Page 28 of Jacked
“I know.” I shrug him off and scoff. Just a naked dude, no big deal. It’s no different from being in a locker room. I let out a breath and adjust my gaze to its normal level.
Xeno isn’t the only one casually shedding his clothes. The mention of swimming was some kind of call to action for everyone to drop trou, apparently.
“What’s the problem, Ajax?” Butch asks. There isn’t any teasing in his tone. He sounds genuinely open and curious.
“Are you worried that the sight of your naked body is going to send us into a gay frenzy?” Fender asks, straddling the line between deadpan and mocking with just the slightest air of challenge.
“No,” I scoff.
Genuinely, that hadn’t even crossed my mind. Honestly, I can’t say what exactly has my stomach twisting itself into knots. All I know is I feel like I’ve chugged several energy drinks in a row—jittery and a little nauseous.
“You coming, Slatester?” Butch asks.
Slater squeezes my shoulder one more time before dropping his hand and nodding.
“Sure, why the hell not? You’ve gotta come up with a better nickname than that though. Slatester? Really?” He shoves his shorts down just like everyone else and kicks them off. He strides over to his tent to toss them inside and my attention snags on the way his jockstrap frames his peachy ass cheeks. I’ve seen his dick about a dozen times now, but this is the first time seeing this angle.
I swallow hard and look away again.
“Hey.” A softer voice comes from my other side. I look over to see Ezra standing there in a pair of lacy red underwear, his glasses, and nothing else. “If you’re worried about… anything… the water is usually pretty cold, so stuff, uh,like thatshouldn’t be a problem.” He says it so quietly that I don’t think anyone else hears him. My heart beats faster and I don’t know if I’m following exactly what he’s getting at, but it calms some deeper, subconscious part of my brain anyway.
I nod and let out a breath.
Just dudes going swimming. No big deal.
SLATER
“Holy shit,” I yelp, wading waist deep into the chilly water. “My balls are officially inside of my body.”
Fender cackles and splashes me.
“Dick.” I splash him right back.
“What? The fastest way to adjust to the cold water is full immersion,” he says, before launching himself at me and dunking me under the water.
I sputter and laugh, returning the favor by shoving him under as soon as I get the chance. There was a half second when everyone was getting naked that I thought it might feel a little weird to go skinny dipping with a bunch of guys—gay or not—but once you’re in the water, there’s really no difference anyway.
The sound of a cracking twig draws my attention and I turn to see AJ coming through the trees as naked as the day he was born. I’ve seen each individual part of him bare, but there’s something about him standing totally, completely ass naked in broad daylight that I just can’t tear my eyes away from. Maybe it’s the fact that this absolute beefcake with his glorious pecs and skull-crushing thighs, hair in all the right places, just a hint of a golden tan on every one of his bulging muscles, stands on the edge of the lake lookingshy. Jesus, why is that fucking adorable?
“Oh lawd, someone stop me before I catcall that poor straight man and send him into a proper gay panic,” Fender mutters.
Butch helps him out by shoving Fender’s head under the water again. He’s lucky Butch beat me to it because some weird protective urge might have convinced me to hold him down there an extra few seconds just to teach him a lesson about ogling AJ.
“Cannonball,” Callan shouts in encouragement.
The nervousness on AJ’s face settles and he jogs down the short dock, his cock slapping between his thighs and his balls bouncing—and here I was just a few seconds ago wanting todrown Fender for ogling him. Hi, it’s me, I’m the hypocrite—and cannonballs into the water.
“Shit, that’s cold,” he gasps when he surfaces.
“This is where we separate the men from the boys.” Xeno lets out an evil laugh.
“Oh my god, I think something just touched my leg,” Ez gasps.
“Relax, it’s probably just a fish,” Dre assures him.
“Or a snake.” Fender shrugs.
Ezra shrieks and scrambles for the shore.
