His mouth landed on mine and shut me up quickly, stealing my breath for a few passionate moments. The evening scruff was prickly on his chin but the warmth of the air had finally brought out some of that delicious sweat on his lower back. I snuck my fingers under his shirt to smooth my hands over the slick skin there.
“Barbies,” he gasped, pulling back from the kiss with a laugh. “Not toy soldiers. MJ’s Barbies.”
I felt my face heat with embarrassment. “It’s not my fault she abandoned those poor things to an old shoebox. They needed someone to play with them.”
Walker’s laugh was like honey I wanted to sip straight from his gorgeous pink lips. “Lesbian abandons Barbie collection foisted on her by unsuspecting Auntie Brenda. Gay boy swoops them up and proceeds to match tiny shoes to ball gowns. It’s the same old story since time began…”
“Shut up,” I cried, spinning him to his back and climbing on top of him to hold him down. “You’re so cruel. What about you and your stuffed lizard?”
“You shut your whore mouth about Purple Pansy,” he warned. “Best damned dragon of all time. A war dragon, if you want to know the truth. Specialized in kung fu and… other war stuff.”
I couldn’t stop laughing. “It had a sequined purse,” I said through tears. “And a matching hair bow.”
“She was incognito!” He tried to escape my hold but was laughing so hard it was easy to keep him still.
We wrestled around on the deck until both of us were panting and hard, arching our dicks into each other with desperation.
“Otto,” he gasped. “Otto, I want you to take me home and fuck me hard. Please.”
I stopped my incessant dry-humping and smoothed damp hair off his forehead. “I will never say no to that, Walker. Now get your ass up and double time it to the lake house. First one there gets sucked off.”
His pupils widened. “I’ll suck you off regardless, but not until after you fuck me. I need you to fuck me.”
Something in the way he begged me made my heart hurt for him. I realized how unsure of things he was, maybe about the future of the two of us if I really was going to get accused of these fires, or maybe just plain old insecurity despite all my attempts to reassure him.
I stood up and pulled him up by the hand, yanking him into a full-body hug before he could bolt for his SUV.
“Do you have any idea how much I love you, Seth Walker? I will do whatever you say, whenever you say it. Do not ever question my devotion to you. Do you understand? I would do anything for you. Anything.”
He nodded against my shoulder and mumbled a yes.
In the following days, as the truth of who set the fires finally came to be, that promise would be put to the test more than I ever imagined.
Chapter 29
Walker
Seth,
Something terrible happened. There was a fire on the boat, and I was caught behind it. I thought my life was over and all I could think about was your beautiful face. If I ever get out of the fucking navy, I’m coming to find you, Even if you tell me to fuck off, at least I’ll get to see your face one more time.
Otto
(Unsent)
The following couple of days were so normal, they gave me a false sense of security. I spent the workday busting my ass in preparation for the Hootenanny, which was only a week away. Locals came streaming into the office to double-check traffic plans, security protocols, scheduling of events, and the layout of the stalls and booths. Had it not been for Luanne, I would have lost my ever-loving mind.
At night, I fell into Otto’s or my bed with naked abandon, seemingly trying my hardest to make up for the ten missed years of making love to the other half of me. We spent hours mapping each other’s grown bodies, learning stories behind new scars, and daydreaming of plans for the future.
When I had Tisha over one night, Otto surprised us by giving her a giant flamingo raft and convincing us to go swimming in the lake behind the house before grilling hamburgers for dinner and making ice cream sundaes for dessert. Tisha loved Otto, and the feeling was obviously mutual. He had a million dumb jokes in his arsenal, and for some reason, they hit the perfect mark with Tisha’s own corny humor. When Tish fell asleep at the end of watching a movie that night, Otto untangled himself from me and carried her to her bed while I continued watching the movie.
It was a life I could see clear as day—Otto and me with regular visits from Tisha—but maybe I’d started wanting it too much. Because suddenly I began to obsess about losing it all. It started with a visit to the sheriff’s office on Thursday morning from Mattie McCutcheon, a busybody of the highest order and the head of the PTA at Hobie Middle School.