Rhys #2
Unfortunately for me, I excelled at feeling miserable in even the most unlikely situations, so it didn’t last long before anxiety began creeping in to skitter over me like spiders.
I mourned the loss of that warm, comfortable feeling before disposing of all my trash.
I was starting to think I needed therapy.
Back in Kendall’s living room, I scooped up his spare key and put my shoes back on before heading out of his front door, carefully locking up behind me.
Even though I felt like the world’s biggest asshole, I wasn’t ready to face him yet.
I didn’t know how long I would need to feel ready for that, but I was also acutely aware I probably wouldn’t have long.
He was always randomly coming over to my parents’ house, and they were always inviting him to stuff we’d all be at.
He wasn’t someone I could actually realistically avoid, but…
He’d said he wouldn’t bring it up if I didn’t.
Maybe if I just never said anything, and he never said anything, then we’d both forget.
I MANAGED TO avoid Kendall for nearly a week, but I couldn’t avoid the memory of his pretty green eyes peering up at me from between my legs while he’d been sucking my cock.
Thoughts of his cute face and his tight, lean body plagued me but that was just because that blowjob was the only action I’d gotten in years.
It was the only explanation. Of course if he was the only person who’d touched my cock in forever, he was the one my mind would wander to when I was jerking off. Which seemed like all the time lately.
It was funny, in the last few years of my marriage, after Hailey and I had started sleeping in separate bedrooms, my libido had shriveled away to basically nothing.
Coming back to Cherryvale had magically reawakened it, which was not exactly a blessing, given my situation.
Brie was interested in going out with me again, along with a couple other women who’d been attempting to reconnect with me, but I was still on the fence about all that.
The date I’d gone on had been a disaster, and it had only made everything feel worse.
As was the usual occurrence as soon as summer hit, my dad was grilling out on the deck while my mom fixed up picnic-style sides in the kitchen. Benjamin and Josie had just arrived to have dinner with us too, greeting me with the usual hugs and small talk.
“Kendall isn’t coming?” My mom asked, voicing the question I’d been sweating over for hours but hadn’t known how to inquire about gracefully.
I’d been absent for a decade, but I was quickly picking up how things seemed to go around here.
Kendall’s name was permanently stamped on the invite list for any and all family and family-adjacent events.
“He said he has work stuff to catch up on,” Benjamin said easily, before slipping out through the glass door to hang out with our dad.
“Busy bee,” Mom commented with a sigh, while I tried to decide whether I was relieved or disappointed by his absence.
Wait. Did he really have work stuff, or was he avoiding me too? Fuck. Was I making it hard for him to see my parents? They were basically the only family he had. Had I screwed things up for him even worse than I’d thought?
“Work stuff?” I asked, trying to sound casual.
“Mm, yeah,” Josie responded. “I guess he does a bunch of extra content on his socials for pride month and all that.”
“Oh, yeah. That makes sense,” I said. In that case, it was probably true. I hoped.
“And you guys are all going to do the parade thing this weekend, right?” Mom asked, wedging her comically sized wooden utensils into a giant bowl of salad to toss it up.
“Yeah!” Josie confirmed, grinning widely. “Baby’s first pride parade,” she mused, glancing down to her round stomach and giving it an affectionate pat. “Benji’s totally excited. You’re coming too, right Rhys?”
“Uh…”
“Wait, have you ever been to one?” She asked.
“Ah, not exactly.” Obviously, I had no issues with queer people or their pride or their right to celebrate, but I wasn’t exactly a parade guy.
“You have to come!” She told me. “It’s so much fun!”
“What is?” Benjamin asked, leaning his head back in through the door to join the conversation.
“The parade,” Josie explained. “Rhys has never gone to one!”
“Oh, man,” Benjamin laughed. “Yeah, come with us! You’ll have a great time.”
Clearing my throat, I prayed the awkwardness I felt creeping through my veins wouldn’t show on my face.
“Well, I don’t know. It’s not really my scene,” I said.
“It’s everyone’s scene,” he argued. “There’s tons of stuff to do and everyone is so cool and nice.”
“You’ll die when you see Kendall’s outfit,” Josie added, and I had to disguise the sudden choking sensation I felt by pretending to have a coughing fit.
“What do you mean?” I asked cautiously. Did she know what had happened between us?
Kendall had promised not to mention it to me, but…
Maybe he wasn’t keeping it as much of a secret as I’d thought.
He and Josie probably had the kind of relationship where they told each other everything.
Come to think of it, he had that kind of relationship with Benjamin too.
Oh, god. Did my brother know that I’d gotten so worked up from Kendall kissing and teasing my dick and whispering stupidly sexy stuff to me that I’d exploded in his mouth like a busted fire hydrant?
Why couldn’t a rabid grizzly bear break into our house and tear me to shreds?
“He, um… Commits to a theme every year,” she said, her sentence punctuated by my brother’s laughter again.
“A theme?”
“Last year was a butterfly,” Benjamin said. “Year before that was…”
“A bunny,” Josie piped up.
“Ah, yeah. How could I forget that one?” Benjamin snorted, shaking his head. “That fluffy cottontail.”
I blinked, imagining Kendall tucked into some cheap kid’s Halloween costume prancing around the parade. Well, if he wanted to sweat in the summer heat in some bulky, campy outfit then that was on him. I wasn’t sure why Josie thought I’d care so much about seeing that.
“So you’re going to come, right?” Benjamin asked.
“I don’t know,” I said again, trying not to grimace.
“You should go,” Mom told me. “You’re young! Go out and have some fun.”
Fun? Who said a loud, crowded parade would be fun?
“I bet Kendall would think it’s really cool if you showed up,” Josie said.
I slowly turned my head from where I’d been looking at my mom to stare at her as my heart rate picked up.
Was she fucking with me? Teasing me because she knew what had happened between us?
After a few seconds of silence, her brows drew together. “What?”
“Nothing,” I said quickly. I wasn’t doing myself any favors saying no, whether she knew or not.
If they didn’t know, it would look weird for me to be so vehement about not going.
If they did know, then they’d think I was purposely avoiding him because of my own embarrassment.
I was screwed either way. “Yeah. Whatever. I’ll go. ”
“Awesome! We’re going to have so much fun!” She cheered, pumping her first into the air, sincerity etched all over her pretty face. I suddenly remembered how Benjamin told me how happy she was to be able to get to know me, and to have another person around to be an uncle to the soon-to-come baby.
“Totally,” I lied, forcing what I hoped was a convincing grin on my face. “I’m… Really excited.”
And maybe we wouldn’t even see much of Kendall.