Next Stop Funnel Cake (5 page)

"So that means you hustled me."

"I wouldn't say it that. Anyway, we made that bet fair and square. In fact, if I remember right, you were very confident when you agreed."

"You should know by now I'm all talk," I said with a grin.

"I'm beginning to figure that out, Trav. Along with plenty of other things I never knew about you."

"Oh yeah, like what?"

"Like you're a sucker for ice cream and can't watch a movie without trying to figure out the ending."

"I don't do that."

"Yeah, you do. But don't worry, I think it's cute."

"Thanks. I do what I can."

"Now, are you going to pay the piper or what?"

I pulled out my wallet, fished out the ten dollars I owed him and set it down on the table.

"There you go, you shark. That's all my cash. You've bled me dry with your ruthless bowling skills."

He took the money and folded it before shoving it into his pocket.

"Well, I might as well pack up and look for another mark."

He smiled and sipped from his beer. I drained the pitcher into my plastic cup and took a big gulp.

"That's fine. I'll sit here and drown my sorrows."

He put his hand on top of mine and stroked my skin with his thumb. "Don't you want to try and win your money back?"

"Nope. I told you, I'm tapped out."

"Aw, come on...you could always write me an IOU. Or we could think of another way for you to pay me."

He leaned closer and kissed me, his hand now on my knee.

"Oh, I see how you operate. Take my last ten bucks so the next time we bet, I have to put myself in a compromising situation if I lose."

"You found me out."

"And here I thought you were a nice guy."

"You don't think I'm nice?"

His fingers inched up my thigh, and once again, our lips locked. For a moment, I forgot we were in public, pins crashing all around us. I wanted to tell him that I thought he was amazing, but something inside me wouldn't let me. So I did what I always did. Tried to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, you're okay. I guess."

He moved his lips right next to my ear. "Joke all you want, Travis. You can't fool me."

When he pulled back, I waited for another kiss, but instead, Andrew pressed the button on the computer to start another game of bowling.

"I thought you were ready to leave," I said.

"I'm giving you a chance to win your money back."

"And if I lose?"

His eyebrow raised and he gave me a kiss. It was quick, but devastating.

"I'm sure we'll figure something out."

* * * *

Summers usually dragged, the busy season at Downy's really taking it out of me. Now that Andrew was in my life, I found the days going by quickly and the nights even faster. We spent every free moment we could together, taking advantage of his wide-open summer break and my ability to manipulate Nick into giving me evenings off. By the time the beginning of August rolled around, I was staying at Andrew's nearly every night and neither Clayton nor he was complaining about the new arrangement.

One evening after dinner, we were trying to decide on a movie to watch when Andrew surprised me.

"Hey, I picked up something for you today."

"Aw, you got me a present?"

"Not exactly."

He disappeared for a moment and returned with college catalogs. He spread them out on the coffee table and sat with a grin.

"What are these for?"

"I think that's pretty obvious, don't you?"

"You want me to go back to school."

"No, I only got them because you said the other day that
you
wanted to go back to school."

"I do. Someday."

"Well, what if someday can be now?"

"We pretty much covered that on our second date and a bunch of others since then, didn't we? I told you I can't afford it."

"Could you at least humor me and look? What harm could it do?"

"Um, it could get my hopes up and then dash them when I look at the price tag attached to some of these fine institutions."

"There is always a way, Travis."

"Maybe for some people."

He put his hands up in mock surrender and took a sip of his beer. "Fine. I give up. I was only trying to help. If you don't want to look at them, I can throw them away." He moved to gather them up, but I put my hand on his arm to stop him.

"You don't have to throw them away. Can we talk about this later?"

"Sure, we can just watch the movie."

I pulled him to me and kissed him hard.

"I thought maybe we could do something else first."

"Oh really? What did you have in mind?" he asked.

"This."

