Page 59 of Ava
“Oh.” He shrugged and looked at his mother. “Yeah, me. I’m in the process of making work benches for the garage, then a bigger dining-room table. When you see the house more, you’ll understand what I mean, but I need to give this to April.”
“What is it?” April asked as Alan set a cardboard box down in front of her.
“I made this for DJ. I don’t know whether you’re going to have a table for gifts or cards tomorrow?” At first she had a confused look, then her eyes widened in shock, as it dawned on her what Alan had said.
“Crap, I forgot all about it being DJ’s graduation party too.”
“Yeah, but I made this, I hope it’ll help.”
“What is it?” April stood and lifted the wooden box from the cardboard box. She set it on the table, and covered her mouth in awe. She looked at Alan with tears in her eyes. “It’s beautiful. Is this for his cards?”
“It is. I hope you don’t mind, but I asked Dolly if she had any pictures of him. I took them to the store and got duplicates, so these are not the originals.” He pointed to the photos of DJ as he grew up. It turned out that each photo was a school photo, with the year and grade engraved into the wood. April went over and hugged Alan.
“Why are you hugging my fiancée?” Dillon demanded as he entered the kitchen in time to see the hug. There was no heat behind his question. April looked at him with watery eyes, then turned and pointed.
At first Dillon frowned, then when he caught sight of the box, he picked it up and admired it. He also had a tear in his eyes as he grabbed Alan and hugged him. “Thank you.” Was all he said. “It’s beautiful.”
Ava saw Alan’s cheeks turn pick, and he waved the praise away, but he did wear a beaming smile.
Ava let them have their praise as she rose from the table, and went over to where Justin stood next to the island.
“Can I ask a favor of you?” she whispered to him.
“Sure,” Justin answered as he leaned down to hear her.
“Can you give me a ride home. I’m exhausted, and I don’t have a vehicle here. My bike is over in the garage.”
“That’s right. Sure.” He stood taller, then announced that he was taking Ava home, and that he would be back in a few. As they were leaving, Alan called out. “Don’t forget, the J’s have to take over watching the meat at four.”
“Got it!” He waved, and then left.
CHAPTER23
On the wayout of the ranch driveway, Ava turned in her seat, and asked, “What did Alan mean by the J’s had to take over at four?”
“We’ve found over the years there’s really no reason for all six, seven if you count Chuck, to watch the pig. We sleep in shifts.” He looked at her with a grin. “Because we’re older, the J’s crash around midnight, get four hours of sleep, then get up and take over. While the A’s stay awake and keep the coals burning. They do this by adding wood, and charcoal. We don’t want it to flame up, we want hot coals. Most of the time we have a fire going nearby and take the hot coals from there to put in the cooker. When the J’s get up, and get a cup of coffee into them, and wake up, by then it’s around five in the morning, the A’s crash. They get up between eight and nine, then we start the day.”
“Oh, I know it’s none of my business, but where are John and Josh?”
“They went into the camper about an hour ago. So did Chuck, but he won’t sleep as long as we do. He’ll be up and down all night helping to keep an eye on things. At least, he did that in the past.”
“Oh.” Ava sat back and blinked. The truck slowed to pull into her driveway, and as they made their way to the house, she didn’t know how to broach the subject of what was on her mind. They parked, and when Justin shut the truck off, hopped out, and came to her side, she had a secret smile on her face. Neither said a word as she used her key to unlock the door. As far as she knew, she was the only one with a key.
She turned to Justin with a smile, and before he could say or do anything, she reached up behind his head, brought it down, and kissed him. It went from zero to one hundred in one breath. By the time she came up for air, she had been hoisted up, with her legs wrapped around his waist, and her back pressed against the door. She felt his erection, and started rubbing her core against it.
“If I set the alarm, could you stay?” she whispered in his ear. “That is, if you have condoms.”
“I do have condoms. I stopped and bought some when we went to get the pig, and yes, I’d love to stay.”
“Okay, but we have to go to my room. No offense to your bed downstairs, but I don’t want to be in the open, in case one of your brothers decides to come here to crash.”
“I understand. I may be a triplet, and we do everything together, but not sex. I like to have sex with my woman all by myself.” He smiled when she laughed. Instead of putting her down, he reached around, placed one hand on her ass, then opened the door with the other one. As soon as they entered and shut the door behind them, he locked it, and made a beeline to the stairs. In no time they were inside her room, and that door was shut and locked.
“Set the alarm,” he said as he laid her down on the bed, and toed off his boots. He grinned when she rolled over, stretched her arms out, and before she did what he asked, she looked over her shoulder at him.
“What time?”
“Three thirty.” He didn’t paused in his stripping, and watched her set the alarm. By the time she rolled back over toward him, he had removed his shirt, shoes, and had undone his belt, along with the snap and zipper of his jeans. With one knee on the bed, he bent down and took her mouth in his, keeping his hands busy. While he kissed her, he removed her shoes, and unbuttoned her shirt. Coming up for air, he then removed her shirt, and her jeans. When she lay out before him in just her bra and panties, Justin stared.
