Page 13 of Road Trip

CHAPTER

THIRTEEN

JACOB

172 miles to go

Yuma, AZ

M att’s knee bounced distractingly and he tapped his fingers against his thigh. He was clearly nervous and I was too. I was still coming to terms with the fact that Matt had apparently been crushing on me forever and somehow I hadn’t noticed. I’d genuinely thought what we had was just a really intense friendship. Now that I knew better, I wondered how I’d been so blind—although thinking I was straight definitely had something to do with that.

I steered us toward the Travelodge I’d found in Yuma. It was a solid three stars this time, so we were almost guaranteed no bedbugs or police raids, which was why I’d picked this place over the cheaper alternatives. I wanted my last night with Matt to be special, and if that meant I had to make my budget stretch a little further when I started college, it was worth it.

Matt was worth it.

Yuma was flat and dry and the color of cement dust. White stucco walls and red tiled roofs lined the streets, and palm trees and purple bougainvillea added to the occasional bursts of color. There were hazy mountains on the horizon that looked like they could have been days away.

“We’re going to that taco place for dinner,” Matt said, craning his head as we passed. “We’re so close to Mexico. The food here is gonna be amazing.”

We pulled into the hotel. The blast of air conditioning as we stepped inside the lobby was a relief even after the short walk from outside.

“Maybe the Mexican place delivers,” I said, and Matt raised his eyebrows. “Dude, it’s hot out there! I think they built this town on the surface of the sun!”

“We’ll go to dinner,” Matt said and held up a finger. “We’ll walk, because it’s seriously just in the next block. Then we can come back here and jump in the pool. It’ll be great.”

“Since when are you the optimist here?”

“Since I got myself a cute boyfriend,” he said with a grin that hit me like a gut punch.

Like a positive gut punch?

“Fine,” I found myself saying. “We’re walking to dinner.” I never had been able to say no to Matt.

“Sweet!” He shot me that grin again.

We checked in, and when we got to our room the first thing I did was drop the temperature on the AC as low as I could get it. Matt stood near the door taking in the room. It wasn’t anything fancy—it had one big bed with matching bedside tables and lamps, a tiny desk with a chair, and a flat-screen TV attached to the wall, all in varying shades of beige—but it was a lot nicer than our room in Albuquerque had been, and it was miles ahead of a two-man tent and a yoga mat. I dropped my bag in a corner of the room, kicked off my sneakers, and flopped backward onto the bed, arms spread wide as I soaked up the cool air. The bed dipped a second later as Matt threw himself down next to me, waving his arms about and making a snow angel in the plush comforter.

“What?” he asked when I turned my head to look at him.

“You’re an idiot,” I said, because I knew he didn’t want to hear the truth. I’m going to miss you. How am I supposed to do this without you? I love you .

When I was nine and Luke and I broke a window and lied and said we didn’t know what happened, Dad sat us both down and said he wasn’t angry, he just wanted us to tell the truth. Luke stuck with the whole spontaneous explosion thing for a while, but I caved first and told Dad all about Inside Baseball. And Dad hadn’t been lying. He wasn’t angry. He thanked me for telling the truth and told us that baseball was an outdoor game only.

Telling the truth was supposed to make things better, except there was nothing that either Matt or I could admit to out loud that would make this better, and we both knew it. Driving back to Cape Charles alone was going to hurt like a bitch, no matter what. Tomorrow was going to be one of the hardest days of my life, so I was determined to make tonight one of the best.

I rolled over toward Matt and reached out, catching him around the waist and pulling him closer. When our faces were barely an inch apart, I leaned in and kissed him.

He exhaled, his lips parting for mine, and his hand grasped my hip as we kissed slow and soft, like he thought I’d try and get away. Matt’s trust issues ran deep, but in this case he didn’t have to worry. I wasn’t going anywhere.

The AC hummed in the background, chilling the room, but it was Matt’s tongue brushing against mine that made me shiver. Kissing Matt was far more intense than anything I’d experienced before, and I craved more in a way I never had with Layla. But for right now, I was happy just doing this, exploring Matt's mouth, getting to know the shape of his kisses and the taste of him. As for anything else? We had all night.

