Let Me Be the One (12 page)

“You asked me for my opinion, and I’m trying to give you an educated one. How did you feel about Tess starting school?”

“I was glad. It meant she was growing up. She was going into a good system, and she’s doing well.”

“And what about when your son started school?”

“Same thing. Good school system. He got the same teacher Tess had. He’s doing good.”

“And how did you feel when Bear met Maureen?”

“I feel like I’m being psychoanalyzed.”

“I can’t give you an educated opinion unless I know all the factors.”

Brian sighed. “I was happy for him and jealous as hell.”

“Jealous as hell?”

“They’re perfect together.”

“And when Jason met Cass?”

“About the same. Happy and jealous as hell.” A bug crawled along the log above her head. Like a ladybug, but it was gray.

Suzi nodded, and her eyes darted toward the bug. She jerked away from the log, twisting. The wood behind her was covered with clumps of little gray bugs. Shrieking, she jumped off the log and hopped a few steps into the middle of the stream. “Why didn’t you tell me those were there?” Yanking her ponytail out, she threw the elastic in the water and began scraping her fingers through her hair. “Are they in my hair? Get them out. Get them out!”

“Hold still.” Brian grabbed her shoulder and ran his fingers through her hair. “Calm down. There’s no bugs in your hair.” He shouldn’t be enjoying this as much as he was, but the satin soft strands felt exactly the way he’d imagined.

“Why didn’t you tell me I was leaning into a mass of little bugs?” She pulled back and then leaned forward, studying them like they all might take flight at that very second, aimed right for her head.

“Because I didn’t see them. They were on the other side of you.” He ran his fingers through her hair once more, just to be certain, and inspected at the log himself. What he’d taken for peeling bark were colonies of tiny gray beetles. They ranged in age from little wiggling things to full-grown adults, writhing and crawling over one another.

Suzi shuddered. “They’re disgusting.”

“If there was only one of them, it would be cool.” Out with the kids, it hadn’t been beyond her to pick up a bug and let it crawl over her hand so they could look at it, but confront her with a whole bunch of them, and it was freak-out time.

“But there isn’t one of them. There’s eight billion of them.”

“There’s not eight billion. There might be a few hundred.”

“Exactly. A few hundred.” She bumped him with her shoulder. “You think this is funny.”

“Of course, I think it’s funny. What am I supposed to think?” Other than it was adorable. Her panic had kicked up his protective instincts. He reached down and fished her hair elastic out of the water.

“Men. You’re all the same. Let’s get going before those bugs decide to swarm and devour us.” Suzi started downstream.

“Yes, because the ten minutes we were sitting next to them wasn’t a good enough chance.” Brian followed her.

“This whole adventure is starting to resemble Alexander Tomm’s
Follow the River
a little too closely. Did you ever read that? It’s wonderful. It’s about a woman who’s kidnapped by Indians right around this area and taken all the way to Southern Ohio, and then she escapes and follows the river back home. At the end, when she walks out of the woods, the men who find her just think she got lost in the forest the whole time.” Suzi stopped in front of a fallen tree and inspected it before ducking under. “It was an excellent book.”

“Just not a good thing to live.”

“No. At least not for me. I think she’s nervous that you don’t love her anymore.”

Brian navigated a deep section that passed almost directly under the exposed roots of a tree. He knew she was talking about Bonnie without asking. She could hang onto a conversation despite gaps better than anyone he’d ever met. A year from now they’d meet, and she’d pick up right where they left off as if no time had passed.

“Think about it. Maureen had an established career when she met Bear. Cass had an established business when she met Jason. Both of them married women who were successful as individuals first. And you, by your own admission were—”

“What?”

“You said you were jealous of them. You saw two of your friends fall for women who were independent and had their own lives. Cassie still owns the campground, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah.”

“And what is Bonnie without you? She doesn’t have a career. She doesn’t have a business. She’s the mother of your children, and those children are growing up.”

“So what should I do? Help her start a business?”

“Beats me. Ask her.” Suzi stopped. The water rushed around her calves. She swept her hair up and twisted it into a bun on top of her head. “The road up to the house is not this long.”

