Caleb Read online

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Welcome to the Boys of Glensville Series!

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Check out Mason's story in Boys of Glensville Book Three

  Welcome to the Boys of Glensville Series!

  While this series is more fun, and easier to understand the relationships between the characters if read in order, it is up to you if you want to abide by those rules. Every book can be read as a standalone and still make sense in the series. So, go ahead, be rebellious!

  I hope you enjoy reading about the boys as much as I enjoyed writing about them.

  Feel free to leave any reviews or comments about the book on your favorite websites, such as Goodreads and Amazon; I always appreciate feedback!

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  Happy Reading!

  Prologue

  Caleb

  I couldn't remember the last time I had stepped foot in this shitty town. It had been a little more than three years since I had left Fairsburg, Texas and moved to Scottsdale, Arizona to become a teacher, and get away from my father.

  I hadn't spoken to my father in that long as well. He hated who I was, and I hated that he was so closed minded and used the word of God to spit hate at people like me— people who were gay; people who were different.

  The first time I really understood how hateful my father can be was when I had came out to him, thinking that he would somehow accept me despite the fact that for my entire life I had heard him say: 'Fags are the spawn of the Devil. They're all going to Hell' or variations of that. I thought maybe I was the exception to his hatred; he always told me he would love me despite anything. Apparently, that wasn't true. Apparently, there are limits to a father's love.

  Anyway, that's not the point.

  What really made me realize how cruel and judgemental my father could be was when he attacked the first boy I had ever loved in his own home. Jayson Pile and I had dated in secret for a few years throughout high school. I had loved him, and I know he had loved me. It was the first and last time in my life that I had truly felt loved by anyone. I never thought my father would blame Jayson for 'turning his son gay', but it seemed I really underestimated the hate in my father's heart.

  After that night my father had tried to beat the 'sin' out of me, and I still had the scars to prove it. My back was covered with white lines, and circular burn marks covered my arms. If my father knew that being gay wasn't the worst of my 'sins', if he knew that there was something inside me that contradicted the quiet boy he raised, then he would have probably whipped me harder or burned me more. Anything to make sure his son was 'normal'.

  I had left Fairsburg when I heard Jayson was moving to Washington with his son, and I never looked back.

  Despite everything my father had done to me, now that I was in Fairsburg again I found myself wondering if he was doing okay. I wondered if he was eating right so that he didn't have another heart attack. Was he still eating fast food every friday, or was he cooking for himself? I wondered if he was still a pastor at one of the many churches in the small town I had grown up in, but I couldn't bring myself to see him. I didn't want to see him.

  Why am I back here?

  I had only come back to Fairsburg for one reason: to visit Ashley's grave. It was the sixth year anniversary of her death, and I hadn't been to visit her since she died. The day was sunny and cloudless. The trees in the cemetery were casting shade over Ashley's tombstone; she would have liked that.

  I don't know why I had expected no one to be visiting her grave on her anniversary, maybe I just wanted to talk to Ashley alone, but I found a twenty-six-year-old Jayson with his son who was now seven if I remembered correctly. There was a man dressed in a fancy suit with his hand on Jayson's back, and I didn't even have to ask to know that this man was Jayson's partner, Jayson leaned into him as they looked down at Ashley's tombstone. I could feel their love for each other even from where I stood; they made a striking pair.

  I walked towards them, and the fancy man looked up. He looked at me like he already knew who I was, and it dawned on me that Jayson must have told him about me and what our fathers had done to him. Did Jayson resent me for what happened to him? Did the fancy man blame me for what happened to Jayson? He smiled at me, which caught me by surprise, and then tapped Jayson on his shoulder. When Jayson looked up at him, the fancy man gestured to me.

  “Caleb?” Jayson asked when he turned his head in my direction. “What are ya doin' here?”

  He still had his Texan accent, and that made me smile. I had tried hard to get rid of mine, but I couldn't. It was ingrained in me as much as my DNA.

  Jayson looked good. He was sporting a bushy beard, and he looked paler from not spending all of his time in the sun doing chores on his family's ranch. He gave me a friendly smile, and I was reminded of why I had loved him once.

  I just shrugged in answer to his question. I had lost my job in Arizona, and was feeling at a loss of what to do next. I had gotten in my car, and drove to the cemetery without even thinking about it.

  The fancy man had taken Billy to put flowers on Ashley's grave to give Jayson and I time to catch up.

  “I heard you're a fifth grade teacher now?”

  “Not really. I was let go. Budget cuts.”

  Jayson looked at me sincerely. “I'm sorry.” Then his face lit up. “We have a openin' at the school in Glensville. Hunter Pierce” —I could tell by the way Jayson said the man's name that he wasn't a fan of whoever Hunter Pierce was— “just moved back ta Nebraska. Holly Dumas, the principal, is desperate to find someone to replace him before the school year starts. She wants someone with experience.”

  I couldn't help, but smile in gratitude. I had been living off my savings since I was let go the semester before last, and my account was quickly dwindling. I needed a new job like yesterday. I had no pride, if Jayson was willing to help me, then I was willing to take his help. I needed the help. I was desperate.

