Dr. Perfect: A Contemporary Romance Bundle

by Oliver, J. P.

  We carried on like that for what felt like hours and seconds all in one. My thrusts got more frantic to keep up with his own wild pace, which fluctuated in rhythm but was always fast, so fast. We tumbled into a pile of hay together as we got closer and closer to the edge, though before then, I felt a hand against my ass, too.

  “Is it okay?” I felt more than heard him murmur against my neck. A finger reached out, teasing my hole.

  “It’s okay,” I gasped out, and tried to slow my rhythm down. I could feel his fingers breach me in the next moment, a little clumsier and more frantic than I expected. One, two, three — he followed the same pattern I did, though his movements were a little more rushed. Being hurried through stung a little, but I just flinched and carried on.

  After he was done, he suddenly swung himself over so he could separate from me and shifted until he was behind me instead. He pushed his way inside soon after that, which elicited a deep groan, partially of pain and partially of pleasure. I didn’t mind the pain, though. Like this, that pain seemed to enhance the pleasure and made everything feel a little more grounded.

  We picked up our rhythm as best as we could from where we’d left off, flipping and rolling through the freshly laid hay together with a wild desperation. I bit down on his shoulder to keep myself from screaming out loud, and he seemed to be biting down on his own lip with just as much vigor.

  As we rolled, a mess of thrusts and flailing limbs, I imagined we were getting closer to an understanding as we got closer to the edge. All at once, it seemed, I was being pushed over. His hand reached down below us and grabbed my cock, stroking it in time to his wild thrusts until I felt myself hit my peak. He came a few moments after me, his thrusts going wildly out of sync.

  Both of us collapsed into the hay and laid there, panting. I tried to collect my wits and composure, which was a great deal harder than I would have thought.

  Strangely, the air of distance still didn’t fade, even as the glamor of sex did. In fact, when I looked over at Tarek, his expression seemed to say that he was dissatisfied in some way. Before I could even ask about it, he pushed himself up and went to fetch his shirt, which had somehow managed to get halfway to the other side of the barn.

  Left at a loss, I sat there dumbfounded for a few seconds before moving to get my own clothes back on. We washed up a bit and finished our work with relative silence stretched over us.

  After we finished, when he was heading out to his car, I finally spoke up again. “Hey,” I started. “About all that … do you want to talk?”

  Tarek paused while opening his car door and slowly shook his head. “Not now,” he said. “Maybe later.”

  With that, he got in and drove away, leaving me feeling more confused and at a loss than ever before.

  14

  Tarek

  The first thing I did when I walked back into the house was make a beeline for Rajal’s room.

  On the drive home, I’d had some time to think about a few things. About the strange dissatisfaction that had settled in my gut after spending time with Jeff, and about how Rajal’s words echoed over and over in my head, making it hard for me to enjoy anything.

  Part of me still felt guilty, honestly. That part wanted to go back and hide all of the things that were being revealed, and pretend like they’d never existed at all. Life would be easier that way.

  On the other hand, now that things were out in the open, it seemed pointless to try hiding them. The only way to move was forward, and there were some things that I would have to establish if that was the case. Regardless, I knew one thing: I wasn’t about to have my life be dictated by my younger brother. I wasn’t about to take that treatment sitting down.

  I knocked on his door, firm but soft. “Rajal? I need to talk to you.”

  From the other side, I heard the creak of a bed and shuffling feet as he made his way over. He opened it and squinted out at me, but eventually stepped aside to let me in. I closed it behind myself, just in case Neri was paying any attention to what was going on.

  “We need to talk about what you saw,” I started. “And what you said.”

  He gave me a steely look and crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah? What about it?”

  I could tell then and there that this wasn’t going to be an easy conversation, and sighed. It wouldn’t be easy, but it needed to happen anyway. I’d already steeled myself, knowing it.

  “What you said wasn’t okay. I really need you to understand that.”

  I watched Rajal’s face carefully for any signs that he would lash out, so I could prepare in advance to deal with it. Fortunately, though he didn’t look happy, he didn’t seem ready to fight, either. So I continued; he seemed to be waiting for me to do so.

  “I’m not going to hide who I am anymore,” I continued, hesitating for just a second. This part was more difficult than I’d imagined, but now that the words were out, there was no taking them back. I didn’t really want to, anyway.

  “If you can’t accept the fact that you have a gay brother, then you can go live with our friends in Oklahoma until you can.”

  I paused for a second to let the words sink in. Rajal’s face reflected some surprise, and then something akin to anger. But what I didn’t expect was the silence.

  Instead of saying anything, he remained quiet for a few long seconds that felt like an eternity, brow furrowed and lips drawn down into a frown. Just as I was about to try and prompt him into talking, he spoke. “All right.”

  I blinked. Were things really going to be that easy?

  “I get what you’re saying,” he continued, and let his crossed arms drop away from his chest. “I’ll remember it.”

