Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83586 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83586 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
He’d bought me a guitar? I wasn’t sure what to say. It couldn’t have been cheap, and I knew Sutt and his uncle didn’t have a whole lotta money. Not that we did either. “This is too much.”
“It’s fine. I used the money I earned mowing lawns last summer and helping out Ms. Debbie around the house.” Ms. Debbie was an elderly woman who lived within walking distance from Brian. She was a widow and didn’t have kids, so both Sutton and Brian helped her out sometimes.
“Yeah, but that money is for you. So you can get somethin’ for yourself.” A tingling, twisting feeling filled my stomach, made my skin oversensitive in a way I didn’t understand.
“I wanted to get that for you.” When I didn’t reply, he added, “Plus, it’s kinda for me too. That way I don’t have to share with you.”
It was the best gift I’d ever gotten, and I knew right then I’d keep it forever. “Thanks, Sutt. I—”
“Jasper. Hello? You in there?” Sutton said from one of the chairs by the fire.
I was kneeling by the tent, lost in the past. I didn’t play on that old Fender anymore, but I still had it in my closet at home.
“Sorry. Spacing out.”
I handed his over, then got my own. We started off with old Bob Dylan songs, then some Leonard Cohen. It was the kind of music Brian liked, and he got Sutt into it, who then did the same for me. We played Simon & Garfunkel, then some Cat Stevens, before Sutton drifted off into a melody I didn’t know. I tried to watch, tried to figure it out, but then just got lost in the hypnotic sound of the chords and the way his nimble fingers moved along the fret.
He hummed along, this smooth, honey-coated sound that made my heart beat too fast and my body relax at the same time. The fire danced and crackled, and Sutton’s music filled me up, left me in awe, before he looked at me through his dark lashes, hooded eyes seeking, but I didn’t know what.
He cleared his throat. “Sorry. Lost myself a bit.”
“You don’t gotta apologize. That was gorgeous.”
Sutton sang too, but not in front of anyone. Once in a while he did for me, or I’d hear him through the walls at home, his voice smoky and comforting.
“I’m tired,” Sutton said. “I’m gonna take a piss and hit the sack.”
I nodded dumbly, stood when he did, and walked through the woods some. Sutton turned his back to me, standing close to a tree. I didn’t know why I did it, but I stepped up beside him and pulled the front of my shorts and underwear down so I could take my cock out.
Sutton cocked a brow, eyes firmly on mine. “There’s a whole fuckin’ forest around us, and you gotta take a piss right next to me?”
“It’s dark and scary out there. We should stick together so I can protect you,” I teased, and he rolled his eyes but didn’t move. We peed, tucked ourselves away, then headed back to camp and used one of the bottles of water to wash our hands.
Sutton made sure to put the fire out while I put our stuff in the tent, and then we both climbed in, side by side, on our backs.
“Night, Jasp,” he said, his voice husky and maybe a little sad.
“Night, Sutt.” The words nearly stuck in my throat.
Sutton rolled over, turned away from me, but I stayed right where I was, aware of him beside me, of his breathing evening out and the little moan he made sometimes when he was sleeping.
I smiled in the dark and closed my eyes.
Yeah, I liked it here just fine, and I didn’t want anything to change.
CHAPTER FIVE
Sutton
Weeks went by. We worked hard every day, spent some dinners with Jasper’s family and some at home. Jasp went out some, fucked a couple of women, had some drinks at the bar, the typical thing. I was still talking to Kendra, but we had yet to meet up. She’d asked a few times, but when she did, I always made up some excuse. I just wasn’t as interested in her as I should be, as I wanted to be. I tried not to think about what that meant, why I didn’t want to take a chance with a beautiful woman and why I’d be happy being Jasper’s best friend and roommate forever if I could.
Tonight we were having dinner with Sherry and Bob, Jasper’s parents. Sherry had called for a family get-together, and when she asked, everyone came; that was how it worked. I loved it, though, loved feeling part of a family. When I’d lost my own, Jasper’s had been that for me. Sherry had taken to me even more than before, treating me just the way she did Jasp. That was part of the guilt I felt sometimes, about my mixed-up feelings when it came to Jasper. He was supposed to be like a brother to me. His mama loved me like I was her son, his dad too, and there I was, having to bury these unwanted thoughts about him. It was fucked up.