Find Me in July (Mesa Boys)

Chapter 1

one

T roy looked out the window of his parents’ brand new 1978 Chevy conversion van in the late afternoon sun, anticipation tightening his gut. The greenery of the Northern Minnesota woods cut away to the barely paved drive leading to the dark brown two-bedroom log-sided cabin. They were finally here. He had the whole month of July off from his cashier’s job at Target, no classes for the summer, and a month to spend having fun with Jessie and find out what had happened to him. The last year he’d been hard to get hold of. Troy’s gaze caught on the back of his mother’s short bleached-blonde hair as she sat in the brown passenger seat. His father, in a blue short-sleeve shirt matching his eyes, stopped the van and lifted the shifter on the column under the steering wheel. He turned his head of stubby dirty-blond hair and gazed at Troy. “Here at last.”

“Open the door, Donna.” Troy slapped his younger sister’s arm. “I need to piss like a racehorse.” He shouldn’t have tried to hold it since this morning, but he wanted to get here. Making everyone stop always meant a half hour delay. He glanced at his younger brother, sitting in the back on a brown couch that converted into a bed, reading a paperback, his brown wavy hair hugging his face.

“Take a chill pill.” Donna glared at Troy with her large blue eyes, made even bluer by the blue eyeshadow she insisted on wearing. She flicked her long blonde hair, parted in the middle, behind her shoulder, set her crossword puzzle book on the brown shag carpeting, and slid the door open with a thunk.

Troy crawled over her from his captain’s chair behind his father and out the door, then tugged his t-shirt over the top of his cut offs. “Thanks.” With a quick smile, he held out his hand. “Keys, Mom.”

His mother opened her door, stepped out of the van, then straightened her blouse and smoothed her Bermuda shorts. “Here you go.” The keys she dropped in his hand were chained to an orange plastic diamond with the Breezy Point Resort logo on it.

Troy clutched the keys and jogged to the door. He’d go find Jessie right after his piss. He unlocked a plain brown door, opened it, and strode over thick orange and cream shag carpeting, down a hallway, and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. “Shit.” He shouldn’t have waited so long. He was about to burst. He flipped an olive-green toilet lid and seat up with a groan, gazing around him at the orange towels hanging from a brass towel rack above the toilet, the brown, orange and white daisy wallpaper, and the olive-green sink sitting over a rustic wood cabinet. Mom had the place renovated since last year in all the latest colors. While washing his hands, he checked himself in the medicine cabinet mirror.

His hair was on the shaggy side, but he liked the way it had grown out. He looked a little cooler now. The wavy dark-blond hair fell over his forehead in thick bangs, then around his face and down his neck, barely past the neck of his t-shirt. His brows, a much darker shade, were on the thick side and gently curved. His large, blue eyes were rimmed by dense, dark lashes. He smirked. His mother’s friends always commented on his lashes, even though he was a dude. He shifted his face in the mirror, taking in his smaller, gently sloped nose and wide mouth with thick lips.

He wiped his hands on one of the towels and sighed, then lifted his puka shell necklace from under the neck of his t-shirt. Inspection over. Time to go find Jessie.

He opened the door and sauntered out through the main room.

His father carried two green and orange flower patterned suitcases through the door and into the waiting bedrooms down the hallway. “You going to help?”

“In a minute.” I’ll go find Jess first . Troy glanced at his mother.

She grabbed food out of paper grocery bags, set on an orange laminate countertop on the kitchen island facing the main room. The kitchen was filled with rustic dark wood cabinets, olive green appliances, and wood paneling.

Matching renovations.

“Honey, where are you going?”

“Going to find Jess real quick.” Troy strolled out the door, over the cement entry, and across an overgrown, weedy section between the cabins to the next one over. As he made his way across the side of the cabin, muffled yelling floated out on the air. “What the hell?” He stopped and listened.

More yelling.

It was Jessie’s voice, then Jessie’s father’s. What the hell were they arguing about? He took a few steps more, and a beautiful deep-blue Pontiac Trans Am with the T-tops removed came into view, parked next to a white Cadillac Seville. “Bad ass.” He walked toward the muscle car and stopped. “Damn, Jess.” His friend had told him his parents bought him this car, but it was even better in person.

A clap sounded and Troy turned toward the cabin.

Jessie yanked a white, sleeveless t-shirt over his brown, corduroy shorts and stomped to him, seized his arm, and pulled. “Let’s go.”

