Justin Redmond: A Sweet Gay Romance (James Brothers Book 4) Read online

  Justin hopped up on one of the counters and sat there watching Hunter. He was trying to get things settled in the kitchen. Hunter felt Justin’s eyes on him and turned to look at him. “What are you doing sitting on the counter?”

  “Just watching you. You’re running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Everything is fine. You can relax now. Everyone is home safe, and all the food is put away.”

  Hunter stood staring at Justin with his hands on his hips. “I don’t know how to relax. I have to make sure that everything in the house is right before I can even sit down.”

  Justin shook his head. “You’re going to give yourself a heart attack if you don’t start relaxing. I don’t want that to happen to you, so just relax. These are good boys, and they can take care of themselves mostly. It’s not like they’re babies.”

  Hunter looked around the kitchen like he was lost and didn’t know where he was. Justin watched him for a few minutes. “Come here, babe.”

  Hunter glanced over at Justin and then walked over to him. Justin turned him around, so his back was to Justin. He started rubbing his shoulders and massaging his back. Hunter groaned because it felt so good. He could feel the tension leave his body.

  “Hunter, your back is just one big knot. You have to start relaxing. The next time John comes over for one of the boys, I’m going to ask him to give you something to relax you.”

  “I can’t take things like that with the boys around. Who is going to care for them? Even at night, I have to make sure Steve is alright. I worry about him the most. His night terrors are horrible, and he needs me to comfort him.”

  “You have to remember that you’re not here alone anymore. I can take some of the burdens from you. You just have to tell me what you need, and I’ll be more than happy to do it for you. I can take the boys to school or pick them up; take the boys to work or pick them up. You don’t have to do it all, Hunter. Trust me a little bit, please.”

  “I do trust you, Justin. It’s just that I have done this all on my own for so many years I don’t know how to share the load. I’ll try and let you do some of the running that I do. Maybe either take the boys to school or pick them up and take the older ones to work.”

  “I can do either. I know how to drive. Do you want me to go with you to the grocery store Monday?”

  “Well, I don’t think I need to now. If I did get food, I have no idea where I would put it. I guess I do need to go and get paper products and soaps and things like that. I guess you can go with me, but we’ll have to take Steve and Carson with us.”

  “You don’t think as old as they are, they could stay home by themselves for a couple of hours?”

  “Yes, I suppose they could, but I usually take them with me when I go during the day.”

  “I don’t mind if they go, but you’re going to have to trust them at some point as well. They’re good boys, Hunter. I wouldn’t be afraid of leaving them home alone for a little while.”

  “I’ll think about it. I wanted to talk to you about some plans I have. I’m going to get all the boys together and ask them what they think about us being in a relationship. It seems they all know I’m gay, so there isn’t a reason to hide it anymore. If they agree, then I would like to start a relationship with you if you still want it.”

  “You know I do, but as I said, you have to make the first move. I’m not going to push you into anything you don’t want.”

  Hunter turned around and put his arms around Justin and laid his head on Justin’s shoulder. He held Justin tight, and finally, Justin put his arms around Hunter and pulled him closer. They stayed like that for a long while until Simon came into the kitchen. “Hunter, we all have had our showers and got a movie in. Do you and Justin want to come and watch it with us?”

  Justin was surprised that Hunter didn’t pull back from Justin. He just said, “Yeah, go ahead and start the movie. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  Simon snickered. “Ok, I’ll tell the guys.”

  When Simon left the kitchen, Hunter looked up at Justin and laughed. “I guess they all know now. Oh well, so much for asking what they think.” Hunter pulled Justin’s head down and kissed his lips. Justin ran his hand through Hunter’s blonde hair, finding it was so soft. He was going to have to find out what he put on it, so his would feel that way.

  Hunter stepped back and took Justin’s hand. “Come on, I want to make sure the movie is appropriate. I have caught them watching 50 shades of grey one time. That sure isn’t what they need to watch.”

