For the first time in her life, my mother goes to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Wyatt and I drive her there and drop her off, making sure she goes inside. Wyatt parks the car in the far corner of the church’s lot, and soon we’re alone, lit only by the moon rising slowly in the sky.

“She’ll be okay,” Wyatt says to me.

“I know.” I take a breath and slowly let it out. The meeting is in the basement of a church we used to come to when I was younger. I doubt my mom’s been here in a long time, and I hope she’s doing okay in there.

“Just admitting she has a problem is a great first step.”

“I know.” I glance out the window and I don’t say anything more.

A few minutes pass in silence. I don’t know why I’m being so distant. Wyatt has done so much for me in such a short time, and our relationship has grown so quickly that it’s almost scary. If he were anyone else, I would assume that this thing we have between us is just so intense because of what was happening… but I don’t think that’s it.

There’s always been something between us, even back when we were younger, although I don’t think we understood it back then. He’s a few years older than I am, so that’s been keeping him away, but now we’re finally equals.

I know he has to leave. I just hate myself for getting so attached to him. He never said he was staying, never once said he’d come live with me in Mason. I must have had this stupid delusion where I thought we could live happily ever after… but I know that’s a lie.

“When are you leaving?” I ask him, breaking the silence. I look over toward him and he has this pained expression on his face.

“I should be back at work by Tuesday,” he says. “So, Monday night at the latest.”

I nod. That doesn’t give us much time. “You don’t have to stay that long,” I say to him, although I hate myself for it. “You can go whenever you want.”

“I know that,” he says. He reaches toward me, but I flinch away.

“Don’t,” I say.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t do that.”

“Touch you?” He stares at me. “It’s the only thing I want to do right now. Don’t you get that?”

I stare right back at him, and suddenly it all hits me. The immensity of everything comes crashing down, rolling over me in waves. He pulls me toward him and this time, I let him kiss me, because I know how badly I need it.

And I know he needs it too. We kiss long and slow like that until he pushes his seat back and pulls me across the car, pulling me in his lap. I grind my hips down against him, feeling him and needing it, as his hands slowly explore up my top.

The car starts to steam pretty quickly. I reach down and unbutton his jeans, sliding a hand down his boxer briefs to find his cock already hard. We shuffle his jeans down as he unbuttons mine. We’re cramped and awkward but neither of us care, we’re both in a frenzy, both desperate to feel what we know is real between us.

He kisses me again as he finally gets my jeans down. He pushes my panties aside and slides two fingers deep into me, making me gasp. He pulls my hair back and kisses my neck.

“This is impossible,” he says softly. “You know that?”

“What is?” I groan.

“This, right here. We haven’t seen each other for years and yet Atticus somehow brings us together.”

I groan as he plunges his fingers deeper. “Only good thing Atticus ever did,” I say.

“He did other good things, but you’re right. This might be the best.” He tips my chin toward him and bites my lower lip.

I groan, grinding down along his fingers. He slides his hand away and pulls my hips forward, rubbing his cock against my slick pussy.

I push my hips forward and down, letting him slide right inside of me, pushing me open, pulling me apart. I groan, wrapping my arms around his neck as he cups my ass with both hands, my panties shoved aside.

I start to ride him, mouth against his. We’re both panting, and I’m moaning into his mouth, and I’m completely lost. I don’t know how this happened, how impossible this must seem on the outside, but I just don’t care. When he’s near me, hell, when he’s inside of me, I can’t think of anything but him. He’s the only thing that makes any sense to me. I grind along him harder, letting him fuck me as I ride him, letting him slap my ass, pull my hair.

The car fogs up completely. We’re fucking in a church parking lot, and my mom’s down inside there, in a basement AA meeting, but I just don’t care how inappropriate this is. I grind and I ride, and he fucks me in return, his thick cock tearing me to pieces.

It feels so fucking good. He slaps my ass, palming it, squeezing. He kisses me and bites my lip again, pushing me down by the shoulders, fucking me rough. I feel like an animal rutting, and it’s what I want, what I need. He takes me beyond myself, fucks the hell out of me, pushes me to new heights.

I grind and I ride, groaning his name over and over. He pulls me against him and spreads my ass out as he thrusts.

“How am I supposed to leave this?” he asks, slapping my ass. “You think I want to let this go? Fuck, girl, you’re so fucking tasty, so goddamn delicious, your pussy drives me insane.” He slams himself into me.

My moans are impossible to stop. I don’t care what’s happening around us, to me the world is just his cock, sliding in and out of my pussy. He kisses my lips, lets my tongue into his mouth, drives me crazy. We don’t have much room for experimentation but it doesn’t matter. It’s quick and it’s dirty, and I can feel the orgasm coming already.

“I want to feel it,” I groan to him. “I need to feel it, Wyatt.”

“Feel it,” he whispers. “Just let go.”

I toss my head back as he keeps fucking me as I come. I think I hit the horn at least once, but it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t stop, doesn’t slow down, and soon I feel the hot mess of him filling me up with his own cum.

We groan together, sweating and warm and finally, when it’s over, he wraps his arms around me and pulls me tight against him. We dress each other slowly, almost tenderly, and although there’s an apocalyptic feeling to this, I can’t stop smiling. The outside world is gone, fogged away by our own warmth and breath and fucking, and now it’s just the two of us together, alone in this car.

Fully dressed, I stay curled up in his lap, and he holds me like that. Slowly, the world returns to us. We don’t talk much, and we don’t have to. I just want to feel him close to me, feel his breath against my neck. Eventually, the fog clears, and I know it’s time.

I climb out of his lap, and I don’t meet his gaze. People are spilling out of the church, and I spot my mom coming.

“Cora,” he says softly.

I smile at him, trying not to cry. “Later, okay?” I say.

He nods once. “Okay.”

My mom shows up a couple minutes later, and I spend the rest of the car ride, and the night back at her place, talking with her about her sobriety. There’s a lot to work out there, but I’ll try to help her. Wyatt doesn’t stay, he goes back to the motel, and although I knew he would, it still hurts. I want him to stay.

But I know he can’t, and he won’t.