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Chapter Twenty-Four

LAIKEN

I thrust up into him, bringing him to his toes. A muffled whimper gives into a deep groan. His entire body shakes.

Every single time I’m inside this man, I can’t believe this is my life. How did I get someone so exquisite?

“Laiken,” he whispers, likely because I’ve stopped moving. I can’t believe this is real.

I wrap my hand around his leaking dick, jerking him in time with my thrusts. His hand drops from the wall I have him pinned against to grip my wrist. Lie gasps. His head drops backward, and I latch onto his shoulder, giving him a tender bite before sucking on my mark.

His trembling becomes more pronounced. His ass tightens. He gives me a garbled warning before he releases his load all over my hand. It sprays the wall and puddles on the floor.

The clenching of his ass makes my eyes roll. It’s so tight that I can’t stop myself from sharing his pleasure and unloading.

The back room is filled with our heavy panting and attempts at keeping our sounds as muted as possible. Which I think we do rather well, all things considered.

Lie’s body becomes heavy in my arms. I can feel his heart racing where his back presses to my chest. I kiss the side of his face and shoulder over and over, overcome by how much I care for him.

This should have been temporary. A mutual itch we were dying to scratch. Something inside me says I should have known it would become so much more. Lie was never temporary. Nothing about him is.

I’ve loved him for his entire life. When he left for college, his absence had been familial.

A beloved nephew going off into the world.

I’m not sure if it was simply his growth during his last semester at college or a change in me.

But feeling this man in my arms now, how he sinks into me, takes my cock so deep I see stars, the way he clings to me…

I’ve been in love with him since he climbed off the plane and ran to us.

“Break must be over,” Lie murmurs, turning his face into mine.

“Go clean up in the bathroom. I’ll take care of our mess out here and see what’s going on in the kitchen.”

He sighs. His sigh turns into a grunt when I gently pull my dick out of him. I don’t let him go for another few seconds, but reluctantly, since I don’t have a choice.

Lie grabs his shirt and shorts from the top of the boxes and creeps around the corner before slipping into the bathroom. I discard the condom in the bin and grab one of the rolls of paper towels to wipe remnants of Lie’s pleasure from the wall and floor. My hand.

After a quick cleanup of my cock, I put myself away. I give the bathroom a backward glance and head to the kitchen, as I said I was going to.

“These ready to go out?” I ask.

Chef glances up and nods. “Ready.”

“Smells delicious, Chef.”

He gives me a smirk and turns back to the grill. We added a few more options this week. Nothing that would take him an unreasonable amount of time to whip up in a bar setting, but something to expand our options and speak to a wider audience.

That had been one of my first changes when my management position had been made official. Patrons leave to get food. If we can offer them options here, that means they don’t need to choose between the bar and a restaurant.

It doesn’t always matter. About half the guests on Kala purchase unlimited alcohol and food with their vacation package. That also means half have their bracelets attached to credit cards, so that’s more money in our pockets.

I balance a plate on my forearm against my biceps with a second in my hand.

The third plate is in my right hand. I give Chef a nod and head out.

He does really well keeping up with the orders, but once word gets out that our menu has expanded, I imagine it won’t be long before he’s going to need help.

The ticket listed seats at the bar, so I find the three men. “Salsa burger?”

The man in the middle leans back, pushing his glass of beer out of the way. I give the one to his right the fish tacos, and the remaining gets the regular burger. After placing a stack of napkins in front of them, I take a step back.

Water spots on the counter distract me from anything further, so I wipe the countertop, making my way down toward the other end. The lyrics of the song make me pause.

“Skinned by your teeth

Down a rotted hole.

You’re just like ground meat,

Nothing but a mole.”

I stare at Benson as he sings what I’m guessing he thinks is a hit song. Lie steps up next to me a few seconds later. “What the hell is he singing?” Lie says, disgust lacing his voice.

“Through a blender

Up in the air

Where she lets me bend her

And pull her long hair.”

