Troublemaker (Goode Boys Book 1)

by Sean Ashcroft

  It took me a solid few seconds to figure out what was going on, and when I focused on Carter again, he was blushing.

  “You came in your pants,” I said, still surprised.

  Carter licked his lips. “Is that bad?”

  “No.” I blinked at him. “No, not at all. Kinda hot, actually. Really hot. Like, thirteen out of ten hot.”

  “Thirteen?”

  “Could bump you up to a fifteen if you wanted to kiss me.” I grinned at him. He was so gorgeous like this, soft and at ease and dripping with affection.

  Carter let me pull him in for a kiss, parting his lips as I encouraged him to let me in, licking at the roof of his mouth, tasting myself on him. If there was anything hotter than this, I didn’t know about it.

  The soft, happy sounds Carter made in my mouth all went straight to my heart. I wanted so much more of this now that I’d had a taste of what it could be like.

  I let him push me down onto the couch, still kissing him, our legs tangling together as we wrapped ourselves around each other.

  This was what I’d never had. Someone I could just be with.

  And I knew Carter couldn’t really be that person, but right now I wanted him to be so much it hurt.

  “Really like kissing you,” Carter murmured, sighing as he paused for another break. The couch was just wide enough for us both to lie on it as long as we didn’t mind getting a little close and personal, and I definitely didn’t mind.

  Carter didn’t seem to mind, either.

  “I like kissing you, too,” I said, bumping our noses together. “You haven’t bitten my tongue even once.”

  “Can, if you’re into that,” Carter joked, eyes sparkling.

  I ran my fingertip around the back of his ear just to feel him lean into the touch, uncomplicated happiness welling up in my chest.

  This was so good.

  “I’m into you,” I said, and it flew a little too close to the truth, but right now, I didn’t care.

  Why shouldn’t Carter know that I was really enjoying this? Not everyone got to have a nice, safe way to explore their sexuality, and I felt good about giving that to him. Watching him discover a whole new world was incredible.

  I loved the way he smiled at me whenever I made it clear that I liked being near him, even if it broke my heart a little that he was surprised.

  “You mean that, huh?” he asked. “What did you even see in me when we were kids?”

  “More or less the same things I see in you now,” I shrugged, kissing the tip of his nose. “You’re quiet and patient and you seemed like the kind of person I could just exist around without it being a chore. You… you’re… grounding, I guess. And smart. I love that you’re so goddamn smart. Listening to you explain things to Kieran got me through a lot of homework I couldn’t have done without you.”

  “So you want me because I’ll do your homework for you?” Carter teased.

  “Back then? Maybe a little. Not now, though. No one can make me do homework.”

  “Taxes?” Carter suggested.

  “If you’re offering to do them for me there’s definitely a blowjob in it for you,” I said, teasing.

  “I’m not actually an accountant.”

  I shrugged. “If you were it’d probably be illegal to take payment in blowjobs.”

  “Probably,” Carter agreed, giving me that look again. The one that made me think he couldn’t quite believe I was here.

  “Why is this so easy with you?” he asked a moment later, propping himself up on his elbow to look me in the eyes, brows drawn together. “Why am I so comfortable?”

  A lump sprang up in my throat. I’d been thinking about that, too.

  Obviously, I was starting from a more comfortable place than Carter had been, but even I’d noticed it. Once we’d gotten past the awkwardness in the beginning, we’d settled into this so easily.

  Hearing that he felt the same way…

  “Think it helps that you’re not lying to yourself anymore,” I said, reaching out to tuck an imaginary strand of hair behind his ear, just to touch him.

  That was the clue, wasn’t it? I just wanted to touch him. To stay exactly like we were right now, happy and safe, forever.

  Because it was ridiculously easy to be with him, and it wasn’t just about a lingering crush or the excitement of discovery or whatever. There was something about us, him and me together, that just worked.

  I love him.

  Oh no. Oh no.

  Shit.

