Page 434 of Devil’s Disciples

Weightless, I floated, savoring the sense of elation that filled me.

In time, it diminished. Slowly, I floated back to the reality of the bedroom. I scanned the room before focusing on him. “That. Was. Amazing.”

He held my face between his hands and looked me in the eyes. “I love you.”

We kissed.

I never grew tired of kissing him. Each kiss brought with it an inarguable reassurance of our love for one another.

Our lips parted. “I love you, too.”

I worried for a lifetime that I’d never find someone who would love me without wanting to change me. A man who would accept me, as me. I never would have guessed loving a man could be so effortless, but it was.

All I had to do was be.

162

Goose

“What do you mean, vacation?” Cash asked. “Where are you going?”

“On fucking vacation,” I said.

He looked at Ally. “Where are you guys going, Shorty?”

Ally shrugged. “He won’t tell me. I guess it’s a surprise.”

Cash looked at Baker. “That’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard. Motherfucker’s going somewhere, and he won’t say where. Who does shit like that?”

“Someone that doesn’t you all up in his business,” Baker responded.

I gave Baker a nod. “You’re exactly right.”

“You can be an asshole all you want,” Cash said. “Hell, I’m used to it. But I’m not comfortable with you taking my little sister somewhere and me not knowing where she’s going. Give it up, motherfucker. Where you headed?”

I’d planned on going wherever felt right. I’d stop when the desire to keep going vanished. I had a few ideas, but nothing was etched in stone. “I really don’t have any idea. I’ll know when I get there.”

“Which direction?” he asked.

“There’s only one way to go out of this state. Up.”

“Oregon?”

“Hard saying,” I responded.

He glanced at Ally. “You still don’t believe in phones?”

She smirked. “I sure don’t.”

“Will you call me from the hotel phone and let me know that everything’s alright?” he asked. “You don’t even have to tell me where you are.”

“I can send you a postcard,” she said. “Each time we stop.”

“That’d be cool.” He raked his hair away from his eyes with his hand and smiled. “Let’s do that.”

“Send me one, too,” Reno said. “I like postcards. I used to get ‘em each year we went on vacation when I was a kid. They’d be on one of those spinning displays in the gas stations. I’ve got a whole box full of ‘em.”

“Add me to the list,” Tito said. “I’ll put them in my scrapbook.”