Marshall's Park, The Complete Series . 01-2014 Read online

  As he brushed, Aiden glanced up at his reflection in the mirror above the sink, letting the events of the evening replay in his mind. Dinner had been a rowdy affair that had involved meeting Finn’s grandmother, “Just call me Nana”, Dan’s mom, who was staying at the house for a few weeks while her house was redecorated. Followed by Bob and Jan from next door, and their teenage son, Travis. After a tense ten minutes, AJ farted and Ben pretended to faint, successfully breaking the ice and setting the tone for the rest of the dinner. Aiden shook his head at himself. He couldn’t even remember why he’d been nervous. The entire family, including Bob and Jan, had made him feel so welcome; it was as though he and Kaylee had been sitting around the huge mahogany table in the dining-room with them forever. The only one who didn’t seem overly pleased to see him was Travis, but Aiden surmised that had more to do with the furtive glances the teenager kept sending Finn’s way, rather than Aiden himself.

  Spitting toothpaste into the sink, Aiden rinsed his toothbrush and dropped it into the cup on the shelf below the mirror, next to Finn’s. Then he cupped his hands and filled them with water, slurping it between his lips to swill around his mouth. After he’d rinsed his mouth he ran the faucet and swiftly wiped the sink clean. Shutting off the cold water, he gave his reflection one more cursory glance and ran his hands through his hair. He grimaced at the gel that had hardened and promised he would wash it off in the morning, but for now all he wanted to do was curl around Finn and sleep.

  Back in the bedroom, all lights in the bathroom turned off, Aiden padded across the carpet to the bed and slid under the covers Finn held up for him. He yawned and snuggled into Finn’s side, laying his head on Finn’s shoulder as he was pulled in close. Giggling as his stomach grumbled and he let out a toothpaste scented belch, Aiden placed his hand on Finn’s not unimpressive pec and began to draw lazy circles around Finn’s nipple with his fingertip. “I am so stuffed,” he sighed. “Dinner was amazing, best meal I’ve ever had. But don’t tell Patti I said that.”

  Finn chuckled softly. “I won’t. She scares me.”

  “Me too.” Aiden yawned, again.

  “So.” Finn pressed a kiss into Aiden’s hair. “Was it as bad as you thought it was going to be?”

  Aiden was glad Finn couldn’t see the flush in his cheeks, thanks to the low lighting. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “For being a pain in the ass—a paranoid pain in the ass.”

  “Are you going to tell me why?” Finn asked quietly.

  Aiden paused, coming up with a million and one internal reasons to tell Finn his deepest, darkest thoughts, and another million and one not to. Part of him wanted there to be no secrets between them, while the part of him that was still raw from not only his parents’ rejection, but from knowing they had been ashamed of him all his life, didn’t want Finn to know how worthless his own family thought him. Always trying to turn him onto a path he didn’t want to travel. Knowing he couldn’t be the kind of son they wanted. That they would never have been proud of him, no matter what he did—not like Molly and Dan were of their kids; a carpenter, a meerkat and an average grade student.

  The silence in the room had become pregnant and heavy with unshared truths and Aiden could feel the weight of Finn’s gaze on him. “Yes,” he finally relented. “But not this weekend, okay?”

  “Okay,” Finn replied, rolling Aiden onto his back and kissing him, the weight of his body pushing Aiden back into the pillows.

  “Mmm.” Aiden combed his fingers through Finn’s hair, countering every kiss, every swipe of Finn’s tongue, with one of his own. When Finn buried his face in the crook of Aiden’s neck, nibbling on his skin and then sucking hard, the sensation zinged straight to Aiden’s dick. “Finn. Finn… wait,” Aiden said, pushing at Finn’s shoulders. Finn raised himself up onto his elbows and stared down at him.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “We can’t do this here.”

  “Why not?”

  Aiden groaned as Finn’s tongue circled his nipple, teeth scraping on the sensitive flesh. “God, I love it when you do that,” he sighed, pushing at Finn again, refusing to be distracted. “Finn, stop. We can’t have sex when your parents are in the house.”

  Finn raised his head again. “Of course we can. They have sex when I’m in the house.”

  “Eww and that’s not the point,” Aiden complained. “There’s an especially toasty room in hell for having sex in your parents house.”

