“So you’re out at work too?” he asked as he put Robbie’s bag in the back.
“Guess I am, now,” he replied, looking sheepish as he realized a few people were staring. “Not that I ever tried to hide it,” he said. “It just hasn’t come up.” Then he got to the important stuff. “Are you sure you don’t mind me using your rods? We can stop at my apartment…”
He must have seen Raj’s face because he trailed off into that wide-eyed look that always drove him crazy. In case it wasn’t obvious, Raj said, “If we go to your apartment, lover, we might never get on the road.” That’s why he wanted to pick him up here, at work.
Robbie blushed. So forward, yet so easy to embarrass. “Right.”
“You fished the Muskokas before?”
Robbie nodded. “With my dad. When I was a kid. You know, once or twice a year.”
“So you know it’s a lot different than Erie?”
Robbie was looking at the Jeep, frowning. “Where’s your boat?”
Raj grinned. “Left it in Port Stephen. Why ruin my gas mileage for a weekend when I can use my parents’ boat? Don’t worry,” he added, catching a glimpse of disappointment. “You can still behave inappropriately.”
Robbie blushed. “You do your share of inappropriate behaviour.”
“Only since I met you. You’ve corrupted me,” Raj teased.
They settled into the vehicle, and as Robbie pulled the seat belt across his lap, he said, “You sure your parents are okay with this?”
“Yeah, I asked them if I could bring someone, and they said yes.”
“They know we’re not just friends.”
“They know.” He keyed the ignition and backed up before turning the wheel to go out the way he’d come in.
“They’re not thinking I’m a woman.”
Raj grinned at him as he pulled his sunglasses down over his eyes. “Not unless they think Robbie is a girl’s name.”
Robbie ran out of things to say as Raj pulled into a wide-paved drive, his high beams catching the trees. He was reassured to see the cottage. Raj had described it as huge, but while it was bigger than anything he’d ever called a cottage, it was modest enough and right on the lake.
Then the Jeep rounded a curve in the road, and he saw a huge glass-faced edifice reflecting the last red rays of a late July sunset. He reminded himself that Raj wasn’t personally wealthy, that his parents had come from backgrounds only a little more grand than Robbie’s, but it wasn’t easy. Everything about this place screamed ‘rich’.
Raj turned off the engine and the lights as a door opened. He must have sensed Robbie’s nerves because he put a hand on his knee and squeezed. “It’s okay; they aren’t scary. Well, except my mother.” His grin was visible in the lights around a patio scattered with the signature Muskoka chairs.
“Thanks,” Robbie said dryly.
Raj had offered him a choice: come up this weekend and meet the parents, or come up in two weeks for a big family get-together with his sister, brother, spouses, and kids, and who knows who else. “You’re welcome both weekends, of course, but my parents are kind of hoping to meet you without the press of family. It might be easier to meet them by degrees.”
Robbie’s father had only said, “The Muskokas? Okay, but the fish you catch up there don’t count in our competition.” Robbie had argued the point, on principle, and been startled when his father asked him seriously if this was what he wanted. He did, and he’d said so. Even if he was beyond nervous.
Robbie held onto that thought as he climbed stiffly from the vehicle. He shifted from one foot to the other while Raj received greeting hugs from his parents, and then a stern feminine voice said, “Let me meet this boy of yours.”
“Ma, don’t scare him. This is Robbie Wales. Robbie, my parents, Suri and Anthony Williams.”
Mr. Williams extended his hand and smiled, albeit warily, and Robbie shook it. “A pleasure to meet you, sir. Mrs. Williams.”
“How old are you?” she asked sharply, and Robbie grinned, sliding a glance towards Raj, who seemed embarrassed. Too bad the sun was down; he’d have liked to see Raj’s cheeks darken. He didn’t blush easily.
“Twenty-two. Twenty-three in September.”
“Twenty-two,” she said, shaking her head at Raj. “Since you’ll be coming for the party, I’ve made up the bed in the boathouse; you might as well get used to it. Anything you want to leave for then, you can just keep there.”
