Page 13 of Muscle Cub

There was a row of metal lockers like the kind found in a school hallway I hadn’t noticed before. Austin worked open a combination lock and peered into the locker while wondering aloud about the sweatshirt he liked to keep for golf-cart rides and long walks back to the employee bunkhouse. “Nope. No sign of it. Not even a T-shirt.” Something brightly colored fell out onto the concrete. “Whoops!” Chuckling, he snatched up the red jockstrap and stuffed it deep into the locker. “These boots are never gonna fit in here. I’ll just have to keep them with me. Don’t let me lose them or Gunner’ll kill me. No telling what they cost. I try to keep some flip-flops in here too, but I keep wearing them places.”

A bottle of spray sunscreen fell out with a clatter. He picked it up and held it under my nose. “Smell that? Lemony. That’s the expensive shit.” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “I snagged it from the lost and found.” He grinned in a way I suspected he knew was irresistibly charming. “Let’s go hang by the pool.”

6

Austin padded barefoot to the closest covered patio table, deposited the boots in a chair, and plopped down in another with an exaggerated sigh.

I took the seat closest to his and handed him his beer. Mine was a little warmer than I would’ve liked, but Austin made me nervous, and sipping it gave me something to do.

Steam rose from the pool’s surface, and silence stretched between us, long enough to make me uncomfortable. I didn’t know whether or not I should attempt more small talk about our lives or if he might fill it with more of his willfully unselfconscious chatter.

“Your buddies told me about you last night,” Austin said. Bluntness was definitely a key part of his communication style.

“Oh, really?”

“Well, Eric did. I don’t think Ben said much of anything.”

“That sounds accurate. At least I know you’re telling the truth. What was he saying?”

“Nothing bad. Just that they had a friend meeting up with them who was…” He paused, choosing his words carefully. “Looking to have a good time.”

I pretended to gag. “Looking to have a good time? Seriously? Please tell me you’re paraphrasing.”

“Maybe it was looking to get your groove on. Something like that. He kinda pimped you out.” He held my gaze, waiting for a reaction, his smile turning wicked. “Nothing wrong with it. You’ve definitely come to the right place.” I doubted Eric had offered much detail. Austin wouldn’t have enjoyed putting me on the spot this much if he thought it was a big deal to me. He was a shit-talking flirt, but he wasn’t a bully. He laughed. “I asked if you were hot.”

I opened my mouth to fish for a more direct compliment, but we were interrupted by loud laughter and footsteps on the gravel path.

Three men came around the corner of the bathhouse. One was a thin Black guy dressed in a gold metallic jockstrap and matching winged harness. If Austin’s costume devil persona had had minions, this guy would have been one of them. The other two wore matching red briefs, red muscle tees, red high-top sneakers, and the ubiquitous red plastic horned headbands. One had waxed his mustache into curled tips and his goatee into a point. They didn’t seem to have noticed us yet. They opened lockers and began peeling off their clothes.

The first golden devil walked right past us to grab towels that were draped over nearby lounge chairs, but he spotted us on his return and startled with a gasp. “Shit! I didn’t see y’all sitting there.” He covered his eyes and squinted at Austin. “Oh. It’s you!” He ducked beneath the canopy, and Austin rose to greet him with a hug. “We saw you leaving the Hole earlier, and we were like, ‘bitch ain’t even been on the dance floor for fifteen minutes and she’s already hooked up for the night.’ And you’re already out of costume, so this must be about to get serious.” He looked between us. “Or did it already?”

He studied me openly in that forward, hungry manner a lot of the men here displayed. Maybe it was alcohol that made them bold or knowing they were somewhere they didn’t have to hide who they were or what they wanted. Their barriers were down.

Austin gave me a wincing, apologetic smile over the guy’s shoulder. “We’re just hanging out.”

“Oooh, hanging out,” he purred like that was the most risqué and suggestive thing he’d ever heard. He quickly shifted to a friendly tone typically used when meeting someone for the first time. “I’m Jay, by the way.” He reached out to shake my hand.

“Paul,” I said, relieved by the normality of the gesture. For a moment there, I thought he might demand a hug from me too.

“And those two hookers over there are the Chrises.” The pair of red devils, now naked, waved in unison. Jay turned back to us and whispered, “Chris and Chris.” He rolled his eyes.

Austin chuckled. “One of those couples.”

“Don’t you know it.” Jay glanced over at his companions and said under his breath, “Also, hung and hung, in case you haven’t noticed.”

I had, but I willed myself not to look a second time.

Austin played along, giving them a slow once-over and clucking his tongue admiringly. He shot Jay a sly look. “You love to do a couple, don’t you?”

“Girl, couple my ass. I’m about to throuple up with them full-time.”

Austin’s eyebrows shot up. “For real?”

“Hell yes. This is our last test run before I move to Charlotte.”

“To live with them?”

“Mmmhmm.”