Textbook Approach: A Small Town Romance

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  “You look so fucking perfect like this, bent over for me to use however I want.”

  “I think you’re forgetting who has the power here.”

  “Oh, I know exactly who has the power,” he said, continuing to fuck me. “You fucking own me. One look at your pussy and I’m a goner. I’d be down on my knees, sucking that pretty pussy just for a taste of you.”

  Something inside me flickered to life, but I pushed it aside and ignored it. This was dirty sex. We were fucking. That was all I wanted. It didn’t matter what he did to me. It didn’t matter how much I wanted him in my bed every night. If we went there, I would only end up regretting it. I would grow to despise him, and then the sex would fail also. No, this was what we needed; hot nights between the sheets, but always leaving me wanting more.

  I cried out as he thrust into me one last time as his fingers slid forward and pinched my clit. I went off hard, coming all over his cock as he stilled inside me and bent over me, kissing my spine. He left a wet trail up my back, kissing me with open-mouthed kisses, making it feel way too intimate.

  His arms wrapped around my chest, pulling me back up. The whole world tilted as all the blood rushed to my head. My knees almost collapsed, but he caught me, holding me up against his body.

  “I’ve got you,” he murmured in my ear. I couldn’t handle the fire racing through me, so I stepped out of his arms and grinned at him, like he wasn’t affecting me at all.

  “Come on, I’m hungry.”

  I stepped away from him and went to the kitchen, opening the fridge just to have something to do. He followed me in there, pulling up his boxers as he walked in.

  “What are you hiding from?” he asked.

  “Hmm?” I said, continuing to stare into the fridge.

  “You just pulled away from me. Why?”

  I shut the door and turned to him with a look of confusion. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about the fact that there’s something happening between us, and you felt it. I know you did.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and sighed. “Will, we talked about this. This is sex. I’m not looking for more than that.”

  “Why can’t you see how good this could be between us? The sex is amazing. And-“

  “And what?”

  His jaw hardened and he looked down for a moment like he was trying to compose himself. “I want to take you out. I want to see you for more than just sex.”

  “Well, you did just tell me that you were going to take me to the theater.”

  “And are you going to let me stay the night afterward? Or am I going to have to drop you off like a good little boy and go home?”

  I smirked at him. “Well, if you take me to the theater, of course you’re going to get sex after.”

  He nodded. “I just can’t stay the night.”

  I sighed heavily. “And what would that accomplish? I told you, I’m not interested in any kind of romantic attachments. We can go out if you want. We can eat dinner and hang out, but sex is as far as it will go. There won’t be any declarations of love or any kind of relationship.”

  “Is that what you had with Nathan?” he spat.

  I rolled my eyes. “Please tell me you’re not jealous of him.”

  “You took him out with your son.”

  “He’s a friend, my best friend. We hang out.”

  “And what about me?”

  “What about you?” I asked angrily. “Look, I’ve been straight with you from the start. I have no desire to have any kind of relationship. I’ve never lied to you. Why can’t you just accept that?”

  “Because I think this could go somewhere. You just won’t admit that.”

  “I won’t admit it because it’s not true. I’m not playing games with you. I’m not hoping to snag you and get more out of you. I’m not playing the field. If we’re fucking, I’m not fucking anyone else. But I’m also not trying to trick you into something else. This is who I am, take it or leave it.”

  He stared at me for a moment and then turned and walked out of the room. When he returned, he was dressed, aside from his t-shirt. He walked over to me and grabbed the hem of the shirt, slowly sliding it up my body and over my head.

  “You’re leaving?” I asked incredulously.

  “I need to think,” he said quietly. His thumb came up and brushed against the corner of my lip. “You see, I think I could fall in love with you, and I need to make sure that I can handle what you’re offering. So, I’m going to leave, and I’m going to think about whether or not I can deal with your stipulations.”

  I swallowed hard and nodded. He leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to my lips, his eyes remaining on mine the whole time. Then he stepped back and was gone. I leaned back against the counter and took a deep breath. I wasn’t going to lie, he affected me unlike any other man, but the minute I gave in, it would all go south. I would rather keep the current relationship that we had than lose it all by giving him something I knew wouldn’t make me happy.

  Joe

  I had been thinking about this for days. Will really needed to be smart about this. The people of this town would love him no matter what. They supported all of us, but if this spread like gossip instead of in a controlled way, he would be dealing with a hundred questions that he just wasn’t prepared to answer.

  Since he felt comfortable enough with telling us about Charlie, I assumed that meant he was ready for the world to know. It made sense. Besides, Will was never one to hide who he was. And to him, Charlie was just someone he was choosing to be with. Sexual orientation didn’t really matter in today’s world.

  Deciding just to do this, I pulled out my phone and opened the town Facebook page. Now I just had to find the right wording…

  Joe Cortell: I’m very proud to tell you all that my brother, Will, has found someone that he can be truly happy with. I hope you all will be supportive when I tell you that this person is a man. No judgements here. We’re all just happy that he’s found someone he can be happy with. I hope you’ll do the same.

