“Now, then, Neddie, what time should we expect you?” Mom finally remembered I was still on the line. “And is there anything special you’d like me to make for your young man? Oh, and is there anything he hates? Anything he’s allergic to?”
“I don’t know about allergies. I’ll ask and get back to you, but we need to have an early dinner. Heath has a customer coming in at eight.”
“Heath, that’s right. How could I forget that name? Heath, like the candy bar.”
I groaned. “Mom, please don’t say that to him.”
“Oh, honey, don’t be so uptight. I’m sure he won’t mind.”
Even if he did, Heath would be too nice to say so.
“Now then, I’ll have dinner on the table at six, but you boys should come by earlier so we’ll have plenty of time to get to know Heath.”
“I’ll talk to him about that.”
“That sounds good and when you do, be sure to ask if he has any food allergies. I’d hate to send your poor boyfriend to the hospital the first time we meet.”
“Yeah, you should save that for when you know him better.”
“Exactly!”
I laughed, but I wasn’t sure she was kidding.
We talked a few more minutes before I was able to let her go. Setting my phone aside, I gathered my dirty dishes and took them into the kitchen.
With only my mess to clean, it went easily. As nice as that was, it got lonely at times. Having grown up in a houseful of brothers, I was used to having someone around. Not just used to it, I liked it.
That didn’t mean I wanted to live with my brothers again. What I actually wanted was a partner. Someone to take care of who would also take care of me. Someone to do the yard work while I did the cleaning; someone who could fix my car, someone I could cook for but who also cooked for me sometimes. Most of all, I wanted someone to laugh with, someone to curl up on the couch with while we watched movies; someone that would hold me in bed until we fell asleep every night. Someone who accepted there was more than one way to make love.
Having Heath over last night had given me a small taste of what that life could look like. I loved being able to take care of him, to feed him and massage him and listen to him unload his burden. Waking up with that big body wrapped around me made me feel safe instead of trapped.
As nice as it was, it was too soon to start thinking about moving in together.
I had just finished loading the dishwasher when my cell phone rang. I didn’t have to look at it to know it was Oliver calling. Everyone in my contacts list had their own ring tone. Oliver’s had been set with Dance Dance by Fallout Boy.
To anyone who didn’t know Oliver that seemed like an odd choice, but my youngest brother loved to dance. He didn’t just love it. He was really good at it, which no one ever expected when they looked at him. You know, like Joseph Gordon Levitt when he did the Rhythm Nation dance on Lip Sync Challenge.
The only time Oliver lost his shyness in public was when we all went dancing. Then he would tear it up and have every guy in the place panting after him. Of course, he barely spoke to anyone, let alone went home with them, which worked out well since that wasn’t my thing either. While the others went on the hunt, Ollie and I stuck together and looked out for each other.
Thinking of that reminded me of how long it had been since we’d been dancing. With all of our hectic schedules, it was difficult to do. I wondered if Heath liked to dance, but I couldn’t picture it.
Somehow, I managed to pick up my phone in time to keep it from going to voicemail. “Hey, Ollie, what’s up?”
“You are a brave man.”
“What do you mean?”
“Inviting Heath to dinner at Mom and Dad’s next week.”
I groaned. “She already told you about that?”
“Dude, are you kidding?” Oliver laughed. “You know Mom. A group text went out, probably as soon as you hung up the phone. We’re all invited by the way.”
I sighed, but I wasn’t surprised.
“Are you coming, or are you on a deadline?”
“I’ll be there and not just because I think it will be entertaining but because you’re gonna need some backup.”
“Mom and Dad aren’t that bad.”
“No, they’re not bad, just a little overzealous, but I wasn’t talking about them.”
That could only mean one thing. “Who else is coming?”
“As it turns out Kiel’s off shift that night so he said he’s in.”
“Maybe I should change the day.”
“You could, but he’s gonna have to deal with us all at once sooner or later,” Oliver pointed out. “You might as well start easing him into it now.”
Ready for a change of subject, I asked, “How’s your latest book going?”
Oliver took the bait, launching into a lengthy spiel about how well it was going and how he was so far ahead of schedule that he might do an early release. The one thing he never mentioned was what his book was actually about.
My brother could talk for days about character outlines and launch timelines, but he was never good at promoting his work. When I asked him about it once, he said something along the lines of how it was much easier to write his books than talk about them.
Lucky for him he didn’t need to do much talking. Over the years, Oliver’s fan base had grown to be pretty impressive. Most of it was women. Apparently, gay romance novels were big among women, something I never would have guessed.
“Speaking of my book, I need to get back to work.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to you later.”
“Later,” Oliver echoed and the phone went silent.
Instead of setting my phone aside, I sent a text to Kiel: Are on shift tonight?
Kiel’s reply came right away. Nope. What’s up?
Rather than text him back, I hit the call option.
“I’ll bet I know why you’re calling,” Kiel said.
“Maybe I just want to talk to my brother.”
I tried for innocent, but Kiel’s answering laugh let me know I’d failed.
“Talk to me about not scaring off your new man you mean,” Kiel said.
