The Rhubarb Patch

by Deanna Wadsworth

  God, my family is messed up.

  “Are we okay, Scott?”

  He thought about it for a moment and almost said, “Of course we’re okay,” but that would’ve been a lie. “No, Mom, we’re not okay.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m not happy with you right now,” he told her honestly. “I’m mad at you for keeping all this from me. Plus I’m annoyed that you’re dating a homophobic idiot. Unlike you not telling me that you suspected Brent was cheating, I’m not gonna tell you what you wanna hear anymore. That’s the old Scott. The new Scott is honest.”

  “The new Scott sounds like a jerk.”

  “Maybe he is,” he said unapologetically. “But I need to protect myself. And right now that means I can’t talk to you for a while.”

  “Scott….”

  “Mom, I love you, but don’t call me. I’ll call you when I figure this out.”

  Then he hung up.

  Scott threw the cell phone on the pile of cash and open cards. He buried his face in his hands and rubbed it dry.

  “Damn… it….” He groaned.

  He didn’t feel bad about how he ended the conversation. He felt relieved. Like everything he wanted to say his whole life had finally come out. Not in the best way, but for the first time in their lives, they both had been honest.

  His phone buzzed.

  Davis.

  What did you say to Mom? She’s sobbing and Joe is screaming about what a jealous prick you are!!!

  Scott scoffed. That asshole would yell at Mom while she cried rather than consoling her.

  Not wanting to have his phone blow up the rest of the night, he sent a quick text to his mother.

  Mom, I love you. I just need a few days to process all this new information, okay?

  Davis: Seriously I hate Joe! He’s just yelling and making her cry more!

  Scott texted him: Tell Joe to shut his mouth and stop making Mom cry! And don’t leave him alone with her!!

  Davis: Fine I’ll stay! But if he hurts me, you have to come visit me at the hospital!!

  Scott rolled his eyes and went to toss his phone when another text came through.

  Mom: I love you too. I’m trying to understand why you’re angry and be supportive. That’s all I ask from you. I need you to SUPPORT me. I can’t lose you over this!

  “Christ, the dramatics,” he muttered as he texted her: You’re not losing me. I just need time to think. I’m not texting you back. Get some sleep before work. I love you. TTYL

  Emotionally exhausted and spent, Scott tossed his phone onto the bed and headed into the guest bedroom. It wasn’t even dinnertime, but he stripped down, leaving his clothes piled on the floor. After enjoying his new life in the country, getting to know a grandmother he never knew, to now discover Nancy might be something different entirely left Scott unsettled and empty.

  Yes, Scott had learned he liked being by himself, but he’d only been by himself physically, not emotionally. He still had his family, their support, and even a relationship with the imagined woman who lived in this house.

  He’d had Phin.

  But now Scott had no one.

  He’d never felt so truly and utterly alone.

  He grabbed his pajama bottoms from the foot of the bed and put them on. Fully drained, he slipped beneath the covers and fell asleep.

  Chapter Nineteen

  A LOUD banging startled Scott awake.

  Bleary-eyed, he rolled over, reaching for his phone to see the time. But he’d left it in the other room. It was dark outside. How long had he slept?

  Then everything came rushing back.

  The cards, the fight with Mom…. Shit!

  More pounding.

  His stomach sank with dread. What if Mike had come to beat him up? But he shook his head at that idiotic thought.

  Criminals don’t knock.

  He climbed out of the bed and crept down the stairs toward the knocking.

  “Mouse, wake up!”

  Scott let out a whoosh of breath and hurried to the back porch. “Phin, what are you doing? It’s the middle of the night.”

  His face was bright with mischief, and Scott wasn’t sure he hadn’t been drinking. “Nah, it’s not even ten o’clock. I wanna show you something. Get your shoes and come with me.”

  “I’m in my pajama bottoms.”

  “You don’t need to get dressed. It’s just us out here. Plus it’s still eighty out.”

  Intrigued and more than thrilled Phin had reached out to him, Scott grabbed his shoes.

  “Don’t turn on the lights,” Phin warned.

