13. Ryder
Chapter 13
Ryder
Finn: I’m coming over.
Okay, then.
Good thing I wasn’t doing anything other than sleeping. It’d been a late night, as usual, after working at the club. I quickly got out of bed and rushed to the bathroom I shared with Atlas for a shower.
I came out feeling clean and refreshed, with a towel wrapped around me, and made myself a cup of coffee.
“You have a guest waiting in your bedroom,” Luna said, startling me. I turned to find her sitting on a mat on the floor between the open kitchen and living room, meditating… or she was supposed to be.
“Oh, shit… I didn’t see you there, Luna.”
She smirked and scanned me up and down. “If I’d known how tight you were, I would almost consider going straight.”
I chuckled, feeling the heat on my face. “I’m not sure your girlfriend would appreciate that.”
“Indeed. Your boyfriend’s cute, though, and charming.”
“He’s not my boyfriend, but… we may have something going on.”
“Well, he’ll definitely get serious once he sees you with only a towel on.”
I added cream and sugar to my coffee and stirred it. “Sorry, I thought everyone was gone.”
“Oh, don’t apologize. I don’t regret a second, even if I do prefer girls.”
My face heated again, and I made my way back to my bedroom, where I found Finn looking around my small bedroom. I was almost certain his walk-in closet was bigger than my room.
“Clever idea to have communal-type living. Helps with the rising cost of living,” he said with his back to me, looking at a framed photo of me with a couple of friends from back in college, one of them being my best friend, Waylon. We were getting ready for a football game, wearing the University of Nebraska school colors of red and white. It was my only photo, just to show someone actually lived in this damn room.
I’d left Nebraska rather quickly and didn’t take much with me.
“Nothing in this room says ‘ Ryder .’”
Finn turned to face me before falling onto my bed and smirking. “You didn’t have to get dressed… down for me, but I appreciate the show.”
I rolled my eyes, turned away to hide my continually flaming face, and dug into my dresser for some underwear. God, why was I always blushing? We’d fooled around enough that I shouldn’t be embarrassed at all.
“Where are all your things? Photos of family, art on the walls, a fucking throw pillow.”
“I don’t know. Decorating isn’t my thing, I guess.”
“Hmm, I suppose. It looks rather lonely in here.”
I said nothing, ignoring all his hedging, and pulled on my boxer briefs under my towel before removing it.
“So, this is an unexpected surprise. How was your runway show?”
“Fabulous! It’s my favorite part of modeling.”
“To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Well, I thought I’d take you out to lunch, but perhaps we should take you shopping. I saw what was in your closet. You literally own like ten things.”
“Yeah, I don’t have tons of money to buy tons of nice clothes.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you have a rich friend.”
I huffed a laugh, pulled out a Huskers T-shirt from my dresser, and tugged it on.
“You don’t have to buy me things. I grew up simple. Mom and Dad raised us to be frugal.”
He shrugged and picked at my bedspread. “What else am I going to spend my money on? Yes, I buy myself things, but Father covers everything else. Come on… let’s go shopping. It’ll be fun, and I’ll get to see that sexy body in some gorgeous clothes. We can have some lunch and get to know each other, like you and Father did the other night.”
Was it weird that it kind of turned me on now when Finn called Knox ‘ Father ?’ Even when they weren’t together or doing anything sexual, it felt… taboo. I weirdly liked it.
Finn stood from my bed and walked toward me, tucking his fingers underneath my T-shirt and grabbing the hem. “This will not do to go shopping in, Ryder. Old college T-shirts are not acceptable to be worn in public. Sleeping in them or going to the gym is fine. Shopping at Tysons Galleria is not.”
He pulled the T-shirt up and over my head, and I let him. Finn tossed it to the bed, went into my tiny closet, and pulled out a short-sleeved button-up in slate blue—one of the nicer ones I had. It was plain, but the color was pretty.
“Put that on,” he ordered before pulling out a pair of dark wash jeans with intentional tears in the knees. “This is the best I can do. Trust me, we’ll get some fashion sense into you yet.”
