Shotgun Read online

  This one comes to you courtesy of Survivor and Sage & Sour.

  PROLOGUE

  The room was loud and crowded and filled with cigarette smoke, and when Dominic Jacobsen first locked eyes with the blond-haired boy across that mob of people, he couldn’t help but think how it was like something out of a movie.

  A bad movie, probably. But hey, he was seventeen and not above a bit of melodrama. Besides, loud parties were surprisingly hard to come by in Coda. And after all, it was August, and summer vacation was almost over. This was his last big hurrah before beginning his senior year at Coda High School.

  “It’s only a matter of time before the cops show up,” his best friend, Elena Martinez, shouted. She stood next to him against the wall by the sliding glass door into the backyard, but the booming music made it nearly impossible to hear. “We should leave.”

  “We should,” he agreed. The cops would probably just send them home, but if they searched them for some reason, and found the joint hidden in Dom’s back pocket, he’d be in a world of trouble. Yes, they should leave. But that blond boy he’d never seen in Coda before was on the other side of the room, smiling in his direction, making Dom’s heart do funny, fluttery things, and at that moment, all Dominic really wanted to do was stay.

  Elena grabbed his wrist and began leading him through the throng of people. Some had spilled out into the front yard, plastic beer cups in hand. She was right. A teenage party with a keg on ice in the corner and a bunch of drunken idiots shouting on the lawn was going to bring the Coda PD in no time at all.

  He let her pull him through the crowd, stopping once to gather her cousin Dave. The new boy watched Dom the whole way.

  “Where’s your brother?” Elena asked when they reached the door.

  “I’m not sure.” Dominic pulled his eyes away from the boy—who, he noticed, was wearing incredibly tight jeans—and glanced around the room. He didn’t have to look far. Dimitri was standing only a few feet away from Dominic’s new obsession, talking to his own obsession, Ginny Johnson. Dimitri had always said she was the hottest girl in town but that she was completely out of his league, and now there she was, laughing at something Dimitri had said, flipping her long hair flirtatiously out of her eyes.

  After a fair amount of waving and shouting from Dom and Elena, Dimitri gathered they were trying to leave. He put his head together with Ginny. And then, to Dom’s utter surprise, they turned to the blond boy. Ginny talked to him. Dom saw the way the boy’s eyes lit up with interest, flashing back to Dom. He saw the way the boy’s grin spread knowingly across his face.

  The three of them headed for the front door, where Dominic waited with Dave and Elena. The six of them escaped out onto the front lawn.

  “Where are we going?” Dimitri asked, holding Ginny’s hand.

  “I don’t know,” Elena said. “Suggestions?”

  “How about the park?” Dave offered. It was a common hangout spot for them. At least a dozen of their friends and cousins were bound to be there, lounging on picnic tables, smoking, talking about school and cars and what a drag it was to grow up in Coda, where there wasn’t a damn thing for the teenagers to do.

  Dimitri turned to Ginny, but anybody could see the skepticism on her face. Rich girls like Ginny Johnson didn’t spend their summer nights at the park, hanging out with a bunch of gearheads and burnouts. And after a year of pining after her, there was no way Dimitri was going to let her go. Not tonight, when she’d suddenly shown an interest in him. They’d graduated together in June, and everybody knew she was leaving for college soon. This was Dimitri’s big chance, and Dominic knew he wasn’t about to let it get away from him.

  “Well,” Dimitri said, looking back and forth between Dominic and Ginny. “Maybe Ginny and I could meet you there.”

  “My car only seats two, though,” Ginny said.

  And then, for the first time, the boy spoke, and he spoke directly to Dominic. “I could go with you. That way your brother can go with Ginny.”

  “Uh….” It wasn’t as if Dominic didn’t like the idea, but he was stumped as to how this boy fit into the picture at all. Why was he even part of the conversation?

  “This is Lamar,” Ginny said. In all their years of school together, only one grade apart, she’d never said a single word to Dominic, but she did now. “He’s my cousin. He’s visiting from Tucson.”

  “Oh,” Dom said, seeing all the random pieces slide into place. He turned to the boy. A cousin of Ginny’s, which meant he came from money. Lamar. Dominic wondered at the way his heart felt jumpy, and his voice sounded thick and stupid as he said, “I can give you a ride home later, if that’s what you mean.”

