Devil's Kiss (Sunset Cove #2) (30 page)

When they’d talked on the phone earlier, Derek had said he was going to camp overnight at a place he used to go as a boy, and then—
shit, was that a spider web?
—they’d ended up there.
 

“How you doing back there?” Derek asked, and he sounded way too pleased with himself to fool Jordan into thinking he was concerned for his well-being.

“I’m fine,” Jordan said between his teeth, and heard the faint sound of a snort.
 

If this were any other time, the flashlight in his hand would seem like a fabulous way to teach Derek a lesson when he lobbed it at the back of his head. As it was, apparently hiking in the dark to the middle of nowhere was Derek’s idea of catharsis.
 

“Really, Jordan, anyone would think you never went camping as a kid.”

Jordan stopped at that, and when the obvious lack of his footsteps continued, Derek turned around and came back several paces. “Is something wrong?”

“Do I strike you as a child who ever
once
wanted to go camping?”

Derek looked over his pink vertical-striped shirt, yellow shorts with matching pink belt, and olive suede loafers, which each cost well over the hundred-dollar mark. He then reached out, cupped the back of Jordan’s neck, and tugged him forward.

Jordan’s breath caught as Derek’s hand came up to cradle his cheek, and when he smiled, Jordan wondered when he’d become such a damn sap.

“No. You strike me as the type who flew around in private jets—”

“True.”

“To exotic places—”

“Also true.”

“And missed out on some of the most beautiful sights that were right under your upturned nose.”

Jordan huffed. Derek nipped at his lips and said, “
You
are going to love where I’m taking you. You know why?”

Jordan couldn’t remember his own name while Derek was tracing his tongue along his lower lip—let alone how to talk.

“Because down there, you can run around completely naked and no one will see you.”

Jordan pulled his head back and brought the flashlight up between them to illuminate their faces. “That’s not an accurate statement.
You’ll
see me.”

Derek winked and said, “I fucking hope so.”

“
Ahh
. I see what you’re up to,” Jordan said, and pondered this new information. “And what about you?”

Derek laughed, and then started walking again. “I’ll get naked too.
If
you can manage not to complain any more until we arrive.”

Jordan aimed the flashlight on Derek’s ass.
Okay, I guess I can keep my mouth shut a little longer if I get to look at that naked.

“Come
on
, Jordan. The quicker we get there…”

“O
kay
. I’m coming. I’m coming,” he called out, and hurried along behind.

* * *

“WE’RE HERE,” DEREK announced as the both of them stepped out into the clearing.
 

“Wow.” Jordan dropped his backpack on the sand and walked forward on the isolated stretch of beach. “Look at this place.”

That was exactly how Derek felt every time he came down there.
 

Devil’s Bend was on the opposite side of Sunset Cove at the far end of the peninsula, and generally off the public’s radar. Most stayed away because it didn’t offer a good place to swim or surf. The waves were too rough and the waters too dangerous due to the rocks that littered the shoreline.

What Devil’s Bend did offer was a spectacular view of the night sky. With no other lights to be seen, the stars twinkled above like diamonds shining over all they touched. Out in the distance, you could see the faint lights of tankers heading toward the horizon, but here, in this little alcove, the rest of the world—it disappeared.

When Jordan faced him, the smile he aimed his way was so full of glee that Derek thought it made him look like a little boy. Well, maybe not a
little
boy.

“You like it?”

Jordan kicked his shoes off and waggled his eyebrows before he ran up and jumped into Derek’s arms. Derek caught him around the waist as Jordan wrapped his arms and legs around him and whispered, “I
love
it.”
 

Derek captured his mouth in a blistering kiss, and as the tempestuous mating continued and he ran his hands up from Jordan’s ass to his back, he moaned.

It was then that Derek realized that calling for Jordan in his moments of despair was more than just a hit to take the edge off. He called this man for the pure joy he exuded, which in turn made Derek believe that anything was possible, most especially his own happiness.

Jordan leaned back in his arms and flashed a warm smile. “This place is like something out of a dream.”

