“I’ve got a surprise for you,” she said with a wink. “Now come on, get the hell out of bed.”
I considered falling back asleep, which would have been my old response, but kicked my ass instead and crawled out of bed. When I came knocking on Lilith’s door and begging for a place to crash two weeks ago, I hadn’t even been sure she would take me in, considering the last time I visited her I kind of snuck off in the middle of the night, and maybe took a pack of her cigarettes and a couple of twenties, too.
But just because I knew she’d give them to me anyway.
Anyway, at least we’d each quit smoking since then. And if anyone understood me, it was Lilith. She got why I was so good at running away. Hell, we’d grown up in the same shitty house, in the same shitty town outside of Seattle. She’d practically been my running-away role model.
I yawned as I stepped into the bathroom, kicking my boxers off only long enough to get blasted by cold water. Jumping out and cursing the shower I still hadn’t figured out, I splashed some water on my face from the sink instead. Sniffing my armpit, I nodded into the mirror, fairly satisfied.
Then I remembered I’d be spending the day with Franklin, and maybe even seeing Rory again, too.
I eyed the bottle of moisturizer on the edge of the sink, then grabbed my balls, tugging down on them while I thought about the husbands. I sniffed the air and tried to remember that smell, earthy and rich and somehow just like them. My cock hardening, I squirted a little moisturizer in the palm of my hand, then stroked up my shaft with a satisfied groan.
Five minutes later, I jumped back in the shower and subjected myself to alternating blasts of hot and cold to wash the jizz off my belly. I brushed my teeth, then made my way to the kitchen, sparkly clean. Lilith had a few eggs and some toast on the table and a big pot of black coffee waiting.
“Okay, now you’re making me suspicious,” I said, dropping into the chair and feeling the vinyl seat against my thighs, my boxers bunched up. “You going to kick me out or something?”
“Only if you steal from me again,” she joked. “And probably not even then, honestly. I’d just dunk your head in the toilet and make you pay me back.”
I frowned, aware that she wasn’t joking about that. “What’s this surprise about then?”
Lilith grinned, then joined me at the table. “Well, I was thinking the other day about your life back in Los Angeles and the story you told me when you got back to town.”
“Can we skip that for now?”
She held her hands in the air. “Just saying. I know it’s not easy, to give up a life like that. And even though you keep swearing that it’s all behind you, I know you must be missing some of it, too.”
I scoffed. “Unless you mean the money, I promise, you’re sorely mistaken.”
“I mean the driving, Asher. You need more coffee or something?”
I paused, then dropped my fork on the plate. I’d brought my car with me from LA. It was an Evo 9, a road car I’d customized by yanking out a bunch of the electronic security bullshit that would try to stop you from turning too fast or spinning too hard. I felt like I was rescuing her, when I pulled that junk out. My car was made to go fast, just like she was made to go hard, and when I drove, the vehicle became a part of my body.
But in Seattle, I wasn’t using her for any of that. I was staying in my lane.
“Didn’t you make me promise to leave that behind if I was going to stay at your apartment?” I stomped my heel against the chipped linoleum kitchen flooring a couple of times. “Not that it’s the Hilton or anything.”
“I made you promise not to get arrested or break your neck. Nothing wrong with taking your car to a lot that a friend of mine owns outside the city, though.” She turned to the clock on the stove, then drank from her coffee. “Show me how good you are these days, Asher. Make some marks on the pavement. Should be able to get a couple hours in before noon, if we get out the door soon.”
I blinked. “Fuck yeah,” I said, slowly processing the offer. “Fuck yeah! Thank you, Lilith. That sounds perfect”
After that, you would have thought she’d lit my boxers on fire, I ate breakfast and got myself ready so fast. I pulled on a snug pair of jeans and a plain white T-shirt, then kicked my feet into a worn pair of black leather boots. With Lilith following, I walked out to my car, waiting for me in the morning shade, and hopped in.
I tightened my hand around the gear shift, and a thrill pulsed through my body. It felt good just to drive her to the store, but I responded differently when we were going to stretch our legs and get our hearts beating on a real drive. My body just knew somehow, and my car knew, too.
Lilith joined me in the passenger seat, settling her coffee in and tightening the seatbelt. “One hundred percent, Asher, you have to promise me you’ll drive like a normal person to get there.”
“Trust me, Lilith,” I said, popping into gear and steering down the driveway. “I’ve never even gotten a ticket.”
She laughed ruefully. “That would reassure me, except I know what you really mean.”
I grinned. “That I’ve never gotten caught.”
“Exactly. And I don’t love you sounding smug about it.”
I followed Lilith’s directions, and we joked back and forth the way siblings do, teasing each other and complimenting each other in the same breath. I’d ran away from Washington with my best friend Daryl when I was twenty, which meant five years had passed before I returned on Lilith’s doorstep. Whatever anxiety I had that things would have changed, though, faded as soon as she had me in a headlock, forcing me to admit that I liked the Britney Spears song she had caught me nodding along to on the radio.
Older sisters. It was funny how something like that could make a guy feel so at home.
“How was bartending last night?” I asked. “I thought I was going to catch you, but you must have been out late.”
“It was slow, but yeah, the stragglers took forever to head home. How about the first day working with Franklin?”
“Easy on the eyes,” I purred.
Lilith laughed and directed me around a corner. “I haven’t met the guy. I just heard about the gig because he owns that comic book store by the bar. Let me guess. Silver daddy? Muscle daddy?”
I glanced at her, then arched my eyebrow. “Geek daddies. Two of them.”
“Oh god,” she laughed. “I’m going to hear a lot about this one, aren’t I?”
“Not that anything can happen,” I complained. “They’re so happily married, you’d think they were living in a sitcom.”
“A sitcom about a couple of married gay geeks?” She laughed softly to herself. “I’d watch it.”
“Me, too,” I groaned.
Lilith directed me the rest of the way, until we were out of the city and into some more open spaces. I steered down a side road, and after she directed me to stop, Lilith hopped out to open a fence. It led to one massive open lot, protected from sight by scattered trees in the distance. Unlike a lot of neglected parking lots, though, the pavement was smooth and even.
I parked the car, then leaned back. “You want a show?”
“I haven’t seen you drive in five years. You must have learned something new in that time.”