“Comeon. Unhealthy treats once in a while are good for the soul.”
“My soul may like it, not so much my pancreas.”
I snort a laugh and take another bite of the sweet fried dough. “Party pooper.”
Jett looks at me and taps his cheek. I can’t see his eyes behind his sunglasses, so I have no idea what he’s referring to. Then he does it again.
Does he want me to kiss him?
I shrug and lean forward. With a glance around the crowd, I press a kiss to his cheek.
“Wes.” He smiles widely and shakes his head. He reaches for my face, swiping away some sugar on my cheek, then he sucks on his thumb.
I wince at my stupidity, yet I’m strangely turned on. Weird combo. “You’re gonna get me hard, bro.”
“Can’t have that… Fine, give me a bite.”
I lift the cake to Jett’s mouth, and he takes a small bite, chewing slowly. “Not bad.”
“See? Doesn’t your soul feel better now?”
He chuckles softly. “It does.”
When I’m done, I toss the paper plate in the garbage and wipe my hands on a flimsy napkin.
We start walking by each stand, checking out what they’re selling. I stop at one with handcrafted soap. I lift one and sniffit. “Mmm, salty air, firewood, and amber. Reminds me of bonfire nights in Cannon Beach. Did you ever go?”
I place the soap up to Jett’s nose, and he takes a whiff. “Once. Snuck out of the house. I had training the next morning, so I wasn’t allowed to go.” A shadow moves across his face.
“Did you get caught?”
He shrugs and lifts another bar of soap, smelling it. “This smells like you.”
It has scents of fresh water and citrus. “Yeah, not bad.” I look at the lady. “I’ll take both of these.”
After I pay her, she bags them up and hands them to me.
“What happened?” I ask him, always needing to poke and prod to get answers out of Mr. Whiplash. Honestly, I’m kind of surprised he came out with me today.
“Got in trouble, what else?”
The next stand sells candles, and I smell those, too. I buy one for my condo.
“What’s your family like?” I’m not sure whether he really wants to know or is deflecting.
“Man, they’re the best. Seriously. Mom had me really young. Boyfriend got her pregnant at sixteen. When he found out, he ditched her and eventually moved away.”
“Do you know him?”
I shrug as we make our way to a vendor selling home-roasted coffee beans. “Nah, never met him.”
“That must’ve been hard.”
“Honestly? Not really. I don’t care one way or another about him. We had to live with my grandparents. Mom struggled to hold jobs because she has some brain damage from a fall when she was younger, but she’s had a job at the grocery store for years now. It doesn’t affect her intellect or anything else, though she struggles to speak, and it can sometimes affect her mood. She’s been an incredibly supportive mother. My grandma is thesweetest and will cook you meals until you explode. Granddad became my father figure. He’s amazing. They all are, but I’m especially close to him. Money has always been tight, but love made up for it. Now that I have a good job, I can finally help them out.”
I look up at Jett and wince. “Sorry, whenever someone asks me about my family, I tend to go overboard.”
He smiles softly. “It’s… nice.”