I chuckled and shook my head. Finn was being a bit pushy, but I didn’t mind. After meeting the two men, I realized I liked being bossed around a bit, and I especially enjoyed not thinking. It was another reason I loved bartending in such a busy club. My mind was hyper-focused on the job instead of other things.
I must have been frowning as my mind got lost in those ‘ other things ’ because Finn tucked a finger under my chin and pulled my face up to look at him. “Where’d you go?”
I huffed a humorless laugh. “Nowhere. It’s not important.”
He carefully watched me for a moment as I got lost in his pretty green eyes. They weren’t a vibrant green, but more like the color of olives, and they were still gorgeous.
Finn dropped his hand and let it go, not pushing me to clarify. That was another thing I respected about the two men. They didn’t push me, even knowing something was off about it. Yet they cared how I felt.
He smiled brightly, showcasing his perfectly white, straight teeth. “How does sushi sound?”
“I, ah, haven’t had it before.”
Finn feigned shock, pressing a hand to his chest. “Be still, my heart. Oh, we need to get you better cultured, my dear corn-fed boy, if you’re going to live in such a diverse city. Trust me, you’ll love it.”
The sushi restaurant was small but busy. Finn had made reservations, so we didn’t have to wait for a table. The place looked like a dive, but I’d been told that sometimes dives served the best food. We sat down at a small table, and I looked over the menu, having no idea what I wanted or even what any of it was.
“Will you trust me, Ryder?” Finn asked, sensing my sudden distress.
“Okay.”
“You’ve never tasted fish quite like this. You’re going to love it.”
While I was uncertain about eating raw fish, again, I liked Finn taking over the decision-making.
When our server came, Finn ordered us some sake, along with an assortment of sashimi and two rolls, one with fatty tuna and another with thinly sliced octopus.
“The sashimi is just thinly sliced fish you can dip into wasabi and soy sauce. Or you can use a bit of ginger to eat with it. It will melt in your mouth. That’s a promise,” he explained when our server left.
“I’ll take your word for it.”
After a small carafe of sake was placed on our table with two small cups, Finn poured some for each of us. I took a sip of the rice wine, but I wasn’t sure how much I liked it being so warm.
“Father said he told you our story. What do you think about it?”
I took another sip of warm wine as I processed my words. “Finding love through grief is sad, yet heartwarming and uplifting. While it’s unusual that you’re stepfather and stepson, I know it can happen. I think as long as it’s all consensual, it’s fine. You two clearly love each other, and that is also uplifting.”
“I do love him, with everything I have. Do you want love?” he asked carefully.
“I thought I did once. That’s what’s expected of us, right? Find a boyfriend or girlfriend, fall in love, get married, and have kids. That’s all they do in my town. Heck, there’s not much else to do in the town I grew up in.”
“Have you told your parents you’re bisexual?”
I shook my head, but before I could answer, plates of raw fish were put on our table, all beautifully decorated with leaves, sliced ginger that looked like a rose, and even some orchid flowers were placed there.
Finn rubbed his hands greedily, grabbed his chopsticks, and plucked up a slice of fish.
“I don’t know how to use chopsticks.”
“I’ve got you.”
He gave me a quick guide to holding chopsticks. It took several tries before I could hold on to the slippery fish, but I finally managed. I dipped it into the combination of soy sauce and wasabi, then shoved the whole thing into my mouth, slowly tasting and savoring.
When I swallowed, I grinned at Finn. “You’re right, this is really good.”
“Ha! See? It pays to know and trust me,” he winked. “So go on and answer my question.”
“No, I haven’t told them. What’s the point? It’s not like I was going to date a boy in Blair, Nebraska. I wouldn’t know a gay guy to save my life back there even if there were any.”
“What about college?”
“By that time, I didn’t have the guts to do it. There’s too much uncertainty. I thought it would be different in a bigger town…” Then there was that huge crush I had on my best friend. I shrugged and tried the octopus roll, which was better than I expected, and fucking spicy too, but I liked the kick. “But with you and Knox, you gave me that certainty and left little room for doubt about what you want. You took all the fears and guesswork out of it.”
