Dateless (Squad Goals Book 3), page 8
Before I get the chance to answer him, my door bangs open and Seth is in my room, out of breath. “Corey, we have a problem. There are some guys here wanting to kidnap Luke.”
Two men I have never seen before also run into my room. The short twinkish one is brandishing a giant dildo at Seth.
“We’re not here to kidnap him. We are here to save him from you incorrigible rakes.”
“He’s been binging Bridgeton,” the other guy says with an eye roll. This guy is the opposite of a twink…okay, that would be a bear, and that’s not true. He’s taller than him, though, and stocky like he plays football.
“Yeah, I don’t care about his television habits. I care that the two of you burst into my bedroom and threatened my boyfriend,” I say in my cold voice and give him my deadliest stare. “Take your twink and his dildo, and kindly fuck off from my house.”
So this is usually the point where people start tumbling over their words or flat out turn around a run away. This guy just smirks.
And so does his twink.
It unnerves me because it is the exact same smirk Luke does when he’s about to suck my dick.
Which means…
“Oooh, I think he’s finally realized who we are.”
They are Benny and Tyler.
“I think you might be right.”
Luke’s brothers.
Chapter 17
Luke
I peek around Corey and watch his face fall.
“Well, I haven’t realized jack shit,” Seth whines impatiently. “Who are these jerks?”
“My brothers,” I squeak.
Benny looks at me, unimpressed. “So now he speaks.”
That seems to bring Corey out of his stupor. “Don’t talk to him like that.”
“What are you going to do about it?” Tyler says with a shit eating grin.
Well, this is going to shit.
“How about we all take a breath,” I say in my calmest voice, fully stepping out from behind Corey.
“No,” Benny says, turning his dildo towards Corey. “How about Tyler beats this guy up, and then we take you home. Honestly, I thought Perry would have done a better job keeping you from joining a sex cult.”
“No one is beating anyone up,” I say, throwing my hands in the air. “And I haven’t joined a sex cult. Corey is the only person I’m having sex with.”
Benny looks hurt. “I can’t believe you lost your virginity and didn’t tell us.”
Corey looks down at me. Whatever he sees on my face has him scowling.
“Seth, could I borrow your desk chair?” Corey says.
Seth looks confused but heads across the landing to get it. We wait in silence for a minute until Seth is back with the chair.
“Thanks, man. I’ll shout if we need you.” Corey pulls me down to sit next to him on the bed. He gestures to my brothers to sit on the two desk chairs.
“It’s kind of sus that you won’t leave so we can talk to our brother alone,” Tyler says, taking a seat.
“If he asks me to go, I will. Not while you guys try to make him feel like shit, though.” Corey very pointedly looks at Benny who doesn’t even bother to look guilty. “As you’ve traveled all this way, how about you let Luke talk.”
He takes my hand and smiles at me encouragingly.
Fuck, I love this man.
“I don’t know where to start,” I admit.
Tyler looks at me sadly.“Lukey, we haven’t video chatted with you for weeks, and then at Christmas, you sent a text that just said, ‘happy holidays, hope you are well.’ What the fuck, man?”
All the anger and resentment, loneliness, and jealousy start to pour out of me like I’m some weird rage demon.
“Why haven’t we video-chatted Tyler? Because you two kept fucking canceling on me. I understand that you have hockey and Zeke. And Benny has stripping and Chase, but I’m busy too. I have cheerleading and college classes, and I still made time to see you. You guys have each other. You can probably hang out daily, but what about me? I miss you guys so much, and it felt so shitty that my only family kept canceling on me for shit that I would have canceled if it was the other way around. Yeah, the Christmas text was a dick move, but I was angry, so I channeled my inner Perry. I wanted you guys to feel as unloved as I did.”
Corey slowly strokes the back of my hand. His way of comforting me without saying anything.
Both of my brothers look devastated.
“We didn’t mean to-”
“I know, but intent doesn’t always mean much,” I say softly.
Benny looks dejected, and Tyler looks determined.
“We will make it up to you. Could we be more flexible about the dates? Keep it to two a week, but if Benny or I can’t make it, the other one still will.” Tyler suggests, looking at me and Benny. “And you’re still going to come and stay with us this summer, right?”
This time, he looks at Corey with uncertainty.
“Luke and I haven’t really talked about the summer, but I will be going home to Oregan. I looked at the map, and it’s only five hours from Lakehaven so we can easily visit each other if Luke wants that.” Corey says with a smile.
“I very much want that,” I tell him. I look at Tyler who is looking hopeful. “I think it’s a great idea. Benny?”
“Yeah, I’m down. I don’t want you to ever believe we aren’t always thinking of you. We love you Lukey.” He says, eyes shining with unshed tears.