  “Thank you,” I say.

  Jayson already has his phone out and is dialing Holly Dumas. “Don't mention it,” he says, putting the device to his ear.

  I look over to the fancy man just to gage his reaction to all of this; I had expected him to be glaring over at us in jealousy or hatred for what happened all those years ago, but he was actually smiling. His eyes were shining with so much love for Jayson, it actually made my heart squeeze painfully. I wished I had something like that.

  September

  Chapter One

  Caleb

  I had so much left to do in order to be ready by the time school started on Monday. I couldn't believe how quickly time had flown after I was offered the job at Glensville Public School back at in the middle of July. The town only had one school to teach K through 12, I was still in disbelief over that. I had never heard of a town only having one school to teach all grades. But Glensville was so small, they didn't really have any room to put up any more schools.

  I had flown from Arizona to Washington after Jayson put in a rave recommendation with Holly Dumas. Holly and I had met for coffee at the airport considering my plane had been delayed, and I had gotten in later than I had planned, I had to turn around in the next two hours to head back to Arizona on another plane that night. Holly and I had hit it off immediately. She said she knew I was perfect for the job from the moment she had met me. After that everything had happened so fast I still felt like my head was spinning even though it was two months later.

  A week after my very informal interview, I
got a call from Holly telling me the job was mine if I still wanted it. I accepted, and a few days later I had packed my very few belongings, subletted my apartment, and drove up to Glensville to start my new life.

  I had expected things to be hard within the first few months with trying to find a place to live, and settling in, but Jayson had taken care of that for me as well. His grandmother had offered me the spare room in her cozy two bedroom house until I could get on my feet. I met so many people I could barely remember all of their names. August, Jayson's husband, had two brothers who each had a husband of their own, and they all helped me move my stuff into Jayson's grandmother's house.

  I had written out all my lesson plans for the first few weeks of school, and was in the process of decorating my new classroom. In Scottsdale we had not been allowed to put anything on the walls, but Holly had told me to decorate my classroom anyway I liked, just as long as it was kid friendly.

  “It looks good in here,” Jayson's voice came from over by the door to my classroom.

  I had just finished hanging up a motivational poster that I thought was cheesy, but in the best way possible.

  I looked over at him, and smiled. We had really gotten closer in the past few months since I had seen him at Ashley's grave. We had slipped back in our friendship so easily it was hard to believe that it had been nearly three and a half years since I had last talked to him.

  “Ya ready to go?”

  I nodded. I was nervous. I was meeting yet more of Jayson's friends. He had so many new people in his life it was hard to keep up. It seemed like everyone in the town knew everyone and everyone called each other family. That evening I was meeting Diego Sanchez and Carter Hyde, one of Jayson's employees at the bakery and his boyfriend.

  I was used to the small town mentality since I had grown up in Fairsburg, but Glensville and Fairsburg were not the same. While they were alike in the sense that everyone knew your business and you could get anywhere in town just by walking; they were different because in Glensville even though people knew who was dating who and which wife's husband was cheating, no one ever talked bad about the other person, in fact they stood up for the other people in the community. In Fairsburg it had been the complete opposite: everyone had something to say about the choices you made. I couldn't count how many times I heard Dottie French talking crap about someone just because they were vegan, and 'God put cows on this earth to be eaten', or they hadn't waited until marriage to have sex and 'that was a sin'. That was Fairsburg for you though. Everything was about religion. Everyone in Glensville was open minded, and I found that refreshing for a small town. The tiny town had become a sort of mecca for the LGBTQ community. Everywhere I looked there was a rainbow flag flying over a business. Glensville was proud of their.......well, pride. Sure, there were still those bigots who screamed 'queer' out of their window when Jayson and his friends walked down the street with their arms slung around the shoulder of their partner, but there were more accepting people in Glensville then there ever would be in Fairsburg.

  I followed Jayson out of my classroom and down the empty hall of the deserted school. I was actually shaking with nerves. I had hid who I was in Scottsdale out of fear that the parents would raise hell at finding out a gay man was teaching their son or daughter. I had learned to hide myself away from the world after what my father had done to me, and I had heard some of the other teachers at the school in Scottsdale talking about how someone had been let go because of their sexuality. Of course, they couldn't have said that on paper, but they had chalked it up to 'poor performance' on their annual review. I didn't want to be one of those teachers that got gossiped about in the teacher's lounge so I had stayed quiet, and kept myself to myself, but since I was hanging around Jayson, everyone in Glensville either knew or assumed I was gay. I told them the truth if they had asked, and no one seemed disgusted that a gay man was teaching their children. Every day someone new came up to me and told me how excited their son or daughter was to be in my class.

  Jayson led me to the car where August and Billy were waiting. They were talking to each other about something that neither Jayson or I could hear, but Billy was bouncing up an down in his seat excitedly, and August was laughing. I slid into the backseat next to Billy as Jayson slid into the driver's seat of a car I never expected to see him drive. I had always known Jayson to drive a huge truck or the beat up ol' Volkswagen Rabbit he had Sophmore year of highschool, but this car was a sleek BMW. I had known it was August's before they even told me. Jayson still drove a truck, an upgraded model of his former F-250.

