Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Brad
Wearing his best pair of dark-washed jeans and a white button shirt with his sleeves rolled up past his elbows, Brad was more nervous for this date than he’d ever been before.
Truthfully until he’d lost weight, bulked up, and started his daily skin care routine, Brad had never dated.
Jordan was his first real relationship. And that had ended about as badly as possible.
He’d hooked up in clubs for a couple of years before he’d become Jordan’s boyfriend and Daddy. But dating? Luca was only the second man that Brad had ever taken out on a date.
Wait! What if Luca didn’t realize that this was a date? Shit. Brad hissed as he closed the door to his SUV. As doubt and the familiar insecurity filled him, Brad pulled out his phone. He was hitting the contact for his brother before Brad could talk himself out of it.
“Hey, man,” Ben answered cheerfully. “Hold on one sec. Let me go into the back.”
Brad waited. His brother was probably busy running the bar that he’d taken over for a friend in the service. What was supposed to be six months was now nearing a year. Ben always took time for him when Brad called.
Regret filled him. Ben was the only family that Brad cared about. And he’d been an asshole.
“Are you there?” Ben asked warmly, returning to the call.
“I’m sorry,” Brad blurted out.
“Hey, man.” Worry filled Ben’s voice. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
Looking at the coffee shop in front of him then up at the apartment above, Brad smiled. “I’m okay.” And he was. That didn’t mean he didn’t owe his brother an apology. “But I’m sorry.”
“What exactly are you sorry about?” Ben asked carefully.
There was so much. “For being an asshole?”
“That’s a good start, I guess.” Ben’s laughter had Brad’s shoulders relaxing. It had been a long time since Brad had heard that sound. The last several times they’d spoken, they’d argued. Ben thought Brad was making a mistake giving up dating and finding a new boy. Turned out his brother was right.
“I ran away,” Brad admitted quietly. “You were right.”
“I know.” Ben sighed. “And I get it. Jordan was an ass. That doesn’t mean every guy is like him. I’ve dated some real losers too.”
Brad snorted. Ben’s record was pretty bad. If there was a guy within a mile that was unobtainable, that was the guy that would catch Ben’s eye.
“I don’t need to hear the agreement. I take it things are working out in Surf City?”
“Better than I could have hoped for,” Brad replied.
“And what’s his name?” Ben teased.
“Luca,” Brad said. Just saying his boy’s name made him smile.
“Luca? The clown from the coffee shop that keeps giving you a hard time?”
Oh, shit. Yeah, Brad had called his brother complaining about Luca a time or two. “Yeah.”
Ben laughed louder. “I can’t wait to hear this story. That’s not why you called though. What’s going on?”
“I’m supposed to be taking him on a date,” Brad admitted.
“You? A date? Like a real date?” Ben whistled. “What exactly is happening in that city of yours?”
Brad growled. “I need advice!”
“And you called me?” Ben asked.
Okay, his brother had a point. Ben and dating did not go hand in hand. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all. “I’m not sure that Luca knows this is a date.”
Ben groaned. “How the hell did you manage that?”
“I was trying not to throw up, or run away, just asking!” Brad realized he’d gained the attention of a couple walking past and lowered his voice. “I was nervous.”
When all Ben did was snort while trying to contain his laughter, Brad scowled. Why had he thought his older brother would be any help at all?
“Did he at least agree?” Ben questioned.
“Of course he agreed!”
“Then what’s the problem?” Ben asked.
“He agreed to dinner. And a walk on the beach. But I might have forgotten to use the word date,” Brad confessed.
“That sounds like some romantic shit to me,” Ben said.
Brad had to agree. Since he didn’t have a lot of experience, he might have used google to suggest what a first date should consist of. Dinner and a nice walk on the beach was romantic. “Okay.”
“I want to hear the whole story,” Ben demanded.
Brad checked the time on his phone. “Shit! I gotta go!”
“Brad!”
Brad hung up as his brother yelled his name. Shoving the phone into his back pocket, Brad raced up the stairs two at a time. Less than a minute later, out of breath, Brad knocked on the door.
A few moments later Luca was pulling it open and smiling at him.
“I’m not late!” He’d had one minute to get up the stairs but Brad was pretty sure that he’d made it.
Luca laughed. “Okay?”
Still sucking in air, Brad waved at Luca and the nice khaki pants and form-fitting shirt he wore. “Look good.”
“Come here.” Luca rolled his eyes and pulled Brad inside his apartment. He shoved Brad onto the couch before turning and going into the attached kitchen. Brad could see Luca pull out a bottle of water then return to him and sitting on the coffee table in front of him.
