Troublemaker (Goode Boys Book 1)

by Sean Ashcroft

  There were kids racing past us and I knew we were getting more than one odd look, but he obviously didn’t care. I was still in awe of that.

  “You just need to trust yourself,” Aiden said, nodding to my feet. “See, you’re getting the hang of it.”

  “Because I trust you,” I said.

  Aiden looked up to meet my eyes, and I realized that I’d meant that. I really did trust him. Maybe more than I’d ever trusted anyone.

  He broke into a warm, sincere smile, and it wasn’t as though Aiden didn’t smile all the time, but this one seemed a little different. This one made the cold air warm up around me, the clouds part so the sun shined a little brighter, the aching muscles in my legs relax.

  And I was skating. Without thinking about it, I was doing it. I wasn’t gonna win any medals in the figure skating competition, but I was doing it.

  I laughed as I let go of Aiden’s hand, gliding forward without support for maybe three feet…

  … before I stumbled again, legs getting away from me on the ice, slipping further and further apart until I was right on the edge of falling, too unbalanced to stay upright.

  This time, Aiden grabbed the front of my coat and hauled me up so I crashed into his chest, saving me from yet another fall.

  My heart pounded in my ears, the adrenaline rush of the near-fall buzzing in my veins. I was panting for breath and suddenly clinging to Aiden like he was the only solid thing in the world.

  “Dammit,” I huffed under my breath. I’d almost had it.

  Aiden really must’ve thought I was an idiot. This wasn’t a hard thing to do. There were toddlers managing it a handful of yards away.

  “It’s okay,” Aiden murmured, easing his grip on my coat so it was just enough to keep me upright by. “You don’t have to do this alone,” he added.

  Still panting for breath, I forced myself to pull back just far enough to look at him, putting two inches between us.

  “You don’t have to do any of this alone,” Aiden continued. “That’s why you brought me here in the first place.”

  Something in the centre of my chest squeezed so hard it hurt, but on the next breath the pressure eased off and flooded me with warmth and relief and other, bigger feelings I didn’t have names for right now.

  Like always, Aiden looked at me like I was incredible, and I couldn’t get over being looked at like that. Even though I knew now that it was just the look he gave everyone, because there was so much love and kindness and acceptance in his heart that it couldn’t do anything other than spill over.

  I still liked it when it was directed at me.

  “C’mere,” he murmured, tugging me a tiny bit closer, tilting his head.

  My brain screamed in front of all these people!?

  But Aiden was right there, and he was warm, and he’d taken so much care of me. I wanted to kiss him. My heart wanted to kiss him, and my brain was broken and scarred and hurt and thought too much, anyway.

  As soon as I leaned in and caught the last traces of his aftershave, I knew I was doing exactly the right thing. His lips were just as soft as ever, parting gently under mine, eager and excited as he always was.

  I’d never kissed anyone who liked it as much as Aiden did before. Even a shy kiss like this where half my brain was still screaming at me that total strangers could see.

  The world didn’t end as we broke off. Nothing was on fire, no one was yelling.

  … right up until a chorus of cheers erupted from Dad and Trent.

  Aiden, confident as ever, laughed. I was starting to think his story about being full of self-doubt was bullshit. I’d never seen him doubt anything.

  Not even me, which was a miracle.

  “Ignore them,” he said. “They’re just jealous that your boyfriend is younger and hotter.”

  Dad skated alongside us, backward, because he was a worse showoff than Aiden. At least Aiden was helping.

  “I’m thinking it’s time to eat,” he said.

  Aiden’s whole face lit up. “That’s the sexiest thing anyone’s said to me all day,” he joked.

  “Carter needs to up his game,” Dad said. “Never hurts to remind your partner what you’re there for.”

  Aiden looked at me expectantly.

  I leaned in, unsure of what I was about to say. It probably wasn’t in the spirit of what my dad meant, and I’d die if he overheard, but…

  Now was as good a time as any to get this off my chest.

