Dylan, what happened?”
Eli and Joey came to the entry where we were standing, Eli said, “oh shit.” He took Dylan’s arm and pulled him to the kitchen near the sink. He grabbed a washcloth and ran it under the water and began to clean Dylan up.
I again asked, “what happened?”
Dylan took a deep breath as Eli had the blood cleaned from his lip. Dylan said, “when I left here this afternoon, Dawson was waiting for me where I had parked my car. He asked what I was doing, I told him it was none of his business. I got in my car and drove back to my apartment, he followed me there. I tried to keep him from coming into my apartment, but he forced the door open. He said he saw me come out of your house and asked me why I was here. I just kept trying to get him to leave, he was accusing me of telling you about things we were doing at our brewery. I told him that I didn’t, but he kept asking why I was at your house. I finally told him that I liked you and he hit me.”
Joey jumped up from his chair and said, “that son of a bitch, come on Eli, let’s go teach that asshole a lesson.” He started to head for the door.
Dylan said, “no, please don’t. I’ll be fine.”
Joey said, “he had no right to lay his hands on you Dylan, he needs to know that.”
I said, “Joey, relax. You’re right, but that’s not the way we need to handle this.”
Joey was seeing red, “but no one deserves to be hit for being who they are, the fucking Dawson needs to understand that.”
Eli grabbed Joey, he said, “hey, calm down. I know this is a hard thing for you to see, but we really need to think before we run off half-cocked.”
It took a few more minutes, but we finally had Joey calmed down. I put some ice in a bag and had Dylan hold it to eye and sat him in a chair. I sat next to him and put my arm around his shoulder.
I asked, “are you hurt anywhere else?”
He shook his head, “no, he just hit me twice, but I’m sure he’s already at dad’s, telling him everything.”
Eli asked, “how did he know you were here?”
Dylan sighed, “I stopped at the store to get that six-pack of Malloy beer, I didn’t even think about it, but the guy working there noticed. He is a friend of Dawson, and I guess he must have called Dawson to tell him.”
I looked at Eli and Joey, I was so thankful that they seemed to care about Dylan. Eli cleaning him up as soon as he saw him, Joey wanting to kick Dawson ass. They really were good friends, and I was grateful for their support.
I asked, “do you want to go to the police Dylan?”
He shook his head, “no. It wouldn’t do any good. I’m sure my dad would be able to get everything swept under the rug. He would never let Dawson get in trouble.”
I sighed when I realized that Dylan was probably right, I’m sure Scott had enough influence to make this go away.
I said, “ok, so what do you want to do?”
Dylan looked at me with those sad eyes, he said, “I don’t know what to do Caleb, could I stay with you, just until I figure it out?”
Before I could answer, Eli said, “hell yes you can stay here. We are not going to let that prick Dawson anywhere near you.”
I nodded, “of course you can stay here.”
He gave us a weak smile, “thank you, thank you all.” I think it was the first time that Dylan ever had anyone to offer him any support.
He asked, “would you mind if I took a shower, it might help me relax.”
I said, “absolutely, you can borrow some of my clothes.”
Dylan and I went to my bedroom, I found some clothes for him and left him to take his shower. I came back into the kitchen, Eli and Joey were still sitting at the table.
I said, “thanks guys, I really appreciate your help with Dylan.”
Eli said, “you know we got your back.”
I smiled, “yeah, I know.”
Joey said through his clenched teeth, “I still want to go kick that prick’s ass.”
I chuckled, “I know, but let’s take the high road. Dawson will get what he deserves.”
Fifteen minutes later, Dylan walked back into the kitchen.
I wrapped him in a hug and asked, “do you feel a little better?”
He smiled, “yeah, a little bit I guess.”
He joined us at the table and Joey and Eli went back to talking about their basketball game. They were still both accusing each other of cheating and Dylan seemed to relax and was soon laughing with us. I called and ordered a pizza, Eli and Joey went to pick it up and were back in five minutes. After we ate, we sat around the pool for a while, again we didn’t talk about Dawson or Scott. It helped that Dylan and Joey went to high school together, so they could talk about their school days.
Before we called it a night, I asked Dylan if he wanted to go to his apartment the next day to get some clothes.
He said, “yeah, I guess I should. I’m sure dad will stop paying the rent after what happened today.”
Joey said, “we’ll go with you and help, and make sure no one shows up to pay you a visit.”
