Home and Away

by Ariel Tachna

  “But I knew what I was getting into when I came out. You didn’t sign up for any of this.”

  “I signed up for it when I asked you out,” Kit insisted. “Maybe I didn’t think it would happen quite so fast or that it would be any big deal, but I’ve followed you since before you came out, so it’s not like I didn’t know people are interested in you off the court as well as on it. And like I said before, it’s not like my sexuality is a secret. I think it’s fairly pointless to deny that we’re seeing each other after that picture. You can tell them it’s still early days yet and ask them to respect our privacy if you think that will work. Or do you think that would just feed their curiosity?”

  Linc sighed. “Hell if I know. First thing I’m doing if I’m drafted is hiring a rep to deal with this kind of shit.”

  Kit winced at the thought of Linc being drafted and leaving Lexington, but he pushed that aside for more immediate matters.

  “I think for now, I’ll tell them yes, we’re seeing each other, but we’re supposed to be talking about the game and the upcoming championships. It probably won’t work, but hopefully it’ll satisfy them temporarily. Is that okay with you?”

  “That’s fine,” Kit said. “We can always say more later, depending on how things go.”

  “Obviously, you can say whatever you want to your friends, but if it’s not someone you know, no comment is probably your best reply. You don’t want the paps getting the idea they can trick you into talking to them.”

  Kit hadn’t considered that angle, but then he hadn’t considered a lot of things where Linc was concerned. “The only people I’d talk to are my frat brothers and my family. I don’t think any of them will go blabbing to the media.”

  “If they do, we’ll deal with it. Have a good time with your family this afternoon.”

  “Thanks. I’ll call you tonight?”

  “I’d like that. You can tell me all about it.”

  “Okay, talk to you later.”

  “Bye.”

  Kit ended the call and leaned back against the headboard. #Kinc. Despite Linc’s concerns, Kit couldn’t help snickering a little more. Some people had way too much time on their hands if coming up with a ship name for him and Linc was the best way they could spend it. He’d have to warn Logan and his uncles about the possibility of getting questions, which sucked and he could see why Linc hated it. He didn’t really think much would come of it. He wasn’t particularly interesting beyond his relationship with Linc, nothing to hold the media’s attention once they figured that out, but he’d think about a few stock responses he could use if someone did try to ask him questions. With a shake of his head, he looked at his now cold eggs. He could microwave them, but they’d be rubbery. Oh, fuck it, I’ll just make more.

  “SOMETHING smells wonderful, Uncle Blake,” Kit called as they walked into Blake and Thane’s house that afternoon. The temperature had dropped even more since the night before, but the fire in the living room fireplace gave the house a warm glow along with the smell of woodsmoke and whatever Blake had conjured up in the kitchen.

  “As cold as it is, I thought something warm and filling was in order,” Blake replied. “It has to simmer another half an hour or so, then we can eat.”

  “Are you going to tell us what ‘it’ is?” Phillip asked.

  “Something unpronounceable,” Derek replied before Blake could, “but I watched what he put in—beef, red wine, mushrooms, a bunch of spices, and I don’t know what all else—so I figure it’s good, no matter what it’s called.”

  Kit looked at Blake for more details. The rest of the family might be hopeless, but Kit loved to cook. “Boeuf bourguignon,” Blake said.

  “Send me the recipe?” Kit asked.

  “Try it first, and if you like it, I’ll send you a link,” Blake said. “This is the first time I’ve tried this particular variation. Do you boys want some wine while we’re waiting? There’s a pinot noir open on the kitchen counter.”

  “Anyone else want a glass?” Kit asked as he headed toward the kitchen. Marisol raised her hand, but Phillip and Ephah both shook their heads.

  Kit got down two wineglasses and poured the wine before opening the pot on the stove and taking a sniff. He smelled garlic and thyme for sure, and what looked like bay leaves floating in the sauce. He was tempted to take a taste of the broth, but Blake would fuss that it wasn’t ready yet. He grabbed the two glasses and pushed through the swinging door in time to hear Phillip crow, “Kit’s got a boyfriend.”

