Written by J.P.G.

{Jacob Finding His Way is partly fictional. As I am writing this story, I am above the age of 21. If you want a story with lots of sex, look elsewhere. This is a love story. Seeing as it is a love story, sex is in there, but it’s in realistic balance in the characters’ lives.

Any similarity to any real events, names, or life events is purely accidental. If you are underage, (according to your state laws, a minor), if this literature is offensive to you or to anyone around your viewing area, or it is illegal for you to view such content where you are reading it,  stop reading the story. 

This story can’t be distributed in any way, shape or form without the author’s expressed written consent.}

Story Written by: J.P.G.

Edited By: Ed

Edited By: Trevor Johnson

Edited By: Jack

Chapter 78

 

“I would like to do it in person if that is all possible.” Jacob said with a shaky voice. He tried to hide the fact that he was nervous and did not want to be making this call, but he was not doing a very good job of it. Ralph’s mother could hear everything that Jacob was trying to hide in his voice.

“Jacob like you said, I have been waiting six years for any kind of news on my son and daughter. If you don’t mind, I would like if you would just tell me over the phone. Depending on the information, I might fly up there where you are at or where ever the information that your private investigator found out took him.”

Understanding Ralph mother’s feelings, Jacob did not press on her to come in person to get the news he has to tell her. The only problem he has is how to tell her. It had been six horrible long years for her and now she is about to find out the information she has been looking for. He has to word what he has to tell her the right way, or this phone call could go in a direction he does not want it to go.

Very carefully, Jacob told his old childhood friend’s mother what he just learned from Mr. Iglesias. Just like him, she had the same questions, and he gave her the answer Mr. Iglesias gave him, minus the pictures, which would have helped a lot. After telling her about the DNA test, she was silent.

“I know what I just said was a lot to swallow, at least it was for me when I was given all the information. It is a lot to try to digest, but I felt I owed it to you to inform you of what I found out. The only question that is remains is what do you plan to do about what I have just told you?”

“To be completely honest with you Jacob, I have no idea. Right now, I am in a fog that is not letting me think straight.” Ralph’s mother stopped talking, making Jacob very uncomfortable. Finally, after a little close to five minutes, she came back on the line. “I think what I should do is take the next plane out there and bring my kids home.”

“Ma’am I don’t want to sound like I have all the information because I haven’t, but I really do not think you confronting Derrick and his sister right now is a very good idea. After all, when I talked with him about this information, he took it very hard. He thought his mind was playing tricks on him with the memories that kept popping up from that night and the life before that night.”

“I can’t do nothing Jacob, I just can’t do that. I am their mother!” She realized that she was yelling at Jacob, so she took a breath and lowered her voice. “Sorry Jacob but my kids were taken from me and after six long years looking for them; they just appear in the city where my Ralphie’s best friend lives. That has to be some kind of sign for us that it is time for them to come home where they belong.”

“Again I agree with you on everything you are saying, but think about it ma’am. Put yourself in their shoes and think how you would react if a woman appears on their doorsteps claiming to be their mother. Not only will they slam the door in your face, but also you will lose any chance you have of getting through to them.

You were not here earlier this evening when I broke the news to Derrick. The look on his face was a look I never want to happen to another person in my life. His whole world that he knew tumbled down in less than thirty minutes right before his eyes. That is not good for anyone and he was old enough to remember that night, not your daughter.

She was a baby when she was taken from you. The only parents she knows are those two that adopted her. There is no way she is going to talk with you, even more so go with you. I know what I just said is mean and cold hearted, but I needed to make it as clear as possible on how things are right now down here.”

“Okay Jacob what do you suggest I do? Knowing what I know now, I can’t sit here in my home while my kids are living in a home they do not belong in.”

“Okay ma’am this is what I suggest you do. Pack a suitcase with plenty of clothes. Head to your airport, there will be a plane ticket waiting for you already paid. Come up here and when you arrive, I will pick you up at the airport and bring you down to the hotel I am staying at right now. There are plenty of rooms and you do not have to worry about expenses of any kind while you are up here.

Once you arrive, we will sit down and plan the next couple of steps. I really think the first thing you need to do, which I will help with, is get an attorney. That way you have one just in case the adopted parents try to fight you for custody. We do not want to go down there and not have all our ducks in a row. Playing defense from the start is way too hard.”

“You don’t have to do all that for me. I have savings that I put away for just this day. There was no doubt in my mind that it was coming. The only question that was out there was when. Well tonight that question has been answered.”

“Yes ma’am that question has been answered.” Jacob paused a few moments to construct his words so what he is doing does not sound like a handout. “The hotel my grandfather owns, so there is no cost there. As far as the plane ticket, we will talk about how you will pay me back on that when you get up here. Everything else is no extra cost as long as you eat with the rest of us and don’t need special meals.”

Jacob and Nancy went over a few more details before they hung up. As soon as they did, Jacob called information for the phone number for the airport. Once the operator connected him, he made all the necessary arrangements. The minute he got off the phone, he called Nancy back telling her when the plane was leaving and everything else she needed to know so she would not have any more added worries. She thanked him and they hung up the phone.

Feeling good how the conversation ended, Jacob headed over to the restaurant for dinner. When he walked in, he found the guys trying to get information about the new house out of poor Dewayne.  He walked over to his boyfriend’s side and planted a kiss on his lips, and seeing that, the others quieted down.

“Okay I understand you have a lot of questions about the house. All Dewayne or I can say about that is, well, we really don’t have any information.” Jacob tried to keep a straight face, but could not. He cracked up laughing, and the others knew he was holding back. “I am sorry guys; I just couldn’t help myself.

We already bought the land where the new house is going to be built.” Jacob explained where the land is at and their schooling issues before continuing. “Dewayne and I already hired a person to make the blue prints off of our ideas. We drew out an ugly drawing on how we want the house and now the blue prints are being drawn up.

While that is happening, the construction crews have already broken ground and are getting ready to set the foundation, once all the permits and paperwork are out of the way. In a week or so, we were promised that the blue prints would be done and that means the construction crew will start after that." 

Jacob asked Dewayne to go and get their extra drawings. When he returned, everyone surrounded the table trying to look at what the new house was going to look like. They were all surprised at the size and the other small houses that were going to be built along side of the main house. They asked whom the small houses were for, the answer Jacob gave did not surprise any of them.

When Franseca came out with the food, she put it aside and joined the others looking at the plans of the new house. When she saw what Jacob had in store for her and her family, she was stunned. The most she thought she was going to get was a couple of rooms, not another house as before. She had no idea what to say to Jacob about what he is doing, except thank you and her unwavering support and service.

