Chapter 33
33
L abor Day arrived with its trademark sense of melancholy. Joan loved fall, but summer promised adventure, and as it faded, it always felt like the end of something important.
She and Lucas were on their way to a weekend getaway in a cabin near Lake Cumberland, where they’d reserved a three-bedroom place. Gwen and Kendall were sharing a room, with Jacob and Lucas allegedly taking another. They’d rented a boat, packed coolers full of drinks and hamburger meat, and stuffed enough snacks in the trunk to feed an entire college football team for a week. The excursion skirted the edge of being too much work to be worth it, but Joan bubbled with anticipation at the idea of a weekend away. Her car crawled along a curvy back road.
“The last thirty minutes of these drives always seem to take forever,” Joan said. “I thought we were almost there back at the exit.”
“It’s certainly not an easy trip.” Lucas took another sharp turn.
Joan stared out the window. This area of the state represented a topographical departure from Louisville. The blunted mountains, worn from millennia of erosion, rose in the distance. Rich green blanketed the mountain sides, verdant growth that would transition to crimson, orange, and amber come autumn. She couldn’t see the lake yet, but she could almost sense it when she rolled down the window, its earthy scent a soothing shot of nature for her whirling thoughts. She loved hanging at the lake, enjoying how still and serene the waters were, and how she could see the banks at all times, so she was still tethered to land. She turned back to Lucas, whose eyes were trained on the road.
He had suggested holding off on their arrangement, but God, she wanted to touch him again. Her eyes traced down his jawline and to his forearms, which were not so much dusted with hair as covered in it. She’d always poked fun at him for that, but she found herself wanting to rub up against him, to feel his bare skin against hers. Lucas, for his part, didn’t seem as bothered by their lack of contact.
She stretched her legs out in front of her, showing off her athletic shorts and thin tank top, which, other than bathing suits, were the only types of clothing she’d packed for the trip. The dress code for a lake weekend inched past casual and into vagabond territory—a cover up over a bikini qualified as decent attire for the dock restaurant they’d eaten at in the past. His eyes flicked briefly to her legs, and she tensed. Maybe he was missing the lack of touch, too.
“You know, the last time we came here, you were with Emmie and I was with Chet. Maybe we should have chosen another weekend getaway.”
They’d made the last trip with their respective significant others, and on that trip, Maria and Jay had joined along with Gwen and Jackie, whose relationship was new at that time. Joan remembered the whole weekend clearly. She’d woken up on Saturday morning and ambled into the kitchen, where she’d caught sight of Lucas and Emmie making out on the deck. The scene didn’t faze her then, but now her stomach tightened at the visual.
“There’s no reason we have to avoid all the places we’ve been with our exes,” he said. His lip curled. “But ugh. Chet.”
“You jealous?” Joan teased.
“That’s not really my style.” He chuckled. “But kinda, yeah.”
Joan hid her smile with her hair.
“Same,” Joan said, and Lucas’s gaze shot to her in surprise. “I was projecting there. The last time we were here I saw you and Emmie kissing, and it made me feel a little icky just now when I pictured it. It’s silly, I know. And I didn’t care at the time.”
“If it’s any consolation, I don’t know how I’m going to survive the weekend with you looking like that.” They pulled to a stop in the driveway of their cabin, and his eyes trailed over her legs. He put a hand over his heart. “I mean, goddamn.”
She trailed her fingers up her thigh and into her shorts, and he thumped his head against the head rest, groaning as though in pain.
“I wondered if you were feeling as hard up as me,” Joan said. “You’ve been hiding it well if you are.”
“I’m literally dying all the time.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
He lifted his shoulders. “I was giving us time. You think it worked?”
“Well, I’m certainly ready to try our arrangement again if you are.”
“I’ve been ready since I first made that awful suggestion.” He turned into the driveway of the cabin and she smacked him lightly on the shoulder.
“You should have said so!”
They had to cut off their conversation, though, since they’d arrived. Someone wrenched open her car door, letting a rush of warm air into their air-conditioned vehicle.
“Get out, losers,” Kendall said.
Joan laughed and hopped out of the car. Kendall had her arms crossed, shifting her weight from one long leg to the other, her tan limbs svelte where Joan’s were more muscular. Gwen stood behind Kendall in her cutoff shorts and combat boots. With her new hair and her pale skin, Gwen cut a striking, if scowling, figure. She radiated “don’t fuck with me” energy.
