Jacob Finding His Way - 60. Chapter 60

Al looked up to see Joe standing at the door of his office. He waived him in as he gathered the files on his desk to give his secretary to file. Once he organized his desk, he walked around and joined Joe in the chairs in front of his desk. Al didn't want Joe to feel as if he were talking at him or down to him since, for the majority of his life, had been the one sitting on that side of the desk, as the one in charge.

“Thank you for coming in so early in the morning Joe. I have a lot going on this morning, so forgive me if I seem to be in a rush. As soon as I am done here, I am heading down to help Dewayne settle in on his first day. As of today, he and my son officially own all the Seven-Elevens here in El Paso. They are very nervous about taking this on.”

“No problem Mr. Serna; let me know what you want me to do and I will do it.” Major Moore pulled out a notebook to take notes. “I Know I need to learn the business from the ground up in order to train others to be in the stores. In order for me to be good at that, I need to get my hands dirty, as they say.”

“Well first we don’t even know what we have as far as staff is concern with the Seven-Elevens. Of course, the employees at the stores will be there, but with office staff, we don’t know who is coming over. As far as I know they had one of their stores as the training store and we are going to take that away.”

“Under new ownership there is bound to be changes. If anyone thought that things are going to be the same when your son and Dewayne took over, well they are in for a shock. I don’t care in the Army or here in the private sector, when you get a new owner or leader things change and you just have to go with the flow.”

“I truly hope they understand that and if they don’t they can take the door because it swings both directions. What I would like you to do for now is come with me and meet up with Dewayne. You two can go to the stores and see what we have out there. Dewayne is young and so is my son; they need someone to help them that has life experiences.

I know you are hired as the trainer, but that doesn’t suit you. Right now, I can use you more with Dewayne and Tony. They are not going to get the respect they deserve unless you help the staff see that no matter their age, they are the bosses. You guys learn the business together and at the same time give Dewayne and Tony lessons of leadership like you did with my grandson.

After they get comfortable with their positions, you will stay on as Vice President of Operations of the Seven-Elevens. You will help Dewayne and Tony run the every day business of their stores. They are the owners, but I want you onboard with them because of your experience in leadership. They need a strong person in the ranks to help them get to the point they can make the hard decisions like firings. They're teenagers that have never had to do that and you have been through that in your life.”

“I am honored that you and Jacob believe in me to get this job done and I won’t let you or Jacob down.” Major Moore closed his notebook. “I will help Dewayne and Tony as much as I can to get to the point of making the hard decisions. At the same time I will keep in mind that they are my bosses and I won't over step that line.”

“Yes they are your bosses, but they will be looking up to you for leadership. Help them see their errors in private and when out in the stores, still show that they are the bosses. If you do that, Dewayne and Tony will learn so much from you that I can’t teach them. I just have my plate full right now and you are the man I am turning to for help.”

Al and Joe walked out of the office and met Dewayne on the floor where the offices of the Seven-Elevens were going to be. The first thing Al did when they met up with Dewayne was to let him know what he did with Major Moore. Not only did Dewayne accept that Joe was going to be on the team, but loved the idea. He felt that now, with someone with Joe’s background, things would move along smoother.

“Okay I’ll leave you two to get down to business. Remember Dewayne this is your company and the quicker you, Tony and your vice president get out there and show them you guys are the owners and bosses, the quicker you can get control of things. Don’t be afraid to make an example if you are not being respected like you should.”

Al headed back to his office, leaving Dewayne and Joe to make plans. “I think what we should do is spend the morning going to as many stores as possible. We don’t have to worry about gas because we can fill up at the stores when we need to. Then we can come back and start hiring office staff because by the looks of it none of the office staff decided to come to work for the new ownership.”

“Maybe they have no idea where the new offices are. Why don’t we check downstairs and see if there are people just wondering around. Remember your offices are not set up yet. All they know is the building address, but not the floor. They maybe as nervous as we are. We however can’t show that we are nervous. We are in charge and no matter if we make the wrong decisions, they are right because again we are in charge. We will learn as we go. No matter what, we will make mistakes on the way.”

Dewayne agreed and walked with Joe to the elevator with his head up high. Joe liked seeing that in his boss. That he wouldn't show fear even though he was terrified. When they got to the main floor, they found a group of people just standing in the lobby. Just like Joe had said, they look terrified of being in a new place.

Once Dewayne and Joe confirmed their suspicions, they took their staff up to the new offices. Before heading back out to visit a couple of stores, Dewayne was told by the secretary, that they needed to get things from the old office. As a result, Dewayne and Joe decided to take several of the employees to the old office to get everything.

When the bell rang, Chase walked out and right into Ethan in the hall. Ethan looked over at Chase and smiled. Something about that smile of Ethan’s made Chase feel weird feelings in his body. He looked away trying to figure out what was going on with him. The more he tried to ignore what he was feeling, the more the feelings got stronger.

Just when Chase started to talk, David and Tom walked up. Right away Chase started to get into their conversation in hopes that the weird feelings he was feeling would go away. But when he reached his second period, it was worse. Not only were the feelings still there, but Chase felt even worse because he didn’t get a chance to talk with Ethan.

David and Tom let Chase and their other classmates walk in as they stood in the corner of the hall. Tom grabbed a hold of David and pulled him close into himself. They stood looking into each other's eyes, not doing a thing. Tom started to lick his lips back and forth, causing David to giggle as he did it.

“You know I have missed being with you David? We are acting like old married couple already and we are not. Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with that because I love being with you no matter if we are fooling around or not. Still I want to be with you, I mean with you, so bad that it hurts. It's time that we do something and I mean tonight.”

“Tonight, after everyone heads to their rooms, we will be together. No matter how tired I am or you are from school and work, we will be together. The only thing I want is that we don’t think too much, into how we are going to do it. When a person plans things like that, it normally fails because something doesn’t go according to plan.”

Tom nodded his head, kissed David on the lips and started to run to class. David laughed and cussed at Tom all the way into the classroom, causing those already sitting down to look at them. Both Tom and David ignored them and made their way to their seats. It wasn't any news to anyone at school, that Tom and David were an item, so it shouldn’t have shocked them when they showed the affection they had for each other.

Chase just looked at Tom and David and wondered when he would get that again. It had been way too long since he had felt the love of another. Yes, the break up with Linda still hurt. It was not so much that he had lost Linda; it was more because of the loss of their baby. A baby's life that would have been part of his since Jacob and Joey were going to adopt it.

Halfway through the second period, Jacob got called out of class to the attendance office. As he made his way to the office, he really didn’t think much about why he had been called down. All he thought was that they needed more documentation from his doctor for missing the three days of school last week.

He was surprised when he walked up to the office to see Dewayne standing there. Pulling Dewayne into the bathroom, Jacob started to kiss him. No matter what Dewayne wore, Jacob found him to be very hot. He had a body that fit whatever he put on, no matter if it was shorts, jeans or dress clothes; it all fit him well. Although, Jacob loved him best naked.

