M/M- Ripped (Boys Of Summer) by Mia Downing Read Free Book Online Page B

too.”
     
    “Fine. I’ll protect you.” But Gavin smiled. He needed this, to protect Erik, even if it was from ass slaps. The Clarke picnics were legendary fun—sun, volleyball on the beach, picnic food galore. They would expect Gavin to be there and wouldn’t think it funny if he looked a little sad. “I’ll eat your share of potato salad, too.”
     
    “Going all out, are you?” Erik arched a brow. He hated potato salad, and Aunt Gert insisted he eat it.
     
    “Anything for you, babe.” Gavin wanted to kiss Erik so badly, but figured he shouldn’t. Last night was over, and except for that fast peck, there should be no more kissing. So instead, he rose. “What time is this shindig?”
     
    “Ten.”
     
    “It’s eight. Let’s find food and get going.”
     
    Erik stopped him with a hand on his wrist. “I know the rules, Gavin. I know you can’t be more. Right now, I’m good with that.”
     
    Gavin swallowed and nodded. Fucking weak shit. “It’s not because I’m ashamed of you.”
     
    “I know.” Erik slid from the bed, semi-hard, his dark hair tousled, the green in his hazel eyes brighter, more intense. “Let’s go.”
     
    ****
     
    Gavin hauled the huge cooler down to the beach from the parking lot, a step ahead of Erik, who carried Aunt Gert’s chair and umbrella. Aunt Gert chatted a zillion miles a minute, had already swatted both Erik and Gavin’s asses and bruised their cheeks multiple times, and they’d only been here ten minutes. Gavin glanced back, Erik rolled his eyes, and Gavin had to smile.
     
    He’d missed this, his slice of normal in his fucked up world. Maybe that’s where life had gone wrong, when he’d lost his slice of normal late in high school. Who knew?
     
    Erik went with Gert to find a spot for her chair, and Gavin dragged the cooler over to Erik’s mom. Judy Clarke was a pretty woman in her mid-fifties, her hair now short and shot with blonde, her frame a little fuller.
     
    When he was a kid, he had dreamed she was his mom and had even called her that. Everyone had called her mom because she mothered the entire neighborhood the way a mom should. Scolding when needed, looking the other way when hands strayed into the cookie jar before dinner, a kiss on the forehead while ruffling their hair. It had embarrassed Erik to no end, but Gavin had eaten it up like a starving boy.
     
    “Gavin, honey, put that here,” Judy said, pointing under the umbrella. “That’s the drink cooler, I hope.”
     
    “Yes, ma’am.” Gavin sat down on the cooler for a moment, taking a load off. Too hot, and the Sound wasn’t safe to swim in today due to the rough surf and rip current warning.
     
    “Gavin, you used to call me mom. Ma’am is an insult,” she scolded softly. “I don’t even get ma’am from the liquor store clerk, and he’s younger than you are.”
     
    “Yes,” he gulped and whispered the word he yearned to say. “Mom.”
     
    She reached over and ruffled his hair, just like she used to. “I’m glad you’re here, honey. Erik’s missed you.”
     
    “I’ve missed him.”
     
    She finished smoothing out the blanket and glanced up at him, shading her eyes with her hand. “You’re doing okay? Erik was worried about yesterday. He said earlier you’ve had a low patch lately.”
     
    He frowned. He hadn’t thought of what he felt as a low patch, but was it? Maybe. Maybe that’s why yesterday had been the hardest anniversary yet. “I’m fine.”
     
    “Good.” She glanced at Gert. “You’re going to eat his potato salad, right? I can’t listen to her go off about that. God help me, the boy hates mayo. I can’t force him to eat her salad, no matter how many awards it’s won.”
     
    “Yes, ma—Mom.” His parents would have shoved it down his throat.
     
    She smiled and rifled through her bag, pulling out suntan lotion. “Good. You’re a good friend.”
     
    Gavin frowned again. He was a shitty friend. “Erik’s a better friend than I