Chapter Seven #2
Susan’s cousin didn’t seem to be getting the hint, as she still hovered behind him.
‘I’ll meet them when I come back, Theo.’
‘Vicky said you were stuck in a hotel room in some dodgy place in the backhole of the world,’ Theo answered, the smirk on his lips audible through the phone. ‘You should have come home.’
‘That would have been my preference,’ he answered, looking over his shoulder, ‘but it wasn’t possible after all.’
‘Jessica,’ he heard Susan’s voice and almost sighed in relief. ‘Can you help me with the salads?’
Jessica looked at him, then at her cousin, then at him again, before deciding to leave, giving him an apologetic look and a wave full of wiggling fingers that made him feel like he was five. He nodded at her and turned away.
‘I’ll be home as soon as I possibly can,’ he said to Theo.
‘Danger averted, I see,’ his business partner chuckled on the other side of the line. ‘Heard you called Eric and asked for a favor, what was that about?’
Madden raised his eyebrows in surprise. Trust that dick to not keep his mouth shut.
‘Nothing,’ he said, his voice flat.
‘It’s not like you to ask for favors.’
‘It is entirely like you to not mind your own business, though.’
Theo chuckled. Older than him, they had met early in Madden’s career. The older businessman had been a bit of a mentor to him.
‘Come on, spit it out, I’m bored out of my mind reading quarterly reports.’
Madden sighed.
‘Just doing a favor for someone.’
‘Madden Price, doing something for someone back in the town he swore he would never visit. Is this someone special?’
Madden’s eyes searched unbidden until he found the blond.
Special would be a stretch, but he couldn’t even deny to himself that he was feeling far more than just attraction for the other man.
Adryan was laughing just now. Shane turned his head and their gazes met, and a grin spread over that stupid face, as he leaned over Adryan.
Adryan gave him an annoyed look, but didn’t say anything, both distracted now by the sound of a beer bottle crashing.
‘Fuck,’ he heard his brother grunt. ‘One of you, get me another one.’
Shane and Adryan exchanged a look, one of those that spoke volumes, mostly because everyone was thinking the same. The pile of empty bottles lined up at Michael’s feet as he tended to the food, enough that you needed to stop to count them.
‘I’ll get you some lemonade instead,’ Adryan said, trying to look casual about it.
‘Don’t fuck with me, Adryan. Just get me a beer or get the fuck out of my sight.’
Adryan and Michael held each other’s gaze.
‘Theo, I’ll call you another time, something is going on.’
‘Oh, no! I’m going to miss your scintillating conversation…’
‘Fuck off,’ he grunted, hearing his friend chuckle even as he pressed the red button.
Before he could even take a step toward his brother, Adryan took a step back.
‘Suit yourself, Michael,’ he said, and walked away, leaving his brother and Shane behind. His face was more or less calm until their gazes met, and Adryan frowned.
‘What was that?’ Madden asked when Adryan reached him.
Adryan let himself fall into a chair, under the same tree Madden had been monopolizing.
‘Your brother is a handful, you know that?’ He said, taking a swig of beer. ‘Both of you, Price boys, are, really.’
‘And what are you? Easy?’ Madden replied, annoyed.
‘Extremely,’ Adryan replied, a grin on his lips and a spark in his eyes.
Madden raised his eyebrows, speechless.
‘Sit down,’ Adryan said, pulling a garden chair closer.
He obeyed, not knowing what else to do.
‘How many beers have you had?’ Madden asked, a sudden frown on his brow.
‘Not as many as your brother,’ he replied, now serious. And then, just because he could, he slapped one of those large, beautiful hands on his thigh and Madden’s temperature rose a few degrees as if he had been touched with a hot iron. ‘Listen-’
‘Have you asked him yet?’
Madden turned a stunned face to see who had the audacity to interrupt them, only for his expression to turn sour when he saw Shane. Shane, who had had his hands on Adryan all morning. Shane, who was now sitting his ass on Adryan’s leg.
‘Honestly, Shane, what the fuck-’
‘Did you ask him to speak to Michael?’ Shane interrupted him.
That distracted Madden long enough to ignore the image in front of him and stare at Shane.
‘What?’
‘So no, then,’ Shane said, tense. ‘Look—’
‘What the fuck is going on here?’ Michael’s voice boomed over the noise of the party. ‘You joining the girls too, Shane?’
Maybe it was because Shane had drank too much too that he didn’t seem to register what Michael had said.
‘What?’ was his only comeback.
‘Did you get so much pussy that you got tired of it and prefer dick now?’
Gasps and murmurs could be heard all around them. Madden, who was the only one actually sober apparently, a fact he was only partially grateful for, stood up to try and somehow shut his brother up before things got worse. The stench of beer hit him, a cloud clinging to his brother’s every pore.
‘Michael, this is your daughter’s birthday party, remember?’ Madden angrily whispered at him, trying to not make a scene.
Michael looked at him, struggling to focus, quiet for a moment. It gave Madden hope that his older brother might be trying to gather his common sense.
‘Fuck off, Maddy. You become gay and then Adryan says he’s gay too, and now Shane is clinging to him like he can’t wait to get home and fuck him and…’
Madden stopped listening at that point. It all turned to slow motion.
What did his brother just say? It was hard to turn, hard to face the man behind him, as if his body was pushing against the current, his mind revisiting scenes he had forced himself to forget, visions of Shane’s and Adryan’s face from below, as he tried to stop Michael from punching him or shoving shit in his mouth, Adryan’s laughing face, sun in his hair, careless, free.
Images of Adryan standing behind his brother while his brother observed his handiwork and Madden’s eyes swelled shut.
‘You’re gay?’ he asked, and even his voice sounded delayed.
The way Adryan’s expression fell, his face losing color.
‘Maddy …’ he started. But he didn’t want to hear it.
He turned on his heel, ignoring the voices calling him, his mind buzzing with thoughts he couldn’t stop, as he was only vaguely aware of the door closing behind him or the pavement under his feet.
He walked, not even thinking of where he was going, until a horn got his attention.
He half expected it to be Adryan, in his stupid, dusty purple car, but a black sedan slowed down to his left instead.
‘Come on,’ Susan said, coming to a stop.
Madden looked inside, the kids at the back, strapped into their car seats, hugging teddies and dolls, visibly confused. Susan’s face was streaked with tears, but those had passed and she sported a look of determination now.
Maybe, when this confusion passed, he’d look like that too.