"Three to get ready, now go cat go." Drake grinned at Christian. "I will watch any movie that has songs by the King in it. Even if it's aimed at kids." Which explained why Drake suddenly knew about Lilo and Stitch when he didn't seem to have a clue about pretty much anything kid related.
Christian looked at him, head tilting. "I like Cars."
"I haven't seen that one. I haven't seen most of them." Drake shrugged. "Lilo and Stitch has a lot of Elvis in it."
"Can we watch Cars after Lilo and Stitch, Uncle Slayde?"
He nodded. "Sure. I don't see why not." By then the girls would need to run around and play anyway.
"So is Cars about…well, cars?" Drake grinned at Christian.
"Uh-huh. Come on, let's go find it."
Christian grabbed Drake's hand and dragged the man off, letting Slayde get the macaroni in the oven.
He could hear Drake and Christian laughing, having a good time together. Slayde leaned against the counter, eyes closed for a second. It felt good, to just be still for a minute or two, to know there was someone else looking out for the kids.
He heard Christian's triumphant "found it!", heard the girls complain, but instead of hearing a fight he had to go break up, all was quiet.
He should go check, but he was so sleepy. He dozed off, standing right there.
"Slayde. Slayde." Drake touched his shoulder, jerking him out of sleep. "You all right, man?"
"Sorry. Sorry. Yeah. Everyone okay?" He looked at the clock. Eight minutes. He'd only been asleep eight minutes. Okay.
"Yeah, Christian is setting up Cars. I'm gonna watch it with him, okay?"
"That's great. The girls playing?" He put water in the coffee pot.
"Yeah. Maggie's Lilo and Jenny is Stitch. You should hear them trying to sing "Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love"."
Slayde chuckled. "I'll have to video it to send to Mindy. She'd love that."
"Yeah, she would. She's not quite the Elvis fan I am, but I know she's a Maggie and Jenny fan." Drake gave him a wink and grabbed a banana.
Oh, no. Slayde didn't think he could stand here and watch the man eat a banana. No way. "I'll go see if I can't catch them." So what if he was coward. He couldn't spring wood around the man; Drake would beat the fuck out of him.
He high-tailed it out of the kitchen, feeling Drake's eyes on him until he was out of sight.
Damn it. He was never going to survive the next nine or so months. Never.
***
Drake was in trouble.
Over the last week, he'd learned the kids' routine, and he and Slayde were working well together. The kids seemed really happy, and even Mindy was pleased he was there now to help out. None of that was a problem.
It was Slayde who was the problem. The man had a fine ass. He had warm eyes and a full, generous mouth. His belly was inviting and the few times Slayde's T-shirt had slipped up, it had revealed a little treasure trail disappearing into the man's waistband. All of which, in and of itself, wasn't a problem.
No, the problem was that Drake had noticed and continued to notice these things. His prick especially was noticing. More than once he'd had to abruptly leave the room or risk being found out thanks to his traitorous cock.
Like just now.
He'd been helping with supper while Slayde made dessert, the man licking something creamy off his lips. Drake had had a sudden vision of that tongue and those lips on his cock and bam, there he was with a hard on pushing at his zipper. He'd dropped the plates on the table and high-tailed it into the backyard. Deep breaths weren't helping and he tried to picture the last dead body he'd seen as he walked around the backyard like a trapped hound.
"You okay, man?" Slayde's head popped out of the back door.
"Shit." He cleared his throat and tried to surreptitiously thump his prick. Down boy. "Fine."
"Okay. Cool. Just checking." Slayde disappeared again, and it wasn't two minutes before the kids were heading out into the early evening heat.
Jesus. That was even more inappropriate. Luckily the thump and the dead body images in his head did the trick and he was soon deflated. That meant he could push Christian on the swing and help Jenny on the slide and try to talk Maggie into letting him help her with, well, anything. She still hadn't made up her mind about him. It was beginning to make him pout.
It wasn't a few minutes before Slayde was out there. "Inside for drinks, you three. It's hot."
He trailed after them, wondering what was wrong with him. It wasn't like he ever got laid regularly. And it wasn't like him to start lusting after the guys he knew.
Slayde was different, though. He was… Drake didn't know what Slayde was, but the man was making him notice, making him want things he tried to keep deeply buried. Between his father, his friends, and the guys on the force, he knew enough to keep his queerness deeply hidden.
"You want a drink, too, honey?"
"Who me? Sure. Please." Preferably something strong.
"There's iced tea, milk, water, and about two swallows of Diet Sprite."
"Iced tea's fine." He grunted and sat at the table, watching the kids coloring, Christian and Maggie arguing quietly about whether or not blue whales were that particular electric shade of blue.
"Y'all want to go swimming tomorrow?"
The kids looked up and Christian squealed. "Really?"
Slayde nodded. "If Uncle Drake will come to help, yes."
"Sure. I've got a pair of swimming trunks." And if he sprouted a hard-on underwater, nobody would notice, right?
"If you three are good, we'll go tomorrow and swim."
Christian started hooting and squealing, jumping up and down and soon his sisters were joining him.
Drake chuckled. "Is this your definition of good?"
"Not really, no. We really need to get him in lessons, but Mindy doesn't want him doing it."
Drake frowned. He couldn't remember any water trauma
