Forever With His Boss

by Rheland Richmond

  Ford joined them, and they all hugged. Sawyer said a prayer that they would all be okay.

  Savanna pulled back and Ford did, too, giving her space. She wiped her eyes, then cleared her throat. “Uhmm, I should probably get some sleep.”

  Sawyer nodded and stepped away from the door. “And so should the two of you.” She backed away and turned, opening the door. “Bye.”

  Sawyer turned to Ford, opened his arms again, and his boyfriend stepped in.

  “When I was in there talking to Gavin,” Ford began, “he told me that he had snuck out to see Cynthia. She convinced him to leave with her and that is how she was able to get into the house.”

  “I never even thought of that possibility,” Sawyer responded, shaking his head.

  “Don’t be mad at him,” Ford quickly put in. “He really thought she wanted to be with them.”

  “I’m not mad at him. I am angry at her for taking advantage of her kids' love and using it to blackmail for money.” Sayer let out an aggravated growl. “Tomorrow, first thing, I am calling to have an alarm installed so we’ll know next time someone tries to get in or out of the house.”

  “Everything is going to be alright,” Ford whispered.

  Sawyer looked down at Ford in his arms and lowered his head for a quick kiss. Everything would be great. He would make sure of it. He and Ford would show the kids they were wanted and loved, and hopefully, they would come out a stronger unit from this. Eventually, Gavin would understand. He had to.

  19

  Ford

  “Have a good day at school.” Ford waved at the kids as he stood at the door watching Gavin and Savanna walk down the driveway to their pick-up spot down at the corner.

  Ford held Callum, whose sturdy weight felt good in his arms even the pressure on his chest increased watching the kids leave for school. He felt Sawyer’s eyes on him and turned to look behind him.

  “What?”

  Sawyer lips twitched. “You going to follow them to school?”

  Ford shrugged “What? It’s the first time they’ve gone… left the house since…” His voice trailed off.

  Sawyer’s smile faded, and Ford felt bad for bringing it up. “I know," he acknowledged while crossing his arms over his chest.

  They’d kept the kids home the rest of the week since it had already been Thursday. It had been a traumatic experience, especially for Gavin, and they wanted to make sure they were handling what had happened with their mother before going out again.

  Sawyer came over and kissed the top of Callum’s head. “At least you’re still young,” Sawyer said. “You won’t leave us soon right?”

  Ford snickered and looked down at Callum. “For now…”

  His boyfriend had turned into a total softie, not that Sawyer hadn’t always been if you knew where to look… or if he let you see that side of himself.

  Ford walked into the house and Sawyer shut the door, then Ford followed after him. The weekend had been rough, since both he and Sawyer were both just waiting for something to happen. They’d gone down to the police station and filed the report, but it didn’t stop the worry.

  They walked into the living room where Ford put Callum in his playpen with his toys. He made a mental note to get one a little higher, the little guy was getting bigger and would probably be able to climb out soon.

  He chuckled at the image of higher gates; it was a baby jail.

  Ford took a seat beside Sawyer and rested his head on his shoulder.

  “Do you think she’ll be back?” He looked up at Sawyer, but didn’t move from where he rested.

  Sawyer drew circles on his leg. He was quiet for a moment before answering. “I don’t know, but we can’t keep hiding or living in fear. We protect the kids, be vigilant, but we keep living our lives. When she is transported back to New York, she will probably be put in jail this time since she fled from rehab.”

  His breathing sped up. “It’s just…” his hand stopped moving on Ford’s leg, “I keep wondering what would have happened if Cynthia had got away with them. What if she just...” Sawyer’s hand on his thigh tightened, a shudder racking his body, “What if we couldn’t find them?”

  He covered Sawyer’s hand with his. “They know that you’ll do everything to protect them.” Ford moved so he could see Sawyer as he spoke. He cupped Sawyer’s cheek, “You’re right, we can’t let it control our lives.

  Sawyer nodded, “You’re right. You’re right.”

