Page 39 of Jacked (Gymbos #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

SLATER

“Nervous?” AJ gives me a knowing smile as I look up from checking my phone for the third time in the past twenty minutes.

I cock my head and think about it. Am I nervous?

I definitely feel jittery and off kilter waiting for Cas and Nolan to get here.

But I think it’s less about nerves and more about my excitement and impatience to introduce them to AJ and see what it feels like to be not straight in front of people who have known me my whole life.

“More just eager to get to it, you know?” I say just as a text finally comes through from Nolan letting me know that they have their bags and they’ve just got into a taxi.

I feel bad not picking them up from the airport, but since I don’t have a car, it didn’t make a lot of sense for me to take a taxi or Uber there just to take one back to the apartment with them.

“I get it.” He puts his hand on my thigh and squeezes my leg reassuringly.

I toss my phone onto the coffee table and stretch my arm across the back of the couch, teasing my fingertips along the bare skin of AJ’s shoulder.

“Are you nervous to meet them?”

Over the past few weeks since our first date he’s seemed a lot more comfortable with himself, his sexuality, and what it all means about who he is as a man, but it’s been in the back of my mind that meeting my brother might bring up his fears about how his family will react.

“A little,” he admits. “I want them to like me.”

“They’ll like you.” I card my fingers through his hair, and he makes a pleased, rumbly sound and leans into my touch like a cat, just happy to get pet.

“You said they’re both artists. They’re going to peg me as a dumb jock in two seconds flat and decide I’m not good enough for you.”

I snort. “Uh, in case you missed it, I’m a dumb jock too.”

“But they already like you.”

“They’ll like you too,” I promise him again.

AJ grunts, either accepting my assurance or giving up arguing in favor of stewing in his nerves for a few more minutes.

I nuzzle the stubbled edge of his jaw and press a few kisses there to calm his worries.

Cas and Nolan aren’t like that, judging people and dismissing them, but AJ will find that out once he meets them.

He makes another contented purring noise in his throat and leans into me, turning his head and burying his nose in the tuft of blond hair in my armpit. His warm breath tickles and I choke out a half laugh, half moan, my cock swelling immediately.

“Dude, don’t give me a boner right before my brother gets here.” I squirm and playfully push his face away, grinding the heel of my other hand against my stiffening cock through my shorts.

“Sorry,” he murmurs, kissing my shoulder before working his way up to my neck with little nibbles and licks.

I squirm again, but tilt my head to give him more space.

How long will the cab ride from O’Hare take?

How long has it already been? I might just be in a gambling mood if he keeps up with those little moans in between each press of his lips.

Just as I’m about to suggest we see if we can break the record for world’s fastest blowjobs, the harsh sound of the buzzer blares through the apartment.

“Fuck.” I laugh, adjusting my now fully hard dick so it’s less obvious as I get up and hurry over to buzz them up.

Their footsteps thunder up the stairs, and I’m even more sure now that our neighbors hate us for racing each other up the stairs and generally being loud as fuck in the hallway. AJ hovers behind me, shifting his weight and fidgeting.

Cas and Nolan reach the top of the steps. I saw them right before I moved, but it feels like it’s been longer than just a couple of months. I’m hardly even the same person I was when we were all together last, and that’s some wild shit to think about.

Cas crashes into me first, dropping his bag right inside the door and tackling me in a hug.

He might be my younger brother, but he’s been bigger than me for years now, broad and sturdy in ways I’m not, just like AJ.

I’ve put on a lot more muscle since the last tackle hug though, thanks to my new trainer, so I manage to hold my ground, slapping his back and returning the ferocity of his squeeze.

Nolan is next, but we share more of a shoulder punching, hair mussing greeting like we have since we were kids.

I introduce them to AJ, and we all shuffle into the main part of the apartment, where we spend a few minutes talking about their flight and catching up.

“Are you guys hungry? I’ve got a leftover veggie bake from last night,” I offer.

Nolan eyes me skeptically and Cas wrinkles his nose.

“I made it.” AJ answers the unasked question with a chuckle, and both their expressions turn around instantly.

“You can’t possibly be a worse cook than Slater, right?” Cas says.