  Shrouded in the night, Scott followed him outside. It was warm, so he really didn’t need a shirt. And part of him knew his chest looked good, and he wanted Phin to notice.

  Once outside, Phin shocked Scott by taking his hand. “C’mon.”

  His heart skipped when Phin, like an eager child on Christmas morning, led him into the darkness. With any other man, Scott would’ve hesitated to run off into the night, but Phin knew every inch of this property. He trusted Phin.

  And his hand felt spectacular engulfed in Phin’s.

  Caught up in Phin’s infectious excitement, Scott stumbled after him, laughing. “Where are you taking me?”

  “You’ll see.”

  And in a matter of moments, Scott did see.

  From the back of their property and out into the cornfield, a myriad of fireflies flickered in the night.

  Phin stopped about ten yards from the fence line. Shrouded by the trees, the rich navy sky above the corn was splashed with diamonds. It seemed as if the stars had fallen to earth, flickering and dancing all around them.

  “Wow!”

  “Right?” Phin’s voice softened with awe.

  Everywhere Scott looked, tiny lightning bugs flickered. He’d seen and caught fireflies as a kid, but seeing so many in one place was like something out of a fantasy novel.

  “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Scott whispered. He squeezed Phin’s hand—they fit together so well—and smiled up at him. “Thank you for waking me up to see this.”

  Phin grinned. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

  “Amazing.”

  “When I was little, my aunt used to tell me fireflies were fairies,” Phin told him. “And if you caught one, you would have good luck, but only if you let it go. If you put them in a jar, you’d have nothing but bad luck because fairies need to be free.”

  “Hmm, maybe that’s why I’ve had such bad luck,” Scott observed. “I put fireflies in jars as a kid.”

  “Maybe it’s worn off by now. I don’t think fairy bad luck lasts forever.”

  As he smiled up at Phin, his heart gave a lurch hearing him talk about something so innocent and playful.

  Was Scott’s luck turning around?

  Standing there in the night, holding Phin’s hand, Scott could almost imagine the fireflies were fairies in a mystical woodland, sprinkling Scott with good luck.

  “How have you been?” Scott whispered.

  “Not good,” Phin admitted.

  He flinched in surprise at that, seeking eye contact.

  Phin squeezed his hand and smiled. “Better now.”

  Overcome with a desire to kiss him, Scott held himself in check. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  While Scott had pep-talked himself into not being the passive one or the first to apologize, something had been eating at him. “For not introducing you to my family.”

  Phin made a throwaway gesture, but the dismissive way he said, “It’s fine,” told Scott it had bothered him.

  “No, it isn’t,” he insisted, kicking himself for sounding like his mother trying to make peace with Dumbass. “It wasn’t nice of me.”

  But Scott refused to say more because he was only sorry for being rude. Phin owed him an explanation for his sudden disappearance.

  Scott held his breath, biting his cheek to keep quiet, hoping this man might have an apology of his own. Phin had be
en ignoring him, yet now he dragged him into the night, holding hands and sharing the most romantic sight Scott had ever seen.

  Talk about mixed signals.

  “I suppose I brought it on myself,” Phin said softly.

  “Yeah, you did.” Shocked by his own boldness, he knew Phin wouldn’t be angry.

  “I’m sorry I’ve been ignoring you. It’s just….” He hesitated. “Katie is getting slow. She can’t get around as much. I’m worried her time’s getting shorter.”

  Suddenly he felt like an asshole for being upset. “I’m so sorry!”

  “Me too.” Phin’s hand squeezed, holding for a moment before he gave Scott a tight-lipped smile. “But there’s more to it. So much more.”

  Though that sounded ominous, Scott waited, refusing to present the man with excuses. It was time to start learning from his mistakes, or he’d end up with a Dumbass of his own one day. Scott had always been so eager to stop fighting with Brent that he would offer up justifications for him, which his boyfriend was more than happy to use. Funny thing, it was always what Scott wanted him to be sorry for, never how Brent actually felt.

  He would not do that with Phin.

  “It’s difficult to say,” Phin admitted. “But I’m scared.”

  “Scared? Why?”

  “What’s going on? Here? Between us?”

