Page 17 of Muscle Cub

“It’s not necessary. Stay and have fun with your boys.” Taking a line from his playbook, I said, “I’ll catch you later.” I stood and turned to leave, but then I remembered a promise I’d made to him. “Oh!”

“Yeah?” He looked expectant, hopeful.

“Don’t forget”—I mouthed the names silently—“Hedwig and Hagatha. They’re presently unchaperoned.”

Austin’s eyes shifted toward Gunner, careful not to turn his head. He grimaced and gave me a thumbs-up.

I didn’t even put my clothes back on, just bundled them against my chest, and stepped into my shoes.

“I’ll be here for a little while,” Austin said, “if you change your mind.”

“Cool.” Holding the towel at my throat like a cape, I walked away quickly and fled up the trail into the woods.

The campsites around me were all silent. It was way too early for bed by most people’s vacation standards. I didn’t feel remotely sleepy. I put my clothes back on while listening to the rumble of music, conversation, and laughter coming from the pool.

If I were being honest with myself, no longer being the center of Austin’s attention and feeling like I couldn’t compete with all those younger guys had triggered me. It reminded me a little too much of the jealousy and humiliation I’d experienced with my ex.

The sickening part was that I’d told Austin to stay, even though on some level I really wanted him to come after me.

Jesus.

I should have said, Fuck what anybody else thinks I look like. Was it too late to march back down there, jump in the water next to Austin, and tell him I’d changed my mind?

I went back.

I figured I could at least return the towel.

The crowd at the pool had grown, but I didn’t see Austin in the water or among the people hanging out at the tables.

I ducked into the bathhouse, but there was no sign of him. Unless he’d gone into the sauna or the steam room. I couldn’t be sure unless I went in to investigate, and I certainly didn’t want to find him there. Besides, if he or any of his friends saw me skulking around, they’d think I was cruising for someone else.

Fuck. I needed to stop embarrassing myself and go to bed.

Before I headed up the trail, I stopped beside the dark, empty cabana bar to survey the crowd one last time.

At that moment, Ryan and Austin came around the side of the bathhouse from the path that led to the Village. They were naked and carrying six-packs of beer and stacks of cups.

As they deposited their haul on the table where we’d been sitting earlier, Austin glanced across the pool in my direction.

He looked right at me.

And for absolutely no good reason other than a knee-jerk response at being caught watching him, I jumped back into the shadows.

Relieved but also embarrassed, I hurried back to my tent, turned off my lantern, and lay on the air mattress in the dark.

I heard footsteps coming up the trail, then leaves crunching a few feet away.

A shadow grew up the wall of my tent.

“Prof?” Austin’s voice was quiet, uncertain, not a whisper but the low, normal speaking voice you use when you think you might possibly be talking to yourself. “You up?”

He had followed me after all.

I was so busted, lying there on the bed fully clothed with my shoes still on. “Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “I’m still up.”

His silhouette on the tent wall grew as he stepped closer. “Want some company?”

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