“What are you doing here Dewayne? Is everything okay at work?” Dewayne had to put his fingers over Jacob’s mouth in order to get him to stop asking questions.

“I have a big favor to ask you. Feel free to say no since you’ve done so much for me already.” Jacob just stared at Dewayne wondering even more, what was going on with him. “We needed to move things from the old Seven-Eleven offices to our new offices downtown. Joe didn't have a truck, so I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind me using your's . I know you lending me your car is a lot already, but….”

“There's no need to even ask me this Dewayne and stop calling it, 'my car' and 'my truck'. We are together, and what I have is yours and what you have is mine.” Jacob squeezed Dewayne’s butt, causing him to jump. “Just park the car where the truck is so I can find it when I am heading home.”

Dewayne kissed Jacob several times as he said thank you, over and over again. As he went down the fourth time, another student walked into the bathroom. They smiled at the student, but the student just looked at them with disgust in his face. Dewayne had to pull Jacob out of the bathroom in order to save the kid from him.

Jacob gave Dewayne the keys to the truck, but didn’t need Dewayne to come back to give him the keys for the car. Although Dewayne didn’t carry a set a keys for both vehicles, even after Jacob asked him to do so several times, Jacob did. It was just for occasions like these or if somehow the other set got locked inside or lost.

During lunch, Jacob saw Chase looking over at Ethan. The look in Chase’s face was a look he had seen before. It was the look he used to have when he looked at Linda; when they first got together. A look he himself had on his face whenever he was around Dewayne. It was a look of love and that struck Jacob weird, because Chase wasn't like him.

Leaving that alone, Jacob decided to find out more about Ethan! They really haven’t had a chance to talk since they met. Even if his best friend was like him, he wanted to make sure Ethan was like him before Chase threw himself out there and got hurt. Jacob knew that his best friend couldn't take another hit when he wasn't even over Linda yet.

Jacob moved over to Ethan and leaned in. “Hey there, can you and I talk in private before lunch is over?” Ethan looked over at Jacob with a worried look in his face. “Oh no, don’t worry it isn’t anything bad. I just wanted to get to know you a bit better and make sure that you are cool about certain things.”

“Sure, why don’t we go somewhere now and talk? I know that everyone takes their cues from you and it was just a matter of time before you and I had a chat. Just do me a favor, if you don’t like me, let me be the bad guy here.”

“You are getting me all wrong Ethan. If I didn’t like you, I would have already told you. There is one thing I am very proud of and that is my ability to read people. When I see someone, I don’t usually even have to talk to them; I can tell if we could be friends. The way a person walks and presents themselves, tells a lot about a person’s character. The day I met you, I didn’t get a bad feeling about you, so don’t worry.”

They got up, excused themselves and walked out. Chase sat there watching as Jacob and Ethan walked out wondering what was going on. The only thought that kept crossing his mind as they walk out was that Jacob saw something that he didn't like about Ethan. He wanted to follow them and find out, but he knew the others would get suspicious.

When they reached the stairwell, Ethan leaned against the wall. As Jacob leaned against the other wall, he looked Ethan up and down trying to measure him up. He could see why Chase would be looking at him the way he was, the guy was hot. Not as hot as his Dewayne, but he was hot. Still Jacob was confused about what was going on with his friend. Again, Jacob pushed that out of his mind and got down to business.

“By now you know that David, Tom, Dewayne and I are gay. It took a long time for me to come to grips with being gay and if you can’t handle having friends that are openly gay, you should leave this circle of friends before you do or say something wrong that might cause more problems in the long haul.”

“Look I don’t care about all that Jacob, truly I don’t. You guys are great and have shown me more respect than any of the others have in this school. Ever since I transferred in, I have been treated like crap. Back home my group of friends and I were those that ruled the school. Still we never treated anyone like crap like they have done to me here.”

“Yeah Chase told me how he met you. I'm sorry that you got to see the negative side that this school has to offer before you got to see the good in it. Chase also told me what happened that caused you and your family to move here. Later we can talk about how I might be able to help your family in that area. For now, I want to get to know Ethan, the real Ethan. Not the guy you want to be, but the guy you are.”

Ethan slid down the wall and didn’t stop until his butt hit the floor. He stretched his long legs out, causing his pants to pull up his legs, showing Jacob how muscular they were. As Jacob looked, he couldn’t help but wonder why Ethan would take the punishment from the other kids when he was obviously a very strong kid from all that farm work.

“I don’t know where to start because I don’t know what you are searching for. You already know that I grew up on a farm and my family recently lost it. I'm not used to a big school like this because the high school I came from wasn’t even half the size of this one. So of course, everything here is new to me, from the way people group up to the way people dress. Things that I never cared about, I have to suddenly care about now.

Back home we all hung out at lunch. No matter if you were a jock or a nerd, we all hung out. No one cared about the way the other dressed. Most of us lived on farms and headed to school right after morning chores. So we all wore the same thing I'm wearing now and no one cared. All we cared about was hanging out and just having good old fun like you guys had last weekend at your house.

Don’t even get me started on this city, because I'm lost the minute I leave my house. Before I met Chase and you guys, I stayed in my house all the time. Your party was the first party I had been to since I moved here. In fact, it is the first time I had left my house besides going to school, the store or helping my dad make some money doing odd jobs around the neighborhood.

I don’t smoke, drink or do drugs. I really don’t party because I never did at home. There was too much work to do on the farm, there was no time left over to party. My family is big; most families in farm towns are. I have five older brothers and sisters, plus two younger brothers. With a family that size, my parents don’t have time to spend with each one of us. We know what we are supposed to do to help the household and we do it.”

“Wow, I never thought there were huge families like that anymore in this country. Now I know big families are still alive and well in farm towns, not in big cities. At least with a huge family your father didn’t have to hire out help to run the farm.” Ethan looked at Jacob and started to laugh.

“You know before meeting Chase and then Chase introducing me to you guys, I thought I was alone. What I have heard about big cities is true. Everything is more open and no one really knows your business unless you tell them. Back home, everyone knew everything about everyone. I really started to hate that.”

“You think we are a big city, you haven’t seen anything yet. Go down to Dallas, Austin or San Antonio and see if you can get around in those cities. Put aside the bigger cities like New York that are not even in this state. Just like you, I moved up here from a smaller city. I was originally from Cheyenne, Wyoming.”

“Now that is small compared to here. Were you open down there as you are here? I mean since where you are from is more like where I am from, they couldn’t be as accepting of gays like here, you know being stuck with the mind set of the forties and all.”

“No I wasn’t open down there because when we lived there, I was still in elementary school. I kind of knew I was gay, but not a hundred percent. I also didn't think being here was going to be easy being gay. We live in the Bible Belt and man do I have stories to tell you, but that's for another time when we have more of it.

I have a question for you and you don’t have to answer if it makes you uncomfortable. First, let me make it clear this isn’t for me, because I’m head over heels, deeply in love with my boyfriend and Tom and David have been together for a while. Those guys have been through a lot and are still together. I am asking for another friend that sees something, but isn’t sure if he's reading things right. Do you date girls or guys?”

