31. Rowan

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

rowan

I’m a high school graduate. Holy shit. I can’t believe high school is over. It feels good though. I was ready to be done with school, especially after the last two weeks when all I wanted was to have my boyfriend in my arms every second.

Excessive, but still true.

I can’t get enough of him, and now that his parents know, we don’t have to hide when I come over for dinner. His dad is also very careful to knock on the barn door and his bedroom door before entering now.

His parents are throwing both of us a graduation party today, since my dad couldn’t be bothered. He did show up though, and I guess that’s something. I wanted to kiss Benny after we tossed our hats in the air, but I held back.

Still a coward, but it’s getting better.

I just don’t want some great big coming-out moment. I just want to be with the one I love and that be it. I’m getting there.

Thank God for his parents. They’ve been great, but I already kind of sensed that. When we get back to their house, a lot of Benny’s family is here. Aunts and uncles. His grandparents. They’re all nice to me when Benny introduces me, but it bugs me that he said, this is Rowan instead of my boyfriend.

And I know he only did it for me. Benny is a wide-open book, happy as hell to be himself, no matter what.

So when he introduces me to his grandmother, his mom’s mom, I cut in, “I’m Rowan.” I offer her a smile and reach my hand out for her. “Benny’s boyfriend.”

She’s smiling sweetly now and takes my hand, squeezing it lovingly. “Well, it’s nice to meet you.” She looks at Benny and pulls him in for a hug. “I didn’t know Benny had a boyfriend.”

Benny is grinning wide from ear to ear, literally beaming. “It’s new, but it’s the best.”

His grandma chuckles and kisses his cheek. “True love always is.” She winks at me and then leaves us to fuss over the snack trays with Benny’s mom. Benny places his hands on my waist and looks up at me. “Feeling possessive?”

“Feeling like you’re mine, and I want everyone to know it.” I lean in and press a small, chaste kiss to his smiling lips.

“Hell yeah, I am.”

My Benny.

There’s a huge barbecue with way too much food. After all the guests leave, and I’ve helped Benny’s mom with the dishes, while Benny and his dad clean up the backyard, his father starts a fire in the firepit out back, and we all sit around it, Benny sitting on my lap.

“So what’s next, boys?” his dad asks.

I shrug. “Now, I save up for my own place. Get the hell out of my dad’s house.” So I can finally be totally free to be with Benny.

Benny leans into me. “Or we could save up for our own place.”

His parents share a look. “Well, we might be able to help with that,” his mom says, taking a sip from her wine glass.

“What do you mean?” Benny asks, his eyes locked on his mother now.

“Well, we have all this land,” His dad motions with his arm, sweeping it out. “And we thought we could help with the materials if you two are willing to put in the labor.”

“Labor for what?” Benny asks.

“A house,” his dad says, and I swear my heart stops for a moment. A house. For Benny and me.

Benny grabs my neck excitedly. “A house,” he repeats. “For you and me.”

I sit there, stunned. “Do you want that?” I look at Benny, needing to hear it out loud, even if his face is pretty much answering.

“Of course I do. I’m all-in, Rowan. You’re it for me. We can have it all. A house on my parents’ land. Free to be us.”

“Anyone who says you two shouldn’t be together, I’m happy to punch right in the face,” his mom says, which has us all busting out in laughter. I mean, the woman is tiny, but I have no doubt those tiny fists would pack a punch if anyone messes with her son.

“It’ll take some time,” his dad says. “But we’ll get that house built so you two can start your life.”

“Thank you, sir,” I say, tears welling up in my eyes. I didn’t know people like this actually existed in the real world. My life seemed so grim for so long.

And then Benny McBride came crashing in.

The building of our house is actually going faster than I thought. We’re eager to get it finished and move in. Benny and I spend every waking moment working on the house—that is, when we aren’t helping around the farm and working at the tree-trimming place in town.

It’s good money, and it’s going to help us furnish the house we’re building. The fact that Benny works at the same company helps too. I get to see him every day on the job, and we don’t hide.

We didn’t know anyone who worked there when we started, and I made sure to make it very clear that we’re a couple. Pressing him up against one of the work trucks after our first day on the job and kissing the hell out of him. Staking my claim to the best human I’ve ever met, loud and proud.

If it gets back to my dad, then it does. I don’t care anymore. I wasted way too much time worrying about what that man would think of me. Our coworkers don’t seem all that bothered by us being a couple, except for maybe one or two. But it doesn’t matter what they think.

Benny is mine, and I’ll be damned if I’m ever going to hide it again.

I’m still living with my dad, while Benny lives with his parents, but I cannot wait until we are under the same roof. Summer is almost over, and the house is really coming along, so it won’t be much longer.

