by Rhys Everly
This wasn’t true. This was…
I was dreaming.
Yeah, that made sense. I was still in bed. There was no way this morning was real by any chance.
“Oh my God, did you hear that, Hudson? You’re in the clear!” Nathan shouted.
“I am?”
The whole family yelled a resounding yes, and my chest was about to explode.
This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.
The truth was out?
“Well, that was super fast,” Charlie said.
“If you don’t count the three and half years it took them to come forward,” Nathan spat.
“Better late than never, huh?” Luke said and looked at me, smiling. “I know it cost you a baseball career, but still.”
Who cared about the baseball career? I was cleared finally. I never thought that day would come.
“Well, this calls for a celebration. Champagne anyone?” Yaya asked.
“Me.” Summer raised her hand.
Luke laughed and ruffled her hair.
“Now when have we ever given you champagne, munchkin?” he laughed.
“Can you blame me for trying,” she said.
Even though no one needed alcohol at this time of the day, Yaya popped open a bottle and served us mimosas to celebrate… the fact that I was cleared?
These people hadn’t seen me in forever. They knew I’d not been kind to Nathan, and yet they were celebrating for me?
If this was what being in a family felt like, then I’d been cheated. Because Dad would never do anything like that. And Mom? Well, who the fuck knew where she was.
“I need to go. Romeo will be missing me,” I said, Charlie raising an eyebrow at my statement after we’d finished breakfast.
“And who would Romeo be, Mr. Bell?” he asked.
I laughed.
Had my kiss with Nathan not come out with the other truths? How had the rumor mill missed that? Or was it being selective over what was bigger news?
“That would be my dog,” I said.
“You have a dog?” Summer asked from across the table.
I smiled. “Yeah. Here he is,” I said and showed her my screensaver.
“Awww,” she screeched. “He’s so cute. Can I play with him sometime?”
“Of course,” I said and got off my chair.
“I’ll drive you.” Nathan mimicked me.
“You don’t have to,” I said.
“But I am,” he chuckled. “See you later, guys.”
He walked off, but I stayed where I was, staring at his back.
Well, a little more south than his back.
“What?” he asked when he looked at me from the hallway.
“Are you driving me in your PJs?” I asked.
Nathan looked down at his attire and shrugged.
“Whatever. It’s cute, isn’t it?” He smirked and turned his back to me again.
Was he being playful, or was it all in my head, my mind playing games with me?
“I’ll go change to my tux,” I said and climbed the stairs.
“It’s fine. You can keep the clothes and give them back to me next time,” he said as I approached him. “And if you don’t wash them? That wouldn’t be such a bad thing.”
He winked, and I froze in the middle of the hallway.
When I got back in the car, my tux in a bundle in my lap—I’d definitely have to pay for it, but after the morning news I’d got, I didn’t care—Nathan drove off, and I thought twice about confronting him again.
“I thought you wanted to stay friends,” I said finally as we were approaching the farm.
“Huh?” He looked at me.
“Why are you being a tease?” I asked.
Realization hit him in the head, and he rolled his eyes.
“Oh, come on. That was a joke. That’s what I’m like with my… friends.”
“Really? You weren’t like that before,” I said.
“Well, I was a pre-teen then. I think it would have been a little weird if I was sexually suggestive with my jokes back then.”
Fair play.
“So does that mean I can joke about stuff, too?”
Nathan shrugged.
“Who am I? The joke police?”
“Okay, then. I’d love to fuck you in those PJs.”
Nathan stepped on the brakes and we both jolted forward, only stopped from smashing our heads on the dashboard by our seatbelts.
Thank fuck for safety first.
“That’s not a joke. That’s a statement. Do you know how jokes work? Do I need to teach you?” he asked with a silly, patronizing look.
“Maybe that’s my style of comedy.” I grinned, winked at him, took off my seatbelt, and got out of the car. “Catch you later, hot stuff.”
I walked to the house, my back to Nathan and his sister’s car, hoping he was still staring at me.
Yeah, I definitely had some pretty good intel, and I was going to use it to my advantage until he spilled the truth.
When I got in the house, Dad was beside himself.
“Did you hear about the Carlsons?” he asked.
“I told you I didn’t set that fire and now you believe me?” I said.
“What?” he asked, pausing for a second before breaking out into more laughter. “Who cares about that? That bitch Felicity can suck my dick now. She thought she could ruin my farm. Who’s laughing now, bitch?”
Great.
The truth comes out, but that’s all he cares about.
Himself.
What was I expecting anyway?
Definitely not mimosas and a toast. Definitely not a hug. Or a smile.
If I hadn’t got those already at the Karagiannis family home, I’d have cried. But as it was, I just felt sorry for Dad.
And for me for having to live with him.
Twenty-Three
Nathan
I was starting to regret telling Hudson we could be friends. If that was his idea of being friends, it wasn’t really going to work.
For starters, he may have been “joking,” but I was hard all the way back home as I imagined him giving me a blowjob while I was driving before stopping in the middle of the road so he could fuck me. In my PJs.