I crawled on top of him, easing him onto his back, the leather couch creaking beneath us. He yanked my T-shirt over my head and tossed it aside. While his thumbs delicately traced over my nipples, I leaned down to kiss him. I stopped before I got to his lips, my voice coming out in a strained whisper.

"You're so sexy."

He smiled, running his hand up my back, his tight grip on the back of my neck, pulling me closer.

"Right back at you, Travis."

He kissed me gently before pulling at my bottom lip with his teeth. He ground into me, and I could feel his hard cock against mine. His hands slipped into my pants and grabbed my ass. I wanted to feel Andrew's skin against mine, so I sat up and started to undress him. His belt didn't want to budge, but after a few hard tugs I managed to wrench it free.

"Impatient, are we?"

"I want you to be naked, Andrew."

"All you had to do was ask."

He wriggled out of his pants and boxers, adding them to the pile.

"There. Happy now?"

"Almost."

I kissed down his body, taking my time teasing his sensitive nipples with my tongue. He arched underneath me, sucking in a breath through his teeth. I took his hard cock in my hand and gave the flared head a kiss. I ran my tongue up the length before sucking him into my mouth. He groaned and spread his legs wider, making more room for me on the couch. His hands rubbed my shoulders as I sucked him, taking my time with each pass, getting as much of him down my throat as I could. I'd been in this position many times over the last few weeks, but it still felt as exciting as it did the first time. It was like I couldn't get enough of him.

I heard him groaning, the telltale sounds of his excitement making me crazy. As much as I wanted to keep going, to make him come that way, I stopped, the eased him out of my mouth with a slow stroke of my tongue. He sat up underneath me, pulling me into a kiss.

"Wanna go to bed, Travis?"

"We could stay right here."

He smiled and eased me off his lap, giving me a kiss on the cheek before he got up.

"Be right back. Don't move."

I watched him hurry down the hall and sat back with a sigh. When he returned, I felt a tug at my heart just looking at him. My feelings for Andrew were starting to scare me, their intensity freaking me out a bit. Not that I'd been able to tell him any of that. We never talked about it and it was getting harder to hide how much I cared for him. He sat the lube and condom down on the coffee table before he sat. He started kissing my neck, his tongue sweeping up to my earlobe before he whispered to me.

"Get on your knees."

I knelt on the couch cushion, facing away from him, my chest resting against the arm of the couch. His hands were on my ass cheeks, and, in an instant, I felt the moist heat of his tongue against my pucker.

"Oh, Jesus, Andrew."

He rimmed me in slow circles, as I took my cock in my hand, trying to ease the ache. All it did was make me more excited. I felt the wet press of his finger, gently pushing the tip inside me before his tongue was back. I pinched my eyes closed as I eased back against him, sighing into the leather beneath me. The next thing I felt was the cool dribble of lube, then his fingers slicking over my hole, getting me ready for him.

"Come here, Travis."

I turned around and found myself in his arms, his lips scorching mine.

"You ready for me?"

I wanted to answer, but my words wouldn't come out. I nodded instead.

He sat on the couch, and I watched as he rolled the condom on. When he finished, I moved over him and positioned myself above his cock. Andrew rubbed the tip against me, and I started to ease down onto him slowly, getting used to the feel of him inside me again. I braced my hands against his chest, his hands gentle on my hips, letting me go at my own pace. Once he was in me to the hilt, I leaned forward and kissed him. Andrew put a hand around my neck and held me close, groaning against my lips as I started to move.

"Fuck, you feel so good," he said.

"So do you."

His cock pumped in and out, and my eyes shut tight as I rode him faster.

"Look at me."

I obliged and met his eyes, his gaze as powerful as the moment. It made me want to look away, but I couldn't. Andrew wrapped his fist around my cock and started to jerk me. My body started to tense, so I knew it wouldn't be long before I exploded. The whole time we moved together, his stare didn't waiver from mine. My heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest, for more than one reason. With one last turn of his wrist, I was coming, and, for the first time ever, I didn't close my eyes. I kept right on looking at him as my orgasm crashed down on me.

