The next morning, Charlie had to get up early to feed the baby. All six boys were sitting on the couch waiting for breakfast—the only one missing was dear old daddy. Seems as Earl was deciding to sleep in and get his beauty rest, that was until Charlie walked in the room with a glass of ice water and threw it on him. Earl jumped up out of the bed and screeched, "Who just threw water on ?" When he realized that Charlie was standing at the door with a glass still in his hand, he didn’t say another word.
"Now get your lazy ass out of the damned bed, clean up, and get to this kitchen. Your children are hungry—all six of them—and don’t make co back in this room again because the results for you will not be polite." Then he stord out of the room.
On the sofa, all six kids—well, one was almost transition age—were snickering. Charlie looked at them and asked, "Any of you guys know how to cook?"
The oldest, Mason, and the second to the oldest, Madison, replied, "Yes, we can cook, sir."
"Well, boys, kitchen’s in here. Don’t make a ss, make enough for you and your brothers and no one else, because if lazy ass wants his breakfast, he’s going to have to cook his damn breakfast."
Mason and Madison were amazed at the refrigerator and the amount of food that was contained within it. When they were living with their dad, they usually had to go over to their grandparents to eat because Earl didn’t give a shit about no food and no damn refrigerator—he was too worried about getting the next dick in his vent.
By the ti Earl finally dragged his ass into the kitchen, the boys had eaten and were cleaning up their ss. "You ungrateful brats didn’t leave a damn thing to eat."
Mason turned around and looked at his dad and replied, "There’s plenty of food in their fridge. You just have to cook your own al. We’re through eating—you should get up earlier, sir."
Mason ducked as his dad took a swing at him. Charlie cleared his throat. "That’s one, Earl. Don’t make it three. You won’t like when I get to three. You want breakfast with everyone else, you get your ass out of bed with everyone else. Nobody’s special, and nobody is a damn prima donna. Lunch is served at 12 noon straight up. If you’re not here, I’ll suppose that you’re underneath so hard dick Genn as he’s pounding your vent, but these boys will have their lunch at 12 noon. Now get out of my sight. I don’t want to see you again this morning. Go out and explore, but you will respect this house and you will respect ."
Earl looked down and slumped out of the room. Mason looked at the other boys. "Mr. Charlie is not playing around. He’s not going to put up with dad’s BS anymore, and honestly, I’m glad. Maybe this will be a new start for all of us."
---
Zach was moving a few things around when he saw Earl walking around looking like he was lost. "Morning, Earl. It looks like you got put out of the house early today. Charlie’s tough, but it’s not because he had an easy life—he’s been through hell. If you ever sit down with him and get to talk, you’ll find that you have a lot in common—a whole lot—and that’s the reason you’re where you’re at. He knows your tricks, he knows everything about you because he was once there himself. He didn’t always have that cottage he’s in and the man that he shares his bed with. Deeke hasn’t always been by his side. He’s found soone that loves him for himself, that doesn’t judge him, and he’s not going anywhere."
"Mr. Zach, you just don’t understand my life. It seems like I had a great life—oh yeah, I lived on an orbiting supply station. My dad ran a shop, he made things, he sold things. My father was out in the stars, coming in long enough to knock up dear old dad and right there at the delivery, then off again to make more money. I carved out my own living running a little sleeping station. Yeah, I slept around a lot, but hey, the custors paid , so that was okay."
"Well, Earl, that won’t go here. The Genn here won’t pay you for your worn-out vent. You need to find sothing to do such as a job around the ranch that you’re qualified to do and start settling down. Your oldest is going to go through his transition soon—I know it’s kinda late for him to be going, but still, he’ll need you when he does."
"All I can tell him is bend over, present it, and let him tap it. Maybe he’ll stay with you, and maybe he’ll walk away like most no-good n do."
