by A. D. Ellis
The captain leaned over to Sawyer and chuckled as Nate took the podium again. “This is where he opens it up for questions or concerns. Last year we almost had a knock-down-drag-out over the weekly bingo games; one little old lady accused her neighbor man of cheating every week, and she wanted him arrested. It was a sight to see.”
Sawyer smiled at his grandpa and attempted to focus on what his dad was saying.
“Okay, we’ve shared with all of you what the next year holds for your families and friends here at The Center+. It’s now the time in our annual meeting where we let you share your questions and concerns.” Nate paused to let hands be raised.
A diminutive elderly lady in the front row stood with the help of her cane. The captain nudged Sawyer and smiled.
“I want Old Man Barker banned from the weekly Bingo game. He’s a cheat and a liar!” The old woman turned to face a man who Sawyer could only assume was Old Man Barker and pointed her finger in his direction.
“Tilly Mae, you sit yourself down. You’re making a fool of yourself again. Just because Mr. Barker wins and you lose money every week doesn’t make him a liar or a cheat. I’ve played Bingo with you, you jabber on so much about the town gossip there’s no way you can pay attention to those ten cards you insist on playing every week.” Katie’s grandmother had stood and walked toward Tilly and finished quietly, “Maybe you should ask the man out on a date like we all know you want to rather than embarrassing yourself and him every year at this meeting.”
When Tilly’s face turned red and she sat down, Nate quickly scanned the room for other people with questions. When he didn’t see any other hands, he smiled and spoke to the crowded room, “Thank you all for coming, and thank you for continuing to make The Center+ an integral part of your families and this town.”
As people began to stir and gather their belongings, Sawyer noticed the doors to the meeting room swing wide and three men entered the area. He recognized them as three of the kids in his older cousin Beckett’s class who had always tried to give Beck a rough time. He smiled slightly as he recalled how Beckett had always just replied with a funny little quip and walked away, never letting the wannabe bullies bother him. Sawyer had always looked up to Beckett and appreciated his ability to let things roll off his back. He felt that he’d learned a lot of his own outlook on mean-spirited people by watching both Nicky and Beckett over the years.
Looking at the men at that moment, he noticed they hadn’t changed much in their attitude and swagger, but physically they’d each lost some hair and filled out their bellies. He was lost in thought as he watched them, so he barely caught the beginning of what the man in the middle, Matt, said.
“Whoa, hold on there good people of Torey Hope. Ben, Joe, and I actually do have some concerns about how things are being run here at The Center plus. We think there may be a little too much plus being added without our knowledge.”
As soon as the man started speaking and nastily emphasized the word plus in the business title, Sawyer instinctively knew what was coming. His heart began to pound and he broke out in a cold sweat, but he was cemented to his seat with no hope of escape.
Several people sat back down, while others paused momentarily against the outer walls of the room.
Nate, who had never put up with bullies and hadn’t appreciated these men picking on his nephew Beckett as kids, took a deep breath and blew it out, but responded diplomatically. “What can we help you with, gentlemen?”
The three men puffed their chests and smirked a bit while they walked to the middle of the room. “What we’d like to know, and I’m sure every citizen in this room would be interested in knowing, is if you’re ever going to make it public knowledge you’ve got a couple faggots working here.”
Before Nate could speak, Katie stepped to the podium. “Ben, Joe, Matt, while The Center+ appreciates your concern and would be happy to discuss our hiring and employment policies, we are not in a position to allow the use of discriminatory actions and words against our employees.” She spoke smoothly, not even a hitch in her voice, but Sawyer saw the anger flaring underneath the surface.
“That’s all well and good, Ms. Turner. I see you learned well in your human resources and management classes. But, we still feel it’s in the best interest of Torey Hope for this type of information to be shared and not hidden.” Matt, obviously the spokesperson of the three, continued while Joe and Ben stood idly by nodding their heads in agreement.
Nicky stepped to the podium, “Do you tell all of Torey Hope that you’re bullies and you enjoy hurting others? Because if we’re making things known, you should probably share that as well.”
