Learning-to-Feel (21 page)

His eyes nearly popped out of his head, and he barked out a laugh. "Nathan!"

I undid his jeans, pushed them over his hips and pulled his shirt over his head. I grinned at him, "I’m pretty sure it won't hurt, Trent."

He shook his head and laughed, and wasted no time in obliging. "Well, I do owe you an orgasm," he said casually. My dick was already hard, and his lips slipped over me, taking all of me into his mouth.

My head fell back onto the pillows, and I groaned. He slid up and down my shaft, using his lips, his tongue, licking and sucking me. When his nose nuzzled into my pubic bone, he slid his arms under my hips and swallowed around me.

"Holy shit!" I yelped and tried to not buck my hips, but he was consuming me. The pleasure was so intense and focused on my cock
.
He’s got a very fucking talented mouth.

"Oh, fuck," I groaned.

He replaced his mouth with his hand. "Look at me, Nathan," he whispered huskily.

So I did, and he had his fist around the base of my cock and was flicking the head with his tongue. He pumped me and tongued the slit. "Mmmm," he groaned. "You taste so good."

"Oh fuck, Trent."

"I want to taste more of you," he murmured. "Empty your cock in my mouth."

I gasped at his words. He smiled before opening his mouth and taking my engorged cock in between his lips. He pumped and sucked and licked and groaned and I was raising my hips to give him more.

My hands took to his hair and his face. I felt his hollowed cheeks and where his swollen lips were wrapped around me. My thumb traced our joining, my cock and his mouth. He groaned, and I was gone.

With a final lurch, pleasure detonated within me and the fallout of my orgasm obliterated every cell in my body. He swallowed and drank the come that poured into his mouth, and I couldn’t see or hear, my senses were overwhelmed. All I felt was his mouth on me, his lips, his tongue lapping at me, as the last of my orgasm emptied into his mouth.

He pulled me up off the bed and into the shower before I could focus or even stand unassisted. Trent chuckled and washed me, and when we got out of the shower, he kissed me. It was a quick kiss, just a peck on the lips really, but the way he smiled and how his eyes shone, just about set me flying.

There was a happiness that was shining out of him. He smiled at me, and I grinned back at him. "You know, you're beautiful," I told him.

He took my chin in between his thumb and forefinger. "Not too shabby yourself, Doctor."

I kissed him, and he rubbed his hand along my cheek. He groaned against my lips, "Mmm, please don’t shave today. This," and he rubbed his thumb along my jaw, "this should stay."

"Oh, darn it," I rolled my eyes and scrubbed at the scruff on my neck. "And I was going to ask you to shave me."

His head lolled back, and he groaned. "Please don’t tease me with shit like that
.” He
chuckled, “ You have no idea how much I'd like to do that."

I waggled my eyebrows at him. "I'll remember that for work on Tuesday."

He nodded excitedly, and I laughed at him. Tying the towel around my waist, I walked to my room,
our
room, and got dressed. I put on an old pair of jeans, v-neck and flip flops, perfect lazy day clothes.

Great. Now I sounded gay.

I snorted and Trent looked at me, curiously. I laughed and asked, "So, now that I’m gay, I have this excellent in-built dress sense, right?"

Trent shook his head at me and laughed, as we heard a car come down the drive. We made our way downstairs, and I saw Brendan's Jeep coming toward the house. I went to open the front door as they pulled up, and Trent stopped me. "Um, Nathan?" he asked quickly, nervously. "How do you want me to act around them?"

"Just be yourself," I told him, a little unsure of what he meant.

"No, how are
we
acting around them?" he clarified, motioning between us.

Oh.

"Well, I was going to tell them I went and got myself a boyfriend, if that was alright with you?"

His slow spreading smile was my answer. I opened the door, Brendan and Kat were looking around at the house and the forest, taking in the beautiful scenery before them. Smiling, I stepped outside to greet them.

Chapter 21

I walked out onto the veranda as Brendan and Kat looked around them, taking in the walls of green trees surrounding them. They both wore huge smiles. "This place is pretty fucking awesome," my brother declared loudly, and his wife whacked his arm.

"Don’t swear," she chided him, still smiling at me. "He means it’s very beautiful."

They grabbed their bags from off the back seat, and Kat snarled at her husband. "Jeez Brendan, you could at least offer to carry my bag."

