Don't Read in the Closet volume one (83 page)

“I’d suck you so hard,” Travis went on, nuzzling the
tender skin just behind Jonah’s ear. “Blow your fucking mind.”

“As good as that sounds,” Jonah said as he started to
draw back, his voice a little rougher than usual, “I—”

He broke off when the door chime rang again. The door
flew open with enough force to send it slamming back against the wall. Laurie
stood on the threshold, and the expression on his face was one Jonah had never
seen before—angry but with something darker underneath, something Jonah didn’t
recognize, though the sight of it sent his stomach careening down toward his
toes.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Laurie said frostily. “But your
grandfather just pulled into the parking lot. Wouldn’t want him to walk in
on…whatever you two were doing.”

“Oh, we weren’t—” Jonah started, but Laurie apparently
didn’t want to hear, or didn’t care about, what he had to say. He turned and
stalked away, fury radiating from the rigid set of his shoulders to the ramrod
stiffness of his spine.

Jonah swallowed thickly, torn between going after
Laurie and saying something to ease the sudden tension he’d left behind. He
opened his mouth and glanced at Travis, but the smile on the other man’s face
made his breath catch in surprise. It was twisted and cold and detracted from
his looks in a way that a little grease and dirt never could. The shock of
seeing it made Jonah take an involuntary step back.

In the next second, it was gone, replaced by Travis’s
familiar, cocky smirk. But Jonah knew he hadn’t imagined it. He also knew that
he didn’t want anything to do with someone who could go from looking so
malicious one second to happy and teasing the next. Especially since, judging
by Laurie’s reaction to Travis, there was some bad blood there. Given how
laidback Laurie normally was, something had to have gone down between the two
of them. Laurie didn’t dislike people without a good reason.

As the sound of voices approached the entrance of the
shop, Travis’s smile turned regretful. “Maybe next time, huh?”

Before Jonah could answer, Travis winked and faced the
doorway, greeting Jonah’s grandparents as they entered. A few minutes later he
said his good-byes and left.
 

Jonah moved to the glass windows that lined the front
of the shop and watched Travis cross the gravel parking lot, only halfway
listening to the conversation his grandparents were having behind him. He
wondered what had happened between Travis and Laurie. Jonah’s brother was the
one with the temper. Laurie was much more even-keeled. Jonah had only seen him
angry a handful of times, but never as furious as he’d just been. And it
couldn’t be anything like jealousy, not after how thoroughly he’d shot Jonah
down that afternoon. No, something major had happened with those two, and Jonah
was willing to bet that Marc knew what it was. One way or another, he was going
to find out.

CHAPTER 2

Laurie was gritting his teeth again. It’d become a
habit over the last few days, starting with the moment he’d approached the door
to Beckett’s and seen Travis—
Travis
,
of all goddamn people—with his mouth on Jonah’s throat. In that instant, his
vision had gone red. He didn’t want Travis in the same state as Jonah, let
alone in the same shop. Kissing him.
Touching
him. Christ. The very idea was enough to give Laurie an ulcer. Was Travis who
Jonah had meant when he said he’d ask someone else?

Over my dead
body.
Travis was the biggest
sleazeball Laurie had ever met. He didn’t deserve someone like Jonah. And Jonah
certainly didn’t deserve the treatment he’d get once Travis had gotten what he
wanted. Laurie had learned that painful lesson during his last summer in
Kentucky two years before. There was no way he’d let that happen to Jonah,
especially not when Jonah was still raw and vulnerable from his recent breakup.
Absolutely
no
way.

Of course, he didn’t really have any right to say who
Jonah could or couldn’t sleep with. He couldn’t even pull the big brother card
since they weren’t actually related by blood, and thank God for that. He’d been
having some very unbrotherly-like thoughts ever since Jonah had asked him to
take his virginity. And, if he was being honest, a long time before then, too.

Though, technically, there
was
one option that would allow him to have a say in who Jonah was
having sex with, and that was if he himself fulfilled that role. Laurie would
make it good for Jonah. He would make sure it was slow and gentle and
pain-free,
or at least as close to it as possible, since a
bit of discomfort was part of it all. But Laurie had promised
himself
. He’d
sworn
that he wouldn’t.
  

“Okay, Laurie. Out with it.”

“Huh?” Laurie glanced sideways at Marcus. They’d
brought the last kayak tour in about fifteen minutes prior and were stacking
the kayaks back onto the racks before they locked up the boathouse for the
night. They’d been working in companionable silence, which unfortunately
allowed Laurie’s mind to wander to the very last place he’d wanted it to go.

“You’re acting all skittish,” Marc said as they hefted
the last kayak and shoved it into place on the highest rack. “The way you did
when we were fifteen and you were scared to tell me you were gay.” Marc crossed
his arms over his chest and gave Laurie an appraising look. “Not that I didn’t
already know.”

Laurie sighed. “I wish you didn’t know me so well,” he
muttered, wiping the sweat off his brow with the back of his sleeve.

Marc smirked. “But I do. And you should be thankful.
If I didn’t know you so well, you’d probably
still
be trying to break the news.”

“Ha. Not likely.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” Marc snickered. “So,
come on. Out with it so we can get back to the house and I can whip you at
Madden.”

“Says the guy who lost the last two games.”

“Third time’s the charm.” Marc grinned.

Laurie shook his head, helpless to prevent himself
from returning the smile. “We’ll see.”

“What is it?” Marc asked, suddenly serious. “You
haven’t been yourself the last few days.”

