Chapter 6
SIX
RYKER
“Does this look stupid?” I stood in Mom’s…my…bedroom, examining my choice of shirt for tonight in the dresser’s mirror—a black button down with short sleeves. I wasn’t used to dressing up. Or for a date. What had I gotten myself into?
“No, you don’t look stupid. It’s a nice shirt.” Wes crossed his arms, leaning against the doorjamb. “I wouldn’t wear jeans though. It’ll be hot at the car show, and then you’ll be sweaty in case…” He rolled his eyes. “I don’t want to think about it.”
“You’re the one who wanted me to go on this date.” I chuckled. “I’ll be sweaty no matter what I put on. But, fuck it, I’ll wear some shorts.” And look like someone’s dad. I sort of was though, wasn’t I?
“Wear what you’d normally wear to the car show and quit overthinking everything.” With a scoff, he walked through the doorway.
“Fine.” I shucked my jeans down my legs, opened a drawer on my side of the dresser and grabbed a pair of shorts. Glancing at the drawers on the other side, I sighed. I’d kept Mom’s stuff in there. When would she return home?
Knocking echoed through the apartment.
“I’ll get it,” Wes called.
Shit, Casey was early. Did he show up early for everything?
Casey and his sunny personality, the early bird getting the worm and all that shit.
Did it make me the worm? With a huff, I shut the dresser drawer and slipped the shorts on.
I was losing my damn mind. If it weren’t for Dylan and Wes pushing me into this, I’d be enjoying a nice evening at home, drinking beer and listening to my brother scream obscenities at his friends through their gaming consoles.
With a huff, I strolled into the main room, my gaze landing on Casey, standing by the door in a blue polo with gray board shorts, looking every bit the sexy college football star he was. “Hey.” I gave a weak wave. Was I supposed to hug him? This was a date.
With a broad smile, his gaze raked over me. “You look amazing, Ryker.” He stepped to me, grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it, his lips warm and yielding. “You ready?”
I stared at him for a moment, my mouth dropping open. He kissed me. It was only my hand, but still. “I’m uh, I’m ready.” I glanced at Wes, leaning his ass against the kitchen island counter with a dumb grin on his face. “What?”
“You make a cute couple.” He giggled, holding the back of his hand to his mouth.
“I’m not cute.” With a deep inhale, I pulled Casey toward the door. “Let’s go.” Before Wes had enough fodder to tease me for the foreseeable future.
After some small talk about the summer heat in Arizona while we drove to the restaurant, Casey parked his BMW, and we exited the car. As he met me on the walkway, he snatched my hand. “Is this okay?”
“You didn’t ask earlier.” And you kissed me. I tightened my hand around his and glanced at the orange hues racing across the sky as the sun started setting. The days were getting longer.
“Sorry, I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal in private. I’m asking if you’re okay with affection in public.” He stopped, pulling on me as we passed under some palms, with a waterfall next to us splashing water down a brick wall. “Have you been with many guys?”
I shrugged. “A few, but I haven’t had many public dates with them. Usually, we’d hang out at their place or mine.” Because we’d never had much money for going out.
“So…is this okay?” He held up our entwined hands, his brows knitting.
“Yeah, it’s okay.” I shifted to face him. Was he worried about how I’d react if some asshole said something derogatory to us? “Look, I don’t give a damn what people think. If they don’t enjoy seeing two guys together, it’s their problem.”
His brows snapped up. “Good, that’s how I feel about it too.” With a smirk, he threw his shoulders back and led me to the restaurant. When we reached the doors, he opened one. “After you.”
“Thanks.” I stepped inside. He was being all gentlemanly. But of course he was. He was probably raised that way. “Want to sit at the bar, or at a table?”
“Let’s see if we can grab a booth in the corner.” He strolled to the hostess stand and spoke with one girl, pointing toward a booth in the back corner of the restaurant.
At least it’d be private. I followed Casey and the hostess to the booth and slid onto the dark leather bench seat.
Touching his finger to his chin, Casey eyed both sides of the booth and then, with a smirk, glided in next to me. “There, this is cozy, isn’t it?”
The hostess set our menus down. “Date?” She offered a smile to each of us.
“Yes, it’s a date.” Casey picked up his menu. “A first date.” He squeezed my thigh.
“You look good together, like you belong together.” Widening her smile, she said, “I hope it goes well.” She left.
“See? She obviously knows her shit.” He inspected his menu.
