visit ones that the other has been too, for obvious reasons. Mostly, I stick to the northern midwest and the south-east, and Kane takes the west coast, the south-west, and some of the Gulf coast. He’s in Arizona now, I think.
“The wild west is pretty fucking great, man,” he chuckles. “Hey, I found a new one for you.”
“Oh?” I can hear him grinning, and I take another swig of whiskey.
“Yeah, check this out. It’s an arthritis medication.”
Yes, we really are this shameless and awful. Hey, it pays the bills.
“Oh really?”
“Oh, dude,” he grins. “Mix up some menthol oil and some low-dose lidocaine with a clear gel, like hand sanitizer.”
“And?”
“It gives a tingling, slightly numbing sensation, lasts a while, and smells nice.” He chuckles. “Shit, man, people swear by this thing, too.”
I laugh and shake my head and take another drink. “I’m assuming this has no basis in medical fact.”
“None whatsoever,” Kane grins into the phone. “And I charge twenty-five bucks for a six-ounce bottle of the shit.”
I whistle. “Jesus.”
“A-fucking-men, brother. Business is booming.” I can hear the “crssshht” sound of a beer can opening. “So how’s… where are you, Florida?”
“Georgia.”
He whistles. “Fuck, man. That’s gold country right there.”
I nod, taking a drink before I frown. “Hey, Kane?”
“Yeah?”
“You ever think this job is… you know?”
“Don’t get soft of me, Gabe,” he says with a small laugh.
“Naw, not like… listen—”
“No, you listen,” he sighs. “You want a conscience? Go sell used cars, or become a politician.”
I frown. “I’m not sure that’s a great example.”
“No, it’s a fantastic example, because those sneaky lying fucks have more scruples than we do, and we both know it.” He sighs and takes a drink of beer. “Gabe, you want to be honest? Be honest with yourself. Don’t ever buy your own bullshit, bro. We are what we are, just like Jasper taught us.”
“How to be con men.”
“How to be businessmen, Gabe. How to live on the road.”
“How to dull our souls.”
He sighs. “Gabe, Jasper’s in a pauper’s grave because he never knew when to pump the brakes, and he never knew how to save, or how to keep it going. That’s where we’re better. C’mon, man, where are the second thoughts coming from? You’re in fucking Georgia. Jesus Christ, Gabe, that’s like panning for gold at Fort fucking Knox.” He chuckles. “You prick, I can’t believe I let you have the south-east, and here you are bitching about it.”
I grin. “Naw, it’s nothing. Just… I dunno. Thinking, I guess.”
I take another sip and look out over the field again, my thoughts drifting to the obvious: Delilah.
“You getting laid these days?”
I roll my eyes. “Kane, relax.”
He laughs. “I’m telling you, you’re denying yourself God’s greatest gift to mankind.”
I snort. “Sex?”
“Fuck yes! Well, bluntly, the blowjob might be His greatest gift, but fucking is a close damn second.”
I chuckle and down the last of my whiskey. “I gotta go, man. It’s late here and I’ve gotta get this tent up. Plus, I’ve got a sermon to work through for tomorrow.”
“Hit ‘em with the pillar of salt one. Man, that’s my favorite of yours. And you’re in Georgia—they’re going to eat that shit up.”
I grin. “Thanks, man. And thanks for picking up.”
“Anytime, man. And hey, Gabe.”
“Yeah?”
“Stay the course, man. You can think about your life goals when we take a break in the winter. For now, earn. Make that cash. Make hay while the sun shines, yeah?”
“Sounds good.”
“Later on, man.”
I hang up and reach for the bottle once again to float the watered-down ice in my cup. I take a long drink, and my mind mellows as I sit back in the chair. I know tonight was a mistake. I know going there at all was bad, but cornering her like that, and dropping my armor, and letting her see me—the real me, the wicked me—was a real bad idea.
But fuck me, that gasp; that whimper. The way she panted when my lips brushed her ear, and the way her body arched as if it were dying to touch mine. I groan, remembering the scent of her skin from so close—honeysuckle and vanilla. The memory of her scent makes my mouth water, and remembering the feel of her soft, wet body in my hands in that tub, and then the way she arched into me on that porch has my cock throbbing in my boxers.
My balls swell with cum, and I look down and grunt at the huge, obscene tent in the boxers. I’m so fucking hard that it’s