Six #2
He cleared his throat. “C’mon, baby, get your belt on. We gotta hurry.”
“Why?”
“’Cause my mom’s making her world-famous moussaka for Mike’s new girl, and we don’t wanna miss the carnage.” He almost cackled.
“That’s not funny,” I told him, scowling. “Your family is big and loud and scary. Poor girl.”
“It’s a little funny. And don’t kid yourself, you love my family.”
“I love you,” I said, turning the heater up.
“What?”
Too late I realized what I’d said. And I had voiced it before, three years ago, but not since he’d returned, and not without him asking me, pressuring me. The words had simply tumbled out, and I could tell he was very pleased.
“J…what?”
“What?” I looked at him. I was hoping to play it off like it was nothing.
“Say it again.”
“Say what?” I asked innocently. Maybe he’d let it go.
He smiled evilly. “You know what ya said.”
No chance he was letting it go.
“C’mon,” he prodded me. “Say it again.”
I stared at him, and he leaned over the emergency brake to give me a quick kiss.
“I love you,” he breathed down the side of my neck.
“I love you too.”
And the smile on his face when he leaned back, so wide, so arrogant, so relieved, so smug, was not to be missed. I had created a monster with four little words.
Even though it was Thursday night, instead of Sunday, there were enough people that we needed to park the usual half a block away.
With an arm draped over my shoulders, Sam guided me through the front yard and around the side of the house to the steps that led to the back door of the large two-story, redbrick, A-frame home.
I followed him into the kitchen, and as soon as I was inside, I smelled the food.
“Jesus, what is that?” I said, breathing it in. I was almost salivating right there.
“It’s the moussaka.” He smiled at me. “I told you it’s world famous.”
“It smells like heaven.”
He winked at me before he yelled, “Mom! I’m home.”
“What did you bring me?” she asked from the other room, and I could hear her laughing at her own joke.
I heard so many other voices laughing along with her that all at once I was scared. It was one thing for Sam and me to be on unstable ground, but not me and his family. I wasn’t ready to be here, and I felt like I was going to hyperventilate.
“Sammy, get in here,” Thomas Kage called out. “The game started already.”
“What’s wrong?” Sam asked me quickly.
“You first.”
“There’s nothing wrong with me.” He grinned slowly, devilishly. “You’re the one who’s freaked out.”
“And if I am?” I asked, my voice rising just a little.
“You’re scared because this is a lot in a short amount of time.”
I nodded.
“I didn’t think about that. I was just excited to have you here,” he said gently, reaching out and putting an arm around my neck, easing me up against him. He kissed my temple. “I can go in there, and you can take my car and go home.”
But was that what I wanted?
“I don’t want to do anything to make you rethink spending time with me.”
He was worried. It was there in his tone, the furrow of his brows and the clench of his jaw.
In the past, he never would have doubted his hold over me.
But it was different now, and we both knew it.
We had been apart for three years, and we’d both learned that we could live without each other.
The point was, though, that neither of us wanted to.
“Love?”
“Let’s go in,” I murmured, smiling up at him.
“Are you sure?”
His clouded eyes made my stomach flip over. To see vulnerability in the man was brand new.
“Yes,” I whispered.
He bent and kissed me, and then I followed him into the living room.
“Look what I brought you, Mom.”
Regina Kage was a stunning woman just sitting doing nothing. When she smiled, you saw the movie-star magic. When she smiled, you got that she was luminous. She was smiling now. Her eyes darted back and forth between us and settled on me.
“Jory,” she gasped, clearly overcome. “Oh my goodness, finally.” Her breath caught as she rushed across the room to me.
She threw her arms out wide, and I stepped into them, hugging her tight.
“Finally.” She said the word with so much feeling and relief that it was abundantly clear that she loved me.
“Oh my sweet boy,” she cooed into my hair, rubbing circles on my back.
“My sweet, sweet boy.” And then she said something into my shoulder that I couldn’t hear before she pulled back to look at me.
“Everyone, come see,” she called to the women sitting in the living room. “My boy is home!”
And I looked over at Sam as he shrugged and people surged around me.
Jen came and threw herself into my arms, kissing and hugging me tight before stepping back to introduce me to her new boyfriend, Doug Yates.
He was nice, had three kids of his own, and was a construction foreman.
I liked him right away, and the fact that he didn’t care one bit that I was gay was a big fat point in his favor.
He cared more about Sam than me. He was just as intimidated by Detective Kage as everyone else who ever met him—careful of his size, the muscles, and the quick temper. Me, he cared nothing about at all.