Finn also picked the octopus, dipped it in his sauce, and put the whole thing in his mouth. When he finished chewing, he wiped his mouth and smiled. “Yes, I can already tell that about you. Being in the modeling business—and after spending so much time at the club—I’m a pretty good observer and learn what people like and don’t like.” Finn leaned forward to speak softly. “I learned Father likes to watch, which is the main reason you’ve come into the picture. Cuckolding seems to be his thing. My thing is to be an exhibitionist and to be the center of attention. And your thing is to be controlled and dominated.”
“Yeah… I’ve recently learned that. I like not… thinking.”
Finn leaned back and tossed the rest of his sake down his throat. “One day, Father and I will take you to the sex club. We love putting on a show there, and we can do it safely with our identities hidden. It’s the only way we can be open with our love without the risk of destroying our careers. Do you think that would be something you would be into? You could wear a mask so no one would see you.”
“You mean, people would watch us…”
“Yes. Some people love to go there just to see the live sex. Sometimes, couples let the guests get involved. We can do whatever we want there without fear.”
“I’m not sure. Maybe. I mean, I haven’t even had sex with y’all yet.”
Finn’s smile turned crooked. “Oh, that’s coming very soon, Sweet Boy . Father does love calling you that.”
My face burned again, and I shoved more fish into my mouth to hide it, making Finn giggle.
After lunch, Finn’s driver took us to Tysons Galleria in McLean, Virginia, which had more high-end shopping than the original shopping mall.
He first took me to Balenciaga since he’d been a model for them a couple of times and had done a runway show.
Jesus, a pair of jeans was over two thousand dollars, but Finn was insistent.
“Can’t we find something a little cheaper? This feels… excessive.”
“A few pieces to mix and match is all you need.”
He tossed two pairs of baggy jeans into my arms, one in distressed black and the other in a light wash. Then he handed me a black crewneck sweater with Balenciaga written on it in a dark gray.
“Fall is coming, so you want some warm things. Now go try those on.”
I stepped into the large dressing room, with Finn following me.
“Uhm…”
“I need to make sure you wear them correctly. You have the perfect body and frame to wear baggy jeans. No more ‘ country boy ’ jeans for you.”
I shook my head as I stripped out of my clothes and put on the sweater and black jeans.
“Holy shit, Ryder. You’re like a new person. They look fucking gorgeous on you.” He turned my body to face the full-length mirror. “What do you think?”
I twisted and turned my body for a better look. “I… I’m not sure. It’s definitely different.”
Once I got dressed, he took the clothes I had tried on and gave them to the salesperson. “We’ll take these.”
By the time we finished shopping, Finn had spent nearly ten thousand dollars on me. It made me a bit queasy that he spent so much on clothes just for me, especially since we weren’t exactly an item. We were just fucking… Well, we hadn’t even done that yet.
I ended up with more sweaters, button-ups, a couple of pairs of shoes, and a dress watch. Finn also spent time showing me how to wear them, along with how to layer clothes.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” I said as his driver took me home in time so I could get ready for work. “I know you and Knox have a lot of money, but this really puts it into perspective. I…” I sighed and rubbed my face. “There’s nothing I can do to pay this back.”
Finn turned to face me and pressed his hand against my cheek. “This was also for my pleasure, so yes, I got something out of it. Did you not have fun?”
“I did, actually.”
“Then just thank me, and I expect to see you in a new outfit tonight.”
“Thank you so much, Finn.”
He leaned forward and gave me a quick kiss. “You’re welcome.”
“I thought…”
Finn pressed a finger to my lips and shook his head. “We’re allowed to kiss a little, just nothing else.”
When we reached my apartment building, I got out of the car, and Finn came out with me, hugging me. “See you tonight, sexy. You’re going to grab the attention of every woman and man in the club tonight. Just you watch.”
I huffed a laugh. “If you say so. See you later, Finn. And thanks for everything.”