He didn’t hesitate, and I laughed as I heard my mom yell after him, “Hey, slow down, don’t come barging in here like a tornado.”
She was in the kitchen looking through a pile of mail when I walked in. “What’s gotten into him?” she asked, engrossed with the letter in her hand.
“I told him I’d take him fishing before I headed out for Marietta.”
She raised her eyebrows, finally giving me her attention. “Don’t you and Jim have a six-hour drive.”
“Five, if I’m driving.”
“Jaxon Stettler, you will arrive alive, you hear me. Don’t you dare be reckless. You know better than to say something like that to me.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I swallowed, feeling like an asshole. “I didn’t think.”
She pinched her lips together and nodded. “No, you didn’t.” She held out her hands and waved me over, pulling me in for a quick hug. “You promise me now. Promise you’ll be careful. Wear a seatbelt, and if you get tired…”
“I promise, Momma.”
“And put your damn phone on silent. Driving distracted is just as bad as driving dru—”
She stopped mid-word as Jason bounded into the kitchen through the back door, panting. “I… got… everything… ready.”
I chuckled and gave my mom a squeeze. “We’ll be back in an hour or so.”
“Have fun, boys,” she hollered as we shut the back door.
The drive to the river wasn’t long. It’d only taken us five minutes before we were parked under a canopy of old oak trees. The Spanish moss hanging from the branches swayed in the sea breeze coming off the west coast. It creeped me out the way the moss moved, hovering over you like it was trying to reach out and touch you. Jason jogged down to the riverbank, leaving me to carry the gear, as usual. I set the cooler and bait box on the ground, and as I reached into the backseat, I heard the crunch of tires on gravel. Ethan smiled at me as his car rolled to a stop.
Shit.
I waved like an idiot and attempted to grab the bait box and the cooler in one hand without success.
“Let me help you with that,” Ethan said, slamming his car door.
I noticed he held a fishing pole of his own and remembered that his profile said he liked to fish.
And bottom.
Jesus.
“Um, thanks,” I stammered and handed him the bait box. “Don’t you have your own shit to carry?”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll grab it in a second.”
His whole face lit up like a hundred fireflies when he smiled at me.
“Alright,” I said and headed toward the riverbank.
Ethan walked beside me, too quiet. I could hear my heart racing inside my chest.
“Hey, Ethan.” Jason waved. “You like to fish?”
“I do.”
Among other things, I thought to myself and wished I hadn’t. A flash of heat covered my neck and face. I bent down, setting the cooler on the grass, feeling out of sorts.
Ethan set our bait box on the top of the cooler and rested his fishing pole against the trunk of a tree. “Is it okay if I join you guys? I can hike down river if—”
“Stay,” Jason blurted.
“I’d like that… it’d be nice to have company for a change.”
“Of course. You should stay,” I said. “We have to go in an hour anyway, no sense in us hogging the best spot.”
“Jax is leaving town,” Jason said, picking up his pole. “But he said we can go fishing again when he gets back.”
“That’s right, I might’ve heard someone saying something about y’all’s trip yesterday at the store.”
“Small town, news gets around fast.” I laughed.
“Too fast,” he agreed. “I’ll be right back, gotta grab my bait from the car.
“Just use ours,” I offered.
“Thanks.” He gave me another one of those bright as hell smiles and I had to stop myself from staring.
Jason opened the box and started to bait his hook. The nightcrawler wiggled in his fingers and he laughed. I reached to grab my own, at the same time as Ethan, and his finger brushed against mine.
“Go ahead,” I said, watching as his Adam’s apple moved under the smooth skin of his throat.
My jaw ached as I grit my teeth. Ethan ran his hand through his light brown hair, his bicep tensing, and I forced my gaze away toward the river. My pulse increased, and I had to recite the name of every NCAA division one basketball team to stop myself from getting hard. I blamed my sex deprivation. I usually had this shit under control, especially when my brother was sitting right here.
“Want me to bait your hook?” Ethan asked.
It made me think of Wild, and how he’d probably turn that question into some weird sexual innuendo. I suppressed my laugh and nodded. “If you want. Thanks.”
It had taken at least twenty minutes for the silence to become comfortable as all three of us stood at the river’s edge. The mid-morning heat surrounded us as the stifling humidity covered my skin in sweat. I reeled in my line, not interested in standing in the sun and boiling to death. The fish weren’t biting anyway. Jay had scared them away by splashing his feet in the water. I grabbed a soda from the cooler and sat down in the grass with my back against the tree. Jason waded out into the water, not really fishing anymore either. Ethan, however, stretched his arm and re-cast his line. He set his pole into the stand he’d propped up earlier, and I almost swallowed my tongue when he reached behind his head and pulled off his shirt. His back was sculpted with the type of muscle you got from real work, not a weight machine. Before I could stop the thought, I pictured my hands on his narrow hips, my mouth on his neck, his ass pressed against me, and swore under my breath.
Dropping my eyes, I rearranged my shorts as covertly as possible to hide the evidence of my wayward thoughts. Ethan showing up here had to be another form of punishment. I couldn’t help that I was attracted to him. That Wilder had made me look at Ethan in a way I’d never intended. I was in love with a past I’d never be able to relive, and a future that was built on a lie. Ethan was a reality. A reality I had no idea what to do with. In a little over twenty-four hours, Wilder would be within an arm’s reach. Everything I’d ever wanted. I could almost feel his skin under the palm of my hand. The anxiety that’d plagued me all week sank into my hollow stomach. I’d hardly eaten anything these past few days. I’d thought about backing out of this meeting with Wild about a thousand times. But every time the thought crossed my mind, I’d text him, reminding myself that I owed him this. Owed him the truth.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and opened up our string of texts.
Me: I’m leaving in an hour or so.
Wilder: You’ll be here tonight?
Me: Yeah. We’re gonna drive by the property before checking into the hotel.
Wilder: Saturday still works?
Me: It should. Jim has some paperwork he needs to do after we look over the house on Saturday morning. I should be free by five.
Wilder: Holy shit
Me: I know. This is crazy.
Wilder: Oh, sorry. I was talking about this damn cat.
Me: What did Gandalf do now?
Wilder: He was hiding in my sock drawer. Scared the crap out of me.