Chapter 16 #2
Was it possible his flirtation over the phone had pushed Jasper to do this?
Or maybe the night before, when he’d lifted Ryan so tenderly, leaving his hands on Ryan’s body for so much longer than necessary.
The idea made Ryan’s cock throb and his hands itch to rip his own clothes off so he could join Jasper under the spray.
But before he could explore it further, he heard the door slam.
“We’re home!”
It was Winnie. They’d returned from their walk, and Ryan’s plan was ruined.
Jasper’s head spun around, and Ryan covered his eyes, yelling something about looking for eye drops and promising he hadn’t seen anything.
Bumping into the door jamb in his scramble to escape, Ryan bolted out of the bathroom and into his guest room.
He yelled to Winnie down the hall that he’d be out in a moment, and to pick a movie for their movie night so he could get changed and think about what the fuck had just happened.
Jasper had seen him. He was ninety-nine percent sure. Then again, Jasper wore glasses as much as he wore contacts—it was possible he hadn’t known it was Ryan at all. Maybe he thought Ryan was a large stack of laundry, or a towel draped over the door, or a nervous, perverted intruder.
Had today been a glasses day or a contact lens day? He couldn’t remember. He cursed his poor memory and Jasper’s shitty eyesight as he closed his eyes, willing his body to ignore the memories of naked Jasper and his hand on his cock as he—maybe—put on a show.
“Fuck me,” Ryan said, blowing out a breath.
“Think about something gross. Something unsexy.” He squeezed his eyes shut and thought about the slime at the bottom of the kitchen compost bin.
That was pretty gross. Then he imagined the worms on top of the outdoor compost waiting to be fed—wretched, wriggling, hungry.
Very gross. Chickens eating them? Disgusting.
But then his mind flashed images of Jasper turning the compost with a heavy shovel, which wasn’t gross at all.
But it wasn’t exactly sexy, so that was… fine.
Things got worse, though, when imaginary Jasper took off his shirt so it didn’t get dirty.
And then he turned the compost enough times that he got a little sweaty.
Then he was hot, so he drank from a glass of water, and it spilled over the rim, dripping down his chin and landing on the hair of his chest. It glistened in the sun as Jasper laughed at himself for being so clumsy.
“Goddammit,” Ryan said, pressing his thumb and finger to his eyes. “Worms. Worms. Worms.”
“Uncle Ryan?”
Ryan spun around to find Nina in his bedroom and blinked repeatedly, finding that the sawdust had finally shifted enough that his eye no longer hurt. Just in time, too, because Nina looked a little frazzled. “Hey, little chicken. What’s up?”
“Why are you talking about worms?”
“Well, uh. They’re very important members of the ecosystem, don’t you think? Sometimes, you know, it’s just nice to think about them. Praise them, that sort of thing.”
“Hmm. Okay.”
“Did you need something? Did you and Win pick out a movie?”
She let out a shaky sigh. “I wanted to watch The Acorn Mystery again, but she said no. She wants to watch Benny and the Moon, but I don’t want to.
It makes me think of my mom, because that’s her name.
And I don’t want to watch it without my mom,” Nina said.
Her chin quivered and her little pout turned into a deep frown.
“My mom said we could watch it together. And I miss my mom. And I want her to come home! And Winnie said our moms aren’t going to be home for more than a week!
” At that, her big eyes filled with tears, and within seconds, she was sobbing.
“Aw, sweetheart,” Ryan said, hauling her into his arms. “Hey, it’s okay. Let’s call your mom before we watch the movie, okay? I bet she’ll be happy to see you.”
She nodded while weeping into his shoulder. Ryan carried her through the house to find his phone, finally ending up in the living room where he found Winnie and Jasper.
“What’s going on?” Jasper asked, hair still damp as he jumped out of his seat to reach them.
“Oh, Nina misses her mom, so we’re going to FaceTime her here in a second.”
“Oh, of course. Hey, Nina, once you talk to your mom, I have The Acorn Mystery pulled up. Winnie agreed. Whenever you’re ready.”
She sniffled and nodded into Ryan’s neck. “Okay.”
Jasper gave Ryan a sympathetic smile and moved back to his chair. Nina shuffled down Ryan’s body and grabbed his phone from his hand, then unlocked it and dialed her mom’s number.
“Ryan?” Beni said through the phone. “All good over there?”
“Hi, Mama,” Nina said, sniffling.
“Oh, hi, sweetie!”
Seeing her mom’s face, Nina burst into tears again, and Ryan moved her into the bedroom. He checked in with Beni, then sat in the hallway to let them have some privacy.
A few minutes later, Nina reappeared with the phone in her hand, her eyes puffy and cheeks red, but smiling. She handed the phone to Ryan, who was surprised to find Beni still on the line.
“Hello,” he said. “Sorry about that. She missed you.”
“It’s fine. I miss her!”
“Having a good time so far?”
“Of course. Though, not as good as Nina—she has been very busy, sounds like. Winnie keeps stealing the bathroom, but it’s okay because Uncle Jasper’s freezer is full of popsicles, and she’s had at least thirty since I left.
And she cried, but Uncle Ryan gave her a big hug, and speaking of Uncle Ryan, he really likes worms.”
Ryan burst out laughing at that. “That all sounds about right.”
“Thank you so much for this,” she said. “I know, I know, you’re happy to do it. But it’s been so great. Better than I imagined.”
“It’s been good here. Enjoy yourself. We’ll talk to you soon.”
“Tell Nina she can call any time, okay?”
“I will.”
Ryan made his way back to the living room.
Nina was bright-eyed again, delighted that her movie had won the vote.
He winked at Winnie in thanks, and she gave him a good-natured roll of her eyes before picking up her phone.
The spot next to Jasper was still open, so Ryan fell into it.
He caught Jasper’s eye and smiled, and when he smiled back, something warm curled through Ryan’s chest.