“I have a lot of weird dreams, but you’re not usually in them. I say this is definitely happening.”
“Rory, damn it, they’re celebrating something,” he whispered urgently. “Can’t you see that?”
Rory’s nod was adamant. “Exactly. If it was a post-funeral brunch, I’d say your timing was off. But they couldn’t be in a better mood. Go get your man and give them something else to toast to.”
David offered Matthew an apologetic smile. “We heard that they’re not all that comfortable with Oliver’s sexuality, and I’m not saying I completely agree with Rory’s idea. But people can surprise you.”
“People can also be shocked into having their beliefs reinforced,” Matthew countered. “Or feel pressured and shut down without listening to reason. Now I don’t have that much experience embarrassing myself in front of people I care about, but I’m still thinking this would be the worst time for me to announce my existence to my boyfriend’s religious and fairly conservative family. Making a scene won’t get me what I want.”
Rig’s shoulders were shaking and Matthew glared. “You disagree?”
“I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at you, but did you ever hear about the time Rory kissed his straight friend at Owen and Jeremy’s highly publicized wedding? Right in front of his homophobic father?”
“There was mistletoe,” Rory mumbled into his water glass.
“That was definitely a scene.” David’s grin was warm as he wrapped his arm around Rory’s shoulder. “It was meant to be, since your old man deserved a little pissing off.”
“It wasn’t all about him.” They shared a smile and Matthew dropped his head to the table with a thud.
Love had addled their brains.
But you’re the sane one?
“Matthew?”
Oh hell. He knew that voice. Wishing he could sink into the diamond-patterned carpet, he forced himself to look up at Oliver’s shocked expression. “Hey.”
Hey again. Kill me now.
Rig, David and Rory offered matching waves and Oliver’s beautiful eyes grew worryingly wide. When he turned back to Matthew, his lowered voice resounded like a shout. “Bathroom. One minute.”
“Kinky,” Rory said approvingly after Oliver disappeared around the corner.
“Stop,” David admonished softly. “He doesn’t look happy and you know it.”
“Brilliant,” Matthew got to his feet as if he were headed to the gallows. “I’m sure this will go exactly as well as I’m imagining. And I’m so glad you’ll get to experience the beginning and the end of my relationship firsthand. If only you’d invited Nora to join us.”
He left his now-silent cousin behind to follow Oliver, finding himself in a small hallway between the kitchens and the restrooms. The men’s door opened and Oliver’s hand reached for his wrist, dragging him inside.
“Oh, thank God,” Matthew muttered as he stepped inside and saw a single toilet and sink. It was private and unusually clean. “I had this vision of you dumping me in front of a row of urinals and—”
Oliver pushed his back against the door and covered his mouth with a hand. “What are you doing here? How did you know where I was? Why didn’t you call me yesterday to tell me you were going to be late?”
Matthew stared at him, glancing down pointedly at the hand covering his mouth until he blushed and removed it. “I came to see you. Rory noticed your family arrive and called me. I was working through some things I wanted us to talk about,” he answered in order. “Why did you leave before I got back? And why ignore my messages?”
“I can’t believe you came here for me.” Oliver crossed his arms protectively, but he stepped closer instead of away, as if he needed the connection. “I was called in to help throw an impromptu party last night. My grandmother completed her physical therapy and got this certificate that she was excited to show off. It felt like a milestone after the last couple of months, so everyone wanted to celebrate. It spilled over into brunch because my cousins don’t know when to quit.”
Not her birthday, then, but close. “And the texts?”
“I wrote a dozen, but I didn’t send them.” Oliver bit his lip. “I knew something was wrong when you left yesterday. I could feel it. And after spending a few hours with Kate I realized what it might be, but then I got that phone call and…I guess I was working through some things, too. I wanted to be clear on them before we talked again.”
Matthew was hardly aware of his arms sliding around Oliver’s waist to tug him closer. He only knew he needed to touch him. Needed to know they were finally on the same page. “Are you clear now? Did you work it out?”
