Chapter 26
Marty
Though we both want to be out and open with the guys, we manage another week because our surprise is just too good.
The following Friday, we’re at the final TaskFrat Challenge of the year.
Tonight’s challenge is an obstacle course on the Peach State football field, which we always secure for the final.
It’s a beautiful, warm April evening, which is perfect weather for the skimpy outfits we’re in.
Alpha Theta Mu selected G-strings and crop tops to pay homage to the prank Sigma Alpha pulled on us at the start of last semester, while Sigma Alpha wears the lingerie from when we got them back.
The stadium is packed, far beyond the usual frats and sorority attendees we’re used to, which is why we always have to make sure this is like the Olympics of fratting.
There are beer-pong tables set up at the start, where one of our housemates represents Alpha Theta Mu.
Each frat has to sink a pong into a Solo cup to proceed to the next part and tag their teammate.
Our house makes its way through the series of tasks involving Hula-Hoops, a blindfolded potato-sack race, and a sound meter to determine whether the guys have barked at the right decibel.
Lance and I stand alongside one another on the track around the football field, at the second to last obstacle.
Pairs representing each house are lined up alongside us as we all wait for our teammates to reach us so we can begin our task.
As Payton approaches from his task, he passes a condom he had to fill with water so that it looks like a water balloon.
I catch it, and quickly realize it’s doused in lube, which is gonna make this a tricky task.
Ty and Ryan have already handed off their condom, so they’re a few feet ahead of us in their own lane.
“Come on, come on, come on,” Lance urges.
“Not helping,” I assure him, passing it to him.
We’re not allowed to hold it for more than five seconds—if we do, we’ll have to restart this task—so Lance and I continue passing the slippery water-filled condom between us.
This is the second to last task, and we need to get past the slip-’n-slide and hand it off to Ash, who’ll take it to the finish line.
I sneak a glance to where Ash is waiting on us, waving his hands over his head to flag us down. If we don’t succeed, Sigma Alpha will, and win not only today, but the year. And Lance sure as fuck isn’t having that.
En route to the slip-’n-slide, an idea springs to mind. If he can get some lubrication on himself, he might be able to zip right through the slip-’n-slide.
“Wipe some of the lube on yourself,” I tell Lance.
“Huh?”
He assesses the situation before his eyes widen as he catches on. “Good idea.”
After passing me the condom, he rubs his hands up and down his body.
We swap a few more times before Ty’s already diving onto the slip-’n-slide, which leads to Keegan, who waits for him at the end.
Fortunately, we’re right behind them, and I’m hoping this will give us an advantage when Lance takes his dive.
As soon as he hits the plastic cover, he goes blazing past Ty, and he’s practically shot out the other side like a cannonball.
“Ash, Ash, Ash!” I hear him call as he somehow manages to toss it right to our buddy.
Ash fumbles with the condom, earning oohs from the crowd, but quickly recovers and spins around a moment before Ty passes his condom to Keegan. It’s the narrow lead we need as Ash rushes through the finish line only a few seconds before Keegan.
It’s done!
Alpha Theta Mu has reclaimed our title for the TaskFrat Challenge, and the frat goes wild as the audience cheers from the stadium seats.
We really fucking did it!
I catch my breath as I jog over to Lance, who Ty raced to right after he got out of the slide. When Ty reaches his man, he helps him back onto his feet.
“You wild fuck,” Ty says. “Do anything to beat my ass, wouldn’t you?”
“Damn right,” Lance tells him, though he still seems a little out of it from his turbulent slip-’n-slide ride.
That’s my buddy.
“Nice one,” I hear beside me as Ryan approaches, looking sexy as hell in the lingerie I picked out for him last semester, the lace tight against his hips, teasing by barely covering that beautiful V that emphasizes his bulge—which the guys still don’t realize I’ve become all-too-familiar with.
Ryan smirks as he offers me a firm handshake.
Makes me think of all the other things I know he can do with that hand.
And also how sneaky we’re being tonight.
As much as I want to surprise the guys, it sucks that we can’t grab each other right here and enjoy a few kisses, but I remind myself it’ll be worth it.
“You sexy little jerk,” Ty tells Lance. My Alpha Theta Mu president barely has time to react before Ty squats down, lifts him, and takes kisses. He shoves him up against the partition before the stadium seating, and they’re going at it like dogs.
“Guess despite appearances,” Ryan says, “it didn’t kill Ty to lose to Lance this year.”
We share a laugh, sneaking each other a look, because we’re both happy that our guys have so much fun together.
I regroup with Alpha Theta Mu to celebrate our victory before heading toward the stadium seating.
I head up the steps to Aiden, who came to see the challenge.
In all four years at Peach State, he’s never missed a final.
Although, he had to get me back after I had to see his weird-ass play a few weeks earlier.
He’s got a huge-ass grin spread across his face, and I can tell he’s proud. He knows how much these challenges mean to Alpha Theta Mu.
“Big bro kicked some ass tonight,” he says as I give him a great big hug.
“Thanks for coming.”
“You know I wouldn’t have missed this for anything.”
True. Though this year I was a little worried, considering he hasn’t been the easiest to keep in touch with.
I hear some huffing behind me and turn to see Ryan jogging over in the sexy lingerie.
“Hey, I don’t think we’ve officially met. I’m Ryan.”
Ryan has seen him at some of the challenges, but given that we weren’t exactly on great terms until this semester, didn’t actually have a reason to make an introduction.
“You’re Sigma Alpha trash?” Aiden asks, clearly trying to give him the much-needed hell that is expected of him.
“You’re a real Alpha Theta Mu in training, huh?” Ryan says with a grin.
“Just looking out for my bro. Nice panties, by the way.”
“Aw, this old thing?” Ryan jokes.
