California Dreaming

by Shawn Lane

“With-with everyone here?”

  He laughed, warm and rich. “Your dad and the kids are at the park. Raine is still asleep. Your mom is on the phone talking to relatives. No one cares. But you.” He reached down and pulled me to my feet. “Come on. Shower.”

  * * * *

  “You know there’s a drought,” I feebly protested as he pushed me against the shower tile, his arms braced on either side of my head. Warm water sprinkled down on us.

  Zach didn’t even bother to reply. Instead he pushed me harder against the tiles and covered my protesting mouth with his own. He sure as fuck knew how to kiss. For several minutes he just slanted his warm, dry lips over mine. Occasionally he nipped his teeth over my bottom lip.

  I went to move my hands from the side of the shower wall to around his neck.

  “No,” he growled. “Hands where they are at your side.”

  I whimpered in protest, which just earned me his teeth sinking into my lip, a little harder this time.

  “Behave.”

  His lips returned to mine, bruising in their fierceness, and I moaned in response. He thrust his tongue past my aching lips, his tongue stabbing at mine. We hadn’t done much kissing the night before, and it seemed Zach had decided to make up for it.

  He pulled back, staring into my eyes. “Put your right hand on my cock.”

  Part of me bristled at the command in his voice, and another part thrilled. I moved my hand from the wall and closed it around his erection.

  He closed his eyes and blew out a breath. “Stroke me.”

  I swallowed heavily and began to do just that. Though it might be a bit of a cliché, his dick in my grasp did feel almost like velvet steel. He kept his eyes closed, his lips parted just enough that I could feel his warm, soft pants against my face as he leaned into me.

  I looked down at him, suddenly getting an urge to suck on that delicious-looking cock. Without asking for permission or waiting for him to tell me, I released my grip and dropped to my knees in front of him.

  He stared down at me with hooded dark eyes. Didn’t say a word. Didn’t need to.

  I curled my fingers around his length and brought it to my lips. I flicked my tongue out at the tip, tasting the muskiness of his leaking fluid.

  “Mick,” he gasped out, then leaned toward the shower wall to brace his hands there.

  He was a little thicker than most of the dicks I’d sucked in the past, but it was doable, and pretty soon I had about half of him in my mouth. I could tell by the strain of his thighs he was holding back, trying not to ram himself right down my throat.

  I did my best to open my throat wider and pushed down on his cock until more of him filled my mouth. Zach let out a loud groan, and I lightly slapped his ass as a way of telling him to be quiet.

  Just a second later, I had him thrusting eagerly between my lips, stretching my muscles, causing my jaw to ache just a bit. I dug my fingers into his cheeks, holding on as I began to bob up and down on his erection in earnest.

  A couple of times I almost gagged, but I was able to pull back a bit before that happened, and pretty soon I could tell by Zach’s rigid leg muscles and his low, throaty groan he was close to coming. I sucked his dick harder, faster, as deep as I could go without choking.

  And then it happened. The first spurt of cum hit the back of my throat, and as I gripped his ass tight he filled my mouth with it. Only when I couldn’t swallow any more of it did I pull back, and even then he had enough to shoot on the tile behind me.

  “Jesus,” Zach rasped. He bent at the waist and pulled me to my feet, crushing my mouth with his. When he pulled back, his eyes were shining. The taste of him lingered on my tongue. “That was amazing.”

  “Glad you thought so,” I said with a smile and a teasing kiss on his nose. “The family’s coming over in a bit. And some friends of Raine.”

  He scrunched up that nose I’d just kissed. “I thought the family was here.”

  “Extended. And Joe’s. Some of his. It’s like…I don’t know. A bit of a wake, I guess. They’re bringing food. Mostly casseroles I’d guess. But not even sure.”

  Zach nodded, his gaze straying downward to my still-hard dick. “When?”

  “What time is it now?”

  “I have no idea,” Zach said. His fist closed around my cock. “I’m sure I could get you to come fast.”

  “Oh God.”

  And he proceeded to do just that.

