Page 80 of Voices

I squeeze my cheeks at the dull ache around my hole. “I’m good. A little sore but it’s not too bad.”

“Good.” He stands up and walks me backward to his bed.

The backs of my thighs hit his mattress. I fall back, watching him follow as he leans over me with a soft smile.

“I’m happy you’re here, beautiful.” He pecks me on the lips. “What do you say we go check out that place I wanted to show you on your birthday?”

I try to think back to what he’s referring to, but I have no memory of him wanting to take me somewhere.

“I’m going to need some clothes.”

He laughs as he pulls me back up to stand. “I think I can find something for you to wear.” He holds my hand as we walk into his closet where he grabs two hoodies and pants. “You’ll have to go commando,” he whispers conspiratorially, pumping his eyebrows.

I snort as I take his clothes and get dressed. I’m drowning in them like I do with all his clothes, but they smell like him. After putting on a pair of his socks, I walk to him holding out my hand. He slides his fingers through mine with a bright smile. “Let’s go, beautiful.”

Ryder still isn’t back from running away from his burnt veggie burgers, so the condo is quiet as we put our shoes on and head down to Shane’s truck.

We climb in, turn up the local rock station, and head out to the main street. I still have no idea where we are but when I see the sign for the highway, my stomach drops a little. But he gets on the ramp heading west and not east towards Indiana where my father is.

I watch as the tall buildings along the busy five-lane highway turn into a calmer two-lane. We drive for about forty minutes when he exits. There’s nothing but trees on either side of the road as far as I can see. He drives for another ten minutes before turning onto a dirt road. We bounce over the bumpy road until I see a clearing up ahead. I sit up to get a better look.

There’s a huge lake with massive trees and stone cliffs on the either side with boats way out in the water. And there are so many colors. The stone cliffs are a mix of natural tans and browns with black running through them. The trees are every color you’d think of when you think of Fall. The sun is gleaming off the water making it appear clear. I jump from his truck as soon as it’s in park and make my way to the edge of the water.

There’s a loud bird call coming from one of the higher cliffs. It makes the call again then a bald eagle soars down and flies a few inches above the water. Its talons come out right before it drops into the water, coming out with a huge fish. It flaps its wings quickly as it flies back up to the top of the cliff.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Shane asks from a few feet behind me. I turn to find him with a large bag over his shoulder and a red and black checkered blanket over his forearm.

I walk up to him and take the blanket, lay it out on the grass and sit, taking in the scene from this viewpoint. Shane sits down next to me and hands me a flat rectangular box.

“What’s this?”

“Open it.” He pulls food containers from the bag and sets them out as I open the box.

I suck in a breath when I see a pack of premium pencils and a new sketchpad. I turn to him and kiss him. He wraps his arms around me when I pull back.

“You didn’t have to buy these for me. I have so many at home but thank you.” I kiss him again before sitting back down, facing the lake.

“I wanted to surprise you with them so you can capture the beauty here. Lily said these are the pencils you like and the guy at the art store said this is the best paper for sketching.”

This man.

“Thank you, Shane. Really.” He leans over and gives me a quick kiss then points to the food he set out.

“I had Asher pick these up for us while you were sleeping.”

It looks good but my fingers are itching to capture the beauty of this place. I nod as I open the sketchpad and pull out a graphite pencil. I begin a rough outline of everything then work on one section at a time as he feeds me.

I’m in the middle of drawing the bird’s nest in the tree off in the distance when Shane moves behind me. He sits with hislegs on either side of mine with my ass up against his crotch. He places a hand in the center of my chest and pulls me back to lean on him. He lets out a sigh as he wraps me in his arms.

We stay here until the sun sets, turning the sky pink and orange. I wish I had my watercolors so I could paint this perfect sunset.

Once the sun drops below the tree line, we quickly lose light. I help Shane gather the food and grab the blanket. We walk hand in hand back to his truck. When he turns it on, the headlights shine on a deer and its fawn drinking from the spot we were sitting by. We watch them for a minutes before Shane backs out and heads down the dark road.

“Thank you for taking me here. It’s absolutely gorgeous.”

He smiles without taking his eyes off the bumpy road. “No problem. I figured you’d enjoy the serenity nature has.”

“How did you find a random lake in the middle of nowhere?”

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