Chapter 5
The evening light turns the living room gold, and I’m sprawled on the sofa with my feet in Nick’s lap and my head on Kieran’s thigh, and I have never felt more naked in my life. Which is saying something, since I’ve been naked for approximately twenty straight hours.
My ass is still sore. Good sore, announcing itself every time I shift my weight, but sore nonetheless. I wiggle my toes against Nick’s stomach and he bats my foot away without looking up from my phone.
“Stop that, I’m ordering a pizza.”
“We should order clothes,” Kieran says. His fingers are in my hair, working slow circles against my scalp, and I could fall asleep like this if I wasn’t so wired. “Like, actual clothes. That we can wear in public.”
Nick hands my phone to me, and I pull up a shopping app and start scrolling, glad all over again that Lilah didn’t take it.
“I’ll order some basics. Shirts, shorts, underwear. Next-day delivery.”
Kieran peers over my shoulder. “Thanks, man. I’ll pay you back. Get me a size large in everything.”
“I know your size,” I say without thinking, and his mouth curves.
“Good boy.”
The words hit low in my stomach, warm and familiar now, and my cock stirs against my thigh. One day ago those words would have made me confused. Now they make me want to crawl into his lap and beg.
I order three sets of everything practical: shorts, t-shirts, boxer briefs, flip flops.
Since we’re at the beach, I splurge on swim trunks for Nick and Kieran which are probably shorter than what they’d pick for themselves, and for me…
I scroll down to the skimpiest thong I’ve ever seen and click on it, biting my bottom lip.
Clicking on the slutty swimsuit sends me down a shopping rabbit hole, and I end up with a cart full of slutty options I can’t wait to model for Nick and Kieran. Just to see what they do, not because I’ve suddenly changed my entire style.
Though maybe it’s time to start exploring a style other than frat boy chic.
Grinning, I add a few more things to the cart, along with a sketchbook and a set of pencils to replace the ones Lilah took.
Why the hell not? My credit card gets paid every month by the trust, as long as I don’t exceed a certain limit, and what better time to test out my new identity than while on vacation?
“Done,” I say, closing the app. “They’ll be here tomorrow.”
“What’d you get?” Nick asks.
I grin. “A surprise.”
“Tell me.”
“Shorts, t-shirts and swim trunks for you. And for me, the kind of swimsuit a gay boy would wear.”
Kieran’s fingers stop moving in my hair. “What kind is that?”
I sit up, crossing my legs on the sofa, and my cock rests heavy against my thigh. “It’s a thong. A red one. With, like, absolutely nothing to the back of it.”
Nick’s hand connects with my ass in a sharp, stinging slap that makes me yelp and jump half a foot. “You are such a slut,” he says, but he’s grinning, his dimples deep. “I cannot wait to see that. The old ladies on the beach are going to have heart attacks.”
“Old ladies, plural? You think I’m going to wear it in public?”
“Why the fuck else would you buy it?”
“Maybe I just wanted to parade around in front of you two and see what you do!”
A knock at the front door stops all three of us dead. There is not one square inch of fabric between us and there is a stranger eight feet away holding our dinner.
Kieran doesn’t even get up. He just raises his voice toward the door. “Leave it on the porch, would you? We’re not decent.”
A beat of silence. Then a laugh, then footsteps going back down the steps.
“Please tell me you already paid,” I say.
“Card number when I ordered,” Nick says. “Tipped him, too.”
We eat it on the living room floor, naked, straight out of the box.
“We don’t have to wait for swim trunks to swim,” Nick says, sitting forward. His eyes are bright, the way they get when he’s about to suggest something stupid and perfect. “It’s dark. The house is right on the beach.”
“There are other houses, man,” Kieran says. “Someone might see us walking across the sand butt naked.”
“So we grab towels, wrap ’em around our waists,” Nick says. “We won’t drop them until we’re at the water’s edge. We’ll be in the water before anyone sees dick.”
I stare at him. “You want to streak?”
“Fuck, you are frat boys,” Kieran mutters, already standing, reaching for the towels from the shelf by the back door. “I’m in if you are.”
Nick pumps his fist in the air as he jumps to his feet. “Yes! Beach fun here we come.”
I sigh and stand. “Fine! I’m in.”
The three of us wrap towels around our hips and slip out the sliding door onto the porch.
The night air hits my skin, cool and salt-heavy, and the ocean is a black expanse beyond the dune, the sound of waves steady and inviting.
The beach is empty except for us, and I wonder if it’s technically closed after sundown.
