Building Bridges (Sater's Creek Book 4)

by Megs Pritchard

  Elias looked back up at Lachlan. “What?” Damn. Getting caught looking so soon?

  Lachlan chuckled. “Have you eaten?”

  “Oh, yeah, I have, thanks. I’ll get that table.” Grabbing his glass of beer, Elias walked over to the table Lachlan had pointed out and waited for him to arrive. He needed those brief few seconds to get himself together. The sight of Lachlan had thrown him, even though he knew he was coming. The man just looked simply edible, and Elias wanted to take a bite.

  Sitting at the table, Elias had the chance to watch Lachlan as he talked to Matt and paid for their drinks. Lachlan leaned over the counter, laughing at something Matt said, his jeans tightening across his ass, and Elias growled, palming his hard dick. He needed to get himself under control.

  Lachlan turned and walked toward him, and it wasn’t a walk; it was more like a sexy saunter, his long legs eating up the ground as he headed toward Elias. As he watched, Elias thought about Lachlan he knew before he left Sater’s Creek, comparing him to the man in front of him.

  He’d wanted Lachlan back then, but it seemed like he craved the man now. From the look on Lachlan’s face, he knew exactly what Elias was thinking.

  When he reached the table, he passed the glass of beer to Elias and sat opposite him. Elias prepared himself for whatever Lachlan had to say, anticipating another argument. He’d prepared in advance, thought of all the things he could say to diffuse the situation between them.

  “I should apologize for my behavior when I found out about you and Jerry.”

  “Huh?” That wasn’t what Elias had expected Lachlan to say. He blinked several times, then said again, “Huh?”

  Lachlan chuckled at the confused look on Elias’s face. Having spent most of the day working on the farm had given him the opportunity to think about the past several days and how he had behaved. He could admit he’d been ashamed by his actions at Tucker and Rory’s house, but hearing that Elias had slept with his ex had thrown him. He could admit even now he still wanted to throw a punch at Elias for banging his ex.

  He looked down at his glass, and his finger trailed a drop of moisture as it slid down the side of the glass. He raised his eyes to see Elias watching him. Sitting up straight, he leaned back in his chair and asked, “How are you?”

  Elias swallowed and replied, “I’m good, thanks. You?”

  “I’m good too, thanks. Have you been busy?”

  “I have, thanks. Business is doing well.”

  “That’s good to hear.” Lachlan nodded. Shifting on the chair, he glanced around the bar. It wasn’t too crowded at this time, but he knew Thursdays tended to get busy later.

  “How’s the farm?”

  Lachlan looked back at Elias, watching him for several seconds, noticing the color deepen in his cheeks, before he answered, “Busy.”

  “It’s good to be busy.”

  “It is.” Lachlan rubbed the back of his neck and watched Elias as his finger traced a pattern on the table. Not awkward. Not awkward at all.

  He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and asked, “What are you working on at the moment? You said you designed games?”

  Elias suddenly smiled, and Lachlan licked his lips. The smile transformed his face. Elias was a great-looking guy, but when he smiled? Damn, he pressed all Lachlan’s buttons.

  “We’re working on two games at the moment, so we’re quite busy. One is a zombie game, and the other is an RPG.”

  Lachlan had stopped playing computer games years earlier, when his responsibilities at the farm had grown, but at least there was Keegan. With him, there was always the opportunity to do something, to have some fun. It gave Lachlan the time to unwind after a full day working.

  Now that Rory and Keegan lived with Tucker, Lachlan missed having them around. “I used to play quite a bit when I was younger, but not so much now.”

  “Same here. I love designing the games, and once I know they work and people are enjoying them, I like to move on to the next challenge.” Elias coughed and then asked, “How’s your dad? I heard Rory saying something about him the other day.”

  “It’s good, actually. It was a false alarm, fortunately.”

  “But you still worry while waiting for the results.”

  Lachlan nodded. “Oh yeah, after a stroke, this was the last thing we needed, but no matter what, I would have been there for him.”

  “Because of family.”

