Aftermath by Bailey Bradford (best non fiction books to read txt) 📕

worked the first time. Or second. Or third. “Everyone in Jackson knows you’re Stefan’s brother. The same argument applies to you, yet you think I should be fine being left behind like the little woman while you go out and play the part of the big strong man. I am not doing it. If you don’t want to take me, I’ll hitch if that’s what I have to do.”

Lee narrowed his eyes as his features blanked. “You will not hitchhike. Ever. Again.”

Darren could be stubborn when necessary. Ninety-nine percent of the time he didn’t think it was, but when that one percent rolled around… “Either you give me a ride to Mystic Rock or someone else will.” That sounded so bratty Darren flushed with shame. He uncrossed his arms and slumped deeper into the couch. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so obnoxious about it, but I have to go and I can’t seem to get you to understand that. I’d love to go with you, but if I can’t, maybe I can buy a bus ticket or something. I won’t promise not to hitchhike if I have to, but I will promise to hitch only as a last resort, okay? And there’s one really go—”

“You can come with me,” Lee muttered.

“What?” Darren had heard him, but Lee didn’t sound happy about giving in at all. While Darren didn’t expect his lover to be doing cartwheels about it, Darren would at least like Lee to not make the offer sound like he thought it was the worst possible thing in the world.

Lee sighed and that impassive expression Darren hated to see on Lee’s face disappeared. Now Lee just looked tired and so gorgeous Darren wanted to shove him down on the couch and have Lee every way he could.

“I think we should avoid Jackson completely, cut through Carrvelle instead. Someone might still recognize you, but it’s less likely than if we go through our hometown.”

“Whatever you want to do, Lee. I trust you.” It’d be nice if Lee trusted him as well, but it didn’t seem as if he did, not the way Darren wanted him to.

Lee opened his arms and Darren took it for the offer it was. He edged onto Lee’s lap and snuggled in. “And I trust you, Dar. The problem is, I don’t know if I can keep you safe. I don’t know what we might possibly be walking into. Probably nothing dangerous, but you never know.”

“We’ll both be fine, we will.” Darren would do whatever he could to make sure of it. “Now, let me call Virginia and then you and I have a couple of kinks to explore.”

Chapter Eleven

Lee smirked, he knew he did, but couldn’t help it as Darren squirmed in his seat. Darren winked at him and drummed his fingers on the dash, tapping out the rhythm to a song playing on the radio.

Last night he and Darren had decided their kinks could wait. They’d both been too desperate for each other to spend time playing. Lee had fucked Darren from behind, both of them kneeling on the cushions with Darren’s torso draped over the back of the couch. Darren had come all over the flower print material and when Lee was done shaking and moaning, he’d slid to the floor in a boneless heap. He hadn’t stayed boneless for long, though, and Darren had rolled Lee onto his side, hitched up Lee’s leg and ridden Lee until they’d both climaxed again.

Then Lee had taken Darren again, waking his lover up by sliding his cock into Darren’s ass in one long slow stroke. That time Lee had held off coming until Darren’s second orgasm, which was why his lover was shifting around in his seat.

“I’d give you a hard time for looking so pleased with yourself, but…” Darren waggled his eyebrows. “I’m feeling pretty full of myself—well, maybe I should say full of you, because I swear I can still feel that big cock of yours inside me.”

“I plan on burying it in your tight little ass again as soon as we get home,” Lee said, then shot Darren a startled look.

Darren beamed at him like Lee was every good thing in the world. “I like it, you thinking of Mrs. Hawkins’ place as home. I hope you want to stay there a while.”

A little ball of anxiety Lee hadn’t known existed unfurled and dissipated in his chest. “I want to stay with you for however long you’ll have me, Dar. It’s not Mrs. Hawkins’ place that feels like home, it’s being with you.” It felt so right Lee couldn’t imagine giving it up, not when he knew he’d already lost his heart to the man—and he thought, if he was lucky, Darren might be at least a little in love with him as well.

“That’s…that’s how I feel, too—about you, I mean. I want to be with you. I was just afraid to tell you. I thought it’d scare you away.”

Lee snorted, wishing he could look at Darren for more than a second or two at a time. There were just too many suicidal deer out this way though. He’d barely managed to avoid hitting the last one that had sprinted out in front of the car.

“I don’t think anything can scare me away. I didn’t even consider leaving town after the motel debacle because I knew I wanted something more than just a night with you.” Lee wanted a lifetime—and longer, even, if it was possible for them both to hang around after they died. Why not wish for an eternity together?

“You don’t mind if we stay in McKinton then? I’ve kind of gotten used to it there.”

Lee couldn’t have missed the wistful tone in Darren’s voice if he’d tried. Darren had more than got used to the town, he loved it there, and that was good enough reason for Lee to settle in McKinton as well. “No, I like McKinton just fine.”

“Good. There’s not much in the way of work,