31. Chapter 31 #4
“You sounded like one of those rubber chickens,” Beau breathed as laughter shook his foundation, the kind of laughter that wasn't going to stop. The kind that cleansed.
***
Beau's laugh washed over Colt, rusty and raw and real, and Colt couldn't move.
Beau had smile lines around his mouth, crow's feet that deepened as his laugh did, and he was beautiful.
Just fucking stunning as he lost his shit over Colt being an idiot like it was something he liked, something that made him happy.
Colt flushed, heat crawling up his chest to his neck as Beau wiped tears from his eyes, and he was being so goddamn obvious. He did not give a flying fuck.
He’d done that.
Had pushed, and poked, and been his most chaotic self, and Beau looked like he hadn’t laughed like this in years. And Colt was slipping. Dangerous, dangerous territory, watching a man who could hardly admit to being his friend laugh and feeling like his heart was being strangled.
Beau’s laughs turned to chuckles, and Colt pulled the waterweed off his face.
It plopped into the water, and he schooled his expression into something a little less pathetic before dropping back down to cool his warm skin in the lake.
Then—because he was restless and kind of wanted to see Beau laugh again—he swam up to Beau and popped up in front of him, cupping a handful of water and tossing it over Beau’s head as he broke the surface.
“Throw me again.” Colt flopped onto his back and floated, squinting to see Beau against the bright sky. “Unless doing it the first time hurt your back. Or your hips? Do you have a life alert button I should know about, or—”
Thick, strong arms wrapped around him—one behind his back, the other under his knees—and then Colt yelped as Beau let him fly. He hit the water hard, and when he came up, he was laughing again. Beau tackled him, and he sucked water up his nose as he went under.
“Oh, that’s how you wanna play.” Colt stuck his tongue between his teeth when they came up for air, rubbing his stinging nose. Beau was grinning, and Colt was buzzing. “Alright. Bet.”
Colt slipped back under the water and tried to take Beau's legs out, but Beau reached in and snatched him out.
He tossed him in again like Colt weighed nothing, and Colt knew he'd be thinking about nothing but being manhandled like this for the foreseeable future.
That, and built pecs over a perfectly squishy tummy, all dusted with hair. Fuck.
Now, though, he had a mission. Instead of trying for the legs again, Colt popped out of the surface just out of reach, waited for Beau to try to get him, then did it again.
One more time, and Beau was having to stand on his tiptoes to keep his head above water.
Colt seized his opportunity, jumped on Beau's back, and shouted a victory crow that zipped back to him through the clearing as Beau finally went under.
They played like sixteen-year-olds until the sun began to soften, washing the water in deepening orange. Colt was breathing hard, draped across Beau's back, when he waved his hand in the air like he had a flag and groaned. “I give up. You win. Jesus fuck, Beau, you're a machine.”
“You need a life alert button?” Beau asked as he relaxed and started treading water with Colt on his back like a hot koala.
“Oh, and petty, too,” Colt sighed. He patted Beau's chest. “Proud of you.”
“You're an ass.” Beau squeezed his ankle and looked up at the waterfalls. “Come on, now. Let's take a climb.”
“A climb?” Colt glanced up at the rocks and groaned, dropping his forehead against Beau’s hair. “I'm gonna die.”
“You're young. You can take it.” Beau grabbed both of Colt’s ankles and tried to dislodge him. “Go on, start swimming.”
“Nah, you gotta tow me to shore.” He settled more comfortably against Beau’s back and pointed toward the rocks. “Away!”
Beau chuckled, and Colt had about one second of thinking he'd won before Beau launched himself backward.
Colt lost his grip, and by the time he'd righted himself, Beau was twenty feet away, swimming backward and laughing at him.
Colt followed, and they pulled themselves up onto the rocks, dripping wet and freezing in the late afternoon breeze.
He peered up at the rocks, a stack of different sized reddish boulders that looked mostly easy to climb.
Easy for Beau, of course, who was already pulling himself up onto the first one.
His muscles flexed and shifted as he moved, thrown into sharp shadows by the quiet light.
They made it to the top, where they stood in a small bowl filled with water, and the view was spectacular.
The whole clearing was washed in a honey glow, the trees gently swaying in a breeze that kicked up the smell of warm rocks and pine.
Beau stepped up to the edge where the water was running off and turned back to Colt. “You trust me?”
Before Colt could answer, Beau bunched his legs and threw himself off the rock in a backflip. Colt gaped as Beau hit the water with a huge, loud splash. Then Colt shook his head, grinning as he ran and jumped right after him.