  “Oh, for Christ’s sake, what are we? Ten?” Kit handed Marisol her glass and sat as far away from his annoying brother as possible.

  “Keep a condom—”

  “We know!” Kit, Phillip, and Ephah said in unison.

  “Is this the person you were telling us about last week?” Blake asked.

  Kit nodded.

  “Well, fill the rest of us in,” Derek demanded. “We weren’t all here when you talked to Blake and Thane.”

  Good God, they were all ten.

  “I’ve gone out with Linc Joyner a couple of times.” Kit waited for the explosion when the name sunk in.

  Derek, Owen, Brian, and Preston all started shouting questions over top of one another. Kit rolled his eyes and sipped his wine, waiting for them to calm down enough for him to answer them. He shared an amused smile with Blake as the din continued far longer than it should have, as far as Kit was concerned.

  Thane finally silenced them with a piercing whistle. “He’s dating a basketball player, not the fucking Prince of Wales. Get over it.”

  “Thank you,” Kit mouthed in Thane’s direction.

  “What’s he like?” Derek asked.

  “Very down-to-earth,” Kit said. “Easy to talk to and interested in whatever I have to say. We’ve only had a few dates, but I really like him.”

  Fuck, now he was ten.

  “And that’s all that matters,” Blake said firmly. “If things continue, you’ll have to bring him for dinner one Sunday.”

  “I will, but only if the peanut gallery promises to chill out. He gets enough attention when he’s in public. He doesn’t need it here too.”

  “I’ll keep them in line,” Blake promised.

  Kit grinned. If Blake said he’d keep them in line, they’d stay in line. “Then I’ll invite him the next Sunday he’s free. And speaking of public, someone got a picture of us out last night, and it’s apparently the newest rage online at the moment. I think it’ll all blow over, but I wanted to warn you in case someone mentions it.”

  Phillip chortled. “They’re the next Brangelina, only they’re calling them Kinc.”

  They were all ten, and Kit was so done with it.

  Chapter Ten

  KIT finished chopping the onions and set them aside. He’d cook them later, but that wouldn’t irritate his eyes the way cutting them did. He didn’t want red watery eyes when Linc arrived.

  That done, he heated some oil in a pan and started browning the chicken. With six people to feed, that would take a while. He hoped it would all fit in one pan when he was done. He had a second, smaller pan, but then he’d have to figure out how to divide up the spices and everything else. He did enough calculating sample sizes and batch proportions at work. He didn’t want to do it when he was cooking too. At least everyone at work today had been chill, other than a couple of people asking if it was true. When he’d confirmed, no one had pressed for details beyond that.

  “Hey, Kit,” Phillip said from the entrance into the kitchen. “Hot date tonight, huh?”

  Kit rolled his eyes. God, Phillip could be annoying. “As if you didn’t already know that.”

  “Are you making Derek’s date-night spaghetti?”

  Really annoying.

  “No, the sauce has to simmer all day. I decided on the Indian chicken with raisins and almonds. I figured it was an easy dish to double.”

  “About that.”

  Kit turned to look at Phillip. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah, Ephah an
d I were talking at the job site today. We can go anywhere with Marisol and Zoe and still be private because no one knows us or cares, but you and Linc don’t have that, especially not now. We can’t change the way other people react to you when you’re out, but we can give you an evening alone. So it’s just dinner for two tonight, not six.”

  Okay, maybe not so annoying. “Are you sure? I mean, it’s your apartment too. I don’t want to run you all off.”

  “We’re sure. There’s a new Greek restaurant that opened up in Tates Creek Centre that Marisol wants to try. We’ll stay until Linc gets here so we can meet him. Then we’ll go pick up the girls and be back later. Maybe around nine? That’ll give you three hours without us. If it were a weekend, we’d stay out later, but we all have to work tomorrow.”

  “Nine should be fine. Linc has practice in the morning anyway, so it’s not like he’s going to want to stay out all night.”

  Phillip waggled his eyebrows at Kit. “Unless he decides to stay here….”

  Incredibly annoying. “Sure, with you and Ephah asleep on the other side of both of my walls.”

  “You don’t care when Marisol or Zoe stay over. Why should we care if you have someone stay over?” Phillip asked.

