Page 13 of Playing for Keeps
Relief washed over Ethan’s face when Theo entered the room. “You ready to go kiddo?”
But Theo didn’t give Ethan a second glance.
“Uncle Luke.” He slammed into my legs.
“Hey, Theo.” I ruffled his hair.
He turned to Jonathan. “Uncle Jonathan!”
It had made sense to introduce Jonathan as another uncle to Theo. I’d loved how Jonathan’s eyes had gone all soft when he’d been given the title.
But now, seeing how Ethan’s throat suddenly worked, I felt weirdly exposed. Growing up I’d expended so much energy trying to keep this truth from Ethan, but now it was in plain sight. I was gay. I was in a relationship with a man.
I squared my shoulders.
Ethan stared at his son as if he’d never seen him before, blinking a few times.
“Right, we better get going,” he said. He looked at Jonathan. “It was nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too.”
Ethan’s expression was hesitant as he shot a glance in my direction. “Good to see you again.”
Good. Such a generic word to cover all manner of sins.
“Yeah,” I muttered.
Char drifted down the hallway after Ethan and Theo, leaving Jonathan and me alone.
Together we watched out the window as Ethan opened the car door for Theo. He climbed in, and then Ethan leaned down to check he was strapped in properly.
Seeing that look of concentration on Ethan’s face, I was suddenly whisked back in time to the summer we were sixteen.
Ethan and I were sleeping in a tent on the back lawn of my parents’ holiday home in Wanaka, as we usually did. I’d woken up to find Ethan tossing and turning, his sleeping bag rustling like a bag of potato chips every time he moved.
I propped myself up on my elbow to look at him.
“What’s wrong?” I whispered.
“I can’t sleep.”
“Yeah, I picked up on that. Thanks for sharing your insomnia with me. I really appreciate it.”
“Sorry.”
It was a small tent, and I could feel Ethan’s tension as he tried not to move. He half sat up, then thumped back onto the airbed with a groan. “Urgh! I can’t turn my brain off sometimes. I suppose that’s to be expected with my exceptionally large brain.”
I snorted. “Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.”
He shuffled again, tossing one way, then almost immediately turning back.
“What do you normally do when you can’t sleep?” I asked.
“I jerk off.”
My breath rushed out of me while my cock immediately started to firm up at the thought.
Great. Now the idea of Ethan jerking off was in my head, which meant I wasn’t getting back to sleep for hours. If ever. No doubt my brain would prefer that particular daydream over the random crap my real dreams threw at me.
