Seth’s Perspective
“So, Daddy James has checked Yoda and it’s road trip ready?” I asked.
“Yup. He helped me change the oil and made me promise to check every time we stopped for gas in case there was a leak. And BA gave me a triple A membership in case we break down on the road” Asher answered. “Daddy says Yoda’s road ready, but old and you can never be too careful.”
“Good. Does Trevor have his return ticket?” I asked. Ash had used some of his signing bonus money to buy his best friend a return ticket from Phoenix so that he could drive out there with him. I felt better knowing he wasn’t driving the 2,200 miles in that old car alone. Ash was sweet and innocent, and frankly came off all vulnerable, whereas Trevor was a little more street smart. He’d make sure they got there safe.
“Yup. And all my stuff is packed in boxes, and I have my overnight bag packed for the road trip. We’ll load up the car in the morning and hit the road by 4AM. We want to try to get through Alabama the first day” Asher said. He had a plan and sounded confident.
“So, how many days will it take you to get here?” Brian asked from the computer screen. This was my last session with Ash and Brian wanted to join us since he’d be taking them on as a patient.
“Three days” Asher answered. “And thanks for finding me a bed.”
“It’s old, but it will do for now, you might want to invest in a new mattress” Brian answered. Ash was moving into Alejandro’s spare room (AKA his clothing storage room) and needed a bed. Brian put the word out to the Phoenix crew and Mauricio and Darren came through with an old bedroom set for him. Brian got a few guys to help him move it in so Ash’s room would be ready and waiting for him.
“Thanks again, it’s one less thing I have to deal with” Ash said with a sigh. This move had been overwhelming, but they took it in bite sized pieces instead of freaking out… I was proud of them.
We talked about the road trip a little longer, we were coming to the end of our session and I started to wrap things up, “Oh, here” I said as I reached over and handed him an envelope.
“What’s this?” He asked.
“It’s the rent you paid; we’re giving it back to you.” This is something Max and I had been doing since day one of The Village. We put the Villager’s rent away in an escrow account and give it back to them when they moved on. We only collect the rent (which isn’t much to begin with) to help them budget and learn to pay bills… the money is a huge help to them when they move on. But we tried to keep this a secret from our clients, we didn’t want them to rely on it, or expect a handout. “And this is between us” I told Ash, “do NOT tell the other Villagers, okay?”
“Um... okay… um… Why?” Ash asked and explained it to him. He was grateful and appreciative. “Thank you. this will help me out a lot. I’m gonna put it in savings, Seth. I promise.” That made me smile, it meant he’d been listening to me all these months when I pushed him to put money away.
“I’m gonna sign off now and let you guys say goodbye” Brian said through SKYPE. “I’ll see you for our first in-person session next week. Have a safe trip.”
“Thanks for everything, Brian” Ash said before Brian signed-off. Then Ash turned to me, “Thanks for everything, Seth. If it wasn’t for you, Ms. Elkin, and All the other guys I’d still be miserable, living with a roommate I hated, and living off disability. None of this would have ever happened. You gave me a life.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Ash” I said. “Yeah, we opened some doors, but you walked through them and took control, and I know that scared the crap outta you. I am so frigging proud of you. When we first met, you were afraid of your own shadow… but look at you now! You found a job, earned a promotion, and now you’re moving across the country to start a new life. The Asher I met a few months ago would never have had the confidence to do that. You did this Ash, not us.” I believed what I was telling him, Asher had worked hard to fight their own insecurities… and was winning. It got emotional as we hugged goodbye, I knew he was in good hands… his own. I also knew he had a shitload of support waiting for him on the other end of the highway forty (the old Route 66).
I walked him into the lobby where BA grabbed his attention, “Darlin, Max called and said Brody sent a box of stuff you left at the office with him, he’s at the candle company but leaving in a bit… he said he’d wait for you, but you better hightail it over there, son.”
“Yes, Ma’am” Asher said like the good little southerner he was. When a strong Southern woman tells you to hightail it… you hightail it!
“I’ll walk you over” I offered. “I need to talk to Max about the carpool schedule anyway. Asher bought BA’s ruse and accepted my excuse to join him.