Dylan smiled, “if we go at around 10 o’clock, I’m sure no one will bother us. Mom makes us all go to church every Sunday and back to her house for dinner. We should have an hour or two.”
Eli asked, “are you going to church?”
Dylan laughed, “oh hell no, I know mom will be upset, but I’m not ready to face her or anyone else just yet.”
I said, “we have a plan then, I think I’m ready to call it a night.”
Everyone agreed, Eli and Joey went to Eli’s room, and Dylan and I went to mine. Dylan snuggled against me when we crawled under the covers.
He said, “thank you for being here for me today.”
I kissed the top of head, “you’re welcome, it was partially my fault too.”
He asked, “why is it your fault?”
I said, “if you hadn’t come to see me, Dawson would have never found out about us.”
Dylan said, “I’m actually glad things are out in the open. I knew you were right about me telling dad, I was trying to think of a way to tell him after church on Sunday. I know the next couple of weeks are probably going to be rough, but with your help, I think I will be fine.”
I nodded, “I got your back, and Eli and Joey do too.”
He said, “yeah, they are good guys, I wish I would have been friends with Joey in high school, and not just because he’s hot.”
I chuckled, “I’m sure Eli will be glad to hear that.”
We held each other as we drifted off to sleep. We woke up the next morning, Dylan’s eye had turned purple during the night, but the swelling had started to go down a bit. We had a quick breakfast and headed over to Dylan’s apartment. We packed his clothes and decided to take everything he wanted, not knowing if he would ever be back. He obviously wouldn’t need any furniture so within an hour we were back at my house. I had Dylan pull his car into the garage in case Dawson or Scott decided to drive by to see if he was there. After we had unloaded everything, we ate a quick lunch, Joey and Eli left for the afternoon.
I decided that since I had things set up in grandpa’s office, I just as well make the rest of the house mine. Dylan and I took his things right to grandma’s and grandpa’s bedroom, we spent the rest of afternoon moving my clothes and rearranging the room to suit us. There were two walk-in closets and a king-size bed, so I thought it would be more comfortable for us. By the time Eli and Joey returned we had our new bedroom set up. I told Eli he could decide if he wanted to move as well, he said he would decide later. Joey went home and Eli, Dylan and I went to bed.
The next morning, I took my shower to get ready to go to work. Dylan was out of bed when I came back into the bedroom. Eli and I both came out of our rooms at the same time to the smell of bacon and fresh coffee. Dylan was setting the table as we walked into the kitchen.
Dylan smiled, “it was the least I could do to thank you for all of your help. I hope you don’t mind.”
I gave him a kiss, “we don’t mind at all. Thank you.”
Eli sat at the table, “if you do this every morning, you’re my new best friend.”
After we ate, Eli left for the brewery, we were both driving our own cars in case I needed to leave during the day and Eli was talking about making a few sales calls on his own.
I gave Dylan a kiss and said, “thank you for making breakfast, are you going to be alright here alone all day?”
He smiled, “yeah, I’ll be fine. I’ll clean up the breakfast dishes and I guess I should start to look for a job. I’ll have dinner ready for you when you get home.”
I said, “call me if you need anything. You don’t think your dad or Dawson will stop by, do you?”
He shook his head, “and miss a day of work at the brewery? No, they won’t bother me.”
I got to the brewery and dug into planning for BoroFest and our relaunch of our flagship brand as well as the introduction of our new beers. I had to put the events of the past weekend on the back burner for the day. Finding the letters that my dad wrote and learning about his past relationship with Scott was a complete shock. Then Dylan, showing up on my doorstep was not something I expected. I knew I still had to be careful, I had no idea what Scott would do to get my recipes.
I was shaken out of my thoughts when Hal came into my office. He said, “I found the old records from the last time we were at BoroFest. Eli gave me the numbers from the last few years’ beer sales at the festival. I figured we could try to project how much beer we need to make.”
I nodded, “sounds like a good place to start.”
For the next two hours Hal and I poured over the numbers, Eli joined us to give his input. By the time noon rolled around, we had a number to work with. I spent the rest of the day figuring out how many ingredients, bottles and packaging we would need. I sighed after a phone call to Jeff Thomas, with the upgrades we had made, plus the new employees, if I ordered what we needed for BoroFest, I would be out of money. I was going to have to call Russ Swanson to see if there was any way to increase my line of credit.
I called him and set up an appointment for the next day. He agreed to meet with me so I started to compile all the information I would need. As I was working on that, I heard Joey and Eli out in the hall.