“B-but...” I’m supposed to help unpack. Troy followed him.

“Get in the car.” Jessie shoved him toward the passenger side of the Trans Am, then strode around the front to the driver’s side and got in. He turned the car on and revved the engine.

As Troy’s hand rested on the door handle, he looked over Jessie’s almost black head of straight hair, parted to the side, feathering perfectly around his face, his large blue eyes, in stark contrast to the dark hair, watching him, then the slightly pointed nose and generous lips, always curved in a way that showed off his front teeth.

“Get in here.” Jessie knit his brows.

“Okay.” Troy opened the long door of the car and slipped into black vinyl seats, his gaze travelling over a silver patterned dash with round black knobs. “This thing is gnarly, man.”

“Hold on.” Jessie gunned the engine, the back tires spinning out, dirt and rocks flying. The car fishtailed, then grabbed hold and sped off down the drive.

Troy’s head snapped back, and the wind blew the hair off his forehead. “Damn, dude, way to peel out.” He laughed and clutched the door handle, greenery, tall trees, and more cabins speeding by them.

Jessie hit a button on the tape deck, and Van Halen’s Running with the Devil filled the car. He glanced at Troy. “You grew out your hair.”

As heat rushed Troy’s face, he grinned. “Yeah. After graduation I’ll have to cut it to get a job, so it’s the last time I can wear it long.”

Jessie smiled. “I like it.”

“You look bigger. You been lifting weights or something?” Troy let his gaze run over Jessie’s muscled chest and shoulders. Definitely bigger.

“Yeah, I started going to a gym in New York.” Jessie drove the car to the center of the resort, past parking lots and brown log-sided buildings housing condominiums at the lake’s edge, a marina, and a supper club, then down a pine-tree lined street with manicured lawns and sidewalks, past a golf course and larger cabins.

“So, what was going on with your dad?” Troy searched his face. He couldn’t remember a time when he’d heard them arguing like that.

“Ah, he found my stash and had a spaz.” Jessie shook his head, his gaze on the road in front of him. “Plus, my grades were not to his liking last semester.”

“Shit, did he take the weed?” Troy looked ahead of them at the back of the resort sign hovering high above the road, held up by poles over river rock columns built into a river rock wall. A flower bed of petunias lay between the wall and the road.

“Naw, got it right in there.” With a smirk, Jessie pointed to the glove box between Troy’s knees.

“Good. Not having that all month would be a drag.” As the car came to the intersection of the main road and the resort entrance, Troy lifted a corner of his mouth. “So, where we going?”

Jessie pointed straight ahead to a dark brown building housing a restaurant and bar behind a convenience store with gas pumps. “There’s a new bar with pool tables over there.”

“Oh, far out.” Troy nodded and chuckled. Same old Jessie, always wanting to have fun right off the bat.

Jessie drove the car up the road and parked in front of a log-sided building with columns and a foundation of river rock, then parked and got out.

Troy stepped from the car and stuffed his hands in the front pockets of his cut-offs, then strolled into the bar, holding the glass door open for him. As he came inside, he took in the wood paneled walls, the pool tables lined up to the left of him with a few people playing at each one, smoking cigarettes, pretty much all dudes, then the wood bar resting at the back.

Jessie sidled up to the bar. “Beer?” He lifted his brows.

“Yeah. Schlitz malt liquor, if they have it.” Troy scanned around him to an area with low, square tables and chairs with rounded backs set on speckled linoleum, groups of people drinking, eating, and chatting. His gaze caught on a table with two chicks, both with long blonde hair. Damn, they had on some of the shortest shorts he’d ever seen. His cock stirred. He’d have to get their attention later.

Jessie ordered the beers and handed an opened beer can to Troy. “Let’s go sit. I haven’t seen you in what, eleven months?” He offered him a faint grin. “We barely even spoke on the phone this year.”

“Yeah. Where the hell were you?” Troy grabbed his beer and walked to the nearest table. He’d kept trying to call, even though his mom complained about his long-distance phone bill, but Jessie was almost always out.

Jessie shrugged. “I was really busy this year.” He followed him to the tables.

“How come you never came home during the breaks?” Had it really been eleven months since they’d seen each other? Troy slid out a chair and sat down.

“Just didn’t feel like it this year. Too much going on, I guess.” Jessie sipped his beer, then frowned.

In a low voice, Troy said, “Sort of felt like you were avoiding me.” He studied him, wrinkling his brows.