“The boathouse?” Raj sounded surprised and turned to look at the small building he’d initially taken for the Williams’s ‘cottage’.
Mrs. Williams shrugged, looking at Robbie with suspicion. Or maybe doubt. “Every time I tried to put your sister or brother in separate rooms from their boyfriends or girlfriends, they would sneak off to the boathouse anyway.”
Raj laughed and hugged his mother again.
“Why don’t you take your things over,” Mr. Williams suggested, “while your mother and I start the interrogation.”
“He’s kidding,” Raj said.
“No, I’m not. Come along, Robbie Wales.”
Robbie tried to give a Raj his wide-eyed helpless look, but Raj just rubbed his jaw as if to say, “Not as bad as your father.”
Robbie couldn’t believe Raj was abandoning him like this. Mrs. Williams was petite, but apart from height and the honey-gold eyes that seemed a shade somewhere between both his parents, he took after his mother. She was small but intimidating. Mr. Williams was tall with hazel eyes and broad shoulders that were starting to bow inward. He had a full head of white hair and plenty of laugh lines. Raj would probably be gorgeous all his life.
He followed the couple into their large cottage and was reassured that the door led into a mudroom. A clean and large mudroom, but a mudroom all the same, with a counter and sink that was for washing up, as well as for cleaning fish, to judge by the cleaver and filleting knifes. He took off his shoes, without prompting, and walked through the door to the great room behind Mrs. Williams as Mr. Williams held the door open.
It was modestly furnished in large plush pieces that made him think of a hunting lodge. All the rooms, except the mudroom and presumably a bathroom, were open to the main room, including the kitchen and what appeared to be a den or library. Stairs led to the upper level where he could see a balcony rail.
Robbie was aware again of how blue-collar he was.
“Have a seat,” Mr. Williams said, gesturing toward a dining room table near the kitchen.
Mrs. Williams immediately began prepping a couple of plates, reminding Robbie of his grandmother. He sat and glanced towards the mudroom door, hoping Raj wouldn’t be long. The Williamses had about a decade on his parents, which seemed right, given his own were eighteen when he was born, and Raj was the youngest of three.
Mr. Williams sat across from him, looking at him with curious eyes. “Raj tells me you like to fish.”
“Yes, sir. That’s how we met.”
“Is it now?”
Robbie nodded. “Port Stephen is all about fishing. My dad and stepmom have a trailer there where they keep their boat. When I came up in June, I noticed this gorgeous—um, I mean I saw Raj and…” His cheeks were burning. “I didn’t think he’d be…” He hadn’t been in this position before. In Brantford, he’d dated people closer to his age, many of whom had gone to the same school, so there had been some passing familiarity. Not that he’d been introduced to the parents all that often.
Mr. Williams chuckled, causing his wife to glance over. But all he said was, “Maybe we’ll have a chance to go fishing while you’re here.”
“I hope so, sir.”
“No need to be quite so formal, Robbie. What do you do?”
“I’m a machinist at Ceylon.” He was relieved to see Mr. Williams give a short approving nod.
“Union shop?”
“Yes, sir.”
Raj came in then, and Mrs. Williams set a tray on the table with sliced bread, deli-smoked meats, tortilla chips and salsa, a
plate of chocolate chip cookies, two cans of lemon-lime pop, two glasses, and a pitcher of milk.
“You boys must be hungry after the long drive.”
Raj kissed his temple and sat in the chair beside him. It was affectionate and said clearly they were not just friends. He said, “Thanks, Ma,” and added to Robbie, “The salsa is Mom’s invention; instead of jalapenos, she uses her secret curry spice blend. It’s delicious.” He helped himself to a glass of milk and a cookie, making Robbie smile.
Before he could say anything, Raj asked, “So have they demanded to see your family tree and asked if you’ve ever been arrested?”
“Raj!” His mother glared at him, and his father chuckled.
“No. And I haven’t. Been arrested, that is,” he added, testing the salsa and chips. The flavour burst on his tongue: spicy Indian curry. “Wow.”
She smiled at him for the first time, though it was still tinged with caution.