Eli said, “are you kidding me?”
Joey yelled, “I am dead fucking serious city boy.”
Eli raised his voice to match Joey’s, “that is awesome redneck.”
I yelled, “what the hell is going on out there?”
Eli and Joey appeared at my door, and both tried to walk through at the same time, resembling a scene from an old Three Stooge’s movie. I was laughing at the sight as they made their way in front of my desk.
Eli was first to speak, “Joey had a great idea this weekend, and with all the excitement with Dylan, we forget to tell you.”
Joey said, “yeah, two of the guys that we played basketball with were Adam and Tyler, the guys that were with Blake and me in Atlanta the night Blake died.”
I nodded, “yeah, I remember you mentioning them.”
Eli picked up the story, “we were talking about Joey expanding our sales further out from Waynesboro.”
Joey jumped in, “yeah, Adam asked if we were selling in Girard and Portal. I said we had been in Girard for a long time, and I just got a couple of bars in Portal.”
Eli took over, “then Adam asked if we were selling to the gay bars in those towns. He and Tyler had been to them a while back.”
Joey said, “I didn’t even know the bars were there, they both kind of keep a low profile. So, this morning I took a case of beer to each of them.”
Eli said, “yeah, and I made up a sign to hang in their bar, it’s the same one I showed you last week, but I made one little addition.”
I asked, “ok, what did you add?”
He said, “I’ll show you.” Eli ran to his office and was back in a few seconds. He handed me the sign and pointed to the bottom of the page. I saw the small pride flag and the words, “Proud to be a gay owned and operated American business.”
I looked back up from the page, Joey said, “I have to take 10 more cases to both bars on my run Wednesday. If it does well, the bar in Girard said they would have a bigger order in two weeks. They are hosting a Pride Event and are going to highlight our beer.”
I smiled, “why didn’t we think of that sooner?”
Eli shrugged, “I don’t know, it should have been a no brainer.”
Joey said, “I’m going to do some research to see if there are any more gay bars in the towns, we are already in.”
I said, “great work guys, keep me posted if you get any more customers.”
I quickly added the two new customers to the information I was taking to my meeting with Russ Swanson. I was printing the reports that I needed as everyone was heading home for the night.
Eli walked by and asked, “are you coming home soon?”
I nodded, “yep, as soon as finish printing these reports.”
He said, “see you there.”
I finished up and walked out of my office, I sighed as I looked around. The office looked like a running business again. I shut the light off in the breakroom and opened the door to the production floor. Again, I smiled as I thought back to the first day I was in the brewery, it was starting to look like it did the last time I was here when grandpa was still running the place. We had empty bottles staged to be filled in the morning. I walked to the warehouse, there were several pallets in the loading dock waiting to be loaded and delivered. There were also several rows of stock just waiting for Joey and Eli to sell. I was proud of how far we had come in the short time since I took over. I hope dad and grandpa are proud of me. I locked the door and climbed in my truck to drive home.
I parked in the garage next to Dylan’s car, hoping he wasn’t too bored today. I wondered if he came up with a plan for his life, now that he was probably no longer part of the Patefield Brewery. I walked into the kitchen from the garage to Dylan, washing some dishes.
I smiled, “wow, something sure smells good.”
He said, “I hope you’re hungry.”
Eli walked in from his bedroom, he had changed into shorts and a t-shirt, he said, “he sure is earning his keep, a big breakfast and now dinner.”
I nodded, “I see that, thank you Dylan.”
I gave him a kiss, he asked, “is Joey coming over, I made enough for all of us.”
Eli said, “I’ll give him a call, I’m sure he hasn’t made his own dinner yet.”
While Eli was making his call, I said, “you know you don’t have to do this every day, not that I don’t appreciate it.”
He smiled, “I know, but I like to cook, I really don’t mind.”
I gave him another kiss and said, “I’ll go change my clothes and help you set the table.”
When I returned, Eli was already setting the table, he said, “Joey will be here in 15 minutes.”
I walked next to Dylan and asked, “what did you make us?”
He pulled a cover off a pan and said, “I made fresh dinner rolls, green beans with slivered almonds and bacon, plus a few secret spices, roasted potatoes with garlic and chives, and meat loaf. Oh, and I made a cheesecake for dessert.”
Eli said, “what the hell dude, are you a chef or something?”