  “Want you to show me how to suck your cock later,” I murmured, blood rushing up the back of my neck, the tips of my ears so hot my hair was in danger of catching fire.

  Aiden glowed at me, clearly thrilled, and brushed a kiss over my cheek.

  “Sorry,” he said, turning back to my dad. “Carter just bested you.”

  “Good,” Dad said, and maybe I was imagining it, but I thought he sounded a little proud. “Get him off the ice in one piece and let’s grab a late lunch.”

  He skated off, which left Aiden looking at me, eyes glittering. “I won’t hold you to that,” he said. “Since you were under duress.”

  I shook my head. “Meant it,” I said, licking my lips nervously. “I mean, if you want…”

  If it was the sexiest thing anyone had said to Aiden all day, I definitely wanted to follow through. I wanted him to think I was sexy.

  “You have the hottest mouth I’ve ever kissed,” Aiden said. “I want.”

  My ears burned again, but it was absolutely worth it.

  20

  Aiden

  Carter was glowing. Laughing and joking with his dad and Trent, all four of us getting along like old friends, his knee bumping against mine under the table from time to time, making happy sounds while he ate…

  Holy shit was he hot like this.

  “… so anyway, we get the x-rays back and there’s a toy car three inches up this guy’s ass,” Trent continued, clearly excited to tell this story to two new people. “Swore to anyone who’d listen that he had no idea how it got there.”

  “Probably slipped and fell,” Carter said. “Happens all the time, I’m sure.”

  Trent chuckled, warmth and affection for Carter rolling off him in waves.

  “Oh yeah. I don’t think I’ve worked in the ER a full month without someone coming in with something exotic in an orifice it definitely shouldn’t be in and swearing it wasn’t on purpose. Whole lot of accident prone people out there,” Trent grinned. “Anyway, thank you for being a brand new audience for that story, I’m pretty sure Frank is tired of the weird shit that happens to me at work.”

  “Never,” Mr. K said. “You listen to all the weird shit that happens to me at work.”

  “I bet you get a lot of that too, huh, Aiden?” Trent asked. “People coming in and asking for all kinds of dumb things.”

  I nodded, sipping my soda. Something about hanging out with Carter’s dad made me feel like a kid again, and I kind of loved it. “I won’t do a tattoo I think people might live to regret,” I said. “No romantic partner names, nothing in a language they don’t speak, nothing that belongs to a culture they’re not a part of. There are lots of tattoo artists in the world, if they’re desperate to do something stupid they can find another one.”

  “I admire that,” Trent said.

  “Yeah,” Carter added, quieter. “Me too.”

  “But it’s cool if I come and get a skull tattooed on my ass, right?” Mr. K asked.

  “Well, he wanted to tattoo a dragon on my ass,” Carter said before I could respond one way or another. “So I’m sure he’ll be fine with a skull on yours.”

  “Maybe I just wanted to touch your ass for an extended period,” I said, grinning at him.

  “And you don’t wanna touch mine?” Mr. K asked. “I could be insulted. Where do you think he got his ass from?”

  “Think we should line them up together and make them compare?” Trent turned to me, eyes sparkling.

  I liked him, and I could see he was good for Mr. K. I’d never se
en him smile so much in my whole life.

  “I don’t wanna lose an ass contest to my own dad,” Carter said, playing with his coffee cup. But he was still smiling, one corner of his lips quirked as he popped the lid off the cup and then pushed it back on again.

  Couldn’t stop thinking about what he was planning on doing with those lips later.

  “I’d vote for you,” I promised, nudging Carter’s foot under the table.

  He was so pretty when he blushed, and paying him a compliment was the easiest way to make him blush.

  Carter hadn’t been paid enough compliments in his life.

  “I’d vote for Frank,” Trent said. “So I guess it’s a tie.”

  “Don’t worry, kid,” Carter’s dad said. “He’s only voting for me because he doesn’t wanna sleep on the couch.”

  “What makes you think Aiden isn’t doing the same?” Carter asked, smiling the tiniest smile.

