by Carly Marie
“I have two kids,” I protested.
Jeff’s eyes danced with amusement. “You had Jenna there. That’s an unfair advantage.”
Before the conversation could continue, my brother and his family appeared. After quick hellos, the game was getting ready to start. I wasn’t sure if it was me who moved closer to Jeff or the other way around. However it happened, by the end of the national anthem, we were pressed together from shoulder to knee. I didn’t slide away; instead, I found my hand resting on Jeff’s thigh as the game started.
Five minutes in and the game had already become close, each team scoring almost one for one. At the end of the first quarter, Seth’s team was behind by four. At the end of the half, they were down by one. My boys had been calm through the first half but now were getting antsy.
A chorus of “I’m hungry” went around the group, and since we had twenty minutes, waiting in a concession line seemed a decent way to kill time.
“Okay, whoever’s hungry, come with me,” I announced to the group and watched as Eli, Thomas, and my nephews stood up. “Want anything?” I asked Jeff before I stood up.
“I’m good. I’ll just save your seat.” He smiled at me and warmth spread in my belly. Without thinking, I leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
“Be back,” I started to say when I heard a grunt from in front of us.
“Seems them rumors of the new doc in town bein’ gay ain’t just rumors.”
My spine stiffened and Jeff’s eyes flared with anger. Jenna, sitting on the other side of Jeff, looked ready to kill.
Kathryn’s voice cut the tense silence. “I think I’m going to take the kids to get those snacks now.” She ushered them out of our line of sight in a hurry.
I then looked to see who the bear of a voice belonged to. Whoever the man was, he was imposing. If I had to guess, I’d say he did manual labor, possibly farming, with biceps that strained against his shirtsleeves and thighs that pushed at the seams of his jeans. I hadn’t seen him around Fairview before but that probably didn’t mean much.
Jeff slid away from me slightly. “Beau.” Jeff’s voice was cold. Whatever was about to happen wasn’t going to be pretty.
“Shoulda known it’d be you. Never did bother to hide being a fuckin’ fruitcake.”
“Hey. I’d appreciate you not talking about my dad like that.” Jenna snapped, but Jeff placed a hand on her thigh.
The red-faced man—Beau—continued like he hadn’t heard Jenna. “Just had to go and fuckin’ pervert the new doc to your ways. Can’t wait ‘til people in town hear.”
I heard the words coming out of his mouth. I knew this was a different person, but I kept hearing Dwayne’s voice as he yelled at me in college. It had been Dwayne’s voice that had kept me from coming out to the town. Dwayne’s own homophobia that had rooted itself so deeply in me that I had feared admitting I was dating Jeff.
Jeff waved his hand dismissively, but his voice was tight and his eyes pinched at the sides. “Beau, I don’t know what you think you saw…” his voice trailed off like he didn’t know where to go from there. I’d put money on him being certain this confrontation would be too much for me. Two months earlier this would have been too much. But my idiocy had already hurt Jeff once, and I’d be damned if I was going to do it again.
Since moving to Fairview in December, I’d learned a lot about making sweeping assumptions. Small town didn’t mean homophobic. Small town didn’t mean closed-minded. Fairview had been welcoming to the boys and me from the start. Marie, Trish, Annie, my own family, and so many others had shown me nothing but acceptance. Even in a bigger city, we would have eventually had a run-in with a homophobic moron.
A weathered hand reached out and cracked Beau on the back of the head so hard the sound snapped me out of my thoughts, and I blinked to see Beau rubbing his head. “First off, ya ain’t gonna use that language around kids.” I looked up to see who was talking to find Gus, the owner of the gas station next to Jeff’s garage. “Second, I know I raised you better’n that. Jeff’s a good friend of mine. From what I know of Dr. Murray, he’s a good man. Kept the clinic open all weekend last month when that flu bug came ‘round. What, if anything, they do behind closed doors ain’t your business.”
“Beau, you were mis—” Jeff started to speak, but I cut him off with a hand on his shoulder.
