Riding With Brighton(58)

“You really like me.”

“Yeah, Jay, I do,” he practically moans.

I lean my body on his until I can feel his hard-on pushing into my thigh. I run my leg up his, and he groans. I dig my fingers into his waistband, barely brushing his flesh, and he grabs on to my ass. I move my hand out of his pants, up his stomach and chest until it’s digging into the base of his skull. I get another moan. I turn my body and move my hips like I know he likes me to until we’re grinding together. His eyes roll to the back of his head. “Jay,” he mutters.

I bite down on his clavicle then nip and suck my way up his neck, across his jaw, and to his ear. “You need me,” I growl.

“Fuck yeah,” he breathes.

“I’m part of you now.”

“Right now, Jay, I would tell you just about anything. But I’m not lying when I say that, yeah, you managed to sneak in somehow. And it was anything but slowly. You are so inside of me.”

I roll off him. “Good.”

He laughs. “Is this payback? For the shit I pulled at The Farm?”

“No. I just needed to hear that, and I figured you wouldn’t say it if I didn’t drag it out of you.”

“So what do I get from you?”

“Ha. Is that a joke? I’ve spent the better part of the day telling you exactly how I feel about you and trying to get you to put your hands and mouth on me. I mean, I just told you that I’m pretty sure I’m on the fast track to falling in love with you. God, I totally suck at this shit, don’t I? I mean, a little bit of discretion would probably do me some good. Nothing like laying it all out there. Just keep in mind that I’m so damn tired I’m delirious. Maybe in the morning I won’t be so whipped.”

“I hate to break it to you, but I’m pretty sure it is the morning. And you’re still totally whipped.”

I follow his gaze down to the horizon where the first signs of light are spreading out. It’s beautiful. “I can’t remember the last time I saw the sun rise. Seems like it’s important right now.”

“It’s a new beginning.”

“For me?” I wonder.

“For both of us.”

“The first day of the rest of my life, right? It’s all beginning now.”

“How do you feel about that?”

I think about it for a moment. I watch as the light creeps into the dark, taking away this intimate moment I’m having with Brighton and shining a light on the rest of the world that I know is out there. That I’ll have to deal with. “I kind of don’t want this moment to end. I kind of just want to hide out here with you forever. But at the same time, I’m excited. I’m ready to embrace whatever is coming my way. I feel prepared, for the first time in my life, to deal with it. I want to do that.”

“And if it gets too overwhelming, I’ll bring you back here. We can lie in the darkness and pretend there’s nothing else out there.”

I smile at that. “Have I thanked you? For today, for everything you did for me today?”

“Probably. We’ve said a lot of shit to each other today.”

“I’m serious. I couldn’t have done any of this without you. I wouldn’t have been strong enough. I wouldn’t have had the chance to see the things I needed to see.”

“You made me stronger too, Jay,” he whispers.

“That sun is rising way too fast,” I tell him as I watch the colors spreading. The stars are almost impossible to see. “I don’t want this day to end.”

“There’s no reason every day can’t be like this one.”

“No day will ever be like this one.”

“Well, no, but every day can be as great as this one.”

I can’t help but laugh at that. “I have to face my family today. And I have to go back to school the day after that. I’m pretty sure neither of those days will be as good as this one.”

“You never know, Jay.”

We lie there in silence, our bodies touching, our fingers wound together lazily. Nothing in the air but the music.

You never know, Jay. Brighton’s words stay in my mind. I watch as the earth spins and we enter a new day.

It hits me how great this could all be.

You never know. Every day is a new day; every day has the potential to be great. I don’t remember ever thinking that before. Hope. Potential. Possibilities. It’s all new to me, and suddenly the thought of a new day is exciting rather than scary.





Chapter Sixteen


Brighton



I KEPT my eyes open until it literally wasn’t possible to do it anymore. Jay and I lay in each other’s arms in my bed, quiet music playing in the background. Our words lazy and unfocused. Our hands roaming but not trying to go anywhere. I fell asleep in a hazy state of happiness. The world seemed unreal. Everything seemed like a dream.

And now, as Jay kisses his way across my chest and up my neck, it still feels that way. I’m waking up, and the dream is still here, in fact his wet mouth is all over me.

I grab his face and bring his lips to mine. God, this is a fantastic way to wake up. I’ve always been a fan of morning make-out sessions, and if it’s with Jay, even better. But just as I get into our lazy morning mash-up, he pushes off me. “Do you have any idea what time it is?”