Life in Fusion (23 page)

“I hope you haven’t gone to too much extra trouble,” Wade

scolded.

Jackie scoffed, raising an eyebrow as she stared down her

brother. “Like any of us believe you meant a word of that.”

Everyone laughed, knowing Wade adored having a fuss made

over him.

“Asshole,” Peanut said, bobbing its head up and down.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Wade added, glancing around the

room at the rest of us.

Maggie sighed. “It’s going to be a magical evening, I just

know it.”

Jackie rolled her eyes and put her arm around the hopeless

romantic. Sandy got up and went about topping off everyone’s

tea.

“You’ve all been so wonderful, making me feel welcome here.

It’s made the whole idea of leaving my home to start over here

much easier.”
Liar!
“Thank you all for taking the time to organize

it. I for one think it was an awesome idea—kills two birds with

one stone.”

Sandy spun around to stare wide-eyed at me, the tea pot sort

of dangling from her hand. This expression came over her face—

one would have thought I’d just pulled out a machine gun and

opened fire, riddling her bird cages in a rain of slow-mo bullets.

The parrot on the stand behind her screeched and said,

“Asshole.”

Del, Jackie and Rita all started to laugh, though they did their

Life in fusion
167

best to contain themselves.

“Well…I just meant…you know…figure of speech and

all. Easier for everyone to meet me in a more festive party-like

atmosphere, you know?”

Sandy continued to stare at me in horror until I began to

squirm uncomfortably in my chair.

“Not that I condone bird murder…I mean.” I glanced at

Wade, hoping he’d jump in and rescue me. I was beginning to

perspire and realized he was enjoying my discomfort. I was on

my own.

“I’ll admit I don’t really like birds—they freak me out when

they get all flappy with the bird wings and make all the chirpy,

screechy noises with their pecker…pa-uh p-peckery things…

beaks
!” I shouted, pointing at Sandy like I was a contestant on a

game show.

Everyone but Sandy was now near hysterics and I took to

fanning my face with my hand, sure I might melt right out of

the chair at any moment. I forced a smile, offering a half hearted

laugh of my own.

“Seriously though, I don’t wish them any physical harm. And

yes, I realize I’ve digressed way far away from the topic…which

was?”

“Oh goodness,” Rita said making an attempt to gain control

over herself. “Things are certainly not going to be dull with you

around, Boone.”

“Won’t that be a welcome change,” Mrs. Mayor said under

her breath.

Sandy excused herself to go refill the tea pot, pausing to

check out Peanut before exiting the room.

“You’ve really done it now,” Wade teased.

Jackie snorted. “She’ll be next to impossible to win over.”

I sighed and shrugged. “Everyone needs at least one mortal

enemy, right?”

168 Ethan Day

Del sweetly patted me on the knee. “We’ll bring her around

once she sees how good you are for Wade.”

“She always had a thing for your daddy,” Rita said to Wade.

“I think some of that transferred over to you when he passed.”

“Scandal,” I whispered, hearing Sandy humming as she came

down the hall. “I’d keep her away from my mother, though.”

“That’s likely very good advice,” Wade agreed. “I wouldn’t

care to see Dixie angry.”

“More tea?” Sandy asked in a singsong voice, all traces of her

sour mood now vanished.

Hello, Sybil!

Everyone but Maggie declined, and I sure as shit wasn’t going

to put anything else from this joint into my mouth for fear I’d

keel over dead. Sandy struck me as having a distinct Arsenic and

Old Lace type of crazy vibe that I didn’t care to investigate any

further.

“I do wish your parents were here to see you both.” Maggie

patted Jackie’s knee while smiling at Wade. “I’m sure they’d be as

thrilled as we all are to witness you each happily settled and so

deeply in love.”

Jackie rolled her eyes at Maggie, yet she patted the woman’s

hand.

“Remember how in love Bill and Maddie were, girls,” Maggie

added, clutching her pearls, which had me holding back a giggle.

“Maddie was a complete wreck the morning they got

married,” Rita chimed in. “I thought it was nerves at first, you

know…cold feet.”

“But it wasn’t that at all,” Sandy said, glancing into her tea cup

as if trying to read her tea leaves.

Sandy was positively melancholy all of a sudden, only smiling

after Wade reached over, patting her shoulder.

“She was practically pink, hot flashes or hives,” Del said,

smiling. “Looked like a fresh boiled lobster.”

Life in fusion
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“We had to get her half drunk in order to get her down the

aisle.” Rita said, pushing on Del as if to say, remember that.

Maggie sighed. “They’d been together all through high school.

They’d even waited to have se…um, well…never mind that.”

Del and Rita laughed.

“I think that’s why they got married so young. They were

practically bursting to do the nasty.” Rita wiggled her eye brows.

“That might fall under the TMI category,” Jackie said.

“But it was really…she just loved him so much,” Sandy said.

“Too much, I think.”

“That she did,” Rita agreed, her smile fading slightly. “
God
I

miss that girl. She had a laugh that could fill an entire stadium.”

“I actually remember that,” Wade said, smiling.

“She loved a good time,” Del said.

“She was responsible for so many of them,” Rita said, wiping

her eye with the back of her finger.

“Then I think we’d have gotten along famously.” I winked at

Wade.

“I’ve no doubt of that.” Del reached over and squeezed my

arm.

“I wish I’d gotten to know her better,” Mrs. Mayor said.

“Me too,” Jackie said, seeming sad now. “I do manage the

occasional sensation that comes over me from time to time when

I try to imagine what she was like. Almost as if she’s right there,

like I can feel her.”