  Justin jumped down from the counter and started laughing. “Well, all boys want to see that stuff.”

  “Not my boys. They’re not going to see anything unless I say they can, and that movie isn’t appropriate for a twelve-year-old for sure.”

  “You’re right. It isn’t, but that doesn’t stop them from wanting to see the half-naked girl. I enjoyed that movie but for a different reason. I liked seeing Jamie Dornan’s naked chest.”

  Hunter rolled his eyes. “You haven’t seen anything until you see my naked chest.”

  Justin grinned. “Are you going to show me your naked chest?”

  “Well, not anytime soon. Maybe one day, but that remains to be seen. If you’re a good boy, then maybe.”

  “I guess we better go see what the boys are watching then.”

  They walked into the living room, and the boys were watching one of the Star Wars movies, so Hunter didn’t have a problem with that. They sat down on one of the couches next to each other, and Justin took Hunter’s hand. They watched the movie while holding hands. The boys glanced at them at first, but they got used to it, so they didn’t care about it. Hunter glanced around the room, and no one was watching them, so he relaxed. He was happy that he changed his mind and decided to have a relationship with Justin.

  Justin was the opposite of Hunter. Hunter had blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. He was lean built but muscular.

  Justin had brown hair and chocolate-colored eyes. He was huskier and more muscular than Hunter and about six inches taller. Both had great personalities and were sweet men.

  Justin had four years of college, and Hunter graduated high school but went to work for Judge Stone right out of high school, taking care of the boys. When it started, there were only five boys for Hunter to take care of. Then the numbers grew, and now there were sixteen boys in the house, but three of them would be leaving soon. Hunter hated to see them go. It was like a mother hen losing her chicks.

  At least the boys had scholarships to a trade school. It was donated by the trade school because of their circumstances. All of the boys would go to this trade school when they graduated high school. Hunter was thankful that the boys would learn a trade and be able to support themselves.

  Hunter asked, “Justin, what do you think of Michael and Dalton?”

  Justin sat and thought a moment. “Aren’t they two of the oldest boys? If so, I think they are really nice.”

  “No, I meant, do you think they are the gay couple? They are always together, and they sit closer than the rest of the boys do.”

  “Does it make a difference? If they are a gay couple, then we should respect that and leave it alone. If you have never seen anything out of the ordinary, then it doesn’t matter if they are gay or not. I don’t want them to do anything in front of the other boys and make them wonder what is going on, but if they keep it private, then we should just leave them alone.”

  “You’re the head doctor. I’ll defer to you and leave it alone. They don’t have much time left here anyway. As soon as they graduate, they’ll go off to a trade school and live there while they learn a trade.”

  “That’s better than turning them out into the world with no skills. I’m glad they get to go. Is it Sam Willis that’s paying for that?”

  “No, the school is giving the boys a scholarship, including room and meals until they graduate school. It’ll be good for them, and I won’t worry so much about my boys if they learn a trade.”

 
“I agree with you completely. It will make it a lot easier for them in the world. They will need to have a place to stay until they get to work and can afford to pay their rent and utilities. Also, for food. Maybe together we can help them with that.”

  “You would do that for my boys?”

  “Yes, I would be more than happy to do that. We have to get these boys on the right path. They have enough to deal with without having to worry about living in the street. We can pay for their apartment and give them thirty days to get to work and start paying their bills on their own.”

  “I want to ask you a question, but I don’t want to scare you off. I guess I’ll just ask it anyway. If it scares you away, then I didn’t need you to start with.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, babe, so go ahead and ask me. I’ll tell you the truth.”

  “If we get to the point of getting married, are you interested in adopting Steve?”

  “Absolutely. I like Steve really well. He just needs to get used to me and for me to gain his trust. I wouldn’t mind adopting Simon too, but he isn’t going to be here for very long. Just two years and he’ll age out. Maybe we can find a younger boy that comes in and needs a couple of dads.”

