He sighed. “I don’t know what I mean. All I know is I truly believe you saved my life that day. I want you to know how much I appreciate that, and I’m glad you’re here and came with us.”
He heard Joel’s car in the driveway. Well, that was perfect timing, I suppose.
* * * *
I am sooo fucking glad to be home.
Even better, Fen was home.
Yay!
Hopefully that’d mean a little shower sex, because after the day Joel had, he wasn’t sure he’d have much more energy than that. Tonight would likely be a collapse in bed after dinner with the TV timer on kind of night.
Fen greeted him at the door when Joel walked in, offering him a kiss and taking his lunch bucket from him. “Shower?” Joel asked.
Fen smiled. “I waited on you, Sir.”
“Excellent. Leftovers?”
“Yes, Sir. After our shower.”
“I love you.”
Fen smiled and kissed him again. “Love you, too, Sir. I’ll be right there.”
Joel headed to their bathroom. He was standing under the spray when Fen joined him a couple of minutes later.
“Sounds like you had a rough day, Sir.”
“Yeah, that’s one word for it. Never should have promised the guy we’d have it done, but he made plans with family from out of town who are arriving in the morning, so I didn’t feel right dicking him over.”
Fen grabbed a scrubby, dumped peach-scented bodywash on it, and started working on Joel’s back for him. “You’re a good man, Sir.”
“Thank you.” He braced his hands against the wall and leaned forward, resting his forehead against it. “I have a feeling I won’t have a lot of energy tonight, baby. I’m sorry.”
He felt Fen’s body mold against his from behind. “No worries, Sir. You know that.” He wrapped his arms around Joel in a strong hug.
Joel grabbed his hands and eased them down, over his cock. “How about you take care of me, I’ll take care of you, and after dinner we can cuddle?”
Fen sweetly giggled. “I can take a hint, Sir.” He started stroking Joel’s cock, and Joel felt Fen’s cock grow hard against his ass, where it was pressed against him.
This was one of the many reasons he loved his boy, how easy to get along with he was. Poor Fen had wanted to try to get past his biggest hard limit of no anal sex not too long ago, but it was just something he wasn’t ready to let go of yet. Joel hadn’t asked him to try, either. In fact, it was one of the promises he’d made to Fen when they first got together, that he’d never break that hard limit, or pressure Fen to do it.
Hell, Joel never even brought it up to Fen.
But when Fen had beaten himself up over it, Joel had finally had a discussion with him about it, setting down some parameters of his own before he’d even consider letting Fen take another run at trying to get over it. Benchmarks and prerequisites that needed to be met first before Joel would let Fen try again.
Because Joel was a pretty tough guy, but it broke his heart seeing his boy crying, mad at himself for not being able to get over it, when, honestly? It wasn’t an issue for Joel.
Joel fell in love with Fen exactly the way he was, knowing Fen would probably never lift that limit.
He didn’t even miss it. They had too many other countless ways to have fun and make love—and make each other come—that having anal sex wasn’t even something he wished they’d do.
He was happy the way things were with them.
Even if they did apparently have a ghost.
Fen’s hands skillfully stroked Joel’s cock, working slowly at first, one hand cupping Joel’s sac, cradling it. Joel slowly rocked his hips in time with Fen’s hands, his eyes falling closed as Fen quickly helped take Joel’s mind off his work today, off his cares, off everything except the feel of his guy’s fingers fisting Joel’s cock.
Yeeessss.
He was a damned lucky man, and he knew it. He had a sexy hubby and a good life, and one little thing they didn’t do wasn’t even close to darkening his feelings.
All he wanted was this, and his guy, and for them to be happy together.
He felt Fen’s breath against his back, and the shower smelled like peaches and sex and love.
He didn’t even try to hold back. Fen quickly built him up to the edge and then got him over, Joel letting out a groan as his balls emptied and shot ropes of cum all over Fen’s fingers.
