“You had a safe phrase,” Gordy reminds me, his voice gruff and commanding, dragging me out of my epiphany. “You could have used it at any time.”
I huff out a breathy chuckle. “Yeah, well… I chose ‘spank me’ to be funny, not thinking that I’d actually have touseit. You couldn’t take iteasyon me, and not beat my virgin ass?” I roll away from him, and use seconds of his exasperated eye-roll to my advantage to try to smother my hard-on.
Some attractive, shirtless guy who was hammering away on the speed bag in the corner chokes on a laugh, and when he starts coughing, he narrowly misses getting hit in the face on the rebound. When he catches his breath, he admits, “Speaking from experience, thatwashim taking it easy on you. He pummels my ass worse than that on the regular. But it’s ok; I like it. Kind of like the student surpassing the teachings of the master.” Then, he winks at Gordy.
My brows shoot up to my hairline.
Oh… shit. Two things just simultaneously occurred here. A, my brain registered punching-bag guy asattractivetoo. So, it’s not just a Gordy thing. Two? Now I’ve got a mental image of the alternate meaning of saidass pummelingtaking place… between the two of them.
Make thatthreethings that just happened, actually. Because a riotous sensation bubbles up within me. One I absolutely refuse to acknowledge might be something akin to the little green monster known as jealousy right now.
“Micah,” Gordy grits out, his sharp jaw flexing. “Don’t feed into Wee-Waters’ immature bullshit by matching him innuendo-for-innuendo.”
The guy—Micah, I guess—raises his wrapped hands defensively and smirks at Gordy. “Your friend just teed it up so well, I couldn’t help but swing on it,” he snarks as Gordy stomps out to the main portion of the gym, towards the locker room. Then, Micah crosses the mat and helps me to my feet. With a clap on my sweaty back, he leans in and adds, “In all seriousness, you’re learning from one of the best. Take it as a compliment if he thinks you can take it.”
I nod. “He’s not one to hand out many.”
Micah chuckles. “That is certainly correct.” He stands there for a beat, taking me in. I momentarily wonder what he’s thinking as his eyes rake me up and down. Probably that I’m more out of shape than I thought, since this isn’t the type of physical labor I’m used to, and that fact alone is kicking my ass. “I’m Micah, by the way,” he says, his tongue darting out over his lower lip. “I own this place. I haven’t seen you around before, are you new in town?”
Briefly, all I can do is shake my head, because the muscle-bound guy standing before me is objectively good looking, and I can’t seem to figure out why I’monce againnoticing that about another guy all of a sudden.
Fuck. Do I havea thingfor muscleheads or something?
“Born and raised right here in Ternbay,” I reply, my voice gravelly from the dry mouth I’ve incurred. “I’m Gannett.”
His brows pinch. “That’s not a common name. Are you GannettWaters? If so, I’ve heard of you before…”
“Oh? Probably not good things, I’m sure.”
He chuckles. “Nah, nothing bad. You’re one of the local lobstermen, right? Wagner’s son?”
I nod. “That’s me.”
“Evan Waters’ brother, then,” he adds.
“Also true. Why, you know him?”
Micah shakes his head. “No. I knowofhim, yes, but we’ve never formally met. His coming out here in Ternbay did inspire me to be more open about my own sexuality, though. His admission changed the climate around town a bit. I think truly seeing one of their own come out as gay has enlightened some folks around here to be more accepting.”
I nod. “Certainly enlightened me. I’ll admit, I was pretty ignorant back in the day, but like you said, it used to be the climate around here. I’m glad to see the tides turning, even though he did kind of shit and split.”
Micah grins. “So, I know all this about your family, but I don’t knowyou. Would you be open to changing that? Say, maybe go out for drinks or something? That is, if you’re single.”
“Oh, uh… I am single, yes,” I stammer, not knowing how to respond, since this sounds like he just asked me out. “I just don’t drink anymore. Trying to quit, actually.”
Micah’s grin turns into a full-on megawatt smile. “Oh, well that’s awesome! Good for you for bettering yourself! Dinner, then?” he peers at me, biting his lip. “You pick the place and it’ll be my treat, come on,” he teases. “What’s one date? I’ve lived here for a half-dozen years now, and I still feel like an outsider…”
“I’ve, uhm, never been on a date with a guy before,” I warily admit, my cheeks heating. Not really looking to date either, just looking to see who Blackbeard’s interested in plundering these days, but being put on the spot like this, I don’t exactly get that part out.
He looks startled. “Oh. I uh—I’m sorry. I just assumed you were—I mean, you were checking me out earlier, and it lookedlike you were flirting with Gordy. Which, no offense, is like putting the moves on a brick wall. Trust me. I’ve tried.” He chuckles sheepishly.
What the hell is with everyone thinking I’mflirtingwith Gordy? It’s calledfighting, helloooooo! We wereliterallyjust sparring! He’s not wrong about the brick wall bit, though. Getting Gordy to befriend me is proving to be a tougher mountain to climb than I’d originally thought…
Regardless, here’s my opening to tell Micah the truth. I’m only looking to conduct research for plundering purposes only. Micah is an attractive man, and Blackbeard is in agreement. “Well, so that’s the thing. I don’t really… know. Ya know, if I am, uhm, bisexual or whatever,” I confess.
There. Admission made. Kinda. I still left out the part about where I’ve sworn off relationships, but—it’s obvious by that statement that I’m just in it to test the waters, right?
Micah nods, while mouthingah. “Well, tell you what, I’m a good instructor. How about you take down my number—have you got your cell handy? That way, if you give my invite some thought and think you might be interested, you can shoot me a text and let me know. Sound fair?”
