Chapter One #3
Coming home after his shift to a clean and quiet house would be relaxing and make it easier to unwind.
James passed Scott’s room heading into the living area. He wouldn’t go into Scott’s room since his brother deserved privacy. James wasn’t the nosy snort. Plus, it might be funny to see Scott find all the little presents that Jackson had left behind.
He gathered the blankets he’d used to sleep on the couch and exchanged his laundry.
His bed stuff into the dryer and those from the couch into the washer.
As he was sorting the blankets, something small and red fell to the tiled floor.
James dropped the blankets into the washing machine and closed the lid before bending and picking up red cloth.
Michael had worn the cape when he demanded that Finn make him fly like a superhero.
James rubbed the cloth between his fingers. Silky. Soft.
Looking to the right and left even though he knew he was alone in the apartment, James just wanted to see what it felt like. Seeing Michael giggle and play had been the moment that jealousy had filled James.
Michael had been so happy.
James wanted to be happy. Even though he thrived in training and kept himself busy, it was hard to relax when he wasn’t pushing himself. Somehow, in the last year, James had forgotten how to have fun.
If he wasn’t careful, James would end up like the cranky professor across the yard. That would be awful. James didn’t want to be a bitter asshole. And it wasn’t like anyone needed to know. James would wash it and have it there when Michael brought Scott home.
Swinging the cape around his back, he clipped the two ends at his throat. He twirled, making the cape dance in the air.
Okay, that was kind of cool.
James eyed the distance from the small laundry closet through the kitchen and into the living room. It was a straight shot. He couldn’t help the huge grin on his face as he backed up to the wall.
No one would ever know.
He pushed off the wall, running through the kitchen and slid into the living room.
Holy shit! It really was like flying.
James jumped onto the couch and bounced as Taylor Swift sang in his ear. Laughing manically, he leaped off the couch, flapping his arms and sliding around the living room. The cape flowed behind him. This was amazing!
* * * * *
Jacob
He’d done it again. Every single fucking time Jacob was alone with James, he tried to talk with the young man and ended up sounding like the biggest asshole on earth.
Staring out the window above the kitchen sink, Jacob had the perfect view from his house to the small apartment over his garage.
Jacob had been renting out that apartment to students since he’d first moved into his house.
The housing market in Surf City was crazy expensive and while Jacob had no issue with money, he knew that wasn’t the same for everyone. Especially scholarship students.
After seeing Scott’s academic achievements, his GPA, and application for entry into the university, Jacob had known that the kid was brilliant and needed a helping hand.
He’d just not expected Scott to bring his twin brother along.
Or the immediate attraction he’d felt to James.
A young man the same age as most of his students.
At no time in his entire career had Jacob been attracted to a student.
Even though Scott and James were twins, they were very different. They carried themselves differently, spoke differently, and had entirely different personalities.
At first Jacob had been concerned that James was using Scott.
That James was looking for a free ride while Scott busted his ass in school.
He’d immediately learned the truth. James was the reason that Scott could work so hard in school.
The older twin was the one that took care of everything. He doted and spoiled on Scott.
The more that Jacob learned about James, the higher his opinion of the young man grew.
He’d paid close attention to what James had accomplished in the year and a half that the young man had been staying in the apartment that was close enough to throw a rock at.
The attraction had grown until Jacob couldn’t think of anything but claiming the boy as his own.
To show James that while he worked hard, he still needed to be able to relax and recharge.
The oven timer chimed and Jacob frowned. James had stated that he needed to get ready for his shift at the coffee shop. His casserole had baked in the oven for forty-five minutes. Shouldn’t the boy be gone by now?
Worry filled him.
Quickly Jacob turned off the buzzing and removed the glass dish from the oven.
He dropped the oven mitts onto the counter then headed for the back door.
What if James fell or something happened to him?
James was all alone in that apartment. Household injuries were in the top three reasons why ambulances were called.
In fact, seventy-eight percent of all preventable injuries that resulted in death took place in a home.
Jacob was a numbers guy. He knew all the statistics.
He tried not to run the distance between his house and the stairs leading up to the small apartment.
Jacob took the stairs two at a time. He lifted his hand to knock when he spotted a red flash through the tiny diamond window in the door.
What the hell?
Leaning forward, Jacob peered through the small opening.
