Stop doubting everything. He wouldn’t have fucked you, called you, texted over and over, and flown you here as some sort of sick practical joke. Right? Jace stared at the house. Already dusk outside, the night was coming on fast and Jace palmed his phone. Maybe he had the wrong house. And he had absolutely no signal. Great!
So he knocked again, actually banging hard on the door this time. Five minutes later, he steeled up his spine and moved. The pending dusk was turning full night, and if this was a practical joke, it needed to go ahead and happen so everyone could get a good laugh and he could find a ride back to the airport.
This certainly wouldn’t be the first time he’d been on the receiving end of a cruel prank. Nothing he hadn’t endured before, many times over. Jocks, in his opinion, could be among the worst homophobes. They always tried to one up the other in some kind of sick, dick measuring contest to prove how alpha manly and hetero they were.
Jace left his bags on the front porch and walked the length of the well-kept bungalow. He stepped cautiously off the porch, through the flowerbed, careful not to step on any of the colorful blooms or mess up any of the tropical plants as he pressed his face against the dusty glass of the window to peer inside. He searched for any movement.
Disappointed there had been no sign of Colt, he made his way back to the porch where he’d left his bag. Jace stood there, his back to the door, mentally cussing himself for letting his guard so far down. Was this the big end-of-college joke for the senior football players? He didn’t doubt it one bit. Going after a gay male cheerleader would provide endless hours of fun for those guys. He gave in and looked up, giving the overhang of the porch a quick scan to see if there were any cameras.
To say Jace had been made fun of quite a bit over years was an understatement. Jokes were still a daily occurrence that never seemed to get old to those playing them. Hell, Jace traveled regularly with bullying, testosterone-filled, mean-spirited jokers hiding behind the semblance of a football team. Practical jokes and sexual orientation slurs were part of daily life, but it never occurred to him Colt might have planned something like this.
Being abandoned in Hawaii… how was that even funny? Except there was no way he could afford to get home. Colt had his return ticket. Everyone knew he didn’t have a dime to his name. Jace was on a straight up academic scholarship, with cheerleading footing the rest of the bill. And, for whatever reason, his heart dropped. Jace had really started to believe Colt was truly into him. What was he going to do now? Fuck!
Sounds other than the ocean pulled Jace’s attention to the backyard. He took the stairs down, his flips flops kicking up sand as he tracked his way to the back. On guard, he took in his surroundings and noticed the next closest neighbor was still a distance away. He only knew there was a neighbor because he could see the roof of a bungalow in the distance. The properties were separated by dense tropical foliage. Jace rounded the corner to the back of the house, stopping dead in his tracks. A grin came to his lips, and he stood there for just a moment, staring.
Colt was alone in the back, lighting tiki torches that illuminated the path from the back of the house all the way down to the beach. His swim trunks hung low on his hips, and he was shirtless. Jace watched the muscles flex in Colt’s back as he lifted his arm to ignite the torch. Damn! Jace studied Colt’s profile as the guy turned and lit another wick. Intent on his task, Colt hadn’t noticed him staring.
“Hey,” Jace called out, his grin growing bigger as he walked toward Colt. Colt startled and spun around, almost dropping the lighter.
“Damn it! You’re already here? Shit!” Jace stopped in his tracks. His smile faded instantly. Maybe this was a practical joke after all. “I wanted to meet you at the front door, surprise you with all of this. I thought I had ten more minutes!” Colt abandoned the lighting of the torches, his bare feet sinking in the sand as he headed straight toward him. He wore a big sexy smile on his face as he reached out to take Jace’s duffel off his shoulder.
“Have you eaten yet?” Colt asked. Just like Jace had come to expect, Colt was the definition of random emotion, jumping from one thought to the next, never really hanging on to any one mood for too long. Colt leaned in for a quick kiss, slinging the duffel over his shoulder, and took Jace’s hand as if it was the most natural move in the world.
“No, you told me not to.” Jace tried to catch up with everything going on around him.
“And you listened? See, you were made for me,” Colt teased. He was back to humor, now dragging Jace toward the house. Jace tried to look over the backyard, spotting a table set up close to the water. Two chairs were anchored in the sand. A lit fire pit lay close by. “Are you tired? I have this whole thing planned out here, but if you want to sleep, or something, go ahead. I can wait.”
“Did you do all this?” Jace asked and realized Colt was already walking them up the steps to the back door. “Why are we going inside?”
“Well, maybe you don’t listen so well after all. I’ll have to remember that,” Colt deadpanned. “And to think I was so proud of our progress.” He pulled Jace into his arms, steps from the back door. “I made dinner for us. There’s some beer out there. You like Corona, right?”
“How do you know that?” Jace asked. His attention fully on Colt’s body pressed against his.