“Sure, tomorrow night will be good weather for stargazing,” Shawn said.
Leo took another drink from his beer, then wiggled the empty bottle. “Anyone ready for another?”
The second he disappeared through the trees to get more beer, I turned to Shawn with a quick kiss, then grabbed my boxers from the ground. “I never thought my best friend throwing my boxers at his brother could feel so complicated.”
Shawn laughed. “At least he’s clueless.”
“Now I just need to stop thinking about your lips long enough to enjoy his visit.”
He pursed his lips, then rose to his feet. “I’ll try to make it easy on you,” he teased.
Animal desire kicked in every time he talked to me like that. The last thing I needed was Leo pointing out every one of the boners his brother gave me all weekend. I pushed my hand through my hair, then let out a slow breath.
The second that weekend was over, I was going to devour Shawn.
* * *
The next afternoon, Leo and I took a hike through the woods behind the house. The trees cast a nice shade, and the air was sweet and cool as we followed the winding trail.
“Are you and Monica still talking?” Leo asked as we rounded a bend.
“Not really,” I answered. “There’s not much to talk about, I guess.” I realized that I hadn’t thought about her in days, which surprised me.
Guess I had a few good distractions. There was nothing quite like experimenting with gay sex to keep your mind occupied.
“I’m sure the right woman will come along,” Leo said. “You’re a total catch.”
I chuckled. “I’m not worried about it.” A squirrel ran across the path while Leo paused to take a drink from his water bottle. “How have the men been treating you?”
“Very good, as usual. Thank god for Grindr. You remember, back in high school, I was convinced I’d never get laid.”
“That’s because you were the only out gay guy in school.”
Leo cocked up half a grin. “Well, if you asked anyone else, they would have sworn that you and I were fucking.”
I shrugged. “Those are better rumors than what everyone said about me before you and I started hanging out. Back then, I was just a violent criminal.”
As we stood under a small tree, I considered the family resemblance between Leo and Shawn. They had the same silver eyes and the same cheekbones, high and curved. And they each had slim, compact bodies, although Leo carried around more heft than Shawn did. But as I considered my old friend again, still, I didn’t feel a hint of attraction to him.
Weird how that was, I wasn’t going to doubt it. Maybe my cock was just smart enough to know he and I would be terrible boyfriends.
“Hey, man,” he said. “That reminds me. I was thinking about it on the way out here. Thanks for being so nice to Shawn.”
I sucked on my teeth. “How’s that?”
“Back in Indiana. You know me, I was a mess in high school. I was busting out of my seams. And I definitely didn’t have enough sense to look after him. But I remembered how you always kept an eye on him. I just thought I should say thanks for being there and doing what I should have done myself.”
I kicked at the path, not really sure what to say. “Yeah, Leo. No sweat. You came around when the time was right, too.”
We started walking again, and Leo swung his water bottle by his side. “Yeah, once he came out of the closet. I should have been there for him before that, though.” He shook his head. “Shawn and I have talked it out. I’ve made my apologies. I just can’t believe I had my head so far up my ass, I missed what was going on with my own little brother.”
I laughed under my breath. “Trust me, Leo. There’s always more going on with Shawn than other people realize.”
Chapter Fifteen
Shawn
The next day,Leo and I spent a few hours after lunch in the garage, digging through Grandma’s old things. There were boxes stacked up along the wall that hadn’t been opened in years, and we took our time knocking the dust off and poking around, looking for some things to spruce up the studio once the remodel was done.
