Chapter 5 #2
Riley peeled off his clothes, revealing his lean, compact frame—wiry rather than muscular, with a dancer's economy of movement. Unlike the others, his body was smooth. His cock was notably small when soft and his balls hung close to his body, two small plums in a tight sack that seemed perpetually contracted against the mountain chill. Now nude and in the water, Riley swam out to the deeper end, where the hot and cold currents mixed. He liked the feeling of everyone stripped down, the social rules dissolving, the tension between what you could see and what you’d been told not to look at.
Riley catalogued the group: Harper’s beautiful body; Jack’s swinging cock; Cole’s secretiveness and the aura that he could break a person without meaning to; Ethan’s hesitance, which was sexier than any of them realized.
Riley also noted that Jack never once took his eyes off Harper, while Ethan kept flicking his gaze to Cole, quickly, like a kid stealing glances at the sun. Cole, for his part, didn’t seem to notice anyone at all, but Riley knew better.
They all found space on the natural stone ledges beneath the water. The steam made everyone look a little blurred, like an oil painting with too much gloss.
After a few minutes of soaking, Harper asked, “Is it just me, or is this the most relaxed anyone has felt since day one?”
Riley agreed.
“Do you always shrink up this much in the water?” Jack asked, feigning concern as he eyed Ethan’s cock.
Ethan rolled his eyes. “I’m not here to impress you.”
“Let’s see what happens when it gets hard,” Harper mused, eyes unblinking. “Maybe it’s like one of those self-inflating mattresses.”
Ethan was gazing again at Cole’s cock and body—Riley caught it, and knew that Harper did, too.
She looked at Riley across the pool, raised her eyebrows, and Riley gave the smallest of nods followed by a grin, pleased to be in such company.
“For the record,” he said, “I’m here for the sexual tension. It makes the whole trip better.”
Ethan tried to laugh it off. “You guys are insane.”
The group quieted, letting the water do its work. For a while, all anyone could hear was the burble of the hot spring and the echo of water slapping against the stone.
Harper broke the silence, lowering herself deeper into the water so only her shoulders and tits were visible. “It’s kind of amazing, the way being naked strips everything down. All the pretending, all the shields. You just… are.”
Riley agreed. “It’s the only time anyone’s ever said anything profound with their tits out.”
Harper grinned. “I do my best work topless.”
Jack was staring, slack-jawed.
“Should I leave you two alone?” Riley asked.
But Jack’s eyes didn’t leave Harper, even when she flipped onto her back and let her breasts float. Riley admired the confidence—she was comfortable in her skin, in a way that made everyone else feel naked in more ways than one.
Riley found himself sitting closer to Ethan, side by side on the underwater ledge. He felt the heat radiating off Ethan’s thigh, the way their knees almost touched under the surface.
“You okay?” Riley asked, voice low enough that it didn’t carry.
Ethan nodded, but didn’t look at him. “It’s just a lot. I’m not used to… all of this.”
Riley got it. “You don’t have to be used to it. That’s the point.”
Ethan gave him a look, one Riley couldn’t decipher, but he saw relief in it, too.
Across the pool, Harper was teaching Jack how to float. She wrapped her arms around his chest, the way you’d do with a kid, and kept him steady as he tried to relax.
“You’re tense,” she said, loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Maybe if I had a pair of flotation devices like yours,” Jack retorted.
Riley whispered to Ethan, “He’s not wrong. They’re like two life rafts.”
Ethan snorted.
“Let’s fix that,” said Riley, climbing out of the pool.
The contrast of hot skin and cold air was a jolt, his small soft cock dangled proudly as he made his way to the food pack and uncorked a bottle of vodka Harper had stashed.
He poured generous shots for everyone, lined them up on the rock by the pool’s edge.
“Nudist rules,” Riley declared. “You drink, you answer a question. I’ll go first: Cole, what’s the dumbest thing you ever did on horseback?”
Cole took a shot, thought for a moment. “Raced my brother bareback around a frozen pond. First lap, he wiped out, so I tried to gloat. Slid straight off, landed balls-first on a tree stump.”
Jack cringed. “That’s why you’re so stoic.”
"My turn," said Harper. She aimed at Ethan. "When was the last time you did something that scared you?"
Ethan hesitated, then knocked back the shot. His throat worked as he swallowed, Adam's apple bobbing. "This trip, actually. I almost canceled three times before I got on the plane."
Harper tilted her head, water droplets sliding from her hair. "Why'd you come, then?"
