CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Jeo

 

When I reached the dock, Axel was sitting at the end, bare feet dangling in the water. I was glad to find him alone; something had been weighing on my mind for a while.

“Hey,” I said, stripping off my T-shirt and wriggling out of my jean shorts until I stood in only my navy briefs.

“Hey,” Axel said, looking up at me over his shoulder. Every time I thought I’d gotten used to his new look—dark hair covering the tats on his scalp and a sort of softer vibe all around—I was caught off guard again. He was a different man.

I guessed love did that to a guy.

“Gonna swim? Because otherwise you need to back up.”

I laughed and inched closer to the bigger man so the bulge in my briefs lined up with his mouth.

Axel made a face, laughed, and then pushed me into the lake.

Cold water enveloped me, and I sank for a moment before kicking upward to break the surface.

“You fucker,” I sputtered before spitting unidentified lake debris out of my mouth. I thought about Nick’s comment about duck poop and gagged.

Axel was laughing his ass off, so I splashed him hard.

“Dammit, Mendoza!” he yelled as I took off swimming.

I did laps until I’d tired myself out, then pulled myself onto the dock, ignoring Axel’s offer of a helping hand.

“I oughta kick you back in there,” Axel muttered. “You got me wet.”

“Poor baby.” I made a pouty face at him.

“You’re a dick.”

“I know,” I said seriously. When he looked at me questioningly, I continued, “I’ve wanted to apologize to you for a long time. I just keep putting it off.”

Axel’s tawny eyes reflected his confusion. “About what?”

Good to know he hadn’t been holding a grudge, particularly since it had taken me so long to bring this up.

“About talking about Caleb the way I did back when you were trying to get with him. Hell, I didn’t mean to be so shitty about his circumstances. I was just worried about you. You’d been mooning over him for a long time, and I just couldn’t imagine things ever working out. Plus, I was unhappy with myself at the time. None of that’s a good reason for the things I said though. Calling Caleb a headcase and all. That was really shitty of me.”

Axel’s jaw tensed. “Yeah, it was.” He nudged my shoulder with his, almost sending me back into the water. “But I forgave you because I know you, man. And I knew how it all looked. Nobody had been more surprised than I was that Caleb wanted me.”

“Why wouldn’t he want you? You’re great,” I said.

“You know what I mean. How could he, someone who’d been traumatized by someone who looked so much like me, not only be attracted to me, but learn to trust me?” He shook his head. “It defies logic.”

“But it happened, and you two are one of the happiest couples I know,” I said.

Axel smiled, then regarded me, the morning sun behind him turning the dark waves of his hair mahogany.

“What about you and Nick? How’s that going? That pairing was a bit of a shocker. Thought you two couldn’t stand each other. Although Blaze called it.”

I frowned. “He did?”

“Yeah, a while back. And Blaze is usually right, so I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“We’re just having fun,” I said, the words tasting sour in my mouth.

“Oh, yeah? You sure that’s all?”

I started to brush off his question, but the quiet lapping of the water on the dock, the peaceful twitter of birds overhead, and the heat of the sun on my shoulders relaxed me into a rare, sharing mood.

“You know who he dated before me,” I said, looking out at the sparkling water. A fish splashed the surface a few feet away.

“Royce? Yeah, why? You think Nick’s still hung up on him?”

I shook my head. “Nah. But that’s the kind of guy Nick likes. Rich and able to spoil him.”

“Evidently not, or they wouldn’t have split, and he wouldn’t be with you now,” Axel said.

“You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t. Tell me.”

“I may have fit the Daddy role better than I ever expected and even really enjoy it. I mean, I like taking care of him, and I get a real charge out of the whole thing sexually. But I can’t buy him things and take him places like Royce could.”

“Sure, you can. Things don’t have to be expensive to mean something, man. Hell, Caleb could hand me a clover, and I’d treasure the damn thing more than a diamond.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “You’re in love.”

“Yeah. I am.” He looked at me seriously.

Before I could reply, two motorcycles roared up the driveway, coming to a stop under the trees by the main house. Adam dismounted from the back of Tease’s bike as Trace pulled up beside them. I waved to them.

“Your bike sounds good, Jared,” I called to Tease when they got close.

“Yeah, Zeke gave it a tuneup the other day. It’s running much better.”

“How you doin’?” Axel nodded at Adam.

“Good,” he said, looking around and finally fixing his gaze on the lake.

“You guys wanna swim?” I asked. “The water feels great.”

“Maybe later,” Tease said. “I’m gonna head in and say hello. You coming?” he asked Adam and Trace.

They nodded, waved to us, and followed Tease to the house.

“I worry about him,” Axel said under his breath.

“Who, Skitz? I mean Adam. Fuck, I’ve gotta remember that.” A while back, Adam had told us he didn’t want to use his old nickname any longer. Now that he was having trouble with his head, the moniker had become hurtful to him.

“Yeah. The seizures and everything, but more than that, the way it’s all messing with his mood. He’s so down. I hate it.”

I nodded in agreement.

“Have you got to know Trace?” Axel asked after a moment.

“Not really. He keeps to himself. I think Blaze knows him better than any of us. I do know he plays a mean game of poker.”

