Chapter 479 – Kyle’s Story and the Demo Begins
We took a few minutes to fill up our appetizer plates with the unique specialties that Fritz had prepared and grab another beer, our intermission of sorts. During that time, Kyle opened up a little more, saying he didn’t know why he was invited to the meeting, as he was almost done, and the guys in the room were more like vultures, waiting to pick his bones. But, he said meeting us, was like a breath of fresh air, as he was excited to see new blood in town that could, not only compete with these ‘old farts’, as he put it, but actually blow them away and wake them up. He said this town needed guys like us to give it new life. While I realized Kyle’s disappointing situation, he did make a lot of sense, and he was upfront with everything. The more I talked to him, the more I found him to be somewhat funny, and very genuine, which impressed me considerably.
Having been refreshed and more beer in us, we resumed the meeting. Duncan moderated once again. “Josh, the men I invited here tonight have long been involved in the community, have collaborated on different projects together, and have developed individually as well. They are, what you might consider, the movers and shakers in this town, development wise, well that was before you guys got involved and shook things up, making them wonder where they missed the boat. You seemed to have seen things they overlooked, which impressed the hell out of this group, let me tell you. Anyway, they’re looking for future projects that will benefit the growth of community, and wanted to meet with you to see what you see, and what, either collaboratively, or individually, we see as possibilities for community growth. The university has grown slightly, but not drastically over the years. Still, there is a stream of professors, grad students and undergraduate students in and out of the community. We have every kind of fast food place known to man. The mall is still doing okay, but that type of retailing is moving from brick and mortar to on-line purchases now, scaling down brick and mortar facilities, only warehouses for shipping, cutting significant cost out of the supply chain. A couple of the guys have some ideas as to what they think they might be needing to look at coming down the pike, but wondered if you had any vision as to what they might look at possibly, doing something together with you, since you surprised all of us with your vision and creativity,” Duncan stated. I smiled.
“It all comes down to basics, really. I told you before what Marketing 101 was, and that is find a need and fill it, to put it simplistically. We have an amazing marketing professor here at the university, who’s working on his doctorate at the moment, using his class as his thesis project, of all things. Ty is his name, and he’s one of the most impressive and unique professors I’ve ever met. He offered a class for select individuals this year, and to tell you how impressive it is, he has seven of our shareholders in his class. There are at least three other Fortune 500 CEO’s offspring in this class also. The first semester was basic marketing revisited and intensified, doing market research, kind of what you’re asking about tonight. This semester we have seven hours of lab a week and one hour of classroom work. We are actually building a complete marketing structure for a new company that we were fortunate enough to have to work on. They will follow the marketing plan we build for them exclusively. Actually, we had two entities to work on, but one was so much in demand, we didn’t have to do anything to market their product,” I told them.
“So who were the two entities you’re currently working on or the one anyway?” Mr. Weisman asked.
“Well, the one we’re working on exclusively, is the new dormitory Stoney Enterprises is building. We gave them that to sink all our teeth into,” I admitted. “The other one was the office building, but that’s totally leased out at this point, so it’s a no brainer,” I chided.
“Unbelievable,” Weisman uttered. “Duncan, this guy is a genius. Not only did he build a huge building to compete with the university’s housing department, but he got the university to market his building, which could possibly do harm to their program. Damn, we all need to work for him. He’s going to outdo us all with his genius,” Weisman commented, making the other guys chuckle, but admit there was some truth to that statement.
“Relax, guys. We have our sights set nationwide, not just here in Uni. Actually, the reason we picked the projects we did at first, was we all had a need for the one’s we’re investing in. We just did something about it, and not just thought about it. Remember, marketing 101, find a need, and find a way to fill it,” I explained. Weisman said that was too simple, but made perfect sense. Then he asked where the hell they were while we were busy figuring things out. They all shook their heads. Kyle rolled his eyes, disappointed at all the old farts in the room. He casually said under his breath, he was just struggling to stay alive, but the old farts were sound asleep.
“Gentlemen, the university is a huge mecca of information, and can be one hell of a resource. Being a student here, we can figure out what this vast industry in this town needs to flourish and grow. You need to look into other needs, needed to support the university. Classes, like our professor Ty’s, will undoubtedly attract more students to the university, causing additional growth, which some will transform into opportunities for all of you, if you pay attention to what’s needed and have a vision as to what will be coming down the pike in the future. Tune in and pay attention. Have meetings like this one, and invite university professors and staffs, so you can get insight as to what the university is working on. In essence, get plugged in, and find out what’s going on,” I urged.
“I got plugged in and got shorted out,” Kyle uttered, under his breath. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but hoped to talk to him more later, as I was beginning to like him a lot. He seemed tuned into what I was saying, only didn’t have any means to possibly survive, much less grow and prosper.
“Duncan, I swear, Josh needs to be teaching graduate level studies,” Mr. Seward commented. Duncan said he could definitely see the potential there.
“Hey, I have my hands full with school, sports, fraternity, the CNB and a multi-million dollar enterprise that has to grow and thrive. I teach others as I lead, and from good and bad experiences, as do you all,” I replied. They chuckled, but said it was amazing what I was able to do at such a young age. Duncan agreed wholeheartedly.
Since I mentioned that we were interested in entities nationwide, would I possibly pass along suggestions to them where I thought opportunities might exist for this area, as they were homebodies, and liked to do things close to home, not having an aviation department like we had. I chuckled, but told them I would gladly suggest things I thought were opportunities for them, as we weren’t interested in monopolizing all the opportunities in town, only some of them, and I thought we were kind of full at the moment, but that could change as the times changed and needs of the community changed.