  Chapter 7

  Raine’s guests didn’t really start arriving until an hour after the shower I’d shared with Zach. We’d both dressed leisurely when we got out, sharing a few heated kisses here and there.

  I tried not to analyze them and make them into more than they probably were. But both my nature and job as a lawyer made my forced indifference difficult.

  “Do we have to dress up for this?” Zach asked from the closet. He still wore only his boxer briefs and a sleeveless T-shirt. “You know, like a suit?”

  “No. Nice slacks and a shirt should be okay. Kind of like business casual.”

  Zach nodded and pulled out a turquoise dress shirt that I happened to know went fantastic with his dark hair and eyes. He paired it with oyster-gray slacks.

  For my part I went with brown pants and an ivory dress shirt, opened at the throat a bit, since without a tie I hated shirts buttoned to the collar.

  Zach leaned against the wall next to the bathroom after he finished dressing. “Are we expecting drama?”

  “Maybe.” I buttoned the cuffs of my shirt. “Raine told me something today at breakfast.”

  “Oh?” He arched a brow.

  “Not sure I’m supposed to tell anyone.”

  “So you’re going to drop that right there and not tell me what it is?” Zach mock pouted. “We tell each other everything.”

  Which was true. I sighed. “Things weren’t perfect. In fact, Raine had an affair with a neighbor.”

  “Oh. Interesting. I would assume the neighbor isn’t coming.”

  “Gah. I hope not. Lord, sometimes the shit you think.”

  Zach shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s just the first thought I had. And Joe? He didn’t take it well?”

  “Would you?”

  Zach had a strange glint in his eyes I couldn’t quite figure out. “This isn’t about me. Did Joe?”

  “Sure didn’t. Wanted a divorce. Raine said she talked him out of it. So, really? I don’t know what to expect tonight. Some of Joe’s family is coming. People I haven’t seen in years. And I have no idea if Joe told them about Raine or not.”

  Zach straightened from his perch and came to where I was fussing in front of the mirror. He slipped his hands under my collar and pulled me in for a kiss. I closed my eyes as his mouth covered mine, soft and demanding. All too soon he pulled back, though not far. “You look gorgeous, by the way.”

  I found myself flushing at the compliment. There’d been many times over the years Zach had commented on my appearance in a positive way, but those times it hadn’t come from the guy I was involved with. Sort of. He kissed me briefly again and this time stepped away. “Ready? Let’s go downstairs.”

  I nodded and followed him out of the bedroom.

  * * * *

  The first person I ran into was Joe’s sister, Jodie. She was standing not far from the foot of the stairs, arms wrapped around herself, wearing a black sheath dress. Her gaze lit on me with such precision and speed, I wondered if she had been waiting for me.

  “Mick!” Jodie launched herself into my arms before I had much time to even react. “God, it is you! I had hoped, but I didn’t know.”

  And that answered my question. She was probably watching for me. She was squeezing me really tight. Sort of like that old saying about hugging the stuffing out of someone. Finally she pulled back enough to let me breath, glanced for only a second or so at Zach, and then remained in my arms.

  “You look amazing,” she whispered, reaching up to tuck a lock of hair behind my ear.

  Zach cleared his throa
t, which caused both of us to look his way.

  “Jodie, this is Zach Covington, my—”

  “Boyfriend,” Zach supplied, thrusting his hand toward Jodie. Apparently he had decided to continue with the story he was my boyfriend. Admittedly it was closer to the truth than when we had arrived.

  “Oh.” Jodie’s eyes were wide. “Joe was my older brother. How do you do?”

  “I’m very sorry for your loss.” Zach squeezed her hand more than shook it.

  “Thank you,” Jodie whispered. She turned back to me. “I have to get back to Mama, but I’ll see you there? She’s in the living room with your mother.”

  “Sure, I’ll be right there.”

  She smiled wanly and then headed in that direction.

  “She was firmly in the ‘Joe should be with me’ camp,” I explained to Zach.

  “Hmm. It looked like she was in the ‘you should be with her’ camp.”

  “Jealous?” I asked, surprised at his tone. Zach knew I was firmly gay, after all.

