I Got You | A Gay Romance: A Boyfriend for Rent Book | Gay For You (24 page)

Jake wondered if they should excuse themselves to the bathroom so he could finish what they started or if they should just go home, but then a voice boomed, "Ready?"

Benjamin leaned back and thank God, stopped messing around with Jake for the time being. Jake recognized the woman. He'd seen her at his father's church time and time again growing up. "You're Mrs. Rosen, aren't you?"

She didn't even lift a lip for a smile. "Yep."

"I'm—"

"I know who you are." The response was flat and emotionless. Was she having a bad day? The Mrs. Rosen he remembered was always bubbly and warm.

"Long time. How are your kids?" He asked, remaining as kind as he could be and passing off the cold disposition as just his overactive imagination. He would have told the bitch off, but he didn’t want to ruin their first date and besides, last thing he needed was the whole event getting back to their dad.

"What can I do you for?" she asked. That was rude. He took a breath through his nose and forced himself to ignore it.

"Oh, we ... are you ready to order, Benjamin?"

Benjamin locked eyes with the woman, leaned back as if he didn’t have a worry in the world. He slipped his straw in his mouth and chewed.

"Benjamin?"

"What do you got?" he asked, as if challenging her. Jake scrambled to look at the menu. "They've got spaghetti and—"

"I'm asking her."

She glared back at him. "Did you not look at the menu?"

"Is that your job to—"

Jake laughed it off, kicking him under the table. "You're so funny. We'll have two spaghettis, two cokes and some French bread."

She slammed her writing pad inside her pouch and glared as she walked away, not even saying, "Thank you."

"What was that all about?" Jake whispered between gritted teeth.

"She's a bitch."

"Yeah, but she isn't normally. Something's up. Have you...?" That's when he noticed people staring back at them and whispering. Not just any people, people he recognized from town. "We should go."

"No, we just got here,” Benjamin said. Jake wondered if his boyfriend was right.

Jake had to ask. "Do you think they know?"

"Know what?" Benjamin asked.

His eyes darted from one end of the cafe to the other. "About us. About what we are."

"And what are we?"

"You know what I mean. Maybe they saw us ..."

"There's a tablecloth. No one can see. But then again..."

"Then again ‘what’?"

"It's hard to ignore when I look at you with love eyes." He shot Jake a wink and puckered his lips quickly.

Jake blushed again. Maybe he was getting paranoid. Maybe the woman was having a bad day and decided to take it out on them, but he couldn't imagine why. He'd try to ignore his tendency to get over-excited and just enjoy the evening. Their first public dinner date ever.

"Just relax. Let's have a good time. Talk about us."

"Us?" Jake arched an eyebrow. They’d really never discussed themselves as a couple before. They’d never really had a serious conversation and Jake knew this was a really important moment in their lives.

"Yeah, us,” Benjamin said. “Our likes, dislikes. Our future."

"Future?" Jake liked the sound of that.

He leaned forward, resting his hands on the table as if wanting Jake to meet him halfway. "So, I was thinking. Maybe you should move in."

"Move in?"

"You spend half the time over at my house anyway. It'll save on gas."

"Gas? I have a bicycle."

"Well, it'll save time and anyway, I think we're ready for the next step."

"And what's that?"

Benjamin’s chest flexed as he shifted positions. God, he looked great in that button-down shirt, open collar and wearing the best accessory of all, that smile. "What’s that? For us to make it official. You're my boyfriend. I'm yours. I don't want anybody else to have you. I can't imagine being with anyone else. I think it's time."

"I ... I don't ..."

"What?"

Jake tried to pay attention but he was distracted by all the dirty looks. Something was definitely up. He tried to pull his attention back to Benjamin, but it was hard. "It's a big step."

"It is ... but ... isn't that a good thing?" Benjamin asked him, resting his palm on the side of his face as he looked into Jake’s eyes.

It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy that, but Jake was getting agitated. He’d tried to ignore the looks, the snickers, the grumbles, but he was no longer convinced that it was only his imagination anymore. "Yeah, of course. You're telling me you don't notice the way people are staring at us?"

His eyes twinkled from the moonlight shining in from the large window they sat by. Jake could tell Benjamin wanted to reach across and kiss him, but it was taking everything for him not to. "Do I notice them? Not really. When I'm around you, all I can see is you."

Jake blushed. Why did he always have to say the sweetest things? It was like he could read his mind and that he always knew what to say and when to say it. It was like he could feel his heart and knew how to please him, how to calm him at any moment in time.

His voice lowered, and there was a glint in Benjamin’s eyes. "Jake, look at me."

Jake's eyes met his as Benjamin said, "I love you. I'm in love with you. And I know it doesn't make sense. I know it's not traditional, but I feel the way I do about you and there's no getting around it." Maybe the restaurant wasn’t the fanciest place in the world, but to Jake it was the most romantic. His heart flip-flopped as he realized for the first time, not only did he love Benjamin, but he was in love with him too.

He smiled at his boyfriend and said, "And I love—"

"You two are disgusting, you know," the waitress said, setting down some French bread. It skidded across the table and almost toppled over. Benjamin glared at her and started to get up until Jake placed his hand on his to calm him.

"I beg your pardon?" Jake asked, his lip tightening. How dare she say that to them? It’s not like they were doing anything in public view. They were just talking.

"Does your father know what you are? Or should I say both of your fathers?" she said, crossing her arms, her eyes full of judgment.

CHAPTER 39

Jake was so furious his head was spinning. He couldn't hold on to a thought long enough to put two sentences together as they drove down the street, not far from Jake’s home.

