Chapter 16

"That was something back there. Did you learn that in social worker school?" I asked Will, trying my best to keep a straight face.

Will looked at me with a sheepish expression. He was tracing a pattern on the passenger seat of my truck but wouldn't look directly at me. It was cute. And pretty fucking nice to have the tables turned for once.

Never in my entire life had anyone defended me like Will had today. Even my grandparents, whom I loved more than life, placated my parents rather than tell them to stop. Will did more than that—he told them to shut the fuck up.

"Well, no, that's pretty much the exact opposite of what they teach in social work school. A social worker is supposed to listen with an open mind and seek solutions. We are supposed to actively seek common ground and mutual understanding. In a perfect world, we do not impose or substitute our value system, morality, or socially acceptable behavior on others." Will sounded like he was reading from a textbook, so I couldn't help fucking with him.

"And what happened back there?" I jerked my thumb in the general direction of my aunt and uncle's house. We weren't that far away from the house since I'd pulled over on the side of the road not long after I left their driveway. Distracted driving was dangerous, and safety was too ingrained in my head to ignore it just because it was about personal stuff and not the job.

Will really had grabbed his dessert on the way out the door along with a couple of plastic spoons. I decided to help myself while we sat in the truck. When that coffee and custard hit my tongue, I bit back a moan. He wasn't exaggerating. That shit was as good as he claimed. I offered him a spoon, and he dug in with me.

When he licked the spoon clean, I had to adjust myself in my shorts. His blond waves, green eyes, and tight, slender body were already hot as sin, but when you added in the licking of cream? Goddamn.

"Your parents are crap, and so are your relatives." Will's face was so earnest and sorry that I couldn't control my guffaws. I was belly laughing at his face and words. He looked so worried that I was pretty sure he thought I was legit losing my mind. That, unfortunately, just made me laugh more. I managed to hand him a spoon and indicated for him to join me.

My eyes were leaking tears, and I was unable to control them. Will's face looked horrified, and he started scrounging around the cab of my truck, looking for tissues. It shouldn't have, but his frantic searching only made me laugh harder and I had to put aside my dessert.

It had been so, so long since I'd laughed like this, and I tried hard to remember when it might have been. I couldn't remember a single time. None. Zilch. Nada. Damned if Will wasn't doing things for me that didn't even involve my dick.

When I finally got myself under control, I laid my head on the headrest of the seat and rolled my head in his direction. He somehow looked both defiant and chagrined. I reached out and grabbed his hand. "There's no way in hell I'm returning to that house today. What do you want to do?"

Will looked out the window for a few seconds before turning back to me. "When was the last time you went to Anderson's Park?"

"When I wasn't working?" Will nodded at my question. "Probably high school? Maybe college when I tried to convince myself I was going to get into fishing."

"Fantastic! Let's go there after we run by my house, so I can change my clothes and grab us some lunch." Whatever concerns Will had were long gone as he bounced in his seat with excitement.

We stopped by Will's house, and he swore it would only take ten minutes max, but that was a bald-faced lie. He was back in twenty-five. He'd switched to cut-off shorts that had survived a paint war, an old flannel shirt so faded the pattern was hardly there anymore, and a pair of beat-up canvas sneakers. He had a picnic basket along with a couple of plastic pails and a few shovels. Will radiated excitement and happiness when he climbed back into my truck. Sadly, he'd told me the tiramisu was put in the fridge for later.

I pulled back out onto the road and headed toward the seaside park. Will grabbed my hand and pulled it into his lap. He played with my fingers while looking out the window without saying anything. I could tell he was working something out in his mind. After a couple of minutes, he cleared his throat and said, "Hey, I'm sorry I spouted off at your family. It wasn't my place to do it. I just don't get them."

I was so used to them that I'd told myself it didn't faze me anymore. "What don't you get?"

"You are intelligent, hard-working, employed, and devastatingly handsome." I snorted at the last part but let him continue. "Why are your parents the way they are toward you? My family is far from perfect, but your parents are so over the top with you. The rest of them aren't much better."

I didn't say anything to him until I'd found a place to park. My family was my family, and I wasn't that good at talking about the emotional shit like Will. With my head laid back and my eyes closed, I tried to remember if there'd ever been a time that I was good enough for my folks. I couldn't think of one.