I nodded an acknowledgment to Gus, then looked at his son. “When I was eighteen years old, I moved from Nashville to Louisville for college. I busted my butt for eleven years to earn my medical degree. I went days and nights and days again without sleep. I worked for thirteen years in an emergency room. I saved the lives of men and women who’d been injured in car accidents, farm accidents, and gunfire. I saved the lives of men and women who had been beaten unrecognizable because of who they chose to love and how they chose to express themselves. I spent six years raising two kids. On. My. Own. And I did all of that being a bisexual man.”
On one side of me, Jeff sat slack-jawed while Jenna beamed at me. In front of me, Gus nodded his head. I’d built up a head of steam by that point, and I couldn’t have stopped myself if I’d tried. “My sexuality has never come in the way of me caring for a patient or doing my job. I have always treated my patients like I’d want a family member treated. Who I date or what I do in my personal time has no place in my clinic. It wouldn’t be news if I was dating Trish, but it’s newsworthy because it’s Jeff? I’ve lived in fear of someone finding out for too long. I’m not doing it anymore. If you, or anyone else, have a problem with my personal life, I will gladly give you recommendations to other practices.”
When I stopped talking, a round of applause came up from around us, and I looked around to find we’d gained quite a group of onlookers. Beau seemed to shrink in on himself, turned, and stiffly sat back down, refusing to look anyone in the eyes. A few people walked over to shake my hand, and a few more told Jeff that they were happy for him. More than once I overheard a comment to Jeff along the lines of, About damn time you found a good one.
Thankfully, the excitement died down before Kathryn returned with the kids. She raised an eyebrow at me in question and I smiled down at my hand intertwined with Jeff’s. She smiled and bent to give me a kiss on the cheek. “I’m glad it worked out,” she whispered into my ear. “Proud of you.”
When the third quarter started and the noise of the gym increased again, Jeff finally leaned over to speak to me. “You didn’t have to do that. It wasn’t their business. I was going to deny it.”
I kissed him on the cheek again. That time, deliberately and without care of who might have seen us. “I know I didn’t have to. I wanted to. I don’t want to hide that I’m in love from everyone all the time. That’s not fair to any of us.”
Jeff’s eyes went wide. “Say that last part again.”
“It’s not fair?”
“Before that.”
“That I wanted to?” I fought not to laugh. I knew exactly what he wanted to hear. I hadn’t meant to say it for the first time at a high school basketball game, surrounded by a crowd of family, friends, and strangers. Planned or not, it was out there, and from his reaction I was pretty sure he hadn’t cared where we were.
“After that.”
I couldn’t keep the smile back. “You mean the part where I love you?”
Jeff nodded. “Yeah, that one.”
“I love you and it isn’t right to hide it.”
Jeff leaned forward and kissed my lips, pulling back before it could turn into something inappropriate for being in public. “I love you too.” His eyes were bright with emotion when he pulled back, and the smile that split his face looked like he’d just had Christmas and his birthday all rolled into one.
“Aww!” My mom’s voice rang out from behind us and I dropped my head forward, my cheeks turning red.
Carl leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “Okay, so now that you two have the schmoopy stuff over with, just remember what I told you before… you hurt each
other, I hurt you.”
Jeff barked out a laugh. “Got it.”
“Great,” Carl said with a firm nod. “Now, let’s watch the damn game before we all get kicked out for making a scene.”
CHAPTER 29
Jeff
Until the buzzer sounded, I didn’t know who was going to win the game. It had gone back and forth since the first baskets and didn’t finish until Seth lobbed the ball from half-court just before the buzzer. The entire gym had gone silent for those few painful seconds as we waited to see what would happen. When it dropped through the net, it had taken a few seconds for my brain to process what my eyes had seen. Fairview had won by one point.
The side of the gym we’d been sitting on erupted in screams. When Jenna grabbed my arm and jumped up and down screaming, “That’s my brother!” I started to cheer with her.
