CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Five Years Ago: Part 3
“What is that?”
“What?”
“You just swiped something from the ground.”
He holds it up for her. She squints in the gray light of pre-dawn.
“It’s a rock,” she says, puzzled. “Why?”
Oscar drops it into his pocket. “Just because.”
Ren hugs him suddenly, fiercely. “I don’t want this to end.”
He feels giddy. He kisses her upturned face, briefly playing his tongue over her lips. He doesn’t know how he’s going to stand letting her go in a few minutes when they reach Atlantis. “No night lasts forever.”
A sigh rolls through her, a sad one. “I didn’t mean the night. I meant us.”
“There’s no end, baby. Not for us. This is just the beginning.”
The chill of the night desert causes her to shiver, ever so briefly. The sun hadn’t even dipped over the horizon when they set out hours earlier. Now it is utterly dark. He holds her to his side possessively, running every moment through his head.
No one had seen them go. Oscar is sure of it. The only question mark is Ren’s brother Spence, who they glimpsed trotting through the valley on his horse. Even if Spencer had seen them though he wasn’t the type to go gossiping about it.
She’d been asking to see the cave for weeks, the one that had always been rumored to exist around here and which he’d finally found on a solitary early morning hike. It wasn’t a great cave, barely worth looking at in fact when compared side by side with some of the overwhelming caverns he’d climbed into during his years overseas.
Ren didn’t care about that though. She was enchanted by the strange, romantic idea of a secret place. A place that seemed to exist only for them.
The cave was nestled into the side of the mountain with only a shallow outcropping of rock to navigate by. The entrance was a stretched, round shape, kind of like a yawning mouth. Oscar had enough sense to stuff some flashlights in the backpack that also carried bottled water.
He’d be lying if he didn’t admit he was making plans during the hike up there. After all, he’d taken care to swipe a few condoms from Monty before heading out. The entry to the cave was narrow but short, ending in a small oval room that smelled of rain and wild things.
It was there Ren sank down to her knees without a word. Enough sunlight filtered in so he could see her, barely. She lifted his shirt, ran her tongue over the hard muscles of his belly and then searched lower. He wanted her to, and then he didn’t. He stopped her before she got further. He took his shirt off and spread it on the ground, lowering her on top of it. His heart thudded in his chest even though he wasn’t shy around any girl, not ever.
But then, there were no other girls like this one.
She’d never told him it was her first time, but she didn’t have to. He knew even before her body proved it to him. Afterwards, they were silent together, skin against skin, until the light began to fade and Oscar started to worry about getting down the trail in one piece.
Now, closing in on home and facing the reality that they will need to separate for a few hours, Oscar thinks that never in the history of people was it easier to walk beside someone.
“What are you thinking about?” she asks, somewhat shyly. They are within sight of Atlantis now. At night it gets swallowed up by the desert, with only a few meager lights to tell the story of its existence. Oscar is thinking about the cave, about her. He’s thinking about whether it’s possible to know you’re making one of your life’s best memories while it’s happening. He swings an arm around her shoulder.
“I’m thinking about Cowboys and Indians.”
Ren laughs. “Why?”
“This is where your grandfather made all those movies, wasn’t it?”
“Our grandfather.” She’s teasing.
“Don’t fucking start.”
“Oh, don’t be angry with me, cousin.”
“I’m as much your cousin as the goddamn president. And as for Rex Savage, never met the guy and we’ve got no blood in common.”
Ren grows thoughtful. “I guess it’s a good thing he died before he got to see what became of us, the Savages.”
He peers down at her. “It’s not so bad, is it?”
“Depends on who you ask. To August, life is just fine. To Lita, it’s catastrophic.”
Oscar has to stop walking because he needs to wrap her in his arms. He’d like her to stay there forever. “What about if I asked you?”
A slight breeze lifts Ren’s hair and he is hit with the now familiar scent of her cherry vanilla shampoo. It’s got him going again. He can’t help it. He presses himself against her so she’ll feel it too, how bad he wants her.
“Oscar,” she sighs, “I’ve never been this happy before.”
“Me either.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
He kisses her, long and deep. He wants more but they are getting close to the big house and anyway she wouldn’t be up to it so soon after her first time. It’s okay. There will be other nights.
They are coming around the south side of the big house, hoping not to be seen. Beyond the town, there’s a rickety fence surrounding some crumbling gravestones. The graves are not real, of course. Nothing about this place is real. It’s a fake cemetery where actors wept artificial tears over people who’d never existed in the first place. It was all a tragic fantasy to suit a story. The cemetery has always been left alone, kind of a macabre reminder of the world of make believe. Still, it gives Oscar the fucking creeps and he’d rather be elsewhere.
Suddenly there’s soft two-note whistle from the center of the fenced off square. It couldn’t be anything remotely supernatural. But Oscar nearly jumps out of his skin just the same. There are far worse things than ghosts that lurk in the darkness.
Instinct causes him to swivel and push Ren behind him, shielding her from whatever’s coming. His fists are tight. The whistle sounds again and the footsteps are nonchalant. Oscar relaxes a little. It’s probably just Monty. He’s enough of an asshole to hunker down in the dark just waiting for someone to pick a fight with.
The left side of Oscar’s face is still swollen from the last time they went it at three days ago. Oscar got in more good shots than he took though, so that’s something. They’ve been staying clear of each other since then. That’s the way things always go between him and Monty. Either they’re bashing each other’s faces bloody or they’re ignoring each other’s existence. Oscar knows there’s some deep rage in that guy and it has nothing to do with him. Yet there must be something redeeming about Monty because Ren always insists there is and Oscar would trust Ren with his life.
“Hey,” says the voice from the darkness and it’s not Monty.
“What’s up, Spence?” Ren asks, surprise in her tone. “What are you doing out here anyway?”
By the light of the full moon Oscar can see Spencer Savage has his hands jammed in his pockets. He gives a nod to Oscar and then focuses his attention on his sister. Of all Ren’s siblings he’s the only one Oscar would tentatively call a friend. The kid’s something of a puzzle. He’s quiet and serious and has a habit of avoiding people whenever he can. He’s all right though.
Spence take his hands from his pockets, removes his hat and yawns. “Just hanging out.”
Ren crosses her arms. It’s her big sister no-nonsense pose. “You’re not going to run off into the desert again are you?”
Spence has a habit of taking off when it suits him. A few weeks back he disappeared for two days and even his hellish mother was worried. When he casually strolled back into Atlantis he seemed rather bewildered by the fuss, shrugging everyone off with the explanation the he was camping and didn’t think anyone would miss him. It wasn’t a cry for attention, not with Spence. He felt like leaving so he left. Oscar could respect that, although Ren has said she wishes her younger brother needed people, just a little.