Brody’s Perspective
We had all gone out on the town in Charleston and I was the designated driver, so… that means ever’body was passed out n’ snorin’ away ‘cept for me. I decided to take advantage of the solitude and sit out on the balcony with my iPad Pro and paint. I turned on my iPad and the screen saver of Teddy holding Witchy and standin’ between Zoey and Jimmy the goat came up. It was taken a couple of months after he moved in with us and was one of my favorite pics of him because his smile was gigantic and genuine… gotdammit I loved that little guy.
I checked my emails before I started paintin’, I had taken the last couple of days off for the BroMax Candle Co and The Village board meetins’ but promised the office I’d keep an eye on my emails, plus Asher was working from home so he might need somethin’. I had a bunch of emails, all stuff that could wait, but there was one from HR that looked important, so I opened it… it was about Asher; they wanted to make him a job offer in Phoenix. it wasn’t a surprise; they’d been talkin’ about it ever since his trip to Phoenix and I knew it was comin’. I hired him when I was buried up to my ass tryin’ to launch two brand new campaigns at the same time, but now that they were up n’ goin’ I didn’t need as much help and the main office had been sendin’ him other stuff to work on. The main office loved him. He was a hard worker, focused, and meticulous when it came to his files. They wanted to promote him to Senior Production Artist and groom him to eventually supervise the team. He had a lot to learn yet, but this was a big opportunity and I knew he could do it. He would probably need to take a semester off school to get settled, but I’m guessin’ the offer would include tuition reimbursement and they’d encourage him to go back. The only thing standing in Asher’s way was Asher, and he had grown a lot since I first met him. He was less shy and took more risks (socially). Livin’ at Harrington House had been good for him, and workin’ in an office with just me was a good way for him to build confidence. I’d miss him, but it was a great opportunity for him (he deserved it), besides… he'd still be helpin’ me virtually when I needed him so it wasn’t like he’d just disappear. And, if I’m being truthful here… I was lookin’ forward to havin’ the barn all to myself again. No Asher in the corner of my studio, no villagers working downstairs, just me in my own solitude. I replied to HR and agreed to get together after the Holiday and finalize the plan for Asher. Then it was paintin’ time.
It was dark as hail and cold as a witches tit in a brass bra out there, but I was loving it. The only sounds was the call of the ocean waves and I couldn’t see a damn thing beyond my iPad. It had been a while since I just painted for me… paintin’ what I felt like paintin’, not tryin’ to design an ad or make the logo big enough to make a client happy, just me, my mind, and my iPad. I had been out there about an hour when the slidin’ door wooshed open an Maxwell stumbled out.
“Watcha doin’ hot boy?” he asked with that drunken, horny, smirk that I hadn’t seen in a while.
“Lovin’ the solitude and paintin’ drunk boy” I said and kept workin’ on my iPad.
“Drunk AND horny” Maxwell replied then walked up to where I was sitting and pulled his hard as a rock red rocket out of his fly of his boxers and slapped my face with it.
I chuckled and said in a hushed voice, “Maxwell, we’re outside. What the hail, are y’all thinkin’? Anyone can see!”
“Shit, you can’t even see your hand in front of your damn face out here, and that’s just ocean out there. It’s not like there’s somebody on a boat with binoculars watching. And so, what if they were? That just makes it hotter” he slurred with a drunken giggle as he wielded his raging beast and playfully slapped my cheek with it a few more times. Dayum he was drunk as a skunk. “I’m out here to play and I’m not leaving until you play with me” he insisted. Now y’all need to understand. Me and Maxwell had been together a lotta years and one thing I knew for sure is that when he got drunk and horny and set his mind to havin’ sex… he wasn’t gonna stop till he got it. Frankly, I liked drunk, horny Maxwell; he worked his ass off and took care of ever’body, I liked it when he let loose. So… I gave in. I opened my mouth and started sucking his meaty cock. It was damn cold out there, how the hell he was stayin’ hard bein’ drunk n’ cold, I had no clue. Maxwell moaned as he planted his hands on my head and tangled his fingers in my curly auburn hair. “Fuck that feels so goddamn good, suck it baby” he said as I sat there and he started to fuck my face. I was usually the aggressor, but that night Maxwell took charge. The other thing about drunk, horny Maxwell is that he liked to talk dirty. I choked on his cock, “Yeah you hot little fuck. That’s it, choke on my big red cock.” I did my best not to laugh, y’all If you knew Maxwell like me, you’d know how outta character that was… but he had me horned up. I made a fist around his cock and put it in front of my lips as he fucked it in and outta my hand and mouth. All I could do was let him go. His orange pubes were ticklin’ my nose... yeah, I said orange y’all. Listen, I’m a graphic designer and an artist. I know my damn colors and he weren’t no “redhead” he was a damn orange head, if I had to guess I’d say PMS 166 in the Pantone book. It was too dark to see ‘em but I knew what color they were.
