Ethan (Alluring Indulgence)

by Edwards, Nicole

  “I’ll get dinner started as soon as I get there,” Ethan informed him.

  Beau nodded, pulling the door open for Ethan.

  “Oh, and Beau?”

  Beau was still trying to catch his breath, so rather than waste words, he merely cocked his eyebrow in question.

  “Pack whatever you need because you’ve spent your last night here already. From here on out, you belong in my bed.”

  And with that Ethan walked out the door and Beau’s heart swelled up in his chest and exploded into bright, gleaming pieces that blinded him with their intensity.

  Yeah, he was definitely a goner.

  ♂♂

  When Ethan pulled up in his driveway, he was already mapping out what ingredients he would need to get dinner started. He had opted for pizza. Homemade pizza. With everything he needed already in the pantry, it was just a matter of ensuring he didn’t miss a step. Considering his excitement, he worried whether or not he’d be able to remember his own name much less his favorite recipe.

  It was the only thing he could do to keep from exploding. Beau had agreed to move in with him.

  They were going to live together.

  Ethan never thought he’d be at a place in his life where that seemed like the right thing to do, but for him, right now, it was the only thing that made sense. He needed Beau in his life. He loved him with everything that he was.

  Ethan was in the kitchen, rolling out the dough he’d just prepared when there was a knock on the door. With his hands covered in flour, he merely stuck his head in the entryway and hollered for Beau to come in.

  Back at the island, Ethan continued to work and smiled up at Beau when he joined him a minute later. His eyes were drawn to the black polo Beau had on and the two buttons that were open near his throat. He wanted to put his mouth there and suck on Beau’s skin until he was begging for mercy.

  As though he knew just what Ethan was thinking, Beau’s brown eyes darkened and he swallowed, the bob of his Adam’s apple mesmerizing Ethan. At this rate he was never going to get dinner finished.

  “Sit,” Ethan nodded toward the bar stool. “Hope you like cheese.”

  “At this point, I’m willing to eat that dough just like it is.”

  “Well, good thing I thought ahead, isn’t it?” Ethan nodded toward a plate of ham, cheese and crackers. He knew it wasn’t much, but he hoped it would tide Beau over for half an hour while the pizza cooked.

  Focusing on his task, Ethan prepared the pizza as quickly and efficiently as he could and only when it was baking in the oven did he turn back to look at Beau.

  “Beer?”

  “Sure.”

  Ethan grabbed two beers from the fridge, popped the caps off and handed one to Beau.

  “I never did get to ask. How’d it go with Mason?” Beau asked, grabbing a handful of cheese slices.

  “Perfect,” he said, remembering spending time with his nephew. “He slept, ate, and listened to me ramble for two hours straight. I’d say he did a great job at keeping an eye on me.”

  Beau laughed and the deep, thunderous rumble awakened something inside of Ethan. He could get used to this. He would get used to this: standing in the kitchen, talking about what their day had been like while dinner cooked.

  Granted, since they were working together, they’d find other things to chat about, but Ethan didn’t think they’d ever have an issue with finding something.

  “How about you? You go to the gym?”

  Beau nodded, chewing before speaking. “Yeah. Forced myself to leave. Trying to make up for the last couple of days I missed.”

  “Are you trying to tell me I’m not giving you enough of a workout? If that’s the case, I’ll have to double my efforts.”

  Ethan remembered the last encounter less than an hour before and he was suddenly looking forward to a replay. Immediately.

  “Well, in that case, no, you’re not working me nearly hard enough.” Beau’s brown eyes glittered with humor and desire.

  Ethan set his beer on the counter and moved around to stand behind Beau. Placing his hands on Beau’s bulky shoulders, he dug his fingers in and his dick rose to the occasion when Beau groaned.

  “Feel good?”

  “You have no idea,” Beau grumbled, his head falling forward on his shoulders.

