Chapter Sixteen
Ryder
It wasn’t difficult getting fifteen guys into rideshares and off to Johnny Pete’s. Not with both of us using two separate apps each. It just so happened that the last two needing a ride were Finn and me. Oops.
Finn held my hand in the backseat. The driver saw in the rearview mirror, but if he reacted, I didn’t see it. I was never the kind of guy into PDA, but thinking about how Finn was only out to me, and he was okay with it, made me squeeze his hand tight.
They were waiting for us before getting in line. It was busier than I thought it would be. I guess there were a lot of kids still home from college. Johnny Pete’s was legendary, and, honestly, a lot of fucking fun.
It was split into two: the outdoor and the inside.
Outside hosted a giant, ancient merry-go-round surrounded by dozens of boardwalk-style games.
Inside was a bar and a dance floor, with beer pong tables set up for college night.
They also had a bunch of catering rooms in the back.
I used to get so excited when a classmate had a birthday there.
It never failed to bring happy memories whenever I saw the brick facade and glowing signage.
I found out why Bree was at my parents’ house.
Other than filming herself and her friends, of course.
Before we left, she told the guys in the party to be right as rain for the rehearsal and dinner the next day.
But really, she needed them to know how important it was not to take any pictures or videos.
Once we were below the giant neon Johnny Pete’s sign, I flung my arm around my brother’s neck and took a selfie with it and him, then another of me kissing his cheek.
He smiled, a real big ass smile, too, probably happy I didn’t hate him.
The photos already had ten likes before we paid the cover charge.
Having planned another event for a wedding I was no longer involved in was, well, shitty.
I couldn’t even touch what Bree had said to me, or I risked a thermonuclear meltdown.
Miles’s happiness was already toxic. He probably expected me to be sullen and shitty, like in Miami.
That I wasn’t was surely a balm to his conscience.
I was party-mode Ryder. All smiles and fun.
I didn’t even want to be nasty to my brother.
It felt… just… the thought of him left a hollowness in my chest. And once I saw that, my stomach dropped.
Because it meant something fundamental had changed between us.
I had always assumed that once the wedding was over, things would smooth out.
But what had happened, and the compounding insults and injuries, caused permanent damage to our relationship.
I’d never look at him the same way, and a growing part of me didn’t want to look at him at all ever again.
The opposite happened when I thought about Finn.
I guess it wasn’t the worst thing in the world to lose a brother and gain a boyfriend.
And Finn was such a kind, sweet man. Loyal and honest to a fault.
He never had, to my knowledge, or ever would, in my belief, harm another person on purpose.
I loved him, and I was almost sure he loved me too.
But therein lay the problem. I always knew Finn idolized my brother in a way, and after learning that there wasn’t much going on at home for him as a kid, it reenforced just how much his relationship with Miles meant to him.
If he knew the depth of pain my brother and his future bride caused me, it would only hurt him worse.
Because if I were right and Finn loved me, he’d shred them to bits in my honor, and in doing so, damage himself much more. The worst was that he wouldn’t even realize it, with his less-than-great internal mirror.
So I smiled, bought rounds, drank beers, and whooped ass in Skee-ball.
Not for Miles. Fuck him. For Finn. I’d walk into that church looking a million bucks, dance, fawn over my boyfriend’s best man speech, and have the best time I could with the people I loved.
Despite the couple we were gathered to celebrate, not because.
After beating Connor’s ass for the third time, he said, “Fuck you, bro. What’re you, a Skee-ball ringer or some shit?”
I laughed. “First class in med school is how to trounce fools in Skee-ball.”
Jason put his arm around Connor. “Next time, don’t bet on carnival games, bro.”
“We weren’t betting?” I was confused, but still laughing.
“Nah, I bet him fifty bucks he’d get his ass whopped,” Tyler said. “So thanks for not sucking. Knew I could count on you, bro.”
“It’s not funny,” Connor said, trying not to laugh, but failing. “Take it, jackass.” He slapped a crisp new fifty into Tyler’s open palm.
“In that case, next round is on you. Only fair,” I said. Tyler agreed.
The round of four beers was fifty-one thirty-six.
Poor guy lost out. After touching glasses, I turned to Jason and said, “I’m excited to meet your wife.
