Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
JONES
The hike up the mountain brought up a lot of old feelings. I led Ryan to the main trail as a trip down memory lane. We’d left Lily at home since she was looking a bit tired.
She’d been sleeping a lot these days, which, from what I read online, meant that she was probably going to give birth soon. I still couldn’t get over the fact that my fur baby was gonna be a mama any day now.
The main trail hadn’t changed much from the last time we trekked it together. Hell, I even recognized some of the more notable trees we used to play around on as kids.
“Hey, look! It’s still here,” Ryan called me over to the tree he was examining. He shot his toothy grin my way and read, “‘ J & R waz here. ’ Spelled with a ‘ z ’ because we thought that’s how all the cool kids did it.”
I laughed and ran my finger over the letters we’d carved into the tree when I was fifteen. “God, it’s been almost a decade and a half since then,” I muttered.
“Fuck, that makes us sound super old,” he grumbled.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m still a spring chicken,” I said, teasingly.
He gently shoved me. “You’re a year older than me if you’ve forgotten.”
I snatched his hand before he could take it back and kissed it. “We should bring Karla back here and carve her name beside ours,” I commented.
Ryan got that dazed, happy look he had whenever I mentioned something regarding Karla. “You like me talking about Karla?” I asked.
“I like you talking about her like she’s family,” he answered softly.
I tilted my head, confused. “She is family.”
My reply made his bright blues shine brighter than I’d ever seen them. I was sure they’d follow me into my dreams tonight.
We walked the rest of the way with our hands intertwined. It was a pretty easy hike, and neither of us was out of breath by the time we reached the top.
“Wow! Even our rock is still here,” Ryan exclaimed when he saw the almost-flat rock that was tucked into the edge of the cliff.
You wouldn’t have noticed it unless you were standing at the very edge of the cliff.
It wasn’t dangling off the edge exactly, but it would definitely trigger someone if they had a fear of heights.
I’d forgotten that the last time he hiked the trail, he hadn’t made it to the top since Karla had gotten lost. It was cute how he kept looking around as he took everything in.
Once he’d finished taking stock of the area, he settled down on the rock, turned to me, and patted the space beside him. I obliged and nestled against him. He rested his head on my shoulder as we looked out into the distance.
This was always our spot, because the rock was large enough to fit both of us comfortably. Though now that we were sitting on it as adults, it wasn’t as big as I remembered.
Another reason was because from one angle, we had the perfect view of the sunset, and watching the sunset had been one of our favorite activities as kids. From here, we could also see the field of yellow coneflowers on the land that was to the left of my property.
On the evenings when we watched the summer sunset here, there would be that magical moment when the light hit the flowers at just the right angle, turning the entire place into a field of gold.
And watching the sight with the boy I was crushing hard on back then, I really understood what golden hour meant. It was my favorite time of the day.
The specific color of the yellow flowers was called ‘ Yellow My Darling ,’ and how the field of flowers came about was a popular story around these parts.
“The field has practically doubled,” Ryan murmured. “I still remember you thought the guy planting these flowers was the most romantic gesture ever.”
“It is!” I defended. “His wife loved coneflowers, so he planted a dozen every year just for her. The field is literally a floral manifestation of their love. How much more romantic can you get than that?”
Ryan sat up straight to look at me and smiled. “Is that why you kept bringing me up here to see the fields and sunset? Was that your way of telling me your feelings without actually telling me?”
“I mean, no. Not when you put it that way,” I stuttered. “Didn’t we always come up here because you liked it?”
Ryan scoffed. “Definitely not. I was terrified of heights at first. Don’t you remember how I refused to sit here with you for like a week? I’d always wait for you way back there,” he said, gesturing to where we came from.
“And yet you still came up here with me,” I said with a smile.
“Because I wanted to spend time with you,” he grumbled. “It didn’t matter where we were as long as we were together.”
His answer sent heat down my body. Even before he really understood his feelings for me, he still wanted to be with me.
I crowded him until he was lying on his back, his head cushioned on a grassy patch on the rock .
“What are you doing?” he asked, eyes flickering between me and the edge.
“Ryan, my dear scaredy-cat. You used to be scared of the water, too,” I said.
“Yeah, well, you weren’t the one who almost drowned in a pool before,” he argued, his breath hitching.
“And yet you still came with me to the springs, dipping your feet in the water while you watched me swim.”
“’Cause I wanted to play with you,” he said, sounding very reluctant to admit the fact.