Oliver slid his hands over Matthew’s shoulders and started kissing his neck. At the contact, he closed his eyes on a relieved groan. Oliver still wanted him. That had to be a good sign.
“I think so.”
“You think so? Maybe you should stop distracting me so we can talk it out, yeah?”
“Not now.” Oliver gently bit the lobe of his ear. “We’re in a public restroom with my family right outside.”
“Then come home with me,” Matthew gasped as Oliver sucked his neck hard enough to leave a mark. “Make up an excuse, just this once.”
“I can’t leave yet.” Oliver’s smile should have warned him, but he was still surprised when he dropped to his knees. “But I can give you something to make it worth the wait.”
“Son of a—Legs.” Matthew grabbed a handful of Oliver’s curls to hold him back. “We can’t. You can’t. Oliver, you just said your family is right outside.”
He ignored him, unbuttoning Matthew’s pants and forcing all the blood in his body to race straight to his cock. Fuck. “Why do you always do this to me?”
“Let me, Matty.” His breath was hot and tempting against his stomach. “I promise we’ll talk later, but I missed you last night and this was all I could think of.”
“God, I missed you too.”
Oliver was sucking the head of his cock with those bow-shaped lips, his hair tangling around Matthew’s fingers. Every time they touched it was like this. From that first kiss in front of the coffee shop to now.
He watched his hips rock forward, feeling the heat of Oliver’s mouth around him making him burn like it always did. The graceful, knowing fingers squeezing the base of his shaft, making him ache for more. He wanted what that mouth could do to him. Wanted to make a mess of it and him, so everyone would know who Oliver belonged to.
But the only thing crazier than racing over here to be an unwelcome surprise at a family celebration was letting this happen again. Putting off answers and hard conversations for physical gratification.
Oh hell. He hated himself already for what he was about to not do.
“Stop, Oliver. I mean it now.”
When Matthew grabbed him by his shoulders and pulled him to his feet, the sight of his flushed cheeks and swollen lips filled him with regret. “This might actually kill me.” He kissed those lips hard. “But I think we should hold off on the exhibitionism until we have that talk.”
“What?” Oliver blinked up at him in shock.
“I know. I know. But this is too important. We’re too important.” He winced as his cock protested. “Give me a second.”
He stepped around him and away from the door, back turned so he could work at tugging his zipper over his protesting erection. He heard loud male laughter in the hallway and tried to speed things up in case someone came knocking. “I promise, I’ll make this up to—”
The door slammed and he looked over his shoulder, swearing. Oliver was gone. “What in the—?”
What the fuck was that about? Did he think Matthew was rejecting him? Or had he come to his senses and freaked out over how close they’d been to being caught? Either way, the Oliver he knew didn’t just walk away without a word.
Before he could make sense of the sudden absence, Oliver’s voice trickled in from the other side of the door. He couldn’t tell what he was saying, but he didn’t sound happy.
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Straightening his clothes, Matthew rushed out into the narrow hall and saw Oliver confronting a stranger. Hispanic, taller than Matthew by a few inches, wearing a bulk of showy muscle, a stained tank that had seen better days and an undeserved swagger that instantly set his teeth on edge. And that was before he heard what he was saying.
“Come on, princess. Cut this shit out. We both know you don’t mean it.”
“I already kicked you in the junk once. I meant it then and I’ll do it again if you don’t get out of my way.”
The man trapped Oliver against the wall between his thick arms, obviously unconcerned. “For a ballerina, you’ve got a weak kick, O. Even with those new moves, you barely touched me. Maybe you don’t really want to hurt me.”
“I’m not a ballerina. And I really do want to hurt you.”
“Whatever.” He smirked. “Look, we don’t need to upset anyone by causing a scene. Your family loves me and they want me here. You need to deal with that. Accept that I’m not going anywhere. If you treated me with a little more respect, you might realize I’m a good man for you to keep around.”
