Fourteen #3
I was happy even though I knew Sam wanted kids, too, and I wondered when and how I was going to manage that for him. My very traditional man wanted to be a father, and I had to start thinking about the logistics of that because I did as well.
As I walked around Haleiwa Town—the surf shops, the jewelry stores, the restaurants, ice cream, and a fish market—I started thinking about what my life with Sam would look like once I was back to running my own business and he was a deputy marshal. With things settled, a family would be next.
Just the idea of having children with Sam Kage made my stomach twist into knots with anticipation. I wanted that more than he knew. It was the only thing I never worried about that should have probably scared me the most. I really wanted to be somebody’s father.
By the time I got back, everyone had returned from their ocean adventure—or so I heard. I didn’t go seek anyone out because I had been invited out by Ipo, who I had seen in town, to go dancing with her and Makana and Tommy.
I changed into old faded jeans, a tight black T-shirt, and dress shoes, and they picked me up at six.
We went to eat at a Mexican place that made killer shrimp tacos and really good margaritas.
I bought, and they were really touched, and then we went to this club and danced our asses off.
I had Ipo and her friends all over me, and the guys were jealous.
We drank like fish, and I had the best time.
I would have invited the others, but Jaden had told me that the plan was to visit a friend of Aaron’s who lived in Hawai’i Kai, back on the other side of the island.
The house was apparently a five-million-dollar property right on the beach, and he wasn’t sure how long they would be there, partying.
I had been invited along, but I could tell that Jaden didn’t really want me there, and I’d truly had no desire to go.
I was having a much better time drinking plantation punch out of jelly jars.
When the club closed down at one, we drove to Tommy’s house, and his mother woke up and cooked for us.
I apologized, but this was Hawaiian style—people came over at all hours of the day and night, and you welcomed them and made sure they left full.
She made us breakfast—sweet bread French toast and eggs and country ham.
I helped clean up afterward, and that, more than anything else, was appreciated.
I rolled in after three and was headed toward my cottage when I heard voices outside on the veranda.
Surprisingly, Aaron, Hayes, Burke, and three others were out there, sitting at a table with open bottles of wine.
“Jory,” Aaron sighed, holding out his hand. “Come here.”
I walked over to him and noticed immediately how glazed his eyes were.
“How many drinks have you had tonight, Sutter?”
His smile was wicked. “Not just drinks.”
I understood. “What did you take?”
“The usual. Made the party better.”
“Ecstasy?”
He waggled his eyebrows at me.
“I see.”
“Like you’ve never done it.”
“No, I know. Not here to judge.”
“Jaden did a lot of poppers.”
I wondered why. “So, I, um, thought you guys were staying with friends tonight.”
“Nope,” Hayes chimed in. “We went to the party, did what we wanted, but there was nobody there worth keeping, so we came back.”
I turned to Burke. “Could you translate that for me?”
He chuckled. “It was a breeding party, Jory. We all took off our clothes and fucked all night, and I, for one, am exhausted.”
“Nice,” I said, smiling. “Did we have safe sex?”
“Oh, of course,” he said dismissively. “It’s just, you know, lots of guys—some naked, some in bondage gear, whatever.”
“Huh.”
“They had a swing.”
“Which sounds fun,” I teased him.
“You’ve never been to one?”
“What? A swing?”
“Yes.”
“No. Not really my thing.”
“And what about a sex party?”
“Never been to one of those either.”
“Orgies not your thing?”
“It sounds so decline of the Roman Empire, am I right?”
He laughed. “Yes, it does.”
“So last season,” I teased him.
“Exactly.”
He was funny.
“But really, have you never been in a room with twenty or thirty naked men or been to a sex club or anything?”
“No.”
Burke looked over at Aaron. “How is that even possible? You love that scene.”
He shrugged, and Burke was back to looking at me.
“Oh, Jory, honey, you have no idea what you’ve been missing out on.”
“I’m sure I’ll live.”
“Tell me you’ve at least been in a ménage once in your life.”
“Nope, never had the desire.”
“What about your partners?”
“I dunno. No one’s ever mentioned it to me.”
“I find that so interesting,” Burke said, eyeing Aaron. “And, Jory, honey, it’s fun. You can be fucking one guy and taking it from another and sucking some other guy off, all at the same time.”
“It sounds like a lot of work and way more concentration than I’m capable of.”
“I would think you’d have a line of guys wanting to tap your ass, Jory, just like Jaden did tonight.”
I turned to look at Aaron.
“Oh, here it comes, the judgment.” He muttered.
“You let other guys screw Jaden?” At least I understood the need for the poppers.
