Chapter Six
Charlie
The motel was across from a strip mall with one of those drugstores that sells groceries, and Gavin volunteered to drive over and stock up on supplies after we secured our room. We’d gone by the drive-thru and scarfed down Big Macs and fries, and I was pleasantly sated from the food and sex.
I was also grinning to myself like a crazy person. I unlaced my sodden sneakers and left them at the door, being sure to shake as much snow out of my fleece as I could before spreading it over one of the two chairs by a little table in front of the window.
There were two queen beds, and my heart hopped, skipped, and jumped all over the place as I thought about being in one of those beds with Gavin.
Of course the doubts were already whipping through my head.
What if he changed his mind while he was across the street?
Would he really want to have sex with me? Did he mean all that stuff he said?
“Enough!” My voice was sharp in the empty room. “Stop over-thinking this.”
I cleaned the wheels of my pink suitcase with some toilet paper and heaved it up onto the closest bed. My hands shook as I brought my washing stuff into the bathroom and shut the door. Maybe I’d have a quick shower and clear my head. Scrub off the road stink.
My phone buzzed as I was climbing out of the tub and rubbing my wet skin with a cheap towel. “Hey, Mom. I was just about to call you.”
“Where are you, honey? Another storm’s moving in, and I really think you should stop for the night.”
“Yeah. We got a motel room outside Sandusky.” I hated saying it out loud, but there was no escaping it. “I’m not going to make it in time. I’m so sorry. Is she upset?”
Mom gave me one of her exasperated sighs.
“Hon, there’s not a reason in the world to be sorry.
If there’s one truth we can rely on, it’s that there’s not a darn thing we can do about the weather.
Ava understands that. She’s decided to postpone Christmas until you get back, so you boys take your time.
There are pileups all over the place, and it’s not worth the risk. ”
“Postpone Christmas?” My heart clenched. “What do you mean?”
“No presents or turkey until you’re here. We’ll just pretend the twenty-sixth is the twenty-fifth. Easy peasy.”
“I don’t want her to have to wait for presents.”
“It’s her choice, and that’s that. Do you have enough money? Everything’s going okay? Aside from the damn weather.” She cleared her throat. “Darn weather, I should say.”
I laughed. “I might need to borrow a little to pay off my credit card, but I can pay you back in the new year once I have more shifts at the library.”
“Don’t worry about that. We’re covering your trip.”
“But—”
“No buts. End of discussion. We’re doing fine. I don’t want you worrying about money. You worry about enough.”
“I… Okay. Thanks.”
“And Gavin’s okay for money? I heard from Mrs. Papadakis that his parents are down south, so if he needs anything, we can help.”
Stay casual. Be normal. “Gavin’s okay. He’s great. Everything’s fine!” I cringed at my rushed, overly peppy tone. Ugh.
Mom was silent for a moment. “What’s going on with Gavin?”
I bit back a groan. “Nothing, Mom. Is Ava there? I want to say hi.”
“In a minute. Charlie, what aren’t you telling me?”
It’s not that I didn’t want to tell her—she’d given great advice when I was dating Tim—but I was still processing everything. It hadn’t even been an hour. But there was no point in trying to brush off my mom. “It’s not bad. Turns out Gavin’s gay too.”
“Oh! So are you two…?”
“Maybe. I guess. I don’t know what’s going to happen.” Questions whirled through my mind. Is this just a holiday hookup? Are his parents going to freak out? How long does it take to get to Stanford from the city? “I don’t want to get ahead of myself.”
“Right. I understand. But you know the drill, yes?”
“Yes, yes. Don’t worry.” Hmm. I actually hadn’t packed condoms since I’d planned on spending all my time back home with Ava and my folks. Good thing that drugstore was across the street.
“I always worry, Charlie. It’s my job. Hold on.” Mom said to someone else, “Yes. Here you go.”
Ava’s little voice filled my ear. “Hi, Charlie. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, Bear. I’m fine.” My eyes burned. Fuck, I missed her so much. “Stuck in this snow, though. But I don’t want you to wait for me to have all your presents. You should have Christmas on the right day.”
“No, I want to wait. It wouldn’t be the same. I’ve never had a Christmas without you. It’ll only be a day or two more. I’ve waited this long already. I’m good at waiting.”
That nearly had me blubbering all over the place, but I kept it together. “I know you are. You don’t think Santa will mind making two trips?”
