Loving Bailey Read Free

widened
at the varied display.
    "A little, is that Tom Ghai Pan? Wow…I think
I'll stick to good old fashioned hot dogs and potato salad. Hmmm.
And barbecued beans." Ashton filled his plate with food Bailey was
sure he never ate at home.
    "You know, I can cook this stuff, right?"
Ashton lived on take out. In the past year, he hadn't seen the
kitchen of the man's beach bungalow used for anything but
storage.
    "Are you implying that you think I can't
cook?"
    "I'm deducing that, yes. We haven't eaten a
home cooked meal at your place in the past year, so yeah. I say you
can't cook."
    "Next week, you'll be eating those
words."
    "Promises, promises!" He chortled. Ashton
picked out a spot for them to eat beneath the oak tree where Bailey
and his brother had climbed as children and they settled down
happily.
    Out of the blue Ashton took the plate from
his hands and set it aside, then bent and kissed him. Bailey opened
his lips to protest, but was quickly swept away into a controlled
stream of sensation. The kiss was sweet, tender, passionate, but
left Bailey with no doubt that Ashton knew exactly how far he was
taking this, and nothing untoward was about to happen in his dad's
backyard surrounded by their friends. It felt like a
declaration.
    "Ahem." The harsh throat-clearing sound
impinged on his consciousness and he slowly withdrew from the kiss.
His cheeks burned, and he knew he flushed, but embarrassment wasn't
what made his skin prickle and his heart race.
    Turning his head, he met his dad's gaze, then
Eden's. Both were staring from him to Ashton. His dad looked livid,
Eden merely concerned.
    Rising, Bailey reached down to offer a hand
to his quizzical companion. The moment of truth lay at hand. From
the expressions on their faces, he should have volunteered a lot
more information about his boyfriend than he had. Bailey took a
deep breath, steadying his nerves as all passion fled. "Dad, this
is my boyfriend, Ashton Duval. Ashton, this is my dad, Drew Harris,
and his boyfriend, my friend Eden St. Cyr."
    Ever confident, Ashton stepped smoothly
forward, murmuring polite meaningless phrases, while Bailey tried
to get his thoughts in order. He clung to Ashton's hand in search
of courage. His heart quailed a bit when his dad seemed to connect
dots, or maybe Ashton had said something that clued him in.
    "Baby, Dr. Duval is a professor at the
college, did you know that?" His dad's voice when he spoke to Eden
was icy and cold, the same sort of tone he'd used when he'd called
Bailey on the carpet for any number of misdemeanors over the
years.
    "Freshman composition?" Eden, thank God,
didn't seem the least bit upset.
    Ashton nodded. "Yes, I've been at the college
for many years. This is my last year teaching there, though."
    "You're goddamn right it is!" Drew bellowed.
"Taking advantage of students under your care like this is
unconscionable!"
    "Dad!"
    "Drew!"
    "Mr. Harris…"
    Bailey's anguished moan conflicted with
Eden's protest and Ashton's reasonable tone. His professor's voice
carried over the others, cut through them with the precision of a
man accustomed to silencing a room with his voice. "I did not take
advantage of a student." He turned a censorious gaze on Bailey.
"You need to talk to your father. I thought we cleared this
up."
    "Bailey?" Eden asked. Bailey simply stared at
him, wide-eyed. As though sensing a long story, Eden continued. "I
think, Dr. Duval, that it might be best if you left now, and Bailey
and his dad can sort this out. It seems there are some things that
need to be said."
    Heart sinking, Bailey tried to protest, but
his dad cut him off with an angry scowl. Maybe he should have told
his father more about his boyfriend, but at first they'd just been
friends, then the relationship had been too new, and then too
special to share.
    He whipped his head around as he heard Ashton
agreeing. "You are quite correct, Mr. St. Cyr. I think that Bailey
and his father have much to discuss."
    What had he done? Bailey quailed