After a while Maxwell turned around, dropped his boxers to his ankles and said, “Eat Daddy’s hole.” Then he bent over and pushed his perfect white ass and pink pucker against my lips (hee hee – “Daddy” I laughed to myself). Dayum, I could taste the salt of his sweat from all that dancin’. I was getting’ into it, I ate that ass like I was a starvin’ man and it was a week’s worth of groceries. He put his hands on the rail of the balcony then pushed his ass back against me and I kept goin’ to town. He reached back with one hand and pulled my face as tight as he could into his crack, my face was shmooshed in his funky crack and I just kept lappin’ at it. Drunk and horny Maxwell had been takin’ control, but not it was my turn.
I pulled my face out of his spit cover hole, stood up, dropped my sweatpants, and let my hardon fly free in the cold winters air. “My turn, Bend over you hot ginger muscle fuck” I growled.
“There’s my hot fuckin’ man candy” Max said in victory ad he looked back at me with a drunken smile of mischief on his perfect face. “Now fuck me.” I obliged. I lined myself up with that sweet little pink pucker and pushed my way in. My cockhead plopped through his sphincter and kept movin’ forward. Gotdammit he was tight as hail. Maxwell held onto the rail of the balcony and moaned in pleasure as I fucked in and out of him. It didn’t take long for me to forget that we were out there on the balcony where we could easily get caught, fuckin’ like teenagers in the backseat of a car at the drive-in. Max was stroking himself and shot his load between the bars and off the balcony onto the landscape below with a loud “Fuck, Brody! Hell YEA!” His ass tightened around my cock pushing me over the edge as I shot my load up his sweet ass, then bent over and laid my sweatshirt covered chest on his naked back tryin’ to catch my breath. There we were out on the balcony, Maxwell buck nekkid except for the boxers around his ankles and me with my still-hard cock up his ass. While we were recoverin’, I heard the woosh of the sliding door from the room next to ours.
“Nice night for it gentlemen” I heard Zach’s voice say as he peeked out of the sliding glass door of the room next to ours, and Seth stood behind him and laughed. Then our two voyeuristic friends shut the door and went back into their room. It was too dark to tell, but I’m sure Maxwell was redder n’ a firetruck. All we could do is laugh about it, there was no doubt we’d take future shit about it. After that, I abandoned my paintin’ and went into bed with Maxwell. God, I loved how he pushed me; I fell asleep for a couple of hours.
Well, since my late night paintin’ session got interrupted by horny Maxwell, I got up just before sunrise to try again. I was guessin’ I’d be the only one without a hangover that mornin’, so I figured I had a coupla’ hours to myself before ever-body got up. The air was cold, my coffee was hot, and the beautiful sunrise over the ocean was the perfect inspiration… I painted away. I had lived near the ocean most of my life but didn’t go there that often, I aint gotta clue why because I loved the ocean! Especially off-season at sunrise, so I decided to make that a New Year’s resolution: Get to the beach more. Maybe I’d get up early once a month and take Teddy and Maxwell to the beach to watch the sunrise. In the meantime, I decided to just appreciate my alone time. I painted for a good hour or so before I heard the woosh of the sliding door on the neighboring balcony.
“Good morning, dear brother in-law” Gina said in a raspy voice.
“Hey there, sleepin’ beauty” I said back. “How’s yer hangover?”
“Ugh” is all she said as she plopped down on a chair on the other side of the rail.
“You turnin’ into a lightweight on us? You used to drink ever-body under the table in college” I said with a snicker.
