“It was less than a minute, Beau,” Ainsley pointed out, still sounding shifty as hell.
There was a pause, and then Beauregard burst out laughing.
“Oh my god, I was just teasing you but—you really do have someone here, don’t you? Is she hiding in the bathroom?”
Christ almighty.
I glanced at the tiny window overlooking the backyard, trying to figure out if I could wriggle through it.
But then what? I’d be two stories up, wearing only a towel, with no way to scale my way down the outside of the building. I wasn’t risking my life just to get out of this situation.
Even if that sounded better than sitting on the edge of the clawfoot tub, waiting to be discovered.
“Beau,” Ainsley was saying, “don’t, please—”
“Oh no, this is too good,” Beauregard said, still laughing. “Where did you even meet someone in this town? Did you and Carson go to a club or something after we left?”
“No, we just—”
“You know, I’m proud of you, Ains. It’s been, what, ten years since Callie?”
“Uh, something like that,” Ainsley mumbled.
Beauregard raised his voice, clearly for my benefit. Or rather, for the benefit of the woman he thought was in the bathroom.
“You can come out, if you want. I’ll tell you all the best stories about Ainsley’s past!”
“Beauregard,” Ainsley said crossly, “that’s enough.”
I was biting my lower lip so hard I was afraid that it might start bleeding.
“Fine,” Beauregard said, sounding deeply put-upon. “I was actually coming to see if you wanted to get in the hot tub for a bit. Everyone’s down there—well, everyone except you. And Carson. I haven’t seen him all morning, do you know if he made it back last night?”
Oh god, I thought miserably. Come on Ainsley, you can do this.
But of course, Ainsley fumbled.
“I, uh, yeah, he—I mean, we—he got back just fine, I mean, uh—”
“What is with you today?” Beauregard asked, suddenly sounding concerned. “You’re a mumbling mess.”
“I was just, uh, saying that Carson and I came back around—”
“Wait, wait, hold up.”
“Um—”
“You and Carson came back together? He was cool with sharing a car with you and your one-night stand?”
“No, I mean yes, uh…”
Silence fell, and I could practically hear Beau connecting the dots.
“Holy shit,” he breathed.
“Beau,” Ainsley sighed, sounding exhausted. “Can’t you just drop it?”
“I mean, if you really want me to,” Beau said, sounding like he was trying to be supportive but falling a bit short. “But…I’m your confidante, man. I’m the person you tell everything to. You’re having some kind of torrid affair with Dominic’s best friend and you didn’t think to mention it?”
Goddammit.
Why couldn’t he mind his own business?
I wanted to storm out there and give Beau a serious talking to.
Or maybe wrap my arms around Ainsley and remind him that he gets to come out at his own pace.
And now that the jig was up…
I unlocked the door and waited a moment, giving Ainsley time to rush Beauregard out of the room or to tell me to stay the hell in there. When he did neither, I pushed the door open and stepped out.
Beauregard’s jaw nearly hit the floor.
He was wearing a pair of navy blue swim trunks and had a vibrant beach towel slung around the back of his neck—and he was speechless.
I strode over to Ainsley and he immediately wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me close up beside him.
“You need to learn to mind your own business,” I told Beauregard sternly.
“I—uh—yeah, I guess I do,” he said, lowering his gaze. “Sorry, Ains, I didn’t mean to make you talk about this before you were ready. Shit, I’m kind of a horrible brother, huh?”
Ainsley shook his head.
“You’re clueless, but you are not horrible. At least, I won’t think that you are horrible unless you tell everyone about this.”
“You mean Dad?” Beauregard asked, jerking his head up to meet Ainsley’s eyes. “I’m not going to out you, man. And certainly not to Dad.”
“Are you planning to tell Dom or Sydney?” I asked sharply.
Beauregard looked at me like I was crazy.
“I don’t even know Sydney. And Dom…he’s an alright guy but he’s belligerent as hell. We’re not exactly best friends.”
“He’s a great guy,” I snapped. “But he’s under a lot of stress and I get that he hasn’t put his best foot forward this week. And it might take him a while to warm up to the two of you. So, uh, let me be the one to tell him. When I’m ready. Okay?”
“Wait wait wait, this isn’t just a one-time thing?” Beauregard spluttered.
Ainsley and I glanced at each other, and both of our lips trembled into private little smiles.
“No,” Ainsley said seriously, keeping his eyes on mine, “it is definitely not a one-time thing.”
My heart clenched in my chest, and warmth spread through me.
I mean, obviously it wasn’t a one-time thing.
He had already made that abundantly clear.
But hearing Ainsley say it in front of his brother? Less than a minute after coming out to him?
That made my pulse fucking pound.
“Wow,” Beauregard said, barking out a delighted little laugh. “Wow.”
“I know,” Ainsley said, sounding fond. “This is completely out of left field for me.”
“I’ll say,” agreed Beauregard. “Congrats man, you look…god you look happy. I can’t even remember the last time you’ve looked like this.”
I rested my head on Ainsley’s shoulder and snuggled in so that I could feel the smooth stretch of his throat against my forehead.
