Page 30 of Fire
A split-second glance was all it took to recognize the black-and-chrome sedan rolling toward the house. With a shuddering gasp, Tobias bolted out the front door.
Roger stayed where he was, watching the Eldorado stop at a haphazard angle and Jake emerge. He’d hardly cleared the door when Tobias barreled into him, knocking him back against the Eldorado. With a laugh, Jake wrapped his arms around Tobias in return, pressing his mouth into Tobias’s ear, saying something that Roger didn’t bother to interpret.
His mouth tugging up into something like a smile, Roger turned away to the kitchen, pulling from the fridge a couple beers, plus a Sprite for Tobias. Jake would have vanquished the spirit. He’d come back for Tobias, who’d gotten by all right without him, barring a couple of rough spots. No one else could match the Hawthornes for issues, but this particular pair would still come out all right at the end of the day.
6
Six months later
Jake had been thinking about Toby’s eighteenth for a long-ass time. More than a year, in fact. He’d had a bunch of ideas before Toby’s seventeenth, some of which he’d ultimately discarded as bad ideas. In another lifetime, Toby might’ve liked amusement parks, even Disneyworld. But in reality, the combination of rollercoasters, people screaming, and crowds were not a recipe for a good time.
What Toby really liked were books—which he had plenty of, Jake made sure of that—and nature. They stopped for dozens of viewpoints and national parks as they criss-crossed the states, but for the big milestones, Jake tried to find things they wouldn’t do otherwise. Like last year’s botanical garden with the cherry blossoms.
He’d thought about zoos, but ultimately decided against chancing their luck with close proximity with people and anything to do with cages, no matter how fancy. It was in one of their humble motels in Wyoming that he saw the brochure for a nearby cable car ride up onto the mountain. It seemed genius. A whole new view of the land, way higher than they’d normally ever go. Toby would love getting to see the tops of trees, he was sure. And he figured that if they went first thing in the morning on a weekday, they’d have the best shot at getting a car to themselves.
Sure enough, when he told Toby his idea, his whole face lit up with his adorable barely-contained-but-brimming-with-excitement thing. Hell yes, it was going to be an awesome day.
Jake was pretty proud of himself until they’d climbed the stairs to board the cable car and he saw the thing descending toward them, justswingingon—was that seriously it, the cable? Was it supposed to be that thin?
Toby was already climbing up the last few steps to the landing area, and he turned to look at Jake quizzically. Jake made himself mount the stairs.
The car came to a stop at the boarding platform, where an attendant swung the door open. An informational video had been playing overhead, which of course Jake hadn’t been paying attention to, but now he kinda wished he had.
The car seemed a little small, in his opinion. The walls felt close. And the black metal floor seemed solid, but who knew how old those bolts were?
With a jerk, the car started forward. Toby pressed his nose to the window, watching the ground fall further and further away from them. Jake realized he was holding onto the pole running down the center of the car like an old man, like Roger or something, but he didn’t really feel like letting go.
Toby had turned back to study him, and Jake made himself let go of the pole. He started toward Toby, then the car swung again, and he cursed as he made another grab for the pole.
Then Toby was by his side, taking his free hand. “You’ve never been up this high?”
Jake muttered something, looking out the window away from Toby. Bad move, as he got another stomach-churning look at the bare rocky terrain far below. Literally nothing at all to support them in the air besides the stupid-ass cable overhead. He gripped the pole tighter, though it was slippery now under his palm. If there was lubricant leaking in their damn cable car then he was going to absolutely make that someone’s problem as soon as they were back on terra firma.
“Hey, Jake.”
Jake forced himself to look back at Toby. “What’s up, tiger?”
Toby studied him, head cocked to the side. “Have I told you about Taco Tuesdays?”
Jake couldn’t have heard him right. “What about Taco Tuesdays?”
“Back then. In the nineties.” He tilted his head backward. They’d been expanding their personal code, andin the ninetiesmeantinside Freak Camp. “We had Taco Tuesdays, of course. We wouldn’t get fajitas, but we could choose between corn and flour tortillas, along with all the toppings.”
Jake stared at him. “What?”
A smile curved Toby’s mouth—one of Jake’s favorite fucking expressions, full of confidence and delight. “Didn’t I tell you? I mean, everything else sucked, but we still had Taco Tuesdays. Oh, and movie night once a month. Only for classical movies, though. Mostly musicals. Victor made popcorn.”
Jake did a third take. Maybe he was having a stroke. Did you hear gibberish when you were having a stroke?
“Not good popcorn, though,” Toby added. “Only the generic kind. They weren’t going to spring for Orville for us.”
Jake listened, more bemused than ever as Toby told him about the previously unheard of perks of Freak Camp, like it was actually part senior living center complete with an activities manager and a pool. Before he knew it, their cable car was sliding into place in the landing zone. Another attendant opened the door, and Toby tugged him out.
A much cooler wind blasted Jake’s face, and he shook his head to clear it as they walked up the trail to a viewpoint. “Toby. Did you just . . .?”
Toby actuallysmirkedat him before turning away, moving to lean against the railing that overlooked the valley and town below.
That night, after shutting and bolting the motel door behind them, Jake drew in Tobias close, hands on his hips. “I can’t believe how sexy it is when you lie to me.”
