Zach’s Perspective
There was a hurricane blowing its way towards the Carolina coast, The winds were already strong and fast, and the rains were falling like sheets of water, but we were safe inside our home with the kids, and Che & River who laughed the hurricane threat off, then came looking for refuge. I was glad they did, they were a great distraction for the kids.
Our yard was already covered with fallen branches and debris but there was no real damage yet and we still had power… I was thankful. We had been checking in with everyone regularly, mom and dad were enjoying some quiet time in their villa binge watching all their favorite shows. Eli, Riley, and baby Merce were still at the hospital, safe and sound. Dylan, Gina, and family were hunkered down at home, the BroMax family was across the road safe and sound, and all the villagers seemed to be weathering the storm just fine.
It was dinner time; Seth had put chili in the crockpot and we were all filling our bowls before going into the living room to watch Beauty and The Beast for the one millionth plus time (it was Izzy’s turn to pick). Just as I was about to get comfortable amidst the “hurrichaos” (as Seth called it) Seth’s phone rang, it was Karen. She had been working at the dry cleaning plant all day and when she got home to her apartment, she discovered she had left a window open and the place was trashed. She was doing her best to clean it up, but was scared and in tears. Seth put her on mute and we discussed the situation. Against my better judgment we decided to help go get her and bring her to the house. We had been Karen’s main support system since she was released, I mean she had made some friends, but she still relied on us… way too much as far as I was concerned. I empathized with her and wanted to help, but when she was around, the family dynamic shifted. I dunno, how to explain, but like Izzy got whiny around her, and Freddy was a nervous wreck tending to her every need. But she was their mother, they loved her, and we loved them so we tolerated it. Anyway, I dumped my untouched bowl of chili back into the crockpot, pulled my rain gear on, and braved my way out to the barn and into the pickup… I wasn’t thrilled about it.
The roads sucked! The wind was pushing the truck from side to side as I navigated the obstacle course of downed tree branches and flying debris making my way towards Karen’s apartment. I was moving into the storm, the closer I got to downtown and the coast, the worse the weather got. I got to Karen’s place just in time to see some guy coming out of her apartment door, get in an old car and drive away. I texted Karen to let her know I was there, then honked the horn (there was no way in hell I was getting out of the truck in that weather). She came out of her apartment door, bounded down the steps, and got into the truck, “Thanks for this Zach, I didn’t want to be up there alone” she said.
“Who was that guy leaving your place?” I asked.
“What guy?” She said playing dumb.
“The guy that just came out of your door.”
“He must’ve come out of another apartment, there was nobody at my place, just me” she answered with a smile. Her lie was so good that she almost convinced me that I didn’t see what I knew I saw. I dropped it (for the moment).
We ventured back to the house. It usually only took us about fifteen minutes to get there, but that day it took us almost an hour. We finally made it back to the house and I let Karen off close to the door before driving the truck back into the old barn for safe keeping. By the time I got back into the house (I’d been gone almost two hours), the kids were all gathered around Karen and Seth was getting her a bowl of Chili. I took off my wet coat, hung it in the entry way, then went into the kitchen to get myself a bowl of chili. When Karen had joined the others in the living room, I told Seth about the guy coming out of Karen’s, and her denying it. We were both curious… and a little suspicious. “Maybe she met a nice guy,” Seth suggested.
“Or maybe she was hanging out with a bad element again and violating her parole” I barked back. “Either way, if she’s gonna be around the kids, I wanna know what’s going on.” Seth agreed.
We made our way into the living room where they were now watching Shrek (Freddy’s pick). Karen was already nestled between her two kids on one couch, River and Che were on the floor below them leaning against the couch, and Seth and I snuggled on the other couch with Ali. It was a nice, cozy night at home until we heard a loud crack and everything flickered, then went dark. I ran to the window and saw one of our old trees splayed across the driveway barely missing Che’s car, it must’ve taken a powerline down with it. We scrambled to light candles and get the flashlights out. The kids were a little freaked out, Seth and Karen focused on calming them down while Che, River, and I went out to assess the damage.
Che let out a sigh of relief as he looked at his car, “shit, I thought my car got hit.”
“Why don’t you pull it into the barn next to the truck so it’s safe” I suggested. River took the keys from his boyfriend and moved the car while me and Che kept looking around.
“Well, we aint goin’ no place no time soon” Che said scratching his head as we stood in the pouring rain and examined the tree blocking the drive.
“There’s not shit we can do about it now; we’ll deal with it after the storm. Let’s go inside and ride it out.” I yelled through the roar of nature as River came running our way. The three of us went back to the house, dried off, and joined the others.
“Here hold dis” Che said as he handed the flashlight to River. “Look A dog” he said as he made a shadow puppet on the living room wall.
“COOL!” Freddy exclaimed.
