Chapter Fourteen
Lachlan sprang off Tim’s dick like it was on fire as Tim’s brain fought to catch up to what the fuck was happening. Was that… Shit. Fuck.
Fuck!
He’d known it was a mistake coming over. He’d known that morning in the tower that he’d stuffed up everything. The job, his family, his life. Because he wanted Lachlan more than he had the night before, which didn’t seem bloody possible.
Now, Lachlan yanked on his shorts and stood in the doorway.
Having a chat with Ryan.
“Hiya!” Lachlan practically shouted. “Sorry, mate. Didn’t hear you.”
“You right?” Ryan asked, clearly concerned. Distantly, the TV still played. “Just swung by, but—are you—oh, shit, bro. You have a guy over?”
“No! I mean, um, yeah?”
This was really fucking happening, and Tim had to move. His cock had softened at least, and he got up as quietly as he could, the bed creaking ominously, and tugged on his jeans and sweatshirt.
Standing in his bare feet, he waited in the corner, feeling like the world’s biggest arsehole. Or a naughty schoolchild.
He was way too old for this shit.
Lachlan was silhouetted in the light from the hall, blocking the door. “Sorry. I didn’t think…”
Ryan laughed in relief—that easy, delighted sound that Tim hadn’t heard in far, far too long. He could picture the crooked grin on Ryan’s face. “Don’t be sorry for getting laid, bro.”
Fuck.
They had to tell him. It wasn’t right. Tim hadn’t even tried to justify it to himself when he’d driven the minute or two over the hill.
He’d just shoved reality out of his head.
He’d been so keen to see Lachlan again—that shy smile, big brown eyes, his blissed-out face when Tim made him come.
To talk to him about nothing and everything.
That morning in the tower, he hadn’t been able to stop himself. He’d wanted to hear what Lachlan thought about the situation with Mark even though he shouldn’t have been telling any of the boys about it. Christ, he was fucking up as a father and a boss.
They had to tell Ryan.
“Cool, um, thanks,” Lachlan said, his voice high and thin.
“’Course.” There was a pause. “You sure you’re okay? There’s a beer spilled all over the table. For a second, I thought you were being murdered in here.”
Lachlan glanced back to Tim. They shared a long look, and Lachlan’s shoulders slumped.
They didn’t have to say it.
Tim gave a nod and stepped toward the door as Lachlan took a shaky breath.
Ryan said, confusion in his voice, “The thing is, that looks like my dad’s ute outside?”
Taking a deep breath, Tim joined Lachlan in the doorway. Ryan’s mouth dropped open. For what felt like forever, Tim’s pulse thundering in his ears, they stared at each other.
Ryan’s eyes flicked between Tim and Lachlan as he gaped. Finally, he croaked, “You’re—you’re—” He shook his head, and his voice rose with his eyebrows. “You’re fucking?”
Lachlan nodded tightly. “It’s my fault.” A tremor ran through him, and Tim reached for him, about to rub his back before fisting his hand at his side.
Tim said, “The hell it is. There’s two of us here.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t realize who I was in Bali.”
“Bali?” Ryan demanded. “Wait, what? The silver fox? Was my dad?” He made a face like he had as a kid when he was forced to eat Brussels sprouts. “Dude, what the fuck?”
“I know!” Lachlan rubbed his face, and Tim wanted to step in front of him and take the blame. Lachlan said, “I’d had a crush on him when I was a teenager and—”
“That’s disgusting!” Ryan grimaced.
“It was harmless back then!” Lachlan insisted. “I’m an adult now. And when we met in Bali that last night and Tim didn’t recognize me, it was fun to pretend. To be his equal. I was so drawn to him. And then we…”
Memories of Bali flashed through Tim’s mind. More than the sex, it was Lachlan’s shy little smile. The pull between them that had led them to that pool.
Ryan raised a hand. “Don’t want a single detail.”
“Right. But he didn’t know. It was just a hookup, and I figured no one ever had to know. I was going to take it to the grave.”
Eyes flashing, Ryan stared at Tim. “Pretty sure you know now that this is my best fucking friend. So, what’s your excuse?”
Tim said quietly, “Don’t have one, mate.”
“I’m not your mate!” Ryan’s eyes shone with sudden tears. “I was just starting to think you weren’t so bad. Should’ve fuckin’ known better.”
Tim couldn’t breathe. Returning to Barkers was supposed to be about fixing his family. He and Ryan had been working together peaceably enough, the coldness starting to thaw. Now he’d gone and made everything ten times worse.
“Thought you came back here for me,” Ryan exclaimed, his voice rising.
“I did!” Tim’s heart ached. “I never expected to—” He broke off. To what?
He knew, but there was no way he was admitting it even to himself. Because even if he’d fallen for Lachlan, it was impossible.
“You came home to come clean. And fucking my best friend was your next move?”
Lachlan whispered, “We tried to stay away from each other. We really did. But we couldn’t.”
Ryan twisted the strings of his hoodie around his fingers and paced a few steps side to side. “This has to be a stitch-up. I bloody knew there was something up with you. That’s why I came over. But it’s my dad?” He glared at Tim. “And you’re replacing me with my best mate?”
In unison, Tim and Lachlan exclaimed, “No!” Lachlan added, “It’s not like that.”
“I don’t want to know what it’s like.” Ryan held up his hands and made that face again. “And not because it’s gay stuff.”
Lachlan’s breath hitched. “You’ve always been such a good friend. I’m sorry.”
Tim hated seeing his son in pain, and once again he was the cause. He never should’ve come back. He’d made everything worse.
