Page 467 of His Hungry Wolf

“I know,” he said racked with guilt.

I rolled off of him.

“I don’t want you to stop, though.”

“Well, I don’t want to do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable.”

“I don’t know why I’m like this,” he said disappointed.

“It’s because you’re a special guy. That’s why I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he said with a smile.

Staring into my eyes, he sat up and kissed me.

“I love you,” he said.

“And I will always love you. We’ll stop him. I promise.”

Lou curled into my arms.

“And when we do, I’m yours, forever.”

Kissing him one more time, he climbed out of my arms. When I got up, his eyes dipped. There was no way to hide how hard I was. He blushed. It just made me want him more.

Pushing my uncontrollable lust for him aside, we made our way to the door and into the hall. Taking a quick detour to get grandma’s emergency flashlight, we descended the stairs and snuck out the back sliding glass doors.

“The lights are on motion sensors after 10 PM. As long as we don’t get too close to them, we should be fine.”

Some of the lights were easy to avoid. Some were not. I held his hand as we walked. Even in the dark, I wondered if someone looking out their window could see us. The full moon made it a bright night. But making it to the end of the property, we entered the trees.

“Ya know, this has to be the most romantic caper ever,” I suggested.

“Caper?”

“What would you call it? What we’re doing isn’t a crime. There’s nothing illegal. But it definitely feels dangerous.”

“I’d call it, righting a wrong,” Lou said determined.

“So it’s more of a superhero thing? You’re so right. I can see that now.”

Lou laughed. I liked hearing him laugh.

Following the path we had months ago, we heard the water falling onto the pool before we saw it. Standing above it on the spot Lou had once jumped from, he shined the flashlight on the plants below.

“Dig deep in the bramble,” he repeated.

“Brambles are bushes with thorns, right?”

“Yeah, like…” Lou turned to me in realization.

“Like what?”

“Look for a raspberry bush. When I was a kid, my grandmother and I used to pick wild berries. She used to joke that raspberries were the brambliest bramble of them all. We made a joke about it.”

“Did you ever pick berries around here?”

“No,” Lou said confused.