“Hey, I’m learning to cook,” I grumble.

“You’ve been doing a lot better,” AJ says, putting his hand on my shoulder and leaning in to brush a kiss to my cheek. It’s such a casual touch that it makes my heart race and my cheeks heat, a smile spreading rapidly across my face.

The soft look I catch in Nolan’s eyes and the flicker of a grin on Cas’s face are all the reassurance I need to know I was right. They don’t care if AJ is a nuclear physicist or the dumbest jock alive, they just want to see me happy.

“But, yes, the veggie bake is safe to eat.” I chuckle.

“ Or if you guys want to jump right into some fun since you’ll only be here a few days, we could head down to Hollywood Beach.

Some of the guys from AJ’s gym were planning to go this afternoon, soak up the heat, cook some burgers on a portable grill, and check out all the oiled-up eye candy. ” I wink.

“There’s a beach here?” Nolan arches an eyebrow at me.

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, in case you missed it, there’s a giant-ass lake. And it’s not just a beach. Hollywood Beach is a gay beach.” I waggle my eyebrows.

“This is so wild. It’s going to take a big mental adjustment to see Slater and think gay .” Nolan shakes his head.

“Bisexual,” I correct him, then shrug. “And it’s not so different, is it?”

“Honestly?” Cas tilts his head, assessing me.

“I always wondered if you were totally straight. I noticed the way your attention lingered on certain guys when we were teenagers, but then you never seemed like you were faking it with girlfriends either, so I just chalked it up to me projecting. But it’s not that much of a leap to recalibrate and see you as bi. ”

“Really? You noticed?” Unlike AJ, who’s had to unpack years of toxic bullshit, I’ve had a hard time wrapping my head around why it took me so long to realize my attraction to men.

I wasn’t in active denial about it, I just straight-up didn’t notice.

Hearing that my brother did is kind of a mind-fuck. “Why the hell didn’t you say anything?”

“Seriously? What would I have said? ‘Hey, I noticed you staring at that package of underwear with the half-naked beefcake on it for a really long time. Are you getting a boner over the dude or just having a hard time deciding between boxers or briefs?’”

I snort a laugh. “Yeah, that would’ve been perfect, actually.”

“Well, I’m sorry. Next time I notice latent sexual tendencies that you’re possibly in denial about, I’ll be sure to bring it to your attention.”

“I would appreciate that,” I say blandly.

“So, are we going to go to the gay beach and ogle hot guys?” Nolan asks with a toothy grin.

Cas glares at him playfully then pulls him into his arms. “You are way too eager to check out other guys,” he teases, biting down on his neck. Nolan squirms and laughs, wrestling him for a minute before they end up in a lip-lock.

Shifting their view of me to include my new sexuality might be a challenge for them, but I’m dealing with my own version of it. They’re not just my brother and my best friend anymore, they’re a couple. It’s definitely going to take some getting used to.

Once they break the kiss, I show them to my room where they’re going to stay and I leave them to get ready.

I already moved some of my clothes into AJ’s room for the weekend so I wouldn’t have to constantly barge in on them and risk seeing something that might cause me to need eye bleach and a match to torch my bed once they’re gone.

I slip into his room and find him bare-assed, in the middle of changing into his swim trunks for the beach.

I whistle playfully and give him a resounding slap on the ass.

His cheeks are fucking granite, they barely even jiggle, but I love the surprised grunt that vibrates in his throat and the heated look he throws me over his shoulder.

“You really want to start that with your brother in the next room?” he asks and I bite back a groan.

The answer is “always.” I always want to start shit with AJ.

I want to rile him up and make him smile.

I want to spend every waking second with my tongue down his throat and our hands all over each other.

Obsessed isn’t a strong enough word for the way I feel about him.

Like he can read all of those thoughts written across my face, he grins at me and winks before pulling his trunks the rest of the way on.

“I moved some stuff around in the top drawer and put your clothes in there so they wouldn’t have to sit in a pile on the floor all weekend.” He nods at his dresser.

“Thanks.” I give him a quick kiss and pull myself away before I can get caught up in him, then I open the drawer to get changed.