Brad accepted the bottle and twisted the lid off to take a careful sip. He needed to calm down. Brad was supposed to be making a good impression. He took another swallow as Luca stared at him with a furrowed brow.
Lowering the water, Brad took a deep breath. “It’s a date.”
Luca blinked a few times. “What is?”
Shit! Brad shook his head. He was really bad at this. “Me asking you to dinner. I was asking you on a date.”
“A date,” Luca repeated. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”
“I’m sure,” Brad said. “Really sure.”
“Then I’m glad that I accepted.”
“Even if I’m an asshole?” Brad had to ask.
Luca sighed. “I don’t think you’re an asshole.”
Brad narrowed his eyes while pressing his lips into a firm line. He wasn’t buying that.
“Okay.” Luca held his hands up. “I did. And I’ll admit that you confuse the shit out of me. I still agreed to dinner and a walk on the beach.”
“I appreciate you giving me a chance,” Brad said sincerely.
“I like you, Brad,” Luca told him. “Yes, we got off to a rocky start. Which I understand more after you told me about your ex. And it has to be obvious how attracted I am to you.”
Attracted to him. The new him. Brad wasn’t the same fat and pimple-faced loser that he saw in the mirror. Even after years of becoming what most men thought of as the perfect specimen, Brad still struggled with how he saw himself.
“I said something wrong just now,” Luca said quietly.
Brad quickly shook his head. “No, of course not. Are you ready for dinner? I brought my SUV or we could walk.”
“I wouldn’t mind walking, if that’s okay with you.”
“That sounds perfect to me.” Hopefully that would give his stomach and nerves time to settle.
“Cool.” Luca jumped up to his feet before offering his hand to Brad.
Brad smiled while allowing Luca to haul him up.
Luca grunted.
Slipping an arm around Luca’s waist, Brad held him close, kissing Luca’s forehead. “Thank you, baby.”
Luca’s normally tan cheeks flushed red. “No problem.”
Brad stepped back, giving Luca space. He walked around the couch to the front door then held out his hand. “Ready?”
“Yeah.” Luca cleared his throat. “Yes.”
They held hands as they exited the apartment, while Luca locked up, and down the stairs. They’d barely reached the bottom when Luca groaned and tilted his face up to the sky.
“Baby?” Brad turned toward him.
“Just ignore them,” Luca whispered.
“Ignore?” Glancing over, Brad spotted James, Scott, Dawson, and Josh all pressed to the front window of the coffee shop, watching them. He barked out a laugh. Their friends were idiots.
“I’m going to kill them,” Luca muttered.
Brad squeezed Luca’s hand. “No killing our friends. Come on. We have plans and those do not include entertaining the dumbasses.”
“We can hear you!” Josh shouted from inside.
Luca and Brad flipped him off at the same time.
“Aww!” James squealed. “Look at them! That’s so cute.”
Brad shook his head, but those nerves that had been fluttering around his stomach? They were gone. Now Brad just wanted to get to know his boy better.
He led the way down the sidewalk in the direction of the beach and the favorite local restaurant nicknamed the Cantina. They had some of the best Mexican and seafood that Brad had tasted in town.
“So tell me about your family,” Brad said. “I didn’t even know you had a brother until he showed up.”
“More than one,” Luca said. “I come from a big, nosy, overbearing family. They love me but don’t understand me. Or why I moved here and wanted to make a life for myself.”
“Why’s that?” Brad asked, dying to learn more.
“I’m the first to leave,” Luca answered. “The family works with family. We have businesses all over town. My parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, they’re content to just work together. Share everything. There is literally no boundary that my family will not cross.”
Brad winced. He’d always thought that having a big family would be great. Maybe he should have thought about that a little more.
“How about you? Siblings? Parents?”
“One older brother, Ben. He’s two years older than me but is probably my best friend.” Really the only friend that Brad had left after the mess Jordan had made of his life.
“That’s nice. Are your parents still alive?” Luca asked.
“I’m sure we would have heard otherwise?” Brad shrugged. “We’re not close.”
“Not close?” Luca seemed confused. “Even as much as my family drives me crazy, I still talk to them once a week. Usually during family dinner on Sundays when I can talk to everyone.”
Oh shit. Brad had gotten that wrong. He figured Luca had stopped talking to his family the same way that he and Ben had. “My parents were fine. We weren’t abused or anything,” he hurriedly explained. “They didn’t even care when it turned out that I was gay and Ben bisexual.”
Luca watched him from the corner of his eye as they walked. “But?”
“They just expected us to move out and start out own lives once we left for college. Which they paid for. They just figured their job was done when we were out of the house.”