  “And your family would be there for you if you needed them?”

  Lachlan caught the wince Elias tried to hide and reached out to touch him but stopped himself. Elias saw his hand and gave a brief smile. “I think that depends on the circumstances.”

  “You still talk to them, don’t you? Even though you’ve come out, they haven’t cut you from their lives.”

  “Oh no, they haven’t cut me out. It’s something we don’t discuss ever. I can’t go home and tell them about some man I was dating or someone I was living with. It’s hard because when I go home, I feel like I’m still hiding in the closet. I have to leave a part of myself at the front door. I know I have it easier than a lot of other kids who have come out.”

  “So, you’re still not able to be who you are when you’re with them.” Lachlan sighed and leaned back in his chair. He’d had such an easy time when he’d come out.

  “It’s the hand I’ve been dealt and the one I have to play.”

  Lachlan grunted and shook his head. “More like that’s what you have to put up with if you want to have a family.”

  Shrugging, Elias said, “I still have it better than a lot of people. That’s the way I try to look at it.”

  “It makes me realize how fortunate I am to have the family I do. They love me regardless of who I’m involved with or things that come out of my mouth.”

  “You’re a lot like Tucker in that way,” Elias said, lifting his glass for a sip of his beer. Elias smiled. “Condom factory was funny.”

  Lachlan watched him swallow, noticing his Adam’s apple bob up and down in his throat, and he wanted to lean over the table to lick it and mark the skin. He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced away. Shifting on the seat, Lachlan tried to get comfortable and discreetly attempted to adjust his hard dick.

  He heard a swift indrawn breath and looked up, seeing Elias watch him. Lips parted, his eyes were focused on Lachlan’s body. He had to know what Lachlan was doing, and the thought turned Elias on.

  Lachlan slowly removed his hand and leaned back in the chair, his arms spread wide. He watched Elias’s eyes roll over his body before they finally came back up. They stared at each other until Lachlan asked, “The Navy. What was it like?”

  He watched Elias blink and then lick his lips, and Lachlan quietly moaned. He wanted to lean over the table and take those lips, slide his tongue between them, and dominate that mouth.

  “Lachlan.”

  Lachlan lifted his eyes up from Elias’s lips and suddenly smiled. This was turning out to be a great evening. Teasing Elias was fast becoming Lachlan’s favorite thing to do. “So, the Navy.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  AS ELIAS WATCHED Lachlan, he remembered the first time he saw him. The hair had been brighter then, the sun shining off the blond strands, and even from where he’d stood, he could see the green of Lachlan’s eyes.

  He’d swallowed. Hard. He shouldn’t be feeling this way about a boy. It was wrong, but he couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t stop his eyes from seeking this boy out and watching him as he played with his friends. When Lachlan—that was his name—came out as gay, Elias knew why he liked looking at him, and he was scared. He couldn’t be that way.

  “If I’m honest with you, will you listen to me without reacting?”

  “You mean, will I listen to what you’ve got to say and not jump the table and try to punch you in the face?” Lachlan replied. He stared at him for a few seconds and then nodded. “I need to move on, which is why I asked you to come here. Whatever you need to say, go ahead and say it.”

/>   Elias released the breath he hadn’t been aware he’d been holding and gave Lachlan a grateful smile. “I used to watch you.”

  “Me?”

  “Yeah, at school.” He saw Lachlan frown and continued, “The time in the playground when I noticed your eyes and the way the sun shone from your hair. It was lighter than most people and caught my attention. It…confused me.”

  “I already knew I was gay then. I just kept quiet until I knew who I could trust, and that was when I came out.”

  “I wasn’t sure. I just knew I shouldn’t feel the way I did when I looked at you.”

  “You were what, seventeen then? You never felt attracted to someone before? Another boy?”

  “I found other boys attractive, but I just put that down to teenage things. You know, hormones. When I saw you for that first time, I began to question it. It scared me. What if I was gay? How would my parents take it, what about my brothers and my friends?”