Al walked into the restaurant and saw everyone crowded around the table. He went over to see what they were talking about and looking at. When he saw what Jacob and Dewayne came up with, he too was surprised. He thought that he and his wife would not even get a room since they are going to be moving to Austin for a while. Seeing that they were thought of, made him feel good.

All through dinner, all the boys could talk about is what the new house is going to be like when it was done. It was a change from what they have been talking about, the cars they are going to get. They have worn out that subject and Al was going to kill the first person that brings that subject back up while he was in the room.

Before Jacob and Dewayne were able to make their getaway, Al stopped them. He needed to borrow Jacob for a while, which made Dewayne sad. They both had a hard day and were looking forward to spending some alone time snuggling. Knowing his grandfather the way he does, Jacob will not be up in the room for at least an hour if not even longer. Not saying a word, Dewayne kissed Jacob, patted him on the butt and left.

Jacob dragged himself to the lobby where his grandfather and Tony were already waiting for him. He was already feeling the effects of the long day he had, and all he wanted was to go to bed with his boyfriend at his side. There was no slow moment today, and by the look on his grandfather’s face, the evening has just begun.

“Okay I know you boys probably have homework and want to go to bed.” Al looked at Jacob with a grin. “Or maybe be with the one you love, if you get my drift.” Winking his eye at Jacob, Al started to chuckle. “Anyway, I will try and make this as fast as I can so you can do whatever you need to do before going to bed.

Tony yesterday I thought I was going to die when I did not see you with Jacob when he drove up at the office building. You are my son no matter whose blood is going through your veins. I do not want anything to happen to you, Jacob, or anyone for that matter in my family, or friends circle. You fought me on not having any security, well after yesterday’s event that is no longer on the table. You will have security if not for your peace of mind, then for mine. I couldn’t think of doing anything yesterday until I saw you safe.”

“Dad come on please don’t do that. I am not like Jacob or you as far as money is concerned. Therefore, no one is going to give me an afterthought. The security you want to give me is a waste of money and frankly unwarranted.”

“I disagree with you Tony and it’s not up for discussion anymore. You will have security agents and that is the end of the conversation. There is no way I can go through another day like yesterday not knowing if you were okay. I have the means and the staff to do it, and you will thank me, I know it.”

Tony already learned when he was going to win a fight with Al and when he was not. This battle was lost the moment the school shooting started yesterday. Even though he does not like the idea of being followed around by men with guns, he has no other choice but to accept it and make the best out of it.

“Let’s move on from that and get to the other reason I called you guys in here.” Al leaned back in his seat and looked over at Tony. “I have already told Jacob this, but I have been dreading this moment to talk with you about it. You have had a bad hand dealt to you from the beginning and just when you thought you had a stable home life, here I am about to bust your bubble.”

The way Al was talking was making Tony freak out. The first thing that came to his mind was the adoption and it was thrown out. Either the judge had second thoughts about it, or his parents are coming out of the woodwork stopping it. No matter what the reason might be, he does not want his life to change in anyway.

“For months now the governor has been asking me to step into the chief-of-staff position. I have kept him at bay on that until this last week. He needed an answer and after talking it over with your mother, I accepted the position. That means Virginia and I have to go to Austin as soon as we can. I would like you to come since you are my son, but I am going to leave that up to you. Your life is good here and I don’t want to do anything to cause you to have any downfall or hard times than you already are having.”

Tony looked at Jacob for some help and Jacob noticed that. “Grandpa, Tony owns part of the Seven Elevens here in El Paso. I know in my heart he wants to go with you, but that is not fair to Dewayne. Why should Dewayne work his ass off and get paid the same that the other owner gets for doing nothing?”

“I agree with you Jacob and that is one of the things Tony is going to have to think about when he decides what to do. If he makes up his mind to go with Virginia and me to Austin, he cannot take any profit from the company he partly owns since he is not working there. Unless he and Dewayne come to some kind of understanding that is.”

Once again, Tony did not say anything; he looked over to Jacob to save him. “Knowing Dewayne the way I do, and I know him very good.” Jacob turned all shades of red as he tried to lighten the mood in the room by joking.  “He is caring and will not take what rightfully belongs to Tony. That is something Tony does not have to worry about.

So let us leave that issue alone for now and move onto to another. If Tony goes up to Austin, he will not know anyone there. Even the governor’s kids are not attending school there, but here. That means he will once again be the new kid at a school that is foreign to him. He had a hell of a time adjusting here at El Paso High. I think it is best with that and the company that Tony stays here for now.”

Jacob turned and faced Tony. “I know Tony you want to go with my grandfather and grandmother to Austin, but I don’t think you should go. You should at least finish high school and then go to college up there as a freshman. That way you won’t be the only one new at the school and you will be with grandpa and grandma.”

Tony tried to tell his grandfather that he was thinking about what Jacob just said. He really does not want to let his father down, but at the same time, he does not want to leave here. Just like Jacob explained in his two examples, friends and work. Maybe when it is time to go to college he will, but that is a big maybe.

“Okay I hear what you are saying Jacob, and I understand it. The only thing I need to know is if you Tony feel the same. I am not going to force you to do anything you do not want to do. If you want to stay here, it will not be a problem. If you want to move with Virginia and me to Austin, you can do that too! Whatever you decide, you need to be happy with the decision you make because you would be up in Austin most of the year.”

“I don’t want to let you down dad or make you think I don’t love you or mom, because I really do love you guys. If it was not for you two, I do not know where I would be. One thing I know for sure, I would not be living at the group home right now if you two didn’t adopt me. That is why this is very difficult for me to decide.

Everything that Jacob said rings true. I do not want to be the new kid again. I am going to be that when I go to college, but at least then, I will not be the only one. In addition, I do not want to leave Dewayne holding the bag. That is not right and you have taught me that. Nothing in this world comes for free and that includes the profits I get from our company.”

Al loved hearing his words from the young man he adopted. It was telling him that Tony was listening to him when they talked and actually took his advice. Something he has heard is rare in adopted children. Normally they refuse to get along with their adopted parents, which cause a lot of friction, but not Tony. He is totally the opposite.

“You spoke your mind and your heart Tony and I can’t hold that against you. In fact, I want you always to do that no matter if you think what you have to say is going to hurt someone. It is always better to tell the truth than to lead people on. With that said, I have no problem with you staying here. Virginia and I will miss the hell out of you, but every chance we get; we will come down here to make sure you are okay.”

Turning away from Tony, Al looked at Jacob. “I am going to put Tony into your care. I know I will not regret that decision. Make sure he does what he’s supposed to do, he knows what that is. If you need anything from me, pick up your phone and call me. No matter what time of day it is, or if you think I am busy, call me.”

