The Last Hike Ch. 04

Niles smiled with thousand-watt eyes and it turned into a playful smirk. "Yeah? I know you two got up to some crazy shit in college."

"We absolutely have." Naomi snickered, then her face fell a bit, not to sadness but to fondness. Memory. She explained, "This is kind of our last hurrah together before I settle down with Ben and everything."

"Well, settling down doesn't mean you have to stop having fun," Jaime replied, his brow furrowed. Then the two made brief, flirtatious eye contact. "Niles and I definitely still have plenty of fun."

Naomi shook her head. "I don't think Ben would go for me heading off on sexcapades with my friends after we're married."

Jaime gave her a knowing look. "He's okay with it now?"

"Well...we don't necessarily talk specifics," she admitted. "He's got the broad outlines, at least, and he wants me to have my freedom before-"

"You lose your freedom?" Niles cut in. I could tell they were judging her, too, the way most of her friends did, but Naomi didn't pick up on it. After a beat of thinking, he changed his tone and said, "Well, if it's our last chance, maybe we should act on those handjobs, after all."

Naomi cut me a questioning look, and, when I nodded in agreement, she replied, "As long as you don't mean in this dirty hot spring, absolutely."

Jaime grinned mischievously. "Sounds good to me; we don't have anywhere we need to be. Been a while since either of us got to hook up with a woman, much less ones we're already close with."

CHAPTER EIGHT

In a happy warm glow, the four of us went back to Niles' and Jaime's campsite to help them tear down and pack up. It didn't take very long with everyone working together; we were all strong and capable. Afterwards, the two of us hopped in the bed of Niles' pickup, which hauled their small camper. They drove us up the road a ways, more or less parallel to the trail we were following. It was nice letting someone else be in charge of navigating. I could just admire the scenery rolling by, including Naomi's delicate profile against the blue sky.

Niles pulled the truck to a stop on the side of the road at a scenic pull-out near the top of a tall hill. Even though cars whizzed by us, nobody else was in the small gravel parking lot. He pulled in backwards so that the bed of the truck was facing the view, its cab obstructing any sight of us sitting in the back of it.

Niles and Jaime joined us in the bed of the truck. For a moment, we all just sat and enjoyed the view in front of us. Even if this whole trail had its similarities -- rolling green hills with rocky gray outcroppings, streams like hazel eyes with algae, blue skies that went to the horizon -- each new place had its own unique sights. Families of rabbits, patches of pink wildflowers, trees recovering from lightning strikes.

As we enjoyed the charged silence of each other's companies, Niles unrolled a blanket that he'd brought for some cushion. He'd packed everything up in the camper so we'd have a nice empty space to play with, leaving only some pillows and blankets in the back. Naomi and I moved our backpacks to the front seats to create more space.

Once things were set up, Jaime turned toward me and grinned. Then, he touched my chin and pulled my lips to his. Tentative at first, our lips quickly melted into each other. All of a sudden I couldn't imagine a time when we hadn't been kissing. From the way he hungrily kissed me, I could tell he'd been thinking about it all day, maybe even longer. I wondered, briefly, if they'd ever talked about something like this, if they'd ever talked about this, specifically.

From that moment on, any inhibitions we might've had were gone.

Jaime straddled me and eagerly pulled my shirt over my head, taking only another second to peel off my bra and cast it aside. His eyes devoured my chest, breathing in every inch of my exposed skin. He wrapped his lips around one of my nipples, taking the other breast in his right hand. He started softly, flicking his tongue up and down until my nipple was hard, then he nibbled lightly. Then harder. Until my back arched into him.

I leaned my head back, basking in the glow of his touch and watching Naomi push Niles down and kiss him. She stripped off her top and Niles grabbed her tits like a man possessed. She went for his waistband, freeing his cock before kneeling down to suck it. Niles' head fell back, a grin on his face, and we briefly made content eye contact. He shut his eyes, blissed out on nature and Naomi's soft mouth. I shut mine, too, just to enjoy the sensations in my body even more.

Jaime's mouth traveled from my breast to my stomach and his hands found the top of my shorts. He tugged them down around my ankles easily, like he'd done it a million times, and roughly spread my legs. His increasingly intense desire lit up my nerves and I felt wetness blooming between my legs in anticipation. He kissed and sucked my inner thighs until I was practically bucking my hips into his face, begging for his attention.

When Jaime made contact with my clit, I knew for sure that, despite ending up married to a man, he had plenty of experience eating out a woman. His tongue explored with a certainty and curiosity that married each other easily. As he discovered new parts of me, he took note of what worked and what didn't -- and, soon enough, he was sucking softly on my clit in a way that had my thighs threatening to clamp around his head within only a few seconds. My cunt pulsed with need and I felt that familiar balloon inside of me filling toward bursting.

