Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 85682 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 343(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85682 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 343(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
Apparently, Pruitt had thought they were more than friends. He’d tried to kiss Daniel, and when Daniel had turned him down, he’d gotten angry. He left but didn’t go far, watching the house until the lights went out. Pruitt then went inside, and in his words, punished Daniel for leading him on, for choosing me over him.
Daniel had been a lot of things, and one of them was friendly. Pruitt had taken that friendliness and turned it into something it wasn’t, then killed Daniel for it.
I wished like hell Daniel had called me that night, that he’d told me Pruitt had tried to kiss him, so I could have gone home right then. There were a million things I wished were different about that night, but I couldn’t live in that past anymore. I couldn’t and wouldn’t hate myself forever. I didn’t deserve that. Daniel wouldn’t want that. Sam wouldn’t let me even if I tried.
I’d talked to Daniel’s family on the phone once since then. They apologized, and I accepted it, but hadn’t needed it anymore. When we ended the call, I’d known we would never speak again, and that was okay. That was life.
We were naked in bed, me having just finished fucking Sam. He clung to me, all arms and legs the way he did. I ran my fingers through his hair while he played with the patch of fur on my chest.
“What’s your dream, Sam?”
It was late, a soft glow from the bathroom illuminating our temporary bedroom.
“Huh?”
“When we met, I asked you what your dream was, but you didn’t know. You hadn’t really let yourself have one, and now I’m curious if you do.”
Sam was quiet for a moment, sorting through his thoughts, I figured.
“I think…I think I wanna marry you. I wanna live on the farm, have more animals than you had before. I wanna wake up every mornin’ with you to feed them and go to bed with you every night. I wanna take showers outside and fuck all over the property. Oh, and splash you in the hot tub; that was fun too.” He smiled into my chest. “Don’t know what I want to do for a job, really, but I’m not gonna be your kept man my whole life. Maybe I’ll make things? I’m good with my hands, so maybe furniture and stuff like that. I guess I don’t really care about that part as much as I do the rest of it—being with you, having a home. Our home. I’ve seen what’s out there, and I’ve loved doin’ it, but I think I’m ready to go back home to Ryland and put down roots with you.”
“It won’t be easy. Yeah, people now know I’m innocent, but there’s still a lot of ugliness.” Sam had never been out at home. He’d never had people know he lived with a man, that he loved one.
“There’s ugliness everywhere, Em. Don’t really matter where you are, there’s hateful people and then those who aren’t. It’s the way of the world. I’m not gonna let them take my dream away from me. You’re the one who wanted me to dream, and turns out, mine is a simple one: you, me, a farm, bad jokes, cookin’ dinner together, and lots of fuckin’.”
He pushed up onto his elbows. I cupped his face with both hands, pulling his lips down to mine. We kissed that way until my jaw ached, just living off each other’s mouths.
“That sounds perfect to me,” I told him. “You should marry me first, though. One more trip to Vegas?” I waited for the fear to creep in, for the urge to pull away to take over, but it didn’t. It wasn’t there.
I wanted this. I wanted him.
Sam smiled, held me with that blue gaze of his. “You wanna marry me?”
“I do.”
He jumped out of bed. “Let’s do it. Let’s go right now. We can drive to Nevada.”
His excitement was mirrored in me, filled me up and fueled my movements until I was jumping out of bed too, and we were getting dressed and packing, then heading for the car.
Happiness was never guaranteed. I never thought I’d have it because I hadn’t thought I deserved it. Sam hadn’t thought he’d have it either, but now that we did, we were holding on with both hands and never letting go.
The End