Seb’s Summer by K.C. Wells
Chapter Nineteen
July 15
Marcus shoved his laptop into its bag, then added the power cord and his notebook. There was nothing else he’d need. Then he remembered his phone charger, and added that too.
“Going somewhere?”
Marcus almost jumped out of his skin at Jess’s voice. “Christ, a knock on the door first would have saved me from my imminent heart attack.” He glanced at her. “What are you doing up at this hour?”
“Thought I’d go out for the day and see some more of Maine before I leave Sunday.” Her eyes glinted. “Going to Seb’s again? Why? Surely he’s out doing his thing in the middle of the ocean by now.”
Marcus chuckled. “He’s probably been out there four hours already.”
“So I repeat—why?”
“I’m going there to work.” He patted his laptop bag. “See? Work.”
“You could work here.”
He snorted. “Sure—until everyone else wakes up, the kids start running around, Jake or Mike plays music… There, I’ll have peace for a few hours, then I’ll make Seb’s lunch so it’s ready when he gets home.”
Jess bit her lip. “Lunch? My, how… domesticated.” He narrowed his gaze, but apparently that had no effect whatsoever. “How long have you been doing this?”
Marcus shrugged. “A couple of times.” Okay, so this would be the third time this week. The look on Seb’s face when he walked through the door and found Marcus there, slicing sandwiches or heating soup, made it worth the effort. And how much effort did it take to heat up some soup, or stop by the store to pick up something to make Seb smile?
Jess folded her arms and leaned against the door frame. “We haven’t seen much of Seb since the Fourth weekend.” Her lips twitched. “I’ll bet all he sees is the boat and his bedroom walls.”
Marcus couldn’t resist. “We do it on the couch too.”
Her eyebrows went sky high. “TMI, brother dearest.”
He gave a hearty laugh. “Is there such a thing where you’re concerned?”
“Hey!” Then Jess’s expression grew serious. “You’ve talked to Jake, haven’t you?” Marcus nodded, and she sighed. “He seems… I don’t know… different. He’s got interviews coming up, and whatever is on his mind, I don’t want it to distract him.”
“He’s got my number. He knows he’s free to call me anytime.”
Jess’s face glowed. “Thank you.”
“And as for not seeing a lot of Seb, he’ll be having dinner here Saturday.”
Her eyes gleamed. “Great.”
Marcus glared at her. “Jess…”
Those sparkling eyes widened. “What?”
“Don’t make him feel awkward.”
Jess snickered. “I may not have spent as much time around him as you have, but even I know there’s not much that would make Seb feel awkward.”
She had a point.
“Now go write more words, and feed your man.” When he blinked, Jess smiled. “Hey, right now, he’s the only man you’ve got, so I can say that with impunity.”
Marcus walked out of the summerhouse, and Jess accompanied him as far as the side gate. When he paused there, she surprised him with a hug.
“What was that for?”
She stroked his cheek. “Just me loving on my big brother, who looks a damn sight happier than he did a few weeks ago.” Jess grinned. “I think we both know why that is, without going into detail. And for the record, I’m green with envy.” She kissed his cheek, opened the gate, and gave him a rough push through it, closing it after him.
Marcus was still smiling by the time he pulled up outside Seb’s.
July 17
The boat chugged toward the wharf, and Seb was glad to see it. It had been a dismal morning, and the catch had been disappointing. It’s either famine or feast out here. There had been similar days, but there had also been days which had put a smile on their faces.
“Who’s that?” Tim demanded. “Anyone you know?”
“Huh?” Seb peeled off his oil pants.
“There’s a fella on the wharf, starin’ at us.”
Seb looked up, and grinned to see a familiar figure. “Oh. That’s Marcus.”
“He the one you took fishin’?”
He nodded. “He’s also made lunch for me every day so far this week.” And he’s here, waiting for me. Warmth trickled through him.
Tim’s shaggy eyebrows shot up. “Has he now?”
Seb gave Tim an inquiring glance. “Something wrong with that?”
“Nothin’ at all. Can he cook, or is he a ‘open a can an’ heat it up’ kinda guy?”
Seb laughed. “He makes a great grilled cheese sandwich.”
Tim grinned. “Ooh. A keeper then.” He guided the boat closer to the wharf, then gave Marcus a nod. Tim patted Seb on the shoulder. “You go. I’ll deal with the catch.”
