What Happens in Vegas (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting ManLove)

by Taylor Brooks

  It wasn’t that he didn’t want to have sex with Darren. He did. He did a lot! The man was sexy as all get out, and had a body to worship and a dick that fit perfectly in his mouth and ass. He was damn near addicted to the euphoria that came with a Darren-induced orgasm.

  All the sex in the world didn’t change the fact that the two of them had a real connection as well. Physically of course, but emotionally they were a perfect fit. There had been an instant attraction and pull with Darren that came natural and just felt right. Never had he felt such an instant pull. Darren was special, in more ways than one.

  It might have taken him a while to admit it to himself, but one thing was true. Darren Peterson was a dream come true for him. The fact that he brought out the nymphomaniac in Ryan didn’t hurt either. The man could turn him from soft to rock hard in only seconds with nothing but the slightest of touch.

  The even funnier thing was, while he always loved a hot porno flick and watching two men get each other off, that still didn’t even come close to getting him as hot and hard as Darren did. The truth was, Darren Peterson could easily be mistaken for a Greek god that marble sculptures were fashioned after. From his square jaw, to his high cheekbones and chocolate brown eyes, he was a delicious treat wrapped up in one hell of a package. Even if Ryan wanted to—which he didn’t—he couldn’t get the guy out of his head.

  To Ryan’s surprise he started to sense the attraction was mutual. There were times that Darren would touch him and allow his hand to linger just a bit longer than necessary. Then there were the times that he would stare at him. His piercing blue eyes would pin him down in a look that spoke to him in a way which made words completely unnecessary.

  “What the hell are we doing?” Darren asked bluntly, interrupting Ryan from his innermost thoughts.

  “Having dinner,” he replied.

  “Come on, Ryan. You know what I mean. What are we really doing? Things haven’t been the same since…well, you know,” Darren said.

  Darren had always been the more serious of the two, but there was something in his stare, the inflection of his voice, which brought a whole new level of seriousness to the situation. His brown eyes which normally reminded him of rich milk chocolate now suddenly seemed darker, like a dark almost black type of glass.

  As Ryan looked a little deeper he was reminded how many times he had stared into them while they made love. Those memories sucker punched him square in the most sensitive part of his soul. It left him with no smart-ass retort or quick-witted reply. Those were the type of traits he was used to. Jokes and making light of things were his defense mechanism. He used them whenever he could to avoid serious talks like the one he felt was coming.

  “You don’t have anything to say?” Darren asked.

  Ryan set down his fork and wiped his mouth. He took a glance around the restaurant. It was filled with dinner patrons and his staff. He wasn’t ready to have this conversation as it was, but having it in the middle of the chop house and in front of all these people would make it all the more awkward and uncomfortable.

  “Let’s go up to my office,” he replied.

  “Okay.”

  Darren took a final swig of his red wine and got up from the table. He followed behind Ryan as they made their way to the back of the kitchen to the service elevator.

  After stepping inside, Ryan pressed the number four button and they rode up to the building’s top floor in silence.

  Once the door opened, Ryan held out his hand indicating that Darren could go on ahead. This time he followed behind Darren as he tried to come up with words to answer Darren’s question. The truth was, he didn’t know what was going on with them. He never thought they’d ever be in such a tongue-tied awkward stage of their relationship. Now that they were, he wasn’t even sure what to say.

  They’d no sooner stepped in the office and Ryan closed the door before Darren started in on him. “So what the hell is it? Have you lost interest in me, or what?”

  Ryan placed his hands on his hips in disbelief of the question. “What? Are you kidding?”

  “Do I look like I’m kidding?” Darren asked with absolutely no humor in his inflection.

  “No, I just don’t know what you want me to say.”

  “Gee, I don’t know, Ryan. How about something along the lines of, ‘No, babe, I haven’t lost interest in you.’”

  Ryan leaned across the table and placed his hand over Darren’s. Gently rubbing his thumb across Darren’s knuckles, he said, “I haven’t. Not even close. I’m crazy about you, baby. You should know that by now.”

  “Should I?” he asked.

  “Well I would hope so. This Saturday will be one year since we started dating.”

  “It may have been one year, but the way we’ve been carrying on these past few weeks it feels more like a decade.”

  “Why do I get the impression that you mean that in a bad way?” Ryan asked, though he knew full well where Darren was going with his line of questioning. He just wasn’t sure he was ready to have this conversation, no matter how necessary it might be.

  “Jesus, really? Are you going to tell me that you haven’t noticed a distinct difference in our relationship ever since we got back from Vegas?”

  “Yes, I have,” he answered matter-of-factly.

  “So? What the hell is it? Did we make a huge mistake?”

  Ryan took a sip of his wine, buying him a few seconds to think of what he was going to say to Darren. He knew that the talk they were about to have was well overdue. That didn’t mean he was ready to have it though. His emotions were all muddled. He loved Darren. Just because he hadn’t told Darren and said the words aloud didn’t make them any less true.

  He had considered broaching this very delicate subject so many times but always found himself coming up on the short end of the courage stick. The thought of losing Darren and realizing that their adventurous night in Vegas might have been the beginning of the end for them wasn’t a theory he wanted to entertain.