Joel turned in his arms and pulled Fen in for a long, slow kiss. “Thank you, baby.” He loved the way Fen’s body felt tucked against his. If he didn’t know how strong and sturdy the smaller man really was, he’d be afraid he’d break him if he so much as hugged him wrong.
Fortunately, Fen had proven how tough he actually was, and that Joel didn’t have to worry about his body.
Fen’s heart and soul, however, were as fragile as the finest china, and Joel made sure he built their life together to do everything within his power to protect Fen like that.
His hands skimmed down Fen’s back, cupping his gorgeous little ass. “How was Ben today in class?”
“Sore as hell,” Fen said with an evil smile. “You should have seen the poor guy. You would have laughed your ass off.”
“I hope Jake doesn’t torture him too much.”
“Oh, Ben will be fine. He just needs to get used to using those muscles. It’ll take him a few weeks, that’s all. He’ll live.”
“At this rate, June’s going to need to start having special kinky classes versus vanilla ones. I think half of Venture wants to sign up for those classes.”
“I know Scrye’s enjoying the hell out of it.”
Joel turned Fen around so his back was pressed against Joel’s front. “Let’s see if I can coax one out of you, baby.” His hands skimmed down Fen’s abs, one arm circling Fen’s waist, the other sinking all the way down to Fen’s cock, where he wrapped his fingers around it.
Fen squirmed against Joel’s body and reached up with one arm to hook a hand around the back of Joel’s neck and hold on.
It stretched Fen’s lithe, sinewy body along Joel’s in a delicious way Joel wished he had more energy to appreciate and enjoy tonight.
He nibbled the side of Fen’s neck. “You going to come for me, baby?” he asked.
Fen moaned. “Yes, Sir.”
He was fucking Joel’s hand, and if Joel hadn’t just shot his load into Fen’s hands, he’d likely be hard and close to coming just from that wonderfully sweet sensation.
It only took a couple of minutes for him to get Fen over, toying with him a little to make him desperately beg and plead for it.
If Joel hadn’t been so tired, he’d toy with him some more.
Fen’s cries filled the shower and Joel rubbed his cheek against his boy’s as hot cum filled Joel’s hands. He stilled his hands, lightly squeezing Fen’s cock and enjoying the way his boy shivered in his arms.
“Better, baby?”
Fen happily sighed. “Mmm-hmm. Much better, Sir. Thank you.”
“Are they coming over for Halloween? Scrye and June?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Remember our deal,” Joel cautioned.
“I promise I won’t say anything unless they ask me.”
“Excellent.” He still wasn’t sure they had a ghost, but Fen believed it, and that was good enough for him.
After dinner, Joel lay in bed with Fen snuggled against him. “Did Mads ever see July?” He knew he might as well call their ghost that, since that’s what Fen called her. And if Fen was right, it made perfect sense.
“No, Sir. Why?”
“Just curious.” He had a thought. “Hope she isn’t spying on us in bed,” he muttered.
“I asked her not to.”
He started dozing off. “Wait. You asked her, who? July, or Mads?”
Fen giggled. “July, Sir. Mads wouldn’t spy on us in bed. That’d be like watching her brothers doing it. She’ll tell you herself she has nooo desire to watch that.”
�
�Ah. Okay. Good.”
He loved Mads like a sister, but he didn’t want her spying on them in bed any more than he wanted his own sister or brother spying on them in bed, or wanted to see his sister and brother in bed.
Yech.
“Hey, has Mads set their wedding date yet?” Joel asked.
Fen grumbled. “No, not yet.”
“Do I need to go hurt Milo or something?”
That made Fen snort. “No, this is all on her. She’s just overstressing, as usual. She’s still trying to decide on a location.”
“Oh.” He snuggled Fen against him. “Good. Because I like Milo, and he might be able to hold his own against me. I’d rather fight beside him than against him.”
“Master, if I thought Milo was a problem, it wouldn’t get even that far, trust me.”
