Chapter 6 #2
Instead, I just scrub myself clean, the day washing off me slowly. I come back to myself piece by piece, reemerging as Whit once more.
The moment I step into the bedroom, dressed in my armor of long sleeves and black pants, Caleb rises from the bed and strides toward me.
His bottom lip is flushed pink, like he’s been worrying it with his teeth.
His fingers stretch out, brushing against the fabric that clings to my arms, each touch sending a shiver through me.
“What?” I finally ask.
“You seriously not going to talk to me about what that was back there?” he asks when the silence stretches between us, taut and uncomfortable.
My gaze turns away, and I peer over at him through my lashes. “Not about this, no.”
He rubs the back of his neck, looking almost shy. It’s dangerous to my sanity.
“You mad at me for taking you out?”
I force my hands into my pockets and shake my head.
“No. It has nothing to do with that.”
He sighs loudly, wanting me to elaborate, but I can’t. I won’t.
“You seriously not going to share?”
My lips roll between my teeth, and I shake my head again. “No, can we just go downstairs?”
Another heavy sigh meets my ears. “Yeah, alright.”
He walks to the door and pulls it open. He steps through it without a backward glance, and I’m left to trail after him.
When we make it downstairs, I see Liam is in the kitchen, making sandwiches. He’s bent over as if he’s perfecting a masterpiece, and as I draw closer, I realize they might actually taste good.
Caleb groans when he sees what Liam is making. “Yes. I love your sandwiches. A true master at work. They look amazing.”
“Well, they’re ready,” Liam says, scooting two plates our way.
I take mine with a soft murmured “thank you” and move to the kitchen table. Caleb follows, sitting down next to me. He scoots his chair over until our thighs are touching, his ankle hooked around mine.
“This is amazing,” he groans, consuming half the sandwich in just a few bites.
I don’t even know if he tasted it.
I eat mine less like a hungry Labrador and more like someone with manners. But as I thought, they are delicious. Liam has a talent with sandwiches that few people have.
I catch Liam’s gaze, and he grins at me. He looks so much like Caleb right now.
Speaking of Caleb, he shifts closer to me. He’s almost on my lap now. I shouldn’t be surprised, but he’s effortlessly intimate. Like it costs him nothing to be this close.
I wonder if he knows he’s doing this or if he’s just reckless and unashamed of it.
What must that feel like?
To just exist as you are, without hesitation or fear?
What would that freedom taste like?
“Anne’s going to be pissed she missed this,” Liam says, waving a hand between us, pulling me from my thoughts.
Caleb rolls his eyes and laughs. “Yeah, well, maybe Whit and I’ll entice her out of her hidey-hole next time.”
I peer over at him, and he explains, “His wife’s an artist and goes through these phases where she just paints. We don’t see her for weeks while she’s creating shit.”
“Yep. Gets really focused,” Liam says as he gulps down the rest of his soda and lets out a bullhorn burp. I’ve never heard something so loud in my entire life. That really must be a skill.
He grins at my shocked face and then fist-bumps Caleb before nodding toward the door.
“Well, as much as I’d like to stay and chat, I’ve got to go set shit on fire. I’ll be back tomorrow morning for more fun. I’ll see if Anne can come. She’ll want to see your boyfriend again.”
“We can’t wait,” Caleb says, and I eye him, unsure why he still hasn’t corrected them on what we are.
“So, we’re boyfriends now?” I ask when Liam finally departs.
“Apparently. You good with that?”
Am I? I’ve dated people in the past, but not anything particularly serious, and not in a long time. And now…well, serious is off the table for me.
“For now,” I say noncommittally.
His leg hooks over mine, and he leans into me even more. I didn’t know that was possible, but apparently, he has a certain skill set.
“What are we going to do the rest of the day?” I ask when his nearness steals my breath.
Caleb’s face transforms, and he wiggles in his seat. “Well, thought we’d go shooting.”
My eyebrows fly up. “Shooting?”
“Yeah.”
“I have a moral qualm against guns.”
“Shut the fuck up,” he says, pushing himself up. “Finish that sandwich. You eat like you’re the Queen of England.”
“Better that than a two-year-old,” I reply, and Caleb leans down and bites the back of my neck. His teeth sink into the skin, and I gasp, something wild slithering through me.
“Let’s go, Plato. Enough of your weird moral dilemmas. The real world awaits.”
I huff, straightening my spine. “I can’t be rushed.”
Caleb rolls his eyes and then places his ass on the tabletop, watching me eat. His close inspection of my chewing hurries me up, and a few minutes later, I’m following Caleb outside. In the distance, there’s a makeshift shooting range dotted with homemade targets and a rusty old car.
