Hottest Heat Wave

Heat Wave: Newark by Drew Hunt-2

Ben rubbed his eyes. “Can you reach into the glove box and pull out my shades?”

“Sure,” Aaron said, relishing the prospect of going through the man’s belongings. He was nosey that way, something his mother had told him off about many times.

The glove compartment was stuffed full of paper—old diesel receipts, takeout menus, napkins and…his fingers closed around something smooth, flat, and plastic. He knew it was a DVD case. “What have we here? Trucker porn maybe?”

Ben snorted.

Aaron pulled the box out. “Scooby Doo?” He held it up for Ben to see.

“Got it for my nephews.”

“Uh huh.” Aaron bet it was actually Ben’s, it wasn’t sealed in cellophane or anything. Was there a DVD player in the back?

“My shades?” Ben prompted.

“Oh, yeah, sorry.” Aaron resumed his search and soon pulled out a pair of Ray-Ban wrap around glasses. “Hot!”

“Yeah, right,” Ben said, taking the sunglasses from Aaron and putting them on. “Much better.”

“Definitely!” Aaron said, drinking in the sight. It reminded him of a character in a porn movie he’d seen where the guy lounged back in a blue dressing gown while eating grapes and…

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” Ben said, turning his head briefly to Aaron.

Far from embarrassed at being caught staring, Aaron said, “Great idea!” and whipped out his phone. “Just look this way for a second…That’s it. God, you’re so hot. Can I get one with you being all tough and stern, and—”

“Knock it off!”

“Great!” Aaron tapped the shutter icon a couple more times. “God, my friend will be so jealous.”

“I doubt it,” Ben muttered, turning on his turn signal before changing lanes.

“Oh, she is, she said so.” Aaron tapped out another message and attached the latest pictures.

“Excuse me?”

Aaron bit his lip. He hadn’t meant to let on that earlier he’d surreptitiously taken a few pictures of Ben and sent them off.

“Sorry. Probably shouldn’t have done it without asking you. But Tammy’s cool. She won’t pass on the pics.” At least Aaron hoped she wouldn’t.

Ben grunted.

“She said you look like a nice man.”

Ben grunted again, this one sounding more dismissive.

In actuality Tammy had said Ben was a hunk of prime beefcake and she hoped Aaron would get a chance to snuggle with the big teddy bear that night.

Aaron fidgeted and felt the urge to fill the uncomfortable silence. “Tammy works the customer support desk at the company in Florida where I used to work. She’s about the only friend I made there.” Aaron grinned. “She’s good people.”

This time Ben’s grunt sounded more encouraging.

“Her only fault is she asks too many damn questions.” Aaron wasn’t going to tell Ben what she’d asked about him.

Ben scratched his beard and grunted again. This time it seemed to say, “I know the type.”

Aaron was proud of himself for being able to translate bear speak. “My first morning at work she extracted my entire life history.”

“Huh.”

Aaron was saved from having to translate that by his phone vibrating. It was a message from Tammy which concluded with an emoticon that indicated she was green with envy. Aaron smiled, replied with a teddy bear and a stuck out tongue emoticon, and slid his phone back into his pocket.

“I’ll miss her.” Aaron sighed. She was the only thing he’d miss about that awful company.

Aaron yawned. Even with the efforts of the small dashboard fan, the temperature inside the cab was climbing ever higher. It didn’t help that he hadn’t slept much the night before. So Aaron found himself nodding off, before jerking awake and apologising to Ben.

“You don’t have to keep saying you’re sorry. If you want to sleep, then tilt back your seat and go to sleep.”

“You don’t mind?” Aaron thought it was his job to keep Ben amused—hadn’t that been why the guy had picked him up in the first place?

“I’ll put the radio on low. Should still be able to pick up a few Savannah stations. That should keep me awake.”

Aaron wondered what type of music Ben liked. He watched Ben scan the frequencies and settle on something country. Aaron wrinkled his nose; country was so not his thing. However, Aaron saw how the twangy steel guitars made the corners of Ben’s mouth turn up in a smile and his fingers tap out the rhythm on the steering wheel. Aaron closed his eyes, reclined his seat, and did his best to block out the singer’s voice. No doubt he was bemoaning the loss of his job, his woman, his truck, and his dog all before lunch.

The song changed and Aaron paid more attention because this guy was singing about riding on his big green tractor. The mental imagery of a farmer riding a big vehicle had its appeal. Aaron grinned to himself. He liked men controlling big pieces of equipment. Farmers were nice, cowboys even nicer, but both worked in the outdoors. Aaron was a city boy through and through and didn’t do outdoors.

Of course they had lorries and tractors back home in the UK. They pretty much had everything back home they had in the states, but everything in America was done on a bigger scale. That was one of the reasons why, after university, Aaron had sought employment in the States. Plus, he wanted to get away from his mollycoddling parents and prove to them he could make a worthwhile career in computing and not just sit in his bedroom for the rest of his life writing and playing video games.

However, after a year of bullshit from his employer, not being awarded the raise he’d been promised and not receiving the recognition he’d deserved for his work, Aaron had told his boss to go f**k himself and stormed out of the building. Before flying home to London, tail between his legs, Aaron decided to see a bit of the US first. That had been another bone of contention with his boss—the jerk hadn’t given Aaron the vacation time he’d been owed, making vague noises about unexpected workload and unfavourable markets. It was complete bullshit.

Rather than flying home from Orlando, Aaron decided to take a road tour of the country he’d fallen in love with. He’d hitch rides up the Eastern Seaboard, preferably with big, sexy truckers, and fly back from Newark. And the truckers didn’t come much bigger or sexier than Ben. Aaron drifted off to sleep, to fantasies of being held tight in Ben’s arms as the big bear made sweet, tender love to him.