Page 3 of Dead Air (Moon Murder Mysteries)

Two

Niall often spent his days off making a pot of stew or his Aunt Sheila’s ziti in the dutch oven.

Those kinds of meals took half a day to prepare and cook with nothing but a pellet stove.

Or the solar oven if he was really bored.

He had various solar gadgets for cooking and powering devices, thanks to careless campers and the visitor center’s overflowing lost and found.

These were the boring details of Niall’s very boring existence and his life was especially dull when his part of the mountain was closed.

The small chest freezer that doubled as a kitchen counter and dinner table was neatly stocked with dozens of dinners and cooked, spiced fruits for fast “cobblers.”

Niall sighed at the two bags of food thawing in his sink. “My nonexistent future husband is going to be such a lucky man.”

He had no idea if he was being sincere or sarcastic about the lucky part.

Niall would probably make a great househusband.

His cabin was only 16’ x 16’ but he kept it as neat as a pin.

He didn’t mind that it was sparse, with just his bed, an armchair, a sink, the stove, some shelves, and half of an old barrel that served as a coffee table and a bathtub.

Niall had hung a curtain in the corner behind the sink to hide his toilet, in case he got brave and finally invited someone in.

He often wished he had someone to share a meal and a long, rambling conversation with. And ideally a long, hot night as well.

Feeding and caring for people were Niall’s passions, but more than a night?

A weekend would be the absolute limit, he was sure.

He recoiled at the thought of something long-term and Niall had an aversion to cohabitation that had nothing to do with Andy.

Niall wouldn’t call himself an introvert because he did enjoy being in the company of other people.

Nothing made him happier than knowing he had been useful to any purpose higher than himself and helping someone was always the highlight of Niall’s day.

He just felt more peaceful when he was alone in his own space and liked things a certain way.

Niall could also be…strident about things like using and throwing away plastics and didn’t like clutter.

He liked his simple, quiet life and hadn’t found anyone who appreciated living like a monk and didn’t feel like a possible threat when they entered Niall’s personal space.

Trust was still an issue and that was Andy’s fault.

He had taken pleasure in disrupting Niall’s peace and relished any opportunity to invade his space when no one was looking.

Niall was the first to admit that he had made some serious blunders due to being an insatiably horny idiot when it came to older, outdoorsy men.

He had stepped away as a volunteer paramedic because he couldn’t trust himself around a man in any kind of uniform, but especially scrubs.

He was toast as soon as he laid eyes on the strapping young governor from Oregon.

Niall had jumped at the chance to be on the up-and-coming politician’s team as an assistant and to advise on LGBTQ+ issues and outreach.

It was his dream job until he lost his head and drank a few too many gin and tonics in an airport Chili’s.

He was stranded with Andy due to the weather and they shared a ride to their comped hotel, “accidentally” ending up in the same room.

The weather didn’t let up so they spent the weekend in bed and Niall had shared way too much.

Niall would have been happy to leave their fling in Iowa but Andy used the indiscretion against him.

He threatened to blame it all on Niall and claim it was just once and that he might have even been drugged.

He had also recorded Niall in the act, saying every lewd thing imaginable because he had zero inhibitions when he was drunk on gin and dick.

“Don’t stop! Use my hole and tell me I’m a nasty pig!

” can sound really bad without proper context.

Who would assume from a few seconds of that that Niall had shared that he was on PrEP and had recently been tested or that Andy had sworn he always used condoms and had been tested just a few weeks earlier as well?

There were perfectly harmless texts that had been carefully screenshotted and clips of work-related voicemails that made Niall look and sound like an obsessed stalker and Andy the victim.

Niall had played right into his hands and Andy reinforced every fear and phobia, making it nearly impossible to trust anyone ever again.

The abuse and the stalking had gotten so bad, Niall had feared for his life before he escaped and he never let himself forget just how close he was to being a tragic statistic.

Despite all that had happened, Niall had moved on and was happy with his life and who he had become. Even with his faults and past mistakes, Niall knew he was a good person and worthy of a peaceful, safe, and joyful life.

Was it too peaceful, though?

