The Butler - 28. Chapter XXVIII

July 1^st, 2011, Greenwich, CT.

Two days later the long weekend arrived and I wished it would have been, oh...another ten years before it did. I was being very selfish, wanting more alone time with Greg. In the last few days, we hadn’t really been able to separate from each other long enough to let coffee go cold, much less eat a decent meal. Well, we did eat, in the kitchen, naked at the counter; the butter got used in multiple ways and was rapidly becoming a favorite of mine. Alright, most of our time was spent boinking the paint off the walls, to be honest.

The ultimate delight, yesterday? An extremely good romp on the first floor, where I held on to the railing, tied onto that with our own ties, looking down into the hall. He’d ripped my pants with pure force, rimmed me into horny stupor and took me very roughly, straight through the ripped fabric, not even bothering to undo my belt or take my pants down. A $2500 dollar suit, ruined. With pleasure.

Even now, as we waited at the door for the family to come in, having just driven up to the house and emptying the trunks of their cars, I could tell he wanted me as much as I him, his thoughts revealing it when he glanced up to the landing.

“Stop it,” I whispered, softly snickering, “sir.”

“I can’t, boy. I really can’t,” he mumbled back, his mouth curling up. “I want to do that again. I’ve never taken acoustics into account before, while fuc….Will! How are you!”

Stepping forward and hugging his brother who, to be fair, seemed a little taken aback by the jovial welcome, the effect repeated again when Seth came up the steps and then upped a notch when he lifted little Jeremy straight off the ground, Greg welcomed all of them with equal enthusiasm.

“So care to tell me what’s going on?” William whispered, sidling up beside me, watching the scene with interest. “You spike his food? I didn’t know arsenic had side-effects like a complete personality change.”

I glanced sideways at him. I knew Greg wanted them to know as soon as possible; we’d talked about it. Well, a little. Not that I had a problem with it; absolutely not. I wanted them to know as well, so we could just be ourselves around them and have a great weekend. Have it all out in the open. But...not yet.

“I guess he’s just happy to see you guys,” I answered, neutrally. “It’s been a while, since you’ve all been here together. Not since January.”

Clearly not convinced, Will looked at me searchingly but before he could start asking any more questions, my attention was drawn to Charlotte, standing shyly to the side while the grown-ups were greeting each other. Going over, I picked her up and only then did I notice a little black fluff of a thing, shyly hiding behind her cute little dress.

“Hey sweetie, who’s this?” I asked, quickly setting her down again and lowering to a crouch, reaching for the adorable Labrador pup.

“Mithtah Ziggy,” she answered, sweetly, showing her front two teeth missing.

“Mr. Ziggy? Hello Ziggy,” I grinned, letting the pup smell my fingers; it began to wag its tail. “Wanna go and see if Uncle Chris has a nice treat for him, Charlotte? I think there might be something in the kitchen he’ll really like.” I got a cute yeth for an answer.

“As long as he stays away from the butter,” Greg’s voice muttered, only loud enough for me to hear as he came to a crouch beside me and held out his hand to the pup. “Hello there...”

“There’s enough to share,” I snickered.

“No, there isn’t; I have plans for all of it.” The little deserter actually came over right away when he called out its name. “Hah, see? He knows a Dom when he sees one. Good boy.”

Hey! There was only one good boy here. And it wasn’t that pup!

***********

An hour into the visit, I got the distinct feeling something was...not entirely as expected. I could tell Greg picked up on it too, at times frowning a little.

They had to at least note we weren’t trying to avoid each other, for one. But they didn’t seem to think it strange we even chatted with them in close proximity of each other. That Greg laughed at something I said, very easily and relaxed, was another. Or that I responded to a request of his without any talkback, whatsoever.

“Somethin’s up,” I whispered to Greg when he came over to refill some drinks. “I get the feeling they already know.” Looking slightly over his shoulder at his family, he nodded.

“Mhm. Let’s test and see; there’s a very quick way to solve this conundrum,” he whispered back.

A hand of his slid to my waist and he pulled me closer; when I reacted by looking at him, he winked and leaned in, giving me a really nice, warm kiss. It didn’t last that long but it was long enough; it grew very, very quiet behind us.

“Think they saw it?” he whispered against my lips, and I grinned, nodding.

Letting go of me, he returned to finish the drinks he’d been making and I waited for him to be done before turning to face them. And when we did, they were all sitting down, all with big smiles; William’s was downright smug when he pointed at us and said, “I called it!”

“So you did,” Kat snickered, tilting her head a bit, clear mirth in her expression, “but I had to see for myself. I thought you were wishful thinking or something like it.”

Beside me, Greg frowned, staring at them. “You knew?”

“Oh yeah,” Will answered, “I’ve known since May. But they didn’t wanna believe me.”

