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Chapter 10
Rick
“Tell me,” Seth demands on a whisper as his eyes float over the crowd.
“Would you stop?” I shake his hand from my arm, but I can’t help but smile at his antics.
“I couldn’t do it. I’m not strong enough. Hell, I’m struggling right now.”
My eyes instinctively drop to the front of his swim trunks.
“Liar,” I mutter. “You don’t have a boner.”
The conversation started with Seth asking me how I can be around so many hot men and not pop wood.
“How would you know?”
I scoff. “I know what you’re working with, remember. You couldn’t hide it in those shorts even if you wanted to.”
He bites his lip, eyes gleaming with mischief.
“I bottom sometimes now.”
I sputter on the sip of soda I’m taking. “What?”
He shrugs, his eyes leaving me to drift over the hoard of sexy men gathered around the pool. Tonight is Cerberus’s annual Fourth of July party. It was delayed because the guys were away for work.
“Bottom. I do that… sometimes.”
“Thanks for sharing?”
He laughs. “That was one of the problems in our relationship.”
I don’t say anything. It was something we discussed, and then quickly decided as teens that neither one of us was comfortable experiencing that. Seth claimed he wasn’t “that gay.” I just couldn’t see that level of intimacy with anyone… Landon excluded of course.
“One of them,” I agree, my eyes searching the crowd for Landon although I know finding him will only mean being forced to watch Keira fawn all over him.
“But not the biggest one, huh?” Seth says with a sigh when he notices me looking around. “What happened with him that night at the diner?”
I shrug. “Nothing. We argued like normal, and I left.”
“Haven’t seen him since?”
“Not really.”
Seth and I were close once, but we don’t currently share the level of friendship required for me to mention Landon touching my leg while on his bike. For some reason, I don’t even mention the bike ride. It makes me sad to know that a guy I shared so much with is nothing more than a casual acquaintance these days. We were intimate, experiencing many things together for the first time, and I’m still focused on Landon after one adrenaline-fueled kiss.
It speaks volumes, the realization a loud drumbeat in my ears.
Seth grunts, his eyes landing on Aro.
“You’re a walking fucking stereotype, perving on the straight guys.”
“Hmm,” he grunts, a noncommittal sound, neither confirming nor denying it.
“Don’t be weird,” I warn as Dad walks in our direction.
“Mr. Matthews,” Seth says, holding his hand out to Dad.
“Seth,” he says, shaking it.
“What are you boys up to tonight?”
Seth holds up his can of soda, as if he has to prove he’s sober for my detective dad.
“Aren’t you twenty- one?” Dad asks.
“Had my birthday a few weeks ago,” Seth confirms. “But I never really liked the taste of alcohol. How’s work?”
I roll my eyes. Seth came around the house a lot our freshman year of high school and thought he had to engage in small talk with Dad to avoid suspicion of what we got up to when “my friend” stayed the night.
“Murderous,” Dad answers.
“Gallows humor,” Seth quips. “Because you’re a homicide detective. I like it.”
They continue talking, their voices fading away when I finally land eyes on Landon. He’s smiling with a couple of the guys, laughing in that boisterous way of his.
He nods in my direction, a courteous action with no hidden meaning that I can decipher before going back to his conversation.
We haven’t talked since the parking lot at Annie’s when he purposely tried to scare me. I rode with him for the charity event and then back to the clubhouse because not doing so would raise too many eyebrows, but I silently climbed off his bike when it was over, got in my car, and left. Tonight is the first time I’ve been back to the clubhouse since.
“Right, Rick?”
“What?” I snap my eyes to my friend.
“Your dad would have a good time at the club in Albuquerque.”
I choke on air. Dad knows I’m gay, but we don’t have conversations about it. He wouldn’t have an issue with it, but I’ve not reached that level of comfort with him yet.
Dad laughs.
“I’m serious,” Seth insists. “He’s hot.”
“Gross,” I mutter when Dad doesn’t shut him down.
He doesn’t remind Seth that he’s straight and married. He doesn’t need to. Dad knows he’s joking… mostly.
“Seriously, if he were—”
“You boys have a good night,” Dad says, clapping Seth on the shoulder before walking away.
“If you say one fucking word about my dad right now, I’ll never speak to you again.”
A laugh bubbles out of his throat, but he clamps his mouth closed.
“I have to get going,” he says out of nowhere.
“Really? The fireworks haven’t even started.”
Seth tosses his empty soda can into the bin for recycling as he nods. “I have an early morning tomorrow. Walk me to my car?”