“Wow, you're right. That's a question that would make anyone uncomfortable. I had a girlfriend back home, but when we moved, I had to break up with her. With that said, I have to say I have been forcing back feelings I have been having about other guys since it wasn't at all accepted back home. What I mean is that you didn't see same sex couples like here. The few that had the guts to show themselves were run out of town.”

“Okay you have me lost here. You date girls and that’s it? Or you have dated girls because that is what the norm was back home, but you like guys? Again you don’t have to answer if this really makes you uncomfortable.”

“No that's okay, I'll answer it. Something about you makes me want to open up and let you in. Don’t know what it is, but I know I can trust you. All I have dated is girls, but I think, I mean I know I like guys. Right now, I don’t know if I just like guys or I like guys and girls. Its just when I am around certain guys my insides comes alive. I know you know what I am talking about Jacob.”

Jacob looked at his watch. “Look we better catch up with the others before they start thinking I killed you and buried somewhere here in the school. Plus I need to pop my head in at the ROTC building before lunch is over. Oh, to hell with popping my head in over there. I want to hang with my friends and have some fun.” Jacob got up and helped Ethan up from the floor.

“Listen, I won’t push you one way or another with what you are going through. I have been where you are right now and know what you are feeling. There are so many thoughts going through your mind from how you act on the feelings to if you act on them, how your family will respond. I'm here whenever you need someone to talk to. No matter what it is, I'll try and help you through it.”

“Can I ask you about the guy you were asking on behalf of, about me? What I mean is, is he cute, will I like him and will he like me? I know you don’t know me really well, but can you at least tell me who he is?”

“First let me tell you I know he likes you. You can see it in his face no matter how much he tries to hide it. Now as far as me telling you his name, I will need to get his permission. Do you want me to tell him that you are willing to go out?” Ethan stopped walking and just looked at Jacob. “He's cute and a very good guy. There's nothing you'll have to worry about; he's like me, friendly, and if you two hit it off, you'll make it together.”

“Find out if he wants to go out with me. If he does, get his permission to tell me who he is. If he refuses, try to talk him into coming to me and telling me what’s up. At the same time, tell him that I want this to stay between him, you and me. No one else can find out about it, or I'm dead. In order to make sure that doesn’t happen; I'll have to deny that this or any other conversation ever took place.”

Jacob agreed as they walked out to the meet the others. Once they reached the gang, Jacob couldn’t help looking at Ethan and seeing himself in him; the way he was his freshman year! Jacob could see that he had come a long way from then and still had a long way to go. He still didn't show the love he had for Dewayne in public.

Chase felt relieved when Ethan and Jacob rejoined them. Every minute that they were gone, made him worry about what was going on. Knowing his friend, he knew he wasn’t going to do anything to make Ethan feel bad. There was something that they needed to talk about in private, and if he and the others needed to know what it was about, Jacob will tell them.

After the bell rang, and everyone parted ways to their lockers, Chase kept looking at Ethan. At one point Chase got caught, but played it off. At least he thought he played it off where Ethan didn’t think anything bad about him. Ethan on the other hand started to put one and one together, and thought that maybe Chase was the guy that Jacob was talking about.

During fifth period ROTC, Jacob noticed that nothing really had changed with Colonel Pigeon in charge. It confirmed that it didn't matter who sat in the SAI chair, they all had to follow the same training schedules. The only ones that would see the difference was those on the battalion staff and all the officers.

“I am starting to really dislike that guy. He thinks he can miss all that school and come back in and not have to explain why he wasn’t here last week. He has another think coming after I get Colonel Pigeon to wring his neck.”

“Who are you talking about and why do you need Colonel Pigeon to wring his neck. If there is a cadet that needs to be dealt with, you deal with that cadet. After all, you're the company commander. If you can’t handle the duties of that position and need to go and have our SAI do your job, maybe we need to look at finding someone else more suitable for the position.”

“Alejandro Garcia, that dumb gangster shouldn’t even be in this class. Major Moore didn’t want him here and I'm pretty sure once Colonel Pigeon knows about him, he won’t want him here either. He missed almost all week last week and then came in here and told me that he couldn't march for a couple weeks, screw that.”

“Did he show you a doctor’s note that stated that he couldn't march?” The company commander handed the note to Jacob. “There you have it then, you can’t make him march when his doctor made it clear that he isn't permitted. Now, as far as him not belonging in this class, you better check that attitude. Everyone is given a chance here and doesn’t get looked at any differently unless they give us a reason to do so.”

“He has Jacob; he doesn’t want to tell me why he missed. Plus this note could be a fake. He is the type of person that would do something like that, in order to get away with things. He thinks he's dealing with someone stupid and he isn’t”

“You two come in here and let me see that note.”

Colonel Pigeon looked at the note several times. “I don’t know if this note is fake or not, but we must give him the benefit of the doubt. I will call the doctor that signed this note and make sure it is real. As far as knowing where he was, if it was one or two days is one thing, but he missed most of last week. We can’t have cadets ditching this class.”

Jacob got up and looked at the company commander. “Please get up and get out of this office.” Both Colonel Pigeon and company commander looked at Jacob. “Will you please get up and leave this office. I need to talk with Colonel Pigeon without you present. Once I am done, I will have words with you.”

The company commander got up, unsure, but left the office. “Don’t fall in the same trap that Major Moore did. You need to believe in the cadet until the cadet has shown you that you can’t. You both are great instructors, but you forget the things that you taught us. How can we learn when you're not willing to follow what you teach?

Alex missed last week because he did something that most people wouldn’t even think of doing. I wouldn’t be standing here if he hadn't donated one of his kidneys to me. So I am not about to stand around and let little punks like that company commander talk bad about my friend. Neither should you, not because of what he did for me, but because he hasn’t shown you that you couldn't trust him.”

Colonel Pigeon folded the note back up and handed it to Jacob. “When you're right, you're right Jacob. You're so different since the first day I met you. Back then, you were afraid of your own shadow and now you're willing to stand toe to toe with me when you know you are in the right. That is what I want; leaders that will stand up and lead, not follow.

I had no plans to call the doctor nor go and ask Alejandro where he was. First, it isn’t any of my business. If the attendance office excused him, I don't have the right to ask him where he was. And second, I really wanted to see if you had it in you to stand up to me and tell me that I was wrong or would you just sit there and take it.

You and I have a lot to catch up on. We met when you were barely beginning and you never worked with me as an officer. I need to find out how the officers are in this battalion; whether they lead or follow. You showed me you are, in fact, the kind of officer that I knew you would become.

Now that the test is over, it's time to get down to the business of running this battalion. When you talk with the company commander you sent out, be nice, yet firm. What is going on in the leadership of this battalion was shown and taught by the other instructors. They were not taught wrong overnight and it can’t be corrected overnight.”

Jacob agreed and walked out of the office. He sat down with the company commander and handed him Alex’s doctor's note to give back to Alex. Before letting the cadet go, Jacob made it clear that he needed to change his thinking; not only about Alex, but all the cadets under his command. Until they have shown that they lied or can’t be trusted, the benefit of the doubt must be given.

