Smolder (The Road to Rocktoberfest 2024)

10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Sandy

We arrived at Almaden Quicksilver Park, where the trailhead was located for the Senador Mine to Mine Hill Loop. I was kicking my own ass for suggesting we hike instead of taking a naked roll in the sheets.

Skyler’s scent had filled my head while we were in the SUV, and I was dying. Fresh air was good. Fresh air was necessary for me to be able to form a sentence.

I parked near the trailhead and pulled out the dry-erase marker I had in the console of the SUV. I wrote our departure and anticipated return times on the driver-side window, as recommended by the park service, before locking the vehicle.

Walking around the SUV, I took the backpack from Skyler and pulled it onto my shoulders. “Ready?”

“What about the basket?” Skyler was referring to the picnic basket I’d packed before we left the house.

“That’s for after.” I then headed toward the trailhead, filled out a slip with my name and license plate number, and slid it into the lockbox the rangers checked every few hours. “Let’s go.”

Once we got to the trail proper, I stopped and pulled two water bottles out of the backpack before we proceeded side by side. “You guys sounded great, but I only listen to music, not make it. I got the impression you weren’t happy with how the session went.”

Skyler smiled. “I hope it wasn’t so obvious to them. River’s nineteen and still trying to find himself so I don’t want to discourage him in any way. JD is twenty-two, and he’s a great musician, but I think he’s dying to break into music, and I’m not sure this will help his career aspirations.

“I don’t want to let my family down, but I’m still sort of lost about what to do with the song. I do better with marching music.” He giggled, and my stomach felt like it was filled with bats. It was ridiculous that his laughter had any effect on me, much less made me feel tingly inside.

“Well, for what it’s worth, you have a great singing voice. I didn’t realize you were a triple threat.”

“Ha! Hardly. Can’t dance for heck. So, what about you? Any ideas about what you want to do going forward?” Skyler’s head was on a swivel, taking in the scenery—or was he purposely avoiding looking at me.

We were just over twenty-two hundred feet in elevation, so it was a nice seventy-five degrees with little humidity. The skies were clear with miles of visibility, which was damn incredible.

“ Look! ” Skyler pointed to a little hill before scrambling for his phone to take a quick picture. It was a doe and her fawn resting on the grass.

He turned the screen toward me and grinned. “For my kids when school starts. We always have an icebreaker for the new kids joining us where we talk about what we did over the summer, and I’ll have pictures to go with my story this year.”

Fuck if he wasn’t so damn adorable that I wanted to eat him up. Skyler was around thirty, and I was thirty-nine, which was a bit of a spread but not an insurmountable hurdle. Why was I even thinking about it?

“You like teaching?” I couldn’t imagine being around teenagers all day, but Skyler had the type of personality that fit into a classroom…wearing glasses…and a sexy sweater vest… God, I wouldn’t mind being the teacher’s pet.

“I love teaching. It took me a while to warm up to the idea of it when I was in college because being a teacher seemed like a stretch. I had no idea I’d love it so much.”

I glanced at him to see his cheeks were red.

“Good for you. I can easily see you teaching.”

His blond hair glistened in the sunlight, making him look like a cover model for a hiking magazine—hell, any kind of magazine.

With the sheen of sweat on his shoulders and neck, he was sexy as fuck. I fought with myself about asking more personal questions or whether I should steel my mind not to think about him at all—which was really fucking hard with him in my home…truck…head…heart.

We climbed a hill, and there was a break in the trees where the reservoir was clearly visible. We stopped so Skyler could take a picture. “What’s that body of water?”

“That’s the Guadalupe Reservoir. You can fish there, but we have no fishing poles or tackle with us.” I hadn’t even thought about that.

“Can you swim there?” His face lit up as he turned his gaze on me.

God, the idea of skinny dipping with him had my cock hardening in the compression shorts I’d thought to wear under my basketball shorts. It damn well wasn’t comfortable, but hopefully, he wouldn’t notice that I could hit a home run with the bat in my pants.

“Uh”— cough —“no. No swimming. Not sure why.”

I quickly wrestled with the backpack to unzip it and retrieve two granola bars. “Snack?”

Skyler took the cinnamon and oatmeal bar from me and walked down the hill to a large rock jutting out a bit. He climbed up and took a seat. I followed him like he had a leash on me. I sat on the other side and stared out at the beautiful sight before me.

We sat there in silence for a moment before Skyler turned to me. “Do you come out here often?”

I chuckled. “Not as much as I should. Sometimes, when I need to think, I come here. I’ve sat here several times trying to figure out my shit, but unfortunately, I rarely come away with good answers.”

“It would be a good thinking place. It’s beautiful out here. I wish I could find some answers about what to do with this stupid song. It’s so freakin’ frustrating.”

I didn’t mean to laugh, but I couldn’t help myself. “Do you ever curse?” I could barely get a sentence out that didn’t have an expletive.

