Carlos Hazday

I almost gave Sean dialogue, but decided it was better to bring him on board slowly. @Defiance19 will probably move in before Colt gets a chance.

It'll be a successful business venture for the guys. I wanna own a gym so I can spend my life ogling eye candy.

On the final Monday in September, we quietly opened our doors to the public. From The Village, through Chelsea, to Hell’s Kitchen, we had blanketed the neighborhoods with advertising. We had hundreds of palm cards printed and hired day laborers to pass them out near other fitness centers, outside restaurants, and in front of clubs at night. Several businesses allowed us to place sign up boxes on their counters. We offered a complimentary week to anyone filling out the information slips and

“Can we keep some of the hunky warehouse workers?” Apollo panting like a dog would be indelibly etched in my mind. “Down, pooch. I’m pretty sure all of them are gone. Anyway, they were probably all fat from too many after-work beers.” I shoved Apollo forward as soon as there was a break in traffic. I didn’t feel like waiting for the light to change. “It’s supposed to be the old man and his son in there today. They’re clearing out the last of their shit and dealing with the closing.” Wh

Thanks, buddy.

Pretty good and pretty close to what was going through my head. I never crystallized what they had done together, but my idea was Sam was okay with fooling around until Colt came out and Sam got scared of guilt by association.

Best chapter yet. Maddie has no clue she's going to lose.

Thanks, KDM. I'm happy I can provide a little entertainment with my scribbles.

Yep, I think if Poppy had not been there, Sam would have had a rougher time.

And yet, you survived. Good on you, Gene. Bitterness can be a motivator as long as we don't allow it to overrun our lives. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you, and others who did the same, for sharing your point of view. Most of what I know about small-town, rural America comes from conversations with friends or reading. I've ridden through many, particularly in the South, but most of the time I've enjoyed the picturesque sights without much interaction with locals.

To me, lots of discussion is a thrill. It tells me my work reached readers sufficiently to have them comment. So thank you all for the lively conversation. Colt's been a secondary character in the CJ series for a while. Mostly (maybe exclusively) when I've written scenes set in New York.

Hell, Wilton Manors is gossip monger central. It's so inbred everyone who wants to listen can hear anything. BTW, I've met those neighbors but we don't interact. In contrast the guys across the street and the ones in the other unit in my duplex I consider friends. In a smaller town, everyone living on the block would probably know everyone else's names. Funny you mention West Virginia. Last week I tried to include bungee jumping off the New River Gorge Bridge in a story. Unfortunately, the days the MC had available for doing it did not include Bridge Day. I sent him to Kings Dominion in Virginia instead.

I think you and Colt have a similar outlook. If you screw up, don't come back wanting to start again.

SPOILER: Colt eventually gets his shit together. LOL

Yep, he should have confronted Sam way before. Not sure the outcome would have varied much, though.

Nailed it! His mother didn't reject them but as is often the case, she would prefer to sweep unpleasant facts under the rug.

My characters have been accused of being too perfect in the past; it's refreshing to see at least some readers don't feel that way about Colt. I don't think he cares about how Sam feels these days, Colt did mention if Sam died he would not mourn. Harsh, immature, unforgiving, vindictive... call it whatever you want but it's his attitude. Since he doesn't care what other people in town think aboout him, he at last vented his anger. Personally, I would have simply moved away from Sam and not talked to him at all. The concept I was trying to get across is that in smaller communities more people tend to meddle and gossip than in larger areas. Maybe because in those town more residents know each other than in larger environments? I don't know the names of the two guys who live next to me.

I'm an equal opportunity detractor for all SEC teams.

Thanks for the praise. Is it immaturity or the need almost all of us have for acceptance? Some of us are unwilling to compromise. In his mid to late 20s, Colt's lived openly for a while and is not interested in hiding who he is. I think he had written Sam off a long time ago. If they had not bumped into each other, Colt would not have gone out of his way to put on a show at the diner. I doubt he was trying to get Sam's approval; as far as Colt was concerned, Sam was the past and should stay there.

That explains a lot. LOL I tried to show Colt having shed the Iowa persona and replaced it with a more aggressive Gotham attitude, so you nailed that part. I think if we embrace our surroundings like Colt's done with NYC, the city influences more than your options for eating out.

Aside from Sam, I did not detail any overt acts of rejection. But his previous actions and his mother's concerns are mostly about what others may think. That's based on personal experience. My mother was always worried about what others would think and say. Our fights were mostly because I didn't give a crap.

And here I thought it was because you hated the Crimson Tide. Take a look at my response to Parker's comment. The exodus to larger cities is common.

I'm a city boy and my area is, like NYC, LA, and a few other larger cities, a magnet for small town gay people seeking acceptance. My knowledge of those areas comes from friends. Hope I got it right.

The t-shirt was my way of showing Colt's lost some of the farm boy innocence and has adopted some of the 'in-your face' NYC attitude. Let's see if it works in the end.