Outside Looking In: A Browerton University Book

by Truman, A. J.

  Liam’s brothers moved aside so he could sit on his couch. Growing up, he’d always had to sit on the floor since there was never enough room for all the brothers on their family’s couch. Couch space was reserved for seniority, though Mark would let Liam take his spot.

  Harold put the iPad on the coffee table. It had one of those covers that also doubled as an easel. He played a simulation video of what the development would look like: kids biking down sidewalks, freshly-washed cars pulling into garages. The whole footage reminded Liam of a horror film, with its opening shots of a perfect suburbia that was about to be attacked by an unknown terror.

  “The town needs a development like this,” James said. “It’ll bring more families and get the schools in better condition. Maybe I should move Elise and the kids here.”

  “Us first!” Callum said. They laughed.

  The video went into a 3-D simulation of what the development would look like. His parents’ farm would be its own village, the earth his dad tilled would be pristine blocks and cul-de-sacs. It was nauseating.

  “And the best part,” Harold said, as he folded up his iPad. “is how much money you’re going to make off this sale.”

  “More than we could ever make from renting it,” Callum said.

  “We are going to be a couple of rich arseholes!” Oliver punched Liam’s back in celebration. He was the rugby player who never left the field.

  “What do you think, Liam?” Callum asked. “It’s a phenomenal opportunity.”

  “Our family’s been on this land for over fifty years,” Liam said.

  “So?” James asked.

  “This is what our parents left us.”

  “Harold, mind if we have a minute?” Callum asked.

  “There’s no pressure to decide right this instant,” Harold said, the only sane voice in this room, shockingly. He handed Liam his card. “Talk it over with your family. Think about it. I’ll need an answer by next week though, in case I need to move forward with other prospects.”

  “Thank you.” Liam nodded his head, and Harold left to return to his car. The second the screen door shut, Liam wished he had stayed. He was the only thing keeping his brothers in check.

  “Piglet, are you serious right now?” Oliver asked, his face mashing like lumps of clay into a grimace.

  Callum got in front of Oliver and James before they did anything stupid. “Mum and Dad wanted us to be financially secure. Dad worked day in and day out for decades. Don’t romanticize it, Liam. He hated it. If he was given this payday, he would take it.”

  Liam didn’t believe that, though. Their dad talked about how he saved up for years to buy this initial plot of land. He would carry Liam through the fields in his wheelbarrow, gazing out on his flock with immense pride. Liam knew there were hard times. He had experienced them, too. But it was satisfying in a way he’d never experienced as a visual effects artist.

  “Dad could’ve sold or rented the land anytime he wanted. He stayed. This is what he wanted.”

  “And we’re supposed to want it?” James asked. “You have a very different idea of what Mum and Dad were like. You got them at the tail end. You were the baby. They didn’t treat you like free labor. They doted on you. And they treated Mark like a prince. That left us in the middle, fighting for scraps.”

  James stepped away and took a beat to cool off in the kitchen. Liam looked out at his field. The thought of getting rich off land his parents gave their lives to didn’t sit right with him, not when he was finally getting the hang of running his own farm.

  “What if I bought the land from you?” Liam asked. The idea caught fire in his mind. “I just built a second pen for the lambs. It’s only going to grow.”

  James laughed out loud. “Are you fucking serious, Piglet? You still think you can make a living out of being a sheep farmer?”

  “Yes.” Liam didn’t say that with as much confidence as he hoped. He was still convincing himself.

  Callum tapped his computer screen. “You’re still doing freelance jobs. This farm isn’t even profitable for you.”

  “It will be.”

  “No, it won’t,” Callum said. “We’ve known you your entire life, Piglet. We’ve seen you screw up your fair share of shit. That time you saved up for a car, then got in an accident the first week. Or when you fell into that pyramid scheme at university and were on the hook for six hundred dollars.”

  “We say this with love, but you are in over your head,” James said. Liam hated the sound of his voice. It was pure snivel, and it pricked at him even more now. “It’s a miracle that you haven’t killed all your sheep at this point. I know you needed a change when you got dumped, but it’s time to end this quarter-life crisis, bro. Get out now while you can. Don’t drag us down with you.”

