Page 117 of Fe
Ripley took a deep breath and pressed his fingernails into his palms. All these years putting up with her attitude, the snide comments… She’d withheld her love all her life. Had he really thought she’d ever change? Was it some warped sense of duty, a way of trying to please a dead father that had kept him coming back? It ended now.
“My life has nothing to do with you. Who I choose to spend my time with has nothing to do with you. I’ve wasted too much of my life and energy trying to be a good son. I always knew that being gay meant I would never be agood sonin your eyes, yet I still tried. I am what I am. Nothing will change that.”
“Your father would have been ashamed of you.”
“You’re wrong. My father would have been proud of me.”
He walked out, gently closed the door and saw Fen standing there, a box at his feet.
“The lady brought this down. It’s your stuff.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
“Are you going to check what’s—”
“No, because I don’t give a shit.” Ripley picked up the box and walked out.
He put the box in the boot and got in the car. Fen slipped into the seat beside him. Ripley hoped Fen hadn’t heard all that but suspected he might have.
“Your fatherwouldhave been proud of you,” Fen said quietly.
Right.Ripley huffed. “Stay out or eat at home?”
“Home.”
Ripley stopped to get a Thai takeaway, then drove Fen to the house, left him with the food and the box and took the car to the garage. He’d had incidents like that with his mother before. She always went too far, but this was the first time he’d truly taken in how toxic she was.
By the time he joined Fen in the kitchen, the table was laid and Fen was dishing out the food. A mild Pad Thai for Fen and green curry for him, plus prawn crackers.
“I’m going to have a beer,” Ripley said. “Would you like one or I could make a lime and lemonade?”
“A lime and lemonade would be brilliant, thank you.”
Ripley went to the fridge. “Now you have a choice. We can go away for the weekend or we can throw a party on Saturday.”
“A party? I get to meet your friends?”
“Yes.”
“Then a party. Are you sure?”
“After we’ve eaten, I’ll see who can come.”
Turned out to be enough people to make it an actual party rather than a dinner party. Fen ought to meet those who’d be on the ski trip. Ripley didn’t want it to look as though he’d started a fake relationship to shut up those who kept pressing him to find someone.
Ah shit.
23
Fen ached when he got up on Friday morning. Not because of his BMD, well maybe because of that, but more because of what he and Ripley had been doing. How could sex get better and better? Fen had sort of assumed the initial encounters were the most exciting and it went—well, not downhill exactly, but you settled into it.
That wasn’t what was happening. Ripley kept finding all these places on Fen’s body that drove him wild.My ears… Fen had thought he was going to pass out with pleasure when Ripley played with those. When Ripley bit his nipple—ditto. Sucked his balls—ditto. Ran his fingers up the inside of his thigh—ditto. Fen wondered if there was anywhere he didn’t like being touched. Well, Ripley hadn’t found it yet.
And what Ripley did to him, Fen sort of did back. They were exploring and learning, joining together in more than the physical act of sex and it sent Fen into the stratosphere with excitement and scared him witless at the same time. He couldn’t let himself want this to last. He had the end date in his head. He had to remember that or he’d get his heart broken.
Hmm.Probably not a lot he could do about that.
He had tons to do today. Ripley had told him to order food for the party but it wasn’t that simple. Fen had to decide what he needed to make and in what quantity so he knew how much to order. Between twelve and sixteen people were coming, none of whom had allergies, two of whom were vegetarians and the rest ate anything, according to Ripley. It was going to be a buffet. Ripley said he’d handle the alcohol.