"Earl, you’ve got a lot of growing up to do. I’ve been sponsoring Genn and hybrids for a long ti, and it doesn’t get easy at all." Zach’s voice grew stern. "I see them co in from other farms and ranches after they’ve been mistreated, or from so of the breeding programs when they have been utilized too much by the corporates trying to produce more Genn for labor forces. But I’ve never had to turn one away that asked for sanctuary. You’re welco to hit the road out there and go to the city. You still got a decent body on you—who knows, you might be in the latest edition of Gen Porn videos. Most of those guys are strung out, they don’t last long—maybe a couple of years until they can’t hold their legs together anymore, much less keep a child within their body because they’re so worn out, they lose them about halfway through the gestation. It’s a sad life, but you can make money for a little while."
Earl looked at Mr. Zach. "No, sir, that’s one place I don’t want to go. That’s one pathway that I will never follow because as bad as I am, I appreciate myself better than that, and that is one thing I just can’t do. I might have slept with different guys on the station, and yes, they did pay for my services, but to go on film and let sobody film you as they’re crawling on you? Oh, no way."
Earl bid Mr. Zach goodbye and thanked him for his words of wisdom.
As Earl walked around the ranch, people greeted him and welcod him. Earl didn’t realize that people were so friendly. On the station, they were all business, and when they were smiling, it’s because they were getting a piece of vent. These Genn, hybrids, and even humans were friendly for no reason other than he was walking around. Earl went back toward the house—lunch ti was getting close, and he decided he needed to help with preparation. After all, he was Charlie and Deeke’s guest.
Earl walked into the house and went to the kitchen. There he found Charlie cooking a al. He apologized for his behavior earlier that morning and told Charlie he wasn’t that good of a cook—that was Walter’s place in the family—but he would have to learn so he could help out.
Charlie smiled. "Thanks, Earl, but I think , Mason, and Madison have got this one covered. Why don’t you go in and set the table up, get that ready? Later, and you need to talk about the boys."
---
Curtis was having a blast with the twins. Walter was cooking lunch. He looked at Curtis, the size of the man and how gentle he was with the twin boys. He missed his mate and his other sons. He realized that life went on and the twins needed his attention most. Curtis ca into the kitchen with the twins hanging off each bicep and asked if he could help. Walter started laughing. "Nope, looks like you got your arms kinda full right now."
---
Zach stopped by Constantine’s cottage to have a word with him about the new soda shop and diner when he exited the front door.
Constantine looked up and saw Mr. Zach. "Good morning, sir. You just caught —I’m getting ready to head out for the diner. Everything is coming together. The kitchen should be open back up in a couple of days, and we are to have a grand reopening. Jake says the motor lodge is coming along great, the travel plaza is almost finished its remodel, and the market is going to open up also so that we can sell our leftover vegetables and handicrafts from here made by all of us."
"Well, that’s great, Constantine, it really is, but let ask you one thing. I thought we had an agreent about you not getting pregnant until after your third cycle. I spoke to you and Jake extensively about this, and you promised that you would wait, but it looks like you haven’t kept your word."
"Mr. Zach, I promise you we have not done anything to jeopardize that agreent. We have not had sex five days either side of my cycle, and we only have sex with condoms, so we have lived up to our agreent, and I am not pregnant, sir. I would know."
"Constantine, when you walked out that front door, I could tell you are already carrying. You have the first carry waddle." Zach’s experience showed in his voice. "I’ve been doing this too long not to know when a first-tir is carrying. You walk different in order to relieve the pressure on your pelvic area because your muscles are not strong there yet, so tell how did it happen?"
"I’m not pregnant. I can’t be—we’ve used protection. I’ve taken precautions, we’ve done everything just right, Mr. Zach, so I can’t be pregnant. Maybe you’re mistaken."
"Okay, let’s solve this, Constantine. Before we pick up the boys to go into town and get a fresh soda, I want you to take a pregnancy test over at the clinic, and either Clark or Lex can run it. If I’m wrong, I’m paying for lunch. If I am right, it’s on the house." He pulled out his phone. "And call Jake—I want him to be present no matter what he’s doing. He needs to get his ass to that clinic. This relies on him too because he’s half responsible."
Constantine called Jake and told him what Mr. Zach was saying and that he needed to get to the clinic ASAP because they were going to do a test.
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