Many of the townspeople laughed out loud at Nicky’s comment.
“The point here is that you’ve got young impressionable children and attractive men in and out of this place all day. The least you could do is warn your clients that they need to keep an eye on the two queers. That’s all I’m saying.” Matt cast a hate-filled look toward Sawyer, but shrank back a bit when the captain stood and crossed his arms across his chest.
Decker, Zach, and Kendrick all walked toward the three men as Katie spoke strong and sure once more. “Again, we will happily discuss the hiring and employment policies we have in place here at The Center+, but your language and actions here tonight will not be tolerated. This meeting will be adjourned for now. If we feel a more detailed meeting about our hiring and employment practices needs to be held, we will let the town know. Until that point in time, the citizens of Torey Hope can rest assured that The Center+ always has been and always will be run with the utmost care and safety of our clients in mind.”
As she finished, Sawyer’s brother and cousins ushered the three men out the door and the rest of the attendees began milling about. He noticed the furtive glances and whispers that started among some groups of people. His head was spinning; this was straight out of his worst nightmare. One of the biggest reasons he’d kept his sexuality hidden for so long was for fear of causing trouble for the family business, and now it looked like that trouble was starting. He glanced at the faces of his family and the other employees, seeing pity and worry etched across most of them, he turned to leave the room.
Walking to the break room, he took a deep breath. He longed for Luke to be there with him, but he was also glad he wasn’t there to witness or experience it. Luke’s openness about his sexuality was new and fragile, an incident like this could send him backwards several steps.
The door swung open and the entire family poured inside.
Once everyone settled in to chairs or against counters, Sawyer took a deep breath and spoke.
“I’m so sorry…” He tried to speak without his voice catching, but he failed.
The screech of chair legs across the floor brought the attention of everyone in the room to the captain. Sawyer felt the remnants of what little he’d eaten earlier threaten at the back of his throat. Closing his eyes and bracing for the worst, Sawyer prayed that whatever his grandfather had to say wouldn’t be too painful.
“Boy, you don’t have a damn thing to apologize for. Open your eyes and look at me, don’t you hang your head in shame.” The captain walked over to where Sawyer was seated and motioned for him to stand. Placing his hands on Sawyer’s shoulders, the captain spoke through threatening tears, “Sawyer, this is what some of us feared the most. Not because it hurts us, but because it hurts you. Those men are the worst type of people, meddling, stirring the shit pot, just begging for a reaction. I’m sure Katie and Decker have already thought of what’s next, but I don’t want you to hang your head over this. I’ll fight them tooth and nail, hell, I’ll run them out of town if I have to. This family, this business, we won’t fall because of the likes of them.” Pulling his grandson into a hearty hug, the captain spoke once more, “I may never be thrilled with your lifestyle, but that will never change the fact that I love you and will stand up for you every single time.”
Drying a tear, Sawyer whispered, “Thank you, Captain, that
means more than you’ll ever know.”
Stepping to the middle of the room, Katie began laying out the plan. “Okay, first things first, we put out feelers, talk to people around town, get an idea of how much those assholes have stirred up. If it appears we have an actual issue, then we call another meeting and focus on our hiring and employment procedures. We keep to the fact that we hire only employees with a proven work history and no past issues with the law. We mention that The Center+ has to follow good hiring and employment practices or we could be the subject of several law suits and forced to close.” Katie glanced around the room, “This isn’t a great situation, but it’s also not doomsday. I know we’re all upset about the incident tonight, and we want to protect Sawyer from it, but let’s just stay calm and see if anything comes from it.”
Decker joined Katie, “And that right there is why we are lucky to have Kate on our team. Until we hear differently, it’s business as usual. Got it?”
The families nodded.
And then they sat around avoiding the large elephant in the room. Sawyer felt the weight of the beast crushing his chest. Silently giving every member of his family a hug, he accepted their words of encouragement with a false smile, and then bid his farewells.
“I need a little time by myself; I’m just going to head home.” Sawyer gave a small wave and headed out the door.
