Out of Nowhere (Balls and Brawn Bodyguard #4)

34. Chapter Thirty-four Seo-jun

Chapter Thirty-four: Seo-jun

I n the weeks leading up to the Halloween party, Dex became more and more excited. Seo-jun had to admit that some of it had rubbed off on him.

Seo-jun left his costume up to Dex because he wasn’t the creative type and probably wouldn’t have worn a costume if Dex hadn’t wanted him to so badly.

“An Asian Adonis?” he asked, turning in front of the mirror to get a look at the back of the costume. The skirt barely covered his ass.

“Why not? Anyway, I doubt anyone is going to ask which god you are.” He reached up to adjust the gold laurel wreath in Seo-jun’s hair. “You look so sexy.” He paused, suddenly looking like someone had slapped him in the face.

“What’s the matter?” Seo-jun asked, concerned.

Dex’s eyes met his. “Oh, my God. You don’t have to wear this.” Turning, he began scrambling in the bedroom closet. “Don’t you have a black turtleneck you can wear with a pair of black pants and boots? Maybe if we coupled it with some—”

“Dex!” Seo-jun swung him around. “What’s wrong with you? A minute ago, you loved this costume.—“

Dex looked miserable. “I hadn’t thought…God, Seo-jun. I’ve dressed you up, just like he did.”

“He?” Seo-jun asked, uncomprehending.

“Haru,” Dex whispered, eyes filling with tears.

Oh.

Pulling Dex into a tight hug, Seo-jun kissed the side of his head.

“Baby, you’re nothing like Haru. This is Halloween. I love that you think I’m sexy in this. But even if you just wanted me to try something on in the bedroom, I would never compare you to Haru. What we have is totally different.”

Pulling back, Dex looked at him seriously. “Yeah? I mean, yeah , of course it is. But still…I don’t want you to ever feel, you know. Objectified.”

Dex was so damned sweet.

“I don’t, and I promise if I ever do, I’ll tell you right away.”

Seo-jun kissed him softly. “You look very sexy, too, just so you know. I love the pointed ears. They look real.”

Dex had chosen to be an elf from one of the fantasy games he played, and Seo-jun really did think he looked incredibly sexy in the leggings and medieval tunic.

“Ready to go?”

Dex nodded and grinned.

When they pulled through the mansion gates, Dex let out a long, appreciative, “Oooo. Cara really went all out, didn’t she?”

She really had. Cobwebs hung everywhere—she must have had someone get on ladders to arrange them—and there was a graveyard out front with skeletons trying to crawl out of the earth. A few more hung from trees, their boney bodies dancing in the wind, and one was even perched behind the wheel of Colt’s jeep, one arm over the wheel. Haunting music blasted through hidden speakers, and a fifteen-foot Frankenstein guarded the front porch. When it spoke and tried to make grab for them when they passed it, both Seo-jun and Dex gave embarrassing shrieks, jumping a mile before dissolving into laughter.

“There you are!” Dressed as a dashing blond pirate, Colt came striding into the foyer. “Everybody’s out back.” He leaned in conspiratorially. “I invited a fuck-ton of people, but not this many. I think we have some crashers. Don’t tell Cara. She’ll be pissed.”

“You don’t think she’ll notice?” Dex asked humorously.

“Not if I get her drunk enough,” Colt said with a wink of the eye that wasn’t behind the black eye patch he wore.

Taking Dex’s hand, Seo-jun led him downstairs and they emerged into the backyard from the sliding glass doors. Large tubs of ice and bottles of beer and a table of chili, corn chips, and fixings were set up by the pool, where a large group of people Seo-jun didn’t recognize were loading their plates.

“Must be the party crashers Colt mentioned,” Dex murmured into Seo-jun’s ear. “We’d better not mention the pool’s heated. They might whip off their costumes and get in it naked.”

“We’ve got to get rid of these crashers,” Sean appeared at their side. Dressed in some kind of Medieval plague doctor costume, he’d shoved the beak-like mask onto his head. “Colt! Get over here!” he yelled.

Colt, who had just appeared from inside with a cooler in his arms, set it on the table and walked over to where Seo-jun, Dex, and Sean stood.

“You bellowed, Carrot Top?”

“Don’t call me that,” Sean grouched. “Help me get rid of the ghosts at the feast.”

“Ah, an allusion to the Bard. Very impressive.”

“I’m surprised you even recognized it. Didn’t you sleep through high school?” Grabbing Colt by the arm, he steered him toward the intruders, calling out, “Naked swim party at the hotel down the beach! I heard someone’s passing around a bowl of pills.”

Seo-jun stepped back as people dumped their plates and pushed their way toward the darkness beyond the lit yard. Some guy dressed as Beetlejuice and drunk off his ass ran by them and, to Dex’s alarm, goosed Seo-jun’s ass. Before Seo-jun could react, Dex lunged at the guy, yelling, “Hey! Keep your hands to yourself!”

Seo-jun pulled him back and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s waist. “Calm down, tiger.”

Now that the interlopers were gone, the games got underway. Andi oversaw a game of Bob for Sex Toys that produced in several photos of team members with their faces dripping water and a dildo grasped between their teeth. Kris set up a photo area where people could stick their faces in the holes and become Count Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, Chucky, and Michael Myers. There was a corn hole game, a table set up where people were playing drinking games with shots of whiskey dyed green, orange, and purple, and even a game similar to Pictionary on the patio.

Seo-jun was surprised at what a good time he had. He couldn’t remember ever feeling so relaxed in a crowd. He and Dex held hands and hung on each other, and laughed while playing the silly games.