  Liam had no counter-argument. Maybe they were right. But mostly, he just wanted them gone. “I’ll think about it.”

  “I’ll have Harold send you that presentation,” Callum said. “We’ll talk in a few days.”

  Chapter 21

  Liam

  That night, Liam washed off the day—the lambing, the farm work, his asshole brothers—in the outdoor shower. The moon was in full force and was all the light he needed. The warm rivulets of water cascaded down his chest and back, soothing his tired muscles. It streamed down his shaggy hair into his beard, releasing tension he held onto in his jaw.

  “Mind if I join you?”

  Nathan stood at the entrance to the shower, sneaky smile on his face.

  “You’re a bit overdressed,” Liam said.

  “I think I’ll enjoy the view for a bit more.” Nathan leaned against the slats of wood that walled in the shower.

  Fucker.

  Well, if he wanted a show…

  Liam slid a hand to his hardening cock and stroked himself under the water for Nathan to see. He liked being on display, giving a one-man show for one man. He ran his free hand over his chest and abs. Nathan didn’t blink. Liam turned around and let the water slip down his back over his round ass. He never felt so sexy, so wanted. His body sparked with raging desire.

  He heard Nathan take a step closer, then stop. A buzzing sound cut through the pheromones. When Liam turned around, Nathan was slipping his phone back into his pocket.

  “Is a third person joining us?”

  “They wish,” Nathan said. Liam sensed hesitation catching in his voice.

  “Who was it?”

  “I didn’t recognize the number. Telemarketer, probably.”

  Liam wasn’t sure he believed him. Unknown numbers don’t make people go quiet. But before he could turn it over in his mind, Nathan’s shirt was off and in his face.

  “Shouldn’t you be showing off that amazing arse of yours?” Nathan spun his finger to signal Liam to turn back around. He unzipped his trousers. They fell to the ground, and the wood sprouting in his underwear pointed right at Liam. Nathan tossed his pants outside the shower. His pants which held his phone.

  Liam shook the thought out of his head and turned around as requested. He slid a hand over his firm cheeks down to his hole. He rubbed a finger against his opening. The water trickling over his puckered area made it extra sensitive, sending shivers over his skin. Suddenly, Nathan’s arms were around him, fingers threading through his chest hair, hard cock pressing against his hole. Liam let out a deep moan of pleasure, wanting what came next but wanting to live in this moment, too.

  Nathan kissed his neck. His tight, wet muscles pressed against Liam’s back. His rubbed Liam’s nipple with one hand while the other traveled down south, cutting a path through his bush to his rock hard cock.

  “You are so fucking sexy, Liam,” he whispered on his neck. “I want you so fucking bad.”

  Liam spread his legs apart, his body begging to be taken over by Nathan. Nathan spanked his ass hard. Liam could feel the handprint forming. He let out a low growl, desperate for Nathan to free him from the pain and stress. Nathan jerked his cock faster. He pulled Liam back by the neck and n
ibbled at his ear. Liam’s legs quaked to keep him upright. He reached out a hand to the wall to hold himself steady. Nathan’s cock teasingly brushed against his hole.

  His mouth kissed down Liam’s spine and made its way to his ass.

  “God, yes.” Liam’s bottom lip quivered with lust. He wiped water out of his eyes.

  Nathan spread his cheeks apart and flicked a tongue on his puckered opening. Liam groaned with approval. Nathan’s hot breath on him sent shivers racing up his spine. He felt Nathan’s tongue open him up, slipping in and out of his hole, stoking an unquenchable need building inside him. He grabbed Nathan by the hair and pushed him deeper inside.

  “Easy, mate. You don’t want me to asphyxiate,” Nathan said.

  Liam let go and wrapped his hand around his aching cock, desperate to release a hot load of come. But not yet. “I fucking love what you’re doing to my arse.”

  “Just you wait.”

