Drilled by K.M. Neuhold
Chapter 8
APOLLO
Even before I’m fully conscious, Ridge’s words from last night, the whispered ones I’m not sure I was even meant to hear as he settled into bed, ring in my ears.
It shouldn’t have happened.
No shit it shouldn’t have happened. So why are those words twisting in my gut and making every last one of my muscles tense and twitch? I sit up quietly and look over at his bed. He’s sprawled over the small space, one leg hanging off, his mouth slack with a little bit of drool on the corner of his lips.
I clench my teeth as echoes of his moans as I pinned him against the tree and jerked him off ricochet through me and settle deep in my gut. I let out a low growl of frustration, flinging off my covers and grabbing a pair of jeans to pull on over my briefs. I finish dressing silently. T-shirt, socks, shoes, my mind on the task and not on the man sleeping a few feet away.
Ridge’s breath hitches as I stride quickly past his bed as quietly as possible so I can have at least a couple of minutes of peace to get my head on straight before he wakes up.
I get the fire going again, making a mental note to chop some more wood for it today before it starts to get dark. And then I settle myself down on the log, busying myself with preparing my instant coffee. Fuck, how has it only been a few days here? It’s like time moves at a different speed all together out here in the woods. We’ve been here for a few hours and an eternity all at once. This place is some kind of fucking purgatory where I have everything I’ve ever dreamed of and nothing at all.
I clear my throat to dislodge the lump that’s forming.
My phone starts to vibrate in my pocket. I used the car battery to charge it yesterday and haven’t used it since. Not that I’m all that social back home anyway, so it’s not exactly a huge change to limit my phone usage.
When I pull it out and look at the display, the tightness in my throat doubles. My sister’s, Anna, name lights up the screen, accompanied by a picture of her smiling into the camera, holding my niece on her lap.
I consider ignoring the call. As soon as she hears my voice, she’s going to know I hooked up with Ridge last night. It’s not logical, but I swear she’ll be able to tell that I jerked off the man she almost married. World’s Best Big Brother over here.
Fuck.
I swipe to accept the call and grunt a hello into the phone.
“Listen to you all sunshine and rainbows,” she greets me cheerily. “Just wanted to check-in and make sure you didn’t get eaten by any grizzlies.”
“There aren’t any grizzlies in Wisconsin,” I inform her blandly, taking a sip from the piss-poor coffee I’m not going to get used to over the next few weeks.
“Good, then you’re the scariest bear in those woods.”
A hoarse chuckle rumbles through my throat. “I guess I am.”
“You’re not up there all alone, are you?” she asks, and I can hear the frenzied shrieks of my niece and nephew in the background, fighting over who gets to pour the milk for their cereal from the sounds of things.
Guilt rises in my throat like bile. I’m glad she can’t see me because I find myself squirming in my spot, working through the fact that I’ve never been good at lying to my sister. “I’m not alone,” I answer vaguely.
“Good, I’d hate to think of you out in the woods like some kind of Unabomber.”
Of course she doesn’t ask any follow-up questions about who I’m spending the month with. Why would she? As far as she knows, I haven’t seen or spoken to Ridge in fifteen years. She segues into telling me all about both the kids starting ballet. Apparently, Eric insisted and is taking to it like a duck to water, and Kelly is just happy to do whatever her big brother does.
While she talks, I glance back at the cabin and think about his confession last night. He realized the night before the wedding that he wasn’t straight. Did he figure it out when he was lying on top of me? Or was it sometime earlier in the night? Why didn’t he say anything to me? Why did it take him so long to realize it? And why the hell am I such a stubborn asshole that I couldn’t stick around long enough to ask any of those questions?
On the other hand, there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to know. If he tells me that in that instant, when he fell on top of me and felt my erection grow against him, suddenly his sexuality became clear to him…then what? He was still engaged to my sister, which means I really would be the shittiest brother in the world if I let anything else happen. Even if I did kind of see him first.
“Isn’t that funny?” Anna asks, and I hum in response, not having the foggiest idea of what she just said.
I drag my eyes away from the cabin and take another sip of my coffee.
“Do you ever think about Ridge?” I blurt. She goes silent on the other side of the phone for several seconds before a harsh laugh crackles through.
