Page 16 of Wrecked

Just as I’m climbing into bed, my phone rings. It’s Rachel.

“Sammy!” she cries excitedly when I answer the phone. “Congratulations on the new job! How’s it going?”

“Everything’s good.” I tell her about the job offer and all the bonuses and perks that come with it.

“Aren’t you a bigshot now,” she says with a laugh. “I’m really going to miss you, Sammy,” she says, sounding more serious now. “I kinda got used to having you around this past year. It was like the old days, you know? When we were kids.”

I can hear the strain in her voice. “I’ll come back to visit as soon as I get a chance. I promise. And I’ve got a swanky new apartment with two bedrooms, so you and Mom are always welcome to come. How is she?”

“She’s fine. She misses you, of course.”

“Is she home?”

“No, sorry. She’s working a double tonight. Someone called in sick, and Mom picked up the extra shift. So, have you met any cute guys?”

I laugh.If only she knew.“No one special yet.”

We chat for a little while longer and then say goodnight and end the call.

Rachel and I have always been close. It was tough on both of us when I left home to join the Army. After the accident, I came back home and lived the past year with Rachel and Mom. They’re both nurses and work twelve-hour-shifts, so often they weren’t home. But when they were, Rachel and I spent a lot of time catching up.

I owe my sister a lot. She was my safety net growing up. I knew I was gay at an early age, and I didn’t try to hide it. That meant I got bullied a lot. Having red hair and freckles didn’t help the situation. They called methe ginger queer.

Rachel didn’t care that I was gay. She loved me anyway. She stood up for me when the other kids bullied me at school. She’s two years older, and she had plenty of friends and an active social life, but she always made time for me.

It was when I got to high school that I started to appreciate older boys. Especially the rough ones. The dominant ones. The first time I bottomed was the summer after I turned sixteen. I gave it up to a senior on the football team, Dane Stevens. He was a huge linebacker, massive. I was a scrawny kid, so he was easily twice my size, and he had muscles that wouldn’t quit.

Lucky for me, he was a considerate lover, and even though he took the time to prepare me, it still hurt more than I expected. But I didn’t care. I was in heaven. And afterward, he sucked me off because I didn’t come during the deed.

Dane and I hooked up regularly for the rest of the school year, although I’d never call it dating. He never once acknowledged me in public. He was in the closet and didn’t want anyone to know about us. In the spring, he graduated, and later that summer he left for college.

I never heard from him again.

But that was okay. He taught me a lot about what I liked and didn’t like. For the rest of my high school years, I found plenty of other guys to crush on. It was the same situation in the military.We kept pretty hush-hush about our sexuality, but the gay guys could always find each other.

There’s never been anyone special, though. Never anyone who would claim me in public, and say, “Hey, yeah, Sam Harrison is my guy.”

Sighing, I roll onto my back and stare at the ceiling. I’m trying so hard not to think about a certain silver fox.

Have you ever kissed a man?

Why the hell did he ask me that if he wasn’t intending to follow through with it? He at least owes me a fucking kiss. The problem is, I don’t think one kiss will be enough.

I need to get laid.

The first chance I get, I’m going to scout out the gay clubs in Chicago, and I’m going to find myself a silver fox who’s not afraid tokiss a guy.

Chapter 6 – Cooper

I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing. I’m beating myself up as I take the private elevator up to the penthouse floor. I shouldn’t have taken him grocery shopping. I sure as hell shouldn’t have cooked him dinner. And now I’m on the hook to bake him chocolate chip cookies. The guy’s going to get the wrong idea.

When I walk into the penthouse, most of the lights are off. I guess Shane has already turned in. That’s good because I don’t feel like being interrogated right now.

Before heading to my own suite, I stop in the kitchen to get some water. I need something to cool me off, because right now my body feels like a furnace, burning at high temperature for a certain redhead with freckles and big brown eyes.

Damn, he’s beautiful.

I want him. I want every inch of him.