Wayward Love

by Rhys Everly

  “Out,” she insisted.

  What a mess.

  I was used to it, to be honest.

  It was my family. Loud, abrasive, and so…Greek. We hadn’t all been under the same roof in a while, and honestly I didn’t know why I’d missed it.

  All this noise was giving me a headache.

  When Yaya finished the extra eggs for Luke and Dad, she joined us at the table, and even though we were all at different stages of eating, we all stayed at the table until everyone was finished.

  Manners and all.

  Which I was starting to regret, considering the subject of the conversation returned to me.

  “So, Andy has a girlfriend?” Dad asked, taking a bite of his eggs and bread.

  “I don’t have a girlfriend. And how the hell would you know? You weren’t even here a few seconds ago?”

  “There.” Leo pointed at me. “That’s your proof. He just admitted it. He’s got a girlfriend. Why are you hiding her from us? Is she ugly? Is she, like, atrocious? You know you shouldn’t be embarrassed by who you’re dating. You like who you like. Look at this ugly mug,” he said, pointing at Dawson.

  Dawson batted the finger away and slapped the back of his boyfriend’s head.

  “Stop it,” I said.

  Kyle was most definitely not ugly. And I wasn’t embarrassed. It was complicated.

  “Oh my! I know why,” Melody exclaimed.

  The bite I’d just taken knotted in my throat, making it real dry, real quick as I turned to look at my sister. Did I look as panicked as I felt?

  “She’s a friend with benefits,” Melody said.

  “I don’t have friends with benefits,” I said.

  “What’s a friend with benefits?” Summer asked.

  “See what you’ve done?”

  Melody turned to Summer and told her she was too young to know.

  “I’m not too young,” Summer whined, and I glared at both her and my sister.

  “I can’t believe you,” I told Melody.

  “So when do we get to meet you girlfriend-slash-friend-with-benefits?” Nathan asked.

  I slapped my forehead and sighed.

  Nathan definitely didn’t need to meet my “girlfriend.” He’d never talk to me again.

  I had put a stop to this madness we were calling a family breakfast.

  “I don’t have a girlfriend. So…never,” I said, and Nathan cocked his head to the side and nodded very slowly, as if to say he wasn’t convinced.

  “Right. I’ve got to go and convince my ex-member of staff that he needs to be my current member of staff again. So…bye,” I said and got up from the table. “Oh, and since everyone is trying to be so helpful, one of you can drop Summer off at school,” I said and practically ran out of the house.

  “He definitely has a girlfriend,” I heard Yaya confirm before I closed the door.

  Fuck my life, that was the last thing I needed right now. And in this town, it wouldn’t be long before the rest of Cedarwood Beach thought I had a girlfriend, too.

  Nineteen

  Kyle

  Convincing Johnny to come back to work was easier than Andy anticipated.

  It turned out working at the Oyster Club wasn’t what Johnny expected it to be.

  Besides, he’d worked for Andy for a few years, so it was more like trying to convince family they were better back home.

  Andy even offered him a raise, even though we’d never discussed that when we planned the visit.

  If that wasn’t an accomplishment, then I didn’t know what an accomplishment looked like.

  Since convincing Johnny took less time than we’d planned, we had an entire morning in front of us before opening the bar, so Andy drove us to the edge of the forest on the other side of town, onto a trail with a sea view where I could imagine a lot of couples escaping to for some R-rated together time in the backseat.

  “One more problem solved,” I said as Andy applied the parking brake.

  “Problem? What problem? Do you know the meaning of the word?” he chuckled. “You’re an unstoppable force, you know that?”

  And he was an immovable object.

  Well, not as immovable as I thought. But the fact that he quoted one of my favorite movies of all time didn’t fail to make my heart skip a beat.

  “Have you ever watched Imagine Me and You?” I asked.

  The way Andy twisted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes told me he hadn’t.

  “It’s an amazing movie with Lena Heady, the chick from Game of Thrones, and Piper Perabo, the girl from Coyote Ugly?”