Al turned his attention back to Tony. “I don’t want to hear that you are refusing to work with your security or Jacob here. In Virginia’s and mine absence, Jacob has the final word. If you go to Jacob for something and he turns you down, do not come to Virginia or me trying to play us off each other. Before we give you an answer, we will call Jacob and see what he thinks about what you are asking.” Al got up, walked over to Tony and sat down next to him.

“I know I don’t need to tell you this stuff because you are not that kind of kid. You are a son that parents wish they had. It is just I am going to worry about you and the rest of the family here every minute of every day. Promise me that you will be you while I am gone. That is all I am asking, be yourself.”

“I promise dad I will be me, nothing more and nothing less.” Al pulled Tony into him and wrapped his arms around him. He didn’t want to let Tony go. If he were able to, he would toss him into a suitcase and take him to Austin when he leaves, but he can’t. As they broke their hug, Alex and Matt walked into the lobby.

Al looked up at the two young boys and could see that they had as long of a day as he and Jacob had. Both of them look like they are carrying the whole world on their shoulders and then some. He felt bad for the boys because no one their age should have that kind of weight on their shoulders.

“Al and Jacob we didn’t mean to disturb you, but were wondering if we could talk with you guys for a few minutes.” Jacob thought that his night was finally ending, but here he goes again. He doesn’t want to be rude, but he is tired. The day he has already had, is a day from hell. By the looks on Alex and Matt’s faces, the news they come to talk to them about is not good.

“Certainly you can talk with us. Just let us rap up what we were doing here and then we will meet you in that room over there.” Jacob pointed to the room that he was in when he called Ralph’s mother. He could not help but think that while he is staying at the hotel, he might as well turn that room into his office.

Alex turned and whispered something to Matt before they headed off. They stopped at the check in counter, talked for a few minutes and then went their different directions. Matt went to the kitchen to grab something to eat, and Alex headed to the room that Jacob pointed out to him. It did not take long for Jacob and Al to walk in, and when they did, Alex opened up about everything that happened throughout the day.

As he was talking to Al and Jacob, Gloria and Andy Sr. walked in and surprised everyone in the room, but that was not going to be the only surprise they gave. Gloria got into the conversation and at the end she landed up going to the hospital to be at the poor kids side that gotten beaten up. When she and Andy Sr. left, Alex finished up with Al and Jacob.

When he walked out of the room, he was down on not receiving any positive feedback from neither Al nor Jacob, but understood why. They needed a little time to wrap their head around what he just told them and come up with what they feel should be done for David. It is just Alex is still a little angry that anyone could be treated the way David was.

Jacob and Al stayed in the room and talked a little longer about what they were just told, but neither of them were thinking straight anymore. They finally called it a night and headed up to their rooms. When Jacob finally got to his and Dewayne’s room, Dewayne was already asleep. He walked up to the side of the bed and just stood there looking down at his gorgeous boyfriend. Thoughts of disbelief started to sneak into Jacob’s head. He felt very lucky on getting the second chance at love; something he never thought was possible. Not after losing Joey the way he did.

Coming back to reality, Jacob quickly took a shower and crawled into bed. The minute Dewayne felt Jacob in bed, he pulled Jacob over to him, wrapped his arms around his chest and whispered ‘I love you’ in his ear before kissing him on the neck. In minutes both of them were dead to world and didn’t wake up once through the night.

The next morning the chief-of-police Carnes walked into his office a lot earlier than he normally does. No one was there including his staff or the janitor staff. He needed the office to be empty in order to move the investigation of the guy he killed in the direction he wanted to. Plain and simple, he could not afford to have anyone see him plant evidence in the case in order to move it along.

After dropping off his briefcase in his office, Carnes went over to the coffee machines pretending to put them to go. The real reason he went to the break room was to make sure there was no one in the office. He had to walk across the floor, covering almost the entire floor, before he got to the break room. There is no way he would miss anyone that is there because he would walk pass the majority of the cubicles.

Once he got to the break room, he put the coffee to go. As the coffee was being made, he stood at the door looking out to the floor making sure he didn’t miss anything. Once he was sure that he hadn’t, he made himself coffee and headed to a desk that had access to the system that can print out property receipts and anything else he needed.

With rubber gloves on, Carnes booted up the computer and once it was on, he pulled out a sheet of paper from his pocket with a login and password of an officer that normally inputs and prints out the paperwork Carnes needed. A few clicks on the key pad, the computer came to life. A few seconds after that, Carnes was where he wanted to be and printed out the paperwork he needed and inserted false evidence into the system.

Knowing he was running out of time, he quickly finished up with the computer and made sure everything printed on the right forms before shutting down. Grabbing the forms from the printer, he separated them and put the right copies on the right desks. The last set of copies he put with the evidence he brought in, sealed up the evidence bag, as it should be before placing it on the desk of the detective that was given the case. As he walked away, he looked back to make sure everything looked right.

Seeing that it was, he felt good that he got what he needed to have done. Not only is he moving the investigation where he wanted it to go, but also at the same time, he was pushing the blame on a person that is no stranger to breaking the law. A person Carnes needed to take down in order to make another person he wanted out of the picture easy pickings. With what he just did, he killed two birds with one stone.

Just as Carnes got to his office, his personal secretary walked in. When she saw him already there before her, she was stunned. In all the years that she has been his secretary, not once had he beaten her to work. Unless there was an emergency, but if that was the case, she didn’t see the rest of his high command there with him.

Knowing her boss the way she does, she knew not to ask. Therefore, she just said good morning to him and asked if he needed her to get him a cup of coffee. When he said no, she did not think much about it until he raised his hand to show her that he already had a cup. Her eyes popped out her head when she saw her boss wearing gloves.

Carnes saw her reaction and quickly lowered his hand. He had forgotten to take off the gloves he put on so he wouldn’t leave his fingerprints on anything that he handled or used. Thinking quickly on his feet, he came up with an excused on why he was wearing gloves in the office.

“You are probably wondering why I have gloves on?” Carnes secretary didn’t move she just looked at her boss waiting for an answer. “Well before I tell you, I need you to place a call to the head janitor and get him or someone from his staff up here to clean the men’s restroom right. I went in there and it was a mess. There was no way I was going to use that restroom without cleaning it.”

Hoping he didn’t need to say anymore, Carnes took off the gloves and tossed them in the wastebasket next to his secretary’s desk. When he saw his secretary immediately do what he asked, he walked into his office feeling that she bought his explanation, which she did. When the supervisor of the cleaning crew answered the phone, she ripped his head off for a dirty restroom and demanded him to send someone up to clean it.  

Just as this was unfolding downtown, Jacob and the others were barely getting up starting their day. Little did they know that the chief-of-police just implicated one of them as the person that killed the guy in the park. Soon they will find out, but for now, they are going about business as usual.