To end the meeting, Duncan thanked everyone for their attendance, and for the opportunity for these guys to get to know us, as we had trumped them in a couple of large projects they had no idea there was a need for. I reminded the guys there were new opportunities every day, and for them not to fall asleep, letting those opportunities pass them by. Weisman asked if we were possibly interested in doing something jointly with them sometime.
“Not to be insulting, as I consider you guys to be peers in a sense, but we only want to invest in projects where we have total control over. That was our mantra from our founder, Stoney, and it made sense then, and makes more sense now to us. Still, I’m happy to suggest things to you guys for you to do joint ventures in, if I see possibilities for you, as a group, or individually, that might end up being profitable investments for you. I guess I could work through Duncan for suggestions like that, if that works for you guys,” I suggested. They all were grateful for that offer, telling me, Stoney Enterprises was very likely to be one of the Fortune 500 companies someday. I told them I wasn’t sure where we might be going, but we were going to do great things, and have a lot of fun on the journey. I even got a small applause. With that, I invited them all to stop by at times to have a drink and shoot the shit, although I was just being cordial.
When the meeting ended and everyone jumped up, Kyle stuck out his hand and shook my hand again. “Thanks for inviting me to this meeting, Josh. You are so inspirational, I got excited again for the first time in years. I think I could follow you to the moon and back. My problem is, I’m a sinking shipl, and don’t have much to look forward to, which is depressing as hell. Still, I give it the good fight, fighting like hell to stay alive. I guess I’ll keep doing that until I can’t fight anymore,” Kyle said, his initial excitement of congratulating me, now turning to disappointment in his own dilemma.
“Kyle, why don’t you stay and have dinner with Jake, Blake and me, and you tell us what’s going on in your life. Duncan told me how these other guys would like nothing better than to steal your business out of bankruptcy, but maybe there is a way, we could possibly help. You seem like a good enough guy that just needs a break to make a go of it. Duncan seems to think so anyway, and hates that you’re in the spot you’re in. Maybe if we talk through your situation, we might think of some ideas to help,” I suggested.
“Josh, I could just hug you,” he said, excitement coming back into his face after disappointment dominated it before.
“Well, let’s get to know each other first, then we’ll see about sex later,” I chided. He laughed, then patted me on the back. He didn’t know, I wasn’t kidding, but we’d see where our friendship led to. Actually, I hated to see a young hard-working guy, like himself, work so hard to preserve something his father had built, to lose it all to others more affluent than himself. I thought of my father, and the possibility of him losing the farm, after he worked so hard to take it over from my grandfather. That thought almost made me sick.
“Not only are you brilliant in business, but you have a sense of humor also,” Kyle chided. Jake told him, if he only knew. Kyle laughed.
After shaking hands with all the guys again, and thanking Duncan for the opportunity to meet these guys, so we knew who they were now, we said out goodbyes, then Blake got us a table for dinner.
“Wow, this is really special. I get invited to a meeting with free beer and food, then get invited for dinner on top of that, and get to spend more time with successful people, instead of eating TV dinners and going back to work,” Kyle stated.
“Didn’t Josh tell you, Kyle, he was looking for a sucker to buy us all dinner tonight? That’s how we become profitable,” Jake chided, giving Kyle a sickening look. Then he laughed, greatly relieving Kyle.
“Well, if that were the case, I’d be saying goodnight and nice meeting you, as you guys would starve on what I’d be able to afford to buy you, even though I heard you guys were extremely reasonable on food and drink here. I just never had the time, opportunity or money to check it out. It’s fantastic, though. You guys have done a great job with the place. I remember bowling here when I was a kid, and it doesn’t look anything today, like it did then,” Kyle shared with us. We told him about all the renovation work we did, the modernization and enlargement of the apartment upstairs, then the reclamation of the bowling alleys to use as the dance floor. He was really blown away by what all we did. We told him we all pitched in, and worked on the project to keep the costs down. Kyle was extremely impressed, we weren’t just developers and businessmen, but we did actual physical labor. We told him we were also the bar tenders on certain nights of our business. To be a shareholder, you had to actually work in the business. He was most impressed, saying that was totally foreign to the guys we met with tonight. We all had to agree.
“Blake, Josh mentioned tonight you left Ohio State and transferred to Uni with just a few days-notice and exposure to our campus here?” Kyle asked, having been impressed by what I told the group earlier. Blake smiled.
“I knew these guys less than two weeks and fell in love with the whole program. One of the other guys in the group, Tim, I met on Christmas break, through a relationship our fathers had. We became good friends in the few days we were together, and then Tim went to spend a couple of days with Jake and Josh at their resort in Key West. I somehow persuaded them to let me tag along. Well, the more time I spent with them, and the more they talked about their company, plus the fantastic marketing program they had here at Uni, the more I fell in love with the idea of becoming part of it, and couldn’t get it out of my mind. It was time for me to leave to go back to OSU, and instead, I got with a business adviser here and just transferred. Josh and Jake were kind enough to fly Tim and I back to Columbus, where we packed up my stuff in the apartment, I had with three other guys, then drove my car back here the next day. I just phoned my girlfriend that I was leaving, and wished her a good life,” Blake explained, making Kyle shake his head.
“Good grief, that had to be a blow to her. Talk about a ‘dear John’ letter. How’d she take that?” Kyle asked, amazed at what he just heard.
“Not overly well, as she and my mother were good friends. I think she was kind of pissed, but I knew where I wanted and needed to be, and I’m here now, so it was worth it. I have no regrets whatsoever,” Blake assured him. Kyle couldn’t believe it.
“So, are these guys the real deal then? They are true decent friends and cohorts?” he asked.
“They are. You can’t ever know in your lifetime, anyone more special and caring than these two guys, and generally, all our guys in the company. They’re just wonderful people, ones you could love for the rest of your life,” Blake said, rather proudly.
