1. Jordan #2
I mean, I’d told Levi I was gay. Told the world eventually. With all the other drama in our family, my sexual orientation hardly even merited mention in the gossip chains that crisscrossed the island.
But the part about Cam? No. That part was just for me.
“I think so?” I said, bending down to find a spray bottle of cleaner under one of the counters. “He was the really tall one, right?”
“Even taller now,” Levi said with a laugh. “Six-seven, if you can believe that.”
That seemed about right. Cam had achieved a sort of mythical stature in my psyche. It was only fitting that he would be equally giant in real life.
“Cool.” I kept my voice carefully neutral. “I didn’t realize he still lived on Summersea. Or is he just visiting, like me?”
“Nah, he still lives here. Out in Tolliver. Though if he had his way, no one would know that. Guy’s practically a hermit.
He’d be happy on his own for months, writing about wildflowers and working on that insane cabin.
” Levi grinned. “Obviously, I make it my mission in life to ensure that he doesn’t go totally crazy from lack of human contact. ”
“I’m sure he appreciates that,” I said drily. I had so many other questions—wildflowers? Insane cabin?—but I couldn’t ask them without seeming more interested than I wanted to. “You’re a true hero.”
But it was the kind of cafe where moms gathered to chat after yoga and dads with strollers stopped on their way to the playground.
There was a birding club that liked to come in early before their hikes, and a knitting group that occupied most of the tables on Sunday afternoons.
Not exactly the kind of place for casual, backroom hookups.
Which was a shame. I could seriously go for some bad-decision sex right now. Breeding—or getting bred by, I wasn’t picky—someone in a seedy backroom sounded kind of great.
I just wanted to feel wanted again. I needed to be reminded that just because Harvey had cheated on me, that didn’t make me unfuckable. If life wasn’t going to hand me a functional job, or relationship, or future, at the very least, it could hand me an anonymous sexual encounter. Or two. Or ten.
But how can you be a slut in a town of only three hundred people?
“Is that really how many people live in Adair?” asked a voice behind me. “Are the rest all tourists?”
I whirled around. I hadn’t realized I’d spoken aloud. Two guys stood in front of the register—a short, blond one with a wide grin, and a taller, dark-haired one who was probably just as amused, but was at least trying to hide it.
“I, uh—I mean, no, not really. I think it’s more like a couple thousand.” I could feel my cheeks turning pink. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have—”
“No need to apologize,” the blond guy said. “If Nolan and I weren’t dating—” he waved his finger at the guy next to him “—I’m positive I’d be asking myself the same question.”
Nolan laughed. “I doubt you’d be asking it for long.”
The blond guy smiled up at him. “Aw, because your love for me is so deep and true that you’d come find me, even if we were oceans apart?”
“I was going to say that you’re the most ingenious person I know when it comes to sex, so I’m sure you’d find people to fuck even if you were stranded on Mars, but yeah.” Nolan grinned. “Let’s go with your explanation. It sounds nicer.”
The blond guy snickered. “Martian sex. Hot. I bet there would be all kinds of probing. And ectoplasm.”
“Isn’t ectoplasm for ghosts?”
“Well, maybe they’re ghost Martians. What do you think alien cum tastes like?”
“I’m sorry,” Nolan said, turning back to me. “You were probably having a lovely afternoon, free of any kind of bodily fluids, before we came in and inflicted ourselves upon you.”
I swallowed a laugh. My afternoon had been far more fluid-filled than he thought—mentally, at least—but that wasn’t really the sort of thing you told a stranger.
“You’d be surprised,” I said. “And don’t worry about it. Now you’ve got me wondering what Martian cum would taste like, too.”
“We could consult the internet,” the blond guy said. Then he gasped and looked at Nolan. “Oh my God, we could do an abduction video! Harsh fluorescent lights, metallic probes. How would you feel about wearing a green bodysuit? Or maybe something with tentacles?”
“I thought I was supposed to be your stepdad,” Nolan said. “Would this be a new role for me, or have I been an alien this whole time, just impersonating your stepdad?”
“Invasion of the cock-snatchers,” the blond guy said with a giggle. “Or prostate-snatchers.” He turned back to me. “Which do you like better?”
I shook my head, trying to get a hold of the conversation. I had no idea what the two of them were talking about, but at least I didn’t feel embarrassed by my own slip-up anymore.
“Um, neither? I’d like my cock and prostate to stay right where they are, thanks.” I paused. “How would you snatch a prostate, anyway? Come to think of it, why would you snatch either?”