“You sure?”
Tim nodded. “Yuh. Ol’ Donald will give me a hand. He works at Langsford’s.” His eyes were bright. “See you tomorrow, and don’t be late. Your weekend doesn’t start till noon Saturday, remember.”
Seb climbed out of the boat, and Marcus drew nearer. Seb grinned. “You didn’t need to meet me.”
Marcus gave a shrug. “I wanted to. Lunch is done.” They strolled back along Langsford Road, to the sound of creaking ropes, the shrieks of gulls, and the sound of water slapping against hulls.
“Oh? What are we eating?”
“Well… I tried something new. Mom bought a load of clams yesterday, so I asked her to show me how she made clam chowder.” He snorted. “She didn’t show me—she stood there giving instructions while I did the whole thing.”
Seb came to a dead stop. “You made it? From scratch?”
“Hey, it wasn’t that difficult. And I learned some things. I now know how to make a roux.”
Seb laughed as they resumed walking. “I wouldn’t know what a roux was if it bit me in the ass. I’m impressed.”
“Like I said, it wasn’t that difficult.”
Seb gave him a warm smile. “It’s not the difficulty that impresses me—it’s more the fact that you took time out to do it. The grilled cheese sandwich had already set the bar pretty high.”
“You’d better like the chowder. That’s what we’re eating tomorrow night.” Marcus chuckled. “Let’s just say, I made a lot.”
“Ah, I get it. Send the family home with food poisoning. Nice.” Marcus whacked him on the arm. “Hey!” Then they both laughed.
Seb was still blown away by Marcus’s decision to meet him at the wharf. Never had anyone wait for me anywhere. It was sweet. Then again, who’d ever made him lunch before? Maybe Tim was right—Marcus was a keeper.
Except I can’t keep him, can I? When summer came to an end, so too would whatever it was they had going on. It wasn’t dating, but it was more than just sex. Seb had gone from dying to get the hell out of Cape Porpoise, to wishing time would slow the fuck down.
And this is after knowing him for almost five weeks, and fucking him for less than two. By the time Seb had to pack up and go, he’d be a mess.
Seb scraped his bowl for the last little smidge of chowder, and dropped the spoon into it with a clatter. He set the bowl on the coffee table and let out a happy sigh. “Man, that was good. Wow. You can cook.” He batted his lashes. “Marry me?”
Marcus guffawed. “You’re easy to please. It’s Mom’s recipe. All I did was follow instructions.”
Seb let out a derisive snort. “My mom couldn’t follow a recipe to save her life. Which was why we lived on Hungry Man frozen dinners. So don’t be so modest.”
“Do you cook a lot?”
He bit back a smile. “There’s a whole lotta Ramen in my cabinet, but yeah, I can do basic shit. I make a mean omelet, and I can grill anything you put in front of me. Generally, once school is out in June, I fire up the grill and that’s me happy for the summer.”
“Plus, you make great salads and baked mackerel,” Marcus added. “And that bass was awesome.” Seb buffed his fingernails on his tee, and Marcus laughed. “Tomorrow night is Mom’s meatloaf by popular request, after the chowder. If we’re lucky, she won’t ask Jess to mash the potatoes.”
Seb blinked. “Something I should know?”
Marcus’s eyes twinkled. “She’s really good at leaving lumps the size of golf balls.” They laughed. Marcus glanced at his phone and Seb’s chest tightened.
“Can you stay a while?” The instant the words popped out, he regretted them. Way to go to sound real needy, dickhead.
Marcus’s smile eased the constriction. “I wasn’t planning on going just yet. Why, do you have something in mind?” There was that familiar twinkle again.
“How would you feel about going for a walk?”
“Before the family turned up, I did a lot of walking around Cape Porpoise. Since then, not so much. At the end of Land’s End Road, there’s Porpoise Cove. We could walk along the shore and see how far we can get.”
Seb liked the sound of that. What he liked even more was that Marcus hadn’t balked at the idea of not staying in and screwing each other’s brains out.
Yeah. This was way more than just sex.
“I’ve missed this,” Marcus commented as they stood on the rocky bluff, a warm breeze in his face, and the sunlight sparkling on the water before them.
“I get to see it every day, but from a different angle.” He pointed to a boulder nearby. “Wanna sit a while and contemplate the view?”
Marcus had no problem with that.
