Page 15 of Jacked (Gymbos #1)

CHAPTER TEN

SLATER

“Duuuuuuude, this is going to be so fucking fun.” I jump on AJ’s back and he grunts and stumbles, then laughs.

“If we don’t get rained out.” He looks out the window with a frown at the gray clouds hanging low in the sky while I toss my duffel bag on top of the small pile of camping gear near the door.

“Psh, what’s a little rain? That’s part of the fun of camping, being out in nature, experiencing the elements.” I squeeze his shoulders, noticing some knots in his muscles. He grunts again, almost a moan, and relaxes into my touch.

My stomach flutters and the electric heat I’ve started to associate with AJ fills my veins.

In the past two weeks, jerking off together has become an almost nightly routine before we turn in for bed and I’m fucking here for it.

We don’t talk about it, which is fine by me because I don’t have the first damn clue what I would say other than “jacking it together makes me come stupid hard, let’s keep doing it.

” It’s just a given. We cook dinner—mostly AJ cooks and I help and try not to fuck anything up too badly—then we throw on whatever game or highlights are on, and eventually our dicks are just out.

It’s so gloriously uncomplicated that the last thing I want to do is fuck it all up by mentioning the fluttery electric heat thing I’ve got going on.

“Fine. Don’t bitch to me if your tent leaks then.” He shrugs.

“Bro, it’s your tent. If you gave me a leaky one, I’m definitely going to force you to switch.”

“Oh hell no. You want to be ‘one with nature’ then you can get rained on.” He chuckles and I jump on him again.

I’ve seen this beast squat more than I weigh, but I guess I catch him off guard, because his knees buckle and before I even have time to react, we’re going down.

The surprise of taking him out has my chest tightening with hysterical laughter as his beefy body cushions my landing and I end up sprawled on top of him on the floor.

“Ow, you ass,” he mumbles, squirming under me.

“Alpha male supremacy,” I crow, pinning him down harder and cackling.

AJ bucks, laughing and grumbling as he tries to dislodge me.

I use my hips to hold him down, and in the scuffle my cock ends up pressed into the warm crevasse between his mountainous ass cheeks.

My breath catches and all the blood in my body rushes south.

He goes still underneath me for a second and then he arches his back and presses his ass harder against my now fully stiff cock.

A shuddering breath escapes me, fanning over the back of his neck.

The weirdest urge pulses in my gut, to drag my tongue over the skin there just to see what he tastes like.

I lower my face until my nose brushes against him and AJ lets out a quiet groan.

Does he want me to lick him? Fuck, this is so?—

A shrill buzz cuts through the moment like a hot knife. I scramble off of AJ, reaching into my shorts to adjust my still throbbing erection. He grunts again and pushes up onto his hands and knees. I offer him a hand, but he ignores it, avoiding eye contact as he gets to his feet.

“Sorry, dude. I didn’t think you’d buckle like that.” I pull my hat off and run my fingers through my hair with an apologetic chuckle.

The bulge in AJ’s shorts is just as noticeable as the one in mine.

“No worries.” He’s still avoiding eye contact as he adjusts his clothes, and his dick. “I’ve been tackled by dudes a hell of a lot bigger than you.”

The buzzer sounds again, and AJ gives me a flicker of a reassuring smile before going over to the intercom next to the door and pressing the button.

“We’ll be right down.”

“Cool.” Butch’s voice crackles back through the speaker.

There’s enough guilt weighing on me that I hustle over to scoop up as much of our shit as possible.

I’m not sure if carrying two tents, two rolled sleeping bags, and a couple of folding chairs just so he won’t have to is enough to make up for accidentally tackling him and then kind of, sort of humping him a little, but it’s a start.

AJ gives me a weird look, but he doesn’t try to take anything from me as I load up, strapping things to both shoulders and grabbing my duffel with my free hand.

The only thing left for him to carry is his own bag of clothes.

He does arch an eyebrow at me before pulling open the door without comment and waving me through.

The shit isn’t heavy, but it’s bulky and awkward as I bang my way down the stairs, the chairs bouncing against the wall with each step.

Butch is waiting right outside the door with his usual megawatt grin.

Parked on the street right behind him is a conversion van packed full of dudes, like a clown car for gym bros.

Dre hops out of the driver’s side and a dude I haven’t met before climbs out of the passenger seat. Whoever he is, he fits right in with the rest of these guys, all muscles and body hair, hitting me with a friendly smile in greeting.

“Hey, you must be Slater.” He extends a hand. “I’m Xeno, Dre’s better half.”

Andre snorts a laugh and rolls his eyes before going around to the back to open the trunk. “You mean my more annoying third?” he teases.

A petite guy with glasses and curly hair, who definitely does look out of place in this group, leans around Callan’s massive frame to look out at Xeno.

“You’re both my better thirds, so there’s no need to start bickering before we’re even out of the city,” he says placatingly, like he’s trying to keep a couple of toddlers from getting into a slap fight.

“Aw, come on, Ez, you love it when I push Dre’s buttons. It’s like foreplay.” Xeno winks and the little guy blushes.

“Hell yeah, let’s start the weekend with some foreplay.” Fender waggles his eyebrows at Ez.

Silas leans forward from the third row of seats and flicks Fender’s ear.

“Behave or I’ll let Dre fire you.”

“Hey, what the hell? He doesn’t really want to fire me, does he?”

Dre just sighs like he’s regretting every life choice that led him to this moment.

“There should be enough room for your stuff back here. Just… stack carefully,” he says, waving at the trunk.

“I’ll help,” Xeno offers. “I’m a Tetris champ.”

“Tetris champ?” Dre scoffs. “I’ve got the high score on our saved game.”

“Do you?” Xeno says, crowding Dre with a smirk. “You sure about that?”