After work, the guys headed home. As they walked in the door, Franseca started to warm up dinner for them. Tom came running down the stairs and joined David and the guys in the kitchen. He didn’t eat earlier because he wanted to eat with David, even though he got home several hours before they did, since football practice got out early.

Alex also joined the guys at the dinner table. He didn’t go to work either because of the doctor's orders. Because Alex couldn't go to work, he felt that he was letting Ron down. He had promised Ron that he would cover Tom’s shifts since Tom had to go to football practice. Now they were both out and Ron was down one guy on the floor.

When they finished eating, the guys headed over to join Jacob and Dewayne in front of the television, all except David and Tom. They snuck upstairs before anyone noticed. Even after they left, no one noticed them gone. They all sat down in front of the TV and didn’t much care what was going on around them.

David walked into the room to find that Tom put his time to good use while he was at home. The lights were off, but candles lit up the room from the door to the bed. The bedding looked like black silk, brand new. David couldn’t believe what he saw. He turned to look Tom in the eyes to see if what he was seeing was true, but all he could see was Tom’s eyes glittering with the light from the candles on the floor.

“I love you David and there is nothing I wouldn’t do for you. This last year I know has been very hard on you. Even after the way I treated you, you took me back, all the way to what had happened to you that ugly night. I want you to know that you mean everything to me. Without you, I would be nothing and I need you to know that. This big dumb jock that stands before you is putty whenever you are around.”

David pulled Tom into him and held him tight. “Not matter what you think Tom; you never have to show me that you love me.” David started to hit Tom’s chest softly. “I can feel how your heart beats whenever we are together and that's all I need. That tells me that you love me, and I love you.” David pulled Tom’s hand from his side and placed it over his heart to feel it's beat.

Neither of them said another word. They slowly made their way to the bed, holding tightly on to each other. When they reached the bed, Tom gently laid David down. He fell to his knees and placed his hand again on David’s chest. Slowly he moved his hand down David’s chest, then to his stomach and stopped at David’s waist. Then he made his way back up to David’s chest again.

Tom got off of his knees, walked between David’s legs and slowly leaned down until their lips touched. At first, Tom pecked David’s lips, licked them and then pressed his lips against David’s again. This time David opened his mouth, letting Tom’s tongue enter. Tom did the same thing for David, and they both let each other in.

Neither wanted to let the other go, they lay on the bed, kissing each other as if they had never kissed each other before. Tom broke the kiss and got up from the bed. He pulled off his shirt, shoes and socks before he pulled David off of the bed. Not letting David work, Tom unbuttoned David’s shirt, slid it off his shoulders before pulling his t-shirt off too. Tom gently laid David back on the bed and took off his socks and shoes.

David slapped Tom’s hand away from his belt, because he wanted to take Tom's jeans off of him. He finished undoing his belt, pulled it off, and unbuttoned the first button of Tom’s 501s. Grabbing both flaps of Tom’s jeans; David pulled them apart, making sure that he undid every button.

Then he slowly slid Tom’s jeans down his thick thighs and calves letting them fall to the floor. David lifted Tom’s right leg, pulled off the pant leg, and did the same thing to the left. As David tossed Tom’s pants to the corner of the room, he put his hand in the waistband of Tom’s boxers.

Before removing Tom’s underwear, David could see that his dick was fighting to get free. Just as he started to pull down Tom’s underwear, Tom’s dick jumped out of the boxers through the pee hole. David licked his lips as he finished pulling off Tom’s underwear. Just as David reached out to take Tom’s dick into his hand, Tom lifted him off the bed, turned him around and sat down, leaving David standing.

Not waiting for David’s reaction, Tom started to undo David’s belt, pulling it off and throwing it where David threw his pants. Then he unbuttoned David’s pants, undid his zipper and pulled them down noticing his nicely defined legs. After getting David out of his pants, Tom threw them over to the corner of the room. Slowly, teasing David’s sensitive dick, Tom pulled down David’s underwear, and just like him, David’s dick jumped out.

Tom pulled David into him as he fell onto the bed. David leaned in and started kissing Tom as Tom wrapped his arms around David to bring him in even closer. Their naked bodies rubbed against each other as their hard dicks stuck up between their legs. Every time that they rubbed against each other, their dicks would jump and leak more pre-cum.

“I want to have sex with you David. I want you inside me so bad, I can’t wait any longer.” Tom reached down and pointed David’s dick at his hole.

David spread Tom’s legs until he could see Tom’s hole. Then he bent down and started to lick around Tom’s hole, causing Tom to moan in pure lust. Once David felt that Tom was nice and relaxed; open and ready for what came next. The KY was laid out and handy. David liberally lubed his cock and Tom’s hole, making sure he worked the KY in deep. He then put Tom’s muscular legs over his shoulders. Slowly he leaned forward until his dick touched Tom’s hole! Gently, David pushed his dick in until it penetrated. He hesitated momentarily for Tom to adjust to its presence and then kept going until his dick was fully in.

As David let Tom adjust to having his dick in him, David started to kiss him. He didn’t start to pull back until he got the all clear from Tom. Tom lightly tapped David’s butt, letting him know that he was ready. Not breaking the kiss, David started to pull out and just as the tip of his dick was about to come out, he pushed back into Tom.

They both wanted to be with each other as long as they could, so they didn’t rush. David slowly went in and out of Tom, not breaking the kiss the entire time. Their sweaty bodies kept hitting as David went in, making a low slapping sound as their wet skin touched. But no matter how hard they tried to keep themselves from shooting, they couldn’t resist it when they hit their climax.

Every time David went in, his dick hit Tom’s magic button, causing Tom to get closer and closer to shooting his load. When David started to feel that he was close himself, he wanted to pull out, but knew he wouldn’t make it. He pushed his dick into Tom’s tight hole and just as he reached Tom’s prostate, he started to shoot.

With the force that David was shooting and hitting Tom’s prostate, Tom started to shoot his load. The first shots flew over his head and then the shots started to make their way down Tom’s face, chest and finally the last shots hit his stomach. The entire time while Tom shot his load, David unloaded inside Tom’s butt.

When David finished shooting, he fell onto Tom’s chest. His dick started to soften and slipped out of Tom’s butt. Not saying a word, they just laid there on the bed, kissing each other as if there was no tomorrow. Not caring if they ran out of oxygen, they just want to be with each other, so neither of them came up for air for several minutes.

Finally, Tom broke the kiss, needing to catch his breath. David rolled off of him and started to scoop up the cum that was now on his chest and stomach. After getting all the cum that was on his chest and stomach, David licked the remaining cum off of Tom’s body, causing Tom’s dick to get hard when David licked around his chest. Looking down at the hardened member, Tom begged him not to.

Against his better judgment, David didn’t go down on Tom. Instead, he moved back up to Tom’s face and lay at his side. They pressed their naked, sweaty bodies together and just held on to each other. Not moving, they went to sleep in each other's arms. Their naked bodies were there on display for anyone to see should they would walk into the room.