  Lamar smiled. “Perfect.”

  “It’s all set, then,” Dimitri said, grinning ear to ear. He smacked Dom on the shoulder, took a moment to step close and say, “Thanks, bro. I owe you one.” Then he was gone, along with Ginny.

  Dom silently disagreed. His brother wasn’t indebted to him. If anything, it was the other way around. Dom felt he and Lamar had reached some unspoken agreement, although even Dominic couldn’t have put into words what that pact meant. He only knew that Lamar, with his shockingly knowing eyes, would be in the car with him. The thought sent a thrill down his spine. Excitement tingled in his fingertips. It made his stomach fluttery and his hands feel too big and too light for his body.

  “Are you ready?” he asked Lamar, wondering at the quaver in his voice.

  Lamar grinned at him. “Absolutely.”

  The four of them started up the road. Elena’s car—or, more accurately, her mother’s car, a giant blue Buick Skylark, which she let Elena drive on occasion—was parked down the block, across the street from Dominic’s pride and joy.

  “Is that a GTO?” Dave asked.

  “’65,” Dom confirmed, grinning. Dom’s dad owned Jacobsen’s Auto Repair and Body Shop. Occasionally, somebody would bring in a car so beaten, or so old, or so damaged by a wreck, they couldn’t afford to pay for the necessary repairs. In those cases, Dom’s dad would buy the car, repair it at his own expense, and sell it later. The GTO had come in two years earlier, before Dominic was old enough to drive. But he’d fallen in love the minute he’d seen her. He’d begged his dad, and his dad’s answer had been simple.

  “You want that car? You have to earn it.”

  And Dominic had. He’d worked every single weekend at the garage, and plenty of weeknights too. He’d mown lawns. Thrown papers. Even babysat some of his baby cousins, saving every penny along the way. He’d done a decent amount of the repairs on the car himself in the back room of his father’s garage, and finally, on his seventeenth birthday, his dad had turned the car over to him.

  Of course, living in the mountain town of Coda, Colorado, there were days when it had to stay in the garage. But now, with the warm August day finally giving way to the cool temperatures of a summer night in the Rockies, his GTO seemed like the most perfect car in the world. Dave leaned over to peer in the window, exclaiming at the perfect condition of her interior. Dominic glanced at Lamar, secretly hoping the boy was as impressed as Dave was, but Lamar’s expression was unreadable.

  Dominic fidgeted with his keys, strangely anxious to get behind the wheel. To have this wholesome-looking rich boy from out of town in his passenger seat.

  “Shotgun!” Dave said.

  Dominic frowned, wondering if there was a graceful way of telling Dave he wasn’t welcome.

  “Aren’t you riding with me?” Elena asked her cousin.

  “Not if the other option is riding in a GTO!”

  Dominic tried to hide his scowl, but he felt sure Lamar had seen it.

  Elena rolled her eyes in exasperation and turned to Lamar. “How about you?”

  For a fraction of a second, Dominic thought he’d l
ose Lamar completely, but then Lamar’s gaze met his. “I don’t mind the back seat,” he said, more to Dom than to Elena, and the tingle of eagerness down Dom’s spine turned into something far more compelling.

  “I guess I’ll go by myself, then,” she said to Dom. “See you at the park.”

  Once seated behind the wheel, Dominic leaned across the bench seat to lift the lock on the passenger-side door. He watched silently, his heart pounding, as Lamar climbed into the back. Once Dave was buckled in, Dominic pulled away from the curb.

  He’d lived in Coda his whole life. He knew every road and lane, but it took a fair amount of concentration to navigate from the party to the park, not because Dave chattered at him the whole length of the ride, asking questions about the car, but because he felt Lamar’s eyes on him the entire time. When he glanced in the rearview mirror, he found Lamar watching him, a small grin gracing his lips. Dom felt almost queasy. His hands shook a bit as he shifted the GTO into third.