  Finn returned his attention to Aiden’s nipple. “That’s in California,” Finn said, returning his attention to Aiden’s nipple. “Things are different in Texas.”

  “Oh really?” The last word was a gasp as Finn ground his hips into Aiden’s. “Different how?”

  Finn slid up Aiden’s body in one swift move, straddling Aiden’s head. When did he take off his pants? With his long, thick cock hard and ready, pre-cum already pearling at the slit, Finn traced Aiden’s lips with the head—leaving Aiden in no doubt what his intentions were. Finn leaned forward, pressing soft kisses to Aiden’s belly as he pushed at the waistband of Aiden’s sweatpants. Aiden quickly forgot about burning in hell for eternity, he really wasn’t a winter person anyway, and wriggled out of the offending fabric, his dick definitely getting with the program.

  Finn’s eyes were dark in the low light as Aiden gazed up at him, and his voice was filled with heat as he circled the head of Aiden’s cock with the tip of his tongue, urging Aiden to take him into his mouth. “They’re bigger.”

  *

  Aiden didn’t want to open his eyes. Finn’s bed was far too comfortable to leave. Maybe they wouldn’t notice if he just spent the rest of the weekend tucked up in the covers? Kaylee could take up the slack. It’s not like he could compete with her in the cuteness stakes. They’d never miss him—right? He’d just stay here, snuggled up to Finn, until it was time to leave for their flight on Monday. In fact, he pulled the covers up under his chin and sighed contentedly, maybe he could just work from here…. Snorting at his own ridiculousness, Aiden rolled over to seek the extra warmth of Finn’s body, only to find he was alone. He frowned and forced his eyes open. This put a crimp in his amazing ‘do everything from bed’ plan. He couldn’t be Lennon without Ono.

  Lifting his arms above his head, Aiden stretched languidly, curling his toes against the sheets, cut off in mid-yawn by a muffled curse from the en suite. He smiled, the germ of an idea taking root. Even John and Yoko had to shower once in a while, right?

  Aiden threw back the covers and clambered out of bed, scrubbing his hands through his bed head as he crossed the room. He slowly opened the bathroom door, hoping that the noise of the water would be enough to cover the sound, and he wouldn’t be detected until he slid his hands around Finn’s beautiful… wet… glistening body. God, he was hardening at the mere thought of miles of naked, tanned skin, rivulets of water cascading over smooth flesh. Get in there, Reid. Before you cum all over the goddamn carpet!

  Slipping into the bathroom, he closed the door as quietly as he could and turned, his gaze sliding over Finn’s body through the frosted glass. God he was magnificent. He stroked his length, following the path of Finn’s hands as he washed, pulling his lip between his teeth to stop himself from crying out and alerting Finn to his presence. He wanted to watch just a moment longer. Swallowing hard, he smoothed his thumb over the head of his cock on the upstroke, pressing his thumb into the slit, his hips jolting from the intense stab of pure pleasure it created. No one had ever affected him like this, not Zach and certainly not one of the hook ups he’d experienced. Not that they were numerous—hell, he could count them on one hand for God’s sake. But Finn, fuck, a handful of strokes and he was almost cumming from watching the man wash his armpits—was that even normal?

  He walked slowly to the cubicle door and opened it, the anticipation of his own fingers following the path Finn’s soapy hands had taken, almost too much. The glass door creaked and Finn turned—into AJ.

  “Fuck!” Aiden exclaimed. What the hell was
AJ doing in Finn’s bathroom?

  “Sorry, dude,” AJ grinned widely. “Wrong brother.” His gaze slipped to Aiden’s cock. “I gotta say though, it’s no wonder Finn’s got that stupid-assed look on his face.”

  Aiden slapped his hands over his dick and spun on his heel, his cheeks aflame. He grabbed his sweatpants and yanked them on, mortification spreading through him. Shit, shit, shit! He closed his eyes and counted to ten before opening them again—no, not a dream. He tried it again and when he opened his eyes AJ was standing in the bathroom doorway with a towel secured around his waist, laughing like a loon. Aiden groaned and covered his face. If there is a God, please kill me now.

  “Dude,” AJ said, leaving wet footprints across the carpet as he headed to the bedroom door. “It’s okay, no harm, no foul. Water pressure’s fucked up in my room, so Finn said I could use his as long as I didn’t wake you.” He snorted loudly and released fresh peals of laughter. “I’m guessing you wish I had.”

