“He’ll be upset enough. He was close to Lance.”
Sarina sucked in a breath and pressed her fist against her mouth. Tears pooled in her eyes and dropped onto her phone’s screen. “Lance never liked the way Dad treated Sky. He did his best to make up for it by taking Sky fishing a few times a month and for those long walks on the weekend. Cora couldn’t have kids so they spoiled the shit out of us but Lance felt so sorry for Sky…” She laughed sadly, shaking her head. “Fuck, that man had so many faults but at least Sky had something like a father figure when he was growing up.”
“Hmm…” Mason winced, deeply worried for Sky as well. “Maybe it’s better if we give him more space while he’s here. I want to patch things up with Sky just as much as you do, but he’ll already be hurting and you know how low his threshold for…anything is when he’s like that.”
She was quiet for several moments, then nodded. “I don’t want to crowd him or make this about us while he’s already overwhelmed and overstimulated, but we have to let him know thatwe’re readywhenever he is.”
“Agreed.”
They split up when Sam woke up from his nap. Mason went to change and dress him for a walk in the stroller while Sarina left to help with preparations for the visitation, funeral, and the reception. With Nana in a wheelchair and frail and Adele milking all the attention she could out of the moment, most of the responsibilities fell to Sarina. That was how it usually went and Mason did his best to handle everything at home and support her in any way she needed.
After seeing her off and settling Sam in his stroller, Mason was free to curse Lance and reflect on the philandering circus the older man’s life had been. As only an honorary Sutton, Mason hadn’t been off limits and had witnessed Lance “in action.” He had never been Mason’s “uncle” so the old horn dog had tried it a few times. He’d flirted during cookouts and at holiday parties and had even cornered Mason in the garden at the Sutton House when he was nineteen.
“You know, Mason… You’ve always had a pretty face and a nice, round ass. I bet I could teach you a lot and we could have some fun, if you ever found yourself curious,” he said with an inviting wiggle of his brows.
“No, thank you,” Mason had replied weakly before making his escape.
Thankfully, Lance never repeated his offer. But every now and then, he’d wink and point at Mason fromacross the room or the table, his silent way of saying he hadn’t forgotten and was still interested in fooling around.
The whole idea was repulsive to Mason. Lance was married, old enough to be his grandfather, practically a second father to two of his closest friends, and one of the most admired and beloved men in the community. Mason had told Sarina and she did her best to stick by his side at family gatherings but she hadn’t been at all shocked. She had even teased him about going for it.
“You gotta admit, Uncle Lance is a silver fox and I bet he knows what he’s doing,” she mused once, causing Mason to recoil in disgust.
“Have you lost your mind?”
She shrugged, grinning wickedly. “You’ve gotta lose your virginity one day, Mase. Why not have a go at it with an older man who’s a seasoned pro?”
They had been walking on the beach so Mason had turned them toward the waves and began towing her into the sea. “That’s it. Start swimming and never come back. I’m getting a new best friend.”
“I should have drowned her,” Mason said to Sam, allowing the memory to fade with a shudder and returning to their walk.
His thoughts drifted as they went off-road and Mason guided the stroller into the grass and towards the beach. He couldn’t take it into the sand, but he could easily find a place to park and carry Sam. They could put their toes in the chilly sand and Sam could practice walking as he held onto Mason’s fingers.
That had become Mason’s favorite pastime. Nothing made him smile bigger or hit him in the gut harder than seeing and feeling Sam’s precious, chubby hands hanging onto Mason’s fingers. And the way his soft, fat feet slapped at the sand and his puffy, diapered backside bounced with glee… It was too much but Mason absolutely ascended when Sam giggled and laughed. That had to be his absolute favorite sound in the world and it never failed to give Mason goosebumps.
But it wasn’t working on this occasion. Mason was distracted and his anxiety was steadily ticking upwards as he thought about Sky. Every word they had said in his room that night had been etched into Mason’s libido and it had molded itself around Sky. Mason found so many amazing variations of that night in his dreams and jerked off to vivid fantasies about going down on Sky and fucking him.
It was one of the few secrets Mason had kept from Sarina, he was genuinely conflicted about his desire for Sky and slightly ashamed of how naughty some of those dreams and fantasies had gotten. She must have sensed that Mason was struggling with something uncomfortable because one evening during her third trimester, she snatched his phone out of his hand and downloaded Grindr.
“I’m ordering you to make a profile, go out of town, and get laid before I have this baby. We can’t both be this desperate and who knows when either of us will have the time or the energy to do ho things again.”
“Ho things?” Mason drew back, his face pinching. “Only one of us had a ho phase in college and you were busy enough for both of us.” Just like Sky, Sarina had beenverypopular on campus and had experimented with members of all sexes.
“I have no regrets.” She sniffed imperiously, making him chuckle.
“None?” he verified. “You probably could have paid closer attention when you were studying human reproduction and birth control,Dr.Cartwright.”
She cut him a hard look. “We all have off nights and I was in a dark, lonely place. You were in California that weekend for the ‘Hot 30 Under 30’ summit for entrepreneur nerds andgiving that keynote speech, Dad was dying, and I had barely slept in weeks.”
“So, it was my fault, then,” he had teased and she replied by sticking out her tongue.
“You should have been here to stop me but I’m looking forward to meeting little Sam when he or she arrives,” Sarina said in a shaking whisper, petting her enormous belly.
“Me too.” Mason gave it a tender rub before bending and kissing her protruding belly button through her tunic.
The moment had been wholesome but the following Friday night was spectacularly filthy. With steady prodding and assistance from Sarina, Mason had made a profile and uploaded some sexy, yet tasteful selfies. He had a meeting with investors in Boston that Friday afternoon and Sarina had surprised Mason by booking him the presidential suite at the Marriott.
They had browsed themanyoptions over FaceTime until Mason connected with a gorgeous law student named James. He was sweet and funny and didn’t mind that it was Mason’s first time. Like a godsend, James arrived at Mason’s suite douched, poppers and condoms in hand, and ready to play. He took his time, blowing Mason and showing him how to reciprocate. They rimmed and fingered each other but Mason couldn’t relax enough to enjoy having his own ass played with. James was perfectly fine with that and took turns riding Mason’s new beard and his dick like he was a see-saw.
