“The Red Zone?”
“It’s on the far end. Trust me, you’ll know it when you see it.”
With a wink, he turns and walks off, flip-flops slapping against the tile. That’s when I catch the enormous tattoo spanning his entire back—a bird, wings spread wide, talons out.
A hawk.
5
TOBY
“Man, that lady had a lot of questions,” a familiar voice echoes through the locker room. “Thought she was gonna quiz me on the history of the place or something.”
Diesel walks in, his trademark red snapback pulled low over his forehead, with Cole and Omar right behind him.
“For real,” Cole agrees. “She kept calling me ‘sweetie’ and ‘sugar.’ Like, damn. Is this a sauna or a candy shop?”
They stop when they see me already in my towel.
“Well, well, well,” Diesel grins. “Look who’s all settled in. Someone’s eager.”
“You know me. Always punctual.”
We do the usual round of bro hugs, slapping each other on the back. I step aside as they scan the rows of lockers, looking for empty ones.
Diesel finds one near mine and tosses his snapback inside.
“Just throw everything in mine,” he says, gesturing to the locker. “No point getting four different ones. We’re sticking together anyway, right?”
“Yeah, makes sense,” Omar says, putting his wallet and car keys next to Diesel’s snapback. He pulls off his sweatshirt, andhis dark skin looks almost golden under the amber lighting. “I gotta say, this place looks way better than I thought it would.”
“Yeah. Definitely fancier than I expected,” I say.
Cole yanks his shirt over his head, his thick muscles rippling. “So what are the actual rules here? For this challenge?”
“Easy,” Diesel says, dropping his shorts and kicking them into the locker. He’s not wearing any underwear, and his cock swings free. “First guy to bail loses.”
I’ve seen Diesel naked plenty of times after games, but something about being in a gay bathhouse makes me notice things differently. Like how his pubes are neatly trimmed. The smoothness of his balls. The thick vein running along his shaft.
I force myself to look away. It seems weird to check out my friend’s junk.
But then I realize I’m not the only one looking. A couple of guys near the showers are watching us too. One of them, an older dude with a silver beard, doesn’t even try to hide it. His eyes roam freely over our exposed bodies.
My teammates don’t seem to notice—or maybe they’re pretending not to.
Cole pulls down his sweats, exposing the round curve of his butt, before he wraps a towel around his waist. “Guess I’ll just post up in the pool for hours and wait this thing out. If anyone tries to talk to me, I’ll just say I don’t speak English.”
“Smart plan,” Omar says, unbuckling his belt.
“Yeah, but talking’s not really required here, is it?” Diesel says with a wink. “Pretty sure the guys here communicate in other ways.”
Cole pauses, his hands on his towel. “What do you mean?”
“I mean eye contact. Body language. You know, the universal language of ‘I want to fuck you.’”
Omar shakes his head. “Jesus, Diesel.”
“What? I’m just saying. We’re in Lumen. That’s what happens here. We need to be prepared for that shit.”
