Riding With Brighton(77)

His smile just grows sexier. Or maybe it’s his eyes—they’re all heavy and shiny. “I had an epiphany, starring you.”

“Really? Please tell me the oracles whispered that we were naked.”

He grunts. “Hell yeah. We were so naked.” He reaches over and rubs my thigh, and I’m instantly semihard.

“That’s not an epiphany. That’s a wet dream. Oh my God, I’m your wet dream. You should let Maggie… and Samuel… know.”

“He texted me,” he says with a laugh that I don’t really appreciate because that’s not funny.

“That kid can fuck off.”

“Whoa, relax. I’m sure he’s a totally nice guy that doesn’t deserve that.”

“Really?” I ask, pulling my leg out of his grasp, unable to keep the tantrum on the down low.

Brighton reclaims my leg, his hold significantly tighter this time. “I told him I have a boyfriend.”

My reaction to his words is visceral, and it shows: my eyes are wide, and my smile is huge. “You better be talking about me.”

“Well, I mean, I said it because it was easier than texting, I have all these deep, crazy feelings for this kid I’ve been hanging out with for two days and I don’t know how he feels or where it’s gonna go, but I know he’s the only one I’m interested in so please fuck off.”

That run-on sentence makes me damn happy, but there’s something wrong with it. “You don’t know how I feel about you?”

He shrugs. “Maybe I should have said, I don’t know how he feels about commitment.”

“He loves commitment. He’s totally committed to commitment. Commitment is his middle name.”

He laughs. “Yeah?”

“I mean, if the right person comes along… yeah.” My attempt at hard to get is lost on him. He just smirks at me.

“Jayden Thomas Hall… do you want to be my boyfriend?”

“Yeah, Brighton…?”

“Maxwell.”

I smile at that. I like his dad. I like that we have that in common—our middle name being our dads. “Brighton Maxwell Bello-Adler, I do. You want to be mine?”

“Hell yes.”

I run my fingers over his, then grasp them. I’m smiling as I look out the window. “I got myself a boyfriend.”

He laughs. It’s a happy, excited laugh. “Those things you said about watching kids kiss and hold hands….”

“Yeah?”

“That always made me jealous too. I always wanted to walk down the halls of that school holding someone’s hand.”

I continue looking out the window, suddenly excited about going to school for the first time as an openly gay man. “Dying for class to get over so that you can see them again for a couple of minutes,” I add.

“Talking to your friends about how damn sexy they look today… in your clothes.”

“Having something exciting to think about while Mr. Barns explains kinetic energy.”

“God, I can just look at you and talk to you and touch you any way I want to in history.”

I look at him and smirk. “Jesus, I can totally drag you into the bathroom and cop a feel before English.”

He laughs again. I love the sound of his deep, throaty laugh. He pulls into the parking lot and surprisingly, I don’t feel nervous. Probably because I’m thinking about what, exactly, I’m going to do to him in all the dark corners, closets, and bathroom stalls between classes. He parks the truck and pulls the keys out, then looks at me. I grab ahold of his neck and drag his mouth to mine because I can’t help it. I kiss him long and hard, loving how strong his hands feel as they grasp on to the back of my head and how good his tongue tastes as it pushes against mine and totally living for the deep quiet sounds of pleasure coming out of his mouth.

He pulls away, rubs his sleeve over his mouth, and smiles at me.

“It’s really fucking hot when you do that.”

“Do what?”

“Wipe my spit off your mouth after we kiss.”

He smiles at me. “You’re a sloppy kisser, Jay.”

“Shut the hell up. You already gave me the best communication award.”

“Fine. You’re not a sloppy kisser. And I didn’t realize I was doing that. I don’t think I do that with anyone but you, and the only reason I did it just now is because kissing you turns me on so hard and I feel like I need to suppress it… with my sleeve, apparently.”

“Maybe we should skip today… go back to your place.”

He shakes his head. “You’re distracting, you know that? You want to hear about my idea… the part after we made out… the epiphany?”

“I’m guessing it doesn’t involve skipping school.”

“No. The opposite, actually.”

“Fine. Tell me about it.”

“I think I’d rather just show you,” he says, leaning over to give me a quick kiss before opening his door and stepping out.

Okay.

I step out too and meet him at the front of the Bronco. “How the hell are you planning on showing me your epiphany?” I ask, holding tight to the straps of my backpack as we cross the lot.

“You’ll just have to wait and see,” he says with a mischievous smile.