Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 6

hang out with. Once we started watching the game and talking baseball and stats and trash talking the other team, things were back to normal. We were great buddies. That's it. All I needed to do was remember that.
    I got ready to change back into my dirty, smelly clothes for the ride back to base, when Chase told me to keep the shirt and just bring it back next time. I had to wear my jeans though, because none of Chase's would have fit.
    "Are you sure you're okay to drive, man? Cause you know you can crash in the spare bedroom?" Chase said as he walked me to the front door.
    "Nah, I'm okay, I only had a couple of beers with the pizza, and that's been a while ago."
    "All right, well, be careful. I don't want to hear that you drove off the road into a ditch or something."
    I grinned at him. "Thanks for your concern, but I know you really just don't want to lose the free labor before your deck is finished."
    "Why you—" Chase tried to put me in a fake headlock like he used to do when we were kids. It wasn't as easy anymore now that I was older and bigger, but the feel of his chest against my back and his warm breath against my neck as he held me close to him was a whole other form of torture.
    He quickly released me and sobered up. "I am serious though, man, when I say thanks for all of the help. We're more than half done and there's no way I would have gotten that far on my own. We still on for next Saturday to finish it up?"
    I'd already promised earlier in the day, so I couldn't back out now. "Sure, absolutely."
    We said our good nights and then I got in my truck to head back to base. I tried to think about other things, but my mind kept drifting back to the day. I hadn't found anyone in a very long time that I enjoyed hanging out with as much as I did Chase. Even just as friends. The shirt he'd given me smelled just like him, and trapped in the confined cab of the truck, it was all I could concentrate on. My poor dick was hard again and waving the white flag of surrender. I was going to have to hit the showers again before bed; I just prayed the other guys were still out for the night.
    However, when I got back to the barracks several of the guys were there, just getting back in like I was. They'd apparently gone out with some girls they met the weekend before but hadn't gotten as lucky as they were hoping to, since they were back so early.
    I was putting my dirty clothes from the day in my laundry duffle for tomorrow, while the guys were razzing each other back and forth about the evening and making some negative comments about the girls. Once they'd died down, one of the worst of the bunch, Kowalski, started giving me this suspicious look.
    "Nice shirt, Shepherd, what the hell did you do, wander into the big boys department by mistake?" The other guys laughed at his ribbing but didn't seem to give me much notice. Kowalski wandered over a little closer to my bunk. He was a big guy himself, so he could get away with making fun that I was smaller than he was. And that I was obviously smaller than whoever the real owner of the shirt was. Anxiety started to spread through me, even though I knew I had no reason to be fearful.
    "A good buddy of mine, long-time friend of my family, lives in San Diego. I spent the day helping him build a deck on his new house and he lent me this shirt. It was pretty hot and sticky today and my old one got pretty nasty."
    He still had that damn look on his face, like he didn't believe me. "Umm hmm..." he intoned, as if he was debating saying something else,
    I was trying to stay calm even though I was now getting kind of pissed along with the fear of what he was insinuating. No matter what I felt for Chase deep down, everything I had just told him was the complete truth.
    He was standing within reach of me, so I pulled my dirty shirt out of my bag and shoved it toward his face. "Do you want proof?"
    Kowalski turned his nose away immediately and started walking away, "I was just joking with ya' Shepherd, sheez. I don't need to smell any more of your funk, I get enough of that during the week." He paused and gave me a very direct look over his shoulder. "No need to get so defensive, Marine."
    I didn't need a shower anymore, that conversation completely deflated my erection and sent my balls hiding for cover. I went to bed but didn't get much sleep, my mind turning Kowalski's words over and over. I couldn't understand the sudden suspicious looks from him; he'd never seemed to pay me much