Faking Familiar Read online

  “I told my family that I was dating you for the last several months, and we’re having a family reunion for Halloween, and they want me to bring you.”

  I felt like such a fool telling him I’d done such a stupid thing. I had closed my eyes when I made my confession, but now I took a chance to see his disappointed face. But he wasn’t frowning as I’d thought.

  No, he was smiling.

  “Okay, now I understand. And yes. I’ll be your boyfriend and go with you. Where and when are we going?”

  Was it really that easy?

  “Um, we need to leave Friday so we’re there for the whole day Saturday. We’ll have to set up the bonfire.”

  He nodded, and I knew there was one more thing I had to tell him before we went.

  “I do have one other thing to tell you though, and that might make you change your mind. Please don’t change your mind. It’s not really a big deal, I promise.”

  He smiled again and began massaging the muscles at the back on my neck. I felt like Chester and had the urge to purr and rub up against him. I wanted to do it so bad, but we both seemed to be ignoring the fact that we both jacked off with each other with just my bathroom window between us earlier, so I kept my distance. Maybe he was regretting it and now he was just being nice? If that was the case, what I was about to confess was going to give him the perfect excuse to bail. I kept searching his eyes to see what his reaction might be, but I couldn’t tell. I must have waited longer than I thought because Arthur pulled me into a gentle hug and whispered in my ear, “Toby, don’t worry. There’s nothing you could tell me that would be bad enough for me not to help you. Just say what you need to say.”

  He was so sweet and gentle in that moment that I just blurted out, “My family are all witches.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the laughter or the disbelieving snort, but it never happened. I just got a little tighter hug.

  “I know, Toby, and it’s fine.”

  I was so relieved when he said that that I nearly hit the floor when all the tension I hadn’t known I was holding in let go. My knees got weak, but Arthur held me tight and didn’t let me fall. He was sexy, yeah, but I was living this sweet side too.

  Then it hit me.

  “Wait, what do you mean you know?”

  “Let’s just say I know more about you than you think, okay? I’ll tell you more later, but for now, just know that nothing you can tell me will surprise me or make me upset, alright?”

  I couldn’t just let it go, could I? Of course not! So I tried again.

  “But...”

  Arthur stepped back from the hug, but he still held onto my shoulders, and that felt almost as nice as the hug. Any contact with him seemed to make me feel safe.

  “No buts. Just tell me when we need to leave and what I’ll need to wear.”

  “But I just old you me and my family are witches, and you don’t have any questions or anything?”

  “Oh, believe me, I have questions, but they won’t be for you. I’ll get with your parents when we get a chance.”

  “Okay, but it's just my mom. Dad passed last year. We leave day after tomorrow, and you’ll probably be okay in jeans and a nice shirt. It's not a formal thing, even though my asshole brother Todd will probably wear a custom suit or something equally pretentious.”

  “I’m sorry about your dad, Toby. If we’re leaving that soon, I should go and arrange my schedule for the week. I’ll have to move some appointments around and get another vet to come in and fill in for emergencies. I’ll be ready day after tomorrow.”

  He gave me a peck on the cheek, then walked out the front door. I was standing there silently wondering what the hell was going on with this day when Chester padded softly into the room to jump into his favorite perch in the cat tree. He got himself settled and then stared at me in silence so long I felt unnerved.

  “What?”

  “Nothing

  “It's not nothing. You don’t sit there and stare at me for five minutes straight for nothing, Chester. What is it?”

  “Alright, you’re correct. There is something, but you’re not ready to hear it yet, and it’s not my place to tell you. Just be prepared for the unexpected to occur at this family dinner. Things are about to put into motion that have been waiting for decades. There’s no way to know how it’ll occur, but you should ready yourself for the unexpected. And just know that Arthur is someone you can rely on. I know this for a fact.”

  On that pronouncement, Chester curled up and fell asleep in an instant, leaving me to wonder if I should go back to sleep and try to wake up form this crazy dream of a day.

  4

  Arthur

  Driving up to his family home was uneventful and surprisingly quiet. Toby and I had talked a few times yesterday about logistics but had never discussed how this would actually work. I’d asked him if his family would grill me about our relationship, but he’d been vague and stopped talking when I’d asked him about it in the car. He’d started commenting about the weather after that, so I’d let it drop. The weather was cool, but not cold, which was nice, but I didn’t want to talk three hours about it.

  On top of everything else, I wanted to talk to him about our little mutual masturbation situation the other day, but if he didn’t at to talk about the current situation, I was sure he wouldn’t want to talk about that. Even though it had been hot as fuck, I really wanted to kiss him. I felt like I was missing a kiss I’d never even had yet. It didn’t make sense, but I felt a longing for him that was intertwining itself in my energy. Sitting next to him so close, I could sense his aura was reaching out for mine. When they would touch, the feeling of rightness and calm was comforting. And not a bit of this made any sense, unless…

  “When we get to the house, my mom will ask you about your family and your job. She’ll also ask how log we’ve been together. She likes to pretend she can tell the difference between the truth and deception, but it’s a sham. She’s terrible at it. She can grow roses to win the garden club trophy every year, but that’s about all her magick has ever been good for. When she finds out a little about you, she’ll find a reason to leave the room and won’t bother you again. My brother will try to impress you with whatever gadget he’s bought for a fortune this week and talk about his latest deal. If you need help and want to get away from him, just say you hope there’s banana pudding for dessert and I’ll come get you.”

