Out of this World (Browerton University Book 5) Read online

  * * *

  Rafe put his newfound culinary skills to use helping out Anna, Mary, and Olivia in the kitchen. The girls were on toast duty at the kitchen table, Anna manned the stove, and Rafe was in charge of chopping up potatoes and vegetables for something called bubble and squeak. Eamonn was supposed to be setting the patio table, but he kept walking up and down the wooden steps to the lawn.

  “What are you doing?” Rafe called from the kitchen.

  “I think one of these steps is loose.”

  “It’s fine!” Mary called to him.

  Eamonn squatted down and checked out the middle step.

  “Eamonn, it’s fine!” Anna said.

  “It’s fine if you want to fall on your arse!” Eamonn marched over to the shed.

  “He still likes to be the man of the house and take care of everything.” She scrambled up the eggs in her frying pan with a wooden spoon. Rafe noticed that the lawn was recently mowed and the bushes around the perimeter were nice and trimmed.

  “He cares,” Rafe said.

  “He really does. He gives people his whole heart, that’s for sure.” There was a serious undercurrent in her words, almost like they were a warning.

  Anna got out another frying pan for him. She had him fry the carrots, peas, and cabbage he finished chopping.

  “He really stepped up when his dad left.”

  Eamonn left the shed waving a screwdriver in his hand. “The steps just have a few loose screws.”

  “Takes one to know one!” Mary said. Eamonn stuck his tongue out at her.

  Rafe smiled to himself. He was home. It wasn’t even his home, but he felt that warm feeling of home, the kind that wraps you in a blanket on the couch.

  “Did you know his previous boyfriend Nathan?” Anna asked.

  “No, but I’ve heard about him. He’s going to be in a movie.”

  “I won’t be seeing it.” She stirred the eggs, maybe a little too hard. “A mother never forgets.”

  Rafe gulped back a lump in his throat. He tried to tread lightly while also satisfying his own curiosity. “I heard Nathan broke up with him to be a movie star or something like that.”

  “Eamonn tried to stay together with him. He was in love, and my son falls hard. The night Nathan was set to leave, he borrowed the car and made a mad dash to Heathrow Airport. He bought a ticket so he could get into the terminal. It cost him most of the bloody money he made that month. When he told me what he was doing, I thought he was telling me the plot of some romantic comedy.”

  “It’s like The Wedding Singer meets Love, Actually.”

  “If only.” She stared at the eggs with this intense gaze that was like a carbon copy of her son. Her blue eyes went dark. “He got to the gate, and Nathan was snogging someone else. When Nathan saw him, Eamonn said he just shrugged and boarded the plane.”

  Rafe’s heart broke for Eamonn in that moment. He jabbed at the vegetables a little too hard. He wished Nathan was here right now. He’d punch him in the face.

  Hissing and sizzling came from Rafe’s frying pan. He went to shut off the burner, when Anna stopped him.

  “That’s the cabbage. It’s bubbling and squeaking.”

  “I’m making a traditional English dish!” The sounds of his food frying were like a symphony. He took a picture of his bubble and squeak.

  “You still have to add in the potatoes.”

  Rafe did as Eamonn’s mom commanded. The potatoes mashed with the vegetables into something resembling a quiche. Rafe took another picture.

  “What made you decide to go to school in Britain?” Anna asked.

  “I’m just studying abroad for the semester. It’s an immersion program, so I can get a taste of life in another country. I, uh, go back in December.” Rafe glanced outside. Eamonn hammered in extra nails to the middle step. He smiled at Rafe in a way that went straight to his heart.

  Eamonn stood up. He pulled at the middle step. “There! All better. Nice and tight!” He jumped onto the step to return to the kitchen, when it snapped it half, sending his foot to the grass below. “Cunt shit bugger fuck!”

  The step was only a few inches off the ground. The real victim here was his pride.

  Mary and Olivia burst out laughing. Rafe tried to resist joining in. He failed miserably.

  Eamonn gave him the finger.

  “I was just telling your mate how handy you were,” Anna said. “Maybe I spoke too soon.”