James was dancing…was that dancing…or twirling with a red cape wrapped around his shoulders. The smile on James’s face was one that Jacob had never seen before. There was pure joy radiating from the young man.
Jacob’s breath caught. James was an attractive young man but seeing him like this was a shock to the system. Made all his desires surge forward.
Carefully Jacob backed away from the front door.
There was a chance that James’s schedule changed. Maybe he’d been lying to Jacob and didn’t even need to go to work. Not that Jacob could blame James with how Jacob constantly messed up talking to him.
Returning to his house felt like a failure.
Jacob wanted to make amends with James. Maybe a hot meal would be a good first step? He walked over to the stove to where he left the casserole he’d put together earlier.
Cooking relaxed Jacob. Food hadn’t always been available for him or his twin brother. They might have money now, his twin Jesse was an actual multi-millionaire and Jacob had a ton of money as well, but that hadn’t been how they’d grown up.
Investments had treated them well. They’d worked hard to get what they had. His past was one of the reasons that Jacob tried to give a helping hand to those who needed it.
A door slammed and he spun to look out the kitchen window again.
James raced down the stairs of the apartment with his motorcycle helmet in his hand.
No red cape but the leather jacket that the boy often wore could be hiding it.
At least James had some sort of protection in case he crashed.
Just having that thought made Jacob fist his hands.
Jacob hated that fucking motorcycle. He hated it so much that he’d called James’s older brother Michael to report the purchase.
He’d hoped that Michael would be able to force James to give up the damn bike.
It hadn’t worked. Even worse, the motorcycle was purchased from one of Miachel’s partners for twenty bucks.
The engine of the bike was loud as James started the bike.
Jacob’s stomach dropped. All he could think about was the fact that there were eighty-nine thousand reported accidents a year involving a motorcycle, with over six thousand of those accidents resulting in death.
He lost his appetite.
The boy would be on the streets of Surf City riding that death machine all the way to the beach. The same beach that people spent all day drinking and partying at.
Abandoning the casserole, Jacob left the kitchen to head to his office on the opposite side of the house.
The one good thing about his office facing the street and not the back was that Jacob could concentrate on work.
It would be too easy to get lost in watching for when James would be getting home that night.
The Coffee Cove closed at ten on weeknights and eleven on Friday and Saturday nights. It was Monday so James should be home between ten twenty and ten thirty. Not that Jacob was a stalker or anything. It was just easy to hear the bike when James got home.
Sitting on top of the middle of his gleaming wood desk was the file that Jacob had brought back from Las Vegas where he’d shared his passion project with his brother.
The money that sat in his bank account had been from the real estate ventures that he and Jesse had gotten into when they were younger. Growing up in poverty, below poverty, had driven them hard to never have to live that way ever again.
It had started simple enough. Buying a house for cheap, living in the place while they worked hard to fix it up, then flipping it for a profit, and moving on to the next house.
Before his brother Jesse had built the casino and hotel that he still owned and managed to this day, Jesse had remained in real estate.
Jacob had put himself through college working with Jesse until finally their paths had diverged from each other.
Jesse loved living in the city of Las Vegas.
And why wouldn’t he? Jesse had found his special boy there.
Lake was everything that Jesse had ever wanted.
Spending Christmas with Jesse, Lake, and their friend group had sent Jacob home with an ache in his chest.
The group of littles were adorable.
Jacob had enjoyed watching the young men embracing their little sides. Spotting what he had with James a few minutes ago made Jacob’s mind whirl. Was James a little?
It was no secret that James’s older brother, Michael, engaged in age regression and had both a Daddy and Bubbie. Was it even possible for James to have the same kink?
A part of Jacob wanted to demand answers from the young man.
Jacob knew that conversation would be as much of a disaster as every other one that they’d had.
Jacob hadn’t had a boy of his own and as much as he craved to have James by his side, Jacob also knew he’d screwed up too many times for the boy to trust him.
He needed to concentrate on what he could control.
Like his pet project. Jacob opened the file to peer over the notes that Jesse had left for him.
The small acreage on the north side of town would be perfect for Jacob’s plan.
Affordable housing. It was ridiculous how much the houses on the market went for.
Most of the time the owners of the houses didn’t live in Surf City full-time. Jacob planned on changing that.