Page 29 of Him
We pass the toy store and duck out of the way of two moms pushing strollers. Both women swivel their heads in my direction and stare at my tats. Not with contempt, but intrigue. It happens again on the next block when a group of teenage girls stop in their tracks at the sight of me. The words “tattooed hottie” tickle our backs as we walk past.
Jamie chuckles. “You sure you don’t want to go the bisexual path? ’Cause I’m pretty sure you won’t have any trouble in the chick department.”
“S’all good. Wouldn’t be fair to the straight guys if I threw my hat in the pussy ring. They wouldn’t stand a chance.”
His expression turns thoughtful. “I’ve seen you fool around with girls before. You seemed interested.”
I know he’s thinking about all those nights we snuck into town and flirted with the locals. But we were fifteen, maybe sixteen then, and I was still experimenting, figuring things out.
“Were you just pretending to enjoy it?” he asks curiously.
“Not so much pretending as trying to enjoy it,” I admit. “And it wasn’t awful. I didn’t go home afterward and scour my skin off in the shower. Making out with those girls was… I don’t know…it just was. I did it, it was all right, but it’s not like I was dying to rip their clothes off and get inside them.”
The way I’m dying to rip your clothes off and get inside you.
I clench my teeth, annoyed with myself. Christ, enough. It’s not going to happen with Canning. I need to stop this.
“Got it.” He nods, then tips his head. “Who does it for you, then? Like, what’s your type, looks-wise?”
You. “Ah, I’m not picky.”
We reach the corner pub, but he doesn’t make a move to open the door. He just lingers on the sidewalk and chuckles. “Really. So you’ll just stick your dick in anyone?”
“No,” I concede. It feels so fucking weird discussing this with him. “I’m not crazy about twinks, I guess. I don’t like the whole scrawny, young boy vibe.”
“So you like ’em big.” A broad grin fills his face as he winks at me. “So to speak.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, big’s a nice bonus. Tall, athletic, not too hairy—” That makes him snicker. “—and, I don’t know…” I start to laugh. “You seriously want to hear all this?”
His eyes flash with hurt. “Why, because you’re talking about guys instead of girls? I already told you, I’m not some uptight prude who—”
“That’s not what I meant,” I cut in hastily, and he relaxes slightly. “It’d be weird even if I was describing a chick. Like, what two guys stand around describing their perfect sexual partner?” I widen my eyes and look around. “Did we wander onto the set of Sex and the City? If so, I’m Samantha. Called it.”
The tension diffuses instantly, as Canning’s lips twitch uncontrollably. “You know actual character names from Sex and the City? Shit, if you hadn’t told me you were gay, I would’ve figured it out just now.”
“That was an extremely insensitive case of stereotyping, Jamie,” I say primly. “Just for that? You’re springing for lunch. Asshole.” But I’m grinning to myself as I flip him the bird and stride into the bar.
12
Jamie
Sunday is the day the coaches have off. Pat’s wife usually takes the kids on an outing. They’re all going fishing on East Lake tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, the coaches usually have a drunken Saturday night followed by a sleep-in on Sunday.
We’ve just eaten a six o’clock dinner with all our teenage charges, so we’re officially free. Wes has been at camp for four days now, but we’re usually too beat at night to do anything but chill in our room. So I’m going a little stir-crazy.
“What should we do tonight?” I ask Wes, who is lying on his bed. “You have a car, right? Let’s put ’er to use.”
“My car is a dude,” he says, swiping through some app.
“Of course it is. What are you doing, anyway?” The app keeps making a strange notification sound that’s unfamiliar to me.
“Checking out Brandr. Pretty entertaining in a small town.”
That shuts me up for a moment. Brandr is a gay hook-up app. I’m suddenly ornery because I just assumed we were going out tonight. Together. Maybe that was a stupid assumption, but that’s how it always was before.
“So…” I clear my throat. “How does that work?”
He chuckles. “Come here and see. It’s hysterical. All the worst traits of humanity on display in one place.”
