Summer Ride

by Susan Laine

  Toby was grateful that the only thing he and Jimmy had hit had been each other.

  When Jimmy looked at Toby, his eyes shone with love. His smile was genuine and bright. Toby could have spent the rest of his life staring into his hazel eyes. They talked a lot more with their eyes the rest of the day than they did with their words. Every gaze from Jimmy was full of passion and adoration.

  Toby knew without a shadow of a doubt that once he’d settled his own situation, he’d stand by Jimmy through thick and thin. They were friends, lovers, and more.

  For Toby, Jimmy was family. Jimmy represented… home.

  Chapter 21

  Two-and-a-half months later

  “TOBY?”

  Toby started at the sound of his name. He jumped up from the wooden bench against the wall along the corridor at the courthouse. Jimmy stood there with a dumbfounded expression on his handsome face, blocking other people from exiting the courtroom.

  Smiling, Toby took a step closer. “H-hi, Jimmy.”

  Swallowing visibly, Jimmy stepped toward him, eyes wide and glassy as if mesmerized. He stopped in front of Toby. “Wh-what are you doing here?”

  The welcome wasn’t exactly breaking any records on warmth. They hadn’t seen each other in over a month, not since they’d returned to Boston. Promises had been made, but only tenuous and tiny contacts had taken place. Heck, they hadn’t even had phone sex. Toby had given Jimmy time. He was smack in the middle of legal hell, and Toby didn’t want to add to that. But he missed Jimmy—who had admitted to loving Toby.

  So Toby opted for optimism. “You emailed me that your court date was today.”

  “Yes, but I didn’t intend for you to come.” His cheeks flushed red, and he rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that like it sounded.”

  Toby licked his lips, his throat drier than a desert. “I guess I just wanted to hear the verdict straight from the horse’s mouth. So… are you going to jail?”

  Jimmy smiled wanly and shook his head, pointing over his shoulder. “If that were the case, I’d have been escorted out another door with bailiffs at my side and handcuffed.” He pursed his lips with mild anguish, a tiny scrunch of a frown briefly forming between his eyebrows. “Which was what I didn’t want you to see. Me in shackles.”

  “I understand.” Toby dared to feel hopeful. “You made a deal, then?”

  Jimmy gestured for them to sit. Air-conditioning kept the hallway cool and dry. A constant low-volume chatter came from small groups standing and individuals milling about, most dressed in suits and ties.

  Toby had never been to a courthouse. He wasn’t sure if he liked the ambience despite the bright and airy architecture. A sense of melancholy permeated the white stone like an invisible stain. Justice and injustice, right and wrong, good and evil, life and death—all of it decided there, leaving behind a perfume of regret, guilt, and innocence lost.

  Jimmy raked a hand through his hair, sighing. “Yes. The DA agreed to a reduced sentence in exchange for my testimony and evidence against Hale, Gray, & Rose. Naturally I gave up my car as proof of bribery. Wasn’t sorry to see that expensive piece of garbage gone.”

  “What’s the sentence?” Toby held his breath, anxious since he didn’t know what to expect. He pictured orange jumpsuits, electrified fences, brutal inmates, and mocking guards.

  Jimmy took Toby’s hand and squeezed gently. “Eighteen months probation. So for the next year and a half, if I so much as get a parking ticket, my ass is off to Suffolk County Jail.”

  Toby snickered. “You no longer have a car, remember?”

  At first Jimmy blinked at him, mouth hanging open. Then he burst into laughter, doubling over. “Jesus, Toby. Timing is everything.”

  Toby winked. “Especially with jokes and punch lines.”

  Jimmy chuckled for a time. His hazel eyes danced with mirth. Finally he grew serious and held Toby’s hand tighter. “The truth is I got awfully lucky. The Massachusetts Bar Association’s recommendation to judges is to weigh financial losses against culpability. Yes, I took a bribe. I was a legal newbie, but I should’ve known better. I gave it all back and testified against the fraudulent lawyers. Guess they decided I wasn’t all bad, and that view was reflected in my sentencing.”

