10. Adair
10
ADAIR
A few days later, it’s nice enough again in the afternoon that I decide to read on the deck after I get home from work. I bring the plaid blanket from the sofa out with me so I can stay warm even after the sun drops below the trees.
It’s nearly dark by the time Jack gets home. He looks surprised to see me when he steps outside, tripping the motion-sensor floodlight. He nods towards the backyard. “Want me to make a fire?”
I nod eagerly. “Do you need a hand bringing anything out?”
“Nah.” He doesn’t spare another look in my direction, so I tap the screen to turn my tablet back on and return to my book.
I look up when I hear the fire start crackling and smell the woodsmoke. Jack is settling into one of the chairs with a contented sigh as I walk up. The breeze catches a little shower of sparks; the front of my body quickly warms. I take the chair next to his, only now remembering that the first time I looked out at this firepit, the two chairs were on opposite sides. I smile to myself at the thought that, at some point, Jack pulled them next to each other.
As I sit, I see the white-tailed deer carved into the back panel. “Did you make these, too?” I ask. When he nods, I gesture towards the one he’s sitting in. “What’s carved on that one?” He sits up and leans forward, revealing a bushy-tailed fox looking back at me.
“Oh, cool. That’s really good,” I say.
He shrugs. “It’s whatever.”
Whatever . I roll my eyes. “What’s back there?” I ask, pointing towards the trees.
“Acres and acres of state forest. I’ve hiked in a ways but it’s all untracked, for the most part. Just wild and unspoiled.”
“That sounds awesome,” I say. “Would you take me back there sometime?”
His eyes get that hungry look and I laugh, a little awkwardly. “Oh — no, I didn’t mean like that . Just that it sounds really pretty and I’d love to see it in the daytime.”
“Sure thing,” he says, his voice and face inscrutable. Maybe I’ve given him the wrong idea.
“I mean, I’m not saying I wouldn’t like for you to stalk me and chase me through those woods.” Jack lets out that low chuckle of his that stiffens my cock immediately but doesn’t say anything in response.
Listening to the fire crackle, I suddenly remember what I wanted to ask him. “So, um, there’s this big romance-book convention in the city next month. I went to one a few years ago and it was really cool. Authors come and sell their books there and you can get them signed, and they’ve got talks and question-and-answer sessions and stuff. I was thinking about going to this one. Are you, you know, OK with that?”
In the glow of the firelight, Jack’s face registers confusion, then astonishment. “Are you asking me for permission ?”
I squirm. “No! No, I mean, not like that . It’s just that tickets to this thing aren’t cheap, and I know you’re only letting me live here because I’m trying to save money to go back to school.”
“It’s not —I think you misunderstood,” Jack says, his tone sharp. “I’m not expecting you to live like a monk. How fucking much are these tickets?”
I sigh. “A hundred and twenty bucks, or one-fifty if you want to attend a breakfast where you can meet some of the authors. And, knowing me, I’d want to buy some books there.”
“Hmm.” He strokes his beard. “When do you have to enroll for classes, anyway?”
“Oh, um, I don’t know.”
I realize that was probably the wrong answer when his brows lower into a frown. “Why not?”
“I don’t have enough money yet. I figured once I’ve got a little bit saved up, then I can start looking.”
“But shouldn’t you at least know when the registration deadline is? And are there any scholarships or tuition assistance programs you might be eligible for?”
I shake my head. “I doubt it.”
“But have you looked ?”
I sigh. “No, because until I have at least some money saved, it doesn’t matter.”
Jack’s eyes darken, then he blinks as if a thought just occurred to him. “I get it. You want to save up enough first so that you can bolt like a bat out of hell if you change your mind about staying here.” He shrugs with a nonchalance that only looks a little forced.
“You don’t trust me yet,” he says, but his tone of voice doesn’t sound accusatory or angry. If anything, he looks and sounds a little sad. Wait — sad ? I must be imagining it.
“Um…” Jack isn’t wrong, now that I think about it. I just hadn’t put the thought into words before. But I don’t exactly want to tell him he’s sort of right. Better to change the subject instead.
I push my hair out of my eyes with a sound of exasperation. “I’ve got to get a trim. I’m like two months overdue as it is.”
“No you don’t.”
I look at Jack in puzzlement. “Yeah I do. What do you mean?”
“I mean don’t cut it. I want you to do something different with it.”
I scrunch my nose at him. “Like what ?”
A crooked smile pulls at one side of his mouth as he appraises me before leaning into my space and giving me an unexpected, playful boop on the nose. “Get rid of those bangs, let it grow out longer.”
He reaches out and runs his thick fingers through it. “I like your hair. I think it would look better like that.” He tightens his hold on it. “More to grab onto, more to pull,” he murmurs, a lascivious gleam in his eye. “More mine .”