We sat in companionable silence a while before Caleb yelled to us that pancakes were being served.

The scent of maple syrup hit me as soon as I walked into the house, and I immediately looked around for Nick, finally finding him in the dining room sitting next to Mick, which surprised me. Nick had always seemed jealous of Mick when his name came up—I probably shouldn’t have told him that Mick had called me Daddy when I’d fucked him, but at the time I’d thought I was proving I had some experience in the area—but it looked as though they’d become friendly while I was out swimming. I was relieved because Mick was a mere blip on my radar. He was a nice kid, but there was nothing between us.

“God, it smells terrific in here,” Blaze said. “Isaac, I miss your cooking at the clubhouse.”

“How could you when you have me?” Adam asked teasingly. He was a terrible cook, and he knew it.

Blaze cleared his throat. “Yeah, well.” Adam threw a piece of bacon at him, which Blaze caught and ate.

We laughed and talked while devouring the pancakes. The barbecue would be late in the day so fireworks could follow immediately after, but guests would begin arriving around noon.

I suddenly realized that this was the first time Nick and I been together as a couple in front of the entire group. I leaned back in my chair and put my arm around him, coaxing him closer to me. With only a little hesitation, he leaned into me, resting his head on my shoulder.

“Okay, guys,” Isaac said. “You’re fed. Now we’ve got things to do.” Nick, Lake, and I began clearing the table while Blaze and Axel went outside to pull the grill from the shed and clean it. Isaac started the vacuum and Tony began sweeping the kitchen. Others went to shower.

The doorbell rang while Nick and I were loading the dishwasher.

“You two look so domestic,” Mick said, coming through the room as he headed for the door.

Nick glanced at me, a pretty blush suffusing his high cheekbones. He quickly looked away and continued with the dishes. A minute later, Gavin came running in with another boy around his age.

“Nick!” To my dismay, Gavin jumped into Nick’s arms, and I had to steady my boyfriend so he didn’t go sprawling backward onto the floor. Gavin was small for his age but still an adolescent, and Nick wasn’t big like I was.

“Whoa,” I said. “You’re too old for that. You’ll throw Nick’s back out and then you’ll have me to answer to.”

Gavin grinned. “Sorry. This is my friend, Ari. Mom said I could bring him.”

“Hi, Ari. Glad to have you.”

“We brought our bathing suits to swim in the lake,” Gavin said. He turned to Julianne, who had walked into the room carrying a load that I quickly moved to help her with. “Can we go now, Mom?”

“Not to swim, but you can sit on the dock until I come out,” Julianne said.

“I think Dante’s got some fishing poles, if you want to fish. He’s outside,” I told the boys and they raced for the door.

Gavin skidded to a halt halfway out of the kitchen. “Which one’s Dante again?”

“He’s the one with long wavy hair who looks like he should be on a movie set.”

When the kids had gone, I turned to find Julianne and Nick staring at each other. Lake had just finished wiping down the table and, looking back and forth between Nick and his cousin, he excused himself and went upstairs. I couldn’t blame him as things had suddenly gotten tense, but I wasn’t going to leave Nick to face another possible verbal attack about his behavior at their grandmother’s party.

“Nick.” Julianne pulled him into a hug. When our eyes met, I could see Nick was surprised. “I was unfair to you. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Nick said. “I was pretty obnoxious. I’m sure that gets old.”

“But you have every right to want your father to acknowledge you. I talked to Grandma, and she’s not inviting him or my parents to any more get-togethers.”

“What?” Nick stared at her. “But they’re her sons!”

“She’d rather have you there. She’s sick of the way they act.”

Nick shook his head. “I don’t know. I think it might be best if I just don’t go.”

Julianne touched his arm. “Hey, don’t worry about it. Grandma’s with them today. There will always be holidays they can spend together.” She looked behind Nick at me, and I nodded to her. No need for Nick to know I’d spoken to her about Nick’s distress over the situation.

“I put the macaroni salad in the refrigerator, and the cookies over there on the counter with the other desserts,” I told her.

Nick moaned. “Don’t talk about food. We just ate a huge pancake breakfast.”

“Glad I missed that,” Julianne said. “I’ve put on five pounds in the last couple of months. I think it’s the sweets Kevin’s girlfriend keeps sending to the studio.”

Kevin was one of Blaze’s cameramen. He’d recently started dating a young woman in culinary school and, according to Tease, the baked goods she’d been trying out on them were out of this world delicious. The guys had been doing extra reps at the gym because of it.

The dogs started barking, and Julianne went to see if anyone had pulled up in the driveway. Wrapping my arm around Nick, I tugged him back against my chest and licked a stripe from his collarbone to his ear. He shivered and melted against me.

“Christ,” Nick murmured into my shirt.

“Anywhere we can have a little privacy?” I asked.

“Not without everyone knowing exactly what we’re up to.”

“I’m willing to take that chance. How about you?” I nibbled between his neck and shoulder, loving the way his knees buckled, requiring me to hold him up.

Nick turned devilishly demure eyes to me. ”Yes, Daddy.”

Fuck, yeah.