“It isn’t?” Brian wiped his arm across his forehead. How long had they been walking? Half an hour? An hour? His jeans had started drying, but his shirt was soaked with sweat. He was filthy and hungry, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this happy.

“No. I’ve jogged down the mountain to the main road, and it’s not this far.” She turned to him. “We are lost.”

“How can we be lost? We’ve been following the same stream, and it’s been going downhill the whole time.”

Suzi cocked an eyebrow at him. The expression was far too cute for being lost and alone with her in the forest. “You might have noticed that mountains are wider on the bottom than they are on the top.”

“Ha ha. We haven’t crossed a road, so we’ve got to be between the driveway and the road that leads over the mountain past the campground. We’ll just keep going down and eventually we’ll find civilization.” He walked past her.

“You sound so confident.” She splashed behind them. “I thought you didn’t know anything about the great outdoors.”

“I don’t.”

“So what makes you so sure?”

“You were sure when we started this little adventure.” Brian lifted a branch and held it for her to duck under.

“And you’re relying on me?”

“Yup.”

She took the lead again, which he preferred. It gave him more time to consider what she’d said. Had he been assuming the marriage was over when all he needed to do was have a talk with his wife? Their last conversation hadn’t gone well. He had said he was going to spend some time working with Jason and Savitar. She had told him he could fucking well spend the rest of his life out here. It went downhill from there. Before, when they fought, it had turned into passion. Now, it turned into ice. Passion he could understand, but ice drove him away. He could try waiting her out. See Bonnie through the lens Suzi gave him. Suzi had helped him see his kids for the wonders they were and shown him prehistoric West Virginia, so maybe she could help him see the Bonnie he had fallen in love with again. He could send the kids to spend a couple of weeks with his parents while he tried to rescue things. Maybe it was a little old fashioned, but he didn’t want Tess and Bub to grow up in a broken home.

If he and Suzi ever found their way out of this endless forest.

“Are you going to write a book about this?” he asked.

“Stephen King already did.”

“That doesn’t mean you couldn’t write one, too.”

She glanced over her shoulder and shook her head. “You just want me to write a book with you in it.”

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea. I think I make a dashing hero.”

“If you don’t say so yourself.”

“I rescued you from all the horrible bugs.”

She shuddered. “I was trying to forget about those.” She stopped. “I hear something.”

Brian listened. It sounded like the hum of car tires on asphalt. The bushes hung lower to the stream, and he had to lift them up so they could duck under. Ahead, a deep shadow covered the path. He pulled away the last branch over a three-foot high concrete drainage pipe under the road.

“Hallelujah!” Suzi scrambled up the embankment with Brian right behind her. Across the road was the pasture of the riding stable, and beyond, the first houses at the edge of town. “Now all we have to do is follow the road back to the driveway and walk back up.”

“Or.” Brian grinned at her. “We could walk into town, go to Ida’s, and get some food while we wait for somebody to come pick us up.”

“I don’t have any money on me.”

Brian put his arm over her shoulders. “I can get us a line of credit.”

* * * *

Suzi stared at the rocks in the bottom of the stream. The rose quartz assembled on a section of black slate spelled out a word.
Yes.
She didn’t remember seeing rose quartz in the stream. Yes to what?

“He must be nuts,” Brian said.

“Who?” Suzi asked.

“Logan. He left you alone with me.” Brian started kissing her neck.

“But he’s worried about Jason, not you.”

“He should be worried about me.”

“You?”

“I love you. I want you. You belong to me.” Brian pulled her down into the stream. The water was warm and his lips were hot.

“What about your wife?”

“She doesn’t mind. We do this all the time. Didn’t you know? The invitation said orgy, not dinner.” He stripped off her clothes in one motion. “Jason’s coming later. And he’s bringing Cassie.”

Something started beeping. “We’re lost in the woods,” she said. His hands felt glorious caressing her overheated skin.

“Are you excitable?” Brian asked, thrusting into her.

* * * *

Logan could hear Suzi laughing upstairs and a fire alarm beeping. He was standing at the bottom of a sweeping staircase that wasn’t in Jason’s house, but in the logic of dreams was, and Suzi was somewhere at the top of it with Jason. “Come on, we’ve got work to do,” Logan shouted.

