Nate looks away, trying to make himself as small as possible. When he thinks the coast is clear, he turns around to see that they have left. He counts to ten before doing the same. The air outside is cold, and the parking lot is almost packed, but Will isn’t here with his truck. Nate spots them walking on the sidewalk, heading down the path that leads to Will’s house.
Has Owen told his aunt he’s spending another night with his male friend from out of town?
Before he can stop to think, Nate begins to walk. On this quiet evening in peaceful Van Buren, he feels like a predator. He knows where they’re heading, so he gives them enough space to not raise their suspicion. After almost ten minutes, they take a turn left, where they’ll climb on the dirt road leading to Will’s house.
Nate waits another minute before taking the sameturn, in time to see Will and Owen enter the house at the end of the path. Lights come up inside, spilling through the two front windows.
Nate wonders if this is his cue to turn back, but his legs carry him forward. He takes off his shoes when he’s close to the house, stepping on dirt and ruining his socks. When he reaches the porch, he stops to listen. They’ve put on music in the living room, a song Nate doesn’t recognize. It’s a singer’s voice, playing a guitar. It sounds intimate and not very polished, yet still beautiful. Hell, it sounds like Will!
Nate’s skin turns colder than the night’s air. Somehow, knowing that Will is now singing for Owen cuts him deeper than any other shit that happened between them.
Will’s voice is raspy and raw and plain sexy.I would’ve made him sing for me if I had known he could sound like that.
Nate has no doubt where these two are about to move to next. He walks quietly toward the side of the one-story house, where the bedroom is. He crouches and sits on the ground, the window close to his head. Even if they open it fully—unlikely with the cold air outside—they shouldn’t notice him sitting so low.
A part of him thinks he’s seen enough and anything else from this point on will just hurt him more. But maybe heneedsthis pain to fuel his motivation to retake what was stolen from him.
He tenses at the sounds coming from the bedroom. Even with the window closed, he can hear their words.
“I’m going to repeat my previous claim,” Owen says. “You should never be allowed to wear pants.”
Nate growls, an image of Will’s muscular body floating in his mind.
“You’re going to get me into trouble with all that solicitation. Come here.”
Nate can hear their hungry kissing as they move around the room and come closer to the window.
“I love your skin,” Will says. “Maybe it’s you who should be walking around naked.”
“Well, it’s very common in Kansas City. Maybe you’ve been living in the wrong place all along.”
“Tell me about it.”
Silence follows that statement, and Nate can sense the tension in the air.
“I’m sorry,” Owen says. “I know this town is different for you than it is to me.”
“Nothing for you to be sorry for. Someday soon, I’ll share with you what happened between Joel and me, and that should make things clearer.”
Nate scowls, the wheels in his head spinning fast. There might be an opportunity for him to beat Will to the punch and tell Owen the version that most townsfolk believe happened. Owen can rack his head over which version to believe.
“Can I ask for something?” There’s hesitation inOwen’s voice, and Nate listens closely.
“Of course.”
“Can you fuck me?”
“You sure?”
“No, Will, I havesomany doubts about you fucking me in every possible position.”
They kiss some more, and Nate reaches for his gun. He holds it close to his face, inhaling the scent of metal. It calms him down a bit, but it doesn’t last long. Inside the bedroom, the springs in the mattress begin to creak. They’re not fucking yet, but their foreplay is loud and involves a lot of rolling around.
Are they fully naked yet?
Are they holding each other’s cock? Deep-throating each other?
Nate holds tighter to the gun, finding himself rocking back and forth as he silently curses Will for moving on so quickly. They were never in a relationship, but they were in anarrangement, and isn’t that the same thing?