They chat some as we wrap things up before returning to Alpha Theta Mu.
Aiden is sticking around for the formal tonight, and he brought a change of clothes.
So we all make a quick change into our formal suits, then head to the party.
Even though we’re not out yet, that doesn’t keep Ryan or me from taking every opportunity to get a little too close…
caress the backs of our hands together. There are even a few moments when I can tell he wants to sneak a kiss.
I wouldn’t mind, but I’m glad we’re saving it for our big reveal.
We take our time, navigating our friend groups.
Aiden knows most of the guys, so he catches up with everyone, and once the place is packed, I head over to the DJ booth, where Lance, Ty, Ash, and Colin are hanging.
“Hey, mind if I get in on the set list?” I ask.
Lance shrugs.
“You’re gonna hate me for, like, a minute, but you gotta trust me.”
“Now I’m offended you think I wouldn’t trust one of my own.”
He passes me his phone, and I input the next song.
“What are you putting on?” Ash asks suspiciously.
“You’ll have to wait and see.”
“I wanna know now.” Ash starts toward me like he’s gonna sneak a peek, so I tug the phone close to my chest.
“Uh-uh. You have to wait for it. Surprises are the best.”
“You and Ryan have been acting weird tonight,” Colin observes, his gaze narrow.
And fuck, have I already given us away?
“I’m not saying a damn thing.” I slip away from the DJ booth, since I have a feeling if I stick around too long, I’m gonna blab.
The guys seem to be respecting my wishes by not picking up the phone to see what’s coming. I head to the dance floor, where a bunch of fratbros and sorority sisters are enjoying a Megan Thee Stallion song, which assures me this is gonna make for a really awkward transition.
I’m kind of nervous when I see Ryan chatting with Keeg and Dax, his gaze on me.
He’s got that mischievous smirk playing across his lips, which he licks, like he’s thinking about what he has planned for me once we’re finished up for the night.
And I must admit, I’m feeling extra frisky after all that adrenaline the TaskFrat win pumped me up with.
When the song that’s playing comes to an end, it transitions to a tango, and the dance floor fills with audible groans while a few look around like they’re waiting for Lana Del Rey to start playing.
Ryan turns to his buddies and excuses himself before making his way to me.
I’m tempted to look back at the guys, see what their reaction is at the DJ table, or maybe try to find Aiden to see if he’s about to witness this, but I can’t take my eyes off Ryan. He looks so damn sexy in that suit. And I know he’s got his pomade to spike his hair in the front the way it is.
When he reaches me, I say, “Can I have this dance?”
“It’d be an honor.” He winks.
I didn’t realize how nervous I’d be about doing this in front of everyone, but it makes it easier that he’s here, and as usual, doesn’t give any fucks about what anyone else thinks.
We get into position.
“I’ll lead,” I say.
“I think I can handle it.”
“No, that’s how I learned it, so I feel like I’ll be better that way.”
He laughs. “Right.”
We begin the dance, and I use those moves I’ve picked up and shared with him throughout the semester, and this is a lot easier than when we were just starting together.
“Kind of wish we could pro it up right now,” I tell him. “Pull some moves that could really impress everyone.”
“Trust me, this is enough to impress most of the guys here. And you should be impressed—I haven’t stepped on your toes nearly as much as when we started.”
I laugh.
He hasn’t stepped on them at all for this, but, as I point out, “It’s early in the song.”
Ryan searches around. “Guess they don’t seem to mind us interrupting their dancing.”
“They’ll probably give us hell later anyway.”
“That’s what fratbros are for, right?”
Just then, his foot catches my toe, and I stumble.
So much for it being perfect.
But Ryan moves quickly, hooking his arm around my back, dipping me, and planting a fat kiss on my lips. He repositions his free hand under my thigh, pulling it off the ground to dip me even farther.
He’s such a phenomenal kisser, it’s easy to get lost in the moment…to forget we’re in public right now. But only for a moment before I hear the crowd losing their minds—hooting and hollering with excitement over our dance, like they did when we won the challenge earlier.
Our lips finally part, and Ryan gazes down at me with those gorgeous blue eyes, which have me under some kind of spell, in no small part due to the energy that he left coursing through my body.
“You’re really something, ya fucking party killer,” he says.
“Same to you, frathole.”
It reminds me of what feels like a lifetime ago, when we were at each other’s throats. When a night like tonight seemed impossible. When I was oblivious to how this frathole could make me feel so good.
He grins, practically glowing with the lights hanging around the dance floor, and he pulls me back to my feet.
We finally break away, scanning our audience that’s still cheering on our display.
“You little fuck,” I hear behind me, and as I turn, Lance throws his arms around me as Ty tackles Ryan and says, “You just had to upstage us, didn’t you, dude?” He means when he and his man came out last semester.
“You weren’t kidding about us needing a whiteboard, after all,” Colin chimes in as he approaches with Ash.
“How long has this been going on?” Lance demands to know.
“Pretty quickly after probation,” I reply.
“Oh, so he likes a bad boy?” Ash teases, which gets us all laughing.
Soon, we’ve got Dax, Keegan, Jaxon, Payton all joining in, offering up the support I expect from our guys.
“I guess you’re gonna be having a real fun summer at my place,” Dax says, shooting us a pointed look like he’s imagining how much sex we’ll be having.
And I sure hope he’s right.
“Bro!”
I turn to see Aiden heading to the dance floor.
I knew my friends would be here for me, but tension knots in me because I’m wondering what he’s gonna think about all this.
When he nears, he gives me a nasty look, but then grins, and a wave of relief hits me.
A combination of opening up to my friends and to one of the most important guys in my life.
“We have a lot to catch up on, mister,” he says with a tone.
We really do.