Out of Nowhere (Balls and Brawn Bodyguard #4)

31. Chapter Thirty-one Dex

Chapter Thirty-one: Dex

B y the time Dex and Seo-jun joined the others for dinner, everyone knew the two of them had been fucking in the locker room shower.

“Seriously?” Andi asked, using her fork to pull the meat off her chicken breast. “When Seo-jun has an apartment with privacy?”

What the hell? Wasn’t she surprised at all?

“The chance of getting caught is half the fun,” Sean said, grinning around a mouthful of green beans.

“Ew, close your mouth, please,” Kasey complained.

In answer, Sean opened his mouth to show her all the food in it.

Kasey shook her head, muttering, “Disgusting pig.”

“Back to the subject at hand,” Ezra said, grinning from his seat at the end of the long table.

“Let them have their privacy,” West said seriously. But then he added, “Though, if they wanted that , they wouldn’t have chosen the locker room shower to have sex in.”

Dex groaned, and everyone broke into laughter. He glanced at Seo-jun to see how he was taking the ribbing and wasn’t surprised to see his usual stoic expression in place, as though nothing was going on.

“Anyway, Andi, I seem to remember catching you and Tara in the pool one night,” Sean said.

The table burst into a round of teasing at Andi’s expense, but ribbing about sex never bothered her. Her wife, however, blushed crimson.

“That was when the air went out in our apartment and we had to stay here, thank you very much,” Andi said. Wrapping an impressively muscular arm around Tara’s shoulders, she added, “and stop making my girl uncomfortable, or I’ll clock you. All of you.”

The sound of the front door opening and closing preceded Jude and Zion’s entrance. “Hey, sorry I’m late. I brought Zion,” Jude said, leaning over to kiss Hawk.

Amid greetings, Jude took the seat next to Hawk and Zion sat in the empty seat beside Saint, who passed him a plate and some silverware from the stack in the center of the table. Mal watched Zion with an odd expression. Or maybe that was just Dex’s imagination.

“Since when are the two of you an item, though? Or were you just having a one and done?” Kasey asked, grabbing Dex’s attention.

“They just went out of town together,” Colt said. “They probably got together then.”

“Hold it. What? “ Jude said loudly, his eyes going to Dex and Seo-jun. “ One and done? An item? Explain, please.”

“Dex and Seo-jun were boning in the shower,” Hawk supplied around a bite of roll.

“And I missed it?” Jude exclaimed. “Damn it!”

Dex sighed. “Okay, okay. Seo-jun and I are seeing one another. No, that was not the first time and won’t be the last. All future sex will happen in a more private place.” The corner ofSeo-jun’s mouth curved upward.

“I called it!” Jude said, a smile spreading over his face. “Didn’t I tell you they liked each other?”

“Yes, and you also said that they were unlikely to get together because Dex is clueless and Seo-jun is socially backward or something to that effect.”

Jude smacked Hawk on the arm before turning to Seo-Jun. “I didn’t call you socially backward. I used a much more politically correct term.”

“Well, as long as it was politically correct,” Seo-jun said seriously before continuing to eat.

Jude flashed Dex a puzzled to look that made him laugh.

“But you called me clueless?” Dex teased. He’d seen very little of Jude since Jude had moved near the university. Dex liked that he looked so happy.

Dex’s phone buzzed on the table between Dex and Seo-Jun, the text message appearing on his locked screen. It was from his mother and only said two words: “Call me.”

Dex tilted the screen so Seo-jun could see.

Worried that something was going on with Anna, he stood from the table.

“I need to make a call,” he said, already pushing the call button next to her name as he walked into the kitchen.

“I just got off the phone with Penelope,” Bea said right out of the gate.

“Hello to you, too,” Dex said. “Mom, it’s one thing for you to try to fix me up with someone, but it’s a whole other thing for you to check up on me to see if I did it. I’m a grown man. I’m also in the middle of dinner. I only answered because I thought it could be an emergency.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I called Penelope. She said you went to lunch with her and told her you were seeing someone. Really, Dex? Are you that afraid to get into a relationship?”

This was too much. “I am in a relationship, Mother.”

“What? You are?” She sounded delighted, but Dex knew that was about to change. It didn’t matter. He had to tell her.

“Yes. I’m seeing Seo-jun.”

“That’s an odd name. Where is she from?”

“It’s a man’s name. He’s Korean. I’m seeing a man, Mom, and, no, this isn’t a joke. I’m gay. That’s why I never want to go out with the women you try to fix me up with. I should have told you a long time ago, but I knew you wouldn’t like it. But I’m tired of hiding it.”

Dex waited as the seconds ticked by in silence. Finally, he said, “I have to go,” and hung up.

When he walked back into the dining room, it appeared that everyone had heard his side of the conversation. In retrospect, he had been talking loudly.

After a brief, awkward silence, Logan said, “Good for you, Dex. I know that wasn’t easy.”

Everybody joined in with their congratulations, which quickly turned into an exchange of coming out stories.

“My father flipped his lid when he saw me kissing a guy behind our house,” Colt said. “He locked me in my bedroom for a week.”

“A week!” Kasey looked horrified.

“It wasn’t that bad. My mom let me out in the daytime when he was at work. It was the summer after I graduated high school, and we lived in Santa Cruz. She helped me make arrangements to move near my aunt in Maryland, which is where I got into security and met Sean.” He nodded at the redhead across the table and asked him, “How did you come out?”

“I never did. My family’s really open, and I was always saying I thought this girl or that boy was cute. When I was sixteen, I dated a trans boy. My parents were always cool with whatever my brothers and sisters and I wanted to do. I know I’m lucky. I had a buddy who was gay and his parents threw him out of the house at fifteen. My parents said he could live with us, but he went to live with his cousin in another state.” Sean shook his head. “I don’t get why it’s such a big deal.”

“My mother is thinking about her society friends and what they would think. She wants to show off her son and his wife and one point six kids,” Dex said. “But, you know what? I just don’t care anymore.” It was more like he didn’t want to care, but it felt good to say it the other way.

Underneath the table, Seo-jun took Dex’s hand in his, lacing their fingers together, and Dex had to admit that having him with him lessened the disappointment he felt in his mother’s reaction.

“When’s Salem moving in?” Jase asked, thankfully changing the subject to the new tech guy.

“He said this weekend.”

“I still haven’t met him yet. What’s he like?” Colt asked.

“He seems cool. Knows a lot about computers,” Dex said.

When dinner was over, Seo-jun pulled Dex aside. “Are you all right?”

“Do you mean because our shower sexcapade was the talk of the dinner table, or because I finally told my mother I’m gay?’

“Both,” Seo-jun said, touching Dex’s cheek softly.

Dex melted. Stepping into Seo-jun’s arms, he buried his face in his warm, wonderful-smelling neck. “I’m glad you’re here.”

Seo-jun hugged him for a long time.