Wait a minute; since May? But…

“You haven’t been here when we both were,” I said, confused. “How the hell…”

Apparently, my confusion was a source for more private mirth among them. To be fair, Greg was a bit quicker on the uptake than me, here. He softly began to laugh, raising the drinks he held in his hands in salute.

“Well done. So you’re the eyes, huh?” A toothy grin and a nod were the reply. “Don’t tell me; all of you?”

“Just Kat and me.”

And then I got it myself.

The will! Oh my god, I hadn’t even thought about it for a long time, but it’d said we’d be checked upon. I quite forgot about it.

“Why, you sneaky…” I began, to which William started to laugh. Smiling, I brought over his drink. “Never suspected a thing.”

“Nor I,” Greg said, handing Kat and Seth theirs, returning to the bar for his own and mine, coming over and handing it to me. “So what gave us away?”

“No blood on the walls, on my first visit after the funeral?” Will answered, winking. I quietly flipped him the bird. No one saw, but he did. “Actually, it was in May when I found out for sure; when you two went to Chatham.”

“How did you know we went to…”

Beside me, Greg’s head turned to his youngest brother.

“I called and texted you the address of the Inn, in case of emergency…that we were going there.”

“Yes, and thank you so much for waking us up at 4am, to tell us,” Kat smiled, chidingly, “and I called Will right away because, well...why should we be the only ones awake at that hour, right?”

“Thanks, sis, love you too. Anyway, I followed you guys,” Will continued. When I frowned at that, he elaborated. “I was at the Vineyard, for a long weekend with a...friend.” Mhm. I could just guess what kind of ‘friend’; the guy was a walking magnet for the female population. “Kat knew I was there, so it was a quick trip for me. Got on the ferry to Woods Hole and drove to Chatham. Got a room, and just waited for you guys to show. And you took your sweet time, I can tell you that.”

“Since when did you take up stalking?” I shook my head, amazed at all the behind-the-scenes workings.

“Hey, anything for a good cause, right?” He winked. “But if you must know; since January. Dad asked me, in his letter. Which brings me to a confession.” He hesitated there, and sought my gaze. ”Dad knew you and Greg had...something, years ago. But he couldn’t think of a way to bring you two together. He and Greg weren’t talking. It had something to do with the past, but he didn’t tell me what that was. Something happened, is all he said. So I...dreamed up the clause.”

“You what!” Oof.

That was the first time in months I heard that voice, coming from right beside me, in a tone that was at once very familiar and made me almost stiffen. I gently nudged him.

“Greg…”

Sighing deep, he deflated and glanced sideways, nodding. Looking over to Will, he said, be it a little sourly, “It worked. I guess I should thank you; had you not been a dirty little schemer, and trust me, I will never, ever mistake you for a shallow fool again, we wouldn’t be here now.”

At that, William grinned wolfishly. “Never underestimate a shallow fool.”

“Indeed. So how did you find out? We never saw you in Chatham.”

“Ahhhh, true. You didn’t, but I saw you. Binoculars. I waited in my room, watching you guys go on a walk down the beach and followed. A few times I thought you might’ve spotted me, so I had to dive for cover; my shoes were full of sand, I tell ya. You talked a lot, christ. Then you had quite the argument and then…”

“He had his phone on handsfree,” Kat interjected, snickering, “I gotta tell you this, it’s a hoot. So he’s following you, diving around sand and bushes in the dunes and I’m at home, watching the kids do something weird while listening, and he suddenly goes ‘yeah...ah..ah...yeh, oh come on, yeh, yeah, do it! Come on, ah, ah...YESSSSSSSSSSS, finally!’. Imagine me, thinking all sorts of things, trying to save Jer from keeling over, Charlotte running around like a tornado...God, it was a moment.”

I laughed out loud at that, feeling my face warm up. I think I understood what he’d seen. Our first kiss. But the way she explained it, making all sorts of faces and voices, it was a hoot. Even beside me, Greg began to laugh.

“You’re a sneaky bunch, the lot of you,” he said and glanced sideways at me, sliding his arm around my shoulder. “Thank you. We’re very happy you all know now. And we’re happy.”

I sure as hell was!

“It shows! Come here, you,” Seth reacted, rising and coming over, grabbing his brother in a big hug. Some unspoken thing passed between them, a look of deep understanding, and Greg nodded. “Now you take care of my brother-in-law, huh? I always wanted one.”

From there it became a whole new thing. I got slapped on the back more times than my ass had seen the love of the birch, for God’s sake. But it was great, to have it known now; if I had worried, which I hadn’t, much, I needn’t have; their reaction was nothing but positive and happy for us.

It was wonderful to see Greg laughing with his brothers and his sister-in-law, who yanked his face down and planted two big kisses on his cheeks, with Jeremy squirming between them, being slightly crushed, that poor kid.

It was the perfect start of what turned out to be a great weekend.