"My parents are a match made in heaven. I'm pretty sure the only people they like are themselves. If I had to bet money, I'd say they only had a kid because it was socially required, not because they wanted one. Since they were stuck with one, they wanted the popular kind, a football star like most of my cousins. I barely spoke with anyone, and I hate team sports. The only people I hung out with were my cousins, mostly because they were forced to bring me along by their parents."

Will remained quiet for a bit before asking, "What about the rest of them? The aunts and uncles, I mean."

"They aren't so bad, just loud and obnoxious. I don't think they dislike me the way my parents do. I think they just don't realize how fucking loud they are and just assume that everyone is like they are. It's more clueless than malicious."

"What's with your dad and your job?"

"He and the chief were up for the same job. Dad lost out and is pissed about it. The chief is at least a decade younger than my dad, but they were both in the Seattle PD. My dad kinda stagnated on promotions, probably because he's a dick, but Chief rose pretty quickly. My dad has this competitive thing with Chief, but it's all one-sided. Chief doesn't give a shit about my dad. My dad is really old school, knock heads together, and who gives a fuck if there are better ways to resolve shit. There is zero chance I'd be in this department if my dad was in charge."

Will side-eyed me. "One last question, what about your grandparents?"

That question pulled a smile from me. "They were fucking amazing. I used to hide out at their house every chance I got because my grandfather liked to read almost as much as I did. Grandma made the quilts and afghans at my house. My parents had really strict rules about what was boy and girl shit—sports were boy stuff, cooking was for girls. Reading fell into the girl category, so I got a lot of shit for it from my parents. My grands didn't care and always asked about books, and they let me read anything I found in the library."

"Did they know you were gay? Are you gay?"

I chuckled at his wide-eyed look. "Yeah, Daddy, I'm gay. I dated a few girls, but it sucked for both of us. When I came out to the girl I was dating at the time, I got a hug and a plate of cookies. After that, and until they died, during Pride month, my grandma would make us a Pride dinner with rainbow food."

There was nothing wrong with crying, but damn, I wasn't ready to do it in front of Will. I tried to hide my sniffles, but I knew the game was up when Will crawled across the console and contorted himself into my lap.

With some effort, I pushed the button to move the seat back, and Will gripped me tighter. I liked it. We needed a change of subject before I went from a few manly tears to full-on sobbing. How awkward. "Your turn, Daddy. Tell me about your family."

"They've always let me live my life. Growing up, I was a pretty good kid with grades and stuff, so there weren't many rules and restrictions. They live near Chicago. My dad's an accountant, and my mom's a preschool teacher. They know I'm gay and are super liberal, so they don't care. Mom retired a couple of years ago, and Dad will retire next year. Every year, I get a rundown of why this will be the last year in Chicago, but I'll believe it when I see it."

"Are you an only child?"

Will looked sad before nodding. "Yeah, I was the only one my mom carried to term. She had a couple of miscarriages. I'm not sure why they didn't adopt if they wanted more kids though." In the confined space, it was hard for Will to sit up fully, but he squirmed in my lap until he came close to it. "Okay, enough of this. We have a picnic on the beach to make happen."

We climbed out of the truck cab, put on our packs, and headed to the beach. From the parking lot, it was about a two-mile hike on a gravel path. We didn't get rain like the Hoh rainforest out on the Olympic peninsula, but there was enough for plenty of moss varieties to grow on fallen logs and over rocks. Along the trail, we found evidence of some deer and small animals, plus the occasional rustle of whatever small creatures lived in the underbrush.

The trail was a little muddy from recent rain but passable. We were in a fall mini-heatwave, so it was warm enough to hang out at the beach. The most difficult part of the journey was climbing down the bluffs overlooking the water. In theory, you could walk a little way and use the stairs made with railroad ties, but that was too much effort. Instead, we grabbed onto one another, sat on our asses, and slid down. It should have been easy enough to stay upright, but we were laughing too much to pay attention to our balance.

The beach was deserted in our alcove. Most island beaches in inland Washington were covered in small pebbles, but this was one of the few that was predominantly sand. Will and I started unpacking food.

It wasn't anything too over the top. He'd grabbed a loaf of bread out of the pantry, a wedge of brie because he was fancy like that, some deli meat, a couple of apples—he remembered the knife!—and some white cheddar. For dessert, he'd added sugared cranberries that he said were supposed to be for a recipe he wanted to try but were sacrificed for the cause of our dessert.