“We’re going to miss Maria,” Joan said as she walked to the trunk of her car. She slung her bag over a shoulder and then bent over to lift a cooler out of the trunk. Lucas, who stood next to her, grabbed a handful of her ass. They were hidden from the others by the open trunk, thankfully.
“Behave,” she murmured.
“Never.”
She joined Kendall and Gwen again, pulling a wheeled cooler behind her. An earthy, piney scent permeated the air. The lake fanned out from the trees behind the cabin, and some of her stress dissipated at the sight.
“Lucky you, getting a room to yourself this weekend.” Kendall eyed her as they crossed the patio to the back door.
“Yes, for sure.” She wondered how she could sneak Lucas into her room at night, like a teenager hiding from her parents. Her skin heated.
“I told Maria we would video call her,” Gwen said. “Before her shift starts tonight.”
They filed into the cabin, unloaded their things, and were joined by Jacob after about half an hour of unloading and stocking the fridge. Jacob set some vodka on the counter along with some ginger beer, orange juice, and limes.
“It’s stuff to make a summer mule,” he said. “Thought we needed a signature drink.”
“Sounds delicious.” Kendall ambled over and perched on the counter. “I brought some blackberry wine. Straight up mountain style.”
After they finished organizing the food, Joan and Gwen moved to the deck. The outdoor area was spectacular, and a big part of the reason they had picked his property. Besides the view of the lake and the trees, the deck itself was painted a dusky blue and projected out from the house so that there was room for all of them to hang out in a big circle. A flat grassy area next to the patio gave them space, and a huge hot tub on the deck finished the picture.
“I cannot wait to get in that,” Gwen said, rolling her shoulders. “I’m so sore.” She and Kendall had been seeing a personal trainer, and it showed. Gwen’s muscle definition in her biceps and triceps popped as she stretched her arms overhead.
“You don’t think it will be too hot for that?” Joan pulled her tank away from her body to allow air in.
“Nah. Should feel good once the sun goes down.”
They settled into Adirondack chairs.
Lucas poked his head out the patio door. “Drink orders?”
“Lemonade, please,” Gwen told him with a broad smile. “Kendall made a pitcher of it when we got here.”
“Oh, me too,” Joan said. He caught her eye and smiled at her, a sort of private little grin that made her heart flip.
They spent most of the evening after that hanging out on the deck, having drinks and laughing. Other than the mosquitos, it was perfect. At one point, Jacob found some cornhole boards in a closet and set them up out in the yard.
“Who’s in?” He flipped a bag in the air, catching it in his palm.
“I’ve never played,” Kendall said, but she was getting up from her chair.
“It’s basically just tossing a beanbag into a hole thirty feet away,” Gwen said. “You’d like it. I’ll sit this one out.”
“My hand eye coordination isn’t great. I’m going to be terrible at this,” Kendall said, but she rolled her shoulders gamely. She wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. She looked at Luke.
“You ready, Lukey?”
“Joan and I are always ready,” Lucas said, and it rang with so much innuendo that Joan almost giggled. “We’re serious about this.”
“See, this is the problem with jocks,” Kendall teased. “Y’all peak in high school, then you become menaces when the rest of us are just trying to have a good time.”
Joan put her hands on her chest. “That cuts deep. But we’re still in it to win it.”
They lined themselves up according to their teams. Joan faced Lucas, since partners stood across from each other. Jacob gave her what could only be described as a rakish smile. She took a deep breath, willing herself to not take this too seriously.
Which, no such luck. Kendall’s first toss landed short and super wide. Joan’s bag landed on the board, but not in the hole. Her next throw knocked the first bag in, though, after Jacob overthrew the board. After her first taste of victory, there was no chance she was going to stand down. She lined up for her shot with an intensity that would embarrass her later if someone were taking a video. When she caught Lucas’s eye, though, his look for her was molten, as though he enjoyed watching her like this, and she flushed with heat. They took turns dropping bags into the hole, whooping in excitement.