He stopped dead and stared at her. "Cut me a break, Woman! I offer to carry your stuff, and I get crucified for being chauvinistic. I don’t offer to carry your stuff, and I still get crucified."

Trent, who now stood beside me, mumbled, "Thank God, I’m gay."

I laughed, causing Brendan and Kat to look up at us. Trent chuckled and met them on the stairs. He asked Kat, "Can I carry your bags for you?"

"No, thank you," she replied sweetly. "I’m perfectly capable."

Brendan looked at him so seriously. "Don’t even bother, my friend. You'll never win."

Kat kissed my cheek, smiling like she’d won that one, and we walked into the foyer, just as Bentley limped out to greet us.

Brendan put down his bags and pointed to the bandaged dog, then to me. "You and me, we're gonna talk about this."

I rolled my eyes at him and crouched down in front of Bentley. "It’s okay, Little Buddy. He looks big and scary, but he’s a softy." Then I looked back up at Brendan and told Bentley, "He'd have done the same thing."

"Fixing people in a vet clinic is one thing, Nathan," he huffed. "Fixing a dog in a hospital is something else entirely!"

Kat's eyes bulged. "You did what?"

Trent interrupted. "It was my fault. I asked him to."

"It wasn't your fault," I said, looking at Trent. "It was my decision."

"It was a stupid decision," Brendan grumbled pointedly at me. "You know how much I love animals Nathan, but to risk losing your license?"

"And if I had to Brendan, I'd do the same thing again," I told him truthfully.

He looked at me like I’d lost my mind. "This country air has fucked with your head," he added, and Kat whacked him again.

Ignoring his rant completely, I asked him, "Did you tell Dad?"

Brendan blinked. "I’m not
fucking
crazy!"

Kat whacked him again. "Stop hitting me," he whined.

"Stop swearing," she replied, mocking his tone.

Brendan huffed at her, then looked to me. "Mom, Dad and Alana stopped in town to pick up some
brunch,
" Brendan said, using my mother's tone and rolling his eyes. "They'll be here soon. Who the hell uses the word brunch?"

"Your mother does," Kat answered. "Leave her alone."

Trent looked at me, a little unsure at how to take my brother and his wife.

I smiled at them. They were still the same, volatile, hot and cold – though more times hot than cold – and completely right for each other. "Come on," I said. "Leave your bags there, I'll show you the back yard."

We walked out onto the back veranda, and we watched Bentley navigate the steps with his bandaged leg. "Maybe I should make him a ramp or something?" Trent thought out loud.

"Dogs are resilient," Brendan told us. "He'll be running around on that leg in a day or two."

"Could you check him over?" I asked. "Just to be sure?" Bentley sniffed around on the grass, tail up, looking rather happy.

He nodded and then looked out into the huge backyard. "It’s huge! Is that the Bay?" he asked, pointing down the yard. I nodded, and he shook his head. "No wonder you love it here. It’s in the middle of the freakin' wilderness."

I couldn’t help but smile. I do love it here, but it wasn’t strictly the forest and water that I loved. I glanced at Trent, and his lips were fighting a smile. When I looked at Kat, her eyes darted to mine, and then she looked away, smiling. She saw the look between Trent and I. I considered just coming right out and saying it, that we're together, that I’m gay, but figured I should wait until everyone was together and explain it gently.

As I walked down the stairs onto the back yard with the others following, we heard another car coming down the drive. "That'll be Mom and Dad," Brendan said, so we headed toward the front of the house. Trent was nervous, and although I doubted my brother or his wife would notice it, but I did. I wanted to hold his hand, I wanted to reassure him that it was all fine, but I couldn’t.

Not yet.

Maybe I'd tell them at lunch. I had to tell them today, because Trent would be in my room tonight. Maybe I’d tell them at dinner. Delicately, subtly and calmly, that was how I'd tell them.

They pulled up and got out of the car, all smiles, hugs and hellos. Alana bounced out of the back seat and hugged the life out of me, my mom and dad were next. There were friendly hellos to Trent. He smiled and made general chitchat, but he was quick to offer to carry something.

We grabbed bags, while they took in the surrounding trees and scenery. Mom had her hands full of paper bags from the deli. Brendan helped with those, taking them inside.

