Page 26

“Happy one-month-i-versary!” I sing at the phone.

Bridger smiles handsomely back at me, his face almost filling the whole dang screen. “I think you’re off by a week or so.”

I frown. “A week or—? Huh? What’re you goin’ by? Our first date? Like, the one at Nadine’s right before you left? No.” I wag my finger at the phone. “We became a thing when you took my dang virginity at that motel.” I pause a second. “Just realized how gross that sounds. Wish I could take back sayin’ it that way.”

“Nope, too late,” he teases me.

“I lost my virginity … in a motel …?”

“Why’re you announcing it like it’s news?”

“Just never said it out loud. Why am I only now realizin’ …?”

“Hey.” He smacks his lips at me. It never quite looks like a kiss when he does that, but it’s cute as fuck and always brings me right back to him. “I just noticed you’re wearing it.”

I sit up suddenly, having forgotten, and hold my phone back, showing off how his denim jacket fits on me. “You like it? Keeps me nice and warm. Though, this time of year, it isn’t really needed for the warmth. Kinda sweating in it, to be honest.”

“You can take it off, y’know.”

“No way.” I hug myself with my free arm. “When I wear this, it’s like you’re huggin’ me or somethin’.”

Bridger smiles.

It makes me feel just as good as it hurts me to see that smile.

I must show something in my eyes, because his smile I like so much goes away. “Aww, you miss me, huh?” he asks, sounding all sad and mushy about it.

“Nah, not even a little,” I mumble back.

His smile returns. “That’s actually the reason I’m calling, since this isn’t our one month thing. I might have some good news. Very good news.” He comes in closer where I can only see his eyes. “We might be planning a trip back to Spruce in just one more month.”

I lift my eyebrows. “You serious? That soon?”

“Glad you think it’s soon, because a month sounds like forever away to me.”

I smirk. “Aww. Sounds like you’re the one missin’ me .”

“Of course I miss you.” His face turns serious, his eyes shining in the dim lighting of his bedroom in Kansas. “Miss you like crazy, Anthony. Wish you were right here.” He slaps his bed next to him.

I bite my lip and lean back on Juni’s couch, phone raised in the air as I gaze at him. “How’s your brother and mama doing?”

Bridger glances off to the side. “A lot better than I expected,” he admits. “My brother’s thriving with the school he teaches at, all his kids love him, the other teachers, too. Recently told me about a kid in one of his classes who … struggles. He recognizes something in that kid, thinks maybe there’s a problem at home.” He shakes his head, appearing emotional for a moment. “It’s a good thing my brother’s there for kids like that, recognizing the signs. And then there’s my mom,” he goes on, his mood lifting as he laughs. “She’s got a whole army of women friends around her now, I don’t think any man’s got a chance of hurting her ever again.”

I grin at him through the phone. “That sounds perfect.”

“It is, it is,” he agrees, nodding at me. “Better than I could’ve hoped.” His lips droop in thought. “Almost like they don’t need me anymore.”

“Of course they need you,” I throw right back at him.

Bridger sighs, chuckles strangely, then looks off again. “After I got discharged, I was sure my whole life would make sense. Have a job lined up. Help out my mom and little bro again, like I used to back in the day. But my brother isn’t so little anymore. And my mom …” He laughs to himself. “Once told me she’s stronger than she looks. She wasn’t kidding.”

“You got a purpose here,” I tell him, “right here by me, sittin’ on this couch and holdin’ me tight …”

“Oh, I want nothing more than to be right there, you’d better bet.” He looks away again. “But I’ve gotta figure myself out first, Anthony. I’m no good at your side otherwise.”

I want to argue with him, stubbornly insist that all he needs to do is come back here to Spruce and all the answers will fall into his lap—one of those answers being me.

But I know that isn’t true. “I’ve had to figure myself out, too,” I admit to him. “Feels weird, havin’ my dad’s respect again. Being responsible. Wakin’ up for morning jogs.”

His eyes light up. “You still keep up with them?”