As Jacob was heading to the elevator, the door opened and Joey walked off. Jacob greeted him good morning and continued walking. He didn’t know that he came down to speak with him until Joey caught up to him and asked if he had a few minutes to spare. Still not very comfortable being around his ex, Jacob reluctantly said yes and headed down with Joey in the elevator.

Joey noticed Jacob’s reluctance and didn’t say a word as they rode down in the elevator. Instead, he put his thoughts together and made sure that what he had to say wasn’t going to upset Jacob. When the elevator door opened on the first floor, both of them got off and walked over to the room Jacob has made his temporary office.

“Jacob I’m coming to you this morning to make sure you are okay with everything. I know I promised your grandfather that I wouldn’t attend El Paso High, and here I am today registering for my first day there. If you are in any way uncomfortable with my being there, I won’t go. I’ll stay at Austin to make it more comfortable all around.”

“Look Joey I can’t tell you where you can or can’t go to school. When you came to me on this, I told you I was okay. I even told you that you didn’t have to get my permission to go to El Paso, as I am doing now. If things are not right at Austin for any of you, then you should transfer to another school where you can be safe.”

Joey looked down as he wiped his right foot over his left. “Um it is just that you seem uncomfortable being around me. For example, this morning when you saw me, you rolled you eyes at me. I know what I did was wrong, hurtful and I am a complete ass for doing that. At the same time, I know we won’t be able to become friends over night, but I am trying. I wish I didn’t do what I did, but it was done. Now we need…”

“Believe it or not Joey, I am over what happened last November. Right now everything in my life is going very good, besides what happened last weekend.” Joey laughed. “My health is finally good, which it hasn’t been for a long time. I have my family friends and more than that, I have Dewayne. Just like you with Caleb, I have moved on.

So let’s just work on our friendship and stop worrying about the little things. I am fine with you going to El Paso High school. In fact, I think it is great having you and your friends in our group at school. The more that like me, the more votes I will get for student council president. Let me tell you I need all the votes I can get.”

Jacob started laughing as he wrapped his arm around Joey’s neck. They walked out of the room joking with each other. Before reaching the restaurant Jacob and Joey went up to their rooms to get their boyfriends for breakfast. When Jacob and Dewayne got down to the restaurant, the guys were eating and talking up a storm.

As they headed out the door for school, Alex and Joey’s group were talking about who was going with whom to school. Jacob didn’t want any of that, so instead he went over to his hotty boyfriend and wrapped his arms around him. They stood there kissing each other while Alex and Joey decided about the transportation question. Once they were done, Jacob gave Dewayne a long kiss goodbye and jumped into the truck.

On the way to school, the conversation was a mixture of the new house plus what car each of them was going to get. Since they have been talking about the car topic every day since Jacob told them about his idea, he was tired of hearing it. He let them go on about that topic while he escaped into his mind.

When they turned onto Schuster Street, the traffic was halted due to the checkpoints that were in place after the shooting. Jacob got into line, but his security made him get out and go through the cleared blocked off area of the road. Not liking the idea, Jacob did as he was told. As he drove past the cars waiting in the line, he felt bad. All this was put up because of him and the governor’s kids. At the same time though he understood why it was done, driving on without thinking anymore of it.

Since most of the students were stuck at the checkpoint, Jacob did not run into the normal bumper-to-bumper traffic in the parking lot. He drove straight to his normal parking spot. Before he turned off the truck, he heard a knock on his window, scaring him half to death. When he turned around, he found one of his security agents making a sign with his hand to roll down the window, so he did.

“You, Alex, and the governor’s kids if they ever drive will not park up here in the regular parking lot for security reasons. Now on you have an assigned parking spot down below.” The security agent pointed to the small parking area that is maybe fifty feet away from the door that leads into the cafeteria.

Once again not objecting or saying a word, Jacob started his truck and parked it where he was directed to park. Before getting down, Jacob wanted to make sure there was nothing else that he needed to be told before heading into the building. His head of security shook his head informing him no for now. If any more changes come, he will inform Jacob ahead of time before he gets to school.

Meanwhile in the Critchfield home things were a little tense, but nothing like they were the first night when they got home after learning about Ethan. Ethan’s father spoke to Ethan as he always had done and that scared Ethan. Since their conversation in the conference room at Jacob’s office, the subject about him being gay has not been brought back up again. Everyone just pushed it to the back and went on as if nothing happened.

So when Ethan joined his family at the breakfast table before school, he was determined to get rid of the elephant in the room. As he sat down, his mother gave him his plate of food. Looking at each of his brothers and then at his father, Ethan cleared his throat several times trying to get their attention. Almost all at once, everyone looked up.

“Um, I was wondering if it was okay if I bring Derrick down over the weekend so you guys could meet him.” The table was silent; they just sat there looking at Ethan. “I thought you guys wanted to meet him. He is a very nice guy and I know if you give him a chance, you will like him as much as I do.”

Mrs. Critchfield was the first to find her tongue. “Of course sweetheart we would like to meet the young man that you are going out with. Give him a call and let him know that he is invited to come down on Saturday for dinner with the family.”

Mr. Critchfield did not say word; he just nodded his head and returned to reading the newspaper. His brothers on the other hand surprised him. After their mother broke the uncomfortable silence at the table, they all spoke at once. Nothing bad, but Ethan was not able to understand them to be certain.

When they realized that they were not getting their questions answered, they took turns talking. Just as Ethan thought, they had no problem about meeting Derrick. They wanted to know what type of person he was, his likes and dislikes. After telling his brothers everything, he knew about his boyfriend, they were more excited to meet him than they were when the conversation started.

Back at school, Joey and his group had gotten their breakfast and were looking for Jacob and the others. When they spotted them, they walked on over. At first, Joey didn’t introduce everyone, but when he realized that some of them didn’t know some of the guys in his group, he made the introductions.

 

Jacob and Chase both got up and walked over to their old friends from Austin. They thought that they would never seem them again since they were no longer in the same high school, but here they are. The six guys greeted each other with big smiles, how are you before getting down to catching up with each other.

Not wanting to leave, but having to, Jacob got up and made Sam and the guys swear they will talk some more during lunch. Once he got their promise, Jacob made his way to the same place he always goes every morning, the ROTC building. As soon as he walked in, Colonel Pigeon called him into his office.

There was no doubt in Jacob’s mind what the conversation was going to be. He reluctantly walked to the colonel’s office thinking to himself that he is tired of talking about Joey and what it means with him attending the same school. Just as he explained to Joey this morning, he can’t stop him from attending El Paso. Therefore, he wishes that everyone would just stop asking him what he thinks about the whole thing.

