Chapter 13
Matt had gone shopping with Joey and they came back to make sandwiches together while Bailey worked. He was always tempted to abandon work and go join them no matter what they were doing. When he heard Joey chattering or Matt's deep laugh, it was so difficult to resist.
Now Bailey was hearing the sound of Joey's little, running feet. "Picnic time, Daddy," Joey announced as he poked his head in his office.
"I didn't know there was a picnic," Bailey said as he got up.
"Matt and I made it," Joey said as he led him outside by the hand.
Matt was on the beach spreading out some beach towels for them and setting down plates with their lunch. He was a vision no matter what he was doing, and then he smiled at them and Bailey didn't know how he stayed on his feet.
Joey told him what was on the menu. "There are sandwiches and peaches."
"Is it OK we're eating out here? It's not bad timing for you, is it?" Matt asked and Bailey laughed. "I guess it's too late to ask now."
"It's fine. This makes for a nice break," Bailey told him.
They had turkey sandwiches and then the peaches. "These are juicy," Bailey said as he bit into his, but he made sure not to watch Matt eating.
"Nothing like a peach on the beach," Matt said giving Joey a smile.
In the middle of biting into a peach, Joey agreed with a mumbled, "Yeah."
"Yeah, messy," Bailey said as he wiped his little chin.
"Next we should get a watermelon," Matt said.
Joey was all for it, "A big one."
"We should drive to Schooner Point and get one at their market then have a picnic on the cliff," Matt said. He looked at Bailey enthusiastically then seemed unsure. "I mean, if you want."
"Sounds like fun," Bailey told him and Joey nodded with a mouth full of peach.
"But we have to go to the beach party," Joey reminded them. "There's going to be a big fire."
"That's tonight. We won't miss it," Bailey told him. It was the annual Bonfire Beach Bash and they were all going.
"We watched them setting up for it, piling up the logs," Matt said.
Bailey had gone to the party before. There was food, music, dancing. He wondered if he would get to see Matt dance.
That night, Matt, Bailey and Joey arrived at the bonfire beach party.
They joined the lively crowd gathered around the crackling fire and enjoying the warm summer night.
Joey stared at the fire so hard, amazed at how high it reached.
Bailey was glad they had put up a barrier around it so he couldn't get any closer.
"I want to make marshmallows on it," Joey said.
"Those would have to be some big marshmallows," Matt told him and lifted him up on his shoulders.
"I'm so high and the fire is still bigger than me," Joey said.
From his vantage point on Matt's shoulders, Joey noticed the neighbor kids. Bailey took him over there, but Matt had seen some guys he knew and he went to say hi. Bailey wondered if that might be the last they would see of him tonight.
Hanging out with their neighbors, Bailey made sure not to look around to see where Matt was, what he was up to. He still noticed him talking to the same group of guys, but Bailey wasn't staring.
Sidling over to him, Chad asked him, "Where's the hunky manny?"
"He's out there somewhere," Bailey said like he didn't know exactly where Matt was.
"Oh, I see him. I guess you didn't notice him there," Chad needled him and Bailey wondered where his husband was so he could save him. "You two are inseparable these days. We always see you cavorting together."
"With Joey," Bailey told him.
"I'm sure you find some alone time," Chad said.
"My life is not as exciting as you seem to think," Bailey told him.
"Oh, no?" Chad frowned like he was now ready to feel sorry for him instead of taunting him. "Did you get shot down? You poor guy."
"I'll go get some food," Bailey told him because the pity was even worse than the innuendo.
Leaving Joey to hang out with the neighbor kids, Bailey went to get them some snacks and also to escape Chad. On the way, Matt joined him. "You know that guy?" Matt asked with a frown.
He didn't mean Chad obviously. Bailey didn't know who he meant until Matt pointed out a good looking guy in his forties. He didn't look familiar. "I don't know him."
"That guy can't take his eyes off you," Matt said. "Is he your type? Do you like older guys?"
Bailey wanted to deny it, tell Matt he was his type. "He's OK, I guess," he said noncommittally and didn't look in the guys' direction again. "Are you sure that guy isn't looking at you?" That seemed more likely, but Matt denied it.
"His eyes were glued to you," Matt said and he didn't look happy about it.
Matt kept glaring at the guy, and Bailey wondered if it was possible that he was jealous. If he was, that was extremely flattering and unexpected.
After taking some food on sticks to the kids, Bailey somehow found himself drinking a beer or two and that led to him being dragged off to dance with Matt. He never danced unless he had a few drinks in him, but for Matt, he might have made an exception even if he was completely sober.
The bonfire blazed high, the sand shifted under their feet, and the two of them moved to the music. It was such an amazing feeling to dance with Matt, almost unreal.
Deciding there was too much space between them, Matt put his hands on him, sliding them down his sides to his hips as he stepped up to him.
Bailey was dizzy with the feeling of it, the fire, the music, everything was more intense as he was pressed up against Matt.
The night sky was spinning above him, and it wasn't the beers.
It was like Matt was some powerful drug and just a little bit of him was already too much for him.
At best, Bailey was hoping to see Matt dance, but this was so much better, hotter. Having Matt so close, his blue eyes reflecting the fire and locked on him, there was a real chance that Bailey would lose his head.
Then it happened. They were on the other side of the bonfire, between the flames and the ocean and Matt grabbed him around the waist and kissed him.
Bailey stroked his face, his hair, pressed himself tight to Matt's incredible body.
But then Matt stopped kissing him and said breathlessly, "We should sneak off together, find a place among the dunes. "
Bailey froze. He wanted to. He wanted to so much. But...
His hesitation was enough. Matt stepped back and hung his head. "Sorry. I got carried away."
"No, Matt," Bailey told him. "If there was anyone I wanted to have a summer fling with, it would be you."
Matt raised his head. "A fling?" Matt's frown told him that wasn't the right thing to say. "Is that all I am to you?"
"You are like something I might have dreamed about," Bailey confessed.
"I'm real, and I..." Matt stopped himself and now Bailey had to know what he was going to say.
"Tell me," he said.
Matt let out a heavy sigh. "I want you to think of me as being real, like I matter."
"Of course you matter," Bailey said stricken at his tone and his words but Matt walked away.