Page 23 of Prince of the Northwest Forest
Justice shifts on his feet. “I’ve enjoyed this. Do you want to hang with me again sometime?”
“Yes, I’d like that.”
“I go hiking every day,” he says. “If you want to join me tomorrow?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Actually, it sounds like a date, but he’s the only one here who is into guys, so I’m not sure why my brain went there.
“Then I’ll see you.”
“Yeah, see you.” I clear my throat.
Justice gives me a nod and takes off. I watch him go down the path.
Martin and Hazel stand at my side, then as one they turn and stare at me.
“What?” I ask, sucking my cheeks in.
“Nothing,” Martin says.
The following afternoon, the pigeons and the gophers report that they still don’t know where Mats is and no one has seen him for miles all around. The gossip network is something fierce.
“I’m worried,” I tell Hazel as we walk across the plaza toward the café. “He’s been gone before, but never this long.”
“Do you think something happened to him?” she asks.
A shiver runs through me, even though the day is mild. “I’m not sure. Mats needs to get away at times, so perhaps he’s gotten distracted somehow.”
She nods. “Maybe you can ask some more subjects on today’s hike.”
“That’s the plan,” I say.
But mostly, I want to keep talking with Justice. I’m so intrigued by him. He’s … beautiful. I don’t think I’ve ever looked at a man before and thought him attractive. I’ve certainly appreciated beauty in all things, but what I’m feeling now isdifferent. New, although again, like everything with Justice, there’s a familiarity about it.
One thing that is definitely unfamiliar is my desire to find all of his tattoos.
Which means I keep picturing what he looks like under his clothes.
Which means?—
Yeah, no, I don’t think about him that way. What’s more important is his personality. Justice is charming. He’s funny, but he has this underlying decency and sweetness that makes being with him easy and encourages me to spend more time with him.
Martin and Hazel remain in the plaza while I walk into Café Magnifique. Justice is wrangling the machine he calls Gandalf, but once he’s poured the coffee, he glances up to see me and a smile breaks across his face.
I could live in that smile. I stride up to the counter and pull my hood back. “Hey,” I say, not sure why I’m breathless.
“Hey,” he responds. “Want a cup of joe?”
“Meaning coffee?”
Justice nods.
“Sure.” I’ll choose Justice and a real conversation over staying in my room with a book—which, given how much I enjoy reading, is a testament to how much I like him.
“By the time you finish your drink, I’ll be done with my shift, and we can go hiking again.” He bites his lip. “If you want to, that is.”
“I definitely want to.”
