by David Horne
“Because of You”
M/M Gay Romance
David Horne
© 2020
David Horne
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This book is intended for Adults (ages 18+) only. The contents may be offensive to some readers. It may contain graphic language, explicit sexual content, and adult situations. May contain scenes of unprotected sex. Please do not read this book if you are offended by content as mentioned above or if you are under the age of 18.
Please educate yourself on safe sex practices before making potentially life-changing decisions about sex in real life. If you’re not sure where to start, see here: http://www.jerrycoleauthor.com/safe-sex-resources/ (courtesy of Jerry Cole).
This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Products or brand names mentioned are trademarks of their respective holders or companies. The cover uses licensed images and are shown for illustrative purposes only. Any person(s) that may be depicted on the cover are simply models.
Edition v1.00 (2020.02.24)
http://www.DavidHorneauthor.com
Special thanks to the following volunteer readers who helped with proofreading: Bob, RB, Jenny, Dave C., and those who assisted but wished to be anonymous. Thank you so much for your support.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter One
Brenda and John Mason were happily in love. They were high school sweethearts, married after high school and went to college. All went well until they tried to start a family.
They went to the doctor, found out that Brenda was barren and unable to conceive. It broke her heart into a million pieces. John who was far more optimistic and spoke about adopting. The idea took root in Brenda’s mind, and bloomed when she saw a happy family.
After visiting the orphanage, they met with the director to learn about the procedure to adopt, the home inspection and getting a referral from their agency. The orphanage had many children, almost to the point that some of the older kids would have to be moved to other homes or shelters to make room for younger children. However, they were only going to meet children that were deemed to be good fits for them.
John watched his wife from where he sat. They had been called back to the orphanage. They had been told to wait in the director’s office while the director went to talk to the other caregivers.
The door opening had John’s attention on the aging man before them, he was dressed in a pair of gray slacks and white button up shirt, his salt and pepper hair at his temple was the only thing that really gave his age away.
Smiling, the man looked at them both, tapping the file in his hand on the corner of his desk. “You have been deemed as acceptable parents. I can take you to the children now.”
“Oh wonderful!” Brenda smiled as she picked up her bag, John at her side, a smile on his own face.
The orphanage was one of the better kept ones, the halls painted a pale blue, the wooden floors clean and shiny. There were photos of people who donated and started charities and children who had made great achievements.
Brenda watched with bated breath as the director opened the door to the main room. The room was homey, with dark wood and plenty of couches to sit on. In the room, the moment the door opened, hordes of eyes landed on them. All but one pair of eyes.
This caught the Manson’s attention. The couple took in the small boy, he was huddled in the corner, quietly reading a book. Since he was in the far corner of the room with a small mountain of children between them, the silence of the room must have gained the attention of the small boy because he looked up a few seconds later with owlishly blinking eyes. He seemed to realize what was going on but, what tugged at Brenda’s heart was the lost look in the child’s eyes as he sighed and went back to reading.
Making their way through the room, they spent a few minutes with each child, asking their names, their ages, likes and dislikes. Some kids were lively and bubbly but just a bit too energetic, some were disinterested, those were the ones still clinging to the hope that their parents would come and get them.
Finally, they reached the small boy in the corner reading. John was surprised when he saw the title of the book the boy was reading. It was a book about cars, how they worked and their finer details. A book that was beyond that of what a child should be reading.
“Hello, my name is Brenda and this is my husband John. May we know your name?” They watched as the boy looked at them both for a few seconds before he nodded seemingly to himself.
“Zack.”
Seeing an opportunity to maybe make a connection with the boy in a possible shared love for cars, John said, “That’s a pretty neat book you have there, Zack.” He and his wife sat down on the couch opposite the boy. The boy’s eyes flicked up to them and John was amazed by the color they were, such a warm golden brown.
A small shoulder shrugged, if it weren’t for the nervous look on the boy’s face, John would have thought him a bit of a brat but the boy seemed uneasy.
“You see, I’m a mechanic, I work in an auto-shop, I work with cars.” John said and watched as a glimmer of interest appeared. Taking it as a go ahead, John asked if he could see the book.
The boy handed over the book, looking at the two of them with a bit more interest. While John was looking at the book Brenda took the opportunity to look at the young boy.
He seemed young if they were going off his size, she would put him at six years old, he was wearing a plain t-shirt and cargo pants, both in a dark color. His hair was on the cusp of being too long however, it seemed to suit the boy.
“Ah you see here?” John flipped the book around to show it to the boy. It was a picture of an older looking model sports car. The look on the boy’s face was one of pure excitement.
