“It does.”
“Can we pull over? I want to take a pic of me beside the sign,” I quickly said so he’d have enough time to pull over.
“Of course.” He merged the car to the shoulder of the road about five yards away from the sign.
“I thought it would be cool to take pictures of the trip,” I announced and took my seat belt off.
I hopped out of the SUV and pulled my phone out. It was fucking cold out while I quickly got the setting just right on the phone.
“Here, let me have your phone, and you go stand by the sign,” Russell said. “And zip that jacket up, Ryan.”
I hurried toward the sign and zipped up the jacket. I flashed my smile and relaxed as he walked toward me after he took the pic. I held my phone out so I could see the pic he'd taken.
“We need one more picture,” he said as he wrapped his arm across my shoulder. He stretched his arm in front of us. “Smile, Ryan,” he said. After he took the picture and it appeared on the screen, frozen in time, he handed me back the phone. “Now get your ass back in the car,” he said.
On my way back to the SUV, I grinned at both of the pictures. The one of me looked dorky, but I thought April and Kim would like it. I loved the one of me with Russell. We were going to have a great time getting pics of our trip. Together.
* * *
“Man,look at all of the red rock,” I commented while I glanced around the desolate Utah landscape.
“It’s quite the sight, indeed.”
We were deep into the afternoon portion of the drive and had agreed at lunch that I would drive the rest of the way. For the most part, Utah had a ton of open land. After I had been driving for a few hours, Russell grabbed our snack bag from the back. He set a granola bar out for himself and then he held out an oatmeal raisin cookie.
“No way! You brought cookies!” I took the cookie he offered to me and took a big bite out of it.Mmm, I loved these.
“Of course I brought you some cookies. There aren’t many, but it’ll hold you over for a few days.”
The cookie energized me, and I was ready to play more nonsense games with Russell.
“Okay,” I began. “If you could only use one piece of your playroom furniture for the rest of your life, what would it be?” I asked and then shoved the rest of the cookie in my mouth.
“That’s easy. It’d be the spanking bench,” Russell said confidently. I was a little surprised by that answer.
“Really?”
“Really. You sound surprised.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“Because you love the overhead bar thingy with the cables that come out of the frame.” I tried to explain it the best I could, and now that I was thinking of it, I had no idea if it actually had an official name.
“I enjoy that too, yes. But your question asked me for one.”
“Why the spanking bench?”
“Because of what it does to you, Ryan.”
I felt my face getting warm.
“It helps free the monsters from your past. It strips you down and forces you to let go and give me your pain. It allows your soul to breathe.”How the fuck does he have all those things at the ready to say?“And it turns you the hell on,” he added, instantly lifting the near emotional moment for me. Which, he probably knew too.
“I love the spanking bench,” I confirmed.
“Mhmm. I know you do, my boy.”
