Tied Up in Knotts Ch. 08

Lee and I had never stopped by the site while our house was being built. I mean, I drove by occasionally to see how things were going but never did a walkthrough. Watching Penn's excitement as she cast the vision for his home, made me wish I had been more involved all those years ago.

Although, knowing Lee had defiled my home, made me glad for the lack of emotional investment.

"What is that over there?" I pointed at the machine he was using when I arrived. He led me over and explained what a portable sawmill was, how it worked, and that he was cutting beams for the porch, a mantel for the living room, and a few other pieces he wanted to use in the home.

"It's incredible," I said, looking at the tree that he was cutting. "Not only are you building a house from the ground up but you're repurposing the trees that were cleared from the property. And to do it all yourself—you're like, the perfect man."

Penn rolled his eyes then looked at me like he was considering something.

"Here," he grabbed a set of gloves, glasses, and earplugs then led me to the sawmill. He showed me how to pull start the gas-powered machine. I thought it would be hard but it was a lot like the pull start mower I used in high school. After a few seconds, he killed the motor and smiled.

"Maybe I should explain what we're doing before turning it on."

So he did. He made using the saw look easy but I wasn't fooled. If I ever had to do it without his help...Lord help us all. Penn did most of the set up before letting me make the cut, therefore, taking the glory.

Penn insisted I do the second cut on my own. It wasn't perfect and, having Mr. Perfect judging your every move was more than a little nerve-wracking, but I did it. The pride and accomplishment I felt when the cut was finished was a high I hadn't felt in a long time. I had done odd jobs around the house but nothing like that.

Millenia ago men cut timber for their homes. There I was, in the woods, cutting timber, building a home. I was practically a man of ancient times.

"I'm a real man," I mimicked Pinocchio. Penn laughed.

I was on such a high that I didn't want to stop and Penn was kind enough to amuse me. He didn't care that I slowed him down. In fact, he seemed to enjoy it as much as me.

After a while of manual labor, we took a break. We sat on the tree we'd been cutting and drank water from the porch cooler. The late October chill felt good and I understood why Penn was wearing a cutoff when I arrived, the work was no joke.

"I need to run to the valley. Ride along?" Penn asked after a few minutes of relaxed silence.

"The answer is yes but why do you need to go?

"I never got a costume for the party."

I froze and slowly lowered the bottle from my lip. "You didn't get a costume?" I asked. "The part is tonight."

"I know," he smiled. "That's why we need to go shopping."

"You. That's why you need to go shopping."

Penn smiled and nodded. It was disgustingly sweet, a little placating, and a lot fake. I knew right then that he thought I was going with him. If I fought him, he would throw me over his shoulder and take me kicking and screaming. No doubt about it, I was being kidnapped. The best line of defense was a good offense. Or, in my case, avoid it until the last minute and bail.

He took the air-compressor and blew most of the sawdust. He took one look at me and motioned for me to follow him to the trailer.

"Here," he tossed me a new shirt which I caught effortlessly.

I looked around his trailer. It was nice but I wasn't sure I'd want to spend all my free time in such a small space.

"I see why you're always at the cottage."

"Give yourself a little more credit than that," he laughed, then he looked around at his love shack and shrugged. "I know it's ideal but it's all I need for now. I'm usually at work, with you, or working at the house, anyway. That doesn't leave a lot of downtime."

"Is that where you sleep?" I pointed to a small cove that was almost flush to the ceiling. It couldn't have been more than a two-foot crawl space. "That explains why you're always offering to sleep-over," I laughed.

It also explained why Cam was always gone. I don't imagine she was game on living in the trailer.

"Again, give yourself more credit," he said, throwing a pile of clean clothes in my face.

****

It had been an unwritten rule that we took Penn's truck . I could play dumb and pretend I didn't know why but that was a colossal waste of time. His truck was nicer than mine. My suburban was old when I bought it and that was thirteen years ago. But for some reason, we ended up taking my car to the valley.

"It's a little stuffy," Penn said. "Can you unlock my window?" he asked after tapping repetitively on the window button when it didn't yield results.

"Can't, it's broken."

I rolled the back seat window down. He glanced over his shoulder and rolled his eyes but it was the best I could do. Since he couldn't get fresh air, he decided to use the AC. He fiddled with it for a minute. When the air never got cooler, he looked at me.