Jessie took the seat beside him and looked him over, then smiled at him. “My best friend? No way, man.” He chuckled and slapped Troy’s arm. “I missed you. You look good.” He sipped his beer while gazing at him.

“Yeah, missed you, too.”

Guess that’s all they needed to say about that. “So, how’s it hanging? How was New York this year?” He glanced at the chicks, then focused on Jessie. He’d definitely get to them later.

Jessie sighed. “It’s great, man. The disco scene is out of sight there.”

Troy laughed. “You’ve been boogying?” He pumped his arms in a mock dance.

Jessie flashed his eyes at him and grinned. “No. Stop it.” His grin faded and he shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve met some new friends this year. It’s been all right.”

“So, these new friends keeping you from studying? Why are your grades down?” Troy watched him. Something seemed off. He didn’t seem as happy as he usually was.

“I suppose.” Jessie sighed and leaned back in his seat, his legs straightening. “It was a long fucking year. Dad’s been on my ass to look over his books at the foundry, but I’m not ready yet. I don’t even know if I want to take the company over. I mean, what if I want to do something else?”

“Jesus, Jess, that’s not cool. Didn’t you make a deal with your dad to work at his company in exchange for going to New York for college?” Troy sipped his beer. Something was definitely off. He’d never heard him talk like this before.

“Yeah, guess I should have thought it through better.” Jessie smirked and gave his dark head a shake. “I was such a dork right out of high school. How was I supposed to know what I wanted to do? All I wanted was to get out of Minnesota.” He focused on him. “So, you finally got out of your parent’s house and got your own apartment in Dinkytown. How’s that going?”

Troy lifted his brows. “It’s stellar. My roommate’s a civil engineering nerd, but he’s cool. We stay out of each other’s way, and it’s working out.”

“Yeah, roommates.” Jessie snickered. “Anyway, so this time next year, after graduation, you’ll be looking for a teaching job and be just like your dad?”

“I have to get my certifications first, but yeah, basically.” He shifted in his seat. “Not just like my dad. He teaches high school science. I want to teach elementary school.” It wasn’t the same. He smirked. Okay, maybe it was a little. Troy glanced at the chicks and came close to Jessie. “See those chicks?”

Jessie glanced at the young women sitting a few tables over, chatting and drinking beer. “Yeah?”

“Foxes.” Troy nudged Jessie with his elbow. “Right?” It was time to get them both set up.

Jessie bit his lip. “Uh, yeah.” He stared at his beer, resting on the table. “Guess you aren’t with Nancy anymore, huh?”

“Shit no, that only lasted six months. It was some good bangin’, but that was about it.” Troy glanced at him. Damn, it had been a long time since they’d caught up. “Should we go talk to the chicks?” Troy went to stand up.

Jessie grabbed his arm and tugged him down. “Hey.”

Troy furrowed his brows, looking at him. What was up with him? This wasn’t like him at all. “What?”

“I’m not, uh... let’s wait a bit.” Jessie drank his beer, then hung his head. When he lifted it, a thin smile rested on his generous lips. “So, how’s Mark and Donna?”

“Mark and Donna?” Troy lifted his brows. What a change in subject.

“Yeah, what did Donna choose for her major? It was her first year at University of Minnesota, wasn’t it?” Jessie sipped his beer.

“Yeah, and she was wacked all year, wouldn’t leave me in peace.” Troy huffed, memories floating through his mind of his sister waiting outside his classroom, needing help with the smallest of things. “She chose political science.” He smirked at him. “You know she’s going to be scoping on you again this summer.”

A shy smile worked over Jessie’s mouth, and he nodded. “Yeah, I figured. I’ll do my best to let her down easy if I have to.”

The memory if his brother reading the whole ride up flashed through Troy’s mind. “Mark is... well, he’s still a nerd. But now he’s a sixteen-year-old nerd with a license and wants to go cruising. So don’t be surprised if he hits us up with that.”

“Nate’s the same. Maybe we can throw them both in the back seat of the Trans Am and cruise Nisswa.” Jessie snorted.

Troy smiled and shook his head. “What a waste of time, but they’d love it.” Nisswa was tiny. No one really cruised there as far as he knew, but their brothers wouldn’t know that.

“Speaking of cruising, what a shaggin’ wagon your parents bought. I couldn’t believe it when I heard.” Jessie fingered his beer can with a smirk.

