Page 1 of The Man on the Beach
ONE
Nathan and his stepbrother had never been close. The cool disregard of their high school relationship devolved into an outright rivalry when Nathan had secured a scholarship to play soccer at a university. His stepbrother, ego still bruised from not making a college football team, picked at him constantly. Which is why Nathan didn’t understand how he ended up being a groomsman for his stepbrother’s wedding.
Nathan’s father explained to him later that the bride wanted eight bridesmaids, and there needed to be an equal number of groomsmen. It would look strange for the large wedding party not to include the groom’s only brother.
“Stepbrother.” Nathan had corrected.
“It’s hard to pull together eight available friends for your wedding.” His father said.
“I only know two of those guys and they were assholes to me in high school.” Nathan and his dad both knew he would do it, but Nathan wanted to complain about it first.
“We all do things for family we’d rather not do,” his father reminded him. “Maybe you’ll have some fun in spite of it.”
TWO
Trying to have some fun ‘in spite of it’ was how Nathan found himself absolutely wasted at three in the afternoon, chasing a soccer ball barefoot on the beach. The groomsmen had rented a three-bedroom beach house for the weekend and carted coolers of beer and liquor to the ocean in search of… women? Nathan was fairly sure the men had been talking about looking for hot women on the beach. He juggled the ball and lobbed it towards one of the groomsmen. The man stopped it with his bare chest and let it roll down to his feet.
“You good, bro?” The man made a mediocre attempt to juggle the ball before lobbing it back to Nathan.
“Why?” Nathan asked. The blazing sun was causing sweat to run into his eyes. He felt lightheaded. He needed to cool down.
“You’re pretty red,” the man continued. Aiden, Nathan remembered.
“S’all right,” Nathan waved him away and jogged up to the cooler. He popped open a beer can and took a long drink.
“Look at lil bro, drinking with the big dogs,” his stepbrother commented. To Nathan’s ears, it sounded disdainful. Nathan rankled. Who used the wordsbig dogs?Fuckhe hated this guy. He chugged the rest of the can, made eye contact with his stepbrother, and dropped the empty back into the cooler. His stepbrother rolled his eyes.
Nathan looked out at the ocean. He watched the waves roll in. The rolling motion made him feel dizzier. He needed some shade, but there was no shade in sight. That was okay, he’d just lie down for a minute. He’d be okay after he caught his breath. He stumbled over to a towel that wasn’t his and draped himself the wrong way across it, and everything went dark.
THREE
“Hey, man!” Nathan heard a distant voice. Then he felt a hand grip his shoulder. He became aware of the chill on his bare back. He was hot and cold at the same time. He felt dizzy and his head ached. He slowly lifted his head from the towel and turned towards the voice. A concerned-looking man was kneeling beside him. A dark-haired man with a dark dusting of stubble on his face was peering at him. He was shirtless, and he had a broad, strong chest.Damn, Nathan thought. He stared at him while his brain worked to orient itself.
“Sorry, I thought you might be in trouble. Are you okay?” Nathan tore his eyes away from the man and looked down the beach. The sun was setting, and the beach was nearly empty. Nathan made an effort to push himself up. Nausea washed over him, and he paused to will his stomach to settle. He opened his mouth to respond, but couldn’t summon words.
“Sorry if you were sleeping. The way you’re lying, I thought you might have fallen over.” Nathan looked and realized he was half off the towel.
“Do you think you need an ambulance?” Nathan shook his head. The threat of causing a scene propelled him enough to pull himself up to a seated position. He looked around. Everything they had brought was gone. They hadn’t even left him with a bottle of water. His mouth was sandpaper.
“Do you have any water?” Nathan hated asking, but he needed it. He couldn’t remember if they had even brought water. All he remembered was beer and… tequila? The thought of it sent another powerful wave of nausea through him.
“Shit, no, I’m sorry. I’m staying in a condo just over the boardwalk. And there’s a shower on the boardwalk, can you make it that far?” Nathan nodded. The man stood and waited for Nathan to slowly draw himself up. Nathan’s eyes slid up the man’s thighs to the hem of his running shorts as he stood. His eyes lingered on the man’s muscled legs before he realized he must still be drunk.
The man picked up Nathan’s towel and shook the sand out. He handed the towel to Nathan, who wrapped it around his shoulders. The remaining sand and salt scratched his skin, but he wascold.
“Can you walk okay?” The man’s face looked concerned. He held his arm out for Nathan, but Nathan didn’t reach for it. He could walk.
The walk up to the boardwalk felt like a gauntlet. As the sand grew softer, Nathan sank and stumbled, weaving and swaying. He grabbed onto the man’s arm once to avoid crashing into him, and he let go in embarrassment. The man had felt warm and solid. He wished the man would wrap his arm around his waist.
At the shower on the boardwalk, the man rinsed his lower legs and feet before stepping out of the way. Nathan draped his towel over the rail and stepped hesitantly into the cold spray. The icy blast was a jolt to his brain. His thirst became overwhelming, and he cupped his hands to catch handfuls of water to bring to his mouth. He stood under the spray and felt the sand wash away while he drank and drank.
When water began to slosh in his stomach, Nathan turned to find the man had folded his towel. He reached for it, but the man held onto it.
“If you can wait for a few minutes, I can get you a clean one. I’m right there.” The man pointed at a nearby cluster of condos.
“Freezing,” Nathan said. He turned off the water and realized he was shivering.
“I think you’re burnt. Your back is red.” Nathan tried to look over his shoulder but couldn’t see. He touched his upper back and felt heat radiating through the damp cold.