“Back off, Emilio.”
Motherfucking Emilio.
Matthew was already seeing red, but realizing he was finally within arm’s reach of the son of a bitch who’d been harassing Oliver made it impossible for him to rein in his rage.
“Hey. Asshole.”
Emilio shouted in surprise as Matthew fisted the back of his shirt, dragging him away from Oliver to slam him against the opposite wall. “What the hell, man?”
Matthew let Emilio push him back with a smile that would have scared a smarter man. “Well, this is disappointing. You’re nothing but a walking stereotype, aren’t you, Emilio? Think you’re a tough guy? You’re a joke. A big, scary phony, afraid someone will see him for what he is.”
Emilio glared but wisely held up his hands. “You’re crazy and I don’t even know you. But if you touch me again, I’ve got friends around that corner who will carry you out of this restaurant and hold you down while I fuck you up.”
Matthew sighed. “So predictable. Did your tiny dick fall off when Oliver kicked it the way I taught him to? You’ve got friends. What’s next? Should we call your mommy for backup?”
“Matthew, it’s okay. He’s not worth it.”
He saw Emilio register Oliver’s words and what they meant, and knew he would try and make a move. Matthew also knew it wouldn’t be a fair fight. Which is why he shouldn’t give him the beat down he deserved.
He’d just hit him a little.
He dodged the clumsy punch and got Emilio in the kidney, making the man groan and clutch his side. “You don’t come near him anymore, you got me? I don’t care who invites you over, you politely decline from now on.”
Emilio backed up and Matthew followed, knowing he wasn’t done. “He’s not your plaything. He doesn’t want you.”
“Because you think he wants you?” Emilio muttered resentfully, still keeping his distance.
Matthew leaned in closer. “I know he does.”
“What’s going on, E? Is this guy messing with you?” The other man’s voice drew Matthew’s attention just long enough for Emilio to rear back and punch him in the face.
“Matty!” Oliver cried.
“Hey now!”
“What the hell?” That came from Rig and Rory.
But Matthew kept his eyes on Emilio, reaching up to wipe the blood off his smiling lips. “That’s grand,” he chuckled. “Thank you.”
He sent his fist rocketing into the sweet spot just under Emilio’s jaw. There was a satisfying connection of bone on bone and, a split second later, it was like watching a light switch turn off in the shit bag’s head.
Nighty night.
Matthew stepped away and watched the much bigger man fall flat on his back in the middle of the crowded restaurant.
He couldn’t lie. It felt good.
Until he noticed the Garcia family staring at him with varying levels of concern and anger.
Until he saw Oliver trying to stop an even larger man around his age from attacking.
“You Ruben?” Matthew asked, stopping the duo’s forward momentum.
“Do I know you?”
“No.” He felt a twinge at that. “But I know you care about your cousin. I’d like to think if you knew he’d been scared enough to borrow your car and go to the other side of town to learn how to defend himself, you might rethink inviting that asshole over for supper.”
An older version of Ruben stepped closer and joined the conversation. “Are you drunk, Irish? Oliver would have let us know if Emilio was bothering him. Tell him, Ollie.”
Oliver looked pale and shaken, but his silence made the two men scowl down suspiciously at their stirring friend.
Matthew ached, knowing he was crossing a line he couldn’t come back from but unwilling to keep silent. “How could he tell you this guy you admired was harassing him? Trying to take what he didn’t want to give? He knows how you feel about that. Even if a man he cared about loved him and wanted to spend the rest of his life with him, he wouldn’t let himself have that. Wouldn’t even tell you he existed.” His voice cracked at that. “That’s how important his family is to him. That’s how far he’ll go to make sure you’re all happy. You should know that about him.”
After that, he turned away rubbing his jaw. He couldn’t look at Oliver again. Didn’t want to see the rejection there after he’d done the one thing he knew Oliver wouldn’t be okay with. Confronting his family like that. Questioning their beliefs and putting the spotlight on him.