The last of the guests left after midnight, and, after cleaning up, the team settled in loungers around the pool, sharing the last of the beer.

Logan and West shared a chair. Ezra and Jase’s dates had left, and they had sprawled on a double lounger together. Saint had fallen asleep curled up under a pile of extra towels, drunk off his ass. Tara sat in a lounger between Andi’s legs, dressed like a Disney princess—Seo-jun had no idea which one. Andi was dressed as a biker, which allowed her to show off her tats and piercings.

Dex and Seo-jun settled in the hammock. A chilly wind blew off the ocean, and goosebumps rose on Seo-jun’s bare legs. He heard the sliding glass door behind them open and close, and Kasey appeared and started handing out blankets.

“Thanks,” Seo-jun said, taking one covered in pictures of dogs wearing costumes. As he spread it over him and Dex, he caught Andi and Ez’s conversation nearby.

“Lookit Jase, all curled up in your arms. He’s drunk off his ass,” Andi said. “Say, didn’t you two go to elementary school together or something?”

“Yeah,” Ezra said.

“Wait,” Tara said. “But isn’t Jase a lot younger than you?” Tara asked.

“Long story, but Jase skipped kindergarten and I was held back in the fourth grade. I was a bit of a troublemaker, and we met because I was always staying after for detention and Jase’s mom paid a teacher to watch him in the afternoons until she could pick him up after work. I used to read to him.”

“Aw, that’s cute as fuck,” Andi said, then belched. “Scuze me.”

“Thinking about it now, that time changed something in me. When I moved on to middle school the next year, I stopped getting into trouble. Anyway, the following year, Jase’s mom asked me if I’d like to be paid to watch Jase after school. The middle school let out before the elementary school did, so I would come by and get him and take him to the park and sometimes for ice cream. By the time he was old enough to look after himself, I was headed for the army. But we found each other online years later and became good friends as adults. When Jase started Falcon Security, he asked me to join the team.”

Tara nodded. “That explains why you’re always looking out for him.”

“Don’t ever say that when he can hear you. He hates it,” Ezra said.

Seo-jun looked at Dex, cuddled up to him in the hammock, eyes heavy.

“Why don’t we spend the night here?” Seo-jun suggested.

Dex nodded tiredly, then stretched and called out, “Hey, Colt. Do you have anything we can wear to bed?”

“Why are you asking him and not me?” Sean wanted to know.

“Because you’re a freaking leprechaun,” Colt teased. “You’re pants would hit their knees.”

“I’m not that short, for Christ’s sake.” Sean wadded up his blanket and threw it at Colt. It landed on his head. Pulling it off, Colt got up from his chair and yawned, motioning to Dex and Seo-jun. “Come on, you two. I’ll get you set up with something to wear to bed.”

Colt found them some pajamas, and they went into Dex’s old room to sleep. Outside, lightening lit up the sky followed by a rumble of thunder.

“That was fun,” Dex whispered in the dark after they’d climbed under the covers.

Seo-jun hummed in agreement. “What was that costume Kasey was wearing? I didn’t want to ask.”

“Oh, that was from an anime. Howl’s Moving Castle . She was Calcifer, a fire demon.”

“Oh, I figured it was something about fire. It was cool the way she had her red hair standing straight up like that.”

Dex yawned, rolled on his side, and laid his head on Seo-jun’s chest.

“Hey,” he said softly. “You know when we did it in the shower?”

“Yeah,” Seo-jun responded curiously.

“I liked it a lot.”

“Me, too,” Seo-jun said, smiling.

“If I wanted to fuck you that hard, would it be okay? I mean, would it remind you of…before?”

Running his hand down Dex’s back, Seo-jun said. “No. Nothing you could ever say or do would remind me of my past. You are so different from Haru, Dex. You can put that fear out of your mind. Okay?”

“‘kay,” Dex said sleepily before pressing a kiss to Seo-jun’s sternum. A minute later, he was asleep.

Seo-jun lay there for awhile, listening to the sound of the ocean in the distance and the occasional creak of the house. Finally, when Dex seemed to be deeply asleep, he slipped out of the bed and sat down in the chair beside the balcony doors, feeling inexplicably restless. He spent a few minutes on Instagram and then Tiktok before opening up the Facebook app. He rarely posted there, maybe a dozen times over the past decade, but since he’d started seeing Dex, he’d changed his relationship status with a funny little leap of his stomach and started posting pictures of them. Several from when they were in Fresno, and quite a few since, including one of them in their Halloween costumes before the party. All the team members had liked the pictures and posted comments, and Seo-jun found himself smiling as he read each one. Dex was a good influence on him. He was happy.

He stilled in his scrolling when a message suddenly popped up in the upper righthand corner of the screen. Opening it, he stared at the name: Harry Izumi. “Speak of the devil,” Seo-jun said softly. “Why the fuck are you contacting me after all these years?”

Annoyed but too curious to ignore the message, he opened it.

Johnny, bet you’re surprised to hear from me after all this time! I’ve been thinking of you a lot lately and decided to look you up on Facebook. Imagine my surprise to learn you are in North Carolina—I will be attending a conference there in November. Must be kismet! Meet up for drinks?

Stunned, Seo-jun reread the message, then closed the app. Putting his phone on the nightstand, he climbed back into bed with Dex, scooting as close to the other man as he could, breathing in the clean smell of his hair. More than a little disconcerted by Haru’s unexpected message after so long, he lay awake staring at the far wall. That nickname—Johnny—he hadn’t thought of it in years.

Would he agree to meet Haru? No. Should he even message him back? Seo-jun thought not, but he didn’t want Haru showing up at his door. With a yawn, he decided he’d consult Dex about it in the morning.