Neither Will nor I were much for drinking, so he'd tossed in some bottles of iced tea. I didn't know if it was a feast fit for a king, but I thought it looked pretty good.

We carefully balanced everything on the giant driftwood washed up on shore. A blanket would have been better, but the Pacific Northwest coast was too rainy in the fall to put a blanket on the sand. We were hungry, so lunch was quiet until we got some food in our bellies. Once we both took the edge off, the silence became awkward.

"Beckett, how are you feeling about what happened?" Daddy jumped in on the deep end.

"With my family?" I was genuinely confused.

"Well, yeah, and with me declaring to the rest of them that we're dating."

"Do you not want to date me?" I tried desperately to keep the tremble from my voice. When Will gave me a funny look, I wasn't certain I'd succeeded.

At his words, he put aside his food and scooted over to me. He pushed my legs down and set aside my half-eaten apple. Once cleared, Daddy climbed over me until he was straddling me like I was some prize horse and he was a wrangler. I roped my arms around his neck and drew him close to me.

"I want to date you. Since I moved in next door, I've wanted to date you. My landlord mentioned that the cop next door was gay, in case I wanted to hang around my own people."

At my raised eyebrows, Will began petting my shoulder. "Relax, he was just trying to help me make friends. It wasn't a ‘you people' type of situation. I'd seen you at the hospital before I officially moved out here, and, honestly, my gaydar was already pinging. Nothing I did got your attention. Not even those damn cinnamon rolls, although seeing you throw them away stung a little—I won't lie about that one." He smiled real big, so I knew he was finally over it. Mostly.

I groaned and threw my head back. "Those fucking things. I didn't throw them away because I didn't like them or you. I threw them away because you left them at the front door, but I never use it. I didn't find them for a couple of days, and by then, they were waterlogged and gross. My plan was to thank you when I saw you in the ER, but then you saw me throw them away and I felt stupid, so I just didn't say anything."

"That's a perfectly acceptable reason to throw them away. I should have asked you about it instead of tossing my hands up and doing nothing."

Will legit looked like he was upset with himself. "I guess we better forgive ourselves then. Too much misery will give me wrinkles, and I don't want them. If I'm lucky, I can hold off Botox until I'm thirty-two."

I snorted at his foolishness but ruined his pretend annoyance by leaning forward to capture his lips in a sweet, soft kiss.

"Daddy, are we dating dating now?" Daddy's eyes were soft when he looked at me. I tried to hide the vulnerability I felt. His hands were gripping my hips, and I didn't think he even realized how tight of a hold he had on me. He leaned back to make sure I could see him clearly like he wanted there to be no mistaking his intentions.

"Yeah, baby, we're dating dating."

He leaned forward and sealed my statement with a kiss. At first, his lips barely grazed mine, but I immediately angled forward and whimpered a little, trying to get more contact. He moved to seal my lips against his. This time, he did so firmly and possessively.

I wanted the world to know Will was mine. He traced the curve of my mouth with his tongue, and I allowed him entry. His mouth was wet heat, and I could taste the tang of the apple he'd been eating. Our mouths melded like two pieces of a puzzle, each fitting perfectly into the other.

Will's hands pulled me closer to him. His touch sent electricity through my veins, and a familiar warmth pulsing through my body. My fingernails bit into his skin when I clung to him, and our kiss became more desperate, more intense. I never wanted the moment to end. But eventually, I had to pull away, breathless and flushed. I looked into his eyes and felt something very close to love radiating between us. At that moment, nothing else mattered, and I felt like I could stay with him on this beach forever.

Our panted breaths and equally hard cocks made me regret the idea of coming to the beach instead of going back to his house, where we could do something about it. My shorts were tight, and my dick was painfully hard. If it were up to me, I'd fuck around with him right here on the beach so everyone on this island knew I belonged to Will.

I wanted to shop at farmers' markets. I wanted to do mundane stuff like running errands. I wanted to spend trivia nights with him at the pub. I wanted to spend rainy nights at home with him, doing nothing more exciting than cooking dinner together and watching a show or reading a book. I wanted to plan vacations and a future with him. I wanted everything with him.

Today, I'd have to settle for building sandcastles with him.