Jack snorted. "That's a second question. Rules."
Ethan's eyes flicked to Cole for just a heartbeat. "Needed to find out if I could still surprise myself."
Riley’s turn. “Ask away,” he said.
Harper thought. “When did you first know you liked boys?”
“Now that I think back on things the signs were everywhere as early as second grade,” Riley said without pause.
“I tried to kiss Tommy Barrett at lunch. He bit me, so I tried girls for a while which went disastrous. After that I had a long internal battle of denying the signs and my true feelings but deep down I knew. By senior year I was accepting myself and by freshman year of college I was out, loud and proud. I then had the most degenerate college years you could imagine. It was heaven for a gay man like me.”
They went around a few more times, the questions getting bolder as the shots disappeared.
“Cole, ever done it in a barn?”
“Of course.” Deadpan, but his cheeks went a little pink.
Jack raised an eyebrow and asked, “Riley, would you ever go back to dating women?”
Riley smirked, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “Only if I could find one with a bigger cock than yours.”
The whole group laughed at that.
The vodka did its work. Bodies loosened, voices got louder, and the boundaries that once felt so firm started to blur. Riley caught Ethan staring at Cole’s chest more than once, and at one point, Ethan reached for a shot glass and his arm grazed Cole’s thigh. Neither of them moved away.
Riley let the moment hang. Sometimes, the best thing you could do was not say anything at all.
After the bottle was gone, they all drifted in the pool, lazy and limp, letting the hot water leech the tension from their bones. Riley stretched his legs, letting his knee rest against Ethan’s. It was nothing, but also everything.
He didn’t know how the rest of the trip would play out, or if Ethan and Cole would ever say what they really wanted. But for now, it was enough to just be here, naked, open, surrounded by people who knew exactly who he was and didn’t need him to change a thing.
The sun inched lower, shadows climbing the cliff walls. Harper floated face up, tits to the sky, content. Jack rested his chin on the ledge, gazing at her with rapt devotion. Cole, for once, looked relaxed.
And Ethan—he just sat, eyes half-closed, letting the water carry him.
“You good?” Riley asked again, softer.
Ethan didn’t answer right away. When he did, his voice was almost a whisper. “Yeah. I’m really good.”
Riley squeezed his knee, held it for a second longer than necessary, then let go. He watched the sun until it blurred his vision, the light refracting through the steam, turning everything gold.
If this was what it meant to be alive, Riley decided, he’d take it.
Even if he had to do it naked.
By the time the sun slipped behind the cliff rim, the pool’s spell started to break.
Harper climbed out first, unselfconscious as ever, water rolling down her ass in glistening streams. She snatched a towel, squeezed the bulk of her hair, and then stood with her arms crossed, letting her tits catch the golden hour.
Jack and Ethan lingered in the water, legs bumping under the surface. Cole, having dried off, was already fussing with the gear bags.
“Coming out, city boys?” Harper called, toweling her legs with brisk, practiced efficiency.
“I think you’re both just scared you’ll get stuck in the cold with your dicks out,” Riley said, over his shoulder. “I’m at peace with myself, but it’s a personal choice.”
Ethan glanced at Jack, who was blushing furiously.
“I’m only getting out if you promise not to stare,” Jack said, a little too earnest.
Riley grinned. “You wish.”
Ethan surfaced in and made for the rocks, shivering as the air closed in around them. Ethan grabbed his towel, huddling in it with the urgency of a man fleeing a crime scene.
It took less than thirty seconds for everyone to realize that Jack wasn’t leaving the water.
“Problem, Jack?” Harper asked, eyes glinting.
“I’m soaking up minerals,” Jack replied, keeping his lower half resolutely submerged. “It’s good for blood pressure and… stuff.”
Riley caught on instantly. “Sure, man. Happens to the best of us.”
Ethan smothered a laugh. “You can wait it out, but it’s probably not going down anytime soon.”
Jack shot him a look. “Says the guy hiding in a towel burrito.”
Riley waded in a little, put on his best deadpan. “If you want, I can walk in front of you for cover. Just don’t poke me in the back, okay? Or maybe do?”
Jack flipped him the bird. “It’s fine. Give me like two minutes.”
“Should we time it?” Harper joked.
They left him there, and went about pulling on boxers and shirts. The chill, after the soak, was like a slap. Riley loved it; it made every nerve fire at once.
Finally, Jack made his exit, hands clasped in front of his groin, which only made things more hilarious. His cock, half-erect and refusing to be ignored, jutted from between his fingers.
