Page 76 of Peppermint Bark

She pulled back a few inches, her dazed eyes blinking several times. Her body swayed slightly as her hand left her pants and her lip curled into a satisfied grin.

Then, as if her bracing arm gave out, her mouth dropped, licking from my balls up to the head and taking me deep. I came almost instantly, my hips rising and cock pulsing to empty into her warm mouth.

My fingertips reached under her chin, sliding her mouth off my cock and pulling her up. I kissed her then, greedily, desperately, gratefully, my salty taste lingering on her tongue. She pulled away and dropped her head onto my chest as her body collapsed over mine.

I mustered the last of my energy reserves for a final question. “Was that lighting or fireworks?”

She opened a confused eye, then rolled slightly to click off the small lamp as I pulled on my pajama pants. As darkness enveloped the room, her head landed heavily back on my chest.

“Lightning,” she said sluggishly, followed by a quiet confession. “I’ve only had fireworks alone.”

My last thought before nodding off was that if she gave me the chance, she’d get the fireworks she deserved.

Chapter 27

Grace

“Are you awake up there?” Elijah whispered from the bottom bunk.

I dropped from the top and he scooted over. It was a tight fit, two sixteen-year-old boys on a twin mattress, shoulder-to-shoulder, hip-to-hip.

“Where do you think we should apply?” he asked. Our guidance counselor was pressuring us to narrow down our college application list.

I didn’t know what I wanted to study, just that I wanted a school big enough for privacy. Growing up in a small town with a Pastor father and three brothers, everybody knew ‘those Heywood boys’ without giving me a chance to decide who I was for myself.

“Nanna …” I let out a long sigh. Her memory was faltering. We didn’t know how much time we had left.

“So, SUNY?” he asked, meaning the state college in Plattsburgh, only a twenty-minute drive home and fifteen from Nanna’s nursing home.

“Except …” If we stayed in town, Dad would expect us at church every Sunday, maybe to live at home to save money. Neither of us could stay under his constant scrutiny for another four years.

We sighed in unison.

“What about Syracuse?” I asked, since that's where Isaac went.

“Definitely. What about the University of Vermont?” he asked, surprising me since I hadn’t considered leaving New York. “Burlington is only an hour drive around Lake Champlain, and we could learn to ski.”

“You know I’m scared of heights,” I said.

“You’re braver than you think.”

“Of course I am,” I said, sounding more confident than I felt. “I’m the one who jumped.”

We’d been playing superheroes when we were six, and Levi dared us to climb the tree high enough that if we jumped off, we could fly. Elijah had climbed down, but I’d leaped into Isaac’s arms.

“What about Skidmore?” he said. “I’ve heard Saratoga Springs is beautiful.”

I shrugged. I hadn’t even heard of it.

“What about Clarkson or RPI?” I whispered. Elijah had the science grades to get into the elite engineering schools. I didn’t. “I’ve heard —”

“Stop it,” he said. :I told you, I’m not going to engineering school. I’m not going anywhere without you. Final.”

He knew what I was trying to do. Elijah had big dreams to travel the world, whereas my dreams were simpler: a big house full of family. I worried he would choose a school he hated so we could go together and then resent me.

He deserved a bigger, richer life without me holding him back.

“Promise me,” I said, rolling to face him and holding out my pinkie. “If we go to the same school, promise me you’ll study abroad.” Promise me you’ll go without me.

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