Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
SILAS
“You’re fucking aggro, and it’s adorable.”
“ Y ou know what they say about life giving you lemons?”
Redix bounces his brows. “Make them into candies and eat them off your wife’s fine ass?”
He ain’t joking. That’s precisely what he does with Cade and Lemonheads.
“Damn, you and your candy fetish.” I adjust the nozzle on the hose to full blast. “All that sugar is gonna rot your teeth out.”
“All the better to suck you with.”
He’s on a roll. He’s excited this morning.
Last night, while we were having an orgy that would make porn stars applaud, it poured. The rain and Charlie.
Damn, she was like a woman possessed last night, and not a soul complained. It’s like we all caught the spirit. I was on Eily twice. I swear, if she isn’t pregnant by the end of this week, I’ll…
Well … I’ll always love her, and we’ll figure it out .
But if my plan today doesn’t make her happy, about a hundred other things will.
Eily makes cheerleaders look lethargic. Nothing gets her down.
I squeeze the nozzle in my hand, filling the muddy hole the rain made last night with even more water. It’s a brown, murky pool, promising fun. I just drove my truck over, loaded with tools and a water tank to make it an even muddier mess.
“No,” I preach, finishing my sermon, “when life gives you lemons and mud, you make lemonade and mud wrestle.”
“Here, here!” Daniel boasts, digging the hole deeper in spots.
It’s like Mother Nature wants this. This spot on the edge of the trail out of camp does this every time it rains. I was going to backfill it, but I got too busy fishing.
This will be a Halloween tradition: rain or shine.
Mud wrestling.
“Watch out for gators.”
Redix tries scaring Daniel, who only slings mud back at him, splattering his laughing face.
“But seriously, dude,” I tell him. “Chase all the snakes out.”
Daniel pauses, lowers his brows, and gives me that look … the one you see on screens all the time, the one that tests the fabric of undergarments everywhere.
“Oh,” I shiver, giving him shit. “When you give me your wolf gaze, I get all gooey inside.”
“Keep it up,” he arches a brow, “and I’ll give you something else inside, too.”
“What-ever-the-fuck. All of us emptied our wank tanks last night. Oh, and this morning. Even I need until lunch before my banana can make more cream.”
“I’m just glad I can finally empty my tank.” Daniel shovels, slinging mud over the brim. “Now that Luca finally cured me.”
“Now that you finally told me about our show.” Redix shakes his head. “Dude, you should’ve told me about the studio pressuring you. But at least now I can help you. We’ll tell them we’ll wrap after this season.”
Daniel wipes his brow. “You deserve to win for this season.”
Redix softens his face. “Is that what you were stressed about? Me winning an Emmy, too?”
“Yeah. You deserved it more than me.”
“No, you did. You wrote us a helluva story: VICE cops realizing they’re in love; it’s kind of been our story, too. So, we’ll end it like you imagined. It’ll make the story tighter. Stronger. Hell, let’s end it Sopranos style.”
“What about the crew? I worry about them.”
“Man, we love you.” I mirror Redix, shaking my head. “You worry about everyone, but we’re fine. Quit being the oldest.”
“Look,” Redix squats, his hands dangling between his legs, his focus on Daniel, “we’ll pitch another show to shoot in Atlanta and hire the same crew. They’ll be fine. I just can’t believe you kept all that stress inside.”
“Literally,” I agree. “But damn, when you finally blew…”
It ain’t like us to keep secrets. It ain’t like us to share our bodies but not our hearts. But that’s just Daniel. The oldest. The most responsible. Sometimes, he worries the most about us. Sometimes, that makes him the hottest, too.
He finally grins. “Oh, I blew, alright. For Luca. For you lot next. ”
Yeah, he did.
That vampire night, it was like once Luca helped Daniel let go, Daniel couldn’t stop. While I took his ass, taunting his ear, “Come on. Give us more. Show us how you love us,” Charlie, Cade, and Eily knelt before him. Then Redix took him while Daniel took Charlie.
Not a drop of stress was left in him once we were done.
And if I thought the Love Bites night was hot?
Our sexorcism last night?
We cast out every demon until two a.m. Then we showered in pairs and groups, all scurrying under umbrellas, back to our tents, tugging our partners into cuddles under covers before the smell of a late brunch awoke us.
That and Redix’s mouth.
Our women were gone, so we men shared our special way of waking each other up.
Nothing like blow jobs before breakfast.
“Damn, I’m sore.” Redix rubs his junk. “I may need y’all to kiss it again and make it better.”
“Charlie sure kissed it last night. She made lots of men better.”
It doesn’t offend Daniel, me talking about his wife. He knows I love her. He knows Charlie went from being my babysitter to my best friend to our group’s “Queen of the Cumshot” as my beautiful wife has anointed her.
He knows, all hot sex aside, I can’t live without my wife, and I sure love living with my partners, too.
Daniel smiles, stirring his shovel through the mud. I wasn’t joking about the snakes, but none slither out. We’re clear.
“Gawd blimey,” he says. “I’ve never seen Charlie like that. It’s like she couldn’t get enough. She kept moaning for more. Fuck, she was beautiful. So beautiful, finally taking what she wants.”
“All our women need a gangbang from time to time.” Redix rakes the grass around the hole. “I guess it’s Cade’s turn tonight, then Eily’s.”
“Touch Eily’s pussy, and I’ll cream your corn.”
Redix hits me with a smirk. “Promise?”
My nostrils flare. “I’m fucking serious.”