  “I was never attracted to girls; it was always the boys. What about you? All those girls you dated; did you like them?”

  “Sure, they are good friends, but that’s not what you’re asking me, is it?”

  Lachlan shook his head. “No, it isn’t.”

  Elias nodded, looking away to try to put into words what was going through his mind. How do you explain to someone what you struggle to explain to yourself? “I don’t have to tell you what was going on back then. I think maybe I was confused and because all my friends liked girls, I should like them too. Inside, I was scared that maybe I did like boys, and I didn’t know what to do about it. The first time I really had to sit down and accept that I was gay was when I saw you.” Elias looked up straight at Lachlan when he said those final words. “You made me more than aware of my attraction to boys.”

  “And you hated me for it,” Lachlan whispered.

  “No, I hated myself.” When Lachlan arched a brow at him, his face clearly showing the disbelief in that statement, Elias added, “You made me realize I’d been living a lie and that I was a coward because I couldn’t accept the truth of who I was. I was hiding, and I hated it, so I took it out on you because you made me realize just how much I was keeping hidden. I felt ashamed to be attracted to boys and self-disgust, and yet you were there, out and proud and being strong in standing up to everything that was thrown at you.”

  “By you and your friends. Pretty much all of mine accepted it, but you lot.” Lachlan shook his head. “Must hurt when you think.”

  “Lachlan.” Elias sighed. “I can’t apologize enough for what I did back then, but it wasn’t you, Lachlan. It was all me. I hope you believe me.”

  Lachlan didn’t say anything. He picked up his glass of beer and drank some, his eyes scanning the room. When he eventually put the glass back on the table, he licked his lips and nodded. “I do. I want to stay angry at you, but what’s the point? Sounds to me like you fell off the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down. Anyway, it’s done, it’s in the past and like I’ve been told, all our friends know each other. We’ll bump into each other, and I don’t want them to feel uncomfortable because of it.”

  “Neither do I.”

  “So, we put the past behind us and move forward. Friends?”

  Elias smiled and nodded. “Friends, I’d like that.”

  “When are you free to come over and help us with this computer accounts thing that’s driving Flynn mad?”

  Elias chuckled and said, “Whenever you’re free. You know what operating system he’s using?”

  Lachlan arched his brows at him and muttered, “Windows, I think?”

  “That’s good. So it’s Windows. Wouldn’t happen to know which one, would you?” Even as he asked the question, he knew Lachlan wouldn’t know the answer. He didn’t think Lachlan was computer illiterate; he just didn’t pay attention to that sort of thing and left it up to his brother. His mind was on the farm and keeping it running, not the accounts. Elias admired his dedication, but he should learn more about accounts in case he needed to step in at some point.

  “It had Windows 7 at one point, but I think it’s updated itself.” Lachlan shrugged and said, “Flynn is the one you need to be talking to about this kind of thing.”

  Yes, Lachlan needed to know, and at some point, Elias would teach him. It would also give him some alone time with the man too. “Okay, give me Flynn’s number, and I’ll get in touch with him. I can arrange to come out and have a look to see what you need. It just might need a new program, and I know some of the good ones out there.”

  Lachlan truly smiled, and Elias sat stunned. This was a smile that changed his entire face and made his dimples pop out and his eyes crinkle at the corners. It was a look Elias wanted to see on his face when they were together, but not as much as the one he wanted to see when they were doing other things together. He didn’t think Lachlan was ready for that yet, but they were taking a step in the right direction.

  “Do you want another beer?” Lachlan asked as he stood.

  Glancing at his near-empty one, Elias nodded. “It’s my turn.”

  “Nah, it’s okay. I did ask you to come.”

  Lachlan turned and walked away, giving Elias a fantastic view of his ass. When he reached the bar, he turned and smirked at him, seeing where Elias’s eyes were watching. Elias shrugged and leaned back in his chair. He had no problems with Lachlan knowing that Elias found him attractive. No problem at all.

