Chapter 7 #2
Liam licked across his palm and smoothed it over his weeping tip with a low moan.
He fisted himself and swirled his thumb over his slit.
Fuck, he was wet. His eyes closed, imagining it was Felix’s tongue exploring the fat width of his crown.
He stroked himself, remembering the feel of the man’s mouth wrapped around him, sucking.
The slide of his lips and tongue along his shaft as he massaged the root and gently tugged on his sac.
Felix bent over, golden-red peach fuzz so soft beneath Liam’s hand. His tight little pucker taking one finger, then two. The sound he’d made when Liam slid his cock between his tight cheeks—
Liam groaned, cum spurting over his knuckles. He panted, his heart pounding as he slowly milked his orgasm. Fuck, that’d been quick, but goddamn, Felix Simms did something to him.
He always had.
The way they fit together, the scent of Felix’s aftershave, and his soft little snores.
Jesus, even the ridiculous sweater with cherry blossoms he’d left the house in.
Liam leaned over to pull a handful of takeout napkins from his glovebox and cleaned himself up, all of it just adding fuel to the conviction that’d been smoldering inside him.
Felix was what he wanted, and damn it, Liam was gonna prove himself to him.
…“Making me a decent pot of coffee wasn’t a bad start…”
Liam grinned, tugging his pants back up and tucking himself away.
He well aware of Felix’s horror of all things culinary, and Liam wasn’t above using that to his advantage.
He wasn’t terrible at cooking and actually enjoyed housework.
There was something soothing about putting everything in its place.
He put the Jeep in gear and got back onto the road. Maybe it’d been weird that he’d made Felix’s bed, but he had to do something to calm his nerves after Felix bolted. Climbing into the shower with him hadn’t seemed like it would’ve been well-received.
Not yet, at least. They’d get there, he hoped. Baby steps.
Liam pulled into the impound lot’s parking area and cut the engine.
A deep sense of nostalgia swept through him.
He got out of his Jeep and went over to the little cinderblock building just inside the chain link fence.
His gaze swept across the rows of snow-covered cars.
Man, it’d been way too long since he’d been here.
His teen years had been spent helping Jerry tinker with engines and haul in clunkers to escape felling trees with his pack at the compound.
He hadn’t expected to fall in love with cars, but the impound lot was where that’d started.
The day he’d found his Jeep moldering at the back of a foreclosure property was the day his love had blossomed into a full-on obsession.
Jerry had thought he was crazy, but let him haul the rusted-out frame back to the compound, sure it’d end up rotting there.
His teeth had about fallen out the first time he saw it on the road. Liam grinned. He couldn’t wait to see the old man’s face when he saw it now.
An electronic sensor beeped as Liam opened the door.
A trio of dogs lifted their heads, decided he wasn’t worth getting up for, and went back to sleep.
He crossed the long, narrow waiting area to the counter.
Jerry was behind it with his feet up and his fingers laced across his prodigious gut, watching a black-and-white Western.
A cigarette smoldered in the ashtray beside him.
Man, he’d gotten old. Liam stood there for a moment, staring at the man’s liver-spotted scalp before he binged the bell on the counter. Jerry jumped and fiddled with his hearing aid before turning to look at who was there. His bushy brows bunched, and then a wide smile spread across his face.
“That you, Liam? Been a dog’s age, boy. What can I do ya for?” he asked, slowly rising to his feet.
“I’m here to get my friend’s car out of hock. You bring in something belonging to a Felix Simms?”
Jerry put on his spectacles and pulled out a thick binder.
He dropped it onto the counter with a puff of grit.
“Sounds familiar,” he said, parsing through the handwritten entries.
“Simms, Simms…Yeah. Here it is. Hauled in a sedan for parking violations.” Jerry gave a low whistle and looked at Liam over the rims of his half-moon lenses.
“Man owes eighteen hundred dollars with all the associated fines and penalties. No wonder he sent you to pay it. Car ain’t worth near that much. ”
“That right?” Liam laughed. “Don’t worry, he’s good for it. He’d be here himself, but he’s got a family emergency at the moment, and I’m trying to help him out.” He pulled out his wallet and handed Jerry his card. “That and I wanted to say hi. Like you said, it’s been a long time.”
