Shane and Trey[ Enemies to Lovers 01 ] (23 page)

“I agree. I like to come up here to chill. I make the trip maybe twice a year. Sometimes more, depending.” Trey grabbed a folded piece of paper from his bag and opened it. Over his shoulder I glimpsed an inelegant—child-like scrawl. But he closed it before I could inspect properly.

“So what would you like to do?” I looked at the lake giving Trey a suggestive raise of the brow.

He didn’t need any more telling. We stripped out of our damp clothes and raced into the water, swimmin ~en Tslightly g and splashing around until we were both exhausted and evening had crawled in. We changed into dry clothing and Trey whipped up a surprisingly good dinner, considering our location. He’d even brought a small package of salt and herb mix to sprinkle on top. Yum.

I licked the fork and placed it in my bowl. We sat in a little cooking area—basically there were picnic benches, a table for cooking and a roof sheltering us. Oh, and a tap for rinsing dishes.

Trey kept glancing over my shoulder out towards the woods. “Something on your mind?” I asked, starting to clean up.

“There’s something I want to show you. After we’re done here.”

“Okay,” I said taking his bowl and fork, “but this will go faster if you sit down and let me do it.”
He grinned. “I’m not that bad you know. I have cleaned dishes before.”

“I’ve seen it.” He’d filled up a sink of soapy water and dunked the pots in first, and then proceeded to use the dirty water to wash the cups and cutlery. Ah, justno.

He grinned. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to make up for it some other way.”

As soon as I’d finished and we’d returned everything to the tent, Trey slunk an arm around my waist and pulled me out into the rapidly darkening evening. With a torch in one hand, Trey led me to the wood. At the fringe, he started counting the trees as we passed them. At twenty, we made a right and walked another ten trees into the darkness. I shivered just a bit, and Trey flicked the switch, illuminating an oval of wood floor.

“We’re close. Two trees up this way,” he whispered, “on the northern side of the trunk.” I smiled—there was just something about the dark and the need to whisper. I did the same thing, and it amused me.

Once we got there, I scanned the wood, confused. As far as I could tell, it looked exactly the same here as it did twenty trees back. But I had to be missing something. I stole the torch and searched the trees. Maybe he had a tree house or something he wanted to show me?

Trey chuckled and took back the torch. “What I want to show you is under my feet.” He pointed the light downward. A pile of leaves? I frowned, but crouched down with him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a spoon. Setting the torch up like a lantern, he looked at me. “I…” He dug the tip of the spoon into the dirt. “Ten years ago, I buried something here. I wanted you—us both to see it.”

I held my breath, as he shoveled away the earth. The shadows the light cast over his face distorted his proportions; his nose looked longer, his cheeks shallower. But the deepness of his eyes remained the same. Beautiful.

“It was a school project,” he continued, his voice still in a husky whisper. The hole, cookie tin wide was now as deep as the spoon. “We had to put things in a box. Things that were important to us.” He laughed. “I’ve forgotten what I had in there.” There was a clunk against something metallic. Trey ditched the spoon and reached into the hole with his hands. A bit of tugging and flying dirt later, out came a square tin with faded pictures of robots on it.

Clutched to him, he studied it, a small smile curling one side of his lips. “Babe? Let’s go back to the tent to look at this.”
I nodded and we both stood up, me grabbing the torch while he roughly refilled the hole. Ten minutes later we were back inside the tent and once we’d each hopped into our sleeping bags, Trey took the tin and placed it between us.

“Are you sure you want me to look in there with you?” I said, searching his gaze. “It’s just…maybe you’d prefer to look over them by yourself first?”

He shook his head, holding my gaze. In here we had two touches, one set up like a lantern, and the other I’d tied up using a ribbon dangling from the roof of the tent. We could see each other clearly. And I liked it.

“No, I want to show you, share this with you.” ~ped ing With a pocket knife, he cut through the waxed seal around the lid and yanked it off. His breath came out in shuddering puffs. The emotions that crossed his face conflicting with each other. Happy and sad. He glanced at me and gently laid the tin on the floor.

In it were some cards, photos, paper, coins, and some little toy figure. He picked up the cards first, handing me half. “My basketball trading cards 2002.” Trey lightly shook his head as if in memory. “I was such a Gilbert Arenas fan.”