  “Judge Stone knows I’m gay. We’re going to have to ease in telling him your gay too. He might not want us to be here with all these boys. I don’t know how he’ll react to that.”

  “Judge Stone already knows. He hired me knowing I was gay. I had to make things right for gay men, so I told him I was gay, and my sister was crazy. He told me that I would have something in common with you. I didn’t know what it was until you told me you were gay. Then I knew what he meant.”

  Hunter frowned. “You had to make things right for gay men, and your sister is crazy? What is that all about it?”

  “That’s a conversation for somewhere down the line. I’d rather wait until we get solid before we go there.”

  Hunter nodded and put his arms around Justin’s neck and kissed him. He went upstairs to make sure that all the boys were in bed then came back down. He sat beside Justin, and they watched another movie.

  Chapter 10

  On Saturday morning, Justin took Simon to his friend’s, Levi, tattoo shop. Levi looked at Simon’s back and nodded as he ran his fingers over the scars. Justin said, “Levi, he liked my dragon you put on my back.”

  “Take your shirt off to refresh my memory. I do a lot of dragons, and I can’t remember all of them.”

  Justin took off his shirt and turned around so Levi and Simon could see it all. Levi said, “Oh yeah, I remember that one. That was the best one of the dragons I have ever done. Simon, if you want that one, it’ll work well with your scars. I can cover up all of them and the raised scars I can make into scales. It will look badass. Do you want that one?”

  “Yes, I think it’s beautiful.”

  “I can do that, but it’ll be centered a little differently to incorporate the scars into it. It’ll look good on your back, and you won’t be able to see the scars but will feel the scales when it’s touched.”

  Levi got a big picture of the dragon and moved it around Simon’s back, trying to center it correctly. “It seems that the flames are going to go over your shoulder. Justin, is that all right with his guardian?”

  “However, you have to do it is fine. We want to let Simon get some confidence, and as long as his back looks like that, he isn’t going to get what he needs. I don’t see a problem with the flames going over his shoulder.”

  “It might take a little longer to do this one than it did yours. Do you remember how long it was? I can get your records out and see if you don’t remember.”

  “I remember it was every Saturday for a month.”

  “Yeah, this is going to take probably six days. I assume you’re in school, Simon?”

  “Yeah, Monday through Friday.”

  “Yeah, so we’ll have to do it all on Saturdays. Think about six Saturdays should do it fine. I’m going to do the outline today. Justin, you remember how to tend to it?”

  “Oh yeah. I remember every day of it. I already told him I would take care of it for him.”

  “Ok, we’ll get the outline done today, and then next Saturday, we’ll start with filling it in. I want this to be real badass, and you can recommend me to others that might need tats.”

  “Including Simon, we have sixteen boys at the house that has scars on their backs pretty much the same as Simon does. So, if they can’t get it looking right with surgery, then we have permission to put tats on their back to give them a normal life. Simon is just the beginning.”

  “That sounds good. Just make sure it is only one at a time. I have to devote Saturdays to you for the next while. That’s fine. I can get my other clients done during the week, and my shop closes at five. I don’t want to do anything after that. I won’t book any more clients on Saturdays.”

  “What age do you recommend they need to be to get a tat?”

  “With guardian permission, the youngest I’ll tat is sixteen. Younger than that they grow too much and it’ll ruin the tat. At sixteen, they are almost as big as they’ll get, and the little bit more they grow won’t affect the tat.”

  “I know we have three seventeen-year-old boys at the house. Simon, do you know if there are any other sixteen-year-old boys?”

  “Just one. Mark is sixteen, and his back is almost as bad at Steve’s back. I think out of all of us, Steve is the worst. Then Mark’s back and then mine.”

  Levi looked up at Justin. “Maybe we should have started with Steve?”

