Page 55 of Spring Fling
“Hey, Aiden, Mom gave me this and said I should bring it to you—”
We all froze as the door swung open. Nathan stood with an old camera clutched by the strap in his hand. When Aiden let out aparticularly loud moan from the computer, it fell to the floor, the back popping open and a strip of film came furling out of it.
“Shit. I’m sorry. What the fuck is that? I can’t unsee that. Jesus.” Nathan threw a hand over his eyes as he backed out of the room. Well, the good news was that he hadn’t charged me and beat me to a bloody pulp.
Chapter 35
Aiden
What the fuck had just happened?
My body was stuck to the chair, and I could only stare at the empty doorway as the door swung open on its hinges. It wasn’t like Nathan to not knock. Then again, he didn’t have a reason to think he needed to give us privacy. We’d told him nothing was going on. Doing anything with a video in the house was stupid. Just like the first time I’d jerked off watching Joe online.
“Aiden?”
Air filled my lungs in a quick rush. I hadn’t even been aware I’d been holding my breath.
“Ye—yeah?” I blinked up at Joe, who was looking at me with so much concern. Fuck, that was his friend who had just walked in and seen a video of him plowing me.
“Are you okay?”
Was I? Probably. I’d recover. Maybe. Eventually. Sure, it was fucking horrifying that my brother had seen that, but there was no guarantee that Joe could save his friendship after this.
Without answering him, I stood from the chair and walked over to the camera that lay on the floor. I picked it up and started inspecting it. It looked to be alright still. The lens showed no cracks, and I saw no broken mechanical parts on the outside. They didn’t make cameras like that anymore, where even the smallest bump could shatter it. I’d always wanted something like this, so it had meant something that Mom had gone looking for it. Too bad it almost met its demise on my bedroom floor.
The front door slammed and my eyes pinched closed.
“Aiden!”
Mom never raised her voice at me. Out of the two of us, Nathan was the one who got scolded more often than not.
When I checked the desk, Joe had turned off the video. By the time I looked at the doorway again, Mom was there with her arms across her chest, and I was still kneeling on the floor holding the camera.
“What the hell just happened? I sent Nathan to give that to you and the next thing I know, he’s storming out of here.”
I blew out a breath, stood clutching the camera to my chest, and hoped it wasn’t broken. “He...”
I couldn’t say anything. How the hell did you tell your mom that your brother had walked in on you watching your own sex tape?
When words continued to fail me, Mom looked between me and Joe. “What were you two doing in here? This house is PG-13. Do I need to spell that out? I thought I made that clear when I toldNathan he couldn’t bring hook-ups here, and then I unfortunately witnessed more than I ever wanted to when Chase moved in.”
My eyes shot wide. “Mom. Please stop. We weren’t doing anything. And I thought you didn’t care about Chase since he and Nathan were in a committed relationship.”
“So this is serious, then? That’s what you’re telling me?” Mom motioned between me and Joe.
I choked on my tongue. Oh, fucking shit. She had thought something was going on. Okay, so something had been going on and we’d been shit at hiding it. At least with her.
“Mrs. G?”
We both turned to look at Joe, who looked uncomfortable, shifting his weight from side to side like a kid who’d gotten caught stealing candy from the convenience store.
“What is it, Joseph?” She uncrossed and crossed her arms again, leaning against the doorframe and waiting for him to speak up.
“You see, we haven’t exactly put a label on whateverthisis. I mean...” Those piercing blue eyes stared into my soul and, fuck, this was happening now? In front of my mom and right after one of the most embarrassing moments of my entire life? Oh hell, no. Not happening.
I shook my head. Joe deflated, and maybe I was letting him down a little. He wanted a commitment. I wanted to give it to him, but that deserved a more delicate conversation. Not this train wreck.
At least Mom realized something was happening here that she didn’t need to be an audience member for. Both my brother and I were extremely lucky to have such loving and accepting parents. The moment she turned to leave, I pushed my door closed behind her, making sure it was locked this time.
