The Handsome Stranger - Part 2

All characters are consenting adults (18+)

The next day dawned and life started without me. Dad was already mowing the lawn, and the beautiful aroma of breakfast is what brought me to my senses. It was Saturday, which was arguably the best day of the week, and I was dressed and at the kitchen door before I remembered our new guest.

“Good morning, sweetheart” Mom said, leaning against the kitchen counter with her hands wrapped around a steaming mug of coffee. I ignored her completely as my eyes landed on Austin, who was finishing off the last of his bacon.

“That was delicious, Mrs. Lawson” he said, taking his plate over to the sink and washing it like some sort of prehistoric caveman.

“We have a dishwasher” I said sharply, dragging out a chair and sitting down. “And her name is Martha”.

Mom glared at me with narrowed eyes. I’d embarrassed her, apparently, but I wasn’t bothered. I’d only been awake less than fifteen minutes, and already Austin was irritating me.

“Don’t be disrespectful to your mother” he said, as he dried off his plate and put it away. My jaw dropped. Had Austin just scolded me in front of my own mom? I watched him as I tried to scramble for words that would shock him as much as he’d just shocked me, but my tongue felt like it was stuck to the roof of my mouth, and before anything coherent came to mind, Austin had kissed my mom on the cheek, and had gone out to help Dad.

“What’s gotten into you?” Mom asked, her cheeks still ablush.

“What’s gotten into you?” I spat back, and she ignored me, took her coffee and walked by me.

“Yo, where’s the bacon?” I asked, eyeing the empty frying pan.

“You slept in” she called back, “your dad and Austin didn’t”.

It had been a sour start to the day. How could my own mother starve me like this, and give my food to a complete stranger? How was it even remotely acceptable that I was left with cold toast, whilst Austin had been given a delicious plate of pancakes, bacon, eggs and all the other things that he probably didn’t like as much as I did. I mean, what did people like Austin even eat? He looked like he ate steak for breakfast.

“Asshole” I growled, returning to my bedroom and watching out the window as he took over on the lawnmower. Who was he trying to impress? Sure, he might have won my mom and dad over with his stupid southern charm, but I could see right through him.

He wore a loose fitting grey tank top which showed off his rounded, muscular arm. His skin was a dark golden colour, which was probably from his years out wrangling horses or whatever it was that people like him did. The back of his shirt, between his solid shoulder blades, was already damp with sweat, and his long, flowing shorts revealed thick chunks of muscle on the back of his legs.

“What a fucking loser” I spat, sitting back down on my gaming chair and booting up my PC. As I waited for it to load, I couldn’t help but recall the two interactions that had left me speechless.

Responding ‘yeah’ to my genuine attempt at wishing him goodnight was one thing, but telling me to respect my own mother?! Austin was pushing his luck, and if he pushed it much further, he’d be sorry.

I spent the following hour getting lost in a game. After a hard week in school, it had become part and parcel of my Saturday routine, so when my door swung open without even a knock, I dragged my headphones off and glared at the intruder.

“Come on” Austin said.

It felt like I was in the fucking Twilight Zone. Both of my parents knew never to come into my room, especially on a Saturday morning. Did this guy have no decorum whatsoever?

“I’m busy” I spat, trying to understand how he could even consider walking into somebody’s bedroom without even knocking.

He eyed me for a moment with those dark, chocolaty eyes, before strolling over and yanking out the plugs. “You’re not busy now, are you?” He asked, and as though he had done nothing at all, Austin sauntered back out of my room, and I stared, open-mouthed, at the black screen.

“I want him out!” I spat, ensuring to keep my voice down as him and Dad stood outside the window.

“Oh, stop that, Cooper” Mom replied dismissively. “He lives here now”.

“No” I said, shaking my head, “give him back his money and get him out of here. He walked into my room! He didn’t even knock, mom, and then he plugged–”

“Enough” Mom hissed, and I knew instantly that I’d crossed a line. “Austin lives here now, and that is all there is to it, so you better stop acting like a spoiled little brat, and go out there and make an effort!”.

“But mom–”

“No buts, young man!” She snapped, “now go, it’s a beautiful day out and you’re not wasting it in here getting under my feet”.

The knot in my stomach twisted tighter as I marched back up the hall. I felt like a naughty schoolboy who had just been told off, and I’d be lying if I said that I couldn’t feel hot, angry tears brewing beneath the surface.