  Toby wanted to hug Jimmy, but he didn’t dare. “I’m so happy for you. What about Harvard Law?”

  Jimmy sighed, slumping in defeat. “I can finish my degree and graduate, sure, but getting a license to practice would be next to impossible. No, I’m not going back to law school. I might try being a paralegal, like we talked about. I’ll figure things out, so don’t worry.” He perked up, meeting Toby’s eyes and smiling. “What about you? Did you speak with the dean at your school?”

  “I did, yeah.” A huge weight lifted off Toby’s shoulders. Both for himself and for Jimmy. “She’s a good woman—insightful, smart, progressive.”

  “You’ve become a fan, eh?” Jimmy teased.

  Toby blushed, his cheeks on fire. “Shut up. Long story short, she assured me things would improve and asked me to stick to my guns. Then she asked about my interests in engineering. God, we talked for like two hours straight. I mentioned my focus on projects similar to the Biotic Arch and the Asian Cairns, and she totally understood.”

  “Uh, cairns…?” Jimmy cocked his head like a baffled dog. Toby smirked at the cuteness overload.

  “They’re sustainable buildings,” Toby explained eagerly. “Like pebbles stacked on top of each other. Beautiful construction, so visionary. And the other is a green skyscraper—”

  “I didn’t realize you were into architecture,” Jimmy cut in, scratching his head.

  “I don’t want to design buildings, I just want to take a peek at their engineering. Hell, I’d love to work on projects like that. Making the world a better place through smart design choices. No emissions, no fossil fuels, no additions to the carbon footprint. Just renewable energy, biodiversity, and self-sufficiency.”

  Jimmy grinned. “You’ll make one hell of an engineer, babe.”

  Stunned, Toby flushed with heat from head to toe. Had Jimmy meant to use the endearment? Or had he merely misspoken? After all the time they’d spent apart over the last month, it was hard to tell if Jimmy still wanted to pursue a relationship. If he still loved Toby.

  “I have another year to go. But the dean gave me suggestions on ongoing and future projects in the area, research and development that might suit my professional ambitions.” It would be a challenge, Toby realized, but he was up for this.

  Jimmy nodded a few times, then his gaze dropped to the floor. “So, uh, when does school start?”

  “Next week.” Toby worried his bottom lip. Out of breath, he wondered what the best way to broach the subject in his heart might be. “What, um, are you going to do now? Can you leave town or the state?”

  Jimmy chuckled. “Yeah, I can go wherever I please. I don’t have a parole officer. The only thing is I can’t commit a crime or I’m screwed. Fair’s fair.”

  Toby’s hands shook. His heart drummed a frantic beat. “So I was just… uh, it’s mid-August and summer’s not over for a week, and I, um… that is, if you’re not doing anything, like looking for a job….” He kept stammering, unable to stop blushing like crazy. He hadn’t grasped how badly he craved Jimmy until that exact moment, as he tried to voice his desires and dreams.

  Jimmy still held his hand. This time he clasped hard enough for Toby to flinch and stare at him. “Do you wanna go out with me? You know, the two of us on a proper date?” Jimmy’s cheeks were pink too and his lopsided smile shaky.

  Relief swamped Toby. “Yeah. Yes, I do. Absolutely. Only… I was thinking of something a bit longer than date night.” Jimmy frowned in confusion. Toby snickered. “We drove along I-90 but only got halfway. Wanna, maybe, finish the trip?”

  Jimmy breathed out a shocked laugh. “Drive across America? In one week? Impossible.”

  “Nothing’s impossible.”

 
Jimmy harrumphed, but his grin broadened. “Spoken like a true science nerd. But did you forget I no longer have a car?”

  Toby played coy. “What would you say if I told you that the case of sexual harassment that was brought up against Professor Fisher ended with him entering a plea bargain to avoid an embarrassing criminal trial? And what if I told you that after that his victims—me and several others—brought a civil suit, which Fisher settled out of court in a hurry to put it all behind him, and got us restitution? Specifically financial. As in moolah. Lots of moolah.” Toby grinned at his own inside joke from Elvira: Mistress of the Dark.