“That’s a hell of a testimonial, guys,” Kyle commented. “It must be true for Blake to quit Ohio State, dump his roommates and dump his girlfriend, to move in and become part of a fellowship of guys he really didn’t know but just a few days.”
“You know when you meet true friends, Kyle. You just know it in your heart. You couldn’t ask for better friends and partners than these two guys, which are our leadership. I have to say the same for the rest of our guys also. I haven’t met a one I didn’t learn to care about. We have a very special and meaningful initiation ceremony also we all went through that just emphasized the meaning of brotherhood, in which brother helps brother, always,” Blake added.
“Really? What all takes place in the initiation?” Kyle asked, curiously. Blake smiled.
“Can’t say. What makes it so special and meaningful, is that just us shareholders understand and value it. But it is truly meaningful, something where nothing else could make you closer to one another. That’s all I can say, other than I was blessed and honored to have been accepted into the company, and brotherhood of my fellow shareholders, like a special fraternity, you might say, with extra special benefits, you also might say,” Blake explained. Kyle thought that was tremendous.
“Obviously, it made one hell of an impression on you, and you must have made one hell of an impression on Josh and Jake for them to initiate you into the company, having only known you for a short time,” Kyle replied.
“Oh, it doesn’t take long to really love this guy, Kyle. He’s a keeper for sure. We even inducted him into our senior management group, he’s that good,” I said, proudly, as I patted Blake on his back, making him blush. Kyle was amazed.
“Damn, boy, you are special,” Kyle exclaimed. Jake and I agreed, he was special in more ways than one.
“So what is your dilemma you’re dealing with, Kyle, if we’re not being too personal in asking? Doesn’t hurt to hear, if you don’t mind talking about it. You never know, there may be solutions, if we think about it hard enough. You seem like an industrious, hard working guy, that may have had a few bad breaks. It’s a shame you lost your father at such a young age, and had the whole business and it’s debts dumped in your lap,” I commented. Kyle held his head.
“I don’t often talk about it to others. Truth is, I don’t really have anyone to talk to it about, when I think about it. I don’t have time for friends, as I’m working all the time, trying to keep my head above water. I don’t know, there’s something special about you guys, I sense. I may just be fucked in the head, I’m not sure, as I’ve been screwed before by those I trusted, which kind of led to the situation I’m in. You guys don’t want to hear this shit, as it only upsets me when I think about it. You’re successful and becoming more so. You don’t need to hear about what could have been, and how certain people fuck you over in life,” Kyle said, thinking he’d just bore us or depress us. I put my hand on his shoulder.
“Kyle, you have friends now, right here tonight. Share with us what your situation is, and maybe, although I’m not promising anything, but just maybe there’s a solution to your situation,” I suggested. He looked at me with hope in his eyes, but it quickly turned to futility.
“Josh, my situation is futile, and nothing is going to help it. I just hope, that when the fire is out and the dust settles, I can land a halfway decent job somewhere and forget this part of my life ever happened,” Kyle told us, as Eric brought us more beer, and had us order dinner, which we did quickly. Although Kyle said he wasn’t hungry, as he was used to eating very little, surviving on cheap frozen food dinners, we made him order a nice meal. I thought he was going to cry. I patted him on the back, then told him, in most cases, the night was always darkest before the dawn, but the sun came up every day with new hope and promise. He wanted to hug me, but then said, in his case, he thought the sun was finally going to burn out. I begged him to tell us what happened.
“I lost my mother to cancer at an early age, leaving just my dad and me. Dad was a hard worker and built a decent business for our livelihood in real estate. We had inherited some land, once on the outskirts of Uni when I was little, now part of the town and in a decent neighborhood. It was once part of a farm my grandfather had. He sold off a lot of the land to developers over the years, and houses were built around us. Dad took the money he inherited from his father, my grandfather, and built four apartment buildings on the property. There are 35 units in each building, not a huge development, but decent. We did well with the four buildings, and they were occupied mostly by college professors and young professionals, that type of clientele. Doing as well as we were doing, we started buying up some other apartment complexes around town. At one time we had a total of ten buildings, some single units on a piece of property and some multiple buildings. Real estate is valuable, as long as you keep it that way, which I know you guys are well aware. We plowed a lot of money back into the upkeep of the business, at least Dad did before I knew what was what. I started getting more involved when I was in high school, helping out where I could. Then Dad got sick, and couldn’t work as much as he used to. He hired a guy five years older than me to help with the day-to-day management of the business and upkeep of the buildings. I was in college at the time. This guy became like an older brother, you might say, as both Dad and I had to depend on him to handle the business. Dad really liked him, and I really liked him too, as I finally had an older brother to look up to and learn things from, with Dad being sick and all. Dad was really sick the last two years of his life. He had to have constant care. I was finally out of college, and had to become more involved in the business. I trusted Kenny, who had looked out for me and my Dad, for which Dad paid him well. When Dad passed, Kenny was all I had in life, and I loved him and trusted him. The more I got involved, the more Kenny shared with me the financial situation we were in. Kenny had power of attorney and took care of all the business arrangements, loans, payments, all the back office activity, as a manager would. He finally leveled with me one day, telling me we were basically broke, and he had been selling off assets, buildings, to cover debt calls on loans taken out on the rest of the assets. In other words, he’d been mortgaging buildings, creating debt to cover debt. You know what that can do to you. Borrowing money to pay for borrowed money is a death spiral, I found that out in a hurry. To make a long story short, I had to grow up in one hell of a hurry, when I found out how dire a situation, we were in. Dad had passed, and never knew what Kenny did to us. Guys, he took us for several hundred thousand dollars, in my estimation, probably more, but I lost count. He claimed they were loans to improve the properties, but in essence, the properties were never improved or updated. The money disappeared. Kenny took advantage of my father’s sickness and my inexperience, after gaining my respect, admiration and, in essence, love, because he was the only one I had in life. When I discovered how bad a situation we were in, he up and quit, wishing me good luck, then took off. I should have had him charged with embezzlement, but there was part of me that still thought of him as my only family. At that point the money was gone. I guess he gambled it away, or who knows what he did with it. I did hire a forensic accountant on a contingency basis, to see if there was anything be able to recover. He didn’t work on the case that long, before he told me it was hopeless and there was nothing in it for him, so that was it, as far as his help was concerned, unless I wanted to pay his going fee. He told me I’d be wasting my money, as there was nothing to recover that he could see,” Kyle explained, with tears in his eyes.
