He rode on the high of his fuck with Mason in the barn. He could still feel sensation in his prostate from how good Mason had plowed him, and he reveled in that feeling.
That was one of the things he would miss most when he had to go home, so he wanted it to linger as long as possible.
Chase picked up another box off the floor.
“How’s it going, Chase?”
He turned to Pa, who walked through the doorway. Even with the friendly smile on his face, Chase knew him well enough to know there was something else on his mind. “Afternoon, Pa.” Chase carried the box around him and set it in the bed of the truck with the others.
Pa rested his back against the frame of the doorway. “You need any help with those boxes?”
“Oh, no. I figure you have enough to do without jumping in to help me. You know I can handle everything just fine.”
Chase walked past him to fetch another box.
Pa was quiet—surprisingly so—before he said, “Mason’s been real happy since you got here, hasn’t he?”
Chase turned to Pa, and the look on his face said everything. Chase released the box he’d grabbed and stood upright.
“What are you guys doing?” Pa asked before twisting his lip into a frown.
“How did you find out? Did Mason say something?”
“Do you think he needed to tell me? You don’t think you two have been fairly obvious? I knew back when you came to visit a few months ago.”
“Does Emery know?”
“No, but if this wedding wasn’t occupying all her time, I’m sure she would have caught on by now.” He approached Chase, his gaze on the cement floor of the shed. “I wasn’t going to do anything to get in between whatever it was you guys had going on. I was just happy to see Mason smiling and being like his old self again. I haven’t seen him like that in a long fucking time. And then he just kept getting happier and happier. It wasn’t until this morning, when I saw the way he was lit up at breakfast, you guys chatting away, that I realized how incredibly irresponsible of me it’d be to just not say anything at all. And I think you can understand my concern.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Now I won’t tell you what you should or shouldn’t do. Hell, I’ve learned there’s no use to that when it comes to you boys, but I do have to ask… what are you planning to do? Are you going to leave your job in California and come back here? Or is Mason going to drop everything here and move out there?”
“I don’t really know.”
Being confronted by Pa reawakened all those insecurities and uncertainties about how Mason and Chase were going to make it work out.
“I just… I don’t want Mason to get hurt like he did back then,” Pa went on. “As much as I love seeing him like this, I know how it can get, and—”
“What’s going on?” a soft voice came from the other side of the shed.
Chase and Pa turned to see Emery standing in the doorway holding a stack of papers.
“Emery?” Chase said.
Her face pale, her eyes wide, she said, “Well, I guess I’m glad I came out to discuss the flower arrangements with Chase.” She glanced between them, her expression filled with confusion—almost like she was in a daze. “Chase?” she said. “Did I hear that right? Have you and Mason been… messing around?”
“Emery—”
“Just answer my question,” she said severely. “How long? Since the last time you came to visit?”
“Yes.”
“Are you kidding me?”
Pa spoke up: “Emery, why don’t we just let them decide–”
“And you knew this whole time?”
