Chapter 13 | Adam
Although Adam wouldn’t admit to it, he’d kept track of how many days had passed after the kiss. Wade hadn’t been inclined to talk about it or bring it up. In fact, Adam had picked up from Wade’s behavior that he didn’t want to talk about it and almost seemed to fear that Adam would.
Despite being a little disappointed, Adam tried not to let it get to him. The kiss had been tender, a little needy, and passionate. That wasn’t easily forgotten.
And Adam hadn’t.
It was also clear Wade wasn’t ready to deal with it so Adam left it alone.
Wade was marking the days since they had become castaways and one afternoon when Wade was out, Adam made a small mark next to the day of their kiss. His small contribution to the memory of the night. The kiss and the painful confession Wade had endured.
A good thing did come out of it: Wade was more animated when they interacted. He didn’t act like he was holding his breath whenever Adam was near. Wade was even freer with his touches and little displays of affection.
It wasn’t anything overt. A soft touch on the arm when Wade pointed out something to eat, even if it ended up poisonous. A lean against him, shoulder to shoulder when they ate at night around the campfire. A light laugh and brush down Adam’s back when they shared a joke.
Small, intimate gestures that taken individually didn’t amount to much.
Taken as a whole?
It was a side of Wade that Adam enjoyed seeing. This man knew how to live when he was allowed the freedom to do so.
They frequently talked about how oppressive Wade’s family was in general. Money and status dictated behavior for everyone in the family. A life, a way of living that Adam could never fathom.
In contrast, Adam’s grannie existed as a free spirit if there was one. Through her, Adam and his brothers learned how to express their love and affection freely. To live any other way was to put hobbles on them and she would never do that.
Wade worked hard to keep the area around the small encampment free of growth and debris. He cleared a path to the ocean, so they didn’t have to wade through the waist-high flora. Another path was cut so they could get to and from the waterfall.
Regular baths. Adam felt like he’d died and gone to heaven. To not feel covered in sand all the time was a godsend for his positive attitude.
They didn’t have soap but made do with what they could to stay clean. Their hair was getting longer, and Wade’s face disappeared behind a full growth of whiskers. It wasn’t a bad look on him, and really, Adam preferred Wade’s face with a beard.
Wade really enjoyed giving Adam grief for not being able to grow a full beard as he could. Adam had never been particularly hairy to start, so it was no surprise to him. However, his blond hair was getting more blond from sun exposure.
Considering the conditions they found themselves in, Adam had no complaints. The work was hard, sometimes, but it was productive and fruitful.
Eating regularly with an abundant water source, they should be able to survive for some time.
Their nights were calm as well. Other than the night of the kiss, Wade had no more nightmares. The weather was temperate. They continued to sleep close together, and with their body heat they only needed the muumuu for cover, especially on the nights it rained. They both slept through the nights.
After a particularly vivid dream, Adam slowly roused from his sleep. Wade was rolling or rocking or something, as he brushed against Adam’s chest. There was a firm pressure slowly winding its way up his thigh and over his stomach.
It wasn’t irritating or anything. In fact, it was rather nice to feel Wade’s presence so close. Occasionally they woke wound around each other and Adam certainly wasn’t going to complain about that.
He rolled and noted the weight pressing didn’t budge, which was unusual. Wade was good about releasing Adam when he needed to turn over. The pressure to keep him on his back was relentless and just a little irritating.
Not that he would've minded if Wade was coming onto him, even half asleep. Adam would welcome the chance to get closer to Wade, and he knew he needed to let the man come to it on his own. Taking it slow and steady was a good tactic.
But even Wade wouldn’t have tried to hold him back if he needed to roll over.
Adam opened his eyes to warn Wade that he needed to sit up when he realized Wade wasn’t even touching him.
He glanced down and saw the snake. A huge snake. A very large snake wanting to get cozy with Adam.
Holy shit.
How did he get out of this? The snake took no notice of Adam’s direct attempts to dislodge from him.
“Wade?” he croaked out softly. “Wake up, please.”
Wade huffed and moaned softly. “What?”
“Need you to help me. Like, now.” Adam tried very hard to keep his panic under control. It wasn’t so easy to keep it out of his voice.
With a groan, Wade turned over, then sat up suddenly. “Fuck!” he shouted and rolled away.
Panic mounted at an accelerating pace. “Get it off me!” he cried out in a choked voice.
Wade returned to Adam’s side in a flash. He grabbed the snake right behind the jaws. With a firm hand, he pulled and tugged.
The massive snake was not willing to give up his warm human pillow so easily.
Wrestling it away from Adam, Wade was within reach of his knife. It took several chops to sever the head from the rest of the body.
Adam pushed the snake body off and backed up rapidly until his back hit the cave wall.
Wade fell on his butt, still holding onto the snake.
“Oh shit,” Adam said. He started laughing. Right at that border between hysterics and relief, Adam covered his eyes with one hand as he laughed. “Oh shit.”
Wade held onto the snake until it finished thrashing.
Relief finally broke through, and Adam crawled over to Wade. He cupped Wade’s face and pulled him close for an exhilarated kiss. Pressing lips to lips, Adam’s shaking hands smoothed over Wade’s arms and pushed them out of the way so he could crawl into his lap.
If Wade felt like he needed to push Adam away, he didn’t. His arms wrapped around Adam’s waist and he held tightly as Adam pursued the kiss aggressively this time, tongue pushing in to lick at the inside of Wade’s mouth. Wade’s beard scratched at his chin as he pressed hard.
Body heat seeped pleasantly through Adam’s clothing. Relief and the feeling of being alive, of the adrenaline coursing through his body, kept him giddy, high and holding tightly to Wade.
The kiss affected Wade, too. Adam could feel the firm line of Wade’s cock as it pressed against his own.
Hard. Harder than when they started this.
And still, Wade didn’t push him away.
Finally, when the moment began to pass, Adam slowly pulled from the kiss. He rubbed gently at his chin and smiled shyly at Wade. “Sorry about that.”
“No, it’s fine,” Wade said.
Awkwardness inserted itself, and Adam reluctantly climbed from Wade’s lap. “That scared the bejeezus out of me. That’s never happened to me before. Ever.”
“Scared me, too,” Wade admitted. He gestured to the snake with his knife. “At least we have chicken for dinner?”
Adam paused and looked at the snake before he got the joke. “Oh, that is so bad.”
“I should be able to salvage some other parts of the snake for use, too. Not enough for boots, though.”
“Ah well, guess I’ll just wear palm leaves to the ball next week.”
Wade chuckled and picked up the snake to drag it outside.
Adam thought about offering to help. This wasn’t exactly like the fish where he couldn’t stand to watch Wade kill them. This snake had been crawling on him, and Adam wasn’t sure what the snake’s intention had been, whether to get warm or find a way to curl around Adam and crush him before swallowing him whole.
He did spare a second to feel bad that the snake had to die, but only a second. Adam quickly got over that. “What can I do to help?”
“Get us some sticks to roast the meat. There’s enough here for a few days if we can find a way to preserve it.”
Adam scrambled out of the cave and stretched. “I don’t think it’ll last long. We can’t afford not to eat it.”
“True enough. What do you think you can use the skin for?”
“No clue but we’ll find something so that it doesn’t go to waste.” Adam looked down and saw the head by his foot. He danced away, making shooing motions with his hands. “And do something with that, please.”
Wade smirked. “Aw, you don’t want to mount it on the wall?”
“Haha. But you can now put snake wrestler on your resume.”