“I don’t drink anymore, I’ve basically been a milk making machine for babies for the last three years… one drink puts me down” Gina confessed, “I automatically woke up early to feed DJ, my head is throbbing! I took some aspirin; I’ll get through it.” I put the iPad down and just talked to Gina. It was weird… when I first met her back in Milwaukee, she was Seth’s friend. Then when she moved here, she was Maxwell’s friend. Then Dylan got his mitts in her and she was my sister in-law (and man, she was perfect for my brother. He dated a crapload of pretty, stupid girls with huge hair and small brains before she came along… one look at her and he was done). But me n’ Gina were like never alone, just the two of us. It was nice. I liked Gina, I’d always liked Gina, but we never, like you know… just sat down n’ talked (well, it’s not like I ever just sat down n’ talked with anybody other than Maxwell… socializin’ was never my thang), but it was nice talkin’ to her like that, just the two of us. She had me laughin’ over some stupid shit, then she gushed about the kids (ALL our kids), and pulled out pics of her kids that BA had been sending her since we left. While we were talkin’ BA texted her more pictures of DJ up and sucking on his bottle. “AWWWWW!!!! I’ve never been away from him this long before. I miss ‘em both!” She said then took a quick break from talkin’ to text the group about meetin’ in the lobby later for brunch; then the conversation continued. The sun had risen and we both looked over the serene South Carolina beach as we chatted (yeah, I was chattin’… that was so unlike me). Our conversation was interrupted by the woosh of the sliding glass door on the next balcony.
“Good morning, Gina” Seth said.
“And lover boy” Zach added as he and Seth chuckled their way out to the blacony. They caught me and Maxwell goin’ at it on the balcony and I expected to get shit about it. Gina just looked at Zach confused. “How did you and Dylan sleep through Brody and Max’s wild balcony sex romp last night” Zach said with a snide grin. Seth just stood there grinnin’ like an idiot.
“WHAT?!” Gina exclaimed with wide eyes and a laugh, “Out here on the balcony?!! What if I would’ve come out here and caught you?” She asked.
“Then y’all would’ve got a helluva show, girl” I said with a sly grin as I took a sip of my now cold coffee. My face was probably beet red, but there weren’t no use fightin’ it. I was gonna take shit from ever-body, so I rolled with it. Gina reached over the rail between our balconies and punched my shoulder playfully. Maxwell joined us just in time.
“I bet your ass is redder than your hair” Seth said as he greeted my husband, then him and Zach snickered.
Gina let out an “ewe don’t be gross.”
And Zach replied, “Yes mother.”
Then Max chimed in, “Yeah, it is! And y’all can kiss my sore, red ass!” That got a laugh. Dylan was the last to wake up and join us, he instantly jumped in on the ribbin’ we were taking. The six of us hung out on our balcony just talkin’ shit for a while havin’ a great, kid-free time. Eventually we all went into our rooms, called our kids, showered, got dressed, etc. Maxwell and me even took a stroll on the beach before we all met up with the others for brunch.
We ended up at another cute little place in downtown Charleston. I don’t think the restaurant staff appreciated our loud group of friends at brunch on New Year’s Eve morning, but there aint no doubt they appreciated the giant tip (we were all good that way). After brunch we walked around downtown Charleston and did touristy shit like taking a carriage ride (Gina’s idea). We ended up back at the hotel and ended up at the indoor pool where Zach set up bar and we just hung out for the rest of the afternoon. Kelly had sent us all a text telling us to be ready for a group facetime a little before 7:00. We finished our afternoon at the pool, then all went back to our rooms, got ready for New Year’s Eve out on the town, then met back out on the balcony (cocktails in-hand) for the call.
Right before 7PM Zach, Max, and Dylan all got facetime call almost simultaneously. Max’s mom and Kelly were throwin’ a New Year’s Eve party at our house for the kids and wanted us to be there. The six of us were all smiles as we leaned against the rails and looked into our phones to watch the action. The kids were all mugging for screen time on the three phones. I loved bein’ a dad and I loved the hail outta Teddy, but I was jealous as hail of our friends… I wanted another one so bad… a girl! Izzy and Maggie lit up the world and I wished we had a little girl of our own too. We had TJ for a while, she was a little older but I loved havin’ her around, she ended up with reunitin’ with her daddy and had a happy ending. Then Teddy came, then Maxwell got buried with the expansion of the candle business, so it’d probably be a little while before we could take on another one… but I’d do it. No hesitation… especially a little girl. There weren’t a doubt in my head that Teddy would be every lick as good as Freddy when it came to being a big brother. Sorry, y’all. I got lost in my own head… so anyway…
“It's almost midnight” Grandmaw Kelly said excitedly gettin’ the five kids all riled up and movin’ them out to the patio, all phones were pointed to them.
“It’s only seven o’clock” Zach said like an idiot. We all looked at him and groaned, we knew Kelly was callin’ it midnight so the kids could party at “midnight” and still go to bed on time. But Zach could be a little slow sometimes.
Kelly pointed the phone at her face, pursed he lips and said sternly, “It. Is, Midnight. On. New. Year’s. Eve. Zachary. Nathan. Hall.”