  “Who from where, with who from what? Are you speaking Chinese again?” he chuckled and ran a finger across the side of my face.

  “It’s a movie. A lesbian movie,” I said, and he raised a perky eyebrow. “Not that kind of lesbian movie, Pervy Perverson. It’s a romantic movie. A love story. It’s one of my favorite films of all time.”

  Andy leaned his head back on the headrest and smiled.

  “I’d love that. Although we’d have to find somewhere to do it that isn’t hard and cold,” he said.

  “I’m sorry?” I shook my head.

  “I meant hard and cold like the floor in the office. Now who’s Pervy Perverson?”

  Andy laughed, but I didn’t.

  How could I forget that? Of course watching a movie together was no easy feat. We couldn’t do it in my house. He wouldn’t feel comfortable with Mom around. And his house was entirely out of the question.

  “You know,” I said before I could help myself, “I’m not used to being in the closet with my relationships…” I caught my mistake too late to fix it.

  So I did the next best thing and blabber before Andy put the parking break down and drove us into the sea.

  “Not that I’m saying this is a relationship, but calling it an affair sounds wrong. I mean, I’ve never slept with men I shouldn’t have, but this is…feels different—”

  His hand landed on my own and he squeezed my palm.

  “It’s a relationship,” he said. “At least, I think so. Right?”

  I nodded.

  He looked away, outside his front window.

  “I wish we could go away somewhere. Somewhere no one knows us so we could fully explore whatever this is between us. Somewhere our business could be our business.”

  “You know, my mom is very accepting,” I said.

  He turned to me with sad eyes.

  “I’m sure she is. I’m just not…”

  “You don’t want anyone to know about us. That’s fine. I guess,” I said and tried not to inject too much pessimism in my voice.

  “That’s not it. I don’t want to keep you a secret. I shouldn’t be keeping you a secret. I’m just not ready,” he said.

  “Does that mean you think you will be? At some point?” I asked.

  “I think so. I hope so,” he said.

  “So…” I said and rubbed my hands together to try and lighten the mood and focus on the positives. “We’re in a relationship. Sort of. I need to change my attitude if that’s the case. I thought we were in the sneaky affair stage. God! I have to find new clothes to wear. Wanna go shopping?”

  Andy laughed, and instead of answering my question, which was very serious by the way, because no one jokes when talking about shopping—especially me—he leaned in and kissed me.

  “You know…I was thinking of you this morning when I…was touching myself,” he mumbled in my ear, and his breath mixed with his shaky voice gave me goosebumps that reached all the way down to my crotch.

  “You were?” I asked and covered his crotch with my own hand.

  “I was picturing you…” he said, his lips returning to mine, “fucking me.”

  I bit his lower lip and took pleasure in seeing what it did to him.

  “Me fucking you? Mr. K! Are you trying to tell me something?”

  Andy looked into my eyes, holding the sides of my face in his palms.

  “Isn’t it obvious? I want you to fuck
me one of these days. For real,” he said, and…did I come in my pants? It certainly felt like it.

  If him telling me those words made me feel like coming, would I even last long enough inside him to give him a good experience?

  “Are you sure?” I asked instead of doing what I really wanted, which was to rip his jeans and tear the back of his underwear so I could gain access to him and fuck him senseless.

  “I’m sure. But before we do anything like that, I should stretch my hole, shouldn’t I? And douche? Can you tell I’ve looked it all up?” he said.

  What was he made of? What divine entity had put this piece of a hunk together to give the world—and me—Andy? Warm, kind-hearted, grump of a man with just enough vanilla kinky side and open to anything sexually?

  “That’s hot,” I said and kissed him.

  Boy, did we make up for not being together the last two nights.

  Maybe Andy wasn’t ready to be fucked yet, but I was. And to my surprise, Andy had stocked up his car with both lube and condoms.

  Before we drove off back into town and to the bar, he pulled a little box from the backseat with a pretty little bow.

  “When did you get this? What is it?” I asked, waiting to be given permission to open it.

  “Well, you gave me the evening off, boss,” he winked, “so I went into New Harlow. I thought you might like it. I’d love it if you wear it when you’re at work.”

