Page 6 of Lakeside Little (Pineberry Falls: Summer Daddies #2)

Once we were on the water, there was an instant feeling of relief through me. I couldn’t say the same for Jack, hugging his life preserver tight to his chest, right beside the backpack of dolls he’d brought along with him.

We’d stocked the boat while on land before setting it off at the boat launch ramp.

There were a couple of rules, most of them were against speed boats and creating waves with machines as they disturbed the wildlife within the waters and around the water’s edge.

It was all basic stuff, and from Jack’s deep breaths and reaction to the rock of the boat, I knew we wouldn’t be creating waves.

“Ok,” he said, sucking down some water. “I don’t get seasick,” he kept prefacing things with. “I’m just anxious about falling in, or my things falling, or what if I dropped my phone. And you know.”

“You’d absolutely hate a cruise then,” I said.

He shuddered. “I’ve seen videos of cruise ships that get caught in storms and sometimes I imagine myself on them and—ugh,” he feigned vomiting. “I would die instantly on the spot seeing a big wave.”

I held his hand, and he became preoccupied with the hardness on parts of my palm.

“You’re gonna be fine out here with me,” I told him.

“But I will need you to show me you how twisted the line around the lure again. Plus, look at the box of lures we’ve got to choose from.

” I knew the secret to easing an anxious person in an uncomfortable situation, it was getting them to think of something else, getting their mind off whatever was troubling them.

“The rainbow one, obviously,” he said.

It took about fifteen minutes until he was completely fine with being on the lake, even as the boat swayed slightly. He didn’t gag or make any sound that made me want to aim his head over the side of the boat. The last thing I wanted was to dirty this thing.

Jack worked his magic on the lure and within minutes of having it in the water, there was a bite.

A heavy bite, it took a lot to reel the sucker in.

A large lake trout. Jack yelled at the sight of it.

I immediately threw it into the cooler I’d prepared for fish as it writhed around, trying to get off the hook.

Roughly the size of my forearm, it was a small beast.

“Ew,” he mustered, looking at it in the box. “I don’t think you need me to work my magic anymore.”

“I don’t think I’ll catch anything bigger,” I said, picking it up and holding it across both palms.

Jack stared at it. “I take it you want a picture with it.” He had a light grip of his phone as he held it and snapped photos of me with the fish. “Can we play some music?” he asked. “I think I need Britney.”

Placing the fish back in the bucket, I wiped myself off with a wet wipe. “If you know how,” I said. “Does this thing have speakers?”

“I think it has Bluetooth,” he said. “And I saw the sign about not playing too loud, even though I think Britney would lure more fish to us, rather than spook them.” He winked at me.

“You sound so very convincing, but sure, although I think they’d go wild for ‘Toxic’, or ‘I’m a Slave 4 U’.”

“Oh my god, wait, you know your Britney.”

Offering him the biggest smile, there was still so much we didn’t know about each other. “I went to one of her concerts when I was eighteen, she’d just hit it big, and the world was going wild for her.”

“No way.”

“Yes, way.”

“Ok, so how was it?”

“Incredible, it was like one of those things that I don’t think could ever be replicated. Even her Vegas residency, which I went to, and probably the only time I’d ever go back to Vegas. It’s not the place for me. Give me green nature any day.”

The way Jack now looked at me was filled with question, and I answered every single question that came to his lips. If it kept him calm and less agitated, I would do anything.

We caught several more fish, all of them smaller than the first, but the smallest were thrown back in. We ended the trip on the lake with a haul of lake trout, two bass, and some yellow perch, which Jack commended looked like dinosaurs with the fanned fins on their back and general scale coloring.

It was a successful fishing trip on the lake, and considerably quiet given there were plenty of people out on the lake with their floaties.

It was a large enough lake for people to go unnoticed though, and there were others fishing, which we didn’t get to interact with either, just a drive-by wave as we passed them.

“That wasn’t too bad, was it?” I asked as we hauled the boat in from the ramp.

