Link Maxwell: A Sweet Gay Romance (James Brothers Book 3)

by C. E. Wilson

  “What? Oh, I’m not working; I was just checking my email. I didn’t bring anything home with me to do. I’m halfway done with my planner for school just today. The principal said I was way ahead of everyone else at the school. It’s easy to do since it’s all laid out in the textbook.”

  Alex looked at the ceiling and blew out a breath. “I’m sorry, Link. I guess I was expecting the worst. I won’t make that mistake again. Sorry.”

  “If you were really sorry you would come over here and give me a kiss.”

  Alex grinned and made his way over to Link and kissed him. “What do you want for dinner. I figured I would make some dinner while we are waiting on Clayton.”

  “Anything except that fancy stuff you make. I’m starving here, and I don’t want the food to be pretty. I just want it to taste good.”

  “How about some spaghetti?”

  “Yeah, now that is a manly food. I can handle that. Can you make some garlic bread to go with it?”

  “Yeah, if you have the stuff to make it. I’ll look and see what we can do.”

  Link shut down the laptop and took it into the living room. He set it on the coffee table and would finish reading his email when Alex went home. Nothing pressing just an email from his mom about coming to dinner on Sunday. He would ask Alex after dinner. He went into the kitchen and got plates for them. He poured each one a cup of coffee and set Alex’s beside him while he cooked. He set the table and sat down to wait. He would do the dishes since Alex cooked.

  Alex finished dinner and brought the food into the dining room. It looked great, and Link’s stomach growled. Alex laughed. “I guess you were starving. Dig in. I’ll be back in a moment with the bread.”

  They ate dinner, and Link was doing the dishes when there was a knock-on door. Alex went to answer, and it was Clayton. He handed Alex a stack of papers. “Sorry, I can’t stay, but Sharon has a cold, so my mom is babysitting, and I have to pick up the kids.”

  “Ok, sure. I’ll have Link call you with his decision.”

  “Got to run. I’ll talk to you guys later.”

  Alex brought the papers into the kitchen and set them on the table, and went over and started drying the dishes and putting them away. Link asked. “Who was that?”

  “Clayton. He brought a stack of papers over. He said, call him when you make your decision.”

  Link shook his head. “Why are you saying that? It’s just as much your decision as it is mine. We’re going to make that decision together.”

  Alex didn’t say anything, so Link stared at him. Finally, he held up his hands up in surrender. “Ok, Link, I’ll help you to decide.”

  They finished the dishes and wiped down all the counters and the stove. They went in and sat down at the table. Link picked up the stack and handed half of them to Alex. “Put the ones you hate in one pile. The ones you love in another pile. The ones you might like in another pile. Then we will swap and check out each other’s stack except for the no pile. Those will just be no.”

  They started making their stacks when Link sat there reading and rereading the paper. “Alex, look at this one.”

  He handed the paper to Alex, and he read it and got a big smile on his face, then read a little more and frowned. “Link did you see the price on it, though. It is seven hundred and fifty thousand for this house. I’m sure Sam doesn’t want to spend that much money on us a house.”

  “He said, don’t worry about the price. Just as long as we like it, he’ll buy it for us.”

  “It sounds perfect. It even has the two-bedroom mother in law cottage. Or for us would be the two-bedroom nanny house. Just like Cade and Bradley.”

  Link had a smirk on his face. “Look at the address, baby.”

  “Oh, my goodness, it is just down the block from Cade and Bradley. That would work too.”

  “Put it in a joint yes pile, and then we keep looking at them. I want to make sure that it is the best one we have here. I want to go see a few of them that we agree on, and that will be the first one we see.”

  “Yeah, that would save us time looking at the others.”

  Link lifted his head and stared at Alex for a long moment. “Are you that sure of this house?”

  “Yeah, I mean, look at it, Link. What more could we possibly want? It has five bedrooms, five and a half baths, a living room, den, formal dining room, breakfast nook, pool, deck in back, circle driveway, and close to your brother and his husband. What else do we need?”

  “I don’t think we need anything else. I just want to look at the rest of these because Clayton brought them, and I hate to tell him that we didn’t look past the first one.”

  “Maybe he put it on top because he thinks this is what we need. Bradley said he was very good at what he does. I think we found our forever home. Well, let’s look at them anyway. We might find another one with all that and looks better.”

  “All right, babe, if that’s what you want to do, then we’ll do it. I just think it’s a waste of time.”

  “You’re probably right, but I want to give these other ones a chance. I think we found it, but lets at least look.”

  They started to read the pages, and Link set another one with the one they loved. Alex raised a brow but didn’t say anything. At least not until he found another one that was perfect. “I see what you meant. I just found another one that I think is perfect as well. Let’s keep looking.”

  Link didn’t say I told you so. He just chuckled and kept looking. By the time they finished, they had six houses in the perfect pile and another ten in the maybe pile. They started with the perhaps collection and looked at it together. Most of them went into the no pile because it didn’t have what they wanted in one thing or another. Then they picked up the perfect pile, and the choice got harder.

