Ben Ryder - Side Line Page 6

“Up you come, big fella. Let’s not keep these luscious lovelies waiting,” I said with a huge smile and a beckoning hand. Damon made his way through the crowd. I savored every step he took in my direction and looked for a sign of fear that he might be outed on stage. Of course I would never do such a thing, but I felt it was payback for ignoring me. But the signs of fear or awkwardness didn’t come. Instead, he strolled up with all the confidence in the world.

  “And you are?” I asked before pointing the microphone directly under his chin.

  “I’m Damon O’Connor, and I’m from Florida!” He balled a fist in the air as if to remind me of the size of his arms before shouting “USA! USA! USA!” This drew a repeat chant from half the crowd, while the Brits and Aussies rolled their eyes.

  A few of his friends began chanting, “Dammo! Dammo! Dammo!” I looked over at Jackie, who was shaking her head slowly and mouthing “Let it go.” I considered her words for a moment and turned back to see Damon standing at full height next to me. I was reminded again of just how big he was and then suddenly became very aware of what a stupid stunt I was pulling.

  “Well, Damon from the great state of Florida, it’s all yours.”

  Damon walked slowly around the pyramid, making it obvious that he was taking in the girls with his eyes from every angle, pretending he was trying to win a game of Jenga. He finally came back around the front, stole the can from Leilana’s back, and turned to the crowd with his arms up as though he had scored a touchdown.

  Jackie gave me a wry smile from the bar and turned to put down her drink. She knew she would have to prepare the girls for their exit before the bar closed. The girls did one more routine and exited the stage to thunderous applause while I addressed the crowd one last time.

  “Gentlemen, we hope you have had a great time tonight and enjoyed the entertainment. Be sure to catch us at the Equinox on Sunday for another night of fun, with even more free Side Line beer and prizes.”

  I stepped off the stage and made my way to the bar. “He really is a cocky bugger, isn’t he?” Jackie shouted into my ear as I made a grab for the vodka that was waiting for me. “Still, I’m glad you stopped when you did. I don’t think I would like to deal with the wrath of a gentleman that size.”

  “He’s hardly a gentleman, Jacks.” I shook my head and rolled my eyes. “I don’t know what’s bothering me the most, the fact that he had the brass balls to get up and do it, or that, in a strange way, it turned me on.”

  Jackie grinned at me again and finished her drink. “Come on, let’s get the girls back to the hotel before these boys start tearing the place apart.” She looked over at me and laughed again. “But then again, I guess you’d like that!”

  “I have to sort all this stuff out, but I will meet you back there when I’m done.” “No need. I met the owner of Equinox earlier. He knew his place would be dead tonight, so he closed up and came over to watch us work our magic. He seems more than happy that we are going to his club on Sunday and has offered to send some of his boys over to move the equipment tomorrow while we’re off.”

  I turned and scanned the crowd again while I tapped my fingers on the bar. “If you’re looking for your young man, I’m afraid he has already left the building, my love,” Jackie said with a look halfway between sympathy and happiness that she could read my mind.

  “No, I was just looking at what equipment could be damaged if we were to leave now.”

  “Honey, you were looking to see if your equipment could be damaged if you left later.” I took a deep breath before toasting her glass. “Okay, I admit it. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, Jacks. Half of me hates him because he’s a smug fucker with a big dick who got the better of me, while the other half of me likes him….”

  “…because he’s a smug fucker with a big dick who got the better of you?”

  I smiled. “Yeah.”

  Saturday

  EARLY Saturday morning, Jackie took the girls out to the local souk and mall, while I caught up on some paperwork. It was their day off, and Jackie had promised to take them to some of her old haunts where they could buy inexpensive jewelry that the area was famous for. Once at the shopping mall, the girls found a wind protector that was designed for the beach. It was a ten-foot long piece of black fabric that had wooden stumps sewn vertically into it that could dig into the sand to keep it upright. After an hour of negotiating with the squad, Jackie bought two of the large “windbreakers” in the hope that the girls would be able to sunbathe in their bikinis without angering the locals, who would perhaps frown on them for being so uncovered. She needn’t have worried. There was no chance the local men were going to report such behavior, since doing so would only take away their viewing pleasure.