In the end, they defeated Jacob and Kendall, then Jacob and Gwen, and thus were declared the victors. By the time the sun had set, it did feel cool enough for the hot tub, so Joan went to her room to change. She squeaked in surprise when Lucas ducked into her room after her.
“It’s going to be pretty obvious if you follow me in here when I change.”
“Don’t mind me,” Lucas said. “I just left my bag here by accident.”
She reached into her duffel to extract a bathing suit. She faced him, then shimmied out of her shorts and top. Lucas puffed his cheeks out, exhaling slowly.
“I think maybe you just melted my brain.” His gaze stayed glued on her.
“Kendall and Gwen will want some company. And we’re already acting suspicious.”
They made their way out the sliding patio doors off the living room and out onto the deck. The others lounged in the hot tub, though Jacob had claimed exhaustion and was in his room watching a movie. A gentle breeze stirred the cooler night air, stars dotted the clear sky, and croaking frogs created a call and response symphony. The treeline at the edge of the yard stood out as a dark, irregular contour in the moonlight. As he and Joan padded barefoot across the deck, towels over their shoulder, she thought it might be a perfect night.
She sank into the water, sighing. Lucas followed, squeezing in next to her.
“What is it about hot water?” Joan said. “It’s somehow the most amazing thing on the planet.”
Gwen made a humming noise in assent. She had leaned her head back and closed her eyes.
Kendall nodded at him. “Whatcha got going on this week, Luke?”
“Fall ball, plus some batting lessons here and there,” he said. “It’s a little more relaxed than in the spring.”
“Not that you don’t get all wound up over it anyway,” Joan said, poking him in the ribs.
“Well, yeah. Of course I do.”
Kendall grinned at them indulgently, like one might do with children she was particularly pleased with.
“I feel like we should check on Gwen,” Joan said. “Is she asleep?”
Gwen raised a thumbs up sign out of the water, grumbling something about meddlesome friends. The chime of a text alert sounded behind Joan, and she turned to scowl at her phone.
“Is that your mom again?” Lucas craned his neck to look at Joan’s screen.
“I’m sure. I don’t know what she wants me to do here.” She opened the most recent picture of Ben’s skin, which had apparently broken out into little red bumps underneath the cast he’d had removed. She looked to Kendall.
“I’m just responding to the weekly ‘what do you think this rash is’ text. Don’t mind me.”
“Mine this week was my friend Campbell. She had a question about her blood pressure.”
Gwen cracked one eye open and sat up a little. “Mine was about toe fungus. Good times.”
“Am I supposed to feel bad here? I have no idea what to tell Mom other than to ask Ben’s doctor, and to have him take some antihistamines.”
“This is relatively minor and there’s nothing you can do from here.” Kendall stretched her arms over her head. “He has two parents he lives with and other family members nearby, along with multiple medical facilities in the city. There is no reason she needs your input right this second. Sometimes you need a break from your family caregiver role.”
“Thanks. I like how you frame things. Although maybe I should sign up for a different family job.”
“You could be the family fuckup, like me.” Gwen skimmed her fingers over the foam on top of the water. “Then there aren’t expectations.”
Kendall snorted. “Anyone else have family stuff they need to discuss?”
“Not me,” Lucas said. “It’s really messed up and I have no desire to get into right now.” He shuddered.
After thirty more minutes of chatting and soaking, Gwen and Kendall decided to go to bed.
“We’re going to hang here a few more minutes,” Joan said. “I’ll see you ladies in the morning.”
Once they were alone, Lucas pulled Joan into his lap. He nuzzled at her neck. When she sighed, he circled his arms around her and pressed her snug against his groin.
“Thank God. I love them, but this day has been torture,” he said.
“Poor baby.” She leaned her head back against him.
He bit her lightly on the curve of her shoulder. When she turned to straddle him, they kissed, and her mind emptied of everything else. After a few minutes of heavy making out, he pulled back to look at her. His cheeks were flushed, pupils dilated.
“Can we please go to your room now?”
“Are we sleeping together?”
“Yes,” he said.
They tiptoed back to Joan’s room like burglars. The place was dim, lit only by one of the nightstand lamps. She shucked her wet bathing suit and hung it on a hook in the room. She turned to find Lucas gazing at her, his stare intense.
“You okay?” Joan stepped toward him to take his hand. They were both naked now.