I shuffled through the cards, still in okay condition after so long buried underground.
“And this,” Trey said, placing the cards back and picking up the coins, “huh, this was my pocket money. Funny, I remember now, thinking that it might be really valuable one day.” He laughed, and I felt privileged and also in awe that he was letting me be a part of this. He exchanged the coins for the stack of photos. That was when he held his breath and closed his eyes briefly.

“Are you alright?” I crawled over to him so we sat side-byside. He lowered the pictures for me to see, though his hands shook.

“This was taken on my eighth birthday.” The entire family stood huddled together, all with smiles on their faces. Including Aunt Patricia standing just as tall as Trey’s mom. I wanted to know how long before her accident this was taken, but swallowed the question.

Trey leafed through the rest of the pictures one-by-one. They were all of family, some with just him and his brother, but most with the whole clan. The one that stuck out the most, and the one Trey lingered on the longest, was of his mom smacking a kiss to his cheek. I studied his expression as he drifted off into a reverie. His eyes glazed over, and his lashes lowered. I wasn’t sure, but I suspected he was holding back his tears just for my sake. Which he didn’t have to do.
I climbed out of my sleeping bag and went behind him, linking my legs around his middle and hugging his back. “You can cry if you want to, Trey. I don’t have to watch, if you don’t like. But I want to hold you like this, ’kay?” I squeezed him as tight as I could until I heard him sniff.

He put the photos back into the tin, shut it and pushed it to the side. Then I continued to hold him and rub his back while he rocked slightly and sobbed. “God, I’m sorry,” he said, leaning over to turn off the lights. “I didn’t think I’d get so emotional.”

When we were submerged in darkness, he twisted around and I cupped the side of his face. “Don’t be sorry.” I wanted instead to thank him for allowing me to be there for him. For not getting all macho on me and keeping it in. It showed he trusted me too, and that felt, well,important.And good. Yeah, real good.

I kissed his chin. “Just hold me tonight, babe?” he asked.

I answered with another kiss, soft, on the tip of his nose. I searched the dark for my sleeping bag and once I found it slipped in.

We lay down, and Trey thrashed about getting into a comfortable position.
“Bet you’re wishing you’d stuffed a pillow slip full of leaves about now,” I said, hearing the laughter in my voice.

“Well, I thought cuddling you would be enough.” His arms gripped me stronger mashing our lengths together. “But, ah, I guess no matter how much I love you, my neck just isn’t going to like sleeping on hard ground.”

I froze. My breath was lost somewhere, and my heart pumped overtime ringing, along with his words, in my ears. I didn’t trust myself to speak, in case I’d heard him wrong. Had imagined it. But Trey was quiet too. And still. As if waiting for a response.

Swallowing, I found a thread of voice and clung to it. “What did you just say?”

 

Chapter Seventeen

 

“I LOVE YOU, Shane.” His breath t ~en Ts Iangled with mine as I leaned in to kiss him. “Trey, I—”

Fingers covered my lips. “I don’t want you to say it back right now. Don’t want there to be any obligation. Wait until you’re ready and you mean it. I just want you to know, I do. I really do, Shane.” He let go of my mouth. I heard the tremble in his voice. It warmed me. “I’ve felt it for a while. There were moments when I wanted to shout it, it was so strong. Just this week with the kids. The way you dealt with Jessie and Karl…”

Vivid in my mind was the look he’d given me when I’d turned around with Paul. Thatsomethingin his gaze I’d not been able to place—love?Love.

My insides flipped and my lips cracked from the biggest freaking smile I’d ever given. Trey could see it too, because he traced it with his thumb.

Injected with, hell, one large dose of happiness, I snatched his thumb lightly between my teeth and sucked the pad. Suggestively.

Trey laughed. “You know how good you are at that.” He wriggled free of my mouth, replacing his finger with a kiss. “But now let’s get some shut eye, so we can leave early tomorrow.”

Early meant crack of dawn. Trey had barely slept, and, thanks to his arms flying about whacking me, neither had I. But it meant we finished the walk and drive back to his place by twelve. Light and dizzy (still from that high), I’d said little the entire morning. Actually, I was sort of afraid I’d do or say something stupid and Trey would realize he made a mistake falling in love me. Silly? Yeah, well, it just felt like so much more was at stake now.

“Hello?” Trey said, coming through the front door. No answer. He did a quick scan of the rooms and shrugged. “Must be out.”