This was a bad idea.
And what if hanging out with him gave him the wrong impression?
Or what if I gave in and got into a whirlwind of an affair only to come out broken?
I hate you, Hudson Bell.
Well, I think it was apparent from my fucked up train of thought that I didn’t really.
But fuck me if I wanted to hate him.
I drove through the streets of Cedarwood Beach desperately trying to get rid of my boner, and when I finally got home, I’d succeeded.
Not before a pit stop to jerk him out of my head.
God. If Maya ever found out what I did in her room and her car, she’d be pissed.
When I opened the door, I was immediately taken by the image of Charlie over a lying Yaya with a stethoscope hanging off his ears in the living room.
“Yaya!” I shouted. “Are you okay?”
Yaya sat up on the couch and straightened her clothes.
“Of course,” she said.
“Is she okay? What happened?” I turned to Charlie.
“I’m fine,” she said before Charlie could get a word in.
“Yaya. You were lying on the couch, and Charlie was checking your chest with a stethoscope. Something must be going on,” I said.
“It was just—” Charlie tried. But he didn’t succeed.
“It’s nothing. He was just practicing his nursing skills on me. Come on. Let’s have lunch,” Yaya said and sprung off the couch.
“We just had breakfast,” I screeched. “Also, I doubt Charlie needed to practice, considering he’s a full-time nurse. In the ER. I think he practices plenty.”
She was already gone. She didn’t stay behind to argue her case. But it was probably for the best.
I glared at Charlie and r
aised an eyebrow.
“Are you going to tell me you were practicing, too, or are you going to tell me the truth?”
He sighed and put the stethoscope away in his briefcase.
“I promised not to tell anyone anything…”
“Come on!”
“But! Let me finish. I promised not to tell anyone, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to keep it.”
He sat down where Yaya was lying moments ago and patted the space next to him.
I followed his gesture and got comfy.
“She told me she’s been having some chest pains—”
“What? Why didn’t—”
“Are you going to let me finish before she comes in and force feeds us lunch, dinner, and midnight snacks all at the same time?”
“Fine,” I replied and zipped my mouth.
“Thank you. She’s been having chest pains and getting short of breath. I told her to go to the doctor’s, but-—“
“But if she goes to the doctor’s, Carrie Vaughn is going to yap her viper tongue to everyone she knows,” I nodded.
Charlie shot daggers at me, and I zipped my mouth again.
“She doesn’t care about Carrie. But she doesn’t want to worry us. Especially Summer. So I told her I’d come check on her,” he said.
“And? Is she okay?”
“Yes. I’m not a doctor, but her heart sounds fine. I’m trying to convince her to come to New Harlow with me and do an ECG there, but”—he cast his glance at the doorway and pursed his lips—“it’s gonna take some more convincing.”
“Huh! Good luck with that,” I said.
He nodded and readjusted his butt on the seat, then grabbed my knee and smiled.
“Speaking of luck. Hudson?”
I grimaced.
“What does luck have to do with Hudson?” I asked.
Charlie shrugged.
“I don’t know. I was just trying to veer the subject to him.”
“And that’s the best you got?”
Charlie sighed.
“I know. I suck.”
“Ew. TMI,” I cringed, and he punched my shoulder.
“Now don’t go ugly with me. Tell me. I thought he wasn’t your friend anymore. What happened there?”
“It’s a long story,” I said.
“I got time,” Charlie said and put his feet up on the couch. “I ain’t going anywhere. Not until I convince missy there to come with me to New Harlow, and definitely not until you tell me why Hudson slept in your room.”
He smirked at me and patted my thigh, urging me to spill the beans.
Which I did.
Charlie was like an older brother more than an uncle. He was only eight years older than me, and we’d grown up together in this house. Luke, him, and I were like the dynamic trio.
Always getting up to no good while the rest of the family was too busy being weird and Greek.
I told him about the reunion, which led to telling him about the teaching. And then back to the reunion. And I even told him—not in detail; he was still my uncle—about what happened after.
“Wow. You’re on fire little nephew,” Charlie said when I was done.
I rubbed my neck with a sigh.
“I’d rather I wasn’t.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean ‘why?’ Did you miss the part where Hudson was bullying me for years? Or the fact that he’s hurt me before?”
“And?”
“What do you mean ‘and?’ He’s trouble. He’s not right for me. He doesn’t tick the boxes,” I said.
Charlie let out a loud cry and grabbed my shoulder.
“For fuck’s sake with that list! People are not tasks to do. You can’t keep comparing people to an inanimate, inadequate list.”
“But—”
“No ifs. No buts. You said he hurt you in the past, but is that really it? Because you just said you can forget all that and be his friend. So if you understand what happened to him and where he was coming from as a friend, why can’t you do that as… more?”
“Because he’s not right for me,” I argued, although I didn’t know why.
Charlie was right.
I was being stupid.
But was I going to admit that?
“I made that list for a reason,” I said.
