Page 91 of Them Bones

He shrugged, pulling on his coat, and picked up his backpack.

“Will I see you on Tuesday?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Today is my last day. I’m um… starting at Riverglen after the holidays. I have to get a bus.”

“Oh,” she said, her face falling.Shit, Andy is going to ask me to do Tuesday and Thursday mornings now…

She ran her hand over the ridges of the paint. Riverglen… “Wait… did youmakethis?” she asked.

He nodded, the tips of his ears turning pink as he pulled on a hat, covering them up. She walked over to him, reaching out slowly and straightening his cap, before bending down and kissing him on the cheek.

He flamed tomato red and scurried out the door. It shut with a softclickbehind him.

Sabrina smiled to herself, tucking the card between the pages of a book she’d brought and shoved it in her bag.

That kid is gonna be alright,she thought, but as soon as the thought formed in her mind, she had a sinking feeling that she was very, very wrong.

SHANE

Laney was cuddled up under a blanket on the couch with him while they watched the latest Christmas-themed episode of Buffy, season three. Jerry had picked them both up in the morning, after Dustin had finished his last shift at the bakery, and brought them over.

It seemed that Cary’s one-day-per-year hiatus from micromanaging Laney’s life held fast again this year as Dustin had seemed cheerful, and Laney wasn’t anxiously watching the clock. For whatever reason, Cary left her alone on her birthday.

Jerry and Dustin were doing a large puzzle at the table, the box propped up for reference, the image of the N64 Goldeneye game cover.

Laney’s eyes were watering at the TV, her hand pressed to her mouth, as Buffy and Angel fought (not a shock) and then cried (also not a shock). Angel wanted to die rather than lose his soul again by being with her. He was waiting for the sun to come up, an easy suicide for a vampire.

The episode was making Shane uncomfortable. He worried incessantly about being with Laney – no matter how many layers of clothing he kept between them – and he could never shake the feeling that he was inherentlywrongfor her.

Too late now,he thought. There was no chance of separating them, at this point. No way he could walk away.

Still, the pit of anxiety in his stomach grew. He remembered the episode in season two where Buffy and Angel had slept together and all hell had broken loose… It had been Buffy's sixteenth birthday.

Now the two of them were holding hands, walking down the street, the sun never having risen and Angel living to see another day. And Shane couldn’t help but think that they were both fucking idiots.

The episode ended and he flipped the cable back on, perusing the sports channels for a Wayne Gretzky highlight reel.

Laney’s head stayed fixated on the tv, but her hand snaked its way up his thigh, caressing the inside of his leg dangerously close to his crotch.

He shifted his leg subtly, trying to pull away from her hand. She dug her nails in so hard he flinched.

“What are you doing,” he whispered.

“Whatever I want,” she said. “It’s my birthday.”

He felt his eye twitch as she started caressing him again, her hand hidden by the blanket wrapped around them. He glanced at the table, Jerry and Dustin bent low over the puzzle pieces, Jerry squinting but refusing to put on his glasses.

“Stop,” he whispered, her fingers inching closer and closer to his dick which wasverymuch at attention.

“Make me,” she taunted, tracing the outline of his hard-on through his very thin joggers. He wasn’t wearing boxers, and a shiver wracked through him as she huffed a quiet sigh of pleasure. Shane sat ramrod straight and tried to ignore the screaming in his ears as she slid her hand underneath the material of his sweats and wrapped her fist around his cock.

Sweat formed immediately at his temples, his jaw clenching so hard it hurt. Skin on skin… the feel of her hand onhim… his cock was kicking in her fist and he heard her sharp intake of breath as she swiped her thumb over the tip, catching his precum.

She loosened her grip and pulled her hand back out from under the covers, looking up at him from under her dark blonde lashes, and sucked her thumb into her mouth, closing her eyes at the taste.

Shane’s entire body started to visibly shake, and when Laney’s eyes opened again she lookedravenous.Her hand disappeared beneath the covers and he didn’t even pretend to fight, this time… he widened his legs a little, giving her more access, as her hand sank back into his pants and she started to stroke him.

“Okay kiddos, it’s after 9:00… Dusty, you wanna get the cake from the freezer in the garage?”

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