I dropped my pack to the floor. “Can I grab something to drink?”

 

Trey smiled. “No need to ask, make yourself at home.”

Filling up two glasses of water, I glanced at a cookbook lying on the bench. Okay, I assumed it was a cookbook, because of the picture of pasta and vegetables on the cover.Die italienische Küche.Funny how easy it was to forget something like the fact Trey knew another language. I really had to take more advantage of that.

I set the glasses down and flicked through the recipes. Never done this with an English cookbook.I chuckled.

“What was that very cute sound for?” Trey pressed in behind me folding his arms around my waist and nipping at my neck.

He reached for the book and flipped it shut. Then, with that quick spin of his, I was facing him. “Curious—” I started, before Trey interrupted.

“You always are.” He ground himself into me, making me hard. Okay, harder.

“You don’t speak much German. Why not?” “Haven’t had the opportunity.”

A glaze covered his eyes. His dreamy expression had me wishing I could delve into his mind and read his thoughts. Feather light, I dragged my fingers over his backside. The nylon hiking pants he wore allowing for closer access. His breathing hitched, and I pressed a little harder. “What are you thinking?” Our eyes met, his glazy-ness transformed to want.I did that.

“I was thinking that when we travel, it just might come in—” He stopped suddenly, cheeks flushing a sweet pink.

My tongue clucked against the roof of my mouth. Nothing intentional, it just happened with the surprise. “You think about the future—ourfuture?” I hadn’t meant it to come out the way it did, almost as an accusation. If I could’ve taken it back and said it again, I would’ve let the wonder—the joy come through.

“Sure.” His body tensed. “Ah, don’t you?”

Of course. I fantasize about being called Shane Brennan all the time.Better not say that, though. Traveling together was one thing. Marriage and kids?—something else. “Um, yeah.” I nodded. “A bit.”

He toyed a smile.ryininterrupt “Like?”

I cast my gaze to the floor beside us, but Trey lifted my chin. His eyes were so deep and warm. What would it be like to sink in them? “Well, I’ve wondered things like where we’d— ah—room together after the year’s over.” Actually, I’d run by quite a few rentals near enough to the campus that would be within walking distance, but still in a nice enough area. Not known for loud obnoxious street parties. I even had three ‘star’ options I imagined we’d apply for first. Yeah, perhaps I’d over-entertained my hopes.

“Well, it has to have a large enough shower. I hate the ones in the dorm. I want to be able to stand properly in it. Okay?”

I nodded dumbly. Last night love. Now moving in together? Well, okay, we already lived together, but still! Making plans so far ahead?

For a fraction of a second, a slither of fear curled my gut. I remembered doing this with Ryan, too. What we’d do after high school. How we’d keep in touch.Planning doesn’t mean it will happen.

Didn’t make the journey any less fun either. And right now, I was the living definition of happiness. Forgetting all about the water, I pulled him out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Trey grabbed his pack on the way up, not letting go of my hand.

In his room, I shut the door while he dropped his pack next to the bed. The curtains were drawn, but the sun, bright behind it, gave the room a grey glow. I faced Trey, holding his upper arms to draw him to me. “I want to be close to you —uh,” I gulped down an excess of saliva, “thatway.”

Trey, with shaky confidence, breathed out, his warm breath brushing my hair. “Good.” His voice softened into a whisper. Shy, almost. “Because I want to feel you inside me, Shane.”

I hiccupped as I choked on my own breath. Then reddened. Partly embarrassed for my reaction. But mostly with the nerves that overtook me.

He grabbed the hem of my polypro and tugged it to my navel. “Let’s just take it slow.” I nodded and pulled off the top. Getting naked with him? No problem. That I could do. (Certainly had enough practice over the last week).

We both began to strip, eyeing each other as we did. Teasing a little, too. Halfway through, Trey turned on some music. Started singing—none too great, but at least he knew the words. And then came the dancing. Help. I’d never seen him move that way before. He could really dance. I mean,seriously.He popped and dropped in some full on jazz funk. And in only his boxers, he made mesoooo hard.

“Just for you, babe.” He winked, before bashing his leg into the corner of his bed. “Fuck!” Hopping up and down, he cursed some more. I couldn’t help but laugh. He scowled. “Where’s the sympathetic cooing? Aren’t you meant to make me feel better?”