Page 22 of Covington Acres

“It’s fun. I’m enjoying it. I’m anxious to see how it’ll taste when the time comes.”

“Welp. That’s a start.” Vince held his bottle out to Colby. “To new beginnings.”

The fluttering started in his gut again as he clanked his bottle with Vince’s. “To new beginnings.”

Brewing beer was a long process that included a whole lot of waiting, but the waiting wasn’t something Colby minded. He liked knowing he was waiting for something specific, a processhe was involved in, which made it feel like he wasn’t waiting at all.

After the first boil they added Amarillo, then waited again, this time for a little over an hour. Some beer would take even longer, but this one was fairly simple.

They sat on the couch again, talking and teasing each other through the second boil and then while the wort cooled in a large bin full of ice.

“I need the fermentation bucket,” Colby told Vince, who grabbed it for him, and they transferred the wort to it. They continued the process by using the siphon to remove enough wort to test with the hydrometer, poured it into the cooled wort, and agitated.

Once that was done, they covered the fermenter with the airlocked lid.

“You’re going to have to keep the temperature cooler in here.”

“It’s insulated and has AC, so it should be good.” Colby was jittery again as they put the fermenter in a dark place, and then Vince followed him over to the couch.

“Now we just have to wait two weeks,” Vince said, making him laugh.

“That was fun.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it. I thought it was pretty cool too. Who would have thought I’d ever brew beer?”

“You and me both.” Colby was still smiling. He should probably stop, but he couldn’t seem to make himself do it.

“You’re happy,” Vince said, surprising him.

“I am. Is that weird? It’s not like we did anything special tonight.”

“I think what we did is pretty damn special.”

“It feels like it,” Colby admitted. “But then I think it shouldn’t feel that way. I don’t know why.”

“Jesus, babe. You can enjoy what you want, and if something feels big to you, then itisbig to you. There are no rules on what is allowed or not with your feelings and what you enjoy. Soak it in. Have fun. Do more of what you like and spend more time finding out what that is. What am I going to do with you?” Vince wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close. Vince’s lips pressed to the top of his head, his backward cap brushing against Colby.

It was a friend kind of kiss. Nothing with any heat or want behind it…but Colby found himself wishing Vince would do it again. He had the strangest urge to nuzzle into Vince. He wasn’t needy for physical contact or anything. At least not normally, but in this moment, he felt like he was. Like this day had been big and Vince had given it to him. That his friendship this last year had been everything Colby needed but hadn’t known it. And when Vince went to pull away, Colby found himself saying, “No…can we just sit here like this for a minute? Nothing…I don’t mean anything by it. Shit, what the fuck am I saying?” Colby tried to move away, but Vince’s hand clamped down on his shoulder, holding him in place.

“We can sit here like this. There’s nothing wrong with two friends showing affection to each other. Society tries to make us feel that way, but I’d argue that it’s healthier than not.”

Colby let out a relieved breath, nodded, then just let his body weight relax against Vince. He sat like that in his friend’s arms while they talked about the beer and wondered how it would taste and the work they needed to do at the farm. Vince’s hand moved up and down his biceps, touching, massaging, just reminding Colby he was there.

It felt nice, really fucking nice. The conversation slowed, but neither of them moved, and Colby’s last thought before he fell asleep was that they should go into the house, but he didn’t say that, and Vince didn’t either.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Vince

It was definitelytime Vince got laid.

He liked the feel of Colby against him too much. He’d always been attracted to the man. How could he not be? Colby was gorgeous. But the hard-on beneath his sweats right now had more to do with Colby than typical morning wood. It probably didn’t help that somehow during the night they had moved around so Vince was lying on his back, Colby on top of him, his head on Vince’s chest and his body between Vince’s legs. It was intimate as fuck, and he had to admit he enjoyed that part.

When Colby woke up, there was no chance he’d miss said erection poking into him.

Even though he had an alarm set on his phone, they were both pretty good at waking up without it, so Vince’s eyes opened before it went off. If Colby didn’t wake up on his own in a few minutes, the dinging from their phones would certainly do it, and then they ran the risk of an awkward moment—more for Colby than Vince.

It was less than a minute later when Colby shifted on top of him, and then his whole body went rigid. Vince’s dick stirred, the feel of the friction against his shaft sending a shot of pleasure through him.

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