“So that you don’t get hurt. I know. But we can’t control who hurts us and who doesn’t. If you keep waiting for Mr. Perfect, you could die before you meet him. And what if you meet him, and he’s a murderer?”
“If he’s my perfect man, he’s not gonna be a murderer.”
“But he could be. What then? You’d have missed out on Hudson and on… you know. Staying alive and stuff.”
I rolled my eyes and pushed him away.
“Not funny.”
“Just an incy bit,” he said, pinching his fingers in front of my face.
“Nope. Not even an incy bit.”
Charlie dropped his hand and pouted.
“Back to serious talk. You can guard your heart all you want. But how do you know you’re also not guarding it from love, too?”
I snorted.
“Did they teach you how to be a pompous ass at nursing school, or have you always been this weird?”
“Laugh it off all you want, but you know I’m right.”
“But what if he’s fooling around? He’s never even been with anyone. What if he’s just experimenting or blowing off steam? Or old douchewaffle Hudson comes back? What then?”
Charlie grimaced.
“Do you even need to ask? You kick his butt back to the curb.”
“I don’t know. I’ve never even thought of him in that way. Ever. It’s only since I started teaching him that it all came up. What if I’m just being… horny. You know? What if it’s all just a fantasy I want to fuck into oblivion?”
Charlie moaned.
“What I wouldn’t give for some fantasies to fuck into oblivion.” He shook his head and turned to me. “Anyway, I’m not saying drop all your guards and give yourself fully to him. You gotta be careful. Especially with people with this kind of history. But even if it’s just a fantasy, why not fuck it anyway?”
I didn’t manage to respond. I didn’t even know how I’d respond.
Yaya walked into the living room with a tray and served us all Greek coffee and cookies.
“Tell us, Charlie, what’s new with you? Have you met anyone?” she asked when she sat across the coffee table from us.
Maybe Charlie was right.
But there was more than what I’d just told him. It wasn’t just those fears holding me back.
It was also Sweet_Peaches.
But I didn’t wanna go there with Charlie because I couldn’t even explain to myself why I felt so attached to him, let alone try to explain it to someone else.
I had to figure this out my way.
And maybe I could convince him to meet me in real life so I could see if I was hallucinating or not.
Gee!
That’s why I needed my best friend right now. But he was too busy playing bartender to pay me any attention.
He hadn’t even flinched when I told him I didn’t need him to go with me to the reunion.
He hadn’t even asked me who I was going with.
Come to think of it, he hadn’t even messaged me to ask me how last night went.
Considering he was originally supposed to be there to help me stand up to Derek, he should have called first thing this morning. Hell, even call me last night.
But he hadn’t.
And how the hell was I supposed to figure this shit out on my own?
Twenty-Four
Nathan
“Can we please focus?” I urged—no, not urged. Begged. I begged him.
“I am,” Hudson said with slitted eyes and wet lips.
“Not on trying to get me… hard,” I said, whispering the last word. The campus library was not the place to talk about sex. “On fucking Science.”
Hudson remained u
ndefeated. Damn him and his stupid stubbornness. He’d always been stubborn, even as a child. And as a bully. And now, as a gay man on a mission.
A mission to get me into bed.
It had been happening all week since the reunion. He hadn’t let me go a day without seeing him, for “studying purposes,” but he was really trying to get me to sleep with him again.
But he’d be fooled if he thought I was doing it again.
I’d meant it when I said I wanted to stay friends. Just friends.
Not friends with benefits. Though he wouldn’t get the memo.
“Is it working, though?” He quirked an eyebrow, and I shot daggers at him.
Yes. Of course it was working. What did he think? I wasn’t made of steel. Although if you’d have looked or touched my cock, you might have thought otherwise.
“Nooo,” I said with way too much eagerness.
Spurred by the challenge, he rubbed his foot on my calf, working his way up.
I needed to start sitting as far away from him as possible. But how was I supposed to teach him from the other side of the library? And I was pretty sure he’d still find a way to make me come in my pants even at a distance.
Sitting next to him would also definitely not work. Last time we tried that, he’d laid his big, thick hand around my thigh and didn’t let go the whole time, taking pleasure in the fact that my bulge was showing through my jeans.
He was sin on a stick, and I was a fucking idiot for insisting on teaching him when he kept behaving this way.
“What about now?” he asked and rested his foot between my legs.
I huffed and pushed his foot off my chair.
“That’s enough, Hudson,” I said. “If you keep doing that, I’ll stop tutoring you.”
“You wouldn’t do that,” he said.
“Oh yeah? How do you know?”
“Because you’re a good man, Nate babe. And you wouldn’t want me to fail,” he said.
“We’ve gone to babe territory now, have we?”
Not that I didn’t like the word rolling off his tongue.
Babe wasn’t a word I liked as a term of endearment unless it was in conversations with Kyle.
But it sounded sexy as fuck coming from his lips. Those thick, wet and juicy lips.
Fuck me! I’m screwed.
Hudson pulled his shoulders up to his face with an innocent grin and chewed on the tip of his pen.