Seth’s Perspective
It was a weird morning. I walked into the office and found Frankie waiting for me, some stray kid that Che picked up on his ride along with Officer Andy the night before. Che dropped him off with BA before he went into work and wanted us to help him. He was skinny, scrawny even with his hair pulled into a ponytail. He was extremely timid and reminded me of a dog that had been continually beaten and was waiting for the next kick to come. His clothes were dirty but he was freshly showered. BA told me that Che let him upstairs to use the shower (against the rules, but I overlooked it for the moment). I led him into the therapy room so we could get more comfortable.
“So, what brings you here, Frankie?” I asked.
“Che” is all he said as he sat on the couch clutching his backpack for dear life.
“I got that part” I said with a smile. “But what’s your story and how can we help you?” He just shrugged and we stared at each other for a bit. Finally, I spoke, “maybe it would help if I told you the things we can do to help you…” I went on to tell him about the different services we offered to our villagers, and kept asking if they applied… things like, “we can help you find a place to live… do you have somewhere to go?” Or “we can find you a job so you can support yourself… do you need help with that?” etc. Nothing. Just shrugs and grunts. “How about some clean clothes, I can help you with that too.”
“Do I have to stay here and talk, or can I go now?” He asked, it was clear he didn’t trust me.
“You’re free to go. I’m here for you, I can’t force you to let me help, but I can help you if you stay.”
“Thanks” he said as he stood up, “I think I’m good.”
I nodded, then stood. “Okay, that’s your choice. But promise me if you change your mind you’ll come back. You don’t have to be alone and homeless. We can help you.” I gave him my card and told him to call me anytime if he needed anything.
He scoffed, “I don’t have a phone.” Okay, I saw an opening.
“Okay, well here take this” I reached into the drawer and grabbed a burner phone, while I was in there, I grabbed a prepaid Visa. “My number is in this phone, use it to call me if you need me, or maybe call home if there’s someone you need to talk to. This card has a hundred bucks on it, use it for food or whatever you need” I said handing him the two items. On top of donating a percentage of their profits to The Village, The Resort kept us stocked with prepaid Visa cards and burner phones we could provide to the guys who needed them. They had helped us help kids so many times I couldn’t count. Even if they didn’t trust us completely, the help of money and a phone were easy to accept… kind of like the gateway drug to accepting our help. I think Kev came up with the idea in one of our first board meetings.
Frankie reluctantly took the items from me. “These are for me?” he asked suspiciously.
“Yup.”
“Why?”
“Because you need help whether you admit it or not. Use them to make things better for yourself” I said, then I let out a sigh. “Frankie, you’re doing things the hard way, it’s hell living like you do, it’s flipping scary, and dangerous living on the streets… we really can help you find a better way, but you have to take the first step and trust me.” Well… not that day. He thanked me and walked his ragtag, scrawny little self out of my office and back onto the streets promising to think about it.
Che came by on his lunch hour to check on Frankie. He was pissed that I let him go. “Man, I brought him here so you could help him. Why’d you let him go?”
“He wasn’t ready to take my help, Che. Remember, you didn’t trust me for shit either at first. It takes time, I can’t force him.”
“Yeah you can. Make him stay, give him an apartment, get him off the street… dats your job” he yelled passionately. As much as he was pissing me off by telling me how to do my job, I respected the fact that he wanted to help that kid so badly. I liked this side of Che.
“Listen to yourself, dude. You sound ridiculous. I can’t force him to take our help, just like I couldn’t force you,” I said making him think. “He wouldn’t even give me enough information to do a background check… oh and that reminds me, what the hell were you thinking bringing him upstairs?! You could’ve put River and Cay in danger.” He just rolled his eyes at me. I could tell he knew I was right, but was determined to prove me wrong.
“But if he comes back, you’ll help him?” he asked.
“If he comes back of his own free will and wants my help… I’ll help him. But you can’t force him.” I said. Che stood there for a minute, then left my office… pissed off. I understood how he felt, but it was Frankie’s decision to make, not mine, and not Che’s.
About an hour after Che left, I was on my way to meet Zach at the detention center. Karen was going to be released at the end of the week and we had all been preparing for her reentry into the world of the free since her court date. We had an apartment set up for her. It wasn’t fancy (that’s for damn sure), but it had a fresh coat of paint and her rent was covered for a month thanks to Jason and Abby. Our village circled the wagons and donated everything she’d need from furniture to kitchen gadgets, they even pitched in to give her a visa card with a few hundred dollars on it for food and other essentials until she had an income. Before Kelly and Nathan went back to Wisconsin, Kelly took the rag tag, odds and ends, donated furniture and somehow made it all come together… like I said, it was nothing fancy, but it was clean, safe, and homey. She had everything she’d need, and most importantly it would help her meet the requirements of her parole.
Zach and I sat in the little room waiting for Karen to join us. “So, we need to be kind, but firm” I said to Zach as we saw her through the window. We were there to update her on what we’d done, and clarify expectations. Karen walked through the door with a smile like I had never seen on her before… it reminded me of Izzy’s.
