28. Lucas #2
I floated over to the shallow end, and held my ears under the water, face up, relishing in the silence that came with it. A few minutes later, I felt a tap on my forehead. I must’ve drifted away a bit.
“Hey, bro.”
It was Ty. I stood up and turned, only to be reminded again that my teammates were fit as fuck.
As if they were shooting an Abercrombie catalog cover from the nineties - I had found my fair share on the internet - the twins and Ty looked stunning.
Ty’s hair was down and he was wearing bright purple swim trunks that left little to the imagination.
Graham wore white briefs, and Grant had black ones.
Their farmer’s tans left a kinky pattern on their bodies, and it was kind of hot.
“I’d say it worked. We must look good if Luke is speechless,” Graham said.
I smiled. “Well, yeah, guys. Damn. Kind of hard to miss those bulges.”
Ty laughed. “You’re taken. You’re not supposed to ogle other guys’ bulges.”
“You guys are like my brothers. I wasn’t ogling.”
“You were ogling,” Grant said. “And ew, if we’re your brothers, that’s incest, Luke.”
I splashed him. “That’s not what I meant, Grant, and you know it. How’d they get you in a Speedo, anyway?”
“What? You’ve seen me in one before.”
“That’s when I suggested it.”
“Well, Graham suggested it this time, and I still had this from our Andrew Christian haul.”
“And you brought it to Australia?”
“We did our research before coming here. It’s more accepted here, and we wanted to use what you gave us at some point.” Graham rescued his brother from my scrutiny.
“Yeah, these would not be common in Wisconsin.”
“I’d imagine so,” I said.
“Who’s that talking to Cam?” Graham interrupted.
My head whipped around.
“Easy killer,” Ty said, pushing Grant towards the pool.
The guys put their stuff down and jumped in, continuing to roughhouse, but I was cutting across the shallow end for a closer look.
Recognition dawned once his smooth, brown skin and the abs accompanying all the other muscles came into focus.
It was Declan Moore. I pushed myself out of the pool in dramatic fashion, knowing I was showing off my muscles and hoping my skimpy briefs would get Cam’s attention.
They did, and Declan’s too. “Twice in one day,” I said, grabbing a towel. “Aren’t you lucky?”
“Maybe you’re the lucky one?”
Cocky, son-of-a-bitch.
“You’ve met before?” Cam asked, raising an eyebrow at me.
“Yeah, at lunch. With Ty,” I added, seeing the lightbulb go off for Cam.
“Yeah, I recognized Cam from this morning on TV and was chatting about gymnastics...and stuff. Anyway, I don’t want to intrude or anything.
Nice talking to you, Cam. See you later, Luke.
A third time later, perhaps?” he said, flashing a killer smile.
I watched his ass retreat in what I could only describe as the world’s smallest board shorts.
“Protective much?” Cam asked.
I mockingly gasped. “Me?”
“You could’ve roared when you lifted yourself out of the pool, it would’ve scared him off faster.”
I smirked. “I was thinking of beating my chest like Tarzan, actually.”
Cam ignored me and continued, “It was hot - your jealousy - but he wasn’t flirting with me. He actually seemed interested in Tyler. He was asking questions about him.”
“Really?” I said, taking Declan’s place next to my boyfriend.
“Yeah, I guess Tyler made an impression on him. Whew,” Cam said, fanning himself. “He’s hot. Tyler’s a lucky man.”
“Hey.” I playfully slapped him.
“You clearly agree.” Cam shot back.
“Well, I do have eyes.”
“And a semi.”
“Maybe that’s because of you?”
“It better be.”
“Anyway, I told Ty to message him and see what happens.”
“Is he going to?”
I shrugged. “Not sure. I guess we’ll see if they notice each other here.”
But they didn’t. Every time we thought they were going to meet, something would draw their attention away from each other. Every time Ty got out of the pool, Declan got in, and vice versa. It was like they were planning their avoidance of each other.
“You know we can’t intervene. Tyler has to do this on his own. It may take some time,” Cam said.
“I know. I know. It’s just so hard to watch.”
“Pretty easy for me to watch,” Cam said, waggling his eyebrows.
I hit him with my towel, and he yelped. The twins and Ty came up, dripping wet, looking for towels. “You guys didn’t bring any?” I asked.
“There’s some over there by the bar,” I heard a familiar voice say.
Praise Jesus. It was Declan, walking by us. Again.
Damn it. Ty didn’t notice.
“I’ll get ‘em,” Grant said.
“We should get a group photo. I’m sure this many nipples has to equal a lot of likes, right?” Graham joked. “I’m still not on social media enough, according to Coach.”
“Aw, I’ll lend you my nipples for likes,” said Ty.
“How generous of you,” I said. “But who can take our picture?” I added loudly.
“I’ll do it.”
If it were a romantic comedy, it would’ve been in slow motion.
I watched Ty turn and recognize Declan, and damn, my boy gave him the classic up and down.
And it seemed like Declan liked what he saw as well.
Grant was back with the towels, tossing one each to the others.
Ty didn’t see it coming and it landed on his head.
That seemed to snap him back to reality.
“Twice in one day?” Declan said. “Aren’t I lucky?” And then he winked. He fucking winked! And that was my line.
Ty smiled and moved his towel in front of his crotch. Oh, this is great.
“Who’s phone am I using?”
“You can use mine,” I said, smiling.
“Sweet.”
“Should we pose?” Graham asked.
“Like how?” Grant asked.
“I don’t know. I’m bad at this stuff,” Graham answered.
Declan took over. “Cam and Luke, lay on those two chaise lounges. Graham, squat next to Cam, and Grant, sit next to Luke in the chair, but lean back. Ty, spread the towel on the ground between Cam and Luke. Graham and Grant grab those drinks next to you and hold them.”
“But they’re not ours.”
“Oh, you're only using them for a prop, it’ll be fine.”