Page 12 of Whirlwind

Chapter 4

Julio

Julio strutted into Whirlwind. Taylor was pulled against his side, slightly tipsy and blushing. Perfect. He wasn’t going to hide any of this. In fact, he was going to shout it from the rooftops.

Their three friends were hanging out at their usual table, drinking the beer that Taylor had bought earlier, though they had a second pitcher and a basket of wings on the table now.

Eric saw them first. “Well, fuck! It looks like Julio made his move.” Eric was so loud that half the bar turned to see the cause of the commotion before turning back to their chatter.

Julio guided Taylor over to his seat, then sat down beside him. God, it turned him on when Taylor deferred to him like this.

He knew that Taylor was a little shy and probably wouldn’t have wanted to tell anyone yet, but he also knew that this would be one of the fastest ways to make him understand that he was serious.

Cupping Taylor’s cheek with his hand, he kissed him softly on the lips. Taylor was that perfect mix of strong and manly, but so sweet and ready to melt at his touch.

He loved his strong, muscular arms, his thick middle, and his full ass. He slipped one hand into the back of Taylor’s pants and grabbed a handful of voluptuous flesh, kissing harder when he felt a shudder run through his boy. He would never get enough of this.

Their friends burst out into cheers, and he felt a slap on his back. He pulled away, grinning, and slung his arm around his new boyfriend.

“So, who asked who out?”

Not that he’d been worried about the guys’ reactions, but it was nice to know that they all seemed supportive.

Taylor got a gleam in his eye. “Oh, Julio did, if you could call it that… I’d give it an C+ for approach, A for pure, desperate effort.”

God, he loved it that Taylor was still just as feisty and funny as always, weaving in and out of his submissive role at exactly the right times. “I think I deserve at least a B-. It was sweet what I wrote, right?”

“Context, Julio, context.” He shook his head theatrically. Then he looked up. “Hey! What’s going on?”

What was going on was Ben and Eric each handing Parker $40.

Parker conspicuously tucked the money into his wallet, before explaining that they’d had a bet on whether one of them would finally get up the balls to ask the other one out.

Parker had bet on Julio asking, Ben had bet on Taylor, and Eric had maintained that they’d have their heads too far up their asses to get together by the end of the year.

Julio was truly surprised. “You guys all knew this would happen?”

Three identical nods.

“You should see Taylor moping around every time you pick up your flavor of the week,” Eric chuckled.

“And you,” Ben pointed to Taylor, “should see Julio go charging over every time some guy so much as looks in your direction. He’s been cock blocking you for fucking ever.”

Julio looked at Taylor, then shrugged apologetically. Not that he felt apologetic at all.

The rest of the guys were cracking up, and he and Taylor finally joined in.

It was especially funny because he and Taylor had the same bet going on about Ben and Parker. He tilted his head towards them, and Taylor nodded in agreement.

Taylor thought they’d be perfect together. Julio had the insider information that they were both Doms, and he figured they’d already tried it and it wouldn’t work. They each had twenty bucks riding on the outcome.

The conversation flowed easily after that. It sounded stupid, but Julio was just so fucking happy. He hadn’t admitted to himself that he was worried about this backfiring until he was actually standing on the patio.

Now that Taylor was more relaxed, he could relax, too. Getting the support of their friends and publicly claiming their relationship had been the right move.

Charlie, the owner of the bar, even brought over their next order of drinks in person and offered her congratulations.

She was a tough old queer, but her blessing took on a special weight as the founder of their beautiful community. He knew that she looked out for all of them, and if there were some collective aunt, or maybe uncle, of the group, she was definitely it.