” His face lit up, as I knew it would. That man’s love for his wife never failed to make me smile.
“From the way you talk about her, she sounds awesome.”
“She is. She’s excited to meet you, too. I told her all about you... uh…”
“Yeah?”
His cheeks reddened, but he laughed. “No offense, but she loves gay guys.”
I laughed hard, almost spraying him with beer. “She does?”
His face got redder. “Yeah. My best friend since kindergarten is gay, and she stole him from me. Nowadays, I hang out with his husband more than him.”
How did we spend all that time in Miami together without him mentioning that someone so close to him was gay? Maybe Jason knew bringing him up without a legitimate reason would be shitty? It wouldn’t have been the first time someone told me about other gays they knew once they found out I was.
I was still laughing when my brother dropped his arms around Jason’s and my shoulders. “Look at this! A bachelor party reunion!”
He and Finn had found us at the bar. The anger and hurt could’ve boiled to the surface, but it didn’t. There was nothing. Tyler asked if he had a drink, and when Miles said no, the three of them went to get him one, leaving Jason, Finn, and me.
Jason looked at us, smiled, and sipped his beer. Finn missed it, but I was almost sure he thought something was up between us.
Finn said, “Hey, can I talk to you real quick?”
His eyes were wild. “Yeah,” I said. Then, once we were out of earshot, “Everything okay?”
His eyes were no less wild, but his smirk betrayed him. “No. Not okay at all.”
I didn’t know where he was leading me, but I followed him out of the main bar area, past the crowded beer pong tables and thronging dance floor. “Did something happen with Miles?”
“No. Well, his, uh, your cousins bought us shots.”
We were in a hallway lined with office-looking doors. “How many shots? Are you drunk?”
“Nah, fuck that. Buzzed at best,” he said, and I believed him. “You remember when this place used to do birthday parties?”
“Yeah, used to be epic. Do they still do that?”
“No idea.” He grabbed my wrist to pull me through one of the open doors. It was empty, except for several stacks of chairs off to one corner. It smelled disused, that mix of dust and neglect. “Miles reminded me of something, and I wanted to repeat it.”
I didn’t have time to ask what he meant before he shoved me against the wall. His mouth was on mine, and his hands were all over my body. If he was looking to get an arousal response, he succeeded. It didn’t take long for him to find the hardening cock in my pants.
His lips moved to my neck while he fondled me to full length. I couldn’t help but laugh. “You are drunk.”
“Nope. Just horny for my boyfriend.”
That was… I didn’t have words. His aggression was a massive turn on, but that he was so turned on for me, his boyfriend… yeah, that would always feel good as fuck.
He let go of my cock to undo my belt, but I caught his wrists. “Whoa, what are you doing?!”
“Miles reminded me of the time I got head back here when we were in college.” He freed his hands from my grip. “It was hot as fuck, and I want to relive it, only this time do the sucking.”
“Are you crazy? Someone can walk in! We’re not even supposed to be back here,” I whisper-yelled, covering my denim-clad boner with my hands.
“We’re good. People hook up back here all the time,” he said, falling to his knees.
“Fuck, Finn.” He looked up at me with puppy dog eyes, and I wanted nothing more than to shove my cock down his throat and coat the walls with my load. “We could get caught.”
“Then you better come quick, ‘cause I’m not leaving this room without your load in my belly.”
My cock throbbed. There was no way we were getting out of there without fulfilling his wish.
“Fuck, Finn.” I dropped my hands, giving him access to my crotch. “I swear to god if you have to come out to those guys because we get caught, you’re not blaming me.”
His eyes glowed brighter than his smile. “Fucking worth it,” he said, unceremoniously opening my pants and shoving them down my thighs.
My cock sprang out, missing his face, but leaving a sparkling dot of precum on his cheek. His eyes widened just before he took hold of me and dove into my balls. That moment of unveiling your partner’s cock always got me off. Be it seeing his, or showing off mine.
Finn didn’t waste time lavishing my nuts.
It was just a quick kiss hello to the boys before moving on to the blowjob.
He had been a quick cock sucking study, and in the few months since his first guided attempt in Miami, he had gotten much better.
My hands found his head as mine hit the wall with closed eyes.
“Fuuuuuck, Finn. That feels so fucking good, babe.”