  Nathan rubbed his thumb on his hole and pushed inside. Liam put a foot up on a wooden slat, sticking his ass out to give Nathan better leverage. He plunged his thumb deeper, using his free fingers to play with Liam’s balls. The water couldn’t cool him down. When Liam and Kelly had had shower sex, he’d sometimes secretly wish he could be on bottom, a fleeting desire that he shoved down instantly. But now it could be unleashed. Now he could fulfill that desire with a man, a man he couldn’t stop thinking about, a man he got to wake up with and go to sleep with.

  Nathan gave his ass a final slap and stood up. He turned Liam around and pulled him into a heat-killed kiss. Their mouths collided in an explosion of passion, but there was caring, too. Nathan cradled his cheek, and the connection between them outshined the moon. Liam tasted the mix of himself on Nathan’s lips. Water gushed between their slicked-up chests as their cocks dueled below.

  “You are wonderful,” Nathan said.

  “You are, too.” Liam pecked his soft lips. He looked into Nathan’s blazing green eyes, stormy with lust, just like his were. “Now fuck me.”

  “Ask nicely.”

  “Now please fuck me.”

  “As you fucking wish.” Nathan kissed him once more and bit at his lower lip. He had Liam face the wall, gave his hole a quick spit shine, and pressed his cock inside him.

  “God, yes,” Liam cried out.

  “Don’t wake the sheep.”

  “Fuck,” was all Liam could respond with to Nathan. It felt so good that words failed him. Nathan pegged his tight hole and nuzzled his face into Liam’s strong back. Each thrust was another bolt of ecstasy that made every nerve fizzle with pleasure. Nathan rubbed this thumb over Liam’s nipple, the same thumb that had just been inside him. Liam loved the sound of Nathan’s abs slapping into his firm cheeks. His body became extra sensitive to the water dripping down his body, to the chirp of crickets outside, to Nathan’s hot moaning on his back.

  “You’re so tight, baby. God, you feel so good,” Nathan said.

  Liam held himself up against the wall of the shower. He jerked his cock slowly and methodically. He’d been on the verge of coming for a while, but he wanted them to finish together. He wanted to feel Nathan release inside him. By the pained groans leaving Nathan’s mouth, the Brit was awfully close.

  A familiar buzzing sound cut into their hot moment. On the other side of the shower wall, Nathan’s phone buzzed. Another telemarketer?

  It’s nobody. It’s nothing, Liam told himself. People are allowed to receive phone calls.

  He was over-reacting. But he couldn’t help think about all the times Kelly had to sneak away to take a call.

  “Fuck, I’m going to come, mate.” A deep moan ripped out of Nathan. He took hold of Liam’s ass with both hands and fucked him fast and hard. He fucked the worry out of Liam’s head, until all his mind could think about was shooting their loads.

  “I want you to come inside me,” Liam said. “I want to bloody feel it.”

  “Dirty bastard,” Nathan sneered through muffled, heated breaths, choked with impending orgasm.

  “Don’t…stop.”

  The world went white as Nathan let out a groan and emptied himself into Liam’s ass. Liam sprayed the shower wall with his seed. He felt a trail of Nathan’s come sliding down his leg, making him stiff all over again.

  “I can’t get enough of you.” Nathan kissed his ear.

  Liam kissed him right back, tasting his hot, salty breath, savoring the sweaty smell of sex between them. He gazed into Nathan’s eyes, then realized he was studying them.

  “Best part of shower sex. Easy cleanup,” Nathan said. He washed himself off in the water. Liam kept watching him, a sense of uncertainty creeping into his mind. He joined Nathan under the shower head.

  “By the way, your phone rang again,” he said to Nathan.

  “Oh.”

  “Damn telemarketers, right?”

  Nathan

  The next day, Liam collapsed on the bed for an afternoon nap after an especially busy morning constructing the new lambing pens. Each ewe and her young needed their own pen so as to prevent mismothering.

  “Lambs could easily wind up with the wrong ewe. Imagine if that happened with humans,” Liam had said.

  “Imagine,” Nathan deadpanned. Imagine being purposely mismothered.

