Page 33 of Smoky Mountain Dreams
“Because I don’t even know if I believe it myself.” Jessefingered one album’s edge, pulling it gently from the shelf to get a good lookat the cover. “You realize that vinyl was supposed to be killed by CDs? No cellphone until this week. No CDs. No MP3s, I wager. I can see that you haven’tbought into any crazy newfangled things. Let me guess, they’re all just aphase?”
“Ha,” Christopher said. “It’s the twenty-first century. I’mnot a complete Luddite. I’ve got an iPod Touch. My sister gave it to me forChristmas last year. I do use it for MP3s, actually. And for Grindr.”
Jesse chuckled.
Christopher took some long swallows of water, hoping that hewouldn’t have to piss once he got hard; that could get uncomfortable. But as itwas, his mouth was dry. He didn’t know if it was nerves or anticipation, but hetook another drink to soothe his tongue.
“When I was a kid,” Jesse said, crouching down andcontinuing to browse the vinyl, “my mother used to send me outside at night asa punishment. I was terrified of the dark, of ghosts and things I couldn’t see,and if I didn’t eat my dinner or refused to pick up my toys before bed, she’dput me out back and lock me out there for a while.”
Christopher’s eyes went wide, and he took another sip ofwater just to keep from saying something rude about Jesse’s mother.
“I’d sit out there, as still as I could, and justfeelthe air around me. Thinking that any minute I’d begobbled up by a bobcat or stolen by a bear or confronted by a ghost. And tokeep calm, I started naming the way the world around me felt, the layers ofsensation and the information available in any space.”
Jesse perused the albums as he talked, his expression intenton what he was finding in Christopher’s collection. “Then I started doing itall the time—in school, at church, at my dad’s office. Each place had a flavoror a scent, like a perfume. My dad’s office in the main factory was paper,yeast, sugar, flour, cologne, ambition, and a top-note of fear. My mother’sbedroom seemed thick and smelled of tears, and disappointment, and mold. Thisplace—” Here he broke off and looked around again with a smile on his face. “Isall love, and goodness, a lot of cozy laughter. I’m pretty sure there’ve been alot of sugar cookies baked in here, and…” he sniffed. “Chili.”
Christopher shook his head in bemusement.
Jesse kept his face turned toward the albums. “And over allthat is a layer of loneliness. And that makes me both love the place, and feelsad too. Because I think you shouldn’t be lonely.” Jesse met his eyes, and thenquickly looked back at the music he was sorting through.
“Is this like with the jewelry? Every place has a story?”
“Yeah, but buildings talk. Jewelry—it’s full of magicbecause it keeps its secrets safe. And, here’s thething about jewelry—any given piece can change and transform the person wearingit.”
“You’re kind of nuts,” Christopher said, shaking his headwith a sudden burst of fondness for this man he was getting to know. Jesse keptsurprising him, and he didn’t know if he’d ever get tired of finding out whatJesse had hidden behind his charming good looks and easy-going attitude.
Who knew he had a thing for dark-haired men going onmatter-of-factly about the secret messages of houses and the magic of jewels?It was news to him, but there was nothing Jesse had just said that made himwant to back off from what they were here to do. If anything, it just made himwant to do it even more.
“Nuts, huh?” Jesse said.
“But it’s hot anyway.”
“Good, hot is what I was striving for. Anyway, about thatstuff with my mom—for the record, I can’t imagine doing anything like that tomy kids. No need to call CPS on me.” Jesse pulled out an album. “Del McCoury. ‘Lonelinessand Desperation,’” he read softly and then sang a few bars of it. “Love thisone. And it seems apropos given our conversation.”
“I can put it on.”
“Nah,” Jesse put it back in its place on the shelf andstood. “You could sing it to me, though. Indulge my fantasy of being a starfucker, Chris.”
“Only if you indulge my fantasy of being a star.”
Jesse grinned. “It’s a deal.”
Christopher sat his water bottle on the counter. He sangsoftly as he approached, grabbing handfuls of Jesse’s shirt to jerk it freefrom his waistband and belt.
Jesse tilted Christopher’s face up by the chin, swallowedvisibly, and then closed his eyes. “I love your voice. You don’t need to beLash Hinkins. Your voice does things to me.”
“Come to my bedroom. I can do even more things to you there.”
Chapter Eight
CHRISTOPHERWAS SLIM, AND SQUIRMEDunder Jesse’s hands. His body hair was a darkergold than the hair on his head, and he was pale and—there was no other word forit—prettyas he moved beneath Jesse on the bed,gasping with each touch of Jesse’s mouth on his skin, shameless in his hunger.
They’d been almost naked by the time they hit the bedroom,shirts left on the floor of the living room, where they’d paused to kiss andgrope, and jeans and boxers trapped at their knees when they’d shoved them downdesperately in the small hallway, banging against the wall as they’d thrusttheir hips at each other. Their cocks had pushed together, all hard and velvet,and Christopher’s neck had tasted delicious on Jesse’s tongue, his pulsebeating wildly there, and his hands tight on Jesse’s ass, pulling him in.
Now Christopher was spread naked on the bed, squirming totry and get his socks off with his toes, while Jesse distracted him with licksover his tight, small nipples, and bites to the edge of his collarbone.Christopher held Jesse’s hair in tight fistfuls, moaning as a red mark roseimmediately on his pale skin. Jesse sucked at it, making it bigger. Christophertwisted under him, and Jesse hunched his own cock against the soft bedspread,desperate for some friction.
Jesse hadn’t even had time to look around the room—he’d beenabsorbed in getting Christopher even more out of his mind with lust. Becausefuck, the way he was already trembling and spilling out wantonwhimpers when Jesse hadn’t even gotten his mouth on his cock yet was one of thehottest things Jesse had seen in a long time.
Christopher jerked on his hair, and Jesse went up foranother kiss, wet and deep, both of them breathing like race horses as theyclung and rolled, aligning their bodies so that their cocks rubbed. Jesse couldfeel their hearts thundering in their chests.