We walked over to the candle company, greeted Mason as we entered through the retail shop, then walked through the giant doors of the old, former church and into the plant. When the doors opened, the old church echoed with cheers of, “ASSO!!!!!!!!!!!!” Everyone had gathered to give Asher a proper send off. Asher was blown away as they looked around the room and saw so many people, all the villagers (old and new), Everyone from Harrington House including Ella, Brody, Ms. Elkin, Gina, and Dylan (and the brood that belonged to them). Daddy James, BA and Rodney walked in right behind us, and of course Zach was there with all our kids. Izzy ran up to her friend and jumped into his arms “Dis you powty, Asso. Dao’s cake” (Izzy to English translation: “This is your party, Asher my friend. There’s a big cake to celebrate”). Izzy was less than thrilled when I explained to her about Asher moving away, but the fact that they were going to live by ‘Unco Bwian, Unco Bwad, Unco Scotty, and her Cuzzints’ helped ease the blow. “I can bisit him?” she asked (Izzy to English translation, “Father, may we go to Arizona and visit Asher sometime?”).
Asher stood there in awe, clutching Izzy in his arms, and trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Suddenly it all clicked, “This is all for me?” Ash asked overwhelmed by it all. He looked at me and said, “no one has ever thrown me a party for anything. Ever.” He looked around the room and choked out a “thank you,” then he lost it. He just frigging lost it. He set Izzy down on the floor, turned to me and embraced me, sobbing into my shoulder, “Why am I leaving here Seth? You all love me. No one has loved me since my mom died.”
I whispered back, “And we’ll all still love you when you’re in Phoenix. You are moving on to greater things, don’t let your fear rob you of a better life. You’ve earned this, you deserve it. We’ll all still be a part of your life.”
I don’t know if he bought it, but Trevor distracted him by yelling “speech, speech” and the crowd chanted along. Cries of “speech, speech, speech” echoed throughout the old church.
Ash stood up and faced his fans, “I don’t do those” he said turning red and making everyone who knew him chuckle. “But thanks… um thanks for everything. Thanks for accepting me and treating me nice, and thanks for loving me” that’s as much as they could say, but it was more than enough to elicit cheers. Ash gained their composure and started to mingle and greet everyone in the room. There were so, many people there. Ash moved over to a group of former villagers including Maverick, Colton, and Craig (who had just moved to town and was living in the BroMax guest house under Brody’s studio).
Zach came up to me with Ali in his arms, he had run afternoon carpool for me and brought all the kids to the party. Ali reached out to me, I took him in my arms and kissed his head. “Where’s Freddy?” I asked Zach, and he pointed to one of the workstations where Ricky was helping him and Teddy make candles.
“Hey, my dad called today. He got a court date for Karen in February so him and Mom will be in town next month” Zach said.
“Really? How do her chances look?” I asked.
“Dad is extremely hopeful. Based on what he’s learned he thinks he can get some of the charges dropped which will lower her sentence, but in reality, we won’t know crap until she goes before the judge” Zach said. While we were talking, Maureen (Ms. Elkin) approached us.
“Hey boys” she said. We had become friends over the last year and I loved how comfortable she had become around all of us. “Look at them” she said as she nodded towards Asher who was the center of attention. “You gave him a life, Seth” she said.
“No. I opened some doors and they walked through. Besides, you’re the one who saw him struggling and introduced us” I said.
“What’s your gut?” she asked. “Do you think they’re ready for life on their own in a big city?”
“I do” I answered honestly, then I explained our Phoenix network, his plans to room with Alejo for a while, etc. I could see the relief in her eyes just knowing he had support.
“Damn, Seth” she uncharacteristically sighed. “You’re so connected.”
I laughed, “Nah, just dumb luck. I’ve had a lot of great, generous people in my life.”
“And look at this happy little man” She said in baby talk to Ali who was still in my arms. He smiled and reached out for her, and she held him. “Still no change in his parental status, so we’re getting closer” she said referring to the fact that we might be able to adopt him… we had made our intentions clear to her and she was all-in for team Westin-Hall.
Ash made their way back towards us with his best bud Trevor at his side, “Hi Ms. Elkin” he said as he meekly hugged her trying not to crush Ali. “This is my best friend, Trevor.” Maureen couldn’t help but smile wide… socially awkward Ash had a best friend. “Thank you for everything” Ash added.