  Ethan stared at Beau’s neck. His hair was a little long, just the right length in Ethan’s opinion because he loved driving his fingers into all of that blond silk and holding him close. He massaged Beau’s shoulders then up to his neck and back down until he couldn’t resist the urge to lean in and press his lips against Beau’s strong neck.

  Beau groaned, louder this time, his hand coming back behind him to clasp onto Ethan’s thigh. The physical contact was such a rush, the way Beau always touched him back as though being close to him was as important to him as it was to Ethan.

  “You taste good,” Ethan mumbled against his skin, using his tongue to lick softly, sliding up to Beau’s ear. “I plan to taste the rest of you later.”

  “I’ll hold you to that,” Beau said gruffly.

  Before they could get carried away, the timer on the oven dinged and in answer, Beau’s stomach growled loudly making Ethan laugh.

  “I think I’m gonna have to feed you more,” Ethan said absently.

  “Wow. A promise of more food and more sex all in one night. I’m pretty sure it’s not my birthday.”

  Ethan laughed, feeling unusually light for the first time in a long time.

  Chapter Thirty Eight

  ♂♂

  The following Tuesday afternoon, Beau found himself at the gym. The workload that day had been lighter than usual and he’d snuck out early so he could attempt to get a couple of hours in. Ethan had kissed him firmly and sent him on his way, insisting he had something to finish up, but refusing to let Beau help.

  So when his phone rang and he noticed it was Ethan’s cell phone, he answered quickly. “Where are you?” Beau asked by way of a greeting.

  “I’ve got an errand to run. You still at the gym?” Ethan responded.

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ll be gone for an hour or so, but when I get home I’ll make dinner.”

  Beau’s heart did that strange twisting thing he’d been getting familiar with for the last few days. Home. He loved the sound of that. And since he’d practically moved in with Ethan over the course of the last week, hearing it still made him smile.

  “I’ll probably be here for another hour,” Beau said, grabbing his towel and swiping it across his forehead.

  “See you at home then.”

  With that, Beau hung up the phone and glanced around the gym. No one was there except for him. Not even the owner who tended to hang out in the evening. That was one of the reasons Beau enjoyed working out at that time of day. He figured most people were heading home for dinner which gave him some time to himself.

  Too bad he was having a hard time focusing on what he was supposed to be doing.

  Glancing down at the phone he was still holding, Beau looked back up at the reflection in the mirror. For the last several days, he’d been contemplating making that one phone call. The one that would give him closure, one way or the other. He didn’t bank on the outcome being a good one, but he knew it was inevitable.

  Grabbing hold of the courage before it eluded him yet again, Beau dialed the number he knew by heart.

  “Hello?”

  Beau closed his eyes at the sound of his mother’s voice. At least he wouldn’t have to deal with his father right off.

  “Mom,” he replied.

  “Beau,” she answered, sounding oddly happy to hear from him. Or maybe that was just what Beau wanted to hear.

  “You mind if I stop by in a bit?”

  “For what?”

  Now that was what he expected from his mother. They acted as though it wasn’t normal for him just to want to stop by and say hello. Another reason he’d stopped doing so over the years. It made him uncomfortable, and it was b
ad enough that he already felt like an outsider by his own family.

  “Just to talk for a minute.”

  There was a brief pause, followed by, “All right. Your father will be home in a few minutes. What time will you be here?”

  Beau glanced up at the clock and figured he might as well get it over with. “Fifteen minutes?”

  Again, another brief pause followed by, “Ok.” Then the call ended.

  Beau sucked in a breath, let it out slowly.

  He hated this. He didn’t want to do this, but he knew if he didn’t, he would be plagued with the questions for the rest of his life. And now that he was moving forward, it was time he overcame the last hurdle. No matter what the outcome was going to be.

  Twenty minutes later, Beau was walking into his parents’ house, his mother closing the door behind him. He’d had to knock when he arrived because, as usual, the door had been locked and they had never given him a key since the day he moved out.

  “Your father is in the kitchen,” his mother informed him, getting right to the point.

