Chapter 2 Chuck
CHUCK
I hated seeing my boy so frustrated and upset. Granted, Tae was a bit shy, and I understood why, but to have him nearing a depressive state and wanting to be away from others was something else. How had I not seen this coming on?
Easy, because we’ve been far too busy.
A vacation was well and truly warranted for my boy and me.
“Morning, boss,” Oscar said as he came into the office. Since it was generally just the two of us, we ran Ashwood out of our home office. “Everything alright?”
Oscar and I were early risers and generally had everything in order for the day before Tae joined us and currently, he was still upstairs asleep.
“I’m not sure. Tae is continuing to struggle with the mural for his playroom and honestly, it’s really getting him down. Would you have a problem with us taking a few days off so I can get him out of his head and away somewhere fun?”
Oscar’s brows rose. “You do remember you own the business so asking me for time off is kinda backwards, boss.” I loved that about Oscar, he always saw things for what they were and never sugar coated them.
I chuckled. “Speaking of that. We’ve been far too busy and it’s almost to the point where we need to hire a couple of part-timers. What do you think?” Oscar, Tae and I would still handle the club jobs, but word had gotten around and we’d picked up quite a lot of work outside of that realm now.
“Well, that depends.”
“On?”
“Where does that leave me?”
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, Oscar, and I’d like to offer you an equal partnership in the business.”
“Whattt?”
Guess he hadn’t seen that coming. “Fifty-fifty. On paper Tae would be my predecessor if anything happened to me, of course.”
“You and I both know he wouldn’t want any part of running the business.” Oscar knew his brother well, as I did.
“True,” I chuckled. “But it’s to ensure he was covered financially or job wise if anything happened to me. There would always be the option for him to sell his portion to you and then he’d be set. Either way, I need to know that Tae is taken care of in this merger. That is, if you agree to it?”
“Wow, Chuck, I’m blown away.”
“How so? You know I consider you and Samian family and Tae is my partner for life.” Working on verbalizing my feelings has been an ongoing challenge I’d be doing a better job with moving forward.
“Chuck, you coming into our lives was one of the best gifts our family has ever received. I know I was leery about you and my brother when you first mentioned dating him, but honestly, you’re the best man for Tae.”
I appreciated Oscar’s kind words, and he was well aware of our lifestyle.
Being a Daddy wasn’t foreign to him, but as a bisexual male he wasn’t always greeted with open arms. Not until I introduced him to the club.
Oscar was a great man and taking it upon himself to finish raising his brothers spoke to the depth of his maturity and love of family.
I hoped he’d soon find his forever, especially now that Samian was eighteen.
“I want to ask him to marry me and I’d like your blessing.” By default, Oscar was my best friend whether he knew that or not. Guess it was past time I made sure he knew that. “As my best friend and hopefully as my brother-in-law.”
Oscar and I were out of our chairs, embracing each other. I was surprised to see tears in my eyes, but his as well as we drew back.
“Fuck man, you honor me. I’ve always considered you to be my best friend and sounding board and to me you’re already my brother-in-law. Hell, you and Tae have been together for what, three? Four years now?”
“Going on four. So, have we got your blessing?”
“You’ve always had it, though you never needed it. You take good care of Tae, hell of all three of us. I’d be honored to have you as a brother.”
“Good, that means you’d be equally as honored to be my best man too.”
“Fuck, you’re killing me, Chuck.”
“That’s a hell of a tag line, my friend.” One that I’d not soon forget. “So, it that a yes?” It played in my head like a song.
Oscar laughed. “It’s a yes to all of it.”
“Excellent. I’ll get our lawyer to draw up the documents.
How’s Samian doing?” He’d just started his freshman year of college.
Oscar, Tae and I were so proud of him. The kid was an honor student all through his primary and high school years.
Never stepped so much as a toe out of line and always had his nose buried in a book.
I’m sure watching his brother get arrested cured him of doing stupid shit.
“He’s doing great. Going for his business degree first then he’s talking about a bachelors in accounting.” Oscar shook his head. “So damn proud of that kid. We didn’t have it easy and he was so young when our grandmother died.”
