I frown at my phone. She’s not wrong. I honestly can’t remember the last time I had sex. Maybe six months ago? It was a guy I met on Rotica from another small town just south of Claremont Shores. The sex was vanilla and unremarkable. I don’t even remember his name. Jake? Josh?
As far as gay men are concerned, there are slim pickings in Claremont Shores and the surrounding rural areas. Aliyah once said beggars can’t be choosers, and honestly, she’s right about that. She’s right about most things, annoyingly enough.
Ugh. Great. Aliyah has me thinking about sex again, and now I’m officially horny.
I swallow my pride and text Aliyah.
Mason:u still down to go to that bar in Salwal?
Aliyah:OMG! Yes! I’ll pick you up in 15 min!
She follows that text with a series of eggplant emojis.
I sigh and toss my phone on my bed, hoping I don’t regret agreeing to this.
***
Salwal sits about forty miles east of Claremont Shores. It’s got a decent downtown center, a minor league baseball team, and—most importantly—a gay bar. The only one within an hour’s drive of home.
Inside, the bar buzzes with drunken laughter, clacking billiard balls, and pop music spilling from the jukebox. The air hangs heavy with stale cigarette smoke and a haze of weed.
My eyes catch on the rainbow flag tacked to the wood-paneled wall. I’ve known I was gay for years, but I still feel out of place in spaces like this, like I don’t quite belong. Like somehow, despite how much I’m attracted to men, I’m still not gayenough. Buried deep inside of me, there’s a shame that gnaws at my ribs.
“He’s cute,” Aliyah says, nodding across the bar. “Red flannel.”
I follow her gaze. The guy is undeniably attractive—short, muscled, white, with shaggy blond hair and a jawline sharp enough to cut glass. As he leans over the pool table, lining up his shot, I get a perfect view of his ass.
“Yeah,” I mutter, taking another sip of beer. “He’s hot.”
Aliyah elbows me with a grin. “His friend is my type, too. Let’s go say hi.”
The friend is a Latina woman with a pixie cut, broad shoulders, and inked arms flexing beneath her tank top. Aliyah’s bisexual, and she has athingfor buff women.
As we cross the room, my chest tightens with nerves. I’m terrible at flirting, especially sober. I know the way I come off to strangers: quiet, grouchy, closed-off. Aliyah often affectionately calls me “Grumpy Bear,” after the Care Bear.
I down the rest of my beer as she drags me to the pool table.
“Hey,” she says, flashing a dimpled smile. “Mind if we join?”
She’s always so effortlessly charming. It’s unfair, really—how easy it is for her to make friends and flirt with strangers. She couldtake one look at someone with her big brown eyes, bat her lashes, and they’d be instantly swooned.
“Sure,” the Latina woman says with a grin, handing us a pair of pool sticks. “I’m Camila, but you can call me Cam. This is my coworker, Ben.”
Ben’s eyes rake over me slowly, and heat crawls up my neck
“I’m Aliyah, and this is my bestie, Mason. We’re also coworkers—lifeguards in Claremont Shores,” Aliyah says, smoothing her hand over the pool stick. “What do you guys do for work?”
“Construction,” Ben answers. The sound of his gravelly voice makes my skin tingle. “We’re working on that new housing development down the road.”
Aliyah smirks. “Manual labor. That explains the arms.” She lets her gaze linger on Camila’s biceps without a hint of shame.
Cam laughs, clearly amused by her boldness. “You’re cute,” she says, rearranging the balls into the rack. “Alright, let’s break.”
As Aliyah leans over the table to take the opening shot, Ben shifts closer to me, his hip brushing mine. He smells faintly of sawdust and woodsy cologne. My eyes flick down to his hands—broad palms, callused fingers, rough from work. The kind of hands that could leave marks if I let them.
The cue cracks against the balls, sending them scattering across the table, but I can’t focus.Not with Ben’s fingers grazing my lower back, teasing the waistband of my jeans. Each touch sends electricity down my spine, leaving my thoughts scrambled.
Maybe Aliyah was right. Maybe this is exactly what I need.
