Page 49 of Hard Ride

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Ollie shuddered as the kindling they’d arranged caught and whooshed to life with a flash of sinister orange and heat that threatened to sear his eyebrows off.He only put one small bit of wood on top, keeping the flames as low as possible.

“Chilly?”Kyra came up behind him and chaffed his jacket-encased arms.How could she think he was considering what they’d done earlier?He might never be cold again after experiencing…that.Damn.

He couldn’t think about it now or he’d be standing there with another hard-on.

Unsure of how that was possible when he should be sated for at least a week following not one but the two best orgasms of his life, he tried averting his eyes, except they only landed on Van instead.Ollie shifted, trying to make more room in his pants.

Who wouldn’t have been impressed by a primal display like the one Van had put on?It wasn’t weird that Ollie was looking at Van with a whole new appreciation, was it?

He jammed his hands in his pockets to keep from doing anything stupid.

As Kyra and Van plopped onto two of the folding chairs he’d dug out of the garage under the bed, accessed from the rear doors of the van, Ollie walked around the fire.It fascinated him as much as it terrified and disgusted him.

While he verified the burn was controlled and contained, he heard the rustle of Kyra opening a bag of marshmallows.Van selected some sticks from the pile nearby.He stripped side branches off them as Ollie returned.“I think these should work.Though I haven’t made s’mores since I was little.”

“I can’t imagine you ever being little.”Kyra snorted as she scanned Van appreciatively.

Ollie laughed because, to be honest, neither could he.

“Hey, I have proof.”Van fished his phone out of his pocket and tapped a few times before flipping it around to Kyra.“I was a cute kid, no?”

“Aw, super cute.”She melted as she looked at the image before handing the phone to Ollie.

Ollie took in the boy with dark brown hair, covered in dirt, and pleased as could be about it.A woman kneeling beside him—with thick, straight hair held back by a navy bandana and warm eyes—was laughing as she wiped a smudge off his face.She reminded Ollie of his mami.“I didn’t realize manpris were in style back then.”

He took one last look at Van’s legs, exposed halfway up his shins by pants he’d clearly outgrown a few seasons earlier, then handed the phone back to him.Hopefully the other guy knew he was only teasing, but he still felt like a dick for the wisecrack.Especially since he figured jealousy over Van’s mother was the real reason for his barb.

“Hey, they covered my ass.”Van shrugged as if he’d long ago gotten over being made fun of for growing up poor.

That made one of them.

“I personally consider that a crime.”Kyra winked at him and slapped Van’s butt when he rose from the chair and bent over to put his marshmallow near the flames.

“I would share a baby picture, but I never thought to put one on my phone.I probably should to preserve them, since I only have a couple.”Kyra studied her own marshmallow, which she skewered with more force than necessary.

“Why’s that?”Van asked, peeking over his shoulder at her before returning his focus to achieving the perfect golden crust.

Kyra sighed then said, “My parents are weird as fuck, you know that.”

“I guess.You don’t talk much about them, and every time I ask, you change the subject.”The fact that Van stared into the fire as he said it made Ollie sure that had stung him.

Kyra offered a shrug that didn’t mask her discomfort.“They’re some kind of new age hippies, I guess, is the best way to describe it.Believe we’re all old spirits living in temporary bodies.So they don’t think kids are anything special or that they need much guidance because they should already know how to survive if they look within themselves.I learned to be self-sufficient.Technology isn’t really their thing, but at least I grew up with lots of music around so that I found drumming…and my way out.The few pictures I have from back then were mostly taken by friends.”

“Well, no worries.”Van took his completed marshmallow back to his seat, ruffling Kyra’s hair as he passed.“That pic I showed you is the only one I’ve got.My mom died shortly after that.She and about a dozen other people were riding in the bed of a pickup on the way home from the farm where she picked onions each year.The driver was drunk.He missed a turn and they tumbled down the embankment.They say she died instantly.I hope they’re right.”

“Lo siento mucho, Van.”Ollie’s heart ached for Van.He knew what it was like to lose the most important person in your universe at such a young age.

“Gracias.”He sighed as he tucked his phone back into his jacket pocket and sat next to Kyra, carefully assembling his dessert so he wouldn’t have to look at them.Kyra’s fingers lingered on Van’s hand as she passed him a square of chocolate.

Kyra glanced up at Ollie.When he didn’t volunteer any information, neither she nor Van pressed him about his own past despite the curiosity he could detect in her stare.Maybe that’s what made him comfortable enough to confess.Or maybe it was because he figured it was better to know now if they would shun him once they knew the truth about what he’d done.

Before he grew any closer and more attached to either of them.

Ollie cleared his throat.“You’re both doing better than me.I don’t have any.”

“Baby pictures or family?”Kyra asked, sliding her other hand over to his from her spot between the two men.

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