Choices and Changes Read online

  Choices and Changes

  Book 7 in the All Cocks stories

  By T.M. Smith

  Copyright © 2017 TTC Publishing

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author and/or publisher, and where permitted by law. Reviewers may quote brief passages for review purposes only. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact TTC Publishing at www.ttcbooksandmore.com or at [email protected]

  DO NOT DISTRIBUTE, COPY OR SHARE

  Published April 22nd 2017 @TTC Publishing

  Will be Available in Paperback or E-book

  Est. Length (49,164 words)

  Cover art:

  Jay Aheer | Simply Defined Art | http://www.jayscoversbydesign.com/

  Beta readers:

  Kathy Mac, Zane Kage, Cathy Brockman, Tina Jones, Carra Saigh,

  and Kimberly Spinney

  Editing:

  Hope Vincent of Flat Earth Editing

  Choices and Changes

  An All Cocks story, book 7

  There comes a time in every man’s life where he has to make a choice between what is right and what is easy.

  Born and raised in Fort Worth Texas by open-minded parents, Dean Anderson realized early in life he was attracted to both sexes. Equal opportunity, he picked his lovers based on personality and common interests. He met Maggie in college, fell in love, got married and started a family. And they were happy…until they weren’t.

  Adam Chase’s mother is South African, his father American military working at the US Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa. His parents’ positions in the South African and American governments awarded Adam dual citizenship, and he attended University in America, at Berkley. In America, Adam is lives openly as a gay man, something that could get him killed in his mother’s home country. He met his husband, Patrick Carter, at college and they too were happy…until Patrick died.

  Two lives converge, and it would seem fate is giving them each a second chance at happiness, together. Dean stays in New York and moves into the apartment his son, Dusty, shares with his boyfriend David. He and Adam are quickly welcomed into All Cocks’ vastly growing family. And then one phone call changes everything.

  The men of All Cocks learn that death is just another part of life, a road everyone travels eventually. Choices are made, decisions that change their lives irrevocably. They rally together, drawing strength from each other as their close-knit family experiences the best and worst life has to offer. But that’s what families do, right?

  Glossary of terms:

  Jas – South African – yes, pronounced “Jes”

  Jol – South African – party

  Klap – South African – to smack someone

  And then there’s Victor’s broken English and Beau’s sexy Cajun swagger.

  Note: Choices and Changes is a work of fiction. While there may be names of people, places, and things that you have seen or heard before, nothing you are fixing to read is factual.

  © Copyright acknowledgement

  Easy-Bake Oven

  Castle Brewery Beer

  Amarula Cream

  Elysium (TriStar)

  True Blood (HBO)

  Sex in the City (HBO)

  iPod

  Stetson

  Starbucks

  The Palm, Tribeca

  Denali

  BMW

  Cole Hahn

  Wrangler Jeans

  Terrazas de los Andes wine

  Industry Kitchen

  A Heart Without Borders (Andrew Grey/Dreamspinner Press)

  Honey Nut Cheerios (General Mills)

  Almond Milk (Blue Diamond)

  Amazon Echo

  Funko POP! Character

  Criminal Minds (CBS)

  Law & Order (NBC)

  Harry Potter (Warner Bros)

  Dedication

  Just a few years ago my mother and I received a message on Facebook from a man telling us he was pretty sure he was my mom’s brother, my uncle. Turns out the baby boy my grandmother gave up for adoption decades ago found his way back to us, and I consider it such a blessing. In our conversations he talked about his first love, losing that love, and finding happiness again with his current husband. It inspired me to write a story about an older couple that had loved, lost, and deserved a chance to find love again.

  This one is for you, Uncle T!

  ~ Prologue ~

  Berkeley, California 1986

  Adam’s flight arrived at San Francisco International Airport at six o’clock in the morning and though he’d slept for the majority of the flight, he was exhausted. He’d left his home in Pretoria, South Africa, heading to Johannesburg nearly a week before. Three flights, two layovers, and five days later, he’d finally arrived in sunny California. The driver his parents had hired was waiting for him at baggage claim, a sign in his hands that read, Adam Chase, Future MD.

  Obviously, his mother had made the reservation with the car service. He chuckled, waving at the man in the black suit as he approached. “Hey, I’m Adam.”

  “Morning, sir. I’m Bruce, I’ll be your driver today.” They shook hands and Adam followed Bruce out to a sleek, black sedan with tinted windows. Bruce shuffled Adam into the back seat before returning to baggage claim to retrieve his luggage. Thirty minutes later, Adam’s things were loaded into the car and they were on their way to his off-campus apartment.

