Cubby
All the windowsdown and summer air whipping through the car, I cruise up and down the mountain roads. Cell reception disappeared the second I got out of town, so I’m following the directions Chase gave me, trusting that the dark, forested roads will lead me to him.
Anticipation makes my skin tingle. After three days of solid work, I’m dying for the release Chase will offer, but I’m excited about a lot more than that. I’m going to see his cabin, where he plans to spend his life. Chase is opening himself up to me, and I’m desperate to learn everything I can about him.
“C-A-S-U-A-L,” I say to myself, spelling the world slowly. “Casual.”
Chase’s place sits at the end of a dirt road, and as soon as I pull up, his dog starts barking. My headlights shine across towering trees that stretch in every direction, then land on the two-story wooden cabin. It’s lit up inside, and as I watch, Chase’s giant silhouette appears on the front porch. The sky is open above us and filled with stars, and lightning bugs flash through the yard.
Fuck, this feels nice. Part of me hates that Chase’s home is so far away from my regular life. I can’t even fantasize about us ending up together in the far future. But honestly, the distance from the city and the quiet are things I love about Lake Steamy too.
“You found us,” Chase hollers, and a big black dog with shaggy fur comes pouncing toward me.
“Max!” I yell with a laugh, jumping in the air to greet Chase’s dog. “It’s you! It’s Max!”
“Careful. He’s going to like you forever now,” Chase says as he approaches.
I rub Max’s head one more time, then greet Chase by throwing my arms around his shoulders. “Your cabin is gorgeous. Thank you for having me.”
An awkward smile fills his face, and then his hands land on my hips. “Glad to have you here.”
Max barks, and I give Chase a quick kiss before I step back. “I just wish I could have finished my work earlier and caught your cabin in daylight.” I turn back to the car, find the bottle of wine I picked up, and hand it to him. “You’ll have to invite me back soon.”
Chase grins when he takes the wine and tosses an arm over my shoulder. “I’m sure I will. You get your work done?”
“First video is ready to post tomorrow. I’ll have to be online to manage it all day.” We start walking up the dirt path to his cabin, and I find my spot at Chase’s side. “Part of the reason I’m so glad to be here.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I can’t even get service out here, Chase. It’s like an oasis.”
“Yeah. It’s like an oasis for me too.” He steers us around the side of the house, by some flowering bushes, all dimly illuminated by the lights of the house and the moon. “So how do I watch this video tomorrow? Can you send me a link?”
For once, I’m not sure what to say. With all the hustle that went into getting the post ready, I haven’t really had a chance to consider that Chase would want to watch it. I haven’t divulged the total truth about my work to him yet, and I wasn’t necessarily planning to. But when he asks me directly like this, I realize I’m incapable of hiding from him at this point. It seemed to make sense before, but now, concealing the truth just feels wrong.
“You want to see my videos?”
“Of course I do. It’s your dream, right?”
“Well, yeah, it really is.”
We reach the back of the house, where the mountain starts to curve down again. The hills sprawl in every direction, thick with trees, and the crickets are so loud, they’re like music.
Chase raises an eyebrow. “Something wrong?”
“No! Nothing’s wrong,” I say quickly, then reluctantly step out from under his arm so I can face him. “It’s just that there’s actually a lot of stuff about the videos and my career that I haven’t explained to you. It’s not anything bad,” I insist, then roll my eyes up to the stars as I search for a way to tell him that I’m posting my bare ass for the entire world to see tomorrow afternoon. “What I’m trying to say is the type of content—”
“Hey.” Chase grabs my hand. “Hey,” he repeats, his deep voice steady. “It’s okay.”
I purse my lips. “It is?”
“You want a casual hookup, and I’m okay with that.” Chase gives me an eager nod, and it hits me that he must have really put some thought into this. “I’m not the kind of guy who likes to get in someone else’s business if I’m not invited.”
“Oh.” I clear my throat. “Cool, then, I guess.”
Except that now I’m frustrated. Now I want him to get in my business and demand to know what I’m hiding, which is a totally ludicrous thing for me to want. If I were dating some guy in the city and he invaded my privacy before I was ready to open up, I’d dump him immediately.
Chase relaxes into a smile. “I even considered that question you asked me. What I want when we have sex.”