“So, you’re almost there” Zach said to her.
“Forty one hours and 32 minutes, not that I’m counting” she said as she sat down.
Our time with her was limited, so I pulled out my phone and got right down to business. “Here’s your apartment” I said showing her pictures. She scrolled through my phone.
“Wow. This is really cute” she said in a whisper of disbelief.
“Jason and Abby giving it to you for half the going rate, and they waived all the fees including the first months rent” I explained as she continued to scroll. “I only have one interview set up for you at a local dry cleaner so far. It’s hard work, but they pay enough for you to cover rent and your bills… it’ll be tight, but you can make it until you get things figured out.”
“I aint afraid of hard work, and I’ve never had a hell of a lot of money, so I can make it work.” She said as she examined the pictures of her new home, she seemed almost zoned out, in a dreamworld.
“Okay, well here’s the hard part of the conversation” Zach said. Before he could go further she interrupted him.
“You want me to stay away from the kids. Right?”
“No. But we’re in charge.” I responded. It was pointed and maybe harsh, but we were setting boundaries. “We’re their parents, and what we say goes.”
“Because of the child endangerment charges, all visits need to be supervised” Zach added, sounding like a lawyer.
“But it’s bigger than that, the last year has been one of adjustment for those three kids, I include our soon-to-be adopted son Ali. We went from strangers to a family, and we need you to respect that.” I said. I had rehearsed my words several times with Zach at home, and again in the car by myself on the way over. “We want you to be in their lives, they deserve that…”
“But our family is our top priority” interrupted Zach. “We have three fantastic, smart, loving, caring, happy, and surprisingly well adjusted kids… it needs to stay that way.”
Karen handed me my phone back, looked up at us and said, “it’s gonna suck” then she paused. “Those are my babies, aint no changin’ that, but you’re their parents now… I accepted that. But it aint gonna be easy, and I may fuck up. All I can say is that I get it and I’ll do my best, but y’all can’t expect me to be perfect.”
“We don’t, but we do expect to respect our family” Zach said. She nodded and let out a heavy sigh. She knew what had to be done, she knew the kids were where they needed to be, but damn, it had to be hard for her.
“Okay, with that said. We want to invite you to dinner at our home Thursday night” I said. “I took Thursday morning off work, I’ll pick you up when you get released, take you to your apartment, and help you get settled tin. Then you’ll be on your own for the rest of the afternoon.”
“Then, I’ll pick you up after work, about 5:30 and take you out to our place for dinner, you can surprise the kids, and we can tell them about your new situation together” Zach said. “They’ll have a million questions.”
“I been thinkin’ bout that” Karen said. “I’m gonna make it clear that I’m not in jail anymore and will get to see them more, and I’ll tell em’ over and over how lucky they are to have two great daddies” she said with a smile and half-scoff. She knew it was true, but it doesn’t mean she liked her new role. I kept reminding myself how hard it was going to be for all of us… and that included her. We talked through it until our time was up, “Well, only Forty hours and 32 minutes left, not that I’m counting” she said with a smirk (Izzy’s smirk) as she got up to leave.
“I’ll see you Thursday morning” I said as we stood to say goodbye.
She got to the door, turned to look back and said, “Thank you guys for everything. And I get it… really.” Damn, I hoped that she really did. She deserved a second chance, but we deserved our family.
Zach and I said goodbye in the parking lot and parted ways. Mrs. Mavis’ was on the way back to the office, so I decided to pick up Izzy and Ali and take them to The Village for the rest of the afternoon. Izzy hung out in the lobby with BA playing secretary, and Ali followed me around like my shadow. He even sat in on my meeting with Rodney, oh my god, he was such a sweet kid. He just sat on Rodney’s lap and picked Gold Fish crackers off the desk while the two of us talked. We were working on budgets (ugh, I hated budgeting) when Che came storming in to my office with Izzy following behind.
“Seriously, Seth. What the fuck?!” He said completely forgetting about the kids.
“Hey! Watch your mouth, the kids are here’ I barked back.
Izzy, not one to miss an opportunity to swear didn’t miss a beat, “Cheese, don’t say fuck. Fuck is a bad wode.”
“Fuck” Ali said with a smile in the sweetest little voice before putting another gold fish in his mouth. Rodney turned away so the kids couldn’t see him trying not to laugh, and I could hear BA cackling in the other room.
Che just stared blankly at Ali, then after a pause apologized. “Hi little dude, I’m sorry. Don’t say that word.” Then he looked at Izzy and apologized, “I’m sorry girl I won’t say it again.”
“Heo, I maked dis fo you” she said holding up a picture of… well… um… a picture of… let’s just say a picture. Anyway. Her timing was perfect, she totally disarmed him. He took the picture, then lifted her up and thanked her with a kiss on the cheek. She returned the gesture; the tough thug was putty in her hands.