“Wow, I feel like I just fell into a time machine.” I hear a door click closed on her end, the shouts of her children muffled some. “What made you even think of him? Have you seen him?”
There’s no accusation in her voice, just curiosity, but I wish like hell I hadn’t even brought the topic up. I make a noncommittal noise and then tense when I hear the screen door of the cabin bang against its frame.
“I gotta go. Work to do and all that shit.”
“Okay. Take care of yourself and don’t get eaten by any bears,” she says with a light, airy laugh before disconnecting the call.
RIDGE
Waking up alone in the cabin was more disappointing than it had any right to be. What did I expect? That I’d wake up and Apollo would be there, ready to talk…ready to climb into my tiny bed with me and pick back up where we left off last night? I scoff at my own ridiculous wishes as I clomp down the now sturdy stairs outside the cabin, heading straight for the campfire he already has going.
My stomach twists itself up in knots as I get closer, unable to keep myself from noticing the tight fit of his shirt or the way he purposely avoids eye contact as I sit down and pour myself a cup of coffee.
The pointed silence coming off of him hangs heavier in the air than the smoke billowing off of the fire. I dart glances at him, desperately trying not to think about the way his mouth felt against mine last night or the fact that if I’d just figured out that I was gay a year or two sooner, maybe everything would be different.
“Do you remember that time we ditched school to drive to Milwaukee for that Offspring concert?” I ask, not sure why the memory suddenly pops into my head.
The corner of Apollo’s mouth twitches as he continues to stare ahead at the dancing flames. “And when my parents found out, you offered to do chores at my house for a month if they didn’t tell yours about it?”
“Yeah.” That was one of the many times I’d wished they were my own parents. But right now, the thing I really fucking wish is that I had something to say other than trudging up twenty-some-year-old memories. I want to know what he does for fun now, how he spends his Friday nights and his rainy Sunday mornings, if he ever got around to hiking the Appalachian trail like he always talked about…if he ever fell in love.
He swigs back the rest of his coffee and gets to his feet before I can ask him any of those things. He tosses the paper cup into the fire, and we both watch it go up in flames, and then he brushes his hands off on his jeans and jerks his head in the direction of the cabins.
“Why don’t you finish up number six today, and I’ll get started on number five.”
“What?” I frown, trying to work out what the fuck he’s talking about. “That makes no sense. Half the shit we have to get done requires two sets of hands. If we work on different cabins, it’s going to take us twice as long, and I guarantee one of us will end up hurt.”
Apollo’s jaw ticks, his eyes focused off in the distance, still refusing to meet mine at all. He makes an annoyed sound but doesn’t manage any sort of actual rebuttal. Because he knows I’m right. It’s an idiotic plan, and for what? Because we jerked each other off and now he’s too big of a baby to deal with me?
The annoyance I thought I managed to shake during my moonlight swim last night resurfaces. “Sometimes I wish I had your fucking balls. I’d haul off and punch some sense into you,” I mutter, pouring out the remainder of my own coffee and chucking the cup into the fire as well.
“So punch me,” he challenges, squaring his shoulders and fixing me with a challenging look, finally meeting my eyes.
I exhale forcefully through my nose in an approximation of a laugh, shaking my head at him. Apollo takes a step forward in an obvious attempt to goad me by getting into my personal space. It doesn’t have the effect I assume he’s going for.
On the contrary. My cock starts to thicken and my skin prickles with awareness at his closeness.
Great, fulfill one little fantasy and my dick expects every argument to lead to an orgasm now.
“You were right. What happened last night shouldn’t have happened. So, let’s get some space from each other today and reset shit. We still have three and a half weeks of work ahead of us,” he says, and I nod numbly.
He thinks last night was a mistake? And what does he mean by you were right? Before I can puzzle it out, he bumps my shoulder as he strides past, leaving me standing by the fire, feeling like a complete idiot. A complete idiot with a half-hard dick because clearly arguing with Apollo is my new kink.
Eventually, I manage to unstick my feet from the spot they’ve been rooted to, and I make my way toward the cabin I’ll apparently be working on by my fucking self today.