“It’s like he’s trying, and poorly, to prove that he’s straight with the shittiest song I’ve ever heard,” Mike says as he steps up beside us.

“He’s literally engaging no one with that trash.

I’ve counted no less than eighteen disgusted faces glancing his way and then turning their back on the band. ”

I shake my head.

“There are my two favorite guys.”

My attention is gratefully snagged as Nason and Miranda take seats at the bar in front of where we’re sitting. Nason with a beaming smile as he looks between me and Lie.

My skin flushes as images of what I was doing to his one and only child flash in front of my eyes. Guilt makes my chest tight.

“Hey, Dad. Mom,” Lie says.

“What’s got you all staring?” Miranda asks.

“Listening to this weird-ass song,” Lie says.

That makes his parents turn toward the stage. The lyrics go back to grinding animals in blenders and shit as it wraps up. We’re all still staring at them when he ends the song. There are a few lackluster claps, which irritate Ben.

“That isn’t one Onyx wrote,” Lie says as his parents turn toward us again.

“How can he think anyone is going to like that song?” Miranda says. “It’s grotesque.”

“One of the many things he’s delusional about,” Lie says, rolling his eyes. “You want drinks? Want to try Laiken’s new menu?” He looks at me with a big smile, making my heart flutter in my chest, warring with the guilt that I feel with Nason here.

“Yes, we’d love to see a menu,” Miranda says. “I’ll take a daiquiri.”

“Just give me a beer,” Dad says as he leans into Miranda’s side to share the menu she takes from my hand.

“Strawberry,” I tell Lie as I pick up a glass and bring it to the tap. I’ve been serving them drinks since I began working here. I know what they like, though I do enjoy mixing it up without telling them and seeing them make faces at me.

I smirk as I fill the glass.

“This is a much better song,” says one of the men, to whom I’d brought food a few minutes ago.

I chuckle. “How’s the food?” I ask, since I’m close.

“These are the best tacos I’ve had in eons,” one says.

“I’ll let Chef know. You guys need anything?”

“More napkins,” they say together and laugh.

Once I’m finished filling Nason’s beer, I let it sit for a minute while I find them better napkins than the little squares drinks sit on. “Make sure you leave room for dessert. Trust me when I tell you the calories are worth it.”

“Totally worth it,” Lie says, grabbing his father’s beer on the way by.

All three men watch him with a similar expression. Yeah, boys. I know. He’s fucking gorgeous, isn’t he? I’d play up my possessive act—not an act at all, by the way—but not with his parents here. I don’t want questions. Especially not here.

I tend to a few newcomers to the bar, filling their orders and wiping any spots from my shiny counter before making my way back down to Nason and Miranda. Lie has disappeared somewhere. I don’t see Cash in his corner, but he could have found someone else he knew.

“Eight items on the menu,” Nason says.

“Still bar food, low cost, high flavor. However, I think Chef might need some help before long. Two bars on Anapos have already reported they can’t keep up with the increased volume.

They had to borrow food stock from the nearby restaurants and called in off-duty bartenders to help in the kitchen.

” I shrug. “I knew the expanded menus would be welcome; admittedly, I thought it would take a bit longer for them to catch on.”

“You’re bringing in more live bands too, yeah?” Nason asks, taking a sip of his drink.

I glance at Whiskey Horizons and nod. Benson thinks he’s the shit because he’s the only resident band. He thinks that gives him special treatment. What he fails to understand is that more than half the bars on Kala have refused the band because Benson is a dick.

His constant need to remind patrons they’re not gay, so they back off, is a put-off for everyone. It’s like Ben is oblivious to the fact that he’s at a gay resort.

The only reason I put up with him is because I’m more than happy to throw my weight around when needed to keep him in line. Something he knows well, having had his ass thrown out before. I’ll very readily do it again, too. My bar patrons and staff come first. Benson comes last.

“You flying some in?” Miranda asks as Lie appears at my side.

I slide down so he can set a plate of skewers between them. Lie flashes me a smile and heads for the other end of the bar. I watch him flirt with a man down there. Watch the way the patron leans across the bar with a flirty smile, and Lie plays up being shy.

