Page 14 of So Worth More
I stopped his progress towards the market, pulling on his arm. “Let’s go now, then. The market can wait. We might be hungry for snacks by then.”
He rolled his eyes at my mention of food. “You can’t be thinking of eating again so soon.”
I laughed, but it wouldn’t be long before I was hungry again, though I’d probably skip dinner to make up for it. That or go for a swim to work it off. Instead of telling him that, I gestured to all of me. “It takes a lot to keep me looking this good!” I finished with a wink and laughter burst from him.
“Fair enough.”
After hours in the arcade thoroughly beating Will at every game, much to his amusement, we walked to the market. My stomach growled and Will rolled his eyes. “Snacks first, then let’s explore?” I nodded my assent.
The market was crowded, claustrophobic, stifling and so awfully loud I couldn’t talk to Will. He leaned in. “Let’s grab food and head to the park. I need to get out of here.”
“Good plan!”
Will seemed to be struggling nearly as badly as I was. Panic was trying to settle in, but strangely, seeing Will suffering right along with me made it easier for me. Like I had to be strong for the both of us. I looked around briefly, but saw lines at all of the food stalls inside before I remembered the taco truck that liked to set up at the entrance to the park.
Taking Will’s hand, trying not to react to how good it felt to be touching him again, I pulled him to the exit, and he followed me without question. Outside, I pointed to the park and the roof of the taco truck that I could just about see and I dragged him along behind me.
Letting go of his hand was difficult as we drew up to the truck. It felt so natural for us to be touching like that. A casual sort of intimacy that I’d often longed for in other relationships. Jason didn’t like to hold my hand. He preferred to have his arm around me, a proprietary hand often running along the skin of my hip and lower back to the top of my ass.
Mark, an older guy that I’d dated near the end of college, had been the complete opposite. He wasn’t out, and expected me to respect that by walking a pace behind him so that it looked to the casual observer that we were just two people who happened to be going to the same place. I later found out that this was because he was married. To a woman. They also had children. When he attempted to explain, he denied being gay, or even bi. Mark thought I’d be like the others he’d been with before and not mind being a bit on the side, a kept boy, but I didn’t want a sugar daddy and ended it. I didn’t date for a while after that. Mark had said some uncomplimentary things about me which had left me crushed.
After wolfing down some of the best tacos I’d ever had, we walked a circle around the park just talking about anything that came into our heads. I teased him relentlessly about preferring DC to Marvel, unsure on how that subject even came about. He mocked me for my new love of BTS. I was blaming Abby for that one, but I thought some of them were pretty hot. I hadn’t even heard of the band that he really liked, The Maine. He played me some stuff from his phone though, and I loved the singer’s voice and promised to listen to them properly at home.
We stopped to sit on a bench overlooking the small pond, people-watching and making up stories about what they were doing. Will cracked me up with his versions of what he thought people were doing. Some were a little dark, others utterly ridiculous.
Will asked a lot of questions about my life, family and how I grew up. I didn’t mind talking about my mom, though thinking of her sometimes did make me want to break down. The pain of her loss was still as sharp as it had been when it was fresh a decade ago. It stunned me to think that November would bring the ten year anniversary of her death.The woman had been my hero growing up. She held together our small family with sheer determination at times, working multiple jobs after our dad had walked away.
To keep the mood from dropping too far, I told him about things that me and Abs would get up to when left to our own devices. He cracked up at makeovers gone wrong, cooking disasters and “Stabby”, my sister’s mean persona that came out when she was feeling particularly evil. Quite honestly, the woman still scared me. I assured him he did not want to be on the receiving end of a Stabby rant and rave.
In return, I was told stories of his sweet little sister Matilda, or sweet until she hit puberty and became vicious, so he said. It seemed that he relished that though, as his eyes lit up when he told me some of the ways she had gotten back at people that’d hurt her. She was quite a bit younger than him, but they seemed to be close. I was glad that he had someone because often, to me, he appeared lonely. Like something was missing.
We spent some time making plans for heading up to the lake house that Will’s family owned. It was a little intimidating being around someone who was so rich, especially after talking about my humble beginnings. And it wasn’t exactly like I was rolling in it now.
Mom’s death had been sudden, a car accident on her way home from work and a drunk driver. She’d had decent life insurance so we paid off and then sold the house. We both had partial scholarships and loans to pay for college. We paid off the loans and used the remainder of the house sale money to pay for the rest of college.
A degree in design was more expensive than mine. Abby needed equipment and things like fabric, so I gave her a bigger share of the money and took out a loan for her final year. She’d wanted to drop out, knowing she couldn’t afford to finish without the loan, but couldn’t get one. A bank wouldn’t loan her a thing, unsure of when she would be able to pay it back. I’d had employment interest and internships though, so a loan was no issue for me. It’d been nothing to me to make that investment in my sister’s career. Abby was the only family I had left, so she was worth every cent.
I wondered if the disparity in how we were raised would change how he saw me. Will was clearly privileged. He’d been to a private school before being kicked out due to anger issues. It surprised me to learn that he’d been to anger management therapy. He seemed so outwardly calm and in control, so whatever he had learned there had obviously helped.
The guys were all in for the weekend after next, with all of us opting to stay for the Monday, too. I did wonder how work would take it with having both project managers away at the same time, though with my team, there would be no issues as Clara often stepped up when I was away for whatever reason.
“Is this going to change things at work?” I asked him.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, everyone in the office jokes about us, you know that right?” He nodded, “So, they’ve noticed us being friendlier at work.” They already had. Clara had been trying to get the details out of me all week. “And now we’re going away at the same time….” I hoped he would get what I was trying to say. They would think we were dating especially with how differently we had been acting.
“You think they’re going to assume we’re dating?”
“Well yeah, are you okay with that? If we say we aren’t, they won’t believe us.”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me. We know where we stand. We don’t have to lie like we would’ve before, if they’d figured it out. We can honestly say that we’re just friends, nothing more.”
Fourteen - Will
Having Andy as a friend was great, but frustrating as hell. I missed sex, particularly sex with him. My new friend was prone to touching me all the damn time which, yes, I loved, but it didn’t help things at all. I remembered vividly the feeling of him holding my hand the other week, how our fingers had laced together so he couldn’t lose me in the crowd. I’d never met anyone who could read me as easily as he seemed to, knowing exactly what I needed before I knew myself.
Waking up hard this morning highlighted an issue for this weekend. We had to share a room at the cabin. On hearing about our “boys” trip, Gemma had insisted that she come along or Henry wouldn’t be able to go. She’d made such a big fuss that I felt embarrassed for both her and Henry. I’d ended up extending her an invitation so that we wouldn’t have to miss out on time with him. This unfortunately meant that Pete would have to sleep in the den and I would have to share. With Andy. The guy that still featured in all my sexual fantasies of late. Andy sharing with Pete was out of the question, the caveman side of me wouldn’t allow it, or I would’ve slept in the den instead. I didn’t want to share with Pete, either. We got on fine, but I guess I just wanted to keep Andy close.