“You have no idea how good it is to hear you say that,” I told Beauregard. “I really care about him, you know.”
“Yeah, I believe it,” Beauregard replied fondly. “Hey, what do you say the three of us ditch the hot tub and go hang out somewhere where they won’t find us? Give you two a chance to, uh, bask in your affection or whatever without worrying about Dominic or Dad walking in?”
I looked up at Ainsley, eyes full of hope.
“Sure,” he said with a decisive nod. “That sounds great.”
And that’s how I ended up at a quiet little coffee shop across town, teaming up with Ainsley to trounce Beauregard at Scrabble.
“You can’t play Zen, that’s a proper noun,” Beauregard argued, pulling out his phone to double check.
“Bro, you’re just mad that I got the Z on the triple both ways,” I argued, taking a swig of my tea.
“No, see, there’s a whole slew of websites that say it’s not a legal Scrabble word.”
He pushed his phone toward me.
“But here’s one that says it is legal,” I pointed out, clicking on the link.
“If the internet is undecided, I think we should err on the side of caution and not play it,” Ainsley advised, sipping his London Fog.
“Fine, if Earl Grey over here wants to err on the side of caution, I can reconfigure our play,” I sighed, looking at our remaining letters.
“Don’t be so huffy, it’s a proper fucking noun,” Beauregard said, smirking.
“I’m not arguing if it’s a proper noun,” I shot back, laughing, “I’m arguing if it’s Scrabble legal.”
“Scrabble words by definition aren’t proper nouns.”
“There are exceptions though. Mattel even released a version of the game that allowed for proper nouns.”
“Well we aren’t playing that version, are we?”
“Enough,” Ainsley said, holding up his hands to silence us. “Carson, pick a new word. Beau, stop harassing my—Carson.”
“Fine,” Beauregard said sweetly, “I’ll stop h
arassing your Carson.”
“Good lord,” murmured Ainsley. “Give me the strength to get through this Scrabble game.”
I grabbed an I and replaced the E, moving it down to spell the word zine.
“Would you look at that, I found a way to get three extra points,” I teased.
“Goddammit,” Beauregard said with a grin. “So, between plotz and zine on the fucking triple you get…more points than I’m willing to count at the moment. Do the math yourself.”
I obediently tallied it up and copied the score down.
“We just pulled ahead by two points. Your turn, Beauregard.”
“This is the first time in our entire lives that Ainsley has ever pulled ahead of me in Scrabble,” Beauregard said conversationally. “He should really keep you around.”
“I agree.”
Ainsley choked on his drink, and I rushed to whack him on the back as he descended into a coughing fit.
“You two,” he gasped out as he caught his breath, “are getting along entirely too well. I don’t like it one bit.”
“Sucks for you,” I told him cheerfully, “I get along with everyone.”
It felt good, this back-and-forth banter with Beauregard.
He clearly cared about Ainsley a lot, and I got the impression that he found me amusing. It was nice to have something be easy, right from the start.
“Sucks for you. It’s like dating a teenager,” Ainsley sighed.
“Can we really call it dating if we haven’t been on an actual date?” I asked.
“I took you to dinner when you arrived. And we had drinks last night.”
“We didn’t know each other when you took me to dinner, and we didn’t have drinks, we played Never Have I Ever,” I clarified.
Beauregard shot Ainsley a look of pure brotherly mirth.
“You played a drinking game, Ains?”
Ainsley ignored him.
“Uh…looks like it’s your turn, Beauregard,” I said, shoving the board closer to his side of the table. Then I leaned in closer to Ainsley and whispered, “Sorry about that.”
“Oh, no need to worry. Beau will find something to make fun of me for no matter what you tell him.”
“Well, thanks for letting me hang out with the two of you even if it’s earning you a whole lot of brotherly teasing.”
“There is nowhere I would rather be,” Ainsley assured me, grabbing one of my hands and tangling our fingers together.
“Gross,” Beauregard muttered.
“Don’t be a homophobe,” I told him.
“It’s not gross because you’re a guy. It’s gross because he’s my brother and he’s engaging in PDA.”
“Alright, you’re allowed to be grossed out by the PDA. But that doesn’t mean we’re gonna rein it in while we’re away from the house. Gotta get it out of our systems before we slip up in front of Dom or Alistair. Or Sydney, I suppose.”
Ainsley made a thoughtful noise.
“I am not sure that Sydney finding out would be such a bad thing,” he mused. “Maybe she could break the news to Alistair and Dominic.”
“You want to tell them this week? While we’re all stuck in a house together?” I asked.
“It would be a lot more entertaining for me if you did it this week,” Beauregard chimed in.
“Oh, well if you will find it amusing, I should probably just publicly declare my bisexuality right this minute,” Ainsley said dramatically.
A couple of people at the next table looked over curiously, and the tips of Ainsley’s ears went red.
“How about you stop giving unsolicited advice on coming out, and focus on trying not to lose by too much,” I suggested, nodding toward the board.
That made Beauregard laugh again.