“Every morning.” I smile. “Makes me think of you. Wakin’ up at some hour I can barely function, forcin’ my feet into a pair of shoes, then makin’ a circle of Spruce …”

“It grows on you, that feeling.”

“Torturin’ yourself every morning?”

“Progress,” he says, looking at me.

I gaze right back at him, moved by that word.

I’ve sure seen a lot of progress in myself recently.

Progress I wish I’d done before meeting Bridger.

But maybe it wasn’t possible without him. I needed him in my life, giving me a reason to clean up my act, to work harder, to find myself, to set some goals and stick to them.

“Few weeks have already flown by since you left,” I point out, still gazing at him, still moved. “What’s one more month?”

“What’s one more month?” he agrees.

I suck in my bottom lip, then lower my voice. “You alone?”

His mind seems to be in the same place. “Are you?”

I glance over my shoulder at the hallway. Juni’s sound asleep. “As alone as I can be,” I tell him, slipping a hand down my pants.

“That’ll do.” He leans back in his bed. His free hand disappears somewhere down below. His eyes meet mine through the screen. “Funny, isn’t it? So many miles apart, feels like you’ve got a hand down my underwear.”

“What a coincidence,” I mutter back, already jerking. “I’ve got a mystery hand down my own, too.”

“You look really hot tonight.”

“Your hand feels great on my cock.”

“Yours, too.”

“I’m speedin’ up.”

“Not me.”

“Why not?”

“I want it to last.”

“Mmm, I’m so pent-up, I don’t know if I can last.”

He smirks. “You already had a boner the moment you picked up the phone, didn’t you, I’d bet anything.”

“Oh, I was rock hard the second I heard your ringtone.”

“I’ve got a ringtone?”

“You know what my favorite thing about you is?” I ask him.

“Wait, wait, what’s my ringtone?”

“It’s that no matter what the heck mood I’m in when I first pick up your call, I know without a doubt you’ll slide right into sexy times with me the second either of us instigates it, and then everythin’ is just plain better.”

He seems to slow down, his arm relaxing. “You’re right. Guess I never noticed.”

“You’re in sync with me, Bridger, whether you know it or not. Got you twisted ‘round my finger like putty.” I stop jerking to lift a finger at the phone, wiggling it. “Right around this, right here.”

“I can think of a few things to do with that finger.”

“Can you now?”

“Five things, actually. They all involve your cute butt.”

I give my finger an enticing lick. “This drivin’ you crazy? Bet you miss my cute butt more than you miss me.”

“Careful. I’m about five seconds from fucking a hole into my damned phone.”

“Want me to put this someplace?” I wrap my lips around my whole finger, sucking on it. Bridger watches with unblinking eyes. My finger pops out of my mouth. “Losin’ your mind yet?”

“You damned devil.”

“Where do you want me to put it?”

“Bad, bad boy.”

“Now that you got a taste of me, sounds like the stiff, uptight, rule-abidin’ military man I met is long gone. Whoever you are now is ready to snatch the first ticket to Spruce tonight .”

“When I’m down there again, you won’t need any of those fingers doing the job I’m more than equipped to do myself.”

I suck on my finger again. “Yeah?” I murmur around it, in and out, slowly, sensuously, taunting him. “Got somethin’ else in mind you want me to slip into my butt?”

“You’re gonna regret working me up this much.”

“Oh, I don’t think I will.”

“Second I see you again, I’m gonna tear you up.”

I pull my finger out and wink at him. “I’m countin’ on it.”

The whole screen starts shaking. He’s right back at it, jerking off now with more strength than before, losing control. He starts grunting, too, his breaths coming out in puffs.

“Go ahead then,” he grunts.

I lift my eyebrows. “You want me to slide it in?”

“Yeah, do it.”

“Right now?” I give my finger a teasing lick, showing Bridger all of my tongue. “How bad you want me to?”

“Stop toying with me, Anthony.”

“Love when you growl my name like that.”

“Stick that finger inside you. It’s my finger now.”

“That so?”

