Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69895 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69895 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Away from traffic lights, Bram opened the bike up, zooming smoothly through the moonlit night.
Somewhere ahead of them, a hawk dove—black form peeling itself elegantly from the darkness—and Bram felt akin to it, the bike the closest he’d ever get to flying.
They reached a crest in the road and the moon came into view. Bram slowed and let the bike come to a stop.
They stood and looked at the moon in silence.
“Imagine if you could just take off,” Zachary said softly. “Soar like that hawk over the land.”
It was so close to what Bram had been thinking a minute before it felt like Zachary had plucked the thought from his head.
Bram nodded.
“It seems peaceful,” he said. “And exhilarating.”
“Yeah. Lonely, though,” Zachary said.
They stood side by side, arms pressing together, a warm spot in the cool night.
Bram turned at the same moment Zachary did. They blinked at each other, and in Zachary’s eyes, Bram saw desire and uncertainty in equal measure.
Zachary blinked and the spell was broken. Bram cleared his throat and got back on the bike.
When they turned onto Casper Road, Bram wished they were back up in the clouds, in the dark, with the moon.
Zachary handed him the helmet and smiled a bit awkwardly.
“Thanks for coming with me,” he said. “It was fun.”
“It was,” Bram said. “Thanks for making sure I didn’t get too scared.”
He was stalling. He knew he was stalling. They were standing in the middle of the street, equidistant from both their houses and stalling. But Bram couldn’t quite say anything else.
“You’re welcome,” Zachary said. “Well. Good night.”
“Night,” Bram echoed, and went inside by the light of the autumn moon.
Chapter Twelve
Zachary
There was no doubt about it. This was going to be the prank that won the prank war.
As long as Zachary didn’t fall to his death first.
He tested the branch beneath his foot, then inched out onto it, banner rolled up and stuffed underneath his sweater.
He could already imagine Bram’s shock when he went outside the next morning to work on his decorations and found that his own house was an advertisement for Zachary’s victory.
Victory. What a delicious word.
The wind picked up and Zachary grabbed for an overhead branch to steady himself.
He inched forward, eyes on the shutters of the rightmost window, which would make a good anchor for this side of the banner.
He eased the twine from his back pocket and braced himself on the branch. Now that he was up here, he could see that he wouldn’t be able to get as close as he’d hoped. But if he went down one branch...
Zachary eased himself to sitting on the branch, toes reaching for the one below. When he found it, he shuffled down.
Holding on to one branch—nearly hanging from it—as he slid to the other, he had a moment of terrifying vertigo when he thought he’d slipped.
But it wasn’t him that was moving. It was the window.
It was sliding open.
Zachary froze.
Bram’s face appeared and Zachary could see that the window he’d been about to affix the banner to was in Bram’s bedroom. The other man was wearing sweatpants and no shirt and even though Zachary had seen him shirtless before while he worked on his chainsaw carvings, in this context, he was...
Zachary gripped the branch even harder and forced himself to concentrate on not dying.
“Um. Hello there,” he said making his voice as casual as possible and sliding the twine back into his pocket. “Lovely night we’re having, hmm?”
Bram’s smile managed to be amused and wolfish at the same time.
“You know,” Bram said, voice gravelly with sleep. “If you wanted to be invited into my bedroom, there were easier ways to go about it.”
A wave of lust hit Zachary.
“That right?”
Bram nodded and held out his hand.
It was not the most graceful start to a sexual encounter Zachary had ever had, but honestly? It wasn’t the clumsiest either.
Bram grabbed his hand and helped him to the windowsill. As Zachary was hauled inside, the banner slid partway from under his sweater and snagged on the tree branch. Breathing hard, Zachary pushed himself the final bit of the way inside, arms and legs shaking from the effort.
Bram peered out the window.
“Did you climb the tree?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, that’s a security hazard,” Bram muttered. But he looked impressed. “Let’s see it, then.”
“Hmm?”
Bram gestured to the banner that was half rolled under Zachary’s sweater and half trailing behind him out the window in tatters.
Suddenly faced with unrolling his banner, Zachary got self-conscious.
“It’s silly. Never mind,” he said.
Bram smiled softly, seeming to accept that answer.
The moonlight painted Bram’s muscular torso silver, highlighting each dip and bulge. Chainsaw carving really was a workout, apparently.
Prank forgotten, Zachary took a step closer and let himself reach out a hand and press his palm to Bram’s thick chest. He had springy light brown chest hair and beneath it his skin felt warm even in the cool night air.