Samian was the only brother who barely remembered their parents.
He was still an infant when CPS removed them from their home, if you could call the dilapidated trailer the five of them were crammed into that.
Their grandmother had been searching for them and took them right in when the cops reached out but given her age that was always a concern.
Thankfully when she passed away Oscar was an adult and could care for the boys and didn’t even think twice about it.
He too was a natural caretaker and I could easily picture him in a Daddy Dom lifestyle.
“Daddy?” my bleary-eyed boy wandered in, wiping his eyes as he curled up on my lap.
“Good morning, my love, how are you feeling?”
“Hungry.”
Oscar and I laughed. “He’s always been a bottomless pit.”
“Hey, Oscar. What’s new?” Tae perked up, noticing his brother was here.
“Nada. Just grabbing the paperwork for today’s jobs.” He snagged the papers he’d printed and slid them into his clipboard case. “Are you walking the Tetley job today, Chuck?”
“Yes, but I wanted to give Tae the good news before you left. Tae, I asked Oscar to be our business partner today. Fifty-fifty.”
“Ours? Don’t you mean your partner?”
“Nope,” I booped his nose. “What’s mine is yours and all that. This is our business, so Oscar is now our partner. What do you think?” Tae’s eyes teared up and I feared I’d overstepped. “Should I have asked you first? Honey, I’m so sorry.”
“No, Daddy,” he swiped a hand across his eyes. “You have always been so good to us. I think it’s a wonderful idea.”
“Sweetheart, we’re a family and we take care of each other.”
Oscar stood and mussed Tae’s hair. “You’ve got a good one there, little bro, don’t let him go.”
Tae snuggled tightly against my chest. “Nope, he’s my Daddy and I don’t share.”
“And on that note,” Oscar tapped his knuckles on the desktop. “I’m outta here. Hasta manana, love birds.”
“Guess what else, Tae.”
“There’s more?”
“Yup. How about you and I taking a vacation during Valentine’s week. I’ll rent a cabin, and we can play in the snow and poke around town up north. What do you think?”
“Can we make snow angels?”
“Of course.”
“And go ice skating?”
“Anything you want, my love. Just so you know, Daddy is terrible on any kind of skates.”
“That’s okay, Daddy, I’ll teach you.”
“Wait, have you been ice skating before?” I don’t recall hearing that story.
“Nope, but I’m a fast learner.”
If this was all it took to make my boy smile as big as he was now, I’d fall on my ass on the ice a million times over. I could already hear his sweet giggles when I did. Better pack extra pants and padding for my ass.
“Alright,” I tapped his tushy. “Let’s get my boy fed then your Daddy is off to meet with the Tetleys.” Fingers crossed they didn’t want the work done anytime soon.
Once Tae was parked in front of the TV watching his favorite cartoons, eating his breakfast sandwich, and sucking on his Daddy milky bottle, I headed over to their house.
“Afternoon, Chuck,” Jacob Tetley glanced around me. “No Tae?”
“Not today. He just comes when it’s time to work.” He waved me inside. “How’s the family?”
“Good, good. The kids are at school, and the wife is at work. Took the day off to show you what we’re hoping to have done.
I’d like to surprise them with it though that might be hard to do.
” I followed him down the hall and up the stairs, taking in the vast space they called home filled with the finest furnishings and high-end finishes.
Was I up for the job? Absolutely, though I felt somewhat out of place in their showroom quality home.
I wasn’t a millionaire by any means, but Tae and I Iived comfortably in our humble abode and wanted for nothing.
But marble? Yeah, not something you’ll find at Casa Ashwood.
“This is where our kids mostly hangout. It’s technically a loft but now that they’re getting to the age where they stay up later than their parents do I’d like to wall it off.
Possibly soundproof too, that way we’re not listening to their video games at ungodly hours.
Fresh paint, multiple TV’s so they can play the same games or apart.
Hook it up with headphone jacks, the whole works. ”
I laughed. “All of that is doable. This is a great space for a media room.”
