Page 28

Chapter Twenty-Five

LIE

Living in a place like Kala means that I rarely know what day of the week it is. The vast majority of businesses are open daily. They don’t close early, depending on the day of the week. Not many places even close on holidays. Holidays are simply modified to accommodate the guests who are here.

The only way I truly mark the days is when my mom works. Since she works for the school, there is a distinct Monday through Friday schedule and school hours.

This is why I know it’s Saturday. Mom is in and out, doing errands and puttering around the house.

Because Mom’s home, I don’t dare lock myself away inside Laiken’s house and ride his cock like I really want to. I suppose I’ll have to be satisfied with the twinge in my ass.

It’s not like I can’t spend the day with Laiken, anyway. That’s not really out of the ordinary. Besides, Cash is working, so it’s either hang out outside or inside, where I run the risk of being the subject of one of Mom’s subtle comments about literally anything about me.

At least when she was accusing me of hiding a partner with my dad the other night at the bar, she got the gender right. There have been many times over the years that she randomly forgot that I’m into guys.

I’ve been done bemoaning that for a long time. I don’t care. I am who I am, and nothing she says is going to change that. Dad loves me this way. The rest of the damn island loves me as I am. So what if Mom wants to see me more masculine and with a damn woman?

Laiken dangles a glass in front of my face. I grin, grabbing it, as he walks around the lounge chair I’m in and takes a seat in the one beside me.

“You make this?” I ask, taking a sip.

He snorts. “Not a chance. Bought it from the market and put it in the blender with ice. Which is necessary since it’s freakin’ potent.”

“Mm,” I hum as I take a long sip. Tangy and sweet at the same time. “It’s good.”

Laiken nods. “Very. They won’t give me the recipe.”

I grin and set it on the small table between us. It’s frustrating that he’s so far away. I can’t reach him. But Mom keeps coming outside so I can live without touching Laiken for a while. It’s not like I’ve lived twenty years without being in his lap at every possible moment.

“How was your shift last night?” Laiken asks.

“I definitely don’t enjoy the bar without you,” I say, frowning. “Is that the new normal now, Mr. Manager?”

“I have a feeling it will be more often moving forward,” Laiken admits.

I scowl, making him laugh.

“Maybe Whiskey Horizons needs a new singer,” he suggests. “You could try out for the band.”

“Ew. I would stab Ben with the drummer stick. Is that what it’s called?”

“I think so.”

“Huh. That’s boring.” I take another sip of my smoothie. “I think you should decide to work with me every night I’m scheduled and do your other managerial duties on the nights I don’t work. Since I only work two nights a week, I think that’s fair.”

“Guess I shouldn’t tell you now that the management groups think I should be working during daytime hours when most other managers are working for meeting and coordination purposes.”

He smiles when I glare at him. “Not cool.”

“Sorry.”

I sigh. “It’s fine. This isn’t a forever job.”

“Have you found any forever job possibilities?”

I shake my head. “No. Admittedly, I haven’t looked. I’ve been enjoying working with you. The job is very different when we work together. It doesn’t feel like work. The night doesn’t drag. But if more and more nights are going to be like last night, then I don’t think I want to stay.”

“I’ll make sure I spend most of your shifts with you,” Laiken promises. “Trust me when I tell you I’d much rather be anywhere you are than somewhere else.”

“Good.”

“Nason asked me again about your secret boyfriend. Especially since you just had to say that Nason knew him.”

I huff. “There’s a part of me that just wants to tell him, but I know it’s disastrous.”

Laiken looks over my head at my house. “It will be,” he agrees. “I’ve known Nason for most of my life, and there’s never been any indication that this will be acceptable.”

“He loves us,” I say. “I feel like that should override anything else.”

I can tell by the way Laiken nods that he doesn’t think that’s going to be the case.

A minute passes before he looks at me and smiles.

“How about we don’t worry about that right now?

I think we have some conversations to have, including how we want to handle this situation with your parents, but it doesn’t need to be discussed today. Okay?”

I want to believe that we just need to think of the right argument or defense or… explanation, and Dad will understand. That’s what I want to happen. That’s the best outcome.