Che looked at me and said, “I can’t believe you just let him go back to sleepin’ on the streets, I can’t stop thinkin’ ‘bout him. I couldn’t even focus at work.”
“Don’t be mad at Seth” Rodney said. “The kid wouldn’t even give us his full name.”
“You brought him in, he knows what we do, and he knows how to find us” I said calmly. “He’ll come back when he’s ready.”
“Listen, Che. He’s not the first scared guy to refuse help. It happens” Rodney said in a calming tone. “He’ll come around, then we can help him.” Che was not happy with our answers, if he was going to be a cop, or anything close to it, he’d have to learn patience. The three of us talked while the kids vied for our attention, by the time I left to pick up the boys from school, Che had calmed down and seemed to understand our stance a little better even though he didn’t like it.
It had been a long day! I was happy to be home, and even happier when the kids were finally fed and down for the night. Once they were out, I poured myself a drink, I never did that in the middle of the week but I needed a little escape that night. It was spring and warming up a bit, but still cold outside. I put on a heavy sweater, took my cocktail and a flashlight, and went to walk around the yard; Petunia accompanied me on my tour, happy to be outside. I checked on the garden and the few little sprouts that had started to come up, then I went to check on the bees, Max had just helped me get them ready for spring. Everything looked good there. I ended up sitting on the patio love seat with Petunia laying across my lap, and sipping my whiskey. The chilled air felt good, it helped clear my head. Eventually, Zach found his way to me and pushed Petunia off the loveseat so he could take her place. Our first baby laid on the cold ground by our feet while I talked through my stress with the one man who understood me more than anyone. I don’t know, we always had a lot going on, but the whole Karen thing was bothering me. The situation brought up a lot of mixed emotions, I was happy she got a second chance, but worried what that meant for our family. Would it confuse the kids? Would her being out of jail but not living with us turn them against us. Her release threatened to change our world.
Zach understood, “yeah, things will change, but I really don’t think Karen’s going to cause trouble, I believe she appreciates all we’ve done and she’ll respect us as the parents.” He put an arm around me and we just sat in the quiet of the dark night, leaning on each other. “Do you realize that it was just a little over a year ago when we were worried they would take the kids away from us because you were in the hospital?” He asked. “We got through that. We’ll get through this.”
Zach snaked his hand into my waistband, his cold hand sent chills up my spine as he grabbed my manhood. I was shivering with cold and excitement as we kissed, it was a ravenous kiss full of passion and urgency. Zach started undoing my jeans, he pulled them down along with my underwear. “Nope!” I blurted as soon as my junk hit the cold air, “it’s too fucking cold out here.” I pulled my pants up immediately, grabbed Zach’s hand and dragged him inside the warm house and into the kitchen, Petunia was at our heels as he followed me in laughing the whole way. I pushed Zach against the island, dropped to my knees, and pulled out his cold, shriveled manhood… I had my work cut out for me. I chuckled to myself a little as I felt Zach’s cold worm inside my mouth. His powerful, magnificence was like a cold, wet noodle at first. My warm mouth brought him back to life as my talented, determined tongue snaked around him summoning every available drop of blood into his rope-like veins. It took a few minutes but Zach came to life in my mouth, the sensation was flipping electric. My mouth filled as he grew, his bulbous head was in my throat, my eyes were watering, and his hand was on the back of my head as he tried to force himself even deeper. I was consumed by cock sucking, it was my only focus, my only concern, all the other worries and stress vaporized. Zach had successfully diverted my attention.
“Fuuuuuuck” Zach groaned from deep within his soul while his hips swayed in and out of my mouth, and his hands pushed down on my head. He had face-fucked me before, but not like this. He was using my mouth as a hole, just a conduit to his release and it was exactly what I fucking needed. An escape fuck. I was salivating so much that I was drooling, and my throat felt abused and bruised. My nose was smooshed into his blonde bush, and my lips were bruised from the beating I was taking from his pubic bone. Finally, he gripped my head so tight that I couldn’t move, he was pushing in and out of me violently and his groans were almost feral. He made one final, powerful thrust and then with a wail he shot his warm, thick, cum jettisoning down my throat gagging and choking me, it cum went up and out my damn nose. Holy fuck, he had never fucked my face with such abandon, desire, and sheer lust… and did I tell you I loved it?! It was exactly what I needed. I licked his nuts and cock clean, then laid down on the cold kitchen floor and finished myself off… Zach’s tongue licked my balls for incentive. My hand worked furiously until I shot my load all over my sweater. Zach licked my cock clean and we kissed as he snowballed my cum from his tongue to mine. I was still breathing heavy when my phone rang.
I reached in my pocket to grab it, then checked the ID, I didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?” I answered.
“Um is this, um Seth” asked the shaky voice on the other end.
“Yeah, this is Seth.”
“Um, this is, Frankie, we met in your office this morning” he said, on the verge of crying. “I’m tired of being scared and alone, please help me.”
To be continued…
