Velvet Midnight - Max Walker Page 0,27

self. Her fur still had the shape of the dove shaved into her, a nasty reminder that there was still a lunatic out there and they had it out for my family.

Sleep had been very hard to find these past few days, not that it was any easier to find before.

I yawned and stretched my legs across the blue blanket. It had been Rex’s idea to come have some tea by the lake. He sipped from his cup, his legs crossed underneath him. He had taken off his shoes, setting them on the grass, looking like a giant’s pair of shoes next to my smaller Adidas.

“Dinner was great,” I said, watching as two sparrows swirled around each other. “Those ribs fell right off the bone.”

“Barbecue’s my thing. I don’t know how to cook much else, but at least I know my way around some meat.” That dripped in innuendo. Rex shot me a smirk. “I could’ve taken out that entire plate of ribs by myself.” He patted his stomach and smiled. “Not sure if you could tell.”

I wanted to reach over and rub that belly of his but resisted the powerful urge. Back when we were kids, Rex would never purposefully point out his weight. It had been a sore spot since I had met him, which had always upset me. I always thought Rex looked great, even when I wasn’t sure of why I thought that, not fully understanding that men like Rex were exactly the type of men that got my blood running. He was big and smiley and hairy and so fucking hot. We hadn’t hooked up since that last time in the guesthouse, but damn did I have a hard time thinking about anything that wasn’t Rex’s beautiful bear of a body standing over me, his eyes rolling back—

“Benji?”

“Yeah, what, huh?”

“I was asking if you remembered that one Christmas barbecue I had. I invited your family over. That was before my dad went full brain-washed mode. Before Sylvia really sank her claws in.”

I nodded, remembering that Christmas clearly. It had been the year before our Costa Rica trip. We’d all gone over to Rex’s house, and he cooked us a mouthwatering meal. They lived on a huge estate that sat right on the water, which I remembered had surprised me. I knew Rex’s family had money, but he never carried himself with the kind of attitude I expected from someone who had been raised in a waterside castle. His dad was part of a fast-food chain empire, using the money to invest and grow their name even larger. He got into politics right before I met Rex.

“You cooked us these blue-cheese-stuffed burgers that I still dream about to this day.” My mouth, in a Pavlovian response, started to water.

Rex laughed, nodding. Tammy rolled over so that the back scratches could become belly scratches. Her small paws, almost humanlike in their ability to grab things, scratched the air in pleasure as Rex and I doubled up on her.

“I’ll have to make that next, then.”

“Yes, please.” Warm memories filled me. “It was a great Christmas. One of the best.”

“It really was. Even if Sylvia was there, fucking everything up.” Rex shook his head, eyes turning downward. “My dad always seemed uncomfortable around gay people, but he never truly seemed to hate them, not until Sylvia wrapped him up in her organization. He changed.”

“I remember her treating my moms’ pretty bad during that Christmas dinner.”

So bad that we didn’t go back the next year, and weren’t invited ever again after that.

“My dad fought with her that night, I’ll give him that. I was going to sleep and heard him arguing with her, saying she should have been kinder and more welcoming. That Mia and Ashley are good friends. I couldn’t hear her part, she spoke too low, but it seemed to go on for a while. I just left them.”

My turn to shake my head. “What a monster.”

As Rex’s gaze turned out toward the calm lake, I took that as an opening to admire the man sitting next to me. One I was sure I’d never connect with again, not like this. He was my brother’s best friend, not mine. I didn’t expect to be looking at his face again, loving the way his beard grew in, perfectly trimmed to highlight the warmth of his face, the breathtaking glitter in those cerulean blue eyes. His nose was perfect, and his ears, and the three freckles he had spread around