“You know, I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“Don’t want to talk about it?” Marc looked surprised,
then a little hurt. “But it’s me, man. We talk about everything.”
 

Laurie shrugged and dropped his gaze. He was grateful
that Marc and Jonah didn’t really look anything alike. It would’ve been
outright torture to deal with physical similarities between the object of his
desire and his best friend since the days he’d spent crawling around in
diapers. Marc was taller than Jonah; broader. His hair was dark blond and kept
just short enough to tame its natural curl, while Jonah’s was black and spiky
and threaded with a smattering of caramel-colored highlights. Marc’s eyes were
such a deep blue they were almost navy, but Jonah’s were brown.

Plain old, ordinary, run-of-the-mill brown. Except
they weren’t. Ordinary. Not if Laurie’s reaction to them was any indication.
Because those eyes, they made him feel like he was drowning—breathless,
overpowered, chest tight—and lately he hadn’t been able to meet them for very
long without feeling as if somehow, impossibly, he was already in over his
head.
 

“You’ve
never not
told me
something when I asked.”

Laurie glanced up at the wounded sound in Marc’s
voice. “Marc, it’s complicated, okay? I…you’re going to be pissed off, and I
don’t want—”

“It has something to do with Jonah, right?” Marc shook
his head. “Don’t bother denying it. You two, neither of you can get anything
past me. So, tell me. If it concerns my brother, I have a right to know.”

“You’re gonna be mad.”

“Try me.”

Laurie sighed again. “Fine. The other day…”

“Yeah?” Marc prodded.

“Your brother asked me to take his virginity,” Laurie
finished in a rush. It came out more like one long word than a sentence, but he
could tell Marc had understood him by the way Marc started blinking and opening
and closing his mouth like he’d always done when he was shocked or couldn’t
think of something to say.

Marc blinked some more. “He…he asked you…”

“Yeah. But don’t worry, I said no.”

“But, why? Why would he…?” Marc trailed off, looking
totally gobsmacked.

“He said his ex-boyfriend broke up with him because he
wouldn’t have sex. He says he wants to learn about it from someone he trusts
before school starts.”

Marc’s brow furrowed. “Boyfriend? I hadn’t known he
was seeing anyone.”

“Weird.” Laurie shrugged. “Maybe he didn’t feel
comfortable talking to you about it. But he said the guy broke up with him
right before graduation.”

Marc’s expression turned thoughtful. “Hmm. And what
did he say when you told him no?”

Laurie gritted his teeth. Again. “That he would ask
someone else,” he answered when he got his emotions under control. “Then that
same day I saw him talking to Travis.”

“
Travis?
”
Marc repeated in outrage. “He lays a finger on Jonah and I’ll break his fucking
face.”

“And I’d hold him down while you did it.”

Marc cursed and raked his fingers through his hair,
mussing the dark blond waves. “So…you think he actually asked Travis already?”

“I don’t know. I sure as hell hope not. But they
looked kind of cozy when I walked in on them in the shop the other day.”

Marc’s eyes widened. “What were they doing?”

“It looked like Travis was kissing his neck.” He
couldn’t quite hide the tremor of anger in his voice as he said those words,
but if Marc noticed, he didn’t give any indication.

“Shit. I don’t even know what to say.” Marc started
pacing up and down the walkway between the racks. “Why doesn’t he just, I don’t
know, start dating someone and do it like a normal person? How do you just ask
someone to do that?”

“I told him there isn’t any shame in waiting. He’s
worried about being embarrassed because he doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

“That’s what Google is for! And I’m sure there are
vast quantities of gay porn available for, um, research and such.”

Laurie bit his lower lip to keep from laughing at how
uncomfortable Marc looked at that moment. His best friend had never been
anything but completely accepting when Laurie told him he was gay. And he had,
in fact, guessed long before Laurie built up the courage to confess. But while
he was always there if Laurie needed to talk, he’d never been interested in
hearing any of the nitty-gritty details. Laurie didn’t blame him—it wasn’t as
if he wanted to listen to Marc’s hetero exploits either—and he was more than a
little surprised by how well Marc was handling the whole Jonah situation. Marc
was notoriously short-tempered, and Laurie hadn’t really known how he would
react to the entire thing. Right then, he just seemed more shocked than
anything. Shocked, Laurie could at least work with.

Marc stopped pacing and stared at Laurie in
bemusement. “Should I…talk to him or something?”

“Do you want to talk to him?”

“About him asking you to fuck him? Um,
no
.”

“See, this is why I didn’t want to tell you.”

Marc shook his head. “No,” he said then paused to
clear his throat. “No, I’m glad that you did. I wouldn’t have wanted you to
keep it from me.”

“So, we’re cool then?” Laurie asked, nervous in spite
of
himself
.

Marc looked startled. “Of course we’re cool, man. Why
wouldn’t we be?”

“It’s just…well, he’s your brother, and I thought you
might think I had done something to encourage—”

“No, dude. No worries. I just…fucking Travis, you
know? I mean, after what happened with you guys…”

“Yeah.” Laurie knew his face was as grim as his voice.

Marc’s mouth twisted ruefully. “Come on. Let’s lock up
and go home.”

Laurie nodded and followed Marc out of the boathouse,
pausing long enough for Marc to turn off the lights and secure the doors. The
shop was already dark and Marc’s was the only car left in the gravel parking
lot. They got inside and made the drive to Marc’s grandparents’ two-story lake
house in silence.