“You’re fucking aggro, and it’s adorable.” Daniel sloshes out of the mud pit. Sludge drips from his navy shorts, clinging to his ripped thighs. “You’ll make a great dad one day.”
I let go of the nozzle, watching muddy bubbles pop over the murky pool, thoughts of fun escaping me. I’ve been needing to talk to them about this.
“But when will I be a dad?” I ask. “We’ve been trying for a while, and what if it’s me? What if I’m shooting blanks and can’t get Eily pregnant?”
Daniel shrugs. “Did you get your swimmers tested?”
“I’d be willing to. But then, what if it’s not me? That’ll only break Eily’s heart, and I’ll die before I do that.”
“Look.” Redix cups my cheek. Fuck, it melts me every time. “Give it a couple more months, and if nothing happens, go to the doctor together, and if there’s a problem, we’ll help. Hell, we got extra eggs and swimmers if you need ‘em.”
“We ain’t there yet.”
“Well, y’all ain’t alone, either … no matter where you are.” Sincerity drops his voice; his scruffy lips kiss mine. “You know I love you. We love you. We’re always here for you.”
I cast my stare over his shoulder to the tidal marsh behind him. To the spot where I usually see a pod of dolphins. And there they are, their fins cresting, working together like a family, corralling baitfish.
“Huh,” I share. “Last month, Eily told me about a dream she had. She said we were here, and she was in a birthing tub on our porch. Cade and Charlie were coaching her, wiping her brow, and I was in the tub with her, holding her legs back, encouraging her, like telling her to push. And y’all were taking care of your kids. She said you answered their questions while they watched our baby being born. She said it was so real.”
I sigh, “She said we had a boy, and we named him Indi for indigo.”
Sniff.
Sniff.
Ahem.
“Dude?” Redix glances away while I ask, “Are you crying?”
“Yeah, man.” He turns back, grinning with tears in his eyes. “That’s sweet as shit. That’s my fucking dream, too.”
“Mine, as well.” Daniel stabs the shovel into the ground before matching Redix, reaching for my other shoulder. “I dream of living here with our families. I want to raise our children together. This feels like home. The six of us feel like home.”
“Yeah.” Redix jerks his chin. “You got a few acres you can spare?”
“Acres? I got two houses I’m gonna build for you.”
They blink. They stare. They look at each other before Daniel grips me harder.
“Bloody hell, are you serious? We can do it? We can make our homes here, too? ”
“I was gonna surprise you.” I grin. “Then I figured your wives would get ill as hornets if they don’t get to design your homes, but yeah, I already got the land staked out.”
“Speaking of wives.” Redix trumpets, “Here they come!”
Come?
No.
They’re racing. They’re Formula 1 drivers in golf carts, cursing and squealing as they try to run each other off the sandy road.
“You bitch!” Eily laughs, swerving when Charlie tries muscling her off the path.
So, Eily, with Cade in her passenger seat, muscles back, aiming for Charlie’s cart.
I swear, my wife has no fear. She’s why I have a First Aid Kit that would impress an EMT.
But Charlie has training. Racing with Stacey in her passenger seat, she hits her brakes, slowing, and about to nudge the back left corner of Eily’s cart when Cade shouts, “It’s a pit maneuver! Break!”
Eily trusts Cade’s training, too. They screech to a halt, avoiding Charlie’s tactic, laughing as they flip her and Stacey off.
Damn, the laws of physics mean nothing to them.
Why be careful when you can scare the shit out of your husbands?
“If y’all fuck up my golf carts!” I shout, “I’ll?—”
Eily tilts her head, putting my way. “You’ll what?”
Like I can ever be mad at her. “I’ll buy you more carts with matching helmets.”
She bounces closer. “I want a rainbow cart with a matching mohawk helmet.”
I’m sure they exist. I’m sure I’ll buy her one. And I’m sure if they don’t … my cute wife will make one .
She stomps the brake pedal, flips the key, and turns off the cart. So does Charlie. They jump out and march our way.
“Aw, shit,” Redix mutters. “Who kissed the hot hornets’ nest?”
Our women look so fiery with Stacey in tow, they don’t even notice our mud pit, waiting for some wrestling fun. Visions of muddy bikinis and briefs fill my head, and yep, my banana stirs.
“So, we just got some intel on our villain.” Shit. But it sounds like Cade’s in Sergeant mode. “Stacey,” she nudges her arm, “tell them what you told us.”
“I already told you I don’t know his name.”
“But tell the guys what you told us about him. Like, the other part.”
So, this is why the women disappeared this morning? They’re getting to the bottom of our villainous threat.
Stacey shrugs. “I signed an NDA with him. My entire staff did. I’m not supposed to say anything.”
“But this is about our safety.” Charlie lifts her sunglasses. Damn, her cheeks glow after getting royally fucked last night. I lost count after five cocks. I’m so proud of her. “Just tell the guys so we’re all up to speed because this is some freaky shit.”
“Freaky shit?” I ask. “Good freaky or bad freaky?”
“Is there a difference?” Redix lifts his arm off me, quickly pulling Cade into a hug. It looks like she’s in killer mode, so he jokes around, “Because any freaky is fun to me.”
“Uh, yeah, there’s a difference.” Charlie’s fists land on her hips. “Good freaky is fucking us. Bad freaky is fucking with us. ”
“And?” Daniel cocks a brow. “What does this bloke want? He’s been watching us fuck for days.”
“That’s just it,” Charlie answers. “He hasn’t been watching us. It wasn’t him.”
“What?”