“Kyle, how do you sleep at night?” I asked, sympathetically. He shook his head.
“I don’t really. I don’t know who I am anymore. I’ve been cash flowing lately, but I have two large balloon payments due in sixty days, guys. After that, I’m toast, as there’s no way I can even imagine to begin to cover those loan payments due. The banks can’t lend me any more money on the properties, as they need work, a lot of work. My occupancy rate has gone way down on the five buildings left because of the work the properties need, work we had the money for at one time, before Kenny absconded with it. Now, it’s gone. To make matters worse, the less desirable the apartments, the less rent I can collect. It’s a downward spiral, guys. Futile, it’s all futile. The buildings are in rough shape, but the land is still valuable, being close to campus and all. Still, no banker is willing to loan any more money on the assets that are left, as they’d be underwater, from what they tell me,” Kyle explained.
“Not the ideal situation there, Kyle. Would the banks be willing to extend the loan, let you keep paying monthly instead of the balloon payments?” I asked, not really expecting a yes from him.
“Already asked that question, Josh. Got a resounding ‘no’,” Kyle replied, looking forlorn. “It’s making me sick to my stomach to even think about it. I don’t have any money to hire any help anymore, so I do all the maintenance work myself. When appliances fail, I just take one out of an unoccupied apartment to replace the bad one. There’s no hope, guys. In 60 days, I’ll be bankrupt and the bank can deal with it then, I guess. It just kills me to think I couldn’t make it. My dad would be so disappointed,” Kyle stated.
“What if we do this? What if I have Buzz take a look at the properties and see what he could ascertain the values to be of the current buildings. You bring us a balance sheet and P&L’s for the last year. I’ll have Ken take a look at those. Are the taxes paid on the properties?” I asked. Kyle sighed.
“They’re good until April, and then……, well you know what that means,” Kyle replied.
“Okay, so we have a little time there. I’ll get Todd and Chad, our construction guys over to you to take a look at the buildings and give us an opinion as to what, if anything, could be done to put those back into shape to be able to lease them at going rates, rates good enough to sustain debt, utilities and taxes, and generate a profit, not just cash flow, Kyle. The business needs to be able to sustain itself, expand and be profitable. How are you at managing apartment complexes?” I asked.
“I guess about as good as anyone in that respect. Lord knows I’ve grown up in it and helped my father all these years. Right now, I’m a one man show, so I do it all,” Kyle replied, somewhat suspicious as to where I was headed with all this conversation.
“Let’s do a thorough analysis of your predicament. We can see if it’s worth trying to salvage the business or let it go tits up, and have you start over with something new,” I suggested.
“Josh, why in the world would you want to get involved with any of this? I’m done and I don’t think anything, short of finding oil on the property or a gold mine underneath one of the buildings, is going to stop this mess from going down the shitter. You know when you take a dump, then flush the toilet and the water swirls round and round, and there’s on little turd that keeps circling for the longest time, before it finally goes down the drain? Well, I’m that little turd, and I’m in the swirling water at that moment, just waiting to be sucked down the drain. That’s really where I am today. This dinner and this fellowship with you guys tonight, has been the highlight of my life for the last couple of years. I don’t have any friends anymore. Wouldn’t have time for them if I did. I don’t have money to do anything or time to do anything. I just work and try to survive. Everyone in that meeting tonight is anxiously awaiting for me to declare bankruptcy, so they can swoop down and buy up my properties for pennies on the dollar, and leave me out in the cold. And maybe that’s what needs to happen. Maybe it’s for the better, then I can find a normal job somewhere, but I just feel like a failure, to tell you the truth,” he said with tears in his eyes. I put my arm around his shoulders. He leaned his head in against my arm and brought his hand up to grab my arm in appreciation for the embrace.
“Hey, we have 60 days. Let’s not give up until we prove to ourselves, we have to. And for the record, you’re not a turd at all, Kyle. You are a remarkable young man that’s had the weight of the world dropped on you, been betrayed by someone you totally trusted and cared about, and you’re doing your damndest to try to fight your way through it. That’s character, some of the best I’ve seen. That’s what we look for in our business and brotherhood. We just might have to adopt you, if we can’t find a way to bail you out of your mess,” I suggested.
“Josh, you’re either an angel, or one sick son-of-a-bitch. I’m not sure which, but I prefer to think of you more as an angel, as this has been the most wonderful night I’ve had in years. I can’t believe I’m sitting here and you guys are listening to my crap, I’m living through. Who wants to hear all my shit?” Kyle commented, somewhat exasperated.
“Hey, we listen and care about our friends. No matter how bad the situation, there are those to help us think it through and options available to consider. The best option may be to let the business go to the bank and let them do what they have to do to dissolve it. Then there may be something we’re not seeing that one of our professional guys might pick up and make us aware of. At any rate, it’s worth a ‘look see’ to see what our options might be,” I replied. He looked at me like I had two heads, but he seemed somewhat relieved, as if there for once was an ounce of hope in all his despair.