  “Hello, Caleb,” August greeted. He turned around in his seat to look at me. “Did you get everything in your classroom all settled?”

  “Oh, yeah. It's gonna look amazin' when I'm done addin' the finishin' touches.”

  I had expected August to hate me when he met me. I don't know why. I thought he would have blamed me for what Jayson's father and my father had done to Jayson back when he was living in Texas. I know I had; I still saw the bruises on Jayson's face every time I closed my eyes. I also expected things to be awkward between us since I had been Jayson's first love, and the guy he had lost his virginity to, but August had welcomed me with open arms. He was always friendly, and I liked him more than I thought I would have.

  Jayson drove through the streets, honking every so often to catch the attention of someone he knew so he could wave. We pulled up to the only Chinese restaurant in Glensville, and hopped out of the car. The parking lot was full and I wondered how many of the cars actually belonged to our party. I followed Jayson, August and Billy inside. As I had expected, there was a large group sitting in the back of the restaurant, and I knew this was our party. They were a rowdy bunch, and everyone in the restaurant looked over periodically to see what the source of all the ruckus was. I already knew a handful of people like Gabe and Dustin, August's brothers and their husbands, Lorenzo and Adrian. Lorenzo and Gabe's daughter, Naomi, was sitting between her dads and slapping her hands on the table happily. I knew Holly and her Husband, Clyde, and their daughter, Becky.

  “You know this lot,” August said gesturing to his brothers. “That's Viola and her girlfriend, Gigi. Declan and Lucky. This here is Mason, and those two cuddlin' in the corner are the birthday boys.”

  I nod my greeting at the pretty African-American girl and the blond girl next to her, and then again at the big intimidating man in the corner with his arm wrapped around the chair of a man with a large red beard and mischievous eyes. The younger man named Mason looked like an angel with soft features, blond hair and teal colored eyes. My gaze came to a rest on the younger man with the big, brutish cop in the corner. I only know that he's a cop because he was wearing his GPD uniform.

  It was hard seeing all these people paired off with someone they were clearly in love with. It had been so long since I had been with someone I was starting to forget what it felt like. My last relationship had only lasted three months, and it ended because the guy thought I had 'issues'. Sure, I had issues. We all had issues. Apparently my issues were just too big for him to handle. That's what they all say when they realize I have a certain kink in the bedroom, and some of them don't expect that out of a shy, fifth grade teacher like me.

  I sat between Lorenzo and Jayson and looked down at the menu. I already knew what I wanted. I loved Chinese food, and being that this was the only Chinese restaurant in the ciy I came here often.

  “I thought Edward was comin'?” Jayson asked the couple in the corner.

  Diego, the smaller man with long hair and darker skin pulled his gaze away from his partner long enough to answer Jayson's question. “He couldn't make it,” he said before looking back at his boyfriend. He said something to the cop that made the big man blush and shake his head.

  The waiter came with drinks for the table, and several baskets of egg rolls. He began taking orders, jotting things down swiftly in the small notebook he's carrying. I ordered some Kung Pao chicken and a side of fried rice.

  “Hey
,” Gabe perked up, like a child who had just discovered something amazing. “That's my favorite too!”

  I just smile at him because I don't know what to say to that ridiculous statement.

  Everyone was loud and joking around, and I find the atomosphere kind of nice. It reminded me of how Ashley, Jayson, Lance and I had been in high school. I look over at Jayson and I know he knows what I am thinking because he smiles sadly at me. We haven't talked much about Ashley, but I know he misses her as much as I do. Maybe even more so since he was raising their kid, and they had been closer than the rest of us.

  Time seemed to be slipping by quickly, and none of us noticed how late it's getting until Naomi's hair starts dipping into her Lo Mein as her eyes drift closed. That seems to be the end of our evening and everyone starts getting up to leave. I exchange numbers with Mason and Diego, they are both five years younger than me, but I already know I am going to like them. I also exchange numbers with Viola. She seems sweet, and a little weird in a new age-y, goth sort of way. She told me she could see that my aura was clouded with trauma of the past. I just shook her comment off with a laugh. I never believed in that new age crap, it was a bunch of mumbo jumbo to me.

  Jayson offers to give me a ride home, but since I only live around the corner I opted to walk. The air was slick with rain, and it smelled crisp. I had never been a fan of rain, but I found I was liking it more and more since living in Washington.

  Someone honks at me as I am walking down the street. I wave at whoever it was. Everyone was so friendly here, they waved even if they didn't know you. I couldn't help but smile; I was really growing to like Glensville.

  Edward

  “You missed my party,” my best friend, Diego Sanchez, says to me over the phone. It's late, and he and Carter had just gotten home from their birthday party. I still found it weird that their birthdays fell on the same day. I had never dated someone with the same birthday as me.