16
Danny
By the timemy flight landed in Wisconsin, I regretted my decision to let Blake cage me for the duration of my trip. I knew I could fish out the key he’d tucked into my carry-on and take it off, but that felt disrespectful to him. I love the reminder of who I belonged to, but I despised my brain for defaulting to thinking about the way he’d cared for me before driving me to the airport.
If it hadn’t been for that blasted cage, I’d have had to sneak into the bathroom on the plane to jerk off. But no, thanks to him, I couldn’t even get hard.
After grabbing my bags from the carousel, I stepped outside and immediately felt cold. It didn’t matter that it was the beginning of June and probably seventy-five degrees. Apparently, my skinned had thinned since moving south, leaving me wishing I’d thought to pack a sweatshirt. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and sent a text to my brother, Billy, to find out where in the hell he was. Out of all my brothers, he was the one least likely to ask questions I didn’t want to answer about why I thought leaving Harmony Grove was the right decision when Michael and I split up.
Five minutes passed and then ten, without any word from my brother. I swore I’d dump ice water on his head if he’d forgotten about me. Harmony Grove was just far enough out of the city that taking a cab or an Uber—if one would even go there— would tap out more of my checking account than I was willing to spend. If they didn’t want to pick me up, I’d turn my happy ass around and get back on a flight home.
Huh. At some point, I’d started seeing Annandale as home, and Harmony Grove as a place I visited when I couldn’t get out of a trip to the town that had been home for most of my life.
Right as I tugged on the handle of my suitcase to see what it would cost for a flight back to the East Coast, someone laid on their horn behind me. Unsure if it was a lunatic about to barrel through the front of the airport, I stopped and spun around, ready to jump out of the way if necessary.
And there, acting like the fool that he was, was my second-oldest brother. I rolled my eyes as I dragged my luggage back to the curb. “About time you got here. I was about to say screw it and head home.”
“This is home, you fool,” Billy chastised as he hefted my bag into the trunk. He pulled me into a tight hug, thumping my back a few times. I carefully positioned myself to keep space between us. It was stupid, but I was sure he’d somehow know what I had going on under my jeans if I wasn’t careful. “You look good, man. Life’s treating you well?”
“Yeah. Things are awesome,” I assured him, wondering if my voice sounded a little too enthusiastic. I didn’t need Billy worrying that I was trying to feign happiness so the family would quit worrying about me.
“So, tell me what you’ve been up to.” When he hopped into the car, he reached across the console and gave me a noogie. I fucking hated when he did that, but it was also something familiar that told me he wasn’t pissed off at me.
I tried moving away from him, which didn’t stop my brother a bit. Unfortunately, it caused the cage on my cock to shift just enough to pinch. I winced, and Billy immediately withdrew his hand.
“Shit. Sorry about that. I forgot you might not be used to us picking on you anymore.”
“No, it’s nothing like that,” I assured him. Secretly, I loved how normal it felt to be in the passenger seat of Billy’s old Mustang. It wasn’t a classic, but the mid-eighties car was his pride and joy. “It’s just been a long day. We had inventory at the bar where I work this morning, and then I had to hurry to get to the airport on time.”
Of course, the hurry was because Blake not only made good on the spanking he’d promised me, but then he’d decided to use my body for his own release. My ass felt sticky from the cum he hadn’t let me wash away before insisting I’d been the one to cause us to run behind schedule.
I didn’t argue. There was no point, and I loved him for knowing I needed as many reminders as possible that he wouldn’t forget me and he was waiting for me to get home.
“Damn. They couldn’t give you the day off? That’s a bunch of shit.” I bristled at Blake’s criticism. It was my choice to work, it wasn’t like they were forcing me. “Seriously, they knew you were heading out of town today, would it have killed them to find someone else to do the grunt work?”
“I wanted to work,” I clarified. I shouldn’t have to explain to anyone why I made the decisions I made, but if Billy thought I was being mistreated, he’d be the one with his ass on a plane. “I have my own place now, and I haven’t been there long enough to have any paid vacation. If it wasn’t for my savings, I wouldn’t have been able to come. It’s called being a responsible adult.”
“Good for you, Danny.” Billy gave my shoulder a squeeze while we waited for a light to turn green. He stared at me, turning his head to the side. The corner of his mouth tipped up. “You’re not the same guy who left.”
“No, I’m not.” I was fully aware of the hard edge to my words. The man who’d left here had been weak, and certain he was going to fail no matter where he went. Now, I knew I’d be okay no matter what. My brother saying that he noticed a difference bolstered my self-esteem.
I wished I could call Blake and tell him how sorry I was for letting my insecurity hold me back, but then Billy would want to know all about him. My love life wasn’t something I was ready to discuss just yet. My brothers had tried to intervene when Michael started isolating me from my support network, but I hadn’t been ready to hear it then. If they knew I was with another Dom, they’d lose their shit.
I watched familiar scenery pass by outside the car. I remembered long weekends spent walking along the greenway between the two lakes in town, wishing there was a way I could get what I needed without alienating everyone around me. I wondered if I’d go back in time and warn younger-me to not settle for the first man who showed me attention. While that would have saved me a lot of heartache, it was also what ultimately led to me finding Blake, and I wouldn’t give him up for the world.
When my brother got off the highway, I stared at the fast-food restaurant at the bottom of the exit. The last time I’d been in this car, we’d stopped there so Billy could ask me one last time if I was sure about jumping on a bus to leave town. When I said I was sure, we finished our breakfast in awkward silence and he gave me a tight hug before driving me to the bus terminal.
The miles of countryside that passed as we left the city were familiar, but also not. It was an odd feeling, knowing this had once been home but felt foreign to me now. I hardly recognized my old high school at the edge of town. I knew they were expanding, but barely being able to see the shell of where I’d spent my most painful years, made it even more difficult to reconcile a time when this had ever been the only place I knew.
“Mom and Dad are excited to see you,” Billy finally said when we reached the four-way stop at the center of town. There was a new sandwich shop straight across and some sort of art gallery across the street. Sadly, most of the buildings were still vacant, a sign of a dying small town just far enough out that the city workers didn’t want to make the daily drive.
Compared to Annandale, it was sad. I could see how the town that now felt like home had worked damned hard to revitalize itself, and I wished the same could happen in Harmony Grove. Unfortunately, my hometown had always been a closed community, resistant to anything that threatened the delicate balance of their so-called history.
“Hey, you okay?” Billy shook me hard enough to snap me out of my haze.
“Oh. Yeah, sorry.” I blinked a couple of times in disbelief when Billy turned the corner and I spotted a Pride flag flying from the tall pole in front of city hall. That was something I never thought I’d see around here. “It’s hard to believe I’ve only been gone for a year.”
“I get it.” Billy nodded toward city hall. “There are a lot of people trying to do good around town. There’s still work to be done, but if you stuck around, you’d realize it’s not the small-minded town you’ve convinced yourself it is.”
