Chapter 6 Jackson
JACKSON
Aiden was falling behind even though I’d slowed my pace for him to catch up.
We’d been walking for the past two days without an end in sight.
I didn’t want to admit it and make him more anxious, but we were lost. And running out of the rations we’d brought with us.
I’d already taken to eating just a little and giving him the bulk of the food to keep his energy up. He needed it more than me.
“How much longer?” He hunched over with his hands on his thighs, breathing hard. “I’m not sure how much more I can take.”
“Come on, Aiden. You’ve been doing well. Keep up.”
Thank fuck for the despondency of our situation so we didn’t have time to dwell much on what we did at night. Rubbing each other off until we came and fell asleep in each other’s arms. At least he often fell asleep while I kept watch and felt guilty.
Those were the best times on this ill-begotten journey: Aiden falling asleep in my arms with all his walls down.
I’d stare at his face, barely visible beneath the moonlight.
By morning, I’d find the resolve to keep pushing.
He needed to survive this. He was so young.
This was no way for such a beautiful boy to die in the desert from hunger and dehydration, his stepfather masturbating with him being the last moment of intimacy he would ever know.
Now if I died…I’d more than deserve it because I should know better. Aiden was freaked out and not thinking straight. He was vulnerable, and I’d preyed on that, taking from him for my pleasure.
And each night I rubbed our cocks together while feasting on his mouth, it got harder not to go any further.
“I can’t.” After another hour, Aiden stopped walking and plopped down on a boulder. “My feet ache.”
Tears slipped down his cheeks. My heart broke at the sight. If only I could take away his pain, get us out of this mess. Instead, I’d been leading us to wander in the desert. Helpless, I kneeled in front of him and brushed away his tears. “It’s okay, Aiden. We’ll get through this together.”
He shook his head and looked away from me. “You should go on without me. I can’t keep up, and I don’t want to slow you down any more than I already have. You can make it out alive if you leave me here.”
The tears streamed down his face faster.
“I’m not going to leave you.”
“You were right. I’m useless. I can’t do anything right. The only thing I’m good at is sucking dick, but that’s not going to help us survive being stranded in the desert.”
“I was wrong for saying that. There’s a lot more to you than that, Aiden. You have your design thing going for you.”
“I flunked out.”
“What?”
He clutched my dirty shirt, ripe with sweat. “I didn’t want to tell you because I was ashamed.”
I swallowed, my throat tight with emotion. I was ashamed of all the times I’d belittled him and cursed at him just to make myself feel better about my misplaced attraction. I should have found another way to deal with it.
My chest ached in a way that had nothing to do with walking miles through the desert heat without rest or food. If we got out of here, I had a lot to make up for.
“Save your breath,” I said. “We’ll rest for a bit and then get back on the road. When we get home, we’ll talk, clear up all this, and I will help you do what you want. Okay?” I caressed his dirty cheek.
God, I hated seeing him like this. Aiden was vibrant, his eyes spitting mad or full of laughter. This dullness in their depths, as though he’d given up, wasn’t like him. Where was my little spitfire?
We rested for almost an hour, but it didn’t help much.
We were barely back on the track when he fell behind again.
Left with no option, I prompted him to climb onto my back.
As light as he was under normal circumstances, I was weak from lack of food so the going was slow.
Although the sun was lower in the sky, it was still blazingly hot.
It was useless. My legs got too heavy, and my grip on him was slipping.
No, I have to go on.
I hoisted him up my back. “Aiden?”
Nothing. He must have either fallen asleep or passed out from exhaustion. I plunged ahead, but despite my best efforts, I only managed a few feet before I had to rest again.
A flicker of light caught my eye through the haze of dust and heat.
I squinted toward it, wondering if exhaustion had finally pushed me into hallucinating.
But the closer I got, the more the shape sharpened against the desert.
An old miner’s shack stood alone in the wasteland.
The woodwork weather-beaten from the elements with strips of rusted metal.
A sagging porch reinforced with newer beams that didn’t quite match the rest of the structure.
Solar panels tilted crookedly beside it.
Someone had fixed the place up enough to survive out here.
Hope hit me so hard it almost hurt.
Using the last ounce of strength I had left, I staggered toward the shack, nearly losing my footing on the loose rocks scattered near the entrance. The door creaked when I shoved against it, unlocked. Relief crashed through me so fast my knees nearly buckled. Clutching Aiden, I stumbled inside.