Rachel mauled me, and her husband, Dean, was very pleased to see me.
There were other cousins to see, and the men greeted me with outstretched hands, cool-guy head tips, or yells.
The women quickly invaded my personal space.
I kissed and hugged them all, and they pointed out the main attraction to me—Beverly Stiles, Michael’s new girlfriend.
She was meeting the extended family for the first time.
My heart went out to her. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights.
“J,” Michael said, smiling crazily at me as he breezed into the room. “Hey, buddy. I missed ya.”
When he was close enough, he surprised me by reaching out and grabbing me into a tight guy-clench. “Sammy missed ya too,” he said softly, his voice catching. “More than a little. Maybe now my brother can stop being such a prick.”
“Michael!” Regina had overheard him, and she was clearly mortified.
“Aww, Mom, you know it’s the God’s honest truth!” he grumbled at her, letting me go. “He’s been a total asshole the whole time Jory’s been gone.”
“Yes, I know, but your words, Michael, Mother of God!”
“But, Mom, we both know he should do a helluva lot of ass-kissin’ or—” He stopped and looked at me.
“No offense there, J, since maybe that’s something you’re into or…
you know. I dunno, but the point is, whatever it takes, Sammy should just do already, ’cause I can’t deal with him when you’re not around. He’s a total dick.” He was adamant.
“Michael!”
“Amen.” Levi Kage chimed in, walking up to stand behind me. “How ya doin’, Jory?” He held out his hand for me when I turned around. “I hope you’re planning to stick around this time.”
I took the offered hand and was pulled into the same guy-clench I had gotten from Michael. It was a hard handclasp, a shoulder to shoulder jerk, followed by a sharp back slap. It was slightly painful, so I knew it was sincere. I got more handshakes as many of Sam’s cousins flowed through the room.
Minutes later, I leaned over the back of the couch and reached out a hand to Jesse, Levi’s brother. Funny to think that I had met all the guys years ago, but it seemed like only yesterday. He stepped close so I could reach him, and we shook hands.
“It’s great to see ya.”
“You too.”
He nodded, staring at me hard. “Do me a favor and just hang out, okay?”
“Yeah, I’m going to.”
“No, I mean, like, stick around for a while. Not just for tonight.”
I nodded. It was very nice.
“Seriously,” he said, suddenly so quiet and still. “Sammy looks like himself again, ya know?”
I shrugged. “He looks the same to me.”
Michael squeezed my arm as he walked by. “That’s what he means.”
I smiled, gazing after both of them as they left the room.
“Jory,” Thomas Kage, Sam’s father, called out to me from over near the TV. “Come here!”
I moved quickly, because you just did as he ordered.
He glanced up at me, but only for a second. Some game was on. “Jory.”
“Sir.”
“You stick around this time, Jory, all right?”
I was instantly defensive and wanted to tell him that it wasn’t my fault. “Sir, I—”
“Ah!” He cut me off sharply, loudly, leaving no room for protest. “Just do as I say.”
“But you know it wasn’t my—”
“Ah!” He did it again, and I realized what an annoying sound it was. “Just promise me. That’s all I want to hear. I’m not interested in excuses.”
Of course he wasn’t. He only cared about the outcome. I sighed deeply. “Yessir.”
“Good.” He gestured to Michael’s new girlfriend, whom I hadn’t noticed was sitting beside him until then. “Did you meet Beverly?”
“No, sir.”
“Beverly, this is Sam’s partner, Jory.”
She rose off the couch and gave me her hand.
“More friend,” I corrected him, smiling at her.
“Partner!” Sam’s dad clipped the word.
I shot him a look. Now I knew where Sam got his temper.
“You have something to say?” he dared me, finally looking up from the television screen to my face. “Go ahead, speak.”
“No, sir,” I whispered, drawing Beverly away from him before turning to look at her face.
“Good,” he grunted, like everything was settled.
“I’m so happy to meet you,” she said sincerely, clinging to my hand.
I saw the wide-eyed fright in her eyes and smiled tenderly. Poor thing, they were scaring the crap out of her. I knew that, for people who weren’t used to big families, the volume in the house, the yelling, and the way people just came and went could be a little daunting.
“Same here,” I told her. “So how long have you and Michael been going out?”
“About five months,” she said quickly, turning and smiling after him as he walked through the living room. “And I have to say that this is, like, the first time I have seen his brother not look mean.”
“Mean?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Oh yes,” she assured me firmly.
“How so?”
She thought a moment. “I think the scowling is my favorite. And the way he almost never speaks to me and how gruff his tone is when he does.”