  The whole table burst into laughter, and I couldn’t help falling a little in love with how relaxed and happy Carter was right now. I’d never seen him like this, but I would’ve liked to see more of it. He deserved to be like this, as often as possible.

  By the time lunch was over, Carter was still glowing, cheeks flushed and a spring in his step now that he wasn’t strapped into a pair of ice skates he hated.

  “Hey,” I said as we broke off from his dad and Trent, pausing in the street to look at him. “I’m so proud of you.”

  Carter raised an eyebrow. “For?”

  “Let’s see,” I said, raising a hand to count on my fingers. “One, going ice skating with your dad even though you hate it. Two, letting me kiss you in public. Three, keeping an open mind and getting along with a man who might be your new stepdad one day soon. Four, great ass,” I grinned, wanting to see him blush again.

  Carter didn’t disappoint, turning a charming shade of pink instantly.

  “You totally would’ve won the ass contest if Trent wasn’t afraid of sleeping on the couch,” I added for good measure. “But I just wanted you to know that like… you’re doing great. I think you’re doing great, anyway. There’s a whole lot going on under that perfect hair right now and you’re handling it well. I’m proud of you.”

  Carter bit his lip, looking at me from under ridiculously long, dark eyelashes. “Yeah?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” I confirmed. He hadn’t heard this enough. I knew his dad was proud of him, it’d been obvious in pretty much everything he’d said today, but hearing the words I’m proud of you was different.

  If it was up to me to be proud of him, I was okay with being in charge of that.

  “Thanks,” Carter said, so softly that I would’ve missed it if I didn’t see his lips move. “Can I, umm… this is stupid, but do you think I could…”

  He reached out, brushing his fingers against mine, and my heart jumped straight into my throat.

  “You have blanket permission to hold my hand,” I said.

  He smiled so, so shyly at me as he curled his fingers around mine, and my heart shuddered to a halt at the thought that I was going to fall in love with him. One shy smile, one painfully sweet gesture at a time, I was about to fall head-over-heels for a man I definitely couldn’t keep.

  I was training wheels. He’d need someone better-suited sooner or later.

  But I’d always been an idiot and my idiot heart had found something it wanted.

  “Always wanted to do this,” he said.

  I wasn’t sure if he meant in general, with another man, or with me specifically, but I also didn’t really care because my entire brain was occupied with thinking about how much I liked him and how far out of my reach he was.

  “I’m always available for hand-holding,” I said, not sure if that sounded as stupid as I thought it did.

  Carter didn’t stop smiling at me, so maybe it wasn’t the worst possible thing I could’ve said.

  “C’mon,” he tugged me toward the car. “Let’s head back.”

  The first touch of Carter’s soft, cautious tongue against the head of my cock was enough to make my toes curl. A wave of want and need rushed south, the few drops of blood left in my brain eager to get to the party happening at groin level.

  “Take your time,” I forced out, already anticipating the heat of his mouth, the soft wetness of lips and tongue. Carter glanced up at me through his lashes, both hands curled around my thighs, kneeling on a cushion on the floor between my legs, in front of the ridiculous sofa.

  I was really, really happy about the ridiculous sofa right now.

  “I am,” he said, licking his pretty pink lips with his equally pretty pink tongue.

  If said lips and tongue weren’t an inch from my dick, I could probably have thought up some better descriptors for them. Maybe even dipped my toes into metaphor.

  Right now, I was focusing on trying to seem like I was remotely capable of teaching him to do this. Instead of coming my brains out just over the thought that he wanted to, which was becoming increasingly likely.

  My fingers dug deep into his hair without my brain interfering. Still soft and touchable as ever. Carter was perfect.

  Not like I’d thought he would be when I was a kid, but perfect now. I liked everything about him.

  “You can use your hands,” I suggested, trying to think clearly enough to give some useful advice. “Don’t try to get the whole thing in your mouth, that’s some advanced-level shit even without the piercing.”