  Oh my. Had Mr. K. bought me some bling bling to claim me as his?

  Opening the box turned my excitement into actual surprise.

  No, he hadn’t bought me bling bling to claim me as his. He’d bought me a…

  “A butt plug?” I exclaimed.

  “Is it…too much?” he asked, cringing.

  “It’s better than jewelry,” I said and wrapped my hands around his neck, kissing his face.

  “I want you to wear it every day, and knowing a piece of me is inside you will make me hungrier for you when we get together at night,” he rumbled in my ear.

  “Mr. K.,” I said, biting my lip, “you ‘ve become a naughty, naughty man.”

  “Always have been. You just helped me…find him again.”

  He helped me put my gift on, and once I got dressed, sat back down on the passenger seat, and put my seatbelt on, I felt my insides roar.

  “What the hell is that?” I asked him.

  His finger was pressing something on his phone screen, and my eyes shot wide open.

  “Is that…uhm, controlling the—” I asked.

  “You bet your sweet ass it does,” Andy said and drove off while my ass was on fire under the rule of his thumb.

  We got to work and I had to bite my lips, my fingers, hell, my entire fist to control my orgasm and boner during setup.

  No matter how hard I tried. I failed. And I looked like a lunatic.

  Butt plug v Kyle. 1-0

  As sweet and sexy as it was, I didn’t know if I could work an entire shift like this.

  But if there was something I liked more than sex, that was a challenge. So I’d fucking damn try. Especially if it made Andy happy.

  At one fifteen, and after serving a few customers, the doors opened and a couple of men walked in.

  I stood at my hosting table ready to greet them, but my knees gave way when I realized who they were.

  “Oh. Em. Gee! Leo Karras and Dawson Eldred! I can’t believe you’re here!” I screeched as the two men stood across from me and watched me with…pure shock? Or was it terror? Or was it amusement? I didn’t know, and frankly, I didn’t care. “Duh, of course you’re here. You’re from here.”

  Leo Karras and Dawson Eldred had just walked into Andy’s Bar.

  “Do you have a table for two?” Leo chuckled and lifted two fingers in the air.

  Oh, those fingers. Was it weird that I wanted to lick them?

  Uhm, yes. Yes it was.

  Leo was taken.

  And he was my boyfriend’s brother. Ew. No.

  Well, could you blame me for fanboying? Leo had been my idol since his One Shot days and even more so since he came out.

  And Dawson? Well, he was one hot detective superhero if I’d ever seen one. Even hotter in person. How was that possible?

  My heart pumped at a hundred miles an hour and the temperature shot through the roof inside me.

  Ok, the butt plug was part of the reason for the latter.

  “I’m so fucking rude. Yes. Of course,” I replied, grabbed two menus, and walked them to a table just as my butt plug changed speeds and I had to do a double take before turning to face them again.

  “Are you okay?” Dawson asked as he took a seat.

  “Yes. Fine,” I said and bit the inside of my cheeks trying to keep my cool.

  Public sex in a car, a butt plug controlled by my boyfriend-slash-boss, and two celebrities at my work?

  God, could this day get any better? Or was I still in bed dreaming? I was still in bed dreaming, wasn’t I?

  “So, you’re back in town,” I said and immediately slapped myself mentally. “I mean, duh, Kyle! Of course you are.”

  Was it weird that I stalked them on Instagram on a daily basis?

  I still remembered the day Nathan told me Leo Karras was his uncle. I’d requested phone numbers, emails, and addresses, but of course he gave me none of them.

  Keep it cool, Kyle. Jeez. Could you be any gayer right now?

  And when they came out to the world, I had all but called Nathan and requested an audience with both of them.

  Okay. Maybe not an audience. Maybe my exact words were “are they looking for a third? Even temporarily?”

  Dawson’s coming out and revealing his relationship with Leo had not only broken the news, it had put Cedarwood Beach back on the map. And since then, there had been superhero geeks and thirsty fans galore storming into town in hopes of bumping into them.