The next morning, Jacob ran all over his room trying to put together his uniform. He and Dewayne had fallen asleep the night before and he didn’t put his uniform together. That was unlike Jacob and now he was paying the price!

Dewayne felt bad for Jacob and helped him the best he could by shinning Jacob’s shoes for him. To Jacob’s surprise, Dewayne shined his shoes better than he did. Once he put his uniform back together, he pulled Dewayne into the shower where they could at least shower together. Jacob wanted to do more, but they just didn’t have the time. So Jacob and Dewayne had to stick their hard members into their underwear and wait until they would have another chance to really be together.

Before leaving, Jacob checked with Dewayne to see if he needed the truck. Dewayne felt good when Jacob asked him if he needed to use ‘our’ truck instead of saying ‘my’ truck. He said no, and kissed Jacob good bye as he grabbed the keys to the car. Just as Jacob and the guys drove out of the driveway, Dewayne pulled out as well.

He needed to be in the office early, because yesterday he and Joe didn’t get much done outside the office. Between packing up the stuff in the old office and moving it into the new one, they didn’t have time to do anything else. In fact, they didn’t have time to really put things away in the new office yesterday and by five, they let the staff go to avoid paying the overtime.

As Dewayne drove up, Joe had already parked and was getting out of his car. Joe waited for Dewayne so they could go up together. After getting out of his car, Joe and Dewayne greeted each other as they went into the building.

“Dewayne, on my way home yesterday I visited several of the stores. I don’t even know where to begin because I don’t know what to be looking for. One thing is for sure, we need to work on the customer service and speed. There were two on duty, but only one was running the register in both stores. That led me to believe that this is the procedure in this company.”

“You, Tony and I will be rewriting the store procedures. Whatever the procedures were under the old ownership will no longer be the standing rules. We will look at the franchise rules as we make up the procedures in order to make sure we are not breaking any company rules. Beyond that, we won’t base our procedures off of the old ownership.”

Joe agreed with Dewayne and separated from him once they got off on their floor. They agreed to meet up again at eight and head out to visit stores. In the meantime, they want to try and set up their own offices. The quicker they got themselves settled in, the more time they could spend out in the stores.

Dewayne knew they he couldn’t set up his office like he did his room when he lived at home. No matter how much he wanted to put posters on the wall, he needed to keep it professional looking. Even in Jacob's and his room, they didn't have posters on the walls. For one thing, they liked different music and the other reason was that they were hardly ever in the room. When they did spend time in there, besides sleeping, was when they were having sex.

It seemed to Dewayne, that every five minutes someone would walk in and ask him a question. He didn’t show his frustration, but he couldn’t help but think that they should know where things basically went. Yes, it was a new office, but set it up like the old office. When the secretary walked in, Dewayne had had enough.

“In the old office, didn’t you guys have an office manager? I am sure that the old owners were not there all day and there had to be someone you guys could go to when you had questions.” Dewayne put down the hammer he was using to nail pictures to the wall.

“Yes sir we did, but since we are under new ownership we figured you were going to bring in your own office manager.”

“Who was the office manager under the old ownership?”

“I was sir, but I am not here to ask for that position.” The secretary looked at Dewayne nervously waiting for his answer.

“Sit down please and let's talk for a few minutes. The next couples of weeks are going to be bumpy as it is, and without leadership in the office it will be worse. The other owner and I are going to be busy; we don’t have time to run the office. In fact, the other owner will only be here in the evenings, meaning that everything falls on my shoulders or the shoulders of the vice president of operations.

With that said, Tony, Joe and I have no plans to remove anyone from the positions they had under the old ownership. The only way that is going to happen will be if a person shows us they should not be in that position. You need to go out there and be the office manager, because that is who you are.”

Just then, Joe walked into Dewayne’s office. “I agree with Dewayne on everything he just said. You are in charge of the office just as you were before. Make everything run smoothly so Dewayne, Tom or I don't have to micromanage everything. If there is something we want to change as far as how you are running things, we will tell you. Other than that, just do what you normally do.”

“Okay, my main concern is the employee files. I didn’t like having them in the lobby behind me in the old office and that was where they were placing them here. Anyone can walk in and take a look at anyone’s files. To make matters worse, the filing cabinets don’t lock anymore so I can’t secure the files when I leave at night.”

Joe walked around Dewayne’s desk to look at the floor plan of their floor. He agreed with the secretary that those files shouldn't be in the open and in unlocked filing cabinets. There was way too much personal information in them and if they fell into other peoples hands, the company could be sued.

Dewayne got up and walked out of the office. Joe and the secretary followed him down the hall to a room that was locked. After trying a few keys, Dewayne found the key that unlocked the door and they walked in. It was a perfect size for a filing room. It was secure and only a few would have access to the room.

“For now, move the filing cabinets into this room. I will get you a key and the only other people that will have a key to this room will be me, Joe and Tony. Before the week is out, I will make sure we buy new filing cabinets that lock. Employee files need to be secure no matter if they work for us right now or not.”

Joe made sure the door was unlocked as they walked out. He instructed the secretary to lock up the room once the employee files were moved in there. She agreed as she made her way back to the front of the office. Dewayne and Joe grabbed their coats and headed out to visit as many stores as possible before the morning was up.

Ethan’s father watched his son as he waited patiently for his friends to pick him up. He really didn’t like the idea of his son being picked up in a fancy truck, but he was glad that his son was making friends finally. It started to worry him when his son would come home every day after school and just sit in his seat in the living room all evening long, not having friends to hang out with.

The change he had seen in his son since he started making friends had made Mr. Critchfield happy. Out of all his kids, Ethan worried Mr. Critchfield the most. He could see that Ethan was different. In fact, he had already figured out that his son may not like girls and that was really fine with him. As long as his son was happy was all that mattered to him.

Two of his sons were married already, as was one of his daughters. They had happiness in their lives and that was what he wanted in Ethan’s life. Happiness that only a wife or husband could give the other. Mr. Critchfield didn't want his son to marry a woman and live an unhappy life or to grow old alone.

All the way to school, Ethan tried to see if Chase was looking at him, like he caught Chase doing yesterday. Trying his best not to get caught himself made it even harder! He couldn't move his head to look over at Chase, so he was only left with looking out the corner of his eye. By doing that, he really couldn't see much of what was going on.

“Hey Ethan, Chase was telling me that your father's looking for a job. Why don’t you tell him to go to this address?” Jacob handed Ethan a paper. “Have him go to the top floor and ask for Alfred Serna, my grandfather. I already told him about you and your father and he is waiting for a visit from him. There is no doubt in my mind that we can find something for your father to do in the company.”

“That's really nice of you Jacob! Thank you! I know that my father will want to thank you as well. Now we only have to worry about my brothers and me, getting a job. It's hard finding a job here since we only have experience working on a family farm. That really doesn’t help us much. Plus, me being in school and all, I'm thinking about dropping out to help my family money wise.”

