Chapter 27
Ryan
It’s great now that we can be ourselves around Alpha Theta Mu’s house and campus, and I don’t take any of it for granted. Every time I see Marty, I make sure to grab him and give him a kiss…and maybe more if he can sneak off with me for a minute.
It’s a hectic couple of weeks before finals, followed shortly by graduation.
My parents come together, and of course I want them to be here for me for this big day, but also, it’s another of many reminders that, regardless of what I had in mind for the future of my family, it can’t ever be what it was.
On the plus side, I also get to see all my buddies again—from school, the frat, old teammates.
And after, we have a huge party at Alpha Theta Mu, a final night of partying and debauchery for the senior crew.
I still feel hungover by move-out a few days later.
It’s easy enough to deal with my stuff—deflate my air mattress and pack the bag I kept there throughout the semester—but Marty needs more assistance, so I help him get his stuff back to his parents’ place.
I place the box I’m carrying next to the ones marked CLOSET—because of course Marty would be super organized with this shit.
“Whew,” Marty says as he sets a box by his bed. “Done.”
“You need help getting situated?” Philip asks. I met his parents at the graduation ceremony, and they seem as cool as his brother—and far more chill than Mart, that’s for sure.
“Nah. We got it. I was just gonna put some things where they belong and make sure I have what I need to take to Dax’s.”
“You’re still gonna visit, right?” Tegan says in an overdramatic way like my mom might—like she’s making a joke, but really, I can tell she wants to see her son.
“I’ll be back plenty,” he assures her before offering a warm hug.
This is a side most of the guys don’t get to see of him—one I didn’t get to see until we started spending more time together. Despite how worked up he can get and, at times, be annoying, he has a big heart, and the guy adores his family and his fellow Alpha Theta Mus.
“It’s great of you to help Marty out,” Philip tells me.
“Hey, he was looking out for me all semester, so kind of owed it to him.”
“More like keeping an eye on you,” Philip jokes, evidently aware of our initial drama.
We haven’t come out to our parents yet. Marty wants to talk to his today, and I plan to wait until my mom’s back from her impromptu trip to Europe—to de-stress, I’m sure, after the year she’s been having with my dad.
“Well, you should stick around for dinner,” Tegan says.
“Of course he’s staying,” Marty says, sneaking a glance my way.
If he’s trying to keep his secret, he needs to be more careful because the way he’s looking at me is like a mating call I’m struggling to resist.
Philip writes down our takeout orders, and then they head out to grab food from the restaurant. Once they’re gone, I go to the door and peek out to make sure the coast is clear.
“I think I deserve a smooch for that,” I tell him.
“For helping me move?”
“For keeping my greedy hands off this body for the past few hours.” I move close, sliding my arms around him. “I’m gonna think of a number…”
“Number?”
“Of how many smooches I deserve.”
He rolls his eyes, which is why I said it like that, and the way he glares at me gets my dick twitching. Makes me wonder if part of why I enjoyed giving him hell initially was because it kinda turns me on.
“Will you settle for a kiss?” he asks.
I nod before reeling him in for a big one. We’re both sweaty as fuck, but it’s not like this would be the first time that ever happened. Or the last, with what we’ll be doing on the builds for the next few weeks.
When I pull away, I study his expression. I know him well enough now to tell when he’s stressed about something, and since finals are out of the way, he can’t pin it on that anymore. But I have a pretty good idea what this is about.
“You sure you’re ready to tell them?” I ask.
“Just stressed about initiating the conversation, but I’m fine with them knowing what we’re up to.”
“Only fine?”
“Shut it,” he says, leaning close and taking another kiss.
“Mmm…” I whisper into his mouth. “How far is the restaurant they’re going to?”
“About fifteen minutes.”
“Oh yeah?”
I squat down, lifting him and carrying him to the bed. His arms and legs wrap around me in a way I’m used to since we’ve fucked around so much. I crawl across the mattress on my knees, laying his head against his pillow.
“You think your parents will be suspicious that we haven’t unpacked a damn thing by the time they’re back?”
“Maybe a little.” Although, that doesn’t keep him from kissing me again.
And again.
And again.
Soon we’ve got our tongues down each other’s throats, making up for lost time, before a sound catches my attention. Instinctively I pull back, and my gaze shoots to the door, where Philip and Tegan stand wide-eyed, frozen in place.
“Uh…” I say, feeling awkward as fuck. “Too late to say this isn’t what it looks like?”
My joke’s a knife through the tension as Philip and Tegan lose it. Tegan cups her face as she howls with laughter while Philip leans on the doorframe, looking like he’s about to cry.
“I thought you were going to the restaurant,” Marty says in an accusatory tone.
“I wanted to stop by the store,” Tegan says, “and I figured I would check to make sure you didn’t need anything.”
Philip grabs the doorknob and starts to close the door, Tegan retreating with him. “Do continue. Don’t mind us.”
Marty winces. “Mom…Dad…”
“No, please. Keep going,” Tegan insists, giggling as they shut the door.
“Mom and Dad, get back in here!” Marty snaps.
“You might want to put a pillow on your lap first,” I warn him, feeling his girth against my hip.
“Oh, wait. I need a minute!”
*
After recovering from the awkward moment, we head downstairs and chat with his parents at the kitchen table.
“So, are you two boyfriends?” Philip asks.
