Chapter Ten
Tony wears a red, blue, green, and yellow floral Hawaiian shirt that billows in the breeze from the ocean. His trim body is hidden beneath the voluminous fabric, but his fit legs extend from the tailored khaki shorts he wears. His dark eyes are gorgeous and deep, and his smile is a crack of white across his tan face.
Patrick hates that his father-in-law is damn hot, though he credits the man’s genes with Will’s pelt of chest hair that he loves so much.
Tony draws Will into a hug and pounds his back. “Son! It’s been too long!”
“Only four months, actually.” Will speaks it into the wind and Patrick’s not sure Tony hears.
“I’ve missed you!”
It’s been closer to five months since Tony last swept through Healing, boned Kimberly in all kinds of inappropriate places, set The Hurting Times on fire with gossip, then left as quickly as he’d arrived.
At least he hadn’t impregnated the woman. The only reason Patrick’s sure of that, given how reckless they both are with their sex lives and their family planning, is that Kimberly is petite enough that she’d be showing by now.
“I’ve missed you.” Tony clasps Will close again. “How’s your mother? Is she here?”
“She’s fine. No, she’s in Healing.”
Tony keeps an arm around Will’s shoulder but turns his head this way and that, searching, like they’re hiding Kimberly in the flowering bushes by the walkway. “But why isn’t she here? And the children too?”
Will’s mouth opens and closes spasmodically.
“Why should she be here?” Patrick snaps. “She has a life.”
That’s a pretty generous way to put what Kimberly has, but he’s not in the mood to have his honeymoon spoiled by Will’s family, and the Molinaro side least of all. Call him petty, but he still has his panties in a twist over the way Tony threatened to cut off his fingers if he hurt Will, and the “come to the Dark Side” conversations he’s been subjected to more than once since their marriage haven’t improved relations much.
Tony smiles warmly at Patrick. “Ah, my favorite son-in-law hasn’t lost his bite. I like him, Guglielmo. I really do.”
“I know. You tell me all the time.”
He leans closer and whispers in Will’s ear. “I’d like him more if he came to work for me.”
“You can’t always get what you want,” Patrick said, sticking out his lips like Mick Jagger.
Will smiles tightly, all the easy relaxation of earlier evaporated, his shoulders drawn up to his ears.
Tony’s eyes glint happily. “It’s shame really. We’d make a good team. A lucrative team and—”
“Dad, what are you doing here?” Will interrupts, ducking out from under Tony’s muscled arm.
“Me? Oh, well, I’m…” he glances behind him. “Darling? Where are you? Are you playing hide-and-seek?”
A woman pops out from the bushes, adjusting her flowing halter-top sundress, putting away her very large and obviously recently exposed breasts. She giggles, her long blond hair slipping over her bare, sunburned shoulders as she ties her dress up around her neck again. “Silly Tony! I’m here. I needed to get decent.”
Tony waves his hand. “These two wouldn’t have cared, darling. They’re queer as three-dollar bills.” Then he smiles at them like that’s a compliment. “And Dr. McCloud’s been through medical school. He’s seen it all.”
The woman laughs again like Tony is actually funny and steps forward with her dress fixed and floating in the breeze.
“Angelica Madison,” she says, smiling with glowing white teeth that make Patrick think of his father’s dentures. He shudders.
The woman can’t be more than twenty-six, just a few years younger than Will. Or maybe she’s had so much plastic surgery she just looks quite young in the darkness. Either way, Patrick braces himself for what’s coming next because he can feel it, like the chill on the breeze.
It’s coming, coming, coming…
Now.
“Oh wait!” She throws her head back and laughs. “I forgot. I’m Angelica Molinaro now.” She squeals and holds up her hand. A giant diamond glints on her ring finger in the moonlight.
Will swallows hard next to him, and Patrick reaches out to put a hand on his lower back. “Oh, um…I…” Will blinks rapidly. “Wow.”
“The operative word yet again,” Patrick mutters. He puts out his hand to take Angelica’s. “Nice rock. Good luck on the rest of it.”
Tony leans over and whispers, “Now that divorce is a Molinaro birth right once more, I can have a little more fun with my romances. You know what I’m saying?” He nudges Patrick suggestively. “Nothing quite like a spontaneous wedding to get the heart pumping. I know you understand.”
Will lifts a hand and tries to speak, but no words come out.
“We’re big fans of impromptu weddings,” Patrick agrees. “Makes for fantastic wedding nights.”
“You’re telling me.” Tony slides his arm around the giggling Angelica’s waist. “Almost as good as some of the best nights I’ve had with Will’s mother.”
“I can’t,” Will says and turns on his heel, walking away.
Angelica laughs like her new husband isn’t standing on the sidewalk of a resort in Hawaii discussing their marriage like it’s a game.
“He’s always been uptight,” Tony says fondly as he watches Will retreat.
Patrick jerks his thumb over his shoulder. “Yes, well, as Will goes, so goes my nation.” He’s proud of himself for slipping in a Buffy reference his criminally ridiculous father-in-law will never get.
“Oh!” Angelica cries, pointing at him. “That makes you Oz, right?”
Patrick narrows his eyes at her, says nothing, and turns away, following Will toward the path back to their suite.
“Oh, and don’t tell your mother about this!” Tony calls out to their retreating backs. “She never likes it when I get married!”
Will shakes his head and speeds up so that Patrick has to jog to catch him.
