Page 87 of Love It or List It
Joe pulled back enough to look Austin in the eye.“You can’t believe that.”
“I think maybe stress is making you exaggerate a bit.”Austin carved his fingers through Joe’s hair, making him melt under the attention.
“Maybe a little,” Joe admitted, because Will wasn’t acting like a whole new person, but he was definitely being more teenagery than usual.
Will had always been quiet, but for the past seven days he’d become downright sullen.He joined Joe and Austin for meals when called, but said little.He spent his time holed up in his room unless the kids were over to drag him out.Gavin, Alex, and Meg were a blessing, as they dedicated their holidays to distracting and cheering up Will.
Three days after Christmas, Joe drove Gavin and Will to his parents’ house in the hopes of retrieving Will’s stuff, but Gavin and Will were blocked from the house while Will’s dad screamed that he’d thrown everything out.
Gavin practically had to carry Will back to the car, where Joe had sat waiting in the naïve hope that the kids would have more luck without his presence—Will’s parents never cared for Joe—but once home, Will yelled and raged and threw a few rocks at trees in the yard while Gavin stayed by his side and Joe watched helplessly from the house.
The days following that encounter were the worst.Joe was willing to give Will latitude—God only knew how heartbroken and angry Joe would’ve been in his place—but it wasn’t easy when the kid was using his quick wit and sharp tongue to cut.He could draw blood when he wanted, and lately that seemed to beallhe wanted.
“Maybe things will get easier once they’re back at school?”Austin suggested hopefully.
Spoiler alert—they were not.
First of all, Will was an even worse person in the morning than Austin.Second, he took the world’s longest showers and somehow managed to use all the hot water.On Will’s first Tuesday back in classes, Joe had resigned himself to a lukewarm-at-best shower in the steam-filled bathroom, only to look into the tub and find an inch of water, the drain clogged in a suspiciously familiar way.
“You know what,” he said out loud, “I can skip a shower this morning.”He poured a cup of bleach into the tub.He could deal with it later.And then, after dropping Will off at school, which he had to do every morning because none of the buses came out this far and there was no one in carpooling range, he went to Shoppers and bought an enormous bottle of lube and a nine-pack of Kleenex, which he set in the middle of Will’s bed with a note that just saidThe pipes in this house are too old for that.What else was he going to do?This situation was challenging enough for everyone without confronting someone for jerking off in the shower.
A week into the new routine, Joe was thinking about the practicalities of buying Will his own car.
“You can’t reward his bad company with a car,” Austin said dryly over his glass of wine.
Will was at Gavin’s, working on a school project, so they had the house to themselves for the first evening in two weeks.
“It’s not because of that,” Joe protested.Austin arched an eyebrow.“Okay, not just because of that.Being tied to a high-school schedule sucks.”It was more than just a little inconvenient.At least Will was old enough to wait around for a ride if Gavin wasn’t up for driving him home.
“We could split the driving,” Austin suggested, but Joe shook his head.
“I can’t ask that of you.”
“Who’s asking?I’m offering.”
“I know.But I’m saying no.The last thing you two need is to be stuck alone in a car together every day.”
Their relationship was strained enough as it was.Will didn’t seem to know what to do with Austin or how to cope with his feelings.Hell, Joe doubted Will fully understood his own feelings right now, and whether he was jealous of Joe for being with Austin or of Austin for stealing Joe’s attention when Will so desperately craved it.Joe suspected that it was more the latter than the former, as he doubted Will had been any more serious about Austin than he would have been about a crush on a teacher.He could remember how early crushes felt more comfortable the less attainable they were.Still, seeing Joe and Austin together was clearly not easy for Will, and as a result, Austin was getting less conversation from Will than Joe was.
“Will and I have history.We’ll survive this.I don’t want to mess up the chances of the two of you getting along in the future.”Joe really hoped there was a future for the three of them, and he didn’t want to do anything that put it at risk.
So Austin didn’t offer any more carpooling, but he put his foot down on the car.
“We don’t need it, and we can’t afford the insurance.Not if we want two working baths someday.”
“Fine,” Joe huffed.
Another downside to having a live-in teenager?It curtailed their sex life to quiet and rushed hand- and blowjobs.But he forgot all about his moody son when Austin smirked and called him a good boy.
Joe flushed but met Austin’s gaze.He licked his lips.“Want to take advantage of the empty house to see if three orgasms is standard for you?”
Austin turned scarlet.“Be still my heart.”But he put down his wineglass and headed for the bedroom, so Joe figured he was into it.
Turned out Austin was also into having a dick up his ass even without the novelty.He was just as loud and sensitive, and he writhed so beautifully on Joe’s cock that Joe nearly threw his back out trying to obey each wordless direction for how to make Austin feel good.
Three orgasms?Not a fluke.
“I wonder if you could do four or five,” Joe mused, face smushed into Austin’s neck.
