Page 26 of For Life

“Nope, all done.”

Maxx took a seat, bare-assed, at the table. When I said I was done, I didn’t expect him to stay naked. Not that I minded, since I was in only the pair of underwear I’d cast off the night before. We sat together, eating and drinking in a companionable silence while Maxx woke up more.

“I’ll do the dishes,” Maxx took our empty plates and moved to the sink. “You’re already doing all the cooking.”

“Well, you are busypatrolling.”

Maxx groaned dramatically but kept washing the dishes, “How about youpatrolwith me today?”

That idea sounded a whole hell of a lot better than being alone. I wanted to see if I could forage for more of the lettuce and other things I might find. Plus, going for a walk in the woods sounded romantic.

When Maxx finished the dishes, we threw on sweats and shirts before stepping out into the mid-morning light. The sun was filtered through the pine and birch trees, dappling our skin and swaying in the wind. Overhead, I could hear birds calling out and squirrels chirping. It wasn’t much warmer in the mountains than in the city, but it felt different. San Francisco had the fog and ocean breeze, its summers sometimes colder than the winter months. As we walked towards the woods, it felt similar and different from my childhood. There were more kinds of trees and things were greener. Taking a chance that our walk could be romantic, I slipped my hand into Maxx’s.

“Too bad we’re not just tourists here.”

Maxx looked down at our joined hands and smiled at me before continuing on. “Why?”

“I’ve never seen Lake Tahoe in person,” I shrugged, “Looks beautiful online.”

“Oh, I would have thought you had,” Maxx rubbed his face, “with you growing up not far away, right? That you would have had family trips to California and Nevada national parks and stuff.”

We veered towards the dirt road when we reached the creek, Maxx still holding my hand but splitting his attention between me and our surroundings.

“No, we went to Redding and Reno on long trips. And usually for farm supplies, not fun,” I shrugged. “What about you?”

“That’s too bad,” Maxx gripped my hand tighter in a comforting way. I appreciated it, though I had never known anything different. “My parents took us all over the state. They wanted to see it all, and we got to go along.”

“That’s great,” I squeezed his hand back as our feet crunched on the dirt and pine needles underfoot. “How far did you guys go?”

“Oh, well, by car it’s either the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone,” Maxx smirked at some fond memory, “By plane we went to New York City and the Florida Keys for the furthest in North America. But also Asia and Europe.”

“I can’t even fathom that.”

We kept walking in silence for a bit as I processed and then laughed at the difference between our experiences. The wide expanse between Maxx’s childhood and mine felt like a much bigger difference than our jobs, ages, or even in education. He was an educated cop and I was a high school dropout who mostly hung out around the people cops locked up. He spoke multiple languages and traveled all over the world, how could I even attempt to think of us as partners? This time together was fun, but I couldn’t delude myself that Maxx would want more. He needed to know what a country hick I was.

“Maxx, I’ve never gotten my passport, or even been on a plane,” I pulled my hand away and rushed on, needing to get it out, “San Francisco was the furthest I’d been with my family, and the furthest I went on my own. I’ll probably work and die there.”

Maxx pulled me to a stop by some mailboxes, the main road almost in sight, and cupped my face in his hands.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of, Ant. I was born there and hope to live and die there too.” Maxx rubbed his thumb along my lower lip, making me shiver. “You’re still so young. You have plenty of time to explore and go anywhere you want to.”

The words didn’t mean that Maxx could read my mind and know that he was way out of my league, but they did give me hope. I couldn’t help but want to kiss his full, dark lips when he licked them and his eyes darted to mine. Throwing my arms around Maxx, I met him halfway. We kissed gently at first, our bodies pressed together as the world fell away. Maxx got rougher, backing me up to a hard surface I had to assume was a tree, because I wasn’t stopping to look.

When I felt myself hardening against Maxx’s own length through our pants, I pressed our lengths together for some friction and bit his lower lip. He returned the favor, threading fingers into my hair and pulling my head aside to nip along my jaw.

A vibration in Maxx’s pocket startled me, and I may have yelped, causing him to pull back and raise a skeptical eyebrow. “What, did I bite too hard?”

“No, never,” I chuffed out a laugh, “But your pocket was happy to see my dick.”

“All of me is happy to see your– Wait, what?”

Maxx let go of me and stuffed a hand into a pocket that was tighter than a few minutes before. He pulled out his cell-phone and frowned before tapping the screen. We must have stumbled into service while making out.

“Hello?”

“Hey, this is Roman,” I heard the voice of my roommate through the speaker, “Please confirm who I called?”

Maxx and I both smirked at Roman’s cautious tone, which sounded nothing like his normal sassy self. He was a drag queen after all.