“I can’t wait until this shower works,” Benny says, creeping up behind me as I install the showerhead in the massive shower in the bathroom off our bedroom.

I turn around, and he instantly wraps his arms around my neck. “Where’s your dad?”

“Went home for the night.” I grin and lean in for a kiss. After work, we had dinner with his parents and then did chores before coming over to our house to work some more.

“I’m going to fuck you in every single room of this place.”

“Promise?”

I nip on his jaw and down to his neck, tasting the salty sweat from the day that only serves to make my dick harder. “Yes.”

He tugs my shirt up and off, and I kiss him hard, hating that we don’t have any water hooked up yet, but the shower is pretty much done with dark marble walls and a glass door. I remove his shirt, kissing down his chest that’s only gotten more defined, now that he’s working a manual labor job on top of farming.

I push his pants and briefs down, stripping him totally bare after he kicks off his shoes. I kneel down, leaving my jeans on for now and take his cock in my hand. He’s so perfect, in every way. “When am I going to feel this inside me, huh?”

“Are you kidding?” His head lulls back against the shower wall. “Whenever you want, but uh...” he bucks into my stroking hand. “Fuck. I’m close already. Watching you all day and not getting to feel you—it’s the best foreplay.”

I suck the tip of his cock into my mouth, sucking and teasing as he curses and thrusts forward.

“Please,” he pants.

I take him further into my mouth, teasing him right to the edge. I wasn’t kidding about wanting him inside me, but I think for my first time I want it to be in our bed. In our room. In our home.

I tell him as much when I stand up and taste his lips before slapping his ass and telling him to wait for me. I leave him naked in the shower and go grab the lube I have stashed in the drawer by our bathroom sink. There isn’t much else in here yet, but lube is essential.

I strip out of the rest of my clothes and join him, grasping his face in my hand and kissing him hard before slicking up my hand and my cock. I spin him around, his hands on the shower wall and get him ready quickly. I had him this morning before work, and I swear he’s still slick for me.

“Fuck. You’re perfect,” I say, replacing my fingers with my cock and sliding into him in one smooth thrust.

“Yes.” He arches his back into me, looking at me over his shoulder as I kiss him hard and push into his warm, tight body over and over.

“My Benny.”

“Yours forever,” he pants, reaching between his body and the wall, stroking his cock as he pushes back against me, tightening around my cock and strangling it. We come at nearly the same time, crying out in ecstasy as I kiss his neck and his back.

We clean up as well as we can with no water and then work a little longer before we kiss goodbye with a promise to meet in the barn in the morning before breakfast.

I’m aching to just hold him all night and not at all in the mood to see my dad when I walk through the door, but the bastard is sitting at the table with a beer in his hand. “Where the hell have you been?”

I snort dismissively. “As if you care.”

“Where were you?” His cold eyes hold mine, and I snap. I’ve had enough of this. I tried for so long to get him to love me, and he couldn’t do that.

Something so simple.

“I was with my boyfriend.” I refrain from the details because they’re ours, and he doesn’t need them.

His eyes flash with rage, and he stands up, storming over to me. “What did you just say to me?”

There’s so much hate in his eyes. I don’t know why I ever thought he could be good. “You heard me.” I stand tall and look him right in the eyes. “I’m. Gay.”

“Get the hell out,” he says, his tone unfeeling and his eyes dead. “Get your shit and get the hell out of my house. You aren’t welcome here.”

“I never really was. This is your dealbreaker? Really?”

“Get out,” he says, and I don’t waste any more time with him. I gave him way too much of my time and my worries. I grab some things that I don’t want to leave behind and storm out of the house, climbing into my truck and driving straight to Benny.

My home.

He’s my heart and my home, all in one person.

I knock on the door, and Benny answers immediately, fear streaking over his face. “Rowan.”

“He kicked me out. I told him I was with my boyfriend, and he kicked me out.” I feel numb and sound it. I don’t want to care that he didn’t care about me. I don’t want to feel, but that’s all I do when Benny pulls me into his arms and holds me tight.

And then his mom. And then his dad. They all embrace me with warmth and love.

“You can stay here for as long as it takes to get the house finished,” his dad says as he hugs me tight.

Tears well up in my eyes, and I nod. “Thank you.”

“We can love you enough for him. It’s his loss, sweetie.” Benny’s mom hugs me tight and kisses my cheek. Tears drip down my face, but Benny just leads me up to his room, undressing us both and climbing into his bed under the covers, wearing only our briefs.

He strokes my hair and holds me to his chest. I cry over the loss. I let myself feel it, but I know I’ve gained so much more.

The final piece is gone. My dad may not be good and kind and what I need, but I’ve found the good. Benny and his parents are good.

And so am I.