Of course, after a win like that, we’d gone out to dinner. Afterward Mark’s parents—subtle like a herd of elephants—suggested they take the boys so we could have some time alone. Carl had tripped over his foot when he heard them, but Mark and I were too busy turning red to laugh at him.
“Uh, yeah, um, thanks. That’s… That’s thoughtful of you,” Mark stuttered as we made our way to the cars.
To my surprise, he reached his hand into his pocket and produced the keys to his car and handed them to Jenna. “Why don’t you take my car back home? I’ll pick it up tomorrow.” Even in the rapidly setting sun, Mark’s cheeks turned even redder as he spoke.
Jenna’s mouth hung open. “Whoa. Are you sure?”
Mark shrugged a shoulder in the air, then looked over at me. “Yeah. Take it.”
Seth followed Jenna to the car while Jenna muttered about the car being worth more than her life. I leaned over and pressed a kiss to Mark’s cheek. “Thank you.”
His brow furrowed. “For what?”
“For treating my kids so well. For standing up to Beau, even when you didn’t have to.”
Mark placed a finger on my lips. “Don’t tell me I didn’t have to. I know it wasn’t like someone held a gun to my head, but I had to for me. It had already started to eat away at me. And by the way, your kids are awesome. They make it easy to treat them well.”
I wrapped my arm around his waist and squeezed. “Okay, well, thank you still. And by the way, I love you.”
“I love you too. Now let’s get back to my place.”
We made the last few feet to Louie quickly, and he started up as soon as I turned the key. “Thank you, old man.”
Ten minutes into the trip, Mark’s hand unwound from mine and began to explore my thigh. “You’re making it hard to concentrate.” My voice did nothing to convince him to stop. If anything, the slight hitch and the little moan that escaped only fueled his exploration.
“Want me to stop?”
Yes.
No.
Fuck. More.
My fingers gripped the wheel more tightly, trying to ground myself. A long, drawn-out “Ung” was the only thing that came out.
Mark moved his hands up my inner thigh until he was almost caressing my balls. As soon as I’d move to attempt to get him to touch me, he’d take his hand away. The third time, he laughed. “You’re persistent.”
“You’re an asshole,” I snarked back.
Mark’s head fell back onto the seat and he laughed. “You’re fun to tease. You make the most insane noises.”
“I’m driving and I have to pay attention to the road!” But I really didn’t want him to stop touching me. Damn having to be a responsible driver.
Ten minutes later, precum had started to dampen my underwear and paying attention to the road had become more difficult. I rolled Louie to a stop at a stop sign a few miles from town and caught sight of Mark loosening his jeans. Thankfully no one was around because when he reached in and removed his cock from his jeans, I forgot all about the road. Thick cock in hand, Mark stroked himself from tip to root and back again, using his own precum to slick the way.
“Are you trying to kill me?” I asked him, pressing the heel of my palm against my erection and forcing myself to look at the road and get home. “Ten minutes. We’re ten minutes from home. I want to make it there so you can fuck me.” I shifted into gear and accelerated through the intersection.
Mark’s voice hitched. “I was kind of hoping you’d fuck me tonight.”
Louie chose that moment to overheat, much like myself. “No, no, no, no, no! Don’t do this, Louie!”
My pleading fell on deaf ears because not thirty seconds later, I was coasting to a stop on the side of the road. Mark groaned. “Really?”
“Overheated.”
“It’s forty-five degrees out.”
“The engine doesn’t know that. Give him fifteen minutes—he’ll cool off and should make it home just fine.”
Mark groaned. “Louie, you’re cockblocking me right now.”
I so didn’t want to hear it at the moment. Louie came to rest on the side of the road, and I looked back to see if anyone was coming along behind us, not that there had been anyone for miles. As expected, there was no one and nothing anywhere in sight, but my eyes were drawn to the large empty back seat.
I shot a mischievous grin over to Mark. “There’s no one around. We’re on a back road in the middle of nowhere.” I glanced behind us. “And it’s dark. And we’re kind of stuck here until Louie cools off.”
There was just enough light left for me to see Mark’s eyes flash with understanding. “Here?”
