Summer Ride

by Susan Laine

  This was it. Jimmy knew he could shut Toby up with a few sour words, perhaps an insult or two. Jimmy could hurt his best friend the way Toby had once hurt him. But what would that get him? If he didn’t face this now, once Toby was gone, Jimmy would just chicken out again—run and hide.

  Over the speakers, the radio played Depeche Mode’s song “Wrong.” Jimmy could have sworn the lyrics had been written with him in mind. He too had made wrong decisions that had led him down dark roads. He’d made a mistake assuming the end justified the means. He’d been afraid to lose what he had, so he’d made bad choices. Now he reaped the wrong fruit.

  Fuck. Jimmy put his sandwich down, no longer hungry. “I’ve thought about it a lot.”

  Toby nodded, squeezing Jimmy’s hand. “It wasn’t law school that meant everything to you. It was the law itself. You’ve just got to hold on to that thought. So… if you told someone, like the authorities, would it prevent you from taking the bar?”

  “No, not necessarily.” Jimmy licked his lips nervously and ruffled a hand through his hair in frustration. “I can take the exam, no problem. I simultaneously submit my application to the state bar association. If I pass the exam, the association reviews my suitability.”

  Toby tilted his head, seemingly perplexed. “How?”

  “I’d have to name every place I’ve worked in a legal capacity, and the association would question them about me. For example, if I’ve behaved in an unethical manner.”

  Toby shook his head. “Surely exposing ongoing criminal—”

  “No. Attorney-client privilege is at the heart of the legal profession. Revealing confidential information is a clear violation of the attorney’s canon of ethics. I’d be ineligible to sit for the bar, and I’d never get a license to practice law.”

  Toby harrumphed, clearly in over his head. “I don’t get it. Surely it’s in the best interest of the clients to know if their own lawyers are ripping them off.”

  Jimmy sympathized. Being a lawyer wasn’t as easy as the TV shows depicted. He was about to go for round two on attorney-client privilege. Instead, he stopped and replayed Toby’s perceptive words in his head. Why the hell had he never thought about it from that perspective? How could he have missed it?

  “Actually… you might have a point there.”

  Chapter 16

  “INTERN OR attorney, the responsibility is to the client, not the firm,” Jimmy muttered, going over the whole thing. “If I know the firm and its lawyers are doing something illegal—defrauding their clients—then by not reporting it to the bar association I’ve failed twice, legally and ethically. I’m honor-bound to protect the interests of the clients.”

  Toby scratched his head, looking confused but delighted too. “Oh. Well, good. There you go, then.”

  The truth hit Jimmy square in the chest. He understood now where he’d gone wrong. “By not reporting what I know… I’ve ensured I can never get a law license.”

  Toby gasped. “That’s ridiculous. You could go to the authorities now and—”

  “I could, yeah. But it’s too late.” Jimmy slumped. He realized he could drive to the ends of the earth, but it wouldn’t change the inevitable outcome. “The bar association typically takes damn harsh action against lawyers who cheat their clients in any sense of the word. If I’d just learned of the fraud and reported it immediately, I could still apply to the bar, explain that I had the clients’ best interest at heart, and still get my law license.”

  Toby leaned in, looking forlorn. “Why can’t you do that now?”

  Jimmy smiled and glanced out the window to the parking lot and the SUV waiting for them there. He pointed at the vehicle and replied quietly, “I took a bribe. Hush money. That makes me part of a criminal conspiracy. Even if I went to the police now, it wouldn’t change the fact that I can no longer get a law license.”

  Toby wiped an errant tear off his cheek in a hurried move. “’Cause you’d have a criminal record.”

  “Yes, that about sums it up.” Jimmy smiled. He felt a sense of peace because he knew now he couldn’t in good conscience accept a law license even if he by some miracle got one. He had committed a crime. He’d behaved in an unethical manner. He was unfit to be a lawyer.

  “It’s not fair.” Toby’s voice had gone hoarse as he blinked back tears. “You didn’t defraud your clients. You didn’t do anything wrong…. Much. You know, in comparison.”

  Jimmy offered him his most reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”

  Toby frowned, seemingly baffled. “What do you mean? What are you going to do?”

  Jimmy didn’t need to think about it anymore. It was too late to deny the truth. It was high time to face the consequences of his actions. “I’m going back to Boston, same as you. Then I’ll talk to the police and tell them everything I know.”

