Page 92 of The Rest is History

Reece has moved from cleaning trailers. By July he’s chopping wood full time.

This pretty man with the soft, sad-not-sad eyes has no idea what he looks like with a chainsaw in his hand. I’m not surprised that Brian is offering to buy him lunch every other day, to which Reece politely declines each time. But what I find a little shocking is how much I want to rip the skin right off Brian’s face for going near him.

It’s not me, this insane possessiveness. He’s mine and he’s ours, is what pounds inside my brain when I think about anyone else touching, wanting him.

We make an effort to keep our distance at the woodlot now that I need to fuck him every time he’s within two feet of me. It’s helpful that he doesn’t need training anymore, and we sometimes work on opposite ends of the lot.

Still, I watch Brian like a hawk, and feel all kinds of stupid because I’m not the jealous type. Asher is my love, and he was all I needed, and I have never felt the threat of losing him, not even when Reece showed up at our home.

But Reece . . . I want to hide him away just in case someone tries to take him away from me. From us. I’m jealous of the smiles he offers up to the boys, especially Brian, and I want to drag him away when they get too close to him.

And I’m afraid. I’m afraid he’ll realize this was all a mistake and this life is too simple for him, and he’ll make an announcement any day now that he’s going back to Paradise Valley. He doesn’t want us – me – anymore. Our town is too small for him. Too backward. Not enough excitement. He needs to figure things out.

We can't do things together outside. He still lives in his apartment, so I try to make the weekends he spends with us exciting. Maybe he won’t feel like leaving if there are things to do.

I show him how to carve out figurines from wood. He loves it, I think, but he’s terrible at it. It doesn’t matter, we keep trying week after week when Asher is away at football camp and gets in late.

Back in June, I showed him how to prepare the ground for corn planting in our backyard, and we planted radishes and cucumbers together. His glee when the first sprouts came up was so endearing that Asher had to hold him tight and tell him what a good job he’d done.

In the middle of August, Reece politely declines Brian’s invitation to dinner at Al’s Diner. Now, two weeks later, my blood is boiling, standing in the middle of the woodlot watching him eat lunch with Brian. I throw down my mattock and head for the wash basin, which is situated less than two feet away from them.

Reece follows my movements, chewing slowly, a tiny smile pulling at the corner of his lips. He’s enjoying this? He can watch me and Ash fuck tonight for this behavior. Grabbing a towel from the portable rack, I stuff it into my back pocket and drop my head under the faucet, letting the water wash over my hair and face. Wait. No. He’d like that too much.

“You have to stop looking at me like that in public.”

I run the towel over my face, not turning around. “Yeah? Like what?”

“Like you own me.”

“Don’t I? Or is it Brian that owns you, baby?”

Reece chuckles, and I finally turn to find out what’s so funny. “You’re so hot when you’re jealous,” he says. I stare at his brown eyes and his pink lips, shiny from the touch of oil left over from his fried chicken. His work clothes are dirty. His hands, roughened over the last few months by manual labor, flick through his overgrown hair, sending dust into the air, and what I wouldn’t give to bury my face in his neck and smell his sweat. His pretty face is a stark contrast to all this manliness he’s exuding right now.

My face heats up. Not because of the hot part, or whatever, but because he knows about the jealous part. Brian comes up behind Reece.

“So, what do you say?” Brian asks him. I shoot Reece a look.

“About what?” I ask.

This motherfucker just grins. “Brian wants to go out for drinks after work.” He lets me stew, and then adds, “All of us.”

I’ll show him. I shrug. “Why don’t you go ahead? I’m going to see my sister tonight. And her baby.”

Reece’s eyes widen like someone promised him a double penetration. Full of happiness.

“You guys go on without me. I’ll spend some time with little Ezra.”

“Hey, wait,” Reece says. “Can I come? I want to see Ezra too.”

Brian raises his eyebrow. “Most people go to bars to get away from babies,” he says. And I want to fucking deck him, but that’s not fair because he doesn’t know anything. Only I know, and I’m sorry that I used Ezra to get Reece to stay with me, but I knew he'd choose seeing Ezra over going to the bar.

“Reece likes babies,” I say, but I can’t keep the bite out of my tone.

“Didn’t even know that.” Brian shrugs and pats Reece’s back. “Next time.”

At the end of the shift, Reece is waiting for me at the truck. We drive the fifteen minutes to Pippin’s place with Reece’s hand on my thigh and my hand covering his. When we’re out of our residential area, I link my fingers with his and bring our clasped hands to my lips.

“You’re special, Reece,” I say, taking my eyes off the road for a second to look at him. “I don’t want to share you with anyone but Asher.”

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