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What can I say, after a decade of being completely and utterly alone in the world, it was hard to wrap my head around the idea that I had somebody. That he not only wanted to just sleep with me, but spend time with me, be trapped in a car for hours on end with me.
“He really lives out in the middle of nowhere, huh?” Sway asked as we were five hours into the drive, with no end in sight just yet.
“Yeah,” I agreed. Then, because I knew it was expected that I start to share things, and because it actually felt good to do so, I went on. “He has just shy of eighty acres. Surrounded by nothing but more land that has sat for sale for years. I think it’s been in his family for generations. The house definitely seems old enough.”
“Worse than your cabin?” he asked.
“Hey. My cabin isn’t so bad. For a safe house,” I clarified. “I mean, it’s bigger. Just… older. In need of some upkeep. It seems like he’s kept it the way his father or grandfather had left it. Very rustic and manly. No feminine touches anywhere.”
“He old?” Sway asked.
“No. I mean… maybe he’s forty now? I’m not great with ages. He’s got a little gray in his temples.”
“So, what I’m hearing is he’s a silver fox.”
“I didn’t say he was attractive,” I said, rolling my eyes. But, actually, he was. In a sort of haunted way. “I mean, he’s old for me, but I guess he’s got good bones. He’s very… standoffish. What?” I asked when Sway chuckled.
“Baby, if you think he’s standoffish, I am picturing a guy who sinks into the shadows to avoid having to say hi to anyone.”
“That’s… not an inaccurate assumption,” I said. “The first few times I met with him, he wouldn’t say anything to me. He just kind of grunted and nodded and waved out toward the land, leaving me to figure it out for myself where the range was.”
“But he talks to you now?”
“I mean… ‘talking’ might be an exaggeration. But he will say a few things here and there. He’s never said anything about it, but I saw a military tattoo on him once. I think maybe he’s just got a lot of PTSD or something. Prefers to be on his own. He’s probably a nice guy if you get to know him…”
“But he doesn’t make that easy,” Sway finished.
“Yeah, exactly,” I agreed, nodding.
“How long have you known him now?”
“Five years? Give or take. He had his land up on a black market website. To use for an illegal range. I decided to take the chance. It’s been a good working relationship for the both of us.”
“He got a name?” Sway asked, making me realize I had been referring to him as a ‘contact’ or a ‘friend’—which was a stretch of that word—since I’d first mentioned him.
“Cohen,” I said. “I never got a last name,” I added.
“Really? You don’t look into who you’re working with?”
“I figure that some people really like their privacy and secrets. I understand that. I don’t dig if I don’t think there’s a need to. We’re not buddies. I just show up, pay my cash, use the range, and leave. A few times a year.”
“I get it,” he agreed, nodding. He didn’t. Not really. People like Sway who were so open and friendly, they couldn’t know the lengths some of us would go to to keep ourselves hidden, to protect ourselves. Especially people like Cohen and myself who seemed all alone in the world, with no one to trust or depend on but ourselves.
“He’s… going to be a little antsy about you being there,” I told Sway. “I usually just bring the dogs. They hang out with him and his Bloodhounds, sniffing all around, while I went out to shoot.”
“It’s alright,” he said, reaching over to squeeze my knee. “Turns out I have a knack for standoffish people.”
He sure managed to weasel in under all my guards, that was for sure.
“I don’t think you can use sex to get to him,” I said, smirking at him.
“Are you saying that men wouldn’t find me attractive?” he asked in a faux-outraged voice.
“Are you asking me if you can cheat on me with Cohen?” I shot back.
That got a little chuckle out of him.
“I think I can find other ways to charm the man. But, speaking of sex,” he said, eyes bright. “Any chance he’d let us fuck out on the middle of that eighty acres?” he asked.
The idea was ludicrous.
But once he said it, I decided that it absolutely had to happen.
In fact, the idea of it gave me the motivation to power through the rest of the drive.
“Jesus. I thought Shady Valley and Lookabout were rural,” Sway said as we drove down an endless road with nothing but sand, Creosote bushes, and mountains all around.