  Scott turned to face him, their clasped hands between them. “I have no idea, Phin. That’s why I didn’t introduce you to my family. Well, that and nobody should have to be subjected to Joe if they don’t have to be.”

  “Was it that bad?”

  Scott shrugged. “Yeah, kinda. Then I had a huge fight with my mom this afternoon.”

  “Oh?”

  “I found a shoebox in Nancy’s armoire chock-full of all the Christmas and birthday cards she sent me since I was little.”

  “What?”

  Scott let out a frustrated sniff. “Yeah, Mom sent them all back, return to sender.”

  “But Nancy kept sending them?”

  “Yeah, I think it was like a battle of wills between the two of them.”

  Quiet for a moment, Phin finally said, “That sounds like Nancy. Don’t challenge her if you want it to end quietly.”

  Scott laughed. “Sounds like my mom.” For a heartbeat, Scott almost told Phin the rest of the story, but just then, holding hands and staring up at the fireflies and the stars—no. He didn’t want to ruin the moment with drama he had no power to change.

  Phin took both of Scott’s hands into his. “I guess that would’ve been awkward, introducing me to a woman who hated my best friend.”

  “Like I said, I didn’t know how to introduce you.”

  “How did you want to introduce me?” Phin asked, the fireflies sparkling behind him, the moon casting a silvery hue on his skin, reflecting bright and hopeful in his eyes.

  “How do you want me to introduce you?” he countered. Stay strong. Make Phin voice it!

  “You’re not gonna let me get away with not saying it, are you?”

  Grinning he squeezed his hands. “Nope.”

  Then it happened.

  The one thing Scott had wanted for so long.

  Phin kissed him.

  Chapter Twenty

  AS THE rich star-filled sky illuminated the night, with golden fairy lights flickering all around them, Phin’s arms coiled tight around Scott. He melted into that decadent warmth. The sweet push and pull of lips, the press of Phin’s tongue slipping inside his mouth, and the powerful feel of those arms.

  Breathless, Phin pulled back, stroking Scott’s cheek with one big hand. “Was that okay?”

  “You didn’t answer my question.” Scott rubbed his hips in encouragement, his body responding with fire to Phin’s touch.

  Phin kissed him again, tongue diving deep and drawing a growl out of Scott. Panting, Scott put both hands on that big chest, more eager than ever to feel Phin’s skin under his hands, but desperate to hear the words to go with this magical night.

  “Say it,” Scott prompted.

  Phin stroked his cheek, eyes dancing with wonder. “I like you, Scott Howe. I like you more than I’ve liked anyone in a very long time. Maybe ever. I want to see where things could go with us, but I’m scared.”

  Heart melting and eyes brimming, Scott bit his trembling lip. “I’m scared too.”

  Phin ran his hand over the sharp hairs on Scott’s scalp. “I’ll never hurt you.” He gave a tiny smile, then stepped back, kissing both his hands. “Would you like to come up to the house? Have a glass of wine and talk?”

  “That sounds nice,” Scott said. Then he looked around. “But this is by far the most romantic moment I’ve ever had in all my life. I’m not sure I want it to end.”

  Kissing his cheek, Phin grinned. “I’m glad you liked it. But how about I try to top it in the house?”

  Scott could hear Davis in his head saying something pithy about being “topped,” but he only returned Phin’s smile. “Okay.”

  Hand in hand, they strolled up to the house. About halfway to the back porch, Phin stopped them, drew Scott in tight, and kissed him hard. He had something he needed to talk about, but his hunger for Scott was ripe and powerful, somewhat unchecked.

  Opening his mouth to the kiss, Scott shuddered, shifting his hips to make room for his rock-hard erection. Those callused hands roamed up and down Scott’s bare back, cupped his bottom, and lifted him up until their erections were flush. Too nervous to grip Phin through his jeans like he longed to do, Scott let Phin take the lead, drawing him tight and kissing him deeper.

  Panting, Scott withdrew so he could catch his breath. But it was stolen right from his chest when he saw the raw desire in Phin’s gaze, and the swollen, damp lips. He wrapped his arms around Phin’s neck and kissed him again. Phin was so much taller that when he straightened up, Scott’s toes barely touched the grass. Trusting the man’s strength, Scott raised one leg around his hip, and when Phin took hold of him, he wrapped the other around his waist.