  The look I gave him must have been somewhat dubious, since he just laughed. It wasn’t exactly a happy sound, but he wasn’t angry either. Or not explosively angry. “Is that all you wanted to say?”

  “Uh … well, yeah,” I said. Was it silly, for me to put so much stock into something that he was apparently able to accept so easily?

  “Then I have somewhere I need to be.”

  With that, he brushed past me and left me alone in his room. A few moments later, the front door opened and closed, and Rajal revved his car up and drove away.

  For a while, it seemed like that had actually done the trick. Things settled down in the house again. We picked up our routine from almost right where we had left off.

  I made breakfasts in the morning for the next few days, and while Rajal spent the first one avoiding making eye contact with me, he seemed to get over it by the next. It was nice, really. For what felt like the first time in my life, I actually managed to feel somewhat at ease with my own sexuality.

  The entire time I was growing up, I’d shoved it to the side for the sake of my family. Now, knowing that I’d already dealt with the worst of it — a family member considering rejecting me — and come through stronger on the other side? I felt like I could take on anything.

  Something about that was healing, in a way that I wouldn’t have been able to anticipate even a week ago. I returned to work with more of a bounce in my step, and more vigor than before. Suddenly, the cloud of exhaustion that had been hanging over my shoulders for so long had transformed, becoming less painful to bear.

  When I came home that night, I even had enough time to cook dinner for once, rather than leaving it up to Neri or Rajal. Jeff had something else that he was working on, and had told me that I could take the day off from farm work, despite my offer to show up and get it done anyway. It was an offer I’d gladly taken.

  As I plated my share, Neri trundled into the room. “Here,” I said, handing her a plate. “Where’s Rajal?”

  “Oh, he’s staying with a friend tonight,” she said, and took it to sit down at the table. “He told me to tell you, but I forgot.”

  I shot her a flat look from over my shoulder, to which she shrugged and dug into her dinner. “All right … well, I’ll save him a share. Do you know when he’ll be back?”

  “Yea
h, in a few hours,” she said.

  I glanced toward the clock and nodded. “All right. I’ll probably be asleep by then,” I explained with a small smile. “Got an early shift tomorrow.”

  And for once, I didn’t even feel too badly about it. Even though Rajal wasn’t around to truly make this a family dinner, it felt nice to know that I’d actually had time to make it a possibility. Getting more time to do other things like this in the future was the goal.

  Neri and I enjoyed the rest of the meal together, talking and joking. I listened to her explain how her school projects were going, and we discussed the possibility of expanding our coops a little and adding more chickens. She wanted to name the new ones, if we got any, to which I agreed.

  After about half an hour, I packed up, washed my plate off, and bid her good night. I was able to tuck myself into bed that night feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, and set my alarm to wake me up nice and early in the morning.

  The night passed by in what felt like a blur. It seemed like one second I was closing my eyes, and the next I opened them up blearily, welcomed into a new day by the incessant beeping of my phone’s alarm. I groaned and rolled over to slam it off, but something made a strange sound nearby.

  Confused, I sat up and glanced around to see where the noise was coming from. A piece of paper fluttered off my chest.I blinked and picked the piece of paper up, still groggy. I read it once. Read it again.

  A surge of panic rushed through me.

  I read it a third time just to make sure that my brain wasn’t just fuzzy from sleep, but the words were still there, plain as anything. Something jolted down my spine like lightning and I jumped out of bed, nearly tumbling to the floor with how frantic I was.

  I didn’t stop to brush my teeth or comb through my hair. I barely stopped long enough to whip off my pajamas and pull on something that could be considered appropriate for going outside. Then, in a flash, I dashed out the door.

  As I hopped into my car and peeled away from the driveway, there was only one destination in mind: the feed store. I had to get there, and fast.

  15

  Jeffrey

  Things at the feed store were the same as always, though that initial spark that had really had me going through the day quickly was long gone. Even after our last time together, I could tell something was up with Tarek. Things were different, and not in a good way.

  I busied myself with my work for now, keeping my head down and just moving through the day with rote motions and gestures.

  “Good morning, Mrs. Smith,” I greeted one regular customer while I set out a bag of feed. “The usual today?”

  “Hey there, Tom, how’re the chickens doing?”

  “Did Bessy take to that new formula well? I was kind of worried about her earlier.”

  Hours passed like that, with me being as involved as I could be in the lives and stories of the customers who passed through. But every time one left, I was left with nothing other than my own thoughts for company.

  The next time the bell rang, I was in the middle of reorganizing a shelf of chicken feed — the inexpensive corn stuff. Without looking up right away, I delivered the usual speech.

  “Welcome to the shop, how can I help—”

  “Jeff!”

  The familiarity of the voice caught my attention, and I looked up fast. It wasn’t the voice itself that concerned me, though — it was the tone in which those words were delivered. In the time I had known Tarek, I had never once heard him speak like that.

  “What? What’s up…?”

  But before I choked out more than that, he was at my side. Fortunately, the feed shop was mostly empty, though one or two customers still milled around and looked our way apprehensively.