Colonel Pigeon quickly waved Jacob in and got right down to business. “I am not going to comment on your past with Mr. Alvarez, but he is now here. Therefore, what I am going to talk about is how you two are going to act with each other from this date forward. There will be no fighting of any kind between you two, is that understood.”

 “Yes that is crystal clear to me!”

“Good then we are on the same sheet of music and able to move on.” Colonel Pigeon picked up Joey’s cadet file and looked it over quickly. “As you are aware Mr. Alvarez is the same rank as you.” Jacob nodded his head. “I only have one battalion commander slot on staff, so that means one of you is not going to be battalion commander.

This is what I am thinking Jacob. You are better off being the brains behind things. You put together many of the procedures that we are using now, including the unit newsletter. Why don’t we pull you out of the battalion commander slot and give it to Mr. Alvarez. That way you can concentrate more on the newsletter and everything else.”

Jacob straightened up in his seat. “Sir, with all due respect, NO! You have already taken away the newsletter and many of the other things that you are asking me to concentrate on. I have held this position most of the year and to be straightforward with you sir, it is not right to give him my position just because he has the same rank. After all, he is the one that is new here, not me.

On top of that, sir, he was barely promoted to that rank before he came down here. He was being put into place for next year, not this year. He had the rank I have, but his position down at his old school was executive officer. If anything that is what he should get here with the rank that he came with.”

“You and I have not seen eye to eye on many things since I got here. I was just thinking that maybe by pulling you out of the slot that we seem not to be able to work with each other would make our relationship a lot better. Let Mr. Alvarez have the headache of running the battalion and you sit back in the XO position. That way you could work more on running for student council president.”

“Once again sir I respectfully decline, but thank you anyway.” Jacob got up from his seat. “If I would agree to step down and take the XO position, I will lose battalion commander for next year, which means I won’t be able to go up for brigade board. Joey will have the slot and will keep it next year as well. No sir, I will not step down and you can’t take it away from me unless I do something wrong.”

“Jacob I am not anywhere near that. All I am trying to do is help you out with all the stress you are under. >From running a business, running for student council president, keeping up your grades all the way to everything here, you are pulling yourself way too thin. Let me help you by taking some of the pressure away Jacob.”

 Standing there not stunned on what Colonel Pigeon is proposing Jacob still could not understand why he is pushing so hard on this. He thought that they fixed their problems the last time they talked. They had a heart to heart, but now it looks like the colonel has reconsidered his thoughts on their last talk.

“Sir, I am trying to show you courtesy in this conversation that we are having, but it looks like you are not getting it. Thank you for thinking about me and being worried about me pulling myself too thin on everything I have taken on. I know I have a lot going on, but if I couldn’t handle it, I would not be doing everything that I am doing.

With that said, I’m not going to give my position to Joey, so stop asking. He comes in with the same rank, but he gets the position he had in Alamogordo, XO. If I get brigade staff next year, then he will get battalion commander.” Jacob started his way to the door without asking to be excused. When he reached the door, he turned around.

“I find this conversation kind of funny sir.” Colonel Pigeon looked at Jacob with a confused look on his face. “You told me you had a problem with me being gay, but you were going to work on that. You do know that Joey is just like me, gay that is. If you were thinking by replacing me with him because of the gay issue, you were wrong. You would get the same type of person running the battalion.”

“You are taking this conversation completely wrong Jacob, completely wrong.” Colonel Pigeon got up and walked over to Jacob. “I am aware that Joey is gay and I have no problem with that. As I have told you. I am working on my thoughts and beliefs about gays. You have proven to me that gay guys are no different from straight guys. In fact, by the looks of it, you guys can handle a lot more pressure than your straight counterparts can.

Please understand all I was doing here is trying to lessen the burden that you have on your shoulders, that’s all. I want you where you are and I know you will get brigade staff next year. It was just I had this chance to help you without promoting anyone else, but since you are okay on how things are going, so am I. Therefore I am not going to ask again.”

Jacob thanked the colonel and left the office without asking if there was anything else. He walked into the large classroom unable to think straight from the conversation he just had with Colonel Pigeon. With their recent past, Jacob does not believe what he was told because of how everything unfolded. There is no doubt in Jacob’s mind that the colonel had hoped the conversation had gone in a different direction than it did.

Once Jacob got into his morning routine, he forgot all about the meeting he had with Colonel Pigeon. With only fifteen minutes left in his second period class, he started gathering his things. He wanted to be the first out the door since his third period was on the fourth floor, which means he will have to go up three flights of stairs.

Just as Jacob was closing his backpack, his teacher called out to him. At first he thought he was in trouble because he was not paying attention, but when he walked up to the front of the class, he found out he was wrong. He didn’t notice that a request had been delivered for him to go to the principal’s office because his mind was completely into getting everything into his backpack.

Grabbing the hall pass from his teacher, Jacob thanked her and went back for his bag before leaving. As he walked to the principal’s office, he started to wonder, now what. The conversation he had with the Colonel earlier came flooding back and now this.  He doesn’t know why he is being called in, but if it is for him to do something he doesn’t want to do, he is going off on whoever is asking.

As he was halfway to the principal’s office, Jacob passed Josh’s head of security and a couple of his agents. They were involved in their conversation and didn’t even notice him, but Jacob did and that him worried. Jacob knows that Mr. Benedict has an office here at the school, but he is rarely seen and hardly ever uses it.

Trying not to worry, Jacob pushed what he saw to the back of his mind, but when he walked in, he ran into Alex and his agents. They were walking out and neither of them looked happy at all. Alex nodded his head at Jacob as they passed each other, but neither of them said a word to each other. That once again got Jacob thinking on what was going on. Between seeing Mr. Benedict and now Alex and his security, Jacob knew something was up and it can’t be good.

That all changed when he saw who else was waiting to see the principal, the other two running for student council. Since the third had not arrived yet, Jacob figured they are going to wait for him. He walked over to the counter, signed in and then took a seat next to the other two he is running against. They sat there staring to the front, not saying a word to each other. It was uncomfortable for all the boys.

One of Principal Michael’s secretaries got up and instructed Jacob and the other two to head into the conference room. None of the boys asked questions, they just did what they were told. When they walked in, they waited for each other to take a seat. After a few minutes of just standing there, Jacob gave up and sat down.

As the other two sat down, Principal Michaels walked in. Jacob could tell by the look on his face he was not in a good mood. “Okay gentleman I am going to make this short and sweet. I have a million things going on all at once and no time to spare, but I felt that I owed it to you students to tell you first before I announced it to the entire student body.”

Principal Michaels sat down as he opened the folder he came in with. “Arturo Medina is no longer attending this high school, which means he is no longer in the running for student council. Do not ask what happened, because I won’t answer you. All you need to know is that he is longer running and that is all, is that understood?” All at once, Jacob and the other two guys said yes.

