Bound by Lies (34 page)

“To warm weather,” Enrique toasts with a raise of his bottle.

“I’ll drink to that,” Brayden sighs, tapping the necks together.

“So, is this your place, Bray? It doesn’t really feel like you,” Enrique wonders, glancing around at the barren, dark, cavernous rooms.

“Nah, I’m living with my Nana and cousin Emma Leah a few blocks away. Most of the time, at least. I stay here, too. It’s owned by the same guy that owns the bar….” He leaves it hanging there, watching Enrique from the corner of his eye to see if he makes the connections.

Then he does and his eyes open wide with surprise. Enrique turns his hat around so that the brim faces backwards and leans forward towards Brayden.

“That big gorilla lookin’ one with the black hair and the cheekbones?” To help clarify, he sucks in his cheeks, puckers his lips and frowns a little, doing his best impression of Jenner.

Brayden laughs wildly, clutching his stomach. Drawing one leg up onto the couch cushion, holding it there by the knee, he curls his bare toes around the edge and lets his legs fall open. Resting his head back against the padded seat, his smile lingers. “Jenner. Parrish if you’re nasty.”

“Oh man,” Enrique marvels. “For real? You’re staying with
that
dude? He’s like the polar opposite of you. He’s so… tense.”

A fleeting expression passes over Brayden’s face that Enrique doesn’t catch, and Brayden hides the rest behind his beer, thinking that Jenner might seem much less tense if Enrique met him now.

“Wait a minute.” Enrique kicks off his sneakers and turns to sit cross-legged, facing Brayden. “You’re dressed in pajamas…”

“…they’re
not
pajamas….”

“And you just took a shower. There’s one bedroom from what I can tell, and I don’t see a blanket or pillow for this couch.”

“I don’t sleep on the couch,” Brayden says quietly, looking down at his hands wrapping the bottle.

“The fuck, bro? There somethin’ goin’ on with you and the gorilla or what?”

Brayden can feel Enrique looking at him in a whole new way, and hates the flush of embarrassment that colors his skin. “He’s a good guy. He… takes care of me.”

“Takes care of you like ‘takes care of you’?” The question is accompanied by a brief mime of fellatio. Brayden rolls his eyes and slumps farther down into the couch. “No
shit
,” Enrique says with awe. “You got yourself a
boyfriend
, B?”

“It’s not… we don’t use that term. It’s… different than that.”

“Big spoon. Little spoon… you’re the little spoon, aren’t you?”

Brayden wipes a hand over his face, then drinks deeply of his beer.

“
That’s
why you look fucked over. ’Cause you are, aren’t you?”

“’Rique, quit. Please.”

“You’re not queer. Is this your experimental phase or what? Gorilla-curious? Oh Jesus, Mary and Joseph, if Andre found out about this shit, he’d be in the car driving here,
tonight
.”

Brayden’s expression falls. He scoots higher on the cushion, his small body folded up even smaller, and opens his mouth to cut in.

“Wait a minute. Did you and
Andre
—?”

“We might have screwed around a little. It didn’t go that far. But please don’t tell him about Jenner.
I’ll
tell him.”

Enrique shifts closer, his interest piqued. “No shit? How far did it go?”

Brayden shoots him a warning look.

“He could take you
apart
, B. You’re so little!”

“I resent that,” Brayden tells him, and leans forward to set his empty beer bottle on the coffee table.

“Wow,” Enrique says appreciatively, settling back into the couch, tipping back his beer. “This is amazing. Does anyone even know?”

“No. Nobody knows. Not my family, not Andre. Nobody. Except you and two of Jenner’s friends from the bar, so please, keep it to yourself.”

Enrique squints at him, measuring, wary. Waggling his bottle at Brayden, he remarks, “You said he takes care of you. Does he? Looks to me like Sugar Daddy took a piece for himself tonight. I hope he gave something back, too.”

Brayden doesn’t know how to answer that, or if he even wants to. The phone rings, saving him from having to deal with it just yet. He reaches for the phone, presses a button and puts it to his ear. “Hey.”

“Is he there?” Jenner asks on the other end of the line.

“Yeah,” Brayden answers, glancing at his guest. “He’s here.”

Enrique puts his drink down and does his impression of Jenner again, this time also puffing out his chest and flexing his arms. Brayden waves a hand dismissively at him and tries to ignore it.

“I don’t want him staying long. You need rest. I’ll be back as soon as I close up.”

