Page 99 of Mr. Naughty List

“He did?”

Candace waggled her brows. “Indeed he did.” She looked like she’d been drinking already. Her cheeks and nose were red, and her eyes were alight with more than excitement over the holiday. “Is it true?”

“I hardly remember him from back then.”

“Oooooh,” Rory Lynn said. “That’s a little dirty, isn’t it?” She’d obviously been drinking too.

“Definitely not the rumor I want getting around. For all intents and purposes, we met at a club downtown earlier this month. He was playing a gig and I was in the audience. We struck up a conversation afterward.” He shrugged. “Voila.”

“Oh, voila!” Candace said, laughing. “You’re such a pompous prick, Cracker. I mean, come on. You’re sleeping with a former student. Don’t act like you’re all that.”

“Admit it. He was a one-night stand that stayed longer than you expected,” Rory Lynn said with a chuckle.

“Why do you care?” Aaron asked, feeling hot all over.

“Look at him. Blushing like a virgin bride,” Rory Lynn said. “Oh, Cracker. You’re too much fun to tease.”

“This is why he hasn’t brought anyone home before now,” LeeLee said playfully, coming down the stairs from having put her toddler down for a nap. “Leave him alone or he won’t bring anyone else again.”

“My hairdresser is gay,” Candace said. “And my dermatologist too.”

Aaron stared at her.

“Are they single?” Rory Lynn asked. “Because Jake’s cousin Brian is gay, and he’s single.”

“And I’m not,” Aaron said, frowning in confusion. “So…”

“Hey,” RJ’s voice carried up from the bottom of the staircase. “I’ve been looking for you.”

Rory Lynn, Candace, and LeeLee all hustled away, smiling at RJ and squeezing his arms as they passed like they wanted to test to see if he were real or not. The noises from the kitchen—pots, pans, laughter—echoed down the hallway.

“Everything okay?” RJ asked, coming up the stairs.

“The bathroom downstairs was occupied, so I was going to use the one up here but got waylaid by nosy cousins. They wanted me to know that there are other fish in the sea if you throw me back.”

“Is that what they said?”

“Not really. But I think that’s what they meant.”

“Kinda sweet of them,” RJ said with a grin. “Wanting to matchmake for you if things don’t work out with us.”

“They’re probably mad I didn’t tell them before. Years of potential setups down the drain.”

RJ followed Aaron up the stairs to the second floor and into the bathroom. “We can share,” he said, shutting the door behind them.

With the door blocking out the waves of family sounds from downstairs, Aaron closed his eyes and lifted the toilet seat to take a leak. He put his hand on the wall over the toilet and leaned against it, trying to relax enough for his bladder to release.

“Your dad’s happy I’m here,” RJ said. “That’s pretty cool.”

With a sigh of relief, Aaron felt his piss surge, and he groaned as it hit the water in the porcelain bowl. He hadn’t realized how badly he needed to go. “I think he’s genuinely glad, but also I’m pretty sure he thinks he needs to make up for how awful my mom is being. So he’s being extra open-minded.”

RJ scooted in beside Aaron, his cock out and already taking aim. There was barely enough room, but if they both held still and concentrated, they could piss together at once without making a mess.

“This is nice, right?” RJ said as they washed their hands in the sink together.

Aaron nodded. It was nice. No doubt about it. He was surprised to find that having RJ with him made him feel more real and less like a hanger-on of the family. This was his lover, his father’s house, and his Christmas. He wasn’t just an observer, around for a few days here and there while the rest of the Danvers clan were the real family. Not this year.

Of course, when they went back downstairs, it was only a matter of time before the cousins broke out the embarrassing childhood stories. LeeLee even went so far as to get out his father’s photo album. There were some horrendous pictures of her in there too with terrible early-2000s hair and clothing, but no one seemed to care. RJ seemed to enjoy the old pictures, and Aaron was grateful LeeLee didn’t get out the actual baby book.