  Finally, they arrived at their destination. The few spots next to their hangout were taken, so Dom parked on the far side of the grassy area. He barely noticed when Dave left the car. He was too focused on Lamar, sitting behind him. Dom climbed out and pushed the driver’s seat forward so Lamar could clamber out of the back seat. Dom didn’t move aside, though. He stayed there, heart pounding as Lamar stepped out of the GTO and stopped, almost toe-to-toe with Dom in the space between the body of the car and the open door. The dome light threw their shadows across the pavement, long and lanky and headless. Lamar was shorter than Dom by several inches, wearing those alluringly tight jeans and a preppy collared shirt. His blond hair flipped in a loose wave over his forehead. In the light of the street lamps, Dom saw that Lamar’s eyes were bright blue.

  “Thanks,” Lamar said quietly.

  “No problem.”

  “Hey,” Dave said, shattering the moment. “What the hell are you two waiting for?”

  Dom mumbled an unintelligible response, and he and Lamar followed Dave across the grass toward their friends. Elena was already there, talking to Dom’s cousin Julio. They waved a greeting, and after glancing over his shoulder at Dominic, Dave went to join them.

  Lamar glanced around at the groups of kids, most of them gathered around picnic tables. He turned to Dom with a smile. “It’s kind of crowded here.”

  “Is it?” Dominic asked, surprised. There were far fewer people here than had been at the party. Maybe twenty kids in all, gathered in three or four constantly morphing groups.

  “Yeah,” Lamar said, grinning at him in a way that made Dom’s knees wobble. “But it isn’t back there.” He pointed toward a copse of trees.

  Dominic cleared his throat. “There’s less light on that side of the trees.” He felt strange as he said it. His voice sounded too high.

  “That’d be all right, wouldn’t it?”

  The question felt loaded. Dom scrambled for some reason why they’d want to go into the dark, sheltered space behind the trees together. “I, um…. Well, I do have this joint my brother gave me. I mean, if you’re into that. It’s small, though. If we go over there, we won’t have to share with everybody.” He was babbling like an idiot, trying to justify their need to leave the group, and Lamar smiled.

  “Sure.”

  Dom fell into step behind this boy he’d just met, feeling as if the entire weight of his mere seventeen years had pushed him through the thick confusion of adolescence to this one perfect August night, the moon hanging almost full overhead, dangling in a ceiling of stars, the laughter of his friends and family growing fainter behind them as he followed this rich boy from out of town across the park.

  “So,” Dominic ventured, because he felt one of them had to break the silence, “you’re from Tucson?”

  “Yeah. My parents are in Europe right now. They sent me to stay with my uncle and aunt.”

  “How old are you?”

  “Seventeen.”

  “Me too.”

  “You’ll be a senior?” Lamar asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Me too. I can’t wait for it to be over. I want to go somewhere new, you know? Someplace other than the town I grew up in. I’ve already started filling out college applications.”

  Dom swallowed, nodding mutely, hoping Lamar wouldn’t ask about his own college applications. Dominic planned to take some courses at the technical school, but he’d never wanted to do anything but work at his father’s garage. Eventually, he and Dimitri would run it together.

  “Here,” Lamar said at last. They stopped. Looking around, Dom noted how Lamar had led him to a spot on the other side of the trees, out of sight of both the road and his friends. Lamar sank to his knees in the thick, lush grass. Dominic did the same.

  “Do you have a lighter?” Lamar asked.

  “Yes.” Dominic had to rise upright onto his knees to dig the Bic out of his jeans pocket.

  “Do you know how to do shotgun?” Lamar asked, his voice quiet and tremulous.

  Dominic froze, the joint held between his thumb and index in one hand, the lighter clutched tight in the other. “You mean putting the cherry end in my mouth?”

  Lamar shook his head. In the dim glow of the streetlights, Dom thought he saw a blush creeping up the boy’s cheeks. But Lamar didn’t look away. “No. Just the smoke.” He smiled, somehow looking both shy and bold at the same time. He rose up on his knees so their heights were more equally matched. He took Dom’s hand—the one holding the joint—and lifted it to Dom’s lips, even though it meant leaning too far into Dom’s personal space.

  He’s flirting, Dom realized, and his stomach did a crazy flip at the thought. All this time, he’s been hitting on me, and I only now figured it out.

  He’s a boy.

  And he’s flirting with me.

  And I like it.

  “Take a hit,” Lamar said.

  Dom did as he was told, lighting the joint, sucking in smoke until he thought his lungs would burst. As he lowered the cigarette from his lips, Lamar inched closer. He put his hand on the back of Dom’s neck and pulled him close, stopping with lips less than an inch from Dom’s.