“Don’t do that; just do what we are all doing. Matt and I own a print shop and we go down and work there after school. We need several more workers in the evening shift. Why don’t you just come down and work with us? That way you can stay in school, get a diploma and go places once you get out of high school.”

“Man I really don’t know what to say to you guys, I really don’t.” Ethan stuttered as he tried to convey his thoughts. “Just tell me when and where and I'll be there. I will do whatever needs to be done. As long as I have a way to bring money into the house to help out my family, that's all that matters to me.”

Alex explained to Ethan where to meet after school as they drove into the parking lot. On the way to the cafeteria, Alex finished telling Ethan he didn't have to worry about a ride to and from work or not getting his full forty hours. He also told Ethan to send his brothers down to the same address, but to go to the basement and ask for Ron. They would get a job the minute they walk in the doors.

While they talked about the jobs, Ethan forgot all about trying to catch Chase looking at him. If he wouldn't have forgotten, he would have caught Chase several times, sneaking peeks at him. Chase knew it wasn't right, so he told himself the minute he got a chance; he was going to go out and ask the very first girl that gave him the time of day.

The minute they finished breakfast and walked out to the field, Chase saw a girl looking at him. It was a girl he knew had been asking around about him. Chase excused himself from the group and headed over to the group of girls. The rest of the guys continued talking as if Chase was still with them.

Every so often Ethan looked over where Chase was at and realized that he was wrong about him. Chase wasn't the guy that Jacob was talking about yesterday. In fact, Chase was straight and by the looks of it, was only interested in girls. As Ethan turned his attention back to the others, he thanked his lucky stars that he didn’t make a move on him.

“I know you don’t know much about us, but Chase is between girlfriends. Maybe you two can get together and find girlfriends together.” Tom leaned in and whispered in Ethan’s ear. “You being new here and Chase losing a baby, you both would help each other out with getting girlfriends. You know, kinda be each other’s wingman when it came down to getting the babes to go out with you.”

“Chase got his girlfriend pregnant?” Ethan didn’t mean to yell, but he was surprised with what Tom just had just said. “I'm sorry; I didn’t know that Chase was going to be a father. What happened to the baby, if you don’t mind me asking? He has never mentioned anything about a baby or his girlfriend.”

“No, of course not. Everyone knows the story, it isn’t a secret. The long and short of it is Chase and his last girlfriend, Linda, got pregnant. She didn’t believe in abortion, but neither of them could take care of a child. So Jacob and his ex were going to adopt the baby, but she had a miscarriage. They were very close to having the baby and I think that is why it is taking Chase a lot longer to get back into things in the dating world.”

“Wow, I would have never thought that of Chase. I mean Chase strikes me as a person with everything together. Never in a million years would I have thought that Chase not only lost his baby, but at the same time his girlfriend. Losing the baby must have taken a lot out of them since they aren't together anymore.”

“No they were broken up way before they lost the baby. She was a control freak and didn’t like the fact that Chase’s best friend was gay. At first it looked like she was okay with it, but over time she told Chase she didn’t like Jacob. It got to the point it was either her or Jacob. Chase wasn’t about to lose a friendship like Jacob's so he left her.”

Ethan just stood there listening to Tom as he told him the story about Chase and Linda. As he listened, it got confirmed to him that Chase wasn't gay. In fact, he was as straight as they come. The same thought kept going through his mind, that he was lucky that he didn’t act on what he thought he saw in Chase.

Now he wanted to know more than ever, who Jacob was talking about. Ethan rejoined the group with Tom and started looking around. For sure, it couldn't be Tom, David or Chase. It also couldn't be Jacob, because he was really happy with Dewayne. The only one left was Tony, but it couldn't be him. He was way too young and weird because of the fact he was Jacob’s uncle. Maybe not by blood, but he was still the son of Jacob’s grandfather!

After looking everyone over several times, Ethan gave up. There was no way any of them could be the one that Jacob was talking about. Then it dawned on Ethan, there were a few guys missing right now, Alex, Matt, Carlos, Steven and Robert. But it couldn't be any of them because four of them are couples and the other had a girlfriend.

Just then, Chase walked up with a defeated look on his face. “It looks like you had no luck with the girls you were just talking to. Maybe you'll have better luck next time.” Ethan swallowed nervously, hoping he didn’t over step with Chase.

“I waited too long to ask her out. For months, she has been giving me hints that she liked me, but I never acted on them. Now that I did, I come to find out that she is dating someone. To top it off, they just barely started dating. That really maked it worse because if I went to her last week, it would have been a different story.”

“Hey don’t worry about things like that. Maybe she isn’t the right girl for you. There was something you saw or felt that kept you from asking her out. So don’t beat yourself up on it, just move on. There's always a reason why things don’t work out.”

Chase smiled at Ethan as he slapped him on the back. The bell rang cutting their conversation short. Because of that, they decided to pick up their conversation during lunch. Both Chase and Ethan walked into the building chatting about other things except about what they were talking about before the bell.

The minute Ethan broke off from the group, instead of going straight to first period class; he went to the pay phones. He called home to give his father and brother the information that Jacob and Alex told him this morning. Due to the time, Ethan cut the conversation short with his father in order to get to class on time.

The day flew by and before Jacob knew it, he was making his way to his truck. He found Ethan nervously waiting for Alex and the others. By the way he stood there looking straight out to nowhere. Jacob’s heart went out to Ethan. This guy was lost and he couldn't even hide that fact. Jacob really wanted to help Ethan more than he was.

Jacob walked up to Ethan. “Hey what are you around, six two?” Ethan nodded his head. “The reason I'm asking is, you and I are almost the same size. The only difference is that it looks like you have more muscle on you than I do.”

“By the looks of it, we are both the same size as far as muscle. I got like this by working on my family farm every day. Now if I want to keep it, I will need to get some weights to work out with. I hear that it looks ugly when muscle turns to fat.”

Jacob laughed as he laid his book bag down. “You can come down any time you want and use the brand new weight room we just built at the house. I would also like to give you something before you go off with Alex and the guys. I have boxes of clothes that I had planned to give to the church, but if you want them, you can have them.”

“Why are you guys being so nice to me? I mean I've never been treated this way by anyone, more so a group of people. There's nothing my family or I could offer you guys. You guys have everything that you will probably ever need. You have a nice huge house, nice cars and businesses that you own. They aren’t your parents; you guys own them.”

“I have been where you are now and in many ways, I’m still there. Look around you. We aren't part of the popular groups in this school. We are more the outsiders, than insiders, if you really look at it. The group of friends you are part of, have more gay couples than any other group here. That makes our group more toxic than any other group out there. We not only live in Texas, but in the Bible belt to boot.

I've been lucky in so many ways Ethan; I want to help those that I can. You are not a charity case and never think that. You are part of a group that looks out for each other. Whenever one of us needs a helping hand, the entire group comes out to help without the need to ask. Your family just moved here, had a run of bad luck and I just want to help where I can. Those clothes are going to go to someone so why not to you?”

“It seems that all I have been saying to you today is thank you, but thank you again Jacob. I will take whatever you give me. What I don’t use, my brothers might be able to use. It's great being part of this group. Out of all the group of friends I could have fallen into, I am glad it was this one. I belong here because of who I am.”

