A Little Lesson

by Pandora Pine

  This was the house where he’d celebrated every Christmas and every birthday of his life. He’d been broken-hearted here and won the state baseball championship here. It was also the place he’d told his parents they were about to become grandparents and the place Tucker saw as a second home.

  If he were able to see his son all the time, he could live with only coming back to his parents’ house occasionally. He was sure he’d be back for holidays and maybe some vacation time, if his new library gave vacation time to new employees. Town budgets were notoriously tight and there wasn’t always room in it for newbie vacation time.

  He stood in the driveway staring up at his bedroom window, remembering the times that Alicia would toss pebbles at the glass on hot summer nights while they were still in high school. Shaking his head, he huddled into his coat and headed for the front door. “Mom? It’s me!”

  “Your mother’s not here, son. She took Tucker to the grocery store with her. It’s just me.” Mitch McKinnon shuffled into the kitchen wearing jeans and a faded flannel shirt that had obviously seen better days.

  “Hey, Dad.” Growing up, his father had been the type of guy who was more comfortable saying nothing rather than getting into lengthy discussions about feelings. If Bronson needed help in Calculus, his father was the person to go to. Everything else fell into his mother’s wheelhouse.

  “Come here, Bronson.” Mitch pulled his son into his arms and held on tight. “We’re gonna figure a way out of this mess and keep that bitch away from my grandson,” his father promised with a vehemence in his voice that Bronson had never heard before.

  “Dad, I don’t know if we can win this. Courts almost never rule against biological mothers in favor of fathers. With Alicia getting remarried that gives her an even bigger advantage because now she’ll have a husband, another father for Tucker. What judge is going to rule in my favor?”

  Mitch pulled back from his son, steering him toward the dining room table. “Any judge with an ounce of common sense is going to see how much you love Tucker and that this custody fight is just a cheap shot on Alicia’s part before she moves on with her new life.”

  “Maybe, Dad, but it goes beyond me being a good parent. If I get a judge who doesn’t think gay men should be fathers then I’m sunk. Alicia will get full custody and she’ll be able to determine when or if I see Tucker.”

  “Don’t think like that, Bronson. You said yourself that this hot shot attorney is working real hard to keep you and Tucker together.”

  “He can work as hard as he wants, but at the end of the day, the decision is in someone else’s hands. That’s why I’ve decided to move to Connecticut.”

  “Move to Connecticut? What are you talking about? This is your home.”

  The thought of leaving Massachusetts and Nash behind was killing him, but this was the only way he could think to keep his family together. “I know it is Dad, but I can’t lose Tucker. If I move with Alicia then maybe the judge would keep our joint custody arrangement in effect.”

  “We can’t lose Tucker either. Sometimes I think that little ball of sunshine is what keeps your mother and me so young. If we didn’t have that boy to chase after what would happen to us?”

  Bronson slumped down in his chair. He really hadn’t stopped to consider how his move would affect his parents. Being an only child, he and Tucker were all they had. Was his dad right? Was Tucker responsible for keeping his parents feeling so young? Would they wither here like hot-house flower in a blizzard if he and Tucker left Massachusetts?

  Come to think of it, he hadn’t stopped to consider Nash either. Newburyport was his home. His parents were here, so was a job that he loved and best friends who had extended their circle to include him.

  With as crazy as things had been, Bronson hadn’t even told Nash that Rainier was taking his case for a huge fee discount. He had a feeling part of it was the Little Wonders family discount, but the rest was Rainier wanting to kick Alicia’s homophobic ass.

  “Dad, no. I never stopped to consider how you and Mom would take the idea of me leaving. I never even stopped to think how this would affect Nash.” Bronson buried his head in his hands.

  “You love that boy a lot, don’t you?” Mitch wore an amused smile.

  “I do, Dad, and he loves me too.”

  Mitch nodded. “I see that every time we pick up Tucker from his class. It’s also pretty obvious Nash is crazy about Tucker.”