Rory, Rig and David were standing by the door, waiting for him. For once Rory didn’t say a word, just dug into Matthew’s pocket for his keys and tossed them to Rig. He and David guided them to their car and drove him home in silence.
Matthew was grateful for that, at least. There was really nothing left to say.
Chapter Four
“Kate Finn?” Robert called from the doorway of the small office. “Did you hang up on the nice businessman I was negotiating with again?”
After making sure his last class member had left, Matthew shook his head at his sister. Would she never grow up?
She winked at him before looking at Robert. “He deserved it. He called me sweetie and told me to find you or the owner because, and I quote, the adults needed to have a conversation.”
Bronte made an outraged sound that startled the baby sleeping in the carrier beside her. “Oh no. We don’t do business with misogynistic assholes, Robert. I hope he calls again so I can hang up on him.”
Her brother leaned his forehead against the wall. “I haven’t met a rich man who wasn’t an asshole, Bronte. But we need them, and all our narrow-minded suppliers, especially if we’re going to succeed in this market. Do you know how many gyms there are in this city alone? So you all need to stop hanging up on them.”
Matthew felt sorry for Robert. Not much, but a little. “Cut him some slack, Calamity. He’s the reason for our stylish new t-shirts and all those successful men in suits coming in for team-building training sessions. You know you like them. William might have imagined owning a simple boxing gym, but Nora is building him an empire.”
Bronte rolled her eyes but sent Matthew the same gentle smile she’d worn since he came back to work. They’d all been careful around him. “He’s already got my husband talking about franchises. And for the record, Robert? Bellamy is nice. Jen’s husband, Declan, is nice, too.”
“William doesn’t want to rely solely on family, Bronte.”
She shook her head. “Fine. The point remains. You can be rich and not be an asshole.”
“And this is my beautiful bride.”
Matthew turned toward his brother’s amused voice and froze at the sight of Ruben Garcia walking in beside him. What was Oliver’s cousin doing here?
It had been six days of silence. Matthew hadn’t turned on his phone, had barely spoken to anyone but William, Rory and Kate, because they’d
refused to leave him alone to wallow. He’d come to the gym after they’d reminded him of all the people who needed his class. People who needed protection from bullies like Emilio.
And then there was Ken Tanaka, who kept hinting at an upcoming job and sending him one coded challenge after another. He was thankful for that. He hadn’t been sleeping and he’d needed something to keep his mind occupied.
He might feel like he was too shattered to go on, but life and his nosy, interfering family kept trying to stick those pieces back together. Maybe he wouldn’t be as happy as he could have been with Oliver. But he’d survive.
Ruben looked down at his feet self-consciously, before meeting Matthew’s gaze. “I’ve heard good things. My father is loyal to his old boxing club, but after seeing you in action, I thought I’d try this one out. If that’s okay with you.”
“Sure it is,” William said heartily before he could open his mouth. “And you said you brought a few more people with you?”
Matthew frowned at his brother, but William sent him a barely discernible head shake. “More people?”
“Oh, there he is! As beautiful as Oliver said he was.”
Matthew spun on his sneakered heel to see Olivia Garcia cooing at little Wilde. He turned to Ruben in confusion. A part of him was sure Ruben had come to beat the shit out of him. Or try to. “You brought your grandmother?”
“No. I did.”
Oliver.
Matthew wasn’t sure what was going on. Why had he come here with his family in tow? Was he afraid to see him alone after Matthew’s performance at the restaurant? Was he trying to make a point? If so, it was lost on him.
He looked good. Tired, but good. His curls were mussed, as if he’d been running his hands through his hair, and the baggy t-shirt he wore was one of Matthew’s.
Had Oliver been missing him too?
“Why?”
Oliver stepped closer. “She wanted to meet you and your family. After you left, she said you were right about the kind of man I was, and it was nice that someone outside of the family finally saw it. She also said the way you were willing to fight for me reminded her of her husband. And my father.”
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