“You’re a good egg, kid. Always have been.
” The old man shuffled to the machine to run it.
“Tell you what, I’ll give you the family discount.
Makes it fifteen hundred and change. And I’m glad you did stop in son, glad you did…
Say,” he adjusted his glasses, squinting, “that’s not the heap out there, now, is it? ”
Liam grinned. “It sure is.”
“Well, I’ll be damned.” Jerry handed the card back. “I gotta have a look at this.”
They went outside, and pride filled Liam’s chest as the old man exclaimed and asked about details only a car junkie would. They popped the hood and got down on hands and knees to ooh and ahh over the undercarriage and exhaust system.
Jerry shook his head, and Liam helped him back to his feet. The old man sucked his teeth for a moment. “Any chance you’re looking for another project?”
“Why, you got something worth working on?”
“For anyone else, no.” The old man turned away to cough into a faded bandanna.
“But for you? Could be. Go take a look at the lot’s north end.
Got something up there under a tarp. If you like what you see, it’s yours.
You bring her back to life half as well as you have this one, and I will die a happy man.
I’ll even tow it out to the compound for ya, free of charge. ”
Liam’s brow quirked. “What the hell have you got out there?”
“You best go see for yourself,” Jerry said, a twinkle in his eye. “Merry Christmas, son. We close at five. I’ll push the paperwork through and have the release waiting for your friend.”
“Yeah, thanks…” He glanced at Jerry again, and the old man made a shooing motion.
Liam took off, into the impound lot. It wasn’t huge, considering Havers-by-the-Sea was at the ass end of a remote peninsula, but there were more cars than you’d think.
It was hard to tell what a lot of them were at first glance with the mounded snow crusted over them, but by the bumpers, most were from the last thirty years or so.
Nothing he’d be interested in, but Jerry wouldn’t send him out here without a good reason.
The wind kicked up, and Liam’s pace sped down the frozen rows of vehicles, his hands jammed into his pockets and his breath streaming out behind him.
The north end was the farthest from the shack, and a lean-to with a corrugated metal roof spanned over the lot’s final row.
Smack dab in the middle of it was an elongated lump covered by a rotting tarp.
Liam ran a hand over his jaw and slowly approached, anticipation fluttering in his stomach.
He squatted down and flipped up one corner.
His head went light as he pulled it back farther. A Bel Air. No. No way was this right. Jerry was not giving him a fucking Bel Air.
Liam didn’t remember walking back to the shack, but all of a sudden, he was inside and Jerry was grinning at him from behind the counter.
“You like her?”
“That’s a Bel Air.”
Jerry nodded. “It is. A 1957 four-door, hardtop sedan, two-tone in India Ivory and Colonial Cream, if you want the specs.”
Jesus Christ, Liam wanted it all. “And you’re just going to let me take it?”
“I am.”
Liam swallowed hard and put his hands on his hips, staring at the floor. He shook his head, then looked at the man. “Are you fucking crazy? You fix that up, you could get six figures, easy.”
Jerry shrugged. “I could, but what the hell would I do with the money? It’ll just give my kids something else to fight about when I’m dead, and not one of them gives a shit about the car.
And before you ask, I got all the paperwork.
My mother was the original owner and drove that boat right up until she passed.
Don’t know how the hell she climbed in and out of it, I sure as hell can’t with this bum hip. ”
“Jerry, think about this for a second—”
“I have, and my mind’s made up. I’m not getting any younger, and the last thing I want is for some yahoo to fuck it up. I know you’ll appreciate it. So, what do you say? Take care of her for me?”
“I—” Liam nodded, all choked up. “Yeah, I can do that, and I’ve got plenty of time to work on her. Let me see what I can do about getting some garage space.”
“Fair enough. She’s yours. I’ll have all the paperwork together along with your friend’s when you stop back later.”
“Thank you, Jerry.”
The old man waved him away and settled back down to watch his show.
Liam left in a daze. First Felix starting to come around, and now this?
A massive grin spread across Liam’s face as he got back into his Jeep.
No way had he ever expected his day to turn out the way it was, and a project like this was exactly what he needed. A Bel Air. Damn.
He couldn’t wait to tell Felix.