Chapter 22
James
Dinner at Ravenite Pizzeria last night started off tense, but thanks in no small part to Mitch and Marc, the four of us eventually relaxed enough to have a good time.
It seemed my little brother’s love affair with pizza and his weird obsession with sour cream and marinara was alive and well.
And apparently now something Marc couldn’t live without.
It also became glaringly, unavoidably obvious that Marc was basically the same age as my brother, which was… not something I wanted to think about.
“You’re thinking about it again,” Marc accused as he hip-checked me aside to get to the coffeepot.
“Am not,” I argued, hiding behind taking a sip and willing my face not to give me away.
“You totally are.” He finished topping off his third cup and turned to lean against the counter so he could face me. “I still don’t see what the big deal is. It’s not like someone putting brown sugar in grits or something.”
Oh, thank God, he was talking about the gross dipping mixture for the mozzarella sticks.
Marc paused in the process of taking another sip to eye me dubiously over the rim of his cup. “Please don’t tell me that’s something you’ve done. If word gets around that I’ve been harboring a Yank who would commit such a travesty, I’ll be run out of town before I even reopen the shop.”
Smiling, I stepped forward and gently lowered his mug away from his face. “Easy, baby boy. I only had grits for the first time yesterday, and my man made sure I had them right.”
“Damn right he did,” Marc crooned, pure delight brightening his eyes as he angled up for a kiss, which I happily gave him.
I kissed him until his smile melted into a moan and pressed him against the counter.
He skimmed his hands beneath the hem of my shirt, then tucked them into my back pockets and squeezed my ass, pulling me firmly against him.
Not to be outdone, I slipped a hand between us to stroke his hardening cock in his unforgiving swim trunks.
His gasp was music to my ears, and the reflexive tightening of his fingers on my ass made my dick jump.
“As much as I would like to continue this, we don’t really have time. We still have to pick up your brother and Mitch.”
I groaned and nipped at the side of his neck, though I stopped stroking him in favor of wrapping my arms around him.
When his arms circled around me as well, it was as if whatever invisible string had been holding me up relaxed.
I rested my head on his shoulder and trusted him to hold my weight as I leaned into him.
“Be honest with me,” he whispered, running one hand up and down my back while carding his fingers through my hair with the other.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt this peaceful or cared for. Is this what it meant to let someone support you? It was a little fucked up that it felt like such a foreign concept to me. But this was nice. This was better than nice. This was everything.
“JD, did you hear me?”
I grunted in response. I liked it better when he called me James. It felt more natural. Besides, “JD” was the friend, the player, the soldier. I wanted to be more than that to Marc.
“I’m serious, James. Will you be honest with me?”
See? Much better. I lifted my head to look into his concern-filled gaze. “What would you like me to be honest about?”
“Are you actually excited about going to the beach with Mitch and Andy, or are you dreading it? Because if you don’t want to do this, you don’t have to.”
Jesus, I loved him. We hadn’t even had penetrative sex, nor did I know if we ever would, but I was completely, one hundred percent in love with this man. “Excited is a little strong, but I’m not dreading it.” I reluctantly let my arms slide free of his waist. “More than anything, I’m anxious.”
“Why’s that?”
“You have such an amazing relationship with your sister, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted with my siblings.
But Savannah is, well, Savannah. She takes after our dad.
When Andy came along, I thought for sure that’d be my chance, but we’re like oil and water, always have been.
” I simultaneously loved and hated how the smirk on Marc’s face made me want to smile back.
Couldn’t he see I was having a moment here?
“First off, I’m gonna tell you like I’ve told everyone else who’s said that about me and Alex growing up.
It’s not fair to compare typical sibling relationships to what my sister and I have.
It’s just not. And second, pretty sure your brother said the reason he’s here is because he’d like that kind of relationship, too.
Maybe give it a chance before you decide it will never work? ”
I made sure my eye roll was over the top so he knew it was insincere. “I suppose I could give the little twerp a chance.”
“Might help if you didn’t start off by calling him a twerp or hitting on his boyfriend again,” he said, shoving the flat of his palm against my chest. Was that a touch of possessiveness I detected?
Warmth pooled in my chest, and I grabbed his hand.
“Thought you said you understood why I did that.” He snorted, but before he could come up with a retort, I pulled his hand up to my mouth and slowly sucked down the length of his middle finger.