  Link said, “Baby, I think this is going to be harder to decide what we want. Each one of these is perfect, so I don’t know how we are going to decide which one we want.”

  “Let’s try and find something that one has that we want, and the rest doesn’t.”

  “Ok, but I don’t know of anything that one has that the others don’t. We’ll try to find it.”

  They started with the top one and read all the information on the house. It had everything they wanted, so they put it in a pile to look at later. They picked up the next one, and it also had everything the first one had. The next was the same. They went through all six of them. The only difference was the original one was on the same street as Cade and Bradley.

  Link said, “I guess this is it. At least it is close to Cade. That’s the only difference, and plus, this one has a cabana at the pool, which the others didn’t.”

  Alex laughed. “We could have saved a lot of time just taking this one when we started. I knew being close to Cade would be the main factor, and I’m good with that. He’s your brother and my friend.”

  Link leaned over the table and kissed Alex.

  Chapter 8

  The next day at school, Link went in and went straight to his room. He unlocked the door and sat down at his desk. He opened the middle drawer and got his planner out. He went straight to work on it so he could get it done that day. The principal came around at ten-thirty and checked his planner. He was impressed that he was almost finished with it. “I’m very impressed, Lincoln. The other two new teachers haven’t even started their planners yet, and here you are almost done. I think you will be a perfect fit here.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Simpson. I’m thrilled to be teaching here. I can’t wait for school to start.”

  “You are well on your way to being my favorite teacher.”

  Link smiled. “Thank you, sir, that means a lot to me. I should have this done by the end of the day, and I’ll either bring it to you then or first thing in the morning so you can see it.”

  “That will be fine, Lincoln. Either one will work.”

  The principal left, and Link got back to work. He got it finished about two-thirty and figured it would be in time for the principal to
approve it. He put his books on his desk. He got his planner and started out into the hall. He noticed a woman coming from a room two doors down. He thought she looked familiar, so he watched her, and when she turned to go into the principal’s office, he saw it was Darlene.

  Link rolled his eyes and stepped back into his room. He didn’t want another encounter with her trying to get him to date her. He would just go home and take it to the principal the next morning. He wondered if she was a new teacher and maybe the one the principal was talking about. Of course, she would be new. She was a year younger than him, so she couldn’t have finished college before him.

  When the bell rang, he locked up his room and went home. He called Clayton and told him they had picked out their house. He said he would stop by on his way home to pick up the papers. Link went into the kitchen to get a snack and decide what he was going to have for dinner. He looked in the freezer and picked out a small container of lasagna to have for dinner. He grabbed a bag of cheese popcorn and went back to the living room to watch a little tv until he got hungry for dinner.

  Link had just gotten interested in a show when his front door opened. He glanced up to see who it was and was surprised to see Alex there. He got up and walked over to Alex and wrapped his arms around him. He gave him a kiss. “I wasn’t expecting you today. I’m glad you came by. I missed you.”

  “I got off a little early and thought I would come and cook dinner for us. I know you would probably have a tv dinner or something just as foul. I am saving your life, Link.”

  Link laughed. “As a matter of fact, I was going to have a container of lasagna for dinner. It is frozen, so I would rather have your cooking.”

  “See, I have to take care of my love. Did you call Clayton today to tell him we have picked out a house?”

  “I did, he’s coming after work to pick them up. I hate to move again, but we’ll be getting a good house. I still think you need to move in with me. Here or there, I don’t care which.”

  “I said we would see when my lease is up. If we aren’t ready to move into the house yet, what are we going to do with my furniture?”

  “We’ll put it in storage until we get ready to move in. I guess it depends on if someone is still living in it at closing. If so, we have to give them thirty days to move out. If not, then we can move in right after closing.”

  “Well, I guess we’ll have to move in together when my lease is up next month. I don’t want to sign another year and be trapped in the apartment for that long. I think so far things will be good. How are you coming on your planner for school?”

  “I finished it today. I have to take it to Mr. Simpson in the morning, and then the rest of the day. I guess I start reading my textbooks, so I won’t have any surprises. Oh, guess who I saw today?”

  “Come into the kitchen with me, and I’ll see what we can have for dinner. I have no clue.”

  “Darlene. You remember when we went to the movies, and she was hitting on me? Well, she’s one of the new teachers at school. I avoided her this afternoon so she wouldn’t hit on me again. That girl is persistent.”

  “Well, maybe now that she knows your gay, she’ll leave you alone. I sure hope so.”

  “Yeah, me too. What did you find to make for dinner?”

  “I can make two things. Tomorrow I’ll go shopping and get some real food in here that I can cook. I can make either beef stew or omelets, bacon, and toast.”

  “Whichever is easiest for you, baby. You can make anything you want to. I don’t care.”

  “Ok, I’ll make the omelets. It’s fast and easy.”

  They ate dinner and then went to sit on the couch and watch some TV while they cuddled. They were halfway through a movie when there was a knock on the door. Link got up to answer it, and it was Clayton. They all walked into the kitchen, and Link picked up one of the papers and handed it to Clayton. “Do you think we could get in to look at it first?”