“Fuck off, buddy. I’ve got my work right here,” Jason shouted back.

Suzi laughed. It was the high joyful laugh Logan loved to hear, but not with another man.

“We’re going to go over budget.” Logan cringed at the whine in his voice.

“I don’t give a fuck.”

“Yes, you do,” Suzi said laughing.

“Oh, yes I do,” Jason answered. His tone was heavy with desire. Logan heard Suzi moaning in response. The bedsprings started squeaking.

He wanted to scream her name, but it bottled up in his throat as if there were a cork stuck in there. He reached for the banister.

His hand found her naked shoulder. He pulled her onto her back and climbed on top of her, thrusting inside her before he opened his eyes. “Suzi. My Suzi. I love you,” he gasped, riding her.

“Logan, yes. Oh, God, yes.” Her fingernails tore his back. “Harder, harder.”

The headboard banged against the wall. “Tell me, Suzi. Tell me you want me.”

“I want you, Logan. Only you.”

She closed around him, dragging him under. Her hot mouth on his neck. Her legs tight around his hips. Her fingernails digging into his back. The world went black.

The beeping was still going, and now there was a knock at the door.

“Shit,” Suzi hissed. “Shit, Logan baby, I’m sorry. We overslept.” She started to pull away from him, but he held her tight. “Logan, we have to get up. Everyone else is up.” Twisting, she slipped out of his grasp.

“What?” Logan lifted his head enough to see the clock. Nine thirty-five and still beeping.

Suzi had pulled on a T-shirt. “I have to get breakfast. You guys are all going to be late, and you’ve got a five minute commute across the lawn so you can’t blame traffic.”

Logan crawled out of bed. He located some clothes, and by the time he left the bedroom, he could smell smoke and hear Suzi in the kitchen scolding Toby for starting a minor kitchen fire. He had to stop having these fucked-up dreams. She wasn’t even with Jason yesterday. Most of the day she’d been roaming the woods with Brian. Nobody had noticed they were missing until they climbed out of the backseat of Cassie’s parents’ car not long before dinner.

“Randy Mirandy strikes again, huh?” John said.

“
Logan, yes. Oh, God, yes. Harder, harder
.” Greg snickered.

Logan punched Greg’s shoulder and went into the kitchen. Suzi was frying eggs, and the toaster was dripping in the sink.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I overslept.” She kept her eyes on the eggs, and her face was red. They must have been needling her, too.

“It’s not a big deal.” The shirt she’d grabbed wasn’t quite long enough. Her smooth, white ass peeked out. He stepped behind her and slid his hands over that pale flesh. He wanted her again, now. “Let’s go back to bed.”

“You have work to do.”

“They’ll be fine without me for a couple of hours. Let’s go back to bed.” He kissed her neck.

“I have to finish breakfast first.”

Something about her voice was strange. Tight and too high. “What’s the matter?”

Her breath hitched. “I love you.”

“I know, sugar. I love you, too.”

She nodded, still focused on the eggs. “I’m sorry.”

“About what? Waking up late? It’s nothing. Even people who wear suits are late to work sometimes.”

“About yesterday.”

“Oh, that. That’s no big deal, either.” He slipped his hands around her thighs. She was still hot and slick. “It’s a lot easier if you leave a note rather than a pair of shoes and a coffee cup.”

“Logan, don’t.” Suzi twisted.

“Don’t what?” Logan slid his fingers between her legs.

“They’re in the other room.”

“So?”

“Please stop.”

Logan moved his hands back to her waist. “Okay. What’s wrong?”

“Everyone is in the next room.”

“Yeah, and they were this morning when you were screaming my name, too.” He bit her shoulder.

“I know.” She scooped the eggs out of the pan and put them on a plate. “Please, just go eat your breakfast.”

He picked up the plate. “Sure, whatever.” Fifteen minutes ago, she was all over him. Zero to passion in ten seconds. Now she wanted him to just go eat his breakfast? What the hell? At the table, he got plenty of ribbing. She didn’t come out of the kitchen.

“You comin’?” Greg asked. “I mean coming with us, not coming with Suzi.”

Logan glanced at his plate and then at them. He had two untouched eggs. “I’ll be there in a minute.”