“And what about now?” I asked, my lips fluttering over the skin of his neck. I could feel his pulse drumming. “Your heart’s racing. What are you scared of now?”
His breath came out in short huffs. His eyes dilated so much that I could barely see his signature blues.
“I’m scared some horndog’s gonna ravage me in the middle of the woods,” Ryan said breathlessly and licked his fucking lips. My gaze instantly locked onto my target.
“And if I said I was determined to have my way with you here, are you going to…”—I leaned into his ear—“play with me?”
“Ah, fuck,” he gasped, and I could feel him growing hard against me.
He grabbed the back of my head and smashed our lips together in a kiss that had no technique and was all passion. I fucking loved it.
“Jones,” he moaned, and broke from my lips to suck on my neck.
Him ordering me around in the hot tub was sexy as fuck, but it couldn’t compare to seeing him like this, so turned on he was rutting against me and trying to gain access to more of my skin.
“Fuck, Ryan,” I said in a hiss from the stinging pain at the spot he sucked on. He wasn’t paying attention, lost in desire, and frantically trying to free our hard cocks.
I moaned when he had us both in his hand and roughly stroked our lengths as best as he could with me crushing him.
“I thought I was supposed to be ravaging you, not the other way around,” I said, my breath catching as his thumb slid across my slit in a way that had my balls loading to shoot.
He hummed and continued dragging his lips across my skin at the base of my neck and sucking until the spot stung from his ministrations. I hoped he left marks of his claiming. I wanted the whole world to know I was his.
“You asked if I’d play with you, and aren’t I doing just that?” he replied, releasing us to tug on my heavy balls.
Fuck, yes. He was playing me like a fucking fiddle, and I would happily make music for him.
He palmed my erection, his thumbnail scraping over my head, and that was all it fucking took for me to shoot into his fist. I cried out, not even caring if anyone overheard.
A second later, I felt another hot splash of liquid.
Ryan had his mouth parted with a silent moan.
The bright sunlight was practically casting a halo onto him in his moment of pleasure.
I thought I’d seen every one of his expressions highlighted by the sun, but this was an entirely new one that had me seeing nothing but him.
Ryan’s eyelids popped open, and his blue eyes sparkled impossibly bright when he saw me watching him. I kissed him, slow and steady, a physical reminder that he really was here right now. That this was a summer that wasn’t going to end.
“We really made this our rock, huh?” Ryan joked, brushing his lips across my cheek to kiss the spot behind my ear.
I laughed, pulled us back to a sitting position, and we made ourselves presentable. Most of our release had landed in his hand, and some had gotten on my shirt, so I just pulled off my shirt and used it to clean his hand. I balled up my shirt to take with me later.
Ryan stared at my body, and I could feel the heat in his gaze. “How do you expect me to get down this mountain with you looking like that beside me?” he grumbled, eyes still raking down my naked torso.
I couldn’t help but puff up like a peacock. I was by no means a bodybuilder, but years of working in construction had given me toned muscles and a chest I was proud of.
“Who’s the horndog now?” I teased, then stood. I helped Ryan to his feet as well.
He groaned as he stood, and I wanted to make a joke that he was getting old, but I knew he’d only counter that I was a year older than him.
“We should bring Karla with us to see the sunset next time. She’ll love the field of flowers of her favorite color,” he muttered, looking out in the distance.
I stood behind him, hands resting on his hipbones, and looked out into the distance with him. I loved the way Ryan immediately melted into me, and his head found its resting place on my shoulder.
“We’ll have many sunset viewing hikes in the future. As a family,” I murmured as softly as this moment felt.
“Family, huh?” Ryan said, mulling over the word.
Externally, my grip on him tightened. Internally, I was freaking the fuck out. Should I have talked to him about it first instead of blurting out that I already thought of him and Karla as my family?
I wanted them by my side, enjoying our sunny days together. They hadn’t spent the night the last week out of consideration for my busy schedule with work, and I hated it.
The cabin was too fucking big and quiet with just Lily and me. I never thought I would be a family man, but this past week proved me wrong.
I’d always been a simple man and didn’t need much in my life to be happy. I had my cabin, amazing friends and family, and a community that had my back, even if they were nosy and still spreading the rumor that I was a masochist.
Getting back to the point…I thought that was enough. Having a man by my side would only be the cherry on top, but if that didn’t happen, I’d be okay.
Now I knew I needed more. I got a taste of being with Ryan and Karla, and I knew they were an essential part of my happiness now, too.