Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
“Fuck no,” he said.
My heart was pounding fast again, this time for a very different reason. I went from feeling like I was floating in a cloud to being dropped into a cage.
“Every time I’ve gotten a text from Kane this week I’ve practically jumped out of my skin,” I said. “Do you know how hard it is to think about your brother and then remember what we did?”
“Oh, you mean when I railed you so hard you said my name like I was a god?” he said casually.
“I hate you. You don’t have to say it like that.”
He glanced over at me. “Would you prefer if I said it differently? When we fucked and it was the best sex I’ve ever had in my life?”
I groaned, leaning my head back against the car headrest as Jesse pulled out onto the main road. “You’re cruel.”
“I’m just being real, Mason,” he said. “I spent a lot of the last week wondering how my brother might react, too, and you know what? I came to the conclusion that it’s none of my fucking business.”
You’re right.
You’re so right, and I hate it.
My heart now felt like it was lodged somewhere up near my throat.
“Jesse, Kane was the first person I spoke to. The first person I called after my dad passed away.”
He glanced over at me, squinting in the sun. There was something different in his eyes now, and when he saw the look on my face, his expression softened. He pulled in a breath, put his blinker on, and gently pulled over onto a dirt patch at the side of the road.
He put his hazard lights on even though there was nobody else on the road right now. He turned toward me, his brow knit.
“I never knew that.”
I squinted out at a little patch of dandelions swaying in the breeze, just up ahead of our car. Little bursts of yellow against the green fields and a baby-blue afternoon sky. Time suddenly slowed to a crawl as I remembered that moment.
“Don’t think I’ve ever told anybody,” I said. “I don’t know why I would. But when I found my dad—found him collapsed out there on the trail—the first number I called was 911, and the next was your brother.”
“He is always good in a crisis,” Jesse said softly.
“He is. And he continued to be good to me, in the crisis that ate my life up, after Dad suddenly died. I never really had a mom, because she died before I was a year old. And I’ve got a mountain of friends, but not all of them are quite like him.”
Jesse watched me, shaking his head. “I can’t imagine how lost you must have felt.”
I pulled in a long breath. “Jesse, I think I still feel lost. My dad raised me as a single parent, built the business that supported us both, and earned the land that we lived on. When that got erased, I didn’t know how to do it alone. Damn it, I already cried once today.”
My voice went all wonky and a tear ran down my cheek. My throat was tight again, and this time it wasn’t as easy to ignore.
“Mason,” Jesse said, taking off his seatbelt and leaning over. He draped his arms around me in a simple hug, pulling me tight.
“God, why do you always smell so damn good?” I muttered, even through my tears.
He hummed. “You do, too.”
When he pulled off, he used his finger to wipe away the tears that had broken away.
“I cried my eyes out for the first couple of months after he died, but lately… lately it hasn’t happened,” I said. I shook my head. “Somethin’ about the fuckin’ weather today, though. The perfect riding day. The way I know he would have woken up and spent every day like this out on the trails. Hell, not that bad weather ever stopped Dad from riding, either.”
Jesse smiled softly. “Like father, like son, huh?”
I puffed out a little laugh. “I guess so.”
“I’m sorry you’ve had it rough this week.”
“It’s okay. It’s mostly all the same stuff that’s been in the back of my mind for over a year, anyway.”
But also… you. And the way I’ve been thinking about you, too. On repeat. Like you’re in the goddamn air I breathe.
“I know why you don’t want to rock the boat with Kane,” Jesse offered. “And… I’m not just going to tell him about us out of the blue, or talk about sucking your cock in front of him. Okay?”
I swallowed. “You aren’t?”
I glanced over at Jesse and he relaxed a little, looking out the windshield at the same patch of dandelions. The gentle, repetitive click of the hazard lights filled the air in the car.
“Kane acts like an angry bear,” Jesse said, “but he’s a whole lot more understanding than you might think.”