  Phillip really needed to decide if he was going to be annoying or nice. The back-and-forth was making Kit’s head hurt. “Go get ready for your date. You’re covered in drywall dust. You won’t impress Marisol like that.”

  “She’s seen me looking worse,” Phillip said with a shrug, but he headed toward his room anyway, leaving Kit alone with his dinner preparations and his thoughts.

  At least I don’t have to worry about the second pan, he thought, focusing on the small details rather than on the magnitude of Phillip and Ephah’s gesture. A whole evening alone with Linc, nobody to interrupt, nobody to care what they got up to. Thank God he’d done laundry on Saturday and changed his sheets.

  LINC knocked on the door to Kit’s apartment at six o’clock on the dot. Kit had said he could come any time after five thirty, if he didn’t mind waiting while Kit changed after work, but Linc didn’t want Kit to feel rushed. He’d said six and stuck to it.

  A blond man answered the door. “Hi, you must be Linc. I’m Ephah Hensley, Kit’s cousin. Come in.”

  Linc couldn’t stop the smile at hearing Ephah’s mountain accent. It was close enough to his own to relieve his worry about sounding uneducated next to Kit’s city upbringing. “Nice to meet you, Ephah. Linc Joyner.”

  He hoped Ephah answering the door didn’t mean Kit had been delayed somehow. Surely he would have texted.

  “Kit,” Ephah called. “Linc’s here.”

  “I’m coming,” Kit said, appearing from around the corner as he wiped his hands on a towel. “Hi, Linc. I was just putting the rice on for dinner.” He crossed the room and leaned up to give Linc a kiss. Linc bent down to meet him, but he kept the contact light, mindful of Ephah in the room. There was a difference between Ephah accepting Kit’s sexuality and having it shoved in his face.

  “It smells amazing,” Linc said when he straightened up.

  “It’s one of his best dishes,” Ephah said before Kit could reply. “You’ll eat well tonight.”

  “Aren’t you eating with us?” Linc asked, looking between Ephah and Kit.

  “Ephah and Phillip are going out with their girlfriends tonight,” Kit said. “Phillip is still getting ready, but they’ll be heading out as soon as he’s done.”

  Linc wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so he settled for nodding.

  “We can get better acquainted another time,” Ephah added. “Marisol—Phillip’s girlfriend—has been all over him to take her to this Greek restaurant, and Zoe thought it sounded like fun too, so we’re giving it a try tonight.”

  “Hey, sorry it took me so long,” another blond man—Phillip, presumably—said as he came into the living room. “Phillip Parkins. Nice to meet you.” Phillip held out his hand. Linc shook it.

  “Nice to meet you, Phillip. Kit talks about you all the time.”

  “Can’t be nearly as much as he talks about you,” Phillip said. “Okay, we’re off. We’ll be back around nine.” He turned and winked at Kit. “Don’t be naked when we get back.”

  Linc’s cheeks burned with embarrassment, and Kit turned bright red as he snapped the towel at his brother. Phillip danced out of range, laughing. Ephah just shook his head, grabbed Phillip’s arm, and pulled him out the door.

  “I am so sorry,” Kit said when they were finally alone. “My brother is an asshole.”

  “I think all siblings are,” Linc replied, thinking about his own brothers and sisters and all the hell they’d given one another over the years. “It’s in their job description.”

  Kit chuckled a bit. “I suppose it is. We have a few minutes until anything in the kitchen needs more attention from me. Do you want to look at physics now so that’s out of the way?”

  “No, I want to kiss you. Now that we don’t have an audience.”

  Kit’s grin lit up the room. He grabbed Linc’s hand and pulled him to the living room with a large leather couch against one wall. Getting the idea, Linc sat on the couch. Kit straddled him, bringing their faces close to the same height. “You have the best ideas,” he told Kit.

  “Damn right I do.”

  Kit took charge of the kiss with enough enthusiasm to leave Linc breathless. He returned it eagerly. No audience, no potential audience, no risk of interruption, half an hour before dinner… oh yeah, they could get in all kinds of trouble before then. He ran his hands down Kit’s back, enjoying the play of lean muscle beneath the soft wool of his sweater.

