Tied to Trouble(23)

Chad cocked his head. “Aw, you’re acting like you actually care about what happens to me. That’s sweet.”

“It’s not being sweet, it’s called being concerned about your head cracking open on the street.”

“Damn, you’re a buzzkill.” Chad tugged on Owen’s bow tie, then walked past him, their shoulders brushing. “Come on, let’s go do this thing.”

Cassidy Park was several acres, home to a couple playgrounds and sports fields and even a roller-hockey rink. The biggest attraction was a stage with stone amphitheater seats. According to an email Austin had sent Owen, he wanted a large area where he could set up props and enough room for their closest family and friends to see the stage.

Austin was the developer of a video game called Aric’s Revenge, which sold a gazillion copies and was made into a movie. Last year, Austin and Marley had cosplayed as characters in the game—the warrior Aric and his wife, Evelyn. For the proposal, Austin wanted to recreate the throne room Aric conquers at the end of the game. Nerdy? Yes. Perfect for Marley? Absolutely. The woman took her video games and cosplay seriously.

Owen snapped pictures while he directed Chad where to stand to include him in the shots for scale. Owen made a note in his notebook. “How tall are you?”

“Five eleven.”

Owen didn’t answer as he jotted it down to give Austin an idea of how much space a person would take up on the stage.

“I weigh one seventy-five.”

“That’s great, Chad. I only needed your height.”

“My shoe size is eleven.”

Owen didn’t answer. Chad’s voice was closer now, as he jumped off the stage and walked toward Owen. “I’m like six inches soft, but when I’m hard—”

“Chad, I don’t think Austin wants to know how big your dick is.”

The man was in front of him now, crushing the notebook to Owen’s chest so he was forced to stop writing and look up into Chad’s face. Chad was smirking, damn it, like he always did. He leaned in, so his breath fanned Owen’s face. “Actually, I’m hard now. Measure for yourself.”

Owen glared, despite his pants getting a little tight. “Do you ever think of anything other than sex?”

Chad ran a finger down Owen’s throat. “Not when you’re around, wearing that damn bow tie.”

He swallowed. “My bow tie gets you hard?”

Chad shook his head then took two steps back and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Nah, the thought of taking it off you gets me hard.”

And then he turned around and twirled a finger in the air. “Let’s wrap this up, O. Got things to do, bow ties to untie, know what I mean?” He winked at him over his shoulder as he walked away.



An hour and a half later, they were at the lesser-known and lesser-visited Charity Woods Park. The sun was setting, throwing the sky into a mix of reds and pinks and oranges.

Owen finished taking pictures and slipped his cell phone into his pocket. Chad was on the stage, pretending to perform a monologue. He watched him for a minute as he stretched his hand into the sky and bellowed something with a bad British accent.

“Are you done?” Owen called.

Chad straightened and motioned for Owen to join him. Owen shook his head and Chad rolled his eyes. “Come on.”

“This park isn’t as clean as the others. And these are my work clothes.”

“I’ll buy you new pants if something happens to yours, ya priss, now get the fuck up here.”

Owen sighed and hauled himself up onto the platform, careful not to let his pants touch the dusty wooden floor of the stage. A now-defunct theater group used to hold productions at Charity Woods, but now the stage in the far corner of the park sat mostly unused. A stone monolith. Sometimes a small folk band performed, but it was a hike from the main area of the park. There was only a small parking lot nearby.

They were alone, the sun was setting, and Owen hadn’t forgotten that Chad wanted to untie his bow tie.

Chad leaned against the side column of the stage as he gazed around him. “You know, I get that this is the most decrepit of all the ones we’ve seen, but doesn’t that fit the theme?”

Owen had been thinking the same thing, but he thought Chad might mock him for it. “Yeah, it does, actually.”

Aric’s Revenge, set in a medieval fantasy world, was the story of a man who sought revenge on the king who stole his wife. In the end, he conquered his enemy—along with the help of some dragons—reclaimed his wife, and took over his enemy’s kingdom. Because of the little dragon issue, the castle Aric took over was quite damaged.