“You’re welcome, honey” she said. “I am so proud of you and know you’ll go on to do even greater things.” She was tearing up, so she switched the subject, “look at that gift table!” she exclaimed.
Asher’s eyes opened wide, “is all that for me? How am I going to get it in my car? Do I need to ship it all? Can I do that before tomorrow morning” As was his fallback, Ash was catastrophizing. We just laughed.
“We told everyone just gift cards or cash” Trevor whispered to his best friend. “I told y’all he’d freak out over shipping the gifts” He said to me with a laugh. Trevor, me, Brody, and BA planned the party, and yes… it was Trevor’s idea to tell everyone cash and gift cards ONLY so that Ash didn’t freak out about how to get them to Phoenix. He clearly knew his best friend.
The rest of the party was filled with fun, laughter, tears, and genuine emotions of happiness for Asher’s success and sadness for their departure. They opened gifts, and used each one as an opportunity to thank the giver and tell them goodbye. Asher was a huge part of our world and would be missed.
After the party we headed home, I was going to make dinner but the kids had filled up on cake and junk food so why bother (yeah, yeah, yeah, I know… I’m parent of the freaking year for feeding them cake and junk food for dinner). Is it bad for me to say that I found my kids hopped up on sugar to be hilarious? Ali’s eyes stayed wide open and the smile plastered on his adorable little face made him look drunk. Izzy was talking nonstop, inane nonsense about god only knows what and every couple of sentences she would say “Wight?” signaling us to agree with her… which we did. Freddy put his sugar buzz to work on paper, he drew picture after picture while he lay on the floor in the den. Then the best part… the sugar crash. Oh my god, the three of them went from a million miles an hour to passed out! Ali was the first to go… he was sitting on my lap watching something on Netflix with us when he just fell asleep with his tiny head resting on my shoulder. I took him upstairs and put him to bed. On my way back downstairs I passed Zach who was taking Izzy up to bed after she fell asleep in front of Barbie’s Dream House… he said she made a valiant effort to stay awake but nature won. By the time the two of us got back downstairs, Freddy walked up to us and said, “can someone tuck me in?” He usually specified who got the honor of tucking him in, but that night he was too damn tired to choose. We decided to tuck him in together. We read him a story until he fell asleep, then we decided to call it a night.
We went into our bedroom and I got a wild hair up my ass, “Hey how about a glass of wine and a bath?” I asked Zach.
“When did you turn so gay?” He teased with a smirk.
“The second I laid eyes on your hot little jock ass in college” I teased back. “So? Bath time?” I asked.
Zach laughed and nodded, “Why the hell not? You draw the bath; I’ll get the wine.” Then he bounded out of the room and downstairs to get the wine and I went into the bathroom to set the mood. While the bath was filling with warm water, I lit a couple of BroMax candles, dropped a bath bomb in the water, put on a little soulful R&B on the JBL speaker, and stripped naked. By the time Zach entered with the wine, the steam was billowing from the tub and the scent of the candle filled the room. “I feel overdressed” he said handing me a glass of wine, and stepping off his shoes. He set his wine glass down near the tub then stripped. He came over to me and pulled my naked body against his, “this is nice” he whispered before we kissed.
“You get in first” I said. Zach sat his perfect body down in the tub of warm water, I got in and sat in between his legs and leaned my back against his broad, naked chest. His flaccid member was tickling the small of my back. The warm water was so soothing and the atmosphere was just… just perfect. All life’s worries and pressures vanished in the steam and the world around us disappeared, It was just the two of us. We both reached for our wine glasses and took a sip, Zach kissed the nape of my neck… goddammit his lips were so soft, warm, and full. How could a tiny kiss on the neck bring my soft manhood to life like that… I had no clue, but that’s exactly what happened. With one hand wrapped around the stem of his wine glass, and the other wrapped around me and resting on my chest… Zach pinched and teased my nipples. Oh my god, the warm water, the music, his soft lips, his fingers kneading my nipples… it wasn’t long before my flesh submarine poked it's nose out from under the warm water.
Zach giggled playfully and moved his hand downward to stroke me. It all felt so amazing, just sitting in the warm water, relaxing with Zach’s attention on me. I sighed and said, “I love you.” I don’t know why I chose that moment to say something we both knew that I had said a million times before, but I did.