“I really should go home tonight,” Brayden says quietly into the phone, turning slightly away from Enrique.

“Why? There’s no point. It’s late. You should just move in with me and simplify things. I’m sure Nana would understand your desire for privacy. It wouldn’t change your ability to provide for them.”

“Can we talk about this later?” Hiding behind his hand, Brayden masks his amazement that Jenner asked so offhandedly to live together.

“Promise me you’ll go to bed soon.
Our
bed.”

With barely any sound at all, Brayden tells him, “I promise. Okay.”

He says goodbye and hangs up. The phone falls to his side, bouncing on the cushion.

“Whoa.”

“Don’t start,” Brayden warns.

“What was
that
? He totally checked up on you like you’re his bitch.”

“Maybe I am his bitch. You got a problem with that?”

“What happened to you, B? This is a little fucked up. It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.”

“You know me,” Brayden sighs. “You just didn’t know all of me.”

Jenner’s cat appears and pounces onto the arm of the couch, prowling up toward Brayden and curling into a ball near his shoulder. Brayden reaches back and scratches behind her ears, making her purr.

Enrique asks, “Who’s that?”

“Pussy. Jenner’s.”

“So he likes ’em small and fluffy, huh?”

Brayden frowns and playfully shoves Enrique’s shoulder. They watch the TV quietly for a few minutes, saying nothing. Then Enrique wonders aloud, “So who do you think’s gonna win the fight?”

“What fight?”

“The one that’s gonna happen when Andre finds out that primate’s buttfuckin’ you.”

Dumbstruck, Brayden stares at Enrique, his mouth fallen open. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“Don’t even play like you’re so shockable, Sugar Baby. You wanna tell me why you’re so ‘banged up’?” After one look at Brayden’s reddening face, Enrique scoffs, “Yeah, didn’t think so.”

Once Enrique leaves, with a sworn promise not to divulge their conversation to anyone, even Andre, and to keep in touch for more juicy gossip, Brayden goes to bed and sleeps through the night until the alarm goes off the next morning.

The shrill beeping is cut off when Jenner swats blindly at the nightstand. With a groan, they get up and, as neither of them is in a perky mood, quietly get ready to go to the gym. Coffee is brewed, clothes are shrugged on. Jenner has what he needs, but Brayden’s suit and gear is at his grandmother’s place so they need to stop there on the way.

Brayden approaches the back door. Though Jenner seemed willing to wait in the car, he suddenly appears at Brayden’s back.

“Changed my mind,” is his excuse. “I’d like to see your room, where you’ve been staying. Is that okay? If it makes you uncomfortable….”

Remembering all of the times he fantasized about having Jenner sneak into his bedroom to secretly screw around, Brayden feels like fate is giving him a chance to prove he’s brave enough to follow through in reality. Not that they’re going to screw around. Having Jenner in Nana’s house, in Brayden’s room is challenge enough in itself.

“You’re going to behave, right? If you come with me, you have to behave,” Brayden warns. When Jenner just smiles, Brayden says adamantly, “I mean it.”

“What’re you afraid of? We’re just getting your stuff. No big deal. They already met me, and I can behave respectably. I am housetrained, you know. And maybe if Nana sees what good
friends
we are, she’ll happily agree to you moving in with me.”

Brayden thinks it over, relents and, just before opening the door, points warningly at Jenner’s smirk. Jenner draws an X over his heart and loses the grin.

They enter the kitchen, find it empty, and pad softly through it toward the stairs.

“Well, there you are. Good morning,” Ruth says from a seat by the window, newspaper unfolded in her lap. It occurs to him that from there, she has a good view of the driveway and the road stretching in both directions. Who knows how much she’s overseen so far?

Brayden can’t conceal his unhappiness at being caught and he flounders for what to do.

“Ma’am,” Jenner nods.

“We’re headed to the gym. I came by to get my things,” Brayden explains.

“You’re moving out?” Ruth says with feigned surprise.

“No,” Brayden sighs. “My swimsuit.” He feels a nudge from Jenner at his back and, before he can think twice, he adds, “But I’ve been thinking about moving in with Jenner since I spend so much time over there anyway. That way I won’t be barging in at all hours here. I’d still stop by as much as I could to help Em with her homework in the afternoons and all. It’d just be a better… sleeping… arrangement.”

“You boys must be close to want to be in each other’s hair night and day. You won’t get sick of each other after working and living together?”