  “Perhaps. Shall we?” He gestured to the living room.

  The minute I stepped into the living room, I wished I hadn’t. Joe’s mother, Dorothy, was not speaking with my mother as Jodie had implied but was instead all up in Raine’s personal space. In fact, she was wagging a finger right in front of Raine’s nose.

  “You should have left the funeral arrangements to us! What right did you have to make them without even consulting us?” Dorothy demanded.

  Raine had gone very pale. “I-I was his wife.”

  Dorothy huffed. “His wife? Don’t you think we all know what you did?”

  “I—”

  Standing fairly close to my sister were Autumn and Summer, looking very confused and lost.

  “Mom, why don’t you take the girls into the kitchen?” I suggested, glancing toward my mother.

  She nodded. “That’s an excellent idea. We can look at all the yummy food.” She walked over to the girls, cast what could only be considered a glare at Dorothy, and then put a hand on each of their shoulders, leading them from the room.

  “Joe was planning on divorcing you,” Dorothy continued without missing a beat.

  “We’d reconciled,” Raine whispered, and I had to strain to hear her.

  “Reconciled? Maybe you thought so, but—”

  “Mother.” Jodie had returned to hugging herself, and she was biting her lip. She looked almost as lost and confused as Autumn and Summer had.

  Raine shook her head, started to cry, and fled the room, running past both Zach and me. When I made to go after Raine, Zach stopped me with a hand on my arm.

  “Let me speak to her.”

  I blinked, startled. “You?”

  Zach nodded. “Trust me.”

  I did trust him, of course; he was my best friend and pretty much everything to me, really, and so I let him go after Raine and turned to defuse the situation with Joe’s mother. It was only her and Jodie in the room now, which had cleared out of pretty much everyone else the minute the awkward scene had begun.

  It had been years since I’d see Dorothy, though I remembered her well from my teen years. She had always been one of those very involved PTA moms. She’d been kind. I could tell the years since I had last seen her hadn’t gone well. And the loss of her son weighed heavily upon her.

  I gave Jodie a small smile, then went to her mother and pulled her into a hug, startling Dorothy into hugging me back. She crumbled in my arms and began to cry. I let her for a while, patting her back gently.

  When I thought she could handle it, I pulled back a little. “I’m sorry for your loss. It’s a terrible thing.”

  Dorothy nodded, her eyes still wet with tears. “It’s-it’s been so long since I’ve seen you. You look good.”

  I smiled. “I know how hard this is for you. But Joe—”

  “Loved Raine. I know. I was just awful with her, wasn’t I?”

  “This is horrible for all of us,” I replied gently.

  She sniffed. “I’m just so angry. You know?”

  “Yes. The last thing Joe would want, though, is for all of this. He hated strife, confrontation.” I knew that. He’d always been that way, even before our own relationship, our days of just a friendship. I turned toward Jodie and guided Dorothy toward her daughter. “I’m going to go check on Raine.”

  “Maybe we can go see if Barbie needs help with the food, Ma?” Jodie asked.

  “Yes,” Dorothy whispered and went with Jodie.

  I heard the voices of other people, other friends and relatives, in other parts of the house, but I wasn’t sure exactly where Raine and Zach had gone. I went to the front window and noticed them standing in the front yard. They were also both smoking cigarettes. To my knowledge my sister didn’t even smoke. But then, I had to admit, I didn’t really know what she had done for the last several years.

  “Michael.”

  I stiffened reflexively at my father’s voice behind me. Since my arrival he’d barely acknowledged I was there. I didn’t shy away from confrontation like Joe. Not anymore. After all, a lawyer thrived on it.

  “Hi, Dad.”

  He glanced behind him toward the voices we could both still hear. Then he returned his gaze to me. “Why don’t we go for a walk?”

  “Now?”

  Dad nodded. “I think they’re all going to be a while. Your mom’s in the kitchen with the girls, reheating the casseroles and putting together a meat and cheese tray. Dorothy and Jodie are there, too. Some of the aunts.”

  “So, all women, huh?”