Niall moved the thawed bags of dinner and dessert to the bucket of water simmering on the pellet stove, then considered the coffee table/bathtub.

Niall had cut the old barrel in half and sealed it so it was waterproof.

He’d rigged a hose from the rainwater tank behind his cabin to fill the tub.

The bucket of water heating his dinner would also warm up his bath.

He’d need two buckets of hot water but he’d eat while waiting on the second.

“Wild night at Niall’s!” he said with a wry chuckle but his smirk curved wickedly as he considered the new natural loofah in his hygiene kit and the glass dildo under his mattress. “Really wild night at Niall’s.” His brows wiggled in anticipation.

Suddenly in a frisky mood, Niall went to find the radio, some charged batteries, and his “sassy” mixtape.

It had been a while since he had really treated himself and Niall was hoping that might take the edge off.

He’d been extra restless lately and often found himself turned on for no reason whatsoever.

The air around him seemed more sexually charged and while it wouldn’t be accurate to say he felt like he was being watched, Niall couldn’t shake the sensation that someone else was there and he was putting on a show.

He never felt creeped out, like someone was truly on the other side of the window or following him in the woods.

But when Niall was alone and naked or when he was touching himself, he felt just a bit naughtier and like he wasn’t the only one appreciating the performance.

Which tickled Niall’s imagination and caused him to linger by the window when he was dressing or arch his back a little more when he was lounging in bed.

He posed like a hussy as he tied his shoes and stretched a little extra before a hike, showing off for… whom?

It should have been the last thing in the world to excite Niall but he had been a bit of an exhibitionist and a voyeur before Andy and had indulged his submissive tendencies whenever he could.

He had been exploring those kinks in adult clubs and considered that another form of trust that Andy had violated and one of the few things that Niall missed from his old life.

The nearest venue for that sort of play was hours away and Niall didn’t know if he would ever be able to explore that side of his sexuality with strangers again.

When he was outside, in nature, he was totally fine being in close proximity to other adults.

But alone in his cabin or other intimate settings?

Niall shuddered whenever he imagined inviting Shelby up for dinner.

He had almost asked but Niall nearly had a panic attack the one time DeeDee came up to deliver his supplies.

He’d caught another terrible cold and she had thoughtfully arrived with his supplies and soup but Niall behaved as if she’d come bearing a box of cobras, running her out of his cabin like a wild man.

Luckily, she chalked it up to him having a fever and being delirious from too much sleep and cold medicine.

She still teased him about it and everyone said Niall was a hermit and the “oldest man” on Hawksbill Mountain even though he was just thirty-two and eight years younger than Shelby and four years younger than Kerry.

If they only knew…

Niall shook his head quickly. No one needed to know that his hobbies were limited to semi-vegetarian meal prep, recycling and upcycling, and masturbation.

He couldn’t say how much of that was because of Andy or Niall just being a weird guy.

He’d always been a more solitary person but curious about his sexuality and adventurous in the right setting.

But it was Andy who had introduced Niall to shame and had sent him into isolation.

“This isn’t so bad, though,” he reminded himself while searching the box under his bed for the small radio and tape player and his favorite tape.

He had two: one a mixtape of dance songs, the other a recording of an NPR broadcast. The DJ had a soft, sexy voice and had played several of Niall’s favorite classical pieces.

He’d left them in his bedroom at his aunt’s house and they had become Niall’s most prized possessions after his townhouse had blown up.

They were from his college years, long before he had met Andy and when Niall had given himself permission to be as wild and as gay as he could be.

He planned to be a Serious Adult? after he graduated, with an important job and a mortgage.

There wouldn’t be time for partying later so Niall had sown his oats between his studies and shifts as a paramedic.

Was there some overlap between the studying, working, and sowing?

Obviously. He’d had flings with a TA and a few guys from his study groups and the aforementioned men in uniform.

Niall was human and in hindsight, it made life as a hermit a little easier.

There was never any shortage of memories that didn’t include Andy to keep Niall warm at night.

“And that Thoren guy from the TikToks,” Niall said with another wiggle of his brows. “Let’s see if I can fool myself into believing my new loofah is a beard.”