  Beau nodded, making his way through the small, dimly lit house. It still looked the same as it did when he was a kid – same dull, brown furniture, same dingy, tan carpet; even the walls had taken on a yellow tinge over the years. Almost like his parents didn’t like change, so they kept everything exactly the way it had been.

  “Dad,” he greeted his father when he stepped into the kitchen.

  Ben Bennett glanced up at him, his hand stopping on its trek to his mouth. They were having dinner. Great.

  “What are you doing here?” Ben asked gruffly.

  Thanks, Dad. Way to make me feel welcome.

  “Sit,” his mother said firmly, directing him toward one of the empty chairs at the table. She didn’t offer him food or even a drink, just told him to sit.

  Without hesitation, Beau sat, his stomach suddenly churning from the idea of what he was about to do. This was not going to go well, and he couldn’t help but wonder if he could just move through the rest of his life without having to endure this final falling out. He knew it was coming.

  A small – very small – piece of him prayed that it wouldn’t go the way he envisioned it would, but when it came to his relationship with his parents, Beau had learned not to get his hopes up.

  His father continued to eat, not paying any attention to Beau, but that wasn’t unusual.

  “What did you want to talk about?” Arlene asked when she lowered herself into the chair beside Beau’s father.

  Swallowing, Beau remembered the words he’d been rehearsing in his head for days. He was going for casual, nothing blatant or in your face. Just the basics, so he began with, “I just wanted to let y’all know that I moved.”

  That got Ben’s attention, albeit briefly. Beau wasn’t sure why because he honestly didn’t think his father even knew where he had lived for the last eight years.

  “Where to?”

  “I moved in with…” The words suddenly died on his tongue. His gut ached and rolled, and he wondered if he was going to be sick.

  For days he had rehearsed what he would say. He’d even gone over and over the word he would use to refer to Ethan. There had been several options – lover, friend, partner, boyfriend. But now that Beau was presented with the chance to say the word out loud, he choked.

  “Where did you move to?” Ben repeated, his words reflecting his impatience.

  Sucking it up, Beau decided this was it. He owed himself this much. “I moved in with Ethan,” he told them.

  “Who’s Ethan? Someone you work with?” his mother asked.

  “No,” Beau said quickly, but any further comment dried in his throat.

  “Ethan who?” Ben questioned, staring back at him.

  “Ethan Walker.”

  “I thought you were friends with Zane?” Arlene asked.

  “I am.”

  Ok, so now he was definitely chickening out. Beau knew he had to get on with it, but he was having a hard time forming words because his tongue was dry and felt too thick for his mouth.

  “So why are you moving in with Ethan?” she asked sounding genuinely interested.

  Maybe it was out of spite, but Beau waited until his father took his next bite of food before he said, “Ethan is my boyfriend.”

  Ben choked. Arlene shrieked, her hand coming up to cover her heart like she was going to have a coronary right then and there.

  Beau smiled. Strangely enough, he smiled. He wasn’t sure whether it was because he’d gotten the words out, or because he liked saying that Ethan was his boyfriend. Or maybe because some sadistic part of him enjoyed the startled reaction from his parents.

  His smile disappeared abruptly when his father flew up out of his chair, causing the glass of iced tea to teeter and nearly fall over until his mother grabbed it just in time.

  “Out!” Ben growled, the vein in his forehead throbbing as his face reddened.

  Beau pushed to his feet. It wasn’t like he hadn’t known this day was coming, but still, it hurt. More than he wanted to admit. His chest burned as his heart felt as though it shrank two sizes thanks to the hatred he witnessed in his father’s eyes.

  With a simple nod, he stepped around the table and headed for the door, biting back all of the words he wanted to scream at the very man who made him feel so unwanted.

  Before he could get very far, his father’s hand clamped down on his arm painfully hard. Jerking away out of instinct, Beau spun around to face him, his back ramrod straight. He stood right up to his father, nose to nose, ensuring the man knew he wasn’t that young naïve kid he used to be.

