Page 16 of Hurricane Love

“Nah, it’s impossible to get them out after dark, but I’ll introduce you sometime. You like being out on the water?”

“Guess so. Never really had the opportunity growing up.”

“You’ll love it,” Wylie said. He seemed intent on folding Diego into his life and had told him more than once that he needed to make some friends.No man is an island. That had backfired on Diego in the past, but he was older now and wiser too, he hoped. It probably wouldn’t kill him to socialize a bit.

There were a couple lawn chairs on the upper deck, and they each claimed one. Wylie unscrewed the lid to his drink and took a few long pulls. Diego got distracted by his throat muscles again, the way he drank that shit down so thoroughly. He recalled earlier that night when Wylie had been up onstage crooning into the microphone, hip-thrusting like he knew how to fuck, all long legs and charisma. Diego swallowed and adjusted himself.

“Sorry again about tonight,” Wylie said, turning toward him slightly. “I know that’s probably not your scene, the argument, I mean. I told her not to bring him.”

“Guy’s an asshole. Always has been.”

“Yeah, I really wish she’d leave his ass.”

“She’s gotta be the one to do it.” Diego knew from his own experience that you couldn’t make anyone do anything. Lord, his mother and uncle had tried to get him to stop using drugs, but it took him getting arrested, and even then, Diego was still using right up until his sentencing.

“I have to keep reminding myself of that. Pisses me off every time she gives him another chance. It’s a vicious cycle with them, and it’s only getting worse. Anyway, thanks for coming out tonight. Didn’t go exactly as planned.” He picked at the bottle cap, seeming disappointed.

“Whatdidyou have planned?” Diego asked, amused and intrigued by the man’s inner thoughts.

“Well, after my mating dance, I was going to drag you into a dark corner of the bar and make out with you–really blow your mind–then invite you back to my place. Because I’m smooth like that, you know?”

Diego laughed. He couldn’t help it. He’d had a suspicionabout the younger man’s intentions and was pretty flattered to hear it confirmed. “Well, you’re halfway there,” Diego said and cheers’d him with his plastic bottle.

“Tease,” Wylie said with a playful smile and pulled out his vape. He took a few puffs and exhaled the sweet-smelling vapor into the air.

“Why did Brian call you that?” Diego asked.

Wylie’s eyebrows knitted together as if trying to recall. “Ah, Swallows, you mean?” Diego nodded. “Well, I was a hyperactive kid, that was before I got my ADHD diagnosis, so my mom always had me in some kind of sport, even though I was mid at best. But I did have thing for other boys, so it wasn’t all bad.” Wylie huffed, shook his head. “I don’t know how to explain this without it sounding kinda bad.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Nah, it’s whatever. The TLDR is, I sucked a lot of dick in high school. My palate was pretty indiscriminate. A lot of them were athletes. Word got around. Hence the nickname.”

Diego’s eyes widened.Swallows.It was crude, and Diego felt bad for him, of course he did, but he also couldn’t stop himself from imagining it, which did nothing to help with his growing erection. His dick throbbed at the thought of Wylie on his knees, head between his thighs, working him over. What his face might look like while sucking him off, and after…

“I’ve changed my ways, though,” Wylie said into the silence.

Diego cleared his throat, trying to refocus. “Have you? Devoted yourself to God?”

The other man’s laugh was more like a snort. “Hell no, but I’m pickier now. Still really good at it though, in case you’re wondering.” He turned those devastating eyes on him, sparkling with mischief. And promise.

Diego was definitely wondering, and considering, and fantasizing... “Probably not the worst thing to be known for,” he said with a deliberate nonchalance.

Wylie shrugged. “I guess, but that was all they ever wanted,you know? Like, it was just a bunch of closeted bros, some with girlfriends, looking to get off. None of them wanted to, like, date me or even be seen with me in public. That shit really fucks with your self-esteem.”

“You seem to have recovered,” Diego said, unless his confidence was just a front.

“Yeah, well, I’ve been working on myself.”

Diego smiled. His honesty was alluring, as was his clever sense of humor and the playfulness that belied a true cunning. There was probably not another person like Wylie Fox Sommers in the whole wide world. “Are you taking meds for your ADHD?” Diego asked.

“During school, yeah. Helps me lock-in, but there are some side effects I don’t love. No appetite, insomnia. I get pissy when the medication starts to wear off, and my personality overall is a little, like, blah. I don’t feelthings as much, which kind of sucks.”

“Is that hard for you, managing it?” Diego asked. It sounded like a bit of a rollercoaster to him.

Wylie pursed his lips, head tilted, as he considered the question. “Honestly, it’s probably harder for the people who have to deal with my scatterbrained ass. But I have a lot of strategies I’ve developed over the years. Setting alarms, giving myself deadlines, trying to stick to my routines. Some of my exes have complained about it, though, like how can I be so smart and so fucking stupid at the same time?”

That was pretty harsh and a shitty thing to say, besides. “Your exes sound like assholes,” Diego grumbled.