Page 30 of Between Brothers

I tapped his cheek a little harder than necessary when I dropped my hand and settled behind him. His fingers sank into my thigh and he gunned it.

I couldn’t stop the laugh that crawled from me as I clung to him.

“You’re fun to fuck with,” I taunted, nipping at the crook of his neck.

The wind whipped around us. The engine screamed and we flew into the night.

I didn’t know where we were going.

I didn’t care.

I felt like another person, stepping away from all the predictable shit I’d built my life around these past few years.

He didn’t disappoint, either. We drove out of town, to the winding, forest-riddled rural roads. Once we were in the sticks, we coasted, admiring the dark nature around us.

Eventually, he slowed and turned into a little spot I’d have never noticed if I were driving. The lights illuminated a path ahead before he killed the engine, placed a hand on my knee, and glanced back.

“Well, don’t stop now. Fuck away, Sweetheart.”

I froze, all the fuckery fleeing me just that fast.

When I didn’t do or say anything, he gave a low, throaty laugh and stood, giving a simple command as he did so, “Up.”

I hesitantly obliged, taking care not to flash too much of my ass as I did so.

His hand snared my wrist so fast I nearly choked on the breath I sucked in.

“Come on.” He tugged me along, until I got with the program and matched his pace.

“Wh–? Where are we going?”

I couldn’t see him clearly, but I could feel his eyes on me. When we crossed a part of the path that wasn’t canopied by the large trees, I saw the smile in his dark-blue eyes.

“We’re hanging out.” He shrugged.

He veered left, dipping between some bushes that scratched at my arms. I was forced to concentrate on my footing instead when the ground suddenly angled downward. I didn’t mean to, but I ended up trotting after him with the momentum of things.

“What the hell?” I nervously laughed, as he trailed around a mess of felled wood and followed a creek.

He paused so abruptly, that I instinctively strained to hear. I didn’t immediately see any reason to stop and automatically assumed the worse.

“What is it?”

“A blind.”

My blank stare prompted him to snort and turn as he waved his hand behind us.

It was dark, and nothing impressive stood out, until he stepped over and swept a netting aside. It was tangled with leaves and brush. Inside there was a bench and a series of small windows that I assumed were meant for a hunter to see out of.

He settled on the bench, locked his arms around me, and hauled me onto his lap.

It was warm there. Cozy. His gentle contact was surprising enough to leave me without objection, for the moment.

His loud, chest-bumping ways had always annoyed me to the core, but his silence and that fucking stare…

I swallowed hard, not having even met it yet. I didn’t need to; I could feel his penetrating gaze burning into me.

“Tell me what I gotta do to keep you.” He whispered the words over the crook of my neck, making me shiver inside and out.