  When they finally arrived, the driver helped him get his bags and the trunkful of books that now felt like it weighed two hundred pounds into his apartment, for which Adam tipped him very generously. His parents had opened a bank account for him when they’d toured UC Berkeley several months back, and Adam had decided for sure he wanted to attend medical school at the university. There was more than enough in the account to pay his bills and ensure that Adam didn’t have to work for the first few years of college. His tuition was drawn directly from his parents’ American accounts, so everything in the bank was for food, bills, and expenses.

  His mother was a South African national who worked in foreign relations at the US Embassy, where she met his father two decades ago. Harold Chase was a US citizen stationed at the Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa to work in public relations. Their jobs and statuses awarded the family of three with dual citizenship in South Africa and the United States. While Adam had been to the States dozens of times over the years with his parents, he’d never been on his own and was anxious to explore.

  Checking his pockets to make sure he had his keys, wallet, and phone, Adam shut and locked the door behind him. Jogging down the stairs and swinging around the corner, he barreled right into a guy carrying two bags of groceries that went flying when their bodies collided. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” Adam squatted and gathered up the fruits and vegetables at his feet, stuffing them into the half-torn brown sack they’d erupted from.

  “Well, you could watch where you’re…” The guy stopped mid-sentence when Adam righted himself and faced him. He was a few inches shorter than Adam, with dark, curly hair and hazel eyes.

  Juggling the torn bag and its contents in his arms, Adam smiled apologetically. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention and…” Lord, but the man had the most beautiful eyes, the frustration in them ebbing away the longer they held Adam’s gaze. Normally, he would hand over the bag of groceries and be on his way. But there was something about this man that appealed to Adam, and there was no mistaking the interest in those pretty hazel eyes. Adam held his hand out and apologized again. “I am so sorry man, really. I’m Adam Chase.”

  “Adam.” He repeate
d the name, extending his hand to Adam and holding on, even after they shook a few times too many.

  Adam grinned, clearing his throat loudly. “Yeah, can I have my hand back now, please?”

  “Shit!” Cutie with the curly hair exclaimed, releasing Adam’s hand and taking a step back, almost falling down the stairs.

  Groceries be damned, Adam reached for him, dropping the items he held and grabbing the already alluring man by the arms to steady him. They both laughed, bending down to pick everything up again before standing and staring at each other awkwardly.

  “So….” Adam let the word hang in the air.

  “Shit! Sorry.” The guy cursed again, laughing. It was a sweet, melodic laugh that piqued Adam’s interest. They shook hands again, and Adam could swear the man deliberately ran his fingers over his palm softly when he pulled back. His mother had warned Adam to be careful with whom he chose to reveal his sexual orientation to. Berkeley, California was a long way from Pretoria, South Africa, where being gay could get a person killed, but Adam still needed to be diligent and wary.

  Cocking his head to one side, Hazel Eyes studied him for a few intense moments before asking Adam to help him get his groceries up to his apartment. “Yeah, I can do that. But first, you have to tell me your name,” Adam teased.

  The guy smiled, which made his eyes sparkle, his cheeks flushing an adorable shade of pink, and Adam knew two things. One, he wasn’t the only gay man standing awkwardly in the stairwell of his apartment building, holding a torn bag of groceries. And two, he was in so much trouble—hopefully the good kind.

  “Name’s Patrick.…Patrick Carter.”

  ~ Chapter 1 | Just One Smile ~

  Rain fell against the large bay windows, sounding like thousands of tiny needles hitting glass. Adam sat in his favorite chair beside the fireplace, staring up at the pictures lining the mantle. He’d known that first night after their initial meeting when Adam almost ran right over him, barreling down the stairs, that Patrick was HIV positive. Looking back, remembering how the man had entranced and enslaved him with just one smile, Adam couldn’t bring himself to regret his decision to give love a chance with Patrick.

  His mother, Glynis, had damn sure tried to steer her son in another direction for the better part of the first year he and Patrick were together. Empty threats to freeze his account and stop paying his tuition had fallen on deaf ears and driven a wedge between them for a while. When Adam ignored his mother’s calls for several weeks in a row, mostly hurt because she wasn’t supporting him, the woman put her ass on a plane and flew to the States to salvage their relationship. He and Patrick were half-asleep on the couch in his apartment after a long day at school when there was a loud, obnoxious pounding at the door.

  Jumping up, Adam jerked the door open. “What the fu…” Words failed him as he stared at the angry little sprite on his welcome mat. Glynis Chase was barely five feet tall with short, wispy blonde hair and huge, doe-like brown eyes that were currently glaring up at her son. Behind Miss I’m Pissed at You—with her arms crossed over her chest—stood his father, who was easily three times bigger than his petite wife. “Mom? Dad?”

