A/N: Hello again everyone! And now for this one. :P
Before we get started, I would like to thank everyone that read last chapter! I would also like to give a huge thank you to winterschild11, Side1ways, Guest, XxxAnimaniacxxX, and RainbowDiamonds for reviewing!
I hope you all enjoy!
James' POV
I was frozen.
I had no idea what to do even though I really wanted to fucking run.
I'd never run from anything in my life, but I'd also never been nearly naked in front of the mother of someone I was fucking when I just had my hands on their dick...or well, any part of them since this whole man thing was new for me.
Moms and I didn't mix. I hadn't learned how to even handle a mother after mine died, but there I was, having another first with Kendall and I sort of wanted to kill him for it.
"Kendall...this is the guy, right? The one who has you doe-eyed. He's hot. I totally get it."
I nearly choked on my tongue.
"Jesus Christ, Mom. Can you not?" Kendall said just as, "You're doe-eyed over me?" slipped out of my mouth.
"No." He replied.
His mom chuckled.
"I don't think I like that answer." I said in response.
Kendall frowned. "You want me to be doe-eyed over you?"
It was then I realized what I'd said, and the tightness in my throat got more intense. Holy fuck. I'd said that, hadn't I? This whole situation was fucking with me.
"No. I was giving you shit...I mean crap."
"You're an adult, dear. You can curse in front of me. I've seen you with your hand on my son's privates. I'm pretty sure we're past that stage."
Who the fuck was this crazy woman?
"Seriously, Mom. You're weirding both of us out right now." Kendall said from the other side of the bar. I was, for one of the first times in my life, struck silent. The only other person who seemed to be able to do that was Kendall.
"I came by to tell you we need you to bring potato salad today." She told her son, obviously not caring about the awkwardness of the situation.
"Awesome. I have a phone you could have used for that. I'll pick some up on the way." Kendall replied.
"No. You know I hate the store-bought stuff."
"I don't know how to make it." Kendall told her.
She turned to me and I was again reminded that I was standing in my underwear in front of his mother.
"Do you know how to make potato salad?" She asked.
"Umm...yes?" I managed to find my voice.
"Do you have any plans today?" Jennifer continued.
"No…?" Why the hell was I answering her as though my replies were questions?
"Good. So you'll come to the barbecue with Kendall and help make the potato salad. It'll be fun. Everyone will love to meet you."
"Wait...what? I…"
She waved her hand at me. "Shush. None of that. I promise not to embarrass you."
That made me frown. "I don't get embarrassed."
She grinned as though she'd just figured something out about me. "Prove it. See you at three, dear." Then Jennifer turned to Kendall. "Good catch." And just as quickly as she'd stormed into his condo, she was gone.
"Oh my god." Kendall said before leaning over with his elbows on the counter and his hands in his hair. "I'm so sorry. She's obviously crazy. You don't have to go today."
I shook my head, trying to make sense of what had just happened. "I'm pretty sure your mom just issued me a challenge." How could I not go now?
"Your funeral." Kendall shrugged. "Apparently, you're both crazy."
No, I wasn't crazy. I just didn't like the fact that she obviously didn't think I would go. She was wrong.
We stopped by my condo so I could get a change of clothes and then went to the store together and got the stuff for the potato salad. Kendall helped me while I made it but with each moment that went by, my stomach twisted into a tighter knot.
As we sat in Kendall's car on the way to his parents' house, I was convinced I'd lost my damn mind and was making the biggest mistake of my life. I was going to a family barbecue with a guy I'd let fuck me last night? What the hell was he doing to me?
"You're freaking out." Kendall said from the driver's seat.
"I'm not freaking out." I snapped, pissed because he seemed to know me way too damn well. I felt the same about him and that was another what the fuck moment.
"Okay."
"Now you're trying to pacify me. You don't really believe I'm not freaking out. If you think I'm freaking out, Kendall, just say it."
He opened his mouth, and I waited for him to confirm what we both knew I was doing, but instead, boisterous passionate laughter burst from his lips. It was happy and contagious and even though I wanted to cross my arms and pout at the fact that he was laughing at me, I couldn't help but laugh, too.
My stomach cramped and Kendall squeezed the steering wheel as we acted like a couple of teenagers who were drunk for the first time. I couldn't remember ever laughing with anyone the way I laughed with Kendall right then. I felt like I continued to have these firsts with him that made my head a mess.
Kendall got me...we got each other, and there was a part of me that was pissed at him about that.
Our laughter settled down just as Kendall pulled up to the curb in front of a house that looked like it belonged on TV.
