Page 8 of Fish Out of Water

“How’s it going?” Isabel called from the kitchen.

Jake slammed his phone onto the coffee table, screen-side down. “Great,” he called back.

He didn’t pick up his phone again, instead busying himself with more dusting. He was out of options; doomed to live a life of boredom for the next half a year—and that was if he was lucky and the house sold reasonably quickly.

It didn’t make sense, but part of him blamed Robbie Eaton for it, for being the only other gay guy in Eventide looking for another man, for ruining his first day in town, for reminding him exactlywhyhe didn’t want to be here.

Jake gotover his shock at seeing Robbie on his dating app fairly quickly. It helped that Isabel kept him busy all day, and by the time he finally got into the shower and brushed his teeth for the night, Robbie was but a faint name in the back of his mind.

He climbed into the tiny bed in his room, messing with the blankets until they were adequately rustled around and practically falling off the bed. It was the only way he could sleep, and he’d been doing it since he was a child and his mother would complain when she had to make the bed after he’d kicked the blankets off during the night.

He turned off the lamp on the nightstand and fluffed up the pillow before resting his head on it and closing his eyes.

He opened them again a moment later. It was too early to fall asleep, and no matter how much light the curtains kept out, no matter how much his body ached from jumping straight from sitting in a car all morning to moving around all afternoon, he couldn’t sleep.

He grabbed his phone off the nightstand, the dim glow lighting his face in the dark room, and did the one thing he swore to himself earlier he wouldn’t do.

Robbie’s grinning face stared blankly at him as soon as he opened the app. Jake forced himself to read the bio again, if only to convince himself this was a terrible idea.

Passionate about nature and volunteering,it read.I love long walks on the beach, the smell of freshly made bread, andtrying new things.Jake rolled his eyes.Looking for something long-term.

That was the one part that posed a problem for Jake. That, and the fact that this was the man who gave Jake a snide little smirk in Sandway that would be burned into his mind forever. Still, Robbie seemed like the kind of guy who got starved for attention easily. Maybe he’d be open to a one-night stand just for the thrill of it. If he was good enough in bed, Jake could certainly get over his hangups just this one time.

With a deep breath, he opened the chat box and began to type. He hated being the first to reach out, and usually he didn’t have to worry about that. Jake was always somewhere near a handful of guys looking for company, and he was conventionally attractive enough to interest at least a few of them. It wasn’t even vanity that made him think that; it was just what he’d learned from many, many experiences.

As soon as he sent the message, he sank his head back into the pillow, resting his phone on top of the blanket. To his surprise, it vibrated only a few seconds later.

Not interested.

Jake narrowed his eyes. “Fucking asshole,” he muttered. “I’m the best he’s gonna get out here and he knows it.”

He typed a response, his thumbs hammering at the screen.

Come on, just one night. It’ll be fun.

Three dots appeared.

After my first impression of you at the store? Forget it. Go to sleep, Jake Wynn. My answer’s not going to change.

Jake set his phone back on the nightstand with a huff. Robbie didn’t know what he was missing, but he’d regret it eventually.

Of course, it was probably for the best that he wasn’t interested. Jake knew guys like that, and they got clingy more often than not. He was still dealing with the one who’d textedhim earlier today. It was always a mistake giving them a real phone number instead of keeping it on the apps.

“I don’t need him,” Jake said under his breath. “A wet blanket would probably be better in bed than a spoiled prick like him.”

He slid his hand under the blankets, pushing down his boxers. There was little more discouraging than masturbating oneself to sleep, but Jake had done it many times. It wasn’t so bad, really, at least when there wasn’t anything else to do. And Jake well and truly had nothing else to do as the sun set on his first day in Eventide.

He wrapped his hand around his cock, closing his eyes. The rest of the house was silent, save for the occasional bird chirp just outside his window. It was annoying, but Jake soon forgot about it entirely, tuning it out as he became insulated in his own little world.

He came, wiping the evidence away with a tissue from the box on the nightstand, fixed his shorts, lay back in bed, and sighed. Tomorrow would be a better day.

Or not. Probably not.

3

BAR TROUBLE

The next few days were not any more exciting than Jake’s first day in Eventide, which was to say that they were downright dreary. Isabel didn’t even need him to go to the store again, so he was trapped at the house, working and cleaning and repairing and talking.