  “Of course I’m right.” Ford’s voice was teasing.

  Sawyer leaned in, and they kissed.

  “We should probably get some work done,” Ford said. He made to move, but Sawyer stopped him.

  “I'll get our laptops.” He pecked Ford’s lips. “I want some Ford time even if it’s spent working side by side.”

  Ford’s skin flushed at his words, “I’d like that.” He murmured, cupping Sawyer’s face and pressing a slow, gentle kiss to his lips. Ford took his time to savor Sawyer’s mouth against his. God, he loved this man so much that he wanted to drown in him.

  Ford deepened the kiss, groaning as their tongues matched stroke for stroke.

  He loved the scratchy feeling of Sawyer’s beard against his face and the way his arms wrapped around his body with promises to never let him go.

  They finally broke apart when breathing became necessary, and he saw Sawyer had lifted him onto his lap.

  “I should go get our laptops before this goes any further.”

  Desire radiated between them, almost like a living thing. He felt the hardness of Sawyer’s cock pressed between them.

  Ford scrambled off Sawyer. “Go.” He pointed in the general direction of the office. “Before we…”

  Sawyer stared at him, and Ford could see him weighing up the decision, and Ford wasn’t even sure which one he wanted him to make.

  When Sawyer finally got on his feet, there was a pang of disappointment.

  “Later.” Sawyer leaned down for a swift kiss. “Maybe you can slip into something pretty for me.”

  Ford watched him walk away, his body heating at the thought of slipping into his pretty things. He’d mostly been in cute boy shorts recently. Way more functional.

  Still, the thought of a night slipping into something just for Sawyer to take off gave Ford a smile he couldn’t wipe off his face.

  The better part of the morning was spent with the two of them on their laptops working, taking turns to distract Callum when he got bored of his toys. Ford stopped briefly to get Callum a snack, but at about eleven, he started to get fussy, the iPad and toys no longer holding his interest.

  Usually Ford’s mom would have picked Callum up for the day, but he’d told her they were having some bonding time with the kids.

  Ford smiled at Callum, and he stopped fussing. He put his hand on his eyes and then took it off, “Peekaboo.” Callum laughed and clapped, so he did it again a few times before focusing back to the screen. From his periphery, he caught Sawyer putting his laptop to the side, getting to his feet, and going over and swooping Callum into his arms.

  He swished him in the air like an airplane, making the sounds, and Callum’s raucous laughter filled the room. When Sawyer got tired, he plopped down beside him, but Ford knew from experience that Callum would keep going if given the chance. Ford had to hold back the chuckle at the look on Sawyer’s face when Callum reached out to him with his arms, and he took the toddler from Sawyer.

  “I am not going to take that personally”— Sawyer mock pouted—“because my arms feel like it was doing bi’s and tri’s at the gym.”

  Ford snorted. “Mmm, maybe someone needs to double up on their arm days.”

  Sawyer let out a gasp and looked at Callum. “Ford is mean. He says awful things to your brother.”

  Callum said “Mean,” and Ford couldn’t stop the smile that appeared on his face. They had realized that Callum seemed slightly delayed in his speaking ability and already decided this would be brought up with the pediatrician again to see
what more they could do. He had already told them that the mother’s addictions could have led to some developmental delays. It still made him angry because it meant Cynthia had been using while pregnant.

  “We’ll be fine,” Sawyer said.

  Ford brushed a kiss on Sawyer’s lips. “Yeah. Yes we will.”

  Ford could tell that even though they’d stopped talking about Cynthia and the past week, it still weighed on Sawyer’s mind. Maybe he needed a distraction.

  “How about we drop Callum off with my mom and go to the site today, get out of the house. I want to check on the progress, and I would love the company.”

  “Look at you… now who’s the boss?” Sawyer teased. He kissed Ford, and Ford chuckled against his lips. When they parted, Sawyer went to grab the bag they kept packed for Callum.

