Rick broke out in laughter, picturing Drew’s uncles fighting over which color wastheirs. “Could make it a bit easier on all of us. You could wear their branch color,” he suggested.
“Oh yeah, I could see the argument between my dad and Uncle Mackey. Transportation with brick red and Field Artillery with scarlet red. They might be two of the more relaxed of the heptad but the branch competitiveness? Nope, no thank you. So are you avoiding my question?” Maggie leaned against the wall, looking like she was getting comfortable.
“Ready for this? Maybe? Maybe not? I’m not sure.” Rick looked around the blank walls and boxes. “I just…” He took a slow breath and blew it out. “Things are changing. Am I ready to lead soldiers? I think so. I know they’re not going to let me loose without the supervision of a senior NCO. Am I ready to be on my own? I’m not sure on that one. It’s been me and Drew. Now?” Rick shook his head and shrugged.
“Dumb ass,” Drew called out from the hallway. “I might not be in your back pocket or sharing a wall with you but I’m not going anywhere.” Drew put his arms on either of Rick’s shoulders. “I’m a phone call away. Text. Email. Smoke signal, but that might take a bit of time.”
Rick bit the inside of his cheek, trying to control his emotions. Who would’ve thought that it would be harder for him to leave Drew than it was his parents?
“Besides, I need to keep up with Coop and his standings. When does the season start again? I’m now invested in your boyfriend and the dirt bike tour. Maybe I can check out a race or two if there’s some near Lost in Woods,” Drew joked but it sounded flat to Rick’s ears.
“It’s the AMA Arenacross Championship,” Rick corrected. “If you’re going to keep up with me and my boyfriend, then you need to learn the lingo. Just like the military, they’ve got their own acronyms and terms. You’re smart enough. Well, I thought you were but then you didn’t choose Infantry.” Rick pulled back and puffed out his chest.
“Excuse me, boys?” Maggie interrupted. “Before you all get really started with the chest beating, do you think we can get these boxes sorted out? Uncle Kevin and Uncle Mackey will be here shortly with the trucks for loading. Then it’s barbeque time. Uncle Scott and Uncle Liam have been grilling up a storm. Drew, yours to your dad’s truck. Rick, yours will go in Uncle Mackey’s. Where are we taking it?”
“I grabbed a storage area over on Hooker. I’ve just got—” Coop’s voice from the doorway had Rick turning around in surprise.
“Let’s throw the stuff into Vick’s truck. Put it in the garage with mine,” Coop said. “Unless you’d rather waste the money?”
Rick felt a sense of peace flow through him. He’d thought Coop had already headed to training camp. Even with the season just over, Coop needed to work on his starts before the season started up again. Having his stuff stored with Coop’s felt right. Like they were moving toward something more.
“Sounds like a perfect idea,” Rick said as he moved into Coop’s personal space and placed a tender kiss on his lips.
Chapter Ten – Coop
After Vick drove them to the garage, they unloaded Rick’s boxes, working up a little sweat. Coop wanted to take a shower and grab food, and maybe get Vick to buzz off so he could spend some quality time with his man. “So, what’s next, Rick? Is this everything?”
“Yeah. Uh, that’s it.”
Coop felt weird and exhilarated seeing all of their stuff mingling together. The garage was the closest thing he had to a permanent home, for the most part. He’d moved all his stuff here from his folks’ place in Savannah not too long ago, but Vick’s family lived here and let him use the garage as much as he wanted. Hell, they were his second family. But maybe that could change soon. Maybe they could get a place together, him and Rick. That was going way too fast. There was too much in front of them for now. Like camp for Coop and school for Rick. Although they would both be in Georgia for that, they would still be pretty far apart.
And then they also had that pinning thingy coming up. Coop had to get through that and still have Rick speaking to him afterward. He was going to screw it up—somehow, someway. It was inevitable because it was so far outside of his comfort zone, it was ridiculous.
Before getting worked up about all of that, he should start slower. “So? Food?”
“I could eat,” Vick squeaked, and Coop glared at his friend.
“Good. Go eat.”
“Oh!” The lightbulb going off in Vick’s head was practically visible. “You mean…” He pointed to Rick and then to Coop. “Not…” He made some kind of X thing over his chest. “Right.Oh! Hey. Here.” He flipped his keys to Coop. “Take the truck. I’m just going…” He thumbed over his shoulder toward the big house on the other side of the garage, where Vick and his family lived. It was a short walk from the garage, one they’d made together a million times.
“Thanks, Vick.” Coop gave him the old bro-hug, shoulder slap thing.
“Sure, sure. See ya later, Rick.” He waved.
“Thanks again for your help.” Rick was always so polite. Coop could appreciate that, especially when what he really wanted to do was shove Vick out the door.
But it didn’t take another minute for Vick to take off, leaving them alone in the garage. “So, yeah? Food? Or…”
Rick closed the distance between them with his long strides and got up in Coop’s face. “Food, yes. But first…” He leaned forward and kissed Coop. A not-so-gentle press of lips, followed by a demanding tongue that had Coop opening to him immediately. Warm, and slightly sweet, the best delicacy in the world, and Coop couldn’t get enough. He wrapped his arms around Rick’s back and pulled him until their bodies were pressed tightly together. “Been waiting for this since you showed up.”
“Yeah? Well, guess what? Me too.” Coop dove in for another round. He’d happily live off of Rick’s kisses for the rest of his life. When had he become such a kissy-face kind of guy? Oh yeah…Rick grabbed his ass and squeezed. Since Rick entered his life. “I’m glad we met.”
“Me too.”
Coop had the urge to taste more of Rick, starting with his neck. He licked and sucked, then tugged on his shirt to expose more skin. Rick didn’t hesitate to pull it over his head, givingCoop more room to explore. He placed open-mouth kisses down his shoulder.
“You too. I want to feel you.” Rick pulled back long enough for Coop to toss his shirt off, and then they came together again, chest to chest, hands touching every bit of skin they could reach. And Coop couldn’t keep his mouth off of him. “I’m sweaty,” Rick protested.