  Toby drew in a sharp breath. “What if they won’t believe you?”

  Jimmy chuckled. “The firm might have deleted the incriminating files from their database, but I kept copies of what I found. I’ve got proof to nail their asses to the wall. Mine included.”

  Toby shook his head as if desperately trying to search for an out for Jimmy. “But if you, like, testify against them, couldn’t you strike a deal with the police or the district attorney? Get immunity or something?”

  Jimmy rubbed his jaw, going over the possibilities. There weren’t many to choose from. “I could turn state’s evidence if the DA offers me a deal. Just because I’d provide them with evidence that could help convict the bad guys, that doesn’t mean they’d do me any favors.”

  Toby’s gaze erred toward the car parked outside. “What if you give the car back? I mean, it’s the only thing you accepted, right?”

  Jimmy stared at the vehicle he’d come to hate. “I took money. I gave some to charity, and with the rest I bought the car.” He worried his lower lip. “I doubt it’ll work but… hey, it’s not like I’ll be able to keep that piece of shit in prison anyway.”

  Toby gasped in shock, eyes wide and full of tears. “They’d send you to… to jail?”

  Jimmy slid next to Toby in the booth and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, comforting him with a touch. “Please, Toby, baby. Don’t cry. If it happens, it happens. I think… yeah, I think I’m finally okay with that.” He kissed Toby quickly on the lips, tasting salt, chicken, and buttermilk. “If they allow conjugal visits, would you consider…?” He waggled his eyebrows, hoping to elicit a laugh from his best friend.

  Toby released a watery chuckle. “You’re crazy. I’m sorry I ever suggested you do this. It’s true, no good deed goes unpunished.”

  Jimmy could relate. Yet he couldn’t hate or resent Toby for giving Jimmy the idea of how to return. After all, it was the right thing to do. “Hey, listen. I might never be a legit lawyer, but that doesn’t mean I’ll never be able to work in the field.”

  Toby blinked at him in confusion. “Oh?” An edge of hope in his voice made Jimmy glad he’d opted to explain in detail what he had planned once he got out of prison.

  “I can still have a law career without having a degree or a license. For example, I could be a paralegal. I wouldn’t be a lawyer but I’d be able to assist one.” When Toby nodded repeatedly, clearly searching for a reason to believe it, Jimmy smiled. “I swear, Toby, everything will be all right in the end. Trust me.”

  Toby wiped his wet eyes with the back of his hand. “I wanna get out of here.”

  “Okay. Let’s get a doggy bag. I paid for crap, so I’m taking the crap with me.”

  Jimmy asked for a Styrofoam box from the cashier and packed up their meals. They walked to the car, got in, and drove back to the highway—only this time they headed back the way they’d come.

  “HOW BAD would it be if I blew you while you drove?” Toby asked.

  Startled, Jimmy almost swerved into a ditch. “Jesus, dude. Don’t do that. I nearly crashed the damn car. And us along with it.” When Toby merely chuckled evilly in response, Jimmy couldn’
t help but grin. “What? You meant that?”

  “Yup.” Toby rested a hand over Jimmy’s package, squeezed, and then rubbed.

  “Gah….” Jimmy held on to the steering wheel with great difficulty. He grunted as pleasure spread through him in warm waves. “Legally, though, we… I mean, you… that is to say….”

  He never got to finish his sentence. Toby unbuttoned and unzipped Jimmy’s pants, reached through Jimmy’s fly to grip his hardening cock, and brought it out. A cool breeze from the air conditioner over his hot flesh gave Jimmy goose bumps, and he shivered.

  Then a hot, wet mouth swallowed his cockhead. Jimmy groaned as Toby sucked. He used one hand to stroke the root of Jimmy’s cock and the other to fondle his balls through his underwear.

  “Jesus, Toby,” Jimmy whispered hoarsely. “You’ve lost your mind.”

  Toby looked up, licking his lips lewdly. “I thought we had a deal. To fuck our way across America. Since we’re in a car, that’s just too bad. I’m hungry now.”

  “We just ate, dammit.”

  “Not dessert. A delicious savory treat. Yum.”

  Wonderful warmth enveloped Jimmy’s prick again. Jimmy steered the car with unsteady hands, moaning. He had to park or he’d drive into a ditch. But traffic proved an immovable wall that yielded no breaks or cracks for him to slip through to the shoulder. So Jimmy did his best and focused on keeping his eyes on the road no matter what.