Jack, now on land continued to cling to the life preserver. “I got what I needed from it,” he said. “But I think it’ll have to be a long time before I’m back out on the water.”

I gave him a hug and kissed his forehead. He wrapped his arms tight around me. “Nothing bad was going to happen to you,” I told him. “You’ve gotta believe me when I say that.”

“I did believe you, but there’s a whole lot of water out there.”

“And if you went into it, I would’ve been right behind you.” I kissed him again, this time on the lips as he met my face. “Now, I think we could do a little grilling outside. What do you think about that?”

“Like a barbeque?”

“Well, kinda.”

“As long as we get burgers, because I don’t think I could—eat one of those—” He paused to puff his cheeks with air like he was about to vomit. “At least not today.”

“Since you’ve been such a good boy today, I’ll get you whatever you want.”

“In that case, I saw some cute teddy bear printed plates and napkins in the convenience store yesterday, I think they would complete a barbecue.”

“Whatever you want, princess.”

He giggled.

We transported the boat back to its rightful owning, handing off one of the bass which was accepted with joy from Mason and a similar snarl from Oliver that I’d seen on Jack’s face, and you could tell they were related in that moment.

Jack was in his dramatics, telling his cousin about how hellish it was to be suspended above the ground, when in reality, he was just on the water and very safe.

“What do you have planned for the rest of the fish?” Mason asked.

“I’ve got an outdoor grill at the cabin, but Jack doesn’t really want the fish, so I’ll probably just keep most of it on ice and hope it keeps,” I said.

“Better idea,” Oliver interjected. “We should come over, in fact, why don’t I invite Elijah and Malcolm, they’ve just become an official couple, and I think it would be a really nice thing.”

It was something I couldn’t say no to, not like I would’ve said no. I was more than open to having more people around, especially when they helped me to escape the scary thoughts that often occupied my mind when I was left to my own devices.

“You don’t have to,” Jack said. “We’ve never even met before.”

Oliver scoffed. “You’ve met Elijah, he owns the bed and breakfast, and you’ve talked to Malcolm, he’s in the group chat. Remember.”

“There’s a group chat?” I asked.

“Not for us,” Mason offered with a dry laugh. “But I think it’s a good idea. I’ll bring beers.”

“Oh no, Diego doesn’t drink beer,” Jack added.

There was a moment where Oliver and Jack were communicating with sly jabs and looks at each other.

I got the gist of it being how much Jack knew about me in such a little time of actually knowing each other, and it was true, we’d only just met, but we’d also poured our souls out in front of each other.

I’d seen his soft, sweet insides, like honey, and he’d seen the jagged daggers in me, but that sweetness had sanded those daggers down already.

“We’ll be over at eight,” Oliver said. “Let me know if you need anything. I’ll bring wine.”

“Oh, we have plenty,” Jack said.

Mason kept the bass, it was a payment for the time out on the boat, and we drove back to the cabin with a pitstop at the convenience store to grab supplies for the barbeque I was now hosting for six instead of just the two of us.

In the car, Jack tucked his hand into mine on my lap and stared at me. “I hope you don’t mind Oliver inviting himself over.”

“Are you kidding, I think it’s a great idea.” A slight lie on my behalf, but I was excited to have something to do and if the town mayor was inviting himself, I would accommodate for him and his friends.

That night, I got the grill started and a fire pit in the small, designated area outlined by a ring of rocks. Jack cleaned the smell of fish of himself and played with his dolls until Oliver and Mason arrived with two new faces.

Dressed in a nice checkered red shirt and spritzed with my musky vanilla scented cologne, I greeted them.

And discovered Mason and Elijah, both the dominant members of their partners where both carpenters of sorts, working with wood.

It felt like we were creating an unofficial club of blue-collar Daddies.

Jack was the last to join us, and without planning it, he arrived at the cabin in a blue checkered shirt.

We looked like a couple, even if we were just seeing where things would go for now, but I was becoming obsessed with the way he made me feel.

I hugged him in at my side, feeling that honey sweet center smooth over my edges just a little more, plugging my thoughts that fought to attack me.

