Page 85 of A Real Goode Time

At some indeterminate amount of time later, she pulled her sleep shorts and a tank top out of her bag, slipped into them, not bothering with anything else.

I yawned, hard enough that I swerved, and Torie frowned at me. “My turn. I’m wide awake, now.”

“Should we stop?”

She shook her head. “Why? I got twelve hours of sleep. Don’t even need coffee, although I may stop at the next good exit and get some. We’ve got to be getting close to almost being there.”

“Our major destination is Prince Rupert. That’s where we take the car ferry to Ketchikan itself.”

She eyed me. “We.”

I nodded. “I’ve decided I’m just gonna see you all the way to your family. I’m most of the way there, so I might as well see Alaska while I’m at it.”

In an instant her face lit up. Her eyes sparkled and she smiled, and I knew I’d just made the best decision of my life.

I pulled off onto the next exit that had a gas station, and I practically ran to the men’s room and emptied my own bladder, which had been turning my eyes yellow at that point. I filled up the gas tank and then we switched places. Torie took us through a 24-hour Tim Hortons, where we got real food and a big box of Timbits. We hit the highway and headed for the northern coast of British Columbia. After eating, I realized I really was tired; the hours of driving had taken their toll. I leaned my seat back, left the lap belt buckled, tucked a spare T-shirt between my face and the door, and fell asleep.

13

Torie

I’d thought that once we got that hard conversation out of the way, things would loosen up. But they didn’t, not really. When both of us were awake, unspoken feelings simmered between us in the car. Chemistry and sexual tension churned in the silence.

Hours and miles passed. We traded again somewhere in the mountains of British Columbia. Drove through the day, into the next evening, living on coffee and naps and fast food.

It felt like we’d always lived this life—me and Rhys, alone in the car, hours on end. Days, and days. This was life. This was all there was.

Wanting him, not having him.

Watching him stretch in the passenger seat, arms straining the sleeves of his T-shirt, the hem lifting as he yawned, baring those abs. Seeing the bulge of his cock behind the zipper. Wanting him so much I ached. I wanted him so bad. It was more than a sexual need, more than the heavy, burning, turgid ache of needing an orgasm. This was more. This was…a need that rifled through my mere physicality and speared into my soul, into my heart, into my psyche.

I knew, after hours of driving and thinking, that I was going to sleep with Rhys.

Ihadto.

When he’d been telling me all the things he wanted to do to me, I’d nearly jumped him then and there. Even now, thinking about his words, the dirty promises of fucking me doggy style in the grass, the image of riding him, having him inside me as I fucked him? I needed that.

I needed toknow. Him. Myself. Us, together. How it felt. I needed to know what it felt like to be filled, to be penetrated and taken…byhim.

I finally saw the first sign for Prince Rupert. It had been in kilometers, though, and I wasn’t sure how that translated into miles and travel time. I mean, his Jeep had a speedometer that also showed kilometers per hour, so if I was going the posted limit of 100/kph, and the sign said 280 km to Prince Rupert, then it should take us…fuck, math was hard…two point eight hours? What was point-eight of an hour, though? Eighty minutes? Duh, no, moron. Forty minutes? Something like that. I figured it was a little under three hours to Prince Rupert.

Then we’d get a ferry, and that would end the driving for a while.

Which would be weird.

Prince Rupert was beautiful—moody,misty, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and the cleanest, freshest air I had ever smelled. The ferry was mind-bogglingly expensive, and Rhys paid the whole fare for both us and his Jeep, ignoring my offer to help pay.

We parked the Jeep on the ferry and took our cabin—a one-bed. We tossed our bags on the floor and sat on opposite sides of the bed, facing away from each other.

I lay down, first.

For a moment it was as stiff and awkward as the first moment I’d lain in a bed with him.

He finally snorted. “This is dumb.” He slid his arm under my neck, and I rolled into him, and snuggled against him. “Let’s just rest and enjoy not driving, okay?”

I nodded. “Okay.”

We sleptall the way to Ketchikan, and not a single thing happened between us but sleep.