Play It Again, Charlie (46 page)

Really being tied up would be nothing but frustrating, with Will doing this, or worse, and Charlie being unable to touch him. He slid his hands up at the thought, over Will's chest, his nipples, and Will made a tiny appreciative sound.

“You said... .” He arched his back just enough to let Charlie know he liked the attention, in case Charlie was having any doubts. Charlie moved one hand down to his side, back over his stomach, and toyed with the waistband of the boxer-briefs. “You said we aren't doing this now.”

“
We
aren't.
You
are.” He was pretty sure he could run his hands over Will for hours. He bent his head to press a small kiss to Will's neck. Will arched back again and then sucked in a breath and muttered something about word games that almost made Charlie smile.

“But there's work to do, Charlie,” Will offered, shifting impatiently when Charlie's fingers barely slipped under the line of elastic. “Laundry.” He jerked when the elastic slipped, slapping into his skin, and then he moaned. A moment later he was sliding forward onto his hands and knees.

“Don't you want to do laundry, Charlie?” he asked breathlessly, still teasing even with his ass in the air and his cock starting to push against his, against
Charlie's
, underwear.

Charlie didn't really give a crap about laundry, which Will obviously knew. Charlie's hands followed Will of their own volition. He put his palm to the small of Will's back and slid the other over the curve of his ass.

“You're being shameless.” He would have blushed at his tone if Will hadn't quickly nodded and then turned to glance at him.

“What are you going to do about it?” Teasing or not, he knew exactly what Will meant. Will was absolutely in charge here, and his eyes said he knew it.

Charlie swallowed and tightened his hand. Will went so indefinably still that Charlie didn't think anyone else would have noticed, and Charlie brought his hand back.

His ringtone cut through the silence. Will tensed up and swore at the mattress.

“You have
got
to be fucking kidding me!”

Charlie twitched, breathing hard as he got off the bed. He took his eyes off Will before he checked his phone. Ann again, that couldn't be good. And there was a call from Jeanine last night that he must have missed when he and Will had been at the bar.

“You're going to get it?” Will gasped in disbelief, and Charlie shot him a look. He had almost spanked Will and now his baby sister was on the phone.

“Sisters,” Charlie bit out. “It could be important.” Will, damn him, hadn't moved, and Charlie felt his gaze wander down the line of Will's back, linger on his ass, before he dragged it away.

“Can I talk to them?” Will offered, color across his cheekbones and a spark in his eyes that changed when Charlie put a hand out to touch him.

“That would make them come over here. Anita!” He picked up the call and made his voice brighter. Ann immediately started in.

“Where are you? No one's talked to you in days.” The “days” had been two, if Charlie counted today, and since it wasn't noon yet, Charlie wasn't planning on it. “Missy thinks you're ignoring her, but I told her you were just busy with work. You are, aren't you?” Charlie winced, and Will sat up, looking concerned.

“No, I'm not... well, actually... I'm sort of... .” He waved Will's concern away. This was only normal drama. Then he sighed. “I'm not ignoring anyone.” Will made a small noise.

“She thinks it's about the dating sites, so she wanted to tell you there's a new guy at her work that she thinks will be perfect for you.”

“I don't need to be fixed up,” he barked. Will's head went back. Ann went silent. Charlie closed his eyes and rubbed at his forehead before he opened them again. Will would probably have liked that tone if he'd used it a few minutes ago, but he shouldn't be using it with his sisters.

“She just wants you to be happy, Charlie,” Ann told him after a moment, and Charlie looked over at Will, wondering how much of what she was saying he could hear. Will wasn't pretending that he wasn't listening.

“I know, I... .” He looked at Will again, at Will's intent, curious gaze, at everything Will had offered him a minute ago, and then glanced away. “Hold on,” he told Anita, and he slipped out of the room so Will wouldn't hear.

“
Finally
you understand what I've been trying to say!” Jeanine gestured back and forth between them, and Charlie very carefully didn't smile.

“I've understood you the whole time.” He pulled the pitcher away from her. There was only a small amount of pale green at the bottom to indicate that it had once been full of margarita. “He finally called, way too late, and you think it was a booty call.” Charlie had had to listen to the voice mail three times.

