Page 5

Aiden

“ T here’s no way. You can’t be cool with this.”

“Nathan, would you calm down?”

I watched in horror as my brother continued to argue with Mom. This was supposed to be fun and go figure that Nathan had to ruin it. I wasn’t him. Just because he’d made a lot of stupid mistakes in college, it didn’t mean that I was doomed to repeat them.

“He’s taking him out of the fucking country.”

Mom placed her hands on her hips, glaring at him. “Watch your mouth. I’m more than aware of where they are going. Joseph sat me down and walked me through the entire itinerary. I get that you worry about your brother, but he’s not a child anymore. Your friend has this all figured out and is being responsible.”

Nathan threw up his arms. “Responsible. Joe. Those two words don’t belong together.”

“Would you stop it? You’re supposed to be his friend and you’ve done nothing but talk down about him lately. ”

Nathan blanched. His shoulders drooped as he looked between me and Mom before holding his hands up in surrender. “No. You’re right. I’m just worried about you, Aiden. I’ve been there and done that. Don’t do what I did. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, and I don’t want you to throw it all away for a chance to party it up with one of my friends.”

I gave him a tight smile before approaching him and giving him a cautious hug. “I appreciate you. Please know that, but it’s time to let me grow up and learn to make mistakes on my own.”

Nathan ran a hand down his face before looking off into the corner where his boyfriend Chase had been silently watching the entire ordeal. “Don’t you have anything to say about it?”

Chase only shrugged. “Not really. He has a point, Nate. He’s got to figure this one out.”

That was it. That was all that needed to be said for my brother to throw in the towel. He slunk off to the living room and crossed his arms over his chest as he sank into the couch.

“Are you all right?” Mom asked, looking over at me as I stood there watching him.

“I’m fine. Just... going to go pack some things, I guess.”

I didn’t wait for her to say anything else and made my way to my room. I had no freaking clue what I needed to pack for Mexico. When Joe had said he was taking me to Cancun, I thought he’d been joking at first. Then he showed me the tickets, and I didn’t know what to say .

One week at an all-inclusive resort with white-sand beaches and sunshine. Mom had gotten us all passports at one point. We’d never used them, but now I was thankful I had it on standby. I could go and not have to worry about it. I’d finally have a stamp and be able to say I’d gone somewhere exciting.

A soft knock on my door made me jump. When I turned around, I wasn’t all that surprised to see Chase sliding into the room. Ever since I’d confided in him last summer that I felt something for my brother’s friend, he’d been checking in on me periodically. And now, with the prospect of leaving the country with Joe? It was a good time to make sure I wasn’t just thinking with my dick. Not that I ever did that. Though this was an entirely different situation. Most things were with the dark-haired man who haunted my dreams.

“Mexico?”

I shrugged at his question as I pulled a shirt from my dresser and placed it on my bed. I had packed most of my summer clothes away, so I would have to retrieve them from my closet.

“It was a shock. I mentioned last week that I was grateful spring break was coming up and suddenly I had a vacation planned.”

Chase stared at me for a moment, arms crossed over his chest, before he moved to help me pull a box of clothes out into the middle of the room.

“But this has nothing to do with New Year’s Eve, right? ”

Joe brought up the trip only after we finally talked about that night. It was a little suspicious, but he’d made it clear we were—and would remain—only friends. A large part of that bummed me out. At nineteen, I felt like I was missing out on so much. Most of my friends had tossed that v-card in the trash a long-ass time ago, and here I was, still clutching onto it like some lovesick fool. Even if that wasn’t the case. I just wasn’t ready.

“We talked about it. It’s not that big of a deal, I guess. We both agreed that it shouldn’t happen again.”

I didn’t realize Chase had even moved across the room again until he was grabbing my arm and drawing my attention to him.

“Don’t say shit like that. It means something that you’re so drawn to him, and you need to talk to him about it.”

I shrugged it—and him—off as I opened the box and started sifting through my storage to find what I needed to take on my trip. My shorts were at the bottom of the box, and I pulled out a couple pairs before finding a few tank tops and a couple of t-shirts that were lighter.

“I don’t know, Chase. He made it very clear that we needed to remain friends. Maybe if Nathan hadn’t punched him, things would have been different.”

Chase scoffed. “I’m still pissed he did that. It’s not his place. You’re a grown-ass adult and no matter what his feelings are about his friend and his past behavior, it doesn’t mean he’ll act like that with you. ”

I nodded as I returned to the closet and pulled out my suitcase. “Again, I’m not going to force something he doesn’t want. Maybe it’ll fizzle out after a while. In the meantime, Joe is one of the nicest friends I’ve ever had and I’m not about to fuck that up by telling him I’d rather him be railing me than just hanging out.”

That’s what did it. The room filled with laughter as Chase helped me load my clothes into my suitcase. “Maybe this trip will change some things. Take a chance, Aiden. You’ll have an entire week to get him to open up.”

I nodded before Chase pulled me into a tight hug. It was strange how he’d become more of a brother to me in the last few months than my actual brother. When he left, I looked at the bag of packed clothes on my bed. We still had a few days until we were leaving, but suddenly my head started swimming with all sorts of possibilities. Maybe I could finally approach Joe about what I’d found online. There was a chance he could teach me a few things without the fear of Nathan attacking him.

My thoughts scattered as I shook my head and went back to packing my bag. If anything, I was good at being prepared well ahead of time. I had a bag that I packed my travel toiletries in, and as a last-minute decision, I grabbed the small plug I’d bought after watching a video of Joe playing with one recently and tossed it in. I’d yet to use it, but if things went smoothly the next week, maybe it would finally get broken in .

After zipping my suitcase closed, I took a deep breath and looked around my room. Shit, things would really change, wouldn’t they? Or maybe that was my imagination. None of my friends seemed all that different after having sex for the first time. Maybe it was all hyped up in my head as being this big, life-shattering and altering moment. And that was if sex even happened.

Joseph Bishop and sex. The two went hand in hand, but not when it came to me.