“Tonight when I shout out your name, you’re gonna be able to hear, Grant.” With a wink designed to make my cock ache, Solo sauntered over to his door, unlocked it, and glanced back over to where my stupid self remained in front of the door. “Feel free to call out Mateo if you like, ’cause when it comes to…coming, I really don’t like to be Solo.”
12 Solo
“YO, SOLO! GET your ass over here.” Gucci’s voice could be heard over the music blaring as I headed down the beach toward where my fellow trainees were gathered for tonight’s bonfire. With the first week of training under our belts, it was time to let loose, and the party tonight was our first chance to really hang out outside NAFTA’s walls. Personally, I was more interested in checking out a half-naked Panther, but I’d humor the others for a few hours.
I dropped my towel near a cooler and walked over to where Gucci was setting up long red sticks in the sand.
“I need you on my team,” he said, pushing one of the sticks deep and covering the base so it stood upright.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Gucci grabbed a couple of plastic cups and rose to his feet. “So, the game’s called Flick n Sticks. These suckers go on top of the sticks face down. Our opponents try to knock ’em off, and if they do, they get a point, but only if we don’t catch the cups before they hit the ground. Make sense?”
I glanced over to where Houdini and Whiplash were setting their end up just like ours.
“And what are we using to knock the cups off?”
“This.” Gucci held up a Frisbee, and I snorted.
“Please tell me this is a drinking game.”
“It’s whatever the hell we want it to be.”
I grinned and slapped a high five before heading back to where I’d dropped my towel, and then I dragged the cooler over to where we’d set up. A couple of the guys were busy building the bonfire for later, a gaggle of girls beside them; some of the others were in the water or grabbing the last of the sun. I didn’t see Panther anywhere at first, but then I saw someone rise out of the waves, black hair glistening, and felt my mouth water.
Shit, a dripping-wet Panther might be too much for me to take, at least in front of the others.
Before my dick could react to the sight of him, I grabbed a beer out of the cooler, popped the top, and drained half the bottle. Tonight was going to be a test of restraint. I could feel it. Panther had made sure we were never alone after our first day, so I’d had to settle for ogling him from afar, banking mental pictures to use at night. And while that was seriously hot, I was looking forward to a time when I’d get a taste of the real thing.
“Y’all ready or what?” Houdini called out.
I set the beer down and stripped out of my shirt, leaving on only a pair of board shorts.
“All right, let’s do this.” Gucci gave me a fist bump and we readied ourselves behind the sticks.
“Ladies first,” Houdini said, handing Whiplash the Frisbee, at which she rolled her eyes.
“Oh, fuck you.” She threw the Frisbee so hard and fast that it knocked the cup closest to Gucci off before he could try to catch it.
Houdini gaped at his partner, and then his eyes trailed down her bikini-clad body, covered only in a pair of super-short jean shorts. “Uh…that was—”
“Hot? Badass?” she asked. “I know. You don’t have to act so surprised.”
I exchanged a look with Gucci that said Houdini didn’t know what the hell he was in for with that one, and then Gucci threw the Frisbee back, aiming for the cup near Houdini, who was still so stuck on Whiplash that he just let the cup fall to the ground.
“Are we playing or what?” I called out, and Houdini finally snapped back to attention, allowing the game to begin. Back and forth we went, and as the cups went flying, we dove into the sand for them before they could hit the ground. Whiplash was a beast at the game, as were we, but poor Houdini couldn’t seem to stop getting distracted by his partner, which seemed to frustrate her more and more as the game went along.
“Oh my God,” she finally shouted when Houdini missed a fallen cup. “I need a new partner. Hey, Panther, come show your guy how to use his hands.”
“I know how to use my hands,” Houdini mumbled, but I was no longer paying attention, because Panther was walking out of the water, his swim trunks plastered to his body. He ran his hand through his hair as the waves crashed around his ankles, and damn, the man was unreal. I was careful not to let my jaw drop as I took in every wet inch of him, and I would’ve kept staring if Gucci hadn’t coughed, forcing me to look away.