He leaned against the warm rock, staring out at the boats dotted here and there, some with white sails, others that looked sleek, fast and expensive. He pointed to the biggest one out there. “There you go. The lifestyle of the rich and shameless.”
Seb cackled. “Looks great. I’ll take two.” He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. “That air… On days like these, school seems so far away,” he murmured. “I remember when I was a kid, the summer vacation seemed to last forever. Now? It feels as if it’s over before I have time to really enjoy it.”
“I know you said kids these days are getting more entitled, but surely there are good moments too, that reaffirm why you got into this career in the first place.”
Seb smiled. “There are some awesome moments.” Then his face fell. “Unfortunately, there’s a lot of crap too. Sometimes I get the feeling they want us to entertain the students, not teach ’em, but we’re competing for their attention that’s already claimed by a whole lot of distractions. Too many distractions.”
“Such as?”
“Sex, for one thing.” Seb sighed. “Whatever happened to childhood? They know way more about sex than we ever did at their age. But is that such a surprise? They can get their hands on porn so easily these days. I mean, once or twice a year, I find boys jerking off in my classroom.”
Marcus stared at him. “Are you telling me you never did that?”
“Okay, I might have done it once, on a dare.” Marcus chuckled. “But earlier this year, I overheard a conversation between two fifteen-year-old girls, who were sitting at the back of my classroom. They didn’t bother lowering their voices: they didn’t care who heard them.”
“What were they talking about?”
“One was telling the other about how she’d been spit-roasted the night before.” Seb stared out at the ocean. “Kinda makes me want to rethink my whole attitude.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not out at school, but you know what? Maybe I should be. Maybe it’s not such a big deal. Because part of me says these kids wouldn’t even care. They’ve grown up in a different world to the one I did. Hell, when I was their age—and we’re only talking as far back as 2009—same-sex marriage was still a rarity. Look at the world now. Rainbows and unicorns wherever you look.”
Marcus laughed. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Yeah, okay, maybe I exaggerate. But it’s not just the sex that’s occupying their little minds day and night. There are other distractions out there. Vaping, for one thing. We catch three or four kids every week, vaping in the bathrooms. And then of course, there’s the issue of drugs.” He shook his head. “Only a few weeks ago, some of my students were caught using pot at a party. And we all know what a slippery slope that can be. What starts out as experimentation…”
Marcus was quiet for a moment. “Didn’t you ever experiment?”
“With drugs? Hell no.”
“Well, that was pretty emphatic.”
Seb let loose another sigh. “There’s a reason none of us experimented. When one of your best friends was left on his grandmother’s doorstep by his druggie mom, it’s not something you wanna touch. Drugs wreck lives.”
Marcus’s heart raced, and the hair lifted on his nape. His throat seized, and he couldn’t have forced a word out even if he’d wanted to. Seb didn’t seem to notice his lapse into silence. Neither of them spoke for several minutes, and then Seb got to his feet.
“Want to continue walking, or shall we go back to my place?” Seb’s eyes sparkled.
Marcus hated himself for thinking it, but right then, fucking was way safer than talking. He didn’t trust himself to speak, for fear he’d blurt out something he knew he would regret.
He cleared his throat. “Or. Let’s go with or.”
Seb’s sexy smile reached his eyes. “And afterward, let me cook for you? I promise it won’t be Ramen.”
Marcus’s breathing became a little easier. “Sure. Whatever you want to cook.”
Seb cocked his head to one side. “Are you okay?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Not sure, just a feeling.” Seb glanced around, then took a step closer. “Kiss me?”
The request caught Marcus off guard. “Now?” This was shakier ground.
Seb nodded. “Don’t ask me why. I just got this urge to kiss you.”
Marcus swallowed. “Then who am I to tell you to fight that urge?” He held his arms wide in invitation, and Seb stepped into them, looping his around Marcus’s neck, pulling him in, until their bodies were connected from chest to crotch. Seb tilted his head, and Marcus took his lips in a gentle, unhurried kiss.
Seb broke away first. “Let’s go home,” he said softly.
Marcus nodded and followed him back along the path they’d taken.
It’s not home, for either of us. But the prospect of stripping Seb naked and the two of them spending an hour or two lost in each other was so much better than the alternative.
‘Drugs wreck lives.’ Spoken with all the certainty and assurance that comes with youth. Marcus was not about to contradict him.
On that road lay disaster.