I heard Niles groaning as Naomi bobbed up and down on his cock. I opened my eyes to watch, the visual turning me on even further. Naomi glanced up at me and I saw mischief in her eyes as she held my eye contact while taking his dick as deep as she could. I loved watching as she let go into the slutty, satisfied part of herself that she craved in between all the humdrum normal days. Her eyes watered as his cock went almost all the way into her mouth, partially down her throat, and she stayed there on the verge of gagging until her cheeks were bright pink.

Naomi pulled off of him, then, and pointed in my direction. With a flirtatious smile, she glanced between me and Niles and said, "Van looks like she could use a cock in her mouth, don't you think?"

Niles and I nodded at the same time. It was hard to concentrate with Jaime staying put on my pussy, but the thought of taking Niles in my mouth, too, made my cheeks burn with desire. I loved having my mind completely shut off with someone taking my mouth and working my pussy at the same time. Niles put his knees on either side of Jaime and positioned his cock at my lips. I opened them, beckoning him forward with a soft tongue and needy expression.

At the same time, I put on my right hand, knowing that Naomi would understand. She knelt next to me and mounted my fingers, starting to grind as soon as she did. Niles watched for a second, fisting his hard cock, before thrusting it into my mouth, a perfect mix of gentle and rough. He bottomed out in my throat; I was typically able to take anything as deep as possible after years of practice. My throat stretched for him as my heart rate picked up and tears stung deliciously at my eyes.

Jaime slipped two fingers inside of me -- then, quickly, three, when he felt how wet and ready I'd been for them -- and I groaned, feeling almost too full but exactly right. He massaged the front wall of my pussy firmly, releasing animalistic, gagged grunts from my mouth. I was too mentally occupied to really focus on Niles' cock, so he grabbed a handful of my hair and took charge of it himself. My body went almost limp as he fucked my face and Jaime worked my cunt, overwhelming my senses.

Jaime sped up on my clit and, as if they were communicating without words, Niles used my mouth faster, too. With his husband's cock in my mouth and him on my clit and Naomi on my fingers and the fresh air on my skin, an orgasm started to build inside of me. Jaime noticed and slowed down ever so slightly, working his fingers against my G-spot firmly but without rushing. He kept me close to that peak of pleasure for what felt like ages.

My orgasm finally exploded. My nails dug into Niles' ass as my whole body tensed up tighter than it had in a long time. Everything released and I was seeing not just stars but the entire damn solar system bursting and colliding behind my eyelids. My clit was a supernova at the center, sending shocks of bliss through my body. Jaime moaned with satisfaction as my wetness coated his mouth and my cunt clamped down, over and over, around his fingers.

As I groaned around Niles' cock, my throat massaged his tip with contractions and vibrations and he came, too, thrusting hard and fast into my mouth as he threw his head back. I barely tasted the salty tang of his cum as it slid easily over the back of my tongue. I relaxed and let him fuck my mouth until he was empty. Niles, breathing hard, stepped back. He spanked Jaime hard on the ass and Jaime backed up off of me, grinning.

"Get on top of him, Van," Niles panted as he caught his breath.

My pussy still throbbing and wet and absolutely begging to be filled further, I laughed and said, "You don't have to ask me twice."

Jaime flipped onto his back, lips still slick from my pussy, and yanked his shorts down, arms above his head. His cock sprang to attention, begging for a wet cunt to slip inside of. I straddled him and took his sizable dick inside easily. I kissed him hard, first, and tasted myself on him. I began to slide his cock deep inside of myself over and over, lavishing in the way it stretched me out. He had a nice pronounced ridge on the head of his dick that had me feeling every millimeter of him rubbing along my still-sensitive walls.

Then Niles pointed to Naomi and she understood without words. She sat on Jaime's face, toward me, grinding her clit on his mouth as he wrapped his arms around her thighs. As I rocked back and forth on Jaime's cock, Naomi leaned forward and kissed me. I knotted my fingers in her long hair and pulled her closer as we both used Jaime's body in our different ways. I dropped my other hand to her waist and gripped her hip tight, our bodies moving in tandem.

Naomi sucked my lip hard as she came. I watched her lips spread open in an ecstatic little 'O' and her eyelashes flutter. Her eyes opened for a moment, connecting with mine, and I felt something both familiar and new crack open in my heart. Something beyond sex. Her eyes were blue and bright and searching my face. But, before I could even begin to examine it, with another flood of pussy on his face, Jaime bucked his cum inside of me. As his warmth coated my insides, I was satisfied and tired and thrilled things had worked out this way today.

All four of us collapsed next to each other, sighing and breathing and staring up at the wide open sky. Jaime chuckled to himself and said, to all of us but to no one,

"Definitely wasn't expecting that out of our little trip."

I giggled softly and nestled into Naomi's arms. She kissed the top of my forehead and I was so comfortable and loose that I could've fallen asleep. Naomi ran her fingers through my hair gently, affectionately, and I sighed contentedly. The sun baked my cheeks pink and I let my muscles loosen fully while we rested. Naomi and

I looked at each other for a while, searching each other's faces for something unspoken. I felt my heart racing long after we'd finished moving. My breaths were tight, but not like I was anxious, more like I was anticipating something. I didn't know what. But I knew that I wanted to be in her arms.