  “Girls, at least factor thirty, please!” Jackie called to them as she sat next to me, dripping small drops of sunscreen onto her arm before smoothing it on. “We want you looking like gorgeous, sun-kissed little minxes tonight, not like spinster witches who have been burned at the stake!” Jackie settled back onto her sun lounger. She saw me look at the factor fifteen bottle she had in her hand before whispering, “Skin like asbestos, dear. I never burn.”

  I laughed and settled back into my own rented sun lounger. “Would you look at that?” I said as I pointed out five women who were swimming in the sea in their full abayas. “How the hell are they keeping afloat?”

  Jackie removed her large tinted St. Tropez sunglasses to take in the scene. “God only knows. It looks like some bizarre form of ninja synchronized swimming.”

  “I wonder what they think of you, laid out practically naked on the beach while their husbands sit on a nearby rock and desperately pretend not to look at you.”

  “They probably think I’m a dirty little Jezebel.” “When you compare how women dress in the summer in Britain, Australia, or America, you can see why the men have gone so gaga for the girls since we’ve arrived.”

  “Not all the men.” Jackie winked. She had remained true to her promise not to mention Damon in front of the girls for fear that one of them, particularly Emma, might let something slip should we ever run into Damon and his friends.

  A group of four military men in small green shorts made their way down the beach, their sneakers kicking up sand as they jogged. As they got closer, they turned their heads toward the windbreakers in curiosity. The sight of the girls made three of them lose their footing and knock into each other. They must have been in some kind of elite force, as their bodies were nearly identical to one another’s. They had clearly followed the exact same training routine for years. Three of them had a spattering of hair on their chests, which when wet with sweat, only defined their muscles even more. Their chiseled abs tapered toward their groins, while their thick calves balanced their broad shoulders.

  “How is it that these boys, who have the courage and nerve to put themselves on the front lines for the most powerful military in the world, become such awkward fuckwits when they are presented with girls in bikinis? What the hell would you be more afraid of?” Jackie asked, removing her sunglasses again to get a better look.

  “It’s because you can dodge a bullet and survive with the support of your comrade,” I said, opening a can of Coke. “Have a beautiful girl put you down and humiliate you in front of your friends and, well, there’s no coming back from that, so they tend to be guarded.”

  Jackie slipped a hand into her bag and pulled out a sweating bottle of white wine, still cold from the minibar where she stored her stash. She handed me a plastic cup and began to pour. “Is that what happened to you? Is that what made you gay, sweetheart?” She chuckled.

  “Yes, I was five years old, and Samantha Tiffin told me she didn’t want to be my girlfriend. So I head-butted the little bitch off her swing and went to find a boy to play with.” I laughed as our plastic cups collided in a toast.

  “Oh Lord, here they come,” Jackie said, one perfectly manicured index finger leaving her cup and pointing toward the men on the beach, who were walking up the san
d in our direction. They stopped about six feet shy of the line of toes that dangled over the edge of the loungers.

  They looked to be in their early twenties, but had ridiculously cute young faces, making me, at only twentyseven, feel much older than them. Typical of America, it was a diverse group comprised of one remarkably toned black guy, one shorter Hispanic guy, one pale white guy with blond hair, and a guy with the most beautiful, dark tan features I had ever seen.

  “Hey, were you guys at Halo last night?” asked the baby-faced blond guy.

  “Sure were,” I said, extending my hand. “I’m Jay, and this is the rest of the team.”

  He bowed his head politely and introduced himself as Brandon. All four sets of the boys’ eyes immediately drifted to the girls, so I called the roll, each one receiving a slight head tip and a coy smile from the men. “And this is Jackie,” I continued.