I shrugged. "Broken."

"Okay," he resigned, looking out the window. We drove in comfortable silence for a few miles. I was used to driving with no music but Penn wasn't. I smirked when he reached for the radio. It didn't take long for him to connect the dots.

"Let me guess...broken?'

I held back a laugh and shrugged. No doubt it was the first and last time we used my car to drive anywhere.

****

"What are you going to wear?" He asked as we walked into the giant costume store. It was the kind that popped up once a year and had more costumes than you could imagine. The kind we had to travel over an hour to shop at since they only opened in big cities.

Halloween was a favorite of Lee and I. Our open house had become the go-to destination on October 31st for all the high school kids. We pulled out all the stops; tons of decorations, themed food, games, and a haunted trail walk through the wooded area behind our house.

The Lewis' threw a big party every year. We never went because, while Lon and Tia entertained the adults, Lee and I entertained the kids. Showing up at Lon and Tias would raise a lot of eyebrows and—

Questions.

Nope. Not a chance.

"I'm not?" I asked, rifling through the rack to avoid Penn's gaze.

"Naked? Niiiice," he nodded with a teasing smile. Even though I didn't take his comment seriously, it still made me blush. I punched his arm and walked away.

Avoidance was key.

The store had every costume you could ever want. Unless you wanted something modest. It was no wonder so many women dressed provocatively on Halloween; they didn't have any other options. It seemed like costume after costume had a slutty theme.

I rummaged through racks of neatly hung outfits. Occasionally, I'd hold one up for Penn to look at. Beer can costume; declined. Greek warrior; declined. Mad scientist; declined. Mime; declined. Lumber Jack; declined.

"Okay, maybe you could give me direction since you don't seem to like any of my options," I huffed after flipping through an entire rack empty-handed.

"This—" he held up a costume and smiled. I recognized the costume instantly. It was a police uniform from Super Troopers or Reno 911. I don't know, one of those funny cop shows. The one with short shorts and a super tight shirt.

Maybe guys wore that kind of thing in bigger cities but I had never seen any guy in Lincoln wear such a scandalous outfit. They were usually dressed as Joe Dirt, a can of beer, or something with fake muscles.

I'd happily see Penn wear that police uniform.

"Yessss."

I took the costume from his hands and inspected it closely. The first thing I noticed was that it was a decent quality. It wasn't one of those cheap one-time-use outfits you find at Walmart. It was really nice.

Penn held up another, identical costume. I furrowed my brows. He gave me the 'don't fight this, it's happening' look.

"No way," I shook my head. "Not a chance."

He nodded his head. "Yes, you will."

I glanced down at the price tag and shook my head. "It's two-hundred dollars!" Fat chance my zero a month salary could afford that. He rolled his eyes and grabbed the costume from me. The next thing I knew, he was walking toward the register with both costumes draped over his arm.

There were two outcomes for the evening and neither of them involved me spending two-hundred dollars. I really, really didn't want to go to the party but if he was going to drag me there, then he was definitely taking the financial burden. If he wanted me to be the Adam to his Eve for Halloween, then it would come from his pocketbook.

He smiled excitedly at the cashier then shook the bag in my direction. The shit-eating grin he wore made me forget all the reasons I didn't want to go to the party. Screw the Spanish Inquisition.

****

It took Penn so long to pick out costumes that we were running behind schedule so we showered and changed in Penn's tiny trailer.

"Penn," I laughed. "Your panty lines—" I pointed to the obvious bunching of his boxers under the tight, tan fabric. He frowned and tried to adjust the fabric with no success.

"I don't suppose you have any tighty whities?" he shook his head. "Speedo?"

Nope.

"We should've gotten ready at the cottage," I mumbled as I took my costume out of the packaging.

"Wait, you wear tighty whities?"

"No, they're mostly black. Though I have a few other colors, too...and a couple of Speedos."

That got his attention. Straight guys—especially ones from small towns—would never be caught dead in briefs or Speedos. They were too simple-minded and thought that only fat men in the south of France wore that kind of thing.

I offered to stop by the cottage but he said commando was fine. I tried not to watch him undress but the trailer didn't leave a lot of options. He did a decent job of trying to hide his man bits but Insaw more than enough.