“Duncan was my professor in college in real estate and took an interest in me because I was local, and we had the business doing well back then. He’s tried to counsel me, and work with me to look at options before. He told me recently, there’s really nothing left to do. He asked some of the guys in the meeting tonight if they were willing to pay close to market price for the properties, even parceling them out, but none of them wanted to do that, when they could buy the properties for pennies on the dollar when I hit the skids in 60 days. They all know about the balloon payments. Not sure who told them that information, but they’re all aware of what’s coming and amounts. I swear, it was all I could do to sit there and listen to them tonight. My dad did favors for those guys back in the day, and they all worked together on certain projects. You couldn’t get them to lift their little pinky to help me these days. It’s a damn shame,” Kyle remarked. “I just met you guys tonight, and you’re already offering to at least look at my situation and see what options I might have, if any. I don’t want to waste your time, guys. I really like you guys, and I don’t want to embroil you in my problems, and run the risk of losing you as friends, because, right now, you’re the only friends I have, other than my dog. I’d like to at least have the chance to get to know you as friends, and enjoy that friendship at least for a brief time,” Kyle remarked. I patted him on his back again.
“Kyle, you’ve earned our friendship already. You need friends right now to get you through all of this, at least your psyche. You need someone to support you, and for you to be able to lean on. We have broad shoulders, and, if noting else, we can feed you, even possibly employ you if things do go south,” I replied, trying to give the boy hope.
“I really don’t know what to say. Your kindness blows me away, like you wouldn’t believe. I absolutely don’t know what to say, Josh,” he said, with tears in his eyes.
“Well, we can’t give up, until we have to give up. As long as there’s a chance to turn this turd around, we need to explore all avenues,” I told him, making him smile. “Just don’t worry and fret anymore, Kyle, as you have a safety net now. We’re not going to let our new friend Kyle get destroyed in whatever happens to your business. You will survive and thrive regardless, because you have us to make sure that happens. I was just thinking we’re going to need someone to manage our new dormitory, and with your experience in managing apartment complexes, you just might fit the bill. You’d have a staff under you to make it easier though, and not have to fix toilets yourself anymore. I just hope you wouldn’t be too disappointed if you didn’t get to fix toilets though,” I chided. He said if he never had to fix a plumbing problem again, it would be too soon.
I noticed Conner waiting to see me out of the corner of my eye. We had finished dinner, and most of our conversation. I told Kyle, I hated to be rude, but I needed to meet with an officer friend of mine about a problem with another friend of ours that we thought was being raked over the coals, and we might have a break in the case. Kyle said he needed to get back anyway, to see the list of things he had to fix tonight, but he wouldn’t have missed being with us tonight for the world. I gave him my phone, and he put his information in it, and mine in his. We got up to shake hands, but he surprised me and hugged me tightly, telling me he believed I was his guardian angel. I told him, one way or another, we were going to get his life back. He thanked me over and over, then hugged Jake and Blake also, telling them he thought he loved us all. We told him, we thought he was pretty special also. I told him I’d be in touch when I mobilized the troops to swing into action. I told Blake to put this project on our agenda for tomorrow’s senior staff meeting. That directive alone impressed the hell out of Kyle, signaling to him, we were serious about helping him and soon. I got a second hug again, then he took off, much happier than when he came in our door for the first time.
Conner came and got me. We quickly ducked into the office. “What’d you find out today?” I asked him, as I gave him a quick hug. He chuckled. “What’s the chuckle for?” I asked. He shook his head.
“A hot guy like you, who I adore more than you can ever imagine, should not be hugging an old fart like me. You almost gave me a boner,” he chided.
“Almost?” I asked, with a big curious smile. “Well, let’s try that again and see if we can’t get that thing to stand up and take notice, so we can recognize him and treat him with respect,” I suggested, hugging Conner again. He giggled, then pushed me back.
“Easy there. Take it easy on me, Josh. Too much excitement for me,” he chided, chuckling. “Good grief, you are pesky,” he chided. I smiled, then gently pinched his ass. “Hey, before you get all seductive and make me crazy, we have important things to discuss. I checked with the clinic today on the receipt. I went there and asked for the manager. I have to say she was somewhat upset when I showed her the receipt. She ran it through their billing records and found that there was no record of that individual in their system. Then, she said, she knew who the receipt referred to, and there were never any services provided for that individual. She said Chelsea’s sister worked there, and she highly suspected that there were some shenanigans going on, after seeing that receipt, not understanding how something like that could have been produced and passed off as real. She said it was bogus, and she needed to get to the bottom of this immediately. I asked her not to say anything or question the individual just yet, as we needed to further investigate what that receipt was involved with. If she addressed it within her own organization today, that would ruin our investigation for what was much worse than producing a fraudulent receipt. I did advise her, that the clinic may have been victimized somewhat, by what we thought might be going on. We’d like for her to cooperate in our investigation so we could expose any wrong doing by any of her employees in the process. She agreed to cooperate, and keep silent until I told her what to do. So, we know this receipt is a scam for sure. We know that this Chelsea totally misrepresented everything that allegedly took place. There was never any pregnancy or any underage situation, so no statutory rape. There was a shakedown, however, and major fraud committed. I filled in a couple of our detectives in vice, who are working on next steps for your boy for Saturday’s meeting, of which we’ll be nearby wherever they agree to meet. If we hear the right information, or believe your friends to be in danger, we’ll immediately be there to protect your guys,” Conner explained.
“You don’t think they’d be in any danger, do you?” I asked concerned.
“While I don’t think so, you just never know in today’s world. If they’re desperate enough, or provoked, and see where they might be in trouble, you just never know how someone in that situation will react. They could snap and just lash out, or they could realize the gig is up and disappear. There are three sisters involved here, so I have to believe they’re not all going to disappear. Anyway, I’ll need Mr. Bell and Rod to give us a sworn statement as to what happened,” he said, causing me to laugh, surprising him. What’s so funny?” he asked. I chuckled even more.
