Chapter Ten
Brent woke to the sound of birds outside, opening his eyes to find Riley’s side of the bed empty. He reached out to touch the spot Riley had been sleeping in when he’d woken during the night and found it almost completely cold.
Riley had been up for a while, then.
There was no clock in the room, and Brent didn’t have the energy to remember where he’d left his phone. He didn’t really want to be reminded of the outside world right now. He wanted a break from all that.
Instead, he rolled out of bed and grabbed the sweatpants he’d brought with him out of his overnight bag, pulling them on. He’d packed light, since he figured Riley wouldn’t really care what he looked like or if he wore the same jeans for three days without washing them.
Brentwasglad now that he’d packed underwear that didn’t have any holes in it. He wanted Riley to see him in his underwear again.
After inspecting the house and throwing on a t-shirt to stave off the cold, Brent finally spotted Riley sitting out on the sand outside.
Naked.
In fifty-degree weather.
He wasn’t as surprised as he felt he should have been. He might have been more surprised if Riley was fully clothed and indoors.
The urge to be close to him, though,thatwas surprising. Brent wanted to go to him.
Even though it was cold and Riley was going to get himself arrested for indecent exposure if anyone came along.
At least if Brent went out there he’d have someone to hide behind.
Before he’d entirely decided on what he was going to do, Brent opened the front door of the cabin and headed over to where Riley was sitting, pausing to look up and down the beach.
Thankfully, he couldn’t see anyone else.
Most people probably didn’t do beaches in the fall.
Brent liked fall, though. Winter, too. He liked the bone-deep satisfaction of walking in from the cold and warming up by a heater—or ideally, a fireplace.
He didn’t so much like being outside naked, but he didn’t like being outside naked in summer, either. Riley was a lot braver than he was. If there was even achancesomeone Brent didn’t know might see him naked, Brent would have been mortified.
If it actuallyhappened, there was a non-zero chance that he’d drop dead from embarrassment.
Riley, on the other hand, had never been overly concerned. He didn’t intentionally run through town without any clothes on or anything, but he took risks Brent never would have.
He took alotof risks Brent never would have, not just in terms of casual nudity.
“What’re you doing out here?” Brent asked as he approached Riley, who was sitting with his legs crossed and his eyes closed.
Brent let his eyes trail down as far as the line of dark hair leading to Riley’s crotch, but no further. Riley wasn’t actually out here to be leered at, that much Brent was certain of.
“Meditating,” Riley responded without opening his eyes.
“Oh.”
Brent paused to look out at the ocean, watching waves crest and crash far out at sea. The sky was a mottled grey, not quite dark enough for a storm, but he wouldn’t have been surprised if it started raining.
It was colder out here than he’d expected, goosebumps springing up on his arms.
And yet there was Riley, perfectly comfortable sitting on wet sand without anything to protect him from the weather.
Maybe he needed to be more like Riley.
“Can I join you?” he asked. Might as well start now.
