Page 3 of Covington Acres

“You’re the biggest kid I know,” Vince replied.

“What you say is what you are.” Colby held back a laugh. He liked this easy comradery, the easy friendship he’d grown with Vince. They were often teasing and giving each other shit. He brought a levity to Colby’s life he hadn’t realized he’d been missing.

“We’ll talk about this later, dear,” Vince tacked on playfully.

He teased like that when it was just the two of them, but doing it in front of others was new. It didn’t mean anything, though. How could it? Vince knew Colby was straight, and it wasn’t as if Vince would want anything with him if he wasn’t. “He jokes like that because we live together,” he explained to August and Clint.

The couple across from them discussed if they wanted to go to the bar while Colby looked down at his food and took a bite. When they agreed, Vince added, “See? Now you have to go.”

“Do not,” Colby argued.

“Do too.”

“Do not.” This was absolutely ridiculous but also made his chest feel light.

“Please?” Vince fluttered his dark lashes at Colby. He’d recently buzzed his dark hair again. He kept neat, short facial hair around his mouth, a few whisps of gray hair among the otherwise black curls. Vince’s skin was a warm, dark brown, his eyes a whiskey color. “Straight guys can go to gay bars.”

There was zero chance Colby was saying no. He couldn’t say why he pretended he didn’t want to go in the first place. It sounded fun. “I know, and yes, fine, whatever. You’re spoiled as shit.”

“Just how I like it,” Vince flirted. It was just his way.

It was Friday,the night Colby would be going to his first gay bar, and he was nervous. Logically, he knew there really wasn’t a reason to be. A bar was a bar. It wasn’t as if he thought a stampede of gay men would head right for him, flirting with him and hitting on him. He wasn’t anything special. Plus, he wasn’t the kind of guy who cared about stuff like that. Vince flirted with him all the time, and it was fun, made him feel good about himself, even though it was annoying when he blushed. He still couldn’t say why he did that. Maybe just because having a man flirt with him was new, even if it was all in good fun.

But outside of the nerves, another part of him was excited about tonight. When in his life would he have gone to a gay bar if it wasn’t with Vince? It wasn’t something Roe would ask him to do, if for no other reason than thinking Colby wouldn’t be interested.

At the knock on his bedroom door, Colby looked up. It wasn’t fully closed, open just a crack, but still Vince waited for him to say, “Come in,” before he did.

“Which shirt looks better on me?” He was wearing a pair of boxer briefs and a light-blue T-shirt. It stretched tight across his broad chest and muscular arms. He kept in good shape. There was a tattoo on his right arm, which was the only one Colby had seen.

Vince held out his arms while Colby took him in. This wasn’t a question any of his other friends had asked him, and he wasn’t sure he’d be the best at giving advice. “My wardrobe consists of work jeans, one decent pair of pants that I’m wearing tonight, and the button-up shirt I wear to church when my parents ask me to go, which also happens to be the shirt I’m wearing tonight. I’m not sure you should take my advice.”

“That shirt?” Vince asked.

Colby looked down. “What’s wrong with this shirt?” It was a long-sleeved, nice, white shirt.

“Nothing if you’re going to church. You can borrow something of mine. And I trust your judgment, though I question why.” He grabbed the edge of the blue T-shirt, and Colby wondered why none of his tees looked as nice as Vince’s. Calling them tees felt like an understatement.

When he pulled it off, Colby couldn’t help realize that now Vince was in nothing but his underwear. Colby noticed his six-pack…and the huge bulge beneath the fabric of his underwear. His gaze darted away.

“Shit. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.” Vince pulled on the light-green shirt he’d carried in with him. It was a seafoam color that was actually Colby’s favorite. “Let me go get some jeans on.”

“You’re fine.”

Vince cocked a brow.

“Not fine as in hot. I mean you’re good. You don’t have to put jeans on for me.” Why should it matter?

“So…I’m not hot?” Vince teased.

“You’re a dick is what you are,” Colby joked back. “I want you to be comfortable in your home. You don’t have to second-guess things because I’m not queer. It just took me by surprise because I’m not used to it, but you don’t make me uncomfortable.” The opposite, to be honest. Sure, these situations were different, and Colby was still trying to wrap his head around them, but he liked Vince. Clicked with him. Vince didn’t treat him like the baby Covington brother that was just kinda there and didn’t have any real use.

“Straight guys are so boring. I can’t believe you don’t hang out in your underwear together.” He winked so Colby knew he was just having some fun.

“I did jerk off in the same room with a buddy in high school,” Colby admitted. They’d never talked about it again, and Colby hadn’t ever told anyone else about it. Why he was telling Vince was a mystery.

“Damn, check you out. You make Daddy Vince so proud.”

Colby snorted out a laugh. “You’re ridiculous.”

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