  All he wanted to do was go back to how things were. When they held hands just because they could, or kissed not caring who was watching, and those nights where they would lie awake in one another’s arms, talking, holding one another, and sharing their innermost thoughts.

  That was what he missed. The sex was phenomenal, but he’d give that up if it meant having Darren’s love and devotion. He would give anything to have that piece of his heart.

  “Come on, Ryan. Say something. Say anything. Just tell me what the hell is happening to us,” Darren pleaded.

  “How was your steak?” Ryan asked.

  Darren threw his hands up in the air in apparent frustration. It was clear he wasn’t taking too kindly to Darren’s flippant attitude. Little did he know it wasn’t intentional. He just didn’t know how to act, much less speak in these types of situations. They made him nervous.

  “My steak was fine.”

  Ryan was about to say something when Darren pushed his chair out from the table and stood up.

  “Give me a call when you’re ready to talk,” he said bitterly.

  “You’re leaving?” Ryan asked, not sure why he was surprised. His avoidance of the subject and fear of dealing with things probably only could be tolerated so far by Darren.

  “Well, I can see I’m getting nowhere with you. And since you either have something to say that you don’t want to, or you’ve just decided that we’re over, but don’t have the balls to tell me, I don’t see the point in sitting around here while you continue to ignore me.”

  “Wait.” Ryan held out his hand, grabbing onto Darren’s wrist. “Don’t go.”

  “Why shouldn’t I?” Darren asked.

  “Because I don’t want you to.”

  “Again, why? So we can sit here in silence pretending to enjoy our dinner together when obviously neither of us is saying what we’re really thinking?”

  “Just sit down. Please?” Ryan begged.

  Darren hesitated for a minute before taking a seat. “Fine.
I’m sitting. What do you want to say?”

  “Come on, baby. Don’t be like that.”

  “Sorry, but it’s kinda hard not to be like this when I have no idea why I’m here or if I’m even wanted.”

  “You are wanted. If you believe nothing else, please believe that.”

  “Then talk to me. Tell me…what is this? Did we make the worst mistake ever? Did we open a door that we shouldn’t have?”

  Ryan shook his head. He didn’t have an answer to that question, but he wished that he did. If he had known that night that their relationship would suffer so much he would have refused to take part in it all. At the time though, it didn’t seem wrong. Their chemistry with that bartender had been palpable. And having a three-way had always been a shared fantasy of theirs. Fuck if he didn’t know how such an amazing night could have such disastrous consequences.

  It was obvious their sex life had suffered as a result, but he loved Darren, too, and he wanted things to go back the way they were, both emotionally and physically. Oh how he missed their hot and sweaty fuck sessions when they’d drown out the outside world and focus only on one another.

  “Are we back to silence again?” Darren asked. “Because if so, I’m leaving.”

  “No.” Ryan let out a sigh. “Look, I know we need to talk. And I want to talk. I’m just not sure where to start.”

  “How about with the truth. How do you feel?”

  “About you?” Ryan asked.

  “Yes about me, but also about us, that night, what happened, what’s going on now, I want to hear it all. I’m so damn confused right now it’s making me crazy.”

  “Please, won’t you just sit back down? We can talk then.” Ryan ran his fingers through his hair and let out a sigh. He then pulled closer toward him and squeezed his hand. “Okay?”

  “If you can’t say it here, I don’t think I want to hear it,” Darren answered while pulling away.

  “What? Where are you going?”

  “Home.”

  “Okay, let’s go home then.”

  Darren turned to face him. “No, Ryan. My home, alone.”

  “What? Why? I thought you wanted to talk?”

  “Yeah I did. But I’m tired of your avoidance and halfhearted answers. Maybe we should take some time apart and think about what it is or what we want.”

  “I know what I want,” Ryan told him.

  “That’s the thing. Your actions. They speak loud. I think I know what you want and I think for the first time in a year, it’s not me.”

  Darren began to walk away, but turned back to say one more thing. “Seriously, Ryan. Think about what you want. Decide if it’s me or not. Because I can’t keep doing this.”

  Ryan watched in disbelief as Darren walked through the restaurant on the way toward the hostess stand. He waited, hoping that Darren would turn back and have a change of heart, but nothing happened. Darren walked through the large glass double doors, and as they swung closed Ryan felt a pain in his heart he didn’t know how to assuage.

  He looked around the restaurant and noticed the patrons and staff, whose eyes had landed on them and their quiet but public breakup. Ryan cared little for their stares or what they thought. All he cared about was hitting rewind on the entire night and having Darren back with him.

  He sunk back down into his chair and rested his elbows on the table. For years he had hoped he’d find the kind of love and comfort he’d felt whenever he was with Darren, and now he could feel it all slowly slipping away. All because of one night in Vegas.

  He didn’t care what they said in those travel commercials. What happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas. It follows you home like an unwelcome guest.

  Chapter Two

  Darren heard a knock at his office door, but he ignored it. His mood had been sour at best since he’d walked out of the restaurant last night and left Ryan there to think about what the hell it was he wanted. Darren knew what he wanted. He loved Ryan. He’d loved him since the first night that they touched. It was a feeling he had thought was mutual until the past few weeks.

