“Including you?” I asked before I could stop myself or the edge to my voice.
“Not my type,” Matt saidwith a shrug. “Cool guy, though.”
“Looks like a J. Crew model with a happy trail,” Quinn added, making me growl as he echoes almost my exact same thoughts from the first time I met Perrin. Even Quinn’s eyes were laughing at me and I realized he is having way too much fun with this.
“Well, lucky for me, most of the Bear Valley queer population is already here,” I said.
“Exactly,” Quinn agreed, then gesturedto the beers he poured.
“You telling us to fuck off, bro?” Baylor asked,silentlylaughing almost too hard to get the words out.
“Yep,” I replied.
“We all know you got dibs, now take these out there, Jack. I’m not serving flat beer in my own damned house,” Quinn said. There is something in his voice I can’t quite place, like he is trying to tell me not to fuck it up, and maybe that’s exactly what he was doing. It wasn’t like it would be unwarranted advice.
Baylor said some more of our friends were due to come over, and he left to grab something from downstairs. On the way out he gave me a questioning look and I know I flushed under his scrutiny, but he said nothing, just nodding with caution.
I know Baylor is worried about me getting hurt. He always worries about those kinds of things.Baylor would have shot the same lookme if we were in a club if I left with someone. As the oldest two we often tried to take care of everyone, but it was almost as if he worried about relationships with me specifically, because he knew I didn’t worry about it for myself.
Why should I? I never put myself out there far enough to get hurt. Cue disaster with Bryan. I got cheated on, sure. But was Ihurt? Not in the way it seemed I should have been.
I think Baylor letme believe the lie I used to tell myself, that I didn’t need a relationship or want one. Somehow, Baylor wedged the idea that someday Imightinto my head just enough to hold that space open. Like he knew someday I would need it.
When I made my way out to the deck, Perrin had his head tilted back in the water, with the rough water from the jets hiding almost all of the rest of his body.Onhis face was another look of bliss, not unlike the one I had captured at the mountain, but different somehow.
He looked like a lion, basking in the sun.
Perrin
I knew itwasJack in the hot tub with me without even looking up. I was so attuned to him, so fucking hot for him, that of course I knew. Not that his other brothers weren't attractive, but it wasn’t the same. Not even close. I could appreciatethembeing eye candy and not have to worry about keeping my dick in my pants. But, no matter how I might have tried to deny it, there was just something about Jack that completely captured my attention.
Part of me can’t believe this was my life all of a sudden, post private ski in a hot tub with a great group of new friends, and a hot guy next to me.
I looked up at him with a smile, and he handed me a tall metal pilsner of cold beer.My eyes slid over him one more time, confirming that yes, Jack Mann had a barbell piercing in one nipple, just like I thought I saw earlier.
“Shit, Jack,” I said laughing and taking the beer. “Am I dead? This day has been absolutely fucking perfect.” I took a sip of the beer. I guessed Quinn brewed it himself, but what did I know. Today, Iwasjust along for the ride.
And what a day. It would be the kind to write home about, if I had anyone at home to write to. Or a place I really called home.
“Definitely a great day, P,” Jack agreed. “But, it’s also kind of what we do on a routine basis. You will get used to it,” he said leaning back, not too far off from me. Not next to me, exactly, but not far away either. I loved the soft way he was with his family,how he is sweet and careful to the needs of those around him, but still the big brother - ready with a joke or a laugh or a look. Ready with whateverwasneeded.
But, I noticed a small wince when he sat, and Iwaswilling to bet it was his knee, where the brace was earlier. I was also willing to bet he isn’t used to being taken care of much. He was doing absolutely nothing to handle or even manage his own pain.
Sipping my beer in one hand, I reached for his leg with the other, gently tugging it over to me. His eyebrow rose in surprise as he rearranged himself to let me have his legs over my lap.
“You are hurting,” I said, running a hand down his leg, feeling the muscle and skin there. “And I told you I wanted my hands on you.”
Fuck, he made me hard just touching his leg muscles. Not that I wasn’t in a state of arousal since we kissed. I focused on his legs, where the muscles are lean and carved in, the kind that are usedeverydayby someone who knows how to take care of their body. It made his inattention to his injury stand out. The muscles run long and hard under the delightful tickle of the hair on his leg.
Thank god for the jets.
His eyes are dark and heavy as I touch his leg. I could tell that he isn’t used to it, and that he was a little unsure. But, he was also physically exhausted, and the hot waterwasgetting to him. I started to work the muscles carefully below the knee - gently rolling the knot, using the warm water to help relax them.
“Jack?” I asked. He didn’tanswer, but madea low noise of contentment that mademy dicktake notice. There could have been words there too, but I couldn’t make them out. Regardless, he looked sexy as fuck with his head thrown back like that.
“Did you know,” I continued, searching for the big knot I knew would be there, bundling all the others together, “that the anticipation of pain is worse than pain itself?”
I saw the confusion cross his face,becausenothing my hand was doing was painful, but the knots in his musclewere exactly where I thought they would be under his knee, and they had been there for some time. It was a good guess that it was because whatever ignorant fucker that had tried to touch them before had made this hurt. If someone wasn’t careful, this would hurt a lot, done wrong or too fast. Maybe Jack just lived with the pain.