“Good, it looks like the guys are coming finally.” Jacob pointed to Alex and the others as they made their way to them. “It is about time you showed up. I know you are the bosses, but come on; you need to set the example. Don’t show up to work too late, or you might have to fire yourselves; especially if it becomes an ongoing thing.”

Everyone laughed as they looked at Alex and Matt. “Hey since you are running late, let me at least take you guys home. That way it will save you at least the walking time you would have used walking home.”

No one objected to Jacob’s offer. They all walked over to the truck and got in. As soon as they got home, Ethan went up to Jacob’s room while the others put away their book bags and got whatever they need for work. Jacob noticed, on the way up to his room, that Ethan looked even more nervous than he was before at school.

Not looking back to see if Ethan came in the room, Jacob went to his closet and started to pull out the boxes he was telling Ethan about. When he took the first box out to the bed, He noticed Ethan standing at the door. Jacob waved Ethan in and started to pull out jeans and shirts from the box. Jacob handed Ethan a couple pairs of jeans and shirts as he pointed to the bathroom.

Ethan quickly changed into the jeans and walked out of the bathroom. No surprise to Jacob, the jeans fit Ethan just fine. Although Ethan was taller than he was, Jacob bought his jeans longer than he should, because he always worried that he might not be done growing yet. The only problem Jacob saw was that the jeans fit Ethan a little snug in certain areas, but not tight to the point that a person could see his package or think the jeans were painted on.

“What do you think Ethan? Lengthwise they fit perfectly, but at the waist, they look like they might be a little tight. Don’t worry about saying that you won’t be able to use them.”

“No Jacob they are just fine. Believe it or not, they're not tight on my waist at all. In fact, they fit me perfectly all away around. If you still want to give me the clothes that you don’t want, I'll take them and use them. These are very nice jeans and there isn’t a thing wrong with them. I would be a fool to say no to clothes that are this good.”

“Good, why don’t you take this box own to Alex’s SUV while I pull out the other two boxes? That way, when Alex drops you off at your house, you can take them in.” Ethan smiled as he put on one of the shirts Jacob had in the box. “Look at me not even asking if you are planning to go with Alex and the others. Are you going to start working with the guys tonight or were you planning to go home?”

“No I plan to go with Alex and the others. I already told my dad that I planned to start working tonight, and he gave me permission. So don’t worry, you didn’t assume anything incorrectly. And again Jacob, thank you so much for everything you and the others are doing for me and my family. It is a lot of help now that we truly need.”

As politely as he could, Jacob told Ethan that there was no need to keep thanking him and the guys. It was the least they could do for all the good they have right now in their lives. Still no matter what Jacob said Ethan felt that it was right for him to thank them for everything. It’s just how he was brought up.

After helping Ethan load the boxes in Alex’s car, Jacob headed back upstairs to get out of his uniform. He felt lucky that he didn’t get inspected today. If he had, there was no way he would have passed, at least not at his standards for wearing the uniform. Plus, Colonel Pigeon was way too busy with his first inspection day; he didn’t bother with his battalion staff. He was more interested in making sure the companies could pass inspection.

As soon as Tony arrived at the office, he asked Dewayne if they could stop in at some of their stores instead of working in the office. Dewayne had no problem with that. In fact, he wanted to use this chance to show what he had learned from Joe. That way, Tony knew the same things he knew so far about running things.

Their first store they stopped at, Dewayne got gas. He didn’t like the idea that the cashier opened the pump without asking for payment. By doing that, the cashier was running a high chance of having someone pump their gas and take off without paying. So Dewayne decided to pump his gas and pull away from the pump and park behind the building to see how the cashier reacted to that happening.

Both Dewayne and Tony couldn’t believe that the cashier didn’t even notice that a customer had pumped and drove off. They made a note to check out the loss this store was reporting on gas runs. By the looks of it, it had to be a huge amount.

They walked in and acted like customers to see how the cashier treated them and how fast they got out of the store once they got in line. Just like Joe told Dewayne this morning, there were two on duty, but only one was running a register. Because of that, it was taking way too long to get customers out the door.

While being rung up, Dewayne decided to test the cashier. “I might be wrong on this, but I saw someone speed out of here from your gas pumps. Did they fuel up and take off without paying for their gas?”

The cashier looked over to another machine and realized what has happened. “No, everyone has paid for their gas, but thank you for letting me know. There have been gas runs in the past and it happens a lot, during our rushes most of the time.”

After paying for his stuff, Dewayne looked at the cashier to see what he did. Once he rang up everyone in the store, he pulled the other employee to the side. By the looks of it, the other employee was a manager because he wasn’t happy with the cashier. Instead of pulling him to the back to talk with his employee, he talked with him on the floor. To make it worse, he talked loud enough for everyone to hear in the store.

Dewayne and Tony approached the two employees. “Hello, my name is Dewayne Sheppard and this is Tony L. Serna. We are the new owners of the Seven-Elevens and I was the one that was fueling up at the pump and didn’t pay. Can we go to the back where we can talk out of ear shot of the customers?”

“With all due respect, you guys are just kids. There is no way you are the new owners of this store. No there is no way I am going to let you guys go anywhere except with the police. What you did is against the law and I'm calling the police on you guys for trying to steal gas from this store.”

Before Dewayne or Tony could say anything to the manager, he walked up front and picked up the phone. The next thing they heard was the guy telling whoever was on the other line to send cops down because they had robbers in the store and hung of the phone. He walked back over with a big smile across his face.

This is one thing he hadn't run into yet. When he and Joe went out to the stores earlier and did the same thing, the managers didn’t question them when they came in and confronted them. Not only did this guy not believe Dewayne and Tony, he had just called the police on them. Dewayne turned to Tony and told him to go out to the pay phone and call Al to come down here.

“You better think twice before you continue doing what you are doing. When the police come, they won’t be leaving with me or Tony. The main office sent out a memo to all stores letting you guys know who your new owners were. You need to go back to where ever you keep your memos and read that memo.”

“Anyone could have found out the new names of the new owners and come in here pretending to be them. Just to get us to the back of the store and rob us. I won’t allow little kids to come in here and trick me into a robbery. When the police come, try to sell your story to them and see what happens. You should not have come back after getting away with stealing the gas.”

Dewayne decided not to try and talk with this guy anymore. No matter what he said, the manager refused to hear what he was saying. Dewayne headed back to the front of the store to wait for whoever arrived first. No matter what happened, he will need Al to be here in order for the police not to take him and Tony in for stealing gas.

Just as a police cruiser pulled up, Joe arrived as well. He got out of his car and walked up to where Dewayne and Tony were standing. After getting the full story, Joe couldn’t help but laugh. It wasn’t out of disrespect to the guys, but because they were looked at as kids trying to rob the store.

