JUSTIN

I love the smell of a brand new morning. Well, until I smell the dead fish. And, is that a used condom on my step? I swear I'm going to kill my best friend. He promised to clean up after his friends. I went in looking for gloves, but ended up with tongs and a garbage bag. I smiled once more at my new neighbor, who again scowled at me. I swear the guy needs to find a life, he is such a downer. If he wasn’t so hot, then I wouldn’t waste my time on him. I always give him my best smile, which he has yet to return. You'd think with all the guys he has doing the walk of shame, he'd be happier. I mean, we live on the beach for Christ sake. There are waves and sunsets and stinky smells, but no, he's pissy because I don't keep my side of the beach pristine. I honestly wanted to yell ‘it's Riley not me ruining your morning’, but I'd probably just get another growl and door slammed in my face.

I tried to be nice to him when he jogged by me wearing shorts and muscles, but he just rolled his eyes and kept going. He treated my masterpiece as if it was just me playing in the sand. I was working on my newest sand art, not playing. I guess the fact that I had a pail and shovel that my niece left behind did sort of make it look like I was playing, but sand art is serious business here in Sandcove. Everyone wants to beat me, they just don’t have the ability to.

The next day I made him dinner for two. I figured with as many guys as run through, they have to eat something between orgasms, but he snorted at me then said he doesn’t feed the animals, just pets them and sends them away after they entertain him. I took my jambalaya home and ate the whole thing, imagining him starving. I made sure after that to cook with all my windows open, so he could smell what he was turning down.

I watched as once again he tore out and left for whatever he does. I don’t get it, why wear a suit when most of us barely remember to wear a shirt? Of course, I stopped that life a long time ago. I made enough money that I didn’t have to do anything, and my grandmother made sure I never needed to go to my father again after his last attempt to pray my gay away.

All my father accomplished was to drive my mother and sister from his life. He’ll never get to meet my niece, Amelia, because my sister no longer wants him near her family. My sperm donor seemed to think my sister should help him out by marrying the asshole son of his business partner. I thought it was likely that my father and his partner knew Herbie wouldn’t get a wife without them forcing a woman to take on the man. There are just too many things wrong with a guy who tells everyone that wives are only there so that someone can clean his home. He seems to think that fucking other women is his right. My sister decided it was her right to kick his ass and marry the guy who worships her.

I’m still waiting for the perfect man. Every time I think I’ve found the perfect guy, it ends badly. I don’t mean to be an ass and it’s going to sound like I am, but I tend to get irritated at guys when they start acting territorial. They seem to think because I look innocent that I need them to go all caveman on anyone who looks in my direction. The last one seemed to think I wanted to listen to the very bad music his garage band played. I really tried, but who the hell wants to listen to music that sounds like cats fighting each other? I’m thinking not anyone who can hear. He didn’t like my opinion and we broke up. The one before him seemed to think I was a woman and needed to be treated like a delicate flower who doesn’t have a brain cell between my ears. If I’m going to mention my many bad ideas in dating, I should mention the guy who followed me everywhere. After only one date he seemed to think I couldn’t take a shit if he didn’t wipe my ass. He actually bought me toilet paper because mine wasn’t environmentally friendly. I really wanted to ask him if he thought what you put on that paper made it matter anymore. Now, my idiot brain had latched onto Mr Growly. My two besties told me to give up because the guy runs through men the way I do pizza with everything on it.

I finished picking up everything after working for four hours and decided that Riley was going to hear a big fat ‘no’ the next time he wants to throw a party. It was a perfect day to work on a new design. It’s not like I have a whole lot to do anyway. I could make sure Riley gets the guy out of his bed since my Gran was planning on visiting soon. She wouldn’t really care, and would most likely buy him more condoms, that I’d end up picking up. I was just about to go down there when I see something fall off my roof to the ground in front of me. How the hell did a condom get up there? I scooped it up and threw it out with the other six I picked up. Riley and I need to talk about the orgy he seemed to be having last night. Riley has his own place but hates being alone, so he invades my house until his sister calls to say she’s going to throw his surfboard in the garbage if he doesn’t clean up his shit. It gets him home, then he runs here when she expects more from him. I don’t mind most of the time, because I hate living alone and there are plenty of empty bedrooms in the house.