  “No, he’s only twelve. He still has a lot of growing to do. When he’s sixteen, I’ll bring him. I know if it’s worse than Simon’s back, then he needs to be done as soon as he’s old enough. I’ll get Dr. Willis to check the other four boys and see who is going to be next. Thing is when they turn eighteen, they will be out of the system and in trade school, so they won’t have the funding for the tats.”

  “Well, schedule the oldest one next and then go by age for the next ones. As soon as I get Simon done, I’ll start on the next one. We’ll get them all done. Are you talking about Dr. John Willis, the cardiologist?”

  “Yes, he’s the boy’s doctor.”

  “Do they all have heart problems? If so, I’m not happy about giving them tats.”

  Justin chuckled. “No, none of them have heart problems. Dr. Willis just checks the boys from time to time to make sure there isn’t a problem. He’s checking them to see if they need tats or could be corrected with surgery. Simon, he said, could not be fixed with surgery. He said it would cause more scars, so the tat was the only thing we could do to cover his back.”

  “Ok, this is going to look amazing on his back. I’m glad you’re the one that brought him in. That way, I could tell what dragon he wanted. This is going to look good on him. He’ll have all the chicks after him.”

  Levi laid out the picture of the dragon and used a medical marker and drew the dragon outline. He had it perfect, and the flames did go over his shoulder. It really looked good. Simon started to get up and looked at Justin. “That didn’t hurt a bit. I just barely felt it at all.”

  Levi laughed. “I just drew it with a marker. I haven’t even started with the needle, so lay back down, boy. We are about to get started with the needle.”

  Simon blushed and laid back down on the table. Levi got a sterile needle out and loaded his pen with black ink and started to tattoo the shape of the dragon and flames on his back. Simon flinched a few times when he went over a large scar on his back. Levi asked, “Is that area painful?”

  “Just a little bit on that one scar. That’s the last one I got before I was transferred to Hunter. He’s more of a father to us than our own birth fathers. We all love Hunter. Even Justin loves Hunter.” Simon snickered.

  Justin rolled his eyes and smiled. He wasn’t too far off. Justin didn’t think he was in love with Hunter yet, but he wasn’t far from it. Levi looked up at Justin. “You got the hots for Hunter?”


  “We’re seeing each other, but that’s as far as it has gotten right now. We work together, and Hunter didn’t want to have a relationship in front of the boys, but he changed his mind.”

  “That’s great, Justin. I didn’t even know you were gay. I’m assuming that Hunter is a man?”

  “Yes, he’s a man, and yes, I’m gay.”

  “I wish I would have known. If you and Hunter don’t work out, then give me a chance, ok?”

  “Ok, but I want to see where this goes with Hunter first. He’s gorgeous. I sure hope that things work out.”

  “If not, just say the word and your mine.”

  When Levi was finished with the outline, he put petroleum jelly and bandages on Simon’s back. Then he told Justin what the price was for the entire tat, so Justin paid for it in advance. He knew that Levi would do as he said he would.

  Justin took Simon out to the car and asked if he was ok. Simon said, “Yeah, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I was expecting a lot more pain than that.”

  “Maybe you have some severed nerves in your back, and you can’t feel that much pain. If so, that’s great. Of course, he only did the outline, and next week he’ll start with filling it in and hit other parts that he didn’t hit today. I don’t want to scare you, but I don’t want you to go in there thinking that it isn’t going to hurt. It does when he starts filling it in.”

  “Justin, you think that was painful try getting beaten every day with an electric cord and a leather belt. My Mom used the electric cord, and my Dad used the leather belt. That’s why my back looks like it does. They both blamed me for being born. They didn’t want kids and thank God they didn’t have anymore. Just me, so I got all their wrath.”

  “I’m sorry that you had to go through that, Simon. I hate that all of you boys had to go through that. You shouldn’t have had to. None of you should have. I don’t understand people having children and mistreating them.”

  “At least sixteen of us have gotten out of that life. I hope when we all move on that you and Hunter save sixteen more.”