Zach’s face fell as he sheepishly caught his faux pas, “Yes mother. It IS midnight” he responded and the rest of us chuckled watchin’ our big jock friend gettin’ taken to task by his tiny momma.
The kids were all on our patio in North Carolina with their party hats on, and holdin’ noisemakers. I saw Daddy and Max’s dad doin’ something in the background while the other parents kept the cameras pointed at the kids. “TEN!” Kelly yelled, “NINE” and the two boys amd other adults joined in, “Eight” They all yelled with Maggie and Izzy just a beat behind, SEVEN…” The kids and adults (including the six of us yellin’ from the balcony onto the beach) all got in sync as we got to the big moment. Finallly… “ONE!!!!!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!” we all yelled as the kids noisemakers made a racket through the phones. Suddenly, fireworks went off and filled the sky behind the kids with color and light (so that’s what Daddy and Max’s Dad were up to back there). They all screamed in excitement as they turned to watch the show. Kelly lit Sparklers for the kids, they were all lovin’ every dang minute of it. Dayum, our kids were all so lucky to have such an awesome family… yep, all those people were our family. While the kids were going wild over the fireworks, Ali waddled his way over to Zach’s dad and looked into the camera.
“Happy New Year, Ali, we love you” Seth said into the phone.
“I love you too, Seth” Ali said and kissed the phone. Seth choked up as Gina let out an ‘awwwwww.’ “Didja’ hear that, Daddy Sach?” Seth asked his husband in a crackling voice.
“Yup” Zach said with a giant smile, I guess Ali had never said those words before. Zach looked into the phone at Ali and said, “Happy New Year, Buddy. I love you too.”
“I love you, Zach” the little guy said. He had only been around for about a month, but it was clear that their entire family was already attached to him (hail, we all were). His future was uncertain, but I could already tell that if it became an option… that cute little man would have a permanent home. Well, the other hellions soon broke up Ali’s lovefest with his two foster daddies as all of them mugged for screen time. We all said Happy New Year and goodbye. As much as we were all havin’ without them, it was clear we missed our kids.
Zach leaned in, kissed Seth, and said, “Happy New year Daddy Zeff.” At that, all the couples kissed and welcomed in the new year… at 7PM. The times they were a’changin’.
All the parents gave us tickets to a New Year’s Eve party on the rooftop of a hotel as part of our Christmas present. We made dinner reservations at a nice place near the party… it was all within walkin’ distance so we didn’t need to drive anywhere… which meant, I was drankin’ with the rest of ‘em. They seated us outside with a great view of the ocean, there were a few gaslit fires going to keep us warm, After we ate dinner, the waiter brought a cake to our table and sang Happy Anniversary to Seth and Zach. Four years ago, on New Year’s Eve (technically New Year’s Day at 12:45 AM) Seth and Zach eloped while we were all in Vegas. Me n’ Maxwell were the only witnesses, and the only ones who knew for a while. Kelly (Zach’s mom) was drivin’ them both nuts with wedding stuff, especially Seth. So, they decided to elope secretly to take some of the pressure off and make it all about them for a minute. They kept it secret for a long time, but after the big weddin’ day, word started to get out… as far as I knew, Kelly still didn’t know about it (she would’ve been crushed). Kelly was an amazin’ woman with a giant heart, but day-um, she could be a bit much at times. It was obviously her that was behind the whole trip to Charleston for New Year’s Eve… she would do anything for alone time with her grandbabies. Anyway, Gina had ordered the cake, Zach got us all singin’ “Cake By The Ocean” by DNCE while we snarfed down the cake and drank a champagne toast to our best friends. The three couples sittin’ at that table were all solid as hail. Seriously, I looked at Seth & Zach, Gina & Dylan, and even Me & Maxwell and couldn’t imagine anything but forever for any of the couples there.
Dinner was loud, fun, and a definite celebration. I swear, we aint been out to eat in forever, and now it was the third time in about twenty four hours. We were only there for two nights, but it felt like a real vacation. After dinner we walked over to the rooftop party… the party was lame, but the view was amazing. At midnight, the three couples made a final, kissed, and yelled ‘Happy New Year’ (for real this time). After midnight Seth and Zach disappear to celebrate their anniversary in private and the rest of us walked back to the hotel.
I gotta admit, it had been a great year… we got Teddy, Max moved the Candle Company into the old church, My career was takin’ off, DJ was born, Zach and Seth got Freddy and Izzy. Even though we almost lost Seth, he made it through and was back to his old self and there with us to start a new year. Like I said, it had been a great year! But I was hopeful that the next year would be even better.
To be continued…