I met Riley when I came here to get away from snow and every asshole in my life. He was walking by with one of his surfboards and stopped to hit on me. We talked for a while before he said I was in his ‘friends’ category, something about me being a bit too nice for him to do bad things to. I thought he was a bit of a flake, so I was great with just being friends. He turned out to be great in the friends department. He never left me hanging when we went out clubbing, if we went together we left together, usually with a guy in tow for at least one of us.

It’s just, lately I’ve gotten the itch to try the whole relationship thing again. Tricking is fun, but it’s like I have to constantly explain to them what I do and don’t like, and what’s the point when I might not see them again?

I finally got to the sand that I could work with, unfortunately, it’s close to Growly’s house, but in line with the border of my property. I went to get water to get started and let the sand get harder so I could work with it. I was almost through with my dragon when the tide started to rise. I forget sometimes, out of laziness, that I need to work further back, the head fell and I was staring at it when someone snorted behind me. I turned to see Growly, and waited for whatever words of wisdom he wanted to impart on me.

“Is there some reason your sculpting a penis instead of finding one of your own?” He snarked at me.

“I get tired of guys thinking that having this ass means I need someone to fuck it. I like to be the dick they ride, not the other way around,” I snark back.

He stared at me, tilting his head while making me feel a bit violated. “It’s hard to see you and not want that ass,” He responded, taking off for his usual ten-mile run.

Did he just hit on me? Yes, I think he did. I watched the surf return the sand back to the way it was before I tried to change it. I thought about maybe hitting on him when he ran back by, but I saw a car pull into his driveway and a couple guys get out looking as if Growly was planning an orgy of his own tonight. I didn’t need a guy who would end up not wanting more than his next trick, so I ran into the water and swam out far enough that it wouldn’t be possible for me to end up letting him treat me worse than he already does. I’d have to live next door watching the next guy and the next, and really, I like my house too much to move.

BRIAN

I ran back to see if my neighbor was still there. I’ve been an asshole to him since I moved here. He’s fucking hot as hell, but it’s like all he wants to do is party his life away. I’ve been trying to figure out what he does, but all I’ve seen is him doing is playing on the beach all day. He obviously has money, because that house alone screams money, but it’s like a constant party over there. I’m sure he thinks all I do is trick, but every time I see him my dick gets hard as hell and I need to take care of it, hoping the guy I’m fucking will get my neighbor out of my head.

I came here to get away from people for a while. I made the mistake of sleeping with my best friend when I was drunk and high one night. I woke up with the worst hangover I’d had in a while and watched as Mikey was walking out the door like he was sneaking out. I asked him why he was acting so strange and he acted as if I was the one acting strangely.

*FLASHBACK*

“I didn’t want you to think I expected anything after last night,” He tells me.

“I wouldn’t have made you clean up the mess,” I tell him, looking at my loft with things all over the place.

“I mean after we finally made love,” He answers.

I backed away when he tried to kiss me, because I didn’t remember doing anything past the shots he wanted to do that night. He left, saying it didn’t have to change us, but I had a feeling he was just saying what he thought I wanted to hear. I ran into my bedroom and found condoms that were definitely used and were mine. I kept waiting for Mikey to tell me he was just fucking with my head. I stayed away from him for a couple of weeks, not wanting to deal with screwing up with the person I couldn’t love the way he wanted me to. When I first met him I thought I did love him, but I noticed that when I thought about sex, he was the last person I saw in my bed. After that, I never really thought about it again.