I cursed his perfection.

He wasn't chiseled like the firefighters you found in calendars but he wasn't lacking, either. His stomach was firm with a trace of definition. He didn't have the tapered waist I had, his was wider and far more masculine. He had muscles in all the right places and just enough body hair to make me a little lust crazy.

And the costume. Oh Lord. The shorts were tight over his thighs and waist. He wore it well.

Really well.

The shirt was so tight I worried for his safety. He moved around, trying the outfit on for size and comfort. "Okay, maybe we should go with undies," he laughed as he adjusted himself. I didn't have a chance to reply when Penn's phone beeped. "Shit," he said, glancing at his phone. "C'mon, get dressed. They're waiting for us."

If I thought he was going to turn around or give me privacy while I dressed, I was wrong. He watched as I shimmied, and I do mean shimmied, into my outfit.

"I think it's too small," I panicked as I tried to stuff my junk in the shorts. "I'm legitimately nervous to zip. There's no way I can wear anything under this."

Trying to give myself more room, I sucked in.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it," he tossed me the shirt.

"Easy for you to say, you bought yourself the correct size."

The shirt was every bit as tight as the shorts and tugging on the fabric did nothing. I was so screwed.

"I'm definitely going to eat more salads," Penn whistled as he watched me dress.

We were about the same height but I was a bit leaner where he was bulky. Twenty years of running and maintaining an active lifestyle did that. I wasn't even skinny like most runners. In fact, I was pretty damn muscular.

"Salads are good for you." I pinched his side, where there was a healthy (sexy) amount of not-so-soft tissue. "And why do you pretend like you haven't seen me half naked before."

He saw me change in the parking lot with Ryan and then we'd spent most of the summer on the lake, in nothing more than swim shorts.

"This outfit, uhm, accentuates, more."

I tucked my shirt in and laughed at his fumbling awkwardness. I continued to try and get the pants zipped but I couldn't get the zipper pulled up without harming my dick.

"Here," Penn grabbed my fly and held the fabric together so I could zip up. I mean, he was practically grabbing my dick. No big deal.

It's fine. I'm fine. Everything's fine.

"There, it fits perfect," he said when I finally got my pants closed.

I looked myself over. The costume wasn't forgiving and it hugged every inch of my body. Being a runner paid off. If I was ten pounds heavier, things would've looked a lot different.

****

"Don't forget I need underwear," he reminded me when we pulled up to the cottage.

"Nah-uh," I shook my head. "I barely got these pants up the first time. A second seems unlikely and I've never been a gambling man. If I'm commando, you're commando."

At first, he looked apprehensive but then he smiled that cocky smile and I knew it was on. He nodded toward the house and I followed his lead. I stole more than a few looks as we walked to the house. He looked fucking delicious.

"I want a goddamn liter of Cola!" Penn yelled and we posed at the door, catching the attention of everyone in the room. I'd never seen him do anything to attract attention to himself. He was always the reserved one while his brothers stole the show.

I quite liked this Penn.

It took two seconds for people to take it all in before the room erupted in laughter.

"Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!" Ryan rushed past others to get to us. "This is the best Halloween, ever," he smiled as he looked between the two of us. Ryan was dressed as a pirate, I think he was aiming at Jack Sparrow but, eh—no.

"You two look sexy as fuck," Abby winked. She was wearing a barely their devil's costume while Logan wore a white sheet and a halo.

"Are you the ghost of Angel's past?"

"First of all, rude," he scowled or tried to. He was too drunk to hide a smile if he tried. "How'd you do it?"

"Do what?"

He nodded toward Penn, who was laughing along with a couple of friends a few feet away. "How'd you get him to dress up like that?" he looked at his brother. "Never in a million years—"

"You're kidding, right?" I gestured at my outfit. "He's the one that picked this crap out. I wasn't even planning on coming, let alone dressing like a male stripper. This is all your brother."

Logan and Ryan glanced at each other. It was out of character for Penn to pick such attention-grabbing outfits. Not that I had a problem with what he was wearing.

"Go, Penn." Jane lifted a drink toward her oblivious brother-in-law who was on the other side of the room. The others lifted their drinks and silently cheered Penn's bold choice. He must've felt everyone staring because he glanced over and glared at the attention.

"What?"