  Nathan told Liam he would watch the sheep while he rested. None of the ewes were on the verge of popping out babies. The new mothers were content in their pens nursing their newborns, while the mothers-to-be rested in the hoof house. On the human side, Mark was still at work, Walt was at school, and Franny was at play practice. Nathan could easily sneak off to the house and explore in the basement for a few minutes. Liam wouldn’t even know he was gone. The man napped hard.

  It’s not wrong, is it? I have a right to know who my mother was.

  He was running out of time to find answers. Lambing season was winding down, and he would have to leave for his movie shoot soon. Plus, the outside world kept trying to pop this bubble he enjoyed living in, such as having his very-much-alive father call him whilst enraptured in unbelievable outdoor shower sex.

  He looked at Tilly for support. She seemed to give him the stink eye, but she also had a lamb pulling at her udder.

  “I’m not looking for anything scandalous. I’m not trying to crack their safe and steal priceless heirlooms,” he said to her. “I just want answers.”

  Tilly tended to her lambs. She wasn’t getting involved.

  * * *

  The house was empty and still, but Nathan made sure to be quiet nevertheless. He figured the basement stairs would be creaky. Weren’t they all? He took them one at a time, resting each foot softly on each step.

  The basement was even worse than Franny had described. Stacks of worn, sinking in boxes stood against every available wall. Each stack looked about to collapse, the cardboard fighting from giving in to time and gravity. Around the boxes were shoeboxes, plastic bags, and old dusty suitcases filled with more of Mariel’s stuff. Nathan figured the basement was like this when she was alive, a dirty hoarding secret she hid from the world.

  Nathan didn’t know where to start. None of the boxes were labeled.

  “Jump in anywhere,” he muttered to himself.

  He opened the box closest to him. Inside were old clothes of hers, black choker necklaces from the ‘90s and black cardigans. Mum was a total goth chick, he thought. That probably did not go over well with Pastor Fry. He found one of those tiny knapsacks girls carried instead of purses back then. Inside was an old student ID and an empty bag of tobacco. They could’ve rolled cigarettes together. Nathan realized he hadn’t smoked since lambing season started. Sheer exhaustion and rowdy sex had supplanted his vices apparently.

  The boxes weren’t organized. Nathan was like an archaeologist peeling back layers of the earth to reveal different historical eras. Underneath the goth outfits were old photos of mum in high school. Nathan pulled out a pocket bible. Inside, she wrote her name in curly cursive. Under the stamp with the church’s logo, Mariel doodled a
penis. Nathan laughed to himself.

  “Nice one, Mum.”

  His eyes lit up at the next artifact he found. A diary. Nay, journal. His mum seemed like the kind of gal who preferred to call it a journal. Nathan felt the weight of her most private words in his hands. The spine cracked when he lifted open the cover.

  Mark wants to see Jurassic Park AGAIN. The dinosaurs are awesome, but they’re still fake, so I don’t see the big deal. It’s nothing like actors performing live on stage. That’s thrilling.

  Nathan smiled to himself reading the old entry. Judging by the date, she was about seventeen. He wondered if she kept a journal while she was in London and after.

  He searched through the box for more journals, but he stopped when he felt a sick feeling creeping down his throat, the kind of feeling that comes when he knew he was being watched.

  Walt stared at him from the bottom of the stairs.

  “Nathan, what are you doing?”

  Chapter 22

  Nathan

  Nathan froze at the voice. He looked up slowly, calculating excuses in his head. “Hiya Walt.”

  Confusion creased his little forehead, as if he woke up and bumped into Santa on Christmas Eve.

  “I was just looking for something,” Nathan said.

  “What?”

  “An extra blanket.” Good save. Nathan considered this the improv exercise of his life. “I’ve been a little chilly at night, and I thought there might be an extra blanket down here.”

  “Doesn’t Uncle Liam have extra blankets at his house?”

  “He does not, if you can believe it.”

  Walt nodded, and Nathan thought he was safe, until:

  “Why were you looking through my mum’s old stuff? Extra blankets are in the linen closet upstairs.”

  “Oh, they are?” Nathan glanced at the boxes of his mother’s stuff, like he had no idea he was in the lair of a hoarder. “Thank you, Walt.”

  Walt kept a watchful eye on him. He was ten. He wasn’t a guileless child.