Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 555(@200wpm)___ 444(@250wpm)___ 370(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 555(@200wpm)___ 444(@250wpm)___ 370(@300wpm)
“Besides the obvious?”
“I noticed you don’t have a tree up or anything. We’ll have to fix that.”
“I was figuring I would skip that part.”
“Fuck no. You need to get a tree. This year more than ever. What the fuck else are we gonna make time for if not to decorate a little, watch some stupid Christmas movies on Netflix, enjoy some songs. What did your family use to do for Christmas when you were growing up?”
“My parents were very religious, so we did all the things you’d expect. The big production of it, and me and my brother would feel so guilty because we couldn’t get to sleep and we were told if we didn’t go to sleep, Santa wouldn’t come.”
“Mom would go all out for Christmas too. You know, looking back, things like that still confuse me. Because she did do everything she could. She adored me, but her love was always contingent on my playing by their rules. But it was nice. We talked about going to Atlanta and the Botanical Gardens. Mom would always want to go there, and she’d show me the lights, but Dad would always be in a mood, ya know?”
“I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have been treated that way.”
“We all should have been treated better by a lot of people, but that’s not really how life works, is it?”
I wondered if the expression he made had to do with his brother, or Sheila, or some combination of so many things in his life, still many I’d yet to discover about him.
“I guess I’ll have to at least buy some extra lights for this tree too, then,” James went on.
“You don’t have lights?”
“I’ll have to check the lights in my boxes of crap, make sure they still work, but I like the idea of a Christmas in my new home.”
“I’m glad to be here for your new beginning.”
“I can toast to that.”
We raised our glasses and clinked them together.
Because this was just our fucking beginning…
34
James
Criminal. Villain. Monster. Those were words that came to mind when I thought about what Kyle and I did.
But if I was a monster, so be it. I wasn’t going to stop, that much was obvious.
We weren’t hurting anyone. Just appreciating the time we shared with each other. But no amount of rationalizing could subdue the fear of discovery. As long as we explored our secret affair, each time he arrived at my place, each chat, each kiss, every moment we spent at H4H was another chance to get caught. The moment when Kyle’s reputation would be further tarnished as my life would go up in flames.
And yet these risks couldn’t keep us apart.
As I pulled alongside DJ’s house, excitement stirred within me. It surprised me since I’d spent most of the past few days annoyed by the message exchange I’d had with Sheila earlier in the week.
Mom’s in the hospital again, she’d texted, and kept texting.
Another few weeks, a month at most.
Please.
Please, I need your help on this, James.
I wasn’t glad her mother was in the hospital with another hip injury, but it seemed more of a convenient excuse than a dire issue that prevented her from moving forward with the divorce.
After all, life had taught me there would always be something…
Her excuse hadn’t bothered me as much as the fact that I’d caved once again, but I wasn’t going to let that ruin my holiday. Not now that I had someone to look forward to spending my time with. Despite seeing Kyle nearly every day since the break had begun, I didn’t know how it could ever be enough.
There was so much left to learn about each other’s bodies. Messy as we could be with our cum, what we did still felt so innocent. What amounted to little more than humping, jerking off, and making out…oh God, the making out. It reminded me of those early days of learning my own body in the privacy of my bedroom, questioning, imagining, stroking.
He never pushed me too far, too soon. The pace was…so perfectly us.
When I headed inside, I noticed Kyle chatting up some of our mutual builder friends. In a red Santa cap that matched his thermal, he laughed at something as I neared the group, collected between the decorated tree and the fireplace.
Kyle had a way of looking hot even in the ridiculous Santa cap.
He turned, catching me in his sights, his smile expanding, eyes lighting up just a tad more. It was a good thing I’d had time to adjust to being around him—through class, volunteering, and extra credit—time to adjust to being with him around other people, seeing that I could be practically screaming with excitement on the inside as the world went on, unaware. Surreal how even the most powerful sensations that left me vibrating with eagerness would go totally undetected by anyone around us.