Backing up, Ryan said, “I gotta go.” He held his hands out when Lachlan took a step forward. “Don’t. You two do whatever you want.”
They watched him turn, his bare feet silent on the worn wooden floor as he disappeared into the kitchen on the left. The gate thudded shut, and a few seconds later, an engine roared to life and peeled away.
From the living room at the end of the hall, chef contestants talked about the perfect way to cook Moreton Bay bugs.
Mumbling something, Lachlan strode down the hall. Tim followed.
In the living room, Lachlan switched off the TV, his shaking fingers needing a few tries with the remote. He went into the kitchen, where Tim could see an unopened six-pack of beer that Ryan must’ve brought sitting on the bench.
Returning with a tea towel, Lachlan bent and cleaned up the spilled beer on the coffee table while Tim stood uselessly.
Like tits on a bull, he thought darkly. There was no use in going back over the should-haves and shouldn’t-haves. They’d made their bed.
Christ, images of being in bed with Lachlan—a bed that was theirs—filled his damn head. Visions of fucking, but more than that. Sleeping and waking together, talking and laughing and—
“This is over between us.”
“Yes,” Lachlan said hoarsely.
It was a punch to the gut as Tim realized Lachlan was fighting tears, wiping the damp tea towel over the table over and over. He told himself it didn’t matter. It wasn’t on him. Lachlan wasn’t his. He had to walk out the bloody door and not look back.
His feet were moving—and he had Lachlan’s face in his hands. Tears slipped out of Lachlan’s beautiful eyes, and Tim caught them with his thumbs.
He reckoned the kiss was inevitable.
Tim had to press their mouths together. Had to taste Lachlan’s lips, the salty splash of his tears. Had to sweep his tongue inside as Lachlan opened for him with a moan.
Turned out that kissing a man wasn’t much different from a woman at all aside from the roughness of Lachlan’s stubble. He wasn’t just some bloke Tim was sharing a hand job with in the toilets. Lachlan was somehow so much more in ways that scared the shit out of him.
Because even though they couldn’t be together, Tim wanted to kiss him forever.
They gasped for breath, their lips wet with shared spit, hands tugging at clothes, naked again in a blink.
When they crashed to the floor, Tim cushioned Lachlan’s head with his palm, his knuckles cracking on the wood, Lachlan’s body beneath him as they kissed like they were starving.
They were both hard and could’ve rubbed off on each other and come quickly, kissing and rutting. But Lachlan lifted his legs, knees to his shoulders, and Tim thrust inside him in one powerful movement. Lachlan cried out, and Tim pounded him like his life depended on it.
He hadn’t fucked anyone raw in a long, long time, and Christ, Lachlan was so hot and tight. Tim buried himself as deeply as he could. They panted and kissed messily, tongues tangling.
“God, Tim,” Lachlan moaned. “You feel so good.”
His knees were getting stiff on the hard floor, but Tim wouldn’t have stopped for anything. Couldn’t. “Going to come inside you. You want that?”
“Yes. God, yes. Please, please.” Lachlan clutched Tim’s sides and back, his fingers bruising.
“You need to come for me first, baby.”
Lachlan whimpered and squeezed his hand between them, but Tim grabbed his wrist and held it on the floor over his head before pulling up his other arm. Lachlan’s eyes almost rolled back in his head.
“Oh, fuck. Yes,” he panted as Tim rammed his arse, keeping him completely pinned down.
Their skin was sweaty and hot, and as much as Tim wanted to make Lachlan come on his dick alone, he was already fucking him so hard he was afraid he’d leave him swollen and bruised.
Gripping both of Lachlan’s wrists in one hand, he jerked him with the other. “Let me see you.” He tightened his grip.
Back arching and mouth opening on a gasp, Lachlan spurted between them. It dripped over Tim’s fingers, and he milked Lachlan for every drop, his own body straining so tightly on the edge that he might break into a million pieces.
As Lachlan trembled, whining softly, Tim had to kiss him again. Tenderly, he licked into his mouth, swallowing the sweet sounds he made.
Then he lifted his head and tasted Lachlan’s cum, licking it from his own fingers as Lachlan shook and clenched around his cock with another aftershock.
Their eyes locked as Tim pulled back and thrust deeply inside him. His dick was on fire, and as much as he wanted to make their last time together go on and on, he shook with need.
“Come for me,” Lachlan pleaded, his voice wrecked, hair sticking up from where Tim had run his hands through it. Lachlan squeezed his arse around Tim’s cock, and the orgasm rushed through him like a tidal wave.
Tim emptied inside him, grunting with release. Marking him. Making Lachlan his, even if it was only for this moment.
Falling in love with him even if it was already over.
Lachlan wrapped his legs around Tim’s waist as Tim slumped over him. For too long, they stayed locked together on the floor, kissing softly, sharing breath, not wanting to let go.
They could only pretend for so long.
Tim heaved himself up, pulling Lachlan to his feet. Lachlan stood naked, watching as Tim dressed. He followed as Tim forced himself to walk through the kitchen and shove on his thongs at the side door. The white fly barrier fluttered, the night wind blowing restlessly.
Tim steeled himself and met Lachlan’s eyes. Lachlan’s lips were swollen, his face red from Tim’s beard. He looked wrecked.
Beautiful.
Mine.
Powerless to resist, Tim kissed Lachlan one more time as they clutched at each other and Lachlan kissed him back, opening his mouth on a whimper.
With every ounce of strength he had left, Tim broke away, hating the dull thud of Lachlan closing the door behind him.