There was something…decidedly dark in his boy’s tone. And considering what he knew about his boy’s potential, that was damned dark, indeed.
“Glad you’re on my side, baby.” He nuzzled Fen’s neck.
He pulled Joel’s arms tighter around him. “I’m always on your side, Master.”
Chapter Six
The afternoon of their Halloween party, Leah surveyed their house one more time. Seth had gone all-out—of course—decorating inside and out.
It made her smile.
Especially since she was convinced Kaden was still watching out for them.
It wasn’t that she had concrete proof or anything, just little things she and Seth both had seen and heard here and there, mostly on nights of Suncoast Society parties.
Like the ultimate control freak didn’t want to leave anything to chance and wanted to be there to personally supervise whatever festivities were being celebrated.
Fine with her. It gave her comfort to think maybe he was watching and having whatever fun he could seeing them doing exactly what he’d told them to do—to live.
She had recently managed to get a few of their friends to admit they’d seen things they couldn’t explain at their house.
Mostly people who’d known Kaden, but even some who hadn’t known him well, and even a couple who’d never met him when he was alive.
To a person, none of them wanted to admit it to her until she outright asked. Apparently everyone had been worried about not saying anything because no one wanted to upset her or Seth.
She loved her friends to death for that, but, frankly, she wanted to know.
At first, she and Seth had planned to never say anything about it to anyone. When Loren accidentally let it slip one day when over for coffee and a planning session for one of the non-profits they volunteered for, Leah cornered her.
They’d been sitting at Leah’s dining room table, and she’d noticed Loren slowly looking around. Like she’d been looking for…something.
Something specific.
And her friend had been over to her house countless times over the years.
“What is up with you today, honey?” Leah asked her.
Loren jumped, wearing a guilty look if Leah ever saw one. “What? Nothing!”
Leah sat back, crossed her arms over her chest, and took a page right from Kaden’s playbook—waited her out.
Not hard to do, because Ross and Kaden had been friends for years, and both of them were attorneys, so Leah knew damn well the same trick that worked on her would absolutely work on Loren.
It did.
Loren finally admitted what she and Ross had seen before at a couple of the parties, bursting into tears at the end of her story because she’d been terrified it’d upset Leah.
After Leah finished laughing at her—and calming her down—and then sharing some cleansing, healthy tears with Loren, she finally admitted to Loren what she and Seth had themselves seen and heard.
Then Loren admitted maybe others had seen things. Tony and Shayla, for starters. Gilo and Abbey. June and Scrye. People Leah knew damn well wouldn’t fuck with her and Seth in bad ways, and especially wouldn’t fuck with them when the subject had to do with Kaden.
Because they’d known Kaden. He’d been their friend. And they were her friends, and Seth’s. If she could trust anyone, they were people who would be counted among that close circle of friends she absolutely could trust.
Leah had told Seth that, and he’d finally agreed they could talk to trusted friends about it. He didn’t want people freaked out about it.
Leah wanted to talk to June and Scrye about it tonight. She hadn’t really had a chance to do it, and even the few times she had, it didn’t feel like the right situation to bring up the topic.
Tonight, here, with the spirit of Kaden practically living all around them, it would be the perfect time to bring it up and talk to them.
Seth walked in. “We all set?”
“Yes, Sir. I think so.” She pecked him on the lips. “No scaring anyone tonight, please?”
“Nooo. I learned my lesson last time.” He sadly sighed. “I hope Kel and Mal make it out.” Seth had been scaring people along their heavily decorated path during the first Halloween party they’d hosted, reaching out and grabbing them, and poor Mallory had socked Seth—rightfully—in the nose.
She’d felt horrified, while the rest of them had laughed their butts off over it. Even Seth admitted at the time, as he sat in the kitchen with a bag of frozen peas over his eye so it hopefully wouldn’t blacken, that he’d deserved it.
Leah really hoped Kaden had been around to see that, because she knew her husband would have been the first one falling over laughing at Seth’s self-made misery.