  I read over it one more time before I hit post. Grinning to myself, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. The response was immediate. In fact, the responses were coming in faster than when I had accidentally told the whole town that Kat was pregnant. I blew out a harsh breath and started responding as fast as I could. The sooner this was out there, the better we could control it.

  Mary Anne: Are you sure about this? Will never struck me as gay.

  Joe Cortell: We’re sure. The man’s name is Charlie and Will has been obsessing over him for weeks now.

  Mrs. Cranston: I always knew one of you would turn out gay. You all love your mother so much.

  Carly Summers: What does that have to do with being gay?

  Mrs. Cranston: I don’t know. Something about window dressings.

  Bessie Phillips: Does that mean that my niece doesn’t have a shot?

  Joe Cortell: I’m guessing not. He seems to really like this guy.

  Bessie Phillips: But is he full-on gay or just likes this one man?

  Angela Fuergeson: Bisexual is the term you’re looking for.

  Joe Cortell: I guess I’d have to ask him.

  Mrs. Cranston: Could I get pictures of this?

  Joe Cortell: Um…I’m pretty sure that’s against Facebook policy.

  Mrs. Cranston: Not of them doing anything…Just a half naked photo to add to my collection. I was thinking of starting a separate page for each of you boys. What’s Josh’s schedule look like? Do you think he would have some time to do some repairs on my car?

  Joe Cortell: What would my page be?

  Mrs. Cranston: Maybe you could start a calendar with those nice biker friends of yours.

  Jeannie Jax: Can we get back to the important question? When do we all get to meet Charlie?

  Joe Cortell: Well, we haven’t met him yet.

  Jeannie Jax: You could set up a time for us to meet him!

  Mary Anne: I offer up
my bakery!

  Joe Cortell: You just want additional sales.

  Mary Anne: What can I say? You boys always bring in additional business.

  Joe Cortell: Saturday. I can’t guarantee Charlie will be there, but I’ll do my best.

  “What are you doing?” Eric asked as he walked into the kitchen.

  I cleared my throat. “Uh…nothing.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back against the counter. After staring at me for a good minute, he sighed. “Alright, what did you do now?”

  “What?” I choked out a laugh. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Yes, you do. You have that guilty look.”

  “I do not.”

  He snorted and turned to the coffee pot. “You have that look that says you did something you think was right, but it’s probably going to piss someone off.”

  He poured his coffee and turned back to me, taking a sip as he stared me down.

  “Okay, look, I was just trying to get ahead of the scandal.”

  “What scandal?”

  “You know, with Will and the whole Charlie thing.”

  He slowly lowered his mug just as he was about to take a sip. His eyes slid closed and he shook his head. “Please tell me you didn’t out Will to the whole fucking town.”

  I swallowed hard. “I may have done something like that.”

  He stalked over and snatched my phone out of my hands. Scrolling through all the comments, his jaw dropped. “You told them they could meet him on Saturday?”

  “It’s best to just rip the bandaid off.”

  “How the hell could you do this? This is his life!”

  “I know and I’m trying to help him. Can you imagine if this got out and it was just gossip? Now the people know and they can get all their questions out of the way before it explodes.”

  “Will is going to explode when he finds out that you told the whole town he’s gay.”

  “Look, it’s not that big of a deal. I mean, we’re all cool with it, and I can guarantee that the whole town will be as well.”

  “Christ,” he said, running his hand through his hair. “Can’t you just keep your damn mouth shut for five fucking seconds?”

  “Is that a rhetorical question?”

  “I don’t know, Hunty, is it?”

  “Hey,” I grinned. “You got that one right.”

  “I don’t know what the hell we’re going to do about this. Ma is gonna flip when she finds out.”

  “How would she find out?”

  “Because she joined the town page. She says it’s the only way she knows what’s going on with her boys because you post all our personal business there.”

  “Oh…that does pose a problem.”

  “You think?” he said sarcastically.

  “Hey, this is not my fault.”

  “How? How exactly is this not your fault?”

  “Because…because I’m not the one that’s gay!”

  “That doesn’t even make any sense!” he shouted.

  “Would you calm down? Look, I’ll text Will and tell him to convince Charlie to come to the bakery on Saturday. We’ll get this all out in the open and then it’s over.”

  “And what if Charlie doesn’t want to be outed?”

  “Oh, come on. It’s not like this town hasn’t seen gay people before. This really isn’t that big of a deal.”

  “You know, I’ve never wanted to slap someone as much as I do right now.”

  “You’ll thank me later.”

  “Somehow, I doubt that.”

  * * *

  It was Saturday and Will had texted me that he was bringing Charlie to the bakery today before they went skating. He stressed that we were supposed to act like Charlie was a friend and nothing more, so that’s what we had all agreed to. I was getting nervous, thinking maybe my plan wasn’t such a good idea. Will was going to kill me.

  “Maybe this was a bad idea,” I said to Robert and Eric as I paced the kitchen.

  “You think?” Eric snapped.

  “Look, maybe we should just tell him that the town knows.”

