I nod my head quickly and he points toward the subway station at the corner.
“He went that way.”
I thank him and run as fast as I can to try to find Trevor before he leaves. I am relieved when I see him walking toward the platform, and I hop right over the turnstile, hoping there’s no cop around to see me. I don’t have time to mess around with finding my metro card right now.
“Trevor, wait!” I shout as I run up to him.
He turns around and looks at me, and I can tell by his face that he’s angry and upset.
“Where are you going?” I ask gently as soon as I reach him.
“Home,” he says.
“Home to my apartment, or home to Fairport?”
He doesn’t answer me.
“I shouldn’t have come here,” he says with a sigh as he looks at the oncoming train.
“Yes, you should have,” I say as I reach for his hand. “You left the club before I could tell you what really happened. Ididsay those things to Max, but it wasn’t in the way that you think. Max took it completely out of context on purpose.”
“What other kind of way is there to take that?” he asks.
At least he is giving me a chance to explain myself now. For a minute, I thought he might not even listen to me at all.
“When I first got back here, Max called me into his office and told me how grateful I should be for everything he has offered me—the apartment, the promotion, the new project and higher salary. I told him that the only thing I was grateful for was that this whole thing has shown me what I really want in my life. I said in that aspect he hadgiven me everything that I’d ever wantedbecause otherwise I would have never known where my heart truly was. He got mad at me and told me I was being ridiculous, and that was the end of the conversation. So you see, I didn’t thank him for all of this stuff here in Manhattan; I thanked him for making me see that it wasn’t what I really wanted. It was just my little way of exerting some defiance in a situation where I felt I didn’t have any control.”
Trevor looks at me with relief.
“I’m sorry, I should have never had you come tonight,” I apologize.
He lifts his hand and brushes a strand of hair away from my eyes that the gust of air in front of the train had blown there.
“I will always come with you anywhere,” he says. “Just as long as I know you want me to.”
I sigh and he leans forward to kiss my lips. For that moment, it feels as if there is nothing around us at all. The only thing that I want right now is to feel him. When he pulls his face away again, I look around at the platform we are on.
“Where were you going?” I ask, noticing that he was about to get on the completely wrong train.
“I have no idea,” he laughs.
* * *
When we get back to my apartment, there are no more words to be said. There is only the brewing emotion between us that is bubbling over and hanging on our every breath. As soon as we step foot inside the apartment, Trevor pulls me into him and puts his mouth on mine. The rest of the evening fades away and the only thing that matters now is that we are here—arms, and hands, and lips, all interlocked. We barely make it to the bed before every last piece of clothing between us has been tossed aside, and by the time we lay down on the mattress, our bare skin is pressed against each other and I am burning with a desire so fierce that my body is shaking. Without hesitation, I open my thighs and Trevor pushes his throbbing cock inside me. I hear myself gasp and am consumed with the satiation of what I have been longing for every single minute that we have been apart. He moves within me in a steady and powerful motion that pushes against every bit of space inside my body, and I surrender to his touch as he runs his hands along my body and fills me with delight.
In the middle of the night, after we have collapsed into a contented exhaustion together and I lay in his arms, I listen to the sound of his soft breathing as he sleeps. I can’t sleep; I know Trevor will never truly be happy here in the city, and neither will I.
6
Trevor
When I wake up, Ava is already gone. I’m sure that she just didn’t want to be late to work again this morning, especially not after the scene that happened at the dinner last night. I worry about what her day will be like today because I’m sure that Max isn’t going to make it an easy one. Since I know she won’t be back until later, I decide to take another shot at figuring out how to use the fancy espresso machine to make myself a coffee. I have never understood why people like to complicate things so much. I guess I’ve always just enjoyed the more simple pleasures.
When I think I might have actually figured it out and am waiting for the coffee to percolate, I try to think about what living in the city will be like if this is what ends up happening. I don’t have any intention of staying here in Manhattan, at least Ididn’t.But if Ava can’t, or won’t, leave the city, and I know that I don’t want to be without her, then I guess I’m going to need to start thinking about what kind of work I could do here. The mere thought of it makes me feel homesick though. I really just want to get us both back to the rural countryside where things are simpler and slower, and make a whole hell of a lot more sense. But just as I am lost in thought about it, the door to the apartment flies open and Ava comes bursting in.
“Hey,” I say as I turn around to greet her. “Is everything okay?”
I’m glad she’s home, but I’m worried because I know she should still be at work. She rushes up to me with a look of nervous excitement.