“You called Tink, Mr. Bell, Conner,” I replied, continuing to chuckle. He looked at me like I had two heads.
“I thought that was his name, Tink Bell,’ Conner said with a straight face. I just about doubled over laughing, clearly irritating Conner some. I could tell he was losing patience.
“His real name is Landon, Conner. His nick name, his brother and cousin Rod, gave him when he was a little kid was Tinker Bell, which they now shortened to Tink. Believe me, is last name is not Bell. Now do you get it?” I asked. Conner almost burst out laughing.
“What the fuck, Josh?” he replied. “Good grief, you have some crazy assed friends,” Conner exclaimed. I was still chuckling, thinking that was the funniest thing I’d heard in days. Okay, starting over, I’ll provide the evidence to the DA and see where he wants to go with it. These girls could be looking at jail time. They’re all adults, so no juvie for them,” Conner stated. “Nope, we need to get statements on wire, then arrest them, then investigate how far this thing goes, and how many other guys are or were involved. We just might all be surprised.”
“Amazing,” I said, shaking my head. “I can’t believe someone has to stoop that low to get by in this world. The older sister has a good job. Chelsea is in college right now. She’s not bad looking, so could date and find a nice guy. Why does she have to treat guys the way she does? Another case for being gay. You just can’t trust the female gender,” I chided. Conner shook his head, smiling.
“Hey, fucking pussy is still the most important thing on a straight guy’s mind. More power to them, but you, me, and the rest of the guys we all care about, are never going to waste our mental capacity or our dicks on pussy, that’s for sure. Now dick, well that’s another story,” Conner chided. I had to laugh, but he was 100% accurate in that statement.
Conner said to have Rod and Tink meet him here at the CNB tomorrow afternoon. He’d review with them what he and his team wanted them to say to the two girls when they’d meet with them on Saturday. I told him, I’d let him know when the boys would be here tomorrow afternoon. I thanked him profusely, then gave him another hug. He told me he could get used to my hugs. I told him he could get used to more than a hug. He said he was afraid of that, and maybe we should just leave it at a hug. I told him I was extremely disappointed in that decision. Conner laughed, telling me I was impossible, but he loved me anyway. I told him I’d love to love him more. Then he said, that was it, and he needed to get home to Neal. I shook my head, but did give him another hug and a quick peck on the cheek, thinking that was probably the most I could get away with. Conner just beamed.
Up in the apartment, I filled Jake and Blake in on what Conner told me, and what could possibly go down on Saturday. Both were surprised, but happy it was coming to some kind of conclusion. Then I asked the group, who wanted to go over to Rod’s place and demo some walls. Dylan said he’d go, as long as we didn’t stay too late, as he had work in the morning, but he’d like to see what all they accomplished so far, and swing the sledge hammer a few times. Plus, he said the guys were great eye candy to oogle while one worked, so it could be fun. Blake and Jake said they’d go. Tim said he needed to study, as did Ethan, and Dustin, who were sitting at the kitchen island in their underwear, with their laptops. I told them to behave, and not have too much sex. Ethan frowned at me, but Dustin smiled deviously.
The four of us headed over to Rod’s. I was anxious to tell them what I found out from Conner, as I was sure it was going to make their day, just to know Tink was off the hot seat and cleared of any wrongdoing. The boys were covered in plaster dust when we got there. I had to laugh, as they all looked like ghosts, except for Tink, who was just scooping up debris with a scoop shovel, what the guys knocked down. He was dusty, but not as bad as the other three. They were all wearing t-shirts and athletic shorts, saying it was way hot in there with all the commotion.
I gathered them around, before we got into any work, to tell them what I found out from Conner. They were blown away, when they heard what Conner found out.
“So, is it going to be dangerous, us talking to Chelsea and her sister on Saturday?” Rod asked, somewhat concerned. I shrugged my shoulders.
“Conner doesn’t think so, as these bitches seem rather amateurish. However, just in case, he will have eyes on you at all times, and be ready to move in to make arrests. There are detectives involved at this point, and vice also. Conner said, there’s probably more guys involved than just you, Tink. They picked on you because you were young and horny, and thought they could drug and seduce you. Frankly, you were found naked, but I doubt if you ever got a boner in the process, much less had intercourse with that Chelsea girl,” I said. Tink made one hell of a face.
“Yuk, can’t imagine fucking that girl,” Tink replied, with a snarled face.
“Hey, Tink, she wasn’t that bad looking. Actually, she wasn’t bad at all. If it would have happened to me, I probably would have fucked her, but I damn sure would have worn a condom. That is, if I was even conscious then, and they didn’t drug me. I gotta believe they drugged you for sure, as you’re too hyper to have just laid there, letting her have her way with you. Can’t see that at all,” Rod replied. Lonnie and Tyler agreed. I had to totally agree with them also, remembering what he was like last night in bed with Jake and me, although, I kept my thoughts to myself.
“Anyway, he wants to meet with you tomorrow afternoon, and tell you what he’d like for you guys to say and do when the meet takes place on Saturday. I think he needs a written sworn statement from you also, Tink, possibly one from Rod, stating what you both heard and saw,” I explained. They both looked a little concerned.
“Wish you were with us, like you volunteered to do,” Rod said, seconded by Tink. I smiled.
“I would gladly, but Conner thought the presence of a third unknown person might spook them. I’ll see if they’ll let me come as far as they do, so I’ll be there for you guys when it goes down, and they take the girls into custody,” I offered. Tink immediately hugged me, holding on tightly for dear life, *surprising Rod some.
“It’s okay, Tink. You’re going to be fine,” I assured him. “You’re a brave soul anyway. This nightmare is finally going to be over.” He still held me tightly.
