Ten Below Zero(40)

A few moments later, he pulled back on the road. This time he kept the sunglasses on, but turned the music off. I didn’t realize how much I missed the music until we were starting to see signs indicating we were closer to the Grand Canyon.

“Have you been here before?” I asked. It was unusual, no-it was an anomaly-that I would initiate small talk. But Everett had been brooding, distracted, the entire three hours since we’d left the gas station. It was making me incredibly uncomfortable. I needed to do something.

“No,” he said. Usually, Everett said one-word sentences like they were packed with desire, or venom. This one word was short. Indifferent.

“So…does that mean this visit is popping your cherry?”

There was silence for a second. And then the side of his mouth lifted up subtly. So subtly, I nearly missed it. And then he turned his eyes to me for a moment. “You want to pop my cherry, Parker?”

I bit my lip. The way he’d spoken it was normal Everett. His voice was rich, a little gravelly. Sexy. I nodded. A smile tugged at my lips. Apart from the laugh I’d had earlier, the one Everett had likened to the sound of an animal dying, I hadn’t smiled. But I wanted to.

Everett sighed, as if releasing the tension that had held onto his muscles for the last three hours. He followed the signs to the entrance of the Grand Canyon and pulled into the parking area.

“Ready to pop my cherry, Parker?”

I slid out of the car and walked around, following him to an overlook.

It was my first time at the Grand Canyon. Growing up a foster kid didn’t usually include any sort of vacation. This road trip with Everett was me reliving a missed childhood.

The Grand Canyon was, in a word, spectacular. It was filled with color, and ridges and edges. There were colors painted in the rock, reds and browns and yellows. The park was mostly empty aside from a few tourists, so we were able to enjoy the view without a crowd. Everett turned and looked to me. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked, his eyes lit up. Whatever had haunted him before all but disappeared, leaving his face relaxed.

I watched his face. His eyes were closed, the lines around his eyes had settled. The sun washed over his face, warming it. I watched him for another minute before turning to look back at the view.

“It’s okay, I guess. A big hole in the ground.” It wasn’t how I really felt, but it was what I said. The words tasted sour to me, but to Everett they were hilarious. He couldn’t stop laughing. I turned and looked at him again.

“Just ‘a big hole in the ground’?” he asked. “You’re hard to impress.”

“What do you want me to say? Oh look, rocks and stuff.”

Before I knew it, Everett was walking towards me. “Ready?” he asked.

I looked at him with a question on my face. “What?”

Everett moved behind me and placed his hands on either side of mine on the railing. “Want to visit our next attraction?” he asked, his voice at my ear.

“What is it?” I asked, holding my breath. The warmth of his chest to my back was soothing in the cool morning air.

“A ghost town. Four hours away.”

“More driving?” I asked.

“Last stop of the day.”

I nodded. “Okay. You don’t want to see more of the Canyon?”

Everett shook his head. “It’s just a big hole in the ground, isn’t it?” His words were teasing.

I shrugged. “Yeah, basically. I just figured you’d have wanted to see more of it.”

“I want to make it to the east coast.” He stopped, didn’t finish saying what was on the tip of his tongue. He was a time bomb, prepared to go off at any time. And he wanted to get as much in as possible before the east coast.

“Anything in particular you want to see on the east coast?”

“Yes.” He knew I was intrigued, and teased me by not continuing his sentence.

“Okay, let’s go.”

His arms moved from the railing to wrap around my waist. I stood still, a statue in his arms. He brought his face to my neck and nuzzled. “Mmm,” he murmured, the vibration against my skin tickling my skin. “You smell good.”

“I don’t smell like you.”

“No,” he said on a sigh. “You smell like you.”

I wriggled out of his arms, uncomfortable with the affection. Sex was one thing. It was explosive. This was intimacy and I was not ready for it.

“Let’s go,” I said again, walking towards the car.

“Hey Parker?” he asked. I turned my head to look at him. “Do you love me yet?”

It was very hard to not roll my eyes. “Definitely not.”



On the drive south, Everett was his normal happy self. It relieved and annoyed me. He bounced along to the music on the steering wheel, singing loudly along with the lyrics. That part was immensely annoying.

I kept looking over at him, watching him bounce his head back and forth to the music. He was wearing black shorts and a navy blue tee. It was the closest to black he could get, and a shirt he’d had to pick up at a department store before we left Las Vegas. I’d helped him grab a bunch of colored tees and a few plaid cargo shorts. He’d eyed with me annoyance then, so this was likely my payback now. I cleared my throat and he finally looked over at me.