4. WEST
WEST
“Aw. Still no reception?” Haze drawls, his voice soaked in smug satisfaction. I glance over at him, unimpressed, then shove my phone back into the pocket of my linen shorts.
“I was checking the time, smartass.”
“No, you were checking your emails,” he counters.
“Your shoulders get all tense when you lie.” Ignoring him, I exhale through my nose, my gaze drifting back to the horizon and the ocean that stretches endlessly beyond our private balcony.
I've got to admit, it's fucking beautiful. It better be for how expensive the tickets were. I can’t remember the last time I did something like this, and as much as it pains me to acknowledge, I was long overdue for a break. Even if my mind hasn’t caught up to the idea yet.
Haze steps in closer, close enough that I can feel the weight of him brush against the skin of my back.
He presses a brief kiss on my shoulder before lowering his voice.
“Fourteen days. You promised us fourteen days with no distractions, remember?” His hand slides to my lower back as he shifts to my side, my body instinctively loosening beneath his touch.
“I can think of a few ways to keep you both occupied for that long,” Beau adds as he approaches, slipping easily in the space between us where he belongs.
He passes Haze and me a drink before leaning in, fitting himself against our bodies with a grin.
We’ve all waited way too long for this. Where we can just be ourselves without the prying eyes of the local townsfolk back home in Blue River.
My son doesn’t know about us yet, and with the huge misunderstanding that happened the other night, I’m not so sure when the right time will be to open up to him about our relationship.
“Alright. What’s wrong?” Beau asks, walking over and placing his glass on the table to the right of the balcony.
Turning back around, he stands before me, successfully blocking my view.
He’s always been good at that. Reading me in ways that nobody else can.
With a sigh, I take a sip of my drink, almost choking from the fruity, tropical taste.
“Goddammit! This tastes like fuckin’ unicorn piss!” I sputter.
“You’re supposed to stir it. That’s what this cute little thing is for.
” Beau chuckles, pointing to the pineapple straw thing, before squaring me with a look.
“Now. If we’re going to have an actual vacation, we need you to get whatever it is that’s been bothering you off your chest.” Beau reaches out to grip my shoulders, brushing my skin gently with each thumb to comfort me.
I still haven’t told them about what happened the other night.
Not because they’d be mad at me for hooking up with someone else, we often bring a woman into the mix, but because all I feel is shame.
My son won’t talk to me, not really, and I don’t know how to fix things with him.
With a sigh, I look up at the ceiling, then back down to meet both their gazes. Haze now stands beside Beau, unease lining their sharp, devastating features, and I decide to rip the band-aid straight off.
“Theo walked in on me with a woman the other night.” Silence.
My eyes bounce between them to try and discern what they might be thinking, but they don’t so much as flinch.
“It was late, and I thought I was alone when I got home from work the other night, and waiting for me in my bedroom… was a woman. In the dark.”
“Okay? Does Theo not like that you had somebody over?” Haze asks, his face a mask of confusion, though his soft, willow-green eyes don’t leave mine.
“I didn’t have a woman over. That’s the thing. I thought, after our conversation about me needing to blow off some steam, I thought you… you know,” I gesture between them. God, I’m doing a terrible job of explaining this.
“You thought that we… what?” Beau says, his voice unhurried, giving me time to think, letting me know he isn’t bothered by my admission, but genuinely worried for me. It takes a lot to have me on edge like this, and I know they're concerned.
“I thought that you arranged for her to be there. To… service me.” For fuck’s sake. This sounds stupid. I know it does. But that’s the truth of it. A long silence stretches between us, their expressions mirroring how lost they are. I’m just as damn lost.
“So there was a woman in your bedroom, and you thought that we… arranged for her to be there. Where does Theo come into it?” Haze questions, and the next part has my stomach tangled up in knots.
“He walked in on her giving me a handjob, and by the time I realized what the fuck was going on, the light was on and he was screaming in my face that I fucked his girlfriend.” I let out a heavy breath, wishing that none of this ever happened.