  “Banana pudding?” I couldn’t help but laugh at such a random dessert choice.

  “Oh yeah, banana pudding is definitely a thing.” Toby was laughing now and the tension that had been hovering in the car the last two hours seemed to lift at last. “When Todd was younger, we went on vacation and he tasted banana pudding for the first time. He devoured serving after serving of the stuff while my parents weren’t paying attention. Let’s be honest, they never really paid attention to us to begin with. But anyway, he ate so much, he got violently ill at the dinner table. We’re talking projectile across the table and hit my mother and her new designer dress. I laughed so hard and got in trouble for it, but I didn’t care. Since then, even the mention of banana pudding makes his green.”

  We were both chuckling now, and I was determined to use the phrase "banana pudding" as much as possible while we were there.

  “Oh, and since we’re getting there tonight, we’ll just go straight to the guest house instead of meeting the family. I’ll show you your room, and we can get some sleep before tomorrow.”

  “Wow, you have a guest house?”

  “Yeah, my parents wanted us out of the house when we got older, so they built the guest house for us. My brother and his wife stay in the house now, but I prefer the guest house. There’s two bedrooms, and you can pick which one you want.”

  “I won’t be staying with you?”

  This question had an expected effect, and Toby blushed all the way up to his ears.

  “Um, no. I mean, uh, not really.”

  “But we had such a nice time the othe
r morning, didn’t we? Don’t you want to play for real, Toby? I mean, we’re supposed to be a couple, right? Wouldn't it look weird for us to sleep in separate beds?”

  I had lowered my voice an octave until it reached that deep, sexy tone I knew was impossible to resist. I let my attraction to him push out into my aura so it just brushed up against his. It was subtle, but I saw him shiver when it happened. I loved that he was so sensitive.

  “Well, you do have a point, I guess. Yeah, so I guess we do need to stay in the same room. But about that the other day, I don’t know what came over me. That’s not like me at all. I never do things like that. I really like you, Arthur, but I’m definitely not ready to sleep with you.”

  He thought about what he’d just said then corrected himself. “I mean, we'll have to sleep together in the same bed if we’re in the same room, obviously, but I mean I’m not ready for, you know. That.”

  I wanted to laugh because he was being so damn cute, but I wouldn’t in case he thought I was laughing at him. I’d never do that. Instead, I smiled, nodded, and pulled back a bit.

  “I was just teasing, Toby. I know what you mean, and I agree. We’ll actually sleep in the bed, okay?”

  He visibly relaxed, letting his shoulders drop a little, and I was glad I could put him more at ease. I did want to take the opportunity to tease him though.

  “I can’t guarantee I won’t snuggle with you in the night though. I’m a huge fan of cuddles. How about you?”

  His response shocked me.

  “I wouldn’t know if I am or not. I’ve never slept with anyone before.”

  * * *

  “Holy shit, Toby, don’t tell me you’re a virgin!”

  It was his turn to laugh at me this time.

  “Goddess, no! I had sex plenty of times. I’ve just never slept with them afterwards.”

  For some reason, this made me inordinately happy.

  “I’ll be your first?”

  Toby shrugged, but that little smile was still sitting prettily on his lips.

  “Yeah, you’ll be my first cuddle, Arthur.”

  I nodded and gently placed my hand on his thigh, far enough down as not to be distracting, but high enough so there was no doubt my intention.

  “Good. I’d love to be as many of your firsts as possible.”

  Toby’s smile got bigger as he shifted his leg a little, and my hand slid up his jeans just a smidge closer to the top. He didn’t anymore, so I just left my hand there the thirty minutes it took to get to his house. It might have sounded cheesy, but it was true. I was starting to feel a little possessive of Toby, and the idea of being his first anything was important to me.

  5

  Tobias

  I was so incredibly warm I never wanted to move.

  The weather had been chilly last night when we’d gotten to the house. Like I’d told Arthur, we skipped the family introductions and went straight to the guest house when we arrived. We’d taken the bags into the house, and I showed him around a little. He didn’t say much, but he seemed to be impressed by the sheer size of what I had been calling a guest house. He hadn’t asked, but I was sure he was wondering why I was living in my tiny little cookie cutter house when I could have been living in luxury here. He’d learn why soon enough.

  Dinner had been fast food on the road, so after quick showers and settling in, it was time for bed. We both crawled into our sides of the massive king bed and lay back, staring at the vaulted ceiling. It was too quiet for me, so as usual, I had to fill it.

  “We’ll need to get up at a decent hour in the morning because Mother will expect us at breakfast. She might put us to work building the bonfire in the yard. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Samhain. I never even asked if you knew what it was.”

  “I’m fairly familiar, but why don’t you tell me how you celebrate it.”

