Peach Tree Family: Gay Romance Read online

  Since Ace had been so tragic about having to go to school, Theo expected him to run over now that school was over for the day. But as Theo waited, a bunch of kids dragged Ace over to a very attractive blond guy waiting next to a beige SUV.

  "Look! A new kid," a little blond boy shouted at the man.

  "His name is Ace," a little redheaded girl said. "Me and DJ already know him."

  "Good job discovering a new kid," the blond man said. "Nice to meet you, Ace. I'm DJ and Ry's dad." DJ seemed to be the quiet boy who was maybe a year younger than Ace and was standing next to him like they might already be friendly.

  The little blond boy must have been his younger brother, Ry, and he was back at it. "He used to be our uncle, but he's our dad now. We have two dads. Two! And we have two dogs. Two dogs! Two dads!"

  "Settle down, Ry. Does Ace need a ride home?" the guy asked.

  "I'm picking him up," Theo said going over. "I'm Ace's brother."

  "Hello. Wyatt Hayes," the blond dad said offering his hand.

  "Theo Atkins." As they shook hands, Theo decided to pick his brain. "Do you happen to know if there are any after school programs around here? I looked online but didn't find anything."

  "The school is working on some activities, but that won't happen till next year. For these guys, I'm the after school program. I work from home, so I can pick them up," Wyatt said while the kids milled around.

  "Rico is picking me up so we can deliver the old junk truck," a little blond girl volunteered.

  "Rico from the café?" Theo asked.

  "You know Rico?" she asked.

  "Our friend, Seth, works at the café," Ace told her.

  "This is Sammy McEvers," Wyatt said of the blond girl.

  "Like the handyman who came to our house?" Ace said and she smiled and nodded.

  "Everybody knows everybody around here," Wyatt said with a laugh.

  "I'm Gloria," the little redheaded girl said to Theo. "I saw Ace first."

  "It's nice to meet all of you," Theo told them.

  "I don't see your car," Wyatt said to Theo. He must have been familiar with all the other cars there.

  "We're walking," Theo said.

  "I like to walk the kids sometimes, but it's been raining on and off," Wyatt said. He was right. It was sunny at the moment but threatening rain. "We can drop you off," Wyatt offered, but his words almost got drowned out by the noise of an old truck rumbling as it pulled up next to them.

  Rico was at the wheel and he was pointing at Theo and Ace. "You two are coming with us," Rico said as he leaned out the old truck's windows and cut the engine so he could be heard. Theo was confused and then surprised to see Seth sitting next to him.

  "That's our friend, Seth," Ace said excitedly.

  "Hi everybody," Seth said to the kids.

  "Grandma is dumping this old truck on you guys," Rico said to Theo and included Seth with a wave of his hand.

  As Theo looked over at Seth, he ducked his head sheepishly. "I said how you didn't have a car, and it made it hard to furnish the house and pick up Ace, and then this happened." Seth spread his arms out helplessly.

  "Isn't this Mr. Miller's truck?" Wyatt asked.

  "It's famous around here," Rico said to Theo and Seth. "Mr. Miller used it to pick up junk, but he can't drive any more because his cataracts is so bad. So Grandma bought it off him as a favor. She didn't know what she was going to do with it, but now it's all yours and I don't envy you." Rico pointed at Theo and Seth both like they were supposed to share it.

  "I can't... I mean..." Theo started to say.

  "Keep it till you get something better," Rico told him. "Now give it a test drive." Rico jumped out of the truck and pushed Theo toward the open truck door.

  Theo just stood there. "I can't drive this."

  "I don't mind it," Seth said. He was still sitting on the passenger side. "This is only a little worse than the truck my grandpa drove. If it drives, it's good enough for me."

  "It's good enough for me too," Theo said getting defensive. "I just can't drive a stick."

  "That's no big. I'll teach you," Seth volunteered, but Theo hadn't actually accepted the truck.

  "So what's the plan?" Wyatt asked.

  "We're done with our delivery," Rico said. "Mitch is picking me up to do some work. He'll swing by here any minute."