  What came next was more painful than if his father would’ve just hit him.

  “You’re a disgrace, you know that?” Ben rattled, his face red, his eyes shooting lasers of malevolence at Beau. “A damned disgrace. At one time, I thought there was potential. You almost made something of yourself. Obviously, it wasn’t enough for you to ruin that, was it? Now you want to shame this family because you’re a…. a…”

  An answering rage built up in Beau, his heart thumping in his chest, his hands balled into fists as he stared back at his father. “What? I’m a what, Dad? Say it.”

  Beau wasn’t sure his father could be any more pissed than he was right then. “You’re a fag!”

  Clamping his lips shut, he swallowed the words he wanted to say. Instead, Beau nodded his head, completely disgusted with this man whom he had called Dad. The man hadn’t earned the title.

  “Get out! And don’t you ever come back!” Ben yelled.

  Beau glanced up to see his mother standing in the kitchen doorway, her hand over her mouth, tears streaming down her face. Was she upset that he was gay? Or that his own father was treating him this way? With his mother, he wasn’t sure he would ever know.

  Whether she was scared of Ben, or she truly had never much cared for Beau, he just couldn’t tell. Maybe one day he’d have the opportunity to talk to her. But for now, it didn’t matter. She’d never stood up for him a day in his life. He knew today wasn’t going to be any different.

  “Don’t come back here!” Ben yelled when Beau turned back to the door. “You’re not welcome here.”

  With one hand on the door knob, Beau turned to face his father one last time. “I’ve never been welcome here.”

  And with that, Beau opened the door, closing it gently behind him despite the turmoil roiling inside of him. When the door latched, that small click reverberated in Beau’s head.

  ♂♀

  Curtis had just finished having dinner with his wife and they’d been drinking coffee and discussing the new playground that was being built at the church when the phone rang. Without preamble, Lorrie stood from her seat and headed to the phone that was on the wall in the kitchen.

  “Hello?” Lorrie greeted whoever was on the phone while Curtis sat at the kitchen table. Watching her closely, Curtis immediately noticed the way her slender shoulders tensed.

  “Excuse me!”


  Curtis’ ears perked up at the affronted tone of his wife’s voice.

  “Mr. Bennett, I don’t have to listen to this! How dare you have the audacity to call my house and insult my family like that!”

  Mr. Bennett? It took Curtis a moment to place the name, but then he realized exactly whom Lorrie was speaking to.

  Coming up out of his chair, Curtis stalked toward her until she turned to face him, outrage written across her face. Without asking, he held out his hand, a clear gesture that he wanted the phone, and apparently she had listened to all she cared to because she handed it over without incident.

  Curtis put the phone to his ear in time to hear, “Your faggot son is responsible for this! Do you understand me? Hell, all of them are probably faggots!”

  Curtis cleared his throat, his only warning. “Bennett,” he said firmly. “If you have the nerve to call my house and insult my family, you better understand what you’re asking for.”

  “How dare you raise your kids like that!” Ben screamed. “Letting them destroy this town with their sleazy hotel, allowing them to do what they want. Letting them turn my son gay!”

  Curtis wanted to laugh, but he couldn’t think through the rage that consumed him. “If that’s how you think it works, then you’re even more ignorant than I originally gave you credit for. Don’t call here again, Bennett.”

  “Don’t worry,” Ben screamed, his voice shaking with his rage. “And as for Beau, he’s no longer my son! You can have him. You’ve warped him enough already; it’s your turn to deal with him.”

  Curtis swallowed hard. He could take damn near anything this man had to dish out, but when he wanted to intentionally take out his anger and ignorance on his own child, Curtis had to put his foot down. “In case you haven’t noticed, Beau is a grown man. A man I’d be honored to call my son. In fact, he’s been a member of this family now for as long as I can remember. And if you want my honest opinion, he turned out to be a fine young man.” Curtis took a deep breath and added, “No thanks to you.”