  “Well, Mother always sets up an altar in the front hallway for our deceased relatives, including my dad. We have their pictures set up, and we’ll all add small remembrances for them, like I’ll add a shot glass of scotch. Since this is a celebration of the end of the growing season and the beginning of the winter, we’ll have a harvest dinner, sort of like Thanksgiving dinner. Finally, close to midnight, we’ll gather around the bonfire outside. If you have a habit or pattern you’d like to change, it’s nice to write it down and throw it in the fire. Then you can imagine that the habit is gone or transformed into something different and better.”

  “Wow, you really take all this seriously.”

  “We do. At least I do. Mother usually goes through the motions, but I’ve always had a special affinity for this holiday. I feel closer to my ancestors this time of year.”

  “I can see that. Isn’t this about the same as Halloween and the Day of the Dead celebrations?”

  I knew most people would think that, so the question wasn’t a surprise. “Not exactly. Halloween is mostly just a secular celebration, and the Day of the Dead is a Christian construct of Samhain. It’s similar, but we’re not Christian and instead believe that our ancestors will communicate with us, or even manifest in the night of Samhain if there’s something we need to know or do. It’s a night of both endings and beginnings.”

  I felt rather than saw Arthur turning over on his pillow to face me, so I turned onto my side so I was mirroring his position. We just lay there staring at each other in silence for a while. The time seemed to slip away the longer I lay there drinking in Arthur’s gorgeous face, his beard, his deep brown eyes so similar to my own. As the minutes slipped by, both of our blinks became longer and longer until at last my eyes closed and seemed too heavy to open again. I was drifting off to sleep when Arthur whispered “goodnight” from his side of the bed.

  Now it was morning, and I felt nothing but warmth at my back. Sometime in the night, Arthur had moved from his side of the bed to snuggle with me on mine. I was not mad about this. He felt solid, and his presence made me feel safe. I’d never had that feeling before. I felt like I was being protected somehow.

  I wanted to stay there all day and just soak it all in, but I realized the reason I had woken up was because the coffee pot had started in the kitchen and the sun was streaming through the windows. It was time to get up and face the family.

  I wiggled to try to move out from under Arthur’s arm, but he tightened his hold and pulled me back tighter into his embrace. That’s when I felt his morning Mr. Happy poking into my ass through both our sleep pants. I pushed back a little into him, and before I knew it, we were both grinding against each other, and I was sure he wasn’t asleep anymore. I felt his breath against my cheek before I felt him kiss my neck, working his way up to that place under my ear that drove me crazy. I had never felt such an insistent attraction to anyone I’d dated before, and technically we weren’t even dating. I wasn’t into flings, but I wanted him desperately right now.

  His large hand reached around under the covers and slid down my chest, my belly, and was just about to finally sneak under the waist of my sleep pants to my aching cock when the doorbell to the guest house rang, then, without missing a beat, I heard the front door open and my brother yelling as he walked down the hallway to the bedroom.

  “Bi-ass, get up, you fucking loser, and come to breakfast. Mother won’t let any of us eat until your lazy ass gets there, and since I have a real job, I’ve got shit to do.”

  Arthur and I were still spooning in the middle of the bed when my asshole brother came barging into the room ready to drag me out of bed. He really was a bully. He’d done it before, many times in my lifetime. He’d even picked me up and thrown me in the pool once before. Mother had only gotten mad because my screaming had woken her up.

  When he went to grab the covers this time, though, Arthur sat up in the bed.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re about to do?”

  As he said it, Arthur had pulled me up to sit next to him and pulled the comforter up to cover both of us, his arm firmly around my shoulders.

  My b
rother had been completely oblivious to the fact I had someone else in the bed with me all throughout his self-important monologue, so seeing Arthur in all his broad chested glory shocked the hell out of him for an instant. Then, to hide his shock, he doubled down on the asshole bluster.

  “Who the fuck are you? This is my house.”

  Okay, that just pissed me the hell off.

  “This is not your house, Todd. This is Mother’s house, and you just live here because you’re a cheap bastard and don’t want to spend any of your money on anything but bimbo pussy and flashy shit that makes you look like a pimp.”

  Todd’s face got beet red, and I could see his temper was about to erupt. When that happened, it could manifest in several different ways, none of which Arthur needed to be a witness to just now since it might involve the ground erupting under the house or a sinkhole opening under the bed.

  “Todd, get out and cool off. We’ll be there as soon as we get dressed. Mother would be pissed at your behavior in front of a guest.”

  He seemed to finally calm down a little, but the damage had been done. He’d find a way to make me or Arthur pay for being rude to him. He’d always been a vindictive little shit.

  “Fine, just make sure you you don’t fuck around and hurry.”

  After Todd left, Arthur and I just sat in bed, side by side, in complete silence. I had no idea what was going on in his head, but I was just embarrassed, and if we’re honest, very aroused by the possessive reaction Arthur had to Todd’s barging into the room. I liked that feeling of being protected. I’d always been on my own for the most part but having him put himself between me and what he perceived as a potential threat was hot as hell.

  Finally, Arthur moved his arm so he could pull my head closer to his shoulder. I rested my head there and finally let out on a sigh. “I’m so sorry about that. Todd’s always been an asshole.”