Dylan blushed, “well, I would like to be…”
Joey walked in just as Dylan was pulling the last of the pans from the oven.
We sat down to eat, Eli said, “well, we shall see how good of a cook you are. Caleb only likes his mom’s meat loaf.”
I said, “I’m sure it will be fine Eli, thanks again for cooking Dylan.”
I took my first bite of the meat loaf, I looked up to see everyone staring at me. After I swallowed my bite I said, “holy shit Dylan, this tastes just my mom’s, it’s awesome.”
He chuckled, “it should, it’s actually your grandma’s recipe.”
I asked, “my grandma Lois’s recipe?”
He nodded, “yeah, I got the recipe from my grandma Edna. I helped her make it one time when I was staying with her. She told me she got the recipe from your grandma, she gave me the recipe when I moved into my own place.”
I said, “it’s great, and so is everything else. You should start a restaurant.”
Joey said, “it’s better than anything my mom ever made, and I’d eat at your restaurant.”
We made pigs out of ourselves, and Eli and Joey left to go to Joey’s place. I helped Dylan clean up the kitchen.
I asked, “so did I have all the stuff to make this meal, or did you have to go get groceries?”
He said, “I had to go get a few things.”
Weren’t you afraid of running into your dad or Dawson?”
He chuckled, “I’m sure dad or my brother have never stepped foot in a grocery store, unless it was to sell their beer.”
I asked, “what about your mom?”
He said, “mom only gets groceries on Wednesday, she maintains a very strict routine.”
“Do you think she missed you yesterday at church?”
He sighed, “I ran into one of her friends from church at the store. She asked me if I finished the project I was working on for my dad. Apparently, dad told mom I wouldn’t be at church because he had me working on something for him. By midafternoon, mom is always into her second bottle of merlot, so she probably doesn’t even remember I was missing yesterday.”
I sighed, “sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
Dylan smiled, “it’s ok. Thanks for helping me with the dishes.”
I returned his smile, “you are so welcome, thank you for the wonderful dinner.”
He said, “how about some dessert?”
I said, “I already had a piece of cheesecake, I couldn’t possibly eat another bite.”
Dylan rolled his eyes and put his arms around me, “no, I mean the dessert I have prepared in the bedroom.”
I laughed, “oh, yeah, I definitely have room for that.”
Dylan took my hand as we walked down the hall to the bedroom. We stripped and fell onto the bed, taking each other’s cocks into our mouth. I love the taste of Dylan’s precum and swallowed every drop he gave me. I only let his cock free to lick and suck his cum-filled nuts. Dylan was doing the same to me, I couldn’t get enough of what he was doing with his tongue. I sighed as I felt his finger beginning to probe my pucker, instinctively spreading my legs. He took the hint and released my cock from his warm mouth and rolled me onto my back. Dylan gave me another kiss, then started to kiss his way down my torso. After one more lick of my love stick, his tongue found my waiting hole. I grabbed my ankles, pulling my legs up as far as they would go. I wanted him to have all access he needed to service my ass. My eyes rolled back in my head as his tongue raked across my pucker. Dylan really went to town, and his tongue was soon breaching my tight hole, bringing out a lot of moans and groans. As soon as he had my ass properly lubed with his slobber, he came up for another kiss. As I tasted my own ass on his tongue, I felt his tool at my waiting entrance, excited for what was coming next. We kept our lips locked together as he slowly pushed in past the first ring of muscle. He paused to let me get used to the invasion, then began to thrust in earnest. We were soon in rhythm and Dylan picked up speed, at my request. He broke our kiss and panted, “God, your ass feels so good.” I gasped back, “I love being filled with your cock.” Our lips met again as Dylan continued to pound me. He whispered, “I’m close.” I nodded, “fill me with your seed.” A few strokes later and I the warmth of his love juices flooding my bowels. We continued to kiss until his deflating pole slipped from my cum-filled hole. Dylan grinned, “now I want your cream inside me.”
He quickly moved around and straddled me, holding my still rock-hard cock as he guided it into his love tunnel. I let out a deep breath as he started to bounce up and down, stimulating every nerve in my appreciative dick. I held onto his hips as I watched his beautiful cock flopping up and down as he rode me. The sight of that cock and the look on his face pushed me over the edge and I sent my babymakers flying. As my spasms finally stopped, Dylan leaned down for another make-out session.
I smiled at Dylan as he was still sitting on top of me, I said, “your cheesecake was delicious, but this dessert is by far my favorite.”
