Chapter 728 - C
“Oh, shit. I was supposed to take Amy to the movies tonight. Is she ever going to be pissed. How am I going to let her know?” he asked, never having thought it through. I told him to call her on his cell phone as it worked up here. In fact, I told him the reception was excellent as high as we were. “That doesn’t make sense at all to me, but if you say so,” he replied, then pulled his cell phone out of his shorts and dialed. “Damn, it’s ringing,” he said, somewhat surprised. I shook my head at him. “Hey, sweetheart, there’s a slight change of plans for tonight. No, I’m not gong to be a little late. I’m not going to be there at all,” he said. “Where am I? I’m not really sure on a map where I am, as I’m 25,000 feet above sea level, from what I’m told. No, I’m not in a rocket. I’m with Josh on his airplane going somewhere, I’m not really sure,” he told her. “I know, I never really expected I’d ever be on a airplane myself, but it just kind of happened. I don’t know what to tell you, sweetheart. How am I? Well, maybe somewhat of a basket case, but it’s getting better. We’re having sandwiches for lunch and I’m drinking a beer right now. The beer helps,” he told her, making us all laugh. Then he looked at me asking when we were coming back. I told him I wasn’t sure yet as that depended on what all we had to do and how long it took us to do whatever. “Josh says he’s not sure when we’ll be back but thinks sometime before the end of this week. No, I didn’t take any clothes, as I didn’t think I was going, but something came up and I needed to go, so here I am. What? I guess I’ll have to pick up some shorts and shirts once we get there, yes underwear too, or I’m going to really stink by the end of this week if I don’t get a few changes of clothes. I know it’s a crazy last minute thing, but I’ll call you later this evening when we get a better idea of what’s going on. I love you, Amy. I’ll miss you, but this is important, I can assure you,” he told her. “You too, sweetheart. I’ll call you later, I promise. Bye, love,” he said then ended the call.
“She okay with everything or do I need to put you on a commercial flight and send you home?” I asked.
“Oh, gees, no not that. I’m having enough of a hard time with just this, but that other, figuring out what to do and where to go? You can forget that. I’m here for the duration now. She told me I was batshit crazy, but to do what I had to do to help you, Josh. She’s pretty understanding in that regard. She just thought I’d never fly, and I have to admit, I thought I never would either, but here I am. Gees, this is crazy,” he said, then chugged down some beer, still nervous about the whole thing. I patted him on his thigh and told him all was good and he was doing fine. “I still can’t believe I jumped on board. I don’t know what came over me, but I just had to make sure you were okay. I guess that overrode my fear of flying,” Mal confessed.
“Well, has anything scared you so far?” I asked. He seemed like he wasn’t so sure.
“I guess I’m okay. I mean it’s nice and smooth and all, but I don’t want to look out the window to see how high we are. I don’t need to see that. I think I could use another beer though,” Mal replied. I motioned for Rick to bring Mal another beer. Parker shook his head.
“Just a little different than a horse and buggy, Mal. Don’t know what possessed you to do what you did. I never thought you were that smart to begin with, but jumping on a plane when you’re scared shitless of flying is just crazy. But, here you are,” Parker chided.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Parker. If it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t be here now. You’ve created a lot of stress in my life this past year,” Mal told him. Parker apologized for that, but said he had nothing to do with today. Mal said he begged to differ with him, but let it go.
“So, where do we go from here, Josh? Where are we going and what am I doing if you don’t mind me asking,” Parker asked.
“You’re going to live in Key West, Florida, the southern most part of the United States. I’'s only 90 miles from Cuba in case you want to swim there to defect,” I mentioned. Parker rolled his eyes. We’re building a gay resort there to add to the one we already own and are renovating and adding onto a Victorian mansion that will become a five-star hotel and restaurant. Plus, your old buddy, Greer, is living there with his significant other, Samuel, and has interested me in starting another CNB there which we’ll look at while we’re down there. We’ll use you for one of those projects. There are a couple of guys that I’ve had ramrodding these projects who you’ll meet,” I explained.
“Where am I supposed to live, in the gay clothing-optional resort?” Parker asked, somewhat excited. I shook my head.
“You’ll be staying with another guy in exile for the same reason as you are. His name is Duncan, and I’ve been hiding him out in Key West for several months. He has a three-bedroom ranch he’s renting and you’ll be staying with him at his house, becoming a housemate of sorts,” I explained.
“Is he good looking and does he like to fuck?” Parker asked to Mal’s dislike.
“Decent looking and decent body. Whether he likes to fuck or not is up to you to find out. Trust me though, when I tell you the whole island is very gay and gay friendly, so you won’t have any trouble finding someone to pound that ass of yours, especially since you’ve cleaned up,” I replied. He smiled.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. So I’m starting all over as a new person in a new place, but not quite sure what I’ll be doing yet. Is that the picture?” Parker asked.
“Yes. The next couple of days may determine what you’ll be doing, but so far, that’s the plan,” I replied. “Parker will be your boss and let you know what needs to be done and where. He’s going to give you a new identity to make it difficult for anyone to find you also. Don’t be telling anyone too much about where you came from. Tell them you moved here from California if you have to give them a location. Don’t tell them where you really came from, as sometimes it’s a small world and we don’t want the bad guys to find you and cut off your balls and dick letting you bleed to death,” I told him, making him cringe. He told me he heard me loud and clear.
“You say there are lots of dudes there that like to fuck?” Parker asked. I assured him there were a tremendous amount of dudes that liked to fuck, much more so than the City. Parker got half excited.
“Another thing, Parker. If Ashton should happen to contact you, do not tell him where you are. Don’t tell anyone you know from your past life where you are. Greer will give you a new phone that will scramble the location and confuse cell towers as to where you are so no one can trace your location. You can call Ashton if you must, give him your new phone number, but never tell him your location. Oh, and Greer will put $5,000 in a local bank account for you to use to pay rent and get whatever you need, clothing and food wise to help you get started. Greer will set you up on a salary that could increase depending on what we get you into. If we buy this possible CNB facility, then we’ll let you manage it again if you don’t screw it up, and you’ll be back on a regular salary and commission basis like before. You understand what I’m telling you?” I asked.
“I’m amazed you did all that for me, Josh. After all the grief I caused you, that’s a pretty nice assist to get me started all over again. I’m grateful to you and the company, and I promise not to screw up again. I can’t afford to ever let that happen again. I promise you, I’ll pull my weight,” Parker replied.
“If you can turn yourself around and make yourself valuable to the company again, Parker, we’ll look at an equity position where you can become a shareholder, own stock, be part of the brotherhood. That’s your ultimate goal. You’re young enough, you can still become a millionaire if you keep your nose clean and do a good job,” I assured him. He lit up like crazy.
“I never should have doubted you, Josh. That was horrible of me to doubt you and think you’d forgotten me, not caring about my ass anymore. If I’d have worked hard, I wouldn’t be in this position today, caused you, myself and the company all this grief and been well compensated and a shareholder already. I fucked up, and you rescued my sorry ass, Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Parker told me, then got up, leaned down and hugged me. I told him I believed in second chances, as I liked him before, but this was his last chance so he better make it work. He promised me he would.
“How long until we get to the ground again?” Mal asked. I wasn’t sure, so I hollered up to Rick to ask Dale what our ETA was at Ft. Lauderdale. Rick said we still had an hour and a half to go. Mal looked distressed. I had to chuckle.
“Take a nap if you want to. Looks like Parker already fell asleep,” I said, noticing him reclined in his seat with his eyes closed. He didn’t respond, leaving me to believe he’d fallen asleep. Mal said he was too nervous to sleep. I patted his thigh again.