I rush across the room and pull him up into a hug, Tyler quickly joining us. It only takes a few seconds for us all to be sniffling, trying to hold back the tears.
I have missed this so fucking much. Tyler is in his last year of school and then he and Chase are hoping to join the AHL. The likelihood of them being kept together is surprisingly good. My hopes are to get a position at a school that is close to them. I want to live near my brothers. Have games nights and move nights. When I eventually have children, I want them to have their uncles close by. I love my brothers so much.
Eventually, we all pull away.
“Are you going to introduce us to your boyfriend?” Benny says, eyeing Corey.
“Be nice, and don’t hit him with your dildo,” I tell him as I go over to Corey and press a kiss to his smiling lips. “Why do you have a dildo anyway?”
“Oh, it’s not mine. We stopped by the cheer house and Bradley gave it to me to use as a weapon when he told us you were kidnapped by a sex cult. On reflection, he might have been a tad stoned.” Benny just shrugs.
“That dude would really get on well with Celeste. I think Milo would lose his marbles, though,” Tyler laughs. “Why did he say sex cult, though?”
“I have no clue. Corey and I met when I teepeed his front yard, and he threatened to get me kicked out of school unless I did whatever he said.”
Corey looks at the ceiling, running his hand down his face. “You are a little shit.”
“Yeah, but I’m your little shit.” I smile sweetly at him.
“Yes, you are.” He kisses my temple. “I promise I didn’t coerce your brother into sex or a relationship.”
“Could we roleplay that, though? It sounds hot.”
Corey rolls his eyes. “Like I’ll say no to you.”
“I definitely have the best boyfriend,” I say, smiling at my brothers. “The sex is insane. He does this thing with his mouth-”
“Okay, how about you discuss our sex life during your next video chat? Preferably when I’m not there.” He gives me his sexy, dead stare until I reluctantly agree. It’s a shame because I enjoy flustering him. “Great. I’m going to get us all a drink. I won't be long.”
I watch him leave, appreciating that he is giving me some alone time with my brothers.
“He is hot.”
“Seriously. Is that man made of lava?”
I ignore my brother's words and blurt out the first thing on my mind.
“I’m in love with him.”
Tyler snorts. “Duh, anyone who has spent more than thirty seconds with the two of you can see you’re disgustingly loved up.”
“I haven’t told him yet.”
Benny looks at me shrewdly. “Do it. Not in front of us, obviously, but tell him. He’s definitely on the same page.”
I love this. Being with my brothers and talking about Corey. Seeing them is everything I needed to go from happy to euphoric. I can’t wait to see them this summer. Zeke and Chase, too. We are going to make a triple date happen.
I pull my brothers in for another hug. This moment means everything.
Chapter 18
Corey
“Bro, seriously? You can’t pick that movie. Lexi and Kait won’t go for it.” Ryder moans at me.
“It came out in 1989. That’s practically the nineties.”I argue. “Plus, it has the mom from Buffy in it.”
“That is not the ace card you think it is, my friend.” Lexie and Luke choose that moment to enter the room. “Lex, tell Corey he can’t watch a film that was released in 1989.”
Lexi looks at me uneasily. “Um, no, that’s fine. We can watch an eighties film.”
“Are you shitting me?” Ryder says, looking aghast at his boyfriend. “Are you really okay with it, or are you saying that because you think he’ll get you expelled if you don’t agree with him?”
“Ryder,” Lexi hisses. “the first one?”
Luke snorts and flops onto the couch next to me. “What movie did you pick?”
“Honey, I Shrunk The Kids.”
Lexi’s eyes light up. “That has Kristine Sutherland in it. Okay, yeah, we can definitely watch it.”
I don’t even have to say anything, and Ryder is flipping me the bird.
“Lexi, you know I wouldn’t try and get you expelled right?” I say as gently as possible.
“Yeah, of course.”
I’m just going to pretend I believe him.
Ryder turns off the lights and puts on the movie.
This is nice.
I have my frat bros, and they are all great, but it’s nice spending time with people who definitely aren’t doing it because they feel obligated to.
Since Luke's brothers impromptu visit, we’ve been making more of an effort to actually spend time with people and not just hide away fucking our brains out. Though I have to admit, we still do a lot of that. How could we not? Luke is the sexiest man in the universe. It would be criminal if I didn’t fill one of his holes with cum at least once a day.
Like he can sense my thoughts, Luke crawls onto my lap, and I cuddle him into me.
I love him so fucking much. I know I should tell him, but I want the moment to be right.
Halfway through the movie, Luke’s message tone goes off on his phone. I can’t get over how weird it is that his phone isn’t always on silent.