Harper gave a slow clap. “Not bad, Jack. Who would’ve guessed?”
Riley studied the whole package—Jack’s semi-hard-on, his feigned indifference, the way he flexed his ass as if the world might miss it otherwise.
The best part was the complete lack of shame.
Riley had always liked that in straight guys; they might not fuck other men, but they’d never say no to admiration.
When everyone was mostly decent, Harper perched on a boulder, legs splayed, still not bothering to cover up. “You ever notice how much men talk about cocks?” she mused, reaching for her trail mix. “Way more than women do.”
Jack, now in mesh shorts and a t-shirt, said, “Valid.”
“Please,” Riley said. “Most of it is just guys wondering if they’re normal.”
Ethan, wrapped in his towel, joined them. "It's not like there's a manual."
Harper tilted her head. "Men are so obsessed with size. It's the first thing you all wonder about each other."
Riley took a seat on the flattest rock, stretching his legs out in the last streaks of sun.
"There's no shame in being a grower. That's the beauty of it—you never know what you're getting.
Some guys look tiny soft but double in size.
Others triple." Riley grinned, dropping the towel to expose himself.
"Take me—not much to look at now, but give me five minutes with the right motivation and it's a whole different story. "
Harper looked him up and down, critical and appreciative at once. "Nice. Compact."
Ethan stared, then caught himself, gaze darting toward Cole before dropping to the ground. "Showers are overrated anyway."
Riley nodded his head in agreement. "The mystery is half the fun. Like Cole here—" he gestured toward the cowboy "—nobody knows what he's working with. Could be small, average, or hung like a horse."
Cole, hovering at the edge, finally joined the circle, sitting with his arms draped over his knees. "If you all put half as much effort into riding as you do into this, we'd make Glacier in two days."
Riley smiled at him. "Don't be shy, Cole. Everyone's been wondering what you're hiding in those Wranglers since day one."
The group erupted in laughter, even Ethan, who looked relieved to have the heat off him for a second.
But Riley could see the effect the talk had on Cole. His cheeks flushed, and he kept his hands knotted between his thighs. Maybe the cowboy was more self-conscious than he let on.
Jack nudged Ethan, hard. “Bet you ten bucks you can’t get through the next ride without staring at Walker’s junk.”
Ethan protested.
“It’s not a crime to look. Even I do it.” Harper said.
Cole shut the conversation down. “Let’s just get camp set. We’re staying here tonight.”
He got up, clearly done with the conversation, but not angry. Just... exposed.
They all started pitching tents, which was less euphemistic than it sounded. The spot by the spring had a flat strip of dirt under an overhang, perfect for a fire and five tents. Cole handled the logistics, as usual, barking orders with a twist of humor.
Jack and Ethan worked the stakes, Harper assembled the poles, and Riley scouted deadwood for a fire. The busywork calmed everyone down, or maybe just gave the conversation a new channel.
At dusk, they gathered around the fire. Harper did the honors, pouring bourbon into plastic cups. Jack claimed a log and started roasting marshmallows over the flames.
Riley sat next to Ethan, so close their thighs touched. They watched the fire for a while in silence.
“You ever feel like everyone’s waiting for you to fuck up?” Ethan asked, after a long beat.
“All the time,” Riley said. “Except I just do it, get it out of the way.”
Ethan managed a weak smile. “You make it look easy.”
“It’s not. I just don’t care anymore.”
They fell quiet, both staring into the orange and blue at the heart of the flames.
Harper launched into a story about her first trail job—something about getting stuck in a storm with a pair of German honeymooners who tried to dry-hump through their rain gear.
Jack shared a tale about a weekend in Cabo that nearly ended with him in a Mexican jail, but didn’t, thanks to a bribe and a box of Cuban cigars.
Cole listened, nodding along, but never really relaxed.
Eventually, as the fire burned down, Harper challenged them to a final round of “truth or dare,” but this time, the dares were all about honesty.
“Truth, Cole,” she said. “What’s the biggest thing you’re afraid of?”
Cole stared at the embers, then said, “Being the reason something goes wrong.”
It got quiet, but it was a good quiet. Riley felt the words settle over the camp, like an extra layer of warmth.
They drank more, talked more, and when the fire had faded, they turned in, one by one.
In the tent, Riley listened to the creaks and sighs of the forest, to the slow, deep breathing of the others. The day’s heat still buzzed in his muscles.
He closed his eyes and drifted off.