I knew I had at least a couple more events this week. An art lecture at one of the local colleges, a meet and greet at a community center, and a couple more store visits after the convention, but nothing for a couple of days. I'd planned on just hanging out in the hotel and playing on my laptop, maybe getting some work done, but obviously the hotel was no longer an option.
I looked over at Lee where he sat behind the wheel. The streetlights moved across his face in flashes as we drove down Market Street and headed back downtown.
“That… that was really great,” I said, watching him. A smile teased at the corner of his lips, then flashed at me as he glanced over and caught my eye.
“It was, wasn’t it? It’s been a long time since I've had that much fun,” he said.
“I couldn’t have done it without you,” I said, my voice low.
He glanced over at me, his eyes taking on a warm heat as they caught mine. “You’d have figured it out, Mason. I just helped you… jump-start it,” he said.
“Are you saying you jumped me?” I asked, wagging my eyebrows at him salaciously.
Lee laughed and turned his head. I thought he muttered something under his breath, but wasn’t sure exactly what. It sounded suspiciously like,“I wish…”
We drove for a while in companionable silence until his phone pinged, indicating a timer had gone off. A reminder showed up on the sound system display. “Ass Kicking by Mom”. I laughed when I read it.
“Figurative, or literal?” I asked
“A little of both,” he said. “It’s D&D Family Night at the Devereaux Dungeon,” he said.
I swallowed hard against the lump in my throat as I struggled to voice my excuse. I'd originally planned on claiming fatigue and asking if we could just go home after the signing. I wasn’t exactly the most social of people on my best days and after the panic attack the night before, I was afraid to push my limits. I thought I’d spoken to more people in this one day than I had the entire last year.
But something about Lee’s posture made me pause before turning down the invitation. He spoke with an air of forced casualness – like a kid asking his crush to the prom.
“You still game?”
He kept his eyes glued tightly to the road now and his voice was almost shy as he spoke. It was such a delightfully different side to this usually-confident man.
“Of course, I’m game!” I exclaimed. “I wouldn’t miss meeting the rest of your family for the world.” As we continued the drive, I found, oddly enough, it was true. I really was looking forward to meeting the rest of his quirky family.
A few hours later, as the last of the blood drained from my lifeless body, I came to regret that snap decision.
9
Lee
I knewMason had no idea what he was getting himself into when he agreed to meet the family, but I also knew I wouldn’t have it any other way. They were pretty damn amazing. Despite my problems connecting with them after Mack’s death, I never doubted that my family loved me.
As I reminded Mason of the game, I grinned like an awkward teenager. I’d never really brought anyone other than Mack home to meet the family, so it made this doubly awkward. I hadn’t dated in high school, like, not at all. While I’d always known I’d been attracted to guys, I'd planned on making a career of the military and with “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” still in force, I knew I’d have to accept that I wouldn’t be able to have a public relationship for many years, if ever.
Not that I had a relationship with Mason. I mean, not that it was a relationship atall.Fuck. I was babbling, even in my head.
Mason saved me from dying of embarrassment and second guessing myself further by quickly agreeing to play.
We soon pulled up in front of my childhood home. It was a large, seven-bedroom farmhouse that had been built somewhere around the turn of the last century. Its brick and stone exterior had been added sometime after that. My parents had inherited it from Mama D’sfamily. I'd lived here my whole life, until heading off to boot camp and this was where all the Devereaux kids called home, even when they finally started moving into their own places.
We parked in the gravel driveway and I got out, going around to Mason’s side. I opened the door for him, catching him lost in thought, a small worry line forming between his eyebrows.
“Hey,” I said, laying my hand on his shoulder. He jumped a bit at the touch but turned those beautiful blue eyes up to me. “This is it. Don’t worry, they don’t really bite anyone. Not anymore.”
Mason smiled that hesitant smile and started to get out of the truck when his brain seemed to catch up to what I'd said.
“Wait, what? Anymore?” he called after me as I laughed and walked up the stairs to the wooden porch that wrapped around the house. “…Lee?”
He stumbled out of the Jeep and followed me. I could hear the sounds of laughter and yelling in the house. Good. Things must be normal.
I held the door open for Mason as he walked up.
