Yearn A. Ellis (carter reed .TXT) 📖

any of this shit, but I was determined to at least try. First step, offer to ride share with Dre. I’d been ridiculous to refuse that back when we got put on the same shift. It wasn’t like riding together would fix shit, but it was hopefully a nice gesture and he’d see I was interested in keeping things moving in the right direction.

Right direction? What right direction? You agreed to fuck buddies. Dre thinks that’s all you are to each other. Maybe that’s all he wants from you. If you can’t man up and tell him how you’re feeling, no amount of nice gestures will take the place of communication and honesty.

I pushed away the thought. I just wasn’t the type to do well with all that open, honest, feely communication shit. I wanted more than just sex with Dre, but I wasn’t about to take part in some creepy couples therapy to pour out my heart about it.

I found Dre in the kitchen, the scent of coffee filling the air.

Without a second thought, not caring who else might be around—although, Dre had filled me in that several people knew about us—I wrapped my arms around Dre’s chest and pressed my front against his back. “Good morning,” I murmured at his ear, trying to forget that he’d been a little off lately.

His soft moan and the way he dropped his head to the side, offering the soft skin of his neck to me, sent a jolt straight to my cock. “Morning.”

“You wanna ride together this morning?”

Dre turned in my arms and cocked a brow. “Why?”

I shrugged. “Seems dumb to drive separately when we leave at the same time to go to the same place.”

“Gee,” he deadpanned, “if only someone had suggested that way back when we found ourselves on the same shift.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I answered. “If only someone hadn’t been a douche and refused something as simple as a car pool.”

Dre smiled softly and chewed on his sexy, full lip. “You want a coffee?”

Heat and hope ballooned in my chest. “Yeah, coffee would be great.”

Dre’s look of shock, followed by something I couldn’t quite name, rocked me to the core. Right then and there, I vowed I’d do whatever it took to keep that look of…happiness? Serenity? Hope?...on Dre’s face all the time.

A few minutes later, both of us armed with coffee in hand, we headed out the backdoor and down the steps.

“Oh shit, it’s slick,” Dre said as he nearly busted his ass on the last step.

Sure enough, we’d gotten some kind of icy snow mix overnight and it coated every surface. “Damn, let’s throw some salt down real quick.”

Dre took my coffee and I grabbed a bag of ice salt from the shed. After sprinkling it on the steps and walkway, I texted the crew to warn them of the slick conditions and told Bev not to drive until the roads were cleared.

“I’ll drive,” Dre offered just as I realized Spencer’s truck was parked behind my car.

Technically, I could have grabbed his keys from inside and moved his truck, but Dre’s car had a straight shot and we were edging closer to being pushed for time.

We piled into Dre’s car. Funny how before we started working together, there was no way I would have been okay with him driving. But now? No problem. He was a good driver and I’d kinda gotten used to him hauling my ass around every shift.

“Thanks for the coffee,” I said, realizing that I meant it. No one had ever taken care of me and the simple act of Dre making me a cup of coffee meant a lot more than I was willing to analyze at that exact moment.

“No worries, it’s not that big of a deal,” Dre answered as he pulled onto a side road that would eventually get us to the station. He and I both had a habit of taking the back way to and from work—it was a quiet, scenic route and, for me at least, gave a moment of peace as I took in the creek and trees. Of course, right now, the trees were mostly bare and the winter darkness kept us from seeing anything, but the road still seemed to be the go-to for both of us.

“It kinda is a big deal,” I said. “No one has ever done much nice for me. My mom left without so much as a backward glance. My dad didn’t have a nice bone in his body. Gabby needed me to look after her. Blaine most definitely didn’t do nice shit for me.” I sipped the warm coffee. “I mean, he provided for me while I was in school and then after I blew out my knee and became a paramedic, but none of what he did for me or gave to me was just for the sake of being nice. He lorded it over me.”

Before I could word vomit any more—I thought I wasn’t the type to talk about all the feely shit?—I took another sip of coffee and shut my damn mouth.

“I like doing things for you,” Dre answered softly. “Making a cup of coffee isn’t a huge thing, but it’s a little way of letting you know I’m thinking of you. Nothing wrong with starting the day off right.”

I smiled and took his hand. What the fuck was happening to me? Trying to balance the beating of my heart and the chaos in my head, I glanced out the window and noticed just how dark it was. “Damn, are the street lights out?”

Dre put both hands on the wheel and focused on the road. “Yeah, power must be out in this part of town. Damn, there’s quite a bit of ice. This road probably wasn’t the best idea today.”

Dre was right, had we been thinking and not just following habit, we should have stuck to in-town roads since they’d get cleared sooner. Truly, going through town was actually a shorter route, but the back way