  Aiden waved a hand at him. “No problem.” He cursed himself for lowering his voice. Jesus, why don’t you just ask him how the Cowboys did last night and scratch your ass? The fact that AJ was bordering on hysteria, wasn’t helping. “Could you just—” he nodded in the general direction of the door.

  AJ obliged, but paused in the now open doorway. “Just so you know,” he said throatily, dropping Aiden a lascivious wink. “If I do decide to give away my ass-ginity, you’re definitely top of my list.”

  Aiden grabbed a pillow and threw it at him, but AJ neatly sidestepped it and closed the door behind him. Flinging himself back onto the mattress, Aiden snagged another pillow and put it over his head, trying to shut out the sound of AJ’s continued mirth echoing down the hall. Now he definitely wasn’t ever leaving this room.

  Not that he had much choice, unfortunately, because a few minutes later there was a hesitant knock on the door and then Kaylee bounded into the room to tell him breakfast was ready in five minutes, and he had to get up before the castle arrived. After she’d bounced back out again after giving him a blueberry muffin scented kiss, Aiden hauled himself off the bed and into the bathroom. Was AJ going to keep their little encounter to himself? He sighed as he closed the door behind him to keep in the steam, already knowing the answer—fat chance.

  IV

  Feeling a lot more awake after his record breaking shower, but no less embarrassed, Aiden paused as he walked the long hallway to the front of the house. He could hear voices in the kitchen and he swallowed nervously. Get a grip! His brother saw your junk, big deal. So did the mail man when you dropped Patti’s Cosmo magazine last month. You still talk to him! Punching his inner voice in the mouth, Aiden squared his shoulders and strolled as casually as he could into the big kitchen/diner where—everyone stopped and stared at him.

  The silence was deafening for what seemed like forever to Aiden, but was probably only thirty seconds. Thirty seconds of torturous embarrassment that only doubled when AJ got up from the table, grabbed him into his arms, dipped him and kissed him hard on the mouth before saying, “Morning, honey, sleep well?” AJ righted him to the sound of everybody’s hysteria and Finn holding his stomach, pointing at Aiden then AJ, unable to talk for laughing.

  Delivering a swift elbow to AJ’s gut, Aiden said the first thing he could think of to turn the attention away from him. “Laugh it up, Grizzly. You’ll be laughing on the other side of your face when I tell everyone about the Tweetie Pie tattoo.” The words had the desired effect as Ben and Finn stared at their brother, open-mouthed and Molly glared at her eldest.

  “You’ve got a tattoo?”

  “Mom, seriously? You’re gonna believe this… this stranger over your own son?” AJ clasped Aiden in a headlock, ruining the just got out of bed look it had taken him years to perfect with one swipe of his giant paw.

  “In a heartbeat,” Molly deadpanned. “Now let the poor boy go. We’ve got a full morning ahead of us and he’s gonna need food.”

  Aiden struggled out of AJ’s grip and sank into the empty chair beside Finn, who was still laughing, but had moved from the doubled over stage to the hiccupping and holding his face stage. “Shut up,” Aiden admonished, accepting the plate piled high with eggs, bacon, hash browns, tomatoes and mushrooms Molly handed to him.

  “Oh, oh,” Finn complained, wiping the tears from his eyes. “My face hurts.”

  “Serves you right,” Aiden snapped back. “You should have woken me.”

  “Hey, you were dead to the world,” Finn countered, picking up a piece of toast from the plate in the centre of the table and slathering it with butter. “How was I supposed to know you’d wake up and try to molest my brother?”

  “I thought he was you.” The words were out before Aiden could stop them and silence fell on the table once more. Shit!

  “Well,” Dan drawled, taking a sip of his coffee. “I guess we’d better factor in an extra fifteen minutes to tomorrow’s activities then.”

  This time, Aiden joined in the laughter echoing around the room, feeling the last of his nervous fears float away. He’d only known them one day, but there was no doubt in his mind that he and Kaylee were now part of this warm and loving family.

  “This is great, Molly,” Aiden said, smiling at her across the table. “What do you do to these eggs?”

  “It’s my grandmother’s recipe,” Molly replied. “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. But make sure you eat as much as you can, there’ll be no cooking in this house until the barbecue later.”

  “Barbecue?” The next forkful of eggs paused in midair on its way to Aiden’s lips.