Skyler smirked. “Back in high school and college, I used to curse like a sailor. When I accepted my student teaching gig, one of the kids heard me say the F-word when I broke a piece of chalk while writing notes on a blackboard. He then said it to his grandmother when she took him to the grocery store. She dropped a can on the floor next to him and scared the crap out of him, and he dropped an F-bomb, according to his grandmother when she came to school to scold me in person. I learned my lesson and try not to curse because we never know who might be listening.”

My desire to make him yell “Fuck me” was nearly overwhelming. Hearing him swear up a blue streak as I sucked his cock into my throat would be quite an achievement.

“Admirable. Not something I’ll ever try, but good for you that you can do it. Shaping young minds and all.” No fucking way could I ever work with kids.

We sat for a while and enjoyed the view. Finally, I finished my water and shoved the empty bottle into the backpack before climbing off the rock. “You wanna finish the loop or just head back. I think we’ve gone about three miles.”

Skyler slid off the rock and dusted the back of his shorts, which I’d have been more than happy to do for him. He smiled at me as if he could read my thoughts. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to head back. I can run five miles a day on a flat surface. These hills kicked my butt!”

I chuckled. “Yeah, hiking is an entirely different animal.”

We headed back down the trail in relative silence. Skyler’s phone buzzed in his pocket, so he retrieved it and read the message. “It’s from your brother. He’s at your house and looking for me.”

I walked up behind Skyler and looked over his shoulder, a bit dazed by his scent. He smelled clean and spicy. I didn’t know if it was body wash or his natural scent, but it could become addicting.

His gorgeous neck was right there, and the urge to lick it was strong. Fight as I might, one day, I was bound to give in, and I had to wonder what the fallout might be. After what I’d endured with the NFL when I was outed, it would be a walk in the park.

When we arrived back at my house, a rental car was parked in the driveway, blocking the lane leading to my garage. It could only be my inconsiderate brother.

I parked behind the black sports car and got out, walking around my SUV to grab the picnic basket we hadn’t used. We’d been in too much of a hurry to return to my place after Marsh didn’t respond to Skyler’s text asking what he wanted.

I let us in through the back door since our boots were dusty from the trail. We both removed our shoes and went upstairs to the kitchen, where we found Marsh stuffing a sandwich into his pie hole. His garment bag and duffel were by the stairs in the foyer as though my brother was waiting for me to carry his shit upstairs. Fat chance!

“Marsh, help yourself to something to eat.” The sarcasm was thick.

“Thanks, big brother. I assumed that’s how you’d feel. Skyler, how’s it going? The song done?” His snide expression told me I wouldn’t like where he was headed.

“Not…not yet. River and JD came over this morning, and we worked on it for a while. They had to leave, so Sandy suggested we take a break and go for a hike so I could clear my head. I’ll get back to work. Good to see you, Marshall.” Skyler hurried up the stairs, and when I heard the door close to the spare room, I wheeled on my brother.

“What the fuck was that?” I dropped the picnic basket on the counter and began shuttling the contents into the fridge.

“What was what ?” Fucking wiseass!

“Your smartass comment about the song being done. You have no idea how hard Skyler is working on this, and you putting pressure on him isn’t going to help.”

Marsh wiped his mouth and picked up his plate, emptying the crumbs into the trash can and rinsing the plate before putting it in the dishwasher. He wiped his hands on a dishtowel on the rack under the cabinet and stared at me.

“What do you care?” Are you getting hot and bothered by the teacher?” Marsh picked up the empty soda can and put it in the recycling bin under the island, his face holding a smug expression.

“No, I’m not getting hot and bothered by the guy. I just think he’s being used by you and the band, only to be shoved aside. I don’t have to be in love with someone to not want to witness them getting screwed.”

I reached into the fridge and grabbed a beer, popping off the cap and taking a long gulp. My mind reeled at the snarky tone in my brother’s voice. I had no feelings for Skyler beyond friendship. He was a nice guy who didn’t deserve to get shit on.

“His father isn’t using him. Regal actually feels guilty for the way he treated Skyler when he was younger. Do you know what it took for Regal to ask the guy for his help?”

“Didn’t Skyler’s mom ask him to help? You just want to wring the guy out and then send him away. Don’t you think that’s a jack-off move?” I took another gulp of my beer.

“I don’t get paid to care about it. I just need the song recorded to submit to the Harmon Studio before the deadline. After that, I’m just there to manage the tour. Speaking of which, I need muscle. I need someone to guard these old guys and make sure they stay out of trouble for the five appearances I’ve scheduled for them. Do you want a job? You can hire another guy to help you out. Your choice. The dates are all set and begin in mid-July, with breaks in between. I wanted to call it the AARP Tour, but Alicia put the kibosh on that. What do you think? You up for being a caregiver to a group of sixty-year-old men?”

Guard a group of past-their-prime rockers? How hard could that be?