  “We all know that feeling is mutual. All Tucker does is talk about Mr. Spencer.” Bronson picked his head up. “I was so close, Dad. Nash and I were getting serious. We were both going to tell him that Sunday night after I went to see Rainier James that we were a couple and Nash was going to be in his life forever. Then the next thing I know, my life is crashing down in pieces around me.”

  Mitch cocked an eyebrow at his son. “Your mother and I never raised you to be an ostrich who sticks his head in the sand at the first sign of tough times. Listen to what your lawyer is telling you and find a way to fight back.”

  Bronson nodded his head. Alicia had been pure poison in his life for the last six years. It was time he stood up to her. She wasn’t going to take the love of his life and his son away from him without a fight.

  XX

  Nash was sitting at his kitchen table going over his lesson plans for the next week. With Halloween quickly approaching, he needed to figure out how he wanted to celebrate with his students. Maybe they’d make scary paper masks like he’d seen on Pinterest. Or, maybe they could make homemade Trick or Treat bags. He’d seen those cute designs on Pinterest too.

  He shook his head. Pinterest was one of those places he could get lost in and not realize hours had passed while he looked at class project ideas. Standing up from the table, he stretched his muscles and headed to the cabinet for a mug. What he needed right now was a cup of tea.

  Actually what he really needed was a shot of Bronson, straight up. Nash had no idea how he’d managed to make it through the last two weeks without touching his lover. He and Bronson spent so much time rubbing the back of their necks, their agreed upon sign meaning I love you, that he was surprised neither of them had bald spots.

  Holding the mug under the tap, Nash jumped a mile when his doorbell rang. He wasn’t expecting any company and Remington and Knox had stopped babying him and were only stopping by on every other day now, instead of every day. They had both stopped by earlier in the day.

  Setting down the mug, he headed toward the front door, wishing Bronson were on the other side of it. “Probably just the pizza guy delivering to the wrong house.” Throwing open the door, Nash was shocked to see Bronson standing on his doorstep.

  “Surprise!” Bronson was all smiles.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Taking back control of my life.” Bronson wore a determined look on his tired face.

  “I don’t understand. Come inside before someone sees you.” Nash ushered him into the house, wanting nothing more than to get his hands on his lover.

  Once the door was shut behind them, Bronson swept Nash up in his arms. “I missed you so much.” Bronson held him tighter.

  It was like a dream come true for Nash. If Bronson weren’t practically squeezing the breath out of him, he’d think this was actually a dream. “Bronson, how?”

  “I thought the answer to my problem was to move to Connecticut with Alicia and Tucker. That way I could see him all the time.”

  Nash felt gut-kicked again. He moved to pull away, but Bronson’s strong arms stopped him. “I figured you could move too and then we could all be together as one happy family.”

  “Oh, so you’re just gonna uproot me from my family, my friends and my job without consulting me first?” Nash wiggled again, trying to break free from Bronson’s arms.

  “Stop trying to escape and just hear me out.” Bronson pecked Nash’s lips but pulled quickly back.

  “Okay, I’m listening, but don’t think I’m not gonna have my own two cents to contribute late
r on.”

  “I’m counting on your contribution.” Bronson waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Anyway, I went to see my mom tonight to run this idea by her, but she was out. My dad was home and he didn’t react quite the way I expected him to.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “My father is a man of very few words and let me tell you, he had some choice ones for me over the idea of giving up the fight and heading south with Tucker. I never really understood how much Tucker means to them until my father laid it all out for me. My dad thinks Tucker keeps them young.”

  Nash nodded. “I believe it. You know what it’s like trying to keep up with Tucker all day. Either you match his energy level or he leaves you in the dust. Your dad’s perspective makes perfect sense to me.”

  “You’re right. My dad’s anger at me wanting to move made me think of you. Not only would I be leaving my parents behind, but I’d be leaving you too, which is of course when I got the crazy idea for you to come with me.”

  “You think it would be that easy for us to just pick up stakes and move? Oh and both find new jobs?” Nash shook his head. He liked the idea of Bronson trying to find a way to keep them together, but on the other hand, it was a pretty sucky plan.