  Theo wondered what Rico and Mitch were to each other, but then Sammy asked, "Can I go with the kids and the new big kid?"

  "Big kid," Rico said and he winked at Ace. "That's you."

  Ace straightened up to look taller.

  "He has to meet Barney and Brownie," Ry was saying.

  "Our dogs," DJ said. "Can he?" As he sensibly looked from Wyatt to Theo, all the other kids did too.

  "You need that driving lesson," Wyatt said to Theo. "You guys take the truck. I'll take Ace with us. Follow us to the house to see where it is and check the place out. Then after your driving lesson, you can come and get Ace."

  It was clear Ace wanted to go so Theo agreed. They exchanged phone numbers, and Theo let Seth drive to the Hayes house and just watched what he did.

  "It's easy once you get the hang of it," Seth said.

  "Driving or telling people about my problems?" Theo asked him.

  "Sorry. But you haven't met Mrs. Del Rio. She can't be denied," Seth claimed. "Did you know she was a showgirl in Vegas?"

  Theo didn't see how that explained anything. Maybe Seth had a thing for showgirls.

  The drive didn't take too long. Parking in front of the nice, one story house, Seth waved as the kids spilled out of Wyatt's SUV. Then Wyatt opened the front door, and the kids were greeted by two dogs, a brown dachshund and a fuzzy, white dog that Ace was already petting.

  Theo and Seth went to the door, and Wyatt invited then inside. "Come in if you can make your way through."

  He wasn't kidding. There was a knot of kids in the doorway, and the dogs were demanding attention that Seth was more than happy to give them. Ace was petting the dogs too and laughing as they licked his face.

  "I can give you a tour," Wyatt said to Theo as Seth stayed behind with the kids and the dogs.

  Going through the living room, Theo noticed pictures of Wyatt with that other dad Ry had mentioned. Some of them were wedding pictures. Theo was happy he lucked into meeting a local gay couple.

  "Those are from just this summer," Wyatt said smiling at a wedding photo that included the boys too. "Sam and I got married in the orchard up on the hill."

  "That makes for some pretty wedding pictures. The light is amazing," Theo said.

  "Sam is amazing," Wyatt said. "You'll get to meet him too one of these days. Actually he works at the cafe with your friend."

  "Looking forward to meeting him."

  Once the tour was done, Theo and Seth left after agreeing on a time for picking up Ace. Back outside, as Theo got behind the wheel, Seth told him, "I wasn't sure you were going to let Ace come over here."

  "Are you kidding me? It was like being caught in a tornado. I had no choice," Theo told him. "And I still can't believe we ended up with this truck?"

  "Like I said, I was talking to Mrs. Del Rio..."

  "I'm starting to think that you have a big mouth," Theo said, not letting him finish.

  "You haven't met that lady. I'd like to see you stay closed mouthed around her," Seth said. Then he told him the benefits of truck ownership. "This truck will come in real handy. Think about it. Shopping for furniture, bringing in supplies for fixing up the house."

  "I already owe Mrs. Del Rio, and I haven't even thanked her yet for getting our water turned on," Theo pointed out.

  "With this truck it will be easier to go over to the café and thank her. We can head that way and you can drop me off for the dinner shift, thank her if she's there, and then pick up Ace. After you had some driving practice, I mean."

  "If I don't crash this thing first," Theo said. They were still parked in front of Wyatt Hayes's house and Theo turned the ignition. "So how do I g
et us back on the road?" He reached for the stick shift, ready to follow Seth's instructions.

  All of a sudden Seth's hand was on top of his and Theo froze. At the unexpected contact, his skin heated and he was afraid to move.

  "Sorry, I... I just wanted to show you. Sorry, it's...," Seth stammered.

  "Just tell me what to do," Theo said getting over the shivers that had passed through him. The space in the cabin of the truck seemed too tight, and there wasn't enough air though the window was rolled down. Theo struggled to focus on what Seth was telling him to do.

  "I like getting to teach you something, Mr. Research," Seth said as Theo practiced shifting.

  "Well then, enjoy," Theo said as he screwed up a little.

  "So you're not too mad at me for opening my big yap?" Seth prodded him.