But Laiken is right. This doesn’t need to be an immediate conversation. There’s no need to tell anyone outside of the two people who know. In a community like Kala, two people is huge. That’s always a recipe for everyone knowing.

I suppose it helps that one is Cash, and the other doesn’t live on Kala. As a professional hockey player, he wants to keep his anonymity, so it’s unlikely he’s going to tell a soul, anyway. He understands wanting privacy. That’s why he’s here.

“Your birthday is in a couple of days. Excited?” Laiken asks.

“Birthdays haven’t been exciting since I was a kid,” I say, shrugging. “I’m not sure I need to celebrate surviving another year. Woohoo.”

“I, for one, am very happy that you survive every year,” he says.

I grin. “Sucking up will get you everywhere. I might even sleep with you if you keep it up.”

He chuckles. “Do you have plans for your birthday?”

“No. I don’t think so.”

“Are your parents planning anything? Are they working? What about Cash?”

“I feel like you’re fishing for nefarious purposes.”

“I wouldn’t call them nefarious, but yes, I want to know if you’re available.”

“As far as I know, no one is planning a surprise party, so I think we’re good. What do you have planned?”

Laiken smiles. “Ah. I’m not giving you details, but I’m thinking once your parents go to work, I’m going to take you out for the day.

We’ll be back in time for them to get home from work—as if we’d been home the entire time.

Celebrate with them. Then you come over when they’re asleep, so I can give you your present. ”

My gaze drops to his crotch. “You’re going to wrap that thing in a bow and let me ride it like a stallion while you buck and try to throw me off, but I’m holding on so tightly that you can’t shake me. I’ll win awards. Medals. I’ll be written about in sonnets. Right?”

He shakes his head, laughing. “No. Though, yes, if that’s what you want to do, you can definitely ride me all night. Though I’m going to point out that you can do that regardless of the day.”

I grin smugly and sit back in my seat, taking another sip.

“Speaking of riding, you’re still holding out on me. Why is this still so one-sided?”

“Your dick is like the holy grail of big dicks. I’m obsessed. When that obsession fades, you can ride mine.”

“Somehow, I’m not sure this is a fair trade.”

“Okay, fine. At the very least, on your birthday, you can ride mine. It’s just a month later.”

“One day a year. Let’s not get too crazy.”

I throw my legs over the side and get up. “I’m going to use your bathroom.”

Laiken nods.

I’m barely fifty feet further from mine, but I think my mom’s home and I would rather be here with Laiken, anyway. I love his house. Especially since the colors are becoming far more peaceful. It no longer feels like the walls are screaming at you.

I do my business, stopping in the kitchen for some water. I enjoy other drinks, but I drink my weight in water most days. It’s hot on Kala. One of the things we really have ingrained in us at school is hydration because it is so hot.

I stand in the open fridge and chug my glass of water. While I wait for it to fill again, my eyes snag on an open notebook on the counter. I’m not sure what exactly catches my attention.

While sipping this freshly filled glass, I wander to it and nearly spit out my water. My eyes skim across a whole lot of King Arthur storylines that haven’t been written yet. It’s a list. The first dozen are crossed off.

“Oh my god,” I murmur. “Laiken is...” Oof. That’s dumb. I should have figured it out. LIHW is his initials with a random W at the end!

I pick up the notebook and return, giving Laiken a pointed look. He has his brow raised as I sit on the edge of the chair and hold up his notebook.

He cringes. “Where did you find that?” he asks, reaching for it.

“Wide open on your kitchen counter. I was drinking water.” I hold my glass up as if it were proof of my words. “It caught my attention because I’m obsessed with King Arthur’s Camelot . You’ve been LIHW this entire time and didn’t tell me?!”

“Only Nason knows,” Laiken says, closing the notebook.

“Ouch.”

He shakes his head, smirking.

“I didn’t know you wrote,” I say.

He watches me for a minute before sighing. “I write a lot.”

“You’re… ashamed of that?”