“Are you ok?” Jack asked in his soft voice pressing his lips to my cheek.

“Better with you here,” I whispered back to him, pecking a kiss on his cheek. I inhaled him at the neck, the sweetness from his insides was also represented in the cologne he wore too. “I always enjoy having my good boy around.”

Jack almost dipped to swoon in my arms, letting out moan that was covered by the sound of the crackling fires and people talking. “I have been very good, and now I’m very hungry.”

“Burgers should be ready soon,” I said. “I knew you’d be coming over, and I prepared. You want onions on you?”

“Ew, just plain, please.”

I squeezed his ass a little. “You wanted those cheese slices at the store; you don’t want one of those?”

“Mhm, ok, and lots of ketchup,” he said.

“What’s that good boy word again?”

“Pweese.”

With my tongue between my teeth, I would’ve bitten right into it from how adorable he was being. And before I could say anything back, he waltzed away to Oliver and Malcolm on the large logs around the fire.

“How long have you two been together?” Elijah asked, taking a sip of his beer.

I grabbed my glass of wine and the metal tongs for the grill with the other. “We’re not technically together,” I said. “But we’re exploring stuff, and a handful of days.”

“That’s how it started with me and Oli,” Mason said, tapping the tip of his beer bottle to Elijah and then to the lip of my wine glass. “First, it was helping him fix stuff, and before I knew it, I was the one on my knees, asking him to marry me.”

“Whoa, well, I’m not quite there yet,” Elijah belly chuckled. “But yeah, we’ve only been together for a month or so. And I’m still helping fix all his stuff. In fact, if you’re still around in a couple weeks, you should come by for the housewarming.”

Flipping the burgers, the fats and juice leaking out had the flames licking at the metal. “I’ll be gone by then, I’m only here for another—well, week and a half, something like that.”

“I hate to say it, but that’ll fly by,” Elijah said.

Glancing over to the group as they all seemed to sit with teddies or dolls between their knees.

I felt their sense of community, and even that between the three of us.

It was nice, but definitely very strange to me.

I’d never had anything like this before.

Six out gay men, all together, I couldn’t remember the last time, other than seeing Britney in Vegas.

“What type of stuff do you like making?” Mason asked. “Oli has me crafting all his houses and stuff. We’ve got this room in the house, we should’ve shown you earlier, but it’s like a small replica of town. And it’s my pride and joy, but it’s his little playground.”

“And I suppose it helps for town planning,” Elijah chuckled.

“Well, it’s not quite full yet, but once it is, sure,” Mason laughed.

“I bet it’s amazing to live here,” I said, taking in the dark sights only illuminated slightly by fire and moonlight.

They both hummed in agreement. I’d always had that mentality of the grass is greener over there, and that had caught me in so many spirals throughout my life, but the grass really was greener here.

“There isn’t a job going around here, is there?” I asked, half-joking.

“There’s always work going,” Mason said. “But it’s a small town, most of these businesses have been around for years. What other skills do you have?”

“I’ve helped build houses and I even worked at a furniture store before putting together furniture for customers at their homes, if that counts for anything.” Although as I said it, I didn’t know how eager I was to work for someone else again.

“If you can make and sell furniture, there’s a market,” Elijah said. “I make most of the stuff for the bed and breakfast right out of the workshop. We need a new chair for the dining room; I’m out there grinding and shaping wood down to the right size and then upholstering it.”

It was inspiring to hear them. I had ideas, but I didn’t know where to even start. And then I locked eyes with Jack, he smiled, and he waltzed right back on over. “Is my burger ready?” he asked. “I’m starving.”

“Feed the boy,” Mason chuckled. “You don’t want him turning into a brat.”

I winked at Jack. “He’s a good boy,” I said. “He’s never a brat.”

“I just give in to everything,” Elijah said. “I think it’s the best way. And Malcolm is happy about it. It feels like I’ve known him my entire life, which is weird, because I’m older than him.”

Another thing all three of us had in common, we were all older than our littles. But mine was the most adorable, and yes, I was biased. He was mine.