“Oh, I’m not worried about that,” Jenner smiles. “Brayden’s pretty easy to get along with and he hasn’t complained about me so far.”

Clearing his throat, growing pale, Brayden stutters, “N-nothing is final, it w-was just an idea.”

“I want whatever makes you happy,” she tells him. “Don’t let me keep you if you’ve got places to be. Emma’s getting ready for school, so you won’t be waking her if you go up.”

“Thanks, Nan.” Brayden is up the stairs before she can say any more and Jenner follows after a pleading over-the-shoulder glance from Brayden. He’d much rather have Jenner where he can keep an eye and an ear on him.

“You’re afraid to leave me alone with her.” Jenner smirks as Brayden pushes him into his bedroom and closes the door after they’re inside. “Why on Earth would you be nervous about that? I refrained from copping a feel during the chit-chat, didn’t I?”

“Jesus, you’re not going to do that at work, are you?”

“Oh, come on. Max and Art aren’t going to care if I give you a handy in the break room now and then. Hell, Max might even stay to watch,” Jenner ponders. “You know, that’s not a terrible idea….”

“Can you keep your voice down?” Brayden hisses. “These walls aren’t exactly soundproof!”

“So,” Jenner asks, with a deceptively innocent expression, “You don’t want a hummer before we go? I kind of want to christen your sweet little bedroom while we’re up here. Defile it just a smidge. Leave some cumstains on the ceiling. Do you think you can shoot that far?
I
think you can, especially after—”

The hand Brayden instantly claps like a vice over Jenner’s mouth muffles the rest, so Jenner mimes it. Making a circle with his thumb and index finger, he inserts the middle finger of his other hand into it, working it in and out, then withdrawing and mimicking a large spray.

“It’s not cute,” Brayden hisses.

“Fuck your cute,” Jenner retorts through Brayden’s palm. When the tip of his tongue snakes out and licks, Brayden gives it up and lets go. “Tick tock.”

“Yeah yeah.”

Moving around the room, opening doors, stuffing a few things in his gym bag, Brayden tries to be productive with Jenner standing there, big as life and twice as horny, in his grandma’s guest bedroom. Brayden is just about finished getting his things when Jenner steps over to the door and quietly locks it.

“What—”

Jenner gestures for him to be quiet, putting a finger to his lips.

“My cousin—”

Jenner closes the distance between them so that they’re standing chest-to-chest. Jenner’s right hand raises, open, in a ‘wait’ signal. An upraised digit crosses from Jenner’s lips to Brayden’s.

“Open your pants.”

“No way,” Brayden scoffs. Pivoting his hand, Jenner seals it more completely over Brayden’s mouth, prohibiting further speech.

“Open your pants, slave,” he repeats slower and more adamantly.

Gaze glued to the door, Brayden reluctantly obeys, sending a prayer for mercy up to whatever gods watch over deviants and liars. Jenner eases Brayden’s penis free and examines it while Brayden blushes furiously and preoccupies himself with stifling a massive panic attack.

“Does it still hurt when you piss?”

Brayden’s expression tightens further. Then he nods stiffly.

“Damn. I wanna lick that,” Jenner murmurs, caressing with a fingertip over the so-recently-abused opening in Brayden’s dick. No sooner have the words been spoken than Jenner seems to dismiss any and all reservations and goes to one knee.

“Jenner!” Brayden quickly covers his own mouth with a hand. His eyes roll back, then close as Jenner takes a wide, greedy lick. He teases the tip of his tongue at the hole then goes for broke and wraps his lips around the whole damn thing. Cradling Brayden’s softened girth in his mouth, sliding it back over his tongue, Jenner sucks him, moving in and out a few times with ample, obvious pleasure at getting to do so. Jenner lets Brayden fall wet and semi-erect from his lips. After tucking him back into his pants, Jenner stands while wiping his mouth dry.

“You fucker. Why?” Brayden demands, on edge and now uncomfortably aroused.

“Because I can,” Jenner smirks.

A small but clear knock sounds at the door. Brayden and Jenner turn to each other, eyes widening fractionally.

From the hallway, a soft female voice calls, “Brayden? Is that you?”

Brayden scowls and punches Jenner’s shoulder. “Yeah, Em! Just a sec.”

He adjusts himself as he walks to the door, the hot, aching heaviness of his hard-on trapped snugly inside his briefs. He pauses long enough to give Jenner a dirty look from over his shoulder. Jenner only smiles without an ounce of regret.