It was similar to where I'd grown up with my grandmother but then I thought about Kendall's mom and how kind and caring she'd been, how much she obviously loved Kendall and I knew I wouldn't find anything similar to the home I'd shared with my grandmother.
Would my parents have eventually lived in a house like this? Would we have played catch in the front yard? Would my mom have been like Jennifer if she'd walked in on me with Kendall today?
I closed my eyes, fighting back those memories and thoughts that had no business plaguing me so much lately. That shit happened so long ago. It was over now.
"Hey." Kendall's hand touched my cheek and it felt so damn intimate. "You don't have to do this. Seriously. I know it's a lot. My family is a lot. The only thing you wanted last night was my dick to meet your prostate." He joked. "Not a family get-together."
I opened my eyes and looked at him. "I think they got along well, don't you?"
"My dick and your prostate?" He asked.
"Yeah."
"Me too."
I shook my head. "I'm fine. I'm not freaking out. Plus, my potato salad is fucking incredible. It would be a shame to let it go to waste."
"I mean, it was made by James Fucking Diamond. How could it not be good?"
"Exactly." I smiled and then got out of the car before I changed my mind. After grabbing the salad from the back seat, I tugged at the collar of my polo and followed Kendall down the walkway.
The second we stepped onto the porch, the door jerked open.
"I didn't think you'd come." Jennifer said, cocked a brow.
"You doubted me?" I replied. "Well, that was your first mistake." I'd be lying if I didn't admit some of the tension in my gut loosened slightly. I liked Kendall's mom a lot.
"He's even more cocky that I am, Mom." Kendall said as he leaned in and kissed her cheek before walking inside. I followed behind him.
"Good. Then he'll fit right in with our family." She replied, and my foot caught on something, I don't even know what, and I stumbled. Kendall turned, reached out his hand to catch me but I shook him off and straightened myself.
Good. Then he'll fit right in with your family…
There had never been a time in my life where someone had said something like that about me. Part of me wanted to turn around and walk out right then because fuck that. I didn't need to fit in with anyone. I didn't need anyone.
But there was another part of me...one that clawed and scratched and fought to climb its way to the surface, that wanted to thank her. Fucking thank her.
"Mom...lay off him, okay?"
"Jennifer, are you harassing these boys?" A man-Kendall's father, I assumed-stepped into the entryway.
"Me? No? I wouldn't do such a thing." She replied.
"You wouldn't do such a thing, my ass." He countered and then held his hand out to me. "Hi. I'm Kevin. It's nice to meet a young man of Kendall's. He never brings anyone around. I can't imagine why." And then he nodded toward Jennifer as I attempted not to swallow my tongue.
I reached out and shook his hand as I replied to what he said...a young man of Kendall's...he never brings anyone around…
I cleared my throat. "James Diamond. Nice to meet you. I made potato salad." I made potato salad? What the fuck is wrong with me?
"I see that." Kevin replied as he took the bowl out of my hand.
"Okay, that's enough, you two. You're driving me crazy. We'll be back." Kendall said before grabbing my wrist and pulling me away from them.
We took the stairs and I tried to fight back the tension and nerves making my body go haywire. Kendall continued to take me out of my comfort zone, continued to make me feel all these things that were so damn foreign to me.
"Do you wanna see my old room?" He winked at me. Playful. I can do playful. I'm a playful guy.
"I hope that's not the only thing you plan to show me when we get there."
Kendall led me into a room and closed the door behind us.
"I'm-" I silenced him with my mouth. I didn't want to talk. Didn't want to think. It was a whole lot easier to focus on the taste of his mouth and the way his tongue tangled with mine than it was all the other shit. Sex I could handle. Families were another thing.
Kendall groaned into my mouth and dug his blunt nails into my sides. He was hard and my dick was fucking aching. I couldn't seem to get enough of him.
But then I pulled away because his crazy-ass parents were downstairs, and I was sort of afraid his mom would walk in on us. I didn't pull away completely, leaning my forehead against his-though I didn't really understand why.
"We can go at anytime, you know? This is weird. I know it's weird."
But the thought of running made my skin feel too tight. I wasn't a runner.
"It's fine. There's food, and I'm hungry." I replied.
Kendall chuckled before he pressed another quick kiss to my lips. It was chaste...sweet...and made my pulse lose control, so I pulled away.
"If we don't go down, your mom will come up here, won't she?" I asked.
"You know her well."
We stepped into the hallway again and I noticed the pictures lining the walls. Pictures I didn't take the time to look at when we came up. There was one with a young Kendall wrestling with another boy.
"This is him? Your brother?" I asked.
"Yeah." He said, his voice soft...melancholy.
