Page 42 of Fever Dream
“Come swim with me?” he asks, head cocked prettily in my direction.
“Sure,” I say because as we’ve established many, many times, I am incapable of saying no to Casey Calloway.
The pool is an enormous lagoon, surrounded by palm trees and ferns and opening up to that view of the Pacific Ocean. It also has one of those swim-up bars that I am very keen to visit as I lower myself into the warm depths.
But Casey clearly wants to play first as I watch him dive under the water. He emerges right in front of me, eyelashes clumpedand water dripping from his hair as he grins up at me and I am struck by how very, very unfair this all is to me.
It’s testament to how distracted I am that I don’t even notice when he wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me under.
Of course, Casey thinks it’s great fun to tussle under water with me, but I can already tell my emergency shower session is all about to be for nought as I feel myself firming under the water. I think I’m going to have to invest in some of those loose boardshorts the other guys are wearing.
Sonny and Izak join us in the pool which helps absorb some of Casey’s energy and attention, but the lure of the bar soon has us all heading in that direction. I’m still partially hard but the water level is high enough to conceal the worst of it as I pull up a bar stool, Casey to my left.
There’s not a huge number of other people around, but I can see how much attention the three guys at my side attract. It’s the same whenever we go out together. I mean, they are all objectively hot, and Izak and Sonny are just as toned as Casey. It’s just that my well-honed immunity to the athletes I work with is fully intact when I’m around those two guys so I barely even notice.
And yet I never stood a chance when it came to Casey Calloway.
***
Despite the excessive amount of space in our oversized king bed, Casey and I still manage to gravitate towards one another during the night. And I can’t exactly place all the blame on Casey’s head either. We are pressed up together right in the middle of the bed, almost like we’d sought each other out in our sleep.
He's still dreaming softly, one leg pressed between my thighs, arm around my waist and head on my shoulder. We left thecurtains open last night so the soft dawn light is filtering through already, but I think it’s still early. I crane my neck for the hotel’s alarm clock and can see it’s not quite six. So, just another hour or so to burn.
Casey stirs in his sleep and I still, wondering if he’s waking. He’s not but his hand goes down the front of his boxer shorts and I track the movement. He tugs the waistband low enough that I can see the swollen head of his erection, pink and wet and oh-so mouthwatering. I just manage to restrain the whimper from coming out of my mouth. I just stare, wishing I could lean down and tongue his slit.
He shifts again, hand sliding up his shaft and swallowing my view as his waistband springs back up. Really, it’s for the best even as disappointment swells inside me.
This is not normal, right? It’s not normal for two ‘presumed’ straight guys to sleep together like this, is it? Not even any of my ex-boyfriends wanted to snuggle all night like Casey does. Has he just warped my views so much that this life is now my new normal?
When Casey shifts again, his firm erection brushes up against my thigh and he lets out a little whimper. I am literally about to die here like this. Like, literally die. The boys are going to walk in and find me dead because I have spontaneously combusted in my sleep.
I huff out a breath and slowly extract myself out of Casey’s arms and limbs. I pause to make sure I haven’t woken him and then rush into the bathroom and turn on the shower.
I shouldn’t be surprised when Casey walks in a few minutes later, yawning sleepily and looking way too cute for six a.m. Fortunately, I’ve just taken care of business so I am able to act like his presence does not completely overwhelm me. He moves to the vanity to brush his teeth before casually turning to lean upagainst it, facing me while I pretend I am totally cool with being naked around him.
“You got anything you want to do today, Harry?” he asks around a mouthful of toothpaste.
“I’m happy with whatever you guys want to do,” I tell him as I tip my head back to wash the conditioner out of my hair.
“Sonny will no doubt want to do something thrill-seeking. You okay with that?”
“Sounds good to me,” I reply. Is it weird that I’ve already gotten used to him being in the room while I shower?
“Yeah? You a thrill-seeker, H?” He smiles around his toothbrush, way too much cuteness in that one vision.
“Not at all,” I assure him. “But it seems like something you should do on holiday, right?”
“Right,” he grins, turning to spit in the basin. He turns back around as I finish rinsing off. “Leave the taps on. I’ll jump in after you.”
Right. Okay. Yes, I can do that, no trouble at all. Except that means … yep, of course, Casey’s dropping his boxers to the floor, and now we’re both bloody naked and that’s just ratcheted the temperature in the room up to one hundred degrees. It’s like I’ve never seen a naked guy before as I awkwardly step out of the shower, squeezing past as he steps in right behind me, way too close, way too hot and way too naked.
Is it too late to switch rooms with Izak?
***
Casey was right about the day’s activities. Sonny is an adrenaline junkie and wants to cram as many thrills into the day as possible. We manage to talk him down to just doing the SkyPoint climb, the highest climbable tower in Australia which, incidentally,totally freaked Casey out. I ended up walking the final steps with his hand clutched tightly in mind, no complaints from me sadly.
The tower climb was followed by jet boating on the Gold Coast’s waterways which was really fun but left us all soaked in salty water. Casey’s white t-shirt clung to every curve and indent of his muscles afterwards which only added to the enjoyment of the day.