  “I know, pretty ballsy of me, huh?” Not bothering to wait for an answer, Bronson pressed a kiss to Nash’s lips. “It also struck me that we wouldn’t be free in Connecticut either.”

  “What do you mean?” Nash was having a hard time following along. One minute Bronson was telling a very disjointed story and the next his lover was kissing him.

  “If I don’t stand up to Alicia and fight, then I’m giving her permission to fuck me over until Tucker is eighteen and possibly longer if she manages to brainwash him against me.”

  “Okay, now you’re starting to make sense. I hate to say it, but I agree with you. I get the feeling she’ll dog you until her dying day unless you do something to stop her.”

  “Come spend the night with me tomorrow night.” Bronson kissed Nash, sliding their lips together and holding him tighter.

  Nash was in no mood to fight against the tidal wave of feelings crashing through his body. Bronson had gone and changed the subject again seemingly out of the blue, but with their tongues getting reacquainted, he couldn’t bring himself to care much.

  “Tucker is going with his mom this weekend. She’s picking him up from school tomorrow. I’ll be all alone in my apartment and you’ll be all alone here. We should be alone together.”

  Nash burst out laughing. “You know that makes no sense, right?”

  “Just say yes, Nash.” Bronson’s smile lit up the whole room.

  “Yes!” What other answer could Nash possible give the love of his life?

  17

  “Speaking of being alone together…” Bronson waggled his eyebrows at Nash, relieved that even after telling his long and winding story that the man he loved was still in his arms.

  “What are you suggesting?” Nash shot Bronson a knowing look.

  “That leather sectional looks pretty comfy.” Bronson started walking Bronson backward toward the couch. When Nash bumped up against the back of it, he pushed Nash down and straddled his lap.

  “I like the way you think.” Nash smiled up at Bronson and wrapped his arms around his lover’s back.

  “Loving each other like this and being apart feels so wrong.” Bronson shook his head. This had been the one thought he hadn’t been able to get out of his head.

  “That’s because it is wrong.” Nash’s eyebrows knit together, deepening his frown. “It took so long to find each other and…”

  “And what, handsome?” Bronson brushed a chaste kiss against the side of Nash’s neck.

  Nash grinned. “It’s not my place to say this, but I think you and I would be better parents to Tucker than Alicia and this guy she’s involved with.”

  “You want to be Tucker’s father?” Bronson was stunned. The absolute must-have on his list for qualities in a future husband was a man who would treat Tucker like the boy was his own child and here Nash was saying that he and Bronson would make great parents. Until this moment in time, Bronson didn’t think it was possible to love Nash anymore than he already did. He’d been wrong.

  Nash nodded. “I love Tucker so much. He’s a great kid, smart and with more empathy in his little toe than I have in my entire body. We’d be able to teach each other so much. I didn’t just fall in love with you. I fell in love with Tucker too. We all just seem to fit together.”

  Bronson nodded. “I felt the same way the morning we had breakfast at Pony Express. I thought that anyone looking at us would think we were a family.”

  “I can’t tell you how much it means to hear you say that. These last few weeks without you have really knocked me down. I’m not the same me without you.”

  "I feel the same way. My life is empty and colorless without you," Bronson whispered before running his tongue down Nash's throat, loving the salty taste of him. He'd gone so long without having Nash in his life and now after being apart for two weeks, he'd felt like he was going through withdrawal.

  "Loving you and not being able to hold you has been torture." Nash's blue eyes were dark with need while his voice hitched with emotion.

  Bronson smiled against Nash's hot skin. "It's cruel and unusual punishment."

  Nash snorted and swallowed hard, running his hands down over Bronson's ass, giving the firm flesh a squeeze.

  "You know," Bronson grinned down at Nash, "when I was here before, I didn't get the full tour of the house."

  "Hmm," Nash licked his full lips. "I'm not usually such an awful host. What didn't I show you?"