  "Not too mad," Theo said. "Not walking to work or taking Ace to school on foot is going to be so much better."

  "It was good to see Ace making friends already. He won't be hating school so much now," Seth predicted.

  "Yeah, he was over that. Did you hate school?"

  "I did but I was never any good at it." Seth turned to stare at Theo. "I bet you were, but doesn't that mean you should be in college?"

  "Not if I want to make money for me and Ace to live on. Maybe I'll do something online when I can afford it," Theo told him.

  "Right. You'll figure it out, I'm sure," Seth said and faced forward again.

  They were silent for a while. Theo drove, making sure to find reason to use the stick shift. After they passed the cemetery, he turned onto a dirt road that marked its perimeter on one side. There was a wide spot by some trees where be could turn so they could head back. There he practiced backing up.

  During the break in their conversation, Theo had come to a decision. He needed to resolve one question about Seth, so he asked him, "What did you think of Wyatt Hayes?"

  Seth thought for a moment. "There's something about him," he said uncertainly.

  Theo figured he must be talking about him being gay. "Something that bothers you?" Theo prodded him.

  "No, just... He comes off like a man who has everything, I guess."

  That wasn't the answer Theo expected. "Everything? Really?"

  "I mean he's just happy with his life, his home, his kids," Seth said.

  "And his husband," Theo finished for him.

  That surprised Seth. "Husband?"

  "You didn't see the pictures of the two of them at their house?" Theo asked.

  "I admit I was distracted by those two little dogs." Seth didn't say anything more about Wyatt, and Theo wondered if he felt differently about his happy life now that he knew he was married to a man.

  Theo couldn't tell what Seth was thinking, but he wanted to make himself clear. "Just don't tell me you have a problem with gay people because I don't want to hear it."

  "I don't," Seth said.

  "Good. Because for your information, you've spent two nights under the same roof with a gay guy," Theo told him.

  While Seth gaped at him, Theo parked under some trees. If things were about to get unpleasant, he didn't want to be in a moving vehicle.

  Just then a downpour started and he rushed to close the window. The bare branches of the trees offered no shelter. Sheets of water came down, pounding on the windshield and the hood. Inside the truck, the silence stretched out.

  Theo half expected Seth to want to jump out of the truck, or to try to shove him out of it, but he just looked like he was thinking. Theo looked out at the heavy rain, not seeing much of anything else, and that's how he missed the movement next to him.

  Seth leaned into his space, giving Theo a dark look. Getting ready for anything, including an act of violence, Theo braced himself. He didn't know what to expect, but it wasn't to have his face cupped in both of Seth's big hands or to have their lips make contact then their tongues.

  Stunned, Theo didn't stop the kiss, didn't think, just let his lips move over Seth's, his tongue lick inside. He grabbed Seth's jacket, pulling him in and then realized he should be shoving him away.

  It took him too long to drag his mouth away from the unexpected kiss that left him panting. When he finally did push Seth back, Theo found that his hands were weak and shaky. He clenched them in his lap and glared at Seth.

  "What the fuck was that?" Theo breathed, pissed off at himself for letting Seth catch him off his guard. He wanted the question to come out strong and angry, not like he didn't know what a kiss was and he needed Seth to explain it to him.

  But he didn't need Seth to explain anything. Theo knew what this was. He'd been there before.

  Seth thought Theo was making himself available to straight boys for furtive blowjobs followed by threats to keep his mouth shut about it. He shouldn't have parked where he did. It was too secluded.

  "Did you think I stopped here so you can have a go at me? Use me?" Theo asked, seething, kicking himself for kissing Seth back.

  "I didn't think. I just..."

  "I guess I better take you to work now," Theo said.

  "Sorry about..."

  "Don't." After a few failures, Theo managed to put the car in the right gear and drove back toward town.

  He couldn't calm down after that kiss. Why the hell was it so crazy and hot? But that didn't matter. Theo wouldn't give in, wouldn't let anyone use him.

  His former best friend had tried the same thing. Theo came out to Damon in his last year of high school, and then everything between them changed.

