Page 27 of Muscle Cub

He was still wearing my red sneakers.

I was shocked at how fast that made my dick hard. Not the sight of a naked body, not a grope, not even a kiss—the thought of Austin choosing to put my shoes on again.

A lot of heads turned in unison to check out Austin’s ass before he disappeared behind the bar. Someone at the Bloody Marys’ table made a loud comment about a muscle cub, and they all laughed.

Eric caught my eye and smirked.

“Okay.” I would’ve preferred to talk to Eric and Ben without these other guys overhearing, but fuck it. I nodded toward the Marys and dropped my voice. “So explain that to me.”

Eric cocked his head. “Explain…”

“A muscle cub. What the hell is that exactly?”

Eric was kind enough to answer seriously. “In bear speak, a cub is generally a younger or younger-looking guy who will probably grow into a full-blown bear. Usually, he’s a bear chaser or often the boyfriend of an older bear. Austin’s one of the youngest guys here. What is he, like, twenty-five?”

God, I hoped he was at least that old.

“So he qualifies as a muscle cub because, well… look at him.”

We all did. Everyone at our table turned to stare at Austin, who was lining up beer cans on the bar and popping them open for customers.

Eric chewed the inside of his lip, considering. “He’s actually pretty tall for a cub. You usually think of them as being on the shorter side. His face has that sweet, boyish quality, though, so even if he was seven feet tall and forty, he’d still have a cubbyness about him, you know?”

“So what does that make me?” I cleared my throat. “In bear slang or whatever.”

All five of them studied me. It was like being surrounded by a circle of people miming thinking hard.

Alex spoke up first. “You’re a little young to be a daddy, I guess, but—”

“No, he’s not,” Eric said. “He’s right at the beginning of prime daddy years.”

Alex snorted and said to Eric, “I don’t think of you as a daddy.”

Ben shook his head slowly, repressing a smile as Eric’s mouth dropped open in mock horror.

“Of course not, dude.” Eric pointed at me. “Paul is three years older than I am.”

Alex raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“You do have a killer dad bod, though,” Lance said.

My head whipped around. Lance was indeed talking to me. I gave him a stern frown.

“You look great,” Lance said earnestly, his eyebrows raised. He didn’t look me up and down exactly, but he held my gaze in a way that felt the same.

“This!” Eric slapped the table, then presented Lance to me with an open hand. “This is why I wanted you to come here. So you can finally realize once and for all how hot you are.”

“Um…” My face felt like it was on fire. At least maybe the flush from the medication and the Bloody Mary hid my actual embarrassment. I managed to shoot Lance a tight smile. “Thanks.”

“You bet.” Lance leaned toward me. Under his breath, he said, “I’m in Cabin Six, by the way. If the muscle cub doesn’t work out for you.”

“Okay, back off, buddy,” Eric said a little too loudly, shaking his head at Lance. “You’ve looked, you’ve complimented. Thank you for your service to Paul’s ego, but he and Austin have established a connection. They’re close to having their own hashtag if I have anything to say about it.”

Austin glanced at our table, his brows knitting together in a questioning frown.

“He’s looking right over here,” I spat through clenched teeth.

Eric made a dismissive gesture. “He can’t hear us.”