  Getting his mom to watch Callum with no notice was easy, and he never had to call ahead. They got to his parents’ house quickly, then, when Cal was settled, Ford stood and grabbed his keys.

  “We’re gonna take off, Mom,” Ford said.

  “You two have a good day at work.” She smiled at them from her position on the living room floor with Callum, the two of them working on a beginner’s puzzle together.

  “Bye, Callum,” Sawyer knelt down and kissed the top of the toddler’s head, and then Ford did the same.

  When they were both in the car, Sawyer said, “How about we do lunch just the two of us. We can drive up to Aspen and make a day of it, scope out the competition…”

  “I like the sound of that, but we’ll have to let Savie know to come over here, I don’t want them at the house alone. Even with the alarm system, I’m just not comfortable with that yet.”

  Sawyer nodded, agreeing with him.

  He was about to text Savie when his phone started to ring. Since they were in his car it connected to the Bluetooth, and Drake’s name showed on the dash of his car.

  Ford said, “Hello?” after pressing the button to connect the call.

  “Hey, Ford. So... I have a bit of a situation here,” Drake said.

  Ford groaned and looked over at Sawyer to see his reaction. Since the phone was on the speaker, he was able to hear. “Okay… what now?” Ford braced himself for the worst.

  “There’s been some flooding at the construction site. The crew has spent the morning bailing out the affected area of the dig. We may have to rent pumps to get this drained quicker and not set us too far behind. I’m sorry, man, I really don’t know how this could have happened.”

  “It’s just water. Shouldn’t we be fine?” Ford asked.

  “Well, not exactly. It’s a little more complicated than that,” Drake said slowly.

  Ford rubbed his brow, and told himself not to panic.

  “What aren’t you saying? Sawyer spoke up.

  Drake’s reply was careful as though he was thinking over each word as he spoke. “There are tool marks on one of the pipes that has been uncovered already.”

  “And not from anything your men were doing,” Ford checked. “Could it be an accident?”

  “No,” Drake’s voice was vehement. “That’s what we thought at first. I was going to work longer to get it done and had planned to hire the equipment out of pocket. That was, until we saw the damage. Once that was discovered, I knew I needed to call and let you know what was happening here.”

  “You don’t have to do that, Drake.” Sawyer was quick to chime in. “Accidents happen.”

  “I know, but you gave me a shot. I don’t plan on screwing it up. And this doesn't appear to be just a normal accident”

  Ford smiled at that. Drake had always been so serious when they were growing up.

  “Thank you for saying that. We truly appreciate you coming on board,” Sawyer said.

  “Except…” Drake’s stopped.

  “Except?” Ford prompted.

  “Well… you remember the sign that was vandalized when we first met?“ Drake sounded hesitant bringing it up.

  Ford remembered that all too well. “Yeah… I mean, yes, of course I do.”

  “Looks like it could be more of the same. The trailer has some colorful words splashed all over it, and someone deliberately moved a pile of sand inside the entrance after breaking the lock. I’m sure you can imagine what kind of mess that made.”

  “Larry!” Ford burst out before he could catch himself.

  “Larry what?” Sawyer asked, but Ford held up a finger asking him to wait.

  “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that both happened over the weekend when no one was here. Could be unrelated, but I’m thinking not,” Drake stated matter-of-factly.

  Ford felt the same. The likelihood of it being an accident was slim to non-existent, but now was not the time to think of that. The question was, what were they going to do to stop it? “Yeah, I’m thinking the same. Okay. We’ll be there in ten. See you soon.”

  “See you then,” Drake hung up.

  Ford immediately turned to Sawyer.

  Why are you so confident it’s Larry, and why did you say again?” Sawyer asked.

  His brows drew together at Sawyer’s words, then Ford remembered. “Crap, I never told you what happened. It was back when you were avoiding me.” Ford hoped teasing would distract Sawyer. His hands around the steering wheel had tightened, and that’s when Ford knew his boyfriend was pissed.

  “Don’t try and distract me, babe.” Sawyer saw right through him, so Ford decided to get it over with and proceeded to tell him.