“Why would I need to do that? You know better than to do something like that.”
“You think so?”
“I know so.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“Because if you screw this up for me, I’m going to tell Mom and Dad about that firefighter calendar you posed for last year.”
Kiel sucked in a breath, and I knew I had him. “You wouldn’t.”
“I won’t if you’re nice to Heath,” I said sweetly.
The fact that he’d posed for a calendar wasn’t the big deal. The big deal was that he’d been buck ass naked. Well, except for the helmet he wore. The only thing that had hidden his manhood was the fact that he was holding a fire hose in front of it, a fire hose that had been going full blast.
If I set aside the fact that I’d been looking at my naked brother, totally gross, I could admit the shot was good. The spray of the water made it look like he’d been standing in the rain.
The photographer had asked all of the guys at the station if they wanted to participate and offered to pay them pretty well. Kiel was the only one who accepted the offer, which earned him a lot of ribbing from the other guys. Not that he gave a shit, especially not when he got recognized in the clubs. My brother was still cashing in on that shit.
Somehow, he’d managed to keep his near nude modeling gig from our parents. Believe me, they didn’t know. If they did, Kiel never would have heard the end of it, and I don’t mean they would have given him grief. It would have been the opposite. Our mom would have been so proud that she would have bought copies for all of their friends and probably invited them over to have Kiel sign it and take photos with them. Kiel knew it too, which was why he’d gasped when I made the threat.
“You’re a devious bastard, you know that,” Kiel said. “You look nice and sweet, but it’s all a
n act.”
“If I’m a bastard, you are too.”
“I notice you’re not disputing the deviousness.”
“I do what I have to.”
“All right, I’ll be good, but just so you know, paybacks are a bitch.”
That was fine. I could handle whatever payback my brother dished out as long as it meant Heath didn’t have to deal with his antics again.
Chapter Nineteen
Heath
“Now this is music,” X proclaimed with a sigh.
X’s definition of music was the Ice Cube song pouring from the speakers.
“Way better than that reggae ton shit,” X added.
“It’s reggaeton, dumb ass,” Cooper corrected.
“I love reggaeton.” The girl in Cooper’s chair gave him a big smile as she batted her eyes at him. “Who’s your favorite artist?”
Before Cooper could reply, the girl in X’s chair spoke up. “This is way better than reggaeton. I mean, who doesn’t like old school rap?”
It was all I could do to keep from cracking up when the two women spared a glare for one another before they went back to ogling Cooper and X. If only they knew the guys they were defending so bravely were into dick.
Their tattoos must have been more important than their feud since both women went back to flirting with their artists like nothing else mattered.
X, Cooper and Flynn were the only ones with customers at the moment. My next one was due to show up in about thirty minutes so I was taking advantage of the down time to work on a drawing of Ned. The way he’d looked in my arms this morning was something I’d been anxious to put to paper.
“By the way, you guys are never going to guess what I heard today,” Cooper said.
“Don’t keep us in suspense, please,” X said dryly.
“Guess who’s having dinner with his boyfriend’s parents on Monday.”
I would have been pissed about Cooper letting the cat out of the bag, but it wasn’t like I was keeping it a secret or anything. I just didn’t feel the need to share every little detail of my life with these guys. Lucky for me I had Cooper to do it for me.
“I can only assume you’re talking about Heath since we all know your dick hasn’t seen any action since Obama was in office,” X answered, and Flynn snorted.
“Should I be worried about your interest in how much action my dick’s getting?” Cooper taunted. “If you’re trying to tell me something X, you should know I’m not interested. Angry leather daddies aren’t my type.”
“Just because I own a leather jacket doesn’t make me a leather daddy,” X pointed out, and I rolled my eyes.
With the way those two carried on, you would think they were brothers instead of me and Cooper.
Looking up at me, X asked, “So, should I say congratulations or offer my condolences that Ned’s taking you home to meet mom and dad?”
“It’s a good thing.”
“And do mom and dad know what you do for a living and that you’re covered in ink?”
“Yeah, they know.”
“Well, that’s good. Let’s just hope seeing it doesn’t turn out to be more than they bargained for.”
I would be lying if I said I hadn’t considered that. It was easy to say you were fine with your son dating a big ass dude covered in tattoos when it was just an idea. The reality might be more than they could handle.
I just had to trust that Ned knew his parents well enough to know that it was safe to introduce us.
“You should bring his mom a gift,” Cooper suggested. “It’ll make you seem less scary.”
“And he doesn’t mean a signed copy of your last porno,” X quipped.
“Mother fucker,” I snapped, glaring at him.
What was with him and Cooper lately? It had been years since I’d done porn, but they were still on that shit like I’d shot my last movie last week or something.
Both women being tattooed shot me speculative looks while the dude in Flynn’s chair ignored the gay porn elephant in the room.
“Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of flowers,” Cooper said.
“You can’t go wrong with flowers,” X agreed, dropping the porn subject. “Women love that shit.”
They might be on to something there. If Ned’s mother was anything like him then flowers were a good idea. I would have to make sure to get some for Ned though so I didn’t disappoint my man.