“Good I am glad you understand what I am telling you. With that, out of the way I need to talk about another thing I have seen going on in this election. I have been meaning to bring you guys in since I first saw it, but one thing after another had come up. This week has been the worse. It has been a week from hell and it doesn’t seem to let up.

Anyway, let me get back to what you guys need to know. If I hear one more word about a candidate’s sexual orientation from any of you, you will not only be out of the race, but suspended as well. A person’s orientation has nothing to do with a high school election and if I had anything to do with it, it would not have anything to do with adult elections.

I will not allow the elections of this school to become dominated with mudslinging. Some of you at this table have found their future occupation by running for student council, God help us all. What you do after high school I don’t care, but what you do here I do care about. While you are in my school running for office, you will respect each other and only speak about what you are going to do, not throwing each other under the bus.”

The principal handed Jacob, Markus and Victor a booklet. As soon as they got the booklet from the principal, they started reading it. The very first paragraph made it clear what it was rules. Rules on how they have to act, what they can and cannot say in their speeches and everything in-between. Victor glanced through the booklet and was the first to ask the principal a question.

“Okay if we can no longer talk about the person we are running against, how are we supposed to win? I understand the bit that we must keep this clean, but come on that is reality. In real world politics a person does whatever they need to do in order to win, except breaking the law or cheating.”

“Yeah I agree with that!” Markus jumped in not giving Principal Michaels a chance to answer Victor’s question. “If we can’t talk about the others we are running against, then you need to also make it clear no one is allowed to use groups like the Show Chorus to win over votes. That is not fair since there is only one Show Chorus in this school.”

“Let me start with you Victor and your concern first. I already gave you the answer to your question and if you were listening you would have heard it.” Principal Michaels walked over to Victor. “So let me sit here right beside you and say it once more, maybe then you will hear me and understand me.

I will not allow the students in this school to run their campaign as the adults in the real world do when they are running for office. One of many things that the teachers and I are responsible for teaching you is right from wrong. The ways campaigns are run in the real world are wrong, dirty and just plain sleazy. That I will not allow in this school.

You guys can say whatever you want, just nothing bad about the other. If you want to point out in your speech what the other said in their speech that’s fine. If you want to point out their promises and then give your own, that is fine as well. Just do not talk negative about each other in your speeches. If you test me on this Victor, you will be the first out of the race and getting a small vacation that will go against your allowed absences that you get each semester.” Looking over to Marcus, the principal continued.

“The only reason you have a problem with Jacob here using the Show Chorus is because you didn’t think about it yourself. You were instead running a sleazy campaign, and Jacob here took the high road. Therefore, the answer to your concern is no I will not put in a rule that states that the Show Chorus or any other group or team can’t be used.

If any of you get the Glee Club, the band, the football team or any other organization to come out and support you that is fine. I will not step in and say to the groups of this school that they have to stay neutral in our student elections. They have their own minds, just like you, so they can decide on their own who they will throw their support behind.”

Neither Markus nor Victor liked the answers they were getting from Principal Michaels. They felt everything was going against them and nothing against Jacob. In their minds, the only conclusion they could come to is that the Principal wants Jacob to win and he is going to do what he can to get that to happen.

“Principal Michaels if you favor one of us over the others you should just come straight out and say it, not hide behind changing the rules.” Victor blurted out of frustration and once the words left his mouth he wished he could take them back.

“I am an honest person and I will be honest here. I do favor one of you over the rest and hope that person wins the election. With that said, who I like and do not like does not matter because I am not allowed to vote. The student body is the one that makes that decision on each position in student council. If the past way of voting is any indication on how the voting is going to unfold this year, the person I like will not win.”

All three, Jacob, Markus and Victor were stunned on how forthcoming he was being. They have gotten use to teachers, well any adult to lie to them when they ask them to be true about their thoughts and feelings. However, here is their principal who has no problem laying it out on the table for all to see.

“I have nothing further for you guys, so grab your things and see one of the secretaries on your way out to get a pass back to class.” Principal Michaels got up and opened the conference door. “I hope you boys are clear where I stand about the way you must conduct yourselves as you run for student council. I hope I don’t have to make an example out of any of you in order for you all to see that I do mean what I say.”

Once again, at the same time, Jacob, Victor and Markus said yes, as they walked out. Principal Michaels needed to speak to Jacob on a very different matter, but decided to leave it for another time. He didn’t want the other two students to think he is getting favoritism from him, when he is not. 

While Jacob was heading back to third period.  Downtown the chief-of-police was finishing a meeting with several of his precinct commanders when his secretary came running in. She grabbed the control to the television he had in his office and turned it on. At first, Carnes did not understand why his secretary did what she did, but it didn’t take long for him to catch on.

He could not believe what he is hearing. He turned to his secretary. “Is every news channel reporting this crap?” His secretary shook her head as she changed the channels to show her boss. Carnes was getting angrier by the minute. He got so angry that he wanted to throw something or someone through a window.

When it looked like the news anchor was done, and was moving on, she didn’t. Instead, she went back into the breaking news and recapped it again. “There has to be something in the water here in El Paso or something our elected officials are eating, because we have been getting hit with scandal after scandal with our local politicians.

First, a couple of months ago Governor Lopez came out speaking against our district attorney who was running for his own term in office. As many of you know, he wasn’t elected into office. He got the seat when our current governor called upon the elected district attorney to serve as the state attorney general.

No one questioned who was appointed to the elected seat of this county district attorney’s office because he was only going to serve out the remainder of the term, which was only a little over a year. After that came out, we learned a very important lesson. We can’t ever trust the people that have never been voted into office by the voters. The voters made it clear to the district attorney that he was not going to get away with what he did. He saw that he no longer had the support of the people, so he dropped out of the race.

That was the first to drop out in a week period. The judge that was involved in this scandal as well, landed up losing his bid for re-election. Both men saw that they lost the trust of the people, so they dropped out of the race for their seat.

Now we are here with a third scandal of one of our elected officials. I am growing very concerned about our elected officials that are holding office. A third scandal to break in our county in two months is not good and I say to the viewers of my show we need to make it clear to those that need our vote that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.

Chief-of-police Carnes if you have a personal vendetta against a citizen of this county and use the power of your office to carry out your vendetta, it is time for you to step down as well. We cannot have our chief-of-police running around our city, spending taxpayer’s dollars on investigations to dig up dirt on other people that hold office. You are our highest law enforcement officer in charge of every officer in this county, but you are acting worse than the criminals you were elected to keep off the streets.

