Page 12 of Hearing Hank

I find that I’m surprisingly disappointed at the idea of not being able to check in with Hank. That’s a pretty high level of attachment to someone I went on one date with. It makes me feel weak and needy that I have this impulse to check in with him and see how he’s doing, but acknowledging the clinginess doesn’t lessen the desire.

Approaching Denver brings up a wave of surprising feelings in me as well. Although I’m looking forward to seeing my mom and siblings, there’s nothing else about Denver that I’m really excited about. I’ve only been gone a few days, but I already feel displaced, as though I was a finger pulled out of a bucket of water, and the space has already closed behind me. It’s an odd feeling and doesn’t really dissipate until I’m safely tucked inside my comfy apartment.

I text my mom and ask her if I can come over for dinner tomorrow night, and then I order Chinese food and sit down to plan out my shopping route tomorrow. There’s a mom-and-pop type event shop that I really want to check out first. I like the vibe of their website, and from the pictures, it looks like they might have everything I need. I pick out a couple of other places in the area to hit to fill in any gaps and figure that I can have dinner with my family, spend another night and drive back to Shafter Falls Saturday morning. I might hit a club after dinner, just because it’ll be Friday night and my friends will be out.

I climb into bed satisfied with my plans, but as soon as I lay down and close my eyes, Hank’s face pops up on my mental screen. Just imagining his face gives me that excited fluttery feeling in my belly, and my dick hardens without any other encouragement. I shift in bed as I harden and just the slide of the sheets is enough to push my arousal to the point of no return. I’m not a kid anymore, but just thinking about him turns me into a teenage boy again.

I fish the lube out of my nightstand drawer and put just enough in my hand that it won’t drag on my dick. I think about getting one of my dildos or plugs, but I’m not in the mood to draw it out. I close my eyes and imagine what Hank would look like with his shirt off as I slide my way around the ridge and tease my fingers over the tip. In my mind, I slide my hands over his pecs and thumb his nipples as I thumb over the head of my cock. By the time the Hank in my head has grabbed my ass and pulled me against him while biting on the spot where my neck and shoulder join, I’m ready to blow. I try to slow down to give myself the chance to build it up again, but it’s too late. I’m coming all over my belly and hand with his name on my lips.

I do a quick cleanup and pull the covers back over me, rolling on my side. I curl around one of my bed pillows and pretend Hank and I are snuggling. There’s really no denying that I have a pretty serious crush on a certain quiet ranch hand.

The next morning I take my time enjoying my coffee and doing a full yoga flow before showering and dressing for the day. I put on a “safe” outfit of skinny jeans and a tee for running errands for the day and keep my makeup to a minimum. As I’m swiping on basic black eyeliner, it occurs to me that I didn’t really worry about being safe in Shafter Falls. I got some looks and heard some comments, but I never felt truly threatened. Maybe small-town America isn’t as dangerous as I thought it was.

My first stop is the rental place I found last night, but as I pull into the parking lot my heart sinks in my chest. There’s a large going out of business sign across the front windows. They look open though, and I’m already here, so I figure I’ll make the best of it and check it out anyway. The first thing I see as I walk through the door is a beautiful woven branch archway decked out with rainbow-colored artificial flowers. It’s so perfect it makes me stop in my tracks. There was nothing like this on my list, but it’s the absolutely perfect piece to bring all of the pieces of wedding décor together.

There’s an approachable-looking older woman behind the counter in the back corner, and I make a beeline for her, hoping that I can rent the archway. I don’t get more than a few words into my request before she’s shaking her head at me.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “Everything in here is final sale only. We’re closing the doors for good next week. No rentals and no returns.”

“So what’s the price of the archway?” I ask her. I know I shouldn’t buy it, but it’s just so perfect I don’t know if I can leave without it.

“I’ll sell it to you for $100.” She tells me.

I laugh. There’s no way I can turn that down. “I’ll take it,” I reply, and start surveying the rest of the store for the other things on my list. I’m pretty sure that if I can find most of what I need here, I can get it all very, very inexpensively.