Upon reaching the parking lot, Sawyer remembered he’d ridden with Zach. Shrugging it off and realizing a bit of a walk would help him clear his head, he started toward home. Knowing there was a quicker way, but wanting to enjoy the evening, he cut through the park. Stopping at the duck pond, he smiled as he recalled the day Adam fed the ‘little quackers.’
Sawyer took a seat on the large rock and breathed deeply. His head and heart couldn’t wrap around all of what had happened. The whole town of Torey Hope now knew he was gay. He wasn’t upset about that; he was no longer hiding. But, he was angry that his secret had come out the way it did. With a bitter laugh, he thought back to the look of disdain on the library clerk’s face the day he and Luke went to the library. She was Matt’s sister-in-law. There was no doubt in his mind that she was the one who told Matt about Luke and him. But what did she say? Two men came in and got library cards? It wasn’t like they made out between the book shelves.
He was used to working past the anger over the unfairness of situations out of his control, but he couldn’t help it as he felt the fear inch its way in. He had always feared of causing problems for The Center+, and no matter how Katie tried to sugarcoat it, he knew this was going to turn into an issue. Before the fear had a chance to completely settle in his heart, he was overcome by the feelings of love and acceptance he’d gotten from his family, especially the captain. The fact that his grandfather didn’t agree with his lifestyle, but was still willing to stand up for him purely because he loved him, meant more than Sawyer could even begin to describe.
Rubbing hands over his face and glancing around to see how dark it had gotten, Sawyer stood and headed toward his house. He knew Decker and the other guys were probably wondering where he was.
Taking the trail he knew would come out just down the street from home, Sawyer continued to think over what could possibly come from the night’s events. Being lost in thought, he had no warning when Joe and Ben stepped in front of him, blocking his path. He was instantly alert, his stomach free-falling to his knees.
“Well, lookie here, Joe. We’ve found ourselves a real life homo walking in the woods. What do you think we should do with him?” Ben laughed and rubbed his hands together.
“I didn’t know they let queers and faggots walk these trails, Ben. I think we should teach this fag a lesson.” Joe sneered.
“Whatcha say, fairy, want us to teach you a lesson?” Ben punched a fist into his palm.
“I’m not looking for any trouble, gentlemen.” Sawyer knew they heard the quiver in his voice. Two against one wasn’t fair, but he also knew if Ben and Joe were in the park, Matt couldn’t be far behind. As if on cue, he heard Matt’s cruel voice from behind him.
“Not looking for trouble, huh? Maybe just looking for a cock to suck or an ass to fuck?” Matt pushed him forcefully. Sawyer caught himself before hitting the dirt path. Knowing he couldn’t take on all three at once, Sawyer figured his best chance was to let them talk and try to get to the other side of them so he could sprint home.
His hopes of doing that were dashed when Ben, the biggest of the three men, grabbed him from behind in a full-nelson type hold. With his arms pinned and his midsection wide open, Sawyer knew instinctively things had gone from bad to worse.
“No one in this town wants you queers. Faggots like you and your little boyfriend don’t belong here.” A sickening crunch sounded in his ears as pain spread throughout his face from the punch Matt landed.
“You can’t be working at that place and wanting to fuck all the men. Next thing we know, you’ll be making all our kids go gay. You can do all the sick, perverted shit you want, but not around me or my children.” Sawyer fought to breathe and contain the contents of his stomach as Joe’s fist pounded his gut.
His knees buckled, but Ben hoisted him up to take the onslaught of abuse headed his way.
Several more insults hurled while fists pounded, bones crunched, and wicked laughter filled the night. Finding himself suddenly dropped to the ground, Sawyer struggled to breathe. He attempted to open his already swelling eyes, but the blood pouring from his eyebrow made a stinging red curtain through which he could not see.
With no sight, he relied on the sound of the voice to recognize when Matt leaned down and filled his ear with the oily filth pouring from his mouth, “You make me sick, you fucking fag. The world would be a better place if you died right here, cock sucker. But, assuming you’ll live, you better not run your pansy-ass mouth to anyone. If we find out you tell anyone we did this, we’ll shut the family business down and track you and that faggot boyfriend of yours down, and next time we won’t go easy on you, queer.”
