Chapter 16

Once Madde learned about us, we got a little sloppy. Bj?rn didn't have to make up excuses or sneak around after sunset anytime he wanted to stay over, and I didn't have to creep out of his barn at an ungodly morning hour and do my walk of shame back to the cottage alone.

The pressure of people finding out didn't feel like so much pressure anymore. I was sure Olaf and Fredrik knew, judging by the way they exchanged looks every time Bj?rn or I said something to each other when we'd been at their place for dinner. Theo suspected enough to give me knowing smiles. Only Lars remained oblivious, it seemed.

I met Henke again when he walked Selma by my house on Wednesday evening, and I invited him to stay for coffee. He sat on my porch as the sun sank lower, warming our faces, and told me about my cottage while I practiced my Swedish.

"The B?ckstr?m family owned this place until the eighties?"

"Yes. For seven generations. Are the apple trees still here? Gustaf didn't take them down?"

I almost forgot Henke was nearly blind. He seemed to look right at me through his thick glasses when he spoke.

"Yes. There's three of them. Two on the east side and one to the right by the gate."

"I remember when I was little, around eight years old, I stole a few apples here because my brother dared me to do it. Old man B?ckstr?m saw me. He must have been almost eighty then. I would have guessed he'd chase me off, waving his walking stick. You know what he did? He invited me inside, and Heda, his youngest daughter, made apple pie. So I stayed for the pie. Where's Selma?"

"Here, on the lawn."

"Ah. Good."

Selma sniffed along my oak hedge, tail wagging. "Why did they sell?" I asked. "Do you know?"

"They never did sell. Heda was the last. She was the youngest child of four. Her older brothers emigrated to the States between wars, but she stayed, taking care of her father until he passed. She never married or had children, but a female friend came to stay with her, an elegant lady from a rich family in Stockholm, every single summer for over twenty-five years. People in Gryta thought Heda was earning good money by renting out a part of the cottage to this lady." Henke smiled my way, his expression mischievous.

And it dawned on me. "They were lovers."

Henke nodded, chuckling. "It never occurred to the gossipmongers. Because what would two women possibly want to do together naked?"

I snickered. "What indeed? Did you know Heda well?"

"Not really. She was four decades older than me. But my parents talked to her often, and I remember her face. She had a cunning smile. Clever."

"And what happened to her lady friend?" I asked in my clumsy Swedish.

"She stopped coming. I don't know what happened to her. I think she was married, so maybe her husband found out, or maybe she died. Heda never spoke of her, not that I know of. Then Heda passed away—I think it must have been 1987 or 1988. With all her brothers long dead and their children scattered all over the world, the Swedish Inheritance Fund sold the cottage, and the little money it earned went to charity."

"That was when Gustaf bought it."

"Yes. He and his wife used it as a summer house when their children were small, and later on, they started renting it out."

"Do you remember anything of Heda's that might still be here? The cottage was half-furnished when I bought it, and a lot of the things look pretty old, but I don't know what's from the B?ckstr?m family and what Gustaf brought."

Henke was quiet for a while, resting his head on his hands where he held his long staff. "I don't remember much, but they had a bench in the kitchen. You know, the kind with storage in the seat. It had daisies and violets on the backrest, carved and painted."

"That one must be gone. It's just chairs now."

"Huh. I'll tell you next time if I remember something."

"Thank you. I'd really like that."

Selma came up then, bumping into Henke's knee with her nose. "Someone is eager to get her dinner. I should go back."

"It's been great talking with you," I said, collecting the coffee mugs.

"Thanks for the coffee. I'm going to like you as my neighbor. I wish I'd learned more English when I could still read. The kids these days, it's like they're born with two languages."

"English is everywhere for them. Netflix, games, TikTok. But I'm glad to practice my Swedish. You can correct me when I make mistakes."

"No need. I can understand you just fine." He stood and tapped his staff toward the stairs. "Come by when you're walking my way with Bj?rn. I rarely talk to him these days."

I froze. Had the gossip spread after all? Did Henke catch us kissing last time, blind or not?

"I can hear you worrying. Like I told you, I don't care about rumors, not that I've heard any."

"But how do you know about us?"

"I didn't. Now I know." Grinning, he patted my arm clumsily and whistled for Selma. "Good night, Eric."

Then on Thursdayat lunch break, when I was standing guard in the school yard, Nina, a girl in my class, came up to me together with her friend Lisa. The two were usually joined at the hip, being the only two girls of the same age in the entire Gryta school.

"Are you and Bj?rn Eklund boyfriends?" she asked me, unblinking. Her friend looked at her sneakers, blushing fiercely.

At first, I was too stunned to say anything.

"Because Therese says Jakob saw you by the lake on Sunday when he was in the forest on his dirt bike. You were holding hands."

"Don't you think that's too personal a question to ask your teacher?"

She shrugged, unfazed. "It would be cool if you were. But I can tell everyone not to tell anyone."

Against my will, my lips twitched. "Thank you for being so discreet. I appreciate it."

"So it's a secret?"

I put my finger over my lips, and Nina narrowed her eyes at me. The old red klaxon Inger used to announce the end of a break saved me from further scrutiny.

I waved at them with both hands. "Shoo. Back to the classroom."

"We won't tell!" Nina yelled as she ran to the building with Lisa in tow.

I could only laugh.

When I wasout in the forest with Bj?rn on a short walk after dinner, I told him first about Henke, then about the kids at school.

"Jakob saw us by the lake. He told Therese, and Therese told Nina and Lisa."

Bj?rn stared at me open-mouthed.

"Who told whom what?"

"The kids in the village. Jakob Nicklasson was out on his dirt bike and saw us holding hands. He told Therese Jacobson, who told Nina Wallgren and Lisa Andersson. I'm guessing the entire school knows by now."