  “Didn’t Finn tell you?” Molly said shooting her son a glare. “We’re having a barbecue. You know the sort of thing, just a nice cozy little get-together with some family and a few friends.”

  “Oh,” was about all Aiden’s stressed out brain could manage, and he continued with his breakfast. More people? He chewed thoughtfully and wondered how many ways he could dispose of Finn’s body after he killed him. “Don’t worry, they’re gonna love you,” Molly said with a bright smile, reaching out to give his hand what she probably thought was a reassuring pat—it wasn’t.

  “If it makes you feel better we can set up an outdoor shower so you can meet people there,” was Ben’s helpful contribution.

  Aiden shook his head as Ben, AJ and Finn did some weird three way high-five-cum-fist bump-handshake and sighed heavily. “You’re not gonna let that go any time soon, are you?”

  “Not a chance, dude.” Finn grinned happily and gave Aiden a fly-by kiss as he stood up to carry his empty plate to the sink. “Mom? What’s the skinny?”

  “The what?” Molly stared blankly at Finn where he leaned against the counter top.

  “You know, the info, the buzz. The skinny.”

  Aiden noticed that Finn had perfected of late a version of Kaylee’s ability to make you feel as though you’d just drooled on yourself, and he was utterly amazed at how you’d managed to make it so far in life without his help. It was extremely amusing for Aiden to note that when Molly merely looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a ‘don’t mess with me’ look in her eyes, his giant man-child backed down. Maybe he could get Molly to teach him that look before they left.

  Finn picked at a loose thread on his jean shorts. “What I meant to say is; what would you like us to do, Mommy?” He pulled a face at Aiden who was holding back his mirth at the display.

  “Ben can clear the table and deal with the dishes. AJ is mowing the lawn and skimming the pool, your father is cleaning his precious barbecue because apparently no one else knows how to dip a cloth in soapy water correctly. And you and Aiden can get the extra chairs and tables out of the shed. Which leaves Kaylee and me to drive into town to the meat market and,” she winked at Kaylee, “if we have time, we can squeeze in a visit to The Pink Shop on the way home.”

  Aiden didn’t miss the half-smiles the men gave each other as they received their instructions with nods of their heads. He realized that
she may be the only woman in a house full of men, but there was no doubt in his mind exactly who was in charge. But not in the way his mother had ruled their home. He couldn’t imagine Molly ever refusing a child’s love for fear of getting fingerprints on her clothes.

  “Did you hear that, Daddy?” Kaylee squealed, bouncing off her chair and all but throwing herself onto his lap. “We’re going to the pink shop. I told you it was real.”

  “Wow,” Aiden replied, buzzing her nose with his own. “You did indeed. He glanced at Molly who waited for Kaylee by the kitchen door with the strap of her purse firmly settled on her shoulder. “Are you sure about this, Molly?” He took the snort and wave of Molly’s hand as a yes and Kaylee hugged him quickly before jumping off his lap and prancing across the room to take Molly’s hand. “Make sure you do what Molly tells you,” he instructed. “And get me something blue at that pink shop.”

  “Dad,” Kaylee drew out the word. “They only sell pink stuff.”

  “Hey, Lee, hold up,” Aiden’s eyes widened as AJ beckoned her over and handed her a five dollar bill from his pocket. “I really need some new scrunchies. Can you get me a couple?”

  “A couple?”

  “Two,” AJ amended. “Then you can put them in for me when you get home.”

  “But they’ll be pink.”

  “I like pink,” AJ said solemnly. “I’m one of those new men the TV keeps talking about.”

  “You’re weird,” Kaylee said with a note of awe in her voice.

  “That too,” AJ replied and ushered her back toward Molly. “See ya later.”

  “’Bye, Grizzly!”

  “Really?” Finn shook his head at his brother. “Scrunchies?”

  Before Finn could expand on his question, AJ disappeared out the back door. Ben nudged Finn in the side with a well-aimed elbow, considering he carried a pile of plates in his hands. Aiden figured, judging by the ease with which the blow was delivered, Ben had done it before. “You are such a waste of space, dude.” Ben put the plates down on the counter and opened the dishwasher. “He’s not gonna use ‘em. When she gets back he’ll try them on, tell her they’re not quite right and she should keep ‘em. You can be so slow sometimes.”