Lust flared in his eyes, and his breath stuttered.
I was pulling it out just as slowly when he dragged his eyes away from the obscene display to look me in the eye.
His cheeks were dark pink and his pupils were blown, but his voice didn’t waver as he said, “Maybe if you play nice today, I’ll let you do more of that later.”
I nipped at the tip of his finger before releasing his hand and raising an eyebrow. “Let me, huh?”
“We’ll see. You’ll have to be very good first.”
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get a move on. The sooner we go, the sooner I get my treat.” I smacked a kiss on his lips, then booped his nose, loving how his chuckle wrapped around me as I scooped up the beach gear he’d put together.
The beach was PACKED. I was suddenly grateful Marc had insisted on leaving when we did. I couldn’t imagine how much worse it would have been if we’d waited until closer to noon. Andy straightened from Mitch’s liberal ministrations of sunblock to peer at the people-bedecked white, sandy beach.
“Why is it called Orange Beach?” Andy asked, shading his eyes to read the prominent sign about rip currents and the beach flag report.
Today had a yellow flag, which Marc had already explained meant medium hazard and was about as good as it ever got.
We’d all also gotten a very thorough lesson on rip currents.
Marc paused his securing of the bedsheet he’d brought to act as a blanket. “Aside from it being the name of the town, I don’t have the faintest idea.”
A curious expression crossed Andy’s features, then suddenly Mitch dove across the sheet, kicking up fine sand all over the place, and held a cell phone in the air, while Andy tried to scramble over him. “No!” Mitch shouted. “You can do book research later. We’re on vacation.”
“But it’s not for a book. It’s one little search. Come on, Mitch. You’re being unreasonable,” Andy argued, still trying to climb over his boyfriend who was kicking up even more sand all over the sheet Marc had just finished setting up.
I stood with my hands on my hips and glowered at the two of them.
“Would you two knock it off? You’re getting sand all over everything.
” They looked thoroughly chastened, though Mitch stole the opportunity to drop Andy’s phone in his shoe before working to remove the small dunes they’d created.
I turned a disbelieving look on Marc to find him trying to stifle laughter.
“What? I didn’t do it.” His smile did things to me that I didn’t ever want to go away. “Come on, we’ve been busting our asses at the shop. We totally deserve a day to cut back and relax.”
“Exactly! I vote we stop wasting time and get in the water,” Andy said, eagerly getting back to his feet.
“Uh, doesn’t your sunscreen need to finish setting?” I asked, glancing at Marc. Not sure why I looked to him. It wasn't as if I didn’t know how sunscreen worked, and Andy definitely hadn’t waited long enough for it not to wash off.
“I’ll be fine,” my brother countered.
Mitch snorted. “Said like someone who conveniently forgets they burn like a lobster and then a certain someone else has to take care of their scorched ass for a week.”
“He makes a good point,” Marc admitted.
“Sure does,” I said, prompting Andy to frown. “If Andy gets burned, it won’t be us that has to deal with it.” Like the bestest obnoxious big brother in the world that I most definitely was, I threw Andy over my shoulder in a fireman’s carry and hauled ass toward the crashing waves.
For some reason, he didn’t seem as eager to get in the water now, judging by his dire shouts of “Don’t you fucking dare!”
Since he didn’t actually tell me what I shouldn’t dare to be doing, I could hardly be held accountable for launching him into the next large wave.
But I’m not a total psycho. I waited until after it had crested first. It wasn’t like I wanted him to drown.
Though I was still laughing my ass off when he came spluttering up for air at the same time Mitch finished splashing angrily up to us.
“What the hell is wrong with you!” Andy yelled.
“Did you want that alphabetically or by severity?” I clapped back, bracing for Mitch to take a swing at me.
What I did not expect was for Andy to leap onto my back like some kind of deranged monkey and use his hold to drag me backward into the water.
By the time I came up for air, Andy had swum out of reach and had his arms looped loosely around Mitch’s neck from behind, sporting a smug grin, while Marc laughed his ass off.
I narrowed my eyes at Marc, and he quickly sobered.
“What? I didn’t do anything.”
“Oh, it’s on,” I said, stalking toward him, working to keep my balance against the push and pull of the water.