“I couldn’t believe it either. It’s a little embarrassing, but...” Troy cocked his head at the chicks sitting at the other table. “It might be fun to take it to the drive-in with those foxy mamas.”

Jessie glanced toward the table. “Yeah, maybe. You think they’d be hip to that?”

“Won’t know if we don’t ask.” Troy rose from the table with his beer in his hand, sauntered to the two young women and gave them his most charming smile. “Hi. I’m Troy and my friend over there is Jessie.” He gestured to Jessie.

The young women giggled and glanced toward Jessie fluttering their eyelashes. The blonde closest to Troy put her hand on her chest. “I’m Penny and this is my friend Dawn.”

Troy lifted his chin at them both. “Penny.” Penny had brown eyes. “And Dawn.” Dawn had blue eyes. Good, now he’d remember them. He held out his hand. “Would you like to join us?”

“Sure” Penny got up from the table, adjusted her orange halter top and pulled her shorts over her ass cheeks, then walked to sit beside Jessie. “Hi, Jessie.”

Jessie flashed her a grin. “Hi.”

Dawn rose, gave her shorts a tug, then sat next to Troy’s chair.

Troy kept his gaze on the sway of her ass and the faint crease under the hem of her shorts, then peeked at the hint of cleavage under her low-cut peasant blouse, heat filling his cock. He’d definitely like to get her into the van. He sat next to Dawn. Time to get the formalities out of the way. “So, girls, how old are you both?”

Dawn giggled. “We’re both nineteen. Just finished our first year in college. How about you?”

Troy twisted his lip. A little young, like as-old-as-his-sister young, but not jailbait, at least. “We’re twenty-one.” He looked her over. Focus on the conversation and quite thinking about her ass in those short shorts. “Oh, so are you up here with your families?”

“Yeah, but we’re leaving in two days. My parents want to be home for the Fourth of July.” Dawn gave him a shy grin.

Jessie gazed at Penny. “Are you from the Twin Cities?”

Penny offered Jessie a seductive smile. “Yeah, are you?”

“I’m from Minnetonka, but Troy here is from Fridley.” Jessie fingered his beer, then took a deep breath and glanced at Troy, lifting his brows.

“So, are you both staying here at Breezy Point?” Troy let his gaze fall to Dawn’s very ample breast, then flicked it up to her face. He should keep his mind on the topic at hand, but damn if he didn’t want to jump her bones. As his cock swelled, he adjusted his shorts and glanced at Jessie.

Jessie frowned and stared at his beer.

“Yes, we’re staying in the places closest to the marina on the lake.” Dawn rested her chin in her hands, her elbows on the table and smiled at him.

“Okay, so...” Troy drew a deep breath. Time to see if they were worth talking to. “There’s a drive-in over in Pequot Lakes. You interested?”

Dawn straightened in her chair and looked at Penny.

Penny slowly shook her head.

Dawn huffed. “I don’t know.” She flashed her eyes at Troy.

“Uh, why not? I got a van we can use. It’ll be killer. We can party hardy, if you know what I mean.” Troy chuckled and lifted a brow at her. Come on, these chicks really didn’t want to get it on?

“My dad won’t let me go to drive-ins with boys.” Penny pouted.

Troy widened his eyes. “Well then, don’t tell him.” How hard was it?

Jessie sniggered and held the back of his hand to his mouth. “Dude, are you really asking Penny to lie to her father, so you can take them to the drive-in in your parent’s shaggin’ wagon?”

Troy dropped his mouth open. “Uh, yeah.” He slapped him on the arm. “Dude, we were going to take them. We .”

“How about we go out for ice cream or something?” Dawn sipped her beer.

“Yeah, sure.” It’ll never happen. He wasn’t looking for a girlfriend up here. “Why don’t you give me the unit number of the place you’re staying at, and we’ll call you there.” He could get the unit and then claim he couldn’t figure out how to call them later. He glanced at Jessie.

Jessie smirked at him.

“Sure. I’ll get something to write it down, so you can’t forget.” Dawn rose from the table and went to the bar.

“You sure are quiet.” Penny grinned at Jessie.

“I’m kind of shy.” Jessie straightened in his chair and gulped his beer down.

Bullshit. Troy glared at him. What the hell was up with him today? Not interested in foxy chicks?

“Really, I like shy.” Penny touched his arm.

Jessie drew his arm away, then lifted his chin at Troy. “Dude, finish your beer and let’s go.”