  That was it, wasn’t it? I didn’t know how or when it’d happened, but I’d gone and done the stupidest thing of my life.

  Fallen in love with Carter, who I definitely couldn’t keep. We were going home after this, back to the real world, and Carter deserved someone who was more like him. Who could live in his world and be a part of his life with him.

  And I wasn’t it.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid.

  “Aiden?” Carter asked, eyes glinting in the firelight as they searched my face.

  Don’t fuck this up for him.

  Minutes ago I’d been thinking that he deserved a nice, uncomplicated introduction to the exciting world of bisexuality. Uncomplicated meaning his easy, temporary boyfriend didn’t fall in love with him by accident and get all clingy at the last minute.

  “Just wondering if you like kissing me more than you liked kissing Kieran,” I teased, forcing myself to smile at him.

  “I’m never living that down, huh?” Carter asked. “Listen, if Kieran was the only boy I ever kissed, I would never have figured out that I do actually like it. I’m sure he’s a perfectly fine kisser…”

  “Well, it’d be weird if I rendered an opinion on that,” I said. “Just, y’know. It’s nice to be better than him at something.”

  “I wouldn’t let Kieran tattoo me, either,” Carter said.

  “Does that mean you’re gonna let me do it?” I asked, spike of anxiety practically forgotten in favor of the possibility of inking Carter up.

  I could do this. I could enjoy what I had and not ask for more. That’d be best for both of us.

  “I’m not completely dismissing the possibility,” Carter said. “Like I said. If I lose my mind.”

  “Could be arranged,” I teased. “I’ve got so much more to show you.”

  “Need a shower first,” Carter said, looking me up and down. “But then…”

  “Lead the way,” I grinned.

  21

  Carter

  I was beginning to think Hallie had made it clear I was still invited to the wedding no matter what mom said because it was cheaper than hiring someone to unfold and all these goddamn chairs for the reception venue.

  On the other hand, I’d seen her glowing at Damien this morning and I wanted her to be happy. Someone should have been.

  Plus, Dad and Trent had been roped into this, too, and Aiden hadn’t complained about being in charge of putting up the strings of twinkling lights around the walls, despite nearly dying on the first ladder he’d climbed this week.

  He was a lot braver than I was, and I kept glancing at him out of the corner of my eye to make sure he was okay. I could only take one fall like that per year and we were right at the beginning of this one.

  “This is starting to look kinda magical,” Dad said, pausing beside me as I tucked the last chair under the table. “Still snowing out there.”

  “Yeah,” I looked over at the window, confirming that the constant fall that’d been going since this morning was still at it. What else did anyone expect in Quebec in January, though? “Guess it’s really a white wedding, huh?”

  Dad chuckled. “Yeah, guess it is,” he said. “Feels like ten minutes ago I was chasing you two kids around the yard.”

  “You can chase me outside if you want. No guarantees I won’t collapse, but it could be fun for twenty or thirty seconds, even.”

  “Aiden might kill me if I do that to you.”

  I raised an eyebrow.

  “What? I’ve seen the way
he looks at you,” Dad said. “You’ve got a good thing there, Carter.”

  “Yeah, right,” I snorted. “Until we’re back in civilization and his options open up again.”

  Dad looked at me, head tilted like a confused dog, but I was the one who felt like I’d missed something.

  “I did not hug you enough as a kid and I’m so sorry,” he said. “You’re loveable. I love you.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” I smiled wryly. “But that doesn’t mean…”

  It didn’t mean I got to have someone like Aiden forever. Like Kieran said: he was out of my league. I had nothing to offer him, and he didn’t need me.

  To Mandi, I was useful to take to work socials and to have someone to eat with at new places in town she wanted to be seen at. I scrubbed up okay and didn’t talk back to her friends and she got to tell them how good I was to her and they treated me like I was a purse or a pair of shoes. Pretty, functional, and ultimately not all that important.