"Nothing. We want to get a picture of you and your husband. These outfits are one for the books."

She meant photo books, which they had millions off. They took pictures of everything. I would've been unnerved by the constant picture taking but Yevo had me immune. If you thought it was just the girls who took pictures then you'd be wrong. Ryan and Logan were just as bad. Penn was the only one who wasn't obsessive about it. What Penn lacked, his siblings more than made up for. Honestly, I think there's at least one picture commemorating every time we'd ever spent together and that included the mid-week lunches.

We posed for a thousand pictures before they finally let us go. Everything from a classic cop poses to an awkward prom picture. They even made me kiss his cheek, claiming something about husbands. Not that I needed convincing. I was more than willing to play along.

I couldn't remember the last time I went to an adult party. It was so much fun. Penn and I stayed in character most of the night. He'd obviously watched the movie a lot more than me because he was constantly quoting it and making people laugh.

At some point, Cam showed up. I was definitely not jealous when I saw Penn smile at her arrival, or when he wrapped her in a giant hug, or when he slung his arm over her shoulder as they walked away, talking.

Nope, not jealous at all.

I was totally happy and my smile was not fake at all when I saw him dragging her toward me, smiling like a puppy with his favorite toy.

"You guys look really fucking hot tonight." Cam's eyes were glossy and her face was flushed...tell-tell signs she'd been drinking before she arrived.

"You too." I didn't know what else to say. She was an attractive woman. Put her in a tight catwoman outfit and...well it was no wonder Penn was smiling like a dumbass.

"Ugh, I wish I had your legs," she groaned. "Why do guys always get the best features. I mean, look at you, you're like, perfect," she pouted.

It was a weird comment. I understood when girls commented on guys' eyelashes but comparing men's legs to women's legs? Not the same. Yes, I had long legs but they weren't anything a girl would find special unless she wanted hairy man legs.

She kept rambling on about how I had the perfect platinum hair that she had to pay 'up the butt to get'. Something about purple shampoo to keep it from getting brassy. Then it was my eyes, my eyelashes, my skin, blah. I awkwardly looked at Penn, not sure how to react to her ramblings.

He smiled as if to say well, you can't argue with the woman.

I had all these great features but she had Penn. Oh yeah, and I had a soon-to-be ex-husband that slept around behind my back? Life was super fair.

"Leave the boy alone," Ryan pulled Cam into a hug. "You're just jealous you've been replaced with a better, younger model."

Cam pulled from their hug and slapped his chest.

"Jealous?" she scoffed. "Not a chance. I've been dying to spread my wings. Nash is doing me a favor."

Cam winked at me then kissed Penn on the cheek before sauntering off to the designated dance floor. That was that.

It wasn't long before everyone was drunk off their asses and I was reminded why I never attended adult parties. Being sober around drunk people got old, fast. I was careful to keep my distance from Cam on the dance floor. I wasn't looking for a repeat of last time.

Dancing was something I was good and and enjoyed doing. Everyone kept shoving Penn and me together. I tried to joke it off but after a while, it was easier to give the people what they wanted. And what they wanted was for two sexy cops to dance. We did the YMCA, the disco, and a few current dances that I had to teach Penn. I laughed non-stop.

By two in the morning, I was done. The crowd had thinned, though there were still a lot of drunk people milling around.

Penn was leaning against the kitchen island talking Cam's ear off about something or another. He was happy—like really, really happy.

Cam was smiling too. She must have felt me watching because suddenly we were looking at each other. Penn was talking to her but she's staring at me. She got this look—like she knew I liked Penn. I wasn't even nervous or embarrassed about it. He was my best friend. He was also attractive inside and out...and I was gay. Sue me for having eyes.

I didn't need to be at the party any longer so I decided to walk back to the cottage. I texted Penn, letting him know where I put the key in case he needed to drive home or something.

The cottage was quiet. It was a nice change from the loud thumping music of the party. Getting out of that godforsaken costume was heaven. You know what they say, you don't know freedom until you're free. That's all I had to say about that.

The long day of manual labor, shopping, and partying had me out flat the minute I crawled into bed.

****

I was roused from sleep when I heard shuffling in my room. It took me a moment to realize that something or someone was in my room. I was so sleepy I couldn't quite get my bearings to turn.