We took their luggage bags straight upstairs, dropping them in their allocated rooms. I didn’t want them to realize sleeping arrangements – particularly mine and Trent's – until I was ready to tell them, so it was a brief, probably rude tour. "Brendan and Kat first door on the left, Alana second door on the left, bathroom through that door, Mom and Dad last door on the right," I told them.

I was quick to head back downstairs, knowing they'd follow me. "Who wants coffee?" I asked.

Mom, Dad, Alana, and Kat were talking near the back door, and Brendan was now outside giving Bentley a quick once over. I was in the kitchen with Trent getting plates for the pastries and he asked me quietly, if I was okay.

I nodded. "Just nervous, that’s all. I’m going to tell them. Today."

He was obviously surprised. "Are you sure?" he whispered. "You can’t undo this, Nathan."

I looked him in the eye. "I’m very sure."

We took the plates out to the table on the back veranda so my family could enjoy the view while they ate. Everyone helped themselves to the pastries and were talking happily, and my nerves settled. Then Brendan came back outside after washing his hands, sat down and helped himself to some brunch.

My father asked what happened to Bentley. "He was on the back of my truck when his collar broke," Trent explained. "He fell off."

My mom put her hand to her chest. "The poor thing…"

"Did the vet do an adequate job?" Dad smiled when he asked Brendan. If only he knew…

Brendan smiled tightly, and his eyes flickered to mine. I told him with my eyes he better lie convincingly. He looked back at Dad and said, "Yes, it would seem
the vet
did an excellent job."

My father looked at me, then at Brendan and back to me. He simply put his coffee down and smiled. "Do you boys remember the time the vase in the dining room mysteriously broke all by itself and the time the bumper on my car got dented, all by itself…?"

Fuck.

"Well, you boys couldn't lie then, and you can’t lie now," my father said.

Fuck. Fuckityfuck.

My father was an astute, perceptive, intelligent man. Fuck.

"I’m not lying," I lied.

Dad rolled his eyes dismissing me, and looked at Brendan. My brother folded. "Hey," he said, putting both hands up. "I’m not involved in any way."

I stared at my brother. Traitor. "What’s
wrong
with you?"

"What's wrong with
me
?" he scoffed over the table. "I’m not the one who treated a
dog
in a hospital!"

Five sets of eyes popped simultaneously, someone gasped – I didn’t see who – because I was looking at my dad. He stared at me, turning an odd shade of pale. It seemed to take an eternity for him to be able to speak. "Nathan…" he said quietly.

I could handle yelling, visible anger and seething ire, but it was the quiet disappointment I couldn’t handle.

My father was one of the most renowned and respected doctors in Boston. To have his son's practicing license revoked or to be fired disgracefully because he treated an animal in a hospital, would be devastating to him.

I couldn’t look at him. Everyone else stared at me, and I swear I heard Trent's heart beating double-time from the seat next to me.

"Nathan," Dad repeated quietly.

My father had always had a way of staying quiet whenever we did something wrong, making us talk just to fill the silence.

I looked at Trent, and he was sipping his coffee, looking anywhere but at me.

And I panicked.

I blurted out the one thing I’d been trying to not say. "I’m gay!"

Trent choked on his coffee beside me. Everyone else stared, gaping at me, and Brendan laughed. "You need to work on your diversionary tactics, Nathan," he said, snickering.

"Fuck. That wasn’t what I meant to say," I muttered, looking at my slack-jawed family. "I mean, I was going to tell you, but that wasn’t how I was going to say it."

I looked at my dad. He was looking at my mother, and when I looked at Brendan, his smile was gone. My brother slowly leaned forward in his seat, glared at me, then at his wife, then back to me. "Did she put you up to this?"

"What?"

"Kat put you up to that, didn't she?" Brendan asked. "How much is she giving you?"

I shook my head at him. I didn’t know what he was talking about. I looked at Trent. He was wide eyed and darting glances to everyone at the table.

"Goddammit!" Brendan cursed and abruptly got to his feet. His chair skidded on the decking, and Trent tensed beside me, his feet moved as though he was ready to stand, ready to fight.

I grabbed his hand, instinctively, but before I said a word, Brendan was pulling notes out of his wallet. "Two-hundred bucks, Nathan! Two. Hundred. Dollars," he said again, counting out twenty dollar bills onto the table.