Page 32 of Something Good
I’d never flirted with anyone before. I’d always kept that side of myself locked up tight, but here with Sammy, in checkout lane four of Walmart on a midsummer night, it felt like the most natural thing in the world.
He eyed me deliberately up and down, pulling his lower lip between his teeth. “You’re hot as fuck.”
My cock sprang to life, going hard in record time. All the blood in my body seemed to be either pooling in my cheeks or in my dick.
“Jesus, Sammy.” I swiped my card and completed the transaction while I willed my cock to calm the fuck down. I wasn’t sure how I’d lost control of the conversation, but it always seemed that way with him.
He handed me my receipt. “I’ll be outside in fifteen.”
Then the fucker winked.
15
SAMMY
We rolleddown the county highway with the windows down and the music turned up, and it was nice to imagine, just for a moment, that I didn’t have a care in the world. That I really was on a date with a boy I never imagined could be mine.
I watched him as he drove, his hair blown about by the wind, head bopping along to whatever shitty pop song was playing on the radio. I ached just looking at him, trying to press save on this moment so I’d have it to look back on for years to come.
Will. My something good.
He slowed his Jeep and turned onto a gravel road that led us into the woods several miles outside of town. It wasn’t long, maybe a quarter of a mile, before the lane opened up and he pulled to a stop and killed the engine. We appeared to be parked on a small bluff overlooking what I thought was the same creek that ran through town. From this spot, you could see for miles and miles across the Nebraska countryside. Every now and then, fireworks lit up the night sky on the horizon, like our own personal display.
“How did you find this place?” I asked in wonder.
“This is the back edge of Jason’s grandpa’s property. He told me no one would bother us here.” Will brushed his hand across my cheek. “Come on. Let’s get out.”
We got out of the Jeep, pulling his shopping bags with us, and moved around to the front of the car. Will ripped the tags off the sleeping bag and spread it out in front of us, then sat and gestured for me to sit between his legs.
Wordlessly, I sank down in front of him and settled in with my back against his chest, my head resting on his shoulder with his arms wrapped around me. Unbidden, a lump formed in my throat. I couldn’t remember the last time someone held me, had wrapped their arms around me like I was precious.
“Relax,” he whispered in my ear, and I made a conscious effort to do as he asked, even though everything about this situation sent alarm bells through my nervous system. For nearly nineteen years, I’d built up my armor layer by layer to protect myself, to protect Jimmy, to survive, and he was wiggling his way in through all my defenses with a blue sleeping bag and a whisper in my ear. Goddammit.
“We lived a little way outside of town out in Grand Island, far enough that you could see the stars on a clear night. I used to lie on a blanket in the backyard and wonder if you were at our spot looking at the same stars I was.”
“You can’t see the stars from our spot. The trees are too thick.”
He tensed behind me, and I cringed at my own flippant comment. I hadn’t meant to shut him down.
“I’m sorry I didn’t write you. I’m sorry I left, and you had to deal with the shit with your family by yourself. I should have been a better friend.”
I sighed. “We were kids. I know what I said when you first came back. I know I held it against you, but I was just being a petty asshole. You didn’t have any control over the move anymore than I’ve had control over the shitty stuff my mom’s done over the years.”
“But Ishouldhave written. I could have called. You shouldn’t have had to deal with any of that by yourself.”
I sat up and turned to look at him. “You couldn’t have done anything about it. And honestly, I wouldn’t have wanted you to see all of it anyway. I probably would have pushed you away or tried to hide it from you. It would have driven a wedge between us.” I reached out and tipped his chin up, making sure he was looking at me. “You’re here now. That’s what matters. I fought you and pushed you away and was generally an asshole, and still, when I called you, you didn’t hesitate. It’s more than anyone’s ever done for me in my whole life.”
“It’s not a hardship, Sammy. Being with you.”
I shook my head. “I don’t deserve you.”
“It’s not a question of who deserves who. You need to get that bullshit out of your head. Do you want me? Do you want to be with me?”
“Yes,” I whispered into the darkness. It was a wish and a prayer and a desperate yearning.
“Then you’re mine. Fuck all the rest of it. We’ll figure it out.”
He leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine. They were soft and warm, and when he nudged the seam of my mouth with his tongue, I opened for him. He deepened the kiss, his hand coming to the nape of my neck to hold me there while he plundered my mouth with his greedy tongue. He tasted like joy and goodness, and while I was scared of what this might do to both of us, I was helpless to stop it.
