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Nick thought—quietly, to himself—that Martin’s idea of adventure was twisted. The man actually seemed to enjoy the madness that was the grocery store two days before Christmas.
Once they found a cart, which was like discovering gold, Martin started whistling an aimless tune as he pushed it toward the produce section. As he poked through the piles of potatoes and onions, he started humming along with the cheesy carols playing overhead. In the spice section, he joked as he helped another shopper reach crackers on the top shelf.
Not that Nick wouldn’t have helped her too, but joking like old friends was a step too far.
Then there was the checkout line.
“What the actual fuck?”
Martin was deftly maneuvering the cart through the crowds, trying to find the end of the queue.
“This right here is the definition of insanity,” Nick said as they finally tucked in behind a young couple with a toddler and a baby. The toddler was loudly complaining to anyone who would listen—because his parents were ignoring him—that he was bored and wanted to go home.
A hand landed on Nick’s shoulder. “Do not encourage him,” Martin whispered. His lips brushed against the shell of Nick’s ear, sending a shock of awareness through his body and directly to his cock.
No,he thought fiercely,no, no, no.I’ve already been down this path. The past month had been a unique form of torture. The cabin was eight hundred square feet. If the wind was quiet, he could hear Martin’s shifts in his bed, his light snores, the rustle of the covers. In the dark of night, Nick wanted to be like the traitorous Kitten and just waltz in and curl up next to Martin.
Not just curl up. He wanted to do other things, too. Sleeping on the floor meant he woke with an aching back and a throbbing dick every morning and there was nothing he could do about either of them. Just thinking about it—like right this minute—made his cock stand at attention.
“Fine,” Nick said through gritted teeth.
It took them over an hour to check out and it proved impossible for them not to bump into each other as the line moved. A hip. A thigh. Shoulders. Telling himselfnohadn’t worked. By the time they got to the front of the line, Nick was a wreck, with an erection that wouldn’t go away. He was just thankful Martin had stepped to the front of the cart to unload it and be fucking nice to the checker.
“You got quiet in there, everything okay?” Martin asked him when they’d made it back through the obstacle course of a parking lot and were loading the groceries into the back of the car.
Nick heaved a particularly heavy bag into the car. “Just… people,” was all he could come up with. Martin would not be impressed by him announcing,I have a massive boner.
His New Year’s resolution was going to be something along the lines of: No obsessing about Martin Purdy. No unnecessary thinking about him. No erections.
That was three, but they all boiled down to the same thing.
No Martin Purdy.
They were finally at the head of the line to turn out of the parking lot when a flash of black caught Nick’s attention. The SUV was driving too fast, weaving around slower-moving vehicles as it headed toward the bridge.
“What the actual fuck?” He jerked forward, peering out the windshield. “It’s that same fucking car.” He was sure of it.
“What’s wrong?” Martin asked.
“Follow that car,” Nick demanded, pointing at it. “The black Sequoia, or whatever it is.”
A lucky break in traffic allowed Martin to pull out. Quickly, he moved into the same lane as the SUV, but the other car was already cruising through the intersection and the walk-light told Nick the light was about to turn.
“Don’t let it get away!” Nick begged. “Keep after it. Goddammit,” he groaned as the light turned red. They were trapped on the wrong side of it, stuck behind a minivan with a decal on the back that had Nick thinking the owners needed to consider birth control.
“Fucking hell! Motherfucking cocksuckers got away again!” Nick slapped the dash as he watched the black car get smaller and smaller, crest the rise of the bridge, and disappear altogether.
“Care to explain what that was about?” Martin asked.
Nick collapsed against the seat, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Not really. You wouldn’t believe me anyway.”
“Try me.”
“Fine.” He huffed out a breath. “Everyone else thinks I’m crazy, so it won’t matter if you get added to the list.”
“Nick,” Martin said, “just tell me. I’ll be the judge of whether I think you’ve lost your marbles or not. To be fair, not sure how many you were playing with to begin with.”