She lowered her voice. “I’m sure he won’t since he’s actually Mom and Dad.”
“Wait, what? That’s crazy talk.” She was eight now, but it still hit me with a pang that she didn’t believe in Santa anymore.
“Going to every house in one night doesn’t really seem possible. Besides, we don’t have a chimney, and we lock the doors. It’s okay, Charlie. I still love Christmas.”
My throat tightened. “Me too, Bear. It’ll be awesome. I’ll try to make it home as soon as I can.” I hated that I would miss Christmas Day, but I realized that the lingering terror of that nightmare had finally, finally evaporated. Listening to her talk now, I knew Ava was safe.
“I know. I can’t wait to see you. But things are even better when you have to wait for them. Oh, guess what? Mom let me go skating today with Whitney and Nisha. It was so much fun! You won’t believe what Nisha did.”
As Ava rattled on, I was struck by how amazing it was that my baby sister was growing into this little person, with thoughts and ideas.
There had been times I thought she’d never live to see eight years old, and I hoped with everything I had that the remission would hold.
It was hard to breathe through the swell of pure affection.
“Sounds like a good day, Bear. Wish I’d been there.” I’d managed to keep my voice steady, or so I thought.
“Don’t cry, Charlie. I’ll go skating with you when you get home. I promise.”
“Yeah? Okay. It’s a deal. Tell Mom I’ll call in the morning. Love you, Bear. Give me a growl?”
She roared into the phone, and I roared back. After I hung up, there was a sharp rap on the door.
“Charlie? Are you okay?”
Laughing, I opened the door. “I’m fine. It was this thing Ava and I do. We shake, and we also roar. I know, we’re freaking weird.” I frowned. “Gavin?”
He was staring, and I realized I was naked. Gavin licked his lips, and I shamelessly trailed a hand down my chest to my cock, desire rushing through me. Before I could think of something porny to say, I noticed the colored lights behind him. “Wait, what?”
With a little smile, Gavin stepped aside. “I thought since you won’t make it home on time, you could have a little Christmas here.”
I walked into the room, taking in the strings of colored lights Gavin had hastily strung over the wide dresser, trailing them across the top of the TV.
He’d done the same over the headboards on the beds.
The overhead light was off, and the room glowed with color.
On the table, a blue candle flickered. “Does Hanukkah start tonight?” I asked.
“Yeah. No menorahs at CVS. I figured the candle was better than nothing.”
I stared some more. “It’s…”
“Lame, I know. I can take it down.”
Grabbing his arm, I shook my head. “Don’t you dare.
It’s perfect.” I pulled him into a hug, and it should have been weird since I was naked and he was in his jeans and sweatshirt, but it wasn’t at all.
I closed my eyes and breathed him in, all snowy and fresh and a little sweaty, and okay, he needed to be naked now too.
I started tugging and unzipping, and he stripped down in a blink.
Jesus, he was gorgeous. Broad shoulders and slim hips, those long legs and lean muscles, and a curved, cut cock jutting up from a thatch of dark hair.
His breathing was already shallow, and his gaze raked over me from top to bottom.
I opened my mouth to ask him what he wanted, and Gavin sank to his knees.
Holy crap, my legs wobbled at the sight.
The Christmas lights glowed pink, yellow, red, blue, and green, washing over his skin and making the auburn in his hair all the richer.
I ran my fingers into it as he stared up at me with wide eyes and parted lips.
He leaned into my touch as he ran his hands over my thighs. My cock was already hard.
Tentatively, he nuzzled against it, and I was so turned on I wouldn’t have been surprised to see actual sparks flying off the end.
He licked his lips, still looking up at me, and it was all I could do not to thrust my hips and ram it into his mouth.
His breath skated over my dick. He finally broke eye contact, circling the base with one hand and sucking the tip.
“Fuck!” My voice seemed too loud in the stillness of the room.
Gavin pulled off immediately and sat back on his heels with wide eyes. “Was that wrong?”
“Oh my God, no. Don’t stop.” I urged his head back, my patience unraveling in the face of my raging hard-on. “Please.”
With a little smile and an apparent surge of confidence, Gavin not only kept going, but took it to the next level by opening his mouth wide and sucking me in as deep as he could.
It was a good thing I had the wall beside the bathroom door to lean against, because I might have toppled over as his lips stretched around me, his nostrils flaring.
Spit leaked from his mouth, and he licked and slurped, moving back and forth.