“I have one that I am restoring.” As John spoke about all he had done and planned on doing, Brenda watched the boy, he scooted closer, a look of awe on his face. John noticed it too, he gave the book back and looked at the now wary face.
“Say Zack, how would you feel about becoming part of our family?” The two adults watched as the boy held the book to his chest. A look of deep thought on his small face. It was admittedly very cute.
Slowly, the small head nodded and with a final squeeze of the book, the boy lifted his gaze to John then Brenda. “I’d like that.”
Brenda and John shared a smile before they stood. Brenda held out her hand, Zack looked up at the hand then at Brenda before slowly placing his hand in hers.
They made their way to the director who had a very happy smile on his face seeing Zack with the duo. “Ah, Zack my boy, I am very happy for you.” The boy gave a bashful smile.
One hour later and Zack was sent to go pack his things. While the boy was out of the room, the happy smile on the director’s face lessened. He leaned forward and gripped his hands together. “There is something you should know.”
Brenda felt her heart try to beat out of her chest. John grabbed her hand and gently held it
in his lap. They both looked at the director expectantly. The man took a deep breath and opened up Zack’s file, flipped through some papers until he stopped at what looked like a medical paper. He lifted the paper and placed it down for them to see.
“When Zack first came here, he was quiet, we didn’t think anything of it at first but then he stayed quiet, barely talked to anyone and didn’t seem to be making any friends, he would huddle up in a corner and keep himself busy. He would have terrible nightmares and when someone new came he would try to get away as quickly possible.” The director rubbed his forehead.
“He has improved since we have started to take him to a therapist and we would advise that you keep him with his current one, she has made some progress with him. Once he is used to something he calms down and is as normal as he is when he was with you. I don’t know what you said to him but you are the first couple who has gotten the boy to speak. I have high hopes for you.” The director smiled when he saw the future parents relax at the news.
“That is more than reasonable, I am a therapist myself but, I work with adults. We will definitely take him to see his therapist.” Brenda confirmed with a gentle smile.
The door opened and the caretaker who had taken Zack to get his things came back with Zack behind her, book still in his arms, held to his chest as a child would a teddy bear.
When final papers were signed and sealed, Zack’s time living with the Masons began. The Manson family lived in a good neighborhood, they had made a room with basics of a bed, desk, bookcase and drawers. They told Zack he could choose the color of his walls and Zack picked a pale green.
True to her word, Brenda took Zack to his next therapy session. She met with the therapist before the session, the woman told her that Zack had signs of abandonment but he had been young enough to not make it into an issue. He did have anxiety that was triggered by too much change. Change would have to be made slowly to allow the child to get used to the idea of change.
Living together wasn’t smooth sailing, Zack had to get used to new rules and having to talk more. At first there were times where he would get frustrated and just close off more. Brenda usually saw the unease in the child’s eyes but John wasn’t always so attentive to little details. When he raised his voice for the first time, not a full yell but loud enough that Zack ran to his room and didn’t come out until Brenda came home.
Brenda had explained to John that Zack had an anxiety disorder and that yelling at him would not get him anywhere, he would have to sit and actually talk to Zack, try and see if he could find out what was making Zack unwilling to talk.
It went better after that, with months passing in a better light as John started to take Zack with him to work on the weekends. The guys at the shop adored the little tyke watching and asking questions about this and everything.
They took the time to explain as best they could and the look of joy on the little man’s face brought smiles to the whole shop.
After the trial period and more house visits and other meetings, the adoption was finalized and Zack became Zack Mason officially.
Just before Zack turned seven, the family moved. John had gotten a great deal for an auto-shop, his old boss more than happy to be a silent partner for the company.
They had to move. However, they were lucky in the fact that Zack’s therapist was now closer. They had looked around for a house that was close to everyone’s work and school.
John was the one to find it on the internet, called the realty agency and arranged an appointment on the same day. The house was perfect; it was in a cul-de-sac. The house was a two story house with a European flare. Stone covered a section of the house and the entrance had a small overhang over the front door. The wall the door was built on was plastered and painted a pale cream color; the house had dark wood doors and tall windows. The roof was slated and a deep burgundy color.
Inside, the house was an open planned living area with a large kitchen, dark wood from the kitchen floor to the dining room. The walls were also a pale creamy color. The doors were all round at the top, there were more than enough rooms and a spiraling staircase. The garden was just a clean lawn with a lovely pool. The garden was walled off by the same type of plastered walls as the front of the house.
Brenda and Zack fell in love with the house at first glance, Zack had claimed a room looking out at the street.
In a matter of days, they had sold their old home and bought the new one.
Then came the day they moved.