  Bronson slid his hands under Nash's Red Sox tee, skimming his fingers through the light dusting of fur on Nash's stomach, before dancing over his ribs, pulling his tee shirt up as he went. "Well, I saw the backyard."

  Nash sighed, relaxing into Bronson's touch so much that his eyes slid shut. They popped open when Bronson ran the flat of his tongue over one and then the other nipple. "What else did I show you?"

  Bronson tugged Nash's shirt over his head and sent it sailing across the living room. He reached for the hem of his own shirt. "I saw the kitchen. Man, were you hot in there, making us a cup of tea." Bronson waggled his eyebrows before hauling his shirt off.

  "Jesus." Nash whispered, reaching up to run his hand over the obvious bulge in Bronson's jeans.

  Bronson sucked in a harsh breath. It felt so fucking good to have Nash's hands on him again. "And of course I saw the living room. What did I miss?"

  Nash flashed a devilish smile. "Bathroom.” He bent forward to trace his tongue over Bronson's abs.

  Bronson laughed, rich and full before returning the favor and palming Nash's sizable bulge. "Saw that too. That only leaves one room..."

  "Guest bedroom?" Nash asked innocently.

  Giving Nash's erection a gentle squeeze, Bronson shook his head no. "Bedroom."

  Nash grinned. "How silly of me not to have shown you the most important room in the house.”

  Bronson backed off of Nash's lap, kissing him hard as a sign of what was to come. He reached a hand down to Nash once he'd regained his feet.

  "You always this insistent to tour other people's houses?"

  "Only when I want to take my gorgeous host to bed." Staring into Nash's eyes, his hands were gliding down the hard plane of his lover's chest there was no better word to describe his lover.

  XX

  Nash took Bronson’s hand and hauled himself back to his feet. This whole thing felt like a dream, only in his dreams, Bronson wasn’t wearing a stitch.

  Linking hands with his lover, Nash walked side by side with Bronson toward the hall that led to the bathroom and the bedrooms. Straight ahead was the full bath, while to the right was the guest room where Remington or Knox occasionally crashed when they’d had too much to drink. To the left was his bedroom.

  Walking hand in hand with Bronson toward his room felt like the most natural thing
in the world. In his time with Dan, they’d never done anything romantic like holding hands. Sex was always hard and fast, ending when Dan finished. There was no cuddling or pillow talk afterward, just Dan’s loud snores. Nash couldn’t help feeling treasured.

  “What’s on your mind?” Bronson turned Nash to face him three steps from the bedroom door.

  “I was thinking how being with you like this feels like home. Like it’s where we’re both supposed to be right now.”

  Bronson grinned before kissing Nash quickly. He pulled their joined hands apart and swung Nash into his arms.

  “What are you doing?” Nash half-screeched.

  “Carrying my man over the threshold.” Bronson kissed Nash again, running his tongue along the closed seam of Nash’s full lips. “Delicious,” he growled before dropping Nash in the center of his bed.

  “You’re wearing too many clothes.” Nash was staring at Bronson’s sculpted chest and flat abs. It wasn’t enough, he wanted more skin.

  Flashing Nash a devilish smile, Bronson went for the button of his jeans, slowly tugging down the zipper, his eyes locked on Nash all the while.

  “God, you’re so fucking sexy.” Nash sat up, wanting a closer view of the action.

  Bronson turned so his backside was facing Nash. Looking over his shoulder, he started pushing his jeans down his ass.

  “That ass,” Nash practically whispered.

  Bronson winked at him before slapping his right cheek. The crack echoed loudly in the quiet room.

  “You’re fucking killing me, Bronson. I’ve wanted to smack your ass since the day we met.”

  “Who’s stopping you?” Kicking out of his jeans, Bronson strutted back to the bed, climbing up on his hands and knees with his ass in the air.

  “Not good enough.” Nash got up from the bed to stand behind his lover. Bronson was wearing a pair of navy briefs which hugged every curve of his perfect ass. Running his fingers along the elastic waistband, Nash rubbed his own pant-clad erection against the crack of Bronson’s ass.