“I know. It’s pretty awesome, huh? Now, you think you can stand on your own two feet for a minute?”

“Sure you want me to?” Jordan asked as he rocked his hips against him.

Derek slapped his ass playfully. “On your feet, Posh. We still have a little ways to go.”

As Derek lowered him, Jordan purposely kept them close and let his entire body drag down over the length of his.

“Ohh, looks like someone’s
up
for a little fun later. I vote for the nudity to begin now. I behaved. I didn’t complain once after you told me what I would get in return.”

Derek chuckled and handed Jordan his bag. “Nice to know that all it takes to get you to do something is a bribe.”

“As if this is really news. You lived with me for a year, maybe a little more. You already know that I’m selfish.”

Jordan slipped his arms through the straps of the bag and hefted it up his back, and then Derek hooked his fingers into the straps and tugged him in close.
 

“You’re not selfish. You’re…” When Jordan aimed his stunning face up at him with a cheeky gleam in his eyes, Derek lost his train of thought.

“Yes? Please continue. I do so love hearing about myself.”

“Hmm. You’re the kindest, most generous man I’ve ever met.”

Jordan’s eyes narrowed and Derek brushed a kiss across his lips and added, “As well as self-absorbed and spoiled rotten.”

Jordan poked his tongue out. “Whatever. Say what you will. I still want to see you naked. So how about we get wherever we’re going so you can spoil me.”

Derek held his hand out, and after Jordan had slipped his inside, he tugged him along behind. “All right. Come on, bossy.”

They made their way down the beach, and right about the halfway mark, Derek stopped and looked up to the sandy dune he’d been coming to since he was a boy.
 

There, in amongst the overgrown weeds, sat a beat-up shack. It was so much a part of the landscape that the pieces of broken wood, from what was once a small stoop, were buried under the sand, and half the roof looked as though it had been blown off in the last storm they’d had.
 

It might not be perfect, or even close to it, but to him it had always looked like heaven.

* * *

JORDAN FROWNED AT the remains of what had obviously been a delightful little beach hut, but as it stood right now, it reminded him more of pieces of wood on a demolition pile.

“This is it,” Derek announced, and walked toward the dunes.

“This is
what
, exactly?”

Derek didn’t answer straight away. He just powered on ahead up the sand to where, Jordan assumed, a front door might have been. Once upon a time. A long,
long
time ago.
 

“
This
is mine.”

Jordan stepped over a piece of rotted wood and followed Derek across broken floorboards to stop in the center of the small space. “What do you mean it’s…yours?”

Derek looked over his shoulder and shrugged. “I own it.”

Before Jordan could ask more, Derek walked through what appeared to have been another doorway at some point in time.

“But…” Jordan said as he followed. He ducked through and spotted Derek putting his bag down in the corner of the second space that was a little more put together. “But it’s broken.”

Derek was in the middle of unzipping his bag and paused to look over, and the expression in his eyes was heartbreaking. “That’s what makes it so perfect.”

Jordan walked closer to the man watching him with such focus, and moved to his side as Derek then looked around the space.
 

“I used to come down here when I was little…”

As Derek’s words trailed off, Jordan placed his own bag down and tested the wood panel of one of the walls. Once he was satisfied it was steady, he leaned back against it and waited.
 

“The first time, I was twelve. About a week after my mother left.”
 

Derek looked over at him, no doubt to see his reaction, and Jordan offered up a tentative smile. A sign that he was there, ready to listen, when Derek was ready to continue.
 

“Looking back now, I can’t really blame her. God knows I did the same thing the second I could. But back then, I didn’t understand how she could leave us with him, you know?”

Jordan had borne witness to the handiwork of Derek’s father, and the thought that any adult would willingly leave two young children with such a monster made him shudder.

“Anyway,” Derek continued. “The night she left, he went on a real bender. He left Alan and me by ourselves, and I remember lying in bed that night wishing he would get home because I was scared. I was scared he’d left us like she had. Ironic, right? Turns out I should’ve been wishing the exact opposite. He came home that night drunk.”