  “Sure, I’ll set up a day and time, then call you later tomorrow and let you know. What time do you get home from school?”

  “Well, right now, I get home around three-thirty. When school starts, it will be more like four-thirty. I have to make sure all my kids are either picked up or on the bus.”

  “This would be after work. She’ll have to meet you there and then show the house. I don’t think anyone lives there. At least she said that a few of the houses were empty. I told Cade about this house, and he and Bradley went past it and said it looked empty. By the way, you guys got me a twenty from Cade. He said you wouldn’t want to be that close to him, and I said you would.”

  “That was one of the deciding factors. The other was the cabana at the pool. This is seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Isn’t that more than Sam would want to pay?”

  “No, not at all. Our house cost him a million and a half. John’s sister’s house was two million. He’ll think he got off easy.”

  “Ok, give my number to her, and she can call and make an appointment for us to meet her at the house. I am anxious to see the house. It looks awesome in the picture on the page. Do you want the rest of the pages back?”

  “Yeah, I told Sam I would keep them in case he decided to adopt another child. He wanted to know if Alex had a brother too.”

  Alex laughed, “No, sorry, I’m an only child. I can’t wait to see the house as well. It sounds amazing. I can’t believe we might live there. I’m going to have to get another job just to pay the taxes on the house.”

  “They are high, but since you don’t have to buy the house, it is well worth it.”

  “Oh, I’m not complaining at all. It’s a small price to pay to live in a house like that.”

  Clayton left, and Link said, “Let’s take a ride over by the house and see what it looks like in person.”

  Alex nodded, and they got in the truck and drove over to Cade’s street. The went halfway down the block, and it was just beautiful. It had a large house, and in the front yard, it had a big fountain. The grounds were very well kept. It looked like a green blanket across the yard. The grass was smooth, and you couldn’t even see where it had been cut. Link wondered if it was fake grass as beautiful as it was.

  Alex grinned at Link. “We made the right choice. I can’t wait for us to go inside. I’m going to have to take a lot of pictures just to show my dad. He thinks he lives in a good house wait until I show him what we live in. He’s going to have a heart attack.”

  They wanted to go around back but decided against it. They still weren’t sure that it was empty, and they didn’t need to get into trouble for trespassing. They went back home and talked about how great the house was.

  The next morning at school, Link got his planner and took it to the office. He went into the principal’s office and handed him his planner. The principal went through it and was smiling. He took a stamp out of his drawer and stamped it with an approved stamp. He handed it back to Link. “Since your done with the planner, do you want to take the rest of this week off. This was the only reason you were here this week.”

  “No, thank you. I want to read the textbooks so I can be ready for the students. I feel I should know what each says before I try and teach the children.”

  “I admire your dedication to your students. I won’t be by to check on you anymore. I have the other two to see if I can get them busy, or they are gone.”

  “I’m going back to my classroom to start reading the textbooks. If you need anything from me, just let me know.”

  “Thank you, Lincoln. If you need anything, let me know as well.”

  Link left the office and walked toward his classroom. He was almost there when a door opened, and Darlene walked out of it. She almost bumped into him. “Link, what are you doing here?”

  “I’m a new fourth-grade teacher. What are you doing here?”

  “I’m a new second-grade teacher. Did you get your planner done?”

  “Yes, just got it approved. How about you?”

  “No, I haven’t even started m
ine yet. I don’t see the point in doing this, though. I guess that’s why I’m dragging my feet. How about I bring mine to you, and you can do it for me since you’re done with yours?”

  “That isn’t going to help you pace your work. You have to do it yourself.”

  “I don’t need a planner to tell me what I’m supposed to teach. I already know how to pace my work. You could take me out to dinner tonight, though. I’ll make it worth it.”

  “Darlene, you know I have a boyfriend, and we are going tonight to see a house a family member is buying for us. I don’t date girls anymore, and you know this. I told you several times at the movie theater.”

  Darlene stomped off and headed for the principal’s office. Link went into his room and put his planner in the middle center drawer and locked it up. He got his history book out and started reading it.

  An hour later, the principal came into his room and sat on the corner of his desk. Link looked up at him and smiled. The principal frowned. “Lincoln, I just got some disturbing news, and I wanted to ask you first before I take it to the school board. Are you gay?”

  “Yes, I’m gay and have a boyfriend; we are getting married soon. Is there a problem with me being gay? My sexual preference has nothing to do with my job.”

  “Not to me, but we do have small boys in the fourth grade. I think the parents would have a fit if they knew you are gay.”

  “My preference is not little boys. My preference is a man that I am very much in love with. Gay doesn’t mean a pedophile. It only means I like men, not women. I don’t see the problem.”

  “I think maybe we can hide the fact that you're gay, so there won’t be a problem. I heard it from another teacher that I can’t say won’t come and tell the families of your students. I don’t want you to tell anyone else you’re gay. If you do, I will have to let you go.”

  “Mr. Simpson, with all due respect, I’m not going to hide who I am. I’ve worked hard to get through college, and I earned my degree. You don’t have any grounds to fire me. I have done nothing to deserve being fired.”