Benjamin sighed. "Just calm down. Everything's going to be—"

"Calm down? Calm fucking down? You heard what she said. If she said it then everybody knows. And you didn't tell anyone—"

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Of course not."

"Then, there's only one person who ... take me home."

He turned off the car radio and waited before speaking. "Jake, let's go back to my place, our place and just think about this rationally."

"Now, dammit. Fucking now. That fucking bitch." His jaw clenched so tight, he’d get lockjaw or something if he didn’t stop.

"She's our sister, dude."

Why was he taking her side? She didn’t deserve his protection, not after what she’d done to the two of them. "Not anymore. Not to me."

Benjamin pulled into the driveway and locked the door before Jake could get out.

"What are you doing?" Jake didn’t want to take out his frustration on his boyfriend, but pulling it together was becoming an increasingly unlikely possibility.

He turned toward Jake, showing him the intensity yet calmness he expected from him. "I want you to calm down. Don't say or do anything that you're going to regret."

"Just unlock the door." He yanked on the doorknob, but it wouldn’t budge.

Benjamin gave him a warning look and Jake knew he wasn’t playing.

"Fine. I'll be back." He mumbled, his mind on one thing only.

Benjamin unlocked the door and got out.  He swallowed as if looking at the house he missed out growing up in was a war zone and they were going for battle.

"What are you doing?" Jake asked, hopping out.

"I'm going with you to keep you from doing anything stupid."

Good luck with that.  Jake was way beyond thinking rationally. He was on fire, ready to pick a fight and finish it. Jake charged forward, but then he heard his boyfriend's voice. "Hey."

He stopped and Benjamin took his hand. "We're doing this together."

The look on his boyfriend said, they could get through this. And though he trusted Benjamin like he’d trusted no one before, he couldn’t help but feel like the foundation they’d built their relationship on was becoming quick sand beneath their feet.  Benjamin squeezed his hand.  Jake didn't know if he should feel comforted by the touch of his hand or more paranoid. What did it matter? She already knew anyway, and maybe this was the biggest “fuck you” ever.

"Now, Jake," Benjamin said just as they were about to step inside. "Keep calm and—"

But Jake busted through the door, yelling and screaming. "Genie! Genie!"

Benjamin sighed as Jake looked through the house. He was going to kill her. He was going to literally ... then he stopped, freezing before the kitchen table.

"Jake I told you to just—" Benjamin started to say before he froze too.

Jake's heart stopped. Anything he was going to say completely left his mind as he saw Genie sitting at the kitchen table with Benjamin's ex-girlfriend, Christina, beside her. Was he dreaming? Was he stuck in a nightmare? Could this night get any worse?

"We were just talking about you, Jake," Genie said. She cleared her throat and raised her chin, but he knew her well enough to know she was only fronting confidence.

"And you, Benjamin," Christina said. There was cattiness to her voice that rubbed Jake the wrong way. He turned to his sister who could barely look at him.

"What is she doing here?" Jake asked. His nostrils flared in controlled anger, but his palms were sweaty.

"What are you doing here, Christina?" Benjamin said, his jaw clenching. The tension between them carried with it a baggage of hurt, pain and unresolved issues.

"I could ask you the same, Benjamin. But then again, now I know ... everything. I always wondered if there might be another side to you. Something you weren't telling me, but your own step-brother? You disgust me."

"The feeling is likewise, Christina," Benjamin said, stepping forward. She rose from her chair and looked him square in the eye. Her gold bracelets clanged together in chaotic symphony.

“It’s such a small world, Jake,” the woman said, turning to him. “Seems like she knows everybody, including my hairdresser. When she heard about everything I was going through, she insisted on me meeting a good friend of hers, your sister. She thought we might have some things in common. Seems like we do.”

The things Jake wanted to say to her, but only for Benjamin’s sake did he hold his tongue.  A wicked smile curved on her lips and Benjamin narrowed his eyes at her. “Don’t talk to him.”

She crossed her arms and snaked her neck with attitude. "End it, now. I'm not having my family's good name ran through the ground—"

"Don't tell me what I can or cannot do. I think you know better than that." He remained calm, although his eyes locked with hers, his voice low and gravely.

She tucked a loose hair behind her ear, testing the limits. "Are you really going to mess around with some dirty, low-life—"

He swore Benjamin growled under his breath like a wolf. "Don't talk about him that way. Ever."

She scrambled for words. "I just mean—"

"Ever!" he yelled. She practically jumped at the firmness of his tone. It was as sharp as he’d ever heard the man, but Jake felt a sense of pride knowing he was with someone that would defend him through thick and thin.

She took a deep breath and said, "End it now, whatever ... this is ... or you will never see your son again. And I mean, never."

Jake looked at Benjamin, riddled with guilt. His son meant the world to him and Jake didn't want to stand in the way of their relationship.  And though the man stood firm, rock solid, lifting his chin in defiance, Jake wondered if he should call it off.  As much as he wanted to be there for him and swore he’d never leave Benjamin’s side, he also loved him enough to give Benjamin his life back.

"Get off your moral high horse," Benjamin said, stepping toward her again. "You act like you're some squeaky clean precious princess. What do you call shacking it up with your boyfriend's best friend?"

"Maybe I wanted a whole man, and not just a half of one," she said, looking down at the pant leg where his titanium prosthetic leg was.

Benjamin's lip tightened, but it had to hurt.  What a bitch.  If she wanted to gut him, she knew exactly what to say and how to say it. Benjamin never said anything to make Jake feel like he felt sorry for himself, but he knew he was often in pain. He saw the sores he got from the prosthetic. He heard the groans at night and shakes his body would make as he seethed in pain; nightmares waking him at night. He saw the way his boyfriend turned away when people snickered at the way he limped at times.