Page 20 of Hansel and Gerhardt
Hansel’s mouth dropped wide open.
Had he never once been splashed in the face?
The concept was tragically ridiculous.
Gerhardt watched him, heart beating hard for his reaction.
It took him a moment, butthe quiet spark in Gerhardt’s eye launched a blaze inHansel’schest,andhe threw himself at Gerhardt.Yet hemet nothing but water as Gerhardt slipped away from him,laughing out,“You’ll have to do better than that.”
To his complete bewilderment, Gerhardt was behind him, nothing but a ripple of water and a taunt to signify his transition.
Hansel jumped, and this time locked arms over slender shoulders, the length of his body sinking flush against Gerhardt’s as he felled him into the river. Everything went quiet, a bubble and rush, and Gerhardt fighting him, rolling him over and locking legs around his waist.
His air began to run out, but Gerhardt pulled him up, his fingers linked at the back of his neck, his pelvis grinding against Hansel’s abs, and Hansel felt his own dick slide right in between Gerhardt’s ass cheeks.
Gasp!
They were above the water again, and Hansel was thankful he’d blown his load ten minutes prior, because when Gerhardt threw his head back with a laugh, the feel of him and the thought of kissing that neck… No, he was getting hard anyway.
Why was this happening?Why now, after allthis time?
But how solid his thighs felt against Hansel’s.And the shame of it!If he only knew what his own stepbrother was thinking about him. And this while they were lost in the woods, not a scrap to eat, no shelter, and now wet, likely to freeze to death in the night if they couldn’t findheat.
“Hansel!”Aslap of warm flesh, and he was under again, rolling in the bubbles and water-softened sunlight. On top of his brother, Gerhardt’s chest fighting againsthim, trying to flip him. Hansel was stronger, but he let Gerhardt win, if only for the huge grin andshouted“Aha!” as he leapt to his feet.
That smile struck him in the heart.
So he caught him at the ankle and pulled him over. Gerhardt sank beneath the water and was gone.
Silence fell over the forest, and Hansel awaited a splash or a laugh. Even a ripple.
Nothing.
Everything went still.
Terrifyingly still.
“Gerhardt?”he called out. He looked around, nothing butbrowns and oranges, and all of autumn, and no Gerhardt. He called his name again, his voice hollow and frantic, echoing back from the black woods.
“Gerhardt!” His heart pounded loud in his ears, and a vast and primal emptiness seeped into his very bones. It was a few seconds, then five, then ten, then twenty, and it was a profound emptiness beyond the loss of company. It wasGerhardt. It wasthisGerhardt,who he’d lived with fortenlong years, but only begun to know that very day.
Then thelaugh,finally,so rare and warm, announced the attack. Hansel turned in time to catch him as Gerhardt sprang out from behind a rock, knocking them both into deep water.
Hansel scrambled for a handhold, something to stop his panicked fall into the icy abyss.
He found Gerhardt’s hand, wrenching him back. His toes found a ledge, Gerhardt gripped his forearm, and pulled him out, and there they twofellinto the shallows side by side, Gerhardt absolutely crackingup atthe tricks he’d played. His body stretched out long, totally exposed, head flung back in mirth. “You should have seen your face, Hansel! You were priceless.”
Hansel tried to pull a scowl from somewhere, but there wasn’t an ounce of anger in his whole body. “You could have killed us both.”
Gerhardt looked at him, a bright shimmer about his eyes. “I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, Hansel.Not ever.”
Strange, the tenderness in his voice.Growing up, hewas perpetually on the edge of sarcasm, but here in the stream,he was genuine and true.
Gerhardt’sever-cheeky lips pulled into a soft grin. “You know, it’s good to see you smile.”
Why hadHanselnever noticed how beautiful he was? Why today, here, now, after all thesewinters, did his heart beat like branches in a storm? “Thank you.”
Gerhardt’s grin widened. “Thank you?”