  It was thanks to them that a LOVEworks sign had been installed at the beach.

  “Of course we are. We are looking at houses in the area,” Dawson said.

  “Really?” I almost shrieked.

  They were thinking of moving here? So I’d have two full time celebrities in close proximity? That was too much information to process.

  If they were in town, then maybe they could help Andy get his business back on track.

  “I’m sorry,” I said as they both watched me hyperventilate. “I am usually much, much worse, but I am still shocked to meet you in person.”

  Rachel came to stand by my side and put her hands around me as if she was containing a crazy person.

  Well, not that I wasn’t.

  “It’s true. He is much worse,” she said.

  Leo and Dawson laughed at her remark.

  “We haven’t met before. Are you new?” Leo asked.

  “Kyle is doing his senior project for college here and helping Andy with the bar,” Rachel said before I could.

  Leo nodded before extending his hand to shake mine.

  “That’s great,” he said. “God knows my brother needs all the help he can get.”

  Let’s just hope he didn’t realize how much I was helping Andy. And as if on cue, my butt plug changed settings again.

  Now it was imitating pounding movements instead of a constant buzzing.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Dawson asked again.

  It took all my strength not to lose my shit in front of them.

  It was a miracle I didn’t whimper when I spoke again. I was going to kill Andy by the end of the shift. That was for sure.

  “I’m fine,” I said. “Just sore knees, is all.”

  “You slut, what have you been doing to get sore knees?” Rachel laughed, and the two guys followed suit.

  “I was cleaning, I’ll have you know. Bitch,” I said feigning distaste for her comment.

  “Really? Who?” she giggled.

  I rolled my eyes just as Andy stepped in the circle.

  “Hey,” he said looking at his brother and Dawson.

&n
bsp; His cell phone was in his hand and it took all my willpower not to snatch it away and put an end to this…pleasurable torture.

  “What are you doing here?”

  As if he could read my mind, Andy pressed something on his screen and tucked his phone away. The fire in my ass stopped.

  Abruptly.

  Which gave me the sadsies.

  I mean, I did want him to give me a minute to breathe, but it didn’t mean I didn’t like what his gift was doing to me.

  “We’re here to buy a car. Can I have a Porsche and he’ll have a Lamborghini,” Leo said, and Rachel and I laughed.

  “Funny. You should be a comedian,” Andy grimaced.

  Leo lifted a finger and reached for his phone.

  “Let me call Milo. Do you think Netflix will wanna do a gig?” he asked Dawson.

  “Pff. Who would want to see your ugly face?” Andy said, and Leo faked a bitter “ouch.”

  “We’re here for lunch, of course. You still do that, right?”

  “Yes, we do. Jerk,” Andy mocked him. “Rachel, why don’t you take their order?”

  He tried to pull me away from his brother’s table, but I didn’t budge.

  “Actually, I’ll take the table,” I said to Rachel, ignoring Andy.

  Andy dry coughed and the whole gang turned to look at him.

  “I’m sure Rachel can manage on her own,” he mumbled.

  “I didn’t say she couldn’t. But I want to serve the two Hollywood actors gracing our fine establishment, if you don’t mind. I’ve got autographs to ask for, merchandise to sign. I’m a busy girl so…shoo,” I said, making Dawson and Leo crack up.

  “I need to speak to you for a second, Kyle?” Andy said as if I hadn’t just declared my intention to stay and serve his brother.

  “In a minute. Let me just take their order real quick,” I insisted.

  Dawson narrowed his eyes looking from me to Andy and to his boyfriend.

  I took my note pad out, unclipped the pen from my apron, and lifted both in front of me, waiting for them to tell me what they wanted.

  “Kyle, now,” Andy said.

  I pouted. Yeah, pouted. Why was he being so weird? Didn’t he understand that by being so…odd, he was making our secret more obvious?

  “If you’ll excuse me a second,” I rolled my eyes. Dawson and Leo smirked. “And, girl, don’t you dare take their order,” I warned Rachel, who put her hands up in surrender and walked away from them.