  All four heads turned to Jackie. I saw it coming before the word escaped their mouths. I cringed as they all bowed their heads in unison and said “Ma’am,” in a chorus of good manners. I couldn’t stifle my grin as Jackie drew breath and sucked in one side of her cheek. I knew that, despite this slight on her age, she would still be good-humored.

  “What an absolute pleasure to meet you!” Jackie gushed while she shook their hands, delicately extending her arm to each man in turn. “Now, I suspect that big, burly boys like you must be in the military. Which force do you belong to?”

  “The Navy SEALs,” Brandon said, looking proud. “Navy SEALs! How marvelous!” Jackie announced. “Girls, you are in the presence of four men who can work while holding their breath for a very long time. What a delightful talent!”

  The innuendo wasn’t wasted on any of the girls or the guys. Jackie beckoned the men so they stood in a line in front of the two of us. “As Jay has already told you, I am Jackie. I am the girls’ chaperone, for want of a better word, during this trip. Now”—Jackie waved her hand dismissively—“I know you aren’t expected to know such things, but it’s considered rather rude to stand over a British woman of my age when you speak to her. So could I ask you to pop yourselves down?”

  Brandon nodded to the other three young men, who looked at each other as though they all knew this to be true. In unison, they instantly squatted onto their haunches and balanced their elbows on their knees in front of us for fear of showing bad manners to the lady who seemed to be all that stood between themselves and the girls.

  “That’s much better, gentlemen. You see? Now we can have a civilized conversation without you bearing down on us like Godzilla on Japan,” Jackie said, tapping my elbow once and handing me my sunglasses. I slipped them on and took in the proceeds of her plan. With the reflective sunglasses, I could stare with impunity at the four men in phenomenal shape, squatting with their legs apart in small green shorts, allowing their crotches to be basketed by the flimsy material. Nothing was left to the imagination, since crotch sweat clung to every curve of each cock and bollock.

  “Will you be doing any more events while you’re here?” Brandon asked as he bounced on his heels, causing his shorts to tighten around his package.

  “We’ll be at The Bay tomorrow night!” Emma shouted from the far end of the windbreaker.

  Taking Emma’s call as an invitation for conversation, the four young men stood and walked over to the girls and began chatting with them, leaving Jackie and me cursing her for taking away our view.

  They stayed for an hour, chatting, laughing, and unashamedly flirting with the girls as Jackie and I wrapped towels around our shoulders and pretended to be old Jewish women complaining about the youngsters of today.

  “Call your mothers!” Jackie shouted to them as we watched their tight ass cheeks bob down the beach as they jogged away.

  “I could bounce up and down on those things for a month and never get bored,” I said as I unwrapped the towel I was using as a shawl from around my head.

  “I must admit, I was slightly confused when you told me about that Damon chap the other night. You’ve always given me the impression that you were, as the dandy boys say, ‘a top’.”

  “I am, usually.”

  “Usually?”

  “Well, as you now know, I make an exception if they’re bigger boys than me. If they are small in height or build, I tend to be the top.”

  “How does one discover what one prefers?” “I don’t know. I think it starts when you’re just a kid and you look at the older boys, the ones that have already hit puberty. The desire for the bigger boy kind of becomes ingrained in your mind and never completely leaves.”

  “But if you’re a top, isn’t that what you always stick to?” “No, not entirely. Like I said, I make an exception for men who are considerably bigger than me.”

  “What difference does it make?”

  I sighed as I thought of a way to explain it to her. “Well, when I was about thirteen years old—” Jackie pulled the corner of her towel into her mouth and bit down, grimacing. “I don’t think I want to hear this! Please don’t tell me this ends with a middle-aged gentleman telling the court that he could never hurt you because he really loved you.”

  “No, hush and let me finish. When I was about thirteen years old, I had a best friend called Adam.”

  “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?” “Oh please, like I waited until I was thirteen before I did that! No, Adam had a brother, Anthony, who was four years older than us….”

  “You fooled around with his brother?”

  “God, no. He wasn’t really anything to look at.” “Oh my God, you shagged their dad!”

