“Great. We can take our time then.”
He turned to glance at me, and when he saw the smirk on my face, he laughed to himself. “Come on, Gunner,” he said. “Tell me where we’re going.”
“Okay, okay,” I said, gripping the steering wheel. “There’s a little gated community outside the city, deep in the mountains. It’s filled with vacation homes that rich people in Seattle keep, but the places are almost always empty, especially during the week.” I steered us around another bend, keeping one eye on Malcolm’s nervous expression. “You know how rich people are,” I said dismissively.
“So, what?” Malcolm asked, putting his glasses back on. “Do you have access to one of those houses? Does it belong to your boss or something?”
I nodded, still grinning to myself. “Yup, something like that.”
We kept driving in silence, the road getting emptier as we made our way from the city. Malcolm stared out the window. I couldn’t imagine what was going through his head, but so long as he was letting me keep driving, I figured we were in good shape. Anyway, the old growth forests and the mountains looked special at dusk, and it felt good just to have him by my side.
It was funny how good it felt, actually. Malcolm always seemed like he was on the edge of objecting or walking away from me, but as soon as I turned up the flirtations, he fell right back into my hands. I was so used to being bullied around and treated like some punk kid. To have a smart guy like him following me around was about the nicest feeling I’d had in years.
I just hoped that the gated community was the same as I remembered it. A couple of guys at work had talked about breaking into the place before, finding one of those empty vacation homes, and posting up for a night of partying. I’d driven up there once myself, bringing a six-pack of beer with me and getting tipsy in some stranger’s hot tub before falling asleep on the porch. Without anyone to drag along, though, the thrill hadn’t been quite as good as I had hoped.
With Malcolm by my side, I could only imagine the trouble we could get up to.
As we drove, he did his best to make awkward first date conversation, asking me about my family and my work. I was sure it was the kind of thing he normally chatted about on dates with other cuties, although I had about as much interest in telling the story of my parents as I did in giving a foot massage to that asshole Dave from the crew. Instead, I’d just slip into one of my best stories to impress him, bragging about my construction skills or the time I won an arm-wrestling competition in the dive bar near the demolition office. By the time we made it off the highway and toward the vacation homes, Malcolm was so wrapped up in my stories I almost wished the ride wasn’t over.
Pulling up to the gate, I threw the truck into park and kicked on the emergency brake. “Damn, Malcolm,” I laughed, “I barely asked you any questions about yourself.”
Malcolm shrugged. “Not much to talk about, I guess.”
I turned to face him, struck all over by how pretty his face looked. Now that it was night out, the lights of the dashboard illuminated the truck just enough for me to see the shapes of his lips and the golden brown tones of his skin. “Shush,” I said, stroking his cheek with the back of my fingers. “I’ll get you talking anyway.”
Under my touch, he shuddered, just a little.
That probably would have been the right moment to kiss him again. When his tongue darted out across his lips, I could easily have given into my temptations, pushing his seat back and jumping right on top of him. But with the gate to figure out still, I was much more excited about getting him inside of those houses and taking my time with him once we were there.
Instead, I reached across Malcolm, flinging his door open. “Let’s go.”
Malcolm blinked. “Isn’t there a code to get through the gate?”
I shook my head, then turned and jumped out my side of the truck. “Nope. This is a climbing gate.”
He scrambled out behind me. “A climbing gate?”
I glanced back at my truck, considering whether I should actually move it further off the road. Knowing how empty the whole place was likely to be, however, I decided it was probably safe until the next morning. “A climbing gate,” I confirmed. “Are you a good climber, Malcolm?”
“How am I supposed to know if I’m a good climber?”
I wrapped my hands around the metal bars, judging the height. “I don’t know. I guess you just try to climb stuff,” I answered. Before Malcolm had a chance to ask any questions, I hoisted myself in the air, wrapping my leg around one of the rungs.
“Wait a second,” Malcolm said, grabbing my leg. “Are we breaking in?”
I lowered back to the ground, and when I turned to see his face, my heart practically melted. He just looked so concerned, so nervous and worried. But from the light dancing across his eyes, I knew he was pretty damn excited, too.
“I told you, there’s almost no one around here unless it’s a summer weekend. We’ll find a cute place to crash and have some fun together, see where it goes from there.”
“Oh no,” Malcolm said, stepping backward. “No. I’m sorry, but nope. I can’t do that.”
“Can’t do what?” I asked, stepping forward as I teased him. “Can’t keep up with me?”
“I can’t break into a house!” Malcolm said, like it was the wildest idea he had ever heard. “I’m a children’s librarian! If I got caught doing something like this—”
“What,” I interrupted. “Would your mom and dad get mad?”
Malcolm flinched when I said it. I could tell he didn’t like that particular jab, but it had also gotten him to go to the park with me, so there must have been something there. “I’m just not willing to spend a night in jail.”