I couldn't get over how many pictures there were of them-school pictures and family pictures. Sporting events and vacations. They were a real family. What a family was supposed to be and Christ, I suddenly wondered how different my life would have been if I'd had that.
"There's my Ninja." I said when I spotted an image of Kendall dressed for karate.
"That's when I got my black belt."
"That's the biggest fucking smile I've ever seen on you." I told him. "It's cute."
"I was happy. I knew how proud Ethan was."
I reached over, put my arm around his shoulders and pulled him close. I kissed his temple before pulling back...and I wondered if my parents would be proud of me.
Kendall's POV
I liked that James got to see me in my old karate robe and belt.
It was a moment in my life I was really proud of. I figured it was kind of dumb for a guy in his late-twenties to be so proud of something kind of silly, but that part of my life would always be special to me, especially because of how it reminded me of Ethan.
James' gaze wandered like his thoughts were elsewhere.
"What are you thinking about?" I asked. He didn't have a chance to reply before I blurted out, "Your mom and dad?"
It was a guess, but I could totally understand why he would be thinking about them when I was thinking about my brother, considering his parents definitely reminded me of my own situation with Ethan.
His eyes widened like he was surprised and then he nodded.
"I guess when people you love leave too soon," He said, "you can't help but wonder if they're looking on from somewhere, if they would like the life that they see."
"I don't think you have anything to worry about, James." I said, trying to soothe him. "Considering the life you've built for yourself, I'm sure they're very proud. I just hope that as they're looking, they know when they need to turn away."
He chuckled, and I was glad I was able to shake him out of his serious state.
"I'm sure they do." He said.
As I looked into his eyes, I felt a connection-much deeper than I'd felt when we'd first started talking to each other about the people we'd lost. It seemed to be a product of everything we'd shared-the hurt, the fun, the laughs.
I kissed him, and he kissed back.
With each kiss, it was as though we were coming to know each other better and better. More about each other's lives, more about each other's bodies.
There was something in me that made me feel like I should have been throwing up my defenses, but I resisted the impulse-something that was easy to do when my lips were locked with James'.
"Son." Dad's voice came from behind us, and as soon as we turned, he reached the top of the stairs and stopped, glaring at us. "Don't forget our rules. No locked doors." A grin overtook his face as he apparently took pride in his joke.
"And here you were blaming Mom for being the reason I don't bring people over." I teased.
Dad approached and slung an arm over James' shoulder.
"Well, I'm not going to let you hog your new friend all afternoon. Come on, James. I got some friends I want you to meet."
He pulled him toward the stairwell. "You watch any hockey?"
"A little."
"You a Seals fan?"
"Eh...I'm more of a Kings fan."
"Oh, thank God. I always said, 'I can live with having a bi kid, but a Seals fan is a whole other story.'" He turned back to me as they reached the stairs. "Just kidding. You know I love you, son."
That was one of the wonderful things about my parents. There were no two people who I could have imagined ever being so generous with their love-so willing to tell me how much they cared about me and supported my life choices at any given time.
I knew Ethan felt the same way about them when he was alive, considering they'd been that way when we were little. But since my brother passed away, Mom and Dad's reminders and demonstrations of their love had intensified as had mine-surely because we all knew how quickly we could lose the ones we cared about.
I turned back to the picture of me and Ethan wrestling.
Pleasant as the reminder was, with it came the vivid image of him lying in a hospital bed.
I shook my head as though that would shake the image from my thoughts.
Of course, that never worked.
I went downstairs, planning to join the party in the backyard. I needed to meet and greet some of the neighbors, but I also wanted to keep Dad from harassing James too much.
When I walked through the kitchen, I caught Mom transferring a casserole from one dish into another over the sink. The dish was clearly too heavy for her, so I went over and grabbed it, asking, "What are you doing?"
"One of those Henderson kids spilled some beans into the broccoli casserole, so I need to put it in another dish. I was going to ask your dad to help me, but he's busy showing off your future fiance to the neighbors."
"Not my future fiance." I said through my teeth as I glanced out the garden window behind the sink.
James stood in a circle of Dad's friends, laughing as Dad talked the group's ears off, probably telling them some joke he'd already told at a number of these barbecues.
Dad was the kind of guy who could have told a story as many times as he wanted and everyone would have been just as interested, just as amused because each time had its own special feeling to it...and his eagerness about sharing was almost as rewarding as the story itself.
"I get it." Mom said, her eyes on me.
"Get what? I haven't said anything."
"You've said more than you realize. I'm happy for you, Kendall."
"Happy for me? You're making way too big of a deal out of-"
"Out of this guy who means nothing but just happened to be willing to drop everything to come to the family barbecue with you? Okay, if you say so. I'll assume there's absolutely nothing going on between you and Straighty." I glared at her, which provoked, "Oh, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were fourteen, and I just grounded you."