“
Way
too late,” Jeanine repeated. She still had some margarita in her glass, and she wasn't about to let go of it.

“You were clear on the phone this afternoon and you're clear now,” Charlie explained as he got up from her table to wash out both the pitcher and the glass he'd emptied hours ago. “He sounds like a jerk.”

“It's an unfair world when a jerk can be good in bed.” Jeanine had her head in one hand, and her head was still drooping. Her glasses hung on the end of her nose. “Where did the pitcher go? You know, you are welcome to my couch if you want to have some more and pass out with me.” Hope looked cute on her, even with glassy eyes.

“You told me already.” Charlie grinned because the word “sleepover” had been used. “When you called to tell me all about it.” He'd considered it, for half a moment, the way he'd also thought about bringing up the subject of Will to her about ten times tonight.

“Oh, right, you can't because you may or may not have some place to be.” She pushed up her glasses in time for Charlie to frown at her and decide not to wash the plates from dinner.

“I didn't say I had plans.” If he'd had plans, he might not have driven out to Jeanine's house after her pissed-off call. The drinks had been her idea, the food his, though he'd known it would mean he'd be with Jeanine for hours. It was a Saturday night, Will probably had somewhere to be, and they had already spent part of the day together. Charlie hadn't expected to hear from him, not really, or at least not until late.

Except that it was late now and there hadn't been a message of any kind the last time Charlie had looked at his phone. He thought back to that afternoon, sharing lunch with Will and then trying not to be too alarmed when Will had gone with him to adjust the light timers. He'd
insisted
on going and then watched Charlie the entire time for any sign he'd need the cane.

Charlie had been a little tired and had stumbled once or twice, but Will had no one to blame for that but himself. Charlie was pretty sure if they had gotten to another round, to that spanking, he wouldn't have been able to climb a single step.

Luckily, Will's phone had rung before Charlie had had to admit to needing time to sit, or preferably lie down, and Will had disappeared to take the call. While he'd been gone, Jeanine had called again, and by the time Will had returned, Charlie had been promising to be right over once his laundry was done. Will hadn't said much to that, just smiled almost too brightly and mentioned things he'd had to do before leaning up to press a kiss to Charlie's mouth.

Charlie had been left to flush and try to smile at one of Mrs. Brown's great-grandchildren, who had been pedaling his Big Wheel in the laundry room at the time.

“Going to check your phone again?” Jeanine was smug as she slurped the last of her drink. Charlie sat back down across from her. “You look like a man with something on his mind, kiddo. Meant to say that earlier.” She cackled to herself at that, he had no idea why. “Is it the reason you kept coming into my office to
not
ask me anything yesterday?”

“That isn't why I... .” Damn. He'd denied the wrong thing. Even when drunk she was smart. “Everything is exactly what it was.”

“Holy crap, what is that look? Are you
blushing
?” Jeanine cackled again, only to instantly sit up at Charlie's scowl and reach out to grab his hands over the table. He almost denied the blush, too, except that it was too obvious, and despite his embarrassment, she was the only one who would possibly understand and not laugh at him— too much.

After their first night as friends, the first real night, when he'd made a fool of himself by drinking too much and telling her
everything
about Mark, he didn't think there wasn't anything he couldn't tell her. She'd just pushed up her glasses and patted his shoulder and hadn't once ever made fun of him for putting his face to her shoulder or for passing out that way.

Though for a while she
had
liked to refer to it as the night they'd slept together.

There wasn't anybody else in his life who listened like that, though Charlie thought of Will's questions for a moment before shaking his head. Jeanine might be his only hope to talk about this. It was possible that she'd done things like that. Possibly everyone had but Charlie, and maybe that's why Will was so calm about it.

Charlie was probably overreacting, and while he was worrying about nothing, Will was already out there, moving on, or complaining to
his
friends.

Charlie chewed his lip. These things were easier when he wasn't sober. “You're going to tell me I take things too seriously.”

“Well, you do. Now, c'mon, tell Mama.”

“Don't say that.” Charlie yanked his hands away at her choice of words. “I'm wondering if... .”