M att and I floated in the pool, staring up at the night sky. There was something about night swimming. I missed the push and pull of the ocean, but the pool had something it didn’t; when we were still, so was the water, and it reflected the night sky above us. We were floating in stars. And maybe I was just looking for meaning the closer and closer we got to San Diego and the end of the trip, but it felt special. Like, right up until a group of guys with a cooler of beer turned up and one of them instantly killed the vibe with a cannonball.

Matt and I got out and grabbed our towels, then headed back to our room, shivering in the air conditioning once we got there.

“I’m gonna take a shower,” Matt said. “Get the chlorine off me.”

“Yeah, okay.” I dug around in my bag for my sleep pants and a T-shirt, then sat on the end of the bed and waited for my turn in the bathroom.

I didn’t realize how nervous I was until I caught my leg jiggling. Leaning over, I turned on the bedside lamp, then went and switched off the big light, and it helped me feel a little bit less exposed. I took a couple of deep breaths and told myself to calm the fuck down. It wasn’t like I’d changed my mind or anything. I wanted this. I just wasn’t sure exactly what this was, and that was what had me twitchy.

The sound of running water went on and on, and I wondered if Matt expected me to join him. But then, if he’d wanted me in there, he would have said so, right? This was Matt.

The water cut off, and a minute later Matt appeared with a towel around his waist. His cheeks were pink and his skin was still damp and I kind of wanted to lick him, which was another first for me.

“Your turn,” he said, flopping onto the bed and shooting me a cocky grin that I was ninety percent sure was a lie.

I ducked into the bathroom and showered quickly, making sure my junk was extra clean since it would hopefully have a starring role tonight. Once I’d dried myself, I eyed my sleep pants and shirt before deciding to follow Matt’s lead. I stepped out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel, and I didn’t miss the way Matt’s gaze tracked over me appreciatively. I crossed the room and joined him, and anticipation crackled between us. Suddenly the bed didn’t seem all that big. We were inches apart, facing each other. Matt’s lips were parted slightly, and I couldn’t look away. I reached out and cupped the back of his head just as he lunged forward, and our mouths crashed together in a hot, messy kiss that was all tongues and teeth and enthusiasm and zero style, and I didn’t care.

This wasn’t like our soft, tentative kisses from before. This was heated and desperate, the start of something more—what exactly, I didn’t know—but whatever it was, I wanted it. Matt made a breathless, needy sound against my mouth, and it shouldn’t have had my dick throbbing just from that, but apparently I had a thing for Matt’s sex noises because my dick perked right up.

We parted to catch our breath and Matt blinked at me and flashed me a crooked smile. Then he gave me a playful shove that landed me on my back. He settled his weight on top of me, and the heat and pressure of his bare chest against mine had me fully hard in seconds. I wasn’t the only one. His erection pressed into my thigh through the thin fabric of the hotel towels, and I’d never been more aware of anything in my life. I rocked my hips, chasing more friction, and Matt ground down against me and honestly, I was so keyed up that I could have come just from that. But that wasn’t the plan. The plan was that we make tonight count.

I reached down and tugged at my towel, letting it fall open.

Matt’s breathing hitched. He sat back on his knees, straddling me, then yanked his own towel off, dropping it over the side of the bed. His dick was hard, the tip a deep red, and it swayed as he moved, flush against his stomach. I found myself reaching out and running one finger up the shaft. Matt’s eyes grew wide and he tilted his hips forward as his hands clutched at my thighs, his fingertips digging into the muscle.

I reached out and wrapped a hand around his dick and stroked him a couple of times, nice and slow. Touching his dick was different than touching my own—better, somehow—and every time I stroked the silky soft skin, my own dick throbbed. Matt sucked in a sharp breath, his teeth scraping his bottom lip as he stared down at me. He looked so fucking fragile, like he wasn’t in control and he didn’t know what to do about it.

I let go of his dick and reached up, resting my hand on his waist and tugging him toward me. “Hey. C’mere.”