Then, when I came back from a business trip, I decided it had been enough time that we could go back to the way things were. He seemed to think we should spend more time together without the other people we usually went out with. I paid a guy to show Mikey a good time and ended up finding out that he was telling other people he was in a relationship with me.

Emmett came charging into my loft a couple of days later asking me if I’d lost my mind.

“You do realize that unlike you, Michael can’t fuck someone and not be in a relationship,” He tells me.

“I can’t even remember past the shots that Mikey kept ordering,” I answer him.

“He keeps telling me that you were telling him you wanted to be in a relationship and to get married. It was why he slept with you. He thought you meant him,” He tells me.

“Shit. Has he told Deb any of this?” I ask.

“Of course. But she told him that if you had wanted him it wouldn’t have taken you years and thousands of tricks to figure it out. She isn’t thrilled that you two slept together, but she also knows that you most likely never meant for Michael to be a trick. She told me to tell you that you need to make sure Michael understands that you don’t see him as more than your friend. So you're safe from the wrath of Deb. I knew when Michael had to practically drag you out of the bar that I should have come with you guys. He kept saying it was his job to get you to bed, not in it. Which is apparently what your drunk ass thought when he got you here,” He tells me.

“I don’t remember any of it. Mikey seemed to be taking it for what it was, a trick that night, but now he’s telling people we have a relationship. I never told him I wanted more,” I tell him.

“He said he’s letting you get used to the idea before he moves in with you,” Emmett tells me.

*END FLASHBACK*

I took the offer to work in Sandcove, handling an account for Surfwear and help brand them. Ginger, the co-owner, wanted me to be available for the summer, the company sponsored SANDCOVES, a surf competition and two-week festival. Surfwear was looking to go national and wanted someone to be here locally, and I was more than happy to have a reason to leave town for a few months. Especially when Mikey showed up wanting a repeat, only sober this time. I told him I didn’t want to screw up any more than I already had with him. He kissed me and said it wasn’t a mistake, but what we both wanted. He got angry when I stood there unresponsive to him. It felt wrong, and I couldn’t fake that I didn't like him touching me anymore.

My first day here I almost swallowed my tongue when I looked out the kitchen window into the house next door and saw my neighbor naked in his kitchen, dancing around. I had to assume that he didn’t realize the house next to him was rented. I watched him shaking his ass as if enticing me. Then he danced out of sight. I ended up picking up guys for the next week just to get the memory of that dance out of my head.

The next time I saw him he was sitting on the sand with a bucket and shovel playing like a kid. He smiled at me and waved, but I’d just spent a week fucking him out of my head, so I acted uninterested. I couldn’t believe I had even entertained fantasies of joining him in the kitchen that morning, after I saw him sitting there digging in the sand. He stopped smiling at me and continued what he was doing. When I got up to my back porch I turned to see him on his knees with his ass in the air, and ended up going back out to find another guy to relieve the massive hard-on he seems to not realize he gives me. Although, the guys I’m fucking seem to enjoy what the guy is doing to me.

Then he fucking shows up like Deb would, with dinner for me, saying that he’s sure the guys and I needed the food to keep up my stamina. I made some smart ass remark about not feeding the animals, thinking it was funny, but he took whatever he cooked home and I watched as he ate the whole damn thing. Then somehow found it erotic when he licked his spoon. So, you could say I've been kind of an asshole every time I see him, but it's like I don't affect him at all.

I jogged back to my house, since my team was arriving to go over the campaign for the surf competition. Ginger told me she’d try to get her brother to come to the office, but he tends to think his only job is surfing and screwing fans. I had a feeling she was jealous that his job was wearing the clothes while he won surfing competitions, while hers was to run their business. I was disappointed when my neighbor wasn’t still on the beach, but relieved that I wouldn’t be sitting in my house trying to work while hiding my hard on.

I looked at my cell and realized a hard-on wasn’t really as bad as Mikey leaving twenty voice messages on my phone.