“We’re seeing each other,” Marty says. “We haven’t really put a label on it.”
“Yet,” I find myself chiming in, which catches his attention as much as mine. We haven’t had any chats about being boyfriends, but…I really like him and he likes me. Fuck, we changed our summer schedules so we could spend more time together. It’s not exactly complicated.
“But I’m attracted to guys and girls apparently,” Marty says. “So I’m bi.”
“Thank you for sharing that with us,” Tegan says.
“Yeah, but I’ll be honest,” Philip adds, “I kind of prefer the way it happened to you coming out. It’s gonna make for a much better story.”
Marty grins, and I can tell he’s happy with how they’ve taken the news. From everything he told me about them, I expected this would be their reaction, but it’s nice seeing he can rely on his parents.
They talk a little more with him, offer hugs, and then head out to grab our dinner, leaving us on our own in the kitchen.
“What was that all about?” Marty asks, and at my confused expression, he adds, “When Dad asked if we were boyfriends.”
Hearing him say the word activates something in me, this swirling sensation in my belly, like the excitement before playing a big game, but so much better.
“Do you want to be boyfriends?” he asks.
As excited as the idea makes me, I must admit, “I don’t really even know what that means.”
“I think it means we’re more than fuck buddies…”
“We’re definitely more than that.” I know that’s not what he was suggesting, but the thought that anyone would think that’s all we are pisses me the fuck off.
“And more than just seeing each other…” he adds.
“Yeah, there’s been a lot of seeing each other already.”
Marty bites his bottom lip.
“Jesus, you make even that look sexy,” I observe.
“What?”
“How am I supposed to think about this when you’re biting your lip like that?”
He flinches. “I didn’t even realize I was doing it.”
“That’s what makes it so fucking sexy.”
He stops biting it. “Sorry. I was thinking that I’ve never had a boyfriend.”
“Neither have I. Or a girlfriend, aside from high school for, like, a minute.”
“What does that even mean—boyfriends?”
“At least that it’s a long-term thing, or that we want it to be.”
“I’m planning to come back here once we finish helping with the Activate Kindness builds,” Marty says. “And you’re planning to move to Peachtree Springs to work at the shop.”
“That’s a thirty-minute drive max, and you’re going to grad school at Peach State, so that’s not really an issue.” That this would even be considered an obstacle grates on my nerves.
“I know it’s not this big thing,” Marty insists. “But I’m trying to be practical and make sure we’re thinking this through.”
“Because you don’t want to be my boyfriend?” Christ, I sound as annoyed as I did when Gisele was about to kiss him. The way he’s talking about this is stressing me, nerves twisting up, my jaw tense.
“Whoa, where is this coming from?” Marty asks. “I’m the one who’s supposed to be freaking out over shit.”
I shake my head. “You’re not wrong, and I know you have no reason to not want to be my boyfriend, right? Or do you, and you want to break it to me easy? Or has this all just been fun for you? Fuck, is this what’s always running through your head? This is awful!”
He laughs, approaching me. He rests his hands on my shoulders, the tension in my jaw instantly easing up.
“I’m not gonna let you suffer, Ry. I haven’t even considered that until today because I’ve enjoyed what it’s been, but I don’t want this to end after the build.”
There’s a lightness in my chest as it feels like, for the first time since we started talking about this, I can take a decent breath of air. As though I’ve been holding it, worried about what he would say.
“I want to be your boyfriend,” he says, a smile playing across his lips.
I’m surprised how quickly that shifts my mood, as his words assure me that he was just doing his risk-management assessment of us, not trying to talk himself out of continuing this long term. “I mean, of course you do. Who wouldn’t?” I tease, pulling a laugh right from him.
“And back to your usual conceited self.”
I slide my arms around his hips, cupping his sides and reeling him close. “Hey, I’m not the guy who decided to be my boyfriend, but don’t worry. I want to be your boyfriend too, so I guess you’re one lucky guy.”
He cringes. “I can still take it back.”
I lean close, our lips millimeters apart. “Don’t you dare, or you won’t get to fuck me again.”
“I have a feeling I could get away with saying it and you’d still fuck me.”
“I hate it when you’re right, but that’s part of having a boyfriend now.”
“See what a fast learner you are?” His grin must be about as big as mine right now, and I’m living for it.
I tilt my head back, considering what this means, now that we’re boyfriends. “So…we get to do boyfriend shit now.”
“Like…handholding?” Marty asks.
“Gross.”
“More cuddling?”
“I’m on board with that one.”
“Dates?”
I didn’t think I could grin any more than I was, but I was wrong. “I like where this is going. So like going out to dinner? Or maybe the summer festival together?”
“Yeah, like that,” he says. “And maybe some smooches.”
Even as he’s trying to be playful about it, I can tell by the way his brows tug closer together that he still fucking hates that word, and it’s adorable.
“Of course,” I say. “Plenty of smooches. Was that ever a question?”
“Shut it and give me a smooch.”
I obey. He’s my boyfriend now, after all.
I guide him over to the fridge, pushing him against it and sliding my hand under his shirt, fully appreciating his lips, the gentle assurance that they’re all mine.
When I finally pull away, I gaze into those green eyes glistening in the kitchen light.
“I’m gonna enjoy fucking my boyfriend tonight,” I say before seizing another kiss.