  Aiden didn’t want or need any of that. He could have anyone and he didn’t need anyone, there was no benefit to him having me in his life. I wasn’t useful.

  I still didn’t understand why he was here at all.

  Dad didn’t say anything else, just wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me tight. My lungs caught, a sudden wave of something I couldn’t identify welling up in my chest and making it hard to breathe.

  “Please don’t turn into your old man,” he said. “For my sake. Be happy now.”

  Over my dad’s shoulder, Aiden beamed at me from halfway up a ladder on the other side of the room.

  “He’s smiling at you,” Dad said as he pulled back. “I can see it in the look on your face. You oughta tell him how you feel,” he added, squeezing my arm.

  If I had any idea how I felt, I probably would’ve taken that advice. All I knew was that Aiden was different.

  I understood that I felt better being around him than I had being around anyone else, but what did that mean?

  Dad clapped me on the shoulder and brushed past me to grab the box of tablecloths in the corner just as Aiden finished up with the lights.

  A moment later he switched them on, and the whole room sparkled, crystal chandeliers reflecting the light so it bounced off the walls, mimicking the snow outside. The lights twinkled slowly, blinking on and off so the walls and floor glittered with tiny spots of light.

  “Wow,” I said, looking around at the half-decorated room. This was beautiful.

  This was what Hallie deserved.

  “Think I did an okay job,” Aiden said, suddenly beside me. I’d been too distracted by the lights to see him move, but my heart did a little backflip when I saw him within touching distance.

  “This looks incredible,” I said, still in awe of what a difference a little lighting could make. This was a barn conversion, with high ceilings and what I supposed were charmingly rustic beams overhead, all of them with strings of delicate little lights wrapped around them.

  Aiden’s hard work. Hard work he’d done for no particular reason—Hallie wasn’t his sister, after all.

  “Glad you like it.” He smiled at me, the lights making his eyes sparkle. “Wanna test out the dance floor?”

  I looked down at Aiden’s offered hand, and my stomach dropped.

  “I don’t, umm. I have no idea how to…”

  Aiden snorted, grabbed my hand, and dragged me into the middle of the room before I could figure out how to tell him that I didn’t know how to dance, it’d never come up before.

  “My skills mostly involve keeping the table and watching purses. I’m not really the dancing type.”

  “Do you have a particular moral objection to dancing?” Aiden asked.

  He was still holding my hand.

  “No, but—”

  “I’ll lead,” he interrupted. “Unless you really don’t want to?”

  “I…”

  Aiden let go of my hand, and he smiled at me, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “It’s okay. Sorry for pushing.”

  He was disappointed, and my stomach hurt. I didn’t want to disappoint him. Not after everything he’d done for me.

  “Wait,” I said, reaching out for his hand. “Can’t be nearly as bad as ice skating, right?”

  “Whole lot less of a big deal if you step on my toes,” Aiden said, quietly encouraging.

  He wouldn’t be mad at me if I sucked.

  I pulled him right out into the centre of the floor, smiling shyly once we got there.

  “Be gentle with me,” I said. “It’s my first time.”

  Aiden laughed, eyes sparkling, joy rolling off him. I knew how lucky I was to have his attention, and this just reminded me all over again.

  “Where do my hands go?” I asked, feeling like an awkward seventeen-year-old at prom.

  “Hang onto mine with this one,” Aiden said, squeezing my hand. “Traditionally you’d put the other one on my shoulder.”

  “Traditionally?” I raised an eyebrow, following his instructions. “Are you secretly into competition ballroom dancing or something?”

  “No.” Aiden smiled wryly. “Morgan’s made me watch a lot of dance shows with him, though. Guess some of it stuck. Besides, I wanna release you back into the dating pool ten times as confident and twice as sexy as you were before.”

  “Only twice as sexy?” I asked, trying not to think about the twinge in the pit of my stomach at the idea of releasing me back into the dating pool.

  “Hard to improve on perfection.” Aiden grinned. “Being able to dance at a wedding would be a nice bonus extra, though. Especially since your dad’s thinking about tying the knot.”

