17. CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 17

"We're really going to need to find a bigger place to hold these meetings," Ryder told Jesse just as Dorsey, with Mercury right by his side, entered the large conference room. Except, it might have been big, but there were a whole lot of people there.

Chairs were packed in around the huge table and side by side around the walls of the room. That seemed like a lot for helping work on the festivals—that was until he got the reams of paper detailing the lists of jobs that needed to be done for each one.

They really took each festival seriously, especially the fundraiser one, which had to have taken a ream of paper to print out for each person. That seemed like a whole lot of trees cut down.

"Have you ever considered doing this electronically?" Mercury asked when they were halfway through page after page of to-do lists.

Ryder pointed to Jesse. "Yes, but our dear mayor is electronically challenged. Making the paper copy is the only way to manage these events."

"Hey," Jesse exclaimed. "That's not true. It's not my fault computers hate me and keep shutting down whenever we're at a meeting."

"It is when you keep forgetting to plug it in, Angel," his husband quipped.

Jesse glared at Parker. "You're supposed to be on my side."

Parker leaned over and kissed him sweetly. "I'm always on your side, angel. That doesn't mean I won't call you on your shit."

"I've offered to take it home with me and plug it in," Gabriel told the room. "But Jesse claims he still needs to get work done when he gets home."

Parker choked on that piece of knowledge. "Games aren't work, angel."

That earned him an even bigger glare. "Stop telling my secrets. What we do at home, should stay there."

"Uhm," Mercury said. "Why not just buy him another tablet and link them? That way, Jesse can take one home, and Gabriel can charge the other for the following day."

Ryder grinned and tapped away on his phone for a moment. "Done. It should be delivered tomorrow."

"Good, because carrying all this paper around isn't fun," Ethan grumbled. "I swear at last week's meeting, I strained something in my back."

Bram instantly touched his husband's back and kneaded the muscles. "I've got you, boy. When we get home, I'll give you a nice massage."

That earned him a huge grin. "Thank you, sir."

Bram leaned over and kissed his sub. "Anything for you, boy."

"As great as the idea is for two tablets for Jesse, can we get back to the topic at hand?" Crow asked. "The Wilde Side is still having a lot of trouble staying afloat. Not to mention they are at complete capacity. Now that social services know about them, they are begging Cooper to take more and more kids who have nowhere else to go. It's not a good situation."

"Now that we're down to just the finishes for the Community Center, Brunetti Construction can start working on a new building to house more kids," Angelo told them. "I know the town doesn't have the money yet, but I'd be willing to front the money so we don't have to wait, and many of my guys have offered to work overtime for free to get it done."

Crow nodded. "That helps, it really does, but the fact is, even with the new building, Cooper doesn't have the funds to hire more social workers or psychiatrists to help the kids deal with the hand they've been dealt."

"Crow's right," Jesse said. "We've been going over the numbers, and as much as the Winter Holiday Festival will bring in, it won't be nearly enough. As it is Cooper and Trinty are way overworked. They hardly have time for themselves."

"Wait," Mercury piped up. "I thought the Wilde Side was going to help Mr. Nettles by renting his land to increase their operations?"

Jesse nodded. "They are. The farm only brings in enough revenue to keep them somewhat afloat."

"But there's only so much land they can manage without being able to hire more help," Crow said. "Dusty, the foreman, is basically working for free at his point. He gets room and board but has waved any income until we can create a way to bring in more revenue."

"Thank fuck, he has three sons, who are willing to shoulder a share of the work without being paid, but Jeremy is about to graduate high school," Ethan said. "Sooner or later, he's not going to want to work for free, nor should he have to."

Holy lord, Dorsey had no clue what helping others in town included. He'd been told many times that the previous mayor had practically bankrupted the town, which is why so many needed help, but he had no clue it was so bad.

"I just finished a series of paintings I can sell online," Charles told them. "It would only probably bring in about five to ten thousand, but if it would help, I'm more than happy to donate it."

Dorsey had heard there was a time when Charles had been one of the town's bullies but had learned the error of his ways, mostly because his mama was fierce and stopped him from acting like that. From the time he'd spent with the man, Dorsey could tell Charles was a good person; he'd just blindly followed his older brother, who thought he was better than everyone else.

"We'd appreciate any help anyone can give, but the fact is, the people of this town are still struggling and we've already asked them to help way too often to do so again." Jesse might have a point, but that didn't mean there weren't other ways.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Zane asked. "These kids have been kicked out of their homes for who they are. They have nowhere else to go. We can't just abandon them in their time of need."

"Nor can we ask people to keep working for free," Vail added.

"What about the casino?" Tarq looked over at Aidan, who ran Utopia. "Can we do a huge New Year's Eve event with the proceeds going to The Wilde Side?"

Aidan shook his head reluctantly. "Technically, yes. There's no doubt Titan Industries would support that, but we're already in November. Pulling off something big enough to earn what's needed would take months of planning. Hell, just the time we'd have to advertise to get people here would likely be somewhere in the ballpark of six months."

"What about two events?" Dorsey suggested. "Do a New Year's Eve event, which might get enough money to tide A Wilde Side over, and one at, say, Fourth of July. A festival during the day, dinner and gambling in the evening, and fireworks at midnight."

Several stared at him with their jaws dropped.

"We could even do a silent auction," he suggested. "After all, we're not far from Atlanta or Chattanooga. I would imagine the sports teams, museums, aquariums, and even high-end hotels would gladly donate."

Jesse beamed at him. "I knew there was a reason I liked you. That's a brilliant idea." Then he turned to Aidan. "Do you think it would work?"

"Logistically, yes," Aidan confirmed. "As for raising enough money with the New Year's party to get The Wilde Side through to July, I have no clue. Then again, we don't have anything to lose since we don't have any other way to fund them."

For the next four hours, they hashed out details for both events, with Ryder taking copious notes. Once they were done, he made everyone promise to be there next Monday to volunteer for the to-do lists he'd have. He also reminded those who had them to bring in their tablets and wrote down the names of those who needed them.

"Oh," Jesse said before they all got up to leave. "Technically, the Community Center isn't open to the public yet, but Angelo's crew have gotten the conference center finished. So next week's meeting will be held there."

Thank goodness. Even with the cooler temperatures outside, the heat of that many bodies was uncomfortable in the too-small space.

A hand on his lower back had Dorsey smiling as Mercury led him from the building. "You were hot in there, coming up with a solution," his Dom murmured in his ear. "I think I'm going to have to reward you."

That had Dorsey shivering with need. "Oh? What did you have in mind?"

Since it was Monday in small-town America, that tended to mean most businesses were closed. Dorsey wasn't the exception. He'd known he'd need a day off every week, so followed in the town's tradition of not opening on Mondays.

"Come home with me, and you'll find out sweetness."

Damn, but he loved it when Mercury called him that. Then again, he loved just about everything Mercury did. Who was he kidding? He loved Mercury full stop.

Grinning, he said, "There is nothing I would love more than to spend the rest of the day with you, reward or not."

That earned him a very heated kiss before Mercury opened the door to his SUV. And damn if he didn't feel special as always when Mercury not only helped him sit but buckled his seatbelt as if he was the most precious person in the world.