“Of course, dear.” Mrs. Mayor reached over and brushed

Jackie’s bangs off her forehead.

“That’s right, I forgot that, you’d just moved here with

Gordy,” Maggie said.

“I can’t believe she was half drunk on her wedding day,”

Wade said.

“Well, dear,” Rita said, in her best molten, husky voice. “She

170 Ethan Day

wasn’t alone in that.”

All the women burst into laughter, and I watched them, the

history they all shared and the secrets that only they knew about

one another, was something to envy. I said a little prayer in that

moment that Gabe would somehow be different once he arrived

in Summit City. That he would find his way around to supporting

me, because I could really use a little of that right about now.

I could see Wade and Jackie hanging onto every word as the

women continued to share stories about their parents from back

when they’d been kids themselves. It made me sad, yet grateful

I still had my mom and dad. I couldn’t imagine my life had they

been taken from me. I was a mess of a man as it was, but without

them I’d likely be certifiable.

I noticed Wade smiling at me, and came out of my haze only

to realize I’d reached over and been rubbing the back of his

neck. I pulled my hand back, unable to believe I’d done that,

subconsciously or not. He winked, letting me know he hadn’t

minded in the least. All I could think was that I’d wanted to

comfort him somehow.

I purged all thoughts like that out of my head and turned my

attention back to the tea party. But I could hear that tiny voice

in the back of my head whispering, you love him more than you

thought. I smiled, hoping it was true.

I was sitting in the giant Jacuzzi tub, in Wade’s master bath,

soaking away and not particularly wanting to get out. He’d had

the monstrous thing made special, due to his size, so I was able

to stretch my legs all the way out. For some reason that seemed

extra cool to me.

The room was humid, the picture window fogged over. I was

sweating because the water was so hot. Wade had taken a shower

in the massive walk-in with the multiple shower heads instead of

joining me in the tub. I enjoyed the show, watching him shower,

the water ricocheting off his hard body. I was still half hard, and

he’d been done for a good ten minutes now.

Wade came out of the closet, whistling something, and the

scent from the cedar that lined the walls seemed to follow him. It

irritated me that he was in such a great mood. Made me feel even

more alone considering I was still pissed Gabe hadn’t shown up

yesterday with Tommy and the twins. And I wasn’t buying the

whole
family emergency
bit. They’d kindly attempted to lie about it,

to spare my feelings. But I’d invited Gabe’s mom and stepdad

and I knew for a fact they were here. I’d called up to the lodge

today, making sure they’d checked in.

I was trying to get over it, but I found myself continuously

being pummeled by random waves of desperation. I couldn’t

figure out why he was still being so mean. I hadn’t seen or heard

from him for weeks, since the night they’d all met Wade the first

time. It hurt that he was letting all the time we had left pass us

by. Maybe it was his way of punishing me, but if that was the

case, and he was going to miss having me around, it seemed like

a counterproductive form of punishment.

I now had this fear permeating my thoughts that he’d been

secretly in love with me for years. I didn’t want to believe it,

because I wasn’t the type to have missed something like that. Yes,

we’d had the friend pact…that if nothing else we’d be there for

172 Ethan Day

one another in our old age…two bickering old queens hollering

at one another as we adjusted our hearing aids. But I couldn’t

reconcile myself to the fact that he truly loved me…not in
that

way. Of course, at this point, I was desperate for any answer as

opposed to none.

I watched Wade pull the towel from around his waist, placing

it on the heated towel bar, before heading over to the sinks.

I reached over and wiped the condensation off the window,

watching the water run down the pane of glass. The sky was now

near dark. The sun, whose light was still creating a slight pink

haze off in the distance, had disappeared over the horizon. The

shadowy tree tops swayed in the breeze, looking more menacing

that they did during the day.

“You gonna get out of there anytime soon?” Wade asked.

“Nope.” I began fiddling with my hair, using the picture

window to assist me in shaping it into a faux-hawk.

“What
are
you doing?”

“Damn, I’d look good with one of these.”

“I beg to differ.”

I turned to give him a piece of my mind, but lost my train of

thought seeing him standing naked at the vanity, putting some

sort of product into his hair with his fingers. I was once again

taken aback by the size of him. The thick muscled legs that led up

to his round ass, the way his biceps bulged as he played with his

hair, and the visual effect his sculpted abs cut into his stomach,

leading down to his waist, which looked tiny in comparison to

the rest of his upper body. His dick was resting against his balls

and I grinned, realizing how deceiving it was. Even hard, Wade’s

cock didn’t seem as big as it was, comparatively speaking.

I was almost hard again, so I sank down, holding my breath

as I dunked my head under the water. When I came back up, I

shook my head, flinging water everywhere, like a wet dog. I ran

my hands through my hair, slicking it back. I bit down on my lip,

taking in Wade’s full length of naked hotness.
Damn it all to hell,

but that man is fucking fine.

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173

“Wanna join me? I’ll let you sink your battleship.”

I saw the smile spreading across his face and my dick

responded, finishing its ascent like some evil dictator, bent on

destruction and mayhem.

“Come on, Captain Ahab. Can’t Moby Dick come out and

play?”

Wade turned toward me, the dimples cutting creases in his

cheeks. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing…yet.” I lifted my body until my erection broke

through the surface and poked out of the bubbles. I could tell he

was contemplating the possibility while weighing the time factor.

“Your parents are waiting for us downstairs.”

“You do remember that whole strap-on story, right?” I started

to jack myself off, giving him my best dirty-boy smile, and added,

“It’s not like they can start without us.”