“Speaking of Ned, if you guys are still together after the dinner with the parents, we need to spend some time with him, get to know him better,” X announced.
In other words, they wanted an opportunity to tell him embarrassing stories about me. Fine as long as they kept the porn thing to themselves, which I would be sure to tell them before I let them anywhere near him again.
* * *
“My mom can be a little overwhelming, but she means well,” Ned said.
I smiled. “Yeah, you mentioned that.”
He had, several times since I’d told him I was free for dinner tonight. I thought it was cute that he was so worried about my impression of her.
“I did, huh?” Ned said, shooting me a sheepish smile.
“You did, but you don’t need to worry. I’m sure your mom is great.”
Even though I had to work later, we’d decided to take one car. To make things easier, Ned had picked me up. After dinner, he would drop me off at work and I’d catch a ride home with one of the guys.
“She is, but please don’t freak out if she starts talking marriage and kids. I think her biological grandma clock is ticking or something.”
I laughed, but marrying Ned didn’t sound like a bad idea at all. Having kids was a different story. After spending a chunk of my childhood raising Cooper, I wasn’t so sure I wanted kids. I wondered if Ned did. If he did, it wasn’t a deal breaker or anything. Like I said, I’d pretty much raised Cooper so I knew I could do it.
A few minutes later, I wasn’t surprised when Ned pulled to a stop in front of a two story house. The house was as traditional as you would expect for a father who was a doctor and a mom who stayed home to raise the kids.
The siding was a rich gray color with white trim and darker gray shutters on the windows. From the street, I counted three sets of windows on the second floor and two on the first. One of the windows on the lower floor was a bay window that I would guess belonged to the kitchen.
Two white pillars provided an entryway and highlighted the brick red door as did the white trim that surrounded it. The front yard was perfectly landscaped, complete with a tall oak tree. The only thing missing was the tire swing on the tree.
Rather than having a driveway, there was an attached garage that I had no doubt housed a set of expensive cars. Ned parked his car in front of the house and we emerged at the same time.
I had taken Cooper’s advice and brought flowers for his mom. I’d been afraid it would look like I was trying too hard, but Ned had assured me his mom would love the gesture.
I know he did. Ned’s eyes lit up when I’d opened the door to him and handed him a bouquet of roses. Ned was the first guy I’d ever bought flowers for, but I was happy to do it. I loved being able to put that smile on his face.
Ned entered the house without knocking. “Mom, Dad, we’re here.”
The interior was even more impressive. Gleaming hardwood floors throughout. Open floor plan that allowed you to see the living room, dining room and kitchen, all of which were bigger than my entire apartment. The staircase had ornate black railings that accentuated the light wood of the floors.
Despite the obvious money in the place, it still felt welcoming. There was a subtle scent of apples and cinnamon in the air, but I didn’t know if it was an air freshener or something Ned’s mom was cooking. Hopefully, it was the latter.
Ned had warned me that two of his brothers would be there so I wasn’t surprised to see Oliver and Kiel. I only recognized Kiel because he’d been one of the two who had shown up at the shop pretending to be a customer.
From the way Kiel smirked at me, I figured he was thinking about our last encounter as well. I wasn’t worried though. I could handle Ned’s brothers. It was his parents that I was a little more leery of. The huge smile on his mom’s face was slightly intimidating, but I doubt she intended it to be that way.
“I’m so glad you boys made it,” Ned’s mom said and shot to her feet.
Her husband rose to stand beside her. His smile was a mixture of welcoming and amused, though I didn’t know if he was amused by me or his wife. Probably me since I was sure my desperation to make a good impression showed on my face.
Looking at Ned’s parents, I could see a lot of his dad in his features. They were the same height with the same dark brown eyes and hair, though his father’s hair was sprinkled with gray. His mother was much shorter with smartly styled short, blond hair and soft blue eyes.
“Mom, Dad, this is Heath Mitchell,” Ned introduced them. “Heath, these are my parents, Grant and Connie, and you already know my brothers Ollie and Kiel.”
“It’s nice to meet you both,” I said, holding the flowers toward his mother. “These are you for you, ma’am.”
Connie beamed at me, and I realized Ned had her smile.
“That’s very sweet, but none of that ma’am stuff,” Connie insisted. “I’m just Connie or Mom if you prefer.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d called a woman mom. My own mother had been Marjorie for longer than I could remember her being Mom.
Ned’s father extended his hand toward me. “You can just call me Grant, son.”
I made sure to give his hand a hearty shake, wanting him to know I was a man who could not only handle myself, I could take care of his son.
From the nod he gave me, I could see the message had been received.
“I’m just going to put these in some water, and we can sit and have a nice visit before dinner,” Connie said and then darted into the kitchen.
Grant gestured to the couch. “Have a seat, boys.”
The leather sectional was large enough that despite the fact that both of Ned’s brothers were already sitting on it, there was plenty of room for us. While Ned and I sat at one end, opposite his brothers, his father took a seat on the love seat across from us.
Going Inksane (Nice Ink Book 1) Page 22