Laiken laughs. “No. Not at all. I just don’t share it with anyone. Again, Nason is the only one who knows that I write. I write for me. Besides King Arthur’s Camelot , no one has ever read a word of anything I’ve written.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to beg him to let me read, but I don’t want to put that pressure on him. I don’t want him to feel obligated because we’re together.

“If you ever change your mind and would like to share with someone who will enthusiastically read every single word you write, I volunteer,” I offer as casually as I can and sit back in the chair, bringing my feet back up. “I’m willing to sacrifice my time to support you, I guess.”

He chuckles. “Yeah?”

“It’s only right to support your partner, even when it feels like such a huge sacrifice.” I meet his eyes, and I should be commended for managing to keep a straight face.

Thankfully, he knows my theatrics are just that. I’m dying to read it all.

“Okay,” I say, spinning around again so I’m sitting sideways and leaning toward him. “I have to know why you made it closed door! Why are we stuck at PG?! You’re killing me.”

Laiken laughs. “Because the newsletter is available to all ages on Kala. Obviously, some of those ages shouldn’t be reading detailed sex. Not even in hundred-word bursts.”

I huff. “There should be an X-rated version,” I grumble, throwing myself backwards again. “I bet Lancelot can show Arthur a thing or two about how to handle a lance.”

He chuckles. “I’m sure he can, but I think we really need to talk about Gawain.”

“Oh no. We both know that Gawain might be all innocent and pious and deceptively virginal on the outside, but he’s a freak behind the dungeon door.”

“Thank fuck everyone realizes that,” Laiken says.

He flips through the notebook. “He’s probably my most challenging character because that is the impression I need him to continue giving off—gentlemanly and innocent and shit.

It’s difficult to show that he’s entirely different when the drapes on the bed are drawn without showing that. ”

“And that’s why you need to show it. Write some porn, Laiken! Please tell me that other things you write are dirty as fuck.”

He grins. “They are.”

“Ugh,” I groan. “Such a tease.”

“I confirm what you want to hear and I’m a tease?”

“Yes. What other things do you write besides chivalric serials?”

“I write queer fairy tales. I’ve dabbled in monsters. I also have a short story called Breedable that’s a rework on omegaverse. Are you familiar with omegaverse?”

“You mean growly men who bite you viciously in a show of possessive claiming and their fat dicks that sport knots for the ultimate pleasure load as they rut violently while locked inside you?”

He laughs. “Yep. That’s the one.”

“Nope. Never heard of it.”

Laiken shakes his head. “Like I said, I’ve only dabbled in monsters, but I’m not sure my imagination works in that direction quite so well. I’m best with humans or human… omegaverse, I guess.”

“I bet you could do monsters proud,” I say. “I’ll gladly offer some of my time if you need to bounce ideas off someone. You know, I’ll do my best to pencil you in. I guess.”

I love the way he’s smiling at me. It’s all amused and sexy and mature. “Thank you, Lie.”

“For what?”

He shakes his head subtly. “Just being you. You’re the absolute best thing in my entire life. You know that?”

Warmth spreads through me. “I am?”

Laiken nods. “You are. I don’t want to spend a single day without your dramatics.”

I roll my eyes. He catches my hand as I’m leaning back. “I mean it, Lie. I don’t want to spend a day without you. Understand?”

My heart races as I stare into his eyes. I get the impression he’s telling me something else between the words he’s said aloud. “Yes,” I answer. “I don’t either.”

“No matter what happens,” Laiken says, “I’m not going to change my mind about you. About us.”

I nod. “I hope not. I feel silly saying this, but I think you divorced your wife and didn’t love that one boyfriend of four years because you and me… we’re just…”

“Exactly,” Laiken says, his thumb rubbing the back of my hand softly. “Exactly that.”

“We haven’t been together very long,” I point out.

“We’ve been together every single day of your life except those months you went to college.”

“Yeah, but that’s?—”

“Yes, it’s different. My point is that I already know everything about you. And now you know everything about me.” He holds up the notebook. “All that’s left is growing old together, Lie.”

Because I think I’m going to turn into a weepy mess, I say, “You’re already old. I’m never going to catch up.”

Laiken laughs.

“Me too,” I whisper. “I want that too.”