Dawn came back to the table, grinning from ear to ear. She held out a slip of paper to Troy. “Here.”

Troy took it and looked the writing over. “You know the phone number of the place?” That wrecked his excuse for not calling.

“Yeah, the bartender said they’re all the same, you just put the room number at the end.” Dawn sat in her seat.

“Oh, that makes sense.” Troy stuffed the paper in his pocket. He still wasn’t going to use it. Ice cream. Were they in high school? He gulped his beer down and rose from the table. “Anyway, we need to go. Our families are waiting for us. Right, Jess?”

Jessie stood up. “Right.”

“Oh.” Dawn pouted “Okay. Guess you’ll call us later?”

“Yeah.” Troy forced a smile at her. Much later, like never.

Jessie slapped Troy’s arm. “Let’s go.” He waved at the girls. “Bye.”

They waved back. “Bye.”

“See you in a few,” Troy said to Jessie as he stepped into the doorway of his family cabin. “I’m home.” He looked the place over.

The whole family sat around a white oval dinette, right off the kitchen, his mother and father at the head and his siblings both on one side. His mother turned in her chair. “About time. We were just sitting down to dinner.”

His father tented his fingers over his plate of steak and mashed potatoes. “You were supposed to help unpack.”

Troy hung his head and stepped to the table, then took a seat. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

“Mark and I had to do your work. You owe us.” Donna sneered at him.

“Yeah, whatever.” About time she did something . Troy grabbed his paper napkin from his place setting of yellow plastic dishes and unfolded it in his lap.

His mother inhaled. “Anyway, glad you made it home for dinner.” She grabbed his plate and put a steak and mashed potatoes onto it, then poured milk into his glass from a carton on the table. “I suppose you couldn’t wait to see Jessie.”

“Yeah, we didn’t get to see each other all year.” Troy cut into his steak.

Donna came forward, grinning. “So, does he have a girlfriend yet?” She lifted her brows.

“No, doesn’t sound like it.” Troy thought back on the exchange at the bar. Didn’t seem interested in the girls there at all. That wasn’t like him. He focused on his sister. “But I didn’t come out and ask, so maybe.”

Donna’s smile faded and a pout spread over her lips. “Maybe you can ask for me.”

His mother placed her hand over Donna’s on the table. “Oh, honey, he’s too old for you.”

Donna huffed. “Dad is two years older than you. How is this any different?”

Her mother grinned at her father. “Honey, I’m talking more about maturity. He’s grown up a lot living in New York.”

“What do you mean by that?” Troy chewed his steak, narrowing his eyes. Was there something they knew that he didn’t?

His mother glanced at his father, then shifted in her seat. “Well, it sounds like he’s going through some things—you know, growing pains of a sort.”

Troy sipped some milk. “So, I guess you already know he’s questioning what he wants to do when he graduates.” He pursed his lips. Jessie’s mom and his mom were pretty tight, so of course she knew.

His father touched his arm. “Son, you two are close. I think you could be a good sounding board for him. Just... tell us if there’s anything we should know.” He lifted a brow.

What the hell is that supposed to mean? Were they expecting him to spy on his friend and report back? “Sure.” Troy pressed his lips together and shoveled potatoes onto his fork. No way José was he going to do something like that. If Jessie was going through something, he definitely would be there for him, though.

“So, what are you two doing later?” Donna held her fork in the air, grinning at him.

“Not sure. We’re meeting up after dinner, though.” Troy glanced at her. He didn’t like where this was going.

“Take me with you.” Donna beamed at him.

“No.”

“Hey, what about me? Nate wants us to go for a drive in Jessie’s new car.” Mark swung his hair out of his eyes.

“No. Not tonight.” Troy scowled. Damn, they’d been so right earlier today. “Maybe one of these days we’ll take you cruising in Nisswa, okay?” He chuckled. But not tonight. Tonight, there was a joint waiting for him.

Mark huffed. “Fine.”

Donna glared at Troy. “Mom, tell Troy he has to take me with them. It’s not fair to always leave me sitting here.”

“Honey...” Her mother shook her head. “I’m sure the boys don’t want you hanging around with them. You need to go find some of the other girls that are usually up here. I’m sure they’re here by now.”

Troy smirked at Donna. “There are a couple of girls staying at unit one-four-six down by the marina that are your age. I’m sure they’d love to meet you. Maybe go get some ice cream.” He snickered. That’d fix her.