  “Please, I need your help — Rajal is gone and he, he took Neri with him!”

  He sounded nearly hysterical in his distress, and people were definitely staring now. Having the sense to take this somewhere a little more private, I reached for his hand and guided him toward the back room. He didn’t resist, probably too stupefied by his current predicament. I felt pretty shocked, myself.

  Once we were back in the employee-only section, I closed the door behind us, brow furrowed. “All right,” I said, exhaling. “All right, what happened?”

  Tarek stammered a few times, trying and failing to get his words together. It was awful to see him so scattered, but there wasn’t anything I could do to help, either. I prompted him again.

  “You said Neri and Rajal are gone? Do you know where?”

  Tarek shook his head and reached into his pocket with fumbling hands. He withdrew a piece of paper from within and unfolded it to show me. On it was scrawled:

  I made my choice. I’m not going to let Neri grow up in a place like this either. We’ll see you when you get your act together.

  I frowned at that. Get your act together? If anything, Tarek seemed like one of the most together people I knew.

  “I woke up and this was just ... on my chest. He left it there and drove away! I didn’t even hear them leave!”

  I reached out with one hand and gently rested it against his shoulder. At a time like this, all I could do was to try to offer even a small amount of support.

  “It’s okay; we’ll find them. Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s not your fault.”

  To my surprise, Tarek jerked back and looked at me with an expression that seemed to be torn right in two. Unlike the stammering that came before, his next words flooded out in a gush, as if he had been holding them at bay for quite some time.

  “Are you kidding me?” he asked, but his tone didn’t convey disbelief. It just seemed upset, and I couldn’t entirely tell where that upset was directed. “It is my fault. It’s all my fault!

  “I’m the one who drove them away! I did this! I made my little brother feel like he didn’t have a place to call home anymore!”

  My hand fell uselessly back to my side, and I stared at him with no small amount of surprise, trying to digest what was said. He continued on without waiting for me, bowling ahead as if he was being driven by something else.

  “It’s my fault for being like this! It’s my parent’s fault for raising us this way, and everyone else here for being so small-minded! If we didn’t live in a place like this, Rajal wouldn’t be so concerned! If we hadn’t been raised with the teachings of our religion, he wouldn’t think being gay was some sort of sin!”

  I was blown away by all of this. It was all I could do to try and keep up with him as he bowled on, barely giving me time to process what was said. Was the implication here that Rajal had left … because of us? Because of me?

  “Wait a second, Tarek. I’m just—”

  But by speaking, I’d accidentally made myself into a target. Tarek turned his frantic, panicked fear on me. “This is our fault!” he exclaimed. And while he said our, I could hear the your hiding inside of it. “I never should have done anything with you!”

  “Now, wait a second,” I tried to interject again. There was no use attempting to sit this one out now that I had involved myself.

  “No! I knew I shouldn’t have done this! I knew this was how he was going to be, but I did it anyway! I let my own stupid, selfish wants get in the way of actually being a good brother to the only family I have left!”

  This time, I didn’t try to say anything. Tarek had worked himself up even worse than before, that much was obvious, but I was at a loss as to how I could possibly stop him. And without anything to act as even a small speed bump, he continued without pause.

  “I can’t believe it,” he said. His voice dropped down low this time, and it was nearly a whisper at first. “I can’t believe that I seriously chose this over my own family.”

  The words struck into my chest and left me reeling as if someone had physically punched me. I understood where he was coming from and the deep amount of upset that he was surely feeling, but it was still difficult to stomach those words.

  Tarek glanced away from me after that and st
epped back even further. There were tears at the corners of his eyes. If asked whether they were ones of shame, frustration, anger, or sorrow, I wouldn’t have been able to say.

  “This is it,” he finally said. His voice wavered. “It’s done. We’re over. I should have done this right at the beginning.”

  Before I could even think of anything to say in reply, he turned on his heel and swept back out through the shop again. A few seconds later, I followed.

  In the back of my mind, I noted that both of the customers from earlier had left. I would worry about potentially losing sales later, though. For now, I could only be grateful that no one was around to see us in this state.

  Especially since I was tearing up, too. I understood all too well that people said things they didn’t mean when they were upset or angry, but that never made it easier to take.

  But now wasn’t the time to worry about myself.

  Outside, Tarek was storming across the parking lot to his car. I ran after him, my feet hitting the pavement hard. “Hey, wait up!”

  I shouted. He didn’t pause. By the time I got to him, he was already opening the door. “Stop!” I hollered. Then, while he was within earshot, I quickly said, “Let me help you look.”

  Tarek paused, startled by the offer. He squinted up at me, but there was no suspicion in his face. It was hesitation, for the most part. But we both knew that two pairs of eyes would be better than one for this, so he nodded after a stiff second.

  “I think he’ll be heading toward the northbound freeway,” he said, sniffling and wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. “If we spread out over there, we might find him.”