“You promised to protect me, remember?” Tink reiterated. I patted him on his back, while I hugged him.
“Yes, and I have law enforcement for backup this time, so you’re good,” I reassured him. He finally let me go.
“Okay, then, but you better be there close by. You’re the first person I want to see when the cops nab the bitches,” he told me. Rod looked at him and shook his head.
“Getting rather clingy, aren’t we?” he asked Tink. I chuckled.
“I did say I would protect him, and I meant what I said. I’d do the same for any of you guys. We’re friends, and friends take care of friends,” I reminded them. Rod asked me if I was going to protect him also. “I will do whatever I can to protect both of you,” I stated again.
“Well, in that case, I need a hug too,” he said, pushing Tink aside, so he could hug me. “Damn, that feels kind of nice. Maybe I need to dump the bitches, and experiment a little with you guys,” Rod teased, making us all laugh.
“Okay, now it’s getting weird,” Lonnie piped up and said. Tyler just shook his head, but said they were all lucky to have us as good friends for many reasons. It warmed my heart to hear him say that. I got the feeling Tyler and Tink, brothers, both were a little emotional and caring, which I thought was great. Rod was also. I wasn’t so sure about Lonnie, thinking his emotions were more dictated by his cock, but time would tell.
“Okay, enough of the mushy stuff, let’s knock down some fucking plaster and lath,” Dylan piped up, and said. He gave us some dust masks to wear, then suggested we take off our sweatshirts, and just work in our t-shirts, as it would be cooler that way. Tink and Tyler said they had more athletic shorts if we wanted to wear those, as they thought that worked the best to keep us cool, even though it was freezing cold outside. Blake, Jake, Dylan and I stripped off our jeans and pulled on the athletic shorts the guys gave us to wear. Tink watched us closely, as we took off our jeans, presumably, wanting to see bulges in our underwear. I shook my head at him, and he winked. His bros didn’t see what he was up to.
Dylan grabbed another scoop shovel to help Tink get a better start of removing the debris, as the rest of us pounded into walls, breaking lath and sending plaster flying. We got so good at it and so fast, the room was filled with white dust, making us all look ghostly in a short amount of time. Still, we were making some great progress. After what seemed like a short period of time, we pretty much had the dining room, living room and entrance way down to the studs. Dylan and Tink weren’t far behind us, cleaning up. Lonnie said he wished they had some beer for us. I reached in my pocket and pushed the unlock button on the Jeep key fob, then told him to run out to the Jeep and grab the case of beer I brought with us. I swear he hugged me then rather quickly, then sprung out into the cold in his shorts and t-shirt, all sweaty and all. I told the guys, that probably wasn’t a good idea to go out there without a coat. Rod said it was Lonnie, so it really didn’t matter. That made us all laugh at Lonnie’s expense. Back he came, quickly, with the case of beer. We quickly opened it up and grabbed bottles. Damn, if they weren’t nice and cold.
“Josh, you guys are just the greatest,” Rod said, downing half the bottle of beer he had in his hands, he was so thirsty and hot, grateful for the beer. I laughed.
“I included a budget of beer in the loan we’re extending to you, so thank yourself, as you’re paying for it,” I chided. His gave me an inquisitive look, then smiled.
“Hey, might as well. That’s only fair,” he replied, smiling. I told him I was kidding, but if we kept up what we were doing tonight, we might have to think about it. He agreed.
Although we were showing good progress on the walls, we still had most of the ceilings in the areas we were working on. They were more difficult to demo, as everything was overhead. After we finished our beer break, Lonnie, Tyler and Jake started working on ceilings, pushing the sledges straight up, then backing out of the way before the debris hit them on their heads. It was actually quite comical watching and their heads took a few hits. Tink and Dylan would scoop up the debris, then go into the kitchen and out to the side door landing, then heave the crap into the dumpster. We had quite a system going. I went out to see how full the dumpster was. There was still a good deal more room inside to do more demoing. Tink caught me out there, then hugged and kissed me, telling me he loved me, thanking me for being there for him. I told him we all really cared about him. He said that meant the world to him, then kissed me quickly again. He said he loved kissing me. I told him to be careful, as I wasn’t sure his roomies were as excited about him kissing guys as he was. He chuckled, and said they didn’t know what they were missing.
“Are you okay now, Tink? The pressure’s off now. You’re good. with nothing hanging over your head now. You have to feel liberated, I would think,” I told him.
“I feel better, for sure, Josh. I’ll just be happy when Saturday is over, and we can totally relax. I wanted to tell you, last night was wonderful. I’ve never felt so loved in all my life. I could spend the rest of my life in bed with you and Jake. You guys are the best,” he replied. I shook my head smiling
“Hey, you can’t focus your feelings on just Jake and me, Tink. We have a whole army of guys that will care for you also. Don’t get hung up on just Jake and me, just because we were your firsts,” I urged. He smiled, then hugged me.
“I know, Josh. It’s just that you’re special, and I love every second I get to spend with you two. Don’t worry though. I’m not going to stalk you. I might give Dylan a shot possibly. He’s looking kind of hot tonight, and I hear he’s well equipped, from what Jeb and Eddie told me,” Tink replied.
“Eddie?” I asked, not having heard that nickname before. Tink laughed.
“Hey, if I get to be called Tink, then I can call Edgar, Eddie. I think he kind of liked the name, when I teasingly called him that last Saturday night. Me, Jeb and Eddie are tight. I’d say we really got to know one another last Saturday night. Oh, and I got a lot of questions from my bros about last night also, but I just told the boys, ‘wouldn’t you like to know, and I’m not telling’,” he said smiling. I shook my head.
“Just be careful there, bud, unless you’re ready to tell all. Don’t forget, they might judge Jake and me for corrupting you, so we’re going to have to figure this one out before you ‘come out’, so to speak,” I suggested.