The officers and manager walked up Dewayne, Tony and Joe. “The store manager of this store told us that you pumped gas and tried to take off without paying. Then you tried to say that you own the store and you wanted to talk with them in the back out of the view of the customers. I have to agree with the manager, you are kids trying to get away with stealing and when you got caught you tried to lie your way out of it.”

“Officer, my name is Joe R. Moore, the Vice President of Operations of the Seven-Elevens.” Joe pulled out paper work from his briefcase and handed it to the officers. “As you can see I am telling the truth and these two are the owners of the Seven-Elevens. First I want you to apologize to these two for calling them thieves.”

The officer handed Joe back his paperwork. “I am sorry Mr. Serna and Mr. Sheppard. This is the first time we have ever met teenagers as owners of a company like this.” The officers turned towards the manager. “Since they are actually the owners, there is no need for us to be here. In the future, ask for proof before calling us out here like this.”

“Now you have a problem for trying to have the new owners arrested. If you would have done what Dewayne told you to do, you would not look as bad as you do. The memo that was sent out not only gives you the names of the new owners and higher ups, but it has our pictures on it as well! We have given ourselves away, but still you guys seem to make stupid mistakes when we visit the stores.”

“I, um, I, I really don’t know what to say. You are right I should have gone back and looked at the memo to see if you were telling the truth. I know it is no excuse, but I really thought you were trying to pull my leg and rob my store.”

“This won’t be talked about in the parking lot of this store. Tomorrow morning you will need to report to the main office and speak with either Mr. Sheppard or Mr. Moore. I won’t be in the office, but they will let me know what they did to make sure that a message is sent loud and clear to the other stores to read their memos. If you had just read your memo, you would not be in this spot that you are in now.”

Tony looked at Dewayne and Joe. They both agreed with Tony and headed back to their cars. The store manager walked back into his store not knowing what to expect tomorrow from the new owners. He just tried to get them arrested, that doesn’t bode well for him no matter how you slice the cake.

Before leaving, the guys thanked Joe for coming down and pulling their butts out of the fire. Joe just laughed as he told him no problem. He explained that he was leaving the office when Al was running out the door. Since he was the vice president, it was his job to come down whenever there is a problem.

Still Dewayne and Tony thanked him before they parted ways. All the way home, Dewayne thought about what had just happened. They are young and managers of these stores were not going to believe them when they walked in and say that they were the new owners. Hopefully this wouldn't happen again, but they needed to be prepared just in case they were questioned again in the future. Joe was not always going to be with them when they visited their own stores like today.

TO BE CONTINUED…………

WRITER’S CORNER:

{What a chapter full of suspense and intrigue. It only covered a couple of days, nothing new for this story, but a lot did happen in this chapter. I have laid down a lot of ground work for the chapters to come. Don’t think something a plot is going one direction, because I will throw something in there that will change the direction of a plot.

Let’s start out where we should, the beginning of the chapter. Now in the last couple of chapters we found out that Major Moore retired, but got hired by Jacob. At first he got hired as the trainer, but Al sees Joe in a different role and placed him there. I agree with Al this position he gave Joe suits him a lot better than trainer.

You learned a lot about Ethan in this chapter. From the talk he had with Jacob to the next morning in the view of his father. First let’s talk a little about the talk that happened between Jacob and Ethan. Jacob went into that talk because he figured out something about Chase that Chase himself hasn’t told anyone. In fact Chase is fighting it every step of the way. Why? Who knows, but we will find out in the chapters to come.

Now in that talk, Jacob did find out a lot about Ethan. He has a huge family in a small house. Also they are really struggling to make ends meet. That is nothing new right now in the US. And the most important thing we found out about Ethan is the fact he believes that he is gay. The only reason he hasn’t acted on it is because of the small community where he came from. Everyone knows what everyone is doing at all times.

Also we found out that Ethan’s father and mother have pretty much figured out their son and they don’t care. All they care about is that he is happy. Too many times kids try to be what their parents want them to be no matter if it makes them unhappy. This is not what Ethan’s parents want from their kids. They just want all their kids to be happy.

Finally in this chapter we got to read about Tom and David. These two love each other; just look how they made love. In all my other love scenes, I just had them go right into the act of love making. Never before have had I written out a scene like the one in this chapter. Tom has learned from his mistakes and doesn’t want to ever lose David again.

Chase might lose what might be his true love if he doesn’t stop fighting what he is feeling. I don’t know yet if this is going to be true love for either of the two, but one thing is certain is if Chase doesn’t stop throwing mixed signals he won’t only lose the girl he was setting for but Ethan as well. This is assuming that is if Chase is bi or gay. That will be answered in the chapters to come.

Poor Al, he is so busy he can’t get the time to help out Dewayne and Tony. I know that Al wants to, but he has already too many balls in the air. But don’t think if Dewayne and Tony run into a problem Al won’t be there. Just look at the end of the chapter. The minute Tony called him; he was running out to help them out when he found Joe.

As always I can go on and on about the open plots in the story! If I do that, I can actually write several more chapters. There are so many plots that can take a turn at anytime. You might think it is going to go one way, but is lands up going another. Do not miss out on anything, or you will be kicking yourself for it.

I keep saying over and over again don’t forget about Chase. He will be spending time between two of my stories. I am giving that away, but look for him in Beneath the Mask. He is going to come back full and what is happening in his life will stun you.

There is a so much to answer in the chapters to come. Stick around and keep reading the future chapters, and enjoy! Please email me and let me know how I am doing at jacobmillertex@aol.com, Thanks!}

EDITOR’S CORNER:

This chapter was loaded, as Jacob stated in his comments. Yes it only covered a short time, but it was filled with events.

Chase is going through a personal hell right now. He’s torn between what he feels and what he thinks and believes. At this point he can’t grasp his attraction to Ethan and what it means. He’s in denial, but the denial isn’t real deep. Both Chase and Ethan are “good souls” and would find they would make an excellent couple if they both get off the hump.

I’m sure our esteemed author has it all mapped out in his mind!

Jacob has it right. When you are a “have” it is your moral obligation to give back. I honestly don’t know many wealthy people that believe that yet I know there are some because of the philanthropic organizations and foundations. I’ve just not been in contact with them personally. I’m definitely not a “have”!

David and Tom made love the way it should be when two people are in love. It wasn’t rushed, yet it was filled with passion. It was paced to make sure it didn’t end too fast. I’m glad that those two finally got it going the right direction. They are so good for each other that it would have been totally sad had they not successfully worked through their issues.

It seems that Joe Moore is adjusting well to being a civilian. I hope that his experience will help Dewayne and Tony get their Seven-Elevens headed in the right direction and that they will become very profitable. I often wondered what the reaction of the staff in the stores would be to their very young bosses. Now we saw a glimpse of it. This isn’t too different than when Jacob first started walking into the McDonalds as a new owner. The word will get around. Yes, they are going to have to make examples of some idiot employees to get the focus and attention of the employees as a whole.

I see a lot of openings for a great deal of fun and excitement coming in future chapters of all the stories. As Jacob said, keep those e-mails coming and let him know your thoughts and ideas for plot lines. You never know when YOUR idea will be used!

“Daddy” Rick