My hackles rise when I see him push Lie a square napkin. Lie picks it up, turning his attention to me and flashing it my way with a smug smile.

Everything inside me burns as I meet his eyes. He stuffs it into his pocket and turns his attention back to the man.

“Laiken?”

“Yeah?” I say, turning back to Nason.

He watches me with amusement. “He’s not a child anymore. He might meet his forever man here, you know.”

It takes a great deal of effort not to snap that he already has that. I smile, though it feels forced. I’m guessing it must look more angry than amused.

“Where are you getting more bands?” Miranda asks, and I remember that she’d just asked me that question.

I shrug. “Details of how haven’t been decided yet. We have it in the newsletter next week, calling for talent. We’ll see who responds. If no one, then we’ll revisit with other ideas.”

Lie pops back to my side. I know his wide smile is for me, though he doesn’t look at me. “How’re the skewers?” he asks his parents.

“Wonderful,” Miranda says.

Lie nods. “They’re my favorite.”

“Ah. That’s why you brought us something we didn’t order,” Nason says.

Lie grins. He sticks his fingers into his tight-ass pockets and offers me the napkin with the room number on it. “For you. He likes older men with hairy chests.”

His eyes sparkle with mischief. I grab it from his fingers and ball it up, tossing it into the bin, a silent reminder of who he belongs to. Who he’s going home with. The only cock he’ll be taking.

“Look at you two,” Nason says, and I know I’m not the only one who turns to stone. “You’re both hiding someone, aren’t you? Is this a conspiracy to keep me in the dark?”

I stare at Nason for a long time, debating on whether he’s hinting that he already knows. He knows, and he… approves? No. That makes no sense at all. I know Nason and I’m positive, no matter how much I hope it would be different, that he will not readily accept me with his son.

“Yes,” Lie says, and my heart stops entirely. “I’m seeing someone. It’s… yeah.”

“It’s serious,” Nason says. “That’s what you were going to say.” He’s still smiling. So proud. Excited.

Lie sighs. “It is.”

“When do we get to meet him, baby?” Miranda asks.

Lie looks at her warily. I’m not sure if that expression is because of Miranda’s constant little jabs at him, and he doesn’t want her to say something in front of another person—his supposed secret boyfriend. Or because his secret boyfriend is me.

“You already know him,” Lie says, shrugging. He becomes animated again, wiping up the counter.

“Ohhh,” Nason says, laughing. He looks at me. “You know who it is, don’t you? Have you become my son’s confidant?”

“Yes, Laiken knows, and no, he’s not sharing. It’s a secret.” He grins and heads for the newcomers at the bar before I can.

Jerk.

Miranda and Nason look at me expectantly. I feel like I’m a deer caught in headlights. Shit. What am I supposed to say right now?

“Do we get a hint?” Nason asks.

I shake my head. “Nope. I’m not breaking his trust.”

“But we’ll like him, right?” Nason asks.

It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell them they already love him. But the idea that maybe they won’t once they find out stays my words.

“Yeah,” I say.

“You sound sad about it,” Nason says, laughing.

There’s no way to explain that, so I don’t. I give Nason a smile and head for the kitchen when the green light flashes. Once behind the door, I take a breath.

I can’t shake the feeling that they know. And if they don’t, they’ve already put together that we’re both seeing someone we’re keeping secret. How long before they put it together?

And how long before we can move beyond his anger and live happily ever after?

The ache in my chest and the dread that fills me suggest that I’m being na?ve. When Nason figures this out, he’s going to lose his shit. I’m not sure there won’t be severe casualties. Scars that will never heal, no matter how many years pass.

I’m in too deep now. There’s no getting out of this without some pain. Once, I knew which relationship I’d have put over any other. Now, I’m not sure I can make the choice.

I can’t live without Lie. He’s my entire heart. My whole world.

But how do I live my life without my best friend at my side when he’s been there for two-thirds of my life?