When I couldn't stand it anymore, I shut my eyes, collapsing forward onto Andrew. After two more thrusts, he let out a primal groan and came, holding onto me for dear life. He stopped moving, and I carefully moved off him and onto the couch next to him. His heavy breathing slowed. I wanted to say something, but I couldn't.

"Wow. That was amazing, Travis."

He moved over and kissed me, and before I could stop myself, I blurted out what was on my mind.

"I think I'm falling for you, Andrew."

His face was unreadable, which made me fear I'd gone too far. My mind was trying to come up with a way out when he took my hand.

"What do you mean, 'think'? I know I'm falling for you."

My lungs finally started working again, and I let my head fall against the back of the couch.

"I wasn't sure how you'd react. I mean, most guys wouldn't admit to having feelings for a guy who drives a train in an amusement park."

He laughed and planted a kiss on my cheek.

"I'm willing to take my chances. Besides, I'd have thought it's been totally obvious how I feel about you."

"I never take anything for granted."

"Good to know. Now, let's go get cleaned up. Then we can finally get to that movie."

* * * *

"You hungry, Travis?"(

"Nope."

"Thirsty?"

"No. You know you don't have to keep playing the good host, Andrew. I've been here enough, I think I can find my way to the kitchen and help myself."

"I know. I was just asking."

He rolled over and pulled me into his arms, his skin still a bit sweaty.

"You don't have to take care of me. Despite all evidence to the contrary, I am a grown man."

"I don't consider a glass of water taking care of you."

"Fair enough."

He kissed me softly and ran his hand down my back. "I'm really glad you're here."

"Me, too, although Clayton is starting to get pissed at me for not doing my share of the housework. The dishes have been really piling up."

I chuckled, but Andrew's face remained serious.

"I'm trying to have a nice moment here and you want to make jokes."

"Sorry. Making light of things is what I do."

"I've known about that for a long time. Some things never change."

"What did you call it back in high school? A defense mechanism?"

"Yup. That's what it is."

"Well, at least it has a name. That makes it a legit thing, right? I mean, something you can't judge me for."

He rubbed his foot against my calf and nuzzled against me.

"I wouldn't dream of judging you. Still, it wouldn't kill you to leave some of your little jokes unsaid."

"It might. You don't know. You're not a doctor."

"I am, actually."

"Right. Forgot about that whole PhD. thing."

"All that time in school had to count for something. You don't have to go that far, Travis, unless you really want to. Start with the Bachelors and see what happens."

I felt myself tense at the mere mention of school. I'd hoped to avoid the topic for at least a couple of days, but it seemed no matter what I did, it kept coming up.

"I told you we could talk about all that later," I said, squirming away from him a bit, but he didn't let me go far.

"It is later."

"You know what I mean."

"When you say later, you really mean never."

"Not never. Not right now."

"Why?"

"I already told you why."

"No, you told me why you left school and gave me a half-assed answer about why you don't want to try again. So how about you try some of that honesty we talked about and give me the real story."

I stared at the ceiling and trying to think of a way out. I could run to the bathroom, or to the kitchen for the drink I said I didn't need. Having sex again seemed out, considering we'd already done it twice. I was trapped.

"Fine. Like I said before, my parents' divorce got out of hand. At first, they were going to sell the house, split the money and go their separate ways. Neat and easy. Then my mom hired a lawyer who told her she could get more because she had proof my dad cheated. When my dad found out, his lawyer told him that he could fight it all because my mother had slapped him a few times during their arguments."

"Jesus."

"Oh, wait. It gets better. Not only did they fight over the house, they fought over everything
in
the house. Each item was up for grabs, and each time they talked to their lawyers about anything, it cost more money. They ended up selling the house and splitting the money anyway. But they burned through the proceeds arguing over furniture and..."

"And, you?"

I swallowed hard remembering some of the custody hearings. Since I'd been old enough to have an opinion, I'd gotten to hear more than I ever bargained for.