“Fine, fine, I’ll stay in my lane. Ah, here we go, I’m playing quixotic. Good luck pulling ahead again.”
When we got back to Abshire Manor, I wandered off to track down Dom.
I had been a little worried that he’d want an explanation for where I was whenever I wasn’t with him, but he’d been occupied all morning with Sydney and Alistair.
We wiled away the afternoon playing Call of Duty on the massive TV in the living room. He wasn’t really in the mood to talk, and I was preoccupied thinking about Ainsley…but it wasn’t unusual for Dom and I to chill out without saying much.
He and I were basically emotional furniture for each other—being together was just as relaxing as being alone. Our relationship didn’t require constant conversation to sustain it.
Before I knew it, the day had passed in a blur of videogames and snacking. I snuck quietly off to my room when Dom went to shower.
Just as I was flopping down on the bed, my phone vibrated.
>>LEO: how’re things going?
Good fucking question.
I thought about it, wondering how to put everything that had happened in the last few days into words.
>>CARSON: good
>>CARSON: i think dom is on the brink of a breakthrough with his new family
>>CARSON: he’s missing smith a lot, which is why he’s been so reactive
I was pretty goddamn sure that Leo had been hoping for details about Ainsley, but first thing’s first, he needed an update on Dom.
>>LEO: awesome
>>LEO: i mean, not awesome that he’s missing smith
>>LEO: but awesome that he’s about to start acting his goddamn age
Laughing, I started typing out a response.
>>CARSON: dom never acts his age
>>CARSON: he always acts like he’s 45
It only took Leo a second to reply.
>>LEO: speaking of 45 year olds…
>>LEO: i looked up ainsley stapleton
>>LEO: and hot DAMN
>>LEO: please tell me you’ve jumped him by now
Well, that didn’t take long.
And of course Leo had looked Ainsley up.
I took a deep breath, trying to stay composed so that I wouldn’t write some string of gibberish that Leo would hold over my head for the rest of my life.
>>CARSON: define “jumped him”
Why not keep Leo guessing for a minute?
>>LEO: bro
>>LEO: brO
>>LEO: tell me everything right this second
>>LEO: i’m serious
>>LEO: don’t leave me hanging
I sat up, pulling my feet in so that I was cross-legged, and tried to decide how to describe what had happened.
We fucked?
Too crass.
We made love?
Too cheesy.
We had sex?
I mean, yeah, it had been a type of sex. But not the type that the term had sex usually evoked in Leo’s mind.
>>CARSON: we showered together
Good enough, he could fill in the blanks himself.
Except, this was Leo, so he was going to ask for more details.
And because he was one of my very favorite people in the world, I was going to give them to him.
>>LEO: fuck yeah
>>LEO: did you let him fuck you?
Like I said, this was Leo’s M.O.
>>CARSON: kinda
>>CARSON: he’s never been with a guy so i wanted to ease him into it
>>CARSON: he fucked my thighs while we were showering
Still not quite the right way to phrase it.
The English language needed to provide me with a term that really evoked the emotion of the act as well as the physicality of it.
>>LEO: oh fuck
>>LEO: that’s so hot
>>LEO: you know what i would give to meet someone like ainsley on vacation?
I rolled my eyes.
>>CARSON: what, someone rich?
Leo didn’t really have a type.
Or rather, every type of guy was Leo’s type.
Out and proud, closeted, older, younger, kinky, vanilla, one guy at a time, group sex…
He’d experienced it all, and he loved it all.
/>
As long as they were at least eighteen and fully consenting, Leo was into it.
But his answer took me by surprise.
>>LEO: someone i could feel an instant connection with
>>LEO: you clearly care about this guy a lot
>>LEO: even after just a few days together
>>LEO: do you know how rare that is?
I swallowed thickly.
I knew how rare it was for me personally, but I hadn’t really thought about how a whirlwind this looked like from the outside.
And Leo was right, the feelings were intense, and achingly real.
>>CARSON: you’re the king of one-night stands
>>CARSON: i thought you never wanted to settle down
>>CARSON: pretty sure you told me when we met that you wanted to be brian kinney
Had I somehow missed the signs that Leo wanted something more substantial in his dating life?
>>LEO: even brian kinney fell in love
>>LEO: sometimes it’s lonely, being single
>>LEO: even when you have a different person warming your bed every weekend
>>LEO: you should hold onto ainsley if you can, bro
>>LEO: you deserve to be happy
>>LEO: and you’ve been alone for a long time
Jesus.
Who would’ve thought that Leo would have solid relationship advice for me?
>>CARSON: i really don’t want this to be over at the end of the week
>>CARSON: but i have no idea what this thing would even look like in the real world
>>CARSON: and fyi i haven’t been alone
>>CARSON: you guys have been there for me ever since i lost my family
>>CARSON: you ARE my family
It struck me, all of a sudden, how much love there was in my life.
How many people cared about me.
Leo, Dom, Porter, and Finley. Sydney, and by extension Alistair. And now Ainsley. Maybe even Beauregard.
Under Wraps Page 13