Page 14 of Lakeside Little
Oliver scoffed. “You’ve met Elijah, he owns the bed and breakfast, and you’ve talked to Malcolm, he’s in the group chat. Remember.”
“There’s a group chat?” I asked.
“Not for us,” Mason offered with a dry laugh. “But I think it’s a good idea. I’ll bring beers.”
“Oh no, Diego doesn’t drink beer,” Jack added.
There was a moment where Oliver and Jack were communicating with sly jabs and looks at each other. I got the gist of it being how much Jack knew about me in such a little time of actually knowing each other, and it was true, we’d only just met, but we’d also poured our souls out in front of each other. I’d seen his soft, sweet insides, like honey, and he’d seen the jagged daggers in me, but that sweetness had sanded those daggers down already.
“We’ll be over at eight,” Oliver said. “Let me know if you need anything. I’ll bring wine.”
“Oh, we have plenty,” Jack said.
Mason kept the bass, it was a payment for the time out on the boat, and we drove back to the cabin with a pitstop at the convenience store to grab supplies for the barbeque I was now hosting for six instead of just the two of us.
In the car, Jack tucked his hand into mine on my lap and stared at me. “I hope you don’t mind Oliver inviting himself over.”
“Are you kidding, I think it’s a great idea.” A slight lie on my behalf, but I was excited to have something to do and if the town mayor was inviting himself, I would accommodate for him and his friends.
That night, I got the grill started and a fire pit in the small, designated area outlined by a ring of rocks. Jack cleaned the smell of fish of himself and played with his dolls until Oliver and Mason arrived with two new faces.
Dressed in a nice checkered red shirt and spritzed with my musky vanilla scented cologne, I greeted them. And discovered Mason and Elijah, both the dominant members of their partners where both carpenters of sorts, working with wood. It felt like we were creating an unofficial club of blue-collar Daddies. Jack was the last to join us, and without planning it, he arrived at the cabin in a blue checkered shirt. We looked like a couple, even if we were just seeing where things would go for now, but I was becoming obsessed with the way he made me feel. I hugged him in at my side, feeling that honey sweet center smooth over my edges just a little more, plugging my thoughts that fought to attack me.
“Are you ok?” Jack asked in his soft voice pressing his lips to my cheek.
“Better with you here,” I whispered back to him, pecking a kiss on his cheek. I inhaled him at the neck, the sweetness from his insides was also represented in the cologne he wore too. “I always enjoy having my good boy around.”
Jack almost dipped to swoon in my arms, letting out moan that was covered by the sound of the crackling fires and people talking. “I have been very good, and now I’m very hungry.”
“Burgers should be ready soon,” I said. “I knew you’d be coming over, and I prepared. You want onions on you?”
“Ew, just plain, please.”
I squeezed his ass a little. “You wanted those cheese slices at the store; you don’t want one of those?”
“Mhm, ok, and lots of ketchup,” he said.
“What’s that good boy word again?”
“Pweese.”
With my tongue between my teeth, I would’ve bitten right into it from how adorable he was being. And before I could say anything back, he waltzed away to Oliver and Malcolm on the large logs around the fire.
“How long have you two been together?” Elijah asked, taking a sip of his beer.
I grabbed my glass of wine and the metal tongs for the grill with the other. “We’re not technically together,” I said. “But we’re exploring stuff, and a handful of days.”
“That’s how it started with me and Oli,” Mason said, tapping the tip of his beer bottle to Elijah and then to the lip of my wine glass. “First, it was helping him fix stuff, and before I knew it, I was the one on my knees, asking him to marry me.”
“Whoa, well, I’m not quite there yet,” Elijah belly chuckled. “But yeah, we’ve only been together for a month or so. And I’m still helping fix all his stuff. In fact, if you’re still around in a couple weeks, you should come by for the housewarming.”
Flipping the burgers, the fats and juice leaking out had the flames licking at the metal. “I’ll be gone by then, I’m only here for another—well, week and a half, something like that.”
“I hate to say it, but that’ll fly by,” Elijah said.
Glancing over to the group as they all seemed to sit with teddies or dolls between their knees. I felt their sense of community, and even that between the three of us. It was nice, but definitely very strange to me. I’d never had anything like this before. Six out gay men, all together, I couldn’t remember the last time, other than seeing Britney in Vegas.
“What type of stuff do you like making?” Mason asked. “Oli has me crafting all his houses and stuff. We’ve got this room in the house, we should’ve shown you earlier, but it’s like a small replica of town. And it’s my pride and joy, but it’s his little playground.”