“Jaden does what he wants at those parties, just like I do. And he knows I enjoy watching him get tied up and pounded hard.”
He did?
“Jory?” Aaron sounded annoyed.
Since when did Aaron Sutter share?
“J?”
“Sorry.”
“Tell me.”
“It’s nothing.”
“No, you have the I don’t get it expression on your face, just spill it.”
I squinted at him because, really, I was at a loss. “So, you’re okay with other men fucking Jaden, with sharing him?”
“As long as I can watch.”
“Huh.”
“God, I hate it when he does that,” Hayes said suddenly from the peanut gallery. “It’s so judgmental and condescending.”
“Yes, it is,” Aaron agreed. “So, instead of doing that, he should learn some goddamn manners and spit out his question.”
“I just …” I scrutinized him. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
“What doesn’t?”
I had to articulate my question. “Okay, remember that weekend we spent in Napa right before you had to go to Berlin that time?”
“You mean when I wanted you to go with me, but you said you didn’t have the money, and when I offered to take you, we—”
“No one gives a shit about the play-by-play. I was just thinking about those two guys we met, the surgeons, remember?”
He squinted at me.
“And we all hit it off, and we went to dinner with them, and then after, we went back to their room for drinks and—”
“Oh,” he said, cutting me off, “yeah, I remember.”
I stared at him, waiting.
“What?”
“Well, I don’t get it, then.”
His brows furrowed as he looked up at me.
“I want to hear the story,” Burke chimed in.
“There’s no story,” Aaron told his fraternity brother. “The good doctors wanted Jory and me to have sex with them, and I said no.”
“Why not?”
“Were they gross?” Hayes asked, chuckling.
“No, they were both really hot,” I told them.
“Just don’t—”
“So then, why not?” Burke asked him.
He shook his head.
“Aaron?” another guy pressed him.
“I just didn’t feel like it, Ken,” he told him, identifying the stranger for me.
“You didn’t feel like it, or you didn’t feel like sharing Jory?” Burke asked him.
“I knew it would make Jory uncomfortable,” Aaron said finally.
“I think we all know who wasn’t comfortable,” Ken said snidely.
There was a weird, uncomfortable silence before Hayes gestured for me, patting the empty chair beside him.
“Come have a seat.”
“Oh, screw you,” I told him. “It’s almost three thirty in the morning. I’m goin’ to bed.”
“You look good,” Burke told me. “What did you do tonight?”
And after I told them, they all agreed that my night sounded good too. Not as good as getting laid, bottoming and topping for hours, but certainly fun.
“You always have a good time,” Aaron told me, reaching up and grabbing hold of my hand. “And you always look hot.”
I was in a T-shirt and jeans and black lace-ups. I was the epitome of average. “You’re trashed, Sutter,” I told him. “You should go to bed.”
“And you know all about being trashed, huh, J? How many times did I carry your ass home when we were together?”
“On that note,” I said, pulling my hand free, “good night.”
I was across the floor fast and then outside, walking toward my cottage. I had forgotten for half of a second that Aaron Sutter always, invariably, ended up making me feel like shit. It was his gift.
Inside my cottage, I peeled myself out of my clothes and took a long, hot shower.
There were no roaches, and I knew there wouldn’t be.
Ipo had informed me that big ones lived outside, not inside, and that as long as I kept things moderately closed up, I shouldn’t have nightly visitors, just one once in a while.
Apparently, no matter how clean you kept your house, you were going to have bugs.
It was the tropics after all. She said that late-night chirping I had been hearing was a good thing; it meant the geckos were out, and they ate the roaches.
We had played the What Would You Rather Have in Your House game and came to the joint conclusion that between bugs or lizards, lizards were preferable.
When I came out of the shower, drying my hair, towel wrapped around my waist, I heard the pounding on my door. Aaron was there when I opened it.
“What?”
“I’m sorry.”
I squinted at him. “How long have you been out here?”
“Who cares? Forgive me.”
“Forgive you?”
“Yes.”
“Forgive you for being a dick,” I said snidely.
“Just—I’m sorry, and you know I never say that to anyone.”
And he didn’t, which was really too bad.
“Why are you fighting with me?” he grumbled at me.
“I’m not doing anything. It’s all you,” I assured him.
He scowled, pushed by me, and fell down face-first onto my bed. “I wanna sleep here, okay?” he said, slurring his words. “Just fuckin’ lemme.”
I rolled my eyes as I continued to dry my hair. I left the door open because I figured Jaden would be right along. I was wrong though. It was Hayes.
“Jory, I wanted to—oh.” He was surprised at finding Aaron, now passed out on my bed, sprawled out. “See if you were all right after he started in on you.”