My eyes settle on the charred stretch of land before me. I didn’t think anything could burn in the desert. “Why does it look like there was a fire here?”
Caleb waggles his eyebrows at me. “We blew shit up last time I was here.”
“Seriously?”
“It was epic. I’m sure we can recreate it if you want to watch.”
Good god, no. The mudding was enough. I’m not sure my brain could handle explosives.
“No. I’m…no, thank you.”
Suddenly, a staccato rattle of gunfire pierces my ears, and I whip my gaze over to Sem and Luke wielding semi-automatic rifles in their strong arms. Their gazes are laser-focused, their mouths curled up in excited grins.
I’m going to die this weekend.
I’m sure of it.
Their manic laughter whips around me as shells fall onto the ground around their feet. This is like some kind of horror film, I think when it suddenly stops.
My ears buzz as Luke steps toward me. I stare at the gun he’s holding out to me.
“You should try it. It’s fun.”
“It looks…frightening.”
“Nah,” Luke says, and then places it in my hands.
It’s warm and heavy. I shift it in my grip, not sure what to do with it. Caleb sidles up behind me, his arms sliding around my waist as he helps me position it.
I never asked for this.
But then, maybe I did.
When I slid that contract over to the reckless boy across the table and offered to be his roommate.
That’s when I sealed my fate.
His hands move around mine, and he steadies my hold on the gun.
My finger curls around the trigger, and I pull.
It kicks with each shot, a violent jolt that rattles my teeth.
I have no clue where the bullets land, but they definitely don’t hit any of the targets.
Dust kicks up in the distance, and I realize I probably fired straight into the ground.
But at this moment, that doesn’t matter.
The rush of simply firing it leaves my pulse racing and my eyes wide.
“You’re terrible at this,” Caleb murmurs, his lips hitting my ear. I can feel his grin against my skin.
“I’ve never shot a gun in my life. Of course, I’m terrible.”
“Well, there’s nowhere to go but up. You can come with me to the shooting range near school, and then when we come back, you can kick ass.”
“I think this is the last time I’ll handle one of these.”
He doesn’t debate it, just loads the gun again and places it back in my hands. I thought I was done with this, but apparently, I’m a glutton for crime.
It helps that Caleb is wrapped around me, his groin up against my ass, his hands dragging down my thighs. I can’t fucking think when he touches me like this, let alone aim.
“Stop distracting me, Caleb,” I murmur. “I can’t focus.”
His breath hits my ear once more, and I feel his hands curling against me. “Nah. You got this.”
And then my finger crooks, and I unload on the target, hitting it mostly in the middle.
Thrilled shouts erupt around me, and I feel my lips curling up at the corners.
Caleb grabs the gun and sets it to the side, leaning in and nuzzling my neck.
“Did you see that?” I ask, and Caleb nips at my neck.
“Fuck yeah, I did.”
“Get a room,” Sem shouts before unloading his gun into the targets once more, almost as if emphasizing a point.
“Had enough of this?” Caleb asks, and I nod. It was fun while it lasted. My nerves are still humming with the adrenaline surging through me. And then his fingers weave through mine, and a new thrill pulses in my veins.
It’s him.
It’s simply him.
We end up in the bedroom, our eyes intent on one another, something hot and heavy crackling between us.
He looks so fucking good like this. Slightly rumpled, skin a little flushed from the sun.
I take that back. He always looks good.
I should resist it, should resist him, but being behind a closed door, being alone with him, and the desperate way he’s looking at me…
He’s begging without words.
My body heaves toward him, pushing him roughly against the wall, my fingers pulling the shirt from his head.
He groans as I toss it onto the ground.
“Not going to fold that?” Caleb teases, but I ignore it as I cup his cock in my hand. It’s hard and ready. He lets out a gasp as I squeeze it roughly.
“I shot a gun today,” I murmur, moving my free hand to undo his pants.
“No one forced you. That was all you,” he replies as I tug his pants and boxers down. He kicks them off, leaving him completely naked except for the backward hat, completely exposed.
So fucking hot.
“There are many things I’m doing with you I’ve never done before,” I add as I wrap my hand around his straining, bare cock one finger at a time, savoring it. Memorizing it.
He arches up into my fist, and I squeeze him roughly once more.
Then I start to move, twisting my wrist slightly, feeling the pull of his skin against my palm. He lets out a garbled groan.
“That so?” he asks, his voice strained. His cheeks are flushed a pretty pink, his chest heaving, his nipples pebbled.
“Yes, Caleb. That’s so.”