Page 12 of Throuple Next Door

“You know you can learn if you want,” she told him quietly. “The Y offers swimming for adults. There are plenty of people who didn’t learn for whatever reason.” It seemed that everyone in the neighborhood was a font of information.

“Did you learn to swim?”

Maria nodded. “My parents had a pool, so I learned when I was four. My mother taught swimming and lifesaving. She still does sometimes. If you wanted private lessons, I could ask her about it.”

Randy found himself pausing. It was something he had never really thought about. In New York, it hadn’t mattered much. But here, it seemed that Dominic and Andrew hosted at their pool quite often. It would be nice to be able to join Weaver and Austin. “Would you?”

“Sure. Mom loves doing that sort of thing, and adults are so much easier to teach than kids sometimes. They come in motivated to succeed. I’ll give her a call tomorrow, and if she’s interested, I’ll get the two of you together.”

“I really appreciate it,” he said as Steve approached the front of the house once more. Randy scowled and crossed his arms, meeting the weasel’s gaze, almost daring him to say anything. Maria turned away, pointedly showing her back to the street. Randy did the same, relaxing as most everyone else ignored the jerk.

“What a douchebag,” one of the guys said.

“Dominic and I invited him to our Christmas party right after they moved in. He and his wife came in, pulled cheap cans of beer out of their pockets, and proceeded to sit in the living room and get themselves drunk. By the end of the evening, I was wondering if they could get home and how they got all those cans in their coats.” He shook his head slowly. “We never invited them again.”

“I don’t blame you,” Randy said as peals of laughter drifted in from the back.

Maria went down the back steps and returned smiling. “The kids are playing with their father, Veronica, and the guys.” She took a seat near Randy, and he sat on one of the white wicker chairs. “God, it’s nice to have a little time to myself.” She sipped her wine, and Randy talked a while until others joined them. Then excused himself to wander out back to find his men.

He stood at the closed gate, watching the guys as they played with squirt guns against the kids, who seemed to have the upper hand, judging by the way Austin kept getting soaked. But it was the laughter that made him smile. He had been worried when he bought the house without the others seeing it. He hadn’t been familiar with the neighborhood, and yet it looked like they’d hit the jackpot as far as neighbors went.

Austin swam over to the side of the pool, and Randy raised a hand, smiling at him. Austin smiled back, and some of the worry he’d been holding eased up, at least a little. The kids all hit Austin with streams of water, and he turned away, growling playfully as he sprayed them back.

Chapter Six

“I thought we’d take a walk downtown to see what’s going on,” Austin said Monday morning. “Neither of you needs to go in today, so let’s make the most of it. Things should be open, and maybe we could have lunch somewhere.” He felt like it was time for him to get out. He’d spent the weekend looking for job openings, and while there were plenty, none of them really appealed. Austin had waited tables for years while he’d been trying to get his modeling career off the ground, but wasn’t particularly interested in stepping back into that business.

“Sounds good,” Randy said, looking up from the class materials that he was reviewing. “What do you think, Weaver?” Randy turned as Weaver stepped to the bottom of the stairs, rubbing his eyes.

“That I was up way too late last night reviewing case notes.” He yawned, his shirt riding up. Austin couldn’t resist the strip of warm flesh and slipped his hand under Weaver’s shirt.

“We noticed,” Randy said, marking his place before closing the book.

“Then I should….”

“He’s teasing,” Austin broke in. “We missed you last night, but you had work to do. It’s just that the bed seemed a little empty. I didn’t sleep well until you joined us. Now, let’s get dressed and we can head to town.”

“I’ll be right back down,” Weaver said, hurrying back up the stairs.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Austin told Randy. “You work late all the time, and neither of us says anything to you. He’s getting his career set on a new path, just like you.” He perched on the arm of Randy’s chair.

“I know. I just missed him,” Randy said softly. “I was hoping that we could have a nice weekend, but he spent much of it upstairs in his office.”

Austin swatted Randy on the shoulder. “And he’s trying to untangle a mess from his predecessor. I’m sure we can all understand that.” He leaned closer. “Maybe I wasn’t distracting enough for you.”

Randy grabbed him around the waist, pulling Austin onto his lap. “You are always distracting and damned sexy. You know that. But I like to go to bed knowing that everyone is safe and secure. I know it isn’t rational, because I knew that Weaver was just in the other room.”

“Then what are you going to do when one of us needs to travel for work?”

Randy hugged him tighter. “Then I’ll just have to deal with it.” He slid his hands under Austin’s shirt and then over his ribs. Austin laughed and squirmed to get away from the tickling fingers.

“Stop,” Austin said, chuckling before he managed to get away. “You’re awful.”

“What did he do?” Weaver asked, returning down the stairs.

“He was tickling me.” Austin scrunched his face like he was tattling. “And don’t you start too,” he told Weaver, moving away from both of them. They had this idea that tickling him was fun.

“You’re so cute when you laugh, though,” Randy said.

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