  Chapter 16

  EAMONN

  It was early afternoon by the time they finished breakfast. The five of them enjoyed a leisurely meal under the canopy of trees blocking out the sunshine, complete with stories about how little Eamonn liked to urinate in the backyard.

  “Particularly when we had guests over,” his mum added.

  Eamonn couldn’t leave without replacing the now-broken middle step. He had wood in the shed to cut a new step from. Then of course, because that wasn’t embarrassed enough, while he put in a new step, his sisters showed Rafe old pictures of naked little Eamonn running around the house.

  “We really should get going.” Eamonn shut the photo album and placed it back on the shelf.

  “But we haven’t even showed Rafe your old One Direction pillowcases!” Olivia pouted.

  “Oh, I think there are pictures of Eamonn dressed up as Harry Styles,” Mary said.

  “For Halloween?” Rafe asked.

  “No!” Mary said, and she and her demon twin exploded into giggles yet again. Eamonn wondered if his sisters spent their free time thinking of ways to torture him. As a big brother, that was his job.

  “Rafe doesn’t want to see any of that. If we don’t get on the road, Stonehenge is going to crumble apart.”

  “Maybe next time,” Rafe said. Eamonn cocked an eyebrow at him. You’re supposed to be on my team!

  “Eamonn, can I talk to you for a second?” His mum called from the kitchen.

  He eyed his sisters. “Just so you know, I’m already thinking of ways to humiliate you in the future when you bring home boyfriends.”

  “I thought Rafe was just your flatmate?” Mary asked.

  Bugger.

  Eamonn clomped into the kitchen. His mum put away the last of the dishes.

  “Do you need some help?” Eamonn grabbed the large skillet and placed it in the cabinet above the stove.

  “I have it. You already washed all the dishes. Thank you.” His mum kissed him on the cheek. “Uncle George called me to say how well-received your application was. The human resources director raved about it.”

  “Brilliant.” Eamonn had Rafe to thank for that. He turned a shite C.V. into a work of literature.

  “With such a strong application, and your uncle’s push, you’re a sure thing for the management trainee program. Congratulations!”

  Eamonn managed a polite smile.

  “You don’t seem happy about it.”

  Eamonn looked out the window on the beautiful day he wanted to be enjoying with Rafe.

  “It’s a great company,” she said. “He treats his employees well. He says they have a work hard, play hard policy.”

  “I’m grateful for the opportunity, but I don’t know if I want to work there.” He kept thinking of what Rafe said about non-profit work. He had done a little bit of research to see what was out there. He would have the chance to make a difference in people’s lives, but the pay was awful or non-existent. It was an adventure, not a career.

  “It’s not glamorous, but it’s a good place to be. What would you rather be doing?”

  “I was hoping I had more time to figure it out.”

  “People who spend too much time figuring it out wind up lost. That’s what happened to your dad. He’s still finding himself in that stupid band of his.”

  Eamonn clenched his jaw. He wasn’t going to be like him.

  “I’m not saying you have to have your whole life pinned down, but you want to be going in a general direction. I haven’t seen that with you.” She smoothed down some of his hair
in the back that liked to stick up. “Your classes have been all over the place. You can’t make a career out of drinking with your friends at the pub and fixing things around your dear old mum’s house.”

  “Did you know there are a billion people who lack access to clean water?”

  “That’s my son. Always caring about others. You can get involved with a charity on the side. Uncle George’s company does a day of community service.”

  Eamonn nodded and acted respectfully, even though she was starting to sound like Rafe’s parents.

  “You’re the first one in our family to go to university. You’ve been given this amazing gift. I just want you to make the most of it.”

  She kissed him and gave him a tight hug. He remembered the days when she’d completely envelop him with her arms. Now that was his job. “This was a great surprise.” She peeked out the door. “I like him.”

  Eamonn’s stomach twisted into a knot. “He’s a good mate.”

  “Well, if he ever decides to be more, I would not be opposed to that.”

  RAFE

  Rafe remembered traveling to Las Vegas years ago with his parents. All he saw out of his plane window was desert. Desert, desert, and then boom! Las Vegas. Here, it was countryside, countryside boom! Stonehenge. It was like the rocks appeared out of nowhere. Rafe didn’t believe that aliens were responsible for building Stonehenge, but if that turned out to be the truth, he wouldn’t be shocked.