  “Oh, Scott,” he murmured, cupping his bottom and grinding them together.

  Scott had no underwear beneath his thin cotton pajama bottoms, so the riot of sensations from the rough grinding almost sent him over the edge. “Phin,” he begged. “Slow down. I’m gonna….”

  With a frustrated grunt, Phin stilled, breaking the kiss and pressing his face into Scott’s neck. Scott kissed his temple and his bald head, loving the slight prickle of stubble at his nape. Carefully, he dislodged himself from Phin’s waist and stepped down on wobbly legs. Phin kept his arms around him, and Scott’s erection jutted out hard, tenting his pajamas. Smiling in wonder, Phin ran a hand down Scott’s heaving chest, tracing his muscles and catching his thumb on the waistband.

  Scott sucked in a breath. Would he go all the way?

  He was not disappointed. That big paw rolled over his head, making Scott shudder. His precum had wetted his bottoms, and Phin ran his palm over it a few times in a circular pattern.

  Scott gasped and grabbed Phin’s forearms when Phin gently gripped his head.

  “Oh, Phin, please.” He didn’t know what he pleaded for. For Phin to stop or keep going. But whatever this man wanted to give to him, he wanted it too.

  Desperately.

  “Inside or right now?” Phin kissed his neck, fondling him through the fabric.

  “Please,” he begged, not wanting to answer.

  Scott loved a dominant man in bed, hence all his trouble with controlling men in real life. Right now he needed Phin to take control of their bodies, with the hope that Phin only wanted to make Scott happy, not because he wanted to control him.

  “Unless you tell me no, I’m gonna get on my knees.” Phin’s grip on Scott tightened, the sultry breaths on his neck making him tremble.

  Wordless, Scott released Phin’s arm, and with one hand pushed his pajama bottoms down in the front. His cock sprang free, bobbing as a gentle breeze washed over his hot flesh, cool on the moist tip. The waistband of his pajamas cau
ght snug under his balls, leaving only his cock and balls exposed.

  Scott had never had sex outside, unless a car counted. The chirp of insects, the wind rustling the leaves and grass, and Phin’s ragged breaths filled the night. The fireflies still danced around them, the fairies bestowing this moment with good fortune. Neither house had the lights on, so only the moonlight illuminated them as Phin dropped to his knees.

  When Phin’s warm, wet mouth surrounded his wanting erection, Scott shuddered, gripping Phin’s broad shoulders to hold on as desire swept through him. Phin did not take it easy or slow. He worked him over like a man half-starved. His eagerness threw Scott right over the edge faster than he intended.

  He buckled over Phin’s bald head, shuddering hard. “Ugh, unh!” His entire body tensed, throbbing as he spent himself.

  It took him a moment to recover, and Phin stood, holding him tight to his big body while Scott trembled. His strong arms were so warm, all-encompassing and safe, Scott melted into his soft belly, his powerful embrace. He laid his cheek against Phin’s chest, savoring the sounds of their heartbeats.

  Long after he’d caught his breath and come back to earth, Scott clung to Phin, who held him close, caressing his back, his neck, and slipping his hand down the back of Scott’s bottoms to gently stroke his ass, running his fingers up his crack until Scott shuddered.

  He wanted to stay like that forever, warm and safe in Phin’s arms, but his damp cock was getting cold, and he needed to return the favor.

  With a sigh, he stepped back. “Your turn,” he said, reaching for Phin’s belt.

  Those big hands stayed his. “No, not yet.”

  Scott stared up at him in surprise and stroked Phin’s bulge. “You sure? That’s not fair if I came and you didn’t.”

  Phin shook his head. “It was more than fair for me,” he insisted. “I just wanted to….”

  When his voice trailed off and his gaze dropped, Scott touched his cheek until Phin looked at him. “No more unfinished sentences. You just wanted to what?”

  He wore a sheepish smile. “I wanted to make you feel good. I can wait.”