Brokeback Cabin III: The Neighbor Knows
Two hungry bottoms. One rough country top. No quiet nights in the woods.
Catchup:
Red said it like it was nothing.
“Neighbor might stop by this weekend.”
I froze with the cooler in my hands and a six-pack tucked under my arm. “What neighbor?”
Red didn’t look at me. That should’ve been my first warning. He kept tying down the tarp in the bed of the truck, his forearms flexing, his jaw tight, his wedding band catching the morning sun like a damn accusation.
“Fella lives half a mile down from Hank’s place. Wade.”
“Wade?” I repeated, already hating him.
Red glanced over his shoulder. “Don’t start.”
“I ain’t starting nothing.”
Which was a lie. I was absolutely starting something. In my head, I had already dragged Wade into court, convicted him of being too damn close to our cabin, and sentenced him to minding his own business.
Red smirked like he could hear every jealous thought rattling around in my skull. “He helped fix the generator last time.”
“Last time?”
His smirk widened. “You were upstairs sleeping it off.”
Sleeping it off. That’s what we were calling it now. Funny, because I distinctly remembered being wide awake, face-down in a mattress, biting a pillow while Red taught me several things the church had failed to prepare me for.
I shoved the cooler into the bed of the truck harder than necessary. “So he just pops by?”
“Sometimes.”
“Sometimes,” I said, mocking him.
Red walked around the truck, slow and easy, like he had all the time in the world. He stopped in front of me, close enough that I could smell him. Soap. Sweat. Gasoline. Trouble.
“You jealous?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
He looked down at my mouth, then back up at my eyes. “You’re a piss-poor liar, Cole.”
I hated how my stomach flipped when he said my name like that. Low. Rough. Like it belonged to him.
I leaned closer, lowering my voice even though nobody was around but the birds and the old dog from next door barking at nothing. “I’m not jealous. I just don’t like surprises.”
Red’s hand slid around my waist, gripping me firm enough to make my breath catch.
“Then let me tell you plain,” he said. “Wade knows.”
My blood went cold.
“What the hell do you mean he knows?”
Red’s thumb pressed into the small of my back. “He knows enough.”