Page 151 of Happy Hour

“What is it?”

His eyes lit up, he loved talking car. “It’s a Subaru Impreza STI. Awesome on the dirt,”

“Are we taking it camping?”

“Precisely why I rented it, well, bought it now.”

“Neato,”

I still hadn’t forgotten about the red dragon but this was a nice distraction. And let’s face it; I was easily distracted just like my heathen.

We walked down the gravel driveway to the car that was parked under the birch trees. It was pretty, shiny silver, and had a turbo.

Running my hand over the hood, I thought of my pit lizard days on the hood of Jameson’s race car.

My eyes shot up to his when he chuckled.

Winking, he bit down on his lower lip and was by my side in a second. “As much as I want to try out this hood...we need to get up to Dayton Peak soon.”

Damn him.

Loaded with tents, sleeping bags, more junk food than any one person could possibly need, and more beer than any one person could possibly need, we made our way through Shelton towards Dayton Peak.

Once we hit the dirt roads Jameson stopped the car, letting the engine rev a few times. His eyes darted over to me when he changed the song playing on his iPod to The White Strips,Icky Thump.

“Hold tight guys,” he warned revving the engine twice before slamming it into first gear, his head bouncing to the beat.

The back tires spun spraying gravel and dirt over the surrounding pine trees.

Emma screamed, Aiden laughed, and I was in carnal lust naturally. Watching everything he did; it was hardnotto be turned on.

Just like in his race car, the way his agile hands maneuvered the steering wheel, the quick movements his feet made shifting gears, the muscles in his forearms that flexed with each shift, all a turn on. As we went sideways drifting around the corner, he belted out a verse from the song.

I laughed out-loud, Emma screamed again, and Aiden laughed.

Driving the way he did a sprint car, he pushed the car to the very edge of each corner before throwing the wheel the opposite direction.

I could tell by the smirk plastered across his face; he missed this. He loved racing in NASCAR but Jameson would always be a dirt track racer, it was in his blood. His grandpa raced, his dad raced. It was all he has ever known.

It didn’t take long to reach Dayton Peak with Jameson’s driving.

Unloading the car, Emma was trying to carry the beer over to the fire when she dropped a few.

Aiden had his arms full so she looked towards Jameson, who was peeing on the side of a tree.

“Jameson, I need help!” Emma yelled from behind the car balancing boxes. “Please.”

“No,” he answered. “Leave me alone. You stabbed me.”

“He holds grudges doesn’t he?” Emma looked at me.

“Not really, but you didstabhim.”

Though it took some time, we eventually got everything unloaded, the night fell into our usual blitheness we found within beside the fire. Aside from a few instances of sibling spats regarding a recent stabbing.

The storm from the other night was lingered making for a rainy and windy night but that didn’t stop us from having fun.

From our campsite, there was a spectacular view of the Puget Sound area. It was the best place to watch fireworks on the Fourth. From Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma and Olympia, you could see it all.

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