It is high time that we clean house here in our county. We have already started with a bad district attorney and district judge let’s not stop there. If our chief-of-police is over using his office that he was elected to hold, he must be taken out of that office. If he doesn’t want to do the honorable thing and drop from the race, then it will be up to us the voters to boot him out come November.”

Before leaving the top story, the reporter went over the facts that she and every news agency got from their reliable source. As she went through her facts, the chief-of-police figured out who their source was. It could only be one person that knew the information that the reporter is reporting on and had the connections to get it out there. If they think this is going to stop him and run him out of town, they have another think coming.

Several blocks away from where the chief-of-police was watching the news, Andy Sr. and Jr. were exiting out of Jacob and Al’s office building, heading to the county jail. Andy ran into Jr. when he returned to his office after dropping off Alex’s little brothers and cousins back at school. They landed up at his McDonalds after playing hooky from school. Andy could not believe that they did what they did, but understood.

When he walked into the building, he found his son waiting at the banks of the elevators on the lobby floor. Andy Jr. was looking for Jacob or Al, but they were not available, so Andy Sr. offered his help. At first, his son was hesitant, but came around. They walked out of the building together not talking at first, but not even a block away, Jr. broke the silence on why he needed to speak with his grandfather.

“Dad the poor kid I had arrested has nowhere to stay. I found that out this morning when Mr. White called to inform me what the holdup was on getting the kid out. The court would not release him unless he had a place to go. I tried to get a hold of grandpa and even Jacob, but neither of them was available. I had to do something to help that poor kid. He should not have to stay in that place dad because his parents are asses.”

“What did you do Andy?” Andy Sr. asked in a concerned voice.

“I called Mr. White back up and told him to let the court know that the kid has a place to live, the hotel. I know if I were able to get a hold of Jacob, he would have suggested what I offered. Just like me, he doesn’t want the kid to spend any more time in that county jail than he has to. He is not criminal and should not be treated like one.”

“Andy first let me say that you don’t know anything about this kid, not even his name. All you know is what you got from him the little time you spent with him as you waited for the police to show up. There has to be a reason why his parents are doing what they are doing. There has to be more to the story on why he is in the spot that he is. You don’t know any of that and a lot more, but you are bringing him into the hotel that neither your grandfather nor brother owns anymore.”

“I know Dad but what was I supposed to do here? This kid made one mistake and everyone is just walking away from him, turning their backs on him. That isn’t right and you know that. He needs someone to come in and show him that one mistake doe not ruin a person’s life. It is sad it has to be a complete stranger.”

That hit Andy Sr. hard. He knows that his son was not trying to direct the conversation to him and all the things he had done, but that is how he got it. When things got rough when he first married Gloria, instead of sticking it out, he made it worse. It got to the point he walked away not looking back, or some would say Gloria gave him his walking papers. Either way, he came back and got another chance, so why not this kid?

“Okay I see where you are coming from, just do not expect a lot from this young man because who knows what he is going to do. All we know right now is what he has told you and there is another side to these stories out there. I will back your play here and help you in any way I can. Hopefully this young man wants the help.”

“By the way I do know the kids name.” Andy Jr. pulled out a sheet of paper from his back pocket and unfolded it. Seeing that, Sr. could not help but laugh. “Seth Logan is his name and he is nineteen years old. I think I wrote his birthday wrong when I filled out the paperwork that day.” Junior scratched his head as he tried to remember what he filled out for Seth’s birthday. “Who cares if I did? If I were wrong, the police would have caught it and fixed it. But according to the copy of his driver license, he is nineteen.”

Just then, they arrived at the entrance of the El Paso County Jail. Both senior and junior stood there at the bottom of the stairs looking the building over because they have never been this close to it before. It is a grey building, with all the windows sunken into the concrete. What got junior’s attention more than anything is the sharp glass sticking out of the wall from the third floor up. He wondered how they were able to keep the glass sharp.

Before he was able to ask, junior got his answer from an officer that was walking into the building. “The reason there is glass sticking out of the walls is to keep drugs from getting in. The inmates here find all sorts of ways to drill holes in the wall to bring in drugs. If they somehow get away with it before they are caught, they will not be able to pull the drugs through because majority of the time it gets tangles in the glass.”

Andy Jr. smiled at the officer. “Oh that makes a lot more sense than what I was thinking. I actually thought the glass was there to try to deter escapes, but how could that happen with the bars on the windows. Plus I am pretty sure you guys have some kind of sensors somewhere to alert you if a window is broken.”

“Yes and yes to your questions about the glass and the windows, but to be completely honest with you, the glass would not stop a person if they really wanted to escape. If they really wanted to escape, they would not care about a few scratches and cuts. Now the fall on the other hand is a different story. The way the building is made; there is nowhere a person can latch onto in order to climb up or down the wall.”

The officer held the door open for senior and junior to walk through. They thanked him before they went their different directions. Andy Sr. went to the lobby to sit down, the officer was buzzed in and Andy Jr. went over to the desk to find out what he could about Seth. He was told that Seth is still being processed and it will be another thirty minutes at least. Junior thanked the officer and joined his father in the lobby.

Next door to the county jail, the chief-of-police was in the county court house asking a judge to sign off on several warrants. Since the judge and the chief-of-police went back a long ways, he did not hold a hearing. Instead, he just signed the warrants without question and sent Carnes on his way to execute the warrants.

Armed with the warrants, Carnes ordered several units to follow him to Al and Jacob’s office building to execute them. They jumped into their patrol cars and drove down the ten or so blocks from the courthouse to the office building. When they arrived, they got out of their patrol cars in a hurry, leaving them in the middle of the road. As they walked into the building, they were immediately greeted by the buildings security.

Chief Carnes pushed through his officers and introduced himself to the security thinking they would step aside once he did that, but they didn’t. Instead, they radioed for more security to come up front. It took less than two minutes for more security to arrive, which included the head of security, Mr. Jackson.

“Mr. Carnes what can I do for the outgoing chief-of-police?” Mr. Jackson asked with a smile on his face, making the chief-of-police angry. “As you know this is private property  and unless you have a warrant to be here, you and your officers need to leave.”

Mr. Carnes pulled out the warrants and handed them to Mr. Jackson. “Here you go you son-of-a-bitch, now let us through.” Mr. Carnes pushed Mr. Jackson aside and started making his way to the elevators, but when they pushed the buttons to go up, they got a surprise, they didn’t work. The elevators were locked down. Mr. Carnes looked over at Mr. Jackson and gave him a dirty look, but didn’t say a word. He ordered his men to the stairway, but once again, they found the doors locked.

“If you don’t want to be placed under arrest for obstruction of justice and whatever else I could think up, you better unlock these doors.” Mr. Carnes yelled across the lobby at Mr. Jackson, but it did not do any good. “Unlock these doors now or I will order my men to knock the doors down. It is all up to you.”