Anthony Williams’s boat was bigger and newer than Raj’s. It had a full cabin in the hull. Not yacht size, but it could tie up in a marina with dockside water and electric and be comfortable to live on during the summer for one person, or two very close people. A two-burner propane grill was clamped onto the stern rail.
In spite of its size, it would still be crowded with any more than three people fishing. It was different being on a boat with Raj and not seeing him at the wheel, confident, one leg bent on the seat.
Instead, Raj was in his boneless sprawl at the back, his strong hands wrapped around a travel mug of hot coffee laced with Bailey’s. His sunglasses were on the brim of his hat, and he wore a navy blue hoodie over faded jeans. Even though the hoodie was shapeless and Raj was slumped, Robbie still thought he was the most attractive man he’d ever met.
A light mist crawled across the lake, and the only ripples were made by the boat cutting across the otherwise still water.
The fishing was slow and relaxed, the boat rocking gently as the day turned breezy. By noon, they’d pulled in a few bass and lake trout. Robbie and the senior Williams watched as Raj efficiently cleaned a couple of bass, tossing the fillets onto the hot, oiled grill.
“I think Suri packed us some coleslaw. Robbie, why don’t you grab that, and I’ll get us some plates,” Mr. Williams said.
Robbie nodded, enjoying shore lunch on the water. The sun had warmed things up considerably, unlike Lake Erie where you could get sunburned and never feel it in the cool breezes. Robbie pulled his sweatshirt over his head before leaning over the cooler.
“Is that a lure?” Mr. Williams asked.
Robbie straightened, one hand holding the container of salad, the other curled protectively around the little acrylic fish. “Yeah.”
Raj took the few steps to kiss Robbie’s cheek and smiled, taking the coleslaw.
Robbie held out his pendant for the older man to see. “Raj gave it to me. The lure, I mean. I don’t think there’s a craftsperson out there making necklaces out of fishing lures.”
“Probably is, on Etsy,” Raj remarked. “I’m still speechless about that.”
Robbie blushed and looked down, hoping no one noticed. But from the corner of his eye, he caught the elder Williams looking from him to Raj as if just realizing they were dating. Which was weird.
Robbie loved the deck extending from the front of the Williams’s cottage. It went right out over the water, a swimming deck extending past the glass rail of the main deck.
“Used to be all open to the water,” Raj said. “But since my brother and sister had kids…” He shrugged, not needing to finish the thought.
They were sitting out in the darkness of the swimming deck near the water. Mr. and Mrs. Williams had said their goodnights, and the big cabin behind them was dark. Crickets and frogs sang cheerful night songs. The solar lights ringing the deck were the only illumination. Although the day had been hot, the air had cooled significantly with the setting of the sun, and Robbie wished he had a sweatshirt.
He no sooner had the thought than Raj stood up and pulled his tank top off, startling him but also making him wish for a little more light.
“Wanna go for a swim?”
“I, uh, my swim trunks are—” He stopped, staring as Raj stripped naked.
Raj turned to him, his smile barely visible in the dim light, although it certainly played over other more prominent features of his body. He held out a hand invitingly.
Robbie swallowed and got to his feet. Although he and Raj had had sex as often as possible, it was still new and wonderful to him, and his fingers trembled as he stripped in the chill night air. His dick was half hard and might have gotten all the way there if he wasn’t shivering.
Raj turned and dove into the water, creating ripples that broke up the glass-like surface.
Robbie wasn’t that brave. He went down the pool ladder attached to the deck, determined to get used to the water bit by bit. He dipped his foot in experimentally, already prepared to flinch.
He gasped. “It’s warm.”
“Yeah.” Raj’s voice held the warmth of his amusement, though he didn’t actually laugh. “So come in already. You had some experiments you wanted to try?”
Chapter Eleven
Robbie had finally given in and invited some of his friends to the port for the civic holiday weekend. The freedom of being out was so exhilarating that he’d been reluctant to give up some of his increasingly valuable Raj time to spend with his friends. But he was determined to—somehow—hold on to Raj long past this summer. And that meant integrating him into his circle of friends.