“Hey, dat a dog” Izzy added.
Followed by Ali pointing and saying “Doggie.” Then Che did a bat, and Seth got in on the fun and made a duck, and we all took turns trying to come up with shadow puppets… the kids were laughing and pointing, they had forgotten about the storm completely. With the kids preoccupied, I snuck away to call Brody.
“Hey, our power is out, how about you?” I asked.
“Yeah, lost it about a half hour ago, but we’ve got the generator cranked. Why don’t ‘y’all come over here?”
“We’ve gotta tree across our driveway, we aint goin’ anywhere.” Then I told him about River, Che, and Karen being with us.
Brody laughed, “Day-um y’all gotta weird party goin’ on over there. Hang in, and keep us posted. I’ll come over with my chainsaw when the storm passes and help ya’ with the tree.” When we were both convinced that everyone was safe, we hung up. I went back into the living room and updated Seth on everything.
The storm didn’t seem to be getting tired, but the kids were. Ali passed out first and Seth took him upstairs to put him down for the night, he stayed in the room with him. Izzy stayed up a little longer sitting on her mother’s lap while Freddy played board games with Che, River, and me by candlelight.
Karen’s phone had buzzed a few times, she kept checking it and texting back, something was up. “Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Um, yeah, fine. Just a friend checking in to make sure I’m safe” she said with a feigned smile. I was suspicious. The kids loved Karen, and Seth and I wanted her to have a second chance, but she had a history of bad decisions, and we would NEVER forget that she put the kids in danger…that was not happening again on our watch that was for damn sure. In short, I didn’t trust her judgment.
“You sure?” I asked, my eyes fixated on hers, daring her to lie to me. Izzy was struggling to stay awake, “hey Karen, if you want to take her up and put her to bed you can have the upper bunk.”
“Ya, know. I’ll take you up on that, it’s been a long day” She got up with Izzy in her arms, I kissed my little princess on the forehead as they passed me.
“Night Daddy Sach” She said with her eyes closed.
Once they had made their way up the steps, I looked at Freddy and said, “I think it’s time for bed, buddy.”
“Aw man, can’t I stay up and play” he whined.
“Yeah, c’mon, we havin’ fun, let him stay up” Che said with the same whine.
“Can I bring my sleeping bag down here and stay with them?” Freddy begged with Che and River backing him up. It was like having two more kids in the house.
“You can stay up a little longer, then we’ll see about sleeping down here” I said giving in before I left the guys to go check on Seth. I noticed Karen had left her phone on the coffee table, I picked it up to take it to her and saw a message that said, ‘I wish we were together tonight’ from Johnny B. I wasn’t spying on her, I saw the message by accident, but my blood ran cold. ‘Johnny B? Johnny Black? She better not be bringing that son of a bitch around my family’ I thought to myself. We thought he was still in prison, but in all honesty, I hadn’t paid much attention to him since she was released. We had no power and limited internet access due to the storm so I couldn’t find out if he was still behind bars or not, but you can bet your ass I would figure it out as soon as the storm passed.
I went upstairs, knocked on Izzy’s door and handed Karen her phone. “You left this on the coffee table.” Karen thanked me and reached for the phone nervously without making eye contact. Her reaction just strengthened my suspicions. After I said good night, I made my way across the hall to the boys room where Seth was asleep in the overstuffed chair in the corner with Ali asleep on his broad chest. “Hey” I whispered as I shook his shoulder, time for bed. He just smiled at me as I took the sleeping Ali from his arms and tucked him in his own bed. I spoke quietly to Seth about Freddy wanting to sleep downstairs with the guys.
Seth got his sleeping bag out of the closet and grabbed the pillow off his bed. “Hell, I’d rather have him up all night playing with the guys than up all night worrying about the storm.” I agreed with his logic, so we made our way back downstairs to give Freddy the good news. He was so damn excited to get to hang out with “the big kids.” It was clear Che and River were happy too, over the last couple of months they had grown attached to our family and regarded our kids as their siblings… our kids returned the sentiment. I made some popcorn while Seth got everyone set-up with pillows and blankets. We hung out and played board games with them for a little while, then we went up to bed and left them to play, they were laughing and joking around when we made our exit. We were all making the best of a bad situation.
Seth and I got to our room, locked the door, stripped, and got into our bed, with the power out and no AC, it was starting to get hot so we lay on top of the covers. “Hey, I think Karen’s hanging out with Johnny Black” I blurted, just putting it out there. Then I told him what I had observed, and about the texts from a “Johnny B.”
His kneejerk reaction was, “Then she’s done hanging out with Freddy and Izzy.”
“We’re on the same page” I said as we both sat in bed leaning against the headboard. “She’s making stupid decisions; I won’t let her hurt the kids again.”