  “Jackie!”

  “Their priest?”

  “Let me finish!”

  “Okay, okay.”

  “Anthony, Adam’s older brother, had a friend called Jamie. Adam and I were in the first year of high school when Anthony and Jamie were in their last. I already knew I was gay, but I never had any kind of desire for anyone my own age, as they, like me, hadn’t grown into their bodies yet. But Jamie….” I drew a deep sigh at the memory of him. “Jamie was almost seventeen and already had the body of a man. He had short dark hair and sideburns and dimples that looked like Gabriel himself had kissed his cheeks. Even the trail of jet-black hair that ran from his belly button to his crotch turned me on to no end.

  “Every Tuesday, the last lesson on my timetables was double PE, where we were forced to run around, whether it be sun, rain, or snow. Everyone hated it during the winter because it was so fucking cold, but I couldn’t have loved it more because that was the day Jamie would have his afterschool rugby practice.”

  “So you would cross over in the locker room?” Jackie asked, taking a sip of wine and folding her elbow in as she rolled onto her side to get comfortable for my story.

  “He consistently changed in the same area of the locker room, so I would position myself nearby to watch him get undressed. The days he wore tight briefs instead of boxers were godsends. I can’t tell you how many times I stole a look at him, and each time I did, I would physically shake from nerves and arousal. He had big thighs that filled his rugby shorts and a wide back that could push a scrum forward farther than anyone else in the school. I played on the softball team, and every once in a while we would have a game at home against another school at the same time as their rugby practice. We finished around the same time, so I would get changed as close to him as possible so I could see him in the shower.” I paused and relished the memory. “Each of those days felt like all my Christmases and birthdays had come at once. I still get turned on by the smell of fresh mud and grass.”

  “Sounds dreamy.” “He was. Not only did he have a great body, he was so damn nice too. He was the good guy, you know—the type of kid who was popular because he was funny and charming and athletic rather than popular for being the bad boy smoker who went out with older girls. He knew me as a friend of Adam’s, so he would chat to me in the locker room, even though he was pretty much the most popular kid at school. If any of the older kids t
hrew their weight around or gave me or Adam any hassle, Jamie would simply walk up to them, tell them to back off, and we would never have any trouble from them again.”

  “Sounds like a sweet kid.” “He was. I adored him. Whether at that age you would call it love, a crush, or infatuation, I don’t know. But I do know that I have never felt that way about another man since.” I sighed. “But it all went wrong.”

  “What happened?” “I slept over at Adam’s house some weekends when his brother was away sleeping over at Jamie’s. Adam shared a room with Anthony, so when he was gone I would sleep in his bed. Anyway, one weekend during the summer, there was some confusion as to whether I would be staying the night. Adam’s dad had asked Anthony and Jamie to help dig out and level part of their garden to build a shed the next day. Since there were only two beds in the room, Jamie and I slept on sleeping bags on the floor.

  “It must have been around one in the morning, and I was hot and unable to switch off my mind knowing that Jamie was just a couple of feet away, on top of his sleeping bag, wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts. His cock looked like it was straining a little against the material like he had a semi hard-on. I must have been staring at him for two hours before I was confident that everyone was asleep and finally got enough courage to move. A pair of his muddy trainers and sweaty socks lay on the floor between us, so I moved them out of the way with the hope that, if he stirred or woke up, I could dismissively say that I wanted to get the smell away. Anyway, he didn’t move.”

  “So you molested Sleeping Beauty?” Jackie asked with a gasp. “He was lying on his side, and I must have been about a couple of feet down along the floor from him. I remember I had to reach up at this awkward angle and that my hand and arm were shaking so badly with nerves that my first five attempts to touch him were useless. I knew if he woke up, he would, at the very least, alert the others of what I was doing, which would make my life a living hell. And at the most, he could get up and beat the living daylights out of me, and I would have to face Adam’s parents calling my parents to come and collect me for inappropriately touching another boy’s penis.”