I’m not gonna lie, the whole scene is… confusing.

The two of them posture and taunt each other in front of the open trunk for a minute, getting closer and closer, and the next thing I know, they’re hardcore making out right there in the street.

My mouth falls open and AJ makes a strangled noise that turns into a cough behind me.

Someone passing on the sidewalk wolf whistles, and Callan leans farther out of the van to wink at the guy before he disappears around the corner.

“Uh…” I look back at AJ and the poor guy is sweating bullets.

Callan hops out of the van since he’s in the seat closest to the door and strides over to yank the chair and sleeping bag off my shoulder while Butch takes the other side.

“Don’t mind them. They’re worse than bears during mating season. You’d think they’d be a little more sympathetic about the fact that the rest of us are stuck with our own hands after they put on a live porn show and give us all chubs.” Butch shakes his head.

“Excuse you, can you please refrain from discussing the hard-ons my boyfriends give you?” Ez tuts.

Butch smirks at him and gives him an exaggerated once-over now he’s not hidden behind Callan.

“Don’t worry, precious, I’ve still got plenty of attention to spare for you,” he purrs.

Ez blushes again and Silas chuckles from the back seat.

“I’m still hoping that camping is just a euphemism for an orgy.” Fender holds up crossed fingers on each hand.

“It’s not,” Callan says blandly.

I’m still trying to catch up to the fact that apparently every one of these dudes are gay and I somehow missed it these past couple of weeks as more sexually charged banter flies back and forth.

Butch and Callan manage to get our stuff to fit into the already overflowing trunk as Xeno and Dre untangle their tongues.

I glance back at AJ again and he looks just as dazed as I feel.

“You good, dude?” I ask quietly.

Maybe he didn’t realize they were all gay either?

It’s not a problem for me, but what if spending a weekend in the woods surrounded by gay dudes is too much for him?

The familiar urge to defend guys like this, guys like my brother and Nolan, rises, but there’s something else there too, something more anxious and urgent deep in my chest. The panic on AJ’s face melts into an awkward but reassuring smile after a second and he nods.

“I’m cool,” he says, nodding at me to go ahead and get in the van.

It’s technically a nine-seater, but given that most of these dudes are bulkier than average, it’s a bit of a tight squeeze once we’re all seated and the doors are closed.

The faint smell of gym socks and sweat hangs in the air, and Dre cranks up some classic rock on the radio as he pulls away from the curb.

Gay or not, I’m fucking stoked for a weekend of male bonding out in the great outdoors.

AJ

Okay, so they’re all gay. Not gonna lie, it took me a second to process, but it’s fine. I’m fine . Honestly, I’m more rattled by whatever the fuck that was back at the apartment right before we left. I can still feel the ghost of the shape of Slater’s cock pressed between my ass cheeks.

My stomach heats and squirms and I do my damnedest to push the thoughts away.

It was nothing. Who hasn’t gotten an adrenaline boner while roughhousing before?

It used to happen to me all the time when I was younger.

Sure, it hasn’t happened in years, but I also haven’t wrestled around with anyone in years either.

Fender leans over in his captain’s chair—I’d like to know who the fuck I can petition next time to get one of those instead of ending up squished into the back seat—and gives me a curious look.

“Alright, be for real now guys, we’re all just a bunch of gal pals here with nothing to hide.” He narrows his eyes and looks between Slater and me.

“Huh?” Slater cocks his head in confusion.

“We’re straight,” I say, trying not to sound defensive and trying really hard not to squirm in my seat as everyone else turns to look at us at the same time.

Fender’s face is blank for a half second, and then he throws his head back and brays with laughter.

“Hold the fuck up,” he says once he manages to get his cackling under control. Next to him, Butch unbuckles his seat belt and knee walks over to hug him.

“You’re the fuckup, right?” Butch says solemnly, and Fender falls into another fit of laughter.

“Dick,” he mutters, giving Butch the finger as he gets back into his seat. “No, seriously though, I’m trying to work out why in the hell a straight dude would even want to work at a gym smack dab in the middle of Boystown.”

Slater leans forward in his seat. “Okay, what the fuck is Boystown? My brother won’t tell me. Every time I ask he just starts laughing.”

Silas’s eyebrows shoot up and he pats Slater on the thigh. “Oh, you sweet summer child. You are too precious for this world, aren’t you?”

“For the love of fuck, somebody please just tell me,” Slater begs.

My attention zeroes in on Silas’s hand still resting casually on Slater’s thigh, and for some reason, it makes me unreasonably grumpy.

Like I want to reach over and make him move it.

I’m just being protective of my bestie, that’s all.

He doesn’t want that big oaf pawing at him.

Before I can do anything about it, Silas pulls his hand back on his own.

“Boystown is the nickname for the neighborhood. It’s the oldest recognized gay village in the States,” Butch explains.

“Oh.”

My stomach twists again and I huff out an involuntary laugh.

I feel like the universe is playing some kind of massive trick on me.

Somehow I ended up living in gayville and working at a gay gym without realizing it.

Maybe it was some higher power’s way of getting rid of the pit of anxiety in my stomach about gay shit. Like exposure therapy or something.

I glance over at Slater, who looks perfectly relaxed, my favorite big, dopey smile on his face. He’s as straight as I am and he doesn’t melt into Straight Dude Panic every time a guy checks him out. I can be more chill about it like he is. I’ll work on it if I have to.

These guys are all cool as hell. The fact that I didn’t even realize they were gay for the past month I’ve been working at Sweat is… Well, it kind of fucks with my head if I’m being honest. Maybe I’ve bought into the stereotypes too much.

Slater bumps his arm against mine and I glance over to see him looking at me, his eyebrows raised and a silent question in his eyes.

You good, Bro?

I nod and nudge him back.

I’m good .