Just the idea of climbing into the back seat while we waited for Louie to cool down had my dick pressing insistently at my fly. “Yeah, here.”
Mark glanced into the back seat. “Not quite how I anticipated this…”
“How fitting is it that we’re stuck here with Louie again? He’s the one who brought us together in the first place. Besides, if there’s one positive thing about having a classic car—the spacious interior.”
Mark barked out a laugh, then looked at me. “You’re serious.” It wasn’t a question, and by the slight smirk on his face, he wasn’t opposed.
I rubbed at the front of my jeans and hissed out as my hand ran over the tip of my dick. “As a heart attack. You’ve been teasing me for twenty minutes now and I am not going to be able to wait until we get home.”
“What the hell are we sitting here for?” He tucked his cock into his underwear and slid over the back of the seat. Laughing, I followed behind him, half-climbing, half-falling, nearly kneeing him in parts that were vital to our plan.
I worked my jeans down my legs, kicking them off onto the floorboard. Mark was trying to do the same from the other side of the car. While Louie had a spacious back seat where cars were concerned, it wasn’t like we had a large bedroom to undress in. He paid me back for the close call a moment earlier as he worked his pants down. Freeing his right leg of both his underwear and jeans, Mark kicked them down to his calf on the other side before he gave up. Mostly freed, he fisted his cock in his hand as he stroked himself.
I leaned over, covering his body with mine, and rocked my hips against his. Every time we came together, I learned something new about each of us. Mark’s body turned into putty below me. Tension eased, his legs spread farther than I’d thought possible in the space, and his cock leaked enough that my cock slipped easily across it. “Please, please, please,” he pleaded with me as I rocked up and down. Despite already having learned the beautiful sounds Mark made when our bodies touched like this, I hadn’t known he could be so desperate. His breath caught in his throat as he thrust his hips upward to meet mine. “I want you in me.”
My nostrils flared and my breathing sped up. Hottest. Words. Ever. “Here?” It wasn’t like I could spread him out and take my sweet time prepping him. At some point, someone would come along, and neither of us needed to have a public indecency arrest.
Mark looked up to meet my eyes. “I told you. I want you to fuck me tonight, and if we’re doing this here, I want you inside me.”
&
nbsp; I leaned forward, nudging his shirt far enough to the side that I could place a kiss to his collarbone. Okay, I bit it. But then I sucked and soothed the mark that had popped up on his skin. Marking him was sexy.
Mark tried to sit up, knocking my head with his, and reached blindly between our legs. “What are you doing?”
“There’s a condom and lube in my wallet. I’m trying to get to them.” That was my doctor, always prepared. Except I had the same things in my own wallet, which was not tangled in a pair of pants around my legs. I reached down to the floorboard and grabbed my pants, finding my wallet easily and reaching behind my driver’s license to grab the packets.
Mark had managed to move around enough that one leg was braced on the seat back in front of him, and the other up along the back of the seat we were on. From that position, Mark had gathered precum and began to finger the outside of his hole. My eyes widened as I watched the tip of his finger disappear into his ass and heard his moans fill the car.
I ripped the packet of lube open and almost poured it into my hand, then stopped. The thought of watching as Mark prepped himself, needy and aching for more, crossed through my mind and the words were out before I could stop them. “I want to watch you get yourself ready.”
His body went rigid, but the way his cock jumped and landed back on his firm stomach told me he wasn’t against it. His finger left his ass and he held his hand out in front of me, silently begging for the lube. I poured most of the contents over his fingers and turned part of my attention to opening the condom while trying not to miss what he was doing to himself.
He sucked in a sharp breath as he breached himself with his finger. For the moment, all I could do was sit back onto my heels and slowly stroke my cock while I watched. At first, his eyes were pinched shut while he focused on shallowly fucking his ass with his finger. Either his body relaxed or he became more comfortable because as he slid the second finger in, his eyes opened and locked on mine. He moaned, his back arching, but his eyes never strayed from my face. So intense, so needy, so fucking gorgeous. And he was mine.