Booker:Fuck, I forgot that part of it.
Jupiter:As I was the best bet for having Emmy, you can swivel, dickweed!
Booker:You love Emmy Jup, so you’ll only be denying yourself…
Kari:Next week is the Milan fashion show, Jup. You won’t be home, or had you forgotten? Though how is beyond me after all the damn prep.
Jupiter:Nope, not forgotten, just giving Booker a false sense of hope for being an asshole.
Dad:Why is it y’all seem to forget I can read? Silas, it was a surprise for Popi, hence why I never mentioned it. It’s our fortieth wedding anniversary, and he loves staying at the vineyard. Booker, Bessie is more than happy to assist with Emmy. I would have discussed this with you when you got home this evening.
Silas:Oh.
Booker:Right.
Rue:You aren’t planning to come to the ranch then, Dad?
Dad:Popi will of course want to come and see you.
Rue:Of course.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Rue
Rue dropped his head to allow the hot water to pound the back of his neck, easing some of the tension he’d pretended wasn’t there after reading the Alphahole chat. He hadn’t mentioned anything to Kendrick or Monty about the planned ‘surprise’ visit of his parents’. He should have known better than to talk to Dad about moving back into the ranch house.
Had he let slip more than he’d intended? Yes. And now he was paying the price for that. He was sure Dad would have mentioned a trip to the Vaughn winery during their last conversation. He hadn’t, and no matter what he’d said in the chat, Rue couldn’t see any reason Dad wouldn’t have told him about the visit. It was easy to come to the conclusion that the trip was booked after their conversation. Which meant Dad had to have mentioned something to Popi. Didn’t it?
Rue had been going around in circles all day trying to figure it out. And with that came the panic because Popi would want to come to the place Rue was staying at. There was no doubt thiswas going to open up a whole can of worms. He wasn’t prepared for it. Fuck, he wasn’t sure he ever would be when he was having a relationship—and it was a relationship—with two men. All the hallmarks were there. They shared a damn house together.Did everything together. Even with Kendrick returning to work the next day, there was no way to avoid it. They couldn’t play pretend, when he suspected Kendrick and Monty would be hurt by a suggestion to hide their relationship in front of the two people that mattered the most to Rue.
Rue released a whimpering groan of despair.
“Everythin’ okay in there?” Kendrick’s voice could just be heard over the water.
Rue couldn’t tell if he heard concern, and he was too chickenshit to look out the glass wall. He’d come straight up for a shower when he got home to avoid this very conversation.
“Mostly,” he hedged, not wanting to lie, but needing some more time to figure out what the heck to do.
All day, that’s all I’m saying.
I don’t need your input.Rue didn’t need his animal side getting in on the act, and closing himself off to prevent this kind of conversation hadn’t really worked. His animal side had nagged.
Giving my opinion is not nagging.
You keep believin’ that!
The blast of cool air against his wet skin got him swallowing back the desire to be left alone. A large, naked body brushed against his, and he bit back a moan and the urge to tilt his ass as Kendrick’s arousal touched the back of his thigh.
Sex right now won’t solve anything.
Say’s who?
“Talk to me,” Kendrick murmured, his lips gently touching the pulse pounding at the junction of his neck and shoulder.
Such a simple touch, yet Rue felt the weight of it. Kendrick had a knack of making him feel… safe. With it came the need to talk, off-load, that was strong enough Rue found himself unable to hold back. “Dad and Popi are coming to visit.”
Rue noted just the barest hint of hesitation before the lips nibbling on the cord of his neck leading to his ear continued, causing a rush of blood to his head.