He was, after all, a sadist.
* * * *
For tonight, since Seth had gone all-out with decorations, he’d decided for his costume that he was going to do something easy and old-school. He pulled on a short-sleeved button-up, grabbed a name tag sticker, and wrote HOMICIDAL MANIAC on it.
What? They looked like everyone else.
Slapping it on his left chest, he knew that’d be easy, comfortable, and he wouldn’t have to do anything special before they played.
If they played. He wasn’t sure if he’d feel like it or not tonight.
It was just as much fun to focus on their friends and watch them having fun.
To think about Kaden and imagine that he was watching them, supervising what they were doing, having a laugh over the antics their gang would no doubt get up to.
Leah hadn’t felt like buying a new costume. Earlier, Seth had her go through her wardrobe and pick out a few items that she wouldn’t mind wearing and bring them to him to look at.
That’s how she ended up with the pink cat ears headband, the fuzzy pink wrist cuffs, and the pink tail clipped to the back of her black leather mini skirt. She also wore a black leather bikini top.
Sometimes, simpler was elegant and better.
Especially when they’d both be worn the heck out by the time the last person left.
At least this group was great about helping to pick up the place before they left. They usually didn’t have much to do the next day except police for any stray cups or plates that were overlooked the night before.
Seth tried not to let melancholy fill him today, because today was supposed to be all about fun.
But he’d be lying if he didn’t admit he felt cheated. That he didn’t get to be by Kaden and Leah’s side for all those years, helping them host these things, helping them with the clean-up.
That he hadn’t known how Leah felt, or that Kaden wished they could bring Seth in to be their third. That timing and life and circumstances had fucked things up until, when it finally happened, they were on the clock and it was not how Seth wanted it to be.
And now…
I miss you, dude. Love you, still not doing you, but I’d even do you, or let you do me, if it meant we could have you back.
* * * *
June and Scrye weren’t the first ones at Seth and Leah’s house that night, but they were on the early-ish end of the bell curve.
While Scrye carried their bags
in, Leah pulled June aside.
“Can I talk to you alone for a minute? Nothing bad, but…you’ll understand why.”
June nodded. “Sure.” But as Leah led June down to their bedroom, a frisson of fear rippled through June. Not like, serial murder fear, but…
Like maybe Leah was going to ask her something she didn’t really want to answer.
Once the door was closed behind them, Leah got right to it. “I know some people have thought they’ve…seen things while here. And some of them said they thought maybe you and Mark had, too.”
“Seen things?” June knew her friend would see through her immediately, and Leah gave her a look that would have made Kaden proud.
June immediately folded. “Yeah, I thought maybe I did at the Christmas party.” She told Leah what she thought she saw. “Mark thought he saw something at that first Halloween party, but he didn’t tell me until later.”
Leah hugged her. “Do me a favor, please? Tell me or Seth if you do see anything, or hear anything. We want to know. Just don’t go spreading it around too much among people we don’t know well. I don’t care if inner-circle people know, like you guys, or Tony and Ross and Kel and all them, that’s fine.”
“Okay. Sorry we didn’t say anything to you, honey, but we didn’t want you to think we were fucking with you, or upset you.”
“I know. That’s what Loren told me, too. But I’m okay.” She squeezed June’s hands and smiled. “I’m really okay now. I’ll be the first person to admit that, if it wasn’t for Seth, I probably wouldn’t be here right now. But he helped me through it. We helped each other. I’m okay, seriously.” She blinked back tears. “It comforts me knowing maybe he is still here, in some way, you know? Me and Seth, both.”
“God, he was such a control freak,” June said, wistfully smiling. “More than Mark, even. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the guy to death, you know I did, but he would have driven me crazy.”
“I know.” Her smile widened. “But he left us a fantastic legacy.”
“Yeah, he did.” June sighed. “I guess it is kind of cool thinking maybe he’s still around.” She laughed. “I hope he likes my costume.”
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