“Can’t her probation be revoked for hanging out with him?”
“Yup, she could go back to prison and do another five years or so. Like Pop Nichols told her, second chances are rare and third chances are unheard of. If she fucks this up, I can’t help her” I replied.
“I just don’t get it. That asshole abused her, was mean to her and her kids, and freaking used Izzy as a goddamn human shield… why the hell would she go back?”
“Maybe she’s just lonely, Seth.” Honestly, I couldn’t think of another logical explanation. As much as I empathized with Karen, the welfare of our kids was my main concern, Seth agreed. We talk quietly for a little while longer, and were aligned… if she was seeing Johnny B, she could not see the kids. Neither of us felt good about our decision, but we both knew it was right.
We sat there in the bed, naked in the darkness. Seth’s hand was gently rubbing my thigh and mine his as we exchanged whispers. Our conversation was serious, but with his fingers just millimeters from my resting manhood, I was distracted. I looked down as Seth spoke, and marveled at the sight of our cocks splayed out on our thighs, glistening in the candlelight. My cock involuntarily twitched, Seth’s did the same, they were signaling to us and I couldn’t resist. I moved my fingers just a tiny bit until they lightly touched his member, it twitched again and mine twitched in response. It was on. I was about to go down on Seth, but he beat me to the punch. The power was out, but there was electricity in the air. It was like someone flipped a switch and turned him on. His tongue was bathing my balls in warmth, sending shockwaves through my body and short circuiting my brain… I couldn’t think, all I could do was roll my eyes into the back of my head and bask in the pleasure. And damn, Seth knew how to give me pleasure. He took both of my meaty balls in his mouth, then sucked each individually, rolling them around in the warmth of his oral cavern. I kept my groans of personal pleasure to myself, the last thing I wanted to do was wake our houseful of hurricane refugees.
Seth continued to bathe my balls sending another jolt of electricity through me and turning my resting manhood into a raging tower of power that could’ve lit New York. I was lying lengthwise on the bed, flat on my back with a pillow propping up my head. Seth’s body was perpendicular to mine with his face buried in my crotch and his beautiful ass in the air. I reached out my arm, resting my hand on his firm butt cheek and tickling his hole with my middle finger. He hummed as he sucked my balls, the added vibrations were electric! He pushed my babymakers out of his mouth and moved his soft lips up my shaft until he reached my bulbous head. It was dark as hell but his eyes sparkled and locked onto mine as he swallowed me whole. My finger inched its way into his hole and past his tight, ever vigilant ring as his throat muscles massaged my pole, and his ass gulped my finger, sucking it into its depths.
Seth was quietly sparking my lust and overloading my circuits, I was almost to the point of no return when I decided to take control. I got up and the two of us maneuvered until his face was buried in the pillow and his ass was pointed to the heavens. I took a few moments to lick his inviting hole as he whimpered into the pillow. I kneeled behind and entered him like a bolt of lightning pushing through the dark and stormy night. We were silent except for the quiet slapping of my balls against his ass. His hand moved quickly as it struggled to keep up with the pace of my fucking. I was a man possessed as I bit my tongue trying to stay silent. Seth’s muffled whimpers into the pillow sounded like a wounded animal calling for help in the distance. He continued to jack himself off as I continued to plug his outlet, then, like a high voltage explosion, I shot my wad into his bowels and he shot his load onto the bedcovers. There were no words exchanged, just quiet grunts as we did our best to silence ourselves. I collapsed on his sweaty back and he turned his head to kiss me. We did it. We climaxed in a house full of people, and no one was the wiser. With the knowledge of that triumph, we kissed goodnight and fell asleep in our own aftermath as the storm continued to blow around us.
We were both awakened early morning by a crack of thunder. I checked my weather apps while Seth looked out the window. The storm had taken a turn and gone out to sea, we were no longer in the eye, but the wind and rain continued. On a happy note, our power was back on! Seth and I took a quick shower before going down to start our day… as hot as our sex was the night before, it felt gross on our bodies. Once we were up, we tiptoed downstairs to the kitchen.
Seth opened the refrigerator, “Well, it’s still cold. I don’t think anything went bad” he said as he started to pull out eggs, bacon, and everything he needed to make breakfast for our crew of hurricane refugees. River, Che, and Freddy heard us and made their way to the kitchen. Freddy was in his Superman PJ’s, the other guys were just wearing their underwear as they lumbered in yawning, scratching, and wiping their eyes.
“We got ‘lectricity” Freddy announced with excitement as took his place next to Seth and started to mix the scrambled eggs… that was his regular job and he went right to it.
“Hey guys, can I help?” River asked with a yawn. Seth put the pancake batter in a bowl in front of him and told him to stir.
