Page 55 of Flirty Dancing

Archer shivered as he shrugged back into his damp shorts and tank top, then headed out into the evening by himself. He slipped down the small, sandy embankment and back into the boat, arms screaming in protest as he rowed along the beach. The water was dark now, reflecting the last rays of light in rippled yellow stripes. The marina was indeed closed, so he tied their boat to the dock, neatly stacked the life jackets on the seat, and gathered up their belongings. It was a long walk back across the length of the beach and down the path to the employee dorms. He stopped by their room to change and drop off their stuff, then made the hike up to the dining hall. He wanted to jog to save some time, but there wasn’t enough gas left in the tank.

“There you are!” Caleb said when Archer sat next to him with a tuna melt. “You’d better hurry up. We need to head back in a minute.” Caleb was already finished and had his chin propped up on one hand, drinking a milkshake and deep in conversation with Ben.

“A romantic boating adventure, hey?” Dominik chuckled on Archer’s other side. “Hope it was worth it. I haven’t seen Mateo that pissed before.”

Archer sighed and stared at his sandwich, the knot of guilt in his stomach growing.

“He actually wasn’t mad till you got back,” Betty added. “He was just worried at first.”

“I do not need some washed-up old man overseeing my every move,” Caleb said loudly, joining the conversation. “I mean, Mateo isn’t my boss, or my father. He can fuck right off, actually.”

Stewart said Mateo was in charge, Archer thought, but hedidn’t have the energy to argue about it right now. Instead, he stood. “We’d better get back.” He took his food with him and nibbled on the way.

The second show was worse. His muscles were rubber, and lifting his arms over his head was painful. He knew his dancing was sloppy. He couldn’t even look at Mateo afterward and hurried out of there as fast as he could, without waiting for Caleb. All he wanted to do was curl up and sleep this day off.

He had a quick shower and was settled into bed almost asleep when Caleb came back from his shower.

“You want to head down to the cabin?” Caleb asked, smoothing on some aftershave in the mirror.

“Not tonight,” Archer mumbled.

“Oh.” Caleb turned to frown at him. “You want me to stay with you?”

“No, it’s fine. I’m exhausted. I’ll be asleep in a minute.”

“Okay…” Caleb patted his pockets and looked around the room. “Fuck, I think I left my phone at the theater. Did you see it anywhere?”

Archer shook his head. “Sorry, no.”

“Alright.” Caleb leaned over to leave a kiss on Archer’s forehead. “Get some sleep then, princess. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“’Kay. Have fun.”

Caleb shut the door quietly behind him and Archer was starting to drift when the thought of his dad’s text bubbled up to the surface of his brain.

“Fuck,” he muttered, sitting up and reaching for his duffel. His parents would already be cranky about him not calling back, and then if he ignored the text, too—better send a reply promising to talk in the morning. But when his hand closed over a phone in the bottom of his bag, itwas Caleb’s, not his. He groaned. Guess it wasn’t bedtime quite yet. If he hurried, he could catch Caleb before he schlepped all the way to the theater looking for a phone that wasn’t there.

Archer pulled on some sweats and was halfway down the path when he came upon two people kissing under a maple tree. Two men. One of them looked a lot like Caleb.

One of them was Caleb.

Archer’s feet screeched to a halt at the same time his heart did. Pebbles clattered around his shoes.

Caleb looked around and saw him. Worry flashed over his face. “Archer!” He said something quick and low to the other man—a big, solid guy—who trundled off down the path. Archer thought he recognized him from maintenance. Caleb hurried up to him. “What are you doing here?”

“Your phone,” Archer said dumbly, holding it out.

“Oh, thanks.” Caleb took it, chewing on his lip.

“You… you’ve been seeing someone else?” Archer’s head was spinning.

“I’m sorry. I should have told you. But we never said we were exclusive or anything. We weren’t even sleeping together.”

“Yes, we are!”

“Well, yeah, now we are! Look, I was just telling Steve it was over, anyway. It’s been super casual. We only make out sometimes. I haven’t fucked him or anything.”

Archer opened and closed his mouth. True, they had never had a relationship talk or even used the wordboyfriendyet…

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