“Shit,” he mutters, staring at the screen. Ryder pauses the film, and we all stare at him. “It’s Perry.”
He flips his phone around so we can all see the screen.
Cheer Queers
Perrylicious: I’m about to be arrested. My mom is useless. Can someone find me a lawyer?
“Fuck, okay. This is going to be fine. Luke ask him where he is. I’ll call Seth. His dad is one of the best criminal defense attorneys in California.”
Lexi is furiously texting, Ryder reading over his shoulder.
“Lexi is letting the group know that you’re sorting it. Gio says if you have no luck, he thinks Charlie’s dad might be a lawyer as well.”
I pull my phone out and start looking for Seth’s number. Before I find it, Luke drags me in for a quick and hard kiss.
“I fucking love you, Corey Howe.” My heart fucking bursts with happiness.
“I fucking love you too, Luke Green.” I kiss him back. “If we didn’t need to help Perry out this very moment, I would have you bent in half, showing you just how much I love you.”
“I’m in this forever. You can show me you love me every day, and I promise I will do the same.”
Luke gives me one more tender kiss before we start focusing on helping Perry.
Because Luke is right.
We have forever.
Epilogue
Luke
10 Years Later
“You’re doing that thing again, aren’t you? Baby, you can’t pretend to be asleep just to get out of doing parent-teacher conferences. You’re the teacher.” The love of my life says.
“Don’t wanna,” I say from my hiding spot underneath the bed sheets. I let out a little sigh when I hear his footsteps leave the room.
Being a kindergarten teacher is my calling. I love everything about it except most of the parents. I swear they either think their little darlings are child prodigies, or they don’t think of their kids at all.
Corey’s footsteps come back, and I hear a very quiet little giggle. I can’t help smiling at what I know is going to happen next.
“Get daddy,” Corey shouts like a battle cry. Moments later, the cover is pulled back, and I’m being tickled by a giggly two-year-old.
“Oh no, help me. Jace has defeated me and my evil plans to avoid work commitments.” I grab our son and start blowing raspberries on his belly, making him laugh even more.
“Daddy, help. Get daddy, now.”
“I’ll save you, Jacey,” Corey yells, jumping on the bed and starts in on tickling me as well.
My heart is so fucking full.
The last ten years have been a dream.
After college, Corey and I moved to Oregon to a town that is a couple of hours away from his parents and a couple of hours away from Tyler and Benny who ended up staying in Lakehaven. It was really handy because a friend of Tyler and Benny’s lives in this town. He’s part of a queer biker club, and one of the members helped us find our home. They also run the LGBTQ youth center that Corey works at and have become really great friends.
Not that we don't see a lot of our college friends. Jace would be bereft if he didn’t see his guncles. I will never tell Benny this, but Perry is Jace’s favorite.
“Stella offered to babysit tonight. Once you get done with parent teacher night, we could have a stay at home date,” Corey whispers in my ear.
I jump out of bed. “Let’s do this.”
He once promised me that we would have sex every single day, and he probably made good on it until we became parents. Bradley has this theory that children of couples in opposite-sex relationships subconsciously cock block their parents so they don’t get any more siblings. As a same-sex parent, I can confirm that to be false.
My husband is a man of many talents, but being sneaky is not one of them. I believe he wants to get loud and freaky in the sheets, but I also know that there is a tab open on his computer that is an application to adopt a child.
I am totally on board. I have so much love for Corey and Jace, and I know we can give another child a loving, caring home.
I doubt we will want to stop at two.
Being a dateless virgin at twenty years old felt horrible at the time. Even though I have hindsight now, and it was nowhere close to being the worst thing in the world, I’m not going to minimize past me’s feelings. I am glad that snapping and teepeeing the wrong house led me here.
Living my forever.
The End
Interested in what might be going on with Perry? His story Breathless, is available for pre-order.
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Also by Willow Thomas
Caught Off Guard
Bolt From The Blue
Knocked For Six
Double Take
Blown Away
Caught Off Guard Box Set
Squad Goals
Clueless
Restless
Dateless
Breathless - Coming October 2024
The Fallen Gargoyles MC
Nicky
Echo – Coming July 2024
Rex - Coming January 2025
Pride F.C.
Co-written with Isla Olsen
Legend
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my squad.
Matty, Lark, Cora, Mads, Charlie, Nicole, T, and my wonderful readers.
I am eternally grateful.
About the Author
Willow Thomas is a MM romance author who loves to write sweet and spicy stories that will leave you smiling. She is a queer, neurodivergent, feminist, with tea running through her veins. Willow does the best procrastinating; usually in the form of googling weird facts and adopting random animals.
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Willow Thomas, Dateless (Squad Goals Book 3)
