Chapter 8 #3
He held one finger to his lips and gestured to our clothes.
I nodded, and we quickly and as quietly as possible gathered our things, all while hearing Garrett rummage around in the first section of the garage.
Phoenix grabbed my hand and led me to a side entrance.
We didn’t even have time to get dressed.
Taking what seemed like a painstakingly long time, he carefully turned the knob and cracked the door open a few inches.
After listening for a second and not hearing anyone outside, he opened the door a few more inches, made a quick glance around, and then stepped back and let me slip through, following closely behind me.
Not three seconds after gently closing the door, we could hear Garrett saying, “That’s odd. I don’t remember leaving the light on back here.”
My stomach flipped, and I felt lightheaded at the thought of Garrett standing in the very spot that we’d just been naked and getting off.
What the hell had Phoenix done with all that cum?
Ugh, I couldn’t think about that right now.
Knowing that any second, Garrett might open the side door, Phoenix grabbed my hand again and pulled me along.
We awkwardly ran, holding hands while using our other hands to cover our dicks with clothing.
I’m sure we made quite a sight. I would have laughed, had I already known whether or not I was going to survive the embarrassment of this situation.
But then I realized which direction Phoenix was leading me, and all thoughts of laughter vanished.
Oh no. Hell no. I was not going in there stark naked.
“Phoenix,” I hissed through clenched teeth. “Stop. We need to get dressed.”
“No time for that, Pickles,” he replied, nodding behind us as he tugged me into the woods. Risking a backward glance, my face blanched at the sight of the door opening. Phoenix yanked us behind the wide trunk of a white oak tree so fast that I nearly dropped my clothing and shoes.
A few beads of sweat rolled down the sides of his face. He wiped it off on his balled-up T-shirt, and then let the shirt unwind. After a quick peek around the tree, he pulled it over his head, shoving his arms through with as little movement as possible.
“I think he went back inside,” Phoenix whispered while tugging on his boxers.
I managed to get my shirt back on while Phoenix pulled on and buttoned his shorts and shoved his feet into his shoes.
He grinned and whispered, “This is not exactly how I’d planned on things ending this afternoon.”
I snorted out a laugh. “Yeah, no kidding.”
Phoenix peered around the tree again. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” he grumbled. He placed a hand on mine. “He’s coming outside again. Just hold up.”
I rested my forehead on Phoenix’s chest. He wrapped his arms around me and silently kissed the top of my head.
“Go inside, Dad. Come on,” he whispered.
I was trying to be patient, really, and trying to see the humor in the situation, but was overcome by a creepy-crawly sensation climbing up my ankles, along my calves, and around my knees.
“Phoenix,” I whisper-hissed. Oh my God. Something was crawling up my thigh now.
“Shh,” Phoenix whispered with his lips pressed against my ear.
I tried to remain quiet, but this was entirely too much stress all in the name of messing around.
“Phoenix!” I whispered more urgently.
“Okay, he’s back inside.” Phoenix frowned at me. “What’s wrong?”
There were painful pinching sensations now, and I swiped and swatted at my skin. “There’s something crawling up my legs!”
“What?” Phoenix asked, looking down. “Oh, shit! You stepped in a carpenter ant nest!”
He pulled me away from the tree and started flicking the ants off me using my boxers as a weapon.
After I was sure every ant was gone, we shook my clothes out, and he helped me finish getting dressed.
I stared at my legs and could have cried.
There were small red bumps on them. I looked pretty pathetic.
Naked hiking was definitely a terrible idea. I was scratching that tip off the list. I didn’t want to be the cause of anyone else dealing with this; that was for sure.
Phoenix knelt down and inspected my legs. He brushed his fingers over my unmarked skin, avoiding the welts.
“I’m sorry, Jonas,” he said, sounding contrite. “I didn’t realize there was a nest in that rotten log near us.”
“Can we just go back inside now?” I snapped. I hadn’t intended to direct my irritation toward him, but the pain was taking over my brain.
“Yeah, let’s go get those bites taken care of.”
He held my hand and led me around to the side entrance on the opposite side of the house, where we were less likely to be seen entering.
Since the bedroom door was open and Brooklynn was nowhere in sight, we slipped into our bathroom, where Phoenix washed the bites for me and applied calamine lotion to them.
“There, good as new,” he said, patting my knee. He corrected himself upon seeing my expression. “Good as can be, given the circumstances.”
“Thank you, Phoenix.” I hopped off the counter and went to grab a change of clothes, opting for loose sweatpants and a T-shirt.
What a weird day. It started with the highest of highs and ended with the pain of a bunch of stupid bug bites—on just me, of course. Not that I wanted them to bite Phoenix, but it was always me with this sort of luck.
Every dang trip.
My next tip for the article should read: Do not enter nature without first donning a freaking hazmat suit.
Seriously.