“You’re a prick. You know that?”
“I would’ve gone with asshole, but I’ll give you that. Now, if I led you on, that would make me an even bigger asshole.”
He flopped back onto the blanket next to me, giving me something even better to look at. Sunlight caught the moisture on his skin—sweat from our fuck and water from our dip in the river—making him glisten. Kelly Prichard was sexy as fuck. All hard planes of lithe sinew that dipped and rose, barely any body hair, except around the dick I couldn’t stay away from. Even soft, he put on a show.
There was only one problem with Kelly Prichard. He had visions of picket fences, and dogs, and kids dancing in his head. He wanted a traditional family life. Only, instead of the beautiful wife standing at his side, his vision included a guy as if the two were interchangeable. And maybe they were, to the right person. To someone like Kelly, who wanted all that.
But I didn’t. I had no desire to be that kind of gay. And not just because of the fucked up way I grew up. I wanted to serve my country without the guilt of leaving people behind. I wanted to see the world.
And I wanted to fuck.
The last one would be hard to do under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but people did it. At least I hoped so. The numbers were in my favor.
So, no, I had no desire to couple up the way Kelly wanted.
“Either way, asshole or prick, you still haven’t explained…”
“Yeah, I did. I said I’d do it carefully.”
“Xander…”
“Kelly, there are nearly a million and a half active duty members of the military. They can’t all be straight. Which means, where there’s a will, there’s a way. And I’ll find mine.”
His head rolled toward me, eyes wet with tears that had yet to fall. I ignored them, pressing a kiss to his lips, pulling away, and rolling to my feet before he could push for more. My clothes and his hung from the low branches of a tree. To cover my need for space, I checked our clothes. Dampness clung to them, but not enough to keep me from pulling mine on.
“So that’s how it’s going to be?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The words came out on a sigh fueled by the damaged phone I pulled from my shorts pocket.
“Liar.”
The accusation came with a kiss to the sensitive spot on my neck that never failed to get my dick’s attention. This time, I ignored the rise and Kelly’s attempt to get me back under him. I needed to get back to civilization. Kelly huffed and began dressing, grumbling under his breath as I gathered the rest of our belongings.
“Kelly,” I began, turning toward him to suggest we head back to his family’s cabin, only Kelly took me by surprise.
He pulled me into his arms, his mouth slanting over mine. I growled, low in my throat, taking control of the kiss and backing him up against a tree. The deep, penetrating, sucking kiss lasted eons. When we parted, our lips swollen, our breath short, Kelly smiled softly, his thumb brushing over my bottom lip.
“Happy Birthday, Xander.”
My eighteenth birthday. The one most kids waited for, all of us for different reasons, probably. For me, it would be the one where I took control of my life. Where I left behind the persona and life of luxury and privilege I’d grown up with, and stepped into a world of the coveted unknown.
“Let’s go. I have to get back to the city. That dunk in the river killed my phone.”
Hours later, I drove into town to get a new phone. As I walked out of the store, I spied a place I’d never allowed myself to visit, no matter how I longed to walk through the door.
The Navy recruiting office beckoned me, and I smiled. Today was the day.
Standing in the open wall of glass doors that led out onto the patio of my father’s cold, sleek, pristine, beachfront mansion, I stared out over the beach I grew up on. The same beach where I found solace from the mean, abusive, alcoholic fuck of a sperm donor who helped bring me into this world. The same beach where I had my first kiss, my first blow job, and my first fuck.
Man, was that a shitty-ass. There were places you shouldn’t screw, and a beach is one of them.
“Alexander, where the fuck have you been?”
Closing my eyes, I sighed before replying, “A friend’s.” I did my best to keep the snark out of my tone. The man didn’t like me on a great day. Given the tone of his voice, this was a space shuttle ride to Pluto away from being even a bad day.
“What friend?”
The question was so strange, I turned, curiosity beating against my skull. He never gave a shit who I spent time with. As long as it didn’t reflect poorly on him, I had free rein to do whatI wanted, whenever I wanted. It’s been that way since I turned thirteen or fourteen. The nanny said nothing because her goal wasn’t to watch over me; it was to get in my dad’s pants and get knocked up so she could have a slice of Dad’s fortune, which was actually my mother’s fortune. She’d come from old money, married beneath her, then died giving birth to me. My father never forgave me.