  Damn it.

  If he could go back in time he would have never suggested that they take that godforsaken trip to Las Vegas. It ruined everything and tore him away from the one man he had ever truly loved.

  A second knock came, but he had no desire to respond, much less allow anyone to enter. It was probably just one of his brothers. And while he might love his older and younger pains in the ass, he didn’t care to talk to either one of them right then.

  He turned a page in the brochure he had been staring at for the past half an hour without really seeing what was on the colorful pages. He’d gotten it, along with a slew of other materials for some Caribbean-boutique-themed resort down in the Philippines.

  “Go away!” he shouted after a third and impatient knock resonated in his small home office.

  “If I was going to leave you alone I would’ve stopped after one knock. Now open this damn door,” the unwelcome guest said, his voice sounding increasingly agitated with every word.

  “Ian? What the hell do you want?” His older brother was rarely the persistent type, but on those few occasions he was, he didn’t give up easy. “What do you want?”

  “I want you to open the damn door.”

  Frustrated, Darren got up from his chair. He stalked across the small ten-by-ten room with annoyance. He didn’t have the patience to deal with people today. And that included family.

  He swung the door open and snapped, “What’s so damn important it couldn’t wait until later?”

  Ian pushed his way into the room, taking the door and slamming it. “I think the better question is, what is wrong with you.”

  Startled by question, Darren stood back and sized his brother up. “Excuse me?”

  “Don’t go looking so surprised. I’ve known you longer than anyone and can read you like a book.”

  “Look, man. You know how much I hate it when you speak in code. If you’ve got something to say, then just say it.”

  “Oh give me a break. Spare me the innocent questions, little brother. I know you better than you think I do.” Ian shook his head and held up his hand to Darren to keep him from saying anymore. “You’ve been moping around this house for weeks now. And last night was the umpteenth time you came home to sleep.”

  “Well I do pay a third of the mortgage here. And I have my own bed, so if it’s all the same to you, I’ll mind my business and you can mind—” Darren snapped back, but he was quickly interrupted by his big brother.

  “Look. You can act like you’re hunky-dory all you want. You can even mope around this house and slam doors and stomp up the stairs like a child for all I care. But, when Mom died I promised I’d take care of you and little shit, so when you stop eating, you leave me with no choice but to make it my business.”

  “Stay out of it, Ian,” Darren warned.

  “Too late. It’s now my business. You’ve barely eaten enough for a bird to sustain itself, much less a grown six foot man.”

  Darren sighed. He knew Ian meant well, but he really didn’t want to have this conversation, especially since he had no real idea what the hell was going on with him and Ryan. “Ian, please don’t start. I just haven’t been very hungry. That’s all.”

  “I don’t fucking care, damn it!” His curt words interrupted him.

  “Jesus, man. Calm the hell down.”

  “No, I’m not going to calm down. You’ve been different ever since you got back from your trip with Ryan. If it wasn’t for the fact that you still saw him almost every day I’d think you two had broken up. But, something’s going on, and whatever it is, it’s fucking with your head. That much is obvious.”

  “Don’t push it, Ian. I don’t want to talk about this.” Darren went back to sit in his desk chair. “Just leave it alone.”

  “No! I’m not leaving anything alone. This is the third time in two weeks you’ve decided to work at home rather than go into the office. I know you’re the regi
onal head honcho, but you’re not doing yourself or your staff any good by staying home and playing hooky.”

  “I talked to the office. Everyone’s on task and doing what they need to be doing. Why don’t you let me handle my business? I didn’t get to where I was by having you hold my hand. Now leave me alone already. Besides, it’s not like you’re one to talk. You work from home.”

  “Sorry, bro. Not this time. And don’t bring my work into this. You’re going to listen to me, and you’re not going to like it but you will hear every word I say. Do you understand me?”

  Darren looked back over at his brother. His facial expression was filled with that Peterson persistence that drove him up a wall. For all his man parts, Ian Peterson was one hundred percent his mother’s son. She was a little spitfire right up until the time the cancer finally took her. And his big brother was no different.

  When he was a boy, before Stephen—the smallest of the Peterson brothers—was born, a tornado almost wiped their house right off the map. But, instead of hitting them, it swept to the right and right on past them, leaving a trail of destruction in its path.

  For the longest time after that the joke had been that the reason the tornado sidestepped the Peterson home was because Mother Nature hadn’t wanted to deal with the wrath of not one relentless Peterson, but two.

  Even from a young age, Ian had a strong backbone and never backed down without a fight. It was becoming painfully obvious to him that even middle age wasn’t slowing his good old brother down.

  Damn it all. He was going to have to listen to his brother’s lecture whether he wanted to or not.

  Darren let out a sigh of defeat and got comfortable in his chair. He nodded, albeit hesitantly as we waited for the scolding to begin and said, “Fine. What?”

  “Look, Darren. I care about you, okay. Not just because you’re my brother and I have to, but because you’re a good guy. I know relationships haven’t always been easy for you. After you met Ryan, though, I thought maybe he might be the one for you.”