“How did I come from them?” Will asks the sweet night air. “More importantly, why?”
Patrick slings his arm around Will’s shoulder. “I guess sex is off the table now.”
Will closes his eyes and lets Patrick guide him a few steps before sighing and putting his arm around Patrick’s lower back. “I don’t know. We’ll see how I feel.”
Will pants in the afterglow. His asshole is loose and still open with the new toy Patrick had pressed in before he’d set about fucking him like the world was ending. His now-flaccid cock tingles from coming hard again, and his muscles are limp and exhausted.
The swirl of sleep offers to drag him down and out for the night, but Patrick’s sticking and testing, and Will flutters his eyes open when Patrick makes a frustrated sound at the result.
“Juice or a frosting tube?” Patrick asks.
“Juice,” he mutters and hauls himself up enough to take the cold bottle from Patrick’s hand. He sips the tangy orange juice and tries to keep his mind from thinking, tries very hard to just stay with Patrick in the quiet luxury of their hotel suite. But of course it’s no use. He groans as the memory of running into his father and his new bride worms its way through the after-bliss.
“We can leave this resort early. Head over to Kauai now,” Patrick says, reading the direction of Will’s mind. Then he nudges Will’s legs apart and eases the toy out, leaving Will’s asshole to flex on air as he tightens up again.
“No. I wanted to swim with the dolphins, and spend the day you booked in the seaside meditation bed. And you wanted to see the art.”
Patrick goes into the bathroom to wash the toy and his hands. Will continues to contemplate the offer to leave early. But he says nothing, sipping his juice quietly until Patrick returns, drying his hands on a towel. “No,” Will says again, determinedly. “We didn’t even get to explore the lagoon yet. Let’s stay.”
After Will finishes his juice, Patrick takes his hand again, sticks and tests, grunts in satisfaction, and then hooks up Will up to his BG monitor. Tossing a pair of boxers at Will, he watches as Will pulls them on, attaches the monitor, and they settle into the giant white-sheeted bed together.
“Do you think he planned this? Just to mess with me?”
“No one but Jenny and I knew we were coming here,” Patrick says.
“Jenny wouldn’t tell.”
“No.” Patrick settles down against Will, pillowed against him in his usual way. His sigh glides through Will’s chest hair, a ghost of comfort.
“So this is a horrible coincidence.”
“Looks like.”
Will squeezes his eyes closed. “Did you see her? She’s my age.”
“He’s a dirty dog. But we already knew that.”
“But…but…” Will throws his hands up, jostling Patrick. “Why would he marry her?”
“For giggles, apparently.” Patrick shrugs, yawns, and settles more firmly against Will’s chest. “Why does your father do anything?”
“Money and power.”
“And pleasure.”
Will stares at the ceiling fan. “What does she see in him?”
Patrick snorts. “He’s hot. Like, smoking hot.”
Will wrinkles his nose and sneers. “Ew.”
“I’m sorry you can’t handle the truth.” Patrick sits up and looks Will in the eye. “Your dad’s sex on legs. Your uncle isn’t half-bad either. You’ve got good genes, I can’t lie.” He turns off the lights on the nightstands. The room descends into darkness except for the moon glinting on the ocean visible through the sliding glass door to the balcony.
When Patrick eases back into his spot against his side, Will moans, “Is our honeymoon ruined now?”
“Like I said, we can head to Kauai early. Or go to Maui. We’ve got money to burn so let’s burn it on reckless vacationing. Just say the word.”
“No,” Will whispers, his voice shaking as a fire lights in his chest. “I’m not going to let him ruin this for me. Not like he’s ruined so many other things in my life. This trip is ours and we’re not going to let it go. Okay?” He takes hold of Patrick’s hand and squeezes. “Promise me.”
“Why should we do that? Let’s get the hell out of Dodge and save ourselves the grief.”
“Because you planned this honeymoon for six months and I won’t be denied what you planned for me.” Will’s chin trembles, but he’s determined. “Promise me.”
Patrick groans but runs his fingers soothingly through Will’s chest hair. “Fine. I promise you can stay here and let your dad run roughshod over our plans.”
Will groans and covers his eyes with his elbow. Patrick’s right, but he’s so sick of letting his family screw up his life. “I could call Nonna. Maybe she’d convince him to leave us in peace? She is his mother, after all.”
Patrick laughs. “Ha! Like she’s so good at convincing him to stop screwing your mother in the middle of the damn street every few months?”
“It was in the alley behind the tack shop,” Will corrects.
“My bad.”
Will squeezes Patrick closer. “You’re right. It’s no use. He does what he wants.” Will’s monitor beeps and he rolls his eyes. “I was so relaxed earlier. Now I’m stressed and this,” he waves at his insulin pump in the dark, “knows it.”
“Maui is nice.” Patrick sits up and turns on the lights again. He inspects the numbers on Will’s pump and frowns. “Jenny was pushing hard for me to book a few days in there.”
“I told you. He’s not going to win. What’s my BG?”
“Well, he might not win, but we’re sure to lose.” Patrick flicks the lights out again. “It’s fine. You’re fine. Just a little high, but the pump should compensate.”
“Okay.” Will knows Patrick hates how stubborn he can be, but this time it’s for a good cause. “But we’re not going to Maui. Our honeymoon, the one you planned for us, will prevail.”
“Fine. Love wins,” Patrick agrees, snuggling in for the night.
Will nods and kisses the top of his head. “Always.”