"The Nicklasson's kid rides a dirt bike alone? He's thirteen."

"Focus, Bj?rn."

"Okay. Madde knows, Henke knows, Olaf probably, and now the kids. Is that a problem for you?"

"No. But it won't be long until the entire village finds out."

"Are you bothered by that?"

"Unless anyone sees us doing more than kissing, I'm not bothered."

Bj?rn seemed happy with my proclamation, and I found myself grinning back at him. Maybe we were ready for people to find out. He hugged me and brushed my lips with his. "Nothing more than kissing, hm?" Then I felt his hands on my ass.

"We've already been caught twice."

"There's no one here."

Our tongues tangling, I moaned into the kiss.

"We're fine," Bj?rn murmured and dove in for another kiss, licking deep into my mouth. I melted against him, my cock hardening in my pants.

"It's a shame," I said when he let me speak. "I sure like doing more than kissing."

He looked from one side to the other, checking the deserted trail. Then he took my hand and tugged me after him, off the path and deeper into the forest.

"Come on."

Gazing ahead, he strode through the thick greenery, holding branches aside for me where the young trees grew close to each other. We hiked for a few minutes, the sky darkening. It was after nine already.

"Where are we going?"

"Patience. Almost there."

As we began climbing up a hill, the forest got thicker and thicker, until we could barely pass through.

"You're not going to feed me to the witch, are you?"

He chuckled. "Just a few more steps."

Suddenly, the forest opened, and we stood on a round clearing on top of a small hill, scattered with boulders. The ground was dry, matted grass with fresh green leaves barely peeking out, with thick moss on the northern side where the sun didn't reach.

Before I could ask why he'd brought me here, Bj?rn spun around and attacked my lips. He sneaked his hands under my hoodie and undid my fly. In seconds, I was panting into his mouth while he fisted my cock, running his thumb over the wet tip.

"So you like outdoor sex, hm?"

With him, I liked any sex, everywhere. "Yes."

"Getting ravaged by a lumberjack in the middle of the forest…"

I snickered at that, but he stroked me up and down, and the laugh turned into a moan. Then he let go of my cock and pushed my pants down. I swayed, but he held me securely while lowering me onto the ground. It briefly occurred to me that he'd brought me here because aside from us being too far from any path to be interrupted by a random villager, the clearing would be dry enough for us to roll around on the ground. Then my thoughts dispersed when he brushed my hole with his fingers.

"On your knees," he murmured into my ear and nibbled on my earlobe.

Oh Lord. Half-naked, on all fours, in the middle of the forest… I hadn't known that was on my bucket list.

I fisted lumps of dry grass and tried to hold in my moans when he licked through my crease. My pants were bunched around my knees, not allowing me to spread my legs wider, and I felt trapped, which for some reason turned me on even more. Bj?rn held my ass cheeks spread for his tongue, his rough fingers kneading my muscles. I pushed back on instinct. God, I wanted him to fuck me right here, out in the open.

Then he dipped his tongue inside me, and I sank to my elbows. He was fucking amazing at this. He coaxed me open, licking deeper ever so slowly and swirling his tongue around my rim, until I was whimpering into the crook of my elbow. His short beard scraped at my sensitive skin, which made everything even better.

"Come, Eric. I want to jerk off on your wet ass."

I whined and reached between my legs, fisting my cock. It wouldn't take long.

My hole tingled, the sweet sensation spreading into my ass cheeks and down my taint. Then Bj?rn pushed a finger inside me alongside his tongue, and I sank my teeth into the sleeve of my jacket to muffle my shout of exhilarating joy. He rubbed my gland while he wiggled his tongue in and out, and I squeezed my cock to postpone my climax by a few seconds.

When I came, he moaned into me, the sound traveling up my guts. My ass clenched on his tongue, and I felt so fucking happy. A wide grin stretched my face as I rocked back, chasing the sweet pleasure.

Bj?rn brushed my hole with his lips, then he held one cheek to the side. Cold air caressed my wet skin before the hot tip of his cock kissed my pucker.

He didn't push inside. Instead, he jerked off, swearing in Swedish and grunting. Warm cum splashed over my relaxed hole, and the tip of his cock sank inside me, stretching me a little.

I loved his orgasm sounds. When he came with me fucking him, his voice got a little higher in pitch and desperate. But like this, he sounded rough and dirty, his groans low and wonderfully animalistic.

Some of his cum got inside me, and I loved that too.

We fell onto the grass, panting. Probably mindful that he'd just rimmed me, Bj?rn didn't kiss me like he usually did after sex. Instead, he gazed at me, looking a little sheepish.

"Good?" he asked.

"Lovely. But now I'm all sticky."

"Wait a sec." He pulled a packet of tissues out of his jacket pocket and drew out a couple for me.

As I wiped myself off, something dug into my thigh. A broken branch was hiding under the grass.

"Ouch. We'd better get up."

Bj?rn grabbed my hand and pulled me into a standing position. He helped me clean up and stuffed the soiled tissues into the side pocket of his cargo pants.

The night fell as we hiked back, but Bj?rn knew these woods to the last fern. Soon, we were on the gravel road that led back to his farm, the moon illuminating our steps.

"I can't believe we just did that," I said as the afterglow faded.

"You said you liked outdoor sex, and there was no one there. But we'd better not fuck in the forest once the mushroom season starts when folks can just pop out from behind a random bush."

I imagined getting caught with Bj?rn's dick in my ass by a bunch of foraging villagers. "Yeah, we'd better not do that."

"But you liked it?" he asked, peering at me.

I paused to give him a kiss on his stubbly cheek where the dimple sat. "It was amazing. Next time, let's bring a picnic blanket and lube."