  “No,” Robert shook his head. “I’m not saying jack shit. I’m pretending like I don’t know a damn thing. This is all on you.”

  “But, he’s gonna be pissed.”

  “Wow, I’m surprised you figured that out, genius,” Eric said.

  “Don’t be so salty. I was only spilling the tea because the town is like family.”

  “You know, when you get nervous, you go back into your hippie speak,” Robert pointed out.

  “It’s not hippie speak.” I shook out my hands. They were sweating and I was nervous as hell. I should have never posted that shit. And Will, he was gonna kick my ass.

  Eric’s phone rang and he visibly paled. “Oh shit. It’s Ma.”

  “Well, answer it,” Robert said.

  He shook his head violently. “I can’t. She…oh crap.”

  Josh snagged the phone out of his hands and answered it. “Hey, Ma.”

  He winced and pulled the phone away from his ear. Placing it on speakerphone, we could all hear her yelling.

  “-Can’t believe this is the way I had to find out. My little boy, probably terrified right now that his family would judge him and not one of you could pick up the phone and warn his mother? I had to find out on Facebook?”

  “It was Joe,” Andrew said, panic in his voice. “He did it all on his own.”

  “And what about your brother? He’s going to be blindsided by this. What the hell were you thinking?”

  I paled as if she was right in front of me. This was the most terrified I had ever been in my entire life. I felt like she would reach through the phone and strangle me. “Ma-“

  “Don’t you Ma me, young man. If I was there right now, I would take you over my knee and spank you like the misbehaving toddler you’re acting like. This is your brother!”

  “I didn’t-“

  “I’m leaving with your father tomorrow and you’d better run and hide Joseph Finneas Cortell. Because when I see you, I’m going to give you the belt and I’m going to do it in front of the whole town so that you’ll be just as humiliated as your brother. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” I croaked out.

  She hung up the phone and I stared at my brothers, physically shaking. I was terrified.

  “She middle named you,” Robert cringed. “You’re so fucked.”

  “She didn’t just middle name him. She called him Joseph,” Josh sighed. “My suggestion? Run and hide. Disappear for a good seven years. Maybe then she’ll forgive you.”

  I ran a hand over my face and groaned. “I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought-“ The back door opened and in walked Derek, like he lived in town and had just stopped in for a visit. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “Well, you guys have been so damn cryptic lately about Will, I thought I’d come find out what the hell is going on.”

  “Oh shit,” I moaned.

  “What?”

  “Uh…” I glanced at Eric and Robert for help, but they just stared at me. “Uh… I think I might have done something bad.”

  “Bad how?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

  “I may have outed him to the town.”

  Derek’s brows furrowed. “Outed him about what?”

  “You know,” I said, stressing to him with my eyes what I was talking about, but apparently it wasn’t clear because he just raised his eyebrows. “That he’s gay.”

  Derek burst out in laughter, shaking his head. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “He’s dating a guy named Charlie.”

  Derek’s face fell and he shook his head. “I think you’ve got this all wrong.”

  “No, we all know it. That’s why we were asking if you had noticed anything different about him,” Robert said. “He’s been talking about the guy for weeks.”

  “Charlie,” Derek said slowly.

&nb
sp; “Yeah,” I nodded. “It threw us for a fucking loop. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it, but we just had no clue. We all thought he was a ladies man.”

  “Because he is a ladies man,” Derek snapped. “And now you’ve told the town he’s gay?”

  “Because he is gay,” I shot back. “Look, I was trying to minimize the damage.”

  “Well, I can tell you right the fuck now that you just blew this thing to shit. He’s not gay.”

  “Derek,” Eric sighed. “We’ve talked to him about it. He talks about the guy all the time.”

  “You’re wrong,” Derek laughed. “I’m telling you, there is no way that Will is gay!”

  “What’s all the shouting about?” Kat asked as she walked into the room with Anna. “Oh, hey, Derek! It’s good to see you. What are you doing here?”

  “Apparently, I’m here to clean up a mess that Joe started.”

  “What did he do?” Kat asked, glancing over at me.

  “He told the town that Will is gay.”

  Anna and Kat both laughed, looking over at me like I was joking. “Oh, this is so great.”

  “Why is this great?” I asked.

  “Because we knew this was coming,” Anna said.

  “Knew what was coming?” I asked, still confused by what they were saying.

  “That you guys would eventually do something to fuck this up,” Kat stated. “It was so obvious, the way you guys were stressed about him dating Charlie and getting all uncomfortable talking about it. It was only a matter of time before one of you snapped.”

  “Wait, you knew and you didn’t say anything?” Derek asked.

  Kat shrugged. “This was more fun to watch.”

  “But he’s not gay!” Derek shouted.

  “Yes, he is. He’s dating a guy named Charlie,” I stressed.

  “No,” Kat said slowly. “He’s dating a woman named Charlie.”

  I sighed. It was like trying to convince people that the world was round. “Look, you haven’t been around all the times he’s talked about the guy, but we have. We all know it’s true.”