It was a day when a young boy named Thomas looked outside the window when he heard the rumbling of a truck next door. The little boy sat on a dining chair he had pulled over and watched the moving men moving the furniture out of the truck and into the house.
Tom then saw what he assumed was the new neighbors’ car driving up the driveway. It was a silver sedan, it stopped beside the truck.
Helen saw her son staring at something intently beyond the window. She walked up behind him to see he was staring at the new neighbors.
“Ah, new neighbors. How delightful. I think I’ll go bake some cookies.”
Before she could walk away, she and her son saw the new neighbors climb out of their car. The first person they saw was the husband, he was tall and muscular, like he did physical labor. He had light brown hair and a well-kept beard and brown eyes, wearing jeans and a white t-shirt.
The wife was next, she had auburn hair cut into a bob. She was a slim woman, with a kind face and pale green eyes. She was dressed in a jean and t-shirt combo.
What came next confused Tom. Helen watched as a child climbed out next. He was on the small side but then again, her own son was taller than most children his age. The little boy was clearly not their own.
He had honey toned skin with black hair, she couldn’t see his eyes, he wore dark green cargo pants and a black t-shit. It looked adorable. From behind, he seemed to be holding something. The woman was talking to the little boy, her face warm as she spoke. The boy nodded and walked to the man who had his hand held out for the boy.
“Why does the boy not look like the parents?” Tom asked as he looked up at his mother.
Helen looked down at her son, those blue eyes, so similar to her own, blinking up expectantly at her. Smiling, she kneeled to be more eye level to her son.
“You see Tommy, some children don’t have parents, so there are places called orphanages. These places help that people like the couple next door, to adopt children so they can become a family like us.” Helen saw the understanding look in her son’s eyes.
“So, he’s adopted then?” Tom asked looking back at the house, the wife and boy were inside now, the husband was standing at the door, telling the movers where they needed to take what piece of furniture.
“I would guess so yes.” Helen said and patted Tom on his head and walked into the kitchen to start baking some cookies
Tom looked back in time to see the boy give the man at the door a can of soda, a small shy smile on his face. Tom was trapped where he sat, looking at the yellow brown eyes. The boy had a cute face, the one that old ladies liked to pinch.
The boy walked back into the house when more movers came, carrying what looked to be a bed frame.
A few hours later, cookies were baked and allowed to cool. The Miller family, Daniel, Helen and their son Tom walked up to the now furnished house an hour or so later, after the truck left.
Daniel knocked on the door three times and stepped back. The door opened and the woman was on the other side, a smile on her face. “Can I help you?”
Helen smiled and stepped forward.
“Afternoon, we live next door, we just came to say welcome to the neighborhood.” Helen said as she handed the cookies over. The woman smiled gratefully.
“Would you like to come in?” The woman asked as she took a step back. Helen nodded and walked into the home, her husband and son following.
The home was almost finished, the large open spaced area was fully furnished. The living room was cle
an and simply decorated with dark red couches, a dark wood coffee table and a TV mounted to the wall with pictures here and there along with some paintings. There was an old looking chest behind the three-seater couch.
They all moved to the kitchen, which was also fully furnished. The kitchen didn’t need much unpacking to begin with. There was a coffee machine, microwave and a kettle on the gas stove and in the middle of the room, a small five-chair round table.
“Coffee?” The woman asked as she placed the plate on the table. The wood of the kitchen was the same as the rest of the house with a diamond style tiling on the surface of the counter.
“Yes please.” Helen answered for herself and her husband. The woman looked at Tom. “Would you like some juice?”
Tom grinned and nodded. “Yes please.”
The woman smiled and started the process of making coffee, pouring juice in two plastic cups. One cup was given to Tom before the woman walked past the dining room. After a minute she came back with her husband and the small boy.
Daniel looked at the boy, he stood out next to his father. Clearly the child was adopted, like Helen said but he had to admit the child was cute.
“Hello, my name is John and you have met my wife Brenda, and this is our son, Zack.” The boy gave an awkward wave from where he was hiding half behind his father’s leg.
Helen smiled at the child, they made eye contact and she marveled at the boy’s lovely shade of brown eyes.
“Hello, my name is Helen, this is my husband Daniel, and this is our son Tom.”
Brenda gave the boy the cup of juice and a plate with two cookies. The boy thanked his mom before scampering off. A few seconds later a door closing was heard.
John sighed before rubbing his face.
“I’m sorry about Zack.” Brenda said as she went about making coffee, placing sugar and milk down so each could make their coffee to their preference.
“He seems very shy.” Helen said after taking a sip of her coffee.