Page 58 of Perfect Storm (Toronto Thunder #1)

Next July

“You know,” Levi said casually, as Aidan tossed a log on the fire, “it’s been a year. Exactly a year.”

Aidan glanced back at the chair Levi was sprawled in. The chair that until a minute ago they’d been sharing.

“Guess it has,” Aidan said. He brushed off his hands on his jeans and stood, wandering back to where Levi was sitting.

Levi grinned up at him, clearly very delighted with himself. “I think that means we can finally have sex now.”

Aidan opened his mouth and nearly said something like, “Yeah, yes, let’s go do that right now.” But before he could, the back door opened and a whole group of people spilled out onto the patio.

Too many brothers. So many brothers.

Landry and Riley, of course. Logan and Dylan.

But it wasn’t just brothers. Even Lyla had come along this time, and she’d brought, to everyone’s shock but most especially Riley’s, Paige.

“Hey,” Lyla had said, “if you’re allowed to couple up with each other, so are we.”

Riley had only stared at them in shock and had finally tugged his best friend into a long, tight hug.

“You should’ve told me!” he’d said to her, and Paige had only shrugged with a bright smile on her face.

“This is me telling you,” she’d said. “We hung out at the game last fall and, well . . .one thing led to another.”

All these siblings meant it was a very full house. Such a different vibe from last year, when Aidan hadn’t wanted to talk to or even see anyone. He’d sulked when Riley had shown up with Landry and Levi.

But now he was surrounded by people he loved, that loved him right back.

None of them was as important as Levi, though.

Maybe they’d been together less than a year, but already Levi was the most important person in his life, and they’d become inseparable.

“Oooooh,” Logan teased as the group of them spread out among the chairs surrounding the firepit. “Someone was thinking about breaking the PDA rule.”

Aidan had been forced, after the second day here, to enforce a no-PDA-in-public-spaces rule. Not for him and Levi—but for everyone else.

“It’s my house,” Aidan just retorted and sank back into the chair Levi was sitting in. Levi’s arms went around him and pulled him in close until he was practically sitting on his lap.

Riley raised an eyebrow. “Seriously, bro?”

“Seriously,” Aidan said.

“Did you realize they were gonna be like this?” Lyla asked Landry.

“So smug, like they were the first ones to discover how great falling in love is?” Landry retorted fondly. “No. But I guess I shouldn’t be very surprised.”

“You shouldn’t be,” Riley said affectionately. “A Flynn’s gonna Flynn, even if he’s a Flynn in love.”

Landry pressed his lips to Riley’s cheek in a lingering kiss. “Especially when it’s a Flynn falling for a Banks.”

Lyla and Paige had pulled out the makings for s’mores, so they spent the next hour or so toasting marshmallows. Levi got chocolate smeared all over his face and Aidan felt duty bound to lick it off and didn’t even feel bad, because Logan had Dylan’s sticky fingers in his mouth twice already.

“This is perfect,” Levi said with a happy sigh as he relaxed back in the chair, his legs bracketed around Aidan’s thighs. Aidan was leaning against his chest, feeling the contentment spread through him, the steady pulse of Levi’s heartbeat aligning with his own.

“We should do this every summer,” Riley agreed.

“Kind of ballsy, don’t you think,” Logan asked, “volunteering your brother’s house?”

“What do you think, Levi?” Riley asked again, smirking.

Levi just laughed. Maybe Aidan should’ve felt some kind of way about everyone assuming that his house was basically Levi’s house, but it was and it was impossible to even be upset about it because he liked it so much.

Levi turned to him. “Bro, what’s your take on this?”

“I’m down,” Aidan said.

Levi didn’t look surprised because he probably wasn’t surprised.

He liked—no, he loved—having Levi in his space.

Even when he stole all the blankets in a cold Toronto winter.

Even when he was driving Aidan crazy by prancing around in electric yellow short shorts.

Even when he invited half the team over for a Mario Kart tournament on a Monday afternoon that was supposed to be a day off because, “Aidan, you need to loosen up some.”

Levi was usually right, which had sort of chapped Aidan’s ass at the very beginning, and now he just found both reassuring and comforting.

He did usually need to relax, and often Levi could take him out of his own head with sex, or with teasing, but sometimes there was nothing like the distraction of having twenty football players eating him out of house and home, slumped all over his couch and his barstools, arguing about whether someone cheated.

Levi always knew what he needed, and Aidan sometimes wondered how he’d made it through a whole football season without him before. He had. Many times. And yet, when he thought of how plain fucking great he felt now, versus then, he wondered how he’d ever managed it.

“You guys are adorable,” Lyla said quietly.

Landry groaned. “Don’t give them any more ammunition! They already know how hot and built and cute they are.”

Aidan glanced back at his boyfriend and wasn’t surprised to see a tender look on his face. “Hey, babe,” he said, “did you hear that? We’re hot and built and cute!”

Levi looked delighted. Delighted and in love. Aidan’s two favorite looks.

“Yep,” he said, “it’s true. Now y’all get out of here. I am gonna be a lot cuter in a second and you don’t need to be witnessing it.”

“The magic words,” Logan said, jumping up and tugging Dylan with him. “Come on, babe, we’ve got plenty to keep us busy.”

“Us too,” Paige said, wrapping an arm around Lyla’s waist.

Riley and Landry were the last up. Landry had already turned to go in the door, but Riley lingered.

“Bro,” he said, “he’s good for you.”

Aidan smiled. “Yeah,” he agreed.

Levi’s arm tightened around him. “He’s good for me, too.”

“Yeah, but Aidan? He was sort of messed up before,” Riley said.

Aidan knew it. In the back of his mind, he’d known it and pretended like he didn’t, because that was easier than thinking of how he’d felt, back then. Before the sunshine of Levi had come streaming into his life, turning everything technicolor and bright.

“Not anymore,” Levi said, pressing his mouth against Aidan’s neck.

“Aaaand that’s my cue,” Riley teased, covering his eyes and making a face. “Go be cute, but don’t do it in front of me.”

“Big words for someone who literally fucked my big brother in your kitchen,” Levi murmured against Aidan’s neck as he turned in his arms so he could get his mouth on Levi.

“You’re not going to get any arguments from me,” Aidan said and kissed him.

Levi was the best possible reminder that even though sometimes things sucked and it felt like they were never going to get better, often right around the corner there was an unexpected miracle, just waiting for you to grab it.

To grab it, to hold it, and to never let it go.

Levi leaned back and took Aidan with him, tipping his head to look at the stars. “I meant it,” he said, “it’s pretty much perfect out here.”

Aidan had been coming here forever. Pretty much every summer since he was a kid had been spent in Michigan. His parents had owned a house here. He’d gone to college here. He’d bought his own summer house with the money from his first NFL contract. But he’d never, not once, felt like that was true.

But it was now.