As self-focused as Ducky became on this trip, all that faded away as Chad’s usual smile morphed into a deep-set frown. He stayed quiet, waiting for Chad’s reaction. Ava tugged at Felicia’s arm, pulling her off the porch, seeming to understand the privacy they needed.
“I only told Mom a few days before we came to Hawaii.” Chad lifted his sad expression to Ducky. “I talked to her about it when you weren’t talking to me. She’s the one who urged me to come see you at your office that night.”
“I wasn’t purposefully not talking to you,” Ducky said, wanting to provide some sort of comfort, but Chad cut him off.
“I know, but I didn’t tell you that I told her I was into you. That’s how she knows.”
“How does Tristan know and not Dad?” Cate asked. A really good question. “You don’t have to answer. Call Dad. He’s in protection mode. He’s broken his rule on allowing free speech to dictate the news feed on Secret. He’s tried to suppress the video until he could talk to you but the buzz around Ducky’s ad campaign and the way StreamTrainer is going nuts over it all means Dad hasn’t been successful. I guess Ducky’s the one in StreamTrainer to make the decision to mute the post. His brother’s been trying to call him too.”
Well shit. Ducky pushed off the railing, going in search of his phone. The complete technology reprieve of the last twenty or so hours now felt more like a nightmare than the peace it had offered at the time. He went to his bedroom, pushing open the door only to remember he hadn’t been in there since he left last night for the bar. He pivoted around, bumping against Chad’s chest.
“Do you know where my phone is?”
“I’m sorry,” Chad said by way of an answer.
“What’re you sorry for?” Ducky asked, bypassing Chad. Maybe three steps into the living room, the fairytale of minutes ago took a hard, plunging nosedive. “Did you want us to keep this a secret?”
Emotionally, he hadn’t gotten too far into what a relationship with Chad might mean, but he didn’t see himself as willing to be a side piece or a hidden secret.
“No,” Chad said firmly, trailing after him. “I just have daddy issues.”
Ducky let those words bounce around his head before he stopped in the doorway of Chad’s bedroom. Only then did he remember he’d dropped his phone to the floor on the other side of the bed. It had no charge. But that took second place to the reality of Chad’s response. He swiveled around, walking backward to the nightstand, saying, “Your dad’s crazy about you. He only helped us with StreamTrainer because of you.”
Chad nodded as if that explained it all. He followed Ducky, moving within inches of his body, making it hard to concentrate. The personal space between them no longer seemed to matter. An arm hooked around Ducky, halting his progress. “I didn’t say it was justified. I don’t like to think about it. It makes me feel ungrateful. I’m not exaggerating at all when I say I was into you when we were young. I had to reconcile all these feelings about my sexuality all by myself. Then Dad came out and there came the media circus, lost friendships, and my family breaking apart. I’ve been with other men but kept my secret from my parents. It’s hard to leave that mindset.”
Yup, he got that perfectly. It was damn hard to let go of the past, but if they didn’t try, how could the future be anything other than a continuation of the chaos all around them?
His identity as a person required him to live a genuine, honest, and truthful life. No longer trying to make everyone around him happy at the expense of himself. Chad had to be on the same page if they had any real chance of making it work between them. A sense of strength built rapid-fire within him.
“Then we have to deal with it in order to move forward.” He ducked away from Chad, going for his phone. “After you deal with your dad, then explain to me how you justified learning you were into guys because of your feelings for me, yet you decided to bang other guys that weren’t me…”
The tension that had formed around them dissolved as Chad barked out a laugh. “I thought you were straight. I saw it as unrequited love. Don’t be getting any ideas for the future. We’re monogamous.”
What Ducky hadn’t expected as he picked up his phone off the floor was the sound of bare feet running toward him. Chad executed a perfect tackle, taking him off his feet, causing him to land hard on the top of the mattress. He bounced into Chad’s solid body as it came down on top of his.
He’d been tackled more times than he could count as a rite of passage earned by being the youngest of three brothers, but this one he let happen without fighting back. Chad manhandled him until he lay on his back, arms pinned above his head and Chad straddling his belly, looming above him. It might have been the most beautiful sight of his life. “Say we’re monogamous.”
“We’re in an open relationship,” Ducky quipped back, biting his lip to hide his grin. The silly joke tasted like acid on his tongue.
“I’m gonna kiss that smirk off your face,” Chad threatened as if that were a real punishment.
“My ass is smirking too,” Ducky teased challengingly. With an arch of Chad’s brow, he lowered his head, lips hovering just above his.
“So we’ll deal with life later?” Chad countered, letting go of one of Ducky’s hands. He rose enough to push his hand between his thighs, slipping underneath the waistband of his shorts.
His hard-on turned to steel. Who cared about the video or the world trying to trespass into their paradise? Ducky rolled his hips when Chad’s fingertips touched the head of his cock.
“Rim me and you got a deal.”
“You know the language of love, don’t you?” Chad lifted to push down Ducky’s athletic shorts. Those were tossed toward the only chair in the room.
Chad fisted Ducky’s cock, his mouth lowered, slanting over Ducky’s.
Better if all life just handled itself and left them alone.
CHAPTER 20
“Tristan kept my secret,” Chad called from the bathroom off his bedroom. Ducky lay in the bed, still coasting on his release. He’d never had this much sex in this short of time in his life. Chad was a tank in the bedroom. His boundless energy drove their pleasure to crazy heights.
