Chapter 2

Toby is the first one to wake up. Mel is sleeping peacefully next to him. Bits of last night come back in flashes. They had sex on the bar. That was fun. He’d gotten her on all fours and fucked her from behind, and the mirror in front of them gave him a beautiful view of her tousled hair hanging over her face while he railed her. Her moans had been intense and she’d called his name. Loudly. Perhaps that was an advantage to being out here, so far from civilization. Mel is so much more willing to be loud, and he likes loud.

There’s more, though. He’d gone down on her. Why? He never does that, even for girls way hotter than her. He recalls a compulsion in his brain at the moment. Something that dragged him to his knees. He doesn’t feel it now. Doesn’t understand it at all. Can’t call to mind what it was. She had sat on the edge of the bar, told him to get between her legs, and he had, as if there hadn’t been another option. He remembers feeling weak and vulnerable and used, emotions reminiscent of the draft. But not crushing. Not even bothersome. Weak and vulnerable and used, but also free. Appreciated. Liked. Purposeful. The wetness gushing down his face was a reward for a job well done.

Whatever that feeling was, it’s alien now. He sits up and doesn’t wake Mel. Rubbing his temples, he tries to push aside his confusion. Only one thing calms his feelings of this nature: working out. He stands, throws on shorts and a t-shirt, and in the soft glow of the late morning, finds the gym again.