Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75871 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
They went to work as usual, then had come home and showered—separately.
Vince was just leaving the bathroom, wearing nothing but boxers, when he ran into Colby in the hallway—who wasn’t watching where he was going. Colby gripped Vince’s waist to steady himself.
“Shit. Sorry,” Colby said, letting go of him. “I’m excited. Are you ready?”
“Yeah, hold on a minute. Come here.” He led Colby to his room, then plucked the box off his mattress.
“What’s this?”
“Open it and see.”
Colby’s forehead wrinkled as he took the box from Vince. He was careful as he opened it, his big hands gentle on the container as if he was afraid to mess something up. When he flipped the lid open and saw the two beer mugs tucked inside, he just stood there staring at them for a moment. He didn’t say anything, the air in the room thick around them. Was it too much? Vince didn’t think so. He wasn’t one to second-guess himself, but now he did.
“You did this for me?” Colby asked softly, without looking at him.
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I? I would have put the name of your new beer venture on them, but since you don’t have one yet, I went with Colby. You can’t drink your first batch of beer in a regular old mug. I’m queer, babe. I don’t work that way.”
Colby snorted a laugh, pulled one of the mugs out, and set the box on the bed. “They’re beautiful, Vince. Thank you. I…don’t know what to say.”
Colby was such an enigma sometimes. He’d grown up in a family that loved big and showed it every chance they got. They were close, and Colby must’ve gotten a million gifts from people he cared about over his lifetime, but every time Vince did something nice for him, Colby acted like it was the first time it happened. Like maybe he thought he didn’t deserve it or wondered why Vince would do it. Vince didn’t understand that, but then, sometimes people just were who they were. It didn’t mean something bad happened to them or that they were mistreated. Everyone was different.
“You don’t have to say anything. You just need to hurry your ass up so we can taste our beer.” Vince grabbed a pair of shorts from his bed and went to tug them on. Colby’s hand on his arm stopped him.
“Thank you for this. It means a lot to me. I wouldn’t be doing any of it without you.”
Vince gave him a smile. “You don’t know that. You might have, but you’re welcome all the same.”
Colby let him go, and Vince finished pulling his shorts on. He stepped into a pair of slides, and then they went outside, each holding a mug.
He let Colby do the work from there as this was his project—what Vince had a feeling would become his passion. Colby got everything ready, filling their mugs, then holding his up for Vince. “To new beginnings,” he returned Vince’s words from the last time they did this.
“To new beginnings,” Vince replied, and they both took a sip.
Vince wasn’t a beer expert by any means, but the bitter drink tasted like beer to him. “I like it.”
“It’s okay.” Colby took another sip. “Not great, but I think part of it is that we haven’t let it sit after fermenting. The wheats and flavors still mix during that step. It’ll be better then, and when it’s cold. Still…” He grinned. “We fucking did this.”
Colby’s wide smile was contagious, and Vince was happy to catch it. “Yeah, we fucking did.”
They drank their beer—that wasn’t really great yet, but neither cared. While they worked on bottling the rest, they talked, and Vince nearly buzzed from Colby’s happiness.
That night, when they climbed into Colby’s bed to watch a movie, Vince realized he felt more settled than he ever had.
“Operation Husbands Get Laid is in full effect,” Vince teased as they drove into Asheville.
They’d gotten two rooms at the hotel where they would be staying, making sure they were adjoining so they could be close and hang out easily, but also have their own space when each of them found someone to hook up with for the night.
“That has a unique ring to it, doesn’t it?” Colby said.
“I have friends who are poly. Great couple. Crazy in love. They just like to fuck other guys from time to time.”
“No shit? That’s something else I haven’t seen in Briar County.” Colby chuckled. “Are you poly?”
“I’m not. I don’t have a problem with both of us hooking up with other people when we’re just having sex, but if we’re in a relationship, I’m too fucking possessive and greedy to want to share my man. That’s why the shit with Gregory was so hard. He knew how I felt about that. I’m not knocking being poly; it’s just not for me. I am knocking cheating, though. We had a commitment, and he betrayed that.”