  Toby licked around the glans, the tip of his tongue teasing and tickling. Then he swiped the flat of his tongue over Jimmy’s slit and drank the droplets gathered there. Jimmy’s foot jolted on the gas, the car jumped forward, and Toby was forced to release Jimmy’s dick or either choke on it or hit his head on the steering wheel.

  “Whoa, man. Careful there.” Toby’s flirtatious tone made Jimmy growl.

  “I’m trying, dude. You’re not exactly making that easy.”

  “Aww, poor baby.” Toby’s voice was laced with sultry promises.

  Then his mouth delivered, sucking Jimmy’s cock back into wet heat.

  Jimmy threw his head back and closed his eyes for a second. “God, if someone had told me that one day you and I’d do this, I’d have bought them a one-way ticket to a lunatic asylum.”

  Toby chuckled around his treat, the hum vibrating along Jimmy’s nerve endings, dancing in his cells, beating inside his heart. Jimmy never wanted Toby to stop. He was close far too soon.

  The sharp tang of precome and the scent of male musk grew thick in the air.

  Cautiously, Jimmy let go of the wheel with one hand and rested it on Toby’s head, his hair soft and smooth as strands threaded through his fingers. The scent of cinnamon, perhaps from shampoo or soap, drifted in the car. The warmth of Toby’s skin seeped through Jimmy’s pores. He’d been inside Toby and felt the man’s body heat.

  Yet at that moment he longed to feel Toby’s dick inside him.

  “Hey, Toby?” Jimmy asked, his voice thick with a mix of anticipation and nervousness. “Before we part ways, would you, um, fuck me?”

  Toby froze midsuck, his lips a perfect O around Jimmy’s cockhead. His eyes were so wide, the look was borderline comical. Jimmy’s heart lodged high in his throat.

  Without further preamble, Toby grinned and nodded.

  Then Toby resumed sucking Jimmy’s prick like his favorite Popsicle. Pleasure exploded in Jimmy’s balls. His hips bucked up. Toby gagged a little, his saliva dripping down Jimmy’s length, but he didn’t stop. He stroked the base of Jimmy’s cock, a swish of wrist adding a twist every once in a while, and sucked the tip hard enough for Jimmy to see stars.

  “T-Toby, I’m gonna come…,” he whispered, pulling on Toby’s hair too roughly, his self-control waning fast.

  Toby doubled his efforts. His hand and mouth in unison did unthinkable things to Jimmy’s prick. Then Toby tugged at Jimmy’s sac through the fabric of his boxer briefs. That was all it took. The orgasm took Jimmy by surprise with its sheer intensity, fires of passion and delight breaking out under his skin. He felt like he came by the bucketloads. Toby swallowed each drop.

  When Jimmy was exhausted and wrung dry, Toby pulled up, tucked Jimmy back inside his pants, and leaned in his own seat, sighing happily. “Man, why didn’t we ever do this back in high school? I could have sucked you off every damn day.”

  That fantasy, mingling with memories, almost made Jimmy drive off the road.

  Toby giggled suddenly. The glance he aimed at Jimmy was wicked. “One swallow does not a summer make….” Jimmy blinked at him in confusion. Toby snickered. “Aristotle. Abridged.” Then he smirked. “In any case, he was wrong.”

  Toby’s shameless wink made Jimmy burst into laughter.

  Chapter 17

  “OH, AND this time I’m taking the shower first,” Jimmy declared the instant he crossed the threshold into their motel room for their third, and quite possibly last, night together on the road.

  Toby smiled. Jimmy’s grumpiness after a long drive into the night was adorable. “Sure. Go right ahead.” As Jimmy kicked off his boots, dropped his bags on the floor, and shrugged out of his coat, Toby added, “Holler if you want me to wash your back.”

  Jimmy leered at him, checking Toby out from head to toe as he undressed. “Don’t want to start any shit in the shower. It ain’t big or sanitary enough. Wait till bedtime, and you can give me a backrub.”

  Then Jimmy vanished behind the red bathroom door. The gush of running water followed. Toby stared in that direction as he too removed his clothes till he stood in his underwear. The mere act of watching the closed door gave him a woody, and he rubbed his length through the fabric in anticipation of sex.