  That muscle would feel even better against his bare hands.

  He fumbled with the hem of the sweater, hoping Kit wouldn’t say no. He’d back off if he did, of course, but he didn’t think Kit would have sat on his lap if he’d intended to keep things completely chaste between them. Kit arched his back, making his sweater ride up enough Linc could get to bare skin.

  “Fuck yeah,” Kit breathed into the kiss. He rocked his hips, letting Linc feel exactly how into it he was. It was enough to get Linc the rest of the way hard too.

  Keeping one hand on Kit’s back, Linc moved the other to cup his ass and slow the rocking motion of his hips. When Kit whined in protest, Linc broke the kiss long enough to say, “You gonna make me go off too fast if you keep that up. Then what’ll we do after dinner?”

  “Get each other worked up again,” Kit replied. “All you have to do is look at me and I’m ready to go.”

  Linc groaned. Fuck it. Kit wanted it as much as Linc did, and his pants were loose enough he could wear them commando for the rest of the night. He bucked up against Kit, grinding their lengths together. Kit moved with him, moans escaping with every thrust, making Linc wonder what he’d sound like if they were naked, if he were inside Kit or the other way around. He couldn’t wait to find out.

  Kit worked a hand between their bodies and flattened it over Linc’s pec, resting the palm directly over Linc’s heart—and nipple. God, Kit was going to be the death of him, but what a way to go! Quickly he loosened Kit’s belt and got one hand down the back of his pants to knead at the hot, smooth skin of the perfect bubble butt that had tempted him since they’d danced at the frat party.

  Kit bucked harder against him, tearing another groan from Linc’s throat. Fuck, fuck, fuck, he was going to lose it any second now.

  He tightened his grip on Kit’s ass, intending to push them both over the edge, when a loud beeping rang through the apartment. “Fucking timer,” Kit muttered as he pulled away from Linc. “I’m sorry, but if I don’t deal with this, we won’t have anything for dinner.”

  Linc let him go, panting as he tried to bring himself back under control. He seriously considered telling Kit to let it burn and they could order takeout instead, but Ephah had said Kit was making one of his best dishes, and Linc would be a real bastard if he messed that up when they could just as easily pick back up after dinner
. He stayed where he was for another couple of minutes, until he could be sure the friction of his clothes wouldn’t set him off. Then he rose, adjusted himself more comfortably, and moved to stand at the door to the kitchen.

  Kit was still wonderfully flushed as he juggled pots and pans at the stove, making Linc’s cock throb at the sight of him. He had to focus on something else. “If it’s not too personal a question, you don’t look anything like Phillip or Ephah. Where did your brown hair and green eyes come from?”

  “You can ask me anything,” Kit said. “And Phillip is actually the outlier in our family. I got Mom’s and Uncle Thane’s looks. He resembles our dad more, although my gran had blond hair too. And Ephah’s more of a cousin by marriage, except not even really that. I thought I’d told you about that.”

  “You probably did,” Linc replied, “but you’ve got me all confuzzled. I can barely remember my own name, much less anything else.”

  Kit’s grin turned wicked. “Maybe after dinner, I can see about making you forget even that.”

  “Please.” Linc wasn’t begging. Really, he wasn’t. But dammit, Kit looked good enough to eat with his lips swollen from kissing and his eyes bright with laughter and desire.

  “C’mere.” Kit held out a spoon with some sort of creamy sauce on it. “I need a taster.”

  “I don’t even know what it is to know how it’s supposed to taste.” Even as he said it, he stepped into the kitchen so Kit could lift the spoon to his lips.

  “It’s Mughlai chicken with almonds and sultanas,” Kit said, “and you don’t have to know how it’s supposed to taste. Just tell me if you like the way it does taste.”

  Linc blew on the steaming spoon and sipped a bit into his mouth. His eyes bugged at the rich flavor. It might be creamy, but it wasn’t bland by any stretch of the imagination. Linc wasn’t good with specific spices, but he tasted garlic and cinnamon for sure. “That’s amazing.”

  “Good. Let me dish everything up, and we can eat. Can you carry the plates there to the table?”