  “They’re a lot bigger than I remember.” Eamonn followed a few steps behind Rafe. He craned his neck up at the truly gargantuan rocks. Not even he could resist the awe of Stonehenge.

  “Just try to imagine men thousands of years ago carrying these rocks hundreds of kilometers and placing them in this exact spot. The primitive engineering required to build this, and the sheer strength. It’s unreal.”

  “Or maybe it was aliens.”

  Rafe shot him a look. They walked around the monument. It was roped off, so no touching.

  “Did you know that the design of the stones lines up to the winter and summer solstices, and that because of the high burial rate around here, the civilization that built Stonehenge could’ve used it as a graveyard or place to honor the dead?” Eamonn scrolled on his phone.

  “Are you just quoting from Wikipedia?”

  “I’m giving you a guided tour.”

  They made another loop around Stonehenge, this time with Eamonn as guide. He botched half of the terminology, but Rafe still managed to learn something new, shockingly. And as long as he kept talking in that raspy British accent of his, Rafe had no complaints.

  * * *

  “How does it feel?” Eamonn asked in the car on the way back to Guildford.

  “It’s just weird. I’m in the driver’s seat on the left side of the road.” Rafe kept thinking they were going to crash, or he was in a nightmare where he was trying to drive but he didn’t have a steering wheel. He gripped his seatbelt with both hands.

  But at the same time, there was something incredibly exciting and freeing. It was like he was breaking the law legally.

  “Can I try?”

  “You want to drive?” Eamonn asked.

  “This seems like the perfect opportunity.” Rafe nodded his head at the open highway that lay before them. “I have a license.”

  “A license that dictates you drive on the right side of the road.” Eamonn glanced at Rafe, who wasn’t going to give up so easily.

  “Five minutes. Under the speed limit.”

  Eamonn quirked an eyebrow. “Deal.”

  He pulled to the side of the road. They switched seats. The driver setup was mostly the same as Rafe’s car back home. It was just about getting over the fact he was in the passenger seat while no longer being in the passenger seat. Eamonn held onto the strap above the window. At least some things were constant between American and British driving.

  Rafe pulled onto the road. Okay. I’m doing it. I’m driving the British way.

  “Easy there,” Eamonn said when Rafe began to swerve to the right side of the road.

  “Sorry. Old habits die hard.”

  “Nobody is dying today.”

  The lush green of the English countryside whipped past them. Rafe waved to a car driving in the opposite direction. The world opened up to him at that point, and Rafe believed he could go anywhere and do anything on this planet. His chest rumbled with a new feeling. Adventure.

  He opened both front windows. Wind whipped into the car and flipped their hair in all directions.

  “Woo!!” He drove the speed limit while also hurtling into a new dimension.

  Rafe turned on the radio, another old habit that died hard. Hey Jude came on. Rafe immediately switched to another station.

  It was Eamonn who switched it back.

  “We don’t have to listen,” Rafe said over Paul McCartney’s soothing voice. Or was it Lennon’s?

  But Eamonn didn’t switch the channel again. He turned it up. He gave Rafe a knowing smile, that he was ready to listen.

  Rafe turned it up louder just as it hit the “na na” part. They did a telepathic countdown. 4, 3, 2, 1…

  And they each sang out the “na na” part at the top of their lungs, with Eamonn adding the “Hey Jude” line at the end. How could you not sing along to this song? The wind rushing in the car filled their lungs and made their voices carry through the English countryside. They weren’t even singing by the end. Just yelling and laughing out “na na” over and over again.

  Rafe felt a hand on his thigh, not trying to calm him down, but a hand that wanted to be there with him.

  He pulled to the side of the road when the song ended.

  “Not bad,” Eamonn said.

  Rafe’s lips stopped him from saying another word. The kiss was even better than the one on the soccer field. Eamonn pulled him closer as their mouths fused together. Rafe gasped for breath that would never be enough to fill his lungs.