  Shoving past him and stomping into the apartment, his mom started ranting and raving in half English, half South African slang, using colorful words that would surely make a sailor blush. Looking from his mom, still shouting and making hand gestures in the middle of his living room, to his father, who shrugged his shoulders, smiling at his angry wife lovingly, Adam threw his hands into the air. “Mother, what the hell are you doing here?” He had to shout to be heard over her almost unintelligible bitching.

  Turning to face him, Glynis pointed an angry finger at her son then froze when she finally saw Patrick. He was standing in front of the couch, watching Adam’s mother with an odd mixture of curiosity and fear—as he should be, the woman was terrifying when she was on a tear. “Ummm…Hi, I’m Patrick,” his lover said, stock-still. That was probably for the best; any sudden movement could possibly get them all killed, considering his mother’s current mood.

  Glynis squinted, taking in Patrick from head to toe, staring at him with something resembling disdain, which pissed Adam off even more. Before he could speak, his father pushed past him, walking straight over to Patrick and embracing him. Adam almost laughed out loud when his boyfriend mouthed, What the fuck? with one eyebrow raised, his arms limply at his sides while Adam’s father hugged the shit out of him. Standing back but still holding Patrick by the arms, Harold Chase smiled. “Patrick, it’s so nice to finally meet you. I’m Harold Chase, and this lovely young woman here is my wife, Glynis. What do you say you and I go find a nice, quiet place to have a drink and let these two have a go at each other in private?”

  This was what his parents did, what they’d done his entire life. Glynis ranted and raved and went off on people using only the most colorful words in her arsenal in a screwed-up combination of English and South African that no one could possibly understand unless they were familiar with both cultures. His dad ran interference, careful to sidestep the land mine that was his wife and not set her off in the process. But it worked for them, for their family—probably because they’d both made sure Adam knew he was loved every day of his life.

  “Oh, no you don’t; we are all gonna stay right fucking here and sort all this out,” Glynis barked.

  “You.” She pointed at her son. “Don’t make me klap you a good one; get us something strong to drink and we are going to sit down and talk.”

  Adam opened his mouth to argue, but the fire that shot from his mother’s eyes had him rethinking that choice. He stomped into the kitchen, muttering under his breath, his mom following close behind. Figuring they were there for the long haul, Adam grabbed some pretzels and almonds from the pantry, pouring them into a couple of bowls and setting them on a serving tray he often used when they had friends over. He knew the moment his mother opened the fridge and saw the bottles of Castle Brewery beer, which he’d special ordered from a local liquor store, as well as a couple of bottles of Amarula, a sweet and creamy liquor made in their home country. Glynis hummed approvingly, grabbing the Amarula and four beers.

  Glasses, food, and drinks in hand, he and his mom went back out into the living room where his dad was sitting on the couch beside Patrick, laughing with Patrick as he told Harold how he and Adam had first met. “He carried that broken bag of groceries up to my apartment, and I made him dinner. We sat and talked all night and the rest, as they say, is history.” Patrick took the beer Adam handed him, winking at him.

  “And did you tell him straight away?” Adam glared at his mother. He knew the unspoken words, the insinuation that Patrick hadn’t shared his HIV status with Adam from the start.

  “I didn’t shake his hand and introduce myself as Patrick Carter, HIV positive, no. But I did tell him later that night after we talked and I was certain that Adam was just as interested in me as I was in him,” Patrick answered without hesitation.

  “Glyn, honey, don’t be so crass.” His father rarely disagreed with his mom, at least not openly, but when he did, she listened.

  She snarled at her husband before turning her beer up and draining the bottle on the first go. Adam handed his beer to her, grabbing a glass and the bottle of Amarula, pouring himself a healthy shot. Glynis turned to Patrick. “I am sorry for being rude; I just worry for my son. Adam came here, traveled across the world because he wanted a better life than the one he could have in our home of South Africa. But I still worry. I know it is different here, that he can be open about his preferences, but I read the stories on the internet, I see that gay men are still being targeted and killed and it sickens me. To think that my baby boy would be beaten and left for dead…” His mom sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes filling with tears.

  Adam reached for her hand, grasping it with his own. “Mom, I…”

  She waved her hand in the air. “Let me say my piece, Adam.” She sniffled and blew her nose in the tissue Patrick handed her. Sucking in a
deep breath, she forged on. “What will happen to my Adam when you are gone? I already knew how much he loved you before I came here. I could hear it in his voice when we spoke. Seeing the two of you, there is no question that you obviously care deeply for one another. But what happens to Adam when you die, Patrick?”

  “Glynis!” Harold shouted.

  “Goddamnit, mom!” Adam jumped to his feet.