Page 31 of Jacked
I bite the inside of my cheek.
Honestly, maybe homo?
I can’t say it though. Even as a joke. The words stick in my throat and instead I just laugh and punch his shoulder.
“Night, man,” I murmur, hoping I sound casual and not like my entire view of myself is shifting under my feet.
His lips twitch with a grin.
“Night, bro.”
AJ
Waking up to the sound of birds is a nice change of pace after my first month and a half in the city. Unfortunately, instead of lying here and appreciating the peacefulness of it, I have to deal with the fact that I’m playing big spoon to Slater’s little spoon. Hisbody is tucked up against mine, his ass pressed firmly against my morning wood, our skin sticky with sweat as if we’ve been cuddling like this for hours already. My arm is wrapped around him like he’s my favorite teddy bear.
“Shit,” I mutter, memories of last night flooding my mind like a tidal wave.
The two of us pressed up against each other, jerking our cocks, my nipples rubbing against his hard, smooth chest, our cum covering each other…
“Shit,” I whisper again, my heart in my throat and my cock swelling rapidly.
Slater grunts in his sleep, wiggling his hips to grind his bare ass against my dick. Shit, shit, shit. There’s not enough space in this tent to scramble away, but I do my best. I need to get out of here before the other guys wake up and see me crawling out of Slater’s tent. I’ll never hear the end of it. They’ll think we…
I swallow hard and shake my head.
It’s not like that, but they wouldn’t understand. It’s just guys being guys.
I gather up my clothes and unzip the flap. It’s still gray with not-quite morning light. The ground is soggy under my palms as I crawl out and then straighten up. To my horror, my gaze lands on Silas already sitting by the fire. All of our trash from last night is picked up and everyone else’s folding chairs are flipped upside down to dry, so I’m guessing he’s been up for a while.
My heart lodges itself in my throat. There’s really no good way to defend this, is there? Rushing out of Slater’s tent before dawn with my clothes in my hands, wearing nothing but a jockstrap. I wait for it—the teasing, the knowing smirk. My stomach twists and I hold my breath.
Silas nods at me, his face impassive, then scoots forward in his chair to poke at the fire.
“Morning. I’ve got instant coffee if you want some, and the fire should be hot enough to cook up some eggs and bacon soon.”
That’s it?
I open and close my mouth a few times, trying to recalibrate my response from the excuses I was just working on. My tent had a leak, my clothes were wet, it’s not what it looks like.
But that’s all he says. He doesn’t mention Slater. He doesn’t ask or tease or even smirk. He just tilts his head towards the tin of instant coffee and the portable kettle sitting next to the fire pit.
“Thanks,” I rasp. “I need to hang all my shit up to dry and figure out where the leak was coming from in my tent first, then I’ll come have some coffee.”
I tug my clothes on and Silas just nods.
While I’m sorting my shit out, Slater crawls out of his tent. He’s wearing fresh clothes and his hat is back on his head as usual. He blinks around with a dopey, half-asleep look on his face and Silas calls out the same morning greeting he gave me. Slater’s eyes linger on me for several seconds and I hold his gaze.
I know well enough by now that he’s not going to make it weird by mentioning what happened last night, but I still let out a relieved breath when he just nods and shuffles over to help himself to the instant coffee.
Everything is fine. Nothing has changed. I’m definitely not going to think about the feeling of his body last night or the way he whispered “Come”in the dark and, as if he had a direct line to my dick, Idid.
What happens in the woods stays in the woods, right?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
SLATER
I fidgetin my quiet office, tugging at my tie and then leaning back in my chair and tilting my head to stare up at the popcorn ceiling. I have about a dozen emails to answer and a whole to-do list of pointless bullshit to tackle, but it’s fucking impossible when all I can think about is AJ.