“Stick that finger deep inside you, as deep as it’ll go.”

After one last teasing lick, I drop my finger to my ass, keeping my eyes glued on Bridger’s. The moment it touches my hole, I let out a gasp. “Oh, man, that feels good …”

“Is it in?”

“Gonna need to get lube if you want your finger inside me.”

“Get the lube, then.”

“It’s in the other room.”

“Then just tease it.”

I let out a groan. “This feels so good … fuck , I swear I—”

The sound of shuffling feet causes me to slap the phone to my chest and turn, wide-eyed. Juni emerges from the hall, yawning, half-dressed, and goes to the fridge to help herself to a glass of milk, apparently. After taking her time slowly chugging it down, she wipes her mouth with the whole length of her arm, sets the glass on the counter, then walks back to the hall.

But not before tossing something at me. It lands on the couch.

A bottle of lube.

“You can stick Bridger’s finger up your tushie now, Tony, I’m going back to bed.”

After her door softly shuts, I let out a sigh that fills the room, our mood effectively shattered into pieces. When I lift the phone back to my face, I find Bridger laughing. “Hey, it ain’t funny! And did she just call me Tony? Did your Pete get my Juni on the ‘let’s call Anthony Tony’ train? Hey!” When he breaks into another fit of laughter, I sink into the couch. “I really need to get my own place.”

It’s true, I did need to get my own place.

I guess I just wasn’t expecting to get it so soon.

“It’s so much nicer than mine!” sings Juni, circling around the empty unit to inspect every last inch with amazement.

“You only think it’s nice because you can see the actual floor ,” I point out, “since it ain’t covered with your dirty laundry.”

“But it’s also so much bigger!”

“Nope, same size as yours. Mr. Joy obviously kept his unit neat and tidy, from the looks of it.”

“I’m glad he got back with his wife,” admits Juni, coming to a stop by the hallway. “He seemed so sad. And my music made him so upset all the time. How can ABBA possibly make anyone upset?”

“They only moved back in together. They’re still separated.”

“At least they’re trying again. Hey, are you okay?”

I stop at the opened front door, leaning against the frame and gazing out at the morning haze across the parking lot. “This unit’s just a few doors down from yours,” I point out. “We’re neighbors.”

“I asked if you’re okay.”

I don’t look back at her. Whenever she’s looking at my eyes, she can tell if I’m lying. “I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because Bridger’s visit got delayed another month.” After a moment, she comes up to slip her arms around my waist, hugging me from behind. “You were really looking forward to him coming, weren’t you?”

There’s no use lying. “Of course I’m disappointed. But he’s got his own life up there in Kansas. And I’ve got my family business to help out with. Our lives just … aren’t aligned quite yet, that’s all.”

“I miss Pete, too.”

I throw her a look over my shoulder. “You guys are having sex chats every damned night. How do you possibly miss him?”

Surprisingly, she answers in a calm, sincere tone. “Just like your guy, Pete has his life, too. He and Bridger were supposed to come together again, just like last time.”

“You don’t have any ties here. I mean, other than me.”

“Other than you,” she agrees dutifully.

“Why don’t you take a trip up to Kansas to visit him? You got all the freedom in the world to do that.”

“Oh … well … it isn’t so simple.” She sighs on my shoulder.

“Of course it is. You got money fallin’ outta your ears. You aren’t bound to Spruce by your father’s pest-sprayin’ business. You can take off a whole month and spend it with him in Kansas. Don’t you dare take a whole month off ,” I suddenly throw in, hissing out the words, “ because I can’t go that long without seein’ you .”

Her arms slip off of my waist as she takes a few steps away, pouting. “Thing is, he’s got his family up there. And his whole life. Just like Bridger. And … well … he didn’t exactly invite me up there to see him.”

“He didn’t?”

“He keeps telling me he can’t wait to see me again, but … but I feel like maybe he doesn’t want me to go up there. He hasn’t said it, not exactly, but … y’know that feeling you get? In here?” She pokes a finger into her stomach. “Like, when you’ve got feelings for someone, but you have no idea if they’ve got the same ones for you? Is he embarrassed of me?” she suddenly asks, her eyes going wide as she looks back at me. “Am I embarrassing?”