  Seeing Elias’s eyes glued to his ass, Lachlan smiled. He’d been fairly sure that Elias was attracted to him, and he would test that theory more tonight. Now that he’d decided to put the past in the past and kind of forgive Elias for everything that had happened, Lachlan wanted to know more about the man and the type of man Elias wanted.

  Glancing over his shoulder, he watched Elias and the way the man looked at Lachlan. He’d seen the way Elias’s eyes had checked him out, and more than once, he’d seen the deep, intense stare as Elias watched him move. He had chosen his outfit with care, knowing the shirt made his eyes stand out and the jeans hugged his ass just right. It appeared that Elias appreciated his efforts.

  He ordered their beers and paid before going back to the table. Putting the glass in front of Elias, he smiled in response.

  Sitting, Lachlan asked, “What kind of man do you like?” Elias’s mouth fell open, his eyes widening in surprise. Yeah, when Lachlan decided to go for something, to ask an embarrassing question, he did.

  “Wow. There’s no waiting around with you, is there?”

  Lachlan leaned back in his seat, sprawling across it. “Getting older with every second, so no, not really.”

  “What men do you like?”

  Grinning, Lachlan shook his head. “Nah. I asked the question first.”

  Elias leaned on the table and stared intently at Lachlan. “What you’re really asking is do I find you attractive?”

  Lachlan swallowed, not expecting Elias to be as direct as he was. “Maybe.”

  “There’s no maybe about it, is there? And yes, I do find you attractive. I did back then, and you’ve only improved with age.”

  “Thanks, I could say the same for you.” Time for a change of subject. “What did you do after you left the Navy?”

  Elias tilted his head slightly, then smiled, like he knew why Lachlan had changed the subject. “Got my degree and then set up the business with Bax. You always stayed at the farm? You haven’t thought about going to college?”

  “No, the farm’s where I want to be. Maybe one day I’ll go and learn a trade that will help us, but right now, we don’t need it.”

  “How do you find dating in Sater’s Creek? There isn’t a huge gay pool here.”

  “I mainly go to Pine Creek if I ever feel the need for that. Plenty of hookups available there.”

  “Right.”

  “What about you? You had many relationships?” What Lachlan wanted to know was how much experience Elias had, and he was curious in a sadistic way.

  “I had none while I was
in the Navy, just a series of hookups. You know the score, blow jobs, hand jobs. The occasional fuck thrown in. I was in my second year at college when I met Kent. We were together for the next two years. When I left college and started the business with Bax, it just dwindled, and we broke up. I was with Grey for a year. Then that ended. I’ve been single since. I was more focused on getting the business up and running with Bax. We weren’t earning a lot of money; we were pretty much scrambling to pay the bills and keep a roof over our heads.”

  “I seem to have shitty luck where men are concerned. I’ve had three relationships, and each one has ended badly. The last one with Chuck…” Lachlan shook his head as he remembered what he had gone through. “Chuck left me with a lot of debt. He cheated on me, and because I’d been stupid a couple of times, I had to get tested.”

  Elias sat up straight with a frown on his face. “But you’re clear?”

  “Yeah, completely, but it’s certainly opened my eyes. I was stupid. I knew all about protection and being safe. I had a few drinks a couple of times and let him talk me into it. I won’t make those mistakes again. I learned my lesson.”

  “That must have been a hard time for the family.”

  Lachlan nodded, wincing when he remembered Seamus going for the shotgun. “Yeah, it wasn’t easy, but they stood by me.” Taking a mouthful of beer, Lachlan asked, “What plans do you have for your business?”

  Elias smiled and leaned forward, and Lachlan grinned in return. “Zombies.”

  Lachlan chuckled. “Zombies?”

  “Yeah. People love it! You should come over and play the new one I’m working on. I need some honest feedback. The more blood and guts, the better, but I’m kind of working on a less violent version. Gotta think about all the players.”

  “Tell me about zombies.” Lachlan smiled as Elias talked, and it was clear this was his passion, just like farming was Lachlan’s. Lachlan asked questions but didn’t always understand the technical answers, but Elias would explain it in a way he understood.