After spending a ridiculously small sum of money on the majority of my list, I arrange to pick everything up later. I’ve made a few small concessions, like cream tablecloths instead of white. Nothing big. I’m going to need Paul or Sam bring one of the ranch trucks down to haul the archway back, but it’s going to be so worth it.

I call Paul as I’m driving to the next stop to pick up the last few things and tell him all about the amazing archway. He says that he will head down later and I let him know I’m going to spend the rest of the day at my mom’s house, so he can meet me there and we’ll go to the store together. I decide that when he gets to my mom’s I’m going to talk him into staying for dinner and going to the club with me.

The rest of the list is easily filled at the next store, and I’m feeling great about having this part of the preparations done. I hit one of my favorite clothing stores and get a killer outfit for the wedding. I already had one picked out, but I bought this one with Hank in mind. I can’t wait for him to see it.

It’s a short drive over to my mom’s house, and I pull into the driveway mid-afternoon. Paul should be here pretty soon, and in the meantime, I’ll help Mom with whatever she needs for dinner.

15

Hank

Apparently,I’msupposedtodrive into Denver and pick up something for the wedding. Paul has a test to take, and Sam is working, so he asked me if I would do it. I’m kind of in a shitty mood, and I don’t feel like driving for two hours, but it’s probably better than being grouchy around the animals. They always know, and I pay for it with attitude back from them.

I’m trying not to admit to myself why I’m in a shitty mood, but the drive gives me time to think, so I can’t avoid it anymore. I haven’t heard from Lee at all since he left my house the other night. I don’t think I did anything wrong, in fact, it seemed like the whole night was great, but he left the next morning and he never did come back. Also, I wasn’t smart enough to get his phone number, so I can’t just text him and say hi in a totally non-creepy way. I know that I could just text Sam and have him ask Paul for Lee’s number, but it feels like that crosses into slightly creepy territory.

If he’s still not back when I get back to the ranch after this errand tonight, then I’ll ask Paul what’s going on. Speaking of which, I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to be picking up. Sam just texted me an address and asked me to grab something for the wedding. When I entered the address into the GPS on my phone it didn’t give me any indication of what was there, but I’m expecting a wedding store of some kind.

The house I pull up to doesn’t look like a wedding store. It’s a nice-looking, normal suburban home. The only thing distinguishing it from its neighbors is that Lee’s little blue car is parked in the driveway. The relief that fills me at the sight of it is a little frightening in its intensity. I head up the walkway and make it onto the porch before the door opens and Lee is standing there, looking just as happily confused to see me as I am to see him.

“I thought Paul was coming to pick up the archway and stuff!” Lee exclaims. “I’m glad to see you, but I was going to kidnap him and make him hang out with me tonight and drive back tomorrow. We’re supposed to be at the wedding shop in the morning.”

“Paul had a test.” I manage to say, trying not to feel guilty about not being the one Lee expected.

“He must have forgotten when he was talking to me,” Lee says. “I guess you can take my car back and I’ll do the pickup and drive the truck back in the morning.” He suddenly gets a sly grin on his face. “Or,” he draws the word out and grins. “I can kidnap you instead.”

I’m a little concerned about his word choice, but I’m pretty sure you can’t kidnap someone who’s willing anyway. I don’t even care what he has planned. I just want to spend time with him. I close the distance between us, take his face in my hands, and kiss him thoroughly. “Kidnap away,” I whisper in his ear when I finally tear my lips from his mouth.

“Leroy,” a woman’s voice calls from inside the house, and I take a small step back to at least give us the appearance of propriety. “Leroy!” She calls again, and I look at him and raise an eyebrow. He blinks at me and looks over his shoulder to answer just as an attractive middle-aged woman sticks her head out the door. She looks at the inch of space between us and grins teasingly at Lee.

“Never mind, obviously you’re busy out here. I’ll just go find your brother.”

“No Mom, it’s fine. I can help. This is Hank. Hank, this is my mother, Jackie.” Lee gestures between us.

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