And – allowing my gaze to drop down for the very first time so I could check out his ass, then quickly looking away before he caught me – so was I.
Ace
If I was still worried about people staring at me, by the time we got to the pool, that thought was almost swept out of my head completely and replaced by another.
Because now… I was worried thatIwas going to be the one staring too much.
For a single gay man, this was almost too much to handle.
“Hey, Ace, Brody!” Keaton called out, waving us over. Our group seemed to have commandeered one full side of the pool: sun loungers where Keaton, Caleb, and Taeho were sitting, along with piles of towels and sliders and bottles of sunscreen, facing the water where Olly and most of his friends were already playing some kind of ball game. I couldn’t see Xavi, but that was probably for the best right now. I didn’t want to see him for a while.
It maybe hadn’t hit me until that moment that not only were we a group of young, physically fit, and attractive gay men – but we were also joined by literally half a former college football team, and even if some of them had faces I wouldn’t write home about, theyallclearly worked out.
I swallowed hard as I put a towel down on a lounger next to Keaton. Maybe I was going to have to get into the water just to try to cool off a little.
And, of course… there was Brody.
It was his fault for getting me worked up back in the hotel room in the first place. It was a blessing he’d been so stubborn about not looking down because if he had, he’d have seen the effect his praise had on me.
If that had happened, we might not have made it out of the room.
“What are we playing?” Brody asked, sitting down on the lounger next to mine. He was watching the guys in the pool with clear interest. I’d had him pegged as the type to sit out on the side for fear his hair would get wet – but maybe I’d gotten him wrong. It wouldn’t have been the first time this trip.
Keaton shuddered and shook his head. “Some kind of manly sports game,” he said with deliberately dramatic inflection. “They’re getting kind of competitive. I’d stay out here if I was you.”
“You coming in, Brody?” Olly shouted from the pool. He tended to get more verbal where sports were involved, unfortunately for Keaton. You couldn’t captain a football team without being able to shout out plays.
“Yeah,” Brody shouted back enthusiastically, immediately getting up and heading over. Rather than making a show of diving in, he quickly sat on the side and then slipped down into the water, as smooth as anything.
They’d invited him in, I realized. The atmosphere had changed. No wonder he wanted to bite Olly’s hand off as soon as he got an offer to be involved.
“Are you staying dry?” I asked Keaton. He was dressed in loose blue swim shorts, but he didn’t look like he was ready to get in the water anytime soon.
“Probably,” Keaton said. He thought about it for a minute. “I might get in the water to just splash around a bit. I don’t want to swim or play sports or anything.”
“Me, neither,” I said. Then I shrugged to myself. “Actually, maybe I’ll swim a bit.”
“I’ll come with you,” Xavi said.
I looked up. I hadn’t noticed him walking over. He was wearing baggy shorts and a loose shirt – a kind of athletic shirt with holes in the fabric that looked breathable, but he still didn’t exactly look ready for swimming.
I had to pause for a second. I hadn’t thought about Xavi like that – but he was short, maybe less prone to working out than the rest of us. He didn’t seem to have any shyness at all about sex, but… maybe that didn’t mean he couldn’t also have hangups about his body.
But also, that didn’t mean I had forgiven the messy bitch for last night and this morning.
“No, thanks,” I said coolly, standing up. “I’m going to do some proper laps. If there’s two of us, we’ll just get in each others’ way.”
I hadn’t intended to isolate myself – just to get away from Xavi – but somehow, that was what happened.
I swam alone for a few laps up and down, stopping short of what seemed like ‘the other half’ of the pool – where other guests of the hotel were enjoying the water. Some of them were casting bemused looks in our direction, probably because of the noise of the game – but since we were sticking to our own area, it seemed like no one could really complain.
After I’d worked out the kinks and loosened up with my laps, I paused near the end of the pool, deciding what to do. I found myself on one side of a net they were stretching over the water, apparently to allow them to play water volleyball.
“Hey, Ace, be on my team,” Olly called out, seeing me relaxing against the side. “We’re uneven.”
I glanced up, my eyes flicking over the groups on both sides of the net quickly. Aiden, Brody, and two of Olly’s friends were on the other side, making four. Near me and Olly, Aiden’s other two friends were waiting expectantly. Everyone else was over by the loungers. They really were uneven teams.
Fuck it, I thought.At least Xavi can’t bother me while I’m playing.