After a while, I dug around my bag for my watch, knowing that, as usual, I had to be the responsible one. I checked the time, showed it to Naomi, and said, "Naomi and I should really get back out there if we're going to make it up to Foxwood Pass before sunset. Mind driving us to the next trailhead? It's about a mile up."

CHAPTER NINE

For the next two days, our last two days, we hiked quietly. It didn't seem like either of us had much to say -- or, rather, that we had too much to say and we didn't know how to say it. I'd finally had the realization about Naomi that I'd been suppressing for the better part of a few decades: I didn't want her to be with Ben -- because I wanted her to be with me. When she looked down at me, it didn't feel like a friend looking at me, not even a best friend. It felt like a lover. Like a soulmate.

I just didn't know if I should tell her that or not. It felt selfish to reveal feelings I'd only discovered this week -- even if I'd had them for longer than I could admit to myself -- that could at best uproot both our lives and at worst ruin our friendship. I was sure that, over the years, we'd had crushes on each other, but we never talked about them. There were just periods where we talked on the phone for longer, lingered in doorways, and stopped by with surprises more often.

Was that love?

I didn't know for sure.

But I couldn't keep those thoughts out of my head as we hiked toward the Vermont border, our ultimate destination. The final stretch of our hike unfolded with a quiet tension that hung in the air like an unspoken truth. Each step toward the Vermont border felt heavier, laden with the weight of unexpressed emotions and the realization that something irrevocable was looming on the horizon. The rhythm of our footsteps mirrored the uncharted territory of our unspoken feelings.

Naomi and I navigated the trails in silence, the rustling leaves and distant calls of wildlife serving as a poignant backdrop to the tension between us. It was as if the forest itself sensed the undercurrents of emotion and responded with a hushed reverence, letting us traverse its winding paths in the solemnity of our thoughts.

The revelation about my feelings for Naomi lingered like a bittersweet melody, each note echoing through the recesses of my mind. I stole glances at her when I thought she wasn't looking, studying the familiar lines of her face and the way her eyes sparkled in the sunlight. But every stolen glance was accompanied by a twinge of guilt, a silent acknowledgment of the complexity of our relationship.

We pitched our tent in a clearing near the Vermont border, the muted colors of the setting sun casting a warm glow on the landscape. The routine of setting up camp, once a comforting ritual, now carried weight. The air between us crackled with the unsaid, and as we sat around the campfire, the flames danced in flickering shadows across our tent that told some parable like Plato's cave. A world about to be revealed, for better or for worse.

The night draped itself over the forest, enveloping us in a cocoon of darkness. Our sleeping bags were side by side, as they had been for countless nights on this journey and the ones before us, but the space between us seemed to stretch into an uncharted abyss. Naomi's silhouette, outlined by the soft glow of the dying fire and moonlight, stirred conflicting emotions within me--longing, fear, and an undeniable pull that defied the boundaries of friendship.

I wrestled with the words I wanted to say, the confession that hovered on the tip of my tongue. The prospect of laying bare my newfound feelings seemed both terrifying and exhilarating. She wasn't sleeping and I wasn't either. We watched the shadows of the tree branches on the tent's translucent wall. I reached out of my sleeping bag and found her hand in the darkness. She squeezed it wordlessly and, even if she didn't mean it that way, it felt like encouragement.

A few seconds later, she squeezed it a little harder, making it clear this time that it was reassuring. "I know you have something to say, Van. I can always tell. So just spit it out."

I interlocked our fingers and rubbed the back of her hand with my thumb. It took me a few deep breaths before I could find my voice. I said, trying not to sound tentative or pleading, "You don't have to go through with moving in with him."

She sighed, but it didn't have much fight in it. "We already signed the lease, Van, and-"

I cut her off before she could even get out the rest of her protest: "Stop pretending you don't have any choices here. You're a grown ass adult and you don't have to latch on to some guy right when your life is really starting just because it's easy."

Her voice was strained with tears when she replied, "Van, I know. I know. And I've known it for a long time. But it's not like I have anyone else I could-"

I kissed her. We didn't kiss if we weren't going to have sex or hadn't just finished, but I kissed her. Her lips were hard with surprise but softened instantly, familiar on mine.

Finally, biting back tears that stung at my eyes, I spat out, "Naomi, just come to California with me. That's what you wanted before you met Ben. You're brilliant; you can get a job anywhere. And we...you know, we could...I don't know. But we could try."

The next few seconds were breathless. I struggled to think. Simultaneously, I was proud of myself for saying it and deeply regretted it. I knew I had changed everything. Our hands were clasped and clammy and I wished there was some way I could crawl inside her mind so she didn't have to struggle to find words.

Then, her voice soft but sure, Naomi said, "Okay. Let's try."