I honestly had no idea who she was. I mean, I was in the dark, both figuratively and literally.
God, I should’ve known better. It doesn’t help that I haven’t been able to get her out of my head since it all went down.
“His girlfriend was just waiting in the dark for you?” Beau finally says, his brows furrowed, trying to make sense of this fucked up situation.
My jaw tightens at the use of the word ‘girlfriend,’ but I let it go.
“I thought he and Tamika were going strong? At least that’s what she told me the other day at the bar.
” Fuck. Somehow, it keeps getting more and more complicated.
Beau inherited his mom Carol’s bar when she passed away last year, and Tamika works there as a waitress.
It only makes things more uncomfortable being in close proximity to the one person who’s always got her finger on every pulse in town.
“No. It wasn’t Tamika. Although she was there. They both walked in on us,” I say, and a wave of disappointment hits me. I can’t believe my son would treat women like this.
“He was playing them,” I murmur. I might not have been perfect, but I raised him better than that.
God, I’m in no position to pass judgment.
One, I have a secret relationship with two guys he went to school with that I’ve yet to tell him about, and two, he caught me with a woman I have since learned was his ex-girlfriend.
“Who was it, West?” Haze asks, his voice low, as if reaching inside me to steady the storm I’m feeling.
“His ex. Apparently, he had only just broken things off with her, and no one knew he had been playing both of them until they walked in and everything blew up from there. Shit hit the fan immediately, and his ex ran out of there in nothing more than her underwear, but not before telling me that she thought I was my son.”
“Oof!” Beau grimaces. “That explains why Tamika called in sick.”
“Man, I thought this kind of shit only happened in movies,” Haze adds.
“Not helpful.” I go to take another sip, but think better of it and hand the glass of sugar back to Beau. He takes it and sets it down on the table.
“How's Theo holding up?” Beau asks, leaning against the wall that separates our balcony from the other cabins, looking every bit like a tattooed bad boy. His brown hair’s a little lighter on the ends these days, probably from too much sun, and is tied up in a messy bun.
His inked, defined arms flex just enough to capture my attention as he casually slides his hands into the pockets of his shorts.
This man is summer in human form. Warm, golden, and impossible to look away from.
“He won't talk to me.” I feel the air leave my lungs and I squeeze my eyes shut, fighting back the emotion that threatens to spill over. Things were just starting to become good with us. He's always been a troubled kid and lately, he and I have been getting along.
His mother and I had him when we were seventeen, a one-night stand that very much changed our entire lives.
As much as we tried to make things work between us, we weren't suited for each other. Back then, we both agreed to co-parent, and we’ve never had a problem with our dynamic.
I don't know if this is something Theo struggled with.
Hell, I don't know much about anything because he’s closed off most of the time.
I just wish he'd talk to me. I understand if he doesn't want to, better than the next guy, but I'm still his father. No matter what, that will never change.
“He just needs time, babe. You and him are more alike than either of you wants to admit,” Haze murmurs, his fingers brushing softly against my hand before taking mine in his.
“You're both closed books,” Beau adds. “Give him time.
He'll come around,” he says, stepping in closer and pressing a brief kiss to my forehead.
They always know what I need, even if it means showing a little vulnerability sometimes.
It took me a while to get here, but I trust them with my life, and nothing will ever get in the way of that.
I open my mouth to apologize, not just for putting a damper on the start of what was supposed to be our romantic getaway, we're here to unwind and simply be together, after all.
But also because this rift between my son and me means that I can't tell him about us yet, and as much as I’m not comfortable with waiting, I can't just drop this on him without working things out with him first.
My guys deserve to be happy.
Not to be hidden behind closed doors.
They deserve to be with someone who loves them out loud, and I do, for the most part. But not in the ways I need to—want to. Not without telling Theo first. Before I can get the words out, Beau stops me.