  A twinge of remorse mixed with guilt made his cock deflate. He sat down heavily on the bed and leaned his elbows on his knees. Tired and languid, he rubbed a hand across his face.

  The next days would prove challenging for both of them. Toby felt bad because it was his fault that they’d cut their summer ride short in favor of facing their problems head-on. The problem was, their situations were dissimilar. Toby had an out if he so chose. But Jimmy faced far more dire consequences.

  That scared Toby. He’d only just found Jimmy again. He’d wasted so much time wanting to put his past, his home, and his father behind him that he’d lost a friend. Now Jimmy would disappear once again, behind bars this time.

  The future was riddled with uncertainties.

  Toby frowned. Could he stand by Jimmy in his hour of need? Could he wait for the man to do his time in jail?

  No. Would Toby wait for Jimmy?

  Toby’s chest hurt. An invisible, powerful fist closed around his heart.

  He knew without saying what the cause was. Heartbreak. Lost friendship. Lost love.

  He wiped the back of his hand over his wet eyes, preventing tears from falling before they got out. Toby had sought escape from his troubles, viewing summer as a mythical land where time ceased to exist. Well, he’d gotten to enjoy summer with his best friend and lover, even if only for a few days. Now, in essence, their summer was at an end, or might as well be.

  Saying goodbye would suck ass.

  A hot, moist hand landed on Toby’s bare shoulder. Toby jumped.

  “Hey, easy,” Jimmy chuckled, raising his hands in surrender and stepping back. “You’re so wound up. C’mon. The shower’s free, so hop in.” Jimmy wore a white terry-cloth bathrobe; he slipped a hand underneath to rub over a noticeable bulge that made Toby drool. Jimmy grinned. “Babe, go. I’ve got playtime planned.”

  Toby stood and rounded on Jimmy, who grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into his arms and a deep kiss that made Toby’s knees wobble. The smile that followed after it carried him all the way to the bathroom on feet of wings.

  JIMMY RAINED kisses on Toby’s face, capturing his lips every now and then, but briefly. He kept teasing Toby until Toby squirmed with frustration under his lover on the bed.

  “If you don’t soon—” he growled but was cut off.

  “Yeah.” Jimm
y’s voice cracked as he rose to straddle Toby’s hips. They were both naked—and eager if their up-jutting cocks were proof. Toby worried, though, because Jimmy appeared pale and fidgety, his Adam’s apple bobbing, and his forehead beaded with sweat, though his skin was cold to the touch.

  “Hey, you okay?” Toby asked, hands on Jimmy’s hips, the skin there cool and smooth, his muscles flexing under the skin.

  Jimmy offered a shaky smile. “Sorry, I… I haven’t done this much. Twice, to be exact.”

  “And, uh, it didn’t go well?” Toby finished for him, uncertainty churning in his stomach.

  Jimmy shrugged. He rested his palms over Toby’s chest at first, but his hands trembled and soon he began to make nervous circles. “It, um… he wasn’t… yeah, it went kinda badly.”

  Toby frowned, angry for Jimmy. Guys giving their ass to another deserved better. “Let me guess. Not enough lube, time, or prep?”

  “All the above. I wasn’t seriously hurt but never felt like doing it again.” Toby was about to ask why Jimmy wanted to do it now when Jimmy beat him to it. “I know it’ll be great with you, though. I know for a fact you won’t suck at it. No pun intended.” Then he blushed and added, “And I really wanna do this with you.”

  Inside the safety and privacy of his head Toby wondered if Jimmy was preparing himself for prison. But he couldn’t say it out loud. The mere notion, complete with dark and violent imagery, nearly had Toby throwing up. He feared for Jimmy’s safety. But whatever happened, he could offer his lover, friend, and partner this night of sensual solace.

  “Can I lick your ass?” Toby asked. Jimmy shuddered visibly and went beet red, nodding.

  Jimmy settled on the bed on his hands and knees, sticking his bare butt up and out. Toby kneaded the taut muscles on the small of Jimmy’s back, easing the tension there. Jimmy sighed and fell forward, resting his cheek on the pillow, which he clutched with both hands. Toby added another thick pillow under Jimmy’s hips and then continued to gently massage Jimmy’s firm, plump asscheeks, his aim to relax his lover, not to specifically arouse him.