That circle had already evolved and changed once, after high school, as people had gone in different directions, some even out of province. New friends from college had been added, and now it was jobs and careers pulling and stretching it. And in Robbie’s case, a move to an entirely different city. And, he hoped, a relationship that lasted longer than a few months.
It wasn’t that he’d never fallen in love before or at least believed it was love, but Raj was… He struggled to sort his feelings because there were familiar ones like lust and a constant rush of endorphins that marked the beginning of every relationship he’d had, but there was something else. Something he knew instinctively would take work to hang on to, and he wanted very much to do that work even if he wasn’t sure how or what kind.
He’d invited a few of his Brantford friends and reminded himself to tell Raj about Todd. Todd was one of his oldest friends and sometime fuck buddy—mostly when they were drunk—and he didn’t want Raj to overhear something and misunderstand their relationship.
He didn’t have a feel yet for the few of his coworkers he thought might become friends, so he only told them where he was going and suggested they’d be welcome if they had a tent or two. He gave them the number of the RV Park and left it up to them, though he’d be surprised if they showed.
“Okay,” he said to Raj. “We’re exclusive, right?”
“Right.”
“Because we never actually talked about it, but—”
Raj held a finger to his lips. “I haven’t been with anyone else since meeting you.”
Robbie grinned, warmed all over to hear it. “Me neither,” he said. “But one of my friends, Todd…”
Raj’s eyes narrowed. “A friendly ex?”
“No…” He explained their friendship and how, on occasion, when they were both piss drunk, they had hooked up. “It was never a romantic relationship; we agreed it would ruin our friendship. And obviously nothing’s going to happen ever again with him. But everyone kinda knows.” He trailed off, stomach twisting.
“And he’s the only one of your friends you’ve had sex with?”
“Yeah,” Robbie said. “Jesus, Raj, I know I act the total slut with you, but that’s… just for you.”
Raj pulled him into an embrace. “Sorry, Robbie. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. I just wanted to make sure…”
“I’m not your ex.” He spoke softly, right into Raj’s ear. “I’m a fuck-up s
ometimes, it’s true, but I’ll never cheat on you.”
Raj squeezed him and let him go. “I know. I mean, I know you’re not a cheater. I’m still trying to decide if you’re a fuck-up or not.”
“Thanks,” Robbie replied dryly.
Robbie’s parents had a big ten-person cabin tent and a matching screen tent, taking up all the spare space on their lot. Inside the cabin tent were half a dozen air mattresses for his friends. Todd, Marty, Joan, and Gary were coming in Marty’s van, while Amy and her new boyfriend were coming in their car with their own gear in case her boyfriend was “weirded out” by the idea of sleeping with a “bunch of queers”.
Robbie wondered how Amy, being bi, managed not to fall into her boyfriend’s definition of queers, but that was her problem to worry about, not his. He turned to find Raj and discovered Chelsey chatting up his boyfriend. Again.
Moving closer, he heard the tail end of their conversation. “So nice that Robbie’s friends are coming; it will give us some time alone,” she was saying.
“Alone? No, that’s not happening. I’m in a relationship,” Raj said.
“With who? Everyone says the only person you ever hang out with is Robbie.”
“That’s ’cause he’s my boyfriend.”
Robbie didn’t expect to feel such a thrill to hear Raj say it to someone else. “Hey, lover.”
Chelsey whipped her head around to stare at him. Then she started to laugh. “Oh, you two are a laugh riot.”
Raj ignored her and held out his hand to Robbie. Robbie, ever willing to take advantage, slipped past his arm and up against his chest, wrapping his own arms around Raj’s neck.
Raj smiled the special smile he saved just for Robbie and kissed him. And kissed him again until Robbie had forgotten Chelsey or that they were standing in front of Raj’s trailer.
When Raj finally lifted his mouth from Robbie’s, he brushed them against Robbie’s ear and whispered, “Porn things.”
A shiver raced down Robbie’s spine and into his dick, already hard, because Raj, and he pressed it against Raj’s hip.
The Lure of Port Stephen Page 8