“You will have to order your men to knock the doors down, but good luck on that. Once those doors are sealed, there is no way through them. I don’t care what you use; you are not going to knock the doors down.” Mr. Jackson chuckled enjoying the reaction he was getting from Mr. Carnes.

Not saying another word, Chief Carnes ordered a couple of his men to go out and get a battle ramp to knock the door down, and the other officers to arrest Jackson. Not liking their orders, they did what they were told. They walked over to Mr. Jackson and placed him under arrest and a couple other guards that tried to stop them from doing their job.

While his officers were doing what they were ordered to do, Chief Cranes stood there looking up at the ceiling. Thinking to himself, one way or another he is going to get up there and arrest the person he came down here to arrest. Hoping once he does that, the press will move off him and over to the governor and those that work for him.

TO BE CONTINUED……………………..

I have a home page for you to see what the characters look like or what the places look like. If you want to walk in their shoes, please go to: http://jacobmillertex.com/

WRITER’S CORNER:

{Hello, one and all, welcome back to another filled chapter of “Jacob Finding His Way”. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Out of all my stories, this story is the easiest one for me to write, because still a lot of it is based in one way or another from my life experiences. It may not have happened in the exact way I wrote them into my story, but the majority of the plots have some truth to them.

Anyway, let me get away from that and get to why you are reading this corner, the summation of the chapter. It covered a lot in such a short span of time. Some of the questions you might have had hopefully were answered, but were replaced with some new questions by the time the chapter ended. I know you guys do not like cliffhangers and I am using them a lot more and more, and for that, I am sorry. With that said, it does get you guys to come back week after week to find out what happened.

 Jacob was in a day that seemed that would not end. It was a day from hell, but he was not the only one in a day from hell, Principal Michaels was in one as well. To understand what I am talking about here you need to go and read Rebirth, chapter one. Back to this chapter, Jacob got back to the hotel and all he wanted to do is kick off his shoes and be alone with Dewayne, that didn’t happen.

First, he made the phone call that he was dreading. Ralph’s mother took the news pretty good if you would ask me. If I were in her shoes, I would be jumping up and down, asking were my kids are, but not her. Instead, she stayed calm and listened to Jacob. At the end, she agreed with him and takes the next available plane. I wonder how she is going to be once she arrives in El Paso. I guess we all will have to wait and see for that answer in the next chapter of this saga.

When Jacob finished up with that call, he thought his day was ending, but it wasn’t. He walked into the kitchen and got into the conversation about the new house that’s being built. Then when it looked like he was done there, he was brought into another conversation with his grandfather and Tony.

Several of you wrote me about Tony, and being truthful with you all, I forgot all about him. By the time the emails came in, I had written already two chapters more from the chapter where the shooting happened. It is hard at times to go back and find a slot to put something in there about a character that had fallen through the cracks.

Well in this chapter, I fixed it with the conversation that was being held with Tony. He didn’t want security and Al folded on it and let him be without it. After what happened at school with the shooting and all, Al saw he made a big error and corrected it. Over Tony’s objections, Al gave him a security detail.

The second part of that conversation was Al and Virginia moving to Austin. Al is a pretty smart man, I know he knew that Tony was not going to want to go. Tony is barely putting his life back together. There is no way he is going to up root himself and move to a new place with knowing anything about it or friends. I am glad that Al understood and is allowing Tony to stay with Jacob in El Paso.

Something is rotten in the chief-of-police’s office and it is Chief Carnes. He arrived at work early in order to set someone up for the murder he did. Who do you think he is setting up? Is he going to get away with it do you think? On the other hand, do you think the mountain of lies he is building is going to come tumbling down on him?

Little things were mentioned in this chapter about plots from the upcoming “Beneath the Mask Chapters.” As Jacob was making his way to the principal’s office, he ran into Alex. If you want to find out why Alex was in the office, you need to go and read “Beneath the Mask”. He also ran into Josh’s head of security. Whatever is going on, it is big.

In the meeting, he had with the other two running for student council president; we learned that one of the guys that was running for that position is no longer, because he was suspended. Principal Michaels did not give any information on why. If you guys want to know, the answer to that is in chapter one of “Rebirth”. New rules were handed down, which did not make two of the students happy. I wonder who will be the first to break the rules.

I almost forgot about Ethan. There is going to be a lot more of him written about in the chapters to come. He doesn’t know right now, what is going on with Derek. How do you guys think he is going to handle the news? Derek is not the person even he thought he was, more so Ethan. This plot is going to have a lot of twist and turns, check it out.

Towards the end of the chapter, I noticed a plot from “Beneath the Mask”. We learned a little more about the kid Andy Jr. had arrested. We learned his name and that his family has turned their backs on him. Since he is going to live in the hotel, that means we are going to read a lot more of Seth in the chapters to come.

Finally, the ending of the chapter, what is up there? The chief-of-police got several warrants, but for who and what? Why did Mr. Jackson do what he did? The poor guy landed up being arrested. Since Chief Carnes had warrants, he should have let him through without a fight. I can’t wait to see how this all unfolds.

As always I can go on and on about the open plots in the story! If I do that, I can actually write several more chapters. There are so many plots that can take a turn at anytime. You might think it is going to go one way, but is lands up going another. Do not miss out on anything, or you will be kicking yourself for it.

There is a so much to answer in the chapters to come. Stick around and keep reading the future chapters, and enjoy! Please email me and let me know how I am doing at jacob@jacobmillertex.com, Thanks!}

 

Editors Corner:

Like a lot of you, I hate cliffhangers and Jacob knows this so he does nasty things like including them any time he can.  A lot happened this time and not a lot was resolved.  We know that only three are left in the student council elections for the top job and if we read all our chapters correctly, we know why.

Regarding poor Ethan, well I can see he is in for a tough time with Derrick and I feel sorry for both of them if they both love each other as I think they do, then that love is going to be tested to the limit very soon.

Jacob too is getting very weary helping others out yet not getting much done for himself.  Dwayne and he must be climbing up the walls with lust for each other by now. (I know I would) They are getting less and less opportunities to be alone, to be a loving couple.

Finally, I haven’t a clue what the police chief has up his sleeve or what the companies security is doing trying to fight him and hold him off from going into the building.

Tony will miss Al and Virginia but it would have been so difficult for him to leave El Paso, his friends and his business.

Anyway I’m going to call up Jacob and try to get him to tell me what’s coming next, but I won’t hold my breath, he plays his card pretty well close to his chest and anyway if I told you guys in advance he’d get the chief of police to kill me.

Keep reading and let us know how we are doing, and do not forget my stories as well.  The links are on Jacob’s home page.

trevor@jacobmillertex.com