Chapter 20
Jakob
After another long day of hiking without results, I’d been about to give up and try again in the morning.
While I’d taken screenshots of the visible pathways to the dark spot in the woods, and had a compass, my phone battery was getting low. I was contemplating setting up camp when the sounds of talking and footsteps spurred me on. I’d been hoping to come across another hiker and ask if they’d seen the brothers, but got something so much better.
Rhett was in my arms. I’d found him. Found them. I never wanted to let Rhett out of my sight again.
After walking back the way I’d come from, we settled into a small grassy area and I handed out protein bars. They inhaled the food I thought of as a tasteless snack as if it was manna from the heavens. Instead of eating the third one myself, I broke it in half and handed the pieces over. Those were gone in a few bites as well.
Looking them over, I tried to assess their state. Both of them were in their own clothes, but there were tears in Hansel’s pants and scorch marks on Rhett’s sleeves. They switched off carrying a wooden trunk, and it didn’t appear to be lightweight. Hansel looked dead on his feet, barely keeping his eyes open, and Rhett had lost some more weight, which he didn’t have to spare.
What had they been through?
Without asking for any details, I rolled out the sleeping bag on a flat piece of dirt and held it open. “Hansel, why don’t you take a rest first?”
“You don’t need to sleep?” he asked, edging closer and stifling a yawn.
“I’m not tired yet,” I fibbed, stepping back to give him space.
Hansel bit his lip and nodded as he slipped in before zipping it up to his nose, before unzipping it back to free one arm like the fabric was claustrophobic. Poor kid.
Rhett took my hand and led me a few steps away, leaning against a tree where we could still see his brother. He narrowed his eyes but didn’t speak.
“Will he be all right?”
He took a deep breath and met my eyes. “We both will, eventually. But right now, I don’t want to think about it.”
Something changed in the air between us. A palpable static as if a thunderstorm was imminent despite the clear skies showing off countless stars over our heads.
“What do you want to think about?”
Rhett stepped closer, looping his finger into my belt loop. He likely didn’t have the strength to move me on his own, if I hadn’t wanted to be moved, but I was happy to let him guide me closer. I let my hands come to rest on his hips, my legs bracketing Rhett’s so that he was surrounded by me. I didn’t want to crowd him, but I saw a weight lift off his shoulders. Like I made him feel safe enough to let it all go.
“I want to not think about anything.”
Lifting a hand to caress the stubble on his cheek, I pressed my lips to his gently before pulling back to watch his face. “Whatever you need.”
Rhett whimpered into another kiss, but he didn’t let it stay gentle. With his arms around my neck, we both moved until he had his legs wrapped around my waist and I pressed his back into the tree.
It had been only a few days, but I’d missed Rhett desperately. Not only did I miss his presence, made worse by my worry over where he was, I missed our easy connection.
The week he’d spent in my house, coming home to him every evening to talk and eat and read together, followed by nights of mutual pleasure… I’d learned his body as much as what made him smile. Things he was passionate about and also how much he needed to be loved.
Rhett’s thoughts seemed to be aligned with mine. “Make love to me.”
He said it like a statement, but I knew he was asking. Rhett had hinted at wanting to go further before. I was hesitant then, with us getting to know each other and him mourning his father. Now I was hesitant for a few other reasons.
“Are you sure this is the right time or place?” I asked, pulling back enough to see his face better in the full moon’s light. “What about protection?”
“What’s more life-affirming than sex?” Rhett smirked. “And I know you keep a condom in your wallet, even though you shouldn’t.”
“Shit, I took it out after we talked.” I laughed, remembering the article I’d read to him about the friction and joking I would have to change my ways.
“Well, then… I’ve never been with anyone else, and you said you hadn’t since you were last tested.” Rhett bit his lip and ran nimble fingers over my chest, making my dick even harder. “If that’s still true…?”
We hadn’t discussed much about Rhett’s gender-affirming treatment, since I only cared about who he was in the present, but there was one thing I still had to ask. “Can I get you pregnant?”
“Nope. Had a lot of those things covered before my dad stopped working,” Rhett shook his head and started unbuttoning my shirt. “But that’s not where I want you. Do you still have lube in your wallet?”
Using his nimble fingers and my momentary distraction over the implications of his words—where did he want me? —Rhett reached into my back pocket and pulled out my wallet, opening it to find the small packet of lube I left in there when I tossed the months-old condom.
“Oh, good.” Rhett’s lips lifted in a shy smile. “Back to my original question. Make love to me?”
Not a single thing in me wanted to say no, so I didn’t.
Crashing my lips against his, we alternated between kissing and stripping each other of our clothes, just enough to get his pants off and my jeans open. We went back to where we were, with Rhett’s legs around my waist and the tree at his back doing most of the work of holding him up. We slowed our kisses while Rhett took me firmly in one hand before reaching back with a lube-covered finger to prepare himself.
“Let me do that.” I pulled the opened packet from where he’d tucked it into the pocket of my shirt.
Rhett stopped moving and met my gaze with confusion.
“I want to take care of you.”
Rhett wrapped his arms around my shoulders while licking at the column of my neck in answer. I shivered at the contact and lifted him higher, reaching around to feel his tight hole. I’d licked him there before, and felt how tight he was when I tongued him, but he took my finger easily with the lube.
“Oh…” Rhett breathed out shakily, and I paused with only one knuckle. “Don’t stop, please?”
Nodding, I pulled half out before going deeper, pushing past the tight ring of muscles until I was buried deep. Rhett’s moans were muffled by my skin as I felt for the trigger spot inside of him before remembering he didn’t have a prostate. Still, Rhett’s sounds let me know it felt good all the same.
Rhett started rubbing along my length in time to my thrusts, only slowing when I added another finger or scissored them inside of him. When I’d worked him up to three, and he was panting for it in my arms, I removed them to wipe the remaining lube on my dick.
“Are you sure?” I asked, not wanting him to say no, but ready to accept any answer. There were other ways to make him come. “Do you still want this?”
“I’ve never wanted anything more. Make me part of you.” Rhett lowered himself until my cock sat at his entrance and leaned back to look at me. “Make me yours.”
Our mouths met at the same time I eased up my hold, allowing Rhett to sink onto me. We both swallowed each other’s moans as he slowly inched down my hard length. I’d never felt anything so tight, or been with anyone I wanted so much.
The feeling was overwhelming.
After settling into the emotion, Rhett lifted himself and came back down on me again. He was weakened and needed me to take over, and I was up to the task.
“Relax your legs,” I instructed, moving one hand to protect his back from the bark on the tree while the other gripped his thigh as I thrust up into his small body. If I didn’t hear Rhett’s moan, absorbed into my skin, I would worry I was being too rough.
It felt like my body was melting from the inside out as Rhett gripped at my back and sucked on my neck. There would be marks, both on me from his mouth and on him from my handling of his thighs, but I welcomed them.
Rhett had asked me to make him a part of me, and that's what I wanted too. I wanted Rhett to be mine. If he’d have me, I would take him for good.
When he came, Rhett bit into my shoulder to stifle his screams. The orgasm had his ass gripping me like a vise, and I emptied into his body. We shook together, breathing hard and staying connected until I finally slipped from him.
Laying down on my discarded jacket, I held Rhett to me and thought of how I’d left a piece of myself inside of him. The idea was only fitting. Since Rhett had gone missing, I’d felt like he’d taken a piece of my heart with him.
Now I had him in my arms and I wasn’t going to let go again.