Derek stopped talking and looked away, clearly uncomfortable with the topic he was discussing but needing to share it all the same.
 

“I came out of my room when I heard him come in. I wanted to make sure he was okay, because it was late. I found him in the kitchen, looking inside the fridge, probably searching for a beer to round out the night, who knows. But when he heard me he turned around, and I’ll never forget the look that came into his eyes, Jordan. It was a look that never left—it was pure evil.”

“Derek. You don’t have to explain—”

“No,” he said. “I want to. I
need
to.”

“Okay. Then tell me.”

Derek scratched his head then continued. “He slammed the fridge shut, and I remember the sound of the bottles rattling inside. It made me jump, and he laughed. Called me a scared little girl. A pussy,” Derek scoffed. “Who calls their twelve-year-old son that?”

A monster,
Jordan thought.
“A very sad and cruel man.”

“Yeah,” Derek agreed, and unfastened the straps around the rolled-up sleeping bag on top of his pack. “Well, that was the kindest thing he did to me that night. I ran back into my room, understanding on some level that I was in danger, I guess. Maybe it was because of the tone he used when he yelled at me? It was the same one he’d used with my mother right before he would—
Fuck.
He followed me, grabbed my arm, and spun me back around. When he asked me why I was still awake, I couldn’t answer. I was terrified. He was a big man, as big as I am, and I thought he was going to snap my arm in half. He hauled me inside my room to my bed, and when we got there he realized my terror had gotten the better of me and that I’d pissed on myself.” Derek stopped talking and shook his head as he brought his hands up to cover his eyes. He pressed his fingers so hard against his lids that Jordan was worried he would hurt himself, but he knew better. He knew that Derek was just trying to banish what he was seeing, what he was remembering.
 

He crossed over to him and reached for Derek’s wrists. After drawing them away from his face, Jordan brought the palms of each of his hands to his mouth and placed kisses on them. “What happened next?”

“That was the first night he hit me.” Derek gave a painful-looking grimace, which Jordan figured he was hoping to pass off as an
it doesn’t matter
smile. “He slapped me, shoved me onto the bed, and told me not to bother coming out until I could face him like a man.”

Jordan swallowed back the gasp he wanted to let free as he stared into Derek’s ice-cold eyes. They’d glazed over, and he knew that Derek was right back there, experiencing it all over again.

“I didn’t come out of my room for a week other than to sneak to the bathroom. And after that only because Finn knocked on my window repeatedly and finally helped me pry it open. That was when we came down here and found this place.”

“Oh God. Derek. I’m so sorry…”

“No,” Derek said, shaking his head. “I didn’t tell you so you would feel sorry for that boy. I told you so you could understand why
this
place. This broken-down piece of nothing…it has a fighting chance to be something better. I want to
make
it something better. I want to give it life.”

Jordan took in the remains surrounding them and then offered a gentle smile to the truly outstanding man opposite him, and every single part of him called for Derek.
 

God he loved him, more than he ever thought possible. Why had it taken him so long to see?

“I know it’s not much. But it will be.”

“I believe it,” Jordan said, and he really did. “I believe in you. I always have.”

Derek drew him in and wrapped his arms about his waist, and Jordan pressed his lips against the hollow at the base of his throat. “You’re daring yourself to make a difference.”

Derek pulled back and gave him a quizzical look.
 

“It’s something my professor used to say to me.
Find what makes you work the hardest, and dare yourself to make a difference.
She was a wise woman.”

“She sounds like it.”

Jordan kissed Derek’s lips. “Want to know a secret?”

“Always.”

“You dared me.”

Derek frowned, and as silly as it seemed, saying those words out loud for the first time brought a blush to Jordan’s cheeks, and he felt self-conscious about his reaction.

“I don’t understand.”

“That first day. I wasn’t so sure teaching was for me. Then you stood up and removed your glasses and dared me to make a difference.”

Derek’s answering smile made Jordan’s heart practically thump out of his chest.