  He looked vaguely uncomfortable. “Yeah. I never realized there weren’t a lot of men in Joe’s life.”

  “Right. His parents were divorced. His father sort of disappeared.” Dad gestured for the front door. “Walk?”

  “All right.” I opened the door, and Dad followed me into the front yard. Zach and Raine seemed deep in conversation, and though Zach’s face turned slightly in our direction, he didn’t look my way.

  Dad touched my arm and pointed to the sidewalk across the street. “This way?”

  “Okay.”

  The thing was, we’d never had the kind of relationship where my dad invited me along for walks. My most prominent recollection of my dad was that he worked a lot. We’d see him at dinner on workdays, but not really otherwise, beyond glimpses like his poker games and on weekends when he wasn’t doing other activities he preferred over spending time with my sister and me.

  But it occurred to me as I took up space just slightly behind him to his left that perhaps I had been unfair to him. Mom had mentioned he’d taken us to the park when we were young, and maybe there were other things I’d forgotten.

  “You were always the quiet one,” Dad spoke up after we’d gotten about a block from Raine’s home.

  “Was I?” He’d gained probably twenty pounds since I’d seen him last. Ten years changed everyone, I guessed.

  “Sure. Even when you and your sister were born. She cried and cried. But not you.”

  “I didn’t cry?”

  “Some. But never like her. And your mother was concerned. She’d say to me, ‘He’s quiet. Is he too quiet, Kenny?’”

  I smiled. “What did you say, Kenny?”

  He glanced at me. “Don’t get smart.” It was said without heat though. “I told her it was okay. If you’d had something to cry about, you would have.”

  “Wise.”

  “Well, in that I think you took after your old man.”

  “How so?”

  Dad shrugged. “I was never a talker.” He stopped and pointed toward the park half a block down. “Let’s go there.”

  “The park?” I didn’t hide my surprise.

  “Your mother told me you didn’t remember the park when you were a kid. And, yeah, this isn’t the same one. But anyway.”

  I nodded. “Okay.”

  When we reached the park, my father pointed to the swings. They were empty. The whole area around them was fairly deserted, probably because most kids
were in school.

  “What?” I laughed. “You want to go on the swings?”

  “Yeah. Why not? You’re never too old for those.”

  There was a row of four swings, and he went to the farthest one on the right. My father placed himself on the rubbery material that made up the seat and then gestured for me to take the one next to his.

  When I sat down, I looked at him out of the corner of my eye in somewhat amazement.

  “What?” he asked as he began to sway.

  “Just…I don’t know, really.”

  “You were also always a little uptight.”

  That made me laugh. Because really? I couldn’t completely deny it. “Yeah. I have to say I never imagined myself playing on the swings with my dad.”

  “We did this before. When you were small.”

  “Mom said. Why’d we stop?”

  “I got too busy at work, and I guess I thought you and your sister were too big anymore. Or maybe…I don’t know. Didn’t want to hang out with your old man.”

  I leaned back and looked up at the party cloudy sky above. “You think she’s going to be all right?”

  “Raine? Sure. She’s strong. It’s not easy. I know. But she’ll get through it. We’ll help her.”

  “She wants me to come back.”

  Dad nodded. “I know. She mentioned it to me. Your mom, too.”

  “Mom? That does surprise me.”

  Dad watched me swing for a bit. “Why does it surprise you? You’re her son.”

  I sighed. How could I ever explain to him—to them—what I couldn’t even explain to myself? “I don’t know. I guess sometimes I felt like you guys loved Raine more than me.”

  “You think you’re the first to ever feel like you weren’t the favorite child?”

  “You?” I guessed, pretty surprised. I didn’t remember that much about his parents. They’d died when I was pretty young.

  “Sure.” He shrugged a little. “I think sometimes it’s natural to feel that way. All part of that sibling rivalry nonsense. Anyway, your mother and I love you, son, just like we love Raine.” He gazed at the sky. “You didn’t always make it easy.”

  “You didn’t try to keep in touch like Raine.”

  “No,” he admitted. “But you didn’t either.”