  “I’m ready to go home,” Rafe said.

  “Home?” Eamonn asked, a touch worried.

  “To our dorm.”

  His chest, and more southern parts of him, rumbled with cravings for a new adventure.

  Chapter 17

  EAMONN

  They burst into Eamonn’s room mid-makeout session and fell onto his bed. Those warm, salty, American lips were his guide up the stairs and into the flat.

  Eamonn’s lips hovered over Rafe’s mouth. He couldn’t believe this. He couldn’t want this any more. Every time he looked at Rafe, all the pain that had ever scuffed him up faded into the background.

  “I like you,” Rafe said, his eyes darting away. “I know you don’t do casual, and I know I’m leaving. But I like you.”

  “I like you, too.” Eamonn slipped his tongue inside Rafe’s mouth.

  He shoved a hand up Rafe’s shirt and flicked his thumb over his hardened nipple, making Rafe shiver under his lips. Eamonn’s fingertips skated over his skin, as measured and delicate as an Olympic figure skater.

  Rafe tugged at Eamonn’s shirt.

  “You’re so bossy,” Eamonn teased. He made his wish come true and whipped off his shirt. Rafe admired his muscular chest and traced the trail that led to a very happy place.

  Without thinking, like instinct had taken over, Eamonn pushed apart Rafe’s legs. He reached into his underwear and stroked his cock.

  Rafe shoved his head back into the pillows. His moan echoed on Eamonn’s lips. Eamonn grabbed a fistful of his hair and held him in place as they kissed, his other hand busy controlling Rafe’s cock. His thrust his hips up to meet Eamonn’s touch.

  “You’re doing my job,” Eamonn said.

  “I…” But Rafe didn’t have a retort.

  “You like when I stroke your cock?”

  Rafe nodded without detaching from Eamonn’s mouth.

  “Go faster,” Rafe said.

  “No,” Eamonn whispered in his ear.

  It’s torture for both of us, mate. Eamonn’s cock had never felt so hard, so heav
y. It was like carrying a fucking oak tree in his boxers.

  Rafe stretched his arm as far as it would go and it barely grazed the waistline of Eamonn’s jeans. It was just out of reach, but the very tips of his fingers brushed against his bulge, sending a rush of heat straight to Eamonn’s balls. He grabbed both his wrists with his free hand.

  “You’re so greedy,” Eamonn said with his sarcastic sneer.

  It looked like it was more than greed for Rafe. His face was a mix of pain and pleasure, as if he was going to die if he didn’t get Eamonn’s cock inside him soon. Nathan had never let himself lose control like this in bed. Eamonn felt that he was always holding back a part of himself. But not Rafe. He was all exposed nerve endings for Eamonn. Fuck, you are so hot.

  Eamonn led Rafe’s hands to his mound.

  “Is this what you want?”

  “Yes.”

  “What do you want?” Eamonn dragged those hands over it again, and his cock twitched in response.

  “Y-your cock. I want your cock.”

  Eamonn had Rafe unzip him and pull his cock out. Rafe stroked it with precision, remembering everything Eamonn had told him, like a true A-student. He rubbed his thumb over the head, slicked with excitement. Eamonn held his wrists in place and fucked his hands.

  “You like my cock in your hands?”

  Rafe nodded feverishly. His eyes were all dilated pupils.

  He moved Rafe’s hands above his head so they could hold onto the headboard. Eamonn continued to clamp them at the wrists, and he caught Rafe admiring his flexed tricep. Eamonn stroked Rafe’s cock, sending him moaning all over again. The tip of Rafe’s underwear dampened with pre-cum. Eamonn bit his nipple through his plaid shirt. Rafe writhed in place but couldn’t move.

  “How does that feel?”

  “Fuck!” Rafe exclaimed in pure glee.

  Eamonn shoved Rafe’s jeans and underwear to his ankles and finally yanked them completely off. He chucked them against the wall.

  “Don’t need those anymore,” Eamonn said.

  “You take off your pants.”

  “You don’t get to tell me what to fucking do,” he replied with a mischievous grin. Eamonn returned to kissing him and holding Rafe’s wrists against the headboard.