  He rearranged my hands and let one of his own rest on my waist, every touch as gentle as I could ever have asked. Aiden had the patience of a saint.

  “Have I ever mentioned that you smell great?” Aiden asked. “Because you really do smell great.”

  “Thanks.” I chewed on my lower lip, the tips of my ears tingling with heat.

  “Relax,” Aiden murmured. “Pretend like you like touching me and you’re comfortable with both of our bodies.”

  “I am,” I said. I’d never been more comfortable with anyone than I was with Aiden.

  I couldn’t stop thinking about being with him. About how good it felt, about how good I felt after. He didn’t make me feel used, he took pleasure in my pleasure. I’d never had sex like we’d been having the past couple of days before.

  But he was right, I was holding myself like I was afraid to move. Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to relax, loosening my death grip on Aiden’s shoulder, letting my thumb just barely rest on him, stroking the fabric of his sweater.

  Aiden gripped my waist a little tighter in response, and I was starting to see the appeal of this whole dancing thing.

  Just as I had the thought, a slow song came on through the venue speakers.

  “Just testing the sound system,” Trent called from the stage, barely holding back a broad grin. “You two keep being cute.”

  Now I was really blushing, but Aiden was giving me that look again. The one I didn’t understand, the one that made me feel like he was thrilled to be around me.

  “We’re so cute,” he said, stepping sideways. “Just follow my feet. Trust me.”

  The thing was, I did trust him. He’d never given me any reason not to, not once.

  I felt safe with Aiden. I’d never thought about that as something I was looking for in a partner—none of them had ever felt like a threat—but there was something comforting about knowing that I could trip over my own feet right now and land us both on the floor and Aiden would just laugh it off.

  He didn’t care that I wasn’t perfect. I didn’t have to work so hard to pretend I was around him.

  “Having fun yet?” Aiden asked, voice low and soft, and I realized then that I’d been… following. Like it was nothing.

  I laughed, surprised at myself as Aiden twirled me under his arm and it just came naturally, like I’d done it a thousand ti
mes.

  “Guess so.”

  Aiden’s eyes were glittering like a cut stone, reflecting the hundreds of tiny lights he’d strung up, and for a moment we were the only two people in the world. Everything else—the snow outside, Dad and Trent watching, going back to work next week, my life and all the things I was worried about fell away, and the only thing that mattered was that I was dancing with Aiden, and we were both having fun.

  A wave of something I couldn’t quite name washed over me as Aiden grinned, so pleased with me that I wanted to bottle that feeling and keep a reserve of it forever.

  “You’re doing great,” he said. “Proud of you.”

  Right. He was proud of me even when there wasn’t anyone to show me off in front of, because I wasn’t an accessory to Aiden. He treated me like a real human being with feelings.

  And he made me feel like I could let him see what my feelings were and he’d never tell a soul if I didn’t want him to.

  That was the difference between him and everyone else I’d dated. Aiden was on my side.

  It was such a relief to have someone on my side for once.

  “Thank you,” I said softly, still following him as we swept slowly around the dance floor, moving like we were made to work together like this. Maybe I’d never be able to ice skate, but I could dance.

  I could’ve danced with Aiden until the sun exploded and died happy.

  Just as I thought that, my phone went off in my pocket.

  “Dammit,” I swore, grabbing for the phone and giving Aiden a look that I hoped said please forgive me.

  A message from… Hallie?

  Hallie: are you guys still in the barn?

  Yeah, why?

  Hallie: look outside

  What?

  I strode over to the window and stopped dead a few feet away from it, realizing what I was looking at.

  The snow was piled six inches up over the ledge and still falling.

  It was piled that high as far as I could see, which to be fair, wasn’t all that far.

  “Uh. Guys?” I turned to look at Dad, Aiden, and Trent, beckoning them over to the window.

  “That’s… suboptimal,” Trent said as he came to stand beside me.