  Jimmy whistled low. “Okay… I didn’t think it’d happen so fast. The wheels of justice tend to grind slow as shit.”

  “Apparently the mountain of evidence against him from multiple sources convinced him not to drag things out. His reputation was already tanked, so maybe he thought it’d blow over faster that way.”

  “A lot of people do that. Not sure if all these plea bargains are justice, but they do keep things moving along.”

  Toby nodded. “I guess. Anyway, the first installment of my share was paid to me last week. Enough to rent a car. Gas might be a nuisance for the long haul, but I’m sure you getting stranded with me on the side of the road isn’t the worst possible outcome.” Toby waggled his eyebrows, hoping to convey to Jimmy that Toby was up for grabs in every sense.

  Jimmy quirked an eyebrow. “I seem to recall we didn’t need to get stranded to get busy in the car last time.”

  Toby giggled, bashful. Along the drive back to Boston they’d fucked every chance they got in and out of the car. Jimmy had been right that driving while getting blown wasn’t the easiest thing to do in the world. The back seat sure had been christened more times than they could count, and not once had they been interrupted by the cops again.

  Jimmy pretended to ponder long and hard, his pensive expression like that of the Thinker, as if he was contemplating the meaning of life, universe, and everything. He rubbed his jaw and narrowed his eyes. “Well, we never did get to see all those tourist attractions along that route, did we?”

  Toby’s heart buzzed with warmth. He’d won the argument, not that it had been one. Jimmy was as good as his. “Nope, we sure didn’t. And I really have a hankering to see that green giant’s dingaling.”

  “What? My all-American red dick not enough for you?”

  Before Toby could dole out a smartass retort, Jimmy leaned in, captured Toby’s lips, and kissed him silent. Jimmy tasted like black coffee. Toby drank him up. Then Jimmy cupped Toby’s cheeks, tilted his head, and deepened the kiss. Toby was swept away by tides of pleasure.

  When they broke apart, both men were breathless.

  Jimmy rested his forehead against Toby’s. “I… I think I’m in love with you.”

  If Toby could have flown into space, he would have. “I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you too.” He had no definite intentions for their journey through the land. But Toby knew he and Jimmy would be just fine. They’d gelled as friends and lovers. That rarest of blessings had helped them both set their lives in order. “So… road trip?”

  Jimmy chuckled. “You’re such a road hog.”

  Toby rolled his eyes. Last time they hadn’t reached Miller’s Grove. But that place wasn’t their home anyway. The old adage was true: home is where the heart is.

  They walked out of the courthouse hand in hand. They had taken the low road and the high road. Now they could get this show on the road together.

  As planned, on their first day out on the highway, they stopped at the Jell-O museum.

  More from Susan Laine

  Sam, a geeky college freshman, has bigger problems than lusting after Marcus, sexy jock, college junior, and his big brother’s best friend. Chasing after a beanie caught in the winter wind turns into a tumble down the rabbit hole for them both—science fiction style.

  Sam and Marcus find themselves trapped on a tropical island in the middle of a strange ocean on an alien moon. The sole structure is a ruined temple devoted to the art of love. Flustered, confused, and unable to return home, they need to figure out a means of escape from a hostile jungle teeming with dangerous life-forms.

  In this tale where opposites attract and secret crushes are revealed, two very dissimilar young men discover they actually have a lot in common after all, but it will take their differences as much as their points of connection to survive on an island in the stars.

  A Before… and After Story

  Romance novels always end with a happy ever after. Right?

  Evan and Adam are best friends, but they don’t know everything about each other. For one thing, Adam doesn’t know Evan writes and publishes gay romance novels until he discovers one while snooping on Evan’s laptop.

  This revelation changes their relationship in ways neither could’ve imagined. Adam’s reaction to reading Evan’s stories is not what he expected, nor is the new way he’s looking at his lifelong pal. After all, Adam is straight, or so he’s always thought, and that is what Evan believes about Adam as well.