“There’s nothin’ embarrassin’ about you, don’t even,” I throw back at her.

“I’m not exactly the take-home-to-mom-and-dad type.”

“C’mon, Juni. Pete’s crazy about you.”

“What if he’s, like, just having fun? And maybe I’m putting all of my baskets into this one egg …”

“Other way around.”

“… and he doesn’t feel the same? Anthony … I think I love …” Her whole body tense up. She chokes. “I-I think I love him. No, I do . I know it. I really do love him.” She looks at me, astonished by her own statement—and maybe the realization, too. “I love Pete so much, it hurts. Like, even in my butt. My butt hurts, I’m so in love with him. Don’t you love Bridger that much, too? Doesn’t he make you want to scream? And also cry? And also eat lots and lots of ice cream with all the free toppings?”

Yes, yes, and yes . “Juni, I know it’s frustrating …”

“Aren’t you guys losing your minds over the distance? If they have to delay yet another month …”

“Don’t jinx it.”

“I’ll just burn something down. Or buzz all my hair off. Or call my daddy up after all of these years and finally tell him to lick a dick .” She sighs, then glances back into the empty unit. “Or … I’ll just wait a little longer … I guess.”

I pat her shoulder, giving it a rub. “We just gotta be patient.”

“Easy for you to say. Things are looking up for you. Your dad’s business—well, your business too, now—it’s doing well enough that you got yourself your own place. I didn’t even have to help, even though I really wanted to. I know you gotta do it on your own. I see your life blowing up. Like, in the good way. Mine is just …” Her eyes go glassy. “… the same. Oh, I just made myself sad.”

“Sounds like anything but the same, the way Pete’s got you all messed up, inspiring you to … to tell your scum of a dad to lick a dick. That’s my sayin’. Hey, listen to me.” I hold Juni by the arms, bringing her lost, worried eyes to mine. “I’m tellin’ you, you aren’t the same woman who threw a ton of her money recklessly at me at an auction.”

“It wasn’t that much, actually.”

“When’s the last time we’ve gone to the Saloon?” I go on. “Or drank our silly asses off ‘til we couldn’t see each other’s faces? You changed more than you realize, Juni. Shit, I see the inspiration in your eyes. Like a fire or somethin’.”

“What good’s inspiration when you can’t do nothing with it? I think I’m … I’m still not happy. Something’s missing … something much bigger. Maybe it isn’t even about Pete. Not exactly. I just …” She pouts. “I just don’t know what it is. Something I can’t buy.”

I pull her in for a hug. The way she grips me back tells me she very much needed it. “You’ll figure it out, Juni. I know you will.”

“You’re such a good friend. To think I almost called my dad up to tell him to lick a dick.”

“Look at us,” I say, pulling back. “We’ve grown up so much, makin’ better decisions for ourselves. Not burnin’ shit down. Not tellin’ our parents to suck our dicks.”

“They’ll come back—Pete, Bridger—they’ll come back for us.”

Those words always make me feel funny. Like they’re forcing me to acknowledge the giant pit of doubt in my stomach that’s convinced I may not ever see Bridger again, that he’ll figure out what he needs in life is in Kansas, that maybe I’ve been kidding myself thinking I might soon share a bed with Bridger again, that absence did not in fact make his heart grow fonder.

“Y-Yeah.” I fight that doubt in my stomach. “Of course they will, Juni. Fuck yeah.”

“Let’s throw them a big party,” she decides. “I’ll plan it. A real, real big party to welcome them back to Spruce. We’ll remind them of the happiness they found when they came here the first time. They won’t ever want to leave.”

The light that’s bursting in her eyes right now could make me believe just about anything. I put on a grin, even if just half of my heart’s in it. The other half’s waiting on a special boy in Kansas to make his mind up about getting his ass back down here to Texas.