“Just, like, extremely turned on. But I’ll be fine.”
Joan laughed. She pulled her pajamas out of her bag.
“Do I need these yet?”
“Hell no.” He was still looking at her, his eyes tracking up and down her body.
“Did you stare at me like that before and I missed it somehow? I don’t see how that’s possible. I feel like I’m going to combust here.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think I really let myself look before. You were just my friend, remember?”
She sat on the bed, and he positioned himself beside her. He pulled her feet into his lap and started rubbing them.
“God, that’s good.” She smiled. “I can’t believe I never let you give me a massage before. But now I’ve been devoting so much time to self-care it’s starting to feel self-indulgent.”
“Yeah?” His hands kept working.
“I’ve been doing meditation. Stretching. Strength training. Counseling. Physical therapy.” She ticked them off on her fingers, then grinned at him wickedly. “Pleasuring myself.”
“God,” he said with a tortured groan. He leaned over and grasped the back of her head, pulling her to him for a searing kiss. They kissed like they were starving, Joan rising up to meet his intensity. He lowered her to the bed, then kissed down her body, but she gripped his arm.
“I have an idea. A couple of ideas, actually, if you’re okay with it.”
“I like ideas.” He grinned and laid beside her.
“Although, do you think anyone can hear us?” She glanced at the ceiling.
“We can be quiet, I bet. Plus everyone else is upstairs. I want you so bad that part of me doesn’t even fucking care.”
She pulled her to him for a quick kiss.
“I still think being sort of quiet is common courtesy in a shared house. But, uh, how do you feel about, um,” she raked her hand through his chest hair. “I’m having trouble saying it.”
“Ask for what you want. There’s almost no chance I’m going to say no here.”
“Okay. Maybe I can show you. Can you lay on your back?”
He did as she instructed. She scrambled to straddle him, then hesitated. He brushed his fingers over her arm, squeezed her hip.
“Whatever you want, Joan.”
“How sweet. You actually called me Joan.”
“Sorry. Doris.”
Emboldened, she moved up until her body hovered over his chest. “Can I…?”
“Fuck yes.”
“You sure?”
“Come here,” he growled, hooking his arms around her knees and hauling her forward. She lowered herself to his mouth, relishing the position for how much control she maintained. His tongue found the edge of her clit and she rocked against him, surrendering to wild abandon. He gripped her hips and moved with her. She made a noise she wasn’t sure she’d ever made before, a sort of breathy whine, and he doubled his efforts, his hands moving along her thighs with urgency as he licked her. They writhed together until she started to cry out. Lucas reached up to clap a hand over her mouth, ostensibly to keep her from bringing the whole house out of their rooms, but he grinned at her until she collapsed beside him, ponytail hanging askew. His self-congratulatory smile warmed her.
“Thanks,” she said, and giggled. He stared at her in wonder, as though he’d never be the same again. Frankly, she wasn’t sure she would, either.
“You’re amazing,” he said. “I can’t believe what we’ve been missing all these years.”
“Good sex?”
“Otherworldly sex. But just,” he laid his hand on his chest, “something else, too.”
She knew what he meant. There was a closeness there, a trust that she’d never had before. It felt dangerous, this bond. After a few minutes, she started pulling at him again.
“As long as we are experimenting, I want to try something else. If you’re okay with it.”
He nodded. His hands were behind his head, erection jutting out, and he yelped as she bent over to lick the underside of it. She grinned at him.
“Tell me if this is too much,” she said, and he quirked his brow.
“I’m intrigued.”
“Get on top of me,” she commanded. He moved to position himself over her. Then she grasped his erection and touched it to her clit. “I want to try some grinding. I’ve never done this, but I trust you here.”
She moved against him, slicking his cock up and down between her labia while he ground against her in tandem, and she experienced a faint spasm or two, but no pain. The friction sparked pleasure along her nerve endings, lighting her up with little starbursts along her spine. She didn’t think she could orgasm this way, but she’d never had someone’s penis so close to her without fear or pain. She pulled him down for a kiss, and he seemed to give himself over to her. He was flushed, the tendons in his neck corded.
“Too much?” She pulled her mouth to one side, studying him, then moaned as he hit a particularly sensitive spot. She rolled her hips, and he whimpered. “Talk to me.”