  “It’s honestly not that big of a deal. We handled it. Drake cleaned the sign and got it back up the next day. Honestly Drake and I may be wrong. There’s no guarantee that all of this is related.”

  Sawyer glanced his way, taking his eyes off the road for a second. Ford noted his lips were pulled tight.

  “But it’s possible,” Sawyer said. “Which means that we may need to hire a guard or two for the night.”

  “If you think it’s necessary,” Ford replied.

  Sawyer put his hand out and Ford took it. “I’m so sorry I left you to deal with everything on your own. This is my fault because I didn’t handle this project or my relationship with you the right way.”

  “It’s water under the bridge, babe.” Ford squeezed Sawyer’s hand. He’d apologized, and one thing Ford had learnt from his parents was if you said you’d forgiven, you didn’t bring it up again. “Let’s just get to the construction site and see how bad the damage is.” Ford sighed, “I hope it doesn’t put us behind schedule.”

  “Larry is turning out to be more of a nuisance than expected,” Sawyer sounded pissed. “He was recommended by a company we used in New York.” Sawyer’s voice said heads were going to roll for that.

  “I’ll leave you to handle that, babe. We’ve got a great contractor now.”

  “I love you.” Sawyer brought their joined hands up for a kiss.

  The vandalism was easy to spot the moment they arrived. From the car, they could see the words that had been written everywhere on the trailer walls with red paint.

  When they got out of the car, Ford could read Sawyer’s annoyance on his face even though he tried to hide it.

  Asshole, motherfucker, cocksucker were the nicest words that graced it. Like cocksucker, the others showed Ford the depth of Larry’s homophobic side. Ford imagined they would find much of the same on the actual construction site.

  “He must have a lot of time on his hands.” Ford said, trying to keep down his rising anger and irritation.

  “Remember, babe, we don’t know for sure that he is the one who did this. There are more homophobic people in the world—even in this community—than we know of.” Sawyer’s words were deceptively mild, though the look on his face didn’t match.

  “I think we should call the cops,” Ford said, letting out a puff or air because he knew that Sawyer was right. “This is trespass and criminal damage.”

  Sawyer shook his head and groaned. “The cops have been involved so much in our lives lately. I’m sure they
are just going to love hearing from me again.”

  Ford couldn’t help but agree with that. Their lives were starting to resemble a daytime soap opera. “So...,” Ford quirked a brow before he went on. “Which one of us gets to make the call this time?”

  Sawyer had a devious look on his face. “I think we’ll let Drake handle that since he is the one who found it first.”

  Even with all that they’d found out this morning, Ford couldn’t hold back the laugh that burst forth. “He’s gonna love you for that one.”

  Sawyer let Ford walk in front as they moved through the fenced area that was supposed to keep people out of the working construction zone. Once they got to the main buildings, Ford saw what Drake meant.

  “They’re going to have to shovel the watery sand out to get back to work,” Sawyer said.

  Ford nodded. “I can’t believe he would do this. All it serves to do is delay for a couple of days while this gets tidied out.” He paused for a moment. “Or whoever did, but I still feel deep down that it’s Larry”

  Once they made their way through the area, they saw Owen—Ford didn’t know his friend was here—and Drake. The two were diligently working on gathering the sandy mess into buckets to be dumped outside.

  Ford shook his head as he looked around. This was a bigger mess than he thought as they walked over to the men. Owen looked up first, then straightened, wiping his beads of sweat on his forehead with his arm.

  “Hey.” Owen nodded in their direction.

  Drake turned, too, and Ford could tell the man was stressed, not that he could blame him. “I can see what you mean.” Ford looked around at the muck that was all around them.

  Drake let out a sigh. “It’ll probably take us two, maybe three days of work to get through all of it.” The contractor grabbed a bottle of water, guzzling half of it without pausing. “Sorry about that.” Drake wiped his mouth.

  “No apologies necessary,” Sawyer said.