The sun baked down on me as soon as I stepped outside. I winced and held up my hand, and from the corner of my eye, I found Dad and Austin.

“Count Dracula has arrived!” Dad joked, but I ignored him, not because I wanted to, but because Austin was now shirtless, and the canvass of muscle and abs was like nothing I’d ever seen before.

He was smooth all over, and not a single blemish existed on his golden, shredded torso. His nipples were darker than the rest of him, and each dime sized nub was soft under the sun. Beads of cloudy sweat trailed around his pecs, and my heart hammered in my chest as he gulped down water, lifting his big arm to reveal a damp jungle of black, tangled hair in his armpit.

“So you two guys are on yard duty, alright?” Dad said, but I’d missed the entirety of the conversation, and could do nothing but nod mindlessly as Austin wiped a sheen of fresh sweat from his brow, and got back to work. “See you later” Dad called, and suddenly we were alone in the back yard.

Austin had already returned to mowing, and I stood there like a spare tit. What did Dad even want me to do? And why was I being forced to do it with the most attractive man on the planet?! I stared at the bumps and dips on his naked back, where the muscles tensed and eased with each stroke of the lawnmower, and I had to quickly adjust the erection in my shorts as I walked over.

“What do I have to do?” I asked, but Austin ignored me. “What do I have to do?” I asked again, louder this time, but still, the young man blanked me. “YO! WHAT DO I–”

Austin switched off the lawnmower, so the rest of my angry yelling sounded even louder, and I sunk into my shoulders.

“Why are you shouting?” He asked, but he looked neither serious nor comical, but somewhere in the middle. I gulped.

“Weeds” he said, and nodded toward the edges of the yard. “You know how to cut weeds, right?”

I didn’t answer him. Something told me that it wasn’t a genuine question, anyway, so I marched over to the shed, yanked out the sharpest thing I could find, and battled intrusive thoughts as I walked by him and over to the weeds.

Why was he being such an asshole? What had I even done to make him hate me already? I’d only known the guy for a few hours, yet he seemed to despise me. I snapped at the weeds angrily as the lawnmower growled behind me.

Maybe he was jealous. I mean, he was the one who was running from whatever shady life he’d had before this, and here I was, in my house, with my parents who loved me. I stole a look back over my shoulder as he continued, and smirked. It made me feel a little better to think that the only reason Austin was being such a giant asshat was because he was jealous of me, but as I watched him, it became more and more apparent that a guy like Austin, had absolutely nothing to be jealous about. He was perfect in every way.

I was exhausted by dinner time. My body ached and my skin was stinging with sunburn. Naturally, perfect fucking Austin didn’t have to worry about sunburn, so he became even more tanned, and looked…

“Positively glowing!” Mom told him, setting down a plate of food.

“Oh, you’re too kind, Mrs… Martha” he smiled, and shot a devious glance toward me. I buried my head into my own plate and tried my best to ignore the very obvious flirting. Was Dad deaf!?

Throughout the entirety of dinner, Mom and Dad bombarded the guy with questions. How did you become so good at this, where did you learn to be so good at that. On and on and on it went, and Austin’s head got progressively bigger until I was sure it was going to fucking explode!

“That was wonderful” he eventually said, with a clean plate as usual. Was there anything that this guy didn’t eat? He reminded me of a garbage can. “You’ll have to let me pay for dinner for you two tomorrow” he said, and Mom and Dad gawped at each other. “Call it a date night” he added with a soft, low chuckle, and I squeezed my knife and fork until my fists turned white.

“Oh, that’s very kind, sweetheart” Mom said, and I scowled as she called him the name that was only meant for my brother and I. “But we couldn’t accept something like that”.

“Nonsense” Austin smiled, clearing up the dinner table and once again handwashing the plates like we lived in the fucking sixties. “It would be my pleasure, and I’m sure you don’t get out very often with…”

I didn’t have to look up to know that he was talking about me. My face burned with humiliation as Mom and Dad giggled along like schoolgirls, and I’d had enough. I kicked out my chair and kept my eyes on the floor as I barged out of the kitchen and took the stairs three at a time to my bedroom.

“Fucking, stupid fucking asshole, motherfucker!” I snapped, slamming my fists into my pillow. “Coming into my fucking house, treating my fucking parents to dinner. I fucking hate you!”

I flopped onto my back, breathless and furious, and glared at the ceiling just like I’d done the night before. If it was the last thing I did, that guy was leaving my fucking house!