  “Now,” he whispered, “blow.”

  Dom complied, sending the smoke in a thin stream into Lamar’s mouth. He put his palm against Lamar’s back to keep him there, to hold them both steady, to stop his hands from shaking. Their lips brushed as they passed the smoke from one to the other. Lamar’s grip tightened on Dom’s neck, and Dom realized without alarm that blood was flowing to parts south of his belt.

  It was only a few seconds, and then the smoke was gone. They stayed there, unmoving, the air between them alive with the tang of marijuana, the rich smell of grass, the oblivious laughter of his friends on the other side of the trees, and the deep, arousing thrill of possibility.

  Lamar barely pulled away. He took the joint from Dom and took a hit. Then, without either of them speaking, they inched closer. Dom gripped the other boy’s arms, holding him tight, thrilled by Lamar’s trembling, aroused by Lamar’s lean body against his own.

  They shared more than the smoke this time. More than the nearly imperceptible brush of skin as Lamar blew into Dom’s mouth. Their lips touched—not quite a kiss, but close enough that Dom knew where this was leading. Knew without a doubt this shotgun thing was only a means to an end. Nothing more than a trail of temptation leading to places unknown, yet forever imagined.

  Dom longed to follow Lamar down that path.

  The smoke ran out again, but they didn’t pull away. They held their positions, both of them panting, neither willing to put aside the charade.

  “One more hit,” Dom said, his voice shaking.

  Lamar nodded and ducked his head down and to the side to suck on the blunt without holding it in Dom’s face. He breathed in and in and in while Dom waited, heart racing, palms sweaty, cock hard and bulging in his pants. And then Lamar lowered the joint.

  He turned his face up to Dom’s.

  There was no pretense this time.
No deliberate passing of smoke. Lamar parted his lips and pulled him close, sighing as their mouths finally touched.

  It was glorious. Dom barely even thought to breathe. He was too busy tasting and feeling, straining toward this sweet rich boy from out of town, wondering how far they could go, if he dared do anything here, in the open, where they might be seen.

  But he wanted to. God, he wanted to.

  Lamar pulled away, gasping, his lips moist from the kiss, one hand still locked on the back of Dom’s neck. “The others,” he panted.

  Dom nodded, knowing they’d had the same thought. Right now they were hidden by the trees, but if one of the others came looking for them….

  If Lamar had been a girl, it wouldn’t have mattered that they might be discovered. Dom could have pushed him back in the thick moist grass and let passion lead the way. Any of their friends who saw would have snuck away. Catcalled at the very most.

  But this was different.

  “Come on,” Dom said, noting as he stood how his knees shook and his pants rode too tight against his erection. He spotted the matching bulge in Lamar’s pants as he helped pull him to his feet. The knowledge of Lamar’s arousal made Dom want to moan. To cry. To come. Even better, to see Lamar come. Dom led them across the park, down the sidewalk to his car. He opened the door, pushed the seat forward to allow Lamar easier access to the back.

  Hurry, was all he could think. Hurry, hurry, hurry!

  Lamar seemed to feel the same urgency. He didn’t quite meet Dom’s eyes, but he went willingly into the car, turning on the seat to watch with wide eyes as Dom climbed in, awkwardly pulling the door shut behind him so the dome light went off.

  As soon as the darkness closed in around them, Lamar grabbed him. Their lips met again, this time with a passion and a hunger they hadn’t allowed themselves before. Dom felt like he was vibrating, thrumming with the strength of his arousal. Lamar trembled in his arms as they kissed. He slid down on the seat, allowing Dom to lie on top of him. Their legs vied for space. Their erections rubbed against each other. It was cramped and awkward, but that only made it better. There was nowhere to go that wasn’t closer, no way to move that didn’t increase the friction between them. Soon they were gasping and grinding, rocking hard against each other as they kissed, tongues touching, hands moving. Lamar pulled Dom’s shirt up, ran his hands up Dom’s back, gasping as he arched his hips harder into Dom’s pelvis. Lamar’s touch on Dom’s bare flesh made him crazy. He was desperate to return the pleasure, to feel the softness of Lamar’s pale skin. He slid his hands under Lamar’s shirt, explored his sides, the hard ripples of his ribs, the buds of his nipples.