"I hardly even know what's going on here."
"I think you might have a little clue about what's going on. Serious-Mom time...I've never really butted into your private life, but I have to admit there's always been a part of me that's been worried that because of what happened with Ethan, you've maybe...not let yourself get as close to people. Or that you're nervous about what might happen if you do."
"That might have been true in the past, but I certainly haven't been using that as an excuse to push James away."
Her eyes were filled with knowing-a really annoying knowing. Like she could see so much more than I wanted her to.
"I'm glad to hear that, sweetie. After all, I'm sitting here waiting for you to adopt three or four grandchildren for me."
"Oh my god. Here I thought you were having serious-Mom time."
"This is serious-Mom time." But I could read the amusement all over her expression...how much she was enjoying getting to me. "I just hope you remember that you have to cling on to the things in this world that are important to you. And the people."
Her eyes watered, and I knew it was because she was thinking about Ethan.
"I won't ever forget that."
"Okay, good." She said as a tear fell from her eye.
I wiped it away. "Oh, no. Now you have me worrying about you."
"Don't worry about me. I wear waterproof mascara." She winked and forced a smile. "Now give your mom a hug and then get out there and rescue your man from your father."
I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close, before I helped her with the casserole. I took it to the picnic table on the porch.
Mom was right. Not just about having to cling to the things that were important, but about my interest in James.
It was clear I liked him a hell of a lot-as more than just some fuck buddy, and it was more than just our connection with his parents and my brother.
He was a cool, fun guy who I liked spending time with. And what we'd shared even within the past twenty-four hours, when he bottomed for the first time, had felt so intimate, like so much more than anything I'd ever experienced with anyone else.
There was a closeness between us that was too strong to deny, and even though there was something scary about it, it was something I wanted to explore with him.
But the real question was: did he want that?
Surely he did. After all, he wasn't fighting what we were doing either. Hell, he listened to me ramble about my brother at four in the morning. He could have run from this barbecue, but he hadn't.
While one of my mom's neighbors began giving me the third degree about my career and how I was doing, I watched James over her shoulder, chatting away with one of Dad's friends.
He turned to me, and we exchanged a gaze, and as he smiled, it assured me that what was happening between us wasn't just in my head.
When I finished catching up with a few of Mom and Dad's friends, I finally made it back to Dad and James. We chatted some before Dad insisted on showing James the garden.
Dad gave him the standard tour, and as James reached the middle of the garden, standing on a wooden beam, surrounded by squash and cucumbers, he said, "This is pretty impressive, Kevin."
"It's been a family project for a while now. Gave me something to do after I retired. I need to keep busy. My mind needs to be working all the time."
"I know the feeling." James said. "I have a hard time shutting it off sometimes because I keep it going so much."
"Work?" Dad asked.
"Yeah. Running your own company means you have to be the one to put the work into it. It took me a lot of years to build it up, so I think there's this part of me that feels like if I let the ball drop, then it'll all go away."
"With some of the projects you were telling us about earlier, it doesn't sound like it'll be going away anytime soon." Dad said. "I bet your parents are really proud of you."
My chest constricted.
It was as though Dad had done what all great parents had a way of doing, psychically picked up on a sensitive subject and dug into it with a knife.
As I checked James expression, what had been friendly and playful throughout the barbecue, had turned stoic.
Shit.
"Well, now that he's helped you out, I say we get back tot he party." I said, trying to get James out of what had become an awkward moment.
We headed back and spent another half hour hanging around-thirty minutes that were far more awkward than when James had first arrived. He wasn't smiling and laughing with people anymore.
He'd become cold and guarded.
I decided it would be better if I got James out of there, so we said our goodbyes to everyone before returning to the car.
As soon as we got in, I asked James, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." His words were curt, defensive.
"My dad was just trying to be nice when he said that thing about your parents. I'm sorry if that stirred something up."
"Your parents didn't do anything wrong. They were great."
Despite the compliment, considering how serious he sounded, I knew something was up.
And it was clear by the way he was talking that he didn't want to discuss it.
I decided I should give him a moment to think, at least until we got back to my condo.
Done! So, James has officially met both of Kendall's parents! He even attended the family barbecue, which was going pretty well until that last bit there. :P
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the chapter, as well as if you happened to have a favorite part/moment!
Again, I hope you all enjoyed! I'm glad you all liked the way James and Jennifer met last chapter. It was definitely awkward for Kames. :P The next chapter will more than likely be up sometime this weekend, and will pick up where this one left off.
Until then! :D
-Epically Obsessed