He swallowed and curled forward, caging me in. His damp hair brushed against my collarbone as he buried his face against the curve of my throat. I ran my fingers over the nape of his neck and down his spine in a long, soothing motion while I soaked up the weight of him against me. After a minute he lifted his head and his lips ghosted against my cheek as he sought my mouth. I turned my head just right and then we were kissing and grinding and making out desperately, all uncertainty disappearing. We rolled onto our sides and Matt hitched his top leg over mine, bringing our hard dicks into contact, and the drag of skin on skin as he rocked forward dragged a low groan out of me.

He pulled back and grinned, then leaned in and licked a stripe up the side of my neck and holy shit , who knew something so gross could feel so good? Like, that was something toddlers did. There was no way it should have been hot. But my nerve endings were dancing, my pulse was racing, and suddenly I wanted nothing more than Matt’s mouth all over me.

And maybe he was psychic or maybe I said that out loud, but the next thing I knew Matt was sliding down my body, tracing over my skin with his hands and then following the trail he was making with his tongue, tasting and teasing. When he took one nipple into his mouth and sucked, my back arched off the bed and I let out a filthy, ragged moan.

Matt made a pleased sound that echoed right through my rib cage and teased me some more, and by the time he moved his mouth to the other side, I was panting. For someone who didn’t know what he was doing, Matt sure as fuck knew what he was doing. Every sharp tug of his teeth on my nipple sent a shock right down to my balls, and I was dangerously close to coming all over myself without him even touching me. “Matty!” I gasped.

He raised his head and grinned. “You like that?”

I let out a groan. “Too much. I’m gonna come if you don’t stop.”

Matt pressed a soft kiss to my ribs and sat up on his knees, and his expression turned serious. “Okay. So, how are we doing this? Doggie style? Missionary?”

My brain screeched to a halt faster than an SUV confronted by a row of ducklings crossing the street. “What?”

“Isn’t that why we’re stopping? So you can fuck me? I mean, it makes sense for you to top since you’ve put your dick in someone before.” His brow creased. “That is why we’re stopping, right?”

“What?” I asked again. I stared at him and he stared at me.

He wrinkled his nose. “Isn’t that why we got a room? So we could fuck?”

“We got a room because it’s our last night!”

“Yeah.” He jutted his chin out in the way that signaled this was about to become an argument if I didn’t tread carefully. “And that means we’re gonna fuck, right?”

“Matt,” I began, and he bridled at the tone of my voice, lifting himself off me. He clambered off the bed, pulling his towel around him and glowering at me. “Matt! Get back here, you dick!”

He glowered again, but he’d turned down the heat of the glare at least a few degrees. “Don’t you want to fuck me? I know you never did anal with Layla.”

“What?” I sat up, jamming a pillow over my junk. “I do want to, but it’s not a competition! And if it was—” I ignored the bite of guilt for saying it, because I really liked Layla. I just didn’t love her. “If it was, you’d be winning anyway.”

His eyes widened and he looked away briefly before he asked, “So why don’t you want to have sex with me?”

“Matty, I don’t know how . ”

His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “What?”

“There’s like extra stuff you have to do, and I don’t want to screw it up.” I didn’t know whose face was redder, his or mine. But either one of us could have been used as a traffic signal right now. “I don’t want to do anything that might hurt you.”

His shoulders slumped as the fight went out of him. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” I said softly.

It didn’t bother me how he’d overlooked any forward planning or research we might have to do in order to get to anal—Matt making rash decisions without thinking ahead was pretty much why we were here, after all—but it did bother me that he thought he was competing with Layla. That he’d framed anal just as something he could give me that she hadn’t. Like, sex was supposed to be something between us . Layla shouldn’t have even been part of that equation. It bothered me that there was a part of Matt that thought maybe I wasn’t all in, and he had to offer sex as a way to keep me interested.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and planted my feet on the floor. “Hey, Matt.”

“What?”

He didn’t think it was him I wanted? Guess I was going to have to prove it.

“Drop the towel,” I said. “I want to blow you.”