“Man, thank you guys for lettin’ us stay here” Che said as he stretched and scratched his belly. “I thought all this hurricane stuff was bullshit, but damn, that shit got real.”
“The worst of it’s gone” I replied as I looked at a storm tracker app on my phone again. “The wind and rain should end in the next hour or so. Any chance I can talk you guys into sticking around and helping me get the tree off the driveway?”
Che laughed, “Like we gotta choice? My car’s stuck too… we aint goin’ nowhere until that tree is gone.”
“Ricky texted and said they weren’t gonna open the plant, se we’ve got the day off” River added.
“What about school?” Seth asked Che was attending the police academy in anticipation of being hired by the Wilmington Police department.
“Closed” Che said as he filled a coffee mug then took a seat on one of the barstools at the kitchen island. As we talked about the storm the others trickled in. Izzy came in all sleepy eyed, she toddled over to the barstool Che had just sat down and crawled up on his lap resting her head on his bare chest.
“Good morning lil’ miss sunshine” Seth chirped. “did you sleep okay?” She just nodded; she was still half asleep.
Ali usually comes down with Freddy, but he made his way down the steps all by himself and was ready and rarin’ to go. He waddled his way over to me reaching out his arms to be picked up.
Freddy went into a diatribe about all the cool noises the wind made, “It sounded like the house was farting!” he said making everyone laugh as he, Che, and River tried to mimic the noises.
While the guys made breakfast, and Freddy entertained the masses, I took Ali out to the front porch and surveyed the remnants of the storm. Other than the big tree across the drive, there didn’t seem to be much real damage. I mean it looked like Mother Nature took a crap on our front yard with all the tree branches and debris spewed in the yard, but no major damage.
We walked over to the downed tree to assess the damage, Ali pointed with wide eyes and declared “Dat tree broked.”
“Yup” is all I said as I checked it out. I was confident we could move it enough to get the cars around it until we could chop it up. I decided to facetime Brody to check-in and show him our driveway. He was out walking his property too. “Hey you guys good?” I asked.
“Everythin’ here’s fine. Just a buncha’ limbs down, nothin’ major” he said as he held is phone up to show me the property. “We were worried about the greenhouse, but it did fine.” Then said “hey” to Ali who giggled and responded with an adorable ‘hi.’ “How are y’all doin?” I turned the phone to show him the tree across the driveway. “Dayum” Brody exclaimed, “Don’t worry, I’ll come by later and help y’all turn that bitch into firewood.” I laughed. We had a chainsaw too, but this was probably a two-chainsaw-job and I welcomed the help.
I hung up and me and Ali continued our inspections. “Dat broked?” he said pointing to a big branch laying on the ground.
“Yup” I replied again. This became our thing as he pointed at every tree, branch, twig, and leaf lying on the ground and asked if it was “broked.”. I carried Ali out back to check on the garden and beehives… everything looked surprisingly fine. We went back to the kitchen to report our findings to a relieved Seth. Ali told everyone about the “broked tree.”
Bacon was sizzling, eggs were frying, and pancakes were flipping when Karen finally made her way down to join us. The whole dynamic changed when she walked into the room. Izzy jumped off Che’s lap and wrapped herself around her mother’s legs whining for attention, and Freddy went from a fun-loving kid to a nervous wreck. “Momma did you sleep good?” He asked. “Are you hungry? We’re making breakfast.” I suddenly didn’t recognize our two well-adjusted kids; they seemed to crave her approval and focused their (nervous) energy on her and I didn’t like it. Everyone pitched in to finish making breakfast and get it on the table (everyone but Karen who sipped her coffee and looked at her phone while the kids fawned over her).
Inside, we were eating breakfast, talking, and laughing. Outside, the rain had stopped and the winds were dying down. We had survived the hurricane threat. “Ray Ray texted me and said that the dry cleaners is up and runnin’. I need to be at work by nine, can somebody gimme a ride?” Karen asked.
“Technically, yes” I responded. “But I’m not sure how to get around that tree.”
“Maybe we can move it enough to get around it” Seth suggested as he ate with one hand and cut up Ali’s breakfast with the other.
“I think we can” I responded before wolfing down my breakfast. After breakfast, Karen got ready for work while me, Seth, Che, and River tested our strength by moving the tree over just enough to drive around it. The kids all cheered as we did.
Karen came down with all her stuff, and we jumped in the pickup and took off with Freddy sitting in his seat in the back. Freddy talked to her the whole trip into the city but she was preoccupied with her phone. When we pulled into the parking lot of the dry cleaner, there was a guy in a red baseball cap smoking a cigarette and leaning against an old car… it was the same guy I saw at Karen’s when I picked her up.
Freddy flipped the fuck out! “Daddy! That’s Johnny, the guy that hurt Izzy… don’t let him hurt us!” Karen just looked down at her lap.
To be continued…