He kissed my neck again and whispered, “I love you too. Have since the day we met, will until the day we die.”
“You are SO getting lucky tonight” I chuckled as I reached my free hand behind me, rubbed his head, and pulled his face against my neck. He nuzzled me, kissed me, stroked me, then set his wine glass down and used both hands to roam my body. I could feel him his hardness against my back. I pushed into his hardon, teasing him, signaling him to keep going. Zach grabbed the bodywash sitting on the edge of the tub, squirted some into his hand and stroked my growing cock with it, pulling his hand away from me to shove a couple of soapy fingers up my hole. I moaned in euphoric response and was rewarded with a second finger. Zach gently swirled his fingers around inside my manhole, loosening me up. “Oh Zach. Yes. Fucking yes” I said in a breathy growl as I closed my eyes and gave into the pleasure.
“So, you ready for me to share my luck?” Zach asked making me chuckle.
“Damn right. Put it in me” I growled again. He shifted a little then guided his girthy missile into my hole. Ahhhhhhhhh his hard slab filled me with pleasure as it probed deep into my bowels pushing me to the brink of indescribable pleasure. I pushed back against him as hard as I could, then just sat there enjoying his fullness inside of me. Eventually, I pulled forward, lifting myself off him… as amazing as it felt, the feeling of emptiness overcome me instantly. I pushed back again, without really realizing that I was fucking myself on him… it was a-flipping-mazing and soon I couldn’t stop. The water was splashing in the tub, and my hole was full as I impaled myself on him over and over. I completely lost control and just fucked myself mindlessly on Zach’s hard cock.
“Fuck, Seth. That’s it, keep going. Faster” Zach said encouraging me, his hands guiding my hips back and forth as he enjoyed the ride. “You’re bringing me there. I’m so freaking close.”
“Oh yeah, breed me baby” I said without thinking, the words just flowed from my lips as I moved faster. I loved the full feeling of him deep inside me. I continued to bounce for a couple of minutes, that was about all he could stand.
“Fuck, I’m cumming, Seth. I’m cumming…” He repeated several times as he continued to thrust into me and guide my hips down on his lap. Finally, one last powerful thrust accompanied by a breathy “Fuuuuuuuck” as he exhaled his warm breath onto my neck just heightening the sensation even more. I felt him unload his seed into me, it’s warmth filled my insides and the silkiness of it lubed my hole as he continued to fuck me. He pushed in and out for a few more minutes before he pushed me off him, and I stood in the water. “Turn around” he urged with a slap to my ass, then he pulled me to him by my ass cheeks and took my cock deep down his throat. He bobbed up and down on me and his hand stroked my shaft. It only took about a minute for me to unload into his gullet. I clutched the back of his head tightly as I pushed myself all the way in. He swallowed every drop, then licked me clean and stood up in the tub.
We kissed each other and shared the taste of my cum for several minutes. Then we moved to the shower and cleaned up before bed. It was cold that night, even with the heat on, so we pulled on our sweats and cuddled up until we fell asleep.
I had set my alarm for 4AM. I got up, wrote a note to Zach, and left it on his phone. I took The GTI and made my way to Harrington House. When I pulled into the well-lit parking lot, I was surprised to see that all the residents of the building had the same idea as me. They were all awake and out in the parking lot to say goodbye to Asher one last time and wish him and Trevor a safe journey. Even Daddy and BA had pulled themselves out of bed to see them off.
Asher had come to us alone, and afraid, but was leaving surrounded by people who loved him and confident about the future. We would all miss them, but I knew he’d be more than alright.
To be continued…
Author’s note: The Village came through for Asher, now their stronger, more confident, and ready to explore life on their own. Well kind of on their own. Asher has been adopted by The Donling! Asher will be appearing in a new series written by The Donling (if you haven’t read his work... please do, you will love his style). The Donling has inspired the Asher character, and Asher has inspired him so I decided to turn Asher over. You will see life from Ash’s POV, their reality, their imagination, and their fresh perspective on the universe. Watch for ‘Just Ash’ a series by The Donling premiering on GayDemon soon. GOOD LUCK ASHER AND DON!