  I hissed as one fingertip skimmed the oversensitive skin of my cock and didn’t miss the little smirk turning up the corner of Carter’s lips.

  He didn’t know what he was doing, but he knew what he was doing.

  My teeth dug into my lip as he licked at me again, pressing the flat of his tongue under the head of my cock, toying with the piercing. That was what it was there for, and Carter caught on fast.

  Damn he looked good like this.

  “I really like it when girls come in my mouth,” he said, looking up at me again. “I wanna make you do it.”

  Was he trying to make me pass out? All my blood felt like it was in my cock right now, I could barely scrape together enough brain power to listen, let alone respond.

  “It’s a little messier,” I said.

  “I have jerked off before,” Carter said, raising an eyebrow.

  Right, obviously. He knew what it was like when guys came. He knew what he was asking for and I wanted him to have it.

  I wanted me to have it.

  The next touch was more confident, and I let myself relax into the plush couch, toying with his hair and spreading my legs a little wider, settling in for the specific kind of wonderful this was. Carter wasn’t about to wow me with his incredible technique, but he didn’t have to.

  I was more excited that it was him than I could have been about anything he actually did.

  “Feels incredible,” I murmured as he curled his fingers around the base of my cock, testing out the idea of taking just the head into his mouth, playing with my piercing again.

  “Good,” Carter said, tilting his head to kiss his way along the length, still testing and tasting, making me squirm.

  I still couldn’t believe he was doing this. Everything else had been about getting him off, and that made sense, but this was about me. Whatever I did to deserve it, I wanted to keep doing it.

  My fingers tightened in his hair as he tried taking me into his mouth again, deeper this time, swirling his tongue around the head of my cock, testing pressure and stroke and using his fingers, dipping further into my pants to roll my balls in his palm, pressing behind them for good measure.

  He didn’t need to be good, he so clearly wanted to make me come that I was already speeding toward it.

  “Dammit,” I panted. “Fuck, Carter. So hot.”

  Carter Kowalski was sucking my dick and looking up at me like he wasn’t completely sure this was the best thing that’d ever happened to me in my entire life. It wasn’t even that I’d wanted this for a decade—I hadn
’t known to want it back then—it was that I wanted it now, I wanted the man he’d grown up into, the man who’d trusted me and defended me and inexplicably liked me even though I’d never be good enough for him.

  “Close,” I warned, guts tight, right on the verge of coming my brains out into his mouth like he wanted. Carter hummed around me, tongue still fascinated with the piercing—I’d never been happier I’d gotten it done than I was in this moment.

  He didn’t move. Didn’t try to back off.

  Just sealed his lips around my cock, met my eyes, and sucked.

  The first spike of pleasure hit instantly, thighs tense as I fought not to jerk into his mouth. Not on his first time. He deserved me to be careful with him for his first time.

  A low, broken sound tore out of my throat as I came down his, gritting my teeth against the sudden force of it, eyes screwed shut and stars dancing behind the lids as an overwhelming wave of pleasure barrelled through me.

  The leather of the couch cushions protested under my grip as I peaked, a split second of pleasure so intense it hurt.

  Fuck.

  A happy little hum from Carter filtered through to my brain past the rush of blood in my ears, hand still working me as I crested wave after wave of my orgasm, heart pounding like I’d just run a marathon. Not that I ever ran anywhere if I could help it.

  When I finally pulled myself together enough to focus on him again, he was looking up at me with sleepy eyes and wiping a sticky drop away from the corner of his mouth, throat working as he swallowed one last time with a satisfied sigh.

  For a handful of breaths, Carter rested his head against my thigh, and I ran my fingers through his hair, and everything felt right with the world.

  “Come up here,” I managed after maybe a minute, voice rough, sinking deep into the couch as he moved to sit on top of me, awkward at first, unsure where to put all his limbs.

  Right, because he’d never done this before.

  I grinned up at him and reached out to open his jeans…

  … only to find them already open and a sticky patch on the front of his underwear.