“Fantastic. Fresh paint, new carpet and I’d like to add a kitchenette along the back wall, small fridge for drinks and a microwave.”
After taking a few pictures, measurements, checking the electrical box to make sure it could handle the additional pull and jotting down the notes before following him outside to walk the second project he had.
“As you can see, this was the kids play area which they’ve outgrown.” There was a sandbox with a swing set in it across from the inground pool. “We’d like to get rid of all of this, install pavers and build a pergola over it.”
I repeated the same process as upstairs. The more info I got while onsite, the easier it would be to put the quote together. “Got it. When were you wanting all of this done?”
“The upstairs area, preferably before spring break in March,” Jacob shook his head. “Don’t think I’ll survive that week otherwise. This outside area, before it gets too warm. Let me know your schedule and we’ll make it work.”
“Sounds like a plan. Tae and I are going on vacation mid-February for a few days, but we can get the loft area done as soon as we get back. I’ll head home and put the proposal together for you and email it over no later than tomorrow by noon.”
“Perfect. Thanks, Chuck.” Jacob saw me out and I drove over to the site Oscar was on to see if he could use a hand, but he was good to go.
On the way home, I made a quick stop and picked up a special treat for my boy. “Tae?”
“Daddy!” he came sliding around the corner in his socks. “Ohhh, kids’ meal. Yay!”
Tae made a kissy face, and I pressed my lips to his. “Go sit, Daddy will join you in a minute.”
“’Kay, Daddy.” He skipped away while I dropped off my stuff in the office and changed into shorts before we ate. “What did you get to eat, Daddy?”
“Burger and fries, nothing exciting.”
“How was the walk through?”
“It was good. No fancy painting, just straight rolling with a bit of trim. Wants a loft turned into a media game room for his kids and a paver area with a pergola installed out back. I’ll work up the bid after we eat and send it over.
” I’d also get our vacation booked too. I had to admit, the idea of getting away for a few days had grown on me.
Four years together and aside from sick days neither of us had taken any time off. We were well past due.
“When do they want it done?” He dunked his last nugget into the ranch and zoomed the toy car his meal came with around the table.
“I told them we could do it at the end of the month after we get back from vacation.”
“We’re really going on our first vacation? Just you and me, Daddy?”
“Yes, my love, we are. I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to realize a break was in order. Can you forgive your Daddy screwing up?” I felt awful, like I was to blame for Tae’s artistic block and played a factor in the depression I’d witnessed.
“Silly Daddy, you can’t know everything and until you mentioned a vacation, I hadn’t even thought about one.
Now I’m super excited. We can have a snowball fight, and a fireplace fire, and hot chocolate,” he ticked each one off on his ranch laden fingers.
“And see a new place. I can’t wait! Ooohhh, can we make samores? ”
This boy was too cute for his own good. “S’mores and absolutely.”
“Yay! I’m a lucky boy.” He skipped off toward the sink to wash his hands singing, “Daddy loves his boy.” Then parked himself in front of the TV again.
Tae was definitely in better spirits today than he was yesterday which was a good sign.
Hopefully getting away from our daily lives would free his mind and something, anything, would come to him, then we could finish his room.
I didn’t like how stressed out he’d become over something that should’ve been simple and fun.
A necessary break a Daddy should’ve not only seen but had already scheduled that from now on would be annually at minimum.
There was a secondary part to this trip, another task I’d been meaning to get around to.
I’ve had Tae’s ring for some time now. My mother had given my father’s and grandfather’s wedding rings a while back.
She adored Tae and his brothers alike and joined us for every holiday and special gathering.
Mom will be thrilled when I pop the question and make an honest man out of Tae. Her words, not mine.
With my boy occupied, I stole away to the office to work up the quote for Jacob and get our reservation made.
The Tetley work was straight forward and already having the supplier’s prices in the quoting program we used helped speed it along.
There was no need to add additional breakers, just a couple of outlets.
After giving it a once over and double checking the numbers, I fired off the email.
Now it was time to book our trip.