“Ready?” Nick whispers.
“Go,” Kieran says.
We run.
The sand is cool under my feet, still holding the day’s warmth a few inches down.
My towel flaps around my thighs as I sprint, and Nick is ahead of me, his big body eating up the distance, and Kieran is right beside me, his tattooed chest gleaming in the faint light from the houses.
We hit the waterline and drop our towels in a synchronized pile, and then the ocean takes us.
The water is cool, but not cold. I plunge under a wave and come up gasping, salt in my mouth, my hair plastered to my forehead, and Nick is already howling with laughter, his arms flung wide, spinning in the waist-deep water.
“Fuck yes!” he shouts, and the sound carries across the empty beach. No one answers. The nearest house is dark, its windows blank, and knowing we’re alone out here, just us and the ocean and the vast forgiving dark, settles into my chest and stays there.
I splash Nick full in the face and he sputters, then lunges for me.
His arms lock around my waist and he lifts me clear off my feet, my legs dangling, and then we’re both going under.
The water closes over my head, bubbles rushing past my ears, and Nick’s body is warm and solid against mine.
We surface together, gasping, and I’m laughing so hard my stomach hurts.
Kieran wades over, his cock half-hard and bobbing in the water. He grabs Nick by the back of the neck and kisses him.
I stop laughing.
It’s the same kind of hungry, direct kiss Kieran gave me last night, and Nick makes a sound against his mouth that I’ve never heard from him before.
Low and surprised and wanting. Kieran’s hand slides from Nick’s neck to his chest, palm flat against the muscle, and Nick’s hand finds Kieran’s hip, fingers digging into the tattooed skin.
I watch them, wondering if I should be jealous. Instead, it feels like watching two parts of my world recognize each other.
Then Nick turns to me, water streaming down his face, his eyes dark, and he pulls me against his chest and kisses me too.
His mouth is warm and salt-wet, and his tongue pushes past my lips the way it did last night.
I melt into him, my hands finding his shoulders, his back, the solid bulk of him that I’ve known for years and am only now learning to want properly.
Kieran’s arms wrap around us both from behind, his chest pressed to my back, his mouth finding the side of my neck, and we stand there in the waist-deep water, the three of us tangled together, kissing and being kissed, and I think: this is it.
This is the thing I’ve been hungry for. Big, gorgeous male bodies, pressed close.
The most intimate thing I could imagine with my best friend, and the guy neither of us would have expected to want.
Nick’s hand slides down my stomach, underwater, and his fingers wrap around my cock. I’m hard, and his grip is firm and knowing. He strokes me slow, his thumb brushing the head where it breaks the surface with each wave, and I gasp against his mouth.
Kieran’s hand finds Nick’s cock too, I can feel it through the press of our bodies, the shift of his arm as he works him, and Nick groans into my mouth, his hips pushing forward into Kieran’s grip.
“Fuck,” Nick breathes against my lips. “This is—”
“I know,” I say.
The waves roll past us, hiding everything below the waist, and above the water we’re just three men holding each other in the dark.
Below the surface, Nick’s hand is on my cock and Kieran’s is on his.
My free hand finds Kieran’s thigh and works upward until I’m gripping him too, the thick heavy weight of him pulsing in my palm.
Nick’s hand leaves my cock and settles on the back of my head. His fingers tighten in my wet hair, and he pushes down, gentle but firm, moving us all until the water is a bit shallower, and I understand what he’s asking.
I sink to my knees in the sand, the water rising to my chest, and Nick and Kieran turn to face away from the shore.
Their bodies block any view from the houses, broad shoulders and bare backs, the muscular sweep of them standing hip to hip in the surf.
Their cocks emerge from the water with each receding wave, glistening in the faint light, hard and perfect and mine for the taking.
Nick looks down at me, his hand still in my hair, and his smile is the widest, most unguarded thing I’ve ever seen on his face. Surf splashes over my back, messing my hair, and Kieran brushes it off my forehead.
“Show us what that mouth can do,” Nick says.
I take Nick’s cock first because it’s right in front of me, thick and hard and bobbing slightly with each wave. My hand wraps around the base, hot even through the cool water, and I lean forward and take the head into my mouth.
My best friend, the person I care most about in the world, and now I can be this for him, too.
I moan at the clean, warm, saltwater taste of him, and his breath catches above me, a sharp ragged inhale that goes straight to my cock. I swirl my tongue around the crown, over the smooth ridge, the slit where he’s already leaking, and Nick’s hand tightens in my hair.