  When Evan admits he might be bisexual, Adam suggests he try dating girls to find out for sure, but when Evan follows his advice, Adam is caught off guard by his feelings of jealousy. And when the date proves Evan isn’t bisexual, but gay, Evan’s request that Adam find him a guy might be the last straw.

  How can Adam admit he wants that guy to be him? His epiphany will either end their relationship—or change it into something wonderful in their very own friends-to-lovers romance.

  A Before… and After Story

  A kiss is just a kiss. It doesn’t have to mean anything. Does it?

  At seventeen, Merry’s never been kissed. Since he doesn’t want to disappoint his prom date, he asks his more experienced best friend, Boone, for some pointers. Surprisingly, Boone agrees to give him a hands-on lesson.

  But they have no idea what they’re getting into.

  They explore hundreds of ways to make out, but somehow it isn’t enough. A week later, they’re back together for another session. This time things go further than either of them planned, and their relationship becomes awkward and uncomfortable.

  Have they learned enough to salvage their friendship and help it evolve? Their lessons have come to an end. They can either part ways forever… or share a true love’s kiss.

  A Before… and After Story

  It was only a game. Wasn’t it?

  At a party one night, Charlie Dean’s childhood friend Will Tucker accepts a dare and dresses up as a girl: clothes, hair, makeup. Seeing Will that way incites a riot of confused emotions in Charlie—and he responds by lashing out. He never meant to hurt Will, and now he must do some serious damage control.

  During a school trip by train, Charlie and Will share a sleeper cabin. Charlie intends to mend fences, while Will figures it’s as good a time as any to broach the subjects of attraction and sexuality. They want to get their relationship back on track. But after the secrets they both reveal, their friendship can never be the same.

  A Before… and After Story

  At what point are differences irreparable?

  Tom McAllister and Nick Corwin have always had a comfortable friendship, even though Nick is a Native American webcomic artist and Tom’s father is a rigid Christian. But they’re about to discover growing up means more challenges than choosing a college major. It might mean making decisions that change pivotal relationships—or sever them.

  When a bully confronts Tom and Nick and a dark, unsettling aspect of Tom emerges, Nick is shaken enough to end their friendship. As both young men struggle to balance their own dreams with the expectations of their families—both in terms of career and faith—they recognize the emptiness that parting ways has left in their lives. But when reconciliation leads to confessions that might mean something more than friendship between them, will it make their path easier to navigate or more difficult?

  SUSAN LAINE, a Finn through and through, was raised by the best mo
ther in the world. She told her daughter time and again that she could be whatever she wanted to be. It still took Susan until her thirties to find the spark for serious writing when she discovered the gay erotic romance genre.

  Her formal education revolves around anthropology, but she wishes to be a full-time writer sooner rather than later. Susan enjoys hanging out with her sister and friends in movie theaters and bookstores. Her other pastimes include walking, swimming, and fantasizing about sizzling hot manlove. Some of her likes are pop music, chocolate, and doing the dishes, and a few dislikes are sweating hot summer days, tobacco smoke, and purposeful prejudice.

  Visit Susan’s website at http://www.susan-laine-author.fi/ or write her an email at susan.laine@hotmail.com.

  By Susan Laine

  Falling for Rain

  Flushed

  Haunted Heart

  An Island in the Stars

  Sage Advice

  Sauna Lover

  The Sensualist & the Untouched

  Summer Ride

  The Witching Hour

  BEFORE… AND AFTER

  After the Romance Novel

  Kissing Lessons

  Train to Somewhere

  Dreams and Expectations

  HEROES AT HEART

  Yellowbelly Hero

  Yellow Streak

  Code Yellow

  Good as Gold

  ISLESHIRE CHRONICLES

  Lofty Dreams of Earthbound Men

  Wishing Wings

  LIFTING THE VEIL

  The Wolfing Way

  Genie’s Wish

  Hunter’s Moon

  Monsters Under the Bed

  Love of the Wild

  Stealing Dragon’s Heart