“We’ll see.” How was it that someone like me looked like they belonged with a guy like him? His hand warmed my thigh and sparked heat in my balls. Damn it, should I move his hand before he gave me a hard-on? He’d barely touched me and—
“Want to share the bacon-wrapped prawns to start?” He edged closer to me, and his gaze crept to mine, his green eyes darker in the low light.
I cleared my throat as my stomach wavered. My gaze fell on his generous lips, and my breath caught. Fuck, I wanted to kiss him. We’d only just sat down. What did he ask? Something about bacon…I liked bacon. “Sure.”
He flicked his tongue around his mouth and shifted his hand higher on my thigh, his gaze growing darker. “Ryker, I’m treating you tonight, and I want you to be okay with it. I asked you out. Maybe next time you can pay.”
Next time? Would there be one? I breathed in deeply. “If you let me pick up dessert at the car show. There’s a gelato place we can hit up.”
“Deal. I love gelato.” He focused on my mouth and leaned in.
I turned my head. “Not yet.” The fucker had been about to kiss me again. Damn, he was forward. We hadn’t even ordered drinks yet.
He chuckled, pressing his forehead into my hair. “Are you trying to drive me crazy?” He left my thigh to slide an arm across my shoulders and nuzzled my ear. “You turn me on, Ryker. Not gonna lie. The more you withdraw, the more I want you.”
With a hard swallow, I said, “Good.” Good? I didn’t normally play games with people, but for whatever reason, he brought it out of me.
As the server stopped at the table, Casey pulled away from me, and we each ordered beers and the appetizer.
I unwrapped my silverware and set the linen napkin in my lap. I didn’t know much about Casey. “Hey, so what is your family like? Where are you from and all that?” I rested my forearms on the table.
“I was born in the Bay Area, Mountain View, but then my parents moved to Redding when I started school, and I grew up there.” He threaded his fingers through mine.
“My dad’s a corporate lawyer and travels to San Fran a lot, and my mom owns this funky boutique in downtown Redding.
Both my parents are pretty cool, down to earth and all that. ”
“So, they know you’re queer?” I sipped my water. “And you’re bisexual, right?” I was correct in thinking he’d been raised in a wealthy family.
“Yes, to both. I never really had to come out. They didn’t care, and they saw me dating girls and guys in high school.
” He shifted and tightened the hold on my hand.
“Redding is more conservative than the Bay Area, so if I were out with a guy, we were cautious.” His gaze found mine.
“Which is one reason I asked you about holding hands in public.” He bit his lip and released it.
“I’ve never had problems in Tempe, but I wasn’t sure about Mesa. ”
Shaking my head, I said, “I don’t think I ever had public displays of affection with guys.” Again, we were always at someone’s home.
“So, how many dudes have you been with?” He studied me.
“I don’t know, three or four, tops.” After watching the server set our beers on the table, I sipped mine. “I’ve been with women more.” And never dated a guy for very long. It never seemed to work out.
“So what’s your longest relationship?” He drank some beer.
“A year and a half.” I slid my fingers over the condensation on my beer glass.
“Her name was Lori, and we had a good thing going until she met…” I pursed my lips.
A guy like Casey? “A frat boy at ASU. She wanted more than I could offer, and then all the shit with my mom happened, and I stopped dating.”
“Your mom’s been in jail for a year?” Freeing my hand, he leaned back as the server set our bacon-wrapped prawns on the table.
We ordered some burgers too.
“Yeah, how did you know that?” Of course, Wes would probably have told him the entire story. I picked up a prawn on a skewer and bit into it, the salty bacon mixing with the succulent shrimp meat.
“Your brother and I talked when we took breaks.” He ate a bite of prawn. “I’m sorry about that. It sounds like your mom isn’t a great judge of character.”
“No, she’s not. She’s easily duped.” With a sigh, I drank more beer. Fuck, I hated talking about this. “Guys take advantage of her trusting nature.”
“It’s interesting she’d continue to trust after all she’s been through.” He ate more food. “I mean, you’d think she wouldn’t trust anyone.”
“She finds the good in everyone.” I slumped my shoulders.
How was it that the assholes always took advantage of the good people?
“She didn’t care that I was bisexual either.
She just wants me to be happy.” I guessed me and Casey were similar in that way.
Both of us had parents who accepted our sexuality.
Our burgers arrived, and Casey ordered another round of beer.
“Oh, these were delicious the other day.” He picked up his burger and bit into it. “Mmm….”