Page 27 of His Country
“Not everything,” Ethan scoffed until he saw the serious look on Aiden’s face. “Tell me you don’t put ranch on everything.”
Aiden settled his elbows on the table, his gaze even and challenging. “Everything,”
“All right, I’ll bite. What’s the weirdest thing you put ranch on?”
Kissing his teeth, Aiden let Ethan dangle for several long moments. “Salmon.”
Making an exaggerated gagging noise, Ethan set his beer down. “No, you know what, forget this. We don’t need a drink; we need to take you to a doctor. Jesus.”
“Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it.”
“That right?” Ethan asked as he brought his beer back to his lips, taking a long swig without looking away from Aiden. “You going to cook me some salmon? Prove me wrong?”
There was promise brewing in Ethan’s steady gaze. For what, Aiden wasn’t sure, but he nearly lost himself looking for it. Looking away, he shrugged. “Sure. No promises on the salmon though, I’m a lousy cook.”
“I’d risk it.”
Aiden mumbledstupidinto his drink as the song changed. Something livelier crooned and a few people got up to dance between the tables. He found his gaze drifting towards them. A tipsy couple were laughing more than dancing, hands clenched tightly in a two step that looked more like a two and a half step. The man whispered something in the woman’s ear just before he spun her. She giggled, even when she clipped a table and spilled someone’s drink.
They made it look so easy. Not the dancing, that was terrible, but the ease in which they enjoyed each other’s company. They didn’t second guess themselves, or worry what people said, or if what they were doing was wrong. Just living in the moment, nothing but the space between them.
Emotion stuck in his throat, and he tried to dislodge it with cheap beer. It wasn’t quite jealousy, but it was something close. Aiden tried for so long to be empty. Not to feel anything. But no matter how far he ran, the loneliness was always one step ahead. It never took him, that would be putting him out of his misery. It just lingered on the edges, reminding him of what he couldn’t have.
“You want to dance?” Ethan asked, his head cocked.
Had he been watching Aiden? Sitting back, he rearranged his face into a scowl. “Not even if you paid me.”
Ethan’s lips curled mischievously. “What if I begged you?” his voice dropped an octave, low and smooth, but Aiden heard every word like he’d put his lips against the shell of his ear.
“Don’t be silly,” he scoffed, back ramrod straight as he picked up an onion ring, biting into it without tasting it. “You would look ridiculous on your knees.”
Ethan leaned in, elbows on the table. There was something predatory in the way his eyes flicked up and down Aiden.
“You think about me on my knees a lot?”
Aiden choked on his tasteless onion ring. “N-no.”
“Shame,” Ethan practically purred as he sat back, giving Aiden some breathing room. “It’s an impressive sight.”
Aiden’s glass nearly slipped from his fingers, so caught in the beam of Ethan’s eyes that he didn’t notice his fingers slipping on the condensation. Righting his glass, he tried to gain control of himself. Even after forcing his eyes away, he could still feel the sting of his intensity.
Like he hadn’t nearly caused an incident, Ethan switched topics. As he breezily sipped his beer, he kept things light.
“One year, my mom got the bright idea that we would drive from Montana to Florida. Spent a whole summer driving across country with the six of us in my uncles old Air Stream.” Ethan said, the alcohol making his cheeks ruddy. “We ended up on this gorgeous beach in Destin. I mean, the kind of beach you see in pictures. Well, one night, my parents decide they want a date night. They left my brothers in charge and they decided that being at the beach was the perfect time to show meJawsfor the first time.”
Aiden found himself leaning in to hear his story, fingers loosely clasped around his drink.
“Well, naturally, I had nightmares about a shark leaping out of the ocean and eating us all in the camper. My parents came home to me trying to stuff a frying pan under my pillow.”
Snickering, Aiden shook his head. “Your brothers didn’t get in trouble?”
“No. They managed to weasel out of it by saying they’d take me to the arcade the next day. And they did, but on the way there they took me to the beach to ‘try and help me get over my fear’.” Ethan scowled. “They left me on a sandbar! For four hours until my dad came and got me!”
Aiden winced. “How old were you?”
“Eight! And still dumb enough to think my brothers were good people.”
“And how did you get them back?”