As Matt’s words faded away, Sawyer’s body exploded in pain. Heavy boots took turns kicking at his back, ribs, stomach, and face. Feeling the fire of pain sear through his body, Sawyer mentally called for Decker before his body succumbed to the excruciation.
***********
His body was on fire, every breath like a razor. From far away he heard voices, but the pounding in his head and fog in his brain were too much to overcome, and he gave in to the precious darkness again.
Minutes, hours, days later? He felt the cool touch of a cloth against his forehead. He winced as the movement brought stinging and throbbing. “I’m sorry, baby, I know it hurts. Just sleep. We’re all here, you aren’t alone. You’re going to be okay, but just sleep if it helps the pain.” He wanted so badly to open his eyes and see his mom, but he swore they were superglued shut.
As time went on, his wakefulness became more frequent and less painful. But, memories of what had landed him in this bed, in so much pain, came crashing down on him, and he wanted nothing more than to crawl back into the black hole he was in and stay there forever.
Until the voices invaded his mind and he knew he had to wake up.
“I don’t care, I’m going to beat the shit out of each and every one of them.” The captain roared.
“Daddy, I know you’re upset, but I don’t think Sawyer would want you fighting violence with violence. Let’s give him time to wake up, let him talk to the police. I know this is so hard on everyone, but we need to let Sawyer have a say in all of this.” Libby spoke softly to her father as she held Sawyer’s hands in hers.
Forcing his eyes to open, blinking against the scratchiness and working doubly hard to make them focus, Sawyer looked around the room. Squeezing his mom’s hands, he tried to speak, but his throat was too dry.
“Here, man, here’s some water.” He hadn’t heard Decker in the room, but he knew without asking that his twin had been beside him the entire time he was out.
“Oh, Sawyer! I’m
so glad to see those beautiful brown eyes.” Libby gently hugged him through tubes and wires draped across his chest. “Nate, go get the doctor.”
Before leaving the room, Nate walked to Sawyer’s bed and leaned in close to place a soft kiss on his forehead. “I love you, son. We all love you.”
The doctor entered shortly thereafter with a smile, but Sawyer sensed his underlying concern. “Sawyer, it’s good to see you awake. We kept you pretty heavily sedated for a few days to help your body heal and to keep you out of pain the best we could.” The doctor looked around at the family members present, “I need to do an exam and speak to Sawyer briefly. Could you all give us a moment?”
The captain set his jaw, but Libby touched his elbow gently and led him out of the room. Everyone else followed.
Before he left, Decker grasped Sawyer’s hand, “I heard you, man. I’m so sorry we didn’t get there in time.” A tear rolled down Decker’s cheek.
“Stop, it’s not your fault. I’m just glad you came for me.” Sawyer pulled his brother into a hug the best he could from his prone position.
Once he was alone with the doctor, Sawyer reached for the remote to sit himself up higher in bed. The movement caused screaming pain in his ribs, his breath catching as he tried to find a comfortable position.
Looking at the tag on the man’s coat, Sawyer watched as Dr. Hardin reached out and picked up another remote type gadget. “Push this button when the pain is too much. You can only use a certain amount, so no worries on overdosing.”
Sawyer instantly pushed the button, praying relief would come soon. As the searing pain in his ribs subsided slightly once he stopped moving, he noticed the dizziness and pounding in his head were worse while sitting up. Closing his eyes against the dizziness just brought more spinning.
Dr. Hardin took the remote from him and moved the bed so that he was only slightly angled. The room stopped spinning, so Sawyer gratefully just stayed in that position.
“Sawyer, I’m very sorry about what happened to you. I know the police want to speak to you, so whenever you’re feeling up to it, I’ll allow them to come in. Luckily we were able to get some partial foot print photos from the bruises along with a perfect outline of one of the attacker’s rings. We’ve already turned all of that information over to the police. First, though, I want to speak to you about your injuries and gather some information we weren’t able to get from your family.”