“Don’t worry, Josh. They all love you now anyway. Well, not quite the way I love you, but it’s all good,” Tink replied. Just then Dylan showed up with another scoop shovel of ceiling debris.
“You two swapping spit out here or jacking off?” Dylan chided.
“We were waiting for you to show up to get started,” Tink chided. Dylan shoved his shorts down, flashing Tink his uncut cock, making Tink do a double take.
“Damn, bro, that’s one hell of a cock you’ve got there and a hell of a sack of balls,” Tink said, admiringly. Dylan chuckled.
“You might want to check that out sometime, up close and personal,” Dylan teased.
“Damn straight, bro. Going to have to do just that. Nice piece of meat there. Looks like it’d fit nicely in my ass, all angry and all,” Tink chided. Dylan shook his head, then pulled down the front of Tink’s shorts, noticing he was freeballing. Dylan chuckled.
“I knew I caught a peek at your cock earlier tonight. You’re freeballing, Tink,” Dylan commented.
“Damn right. Letting my chippies get some air, bro. Gotta let them breathe occasionally, you know. You should try it sometime,” Tink replied, with Dylan chuckling.
“Hey, that’s why I wear baggy boxers, to let my boys breathe down there,” Dylan replied.
“Well, if you guys are going to show each other your balls, I’m going back to work,” I commented. I got a hand stuck down my shorts by Tink. “Wo there. Don’t get me all excited, then send me back to work,” I said, pulling his hand out of my shorts. Tink smiled.
“Just had to feel that nice junk one more time,” he said, smiling. Dylan chuckled also. “Guess we all had enough fun. The shits probably piling up in there, and they’re wondering what we’re doing in here,” Tink remarked, then led us back into the living room area.
“I see you put up a plastic curtain between the dining room and the kitchen,” I told Rod.
“Uh, Dylan kind of told us we fucked up, when we forgot to do that when we started and covered everything in the kitchen with plaster dust. That wasn’t cool at all,” Rod replied. I had to laugh, thinking it probably wasn’t.
We worked another hour, getting at least the dining room and part of the living room done, all walls and some of the ceiling. “I need to get Terry over here to help also. This ceiling demo is good for the triceps and biceps,” Jake said, flexing his muscles. “Good thing we don’t have gymnastics tomorrow, as I know I’m going to be a little sore from doing this tonight,” Jake added.
“Yeh, the first day we did this shit, I could hardly get out of bed the next morning,” Tyler informed us. Rod said he felt the same way, but Lonnie and Tyler said Rod hardly did a thing the night before, other than to tell them what they were doing wrong.
“Hey, someone had to supervise,” Rod chided. “That’s why you two guys have the muscles and I, well, I have the smarts.” We laughed. Both Lonnie and Tyler were ripped. Rod, was just plain Rod. Not much definition, but still, in decent shape. “Hey, I’m average, remember?” Rod added, making us laugh.
It was starting to get late, and we decided to head back to the apartment. I left the guys the beer, telling them not to drink it all tonight. They said they couldn’t promise anything, but would see what they could do. I reminded Rod and Tink to stop by the bar tomorrow afternoon after my accounting class, for Conner to give them instructions for Saturday. They said they didn’t want to miss that, anxious to see the bitches get what they deserved. They wanted to know if we’d be by tomorrow night to do more demo with them, as they said we got a lot done tonight with all of us working together. I told them tomorrow night was a home basketball game, and Tuck expected me to be there. Dylan, Blake, Jake and some of the others were going also, so we wouldn’t be available to work. They said they might stay home and work, or they might go to the game. They weren’t sure yet.
We got bro hugs from all the guys, except Tink who hugged Jake and me tightly, thanking me over and over for rescuing him. Rod said the same thing. He said he didn’t know how he could ever repay us. I told him to just keep shaking his ‘average’ willie on stage two nights a week, and that would suffice. They all laughed at that.
Once back in the Jeep, heading back to the apartment, Dylan chuckled, saying that Tink was a little prick tease. I had to laugh, as we all knew he was. “That little fucker was flashing his cock and balls at me half the night. No one else caught what he was doing. He seemed to have a great time doing it. He’d pull up his shorts some and let the head of his cock peek out. Didn’t know he was going commando, until we were out on the back stoop that one time, Josh. He’s a character. Gonna have to try out that hot ass of his sometime, and see how it fits on my dick,” Dylan chided, making us chuckle.
“I think he was excited and relieved tonight, hearing the news he was exonerated from any charges involving that Chelsea bitch. He had to be, getting that elephant off his chest for sure and his balls out of a vice,” I replied. Dylan chuckled.
“I’d love to see the look on that girl’s face when they confront her on Saturday. Better tell them to wear glasses in case they unleash their mace on them. Don’t want that shit in your eyes for damned sure,” Dylan commented. I told them, I wasn’t sure what Conner had in mind, but I hoped he had means to protect them, not that the girls were expecting any kind of retaliation or anything. Jake said they still needed to be careful.
Back at the apartment, we couldn’t wait to get our dusty clothes off and hit the showers. Dustin and Tim said we looked like ghosts. Ethan had left, so he didn’t get to see our new white hair do’s. I asked them if they got a lot done. Dustin said he helped Ethan study for a quiz for tomorrow in one of his classes. I asked him if he was helpful or mischievous. He smiled, but said he behaved himself, causing Ethan to give him a hug before he left. I thought, wow, that was different. Dustin said he did pinch Ethan’s ass when he got the hug, so Ethan pinched his also. I told Dustin the two really did love one another, but had a hard time coming to that resolution. Dustin just smiled.
](/images/smilies/bang.gif "Brick wall ](*,)")
they do wash each other inside and out multiple times 
Yes! 