“I'm falling asleep here, Charlie. You have less than ten minutes before I'm snoring.” Jeanine prodded her empty glass further away from her and propped up her head again. “Please don't make me play Twenty Questions again. You aren't exactly forthcoming.” She giggled this time, suddenly fourteen again and red-faced as she laughed into the table. Charlie slowly shook his head.

“You might be the wrong one to ask right now,” he informed her, just a bit cranky when she couldn't quite control her giggles. He was tempted to say “coming” again to see what happened, but only pushed out a breath.

“Well, you
could
just ask Will, but men don't seem to be able to do that. Huh.” She paused. “But then how to do gay couples make it work? It's a mystery. Charlie?”

He sighed and checked himself as he reached for his phone again. “I have no idea.” He remembered a lot of calling, especially in the beginning. Then a lot of waiting for calls that never came and a lot more that went unanswered before he'd figured out the obvious.

“Wait, I was going somewhere with this... ooh...
communication
,” she said, bobbing her head. “Before it's too late, like Super Jerk.” Her booty-calling date had received that appellation shortly after she'd opened up her carton of Super Nachos. Charlie raised his chin.

“I'm not a super jerk.” He scowled at her. “I just don't want to bother him. Or get demanding, unless... .” He stopped and Jeanine blinked. She couldn't completely focus, but Charlie wasn't dumb enough to think she'd missed that.

“Unless?”

“Unless he wants me to. Which... .” Charlie rubbed at his cheeks, then his nose. “He does. Sometimes,” he added quickly, to clarify. “For fun.” When Jeanine only continued to stare, he cleared his throat. “In bed.”

“Sounds like a good time for you. What? You're bossy and like taking care of people.” She didn't seem to see the way his mouth went slack. “What's the issue? What did he say? Did the sex get bad?”

“I've never bossed you around.” He got up, went to the sink, came back for her glass, then put it in the sink with the others. “And no, the sex is... .” Fantastic. Amazing. He was going to need vitamins. Charlie glanced up, then shifted. “None of your business.”

“You started it,” she pointed out. “And your face says enough. And you don't
need
to boss me around. Just look at you right now.” She waved at him, at her dishes, then tossed her head. She pulled up her glasses. “Now, what did he
say
? Or is that why you're over here mooning instead of over there with your secret boyfriend? You haven't talked?”

“He's not my secret boyfriend.” He wasn't even a public boyfriend. He wasn't anything. “Things lack definition, and— ” This was stupid, but he was already in for it. “I don't know where we stand. If we stand anywhere.” He felt his forehead tighten, and he sat back down. “Other than as an occasional fuck, or maybe a papi when Will is in the mood to tease me.”

“Papi?” Jeanine echoed. In an instant she was laughing again and slapping the table. “Oh, that's too good.”

Charlie waited. He'd be more annoyed, but that reaction was pretty mild for her.

“I'm aware it's ridiculous.” Trying to reason with a drunk woman was like trying to reason with a cat. He kept his voice cool just the same. She almost choked on her giggles and stopped to try to breathe. “Maybe I should head home.”

“It's not ridiculous. It's
adorable,
is what it is. I
am
going to meet this boy, right?”

“I am not adorable,” Charlie spoke gruffly while she wiped her eyes. “There's nothing like
that
about me.” He held out his hands. “Look at me.” She did, glassy eyes and all, but he stopped, still not sure what he wanted to say. When he tried to think about it, he saw Will leaning on him for everything, or worse, leaning on someone else, someone without any scruples or feelings for him.

Crap. He
was
panicking over nothing. It wasn't as though Will had said he wanted anything that serious.

Though it had seemed that way when Will gave him the nicknames, when he called Charlie his
daddy
and looked at him with a question in his eyes. It made Charlie want to straighten up and answer him in whatever way Will wanted him to. Maybe Charlie just wanted Will to mean it.

“I've had one real relationship, and it turned out it wasn't real at all.” It wasn't thinking about Mark that made his chest constrict; that was new, at least. “And he's so... .” Inexperienced wasn't the word, because Will had experience that Charlie didn't want to think about. “Not used to anyone like me. He's as much as said that he thinks of dating as something alien.