He smiled, “I kind of liked it too.”
We cleaned up and each pulled a pair of shorts on and went to sit by the pool as we had a beer. The water was getting warmer by the day.
I asked, “so where did you learn how to be suck a great cook?”
He shrugged, “I spent a lot of time with my grandma. When grandpa, dad and Dawson were talking about the brewery, I would go to the kitchen with grandma. She was a great cook, and I guess I liked cooking. To be honest, I wanted to go to culinary school, but dad would have no part of it. I was expected to work with him. I was taking some cooking classes at college, that’s when he made me quit school and move back home.”
I said, “so you really would like to have your own restaurant?”
He nodded, “that would be great, at the very least I would like to work in one.”
I smiled, “well, now is your chance. It might be the perfect time to stand up to your dad and live your own life.”
Dylan took a deep breath, “I guess, but I’m not sure if I can do that.”
I said, “it’s time Dylan, I have your back. And I know Eli and Joey do too.”
We talked until it got dark and went back inside to get ready for bed. I hope I was helping Dylan gain some confidence so that he could stand up for himself and live the life that he wanted.
The next morning, he of course made another big breakfast for us. Eli and I both thanked him as we left for the brewery. I finished my work for my meeting with Russ Swanson.
Right after lunch, I was sitting across the desk from Russ, as he looked over all of my reports. He took off his glasses and sat back in his chair.
He said, “this all looks great, it’s clear that you and your staff have put a lot of work into the brewery in a short time.”
I smiled, “thanks Russ, everyone has been working very hard.”
He took a deep breath, “unfortunately, these numbers are all projections with no real history to back them up. If anything goes south, these numbers are suddenly worthless. I’m sure the loan committee won’t approve an increase in your line of credit.”
My heart sank, “so I have to have more sales before I can borrow more money. But I can’t go after too many more sales unless I have the money to increase my production.”
He nodded, “yes, I know it’s a catch 22, and even though I don’t always agree, this is just the way banks operate.”
I sighed, “I guess I’ll have to come up with a new plan then.”
He said, “well, I may have another way to help you.”
I said, “ok, I’m listening.”
He put his glasses back on and said, "according to your paperwork, you own your house and have no mortgage.”
I nodded, “yes, that’s right.”
He said, “if you would be willing to use the house as collateral, I could probably get the committee to agree to a short-term loan.”
I said, “so you want me to mortgage my house?”
“Not mortgage, that would require an appraisal and a lot more paperwork. If we list the house as an asset, we can use it as collateral to back the loan. You can get the money quicker, but I will have to write the loan to be due in six months, meaning that you have it pay it back at that time. If your projections prove true, at the end of that six-month period, we may be able to convert all or part of the loan to regular note, giving you more time to pay it off.”
After Russ further explained everything, we filled out the paperwork and he would present it to the loan committee. He will have an answer for me in two days.
I went back to the brewery, hopeful that the loan would come through. I thought about risking the house, but decided that if the brewery failed, I would probably not stay in Waynesboro anyway. I was now all in.
Russ called me and told me that my loan was approved, I sighed in relief as I signed the papers. I went back to my office and ordered everything that we needed to prepare for BoroFest. By the time Friday rolled around, I became a bit concerned that there had been no repercussions from Scott Patefield. Dylan had also not heard from his dad or brother all week. I was hoping that they had just decided to move on, and this was not the calm before the storm.
The answer to that question came on Friday when I got another call from Russ Swanson, requesting that I come to his office.
Russ shook my hand as I walked into his office, and he shut the door behind me. I thought, this couldn’t be good, he had never shut the door before.
He handed me a paper as he sat down, he said, “the bank wanted me to mail this to you, but I wanted to talk to you in person.”
I started to read the letter, after a quick scan, I realized that the bank was calling in my all my loans, my line of credit and the loan that I got the day before. I had thirty days to pay them off.
I looked at Russ, he said, “I’m sorry Caleb, but in every loan the small print says that a bank can call in the balance at any time, and for no reason.”
I said, “yeah, I did see that, but what is the reason, Russ?”
He sighed, “first of all, it was not my decision, it came from the bank president. Scott Patefield came to see him yesterday, he said that he would pull his business from here if we continue to do any business with you. Scott and the president were old high school buddies, the president caved”
I shook my head, “that son of a bitch, I knew he wouldn’t just let this slide.”
To be Continued…
