I think she does too. I know she said she just wanted me for her first time. To show her how to come with someone, but…
She searches my eyes, and I part my lips, both of us needing to say something. I want her to know that I don’t want anyone else.
Instead, we kiss again, both of us tightening our arms around each other and not counting the seconds and breaths that pass. What happens next? I can’t think right now.
I brush my mouth over hers. “I’ve never done it three times in one evening.”
“We’ve only done it twice.”
I take her hand and slide it down my body, pressing my hard cock into her palm.
Her chest fills with a breath as excitement lights up her face. “What does it feel like?” she asks. “Inside of it, I mean?”
Inside my dick?
I almost laugh. Questions, questions, questions… Will she ever exhaust her curiosity? I’d like to find out.
“What does it feel like inside ofme?” she pants next against my mouth.
I don’t tell her with words. Slipping inside of her, I slide in and out, her slick heat wrapped around me so tightly my eyes fall closed and heaven spreads from my groin to the rest of my body.
I tell her with my face. The way my body quivers at how warm and greedy her body is.
She doesn’t stop me. Just tilts her head back and moans, rolling her hips in a rhythm that matches mine.
“What do we do if my parents come home?” she whimpers.
But I kiss her mouth and her forehead. “Shhh.” I tremble. “Enough questions.”
I’m guessing I only have about thirteen-thousand breaths left.
Every one of them is for her.
Hours later, I let her peel herself away to go to Frosted. I was tempted to hide away with her all day, but more than anything, I need to make her safe.
I get busy, putting my affairs in order in case shit goes down tonight.
My father’s dress coat, cap, and framed picture sit in a single box by themselves. I close the lid and slide it into a corner in one of Madoc’s storerooms in his basement.
I restack boxes he already had here on top of it and back away, dusting off my hands on my pants.
My stomach aches with hunger, but visions of carrying her to bed just two hours ago—not to sleep—already make my body miss her more than food. Poor thing didn’t get any rest before she had to run off to work.
Backing out of the room, I take a picture in my brain, shut off the light, and close the door. If I tell Madoc the truth—and the police—I need to deliver Drew. It’s time to lure him out.
I release the handle, memorizing the smooth feel of the knob. Who will open this room next? Kade? Fallon? Maybe the door won’t be opened again for a year. I can’t imagine theyneed to sift through old suitcases and yearbooks very often. But at least my father’s things are safe and with people I love.
I head down the hall, past Madoc’s liquor storage and a bathroom, coming into the main room of the basement. Spinning in a slow circle, I take in the leather couch, the bar long enough for ten stools, and the piano. This was where Madoc taught me to play pool when I was fourteen. Where I helped Fallon build a haunted house for Halloween for the kids when they were little. This was where I got drunk for the first time. I still don’t think Madoc knows about that.
I don’t know why I feel like I’m saying goodbye, but throughout my life, I’ve been in rooms I’ll never walk into again. I’ve seen people whose paths I’ll never recross. There are movies I’ve watched for the last time and songs I’ll never hear again and foods that life will never give me a chance to retry. Someday, I’m going to talk to Madoc, and I won’t even realize it’ll be the last time. Maybe today is that day.
Hands trembling, I spin in another slow circle, hearing the music in my memory and feeling the cold can of beer on my mouth from that one summer night ten years ago when I thought life could never get any better.
I felt the worst I’ve ever felt in my life in this town. And I’ve also felt the best. Fuck, I love them.
Leaving the empty house—Madoc and Fallon at work and the kids at camp—I roll down the windows in Jared’s car and drive. My heart rises into my throat the farther I race away from the house.
Whistles from people’s remaining fireworks continue to pierce the air of the otherwise quiet, summer day. Businesses bustle with activity, JT Racing has both bay doors open as they move vehicles in and out, and the public pool swarms with families trying to find some relief in the heat.