  Damon didn't seem to have a problem with it, and Theo was so relieved, happy to keep hanging out with him. Then one day as they were chilling, kind of bored, Damon proposed a way to pass the time. "You can blow me. I mean it shouldn't be too different from when a girl does it. You guys like doing that kind of thing, right? I'm willing to let you. What do you say?"

  "Only if you go first," Theo had challenged him and Damon laughed.

  "Oh, hell, no, man." He then shrugged. "Whatever. I'm not dying for a blowie from a dude."

  Back then, Theo wasn't even a little bit tempted, not that time or the other times Damon generously offered his dick for sucking. But when he was telling other people what happened, Damon claimed it was Theo who begged to suck his dick and he had to fight him off.

  Now Seth had the same idea. Their approach might be different, but they were both after the same thing for the same reason, because they thought being gay was the same as being easy.

  Theo just wished he could go back to that moment when the rain started and not just sit there, not let Seth kiss him, and definitely not enjoy kissing him back.

  Chapter 6

  After what happened when they parked, Seth was surprised that Theo gave him a ride to work. Seth was sure Theo would have rather dumped him on the side of the road.

  But Theo did want to thank Mrs. Del Rio and she was at the cafe. While he was talking to her, Theo didn't show how it bugged him to have people in his business. Not that he got a chance. Mrs. Del Rio called Theo a sweet-faced angel and he got a taste of how she was. She remembered his grandfather coming into the café, her first customer no less, and how he used to go to the library to lug stacks of books home with him.

  Theo promised to pay her back for the water being turned on, but she wouldn't hear of it. "That was nothing and that old truck is no use to me. So you keep it as long as you need it."

  Theo being Theo, he insisted on paying her back, but he also told her, "That doesn't mean I don't appreciate what you've done for me and Ace. Thank you."

  After Theo left without a word to him, Mrs. Del Rio turned to Seth. "Just like his granddad, so serious, and I bet he's smart as a whip."

  "He is," Seth told her but his mind was on other things he found out about Theo.

  Seth didn't know what got into him, but hearing Theo say he was gay did something to him. His brain checked out, and the rest of him moved, touched, tasted.

  He got chewed out for it like he deserved, but Theo was wrong about what was going through
Seth's head when he kissed him. He wasn't trying to use him or get into his good graces with offers of sex. And he wasn't thinking anything else either. There hadn't been one thought in his head just the sound of rain and the feel of Theo's lips.

  The whole time he worked, he felt the kiss and wondered at himself. Theo being into guys was too much of a shock for him to keep his wits about him. It was like Seth got it into his head that Theo might want him.

  Well he set him straight about that. But until now Seth didn't know he would want to kiss a guy. He never did before, and he couldn't remember lusting after any guys.

  Girls didn't make him drool too much either, not even Sarah Belle when she pushed herself against him and gave him that teasing kiss. She smelled nice, her lips were soft, but Seth wasn't mad when she ran off laughing.

  He wasn't mad because she didn't have him going, but he wasn't quick to get mad in any case. His feelings were locked down so as to keep him out of trouble, or at least worse trouble than he already had.

  But in the truck with Theo, with the rain pouring down, it was like someone unlocked his chains, let the shackles fall. Who knows what might have happened if Theo didn't let him know how it was. He didn't think of Seth like that, only as someone who might use him.

  That's why when he was done with his shift, he sure as hell didn't expect Theo to show up to pick him up, but he was right out in front with Ace sitting next to him and waving.

  If he expected anything it was to have to make his own way to the house and then find his duffel bag dumped on the porch, letting him know to clear out and never show his face again.

  Going to the truck with a bag of leftovers, Seth could only see Theo in profile behind Ace's smiling face.

  "Seth, we have a truck. It's loud," Ace yelled over the rattle of the truck as Seth opened the door.

  "Are you getting in?" Theo asked seeing that Seth only hung onto the door.

  "I guess so." Seth was back in that truck and all he could think about was kissing Theo right there. Good thing Ace wouldn't stop talking about the dogs at the Hayes place.

  "He's got dog envy," Seth said to Theo while smiling at Ace.